Advice for sf4 noob

Horsefumbler

yo I've got sf4 for the pc and i'm terrible at it. Never been so bad at any sf game in my life. Just wondering if ppl could throw me a few pointers?

I've played about 15 online matches and lost all 15
What graphical settings should i use when playing online fixed or variable framerate? My PCs pretty good (2.6ghzquad,4gb,2x8800s).

I'm using an xbox controller which seems to be rubbish. dpad never goes where u want it to, I'm not used to using the stick and i don't find it great for most things (except doing double QCF moves).

I'm trying to learn the combos for characters in challenge mode but some of them are just so hard i can't progress further.
Example : Like bloody hell if u have to follow up a lp with shoryu lets say for example you gotta be pressing the shoryu command while the punch animation is happening on screen ye, but sometimes nothing happens after that lp so maybe u have to wait a bit longer to do the shoryu but then the target blocks it coz its too slow... argh! The timing seems to be so ****ing tight and theres no indicator to show u how to time your bloody moves, to show when you gotta be inputting the the command for the next move in the chain. I haven't gotten so fustrated at playing in game since I was a young buck. Like wanting to throw controller at wall angry

Maybe this game is just not for me (playing wow has removed most of my gaming skill for fps games maybe it will affect this too) or maybe I'd just be much better playing on a ps3 pad or one of the others. I don't fancy shelling on another pad for this game coz i must just not bother with it. ok I'm rambling a bit...

Anyway what tips would you pr0z give a noob starting out. Oh and i got no manual so can some1 explain focus cancelling to me? can all special moves be focus cancelled? and wat time during the move does the cancel have to occur , is there like a cut off point?

Add me to steam friends too. 'horsef*cker' with a 'u' for the '*' I'm on the boards usergroup on it.
thanks

Dreddybajs

Fixed frame rate so if you dip below 60fps it doesn't slow down the game for you and your opponent.

The 360 controller is muck, most people who keep playing this game end up buying an arcade stick or a fightpad for it (though there are a few dedicated 360 pad heads here).

As far as I know LP into a dragon punch is a cancel so you should be doing it as fast as possible - you can look up the specific forum for the character you're trying at forums.shoryuken.com and there will almost certainly be a thread for how to do their most useful combos.


Focus cancelling is done by pressing MP+MK then dashing during a normal or special move, and takes 2 bars of EX meter to use. Try it out while throwing a fireball with Ryu (you can press eg. MP+MK+back,back - the dash doesnt have to be started after the MP+MK). You can only do it up to a certain point in special moves, but after that point it wouldn't have been useful to focus cancel it anyway basically.

Tips I'd give for someone starting out to the game would be to focus on fundamentals like pokes and zoning rather than practicing combos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFTvXXoDNRA

This is a decent tutorial video about zoning, and if you check the guy's account he's put up more tutorials too.

Hope you get used to the mechanics of the game and stick around!

bush

Are you doing a few jabs and then doing the dp?
You have to link the jabs to be able to cancel the last jab into a dp. You cant mash jab and then dp at the end like other sf games. To link the jabs you basically press jab and wait untill the animation finishes before pressing the next jab. So it goes slowly, jab....jab....jab/dp. You do dp at the same time as the last jab, like your doing 2 moves in one.

I think they need to make a better tutorial in super to explain links, chains and cancels. The trials are useless, they dont even show you how its done or explain the timing. Some combos can only be done in the corner, they dont even bother to tell you this.

D4RK ONION

I should have watched those videos a long time ago. Thanks man

Retr0gamer

I think the biggest advice I can give is to learn your wake up game. When you knock down an opponent don't stand back. You have a huge advantage. Look on youtube for tutorials on your character. Learn how to mix up jabs, overheads and throws and also how to bait a reversal from a waking up opponent to gain a big advantage. It will also help you in your defensive game since you will know how to defend against a player with a good mix up game.

Check these tutorial videos out. Everything in super turbo can be applied to your SFIV game except for 'meaties' which don't really work in this game.

http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2006/11/15/street-fighter-tutorial-videos.html

Combos really should be the last thing you learn due to their difficulty. You can get by with very simple combos. Combos are really only for adding a small bit more damage to your opponent and give you an edge, more important are your ultra set up combos.

Dreddybajs

Meaties do work you noob :pac:

L31mr0d

OP if you can, come along to one of the casual meet ups we have in Dublin city centre. You don't need to play if you don't want to (although I'm sure most would be happy to play with characters they are inexperienced with when playing against you) but it's a good place to watch others play and ask questions.

You'll learn more from 5 minutes of asking questions and having them answered and shown to you than you will from reading manuals.

That being said, reading up about the game can be a big help when starting out.

Check out the useful links threads stickied in this forum, also I found this link good at the beginning:

http://ie.guides.ign.com/guides/14211548/page_2.html

Also don't worry about combos for now. Like others have said, work on your matchup specific knowledge, footsies and zoning. Best bit of advice is if you keep getting caught out with a particular move in online, jump into training, set a dummy to keep doing that move and figure out a way to turn it to your advantage.

Retr0gamer

Dreddybajs wrote: »

Meaties do work you noob :pac:

Ah right. I guess is that my timing is just ****

Dreddybajs

It's more that you can only work them into your game when you're playing against people who don't mash out reversals on wakeup 100% of the time, which isn't many online players!

L31mr0d

Dreddybajs wrote: »

It's more that you can only work them into your game when you're playing against people who don't mash out reversals on wakeup 100% of the time

so yeah retr0, meaties will never work against me so

Retr0gamer

I thought the purpose of a meatie was to negate reversals though by attacking during the reversals invicibility frames and having your hitbox below the reversal hotbox after the invincibility frames so you actually hit the reverasl?

Doctor DooM

My advice is to keep it simple at first. A Jumping Fierce kick/ Ducking fierce kick combo does considerable damage and of course you have the advantage on wake up from it as described in those videos. Long chains are a while of for me yet tbh.

Watch people, observe their patterns, and work out how to counteract them.

Dreddybajs

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I thought the purpose of a meatie was to negate reversals though by attacking during the reversals invicibility frames and having your hitbox below the reversal hotbox after the invincibility frames so you actually hit the reverasl?

The point is to avoid the vulnerability of the startup frames of your attack - some reversals like Balrog's headbutt only have invincibility on the top of their body so a meaty cr.forwrard or something will stuff it, but you aren't gonna beat a reversal dp with it (where the only vulnerable hitbox is pretty much behind the character's head). The way to beat reversals is to bait and punish them imo

Horsefumbler

thanks very much for the advice so far. it has answered some of my questions pretty well.