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...I've shown up to this party late

AND my first 'go-to combo/ BnB / whatever they are called. I may be a bit excited.

First Combo/BnB:
LK+LP to grab, c.LK, c.MK, c.HP, jump, j.HP, QCF+K(Savage Bypass)

If I'm at lvl 2 or higher, I add QCF+PP, QCF+KK while still in the air.

It's something
 
Skodial said:
...and here it is! I would like to take a video series like this somewhere. I really hope people here enjoy the commentary, and the match at the end (easily my best match yet) that shows my progress
nice video
 
After some teething, I feel like I'm getting somewhere with the game and my skill (is that what you would call it). I'm having such a great time with the game and with the community. But I know there is 100 things to improve on. Which is normal, and expected. There's defense, punishing, reversals, bigger combos, becoming more accurate with inputs, etc.

I know that improving anything will be a big help, but is there one thing that people would recommend addressing first?
 
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Now that you have a BnB you need to optimize that combo and if it is optimized you need a reset.
 
Skodial said:
I'm going to sound like an idiot, but this is probably the best place for sounding like one:

What do you mean by this? Could you explain?
By optimize i mean get to most damage you can in that one combo and a reset is like a trick so you can extend your combo
 
Oh. Also, here are some cool gameplay mechanic videos that DoubleDark made to help out players.

Its a good, basic starting ground. Hope it helps!

 
skumbag said:
and a reset is like a trick so you can extend your combo

Better explained as dropping your combo so it creates an ideal situation where your opponent has to guess how to defend your next attack (aka mixups, simplest mixup is low/throw). You do this in hopes of starting a new combo, which resets damage scaling (resets IPS as well and reduces undizzy based off how long your reset took to work).

it's explained in the first vid Mike posted in this thread.
 
skumbag said:
and a reset is like a trick so you can extend your combo
I don't think this is a very good definition of reset. I'd call a reset intentionally ending your combo early in a way that gives you an opportunity to do a mixup.

Simple example using the OP's BnB he posted a few posts up:

LK+LP to grab, c.LK, c.MK, c.HP, jump, air grab
 
I watched your footage from a week ago and a few things stood out to me:

* Make sure you know at least a baby combo. I'll come back to this in a minute, but you were giving up a lot of damage. You would just do two or three hits and then either stop or drop your string entirely.
* Don't do raw supers out of neutral unless you can make very Hard Reads™. I watched you do several flatliners straight out of neutral; virtually any super is going to be unsafe on block and you're just asking for it if the attack doesn't connect.
* You're not reversing the opponent, ever. I'm not sure why people say that Val doesn't have a reversal, since I'm pretty sure scalpels is fully invulnerable and has a fairly large firing cone to boot. It also works in the air, which is very nice.
* Practice your Ryu drills -- this is basically when you go into the training room and practice very simple, mundane, repetitive motions over and over again. I cannot begin to explain how essential this is. If you can't do a quarter circle forward or a dp to save your life, all the combos in the world won't help. You should also practice doing the same command move over and over again, this will considerably reduce the number of times you get an input backwards in your head.
* Similar to the above, practice your mobility -- a ton. Mobility is very important in this game and as you fight increasingly tougher and tougher opponents, you are going to notice that they move and react accordingly faster. Val's high mobility is one of her biggest advantages; this can make her difficult to read or react to.

One thing I encourage you to do is to show all of your matches; the latest video you posted only shows about half of each fight. There's a lot of information that is lost in the second half of those fights, so please show them.

Now, let's go back to combos for a second. This gets kinda intermediate level so feel free to disregard this next bit if it confuses you:
Skodial said:
First Combo/BnB:
LK+LP to grab, c.LK, c.MK, c.HP, jump, j.HP, QCF+K(Savage Bypass)

If I'm at lvl 2 or higher, I add QCF+PP, QCF+KK while still in the air.
This in of itself isn't a bad baby combo, but I strongly encourage you to avoid the throw at the start -- throws trigger heavy damage scaling, typically 70% for most characters. I'm pretty sure Val's throw is hard-coded to upwards of 50%, namely because of the crumple stun it generates. For the record, none of this is to say that throws are bad -- throws are absolutely great, but you generally don't want to start a combo with them unless you're going for a reset or you're getting into some of the meta air-throw-poke-low-high meta game that consists of the SkullGirls neutral game. A very good time to use one of Val's throws is if the opponent is caught in an ambiguous lockdown situation, such as successfully blocking a beat extend assist. Val can then run up to the opponent and has free reign to go either low-high-throw, which gives Val a very deadly lockdown game. Combine this with Val's high mobility and you can quickly put your opponent on tilt. On a final note, do what works. If your opponent keeps falling for throws, then keep throwing them.

