Welcomes, come unto me.

S

SevansVII

[08] Mercenary
Hey 8wayrun community,

Like many of you, I'm sure, I eagerly anticipate the release of Soul Calibur 5. Unlike many of you, I haven't a damn clue of what I'm doing in 3D fighters. I'm not new to fighting games, I have been a part of my local FG scene for roughly 6 years now, having started with Marvel vs Capcom 2, but my knowledge of games like SC and Tekken is far (and I mean very far) overshadowed by my knowledge of several 2D fighters.

So I turn to you gents. I want to play Soul Calibur now. I grow a little tired of 2D fighters at the moment and Tekken characters don't particularly interest me. I've always been fond of the character design in SC and that's a pretty good motivator to start learning the game.

The task of learning 3D fighters is a daunting one. I'm sure the fundamentals I've learned over the years will help me adapt rather quickly, but I know that these are totally different beasts and that those fundamentals will only do so much for me. So I have a few questions.

1.) Notation and terms -- I know very little about either of these regarding SC. Can someone provide me with a link or briefly detail important notations and terms?

2.) Characters -- Typically, people say "play who you like." I've been around the block enough times to know that playing who I like the most won't necessarily equate to the most efficient play style. I'm out for blood.

- Who, at least in SC4, would you recommend to be a good beginner character? I like Nightmare and Siegfried a lot, but I have no idea if they are good for beginners or even just GOOD. Basically, which character will help me learn the fundamentals of SC the best.

- Which characters should I watch out for? Who's really good or has a lot of hard-to-get-around gimmicks?

3.) What are standard tournament rules? Simple question.

4.) Who are some exceptional players that I can watch match videos of to learn stuff? When I was learning MvC2, I watched a lot of videos of Justin Wong, Cl0ckwork, and Yipes. Are there SC community equivalents to those players?

That's good for now, thanks in advance and I look forward to being a member of the community.
 
1.) :6h: An arrow with no white filling means hold down. A white arrow means tap. A is a horizantol attack, B is vertical, K is kick, G is guard. G+A and G+B are throws. B and A are used to break throws. BE means brave edge, CE critical Edge, CF critical Finish. JF- just frames which are fast input moves. so confusing for me haha. (Thats all I really use on the site.)
2.) Taki for SCIV as well as Talim and Ivy. Taki has some simple moves and is great for beginners. Talim uses one main combo, and Ivy has only four stances that can last the entire game if chosen too.
Siegfried is a good character too start out with, however I found him confusing.
Watch out for Kilk I hate him. And Yoda, you need to use lots of lows on Yoda.
Advanced Characters to avoid try to master right away include:
-Setsuka, Xiguha (horribly spelled lol), Sophita.
3.) Thats on the site somewhere I will find them in a second.
4.) Um I can't remember but if you look at the media there is an option for tournements.
Hope I helped :D
 
Thanks for the quick and helpful responses.

I actually played Soul Calibur 2 a lot, but this was before I really cared about learning fighting games. I was pretty fond of Nightmare, Astaroth, Raphael, and Cassandra. How is Astaroth in SCIV? He's a character I'd definitely consider maining.

Darkmoon, what would you say is confusing about Siegfried?
 
Hey! Welcome to the community.

I'll get right to addressing your questions.

1. Basic notations are covered here. There are a few more that will come up but most of those are character specific or don't come up often.

2. There is a lot of freedom in character selection (imo) but at the same time there are some characters who clearly perform better than others in a competitive environment (Compare Ivy to Rock for example).

Mitsu, Sophitia, Cass, Astaroth and Xianghua come to mind when I think of beginner chars. They aren't by any means simple or brainless to play, but offer easy access to strong basics. As for Sieg and NM, they aren't exactly hard to play, but require a different approach than a lot of the other characters.

3. Standard tourney rules in North America are:

Algol, Hilde, Bonus and CAS Banned and 60 seconds/3 rounds default. Button binding is legal (don't think there is anything else).

4. There are a lot of good players to watch, but it's hard to suggest them without a more specific criteria. What are you looking for (if anything particular) when you watch match videos?

