Hi all! This year was my second time watching EVO and I developed a big interest in fighting games because of it (never played fighting games before other than a few games). I’ve been wanting to play SSF4 since the first couple games I’ve watched from it, but I don’t own a PS3 or Xbox and wasn’t really willing to spend the money on one just for one game. But then Steam summer sale happened and AE was $10… Now I’ve been told that it wasn’t worth getting for PC but I figured it couldn’t possibly be a waste of money at that price. So I got it a few days ago and I’ve been pretty much grinding training mode with Ibuki and fighting medium AI (which still sometimes kicks my ass). Today I thought I could try a ranked game but got pretty much destroyed, only 1 close round and a few good reads on my part. Then I was wondering if it was really worth it going into ranked games that early since I can’t even reliably execute my character’s moves anyways. Long story short… should I stick to training mode for a while?
Also:
None of my real life friends would play this game so practicing locally isn’t an option.
Playing with a keyboard really sucks but I’m not ready to drop the money on a stick yet.
Once you can reliably execute normals, specials, supers, and ultras, it’s worth playing some matches online in Endless mode to learn how to read and react to a real opponent, I’d say. With Ibuki, you might also want to be able to execute the basic Ibuki vortex - thankfully, Kunai -> c.:lp: :mp: :hp: (TC4) -> Neckbreaker or :d::db:+:hk: ~ :d:+:k: isn’t exactly a hard combo, nor is j.:lk::mk: (TC??) -> TC4 -> NB or 214HK.
Also, you might want to check out Hitbox Arcade if you’re interested in moving on from keyboard and / or having a device which will work on consoles too - the layout is pretty natural for keyboard players. Not cheap, but it would mean less adapting to a new controller from keyboard when compared with a traditional stick. Changing controllers is hard
Long story short, keep at it and don’t get discouraged. Everybody sucks when they first pick up fighting games in any serious regard
P.S. Check out Regional Matchmaking before you decide that offline is a lost cause. There are probably people nearby, and it really is a lot easier to learn offline.
Thanks a lot for the tips! I come from years of competition in Counter-Strike, so I’m not a stranger to grinding practice which I love doing :). Unfortunately, I live in a very small town in Quebec (imagine driving 12 hours straight North from Montreal…), so finding people to play could be harder than it seems, but I’ll give it a try anyways.
Yeah, first “getting into” fighting games is kind of hard only because there are so many things you should know about before tackling any real opponents. I wrote up a little bit over here, it lists what you should know before going into your first fight.
Whoever told you that doesn’t know what they’re talking about. It’s by far the best version. The only downside is that there’s possibly more competition on xbox.
No. Training mode is too boring. Just mix it up. Start with some arcade play to get into the groove, then practise a few setups in training, then go to endless. If noone’s in endless, just put yourself in the right mindset -“I’m going to get smashed so losing doesn’t matter” and concentrate on these three things;
try to block everything
try to AA all jump ins
and 3) tech all throws.
Do these 3 things consistently and then you’ll have fun and probably win a few matches too.
If you concentrate on those three things, I think you’ll get the basic skills quite quickly. The 4th one is “punish all mistakes” but it takes time to learn what mistakes are.
Don’t make it it too tough for yourself by trying to do everything at once. I’ve been playing since Super and I’m still just okay. it takes a long time, but if you read up on these forums (something I STILL haven’t completely done, I just wanna play) you can level up quite quickly.
And above all remember, it’s a GAME. It’s supposed to be FUN. There are opponents out there who make it feel like work. I don’t get paid per hour to play, so when I learn who these guys are, I block them. I get some ppl trash talking me for it but at the end of the day, i want to enjoy my street fighter, not get pissed off at lame tactics or way over-powered opponents who continually pick those they can beat.
+:hk: ~ :d:+:k: isn’t exactly a hard combo, nor is j.:lk::mk: (TC??) -> TC4 -> NB or 214HK.
