The Truth about VF...

Re: Bryan - Funny Post

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe I just suck, I dunno. It seems to me that Wolf is weak vs. most characters in VF. Vs. Sarah's flamingo. What options do you really have?

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*sigh* wolf is one of the luckier ones vs flamingo.

why?

A - he can use a high kick reversal vs sarah's teef special high setup.

B. he can roar against elbows (abit more risk, it rewards) -- however most of the time, blocking for a better opening is smarter.

C. he has low P or screw hook to mess up any of her other options.

anybody who is scared to low P with wolf vs flamingo means she is owning your ass with the methods you can easily mix. -- besides, there is no shame in fuzzy guarding against her flamingo setups and waiting till she is at better disadvantage. then screw hook is your daddy.

what better options does most characters have? vanessa's string is in the same danger as anybody's low P with sarah's +4 flamingo setup.

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

My 2 cents on this..

IMO In order to play characters like Wolf, Jeff, or Goh, you need to have a strong defense and good yomi. To develop good defense you need these things.

1. Information

-> You need to know what you are in when you get hit by certain thing or get your moves blocked. If you try doing EDTEG thinking you are in a mid disadvantage when the truth is you are in an even situation, you certainly are doing something wrong due to lack of knowledge.

2. Practice
-> You need to be able to do defensive tactics such as FG, ETEG, ATE, TEG etc to get out of situations.

3. Experience
-> In order to develop a good yomi, you need to play against someone WHO UNDERSTANDS THE GAME AT LEAST CLOSE TO THE LEVEL YOU DO AND HOW TO MIX THINGS UP.


For information, you could search on VFDC or read frame data. New players often hear things like "use the search, it's all been discussed before", but IMO information on VFDC is too scattered to be much of a help. We need more of FAQ type of documents for this matter. Sure, we have some good documents on this website, but most of them are dated now, and updates haven't really happened.

For intermidiate players, I think that the best document that you can read and benefit from is Hiro's document about general offensive and defensive tactics. I've read that several times by now, and everytime I read that I get to understand something that I didn't beforehand.

Information is crucial in the game like VF as if you don't know a situation, you will get taken advantage of for that soon by your opponent. It sucks to lose to someone just because you don't know what they are doing. That's why you need to study VF to get better, and yes, it's a lot of work and effort. If you ask me, "Do I really have to do all that to just be good at this video game?", I'd say if you love this game and WANT TO GET BETTER IN THE WESTERN WORLD, YOU SHOULD.

The word western world means a lot here as this means you don't get enough or any competition to play against. If you played in Japan, you could learn VF just by playing a lot without extensively study the game, but in the western world, if you don't study situations, you will see yourself not knowing what to do and make a wrong choice when that happens in a real match.


2. Practice can be done on your own, but it takes dedication to do so as nobody'd think of practice as a sooo much fun thing to do. Even if you have knowledge, as you get better and play against better opponent, you will have hard time winning if you lack in the technical aspect. This includes stuff like being able to watch stance to do the max damage combos in situations and being able to do various defenisve techs and know when to use them. This can be done without competition, so it's matter of your own dedication whether you can get to the max level in this category or not. Some players prefer not to go this way too far as it will make the game too complex hence affect you negenatively in applying yomi.


3. Experience is the worst part of all three for us. Even though you know a lot and are technically solid, you can lose to someone who doesn't as every player has their own style. The fact of matter here is you can't get used to or be prepared for all the styles out there. However, what you can do is you can get yourself ready to play against small situations.

You can practice against multiple low punches to get ready for someone who uses many low Ps. You can practice anti evade tactics for someone who uses EDTEG a lot, etc. Of course, nothing's like playing against human competition, but quest mode in Evo can help you a lot in developing fundamentals of the game regardless of you having human competitions around you.

What I personally do to help myself on lack of exp is to analyze clips. Analyzing clips is a bit different from just watching clips to see who wins or loses. It's kinda like going over a clip move by move to see what they did in certain situations. The good thing about it is you see the result right away so you can see when was done right and wrong. You also need knowledge here to understand situations though as VF is the kind of game that is sometimes hard to understand just by watching it. You can never figure out everything just by watching it cause sometimes it doesn't really seem like as it looks. When you block Akira's 43P, it doesn't seem like it's even. It seems like you are heavily disadvantaged. Things like this have to be understood first to understand why people in a clip do certain things in a situation.


