It's been 2 years since I even posted here. Crazy!
But I think the 2-year gap between posts is going to provide a great contrast between the me now, and the me before. A lot has changed, even though a lot has stayed the same as well.
For one thing, SFxT is dead and AE is entering a new era with Ultra Street Fighter 4. I for one honestly didn't see it coming when I posted here last time, but nowadays, I have a better indication for when a game is going to do well and when it isn't. Heck, I even thought Soul Calibur V was going to do well, but it didn't after a while. Things change, yet someone SFIV has stayed consistent and, dare I say, better as the years pass. It truly is the game that saved the FGC from niche E-sports mediocrity.
That's not to say other games have failed, but no game has come close to the international levels of hype and skill. People in the USA think it's Marvel, but we're the USA. Aside from a few well-known international pros, the skill level has remained consistently in the USA's favor, and I highly doubt that will change. I could be wrong, but the game has been out for quite a while, and the tiers haven't really changed, nor have the faces who win on a consistent level. Marvel at its highest level will always be hype, but when the results come out after the dust clears, it's sometimes (if not always).... disappointing.
Marvel is not dead in the East Coast, mind you. It just relocated.
But, there is definitely a game that carries almost the same kind of international diversity as SFIV. That game is KOF.
Much like SF, the game has evolved and so have the players. The constant world rankings are a complete tossup when it comes to the ranks of #3 and below. Albeit the number pool is drastically smaller than that of SFIV, but I think it makes every name stand out even more. I have zero clue as to who can possibly win this year's EVO, just as much as I probably had no clue how insanely well KOF was going to be in its debut when I last posted here. It makes for an exciting time, yet somehow, it makes for a sad realization.
The community itself here in the East Coast doesn't do too well vs other players outside of the region. Why? I think it boils down to two things: 1) Lack of a top internationally successful players whose skills can trickle down to the players and 2) A terrible mindset for the game.
This is a tricky topic for me because, while I can think of a number of problems, I definitely lack the proper solutions to fix whatever it is that needs to be fixed. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of players have failed to adapt to the times, and instead have chosen an "All or Nothing" ultimatum within themselves that, unfortunately, will not lead to success most of the time. As I said before, I could be wrong, and a part of me actually hopes so, only because I do genuinely want my scene to be successful, and more importantly, I want to see my friends do well. But as I play this game more and more, I realize quickly that being flexible to the idea of change does a lot for a player.
Many want to be like the top pros, who seem to be able to pick a theoretically lower-tier character out of nowhere and do massively well with it in a match or set. They figure that if this top pro who doesn't necessarily know this character as much as s/he does can win with said character, then naturally, s/he can do the same as well. That mindset is wrong in my opinion, and it's an opinion that has stemmed from a good 2-3 years of observation and the current status of my ability as well. Many of these players don't take into account that these pros have a much more deeper and massive knowledge of general fundamentals than they can hope to have, and that gives them a bigger edge than having certain particular knowledge about a character. That's why, while most players crumble, it is a solid foundation of basics that keeps a top player from crumbling, even if the character is significantly weaker.
That being said, I come at a crossroads with a mindset that Black Eye's KaneBlueRiver has. KBR believes that it also has to do with a top player's talent moreso than anything else, that allows them to defeat us lower-known players. Quite frankly, I hate that statement. But I also tend to believe that statement is not true because none of us here have maximized our potential talent as much as the top players have. Why not? Well, simply put, the players here are just really damn stubborn. They don't like admitting a lot of their faults, and when they do, they feel it's because they haven't trained enough when, in reality, they've probably trained up to their eyeballs in setups, combos and etc.
I feel like, instead of training harder, train smarter.
And training smarter has a lot to do with player cheaper characters. That statement alone makes so many players cringe. I can see why, too. I cringed when I first heard it as well.
A lot of players grow attached to the characters they play. For me, I have a massive attachment to K', a character who isn't the worst but is definitely not the best, either. I love the character's design and I've played him for years. Those years span across multiple games and iterations of the character, acquiring massive amounts of knowledge and specific quirks just for K' alone.
And yet, when I face another K' player, I tend to lose. Why?
It's simple: I may know a lot about the character, but if my general skills in a game are mediocre, or just plain ass, then there is no point applying specific knowledge about K' if I can't even properly play ANY character to begin with.
There is a lot of room for improvement in my game, yet for a good period of time, I struggled to get past walls that many others have gotten over. Why is that? Why am I struggling? After a while, I had a real talk with Romance and Pachu (two talented and successful KOF players) about it, and came to the conclusion that, it wasn't me who was making myself struggle, but rather my characters. King, Mature, K'.
There's a lot to learn with those 3 alone, but being able to conjure up good, solid gameplay without a pure ounce of overall ability makes them more a liability than an asset. What I mean is that it makes it massively difficult to uncover your general weaknesses in a game when you're too busy struggling with characters who naturally struggle. They're not simple or cheap enough to expose you general faults. You actually losing because of the characters, not necessarily because of you.
That should make me immediately feel better, and some would even say that's a piss poor excuse for covering up the fact that you are ass. It's not, actually.
