Official Constructive Criticism Thread

Mincereth wrote:

Match Specific

Part 1: Sakura has slight advantage after ex tatsu, continue blocking, 2:52 no need to use hit confirm combos cause you crumpled her, go all out on that opportunity, 3:44 you can SRK that for more damage, 3:47 you're lucky she didn't ex SRK out of that and you would have lost all your meter for nothing (you did it on me too with your Ultra, it's not guaranteed even though it seems free)

Part 3: 2:49 you can punish those poorly timed FA's on reaction, 5:42 omg cringe

In General

1. His low forward is a good poke but from such a far distance that you're doing it (like half a screen away sometimes) it's better to throw out jabs or shorts
2. Starting up with a cross up for your wake up game is fine but your instantly going into risky combo/endings, against good opponents they will punish you, learn hit confirm combos
3. J. strong is a good setup but you're heavily relying on it and when your opponent catches onto it, that strategy will lose out

good matches otherwise

In Part 3 at 5:42 I wasn't really going for the Super, that was an accident. Will work on that.

And I do use j.strong WAY too much. I need to stop that.

I hope I don't sound annoying or anything like that when I give some tips, just here to help each other out so that we all become better

Mincereth wrote:

I hope I don't sound annoying or anything like that when I give some tips, just here to help each other out so that we all become better

No way! The first thing that I need to know about learning this game is to accept defeat and learn from it. I'm working on a new system that will help me in match-up research.

BTW thanks again for the input the other day.

np

new system? do tell I could use that too (watching vids of me playing is my number one research tool for helping me improve...as well as watching pros like nonstop lol)

Thank you for the matches today .

I apologize for running off like that, but I kind of got REAL discouraged after that Ryu mirror match. Not because I lost, but because I lost bad.

I'm trying things out to play as a better Ryu. For example:

1)Less Fireballs: I know they're vital to Ryu's combos, but I also too much is spamming.

2)Less Jumping: I know to jump to avoid fireballs. But jumping at my opponent is just asking to be anti-aired. So I'm trying to stay more grounded. Any suggestions?

3)FA and FADC: Vital to decent combos and applying pressure. I know I have to work on it.

4)Match-ups: If I learn the matchups better, maybe I can win a few more matches. I have no knowledge of Gen, which is why you torched me so well today. But on the other hand I knew a few things on Rose and Cammy which helped me to win those 2. (You can thank Mincereth for that).

5)Reaction time: You could probably tell my reaction time is poor, and I'm not sure how to train for that.

6)Zoning/Spacing: The most important thing. I can't zone worth $**t. I know what the 5 zones are, I just don't know what to do in them in a basic idea.

So, in short, my game needs a LOT of work. But it's nice to know I can play somebody and try to get an idea on what I need to do. I just don't know where to start.

KGershkoff wrote:

Thank you for the matches today .

I apologize for running off like that, but I kind of got REAL discouraged after that Ryu mirror match. Not because I lost, but because I lost bad.

I'm trying things out to play as a better Ryu. For example:

1)Less Fireballs: I know they're vital to Ryu's combos, but I also too much is spamming.

2)Less Jumping: I know to jump to avoid fireballs. But jumping at my opponent is just asking to be anti-aired. So I'm trying to stay more grounded. Any suggestions?

3)FA and FADC: Vital to decent combos and applying pressure. I know I have to work on it.

4)Match-ups: If I learn the matchups better, maybe I can win a few more matches. I have no knowledge of Gen, which is why you torched me so well today. But on the other hand I knew a few things on Rose and Cammy which helped me to win those 2. (You can thank Mincereth for that).

5)Reaction time: You could probably tell my reaction time is poor, and I'm not sure how to train for that.

6)Zoning/Spacing: The most important thing. I can't zone worth $**t. I know what the 5 zones are, I just don't know what to do in them in a basic idea.

So, in short, my game needs a LOT of work. But it's nice to know I can play somebody and try to get an idea on what I need to do. I just don't know where to start.

Good games man. Sorry if I discouraged you in the mirror match. I rarely play shotos anyway. I just wanted to see how my ryu compared to yours. In terms of getting better you should focus on one aspect at a time. If you want to get better with Ryu you need to first figure out how you want to play him. I've seen rush down Ryus and defensive ryus and of course the mix of both. You should work on your defense first IMO. Learn when to use fireballs and learn to anti-air. All this is from practice and playing people.

1) Whether or not if you spam fireballs it really doesn't matter. Daigo is known for his fireball spam and you don't see many people complain about that. lol. Use hadokens how you see fit. If a person calls to a spammer who cares. They're just mad they couldn't beat you.

2) Learn to use your pokes more. You did a good job using cr. mk and jabs. Learn different footies though and don't forget to mix up them up otherwise you'll become predictable. I noticed you like to do 2 jabs then throw. Change it up a bit.

3) No real rush to learn FADC it comes as you play more. Practice and you'll get it. You MUST learn how to SRK FADC Ultra, if your gonna use Ryu!!! I didn't see you use it once.

