Anyone have trouble sticking with a character?

Artilust

Artilust

[10] Knight
Because I am. I really am. This is coming to be a bit of a shocker to me, because Ive been playing the same characters for years and years in other games. Among other fighters...

SC1 I was fine with Ivy and Nightmare
SC2 I was fine with Ivy and Nightmare
SC3 I was fine with Zasalamel and Ivy

Now in SC4 its just pure mess. Everyone has their own little bit of WTF, and I dont know which way to go. Im easily discouraged in SC4 to the point where Ive been bumping around the roster until I can finally fill comfortable. In August it was Zasalamel and Amy. Ivy wasnt what I remembered and SW being her strongest stance was a heavy turnoff since SC2 was my favorite incarnation of her.

By December I had already tried my luck with Talim, Setsuka, Lizardman, Mitsurigi, Maxi, Xianghua, Algol, Hilde and Yoshimitsu.

I really love Zas, but he just isnt giving me "what I need" when im playing someone equally skilled. I know about all that he has and how to get around things but its too much. Ive been playing with X for some time so I dont think im going to drop her completely, Hilde is hovering somewhere in the distance.


But now im looking at Sieg again. He isnt exactly like Nighty but, hes still stance oriented and I like that. Good damage and great mixup. What Zasalamel should have been.


I guess all this goes without saying its really hard for me to really buckle down and take just 3 characters serious, I feel like this overload of characters is preventing me from really getting better. Or perhaps ive been fooled into believing that losing on PSN means that character isnt equipped to deal with [insert problem]..who knows.


I really think im going to stick with Zas - Sieg - Hilde (with an occasional Xianghua). Someone call bullshit.
 
Me too i stick to taki since sc1 but i can understand you because the characters you're used to seem to have changed pretty much.
 
I've never stuck to any one character in any fighting game. It's more fun when you learn them all. Ask OOF. ^.^
 
I've consistently mained Ivy since SCII. When it comes to secondary, I've made a few switches. I've always played Yoshi, but finally got very comfortable with him when I learned to iMCF. I love JFs that are hard to pull off.

I've also play a decent amount of Setsuka, Tira, and Cass, and I recently have been very drawn to Setsuka, after dropping her for awhile because of my frustration with her insane timing.
 
at 1st no, i was yun all the way, then started trying other people and now didnt no my fave, but um go bac to my 2nd all time fave siegfried, i even have this problem in tekken ATM, lars or jin? alisa or lili, Argh lol,
 
Rest assured Artilust you're not alone.

My original "Main" was Yoshi but I feel like I'm insulting Yoshi players by saying that, that was way back when I didn't know about notation, or combos, or frames, or any of that stuff.

Then came Tira and she held that spot for a WHILE. I absolutely loved her back story and character, so I was determined to use her, until one day I'm playing and I realized.......Tira fucking sucks! I mean I never really took note of her tier list placement before (It seemed adequate.) but now that I play Maxi I have no clue how she can possibly be in the same tier as him. I mean in the final days of the "Tira age" I started playing extensively to Rock, so I was no stranger to the odds being stacked against me but DAMN!

Then came a very brief period of no mains until I settled on Setsuka.

And then came what is known as "The dark ages" I went through a period where I could not beat anyone with her no matter how hard I tried. I almost gave up. But, after a bit of determination I began to win, a lot. I started winning more and more, all the while practicing with her extensively. Finally I got to the point where the next logical step for me was to learn to do her iUmbrella after pretty much any launcher she had including A+K B on a grounded opponent. I get it all down fairly well and go online. Now I finally understand the label "Frustrated Setsuka player"

Well after I dropped Setsuka in despair I entered "The second dark age" where I had no main and basically turned into the SC4 equivalent of the washed up guy who loses his job and becomes an alcoholic and grows a scraggly beard for no reason.