I have fully admitted at that time that I was ass at the game, and that allowed me to clearly see most of my faults and learn from it. It was humbling, and it made me grow as a player. Stubbornly staying with the same characters who naturally make you struggle from the start is like having a massive anchor tied to your legs as you attempt to run for certain goals. The goal isn't necessarily to win, but to improve yourself. No one is going to judge you for playing cheaper characters because quite frankly, no one really cares what you do or who you are. If you are not winning, you are getting no favors. So please, get that out of your head.
Once I got past that stumbling block, I picked cheaper characters. Not massively cheap (yet), but simpler, and more powerful characters. And what happened? I grew a heck of a lot!
I can anti-air properly! Woah! And the best part is that I can anti-air in most games I play now. I struggled for 3+ years to make people respect my airspace, and it finally happened. My movements got sharper, and I became more threatening. And it wasn't because of the character; I myself felt like I was a threat.
The fundamentals became sharper, and I became a better player because of it. And because I became a better player, I can go back to my older characters and see a change in mindset unlike before, and that change makes even my older characters more powerful and threatening.
But I won't go back to them, yet. I have a lot more to learn with more basic and cheaper characters, and for once in such a long time, I can FEEL like I can achieve the goals I set out to have.
So think about it. Don't think that playing cheaper characters means you sold out. Believe me when I say that there's more to cheaper characters than just winning. It's about making it easier for yourself to learn, and also keeping your sanity up, because many players become frustrated and quit the game, when in reality, all they needed was a change in pace.
That's what picking cheaper characters are: a change of pace. A much needed one, at that.
Till next time!
Monday, June 2, 2014
Friday, March 16, 2012
Getting my Priorities Straight
It's a good month now, and so far... well, my record hasn't been good at all. It's been a while since I actually won anything in a tournament, and that was by taking my friend out in the Loser's Bracket.
So it's around 5:12 AM here, and I'm still awake. I came back from Local Battles a while ago, but the last loss I took is still replaying in my head. A few hours ago, I was just salty that I lost to that guy and just kept coming up with excuses. But honestly, after a few hours of thinking, the loss is attributed to a lot of things.
1) Lack of Practice. I keep saying I'll practice Marvel, but I don't, and somehow I expect I'll do well the next tournament. No. Right now I have to stop kidding myself and stop thinking that just because I'm going to tournaments, doesn't mean I'll level up without the effort before it. As much as I love Local Battles, paying 15 bucks to go 0-2 every week is not the most confidence-inducing thing. The only way to really be good at a game is to put forth effort into it. Now, I'm not saying I should completely shut myself in and learn every single frame, or rather just spend hours in training mode. I'm still under the impression that, if you do something and it feels like a chore, you're not going to learn anything
2) Lack of Seriousness. When I see NYChrisG lose, he takes it bad. Sometimes real bad. And while I get a laugh out of it, honestly, it's evident that he took this game seriously enough to learn everything (or at least the things needed to learn), and he plays to win. The past few weeks, I've been half-assing it. I'm still all smiles when I play in tournaments, and honestly I shouldn't be in that mode if I'm really thinking of taking competitive fighting games seriously. There's a reason why people who win are people who "play solid." That's because when they play, they're as solid as a rock. Their expressions don't say anything. They don't laugh shit off, they take it and go on, like a fucking rock. It's understandable to have fun expressions when playing casuals, but when you're playing with money, you'd best be on your A-Game and think nothing but winning. When you put yourself into a reality check and realize that "Hey, I'm about to lose 15 dollars plus the gas I bought just to get here," suddenly, you don't WANT to make mistakes. And suddenly your mistake ratio goes down, and you play more solid. Now imagine telling yourself the same thing I just said, only this time, 15 dollars is now 50. Yeah. That shit is mad serious.
3) Lack of Perspective. Press buttons. Press forward. Profit. That was my subconscious mindset whenever I played. And obviously, when you read it, it looks wrong already. When I came into the world of fighting games last year, the one thing I really felt I had, only because of fear, was the ability to read. I didn't know one damn combo for Ken back in Super Street Fighter IV, and the only way to compensate for that back when I was a real scrub was to read opponents. I would always ask myself how I open myself up.
Suddenly, I learned how to combo, and my original mindset completely turned around. These combos do damage, and I want to do damage, so I'm gonna use this combo to do damage. I was no longer thinking about the repercussions of certain moves. I just wanted that move to hit, cause if it hits, you're fucking dead. But I completely forget in the midst of my newfound ability to combo how to read opponents.
There was an article by Daigo Umehara where someone asked him how you basically get better at the game. Daigo simply said, "When you put a move out, a lot of people only put that move out because they're thinking of what happens when that move lands. But a lot don't think 'what will happen if this move doesn't land?' What if it's blocked or whiffed? The way to get better at a game with your character and in general is to not think how your actions will benefit you, but rather how your actions will be detrimental to you. Don't think of what this move will do for you, but think of how this move will hurt you, and you'll live a lot longer."
