Jackie Chandler

You guys aren't going to believe this. I must have forgotten that I pre-ordered KoF at Amazon, because when I got home the game was waiting on my doorstep. I'm taking it as a sign. :3 I've only done the Tutorial and a bit of Practice mode, but I can tell I'm going to like the game a lot, despite the improvements I'm going to have to make to my execution. Tad and Naimat are right- I can definitely see this game developing better fundamentals.

So what's the verdict on KoF, guys? I've been looking up some stuff about it, and I'm debating passing up some Black Friday stuff to buy it. Is the input system lenient, and how does the input system fare in comparison to BB/SF? Is it very combo-reliant? How's the character diversity? And is it difficult to learn three different characters starting from the ground up? EDIT: Unless he's surprisingly awkward to play as, K' is already fo' sho' on my character list. I dunno about Robert, but if Ryo has a good DP he's a definite candidate for me. Kula seems like a fun character at the moment, too, but I'm not sure. The ability to reflect projectiles sounds really, really cool. :3

Once I get my PS2 back, I definitely will. Yoshi (Milln's roommate who isn't K.O.) plays and has been trying to get me into it for a while. It's hard to tell if I'm getting good or not when nobody within reasonable driving distance plays, and there's no online, though. :/ But I'll still play it, even if it's only recreationally. So, I took a walk and I'm calmed down a bit, but I still want to do some Marvel ranting (which can be a discussion if anybody wants to make a response to it). I have more fun with the game whenever I'm in Training Mode, Mission Mode, or Arcade Mode. Being able to freestyle combos and mess around, on top of challenging myself on some of the more ridiculous-looking combos, is rewarding to me in terms of enjoyment. Whenever I play online or against people, however, it's a whole different story. I can never open anybody up, and I get shut down by trying to punish the stupidest shit- but that's not the real reason I have problems with the game. I hate how there's so much of an emphasis on cross-up teleports and assists (often at the same time) and such little emphasis on blockstrings and overheads (at least on the ground). It's like every character has two or three effective moves to open an opponent up with, normally involving an assist set-up or both of you trying to attack each other at the same time, and the rest of the moves are just combo filler, if not completely useless. Another thing I hate is that people can get away with disrespecting knowledgeable players so easily. It's like... Knowing what your opponent is capable of doesn't mean anything if you have to guess when they pull out x setup. I don't feel like there's much reaction involved in a lot of predicaments in Marvel- only guessing when to do what. On that note, I guess the problem I'm having with Marvel right now is that there's a big game of "when" and not "what." WHEN do I switch my blocking direction during this cross-up setup? WHEN do I throw out an attack when we're staring at each other? WHEN do I try to punish something possibly unsafe? There's not a lot you can do to prepare for these scenarios- you just do your best when they happen (which they do often) and hope for the best. IMO. Lol, "random but safe." I can see that. :P

I want to get into Melty Blood, actually. Besides, at least it doesn't have an online where people play Ranked while they're torrenting shit and do the most blatant cross-up teleports in a lame attempt to open people up and manage to get away with it.

God, I'm thinking about it.

I'm taking a break from Marvel. I just had the most frustrating session of online in my entire life.

Shippuga Assist or Jaguar Dash Assist (not that anyone uses anything besides the gunshot, haha). Good games to both Astaroth and Naimat today. There were some shenanigans going on in Naimat and I's games especially. Bionic Arm got beaten out by both Akuma's Beam Hyper and Joe's Mach Speed. XD It was definitely a good day for some Marvel.

Oh, and Astaroth- I was playing around in Training Mode a few minutes ago trying to nail the timing on that Akuma Air Hyper -> Air X Factor -> Akuma Air Hyper, and it turns out it's not possible. You can't Air Hyper with Akuma twice in a row. XD

