I'm so freaking bad at this game.

[North888]

I've been playing SG and a bunch of fighting games for a long time. I love going to tournaments (the few times I can actually make it) and participating, but I always feel like my skill is sorely lacking. I used to play a bunch with a group on steam, but its become hard to keep up with them since they move around games a lot. Amongst my friends I do play with I'm probably the best so its hard to get any legit practice and I just don't have the patience to spend long periods of time in the training room perfecting my combos D:
Additionally I'm very much casual. SG is the only real fighter I've devoted tons of hours to learning and getting better, so I'm still not familiar with all the FGC terms and notation and things like Frame Data still confuse me sometimes D:

I was hoping to start this so maybe I could get help getting better even if it isnt by a lot.

I play Beo/Band with Peacock or Fukua filling out my last slot. I know HOW to play Double and Filia but I'm not good at their combos and I'm terrible at Double's neutral.

My biggest weakness I feel is my neutral game. Combos I can sorta do even if I do drop them a lot, but I don't think that'll matter as much if I get good at the neutral. I kinda know how to play it as Beo, but I use Wolf Shoot a bit too often XD As Peacock I'm getting better at it but I'm still kinda bad at timing projectiles. Big Band I feel I'm generally best at so I don't think I need too much work there. I'm probably gonna drop Fukua cause I know SOME strings as her, but I'm super inconsistent with her.

Anyone know anything to maybe help me get better would be appreciated. I don't know if I'll keep this updated too often.

 

[MysteriousJ]

Doesn't matter how good you are at neutral if you can't get damage off hits. Practice your combos until "a lot" turns into "rarely," and figure out what you can do to keep up pressure when you do drop a combo.

 

[North888]

On the one, hand, you're completely right. I've been practicing combos as Beo and Big Band recently and have gotten better at being consistent, but I still feel like it doesnt mean too much if I get beaten in neutral too many times. I know for a fact my combos arent the most optimized things in the world, but I'm happy that I'm just getting better at them. Maybe once I'm more comfortable with the combos I've made I'll move on to trying to master all those BnB videos here on the forums :D

I do need more people around or above my skill level to play with sometime though. It sucks being really busy with life sometimes.

 

[MysteriousJ]

Don't worry about optimizing damage at all, at least not yet. The important thing is ending the combo in a good position. For instance, unless it will kill, don't use SSJ at the end of your big band combos because it will put your opponent back in neutral. When you drop a combo, you're ending it in a position where you're probably not prepared to follow up.

Damage also plays a big role in neutral: if you keep dropping combos, I won't worry about getting hit and play much more aggressively.

Maybe consider playing solo for a while. If you're playing a trio, that means you only get to practice each character 1/3 of the time, and relying on assists makes it harder to learn how to play a character at neutral.