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GetTheTables

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Posts posted by GetTheTables

  1. 1 hour ago, misterBee said:

    I liked the last DOOM game quite a lot.  I'll play this one when it comes out but I'm strangely not as hype for it, even though I do a play-through of the original DOS DOOM games every year or so.

    I feel the same way. I think part of it is that part of the magic of the recent DOOM was that it really truly seemed like it would be a shit show right up until it came out and ended up being fucking rad. At this point it seems like a way safer bet that the sequel will be good so its going to be more about getting hands on and enjoying the ride again.

     

    Every time I watch any of the recent DMC5 stuff my blood boils with excitement. It is looking like a real fine entry in the series.

  2. Hell I remember a time when all this stuff was called an "expansion pack". 👴

     

    I'm with you on that but I think the market doesn't support it unfortunately. The current market culture is is to get people in the door however you can then offer enough DLC/microtransactions to pile up 💰 over time. Raising the up front cost would theoretically offset the "need" of devs to use DLC to turn a profit but that weighs against the units lost by the higher cost, and frankly the model has been so damn effective that they'd still drown us in DLC even if they raised the price. 

     

    Its sort of extra complicated when it comes to fighting games because theoretically you want access to all the chars to lab stuff. Feels like more of a shakedown for me.

  3. On paper Tira seems like exactly the kind of character I should fall for but everything is a miss for me. Never really liked her much myself.

     

    Also apparently she *isn't* a pre-order bonus. She is going to be included as a bonus character in the season pass which....just sounds like the season pass has another character in it? Not sure why they're trying to tart that up as a bonus. Can also purchase separately as usual.

  4. If I had the time I'd play the fuck out of the Yakuza games. They seem great but they're also pretty deep games and nowadays I'm lucky to make it through something like a Gears of War campaign. 

     

    Had the chance to get in a bunch of games this weekend, at least relative to how much I usually get to play. 50-60 games across Ranked, Casual, and Battle Lounge.

     

    Still riding the low Gold bubble. I was kind of hoping to climb more based on the matches I’ve been getting in and how well those have been going, but I clearly need to work on becoming more consistent. I’m losing sets too consistently to really make it anywhere.

     

    Part of it is that I still get frazzled in Ranked. That is just gonna take time and matches to work out. The other thing is that Ranked is where I feel like you see even more gimmicks and a lot of them are working on me. Exposure to that kind of stuff helps and I can take it back to the lab, which I definitely need to do. Across all the matches I have a lot of things I can practice against so hopefully that will help.

     

    Looking at it more critically, I’m noticing core things that I need to work on:

    • My space management sucks. I spend too much time either out of threat range or inside the opponent’s threat range and in both cases I don’t realize that I’m there quickly enough to do the right things (i.e. hit buttons or not hit buttons).
    • My button choices suck. Big part of learning to play in general. I mostly have worked past hitting really dumb buttons (though I still definitely do it) which is a start, but now I need to work on hitting actually smart buttons in situations and ranges.
    • My AAs are getting good but I don’t get enough off of them. I can get better mix ups afterwards and most of the time I’m just getting a weak pressure string.
    • Offense is still too linear. This is gonna take time to work on. I think for the most part the individual moves and sequences I’m doing offensively are okay, but I need to work varying up the timing of them, when I throw which thing out, when I insert pauses, etc.
    • I still have straight fuck ups. Bad MP Bolts (mostly overeager confirms), dropped combos, missed punishes, and bad inputs (I have a bad rare habit of doing EX Bolt when I mean to do EX Clap and it almost always happens on block and leads to death).
    • I never defensively backdash. This sucks on wake up especially but I could also be doing it during some blockstrings to save myself some headache. I literally never even think to do it and that is something I need to work on.
    • Rarely do I throw bait on purpose. The good news is that I’m recognizing more when I should be doing it. The bad news is that I haven’t practiced it enough to be ready to do it when it comes time.
    • As part of learning what buttons to use I also need to get better at using Laura’s applicable specials. The biggest one I’m bad with has been her fireball. Watching more Idom matches, he uses it much more as a footsies tool than I’ve been doing and that makes a fuckload more sense. Short term application of that has made a big difference so I need to keep that kind of stuff in mind.

    Some of these things are tricky because of Laura’s kit – not great at poking, slow walk speed – but a lot of it is player experience. Saturday was a lot of fact finding and Sunday was a lot of trying to apply some of this stuff in BL matches. It worked out here and there but I still have a long way to go.

