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The hardest thing about learning a fighting game is __________________

Jaded Alyx

Jaded Alyx

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,482
In my opinion, lack of matchup knowledge. I've been looking into Killer Instinct again (yes I'm late) and by having very little exposure to the series - it never really interested me back in the day - I have next to no idea what these characters can do, other than Jago basically being a shoto. Thank God for The Complete Killer Instinct Guide.

This is one reason why I often prefer a smaller initial roster, depending on the kind of fighting game it is.

What's the hardest thing for you?
 
crimsonECHIDNA

crimsonECHIDNA

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,557
Florida
On a casual level, it's actually getting the timing of the motion inputs for combo sequences.

For competitive it's memorizing matchups.
 
Dest

Dest

Has seen more 10s than EA ever will
Coward
Jun 4, 2018
14,106
Work
Learning that, despite that I paid $60 for this game, I can't press buttons all the time.
 
dr.rocktopus

dr.rocktopus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
7,267
Learning what to learn. So easy to get distracted by technical horseshit at times when you need to look at your own game.
 
Korigama

Korigama

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,582
Generally match-up knowledge yeah, which can be made worse when running into characters no one normally uses.
 

Deleted member 1102

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,295
Having the drive to actually put time into a game (not speaking for me but just what I've seen from the usual 'I can't get into x fighting game for y reason' topics).
 

corasaur

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,988
Neutral game? At the beginner level it's "what do you mean I need a gameplan?" or "how do I find chances to push buttons without getting myself killed?"and at a higher level there's infinite room for improvement
 
JusDoIt

JusDoIt

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,026
South Central Los Angeles
Managing salt.

You simply aren't going to be winning consistently when you first start playing strangers. Learning to deal with that frustration is the hurdle that most players don't get over.
 
ClearMetal

ClearMetal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,352
the Netherlands
As someone who spends most their time labbing it's learning the combo rhythm. I came out of SFV, the first fighting game I put real effort into learning, thinking I got it down pat for all fighting games. But then I jumped into BlazBlue and I was like, what the fuck am I doing here? How do I time this stuff? DBFZ, Guilty Gear, Tekken, Soulcalibur same deal.

This isn't a bad thing of course.
 
Faceless_Caesar

Faceless_Caesar

Member
Jul 1, 2020
6,713
The fact that no fighting game that I've ever played has a good tutorial or practice mode. Doing trials in SFIV was nightmarish because all they gave you was the inputs and playback of the combo that only played at full speed.
 
tapedeck

tapedeck

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,985
KI is actually incredibly balanced for having 29 some odd characters, there's really not too many bad matchups. But yeah I'd agree that's probably the toughest thing just in sheer volume of knowledge you need going in.
 
zoodoo

zoodoo

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,799
Montreal
Once I get past the execution barrier, it's matchup knowledge. To this day, I still get destroyed by Sadira who's considered low tier
 
The Mango Sentinel

The Mango Sentinel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,839
Hardest thing is having the time to learn it.
There's so many I want to learn but just don't have enough time to get myself to a competitive level. Like I still want to learn KI and Power Rangers, but not enough time.

Other than that, I've always had a hard time closing out rounds. Always been my biggest weakness. The amount of times I've been at like 90% health and I've lost to an opponent at like 10% or less is fucking embarrassing.
 
BrickArts295

BrickArts295

GOTY Tracking Thread Master
Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,832
Blocking. I just forget about it all the time. And I know that's more important than pulling off fancy combos.
 
Crayon

Crayon

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,580
For people new to fighting games in general I think it's hard to look for the little wins inside your losses. You can't help if you get matched up with someone flat out better than you, but you can help missing that same punish opportunity over and over. Breaking bad habits or adjusting your attitude is subtle stuff tho. Superficially, the games can make it seem like win or lose, nothing inbetween.

For me, it's really hard to play practice mode when I have limited time. I lie to myself and say I'll pick it up in real matches but I know a half hour of practice mode will grind some things in better than all day waiting for opportunities to practice it in a match.
 
