Foxy

... I just beat the arcade mode on hardest with Ken. Trouble is I was basically using the same techniques I used to use on the Super Nintendo on the original Street Fighter 2 World Warriors, then Turbo, then Hyper Fighting, blah blah. I still have a lot to learn about the new stuff. I won without focus punching or even counters. Used a good few Ultra combos though. Ken's UC is one of the best. [>:] There's a sick vid on youtube of all the ultra combos one after the other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xyuX7u-Xts

Does anyone else play?

Ttam Says Blarg

I have been playing street fighter forever. I like third strike better than 4 though. I find it more technical.

The_Collector

3rd Strike was definatly controller-intensive. They made IV more of an offensive-oriented fighting system, I guess to make it pick-up-and-play, beginner friendly. It was a (right to console) Street Fighter, not really surprised how it turned out. As for dissapointment? Not entirely. Still a fun game.
I find myself again, going to my classic underdog, Vega. I used this character in the Hyper Fighting days, because Ryu and Ken got overused. The Spaniard still has it, because usually the other person isn't ready for Vega.[sm=shades_smile.gif]

slayerphonics

I play it for the 360.. and all I can say is my god how did you beat it.. I get my butt handed to me on medium..

Foxy

The trick to beating the arcade mode on hardest with Ken, is to do a lot of dragon punches. When the computer knocks you down, they normally close in and go for another move as you get up. Ken's dragon punch in SF4 (as in all other SF games) is the fastest move, it beats any other (except Seth's dragon punch), so you time the dragon punch to be performed exactly as you are getting up (in fact you do the button presses a fraction of a second before getting up) as they are closing in on you, and they always walk right into it. Use the 3 punch button to do the powerful 6 hit dragon punch, but only do it when you are sure of a hit, as it leaves you wide open if you miss. If in doubt use a medium dragon punch.One of the best combos, is jump in, hard kick, fireball, hard sweep. Three hits for a third of the life bar on most characters. Focus punches are good for getting your Ultra combos out. As the computer goes for a hit, hold the focus punch (both medium punch and medium kick together). If you time it right, they walk into your block, are knocked back, and then receive a hard right to the face, which is unblockable and knocks them down. As they are falling down (they drop to their knees), you can hit them with every hit of your UC.

The amazing thing is how convoluted it is to unlock certin characters... Akuma or Gouken for example... You have to unlock the first 5 characters, then on one round fights, you have to finish the game with at least one perfect, and at least 2 ultra combo finishes, without losing a continue. I can't do that yet, not even on medium, but I'm getting there.

The Collector, Vega is hard as nails in this new game, his UC is DEVASTATING, and almost unblockable.

slayerphonics

why don't you try it on very easy..

Foxy

It goes against every fibre of my being. Whenever I buy a game, any game, I ramp it up to hardest straight away. That goes for all games, soccer, fighting, FPSes, all of them. I don't feel I've finished a game til I've beaten it on the hardest difficulty it has to offer. I also feel ashamed to play a game knowing that the AI is holding back. I want to win when it's trying its hardest.

Having said that, I may put SF4 down to medium, just to unlock characters, but lower than medium? No way, I consider that tantamount to cheating.

Only 2 games have ever given me major problems on their hardest difficulties... Half Life (the original), and Call of Duty 4. Half-life is near impossible on hardest. I think I ended up lowering the difficulty and starting again, but it was nearly ten years ago, I don't really remember.

Foxy

Right, I've unlocked most of them playing on medium. Only Gouken and Seth to go. The procedure to unlock Gouken is nuts... (Revised description from above, I was barely close!)

First you have to unlock Sakura (finish the arcade mode with Ryu), Dan (finish arcade mode with Sakura), Cammy (finish arcade mode with Bison I think), Rose (finish arcade mode with C. Viper), Fei Long (finish arcade mode with Abel I think), Gen (finish arcade mode with Chun-Li) and Akuma (after unlocking the previous 6 mentioned, finish the arcade mode with a character you have already done it with, getting at least one perfect in single round fights, and without losing a continue), then finish the arcade mode with Akuma (no requirements, just beat Seth). Now take a character you already finished the game with, and in single round fights, complete the arcade mode getting at least 5 first attacks, at least one perfect, and at least THREE ultra combo finishes, without losing a continue.