4) Lack of Flexibility. I play Ken for AE. I play Chris/Nova/Vergil for UMVC3. I play Julia/Poison for SFxT, and I play EX Iori/King/K' for KOF XIII. When I started playing Super, I stuck to Ken. That's good. The bad part? I didn't bother trying anyone else. That's a major, major mistake right there. How are you ever going to learn a matchup if you only know one side of the coin. This might count as Lack of Perspective, but my inability to be flexible and just TRY other characters just makes it all the more harder and impossible for me. Vic and Andrew (my buddies who chill with me at LB) couldn't help but shake their heads at me when I lost to that Zero player last night. But Vic hit it dead on when he mentioned that maybe, just maybe, I should stop playing Chris/Nova/Vergil and try other characters. Would I really have lost to that Zero if I played Zero? Probably not. It would probably be the same chances as a K' beating me in KOF. It's probably not going to happen. I know K' so goddamn well that I don't even think Bala himself could open me up that easily. I'm not talking out of my ass either. K' is almost 10 years of experience under my belt.
When it comes to K', I think that's where I'll stay inflexible. I'm completely and utterly loyal to K' in every KOF incarnation he's been in. Eddie (my friend who I played fighting games with before I took it seriously and still play with) knows damn well that my knowledge of K' is insane, and I'm not afraid to boast it. While I'm inflexible to the idea of changing K', here's a funny little thing no one really knows:
I picked up K' by accident.
Yep. When I first played KOF 2000 on my MAME emulator back in the day, I only played the game because of one reason: Fatal Fury. My brothers and I have always been huge fans of Fatal Fury, especially me, when I thought Kim was the coolest fighter in the planet. Now Terry, Andy and Joe are in this game? Fuck. Yeah. Then by some chance, I accidentally picked K' since I was mashing buttons when I lost against the Level 9 CPU and K', being the star of that game, had the cursor on him. I didn't feel like restarting, and just thought I'd play and lose and repick my Fatal Fury team.
I fucking landed a Heat Drive combo by mashing, and I never looked back. This fucker was awesome. Suddenly I backtracked to KOF '99 and from there learned K' in every way. If only he had his Sniper Slide from KOF XI in KOF 13, I'd die a happy man.
But that's what I mean by flexibility. Now, K' is my best character by far. Always has been, all because I picked this guy by accident. If that didn't happen, I'd probably be playing Terry, Andy and Joe right now. Maybe Kim.
And MAYBE, just maybe, if I wasn't so goddamn stubborn, I'd have been better at CVS2 if I stopped being an idiot and kept picking just SNK characters. My friend Joe kept blowing me up cause all I knew was Rock Howard and a handful of characters. By refusing to play ANY Capcom character, I lost the battle right there. My mistake.
That's what I mean. If I just took the time to get out of my comfort zone and look at other characters, shit like that Zero loss last night wouldn't have happened, maybe even that Level 5 Frank West thing, too.
5) Lack of Realism. I'm not going to win this tournament if I don't win a match. So I gotta stop thinking I'll win this tournament and hype a crowd up, and START thinking that I have to win this match. It's shit like that, that makes me kind of respect things like Daigo and Momochi using Yun, or Viscant using Vanilla Dark Phoenix, and ChrisG and Dieminion using Morrigan. There's money involved, and no one wants to lose money. Instead of focusing on winning it all, I gotta focus on just winning this one set. I'm tired of going 0-2. I'm learning, yes, but I'm at that point where I now realize that I'm spending $60 a month plus gas going to Local Battles. Yes. I'm spending $60 bucks just to lose? Hell no.
So there you have it. It's now 6:01, and I spent nearly an hour typing all this out. But yeah, if I'm going to really take all this shit seriously, it's about time I really hold those Ls to my chest and stop being free.
-FM Sway
So it's around 5:12 AM here, and I'm still awake. I came back from Local Battles a while ago, but the last loss I took is still replaying in my head. A few hours ago, I was just salty that I lost to that guy and just kept coming up with excuses. But honestly, after a few hours of thinking, the loss is attributed to a lot of things.
1) Lack of Practice. I keep saying I'll practice Marvel, but I don't, and somehow I expect I'll do well the next tournament. No. Right now I have to stop kidding myself and stop thinking that just because I'm going to tournaments, doesn't mean I'll level up without the effort before it. As much as I love Local Battles, paying 15 bucks to go 0-2 every week is not the most confidence-inducing thing. The only way to really be good at a game is to put forth effort into it. Now, I'm not saying I should completely shut myself in and learn every single frame, or rather just spend hours in training mode. I'm still under the impression that, if you do something and it feels like a chore, you're not going to learn anything
2) Lack of Seriousness. When I see NYChrisG lose, he takes it bad. Sometimes real bad. And while I get a laugh out of it, honestly, it's evident that he took this game seriously enough to learn everything (or at least the things needed to learn), and he plays to win. The past few weeks, I've been half-assing it. I'm still all smiles when I play in tournaments, and honestly I shouldn't be in that mode if I'm really thinking of taking competitive fighting games seriously. There's a reason why people who win are people who "play solid." That's because when they play, they're as solid as a rock. Their expressions don't say anything. They don't laugh shit off, they take it and go on, like a fucking rock. It's understandable to have fun expressions when playing casuals, but when you're playing with money, you'd best be on your A-Game and think nothing but winning. When you put yourself into a reality check and realize that "Hey, I'm about to lose 15 dollars plus the gas I bought just to get here," suddenly, you don't WANT to make mistakes. And suddenly your mistake ratio goes down, and you play more solid. Now imagine telling yourself the same thing I just said, only this time, 15 dollars is now 50. Yeah. That shit is mad serious.
