Transitioning from Dark Souls 1 PVP to Skullgirls

play the tutorial, learn a combo, and then get beaten a couple times

http://skullgirls.com/forums/index.php?threads/beginner-resources-thread.242/

what characters do you play?

Well Dark Souls isn’t a fighting game, the only thing you maybe can make use of is the mentality of reading your opponent and learn his habits, then exploit his weaknesses.

If you're new to the game, do the tutorial (if you haven’t already), it's really good. You also get short introductions for every character so use it to find one that suits you. You can learn various characters at a time but there's no shame in just picking one, play with said character until you feel solid enough to add someone else to the team.

You can play some matches offline against the AI, that will give you a simple idea on what to do.

If you do jump online, don't use quick matches at first. Quick matches have no real matchmaking so you can (and will) be parred against players who know this game inside out. They will stomp you right into the ground and give you a completely wrong idea on what to do in order to get better, or demoralize you just because they are so much better.

Open up a lobby, label it as beginner and wait for people to join. That way you can get familiar with a player (thus the game) and start applying your strategies. It's good to have more people in the lobby, so you don't learn strategies that only work on one player/character. This way you also get better feedback, if you think you found a player on your level ask him if you can play again and ask him (friendly) for feedback or about issues you had. You can also ask here of course, that's the next thing:

If you want to, you can open up a little training diary around here. Play some matches (you can also ask around here for people to play with you), write down what you think you did right and wrong and start working on those things. By making a diary it not only helps yourself memorizing, also the players who you fought against can give you feedback from their side and tell you what they think you could work on. Or maybe another user around here hops in and helps you out.

In this community, from what I've learned, people are very willing to help you if you just ask them. Often it happened to me the other way around, people added me after playing and offered me tips on what I could do better or what I shouldn’t do.

The input device you're using is not really important, it's true that many players prefer arcade sticks, but you can play the game just as well with a controller, stick with it as long as you don't have input problems.

Practice doing motions with whatever controller your using (dragon punch motions, quarter circles, 20 in a row to start), learn a basic bread and butter (combo you can consistently do in match) for your characters, and find someone near your skill level in the beginner thread so it's not a one sided battle. And also do lobbies with them, don't do Quick Match. Quick Match is horrible for initially learning the game.

The only thing to do is to keep playing. I don't think many things from dark souls pvp will be useful in sg. I'd recommend looking at beginner's resources and possibly the srk wiki.

Solo big band is the giantdad of this game.

Not serious about that but you can definitely get some wins at lower levels with solo characters, though it is generally suggested that you play a team instead of solo so that you learn more about the game.

Detective Q said:

Well Dark Souls isn’t a fighting game

It is a fighting game, just not a "traditional" one.

i played a lot of DS2 pvp and a little of DS1. i think the main thing you are going to get from DS is learning space control, and making other people respect the area that is covered by your weapons.

however SG is a much faster game than DS so that can be difficult esp when someone is airdashing in your face a million times faster than you can react.

The hat girl is Cerebella. She is quite good to start with, easy character, lots of damage. I recommend starting with her solo (so ratio 1 team), and then once you feel competent with her, pick another character to solo, get good with them, then put them on a team.
But I'd ask people who play teams more, I started at Solobella and like where I am.

For characters, some stuff that I currently have learned in a nutshell about them is this :
High (1v1) to Ridicoulous (1v3) Damage but Medium Ground Mobility (Except when you dash, but in this case, her normal walk, which I assume is in par with Parasoul.), Cerebella.
Par on every aspect (Damage and Mobility), Filia.
Air control, Painwheel.
Shoto-based Support character, Valentine.
Charge character with Armor moves and very high damage, Big Band. (I always call BB 'MikeZ's Iron Tager', is that bad?)
A mix between command grab characters and zoning characters, Fukua.
Opponent control at stage with her Serias, Squigly.
Zoning character with powerful moves without needing any Quarter Circle moves to actually do the combos, Parasoul.
Airdash and quick combo inputs, Ms. Fortune.
Mostly ranged attacks and 'pressure-the-opponent' style of gameplay, Peacock.
and other characters which I can't describe since I haven't played them yet.
You just need to pick which one that suits your playstyle most and learn/master said character until you feel the need to learn about the others.

Also, regarding the tutorial, you will learn MANY things about fighting games as it teaches you the basics, from attacks, movement,and blocking, to a more advanced level like blocking and punishing mix-ups, Cerebella's Ultimate Showstopper, chaining combos and cancelling into airdashes, and much more.

Though what lies behind your gameplay is your experience. I mostly train with bots at Hard - Nightmare just to warm up before I take on people in quick matches. It sure helps you if you already know of a character you wanted to play and still wanting to learn the mechanics of said characters' moves.

That's all I can do to help, anything wrong, please tell me, because I am a master scrub at all fighting games as of now.

Also good to know that all characters are viable and have the tools they need to win. Just some characters have better tools for certain situations than others. For instance, Val doesn't have a meterless reversal while Parasoul has an invincible reversable (Napalm Pillar). Just find the ones that mesh for you.

Hidgerknight said:

snip

The only thing I feel needs to be noted is that Valentine isn't a support character, but rather a high mobility rushdown character that should always be on point (the first character out when the fight begins). Her Level 5 super, which can revive allies, can be misleading in that regard. The odds of getting that much meter in a match are low, and you are more likely to use that meter for other supers.

You will mostly be using Valentine to put pressure on your opponent and force openings in their defenses, and using her superior mobility (in the form of a double jump, air dash, and good dash speed) to deal with several forms of projectile keep-away and mid-range pokes that are intended to keep you from getting close enough to attack.

I wish you luck learning the ways of Skullgirls. Don't be afraid to ask anyone in the community for help when you need it, as there are many players ready and willing to assist.

Reversal - When blocking a combo, a reversal is a special move one uses between the short spaces of your opponent's attacks to interrupt said combo. i.e. - You're blocking a long string of attacks and, when you have the chance—in the middle of two attacks—you throw out your reversal move.

Meter and meterless - The bar that determines whether or not you can use your special/super moves. A meterless reversal, for example, is a reversal that doesn't use meter (it's not a special or super).

;)

Hidgerknight said:

(I always call BB 'MikeZ's Iron Tager', is that bad?)

;_; Only in the sense that it means I'm known for Tager, a character I now don't play in a series I now don't play, as opposed to Potemkin or Juggernaut. :^P

I have nothing else useful to say, welcome to Skullgirls! I hope you enjoy it!

Well you did play dark souls PvP and whether you realized it or not you did learn some fighting game terms and fundamentals from playing dark souls PvP like zoning, footsies, baiting, punishing, pressure, poking, and spacing/ space control.

Just play through all the lessons, find your main, and go to here once you found your main to go in depth with said main.

And practice.

Practice alot.

just be careful, painwheel has a few dead angles that reach behind her lol