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!
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