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Let me hustle

What is a man?

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Okay, so, I've got a rough feeling for my rotation.

Solobella: If they don't have any way to keep me out
HLNL/MShadow/MBeatExtend: If they want to play footsies (Bella/MShadow, Bella/MBeat, and Bella/A-train for more specific matchups)
LShadow/HBrass/Copter: If they don't want to approach (Fukua/A-Train/HLNL for specific matchups)

Also considering Eliza and Beowulf. Don't honestly know where and how they'd fit on the team. Potential teams are:
MBeatExtend/HLNL/Throne of Isis: Space control for almost the whole screen between throne/hlnl/big band's natural tools, SSJ DHC Dynamo for Titan Knuckle pickup.
H Chair Toss/HBrass/Excellebella: Don't really know about this one yet.
 
So, with This new tech:

Solo Bella can kill any assist I catch in a happy birthday of any team size for 1 bar off of c.lk (probably other ways, too). 1v2 I need to Titan Knuckle after Dynamo, but 1v3 the super kills outright. Works anywhere on the screen.
 
I finally went and learned midscreen assist kills for all of my characters. Why is Bella's the hardest? The other two are piss easy.

I also watched through some of SIG's play vs Sage. I learned a few things, one of them being the blockstring he was doing with Big Band assist (I've also improved on it). I feel like I can play this team better than SIG does (or, at least, did then), but the one thing holding me back right now is knowing when to go in with Fukua. Well... also getting better at Big Band.
 
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Cadenza said:
S.lp c.mk, wait, elbow drop and repeat.

I did this on you in our set that i posted.
I don't like that one. It's harder for me to do than just s.lp, c.mk.

But It's fine, I just found a new one that I like.
 
Zidiane said:
But It's fine, I just found a new one that I like.
Would you mind sharing it? I'm not very fond of the LP, cr.MK one either so a new, easier one would be appreciated.
 
Okay. Been a while. Few updates.

I'm very uncertain about where I'm going to be as far as Fukua goes when the Beta finishes up and final changes are brought over to Retail. I know of course that the new M shadow is experimental, but if I don't have m shadow that I have now then the entire way I've been playing my team falls apart. M shadow lets me deal with Valentine, Squigly, Filia, and other characters and players who do nothing but run away from me a lot better, I'd very much like not to lose that.

I've been trying out trios nonstop. They still need work. Bella/Fukua/BigBand and Fukua/BigBand/Bella are my two best trios atm. Most of the time I lose, it's because I mess something up, or because I'm not 100% alligned with them yet. They're strong teams, I feel.

I still have big fingers. I keep hitting three buttons instead of two. I think this was a habit I unintentionally formed from all the time playing solo. I keep calling assist when I mean to pushblock/grab and get blown up. Considering investing in a stick so I don't have to go through the trouble of fixing this habit.

My Eliza's a little better, but I've mostly put Beo on the backburner. Something about him doesn't click with me yet. I don't think he's as good as everyone thinks he is, but he'll be great for the rotation. Most of my problems picking him up are because of the combos, they're weird. It's the same reason I didn't pick up Big Band for a while. Oh, my Big Band is genuinely improving. Still have some trouble at neutral, and I don't have any incoming setups. My resets are also really basic. I don't have any burst baits for him (or I guess Fukua).

Something clicked in my mind the other day playing Cadenza. I generally have a really hard time dealing with pushblocking, I usually just run at someone with my buttons trying to find an opening. Cadenza was doing this, and I was having a lot of trouble (he won like 4 games in a row effortlessly). Then I just thought "oh, then I'll just grab" and then the whole pacing of the set changed. Empty jump in Diamond Drop is really effective, especially against pushblockers. This was a thing I knew to do outside of matches, but it never really quite clicks like this inside a match. One of my biggest problems with the whole "if they're blocking just grab" is that I have a hard time getting in the range where I feel like I can grab. I always think to do it in a set, but I rarely feel like I can grab. I don't really know why this is, or how to get into a position where I can grab more confidently.

