Advice to all new Skullgirls (or any game for that matter) players from a professional gamer

Classic Fighting Games Skullgirls
41

Niggas always talking about learning combos and hit confirms under pressure and junk. Turn on random guard in practice mode and there ya go.

I don’t know, but for me I never had an issue bringing a combo I was grinding out in training mode into versus. It’s anecdotal and I presume every other person functions differently and has different experiences; but for me, when I have a combo down in training mode it pretty much transitions seamlessly into versus.

Then during versus, I just have to open up people or play a strong neutral game where I sacrifice opportunities to “get a chance to combo” in order to hold positions to force people to go into the areas and circumstances that give me free hits such as anti-airs or make them do something dumb that gives me free combos.

In regards to time spent in versus mode vs. time spent in training mode is irrelevant to getting better. Fighting games aren’t a Korean MMORPG grind where you put in “time” and get a “quantitative result.”

The question shouldn’t be about “how much time should be spent” in either modes, but rather “how do I use the time spent” in either modes. Going back to my previous post, what is the point of training mode if the player doesn’t know what, how, or why he or she should be practicing a combo, learning a set up, perfecting movement, shadow boxing pressure/retreat, knowing the optimal ranges of each normal attack, and etc.? The same goes for versus mode: what is the point of playing versus mode if the player doesn’t know what to look out for to improve, what bad habits to iron out, what decisional fallacies and mistakes to avoid, what tendencies and patterns to look out for from others, what to experiment with what new tools or tactics against certain opponents, how to take in and take away from a recent game to apply it in the next game, and etc.?

If the player doesn’t know how to use either training mode or versus mode properly to “learn” the game, it doesn’t matter how one “quantitatively calculates” one’s time is spent to “optimize growth and improvement.” This concept simply doesn’t exist. Any little bit of training mode or versus mode is important regardless of “quantity” but what exactly is learned and gained from those experiences regardless of duration.

So rather than trying to tell people to use one mode over the other and for a concentrated period of time within a schedule, I would rather tell people how to properly use their resources and let the person decide what is the appropriate use of one’s own time and let the person choose how to improve.

Not to toot my own horn, although that sounds quite lascivious, but if a person were to take me and another person that is completely new to fighting games and were to give each of us a completely new fighting game for us to play and play against each other in, I would most probably find out more about the game in 30 minutes of training mode and 30 minutes of versus play playing other people more than the other person that never played fighting games before would find in 2 hours of training mode and 2 hours of versus mode per day for a week. This is because I would simply know what to look for, what is relevant, how to apply it in real matches, and how to take away what I learn in real matches to apply it to future matches. Being able to do all of that, however, is not exclusive to only me though and anyone else can build the knowledge base to get to that level of understanding to be able to learn games just as fast or even better than I do; and, I know for sure there are plenty of people that know better than me, learn better than me, and perform better than me as a fighting game player.

So although I didn’t like using myself as an example, I would just like to once again reiterate that it’s not about how one allocates time to a particular type of mode of training, but how one uses that period of time playing to learn and refine. As long as the player knows what to do with that time, it doesn’t matter how much one spends that time in whatever mode as long as it’s spent wisely.

42

I don’t exactly agree with 2 or 3 hours a day for players starting out, but I understand where you’re coming from.

Honestly, sitting in training mode to understand basic mechanics is important.
Being able to properly execute you’re moves is important.
And finally, having fun is also important for when you’re starting out.

Learning how to play, makes the game much more fun in general, compared to just mashing buttons. Casuals don’t really get this.

The issue though, is that most new players don’t really have the dedication to sit and grind training mode (plus they don’t really know what to look for).
This is what makes the Fighting Game genre different from other types of genres such as sports games, FPS, etc. In those games, you get better by playing online, because it’s relatively self explanatory. There is no real execution to worry about. So the idea of execution is relatively foreign to these new players. Most people don’t really understand what to begin with, ya know?

I completely agree 100%.

43

Its so funny, how everyone of these skullgirls jumpers like the openers post but gave me dislikes because I summed up the whole post into two sentences. keep it up

44

Dude get a life. Why post in a thread about a game u hate? Its a waste of time, and obviously people who like the game aren’t going to agree with u. Go play or post about games u actually enjoy.

45

No, they’re disliking it because you’re either trolling or a moron. I have no preference for either, I’m just here to tell you to be constructive with your criticisms or kindly see yourself out.

46

So my criticism isn’t contructive because you dont like it?

47

By that definition, your criticisms were useless, and all you’re doing is pissing people off. You can offer more constructive criticisms with the intent to help out, or you can just go away.

Personally, I’d rather you just go away.

48

Fuck, why does this startpost have 18 Likes. Is there some sarcasm train going on that’s completely lost on me?

49

It’s a moderator that’s here since the site exists and who seems to have been someone in the fgc at some point, so it’s to be expected that there’s some asslicking incoming.

50

Practicing in training mode is alot like grinding in your favorite MMORPG. You do not do it because its fun, you do it because you want to get better in the game that you love.
And if you are lacking in that passion, you are not Pro material to begin with. Before you can work on and develop skills you have to have the heart for it.

Keep in mind training mode/practice mode is not the same in each game.
And for new players, if there is a separate tutorial mode that babies you grind though that first before touching actual practice.
If there a Challange mode, grind though that too.

I try to grind through story mode a few times of different characters as well. Get that feeling how others fight so I can have an idea how to fight against them later on.

Also only scrubs blame their poor execution on their gear. Yeah if your game pad or stick isn’t working yeah make sure it is the controller, but at some point you have to take responsibility for yourself.
There are Pros who won tourneys before with a broken arcade stick. The tool is only as good as the person using it.

