Sorry: Scrubby Question

I was wondering if VF featured button buffering? I'm a Tekken player and in Tekken, button commands that involved hitting 2 or more buttons together could be done by holding one button down and tapping the other one(s). Does Virtua Fighter feature this?

The reason I'm asking is that movement oriented button commands like Lion's special dodge (ub or uf+P+K+G) might be hard to do if the game is sensitive to the button command accuracy. But with button buffering it should be a snap to do it quickly and with a minimum of error.

 

I have yet to play VF4, but considering that prior iterations of the game did not have this feature then it is unlikely that it will make an appearance with VF4. It really isn't necessary either since VF control is more lenient when it comes to recognizing the actual "button pressing" part of commands.

the ching man can

 

The Short Answer: VF's very lenient with buffering. In fact, I think it's extremely well designed in the input buffer. You can be off by a split second between inputs, but it should generally register properly. Toying around trying to figure out how the input buffer works (my friend and I felt inspired to actually figure it out and try to see if we could emulate it in a program), we realized at how nice the system is in the designer's calculations of what a natural time would be to allow multiple button inputs to register as either simultaneous or stringed.

Long Blurb on the Buffer:
VF features a pretty well designed input buffer. It is my opinion that it is among the best in any game.

Anyways, I couldn't explain the whole buffering system, but generally for things like the VF4 inputs for special dodges... My *assumption* based on previous VFs is that:
-When you are stringing along inputs, they generally follow the flow or what they should be doing, but Guard will put "Guard" and then a sort of a null in the buffer (like saying "end of string").
-Rolling inputs is pretty much like inputting one after another. Rolling from P to K will do P, K. VF doesn't rely very much (if at all) on rolling the way Tekken does at times.
-Special dodges will probably end whatever string you were doing into the special dodge. However, while you are in the special dodge, you should be able to buffer a variety of commands to immediately work as you recover.
-This property generally is the same as in recovery of attacks and other moves that render you not functional for a small amount of time.
-As far as I know, the buffer has a short time of memory, it's not like inputting a ton of things will get all of those out. Inputs have to generally still be close to real-time or as intended.

Anyways.... I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm sure some people like GLC, or Bungle, or Rich could explain this way better than I ever could. Buffering is a big thing in VF, but I don't think it's like Tekken (not in my experience anyways). The main thing that can be pre-buffered though are direction inputs. At least in my experience.

What I will say is that VF is VERY FLEXIBLE (especially VF4) about inputs. It's almost like it knows what you are intending to do and it will do it so to speak. Some things will require special timing, but a lot of the general things will be working on command or close to it (in those cases where you're hindered from acting--at a disadvantage or animation of sorts).

You'll get to experience it when you start playing. Just keep toying with it, it's actually a very intuitive system. Don't try to roll inputs much, try to do them in a straight forward manner.

Not to necessarily rip on Tekken (take this as you will), but I feel some of the rolling inputs in Tekken were designed so that mashers would accidentally happen upon them instead of trying to put 1 and 2 together and figure out how to link inputs. Hence all the Newbie-Eddy/Christies. I guess the good part is that when you are trying to play seriously and in a structured manner, you best know what's given to you in the character and the rhythm of some of the inputs.

VF's inputs are pretty simple (aside from Akira and some other exceptions), but mastering the abilities that are possible in that game will take a long time (there are lots of tricks with the input buffer). Give it a try and have fun with it, but it's not necessarily like Tekken.

-Chanchai

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Chanchai on 10/11/01 01:46 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

The buffering is nowhere near like Tekken (what you describe in Tekken may not even necessarily be "buffering"...it almost seems that as long as you keep the button pressed the system interprets the command as in effect), but it's hardly necessary.

 

I have written a VF3tb FAQ for Tekken Players and Beginners. If you are interested, email me:
phil_arm@btinternet.com

 

If you have the time, a Tekken to VF4 FAQ would be a nice reference too... especially with all the supposedly dissolusioned T4 players out there. The more knowledgable VF players, the better.

 

I would do...except that I know very little about VF4 at the moment. Maybe someone who has played it a lot could do it instead....?

 

Unfortunately, I haven't played Tekken since Tekken 1... and I haven't seen VF4 yet... bleh. uk_kid, you should offer your Tekken to VF3 faq up as a template to anyone who is interested in the project... in any case, the Tekken to VF3 faq is a good starting point if someone then goes to GLC's general VF4 faq, as it outlines most of the changes from VF3 to VF4.

--
"VF is the resonance AND the wonder." GodEater

 

Yup buffering can't be done, and the timing on moves and throws is very strict..