Do you also play a character, that doesn't fit your playstyle?

Newbie Saikyo Dojo
1

Hey folks,

just out of curiosity, because I went through a kind of character identity crysis (sofar as a video game concerns).
Do you also play a character, because you want to play him, and put A LOT!!! of time into him, becoming decent, who DOESN’T fit your playstyle or “natural” individual fighting approach at all?
Let’s take a look at what I try to say. I think anyone has an individual approach of how to fight (in video games), play a game the first time, some play aggressive, some play defensive or a kind of reacting style. I think it may be comparable with some individual “talent”.
I see my individual playstyle as defensive, space controlling with searching for the right moments to punish or strike, it’s a reacting playstyle.
So my main Character in SF4 is Abel, this character doesn’t fit this role at all, at least not necessarily, its possible to play him more cautious, but in general Abel always should have momentum and should always impose pressure on the opponent. If Abel gets into the defensive role, he should lose this case.
I put so much fu**ing time into this character, learning the “feel”, nearly all his setups, his guessing game and matchup specifics… the most of my opponents describe my play as pretty descent, some are absolutely astonished, saying I am the best Abel they ever saw (thats bullshit of course, I am only at ~3k pp xbl roundabout, but Abel is not really an often seen character, and some are just stunned about what Abel actually can do, there are either Abel players who absolutetely suck, or pretty good ones I have the feel).
Then I play against some 4-5k pp Makoto, Dudley or some kind of players, who absolutely know what they are doing!!! I dont mind losing so much, I played like 10-20 rounds against them, before they kicked me, but I got absolutely blown up… (Won 2 rounds yeah because I got the knockdown and they guessed wrong). I mean it’s okay, they are better players with their characters, but I got forced into the defensive role with Abel soooo fast, that I could ony lose the match, I couldn’t build up momentum on my own or not often enough, and I think because it doesnt fit my natural play style. I couldn’t think of a scenario how I could beat this guys with Abel ever (I dont want to be a progamer, I am not playing every day, but I nearly know everything about Abel, and still have no answer of how to avoid the situations costing me the game, I only knew possibilities for other characters!).
It’s like when you think, you can overcome lacking “talent” with training, but perhaps, If I have put all this time into another character like Ken, who does fit my style, I would be muuuuch better ??

I wrote too much. But do you guys play a character you want to play (knowing that if he doesnt fit your natural style, you will lose a lot of potential and never be thaaat good), or do you play a character, fitting your style, try to play the best you are capable of with your spend amount of time? Just curiosity, I am thinking to switch for a view weeks

2

I have certainly wasted my fair share of time on characters that don’t fit my playstyle. For me, it’s usually zoners. I spend a lot of effort trying out zoners when I first pick up a game, hit a wall where I can’t win as much as I’d like, and then inevitably switch to a heavy mixup character instead. I find that enjoyment of a character comes more easily when that character fits how you want to play.

3

i feel like i dont really know what style that i naturally play yet. The only character that i can confidently say i got good with was Urien in 3rd strike.

4

Edit: didn’t mean to double post :S

5

I play 3S Chun and Ken as mains, and Makoto as a side project. I’ve invested a fair amount of time with Makoto and I can’t say I’m particularly good with her! doesn’t suit me and I could probably be investing the time elsewhere. but she’s such a cool character and every time I watch a Mimora video I get re-inspired.

6

Yeah, a video also inspired me to play Abel

I like the whole “magic of series”, Yogaflame24 should continue this nice work

7

Nope. If I don’t play a character that fits me, I’m not having fun. So then what’s the point?

8

I have fun with Abel, feels much rewarding to pull his stuff out in a match, successfull bait with a second roll, letting reversal with and step kick punish :P. But yeah, been studying Ken now for a while. The simple fact, that he has a 3 frame normal (cr.lk which hits low), which chains itself into a true blockstring on block or allows a hitconfirm into a knockdown or another link is totally trivial, but if you played a character like Abel, it’s a really big deal!!! On block you also have the option to go for awsome frame traps. Cr.lp ~ cs.mk or 2x cr.lp, fs.mp mixed with karathrow. I am not absolutely new to Ken, was messing around with him sometimes as my 4th character, but been looking closer now for some setups, safe jumps and options, he is a legit character. I like Momochis style with him, space control on tournament worthy level. But okay, thats more for the Ken forums.

9

I’ve been playing Ken for stupid reasons since SF2 World Warrior and still do today.
Actually I played both Ken and Ryu but I only picked Ryu to handicap myself since he had a shitty backthrow compared to Ken back then and otherwise they were the same.

When I think of Street Fighter, I think of that red karate gi and even though back then his fighting style wasn’t the same as now, I’m very happy about how he turned out as a balanced rush character with solid footsies.
I love playing footsies and exploiting weaknesses in my opponents gameplan.

Man, SF4 is way too fun to waste on a character you cannot express yourself with.
Imo, that’s the whole fucking point of playing fighting games, you can show people how fucking awesome you are as a person with these cool avatars that do amazing shit and give and receive respect no matter your appearance/handicaps/gender/race.
Would be a shame for me to force myself playing a top tier character that I hate. Sure I probably wouldn’t play Ken if he was complete garbage in this game, but I’d pick a character that at least suits my style and is fun to play.

Nothing against experimenting with different characters to break up the monotony and gain insights, but my main will always be a character I wholeheartedly enjoy.

10

I use to play a defensive style, but then I started playing with Dudley, and I got more offensive. Now I am struggling going back to my defensive play style.

11

If I have a lot of trouble with a particular matchup I’ll have a backup character (in this case Dudley against Chun in 3S). But in general, not really. I like characters that possess an unblockable command grab or some way to get through zoning or a fairly safe move that allows me to get in.

