What the heck does BUFFER mean?

Buffer? What the hell is it and how do you do it?

 

To buffer something in is to input the command slightly BEFORE you recover from the previous one. The throw escape trials in Trial Training teach you how to do this with some throw escapes, but it works for any move.

 

So you can do a combo immediately after another one without a pause in between?

 

Of course there's a pause, but your next move will start as soon as the previous one recovers instead of waiting for you to input the motions. It basically allows you to use that extra couple frames of advantage to get in, say, a low punch just in time to interrupt: since your move was buffered in, it starts at the earliest possible frame.

 

To buffer something in is to input the command slightly BEFORE you recover from the previous one.

I'm no expert, but my limited experience with VF4 leads me to understand there are a few varieties of buffering. One is the type mentioned here. But this seems to imply it must be done during the recovery phase of a move. That is true for some buffered moves (e.g., Lau's backturned ub+K after a bb+P); but in other cases, buffering has to be done during a previous move's execution -- for instance, the last part of Sarah's [Flamingo Stance] KKK+G, or Akira's SPoD. Some moves can be buffered during either recovery or execution, e.g., Lion's Vacuum Punch. Then there is also buffering during other forms of recovery (not just from a previous move), as from hit stun, etc.

Further, there is the kind of action that is also called buffering, which involves no previous move, but rather part of a multi-input command, as when buffering part of a move's multi-directional input before the start of a round, or while holding G during a round.

This represents my understanding of the term buffering. Anyone please feel free to correct me if I've strayed from what is right.

 

Lau's backturned kick can be done as long as Lau's back is turned, so it doesn't have to done during the recovery phase of, or may that was u K+G

 

Can you give me an example of Buffering a move?

 

there are a couple of examples that really matter in the game.

Let's say you're playing pay and just had a PPP combo blocked. The opponent wants to punch pai back. If pai dodges IMMEDIATELY after recovering from the PPP, she will avoid the opponent's punch. But if she's slow by 2 or 3/60ths of a second, then she will eat the punch. So does that mean you need absolutely perfect timing to do the dodge? nope. Just tap up or down while pai is still recovering from her third punch, and the game "remembers" that you entered a dodge command while you were waiting for pai to recover, and as soon as she's able to move again, the dodge comes out. The dodge was 'buffered' during the recovery of pai's PPP attack.

Another example would be holding guard and entering a half circle forward with wolf, then the instant you finish the half circle forward, you can let go of guard and press P+G. This gets you HCF+P+G, wolf's giant swing. The b, db, d, df, f part was buffered while you were guarding, and then the P+G part was entered after you stopped guarding. This makes sure wolf is blocking right up to the moment he finishes entering the throw.

One more just because I'm in love with typing:
Akira knows the other guy's about to do a sidekick. Akira's sitting a few feet away from the guy, just far enough away that the sidekick is gonna miss. What akira WANTS to do is wait for the sidekick to miss then IMMEDIATELY counterattack with f,f,f+P. The problem is that entering f,f,f+P takes a split second, and if akira taps f,f,f he will dash forward, and the opponent's sidekick will hit him during that dash. So what can akira do?
He can press and hold down the guard button, then while he's standing still and guarding, enter f,f with the joystick. Then as soon as he sees that sidekick miss, he can let go of guard and press f+P. The f,f you enter BEFORE releasing guard and the f+P you enter AFTER letting go of guard combine to make f,f,f+P... so when akira stops blocking, he immediately does a super dashing elbow.
This is an example of buffering a move while pressing guard.

 

i normally buffer during crouch dashes, they seem to get a better chance of counter hits mainly because you end up underneath the opponent's attacks... buffered bodychecks drains life in VF3..