My VF4 Report from Hayward

Hey guys. Finally settled back on and ready to write my (late) report on 4. I'd like to mention "nice job" to Yamcha, Jason and Jeff on their reports. I'm gonna try not to repeat anything, but I'll probably end up repeating a little.

Report on the Beta Test Version of Virtua Fighter 4 in Hayward CA- July 2001

These are my opinions, based on approx. 9-10 hours of actual playing and may or may not represent concrete fact when compared to the final version of VF4.

The game comes on to a red screen that says "NO SYSTEM" if I remember correctly. Then a screen comes up saying "Naomi 2 GD-Rom station", then goes black again for over 1 minuite while the game loads off the GD-Rom. Finally the N2 logo comes up again, followed by the Sega, AM2 logos, then Lei-Fei's intro begins. You've seen the rest. Between attract modes, the CPU plays itself while displaying Character usage percentages.

Currently, playing against the CPU there are 12 rounds; no boss. The characters appear in this order:

Lau on Snowy Rooftop
Lei Fei on Shaolin Temple
Kage on Autumn Leaves
Pai on Aquarium
Jeffry on Beach
Lion on Colliseum
Jacky on City Rooftop
Aoi on Cherry Blossom
Shun on Shaolin Temple
Wolf on Wrestling Ring
Sarah on Colliseum
Akira on Marina

After beating Akira, there is a simple name entry screen, followed by a simple screen that says "Virtua Fighter 4- Thanks for playing. You are a real Virtua Fighter. Show me your good fight again" or something like that. This screen also comes up when you loose to the CPU and don't continue.

GENERAL FEELINGS

Having played VF 1, 2 and 3 quite a bit, I can say that 4 is unlike any of those games in many ways, and of course shares many of their strengths all at once. VF4 feels very "alive" to me when playing. What I mean by this is that the game feels really animated, flexible and responsive to a high degree. This game seems to be less about absolutes, and more about creativity, reading the opponent, and using your mind to win; not flowcharts, guaranteed damage, etc. I know this probably sounds like an ad for the game or something, but it's true even i this beta test: like others have said, stagger- throw situations have been seriously toned down, pounces can be avoided easily, Kage's elbow became very weak, etc.

The game moves with speed and fluidity like no fighting game I've played before. The characters are in constant animation; this coupled with the shorter recovery times all around gives the game a very loose, elastic feel. For example, when you guard a high rising attack, rather than getting the guard animation of VF3, where time stops momentarily; the kick goes through like VF2, and both characters are seemingly on even ground (with the attacker having what I guess would be a small advantage), ready to keep fighting. In situations in VF3 where you might have 2 or 3 choices, you now have more it seems. In one of the clips posted at IGN, you can see Kage block Akira's Double Palm. In VF3 a blocked DblPlm left Akira very close to the opponent, open to counter (aside from reversing). In the clip you'll notice that the DblPlm pushes Kage WAY back, then Akira hits KAGE with a P, middle kick after recovering! This kind of elasticity runs throughout the game. True that that player might have been slow, and that we aren't familiar with counters etc. yet; but play this game for a while and you'll see what I mean. This game feels like silly putty in your hands, it's malliable. I never thought I'd say this, but to me, after playing this, VF3 feels stiff and awkward. I know many of you are wondering "what can we do in 4... can I do this?... I used to do this..."; but I think a more appropriate question for this game is "what can you NOT do?"

When I first played VF3, I felt very restricted. Coming off playing 2, 3 seemed really limiting. I had to learn how to move, how to counter, how to escape... none of my old combos worked. I'm not going to lie, it felt really rigid to me. The graphics were like a consolation prize while I figured out how to play; and even those I had issue with, particularly regarding animation. Over time.. years... VF3 became very natural feeling to me. I could move freely and quickly, I knew how to use my character, and I really enjoyed every nuance, every frame of animation... VF3 was the pinnacle of excellence to me. Now that I've played 4, that has changed. Playing VF4, I feel free again. II haven't had this much fun playing a fighting game since I learned to play VF2 in NYC; what I consider the most fun I ever had playing a video game. To me, it's that good.

