It's not easy, and took a LOT of hours sitting in practice mode training the JI to gain the capacity. That being said, yes, I can hit a JI relatively reliably now. Do I expect the normal Soul Calibur player to train themselves to the high degree necessary to do a JI to get a CF off? If they expect ANY sort of consistency in their CF game...then yes. But the short answer is that normal players of Soul Calibur shouldn't expect to JI at will unless they put themselves through hours and hours of training against EVERY player's unblockables, and then pokes, and then train against mixup, and then train against real opponents playing at the top of their game. Casual play is not what people like me train for. They train to attain a beautiful game, to see what can be accomplished by a human who puts themselves through gauntlet after gauntlet to see if what they dream about is reality, if consistency is actually possible at things like a JI. The reason I need 5+ matches to warm up is that there's no "on" switch to high level play, it actually requires a significant amount of ramp even after days of practice to "get there." And I'm the fastest ramp in my group, my friend in PR who is my favorite opponent requires the first 10 matches AND for me to play easy to warm up because I warm up faster. His peak, however, is just as high as mine because we are equals in terms of skill and the only game that we are equal in is Soul Calibur. I can throw as many bulls eyes in darts as can physically fit on the bulls eye on a dart board. I go 5 of 6 at that particular skill because let's be honest...the 6th dart is friggin' HARD to fit in there! That's the level of skill I require of myself, the demands that I place on myself and the rigor of training I will go through to get there is not simply physical, nor mental, it is both. Where most people see impossibility, I see a challenge. To most americans, it's retarded to go through such training. Why? My best guess is that they think it's just not necessary. They expect a lower level of game and when they win this lower game against numerous opponents who similarly play this game they are happy. When you hit Korea and see 500APM in a RTS game they can't follow the commands, nor understand the intricacies, and probably don't even think the game is fun. I hit 400+ APM on Starcraft because it's what I do. I played 3v1 BGH against the top ladder players in America because that was the last challenge I could FIND in America...and I could win. It's not my fault that I see the game differently, but it is also not my fault that the game I see is simply stronger than the game that is seen by the majority of players of video games. It's stronger because the requirements are more difficult, the expectation is higher, and the knowledge is complete. Fun for me is not just execution, and it's not just knowledge, and it's not just training. Because of age I will not be able to even compete at a high level much longer(I start shaking when playing sometimes because of the physical and mental strain), but the knowledge will not fade...just the execution. Am I sad about this? No...that's life. But do I see the game differently now? God no, and it pisses me off when people who don't see the correct game, the beautiful game, come in and mislead people learning who can still attain the highest level and tell them "oh no, this idiot thinks that's necessary but look I'm doing ghetto shit and winning look at me" No...ghetto is not a perfect 10 video game...ghetto is teaching wrong and finding followers who believe you only to have them walk into true high level play and get slaughtered at their teacher's direction.
