Hello, world

[omegaryuji]

Hi all,

Short version:

Long time fighter fan, dropped out of the genre from about 2003 to 2010, but getting back into it now.

Wall 'o text version:

This will be long *laughs*.

I started playing fighters back in the early 90s with Street Fighter 2:Champion Edition.  Toyed around a bit with the later incarnations of SF2, as well as Mortal Kombat 2, before coming across my first SNK fighting game, Samurai Shodown.  Had fun with it and all, but didn't think too much of it at the time, honestly.  Then came Samurai Shodown 2, which was a totally different experience.  Somewhere between Charlotte, Jubei, Genjuro, Ukyo, Cham-cham, and Galford, my interest was piqued.  I noticed that same SNK logo on Fatal Fury 3, and that's what really blew me away.  Not only did it have some great character designs (obviously I have a thing for Yamazaki, but Geese and Mary and Terry were all cool, too), but the stuff like command chain combos and plane shifting was just too fun.  So, I tried looking for what all else SNK had made and stumbled across KoF 96.  Admittedly, I initially played it because it had Geese and Terry, but it didn't take long for me to find out the awesomeness that were Iori, Vice, Mature, Kyo, Leona, and Ralf.  Played every KoF I could after that, along with Vampire Savior, Capcom vs SNK 2, and Guilty Gear XX (and a little bit of Marvel vs Capcom 2, but not as much as the rest).  Dabbled a slight bit in other games like Street Fighter Alpha 3 or Garou: Mark of the Wolves or Soul Calibur, but those were my main interests.

Unfortunately, just as I was getting to GGXX and KoF2002, I got really sick.  Had to be heavily medicated for most of the next three years, during which time I was in too much pain and was generally too mentally unstable from the drugs to keep up with gaming.  Once that passed, I was kind of lost.  Felt like I was too far behind to jump into any of those games again, and hadn't heard anything about newer series like Melty Blood or Arcana Heart.  Ended up just sort of falling out of the fighting game scene (didn't like what I tried of Street Fighter 4 or Soul Calibur 4, either) until around last fall, when a friend (who I met through our mutual love for Shin Megami Tensei, of all things *laughs* ) mentioned Blazblue to me.  Checked out some videos and thought, "Hey, that sort of looks like GG".  Of course, anyone who's had that same line of thought can probably predict what came next, but I tried BB:CS with the expectation of something like GG and came away thoroughly disappointed.  It wasn't really a bad game in and of itself, not really, but playing it just made me wish I was playing GG instead.  Discouraged, I tried 3rd Strike as well since I'd missed that when it was new, and while it was also okay, it just didn't have that extra zing of the games I'd really liked around 1998-2002.  Marvel vs Capcom 3 came out, and I tried to get into that, but too many of the design choices in that game just repulsed me.  Found out about an arcade near me that had GG and KoF98, but in the times I went there, there was never anyone else playing them (plenty playing SSF4:AE, but I'm not going to play a game that I don't like just because it's popular).  I mean, even just playing with the AI in those games was the most fun I'd had with fighters in the past 8 years, but it's just not the same.

Then, as chance would have it, things got interesting again.  I heard that KoF was still going on, and when I checked out some videos of KoF13, it looked fantastic.  I heard about some little project that Arc had their name on called Chaos Code, and the latest loketest videos of that made it look like a cool little mixture of elements from KoF and GG (plus I'm a huge fan of Lovecraft's writing, so Cthylla's character design stole my heart as well).  Unfortunately, all of that was still a question mark as to whether or not I'd ever get to play them.

The real reignition of the old spark in me, though, came when I saw Arcana Heart 3 on a stream (West Coast Warzone 3, I think), and something about it caught my eye.  Looked into it more, and as I read further, I got more hyped.  Picked up the PSN version before its recent trouble struck and have been having an absolute blast with it.  Finally, a game that gave the freedom I loved with GG and KoF, without all of the "Why, why, WHY would they think this was a good decision?!" moments of MvC3.  Even found some local scenes for it, so really excited about that.