Ultimately, just keep practicing and don't get discouraged. It can take a while but just keep practicing and improving.
 
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Skodial said:
First Combo/BnB:
LK+LP to grab, c.LK, c.MK, c.HP, jump, j.HP, QCF+K(Savage Bypass)

If I'm at lvl 2 or higher, I add QCF+PP, QCF+KK while still in the air.

It's something
That's a good start, and it's always good to have a combo you can do after a throw. I just want to point out two things :

- Because of how damage scaling works (as explained in the video in the first page), your combo would do a bit more damage if you removed the c.lk after the grab. The damage of the c.lk itself is lower than the damage you lose on the following hits due to damage scaling, so it's actually better to skip it in this case.

- After doing a savage bypass in the air, you can do a second one as long as it's not the same strength. For example you can do qcf+hk then qcf+mk (right after or even while falling).
 
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BlueFeena said:
I'm not sure why people say that Val doesn't have a reversal, since I'm pretty sure scalpels is fully invulnerable and has a fairly large firing cone to boot. It also works in the air, which is very nice.
Scalpels is invulnerable on frame 3 and has no hitstop. Therefore anyone can react to it with their own invulnerable move. People have also learned to punish air scalpels with superjump>throw. EKG is her only good reversal being invulnerable on frame 1, but doesn't lead to any combos without a good DHC, and hella punishable on block/whiff.
 
dapurplesharpie said:
I gotchu fam.


Thank you for finding this video. It looks like this channel does a fair amount of videos that aim to teach. I wrote down the Val combo that was showcased in the video. From the tone of this video, it sounds like that it is considered to be an 'easy' combo. If that is the case, I...have a lot of work to do.
 
BlueFeena said:
I watched your footage from a week ago and a few things stood out to me:

* Make sure you know at least a baby combo. I'll come back to this in a minute, but you were giving up a lot of damage. You would just do two or three hits and then either stop or drop your string entirely.
* Don't do raw supers out of neutral unless you can make very Hard Reads™. I watched you do several flatliners straight out of neutral; virtually any super is going to be unsafe on block and you're just asking for it if the attack doesn't connect.
* You're not reversing the opponent, ever. I'm not sure why people say that Val doesn't have a reversal, since I'm pretty sure scalpels is fully invulnerable and has a fairly large firing cone to boot. It also works in the air, which is very nice.
* Practice your Ryu drills -- this is basically when you go into the training room and practice very simple, mundane, repetitive motions over and over again. I cannot begin to explain how essential this is. If you can't do a quarter circle forward or a dp to save your life, all the combos in the world won't help. You should also practice doing the same command move over and over again, this will considerably reduce the number of times you get an input backwards in your head.
* Similar to the above, practice your mobility -- a ton. Mobility is very important in this game and as you fight increasingly tougher and tougher opponents, you are going to notice that they move and react accordingly faster. Val's high mobility is one of her biggest advantages; this can make her difficult to read or react to.

One thing I encourage you to do is to show all of your matches; the latest video you posted only shows about half of each fight. There's a lot of information that is lost in the second half of those fights, so please show them.

Ultimately, just keep practicing and don't get discouraged. It can take a while but just keep practicing and improving.

First off, thank you for taking time to read this thread, watch my videos, and responding. I say it a lot, but it's wonderful that I stumbled into such a friendly and helpful gaming community. Everyone here has been great, and are so much fun to play with.

I will do my best to respond to everything that you mentioned in your post to clear up anything that isn't. So here I go:

1. That baby combo is currently all I have (as far as being able to pull off). I'm not completely sure what you mean by "stop or drop your string entirely". I'm doing what I currently know, which is very little. So...I'm not sure where to go from there. But I learn something every time I play. Many other combos have been shared with me, but I'm just not there yet. I'm still stuck on a few chapter 4 tutorials. It appears my issue is primarily timing.
2. My neutral game is awful, and those random supers and blockbusters are bad ideas. I'm in the middle of stopping those.
3. Reversals: Still getting the hang of what those are. The tutorials aren't that great, but they do at least mention a lot of stuff. I'm not sure how to work on them, though.
4. Over the weekend, I finally began to figure out how to make the training room productive. It is there that I finally got down my first combo. I've already noticed an improvement in input accuracy (small, but still an improvement).
5. I picked to solo Valentine for as long as possible so I could learn everything about just her (and 2d fighting fundamentals) before moving on to anyone/anything else. I like how she is fast and agile. Again, I'm not completely sure how to improve on this besides moving around the field more often.
6. I have a few hours worth of random online matches recorded. I would happily begin to post some random fights if that would be more beneficial.

