rurouni572

I guess I'll have to brush up on my motions. I always seem to backdash whenever I try to parry out of block.

Any tips on Tsubaki? I'm having trouble getting around that damn 5B. My friend and I aren't that good, so using the tail above him seems to get him every time, but I feel like that's a horrible habit. Is the answer just space better?

A Makoto team won lol. YESSS!

Ah, I see. Boy, time to learn another combo T_T. I got a generic corner combo, midscreen combo, and I'm working on the midscreen PF combo. Now I have to find a CH j.b combo >_<.

Question about her j.B. I see everywhere that "it's amazing" but I can't seem to hit crouching opponents with it. Is it just that it recovers really quickly?

Alright...I read through all 30 pages and it seems the 214B~B > j.D question has already been asked and answered a couple times already so cool. I'm still missing the 214A~CCCCC half the time and I'm confident I'm buffering the 214 correctly. Normally I don't mash combos, but for the 214A~CCCCC part I input the 214A and just mash C. Might this be why it's not connecting?

Hello everyone. I'm a Rachel main but after watching some Makoto and how fun her combos look I have been inspired to pick her up. Possibly even switch mains =X. Are her challenge mode combos a good place to start? I got through 1-7, having difficulty with 8 and 9, not gonna attempt 10 until a little later. The part I'm having the most trouble with in 9 is the 214B~B > JC > j.D > 2366A~D. I was reading that I have to delay the ~B, but I still seem to whiff the 2366A. Do I have to do the j.D really quickly after the 214B~B? Also, for some reason for the midscreen combo 5BCC > 6B > 5C > 214A~CCCCC, I'm missing the 214~CCCCC about 50% of the time. Does the input just need to be faster? I'll try to put up a video soon to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

Question on the inputs for lvl2 j.2c from 5b (or any combo requiring j.c into j.2c). Is the motion 5b JC j.c 2d THEN jump cancel j.2c or j.c JUMP CANCEL then 2d j.2c?

Oh man...Reading Soniti and Kro's posts are making my heart sink. I was hoping there's still some game breaking secret tactics that we have yet to discover that'll make Rachel viable/CT tier, but seeing those two posts is really disheartening. Is there anything we can do other than to just "deal with it" or pick a new main? In the wave of new 2D fighters, I figure developers should have somewhat of a better idea to balance characters. To make a character almost completely unviable without that being the intention from the beginning (i.e. joke characters) seems so last decade.

I don't know if this was changed between loke tests/release, but does pumpkin no longer have a timer? I only see a timer for george in the videos I've watched so far. Also, again, I haven't played the game yet and probably won't until FFA gets it, but honestly, from the vids, she doesn't look as bad as people are making her out to be. It's not the same Rachel as CT but her zoning seems pretty good still, based off the no pumpkin timer that I may or may not have seen correctly. Who knows. I haven't played enough Rachel in CT to make any sort of credible judgment but in my opinion, being this early in the game (4 days since release) and in the videos seeing her sort of holding her own, there still maybe be a chance!

This was posted in the general BB:CS video thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gffe3hdj75o A lot of 6b guard libra breaking going on in the first round. I think Noel's libra was down to 1 point 2 times during that one. I don't exactly know how safe that option is since there's that startup time on 6b. It looked like her zoning game didn't change much. As a new rachel player I don't know what else I can comment on, or if my conclusions on CS rachel are even valid at all based on my knowledge on CT rachel. In my opinion, though, that match made rachel look not as bad as people feared she'd be. That airdash air iris combo looked kinda cool =S.

Thanks for the advice. Could you clarify one thing though? Do you mean full screen interrupt, or interrupt him when he's running in? In terms of block, I guess I should be more patient. My friend does really predictable block strings, but I think I get too antsy and try to punish everything. It's usually 5c 5d then either ice sword or ice car. I guess I don't know when it's actually safe to try to break out. If I don't I eat the same 5d 5d 5d until guard break, if I do try to get out of there, usually by jumping, I eat the upper portion of a 5d. This coming week I should have another round of videos. I'll try to apply as much as I can, but often times I get a bit overwhelmed trying to remember everything, like counter assaulting, or jump + wind out of corners, etc. >_< I thought you said you'd get it done before CS!!!! Joking, joking, I appreciate all the work you've done on your guide so far. It's helped me get to this point as fast as I have as opposed to probably struggling on more basic stuff.

