[PS4] VFUS Ranked Level 21

Hello there, Break here
So I have been playing since the game released on the PSN
And at the start of this month was able to rank up to level 21.
It was a long road but glad I put in the time.
Since then...I have been on a daily losing streak
Like I have had bad streaks in lower ranks, but could at least get one win a day.
When I think about it...I might still be bad at the game or I get matched up with top players alt-accounts
But I have recently had a "Ranked" streak of about 154 losses in a row.
While this might be due to only connecting with the same accounts/users every day
I think I am satisfied with where I am.
Since I am unable to rank down and can only rank up from winning
Should I just stick to room matches ?
Currently, I do no think I am getting better by playing ranked matches (at this point).
Would like some input and thanks again to everyone that has added me on PSN.
Really enjoy the room matches when I first started playing !

 

if you're struggling to learn much from your ranked battles, it would definitely help to practice situations in training that you feel you need work on and sprinkle in some room matches when you want to play against human opponents.

for now, try to reflect on what you might be doing wrong that's leading to you losing many games. it also wouldn't hurt to get in touch with some friends who also play VF and ask for their feedback or play with them in room matches.

while the netcode isn't great in my opinion, which can lead to "online shenanigans" taking over (stuff that wouldn't normally work offline will work here because of inputs getting delayed or swallowed), there is still value in running into the random opponents you may run into, so you don't have to drop ranked mode entirely unless your concern is that the netcode is too rough to deal with.

 

@DomAug

Thanks for replying,
Well the matches go...block, side-step, launcher, 70% combo to wall or ring-out.
Now I could be playing opponents with bad online connections
And the game is not registering my inputs in time.
But the two matches end so fast that I don't know what I should be doing.
Like I am attacking, but they duck or side-step during my inputs
And perfectly launch me into a 70% combo.
I try holding the block button...but I might be missing something.
But I will take your advice and stick to room matches for now.
Seems that the gate keepers at Ranked Level 21 are a bit too strong
Also wondering why they have not ranked up at their skill level ?

 

@akai

I believe you are right on the money...at ranked level 21
The game has stopped becoming fun for me.
Currently trying to use my favorite moves
But it seems like my inputs are getting read and swift countered each time.
I will say, that I am having trouble doing the correct inputs
For throwing low attacks when playing ranked.
Like the move I am thinking of turns out to be another move.
Might just need to keep practicing...but it has been a whole month with no wins >_<"
Will people still be online by the time I am good enough to win a match ?
Ha ha, joking aside I think I will try and play lower ranked players in room matches.

 

@MarlyJay

Will take a bit a research for me to facilitate that.
Have not used this share to youtube feature before.
With that said, thanks for the idea !
It is nice to know people are willing to help me get my game on.
Today, I noticed I have no answer to crouch jabbing.
Like the opponents will push me in a corner
Then crouch-jab me until time runs out or ring out.
When I try to do the same, I just get hit.

@akai

Here are the moves that I tend to use :
Beat Knuckle
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/beat-knuckle.24254/view
Low Spin Kick
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/low-spin-kick.24279/view
Fire Darts
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/fire-darts.24284/view
Double Dragon
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/double-dragon-1st-part.24251/view
Slide Shuffle
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/slide-shuffle.24285/view
Step-in Back Kick
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/step-in-back-kick.24287/view
Step-in Low Slash High
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/step-in-low-slash-high.24289/view
Leap Combo Back Knuckle
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/leap-combo-back-knuckle.24302/view
Jumping Knee Stomp
https://virtuafighter.com/commands/jumping-knee-stomp.24316/view

Where I am currently getting stuck at is with trades.
My favorite moves seems to get negated or counter before they connect.
So I am always in the counter-floating/launcher state
Which leads to ring out or 70% air-combos.
Most of the games I am pressured to stay on defense
Because none of my moves connect and I scramble to stay off the ground.
Might just be my lack of knowledge or awareness as to what I should be doing.

 

Like MarlyJay's suggestion, I was going to suggest recording clips of your play and quite a few of us would be happy to help you out!

I am not free very often, but... if we happen to have common available time (for me, it's usually super late at night), I wouldn't mind trying to organize a time to spar and assess your game, and I would be happy to try to connect you to people who might be at a similar level as you who you could practice regularly with too.

I have also coached people by watching them play via the PS4 (there's a PS4 feature to specate a friend) or Discord screen sharing even whether it was them playing real opponents or even the AI.

Feel free to add me on Discord ( Chanchai#1457 ) or Twitter ( @chancahi_vf ) which are places I frequently respond to on DMs.

 

In addition to @MarlyJay 's and @Chanchai 's recommendations (upload some vids, find a mentor), reading some of the "boring stuff" might also help.

By "boring stuff" I am referring to information about the game's mechanics, that is not directly linked to the character you play.

For example: Jumping Knee Stomp will become a liability once your opponents figure out the intricacies of techrolling.

Detailed information - with pictures - about techrolling, and recovering from falls in general is available in the wiki: https://virtuafighter.com/wiki/on-the-ground/

Watching a couple of youtube videos of high-level players and focusing on how they choose to recover after falls should help illustrate the points raised in the wiki.