Hopefully, something in this clarified something as to where I am currently at. I do have a ton of things to learn, but that's to be expected. I've made SG my current main game, so I do intend to become good at it. And so far, I am really enjoying the experience.
 
I'm not sure if reversals are mentioned in the tutorial. It simply means doing an attack as soon as you recover the control of your character (on wakeup or when the opponent goes for a reset, generally with an invincible attack).

The most obvious moment to do that is on wakeup. If you opponent knocked you down and looks like he's going to attack you as you wake up, you can beat his attack with Flatliner (QCT+KK) because you are invulnerable during the startup of that attack. Of course, if he was careful and blocked instead of attacking, he gets a free punish so use it wisely.

If you want to practice those in training mode, you can enter training mode with valentine as an opponent, then use the "record dummy" option (enable it in the training menu under "select button", press select once to move the opponent, press it a second time to record, after that press select to play the recording or hold select to erase it) and you can record either :
  • s.hkx3 -> run toward -> any attack (to practice reversals on wake up)
  • c.lk, c.mk xx QCB+LP+LK (you can reversal right before the command grab hits you)
And try to beat that with a reversal.
 
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I haven't touched the "record" option yet, mostly because I didn't know how to make it useful. But this is a great start. Thanks for the explanation.

I've been spending more and more time in the training room. It's helping me with getting my combo down, but that's because I have the dummy completely off. With the dummy blocking after first hit, I'm not hitting buttons at the right time and dropping the combo. But that's what practice is for. Each time, I do see something I'm doing wrong (hitting wrong button, timing off, button mashing, not having combo memorized properly).
 
Might I make a suggestion for a valentine guide? On the Skullgirls Slapfest Twitch channel, there is a highlight that features a Valentine tutorial ft. duckator and datagram. It's old but it may be of use. Here's the link:

http://www.twitch.tv/skullgirlsslapfest/v/17047785
It's one hour, so tread lightly

I would also recommend joining slapfest. We do casual sets and help each other improve.
We also love memes.
 
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TheLivingMeyMey said:
Might I make a suggestion for a valentine guide? On the Skullgirls Slapfest Twitch channel, there is a highlight that features a Valentine tutorial ft. duckator and datagram. It's old but it may be of use. Here's the link:

http://www.twitch.tv/skullgirlsslapfest/v/17047785
It's one hour, so tread lightly

I would also recommend joining slapfest. We do casual sets and help each other improve.
We also love memes.

I really liked what I saw and what I read about the group. I'm free most every Tuesday evening, so I would like to join. Its really nice playing with other people who are of low skill levels sometimes too. How do you join?
 
Skodial said:
I really liked what I saw and what I read about the group. I'm free most every Tuesday evening, so I would like to join. Its really nice playing with other people who are of low skill levels sometimes too. How do you join?
@Datagram
 
@Datagram


there we go.

Also, he's the guy that runs the event. He's also a Valentine player and makes videos like this

 
dapurplesharpie said:
@Datagram


there we go.

Also, he's the guy that runs the event. He's also a Valentine player and makes videos like this

When I get home later today (and pick up my jaw from the ground), I will try to join. I'm realizing that the more involved you get with the community, the more you potentially get out of the game.
 
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Skodial said:
How do you join?

You can sign up for Slapfest by going to the steam group. ATM I'm pretty sure there is a weird bug where you need a membership by invite. If that's the case, you can also ask for an invite by leaving a comment in the group.

Edit: I'm not so sure about the faillink j.mk displayed in the video. Imo look up the fastfall technique if you want to replace that reset. You can find examples in the Val tech thread.

Edit 2: Datagram corrected me for the group invite shenanigans. Go to his post for info
 
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While I wait to hear back from the Slapfest community, I've been doing a lot of practicing in the training room. And just when I was about to pull my beard out....PROGRESS!

I was finally able to expand upon my first combo AND do it with 80% consistency

If I remember correctly it is:
s. MP, c.MK, jump, j.HP, j.MP, j.HP. touch ground and jump again, j. HK, Savage Bypass, air dash Savage Bypass, EKG Flatliner

I was somehow able to pull this off in a match in an expert lobby. It's funny how all the frustrations this game can bring suddenly disappear
 
Would anyone be available this weekend to do some 1-on-1 training? While I'm waiting to hear back from the Slapfest group, this appears to be my hub for training. After realizing my new combo was either written down incorrectly or I'm not even close with it, I've scrapped it.

