This blog has two purposes: to tell you how I got into fighting games and stayed there, and to invite you to try to join this genre.
Let’s start from the beginning
For me, a serious, conscious acquaintance with video games is associated with the second PlayStation. Among the games about Spyro, Cars and other franchises that my brother and I were rabid fans of, suddenly there was the fourth part of the Soul series, SoulCalibur 3. Of course, I knew about the existence of the mortach, but somehow I didn’t have a chance to touch it myself. As a result, this game just blew my mind.
I spent a lot of time playing the single, since my friends lived a little far away and didn’t really come to visit me. My brother didn’t really like losing. But despite the lack of even local multiplayer, the gameplay itself amazed me so much that I remembered the name of the series for the rest of my life.
After some time, I, like many people my age, became a fan of the Naruto anime. It is quite logical to assume that I begged my parents for almost all the games released in the franchise. But there was no serious (hardcore, so to speak) gameplay in these games. All of these games were very enjoyable fan service.
At the age of 14 I bought myself the 12th part of The King Of Fighters series. If we talk about the experience in a nutshell – I lost. Arcade controls with endless semicircles in both directions and not the most obvious combo construction simply broke the brain of me at that time. As a result, I abandoned the game.
What happened next
When I got the KoF XII, the second curling iron along with the SoulCalibur was already gathering dust with my grandmother. That’s why I didn’t play much fighting games. The third curling iron contained only games from the Naruto Shipuuden Ultimate Ninja Storm series. As in previous iterations, hardcore fighting gameplay was not brought there. My friends and I simply pressed buttons for our favorite characters and rejoiced. Yes, and at that moment I was already rebooting Devil May Cry on the same third curling iron. On PC I played Divinity 2 and the fourth and then 5 Civilization.
Fighting games didn’t even come close to my information field. Until a friend bought himself 11 Mortal Kombat. At that moment we took another friend’s gamepads and played against each other. Needless to say, I didn’t pose any challenge. My friend tried to explain to me what was happening, how to play, why you can’t sit in the block all the time, and what overheads are. After half a week of unwinding me in all the arenas, I bought my friend the 7th part of the Soul series: SoulCalibur 6.
They unwound me here
And then I unwound
After another half a week, a friend figured out how to play SoulCalibur and I started losing again. But here at least it was clear what happened and where I failed. We played, plus or minus, on equal terms. But then the holidays ended, I had to leave for school. Fighting games disappeared from my life for some time.
How did I come to Guilty Gear?
I may not have played fighting games, but I have developed a certain interest in the genre. It stuck after I saw a couple of videos about fighting games and realized that the whole essence of the genre is not “just pushing buttons”, but trying to get into your opponent’s head. But there was neither a powerful enough computer nor extra money for any fighting game. But among other things, there was one more important thing missing: self-confidence. I thought I’d never learn to play no matter how hard I tried.
But later something important happened.
While hanging out on a discord server, I heard about the Guilty Gear series. After talking with the man, it turned out that he had recently returned to the genre, having played a decent number of hours in 11 MK and 7 Tekken. At the same moment, the penultimate part of Gilti Gear was sold for 250 rubles. I decided to try.
After playing against bots and going through a couple of arcades, I invited a person to play in the lobby. It turned out that playing Guilty Gear is not nearly as difficult as I thought. And the most important thing is that the process of pressing buttons itself brought a lot of emotions. Realizing that I really liked the gameplay, I added Guilty Gear Strive to my Steam wishlist and started saving money. As soon as they announced a discount on it, I took the game and both season passes.
But the computer didn’t work. From the word completely. I headed to the internet to find a solution. And I found it: potato mod. I played the first 15 hours without any backdrops, watching only the skybox in the background. A little later, they gave me an upgrade for my PC and I started playing even more actively.
The gameplay was fun, but I https://pyramidspins.uk/bonus/ couldn’t start winning. The mission mode immediately came to the rescue, which is a very long tutorial on the basic mechanics of the game. After practicing, I even started winning, upped the 7th floor of a tower out of 10 (actually, 11) and found a discord server where Strive players hang out.
At the moment, I have played approximately 75 hours, fly between the 7th and 8th floors of the rating, and even took part in a couple of amateur tournaments. Of course, I don’t even get to the middle of the list, but the guys say that I’m growing. In addition, we periodically get together to just play, giving each other tips on the game.
