Hi there. I just recently started to play SF4 and even bought a stick just for it, however I can’t seem to really know what to do.
Every day I just sit in practice and do 1frame links which I just recently realized are really inpractial in a match due to the low range of TC2 so I just sit there and mash stuff and try to do the loop with his LK slash, but I’m clueless at real matches as I can’t progress beyond doing what I know without hit-confirming.
I’ve tried to play online, but I get smashed/kicked pretty fast as I really don’t have any idea about combos I should aim for to set up the opponent. I’ve watched all the guides I’ve seen for SSF4 in general, for Oni and pro player matches but I still don’t know how to start to getting better at the game.
First, you might wanna post this at the newbie section, since there are plenty of people with your same issues, and it’s filled with players willing to help.
Now Oni is not my main character, but it seems you’re having issues more with the game system itself rather than with the character, so here’s my advice.
Do NOT use 1 frame links. As you said, they’re impractical as hell in a real match, especially for beginners. Oni has lots of other easier links, try to use these instead
Understand that this is not a combo-heavy game and it doesn’t reward you for knowing difficult combos or setups (or at least, not initially). SF4 rewards you for making the right reads, rather than maximizing the damage you get for guessing right. My suggestion is, focus on the fundamentals: footsies, anti-airing, fireball game if you have one, frame traps and basic hit-confirms.
Try to understand what is the strategy you lose the most to. You eat too many shoryukens? Mashed jabs? Fireballs? Turtleing and defensive players? Know that there is a counter strategy for everything, as well as a counter strategy for that counter strategy. It’s just not very immediate.
Practice. This is really the most important advice anyone can give you. Fighting games, especially Capcom ones, have a really deep learning curve and they can take a pretty damn long time to learn. I’m not talking strictly about combos, but how the metagame works and what to do in which situation, as well as how people tend to react to your actions. I’m not trying to scare you, but it will take you years to become as good as the pros you watch on youtube!
If you have a more specific problem, just ask! Good luck