Vagrant
Noob
Vagrant’s Thoughts, Observations, and Advice Post Week 1 of IGAU
I know there are a bunch of new people on TYM since Injustice launched, so before I get to this let me re introduce myself to you guys.
(Most of you MK players know me and can skip this first part)
I’m Vagrant,
I started playing MK9 casually when it came out. I’ve only been playing seriously (Like tournament seriously) Since December, when I met up with all the GGA guys in Chicago, I’m not the best fighting game player in the world (yet lol), My best tourney record so far was 25th at Final Round last March. I try to play at the highest level possible and am always looking to learn as much as I can about the games I play. My attention right now is mainly focused on learning injustice as I already know the vast majority of things to know in MK9. I’m a troll sometimes on the forums and get moody easily sometimes when I read some of the stuff on these boards, but for the most part I try to be as friendly as possible when it matters. I also do a podcast, “The 5-5 Show” with two other great players from my scene ImNewbieSauce and Chaosphere . It focuses mainly on MK9 tech, but will be also devoted to injustice as well.
Anyways I’ve been playing injustice since the demo came out and want to share my thoughts, observations, and advice about the game with anyone who wants to listen.
Take everything I say with a grain of salt, there could be some stuff I’m flat out wrong about and will adjust the post accordingly.
Quick review of the Game Overall
(Non tech stuff here, if you’re looking for that only you can skip this part as well)
-The story is short but entertaining although people who didn’t read the comics may be a little lost, as it takes off pretty quickly (Green arrow cracks me up man)
-Star labs provide plenty of extra stuff to do when you beat story although personally I HATE THEM. (Except that cat in the catwoman mission…. That cat is the shit…)
-The battle modes, and single battle are excellent additions to the game and have much more depth to them than most fighters put in their typical “Ladder” with so many different battle modes to chose from.
-The AI is improved.. I think…. I’m sure once we figure out its exact habbits it’ll be pretty simple again to beat but right now I’ll admit it… I get bodied by the Very Hard AI sometimes.
-Practice mode is amazing and provides almost all of the tools competitive players need to fully explore the roster and the games fundamentals in general.
-The level up/ unlock system is fucking awesome. I’m a sucker for unlocks and exp systems and I love the way they added this. It gives a lot of casual players the sense of progress they want to keep striving to get better at the game
-Online netcode is better, There are a few additional bells and whistles and new game modes that solidify its improvement from NRS’s previous online mode in MK9
-Overall There’s plenty of shit to find and stuff to do to warrant the 60 dollar price tag attached to the game. And it keeps players interested. Good job NRS
Observations and Advice
Theres a bunch to cover here and I don’t really have a select order so forgive me if my thoughts aren’t organized by topic.
-This game is focused MUCH less on frame advantage and mk style pressure, and focused more on getting in to start your mixup games, with SO MANY safe 50/50’s in this game. It’s much easier to throw out a 50/50 and confirm it into a combo than to pressure MK style and try to get their defense to crack. This wasn’t the case in MK9 because most 50/50’s that led into combo were unsafe or left you at SEVERE disadvantage. Now with so many safe 50/50’s…. If you got em…. Throw that shit out there!
-Back to block takes some getting used to, crossups are a much bigger threat when you have to adjust which direction your blocking depending on where they are above you and what attack you think they’ll throw out, dealing with the fast paced zoning in this game also is much more difficult when you can’t just dash block in. It takes a lot of getting used to especially for MK players.
-Jumping isn’t for scrubs anymore. With each char having 3 (sometimes more) different attacks to cross you up or jump in with (all with different ranges and properties) jump ins become a guessing game when trying to defend against them. It’s not just a jump in punch or jump in kick anymore and with the way anti airs and wakeups work in this game, you can’t just punish someone for jumping in at you on reaction easily. KNOW THE RANGE AND PROPERTIES OF EVERY SINGLE JUMPING ATTACK AND ANTI AIR YOUR CHAR HAS! (AND SHARE YOUR FINDINGS ON TYM) And if you want to take the game seriously, you better learn them all for the whole roster. Also know what attacks your char’s anti air is effective against and what attacks it is not. You can’t just punish a jump in punch with a random normal anymore like in MK.
-Wakeups are weird… I’m starting to understand them though… The window to input them is much smaller first of all. The timing of them is also dependent on what you got knocked down by and what move your waking up with. Some are invincible throughout the process of the move, some have 1 frame that’s vulnerable, some will get stuffed by jump ins, some are absolutely suicidal to try and wake up with. HIT THE LAB WITH YOUR CHAR AND FIND AS MUCH OUT WITH YOUR CHARS WAKEUPS AS POSSIBLE! (AND SHARE YOUR FINDINGS ON TYM) again, if you plan on taking the game seriously, you gotta learn the properties for every one of these in the game. It’s not a universal rule set for wakeups anymore.
