Absolute noobie at SSF4 having alot of trouble canceling & fighting V.Easy computer

Hi

Can anybody give me some advice? I’m having alot of trouble trying to enjoy Super Street Fighter 4 because

  1. canceling (linking?) seems impossible
  2. The computer on Very easy kicks my ass, I have to continue like 30 times in 4 hours just to beat Seth
  3. some input commands seem unresponsive (like QCB, QCB + 3P), can never pull them off in a real fight.

I don’t even care about fighting against other players. I don’t even really want to be good. But dude, it is burns me so much that I have to continue 30 times over 4 hours just to beat the game … and its on very easy mode. Canceling seems to be more like luck than anything else.

Some commands also seem impossible, even if I’m doing my best to input them, they just never happen. For example, Rose’s Ultra 1 (Illusion Spark) is QCF, QCF + 3P and I can do that with limited effort. But when I try to do Rose’s Ultra 2 (Soul Satellite) by doing QCB, QCB + 3P I can never do it… unless I’m facing left. Grrr… I’m wondering if its because I’m using a Xbox 360 controller.

Any advice? I really want to enjoy the game and just screw around and have fun, but damn this game is making it hard for me to do that.

Thank you very much.

The execution guide pretty much addresses all of your problems.

http://shoryuken.com/f322/srk-newbie-saikyo-dojo-execution-guide-read-me-234169/

My mate has been putting a lot of time into Rose and mentioned her ultra 2 being very picky about execution, you have to be spot on with that one.

As for Seth you just have to learn how to play him. Stand just around sweep range and block low, he’ll suck you in and you can just spam jab or whatever or he’ll stick out his Hyakuretsu Kyaku (the kick where he spins round, and if it connects you do a little dance) - this is your best opportunity for punishing him. I guess with rose an easy one would be crouching medium punch into soul spiral(?)

Either way, I’d be more inclined to advise you to spend a little time in training mode getting a hit confirm combo and a quick punish combo down. Beating arcade really is random as hell because the cpu does incredibly stupid things, but will also sometimes react to your attacks with godlike speed that human players would just be incapable of.

You won’t improve at all playing against the computer, you can only get better playing real people.

That is not true at all… Especially in his situation, where inputting ultras is tricky.

My advice would just to keep at it. Don’t get negative, its meant to be fun! And keep doing Rose’s trial challenges. And if you get frustrated with her, find another character. I’ve noticed if I play as others, when I go back to my main, I can complete trails I never could before.

Good luck mate.

Nope, he definitely wont improve if all he does is play the computer. I remember when I first got back into sf with sf4 I thought to myself that i wanted to beat the game on hardest before going into online matches and that caused me a lot of growing pains because i learned how to fight AI not people. Thats why you see newbies doing full screen ultras because that stuff works against the CPU.

I think you can learn basic defence & punish vs the computer. You also can learn to recognize which moves of the CPU characters are unsafe on block. Learn to defend first, and when you see an opportunity, punish with your character’s BnB combo, then move on to more elaborate punishes.

When you are a total noob i think the best idea is to just discover the basic feel of the game on your own. And then look for tutorials.

I still can’t beat the computer

However I know what you’re saying. When I first started I couldn’t get past the 2nd match in vanilla on easy. Now I can get through super on hardest in a quick minute.

You just have to practice and work on not doing random unsafe moves. Don’t do any move or jump without a purpose, always be thinking planning and reacting

Don’t spam… I can almost guarantee that’s why you’re losing to Seth. I’ve been through the same thing. You need to get a better balance of trying to execute combos/block strings and reacting to what your opponent is doing. I definitely played the computer on Easy for awhile just to get a feel for the game, but like people have said, Practice mode is better. Doing the challenge modes over and over again for multiple players also teaches you timing and the basics. If you’re stuck on one, VesperArcade on youtube has real good videos of all the challenge modes for every character.

Practice practice practice.

seth is a cheat character but also a good way to test how good you react to stuff cancelling moves you must do them as your move is hittng your opponent linking is hittting after youve done the first hit

Playing the computer will not make you better.

The only instance where I could think it might be helpful is to practice hit confirming, but even then you might as well play a real person.

As far as practice to beat a real person, you need to play real people. Too many people here think that learning combos and FADC --> ultra is “getting better at the game”, but that alone doesn’t really make you any better. What makes you better is learning how to beat a real person. If you play against the computer for 100 hours and somehow get your character’s combos down consistently, the first time you play a real person you’re not going to know how to get a hit in and you’re not going to know how to block your opponent’s mixup. You’d be able to do combos and shit but you wouldn’t ever land one.

On the arcade version of vanilla, the computer Bison teleports non-stop, Balrog does turn around punch over and over, just totally stupid shit that even the worst player wouldn’t do. Playing the computer won’t even teach you to beat a Ken that does nothing but fierce DP.

The computer can teach you to play safe which, a lot of new players have trouble with.

The computer doesn’t punish well enough to teach you to play safe. It will read inputs and punish things that real players couldn’t, then let 100 other things that even a shitty real player would punish happen.

yeah i tried playing the computer but i noticed that some things dont work on the computer. how do you play mindgames with a opponent that has no mind lol. you can apply pressure but its not as if the computer will recognize that it will still do anymove willy nilly to hit you.

Just because mind games don’t work doesn’t mean everything else is void. Can say the same for training room.

Why would you play against the computer instead of a person? Training mode is helpful to learn combos etc., but playing a computer is just an inefficient waste of time.

Read his post. He can’t even do ultras properly and you’re telling him that online will help him? At the early stage he’s at, where very easy is a struggle, the computer is a stepping stone which he can at least learn the absolute basics of the game. Getting wrecked by mashers won’t help him learn how to link, chain, cancel and FADC.

I suggest you spend a while in training mode trying to get the inputs correct for the moves you want, then making them faster as faster until you can do them at will. Try doing the trials for Rose or any other characters you like, as they’ll begin to teach you certain things about the game mechanics. And watch some good tutorial videos like [media=youtube]1_nS5Jj3pHY"[/media].

Most of all, just keep at it with the training, playing, watching and learning; you can improve very quickly if you’re willing to put the time and concentration in. Good luck!

Playing against the computer won’t help?

Guys, it’s like the SF equivalent of a punching bag. Give it a rest. The guy needs to get comfortable with his execution on a dynamic target. The computer is a great asset for getting started there. Let him worry about the fundamentals of dealing with live opponents later.

Training against the CPU for certain things is just as valuable as training mode, for other things more valuable. The only thing you can’t use the CPU opponent for is getting better at actually playing against other humans. Execution, safe play, and properly reacting on the fly are some things you can use the CPU opponent for.

If you can’t do cancels, some specials and ultras, you’re not ready to start playing other people.