The Fighting Game Noob Thread: From Scrub to Master

Holy shit.

So I played a bit this morning before work after spending time in the Training room last night just playing around.

I have been a gamer most of my life and pick them up fairly quickly. FPSes, RTSes, etc I can be fairly competent in with no problem.

I got absolutely demolished this morning in a couple casual matches, both vs Mika. Like, I don't think I had enough time to land more than 3 or 4 punches each round. The pace was fast and furious. I felt over pressured, over powered, and just got dominated. And I liked it. It is something new. I did find myself landing a couple crush counters (by accident) but didn't really know how to capitalize on those situations. So basically, I was mashing away.

I am looking forward to learning a whole new skill set in FGC. The game looks amazing, it runs amazing on my PC at 1440p, and I am just really excited to continue to get my ass kicked.

I hope I can learn enough to analyze my own matches and figure out how to apply that knowledge to get better.

And thanks for the recommendations guys about finding a main. I think I will need to just do the story for each character and get a sense of them. I played a little bit with Ryu, Rashid, and Necalli. I really like the grappling style of Necalli so far.
 
ACE 1991 said:
What's the best way to do this on PS4?
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Share feature.

Make yourself a YouTube account. Log in on the share menu. After a match hit share button and then YouTube. Trim the video if desired and then upload and post it here.

I want everyone to post day 1 matches so we can all critique each other!
 
RX-78-2 said:
Is there a generally recommended way to approach training mode?
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Always hop into it with a purpose. Wanting to work on the execution of a certain combo, figuring out how to get around a situation that gave you trouble in an online match, examining the spacing for punishing whiffed normal moves, that sort of mentality.
 
HundredEyeMonk said:
Holy shit.

So I played a bit this morning before work after spending time in the Training room last night just playing around.

I have been a gamer most of my life and pick them up fairly quickly. FPSes, RTSes, etc I can be fairly competent in with no problem.

I got absolutely demolished this morning in a couple casual matches, both vs Mika. Like, I don't think I had enough time to land more than 3 or 4 punches each round. The pace was fast and furious. I felt over pressured, over powered, and just got dominated. And I liked it. It is something new. I did find myself landing a couple crush counters (by accident) but didn't really know how to capitalize on those situations. So basically, I was mashing away.

I am looking forward to learning a whole new skill set in FGC. The game looks amazing, it runs amazing on my PC at 1440p, and I am just really excited to continue to get my ass kicked.

I hope I can learn enough to analyze my own matches and figure out how to apply that knowledge to get better.

And thanks for the recommendations guys about finding a main. I think I will need to just do the story for each character and get a sense of them. I played a little bit with Ryu, Rashid, and Necalli. I really like the grappling style of Necalli so far.
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Straight out of my mind. I started looking into fighting games for that same reason (EVO matches helped as well).
 
Not getting as many matches as I hoped for launch day, but I did win one out of three which is, like, three times as good as in SF4 for me. My win was in a very laggy match against a teleporting Ryu who liked throwing hail mary Tatsus and full screen Hadokens. I feel like that wasn't a clean win, but... it counts. I would have beat him in a smooth match if he gives me free Tatsu punishes all day, anyway.

It annoys e that I can practice something in Training and then not land it even once in any match. I guess I have something else to learn before getting combo happy. Stay calm in battle. The commands are exactly the same as in Training, I can do it. And then R. Mika is flying at me butt first and I flinch. Only experience can fix that... if the game would give me more than three matches per hour.
 
McNum said:
Not getting as many matches as I hoped for launch day, but I did win one out of three which is, like, three times as good as in SF4 for me. My win was in a very laggy match against a teleporting Ryu who liked throwing hail mary Tatsus and full screen Hadokens. I feel like that wasn't a clean win, but... it counts. I would have beat him in a smooth match if he gives me free Tatsu punishes all day, anyway.

It annoys e that I can practice something in Training and then not land it even once in any match. I guess I have something else to learn before getting combo happy. Stay calm in battle. The commands are exactly the same as in Training, I can do it. And then R. Mika is flying at me butt first and I flinch. Only experience can fix that... if the game would give me more than three matches per hour.
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I played a laggy Nash earlier. It's hard to win when it's laggy.
 
