Greetings, new to SC!

ElPewPew

ElPewPew

[08] Mercenary
Hello everyone

I just got SCV yesterday and boy it has been my first 3D in a long time, since Tekken 5. I've mostly been playing 2D games like SF4 and KOF and saw a couple of matches in Final Round and decided to pick it up(purchase by hype xD).

I used to play T5 a lot so all the side stepping and movement basics feel nice, but I've never played a SC game so there is a lot stuff that's new to me, like the guard button I still press back to try to guard attacks.

I have a couple of questions about the game:
  • What should be the first thing I should work on? Knowing combos? Guarding? Are there parries in the game like in Tekken?
  • How is character balance in the game? Right now I picked up Aeon cause I thought he was really cool, and I'm still trying out some other characters, but I found Natsu to be really good too. Are there tiers like other fighting games?
  • In the command list there are moves that look like this aB or bB where one letter is smaller than the other. What does that input mean?
  • Is there keep away in this game? Like SF4 with Dhalsim or Guile?
Thanks for your time, see you around.
PS: My PSN id is PewPewSV
 
Character balance is pretty good, Aeon might be low-er tier. Watch out for Natsu at all costs while online lol. Good luck man!
 
Yeah played a few matches with a Natsu online and I had a lot of trouble against her, she's very tricky.
 
nice to know you picked up Soul Calibur. even though you've had your hand at playing tekken 5 soul calibur has a completely different feel because tekken has a control scheme and mechanics of a 2D fighter. soul calibur doesn't. now for your questions.

1. you should work on guarding. it's a huge part of the game. you can't do your combos if you're being hit by the other player. there are two advanced systems of blocking in SC5. one is called Just Guard and the other is Guard Impact. the game tells you how to Guard Impact which is the easier of the two. Just guard requires you to tap the guard button just before an attack lands. it eliminates any blocking frames you would have gone through if you regularly blocked the attack.

2. character balance is kind of scattered in the game but not as great as 2D fighters. there is no such thing as each character having a different amount of HP. (example: if you were to hit Sakura [SSF4] with the same move 8 times then it would do a certain amount of damage. Hit Ryu with the same attack 8 times he'll have more health left afterwards than Sakura). So yes there are tiers but it's not as greatly affected as 2D fighters.

3. yes there are commands like bA. these are called slide inputs. for one move with Alpha Patroklos is agB. you either tap the smaller buttons in quick sequence up to the last button or you can slide your thumb or finger (whichever you play with) from b to A.

4. yes there is somewhat of a keep away game but it's not as threatening since you're playing on a 3D battlefield. you can easily sidestep towards your opponent. but that doesn't eliminate the turtling strategy completely. some characters have knockback moves that have a large range. one character has an object that she can manipulate anywhere on the field. so it's a little harder to play keep away in this game than just throwing fire balls and worrying if someone will either absorb it or jump it.

let me know if you have anymore question. will gladly answer them.
 
SC is really my only fighting game so I can’t comment much on comparisons. But I’ll try to answer your questions.

First things to work on: The G button is the most important button. Use it whenever you are not attacking (duh), except when you intend to roll (aka tech aka ukemi) after being knocked down. Know your own character’s entire moveset, and for each move, whether it hits high/mid/low and vertical/horizontal. Learn some basic frame data, specifically, what BnB moves are safe vs unsafe. Understand and incorporate the defensive ideas of stepping verticals, blocking lows vs mids, and breaking throws. Matchup knowledge will come with practice; once you have an idea of the game’s flow, you can start practicing specific anti-character strategies in training mode. Eventually you should try to incorporate GI (guard impact); just guard is a more advanced strat but I wouldn’t say you should try to learn it first.

Character balance is tough to say only one month in. All fighting games will always have tiers; it is a fact of life that in any system so complex, emergent stratification will occur. What SCV’s tiers are, however, is a little premature to announce. In your specific examples, however, Natsu is currently considered high tier, and Aeon low-tier.

A move like aB means “slide A to B quickly.” In the training mode movelists, you can hit the Y button (360) or Triangle (PS3) to view a help screen about that sort of thing.

I suppose by keepaway you mean spacing characters, i.e., those who prefer to play at range? Sure, characters like Siegfried, Hilde, and Astaroth are basically designed to push opponents back away from them into a range where they are helpless and can be hit by slower, more powerful moves.
 
