SCV comparisons for street fighter player?

[Aurumvorax]

Hi all, I'm brand new to the SoulCalibur series, and pretty new to fighting games in general. However, I have played enough of SF4 to basically know how the game works. Would anyone like to comment on how SoulCalibur differs or is similar to SF4? In particular, what mistakes do SF players make in SoulCalibur, and what aspects of the two games make them play differently once you're decent in both?

Here are some of my shallow observations, being a total SCV noob. Similarities:

1. Obviously both are 1 on 1 fighters with attacks, a health system, etc.
2. The mechanics of both games involve discrete moves that have startup frames, active frames, recovery frames, and hitboxes.
3. Both involve mind games and rock-paper-scissors gameplay, in similar ways (e.g. low attacks beat midlevel blocking, etc.).
4. Differences in characters are often along the same lines---characters differ in their zoning potential, damage, safety, frame-trapping, mobility, etc.
5. They both have meters which can be used to make moves more powerful, or for defensive purposes.
6. There are a lot of specific similarities, like working your opponent into the corner, hit-confirming, counterhit damage bonus, combo scaling, etc.

And some differences SCV has from SF4:

1. It's is 3D, duh
2. Hand dexterity is deemphasized---there's a built-in combo buffer/input window, presumably so players won't have to spend hours practicing plinking and double-tapping like I did in SF.
3. The move list is much longer. There seem to be a lot more specific animations in SCV. Characters in SF have fewer unique moves, and many of their moves are slight variants on each other (e.g. mp shoryuken vs hp shoryuken).
4. The attacks are significantly slower. In SF there are many moves with 3 frames of startup (or impact as they call it in SC?), but in SCV a move that starts in 10 or 12 frames is considered fast.
5. SCV has more complicated misc mechanics. For instance there's a separate okizeme system with rolls. There's a guard burst mechanic. Throws can be teched in two different ways. Moves can be tagged with more properties like tech crouch, special low, unblockable, etc.

Is this about right? If I had to guess, I'd say that compared to SF, SCV puts less emphasis on hand dexterity, but more emphasis on being familiar with all of your opponents attacks and options.

SCV appears slower, so perhaps that means that raw reactions are less important, but looking at SCV gameplay videos I'm not actually sure that the game is necessarily slower. Fireballs in SF can take up a lot of space and slow down the action, while sidestepping in SCV allows for more angles of attack. So I'm not sure if SF4 or SCV is more "rushdown oriented" and reactions-based despite SCV appearing to be slower.

With those caveats, I'd say that so far

• Compared to SCV, SF4 emphasizes hand dexterity and frame-specific timing
• Compared to SF4, SCV emphasizes familiarity with more complicated mechanics, and the ability to quickly recognize (and respond to) a large number of possible moves.

Anyone good at both want to agree/disagree, or have SCV tips for SF players?

Please no arguments about which game is "better" or "harder"---I'm sure both games are great in their own way and appeal to different people. It also doesn't make sense to argue that one game is harder or dumbed down, because in the end you're playing other people, and plenty of dedicated players and tough competitors play both games I'm sure.

 

[Bushido]

SCV is totally more rush-down based than SF4. If you turtle up in SCV you will get your guard broken and get hurt. Blocking is not the end all of defensive options in SCV, using proper evasive techniques, like ducking highs, jumpings lows, side stepping verticals and backdashing short range moves are all vital to have a proper active defense and keep your guard bar intact. Also you have Guard impacts that cost meter but allow you to repel any attack from all 3 hit levels, giving you a free get out of mix-ups and pressure card. And finally you have just guard which functions like a SF3 parry.

You need all of these defensive options becuase offense is very powerful, with almost all characters able to deal half life combo's with little to no meter usage, or able to shatter your guard bar in 2 rounds or less.