E3 VF Gathering

I just got back, booked flights, and read up the forum following the last day of the E3 VF Gathering at Spotlite's place. I'm just gonna write this mini report quick (on Chanchai's standard) as I gotta get to bed really soon. If I feel there's much more to say, impressions and what not (of people as people), I'll add to it. Everyone was great.

VF Playing attendees:
-Spotlite
-Great Deceiver
-Adam Yuki
-Dan (I believe he is a good friend of the New Yorkers)
-Piccolo
-Ice-9
-Almaci
-Mutant
-Tellure
-Yamcha
-Chanchai
-Sumeragi
-Shou

Hope I didn't leave anyone out of the list We had some other guests as well (Sumeragi's friends who were great guys, my friend who hosted me in LA, etc...).

Some moments:

Right off the bat (as I understand it, I came a bit late), Adam's Jeffry had a 43 game streak which was broken by Vancouver B.C.'s Mutant (using Lau). This was when we had only one station (before Jeff went back to the hotel to bring another DC), and everyone was playing.

Later on, Adam had another Jeffry streak of approximately 35 (at least) which was again broken by Mutant's Lau. On a smaller setup this time.

Great Deceiver (from Brazil), as far as I could tell, had a crazy and powerful Wolf, nailing everyone with a lot of short shoulders. I was looking up to his VF skills soon after the gathering began.

Almaci came all the way from Belgium and I remember he was also impressing me quite a bit with his VF skills.

I finally met with Sumeragi. Great guy and a great guy to talk to. And I was amazed by his Lau. Wish I could comment, but all I can say was that it was owning.

I was really happy to finally meet the Vancouver guys (well, Mutant and Tellure anyways) whom I had intended on meeting long ago on many occasions (Vancouver is about 6 hours from Portland by car). I was definitely impressed. Though out of practice, I can see why quite a bit has been said about Mutant's Shun. It's not what it used to be at all from my understanding but I really appreciate the sorts of things he uses with Shun. Lau is his other main character as well. Quite tricky, sometimes not at all straightforward, and quite often frustrating as hell for me. Tellure mostly used Pai, Aoi, and Lion. I definitely enjoyed our matches and learned even more things to implement into my Lion (woohoo!).

More people to talk about and events... to be mentioned in the next report.

Everyone showed up on the first night, many could not make it on the second night for obligations, left town, etc... Attendees to night two: Spotlite, Yamcha, Chanchai, Ice-9.

One of the big highlights of Friday night (night one) was the team battle matches we had in the wee hours of the morning (my guess is 2-3:30am).
Team 1: Ice-9 (usually Kage), Dan (Lau), Spotlite (usually Akira), Adam (usually Akira or Jeffry)
Team 2: Piccolo (usually Kage), Great Deceiver (usually Wolf), Chanchai (Lion), Sumeragi (usually Lau)
Quite a few matches took place and we mixed and matched quite a bit, rearranging the teams constantly. If I recall, the official count was 5-4.... can't remember whih team was in favor.

I'll have to add more in another report. There certainly was more to the event and I only described some of the people I wanted to, everyone was worth writing about. Gatherings were a blast and definitely made my trip so worth it (heck, I didn't even go to E3).

-Chanchai

 

argh! this webtv sucks! just got my post accidentally deleted...

anyway, adam would like to add in a few corrections:

- the second streak was 39, not 35

- the second streak was with akira, not jeffry

- the second streak was broken by sumeragi's lau, not mutant's

i would also like to add a few clarfications:

- me and bryan left when adam had 15 or so with his jeffry to get another dc since there were like 10 players on that one dc

- you should discount maybe five wins from adam's jeffry streak since we were trying out that horrendous cvs stick (optics schmoptics)

- i claim responsibilty for contributing to adam's akira's first 18 wins shared with four others before leaving to play on the other dc to start streak of my own, heh heh

also, adam says: "More raping! Not enough...must...rape!! Hmmmm..I wonder what European ass feels like?"

jeff: i swear to god adam wrote that!!!!!!!!

as for mutant's shun, it's good and all, but i would have to side with adam in that at least right now and as far as i can remember, nelson's shun definitely has the upper hand.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by ice-9 on 05/20/01 09:58 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

oops, one more correction: for adam's akira's streak, he did use jeffry for his last six or so. so his akira remained an anal virgin that night.

