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Topics - JennyCage

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1
Configuring networks can be tough for a novice, so here's a guide to help make sure your connection is unimpeded when you play KOFXIII SE.  I recommend trying this if you're having consistently poor experiences online.  It may or may not improve anything, and there is a small amount of risk when opening ports, but anecdotally I've seen this improve connectivity when playing peer to peer games.  If you're already familiar with configuring routers, skip to the ports on step 3.  If your connection seems worse after this, reverse the changes.  Diagnostic tools and general tips can be found near the bottom.

DISCLAIMER:  DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CONFIGURE THESE SETTINGS IF YOU ARE NOT CONFIDENT ABOUT YOUR ABILITY TO DO TO SO.  This guide will attempt to walk you through everything as thoroughly as possible, including screenshots, but I can't be held responsible if you mess something up.  These changes are reversible but because I can't be there to help you if something goes wrong, BE CAREFUL!  DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING!

Step 1: assign a static internal IP address to your computer.  This is necessary for port forwarding to be persistent.  You will need information about your default gateway, subnet mask and DNS servers.  The easiest way to find this info is through the Command Prompt.  Access it by doing the following:

On Windows XP, Vista and 7 -> Start -> Run -> type "cmd" (without quotes) and hit enter
On Windows 8 -> Right click the bottom left hand corner of the screen and choose Command Prompt

Type "ipconfig /all" in the command prompt and press enter.  Keep this window open for later reference.  Look for the section titled "Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection" OR "Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi."  In this section you'll find "Default Gateway," "Subnet Mask" and "DNS Servers." WRITE THESE DOWN AND DO NOT MIX THEM UP!

Next, open the Control Panel in Windows and go to "Network and Sharing Center."  Click your router/connection next to "Connections." A window will pop up with more details.  Click "Properties" at the bottom.  This will open a new window displaying what protocols you have installed.  Highlight "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and click "Properties."  SCREENSHOT

The properties window will allow you to set a static internal IP for your machine.  You will need the information from the command prompt to properly configure this.

Check "Use the following IP address."  Under "IP address," enter an IP that is a variation of your DEFAULT GATEWAY. For example, if your default gateway is 192.168.0.1, change it to something like 192.168.0.10.  ONLY change the last part of the IP (after the third dot).

Under "Subnet Mask", enter the subnet mask listed in the ipconfig info.  Windows may automatically fill this section in when you click it.

Under "Default Gateway," enter the IP listed in the ipconfig info.

Check "Use the following DNS server addresses" if it's not checked already.  Fill in the fields with the DNS servers listed in your ipconfig info.

SCREENSHOT - PLEASE VIEW FOR CLARITY!

If something goes wrong and you lose your internet, recheck "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically."  This should restore connectivity.

Step 2: Access your router's configuration page by entering the IP for your default gateway into the address bar of a web browser, for example http://192.168.0.1.  You will need to log in with your router's username and password.  This can be tricky as different brands use different logins.  http://portforward.com/ has a lot of info about many makes and models of routers, check it out if you need assistance.

Common logins include:
Username: (blank) - Password: admin
Username: admin - Password: admin

If you're still unable to find the login for your router and it was supplied to you by your ISP, contact them.  They will likely have this info.

Step 3: in your router's configuration page, locate the "Applications and Gaming" tab or equivalent, then click "Port Range FORWARDING" (not triggering, filtering, etc).  This is the section you'll use to open your ports for KOF.

Forward the following ports on the internal static IP you set for your machine:

27000 to 27030 UDP
27014 to 27050 TCP
4379 to 4380 UDP
3478 to 3478 UDP

Click "enable" next to all used lines, then click SAVE.  SCREENSHOT

Congratulations, you're done!

SUPER DUPER BONUS CONTENT FOR DIAGNOSING CRAPPY CONNECTIONS

Still getting a bad connection to your friend despite following these steps? Here are some simple diagnostic tools you can use to figure out what's wrong.