PSN is stnhdr. Add me! Maining Rashid at the moment. Up for matches tonight but I'll be uploading some tech vids first.
 
I'm gonna harvest the replays I do have when the server stops throwing me off. Apparently, viewing saved replays is an online only feature. And I add my own replays to my favorites list... but they don't show up.

SFV day 1 server quality has been... poor. I think I'll give up for tonight. Scary opponents I can handle, I mean I'll lose, but I can always go for denying the Perfect. But I can't fight the server, that's a 0-10 matchup.
 
Cindi Mayweather said:
I want everyone to post day 1 matches so we can all critique each other!
Click to expand...
I have to make due with recording replays in Shadowplay and editing them in Windows Movie Maker. It isn't pretty, but it's good enough for these purposes.

With that said, let's get this Day One scrubmatches train rolling! I got exactly three matches in today before the servers decided that matchmaking just wasn't a thing that was going to happen, so I recorded all three. And here they are! I am red Karin in all of them. And frankly, I think I like the red variant of the outfit better than any of the others.

Match 1: Karin vs. R. Mika
I wish I won, it was close, but I flinched at the end. I don't know the Mika matchup all that well, she got me with the throw into wall move WAY too much for my tastes. I did learn how to block a Nadeshko coming from behind. You still hold away from Mika for that. Also that Super I hit in the final round is totally unearned. That was supposed to be a guren-ken hitconfirm into Super... and she blocked it. But got hit by the super anyway as she tried to punish. ...success?

Match 2: Karin vs. Ryu
I am calling this one unwinnable for me. That Ryu was out of my league. I am somewhat satisfied with my blocking, though, but blocking only delays the inevitable, and when he got through, it hurt a lot. I gave as much as I could, but the outcome was never really in question.

Match 3: Karin vs. a different Ryu
The laggy match, now cleaned up in replay form. I won, yay. I lost round two, but dominated round three. What did he or I do that was different in the last round? I apologize for the hail mary specials, but they kept hitting, so I kept doing them. Also of note... did I just stuff a Tatsu with st. HP? That's a thing that can happen?

Overall, my takeaway from watching these is that I still do that jump away thing too much, but I am getting more comfortable with all of Karin's normals. I only do that dash under anti-air once, but it worked. So I need to do that more. But none of what I practiced in Training before the fights really show up, except for the dash-uppercuts are now a part of my arsenal. I don't do anything neat with them, but they are happening.

And I need more fights against human opponents! Come on matchmaking server. Make matches already!
 
I'm not surprised that there are people who are playing a fighting game for the first time and having difficulty.

I've redboxed a copy and since the servers have gone belly up, and I'm considering making a day 1 scrub tutorial for brand new players on YT. Are any tutorials like this available already? If so, there's no point in me doing the work.

Otherwise I'll be happy to take suggestions on what you would like to be explained.
 
Cindi Mayweather said:
Street Fighter V Resources

Beginners

Street Fighter for Complete Beginners

Concepts Every 2D Fighting Game Player Should Know

A Little Bit About Zoning

2d Fighter Tutorial Part II: Knockdown and Wakeup

Full System Breakdown, Everything You Need To Know For SFV

When SALT Strikes: 10 Detailed Tips How To Get Better at Fighting Games!

Maximillian Dood's You Must Lose To Win

Intermediate/Advanced

Footsies Handbook

DevilJin's SFV Breakdown

Bafael's New Mechanics Overview

Light Normals in Street Fighter V

Crush Counter Punishes

If you're a beginner I highly suggest looking up your character's move lists, basic combos, and strategies when you get the game. Over the next few weeks we will be getting tons of media and strategies. Stick around for them!
Click to expand...

Thanks for this.
 
As someone who's never really played a fighting game before, that Gootecks video is insanely helpful. A lot of useful information but not to the point where it feels overwhelming.
 
Yay! So I finally got SFV. I played for a bit in training and it feels great. Anybody on here want to get together and train a bit sometime this week? Maybe tonight as well if I Have time.
Cindi Mayweather said:
Street Fighter V Resources


When SALT Strikes: 10 Detailed Tips How To Get Better at Fighting Games!
Click to expand...