3) Lack of Perspective. Press buttons. Press forward. Profit. That was my subconscious mindset whenever I played. And obviously, when you read it, it looks wrong already. When I came into the world of fighting games last year, the one thing I really felt I had, only because of fear, was the ability to read. I didn't know one damn combo for Ken back in Super Street Fighter IV, and the only way to compensate for that back when I was a real scrub was to read opponents. I would always ask myself how I open myself up.
Suddenly, I learned how to combo, and my original mindset completely turned around. These combos do damage, and I want to do damage, so I'm gonna use this combo to do damage. I was no longer thinking about the repercussions of certain moves. I just wanted that move to hit, cause if it hits, you're fucking dead. But I completely forget in the midst of my newfound ability to combo how to read opponents.
There was an article by Daigo Umehara where someone asked him how you basically get better at the game. Daigo simply said, "When you put a move out, a lot of people only put that move out because they're thinking of what happens when that move lands. But a lot don't think 'what will happen if this move doesn't land?' What if it's blocked or whiffed? The way to get better at a game with your character and in general is to not think how your actions will benefit you, but rather how your actions will be detrimental to you. Don't think of what this move will do for you, but think of how this move will hurt you, and you'll live a lot longer."
4) Lack of Flexibility. I play Ken for AE. I play Chris/Nova/Vergil for UMVC3. I play Julia/Poison for SFxT, and I play EX Iori/King/K' for KOF XIII. When I started playing Super, I stuck to Ken. That's good. The bad part? I didn't bother trying anyone else. That's a major, major mistake right there. How are you ever going to learn a matchup if you only know one side of the coin. This might count as Lack of Perspective, but my inability to be flexible and just TRY other characters just makes it all the more harder and impossible for me. Vic and Andrew (my buddies who chill with me at LB) couldn't help but shake their heads at me when I lost to that Zero player last night. But Vic hit it dead on when he mentioned that maybe, just maybe, I should stop playing Chris/Nova/Vergil and try other characters. Would I really have lost to that Zero if I played Zero? Probably not. It would probably be the same chances as a K' beating me in KOF. It's probably not going to happen. I know K' so goddamn well that I don't even think Bala himself could open me up that easily. I'm not talking out of my ass either. K' is almost 10 years of experience under my belt.
When it comes to K', I think that's where I'll stay inflexible. I'm completely and utterly loyal to K' in every KOF incarnation he's been in. Eddie (my friend who I played fighting games with before I took it seriously and still play with) knows damn well that my knowledge of K' is insane, and I'm not afraid to boast it. While I'm inflexible to the idea of changing K', here's a funny little thing no one really knows:
I picked up K' by accident.
Yep. When I first played KOF 2000 on my MAME emulator back in the day, I only played the game because of one reason: Fatal Fury. My brothers and I have always been huge fans of Fatal Fury, especially me, when I thought Kim was the coolest fighter in the planet. Now Terry, Andy and Joe are in this game? Fuck. Yeah. Then by some chance, I accidentally picked K' since I was mashing buttons when I lost against the Level 9 CPU and K', being the star of that game, had the cursor on him. I didn't feel like restarting, and just thought I'd play and lose and repick my Fatal Fury team.
I fucking landed a Heat Drive combo by mashing, and I never looked back. This fucker was awesome. Suddenly I backtracked to KOF '99 and from there learned K' in every way. If only he had his Sniper Slide from KOF XI in KOF 13, I'd die a happy man.
But that's what I mean by flexibility. Now, K' is my best character by far. Always has been, all because I picked this guy by accident. If that didn't happen, I'd probably be playing Terry, Andy and Joe right now. Maybe Kim.
And MAYBE, just maybe, if I wasn't so goddamn stubborn, I'd have been better at CVS2 if I stopped being an idiot and kept picking just SNK characters. My friend Joe kept blowing me up cause all I knew was Rock Howard and a handful of characters. By refusing to play ANY Capcom character, I lost the battle right there. My mistake.
That's what I mean. If I just took the time to get out of my comfort zone and look at other characters, shit like that Zero loss last night wouldn't have happened, maybe even that Level 5 Frank West thing, too.
5) Lack of Realism. I'm not going to win this tournament if I don't win a match. So I gotta stop thinking I'll win this tournament and hype a crowd up, and START thinking that I have to win this match. It's shit like that, that makes me kind of respect things like Daigo and Momochi using Yun, or Viscant using Vanilla Dark Phoenix, and ChrisG and Dieminion using Morrigan. There's money involved, and no one wants to lose money. Instead of focusing on winning it all, I gotta focus on just winning this one set. I'm tired of going 0-2. I'm learning, yes, but I'm at that point where I now realize that I'm spending $60 a month plus gas going to Local Battles. Yes. I'm spending $60 bucks just to lose? Hell no.
So there you have it. It's now 6:01, and I spent nearly an hour typing all this out. But yeah, if I'm going to really take all this shit seriously, it's about time I really hold those Ls to my chest and stop being free.
