General Tips Requested for New Players

There are some things that I've picked up from visiting this site that I've found to be very helpful to my game. I'm sure most people on here play at a high level, and so some things that seem obvious to them and go unmentioned under the unassumption that the readers already know it might go by someone who otherwise wouldn't have known it. I was hoping to collect some of these general things in one thread, both for myself and other's who are just getting into VF this time around.

Watching online videos, I've noticed and have heard that most players are setting up their throws with /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/d.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif - why is this? Every time I try I get poked out while trying to stand up to throw. What am I missing here?

I've been told that throw escapes are entered when players find themselves in a dissadvantagous situation where they assume they're going to get thrown and hit the reversal of the most popular of the opponent's throws. There is no question here, but I found this extremely helpful as to 'getting it' on throw reversals. I had assumed everyone knew something I didn't, and that it wasn't the case that knew they weren't going to get hit instead of thrown. General, I know, but that's the point here.

I never dodge. I just never go comfortable doing it over blocking, as it never seems to dodge for me when I want (my characters just move normally most times), and as a result I've sort of turned my back on using dodges. I really need to work on it, so any help is appreciated on getting better at the dodge game.

Offensive Movements: how are most people using these? As /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif or /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/k.gif attacks out of them or for the movement itself? It seems that every time I try them to better improve my positioning, like taking someone's back for example, I get punished by the CPU. How are you using them?

Feel free to add your own questions here.

 

You dodge at the same time as the attack comes. If you're just moving normally (failed evade), then you must be going too early. Think of it like tapping up or down when you would attack if you were the other player.

OM is quite situation specific, so I'd not worry about that for the moment. There's threads with loads of theory in its best application and even they haven't got any ultra-definitive answers, so it's probably better to focus on evading for now.

If you say who you play as, I'm sure someone will help. If there's a Ten Best Moves type thread in that character's section, I heartily recommend you go check that out. They've proven invaluable to me so far.

 

Thanks for the input. Is it accurate to assume most high level players opt for blocking or counters as opposed to dodges because of its risk?

I play Wolf as a main character, but lately I've been bouncing around from character to character to mix it up. I have about 100 fights with Eileen but got kind of bored of her. I also have about 350 fights with Aoi, but I'm just not as good with her despite having fun (love her throws and reverses, but hate everything else lol). I'm still not sure who I'm going to be playing as much as I have Wolf (almost 700 fights).

 

Blocking is great for starters, but evades and counters are signs of experience. You start learning how to read your opponents play style and finding different ways to get around them or break their attack patterns. I would say defensively it's an even spread of blocking and evading, to maybe a 10 percent or lower spread for ocunters unless you have a VERY predictable opponent.

 

Invalid, if you can use Aoi's reversals, you can mix evades into your game. The way I think of evades is that they are essentially reversals for characters that don't have reversals specifically. The timing is the same. Instead of entering b+P+K, tap up or down to evade an opponent's punch.

Re: throw reversals, check out my throw escape guide a few threads down. You will eventually have to learn all the throws in the game to escape them properly, but the guide is my attempt to try and summarize the command directions your opponents will most likely use to do the most damage or ring you out.

 

Also another thing you should do is learn the half-circulars of your opponents.

If you're playing against Brad (for example) that likes using /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/b.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif, step to his stomach and act accordingly afterwards.

 

I had a huge problem with dodging at advantage. I used to think "Ooh - for my next trick, I will dodge my opponents next attack on reaction (even though I just scored, say, an elbow stagger, and I'd just end up stepping to the side slowly for no apparent reason)!" I don't think this way anymore. Here's why:

Although dodging on reaction is possible, dodges weren't really meant to be used that way. Their purpose is to provide an option when at disadvantage.

For instance: I do 666P with Akira and I get blocked. Now I'm at -8. If I want to act defensively without just standing there and blocking, I can use dodge to step out of the way should my opponent use an attack right away.

Now, if they choose to throw, I will get thrown (unless I also input the correct throw escape along with my dodge - this means I just performed a dodge/throw escape). If they choose a half-circular attack and I dodge the wrong way, I get hit. If they expect me to dodge and wait a frame or two, I get failed dodge and fall victim to their delayed attack. If I guess correctly and dodge a big attack, I'll have enough frames to land a successful hit. If I dodge only a small attack, I will not have enough frames to even be at advantage.

That's pretty much how dodging works. There is probably more that I don't know. Once I started using the stuff I just wrote about, the game became even more fun.

Good luck.

 

I'm a huge fan of dodges just beacuse I like being evasive, but I play against a friend who loves to throw so I had to stop dodging as much since I can't ETE on my friend's pad only on joystick. Doing that really helped me a lot in also knowing when it's beter to throw than to attack. I've also herd that you can get a nice side throw if you do a throw right after an evade.

 

What is said in this site can be a great help to anyone of any skill level advanced to beginner. I myself am only an experienced intermediate player at best and don't have the skills of the better players that post here but I do have few words of advice I give a person starting out. These things really helped me beat VF4 Evo and made my way up the ranks in VF5 with no major issues regardless of high ranking the enemy is

1. Focus on your defense first and if you defend first you will see what a person will do to you and you can plan for it ahead of time. You might get thrown often because you block too much early but you will know what to expect from the enemy in the future and you won't look to block as much. Offense can come later after you have better feel for the enemy, to speed up your progress in VF5 play the harder arcades early to prepare you for what they will do later on because the game will only get harder you had better start on a harder game right away and play the game at a Hard difficulty as well to prepare you for harder human foes later.

2. The best defensive move you will ever do is the low jab, it should be used to set the enemy up for your moves and disrupt their patterns as well. Don't depend on it however, that will get you killed against skilled enemies, time its usage and it becomes a valuable tool in your arsonal.

3. Don't be afraid to back up if you feel overwhelmed. point blank range defense isn't something I will ever master or excel at and I don't try to master I use space as my ultimate weapon even though I will attempt to dodge and counter attack once in a while. When you stand back and don't attack the enemy whether it be a human or CPU won't know how to respond right away. Use this as your advantage and take them out when you sense indecision in your enemy. Once your attack is done, back up again so the enemy can't take advantage of a stagnant enemy right away. certain people like lion and his ranged pokes will make this hard but you should anticipate this and account for this making him pay for any failed ranged poke attempt.

Vary your attack style up with high, low, and mid attacks. This will make it harder for other to reverse, sabaki, dodge or counter your moves and use all or most of the characters throws as well even if they don't do very much damage that way people can't anticipate one type of throw and break it every time. Learn when to stop your attacks early to prevent people from taking advantage of them as much.

What you learn in the forums are very helpful but you should
make your own combos and pop ups as well that way you can contribute to the wealth here and new people that come in later can learn from you.

 

OMG, we should date! I bet we have so much chemistry!