TALES OF BATTLE~!

[BigKaboom2]

Awesome, thanks a bunch.

[FishHook]

GGs yesterday JD....sorry about the slowdown and eventual freeze-up, I dunno why our connections go "yeah, you can play awesome...well, here's a little lag, playable.....oh, oh God....oh God SLOOOOOOWWWWW DOWWWWWWWN, *BOOT!*", it's something I don't have with anyone else.

Also, sorry for the ZangiTroll combo against your Honda, it seemed super cheap right after I did it.
 

[kazuya316]

When do you ZOMG PSN'rs play? lol... I haven't seen any of you in weeks :-P... we should try and get some play time tomorrow? Times? what do you think?

I haven't played much lately, but I'd usually be around at night time over here when I was playing.

[dhalsimrocks]

When do you ZOMG PSN'rs play? lol... I haven't seen any of you in weeks :-P

I haven't been on much lately.
I've just had a lot of things I've been doing during evenings, and I've gone to bed early a few nights too (our daughter is waking up in the middle of the night again pretty regularly, sometimes for 2 and 3 hours.
My wife and I take turns getting up with her, but that still means we're often hitting the hay earlier to make up for lost sleep).

I'm hoping to play a bit tonight though.
So perhaps we can get some ZOMG matches going.
I'm feeling some Random Select coming on.

[CyberTranz]

When do you ZOMG PSN'rs play? lol... I haven't seen any of you in weeks :-P... we should try and get some play time tomorrow? Times? what do you think?

I'm on a later shift this month so by the time I get home, eat supper and settle down it's 8pm central or so. I'm going to make an effort to get online at a decent time tonight so maybe we can get something going.

[dhalsimrocks]

Well, I got some time for PSN and split my time between Ranked and a great (and long) series with CyberTranz.

Not sure what my win/loss was in Ranked, but I'll bet I won 75% (all with Dhalsim).  I'm definitely getting better, at least against certain characters.  I do not fear Ken, Ryu or Sagat, and I'm finally starting to beat Akumas and Balrogs (I know, that's supposed to be a match in Dhalsim's favor, but I struggle with it).  I still have dumbass attack matches where it feels like I'm trying to wrestle a spoon stuck in a glass of frozen orange juice (man, I so remember making frozen OJ when I was a kid).  But for the most part I felt in control and competent.

One interesting encounter was against a Ken that absolutely destroyed and got a very positive message back ("You rock with Dhalsim!") and a Friend invite.  I was slightly surprised by that.  I still haven't gotten a single hate mail.

The only two losses I really didn't like were a turtling Bison that I KNOW I could have beaten if I had a rematch (he ignored my request for one).  Sometimes I forget my own advice when I face turtles and it irritates me. That advice being, "turtle their ass back".  The other loss was a pretty major devastation by a 12000+ point Cammy that rushed my ass down (doing shit with her that I wish I could).  I know that's a tough match for 'Sim, but it still sucked to be 0wn3d that hard.

My last match was a 5K+ Akuma, set for 5 rounds.  He got me caught up in some jumping LP fireball shenanigans and beat me soundly the first two rounds.  (CyberTranz and I are watching it as I type this).  Well, watching it again, I should have had the first round.  but the 2nd round I did REALLY stupid stuff.  Third round I barely won after getting tagged by 2938439 standing Roundhouse kicks.  Fourth round I nailed him with Inferno, then Catastrophe to win the round.  5th round I won decisively.  It was a hell of a comeback for me, especially against an Akuma. 

CyberTranz and I had quite a series of matches.  I don't know how many, but it was a LOT.  We had some epic Cammy vs Sakura, T.Hawk vs Juri, Cammy vs Cody, Guile vs Juri... lots of sets within our set.  Thanks for putting up with my novice Cammy.  I'm just learning to use her and really needed the practice, so thanks for that.  I learned a ton playing those repetitive matchups.  They were really fun because we were both learning and catching on at the same time, lots of strategies and counter strategies, adaptation and SOOO many were 3 rounders that were really close.  Definitely learned a lot.

Your Juri is pretty effective and your Sakura is very well on.  I don't know HOW many Shinku Hadokens I ate fighting her!  Once you get those mixups and resets going, OUCH.

So yeah, thanks for the matches!  That was a blast.

Heh... man, I'm really going to pay for staying up playing SF with someone from ZOMG.  Every time I do, my daughter wakes up.  Usually in the middle of the session.  Not tonight.  No, she waited until I was almost done typing this message and ready to go to bed.  I hear her talking through the monitor.  No sleep for Daddy for a couple hours!

[orochigeese]

I still have dumbass attack matches where it feels like I'm trying to wrestle a spoon stuck in a glass of frozen orange juice (man, I so remember making frozen OJ when I was a kid).  But for the most part I felt in control and competent.

