Playing Consistent

What's up,

I have used a few searches on this question but I was unable to find any sort of answer. Can anyone out there in VF land give some tips on overall consistent good gameplay (with computer or peeps)? I'm all ears to any answer from wearing the same pair socks to herbal tea, i don't know... my gameplay can be best described now as hot or cold, I mean can be winning a good bit of matches in a row but then lose to some guy like two times in a row and then it just varies. Do many people have this problem? I would like to be luke warm or something, winning many times and losing every now and then. Just looking for tips on consistency. I mainly use Lei, just for reference.

Thanks in advance.

 

VF adeptness boils down to the formula Experience + Practice with techniques + Luck = Win %. Of all these factors, experience with the game is the most important. Unless you're one of those few gifted people that can become skilled by studying the game then implementing your theory, there's no way to get better without competition. If you're alone at the house and you need some challenge, jack the difficulty all the way up and take on the Arcade mode (this AI is actually tougher than any in Quest, in my experience). Also, practice both offensive and defensive techniques - Combos, E-DTEG, Inashi-DTEs, ECD, ARE, etc. Watching vids is helpful, as well.

Furthermore, here's some great advice I was given a while ago: When you lose a match, instead of being pissed off or whatever, sit down and think about why you lost. Consider the situations that had to occur and what you did in them that got you beaten. Once you know what you did wrong (froze up, thrown out of stagger, destroyed because you techrolled too much), work to fix it. This alone will improve how consistently you win matches.

In addition to the above, watch what your opponent does in certain situations, i.e. does he guard after being low punched, does he attack when rising, does he like to throw after staggering you? etc. Once you find out what he does, you can play to beat any of it. Finally, you can always chug Red Bull.

 

Imo in order to play more consitently you have to be able to optionselect cause Nitaku is very strong in VF. If you can't anybody who understands it on a fundamental level and just varies between p>attack and p>strongest throw etc -will- have a chance of beating you with the right character.

/KiwE

 

Thanks for the answers, so far.

OffBrandNinja,
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If you're alone at the house and you need some challenge, jack the difficulty all the way up and take on the Arcade mode (this AI is actually tougher than any in Quest, in my experience).

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I find this very interesting. IMHO, the hardest arcade mode is much easier than the highest level of AI, and I feel that playing much of Arcade will lower one's level of play as it is not generally frame based. However, for a good laugh every now and then I play arcade...the shit they do makes no sense what so ever! lol

I am def. one that gets a little angry upon losing, good advice.

Kiwe,

Damn you! You said what exactly I did not want to hear. This was in the back of my mind all along, "You know it's useful, just think how good you could become." The answer: "I'll do it later. More quest mode please..." But naw dude, I think you are correct, hmmmmmm i know you are correct. God! Well, looks like I'll spend a good time now back in training mode.

Thanks again.

Neeks

 

the arcade computer isn't better, they just cheat . ie, vanessa constantly counters everything.

 

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the arcade computer isn't better, they just cheat . ie, vanessa constantly counters everything.

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Yeah that's true. Most of the time when I play with a character that's punchy, Vannessa keeps reversing all of my hits. I think they put the com on auto reversal in arcade. To tell you the truth, so far I have never been reversed in Quest mode, only in arcade and especially against Aoi and Vannessa.

As for consistency, I believe that analyzing your matches, both your wins and losses, carefully to see what you did right or wrong. I myself was the type of person who would throw my pad to the ground or punch a wall ( /versus/images/graemlins/blush.gif I actually made a dent in my wall and destroyed my pad, I had to get a new one /versus/images/graemlins/blush.gif). The main thing is to not get over-frustrated if you get like 5 match losses in a row. If you feel like you are going to destroy something, pause, take a breather, and analyze your mistakes. That seems to help me so far. Also what I would suggest if to save replays and watch them over to see what you did right/wrong in matches. It is a good idea and it helps in the future. You don't have to keep the replays, just review them and then delete them to save memory. This little idea has proven to be helpful to me.

 

also, the arcade computer has a tedious habit of reversing every throw, even after jab counter hits.

 

who should you watch?

Thanks again for the answers. Now I have another general question for you guys:

While you guys are playing against CPU or human, who do you usually watch more: the person you are fighting or your actually player? Or about even?

Thanks

Neeks

 

Re: who should you watch?