-FM Sway
Friday, February 17, 2012
Where's my AE Groove?
My head's been all about KOF lately. In fact, ever since it was released, all I did was KOF. I did the Arcade Mode, I finished the Story Mode, I finished about 6 characters' worth of (dear god in heaven) Missions. I'll admit, I love this game. It doesn't play like a lot of the other KOF games, but I think it's a needed step forward if SNK intends to compete with the bigger FG titles.
But it's because I love this game so much that it really set the bar on the difference between this game, and Street Fighter IV. When I first stepped into the FG scene, I was all about SFIV, because that's what pulled me into everything originally. But as time wore on, I kinda grew tired of it. There were a lot of things about SF that I really didn't know anything about, but when I played KOF, it was as if I was merely shaking off the rust on a game I practically knew everything about.
One thing that's new when I play KOF is that, well, I'm using an arcade stick. I used to play on a pad, and even now I feel like my inputs now were not as accurate as I was on pad. But there's that rush you get when you land an HD Combo on an arcade stick. It just feels all kinds of awesome.
Unfortunately, as much as I love to rave about KOF, the topic today was that I was losing a lot of interest in SFIV. Part of the reason was because of the original Arcade Edition that came out last summer. I wasn't necessarily feeling the game despite Ken getting a great buff with his sweep combo. It made me veer towards other characters like Ibuki and Vega, but lack of willpower just stopped me from really bothering. Was it laziness? Yes. Absolutely. Somewhere last year I reached a point where going to training mode in SF felt like a chore, and honestly, it should never be like that. The factor? Love for the game.
In the end, I stopped liking it. So I took what I thought would be a make-or-break decision, and decided to not play for a while. I didn't practice for a whole month and, obviously, I got blown up at my local weekly session. I think out of the 10 months stretching all the way back to when I started going to the local sessions, I only won a handful of sets. I won't even go as far as to say I won 5+ sets. I remember each match, and even though it's come close a bunch of times, my win-loss record was never there.
So I stopped playing altogether. I kept saying "I'll definitely practice this and that" but I was only fooling myself. I wasn't going to touch this game in my house until I got back the spark to do so. In the vicinity of my break from AE, I played KOF and I developed a kind of fondness for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I began competing in weekly local tournaments at Local Battles, too. If there was a time to realize that I really loved this scene, this would pretty much take the cake.
Yesterday, however, was different. The KOF tournament being held was cancelled due to low attendance. A part of me wasn't surprised since everyone was either at Winter Brawl, or just lack of interest. There was, however, an SSFIV AE 2012 Tournament (Wow, look how freakin long the abbreviation of that game is). So in order to "support the community," I asked Sam (the cool guy who handles the brackets for these tournaments. Shoutouts to him.) to just transfer my entry money to AE and I'll play the AE tournament. I didn't touch AE outside of sessions, so I wasn't expecting much. I got 0-2ed, but...
...I wasn't blown up. lol
Hell, I'll go as far as to say that, if I practiced, I would've blown that Boxer and Abel for free. Not to take anything away from them, but not once did I really feel like I was getting destroyed. Instead, I felt this nice rush that I haven't felt for AE in a good while. I really thought that maybe this was the spark I was looking for.
Then I watched Chris G and EMP Santhrax play Winners Finals with E.Ryu and Oni, then Grand Finals with Sakura and Rose, and I just didn't really feel like watching. Those guys are godlike, but it was the same old shit. And I think that's the other thing about AE that's turning me off.
It's been 4+ years since Vanilla SF4 came out. In the duration of those 4 years, 3 new versions of the game out, along with a bunch of tweaks in between. Super came out and was revered for its great balance. There's a lot of outcry because some characters were just ass, but the game was solid all-throughout its lifespan. Then Arcade Edition came out, and it just became, what I feel is, a disaster. The Chinese Triad was just too strong, and in the end, EVO Top 8 was surrounded by 2 things; The Chinese Triad, or gimmick/cheap/whatever you wanna call it characters like Viper and Seth. Flash had a Zangief there, but that got blown out of the water.
Now, we're in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition ver. 2012. What in the fuck is that name...?
The balance of this game, however, is good. So far, nothing to complain about. But honestly, I only played 3 out of the 4 versions of this series and I'm already tired. But outside of just me, I think the constant huge updates took a toll on the SF community. Not as much as, let's say, the Mortal Kombat scene who gets a huge update every 2 months, but 4 versions of a game, especially when you had to pay for 3 of them, just gets tedious and unnecessary.
To me, the game is now reaching that downhill slope. I'm not saying it's dead. It's far from it, but the interest level has definitely dwindled due to a lot of factors, most recently the fact that 3 characters were just that damn good over the rest of the cast. But also because of the interest in new games. UMVC3 is insanely hype, and thankfully Capcom only took 2 tries to get it right. KOF is getting insane props from a lot of top names in the community. There's finally a 3D game to take over Tekken with Soul Calibur V. Street Fighter x Tekken is looking pretty damn solid. Skullgirls is nearing release. Capcom just re-licensed Darkstalkers. Atlus, after successfully releasing KOF, will be releasing Persona 4: Arena soon. And there's even talk about a new Guilty Gear. Just how insane is that?
