Improving your game

[MKF30]

I try to play good players on live, since the rest are all scrubs, rage quitters etc and it definitely keeps me up to date and on par with the comp. The weaker comp does nothing you know?

Other day I was playing Lizard King and WARRIOR TRAINER(although he raged quit on me once I picked Kabal after leading him 4-1) he picked NW lol...so not sure why he did that...

 

[Eternal]

I like to watch a lot of high level/good umk3 players match vids, I usually watch the same vids 10+ times, when I see something interesting or maybe a situation that I have trouble with when I play, I'll rewind that part over a few times analyzing how the player did what they did, for instance reviewing how the player rushes downs the opponent or how the player escaped the rush down, things like that..

When I get frustrated when playing I find its best to not beat my self up when making mistakes, I sometimes have to remind myself that I'm still learning and I will get better with time. Not being so hard on myself allows me to relax and focus on whats happening in the match and see any patterns my opponent uses that I would otherwise miss if I was focused on my frustration.

 

[BecomingDeath13]

I am by no means a high level player, but I'd like to share some things I've learnt over the years. Not just in fighting games, but games in general. Like Ninja Gaiden 2 on master ninja for example.

When your against an opponent that you know can take you out quickly (just like if you knew you were playing a person that was above your skill level) They can do a few moves and basically take you out very quickly. It is best to calm yourself, relax, and think things through. Going on the defensive and coming up with a strategy is essential. Weigh your options and apply what you know to come out on top of your opposition. There is never a situation that is impossible to overcome. Even if your health bar is basically gone, you can always come back. The fight is not over until you've been knocked out or killed. Never EVER let your nerves get to you because that will always lead to mistakes.

I know there aren't any moves with I-Frames in MK but in Ninja Gaiden when you see an unblockable move or a move you know will guard break you or guard stun you. you need to set yourself up. back dash to leave their range or determine the safest move to perform that will interupt their attack while keeping you out of harms way.

A lot of people like to think they won't be good enough. There is no way they can beat top players. Everyone has bad days and everyone WILL get frustrated. With practice you can always be good enough. You can be a good player, but you will never be a great player until you learn how to respect the game and its players.

Talking about frustration. This is inevitable. You will play and you will lose. You will play and you will also die. That does not mean you suck at a particular game. Practice does indeed make perfect, and if you are willing to put forth the effort your skills will improve. When you do get upset or frustrated. DO NOT let it get too you. Sometimes when your giving it your all and don't come out on top doesn't mean you should blow up. At times like this it is always better to just put down the controller/stick, take a deep breath and just walk away. You will never learn anything useful if you play angry. After you've walked away sit down. Sit down, close your eyes, and think. Run through what happened in the game. Run through what did and did not work. Remember what did work, and take everything that did not work (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT)think about what you did wrong and what you could have done differently to improve. Replay the situation in your head and replace your mistakes with what you could have done to improve the situation. Then determine whether or not you would of still lost that fight.

A lot of bosses on Ninja Gaiden on the Master Ninja difficulty do MASSIVE damage and spam moves over and over. You have moves that net I-frames to avoid them with, and you have the most useful move in the game. With the Lunar Staff at least at level 2. You can do a 360 Lunar UT (Ultimate Technique). This move has the largest amount of invincibility frames of any other move in the game, and it does a great deal of damage. I wanted to win, and I wanted to beat master ninja so I used this move A LOT! I didn't care if some people thought it was cheap or wrong to do it. There were no in game rules that said I couldn't do it. I played to achieve my ultimate goal, and I ended up succeeded in that goal. I have the Master Ninja Achievement on Ninja Gaiden 2 because I played the way I wanted to play, not the way someone else would expect me to play. This is a big thing.. If you EVER want to improve you have to play to win. Don't make rules for yourself because no one else is gonna follow them.

When it comes to any game. When you play it on the most difficult setting or you play a very difficult opponent you MUST be willing to learn. You MUST practice. You MUST have an open mind. If you go into a match expecting to lose you WILL lose. If you go into a match thinking you will beat someones ass. You WILL lose. If you go into a match wanting to win by doing your best and trying your hardest... You could still lose, but you can also win. You have to respect the game, respect the players, and respect yourself. Otherwise the game will win. Everyone has to learn how to lose before they can learn how to win.

 

[Lt.Blade]

^(to the above post) Very true the key to beating an opp that has a greater skill level is to plan a strategy, as well as finding their strengths/weaknesses (i.e.Blocking,Defending against Wake-Up attacks, Low attacks or throws) and use their weaknesses to your advantage, but don't abuse the moves because you won't learn how to mix up your game tactics, another very important key in any fighting game,is to keep your opp guessing, doing this increases their chances of making a mistake such as performing and unsafe move or a move that whiffs.

Also I've been hearing this a lot lately, but what is and how do you dash cancel?

 

[Finite_Combo]

There are some awesome tips in this post, I want to take my play to a competitive level, i just have to find time for it, as I feel I don't have much spare time.

 

[Bushido]

Thanks for the tips.

 

[Wizzjones]

thanks for the tips guys really helped me out
i have to try the whole headphone thing soon see how it works out

 

[Marcus]

Read the whole stuff. Thanks for the tips guys. Its a pretty good read.

I dont know about the stick thing though, Ive been playing with a controller my whole life and I think that I might be able to excel more using it rather than using a stick. I know some might disagree but thats my opinion.

 

[S-I-C]

I have seen this thread but haven't read it until this morning. I fight my buddy offline alot and he uses Cage & Ermac. He is NOT by far what anyone would consider a half assed good player. His Cage has 1 combo and specials, his Ermac has nothing but specials and grapple.

