Messages

31

Offline Matchmaking / Re: The OFFICIAL KOF Florida thread!

« on: December 06, 2011, 02:21:27 AM »

Heh, I thought about making an I-4 corridor thread, but I guess Isaac beat me to it.

But yeah, we're working on a KOF 13 scene here in Orlando, and we would gladly welcome anyone who wants to come out and play some KOF. Early reception for the game is very positive, I think we can definitely make MK numbers if people come out and play.

The next tournament in Orlando with KOF as an official game will be CEO Winterfest on Jan. 21. Jebailey's events are a great way to get the game exposure, and I encourage anyone in the area who wants to compete in KOF to attend.

For casuals, Nestor Ramirez usually hosts on Thursdays in Avalon Park. Mostly a Street Fighter/Marvel crowd, but anyone is welcome to set up and play whatever games they wish. Others in east Orlando (and occasionally west Orlando) may also host on weekends where there aren't big events. For contact info and general hosting information, you can follow the Orlando Fighting Game Community and CEO Gaming groups on Facebook.

We also have KOF community Facebook groups going for both Orlando and Tampa. Anyone is welcome to join.

And of course if anyone wants to host KOF-centric/KOF-only get-togethers of their own, feel free to advertise here. If you don't like Facebook personally, but would like to advertise your hostings to the Facebook groups, I can pass your info on if you'd like.

32

General Discussion / Re: Xbox 360 player listing

« on: December 02, 2011, 11:43:29 AM »

GT: Leopard0n
Location: Orlando, FL

33

Archives / Re: CEO Winterfest Orlando, FL January 21st 2012

« on: December 01, 2011, 10:07:13 PM »

If you're in the Orlando area or are willing to make the drive, you should come out to this. Jebailey's events are always well-run and well-attended. An excellent way to meet fellow players, learn more about the game, and rep KOF 13. Let's show Florida that 13 is a game worthy of everyone's attention.

34

Offline Matchmaking / Re: South FL KOF

« on: December 01, 2011, 05:16:05 AM »

Anyone posting in these FL threads located in the Orlando area/Tampa area/I-4 corridor? We've actually got a fair amount of buzz around KOF 13 around here these days. There's a couple events coming up that have it as a side game and I'm trying to hype them up.

Dec. 3 - Epic Winter Battles, Orlando, FL
Dec. 17 - Storm Underground 4, Orange Park, FL (not I-4 but still noteworthy...Jax folks take note)
Jan. 21 - CEO Winterfest 2012, Orlando, FL

If you guys want details on any of those events, just let me know and I'll have 'em posted (don't want to spam). I'll probably get the Winterfest organizer to make a post in the events forum, at least.

35

Kyo Kusanagi / Re: Kyo Kusanagi

« on: November 30, 2011, 11:45:59 PM »

Conrner
...   + ,   +   ....

That works as an HD shortcut? Tigerkneeing the move doesn't mess up the activation?

I'd try it myself but I gotta leave in 5 minutes.

36

General Discussion / Re: Real match execution.

« on: November 30, 2011, 11:42:54 AM »

More than just understanding basic combos from c. B/low jump attacks, it's also important to understand your characters' basic mixup options so that you have ways to open your opponent up (or with a zoning character, keep them at a manageable range).

Even if you're not always landing optimal combos, if you understand how to limit the opponent's options with your character, you can kill the opponent with repeated small victories instead of one or two decisive blows. Learn how to create traps for your opponent's common reactions (roll? DP? CD counter? keep blocking? mash from disadvantage? jump predictively or on reaction?), and exploit those with simple but consistent punishes to keep your momentum. (You bait your opponent's roll out of your corner pressure, but you don't know/can't do any good combo punishes for it? Then you can at least throw them back into the corner and try to counter whatever they try next to escape. Any punish beats NO punish, any day of the week.)

This game scares a lot of people due to the high-end execution requirements, but many new players don't realize how easy and rewarding it is to create a fundamental game to build on. If your combos are still developing, there are plenty of universal offensive and defensive tools to fill out your basic mixup and zoning. Worry first about learning how to poke, zone, move and mix up at the basic level, and grow into bigger and better combos as you get better at creating opportunities for them.