I realized where a lot of my frustration for the game is coming from. It's been a growing frustration for the past year or so, but I haven't really pinned it down until recently. The reason I'm so frustrated is because there's so much thinking I have to do, it's overwhelming. This is why I play solo, because the number of things I have to focus on, worry about, and consider goes down considerably when there's just me vs whatever. This is also why this frustration started growing right before last NEC when I decided to start learning and playing Bella/Fukua. On top of thinking about all of my stuff, there are so many setups I have to know, I have to think about where I am in the combo, which reset setup is coming, which way they'll go, what they're doing in neutral, etc. and it's just a lot. I don't really know how to lessen this pressure and keep myself from getting overwhelmed other than by just continuing to play Solo.
 
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Another update.

I miss m shadow. I haven't really had the motivation to play much since it was more or less obvious that it's not coming back. I don't like new m shadow for anything other than a cool combo extender. Maybe it has some purpose I'm not getting. As it stands, I don't know what to do with new m shadow.

As far as teams, ever since the beta I've been playing Fukua/Bella. I have a hard time playing Bella/Fukua anymore. I still don't like holding shadows, but it's not hard. Just do a thing (air grab/bff/incoming/c.mp, c.hp), hold a shadow, then do whatever. It doesn't feel like... a thing I should be doing. It feels unnatural. I can go for resets without it, but they seem like such a huge tool that it's silly not to use them.

The other day decided to play bella/fukua, with l shadow. It's not bad, but it doesn't do what I want it to do. I still am more or less stuck with solo bella neutral with this comp, which... at that point, why not just play solo bella. I found a few cool resets with this setup, though one of them might have discovered a bug (I posted it in the bug thread). Other than those couple resets, which are admittedly really cool, I don't really see anything worth doing here. I really don't like drill assist, so this is my only option now if I want to play this team.
 
Oh. I forgot. I'm a lot better at neutral air grabs now. I still have trouble gauging the range, I feel like it's smaller than it is, but that'll probably just get better.

I also am no further along in learning to pushblock without hitting three buttons. I've been trying to use the macro, but it's really hard. I super by hitting two buttons, so my fingers are still just hitting those buttons by necessity a lot.
 
Just because I am putting in some more time, here's a thing. More Fukua griping.

I have to change the way I hold the controller and hit buttons to play her now. I use my index finger to hit the top buttons on my pad (hp and hk). I never even realized I did this, but my fingers are too big and get in the way of each other if I have one finger for hk and one for hp. I cannot hold lk or mk when holding a shadow, because holding them with my thumb means I can't press lp or mp or lk or mk for any reason, whether in a combo or otherwise. So, I have to roll the held button to hk. This in and of itself is hard for me to do, it's really hard for me to hold buttons while I'm doing other things and make sur eI'm not letting go but let go at the right moment. But, what I'm realizing is that when I go to hold hk, I'm holding it with my index finger, which blocks me off from hp (as well as of course hk).

The setup I'm trying to do that's frustrating me is c.lk, c.mp, c.hp, m shadow, run up, s.mk, s.hp, jump grab. I have been trying for almost an hour and I can't get it. I still really don't know why I have to change the entire way I play this character and the way I use my controller.
 
I'm assuming you use a PS4 controller? If so, you can still hold one face button and press another button by rolling your thumb. This is pretty difficult to do when the buttons are perpendicular (e.g. triangle and X) but still possible. This is how a number of people who play games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta and other character action games play where you often have to hold a button (sometimes multiple buttons) and still input attacks with the other face buttons.

