Posts Tagged ‘dictator’

Execution Woes, Frantic Play

admin Posted in Blog，Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
01 February 2010
0

Went to Dorion’s again tonight.  I’ll keep this short (You know you play SF too much when you see/type the word short and an image of Ryu doing a c.lk pops in your head).

Started out playing against a Ken player who really wasn’t very good, but neither was I.  I don’t know if it was because I was using Reece’s stick and not my own (His is much looser, even for a TE), but none of my shit was working.  This wasn’t like I couldn’t do my normal SJC FADCs, it was more like I couldn’t even do my burning kicks, or I couldn’t get my Fierce Punch to come out after a jump in.  My fingers were overly frantic, I suppose.  Maybe it also has to do with the game being played on a non laggy TV, whereas mine is pretty bad.

So anyway, it took a couple hours and me running through training mode to get going for real.  I didn’t really spend a lot of time learning new shit tonight, more just playing for the sake of playing.  This doesn’t necessarily help me grow as a strategic player, but it does improve my reaction time.  I played Zaine (He was fooling around with Dan, though), then Shane’s Boxer (Got wrecked), then Reece’s Akuma (Did okay), then Juicebox’s Akuma (Got wrecked), then Juicebox’s Ken (Got wrecked), then Louie’s Guile (Wrecked him!), then Reece’s Blanka and Bison (Got wrecked), then Louie’s Blanka (Got wrecked).  A couple of major points resonated with me tonight, though.

  • I deal with rushdown very poorly.  When Juicebox was rushing me down, he could tell I was mashing throw tech.  To summarize his advice, I should make a conscious decision on whether or not to just block or to throw tech, not try to guess on the fly.  Also got a quick lesson in footsies from him.
  • I can punish Blanka balls better now.  It’s all about paying utmost attention.
  • Louie says I’m hesitant while I play.  I don’t know exactly what that means, maybe I’ve been playing too cautious like Zaine lately.  I’ll need to watch Zaine play more so I can understand how exactly I should be playing.

Another Dorion Level-Up Session

admin Posted in Blog, C. Viper, Matchups, Techniques，Tags: , , , , , , , ,
28 January 2010
1

Been addicted to this song lately: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uZWArSOmCc

Man, what a night.  I think I may have grown a bit more as a player, my playstyle has changed so drastically in the past month.  This evening I got some games in with Reece, Stefan (Dictator player who I haven’t seen in awhile), Zaine, and Louie.  Reece kicked my shit in with Gen, and I received a ton of advice from a bunch of different people.

I tried my “Bring a notebook!” thing tonight to hopefully make my blog posting a little easier to type, but to be honest it didn’t help very much.  All I did, after looking at it, was write down random tips that flew at me.  So I’m just gonna write most of this down from memory.

***

Mr. SNK

I didn’t get any specific information from SNK like the other folks I talked to, but moreso advice on how to play fighting games in general.  There’s a sense of fundamentals, such as fireball zoning and normals and the correct spacing for all of that, that I’m lacking.  This is simply because I’ve never played a fighting game at this level before.  Ultimately, SNK recommended that I drop Viper for a couple weeks and work with a Shoto (Ryu) to learn the game.  It’s kinda funny because this is pretty much what I did but on a lower level.  Whereas I learned the basics of SFIV like how to do FA’s and SRKs and correctly inputting Ultra Combos from using Ryu and then moving on to Viper, I should have stuck with Ryu and learned more about the 2D fighting genre in general.  At the moment it pains me to even think about dropping Viper (My blog is called Crimson Temptress, for crying out loud), and so I’m undecided on how exactly to move forward from here.  Perhaps I’ll end up playing Ryu more often.  Bah.

Another major tip that SNK had for me was in regards to my notetaking.  “Don’t take notes on specific people, take notes on specific matchups,” he said.  By knowing the characters and their matchups inside out, I’ll be able to know what I can and can’t do in the match.  And only then should I be able to implement mindgames effectively.  He punctuated his advice with words of encouragement and implored me to keep asking questions.  I find that to be a huge motivator.