Of course, only time will tell if this feeling lasts. I was playing with my friend Noah, and he seemed to feel the same way. As a casual VF player for years, I felt he had always struggled a little with difficult commands, the difficulty of movement etc. I too had problems, even after months of practice, in VF3 with certain commands (as people who have played with me can attest to). Playing 4 with him, I noticed right off he could do things he had problems with before. Even in the hands of beginners, characters seem to move smoothly and commands come out as you want them to. He commented on it himself..."I've never had nice combos with Lau before" (after trying Lau ONCE in 4). I remember how strange Lau felt at first in 3. I struck up a conversation with a guy who was watching me play... He asked me if I thougth this game was the best in the series... I told him "Yes, it's really fun to play". He asked if it was more like 2, because he had liked 2. I said it was, but it had elements from 3, yet was all new feeling as well. I commented on how the CvS2 machine had a crowd, and how I didn't get how people could still be playing that after all these years... Hadoken, Spinning Bird Kick, Blanka... he said he couldn't play it anymore either. I said "why don't people play this?" "I think it's because of VF3" he said.

VF4 is really fun. It's very user friendly. It's easy to pick up. It's complex. It's going to have a lot of depth. People will be finding things in this game for a while to come. Some people are not going to like it... they'll play it and say "it's been dumbed down, they took out all the good things, it's too easy now...". But they'd be wrong. Things that were previously difficult are now easy, and I think AM2 always wanted it that way. Now things that should be standard and basic, like knowing how to recover and protect yourself; everyone will know how to do. There are still going to be difficult things to master, and countless new skills to aquire. It feels like the chains are off. The only limit is truly your mind.

GAMEPLAY

Like I said, this game feels very flexible. Rich asked if you could buffer moves into recovery. Once while getting hit by a low rising attack, I buffered a DE into my stun animation, so that as soon as my stun finished, I popped up with a DE. Is this what you mean? If so, I feel it's a good example of what I'm talking about. It's like you don't get stuck not being able to do anything for a moment, so you're always playing, moving, attacking, charging, throwing... It doesn't stop.

Sega has done something to make commands easier. I think anyone who's played can attest to that. Crouch Dashing is very easy. The DLC is easy (more on that later). Throws, combos, you name it; it's easier to do. Sometimes in 3, I'll get Akira's b,f+P+G while trying to get his d/b,f+P+G. This kind of thing didn't happen at all. Notice how Jeff said the Toe Kick Splash was easy? It's as if the ammount of slop allowed has been increased, but everything still feels very precise... I don't know how they did it.

Charge Atacks: probably the coolest addition. Everyone seems to have 1, and most are done with some kind of P+K command. Wolf has 2 that I know of, and I'm sure there are many more, as they can't all be punch/shoulder/body attacks, and there must be some K/K+G ones somewhere. At normal speed (just tapping the buttons), charge attacks come out very quickly, and do little damage. Fully charged, they become guard breakers, causing a stagger; and if they hit at full charge... I saw Shun take about 60% damage. Keep in mind that's a hit you can see coming a mile away, and it's very easy to hit people out of their charge, since they're defenseless. I had fun trying to use charge attacks for Okizeme, and against Instant Recoverers. I got hit with rising attacks a lot, but with some practice, I feel this'll be a nice tactic. Could make people think twice about PKG'ing up. Very fun to use. Throwing afterwards doesn't seem guaranteed to me. I have a feeling we'll be seeing people recovering and throwing the forward dashing attacker after having been guard broken soon. There are som many things I want to try. Charging again after breaking the guard etc...

Dodge Attacks: These seem to vary in usefulness. Basically, as soon as you tap up or down, you can hit PKG and get the dodge attack. Akira's is the old b,f+P+K+E and it works like a charm. Since it comes out really quick, you can still do it in tight spots like after having your DE guarded. And since you can choose up or down, you can choose which way he (they) moves. Wolf's is interesting. Yamcha said it seemed cheap to him. Jeffry's is probably one of the weaker ones, but maybe I just don't know how to use it. Seems you can delay the PKG so that it comes out a little later if you want. Overall, these seem to increase the arch of the Dodge, so that you get a healthy side step followed by a really quick attack. For the most part, dodge attacks seemed to hit almost every time (except whem Yamcha reversed mine!)

