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Okay, not sure how deep you guys are into this fighter, I only know that you enjoy it. Do you guys know the number system? It's just like the number pad on your keyboard, with each number corresponding to a direction on the D-pad or analog stick. For instance, 4 is back, 6 is forward, 8 is up, you get the picture. All moves mentioned are for facing the right. I will not refer to the buttons of any controller, rather what each button represents. A - horizontal, B - vertical, K - Kick, G - Guard

Anyway, I'll throw some random stuff out here, hopefully you guys find it helpful.

8 Way Run vs. Step
You know what 8 way run is, but step is where you just tap up or down to get a sidestep. If timed right, it will become an "evade" where you'll see a puff of smoke and hear a little whip sound or something. You get counterhit properties if you it after this. Step is faster at evading than 8 way run, but the hit time after is slightly delayed. Some B moves will track even if you 8WR, yet they won't track step. Keep that in mind when people are abusing Nightmares 66B.

A lot of people new to the game don't realize that there are moves out of all the 8 way runs and with different properties. You might pull a move off while walking to the 7 position. If you walk to the 7 or 1 position with Sophitia and press A,A you'll get a nice double spinning attack. But do AA while running to 8 or 2 and you'll get a different attack, just like you would if you ran to 9 or 3. So it's not just a 8 way run, there are attacks out of each one, so utilize them. Also, you don't have to 8WR in a direction to get the 8WR attack. Simply double tap that direction and the button of the attack you want to do and you'll get a 8WR attack.

Jabs and pokes are underestimated at times. Sometimes all you have to do to keep people off balance is maybe A, AA, B, BB, B, A over and over. Once you get them blocking, you can go with a low attack that takes them off their feet. Simple A's and B's come out pretty fast. If they're A heavy tho, you can usually duck it, or break it with a B. And if you've got your timing down, you can guard impact the anticipated attack.

I like to follow guard impacts with a throw. You should always mix it up between your A and B throw, that way your opponent doesn't catch on and break your throws all the time. If your character has a command throw, try throwing that in once in a while as well, since they're usually harder to break. GI'ing can get crazy to where you're doing it back and forth. Try to follow up with sweep attacks or jumping delayed attacks from time to time. Also, sometimes you can just attack again, even after youv'e been GI'd because they're trying to set you up for something else.

Use guard crushes, the ones that flash a pink or yellow flame around and push the oppenent back when they block? Some can be followed up easily and get a couple guaranteed hits. For instance, Mitsu's 1A, B where he changes the sword sweep into a B uppercut is a guard break, and can be followed up with a guaranteed 66BBB. There are others that can allow you to launch opponents with a 3B, which most characters have. However, it's not full proof. You can GI after someone does a guard break on you.

That's enough writing for now, don't know if anyone will even see this.

I haven't really played this much lately, except when at NVGL...but I will definitely give these tactics a go next time I'm playing.

I did notice that when you and your friends came by back in september that you sidestepped a whole bunch, and I had to switch from using my normal vertical attacks to the horizontal ones, just so I could inflict damage upon you guys. With Mitsurugi, it didn't really work too well, but some of my other characters, like Astaroth could really put the hurt on some guys. You're definitely the best SC2 player that I've seen, and I know that you said there are better, but if you have some tips, I'm definitely going to listen...it's a shame that more people don't post their tips for games here....I might do something like this for Halo here once I get some free time

-Jack

SC2 is a really really deep game. One thing you guys were doing was focusing a lot on offense. You'd attack attack attack! That can work, but you gotta mix it up with some cancels so we don't GI your stuff. It's only a matter of time till someone figures out your pattern of attacks and then they either sidestep, duck, or something else to make it ineffective.

Always have options. Never always go high or mid. A good low game sets up your launchers, which leads to juggles, which leads to wake up games or hitting them while down. Use cancels too. I don't play Cervantes at all, wish I could tho cuz he's one bad mo fo. However, you can use a lot of his cancels. His quarter circle back charges can be canceled with the guard button, but he also has various moves out of it as well. Start one of his unblockables and then cancel it with guard and move in for the uppercut or a throw. Cancels are a big part in the mind games. Use those delayed attacks as well.