I'm also not sure what your goal is with complaining about having to use your controller differently other than just venting. It seems pretty set in stone at this point that Fukua is going to have held shadows and won't be getting her old M Shadow back. If you no longer enjoy playing her and she doesn't do what you put her on your team to do, then it may be worth considering just dropping her and perhaps looking into other characters that may be a better fit. Yeah, it sucks that you put in all this work with retail Fukua only for her to change to the point where she doesn't work for you anymore, but complaining about it and won't solve that problem. If there are reasons why you are still using Fukua even though you seemingly can't stand her current playstyle, then giving those reasons would perhaps make this seems less like pointless complaining and result in you getting more helpful advice.
 
Lex said:
I'm also not sure what your goal is with complaining about having to use your controller differently other than just venting.
This is my thread for talking about the difficulty I'm having with the game. I talk about having a hard time not hitting three buttons for pushblock here, too.

If there are reasons why you are still using Fukua even though you seemingly can't stand her current playstyle
I like everything but holding shadows. I like having her DHC potential. I like her combos. idk what you're asking.
 
Zidiane said:
This is my thread for talking about the difficulty I'm having with the game.
Yes, and you have every right to do that. I was just wondering if there was actually any reason other than venting that you don't like some of beta Fukua's changes and I guess this answers that.

I like everything but holding shadows. I like having her DHC potential. I like her combos. idk what you're asking.
I was asking why do you still play her given how much you have complained about the direction she is going in. When all (or at least the majority) you say about beta Fukua is negative, it makes me wonder why you still play her. Saying that you like the safe DHCs she provides and enjoy her combos helps explain why you are still playing her, so thanks.
 
Lex said:
Yes, and you have every right to do that. I was just wondering if there was actually any reason other than venting that you don't like some of beta Fukua's changes and I guess this answers that.
Yeah, I post about things I'm having trouble with here. There's no other place to post them. And of course, if I do get over this, I like the feeling of looking back and seeing how much I used to have a hard time with a thing. It helps when I run into new things that I'm struggling with, I just look back at how hard a time I had with x-thing and it helps me keep striving to improve.

I was asking why do you still play her given how much you have complained about the direction she is going in. When all (or at least the majority) you say about beta Fukua is negative, it makes me wonder why you still play her.
Oh. You misunderstand. I believe she's a better character now. By a lot. She can confirm off of air throws, she can set up crazy resets, she can set up high+low or low+high resets with the same assist in the same setup just by delaying timing. She can crossup with those same setups, she can set up the shadow behind you so you can't hit it, she can stay safe and reset without any commitment. She is a massively larger threat, imo. I don't think she's worse than she was. The only things I've said about her is that I miss my assist with Bella, as there's no other assist that gives Bella that neutral coverage, and that I personally am having a really hard time holding buttons.
 
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I tried the rolling my thumb thing. It's kinda usable, but it seems like if I ever need to make something up on the fly I'll fall apart. It's hard to do. Honestly, like, I can hold a button while doing other things, like in Megaman needing to charge and dash and jump all with the facepad, but it feels different in a fighting game. Depending on if you're in the air or crouching or if you input a motion or if you switched sides the meaning of that button press changes, and I feel like that's overwhelming me right now.
 
i dont play on the ds4 exactly but i play on a 3rd party controller with a similar layout (4 face 2 shoulder) and using middle finger for RT (HK for me too) seems to do it pretty well without making it that difficult, it's what ive been doing for fukua (cause I have the same issue, can only hold shadows with HK cause its too hard to hold buttons on face). everyone's different of course but just sharing my two cents and I definitely feel your issue, ive been picking up blazblue and my character has some combos where I have to hold a face button while pressing other face buttons and I REALLY have to move my hand around for those combos lol (for me, if I have to press for example C while holding D, I can't release C without releasing D also if I'm holding down both with my thumb so I have to maneuver my hand to hold the button with thumb and move my index down to the face SPECIFICALLY FOR THAT COMBO cause there's no way i can play the whole game like that lmao)
 
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I found a couple really gross resets with l shadow. I never really explored it cause I preferred neutral over setplay. They're all more or less what Cerebella is already capable of, but they look super awkward so it'll be good to rotate into.

