I don’t know how good I am at fighting games. I like to think that I’m semi decent in the noob realm but I definitely get owned on GGPO. I’ve been playing fighting games for about a year now but haven’t really practiced one game specifically until now and that game is 3s. Some of the more advanced techniques like Karas are still tough for me but I think it still depends on the engine/character youre using.
Anyways I started playing Makoto and Q but I think they’re just a little too advanced for me. I have a tough time against the computer getting in close to do their command throws, which are integral to how they’re played, according to the forums. I feel like I’m having a significantly easier time with Q because his normals actually have some range whereas Makoto’s don’t seem to.
On the engine side of things, I can parry fireballs but thats about it, so I’m still very noob with the 3s engine. So I ask who would be a good character to begin with on my 3s excursion? I’d like to play someone who’ll help turn me into a good player but not one that is too difficult to begin with, as well as someone who isn’t overly easy. And, someone that will make learning the 3rd strike gameplay easier. I’d like to stray away from Ken or Chun-li if possible because I’m tired of looking at them and I’d like to pick someone thats more unique, like 3rd strike itself.
Came in here to say “Ken”, but since you don’t want to use him…Pick Ryu! Learn Denjin Ryu, light on execution and learning proper setups will give you a great feel for the game.
I am sure others can help expand on this or just give you better answers, but you need to find a character that you are comfortable playing with and go from there.
I main Necro, but it took years and years of practice , tournaments and fighting other good competitors to get where I am with him.
Whatever character you do decide to pick up, there are the forums here, tutorial videos and watching Japanese players compete to help you get better.
You will need practice and very good reaction time to be good in 3S. Reaction time is very important and is needed for parrying (especially parrying then turning it into a huge combo/super in your favor).
and Echo Black makes a good point with RYU. You can start with the main man himself and see how you like playing with him, if not and you want that ‘unique’ fighter, try picking Urien, Oro, Dudley, Necro, Twelve or just stay with Q.
But I would recommend Ryu as well or Urien. No character is easy to learn in 3S, not used to their full potential anyways, but these two characters are really good without the more advanced stuff, atleast to start with.
Normally i would say pick a character that you really like so you will learning the game would be much more easier and fun…but if u still dont know.
Pick Sean, it will teach you how to use the games mechanics and your head more instead of spamming crap and using normals without caution in hopes of winning easily.
but thats just my opinion…i still think choosing a char you LIKE alot if better
Despite his position on the tier list, I actually found sean to be an easy character to learn the basics and mid level stuff with. His non ex specials are extremely limited on their own but they combo nicely from his normals. These are simple combos that any semi decent noob can do which makes him easy to learn from a technical standpoint. His strengths though, are his supers. Each one has a nice setup and has strong points to them. SA1 is a 3 stock fireball that is easy to combo into and nice for laying on constant damage. It also comes out extremely quick so is good for punishing or anticipating your opponents move. SA2 is high damaging and easy to combo into just like SA1, looks fucking cool aswell.SA3 is the worst of the bunch in my opinion because it does not combo so easily and has trickier setups. You can set up and unblockable with it though, if you use the basketball taunt to hit em high and then activate the super to grab their legs. His taunt actually works into the mindgames of all the super setups. Just like dudleys rose trap in the corner they have to decide whether to block high or low, parry etc…Because his supers and ex’s are his strong point, building meter is also a big part of his game IMO. I think he is best played as a runaway defensive character but offensive is also viable. Unfortunately with Sean, parrying is essential to learn so work on it. Parrying with rhythm and ease is hard to get to, but it just takes practice, nothing fancy. Sean and Ken are the only characters that I really just got when I started playing the game properly, and I have mained them ever since. I pretty much cycled through the whole cast and all of their styles just seemed alien to me. This is the only reason I picked Sean though, I had that feeling that you know you’ve found your main and the characters moves etc just clicked with you. It might not work for you. For someone that is better at mindgames and timing rather than crazy combos then Sean is a good pick.