I don't think that I focus on one character more than the other to a significant degree. I usually choose to watch a character by threat level. If I'm tech-rolling I'm focusing on what the opponent is doing, if the opponent is tech-rolling then I tend to watch my character to get the spacing and timing right, and if both players are stepping around the ring trying to bait each other I watch both. It's not something I think about consciously though, it just came naturally as I played more.

P.S. KiwE your avatar is scary ^___^

 

Re: who should you watch?

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P.S. KiwE your avatar is scary ^___^

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"I know!!" © Monica @ Friends ^____^. Anything for fun / lighting up this joint without the usual matches and gasoline =P

Neko; Another thing about watching imo is; try to check stance of both characters at times (specially if you're both playing the space > whiffpunish game) to land stance spec combos when you get the chance and during your TR take notice of your opponents stance aswell (since that's already where you're looking).

/KiwE

 

Re: who should you watch?

Thanks again for the answers, most useful.

I'm glad you said that KiWe. The very idea of the stance watching is what brought up my question. Because I read somewhere recently that many of Sarah's attacks can be evaded from the front, so I was watching her and figured: well how much should I really be paying attention to her and to my character for that matter!

If anyone has any more tips to my above questions, then please respond. This is very interesting.

 

Re: who should you watch?

All i can say, is that im REALLY bad at this.

I don't know if im bad at multitasking, but when i focus too much on foot position i seem to get owned :\

 

Re: who should you watch?

Foot position is my now obssession. I play Lau and you need to watch for that shit if you don't want to get reamed by fucking up the follow-ups to or. It's a little tedious to be honest, especially since the combos are the same for both moves, but are reversed according to foot position.

 

Re: who should you watch?

well that's only because switches your foot position.

yeah, life sucks.

 

Re: who should you watch?

Get used to seeing stance after your combo starter has hit. Will make your life 100x easier.

It's kinda tough for Lau's +, though, since you have to see sace before the 1st hit. You could just do +, WR instead of +. I use that when I just stick out + at random, but if I am punishing/linking after + I see the stance.

It's tough for Lei's ++ too. Can't think of any other starter that you have to see stance before the 1st hit.

 

I feel that the highest arcade level is a joke compared to the highest A.I. I never have to try until I get into the fourth arcade level. On a good day I can beat the arcarde three for four times with three or four losses. Against the highest arcade levels I find it difficult to land a single blow.

 

Actually it's kind of reversed for me. I find having trouble when going back to the low level arcades. I get all "WTF is this" and then when I get back to the higher level arcades I get messed up. It's all a matter of just playing it through and getting used to the gameplay. Just keep on playing and keep practicing. Before I even go to Quest I always start out with Command Training to flex my hands and then I do some combo practices in Free Training to help me remember my combo's and to keep them fresh for Quest.

 

I find that playing consistent is a matter of your body as well. Don't laugh, but I noticed that it's a lot harder to win in any game that requires quick reflex when either: extremely tired, or on a caffiene rush.
I've only gotten into Virtua Fighter over the last two years, but I played a lot of Soul Calibur, and Tekken. I noticed in the later two that when really tired, or after drinking Pepsi, I would be prone to five times as many losses. It's gotta be even worse in Virtua Fighter since the game is so much more technical. I think I lost after the caffiene intake because it made my body jittery, but didn't make me any more quick with my reflexes/responses.
Beer is another story...
Also I would have to say that Virtua Fighters practice mode is a great gift to fans of the game, or any players that plan on getting better. Spend a lot of time there, and you will have to improve. I couldn't believe the amount of depth in practice mode. It's unbelievable.

 

Actually that is a very good point jrtien. Like any physical activity it is hard to move quickly and naturally when you are tense or frustrated (or tired or on drugs or whatever.)

 

One comment on playing consistently:
Don't forget that quest mode has the advice menu. You can use this constantly to analyze the data from matches won and lost in a very easily digestable form. Notice that you tend to lose when your throw success rate is low? Try to be more spontaneous, and throw after garuanteed throw moves, etc., etc.

This is an interesting topic, considering that I think I am an intermediate player, likely below many of you in skill, and yet I can still think of some things that might help. How 'bout that?

As far as which character to watch, I would put my money on the other character. If you are good enough, I imagine you know approximately where your character is and if you are successfully executing his/her moves without having to watch the representation on screen. You don't, however, know for sure what your opponent is up to until they actually do it. Watching them can be key to dealing with what they throw at you, if your reflexes are quick enough.

Just a couple of humble comments. Again, this is funny coming from someone without much experience, but what they hey.