Kenta Kobashi: All characters have combos that can take about half a life bar or more. But at the highest level only Emilio and Wong really get them off consistently. This isn’t taking hyper charge into account BTW. Anyone can do big damage with hyper charge.
Shield rushdown.
I’m going to assume that you are talking about the Frigid Shell correct? The move that makes Keith immune to psy moves correct?
That move is very easy to get rid of. Any hit will get rid of it, even a barrier bounce. Once Keith does it just hyper dash and barrier. Problem solved. Of course it isn’t that simple all the time and Keith can set-up for it. Plus the shield itself doesn’t last long. And Keith can be baited into rushing and then just eat a grab or a barrier. There are alot of ways to deal with Keith’s that abuse the Frigid Shell. Plus it only makes Keith invincible when it fully forms. So when the ice mist is still forming you can still hit Keith with a projectile.
And even if Keith did have the advantage in the match-up (which I really don’t think he does, I think it’s pretty even), That wouldn’t make him better then Emilio overall. Emilio is just a better character.
Yes, Keith’s bread and butter is better but good BnB combos don’t automatically mean you will be top tier. Both Emilio and Wong have BnB’s that are only just decent although Wong’s is better then Emilio’s. But it’s the overall gameplay of Wong and Emilio that give them the number 1 spot.
Helter Skelter: lol. Don’t hype me up too much man. I’m good at psychic force but I don’t have amazing uber unbeatable tactics. I don’t think this is that kind of game really. Although I do have some solid strats and I love playing control characters like Setsuna and Emilio, but I can play everyone in the game well.
Shinset: Any competition where you live or do you just play on your own. Anything to contribute to the strats or gameplay mechanics? What do you think of the tier list?
On Topic: Well, I decided to do something that I do alot of at smashboards.
Critique match vids and give commentary about what was done right/wrong and how well the players did overall.
I’ll critique the match vid of Setsuna vs Wendy that was posted previously.
Here is the link to the vid.
[media=youtube]lrRQQ78J1aE[/media]
Here I go.
Round 1
00:11 - Right off the bat Wendy makes a mistake. That combo should have went all the way through with light attack, light attack, strong attack to w/e the situation called for. Judging from the distance that Setsuna was from the wall I’m guessing that he most likely would have hit it and then Wendy would have gotten a far wall combo with Air slasher or Vortex Stream.
00:15 - Wendy screws up the wall barrier. Setsuna should not have got this off. Wendy lost health and he got some back. Because of this mistake the entire momentum of the match has shifted.
00:18 - Setsuna got a wall hit on Wendy thanks to his barrier. He should have grabbed or ran away to reset his spacing for his long range game.
From about 00:20 to 00:30 - Setsuna is being more rush down oriented. I really can’t condone being that rush down happy. And it ended up back firing for Setsuna. Which brings me to another point. When Setsuna got caught by that single Air Slasher in that wall combo. I really don’t think it should have hit him. It LOOKS like he had enough time to wall barrier. But then again maybe not. *shrugs
00:32 - There was NO reason why Setsuna should have gotten hit by that. None. A hyper dash or even a simple barrier is all it would have taken to avoid getting hit. He had plenty of time to react.
00:36 - Very tricky on Wendy’s part. A nice Mirage Step into an Air Slasher. Very fast and smooth. Still Setsuna sees right through it and grabs her. It probably would have been better if she had just grabbed after the Mirage Step, since Air Slasher takes some extra time to cross over for the attack.
00:40 - Wendy was foolish to try to mount an offense when she was in a corner and had so little psy. She should have tried to barrier or psy-impulse and back off so she could regain her psy. Instead she tried to attack and was punished for it. At least this time she manages to get up that wall barrier before Setsuna can combo into Negative drain like before.
00:41 to 00:46 - We see come nice space control by Setsuna. Wendy’s dashes up in reaction to the light projectile and then Setsuna responds with a Darkside soul in that direction. Wendy tried to rush Setsuna, which is a bad move. Setsuna recovers quickly from Darkside Soul so it’s not wise to try to rush him after he launches one if you are far away. Setsuna could have gotten an easy grab, but opts to barrier instead. That’s ok, since it resets his spacing. He then uses Daggers Shadow to stuff her attempt at a Vortex Stream.
00:51 - No reason why Setsuna should have gotten hit. He could have hyper dashed at Wendy, did a barrier or dashed away. All of these methods would have kept him form taking damage and hyper dashing would have let him attack while she was still in her launch animation.
00:54 - Setsuna goofed up here. A Dark Wedge could have ended it.
00:55 to 01:04 - See some dash dancing and you can that the players are trying to feel each other out, but still play very carefully and intellgently. Setsuna took a risk going for a barrier break. Wendy read him correctly and went for a slide dash, which lets her get a free combo. She takes round 1.