37

General Discussion / Re: KOF XIII 6th General Thread: Console Released edition

« on: November 30, 2011, 10:20:56 AM »

But yeah, maybe some Neo Maxes have their uses for punishing shit or as some kind of reversal.

Some NeoMAXes are actually very good as raw moves, despite their expense. Mai's NeoMAX is a good example IMO; it's very fast, punishes full screen, and is completely invincible once she's off the wall. If Mai is running away with meter for NeoMAX and the opponent chucks a full-screen fireball, you can easily react and teach them a very ugly lesson. It'll also beat a lot of stuff that might be used for stalling as the timer winds down, such as Athena Shining Crystal Bit (but not EX Shining Crystal Bit).

38

Mai Shiranui / Re: Mai Shiranui

« on: November 28, 2011, 09:30:47 PM »

In Mai's case, cr.C is a better move to whiff cancel because it gives her more ground and distance. I find whiff cancelling cr.C into A Ryuuenbu very useful if you want to apply corner pressure your opponent when you're just out of her st.D's range. It pins your opponent down to place and A Ryuuenbu is pretty safe on block.

Yeah, that's my favorite dog-training Mai trick too. Mix up the spacing and timing on crouch C to try and bait whiffs or rolls, and just needle them with safe qcb+As until they decide to jump or do something else desperate. Plus if you space it out to tip range, qcb + A will avoid pretty much every sweep in the game. You're usually out of CD counter range, regular rolls are total crap even when psychic, and guard cancel rolls can be easily baited with the cancel window on c. C (if they roll, don't cancel and throw them back into the grinder). About the only things you have to watch out for are jumps and reversals (mostly jumps, because you can space out many reversals).

39

Mai Shiranui / Re: Mai Shiranui

« on: November 28, 2011, 08:14:32 AM »

"Kara" moves do exist in KOF as whiff cancels, but they're generally not used the same way as in Capcom games. You generally don't get a massive immediate forward projection like a good Capcom kara-cancel, and you can't generally exploit the range boost on command throws due to the lower projection and stricter rules on tick-throwing. (There are very few moves in KOF where your character's axis suddenly leaps forward if you cancel the normal before the active frames.)

Whiff cancels in KOF are mostly used as baits (and possibly ghetto option selects, depending on the character). You can whiff Mai's c. D, for example, and whiff-cancel it into Kacho Sen or Ryuu Enbu to catch the opponent's reactive (impulsive) jump. Or you can whiff-cancel c. C at range into Kacho Sen when zoning, teach the opponent to expect the whiff cancel, and take advantage of them when they try to jump in on an imaginary fireball.

So yeah, same concept, but very different practical applications in KOF.

40

Mai Shiranui / Re: Mai Shiranui

« on: November 27, 2011, 08:34:20 PM »

Her raw NeoMAX is insane. Really fast, tracks well, and completely invincible once she's off the wall. It's expensive, but if Mai's lived long enough to build that much bar, you should definitely consider it. Full-screen 50% damage because your opponent threw a random fireball can be a powerful psyche-out.

The only things it seems to lose to are other moves that are completely invincible until Mai lands on the ground (at which point her invincibility instantly goes away). For example, if Athena does a NORMAL Shining Crystal Bit, you can just blow right through her shield with your NeoMAX. But if Athena does an EX Shining Crystal Bit, you have to wait until the shield goes down to punish, because Athena is completely invincible until the shield goes away. Mai will just fly right through her, and usually land right inside the shield for a faceful of deadly sparkles.

EDIT: Whoops. Forgot about autoguard, too. Tested raw NeoMAX on reaction against Maxima C Vapor Cannon and it lost. So watch out for that, too.

Lost cleanly to Maxima s. CD and C Vapor Cannon (hit on landing recovery, I had Mai recorded to block down-back all through the NeoMAX animation). I tried to hit it with EX Blitz Cannon (dp+AC), but it seemed inconsistent. The autoguard activated, but Maxima didn't seem to be in a good position to grab her (and possibly COULD not because Mai was probably invulnerable to throws as well as strikes).

