PS2 VF4 Trial Mode Translations: Pt. 2

Sarah's next after akira...

14C: dodge an attack and then do TE-G (ETEG) three times.
15A: demo - escaping low throws.
15B: Another demo, shows how you can stuff anticipated throws with P/low P
16A: First lau is shown using elbows successively to stuff predictable low punches... EG the opponent is staggered, struggles and low punches, and is staggered again. Then we're shown that blocking an elbow gives you the initiative to low punch another attack if the opponent tries one (especially since our opponent is Lau who uses lots of elbow-palm combos). Your challenge is simple, stuff lau's elbow-palm with low punch three times.
16C: Another example of how to avoid getting rushed. Lei does a simple canned 2-hit combo, then tries to land an u/f+K+G. We're taught that you can watch for the natural pause after canned combos, and then dodge the followup attack. You must dodge and counter (throws work well) vs. Lei three times.
17A: One more anti-low P demo. If you block one with standing guard, you easily have enough initiative to interrupt the next if you're facing a multiple low punch person.

18A: This one may be slightly lost on me. The idea is to guard and/or evade wolf's attacks after a TR. I think we're being taught the difference between holding guard (which gets instant alignment with the enemy, and thereby makes their attack track you better) and waiting half a second before tapping guard, which might make it miss. The problem I had here is that after getting up, half the time wolf does a shoulder ram (easily avoided) and the other half a dropkick (hits me every time) ... anyway, you only need to dodge once, and it's all good.
18B: After a TR, we're shown that you can be low thrown. However we're shown that if you buffer a low punch, it will beat the low throw. (if you do any attack it'll beat the low throw actually). So land five buffered low punches after TRing.
18C: After TRing, you can E-TE to help keep you safe. I find it helps to dodge towards wolf's rear leg. Successfully evade/TE 3 times.
19A: A demonstration. If you see a TR, you can use a sidekick to try for a stagger ... but if the opponent knows you're going to do this, their low punch may stuff the sidekick.
19B: If your opponent TRs and holds guard, you can dash in and throw. A demo that builds on the last one (where you've conditioned them with sidekicks).
19C: To be fair and complete, the game shows what -you- can do when the opponent decides to E-TE after they tech roll. Akira crouch dashes forward, waits a fraction of a second until aligned, then cuts loose with a shoulder ram. Their E-TE is nailed easily.
20A: Of course, the opponent might not TR at all. Akira does the logical thing and d/f+P's (or pounces).
20B: Shows how to do chibita's option select pounce: press u/b+P to either pounce or hop safely away after knocking the opponent down.
20C: some basic OTB combos that work if the opponent fails to TR. Just do SDE, SJK to breeze past this one. It's a damage-based goal.

More on getting up properly and okizeme:
21A: Time a sidekick vs. an opponent who gets up without attacking or TRing. The sidekick, if timed properly, may catch them crouching. I'm unsure if they game is saying the stagger is a sure thing if they fail to rise with a kick, or merely a smart thing to try for. Anyway, time it correctly 5x vs. Sarah.
21B. Now minor counter rising kicks. The game suggests you knock the opponent down with a high kick, but a move that leaves you in a more favorable position is f,f+K. With f,f+K it's easier to get out of the way of their rising attack and then minor counter with throw or sidekick. Practice G-buffered SDE minor counters here for a more practical challenge, or dash in and do a SPoD or at least a ST combo.
21C: Major counter rising kicks. Game suggests shrm, which is a beautiful thing if it works. If you have any trouble doing it however, SJK is easier to time.
22A: When being pressured as you get up, use rising kicks to hit them. 3x vs. Jerky.
22B: Ditto, but learn to vary the timing of your rising attack, e.g. use delayed rising attacks to stuff jerky's knees, or even get up completely and use P(G) to stuff them. 5x.

