Share what you've learned (VF related)

Whether it's educational, interesting, funny, frustrating or just downright silly: please, share it here with the rest of the VFDC fam /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

This is something that I realized I was doing wrong:
I use to have a "different standard" for how to "win" in VF than I did for other fighters.
While at work, I watch quite a few youtube vids and I love to watch SSF2T vids and 3S vids almost as much as VF vids. Now, there's a lot of cheezy crap that happens sometimes in these other games but I see it all as "acceptable". I watch it and I think "well, he fell for it" *shrugs* /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif
But with VF, it's not "acceptable" when Vane/Jacky/Sarah run around and turtle all day long.
It's not "acceptable" when people ALWAYS attack out of disadvantage.
Etc.; etc.; etc.;

These self-imposed "rules" and "regulations" only limit me. I remember Jeneric (I think) mentioning this in some other thread. I forgot what people were complaining about but that was his response.
Don't worry, I'm not going to become a Brisal with DMP+K or an AbruptAddyPaddy with 2P but only bc I know that these moves get a little boost online so I'm not going to center my game around them but I will try to throw them out more.

In the same vein, I've learned that blaming my opponent for why I lost the match is the wrong way to go. To truly improve and grow, you need to point that finger at yourself.
YOU are the reason you lost the match.
It's not the game's fault. It's not your opponent's fault for finding your weakness and exploiting it.
It's your fault for not adapting and overcoming.
You. Nobody and/or no other thing is to blame.
You can blame lag if it will help to make you feel better but if you're playing online you should be counting lag in your calculations. Meaning that if you got advantage and go for an elbow and get beat out by 2P. Next time, you should do a 2P first. Lag messes things up but it doesn't totally negate advantage.

And here's a funny thing I've realized for quite some time but never mentioned it in a thread: there's a lot of egos on the line in every fighting game and it's hilarious /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif
Lol, seriously, why do people put their egos out there to be crushed. Just bc you've been playing the game longer, know more about the game, blah blah, whatever reason you think that you're entitled to winning does not mean that you're going to win.
There are no guarantees during fights. Anyone can get knocked out at any time. I mean, it's a game where only two people play at a time, ONE of you is going to lose. There's a 50/50 chance of you losing EVERY time you play. That's why I don't understand all the pulling and ranked matches BS.
Hahaha, I use to use ranked matches to warm up for player matches /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif
But now I care /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif
... ok, not really XD
Any 10th Dans out there that want my seemingly eternal Master rank, holla at me if you see me online. But you're going to have to beat me though /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

I learned something else from Konjou today but I won't write about it until my brain fully digests it... as if my brain had a stomach... and Konjou gave it some food for thought... ok, I've said too much.
XD
Anyways, please share things that you've learned, VF related of course /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

 

I learnt to travel!

I'm not usually the kind of person that steps outside my house but the London trip was fun and had some good matches /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

Also since playing human competition, i've found the power of spam. When playing against the CPU or friends/family before I always felt funny about repeating moves, like it's something that should be avoided but since playing real life VF folk i've realised I was wrong.

 

I learned that sticking to one character to "make him perfect" is bullshit.

Using characters - you maybe never used before - and maining them temporarily is necessary. It makes fun and you get insight into other characters and learn strategies you can utilise against the characters themselves.

 

I learned that I have to put my full attention on what my opponent is doing and how they are reacting to my every decision. This way I prevent myself from becoming predictable by paying attention to what my opponent did when I performed an action. Also paying attention to how often my opponent favors one manuver over another, which side it's taking place on, do they TR more often after I hit them with a particular move?

All these questions require me to go into a zen like state of mind which actually ends up slowing the game down for me. This state of mind requires me to be unaware of my own character in terms of itself but only in terms of my opponent.

 

<span style='font-family: Comic Sans MS'>Here is a passage from the Konjou chronicles. This is from chapter 8: His own experiences - 3 pages into the chapter, starting on the 3rd paragraph of that page. It reads:</span>

" <span style='font-family: Comic Sans MS'>I've learned that 8 out of 10 times you already know the answer as to why you are losing and what you have to change in order to get the win. The hard part is that when you are pressured it's really hard to think clearly. Before the round or a new match starts you will say in your head "when he does this I know he will follow up with this, so I just have to do this and I can regain control of the match and get the win. "

This is always easier said than done, because once the VF announcer says " ready go! " and your opponent starts to put on the pressure you immediately forget your game plan. I can't tell you how many times I have fallen victim to this curse throughout my gaming years. If it was one thing I could change about myself it would be the ability as a gamer to go unaffected by pressure. When someone is over pressured and taken out of there comfort zone or forced to change how they are comfortable playing the game it's really, really easy to call foul or blame the other person for being gay and getting the win. I know this realm all to well for I have ventured deep into it during my early gaming years. I let this uncomfortableness infect me like a cancer. A cancer that almost consumed the very essence of what it means to be a hardcore gamer. A cancer which made me appear to be like a drunken alcoholic poisoned with the intoxication of envy and hatred for the fellow gamer who was just simply better. And like a wasted alcoholic who could barely stand I teetered tottered about until I fell! I fell so hard that I was down and out of the game for almost 1 year.