By saying all this, what I want to point out is to play characters like Wolf , Jeff, Shun, Vannessa, Goh, Leifei in high level, it takes more experience and study than other characters ,such as Lau, Pai, AKira etc as they rely more on yomi and defense than the others.



In the U.S, getting experience is a really difficult thing to do, but honestly, not many people have enough knowledge or technical skills which are more of a personal matter.

POINT IS if you have knowledge and techniques and go to a gathering where you can actually get exp from you will see yourself improving very very fast. That's what makes difference in improvement when people go to gatherings. Some improves fast during or after a gathering but some don't. If you are the latter case,it's probably due to the fact that you were lacking knowledge or skills to take fully advantage of exp you were getting.


Granted, if you don't have competition, you don't get motivated enough to do all the study and practice. That's why in the U.S, there are not many of them that I can consider who have done the works. It's pretty understandable and sad as well, but therefore props and respects go to people who have done that.


If you are a serious player and have desire and dedication to get better, don't get yourself discouraged by not having a good competition. Not having a competition shounld not be a reason for not studying or practicing.


I've met a lot of players through traveling all around the country, and I found out that some of them have really good potentials. What I've written so far goes to those people actually as I believe it can be done.


Before you think a character sucks or there's no way I can improve, sit down and think if you've done enough studys or practices on your own. Yes, some of you have done it and come to the conclusion, but I've seen the opposite case a lot more frequently.


Again, it's hard to get better in the U.S, and it might not worth it depending on what you think, but once you reach to the certain understaind of how VF works, it is really amazing and fun, and I believe many people'd agree with me.

Hope there's someone on this board who reads my post and gets a better understanding of what this is all about. Sorry in advance for unorganized writing as I am typing it out of my head directly. I hope to see more of serious players emerging from the western world to have fun with in this masterpeace. That's really all I want from this.


If you need help in VF, PM me. I will help you or if I can't, I will help you find someone who can help you.


I Love VF


-maddy-

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

Yah, I don't really come here anymore but I come here to support someone who loves this game more than anyone else I've met in my VF career. Many of you don't like what I've said in the past but I want to point out that this man knows what he's talking about. Maddy speaks from his deep personal experience, starting with nothing in the middle of nowhere and ending with the strongest Akira in NAVF history.

If any of you really love this game, step up and SHOU it.

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

Hate to break it you shou, but Maddy's rep is alot better than yours, he doesn't need someone like you to back him up. especially from that last post. I find that you are a fucking moron saying NAVF quit on you... Three are many people who have been in the VF scene longer than you.. imf.. b1 and maddy. Please okay cut a break on this "i'm so great vf rightous" bullshit. if you "REALLY" love the game then YOU are the one who shouldn't been screaming "i retired".. then again i'm not suprised that you retired after you think you made a name for yourself because you got lucky 1 night in EVO2k4. Might as well retired well you think you are some shit. You are such a fucking joke, lol someone who claim DOA was "his" game... You are nothing Shou, no one will miss you in your retirement. In fact NAVF is better off without an asshole like you.

And Maddy, your understanding of "advance" in vf is quite japanese quality, which is something few of the people here have experienced. It all come to the fact it is IMPOSSIBLE to be High Japanese level in this game if you solely play in the west... no matter how dedicated you are. Take you for example, I consider you to be an very dedicated player, you are just dedicated as many japanese players if not more so, but those players are better than you just because they play in japan with their "experience". your improvement from the first time i played to the last time was amazing... however good players can still exploit the holes in your game quite easily. Honestly, I find it amusing people keep on screaming "the best akira in NA", "the best "insert character name" in the NA".. what does it mean? NA vf skill leve is crap once you experience JP level... the only title worth mentioning if someone is the BEST in NA.. the rest is just self blowing garbage.anyways this isn't directed at you since it's shou who keep on screaming this shit.. but while you made a great post about vf, experiecne, skill etc.. I think you missed the point of this thread.. and that is it is a lot easier TO WIN with Kage than with Wolf.. This is something you basically agreed with when you said " In order to play characters like Wolf, Jeff, or Goh, you need to have a strong defense and good yomi. To develop good defense you need these things." Those "things are unattainable in the USA .. experience the most important. with a lot of dedication few ameriican players can reach average level in japan but they will never be competitve in national tournies. . that's just a fact. The discussion, although flamey as it is is about how much easier for kage to reach that level than wolf not about how to get good in vf.... good post regardless.

