Current Events > how do i get good at fighting games

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i just bought guilty gear strive and it seems kinda fun in the few rounds ive played against some AI. but i dont really know how to play. like i started playing bridget and theres some kinda drop attack she can do with her bear. but it seems like only 50% of the time i can actually do it. If i just button mash it seems like I can pull off some crazy shit but i dont know what im doing. i feel like as soon as i step into an online match ill get my ass handed to me

this is essentially my first fighting game. ive dipped my toes into others but also sucked at all those

jump straight into ranked, baptism by fire

FL81 posted...

jump straight into ranked, baptism by fire

No lie, I actually did that with Tekken 6 lmao. Bought it, didn't do a single practice match. Went straight to online ranked and picked my boy Law. T6 doesn't have matchmaking on by default so I got matched with someone with 3k wins and got spanked. Can't remember if I won a single round. After that fight, I turned on matchmaking and won a fight lol.

Usually I practice a bit first lol. But to quickly get better at Tekken 5, I would turn the difficulty to hard or very hard for Arcade mode just to get an idea of combos. I know it's not ideal for pvp since players and AI are drastically different, but it does help to get an idea of how a character fights or combos available. I could usually make it all the way to Jinpachi with most characters.

In Skull Girls, turning the difficult up to the max and then playing Peacock. Got zoned the fuck out with all of her projectiles lmao.

like is it a viable strategy to just button mash? it seems like its not but its more effective than me trying to input buttons for real

Understanding how the frames work and use them your advantage, use diverse attacks to setup and combo your opponents and be a bit unpredictable, understand how the characters works.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

like is it a viable strategy to just button mash? it seems like its not but its more effective than me trying to input buttons for real

It's not, but Arc Systems started doing that Stylish mode thing that I hate. It basically encourages button mashing. Which in turn, makes the player have bad habits.

what are good habits? keep in mind i am a total begginer and basically have trouble with even basic combos

Jupiter posted...

No lie, I actually did that with Tekken 6 lmao. Bought it, didn't do a single practice match. Went straight to online ranked and picked my boy Law. T6 doesn't have matchmaking on by default so I got matched with someone with 3k wins and got spanked. Can't remember if I won a single round. After that fight, I turned on matchmaking and won a fight lol.

Usually I practice a bit first lol. But to quickly get better at Tekken 5, I would turn the difficulty to hard or very hard for Arcade mode just to get an idea of combos. I know it's not ideal for pvp since players and AI are drastically different, but it does help to get an idea of how a character fights or combos available. I could usually make it all the way to Jinpachi with most characters.

In Skull Girls, turning the difficult up to the max and then playing Peacock. Got zoned the fuck out with all of her projectiles lmao.

The biggest thing with tekken is like
1: learn your bread and butter moves
2: learn some basic combos
3: learn how to get up when you're against a wall or in a corner
4: learn longer combos and the hit zones for your moves
5: get down how they play in relation to other specific opponents
6: frame data where possible as well as priorities if you aren't sure yet
7: fine tuning the basics of guarding, countering, interrupting, and so on

I'm not good but I'm not horrible enough to lose against most friends doing an Eddy Gordo

Play mind games with your opponent. Play a little more defensively. Wait for openings. Bait your opponents into attacks then punish. Don't go rushing in trying to hit all the buttons. Learning frame data and stuff is useful, but definitely not something I would recommend to a pure beginner.

Jupiter posted...

Play mind games with your opponent. Play a little more defensively. Wait for openings. Bait your opponents into attacks then punish. Don't go rushing in trying to hit all the buttons. Learning frame data and stuff is useful, but definitely not something I would recommend to a pure beginner.

This, offense is a great defence

Like there are a million combos, how do I remember what buttons to press in the heat of the moment

Dustloop has a lot of resources for ggst.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

Like there are a million combos, how do I remember what buttons to press in the heat of the moment

Experience and I'm not kidding

Either that or join the discord/guilty gear sub reddit

Kloe_Rinz posted...

Like there are a million combos, how do I remember what buttons to press in the heat of the moment

Muscle memory developed through countless hours of training, but if ur 30+ u might as well give up and play turn based rpg dat don't require reaction time.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

Like there are a million combos, how do I remember what buttons to press in the heat of the moment

Generally you learn one or two good combos at first and learn the other combos later.

One combo for midscreen and one for when your opponent is cornered.

Dustloop has a lot of information if you want to look anything up.
https://www.dustloop.com/w/Guilty_Gear_-Strive-

literally play so much that everything is muscle memory. once you get to the point where you've pretty much memorized the range/speed/damage of your moves, then you can start thinking about 'when' and 'where' to use them correctly.

once you start getting a handle on that, you can start looking into frame data. but the data's really only helpful if you need it, and you only need it once you feel like you know absolutely everything by heart.

basically, just lose. a lot. and learn from losing. a lot.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

Like there are a million combos, how do I remember what buttons to press in the heat of the moment

You generally need to get used to a character so you just reflexively go into the combo you need to off of whatever hitconfirm you get. Experience is the best teacher for that; theres no fast path.