Naimat- Astaroth said Nemesis was like Hulk, not Iron Fist. :P Dante *does* still build meter consistently, and paired with Vergil's dependancy on meter might work together on one team. However, I wouldn't say Vergil is better because he can "kill any character with 3 bars" when a good portion of the cast can do that by just ending a BnB with a Level 3. You're right about the crossups and picking up air throws, though- I would say those and the ability to "infinitely" gatling H and S (for the sake of catching assists and tricky blockstrings) are reasons he might be better. What hinders him is the fact that aside from, his Air L, M, and H, he doesn't have ANY overheads. Basically, I think Vergil is good, but I'm not sure I'd say he's better than Dante yet. It really disappoints me that more people don't use C. Viper. She's one of the most fun characters to watch IMO, and you can tell when you watch good players with her that she's a force to be reckoned with. The same thing goes for Chun-Li. Both characters are severely underplayed, and seem to work incredibly well together (Focus Attack + Lightning Legs assist = true unblockable). It's just like you said- the execution barrier divided by payoff is too low when compared to other characters, so people don't even give them a chance. :/ And no offense, but I can see you changing your mind about Doom very soon. He's retardedly easy to combo with (s.H -> s.S -> j.M -> j.2H -> j.S., I think- rinse and repeat) his mobility options are great, and his payoff on random hits are generally ridiculous... At least from what I noticed. ... Super Armor characters still get me too. X/ Star- Do any of those characters have an OTG? There's much less emphasis on having an OTG assist/character in Ultimate, but it's something that might not hurt to have. As for Chun-Li vs. Iron Fist, I would say Iron Fist is the easier character and Chun-Li is the better character.

I'm disappointed in me too Milln. I ended up ordering it from Newegg that one week for $30. It was just too tempting. :[ You should play Valkyrie Profile on your PSP and listen to some epic J-Core. Better spending of your time cannot be had.

If neither of us are busy Friday, we should meet and scrub it up together. :3

Sure thing Astaroth. Like I said, I'm really not that good yet, but I'll be trying to improve drastically within the next week or so. I'm interested in seeing how the transition from Vanilla to Ultimate has effected you. :3 I only played as Vergil once outside of Mission Mode, and he seemed... Harder to me. XD I like that he doesn't have such a huge emphasis on OTGs, and to be honest, I'm still considering learning him (not surprising to you I'm sure, haha), but I don't want to sound like I've set anything in stone yet. Playing through Mission Mode a bit has made me realize I really like the way Spencer plays, so he's a serious contender for my team's "free slot." Frank seems really fun too, but he seems kind of over my head at the moment. I dunno. Suggestions might be cool. :P

Double post because I just realized we're talking about Marvel. I'm having a lot of fun with Ultimate, but I REALLY suck now. I can't pick up any of my old Dante combos, and I want to drop Wesker for someone else but I can't decide on who. At least Akuma's still pretty much the same with mid-air flips now.

I see Star's hard at work hyping those competitive vibes again. :3

Lolwut

That link doesn't take me to a video Milln, but I think I've seen the video you're talking about already. :P

ALL MY MONEY IS ALREADY GONE.

I don't think I can map S to more than one button, but I may be able to map a combination of buttons (Y + A cough cough) to the Left Trigger/Right Trigger. Not sure about that though. I'll definitely look into it.

I'll never be able to play Phoenix Wright with a pad. Y + A is just too awkward. ;_;

That's totally understandable Tad. I just hope you're doing all right. :[

If I can make an adjustment to my previously-submitted combo, I found a version that deals about 70 more damage. (Tager only) FC 2C > Blood Kain > [Dash, 5B, 2C, 5C, jC, slightly delayed jD] x 2 > 5B > 2C > 5C > D. Inferno Divider (2 Hit) > Follow-Up > Ax Kick > Air Gauntlet Hades > Delayed Spin Kick > 6D > j.C Berial Edge > Dash 5D (2 Hit) > Dead Spike > Dash 5D (2 Hit) > Devoured by Darkness Basically, the only difference is that you add a 2C after 5Bs, and omit the third jC > slightly delayed jD (since unfortunately, Air D. Inferno Divider won't follow up after jD any more :[). I'm still looking at more combos. Sorry for being kind of a bum.

Unfortunately, gas and parents are too much of an issue for me to make it today. :[

For what it's worth, fatchu hug gatlings into throwing off a cliff.

Whoever didn't hate me before Loser's Finals hates me now. I mean, come on- that amount of disapproval deserves SOME form of fatchu hug. :[