 

you people really need help with your total fixation with the concept and usage of the word rape. i am not at all a PC person, but seeing and hearing the way you people use the word just makes me cringe..

 

i second what rich said. to me, it isn't at all a casual word....
also, could nick cut the 3rd person thing, it is getting on my nerves.

 

Probably it's an American thing.

I think it's good to be able to laugh about things that are uncomfortable, but I can see why people would be offended (nothing wrong with it).

 

i'm american, and i know that i'm far from being the only one who is put off by the way it's being used. as uk said, it is hardly a casual word, and it is also far from being a popular slang reference in american dialect.

 

My bad on Adam's second streak. Sorry about that Adam. Much of Friday night was a blur to me (as much as I had a blast with the matches and showing off my Lion to some people). Again, sorry for the misrepresentation.

UK_Kid, umm... don't know if I should apologize for whatever third person I did. I don't feel I did that much of it, just a bit such as "who attended" and "standards for a short post." All I can remember anyways. DIdn't know it would be so nerve racking if it was.

On Mutant's Shun, point taken. To clarify though, I personally never intended to compare it to Nelson's Shun. I was just pointing out what I liked about Mutant's Shun and a lead into the impression I get as to why it had a great reputation like it did way back when. I definitely cannot judge way back in the day and won't, but to only judge upon today, I'm sure Nelson's Shun is way more effective and with style as well. I only wanted to point out that I was impressed with Mutant's Shun, found quite a bit of good creativity in it, enjoyed fighting against it, and that I get a feeling that I have a hint as to why it has the reputation among old-timers like it does. Beyond that, I cannot personally disagree with your guys' perspective on the Nelson/Mutant thing, but I don't really care to compare the two--nor am I capable of it (not like I've seen a '97/'98 Mutant). I've been obsessed with Nelson's Shun since NYG2 and quite a few people have heard me rant about it. I still feel that way. But at the same time, I was really wowed by how completely confused I was fighting against Mutant's Shun. It just does all these things that I find to be "weird" or "different" and I liked that a whole lot as well.

Will I ever write a true report of the event? Who knows... but I intend to. I'd like to see a report from you guys though, at least from you Ice.

BTW, Spotlite's Akira is the sort of Akira I would really like to show others to see some interesting things in VF. The sort of Akira I'd probably use to try to lure non-VF3 players into VF I mean. As far as I understand, it seems like the old-school sort of "moving forward" sort of trait. Often on the offensive while keeping the defensive in mind. Using almost the whole arsenal (upon my blurred memory, the only thing I cannot remember seeing Spotlite use would be db, f+PG and back throw (even then, I think I may have actually seen a backthrow, but not sure). Always looking for the float combos, constantly prepared, loads of movement. Offensive, lots of oki, lots of ura, lots of combos, lots of everything almost. Not to mention how much I love our Akira vs. Lion showdowns.

Hopefully, more to come in time. So much happening in so little time...such a blur, but good memories for me.

-Chanchai

 

Since when was the comparison made?



<font color=red>~~~SummErs' 'enemy SPODED, enemy DOWN~~~'

 

Just clarifying that the comparison is on Ice and Adam's end. In case someone reads Ice's post and thinks I'm talking about Mutant's Shun in a context of effectiveness compared to Nelson's. Then I loaded that statement with my thoughts on the whole thing.

On the side--As Adam figured out a little while ago, everyone has their own way of defining what makes a better player. I know you, Summers, goes for style or at least a form of creativity or expansion. I definitely admire those qualities. Some go for pure effectiveness. Very cut and dry, black and white, goal oriented. Things almost everyone should work on at least in the development process. Quite a few in the middle road. I like both and admire both. I like to win and usually go for the win completely, but at the same time, my jaw drops when someone pulls off something stunning in a "different way."
(Nelson's Shun is both as far as I can tell--stylish and effective--suave and graceful in my book; Mutant's Shun on the few times I've fought against it is very unique and has me wondering what the hell just hit me, also feeling like, "OMG!!! There's a lot more that can be done! I'd like to also do that with Shun!")

-Chanchai

 

Hmmm...I can't say I dun have a mean streak in me.

While I will always prefer creativity over Kill tactics in VF3...
the same cannot be said in 2d games.

Like last weekend...a friendly match between me n a close friend ended in this

me:80wins
him:9 wins

Thank god..he was actually glad I played him full strength ( or he thought I did)...

thus, no arguments from him.

I've asked around to see if I do indeed play with a *kill to win* mindset in 2d games.

