Operation Get Good, Less Free (Burpinator's SG Training Dairy)

[Burpinator]

Hello I'm Burpinator and you may have seen me around in Twitch Skullgirl streams either asking noob questions, giving advice that I can, or getting bodied on Twitch stream :3

I decided after a while of trying to do as much as I can to get better myself that I would finally come out of the lurker hole and post a Training Dairy for myself to help myself get better with the help of the SkullHeart/Skullgirls Community. This is also my first time using the Skullheart forum so bare with if things get a bit disorganized. But the plan for this is that I will talk about my SG life including things I think I am improving and things I need to work on. As well as talking about random stuff like what attempting to main certain characters is like (An example of that will be when I talk about my current attempt at Zoner Maining with Peacock). As I improve I'll make edits to this first post as well as reply to comments below. This will also be a casual 'post things as I feel like it' but I will check every so often for advice and input

First Entry December 26, 2015: Alright so time for the meet and greet before we get to other stuff. Just so we know where I currently am in Skullgirls skill wise. I currently have about more then 100 hours clocked in Skullgirls. I am decently versed in fighting game terms such as otg's, dhc's, and what not but forgive me if I forget terms like pbgc (which I remembered recently to be Push Block Guard Cancel). As for my main team...Well I have none. In my Fighting Game experience finding the true main has always been difficult for me considering I'll either get bored of what I am using or get really curious about other characters. I find this to be both a blessing and a curse. I have been often calling myself a Red Mage recently with my experience with a lot of the cast but a master at none (Yet).

But my Current Main teams are:

Beo/Double/Val: My Fallback team when I want to feel comfortable or my feel like it team. I know the BnB's to Val's mid and corner combos but still drop them. A bit of BnBs with Double though I drop the Barrel loop at times. and 0 BnB's with Beo I use him to fish for hits and Bionic Arm for coolness.

Peacock/Big Band: Team I am using to learn how to be a coward proudly and Zone. When I began playing fighting games I would always be jumping back to feel safer and then jump back in for an attack. So currently I had the thought that maybe I am a closet Zoner. So this is my current go to team to learn Peacock. I am still working on the Peacock BnB and again 0 BnB's for Band. Band is there cause I love characters in games with Bionic arm supers (Like Band's Taunted Lv 1 or Lv5). I also like Band's Damage and I mostly use Band just for that. Though a Bad habit I have with Band is my Go To combo I use with him being Cr.LP, Cr.LK, Cr.MK, Cr.HP xx H Brass/H A-Train xx SSJ then I rinse and repeat till they die. Also a bad habit of throwing out H Brass Knuckles all the time. I will repeat the things I am bad at later on.

Things I Think am Good at:

• (Outside Fighting) Red Maging: One of the few things I think I am good at is my curiosity to try other characters multiple times. Its this curiosity that is my blessing/curse where as it prevents me from mastering a single character but as I learn other characters I learn things about the game more. Like recently I tried to learn a Parasoul BnB and was having trouble with Linking the L Tear Shot with a Light attack. I feel if I tried a lot more with Parasoul I would probably learn more about timings with when to press the next button after specials (Or it may just be a Parasoul Specific Thing but you get the idea). And at the very moment (Like Christmas eve/morning) I surprised myself by learning a Cerebella BnB. Now let me get this straight in saying I get so surprised at myself for successfully performing BnB's once. (Not the most confident person around) So now I think I am looking to main Cerebella (Might Replace Beo on my Beo/Double/Val Team making it a team of people I slightly know BnB's for or a third member of Peacock/Band for an offensive character since I have mixed feelings about zoning Half loving and half dirty feeling but if it works then it works and I'll be happy with that)
• Defensive Personality: I think am a defensive person naturally (Thumb basically glued to Down-Back and Back) Though still need a lot more work (Explained further later)
• Info Seeking: I watch so many Skullgirl streams. Since Skullgirls if I haven't mentioned it already is my personal #1 fighter and love it so much even though I am so free. But I will always be on the look out for Skullgirl streams on twitch like a hawk so I can enter to get either my questions answers, join in for sets/games, get advice, etc. Also paying extra attention when I see people using characters I am currently using. I also stream Skullgirls from time to time when I am not busy working and sleeping so I can get more advice, tutoring, and experience to further my play.