Using the stage to your advantage.
23A: switch to no-wall ring for a second to see a demo of how to deal with RO pressure. Pai PPP rushes akira out of the ring, so next time akira dodges, then 3D walks for a second ending up completely behind her.
23B: A simple example building on the above that shows how
throws that reverse the ring can be useful. Pai is sent out with d/b+P+G.
24A: use wall hits to set up a throw or combo. In this case sgpm against the wall causes the heavy, bending over reel animation (sort of confirms what I was talking about earlier: there are two wall-hit animations and this is the larger one).
Perform sgpm (wall), into a throw or combo (DJK for example. It's a damage trial. PERFORM FOR THE NICE COMPUTER, BOY.
24B: shows how the light wall hit animation (caused by a simple P(G) allows for a catch throw or basic combo (but not a regular throw, the CPU tries to d+P out of everything). Use f,b+P+G after your wall jab just to see the difference, then you can breeze through the trial with PP. 5x.
24C: shows how a wall hit (when you float them and they hit the wall, landing facedown) guarantees a pounce.
24D: now try using wall hits in your float combos or after certain throws. The game shows b,f+P+G, PK, bodycheck. This is a damage trial, so it's easy to finish.

Some Akira sequences and combos to master:
25A: A demo showing the effectiveness of bodycheck after a dodge. f,f+P, dodge their retaliation, bodycheck.
25B: Shows how d/f+P+K after your sgpm is blocked is a pretty strong pattern, one that interrupts minor counter attempts.
25C: Akira tries low punch into single palm as a flowchart, and the opponent stuffs the sgpm. Akira smartens up next time and does low punch, buffered dash, d/f+P+K. The low lunging punch irrationally beats an elbow for the easy KD. This useful trial teaches you two things actually: The bullshit-ness of d/f+P+K, and how you can use buffered forward or back dashes to go from crouching to standing instantly (something you need to do for the d+P, d/f+P+K sequence... since d/f+P+K must be done from standing). The d/f+P+K is 'reverse-modified'. Let's not try to make that term official.
25D: A demo showing how f,b+P+G, u|d, P+K can be blocked if the opponent is on the ball. Akira should out-think him by doing f,b+P+K, u|d, then guard break. The guard break (f+P+G) isn't elaborated on, but we all know b,f+P, AS3 works afterwards, right?
25E: A basic and popular akira flowchart: d/f+P+K, shrm. Then, when they wise up, d/f+P+K, throw. AIEE!

26A: Basic combos any retard can do part 1: SDE (MC), DJK. You just have to watch.
26B: Part 2: Shrm, P, b,f+P+K.
26C: Stpm (b,f+P), AS3 (d+K+G, f+K, b,f+P)
26D: A little tougher, this shows the uber-damaging combo that works even up to kage: Shrm, P, m-shrm, m-dbpm. I assume at least a tiny bit of that text explains modifying moves.

------
And that's it! you get a trophy! yaay!
Sarah's will be up soon (at least, the parts that are different).
Already I can see there are a lot.

 

Sarah's next after akira...

Heh, I thought the following was for Sarah and got seriously confused... /versus/images/icons/blush.gif
Then I figured out that you were continuing with the Akira training mode, and went "OMG! There's more to it! No shit! This game is awesome!!!!" Man, throwing this much detail into a training mode is such a fantastic idea. Thank you Y.S. Thank you AM2. I only hope the n00BBBBB out there will take the time to learn the game. In any case, these last couple of relative posts from Creed are the beginnings of a very important training mode FAQ. Good work.

21A: Time a sidekick vs. an opponent who gets up without attacking or TRing. The sidekick, if timed properly, may catch them crouching. I'm unsure if they game is saying the stagger is a sure thing if they fail to rise with a kick, or merely a smart thing to try for. Anyway, time it correctly 5x vs. Sarah.

I believe there is a phase while getting up with a TR/QR in which you are completely defenseless even though you may have been holding G the entire time. I've been a victim and have taken advantage of this many times while playing.

21C: Major counter rising kicks. Game suggests shrm, which is a beautiful thing if it works. If you have any trouble doing it however, SJK is easier to time.

I'm surprised they didn't pull out the knee for this part. I'm sure that they'll use knee for Wolf/Jeff for their 21C training trial.

22A: When being pressured as you get up, use rising kicks to hit them. 3x vs. Jerky.
22B: Ditto, but learn to vary the timing of your rising attack, e.g. use delayed rising attacks to stuff jerky's knees, or even get up completely and use P(G) to stuff them. 5x.

