I used to play KoF as my secondary game, but I got fed up with playing against a never-ending stream of Duolon players at 2003 so I quit. Haven’t touched the franchise since, especially after hearing about how shitty XII was. Now I hear good things about XIII, and I am thinking of picking it up again. I’m not going to be able to play it as my main game, though, because I prefer UMVC3.
Now I liked the earlier titles (especialy 2002) because the strategy was deep and the execution requirements were tolerable. Most of the combos were simple C , -> + A, Special Move type affairs. It was perfect as a secondary game to MVC2 because I could focus on learning strategy and tactics, and I didn’t have to spend a million years learning links in practice mode. It would be nice to have that setup again, but looking at the Hyperdrive combos it seems like they might take too long to learn, like custom combos in Alpha 3. If I’m going to be spending multiple nights just messing around in training mode, it wouldn’t be worth it to me. Maybe ten minutes to learn basic bread-and-butters and an hour or two to learn flashy stuff would be more what I want. Given the above, is KoF XIII a good game for my needs?
Learning a single character’s HD BnB would take about 5-15 Minutes in my opinion. One for Full/Mid-screen and one for Corner. Or just learn the corner combo then hit confirm into HD against a cornered opponent and just use HD there. HD mode pretty much functions like a really easy 02 BC activation so learning the combos aren’t particularly hard. It’s just find out what’s optimal takes time to do; personally I just wait for others to find better combos and I just learn theirs in about 5-20 minutes or so.
Executionally, it’s pretty easy if you already came from titles such as 02 or MVC2.
Not a lot, but there are some weird inputs. Like for example, Saiki’s d.B x2 into hcbx2 AC is a pretty hard combo to do and the hitstun on low B’s isn’t that great. Either way, some harder combos can be ignored for easier, but less damaging variations.
Links are kinda tight in this game, but thankfully they’re not really a basic neccessity in this game due to the availability of chains and safe mixup in KOF. A much bigger execution hurdle is probably just getting used to how fast the game expects you to cancel and/or buffer certain moves for combos into HD activation and certain super/drive cancels. Really tests your ability to buffer moves not only quickly but cleanly, because slop in input (particularly where B+C is concerned) can give you unwanted shortcuts at very bad times.
But ultimately, I don’t think this game is any harder to execute in than, say, CvS2. The game is hard to execute in compared to SF4, but in the grand scheme of things it’s not that hard, and definitely a LOT easier to execute in than old KOF. The auto-dash when cancelling into HD activation, coupled with the juggle-oriented combo structure of HD combos is so much easier than old MAX Mode combos that it’s not even funny. KOF hasn’t been this easy since, like, XI.
so in kof is timing on like links the hardest part or are the actual inputs the hardest part? i heard kof doesnt have plinking. is that true?
in sfiv i can consistently hit 2-frame links but i cant hit 1-frame links that much without plinking. the actual joystick inputs i’m fine with.
sorry for being a complete noob in this series
Personally I find the stick-inputs are the hardest for me, and if you are used to current gen games like me you will find that your hand movements have to be alot quicker than what you are used to.
For example, I was doing the trials and I thought having to do DP into QCB,HCF was hard, then the next one had a RDP added in there before the super, so you couldnt hit down or you’d get the shortcut for HCB. Then the next one was DP into RDP three times in a row, again without getting the HCB shortcut. I have to add that the timing seemed really short for buffering the motion.
All that stuff requires some decent stick execution, which unlike other current gen fighters which are mostly button timing-execution based with less stick movement from my experience. Unless you play Viper, I guess
It depends on the character though and likely its just the flashy stuff that is hard for most chars. There is a good amount of chars with simple BnBs it seems.
The only big links are ones such as Kyo’s cr.B > cl.C or Shen Woo’s cr.B to cr.C, which are only 2-frame links. These are good attack strings to do because even on block it functions as a frametrap of a sorts. Links in KOF aren’t really required for most BnBs since most normals cancel into command normals that become cancelable into specials. So the timing is pretty lenient.
My issue is that there is very little leniency with the commands and the commands are FUCKING RETARDED!
Wanna do a super? HCB,HCF! yeah and then I have to try and combo that with the already ridiculous links in this game THEN you try to play online and you’re wondering how the hell they expect you to play at all…
Compared to previous KOFs, the execution requirements are pretty easy…if you’ve played KOF XI, it’s similar to that. HD combos don’t take too long to learn either, especially if you’re familiar to 2002’s BC activation combos. I think you should give it a shot, bro.
I play Street Fighter,Marvel and those vs SNK games. I KINDA play Blazblue and I thought I knew how to play KOF but the trial mode made a monkey outta me.
thanks for the response! ill probably be getting the game tomorrow, so hopefully the execution wont be too much of a problem.
also do you think using a seimitsu stick would be better for kof? ive heard that seimitsu returns to neutral faster than sanwa. is that true?
Unless Kyo’s framedata changed, that’s a 1-frame link. But Rogueyoshi mentioned that he felt that there might be a buffer for normal links. I’m not completely sure, but he might be right.
They definitely are. Some characters has some pretty tight combos that you need to practice a lot in order to get consistently. I mean, a lot of people are playing the game at a tournament level so this stuff is doable.