To summarize, I want to say: if it works for me, it can work for you too. Fighting games aren’t nearly as scary as they seem. Try playing a little more seriously than “pressing buttons” while drinking beer with friends. It is quite possible that you will like it as much as I do.
If you are suddenly interested in reading about Guilty Gear Strive, I will be glad to write an article specifically about it and tell you why it is so good.
Guilty Gear: Strive
Best comments
I also want to play with an arcade stick when sf6 and tekken8 come out
Why else do designers try if you can’t choose a character because of the visuals??) Millia is quite a nice character.
Direct review-review on the strike will come later
But regarding frames: there is a dustloop resource. It contains framedata for all characters and even combos that you can practice to get started
Is there any fundamental difference between 2D and 3D in fighting games?? It’s just a stylistic feature. Fighting games have long abandoned experiments with space, so almost always you are limited to only two axes of movement: vertically and horizontally, relative to the screen. Or is there something I don’t know?
Thanks everyone for the answers!
Well, perhaps this is indeed a significant change. It’s hard to object to anything, because I’ve been playing fighting games for a very long time and I even heard about their division only now)
I prefer fighting games without an abundance of combat magic, like Dead or Alive (in the 5th part, more than 200 hours were played).
3D fighting games also differ from 2D in the structure of the battle location: in the first case there are full-fledged open arenas, and in the second there is a path for movement against the background. For example.
I once didn’t play a lot of Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, but it’s not really a fighting game to my taste in gameplay, the only fighting games that got me started were Skullgirls 2nd Encore, but due to its non-standard visual style.
Can you tell me which fighting games are convenient to play on a keyboard, without a gamepad??
In fact, it’s purely a habit. You can play quite comfortably from the keyboard in both Gilty Gear and the sixth Soulcalibur. You will still have to adapt to the inputs and train certain ones to the point of muscle memory.
On the keyboard, the question may arise “how to conveniently spread everything out”. But here I just advise you to play and figure out how it will be more convenient
But to complete the picture, it’s worth looking for what the community of a particular game says. In 11 MK, for example, high input lag on PC.
I would say that you can learn to play all 2D fighting games from the keyboard and be successful.I’m not sure about 3D, but I think there’s no difference.You can buy a cheap hitbox – it’s just a mechanical keyboard with an ergonomic design for fitans.
Great, I’m waiting.
I would also like to mention the GG:Strive soundtrack, this is probably the first OST that I added completely. Absolute bangers.
The main trinity of such games are Dead or Alive, Tekken, Virtua Fighter. But personally, my choice is Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (there is a 6th part, but it is gameplay weaker than the 5th (some mechanics have been reworked for the worse) and there is less content in it).
I used to play fighting games just for the story: MK10, Injustice 1-2, etc. In our town there was one restaurant where there were Tekken and MK arcade games (now there’s just another Magnit) then I played for the first time against real people, but it was only twice if I remember correctly. However, a year ago I was introduced to the Melty Blood series and after 600 hours of active play, I was surprised at how deep the gameplay of these games turns out to be when you play against real people and you both know what you are doing. Over the past year, I discovered the whole world of the fighting game community, learned terminology, mind games, got acquainted with legendary moments like Evo Moment 37 or Arslan Ash’s winning run at Evo in Tekken, learned the history of the players, memes about LTG (Low Tier God is the person who says You should kill yourself NOW!), and of course I met cool people. Every time you are surprised how diverse and unique gaming communities are. In general, blog – VO! But there is still potential for expanding the topic.
Arcade stick is basically manna from heaven. I started out just playing with a gamepad, but now I’ve switched to a keyboard because the gamepad has given up its life
and what are you already cutting into all sorts of frames and Kensel Combs??
In terms of matchups, I know where I can mash and where I can’t. The presentation of the characters depends quite heavily on the floor of the tower, so I’m at a loss against part of the roster.
And the cancellations in the strike are generally placed into a separate mechanics, so they are used rather according to the situation, rather than being implanted into the general flow of the game.
If I get to a separate blog about Strive, I’ll be sure to tell you how it works there
In 2D fighting games, characters only move within one plane.
In 3D fighting games there is a sidestep (sideways step). Thanks to it you can avoid some blows. But when moving sideways, the plane in which the characters are “in the line of fire” will also move