Visit www.pingtest.net and check the quality of your connection.  You will need to install Java to measure packet loss.  www.speedtest.net will also help diagnose problem connections.

In your router's Security/Firewall tab (or equivalent), uncheck "Block Anonymous Internet Requests." This will allow people to ping you so you can understand your latency.

Next, type "what's my IP address" into Google and copy the address it gives.  Tell your friend to type "ping XX.XX.XX.XX" (without quotes) in the command prompt, where X is the external IP you obtained from Google.  Use ping -t XX.XX.XX.XX to ping indefinitely until the command prompt is closed. This will tell you exactly how much time in milliseconds it takes for a packet of data to reach its destination.  Pings of 80ms or over will likely produce some input lag, but may be subjectively playable for some people.  Ideally 50ms or under is what you'll be looking for in a great connection.

NOTE: Since SE is still in beta, these thresholds may be subject to change. It's not gospel - play as many varied connections as you can and judge for yourself.

Sometimes bad routing can cause poor connections even when the distances between players is short. You can identify bad routing by using the traceroute command "tracert XX.XX.XX.XX" in the command prompt.  This will ping each hop between you and your opponent, allowing you to see spikes in latency that may be causing an issue.  Unfortunately this isn't something that can be fixed on the user's end, it's simply a way of diagnosing a problem.  You could complain to your ISP, but they probably can't or won't do anything.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR IMPROVING YOUR CONNECTION

- Play the game using a wired connection whenever possible. Some wireless connections may be on par with wired ethernet, but many are not and have a tendency to drop packets.
- Make sure all torrenting software (utorrent, bittorrent) is disabled/disconnected/closed.
- Close all active downloads AND uploads.
- VoIP programs (Skype, Ventrilo etc.) shouldn't affect your latency, but you could try closing them to see if it makes a difference.
- It MAY be possible that having both players run the game in Windowed mode will improve performance.  Evidence is only anecdotal right now, but try it if you're having problems even in low latencies.
- Play League of Legends?  Congrats, you got "infected" with Pando Media Booster.  This is a torrent-like program that Riot uses to distribute their files using YOUR bandwidth.  UNINSTALL this because it can hog all your upload and slow your connection.  LoL will still work properly without it.
- Make sure you can run the game at a solid 60 FPS. If not, both players will be affected by the lower framerate online.

2
Online Matchmaking / KOF XIII Steam Edition - Online Player Matchmaking
« on: August 13, 2013, 01:50:39 AM »
        Thought I'd make a thread for those of us getting in on the Steam edition.  Add your Steam info and location and let's fill up our friends list!

        Steam friend search can be unspecific, so
    please link your profile page instead of just giving a username.  To find your profile URL, go to your profile in Steam, right click it and "copy page URL."  If you just give your name and multiple people on Steam have the same name or a variation of it, it's almost impossible to add the right person.

    Also, please check out the DreamCancel SNK Steam Group!  You can join it here:  http://steamcommunity.com/groups/dcsnk

    ---

    List of SE players compiled by region, credit to Oleander3s at this thread (edited, work in progress, last updated July 1st).

    ////////////////////////////////////////////////AFRICA
    Morocco
    Egypt
    South Africa
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////ASIA
    Indonesia
    Japan
    Malaysia
    Philippines
    Russia
    Singapore
    South Korea
    Taiwan
    Vietnam
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////MIDDLE-EAST
    Saudi Arabia
    Oman
    Pakistan
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////AUSTRALIA
    Australia
    New Zealand
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////EUROPE
    Belgium
    Bulgaria
    Croatia
    Cyprus
    Czech Republic
    Denmark
    Finland
    France
    Germany
    Italy
    Netherlands
    Portugal
    Serbia
    Slovenia
    Spain
    Sweden
    Switzerland
    Turkey
    United Kingdom
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////CENTRAL AMERICA/GULF OF MEXICO
    Caribbean
    Costa Rica
    El Salvador
    Puerto Rico
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////NORTH AMERICA
    Canada
    ----Eastern
    ----Western
    Mexico
    United States
    ----East
    ----Middle
    ----West
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////SOUTH AMERICA
    Argentina
    Brazil
    ----North
    ----Center
    ----South
    Chile
    Colombia
    Ecuador
    Peru
    Venezuela
    ////////////////////////////////////////////////Unknown Location
    [/list][/list]

