(There’s probably a better place for me to put this post…)
So something has been bugging me recently and I’d love to hear any input on this (especially from resident top players like Chrisis, Honzo, or Dios).
I have a terrible case of tournament nerves. I know the universal answer to this is “go to more tournaments”, but I’ve been going to tournaments (not for fighting games necessarily, but games nonetheless) since I was 12. I’m 25 now. 13 years of tournament nerves… I usually hit 2 tournaments/month, + casuals sessions.
I talk to RDK a lot and he has brought up roughly the same point to me 3 times now: first he said that I play better when I’m having fun with someone I know so I should sit down and just talk to my opponents and get to know them for a while before the match; on a later day he said he thinks when I lose that it’s all in my head; and most recently he suggested that I should be getting a lot better results than I am actually getting (ie: 0-2 at almost every tournament).
I thought about it after my most recent tournament too and realized that when I play in tournament I just forget about like 70% of my setups and tech, I just play really basic and then do fancy combos when (if) I land a hit. I have the same issue in money matches too but to a lesser extent. Meanwhile in casuals I’m always excited to blow it up with my crazy new tech, I go even or close to even with top players (who, granted, might be trying as hard in casuals). Even Jago was going nuts over the style I was pulling on RDK in the hotel at T12.
I won the first tournament I ever entered too (it was a small tournament, around 20 people, and it was Starcraft), but I wish I didn’t. Winning a tournament at 12 years old does terrible things to your training mentality and I realized that far too late. I get really salty about losses too. I Gootecksed my stick after losing to a Trish a few months ago, I yell random obscenities when I lose and I’m always frustrated with myself that I didn’t win, no matter who I lose to.
Okay so can anyone confirm if Heroes and Heralds can be played offline with friends? Because it sounds like you can only play against AI in offline, which sucks.
There are so many…and I mean SOOO many matches I’ve wanted to save so bad and couldn’t.
Capcom, focus on making your game better, not catering to scrubs!!! Don’t nerf anyone, don’t change anyone with this next patch! Just give us Heroes and Heralda and Replays! I’m begging you!
From what I’ve read, HnH mode can be played offline. You can even use your cards in training mode! i just hope that in the future, they will add the ability to save replays or something. Having that only for the portable release is a little stupid in my opinion.
Can someone straighten this out for me, H&H mode is only available offline against the CPU? I wouldn’t put it past capcom to put such a retarded limitation or simply forgetting about it
To be completely honest, I don’t think there really is a way to eliminate it in it’s entirety. There may be a few tricks to loosen up and lose it a lot faster but never to eliminate it.
Here’s one thing that always happens to me. Whenever I play against someone I’m unfamiliar with, I panic. “How do I beat this team?” “Oh man, what am I gonna do if they take out Ammy?” even though I may have faced that team a million time online. A million thoughts run through my head and the only thing that helps to calm me down is when I listen to music before I play. I remember the music and keep that rhythm in my head as I play. Keep your focus on that one thing and soon your jitters will go away.
You could also go to a tournament where you’re clearly outmatched and play in that. In handball, my coach told me that when you feel overpowered, your “hidden strength” surfaces and you play on that person’s level. Sure you’ll get bodied, but you learn from humility and from a better player. I won a tournament here, but I’m not parading around claiming to be the UMvC3 god or something like that. I keep practicing and hoping for the chance where I can reach the level where I can give a very experienced player a battle that will push them (Justin Wong, Combofiend, Clockw0rk, etc). Or at least give them a scare.
…or you could pull a Jocelot and get wasted and play like that. :Dv
Getting wasted doesn’t work for me. When I lived in Windsor our SF4 weeklies were held at a bar and I could always see my play getting steadily worse throughout the night.
The music idea is actually brilliant though. I thought about using music just to tune out outside distractions but never thought of using it to remind myself through associating ideas with the music (which is kind of surprising now that I think about it considering how much of a music buff I am…or used to be anyway).
I’ve been to plenty of tournaments where I’ve been outmatched too. At T12 I money matched Combofiend, Jago, MarlinPie, and Dieminion. I don’t know how familiar you are with Smash but Ally is a good friend of mine and when I used to play I must have money matched him a dozen times at least.
I don’t have much tourney exp, but I deal well with nerves. Matter fact, I don’t but i got a buddy who deals with all that trivial shit for me. I said it once, i’mma say it twice, this is the best answer to all your nerves problem. Ladies and gents, I present to you Mr imma help you not give a flying fuck.
Vergil is really looking like a good contender for second slot at the moment. But then again I thought the same with Hawkeye. Who knows, next week it’ll be Frank on second, or Chris or something.
I’m looking for a new anchor, I keep dropping combos with Ammy and can’t do half of what I used to do with her. The answer is a new anchor, unless it’s just a phase. Throughout vanilla I kept dropping her and I always went back to her and everytime I picked her back up I got better with her. But I feel like I keep gettin worse with her ATM.
Well the music thing helps if you have the “proper” song, meaning that it keeps you relaxed and focused without doing its job too well to where you’re sleepy as hell. You don’t want some hardcore metal that’ll make you rage like a mofo when you drop a combo or chuck your controller at someone because you lost. But that’s personal preference. I prefer the music from other fighting games and those do the trick a little bit more. (True Love Makin’, The Lord God, Swamp Stage, River Stage, Zangief’s MSH Theme, even Wily Stage 3 from MM9)
Well I’ve played a match to 10 against someone who was REALLY good at this with an unorthodox team (can’t remember off the top of my head). The first 3 matches I got destroyed (but not perfected thankfully). Eventually I learned his playstyle, adapted a gameplan to counter his shenanigans, and ended up losing 7-10. This guy was VERY good, but when you calm down, analyze your opponent, and give him a scare, well my friend, you’ll be steamrolling your way to Evo.
Hawkeye = Great Keepaway, but I don’t know how to do anything else with him besides the basic BnB. I don’t like his rushdown style, it feels like a restricted Deadpool. So i’m using Vergil at the moment and he seems to be doing pretty good for team synergy. Spiral Sword DHC ftw.
Another thing to remember is that you’re always going to get jitters. Everyone does. If you’re not, chances are you don’t have the adrenaline that gets you going. It’s just a matter of learning to control and channel those jitters in your favor, and that’s what experience does.