I e-mailed Tim twice now about setting up a huge national or regional SC2 tournament there since his venue would more than fit the bill. A lot of those players travel from all over to gatherings all over the nation if they know the good players will be there. NVGL is right in the middle of the country so I'm sure he could attract some of the top players in the nation for a huge annual or semi annual tournament. A lot of people play in peoples basements, garages, hotel meeting rooms, or arcades, but TV's are always in high demand. NVGL would solve that problem. So if you talk to Tim, tell him I've sent him 2 e-mails regarding national SC2 tournaments.

If people are just going to attack attack attack, figure their pattern and GI that stuff and punish them. Or you attack attack until you catch them just guarding. That's when you start mixing throws in there. Mix your throws up too. Dont' just use A throws or B throws, rotate them or else people will catch on and break your throws.

Like I said earlier, 8 way run attacks add a lot. If you're not using the 8 way run attacks, you're cheating yourself. You also don't always have to walk in a direction to get the 8WR attacks. Simply double tap in that direction and press the corresponding attack and you get the 8WR attack. Some attacks can be buffered in as well. You could do an A, B, B attack and while the animation is almost over with the last B, you press Up, Up, and then just press B when the last animation is over and he'll follow it up with that attack. You can't buffer out of everything, but buffering does help.

There's so much to this game, even I'm just barely under the surface. You should visit soulcalibur.com where those guys have this game down to a science with frame data, frame advantages and disadvantages, just frames, guaranteed hits, all sorts of stuff, it's enough to make your head spin. I try to keep it more basic so that even inexperienced players can see what you're saying. It's scary over there the way they talk about the game.

ok...thanks a lot for the tips...


I'm sure i'm gonna have some more questions after i play it some more.


-Jack

Let me just tell you what I was doing against you guys. Okay, like I said, you guys were all about offense. I don't remember who, it wasn't you, but one of them kept doing Kiliks forward b+k where he does a cartwheel. I kept trying to GI the attack, but all I had to do was block and counter.

All of you liked to do attacks immediately upon getting up, which is taken care of by down/forward b attacks or just straight up b(verticle) attacks. I don't think I ever get up while pressing an attack button, maybe once in a while. I usually stay on the ground and roll up or down to avoid b attacks, then when they miss, I just press a throw and they get up and throw, or I attack after a wiff, or a while rising attack.

Also since you guys were offense heavy, I would just find my quickest attacks such as A, A, or B, B mixed in with some single A's and B's. I could always beat you to the punch on those, and once you guys started blocking those, I just move in for the throw.

I'll tell you one annoying attack with Cervantes: His kicks. Abuse the down K about two or three times, then go to his standard kick by just pressing k. They come out faster then they look and it just goes hi and low. You can mix and match as you see fit. Then when they think they have a rhythm on your single kicks, you throw in an away K, K. It's utterly annoying since he seems to have some reach with his long legs. You can sometimes get 3 low kicks in a row because they don't possibly think you're going to kick low three times in a row.

ok this is helpful but nothing i already didnt learn from countless not to mention frustraiting weapon master missions, the thing i need help on is how the fuck can i beat my friend who uses talim mainly offensive, but he knows when to block, i mean she's so fuking quick aand the combo he uses is really hard to block.

You just gotta figure out his patterns. Who do you mainly use, maybe I can give you some good stuff if it's someone I use as well. She is very fast and deceptive, but her reach is what really messes her up.

She has a, a, b as well as a b, b, a or b, b, k, and then you can do the auto side steps after an a, a or b, b. The other combo is her back back a, a, a, finished with quarter circle forward b, which has about 7 hits in it. I'd go to practice mode and find that combo and see where it hits. If there are some hi hits, you can duck those. Almost everyone has a really good down+a inturrupt that ducks high's and pretty much stops them in their tracks, and then you can follow up with a while rising b. If he keeps getting up with attacks, you can either do a d/f b attack which usually hits grounded opponents, or wait for him to wiff when he gets up and then follow in with a combo.