This specific video has some great advice. One of the areas I struggle with most is understanding concepts, or learning why I do specific attacks. I always copy combos from others and don't know why it works. I find knowing why things work the way they do is one of the best ways to learn anything.
 
Looking forward to following this thread and helping/getting helped! I'll probably upload a video or two tomorrow if the servers are running smoothly then.
 
I'm really happy to see this thread exists. I've been playing fighters since 2007...but I still suck.

With SFV I'm really trying to git gud. I've decided to main Laura and I already feel like just sticking to one character is making a huge difference.

But does anyone have any advice for using her against characters with easy projectiles like Ryu or (especially) Nash? I'm getting destroyed fighting them.
 
So put in about 2 hours of practice tonight in SFV, I can execute all the commands for Ryu basically 90% of the time....but only when I am on the left side of the screen. When I'm in the right side that drops to 50% execution at most, for some reason I find my coordination moving the stick to the left (towards the CPU) is far worse, and it seems that most of the commands require that "forward" motion in some capacity.

To be more specific I just tried Ryu's uppercut move (Forward, Down, Down-Forward) and I did it 5/5 on the left side of the screen (where forward is to the right) and 0/5 on the opposite side.

Is this a normal thing?
 
bananafactory said:
So put in about 2 hours of practice tonight in SFV, I can execute all the commands for Ryu basically 90% of the time....but only when I am on the left side of the screen. When I'm in the right side that drops to 50% execution at most, for some reason I find my coordination moving the stick to the left (towards the CPU) is far worse, and it seems that most of the commands require that "forward" motion in some capacity.

To be more specific I just tried Ryu's uppercut move (Forward, Down, Down-Forward) and I did it 5/5 on the left side of the screen (where forward is to the right) and 0/5 on the opposite side.

Is this a normal thing?
Click to expand...

It's absolutely a normal thing. Practice on the right side more so you can do both.
 
Critique time. Some bad losses here. Thinking of them as learning experiences.

STREET FIGHTER V DAY ONE CRITIQUE

Notice my progress as the matches evolve. The matches are listed in play order.

Versus Karin (Loss)

Critique: My first fight online. This Karin player is really solid and experienced. They took advantage of spacing, tripping me when I walked forward, and maximized damage when necessary. It doesn't help that I'm leaving myself open because I'm not hit confirming. The comeback I had on round 2 is pretty solid but very, very unpolished. Old habits die hard and I busted out lights occasionally on the third round, where I was absolutely destroyed. I need to check the frame data on Chun and see which moves are unsafe.

Versus Dhalsim (Win)

Solid fight on my part and the Dhalsim wasn't a complete slouch either. He did a fairly admirable job trying to keep me out, but his pattern grew predictable. Buttons were pressed here and it cost me a lot of health. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Crush Counter system. He did really good on the second round when I did manage to get in. I think a tour of the lab will prove useful when testing my moves against Dhalsim's to see how I can beat some of his moves.

Versus Ryu (Loss)

Absolutely aggravating match. I tried to EX SBK multiple times at the tail end of the first round when being pressured on wakeup. His pattern is predictable and I didn't manage to anti-air him when I needed to. Good second round for me where I simply outplayed him and exploited his weaknesses and habits, but the third round I playing sloppy all around and I know I can play better than that. I was outplayed.

Versus Cammy (Disconnect)

BRUTAL first round. Outplyaed, out-footsied, everything. Holy fuck. Nothing more I can say. Sound round was going more in my favor until I was disconnected. I would have no shame losing against that Cammy and I need to train against their tactics in the lab tomorrow. Seriously, what the fuck? Backhand looks like it's plus on block. Please release FA Tool SFV on iOS!
 
So I just went 0-5 in my first Street Fighter matches and I haven't even won a game. I think I'm going to hang out in this thread for a while if you fine folks don't mind :)
 
Don't worry about wins or losses at this point. Worry about getting better and improving. Consider each new fight a learning experience.

I highly suggest watching Maximillian's "You Must Lose To Win" for encouragement linked above and on the last page.
 