    3
    General Discussion / An Intermediate Guide To Opening People Up
    « on: May 20, 2013, 12:52:07 AM »
    Hey all. This past month I compiled a basic guide with the goal of helping intermediate players who might be struggling with opening up their opponents.  The main reason I wanted to do this was because, in my own experience, some of the things covered weren't immediately obvious to me, nor to some of my friends and I suspect the same might be true of many intermediate KOF players.  I notice sometimes that when the game is being taught to new players, some of these techniques and strategies aren't talked about or aren't described in a way that makes their application obvious or at least easier to understand.  My hope is that this guide fills in some of the gaps that might be missing from intermediate players' knowledge of the game and maybe help them improve their play.

    I don't claim everything to be 100% accurate, but it's accurate to the best of my knowledge.  I welcome all constructive criticism, corrections and feedback.  Please don't be shy, especially when we can help people!

    Edit: There's a more readable (less wall-of-texty) version here: http://dreamcancel.com/2013/06/16/an-intermediate-guide-to-opening-people-up-offensive-strategy/

    Without further ado...

    ---

    An Intermediate Guide To Opening People Up

    So you've been learning KOF13, grinding out those elite combos in practice mode and looking real badass while doing it. But there's a problem - when you start fighting your friends, you can't seem to open them up and perform those badass combos! Perhaps they're very good at blocking and reacting, or perhaps you're so shocked when you get an opening that you end up not following through. Fear not! This guide is going to teach you the basics of cracking defensive shells through simple mental conditioning. Ready? GO!


    Part 1:  The Frametrap

    A frametrap is a series of actions that leaves you with enough advantage (+ frames) that you can perform another attack before the opponent can press a button, or at least severely restricting their options to a tiny handful viable choices. If the opponent presses a button or performs the wrong action, they will get hit by your attack. At its core, a frametrap conditions an opponent to NOT press a button. This is important because once an opponent is conditioned to believe you will frametrap them, they may sit still in anticipation of it happening even if you choose not to do so.

    A generic frametrap on just about every character is a deep cr.B/A->cl.C. This is not a natural combo on most characters, but it is fast enough to interrupt almost everything. Many characters are either neutral or +1 after a blocked cr.B (with a few exceptions), and most have a 4 frame cl.C (again with a few exceptions - Kyo and Iori have 3 frame cl.Cs and some characters like K' have 5 frame cl.Cs). In terms of numbers, a cr.B that is +1 on block means your opponent has one less frame of advantage than you, so if you perform a 4 frame cl.C afterward and so does he, you will win the exchange. Voila, frametrap! Turn these into strings by adding command normals and specials afterward. If it's confirmed, do something big - if it's blocked, do something safe.

    Many characters have crouching normals that are greater than +1 on block. For example, Athena, Saiki, Hwa Jai and Benimaru have cr.A's that are +3 on block. Duo Lon's cr.A is +4 (wow)! Others are +2. These numbers are important to understand because they tell you what normals can be performed afterward for a frametrap. If Duo Lon is +4 after a cr.A, that means he can do any move that is 6 frames or faster and win an exchange vs anyone in the cast, as 3 frame normals are the fastest moves that can be performed in retaliation (with the exception of some far-reaching command grabs), which would require 7 available frames to execute. Well, too bad! Duo Lon will just bust something 6 frames or under and keep his opponent either locked down or open them up because they pressed a button.