I can't find a Fukua assist that helps in neutral against Valentine, Filia, Painwheel, ms fortune, or any character that tries to stay either really far away or really high up. H fireball might help, but I don't know. Maybe I should find another character for those matchups. Big Band a-train/beat extend can help against flyers and airdashers, and brass can cover peacock, robo, and parasoul, but I want someone else to cover the matchups that m shadow helped with. I feel like Big Band struggles against those characters that he'd help bella against, so I don't like sending him into that.

I actually have a lot of trouble dealing with airdashers to start with. I just struggle a lot. I saw I think Sage at CEOtaku using jump back or neutral jump j.hp to discourage that. I never thought to use it before, and it helped in a set against @cloudKing211 (almost typed @Valentine). I still have a lot of trouble with her in general. I don't know what to do when she goes into the air. Sometimes I feel like I can watch for an air dash if she's kinda far/high up and excellebella, but at around mid range I feel stuck.

I have the same problem with Fortune and Filia, basically the fast characters. I have a hard time touching them at all. I feel like I can't press anything until I'm at least in Titan Knuckle range, and trying to get to that range is rough when they have the right assist. When I do finally get to that range, they usually slip away or around me. I basically can't deal with people zoning me out very well.

Oh yeah, here's something else. This is a list of problems I recognize in my play:
-have a hard time patiently closing the gap (the above problem)
-I don't think about my opponents next response
--ex. I rarely think "they're going to IAD at me to stop me hitting their assist, maybe I should punish with c.hp jump/just c.lp/block".
-I'm having a hard time switching and not hitting three buttons when pushblocking or grabbing, still. I'm a little better at it, but it'll still happen.
-I press buttons too often
--especially on jump in. I learned earlier this thread that empty jump grab is something I need to be starting tp do, so I need to start doing it.
-I still upback vs jumpin a lot. That's a bad habit.
-my setplay needs a lot of work. I let people go way too often.
-I don't really know what to pushblock so I just pushblock everything and this gets me into trouble.
-I forget that the goal of having multiple characters and teams ready is to rotate between them. I'm not actively thinking after matches whether or not my other team would beat them, which is something I should be practicing doing every chance I get.
-I overthink still. I tend to assume the opponents going to do something super complex. I should be focusing on basics, first. I can make a mental checklist of things the opponent is doing, then use that checklist to adjust my play.

That's all I can think of as far as general play. I have a lot more time to play the game now, hopefully I can do a lot this time around.
 
I'm briefly glancing back at other stuff I learned in this thread and there's bits that I've forgotten. I should compile them all so I don't forget again.
 
Alright. So, I'm practicing setups again. Comparing the time it took after losing MGR for me to think competitively again to the time it took after losing m shadow, I'm getting a lot better about the way I think about the game. The game is not a thing I own, it's a medium that I can act through, like playing an instrumen. Understanding this is hard, but I'm getting there slowly.

Anyway, I'm using Bella/l shadow. I don't really like it for neutral, but it helps setplay a lot. Here's some of what I've found with this assist:

m lnl+assist will confirm on hit, and on block will force them to guess low. If lnl hits then the l shadow will combo, which is around the knuckle length of Titan Knuckle. If lnl is blocked it will push the opponent slightly back, meaning Bella needs to be closer, at about a hair length outside of c.hk.

c.mk, call assist, j.lk is a really strong setup. They'll fall into the l shadow, then you can land with a crossup j.mp. I can make the shadow hit same side or crossup, so it's a 2 way mixup followed by a really hard to block overhead. I know exactly how to block it and I can block it being done to me 1/5 times. Whether the l shadow or the j.mp is the one that opens them up, you get a full combo. There are buttons that some characters can hit to get out of this, though, so it's got some tweaking to go through.

