STREET FIGHTER IV

It's funny that I probably least enjoy trying to play Sagat, even though I know he's the "best" character in the game. I just don't like having to try to do tiger shot after tiger shot. I don't mind fighting him too much though. I certainly don't mind fighting Akuma - as you say, he seems underpowered in the game & the vast majority of times I've come across somebody playing him, they seem to not have spent the time to really learn his game of staying away from you as much as possible, spacing with mass fireballs from two directions, and timing his jump ins or sweeps safely (as near as I can tell).

The other weird thing recently is to see people still rage quitting. I mean, I never play anybody with a greater than 1% disconnect rate and I'm sure most other people don't either. It must get frustrating being kicked game after game, but they keep doing it - I've already seen lots of people with a 5% or more disconnect rate!?! At least now they're easy and enjoyable to avoid.

not sure if you know these but a couple things I noticed from yr replay:

- you can link a cr.LP after EX dashing swing blow; so you can do EX dashing swing blow, cr.LP, cr.LK xx Headbutt > Ultra. I think cr.HK also combos after EX dashing swing blow.

- would go for cr.LP, cr.LP, cr.LP xx Headbutt instead of cr.LP, cr.LP, cr.LP, cr.HK cos the former combo allows you to launch into ultra innit

- good punishment combo when you have them stunned I see a lot of balrog's doing: j.HK, st.HK, cr.LK xx dashing straight

- when you have the life lead (like you did in the last round) I'd be tempted to just sit there w/balrog. wouldn't chase abel down, let him do the hard work :)

sorry if tht's patronising and feel free to tell me to bog off :)

sorry, it's a cr.LK you can link off the EX dashing swing blow, so you'd go EX dsb, cr.LK xx headbutt

Naw - I know about that stuff pretty much, but just haven't put in the practice to be able to do it / have a hard time doing it actually in game (also haven't even passed normal challenge 4-2). I know I need to spend more time practicing / working in the challenge room and getting that stuff down, but I just never seem to have the time / focus

cool, apols :)

I do want to try to take my game to that next level though - I know what you're saying. I should probably just force myself only to practice for a while, instead of playing matches. There wasn't really that incentive before championship mode, 'cause most of the competition was so awful. I have stepped it up a bit since, but know I got a long ways to go.

hm tbh I think the best practice is to play against dudes. you can hone execution in practice mode obv but tht only counts for so much if you don't have the ability or guts to try the combos out in a live match

I get what you're saying - but yeah, first I have to get the execution and timing down & get consistent otherwise one is just asking for it

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91639-Street-Fighter-IV-PC-Comes-With-FightPad

More affordable than coughing up cash for a stick, I guess...

fuck ryu

fuck the french

^^^^^^^^^^^^

hang on for another couple of months guys

that your gf, coz?

Has anyone here tried out those MadCatz SFIV pads? I'm still not sure if I want to pay the extra $23 for it or just get the game by itself.

I've got one of the SFIV fightpads for the 360 and it's just lovely. Virtually any game that doesn't have "analog" control, I use it. I love it. And I paid WAY too much for mine (thanks, UPS international shipping charges that are hidden til you've bought the fucking thing on eBay) but it was worth it. For $23, it's a bloody STEAL. Do it.

think it's ed ma's gf : /

alex valle and combofiend qualified for sbo last night
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/3603274807_dcbd34f4c3.jpg

Thanks for the feedback, Will, definitely keeping it in mind. Still going back and forth over it, I googled a Shoryuken thread on the pad which is kind of scaring me off, there were a dozen or so complaints about the diagonals not registering. Also, the temptation to just go ahead with Steam for future ease/installs is tempting. Hopefully with this batch of pads they'll have fixed the problems, right now I'm leaning slightly in favor of pre-ordering the bundle.

the diagonals require a bit of pushing but I found I got very used to figuring out how to get thme every time. they require a bit more pressure than the 90º directions.

I think what people might dig about the pads is the button layout? and that even if the dpad isn't great, it has gotta be a lot better than the standard 360 dpad? I think a stick makes the game so much easier, but I've seen people using standard (ps3) controllers extremely effectively. If you don't mind the button layout, I'm sure there are PC joysticks with a dpad as good as the madcat one.

You're probably right about the button layout and it being a much better alternative to the crappy default Xbox D-pad. For many years I used the game port version of this, which was very reliable:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41GW7S58VKL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
I have a pad right now but it's not that great, very old and rickety. Wouldn't mind an upgrade, though most sticks are well out of my price range. What stick did you end up going with, Jeff?

This mid-price Street Fighter one is actually my favorite of the ones I have...
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Street-Fighter-IV-FightStick/dp/B001M22VCU

Yeah, definitely too much money for me to justify. :/ I'm guessing that's about the right price to get something decent and not shoddy.

PC benchmark test is available here...
http://www.4gamer.net/games/049/G004954/20090612078/link.html?http://file.4gamer.net/demo/StreetFighterIV_Benchmark.zip

Seems to run pretty good on my average PC. Probably looks a little better than the 360 version. I don't really like any of the additional filters though - they're just distracting.

Thanks for the heads up. I got about 45 fps in 720p resolution (they gave me a C-rank :/), so I guess I just barely made it under the gun for this... fortunately I can turn off various effects to get it to 60, if I have to, for online play.

I kind of like the ink and watercolor filters, and fortunately they don't actually add more than a 1-2 FPS performance hit.

Supposedly the main effects that hurt performance are the particle effects, so I just turned that off. Also turning off the AA took my score from a C to an A (running at 1600 x 900). I would monkey with it more, but I'm not even planning to buy the PC version, unless my 360 conks out or there is an amazing sale, or if the online performance is considerable improved somehow (which I doubt).

are you still playing much, jeff?