Still, while I do like AH3 now, my fanboy heart still sits split between Arc and SNK.  While BBCS2 doesn't look like enough of an improvement to get me excited for that series, I'm definitely happy that Ishiwatari said there will be more Guilty Gear in the future.  When I heard the recent interview with Frionel about KoF13, I damn near flipped out from joy.  Probably will not play any old KoF games in the meantime because I'll be focusing on AH3, but 13 will be an immediate purchase for me whenever it comes out, no doubt.  Iori, Ralf, Duo Lon, Vice, Kyo, Shen Woo, Leona, Mature, and Elizabeth all look too tasty to ignore.

So, yeah, I guess that about sums up my history with fighting games.  Y'all seem like a nice bunch from what lurking I've done.  Hopefully I'll find some way to join in and contribute once 13 comes out.

Oh, and quirky fact: I was looking idly at my shelf of PS2 games a couple of days ago and saw that I actually had KoF XI.  Must've saw it somewhere during my sick years and decided that SNK could use the money more than me *laughs* .  In trying to do my part to promote KoF, though, I will try bringing it to a AH3 casual meet-up in a couple of weeks, since there are usually some random PS2/3 side games.  Never played it, but the general opinion here seems to be that it's a lot of fun, so why not, right? *laughs*

[nilcam]

Welcome back to the fold! We seem to have a lot in common in regards to our gaming history. I started out with SFII and the first SNK game that blew me away was SSII. Fighters have been my main genre for years, though how serious I am about them varies from title to title.

Welcome to the Dream Cancel family.

[omegaryuji]

Thanks for having me  .  I've actually been pretty evenly split between RPGs, action games, and fighters through most of my 20 years or so of gaming.  I tended to play fighters heavily enough to generally dominate my locale in the past, though that isn't saying much, frankly (hoping that these new kids with AH3 will be better *laughs* ).  Only ones I would say I was serious about were (in no special order) Vampire Savior, CvS2, and KoF98, and I would've wanted to be serious about GG and KoF2002, had I had the chance.  Unfortunate that I've probably forgotten more about those games by now than I ever knew, and working full-time will cut into how much I can really dedicate myself to anything new, but I do intend to try my best to be serious about playing AH3 and (hopefully soon) KoF13, and I'm trying to get active enough with the locals to start setting up ranbats and tournaments for those games down the road.  Might not be much, but trying to do what I can to help keep good games from being lost in the shuffle due to limited exposure and blind fanboyish pigheadedness like what happened with Savior.

[FataCon]

I actually enjoyed reading this, so thanks for typing it out for us. Always a trip down memory lane when someone retreads their past gaming experiences. I too began (fighters) with Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition. It was at the 7-11 on the corner of my street, so I would go there to play with my older brother. Occasionally, if the machine was taken or busy, I would play Cadillacs & Dinosaurs instead lol Anyway, it's good to hear that you are up and at it again. Hopefully your renewed interest gets you back into the swing of things. If anything, do give XIII a shot! It's a great game and I'm sure it'll more than make up for all the years of KOF that you've missed. Lastly, welcome to DC.com!

[omegaryuji]

My SF2CE environment was an arcade at the local movie theater *laughs* .  And yeah, XIII looks really good, even if it's missing some of my old favorites like Yamazaki and Mary (maybe in XIV  ).  Definitely like the addition of EX moves and Drive bar for characters who didn't really use their meter much on DMs in the past games.  Seems like those changes give everyone a chance to do real damage (not to mention the eye-popping reach of EX command grabs in those technical reference videos), whereas someone like Ralf couldn't really threaten much more than normal>special/DM>oki off of a single hit in the older games.  I was a bit leery of some changes to my past mains, like Ralf losing SAB or Iori turning into Freeman 2.0, but the more I watch of matchvids, the more I'm liking their new styles.  Besides, I'm practically relearning how to play from scratch either way, so it's not like it'll really make a big difference for me *laughs* .  So, yes, definitely going to jump on the XIII train whenever it hits consoles.

