reversal window too small?

I'm just a newbie, so I was wondering what the better players thought about this.

Isn't the reversal window just too small to be of practical use?

I mean, you can't do them on reaction, and even if you buffer them, you are usually hit before the reversal even has a chance to come out. I mean, if you kinda know what attack your opponent is going to do, why not just do a sabaki/inashi? Or a MC? What am I missing here? Why risk a reversal?

I'm not asking for silly DOA3 reversals, but just something that can be used a bit more often. And I see that even in high level play vids, that reversals don't exactly come into play. This is a big shame, because the reversals have some of the nice animations around.

 

"...I mean, if you kinda know what attack your opponent is going to do, why not just do a sabaki/inashi? Or a MC? What am I missing here? Why risk a reversal?"

That's most of the answer to your question right there. Reversals don't do that much damage compared to an MC/Inashi combo.

However, reversals are great to interrupt someone's flow and throw off their confidence ever so slightly (because you graphically told them that they are predictable).

I agree with your point of animation sweetness, though. Also, my experience has also included some gratifying "nice move," comments from some opponents after a reversal.

They're probably a beneficial addition to your arsenal of moves. Might as well use them from time to time.

 

R.O. and/or positioning. And some of the reversals can cause a LOT of damage.

 

You can buffer in escape throws while doing reversals. Which is great becos sometimes you kept thinking is your opponent going to throw or do a mid attack next. Just do mid reversal + escape throws /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

 

Thx guys, I guess I'll just practice until my fingerprints wear out (and submit an application to the CIA afterwards). I wish the reversals were more accessible to the non-veterans. It's a very sweet element of the game, and it's a shame that it's not seen by a wider audience.

Another thing I wish for (perhaps erroneously) is some sort of a ducking animation for mid/low reversals, you know, like Vanessa's elbow sabaki. I guess Pai's trip reversal has this, but I realize that that's an odd exception than the rule.

 

Yes in VF4 you have to kind of guess what your oponent's attack is going to be and reverse accordingly, with only a few exceptions (explain later).

To answer your question of why not just MC or sabaki if you knew what your opponent is going to do: MC needs your attack to land on your oponent BEFORE his/her attack lands on you. If you are in a disadvantage situation (e.g. your elbow was blocked), even if you know, say, your oponent is going to elbow you back, you can't MC, because even your fastest punch will not be fast enough to beat the elbow in this kind of situation (your oponent can move before you can after blocking your eblow). Since reversal happens immediately after you input the command, it will reverse successfully even if you are in disadvantage. Sabaki: yes you can choose to sabaki but lots of sabaki moves do not have any parry effect until later stage of the execution, so you may still get hit. If your character has a good sabaki move then you can go for it more often.

Reversal can be useful to interrupt a canned series attack. In some canned series, you don't have to guess what the attack will be; you only have to "see" "if" the attack comes out. For example Vanessa's f+PKK. After blocking the first two hits, you can anticipate the third and input bd+P+K when you actually see Vanessa does the last kick.

Another selection besides reversal is to dodge.