EntropicByDesign
It's all so very confusing.
Disclaimer:
What follows will be an ongoing "progress diary" of sorts, that will detail me learning to play MKX and what I HOPE will someday be a semi-competitive level. I thought something like this might be interesting to other players, new and old alike, to see a differing perspective on assimilating and applying the STAGGERING amount of information required to be successful at a game like MKX.
Additionally, it gives me a chance to (hopefully) pull in some feedback on the various facets of my progression and my personal angle on it all, from the extremely experienced players out there.
And hey, maybe it'll be an entertaining read and write?
Part 1, Introductions and History.
Before I begin, let me give a little background on myself. It'll likely be relevant at some point and it never hurts to start this sort of thing with an introduction.
I am an old man. By gaming standards any way. Turned 33 this year and Ive been gaming off and on since I was a kid. Got a Nintendo when I was tiny, and I've turned to games on and off every since. I'm extremely new to fighting games. Or extremely old, depending on how you look at it. I got SF2 when it was brand new, I think I was 9 or 10, bought it from mowing yards and I played the SHIT OUT OF IT. To date, one of my proudest gaming moments was when I went to a local arcade we all frequented, and beat, for the first time ever, the two 'old guys' who always hogged the SF2 machine. They had been kicking everyones asses since the game first showed up at that place.. and after MUCH MUCH practicing at home (I was probably 13 or so by now) I beat them both, and could consistently beat them. I was king of the damn world. Sadly, that marks the peak, and the end of my competitive fighting game career. I played MK1 and 2 a little bit because at the time of course, they were so controversial and insane, but I never played a match against anyone else except a friend once in a while, just the computer, and I only did that to see the fatality stuff. So... yeah, 20 year gap. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Aside from those three games, Ive played mostly sports games, shooters, occasional fantasy stuff and RPGs and a lot of strategy games. Dark Souls 1/2, FF3 and 7 etc are some of my absolute favorite games of all time.
Other than gaming, I started boxing when I was in my teens, and transitioned in to mixed martial arts. I have a solid build for it and I loved it. I fought 'semi professionally' (That means I busted my ass and got paid less than travel and hotel expenses for most fights, lol) for 8 years. Wouldnt trade those years for the world, but after years of broken hands and variuous other injuries, I destroyed my elbow messing around on a BMX bike. Took multiple surgies and over a year of rehad to put it back together and that was pretty much the end of my fighting career. I was already phasing it all out, college, work, social life. Good memories, but damn glad I dont get punched in the face for "fun" any more. Well, the face punchs are fine, its a good liver shot that makes you rethink your life choices.
These days, I have a GF, solid job, some asshole cats and a bad-ass 9 year old niece.
So why, after all these years of not giving a wet damn about fighting games did I dive in head first with MKX? Injustice. When it released I had a different job that was CRAZY stressful and time consuming, so I didnt the time or mental capacity to actually play any games, I would just limp home after a 13 hour day and watch streams for a couple hours (I despise TV and dont own one) then drag myself to bed. Well, while looking over streams one day I saw Injustice and tuned in. I dont remember who's stream of was or anything but something about the game captivated me. The weight and style and movement.. It just looked so heavy and solid compared to the more floaty, cartoon appearance of SF4 that had never interested me. I was too damn tired to even think of picking up a game at the time that I'd have to learn and master and practice at, etc, so I just watched, but I loved the game. Then MKX came around. I have a different job, I have the time, I have some disposable income, seemed the perfect time. I bought MKX and I think I played for like 7 hours straight, I knew then Id found a new home for my competitive nature. Some Googling pulled up TestYourMight, and thats it, you poor fuckers are stuck with me know.
I know it was long, but I like typing, its theraputic. On to the diary itself!
Part 2: WHY ARE BUTTONS HARD and WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE.
So, I need to decide on a couple characters to main. Over time I hope to learn a lot on most of the cast, if for no other reason than the more I know about a fighter the more I know how to deal with them when I match against em. For now though, being a newbie, I dont want to overwhelm myself and dillute my focus by jumping around from character to character and never commiting to one long enough to really start learning.
