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Sakazaki Dojo => Training Room => Topic started by: thec0re3 on May 25, 2011, 05:28:12 AM

Title: How should I be practicing?
Post by: thec0re3 on May 25, 2011, 05:28:12 AM
I'm getting beat terribly!! Are the mexican players really that good?!!! I can't seem to get an in on most of them and most times its me huddling in the corner taking a beat down.  Do I just continue to take the ass whooping until I just become like neo or is there another way? Is there something I need to put into practice more? What should I be working at so that I can finally land something. I definitely would love to come out of the corner.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: DarKaoZ on May 25, 2011, 06:00:56 AM
I would like to give you an advice, but I myself haven't ever played KOF game competitive only in Kaillera several years ago (I am assuming the game you want to get good is at KOF).

But I would recommend you to learn combos and learn different ways to start them, like cross overs, low attacks, far attacks, etc etc. Then ones you know your combos and your character moves learn to defend, the best way to do it when you don't have anybody to play with is by playing KOF AI at max level and beat the first teams, then the last ones will start to fight aggressive and just block and learn when to counter. 

Dunno what else to say, the best way to learn is by losing and then go to training mode to learn more or look at videos to learn new combos, then apply those during a fight. But yeah, practice those combos so you can pull them out at least 80% of the time.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: desmond_kof on May 25, 2011, 06:25:53 AM
I'm assuming that you're playing on GGPO or supercade, so I would suggest that you try to record yourself playing against people then play it back to see what exactly you are getting hit by, why you are getting hit by it, and finding out what available options you have against a certain situation your opponent is bringing you into.

Also, you need to try to fully understand the characters you are playing with.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: KBlackNoah on May 25, 2011, 03:02:39 PM
When in doubt block and CD =))
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: thec0re3 on May 25, 2011, 04:55:24 PM
When in doubt block and CD =))

Lol man I swear I've tried and it never seems to  work.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: nilcam on May 25, 2011, 05:08:51 PM
Beyond what Desmond recommended, check out Dark Geese's videos. He frequently goes to Mexico to play. There should be a lot of insight in his videos.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: Rex Dart on May 25, 2011, 05:21:05 PM
Trying to improve in KOF can be a challenge. In my experience (and others may disagree), unbalanced fights in KOF tend to be more one-sided than in other fighters.

Recently, I was at Carnival in Shinjuku, and played against a guy who just railroaded me. I got to his second character a few times, but it felt like he was just using me to practice his combos. (I can completely understand what you mean about coming out of the corner.) So then I switched to the other cabinet, where someone else was playing. To my complete surprise, I railroaded him. Straight victory.

My point is that, in my opinion, KOF is a fighter where the situation rarely puts both players back to a neutral position. The momentum of the round always keeps going, and the one in control is usually the player who's better at being aggressive. Once you feel you're on the defensive, you're already giving your opponent more of an advantage.

I don't know how many people you have to play with, but having someone who is only a bit higher-level than you can help a lot. When you have more chances to experiment outside of the corner, you can start figuring out (1) how you're getting put in it and (2) how you can stay out of it.

Good luck!
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: desmond_kof on May 25, 2011, 06:16:44 PM
The momentum of the round always keeps going, and the one in control is usually the player who's better at being aggressive. Once you feel you're on the defensive, you're already giving your opponent more of an advantage.


Hmm, I don't really know about that, in KOF you can truly control and slow the game down by being defensive and extremely patient. As long you properly react and anticipate your opponents habits, tendencies and patterns, as well as understanding the character you are facing, you can really turn the game into SF damn near, lol.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: Rex Dart on May 25, 2011, 06:25:41 PM
That's true, and I did mean to emphasize the "usually." Typically, however, it's a lot harder to counter your opponent on reaction in KOF.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: desmond_kof on May 25, 2011, 06:56:37 PM
That's true, and I did mean to emphasize the "usually." Typically, however, it's a lot harder to counter your opponent on reaction in KOF.

I agree with that, the game is really space oriented, so many times you have to just really anticipate and wait for things rather than to just blindly react.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: Amedø310 on May 26, 2011, 02:28:15 PM
Just keep playing and to add on what others have said, learn to block cross-ups. In GGPO,  Kim, Angel, Iori, and  Kyo players will do their cross-ups when ever they have a chance.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: the_judge on May 26, 2011, 11:01:29 PM
I'm just gonna leave my input, though I will say I am no where close to an experienced player, or even know how to play the game well, so take this with a grain of salt.

First, you should consider KOF as a game where pressure and rush can be constant, with your options of escaping being either risky, or cost you meter. With that in mind, you want to obtain some form of training mode, and understand your characters best offense and defensive options. So much as learning the max range of a normal will help at interrupting the opponent's often random attempts of rushing in. So you wanna clarify which characters you wish to pursue, learn their optimal combos, along with the speed and hitboxes of their normals and special attacks.
Now you will need to play a lot and watch some videos (both Dark Geese and Emil's channels being good starting points). Take note of how someone may attack or defend in a situation, and think of a counterattack for either, while not necessarily spamming and hoping something works (like I did). If you and your opponent are at somewhat of a standoff, and no fireballs are being thrown, you should consider that the opponent may just dash at your, or jump in on you. You gotta be ready for this, because at times, if you did not prevent the rush from happening, your chances of getting out are only slimmer. Eventually, you will learn of these ways, and will have counterattacks for predictable rush patterns, and even a rush and pressure game of your own to employ on the opponent. Basically, it takes work, so prepare for the lumps.

Also, keep in mind that if the game in particular is 2002, you must do these things much faster. Being that damage is fairly high in 2002, and the timer is only 45 seconds in real time. So you have a lot less time to spare in terms of defending, where you could have spent that time attacking.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: Kane317 on May 27, 2011, 12:44:39 AM
Especially with elive Pro, upload your matches onto youtube and we can get a better understanding which areas you lack in and we can commentate on your match and give you some constructive coaching tips.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: metaphysics on May 27, 2011, 04:16:12 AM
Elive pro is thie shizzzz !!lol
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: necronomiCRON on May 28, 2011, 07:56:01 PM
I'm getting beat terribly!! Are the mexican players really that good?!!! I can't seem to get an in on most of them and most times its me huddling in the corner taking a beat down.  Do I just continue to take the ass whooping until I just become like neo or is there another way? Is there something I need to put into practice more? What should I be working at so that I can finally land something. I definitely would love to come out of the corner.

Just learn the flow of the game. KoF is kind of a rock/paper/scissor system. For instance a jab beats a hop, a sweep beats a jab, and a hopping downward angled attack beats a sweep. Pay attention to what the opponent does and react accordingly. Most Mexicans are over aggressive, if you find ways to beat over aggressive opponents they won't know what hit them.
Title: Re: How should I be practicing?
Post by: Dark Geese on June 02, 2011, 11:40:50 PM
I won't go so far as to say most Mexicans are over aggressive, if you see "over-aggressive" Mexican players I am going to tell you right now you simply aren't playing the right ones.

Another word of caution- Do not use online as a gauge of how good (or bad) the Mexican players are trust me I have played on GGPO recently and can tell you that it is not a good representation of what I see in person in Mexico.


While some may look overly aggressive on GGPO, believe me there are quite a few that know when to be patient and when to be aggressive. A lot of the patience I have now I learned while in Mexico, so just take what you see online with a grain of salt.