This isn't a tutorial today, I just wanted to write a little something.
Guilty Gear is awesome. I don't think its better than Street Fighter or Marvel necessarily, but it has a lot of things that those games don't have.
The first, is a really fast pace. Marvel has this of course, but Street Fighter does not. Don't get me wrong, SF is awesome and can definitely be fast paced. GGXXAC is waaayy faster though. In SF, you sometimes get to move back and forth and play footsies. Unless your opponent is playing totally reckless, you usually have a few seconds to figure out what you or your opponent is going to try. If your opponent jumps randomly, you can Anti-Air them and punish them. In GGXXAC, you don't really have that time. In fact, you're punished for not being aggressive by the system. If you run away for too long (and it really isn't that long-like a few seconds) then you start losing meter because of Negative Penalty. Jumps are much safer in GGXXAC too because you can block in the air and change momentum with a double jump or air dash. There is footsies in all fighting games, but they are really fast in GGXXAC.
The other big thing is the diversity of characters. SF has a much bigger roster than GGXXAC, but GGXXAC has a really, really diverse roster none-the-less. SSFIV AE has 8 Shotos. 8 characters that really similar move sets. That is nearly 1/4th of the cast that play really similarly. They each have their own unique qualities, but if you've learned one you can pick up the others fairly easily. Charge characters all work really similarly too. It's not like the similar characters are carbon copies of each other, but they are definitely really similar. In GGXXAC, each character is entirely different from each other. You have to spend a lot of time with each character to figure them out. Some elements are universal for buttons, but each character has an extremely unique strategy that can't be transferred to other characters typically. I think that is probably my favorite part about this game.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
More on Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Combos- Beginners
Just a quick tip on this one, and this may seem very obvious to a lot of skilled players....but this article isn't for you. It's for beginners.
When you are trying to get better at this game and either trying to come up with your own combos or use some combos that you found online, the buttons you press and the timing can be pretty important. I learned this Frank West Combo earlier today:
cr.M st.H cr.HS > sj > j.MMH xx 236H > land > cr.HS > sj. > j.MMH xx 236L, j.MS > land > 236S xx 214M+H
If you try this combo out, you'll notice that in the first part of the combo leading to the launcher, you can simply press cr.LMHS and the opponent will still launch, obviously. However, the combo is really easy to get screwed up after you are in the air if you do this. One thing that was happening to me a lot was my character was crossing up the opponent on the ground after the 236H. When I got to the ground, My cr.HS would go back the other way and my opponent would end up in the complete opposite corner. I could still wavedash twice to get to the opponent and finish the combo, but it is a lot easier to press the right buttons to begin the combo. Other parts of the combo can chang pretty easily, but you'll notice that the combo drops at later parts.
These oddities in the combo can happen because of the spacing and hit-stun deterioation. Spacing affects the combo because once the opponent is launched, the distance they were in relation to you affects the distance they are from you in the air. In this particular Frank combo, if you are too close you can end up above the opponent by the time you get to the j.236H. This will cause you to cross them up when you slam them down with the ground bounce attack, making the entire combo more difficult than it needs to be. Also, when you land you can sometimes hit cr.MHS instead of just cr.HS. This will often result in dropping the combo because you had one too many hit to keep the opponent in a comboable state. This is a result of the hit-stun detoriation.
I hope this helps people understand the game a little bit better and helps you understand why combos have attacks that don't look necessary. Combos are pretty easy to create in this game, so if you find another input that works a little easier for you, you can probably figure out a combo to fit it.
When you are trying to get better at this game and either trying to come up with your own combos or use some combos that you found online, the buttons you press and the timing can be pretty important. I learned this Frank West Combo earlier today:
cr.M st.H cr.HS > sj > j.MMH xx 236H > land > cr.HS > sj. > j.MMH xx 236L, j.MS > land > 236S xx 214M+H
If you try this combo out, you'll notice that in the first part of the combo leading to the launcher, you can simply press cr.LMHS and the opponent will still launch, obviously. However, the combo is really easy to get screwed up after you are in the air if you do this. One thing that was happening to me a lot was my character was crossing up the opponent on the ground after the 236H. When I got to the ground, My cr.HS would go back the other way and my opponent would end up in the complete opposite corner. I could still wavedash twice to get to the opponent and finish the combo, but it is a lot easier to press the right buttons to begin the combo. Other parts of the combo can chang pretty easily, but you'll notice that the combo drops at later parts.
