We talkin' about practice, man!

What're we talkin' about?

Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, the most recent revised version of the game Virtua Fighter 5, released June 5.  I picked up this game, up to the challenge of learning a new game from scratch.  Along with learning VF5:FS, I picked up a new character in King of Fighters XIII.  Between these two games I have "been in the lab" a lot recently (one of the many FGC terms for "practicing alone" in any given fighting game).

Recent time in the lab for both games put two things in perspective:  my methods on learning a game as a whole, and learning new things within a game.  The difference being "learning a game" is learning how how the games handles basics like attacks, combos, throws; what is expected from a player no matter what fighter is played .  "Learning new things within" covers bases like learning a specific character, or what a specific move can do in certain situations, and various other smaller nuances in the game.  Note: This is not FGC terminology, this is just my personal way of saying things.

In Virtua Fighter 5 FS my learning method is simple, as it should be:  Reading, studying, and asking questions.  Gathering as much information as I can and retaining as much of it as I can before I go into games with others.

I've visited Virtuafighter.com a number of times and peered through the site's forums for information on my character, the short-bus rider Eileen, and general game play.

Seriously, there's something wrong with this girl.

I started VF5:FS expecting the learning curve to be as rough as King of Fighters XIII's was for me. It took me six months after KoFXIII's release for things to finally click.  I don't expect to understand VF5:FS any time soon as I'm coming from a limited 3D fighting game background.


I've dabbled (see: button mashed) in my share of Soul Caliburs and Tekkens.  I learned to play Tekken 6 a little bit, but that only amounts to a couple combos.  In my VF5:FS matches thus far, I often find myself trying to play in a 2D fighting game style: forgetting that I'm able to side-step or relying too much on crouch-blocking and trying to use my reactions to block everything.  


The latter is a big no-no in 3D fighter games due to "Mid" attacks.  Basically, attacks aimed to the middle of the opponent's body are known as "Mid" attacks in 3D fighting games, which will hit crouching opponents even if they're blocking.  Similar to Overhead attacks in 2D fighting games.

A character may have one, two, at worst, three overhead attacks in 2D fighting games.  They're usually slow  and not super threatening as many characters can't combo off them, or is harder to combo off of.  In a 3D fighting game, Mids can easily fill around half of the character's available moves.  In turn, Low attacks are like Overhead attacks in 2D fighting games: they're not as threatening, combo-able, and, if blocked, can put you in a bad position.

Even a simple thing like blocking attacks is currently an unattainable tour de force due to my years of blocking while crouching.

Fortunately for me, I have a few good VF players in the Colorado community that I can ask questions.  I mostly ask KrsJin (though I proclaimed him dead before).  He's very willing to teach and answer, thankfully.  Though...if people had taken anywhere near this much initiative to learn BlazBlue I would be helpful, too.  I didn't want BlazBlue to die, and I'm sure the VF players want this game to live for as long as possible.

Hooray!

In King of Fighters XIII  I've been learning a new character, Takuma.  I'm doing this mostly for the hell of it but also to understand the game, and myself, better.  I usually play alone until the weekly KoFXIII gatherings on Thursdays, so I've been hitting the lab to practice his combos.  Mainly, his game-changer combo.  Yes, people do use this combo, and slight variations, in tournament play.  My mindset going into this is the same as when I got into Skullgirls:  Learn the hardest combo now; the smaller combos and/or making up combos on the fly will will be easier later.  Of course, the hardest combo comes with the biggest struggle.  The way I learn is that I basically force myself to learn new combos.  

I'll practice for a long time, usually not moving from my chair once for at least an hour minimum.  Eventually, I'll need to take a break for a variety of possible reasons: getting tired, my hands will start hurting, getting hungry, or needing to use to bathroom.  When any of these needs arise, I challenge myself to do something I've been learning and execute it correctly.  Until executed properly, I will deny myself that need.  And I don't make it easy for myself.

In the case of the above combo, I must get to certain parts of the combo before I can stop denying my body's needs.  Considering how difficult this combo is for me, this can leave me in the game for up to another hour.  This sucks a lot when the need to pee is what I'm denying myself.  

In other practice sessions with easier combos or things I should already be able to do, I will land the combo 3, 5, 10 times in a row before I allow myself freedom.  

For some reason, I feel that if I can land my combos in a more stressful state, then it'll transfer to being able to land them better in a normal state.  Furthermore, the stress grows as time passes.  It's frustrating when you're so close to completing the challenge and screw up.  Meaning, you have to starve yourself for longer.  

It sounds brutal, I know!  I'm sure that's the rule Chinese gold farmers in MMOs have to follow anyway, right? (Okay, that was bad)  

Honestly, I don't know if these methods truly help me when I'm practicing in an exhausted and stressed state, forcing myself to go past the period of time that I mentally want to.  I have little way to prove this method does anything positive in the long run.  Hell, I don't think it does, but I do it anyway.

These are my methods and mindsets I use going into the new voyages.  It works to some level, even if it takes a long time to truly click like KoFXIII.  Games like BlazBlue and Skullgirls clicked quickly and easily for me, and I don't understand why.  It's a shame too; I like Skullgirls and all, but I enjoy KoFXIII a lot more despite always getting bodied.  It feels very rewarding as a game to win or lose, instead of getting beat by some random attacks like in Skullgirls, or similar games like Marvel vs Capcom 2 and 3.

Am I necessarily saying I'm the only one who does this?  Not at all.  Am I saying it's the way to win?  Not at all.  To each their own, and this is what works for me.  I suggest that you, if you want to play to win, find a training regimen that works for you.  If you find yourself stuck, feel free to ask for help and opinions.  

