New to KoF

[Mordarius]

Hey everyone I'm just starting out in KoF and I was wondering if anyone has any tips to better my game. So far I like playing Mature, and Andy. Although I haven't actually played against other people yet I've been doing nothing but practice mode for a few days now. If anyone can help me out I'd really appreciate it.

[desmond_kof]

Welcome Mordarius. Firstly I'd like to ask exactly what you're having trouble with. Also it would be a good idea to try to get games in with ppl offline or online if need to be to see what things you me need to work on.

[Mordarius]

Well getting combos down is a bit of a challenge for me (normally is with any fighting game). And I've been looking here and on shoryuken to learn spacing and hit confirm. Main problem at the moment is when I do play with other people they only play the game casually so I kinda want to just go all out but don't want to at the same time. So i actually don't know if I'm getting any better.

[Strudelicious]

I don't understand how "you don't go all out". I mean if you're not doing HD combos and MAX damages that's ok, but if you want to use your buddies for footsies practice what's the problem? For example some guy raw supers and you jab him out of it.... So? You practiced your spacing, timing, and footsie knowledge. Some guy keeps jumping so you keep jump air to air'ing him. Or you keep AA'ing him. So?

I can understand if your friends become discouraged by making ONE mistake and you opening a giant can o whupass on em, however if they're whining about being punished 50 health for committing the same mistake over and over then shame on them. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. So if you bait a DP, instead of punishing with a HUGE meterless combo just punish with a hp+special cancel. You get your baby tier punish, practice spacing and timing, and they don't feel like they're fighting out of their weight class.

Also one GREAT thing to practice against casual players is low profiling. Crouch b's can go under a LOT of attacks. So let's say you're babying your friends again, stroking their egos. Every jump in, crouch b under their attack, then continue blocking EVEN IF YOU COULD punish. You just successfully practiced a tactic to open up a gap in your opponent's offence without humiliating your pals. Furthermore THINK to yourself what the appropriate action to take after low profiling should be (Maybe low profiling with my character on that specific jump in allows me to b,b,b command normal, special, maybe my character has a fast enough close c or d that I can cl.c, command normal, special). Acknowledge it and continue the game.

Finally, even if your friends are casual: teach them. My one buddy used to go crazy in SF when I would mix him up so I started teaching him about crossups and mixups. He got better, forced me to evolve, and the cycle continued. That's what playing with your friends is about. It's not about just having a live person to beat up on or to joke around with. It's having a friend who evolves with you, forces you to grow. If you feed them knowledge thats like forcing yourself to grow at an even faster pace.

[Mordarius]

Okay I understand, mainly the reason that happens is because I don't want to stop my friends from playing the game completely. Not a lot of my friends are fighting gamers, and I want them to get into them by showing them the game and having them enjoy playing it. I do understand what you are saying about training for footsies and such and I didn't even think of that so thank you.

[desmond_kof]

Okay I understand, mainly the reason that happens is because I don't want to stop my friends from playing the game completely. Not a lot of my friends are fighting gamers, and I want them to get into them by showing them the game and having them enjoy playing it.

I know what you mean to a degree, since they are just casual, non-serious players; it can be a little discouraging on their end to get completely overwhelmed when playing something that should be fun. It's always more fun to do anything that you have some skill built at a certain point of time. Sometimes I take it easy on new players if I feel that they aren't serious about getting better, but I go all out on players who I feel really want to get better, so I understand your dilemma.

Do you have this game on steam? Maybe you should try to play online for a bit with people of different skill levels.

[Strudelicious]

I hope your friends understand the basic nature of fighting games, though. It's not like Halo where you race to the power weapon, grab it and then are overpowered cuz of that. Eventually Ammo runs out or people gang up on the guy and he dies while someone else gets the chance to use the power weapon. In fighting games its not like that. It's very unforgiving. You create your chance, the game doesn't naturally just go: Ok, you've had enough. Time for the other dude to beat up on you for a bit. If you REALLY REALLY want to go easy on em, don't attack. KOF allows us to defend via pro-active attacks (neutral jump CD). You could just roll and jump around using defensive air to airs and such to get all your damage. Then when they whiff a more difficult to punish move you can practice your punish for that (a great one to practice punishing is EX Hangetsuzan or EX Maiden Masher).

Fighting games are unforgiving and if your friends cannot abide by that singular fact then you're better off not playing with them (it will cause emotional issues between friends in the long term). I turned fighting games into a drinking game (I don't even drink) with my buddy and drank all his booze while not letting him win a single round for 2 hours straight. We both laughed about it and enjoyed our time. If your friends cannot do this then you're better off playing something else with them.

They need to want to grow. They need to truly want to EARN their victories (the way your great grandparents won the war) and not just "earn" em (the way you won that ribbon at your middle school competition).

Good luck trying to get your friends into the genre!

[Mordarius]

Thanks for your help guys. First I don't have the steam edition but I plan on getting it as soon as I get a job for the summer. (school work kills me during the semester and I can't work at the same time) And as far as not attacking goes I definitely plan on doing that now toward my non-competitive friends now. During my last school semester we used to do a thing every week where we just get a group of people and play some games in the cafe. Most of them used to say they want to get better but never go about their way to do so. But now I'm going to do my best to get them into it. The KoF community so far to me is a good one and I'm glad I joined it.