Well all the while a person on my friends list had been showing me various things with the many characters he started using one of which was Maxi (thank god he was able to put up with me being a slow learner.). So I started doing my own homework on him and tadaa! Thank god.
 
I know how you feel. Ive always been a fan of Raph so hes sticking with me but ive recently been going back and fourth with Yun, Yoshi, Hilde, and Zas. I'm trying hard to hold down Zas and Yun, but maybe ill work with Hilde a bit as well. I wanna be good with a lot of characters but its difficult.
Stick with Zas though, Good luck.
 
My goal is to master the entire male roster...
I main Yun Seong but I rarely even use him...but that's my main...I guess to some extent I ain't playing this game seriously. At least not yet.
Raph and Cervy are fun...but Cervy is mad hard to get decent with.
 
Having followed 2 fighting games (SC and VF) through numerous iterations, I find that overall:

As the fighting systems become more and more advanced, you're consistently corralled into a smaller character selection of fighters that you can truly 'master' in a reasonable amount of time. For example, I started with VF1 in the arcades, and after way too many years and hours of playing, I could reasonably say that I had mastered all 8 characters, each with (what, 30 or so moves each?) Leap ahead to 2009, VF has like 16 characters with about 80-150 moves each, a dizzying array of combo possibilities, and meanwhile the fighting system itself becomes more increasingly tight, complex, and dependent upon subtleties of use of the moves.

So, with each iteration of a fighting game, I have to bid a sad farewell to some old friends. "Sorry, Jeffry, we had some good times, old buddy, but I need to focus my training time on the new Step-from-Flamingo Stance for Sarah". "Sorry, Seung Mina, you and me used to rip it up together, but I'm going to have to leave you behind so that I can learn this new character Setsuka." It always feels a bit sad at first, to leave a treasured character behind, that you have fought so many great battles with. And you usually intend, fully intend, that once you've mastered the new intricacies of your 'main(s)', you'll come right back and re-develop your old 'sub(s)'. But it doesn't always work out that way, and life goes on. Heck, I might even start a new thread about 'What fighting character were you forced to leave behind that you miss the most / feel most guilty about leaving behind?', lol.

Now, some thoughts on loyalty to a character:

Some characters, you just feel an undying loyalty towards, though. VF's Sarah just happens to be the first character I managed to beat that old VF1 arcade machine with, and ya know what? We're bound for life, her and me. She's my first, last and only true love in fighting characters. A 16-year long relationship, way longer than any of my gf's stuck around, and no arguments (except in VF3 when they dressed her like a New York whore omg wtf?!?!?) but the relationship has been ongoing and good for both of us, and I love her.

And not because I think she's sexy, or good, or easy to handle, or fits my fighting style. Just because of that one day, the sun setting slow and orange through the dusty windows of a small, nearly empty arcade in a NoCal farming town, that she and I finally, after so many weeks and so many goddamned quarters, finally beat the machine. I later beat the machine, and many upstarts, with all the VF characters, but Sarah always had a special place in my heart, and I've mained her in all further iterations, and she's always returned my affections with interest. (I was very surprised but very pleased to learn, a decade later, that VF designer and 3d fighter creator Yu Suzuki, also 'mained' Sarah whenever he played his own creation).

Ask not what your character can do for you, my friend. Ask what you can do for your character. Therein lies the answer you seek. If you look at the characters based on their stats or how their handling feels at first, you're missing the point. You need to make a full-hearted commitment to a character, to find their 'soul' (hey, it's right there in the name of the game!) you will be undefeatable.

The reason you fall in love with a character doesn't matter. Your commitment to that love affair does. Just find something, anything, about a character that will enable you to fall in love with them. And then put some level of commitment and effort into the relationship. It's a two way street, baby. Your skills don't win battles. Your character doesn't win battles. Your close, deep and personal relationship with a character wins all battles.
 
