NorCal KOF!

[tastylumpia]

I'm SF city. Demoninja's been telling me how good KoF is, but I never hopped on the wagon. We have two arcades with XIII here, so I'm definitely very lucky, but I don't want to be dropping 50 cents and getting crushed not knowing what I'm doing. I'm probably going to hit up GGPO for a bit of practice in basics. I have an all shotoesque team with K'/Kyo/Iori. Hoping those chars are similar enough to their XIII iterations. I was just wondering if playing all shotos would hold me back from learning the game fully. I heard grapplers are very strong and I know Iori has a command grab. At the very least I need to learn what makes KoF distinct. I like hops because they encourage rushdown. I'm kind of guilty of playing other games (BB) like they're SF. I dunno how far that'll get me in KoF.

[Ash Riot]

You're eventually going to have to take the risk of dumping money, only to lose, if you want to pick up XIII.  XIII has a really different feel when you first play it, which is why I think it doesn't matter too much which KOF you should play to prepare for XIII.  I play quite a bit of 98 on GGPO and 2002UM, and I still haven't completely adjusted to XIII, but that's mainly because I haven't played the game enough. 

You can't go wrong starting with those three characters, though Iori has changed noticeably going into XIII; he's still a very good character, regardless.  K' pretty much plays the same and Kyo plays like his '95/Kusanagi version.  All three of those characters are good, and if you REALLY can't get away from uppercutting and fireballing...I guess you'd be fine sticking with those characters.  Personally, I don't think the learning curve is so high that it'd be difficult to learn more than three characters, because I'd find it really boring to play only one to three characters ever in any fighting game.

Like in SF, spacing is very important part of the game.  KOF offers more movement options though, with hops, rolls, and backdash cancels.  That also makes a KOF match much more high paced, and rush down-based.  I think the thing that seperates KOF from SF is that most characters have tools to deal with many situations, allowing you more offensive and defensive options.

[Kane317]

I'm SF city. Demoninja's been telling me how good KoF is, but I never hopped on the wagon. We have two arcades with XIII here, so I'm definitely very lucky, but I don't want to be dropping 50 cents and getting crushed not knowing what I'm doing. I'm probably going to hit up GGPO for a bit of practice in basics. I have an all shotoesque team with K'/Kyo/Iori. Hoping those chars are similar enough to their XIII iterations. I was just wondering if playing all shotos would hold me back from learning the game fully. I heard grapplers are very strong and I know Iori has a command grab. At the very least I need to learn what makes KoF distinct. I like hops because they encourage rushdown. I'm kind of guilty of playing other games (BB) like they're SF. I dunno how far that'll get me in KoF.

Welcome to Dreamcancel, I'm glad you took Demonninja's advice and registed here.  Don't forget to introduce yourself here when you can.

Learning any game can be expensive, '98 and '02 can only get you so far with prepping, but plunking in the tokens/quarters is really the only way.  I'm afraid there's not much you can do except share characters in a team which we found helpful (we used to have 10+ challenger lines, 30min waits), that way you get more consistent game time in.

Your characters are pretty good to begin with, Iori might not be the easiest to use especially with his current moveset.  You should also try out Andy and Elizabeth as they are relatively easy to use.  As for grapplers, they have always been strong in the KOF series and this year it's about the same as well, particularly the 1-framer grapplers like Shen, Clark, Vice all are great punishers.

[Demoninja]

Aha I finally got one of you bastards to play. If you don't want to go into the game blind, show up to the SFSU Dojo early one of these days and I'll help you out at RnC. I know a little about K' and Kyo but I really dislike Iori so you're on your own there haha. If you throw Liz or Andy on the squad I can help you out with your whole team. Training mode at RnC is about 7 minutes for 50 cents while Southtown is 5 minutes for 50 cents.

Tasty is my witness, I have been ranting and raving about KOF for the past two months.

[tastylumpia]

It was either this or BB:CS2. I spent A LOT of quarters at RnC before it was replaced by XIII, in the end I don't think that was a very fun game. Hope KoF is hype.

Looking at Iori's movelist, it's significantly different. All I know from 2k2 is abuse crossup  + and hit confirm   into rekkas, with occasional command grab mixups. I might try Vice or Mature as I messed around with Team Iori in '98.

[Demoninja]

Isaiah plays a sick Vice so he can help you out a bit with that. I don't think anyone who has a brain jumps against his Vice in fear of eating a sick combo haha. The only thing I dislike about that char is visual.

I'll be at RnC on Thursday I think so if you want to get some training in.

[Tone]

i have finally, FINALLY gotten to actually play XIII and I love the fuck out of this game

gonna start hitting up southtown arcade a lot more.

apparently we might be getting a cab up here in fairfield as well too :D

[Ash Riot]

Finally. lol

[Mr. Soulstar]

Last time i was here this thread was 1 page....now its 15 pages deep!?

IM IN HERE! WHATS UP NORCAL

I got down on some 13 today at south town and im hooked.

I'll be checking back here often from now on

[Kane317]

I'm glad we got some movement in NorCal =)

[Demoninja]

Whoa haha I never realized that man. I was part of this since page 2! Old school bro! Once again, I look forward to meeting you guys at Southtown or Ramnation if I ever go out there. Glad some more NorCal dudes are on DC.

[Mr. Soulstar]

I'm glad to see a definite interest in the game in Nor Cal, that mean plenty of comp to up my game.

If any one is in the Solano County area, I got word that we might be getting a cab at our local scandia in Cordelia sometime soon. If we do, you'll be sure to see me up there wreckin shop

[MUSOLINI]

i think in kof the normal fb/dp characters are generally easier to learn. theres also characters that you have to specialize in to even be able to use them effectivelly (chin) but most of those characters are gone in 13 (yamazaki, oswald, anhel, gai etc).

i think to be good in kof you just have to learn how to play the game, not the character. unlike sf in kof the game system is even more important, know when to roll, when to guard cancel, how to use hops and hyper hos and superjumps, adjust yourself to the pace and increase your reactions. the reason kof players excell a sf and sf players cant excell at kof is basics, in kof your only as good as your basics. in sf you can learn a character and have him win against match ups that have a hard time to get into that certain character or whatever. in kof theres more ways to get in, and faster, so learn the game system is my best tip for any player.

also i dont know how different the game play is compared to xii, but i think attacks changed in xiii as well. in older kofs after a jump in you could press the ground attack button as soon as you wantred to and it would always connect, the game just that fast. in xii you actually had to wait a lil and time the attack after the jump in. i hope its different in xiii, at least hoping you can attack faster than in xii. in the end you can get accutomed to the timing anyways, i just found it took WAY too long before you could attack after a jump in imo, i was used to older kofs and they where WAY faster. xiii looks faster but i dont know how attacks come out after a jump in since i havent played the shit yet.

[Tone]

jump ins in this game are really strange, along with link timing. its not bad at all, but it definitely feels wonky in comparison to say 98, but you're still not so loose as to just do whatever the fuck you want like in XI.

Now if only I could stop being a scrub at this game and HD combo stuff 

[Mr. Soulstar]

Hit up Dat YOUTUBE