I'm not sure. I think I don't have any real sense of what kind of stuff is or isn't punishable, and a general discomfort with turn order. Game kind of feels like, "make them do something dumb and take half their life with a 3 hit combo."
Then what is MP+MK called that seems to be different stuff for everyone? V-trigger stuff is weirding me out. I don't know why I had little problem learning a bunch of Ij2 traits but learning a bunch of v-triggers sounds like a mountain not worth climbing.
I like things about the design in regards to characters and nostalgia stages (that I'm not willing to pay for) but I'm not feeling any real magic, satisfaction, or reward. I loaded Virtua Fighter 5 up not too long ago and felt the magic. I played UNIEL for the first time about 3 weeks ago and felt some magic. KOF14 always feels satisfying, BB is fun, and I wish I got in to DOA5 earlier. Pretty much every other major game gives me more tinglies than SFV. I want to like it, there are some cool, non-gameplay related, stuff in there, and it's wired into my past, but I'm not sure why FGC interest is so lopsided in its reverence for this one game.
Maybe I'm just not cerebral enough to "get it" or chess, and just need to stick with checker league games like MKX and IJ2.
Sfv is an odd game. It's very mkx-y though no one wants to admit that. And by that I mean the game is heavily based around pressure and aggression.
You mentioned punishment in SFv.. it's not a game about punishing frame data. It's a game more about reading your opponent and hurting them for being read. You mentioned forcing a mistake and taking a 3rd of a bar.. and that's a pretty good analysis. You aren't going to be whiff punishing much/anything on reaction, or punishing anything outside a blocked DP. It's more about forcing the whiff and attacking in the space provided and making reads when applying or receiving pressure. You do have to know when a normal doesn't/shouldnt allow for continuing pressure or when a blockstring or the like allows you room to act. A super basic example.. would be chaining + on block lights when in close. After usually two, even though your opponent is +, they have to use those frames to reposition or risk a slower move, due to the push back, and you have a chance here to make a read and take your turn back.
I think the biggest adjustment difficulty in SFv is the tiny tiny windows in which you have to act. -1 and 0 and two and three frame micro walks and extremely fast dashes.. the game kind of requires you to act very confidently based on knowledge or a read. I always notice a difference in my results when I stop looking at the moment in front of me and try to look at least a step ahead and act on that instead of trying to play the game moment to moment. It's just too fast, add in the 6~ frames of input delay and you have a situation where you aren't making many on-the-fly choices and implementing them.
I've struggled to find the magic in SFv myself.. but the game can feel absolutely amazing when things click. When you setup and execute a sequence of pressure that plays out exactly as you planned it, and then you bait the throw tech into a CC and the opponent just falls into your hands.. it's an amazing feeling. When you make a great read while on the defensive and steal the momentum, it's satisfying as hell.
The bugaboo though is that sfv is one of the least enjoyable games I have ever played, to lose in. When I play Tekken or Inj2, even when I'm losing I'm usually enjoying myself and I look back and can always find a ton of stuff I could have done differently.. in SFv, losing is miserable and you feel like a fucking idiot. When you get CC'd in neutral for pressing a fucking jab.or something, or you just guess wrong twice in a row, it's not fun. It's humiliating in a way. And while ABSOLUTELY you can look back and find things you could have done differently, SFV has far more instances where you look back and the answer to what you could have done better, at least FEELS like it was "Guess more gudder".
I dunno, in V I've never found ranked satisfying at all. I have my fun when I play sets vs people I meet here or in lobbies or that other program we shall not name, etc. And you sit in voice chat and beat hell out of each other and good naturedly.shit talk a little bit, congratulate the other guy when he reads you like a book, and him do the same, etc. The game is obnoxious and miserable until you start to reach a basic competency level with it, then it becomes much better.
Im a shit player, but I have sporadic moments where I can hang with decent players, if you ever want to play let me know.. I know a lot about the game in a general sense (frame data and such) and can help you with some concepts and general gameplay stuff.
Who do you play?