Instant Recovery: Like Jeff said, if you aren't IR'ing, you're in trouble. In addition to the fact that everything seesm to hit OTB now, pounces seems to have seem sped up for many characters, namely Shun, Sarah, Jacky (Shun for sure, J&S are questionable). SO if you don't want to get endlessly nailed, you'd better get up. You can get up in three ways: Normal PKG: like the old headspring, tap right as you hit; or Down or Up and PKG: which will let you roll in/out of the screen. Once you're up, it seems like you're pretty much ready to go. Yamcha kept doing Okizeme with Pai's d/f+P, and after IR'ing I managed to reverse it right away. On the other hand, CPU lion once put me down and as I IR'd, he nailed me from behind with his dodging punch (now his dodge attack) RIGHT as I was getting up... looked like I was still headspringing; so I'm not totally sure of the exact case. Managed to throw an IR'er a few times... there's a small pause seems like.

Seems that if you IR to the side against and aggressive player, you might be able to get a side/back situation. While Jeff said that there seemed to be no reason to stay down, I feel that once people start applying real pressure to instant risers instead of going for combos, people will start to stay down and opt for rising attacks more, time will tell... If you're going for a little otb damage and they IR, your attack will whiff as they get up, and you'll be on even ground, maybe even at a disadvantage. Or you could just wait for them to IR, then use your new Handy Teleporting Giant Swing (it's SO out of controll..) and take over half.

Movement: This seems to be everyone's main concern. At first, while it was easy to move 8-way style, escaping seemed a little daunting. Slowly though, I started to figure it out. Like Jeff and others pointed out, your dodge depends on what the opponent is doing. If you have no relationship to the opponent when you dodge, it'll be a little smaller than a VF3 dodge. BUT, if you dodge while the opponent is attacking, and your timing is right, you will dodge PERFECTLY to the side or back of the opponent.

This happens in varying degrees. When escaping a rising attack (counter-clockwise for ALL face up/feet towards), if you time it right you will slide in unison with the kick, and recover just before the oppt, giving you time to do whatever you want to their exposed side. The catch is that aside from the Dodge Attacks, it seems at this point you must wait for the dodge to finish to input any command. I'm sure you can buffer it, but it won't come out 'til the dodge is done. I could be wrong about this, but that's how it feels. You have to wait just a second, but you'll have enough time. Doesn't sound effective? I once escaped some kick of Jacky's to his back side, and landed a deep bodycheck to his back for about 80% damage! That's 80%, not 80 points. I don't think that's special test-only damage either. Thw damage settings seemed very tuned and right to me. Sounds like VF2, eh?

Now, aside from those "tuned" dodges, there's also a few other special dodges floating around. First, we noticed that in some cases, dodging correctly got you a big, 180 degree dodge all the wat to the oppt's back! The dodges I just mentioned do just enough, and end just in time to attack/miss the attack. These other dodges are really exaggerated and place you quickly and squarely behind the oppt. I only saw ti=his a few times, but it seemed to happen against low attacks, and MAYBE near the wall. I'm not sure. The other special dodge is the one that involves some shouting that Jason(?) mentioned. I saw Lau and Pai do this I think. It looked like they did a small dodge, and some strange stepping, like raising their feet. Maybe this is the special low kick guard/whiff animation jeff mentioned? Speaking of which, characters guarding a low punch while standing do so by raising their forward leg and blocking with their shin. Overall the guard animations are great, they block really visibly. I saw jeffry raise his arm up by his head specifically to block a high kick; it looked great. I know they do this already to some extent, but it's really nice looking now.

Okay, I'm wasted. More tommorow. I can't wait to talk about Akira... and IMO if it weren't for lighting this game could be done on the DC, let alone PS2. But that's not to knock down it's graphics, they rock. It just seems AM2 used polys/texture right where they needed to.

Spotlite

 

Big thumbs up for the report, Spotlite. Keep the in-depth VF4 reports coming people.

Kruza

 

Man, that was beautiful. BTW if you haven't heard, they have VF4 at Southern Hills Golfland now.

Was I really that predictable with Pai? =P

 

great report there. IMO this is up there with the best on the web. You guys go really indepth.

CIN

 

Wow...*sniff*...that was beautiful. My fears of the game's depth are allayed - it will have something to offer to players of all skill levels.

Much thanks to Jason, Jeff, and Spotlite for the sexy reviews!