Yep, it is necessary to use attacks because of 21A.
Hah, I've delayed rising kicks too long and been able to interrupt opponents with a high/low kick. I might end up working on doing this on purpose with Sarah to get KP combos...

25C: Akira tries low punch into single palm as a flowchart, and the opponent stuffs the sgpm. Akira smartens up next time and does low punch, buffered dash, d/f+P+K. The low lunging punch irrationally beats an elbow for the easy KD.

Ayuh, same as Pai's low blue fist beating elbows...

Creed, can't wait for Sarah's, for obvious reasons... =)
but I'd like to make a request for Jacky's training to be translated sooner instead of later. There really is very little constructive talk about Jacky tactics on the forum, and I'd just like to hear about the "official line" on how to use Jack in VF4... /versus/images/icons/wink.gif Summers, could you help with this one?

 

I'm halfway through sarah but not as far as the super char-specific stuff yet.
Some quick bits from memory: You know how the game wants you to practice float combos with the nearly-canned shrm, p, DLC? With sarah's it's the attractive DC, chop-K, P-sidekick.

Sarah's dodge attack sucks monkey balls for the dodge trial because while akira can press u and then PKG immediately, doing so for sarah puts her right back in line with the opponent's attack and she gets MC'd. The attack portion of her DA doesn't naturally continue in the dir. of the dodge like shun/akira, she stops dead and kicks from the rear leg. Combine the non-dodginess of the sidekick with slow execution, and you've got something kinda crapzor. Does it KD on MC or something?

Last bit: the game is showing anti-dodge techniques, the opponent dodges towards sarah's front leg, and a knee whomps them out of the dodge. Whose idea was a tracking knee? Doh.

 

With sarah's it's the attractive DC, chop-K, P-sidekick.

Does P-sidekick do more than the flamingo kickflip? It shouldn't. If P-sidekick hits, PPK should also hit (the 2nd punch would probably whiff) and do a few more points of damage.... like 2 pts /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif

Sarah's dodge attack sucks monkey balls for the dodge trial...

Yep, but the flamingo DA (d|u+P+K) is really good though. Any chance of using flamingo stance in this trial?

Does it KD on MC or something?

Not that I'm aware of... better to dodge then elbow-chop if unsure, or dragon cannon if you're feeling confident.

Last bit: the game is showing anti-dodge techniques, the opponent dodges towards sarah's front leg, and a knee whomps them out of the dodge. Whose idea was a tracking knee? Doh.

All the "conventional knees" (and Sarah's and Kage's rising knees) have the same property AFAIK. It's easier to dodge knees to the back side IIRC. What about the dragon cannon? I don't think the dragon cannon has the same ability to track like knees do.

Quick comparison:<pre>
damage exe adv if blocked
knee 30 17 -12
DC 30 16 -16 </pre>

 

Aye...let's see..first I gotta translate every single piece of Japanese text in the game (it's got lotsa cool stuff in there..esp the bit where u can read up on ur own gameplay...cpu keeps track of how often u get hit by mid, high or low level moves in every round..how dominating u are->judging by how much life u still have left whenever u win a round....etc etc etc)

I am positive this will be useful for many people here...after all...we all like to think we have 'few flaws' in our game plan hehehehe

U'll be suprised! the Cpu even keeps track of very very tiny details such as % of successful TR/QR or the amount of times u use G-cancel moves to gain frame advantage etc etc

That'll take me a good hr or so...provided that I dun get side tracked n start playing the game instead /versus/images/icons/smile.gif /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

Constructive talk abt Jacky tactics?...
Hmmm..someone will have to get the ball rolling.
I simply have no idea where or how to start...seeing that everything is kinda crystal clear to me

 

My god.
Does it keep track of these stats vs. human competition too? This is an incredible amount of detail... I'm surprised no one mentioned it before.

Constructive talk abt Jacky tactics?...
Hmmm..someone will have to get the ball rolling.

Hah! =)
That's why I wanted to start with the training trials... to get the bee-bee rolling.

 

Just a bit more for 24B. You actually can get a regular throw off the light wall hit, and it is guaranteed, it's just a bit rough on the timing. It is worth it to learn though, as a good number of characters now get access to their wall throws from the light wall hit animation.

 

YEAH.. I needed this part the most!!

very appreciated man !!