    There are many more frametraps than what's mentioned here. The best way to discover them for your characters is by first looking at their framedata to discover which moves are + (or perhaps neutral) on block, then taking that information into practice mode by putting the training dummy on "Crouch 1 Guard Jump." This feature is pretty much designed to help you find frametraps. When you do something that frametraps, the dummy will get hit by it when they attempt to jump. If the frametrap is tight enough, it will hit them while they're still grounded. Awesome!

    As mentioned earlier, use of frametraps conditions the opponent to not press a button after your crouching normals or other positive moves. Once you've put that fear into them, you are free to begin mixing up with less chance of them mashing a counter, including keeping your pressure going to the point of a possible guard crush (more on that later).

    Edit: Full framedata for every character can be viewed here (mobile friendly!): http://kofxiiiframedata.com/


    Part 2:  Grabbing

    Now the opponent is conditioned to expect your frametraps. He/she/it will sit still waiting for you to run your pressure strings, terrified to press a button lest you open them up. This is where you begin mixing in throws to crack open their turtle shell. After your close crouching normal, try walking or running up and throwing them. This is effective for several reasons. First, your opponent is likely sitting still in anticipation of a frametrap instead. Second, they are most likely crouch blocking. All normal grabs in KOF MUST be teched while standing. If the opponent doesn't stand, they will be thrown regardless if they pressed C/D. Third, if your character has a command grab, your opponent won't be able to tech at all, plus you don't need to walk/run forward to touch them if your cr.B/A is deep enough. Damn, that's scary! Many command grabs in KOF lead to combos and in some cases even HDs.

    Unfortunately command grabs can be neutral jumped more easily than regular grabs as command grab animations come out regardless if they connect or not, while normal grabs on whiff will come out as a cl.C/D which for many characters is an anti-air. For this reason normal grabs can be situationally preferred to command grabs, especially on characters with very strong anti-air hitboxes on their cl.C like Kyo or Iori.

    Some normal and command grabs have the Hard Knockdown property. This means the opponent cannot ukemi (A+B recovery roll) after being thrown. Hard knockdowns set up safe jump opportunities to bait out an opponent's reversal. They can also set up ambiguous rolls, something that when performed correctly is the closest thing to a 50/50 in KOF. After a hard knockdown, roll directly onto the center of an opponent's sprite as they're getting up - if done perfectly, neither of you will be able to tell which side you're on, making blocking crouching normals or backdashing on wakeup a guessing game! That's scary as hell when one touch can equal death!

    Once you start throwing someone enough with normal grabs, they will begin standing to tech it. This leads us to part 3...


    Part 3: Lows

    The opponent is now anticipating your grab and begins standing to press C/D when they see you approach after a crouching normal. Well, what do you do when someone is standing? You go low. This section needs less explanation than the rest - an opponent that is conditioned to stand is vulnerable to every low you can throw out. After a crouching normal, walk forward and go low again when they stand. Simple, eh? Not so fast! A neutral jump is a practical defense against this, or they may use lows themselves, so be careful.

    So, what else can you do after you force your opponent to respect your options? Onward to part 4...


    Part 4:  Crossing Up

    Crossups are one of the most powerful mixup tools in KOF. Some are obvious and give plenty of time to react, others are far more ambiguous and fast. The faster and more ambiguous a crossup is, the less chance your opponent will have at blocking it and the more opportunity you'll have to combo. It's crucial to understand what normals your characters can crossup with and how to set up those crossups outside of stand alone jumps or hard knockdowns.

    The first way to do this is to understand the pushback of your normals, as this pushback is what creates the spacing necessary to set up a crossup off hit or blockstun. As an example, Saiki can set up a regular jump crossup by doing j.A->cr.A->regular jump D. The pushback from the j.A->cr.A spaces the opponent perfectly for the regular jump D to crossup if they don't move. Since Saiki's cr.A is +3 on block, the opponent will likely respect his options afterward (if he's been frametrapping) by sitting still and blocking, making the crossup quite viable in this situation.