BK: are you kidding me? RAW? High Kick reversal? vs Sarah.. you are joking right? I would think people like Kage d/f+p, Lion sabaki, Shun d+kg, sabaki would have A LOT easier time than Wolf vs Flamingo... Why does people always assume wolf has to guess exactly right to get damage... come on. Akira's b+pkg is alot more rewarding that wolf's reversal... and he can just duck and shrm shit.. what can wolf do? reverse slughammer? lol

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

Shang
Since this is all fun for us and rather superficial...

Like always, you miss the point. Yah, people have played in the scene longer than me. One of them being you so tell me why you still suck so much? All you do is whine about intermediate Kage strats all day. So, when I say NAVF quit on me, I'm talking about people like you who think they really play the game but have never stepped up and actually become good.

I DID love the game enough to accomplish what I did. You complain about having Jerky and Hyun, how they suck etc. How about having no one even close to you? So stop your crying and stop blaming others when the problem is clearly yourself.

Maddy does have a better rep than me with the "outside" community here because I told the naked truth. It's something all of the top players agree upon but never said anything because it wouldn't change a thing. VFDC is just dead. The top players have pretty much abandoned it because of fucking morons like you. SO STFU I FUCK YOUR MOM YOU JUST SUCK AND SO DO THE RED SOX. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME NOW?


PS: Kage's 3P loses to Sarah's FL K because it's special high. It just goes to SHOU how much you don't know about Kage and VF in general so go learn some anti-Kage strats and STFU.

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

Shang - what I'm about to post is by no means arguing with your point. With regards to that, I can honestly say 'I don't know'.

Now, regardless of that, Wolf is not particularly bad against flamingo. All of what BK said is true but more importantly is Wolf's ability to control distance. He is usually able to do damage from mid to long range so that the advantages of flamingo never really come into play. A player like Goh who relies on a much closer range game has much more trouble, particularly as his only anti-flamingo tool is . I understand this now causes crumple on sabaki which makes this a much better anti-sarah tool but not maybe not so strong against other players... anyway that was all I had to say.

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

[ QUOTE ]
BK: are you kidding me? RAW? High Kick reversal? vs Sarah.. you are joking right? I would think people like Kage d/f+p, Lion sabaki, Shun d+kg, sabaki would have A LOT easier time than Wolf vs Flamingo... Why does people always assume wolf has to guess exactly right to get damage... come on. Akira's b+pkg is alot more rewarding that wolf's reversal... and he can just duck and shrm shit.. what can wolf do? reverse slughammer? lol



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shang ---- "Go back to school!" /versus/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

wolf doesnt need it.

why?

becasue low P will beat every attack string other than her special high kick ----- REVERSING IT means the sarah will have to keep guessing, even her df+p during flamingo is a high attack has no threat to low P whatsoever. - are you telling me this isnt a simple tool?

you are right, this isnt as much reward, but it's still a trap for sarah - she wil HAVE to mix it.. wolf cant do anything else offensive at +4, but neither can most other charaters, it's logically solid advantage in the rules of VF. you have selected a few with lucky sabaki proporties (and kage doesn even count) but with a general move pool, no, your options are not really there. is that unfair? not when you earn yourself +4 advantage!

flipkick, low P sabaki and evading tools will still work for sarah, but it's gonna be no different from shun or akira's sabakis neither. this is where you have to block and wait the ocasional times, you will find you get far greater reward from attacking later. for example, guessing for a B+P later means you get her guaranteed off a blocked flipkick, delay during an evading round house and a whiffed low P sabaki.

but even this is alittle too complicated for sarah tools which are not gonna get abused, just block and wait for a better opening, just like most people. no big deal.

come on, all the info was already there dude, did i really have to make this post?

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

you tell the naked truth? such as... "I'm the best vf player?", "Even Chibita thinks my sarah was good".."you are incompetent?".. "itabashi was just abusing shun's f+p on me he admit it!" please shou.... or " I'll take on the whole bostoncrew for a 500$ money match" .. which you pussed out after you were humilated in front of the whole vf community by your's truely. Honestly I'm sure I pressed you to play the match out in public you'd actually go through with it from your pure stupdity, but I was nice enough you just let it slide. I don't understand where you come with this idea that you are so good.. and the rest (like the "outside" circle) just plain suck? Put it on the table, Chibita wasn't talking about your sarah in 2k3, you cheated your way in 2k4 by entering yourself as a nyc member.. let me ask u this.. ARE YOU FROM NYC? if not then why did you enter yourself as from nyc? You think you loved the game.. but in fact people like you play a game just so he can "conquer" it and move on.. perhaps you think you conquered DOA bud, but let me tell you if you think you've conquered vf, you are sorely mistaken. the "outside" community? you mean people who don't hang with you? LOL.. you live in the little circle of yours you think that's what drives NAVF? spare me ok? Just move on Shou, go find your next interest with you buddies, no one will miss you. Shou go turn on training mode, test Kage's D/F+p again... and lastly I remember you and your scrubby akira who did nothing but jumping off walls, I sure you picked Sarah because in NA since no one knew how to deal with her shit.. just go outside and find another hobby already loser.