But, a part of me really wants to return to SFIV and try my luck again. Hopefully, this little need of mine sticks with me until SFIV's end.
Now watch me get bodied by this AE player. Lose. Option-Select. Win.
~FullMetalSway
But it's because I love this game so much that it really set the bar on the difference between this game, and Street Fighter IV. When I first stepped into the FG scene, I was all about SFIV, because that's what pulled me into everything originally. But as time wore on, I kinda grew tired of it. There were a lot of things about SF that I really didn't know anything about, but when I played KOF, it was as if I was merely shaking off the rust on a game I practically knew everything about.
One thing that's new when I play KOF is that, well, I'm using an arcade stick. I used to play on a pad, and even now I feel like my inputs now were not as accurate as I was on pad. But there's that rush you get when you land an HD Combo on an arcade stick. It just feels all kinds of awesome.
Unfortunately, as much as I love to rave about KOF, the topic today was that I was losing a lot of interest in SFIV. Part of the reason was because of the original Arcade Edition that came out last summer. I wasn't necessarily feeling the game despite Ken getting a great buff with his sweep combo. It made me veer towards other characters like Ibuki and Vega, but lack of willpower just stopped me from really bothering. Was it laziness? Yes. Absolutely. Somewhere last year I reached a point where going to training mode in SF felt like a chore, and honestly, it should never be like that. The factor? Love for the game.
In the end, I stopped liking it. So I took what I thought would be a make-or-break decision, and decided to not play for a while. I didn't practice for a whole month and, obviously, I got blown up at my local weekly session. I think out of the 10 months stretching all the way back to when I started going to the local sessions, I only won a handful of sets. I won't even go as far as to say I won 5+ sets. I remember each match, and even though it's come close a bunch of times, my win-loss record was never there.
So I stopped playing altogether. I kept saying "I'll definitely practice this and that" but I was only fooling myself. I wasn't going to touch this game in my house until I got back the spark to do so. In the vicinity of my break from AE, I played KOF and I developed a kind of fondness for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I began competing in weekly local tournaments at Local Battles, too. If there was a time to realize that I really loved this scene, this would pretty much take the cake.
Yesterday, however, was different. The KOF tournament being held was cancelled due to low attendance. A part of me wasn't surprised since everyone was either at Winter Brawl, or just lack of interest. There was, however, an SSFIV AE 2012 Tournament (Wow, look how freakin long the abbreviation of that game is). So in order to "support the community," I asked Sam (the cool guy who handles the brackets for these tournaments. Shoutouts to him.) to just transfer my entry money to AE and I'll play the AE tournament. I didn't touch AE outside of sessions, so I wasn't expecting much. I got 0-2ed, but...
...I wasn't blown up. lol
Hell, I'll go as far as to say that, if I practiced, I would've blown that Boxer and Abel for free. Not to take anything away from them, but not once did I really feel like I was getting destroyed. Instead, I felt this nice rush that I haven't felt for AE in a good while. I really thought that maybe this was the spark I was looking for.
Then I watched Chris G and EMP Santhrax play Winners Finals with E.Ryu and Oni, then Grand Finals with Sakura and Rose, and I just didn't really feel like watching. Those guys are godlike, but it was the same old shit. And I think that's the other thing about AE that's turning me off.
It's been 4+ years since Vanilla SF4 came out. In the duration of those 4 years, 3 new versions of the game out, along with a bunch of tweaks in between. Super came out and was revered for its great balance. There's a lot of outcry because some characters were just ass, but the game was solid all-throughout its lifespan. Then Arcade Edition came out, and it just became, what I feel is, a disaster. The Chinese Triad was just too strong, and in the end, EVO Top 8 was surrounded by 2 things; The Chinese Triad, or gimmick/cheap/whatever you wanna call it characters like Viper and Seth. Flash had a Zangief there, but that got blown out of the water.
Now, we're in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition ver. 2012. What in the fuck is that name...?
The balance of this game, however, is good. So far, nothing to complain about. But honestly, I only played 3 out of the 4 versions of this series and I'm already tired. But outside of just me, I think the constant huge updates took a toll on the SF community. Not as much as, let's say, the Mortal Kombat scene who gets a huge update every 2 months, but 4 versions of a game, especially when you had to pay for 3 of them, just gets tedious and unnecessary.
To me, the game is now reaching that downhill slope. I'm not saying it's dead. It's far from it, but the interest level has definitely dwindled due to a lot of factors, most recently the fact that 3 characters were just that damn good over the rest of the cast. But also because of the interest in new games. UMVC3 is insanely hype, and thankfully Capcom only took 2 tries to get it right. KOF is getting insane props from a lot of top names in the community. There's finally a 3D game to take over Tekken with Soul Calibur V. Street Fighter x Tekken is looking pretty damn solid. Skullgirls is nearing release. Capcom just re-licensed Darkstalkers. Atlus, after successfully releasing KOF, will be releasing Persona 4: Arena soon. And there's even talk about a new Guilty Gear. Just how insane is that?
But, a part of me really wants to return to SFIV and try my luck again. Hopefully, this little need of mine sticks with me until SFIV's end.
