Exhaustive Training

[CatsOfMsFortune]

I've been going into Skullgirls and been checking off some more of the tutorials that I still need to do (not counting the character lessons of Cerebella, Fukua, and Eliza(?) because 360 commands and I cannot do them on a keyboard even when I try to change my key layout, none of the suggested key layouts are comfortable to me) and I'm starting to get really exhausted...and not just me, my laptop's keyboard has taken quite a bit of abuse thanks to the game. I'm starting to worry that I won't be able to play this game with a keyboard and I have to use a controller, no matter what, or maybe fighting games just can't be played by someone like me, I dunno which it is.

The lessons I've tried to complete but are very much unable to are "Defending Against Mix-ups" and "Introduction to Air Chaining". I'll give you my individual problems for the two lessons mentioned.

"Defending Against Mix-Ups" - I can completely block three Easy and Medium Mix-Ups in a row without getting hit just fine, but I cannot do three Hard Mix-ups in a row without getting hit because Parasoul is random on which of the mix-ups she'll do on that part of the lesson and it really gets to me.

"Introduction to Air Chaining" - Like the previous lesson, I can do the entire lesson up to the end bit with some difficulty but still able to complete the list, but by the time I need to put it all together, I literally cannot do s.LP, s.LK, s.MK, s.HP, j.LP, j.LK, j.MK, QCB+HP (Hairball [H]/Airball [H]), QCB+PP (Gregor Samson) without dropping the combo somehow or without the combo system being finicky, and I was nearly exciting myself too much and forcing myself to quit because I took too many tries at it.

If anyone can help me with some advice or which controller for my PC I should get, that would be appreciated. Alternatively, if it seems that Skullgirls just isn't for me (at least competitively), then please just come out and say so and while you don't have to be nice about it if it comes to telling me that, don't try to be too harsh about it either. Anyway, that's my training session after yesterday's salty session on a stream for now...I may add to this later if I need to.

 

[Shadowfury333]

I'm assuming that if you have been suggested key layouts, that one of them is the hitbox layout (space,a,s,d). That aside, reacting to mixups is hard, so don't feel bad. That's the point of mixups, to throw the blocking player off to get proper hits in. The best thing I can suggest is the old "block low, react high" advice. On a keyboard, that's actually a bit easier than on a stick or pad, as you just hold the down key (default 's') unless you see Parasoul jump or raise her leg to her face, in which case release it. As long as you keep the left/right key held throughout, you should be fine. If that doesn't work, go into training mode with Parasoul, set the computer to block low always, then try out all of Parasoul's moves to see which ones are overheads (as they will hit), and learn their tells that way.

For the Filia combo, are you dropping it on the jump, or earlier. One key thing about Skullgirls' buffering is to hit the input for the next move during the active one, rather than at the end of it. The only time you can't do this is when jumping or landing, and that particular combo requires hitting the LP as soon as you can after jumping, which makes it the tricky part. Make sure to jump forward as well, otherwise the later hits will probably whiff.

If you do get a controller, I'd recommend a fightstick or hitbox, mostly because of the buttons. A pad puts a lot of strain on one's thumbs, whereas a fightstick/hitbox will split it up across all fingers, and will also be more familiar to your keyboard muscle memory. The only difference is larger buttons (and a stick in the case of a fightstick).

 

[CatsOfMsFortune]

I see I'm not the only one who reads mix-ups badly, so that's good to know.

For the Filia combo, I drop it at various points of the combo. Sometimes the s.LP doesn't combo into the s.LK, other times, I mess up at the jump or after the jump, and sometimes I drop it when it's time to do the special move and the blockbuster. However, your advice on this is very helpful and I thank you for it.

As for the controller options...there's no way I can afford a fightstick or a hitbox for a long time, I mean, those things cost a LOT of money. I guess I could probably get one if I see it locally, but otherwise, those aren't options for me quite yet.

Thanks for the help. I'll have another training session soon so I can add to this journal (yes, I'm planning to update this thread with my sessions regularly).

 

[Shadowfury333]

$200 for a fightstick is a large ask, but $50 sticks are generally considered okay (as in the bare minimum cost for decent value). That's about the same as a Logitech F710, and a little more than an F310, and about the same as a PS3 or PS4 controller, so the pad options are comparable in cost.

If you aren't planning to go to tournaments too much, then keyboard should be okay for now. The only problem with them is in button configuration, since the game doesn't really know which player the keyboard should be associated with. This gets really problematic with 2 keyboards, since the bindings can't be the same because Windows doesn't understand the concept of multiple keyboards.