 

Sounds terrific; I can't tell you how refreshing it is to hear first-hand reports on VF4 from people who actually know their Virtua Fighter. I can just see the EGM feature now: "Sarah Combo -- PPPK"

This game is gonna rock. I almost wish I had enough extra money to flat-out buy an arcade game. Seems I'll end up spending as much money at the arcade anyway.

 

Cool report Brian, I know what you mean when you say VF3 feels so awkward on first try. But man, after the E button, VF4's escape system feels awkward.

VF3 is the type of game that isn't so fun when you start off, but as you get better, the game just gets better and better.

VF2, on the other hand, is fun on the intermediate level, but it seems like a pretty annoying game when you get really advanced.

Hopefully VF4 takes the best of both...fun to start out with, fun as you get better and still fun at the highest levels of play.

 

i thought you said you never played vf2 much at all, jeff. are you going by admittedly limited personal experience or did you play the game at a high enough level for long enough to know?

 

Note the "...seems like a..."

I wasn't very good at VF2, but I definitely had access to really good competition. And I was a dangerous scrub with 2.0 Kage. Plus I did know some VF2 theory.

 

My VF4 Report from Hayward Pt. 2

VF4 Playtest Report Part 2

MOVEMENT CONT’D

As I said before, since most commands seem to have been made easier, the crouch dash is now very easy to do. Not that it was really difficult before, but it did require a little practice. Now it feels very easy to get a LONG crouch dash forward. In addition, you can do multiple crouch dashes; I was doing CD,G,CD,G,CD…. Taiwan Step style. The only thing that would keep us from doing VF2 taiwan step is that Multiple Back Crouch Dashes are not possible, and Back CD seems shorter than the forward one. I did get some Back CDs out back to back, but it’s a little slow, and the character kind of stands up a little between each whereas going forward you can remain crouching dash to dash.

The crouching Back Dash looks a little like doing B+E,D/B VF3; more of a quick, short step, while the new forward CD is deep and long.

In Jeff’s post, he said that Korean Step as we knew it in VF3 couldn’t be done; to some extent I agree (in that we can’t do big dodge, CD, big dodge… But in VF3, I always canceled my dodges pretty quickly into the CD/BD, and I was able to do this in 4. The closest thing I was able to get to KS was Up, CD, Down, CD: escape into the screen, crouch dash, escape out of the screen, crouch dash. This seemed pretty seamless to me. I didn’t try canceling a dodge into the back dash/back CD; but like others have said, you can cancel the Forward CD with the Back CD. So it seems you could do quite a bit with some practice, but you aren’t going to get a long dodge without some relation to the oppt, and even then I’m unsure if the "special" dodges can be canceled with anything but the PKG attacks.

Overall, I like the new system. Of course you won’t be able to fly around the screen KS style right off the bat, but it feels natural and responsive to me. I think the new flexibility of the CD is to compensate for the lack of the big E from 3. At first it felt rigid, but after a few hours I started to get the hang of it. The 8-way step is nice to set up ring position, especially when trying to line up the oppt with a hole in the wall (more on that later). Other than that it’s use seems limited. I doubt you step around someone for Ura, but maybe. By combining the 8-way step, the dodges, and the new crouch dashes, I’m sure that we’ll be seeing some crazy movement. Like most of this game, it feels pretty flexible to me, but others may not think so.

I think the biggest plus of this new system is that while the E button took a long time to master/understand, the stick is pretty straightforward and I think it’ll be a lot easier for new players to pick up, and vets will be able to do what they want , and more, with a few good sessions of practice.

DAMAGE

This is still unclear. Like I said the damage settings feel good to me. 60% Giant Swings, SPoDs and 80% TetsuzanKous may sound like too much, but when you see the damage given by PK, PG throws, elbows and other staple moves, it all seems balanced. In the face of the big damage moves, some things have also been toned down, like the DLC. In the clip at Gamespot of Akira and Kage in the Aquarium, you’ll notice that the Shoulder takes almost as much damage as the DLC (DLC damage down, shoulder damage up). I’d also guess that damage from air combos has come down overall, due to the fact you can combo like crazy now. Jeff pointed out that Jeffry’s combos did big damage, but I’d guess that was because it’s Jeffry (power character).