Now watch me get bodied by this AE player. Lose. Option-Select. Win.
~FullMetalSway
Thursday, February 9, 2012
A New Challenger has Appeared
So basically this is my blog site.
Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Aldrin, but my handle is FMSway. It was only last year in May did I decide to get into the world of Fighting Games and tournaments. So far, I've entered around 6-7 tournaments, and so far... well... eh.
I decided to make this blog to, I guess, chronicle my journey into the Fighting Game scene. Even though it might seem like I'm just some random guy who entered all this for the feeling of glory, it's a bit more complicated, and special, than that.
Around February last year, right after Valentine's Day (Or was it before?) I caught the all-dreaded flu. I was hospitalized the day it went full-blast. Unfortunately, as a cancer survivor, my immune system and whatnot were never in the best in shape, and hence, I was sent to the hospital. It's needless to say that the flu was a living hell from there on out, and I was bedridden for a while. All I had in that bedroom was my laptop and mp3 player, and one day, something odd happened.
If anyone remembers, the day after Valentine's was the day Marvel vs Capcom 3 came out. So my youtube was filled of MVC3 stuff. I was an avid fan of KOF so I basically had a lot of Fighting Game video recommendations, and in that day, that's all I saw. Everytime I looked for videos to distract myself from the insane pain of the flu, I kept hitting this one stupid video.
It was about this guy, some person named, err, Keits. He kept showing this other guy Dante's 40+ moves of doom. Safe to say, I was largely unimpressed and bored. I never even let the video finish and I just went on my way to find other vids. But the recommedations kept coming to this damn video, and eventually, I finished the entire playback. I still hated it, lol. I looked up at the channel author, and all it said was "crosscountertv."
"...what a lame ass name." I said. Cross Counter TV? Sounded like a cheap knockoff of Crossfire. (CROSSFIYYYAAAAAA!!!! Ahem...) But since this video kept popping up, maybe cause I was drugged up, I relented and clicked on the channel name.
And wow, did I not regret it.
The first video I saw in that channel was The Excellent Adventures of Gootecks and Mike Ross, and I laughed so hard, I coughed up phlem and blood. I remember the episode, too. It was the last episode of their 3rd season, where Mike Ross makes a bet with Gootecks that he'll body the next online noob free with Sagat in Super Street Fighter IV, and bet lunch/dinner (basically all his money). He fought a scrub Ryu, and got bodied instead. Just the ridiculous reactions of Mike Ross made me laugh the living hell out of myself.
I crapped my pants, actually. Don't hate. I had the flu and the loss of bodily functions outside of my arms. Again, don't hate, lol.
For the remainder of those 2+ weeks while I was bedridden, I couldn't resist. I watched every episode from the 1st one to the most recent of The Excellent Adventures.
Now, I have to add: I DID play SFIV beforehand, the original version with my friend Eddie. I hated it on the first try and never played it again. I was never a huge fan of Capcom but that's because of my insane bias towards KOF and SNK in general. But according to what others tell me, it wasn't so bad to hate that broken game. But I just disliked it.
But when I clicked on the E-Adventures, I knew something was different.
Were there really THAT many characters last time? The select screen has... circles. Is that Cody from Final Fight? Holy shit! I thought it was a brand new game. Then I realized it was SUPER Street Fighter IV.
I wasn't surprised. Even though I didn't know SF that much, I knew they had this odd obsession with making different versions of... every SF period, lol. But this time, it was different. I never realized how much.. FUN... Street Fighter IV was. One episode I remembered in particular was starring Filipino Champ, Ricky Ortiz, and John Choi (whoever those guys are...), where F.Champ faced this guy named Kid Guile, and Champ just straight out made that kid a tool. They had so much fun, and I enjoyed watching them.
From there... I began watching more and more, and I dipped into the world of Fighting Games. I couldn't help it. Maybe it was the drugs, but it became addicting. And from there, I just dove right in. Hell, I didn't have any new-gen consoles, or an arcade stick until May/June. I used a pad like I always did. But I couldn't help it. It was too interesting not to.
Despite everything that happened to me, Fighting Games practically nursed me while I recovered. So much bad luck happened to me since I graduated from college. I lost my dad, I got diagnosed with Cancer, lost my art job in Japan and just a lot of hayness stuff as a result of my karma that made me feel like nothing good was going to happen. I just hated it. But even though it might sound like it came out of a movie, Fighting Games became my new addiction, my drug that made me feel hype, to get my head off of things.
And now, here I am, diving into tournaments as best I can, an '11er who doesn't know a thing about the past outside of what he reads on the internet. But I remain humble, because I can't help but appreciate what this scene has done for me. Yeah, we have mad trolls and idiotic people, but for a while, it was all I had. It still is. Something tells me watching that video from Cross Counter meant something, and I told my friend Eddie that, something, just something, is telling me to take a gamble at this thing.
So far, I haven't regretted it at all.
So hopefully, one day, when I re-read this blog, I'll be something more than just some random guy in the scene. But for now, I'm just some guy, the new challenger. Still free as a bird.
For now.
So I guess this first entry is a symbol of my thanks and appreciation for the scene and for my local scene in general. You guys saved me from more than you know. And I will always respect that.