Thanks for the warm welcome

[THE ANSWER]

Welcome!!!!

[Nagare_Ryouma]

I actually enjoyed reading this, so thanks for typing it out for us. Always a trip down memory lane when someone retreads their past gaming experiences. I too began (fighters) with Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition. It was at the 7-11 on the corner of my street, so I would go there to play with my older brother. Occasionally, if the machine was taken or busy, I would play Cadillacs & Dinosaurs instead lol Anyway, it's good to hear that you are up and at it again. Hopefully your renewed interest gets you back into the swing of things. If anything, do give XIII a shot! It's a great game and I'm sure it'll more than make up for all the years of KOF that you've missed. Lastly, welcome to DC.com!

Ha ha, question is, who didnt start playing fighters with SFII?
Of course I´m taking about people around 30, not people who are 18 years old.
Regarding SNK, I started with Fatal Fury but on Megadrive. A friend of mine was kinda into SNK, so he usually got console versions of many of those games. Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Samurai Spirits, etc.
Omegaryuji, welcome to the forums and welcome back to the SNK world.

[omegaryuji]

Welcome!!!!

*snip*
welcome to the forums and welcome back to the SNK world.

Thanks .  Excited to be back, even if I'm limiting myself to just a nostalgia trip until XIII comes to homes.

Also, funny that you'd mention everyone starting with SF2.  The friend who mentioned Blazblue to me had only started playing fighters about a year earlier.  His first one?  SF2:HDR *laughs*

Actually, I feel kind of bad for new players who haven't tried some of the older gems.  If nothing else, the trend of horribly sloppy input reading in new games just annoys the hell out of me (don't know how tight it is in XIII, of course, but it can't be too bad if nobody's been complaining about it, right? *laughs*).  I'd rather put up with a frame or two of lag than deal with input reading like MvC3 had.  So awful.  I don't mind stuff like being able to do TK'ed motions or putting in a dash in the middle of double half-circle motions, but when I'm trying to go from holding to doing  + , I should not have to worry about getting a backdash instead....

[nilcam]

The controls in XIII remind me a lot of the controls in XI. Not as strict as 98 but not sloppy either.

[Ash]

2003-2010 you honestly didn't miss too much. There were a few good games, but I would consider that time the 'dark ages' of fighting games.

A lot of us took breaks during that time, but it all comes back quickly =) Although you were lurking, welcome to dream cancel!

[Kane317]

Welcome to DC, and thanks for taking the time for writing that.  I also agree, who here DIDN'T start on SFII that's older than 25...

[omegaryuji]

Will definitely need to give XI a whirl, then.  Really, though, I'm not too worried about it.  If people aren't complaining, it's still KoF *laughs*

2003-2010 you honestly didn't miss too much. There were a few good games, but I would consider that time the 'dark ages' of fighting games.

A lot of us took breaks during that time, but it all comes back quickly =) Although you were lurking, welcome to dream cancel!

Off the top of my head, there were GGXXAC+ (and some earlier revisions, but no real point in playing them), KoF XI/XII, SvC Chaos, Hokuto no Ken (Decide the Destiny! *laughs* ), and Melty Blood (tried it out today for the first time and it seemed interesting) during those years.  Perhaps not a blockbuster period, but some fun stuff in there for sure.  The biggest loss was almost all of my hand skill.  It takes a lot of work for me to get execution down. Had to spend a few hours on the stick hammering out  again, and still spotty with it at times.  Kind of funny that I can still do the ol' pretzel motion pretty easily, though I guess I played so much Geese that it's etched into my hand muscles *laughs* .

But yeah, thanks for the welcome 

Welcome to DC, and thanks for taking the time for writing that.  I also agree, who here DIDN'T start on SFII that's older than 25...

Anyone who's seen my posts on other forums (probably just Gravelneed, if anyone) can probably tell you that I have a way of rambling on a lot when I'm excited about something *laughs* .  Thanks for the welcome