I used to do the same thing     Small cup of orange juice with a big spoon stuck in there. Good times  

Good analogy to weirding-out in SF too.  I tend to think of it a Double DQ match between my brain and my hands  

One interesting encounter was against a Ken that absolutely destroyed and got a very positive message back ("You rock with Dhalsim!") and a Friend invite.  I was slightly surprised by that.  I still haven't gotten a single hate mail.

Nice! I also have not gotten any hate mail either yet.  I've sent out more congratulatory messages then I received but I've gotten a few too.  People seem pretty surprised when I send them a good message but then often they'll friend request me and we'll message each other for a bit, sometimes even play each other later.   It's sometimes hard to tell from the match what people are thinking and it just comes down to their personalities. you'd think after getting rocked they'd be angry but sometimes they just view it as a learning experience and thank you for it. "Thank you sir, may I have another!?"  

The only two losses I really didn't like were a turtling Bison that I KNOW I could have beaten if I had a rematch (he ignored my request for one).  Sometimes I forget my own advice when I face turtles and it irritates me. That advice being, "turtle their ass back".  The other loss was a pretty major devastation by a 12000+ point Cammy that rushed my ass down (doing shit with her that I wish I could).  I know that's a tough match for 'Sim, but it still sucked to be 0wn3d that hard.

Problem with turtling a turtler is that it relies a lot on damage and especially anticipation. If you're like me, you don't go into a match EXPECTING a really bad turtler (cause in my view, why even play the game if you aren't really playing the game?) and so you just play regularly not realizing they are just getting ahead early JUST so they can turtle late. By that time it's too late to counter-turtle since they're ahead. And Dhalsim's fireball doesn't go the entirety of the screen (i don't think) so you can't out-turtle a shotokan with him.  And due to Bison being highly mobile and unpredictable with his various air moves, it can be hard for even Dhalsim to put pressure on him.  Once a turtler gets ahead, it's irritating. Especially with Akuma.

As for the Cammy, man I've been there    There was a match a few months ago where i just got walloped. It was so bad I barely even understood what I was getting hit with and when so I couldn't really learn from it, i just kinda nodded my head and said: "looks like that guy's got some experience!", smiled, and left it at that.   The guy put the time in to play like that and I have no complaint.  Really I was just glad I didn't lose cause I dropped the ball and got destroyed cause of it as that would be frustrating.  I never mind being outplayed, but if I botch a move or something, I can get really angry.

My last match was a 5K+ Akuma, set for 5 rounds.  He got me caught up in some jumping LP fireball shenanigans and beat me soundly the first two rounds.  (CyberTranz and I are watching it as I type this).  Well, watching it again, I should have had the first round.  but the 2nd round I did REALLY stupid stuff.  Third round I barely won after getting tagged by 2938439 standing Roundhouse kicks.  Fourth round I nailed him with Inferno, then Catastrophe to win the round.  5th round I won decisively.  It was a hell of a comeback for me, especially against an Akuma.  

I don't know what it is about those standing roundhouse kicks but I seem to keep getting hit by them too.  Part of it is that it's a new move for him - not so much in SSFIV but in SFIV.  He never had that before to my knowledge (i can't quite remember in Third Strike but i don't think he had it there) and that messes with me since he's a character i've known for so long and he suddenly has a new normal that just is weird to me and I can't seem to remember he has it when I play him.  It's also just an odd move to throw out after spamming air fireballs.  I think the fact its a double hit kick means people use it to buffer into the raging demon.


Glad you had a fun night overall  

[LordVermin]

If you watch Akuma attack patterns, 99% of the time that standing HK is going to follow a period where they stop everything and just walk up to you. That's not to say knowing this automatically beats it - but it can help you defend it for sure. Anytime you see an Akuma walking up to you from across the screen, the standing HK is coming.


As for Cammy... your guess is as good as mine. It's supposed to be a good match for Zangief, but in my experience that doesn't hold up. There have been times (some documented in this very thread) where I have been Hooligan thrown to death for various reasons - even knowing that holding down-back is supposed to avoid the throw doesn't always help. I've got a replay where the inputs show me holding down-back and still getting thrown by the Hooligan. I think it's the same thing that caused the replay I have where I got thrown to death by a Balrog player (you can watch the inputs and after the second throw I'm hammering LK+LP, but never get a tech) - the basic latency that comes with online play.

[CyberTranz]

GG's again DA. I didn't expect to have so many matches against a fellow ZOMG'r. Usually it's like 10 matches and then someone has to quit but we were well past that, probably closer to 50.

I wanted to play more but I needed a break. Mentally I was just exauhsted. lol. Your Sim is very tight and hard to get in. Everytime I was trying to build some meter for Sak to get something going it seemed I was just out poked. Excellent series of matches though.

No worries with the Cammy play, if anyone should have been embarrassed it was me with my Ken play. I couldn't believe some of the shit I was doing and absolute lack of SRK's I was throwing. My SRK motions have suffered since switching to the stick and I don't think they'll get any better until I switch to a Ken/Ryu when I'll need them all the time. At one point I was laughing out loud at the TV. The wife looked at me funny and was wondering why I was laughing. If she knew doing a ultra on wake-up when your opponent is out of range was dumb then she would laugh too.

