Hey y'all. A quick note before getting to the fighting games, I've yet to figure out how consistent this blog is going to be both in how often I'm going to be posting and how big the posts are going to be. Haven't really done this kinda thing before so I'm just gonna kind and go with the flow and see what happens. That also goes for when I'm streaming my journey, which again to shamelessly plug myself is over here.

So what have I been up to in Guilty Gear? Well mostly practicing tech. I figured after getting reamed in my first real round of matches that I should get the mechanics of the game down and let my fighting game chops come after that bit. I at the very least figured that I would want to know what I was doing before I could figure out why I was losing to people instead of just getting bodied. Leo seemed like a fun character so I decided to stick with him in my quest to git gud, at least for now. What other place to start then by learning some fat combos right? So I managed to complete all of his basic combos (only one of them proved to be a total bitch--namely the one that starts with an air dash, took a hell of a lot of them. I also went into the advanced combos/tactics and learned quite a lot about my German lion-y friend.

I feel like I'm starting to see through the veneer and see the meat of what makes Leo a unique character. His stance switch seemed just like an offensive tool when I started but when I was introduced to the guard in the stance my mind started to wander and think of the possibilities with that guard, not to mention guard out of slash and heavy slash. In fact as I'm writing this I'm thinking about how I should be playing defensively and in neutral which was definitely my biggest issue when I tried to take my BnBs and combos online. If you're curious about how those matches went it's pretty simple--he played Ky, I got bodied. Added him on steam afterwards to hopefully get bodied some more in the future.

In any case, I do feel like I've hit my first wall in the game. Where I've learned some things but when it comes to actually applying them to a real match I'm lost. So I feel like I'm in a weird spot where I could practice my tech and combos all I want, but that won't help me win actual matches, and likewise I could go and get bodied over and over, but I don't know if I would feel like I'm growing at all.

Right now I feel like my best option is to play a lot with a friend of mine who is better, but not monumentally better. When he plays his main (Faust) he can beat me 100% of the time, but put him on anyone else and we go 70-30 or 60-40. So I feel like playing and learning from him would be a good spot to continue my journey!

Any tips hints or suggestions are more than welcome. Felt like it was a hot minute since I updated this so I threw this little thing together. Let me know any thoughts and I'll try to continue to do stuff!

Stay Fresh,

~nic~

I don't know if you have Discord, but I've learned a lot just by asking questions about the game and my character in Xrd servers.

I recommend finding 2-3 solid and reliable BnBs (a universal combo, corner combo, and counter hit combo, maybe an RC combo, etc) and once you can execute them reasonably consistently just focus fighting other players for awhile. Spending too much time practicing elaborate combos instead of putting your combos into practice is an easy trap to fall into early on. But combos mean nothing if you can't find opportunities to land them.

This wall is always where I end up stopping with fighting games. Even if I can manage to remember the pertinent combos for my character, I have trouble knowing when/how to use them in a real match. "Real match" meaning, of course, online. I get too worked up about how I'm fighting a real person and that makes me choke on executing simple combos. Constantly getting nowhere due to this very banal weakness ends up just leading to frustration.

The difference is I give up at that point. I don't really have a problem with that, I've always been more of a single-player story kind of guy anyway. But I imagine YOU will not give up that easily, given the whole point of this blog.

I think this will be the hardest wall to break through. Because while some of your future problems will be "learning the finer points of strategy" (like the intimidating concept of footsie) and "maintaining a consistent win rate", those will at least be undertaken when you've learnt your character and its match ups. Conversely, this wall seems to be what stands between you and online being fun at all. Unless you're the type that likes learning - that's not me, probably why I give up so quickly.

I had always heard a similar thing about fighting someone quite a bit better - but not too much so - to get better. The only problem is that has its own drawback that you'll start learning their quirks and mistakes you can punish, while anyone else you play might not exhibit these issues. A session with your friend followed by a session in online might be the best way to go. But I'm sure you know that. Now I have that feeling that I wrote all this for no reason and added nothing. Ugh.

Regardless, good luck!

@poobumbutt: Haha don't worry man, any discussion is welcome! In times past that is basically where I landed with traditional fighters, I got a little bit further when I tried to play USF4 but I definitely feel you when you say that the anxiety of playing against a real human person leads to not being able to reliably execute the combos I've learned. Part of the reason I've started this was for some level of motivation to consistently play and hopefully break that wall and transcend to playing this game on a higher level. I've done this before (with Melee) but traditional fighters are such a different beast that I basically need to do it all over again.

@zeik: Thanks for the advice! It makes sense that the application step is where I need to head to next.

@perfidioussinn:I added myself to the GBFGC discord but haven't interacted much, I plan on doing so soon though!

@fistoh: Check out these too:

General Xrd Discord https://discord.gg/F88um3J

Leo Discord: https://discord.gg/010paK4rwvO6cN3t4

@zeik: This advice is how I got into GG and started to understand it. It's better to know a few good combos but then learn the MU's and the global system mechanics instead of trying to learn everything your character can do.

@ivdamke: I'll definitely try to work on that during my next session then c:

@perfidioussinn:I will, thanks very much!

Does Guilty Gear let you watch your replays? It's the secret best thing about SFV. Watching your own matches is probably the best way to improve besides having someone actually coaching you.

@hunkulese: Isn't that like standard in fighting games these days? But yes, GG definitely does.

@hunkulese: yeah I was thinking of delving in I just don't know how much I'll be able to glean from watching me getting bodied. I suppose being aware of what I did wrong and what I could have changed?

@fistoh: If you have a lot of time, watch a replay and pause when you get hit. Take notes, recreate the situation in training to learn how not to get hit!

You can also submit replays for analysis, most players on Discord would be happy to do that for you.

I know I'm late to the party here, but I'd just like to remind anyone who might be reading that we actually have a GB FGC discord (found here: https://discord.gg/gVUAJZx), and GG is easily the second most popular game on the servers these days.

As detailed here https://www.giantbomb.com/guilty-gear-xrd-rev-2/3030-58972/forums/guilty-gear-xrd-rev2-casual-fight-night-and-tourna-1810325/#1 we do Fight Nights 4 times a week, as well as a weekly tournament on Sunday nights.

Most of our player base are on PS4, but the PC community is slowly getting larger as well. Our skill level ranges from people who have just started, to someone who hit Top 24 at CEO, so a wide variety of players both at your level, and above who can help you improve.

I just started to get into GG as well even tho I've had it for a few months. It's a very fun game and the missions offer plenty of hours of entertainment. This game has so much depth and its not easy but the difficulty doesn't throw me off of it. It could be the amount of stuff in this game that keeps me playing. Not to rip on Capcom but I own SFV and they could learn a few things on how to make a training mode along with missions. GG teaches you how to play the game unlike SFV where you really have to go on the internet to learn the basics and more.