Is Akira good for beginners?

Does it make sense to believe that Akira is actually a good character for beginners?
I would get more into why, but I want to know if there is anyone who feels the same.

Many newcomers are fast introduced with Lau, Jacky or Jean, but these characters while easy to handle, they don't feel like you will learn how to play good with them if you're a beginner.

 

I think his reputation as being Super Hard to learn is extremely overblown (that's the case with learning VF in general, really - at least as far as FS goes), but I'm not sure I'd go as far as saying he's actively good for a beginner. Not bad, sure, but there are probably better choices and there are definitely worse ones. I would recommend Goh before I recommended Akira, for instance.

What makes you say that?

 

He was hard in vf4. HE is easy on vf5

 

Akira is not difficult to play at all but, fundamentally, he's a terrible choice for beginners. Learn to elbow before you learn to knee. Then elbow some more.

 

Since he's easy in FS then prove it, which shouldn't be difficult at all.

 

He's hard in the way dark souls is hard. More talk then what it actually is.

 

My opinion is if you intend to play Akira, yeah you can start with him. But If you just want to learn VF and don't know which character speaks to you yet I would avoid him. He has a straightforward style that may not appeal to everyone (no great strings, not a ton of great tracking other than slow moves and the jump kick), even though he is so strong. If you find that he's not for you after spending all that time working on him as a first character it can be a big letdown.
If you really like his design and find his playstyle good, you can definitely learn the game with him. It's not a race, and new players don't need to be concerned with the speed at which they learn the game. If you're the kind of player who would get discouraged at how slow you are progressing with Akira, you probably aren't an Akira player.

 

To piggy back off of what many are saying, Akira's execution isn't as demanding as many think. He hasn't been that way since his VF4 days. With some solid execution, you can pull off 70% of his combo list.

However, I do not think he is suited for beginners. Frame data wise, Akira is able fuzzy guard after 2/3's of his command list, and this alone enables him a kind of defensive capability unlike 95% percent of the cast. That, coupled with how tech heavy FS is, playing Akira too early can lure you into a false sense of what Virtua Fighter is. It most certainly did for me, and I'm still recovering from that after about 6+ years lol.

If you ask me, try Pai, Jeffrey or maybe even Lion. They have a decent spread of frame data (from being able to fuzzy to nitaku and having to take risks) and will give a better understanding of how VF is supposed to be played.
Then go Tier Whore.

 

LOL, is that a contradiction?

BJ Akira, please describe what it's like to use Akira Mentally?

Here's a reality check, there isn't a single decent Akira outside of Japan.

 

70%, as in 30% takes something above solid execution.

Citrus' question wasn't about the mental awareness nor mental prowess needed to play AK high level, nor about American AK skill levels.

Not the best AK here, or anywhere else, but I'm at least qualified to give insight.

 

I'm curious how it affected you?

 

At one time I was ultra defensive. I never took risks, because I felt as though I didn't have to. How often is Akira at two-choice? And even then he has great nitaku options for damage mitigation. I still revert to this style at times.

 

(Derail)
Honorable Akira mention: Madagascar
(Back on topic)

 

I can't see anyone learning VF for the first time getting good with Akira anytime soon. Even dumbed down FS Akira. So no, I personally don't think he's anywhere close to being a good character for beginners. Jacky, Pai, Sarah, Lau, Lion, Goh, Wolf, Jeffrey, El Blaze, and Taka are much easier to learn and would benefit a beginner more IMO.

 

BJ AK, please do the 30% of harder combos because I can't even do 1/2.

 

Myke already laid it down pretty thick. But I'll add my opinion too, just cause I started my VF career with Akira as a beginner right out the gate (and still main him).

I'll try to keep it brief since Myke pretty much summed most all of it up.

I think if you have previous experience with fighting games and with using inputs like double motions and/or other multiple quick inputs, it'd be ok. It just may take longer to be in tune/effective/explosive with him vs using another character. Depending on the individual of course.

If it's someones first fighting game, I wouldn't recommend it. But I also wouldn't discourage em from using him if that's the character they wanted to learn how to use.

 

lol I don't remember making a thread of it but here is my insight, even though the consensus is already laid out.

The reasons I believed Akira is a good if not better character for beginners than any other characters are really simple:

• It's a very basic and grounded character, with all the tools the game offers, when you play every VF you can easily understand that the whole game was built around Akira more than any other character. Understand by that, his gameplay is very symetric, is versatile, very basic, and only complicated in execution, as the combos and setup are all easy to understand or pull out when you apply them into your playstyle.
• You can't mash with Akira. You can see every noob in this game whenever they start and pick either Jacky, Lau or one of these scrub famous character, it's a PPPP binge, and nothing else, or playing really blandly with a mix-up or PPPK, PPP2K and thus teaches bad habits from start, whilst with Akira you learn execution the normal way, not to mash, input quarter circle or diagonal motion, and that only gets you to be better as you advance and start inputing croush dash cancel moves.
• He is quite easy to use, and has the easiest flowchart of all character, you get tons of damage out of short combos with nothing more than a mere mid poke, that you can follow up with big damage throws or 333P, nothing really complicated with Akira once you grasp how 33P work, even the pro players do nothing but simply inputing 333P for momentum.

So yeah, once you got past the execution ceiling, all you have to do with Akira is use simple but very rewarding yomis.

Simply put: He is good for beginners, because he is not that hard, teaches the game the way its meant to be played(RPS and yomi), when a beginner does play with Akira, you can immediately notice he/she will be trying to do good instead of mashing buttons all the time, and doing simple yet highly rewarding moves.

Look at all these pro using Akira, they don't do anything complicated, many can't even perform GBoD consistently but reach a high level of play with nothing that complicated.


If we take the case of a character like Lau, beginners will soon hit a wall when they have to learn how to take advantage of his back stance or his newly acquired stance into guard break move.

Does it mean they learned the game? A brief look at online players shows they don't but will keep on doing the same pattern over and over.

 

Haha no problem, it may be for the best.

Anyway that was my insight, and thinking about it again I'm now convinced that beginning with Akira is the best way to learn the game.