BK: want me to whip you agaiN??

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

let me add something...
you know what you are shou.. you are just like Ryan Hart, the only difference is that Ryan has skills to back up what he says, and you.. you just got your big mouth. After I saw Ryan play EVO2k4, I can't help but to gain a lots of respect for what he does... just an amazingly talented player in all spectums. If he wants to talk shit let him talk..hell.. if i was an eurofag i'd suck his dick. but you...man you need to get your head stright.. for a moment there in the finals EVERYONE was cheering for you.. did you know that? even I.. until you pulled that STUPID ass stunt.. that just show what a cocky motherfucker you are. and there and then everyone knew you are gonna get fucking owned by itabashi, and you did.. and believe me everyone's glad. you turned this shit into some azn pride gay shit.. and he beat the shit outta you for it.. that's the the facts... he whipped u like a school girl after that moment. then again you probably blanked those minutes out in your life.

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

[ QUOTE ]
Honestly I'm sure I pressed you to play the match out in public you'd actually go through with it from your pure stupdity, but I was nice enough you just let it slide. I don't understand where you come with this idea that you are so good.. and the rest (like the "outside" circle) just plain suck?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a pure comedy. If you don't see the paradox / humor in that you have to be part of the beavis and butthead (smurf / phoenixdth) duo. It's humour watching Shang trying to write of Shou's evo results (what are his - ever?) if you go back in time and read what he said after the event itself was over.

"You gotta give the props when the guy beats myke, maddy, raoh, ryan, kurita and took a match from Itabashi in a tournament."

So, he got the idea from you amongst others? It's also humor hearing the godfather of "go play quest n00b!" telling someone else they should chill with their ego, desparatly trying to get a opinion against Shou, and then trying to present himself, in a discret manner, as if he's as good as Shou. In case it's blaytantly missed I'd rather have Shou on this site then Shang but that's stating the obvious I guess. I miss all the top players that don't frequent the site cause of drama like this.

[ QUOTE ]
Shou go turn on training mode, test Kage's D/F+p again...

[/ QUOTE ]

Stop making an ass out of yourself. You've already proven you know shit about Kage, the one you whine about the most, just move on. If you had ever been able / actually done kages d/f+p against flamingo K you would have remembered it, the same if you had tried it and it didn't work. Go fuck yourself Shang cause your world is crumbling. It's one thing to whine etc but don't try to distort facts to get people swinging your way under the cherry tree.

/KiwE (Cause Shou could actually atleast answer a question without being a ass to a newcomer)

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

KiwE got another fix of Shang!! He's reeling from the high!!!

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

<Smurfy> <font color="blue"> Smokes a nice big fat Joint </font>

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

laces it with opium for smurfy.

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

Just because Shang gave Shou props for getting that far doesn't mean he can't argue Shou's personality... the two things do not relate.

[ QUOTE ]
for a moment there in the finals EVERYONE was cheering for you.. did you know that? even I..

[/ QUOTE ]

You have to read that again Kiwe, Shang isn't contradicting himself nor going back on the comments he said about Shou's particular performance that night.

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

Well that's one quote Jerky. But what do you get for image when you read these said in this thread?

"then again i'm not suprised that you retired after you think you made a name for yourself because you got lucky 1 night in EVO2k4. .[...]Honestly I'm sure I pressed you to play the match out in public you'd actually go through with it from your pure stupdity, but I was nice enough you just let it slide.I don't understand where you come with this idea that you are so good..[...]and lastly I remember you and your scrubby akira who did nothing but jumping off walls, I sure you picked Sarah because in NA since no one knew how to deal with her shit..[...]"you know what you are shou.. you are just like Ryan Hart, the only difference is that Ryan has skills to back up what he says, and you.. you just got your big mouth."

So I understand what you're saying that he was more attacking his ego / whatever but you can't say that is not trying to downplay Shou's vf (or can you?). And a contradiction. Btw, I've criticized Shous ego myself, but he atleast could discuss and in a respectful matter. While people might not have liked what he had to say it wasn't of "go play quest / suck cock / cum" standard now was it? It fucking ment something.