41

Mai Shiranui / Re: Mai Shiranui

« on: November 25, 2011, 08:40:50 PM »

Crouching C is still pretty nuts. Not sure exactly how fast it is, but since it links from c. A, and advantage on hit isn't very big in this game, it's gotta be damn fast.

More than the frame data, I'd kinda like to see the hitbox data on that move. How soon is the vulnerable hitbox projected forward? How soon does it retract on whiff? How high does the vulnerable hitbox extend? Spaced properly, the move still seems like a really great bully move, both for blockstrings into A Kacho Sen/A Ryuu Enbu and for whiff cancelling to bait an approach. Honestly, the move is so fast and relatively safe I'd rather use it than her crouching B for ground offense. c. B will open people up, but it's really hard to convert to good damage. c. C won't break low guards, but it's a good safe pressure tool to make the opponent try to respond to it, and if you get a random or not-so-random hit, it's trivial to convert to a real combo.

Far D is good but I don't think it's godlike. Nice active frames, decent height, but a little slow to start and recover on block. Not really a spammable move, but it seems like it might ultimately beat s. B in the same anti-air situations just for the more favorable trade, and the recovery is fine on hit. s. B seems to have a bad habit of getting stuffed if you don't do it predictively. Far D seems marginally slower for much greater reward if you succeed.

For spaced-out anti-air, far C is growing on me. You have to be careful of the spacing so you don't get a whiffed too-early close C, but the vertical range and speed still seem pretty damn good. So much better than her far Cs from older games (the crappy backfist with no speed AND no range) that it's not even funny. Definitely the best stand C she's had since, uh...CvS2.

42

Yuri Sakazaki / Re: Yuri Sakazaki

« on: November 24, 2011, 04:14:46 AM »

I tried to combo her sweep into the Demon Flip grab, but it didn't work. Tried it on Shen first, standing and crouching, normal hit. Tried entering the grab early and late after the flip (c. D xx dp + D, A+C). Tried both the B and the D versions, both seemed to put her too high to grab the opponent. Tried it on Raiden (even though I don't know if he actually had a bigger juggle hitbox than Shen from a sweep), it didn't take there either.

s. CD (normal hit) xx Demon Flip grab works, though. And this character's already pretty damn dirty as-is. Good normals, good zoning, good pressure, good mixup, relatively easy and damaging combos, and a million setups in the corner. And a dirty-ass 1-frame grab. If Yuri ever steals air Tatsu and super Demon from Akuma, KOF is straight fucked.

About the only downside to picking this character is her voice.

43

Mai Shiranui / Re: Mai Shiranui

« on: November 20, 2011, 07:05:47 AM »

Played a bit more tonight. Finally beginning to understand why not many people play as Mai (not that I agree with this decision, mind you). Whether or not she wins many normal exchanges, particularly air-to-air and close-range anti-air, seems very spacing-dependent. In many cases I found it was far more consistent to evade close-range low jump attacks by doing c. B to make the opponent whiff, rather than risking a close C, getting a spacing/timing error, and losing the exchange outright.

She still seems to benefit immensely from the A Ryuu Enbu and A Kacho Sen buffs, though. A Ryuu Enbu in particular surprised me; I had to actually prove to people trying the game that A Ryuu Enbu didn't have low invincibility because I kept blowing people's c. Ds up with it when they tried to sweep me out of my corner pressure. The vulnerable hitbox at her feet seems to be a pretty safe distance behind her giant wall of flame. This was mostly tested against Kula and Kim's sweep. I'll have to wait for my copy to see if sweeps with a higher hitbox are stupid enough to trade with it (I'm looking at you, Terry). This seems good to know, because the move itself seems fairly safe to reaction rolls (if only because neutral rolls are so ludicrously slow), although I suspect that even spaced to beat sweeps, the move may lose to jump-ins from disadvantage.