Round 2
01:12 - Repeat of the first goof up in round 1. Wendy doesn’t finish the combo. But Setsuna screws up too. He goes for a barrier instead of nailing a free grab. But then we some nice dash dancing mindgames. Setsuna hyper dashes and Wendy slide dashes in response and goes for an Air Slasher. Setsuna IMMEDIATELY responds with another hyper dash into a combo. He cancels the dash so quickly that you just barely catche a glimpse of the blue hyper flash. A good play on Setsuna’s part, although a grab would have been better.
01:20 - So a long range battle ensues. Setsuna is smart to get out a Shady Cloud, likewise Weny is smasrt to go for an Earth Gale. Too bad the debris doesn;t pin down Setsuna otherwise she could have went for a Tri-Crescent or Silpheed Dance. Setsuna is quick to take advantage of the fact that the debris won’t hit him and launches some attacks. Daggers Shadow hits although Wendy could have shielded it easily. My guess is that the player panicked or didn’t want to be drained by Shady Cloud.
01:30 - Setsuna is smart to keep the pressure on. He throws out several waves of Daggers Shadow. But Wendy slowly closes the gap thanks to smasrt barrier use and hyper dashing. Then when Setsuna charges up Daggers Shadow Wendy uses the break in the action for a Mirage Step that sends her alomst right next to Setsuna! Setsuna quickly blocks Wendy’s rush down, but opts for a barrier instead of a grab. Bad move since Setsuna is left in the corner.
01:35ish - We can see some good dash dancing and defensive play. Good for when you are looking for openings. Although to be honest Setsuna shouldnt be doing that as much. He should have hung back and played the long range pressure game.
01:39 - Setsuna gets the hit off and goes for The Darkness. Good stuff. Too bad Wendy didn’t retreat barrier, otherwise he probably would have gotten that off unscatched. It was good job on her part, since she reacted quickly and was able to punish Setsuna. Still she should have been aware of the wall and went for a far wall combo. But in the end it worked out since she was able to distract Setsuna for a little while and run out a little time from The Darkness, so Setsuna had less time to take advantage of it.
01:50 to 02:00 - Setsuna seems to get impatient and rushes Wendy. She reads him and responds with a slide dash to wall combo. Setsuna gets out of it and rushes again, but she reads him yet again. This time he eats an Air Slasher. More dash dancing ensues, and Setsuna manages to get a hit in with his barrier break. This player seems to like using it and also seems to be a little on the spammy side with it, which isn’t good.
02:01 to 02:07 - Wendy hyper dashes and Setsuna hyper dashes in response. In turn Wendy attacks and gets counter hit damage on Setsuna. He retreat barriers, but drops it as Wendy rushes again. Most likely he expected a abrrier break and was prepared to block it and retaliate. Wendy reads him and lands a grab to get past his guard. She wins round 2.
Round 3
02:16 - lol. This is getting silly. Wendy cuts the combo short again. But then when Setsuna gets her off, he rushes again. Eh, he had his back to the wall more or less so I don’t blame him. But Wendy sees it and beats him down. But she screws up and does the L,L,L,L combo so she can’t do a psy move finisher. She tries to play it smart and go for a barrier break thinking that Setsuna would do a wall barrier to save himself from a psy attack. But he reads her and does a normal guard, and then beats her down.
02:23 to 02:38 - We see Setsuna try to keep Wendy at bay and then getting in some close range combos. Nothing too serious, just to reset spacing, get in some damage and give him some breathing room. But then when Setsuna misses his strong attack, Wendy goes for a barrier break. Again the player probably thought that Setsuna would just put up a barrier to knock her away, but things don’t work out like the Wendy player planned. Setsuna blocks and Wendy eats a wall combo ending in Negative drain. That shouldn’t have happened though since a wall barrier could have stopped that. This guy must be sleeping at the controls. lol
02:41 - Setsuna eats a psy impulse that could have been blocked. Wendy hyper dashes,but honestly it just have been obvious that there was no way she could follow up in time. Instead she should have went for an Earth Gale, Silpheed Dance, or Tri-Crescent to lock Setsuna down or give herself an advantage.
02:42 to 02:45 - Setsuna tries to rush with a barrier break yet again. Wendy gets away and pulls out an Air Slasher. Setsuna takes guard damage because he couldn’t barrier in time. Still there is no reason why he couldn’t have gotten it up in time. Barrier comes out fast. He was just slow with it most likely.
02:50 to 02:58 - Wendy takes a risk with a Vortex Stream, but to no avail. Setsuna punishes her. Then he does a good job of keeping the pressure on. Wendy manages to get in though and then she makes him the feel the pain. Good job on her part getting through Setsuna’s pressure game. She decides to stay close, which is good considering the fact that Setsuna is long range, but then she slide dashes into an Air Slasher which is risky business. Setsuna knocks her right out of the launch animation with a barrier break to win round 3.
Round 4
03:04 - Wendy doesn’t waste anytime and rushes Setsuna down. Both players play it smart. Setsuna pulls of a slide dash while Wendy only does a light attack so she isn’t vulenrable for too long. Setsuna opts for a Black Sun, which probably wasn’t the best option for punishing Wendy. He probably should have just did a hyper dash to grab. Wendy takes a risk by floating in for a barrier but it pays off and to be honest I am very impressed by such a gutsy well executed move.
