Improving Online Gameplay XRD - Input Buffer on Wake up

[Vowtz]

 

XRD online mode has some great aspects and some very bad drawbacks, it is great so you can play against lots of different people and different playstyles, and you can face human opponents  without leaving you house or calling your friends over (IF they are available).

The inconvenient part is, of course, the Lag. It is a consequence of the distance between players and of the technology used to connect them. Lag causes a lot of problems in a fighting game, where decisions have to be made fractions of seconds, with any delay being able to cause devastating results.

Not all problems caused by lag are unsolvable (while many, unfortunately, are), and that is the reason for this post.

 

One of the worse things that happens when playing online is that no one respects your Oki, getting up after a knock down is a nightmare, and the reason is not because your enemy made a clever trap, it is just because of the input delay.

There are tons of "online only" players that use "false oki" and keep attacking even though is not safe, because they are confident that LAG will shield them from any response.

One time I was playing as Sol agains a Faust, that damn Faust used one of two things on my wake up:

- 2K into going my way combo

- 6H into going my way combo

He did one of these two EVERY SINGLE TIME, because he new that my chances of pulling a Shouryuken reversal on lag were very small.

 

On other time I was playing as Millia against a Potemkin that kept repeating 

- safejump S, 2K, 2D

He did it like 10 times in a row, while I was trying to blitz or backdash, but he new I would not be abe to do it online. I knew he was trying to make me get used to block so he could change the sweeps for a potemkin buster next time, a very pretty tactic, but one that does not work at all offline, where people can blitz

There are tons of other examples, the fact is: oki online is A LOT different than offline.

 

The good news are: there is a solution for this problem.

The better news are: there is no bad consequences.

The even better news are: it is really easy to implement (it is already in the game, but not in an efficient way).

 

To solve this problem, just make the game execute any input you did while knocked down as soon as you are able (input buffer). The fact is, it is already there, you have a 3 frame window to do your move, and the game will execute it as soon as it is able.

But the thing is, what use has this 3f window if I'm playing with a lag of 4f?

Wake up should read inputs with the same logic as when the screen freezes after you win the first round in XRD. After you win, the screen freezes and the word "Slash" appears, during that frozen time, the game will read any special attack you do and execute immediately after the screen unfreezes.

It should be the same way when a character is getting up. Just upgrade these 3 frame that are already there on wake up to 10f and this "online only" oki tactic will vanish.

 

 

[Red Star]

On 11/2/2015 8:05:49, Vowtz said:

The good news are: there is a solution for this problem.

Just block. If someone does the same oki to you ten times in a row and you don't just faultless defense your way out of it no amount of input buffer will help you. And safejump S oki as Potemkin does work offline against Millia, if she backdashes then she eats a Potemkin Buster. 

[Boschio]

"tl;dr let me mash wake up shoryu everytime I'm knocked down"

Just block and practice your defense. If you are aware of the lag then input your wake-ups a few frames earlier? 

[Vowtz]

More like "let me use blitz shield and backdash online too" 

or even more like "Oki online does not need to suck, it can be good"

 

adjusting your wake up inputs with lag is not an easy thing to do, especially when different opponents have different delays.

[Vowtz]

On 5 de novembro de 2015 19:05:15, Red Star said:

Just block. If someone does the same oki to you ten times in a row and you don't just faultless defense your way out of it no amount of input buffer will help you. And safejump S oki as Potemkin does work offline against Millia, if she backdashes then she eats a Potemkin Buster. 

But blitz would work, right?

[Red Star]

47 minutes ago, Vowtz said:

But blitz would work, right?

It would, and should be considered. But blocking seems so much safer, especially if they are going straight to 2K>2D since there is no way to pressure after a 2D. Where a blitz risks getting baited for a counter hit and with Millia that is basically death.

No change is going to make this game not suck in 4-5 frame delay, the game is just not meant to be played that way. Your best bet is to try to play offline more, or to block more online since their isn't really timing to block.