Anyways Its my first post here on the forums I tried to keep away from posting because theres already so much information on the forums, but I felt I still needed advice directed toward me.
I started playin ssf4 as my first real fighting game a month ago “seriously”. I find myself in the training room more than anything else and my problem is this.
I cannot CANNOT link at all. Like the sayin goes you do a link to early it doesnt come out you do it to late and they block. How do i find the right time to do these? I mean cmon i stayed in the training room for about an hour yesterday with ryu jus pressing clp clp cmk. sometimes it hits most times it doesnt and when it does hit i dont feel like i understood it.
Which comes to plinking and double tapping. Do i need to learn all the “frame times” of moves and stuff to actually start learning links? I mean this is so much information being injected into my brains in a short period of time.
How did you veterans or pros learn links. Yes i undrestand practice is KEY but i do practice but i feel like my practice is very ineffective to me because whenever i link or dont i still dont have a clue the exact timing i need.
Please help a fellow member any advice would be helpful. I love this game but its so hard :].
this game is easy as hell… that being said you’re gonna develop a ton of terrible habits, especially since this is your first game and you probably have no decent comp.
as far as the links go you just have to play around with the timing. having someone do it for you so you can peep the timing or breakdown the little things that tell you when to press the button helps too.
look at the animations your character and the character your hitting go through. sometimes I find that by looking for mroe or less what part of the recovery animation I’m supposed to press the next normal helps. also find the rhythm. sounds retarded but it does help.
please don’t jump excessively, please don’t mash jab/crouch tech/reversals. please think about what you are going to do and not just do random shit. please learn basic fundamentals before you learn nifty option selects. please don’t quit after you realize you have to put effor it :[
best of luck, if you ever wanna hit endless I can help walk you through some things depending on your character with xbl mics
also check out option-select.com, great resource for newer players, I recommend you read Ryan’s articles about commodities in fighting games, great read.
best of luck and again, look at subtle clues in your character’s animation and try to work on the rhythm of the combo to help with timing.
protip: before you learn combos, learn what all your normals are used for, even the shitties looking normals have some sort of use and it would be better to learn this than to learn whatever combo you are trying to learn.
Wow… thanks for the advice… haha that was great i needed something like that. If i was using xbl i would instantly taken your offer but sadly im a PS3 ssf4 player haha.
Funny thing is, you pointed out my worst habits. I jump excessively haha. Jump hk cmk xx hado all day haha. Also I used a pad and mashed alot, but i got a TEstick and i fixed a lot of my mashing problems.
One huge thing is i wish i had a lot of friends or people i knew that played ssf4 seriously so i can learn but amongst all my friends im the best because i can 1. ultra 2. cancel.
It would be great if i had someone to watch me and tell me my mistakes and also show me links if the person did it personally instead of me jus trying to do all these on my own.
I went to my first arcade yesterday to play and all i got was owned by all the other players and felt like i just wasted money. Got to small chat with them but tahst about it. Greatly appreciate the advice and the reference to the other sites i can use to learn.
Just upload the replays to youtube and show us. we will help
you didnt waste your money going to the arcade, fighting games need a community in order for an individual to progress. you simply took a first step. be happy you went, and feel lucky that you have an arcade
haha thanks for the link info ill try learning clp clp cmp instead… and yea im not sayin it was a complete waste of money but i went to learn and stuff but instead everyone jus plays walks aways and waits for turn haha… i thought the community would be a bit better but i guess u gotta be kinda good for it to be better?
The arcades around me are still 40minutes away but yea it was a fun experience regardless because when i play endless always ryu ken not much variety but there were a lot of other toons bein used which i enjoyed and its always fun to watch great gamers :].
As for the the replay ill try my best to upload one so people can determine wat my flaws are… but thanks everyone… hmm jus another question as for FADC’s for ryu the most used one dp FADC to metsu how can u do this with such fast reactions? hahah like if i hit the person im late on my fadc if i miss then i jus fadc to a grab…
When I was originally trying to learn Ryus c.lk, c.lp, c.mp combo I would spend hours in training mode over and over and it would hit or it wouldn’t. It felt like I was never going to figure it out.
but, the truth is it really does just take time until you start to get the hang of it and begin understanding it.
Best advice is to just keep trying and if when you push the MP it gets blocked (your dummy should be set to auto-block) you’re pushing the button too late and if the punch won’t come out when you push the button then you’re pushing it too early. Use this to adjust your timing. Don’t mash it, just press it one time. Eventually the timing will become a habit or something you can actually “feel”. It’s not as outlandish as it sounds and it doesn’t take all that long.
I wouldn’t worry about frames or FADCing for a long time. Focus more on your spacing and basic combos. Don’t worry about plinking or double tapping either. You need to focus on the basics before you expand to technique.
linking is pure timing. there is no understanding of a concept by which you will suddenly be able to link well. It is simply to perform one move after another with no window in between. depending on the duration of the first move your timing on the second move will be different.
plinking and double tapping are just ways to press buttons. there are guides explaining it.
I suppose I meant you’ll start to understand more how hit stun and block stun works. If you’ve never played a fighting game before there is definitely a level of understanding you need to come to before you start linking moves. It’s one thing to know the timing and another to know why the timing is as it is.
At least I know when I was learning I had absolutely no idea why some moves wouldnt combo after some jump ins. It just would or wouldn’t. Learning about block stun and hit stun lead to learning about start up and recovery frames and eventually led to figuring out how links work.
