Convince me not to quit Melty Blood

[Mailorder]

The wakeup buffer for commands in Melty Blood is kinda LOL, which makes blocking an even safer bet than usual. Other games have wakeup priority as a design principle in mind (3rd Strike, KoF, etc)... but MB obviously does not. I even miss wakeup Heat despite mashing on the Q button sometimes.

I swear I thought I was the only one who felt this way... it's like, okay - I guess wakeup maid rush didn't feel like coming out.  or barrier (hey, Choco does a lot of crossups).  and Choco has been telling me to stop using Q for wakeup heats. 

[F9|Chibi]

Yeah you're better off doing d/b plus ABC. I don't use Q anymore either.

[DarkSaint]

Ah, the infamous "why the hell won't my wakeup attack come out." Since I play with Ciel I pretty much assume now that it works when it wants to. Someone spamming 2A will crap all over your attempt. B or C attacks gives you a better guage as to wether you can complete it without being stuffed. You are better of blocking most of the time(unless you see an opening that just screams ATTACK)

Edit-For some reason when I play with Mech her 22C usually comes out on command(maybe it's just her, I'll have to check that out)

[c-nero 5[c]]

learn to bunker cancel

[Sledeau]

He can already bunker cancel.

[Kelong]

To me, fighting game = 80% mind game, 20% execution.

Learn what all characters can do and try to counter them with your own, be it ex-shielding or shield-bunker-grab or whatever.

Also, not everyone that uses the same character employs the same playstyle, just the moves look similar.

Sure, you feel that some characters may have something to nail you with, but that's probably because you're doing something wrong.

Just play more, you'll get better.

[Lord Knight]

To me, fighting game = 80% mind game, 20% execution.

This can be both true and false.

[Arcrenciel]

To me, fighting game = 80% mind game, 20% execution.

This can be both true and false.

Different fighting games have different elements that factor in differently

Tekken =
40-50% Tekken Fundamentals (spacing, blocking, throw breaking, whiff punishing, poking)
10-20% Mindgames and gimmicks
30-40% Execution

at least that's sorta how i view that game

[S-Blade]

Mindgames are mixup, pretty much. I don't know what else it could be referring to.

That being said, fighting games are waaaaaaaay less than 80% "mindgames". For MB, it's more....40% mixup, 20% execution, and....40% spacing/zoning/matchupexp/general strategy. Mixup is guessing and comes naturally with experience (if someone is a level below you in "skill" (skill encompassing all three of the categories), you tend to already know how they will guess. this can be seen when you play 3rd strike). Execution comes with playing with your stick (and maintaining to not get rusty), and it doesn't even have to be the same game. The third category comes from your knowledge of the game. Looking at US's level of play, mid-level play seems to be won more with mixup guessing, high level play with strategy and game plans, and japanese level play won with both but a good deal more with strategy.

And toptoptop-tier people like kubo win by using strategy to get the first knockdown and then being psychic on mixup every time after that to get perfects

[Hsien_Jo]

Hello everyone...

I've been playing this game for a little while now, because it's the only game where I can actually play someone good IRL, and I'm growing frustrated with my lack of progress.  I don't need any bullshit motivational speeches - I need some answers, or (preferably) some idea of how to find those answers myself.

Specifically, I play Kouma, because I despise the entire moe aesthetic and he's the best available antidote to that.  I've always liked grapplers, as well, so I figured he would work.

However, it seems like in half the matchups I just get completely shut down.  Characters like Ciel, Nanaya, Len, & Satsuki seem to outprioritize every single one of my normals, and the likes of Warc/Nero/Aoko/Mech keep me out forever.  I honestly have no idea how this character is supposed to be high-tier at all, especially considering that I don't see him do much in Japanese tournaments.

Usually I learn games quickly - only GGXX and VF gave me problems like this.  Am I just approaching this game with an entirely wrong mindset?  I airdash around and try to poke when it looks like they're within range, but usually they jump over my pokes and get free combos thanks to my horrible recovery.  Maybe I should just never initiate the attack with him, but wait until they whiff something?

Or should I switch to another character to learn the game?  I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance, and see some of you guys at Final Round,
Josh.

All I can say is, just go back in the shop, and continue to practice, and fight as many people as you can even if they are better than you.  Just like me, you probably need more experience fighting especially high level play.  Your most likely in the learning stage like me.  I know the game better now, but I have little experience playing this game with people that play in the higher level atmosphere.  I know that my weaknesses are movement, mixups on contact when my combo is blocked, and more defensive manuevers like parrying and sidestepping when its useful.  Playing ppl better than me helped me understand my weaknesses, and got some of the sore loser out of me cause playin on net play, I see that I have greatly improved, but I have alot to learn.  Some days are good, other days, I get worked all day.  Its frustrating as hell trust me, sometimes I sit there, thinking: How the fuck did I lose?!, but then I'm like that just means I have to practice more.