These oddities in the combo can happen because of the spacing and hit-stun deterioation. Spacing affects the combo because once the opponent is launched, the distance they were in relation to you affects the distance they are from you in the air. In this particular Frank combo, if you are too close you can end up above the opponent by the time you get to the j.236H. This will cause you to cross them up when you slam them down with the ground bounce attack, making the entire combo more difficult than it needs to be. Also, when you land you can sometimes hit cr.MHS instead of just cr.HS. This will often result in dropping the combo because you had one too many hit to keep the opponent in a comboable state. This is a result of the hit-stun detoriation.
I hope this helps people understand the game a little bit better and helps you understand why combos have attacks that don't look necessary. Combos are pretty easy to create in this game, so if you find another input that works a little easier for you, you can probably figure out a combo to fit it.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core for Beginners part 1
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core is probably my favorite fighting game ever. I never got that great at it, but it is the game that got me into playing the really competitive fighting games. However, I do understand the game well enough to explain it to beginners and intermediate players. Much of this information I'm presenting here stems from Dustloop forums. Dustloop is the best source of information for Guilty Gear and Blazblue. It's also really good for Vampire Savior and Skullgirls. On forums like Dustloop, SmashBoards, Dream Cancel, and Mortal Kombat United you always have to dig to get a lot of the beginner information. I'm trying to clean up a little bit of that.
Guilty Gear is a pretty crazy game. It's super fast and there can be a TON of stuff that you have to notice on screen at one time. It can seem like a Really difficult game to play if you don't know what you are doing. However, this is kinda the point. It has a somewhat steep learning curve, but after you figure out a game plan you should be able to hold your own. Just like playing Halo, Gears of War, Street Fighter, or any other game, it takes a few hours for you to start being able to understand what is going on. This game is FAST PACED, but not unreasonably so. After you play it for a while, you'll know that it is fast paced, but it really won't seem as fast to you. Advanced tactics can be really tricky to pull off, like Dizzy's FRC and Impossible Dusts, but you don't really need these things to play the game. Those are only for the people who are trying to win tournaments or just need a challenge. The basic combos are super easy and can get you off to a solid start.
Guilty Gear notation is a special way of writing out combos and attacks that is used most often with Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. It works like the number pad on a computer keyboard. This is the diagram:
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
Where 5 is neutral, 4 is backwards, 6 is forwards, 8 is up and 2 is down. 7,9,1, and 3 are the corresponding diagonals. The attack buttons are abreviated also:
K-Kick
P-Punch
S-Slash
HS-Hard Slash
D- Dust
Therefore, 6P is forward and Punch. 236HS is down, down-forward, forward+Hard Slash.
A few more abreviations are:
j.X - An attack while jumping where X would be the attack button.
[X] - Hold the attack button
]X[ - release button
jc, sjc, djc. - jump cancel, super jump cancel, double jump cancel.
IAD- instant air dash, performed by pressing 9 5 6. It's really easy to do.
TK - Tiger Knee. When you input an attack that has to be done in the air by inputting all of the commands on the ground and then press an up direction+attack. For example: 2147K is how to do Dizzy's TK Bubble (I think it's K.)
sj - Superjump.
dj -double jump
f.X and cl.X - Far and Close attacks. Pretty much only applies to the Slash button in GGXXAC
RC, FRC - Roman Cancel, False Roman Cancel. Weird name, but it is a way to to spend meter to end an animation quicker. Doing these are not that difficult, but their uses are kind of advanced.
Basics:
Movement- Dashing is done by pressing forward twice or backwards twice. A forward dash can be held for as long as the screen but backdashes are short and go a set distance. Most characters can double jump and air dash once. Dizzy and Millia can airdash twice. All characters can super jump by pressing down and then quickly pressing up. This typically eats up your ability to double jump.
The Tension Gauge at the bottom of the screen is your meter. It allows you to do Overdrive attacks, Force Break attacks, RCs and FRCs, and Faultless Defense. It fills up as you attack and block attacks.
Blocking - done by holding back on the controller. Low attacks must be blocked while crouching, high attacks must be blocked while standing. You can also block in the air. All ground attacks have to be blocked on the ground. Faultless defense is a more powerful block that uses some of your meter (Tension Gauge.) Faultless Defense is done by holding 4+ any two attack buttons except S+HS because pressing back+S+HS is another special command called Slashback.
Slashback is parrying an attack. You have to tap 4S+HS right before the attack hits for Slashback to parry.
Bursts are pretty crazy and are usually used for a defensive tactic. Pressing D+any other attack button results in a Burst. You can use a Burst to start a combo, or you can use it to break a combo from your opponent. You can also use a Burst offensively and pop your opponent in the air for a combo. You have to have the Burst Meter underneath your name filled to be able to do a Burst. The Burst gauge fills over time and it fills faster as you have less health.