Most standard b attacks have priority over a attacks, so you'll get breaks off those. Like I said, a, a's and b, b's are some of your best friends. You can do b, then b, b, and then when they start to sidestep those b's, you throw in the a's, and a, a's to stop them from stepping. Once you catch them blocking, step in and throw them, and then wait for them to get up and start attacking, or follow up with a sweeping low that will either hit them if they stay down, or sweep them if they get up.

For me to be really helpful, I need to have an idea of what combo your friend uses and which character you like to use.

i can beat him with taki about 70% of the time but sometimes she just wont cut it, my back up chars are voldo and yoshmitsu, he uses the 7 hit combo almost to the point where i want to reinact one of the pa comics, then he follows that up with a grab or the thing where she jumps and and it pulls you backwards.

If I'm not mistaken, the first two hits of that combo are high, but fast, while the rest is mids, which will hit you if you duck. If you know it's coming, use your down A, which should work with both Voldo and Yoshi. Since she doesn't have a lot of range, she has to be close to really set it up, unless you walk right into it. Start to pick up on his pattern of how he sets it up. Is there a certain attack he uses before he does this combo? Does he always just move in and do it? I'm telling you, a quick down+a (2a)stops a lot of stuff. I'm not that familiar with Voldo, but I do play some Yoshi, and his 2a is a great stopper. You can follow with his d/b a, a, a, a (1a, a, a, a) which seems to track and can't be inturrupted. I like to mix up the number of a's and then use it to go into a throw. When they start to duck the throw, you just follow it up with kick, which happens to be his while rising kick which is a pop up, which you can use some juggles.

Still, that whole combo is an A combo until that last B uppercut, meaning if you throw out some standard B's and B, B's you'll be able to break it if you catch him coming in to set it up. If he always throws in the B uppercut at the end, you can wait out the A's and then just step that upppercut since it's a B, then punish him. Taki is still faster than Talim, I just started playing her tho. Her 1A sweep is great for sweeping and hitting grounded opponents and then you can follow with her while rising A's or B's. Let me know how it goes.

As for learning that stuff in weapon master mode, you don't learn anything in WMM except to find cheese and abuse it over and over to get the win. Good luck man, and come back if you have more questions about anything.

So fuzzy panda, did my advice pan out for you? I'm always learning, hoping to always get better and better with this game. The learning never ends as long as you have incentive to keep learning, as in, having people to play.

ya i mean it helped but i havent really gotten a chance to beat my friend into a steaming pile of yet but i went to an arcade this saturday and annialated some asian kids from my school, but what really works if i spent time playing as all of the characters in practice againts ultra hard cpu u just learn all therye moves so u know when to guard block, that really pisses people off

Holy crap, I just got done with a killer session with our best player. He humored me by not using his best character. The few matches he did use his best character, he pretty much destroyed me.

In any event, playing with him is great because we actually took the time to learn some things instead of just playing to beat each other up. Cassy was fading on my list, but I asked him to check her out and see what he could find. Low and behold, cass is alive and well, and Talim has crept up to the top of my list as well. Those two will probably be my two main ones, or so I'm thinking. it's tough with how deep this game is, to really even consider narrowing my choices down to 2. I do play just about everyone, but I guess I need to take 1 or 2 that will just be head and shoulders way above everyone else that I play. Those two will suit me just fine.

So, one thing you guys should also do is take time to learn the game. Sometimes certain moves leave you at an advantage when they hit. Here's what else i got from our fearless leader. Look at all the canned combos that come with your character of choice. Now, look at the breaking point of that combo. That meaning, find a spot where you can stop in mid combo and switch it to something else. You're looking for a part of the combo that has a really quick recovery time so you can move to another move rather quickly. Maybe it's after the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd hit, but that's for you to find out, and that's where you start mixing things in.

Find out which moves are good for stopping people from sidestepping, which moves go under the high A attacks. Man, it was a killer session, and I recorded it on my VCR just so I could watch his techniques over and over again, maybe figure out a little of his best character: Xianghua. I know none of you really play this game hardcore, but I like to keep this thing going as much as I can. When I roll thru there again, I have to still be able to roll some heads, as in, stay sharp!!!

