i've been playing Kokoro since she came out. and i don't play her telegraphed at all. i face a lot of tourney players with her and they find her strings predicable. and i can't just cancel most of her strings to go into a grab because i'll get hit because the cancel is much too obvious. and her 4T is a viable 50/50. if they do anything but block then the can get hit by a free 66P. this move is only about 3 or maybe 5 frames (that's even pushing it) slower than the oppenent's recovery frames from 4T. and if they block then they are setup to a grab. if the turn around ducking then they can still get hit by a 66P. it seems clear that you underestimate how good (even if it's not that good compared to guaranteed options other characters get) 4T actually is. With Kokoro you have to work extra hard to win and she somewhat requires you to understand your opponents reactions very quickly. you have to be able to adapt to whomever you're facing within a match's time. that's why she has moves like 1T, 44P, 7P, 22_88P T. she used to be based on keeping up insane momentum and pressure with guard break a scary throw and breaking through guards with her string grabs. but that was all she had. her defense wasn't too crazy and it's a challenge to reverse the offensive back on the opponent. but now it's stupid difficult to do what Kokoro has been known for in the past two games because her momentum/pressure moves have been nerfed with every game that comes out. so now how do you go about playing Kokoro? all i can do is hope that Kokoro gets some of her early DOA4 tools back in upcoming patches. like 22_88P+K guardbreaking like it used to. i would like some close range guard break attack instead of that uber slow frame 314P.
Alright, so I'm going by 5's 4T, but in 5U, you can't seem to backdash from BT the same way. So, yeah, 4T is a little more viable, but with 6P+K not stunning on NH, can't do much with it.
Imo, Kokoro is not hard to win with at all. She has a good damage output, a good stun game, great mix-ups, good options to open people up, safe, good speed, and good throw damage. Honestly, if you think it's hard to win and she takes 60% more work than the rest of the cast, something's not right.
214P isn't supposed to be used as close range guard break. I don't remember if it was the same as 5, but it's i18 now. As fast as 33P and 6P+K, so it's not uber slow like P+K. It's a guard break for footsies and keep-out.