Zaine

Zaine was a bit under the weather this evening, but he still was pretty sharp.  I chilled out with him for a bit and talked a lot about specifics for the character.  A couple of quick notes:

  • After conditioning the opponent to block with TKs, only then can you jump in with little risk.  Otherwise, you’re limited to crossups after untechable knockdowns.
  • j.HK is good for crossups, but it isn’t the be-all end-all air to ground attack.  j.HP is really good too, to the point where a well timed one will stuff an uppercut.
  • j.MP xx h.BK is possible.
  • After landing a TK, another option in the flowchart is to dash up and throw.

Those fast tips aside, I was able to pick Zaine’s brain about more of the finer intricacies of Viper play.  For one thing, after playing Reece and getting burned over and over, I noticed that I was having a hard time getting in to attack with the TK mixups.  This made me wonder about how a burning kick would work in a mixup, since it would knock them away and I’d have to get in again.  Another thing is that I can’t just go balls-to-the-wall (Zaine’s phrase) all the time, especially with TK strings because I’ll get SRK’d out of them.  Zaine plays very carefully and tries to frustrate his opponent with TKs and his ground game.  I tried to mimic this, in that rather than pressing an advantage over and over and over again until I get reversaled out of it, I poke holes in my strings and momentum deliberately to bait things.  Zaine played Akuma and Sagat against me to prove this, where he SRK’d me when I got too feint happy (I did a lot of c.MP xx TK Feints) but in return I did my fair bit of baiting Tiger Uppercuts and SRK’s.  In doing so I heightened my alertness while playing the game and did my best to look for patterns.  Another big point that Zaine made was for the Sagat matchup, where once I get a large enough lead I should make Sagat come to me.  The most he can do is Tiger Shot me from full screen and my seismos will trade/beat them repeatedly if needed.  “Sagat has no offense,” he said.  Furthermore, at full screen, DON’T FUCKING JUMP AT HIM.  Zaine’s voice saying “Don’t do it,” will forever resonate in my mind while I play that match.

Louie

Whereas Zaine’s been the technical coach for me lately, Louie’s been the mental coach.  I mentioned to him my problem with going into trance-mode while playing, where I don’t really pay attention and zone in too much.  Louie gave me some pointers to heighten my alertness further, such as making a remark (“Good shit”) every time I get hit by something to make a mental note to watch out for it.  I played with him shortly after my session with Zaine and he really did try to keep me talking, listening, and from getting too zoned in to pay attention to the match as a whole.  This was basic stuff like manipulating me in some ways and openly putting me in scenarios to get me thinking and how to keep on my toes.  As such, he definitely didn’t play his all and the matches went much slower than his usual RTSD style, but after playing with both him and Zaine I really felt a heightened sense of awareness while playing.   Afterwards we played around a little bit with some Blanka-Viper matches, here’s some fast tips:

  • Punishing a blocked Ultra – TIMING, TIMING, TIMING.  I’ve got several options to punish it, all with varying degrees of specific timing.  The first  way to punish is a plain Ultra.  However, this must be timed so Blanka is about at her torso’s height, otherwise it’ll whiff.  Another option is to light Seismo, which can then go into burning kick or SJC FADC sweep.  Timing is less strict on there but still needs to be done.  Then there’s the b.HK, or the “Sit the fuck down” kick.  Probably the easiest to time, and since it’s more than likely that they won’t tech, I get a free mixup.  Finally, the hardest way is to FFF, where I need to time the Fierce to hit EXACTLY as he’s landing on the ground.  Furthermore, I need to walk up prior to the Fierce so the second Fierce won’t whiff.
  • Viper Elbow is still awesome, but try using it as a crossup/repositioner after a knockdown.  It won’t combo, it might not even hit, but it’ll screw with their mind.
  • I can jab out of hop shenanigans.  Here’s hoping ConQueso doesn’t pull that shit on me again.
  • Rainbow ball can be FA’d, but it’s not necessarily the best option if Blanka purposefully whiffs it, lands in front of me, and throws me out of my dash.  I’ll reserve this trick for beginner Blankas who go for the confusing ass crossups, but I really do need to just learn how to block that stuff.
  • Watch that fucking meter.  If he’s got Ultra, either bait it or don’t stick out limbs while he’s waking up.  Same with EX Upball, but that’s a lot less risky.