Well, I'll be there the evening of January 10th. I'll try to leave NM around 6 AM so I get there at 7 PM. That evening will really be my only chance to play some SC2 in Lawrence as I'll have to head up to South Dakota the next day to pick up my wife. So if any of you are practicing up for some good matches, let me know if you want to get in on them. I'm going to see if my friends will throw a tournament that evening at their house, or maybe we'll just go to NVGL, one or the other. I live for SC2. Just had another great session last night with a couple of our best players, but this time I held my own.

I can get out of those stun hits now, the ones that make you double over or crumple to the ground. A lot of stuff can be guaranteed off of those, but if you get out of them, you can block it. It takes some getting used to, but once you get the reflexes, simply shake your stick back and forth, or press left and right rapidly on a pad and your character will come out of it on their feet. I've also gone down from playing nearly all the characters to about 3 or 4 main characters. Since we only play arcade only characters, I've also avoided playing any Necrid, Spawn, or the other console exclusives, even tho I still really like Mina. I still gotta call Tim to set up a tourney at NVGL.

Hey Jack, if you're still using Cervantes, he has a ton of cancels that just throw people off. If any of you know about guard canceling, it's where you press the guard button early in the animation of a move, thus stopping the move from coming out. You still see the initial animation, which is why it's pretty good. People will stop to block it or GI the move, leaving you to just pick what you should do to them. I know upA+B is can be cancelled as well as his quarter circle back A+B and qcb B+K. Remember that I'm referring to a general button set A-H Slash, B-V-slash, K- Kick, G- Guard. Sometimes you have to hold down the buttons of the attack and press guard before you release them, otherwise the attack will still come out and you might not want it to. Cancels are essential to mind games and mix ups, just try to vary them, vary the timing on how long you wait to cancel a move, and sometimes just do the whole move so they have to respect your cancels. If there's any Taki players, she is Mrs. Cancel, big time as she has so much stuff she can do, not to mention her speed.

Oh yeah, Jack, you said you're a mitsu player as well. Well one of my friends is a killer Mitsu player. If Taki is Mrs. Cancel, he is Mr. Cancel, its' just sick. His forward forward a+b can be canceled with guard. This is a huge hit so people will look to block it. Out of that cancel, you can do anything you want as long as they respect it. You can down k, b; you can throw, you can do a+b(the double uppercut); you can down a+b, all kinds of stuff just out of that cancel. Experiment with that. His stances are sick as well, as long as people respect them, meaning that they block when you go into one because they're used to you attacking right out of them. You don't have to guard cancel them, just press throw and you'll come out of your stance and grab your blocking foe. Oh yeah, the a+b double uppercut move he does can also be canceled. He'll stop after the first one, leaving your opponent standing there waiting for the second uppercut. You can do whatever you want out of that, go low or go throw, or whatever other punishment you'd like to do. Don't underestimate his down/forward A, as it does a double over stun on counterhit, which you can follow up immediately with the a+k stab. Even if they know how to escape stuns, they won't get out of it fast enough to avoid the a+k stab.

Well, I know you don't play it much anymore Jack, especially since there's not too many people to play, but if you get the chance, check out those cancels for Mitsu. You're on the right track as Mitsu and Cerv have been rated the top two guys in SC2 in the ranking project. Of course, that's at super duper duper expert level, but I thought I'd let you know the potential of them. Also, the game is so balanced that the separation betweent he tiers is minimal. Later!

jsut found this out todaybut has anyone here played with two people being yoshimitsu and both 5% health then do a pogo stick war try it, its really fun

To each his/her own! We play mostly to get better, and good enough to win tournaments. It's still a lot of fun, but we don't really bother with anything extra to the game. The extra weapons aren't used, we don't even use the extra stages. These other guys I played with once play "Sumo" where they pick a small ring, put health to infinite, and try to ring the other one out.

If the options there, I guess you can make your own types of matches with SC2 these days. We just prefer to keep it legit, as most of our players are arcade purists who stick to the basics of the game. I wouldn't mind playing a team match against these guys once in a while, or on the extra stages.