The road from Button Mashing noob to the Big Leagues. Help me please.

Z

Zummy

[08] Mercenary
So I've been playing a lot of soul calibur 4. Granted I'm not that great, I still mash a few buttons and see some pretty fights. To put this in perspective, I hate hate hate hate hate The Apprentice on Arcade stage 7. Like, no matter what I do he just destroys me. I haven't been able to beat him yet.

The problem is I have little to no knowledge on what I'm actually doing in the game. So I guess now is a good time to pick a character, sit down, learn the game and start doing something good.

So, first thing's first, I need a character. Mind you, I don't want to do tournaments or anything like that, I just want to pick it up with a few friends or maybe go online. Tier lists don't mean that much to me or anything like that. That being said, which would you recommend to someone to learn the game with?

Hilde (My favorite), Talim (dancing circles around people is sure fun), Taki (I've played online twice, and both against Takis that seemed to full combo me to death, lot's of fun watching them, got me inspired to put her on my list to learn), or Cassandra (Or sophitia, I guess. They're basically the same, right?).

If Hilde isn't terribly hard to pick up moves and combos with, I think I should just learn her. But advice is always nice.

Secondly, I need a little brush up on tactics. I understand the code you all use. The whole 214AB, 4A, TC, TT, JF, etc. My problem is utilizing it. I know what Punish means, but how can I tell when to use it? Please say there's a guide out there that gives general advice on poking/punishing/teching/ukemi/etc. Right now I just look at whoever I'm facing and think "Oh he's not doing horiz attacks, better sidestep. Or; Oh he's doing a lot of horizontal attacks, let me try and time a 4_6G." Something like, Prioritize low attacks and guard most attacks until an opponent messes a combo, then hit them with a few attacks and back up, etc. etc. Right now I just kinda mindlessly mash and hope it works. haha.

And since I'm posting, might as well ask about Hilde's charge mechanic. I understand you hold either A or B for X seconds for X charges, but beyond that I'm pretty clueless. Is there some good guide you all can send me off to?

Thanks for the help guys!
 
Well Zumy welcome don't worry about anything 8wayrun is going to help you where a big family here!!! But first choose your main!!! Cassandra would be a really good character she's easy to pick up : And like Synraii said get an offline player to teach you IT HELPS ALOT!!!! Anyway don't forget to enjoy yourself :D
 
Frame data for the characters you mentioned.
http://8wayrun.com/wiki/cassandra-frame-data-sc4/
http://8wayrun.com/wiki/sophitia-frame-data-sc4/
http://8wayrun.com/wiki/talim-frame-data-sc4/
http://8wayrun.com/wiki/hilde-frame-data-sc4/
http://8wayrun.com/wiki/talim-frame-data-sc4/

These will help you understand what that means:
http://8wayrun.com/threads/frame-data-and-you-a-laymans-guide.2800/
http://8wayrun.com/threads/understanding-frame-animation.7020/

Read these too:
http://8wayrun.com/threads/learning-how-to-learn-soul-calibur.405/
http://8wayrun.com/threads/online-play-facts-and-basics.5692/

Here's a list of 8wayrunners who play online:
http://8wayrun.com/threads/psn-xbl-player-list-database.6984/
But see if you can get offline games. Those are more important.

If you're XBL, I'll be happy to show you common setups and gimmicks so that you don't fall for them.
 
Thanks everyone for the hearty welcomes. :)
Whoah Lasercakes! Lots of info, I appreciate it!
What are offline games?
Sorry, I'm psn. :( BUT! I do appreciate the thought!
 
online playing with someone over the internet
offline : playing with someone in the same room, on the same console

btw Zummy don't call yourself a noob, you certainly understand that Soul Calibur is far more complex than a button mashing fighting game, You should call yourself a beginner :D
 
Welcome to 8Wayrun!
For punishment:
You can easily make the training dummy do unsafe attacks and block as soon as possible (Record function)
then you can practice to block and punish it.

@ The Apprentice: I hated him too.

Enjoy your stay ^^

Edit: This could be the section you are searching for, especially the stickies might be of interest to you:
http://8wayrun.com/forums/soulcalibur-tactics.4/
 
Pocky Yoshi says hello and is pleased to meet you. He's overwhelmed by all this generosity his buddies are giving you, Zummy. That being said Pocky Yoshi is gonna give you one last headache of info to stuff you >3

If you need a visual on stuff like 236B or 4BB:A, the link in my sig is what you need.


Basically all of us 8wayrunners, are gonna stuff you with way too much info to help you get better. Tee-hee!