THROWS

One of the bigger changes… When throwing, it looks like the characters arms QUICKLY flash in front of him/her, then the throw comes out. So there’s a small pause between input and contact. A lot of throws have a sort of "snap" sound that happens when it connects, then the normal throw sounds. Most throws seem to have a LITTLE more range as well, due to the reaching animation. It’s like they reach, then snap to the opponent as the animation begins; with Wolf reaching VERY far, sometimes 2/3rds of the way across the screen (more later) with his PG throw. With a little practice, I think a lot of players will be escaping PG throws visually, provided the TE window is the same as it used to be, and it seems that it is. If you’re wondering, it doesn’t look like the Tekken pre-throw animation… it has it’s own, good feel.

You’ll notice Jeff said it was now near impossible to block a low attack, then dodge to get a low side throw, and I agree. I found that even after blocking a low rising attack, I didn’t feel a front low throw was guaranteed, due to the sight execution time, same with high risers. Could be wrong, but it doesn’t feel like it’s guaranteed. The lack of a block animation also hurts you here. But, after a move like D+K+G with Pai, I got it every time. I also think that if you properly dodged rather than blocked a low attack, you’d be able to nail a low side/back throw no problem.

Side throws are pretty rare now, but this could be because people haven’t had time to adjust to escaping; or many the dodge isn’t cancelable with PG. Either way, they’re also escapable now. I’m wondering if low side throws and command side throws can be escaped as well.

One of the other things I noticed is that using dashes, you can now delay the throw (or attack) command until WAY into the dash, so that f,f and d/f, d/f throws have BIG reach now.

You’ll also notice right off the bat some throws automatically cause a special camera angle. The Giant Swing, Splash Mountain, Akira’s ST and b,f+P+G, Shun and Lei-Fei’s PG etc. all trigger a specific view. To be honest, I’m hoping this doesn’t happen EVERY time, which it seems to right now. We’re going to be playing this for years, and I don’t want to see these moves from set angles every time. That’s always been one of the niceties of VF, the really intelligent camera that never gets stale. On the other hand, some throws like Akira’s d/f+P+G never caused a special view, so…. It’s be cool if there were a couple special views for certain throws that were triggered randomly, cut with a normal view to keep it fresh.

I’m not sure if it’s true for Aoi, but Wolf and Jeffry’s ground throws have been slowed WAY down. In 3, as soon as you hit the command, they lunge forward like a dash, bending down, and snapping into the animation somewhere around the feet. Now, they move forward a little and SLOWLY. At first, it seemed like it’d never work it’s so slow. After a little practice though, I started getting it. I think the trick is to get CLOSE and do it early. The throw seems to lock on right as they reach for the face now, even though they’re already standing over the oppt. Once I got the hang of it, I was able to pick people up, knock ‘em down, pick ‘em up… I also managed to get the face down version with Wolf once, it doesn’t seem as hard now. It still works good, you just won’t be zipping in from way across the screen anymore. The push seems the same speed/distance.

Aside from Wolf’s new dynamics, catch throws seem to work the same.

STAGES/WALLS

I was a little worried when I first heard about the new stages. I had really liked the undulating terrain of 3, and it seemed like a step back. While I do miss the big, varied stages and different floats, I think that with the way the rest of the game is designed, it wouldn’t have worked. Downhill floats might have led to 100% combos since air combos are much longer and easy to do. The game seems designed for quick, face to face play, and the closed stages facilitate this nicely. Most stages seem about the size of Akira’s in 3, even though they looked smaller in video clips. I can’t tell if there is any difference in size between them.

Despite what scrubs are saying elsewhere, ring outs are NOT rampant. The 8-way step and quick dashes/improved range attacks due to more delay time on f,f attacks kept me out of danger. Since you can IR (PGK roll) in 2 directions, it’s pretty easy to stay away from the edge. Even the new GS, with what seems like a longer throw didn’t really toss me out. It has to be said that aside from Yamcha, his friend (Aaron? Sorry) and Noah, I was playing with newbies, but it’s strange, I got hit into the wall a lot more than RO’d.

