The fundamentals?

Being that I'm kinda new to the VF series, I guess this is the place to start. What are things that ALL players should know inside and out regardless of what character they are using?

 

two words.... TRAINING MODE.

After that, learn the movements and how to chain them together, check GLC's guide..

After that learn some frame data.

Then develop your own play style by watching some vids and playing a ton of VF. /versus/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

GLC's guide?
And exactly what do you mean by frame data?

 

VF Training Mode is by far the best Training mode you will ever find in pretty much anygame. Including Winning Eleven's Training mode. which is also considered to be quit deep and diverse.

However you will need to play alot of VF matches to really grasp the stuff u will learn from Training mode, finishing a challenge or a situation in Training means only one thing, that u already know what to do in a given situation... so the only place that will make the techniques become a solid part of ur play is VS.

Good luck.

 

Aside from training mode, which is a great suggestion, some basics are -

[*]The basic guessing game in VF is mid-attack-or-throw. Low attacks in VF mostly suck, with a few exceptions. It's rare that a low attack gives a free combo or stagger or does a bunch of damage. Mid attacks do all of that.

The paper-rock-scissors of VF is:

1. If I stand and guard, or if I dodge... I can avoid most good attacks but I lose to throws.

2. If I duck, I avoid throws but lose to some good attacks.

3. If I attack, I can beat throws but might lose to certain other attacks due to speed/range/priority issues.

I used to say that standing and guarding was safest in VF. Now I think ducking and guarding is. You will eat mid attacks and can get staggered, but very few moves GUARANTEE a ton of damage vs a crouching opponent. A stagger is just a 50/50 guessing game between attack or throw, you can still guess right and come out ok.

[*]Learn how to throw escape. A lot of decent moves in VF give the opponent a free chance to throw you if they're blocked. If you learn how to escape throws you'll be able to avoid a lot of unnecessary damage.

[*]Learn at least 2 or 3 good throws for your character and use them to punish throw counterable attacks when you block them. Most good combo starting moves or big attacks will guarantee at least a throw if blocked, so learn to throw to punish those, and also to punish dodges.
PS: Learn throws that end in different directions - for example if you learn + for akira, and also ++.. you have two different directions at the end... f and df. The opponent must enter two escapes to avoid both these throws, and that's not something everybody does consistently. If you learn two throws that end in the same direction then the opponent might learn to escape them easily - for example akira's + and + can both be escaped by the opponent's f+P+G.

[*]Learn whatever moves you have that give free combos if they hit, i.e. kage's df+P... lau's df+P+K...shun's u+K...wolf's b,f+P+K... jeffry's f+K.. etc etc.
These moves tend to be risky, but if you learn some basic combos you can take off 20-40% of their life. These types of move form the basic guessing game between attack-or-throw.

[*]Against beginners and even intermediates, + is really good. It's your fast, safe, "get me out of trouble" attack. Try d+P followed by a throw. It's not a true combo, but it works really well.

[*]A simple and scrubby way to get out of attack-or-throw guessing games is for you to learn to do your character's basic dodge attack - tap up or down, then press P+K+G. It won't always get you out of throws (if they throw you before you tap P+K+G you lose) and these attacks are risky if blocked. Still, they're something a beginner should learn to use, especially since some characters have pretty good dodge attacks that are worth gambling on.

I guess that's a start. When you approach, use fast attacks like P, d+P, and for some characters f+P (a quick mid punch usually). Don't commit to big combo starters until you have a clear advantage (like you just blocked the opponent's attack and they now have to guess whether you'll attack back or throw them).

You can use d+P to get out of trouble a lot, but not vs good players.

Remember that throws are the answer to people who stand there and guard a lot, or who dodge after every single attack is blocked.

Finally, don't use low attacks other than d+P while you're still learning. The game is really won and lost with mid attacks and throws. Low punch is the big exception. You can experiment with a few useful high attacks like P (P,K ... PPP... etc).