Guilty Gear has always had a good tutorial though, so make sure to check that out. And I know you said youre a total beginner, but resist the urge to mash. Combos require steady, deliberate inputs, and making a habit of mashing will make execution difficult.

But overall the more people you can play, the better youll get as long as you can adapt. Because as you play more and more people, youll see combos and tech that you never thought of, and you can add them to your tool box, and possibly even improve upon them.

Fighting games are a conversation my friend. That's the first thing you need to know.

Don't think, it's all pure instinct.

Took me like 15 attempts before I could do Bridgets super attack. The one on the ground where you have to rotate the stick 180 degrees and then flick it to the side while hitting b. Bridget kept jumping and stuffing it up

Studying frames and memorizing their hit box openings. Then you can start working on your reaction time.

now i can never do bridgets super again in a real match against ai

Don't worry about studying frames and hitboxes and all that, honestly. Worry about that once you're sure you're going to sink a lot of time in to a fighter and maybe try to go big on it. Doing that early on will just make you hate everything honestly. That's...a very advanced thing to do and most people don't even bother until way higher up in ranked.

Do the tutorials and missions. Sink some time in to the dojo. Get accustomed to the basic mechanics first of all, because fundamental stuff can carry you ridiculously far in every fighter, particularly learning how to properly use bursts and cancels in this.

Important part though, is make absolute sure you dedicate time in to the character you enjoy the most. At the end of the day, people playing fighters want to do cool shit that makes them feel good. Don't be afraid to lose matches, and if you are, don't be afraid to try new stuff while losing--you never know what'll work for you.

Feel out the normals(regular stacks and directions+regular stacks), and practice regular special moves(ones that don't use meter) first. Then practice inputs for the overdrives/super moves that do use the meter as they can be complex when you're first starting out.

Repetition is the key, getting accustomed to fighting game inputs is hard but it'll eventually become muscle memory with enough practice and you won't even have to think about it.

Good luck learning, and I hope you enjoy your time with the game.

Oh, and you don't need to jump straight in to ranked. If you want to beat up on the AI until you get used to stuff it's fine, as it gives you time to experiment as a new player.

Either go into training or on google and learn 1 or 2 simple combos. Practice them against AI until you feel like you can consistently pull them off, then go online. You're going to lose, but the purpose is to get a feel for how to get yourself into a position to do those combos you know. It'll feel a bit formulaic at first, but over time you can start to roll in new moves, or different branching paths in your existing combos, and your gameplay will get more flexible.

One other key piece of advice: Learn how to block. I don't mean literally learn how to do it, but learning patience. Fighting games are often borderline turn-based. Once an enemy is doing a combo, in many cases you're locked into either getting hit or blocking through all of it until it's "your turn" to go on the offensive. A HUGE newbie mistake is to be overly aggressive or stop blocking too early and you take a bunch of free damage. Guilty Gear in particular can seem scary because characters are so aggressive that you may feel trapped, but having the patience to quietly crouch-block through somebody else's flowchart 10 hit combo so that you can hit them back will serve you a lot in the long run.

Have you tried not being bad?

Kloe_Rinz posted...

Took me like 15 attempts before I could do Bridgets super attack. The one on the ground where you have to rotate the stick 180 degrees and then flick it to the side while hitting b. Bridget kept jumping and stuffing it up

You can "cheat" a bit using a technique called buffering. Basically, the game keeps track of the buttons you're pressing and queues them up for you. If you're consistently jumping at the back end of Bridget's super, you can use buffering to your advantage: simply jump FIRST and then enter the command for your super as you're landing. The game will take your inputs, but because you're already in the air and landing, it won't interrupt the input. If you time it so you're hitting the attack button right as you're landing, you should be able to more easily pull those moves off. Granted, you're handicapping yourself at first by only being able to pull off supers after a jump, but it'll help you get used to the feel of doing the move regularly.

You can do this same trick when getting up from the ground (often called a "wakeup" move because it's the first thing you do when getting up), or any OTHER animation. So if Bridget has a move that lasts a long time, you can input her super command DURING that long move animation to prevent the accidental jump and then it'll go off after the current move ends.

I haven't played GG, but there's a couple things that are pretty common/universal.

Understand your game's system - I'm pretty sure that GG is chain-based, so your combos are going to be more forgiving as long as you don't whiff.
Learn what you use each of your buttons for, (combo starter, punish, poke, dashcheck, anti-air).
Work on your execution (supers, BnB combos, be able to do 1 or 2 combos in your sleep from different starters).