The best remedy is to hang in there, and have faith in yourself and your character.  Thats the best thing you should do in my opinion.  Why be a quitter, quitting is so easy, and makes you feel bad later on, I should know, I wish I would stick with things that are really important to me irl, rather than being die hard with videogames.

Not to mention on this game, you have to get out of auto pilot and really think on your feet.  Melty Blood is just those type of games.  That is definitely one of my strong points and weaknesses.  When I'm thinking on my feet, I accel, but when I'm stuck in autopilot, I fall for stupid things.

Keep trying and do what your doing now, and thats keeping an open mind and asking others.  Just don't pay attention to ppl that have discouraging things to say, they are lame sauce :/.

[DivineArc]

Yeah what he said

[HeartNana]

To me, fighting game = 80% mind game, 20% execution.

This can be both true and false.

Different fighting games have different elements that factor in differently

Tekken =
40-50% Tekken Fundamentals (spacing, blocking, throw breaking, whiff punishing, poking)
10-20% Mindgames and gimmicks
30-40% Execution

at least that's sorta how i view that game

Depends on your character.

I play Asuka, so execution is like, 10% because she's got like, the easiest juggles in the game. Its not like i get a juggle starter and go "o i dunno if ill hit my combo cause its soooooo hard". Every character has a few things that are a bit difficult, but that depends on character.

[Light]

I feel your pain too. If you like your character, then you just need to get more experience against your bad match ups. It's hard but that's all you can do in the end.

[Jassa_Noon]

To me, it seems like Kouma is a bit harder to learn than other characters like Shiki Tohno.  All I can say to you is watch vids, read strategy guides, and ask the professionals.  Then in no time you should master him

[Devereaux]

Is this guy still whining about quitting or are people just randomly ranting to each other about game statistics in here?

[pbj_mixxa]

Is this guy still whining about quitting or are people just randomly ranting to each other about game statistics in here?

I'm not going to quit the game, and I'll stick with Kouma.  Just got a lot of hurdles I need to get past, since this entire experience is so different from anything I've ever tried.  Maybe watch jpn matches frame-by-frame or something...and realize that this could take some time.

Thanks again, all,
Josh.

You be the judge!

[Jassa_Noon]

Is this guy still whining about quitting or are people just randomly ranting to each other about game statistics in here?

  :-[Aww c'mon now..  He wasn't whining, he was merely looking for advice

[Devereaux]

You'll have to forgive me as I didn't bother reading through most of what sounded like a pathetic thread...

...Must have been the title...

[mizuki]

Go ahead and quit, it's a stupid game anyway, whenever you want something to come out it never comes out, the game mechanics fucking suck, there's no such thing as reversals, you're forced to block instead of having a chance to do something on wakeup, combos off shield fucking sucks for the risk you take, and why do I still play this fucking game, oh wait I don't I just lose with White Len.

[motoh]

Mizuki, man the fuck up.  This emokid whining doesn't suit you, you look horrible in pink anyway.  Yeah, so you lose a lot.  So do I.  You obviously can't keep from playing the game for some reason, so how about you just enjoy bloody playing it and quit whinging.  Maybe somewhere in there you're actually enjoying yourself.

~M

[Arlieth Tralare]

Mizuki, check your PMs, please.

[F9|Chibi]

This emokid whining doesn't suit you

yes it does

beyond comprehension.

[mewofforcena]

...you look horrible in pink anyway.

You mean you have already seen him like that?

[Alfonse]

There is a difference being a lolicon and being a loli 

[mizuki]

Mizuki, man the fuck up.  This emokid whining doesn't suit you, you look horrible in pink anyway.  Yeah, so you lose a lot.  So do I.  You obviously can't keep from playing the game for some reason, so how about you just enjoy bloody playing it and quit whinging.  Maybe somewhere in there you're actually enjoying yourself.

~M

I've been playing this damn game getting no where. I actually tried learning the system (Bell don't laugh) and it just gave me a bigger headache than the one I had trying to play White Len. It's not even like I fucking see myself improving with this game, fuck I go 0-2 in all my CvS2 tourneys but I learn that certain things work and I can use this, and actually I've been decent in CvS2 lately (Chibi don't laugh.) It seems everything in MBAC is very inconsistent, almost like the other game I play, Arcana Heart. I won't go there because this is a MBAC board.