Subbed to this thread! SFV doesn't come out until tomorrow in Japan, but I am pretty excited. I have never really played fighting games (except for the odd time at the arcade) so I am ready to be completely awful for a long, long time. Thanks for everybody for posting tips/videos, etc. Anybody else with NO background in fighting games want to play? As I mentioned, I won't be able to play until tomorrow, but wouldn't mind playing against people who are also starting from zero. My PSN is charlie_lun
 
Really glad we've got new people.

If we had multi person lobbies I'd like to have fight nights where you guys who are total beginners fight each other and post the results and we all help you guys out.
 
Cindi Mayweather said:
Really glad we've got new people.

If we had multi person lobbies I'd like to have fight nights where you guys who are total beginners fight each other and post the results and we all help you guys out.
Click to expand...

I'm still getting familiar with the game options but I'm sure we can find something that would work even if we have to get creative

Guru-Guru said:
Subbed to this thread! SFV doesn't come out until tomorrow in Japan, but I am pretty excited. I have never really played fighting games (except for the odd time at the arcade) so I am ready to be completely awful for a long, long time. Thanks for everybody for posting tips/videos, etc. Anybody else with NO background in fighting games want to play? As I mentioned, I won't be able to play until tomorrow, but wouldn't mind playing against people who are also starting from zero. My PSN is charlie_lun
Click to expand...

I'm playing on PC/ Steam but we should be able to sync up as long as battle lounges and rival Id searching are up tomorrow

I'll add you on PSN regardless
 
bananafactory said:
I'm still getting familiar with the game options but I'm sure we can find something that would work even if we have to get creative



I'm playing on PC/ Steam but we should be able to sync up as long as battle lounges and rival Id searching are up tomorrow

I'll add you on PSN regardless
Click to expand...
Sounds good. Tomorrow I will get the game, but will only have 1 or 2 hours to play, so I will probably just mess around. On the weekend I should have a lot of free time, so we should be able to play then!
 
Good morning guys,

I had a dream about me buying Hori sticks.
I don't know where that came from....

Question is - are there any sticks that will work on PC or what kind of controller are you using?
I have DS4 and 360 gamepad.
Decision about which platform buy the game for is easy - money, so PC wins, also crossplay.
 
red731 said:
Question is - are there any sticks that will work on PC or what kind of controller are you using?
I have DS4 and 360 gamepad.
Decision about which platform buy the game for is easy - money, so PC wins, also crossplay.
Click to expand...

Most sticks nowadays work on PC. I own a Guilty Gear Xrd Madcatz PS4 stick and hit as a little selector between PS3 and PS4. I believe on the PS4 mode it also works on PC.

However, whether every game supports it or not depends on the game. PS platform stick face the same issues as PS4 controllers on PC, where you sometimes need to remap them to a Xbox controller to use with the game.

Since you're platform agnostic, and XBox one stick that lists PC as a platform seems like a good bet.
 
sephi22 said:
Most sticks nowadays work on PC. I own a Guilty Gear Xrd Madcatz PS4 stick and hit as a little selector between PS3 and PS4. I believe on the PS4 mode it also works on PC.

However, whether every game supports it or not depends on the game. PS platform stick face the same issues as PS4 controllers on PC, where you sometimes need to remap them to a Xbox controller to use with the game.

Since you're platform agnostic, and XBox one stick that lists PC as a platform seems like a good bet.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the insight. Thank you.
I guess I'm buying SFV right now.
 
The leaderboards are really well done. And replays too. You can advance the replay frame by frame. And watch a player's last replay. I'm watching viscant play Vega now.

In frame by frame ken looks so much like claymation. Actually all the characters do..
 
For anybody using a gamepad, are there any recommendations where the d-pad doesn't destroy your thumb? I've been using the default dualshock 4.

I would love to join a scrub match in the future.
 
hitmon said:
For anybody using a gamepad, are there any recommendations where the d-pad doesn't destroy your thumb? I've been using the default dualshock 4.

I would love to join a scrub match in the future.
Click to expand...

the dualshock dpad is especially bad, I feel. I used to get blisters playing Super Turbo on PS2...

