Eh. Sometimes I just get really frustrated. Usually it's after a match where I feel like I should be able to win, but I just can't do anything at all to get in or succeed. Like I fought a Little Mac that I should have been able to beat, but I kept losing priority in attacks and stuff. It's things like...when I try to grab out of a shield I'm always too slow and my opponent dodges away, but when my opponent grabs out of shield I'm always too slow to dodge out and they grab me. Or when I try to priority an up smash but the opponent's dair knocks me away, and when I try to dair their up smash always wins and knocks me away.
It just feels like, even with all the YouTube and tournament watching and paying attention to advanced techniques, I still always end up getting my ass beat.
I'll probably pick the game up again tomorrow. I'm just throwing a video game temper tantrum.
Heh, no worries :3
The trick with any fighting game is a mixture of adaptation and observation. If something doesn't work, even if you feel it should, then you need to observe why it's not working and find an alternative that does
For example, the key to grabbing is that once you know they'll dodge your grabs you stop grabbing at where they are and start grabbing at where they will be (either dodge backwards form where you'd grab then do it or run past where they to about a backroll's distance and grab.)
A lot of fighting games is really about prediction and noticing patterns rather than reactions
At first you learn to notice your opponents reactions and change your behaviour to deal with it, then, as you get better, you learn to spot your own patterns and disrupt them so you can't be as easily read :3
Likewise, I don't think anyone dodges grabs on reaction: it's more that either they notice you always grab after doing certain other things or at certain ranges and so they pre-emptively evade it.
I think it helps to think of it more like a puzzle game. The opponent's playstyle is the puzzle made of different pieces. First you have to identify the pieces then you have to find the solution for that individual piece. Once you solve enough of the pieces then you'll win... at least until the opponent adapts and changes (which can take some people longer than others
)
The little mac priority problem reminds me of the issues I originally had with Sol Badguy in Guilty Gear: he always beat me to the punch on any collision. I eventually realised that the solution wasn't to try and beat him in priority but to instead block and let him hit first then punish during his recoveries: basically I played on his weaknesses and avoided his strengths.
An example of this might be Little Mac's using their rushing punch. If the little mac is fairly new then you can simply block it and then throw them. If they're experienced enough to know they can link it straight into punches, you instead need to roll past them and whack them in the behind instead :3
I don't know if any of that helps but that's always been my approach