     

    It is funny because it’s this game and its online so you see a lot of players doing “well” with some of the silliest, gimmickiest bullshit. And here I am playing Laura, one of the pinnacles of throwing dumb bullshit at the opponent and killing them before they get their bearings, but I’m trying to learn spacings, normal choices, “clean play”, “footsies”, whatever.

     

    But I do honestly want to learn to play better, not just win more. I don’t want to make it to Platinum or whatever just to realize that my gameplan sucks and won’t carry me any further. And in the future whenever SF6 comes out I’d like to go into that more fundamentally sound that I came into SF5. Though to Highlandfireball’s point it may be better to play DBFZ or Cross Tag to better prep for how anime SF6 may be.

     

    Even with this game being as fucked up as it is I feel like I’ve already learned a lot and it’s helped me when I’ve picked up other games too (this may ultimately be the lasting value of SF5 ) . Anyways, that’s all my rambling. Gonna keep at it and hopefully grind it up a bit more before leaving for vacation this week. Then I’ll come back refreshed and surely maul some bitches.

  5. As an experiment yesterday I decided to queue up for Ranked while doing training mode stuff. Figured at worst it would just sit in the background while I was practicing anyways. To my surprise I actually got matches!

     

    Three big downsides: 1) long turnaround time - 2-5 minutes between matches, 2) no best-of-three format so it's just one and done, and 3) a smalllllll player pool. I played the same two people back and forth pretty much the whole time. And I'm willing to bet that the times I was waiting for a match were because the other two people online were playing each other instead of one of them playing me.

     

    All that said, still not too bad of an experience. Connections were solid despite my filters being "just gimmie a match I don't give a fuck about connection quality" and even though one of the players was more experienced than I am with the game thanks to being in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with misterBee I didn't have that bad of a time with him. Hell I almost took the second game despite me still being sloppy as fuck with the game (dude was all offense with Merkava but nothing unreasonable). And I managed to double dust a Yuzu player. 

     

    Not sure I'd do that when I'm trying to actively get games in but its not a bad thing to do I guess while working on stuff in Training mode. Thankfully one of the many things UNIST does well is load fast so unlike SF5 loading in and out of different modes isn't that big of a deal.

     

    Also joined the UNIST discord. May use that as a way to get more games in when misterBee isn't around (sorry Zio no cross play and I'm a console pleb) but we'll see. Hell if I know when people actually play this thing.

  6. G and Sagat are the first characters that I think have come along that legit gave the game a shot in the arm. I think its a combination of Sagat being faithful to his archetype and being well executed in the context of SF5, and G having a design that really sticks to some people. 

     

    Been playing and practicing and it seems to be paying off. Gonna keep at it and hopefully get some Ranked time this weekend just to see if I can start the climb up the Gold ranks. 

     

    Also doubled down yesterday and also played some UNIST. That game continues to be great.

  7. On 8/1/2018 at 3:06 PM, Darc_Requiem said:

    I really need to buy that movie on Blu-ray

    I bought it like the day it went on sale but I still haven't fired it up yet. That movie fucking rules. 

     

    Also although I have nothing pertinent to contribute I wanted to say that this thread also rules. 🤟

  8. Ended up missing seeing the finals live due to Smash 4 running long (shock of shockers 😛). By the time it got rolling I was on the tram back to hang out with family.

     

    However they did post up the Top 4. Fun set of games to watch and a good spread of characters:

     

     

     

  9. 7 hours ago, The_Weasel said:

    Somewhere in the background of G's arcade mode ending pic? 

     

    Also, I got to say that playing G is easily the most fun I've had in SFV so far. He is definitely going to be a character I'm sticking with for a while in this game.

     

    ... Actually, now that I think about it,  where is Makoto?

    Glad you're enjoying G! He's a rad character.

     

    Makoto is rumored every time the new seasons roll around. She's a very popular character so there is always the chance that she shows up. Good news is that Capcom learned from their silhouettes in S1/S2 and they just cold revealed everyone for S3, so we should know the S4 cast after the CPT finals. Keep an eye out for a scarf karate girl maybe showing up then.

