Euro Gathering report Day 1

So after the UK'ers game thru the night and travel from 4:30-10am and arrive in Copenhagen, we meet them, go dump luggage at the hostel and such, and head out to the arcade. After setting up the DC with SF3 3rd strike, the serious competition is on the VF3ob arcade machine..

Ryan then proceeds to dominate in such a way that I have had my definaition of hardcore playing completely... redifined.

Ryan, after not playing VF for a year (and ob for like four years), after zero sleep and a long trip:

Akira (9 wins, loses to Marc the Wall)
Jacky (21 wins, loses to me on my 5th try or so)
Wolf (34 wins, loses to Wiqas mainly due to wiqas' incessant lowlevel and quite ungentlemanly trashtalking)
Kage (29 wins - we ask him to switch to Akira when it becomes apparent he's just practicing TFT combos on us.. like f.ex. TFT, Knee, P, PP, slide (otb) for massive damage and about 70% (!) distance in Akira's dojo)

The rest of the UK'ers then left to get some muchneeded sleep, but I managed to bribe Ryan to stay on and teach us some stuff. I particularly liked his Reverse BC, SDE, SJK, Shoulder Ram otb (or b, f+P+K otb). I didn't manage to win any more games, but Wiqas took him out a couple times in Akira vs Akira.

His gameplay so solid, his reflexes uncanny, his combos so deadly and his overall attitude so ruthless makes him a pure Terminating machine that's really only being tested on stamina and not strength when he's facing anyone but the best japanese players. No wonder he got 46 wins with Wolf against the best over there, and more than 100 against the average opponents.

Anyways, this was just first impressiosn.. let's see what happens after we've all warmed up (too bad that includes Ryan.. gah).

If anyone wants to discover how VF is really played - like it is in Japan - Copenhagen is the place to be for the next week or so. I would have ZERO qualms about offering to cover the airfare for anyone (non-jap that can come and beat Ryan in let's say just best of 11 games. Heck, I'll bet even money that Ryan can beat anyone 10 times in a row.

But nevermind that.. sleep, and THEN my revenge! (yeah right)

- Jan

 

> TFT, Knee, P, PP, slide (otb)

can i ask why people even bother with this combo? it's not particularly stylish - there are plenty of other, better "style" tft combos out there. it just looks *stupid*, holding back for no reason _at all_ - kn, p, pk slide or kn, ppk, slide both do more damage and push farther, and are only marginally more difficult to do (especially in ob).

i mean it's like getting a massive upkn float and just ending it with PPP, then yelling BOOYAH DADDY MAC! I'M STYLIN!

 

fancy yer chances, eh rich?

 

i have no idea where that comment came from (mine, that is).

 

no, not really. i might play like shit these days, but i know my shit, and i just don't understand why people bother with that PoS combo.

 

way to go Ryan we people from the old continent are proud to have such a player here in europe.................

 

Jan, you're overreacting a bit... bet money that Ryan beats ANYONE 10 times in a row? really? come on... you know it's not possible.

 

uhm...wasn't everyone there European...?

 

Com on Jan
U promised me in irc u'll win ryan /versus/images/icons/smile.gif~

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

 

I dunno, perhaps because he gets it with 100% consistency and can tell as the knee hits that a ppk wouldn't connect. Usually the distance is enough to R.O.

Ryan does more wacky **** than anyone else I know is capable of, but his whole gameplay is styled towards winning 1st, and style 2nd. That's just his way. Sometimes a lot of us are thinking it's a bit boring, and he'll agree, but that's just his philosophy - the game is about winning.. try something stylish and mess up, costing you the game, and you're the biggest fool imaginable, is the jap way of thinking.

He's been cristized before for just killing ppl too effectively with no style, but he just shrugs it off. After seeing the way he just picks ppl apart, I think honestly that you can't critize his style.. it's just that solid. Other ppl doing wackier things that leaves themselves way open might work against the rest of us, and look way stylish while they do it, but he just calmly punishes it.. so against and to him it "stylish play" doesn't look stylish, just weak.

He says there are stronger players than him in Japan, and that they all have individual cool, recognizable styles. That's prolly why they're better than him.

- Jan

 

Heh, I've just witnessed it dude. Anyone from the west, it is very very possible. Betting even money on it means I think he has more than 50% chance of doing it.

