I Am Simply Terrible

Hi. I'm just going to come right out and say it. I am probably one of the worst fighting game players in the world. I've never really played any fighting games until Skullgirls. I do okay against AI, obviously. But once I go online, I'm so pathetic. I just get hit, comboed, and killed. When I turtle, they break it, and proceed to kill me. I can't even get a single hit in most matches, and I've never won a single online match. I've tried other fighting games, but no online wins there, either. I've done the tutorials and stuff, so I know the basics of what I'm SUPPOSED to be doing. It's just that people are way faster and harder to react to than I can even process.

So here I wish to begin a long journey of not sucking anymore. Just assume that I can't do ANYTHING correctly in this game, what is the very first thing that I should be doing or working on right off the bat?

By the way, I feel absolutely most comfortable playing as either Filia or Valentine. Should I practice just one of them at a time? Or is it better to get used to using the two of them on a team?

Stuff said:

Learning each character as a solo is much better so don't get assist-dependent and overall improves your neutral game with that character. Also if you haven't already please look at the beginner resources thread it has lots of handy things on the mechanics of skullgirls. (I recommend you start with worldjem's defense guide)

Also if you could please record your matches it would be really handy for others to help you out on what you are doing wrong exactly. (or right since you can be doing smart things too)

On another note, don't call yourself bad you just don't know what's going on yet and everyone starts off that way. No one is good in an instant anyway it takes lots of practice and patience.

chickenwithtie said:

I suggest to start with Filia, since she's a good solo.

Alright, I'll try some solo Filia to start with. And should I be recording online matches or AI matches? There's really nothing to watch with my online matches, I just immediately get rushed and never recover. But if that would be a better indicator than an AI match, I can definitely do that. And I'll get to reading the defense guide.

Thanks guys!

Okay, so, I've been looking at a couple of guides. Seems like my first step will be just practicing single moves and just getting the muscle memory going. Also really memorizing every normal and really understanding how they each work. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper basic. :P

Wow, damn. So many responses. Thank you so much, everyone. :)

Rynozilla said:

I'd love to help with your Filia, if you'd allow :3

I do, of course, appreciate any help with Filia. Especially from a fellow Bayonetta fan. Although, to be honest, Bayonetta 2 is probably all I'm doing tomorrow. :P

Skarmand said:

Hi I'm some nerd maybe you've heard of me

Well, holy shit. My girlfriend and I watched the Evo Top 16, we were actually both really impressed by how awesome your Parasoul play was, in particular. This was pretty damned inspiring. It's easy to forget that even the very best players were bad, once. Have to start somewhere. Thank you for this. :)

Hilary said:

The most important thing to remember is that practice doesn't pay off immediately. That applies to both the things you learn while grinding real matches, lessons learned in tourney play, and lab work and theory in training mode.

You have to give yourself time to let those seeds sprout, and then one day you just look back at something you can beat/do and think "wow that was rough six months ago and i didn't even notice that it's not now."

I've experienced that before in other games, where you suddenly realize "wait, when did this stop being a problem?" I'm always looking forward to that feeling. :)

Also, holy crap, the advice to just go through each normal and really figure out what each one does was astoundingly good advice. Like a lot of newbies, I skipped that and went straight to specials and stuff. When I finish a chain with Filia's s.HP, I always jumped up and tried to start the next chain with her j.LK, and eventually lead that chain into Airball and Gregor Samson. Sometimes it worked, but most of the time they dropped a little too low toward the ground during the chain and the Airball wouldn't quite hit. But now, going through each of her jumping normals separately, I've noticed that her j.MP actually locks them in at an even height, which makes the rest of the chain considerably easier to hit consistently. :D