    Unfortunately, regular jumps are slow and reactable. Abusing this setup will quickly lead to your opponent reacting with a block or even a counter. Thus, a player should spend time trying to find crossups that are less reactable by using short hops and hyper hops to crossup as well. Go into practice mode and set the training dummy to "Crouch" and "Crouch All Guard," then experiment with the pushback/spacing of your crouching and jumping normals. If you jump on a blocking opponent, their first reaction will be to block low in anticipation of your followup (unless they expect a command grab, in which case they may neutral jump). Perhaps instead of doing a full string, you would cr.B->cr.A, then hyper hop d.C with Kyo as this sequence of actions creates the necessary spacing to crossup, assuming the opponent stays crouching and respectful.

    Still using Kyo as an example, it must be noted that different air normals create different levels of pushback both on block and on hit. The example above doesn't work if Kyo jumps in with A, as A pushes back slightly farther than C or d.C, meaning the cr.B->cr.A is also slightly farther and the hyper hop d.C doesn't crossup. You must experiment with all air and crouching normals and observe these distances to understand how to apply them in a crossup attempt. The jump-ins are not strictly necessary, they simply put the opponent in blockstun and allow you to jump again or apply close crouching normals to achieve the spacing you need for your attempts. Depth is important - something that is too deep or too far may not work on certain characters.

    A small list of examples:

    Kyo -
    deep cr.B, short hop d.C
    (j.C or j d.C), cr.B, cr.A, hyper hop d.C

    Iori -
    j.C, hyper hop b+B
    (j.C), cr.B, hyper hop b+B

    Athena -
    (j.D), cr.B, cr.A, short hop f+B

    Some characters can set these up more easily than others. Some characters require very strict spacing, some don't. Characters like K' and Kula can struggle with applying crossups, while characters like Benimaru seem to get them for free. If your character has a hard time crossing up despite your best efforts to find crossup setups, you may have to rely more on their other strengths combined with the triad of frametraps->grabs->lows to open people up.


    Part 5:  Empty Jumps and Overheads

    If you've made it this far, you're probably starting to understand how making your opponent believe you'll do one thing and then doing another is a very strong strategy in KOF. Creating mental confusion and doubt is a great way to make an opponent make a mistake. In this vein, here are a few more confusing things to try on your quest to crush your enemies.

    Empty/Whiff Jumping -

    An empty jump is simply jumping or hopping in without an attack, or purposefully whiffing a jump attack so the opponent isn't put in blockstun. These are mostly applied in two specific ways: an empty jump into a low, or an empty jump into a throw. The reason they work is because an opponent will be expecting to first block high, then low. Normally being put in blockstun from a jump attack gives them plenty of time to block low, but when you empty/whiff jump there is no blockstun and consequently there's less time to react to the incoming low. That doesn't mean they're unreactable, they're simply harder to defend against than if you had jumped with an attack.

    For empty/whiff jumps into grabs, not putting an opponent in blockstun means you eliminate the their blockstun grab invulnerability, meaning you can instantly throw them as soon as you touch the ground. This can be a very strong tactic on characters who can combo off their grabs or have DM command grabs.

    Both these options are useful but can't be abused due to a simple option select: the opponent holding back and pressing C/D. If you attempt to go low, you will be thrown as normal grabs are instant while lows are not. If you attempt to command grab, the instant grab will beat it. If you attempt a normal grab, your opponent will tech it. Because of this you must use empty jumps sparingly so the opponent doesn't expect it.

    Overheads -

    Many characters come equipped with overheads of varying speeds and effectiveness. Applying overheads in unexpected ways can net you big damage since they can be cancelled into DMs or HDs.

    Overheads only have the overhead property when performed stand-alone. If chained into from a string they lose their overhead properties, but some can still be cancelled into something safe.

    Remember how I mentioned most people will block a jump-in high, then low? This is exactly the kind of behaviour we want to exploit when attempting an overhead. Try jumping in with an attack, but instead of following with a mid or low, do your overhead! The opponent will likely be crouch blocking and if their reactions aren't up to snuff you might score a good chunk of damage if they get hit by it.

