So I'm terrible

Newbie Saikyo Dojo
21

Identify your weakness and turn it into your strength. It might be corny advise but it does pay off. I used to have the same symptons as you’re having right now, so I sat down and reviewed my fights. The really good thing about SSFVI is the replay channel. Watch your matches and summarise everything. From there, hit the training room, set up the dummy to imitate some of the things you were struggling against and come up with ways around it. Also, if you can, find really good opponents online and add them to your friends list. Try to add a variety of opponents and get in 1st to 10 sets with them (1v1). You’ll probaly loose a great deal but it will teach a lot in certain match ups and you could use that data for the training room. After time you’ll notice your skills will improve.

This is something that I do. I’m a Cody player and my main weakness was my defence. Since (in my opinion) Cody has a weak wake up game I used to struggle big time against cross-overs, jump ins, tick-throws etc. I also stuggled against Ken and Balrog match ups. So I did all of above and constantly work on it. My defence aint perfect now, but im now holding my own against really good Balrogs and Kens online.

Feel free to add me on PSN if you want to get some sets in with an average but improving Cody player lol.

Last I say is have more confidence in your skills. Dash forward every now and again and throw. You’ll be suprised how many people that will catch out.

22

99.9 of community sucks as bad as you think you do. Buck up and play 3s.

or play offline.

23

For starters, you shouldn’t be playing online when trying to apply things. At least in ranked battle. Why? Cause they aren’t interested in anything but pp/bp. While that doesn’t generally have a bearing to how you perform you should at least know that people spam moves and mash out uppercuts and generally win because shearly of lag of for some other dumb reason.

If you want to get better as a player then you NEED to find and offline source. Build a community if you don’t have one and if you can go to tournaments, go to them. Street Fighter isn’t about combos but poking, zoning, and footsies. Combos are just good to practice so you can punish your opponent with the best possible damage.

You should really focus on learning the metagame and start off slow instead of (I’m assuming) trying to pull of Daigo combos (just a phrase). Training mode is good if you know how to use it but playing an opponent that moves is very different than a stationary one. I honestly don’t know what to call it but it’s some sort of nervousness that generally newer players suffer from where you simply crack before the match has started because your opponent moves and your combo is out of your ideal positioning.

You can get a whole lot better if you strictly play offline. Online for me is only used to try out new stuff or when I’m just desperate for a battle and not for anything serious. If you have to play online I recommend endless because they actually play the game there. Endless and Ranked are very different in terms of quality of players. Yes, people in endless are generally considered “better” players but that’s what you need. Better players to practice on. Chances are, if it works in endless, it’ll most likely work in a real match.

If you wanna spam srk all day, they’ll punish you each and everytime for it. After a while, it’ll get really old really fast and you’ll realize those types of tactics don’t really work anymore and you’ll have to start thinking of better ways to get around your opponent.

If I were you, I would try and find youtube videos of top/high level players that use your character and see what they’re doing and try to figure out why they’re doing it. If you don’t understand the fundamentals, there are some great guides out there posted all over SRK.

As I said before, combos aren’t really that important. It’s your fundamentals that most likely needs work. Once you have a good understanding of them, combos will flow naturally. If you play on a stick, I suggest you learn PLinking. Saves me the trouble of missing my combos. Sure it’s only a 1 frame advantage but it’s an advantage none the less so why not use it?

Hope this information has served you some good in at least one way.

Don’t sell yourself short, cause a lot of players are like you but at least you know what you need to do and you’re doing something about it. I would same my level of skill is above average but I know I still have a long way to go. Always stay hungry for improvement and never be satisfied. always want more.

24

pfft

25

I’m pretty awful too, but I’ve gotten a lot better than I use to be. Honestly the most important thing to do is just keep playing, and make sure you’re actually having fun. If you aren’t there’s no point in playing. I had a friend who was teeeeeerible. I would beat him 40 to nothing, but he stuck with it and is substantially better.

26

@ cachocapu I do play for fun but it’s the simple stuff I always mess up on, my reflexes aren’t that bad but I guess my insight isn’t perfect

@ Geese Pants, closest place I can play offline is Xanadu but their Ranbats are on nights I have class, also without a car it sucks getting to that area

@ T37 rampage, I do

@ Kelter Skelter, I do but I always fuck up the tech when they grab me out of DB, something I’m working on right now, predicting

@ Tuna Fish Riot, I do not know what a Tick Throw is, I’ll look it up and I’ll take that in mind next time I fight the troll ken

@ LouieBH, thanks

@ AwesomeObliterator I’ll try that with Flash Kick tomorrow

@ maritrunks What’s your PSN?

@ HBRD I’ve been trying to go but I have class 5-9:30 those nights :\

@ deathsushi, as I read this I realize I might overthink my strategy sometimes, even vs scrubs or mashers I just freeze up because I never encountered something like that, but I understand what you mean and will try to apply that

@ xpan heck I just learned how to beat Zanku/Shakunetsu Akumas with Abel in training and online, now if only I could do it with my main

@ Desmond I do want to learn but there’s things I just started to learn about and things I know simply nothing about (frame data, charge characters)

@ CI581 After I made this post I learned a bit about my attack pattern from replays, whenever someone is in the middle of combo I always attack at the wrong time or fall victim to grab or a overhead, I’m trying to learn how to avoid this

@ TriniJudoka So far matchup wise I know most of them, but I still can’t beat a good Ryu with my Juri even though I know most of Ryu’s tricks, I might just find a good Ryu to spar with but then I feel that I will get too used to that matchup and apply those strats to other matchups.