I always come back to Yun. I've mained Zas, NM, and Mina in the past. But no matter how many characters I go through, Yun is always there =]
 
Having trouble choosing a real main too !
- Soph is definitely my stronger character, but I feel she's too simple at times... Need more complex character
- Cass is nice, but she also has that "too basic" sophie feel, and doesn't even have a TC angel step
- Yoshimitsu felt like the answer, but I can't make him work well (iMCF is too hard and if I'm against an opponent who spaces too much I have a lot of trouble because he has no lows that hit mid-long range so all they do is block high and back off ...)
- Amy feels a little bit too simple too, and I have the same spacing problem
- Lizardman is cool, but isn't fast at all, and can't punish
- Setsuka is SUPER COOL but I can't do consistently her moves (never managed 1 : A : A : A even once, neither 2143B:B, and ordinary umbrella, not even JF, comes out only rarely, yet I can do easily the two B+K moves ...)
- Kilik is kinda slow, can't punish and I don't know what do to when I have my opponent in my face


I should really try Ivy or Voldo (more complex yet fast and have good range), but I don't like the characters, who wants to play a dominatrix or a satanic child molestor ? Not me ! Don't like the "power" characters either, they're just so slow and feel sloppy (Nightmare, Siegfried, Astaroth, Rock, Vader, Zasalamel). Talim sucks in SC4 jumping everywhere, Cervantes is just ... baaah don't like him, Mitsurugi is an asshole, Mina is weak, Raph and Apprentice are lame, X is more of a girly character, and Algol annoys me... Hilde charge/gimmicks : not for me either, I like to press a button and get a hit, not charge like Guile/Blanka/Chun-Li in SF series.

Any tips someone? ^^ You think maybe I should give Ivy or Voldo a real try ? Or just stick with learning Setsuka ?
 
KingAce said:
My goal is to master the entire male roster...
I main Yun Seong but I rarely even use him...but that's my main...I guess to some extent I ain't playing this game seriously. At least not yet.
Raph and Cervy are fun...but Cervy is mad hard to get decent with.
Click to expand...

Take your sausage fest somewhere else
 
Our community is small so I try go between sticking with one that's worked since SC2, and trying something new. I was trying to be a Cass/Sophi player, but really only stuck w/Cass. Just a decent cass at best. Have tooled around with Mina, Asta, and Voldo in SC3.

In SC4 I went with Cass again, but we got a guy who just flat out plays a better cass than I do, so I've tried some different stuff. I mess w/Mitsu, a little Sig, but somehow started using Talim as my main. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. I would consider her my main, with Cass a close 2nd, and Mitsu a close 3rd.

In a tournament setting, I'm not sure I'd feel confident going with my Talim. I've only really had success because nobody was used to fighting her. As I play her more, people become more aware of her setups and start to shut her down and I just don't have enough mixups w/her. So then it's on to my 2nd or 3rd character, that I'm not totally confident with against a decent player.

Will try to work something out over the next couple weeks as I head out to play some out of state comp. Sometimes I just want to have a character that's unique to our scene, but in the end, I think I should just stick with a character I like, not worry about how someone else plays them and just make them the best I can of my playstyle.
 
My first real main was yun seoung then i switched to Algol and havnt changed since. I have changed alot with secondary chars tho. I still use yun a bit but i can't really decide between yoshi/ asta/ sieg or nightmare.
 
I definately had that problem... first started with Nightmare and Lizardman in SCII, then mained Yoshimitsu and Sophitia in SCIII, and now Sophitia, Cassandra, and Yoshimitsu in SCIV.
 
I've stuck with Nightmare due to him being the first character I ever used in a Soul Calibur game. Hell, he was the first character I ever used seriously in a fighter. I remember going to the arcade and wasting hundreds of quarters, creating the ultimate SCII Nightmare. In SCIII, I fluctuated between Nightmare and Mina. I hated what they had done to my Nightmare, but I stuck through. Now in SCIV, I am fully back into my Nightmare game, and it's all becuase of that one fateful quarter. Drown in the cesspool of my old arcade memories!
 
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