-You can link crouching attacks into specials…. This is pretty huge… Especially for mixup games but more importantly defense. If someone rushes in with a high hitting string it is very possible you can duck it, interrupt with down 1, link it into special, and depending on the special, convert into full combo. This is a huge way to turn momentum in this game. Practice this.
-Backdashing is big in this game as well. Slips and GGA 16 Bit informed everyone back when the demo came out about the power of backdashing. Each char (I’m pretty sure every char) has a certain amount of invincibility frames to their backdash (it’s dependent on the char I believe), making backdashes a very powerful tool for getting out of pressure/ jump ins/ crossovers, and also for whiff punishing. Master this technique
-Recovery after dashes is always something to remember. No one can dash in and cancel it into a normal, if you see someone dashing in at you and they dash in point blank, they’re in recovery, punish that shit with a fast hitting normal, or start your pressure. No forward dash in this game goes without consequence. Another reason jumping has become so powerful
- Frame data is weird in this game, A lot of it is accurate but multiple hitting moves don’t have correct frame data. Pig Of The Hut made a thread about this, check it out it explains it there. KF’s slide data is also a little off I believe dizzy pointed that out. Always double check your chars moves in practice mode to confirm if something is safe or unsafe.
-Clashes are awesome, I prefer them to breakers and they really make you think about when to use your meter and how to use it. For newer fighting game players who aren’t trained to do this, they also force you to pay attention to your opponents meter. Which you should always be doing in fighting games. I typically throw one out mid second bar of life. I know I’ll be using the life I get back, and my opponent isn’t cutting strings off to avoid them just yet.
Finally and most importantly
-USE TRAINING MODE! IT’S GOD LIKE! EVERYONE FINALLY HAS A LEGIT WAY TO EXPLORE ALMOST EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!
Conclusion
A few thoughts before I get back to work here.
Stop worrying about who is broken. What you should be 100% focused on right now is learning and memorizing the frames, strings, bnbs, strategy, and mixups the Injustice roster has. Let the developers balance shit and soak up as much knowledge you can right now.
Alrighty I’m done talking everyones ear off for the day. I’ll post more of these style threads as the game progresses and new stuff is found out. Like every other week or so probably. Expect an injustice edition of the 5-5 show out by the end of next week at the latest. Hope everyone is enjoying the game
-Vagrant-
I know there are a bunch of new people on TYM since Injustice launched, so before I get to this let me re introduce myself to you guys.
(Most of you MK players know me and can skip this first part)
I’m Vagrant,
I started playing MK9 casually when it came out. I’ve only been playing seriously (Like tournament seriously) Since December, when I met up with all the GGA guys in Chicago, I’m not the best fighting game player in the world (yet lol), My best tourney record so far was 25th at Final Round last March. I try to play at the highest level possible and am always looking to learn as much as I can about the games I play. My attention right now is mainly focused on learning injustice as I already know the vast majority of things to know in MK9. I’m a troll sometimes on the forums and get moody easily sometimes when I read some of the stuff on these boards, but for the most part I try to be as friendly as possible when it matters. I also do a podcast, “The 5-5 Show” with two other great players from my scene ImNewbieSauce and Chaosphere . It focuses mainly on MK9 tech, but will be also devoted to injustice as well.
Anyways I’ve been playing injustice since the demo came out and want to share my thoughts, observations, and advice about the game with anyone who wants to listen.
Take everything I say with a grain of salt, there could be some stuff I’m flat out wrong about and will adjust the post accordingly.
Quick review of the Game Overall
(Non tech stuff here, if you’re looking for that only you can skip this part as well)
-The story is short but entertaining although people who didn’t read the comics may be a little lost, as it takes off pretty quickly (Green arrow cracks me up man)
-Star labs provide plenty of extra stuff to do when you beat story although personally I HATE THEM. (Except that cat in the catwoman mission…. That cat is the shit…)
-The battle modes, and single battle are excellent additions to the game and have much more depth to them than most fighters put in their typical “Ladder” with so many different battle modes to chose from.
-The AI is improved.. I think…. I’m sure once we figure out its exact habbits it’ll be pretty simple again to beat but right now I’ll admit it… I get bodied by the Very Hard AI sometimes.
-Practice mode is amazing and provides almost all of the tools competitive players need to fully explore the roster and the games fundamentals in general.
-The level up/ unlock system is fucking awesome. I’m a sucker for unlocks and exp systems and I love the way they added this. It gives a lot of casual players the sense of progress they want to keep striving to get better at the game
-Online netcode is better, There are a few additional bells and whistles and new game modes that solidify its improvement from NRS’s previous online mode in MK9
-Overall There’s plenty of shit to find and stuff to do to warrant the 60 dollar price tag attached to the game. And it keeps players interested. Good job NRS
Observations and Advice
Theres a bunch to cover here and I don’t really have a select order so forgive me if my thoughts aren’t organized by topic.