So far...only {doomboy} feels that way.

The rest says 2d games are desgined in a way...creativity usually means how well u can convince the fella to eat ur moves.

So I guess in 2d games...I can be considered as using *kill to win* tactics.


<font color=red>~~~SummErs' 'enemy SPODED, enemy DOWN~~~'<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by SummErs on 05/21/01 08:59 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

Next time I'll get that Makoto HCB k throw you'll beg me to put you down but first I'll give you the neck squeeze and combo your ass then I'll run out the door and yell "I GOT MAKOTO"S HCB K THROW ON FREDDY" to every scared individual I come accross,that's the dream anyway /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

ps...don't reply, me no like being humiliated about my poor SF abilities : P

 

yes..you quite an evil bitch

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by {Doomboy} on 05/21/01 09:14 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

Remember to pause the game when u run out

otherwise when u come back...
the win streak will have once again gone up~/versus/images/icons/laugh.gif

<font color=red>~~~SummErs' 'enemy SPODED, enemy DOWN~~~'

 

no apology necessary, it's just that speaking in third-person is a little irritating.

 

Hey guys Almaci here , thanks for a great time .
Too bad I couldnt stay for a bit longer ( 9 houre time difference , only slept like 20 houres in 5 days and bla bla bla ) .
Oh and ChanChai I dont think I was particularly impressive at the gathering , ussualy I am a shitload better .
Oh well , maybe next time I can actually prove my worth .
Thanks again guys .

 

Thanks again to everyone for coming, I really had fun.

Chanchai is really flattering me here... I definately don't think I'd consider my Akira prepared for most situations. If there's one thing I noticed about other players like Jeff, Adam, Sal and a few others this weekend, it's how relaxed and at home they are on the battlefiied. They're not in a hurry, and are able to maintain a cool head which lets them execute with precision. This is the quality which comes from tons of time in game WITH OTHER HUMANS; the ability to deal with mental rape pressure calmly. This is what my Akira lacks... too bad I probably won't get a chance to practice like that again for a while (at least until VF in japan this summer... aww yeah!) I missed SO MANY combos etc. I want to be at home while fighting; then I can begin to improve. You on the other hand have improved HUGELY since we last met; I think if you learn to go a little more toe to toe, you'll start growing even more. Not trying to say you're wrong about me or anything nick, just that from my end, I feel I'm very weak.

I want to write about everyone I met, but can't right now; suffice to say that after everyone left, jeff put the Ice back in Skeletor Kage and froze my ass stiff to the tune of an 18 game streak against my akira.... ware ni teki nashi ...shugyo ga tarin! Jyunen hayaikatta ka

spotlite

 

Can't wait to hear what you have to say about everyone.

Well, I just wrote how I saw your Akira. From my perspective, it's a very nice Akira. Inexperienced? Sure. But it seems to have the right idea of where its comfort zone is. It also really caught the interest of my friend who isn't a VF player at all. I thought his comment of all the VF playing that night that he saw was funny. It was along the lines of: "Wow, VF3 all of a sudden looks like DoA2 to me" (he was referring to the pacing and intensity of the matches and all--He mostly plays DoA2). You missed so many combos, but you also pulled off a lot of noteworthy ones. A LOT of them while I was looking anyways.

It's fun to take advantage of Ice in VF when he's really tired. Boosts your ego until he suddenly wakes up or something and starts slaughtering you flat out and pretty much proving that you have an obvious pattern of attack or a HUGE flaw in your gameplay.

Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated and very flattered (I was practically blushing at the last two gatherings hehe). I'll take your advice and work on toe-to-toe. Lion just has to be so careful toe-to-toe though... IMO, attacking direct and even poking with him has quite a risk (as much as poking is one of his strong points--or so people tell me). I have to be so careful if I choose to poke against Jeffry or Wolf. I think my biggest problem is that when at long range, I stupidly act as if running is my only option. I should just walk or something sometimes or even stay far away. That aspect is getting better, but I'm still a real dumbass at times on that aspect.

I think you and I have a ways to go, but I feel we've also come pretty far. I just hope people don't think that I have an inflated ego about my abilities now. I'm no expert, but I'm working on getting better--always.

The Skeletor Kage.... scary stuff.

I hope we can both meet each other in Japan, that we're both in the area around the same time. I plan on going, but it's hard to make the schedule at the moment.

