Passive or Aggressive Play?

[Blade]

I learned a term "katame" recently, and I know it means "pressure", but the way some Japanese players use it, it is a lot more aggressive than I'm used to playing.

For example, with Bedman, I will see Japanese players use j.P or j.S a lot in their games and do all sorts of stuff involving throwing random jabs and normals all over the place instead of throwing projectiles or waiting for the opponent to do something and countering.  (Here's an example video).

To be honest I don't like getting caught up in an opponent's pressure or pace and panicking.  I know that's the goal of some players to "scare" you in to making mistakes, and while I have my own level of "scary" mixups... I tend to do things at a much more even or slower pace than other players I know do.

So I'd like some advice.

It just feels like some players are putting way too much effort in to throwing jabs and jump attacks that don't ultimately hit and get blocked only to end up wasting energy that could be spent on other efforts.  I could see if they were trying to shake pressure when cornered, but as offense?

I'm more of a solid repetition "guess what I'm going to do" and commit to it player, instead of throwing random things out and hoping something works.

Just being able to "control" the match without having to bend over backwards to do it, would be something I'd get behind.

(Note to mods: my connection timed out when I posted this so if it's redundant, please delete it, thanks)

Edited October 11, 2015 by Blade
My Net Timed out when submitting topic.

[FightGrill]

I am not a XRD player, so I won't talk about Bedman or any of those chars specifically, but it's very rarely just "throwing something out and hoping it hits", or maybe it is some form of it, it's mainly intelligent normal uses- if it hits you get a combo, if it misses but is properly spaced you won't get punished unless you've been read, if it's blocked you can start you pressure, it lets you take the match at your pace.

In the video you posted, the other player was forced into the corner many times and forced into a setup that at best reset back to neutral with Bedman still having corner advantage, and at worse put them in a combo that reset the situation back to what it was, he shut down the other player, without taking many risks.

Japanese players as far as I have seen like to play extremely aggressive, make it so the opponent can not do anything at all, and that's what the Bedman was doing.

Effortlessly trying to control the match isn't going to happen unless the skill gap is wide, you will have to put some effort into mixing up your options and not getting predictable.

This isn't to say passive, defensive styled play is bad or unusable(But again I do not have much knowledge of xrd so take this with a grain of salt) but having an effective defense also requires an effective offense, so you can punish any mistake, it also requires knowing how and when to pressure.

[Blade]

I was just talking with @KBnova on PSN a few days ago and he plays a very aggressive Bedman, so fast in fact I had a hard time tracking him.

He explained to me the reason some players play aggressively is to "shut down" any motivation other players might have of trying something.

And while that might work for some players who have the practice and skill to do it... I'm not that aggressive when I play.  I usually do something and wait for someone to react to it, then use tactics accordingly.

[Angry Guy of DE]

Controlling the pace of the match doesn't always mean that you are passive or aggressive to be honest.

If you play a character that is good at pressure, being able to start it helps you control the match.  This doesn't mean start of round IAD as that can be countered through several means.  Being passive can also mean being at a range where you can at any point close the distance and start your pressure if your opponent makes any mistakes.

As for just tossing out normals, I'd think it is something done to check a person's reactions and ability to recognize actions.  It's said that back in SF2 a person that is forced to block two fireballs in a row will try to jump instead of blocking a third fireball.  Tossing a jab can be done as a feint to make a person commit to an action that you can counter easily.

I have been reading a little too much Hajime no Ippo as of late.

[Poultrygeist]

Aggressive doesn't necessarily have to be rushdown, IMO if you re acting upon your opponent's mistakes and trying to bait them into making them, that could be considered aggressive.  Passive would be more like waiting on them to make them instead of trying to force them to happen.