FT Q&A

Note, I'm not looking for people to write questions, this is a translation from Arcadia magazine January Issue.

Source - Arcadia 56, January 2005 (Came out in November)
Writer - Kurita
Translation - Noodalls

Q - When both players are at the same advantage, and both input a move with the same execution, which will win?
A - In the case of attacks, first the most damaging attack will win. Then, in the case of equally powerful moves, both will hit (there are exceptions.) But, where there is a large difference in the two lifebars (>50) the character with the lesser life will have priority in this instance. This is "catchup", and there are a suprising number of people who don't know about it. In the case of throws, irrespective of differences of life or throw type, the throw that wins is chosen at random. Not many people go for a throw when at +-0, but you can put it down as interesting to know.
Caption - a middle kick on normal hit gives a neutral situation. If both players input a then the player with less life less (*and in the photo, it is a lot less life) wins.

Q - After being staggered, can I evade an opponent's attack?
A - It's possible, but difficult ... is the answer. So, on top of recovering from the stagger, you have to input the evade motion before you eat the opponent's attack. In VF4 Evo was the only direction you could evade in by buffering it, but this is no longer possible in FT.
Caption - Evading after being staggered is very difficult. It's probably better to guard or abare instead.

Q - My down attack was avoided after Lau's +...
A - In reality, this is not a guaranteed string. It's very difficult, but with superfast recovery and rising on the spot it's possible to avoid it. (compared to previously, recovering has become easier.) Also, Lau's + followed by ground attack has become easier to avoid, and if you struggle enough the ground attack won't come out (it will become a middle kick).

Caption - Lau's + is 50 + 13 = 63 damage, and you might think it's guaranteed ...
- But with highspeed rotating of the stick and mad pressing of the P button, it can be avoided.

Q - I thought I throw escaped, but sometimes it doesn't seem to work, why?
A - Essentially, you can think of this as a simple miss, but there are exceptions. When trying to break command throws, if the level is input in its direction for just 1 frame, it will be read as a basic +. It's not really something you have to worry about, but can be aware of.

Q - At the start of the round, my standing lost to Akira's ?
A - At the start of the round, buffering is not effective, so you probably just lost out for input speed. Because of this, if you input things a little late, a fast move can lose to a slow move. Also, at the start of the round or when you are both standing not only moves like but also any move not containing a ++ will execute 1 frame slower.

Caption - For example, a middle weight's 12 frame standing against a 14 frame with Akira, Akira will win if he inputs the 2 frames quicker or more.

Tidbit - In FT, the number of active frames that throws have has been reduced from 4 frames to 3 frames. So, trying to land a throw after a counter hit or trying to hit an opponent when the briefly duck (I need to check the slang guide to see if this is fuzzy guarding or not) has become harder. But, Wolf's _+ and fastest + are unchanged from their original 3 frames.