Community Fighting Game Philosophies: Personal Strategies & Outlooks (Blog Entry)

[J.D.E.]

My newest blog entry is for people who are searching for a main character or for people who are looking for a character who want to play a character based on playstyle preference. I hope people find this useful. Blog is typed out as followed:

This is JDE here bringing another special blog entry. This one will be for people who generally want to find the best choice of a character for them in order to play with in fighting games. I am going to give my point of view of how I usually find out who best fits me.

Now first, ask yourself these questions. Be honest with yourself while asking them:

• Who are your favorite characters? How much do you enjoy them?
• What type of playstyle do you prefer? Playing up close (offensively), mid range (to get in close or play back), or playing from range in general?
• If you don't have a preferred playstyle, then how much are you willing to adapt to the character's general gameplan (because you actually develop a style adjusting to them)?
• What type of buttons do you prefer?

With these questions in mind, when you're picking up a fighting game of any kind, you'll not only study the game, but you would pick up characters, try them out, and make a decision of a character, taking it to the next level with them.

Here's what I normally do with these questions in mind:

• Pick from a range of characters depending on how much that I enjoy them throughout the game. In Street Fighter, there are a total of four characters that I like the most which are Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, and Cammy. Those are the characters that I check up on first foremost.
• Out of the list of characters that I choose, I test them out to see what all they can do effectively, and what they can't do effectively. With the type of playstyle that I have in mind, I make my decision. I am generally a player who enjoys a character who has relatively an offensive, rushdown,gameplan that plays from close to mid range with fast buttons, mixups/ways to pressure, and ways to play off their knockdowns (or vortexes).
  
  I also do not mind playing a character who plays footsies with good pokes or controls space as long as they have ways to keep their offense going. Keep in mind that playing mid range all the time is different than playing from close to mid range. Most of the time, I'm using a character who has ways of getting in or has a few tools that have enough range to reach.
• Generally, characters who likes to play back off at mid to long range are characters who have a good projectile or special that will keep characters away from them. This isn't my type of preferred playstyle, but these are the type of tools that a character that is relatively a defensive-oriented character has. In Dead or Alive, Lei Fang and Ayane are general examples.

Well, what if I just want to play my favorite characters?

If this is the case, then just play who you enjoy the most. Just keep in mind that whatever the character's strengths and weaknesses are, no matter what you decide on, you're going to have to accept the character for what they are while just rolling with the punches. There is usually no problem with this decision at all, but there are some people who get upset when they are not finding anything spectacular with the preferred character within the amount of time that they have been playing. There are three things that could be a solution to this

1. You just have to keep exploring, learning more about the game or just ask someone who also plays them for some help. It takes time to learn. Not everyone catches on as quick. Everyone is on a certain skill level. So it's never a good thing to just gauge off of where everyone around you is in terms of skill set.
2. The character may have a steep learning curve or may take more time to get used to. They may be fairly difficult to use and require a bit more of your time (and more execution) than other characters who have a simple to moderate learning curve. If you really want to play the character, then you will be willing to learn the character, no matter what it takes. Once you learn them, it's extremely rewarding. I don't discourage anyone from learning who they like the most. However, it's up to them to accept the pros and cons regardless of how good or bad the character is.
3. Simply put, the character may not be suited for you. You may not play the way that your character wants to play. However, you never know until you try them. This is self-explanatory. If that is the case, then you may have to find some sort of character who does suit your style that you also may like.

Overall, when learning the game no matter what you play, hopefully this would help you decide on a main character. Choose a character, play around with the system mechanics, then the character's tools. Then, go from there. Once you learn the general gameplan, then keep exploring ways on how to get your damage, ways to utilize your setups etc.

In closing remarks, with the my style of play in mind, here are some games that I have gone through with the characters who are generally up my alley in order. I also do not play all of them. Some of them are not out, yet like SFV (nor have I really decided between the four), but their gameplans were revealed by testers:

Street Fighter V
Ken
Cammy
Ryu
Chun Li

Dead or Alive 5: Last Round
Kasumi
Momiji
Hayate
Ayane

Guilty Gear: XRD
Chipp
Millia Rage

Blazeblue
Ragna
Noel
Litchi
Azrael

Mortal Kombat X
Scorpion
Sub-Zero
Kung Lao
Raiden
Mileena
Kitana

Until next time!