Hajin is a player that has earned his stripes within this community by not only learning the ropes of one of the game’s most technical characters and sharing all of his findings, but he has been building a great offline scene with some other great players in California (West coast needs this).
You can give back to this informative player by helping Hajin get to TFC. In this interview he speaks up on what he intends to do at TFC, talks about the growing offline scene, and of course he offers some advice concerning Ayane.
DOAN: How do you feel about DOA5 in its offline state?
Hajin: I think the offline tournament scene is actually pretty good. We've had a lot of tournaments in DOA5U that have been pretty successful (a few hit or misses but it happens). Including tournament locals we've had often before here in California.
The offline scene as itself, is getting better a bit. I’ve been noticing more players have been getting into DOA5U, and others have been getting together to play and practice the game together locally.
I know that LordXax1er has been doing rather well running the offline scene in Rhode Island. Toronto has Force of Nature's offline scene, Virginia has Blakula, Gruff and some other players. New York has Bboy Dragon, Destruction Bomb, Tenryuga and some other players.
Michigan has Allan Paris, Ryujin, and their newest player LunaKage (also well-known in the BlazBlue community as a tournament level Noel player, and one of the best players in Michigan). Kentucky has Nereus and SilverForte currently.
More of this is happening elsewhere too, it’s good to see other players are doing what they can to meet, hangout and play the game together. It’s a great way to form good friendships later down the line and build each other up in your play.
What do you hope to prove by going to TFC, and what do you aspire to do?
I want to put all of my practice, training, and tech to good use, and prove I have what it takes to compete against anyone I have to play at a high level. It’s a lot of fun to play other strong players and good players in a tournament setting, and in casual exhibitions. It always tells me how well I’ve been progressing in the game, what I excel at, what my weaknesses are, and keeps me adapting to different playstyles.
I take all of this into consideration and work on strengthening my play, and definitely make more immunity to any weaknesses (every player has a weakness).
But more importantly, I want to prove that Ayane is a character that has several strengths to her other than what’s usually seen by everyone else, and what I’ve shown before. I am known for having solid spacing, strong footsies, and a solid defense all around. And for my potent Ayane play. But there is a lot more that makes this character formidable outside of a good defense and spacing.
Her damage is very high (highest stun > launch midscreen in the game at 103 damage on normal hit), she’s got lots of set ups and mix ups that are very beneficial for her because all of it can go into one another so well. I’ve developed a lot of ways to get her vortex started, and to keep it going for a lot of varying situations, and it hasn’t been seen yet.
The more I play my character, the more things I see that I didn’t notice before, this happens almost every time I play Ayane. I’m always finding something new with her. It’s fun to explore the game and the characters in it, there is a lot of depth and plenty of treasure to dig up than some would realize.
How have you been training to compete against top tier tournament players such as Sweet Revenge, Master and Lopedo?
I’ve been studying a lot of video replays very closely to see what players are doing and what they do to handle every situation they’re in, in-game. But I also get to practice with very strong players I have access to from time to time as well, as it helps boost my experience against certain things. And it also allows me to see what’s working and what isn’t (for me and for them).
I take my character and several other characters into training mode, and start finding ways to develop anti-strategies against certain set ups and ways to get out of them, and avoid them.
I also take their “personal” set ups I’ve seen so often and try to break those down, so I know what I’m dealing with from that individual. It gives me some good information about their personal play.
I’ve also began reading certain articles and other bits that have been a good influence on keeping me mentally focused as I play.
Who do you train with regularly and how do you do it?
I train with AFD Requiem and AFD Prince Adon offline often. I’ve been able to fine tune my play rather well because of them. The three of us play and exploit each other’s weakness often, so we’ve all grown more immunity to them. I used to have a huge weakness to tick throws, something I let Shade Swifteye and CrazySteady do a lot at SCR, but that doesn’t happen to me nearly as badly as that anymore.
My defense in that and my defense in general, and my offense, have gotten much better because of one of them being offensive heavy, and the other being a mix of both offense and defense. But their spacing and footsies have improved tenfold because of me, we build each other up in our play a lot.
Online, I’ll play players like Aelivia and Tenryuga very often, who’re also very adept in spacing and defense. Playing that style with them, Requiem and Prince Adon helps keep my own spacing and footsies sharp. And all of them have a very different style of spacing so it helps a lot in staying alert to different pacing.
Playing Requiem in casuals helps tremendously as well because he’s like me in the sense that, he will not let you get away with anything dumb or unsafe. He knows his frame data as well as I do, so he will punish you every time if he knows he can (even free cancels on good reads, something I’ve picked up from him).
