Meet Your Mod Episode 23: Amadeous

This Week: Amadeous

- Why did you choose that particular handle, is there a story or reference you'd like to explain?

Hahah, oh man that's a fun one. A few years back I was a big GunZ the Duel player. The first time I played it was at a friend's house back in middle school, so probably about 7 years or so ago. It was pretty late at night and for some reason we were listening to Falco's "Amadeus". It was the first time I was playing that game, so I took the name as inspiration and we were both laughing about the song and the name. Of course, my middle school self had no idea how to spell, so I accidentally added the "o".

Now I have the problem that lot of people will spell it correctly as "Amadeus", even though I add an extraneous "o" in it. See, I would use the correct name, but sadly I just never got around to changing it and people got used to seeing it as "Amadeous". Plus it's easier this way, "Amadeous" is hardly ever taken online.

- What is your background with fighting games...Did you start with BB or are your OG like SFII?

I started out the same way I think a lot of players did, playing Super Smash Brothers Melee with friends and pushing to become competitive. I never went out to any tournaments though...hell I didn't even bother learning any of the "advanced" techniques like wavedashing and such. No, my first "real" fighting game was Guilty Gear Accent Core.

A friend was saying how she was enjoying the game recently, and at the time I was binging on Sirlin articles and remembered how he considered it one of the most balanced games out there. I decided to find a copy of Guilty Gear X Advanced Edition first since it was cheap and at the time I was still a kid in high school, and didn't have a job. Luckily even though the game was crap, I could still mash enough to enjoy it. Eventually I managed to get ahold of a copy of Accent Core for the PS2, and the rest is history.

- What competitive scene are you involved with? (Ranbats, Arcades, XBL, PSN, Reload Online etc.) Would you elaborate the benefits of this particular scene?

Well now that I have a car and a job, I'm a whole lot more involved in the offline scene. I was never a big Blazblue player, I admit, but since CSE has come out I'm trying my best to actually learn it and play others on PSN. Currently though I'm focusing on trying to drum up hype for Guilty Gear on offline events where there's not many players; recently I went up to Michigan to show them how fun a game it can be. Having an offline scene is great, really. You can learn so much by sitting down next to someone and just playing for like, 30 matches. And you can build hype for the game and get other people who would never normally play it interested in it. Online is good for getting matchup experience, sure, but honestly I just have more fun hanging out offline.

- How strong do you feel your nation is as a whole, what is the next step to strengthening it?

Right now I'm not sure how to answer that. I'm far from being the best player, and in Blazblue I'm absolutely terrible. I will say we have some amazing players and a few people in the community that love it and want to see us grow and succeed, but I also feel a lot of players just don't care about the game, for both GG and Blazblue. It's kinda depressing, really. I know meeting up offline isn't an option for everyone, but I know this community has some of the most selfless people in it that are always willing to help out someone who wants to go to an event and learn shit! If you ask for help or where stuff is, someone will respond! That's what gives me hope.

The one thing I really hate to see though is people that don't want to do anything to help a community or get better at a game. People saying stuff like "there's no point to trying to get new players" or "guilty gear is a dead game" really annoy me, because to me, not doing anything to try and support a scene is as good as trying to kill it. At least try to play it and drum up hype before giving up! That's why I'm a big supporter of the wiki, I think it'll be a great help to new players that are looking for organized info and data. Hopefully all the forums will be able to offer in-depth information that the wiki won't, as well.

- Which player(s) give you the most trouble and why?

A better question is which players DON'T. Haha, like I said, I'm far from being a good player. Probably the one person I play the most though is DI0793/Troll Badguy, who is a really good Sol and Ragna player. So he probably gives me the most trouble, because he knows how to fuck with me the most. It's a huge help though, he's taught me a lot through playing Accent Core online. Matchup-wise, I have the most trouble with Testament, I think. I mean, it's kinda obvious, being a Jam player and all, but I'm still figuring out how just to get in on the bastard. Still learning, after all!

In Blazblue I'm learning Lambda still, so while I think I'm getting her offense and such down, I'm still really sloppy on her defense (and overall, haha). Anyone that is good on rushdown can just steamroll me since I'm still figuring out how to get out and reset the match to neutral. I know this is one of Lambda's big weaknesses actually, but it's still really, really bad for me right now. Hopefully once I play more Blazblue I'll be more comfortable with her.

- What has been the most helpful tool while growing stronger in GG/BB?

Playing other people. For the longest time I only really was able to use training mode, since I didn't have a car, money, or a real will to get better. It wasn't till I started playing #R against some friends that I started thinking about getting better, and going to Season's Beatings 2012 was a wake-up call to start training, I think. I also started recording a lot of my matches and asking for critique and match analysis from better players, who really opened my eyes to stuff I could do and my habits that I should break. I remember St1ckBuG offered me the advice to be patient when I had Sol cornered, and just wait for him to do something stupid to get out of the corner. The first time I tried this, he ran up to my face and got a free Wild Throw, but I started to get the idea of how to work with it!

In BB I have to give shoutouts to Severin, haha. I've gotta be honest, if not for him and his amazing Lambda play, I probably still wouldn't be that interested in the game. He just makes her look so amazing and fun to play, so I had to try it out. He's also a huge help to me, I know I can ask him pretty much anything related to Lambda or Blazblue and he'll be able to figure out an answer for me. If not for him, I wouldn't have the faintest clue where to start in BB. That's how I want to be with my character in Guilty Gear, I think. Helping out new players and inspiring people to play this game!

- Is there anything you'd like to share regarding your respective character or Dustloop in general?

Well, Jam is, in my opinion, the best character EVER. She's just so damn fun! She's a great character for new players, since her basic gatlings are very easy and rewarding compared to other characters, and at a high level her damage is even MORE insane, and she's coupled with some pretty good mix-up! I'd say to any new Jam players though to be careful while they're learning her though, around the intermediate skill level you'll start to feel the pressure of her short range and it'll feel like you just can't do shit in some matchups. I know this, because that's where I am right now! You've got to learn spacing and patience, and know when you can rush that shit down. Oh, and use her wiki page if you want to learn her! I've worked hard on that, I don't want to see that go to waste, haha.

As for Lambda, I don't know how much I can say about her. It's definitely strange, playing a pure zoner character after playing a pure rushdown character. Really I think I picked her because I like her ability to force oki, along with her fun mix-up opportunities and ability to control the air. Plus she has really nice damage hitconfirms, which is never a bad thing, haha. I guess she's similar to a Guilty Gear character in that way? Either way, I probably haven't had as much fun playing Blazblue until I started learning Lambda.