s.hk, lnl+assist is really good. Can do this with mp or hp lnl, depending on the character. Hp beats just about everything BB/Eliza can mash, mp beats other stuff for other characters. Mp won't let them jump, and forces them to block low. It's +8 on block (I think? I can get normal grab to whiff cause blockstun). I need to test out a bunch more characters. Mp will beat Double car (forward or backward) but loses to dp, where hp beats dp and loses to car. Hp soaks first hit of lvl 3 but it makes contact with assist, so Bella can either immediately do another hp lnl to punish (confirm into lvl 3, if bella has it, or dynamo) or just block and let Double be plus. Loses outright to Squigly. Might have to just do s.hk, assist, runstop for certain characters. Doing s.hk, assist, Kanchou feint is another option. I'm going to hammer out a clear list of what I can/should be doing to which characters. It'll help not get overwhelmed, cause I just do the setup I know works and call it a day.

A lot of my normal wacky stuff gets even wackier with this assist. My cool midscreen reset that I never use cause it requires an OTG works OTG-less on certain characters (light only?). c.mk, s.hp, assist, runstop, c.lp is crazy. c.mk, assist, j.mp, j.mk is wacky.

There's a bunch of stuff that would be super cool if it was consistent, but there's nothing that I can really do about that. For example, c.hp, assist, j.hk is super cool looking and puts them in a weird position, but sometimes it doesn't hit like it needs to.

Um. Oh. My signature reset, corner c.mk, c.hp, j.lp, j.mp, j.mk, can benefit slightly from l shadow. After j.mk, calling assist and then jumping with j.lk, j.hk can be hard to deal with. Any character without air reversals is forced to eat it. I also accidentally found a new crazy version of this loop. It was like... c.mk, c.hp, j.mp, j.hp, double jump something. I was too tired to pay the appropriate attention. I would really like to learn whatever that was.
 
Alright. Getting into details. Starting with Big Band. I'll come back later today with more characters. The setup is trying to find the best ways to do lock n load backed by l shadow.
If Big Band is:
Upbacking: he loses to any ground heavy/meadium into mp/hp lnl+assist. s.lk, s.mk, s.hp/s.hk(2), lnl+assist lets him jump but may hit low as he lands
Grabbing: he loses to s.mk/s.mp/s.hk mp lnl+assist and s.mk, s.hk (2) hp lnl. His grab will beat any other variant of this tech.
Mashing reversal:
Light BE: beats every variant of mp lnl+assist, but it loses clean to s.mk, s.hp/s.hk, hp lnl+assist, and loses but hits assist against every other hp lnl+assist combo.
Medium BE: Same as lp beat extend.
Heavy BE: loses to everything light and medium lose to. Just about every combo of mp lnl and assist works.
SSJ: beats every variant of mp lnl+assist. hp lnl gives time to cancel to US.
LVL 3: beats mp lnl, loses to hp lnl. Variants don't matter.
So, overall consensus is do s.mk, s.hk (1), hp lnl+l shadow and Big Band can't really get out of it through usual means. Mashes, grabs, and upback all lose to it.
 
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A little bit more testing vs Squigly. Same setup as the one above.

vs Squigly: lock n load + assist isn't that strong a tactic vs Squigly because of Daisy Pusher.
Upback: loses to lnl+assist.
charged dp: beats the setup. Will sometimes lose if done really late.
Grab: loses to most things. Any mp lnl+assist call, most hp lnl versions.
Daisy Pusher: Beats every setup, but is reactable with Dynamo into BFF.

Better choice vs Squigly is probably just runstop instead of lnl, or just call assist at the end of s.hk and wait to see what happens, or just reset her in the air like anyone else.
 
Just had a set with Liam. Got mollywhoped. I realized something new about why I'm losing as often. I'm afraid of losing. I don't know where it came from, but at some point in my heart I've attached this fear of losing important matches. When I'm in tournament or if people are watching, I start shaking and my heart starts racing. I just thought it was random, but I realized it's because I'm afraid of losing the match. Not afraid of people seeing or anything, just of losing itself.