Things are fairly straightforward as far as the attack buttons go. You have 5 attack buttons, Punch Kick, Slash, Hard Slash, and Dust. Dust launches your opponent into the air for a free combo. Different attacks have different properties and as you are starting out, you should go into training mode and press every button crouching, standing and jumping. Punch always has a 6P command, Slash always has two versions for close and far attacks, and 2D (crouching Dust) is always a sweep.
There is a lot more to this game but this is meant to be a beginners primer so I will get right into attacking. These ideas apply to other fighting games too, but I will put them here because I have a friend who is trying to learn the game. For the much better information and more in depth information on characters and system mechanics go to http://www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php?title=Guilty_Gear:_Accent_Core
Combos are super easy in this game. The game has something called a Gatling System where normals cancel into other normals according to each characters Gatling Series. You can figure this out simply by experimenting and coming up with your own combos, or you can visit the link I posted and go to each characters combo section. Combos usually end in a special move or overdrive in order to maximize damage.
The name of the game in any fighting game is mixups and mind games. The most basic mix up is the High-Low mix up. You do a series of attacks that alternating between attacks that need to be blocked high or low in order to confuse your opponent and guess wrong, thus blocking the wrong way and getting opened up for a combo. Crossups are another important mixup in which you jump over the opponent to hit them while they are blocking the opposite direction. Guilty Gear is a game where you are going to want to maximize damage off of random hits. The game moves at a pace where you can't be 100% prepared for which hit will connect, so you kind of have to learn what damage you can get off of each hit that you throw out.
A note on performing special moves:
Guilty Gear uses the basic down-down-forward-forward+attack button and the forward-down-down forward+attack button that Street fighter uses. However, a slightly more complicated movement (but just as easy) is very common for Overdrives. The motion is forward-down forward-down-down backward-backward-forward+attack button. Or 632146Attack. This may look complex, but really just input the motions as is. It is really that simple. You'll have to get used to it through muscle memory but it really isn't a difficult movement. You can also input it relatively slowly. It doesn't have to be a superhumanly fast input. Just make sure you hit all the directions, don't jump, and with the final motion hit the attack button.
That is all the info I have for right now. In the next week or so I will write more on this awesome game.
Guilty Gear is a pretty crazy game. It's super fast and there can be a TON of stuff that you have to notice on screen at one time. It can seem like a Really difficult game to play if you don't know what you are doing. However, this is kinda the point. It has a somewhat steep learning curve, but after you figure out a game plan you should be able to hold your own. Just like playing Halo, Gears of War, Street Fighter, or any other game, it takes a few hours for you to start being able to understand what is going on. This game is FAST PACED, but not unreasonably so. After you play it for a while, you'll know that it is fast paced, but it really won't seem as fast to you. Advanced tactics can be really tricky to pull off, like Dizzy's FRC and Impossible Dusts, but you don't really need these things to play the game. Those are only for the people who are trying to win tournaments or just need a challenge. The basic combos are super easy and can get you off to a solid start.
Guilty Gear notation is a special way of writing out combos and attacks that is used most often with Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. It works like the number pad on a computer keyboard. This is the diagram:
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
Where 5 is neutral, 4 is backwards, 6 is forwards, 8 is up and 2 is down. 7,9,1, and 3 are the corresponding diagonals. The attack buttons are abreviated also:
K-Kick
P-Punch
S-Slash
HS-Hard Slash
D- Dust
Therefore, 6P is forward and Punch. 236HS is down, down-forward, forward+Hard Slash.
A few more abreviations are:
j.X - An attack while jumping where X would be the attack button.
[X] - Hold the attack button
]X[ - release button
jc, sjc, djc. - jump cancel, super jump cancel, double jump cancel.
IAD- instant air dash, performed by pressing 9 5 6. It's really easy to do.
TK - Tiger Knee. When you input an attack that has to be done in the air by inputting all of the commands on the ground and then press an up direction+attack. For example: 2147K is how to do Dizzy's TK Bubble (I think it's K.)
sj - Superjump.
dj -double jump
f.X and cl.X - Far and Close attacks. Pretty much only applies to the Slash button in GGXXAC
RC, FRC - Roman Cancel, False Roman Cancel. Weird name, but it is a way to to spend meter to end an animation quicker. Doing these are not that difficult, but their uses are kind of advanced.
Basics:
Movement- Dashing is done by pressing forward twice or backwards twice. A forward dash can be held for as long as the screen but backdashes are short and go a set distance. Most characters can double jump and air dash once. Dizzy and Millia can airdash twice. All characters can super jump by pressing down and then quickly pressing up. This typically eats up your ability to double jump.