Now here's the fun part. We have one person who does this, and a group of followers (friends of his) who endorse the following "He can talk shit to whoever he wants but you can't talk back to the chink / he's just blowing steam / don't worry about his antics/ it's not really offensive " and combine that, with my personal favorite, "you can't reply to his insults / posts - tihi!."

I find it fucking hilarious that Shang does nothing but post controversial shit / things to get a reaction (shit period imo) and then you're not allowed to reply to it cause then beavis and butthead will come running and tell you that you're stalking / missing Shang and wanting a dose (wtf?).

I mean, people need to open their fucking eyes. I got annoyed how he tried to voice an opinion against Shou based on that old "incompetent" shit again. Shou was complementing Maddys post (which was great and one of the most honest posts here of late), why THE FUCK does he have start pissing on Shou etc 1 hour later? He complains and brings up the old "incompetent in NA" blaha but IN THE SAME POST tells Maddy that he shouldn't be happy about being best aki in NA as a compliment cause "NA vf skill is crap"?

Tbh the whole discussion about flamingo is, imho, silly aswell. It's not like flamingo is really a problem and fool proof for Sarah. Risk is more then a boardgame. 99 posts about how Sarah is overpowered cause of flamingo and not one post about how good DC is.

One guy, throwmasta, posting about his frustration over it, mostly cause he doesn't really understand it well imo (no offence throwmasta) and it immideatly becoming cannonfodder in this Wolf suxx / Kage rules "debate" with no winners.

Open your eyes people. This site breathes / is Shang in one way or another completly at this point in time. Why is that and is it a positive or a negative thing?

/KiwE (I'm "Eurotrash" anyways so you can ignore this post people).

 

...

Man, you're totally overreacting.

Have you met either of these people? Do you know them?
If not, then why are you getting in the way of their conversation/argument/fight whatever.

It's fine to argue Wolf strats or say someone is wrong if you don't think they know how to play Wolf, or any character for that matter. That's something that's argueable. It just seems silly that you're telling Shang what he said about Shou when you really don't even know either of them ...

I mean, it's just creating more noise on the thread. You seem to post everwhere that Shang does too. I can tell you don't like the guy, and you think he's a prick. But you're not helping by posting. It's just kind of funny that you're so hell bent on attacking him. That's why we're joking about you getting your fix.

Does Shang REALLY offend you that much? If he does... I don't know who has the bigger problem...

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

[ QUOTE ]
KiwE said:

I find it fucking hilarious that Shang does nothing but post controversial shit / things to get a reaction (shit period imo) and then you're not allowed to reply to it cause then beavis and butthead will come running and tell you that you're stalking / missing Shang and wanting a dose (wtf?).


[/ QUOTE ]

ya you got that right
you overdosed on shang
now all you do is follow controversy like shang
then reply to create more controversy via shang
you're the only one that cares enough to ALWAYS reply to shang
hell lets call you SHANG JR.

oh ya jerky basically plays versus shang every week, im sure he knows shang much better than whatever bullshit theory you can come up with.

 

Re: matter of playing Wolf and getting better in VF in the West.

[ QUOTE ]
PhoenixDth said:
SHANG JR.

[/ QUOTE ]

seconded

 

Re: ...

Hey guys, you can't reply to or react to my behavior on this site cause you don't know me and have never met me (unlike some here). See the problem when trying to generalizing the rules that some people / groups here have applied to themselves?

If you really want to make me listen, all the ShangJR bs or "you shouldn't care" arguments fall short cause I really really couldn't care less for them (cause they aren't even arguments but just childish imo). KTallguys post would have more effect. But, not having an opinion on a matter is having an opinion on a matter. Maybe we should rename Phoenixdth to KiwEJR as he's so totally fixated on replying to my posts, hey did you get your KiwE fix ?(Go 'grrrrr' really loud now man or try to talk shit behind my back to Myke on irc or something - *grouphug*!).

