Friday, September 25, 2009

Doing better the past couple of days

Hey all,

Just a quick update. I've been stepping my game up the past couple of days and its starting to feel like I'm playing the same game I've been watching on youtube for the past 8 months instead of random pokes and special moves and combos I'm not really meaning to do. One of the things I've been doing is after I lose to someone noticeably better than me online, I've been messaging them with "Why do you think I lost that? What can I do better?". I'm not messaging everyone with that, just the ones that seem to have a very good handle on their character and the game. You'll know the ones. They have been messaging me back with some good insight into my game from the opponents perspective. It's something that I would probably be able to pick up on instantly if I was standing next to them in an arcade, but online... we have to be creative and press the issue of improvement a little bit. As a beginner, its not easy to see my faults. I see some of them, and I can guess at some of the reasons I'm losing, but a more advanced player sees the game on a totally different level and can clue you in on some things you are doing wrong that maybe you thought you were doing right. So it's been working out. I would eventually like to get to the point of being able to completely self analyze, but having an extra set of eyes, or in the case of xbox live, hundreds of sets of eyes doesn't hurt. Most everyone is cordial enough to point something out, or say that they really don't know.

I think one of the big reasons I've started to step my game up is the realization that the game is played in "turns". While others have explained this to me in the past, I haven't really gotten a very good grasp on that concept until recently. Basically the goal is to get a knockdown, once you get a knockdown, it can be seen as your turn to try to put the pressure on. At a certain point (after a tech'ed throw attempt for example) your turn is over and you must try to gain momentum again. Momentum can be something as simple as controlling a fireball war or pressuring an opponent with distance. They might feel that you are in control of the fight even though you have yet to knock them down and start putting on the damage dealing pressure of mixup games. Sometimes they have the momentum and you feel like you are being forced into a corner, or your pokes are being beaten. It is essentially their 'turn' at that point. Realizing when its my turn to attack or attempt a knockdown, special move, or psychic jump in is crucial. Conversely, realizing it's their turn and having the patience to wait out their turn for the right opportunity is equally as crucial.

Oh, and I did FADC to ultra on wake up twice in the past two days... once in the clutch with a sliver of health. Let me tell you... it was satisfying to pull it off after all of that time in training mode and after so many failed attempts. It really felt like a break through.

Until next time, cheers :)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Some slight progress and thoughts

Hey all,

So on the subject of c.mk xxx hado, 35 ms between the first forward input and the final punch input is over-complicating the matter. To do this move effectively you simply have to hold the down input longer to reset the forward input. So after the c.mk hits the ankle of the opponent I cancel into fireball and it works every time. It's not something that is automatic yet, but it will be with some time and practice. Like any combo in SF4 its hard until the timing becomes second nature.

On another topic, I've been losing online a lot. I don't make it very far in championship mode even though most everyone says my Ryu is "solid". This comes down to patience, also lack of experience with the character. I still feel more comfortable using dhalsim and have more success with him I think because he isn't as widely used. I was fighting someone today using Sim, and it was down to that point in the match where we both had small amounts of health in the third round and were sitting at full screen distance. Instead of really gunning for the kill I tried to gut it out and wait for my opportunities. It required a little bit of guess work as I can be lp shoryukened randomly at any given time, but I managed to pull it out. This got me thinking that I need to learn this kind of patience with Ryu, and the only way I can do that is to become as comfortable and feel as confident in that situation. Watching some match vids of myself I've noticed that I spend a good majority of my time avoiding the close confrontation instead of pushing for it and pressuring my opponent with spacing. I'm afraid of having to react to a jump in or being punished for whiffing a poke and generally I just feel vulnerable at close ranges. If you watch top Ryu players they are all sitting roughly just outside or at c.mk range as much as possible. I am going to make a conscious effort to stay at this range as much as possible, getting comfortable with poking and anti-airing on reaction.

One more quick thing... I'm not really too sure what my ultimate goal is with Street Fighter. I would like become really good at the game, but I don't think I can ever reach a top 8 at Evo tier, or even a top 3 in Southern Virginia tier based on the amount of time I have to play vs. the amount of time it takes to compete at that level. The other thing working against me is that the majority of my practice is done online. I've competed in three tournaments as dhalsim. The first one was very casual and I did better than I expected to do. The second one was vaguely a tournament it was more of a "Bar Fights", but I held my own there... and the third.. well, I don't like to talk about the third. It was brutal. All in all though, when I'm at these tournaments I feel a bit "old" shall we say. I don't know anyone there, I'm not very good at the game in comparison to the majority of the other participants, and I think I've had maybe one conversation with someone at the three events combined. Its not really that I'm anti-social, its more that I'm slightly embarrassed at how bad/new I am. It's my first fighting game, and for most of these guys, its their tenth. How do I step into this kind of scene where people all have known each other for years. How do I just go hang out at some random dudes house for some casuals if I get nearly double perfected at a tournament? I don't know, some people are better at that sort of thing. I know its what I need to improve though, so maybe I will try to make an effort. It's just very hard to do for me after making such poor showings. Back to my goal for all of this though, honestly, I just want to see how good I can become over time. I will only ever be as good as my competition, but perhaps I can transcend my local competition one day if I can actually get the nerve up to overcome my embarrassment and learn something. I would like very much to overcome execution barriers and just play the game. Once I'm to the point where I'm doing 90% of the things I would like to be doing on purpose I'll feel like I've stepped over a big hurdle.

That's all for now, take it easy folks.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Starting over

Hey guys,

I've decided to go ahead and start the blog up again. I took down a few of my previous posts as I kind of felt they were really long winded and idealistic.

So, I've picked up Ryu as a main. I've been working on dhalsim now for about 6 months, and while I've gotten to be ok with him I think he's a rather tough character to learn as a beginner. I was hoping that Ryu would help me break down some of the fundamentals of the game that I'm most likely lacking. So starting from scratch is kind of tough especially with the heavy constraints that are on my time right now, but in the long run it will help my game, and all I really have is time right? It's not like the game is going anywhere.

I've broken down a few of the things that I need to work on to become a competent Ryu.

C.mk xxx hado while moving forward

The majority of the time a shoryuken comes out instead of the hadouken and I get punished a lot for it. I read on SRK that there must be 35 ms between the first forward input and the final punch input, so I'm trying to get that timing down in training mode.

Using the fireball properly

The fireball is Ryu's best tool. I'm trying to look at it less as a damage dealing weapon and more as a way to build a thought pattern in the opponents mind. If I can make the opponent believe I'm going to be throwing another fireball then perhaps he will try a psychic jump in. Conditioning the opponents mind with fireballs are really the basic reason that these are so effective.

Calming myself in the clutch

When I get an opportunity to combo and do damage I can usually hit confirm into shoryuken fairly well, even link into lk tatsu off of a hit confirm. But if I have a small amount of health and two ex bars and I'm waking up I have a hard time pulling off the FADC 'get out of jail free' card. I also will sometimes mash out moves, throws, instead of blocking and being patient and attacking when the time is right.

Predictability

I have to remember that I can't always attack after the opponent attacks. Some moves aren't punishable at certain ranges or based on certain frame advantages. A good example is akuma. If I throw out a c.mk and he blocks it, its a free sweep for him. If I get predictable with my pokes or with my game after a land a poke then I'm basically opening the door. Its ok to be predictable with the intention of using that sort of conditioning later to your advantage, but its not ok to be predictable unintentionally.

Well, thats it for now... more on my progress later.