Opinion on playing VF at a competitive level

Based on every action you take or do not take will lead to various situations.

Listed below is how I categorise the various situations that can happen in VF, based on frame differences.

Even Situations – Both players have no frame advantage or disadvantage against each other. In general, strikes < guard, guard < throws, and throws < strikes.

Small Frame Difference(SmFD) Situations – the disadvantage player’s fastest attack can beat the opposing player’s fastest mid attack. Disadvantage player can avoid throws by ducking underneath the throw attempt or by striking the opponent with a non-clashable strike. Depending on the character matchups, this situation occurs at ±3 frames or less conditions.

Medium Frame Difference(MeFD) Situations – the disadvantage player’s fastest attack cannot beat the opposing player’s fastest mid attack. Disadvantage player is still able to avoid throws by ducking underneath the throw attempt or by striking the opponent with a non-clashable strike. Depending on the character matchups, this situation occurs between ±2 to ±6 frames conditions.

Large Frame Difference(LaFD) Situations – the disadvantage player cannot avoid throws by ducking underneath the throw attempt. Non-clashable strikes can still be used to beat throw attempts. Depending on the character matchups, this situation occurs between ±7 to ±11 frame situations.

Guaranteed Damage Situations – the disadvantage player is unable to defend against opposing player’s strikes or beat out opposing player’s throw attempts. Throw damage can be avoided with correct throw escape input. Depending on the characters, guaranteed damage situation can occur at ±9 frames or higher. Guaranteed throw situations occur at ±12 frames or higher.

Having knowledge of

1) the situation you and your opponent are in (listed above),
2) the options available not only to you but also your opponent at these situations,
3) the advantages and disadvantages of each option, and finally
4) deduce what "tendencies" your opponent do in the situation,

will allow you to decide on what action to take.

The stuff listed above is not new. I consider myself a medium level VFer attempting to improve my VFing to a higher level. It is just some way (at least to me) I try to approach the game and that I think will improve my VFing. Maybe it will help you in getting better at the game or maybe you think it is the wrong way to approach the game. If so, please add criticism or additional insights on how you think one can play VF at a higher level.

 

There are multiple ways of categorizing different situations in VF. The categories in the original post are based on what I believe are fundamental game mechanics of VFâ€â€

1) fastest attacks (aka standing punch), “universally†non-clashable (low punch!): 9-12 frame attacks depending on character.
2) fastest mid-attacks (aka the “standard†14 frame mid) 13-15 frame range mid attacks depending on your character ??
3) throws

In other words, I am categorizing the various situations by “high priority†moves shared by characters. By having some sort of “standard†categorization of the various situations in the game, discussion of positive and negative aspects of options (such as DM and OM commented by Makatiel and Chanchai) can be better appreciated and more efficiently used during fights.

Depending on character matchups, it is different. For example, let us use Pai versus Jeffry.

Pai – fastest attack (10 frames), fastest mid attack (14 frames)
Jeffry – fastest attack (12 frames), fastest mid attack (14 frames)

In this matchup

Pai Disadvantage Situations against Jeffry
SmD -1 to -3
MeD -4 to -6
LaD -7 to -11
Guaranteed -12 and above

Jeffry Disadvantage Situations against Pai
SmD -1
MeD -2 to -6
LaD -7 to -9
Guaranteed -10 and above

 

I'm not entirely sure I understand your sentence. Overall, the person who plays aggressive will have more advantage over the person who plays passive.