To me, this kind of decision comes down to a couple things.. Aesthetics are important to me. If we're talking mission critical stuff, I'll put aside looks and focus on raw effectiveness but thats not the case here. I'll be spending a lot of time staring at this character and listening to him or her hoot and holler and chirp and fart and thud through matches and practice sessions, so I need to pick a fighter I like the look of.. Traditionally I dislike playing female characters. Not for some sexist GURLS ARENT GUD reasoning, but simply because I project myself in to any character I play in a game. I like to see myself as that person and I'm a 5'11, burly, broad shouldered ex-mixed martial artist.. Its hard to idfentify myself with the lithe, graceful, petite female cast members.. Also, ya know, bewbs. So thats out. I spent some time playing around with fighters and made a short list of my favorites in terms of looks and feel (by feel I mean basic move sets, how they operate, walk, jump, etc). Kenshi, Erron Black, Kung Lao, Sub Zero, Scorpion, Kung Jin and.. Cassie Cage. Yeah, I know I said no ladies, but shes just too much of a bad-ass not to get an include.
After looks, I go for effectiveness. I always try to gravitate towards very strong, but not OP characters in any game that I play. I will pass up someone who is clearly OP and I dont do it necessarily because I dont wannt be "that guy" abusing an OP character to get wins, but because typically,if a character or move or tactic is just flat OP it will at some point be nerfed to hell. Developers tend to over do those nerfs as well and what was once the tip of the pyramid, now isnt even part of the pyramid, but some discarded scrap over by the giant hole they dug for the builders of the pyramid to poop in. So, strong, but not OP. MKX is very new and at least from what I was able to research, none of my choices were OP. Ive read some grumbling about Kung Jin and Erron Black but nothing nothing that made me see the shadow of a nerf bat following them around. I DID however read that Kenshi needs some love.
So, really, my list was pretty solid. To whittle it down further I just played them all a lot and goofed off in practice mode and tried to google various combo strings for them. After 4-5 hours of tinkering, I decided on Erron Black beyond a shadow of a doubt. Dude is just a bad mofo. My secondary choice is very likely Kung Lao, but I want to tinker with Cassie a little more before I decide. So for now, concentrating on Black.
So, my main is chosen! Next step is formulating a training 'schedule' and getting started.
I'll detail that, in part 3!
What follows will be an ongoing "progress diary" of sorts, that will detail me learning to play MKX and what I HOPE will someday be a semi-competitive level. I thought something like this might be interesting to other players, new and old alike, to see a differing perspective on assimilating and applying the STAGGERING amount of information required to be successful at a game like MKX.
Additionally, it gives me a chance to (hopefully) pull in some feedback on the various facets of my progression and my personal angle on it all, from the extremely experienced players out there.
And hey, maybe it'll be an entertaining read and write?
Part 1, Introductions and History.
Before I begin, let me give a little background on myself. It'll likely be relevant at some point and it never hurts to start this sort of thing with an introduction.
I am an old man. By gaming standards any way. Turned 33 this year and Ive been gaming off and on since I was a kid. Got a Nintendo when I was tiny, and I've turned to games on and off every since. I'm extremely new to fighting games. Or extremely old, depending on how you look at it. I got SF2 when it was brand new, I think I was 9 or 10, bought it from mowing yards and I played the SHIT OUT OF IT. To date, one of my proudest gaming moments was when I went to a local arcade we all frequented, and beat, for the first time ever, the two 'old guys' who always hogged the SF2 machine. They had been kicking everyones asses since the game first showed up at that place.. and after MUCH MUCH practicing at home (I was probably 13 or so by now) I beat them both, and could consistently beat them. I was king of the damn world. Sadly, that marks the peak, and the end of my competitive fighting game career. I played MK1 and 2 a little bit because at the time of course, they were so controversial and insane, but I never played a match against anyone else except a friend once in a while, just the computer, and I only did that to see the fatality stuff. So... yeah, 20 year gap. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Aside from those three games, Ive played mostly sports games, shooters, occasional fantasy stuff and RPGs and a lot of strategy games. Dark Souls 1/2, FF3 and 7 etc are some of my absolute favorite games of all time.
