What characters are good for beginners?

I have played fighting games for about 10 years and would say I'm probably an advanced player in the Street Fighter and Tekken series. I know that means little in this VF realm though. I bought VF4 yesterday based on the quality of gameplay and longevity it provides. I have no experience really with this game though. I'm basically looking to find out what character(s) is good for a pure beginnger of this series. I've played Goh exclusively for 2 days now and I'm catching on a little slow. Any suggestions to characters that are good for beginners are appreciated. Thank you.

 

Try lau, he has pretty easy combos and hes not that hard, than you could also try jacky or sarah.

 

I think Lau is a little hard to play.. But if u play him from the begining, i dunno.. /versus/images/graemlins/blush.gif
I began with Wolf, and i turned out pretty fine.. /versus/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
But i dont think Goh is a good start char.. try Jacky or Sarah, as said. But also try pai, try! /versus/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

Sweet mother of god, you guys are good at misinformation...

Best start-off character: Sarah. Besides Sarah you have Jacky. If you're more into a rookie/pro character, try Lei-Fei. He's as good for newbies as he is for pros.

If you're looking for a character that shows Virtua Fighter's true depth, then start with Akira. Just be sure to use an arcade stick. If you have experience with SF then you probably played those with a stick. If not, then you're not really experienced..

Characters' difficulty is relative, though some characters are easier to learn/control than others. As I said, try jacky/sarah (I advise Sarah) for a couple of time. After you learn the basis of combat, if you like her, stick with her. If not, change to another character.

It's that simple, really. You shouldn't even have to ask that question. It's easier to play every characters' movelist and see which one you like the most.

 

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Seijuro_Hiko said:

Sweet mother of god, you guys are good at misinformation...

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Didnt we BOTH include Sarah and jacky as our answers? How is it that we are "misinformed"?

 

your best bet is to watch some of the replays that come with the game, and decide from there who's style you like. Also understand that akira will take more time than other characters, as his inputs are very difficult.

 

go with jacky, good speed, gets a B+ in the power category, easy stand-up-neutral reversal (catch~tap ), fair throws, easy strings, and some cheap tactics (i always fall for that one!!? /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif). The only place where a beginner might not feel at home using jacky, are the stance-watch-outs, i.e. + follow-ups require good stance recognition skillz...

 

One word:

PAI

 

I really don't think it matters, each character has their challenges. I have never really played Jacky or Sarah and when I did try them I actually found them very difficult to use because they didn't suit my style of play. Just stick to a character that you like and you will improve.

 

I don't like Vanessa! The only thing I like about her was the "Tackle" thingie! She doesn't have much combos and I want to see her her Vale Tudo attire (I never played VF4!).

 

I've just started playing Kage, and I found him pretty easy to play.
I would say he's a "noob char" /versus/images/graemlins/ooo.gif, but very powerful ofc.
He's got a few things kindda hard to do, TFT and to use the + in combos.
But as allready has been said, play whoever you like, and you will improve. That's probaply the best thing you can do /versus/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

Personally I would advise looking at each characters move list, combos and hell even their bios in the manual and see which one you like. Because you will be willing to spend alot more time and effort on a character you like than one you picked because he or she was easy to pick up.

Personally though, if your going to, I would recommend Lei. Out of all the characters I have picked up and played, Lei is the one I keep coming back to because he grows with you as you improve you skills.

But then again, the reason I picked him...Well, I thought he looked pretty cool in his monk attire, and I have a renowned weakness for Shaolin Kung Fu...Thats it. I thought he was cool, and I've spent hundreds of hours just confirming it over and over.

 

Kage, a n00b character? I'm not sure about that. Well, maybe from a technical standpoint, yes, with all the character-unique TFT combos.

Sarah is definitely a strong choice for beginners, as are Jacky and Pai.

And if you want a challenge, you can always study Akira. /versus/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

Kage is not so much a noob character. He's easy to learn, but hard to master. I mean just watch videos of Yoro Kage, Kyasao, Ryan Hart and them... damn I wish I can react to situations the way they can. Besides, Kage is one of the flashiest characters out there with a LOT of throws (directions including , , , and !!). He's got a healthy supply of combos, some heavy damage ones if you can get them to initiate, and on top of that, a few reversals; what more can you ask for? If THAT isn't enough for ya, he's got some entertaining show off moves as well.