In any case I would start by recommending Keev and Pantocrator since you like Nightmare and Sieg. They are easily the best players for their characters in SC4. Besides them I would suggest watching the latest tournament videos from the US and France community. There are too many players to list, so it's easier just to go through those.

I hope this all helps, kinda rushed myself while writing this.

If you need anything else feel free to reply or PM me. I'd be glad to help out a new player!
 
SevansVII said:
Thanks for the quick and helpful responses.

I actually played Soul Calibur 2 a lot, but this was before I really cared about learning fighting games. I was pretty fond of Nightmare, Astaroth, Raphael, and Cassandra. How is Astaroth in SCIV? He's a character I'd definitely consider maining.

Darkmoon, what would you say is confusing about Siegfried?
Click to expand...
Siegfried has many stances that are triggered by the same B +K and movement. I found his stances really irritating to memorize but if you put in a lot of time, you can do it. I didn't take the time because he really didn't interset me much. Also, Siegfried had combos that seemed excessivly hard to pull off.
Hope I helped :)
 
SevansVII said:
I like Nightmare and Siegfried
Click to expand...

More Siegfried novices. Excellent.

Let me sell it to you straight. I learned how to play Soul Calibur using Siegfried and nothing but Siegfried. And let me tell you, between other obstacles I had to overcome, using him was one of the bigger ones. To really be successful with Siegfried, you have to already have a fairly deep understanding of how the game works - you can't really get by using only the basics. So there's definitely a certain challenge to learning the game with Siegfried.

However, as I have said, this is a road I've already walked, and quite a few others have, as well. It's certainly do-able, so if you have the commitment to it, you can definitely do it. If you decide you want to go ahead and learn SC5's system with Siegfried, let me know (via PM or a message on my profile) and I can definitely help you get started, and also answer any questions you might have along the way.

Welcome to 8WayRun.
 
You're in luck - in SCV Sieg looks set to be one of the most dominant on the roster.
I'm another Sieg player like Heaton - any questions, just shoot me a PM. =)
 
So I got to play a session with one of the locals who's been playing SC for a little while. Figured the only way I could really decide who I want to play would be to try them, so I'll be trying a different character every (vs human) session that I play. This time I went with Nightmare.

I was able to scrape a few wins off of his Raphael, but it was really tough. Of course, I didn't go in expecting to win, but I felt like a learned a lot playing against him for a few hours. I encountered a couple problems though!

- Dealing with pressure.

I'm not sure what to chalk it up to, but damn it is hard for me to cope with pressure in SC. I couldn't tell if it was a match-up difficulty, Raphael's strategy, a weakness of Nightmares', or just my unfamiliarity with the game, but I just could not get him off of me.

Since I know so little about the series, I'd like to ask; what are some of the best ways to deal with being pressured in Soul Calibur? Squeezing in a counter attack was extremely difficult and often led to me losing rounds. Since I'll be playing this guy again, what are some things I need to know about fighting against Raphael?

- Controlling Space

It's in the same category as dealing with pressure, but I just couldn't seem to create space between him and I. I assume it may have something to do with not knowing how to move properly.

Are there movement tricks to safely put space between myself and my opponent? I guess that keeping that space depends upon which character you're playing, but I'll figure that out more as I go.
 
SevansVII said:
So I got to play a session with one of the locals who's been playing SC for a little while. Figured the only way I could really decide who I want to play would be to try them, so I'll be trying a different character every (vs human) session that I play. This time I went with Nightmare.

I was able to scrape a few wins off of his Raphael, but it was really tough. Of course, I didn't go in expecting to win, but I felt like a learned a lot playing against him for a few hours. I encountered a couple problems though!

- Dealing with pressure.

I'm not sure what to chalk it up to, but damn it is hard for me to cope with pressure in SC. I couldn't tell if it was a match-up difficulty, Raphael's strategy, a weakness of Nightmares', or just my unfamiliarity with the game, but I just could not get him off of me.

Since I know so little about the series, I'd like to ask; what are some of the best ways to deal with being pressured in Soul Calibur? Squeezing in a counter attack was extremely difficult and often led to me losing rounds. Since I'll be playing this guy again, what are some things I need to know about fighting against Raphael?

- Controlling Space

It's in the same category as dealing with pressure, but I just couldn't seem to create space between him and I. I assume it may have something to do with not knowing how to move properly.

