GGXXΛ+: Chipp Launch BnB

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/ChippBnB30f.gif

This is what I have come to think of as my BnB when using Chipp. Though it requires 25% tension, it does decent damage and isn't the most difficult thing to do. That and this combo can easily be altered to a 0% tension version which contains more hits but a little less damage ironically. (I may show a GIF of it as well.)

Let's see... what does this combo introduce as far as game mechanics go? To start, it introduces jump installing which, if I recall, was originally a glitch in the previous Guilty Gears but has since then become an actual part of the game. Jump installing is essentially inputting a jump during any move that is jump-cancellable (In this case, Chipp's slashes on the ground) but rather than jump, you input another attack but the jump remains registered; installed if you will. So when I teleport up to continue my combo, I am now able to jump even though I normally wouldn't be able to. Which is why I am able to use Alpha Blade a second time after my False Roman Cancel.

Segway! Now onto False Roman Cancels (FRC), which are somewhat of a spin-off of normal Roman Cancels. The difference being that, for one, they only cost 25% tension instead of 50%, they can be performed without connecting with your opponent which makes them useful for saving yourself from whiff openings and lastly, they can only be input during specific frames of special moves. In Alpha Blade's case, it's the moment you launch forward. (Telling the difference between a RC and a FRC is easy because FRC's show a blue flash rather than a red.

Anything else? Ah, right, uh... Guilty Gear is a bit odd in terms of crossup input. In most games when you crossup someone (go over them), you need to adjust your inputs where forward is towards that person. So if I wanted to do a super for instance, I could potentially do a quarter circle forward and then a quarter circle back once I crossed over someone and it would qualify as doing two quarter circle forwards. However, in Guilty Gear, forward is the direction your character is facing and the only way to turn around in the air is to jump/air dash. This is why jump installing is necessary because I need to turn around in mid air when I cross up the opponent and jumping is the only way to allow me to Alpha Blade in that direction.

*Side Note*

May is absolutely adorable. (The character I was beating on, though it's not the best color that I picked for her.)

GGXXΛ+: Chipp Counter-hit Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/CounterhitCombo2.gif

And so we move onto Guilty Gear X2 Accent Core Plus (What a f'n title!). I'm very new to this game but I can already understand why it's such a popular fighter, it has a lot of depth. It also has a lot of game mechanics for me to tinker with, which I am always a fan of. Though it's almost the point of being too much but this is the billionth version of the game so that's to be expected.

It took me awhile to pick a character but in the end I picked Chipp, who I believe is the fastest character in the game which is always a plus for me. 

The combo specifically is pretty simplistic. Though I say it's a counter-hit combo, that really only applies to the extra forward high-slash I do at the beginning. Far as I can tell, Chipp's forward HS is easily his best damage so adding more of it into combos is always a goal. This combo specifically does a crap ton of damage but considering the slowish speed of his F+HS, it's to be expected. Along with that, this combo also requires 50% tension because it contains a roman cancel. Mentioning that is my cue to explain it...

Roman cancels require 50% tension and are used to cancel the rest of your attacks animation and as you can imagine, it creates for a lot of combo opportunities as well as allowing you remedy a risky attack by yourself.

Far as the tension gauge goes, it's actually quite nice, I like it a lot. Most fighters have a meter but I specifically like GG's. It increases by hitting and getting hit as per usual but it mainly increases by dashing towards your opponent and being close to him/her -- essentially being in combat increases it, which I like a lot. This game seems to frown upon turtling, in-fact, staying out of combat lowers your tension to 0 and reduces the increase of it for several seconds.

I haven't been playing it too much, so I don't expect to get any good at it really but I may at some point try and get into it more thoroughly. I will say, playing it has helped my input a decent amount since it's a pretty input intensive game.

SF4AE Gouken: Corner Combo

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg141/Skiegh/SF4GoukenCornerCombo.gif

A rather beefy but long-winded corner combo for Gouken. It's damage isn't particularly great if you consider all of the meter you're using but it's worth doing and I believe it generates close to 700 stun, which is a lot since most characters only have 900. 

 

I don't find any of Gouken's combos to be very difficult to do and as such, I don't have much to say about this combo. Besides the focus cancel and maybe the very useful MP to cHP link that Gouken has, there isn't much to say; it speaks for itself.

This isn't what I was planning on my next GIF being but I've been having trouble recording video of the game I wanted to show footage of so until then, I may dabble into SF4 despite my hatred of it. On that subject though, I have been playing SF4 simply because my brother does and he's actually liked it enough to go out and buy a stick, despite the fact he said he never wanted to play fighting games at that "super high, frame data crap level -- I don't want to practice days and days just to play a game." Yet here we are, and he is doing it, though he is currently under the massive frustration that I dub "The Transition!"

Learning a stick is not easy, it took me 6 months before I was better on a stick than a pad and even now, I have fundamental problems with a stick. For him, it should be easier since he's hasn't exactly perfected anything about fighting games prior to switching to a stick like I had. Still, he's easily annoyed by the fact he can't do anything in an actual match now despite being able to do it in practice. He's convinced it's lag that somehow only sprung up due to his switch to a stick but I'm quite aware it's just him not being used to the stick yet. Doing something in a match is 100x harder than in practice and even more so, adjusting to even the slightest bit of lag is near impossible on a input device you're not used to. 

So yeah, I've been playing SF4 a decent amount and it's sadly gotten better than it used to be but only because I've adjusted to all of the stupid things the game has to offer. Which is how I feel most SF4 players are, which is sort of sad. Gouken is sort of the saving grace to this game for me, with his ability to parry attacks, he is the closest thing I can come to to a parry system.