Go into matches and start learning what scenarios the things you've worked on work for, and what scenarios you get beat by. Start iterating on whether you are choking under pressure, or getting opened up, or missing anti-airs, or dropping combos, etc.

A lot of practice and learning glitches

It requires a lot of background knowledge. You pretty much need to have a knowledgeable person teach you all the hidden tech or you just won't be good

Like give a person street fighter 4 and tell them to do Balrog's headbutt into ultra 1. None of them will be able to do it if they've never played a fighter before.

It's not that the inputs are hard, but that if you follow the command list, it's basically impossible.

WizardPowers posted...

It requires a lot of background knowledge. You pretty much need to have a knowledgeable person teach you all the hidden tech or you just won't be good

Like give a person street fighter 4 and tell them to do Balrog's headbutt into ultra 1. None of them will be able to do it if they've never played a fighter before.

It's not that the inputs are hard, but that if you follow the command list, it's basically impossible.

What the fuck? Are combo inputs intentional?

Look up a basic guide for the character you play.
Get your own flair/playstyle as you learn.

DEFINITELY jump into ranked ASAP. Trial by fire is always the best way to rapidly improve in fighting games, especially if you record the footage to review it later.

MedeaLysistrata posted...

What the fuck? Are combo inputs intentional?

What?

WizardPowers posted...

What?

I figured it would be unclear, just wondering if it's true.

A combo with a 180 intends for you to change direction at some point, no?

Poorly posted...

Muscle memory developed through countless hours of training, but if ur 30+ u might as well give up and play turn based rpg dat don't require reaction time.

I took that last half personal. I can't keep up with ranked players to save my life on any fighting games. RPGs saved gaming for me, hahaha.

MedeaLysistrata posted...

What the fuck? Are combo inputs intentional?

Oddly enough, no. They were not originally intentional and longer combos were the result of a "bug" in the original SF2. Iirc anyway.

R_Jackal posted...

Oddly enough, no. They were not originally intentional and longer combos were the result of a "bug" in the original SF2. Iirc anyway.

Might be a cool idea for a new game I guess.

If you can take a beating and keep going, you'll be fine.

I kept the #1 global spot on Xbox for Marvel vs Capcom Infinite for the years I played, and I owe that directly to a guy I was matched up with in Marvel 3. This guy absolutely DESTROYED me 49 rounds in a row with this nutso Super Skrull, and I never ended up taking a single one on him. I left at 49 so it wasnt 0-50. I got ROCKED. I got UP. I got GOOD.

I have to strongly disagree with the rush to ranked comments. People on ranked tend to fall into a few categories

• Guys thatll wreck you so fast you wont get to learn
• Rage quitters who suck and will thus teach you bad habits. And by bad habits I mean gameplay-wise; not just rage quitting. Because if they had a decent strategy, they could probably win and not need to rage quit.
• A few good people here and there

Its always best to play against someone who can give you feedback. This is most easily found in friendly lobbies where you can run into people willing to help you out via party, Discord, etc.

I dont really have anyone who can give me feedback right now since my IRL friends dont play fighting games. I could join a discord I guess

go on Youtube.

off-topic to getting good at fighting games

is the guilty gear story itself any good? will it make sense me jumping into strive having never played any other GG game?
is there really a story at all or is it more like touhou where the story is a suggestion and its really just about the fights?

guilty gear has a story but it's mostly dumb bullshit and not important beyond things looking and sounding cool.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

off-topic to getting good at fighting games

is the guilty gear story itself any good? will it make sense me jumping into strive having never played any other GG game?
is there really a story at all or is it more like touhou where the story is a suggestion and its really just about the fights?

Personally I like Guilty Gear's story. The characters are cool, the world building is interesting and everything about it is just fun.

And a lot of the time the story has an impact on the gameplay to an extent, like how all Japanese characters have high "Guts"

guilty gear will always have a place in my heart for having this song:

https://youtu.be/q707LpwDKiI

i got up to level 3 in the bridget arcade mode and then the ninja dude kept doing ninja teleports and dashes and wrecks me every time

played a few online matches just to see what its like. i thought rollback netcode meantit was supposed to feel local even with latency? some matches were in slowmo, others with some latency, didnt really feel that local

i beat the npc training dude and it thought i was worthy of floor 6, but once i started playing real people it put me down to floor 4 real fast. also theres basically nobody playing in aus -_-

at the moment i can barely play at all but somehow managed to win a few rounds. all i can really do with bridget is her dashy dash, and the long range yoyos basic attacks (backwards y). dont really know how to do anything else. it feels like i have to attack opponents 1 million times to kill them, but they just have to counter me once and then they stunlock me and kill me in one combo in under 10 seconds