My Xbox 360 got the RROD almost 2 months ago. Since then, I’ve been trying to stay sharp by playing ST on GGPO. A funny thing happened since doing so…
I really believe that I’ve “Leveled-Up” my game by playing ST on GGPO. The one vs one setup coupled with the array of great fighters from around the world has made me a better player overall I think.
I thought that maybe it could be that GGPO players are not as good as XBL players but many XBL players play on GGPO so that theory is not that reliable. Maybe it’s the switching back to ST Blanka vs HDR Blanka? I’m not sure. I just know that my game has improved to the point that I feel really comfortable in my Boxer, Chun Li and DeeJay matchups. Even the Honda matchups are better except for maybe O. Honda which just plain eats Blanka alive in ST.
I won’t know for sure just how much I’ve improved or if I’ve improved at all until I actually find my way back to XBL.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? Has your game improved by playing ST on GGPO or it is a false sense of improvement dude to the difference in game mechanics?
I think it’s mostly because GGPO netcode is significantly smoother. If you know how offline plays and can’t/won’t adjust for laggy online, you won’t do as well as you could. Also, you may depend on very precise attacks/defenses that need fast reactions. Esp. if your natural reactions are slow, any additional lag will make your techniques that much more imprecise.
I play on all 3 networks at times (PSN, XBL, GGPO) and the main difference to me is that my reactions are a lot worse on HDR netcode, which causes more unfavorable conditions. I still do alright but offline, my performance empirically seems to be more on par with on GGPO. And that’s why I play GGPO ST to practice for HDR; it’s not perfect but I think the better netcode provides more accurate practice for offline play than the rules changes do. Others seem to have no problem going from online to offline HDR so kudos to them as well.
That is interesting. As one of the incredibly rare O.Honda players on GGPO (before HDR) I found that O.Honda suffered against Blanka the same way he did in HF. Essentially the lack of HHS that pushed him forward while being able to keep a downback charge. Blanka’s “jump up and down with LK” shenanagans were a hell of a lot tougher to deal with O.Honda/HF Honda than ST/HDR Honda IMO.
O.Honda’s better normals (st.fierce, cr.fierce, especially cr.strong) help him in that match up. All you need is a couple of pokes and then it’s down+back the rest of the round, LOL. The only thing that ST Honda has in that match-up is walk forward Super (great for baiting Blanka to jump at you or Blanka ball at you).
I’d say ST/HDR Honda’s command throw helps immensely too (when used right it negates Blanka’s huge throw range and imprecise jumpins). It seems to me with HF and O.Honda (moreso O.Honda since O/ST/HDR Honda has a nerfed HK Sumo Smash), they has to spend the entire round trying to chase down Blanka. And pretty much any time you move forward he gets a free jump into shenanigans because you have no charge.
Also (god I’m sorry for derailing your thread Decoy), ST Blanka is arguably a lot easier to deal with than HDR Blanka simply because ST Blanka really couldn’t use horizontal roll.
IMO, the competition on GGPO is far superior, mainly because of the Japanese players, though I’ll run into random US players and say, ‘wow, this guy is really good.’ It’s no comparison and you don’t fall into that trap of playing down to your competition, which often seems to happen in HDR. Although recently I’ve noticed a number of HDR players on GGPO now. I feel like I’m definitely playing much better and smarter now than on HDR.
It did take me a while (especially with Zangief to get my ST awareness and execution back. If you’ve played against my (terrible) Zangief on GGPO recently, you’ll know what I’m talking about! I think with some players this isn’t an issue. I don’t see how some of you guys jump between games all the time.
X64 - O.Honda has throw range advantage over Blanka already, so you don’t even really need Ochio (though that little bit extra range doesn’t hurt, LOL)
Kurropi - I know what you mean, the different speeds, special commands, and move properties of the two games throw me off when I bounce back between the two, but then I’m easily confused, LOL.
I have a hard time going back to GGPO ST due to the fact that in HDR my 2 mains got changed quite a bit, we have bi weekly ranbats for HDR in my city, and im a Guile/Sim player, it kind of messes me up going to ST now as alot of stuff is different in ST (different command motions for Sim, different throws, lacking new FK and UDK mix up with Guile, etc)
It works counter productive for me at least, lol. (Still love the ST though.)
I haven’t touched HDR in a while so I’m curious how much of a difference in lag I will notice now that I’m accustomed to GGPO. It would be nice to bring all the things I’ve improved upon to the talbe when getting back to HDR.
No worries about derailing the thread. You were comparing the characters based on my comment so it’s all good. IMO, I think O. Honda is more of a tank than any other Honda. Especially in ST. It’s just bad news (at least for me).
Generally I bet the competition statement is true. But some of us are working on that. I’d say WWL competition is at least as good as what you’ll find on average (taking out Japanese players) to GGPO. I mean in our league we have 2 of the top 8 from EVO last year who play fairly regularly (Thelo and Damdai) and a whole bunch of other good players. If competition is your problem with HDR, I agree you can get in the trab of scrubbing it up versus scrubs, but if you have a connection to good players, you can get your rear end handed to you just as easily as you can on GGPO…
i recently went to an arcade in my town last weekend and ran about 60-70 matches on the super turbo cab between me and about 2 other players both who were of decent skill. it was my first time playing ST on a cabinet in a looooooong time (like 1996 long time) and i walked away feeling sharper about the game. i suppose it was due to how strict the execution timing is in ST.
something else i noticed was my footsie game and overall ability to stuff attacks with normals was heightened on the ST cab. maybe cuz my opponent was sitting right next to me it added to my ability to feel them out or listen for button presses?
dont know how to get an arcade stick controller setup on ggpo so ive never tried it personally.
I played ST on GGPO once and I got murdered. Haven’t touched it since. Then I went to PSN HDR and I found myself beating a lot of people online (And occassionally running into other good players and getting my ass handed to me). I’m actually gonna start playing ST on GGPO again to level up my game. The competition and thousands upon thousands upon MILLIONS of loses are definitely gonna be discouraging for me, but I’m just gonna suck it up and be a man about it because in the end, the pain definitely works towards the reward of skill.
Connection is definitely an issue. They tend to be poorer on XBL than on GGPO for me. Though GGPO has been having some issues lately.
My XBox Live friends list is full of good players but the problem is that 90% of them are usually offline or playing something else. It could be a time difference issue or because they’re always in private rooms but I never run into guys like Thelo or Damdai.
I’d say in the past month, I’ve run into two or three people I would say fall into the scrub category on GGPO. You can find that on HDR in a span of five minutes. Good competition can be found on HDR but sometimes you really have to hunt for it or you wind up playing the same people every day. Virtually everyone on GGPO knows what they’re doing at a fairly high level or better.
Playing on GGPO has also vastly improved my ground game IMO. The level of comp has forced me to be more patient and really focus on waiting and creating openings. I think the less lag in my matches has allowed me to use Blanka at an even higher level. I’m really enjoying that. I can do counters, tics and setups that I had a tougher time doing in XBL. I’m really anxious to go back to HDR to see the difference.
Then again, I could join my first room one day and get smacked the hell up and be brought back down to reality! lol
I think you just like ST Claw, I saw those dirty ass wall dive loops… on GGPO I can do a reversal in the middle of a crossup but in HDR that shit never happens. Ever. The players on GGPO do seem better and should help you play HDR better… those new motions on HDR are a god-send but it takes me a little while to get adjusted to speed differences(I definitely feel one)…
EDIT: I fall into the scrub category on GGPO, and I always thought I was intermediate:looney:… I’ve got work to do… they gave me a new found love for my arcade stick…