I think the first is a bit of an autopilot problem. I a lot of what I do is autopilot, sadly =(. Especially when I try to mix it up by going 2b 5b j.3dc 5b 3c vs. 2b 5b 3c, I always seem to ONLY go one or the other for long periods of time. Every time I meet up with PanicKing I always tell myself "watch your inputs," so I don't put in too many d's or c's during stuff like 5cdc and such, but I always seem to end up tearing through wind. >_< This was something I actually worked on in training mode for a little bit. I got myself to the point where I can instant block most of his 5d's because if he does 5c, he always, ALWAYS does a 5d right afterwards. I actually asked around for help on irc and spirit juice recommended I factor another midscreen combo into my game, the one where you summon pumpkin after 5cdc knockdown. I believe on soniti's page it goes something like blah into 5cdc, pumpkin, 6d dash 6c j.c 5b 3c. This leads into good oki position and closer to the corner. I have pretty terrible reaction time...haha. I forget which of the videos they are (I have about 20 of them recorded) but he gets me multiple times with purple throws even. I try to supplement my poor reaction to just looking out for every possible situation, but that overloads my mind sometimes and I still fall for everything anyway T_T. How does one go about upping their reaction time? Autopilot =(. I try to keep my mind focused but sometimes I take mental shortcuts. Thanks, haha. I can do combos. With not much competition around, all I have is training mode, and my ability to learn things based on repetition is pretty good, but this tends to increase my tendencies to autopilot. It's the situational things, the stuff that requires thinking, that I'm horrible at. Here's a big problem I think, haha. Apparantly I linger around mid screen for waaay too long, instead of being up in their face dealing pressure, or way far away where I can summon the gang. I'm pretty balls at zoning though, and most of my attemps are thwarted rather fast due to PanicKing shooting swords to force me to block and remove my pumpkin, or just me failing at lobelia seeds. Often times it only requires him to block once or twice before I've already used the wrong seed and he's inside. I stopped trying to zone him at one point because I'd always lose but I know I should keep practicing because I won't get better otherwise =S. Again, autopilot. I see him airdash towards me, I do another airdash backwards. I guess I should grow some balls and have faith in 6a, haha. Hahaha, I'm a little embarrassed by the loud clicking and my "what?!"s. I don't know how to use a video editting software though so I couldn't edit out the sound, and I value getting better over saving my voice/face from the internet >_<. I suppose I'm expecting too much of myself right now, especially since I'm still rather new to the game, I don't play much against real people, and I JUST started Rachel probably less than 2 months ago. Also, right now my friend and I are super scrubs and we're the only competition we got. The rest of the kids at my school are even super scrubbier than we are and I'd imagine we'd wreck them, and develop HORRIBLE habits, worse than we already exhibit. I know I can get better if I start thinking about my actions a lot more, but it's hard for me. It's so obvious sometimes, like specifically my friend always starts the match IAD in, firing an air sword, I try to hit with 6a, block the sword, try to hit him with 6b on his way down, and eat a 5d. After being hit by that for the 11th, 12th, ... , nth time, you'd think I'd learn to do something different, but I don't >_<. I guess I'm afraid to try new things because of the chance I'll get super punished for it. But I won't get better if I don't try, so I'll try to keep in mind more things. Hopefully the next batch of videos show some sort of improvements. For reference, my record that night was 1 set win out of 22, with approx. 5 of my losses going past 0-3 in the set, and like, only 2 of them going 2-3 in a set. I'm pretty awful >_<.