4 & 5) All I can say is it comes from experience... and it will come. The more you play the better you'll get. At least thats what I say

6) Look up some videos of pro Ryu players. So you can get a feel of how to zone. This can help you in every aspect of your game. Watch videos of Daigo, Poongko, or any other Ryu pros. Watch and learn, see if you can take a few things from them and put it into your game. I hope this help a little. Practice makes perfect. Keep it up and don't get discouraged. It's all for fun and if you can't have fun you won't learn. (Personal opinion)

play as much as you can for the experience! keep playing until u can figure out your opponent.

Yeah, but Daigo knows when and where to throw fireballs. It's all about spacing.

You don't have to jump to avoid fireballs. If you're fighting a fireball happy opponent, use Focus. Absorb a few fireballs, then let your energy go back up. Absorb a few more, then let your energy go back up. Keep doing that until you have Ultra.

#1 and most important thing to learn = Fundamentals (footsies, zoning), the basics
-learn to not rely on jumpins at all. When you do so, your ground game will be much stronger.
-jumping in is like letting go of your stick for a second, not blocking, giving your opponent an opportunity for free damage.

Learn to be unpredictable yet predictable enough.

Learn how the game works. SF4 is a really defensive game. Good defensive players will win more often than good offensive players at the same level. Of course it's always good to rush down, but you have to know when to do so.

Experience is big. really big. Learn your character and how to play your character well. Know what is strongest and where. If you're ryu, fireballs at a longer range is safer. If you fireball up close, and your opponent predicts it and jumps over it, say hello to jump in combo(usually at least 20-30% of your hp). Know what options you and your opponent have at any given time. On wakeup, Bison can either block, backdash, ex pc, ex sk, ex hs, super/ultra. Do your best to eliminate most of your opponents' options.

Learn to adapt and quickly. very quickly. Try to look for patterns and how your opponent reacts to certain pokes/blockstrings/certain spacings. Daigo "downloads" his opponents in a couple rounds. For some people, it takes way more. The more experience you have, the quicker you'll figure out your opponent.

thats all i can think of for now. Mindgames are up there somewhere as well. There is so much to learn that only experience will teach you. Anyone can give you the tools, but you have to be willing to learn to use them. Like the old saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Always strive to become better and ask yourself why you are losing. Then work on what you're doing wrong or what bad habits you have and try to get rid of them. Don't guess too much. If you guess, make sure you know you are rewarded really well if you take that risk. "High risk, High reward"

goodluck.

ok Corr, now it's your turn, though you seem to go through many characters and haven't picked a single main but I'll go through Ken as today he was your main fighter:

The good stuff:
1) Your capable of combo'ing into his SRK nicely; instead of going for the risky ex tatsu mixup that doesn't work like other character's mixups you go for raw damage which is better in my eyes (when it comes to Ken)
2) Good poking with his forward step kick
3) You know when to use his fireball so as not to leave yourself open
4) You're pretty good at teching throws

Things to work on:
1) It seems your mashing his SRK during blockstrings, I guess that's fine since it's a good reward but it makes you look like you're a beginner which you're most certainly not
2) You seem to spam SRK on situations where you're pressured (even when not in a blockstring) and especially on wake up when it seems your opponent is about to go for a wake up combo and they end up just bluffing it
3) Learn his Kara Throw, it's essential to be a good Ken player (this should be number 1 actually lol)

DG: I was watching your matches with Uma, stop focusing everything! lol

Played Leon in a few matches today, and not much has changed. I stood up well against his Zangief but that was about it as he thrashed me with his Sagat, Rufus and Viper. He told me I need to mix it up, but I don't know how. Other than that, only he can tell if I improved or not.

KGershkoff wrote:

Played Leon in a few matches today, and not much has changed. I stood up well against his Zangief but that was about it as he thrashed me with his Sagat, Rufus and Viper. He told me I need to mix it up, but I don't know how. Other than that, only he can tell if I improved or not.

Who were you using?

Oh, and DG, don't rely on FAs so much. Especially since I have a decent-ranged Ultra.

Feel free to criticize me guys... I'm expecting lots of "don't use SRK/teleport/backdash so much".
I hate blocking mixups lol.

Who was I using? Ryu

I'm pretty used to playing as him.

KGershkoff wrote:

Who was I using? Ryu

I'm pretty used to playing as him.

From the Akuma Vortex, but a lot of it still applies to Ryu:

"A)Empty/Safe/Fake Jump
These are for getting close on your opponents wake-up, in a relatively safe manner. They set up tons of stuff, and can bait out reversal moves that you wouldn't be ready for if you did a normal jump-in attack.

* Normal
* Cross-up

B) Jumping Attacks
I'm lumping in most jumping attacks with the exception of demonflips and tatsu here. These are your run-of-the-mill jumping attacks that hit either in front or behind your opponent. When a normal jump kick becomes a mixup you know you've gotten into the mind of your adversary.

* Normal Jump Attack
* Neutral Jump Attack
* Cross-up Jump Attack
* Normal/Cross-up Air Tatsu

D) Walk-up
The walk-up allows for virtually any mixup out of it, it's a very gutsy move and can catch your opponent by surprise."