Are there movement tricks to safely put space between myself and my opponent? I guess that keeping that space depends upon which character you're playing, but I'll figure that out more as I go.
Click to expand...
Well Raphel is a fast character that uses lots of verticals. You should try and use guard impacts to get an opening and nice ranged moves to keep the distance.
As for movement, try and predict when raph is going to use premontion and his verticals. Guard impacts are great here, but you should also try and side step because his verticals need to charge sometimes (like premontion). If all else fails, use nightmares range! :)
 
M'kay, I'll try more guard impacts next time. When I was able to keep him at max range I did fairly well, but it was exceedingly difficult to do that. I suppose I learn what moves Nightmare players typically use to create and maintain space.

Thanks!
 
dude this is Michael Brown from Savannah, glad to see you made an account. I actually play Sieg myself and is trying to learn a little nightmare.
 
SevansVII said:
Hey 8wayrun community,

Like many of you, I'm sure, I eagerly anticipate the release of Soul Calibur 5. Unlike many of you, I haven't a damn clue of what I'm doing in 3D fighters.
Click to expand...
Hah, nice introduction.

So I turn to you gents. I want to play Soul Calibur now. I grow a little tired of 2D fighters at the moment and Tekken characters don't particularly interest me. I've always been fond of the character design in SC and that's a pretty good motivator to start learning the game.
Click to expand...
Good as any.

The task of learning 3D fighters is a daunting one. I'm sure the fundamentals I've learned over the years will help me adapt rather quickly, but I know that these are totally different beasts and that those fundamentals will only do so much for me. So I have a few questions.
Click to expand...
I expect from your level of experience they'll serve you better than you think.

1.) Notation and terms -- I know very little about either of these regarding SC. Can someone provide me with a link or briefly detail important notations and terms?
Click to expand...


2.) Characters -- Typically, people say "play who you like." I've been around the block enough times to know that playing who I like the most won't necessarily equate to the most efficient play style. I'm out for blood.

- Who, at least in SC4, would you recommend to be a good beginner character? I like Nightmare and Siegfried a lot, but I have no idea if they are good for beginners or even just GOOD. Basically, which character will help me learn the fundamentals of SC the best.
Click to expand...
The Alexandra clan always seems to offer the best starting point for anyone in my opinion. Cass and Sophi have solid fundamentals, are not gimmicky and are pretty respectably placed in tier lists.

- Which characters should I watch out for? Who's really good or has a lot of hard-to-get-around gimmicks?
Click to expand...
Amy is a cheap peice of shit and can die in a fire for all I care. Okay, maybe I wouldn't let her die in a fire. Especially if she grows up to look like Viola. But SCIV Amy is some kind of an evil avatar crafted by a sadistic war god.

4.) Who are some exceptional players that I can watch match videos of to learn stuff? When I was learning MvC2, I watched a lot of videos of Justin Wong, Cl0ckwork, and Yipes. Are there SC community equivalents to those players?

That's good for now, thanks in advance and I look forward to being a member of the community.
Click to expand...
Depends on who you're watching. In this game the "best players" tend to be the best players of one character. If you go with Cass, you could do worse than to watch Partisan's work. All the other characters tend to have their own champions and you can find out who is king or co-king of what hill by asking around.
 
I'd like to thank everyone for the help so far. You guys seem pretty awesome.

I got the chance to play some more SCIV casuals! I continued to use Nightmare, because he's really, really fun. After some hard work in training mode and reading here and on the wiki, I did astonishingly better against the Raphael player who stomped me so bad last time. He still won more, but I was actually able to hold my own. I'm really starting to grasp spacing in SCIV, methinks.

I also got to play against a fellow Nightmare player, who claimed that he was just flow-charting. I could kind of tell, it was non-stop, generally unsafe Nightmare pressure. He won a lot, but I think that if I got to play him again, I'd do much better. I need to read some more frame data and find out what all I could punish and with what moves.

Dealing with pressure and nailing guard impacts is still kicking my ass. In due time, I say.

I found out that mirror matches are a lot more fun in this than some other games I've played.

I hope Nightmare isn't shitty in SCV. :(
 
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