I actually used the analog stick until I finally picked up an arcade stick. Now I can't go back!
 
hitmon said:
For anybody using a gamepad, are there any recommendations where the d-pad doesn't destroy your thumb? I've been using the default dualshock 4.

I would love to join a scrub match in the future.
Click to expand...

It's going to come down to personal preference. There are people that use and prefer 360 pads, dualshocks, Madcatz fightpads, neogeo pads, saturn pads, fighting commanders... there are a lot of options out there and you just need to pick your own weapon of choice. I personally loved the Madcatz fightpad of last gen. The new revision that just came out has gotten some pretty incendiary reviews. I haven't tried it myself, as mine is arriving tomorrow.

After significant play as a pad player, I can say that your thumbs will probably get slightly calloused over time. It's pretty natural if you play regularly.

If you're on PS4 at the moment, I'd say that the safest option for you to try is the HORI Fighting Commander, available from Play-Asia. I'd suggest avoiding the Fighting Commander 4. I have that one, and my d-pad is either defective or has worn out, neither of which is acceptable.

EDIT: Oh, you may have been looking for holding techniques, and not alternative controllers. My bad.
 
hitmon said:
For anybody using a gamepad, are there any recommendations where the d-pad doesn't destroy your thumb? I've been using the default dualshock 4.

I would love to join a scrub match in the future.
Click to expand...

dE2NvTn.jpg
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Like this, middle thumb joint over the center.
 
McNum said:
I have to make due with recording replays in Shadowplay and editing them in Windows Movie Maker. It isn't pretty, but it's good enough for these purposes.

With that said, let's get this Day One scrubmatches train rolling! I got exactly three matches in today before the servers decided that matchmaking just wasn't a thing that was going to happen, so I recorded all three. And here they are! I am red Karin in all of them. And frankly, I think I like the red variant of the outfit better than any of the others.

Match 1: Karin vs. R. Mika
I wish I won, it was close, but I flinched at the end. I don't know the Mika matchup all that well, she got me with the throw into wall move WAY too much for my tastes. I did learn how to block a Nadeshko coming from behind. You still hold away from Mika for that. Also that Super I hit in the final round is totally unearned. That was supposed to be a guren-ken hitconfirm into Super... and she blocked it. But got hit by the super anyway as she tried to punish. ...success?

Match 2: Karin vs. Ryu
I am calling this one unwinnable for me. That Ryu was out of my league. I am somewhat satisfied with my blocking, though, but blocking only delays the inevitable, and when he got through, it hurt a lot. I gave as much as I could, but the outcome was never really in question.

Match 3: Karin vs. a different Ryu
The laggy match, now cleaned up in replay form. I won, yay. I lost round two, but dominated round three. What did he or I do that was different in the last round? I apologize for the hail mary specials, but they kept hitting, so I kept doing them. Also of note... did I just stuff a Tatsu with st. HP? That's a thing that can happen?

Overall, my takeaway from watching these is that I still do that jump away thing too much, but I am getting more comfortable with all of Karin's normals. I only do that dash under anti-air once, but it worked. So I need to do that more. But none of what I practiced in Training before the fights really show up, except for the dash-uppercuts are now a part of my arsenal. I don't do anything neat with them, but they are happening.

And I need more fights against human opponents! Come on matchmaking server. Make matches already!
Click to expand...
Couple basic pieces of feedback:

- you showcased some patience against Mika, which is a valuable skill to have against grappler-esque characters. Karin also has better normals than Mika in this case, so taking advantage of your superior range with moves like her standing medium kick or crouching hard kick for example (both preferably nearing the tip of her feet) does a lot to help control the pace and avoid being caught in their command grab mix-ups. Have to be mindful of the likelihood of them throwing out armored attacks, mind you.

- On that note: if Mika and Laura go for their Critical Art when you're standing up post-knockdown, you should normally be able to jump out of it as the animation ends, so just hold straight up to escape from that sort of predicament. Necalli's isn't a grab if memory serves, so you can block that instead. Zangief's has a 0 frame start-up, so if you're in range during the animation it's already too late.