Lucky for me I had an open mind and most importantly I had great friends who were not afraid to tell me that the reason I suck is my own fault. They taught me that if I looked into myself and changed a few things about how I look at the game that I would overall become a better player. Taking this new found revelation back to the dojo I learned to accept criticism no matter how bad it seemed. I also learned that while I may complain out loud to myself in the comfort of my own home to a match that I am losing that it is clearly not my opponents fault. I can't blame him or her for exploiting my weakness or for just simply being a better player. What I need to do is first realize that they are better and decide whether I want to devote the time and effort necessary to over come them. If I choose to not take the time out and make the necessary sacrifice to practice and strengthen my basic skills then I have no right to complain about anyone. I simply need to just shut the fuck up and except that I am nothing more than a mediocre player living in the fantasy world by brain created where I have elite skills.[/size]</span> "


<span style='font-family: Comic Sans MS'>It's a great book... I think you guys should try reading it sometime. Maybe it will help you like it has helped me.</span>

 

Gotta publish it first =D

 

I'd buy that book Konjou!

 

I learned that Konjou already knows what my options are and is just waiting to punnish with his adaptive Akira. I wish he would use him more.
I also learned that your brain can figure out the answers to your VF problems while you sleep. zzzzz2p2p2pzzzzzzzzzRising move...zzzzzz 2p on block zzzzzzz --DMPKDMPKDMPK.

 

<--- not much apparently

 

VF changed my whole "philosophy" of fighting games. I used to prefer fighters that had auto pilot bs unstoppable strats. VF isn't anything like that, atleast Sarah isnt for that matter. When I started, I had to basically throw everything else about fighting games out the window and take in anew. Like learning a new foreign language. Well, I like this language better now.

Let's see what else, over the past year I threw any resemblance of an ego, I may or may not have had, out the window. Simply because that shit is pointless, and it only frustrates you, and the people you play. End up making excuses for why you lost, and not giving any credit to the other guy. This goes out to everyone and no one in particular, just give credit to people for once.

Hmm, strong players can still lose, and weak players can still win.

Howso?
Exploits.

Understand this, and you'll probably become a better player and person, imo. You can do something someone has absolutely no clue about, and beat them 100 times in a row at the game, does that mean you're a strong player? Nope. All you did was exploit your opponents lack of knowing what the hell is going on. That doesn't even make you better. Can you still win matches when your opponent knows how to fight you or your character? I made it a point, to let players know how to beat me, and the character I use. There's no exploits, this makes you a solid and strong player because it forces you to know how to actually play. If you or your opponent has no clue about what is going on, is it even fun? I mean seriously, for example, do people actually think they're good at a game if they keep using a throw someone has no clue what the escape is? Can you still hang tough if your opponent knows how to get out?

------------

There's alot of other things but, it's not something I can just easily post up right now, cause I can't put it into some words. Some of it is even execution related. Like the game's hits go in such slow motion for me it can sometimes be stupid easy to confirm moves and it even carried to other fighters(i.e. sf4).

 

Before VF i already knew white men can't jump.

Now i also know white men suck at beat em ups /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

 

lol. I wonder about this sometimes. It seems most the really good players aren't white. I'm trying to change that but...maybe i can't. Maybe the reason i'm not great yet IS BECAUSE i'm white, and nothing short of a negroplasty is going to change that. : )

 

Negroplasty doesn't work like that, tis a shame /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

 

Ha! Tell that to L.A. Akira, KrsJin, Rare Entity, Ladon (he's Cuban but he's the whitest Cuban you will ever meet XD ), Plague and two that I'm pretty sure are white but I'm not 100% on: AyuFanBoy and JHow77.
Try to tell them that they can't be as strong as they are cuz they're white /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

Slide, I feel you man, I got a lot of things that I can't put into words now and some stuff that would take up a lot of room so I figured I would just chime in at a later time with a separate post about.

Oh, one quick one: I use to have a bad memory, still kinda do but now, I don't know if it's bc of VF or what but I actually remember scenarios. Like what happened the last time I was in this same predicament. What I did AND what my opponent did. I use to never be able to do that. Now it comes to me like a flash sometimes and I get a sense or a feeling to not do what I did earlier that got me smacked... then sometimes I get a feeling that I should do it bc my opponent is expecting me not to /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
I've learned that good memory for situations in VF goes a long way... now if I could just work on these reflexes /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/tired.gif

 

When it comes to reading opponents, experience is one of the most helpful tools you have. Something the veterans have over us. Remember the very first time you were hit with Jab>Throw? Probably opened up your mind a little bit.

Imagine all of the little situations. When you become more and more exposed to them it becomes less surprising, and you begin to see patterns. Eventually you begin to see personal patterns, and then you begin to break down the methodology behind someone's offense. When you pinpoint the part of their character that makes them do what they do you've reached a level that most people wouldn't dream of reaching.

To what Slide was saying right on! I used to get so mad at every thing. I remember you tried to help me against Sarah and I just could settle down and hear the words you were saying. I just kept wondering why I couldn't do anything. Pride/ego are some of the worst things to have in this game. I tell my friends who get mad: "It's fine to be competitive when you're playing, but when the match is over it's time to put away the anger and be brothers again."

Dedicating myself to VF has made me such a better person...no question.

 

I never really understood just how much of a niche title fighting games are until I played VF.

I used to play fighting games, liked 'em, thought they were cool, and a large portion of the population still played them.

Then I realized the portion of people who play fighting games even a little more seriously than casual were actually few and far in between.

Also, people seem to be a LOT more pissed off about losing in a fighter, even if it was their own fault. I guess you can't hide behind team performance or a cheap gun like in a shooter.

 

Jhow77 is a skinny, but fairly tall lil white boy from minnessota. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

all of Minnesota players are white except me. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/whistle.gif

I have met JHow and Air Jacky, and couple more people.

 

Actually I'm Puerto Rican(for the most part), although my voice sounds pretty white and I dont speak spanish. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

Anyway, as far as stuff I've learned from VF I'm sure I've learned a lot of things but I'm too stupid to put them into coherent sentences.

 

Konjou your speech it had me at "8 out of 10"

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