If you get stuck on something, feel free to PM or so to anyone you feel comfortable with. We'll help the best way we can. =)

As for playing me online? Ps3 YLOD. 360 live expired and disconnected. Pocky Yoshi pouts.....

Hopefully, I'm gonna go invest in offline soon as SCV drops.
 
Well to defeat the AI I will teach you a secret... They don't know how to block grabs! Just grab A then grab B, it works so well.

I can tell you that I really love to main Talim! But I love maining her because I know she requires a lot of effort to win with! So if you like an uphill battle choose her. For me it's the cuteness and awesomeness of winning fights that are stacked against me that keeps me coming back for more.

Against other players I like to play Talim as reactionary character. I play the first round and fight a little bit, but not pull out my best moves, while trying to figure out if my enemy is one who attacks without thinking or if they pay attention to me at all.

If they are a stupid attacker online I can get in a lucky 4BK AB, Man that is sick when it connects.

When I ground targets from hits I like to punish them with a 4AB, also when your learning talim you need to experience the air kick, it really kills the beginners who can't air control, 3B K K K K, and when you can't deliver any more kicks mash an AB spinning whirlwind, it's fun stuff.

I could go on and on, just touching on moves that I think a beginner can have fun with. Hell I know I do.
 
Welcome!!

Zummy said:
Thanks everyone for the hearty welcomes. :)
Whoah Lasercakes! Lots of info, I appreciate it!
What are offline games?
Sorry, I'm psn. :( BUT! I do appreciate the thought!
Click to expand...

Add me on PSN, or I'll just add you. Finally someone of my own skill level, yes!

Dab_Of_Oppo

I love racing games too.
 
Zummy said:
The problem is I have little to no knowledge on what I'm actually doing in the game. So I guess now is a good time to pick a character, sit down, learn the game and start doing something good.

Which character would you recommend to someone to learn the game with?

Right now I just kinda mindlessly mash and hope it works. haha.
Click to expand...
Hi Zummy, welcome to the forum. I must say, even though I don't know your background in fighting games, I understand how you feel. I just wanted to tell you that the only thing separating you now from the big leagues are years of experience they have of constant playing (either by themselves or with other people offline and online). So being devoted to simply playing this game will get you there.
The best way you'll learn is in this forum and fighting someone more experienced (not all the time, if you don't like being beaten all the time ^o^). My game exploded after I joined here and saw that there are many things about my characters I didn't know.

As for the choice of characters, as you saw in your profile, you can have a primary, secondary, tertiary character and so on. I suggest choosing the character you like/love the most as your primary. Someone you know discovering his/her secrets will be a joyride.

You'll get the difference between mindless mashing and knowing what you're doing at some point. Don't you worry too much about that.

Oh, and I don't know how SCIV online scene will be after SCV is released in two moths... Not exactly same, I believe... ;)
 
Thanks again for everything.

Let's see how many things I can address here.

PSN Id: Isotope-- (Include both hyphens.)
For the few people wanting to add me, I'll even vs you online, so go for it! I'll make a note of your names and add you later, probably not gonna play for a few hours still.

I understand notation and frames now. My main issue is just applying that knowledge on a consistent basis. It's still hard to tell when someone's attack is going to be followed up with another or if that I'm going to get screwed because his attack is slightly faster than I anticipated.

As far as characters go, as much as I love Talim I just can't do anything right with her. I try chaining a lot of her combos together, and they either block it all or it only chips such a small portion of their damage, then they kill me in three hits. Haha, it'll take some time.
I am getting pretty good at Hilde's combos, my main issue here is most of her attacks seem pretty slow, so it's hard to establish range again while the people wail at my face. I really like 7K for that, it's cool. There's also a B move that launches me quite a ways back, that's fun. I can almost never do it though, I think its like 44B or something...
I finally beat the campaign with Taki with her really really cheap B+K, B, B combo, that does a real big amount of damage. I am thinking about learning some of her, but I'd rather invest the effort into Hilde or Talim.

SC V is gonna be so awesome! That's why I picked up SC IV again yesterday. I need to practice my moves so I can wreck in time when SC V comes out.
 
Depending upon your locale, me and Leshain would be good to go against. I can beat him, but only just, and I think he lets me...

It's not so long a road actually. The hardest bit is the part where you put what you know into practice. Like Cassandra for instance. I finally know a good deal of her moveset, but as for the what-to-use-when-and-why, that's hard.

Good luck to you, ser! See you online or whenever! And welcome to 8wayrun
 
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