He’s a very smart player and a true strategist, and I think his main character is a perfect fit for that. He will ruin your brain with his mind games if he can. My psychological side in playing DOA has grown a lot by playing him a lot.
How do you feel about online for future titles on new consoles now that there are more servers, and hopefully less latency?
Online gaming is a good source for play, and for most games it’s a lot of fun (depends on the game). It’s decent for DOA at times when it wants to be, and it can always be a lot better. I’ve been using it as means of practicing certain things when I play other players, and just to play players that I want to play and that want to play me as well.
There’s always going to be latency in online gaming, but to have less latency in a fighter, especially, would be rather nice. But that’s always going to depend on the game server and the players internet speed.
If you could change anything about Ayane, what would it be?
Some things I’d change about Ayane are rather minor. My main concern right now is that I’d really like to have her BT rolling input mapped as a button notation that’s not 66~6. It would be nice if it could be changed to something like BT6P+K. That way, Ayane can just dash while in back turn stance freely without getting a roll accidentally while moving forward with her back turned. That gets annoying at times.
I’d really like to have the option to cancel her P4P string into P4P3 and P4P3[4] (keeps her back turned), which would let her cancel the second strike into a forward spin, like she can with 6P3.
Something else I’d change is the advantage of her PPP4 on block. It’s -7, there’s nothing she can do there because you don’t have to respect it. I’d make it at least -1 on block because then she’ll at least have a chance to do something like she can after making you block her neutral jab (in a sense). She would have the ability to block/strike as well without the fear of being thrown for being at -7.
What recommendation do you give all future and aspiring Ayane players?
To keep practicing and to continue playing the character. Ayane is a very solid character, but by no means easy to play as anyone thinks. I often see more players picking the character up and am told they do so because they find my play to be inspiring. Something I am always so surprised to hear, but something I feel good about too.
So I try to encourage those kind of players that are really trying to learn the character and further their play in the game.
Keep playing, keep improving, and learn as much as you possibly can about the character. Pace yourself in your training, stay diligent, and do not overthink on the negatives in your play so much.
Treat every match as a learning experience, learn from your wins, learn from your losses, and definitely learn from your mistakes. And learn to be patient, this character rewards good patience, never rewards impatience.
You can give back to this informative player by helping Hajin get to TFC. In this interview he speaks up on what he intends to do at TFC, talks about the growing offline scene, and of course he offers some advice concerning Ayane.
DOAN: How do you feel about DOA5 in its offline state?
Hajin: I think the offline tournament scene is actually pretty good. We've had a lot of tournaments in DOA5U that have been pretty successful (a few hit or misses but it happens). Including tournament locals we've had often before here in California.
The offline scene as itself, is getting better a bit. I’ve been noticing more players have been getting into DOA5U, and others have been getting together to play and practice the game together locally.
I know that LordXax1er has been doing rather well running the offline scene in Rhode Island. Toronto has Force of Nature's offline scene, Virginia has Blakula, Gruff and some other players. New York has Bboy Dragon, Destruction Bomb, Tenryuga and some other players.
Michigan has Allan Paris, Ryujin, and their newest player LunaKage (also well-known in the BlazBlue community as a tournament level Noel player, and one of the best players in Michigan). Kentucky has Nereus and SilverForte currently.
More of this is happening elsewhere too, it’s good to see other players are doing what they can to meet, hangout and play the game together. It’s a great way to form good friendships later down the line and build each other up in your play.
What do you hope to prove by going to TFC, and what do you aspire to do?
I want to put all of my practice, training, and tech to good use, and prove I have what it takes to compete against anyone I have to play at a high level. It’s a lot of fun to play other strong players and good players in a tournament setting, and in casual exhibitions. It always tells me how well I’ve been progressing in the game, what I excel at, what my weaknesses are, and keeps me adapting to different playstyles.
I take all of this into consideration and work on strengthening my play, and definitely make more immunity to any weaknesses (every player has a weakness).
But more importantly, I want to prove that Ayane is a character that has several strengths to her other than what’s usually seen by everyone else, and what I’ve shown before. I am known for having solid spacing, strong footsies, and a solid defense all around. And for my potent Ayane play. But there is a lot more that makes this character formidable outside of a good defense and spacing.