51

I wanted to add another thing, which is that in my experience, the mistake most new players make is spending way TOO MUCH time in training mode. They feel like they’re never ready to fight other people, so they play vs AI all day and never improve, and thus, never feel ready. These people do not need further encouragement to stay in single player.

For everybody else who just wants to jump into the game, advising too much training mode time can be harmful since they are likely to stop having fun, and lose their motivation to grow. That’s why I insist that if you’re going to make bold statements like “use training mode for 2-3 hours a day” or “perfect your character before even thinking about human competition”, you need to specify what they should be doing so that they can see real improvement and adapt the plan to their needs.

52

Arcade lyfe.

Just get a character and go ham.

53

Or maybe because what Dan posted makes alot of sense.

Also, it’s called respect and seeing that you’ve got more than your fair share of flagged and trollbait posts for someone who’s account is barely a month old, I suggest you learn it.

54

Okay, okay, stop for a second. We’ve got a lot of new people in this thread. A lot of new players. That’s awesome. Some of these people are genuinely here to learn, and some of these people are just being assholes and aren’t being helpful. The negative attitudes need to stop right now. If you have a criticism of Dan’s post, tell us why without simply telling us he’s wrong or going in on his credibility when you’ve only been here less than a month yourself.

I’ll tell you right now that Dan is a great MvC2 player. He’s also got a really sick Parasoul. It’s worth giving whatever he says an honest read. If you disagree, fine. Just make your criticisms more constructive. Say why he’s wrong instead of just telling him he’s wrong. Mindless bitching does nothing for us to grow as players.

In short, if it helps the community – say it. Otherwise keep your yaps shut, okay? :tup:

I personally don’t advocate online play (though Skullgirls netcode is excellent) unless you simply have no players in your area. If you have locals, take advantage of them before going online. Whatever you do, the most important part is finding someone to practice with that is at your skill level, or slightly higher. You can learn a lot from expert players, however it can also be detrimental. Unless you have an insane drive to better yourself, constantly losing to a pro without showing many results is like beating your head into a wall and wondering why you haven’t made a dent yet. The best thing to do is to play a few matches (enough for them to get a feel for you), and then sit down with these players and ask them what you’re doing right, but more importantly what you need to be working on. I’m not a great player by most means, but I am one of the better players in my scene. There’s a player who has been struggling lately, and I sat down with him the other day and worked with him to practice his mixups, assists he should be using for the characters he plays, and general strategies. Something clicked in his head, and within a few hours’ practice I’m now having a much harder time beating him.

55

I thought games were all about fun? Go through story mode, tutorials, choose your character(s) and head online. Only when you have a grasp of movement, how to use specials, how to defend, how to use space should u hit training mode for combos. So many people train like machines and can do super advanced combos, but never learned the basic fundamentals and so absolutely suck.

I think how it works, is u learn the basics, go online and have tons of fun. Then, cause u are enjoying the game so much and want to improve, u go to training mode. Going to it in the beginning is going to, as others have said, be a huge turn off.

56

What Blufang says is the truth. You gotta take time and make sure you like your characters (and make sure you like the game) before hitting the danger room and trying reach a high level. And you do this by playing.

57

Of course offline is ideal. I didn’t mean to imply that online is better than local, I just meant that playing against humans in general is more beneficial for new players than training mode. Training mode is only helpful if you have specific things you know you want to work on, and outside of basic BnBs and general execution a new player has no way of knowing what those are (and practicing those basics for 2-3 hours a day will be no more useful than half an hour a day when it comes to learning these games). It takes real match experience to figure out what you need to work on, and real match experience is a better version of MOST practice regimens anyway.

I do understand where you’re coming from when you mention playing people that are significantly better than yourself, but I think part of this whole debate is that if all beginners just spend their time in training mode until they’re “good enough”, then there won’t be beginner to intermediate players online to level up with in the first place.

One final thought. You are a big advocate of going to tourneys. Some common sentiments with this are usually “it doesn’t matter if you’re not good, just go have fun”, “nobody wins their first tourney”, “you’ll only get better by going to tourneys/locals in the first place”, etc… I don’t see a difference between these sentiments and similar sentiments in regards to online or local casual play.

58

Playing in training mode by yourself isn’t fun, you can’t reasonably tell newbies to sit in there. The best way is to 1. have a good tutorial system, 2. have good matchmaking and 3. teach people how to use training mode properly/have useful tools in there/allow 2p training mode.

Skullgirls has a decent tutorial to teach people the basics, the movesets for the characters (with explanations!), and intro combo business. The next step would be to let them play other people and see what they absorbed. Hopefully matchmaking is performed decently and puts them against similar opponents after a couple matches. Or the game could encourage newbie lobbies etc. Then players can look and see “hey, maybe I should learn some combos” and go into training mode. It’s a back and forth thing. No normal player is going to want to hop in a new game they thought looked cool and sit in training mode beating up on a stationary dummy without direction. They’d probably just quit first.

Also though, you should post this on the Skullgirls Steam community if you haven’t yet, lots of people seem to be frustrated there by getting stomped repeatedly.

59

I’m pretty sick of making a beginner room and having someone with way more experience join it and stomp me mercilessly.

Also, I tried the OP’s advice. I can’t stomach more than about 45 minutes of training mode. It’s not that I haven’t done that in the past, I’ve probably put over 100 hours into PSP GGXX and GGAC training modes, but that was a different time in my life, where I had to do was play PSP by myself. It can’t sit in training mode beating on a dummy when I know there are real opponents out there.

60

I think the beginner rooms have been pretty good so far, once in awhile I run into 3 person teams doing 50+ hit giant combos, resets, and all that. However for the most part, basic combos and figuring stuff out.