I know you said not to say it, but practice is the key. It might seem like something you’ll never get, but eventually it’ll be second nature to you (if you stick with it). Like others said fundamentals are what are essential at first. It’s all something you’ll eventually get the hang of. Don’t worry about the big combos/harder combos those come in time. For now just stick w/ the basics. You can beat your opponent in this game w/ nothing more than a couple normals, small combos, and mind games (especially online). For example: Jump hp (when it’s wise to), cr. lk, cr. lp, cr. lp then next Jump hp (again when it’s wise to), cr. lk, cr. lp, wait a sec., grab (if your opponent is prone to block and not randomly mash buttons). Incorporate stuff like this (not specifically this example whatever works for you), your cr. mk to hado and basic combos, and anti-airing constant jumpers and you’ll be fine at first. Also, “NEVER” mash especially grab whether offensively or defensively. I say this 'cus I see alot of beginners do this alot and it’s a terrible habit which will get you nowhere. I really don’t know what else to add 'cus the others gave sound advice already.
As for the FADC into Ultra, I’m not sure what you’re having trouble w/ the focus part or the Ultra itself. If it’s the focus just practice focusing and dashing forward quickly without the shoryuken. Once you do it w/ the shoryuken don’t try doing it in the middle of the shoryuken (unless your using Akuma or Ken’s hard punch shoryuken) just press it right after the shoryuken inputs. Best of luck!!!
Ryu? RYU!?!? TIMING FOR RYU!?!? He’s the easy guy to learn, try using BLANKA or C. VIPER!!! Quit the game NOW.
Just Kidding, Just Kidding. lol.
I was having the same problem you were having when I first started… It was l.p to m.p in challenge mode… I would press l.p then m.p and I got nothing… I was like WTF??? This game is TRASH BRO!
but yea it’s all a timing thing, like shin gouki said you can look for the animation but sometimes that shit won’t help if there’s any type of lag on your T.V. so once you get out there your timing will be wrong for another person’s set-up blah blah.
I realized this shit ain’t marvel and it’s not loose with its commands…early & late doesn’t cut that shit.
when your doing cl.p cl.p then cm.k your probably missing the m.k. usually it’s about a quart second off so after the clp and clp link it’ll be the slightest and I mean extremely slight rest before the cmk. if your timing is still off try it on another tv… sometimes it’s just that simple but usually it isn’t. practice practice practice. BLAOW!
lol pj pajama thats the whole point… my first fighter game gotta go with someone easy to learn with :]
haha thanks guys… yea im practicing everyday now so i can get a little better. Honestly i guess i gotta make it like muscle memory or osmeting like that because like i said timing is to hard for me to predict.
As for basic fundamentals im not sayin i know everything or alot but i do know how to do the basics kinda :]. I mean im asking for help links because i can sort of do the other things. Like willhado4food said i do beat a good amount of players thats my level im guessing because i just chp for AA and do cmk xx hado and throws.
I just wanted to advance a bit but learning links is ridiculously hard to learn for me as opposed to the others i understood pretty quickly. and about the FADC i was jus wondering how people do it so quickly and input dash ultra. Like im sayin if my DP hits then my reaction is pretty slow and i will not cancel, if it gets blocked i will cancel and throw. So im asking is hit confirms and stuff just come naturally as you just play the game?
By the way I should’ve came to the forums sooner instead of just tryin to learn everything by myself. You guys are a big help :]
hey dude im in the same boat you are ive always been into fighting games but not like how i am now. right now im seriously playing so if you ever have a chance to play on a xbox ill be more then happy to practice and learn with ya
So i’ve taken everyones advice into consideration and i have learned a great deal.
AFTER constant grinding in the training room i can finally say i link 75% of the time in games and im very satisfied with that. I started using plinking in order to do so without plinking its very hard even for RYU IMO…
Now i have linking decently known… i kinda wanna get into combos links to cancels that are a bit harder.
Can someone please help with double tapping tho? I heard all the japanese top players double tap all their hits… O.o how does that work?
I mean if i double tap instead of plinking my links dont come out hahah…
And for anyone that has a PSN that would like to see me progress/help/ or just play let me know. Im usually playing ssf4 a LOT these days but mostly in training mode. Would like to see my new improvements in action!! :]
pay attention to the sound the buttons make when you succesfully do a combo
this may not make sense at first and im not sure how to articulate it best but here it goes:
if you’re doing a link and you’re having trouble with it, focus on getting the normal before it to link first
in this example, c.lp, c.mp
practice hitting that link, and FOCUS ON THE SOUND IT MAKES
does it sound like: tap tap? tap…tap? tap…tap? tap…tap?(etc)
once you’re confortable with this, practice the link over and over untill you dont miss it
once you get to a point where you’re hitting it very consistantly, add other peices in(like the jab before) and finally when you’re comfortable getting all the normals stringed together, try adding a cancel in after
as for double tapping, you do that or plinking. generally plinking is prefered, but in some cases i find doubletapping easier(lp/lk, one of which you can’t plink(without a super modded stick))
best way to show you how to do it is this: [media=youtube]G1g_kkH5_9Y[/media]
plinking there’s 1 frame between inputs while double taping there are 3. They both have their uses, and sometimes they overlap, but you can’t use one in favor of the other. For instance, you can’t double tap a 1 frame link because when you hit the button that’s one frame, releasing is the 2nd, and hitting it again is the 3rd. VesperArcade has a bunch of really good tutorials on YouTube and [media=youtube]PfP3oj_8oXM&feature=related[/media] is all about execution techniques.
haha quick question though… ive been practicing for sooo long but if i want to be good will i HAVE to have frame date knowledge and also without that will i fail to became exceptionally good? seems to me this game has a lot to do with FRAME data yet i have not looked into it at all since its pretty complicated and im still fairly new and just gettin finished with basics
but sadly im a PS3 ssf4 player haha.