And there lies the coolest new addition to the stage game: redecorating. Smashing walls is really fun, even though exactly how to do it still remains somewhat of a mystery to me. Moves that would break walls one time wouldn’t the next… I think it has to do with what kind of hit you got. Or it could be that if you hit them with strong attacks while they’re stunned against the wall, it’ll break. The game seems to make sure you don’t break the wall and RO in the same moment as well. Most of the times that I was on the oppt’s ass and broke the wall, it seemed I was suddenly JUST off axis (that is the oppt and I were at a slight angle away from the broken wall, with the oppt going down. It’s almost like they bounce back off the wall when it breaks, instead of going through like DOA. If you look at screen shots, you’ll notice that the walls are put together in sections, about 4 or 5 to a side. They break 1 by 1, and it gets really fun trying to line up the oppt at the beginning of the round with the hole you made last round. I found knocking them down off the line, 8-way stepping to put them between me and the hole, then going for it when they got up worked well. Another thing is that the walls don’t explode into pieces like DOA, they sort of crumble slowly. I think this also puts a cap on instant break-RO. I want to clarify that it only takes one proper hit to do it, but it animates over about 2 seconds, with cool sound effects.

It seems like I smashed the wall and put the oppt and myself through all at once 1 time, but maybe I’m wrong. Anyone else break the wall and RO together? I’d like to know if it can indeed be done. We should start paying attention to which attacks/hit effect color and we’ll figure it out.

The walls in the Snowy Rooftop, Marina, Wrestling Ring, Aquarium, and maybe City Rooftop cannot be broken, although you can pop oppts over those that aren’t enclosed. I got Pai over the wall with a simple shoulder ram. Seeing the oppt land on the spiked wall before going over in snowy rooftop is gnarly.

Wall combos are much more common now, and are easier to do than in 3. You can do a pretty long combo, reach the wall, and keep going off the wall. I think we’re going to see CRAZY combos, like double PPPK combos with Lau and Pai. I saw the CPU Pai try it already. You’ll probably be able to do a combo, run it to the wall, then go OTB. The wall aspect is really fun.

AIR COMBOS

As you can guess, air combos are pretty wild, even at this very early stage. And unlike VF1,2 and 3, long combos can be made without special knowledge (ie senbon punch) right off the bat. In VF2, Knee, P, P, P, Knee (that is P,G,P,G…not PPP) for Jeffry was an advanced combo, and REALLY tough (is it even possible?) in 3. In 4, that’s like a first day or 2 combo. I already did Short Shoulder, P, P, P Short Shoulder with Wolf (last shoulder off the wall); but I did the same combo with the Low Drop Kick instead of the shoulder last, no wall. And I was P,Ging really slow (slower than VF3), I could tell it could be sped up a lot. It’s cool that there are now varied float animations. The highest seems to be the new face down, head towards float that happens after certain moves like the Yoho, maybe only on counter. It’s like hitting TB Dural, and in all floats they stay up longer. Whoever said they fall faster is a moron. Many moves seem to hit at lower heights as well. Lau’s b,b+p,d+ppp,d+k hits at just above knee height! And I mean all the punches hit.

I like that we’ll be seeing tons of original combos from everyone since the system is really flexible.

Real quick, I forgot to mention that it seems like some falls cannot be recovered from. I couldn’t recover from Pai’s d+K+G, and I tried many times, but got nailed in the back of the head with the pounce after going down every time. There’s a chance I wasn’t going fast enough (it took me several tries to recover from Kage’s d/b+K, but I eventually got the timing), but it seems like maybe you can’t.

Okay, I’m gonna post this as I keep typing.

Still to come: game speed, stages, animation, characters, vs CPU, etc.

Spotlite

 

Re: My VF4 Report from Hayward Pt. 2

If you’re wondering, it doesn’t look like the Tekken pre-throw animation… it has it’s own, good feel.

Whew! What a relief. This is what i was perhaps the most worried about, and am glad that throws are not Tekken style.

 

Re: My VF4 Report from Hayward Pt. 2

"due to the fact you can combo like crazy now."

Can you clarify this...

CrewNYC

 

well, vf2 couldn't be farther from "annoying" (!) at high levels of play. it's adrenalizing, and fun, as all fuck.

 

Re: My VF4 Report from Hayward Pt. 2

To reply/clarify.

Yamcha, you're not predictable. And even if you were, you'd probably still have been holding your own against my dumb ass! Your friend was schooling me with his PPP, PG, kickflip Jacky!

