where to begin

i'm mainly a street fighter player and i recently resurrected VF4. Since this game is so deep, i was wondering if anyone could give me a couple of basic pointers for all characters i.e. what to focus on and practice. like all newbs, i am stuck at 1st dan. i am currently using kage and i have seen the kage basics page. i am basically asking for tips on how to break the old SF habits and develop the VF4 mindset. i did try searching but didn't know exactly what to look for. sorry if you have all seen posts like this

 

This is gonna be pretty hard and it'll take practice to get used to. Some stuff to know:

1. In SF you generally wanna block low, cuz so many good combos stem from low attack cancels, and blocking low works vs. anything but overheads. ... in VF it's the opposite, all the good moves hid mid and must be blocked high, and generally low attacks are kind of crappy.

2. Pokes aren't for free in VF. In SF some characters like, I dunno, adon, can poke with every move in their arsenal all day, and at the worse they'll have the poke stuffed by another poke. In VF you have to poke with only a few safe attacks... high jabs, low jabs, and elbows. Anything else is too risky to throw out without some setting up, and a lot of the good moves in the game have guaranteed punishment if blocked.

3. Throws only work on fully standing opponents, and cannot stuff attacks for the most part.

4. and and and let you move around rapidly. If you've been playing the later SF games, you're used to dashing anyway.

5. Don't jump.

6. If you played SFA3 you're probably used to stuff like uppercut interrupts knocking the enemy into the air for one or more free hits. This is the main method of comboing in VF... jack them into the air, followup with hits. For a lot of characters, you can do f+K and get a knee that floats them into the air for a combo. Some characters don't have a knee, but they all have floaters.

7. You can't tech out of followup hits in the air, but you can roll when you hit the floor (been around since SFA1 and darkstalkers right?)... and rolling to hit the floor is necessary to avoid additional hits in a combo.
Press up or down + PKG to roll.

8. If you did ticking in SF, you'll feel somewhat at home with VF. Low punch --> throw works well. If you see high punch stuff an attack and have fast reflexes, a throw generally works (but NOT if these attacks are blocked). Like SF, the throw isn't guaranteed in either case, but the opponent needs reflexes to get out. Unlike SF, you don't need to do a perfectly timed reversal attack to get out of these throws, just mash something.

9. High punches can be ducked, low punches are blocked automatically... your fastest attack that hits both standing AND crouching opponents is f+P. For most characters this is an elbow, and it's really useful. If the opponent is standing and the elbow stuffs their attack, it's a good time to try for a throw. If they duck the elbow makes them stumble backwards, and you can try for a throw. No need to dash or time it, just try a throw and if they didn't know how to struggle out of it or do throw escapes, they eat the throw.

10. A lot of the hard stuff in this game is defending against stuff that isn't for free, but looks like it is. The above example is a good one. Almost anytime you get staggered, you will see a wiggling joystick icon on the screen. Hold guard and whirl the stick around, and you can get out of the stagger faster. A lot of throws cause a stagger like that.
If you do nothing, the opponent's buffered throw or something as fast as a punch will get you, so you need to struggle fast, then decide whether you want to guard (you think they'll try an attack) or attack (you think they'll try a throw). A lot of players go for throw, it used to be nearly guaranteed but now it's pretty easy to stuff. Other examples of stuff that looks free but isn't: 90% of throws can be escaped by entering the last direction of their throw + P+G. Like if they use f+P+G throws on you a lot, you just enter f+P+G to break them. In situations where they've blocked a big move, they often get to throw you, and you can enter 1, 2, or even 3 fast escapes to avoid getting hurt. If you enter f+P+G and df+P+G you'll break lau and akira's best throws. Vs wolf you should enter f+P+G and b+P+G. Vs. Jacky it's df+P+G and b+P+G. There's just a lot of stuff you gotta memorize about how to defend against each character's strong moves and combos. But most of it is obvious and pretty fair, there aren't a lot of lame high-low guessing games in VF. Generally block high, back dash, and/or dodge a lot, and you'll be fine against everything except throws and weak sweeps. Also keep in mind that d+P is the fastest move in the game and will get you out of trouble if you don't know what to do.

 

As always, CreeD goes above and beyond the call of duty with plenty of info for you.

My two cents:

Check out the "Taking your Percentages" thread by Blonde-One (right now on pg 2 of Junky's Jungle)...throughout there is plenty of good specific & general VF4 gameplay info & at the end there is a good discussion of Kage's Okizeme (pressuring a downed opponent) options.

Check out CreeD's ultimate combo guide & the thread attached to it...LOTS of Kage combos (many of which come courtesy of uk-guy & are duplicated in that Kage basics thread) plus the maximum damage combos for every character...this document can help you when and if you decide to sink your teeth into other characters.

This is more or less the tip of the iceberg...I would suggest that once you get a feeling for Kage & VF in general you become familiar with as many other characters as you can manage. Not only will this help you when playing against these characters, but also the struggle of learning or getting better with someone other than your main will make your main better. Finally, get as many friends involved as possible...few things motivate as well as a buddy talking trash or the occasional ranking match against a friend. Have fun!

 

thanks a lot guys. i have been a SF veteran since day one so everything made perfect sense. i know this will be a bit of an uphill battle but i'll be able to hold my own soon enough. anybody else feel free to post your newbie strats.