Things I Think am Bad at/Need Improvement on: (This one may be edited randomly as I remember what I am bad at :P )

• God Damn spazzy twitch fingers: This may be because I panic or am thinking too fast or I dunno. But when I am in training learning a BnB I press the wrong buttons all the time and annoys me so much. But I just take some breathers and breaks and then go back to the grind stone. But I also press buttons in matches as well which causes me to do unsafe things cause 'I Think' its a good idea (or my hand does at least) or for the sake of pressing a button. Which easily gets me punished obviously or get reset horribly. Its a thing that I am guessing will just improve as I keep at it just like getting better at Skullgirls
• Defense: Oh man do I still have a lot of work ahead of me. I still get hit by a hell of a lot of resets cause I don't feel I can react quick enough to them then get hit or I think hitting a button would be safe here but regret it by eating more combos. I need to work on my defence on cross-ups, teching grabs, Push Blocking Better, better pbgc'ing (or doing it more), and safe dhc'ing.
• Bad Habits: I already mentioned before with my Peacock/Band team I have a bad habit of always defaulting or auto piloting to a small combo with Band cause its easy and does alright damage (Not compared to you monsters with your actual BnBs :3 ). When I go into a match I also have trouble with just auto piloting and forgetting things I grinded in training for.
• Getting In: Speaking of things I grind for in Training. I am really bad at getting in to do/try/attempt the BnB's I practice which causes me to fish for hits with random jump in attacks and not converting them into anything. basically my play is poking for hits with small combos till I kill you hopefully. This is probably just another thing I just need more experience in to get better. Time can be such an annoyance in life in general :P but gotta get through it.
• Bad Match Ups: I have 3. People who are better then me (IE: Know actual BnB's and can pull them off at the drop of a hat and can convert any hit into a BnB that gets me in the corner and get stuck there). Eliza (I have no idea why but I have a problem verses characters with slow looking combos or Easy to the eye BnB's. Like Eliza and Squigly look like characters with easy BnB's but when I go to try them it doesn't work as I saw. Plus the characters don't feel right to me personally). And Squiggly (Dam I love Leviathans VA and even try to main Squig at times cause of it but still haven't have that curiosity craving to really try maining her yet. Either way like I said before I have a problem with slow combo looking characters like Squig. It looks like she has so many resets and I just get hit with all of them T_T but I am getting better at them. With how much I face it. Also is it me or is there no such thing as a Bad Squiggly Player? cause I have never faced bad squigglys ever. It also seems to me that Squiggly is the gateway character to getting good at Skullgirls. It may just be my imagination though but feel free to clarify me.)
• Fundamentals: Just something I think everyone always needs work on. Myself as well. I may have completed the Tutorial of Skullgirls but I will always need a lot of work on my fundamentals. Another thign that will come with time.
• Offense: I am a HUGE coward but I also treat fighting games as a way for me to be a more offensive player. irl I am a person that would never hurt a fly, quiet, shy, etc. So I love fighting games for the reason that in a game you can be who You wanna be and being offensive is something I have been trying to get good at for a long while. This being why I half love and half dirty feeling of trying to main Peacock. Cause I wanna be like to cool kids and be all in your face with Valentine, Double, Beowolf, Big Band, etc. Another thing I need to work on by getting better with my defense so I can punish for an offense.
• Calm Down Trigger Fingers: When I play like I said before I think the game is 200x the speed it is normally so I press random buttons hoping for things to hit and then it hits and I don't do anything with it or I get into a Block String and get punished (Even when I try doing what I think would be a safe Special to cancel a Heavy into). A lot of the time I have to say to myself in training or in matchs "Ok calm the hell down and slow down. Now lets try this again.".

Alright I think this is enough for a first post. A big sorry for the wall of text I am posting :P Please feel free to leave advice, comment, and what not. I am always glad to receive it no matter how harsh it may or may not be and always looking for more info :)

 

[joshb911]

Just from my personal experience from having terrible fundamentals and having SG be my first competitive fighting game. I will say that it took me 8 months to actually get a bnb down. The most important aspect of anyone's game is execution, being able to read any situation and adapt effectively, have at least 2 vortexs per character, learning from your mistakes, and most importantly knowing when to press buttons and when not to (this took me forever to learn)

The other important thing to remember is to record sets and critique your own play so you can narrow down what you need to improve on the most

 

[Burpinator]

Oh yea I forgot to add that I still don't really know what I should be mashing out when I am stuck in someone's combo other then to just Block accordingly and hope for the best to block. I am still not quite sure when I should and shouldn't be mashing out or pressing buttons.

SG is technically my 2nd fighting game with Street Fighter 4 being my first but I didn't like the combat as much as I did with SG. Its a really nice feeling even when I manage to complete a BnB, But its a matter of repeatition till I am able to do it in my sleep but it will be really satisfying when I am able to do BnB's/Vortexes with multiple characters.

Now what exactly do you mean by a Vortex? Is that a BnB that is achieved by a confirmed hit? Also when you say record sets is there a replay function in SG? I never really thought to look for one till you said so. I just figured I need to improve on everything. But if I had to narrow it down I would guess either Defense so I don't die or being able to execute BnB's/Getting opportunity(Or seeing them) to do BnB's while not getting punished for it.