Jeff, I agree that VF3 is a game that totally blossomed over time, I think all good fighting games do. I guess what I was tryingto say is that when I went from 2 to 3, it felt like I had been running at full speed, then I suddenly was running knee deep in water. I liked that VF3 was obviously more of a "mental" game, whereas 2 seemed more of a "technical" game; but regardless of how the game grew over time, 'til I was able to do many things, I felt it was a little too stunting at the get go. Seems like we've been spending the last few years trying to get VF3 characters to do certain things, and therein lies it's evolution. While I was playing 4, I felt like while I'd have to practice/figure out some stuff to get my character to move like he did in 3, it wouldn't take too long, and there was already a whole array of stuff that wasn't possible in 3 that I could do right away. What really seems cool is that all of the ways in which the game will grow are still unknown! People didn't know about KS until Maximum Battle, and they had been playing intensely for a while... What will be the thing in VF4 that reveals itself at a similar time (relatively early in the game's life)... what will we find after that? But I can see how it seems limiting, you're playing Kage HAAHH! Sorry, low blow there!

Adam, regarding the throws... I have to warn you that is IS different than all other VF games, but still not like Tekken. If you watch the clips, you can BARELY see the reaching, when you play you'll see it clearly. It sort of reminds me of how the new dodges work: if you want to dodge a move, you have to do it RIGHT, and you'll be greatly rewarded. You have to be a little more diliberate and a little more careful in some spots, such as countering a rising attack with a throw or throwing after a stagger. You can still do it, but you have to make sure it's the right choice for that time (ie you know the oppt will hold guard). The slightly extended range would seem to compensate for this.

Andy, I don't know what more I can say about air combos that I didn't say in my "AIR COMBO" section. Oppt's seem to stay up longer now, and since speed has come up a little, some floats have been made higher, some moves hit lower or OTB, and the walls help you out, combos are much easier.

If my final post will be up late tonight or tommorow.

Spotlite, the semicolon slut

 

I dunno bout that, Jeff. VF2 at high levels of play is incredibly fun - in fact I still sit on the fence at times as to which I like better, VF2 or 3? VF2 at high levels was an unbelievably fast paced game and loads of fun. Still is.

cheers,

<font color=white>Llanfair</font color=white>
<font color=orange>Booyah daddy mac! I'm stylin!</font color=orange>

 

Re: My VF4 Report from Hayward Pt. 2

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

I was doing CD,G,CD,G,CD…. Taiwan Step style.

<hr></blockquote>

Spotlite, were you able to actually cancel the CD animation with G? Like in VF2 - to stop and start wherever? Or do you have to let the whole CD animation come out like VF3?

cheers,

<font color=white>Llanfair</font color=white>
<font color=orange>Booyah daddy mac! I'm stylin!</font color=orange>

 

Re: My VF4 Report from Hayward Pt. 2

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

In VF2, Knee, P, P, P, Knee (that is P,G,P,G…not PPP)

<hr></blockquote>

Must be PKGs. If you have a decent senbon then this combo isn't hard.

cheers,

<font color=white>Llanfair</font color=white>
<font color=orange>Booyah daddy mac! I'm stylin!</font color=orange>

 

Spotlite thanks for the nice report. I appricate that you didn‘ t repeat the statements of the other guys. I find it a good thing that Jeffreys Toekick Mountain Splash (like Vf1)and Akira’s DLC are easy to preform, now even the bad VF players will be able to have fun with this fantastic moves. As I see, the strong points in Vf4 are in it’s difference towards VF3(like a new paradigma). But we shouldn’t say better or worse then Vf3 ......it’s different. So now , we can start learning in some ways„a new game“. I’m happy to make this new experience.
I’m also happy that Akira’s Double punch move(b-f P+K,also charching attack)is faster then in Vf3.
Charging moves as guard brakers(not tekken-like but staggers) Rembers me of Akira’s single palm against chrounching Lion(low guard) in Vf‘2 nice stagger he falls on his ass.

cya

 

Re: My VF4 Report from Hayward Pt. 2

With the 1-frame Taiwan step, the fuzzy guard, the senbon, iageri, all-powerful low punch...I found VF2 really frustrating at times against players that knew all the tricks. Then again, most VF2 arcade machines in Singapore are 2.0.

 

I'm very new in this VFDC.. Can you tell me what DLC stands for ?
And is there Slow Replay possible at VF4 also?
Thanks for your reponse in advance ......