Now watch me body this fool next to me.
Stay Free.
~FullMetalSway
Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Aldrin, but my handle is FMSway. It was only last year in May did I decide to get into the world of Fighting Games and tournaments. So far, I've entered around 6-7 tournaments, and so far... well... eh.
I decided to make this blog to, I guess, chronicle my journey into the Fighting Game scene. Even though it might seem like I'm just some random guy who entered all this for the feeling of glory, it's a bit more complicated, and special, than that.
Around February last year, right after Valentine's Day (Or was it before?) I caught the all-dreaded flu. I was hospitalized the day it went full-blast. Unfortunately, as a cancer survivor, my immune system and whatnot were never in the best in shape, and hence, I was sent to the hospital. It's needless to say that the flu was a living hell from there on out, and I was bedridden for a while. All I had in that bedroom was my laptop and mp3 player, and one day, something odd happened.
If anyone remembers, the day after Valentine's was the day Marvel vs Capcom 3 came out. So my youtube was filled of MVC3 stuff. I was an avid fan of KOF so I basically had a lot of Fighting Game video recommendations, and in that day, that's all I saw. Everytime I looked for videos to distract myself from the insane pain of the flu, I kept hitting this one stupid video.
It was about this guy, some person named, err, Keits. He kept showing this other guy Dante's 40+ moves of doom. Safe to say, I was largely unimpressed and bored. I never even let the video finish and I just went on my way to find other vids. But the recommedations kept coming to this damn video, and eventually, I finished the entire playback. I still hated it, lol. I looked up at the channel author, and all it said was "crosscountertv."
"...what a lame ass name." I said. Cross Counter TV? Sounded like a cheap knockoff of Crossfire. (CROSSFIYYYAAAAAA!!!! Ahem...) But since this video kept popping up, maybe cause I was drugged up, I relented and clicked on the channel name.
And wow, did I not regret it.
The first video I saw in that channel was The Excellent Adventures of Gootecks and Mike Ross, and I laughed so hard, I coughed up phlem and blood. I remember the episode, too. It was the last episode of their 3rd season, where Mike Ross makes a bet with Gootecks that he'll body the next online noob free with Sagat in Super Street Fighter IV, and bet lunch/dinner (basically all his money). He fought a scrub Ryu, and got bodied instead. Just the ridiculous reactions of Mike Ross made me laugh the living hell out of myself.
I crapped my pants, actually. Don't hate. I had the flu and the loss of bodily functions outside of my arms. Again, don't hate, lol.
For the remainder of those 2+ weeks while I was bedridden, I couldn't resist. I watched every episode from the 1st one to the most recent of The Excellent Adventures.
Now, I have to add: I DID play SFIV beforehand, the original version with my friend Eddie. I hated it on the first try and never played it again. I was never a huge fan of Capcom but that's because of my insane bias towards KOF and SNK in general. But according to what others tell me, it wasn't so bad to hate that broken game. But I just disliked it.
But when I clicked on the E-Adventures, I knew something was different.
Were there really THAT many characters last time? The select screen has... circles. Is that Cody from Final Fight? Holy shit! I thought it was a brand new game. Then I realized it was SUPER Street Fighter IV.
I wasn't surprised. Even though I didn't know SF that much, I knew they had this odd obsession with making different versions of... every SF period, lol. But this time, it was different. I never realized how much.. FUN... Street Fighter IV was. One episode I remembered in particular was starring Filipino Champ, Ricky Ortiz, and John Choi (whoever those guys are...), where F.Champ faced this guy named Kid Guile, and Champ just straight out made that kid a tool. They had so much fun, and I enjoyed watching them.
From there... I began watching more and more, and I dipped into the world of Fighting Games. I couldn't help it. Maybe it was the drugs, but it became addicting. And from there, I just dove right in. Hell, I didn't have any new-gen consoles, or an arcade stick until May/June. I used a pad like I always did. But I couldn't help it. It was too interesting not to.
Despite everything that happened to me, Fighting Games practically nursed me while I recovered. So much bad luck happened to me since I graduated from college. I lost my dad, I got diagnosed with Cancer, lost my art job in Japan and just a lot of hayness stuff as a result of my karma that made me feel like nothing good was going to happen. I just hated it. But even though it might sound like it came out of a movie, Fighting Games became my new addiction, my drug that made me feel hype, to get my head off of things.
And now, here I am, diving into tournaments as best I can, an '11er who doesn't know a thing about the past outside of what he reads on the internet. But I remain humble, because I can't help but appreciate what this scene has done for me. Yeah, we have mad trolls and idiotic people, but for a while, it was all I had. It still is. Something tells me watching that video from Cross Counter meant something, and I told my friend Eddie that, something, just something, is telling me to take a gamble at this thing.
So far, I haven't regretted it at all.
So hopefully, one day, when I re-read this blog, I'll be something more than just some random guy in the scene. But for now, I'm just some guy, the new challenger. Still free as a bird.
For now.
So I guess this first entry is a symbol of my thanks and appreciation for the scene and for my local scene in general. You guys saved me from more than you know. And I will always respect that.
Now watch me body this fool next to me.
Stay Free.
~FullMetalSway
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