Then you can move on to another "boring" wiki section (the next one happens to be movement - it's REALLY worth studying).

 

@break

I would suggest what GT mention before and work on the basics with P, 2p, and 6p with Jacky.

You can practice some quick exchanges recording Jacky doing the moves below to work on your defense and reaction.
P -> 6pk
P -> 6p -> 6p
P -> 6p -> throw

You can use this in record, practice and set it to random.

Other moves you can work it into your game over time.

Time spent in free training can help rebuild that fighting spirit.

 

I usually want to have a dialogue before diagnosing this... but it is actually true that a big separation between the low and high 20s is usually how strong they are at the basics. And the basics in VF is a lot about how you use the high jab, the low jab, your character's elbow class attack, throws, and defense.

When you get good at PETE (Punches, Elbow, Throws, Escapes/Defense), it becomes invaluable at ALL LEVELS OF PLAY, even at the very highest levels of play. You eventually become lightning fast with it too and can stop opponents cold with it and turnaround the fight. It is the core basics of both pressuring and countering an opponent in this game.

A lot of people would be surprised how much these things matter.

And a lot of times my coaching advice is related to this or helping a player observe the opponent's tendencies in a simple way to apply these basics to win.

At the low 20s, a lot of players still have a strong bias in their gameplay--biased to a fault--that can be punished immediately and repeatedly depending on what they are. So coaching multiplayer is helping to see that and get more towards a more freeflow way of playing the game, which happens in the higher 20s and up.

So VFNumbers is giving fantastic advice here, it is most often what I end up finding when observing and coaching ^_^

Another thing I've found helps people play better is explaining how huge the buffer room is in VF--this is huge online and offline.

This game has a generous input buffer, this means that before you recover from block stun or hit stun, you can input your next action very early and the game will generally do it as soon as you recover. This is how the stronger players seem to have less lag than their opponents online and this is how they seem to have insanely fast reflexes offline when all it is is queuing up their character's next action before their character has recovered--the amount of buffer room you have is a strong trait of Virtua Fighter that separates it from a lot of fighting games and I've found that a lot of people don't realize it about VF until someone really explains it to them.

 

I'll list out a few more things on the roadmap to stronger VF:

* PETE (High Punch, low Punch, elbow, throw, escapes/defense) which we talked about above.

* Initiative: Some players will call this "taking turns" because that's the easiest way for players to learn the concept of initiative. Generally, the person who has frame advantage should attack/throw and the person who is at a frame disadvantage should use defensive options. That's the gist of it. While you are learning many situations in VF, you can follow the guideline that if you successfully attack (with a high or mid or 2P) or successfully defend, you get to attack. When you fail to attack or fail to defend (or after you hit with a low poke that is not 2P), you should defend.

* Forced 2-Choice: The basic form of this is if you have an advantage, mixing up between a mid or a throw because your opponent has to choose to deal with one or the other and it is hard to deal with both. Later on your mixups can involve different things like circulars, launchers, guard breaks, etc... But the basic mixup to learn is mid vs. throw because that works at even small advantages until opponents can show they can do option select defense. We generally call "Forced 2-Choice" as "NITAKU." Also, avoid thinking of it as 50/50, instead if you see that your opponent attacks too much, then you should do more mids than throws. If you see your opponent blocks or evades a whole lot, then you should do more throws than mids. The MIX is based on your observation of your opponent.
I WILL TRY TO FIND A GOOD SIMPLE CHAPTER/SUB-ARTICLE ON FORCED 2 CHOICE FOR YOU AND POST IT HERE LATER.

* Option Select Defense: You should already know how to do Guard-Throw-Escape. But if you do not, you must learn it. After that, you must learn fuzzy guard. These two techniques will take your game to the next level if you are not already starting to use them. It will take a lot of playing to get comfortable implementing them but your game will change for the better as you master these techniques. More option select defense will follow, but you gotta get good at these two things first.
I WILL TRY TO FIND A GOOD SIMPLE CHAPTER/SUB-ARTICLE ON GUARD-THROW-ESCAPE AND FUZZY GUARD FOR YOU AND POST IT HERE LATER.

* Understanding the different ranges (throw/jab/elbow/sidekick/long-range) and the effect it has on your movelist and the effect it has on your opponent's movelist and options. In this game, the further you are from your opponent, the smaller your viable movelist is.

* Understanding your movement options. If your movelist shrinks the farther you are from your opponent, movement can help open opportunities but it can also open your movelist and options back up. This becomes stronger the better you are at the above things.

* How to fight in the neutral. Dead or Alive and Soul Caliburs seem to figure out how to play VF's neutral game pretty fast. But for a lot of VF heads and players coming to VF from other fighting games, VF's neutral game is one of the most awkward. Speed will be a priority so sometimes it does go back to PETE if we are talking about countering what an opponent does in the neutral and from range. VF is dictated heavily by frame advantage and frame disadvantage, neutral in this game is hard because speed, push, spacing become bigger factors.