In KOF13 I like to think I’m decent with Clark and Hwa but I still cannot find a 3rd character in that game that suits me.

12

Yeah, perhaps my crysis is kind of over. Normally I only play online most of the time. Had my second offline gathering with two friends (something I will definitely do regulary now!!! Had much fun), and yeah, Abel shines ! offline :stuck_out_tongue: . Went 3-1 against his Akuma in a set of 4 games (best of 7 rounds), normally he destroys me online. My kind of reacting “searching for the right spot” game was put to a new level offline :P.
I think there are some characters, that are a good deal more scary offline and have a hard time online. Yeah okay, the other friend and his evil ryu wished the floor with me :D, but that’s because I dont know the matchup, will study E.ryus frame data and hope to beat him next offline encounter.

13

When I’m deciding what character I want to play, I often have my heart set on certain ones based on their visual design and/or what I’ve seen in trailers gameplay wise. This is before I ever touch the game. For example I will probably get KOFXIII soon, and I’ve never played the game. Despite this I have my 3 characters already picked out: K, Elizabeth, and Athena.

I think my style is fairly flexible, and so it often works out. However there is also a good amount of heartbreak, where despite how cool and awesome this character looks it just doesn’t fit me. So after repeatedly trying to bash the square peg through the circle hole, I eventually give up. There is almost always a perfect fit on the cast, however if that character is too bland or I don’t like how he/she looks I won’t ever pick him/her.

14

I had this problem when I started. I picked Juri becaus she seemed to be an offensive based character with gimmicky fireballs and good chip tools like LK Senpusha (silly me, that one is unsafe haha) and once I tried to get better with her I noticed how she is actually the exact opposite of what I expected. However I sticked to her because I really like the character. Shes like that crazy psycho bitch villain and a cocktease and I also dig eri kitamuras voice acting so I thought I would overcome her and my own weaknesses and get better.

But in the end the matches got really frustrating and I disliked the fact that there was no universal safejump for shotos (like hitbox safejumps, not frame ones). Since she is a zoner she doesn’t need one but that doesn’t change the fact that I want a damn safejump (I am asking for too much)

Her midscreen mixups were also pretty weird and it became quite frustrating playing her. So I kinda tried to learn more characters and saw Best of Sako which was actually the mainreason I learned Ibuki and Cammy.
I thought it would be fun and flashy if I could pull off this stuff haha.

I also got tired by reversals at some point and I don’t really feel like respecting my opponent on their wakeup so Cammy and Ibuki are really neat. I also dig the character design but I still prefer Juri in that matter though.
Cammy plays like I thought Juri would play when I started (without the fireballs of course) and I also have safe wakeup oki and gdlk frametraps which is pretty fun to utilize imo.

Now after 1 1/2 years I don’t know if I would be better with Ibuki or Cammy if I tried to learn them right from the start. It might be the case but I don’t think I wasted time with Juri either because I learned how to utilize my zoning tools and fireballs in general so I have an easier time getting in or figuring out habits when I play other Juris or zoning characters.

15

Happens to me all the time, mostly because I’m stupid enough to pick characters based on looks and I morph my style around them/pray to God they fit my style:

-I’m not a huge fan of VS but I like Jedah as a character, I play him despite knowing that Jedah has almost nothing I like mechanics wise in a character (No DP, No knockdown moves). Luckily, I don’t take VS seriously enough to warrant a character change.

  • I play Dao-Long in an old fighting game called Breakers Revenge on GGPO, Dao-Long is a charge character and I don’t usually play with charge characters. But Dao-Long is so awesome and his charge time is sooo short that I love playing with him.

  • KOF XIII- Saiki, he doesn’t morph with my style as well as Kensou and Terry but I like how he looks so I use him.

16

I have no idea what my playstyle actually is, so probably.

In Third Strike I was all over the place, started off playing Remy and eventually branched out to Ken, Akuma, Sean, Ryu, Ibuki and even Hugo.

In Street Fighter 4 I can’t seem to get into any character other than Juri.

17

I have a lot of trouble finding a character that just feels good in AE. Thus far, I’m most used to playing Ryu and Akuma, but an entirely different character might be right for me. My love for flexibility and mobility doesn’t leave many options, though.

KOF13, I’ve found a bunch of characters that feel comfortable, and one that just clicks immediately - Benimaru.

18

After trying all the characters, I decided Gouken was for me. I loved his style.

Turns out I couldn’t use him for crap. My situation is the opposite, I gave up a style I loved for a style that works for me.

Adon, turns out was better for me. I’ve been told my Adon is a real pain in the ass to play. I can’t combo for crap. I just spam Jaguar Kick all day and have a modest amount of success doing that. I suppose my Adon is a pain in the ass, not because of my skill with him, but because I spam a very strong move. Yes, I know I suck and have a lot to learn.

I suppose when I get better I am going to try the old man again. I like his style.

19

I cant play a character unless they are fun, or unless i like them aesthetically. I can make the playstyle work regardless. Except for grapplers. I cant do grapplers.

Felicia and Doom in Marvel? They look cool. I mean come on its a cat girl. Everybody loves a good cat girl. Also giant metal man that shoots electricity.
Dante? Its fucking Dante. Everything looks cool and just flows really well.
Juri? Mah fucking waifu.

Also I lied. I play Wesker. I picked him because hes a good anchor. I dont really like his playstyle at all. Or his overall character.

20

Vega was that guy for me. Now he is the only one I ever care for. I find Balrog a whole lot of fun but I am just not into playing big buff guys. I guess it is looks for me, they have to look and play cool for me to main them.