The Tension Gauge at the bottom of the screen is your meter. It allows you to do Overdrive attacks, Force Break attacks, RCs and FRCs, and Faultless Defense. It fills up as you attack and block attacks.
Blocking - done by holding back on the controller. Low attacks must be blocked while crouching, high attacks must be blocked while standing. You can also block in the air. All ground attacks have to be blocked on the ground. Faultless defense is a more powerful block that uses some of your meter (Tension Gauge.) Faultless Defense is done by holding 4+ any two attack buttons except S+HS because pressing back+S+HS is another special command called Slashback.
Slashback is parrying an attack. You have to tap 4S+HS right before the attack hits for Slashback to parry.
Bursts are pretty crazy and are usually used for a defensive tactic. Pressing D+any other attack button results in a Burst. You can use a Burst to start a combo, or you can use it to break a combo from your opponent. You can also use a Burst offensively and pop your opponent in the air for a combo. You have to have the Burst Meter underneath your name filled to be able to do a Burst. The Burst gauge fills over time and it fills faster as you have less health.
Things are fairly straightforward as far as the attack buttons go. You have 5 attack buttons, Punch Kick, Slash, Hard Slash, and Dust. Dust launches your opponent into the air for a free combo. Different attacks have different properties and as you are starting out, you should go into training mode and press every button crouching, standing and jumping. Punch always has a 6P command, Slash always has two versions for close and far attacks, and 2D (crouching Dust) is always a sweep.
There is a lot more to this game but this is meant to be a beginners primer so I will get right into attacking. These ideas apply to other fighting games too, but I will put them here because I have a friend who is trying to learn the game. For the much better information and more in depth information on characters and system mechanics go to http://www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php?title=Guilty_Gear:_Accent_Core
Combos are super easy in this game. The game has something called a Gatling System where normals cancel into other normals according to each characters Gatling Series. You can figure this out simply by experimenting and coming up with your own combos, or you can visit the link I posted and go to each characters combo section. Combos usually end in a special move or overdrive in order to maximize damage.
The name of the game in any fighting game is mixups and mind games. The most basic mix up is the High-Low mix up. You do a series of attacks that alternating between attacks that need to be blocked high or low in order to confuse your opponent and guess wrong, thus blocking the wrong way and getting opened up for a combo. Crossups are another important mixup in which you jump over the opponent to hit them while they are blocking the opposite direction. Guilty Gear is a game where you are going to want to maximize damage off of random hits. The game moves at a pace where you can't be 100% prepared for which hit will connect, so you kind of have to learn what damage you can get off of each hit that you throw out.
A note on performing special moves:
Guilty Gear uses the basic down-down-forward-forward+attack button and the forward-down-down forward+attack button that Street fighter uses. However, a slightly more complicated movement (but just as easy) is very common for Overdrives. The motion is forward-down forward-down-down backward-backward-forward+attack button. Or 632146Attack. This may look complex, but really just input the motions as is. It is really that simple. You'll have to get used to it through muscle memory but it really isn't a difficult movement. You can also input it relatively slowly. It doesn't have to be a superhumanly fast input. Just make sure you hit all the directions, don't jump, and with the final motion hit the attack button.
That is all the info I have for right now. In the next week or so I will write more on this awesome game.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Tier Lists for Beginners
Tier lists are a construct in fighting games that rank each character in their ability to win against other characters. They rank the strength of each character in comparison to every other character in the game. Tier lists have been around since basically the beginning of competitive fighting games but they can be misunderstood by beginners.
The most important thing to understand with Tier Lists is that in no way does playing a high tier character guarantee winning. What tier lists actually say is that if two high level players of the same skill are playing and one player is using a character of a higher tier than the other, that player is more likely to win. The "high level player" part is pretty important. In many fighting games, the high tier characters require a lot more work to be proficient with to use them at their high tier potential.
Tier lists are also not set in stone. New fighting game strategies and tech are developed all the time and tier lists change. You can see examples of this if you search tier lists from older games because people often post outdated tier lists along with the updated tier lists for reference. Many times these lists change dramatically.
This being said, in games that are 10 years old or more, the tier lists are much more solid. Players have played for years at these games at high level play and while it is possible that someone could come up with some crazy new broken tech, it is very unlikely. People have usually maxed out all of the options in these games so the tier lists are much more accurate.