I shot a couple videos on my crappy canon powershot yesterday. In order to maximize my memory, every video except 1 was shot in 320x240 res at 15 fps. It's going to look like crap >_<. Also my button tapping is a bit loud, so play with the volume a little lower if you don't want to hear loud tapping. All vids are of me against my friend PanicKing, who plays Jin. Me going 0-3 against my friend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub69EKn021U Me going 3-1 against my friend (probably the only time I won a whole set that night). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyKqYZvsMIA One of our "closer" matches. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBamiE3e2K8 I get manhandled in this one =(. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_QKY5NMXJk So a couple problems that were pointed out to me already was my over use of 6B, and staying too long in midrange as opposed to creating space. When I try to make space my friend usually airdashes in and closes that space up in almost the same amount of time I create it. I figure I should be better about trying to pick up on these things and 6A'ing him out of the airdash, but I don't know. Anything else I should be aware of?

Oh mah gah nice corner rape hahaha. I try to do that to my friend who plays Jin but I think I still lack confidence in my ability to keep him in the corner and he finds ways to mash out. I figure there's a way to punish his mashing 5a or 2a in the corner with pumpkin but I think I'm mistiming my wind vs. his roll or wake up. I'll try to get some recordings up too via cheap digital camera >_<.

I found that doing 23c6a in the corner puts me in a location where after doing 5cdc 214a dash 23c6a frog* 214b 3c the last 3c to trip the opponent doesn't hit. I end up almost directly under the "airborne" frogged opponent and when I try to retrip with 3c I think I'm too close for the hitboxes. I compared with doing 5cdc 214a dash 3c 236a frog* 214b 3c and the times I didn't get sword iris I was successfully able to trip the opponent, I think because I wasn't so close to the opponent. I was wondering if other people were running into this problem as well? I haven't tried this midscreen yet since I've been practicing mainly against Jin and Ragna so I don't know if it makes a difference midscreen.

But I actually get sword iris when I do this (although only if I'm facing left). I think the 3c21236a was supposed to remedy all situations where you get sword iris. It's kinda strange because if I let the stick go to neutral when facing right I get the correct input, but facing left I get sword iris. Even with 3c21236a I STILL get sword iris!!!

Wow, this is awesome. I like how you break down her combo game into a mini buffet. Choose your starter --> choose your filler --> 5b 5cdc --> choose your ender. Very comprehensive. And whaddya know, the weekend's coming up! Time to work hard on combos @_@.

Jump, then B, the C. I will agree the notation is kinda confusing sometimes, especially between jc and JC (first is jump cancel, second is jumping C).

Use your distortions!!!! OMG I don't know how many times the flame pillar (if I actually get the motion off -_-) has saved me or daisharin has allowed me to continue pressure/make my opponent block.

As a relatively new litchi player myself I can tell you what has worked so far with me. Usually I like to stay with my staff and poke them with 6B or 2B until I land a 5B, counter hit with 6B, or throw. After that comes one of the combos from the complete litchi thread, which usually lands you staffless, in the corner, and on top of your opponent. From there it's one of her corner pressure options, usually for me it's shinshin or orphans if I have the meter. The depth of my corner game is still pretty shallow since I still have to learn a couple of her corner combos, but you get the general idea. As said in the guide, stay with your staff until you land a poke, combo, recall staff, repeat. Generally If I dropped a combo and have the staff planted around on screen somewhere I call it back as soon as I safely can. I don't like fighting without it unless I'm in the middle of a combo.

Yeah, I was the one taking the vids. I started off playing nu but I found litchi far more interesting, but fought against a nu online and got my ass kicked. Thing was, it didn't even feel like that person was good, I just didn't know what to do against her at all. >_<. Are you "kennyon"? Also, Kicks La Flare. A lot of those moves you posted don't seem like moves of litchi's, like 623C. If I recall correctly the only dragon punch motions she has is with D. Perhaps you mean tsubame (623D with staff) or Kotte (623D or 421D without staff)? And for D > 41236 B or C, do you mean 41236D > B or C?

Is it just me or are these vids slightly sped up?

So most of this is probably stemming from the fact that I'm still a horrible player, but really, what can I do? What do I do about sword spam? What do I do about the wall of spikes? I got slaughtered online by every Nu player I came across that halfway knew combos (which aren't hard...DDDDDDDDDD).

Thanks Lord Knight. In #3 I think I'm iad-ing too early. I'll go work on that some more.