Despite this fear, I feel like I played as well as I could have against Liam. I switched teams when I felt like I knew what setup had an advantage, I didn't stick with a losing team, I caught crazy confirms, I caught some nice situational stuff, I was thinking and adapting mid match, I didn't notice any particular moments my fear led to hesitation. My neutral was about as good as it gets for me. Despite that, I lost just about every match. The vast majority of them were super close, and a couple I lost cause I dropped something simple, but still.

I can't tell if it's because of the fear I mentioned above, but there are at least like 8~ players that I cannot win against (nevermind win some/lose some opponents), even more in a tournament/highstakes setting (I can go back and forth with Peanuts in casuals, but in tournament it's 0-3 every time). I'm at the point where I just don't really know what to do anymore. It feels like I'm not really going anywhere, the list of people who beat me has been the same since like 2014. Everyone I used to beat I can still beat, and everyone I can't I still can't, so I really don't know how to gauge whether or not I've even accomplished anything these past two years.

I would just take another break, but I haven't even really been playing for much more than a month since the last break. There's something else that's preventing me from getting to where I want to be and I don't know how to overcome it.
 
Hey. I'm meandering on over here again. Don't have any easily accessible footage of me, though I've played in a tournament and a Kumite in the past week or so. I feel really good about my play, and I see myself potentially getting better than I've ever been. I'm going to go over the mental process that I've been going through.

So, I've actually uncovered a big reason for my hardships in the game thus far, reasons that've been blocking me from doing my best since 2014 that I just never noticed. A lot of them are mental reasons, not sure who really wants to hear them, but I'll be listing them here for myself to be able to look back on later.

I realized that I had control issues involving Skullgirls. I felt free playing, and I felt like I could do anything because the game allowed me to form my own way of play. Early on, I just played to play. I was unrestricted, and did my best. That was around 2013, when I placed like... was it 9th at Evo? After that placing, I felt like I suddenly hit a very concrete wall and couldn't seem to get too much better. There were just some people I couldn't beat, and there were some characters Solo couldn't beat.

Now, since I hadn't consciously associated that feeling of control, it started to warp when I wasn't doing well. Suddenly I started to feel powerless, like I had no control. This continued until I eventually discovered Fukua, and I found a new freedom with her M Shadow assist. Now, because I invested this control in my newly found character choice, I sorta broke down mentally when it was removed in the beta. I made a very public ass out of myself in the beta thread because I didn't know myself well enough to understand my feelings.

After this point, I just lost all ability to function in the game. I blamed it on Fukua's removal, because I somehow felt I needed her to operate, to play freely and succeed. I eventually came to realize that it went further, and was negatively effecting my irl mindstate, I felt like I had no control over my life at all.

Several things all happened at once in my life, and I was pretty depressed from about November to now with it gradually getting worse and worse. It was really bad. Despite that, I've persevered, getting help and direction to better my mental health. So, while I was unpacking what I was feeling, I discovered all of this about myself concerning Skullgirls. This was all the reason I started taking losses so hard, why I couldn't function in any capacity on a competitive level after I started losing that feeling of control.

Moving forward, though, I feel strong. Really strong. On top of learning about how I was viewing the game (and how to fix it), I learned a lot of tactics and techniques involving mindfulness, awareness, functional analysis, autopiloting, letting go, and mood control. I've learned how to apply them to my play, and while I haven't mastered them yet, I am seeing glimmers of the Zidiane I could be.

One great example in terms of my play is how I autopilot. I never used to notice my autopiloting at all, but I've started picking up on it. Before, I used to get air grabbed constantly in neutral, not knowing how the opponent read me so hard every time. Now, I understand that when I feel confident and think I'll win, or feel powerless and think I'll lose, 100% certain either way, I'll autopilot dash jump j.mp.

That's just one example. I'm noticing a lot that I never did before. I'm excited to play more and more, and see how far I can get with this new school of thought.
 
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