Other starter characters would be Ryu, who also has easy combos. He is pretty much the same as his other game iterations, with his low forward>anything. EX donkey kick juggles are easy to do aswell. Again all super arts are viable but if you just want to keep a basic ryu, I wouldn’t pick denjin-hadouken as that is the hardest SA to use to it’s full potential, requiring specific timing and traps.
Of course I would highly suggest Ken seeing as he is the quintessential character in 3rd strike, who benefits from everything he has. But I can understand why you don’t want to play him.
Those are the best three I can think of. The other characters just look way to hard to master to me. I like to keep it basic.
Punishing, anticipating, reaction time… these are concepts that I don’t really have yet. I can sometimes predict someones moves. Like after playing a friend over and over, it gets easier to read him.
Is Sean really a good idea? Since he’s bottom tier I’d imagine that I’d get my ass kicked from the get go and not really enjoy myself…
I think I’ll probably just go Ken or Ryu since they are in every god damn game so when i do switch to another SF down the road, the learning curves wont be so bad.
I’ll still go back to Makoto and Q eventually I’m sure, and I still think they’re sick. I just don’t think I’m at the level to get decent with them. I want someone that shouldn’t be very difficult to get good with so it’l make learning the game engine easier. For instance, it’d be easier to learn how to parry with one character over another (even though it’s really all just pressing forward on the joystick). I want to have a solid chance at some fun games instead of just getting rocked right away.
You should probably also, switch over to fighting real people instead of the cpu - you’ll develop bad habits if you play against a computer that’s preprogrammed to do the same thing over and over again.
And nobody starts at a decent level with any character, you need to push through and just stick with a character you like to play, instead of a character you feel you “need” to play. Nobody starts out good, regardless of character and believe it or not, Makoto, has a few excellent, easy, good damage combos.
tl;dr - If you don’t play the characters you want to play, the game will become a chore rather than an enjoyment, no matter how difficult it is to get into the character you want to play
Yea, everything you say is true. Ken’s not bad, he’s cool so far, I just didn’t want to join the Ken trend but that’s the way it goes. He’s just much easier to work with compared to Q and Makoto, but I’ll still play them.
Quick man, instead of becoming another ryu/ken player on ggpo. I’d suggest you keep trying characters and eventually find one you really like. Once you find that character dedicate ALL time on that one character because you’ll learn incredibly fast, and it’s a necessity in order to master the character.
You have to understand taking beatings is part of the learning process. Playing ryu for months, and then going to makoto because you think you are more experienced isn’t gonna get you anywhere. You shouldn’t go for the easy route in hopes of being able to come back to a character you like down the line. That doesn’t work at all in this game, and your time spent with ryu/ken will not transfer over to Makoto/Q.
Least technical character? Probably yang or chun. Just throw shit out hahaha
But if you’re learning the game itself, learn Ken. He gives the fundamentals of 3s in one package. He’s got whiff punishing, block punishing, blahblah. He’ll teach you how to play 3s.
I’d echo Lane’s advice and say stick with the character you want to play as come HELL or HIGH WATER or massive beatdowns or lag or…you get the picture. Persevere and you will get better.
I thought I’d follow up and say that Ken is going great. Makoto and Q are still fun too. I figured out that its just the god damn computer that fucking smokes me. That shit is rediculous. Out of all the cpu’s in fighting games, the anniversary collection has the worst one.
Playing online is much more satisfying and besides training mode, the computer doesn’t seem worth it anymore.
Just like you I’m just starting out with proper 3rd strike and I’m using Makoto as well. Also just like you, I’m getting my ass whooped on a regular basis, it’s rare for me to take a game, although I can take rounds sometimes. It takes a LOT of practice and experience to get good with Makoto, but I think she’ll be very rewarding in the end.
I’m also finding it especially difficult to get in for the Karakusa. I’m noticing in certain videos that players are getting a LOT more range on it, most likely through kara-throwing. I’d recommend we both learn that XD Also, check out the Makoto forums here, the sticky has some really good information including how to actually do the kara-throws and stuff.