Thanks to KTallguy atleast for writing a post of value, I have a problem though with just accepting bs in order not to "make more noise" while this site is, imo, on a steady way going down in value. Arguing as such seems pointless, atleast for me, as basicly the only one whos opinion would matter in the thing is someones Wolf in the US (not many people seem to play him there) who was much better then everyones and had won tourneys there. Phoenixdth (my own stalker!) just pisses "pencil and paper", "who have you played in US?!" (who have you played in the Nordic?!) or "you don't play wolf!" at every argument placed, not that I care about what Elvis has to say but it just goes to show this holding of a group and that this site is almost a demographic phenom at this point. Props to BK for trying atleast. Do you know the kind of reputation this site has outside US residents at this point / how many who don't want to post on this site cause of flames / knowing that their opinion isn't worth shit? I do. Can you count for yourself how many players (both topplayers in the US and outside of it) have stopped posting on this site (or atleast in chartechniques / outside of jamboree) after a run in with people like Shang? Can people imagine if this site had, like, 3 people like him? That would be ok wouldn't it (if not why not)? We're, like, 10 people posting regularly now.

Manjis (fyi it's funny hearing Manji getting 'go play quest n00b!' etc when I would bet whatever that he would beat Shang in VF, but then again he's not American so that doesn't matter) said it the best so reread his posts if you hate me like the plague. It's obvious that this site has a laizzes-faire (anything goes) style of managment and believe that things will work according to Darwin but the problem is that certain groups have taken over the censoring function cause of it. Then again there are people who think I overreact or just see the humor in all of this - which is fine - I just don't.

At the end of the day, yeah I agree, I need to chill (and I will try to, honestly). It's obvious this is going nowhere, this site isn't moderated and is digging it's own grave cause of it, so might aswell enjoy the ride on the way down.

Peace out

/KiwE

 

Re: ...

Man, this site isn't going downhill because of Shang. VF is just not that popular in the US and Europe, that's why you have so few posts here. I'm thinking Shang has little to no effect on this.

Honestly, we could have a bazillion million posts here with people posting a lot of useless information which doesn't apply to the game. That's what you get in a lot of other fighting game forums. VF is a more complex game, so you do have the situations where of people don't know what the hell they are talking about. So I'd actually count it as a good thing that we don't have thousands of newbies on the forums telling us how they did 20 hit combos or something. I don't come here for that anyway.

Furthermore, people have opinions about strats... but it's one thing to talk, and it's another to play and use these stats. Textbook VF is a joke. People in Japan, they get together and they play, and they talk about tactics, but they are playing more than talking. In the US this is hard becaues we just don't have the facilities. I wan't SEGA to be more aggressive marketing VF in the states, but honestly, the level of interest in fighting games as complex as VF in the US is low and people don't want to spend time practicing, they want to go online with DOA and smash some heads after work...

VF sometimes feels like work. I played a few games today and got utterly wasted by newb strats in my local arcade. I don't even know why, I just had a shitty day. The point is, you really have to like this game to keep playing and be addicted like a lot of us. That means money, time, etc. So as a result, people in the US aren't as hardcore as people in Japan (except for the Tekken players, who will stay with Tekken because they like it), and therefore, you don't have people on here like on Tekken Zaibatsu, or Shoryuken, etc. VF is just not as accessable.

I love VF. It's addictive and people in Japan are nice, they'll tell you what you're doing wrong, or they'll point out a combo, or something. It's just difficult to play textbook vf and agree sometimes... everyone needs to do more playing and less talking, and that's bascially that. I'm glad for the people who have FT, and I hope it comes out on PS2 (as impossible as that seems), so that people can get into it again.

I played Tekken 5, and it's really nice looking, but feels just like Tekken 4, the system didn't change drastically, probably more balanced. However, the graphics are amazing! Looking at that, I can't wait for VF 5. I'll probably just have a heart attack when I see the screen. Maybe when the graphics are REALLY good in VF 5 (not to say they aren't good now...but) we'll see more people on here drooling about the game.

Long post, sorry. Summary:

Textbook VF is worthless, so this arguing crap is worthless. Bascially best way to gauge characters is to watch videos of top level players, as they are usually utilizing all of the best defensive and offensive techniques for their respective character already.

VF scene is small outside Japan because of lack of accessability , and VFDC users are few because of that reason as well, not because of SHANG.

We need better infrastructure outside Japan to really enjoy VF.

Finally, KiwE, no one hates you because you're European. Please stop saying that your posts don't matter because you're 'Eurotrash'. I have a lot of good friends who come from all over Europe, and many people respect Ryan Hart, one of the best European VF (as well as many other fighting game) players, even though he's cocky as hell (at least my impression when I met him). I don't think anyone even really hates you. But man, relax. No one in here is overreacting as much as you are.

Oh, and the manager of this site puts a lot of work into keeping it up for free and without ads, so... I don't know, do you want Myke to start censoring posts or something ?

In closing: I love VF.