Y'know, when I look back and really review every bit of footage of my play in DOA5U, I've really come a long way as not just an Ayane player, but a player in general. I used to be really sloppy in the beginning, and wasn't really aware of much as I thought either. Spacing was sloppy, I wouldn't whiff punish, I wouldn't capitalize much as I could, I was a pretty sloppy player, and my mindset was quite lousy.
I realized these things back in 2013, so my biggest concern was to learn and establish my fighting game fundamentals. I searched and found tons of articles and blogs by various street fighter players that are known nationally, and worldwide. I would read, study, and watch a ton of street fighter play; SFII series, Alpha II, SFIII series, and SF4 series.
All just to get the idea of what fundamentals really are. To know what conditioning, footsies, a neutral game, punishment, spacing, whiff punishment, to know what all of these things and other aspects really are. I would practice everything and try everything and just learn it all through tons of trial and error. I've done this all throughout the entire first half of this year and have gotten really proficient in it.
My defense and fundamentals have kept me on par with a lot of others great players I've had the pleasure of playing in casuals and in tournament sets and I've given them a lot of trouble with that alone. I am not an easy player to read. I've been able to establish my fighting game fundamentals and refine them throughout the year, I'm proud of that. As most are already aware, I do not play at the usual pacing you see often in DOA. I get a feel for your playstyle, download it, then condition you and force you to make mistakes at times without you realizing it. Or overwhelm you with my spacing (offline, lol@online and lag).
But there are two things I need to improve on now; maintaining a stronger offense and strengthening my reactions to certain situations. Doing so, I'll be whiff punishing even more than I already do and no one likes being smacked by a 4K or Drill kick for making mistakes, lol. Maintaining a stronger offense will make "me" even more formidable than I already am (there is tons of Ayane tech I've shared lately, and even more I haven't even brought to light yet and it's going to fry people's brains once I start implementing it all).
I've been studying this game A LOT throughout the year, there is so much more I am aware of these days that I wasn't before. Studying the character roster, strike and throw speeds, strike and throw recovery, hitboxes, hurtboxes, frame data on each individual strike. Hit and block detection, strike behavior in stun threshold, etc.
I have such a deep and thorough understanding of this game's ground game system these days, it's so easy to find set ups for a character. And I have too many with Ayane now. This game's ground game really is good, should have been figured out by everyone a long time ago (even some of the other strong players don't know what it is lol). This is such a great game and it really is balanced. There are no OP or broken BS in 5U, it's just people not knowing their match ups or not bothering to really flesh them out. You don't need a tracking move to hit Christie out of her JAK stance transitions.
I have an even bigger understanding of my character choice and each strike individually, each string. I know exactly how much frame advantage I'm left at after each knockdown, after a force tech, in stun threshold, certain counter hits (well I have everything documented anyway. Most of the numbers are in my head but not all of it, yet).
I finally understand what Ayane really is now. It's just on me increasing my play more so I can put this character out there at an even higher level than I have.
So, I may not have won a tournament major "yet" this year, but I definitely will. I learned A LOT this year as a player and I'm just going to keep moving forward and improve each day as I have been. I am growing player, but a strong one too. There isn't a single player I am afraid of in DOA and I am coming after everyone next year at the chances I get, offline. Both my mindset and mentality are much better, more positive, and more clear than they were before months ago.
In the meantime though, I will be training. I will be a stronger HajinShnobi for my Hajinmon brethren. The Hajinmon Representative will be ready.