* Mastering your character. Notice how this roadmap is dominant by general system-wide things? That is because in VF, the game is incredibly system oriented and you can win based on system wide things first. But eventually, you do have to master your own character to take your game further up in the levels and matchups.

* Mastering the matchups. Eventually, you also have to learn how to fight your opponent's characters.

* How to Fight in Disadvantage: I am only mentioning this here as it is in the long-term roadmap. But you should not focus on this until you have gotten very good at the above things, especially initiative--you want to master initiative before you attempt to break it. But eventually you will want to learn how to "reverse nitaku" to gamble on a big reward at the right time from disadvantage. Eventually you will want to learn how to use the moves in your movelist that are meant to be used when you are at a disadvantage. Eventually you will want to learn how to crush/parry/reversal your opponent's most predictable attacks. For most players, you should start to explore this around Level 30 imo. This is a great part of the game but it is only strong after you've become very strong at PETE, INITIATIVE, FORCED 2-CHOICE, AND GOOD DEFENSE! "Taking Turns" is powerful for becoming a strong Virtua Fighter player. At some point, you do want to learn how to "Break Turns." (I don't like using the "Turns" paradigm, but if it helps everyone understand the concepts better, than I'll use it until we can talk about it simply as "Situational Awareness" ^_^)

ANYWAYS, YOU DO NOT NEED TO LEARN ALL OF THIS NOW. THE ABOVE IS JUST A ROADMAP TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA FOR A LOT OF THE AVENUES OF GROWTH YOU WILL ENCOUNTER IF YOU STICK WITH THE GAME. This is exciting, there's a deeper future if you want it ^_^

 

@erdraug

Thanks for the information,
I do struggle on what to do when knocked to the ground.
Usually I get combo'ed on the ground or during wake/stand up
Or get pushed out of the ring.
Did not know that I could escape ground throws.

@VFnumbers

I will admit, I do not fully understand how to use the training/practice modes.
As much as I practice the move list, it is tricky to remember and do things during a game.
Will take another look at this feature, the next time I am online.

@Chanchai

Hmm...a lot of what you shared has went a bit over my head.
Like I feel that I am no where near the level of mastering those concepts.
Very happy that you are willing to share this knowledge
But at my current level, all of these things are foreign to me.
There is a lot that I do not understand about Virtua Fighter.
Up until Ranked Level 21 it was fun to learn what I have.
Beyond that seems like a college level commitment to continue progressing
And that does not seem fun or interesting at this time.

@akai

Cool, so after the crouch/low punch is blocked
I can use Double Dragon to push them out of range ?
Will give that a try next time.
Usually get locked into blocking and would always get countered when I try to respond.

 

KUDOS Break! 99.9% of players would quit in your position, but you refuse to be defeated. Much respect.

 

@Acid

Thanks, not so much that I refuse to be defeated
More that I expect to eventually win.
With higher ranked/skilled players
I feel that I learn nothing from the games (since they end so fast)
Usually goes counter-hit air launcher into 70% combo or ring out.
Which feels more like a game of "touch-of-death"
Where that only applies to my opponent.
Another thing I have not learned to do is break out of the joy-stick dizzy state.
Usually when I see the green or red joy-stick icon I end up losing the match right then.
With all that said, I like Virtua Fighter but at a low-skill level.

 

Excuse the double post, but wanted to reply with an update.
Really appreciate the members here and on discord
For adding me on PSN and contacting me
To helping learn more about this game.
It seems I continue to get matched up with really skilled players during rank-up matches.
So at least my losing streak gets stopped more often now.
Still unable to get past the level 21 wall...so I have decided to take a break from ranked.
Seems that I enjoy room matches a lot and if I rank up that way I am cool with it.
Again, it is really cool to have so many VF-PSN friends online.
I think you all have pushed me to become a tiny bit better at the game.

 

Agreed, I too feel like I am not learning anything from games, but that's most likely because I have to get more familiar with the Matchups, as for the stagger escape situations, I feel like I can't stagger escape most of the time and it just seems like I escape them by pure luck even though I am trying my hardest to rotate the analogue stick while holding down the G button and alternating between P+G and K+G shoulder buttons, and still my escape ratio is 1/5 most of the time, I just can't stagger escape consistently.

Although I am level 29 OP and want to reach level 30 but most of the time everyone I face online has an 80% win ratio or just straight up bodies me.

Update: Nevermind, I've just reached level 30, guess I have to keep the salt levels to a minimum, or it just clouds my mind and I can't think clearly during a match.

What helped me out to, is taking the characters that I've been losing to alot to the lab and try to find a workaround against their setups, like El Blazes Rocket discharge, or Wolfs Deadly move.

Also at level 21 alot of people tend to always do a wake-up kick when they are down, even if they get comboed, so try to backdash and launch them for that if they haven't learned their lesson.

How are your combos? Have you found out combos for every weightclass, how are your wall combos?

If they don't use alot of circular moves, step them and make em pay for it, with not necessarily a launcher because you can't launch all the moves on whiff, but maybe a generic PK and get your frame advantage back, also find what your best low and high crushing moves are and use them against players that always mash high strings or lows.