-Chanchai

 

Hmmm, you guys are misusing the Skeletor label! A Skeletor Kage is meant to refer to uber-cheap, PPPs-everywhere, roll-back-constantly, super-machi Kages. I didn't think I used Kage that way that night...or damn, don't tell me I gave that impression without meaning to.

As for my thoughts on the E3 gatherings...there were so many players the first night. What was it? 14? 15? The second night, on the other hand, was quite sparse with only four players. Big contrasts.

First off, a big thanks to Bryan for being such an excellent and gracious host. Bryan played a big part in making my E3 a great one; not only for the gatherings but also for getting me into the Sega booth. Bryan's main character is Akira and I think Bryan is a lot of better player than most people give him credit for. Bryan is one of the few VFers on the scene today that uses his brain instead of stringing random, quick attacks haphazardly. The major thing he needs to work on is better motor consistency (Bryan misses a lot of combos he shouldn't miss, especially in critical situations). He had a few bad habits but I think he recognized what they were and had them corrected for the most part by the end of the night.

I met Yamcha for the first time at the gathering. At first I had trouble figuring Yamcha out and what level of defense he was capable of. Sometimes his reaction to a situation (say, an elbow stagger) was spot on and it confused me a bit. However, as the night wore on I think I was able to get a good handle on the level of his defensive yomi. From what I remembered, Yamcha played Pai, Aoi and Jacky and I remember liking his Aoi most.

I actually didn't realize that Mike aka Mutant was present at that first night. As I wrote before, I had gone back to my hotel to collect a second Dreamcast and by the time I came back more people had arrived and I didn't get the chance to get introduced to everyone. Mike plays Shun and Lau but I thought his Lau was the more dangerous character. It's clear that Mike has the tools; he knows the techniques, the combos and the strategy but is probably a little bit rusty. With more competition it's obvious that Mike is a top tier player.

Another Mike, the Chicago Gathering tournament champion Sumeragi, also made the show and the gathering. Mike was clearly quite rusty at first; his offense didn't flow as smoothly and he often dodged the wrong direction for dodge-throw-escape-cancels. But as the night progressed Mike got it all back in what seemed like a scary pace and suddenly we all saw why he was the champ for the Chicago Gathering.

As far as I know, there are now three Lau players that I have played that are of note: Sumeragi's, Shota's and Donald's. And of course there is Hiro's, but he doesn't really count. All play Lau differently. Sumeragi has the best technique and finger dexterity, Shota has the most bastardly Lau, and Donald's upcoming Lau has the most raw energy. If Donald continues to play with the New York guys, he will become a scary player. Mark my words, his Lau will be awesome, even though he nearly decided to switch to Kage after I beat him to a 17-win Kage vs Lau pulp, heh heh.

Manoel, or GreatDeceiver from Brazil, also came to the gathering. He plays a myriad of characters, but the character I remember most is his Wolf. I remarked to him how much his Wolf reminded me of my own Wolf...GD's Wolf is a lot more aggressive than most other Wolfs, attack with short shoulders, d/f+P+Ks, and throws rather than waiting for the opponent to make the mistake. His Wolf is the complete package with some ura skills. The only one minor thing is that I noticed GD didn't take advantage of certain situations like he should. For example, there were times when GD didn't go for the low throw or force the guessing game when he should. Otherwise, I thought his Wolf was great and enjoyed playing with him. It was a pleasure to meet you Manoel!! I am glad that we met. Hopefully we'll have another opportunity to meet again.

Ali from Belgium was another player from overseas that came to E3 and attended the gathering. Unfortunately, Ali didn't play very long as he was obviously tired from all the traveling. I can't seem to remember who Ali played but I did remember his Aoi. Ali actually owns Version A of VF3 so there was some adjustments that he had to make and I'm sure this threw him off. For example, his Aoi kept going for d/f+P+Gs in non-guaranteed situations; in Version A Aoi had virtually no recovery time from the d/f+P+G, which was probably why Ali ended up going for it too often at his expense.

I think these were all the "new" people that I had recently played with--I apologize if I neglected to comment on a few other people. The people I remembered were mostly folk that post on this board. Again, there were a lot of people that I did not get introduced to and I apologize for not being more social. I was really tired most of week, averaging 4 hours a day and only 2-3 hours from Wednesday to Monday. Sumimasen!!