- Watching your Ryu matches, two fundamental reactions worth mentioning... For one: if one starts throwing out fireballs from afar like these two did, there's two simple things you could do more often to avoid chip damage. One being simply neutral jumping and doing something about his next move, or jumping forwards when out of Shoryuken range. The latter could be done when closer too if the guy is being predictable, and with the recovery or long wind-up animation that most fireballs have in SFV, that'll net you the opportunity for a juicy punish. The other being (I believe it was) Karin's V-Skill, or whatever the input for her single-handed palm thrust is. This snuffs out one-hit fireballs outright and if it builds V-Meter too, then that's something worth practicing until better players start going on offense after their projectile pressure. I'm uncertain which of her command dashes (with the "Right there!" voice-over) go through or under fireballs, so have a look at this if any version at all has that trait.

- Another relatively easy adjustment once you have presence of mind: punishing whiffed or blocked Shoryukens with a Crush Counter. Moves like this (including Cammy's and Necalli) have this kind of innate vulnerability to them, and landing Karin's standing Crush Counter will give you another big opportunity for respectable damage. Worthwhile for gaining some V-Meter too, and plenty of Ryu's at your skill level like to throw an SRK out willy-nilly.

- A more general critique: have to be a little bit more careful about pressing buttons on defense. Makes you susceptible to others dishing out the hurt after neutral jumping or via Crush Counters once you meet more aware players, and if need be you could always resort to V-Reversals until you're more accustomed to gaps in between block strings or knowing which moves leave the opponent at a disadvantage on block. V-Meter builds fairly quickly for characters with only two blocks, after all.

- Your Rekkas after V-Trigger activation could use a tad more variety as well. I think she has four options to choose from? Either way, you only changed it up once in those three matches, so improving on this could prove to be helpful with opening up defensive players when they're pushed into the corner for example.

- If an enemy is pressing buttons a lot on you when you're knocked down, her EX Uppercut-y move could be a good enough "get off me" move on wake-up at this skill level. Very unsafe if you're predictable with this and certainly something you absolutely have to be cautious about against better players, but versus these Ryu's it would've bought you some breathing room... and you didn't utilize much of your EX meter regardless. Not that saving up for your Critical Art is incorrect if you're confident and can execute it during combos.​


Not much character-specific stuff relating to Karin unfortunately, but hopefully the above standard decision-making proves helpful.

Cindi Mayweather said:
Critique time. Some bad losses here. Thinking of them as learning experiences.

STREET FIGHTER V DAY ONE CRITIQUE

Versus Dhalsim (Win)

Solid fight on my part and the Dhalsim wasn't a complete slouch either. He did a fairly admirable job trying to keep me out, but his pattern grew predictable. Buttons were pressed here and it cost me a lot of health. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Crush Counter system. He did really good on the second round when I did manage to get in. I think a tour of the lab will prove useful when testing my moves against Dhalsim's to see how I can beat some of his moves.

Versus Ryu (Loss)

Absolutely aggravating match. I tried to EX SBK multiple times at the tail end of the first round when being pressured on wakeup. His pattern is predictable and I didn't manage to anti-air him when I needed to. Good second round for me where I simply outplayed him and exploited his weaknesses and habits, but the third round I playing sloppy all around and I know I can play better than that. I was outplayed.
Click to expand...
- It seemed like that Dhalsim was still very much stuck in a Street Fighter IV mindset with his tendency of throwing out standing fierce all the time, but you did a good enough job recognizing that flaw. You also reacted adequately whenever he approached you with something unsafe, like a badly spaced yoga drill or slide. This is definitely something you ought to keep in mind for next encounters, since those two moves are only safe if Dhalsim throws it out at very precise ranges.

- Since I don't know Chun-Li: any particular reason why you didn't use her standing Crush Counter move after those repeated blocked Shoryukens? Is she unable to get anything off of it, even if it's at point blank in this scenario? Reason why I ask is: you would've bought yourself more time for following up on punishes and (more importantly) in the process it would've provided you a sizeable amount of V-Meter all-in-all too. Unless of course you ended up feeling flustered against a player like that, which is understandable when learning a new fighting game!
 
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