I really wish step kick was still just a button. Having it tied down to his v-trigger seems like it will hinder it. Playing Ryu in the beta, I feel like parry is really an entire class about Ken’s run. but time will tell i guess. Glad to see his damage output is crazy, but I tend to play my ken like a pokey Ryu, mix between rush down and zoning with pokes, I hope that still possible, as I don’t really see how his V-trigger can be used defensively, they should let us cancel it earlier.
yeah, I think you have to initiate the run first. And like I said, that wouldn’t be that much of a problem, even in SF4 if you do step kick too close you’re at negative frame advantage. But it doesn’t seem like the run is cancelable right away which leaves you too open to punishment from normals, i mean, it’s not that hard to react to from the looks of it in video. If I could do a instant cancel into step kick, that would be preferable. It’s really early though and things have already changed with characters even from the initial reveal, I hope it more like Guy’s run where you can really cancel it into specials and do a more stop n’ go play style to use it as a defensive measure as well as offense. Right now, I only see it useful for extending combos on hit confirm, and going underneath someone’s jump when you are in close to each other to land on the opposite side and continue your offense.
Playing the beta, Ryu’s parry, and general gameplay seems very balanced compared to Ken. Ken is definitely more about offense, but shouldn’t be ALL about offense.
Yea, Ryu looks really solid right now but that doesn’t mean Ken isn’t as good. The run isn’t meant to be used mindlessly. You either have to space it so that you are safe at the end of it (i am pretty sure that we will be able to bait punishes that way), or to confirm it from either a long range poke with good blockstun, or a long range hit with enough hitstun. That’s a good thing. It means that Ken will play nothing like he used to. That’s the purpose of a new game.
Besides Ken seems a lot more well rounded than he used to be in IV. In SFIV Ken was worth it because of a single button, the step kick. It was his goto button in footsies and it was his kara button as well. The rest of his tools were nothing to write home about.
On the contrary, Ken in SFV has very solid and reliable links, he can actually hit confirm his TC safely, he gets more knockdown and more juggle opportunities than ever before, he can cancel out of specials and he has a dive kick. Plus, his antiair game seems better than before thanks to the removal of proximity normals.
Does Ken have an answer for fireballs in sfv? with step kick and focus attacks gone i can see him struggling against characters with a good zoning game.
His own fireball, it looks a lot better in SFV compared to IV so he should be able to engage in a fireball war without losing. Not to mention he’ll still have EX air tatsu to jump over and punish them, and now you get to choose between damage or a reset from landing an EX tatsu as well. So if anything, his ability to neuter fireballs is probably just as strong as IV considering the options he looks to have.
Yeah, I’m definitely just thinking ahead, I haven’t even played with him, but I do tend to play what I think of as semi-balanced and really hope that elements is there for Ken. Looks like he does already have a wide range of tools and his FB definitely seems adequate. I saw him anti-airing a lot after jump-ins which indicate he might have good recovery on his FB finally. Really, can’t wait to get my hands on him in this version!
here @ 1:03 I see a good use for his V-skill, were you attempting to use it as a hit confirm? Ryu doesn’t seem to recovery before Ken is back in his face after doing c.mk > V-skill, this could be the way to make it safe no? yeah, it definitely looks like Ryu hasn’t recovered yet, I think he has to guess between a throw or to block, maybe he has enough time to do a DP? Also, what uses does his step kick have now that its link to V-skill? Max range poke still viable?
Heck even at 0:46 C.mp > V-skill on block looks viable. Ryu definitely looks to recovery out of block stun early enough to DP, but it can be used to bait reversals as well as continue pressure.
The run should also be very useful in punish situations. Say Ryu’s sweep whiffs or gets blocked at max range. instead of cr mk hadoken Ken may be able to V-Skill and go for cr mp, TC, special. We need to try this when Ken is available in a future beta. This alone could make Ken’s opponents extra scared to press buttons against him.
barring anything crazy, I will be going to Six Flags tomorrow (the promo just got to the one near me yesterday) I will let you guys know if it is the Ken build and I will try and answer what I can that I see on the board.
^yeah, really wish he gets added to the beta…oh and they fix his animations/banana bangs. Ken looks like he’s just sliding across opponents face with fire butter. He should kick the hell out of someone and be done with it.
Lol I mean the majority of his animations look fantastic (st.RH looking too crispy) but super could be reworked, and I’m sure his hair/face will be tweaked. The game is still 7-8 months away.
My posts keep getting eaten by SRK so expect some random posts to come through in like a day or something.
Regarding that though, unless his cr.mp has ridiculous advantage the only normals you will want to cancel from are fierces. Hopefully we get a Guy esque run/stop game where we can bait/grab/short/shoryuken and mindfuck the opponent, but we won’t be able to get it as reliably as Guy due to not having a nice TC to combo into from afar, strong buttons will be a death sentence unless they increase the blockstun a lot.