Is this the thread where we bitch about the controls?
Scenario: Mileena, Ethereal variation, PC version (no idea if this applies to consoles).
Input: F12B3
Result: F1~Fade Away, which supposedly has the inputs of F1~FB2.
Take a moment for the sheer stupidity of this to settle in. Got it yet? If not, let me explain... the F1 comes out properly but then the game then uses the F that was already used by F1 and the B that was input
after the 2 and combines them into FB2. If you do F12 WAIT B3 then it works fine but you risk input drops.
If I had to take a guess it seems that the game checks directions when the attack button is resolved rather than when it is pressed. The timeline of events appears to be:
- Input F. Game reads it as forward and starts to move you towards the opponent.
- Input 1 immediately after. The game checks to see what directions were input recently and tries to create moves from it. It checks what was pressed most recently (in this case just F) and then sees if any recent directions before that combine into another move. In this case there is only F so it starts the F1 attack.
- During the start-up and active frames of F1 you input 2B3 (or just 2B). These inputs are stored in a buffer and nothing is done with them yet.
- The cancel point for F1 is reached and the game checks to see if any attack buttons have been pressed that could trigger a cancel. The first attack button pressed was 2 so the game then repeats step 2 and checks for recent directional inputs. B was input recently (it was input after 2 but the cancel/input check happened after the B3 was input), and F was input just before that. The game puts these in the right order of FB and combines it with the 2 to create FB2 which is the command for Fade Away.
- Mileena cancels F1 into Fade Away.
I could handle it if F1B2 cancelled became B1~Fade Away because at least it is only checking for directions that were pressed before the 2. But F12B becoming F1~Fade Away is just stupid.
It's not just this string that does it (input 12FB and you get 1~Fade Away, same with any other string with 2 in it) but as this string has F and B as part of the directional requirements of the string it's the most obvious one that gets affected by this. F12B3 is pretty important for Mileena too.
Oh this also happens if you try something like F12BD3 expecting F12~Roll. If the B has been input by the time F1 reaches it's cancel point but D has not then the game reads... yep, FB2 and cancels F1 into Fade Away). There's also the extra joy of doing F12B3DB3 (F12B3~Roll) and getting F12~Roll as when the game reaches the first 3 there's a chance the most recent directions were BDB and the game picks out DB and does F12~Roll.
And before anyone says it, training mode input log confirms the button presses are accurate.
If it wasn't for the terrible PC port making me rage quit this game the input system would've done it instead.