Thought I was gonna love this game, and I think I might actually hate it.

[Green_Jester]

Okay, so, I'm new to Virtua Fighter, just gonna get that out of the way. Admittedly, my first experience with it was playing it through the Like A Dragon games. I enjoyed it a lot, and preordered REVO when I learned of it.

However, the more I try to understand this game, the more I start to feel like I might not actually like it. It just seems so clunky in how it handles moves, and it never seems clear if you can actually punish an opponent when you block, or make them whiff. The throw range also seems inconsistent, and rarely ever seems like a way to actually punish people when you block their attacks (been playing Wolf, for context).
Sometimes, it seems like I can grab my opponent, even if they're barely close enough to the throw range, and other times, it's like the range doesn't exist.

The lack of oki and setplay also ♥♥♥♥♥ with me, since it feels like it should be there in some situations. It just makes the game feel...stiff. Like there just need to be more momentum.

I have at least gotten to the early dan ranks, but it feels like there, I'm already hitting a wall.

I'll probably give this game a few more tries, to really try understanding it, but I don't know if I'll stick around long term. Just not currently a fan of some of its systems.

[Zee]

Sounds like you're missing a couple of things about how the game works, here's a quick rundown:

1. Throws lose to attacks. Unlike pretty much any other fighting game, you cannot grab someone out of an attack. If they press a button, the throw whiffs and you get hit. If you expect them to attack, and you're plus, it's better to go for a counter hit.

[Technically, you have catch throws, which can beat attacks under certain circumstances, but you generally need to know where to apply them]

2. If you side step an attack successfully, you'll hear a "swoosh" sound. You're locked into the step when this happens, but you have full invincibility during it. Now, depending on what you stepped, you may or may not be able to punish. If you don't hear the "swoosh," you're not locked in, so you can cancel the step with a back-dash or crouch dash.

3. You need to know how to tech roll, or you'll just get stuck on the ground. Hit P+K+G when you fall to tech (holding down or up makes you tech to the side). Of course, it depends on the type knock down if you can or not. Also, if you land, you can spam the P button to get up quicker, if you didn't or couldn't tech.

4. Getup kicks have full invincibility, but you can generally jump back make them whiff and punish. You can also time an attack to "trade" with the getup kick, which will always beat the getup kick. Think of it as a "meaty" in SF terms.

Of course, this is just the surface, but hopefully it'll help make the game more clear to you.

[Ragnoraok]

There is no oki and setplay in REVO? IDK about that.

Also, VF5 has crazy momentum favoring the person with the life lead, hence why it is rare to see someone make a comeback with <5% life versus an opponent with >90% life. With games like Tekken, life bars are meaningless, because the heat and rage mechanics make comebacks super common.

[Shenmue est vie]

Wait for the end of the full animation before input P+G.
Be careful about the transition between Low/Mid-High when it happens.

Experiment the delays in training mode if needed.

It's easy to be confused, P+G situations are not the most intuitive part of VF but you end up to quickly assimilate.

[Sagebrush]

One thing that still throws me off sometimes is I get punished for completing small strings, as if opponent hitstun ends before recovery time on the last hit ends. Are light-hitting/non-counter/non-launched strings only really for extending juggles?

[NecromancyBlack]

Originally posted by Sagebrush:

One thing that still throws me off sometimes is I get punished for completing small strings, as if opponent hitstun ends before recovery time on the last hit ends. Are light-hitting/non-counter/non-launched strings only really for extending juggles?

There are tons of strings in the game that do not work on normal hit and the opponent can step or high crush them. You can also delay strings a ton, so it's easy to accidentally put into too much of a gap between attacks that they get to attack you first.

But they are absolutely useful outside of combos, delayed strings can help catch people sidestepping and trying to attack back to fast or create frame traps to catch the opponent pressing.

You gotta learn which strings are used for what scenarios.

[Green_Jester]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I think I was just getting too salty, just because some aspects of the game feel so different to me.

[Mu'Ammar of Carthus]

It's a fairly decent fighting game, honestly, especially for how old it is.

But some stuff's just stupid and very genuinely outdated. Not to mention how trash the online is right now.

Like the whole joystick shake required to get out of stun.

The whole d*ck jab meta is also fairly annoying.
At the very least it should be losing to any mid just like throw loses to any K or P.