4 Tips for beginners

[majik]

Hey guys, thanks to the recent Steam sales, it seems like these forums are more lively than before, and since apprently a lot of newcomers keep getting demolished and raging about the game, I thought I might give a few quick tips that helped my friends getting started back in the vanilla days. Here you go :

1 - Your controller -
You'll be fine with a regular 360 pad or any similar controller for starters. Sticks won't make you instantly better and keyboard can be tricky if you're not used to using one (can still work though). Only consider getting a stick if you're already comfortable with fighting games.
However I suggest you remap the controls to your need, personally I have the heavy punch as RB (as it frees your thumb to do punch combos without using ex moves accidently), heavy kick on LB, and 3 punches shorcut on LT and 3 kicks on RT (you can swap them if you want too), and that works well for me, and it worked well for my friends too.
You can use the D-pad or joystick as well, whatever suits your need.

2 - Character choice -
This is important, as learning the game with a "troll" character might just ruin your experience. I usually learn a new fighting game with the "main hero" character of the game, which would be Ryu in this one I guess. Any shotos will do fine imo (Ken, Akuma and friends), but I think you should avoid, at first, the grapplers or the gimmick chars (I know a lot of people who started with Zangief or Blanka for example).
Besides, I think you should learn a charge character (Bison, Balrog, Chun Li and co), as it will teach you good habits (like... blocking, you know) and will allow you to understand how they work once you'll face them. They're a lot easier to play than you would think, especially on a pad.

3 - Get some friends to play -
Because of the mandatory online features of nowadays' games, a lot of people solely play fighters online. Nothing wrong with that, but fighters are meant to be played with someone at your side, so get somes friends to play with you, and soon enough you'll want to beat each other and will come up with new tech every day to do so. It really helps you getting good without even knowing it.
If none of your "physical" friends want to play this game, try to find a few people online, and play on skype or something. You'll avoid the "solo queue" frustration and you'll be able to share information more easily.

4 - Traning regime -
A lot of players these days want to be good at their games within the first 10 min of gameplay, because of how modern games are designed. This is obviously not the case for fighting games, so patience will be your best friend.
If you don't want to invest time in such a game to get good, go back playing something easier and don't waste your time.
The difference between a seasoned player and a beginner is about execution of course, but also information. There's plenty of little details in the gameplay that you probably don't know about at first, and there's no tutorial to explain them to you.
So you'll need to fetch information yourself. If you don't understand how to do a particular combo, ask around, find videos on Youtube. Having your friends to help each other here is great too.
The players who are demolishing you online now all had to do that originally, they didn't became pro on the first day, and they still train and try new stuff to get even better every day.



And that's about it. Additionnally, I think it might be a good start to try to complete the trials for the character you've chosen (you won't finish them all in one day, I promise you that), and play against AI bots on easy with different characters (play Arcade if you want), and slowly increase the difficulty when you find it becomes too easy. You'll be kicking Master difficulty bots' asses in no time.
Keep playing a little everyday, and you'll be surprised how better you'll perform the next one. If you liked SF4, don't hesitate to try other fighting games in the meantime, at a friends', at the arcade, or just on Steam, there's many to choose from (MK9, Injustice, Blazblue, KOF13) and sometimes taking a break with another fighting game will just make you better at the previous one.

Hope this helped some of you guys ;)

[tracid.]

thank

[majik]

Np, sorry for the spelling mistakes, I'm correcting typos on the go. Feel free to ask any question as well.

[Ellye]

I'd add that a keyboard is perfectly fine, and has some advantages (as well as some disadvantages) over joysticks (keyboard has higher input precision, but tend to be slower). Just need to keybind it properly.

[Xeno Metora]

since i didn't grow up playing sf at the arcades i find this game unplayable with anything, stick pad or keyboard. since i got this on sale i haven't been able to win a single match online this is seriously hopeless lol, i'm done with this game but good luck to every beginner out there

[Ellye]

Originally posted by AndeluviX:

since i didn't grow up playing sf at the arcades i find this game unplayable with anything, stick pad or keyboard. since i got this on sale i haven't been able to win a single match online lol this is seriously hopeless, i'm done with this game but good luck for every beginner out there

Fighting games are deceitfully complex. Most beginners or general casual players have no idea of how much goes into a match, so playing against an experienced player can be overwhelming.
I actually favor reading as a good way to learn to play. There are a lot of basic guides, character guides and general strategy guides out there that can get a person started. Then, after that, practicing the actual mechanics. The trials are good for this, and just generally playing without being afraid to lose.

[Xeno Metora]

Originally posted by Ellye:

Originally posted by AndeluviX:

since i didn't grow up playing sf at the arcades i find this game unplayable with anything, stick pad or keyboard. since i got this on sale i haven't been able to win a single match online lol this is seriously hopeless, i'm done with this game but good luck for every beginner out there

Fighting games are deceitfully complex. Most beginners or general casual players have no idea of how much goes into a match, so playing against an experienced player can be overwhelming.
I actually favor reading as a good way to learn to play. There are a lot of basic guides, character guides and general strategy guides out there that can get a person started. Then, after that, practicing the actual mechanics. The trials are good for this, and just generally playing without being afraid to lose.

yes well i don't wanna waste a lifetime trying to learn how to play a video game

[shadowflash]

Originally posted by Ellye:

I'd add that a keyboard is perfectly fine, and has some advantages (as well as some disadvantages) over joysticks (keyboard has higher input precision, but tend to be slower). Just need to keybind it properly.

You are absolutely right. But with keyboard it will be waaaay better if it will have controller that allows multiple key presses (most "gaming" keyboards do), key surface must not be smooth (rubber-like keys are the best). And sometimes it's much easier to do some difficult moves and combos and yet you'll get shoryuken instead of hadoken sometimes.

[majik]

Fighting games actually involve a lot of theory along with practice to get good, that's true.
It's ok to find SF4 too complicated as it takes quite some time to actually enjoy the game, indeed.
However for Andeluvix and people who feel the same, there's plenty of fighting games that are really easy to pick up (Injustice, SSBB, Killer Instinct come to mind) and are still quite deep.
So if you want to get into fighters regardless without having to spend a lifetime practicing, it might be a good idea to give those games a try. Especially Injustice since it's on Steam, and it's quite cheap now.

[Kibernetik]

Originally posted by majinken:

Fighting games actually involve a lot of theory along with practice to get good, that's true.
It's ok to find SF4 too complicated as it takes quite some time to actually enjoy the game, indeed.
However for Andeluvix and people who feel the same, there's plenty of fighting games that are really easy to pick up (Injustice, SSBB, Killer Instinct come to mind) and are still quite deep.
So if you want to get into fighters regardless without having to spend a lifetime practicing, it might be a good idea to give those games a try. Especially Injustice since it's on Steam, and it's quite cheap now.

Isn't the multiplayer of Injustice pretty dead?

[majik]

Not sure, since I rarely play Injustice online, but it looks pretty dead, pretty much like other fighting game on PC, since the netcode and servers are usually crap there. If you have the choice between a console or PC version of any FG, always go for the console version.
But, once again, the best way you could possibly get into such game is by playing offline with your friends anyway. Also Injustice features plenty of stuff to do and unlock in singleplayer mode.

Edit : So apprently Injustice just went in a -75% off sales, so if you haven't already I recommend you guys to grab it.