No prob. I’ll do that for a bit next time. Will probably just need a bit of warm up in training to make sure I remember stuff.
You are playing Abi and Kolin so the biggest thing is going to be keeping her out in the first place. She loses the neutral to both of those characters very badly. Keep an eye on the skies because after you smack them around a bit they are absolutely gonna try to start jumping.
Once they get in they will probably be at least a little desperate. It can be hard enough getting in against those chars that the Laura player won’t want to give up momentum. VReversals and EX reversals can be really effective up to a point because it is psychologically hard to put the brakes on and check those things.
Last big thing is stay on the ground until you are in cross up range. Laura actually has really good AAs against the front and even a little above her head - her st.MP has good reach, is fast, and is very active - and she gets mix ups after. But her cross up jump coverage sucks so if the other person hasn’t explicitly practiced reacting to them they are just gonna have to hold it.
Actually one last thing: Laura’s defense mostly sucks. She has more than G but she is still on the low end with a 3f normal and a 3f armored special. If you can keep tight pressure on her she just has to hold it unless they burn CA or VR (and with her 3 bar not a lot of people are going to be willing to do that unless they have a good lead).
DBFZ is your typical anime game at base level. It’s literally is the ground work for most anime game without any of the cool stuff.
I was hype for the game and I’m a HUGE DBZ fan and without 2 weeks I called what the game was going to be and people called me a hater (because I think mvci>>>dbfz as far as gameplay and I’m a marvel head) but the game just didn’t have much room for things to change up out side of small tech here and there to change up the meta a bit.
But the game is dash around in neutral, lad a hit into block strings and high low mix ups with the occasional left right mix up… but not in a exciting way.
The beauty of marvel 2 that hasn’t been captured until mvci was that all characters moved around differently and most needed resets to kill. In mvc3 it was TAC combo’s into death or stupid Xfactor death combo’s.
dbfz is a anime entry level anime game and a stale one at that. I don’t understand why people play it over like a GG or blaz. Blaz is one of the most underrated anime games imo…
Also the movement was CRISP and the response feels exact in mvc2 and even mvci
Dbfz is a very samey game but still really fun. There is enough difference between characters to make it fun to experiment with different team compositions
I have nothing but respect for DBFZ the game, I don’t like playing it, and I really don’t, haven’t even launched the damn thing since 1 week after Bardok’s release; and on a side note fuck some people in this very community peer pressuring me into getting it.
Anyway back to my original point, I respect this game, it set out to be something very specific: kiddies 1st anime game, and it does that in spades.
It uses one of the most beloved IPs ever and it looks gorgeous while at it so it can catch an audience that wouldn’t even look at a real fighting game.
It’s simple enough to learn that those new people that are attracted by the bells and whistles can play without feeling completely ass.
It has just enough complexity to create a scene with pro players that in return create enticing stories to follow.
As for why people play it:
Sonic Fox was an NRS player, so he got an upgrade
Go1 realized he was finally gonna get rich with anime
Everyone else realized they could get some money by switching and placing
Chris G realized he was ass at SFV and his only way to be relevant (mahvel) was dead so he took the game with the least amount of competition
So in summation, I respect this game for accomplishing exactly what it was set out to do.
Is not the game for me and for a lot of people, but it was never really meant to be.
Oh yeah, let’s be clear on this, had they used the Dragon Ball IP with the BBtag mechanics, many people in here (myself included) would still be creaming their pants a year after release, meanwhile Bamco/ArcSys would have made way less money and they game would have been not even as popular.
Well besides characters looks, I think you would like Ibuki. Her command dash can serve a similar function to Laura’s with special movement and ground crossups. It’s also cancelable from normals like Laura’s VS.
Other than that, she has two great VT’s for comebacks. Her damage is on the low side, but she makes up for it with mixups and good oki. Not sure what you mean by consistency but her buttons are pretty good, especially when used with her VS. Lastly, she can get the party started if she spends a bar from a buffer or another good spot.
What do you guys mean by “block mixups”, “hit mixups”? There’s aren’t any overhead combo starters like in mkx for example so I’m confused as to what y’all talking about?
If you block a button leaving your opponent + you’re in mixup. They press more buttons, grab, neutral jump or shimmy.
Mixup on hit is something like Sakura ending combos in heavy tatsu. You’re left standing and she’s +2. She can grab or press more buttons. Probably won’t shimmy unless your in the corner.
Mix ups after being positive on block. Balrog can leave himself point blank in front of you at +1 but he doesn’t really have an overhead or command grab to threaten you with. So at best he gets a shimmy. Mika on the other hand, can put herself at +3 on block and then you have to decide whether its a frame trap, shimmy or a command grab; if she goes for her +3 button twice (lady mika) you risk being crush countered or juggled for good damage).
Mix ups after being positive on hit. Some characters can leave you standing after a combo ender. Balrog’s dash punch doesn’t knockdown. Instead he is at +2 or +3 after a dash straight. Laura is on a similar situation after her LP and MP elbow (although for MP she has to choose not to do the ender) where she can be at +2. The difference is that with Laura is that she can threaten a command grab after LP elbow because of how close she is.
If DBFZ Season 1 was comparable to SFV Season 1 or 2, what is it now after this patch? I think guard cancelling is a lot better but I’m not too sure about everything else.
Some people already complaining about guard cancel. Mainly that 1/7 bar can blow up a setup that requires 2/7. Also seems that stagger pressure is even more powerful now than before.
I picked Laura for similar reasons. Also I was playing Mika before the S2 changes came through and rocked her and I jumped ship. Joke’s on me: if I had stuck with Mika I’d have another year+ of experience with a character that is still a right proper shithead.
Consistency and decent damage tend to coalesce as you go up the tier list (which makes sense) so if you pick from the top down those two things shouldn’t be big issues.
Vhozite’s suggestion of Ibuki seems like a good one to try out. Also depending on how you want to play, Kolin may be worth looking at. I very seriously considered her (and still like her quite a bit) for all the reasons you highlighted.
Plus she has one fuck of a VT with VT2.
Double plus she is built like a brick shithouse and has an excellent costume selection so she has that similar to Laura as well.
The game is definitely going to reset to neutral more often now. And guard cancel is silly unsafe and gets blown up by 2H, so the setplay will need to change.
Also guard cancel is extremely good against the often complained about box dash.
It will also be interesting to see how the new guard cancel interacts with the blue health changes. Sometimes a guard cancel could cost you a bunch of health.
I actually really like the blue health changes. This game was so slow to watch and not even in a good way.
While it seems that the game might be reset to neutral more often now, I still feel that neutral is just about blowing it up with stupid whiffed gatlings and raw ki blast into vanish.
Problem with doing this is that DBF neutral isn’t really great. It feels like SF5. They keep forcing you apart in a lot of ways but don’t make playing midscreen actually better.
I don’t think I agree with that, there are a lot of dynamics in the neutral. The changes to meter build and use also changes the opportunity cost for things like vanish conversions.
It is still a 3v3 game and that brings with it a fair amount of chaos.
Actually as I say that, I think the possible changes in opportunity cost are potentially very interesting.