     

    :tldr: post about EVO starting now. @Darc_Requiem some light reading for you fam. 😉

     

    Spoiler

     

    This was my first time attending EVO after several years of watching it online. For anyone that can go and is a fighting game enthusiast, I highly, highly recommend it. Even cutting out all the eSports production shit that I could give or take, it is an amazing thing to be in a huge convention hall full of people who are all talking about, buying stuff for/from, cosplaying as characters from, and playing fighting games. It is almost worth the trip alone just to walk around and see all the stuff there and what people get into.

     

    Pertho mentioned this at another point talking about EVO but I want to re-iterate it because it is interesting and especially relevant: while there is a lot of talk about the FGC, what you really have with the FGC are a bunch of smaller communities of folks playing similarly themed games that can sort of coalesce around that idea. EVO really highlights that because the way everything it set up really highlights how many communities come together to form “the FGC” as we know it. It’s not even a stew; more like a buffet or salad bar. No real point here, just something interesting to see (and also why I can imagine it can be a bitch pulling people together as a TO for smaller events).

     

    The event itself was run decently well, so far as I could tell. More than enough space for the different pools of players to spread out so nothing felt cramped or like people were playing games right on top of each other which is fairly logistically impressive considering the fuckloads of people there at any given time. The facilities in the convention hall were fine – bathrooms were okay by those standards (though I never dared the stalls) and the concessions were at least in line with the regular Vegas resort shakedown prices – but the best thing is that you can easily just walk out of the convention center and walk like 5 mins around Mandalay Bay to find anything else you could want. And although they made people ditch non-water drinks they were carrying in, no one gave me static for my water bottle or checked my backpack so I started every day with a decent store of snacks and water.

     

    Decent footwear is key. It is still a big ‘ol convention hall which means you’re just thudding around on a hard floor the whole day. Even with sitting down to play games you’re still going to be doing plenty of standing and walking so plan appropriately. Chairs seem to migrate as the day goes on and people want to crowd around certain pools matches so you may not always be able to find a place to chill. Though worse comes to worse you can just queue up for some random casual match just to sit long enough to get bodied.

     

    Speaking of casuals, with this being my first tournament event I didn’t know what to expect for casuals. Turns out, it is exactly casual: people just post up where the fuck ever, how the fuck ever. Some use the BYOC area, some post up on the pools stations after the pools start winnowing down (though in a lot of cases it was the players that finished higher in the pools just sticking around and playing), and people hopping on any old monitor that was around (BenQ had demos of the head-to-head monitors up as an example and folks were on and off that all day). Now I know for next time. I am very minorly tempted to pick up a PS4 on the cheap at some point and load SF5 on it just so I can set up shop at the BYOC area but that is an extravagance I’ll probably have to do without (plus I’d hate to lug that and the Obsidian out to Vegas).

     

    Sunday finals were cool. Was really easy to get in and out of the area; just had to keep getting the ticket scanned. So if you wanted to dip out between games, totally doable (and exactly what I did during Melee and DBFZ). I paid for a floor seat which I would do again despite the premium. It was nice to know I had the seat to come back to and I actually got super lucky: aside from the guy sitting in front of me being tall and animated, the seats around me were empty all day. Wouldn’t always get that lucky but great when it works out that way. I think it is most worth it if you want to watch enough of the games live (3/5, at least 2/5). Otherwise if you’re just there for one game it is probably more cost effective to get gen admission seating and snipe a good spot between game transitions.

     

    As stated earlier, I failed at getting casual matches in so the only games I played all weekend were in the SF5 tournament. Even with so much of the weekend spent watching though, I feel like I learned a lot. Being able to watch so many people play (many of which are very good players) was very insightful and I had some legit lightbulb moments. Heavy caveat to this: SF5 is the first fighting game I’ve put real time into playing against other people, so a fair chunk of these things are probably rote to vets of previous games. But I wanted to share for anyone else that is likewise still learning how to get better at this game.

     

    The first one was sort of a reinforcement of something I’ve been thinking for a little while: I’m too “by the numbers” in this game. Up until fairly recently I’ve been playing SF5 very “safe”: don’t press while negative, don’t press on wake up, don’t press after plus frames, don’t throw out negative moves that can be blocked (even unpunishable ones), only do tight frame traps, stuff like that. While a lot of those are good directives, if you always play by the numbers and by the book in this game I feel it is easy for your opponent to get a sense of your rhythm and tendencies. Calculated challenges are necessary to keep your opponent guessing. I started to realize this when I thought about how much better I felt playing UNIST: it is because I don’t know what is “right” or “wrong” in that game so I’m more willing to try shit out and see what works in each situation, as opposed to coming to a scenario with a pre-arranged idea of what I should or shouldn’t do. At least in this game I think you need to play “smart random” sometimes.