Genesius

Genesius

Member
Nov 2, 2018
15,679
As a casual, I don't know why I can't wrap my head around the way combos work. Like, in something like Spider-Man or Arkham Asylum you can string together all kinds of cool combos and that doesn't pose a problem, but the second you start talking about mid-kick to low-punch to backdash or whatever, it all falls apart. Maybe those action games just allow for more flexibility and creativity if you decide to web-zip instead of heavy punch or something, whereas in a fighting game if you drop a move, you just get juggled for 90 seconds and may as well put the controller down. Or maybe I just can't read other people but am really good at reading A.I.

Also, nuts to all the complicated inputs.
 
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GlamPrime

GlamPrime

Banned
Nov 1, 2021
1,210
Recognising when it is and isn't your turn (+/-) I still have trouble with that to this day.




Side note: Why has era (to my knowledge) never held a FGC tournament?
 
CountAntonio

CountAntonio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,768
Muscle memory. For some people it may come easier than for me but I have always had an issue with this and it's the biggest barrier to not being a masher. It takes actual effort and labbing for me to start developing muscle memory.
 
Ferrio

Ferrio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,114
Matchup knowledge. It's where you get in the real knitty gritty and have to spend time in training mode figuring out all the possibly outcomes from a single situation.

I wouldn't really call it hard, but doing it properly takes a shit ton of time and general knowledge about fighting games. It's usually when I'll start to taper off, cause the amount of time it takes is pretty damn intensive.

GlamPrime said:
Side note: Why has era (to my knowledge) never held a FGC tournament?
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-Pain in the ass to setup
-Wide variety of skill on this site, there's going to be a handful of killers and tons of casuals.
-Connection issues (even with rollback) due to this place being comprised of many different areas around the world.
 
GlamPrime

GlamPrime

Banned
Nov 1, 2021
1,210
Grimmjow

Grimmjow

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,543
Learning how to take the L and growing from it.

Also matchup knowledge.
 
ShinMaruku

ShinMaruku

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,125
Did do a DOA tourney once. As for I finding a character that speaks to me. Many games have casts I despise, like blazgreen.
 
Gloomz

Gloomz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,420
Realizing that even though you may memorize a combo or 10 on a training dummy that doesn't move, it's a completely different story to actually execute them in a live fight.
 
GlamPrime

GlamPrime

Banned
Nov 1, 2021
1,210
Ferrio said:
-Pain in the ass to setup
-Wide variety of skill on this site, there's going to be a handful of killers and tons of casuals.
-Connection issues (even with rollback) due to this place being comprised of many different areas around the world.
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Click to shrink...

I'm in the UK and connect with United States, Brazil, Japan, Turkey without issue etc.

We could just link up for a lobby and those whose connections aren't feasible just go to spectate mode.

It'd be hilarious either way!

I'm terrible at organizing but I'd be down to spar if someone set a date.
 
Buzzkiller_20

Buzzkiller_20

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,146
Learning matchups. Especially when you like playing multiple games at once. Also, getting over the anxiety when going online and forgetting all the buttons. :p
 
Korigama

Korigama

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,582
GlamPrime said:
We need to hold an SFV tournament or lobby. It'd be fun to spar with some of my era fgc members. I'm only platinum tier btw. I play too many other games to progress further in the ranked.
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Still better than where I've landed in SFV (a lowly Super Gold who has yet to do better in ranked when actually bothered with it, by no means one of my better games compared to nearly everything else I've played).
 
OP
OP
Jaded Alyx

Jaded Alyx

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,482
Genesius said:
As a casual, I don't know why my brain just can't wrap my head around the way combos work. Like, in something like Spider-Man or Arkham Asylum you can string together all kinds of cool combos and that doesn't pose a problem, but the second you start talking about mid-kick to low-punch to backdash or whatever, it all falls apart. Maybe those action games just allow for more flexibility and creativity if you decide to web-zip instead of heavy punch or something, whereas in a fighting game if you drop a move, you just get juggled for 90 seconds and may as well put the controller down. Or maybe I just can't read other people but am really good at reading A.I.

Also, nuts to all the complicated inputs.
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The thing is, in the vast majority of fighting games, you don't need combos to get anywhere. Obviously combos are good because otherwise you're leaving damage on the table, but for example, you can probably get to Silver League in SFV with just normals. Not even Special moves. Certainly not combos.

There are so many (in the long run) more important things to work on before worrying about combos.
 
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