Thanks for the answers

Well just noticed there are 2 Tekken chars: Yoshi and Devil Jin, still haven't unlocked him though.

What would be a good character to start with? I completed the story mode and like Phyrra a lot, she had a good high-low game going on, would you recommend her for newcomers, or perhaps other characters? my brother wants to try out the game too but we don't know nothing about the game xD.
 
Gabedamien said:
I suppose by keepaway you mean spacing characters, i.e., those who prefer to play at range? Sure, characters like Siegfried, Hilde, and Astaroth are basically designed to push opponents back away from them into a range where they are helpless and can be hit by slower, more powerful moves.
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Yes, since I don't play too much of a rushdown in my fighting games, unless for punishes. I mostly play zoning characters and try to setup baits and punish accordingly. So basically someone that can control the space pretty well. I'll give those characters a try :)
 
My sincere advice would be to just play as whomever you like. As you learn the game your tastes may change or you may discover you prefer some other character’s moveset or tier or whatever, but if you play as a character you think is cool, you at least won’t regret the fun you had.

If you’re looking for characters with relatively simple inputs and gameplans (i.e., are rewarding even at beginner level), I might say something controversial like Mitsurugi, Patroklos, Ezio, Pyrrha, or Xiba. Or if you just want to pick a strong, fast, deceptive rushdown character, go with Natsu. ;-)

ElPewPew said:
Yes, since I don't play too much of a rushdown in my fighting games, unless for punishes. I mostly play zoning characters and try to setup baits and punish accordingly. So basically someone that can control the space pretty well. I'll give those characters a try :)
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Okay. Just to let you know, Sieg is currently considered bottom tier (which sucks because he is cool), and both Astaroth and Hilde are considered mid- to low-tier. But again, the game is only one month old, who knows what will develop and whether patches will happen... once more, I emphasize that the best strategy is just to play with the character you like the most.

Nobody in this game is uselessly bad. You can get wins with anyone if you have the skill and knowledge.
 
Gabedamien said:
If you’re looking for characters with relatively simple inputs and gameplans (i.e., are rewarding even at beginner level), I might say something controversial like Mitsurugi, Patroklos, Ezio, Pyrrha, or Xiba. Or if you just want to pick a strong, fast, deceptive character, go with Natsu. ;-)
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I had Natsu in my mind too, cause I saw she had teleports and some nice tricks, reminded me of Raven from T5.

You've been a great help guys, just a final question: in the move list, what (just) mean? Just frames? like in Tekken where you had 1 frame to input a button?

BTW like the ashley riot avatar :)
 
ElPewPew said:
I had Natsu in my mind too, cause I saw she had teleports and some nice tricks, reminded me of Raven from T5.

You've been a great help guys, just a final question: in the move list, what (just) mean? Just frames? like in Tekken where you had 1 frame to input a button?

BTW like the ashley riot avatar :)
Click to expand...
Just inputs are inputs with a strict timing. They have no universal meaning, i.e., they aren’t all 1-frame links or anything. Some are more precise, fast, and/or difficult than others.

For example, Yoshi’s 2a:B is a difficult JF input that requires an extremely fast slide from A to B while holding down (and the A button must be released before hitting B). Maxi’s B+K BBBBBBA is a moderately challenging JF series that requires specific timing of the B inputs (fast fast fast faster faster faster). Alpha Pat’s 1B:B is an easy JF input that requires the second B input to be input in a relatively generous window around when the first B connects. Etc.

BTW, Ezio can arguably be thought of as a keepaway character with his crossbow attacks, but that’s more of a gimmick than a foundational strategy. Just putting that out there. He’s not bad either, and is pretty basic to learn. He has a strong meter game. Not much ringout opportunity or complexity though, he basically relies on strong normals and some good counterhits. He might not end up too threatening once people learn the matchup. Who knows. I like him though.

Thanks for the avatar compliment (and recognition! Although he’s been mashed up with alpha pat, haha).
 
Thanks, putting it on the check list to test him out, I think im gonna sit in the lab a bit and test out the different characters, I've tried a few of them and there are some that I just didn't enjoy playing with, like Cervantes and alpha Patroklos.
 
You can never go wrong with Mitsu or Phyrra. And what Gabe said was completely right about the G button, I played SF4 and Marvel before I started SC5, so I wasn't used to there not being block strings, so I found myself letting go of guard mid combo.
 
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