New To Fighting Games Any TIps?

[pulaski2007]

Guilty gear is my first fighting game and I'm completely overwhelmed by the number of mechanics and really how to play fighting games as a whole. I've tried the missions mode in the menu which helps, but its all a lot to take in at once and I'm just confused

[Mr.I]

For beginners:

Step 1. pick the coolest character as your main character
Step 2. watch some videos (guides) to build a basic understanding of the genre
Step 3. read the wiki[www.dustloop.com] to learn more about the basics
Step 4. read the wiki page of your character
Step 5. complete all single players missions
Step 6. go play online
Step 7. when you lose, go read your opponent's wiki page
Step 8. watch tournaments and imitate the pro players

[Valinov]

What was said above, but also it really helps to pick a game that is new. Playing a "old" fighting game is just asking for more pain.

[Cheymix]

what you should do before what was said above is to learn 1 thing at a time. strive is a game where you shouldn't really care about rank but more so your own growth. so learn 1 thing at a time and try to do them in a match. the basics like what your moves are and then what they can be used for. then do the same with the mechanics. after you do all that and feel good THEN look up wiki stuff and combos online. do it at your own pace

[A Jolly SpeedWagon]

if you wanna run some guilty gear, i can teach you the game if you want, sargentmcdumbass on discord :D.

[Nanami]

Originally posted by Valinov:

What was said above, but also it really helps to pick a game that is new. Playing a "old" fighting game is just asking for more pain.

I dont get why people say this game is old, it's only been 3 years since launch, dlcs are still hyped, not street fighter or tekken numbers but still healthy playerbase too, heck mk1 which was released last year has less players

[Cheymix]

Originally posted by Mya-Nee:

Originally posted by Valinov:

What was said above, but also it really helps to pick a game that is new. Playing a "old" fighting game is just asking for more pain.

I dont get why people say this game is old, it's only been 3 years since launch, dlcs are still hyped, not street fighter or tekken numbers but still healthy playerbase too, heck mk1 which was released last year has less players

yeah its not an issue as you can still get alot of games in 6-7 floor. its kind of impressive

[Emerald Lance]

Ask questions. I often hear "I'm so new that I don't know what to ask" but that line of thought assumes you already have the knowledge you'd be asking for. You don't have to ask questions about specific frame data or hitbox properties or kara timing or anything like that. Your question can be as simple and as vague as simply asking "What am I doing wrong here?" or "What should I do about that move I keep getting hit by?"

Don't beat yourself up over your losses. The 1v1 nature of the game dictates that you will lose roughly half of all your matches, and it'll be way more than that when you're just starting out. Losing stings, but experiencing that loss is just part of the experience. That's why it's best to remove your ego from your performance if you can. Try not to concern yourself with whether you can beat your opponent, and focus instead on whether you can beat yourself; the only performance metric that matters is if you're better today than you were yesterday.

Adding to that, try to be okay with improvement that comes in baby steps. At first learning feels fast and makes you feel strong, but very quickly you will plateau, and from there each incremental improvement will be tiny compared to what came before. It will probably feel like you slammed into a brick wall, but this is normal and everybody goes through it eventually. Just be patient with yourself, and keep making small improvements where you can.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking "unranked" means "casual" in these games. In this game the unranked area is the park, and in the park you can be floor 10 and fight people from floor 1; you fight whoever challenges you, regardless of your skill level or theirs. Instead, you should probably play either with friends or in the ranked lobbies, called the tower in this game. The benefit of ranked lobbies is that you will only fight people of roughly your own skill level, which is important for all players but especially for new players. It's important to take your losses with a good attitude, but at the same time just getting bodied by a player with 1000 hours isn't going to teach you anything (despite what some people might try to get you to believe). Aim for opponents of similar skill to your own.

Finally, pat yourself on the back for your wins. Don't ever tell yourself that you don't deserve this win. So what if the other guy was "better" than you and "should've won" instead? So what if you only won because you got lucky? A lucky win is still a win, and we take those. Luck will never not be a factor in anything you ever do in your entire life. So if you win, embrace that win. You did it. Congratulations.

You got this, chief. I believe in you.