Tier lists, especially in newer games, don't say all that much either. They are much more flexible because the creators of the games take balance into consideration when creating and updating the games and you have much more flexibility when it comes to choosing characters that can win tournaments and such. There are two games where tier lists play an incredibly important role and those games are Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Super Smash Bros. Melee (and Brawl but fuck Brawl.) In these two games, character selection is incredibly important for your chances are winning. I have much more experience in Melee so I will use it as an example:
In Melee, there are 30-some characters but only about 16 are tournament viable and the same 4-6 characters are pretty much always the winners of tournaments. This is mostly because the players of Melee use mechanics in the game that the creator didn't necessarily intend to exist. The creator also did not consider balance to be an important factor when making decisions about the game. It was intended to be a fun party game, not a competitive game. Low tier characters in Melee just were not built to handle high tiers. They simply never have the same options the high tiers have. Low tiers can beat high tiers, but it usually requires a big skill gap, a little luck, or a shit ton more work than the high tiers need.
_______________________________________________________________________
I also wonder if, in some games, Tier Lists form because more players play certain characters more often than others. In Super Street Fighter 4 AE, the top 10 characters (Top Tier) are generally considered to be Rufus, Akuma, Cammy, Seth, Yun, Sagat, Fei Long, Ibuki, Adon, and C Viper. Adon and Yun are usually interchangeable with some other characters but this is top 10 list is fairly universal. A bunch of these characters are popular because they are awesome. Akuma, Seth, Sagat, Cammy, and Fei Long would be awesome characters in any game really and the other characters have a strong following too (Ibuki is my main.)
These characters obviously have really good options and can utilize really tricky set-ups, but I wonder if they are "Top Tier" because tons of people play them. Also, generally, the best players decide these characters are better than the other characters fairly early on in the game. As more players are playing these characters, they can collectively discover more tech than the few that play the "Stupid" characters like Dan and Hakan. This is all just speculation, but I think that it should be discussed.
The most important thing to understand with Tier Lists is that in no way does playing a high tier character guarantee winning. What tier lists actually say is that if two high level players of the same skill are playing and one player is using a character of a higher tier than the other, that player is more likely to win. The "high level player" part is pretty important. In many fighting games, the high tier characters require a lot more work to be proficient with to use them at their high tier potential.
Tier lists are also not set in stone. New fighting game strategies and tech are developed all the time and tier lists change. You can see examples of this if you search tier lists from older games because people often post outdated tier lists along with the updated tier lists for reference. Many times these lists change dramatically.
This being said, in games that are 10 years old or more, the tier lists are much more solid. Players have played for years at these games at high level play and while it is possible that someone could come up with some crazy new broken tech, it is very unlikely. People have usually maxed out all of the options in these games so the tier lists are much more accurate.
Tier lists, especially in newer games, don't say all that much either. They are much more flexible because the creators of the games take balance into consideration when creating and updating the games and you have much more flexibility when it comes to choosing characters that can win tournaments and such. There are two games where tier lists play an incredibly important role and those games are Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Super Smash Bros. Melee (and Brawl but fuck Brawl.) In these two games, character selection is incredibly important for your chances are winning. I have much more experience in Melee so I will use it as an example:
In Melee, there are 30-some characters but only about 16 are tournament viable and the same 4-6 characters are pretty much always the winners of tournaments. This is mostly because the players of Melee use mechanics in the game that the creator didn't necessarily intend to exist. The creator also did not consider balance to be an important factor when making decisions about the game. It was intended to be a fun party game, not a competitive game. Low tier characters in Melee just were not built to handle high tiers. They simply never have the same options the high tiers have. Low tiers can beat high tiers, but it usually requires a big skill gap, a little luck, or a shit ton more work than the high tiers need.
_______________________________________________________________________
I also wonder if, in some games, Tier Lists form because more players play certain characters more often than others. In Super Street Fighter 4 AE, the top 10 characters (Top Tier) are generally considered to be Rufus, Akuma, Cammy, Seth, Yun, Sagat, Fei Long, Ibuki, Adon, and C Viper. Adon and Yun are usually interchangeable with some other characters but this is top 10 list is fairly universal. A bunch of these characters are popular because they are awesome. Akuma, Seth, Sagat, Cammy, and Fei Long would be awesome characters in any game really and the other characters have a strong following too (Ibuki is my main.)
These characters obviously have really good options and can utilize really tricky set-ups, but I wonder if they are "Top Tier" because tons of people play them. Also, generally, the best players decide these characters are better than the other characters fairly early on in the game. As more players are playing these characters, they can collectively discover more tech than the few that play the "Stupid" characters like Dan and Hakan. This is all just speculation, but I think that it should be discussed.
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