My Juri can't be more then 3 weeks old. I couldn't believe how quick she was to pick up. Great normals, great mind games and a crouching fierce that can rival Sakura's. Thanks to BrownKid18 (whoever you are) I was able to crack the B mark with her on Ranked last night. Still lots to work on. I need to use her Fuzzy Guard (I think that's what people refer it as) more to get out of tight situations.

That Akuma match was crap. Well not your play but the other guys. I'm glad you were able to break him down and make the comeback. I was getting salty just watching it.

I think it's time to head back into training and pick up another character. I'm happy with Sak and Juri being my main two and I'll use Cody as an alternate. I wonder if there is anyone else that could be benificial to me.

[orochigeese]

If you watch Akuma attack patterns, 99% of the time that standing HK is going to follow a period where they stop everything and just walk up to you. That's not to say knowing this automatically beats it - but it can help you defend it for sure. Anytime you see an Akuma walking up to you from across the screen, the standing HK is coming.

Good call.   Especially since that move travels a distance so they try to vary it to catch you off guard.  I've found that I get especially surprised by it cause a lot of these guys spend the entire match air fireballing.  When I finally trip them up and pin them down, they may use a DP and THEN the roundhouse comes out and I guess I'm not ready for it. I'm like - "wow, you can use actual offense besides the air fireball?!" 

There are some really good Akuma's out there but they are practically hidden by the paint by numbers one. 

As for Cammy... your guess is as good as mine. It's supposed to be a good match for Zangief, but in my experience that doesn't hold up. There have been times (some documented in this very thread) where I have been Hooligan thrown to death for various reasons - even knowing that holding down-back is supposed to avoid the throw doesn't always help. I've got a replay where the inputs show me holding down-back and still getting thrown by the Hooligan. I think it's the same thing that caused the replay I have where I got thrown to death by a Balrog player (you can watch the inputs and after the second throw I'm hammering LK+LP, but never get a tech) - the basic latency that comes with online play.

She's really quick and that could cause some latency response issues. But I also think that I'm not entirely comfortable defending against the Hooligan moves.  That and she often has good recovery on her moves and overall speed.  I don't mind getting trounced bey a good Cammy player, especially one that seems to know their stuff.  But in your case where you know you're blocking correctly, it can be extremely extremely frustrating to get beaten that way.  I don't mind choosing incorrectly, that's the crux of how the game is setup, it's gonna happen. But when I choose correctly and still get hit, I get angry.

[BigKaboom2]

That's why I've never beaten a Cammy - hooligan throw when I'm 99% sure I'm holding down-back.

[orochigeese]

And then in like the 1% of cases we actually are able to block it...they throw us.

No win situation  


At least I enjoy her win pose  

[dhalsimrocks]

Played some Ranked on XBL tonight.  For the first time in a while I didn't go through my customary "Lose 5 matches in a row before my synapses start firing" phase.

Overall I did pretty well.  I ran across this one dude 3 different times.  I lost each time, but they were close and were pretty fun matches.  He was cool about it too.  I really need to get more experience against Gouken and Bison.

The coolest moment was against an Adon player.  I did well mostly, once I caught on to his favorite trick: FA->Dash->Throw (whether it hits or not).  I won both rounds, but the 2nd was the best.  We were about even in health (both just below 50%).  I had Ultra and let it go at about half screen.  Not much of a setup for the Catastrophe to hit, but I do that sometimes just to get breathing room, walk them into a corner or try to bait them into a counter.  In this case, I was hoping he would Jaguar Tooth, and he did.  I did back+HK to counter it, but didn't *quite* time it right, so we traded hits.  But the awesome thing was it knocked him directly back into the Catastrophe.
 

[orochigeese]

LOL, sounds like you timed it right, afterall  


It seems you've been playing a decent amount this week so maybe you were able to forego that starting "ring rust."  Since the last few times I've played, they have all been after at least 3 days (sometimes as much as 2 week), that kind of explains why it takes so long for me to get into things.

However, I will note that over the years I actually used to do pretty well when I took a break from a game for a month and played it again. The first few matches always felt "crisp" for me as I felt I was able to get like a very wide perspective on it and wasn't too in the motions.  That doesn't seem to hold for SSFIV but part of that is because I'm using new characters and need to learn them to really get them to a point where I CAN pick them up after a few weeks of not playing and even remember all of their moves and combos.

[FishHook]

I was about to send you a fight request, DR, but I figured you'd be off soon and, indeed, I was correct. Oh well, another time.


Anyways, my short night in ranked consisted of the following....

 - Fei Long vs Sakura is a fun matchup.

 - Shoto spammers suck.

 - Shoto spammers playing Dan are hilarious.