Ryd'

So, uh... -in awakening- 2A 5B 5C 2C 236 214214D ]B[, 214C (just 'cause) run under (in case of Naoto, step back for a split second) 2D (will land behind + hit meaty) run up 2A+B!! 236B 66 6BB 236[A+B] 5C ]A[ 236D~D 214D ]B[ 236D!! Maragi loop ~ 5BB 236 214214D ]B[ (timing's tight) into...214C (just 'cause), run under (in case of Naoto, step back for a split second) 2D (will land behind + hit meaty) run up 2A+B!! etc. Has this been mentioned before? I know I posted the reverse 2D + 2A+B unblockable before with a different setup, so here's another one. The full thing takes a full 150SP (up to the second 214214D), but it should kill everyone from full health, starting at lv 0 Amp. Around 3K for the initial Maragidyne combo, 2.5k from the Fire Break setup, and then like 5k from the Maragi loop into Maragidyne. And then you can do another 3k or so from the second high/low if you haven't regained enough meter for another Fire Break setup (I haven't paid too much attention to how much meter is gained over the whole thing when you're burning it all over the place); if you have enough SP (FB should be off cooldown by then), then you can go for more damage. In case 13k isn't enough or something. As with unblockable Maragi setups, not teching will beat it (though this has the benefit of not wasting your Fire Break and not putting them into a position to air tech and escape), but if they're starting to do that, you can always delay it a little.

What long-term investment? You can't take them with you, so it's a mid-term investment at best. Somewhat more seriously though, it depends. Every 25SP means you're sitting on a potential Maragi loop, which means possible unblockable reset. 50SP means free unblockable setups from supers (corner pre-awakening, anywhere post), or Maragi loop into unblockable reset into another Maragi loop (damage!). You can build a fair amount of Amp levels relatively quickly in most matches if you really want to, but the thing is, only Maragi and Maragidyne combos will really benefit from it, and Yukiko can't get those whenever she wants. If you're sitting on a ton of meter, then sure, a single EX Amp won't hurt you too much. But considering how easily Yukiko can burn 75~100SP in unblockable setups and optimal damage followups (not even counting things like OMCs for safety, reversal supers, guard cancels, EX Agi to keep someone pinned down...), you're probably better off saving the meter and making sure that you're able to capitalize on the hits that land and keep yourself alive, rather than coming up short and being sad because you wanted to do crazy-high damage in a single combo. Just for reference, at lv 0, it takes around 3 realistic high-end damage combos for Yukiko to kill most characters. At level 8, it still takes 2. Take a look at how much meter you're looking to burn on EX Amp, how much you routinely gain in a round, and how many chances you get for big damage in the first place. Is it worth gambling that you'll get an opportunity after you've built up to lv 8 and have enough meter to blow someone up? For most, it really isn't. Especially since Yukiko's damage can add up really quickly without Amp if you know how to string unblockable resets together.

If you're going to play LoL, play Dominion; it's far more fun than classic. If you're going to play a classic style moba, stick your face in a meatgrinder; it's less painful in the long run.

And then the AZ thread got real.

Fixed that for you. I mean, if we're going to talk rite of passage, might as well go with a classic.

Everything that I've read (plot, premise, blow-by-blow for the episodes) screams generic Iris Johansen novel, except her books don't take 27 hours to read. I'll stick with other stuff; the hype alone makes me wary, and the only stories I've ever seen that would be worth that time investment generally do it in a fraction of the time. Except maybe the original Dune series, but I haven't clocked myself reading those; that's irrelevant though, since I already know this doesn't have shit on Frank Herbert. Brian, no. And from the 6 seconds it took to google it, I don't know if I want to. It sounds like K-ON, but with tennis.

Sorry, I should've said plot synopsis, because it was certainly a lot more in depth than a mere premise. Also, I prefer my media (novels, films, anime, VNs, manga...whatever) the way I like my women: rich, interesting, either intellectually deep or capable of making me laugh, and not bloated. Clocking in at 70+ episodes violates that last one.

Not old enough to be a rite of passage. I read up on the premise; Monster sounds like it's above average, but not really amazing. The way I'm seeing it hyped reminds me of Gurren Lagann, which I thought was more or less the same (above average, not amazing) after watching it. Then again, it's not hard to be above average when you consider how terrible the average anime is.

Quality sucks, but I imagine this is how Ray's feeling looking at that.