-This game is focused MUCH less on frame advantage and mk style pressure, and focused more on getting in to start your mixup games, with SO MANY safe 50/50’s in this game. It’s much easier to throw out a 50/50 and confirm it into a combo than to pressure MK style and try to get their defense to crack. This wasn’t the case in MK9 because most 50/50’s that led into combo were unsafe or left you at SEVERE disadvantage. Now with so many safe 50/50’s…. If you got em…. Throw that shit out there!
-Back to block takes some getting used to, crossups are a much bigger threat when you have to adjust which direction your blocking depending on where they are above you and what attack you think they’ll throw out, dealing with the fast paced zoning in this game also is much more difficult when you can’t just dash block in. It takes a lot of getting used to especially for MK players.
-Jumping isn’t for scrubs anymore. With each char having 3 (sometimes more) different attacks to cross you up or jump in with (all with different ranges and properties) jump ins become a guessing game when trying to defend against them. It’s not just a jump in punch or jump in kick anymore and with the way anti airs and wakeups work in this game, you can’t just punish someone for jumping in at you on reaction easily. KNOW THE RANGE AND PROPERTIES OF EVERY SINGLE JUMPING ATTACK AND ANTI AIR YOUR CHAR HAS! (AND SHARE YOUR FINDINGS ON TYM) And if you want to take the game seriously, you better learn them all for the whole roster. Also know what attacks your char’s anti air is effective against and what attacks it is not. You can’t just punish a jump in punch with a random normal anymore like in MK.
-Wakeups are weird… I’m starting to understand them though… The window to input them is much smaller first of all. The timing of them is also dependent on what you got knocked down by and what move your waking up with. Some are invincible throughout the process of the move, some have 1 frame that’s vulnerable, some will get stuffed by jump ins, some are absolutely suicidal to try and wake up with. HIT THE LAB WITH YOUR CHAR AND FIND AS MUCH OUT WITH YOUR CHARS WAKEUPS AS POSSIBLE! (AND SHARE YOUR FINDINGS ON TYM) again, if you plan on taking the game seriously, you gotta learn the properties for every one of these in the game. It’s not a universal rule set for wakeups anymore.
-You can link crouching attacks into specials…. This is pretty huge… Especially for mixup games but more importantly defense. If someone rushes in with a high hitting string it is very possible you can duck it, interrupt with down 1, link it into special, and depending on the special, convert into full combo. This is a huge way to turn momentum in this game. Practice this.
-Backdashing is big in this game as well. Slips and GGA 16 Bit informed everyone back when the demo came out about the power of backdashing. Each char (I’m pretty sure every char) has a certain amount of invincibility frames to their backdash (it’s dependent on the char I believe), making backdashes a very powerful tool for getting out of pressure/ jump ins/ crossovers, and also for whiff punishing. Master this technique
-Recovery after dashes is always something to remember. No one can dash in and cancel it into a normal, if you see someone dashing in at you and they dash in point blank, they’re in recovery, punish that shit with a fast hitting normal, or start your pressure. No forward dash in this game goes without consequence. Another reason jumping has become so powerful
- Frame data is weird in this game, A lot of it is accurate but multiple hitting moves don’t have correct frame data. Pig Of The Hut made a thread about this, check it out it explains it there. KF’s slide data is also a little off I believe dizzy pointed that out. Always double check your chars moves in practice mode to confirm if something is safe or unsafe.
-Clashes are awesome, I prefer them to breakers and they really make you think about when to use your meter and how to use it. For newer fighting game players who aren’t trained to do this, they also force you to pay attention to your opponents meter. Which you should always be doing in fighting games. I typically throw one out mid second bar of life. I know I’ll be using the life I get back, and my opponent isn’t cutting strings off to avoid them just yet.
Finally and most importantly
-USE TRAINING MODE! IT’S GOD LIKE! EVERYONE FINALLY HAS A LEGIT WAY TO EXPLORE ALMOST EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!
Conclusion
A few thoughts before I get back to work here.
Stop worrying about who is broken. What you should be 100% focused on right now is learning and memorizing the frames, strings, bnbs, strategy, and mixups the Injustice roster has. Let the developers balance shit and soak up as much knowledge you can right now.
Alrighty I’m done talking everyones ear off for the day. I’ll post more of these style threads as the game progresses and new stuff is found out. Like every other week or so probably. Expect an injustice edition of the 5-5 show out by the end of next week at the latest. Hope everyone is enjoying the game
-Vagrant-