@ omfg, most fights actually, I expect go in expecting to lose to some rushdown cody or seth, and with the OD my D>O with Juri, I’m having such a hard time zoning and keeping my friend’s rushdown Cody away, and the thing is I KNOW his combo, but I’m just figuring out how to stop it, even if I stop it by the time his cyclone punch finishes and I go in for the kill or get away I realize I’m DBing again or getting raped.

@ Overworld, thanks and I will have xbox again soon

@MrHighJacked I’ll add you sometime soon

@ Dander I just play 3s for fun currently

@ 6ixx I only really play endless, and thanks for the advice, I know footsies but I’ve no clue how to consistently stick a combo in a match atm

@ dead_frog ;_; lol

@ doctorwho3k ill keep at it, thanks

27

I don’t play online and only play offline, but people I play against I usually instantly throw into one of two categories: “has no chance of beating me” and “has a chance of beating me”.

The people who have no chance of beating me, I can usually tell in the first few seconds of the first round. Usually they will either jump straight into me at the beginning of the round, or jump back at the beginning of the round. You shouldn’t jump straight away because you might eat an anti-air, you shouldn’t jump back because you’re giving up ground for free and working yourself into the corner. Against these players I generally just sit there and wait for them to jump into my anti-air and then push them into the corner. I don’t really even care or notice if they can do combos or whatever (what most new players are most stressed about) because they’re not going to out-zone me, out-footsie me, or have any method of getting a chance to combo me outside of a lucky guess or gamble, which isn’t going to win them a match. Against these players I almost never frame trap, tick throw, etc., because it’s not worth eating the random ultra they are mashing during my blockstrings, I will just patiently wait for them to do the inevitable unsafe jump-in or reversal and punish it. These people also have “auto pilot” offense where they will do the same block string every single time no matter what and never mix it up with a throw or anything. You just have to sit there and block them and you win.

The people who I think have a chance of beating me, if they are using Ken for instance they will stand their ground and use his step kick to get in on me. They won’t jump in to me and if I ever try to jump I eat a medium punch DP. Once they are in on me they will mix me up with kara throws. If it’s a good Sagat they will relentlessly fireball me and force me to very very slowly and cautiously advance or i’ll otherwise eat a focus attack, roundhouse, fireball, etc.

If you jump into people for no reason, mash reversals during blockstrings, or autopilot your offense, you’re not going to beat anyone who is paying attention.

28

How long have you played this game? I’m assuming not very long, because you say you don’t know what to do in many situation.

The clear answer here is that you just need to play more. As long as you have the will and patience to continue playing despite losing, you will get better.

This game isn’t rocket science. And don’t bother with reading too much, just focus on playing. You just need to play so much that you instinctively know what to do in every situation. This knowledge will come about simply from playing.

29

There are some “OG’s” that disagree with this. Seriously, they feel that back in the day “waiting in line” to get a chance to play for 3 minutes made them the “stars” they are today.

I can’t wholeheartedly disagree because to a degree time doesn’t always = skill. But it definitely can’t hurt you chances. Quality of time > quantity of time.

i should know. I play the game nearly 30 hours a week and only make minor minor improvements month to month.

30

maybe ssf4 just isnt your game.

try marvel :tup:

31

Yo Marvel looks so dam random to me. LOL. One of the reason i stopped playing SFA was the ridiculous “100-hit” combo stuff. Just kinda turned me off. MvC seems the same way. Never played it though. Might give 3 a try.

32

You should play the people" That can beat you" then once in awhile play “the people your about even with”

33

I’m also terrible, don’t worry.

34

I’m awful too. 1000 matches with blanka (which taught me very little) and 1000 mathces with cody (and a fight stick)…I’m still terrible. I’m consistently rated like 900-1000PP on XBL. I can only play online. I guess I’ve accepted that I’m not getting “good”, but the problem I have is this:

I want to find people who are good enough to teach me, bad enough I don’t bore the crap out of them, and really into the game. Usually someone who is really into the game, is sooo much better than me I can’t really ask them to go slummin’ with me for an exteneded period of time.

35

don’t need a teacher.

set a small specific (and noticeably helpful) goal for yourself, and learn what you can do to reach it by any means necessary. once you’re certain you’ve reached that, get another goal.

edit: left out something.

36

Dude it’s okay I suck monkey balls at this game, but even when I’m getting bodied I’m still having fun. I usually just stick around in endless lobbies with good players to try and learn things from how they play the game. Only problem with this method is good players like to kick you out once they get bored of pounding you into the ground. But don’t give up you’ll get good eventually, well that’s at least what I like to tell myself. Anyway if you want I’ll play some matches with you if you’re on xbl. GT is HSIENCLAW21, I’ll warn you again though I suck ass at this game.

37

Try Terpzone on Fri’s @UMD if you can make it there,like someone else said I don’t know where in MD you live,if you have XBL add me i’ll spar with you even tho online is iffy…I go through similar stuff that you do,I’ve been to Xan once,and am tryin to become a regular which is kinda hard with work,wife,a kid and 1 car…

38

play offline more often. Online will make you feel worst than you are. Also you may be too tense while you play so relax.

39

^This

Try HDR. IMO it’s the best game for beginners.

40

I know what you mean, where you hit the point you want to quit. I got to this point years ago when I was playing Counter-strike.

I remember watching demos/replays/videos not stealing tactics, but watching how to react to certain things or what beats what. Other than that, watch your own replays. Find what you did wrong and just learn. Learn footsies, even if you lose, beat a high number of pokes your opponent does.

What works for me when I get to that point in SSF4, I play ST on GGPO. ST makes you an overall better player in any game. IMO.

Basically, just learn your combos and your punishes. People always say practice, but also stay patient.