For whatever reason, I have a hell of a time beating his Cage, I know whats coming, I block it, I go for an attack/combo and Cage will land something else. Cage is very very fast.

His Ermac, like I said is all specials, and is of course very hard to get close to. Also, since they gave Ermac a teleport punch, that was brilliant. I use Kitana, I know all of her shit by heart and I have no hesitation when I use her, but Cages quickness and Ermacs distance is a bitch.

I find myself using Kit's fan lift against Cage just to get him off my ass. Then, against Ermac, I find myself throwing fan after fan and fan swipes just to attempt to get close.

This is difficult for me to get around because my buddy is just as good at blocking as I am, so when I'm fighting either Cage or Ermac, as soon as I throw a combo/attack it's blocked 80% of the time. I need to learn some good baits/set up's with Kit.

 

[BludKrazeOne]

No problem! When do you want to get some UMK3 in? I have to practice up for NEC. Actually, I have to play UMK3, MK2, 3s, HDR, SFA3, and Killer Instinct. LOL

Killer Instinct! sucha shame Rare didnt announce it on E3... again....

 

[Justice]

I am going to go ahead and admit that I am a scrub by definition and have been since day one. This is something that I am trying to break free of, but I still feel in the state.

Dood, If you're still a scrub, I quit here and now.

A training tactic I started in Soul Caliber 4 for when I decided to get really serious with Ivy was to:

1. Go through the tutorial again a few times to re-learn the basics (footwork, 8-way run, basic defence) just to reinforce the basics of the game mechanics
2. Pick my character (In this case, Ivy)
3. Grab a handful of normals
4. Head into Practice Mode on the highest difficulty setting USING ONLY THOSE NORMALS YOU HAVE CHOSEN!
5. Once you can stem the tide a little, add in a few more normals, game-specific mechanics (Like Ivy's stance changes) until you are competently using all of your chosen character's normals and basic mechanics.
6. Now choose ONE special and repeat steps 4 and 5
7. Now choose ONE kombo and repeat steps 4 and 5

Please note that for steps 6 and 7 you don't want to forget what you have learned so when you first learn a new move/kombo, spend some time using only that one but after you get comfortable tossing it out in the heat of battle, start using other ones you have learned. Do not forget to change your opponents as well so that you can learn your matchups as you go.

Also, I train this way because my defence has always been horrible. So when I say use only those moves, I mean exactly that. No counters, no set-ups, nothing. All you can do for defence is block, footwork, Insta-Parries or whatever defence mechanism the game provides. Then, once you have a comfortable knowledge of using all facets of your character, it's back into the lab for the advanced set-ups and tactics (I.E., the good stuff ) for use against human opponents. Because let's face it, the AI is NOT the sharpest knife in the drawer. You can still beat an Expert bot with Jump > Kick, Jump > Uppercut.....

 

[Shaylan]

What Justice said.
Here's how I do it:

Go into practice mode,
pick the character you hate the most,
set an AI to Expert and hammer away.
Try moves you know you never use.
Try moves you often mess up.

Improves your game by the hour.

 

[Past]

Can someone tell me how the hell am I supposed to train against Cage, Kabal, and Reptile pressure when the AI does not even know what a frame trap is?

 

[Geotakku]

Well if training isn't enough, just play some online. Most matches aren't too laggy, and some feel like i'm playing local. Hell if you want play my JC. :boxing:

 

[_xFriction]

Good stuff, I wish I had read this when I registered here. Any way to share the link to new members when they sign up here?

 

[Death]

This may be stupid but dont try and win. Try and play a footsie games and learn your opponent. Also be happy when you lose. Youd be suprised how much you learn.

 

[Justice]

One thing I forgot to mention (and neglected in my own training regimen) is to tap out your kombos (or whatever you happen to be working on) while doing something else, like watching tv. but also approach it like a musician learning a new piece of music. Count out a beat and on every beat do the next input. This will help you find your groove and improve your excecution by committing the inputs to muscle memory while your brain is distracted so you are more directly training your subconscious and fingers.

A Couple of examples:

B2 1 F2
1 2 3

So you know that when you count one, you have to press back and 1 at the same time, and so on.

D4 xx B2 F1
1 and 2

This one is a little more of an advanced example. This is Sonya cancelling a D4 into MS and then performing and F1 after. So for this since the inputs of the cancel need to be fast for the buffer and the cancel, you count 1 and 2 instead of just 1...2. The 1...2 counts are still done at the same speed, but the "and" signifies a half beat.

Start slow. Accuracy is key here and since you aren't actually in the lab, you don't have to worry about messed up inputs for going too slow. Just keep tapping out your inputs and slowly speed up.

This way, you can still spend quality time learning MK while not missing your favourite espisode of "Big Bang Theory"

 

[Synesthesia Z]

i've actually hoped to find a threat made by a pro player explaining the long road about becoming competative pro player coming from all the way down as a beginner. But anyway, anyone here that can safely say about themselves being above average or good or maybe better than good? I wanted to know how long of a road you have to take roughly speaking to get from noob to excellent player for myself mkx being my first fighting game (at 22 last year, shame on me for not trying earlier) where i got a little obsessed by it playing only mkx still to this time really trying to learn everything there is to know about mkx where as ATM i can say i know about frame data and all the important stuff and even calling myself an average player able to put up a good fight.But for me it's not over cause i want to get better and maybe in the end becoming pro so any knowledge from anyone?