Her damage is very high (highest stun > launch midscreen in the game at 103 damage on normal hit), she’s got lots of set ups and mix ups that are very beneficial for her because all of it can go into one another so well. I’ve developed a lot of ways to get her vortex started, and to keep it going for a lot of varying situations, and it hasn’t been seen yet.
The more I play my character, the more things I see that I didn’t notice before, this happens almost every time I play Ayane. I’m always finding something new with her. It’s fun to explore the game and the characters in it, there is a lot of depth and plenty of treasure to dig up than some would realize.
How have you been training to compete against top tier tournament players such as Sweet Revenge, Master and Lopedo?
I’ve been studying a lot of video replays very closely to see what players are doing and what they do to handle every situation they’re in, in-game. But I also get to practice with very strong players I have access to from time to time as well, as it helps boost my experience against certain things. And it also allows me to see what’s working and what isn’t (for me and for them).
I take my character and several other characters into training mode, and start finding ways to develop anti-strategies against certain set ups and ways to get out of them, and avoid them.
I also take their “personal” set ups I’ve seen so often and try to break those down, so I know what I’m dealing with from that individual. It gives me some good information about their personal play.
I’ve also began reading certain articles and other bits that have been a good influence on keeping me mentally focused as I play.
Who do you train with regularly and how do you do it?
I train with AFD Requiem and AFD Prince Adon offline often. I’ve been able to fine tune my play rather well because of them. The three of us play and exploit each other’s weakness often, so we’ve all grown more immunity to them. I used to have a huge weakness to tick throws, something I let Shade Swifteye and CrazySteady do a lot at SCR, but that doesn’t happen to me nearly as badly as that anymore.
My defense in that and my defense in general, and my offense, have gotten much better because of one of them being offensive heavy, and the other being a mix of both offense and defense. But their spacing and footsies have improved tenfold because of me, we build each other up in our play a lot.
Online, I’ll play players like Aelivia and Tenryuga very often, who’re also very adept in spacing and defense. Playing that style with them, Requiem and Prince Adon helps keep my own spacing and footsies sharp. And all of them have a very different style of spacing so it helps a lot in staying alert to different pacing.
Playing Requiem in casuals helps tremendously as well because he’s like me in the sense that, he will not let you get away with anything dumb or unsafe. He knows his frame data as well as I do, so he will punish you every time if he knows he can (even free cancels on good reads, something I’ve picked up from him).
He’s a very smart player and a true strategist, and I think his main character is a perfect fit for that. He will ruin your brain with his mind games if he can. My psychological side in playing DOA has grown a lot by playing him a lot.
How do you feel about online for future titles on new consoles now that there are more servers, and hopefully less latency?
Online gaming is a good source for play, and for most games it’s a lot of fun (depends on the game). It’s decent for DOA at times when it wants to be, and it can always be a lot better. I’ve been using it as means of practicing certain things when I play other players, and just to play players that I want to play and that want to play me as well.
There’s always going to be latency in online gaming, but to have less latency in a fighter, especially, would be rather nice. But that’s always going to depend on the game server and the players internet speed.
If you could change anything about Ayane, what would it be?
Some things I’d change about Ayane are rather minor. My main concern right now is that I’d really like to have her BT rolling input mapped as a button notation that’s not 66~6. It would be nice if it could be changed to something like BT6P+K. That way, Ayane can just dash while in back turn stance freely without getting a roll accidentally while moving forward with her back turned. That gets annoying at times.
I’d really like to have the option to cancel her P4P string into P4P3 and P4P3[4] (keeps her back turned), which would let her cancel the second strike into a forward spin, like she can with 6P3.
Something else I’d change is the advantage of her PPP4 on block. It’s -7, there’s nothing she can do there because you don’t have to respect it. I’d make it at least -1 on block because then she’ll at least have a chance to do something like she can after making you block her neutral jab (in a sense). She would have the ability to block/strike as well without the fear of being thrown for being at -7.
What recommendation do you give all future and aspiring Ayane players?
To keep practicing and to continue playing the character. Ayane is a very solid character, but by no means easy to play as anyone thinks. I often see more players picking the character up and am told they do so because they find my play to be inspiring. Something I am always so surprised to hear, but something I feel good about too.
So I try to encourage those kind of players that are really trying to learn the character and further their play in the game.
Keep playing, keep improving, and learn as much as you possibly can about the character. Pace yourself in your training, stay diligent, and do not overthink on the negatives in your play so much.
Treat every match as a learning experience, learn from your wins, learn from your losses, and definitely learn from your mistakes. And learn to be patient, this character rewards good patience, never rewards impatience.
Last edited:
