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SEGA VIRTUA FIGHTER 3[ob/tb]
OPTION SELECT
by Joji Suzuki & Rich Williams <scumchop@hotmail.com>
version 1.0 [last updated 7/11/01]
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DISCLAIMER
===========

This guide is for private and personal use only. It can only be reproduced
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this disclaimer and the copyright notice appearing in full. Any information
used from this document, quoted or not, should have this author's
name somewhere clearly as acknowledgement. Feel free to distribute
between others, but this guide is not to be used for profitable/promotional
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guides, books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in
ANY way.


TACTIC: OPTION SELECT
=====================


Unlike the option select in VF2, where it took on so many uses,
shapes and forms, the option select in VF3 is almost completely
limited to one main area - the loss of initiative and escaping
throws.

Here's a quick list, in abbreviate form, of some of the throw
escaping techniques that the VF3 engine allows.

HT: high throw
LT: low throw
(L/H)TE: (low/high) throw escape
DTE: double throw escape
E: dodge
A: attack
R: reversal
G: guard


DTE: P+G, x+P+G. This technique will escape both command throws
and the basic P+G throw, should your opponent muck up his XPD
attempt and get a P+G throw instead, or whatever.

Simple, eh? It's not much extra work, and it might save you 50-60+
points - and you might even gain more on your opponent (remember
your throw escape followups!). Getting into the habit of remembering
to add the P+G is the hardest part.
    
    
A-DTE / A-LTE: This is an interesting and sometimes very effective
way of avoiding both throws and attacks. It works because if your
opponent is in a position to have a guaranteed throw, and does
throw you, any attacks entered during the rigour time won't come
out in any case. But! you can still escape the opponents throw. So
this means if your opponent does instead choose and strike attack,
you have a chance to interrupt their move with a move of your own,
provided that your move is fast enough. Of course, you have to
choose which move to use wisely depending on the situation and
character you're fighting.

Probably the safest moves to use are single punches and elbows...if
you have a fast PG, you have a chance to interrupt quite a few of
many characters' favorite alternatives to throwing. Faster P's may
work against knees and heelkicks, and will foil KG-throw attempts.
Elbows can work wonders on people attempting to CD-throw or do
CD-attack on you - often you can stagger them.

I'll just give an example to explain this, using one of the most
common examples of lost initiative - a blocked rising attack: Akira
just blocked Kage's high rising kick. Kage quickly enters f+P, P+G,
df+P+G. Akira attempts a m-shrm, but because Kage recovers before
Akira can fully execute his shrm, Akira recieves an elbow in the
face and gets staggered. Ha ha screw you Akira.

In three commands you've eliminated the threat from three of Akira's
throws, and the elbow would have protected from a CD-throw attempt
as well as the possibility of other slow attacks Akira might have
tried. Of course, Akira might have simply chosen to b,f+P+G throw
Kage.

Of course, this technique not going to work if you've just whiffed
a kickflip or anything similar like that. You should only try it
when you still have enough initiative to attack the opponent back.


E-DTE / E-LTE: This works similar to A-DTE, except it's a bit iffier
than A-DTE, because it really depends quite a bit on what attack
the opponent does, and in what situation. In some cases you might
try this only to find that you simply didn't have enough initiative
to dodge whatever attack opponent has chosen. It works simply
because while you can be thrown out of E's, you also can escape
throws during E's.

Let's use the blocked rising attack scenario again. You've just
had your rising attack blocked. Because you don't have enough
initiative, you won't be able to dodge quick attacks or certain
attacks that track you. But against Kage, you'll be able to dodge
his heelkick (just remember to dodge to the front), and you'll be
able to dodge most knees from anyone; Wolf's short shoulder; and
so on. And of course, you still have a chance to reverse a throw,
provided you guessed right.

You can also use it after being low kick-MC'd to prevent people
from strike attacking when they think you'll simply go for a throw
reversal. After Akira lands a df+P+K on you may be a good time to
try it. After some SE or ST type throws, it's good to try and see
if will work as well; it may stop Lau from being a bastard and
throwing you after he just ST'ed you, and so on. Just remember that
if they don't do anything (for whatever reason), you'll simply
dodge and then get a nice big fat whiffed throw animation.


R-DTE & R-LTE: Characters who have reversals have new options when
they try this, but of course it's all a matter of who you're fighting
and being able to guess right. It works similar to E-DTE, in that
you can also be thrown out of reversal attempts, but you can also
buffer in throw escapes during missed reversal animations.

HP reversals can prevent Akira from trying to SPoD or f|d+P+G you,
or Aoi's f+P+K,P after a blocked move or after a stagger. Those
with mid reversals might stop people from kneeing, sidekicking or
elbowing you. And high kick reversals against Kage's heelkick,
Sarah's d+P+K, etc, etc. And you still have a chance of escaping
your opponents throw.

Again, this is similar to A-DTE, in that you must have enough
initiative to reverse the attack. The [general, far from ironclad]
rule of thumb is, if you can block it, you can reverse it. i.e:
you can block a knee attempt after a blocked rising attack (knees
are slow; commonly 15 frames), so you can reverse knees after a
blocked rising attack. And so on.

Of course, they could just use a non-reversable catch throw or
attack, or simply use a throw that you didn't guess upon.


LT(or LTE)-DTE: Obviously this only works with those who have low
throws. One purpose of it is to try and land a low throw on someone
who just low kick-MC'ed you yet still have a chance of escaping
their high throw. Low throws usually have priority over the high
throw after being low kick MC'ed, provided you're in range. So
let's say Jeffry has just been low kick MC'ed by Kage. Jeffry enters
in df+P+K+G, P+G, b+P+G. If Kage is in range, he'll be low thrown
by Jeffry, but if not, Jeffry has a chance of escaping Kage's throws
anyway.

You can also use this to avoid players who intend to high throw
you out of a missed low throw animation (missed low throw animations
recover high and leave the player vulnerable to high throws and
all attacks, but you can still enter in throw escapes). Say Aoi
just had her sweep blocked, and the Wolf player expected her to
try and escape his d+P+K+G low throw. Aoi hits d+P+K+G, but Wolf
simply pauses, and immediatedly df,df+P+G throws Aoi. Ah! But Aoi
had entered in d+P+K+G, P+G, df+P+G. Aoi escapes Wolf's throw and
gets a free backthrow. Or not, if she guessed wrong.


HT-LTE: This can be a good option against people with low throws,
especially after a low rising attack has been blocked or (especially)
whiffed, as they can have such borderline throw counterabilty.

Example: Jeff has just blocked Wolf's low rising attack at very
long range. As Jeff dashes in to bash Wolf's head in, Wolf enters
in HCF+P+G, f+P+K+G. Jeff's too far away and too slow to dash in,
and gets Twirled out of his dash forward. If Jeff had been fast
enough, Wolf would have escaped Jeff's triple knee bash. I've done
this quite a bit, actually. It's so great to GS or TFT someone who
thought they'd be low throwing you.

This will also prevent people trying be fancy by trying to (low)
side throw you by dodging your low punch or high punch.

Of course, if they just do a mid like a knee or something, it's all in vain. 


E-LTE & A-LTE: Similar to their high throw counterparts.


G-DTE/GTE: G-DTE can only be entered during [your] recovery time.
It cannot be done in any other situation: not during staggers, not
from standing, not during dodges.

The timing is very tricky, similar but not exactly like Akira's
knee command. The way to do it is to do a TE or DTE, and then after
the final P+G command, let go of P, and keep holding G. If done
correctly, there will be no missed throw animation. Apparently it
works because the throw escape command can be entered 10 frames
prior to the end of the recovery time, and if you enter the TE/DTE
during this time and are still holding the G button at the end of
the recovery phase, you don't get the missed throw animation.

The implication of this is very important. If done correctly it
can completely eliminate any chance of the opponent mC'ing you.
The rising attack situation again: you've had your rising attack
blocked against Akira. You enter P+G, df+P+G, release df+P and hold
G. This prevents three of his throw and all of his slower attacks.
It will not, however, protect against his P, as you lack the
initiative to be able to block it.

G-DTE also works with low throw escapes. So Jeffry, for example,
can escape d|df|f+P+K+G, hold G, and block without the whiffed
motion.

G-DTE is not infallible, though. As noted beforehand, it can only
be entered during rigour time. It won't work when you are staggered,
because the opponent can't throw you during a stagger anyway, which
means you have simply DTE, R/E-DTE, or attack-DTE. K,G and Jacky's
d,d (among other movements) can foil it, and even simple delays
can foil it as well - the spossibility of the opponent entering
the throw command _after_ your final TE. It is also pointless to
bother with it after long recovery moves.
    
E-GTE is not mechanically possible, as you cannot guard during the
execution phase of the dodge.


It's not fully known if there's a limit to how much you can mix
and combine them (i.e E-LTE-HTE, G-LTE, R-HT-LTE, and so on). Some
say as much as you can enter in 10 frames, and others say there's
a limit of three specific commands.


Other tidbits:

K,G: Useful both offensively and defensively. If you are expecting
your opponent to make a throw escape attempt, or to throw you, you
can enter K,G during the time you would normally be expected to
throw (or be thrown by) the opponent. The opponents throw (escape)
attempt won't come out, as your kick will come first - and moves
cannot be thrown. That results in a whiffed throw by the opponent,
and plenty of time for you to act on it.

Similarly, Jacky can do his switch stance (d,d) in place of the
K,G technique for the same results, but the timing is a bit less
forgiving..it's riskier.


K+E,G: Long forgotten technique. For most characters K+E results
in a dodge followed by a high kick. The interesting part is that
the dodge is a crouching dodge, and that the kick can be cancelled.
Timed right you can duck attacks that would normally hit a dodge.
However, you are still vulnerable to high throws and catch throws
during this dodge.