"A) Option Select (c.LK/throw tech)
This is a fantastic option select which allows you to simultaneously go in and hit-confirm with a low attack, as well as tech any wake-up throws, or bait a reversal/wake-up move (provided you perform it slightly late).

B) Air Tatsu
You can follow up with a Super.

C)Ambiguous Jump-ins
These are jumping attacks that barely do/don't cross-up and can force your opponent to make guesses on which way to block. Sometimes these jumps are so ambiguous that even yourself doesn't know which way it will hit.

* Jumping Short (can be done with MK and HK, but very difficult)

D) Throws
There are just as many ways to land throws just like any other normal attack. The idea is to condition your opponents to expect attacks. The Demonflip Throw followed by one forward dash puts you in great position for mixup, and forward throw into two dashes puts you in an even better position. Will elaborate on EHT when I get around to it.

* Tick Throw
* FADC -> Throw
* Backward Throw
* Forward Throw

E) Evasive Maneuver
These are applicable in almost all instances of the vortex, whenever you feel trouble you can save yourself some health and sneak in one of these moves.

* Jump back attack
* Backdash (avoids wake-up throws)

F) Gimmicks
Not all of these options fall under the exact definition of gimmicks, but I needed a category for these miscellaneous options in the vortex mixup. Throw these out when intuition tells you it's a good idea.

* Shoryuken (random/hit-cofirmable)
* Overhead Chop
* Resets"

feel free to critique me too guys! I need help as well

kevin: do footsies and get me into a range where you have many options and where i get nervous. get me in that range where you're waiting for me to jump in so you can anti-air and at the same time where u can keep playin footsies and mixing up fireballs. dont be scared to do tricks on me on my wakeup. (cross me up with lk, mk, tatsu, throw, srk, anything). sometimes you just gotta take risks so you can get more experience.

Thanks for the tips Leon.

Anyway I have new videos from a casual session yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/user/KGershkoff

PABBS!
I expect you to write something for me. Since you won, you know, 55-60% of the matches.

good games Feiin

I'm definitely no Fei expert but here are a few things I noticed:

The good stuff:
1. Some of your in-close jump setups made it hard to AA since it would by pass the normals/specials that normally get it done
2. As soon as you downed me, you put on good pressure on wake up
3. Used his cr. mk poke well, it's fast startup absolutely destroying any of my poke attempts
4. Good AA'ing with his s. HK or whatever that was (not exactly sure what it was)

Things to work on:
1. As good of a poke that cr. mk is, his cr. mp poke is just awesome, it's faster, it can link into another cr. mp, or it can even link into a cr. lp to cancel into his rekkas
2. Beware your chicken wing, as Cammy I stuffed it every time on reaction (if I knew the other characters as much as I know Cammy I would have done it with them too), don't always try to approach with this, use safe Rekkas to get in (LP is the safest on max range)
3. I took you down with many tick throws so your throw defense is a little on the weak side, practice OS Tech

Side Notes:
Try using his cr. mk when your opponents jump in at you for Trip Guard, it lowers your hit box dramatically (it's like Chun Li's cr. mp), test it, if it doesn't work then oh well lol just a thought
Keep pressuring with Rekkas, even if it's blocked, just going in with the first hit is a good tool to use
I didn't see you do his BnB once, you know it most likely, use it lol

Hey PABBS,

GGS. I'm sorry for running out like that. But I did learn two things today:

1)Whenever I get a big lead in a match, I somehow seen to lose it. I can't finish matches good enough.
2)And more importantly, whenever I start losing and I feel there's no win in sight, I start picking random people and just lose the match any which way I can. I do that because I have no answer to the other player's tactics. It's a real bad habit and I can't seem to get over it.

No biggy KG. It takes quite a while before you start achieving good results. It took me nearly 9 months to get good at sf4 and I still suck.

please give me a CC guys on my Fuerte, I'm gonna be using Fuerte almost exclusively (almost) and those of you who don't mind fighting against him please help me, I must improve with him (even though he's one of the weakest characters in the game I still want to do well with him) thanks guys!

That's awesome mince. I haven't fought your fuerte in a long time. In the meanwhile could you gimme CC on my sucky Vega? I know my vega crumbled under pressure but anything else that you noticed?

I'm not much of a Vega player but here are several things I noticed (I think it's mandatory I right this every time I write a CC lol)

The Good Stuff:

1. Good use of his pokes (which is a must for Vega)
2. I've always been a fan of his f. lk pressure which you incorporated into your tactics
3. You aren't dependent on his flips to get out of pressure
4. I see you are working on his cosmic heel (I think that's what it's called) into that flip kick, very nice
5. Your pretty good at landing his Izuna, keep it up

Things to Work On:

1. Your heavily dependent on throws, it will work against us weaker opponents but against higher leveled players, that won't be enough to help you, they will tech it or punish you badly cause they'll see you love to use it a lot
2. It's more of a Vega thing that when your under extreme pressure you buckle, but that's not you, it's him so I don't know how you can fix it
3. You need to mask your charge, you tend to sit on it and make it obvious

don't have much to help you yet, I need to play you again