No, there are ways to punish jump outs; pillar release into dash 5A or 2/5C will catch jump startup if timed right. Her 623A will also do the job depending on spacing, but then she doesn't get the pressure reset. The only guaranteed way out of F-Akiha's pressure (assuming she doesn't let herself get pushed out too far) is to have an invincible+fast startup, long-ranged move (certain DPs, EX Hiero, W.Arc EX teleport grab, F-Sacchin EX hop-grab, etc.), which is what makes those matchups a lot less fun for her. C/H-Ciel in particular, because Hiero is a ridiculously fast full-screen punish; Ciel with meter = F-Akiha's 22x, 214x, and 421x don't exist outside of oki while Ciel is over 100% (which is pretty much always with C). Certain characters with teleport dashes (Nero, W.Len) might be able to escape that way depending on Akiha's spacing. Everything else you try to do can be beaten depending on what Akiha does; dashes/jump outs get stuffed by quick pillar release into combo, throw beats shield/block, dodging doesn't work for the most part because most of the pressure is a mix of delayed+negative edge specials. Your options also change after you've been sitting on a pillar for around 2 seconds since they become air unblockable at that point. Characters who don't have an easy-mode way out have to play a layered guessing game where you have to predict where the holes in the pressure will be (because there are always holes), and gamble on the best way to escape. Guess right, and you get out, seemingly for free; guess wrong, and the pressure resets; sit there and block, and she'll do it for days and you'll eventually get guard broken (used to happen a lot faster in PS2, and guessing wrong hurt more, which made it a lot scarier to deal with). Right now it's still workable, but a lot more manageable to be on the receiving end since you can afford more mistakes, won't get guard broken anywhere near as quickly, and even if you do, it isn't almost guaranteed death.

What time? Also, I'll need your new address.

Tomorrow will probably be better for me. I'll play anything except Mahvel, BB, AP, CC, and poverty PC games. Except maybe IaMP. Or even EFZ (lol).

That's some wishful thinking, Ruben. I'd like to see a few things tweaked and/or smashed with a hammer, but I'll be surprised if P4A is touched again. Friday may be better for me; I should have more concrete info Thurs. Also, what are you guys playing these days? It's like a fucking roulette wheel at Dippy's...though I did manage to con Tempered into playing F/UC, so I can't complain.

If Ruben's hosting this weekend, I may put it an appearance for Tekken/DoA/GG/P4A/MB/FUC...pretty much anything except Chaos Code (no exp) and bad games I refuse to play. Usual group's out of town for VF, so I'm finding my allotted 1 weekly trip to the east side of town open.

Ruben doesn't get my sense of humor; noted. I was just saying that I never got the cold/unfriendly impression from anyone there, even on the times when I only knew a couple out of the dozen or so that were there. I'd actually have shown up to those meetups more often if it didn't mean making an extra trip to the opposite end of town in addition to the MB remnants meetups. That, and there was a while where I was starting to get mad at P4A.

You guys are the coldest bunch, and the couple of times I went down to Ruben's, I never felt welcome. Especially that time I only knew a couple people that were there, and everyone I didn't know was all "hey man, can I get some games in with you?" and I played for like 5 hours straight. And then Gravy offered to show me this cool thing he could do with his tongue, and everything went gay from there.

Straight into 5BB or 5C depending on spacing.

Just a few options: (Whatever), 236[A] xx C Agidyne, Fire Break, Maragi - pop the held Agi as oki after Agidyne to help pin them down for the unblockable Maragi. Standard Maragi loop/anti-air combo starter, replace the normal follow up after SB Agi with Fire Break (can be done in a few different ways), unblockable Maragi on their tech. Similar to above, but use SB Agi as the unblockable; devastating if done right, as you basically get 2 unblockables to work with, and delaying a tech doesn't get you out of this one. Basic high/low unblockable: whatever, 236[A], 2D, ]A[, 2A+2D hits, normal ground combo. Does miserable damage, but can lead into an Agidyne -> Fire Break setup if you have the meter.

Are you still generally hosting on Fridays, Ruben?

