+30 aged players, how do you deal with slow reaction time?

[Okkupantteri]

Mainly players like me, who started tekken aged +30. I'd just like to hear some of your experiences. I find myself in a difficult situation because I think I'm simply too old to react fast enough for low attacks. I know some people say that treat low attacks like chip damage but it seems that every other character has a combo that starts with a low attack and once they realize that I'll never see it coming they just spam it and that's that :) so how do you deal with it? Just pressure more instead of keeping defensive?

[Brainssss]

Hey my dude, play it smart!
I'm 33 and last Tekken game I've played was on PsP (Dark Ressurection).
For example, try to time ultimate and catch 'em unexpected. I have won plenty of matches like this, playing on Yoshimitsu, already hit 13 Dan in less than 3 weeks of playing about 1-2 hours daily.
Or spam some simple yet unexpected move.
Learn combos, those don't require reaction but muscle memory. Catch them offguard and get their hp down while juggling.

[RE:Deemer]

I try not to think about it too much, tbh. It might be true that 30 somethings are "slower" in some sense than the "young'ins" in their twenties but imo it's not enough of a difference to be significant; you can still overcome it with sheer skill and practice.

A lot of the top FGC competitors are our age (like Daigo, for example) and you don't see them slowing down, lol.*

Edit: Actually, they're like late 30's, so even older...

[Tnargav]

Just starting now you will have to put some work to work out that muscle memory. No way around it.

[Make otgf -9 pls]

I am not yet 30 but trust me with proper training you still can build your reactions (limited by genetics and biology ofc) and get quite good. Look at main man for example he is not a pro player but guy is nearly 40 yr and his reactions and manual execution is on super advanced level

[LonesomeSparrow]

I deal with it by taking the throw damage because I can't break it anyway.

[Cam]

Practice practice practice. "Reactions" are a product of being familiar with your character, your opponent's character, your opponent's behaviors, preferences, patterns, and the game itself.

In Street Fighter for example when a high level player can knock someone out of the air every time it isn't because they were young enough to do it, it's because they know their anti-air, and likely were expecting a jump in the first place. The FGC has some pretty old pros, and they can still play fine. 30+ isn't exactly 60+, either.

I'm crap with low reactions still, to be fair, but that's because I don't know the entire roster's movelist, when each character might go for lows, things like that. Tekken's roster is big, each character's movelist is huge. It will be a long time before yourself and likely anyone you're matched against can do that.

I'm 31, and my reactions feel as good as ever. I play while smoking weed, too, so you should be fine once you've practiced. Focus on learning more about the characters and practice predicting your opponents and figuring out their patterns. People don't really play fighting games on pure reaction, so don't feel like you have to learn how to do that.

[kryeed]

I adjust my lumbar support, clean my big-ass glasses, sit 3 inches from the screen and mail my inputs 3 days in advance.

[progste]

I'm 32 but I don't feel my reaction times to have degraded, if anything I'm calmer compared to when I was a teenager and I can think better under pressure.
Being well-rested helps a lot, I notice that if I haven't slept well or enough it's much harder to block and play on reaction but if I've had a good night of sleep my reflexes are much better.

[Xixott]

Practice, develop muscle memory, don't use crappy wireless technologies (there are good ones), use a monitor with good response time and clarity, stretch, exercise, and use a good controller that you feel comfortable with that you can maintain.

[Messsucher]

Anticipate and predict.

[Iridius]

Muscle memory and knowledge trumps reaction time any day.

[Spirit]

I assume in time it becomes more automatic and Tekken seems to be more about knowing the enemy's moves than reaction time

[Shlone]

fine so far in lower ranks. I just play smart and most opponents don't.

[天佑中共🐥the light]

drink more sugar

[k.....]

As someone with slow reaction speed(326ms average on human benchmark), you need to anticipate stuff. (Even then I eat lows or throws sometimes).