    Another idea is to try an overhead when an opponent is waking up from a hard knockdown. If they see you on the ground, they may crouch block as they wake up and be forced to quickly react to your overhead attempt.

    Unfortunately stand-alone overheads are a Hail Mary tactic. Because they're a single hit they can't be easily hit confirmed (unless you have bullet-time perception). If you DM or HD after an overhead, you are likely making a guess that it hit your opponent. If it didn't, you just wasted your meter and potentially did something unsafe. This is the definition of big risk, big reward. Use this tactic when you've got nothing to lose or are confident that your opponent won't react fast enough to defend.


    Part 6:  Guard Crushing

    This section is a little harder to elaborate on due to the character-specific nature of guard crushing. In general, there are two main ways to score a guard crush - locking your opponent down thoroughly enough that you can continue your pressure until they break, or using an HD guard crush combo when the opponent has no meter to guard cancel roll/blowback.

    Locking down an opponent can be difficult and is highly dependent on frametraps and successful reads. Many characters have strings that leave them safe or neutral and at a distance where they can continue to apply pressure through normals or fast specials. An example of this would be Ryo with cl.C->qcf+A. If the opponent is cornered, this string on block will keep Ryo in range to apply a st.D->qcf+A afterward. Starting with a jump-in, this will do around 60% damage to the opponent's guard guage!

    As Ryo continues this pressure, every string he performs will push him farther back and eventually outside the range of his normals. At this distance he must consider what options are best at either getting back in or stopping the opponent from escaping the corner. If he sees the opponent jump, he can DP. If he thinks they may roll, he can wait and throw them back into the corner or catch them with normals during the vulnerability at the end of the roll. If the opponent is too scared to move, he can attempt to jump or run back in to apply his blockstrings again for a guard crush. These types of pressure situations in the corner can really mess with an opponent's mind, making them second guess their options and potentially delaying their response to your aggression.

    Another example is with Athena. Her cl.C->qcb+A on a cornered opponent leaves her at the perfect range to do a far C afterward (in fact, cl.C->qcb+A->st.C combos on hit). This means Athena can stay close enough to keep the pressure going while chipping away at the opponent's guard guage. A hesitant opponent with poor reactions can be guard broken very quickly through a combination of this and light Phoenix Arrow into cl.C->qcb+A.

    With Athena, j.C, cl.C, qcb+A, st.C, f+B, qcb+B, cl.C, qcb+A, st.C, f+B, qcb+BD will guard crush a cornered opponent. The weakest part of this sequence is the light Phoenix Arrow as it's only neutral on block and throwable by an opponent with good reactions. This is just an example meant to illustrate the power of safe or neutral moves that keep you close enough to keep attacking. Not every character can do this so cleanly or easily, so it will be up to you to experiment with your character's strings to find out which ones are optimal at pressuring the opponent into a guard crush.

    HD guard crush combos are unique to every character and as such won't be covered in this guide. For more information about this, check either the Dream Cancel wiki or YouTube.


    Part 7:  The Recap

    Frametrap to stop them from pressing buttons
    Grab them or continue your pressure when they're expecting frametraps
    Go low when they're expecting grabs
    Find crossup setups specific to your characters
    Use empty jumps and overheads as mixups

    Incorporating these strategies into your existing gameplay style will increase your odds of opening up an opponent, but are by no means a 1-2-3 method of always winning. KOF is a very dynamic game where everything has a counter and superior spacing, reads and reactions go a long way in determining the victor. Hopefully this guide has given you some ideas to work with and motivated you to deliver some nastier beatdowns.

    Thanks for reading!

    Special thanks to PROFESSIONALEON, Deadman xKOFx, SoleChris and everyone at Dream Cancel for helping me understand the game better.

