Digital Watches

Um. Otter? I know it's hard to understand, but you have to try to follow the logic of a post before you respond to it. Reading and quoting it isn't enough. Hellmonkey just explained what was wrong with what you just said in response to him: Of course the best players can be assumed to win without help. That's not the issue. The issue is that you're creating a situation where the best players are eliminating each other early on, rather than eliminating worse players. This makes it so that your results can essentially be random, except for first (and in double-elim, like most US tournaments, second) place. If there are no good players, for example, on an entire half of the bracket, someone who isn't as good as people who went, I dunno, 1-2? in the hard bracket get guaranteed third place by making it to winner's finals through other easy people.

I really don't see how that's a big deal. ABA has a lot of moves that stuff shit, and gets to AA a lot of bullshit... against any character. You have to play defensively when she's in Moroha =/= 7-3 matchup.

Everyone thinks May v. (Insert character) is 8-2. That's bullshit. She does a ton of damage, get over it.

Launch --> j.H, j.D, FB, airdash, j.P, Kokuu. I get people to tech into the Kokuu whilst trying to do something/mashing a button and it's free counterhit Kokuu into reset. It's iffy at best, but not very risky, so no reason not to go for it once in a while.

This just in: Low crossup Kokuugeki (FRC) --> Airbackdash, delay, j.H, etc. works on most characters. This is a 25% meter alternative to my previous post-crossup corner combos with Kokuugeki, and does decent, if not quite as good damage as the 50% meter ver. In other words, now you too have a highly ambigious corner mixup for mad damage.

I'll do it!

I'd say you could probably safely call Za-Jo part of that category as well.

Let's be clear here: I don't believe 8:2, but you have to admit it looks pretty bad when you see it played. And now I guess I can say I've seen a few matches with Zappa losing, even, but I still think if that Zappa had blocked a bit more and tried uppercuts at weird places less, JO wouldn't have stood a chance.

Not to mention that BLEED is pretty much a beast.

It's probably just early-AC-syndrome (You can't blame people for not really being good when the game just came out), but I really think that Zappa wasn't very smart in a lot of his decisions. From trying to run-up summon every time he lost ghosts to the really fail way of using the triplets (sj.236D in the corner? What?) to being even more predictable with Raou than Raou usually is, he just isn't playing very well. I don't know if Tomoi has since become the best Zappa since sliced bread or whatever, I just mean in that vid he wasn't what I'd call "semi-decent."

1. The Frame data is good for that. It's in the guide section listed at the top of Dustloop. 2. Er. What do you mean? 3. Also frame data, but not for #R, unfortunately. But it doesn't matter really. The only important one in #R is Rensen, and you have to just learn that from muscle memory eventually anyway. 4. Nah, it's nothing that complicated. Just TK bomber, meaning do the bomber motion (623) on the ground, then input 8 (up), then wait a little because it has a minimum height (Wait, did it still in #R? I'm almost sure it did.), then hit the button (HS). Lots of different motions to optimize this exist. You can try 6239 (What I just explained, basically), or 9623 (A little less intuitive, since you're not buffering it, but still pretty easy), 6321473 (My favorite for 2P side bombers in AC, but probably a bit more complex than you need.), or even 6923 (the simplest, which I used back then, but it's a little weird to think about it that way.) Basically, if you ever want real damage with Axl, you'll need to learn to do this anyway, as in #R, Bomber loops required you to TKB. I don't remember if (2S-6K-TKB)xN was the optimal loop in #R, but it was in Slash. If not, just do (c.S-TKB)xN.

That was just disgusting to watch. Seriously. And come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen any JO beat a semi-decent ZA.

Mad stun, big fat disjointed hitboxes, weird ass floaty properties, invincible shit, I think he has some pretty dumb combos, too.

Why do you gotta hurt me like that, man? Also, Sweet! I've got an editor again!

Whatever fits!

Alright, I have a stick, need to get my execution up by Evo, and have the last thread full of combos and a few of my own I've been messing with. I am making this right now, hoping to be done within the next two weeks. Anyone who wants to help edit, it would be much appreciated, however, I can probably ad hoc it with my sister's Mac like I did last time, as I'm at home for the summer. If you want to volunteer to edit, have any last notes, or have a combo you want to MAKE SURE is included, post here now or forever hold your peace. NOTE: If you want to edit, also hit me up on some kind of IM, as that's how I'll be sending clips to you. WATCHES OUT.

That's actually something universal (Well, specific to HOS, not Zappa, anyway). I've noticed it with Burst and a few other select moves as well (it's happened once to me in a match and fucked up my counter combo, so I tested the shit out of it in training mode.) I think there's just a point where the super redefines hitstop time to make the move look more "dramatic" or whatever, and it also applies to any move that hits him out of it at exactly the right moment. I actually think it'd be cool to note that in the frame data.

I doubt it. Remember that game designers don't have a magic formula for "balance" that can be done abstractly and generally. EX characters are console-only extras and have historically not been used in high-level play. As with anything that doesn't have extensive play-testing, especially (as the Arc team has been very good about) field play-testing lessons learned from previous installments. While I'm sure the team that codes and designs the EX characters (especially if it's the same team that writes the normal ones) know a little (or a lot) about character balance in general from experience. However, it's basically making educated guesses (or even just stabbing in the dark), rather than what's been proven to work for balancing a game.

Isn't that just normal Hitstop/hitpause behavior? It's the same thing Eddie, Dizzy, and for that matter, any character with a projectile can take advantage of to get more stun from various situations. You can read up on it at the bottom of this page if you're unfamiliar, but basically, any two "parties" involved in a hit connecting freeze for a period of time depending on the level of the connecting move. These parties are usually the two characters, but projectiles are considered a special case where the projectile freezes instead of the character that threw it (since the projectile is considered a separate "entity") This, on the other hand, is AWESOME. Any ideas as to why it happens?

I think Blade is just a little confused. Playing competitively since the beginning and sticking with the game probably would make someone better. Playing old games now will do the opposite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w23Zlrju4OM I realize this is kind of an old vid, but it shows a pretty good idea of how this should play out. Niiyama scrubs out on some combos, but his gameplan is solid. He mixes Robot up when he gets the chance, but his main tools are 5K, f.S, 3P, and TK Kokuu, and it's all to capitalize on that beastly midrange zoning advantage Axl has in this matchup. Notice how he gets raped when he lets robo-ky through that 5K-f.S-3P range without getting hurt.

^Listen to this guy. Except for the matchup number. It's definitely 5-5.

I... disagree? There's a lot less you can do against robot to prevent him from gaining meter, for obvious reasons. In the meantime, if you're smart about baiting DPs and keeping yourself neutral or at advantage (Which you should be trying to do anyway), Robot having meter isn't the end of the world. I'd also like to make a distinction here between playing conservatively and playing defensively. Robo-Ky is a great example: If robo-ky gets momentum, patience will save you from getting hurt. Like any other character, robot will run out of things to do or put himself in a bad position eventually, probably faster than a lot. Really, watch out for the command grab and TK FB mixup and you should be fine. Robot is also a character I'd say I'd want to at least try to FD out when being pressured, because some robots will try for TK spreadfire missile if they have meter and are far away, and that's a great way for robot to get into your anti-air. I guess the main thing that's dangerous about robot with meter is his DP. Man does it suck to get cheesed out by that thing. Anyway, just be really careful to bait it. Robo is an even fight at worst for Axl, so if you play it smart, it should never really be "all over" until it's... well, actually over.

Only once per jump though. No quadruple jumps for Johnny.

I've got finals this week, and I haven't heard from Teyah yet, so probably... soon?