I think many new player's biggest problem is that they don't, or won't, ask for help.  They won't research anything besides combos or other cool stuff that doesn't help their basics.  Even worse, they will keep going on their same path which leads some players to never actually grow, which I have seen often in the Colorado community when they drop games before ever actually learning it.

It is important to know where you want to be, skill wise, before you start a game competitively.  It is also important to go into a game expecting to start from scratch, and expecting the learning process to be difficult.  If one goes into a game thinking it'll be easy to get to a competitive level, then they have already lost.  A lot of these same players will not have a plan to learn with, nor will they create one before giving up.

Arcade Sticks: Helps You Win...After You Lose... A Lot.

After watching a, ridiculous but based in truth, video on YouTube, I reminisced of when I learned to play on an arcade stick.  One of the most frustrating periods of my fighting game days.

I always used the console's respective controller to play any games, fighting games included.  With the release of Street Fighter IV, in February 2009, the MadCatz Fightpad was released at the same time.

I began playing Guilty Gear a few months before the release of Street Fighter IV on a Playstation 2 controller.  Xbox360 controllers are not ideal for fighting games due to the D-Pad being too small and not responsive enough.  The lack of quality from the Xbox360 controller and being used to the Playstation 2 controller pushed me to buy a MadCatz Fightpad.

One of these babies.

 The Fightpad was my savior when BlazBlue dropped in June of 2009, as it allowed me to continue playing fighting games like I had before.  Although, even with the increased quality for a pad player, the Fightpad had its share of problems.

Diagonals were hard to hit consistently.  One needed to practically dig his/her INTO the corners to make sure the input registered properly.  With a character like Litchi who has many combos where you would have to do a DP (→↓↘ + button) motion as fast as possible, this became an issue of inputting the downward corners. My good friend, Tim, was nice enough to buy me a new Fightpad as he knew that I was struggling with hitting the corners with an older, very used, pad.

In late 2009, I decided that I needed to make the switch from pad to stick.  I saved up and invested in my first arcade stick, a MadKatz Street Fighter IV TE arcade stick.

This stick took my virginity...of arcade sticks.

Late 2009 to middle of 2010 became my personal Dark Ages.

I went into training mode the day I got the stick to get a quick feel.  It was a completely different experience than a pad.  From your thumb doing all the work when inputting motions, you go to using your whole arm, wrist, and hand to input a motion.  There are so many different ways of controlling and holding the stick.  

Another one of my friends, Jason, hastened this process for me and showed me how he held the stick, which was later defined as the Daigo Umehara style.  No particular way is wrong; there are many different ways to do it.  It all depends on what works for you; or what you make work.

For myself, the Daigo Umehara style is the most comfortable.  It allows for micro-motions from the wrist with all the power of the hand behind it, instead of using more, or any, arm power.

It may not seem like it but buttons were also a big issue.  From years of gaming, I was plenty used to pushing a button, right?  Push it all the way in before receiving an in-game response.  It is different for arcade sticks, surprisingly.  

Arcade sticks, or maybe this brand of arcade stick specifically, are extremely more sensitive than any console controller I've used.  There were times where I rested my hand just a bit and got a completely unintended input because the button sunk in ever-so-slightly.  

Early on when I smacked the buttons instead of pressing them fiercely (there's a difference, I swear), it would sometimes activate other buttons from the shock on the arcade stick itself.  The sensitivity and response was so different than any other controller in my life.  It required work to figure out how to very naturally and accurately press each button I wanted.  Yes, it required work to press a button.  And some people are just so good at it, too.

"Buttons" you say...?

Between these two simple, yet only, functions of the arcade stick, it was very much like starting over completely.  Everything I knew about the game, about my character, about the systems, combos, inputs all went away as I learned how to play on this new controller.  It would be like having amnesia if it wasn't for the main frustrating factor: I DO know what to do, but I CAN'T do it.

I was playing BlazBlue religiously, and I was playing well too.  I knew exactly what to do.  I had all this knowledge, but I had no way of being able to use it due to the arcade stick. 

My brain would not act properly, my inputs would be incorrect, and plenty of rage ensued during these months of learning.  I actually refused to go to tournaments and gatherings because of the arcade stick.  I felt so ass-retarded not being able to do what I had learned.  Many many many times I considered quitting.  Quitting using stick and going back to the Fightpad, quitting BlazBlue, or quitting fighters in general.  I felt so incompetent during these many, rage-filled, months.

If there had been just a little bit less in what BlazBlue offered in fun, I would have quit everything.  No lie; no doubt.  I am very fortunate for BlazBlue being such an enjoyable, well-made game.

Finally, around May 2010, I felt confident enough to play outside of my own home.  Unfortunately, there were no planned BlazBlue tournaments until after BlazBlue: Continuum Shift released.  Months later, at end of September 2010, I entered my first tournament using an arcade stick.  That tournament become the first fighting game tournament I won, let alone placed top 3 in, and it is definitely not the last. 

If you watch the video of the tournament finals, I'm extremely sloppy.  Being fidgety with the stick, being nervous, and finding out in those matches that the combos I learned do NOT work on Lambda, the character I am fighting against, all made for the sloppy play in the video.  Ooops.  None the less, I am fortunate.

Most players don't have a show of how far they've come.  For me, I was fortunate enough to have something to show for my efforts: a tournament win.  Still placing and playing well now, my hard work continues to show.  Now, I feel lost without my arcade stick.  It's even been useful in other games like Radiant Silvergun and Half-Minute Hero.  My arcade stick has become more than a tool for fighting games; it's become an extension of myself as a gamer.