This thread reminds me of earlier when I was playing this guy online named eogx krypt. I beat him with Raiden in a Ranked match vs his Cage and he rage-invited me to a private game after calling me trash. I went like 5-1 against him (lost a match due to a lag-spike fest), and he sends me a voicemail pulling the old "thats the only character you can play" card.
I pick Scorpion for the hell of it since I been messing with him lately, he beats him a few times then says "no", and proceeds to talk shit. I then got into an argument with him since he kept trying to act like he was somehow superior to me skillwise which is a joke, and how Raiden is "too predictable and skill-less" and I should use a different character if I want to win, trying to act like his Raiden is on my level (Ex Raiden player, he quit playing him apparently.).
He was also talking about how he fights and beats the best players out there all the time which, again, is a joke...and brought REO into the conversation saying he can beat him (maybe a round if he's lucky). I'm like you know what? I played REO in person, ask him who he thinks has the best Raiden and see what he says. He didn't have anything to say other than comparing me to JWong saying he's better or whatever (he's the closest Rai I've seen to mine anyways, just a somewhat different playstyle/weaker combos). Anyways he was saying JWong got destroyed (maybe at EVO, won the last tourney he attended with Raiden I believe?) and trying to assert that I need a different character because Raiden's too predictable and the choice is mine. I pretty much just said I'm a true Raiden player, not a quitter and told him I'm done arguing.
In my opinion ANY character can get predictable, not just Raiden. I have more mindfucks than most people could even dream of, so I've pretty much dismissed the whole "predictable" argument as invalid.
I say stick with whatever character you're playing and overcome "plateaus" in your playstyle, and basically push your character to their max. That's pretty much my aim with Raiden, despite all of the hate out there for the character in general.