As for my playing level...I thought I played "alright," not too great but not as bad as Saturday night at VG. Some of the sticks at the E3 gathering weren't too great though. Looking back, I can't believe I had played as much VF3 as I've had. The night after E3 Adam, Sal and I played AGAIN all night with Hiro! It's pretty amazing when I think about it...it's like I was frantically making up for the lost time from when I had "disappeared" from the scene since the very first NYG what, two years ago? In these two weeks, I have rediscovered my Kage's offense and have greatly improved my defense. I may not have established my Aoi to the community much, but I now feel very comfortable with the level that I have achieved with her. I can win with her against anyone, any time. I started off my trip losing most of the time to Adam, Andy and Hiro. I didn't a chance to play Andy again after VG, but I do feel that I am now much more competitive against Adam and Hiro, and the last night of play was vindicative of that. I now know what to do against Adam and Hiro and winning or losing comes down to who makes the right guesses as opposed to my earlier condition, where I didn't get very many opportunities to even initiate my offense due to Adam's and Hiro's stifling defense.

As Adam said before, I am pretty much all VF-ed out at the moment. But man, what a ride it's been. Hiro, Adam, Sal, Andy and Donald, thanks for taking me in the past two weeks and bringing me back up to a level that I am confident in. Hiro and Yukie, thanks for housing me and helping me move. Adam, thanks for hosting VG and Elise, thanks for the haircut, thank your mom for me. Bryan, thanks for organizing a gathering, the E3 Sega booth memories, and the opportunity to be more involved in the future of the game we all love.

Peace out!

 

It's Manoel - I'm still not at home, and I don't have my login password on me; I tried the "I forgot my password" function of the board, but for some reason I'm not able to check my POP address, which is the one I registered here... so sorry for the guest login. I also tried to post something a couple of days ago, but it got erased (a long post), so I was a bit bummed out and only got around to doing it again now.

It was a pleasure and a priviledge to play the likes of adam, jeff, sal, etc - there are many memories that will remain for me of that night (unfortunately I couldn't go to the second one, even though I had phoned Bryan saying that I would - so sorry Bryan!);

First of all, I'd like to thank Bryan again for being such a great host and such a pleasure to hang out/play with; we share many common interests, and it was great to meet you; again, I apologize for not being able to come the second night, even after phoning in and saying that I would;

Adam, of course, impressed me with his extreme input and reaction precision; among many other things, his flawless use of the PK, and PK(cancel) throws, which I had not seen in such a long time... it was a pleasure for me to see it in use again after so long - I remember commenting with him that I thought PK is a highly underestimated recourse in VF3 in general, or maybe later VF3 playing - back in the old OB days, and as far as I can recall, people generally weren't as hesitant to go for a guaranteed PK after a blocked slow-recovery move, and what not. Of course it isn't as powerful a weapon as in say, VF2 (knockdown!), but still... Sumeragi also made extensive use of K-cancels into throws, and that gave me something to think about and practice when I get some free time with the game. Anyway, Adam's Akira is a monster, as is his Jeffrey (I think I definitely had more problems with the latter) - besides, his system stuff is dead-on, option select, double escapes, and so on - thanks adam!

It was also great playing/watching Jeff's Wolf, as we play a similar-styled Wolf as he pointed out, but I could definitely learn about maximizing GS opportunities, and some other setups (elbow, for example - I almost never use wolf's elbow, for whatever reason, relying almost completely on plain vanilla P, HCB+P, or the slow as hell but surprisingly useful f+P for short shoulder/crouch dash throw setups) - thanks for the pointers, Jeff; I definitely had big problems against his Kage (my throw escapes were absolutely ghastly, not coming out at all) - I feel he plays a confusing and varied Kage, and not the "skelegor kage", though I could definitely see he could play a mean ghetto-Kage if he wanted to;

It was also a blast to play Sal, with his varied cast and off-the-bat techniques; especially his Taka - (KURAI-NAGE!) - besides being completely aware of what's going on, he just goes for the crazy stuff, which is awesome.

I'll post more VF-related impressions when I get home, though - besides the VF gaming itself, the night held numerous great moments for me - like in the wee hours of the morning, as we were waiting for the cab to arrive, and Bryan busted out his Saturn and a copy of Ikebukuro Sarah's "Riot in the Nippon" to show me and Sal - I had an absolute blast watching it in motion...

I hope to meet you guys again, and maybe for a longer time - I don't know if there's going to be another VF3-related get-together anytime soon, but if so, I'll definitely try my best to come.