Tips for the Goku Black episode?

[Wertologist]

I just got to the episode where you fight Black and it's a little ridiculous. He will perfect block, perfect counter, then stun lock me from behind and take out 1.5 bars. I can kill him sometimes, but I'm left at less than one bar of HP and then Zamasu appears and I don't last long after that

And "get good" is not applicable here. This game is pretty broken with AI and that's not a rare occurrence. Not everyone can dedicate 80+ hours to a game that came out a few weeks ago. To anyone that has more than 20hrs put in already and talking about "skill issues", get a life and then talk when you don't have dozens of hours to pour into it. This is not a skill issue, this is an AI issue. I played hundreds of hours in BT3 and could play the hardest difficulties there, but this game's AI is broken in story missions as they are way too OP. This is a bit of a rant, but nearly every single post I see of people coming across an issue with things like this is met with an army of people with 90+ hours(of a game that was barely out for 2 weeks) who act like that's a normal amount of time to dedicate to what's supposed to be a toybox fighting game. Not even BT games were this broken with AI

[RoboticZombie1]

I hear you. I've had my own angry frustrations with fighting the AI; and also the, frankly, stupidly difficult requirements for alternate episode endings.

A strategy that worked pretty well for me, and maybe it'll help you too, in story episodes is to practice the timing of the vanish counter (right bumper, for me). I sat in the training mode for a good bit having Piccolo beat me up just trying to get used to the timing lol.

I've noticed a bit of a pattern with vanish countering the AI, and that helps me predict what they're going to do:

1. I attack them, and they vanish behind me.

2. Just as their vanish attack lands, I tap vanish.

3a. If my vanish attack hits, it sends them flying.

3b. If they vanish again, and my attack doesn't hit; then I vanish counter again (maybe I've just been lucky, but I've never had to vanish counter more than twice against the AI in story mode).

4. I DON'T chase after them. Instead, I use the time while they fly away to charge up to sparking mode (usually I can pretty much fill up before they fly back to me).

It's kind of a lame/cheap strategy, but it seems to help me with a lot of AI fights.

[Meteor]

The Goku Black arc in Goku's story is what made me good against AI.

At this point in the story the CPU will no longer lead their attacks with a basic melee, they will ALWAYS open up with ki blasts before they start punching you, so don't use perception unless your already blocking a combo.

But the big thing to practice is that you can start a vanish war on parries (the one where they bump you and then kick you away). You will want to practice your timing, because when they kick you away they will always follow up with a special before you can recover, but you can also do it to them, get a good knock away and immediately follow up with a special or ultiimate.

Sparking can be helpful as it surpasses any armor the enemy might have and it will auto deflect ki blasts which at this point the enemy will try to start every combo with, however by this point in the story even if you sparking dash behind enemies and start meleeing they can break your combo with a parry after so many hits and unless you hit guard in time to vanish it you will be left vulnerable.

One last piece of advise that applies to all of the CPU in the game is always try to combo into your specials, every time you just throw out a beam or charge attack and the enemy is just standing around or charging ki there is a 90% chance that they will either guard, vanish, or deflect it. So only bother if your looking to waste time (or are trying to make the fight dramatic).

[ZexxCrine]

Genuinely you don’t need to practice everything and be a god at the game. If you wanna clown on the cpu you just need to learn the timing to vanish super counters. You will get super countered. It’s just gonna happen. When it does, vanish the counter and then charge up and go into sparking mode. The computer is basically programmed to roll over and die while you are in sparking mode. They rarely if ever will counter anything you do in sparking. So vanish the super counter which is consistent timing across all characters as far as I am aware. Charge up. Dash straight up to them. Mash attack until they fall out. Then use your super.

[Wertologist]

Side note, I see a lot of people in various posts talking about "just go into sparking", but that's part of the problem. You shouldn't have to do that to win. that's cheesing and you shouldn't have to cheese to win. cheesing is fun from time to time, but it's best when it's optional, not the smart move you're pretty much forced to take

[ZexxCrine]

Originally posted by Wertologist:

Side note, I see a lot of people in various posts talking about "just go into sparking", but that's part of the problem. You shouldn't have to do that to win. that's cheesing and you shouldn't have to cheese to win. cheesing is fun from time to time, but it's best when it's optional, not the smart move you're pretty much forced to take

i mean you don't have to, but if the answer of "get better at the game, learn how combos work, find everything the cpu isn't good at responding to etc" isn't a satisfactory answer then why not do the thing the devs had to personally put in the game for people who are having trouble.

you can't complain that there is no easy answer, be given the easy answer, and then whine about it being the easy answer. idk I remember people suggesting cheese back in the day for budoukai and tenkaiichi. its as old as fighting games itself. the cpu has always cheated in some way in every fighting game. you can either get really really good at the game or you can spam crouch kick until the enemy dies.

[Archonis]

I started a new file just to redo the story and grind again. Yeah, I know a masochist. Upon doing this and going through the Goku storyline. I easily completed all the alternate paths with almost little to no effort. I literally had to slow down so I could hit the "canon" storyline.

Basically what I am trying to say to those of you having issues with the AI in story. Just stick with it and learn the mechanics. I don't even think I am that good, but after playing all the previous storylines and restarting. I have definitely improved and I was working Full Power Jiren and Zamasu and Goku Black with little issues.

The things to really work on are your Z Counters and High Speed Evasion skills. Those trivialize many elements against the AI.