***

Getting this much advice from people is really quite awesome.  I’ve learned a lot, and as I mentioned earlier I’m beginning to feel a heightened sense of awareness while I play.  However, the more people I get advice from, the more conflicting advice I get.  I’d like to close out this entry with a listing of these.  Hopefully as time goes on I’ll be able to make my own, informed decision about who to listen to, but for now I’m neutral.

Points of contention

  • Switching from Viper to Ryu to learn fundamentals.  SNK says do it, Louie (and maybe Zaine?) says no.
  • Neutral jumping.  Zaine says to do it to bait a throw tech, Louie says don’t do it (Might just be for Blanka matchup)

Oh, and my stick’s 360 support is busted.  So I left it at Dorion’s house for Mike to fix for me.  So no SF tomorrow morning, but boot camp tomorrow night!  Whoo!

Dorion Level-Up Session

admin Posted in Blog, C. Viper, Techniques，Tags: , , , , ,
15 January 2010
0

Dorion had a level-up session at his house tonight, aimed towards preparing a “Team AZ” consisting  of him, Mr. SNK, and Juicebox for the House of Cicada tournament in California pretty soon.  It was kind of cool to overhear bits of their conversation, about Combofiend’s playstyle or Alex Valle’s or how Sabre played Justin Wong while he was just a Marvel player.  As I am currently, I’m simply an SRK member who watches streams, so these players are borderline celebrities to me, and to hear them talked about in such a casual fashion shows how distanced I am from the community.

The mentality of the AZ Scene, however, is exactly the opposite of what SRK is.  Everyone here is really welcoming as well as extremely supportive of my recent revelation and new desire to improve, and to quote Louie, “If someone’s going to show the initiative, it’s worth helping them out.”

Anyway, I spent a good deal of time playing with Reece (Dictator), Louie (Blanka), and Alan (Guile) tonight.  Mostly Louie, who was kind enough to really just walk through my game style and watch my games with Alan and pick apart the many imperfections.  Afterwards I played several other games, but I also had a talk with Zaine prior to leaving about more of the Viper-specific stuff that I can do.