The other Londeres are damn good I can ensure you, and Wiqas and myself are no walkovers either. We won 5 out of 80 games, afterall

It's just no contest. Yet - maybe we'll improve during the week as we learn how he plays.

Btw, the game is set to best of 9 rounds, which is way harder to win on than say best of 5 ofcourse. Also btw, he plays eleven characters about the same insane strength (doesn't play Shun). My own personal nightmare is his Kage, because I'm not good at catching a Kage than doesn't want to be caught, but his Lau and Jacky are frigging insane also.

- Jan

 

> I dunno, perhaps because he gets it with 100% consistency and can tell as the knee hits that a ppk wouldn't connect.

then why not PK slide? or P,b+PK,df+K? and it's not like you need the ideal knee to connect this combo.

i'm sorry, but P,PP, slide is just one of the lamest tft combos out there.

tell him to work on TFT d,uf,K (desc. hopkick) combos! _those_ are challenge and look cool. TFT d,uf,K, b,b+P,PPPK (and variants thereof).

 

ok, I will

He mentioned btw the best distance is with a "simple" TFT, Knee, P, PPP, slide .. I dunno if that's accurate. Maybe he means best guaranteed combo on flat ground vs Akira, if you're good enough.

Also dunno if you can do more on tb, with the floating being accentuated you prolly can.

 

LMAO

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

BOOYAH DADDY MAC! I'M STYLIN!

<hr></blockquote>

Rich - you never cease to make me laugh my ass off! you've made my morning!

cheers,

<font color=white> Llanfair the prized <font color=green>cabbage</font color=green></font color=white>

 

Oh well, I guess this is just a special situation.. like Rich said, and I quote: "maybe Ryan is very good, and others suck..." So, do you guys suck?

 

that's probably right. in the arcade, at least. Kn, P, PPK, slide pushes farther, but that's a DC only combo (up to akira on flat ground, up to jeff on slight incline); it will ring out from 3/4 the distance of any stage, assuming kage's back is facing the edge.

it's probably shared with TFT E (towards kage's own open side) b+P, P, P, PPP, slide in terms of distance. although that combo is similar to the vf2 swipe combos as it doesn't push in a straight line.

arcade tb TFT combos are more difficult than ob TFT combos, and impossible compared to DC TFT combos. the slide has been altered so that you need to be running for a longer distance for it to execute, and the TFT float is slightly different. Kn, PPK, slide is breeze up to jacky, and Kn, P, b+K+G, DP can be done up to Akira in ob arcade. comparitavely, Kn, PPK, slide on tb jacky requires serious precision, and i've only done Kn, P, b+K+G, DP on aoi (and heard than it can be done to lion).

 

He replied that TFT, hopkick combos are more stylish, but since they do less damage and distance than Knee combos, and he plays to win, he doens't use them.

He also mentioned that this philosophy stems from experiencing what it's like to do anything less than all you can to win when playing the best in Japan: Insert New Coin.

Usually Ryan is in robot mode, and nothing around him distracts him from trouncing you, and he doesn't care about style. He does enough things to leave you gaping tho, I can assure you.

 

Comparatively, yes... well, not quite suck, but he's several levels beyond us. We put the machine down to best of 5 rounds on the second day here tho, and I did get a 12 win streak at one point, incl. 3 against Ryan.

There's a huge difference between best of 5 and best of 9 rounds when you're the underdog.. it's many times easier to get lucky and win.

 

then, back to my original question: why does he bother with such a useless, stupid looking, and otherwise shitty combo?

 

Because it has R.O.'d his opponent every time he's done it? *shrug*

He does plenty of other stuff - and TFT combos - too. I just happened to notice he was dodging my first attack on akira's stage and R.O'ing me with it (or close resemblances of it) several rounds in a row, and feeling kinda helpless about it.

You shouldn't base his gameplay much on what I say about it. Even if you saw a recording of it, the problem is his otherwise rather skilled opponent often come off as a total scrub, so you really need to feel it to understand what I mean when I say he's frigging strong. There's a few of the other UK'ers on this board who knows what it's like, they know what I mean I'm sure.

Someone mentioned to me they talk about him on the jap forums, a year after he last played there. Maybe there's a reason?