     

    The second thing is that I came away feeling like I can get anywhere with enough practice and experience. That may not actually be true – at some point I’ll hit the limits of what my old man brain and hands can do – but watching the really good players impressed upon me how much that pays off. You saw it in the GF – Problem seemed to have more experience and research into the Bison vs. Akuma match up than Tokido did the opposite (and in fairness I think most players would) – but I also saw it during pools. It is one thing to watch someone playing really well on a stream; for whatever reason that skill was impressed upon me much more when I saw it in person. I guess it is more the reinforcement that these players aren’t grown in a vat and periodically set loose to ravage the competitive fighting game world. They’re guys and gals like the rest of us that have put in the time to be badasses. Except for CJ Truth. That guy is clearly a robot. Basically I need to keep at it, get games in, and keep practicing. Don’t get too down on myself for when things don’t go the way I’d like; so long as I’m learning and trying to work on good habits, even losses are good experience in the long run. I sort of knew that stuff already but it was impressed upon me how much of a long haul it is to get *really* good at this or any game. Gotta settle in for the grind, whether it is in training mode or in matches.

     

    Overall I came away from the weekend feeling massively motivated to continue working at SF5 and UNIST. I haven’t magically developed more free time, unfortunately, but if I spend what time I have focusing on practicing smartly and I spend my match time learning, I think I’ll do just fine. Whatever that means in the end. Hopefully one of these years it means I can make it to day 2 of pools but however far I get in general it’ll be fun working to get there.

     

    Last rah-rah bit: fighting games are great. Even though we are a bunch of disparate tribes under a really loose banner that common thread still unites a bunch of people in a cool way. Like I’m pretty sure one of the people I played knew just enough English to get matches rolling but we were able to play a set no problem and just from watching him play I learned stuff. Not a lot of hobbies have that feature and I think it is pretty cool that we can all be united by mashing buttons.

     

    I also managed to fight off another round of character temptation with G and decided to stick with Laura for the foreseeable future. Although she has some issues to her I still really like the way she plays and more practically I think my bigger issues are fundamental things that shifting characters isn’t going to fix anyways, so I might as well stick with a character I enjoy and know while I work on that stuff. I do want to get back to work on a pocket Falke, both because I like the character and because then I’ll be primed to capitalize when S4 comes and buffs both those ladies up.

     

     

    @misterBee I mentioned it briefly but all the above applies to UNIST as well. Gonna try to split my time and keep up with the anime. 👍 

  10. Thanks man! 

     

    Won the first two matches then went out vs two very solid players. Guy who bopped me out of losers basically beat me with Falke's cr.LP and St.MK cancelled into shotgun. I'm pretty sure that isn't even his main. 

     

    Very fun and informative. I definitely have a long way to go but I did way better than I expected (especially with me botching as much as I did). 

  11. I also got the Cannon Spike costume on my first try. I legit thought that was a feature to entice people to throw more FM at loot boxes in the future. 

     

    I'm gonna be way more irritated when they put up a costume for a character I actually care about and it takes me like 50 pulls to get it.

  12. @misterBee GGs man! When you said you had picked a new main I would have bet 💰 that it was going to be Wagner. Hilde was a pleasant surprise though I maybe should have had an inkling knowing you play Axl in GG. 🙂 

     

    One thing that I need to get more comfortable with in this game is keeping up offense. I'm used to SF5's way more gated offensive sequences. You can string together a way longer pressure sequence in this game between the way the normals chain, dashes, and drive attacks can work together. 

     

    Mika may be cut from the team. I did some research after our sets and while she definitely can pull some shit (her legit command grab can be CS'd into a 4700ish damage combo) I don't love how stubby her attacks are and how much she has to bulldog just to get in. Also I miss how easy it was to rack up damage before I made the "mistake" of telling you you could break command grabs. 😉 

     

    Its just kinda weird to me because with the command grabs not being a really good mix up option (at least in the way I'm used to) it feels like you need to rush down with buttons and mix up "normally". Which is fine, but if I'm doing that I'd rather be doing it with Nanase. So I'm probably gonna just put more time into her and figure out another secondary character to mess around with (I like the idea of a secondary since it seems to be just us playing, for variety's sake).

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