People call me Hadouken.. Cause I'm DOWN, RIGHT, FIERCE.

Well today was fairly busy.
I actually did something!

I woke up today and decided to play some Soul Calibur IV.
I was playing it this morning from about 1 - 2:30 or so.

So I picked up the game again after I Skyped with Lizzi(:

For those of you who don't know, fighting games are some of my favorite game genres.

They're really fun, and some of them require lots of skill to actually play.

For example, the Arc Systems fighting games.
Guilty Gear, Blaz Blue, etc.
Those are 2D sprite-driven fighting games.

Because of this, the combat is extremely fast and unforgiving.
When the game doesn't have to worry about 3D rendering and physics and all that, the fighting can be entirely animation and hitbox oriented.

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In that type of game, players are able to find exploits that other games don't normally have.
For example, animation cancelling.

The basic type of idea of animation cancelling is having a function be carried out, then cancelling the rest of the animation that DOESN'T do anything.

A random example would basically be this:
Say your character swings a giant sword slowly as an attack.
However, the damage is calculated and dished out about halfway through the swing, and the rest of the animation is long and unnecessary.

(If you play fighting games, a "long and unnecessary" animation probably lasts around about half a second. That's a LONG time in a real fighting game).

For the purpose of this example, also assume your character has a dash that is able to interrupt something you're doing.

In order to gain the upper hand in mobility and speed, you would attack with your sword, and the split second it actually hits the other player, you'd dash in order to avoid the rest of the animation.

Sorry if you already knew that, but I felt like describing it in order to feel smarter.

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 As I was saying.
Anyone who knows me knows I have video game ADD. In every single aspect of gaming.
I can never decide who my favorite character is,
what game type I want to do,
what game I want to play,
how long I want to play it,
what quests I want to do..
Basically everything.

And, I'm also OBSESSED with customization.
More so than most people I know.
I'll buy a game JUST because there's lots of customization.
Because I love it.

I can make interesting characters.
And if you're reading this and have played Soul Calibur with me, you know of my deadly character
QWEEAHH.
He's terrifying.
Sometime I'll post pictures of some of my characters.
I'M DORKY.
DON'T JUDGE.

But anyway.
I have a hard time deciding who "my character" is.
In Soul Calibur 2, my character was Ivy. Because she was.... very talented.
And her fighting style fit me.
Ranged pokes, fast close combat.

But in Soul Calibur IV, since I've owned it for so long, I know how to play a little bit of everyone.
My first main character was Zasalamel.
His scythe was entertaining. I used to be good with him.

But I've gone through tons of other characters to decide who I like the most.

Right now, I think I've finally decided.
I'm going to learn how to play as The Apprentice, Raphael, and Maxi.

I'm shying away from The Apprentice because his use of the force kind of... gimmicks him.
He's awesome to play as.
His kicks are some of the best in the game, almost as good as Yun Seong's.
I'm good enough with him to be able to beat someone without the force, but.. it just feels weird HAVING that capability to break the game.
Know what I mean?

So, I've decided on Raphael and Maxi.

I've finally decided that I like characters with pokes and good close range combos.

I know that if I say "poke", most people think KILIK. SPAM THE POKE.

Yes, that works.
Brayden is literally the ONLY person I've played against who can play Kilik without being a pain in the ass.

But I've started liking Raphael because his kicks are decent, but he has great stuns and interrupts, and some of his attacks can actually add some mobility.

And I've put it off a long time, but I think I should learn Maxi.
As far as stances go, I was good at stance dancing. (Switching between various stances and combo-ing into and out of stances), because Ivy was my first character.
Whip, coiled, slack, sword.
Those where her stances.

Whip and slack were good for long range. Slack was good for combo-ing into coiled, which was good for moving in close enough to use the sword.

Because of this, I picked up Maxi pretty easily.
The only thing is, he doesn't have set stances.

His "stances" are no more than half a second pauses that you use to switch moves.

I'm gonna nerd out and explain this.
Because I think it's awesome.

Essentially, I don't read up on character moves anymore.

I move through different button combinations by myself. It makes it so I can memorize them.

I start with each individual button, then add a direction to each attack.
Then I test if one of those directions can be used twice, and then I test if each button press can switch into another button in a single combo.

This would be so much easier with a diagram.
Maybe I'll do one someday.

But ANYWAY.
Maxi's "stances" are pauses in his attacks that last about half a second.
The biggest problem with this is that each pose looks like the same thing.

Right outer, left outer, lower behind, right cross, left cross.

It's hard to understand.
About 15 minutes in and I kind of understood the way his attacks flow.

I remember each attack that each "stance" goes into, it's just a matter of starting off each round of attacks.

Then I have to figure out which stances are good for medium, long, and short ranges.

Then I have to figure out how to dodge horizontal moves and attack,

Then I have to figure out how to dodge vertical moves and attack,

Then I have to learn which attacks are best for low, high, or mid focusing..

Bet you didn't know how much thought goes into a fighting game eh?

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Yeah.
That was me geeking out over here.

I love video games.
In case you didn't know that.

I'll make another youtube video one of these days.

Hopefully tomorrow.

But, I'm going back to Skyping with Lizzi now (:

Good night everyone!

If you feel unhappy, don't worry.
We're all already dead.

It's 2012 isn't it?

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Top Five Songs of the Day

1. She Takes Me High by We The Kings,
2. Fighting by Yellowcard
3. To Plant a Seed by We Came as Romans
4. White Knuckles by Five Finger Death Punch
5. Giving Up the Gun by Vampire Weekend

Video Game of the Day

Soul Calibur IV!

And Super Meat Boy.

That game pisses me off. <3 <3

Picture of the Day

This is how I'm feeling at the moment!