How much more enjoyable VF5FS with a fighting stick

Though I consider myself an avid fan of VF, I have never tried it with an arcade stick aside from a few arcade rounds when I was a kid that I don't remember now.

I am usually not and with a controller even on side stepping but I imagine it's more fun and easier to pull moves with an arcade stick.

How much more fun it's to play VF with an arcade stick ?
Is it worth shelling 150 bucks for one on Xbox series X to play VF5FS ?

 

Honestly, with the arcades in Japan that are closing, there's no real reason to stick (see what I did there?) with the cabinet controls. My guess is tha SEGA is going to focus more on the Home Consoles market and for that reason, I suggest to keep using the controller you're most comfortable with.

 

I used D-Pad for years , it took me many months to retrain muscle memory for the stick. I've now used the stick for years. I only use Lei Fei. So I can only speak to using both with one character. I would say its not a matter of which one is better. Its a different experience. Certain strings feel more practical and more logical in certain situations using a pad, and other strings or combos seem more sensible (at least to me) using a stick.

Personally, when I use the stick I play Lei Fei one way, And when I use the D-Pad I play him another way. I like both. Improvising on the D-Pad presents one set of options, improvising on the stick another. They're just different.

For those who have only played the stick, they will find that the pad opens up different possibilities and approaches to strings and combos. And for those who only played the pad they will find the pad opens up different possibilities and approaches to combos.

The issue is, at least for me it took months to retrain muscle memory and many hundreds of matches before I felt just as comfortable using the stick as the d-pad.

I do think the stick is more durable (it lasts a lot longer), but then again, it costs more

 

Play/buy whichever one suits you.
But make sure it is a good controller or fightstick that actually works well.

 

Here is a secret - the stick is harder to use but more responsive and consistent once you learn it. It's not a free boost to performance

I'll still say buy and learn the stick, don't be discouraged by the fact that you'll suck a little bit for several months (compared to your controller skill).

 

I am pretty sure the stick would grant more responsiveness to side stepping and pulling more advanced combos but would require a learning curve as you said.

My original idea was that, a new VF is coming ( VF X esports for whatever it's going to end up being) this j thought it would be more fun to start practicing with it.

 

I decided to learn to use an arcade stick for the upcoming Virtua Fighter release. I've only had mine two days, but I can already feel it coming along. I personally find transitioning to the lever fairly natural. Maybe because I spent a lot of time in arcades growing up. On the other hand (literally), learning to use my thumb, index finger, and middle finger is tricky. The first day it took a lot of tries to do a single combo one time. But on the second day I was able to execute most my character's combos on most attempts. I use Lei-Fei by the way. I can already see that once your brain learns that index+middle+thumb equals P+K+G, index+middle equals P+K, etc, previously learned instincts begin to transfer to those inputs.

I still have a long way to go, but I can see that it's not as bad as one might think. While it may sound romantic, it feels official too. And it is in fact fun. If trying arcade stick is on your mind, I say go for it.

P.S. I decided to go with a Korean lever, the Taeyoung Fanta. I think the rubber grommet feels nice. I've read people saying hitting corners is hard with no gate or a circular gate, but I find it to be no problem.