Also, definitely look for a matchup topic. I haven’t looked for one yet, but I bet it’d help. Believe it or not, Ken is actually one of Makoto’s harder fights, and I know if you’ve been on 2df or GGPO you’ve probably come up against quite a few really good Kens. At least that’s my experience so far, most people have been using Ken and rarely go to Yun or Chun.
Oh, and if you’re looking for actual matchup experience, this guy Hadji challenged me on GGPO the other night and he used quite a large variety of characters pretty well, so if you find him you can prolly get in some experience against the lesser used characters. I think the only characters I haven’t fought at all yet are Twelve and Urien. I can understand Twelve, but Urien?
Just don’t give up, it’s a long and painful road, but it’s worth it in the end, I think XD
Yea Makoto is actually still really fun to play. She’s just really hard to get in deep with at my level. The more I play on GGPO the more I realize how used to the PS2 pad I was (lots of training mode on anniversary collection) and how bad I was with the joystick. So Kara-anything is tough for me.
Playing on GGPO is truly invaluable though to getting better. Your ego takes a big hit at first but I’ll usually invite someone with a low ping, and right before the match starts, I’ll mention that I’m a noob and people are cool with it, and Ive yet to meet anyone that was a dick. When you play on XBL, you just get instantly smoked, and the room gets closed.
I thought I’d get bored with Ken but he’s actually really fun, and besides, at my level, I realize how superficial I was because I didn’t try appreciating how much I could learn playing someone like Ken or Ryu. I was over the whole hadouken thing. Plus my experience in just this last week has taught me how to approach learning new characters and new fighting games in general.
More than anything though, 3rd Strike is the shit.
Play Yang then and don’t play Urien if you want to take it easy on yourself. Yea, like Bodler said playing with Sean will level you up fast having to work with a limited set of tools. This late in the game you might as just play who you enjoy and forget about ease of use. Q combo’s and whatnot are pretty basic, he’s just hard to win with.
Play Dudley to help develop hit confirming and implementing a wide variety of counters, juggles, anti airs, etc. He took me awhile to get used to.
No, stick with Ken [for basics and tools] or Yang [for simplicity].
Using Sean is only going to gimp you for far longer than you want, since Sean is too crappy to learn the game with, especially starting out. He doesn’t have enough tools to fall back upon, and lack of tools =/= learning 3rd strike.
I feel ya on the pad thing, I’ve used pad on everything from my old SF2 CE on the Genesis when I thought Dhalsim was the best at beating Dictator because his arms were long to my PS2 fighters today. I got a Xbox 360 stick a few months ago, but I mainly use it for Virtua Fighter and Tekken so I’m still weak when it comes to playing 2d fighters on it.
I might start playing a bit of Dudley myself, though. I know it’s best to stick with one character, but thinking about it there has been an occasion in the past where playing one character led to a better understanding of another. This is a Brawl story, so let me just put my flame suit on… =P
Anyways, when I and my friends first got the game, I was maining Ike. When we unlocked Solid Snake, another character I had wanted to try, I used him a few times and sucked horribly with him. Like for the next week during all our casuals, I kept trying Snake and losing horribly, then switching to Ike and winning, so I just stopped using Snake.
One day I woke up and suddenly I understood Snake a bit more than before. I picked him up and started beasting with him the next time I played my friends. Started looking up strats, techniques, etc, etc. Well, suffice to say, even though we stopped playing Brawl months ago, one of my friends still flat-out refuses to fight my Solid Snake, and my other friend groans and resigns himself to a horrible fate whenever I put my cursor over the guy =P
It may not be applicable here because anything 3rd Strike has is far more complex than Brawl ever was, but in some small way it does support the whole ‘Use a beginner/different character to better understand the one you want to use’ thing. I still say just stick with whomever you want to use, though.
Basically, the more you play, the more you’ll figure out
a) what characters you enjoy using, i.e the way they move and feel
b) what characters you’re GOOD AT using.
Like Ryu says, “To try something new is to explore your fullest potential.” Just keep trying stuff and see how it works out for you. I can almost GUARANTEE that Kuroda did that on a regular basis to get to the level he has achieved – a true innovator of the game.