SFIV HELP! This f%$&ing game is ridiculous

[AppliCotton]

Hi everyone.

So it's like this. I got a 360 3 months ago. I have BlazBlue and Street Fighter IV. I love BlazBlue, the tutorial is excellent, I'm being good and practicing with Ragna and I can see the results, I'm 2/3 of the way through the challenges and I've beaten unlimited Hazama with good, consistent play and by not dropping combos. It took a couple of weeks and hours of getting my ass beat, but I did it.

SFIV on the other hand is a whole friggin other story. No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, the third AI opponent in arcade mode, whoever it is, owns the shit out of me. I do the challenges (which don't seem to be very useful), I've watched a ton of YouTube videos and read a lot of stuff, and those aren't useful at all because it all starts well ahead of where I am now. I've tried Ryu like everyone says, then Chun Li, then Guy and now Makoto. I feel totally fucking lost, but I feel most comfortable with Makoto, if only because moving around is a huge no-no in this game apparently and she can barely move at all, so one less thing to worry about. Like I said, it doesn't matter, I could be using Dan or C. Viper and the same fucking thing would happen.

Problem is after three months, I'm nowhere nearer to understanding what the whole fucking point is. It's impossible to move in and set anything up. Im-possible. Everything gets blocked, everything gets punished. Actually, when I'm at the point of smashing my stick (I use a stick), I just mash random inputs and buttons and that's when I'll actually come close to taking a round. But as soon as I realise it's in my reach and pay attention and try to do something I'm supposed to be doing according to the internets or trials, I get utterly fucking owned.

So what's it all about? Please, can someone tell me, what am I supposed to be doing? Compare BlazBlue (and by the way, everybody was like "hahaha, fool! How dare you submit your amateurishness to the torture that is BlazBlue, you won't make it past the title screen!"). The basic, underlying principle is simple (beyond that it's ridiculously complex, I know): Look for an in by doing say a mix up, and when you get it, get a combo going and don't drop it. This takes tons of practice, but I'll happily put in the work because I see results. But SFIV?!?!? What am I supposed to look for? What am I supposed to do?!?!?! From what it seems, it's all about guessing what your opponent will do within a couple frames, then blindly entering in a whole string of moves in a couple of milliseconds. I have a hard time believing it's that fucking demanding, seeing as, like I said, it's supposed to be a picture of accessibility compared to BlazBlue.

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[brunoafh]

http://www.splitreason.com/blog/?p=1343

[AppliCotton]

http://www.splitreason.com/blog/?p=1343

Yes! THAT'S what I'm talking about! Thank you!

[dsheinem]

I am far from an expert in either game, but it baffles me how one could be THAT good at the much much more difficult BlazBlu yet not be able to get past stage 3 of the default difficulty in SFIV.

Is your stick working correctly?

[brunoafh]

it baffles me how one could be THAT good at the much much more difficult BlazBlu yet not be able to get past stage 3 of the default difficulty in SFIV.

It's mostly likely a case of rage over not being able to hold ground in online play/against human opponents.

[AppliCotton]

it baffles me how one could be THAT good at the much much more difficult BlazBlu yet not be able to get past stage 3 of the default difficulty in SFIV.

It's mostly likely a case of rage over not being able to hold ground in online play/against human opponents.

Pfffft pleeease, I have a complementary gold membership collecting dust on my shelf. I'm not playing human opponents in either game until I stop sucking. And BB against human opponents, forget about it... I've forced my friends, who would rather play Need 4 Speed, to play me at SFIV, and again, they just mash buttons, I try to do what I'm supposed to be doing, and they almost always win. They refuse to play BlazBlue, they find it creepy, but that's a whole other topic.

[sevin0seven]

be more defensive minded on Street Fighter 4 and be friends with patience. let your defense create your offense.

[AppliCotton]

I am far from an expert in either game, but it baffles me how one could be THAT good at the much much more difficult BlazBlu yet not be able to get past stage 3 of the default difficulty in SFIV.

Is your stick working correctly?

I know! The tutorial is a huuuuuge part of it, it's really, really well made, starts real dumb, like what is a jump, but very quickly requires you to put in effort. But you can immediately apply everything you learn. And the dummy's block is set up to teach you timing, which is soooo crucial in modern fighters.

But what I like is the visual cues, you can see really clearly what's going on, like 6C-dash-6B with Ragna, you're not guessing, you can see exactly when you need to do the moves, it's very exacting, but still, it has this flow. I can't find that in SFIV, it's like ok, the opponent's doing nothing, and before my brain can send any kind of signal to my hand I'm being thrown or supered or ultraed.

The guide to how not to suck above really, really hit home though, so I'm gonna try to do that... Tomorrow, I'm all salty now, having spent an hour losing to an AI Rose without taking so much as a round

[DomitorInvictus]

I used to think the same thing when I first played the game. Really all you need to do is get a feel for the game's mechanics and then you'll do okay.

[foxhound1022]

If it helps, try to play it like the olders SF's; the pace is much more methodical and deliberate.