Louie

  • Don’t jump so much, especially neutral jumping.  While it may work against online people whose reactions are delayed due to inexperience or lag, I’ll be punished fairly often for jumping straight up like a moron.
  • Don’t be afraid to backdash on wakeup.  It breaks a lot of Louie’s okizeme options.
  • Additionally, don’t be afraid to use a backdash as a BAIT.  This really helped me in a fight against Alan where I saw the flash kick coming.  It’s a much more efficient bait rather than just walking up and crouch-blocking, which puts me at risk of getting thrown.
  • Moving around a lot can be good for instilling a sense of random in your opponent, but in reality it’s in your control.  Doing random shit for no reason gets your opponent to do a double-take and gives me that split second to capitalize on it.
  • Momentum is key.  I shouldn’t get flustered when I miss a combo and flail around in hopes of compensating for it somehow.  Have a contingency plan for when my shit breaks and move forward from there.
  • Momentum, when against me, should not fluster me either.  Learn how to both defend properly and keep an eye out for punishing opportunities.  I missed punishing a Blanka ball with a reversal EX Seismo too many times because I was too busy getting mindfucked into defending.
  • More on momentum, a rushdown is always helpful if you vary your mixups.  I get in bad habits with playing sometimes where I follow a set string rather than varying it.  Take notice of how they defend and use it accordingly, a mixup isn’t limited to a single hit or combo.
  • Performing uppercuts and the like need to be reacted to or predicted, never guessed.  There is a large difference.
  • Louie loves to bait things with focus attacks.  This basically serves the same purpose as walking forward and baiting an attack.  Baiting an attempt to shift the momentum (i.e., reversal) can be applied to a rushdown.
  • Be wary of baiting things out too close to the opponent on wakeup, you might get thrown instead.
  • Corner pressure…ugh.  Stay calm, don’t be afraid to backdash, but don’t reversal blindly or hit buttons unnecessarily.
  • You can tell when an opponent is mashing with Blanka when their jab strings are imperfect.  As such, don’t be afraid to bait out the electricity and punish it with either a max ranged c.MK or a Viper elbow.
  • There is more to a mixup than just on wakeup.  Performing a mixup on a standing/crouching opponent causes them to have to react faster rather than having the leisure time of their wakeup animation to gather their thoughts.
  • Them feints…use them.  Quote from Louie: “Zaine once got me in a corner and did a fucking dance with Viper, I had no clue what he was doing.”
  • DON’T JUMP SO DAMN MUCH.
  • My meaty c.LK, s.LK, c.MP xx m.TK is not a good combo to do on an opponent who is waking up.  I ate several Ultras and up-balls because of this.  Try using it after a blocked jump in or during TK pressure.
  • “If someone’s going to show the initiative, it’s worth helping them out.”

Zaine

  • Supporting the jumping too much = bad theme, focus on the ground game using TKs.  They’re semi-safe and frustrating enough to train your opponent to counter them.
  • Using TKs enough in a match will cause the opponent to focus more on countering them and thus make them become purely reactionary after you do it enough.
  • In doing so, you increase your chances of a successful jump in.  So rather than going right for the mad jump-in combos that I love and adore, train my opponent to let me jump in.  You know when they have reached this point when they are simply crouch blocking and waiting for the TK.  Then you can jump in.
  • More on TKs, there are plenty of options after each of the two ground TKs.
  • For the light TK, while it’s slower, it basically keeps you safe on block.   Conversely, a medium TK will put you right in the opponent’s face and basically put you in a mixup.  Will they throw?  Will they jab?  Shoryu?  So many options for the opponent to counter anything that I can do.  Light TK also  puts you at a frame advantage on block, and so following it up with a c.HP will either cause a counter hit or a block.  It’s probably a good idea to continue on to Seismo SJC FADC, which will either be a beefy combo or a WTF DO I BLOCK moment for the opponent and allow a throw.  An additional follow up for a light TK is a crossup burning kick.  Zaine likes to also dash forward, which makes the opponent think OMG THROW and basically baits that whiffed throw tech with a burning kick.
  • For the medium TK, while it has the disadvantages stated above, if you’re feeling risky you can continue with some options from there.  Many Viper players, including Zaine, like to go c.MP xx m.TK and then follow it up with another c.MP xx m.TK.  Another gutsy option is a throw.  One of Zaine’s neat tricks is to follow up a c.MP xx m.TK with a simple normal jump over and then a burning kick when they try to grab what they perceive as a missed crossup.  Zaine even mimed out the animation of a whiffed throw eating a burning kick to the face for me, haha.
  • “You need to come over more often.”

I’m actually pretty confident that I left some stuff out, but my brain was so full of Street Fighter that I couldn’t hold anymore.  Add that to the fact that I did another all-nighter in a failed attempt to reset my sleep cycle, as well as the fact that it took me a half hour to write and remember this on said lack of sleep.

I ended each section from Louie and Zaine with a quote of theirs that I found particularly inspirational.  While it sounds overly mushy and gay, I really feel like it’s worth noting that they are going this far to help me, and therefore I should not waste their time.  Maybe I’ll bring a notebook with me next time I go and I’ll get more notes down.