Her NeoMAX is a LOT faster than I expected. I guess I should have figured that out when the video demonstrated it comboing from a c. C...but it's still pretty boss to blow up successful Kula fireball reflections on reaction with it. Pretty much any whiff more serious than a light attack seems fair game for a full-screen punish.

44

Mai Shiranui / Re: Mai Shiranui

« on: November 19, 2011, 02:05:22 AM »

I played a bit with console Mai the other night.

I'm not sure HOW they changed the trajectory on j. d + B (Ukibane) from the arcade version, because I'm not sure how exactly it behaved in that version, but it seems fairly serviceable in this version. The hitbox seems decent for stuffing many whiffed wakeup DPs, but the trajectory is still hard to control compared to, say, the 2k2 version. The minimum height and the point at which it will auto-correct if you cross someone up with a jump is difficult to eyeball. The move seems to have forward projection almost like the 2k2 version, but the changes to animations/hitboxes and movement speed in this game will make it weird to adjust to at first.

The move definitely seems safer on block, though, but it's still decidedly negative on block, even when spaced safely. You land too deep and you're definitely 1-frame throw punishable at minimum. Against opponents who don't know/don't have good fast punishes for the move, watch out for normal throws at that range.

The charge Musasabi no Mai cancel into Ukibane seems decent for an occasional mixup. It's certainly not ST Vega shenanigans, but you can do the move pretty early in the jump (not sure what the minimum height on Ukibane is), and the increased cancellable window on c. C makes it easier to confirm hit or block to switch to C/EX Ryuu Enbu or something if you hit from a jump-in.

In case it wasn't clear from the official video, the trajectory, frame data, and hitbox of Ukibane don't seem to change at all when cancelled from the charge d, u + P jump. As a result, its utility as a feint or an attack off the wall is pretty poor compared to just empty walldive or loaded walldive. Its best use seems to be early in the jump as a ghetto Flying Barcelona Attack. Seems like a good trick to have in your back pocket, but definitely not one to abuse.

A version Kacho Sen is really great in console. New recovery's great, but the startup is AMAZING. Much easier and safer to use for late fireball nullification and long-range anti-air now. The opponent is gonna need something serious stocked in order to blow up random Kacho Sens now.

A version Ryuu Enbu's new hitbox seems about the same as 2k2 version. Good times of mid-to-long-range anti-air are here again.

I didn't get to play much with her new s. B s. D chain, but one thing I can say is that it's pretty ass on whiff (if you CAN even whiff cancel it). No footsie fakeouts like Terry c. D (whiff) xx df + C here. A combo tool/blockstring and that's basically it.

I don't think she's gonna be beastly, but she definitely seems better than the arcade version now. Not much return for spending meter with her, but her zoning/runaway/general battery game seems to be back up to snuff. Still a strong 1st character to use to provoke and analyze your opponent so as to better blow them up with your later characters.

I think she might also be helped indirectly by the guard meter/defensive super meter changes in console. With the nerfs to huge guard crush strings like Andy's and the increased meter for defending, it seems like she'll be able to both block a little longer (important because her super-close-range anti-air is still pretty poor) and gain more regular access to CD/roll counter for when she's really in a tight spot. You'll still wanna sit on meter with Mai, I think, but you can afford to spend at least a little more to keep her alive longer if you're on a hot streak. She's still one of the most slept-on characters in KOF IMO.

45

Training Room / General rules + known sources of KOF XIII frame data?

« on: November 10, 2011, 07:56:21 AM »

Trying to compile some resources for people who want to play KOF XIII around Orlando, and from what I can see there really isn't much for frame data for this game. So I just have a few quick questions on that front:

1. How fast is the startup on REGULAR throws in this game? Same speed as fastest normal attacks, or faster? I presume they're at least 2 frames to start up, so that 1-frame command throws can have something to feel special about.

2. Are there any non-English (Japanese, Spanish-language, or otherwise) wikis/forums with more complete frame data than what little I could find on Dream Cancel/SRK?

3. Are there any currently announced physical strategy guides, English or otherwise, that will include full frame data for KOF XIII?