Other than gaming, I started boxing when I was in my teens, and transitioned in to mixed martial arts. I have a solid build for it and I loved it. I fought 'semi professionally' (That means I busted my ass and got paid less than travel and hotel expenses for most fights, lol) for 8 years. Wouldnt trade those years for the world, but after years of broken hands and variuous other injuries, I destroyed my elbow messing around on a BMX bike. Took multiple surgies and over a year of rehad to put it back together and that was pretty much the end of my fighting career. I was already phasing it all out, college, work, social life. Good memories, but damn glad I dont get punched in the face for "fun" any more. Well, the face punchs are fine, its a good liver shot that makes you rethink your life choices.
These days, I have a GF, solid job, some asshole cats and a bad-ass 9 year old niece.
So why, after all these years of not giving a wet damn about fighting games did I dive in head first with MKX? Injustice. When it released I had a different job that was CRAZY stressful and time consuming, so I didnt the time or mental capacity to actually play any games, I would just limp home after a 13 hour day and watch streams for a couple hours (I despise TV and dont own one) then drag myself to bed. Well, while looking over streams one day I saw Injustice and tuned in. I dont remember who's stream of was or anything but something about the game captivated me. The weight and style and movement.. It just looked so heavy and solid compared to the more floaty, cartoon appearance of SF4 that had never interested me. I was too damn tired to even think of picking up a game at the time that I'd have to learn and master and practice at, etc, so I just watched, but I loved the game. Then MKX came around. I have a different job, I have the time, I have some disposable income, seemed the perfect time. I bought MKX and I think I played for like 7 hours straight, I knew then Id found a new home for my competitive nature. Some Googling pulled up TestYourMight, and thats it, you poor fuckers are stuck with me know.
I know it was long, but I like typing, its theraputic. On to the diary itself!
Part 2: WHY ARE BUTTONS HARD and WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE.
So, I need to decide on a couple characters to main. Over time I hope to learn a lot on most of the cast, if for no other reason than the more I know about a fighter the more I know how to deal with them when I match against em. For now though, being a newbie, I dont want to overwhelm myself and dillute my focus by jumping around from character to character and never commiting to one long enough to really start learning.
To me, this kind of decision comes down to a couple things.. Aesthetics are important to me. If we're talking mission critical stuff, I'll put aside looks and focus on raw effectiveness but thats not the case here. I'll be spending a lot of time staring at this character and listening to him or her hoot and holler and chirp and fart and thud through matches and practice sessions, so I need to pick a fighter I like the look of.. Traditionally I dislike playing female characters. Not for some sexist GURLS ARENT GUD reasoning, but simply because I project myself in to any character I play in a game. I like to see myself as that person and I'm a 5'11, burly, broad shouldered ex-mixed martial artist.. Its hard to idfentify myself with the lithe, graceful, petite female cast members.. Also, ya know, bewbs. So thats out. I spent some time playing around with fighters and made a short list of my favorites in terms of looks and feel (by feel I mean basic move sets, how they operate, walk, jump, etc). Kenshi, Erron Black, Kung Lao, Sub Zero, Scorpion, Kung Jin and.. Cassie Cage. Yeah, I know I said no ladies, but shes just too much of a bad-ass not to get an include.
After looks, I go for effectiveness. I always try to gravitate towards very strong, but not OP characters in any game that I play. I will pass up someone who is clearly OP and I dont do it necessarily because I dont wannt be "that guy" abusing an OP character to get wins, but because typically,if a character or move or tactic is just flat OP it will at some point be nerfed to hell. Developers tend to over do those nerfs as well and what was once the tip of the pyramid, now isnt even part of the pyramid, but some discarded scrap over by the giant hole they dug for the builders of the pyramid to poop in. So, strong, but not OP. MKX is very new and at least from what I was able to research, none of my choices were OP. Ive read some grumbling about Kung Jin and Erron Black but nothing nothing that made me see the shadow of a nerf bat following them around. I DID however read that Kenshi needs some love.
So, really, my list was pretty solid. To whittle it down further I just played them all a lot and goofed off in practice mode and tried to google various combo strings for them. After 4-5 hours of tinkering, I decided on Erron Black beyond a shadow of a doubt. Dude is just a bad mofo. My secondary choice is very likely Kung Lao, but I want to tinker with Cassie a little more before I decide. So for now, concentrating on Black.
So, my main is chosen! Next step is formulating a training 'schedule' and getting started.
I'll detail that, in part 3!