03:09 - Setsuna gets a combo off, but he goes for the L,L,L so he can’t follow-up. A blunder on his part. Then he attempts to rush with a grab. Not a bad choice per say, but shady cloud for control or a projectile for pressure might have been better. Wendy tried to get back in Setsuna’s face, but he gaurds quickly, so props to him for that. Setsuna gets another combo in after Wendy tries to float in with an attack. But once again Setsuna goes for the L,L,L chain. Not good.
03:17 - Wendy does a good job of getting inside Setsuna’s range and beating him down, but yet AGAIN we see the L,L,L,L chain. Should have been L,L, S to Vortex Stream or Air Slasher. And then after Wendy gets the wall bounce she goes for a light attack? No. Should have been a grab.
03:21 - Setsuna screws up royally here. He gets wall bounced for no reason then Wendy grabs him. He should have just went for an easy psy impulse, to get her to back off.
03:29 - Setsuna wall barriers to get Wendy off of him. Then he shoots a light projectile for her to deal with. She takes the hit as it interrupts an Air Slasher. Setsuna rushes in and lands a grab. All in all some solid play on Setsuna’s part. Although Wendy screwed up when she did Air Slasher in response to the light projectile.
03:35 - Wendy quickly gets in Setsuna’s face to keep him from mounting an offense and it looks like it catches Setsuna off guard. But she messes up her opportunity when she goes for the L,L,L,L chain for the thousandth time. lol. Still Setsuna DOES manage to get out a Shady Cloud though. But after the first combo Wendy goes for a Mirage step and then keeps the punishment coming. Nice play on her part. She does the L,L,L,L combo, but in the end it let’s her net a grab by hyper dashing and grabbing Setsuna out of a slide dash. Well done, Wendy.
03:43 to 03:49 - Setsuna stages a counterattack right away. He really tries to pour the heat on her. But she slowly closes the distance. Setsuna screws up when he does a strong attack out of slide dash when a grab or a barrier would have been the best choice. Wendy’s Air Slasher cuts him down before the strong attack can connect and Wendy earns herself the victory.
General Overview - I saw some good plays mixed in with silly mistakes and sloppy gameplay overall. For starters the players missed wall barriers which just shouldn’t be happening. When you hit a wall you need to be doing the motion for the barrier, when your opponent is trying to do a close wall combo. Setsuna should NOT be comboing into Negative drain. Honestly if he could do it then he would be banned. Another thing I’m sure you all noticed was the use of all light attack strings. there is no reason to use these over strings that end with a strong hit. Strong hit enders let you cancel into psy moves which means more mindgames, more versatility, more comboability, more set-ups, and more pressure. They are better in everyway.
Another thing that bothered me was how they played thier characters. They definitely didn’t bring out the full potential of Setsuna and Wendy. Setsuna didn’t use enough Darkside Souls. They are the back bone of his gameplay. He can dash after them, use them for cover, pressure with them, they are safe on block. They are his all purpose long range tool. I also didn’t see Mirror Coffin or Dark Wedge. Mirror Coffin is perfect for dash dance whores and Dark Wedge os good for projectile wars, slide dash whores, and a decent mid/long range pressure move. Neither should be spammed or even used alot, but the should definitely see SOME use. Also Setsuna tried to play rush down alot whcih isn’t good. Setsuna should be hanging back most of the time. Play rush down to throw opponents off, get a little damage, or set-up for your control/pressure game, but don’t make the main stay of your gameplay. I also didn’t see alot of shady cloud abuse. Wendy bugged me too. She didn’t use Silpheed’s Dance or Tri-Crescent. Earth Gale saw very little use as well. Earth Gale and Tri-Crescent are meant help pin an opponent down while Silpheed’s Dance boosts her dash speed which in turn augemnts her rushdown. But this Wendy player didn’t use them at all. Instead he relied on Vortex Stream and Air Slasher. Alot of Air Slasher’s actually, which isn’t good because Air Slasher isn’t a spammable move. It can easily be shut down when used recklessly. Plus just relying ontwo moves just means that player became much more predictable.
Still it wasn’t all bad. I saw some very good exchanges and good examples of safe play with dash dancing and cutting combos short at the light attack when someone avoids your rush down. Also saw some mindgames on Wendy’s part with Mirage step and some long range pressure/control with Setsuna. Overall the gameplay in this vid was about a 7 out of 10 in terms of skill. The players definitely know about high level tactics, but made alot of small mistakes, sill choices and didn’t really fully maximize thier characters and all of thier good moves/tactics.
Ok, guys what do you think. Did you guys like the vid critique? Was it helpful? Should I do it again? What are some opinions. Did anyone catch anything that I missed or they feel is worth mentioning? I’m eager to hear some feedback.