Not so much lately (been distracted by other games I wanted to try out), but I do feel like it's a game I still could be playing years from now. I'm in a bit of a weird place with IV, because I know I need to put in more time, practice more and get better at combos if I really want to compete in championship mode, yet I'm decent enough to consistently beat the casual players still playing ranked. Because there doesn't seem to be any kind of true skill matchmaking going on, if I play online there just isn't that consistent quality of matches. Like 1/3 of all games I could win with my eyes closed, 1/3 of all games I have no chance to win, and the final 1/3 of games are pretty good matches (and could go either way). It makes for some not completely satisfying sessions and I don't know what the answer is.

It's hard to find the time to put in to try to take my game to the next level, especially with the releases of BlazBlue, KoF XII and Marvel vs Capcom 2 so imminent. Also the sinking feeling that Super Street Fighter II Turbo is still a superior game and where I should be applying my fighting game energy.

I have already played for 88 hours though!!!!!

"This mid-price Street Fighter one is actually my favorite of the ones I have...
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Street-Fighter-IV-FightStick/dp/B001M22VCU";

Is there a cheaper but still pretty good stick to get? is it possible to repurpose an old sega joystick or something?

The only one I know of is the Mayflash USB stick (around $40-50 + shipping), but people seem to be buying it for modding purposes (the shell only, basically) since apparently the stock parts wear out or go bad pretty quickly.

looks neat ($30 too!) thanks for headsup

I hope they add
http://www.fightersgeneration.com/characters/dudley-taunt.gif
and
http://www.fightersgeneration.com/characters3/qtaunt.gif

"taunt"

(cough ggpoooooooo)

he got mac, LOL

Seriously though, the ggpo crowd scares the shit out of me - too good

I'm not saying by any means to join these wretched communities, but as an option to great older fighting games online...

option to play

I got mac lol :((((((((((

make the sacrifice... boot camp

ggggatter tresh

I don't know what is going on with this game, but it seems to have been over-run with even more Kens than ever before. That said, I did fight an Abel tonight in a final of a championship who was truly overwhelming (maybe not surpising when he had 14,000 point to my 2,800). Even though he kicked my ass worse than it has been kicked in a long while, it was the bst experience I had in game in a long time, just seeing somebody playing somebody different and better than I'd ever seen Abel played before.

But the last few times I've turned on the game, it really has been 70% Kens, 20% Ryus and 10% other characters (if that), which is really starting to sour the experience. I do understand the ease of playing Ryu or Ken, and the advantages they have, but it's boring. It also makes it harder when you do come across somebody playing something different, because you're just not getting the experience against them (for instance, in the 1,000+ games I've played I've fought Rufus three times, at the most). If they would add a mode where you don't get to select your own character and always get a random character to play, I think I'd jump in that mode, even though it would mean having to spend more time in the practice room on the characters I've rarely played myself). As it is, I'm glad there are some other new fighting games coming along shortly that I can move over to, I hope, as I'm feeling more and more like I've had my fill of SFIV :(

ken is crap, I don't know why people pick him

he's seriously bad; I'd say he's the third worst character in the game behind vega and guile

ryu is the best character in the game imo

play me jeff and I'll play only rufus :D

Do you say Ken is crap compared to Ryu because of his super/ultra is so vertical and easy to predict? I think it's his normal game that people like (which is basically the same as Ryu's?). He has a good cross-up and range game and if people jump in srk. I think people pick him because they are lazy. His moves are easy to do and familiar and relatively easy to combo (only Ryu is easier, but maybe he gets picked less because people feel he is too familiar?). As mainly a Balrog player, playing Ryu/Ken is aggravating because I find I have to play more defensively than I like, but if you don't turtle against those guys, you kind of don't have a chance. Sagat still is an extremely difficult match-up, but I very very rarely run into him anymore. I know I don't really like playing as him too much because he seems kind of slow and for some reason my brain gets stuck on the two kinds of tiger shots - he's maybe just a little too complicated for me.

Cozwn - that 9 hour time difference = seems like we're never on at the same time + potential lag fest, but I'm definitely up for some casuals whenever. That's really all I wish I was playing, but either my friends never seem to be on when I'm on, or they don't play or they're horrible and only play Ryu.

Also, third and final day of Devastation 2009 live broadcast is going on now...
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/djwheat

Saw some pretty good matches and conversations yesterday

ken is crap because his ultra is hard to land, his fireball is rubbish, his godly poke (fwd+medium kick) doesn't combo except on counter-hit and his only mix-ups come off his (game glitch) kara throw. it's an uphill battle trying to win with that dude at the highest level, I think, hence why one of america's top players dropped him for akuma and the japanese rate him the second worst char in the game (in front of guile). he has a good dp but nobody's going to jump into that just like you never see lp dp into ultra except when doofuses are playing (<= me). at low levels of play though, I can see the attraction: keep mashing his heavy dragon punch when people are close and you're likely to hit, and it is a hit for big damage and it looks good

I play a ton of ryu and he is so super solid in this game; balrog (no offence) I think is so popular amongst the top flight americans because he is super easy to pick up and his links are peasy. his saturation seems to have dropped off a lot now people are realising his limitations. amazingly we're only now beginning to see half decent american sagats cos sagats high damage options (other than his stupid standing heavy kick juggles) all come off quite tight links. they're still nowhere near as gd as jp sagats obv

ken doesn't have enough knockdowns either, his hurricane kick (normal and ex) don't (I think). does his ex fireball?