Just got Soul Calibur 5!

[Der Lindwurm]

I was a huge fan of the original Soul Blade (which I still think of as just "Soul Edge" because that's what it was in arcades before the Playstation version) but haven't had much experience with any of the Soul Caliburs (mostly because I never had the right system to run them on.) I've had SC5 almost a week and I'm getting into it, though a lot has change since the days of all those basic four-hit combos where successfully defending that last hit, be it vertical or low horizontal, meant everything.

Fortunately, Siegfried still has a lot of the same moves he always did! Unfortunately, that means veteran human players are so intimately acquainted with them by now it's hard to ever land a hit on anyone with them. I still have my moments against the AI sometimes (I really owned Taki... er... I mean Natsu in normal arcade mode here) but have yet to win a whole match on hard difficulty. The best I've done is a round or two. Once the AI counters me and knocks me down, it just keeps dishing out and by the time I'm back on my feet I'm pretty much dead. Meanwhile, I'm still pretty harmless while you're down. I keep wanting to do the old dirty play and forget that it doesn't work that way anymore.

Anyway, hoping to get into this game the same way I did the original. And ready to keep losing until I figure out how to win. I never rage quit! I'd have three wins by now if that hadn't been done to me once already.

 

[hoshinocomet]

Firstly, welcome to 8WR! Congrats on getting SC5.

Its not that difficult in Arcade Mode, even on the hardest difficulty. In essence, you just need to learn how to guard, step , and effectively punish the CPU when possible.

You seem to have trouble when knocked down. Best option you can do is to guard - you can easily find youself doing so just as your character begins to stand. Or you can Tech Roll (otherwise known as Ukemi) - backwards, forwards, or sideways to get up faster - to prevent the CPU from pressuring you more.

Just be aware that the AI - or real players for that matter - can also punish you with Ukemi Traps while you are rising - aka "Tech Traps". When battling against a skilled SC player, for instance, its sometimes better to just block.

Be sure to visit the Siegfried Soul Arena since you look to be a Sieg player.
http://8wayrun.com/forums/siegfried.94/

For Terms and Notations
http://8wayrun.com/threads/basic-notations-and-terminology.58/

 

[Der Lindwurm]

Yeah, Siegfried FTW! Though I also played Mitsurugi and Sophitia a lot back in the Soul Blade days. I guess Pyrrha is more the spitting image of Sophitia than Patroklos? She's kind of annoying... then again, so is Patroklos, though I guess his attitude is kind of the same as Siegfried's was before he chilled out and became all fatalistic. I definitely plan on getting back into Mitsurugi though I'm wondering if it would be best to concentrate on getting good with one character for now.

Learning to play some better defense is definitely a top priority - one reason why I've mostly done arcade mode so far, just hoping to get a better feel for the mechanics. Becoming able to dish out some of the same extended punishment that's done to me once I'm down would be nice too. I'd better learn the exact notation you use here before I attempt to discuss exactly what I've been trying to do and what the problem is. I need to figure this "Ukemi" stuff out, I think, so I can roll backwards and then hopefully have a little bit of space (the AI loves to crowd me, I've noticed.) I guess getting better acquainted with the kick attacks would help there too? I really never did any kicking with Siegfriend way back when, except for stomping them when they're down.