To practice Fire Break-Maragi setups, just hit a training mode dummy with them, and set its recovery options appropriately. Depending on the setup, you'll either release Maragi perfectly timed/spaced to catch the opponent as they tech, or you'll manually detonate it so that they tech into the pillar. These setups are messed up by the opponent refusing to tech (they get hit by the Maragi as part of the previous combo, heavily scaled, and are able to tech before you can follow up); if you start getting those opponents, then you should work on the SB Agi unblockables, which can actually lead to a lot more damage in the corner if you know how to work them. Fire Boost isn't that essential. Yukiko has 2 brands of combos; those that don't utilize many fire attacks (most of her combos not involving a FC, antiair CH, or Maragi start), and those that do (anything into Maragi loops; significantly fewer starters, but much higher damage). Yukiko's smaller combos see little benefit from Fire Boost since there's so few fire attacks that go into them, and when they do, they're usually at the end of the combo, heavily scaled. Maragi loops hurt a lot more, involve a lot of fire attacks (noticeable impact by Fire Boost), and 2-3 of them is enough to KO most opponents. The time put into Fire Boost really isn't worth it when you consider that A) she gets a lot more openings for the smaller combos, B) the damage bonus isn't really palpable until you get to hit 4+, and C) few opponents will allow themselves to be sufficiently zoned to build fire levels quickly enough to matter. Assuming you're not constantly sacrificing momentum for the sake of building levels, by the time you get to a level where it'll make a difference, your opponent should be missing enough health that you won't see any great returns on the time put into Fire Boost. It'd be worth the time investment to build levels if even half of them were retained between rounds, but since everything's lost... It has its uses as a way to make an overly defensive opponent move, but Fire Break is a lot more effective at that.

C Maragi is a good tool, and serves a different purpose from the D variant; which you use depends on the situation and/or what you expect your opponent to do. If you elect to use Maragi as part of a blockstring after having a 5/2C blocked, some opponents may roll right after blocking your normals to avoid D Maragi, Agi, etc. and get in. C Maragi will generally catch them as they come out of it (results may vary depending on spacing; you can always activate it at the appropriate spacing to be sure), giving you one of Yukiko's best damaging starters. Catch someone with this once, and they'll generally think twice about (ab)using that option. It also works great if you can maintain ambiguous roll-crossup spacing in the corner (i.e. if they try to roll to behind you to escape the corner, they'll end up in front of you instead). Of course, you don't want to abuse it either, because if it's expected, you might eat a nasty hit. It can also work as a general zoning tool from long range if you have time to throw one out; the slower speed is nice for this purpose since it means it'll persist on the screen that much longer. If you knock someone back full screen, you can use Maragi to recall your persona after the usual B Agi xx 3D xx whatever setup (this would be one way to create the situation Ciddy described earlier); especially useful if you failed to drop your persona behind them, though using it in general as part of the setup regardless of where your persona landed isn't a bad idea if you're playing more of a zoning game. Varying your options means your opponent has that much more to think about, which can lead to hesitation, free hits, or both. There's a lot of theory in this, and things are seldom quite so neat and clean (I also haven't really played in months...). Ultimately, how you approach things depends on the matchup and the opponent that you're fighting. Playing Yukiko requires being able to read your opponent to a certain extent because of how weak she is on defense and how much it hurts to whiff her options, so you'll want to learn to pick up on any tendencies your opponent has (safe/cautious vs aggressive/risk-taking), and adjust your gameplan as needed.

Bite isn't particularly menacing, the meter cost makes it something that is nowhere near as abusable as things like Pot Buster and the like, and her normal command throw that is comparable to real grapplers' throws (in terms of "I really, really don't want to eat that") is slow and without any kind of protection. EX Arm is a threat, but she doesn't have many ways to force you to jump and risk eating it unless you're in kill range for Bite, unlike real grapplers, who make you afraid to be near them in general when they're capable of doing anything. She strikes me as being a lot closer to a character like Millia or I-No in that her "vortex" focuses on scoring a knockdown, and then run fast high/low/crossup mixup that ends in knockdown and resets the situation, but with EX Arm as a huge perk. "Real" grapplers tend to have a dangerous and always-present throw option in their game to break you down and make you constantly take risks that you generally wouldn't against any other character. Satsuki doesn't instill that mentality in her opponent, which makes her a lot less of a grappler to me.

Nobody wants to play dead games. Satsuki is also sketchy as a real grappler unless she's in BH. Kouma fits the title a lot better.

Mostly moved on to 3D until GGAC+R is released. I still play on rare occasion, but there a few design philosophy quirks with P4A that make me a little disinclined to take it too seriously. I never put the pieces together for confirming off CH for the midair unblockable setup. I used something similar pretty liberally when poking and as a way to break off close-range pressure in the corner when it started to feel dangerous to stay in. I don't recall getting many CHs though; the people I played tended to hesitate and block at persona+fan, especially if there was an Agi on top of it all.

Yukiko can use Dia during anything on the ground that can be special canceled to negate Liz's IK for free.