 

I dont think that kage is a beginner character. Sure you can use him if you're a beginner, but you're going to have a better win ratio with the likes of jacky and sarah. Lau is the absolute beginner character if you're completely new to the game.
+,,,+/+.
Oh how I abused that when i started.

 

I happen to agree that Kage is a good starting character. Lau gets the starter stamp on him just cause of the combos alot and I dunno why (try going thru his tactics advice). mixups are, after all, low payoff / highrisc (and that's why good Lau players don't use it outside of combos).

Kage is very straight forward, all characters can be played in a pretty way bla bla watch him play him see he's not a scrub! (Like someone ever said there was an equal mark between the two). Weird to feel a need to defend a character in the game in that way; like it's something to be ashamed of if your character can be good for newcomers to the game to pick up.

I still think Kage is easy to understand if you're new to the game. And... as always... it's pretty hard to define what new to the game is. For me new to the game would be someone who has played it for 2 weeks for others it might be an hour. Probably here people think differently.

There seems to be some consensis that if you can spam with a character, that is press buttons all the time and get pretty results, he's a good starting character. But these characters, like Lei, can be the hardest to understand the results from (and both the AI and a human opponent will punish you) and if you don't understand the results or why things happen you'll get bored pretty fast imo - it's a thinkers game.

/KiwE

 

I agree with KiwE here, Kage is a great entry into the game. He's easy enough to grasp, with some fair tricky tactics available even to beginners. For instance, he has a million and a half ways into BT, where you can mix up , +, and be absolutely cheeky with the BT catch throw. Also, beats all of those wonderful strings due to its evading properties (not to mention some palms, the second hit of Lau's comes to mind). Kage also gets to have mediocre guessing games just by running at an enemy, which is especially fun in Jumonji stance because of the spamming sound bytes.

In addition, I think Kage may have one of the easiest learning curves in the game. Watching stance isn't necessary for the most part, except if you want to be stylish. Kage has a large number of good damage, easy to perform combos that don't require any watching except to see if the hit landed. No one can say or + combos are difficult even if you're going for the highest damage. This is a far cry from combos in the repertoire of most other characters. Akira, Jacky, Pai, etc. all require you to watch stance, hit type, AND have good inputs to achieve full damage. The ninja has it all: speed, damage, tricky flowcharts, excellent ring out potential, and a good ability to demoralize an opponent (sucks to be tossed twenty feet in the air and be completely helpless for a fair amount of time).

Wow. I sound like a fanboy.

 

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OffBrandNinja said:

Wow. I sound like a fanboy.

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A damn good one lol. Now that I think about it Kage was my first main. I was on and off playing Jacky a lot too though.. hmm maybe we should get back to the topic. Lau, Jacky/Sarah or Kage are what I suggest.

 

(Excuse me while I ramble for a bit . . . )
Hey, I'm surprised no one suggested Shun. I mean, come on! What more could you ask for in a character? A huge library of moves -- most of which are always really entertaining -- make learning Shun feel like a real accomplishment. He's my second (current) character in Evolution, and I love him. Sure, some of his moves and tricks are hard to get used to, but once you get good with him, stance changes and combos for other characters feel like a breeze. I like Kage as much as the next guy, and Lau's okay if you just wanna start with cheap combos, but when you get good you'll need variety to win. Shun will definitely teach you that. I would NOT advise picking a character with simple and easy moves, if you're a beginner. If you do, you'll fall into hopeless patterns that will bite you in the arse later on. Also, I'm actually thinking of building up a new character soon, since my skills with Shun are reaching a peak (now I try to have fun with him and don't concentrate as much on just winning as doing it with style), and I've thought a lot about who I want to try. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I mean, who's your favorite? (and why, of course . . . )

-Chuck

P.S. - A friend of mine who is really good at Street Fighter picked up on Akira and Jacky really well. I don't know if it means anything, but whatever.

 

HungOver,I suggest you try Sarah, shes one of my favorites, first off, her combos are highly damaging, EASY as hell to do, as has some of the best floaters there is. Her is fast, floats high, and is very good for any situation. Her + deflects all mid punches and some kicks, and puts her in flamingo stance, which is easily the best stance in the game due to her long reach in that stance and quickness.She has many floaters including +,, you can also abuse her backflips in combos like crazy. also, she has a nifty move where she flips extremely high up and over the opponent to get you out of corners and away from a ring out. not to mentio, she has a wide array of moves to choose from including the coollooking gatling kick throw in flam. stance.

just my 2 cents. /versus/images/graemlins/smirk.gif