[Red]

On top of all that's already been said here, one thing I don't see people mentioning often: don't focus on combos, frame data or whatever, and learn how to block. For a complete newcomer, it might make your experience go from "sandbag getting absolutely bodied by an average player" to "actually having a chance to play and throw some attacks in". That, and getting your marks with character spacing, but it usually comes with time.

Blocking basics: generally speaking you want to block low ("crouch back"), but you also need to adapt your guard to a standing block in case the opponent goes airborne. You often also need to anticipate that the opponent will try to hit you (sometimes you can still block on reaction), and you obviously can't block while you're attacking. Long story short, block if you think the opponent is up to something funny. Also try not to mash buttons, but that's more of a general tip.

[Valentine (Lunaticus)]

Pick cool character, press buttons

Edit: Just go play. Don't stress about trying to learn all the mechanics before playing against other people, you can just go Slash (S) -> Heavy Slash (HS) -> Special Move (or straight to special move from Slash). That's enough to get started. If you need a quick button, spam Punch (P).

[n00bdragon]

Originally posted by Emerald Lance:

...

This is all great advice. I would second all of it but add this more mechanical and practical stuff:
1. You don't have to take in everything at once. The game's mechanics are deep, and as you learn you will come back bit by bit to ask "okay, what is this weird thing that happens, I don't understand" and that's normal.
2. When you are starting out, the most important stuff to know is that you have five basic attack buttons (plus dash/burst/etc macros). You know to block high stuff standing and low stuff crouching and mid stuff either way. Avoid throws by jumping or backdashing.
3. You don't need fancy combos to start out, but a little basic combo isn't too hard even for absolute beginners. (c.S > f.S > 5H > Special) is a combo for most of the cast, as is (2K > 2D > Special).
3b. If the notation above looks like gibberish to you, that's okay, but learning it will help you read stuff people are saying about the game.
P = Punch
K = Kick
c.S = Close Slash (Slash, when near the opponent)
f.S = Far Slash (Slash, when farther away from the opponent)
H = Heavy Slash
D = Dust
1-9 = These numbers indicate a directional input. Look at your numpad for reference. All directions assume a character on the left side facing right. So 6P means to hold forward while pressing Punch. 236K means to go from down, to down-forward, to forward, and press Kick.
4. Always focus on listening to your opponent and seeing what they really want to do, then respond to that. At lower levels of play, you won't experience many truly ambiguous situations where you just cannot guess what the opponent will do. People have patterns. They expose weaknesses. If you can't spot these in the match itself, watch your replays. If you still can't figure it out, show your replays to other people and work together to develop a solution and then work out how to implement it.
5. You got this champ. We're all in this together.

[pulaski2007]

Originally posted by A Jolly SpeedWagon:

if you wanna run some guilty gear, i can teach you the game if you want, sargentmcdumbass on discord :D.

Sounds good

[Cookie]

Depends.
If you want to chill and play for some time with friends, pick what you like and press buttons.
If you want to play online, go big, ingage nerd mode starts learning mechanics and combos.
Up to you.

[Rabbit4nld]

Originally posted by Valinov:

What was said above, but also it really helps to pick a game that is new. Playing a "old" fighting game is just asking for more pain.

i agree. the longer you wait on a fighting game, the more your gonna get beat.

[TrioAngelamVA.WliaAlfaD.A.S]

Originally posted by Rabbit4nld:

Originally posted by Valinov:

What was said above, but also it really helps to pick a game that is new. Playing a "old" fighting game is just asking for more pain.

i agree. the longer you wait on a fighting game, the more your gonna get beat.

Not to mention also what you learn on older game (most likely) wont work on new one because of core change in mechanics least thats how i feel about it.
As for tips all ben said already
Pick the character that strikes you most fancy since it will be main for long time take your time with it if its not ok try some other i would say how ever try get least 1 or 2 sub mains dont stick to single char for ever.
After you learn the basics try fight each character (vs AI) so you know who will be more easy for you and who will be harder against your main there will always be some character that will have easy counter for your main.
The rest is pretty much the longer you play the better you get (that's subjectable) but im just casual so dont take my words 100%