New Player!

Surione

Surione

[08] Mercenary
Hey Everyone!

Thanks for reading my post. ^_^ So I know some of you know me and some don't. OOF brought me to this site. I have known about SC since SC3, I played SC3, only casually though. In the last 2 months, I have become aware of SC4 and have been playing it, i'd say more than casually. So...my main character that I use and love is Lizardman, and I plan to compete in the tournament in Orlando, FL in June. Until then I'm going to be practicing like crazy and was wondering if I could get some friendly opinions etc. So basically, I still have a lot to learn about Lizardman, and was wondering what some of you think about playing online to help me train myself. Good things I should try to remember when playing SC. There seems to be so much to this game, that I don't even know about. Or at least it seems that way. :D

Is it a good idea, playing online?! Or should I forget it all together?! Does it really matter that much, or would it be good to play online as well as offline?! I want to get as many opinions as possible, so that I can play as much as possible, and become better. I have heard of these "lag tactics" not really sure what to say about them, but dunno if there is a certain way to go about dealing with them. Since the tournament is in 5 months, I think that I can become an ok, if not better player by then. I have my trusty Soul Calibur Strategy Guide, and I've been using it. So, plz if you have any advice you can give me, don't be afraid. :D

Thanks alot.
~Suri~
 
I would try to find a place near you that has offline comp and get in your practice there. You can practice online, but lag will cause certain things to work that would not otherwise work in the offline environment and may lead to bad habits. I would check the regional matchmaker to see if there are any players around you.
 
Pretty much exactly what Psylocide said. I switched from online to offline a few months ago, and - since I don't play as often as I'd like right now - I'm still breaking some bad habits (my stepping sucks, my punishing sucks, my throw breaking sucks, and so on, lol). It can be a lot better if you have a good connection and fight strong players that understand the game engine, but it's still not quite the same as offline play.

Also, this is might be obvious, but don't ignore the other characters in the roster. It's important to know what everyone's strengths and weaknesses are. You would probably want to learn the ins and outs of your main first, but whenever you have time, a little research can always help.
 
Hello and welcome!

Skipping right to the question, for most of your skills, online is horrible. But, if you are able to find some 'good' players online, they may be able to teach you a bunch of the casts more well-known sets up that you may run into and help you develop your own. Of course, this all depends on the latency of the connection. Still, you may run into things that make you want to go to those opposing characters Soul Arenas and learn more about their strategies and ways to counter those strategies. You may even find, in that process, that you're better suited for a character other than Lizardman.

Still! Welcome! Hope you find this site helpful!
 
To get started you should take a close look at the Tactics forum. This place is my most valued personally because you can never have enough insights about fighting. Anyway, try these pages first:

Terms and abbreviations:
http://www.8wayrun.com/f6/newbie-silencer-t76/

Advice on starting out:
http://www.8wayrun.com/f6/learning-how-to-learn-soul-calibur-t552/

Common techniques:
http://www.8wayrun.com/f6/advanced-techniques-t6403/

Understanding frame data:
http://www.8wayrun.com/f6/frame-data-and-you-a-laymans-guide-t3702/




P.S.
Once you have a firm grasp on frame data, check out the information on your character. Each one has frame data available in the Wiki section of this site. Lizard is here: http://www.8wayrun.com/wiki/Lizardman_-_Soulcalibur_IV_-_Frame_Data

Note: Look at the columns in the frame data. IMP stands for "Impact", which is how fast the move is... GRD stands for "Guard", which is how many frames you have when the move is blocked... "HIT" stands for hit, in the sense of how many frames of advantage you have when the move successfully hits the opponent. This all makes sense if you read the thread above about "Understanding frame data."

Note 2: Last but not least, check out the soul arena for your character. Other Lizzy players discuss move applications for him and other related things there. You can learn based on how other people play your same character. There will also be match videos.
 
Since Oof swears up and down that online helps, but also attaches a bunch of "this wouldn't work offline!" rules to it........

I dunno I refuse to play online but I've been playing this shit for years haha. There's benefits to be had, and bad habits to be learned. If you enjoy it, play it I guess.
 
Use online simply to become comfortable with combos and basic tactics. However take it with a HUGE grain of salt. Online distorts a lot of things. You'll notice peoples defenses online are a lot weaker, that's be cause of the delay and you'll start assuming an unsafe move is great or safe since it goes unpunished. At some point you have to play good people offline, online will never teach you the deeper aspects of the game needed to compete at tournament level. For example online I never step moves with a small window to do so, I block and miss an opportunity to get free hits and I don't do twitches.

So only do online to develop a base, then play offline and you'll see what you need to strip away from online induced habits. I don't even touch online when an offline match is near since I start reverting to tactics I would never use intentionally.

Another thing to look out for, generally people with high win ratios online are lag tactic abusers (whether aware or unaware). A lot of the "top" players online have very huge egos and will own you online, but are in fact god awful offline since the tactics they use are horrible in a lag free environment. Make sure they know what they're talking about before taking advice.
 
Great, thanks for taking the time to read my post and give feedback. ^_^

~Suri~
 
Hello Surione, itz your friendly neighbourhood Spider- uh... franman.

I would recommend what Psylocide and Salizburg said but the good thing is that you live with OOFMATIC; I'm pretty sure he'll give you a peer-to-peer training. Besides having visitors including your friendly neighbour is an extended bonus for you. Itz most effective in a given time because you already have the best interactive training from your fellow peers.

I also recommend what Vints recommends.

Finally you may wanna check out the Lizardman thread; there's frame data, match-ups, strategy guides and vids threads about Lizardman. Personally I prefer watching the vids as it gives you ideas.

This message is brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood Spider-franman.
 
franman said:
the good thing is that you live with OOFMATIC; I"m pretty sure he'll give you a peer-to-peer training.

Finally you may wanna check out the Lizardman thread; there's frame data, match-ups, strategy guides and vids threads about Lizardman. Personally I prefer watching the vids as it gives you ideas. *SNIP
Click to expand...

Seriously... you live with Oof and you want to play Lizardman?

I think you'll be just fine.
 
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