[Wertologist]

Originally posted by ZexxCrine:

Originally posted by Wertologist:

Side note, I see a lot of people in various posts talking about "just go into sparking", but that's part of the problem. You shouldn't have to do that to win. that's cheesing and you shouldn't have to cheese to win. cheesing is fun from time to time, but it's best when it's optional, not the smart move you're pretty much forced to take

i mean you don't have to, but if the answer of "get better at the game, learn how combos work, find everything the cpu isn't good at responding to etc" isn't a satisfactory answer then why not do the thing the devs had to personally put in the game for people who are having trouble.

you can't complain that there is no easy answer, be given the easy answer, and then whine about it being the easy answer. idk I remember people suggesting cheese back in the day for budoukai and tenkaiichi. its as old as fighting games itself. the cpu has always cheated in some way in every fighting game. you can either get really really good at the game or you can spam crouch kick until the enemy dies.

I never said anything like "there's no easy answer". All I said is that I see countless people saying "just go into sparking" as if cheesing is what you SHOULD do. I'm saying that cheesing shouldn't be the default go-to for people defending broken AI. I'm near the end of the first story, I think I understand how the game works. The AI is just broken

[Fanta]

Originally posted by Archonis:

I started a new file just to redo the story and grind again. Yeah, I know a masochist. Upon doing this and going through the Goku storyline. I easily completed all the alternate paths with almost little to no effort. I literally had to slow down so I could hit the "canon" storyline.

Basically what I am trying to say to those of you having issues with the AI in story. Just stick with it and learn the mechanics. I don't even think I am that good, but after playing all the previous storylines and restarting. I have definitely improved and I was working Full Power Jiren and Zamasu and Goku Black with little issues.

The things to really work on are your Z Counters and High Speed Evasion skills. Those trivialize many elements against the AI.

It's sad that most people refuse to learn the game and just want to win.

I see this in turn-based games all the time: because turn-based has no execution barriers outside of moving around your cursor, you can google and have access to the total knowledge of people who know the ins and outs of the game, and apply the knowledge either instantly or by alt-tabbing during battle (turn-based is all about job/class/skill combinations).

Compare that to watching a youtube on how to combo effectively: knowing the buttons isn't enough, you also have to timely press them on time, every time. There's an execution barrier, and the only way to reach it is with practice. And people hate that.

Here's my hot take: This isn't a problem the game designer(s) ought to solve, outside of providing you with an easy mode. If you make it so that everyone is special (can finish the game) you're lowering the floor instead of motivating the player to climb up.

[Archonis]

Originally posted by Fanta:

Originally posted by Archonis:

I started a new file just to redo the story and grind again. Yeah, I know a masochist. Upon doing this and going through the Goku storyline. I easily completed all the alternate paths with almost little to no effort. I literally had to slow down so I could hit the "canon" storyline.

Basically what I am trying to say to those of you having issues with the AI in story. Just stick with it and learn the mechanics. I don't even think I am that good, but after playing all the previous storylines and restarting. I have definitely improved and I was working Full Power Jiren and Zamasu and Goku Black with little issues.

The things to really work on are your Z Counters and High Speed Evasion skills. Those trivialize many elements against the AI.

It's sad that most people refuse to learn the game and just want to win.

I see this in turn-based games all the time: because turn-based has no execution barriers outside of moving around your cursor, you can google and have access to the total knowledge of people who know the ins and outs of the game, and apply the knowledge either instantly or by alt-tabbing during battle (turn-based is all about job/class/skill combinations).

Compare that to watching a youtube on how to combo effectively: knowing the buttons isn't enough, you also have to timely press them on time, every time. There's an execution barrier, and the only way to reach it is with practice. And people hate that.

Here's my hot take: This isn't a problem the game designer(s) ought to solve, outside of providing you with an easy mode. If you make it so that everyone is special (can finish the game) you're lowering the floor instead of motivating the player to climb up.

I in general agree with you that learning the mechanics will help everyone against the AI. I do think that they should of allowed "weak" difficulty to allow them to complete the alternate path. There are people out there with disabilities ect. Though to me the difficulty isn't too bad for alternate paths.

Games and game design have changed considerably over the years. Especially since BT3 came out. So there is a less "hardcore" group of people and generation of people playing these games now.

People really hate hearing the term "git gud" when they are struggling and I understand that. Hence why I worded my previous response the way I did. In this case however. It is really in my opinion. "git alright" and the problems should melt away. The difficulty of this game is fairly low if you ask me. Playing AI on Super to me really isn't even that hard in World Tournament.

[Jaeggerjack]

"Get good" - "Cheese" .

2 Strategys Indeed! BUT Both are not fun. Cheesing shouldnt be just "Go Sparking and Spam", Cheesing should involve funny ways of winning. Like using Mafuba on Freezer sealing him and the fight ends.

Getting Good is not an Option for alot of Casual Players (like me!) Some don't have much time to invest. Some just arent good players who usually go for casual stuff.

Story should be scalable / tuneable. Like before you start a Story Run, be asked "how difficult" you want to have it. Give some fine tuning, like have the AI be better at defense vanishing and counter rushing. Or have them be stupid at defending but insane at attacking.
But i also understand that such fine tuning is probably difficult to program. And Bamco aint the smartest at AI programing...

Anyway, use lower difficulty for non-Alternate story parts. And sadly for now, the best way to properly unlock Alternates is to usually Spam Sparking Mode and Rush them to death.
Hopefully they fine tune...