This is true. At the UIC tournament, JuicyG continually let ElvenShadow out of the corner by messing up the dust loop. Somewhere during the first set of the finals, he decided musta said “fuck it” because afterwards he just did j.D JC dj.S-D land j.K-D JC dj.D viper. Smart move because the matches were very VERY close. He went on to win the second set to place first.
Sounds like his way of starting was a command throw, other wise the damage does differ(if executed correctly)
Well looking at the Daigo vs that france johnny player, dust looping is essencial, however if you cant get it 99% of the time safely, do a shortened version WITH damage(not hard). Sol’s mixup’s make him stronger than damage alone.
Yeah, it’s a double-edged sword. You can lose if you fuck up a dust loop, but a high quality loop (like 4-5 reps) is one of the fastest ways in the game to completely turn a match around. I see PC win matches all the time just because he landed some random hit into a huge dust loop. Being able to threaten you with like 250 damage for no apparent reason is one of the biggest strengths Sol has IMO.
I don’t recommend always going for a longer loop if you aren’t very good at timing it, but if you can do it right with some consistency, then I say go for it in most cases.
In Japan, yeah I think it’s essential. I think Sol has to make every hit count because he has great difficulty landing a damaging combo in really high level play. His mixups aren’t as blazing fast or as subtle as Millia or Jam, and his options aren’t as numerous or as safe as Slayer or Robo-Ky. And pretty much everyone recognizes what his standard tick attempts look like.
But for the most part, here in the U.S., you can get by by settling for the quick knockdown. I’m gonna backtrack on what I said before. If you can kill them by landing that extra rep, go for it if feasible. But I think what Seerd was getting at is correct. The dust loop was much lower difficulty/higher reward in XX; it was so brain-dead easy for so much damage. One mistake by the opponent resulted in easy comebacks. Now, getting damage is a lot more work. As such, the obsession with the dust loop is less justified. Other characters may get threads devoted to every aspect of their character. Sol’s thread is, of course, a dust loop faq. No more stupid Sol: stupid Sol = dead Sol.
I doubt the loop itself is a problem with timing as you can do it quite easily on visual alone, my biggest problem atm is finishing the loop completely, as either my viper misses or the knockdown misses.
Also I think Sol is a bit about catching your opponent of gaurd, so basicly doing certain routines and then do something unexpected. Also; I haven’t been able to confirm this, but it seems that you can loop your dustloops, when you are done with your combo and the opponent lies on the ground you can GF FRC, so he’s forced to block, then run at him and wild throw and start the loop again. So the gaurd is reset and yadayada.
@ReaVeR: I heard from a dutch friend of mine you’re always bragging about how great you are at GG, yet you play sol? He’s no challenge. I’d understand if you were bragging if you played someone like Zappa or Venom, but Sol!? He’s too easy. Hell I admit I even played Sol to a point (if I want a simple win I pick him). 
lol, no I don’t brag about my Sol tbh. Tho I do believe he’s got plenty of options, which is the reason I play with him. I tried other chars tho they don’t fit my playing style as much as he does. Who’s the dutch friend anyways?
I would say but I guess the dutch friend doesn’t want you to know otherwise you’d probably have a go at the said person. The dutch friend just tells me that you just go on about GG and no other game (as I’ve seen from your posting here) and said that you only play Sol.
One question which I would like to know (which I probably won’t reply to) is, do you even have the intention to go to Evo? I’ve seen you post in the #reload thread (as expected) but do you even go or purchase the DVD’s? Just wondering.
If your friend is afraid that I’ll do that then he should shut up:P I’m never bragging, unless I’m sure I can back it up:P
Well, I want to go to EVO, heck I want to go to CPL and snatch 500.000$ tho I’m a little low on cash atm so all depends on how wel I perform next lanparty.
And I’m also active in the third strike forums, I’m trying to understand that game too:)
why is it that only this game and Soul Calibur are ones to have #'s for directional inputs? is it so hard to say something like HCB,F+HS for a move? c’mon! Unless you memorize the positions of the buttons on the keyboards, I’d find it annoying having to look at the keyboard to see if I pressed the right # to show a directional input for a stinkin move. Im not complaining, im just wondering!