What separates mid-level play from upper echelon play? And what nuances of the game are essential to ascend from mediocrity into the extraordinary realm. What characteristics are ideal for a player to have? Can one attribute be more imperative than another; say versatility over execution; or adaptability over mind-games? What is the most important component in ST??
On another note, when playing ST how do you formulate strategy? Do you all start with a structured game plan or carefully mold the most effective plan throughout the course of a game?
Also rate yourself and your essential qualities as a player >_>
Attitude matters a lot me. I don’t take losing very well myself (Syxx saw how frustrated I got at the tourney), but I only get mad at myself, not my opponent. The actual best players that I’ve played usually say GG or something after a game, win or lose.
I consider myself a pretty good player. I’d say my number one trait is adapting. I’ll usually go through a whole round getting wailed on to watch what you do and what you react to. Any little mistake you make I punish you hard. BlueTallCans will tell you that even I haven’t beaten him yet. He plays a near flawless Blanka, but any time he made a tiny mistake it was GG.
I can totally agree with Jiggly. Like he said playing any character its all about not making mistakes or keeping them to a minimum. When playing his Hawk or any Gief one mistake can cost you the match. In addition you have to be able to seize the opportunities given by the other player and execute flawlessly. Also keeping your cool and playing your game is what seperates people. I have played valle multiple times and when i am calm and execute he starts panicking and vice versa. Thats why our games always go even(as the case with DGV). Hey Jiggly how was that Syxx player btw?
This was actually something I was wondering to myself yesterday as well. I did poorly in a tournament yesterday based on a scale of personal measurement. And I wanted to know if others have premeditated plans of what they would do for just that round or if they just “wing it”. Obviously everyone thinks about what their opener is going to be, but how deep does the game plan go beyond that?
You can only play the matchup so far before you run into someone who knows about it as much as you do and that’s where mind games begin.
Well, it depends on a few things. Generally, I look at what character they’re playing as, and I think “what would be his best game-plan? What is the positioning he’s going to be vying for?” Obviously, I’m also going to be pushing for the positioning that is best for me, but once you know a character well enough that ought to become something of second nature on its own. So I’m looking for the telltale signs that my opponent is going to go straight for his optimal positioning. If he is, I usually have a plan on how to disrupt that, and then I take the opportunity to get into my optimal positioning. If they prove to be capable of countering my disruption, then I try to look at the ways they’re countering it. Not just the specific moves, but things like “do they quickly move to push me out?” “Does he aim for the knockdown to follow up with big damage?” “Does he abandon his best positioning for what he believes to be a good shot at a counter?” Noticing these things lets you more effectively protect yourself from their intended counter-game, and even bait counters that you can then use to punish them.
Now obviously, you’re not always going to get fights that run by the book, so it’s important to know how to safely improvise if the proverbial excrement has an unexpected collision with the air-circulation device, but having some ground-rules to keep yourself guided will prevent you from falling into bad habits.
I’ll stick with the quote that came to me when I was discussing this with James Chen (jchensor) wwwwaaaaaaayyyyyy back in the days of alt.games.sf2…probably in 1996 or so.
Mind games are the final frontier of skill. When execution and nerves are even, if you out-think your opponent, you will win.
I think this speaks to the enduring quality of this game’s gameplay.