 

[joshb911]

my understanding of vortex is its a setup with several outcomes.
So for instance let's look at a simple double setup:
C.lk,s.mk,s.hk at this point you have the following options:
1.) continue the combo
2.) jump and grab
3.) jump and delay your combo to bait a person mashing buttons
4.) wait for them to land and grab
5.) wait for them to land and use c.lk to hit low
6.) dash under and attack

Now this is not a suggested vortex but I think you get the idea

 

[Pickles]

by vortex he just means a situation where you can reset them in multiple ways, all of which can lead back into the same situation to reset them again

you can record replays in SG, in steam put "-enablereplays" (w/o the quotes of course) in launch options, look up how to set launch options if you don't know how

one thing I notice a lot when new players make a training thread is they list a TON of stuff to improve on (which makes sense if you're new) which basically includes every aspect of the game. I think it is important to focus on one particular thing to improve on at a time. Spend a while working on your fingers and practicing BnBs first, thats probably the most important thing. Then pick something else to focus on, but try to focus on one thing at a time so you don't get overwhelmed

 

[Burpinator]

@joshb911 Oh in SF4 thats called an Option Select. Where you create or a situation happens where you have a choice in the outcome.

@Pickles Sounds like an .ini fiddling thing (i just added it in right now). And yea sorry for the wall of "How do I play the whole game" But since I have been trying to get better at SG for sometime now I thought it would be a good idea to make a training dairy. So that I can state all my problems right now so I can look back on this later and focus on them then the list of what I am trash at can slowly decrease as I improve. Right now I am focusing on finding characters I can manage to do BnB's for and improving my BnB practice. Also Defense.

Right now I have a little BnB work in Double, Val, Cerebella, Peacock, and Band. And by little I mean I can do bits and pieces so far with Double, Peacock and Band where as with Val I know the BnB its just a matter of practicing timings. Im not so well with timings involving whether my character is higher or lower then them in the air and then dropping like Double's Barrel Loop which I can do but still need practice on. And Cerebella which I managed to do 2 days ago I need to work on the restand parts in her BnB. More so the J.Lp's, J.HP etc

 

[NoobZone]

I have a question, when I set the launch option for the replays how can I watch it?

Also it think option select it's like something that beats tow or more thing you opponent do isn't?
For example in usf4: crouch block and press c.lp + c.lk (crouch and throw basically) will give you a c.lk so you can start a combo with most characters and if the opponent try to throw you it will break the throw.

BTW sorry for my broken English I don't even know if I had the correct grammar :v

 

[Fumako]

For example in usf4: crouch block and press c.lp + c.lk (crouch and throw basically) will give you a c.lk so you can start a combo with most characters and if the opponent try to throw you it will break the throw.

This.
An option select is when one action can lead to separate things.
Like, say, games with one button throws: you can do forward + H; if the enemy stays still and tries to block you throw them, if the enemy tries to jump out of the throw you hopefully hit them out of jump start-up with H.

Oh yea I forgot to add that I still don't really know what I should be mashing out when I am stuck in someone's combo other then to just Block accordingly and hope for the best to block.

Blocking accordingly and hoping for the best isn't that bad :v
Ok, I want you to listen to this first: What I'm about to tell you can turn against you so you shouldn't make a habit of it.
Mash SSJ with Big Band. I mean, armor, 2 frame start-up, this thing's your best defensive option! Except if they get a read on you. Use sparingly, on wake-up DO NOT MASH, only use when you see move start-up. Which, uh, is probably harder than I think since I spent hours watching idle frames so I can SSJ in reaction to lights...
For peacock I usually just block accordingly and pushblock, if I'm on fire that day I'd be able to PBGC M Bang, otherwise pushblock into none PBGC M Bang is still pretty good. I'm not telling you to pushblock and always immediately do M Bang, I'm saying pushblock and react accordingly to what you see.
tl;dr practice pbgc and watch all your defensive woes wash away...

I have a bad habit of always defaulting or auto piloting to a small combo with Band cause its easy and does alright damage

lmao, gonna be honest; short combos are ALRIGHT.
I spent about 100+ hours grinding quick match with band and my BnB back then was, in it's entirety:
st.lk st.mk(2)
j.lk j.mk(2)
Yeah. That's right. That's my entire combo. No super ender or special moves. 2 buttons.
I'm not saying that you should stick to overly simplistic combos with no options nor damage; I'm just saying combos should have priority after you solidify what you want your neutral game to be.
I mean, my combo was a full 2 buttons and it carried me a long way; to this day I still feel the positive effects of it because it forced me to focus on my neutral game and learning to read me opponents.
Then I learned that L and H does not literally mean low and high.

 

[Burpinator]

@NoobZone Its in the Extras/Replay Theater is where you can watch replays

@Fumako Thanks for the advice. I forget a lot to pbgc or to even pbgc at the best of times. I will probably also need to work on what moves are good to use for pbgc's. Especially right now with my newest current team lol. Which is currently Val/Bella (These 2 characters are the only ones I have managed to do BnB's for more consistantly then anyone else) Those I might add in Band for the Armor and damage that I love. Though i am still gonna keep Peacock/Double/Beo/MF as my usual Off mains till I decide to main them again more.

As for the short combos yea i know what you mean. Since why try doing that complicated BnB that you are still working on when you can do your simple easy little combo that you know will work 100% of the time for guaranteed damage. As well as continuing to practice the BnB's for getting more damage when you can see the opportunities.