Thinking out loud.

If my play on X-Box live is any indication of my skill level then I'm not quite ready for primetime. I just got VF4&VF4 Evo, never played Evo before. Hopefully this much needed diversion will clear my head and help me to approach the game from a fresh perspective.I plan to break myself down and rebuild during the next few weeks, maybe pull my old VF2 nemesis out of retirement.
I have alot of bad habits that my play keeps slipping into.
These things are my fault, and thats...okay. I've hit a wall as a player and need to accept my shortcomings so I can rectify them. It's the only way I'll get better.

1.) I over-think situations instead of trusting my instincts,this causes me to lock-up instead of react.
2.) All or nothing mentality: too often in a match I play either
defensively to the extreme, or offensively to excess. I need to find balance between the two.
3.)I try to show off pet moves and techniques that work quite cute against the CPU but are worthless in an actual fight.
4.) I beat myself in a match by falling for the oldest tricks in the book, instead of simply blocking the incoming pppk I feel the need to attempt an ill-concieved reversal,much to my shame.
5.) Unorthodox looks: people do some wierd mix-up's, even some spammers spam in a fashion that seems so strange that I can't adjust properly. I always think "No, he won't do THAT again." Then he does.
Of course, hind-sight is 20/20. If I conscously tackle these issues I should get stronger after my break. Just thinking out loud.

 

I think everyone might have some trouble with this, especially when whatever it is they're spamming they dont even have to be actively engaged or thinking, coupled with it being either too safe or too powerful, sometimes it's both and that's when it really sucks.

 

all or nothing mentality....Preach! I know there are people out there who think im the biggest turtle ever. While some probably think theres a picture of me next to the word abare in the glossary. I need to develop an offensive defense. Too often I fuzzy, then stand and block, get antzy and fail an evade...all the while not consider the fact that my opponent isn't attacking either...ugh

 

1. Try and come up with a strategy to use for a particular round, don't let a single failure within a round make you think too hard. That's why your opponent has to win 3 rounds per match... you get two chances to adjust your playstyle without also having to worry about making a comeback.

2. Work on your flowcharts. This is a simple hitchecking problem. If you low punch, and your opponent gets hit, then use a mid or throw, and if your opponent blocks, be prepared to block a mid or throw. Hitchecking is hard to learn, but make sure you're only automatically inputting single moves. Don't just mash a full PPPK combo if you're not sure whether the first P connected.

3. Find pet moves and techniques that do work well in a fight, and use those instead. Some of my favorites are standing P into throw, rather than completing the canned punch combo, and forward dash into low circular or throw, rather than using any of the actual 66X or 33X moves. Learn your character's guard cancels... they're really powerful and can take people by surprise, and you'll feel real good about pulling off a complicated trick.

4. I do this all the time as well;; Guess it's just that while learning the more complicated gameplay of fuzzy guard and ETEG and whatever else... don't forget the basics.

5. Always expect something that worked against you to get used again... your opponent is working just as hard to hit you as you are to hit them, if they're smart, they won't stop using a technique that's been effective in favor of something they're unsure if you can block.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, and I will be sure to put it into practice. I'm too used to fighting CPU on PS3, if I was able to play on X-Box live more than one or two nights a week I'd probably have adjusted by now. Human opponents are so unpredictable.
I think every player has a "default setting", a grove or pattern they sub-conciously fall back on.This can be a good thing if the techniques used are strong. However,(and this is the case with me)if more advanced skills are not incorporated into one's "core style" of play they will be permanently trapped in a box. Options will be limited becuase they are not the first thing at the top of your head.
My core/default style was ingrained into me during countless VF2 matches, I spent more hours playing that version than all subsequent ones combined. When I speak of "taking my play apart and rebuilding it from scratch" I mean too reconstruct my core style.To often I get done with a match on live and think "If I just evaded that" or "I could see he was blocking low, why did I try to sweep." Sorry, thinking out loud again. Thanks again to the hosts of this site and everyone here helping me out.

 

"Learn how to fight against inferior and superior forces."

I have specific moves and strings I'll use to check whether the opponent is abare. LP into shoulder ram with Goh - how does the opponent deal with it? These moves will set my tone for the round/match, I'll see if they are blocking (and are they high/low?), if not I'll do that same move/string until they do. Against a decent opponent, these tricks don't work of course, but potentially taking some punishment in the first round, paying attention to everything the opponent does, is worth it (or at least it works out for me).

I've had many fights where I've lost the 1st (even the first 2) round(s), but gone on to win the next ones because the opponent doesn't adapt.

One simple thing I'll do is after a blocked string, I'll evade. How many times will I be able to do this until my opponent throws me or uses a circular/evade beating move/delays the attack? Everything is a clue.

 

Don't worry about the position you are in or how far down you are just attack as hard as you can regardless of what the enemy does or how they do it. If I see a weakness attack it hard and fast don't hesitate that will leave me open to attacks myself. Read the person's moves on the fly that way if they change it up I will see it ahead of time and be able to react to as it happens. It is all about playing your best do that and you will win focusing on the win and not playing your best will mean I will not play as well as I can and lose.

 

You are talking like me sometimes trying to over think a situation and trying to find ways around a problem when I already knew how I just didn't let myself do it because of the situation at the time. Just do what works for you and it obviously doesn't work then change it but you should always note what you did it might come in handy later so don't forget it entirely. I was in same situation earlier i was over thinking my bad play as I was about to lose a rank and suddenly I just let things come to me and suddenly I started to go on a winning streak. I did what I knew I could do and it worked as I always knew it would but I was second guessing myself way too much. If you feel an attack can work let it fly don't hold back one never knows what might happens you might just make a miraculous comeback all of a sudden.