It's been a week of very little (if any) progress, but the week isn't over
 
Skodial said:
Would anyone be available this weekend to do some 1-on-1 training? While I'm waiting to hear back from the Slapfest group, this appears to be my hub for training. After realizing my new combo was either written down incorrectly or I'm not even close with it, I've scrapped it.

It's been a week of very little (if any) progress, but the week isn't over

try going into the group and start a new discussion.
 
skumbag said:
try going into the group and start a new discussion.
I put a message on their wall expressing my interest in joining, but maybe that wasn't enough. But I don't want to be that annoying guy. But for now, I'm going back over all my basic stuff because I have been very sloppy and making more mistakes than ever (baby combo, blocking and push blocking, timing moves correctly, punishing, maybe even learn how to do reversals)
 
nuclearpotatosa said:
Again, you should totally join the Skullgirls Discord chat I linked last page if you haven't already. Lots of people there who'd be down for sparring with you. Another place you can go to get some feedback on how you're doing is the Get GR8 event that goes down every Saturday: http://skullheart.com/index.php?threads/skullgirls-get-gr8-na-with-n-and-three-dog.8572
I would love to find more people who are of my skill level. I'm being left behind by some people I have been playing against. But 2 questions:

1. What is Discord?
2. How do I get involved with get gr8?
 
Discord is like skype only you can have in a browser. So you can message people and voice chat with them. You can make your own lobby and have people join or you can get an invite url from someone else. there is an official SG Discord group but you're going to have ask some one who is already in that group to get an invite. (I am not a part of that Discord Group so I can' get you the link sorry.)

get gr8 is a beginners tourney that happens every Friday at 4 pm EST you can join the steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/sgggr8

SkullHeart Thread/ Rules: http://skullgirls.com/forums/index.php?threads/skullgirls-get-gr8-na-with-n-and-three-dog.8572/
 
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I signed up for tomorrow, asked to join the steam group, and reached out to the group on the thread page. Hopefully I am able to get in for tomorrow, I beat the deadline by a few hours. Thank you for suggesting this, and maybe it will give me tips that I can use to practice.
 
...SOOOOOO I decided to join Get GR8 and give it a try today. So my video for this week (one of them if I put out other stuff from the past week) will be my Get GR8 matches. If anyone would want to watch them live, the link will be in this post. They start at 4EST/1PST.

After a week of tough online matches, I'm really excited to see how I do.

http://www.twitch.tv/skullgirls_get_gr8/profile
 
Here it is! My first SG tourney...well, it isn't a tourney. Not sure what you would call it. But it was a thing, and I was matched up with someone else. I'm linking the whole video, but I was in the very first match up. (Appears at around the 11 minute mark) I even got some hits in too!


http://www.twitch.tv/skullgirls_get_gr8/v/52579759
 
After reviewing the footage from today, I have three things I would like to improve on

1. Start snapping (perform outtakes against opponents with teams)
2. Expand on one of my combos in some way that keeps pressure on for longer.
3. Switch from the analog stick to the D-pad of my PS4 controller.

Get GR8 was so much fun. Everyone involved was super cool. Now...cue a 80s montage to starting the training for the rematch!
 
I would also suggest stop doing raw savage bypass in neutral. L Bypass is the only one safe on block, but it leaves you at a disadvantage where if you try to press a button after, you'll get hit out of it. So you're putting yourself in a situation where you're next to the opponent and you have to block. Not good.

Bypass on whiff is extremely punishable, especially air bypass. You can't block or do anything after a whiffed air bypass. You can cancel it into air scalpels to make yourself safe, but experienced players know to punish with superjump air grab.
 
That was me panicking and hitting buttons / going back to a habit I thought I broke. In the moment, i thought it was a good move. But watching it, I can see how bad it can be. Many times today I got lucky, but I usually get punished for it. But I did better than I thought it would do, and I'll call that a small personal win
 
TheLivingMeyMey said:
You can sign up for Slapfest by going to the steam group. ATM I'm pretty sure there is a weird bug where you need a membership by invite. If that's the case, you can also ask for an invite by leaving a comment in the group.

The bug is actually that it says that it's invite only when it's not, and you're already in the group. I literally just ignore the comments asking for an invite, since everyone who leaves one is actually already in the group. I need to poke Valve again about getting this fixed...

See @Skodial, there you are: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/skullgirlsslapfest#members?searchKey=beverly
 
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