    Edit: Fixed some typos, formatting

    4
    Pro-Gear / Hori RAP VX SA bizarreness
    « on: May 15, 2012, 01:39:18 AM »
    I ordered a RAP VX SA off Amazon.ca.  The first one I got was DOA (no power through either the PC or Xbox), so I filed for a replacement.  Got it today and it gets power just fine, but any time I come in contact with the bottom metal plate it starts ghosting like crazy, registering super rapid directional inputs and random button presses.  This only happens when a human is touching the bottom plate, doesn't matter if it's a bare fingertip or a clothed lap.  Touching the side and top plastic doesn't produce this effect, and the ghosting disappears when placed on a desk.

    I filed for a 3rd replacement which will be here Wednesday, but I can't say my hopes are high.  Has anyone else experienced this phenomena with their sticks?  If the replacement is defective too, I'm tempted to try a Qanba stick instead, but I want to rule out that this isn't some kind of crazy environmental effect.  For reference, the Xbox is connected to a PC with a router and modem nearby.  Everything is wired, not wireless, and moving the stick closer to the PC/modem/router doesn't cause ghosting... only human contact with the bottom metal plate.

    Thanks for any info you guys might have.

    5
    Pro-Gear / Converters?
    « on: March 18, 2012, 12:38:44 AM »
    I'm looking for a converter that will allow a PS3 pad to work on XBox.  I've heard converters can introduce lag so I'm hoping for something lagless if possible.  Thanks for any suggestions!

    6
    General Discussion / Dear SNK...
    « on: February 26, 2012, 11:10:13 PM »
    In a recent interview one of the SNK devs mentioned that they read forums and various websites to see what people think about the game.  I don't know if this includes English websites, or if they read this one, but I thought I'd write a little something just in case they do.

    Dear SNK,

    KOF13 is a great game, probably the best in the series to date (in my opinion).  I got 4 of my online friends to buy it and was very excited to teach them the game, but unfortunately there are some major obstacles in doing that.  I just want to suggest a few things that would improve the experience:

    1:  Add an online practice mode that functions identically to offline.  I feel like this is absolutely crucial to teaching a new player the game.  There's so much to learn in KOF and it can't be taught easily with the limited health and constant character switching that happens in 3v3 online matches. 

    2:  Add online 1v1 with best of out of 5.  2002UM featured this, why doesn't 13?  My friends complain that it's too hard to learn 3 characters at once when they don't yet understand the basics of the game.  This is a fair point.  For beginners it is much easier to learn 1 character at a time than 3.

    3:  Add lobbies and spectator mode so online friends can watch how the game is supposed to be played.  My newbie friends complain that they can't watch me fight other people to understand the pacing and flow of the game.  There is YouTube, but this is a more detached method of learning than seeing something first hand and being able to ask about it (via XBL parties).

    4:  Work on the online a little more.  North American cross continent play is still poor.  I convinced a west coast friend to buy the game but we can't get an enjoyable online experience (I'm east coast).

    Of the 4 people I got to buy the game, 0 play it.  I feel like they would have given it more of a chance if only these features were implemented.

    Other than that, thanks for the great game, SNK!

    7
    General Discussion / KOF13 Shermie sprite?
    « on: December 11, 2011, 08:16:59 PM »
    So while looking around for a new Shermie avatar, I found a couple of interesting pictures.

    The first is this:



    This might have originated on a DeviantArt account by a non-SNK associated pixel artist at http://armentis.deviantart.com/ but his page is in Spanish so I can't read the info.

    The second is more promising:



    This was posted on DreamCancel's Facebook in May but there wasn't much discussion of it.  I did a search on the forums and didn't see any discussion either.  To me this looks like a legit sprite and very much in line with 13's presentation/art.  I can't find out where the image came from but I remember someone posting a link from SNK that detailed their sprite creation process and I have to admit this looks like a finalized version of that process.

    As a Shermie lover this has got me pretty excited.  I'm hoping it's real and maybe in the future we'll see her as a DLC or in KOF 14!

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