Are they serious??? When I unlocked Akuma I was pretty lucky. Ken's my strongest character, so I chose him to go through it on medium with single round fights, trying not to lose a continue. I got through all the initial fights and the rival fight without losing a continue, but I still didn't have my perfect and I was about to face Seth. I nearly quit at that point, thinking I would never be able to perfect Seth in one rounf, but then thought screw it, I'll give it a try... I opened the biggest can of wup-ass on Seth you've ever seen, just went super aggressive with the dragon punches and layed the smack down. I got my perfect and finished him with an ultra combo just for luck. I then proceeded to dance around the living room waving my hands in the air (Akuma is my all-time fave character, not to mention I PERFECTED Seth!), much to the entertainment of my partner.

feo

Ever try Ghost Recon 2 for PC on the hardest difficulty? One of the reasons the game got lower ratings than its console counterpart is because it was so goddamn hard. Serious Sam 2 on the hardest difficulty is very frustrating.
Contra is impossible.[&:]

Ttam Says Blarg

Here is the problem. Are you playing the game with a joystick or with a controller? If your playing with a controller your at a huge disadvantage. I know a guy that makes joysticks for the 360 that are amazing.

http://www.destructoid.com/playing-y...od-76989.phtml

Foxy

I had no trouble at all with Ghost Recon 2 on PC (FPSes are my speciality, not so much tactical ones, but I used to be a tournament player, so I got skillz). For difficulty, Half life 1 on hard, pwns any other FPS I've played. Operation Flashpoint was tough enough though. I don't think I ever did actually finish it, but not because of difficulty, because it was hard to tell what you were supposed to be doing at any given time. Stalker was hard as well, but not impossible. FPSes should be MUCH harder on PC than on consoles, the mouse is 10 times better a control method for that type of game.

Ttam, I'm a joypad man, I'm much better with the pad than the arcade stick. I know it's a disadvantage, and that a good player on an arcade stick has an advantage, but for me to learn a new method now would put me back to square 1. I actually prefer the 8 way digital pad for SF type moves, but the buttons on the arcade stick are much better, since the PS3 pad doesn't have 6 face buttons. Still, I've adapted, and I don't go to arcades anyway.

feo

Tournament player you say? What did you play competitively? I played CS 1.6 competitively a year or two ago. CAL O and I was a CAL M alt. I was planning on playing CSS competitively, but Ive lost all motivation []

Ttam Says Blarg

When you play in completion you need a joystick. I used to play street fighter 3 in local tournaments and it was hard. Rx is considered the worlds best Urien player. Look for the insane combo at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8TwuAU6-9o

Here is some good game play in street fighter 4. I have to say I can dominate people with Bison in 4 he is my favorite character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbhCM...eature=related

Foxy

In 2005 I was ranked 7th in Greece on Unreal Tournament 2004. I too got totally demotivated by the way competitive gaming was going, and have since stoped all pro gaming activities. I'll be completely honest and say I basically got too old for it. I'm 32 now, and have a demanding day job, therefore, I never had enough time to put in the amount of daily practice required to maintain the skills. Essentially, and I'm not embarrassed to say it, I got sick of having my butt handed to me by arrogant illiterate 12 year olds. I can handle losing to a better player, but when they start with the 'I pwned you you <expletive here> n00b', an anger wells up inside me that just has to be released, usually resulting in the breaking of either an inanimate object, or my hand.

I like CS but I'll be the first to admit that tactical is not my strength, I'm a twitch shooter (Quake 2, Quake 3, UT, UT2K4, etc), all my ability is in my reflexes and mouse accuracy, and I don't play well with others (as in team games). I don't really miss it and of course I love gaming still, just on my own, or with friends at LAN parties. Of course I am still pretty good at most shooters, but I'm nowhere near tournament level any more.

feo

Damn, ranked 7th[X(]?!? How were you established to be that rank? Was there like a country wide tourney?

Me being a CS player, I know exactly what you mean when you say "I can handle losing to a better player, but when they start with the 'I pwned you you <expletive here> n00b', an anger wells up inside me that just has to be released, usually resulting in the breaking of either an inanimate object, or my hand." Ive done a few things I regret doing whenever something along those lines happened. One time I had to buy a new screen[:-]
You should hear some of the kids that play CSS. I absolutely hate it. Losing to a baddie team because they have some seasoned ringer carry them always irritates the hell out of me. Then listening to said baddies tell us how "sucky" we are. "lern2play, bad kid!"[:@]
To be honest, I think 1.6 players are generally more mature.

Foxy

Yes, it was a country wide organised (by a chain of internet cafes here) LAN tournament, IIRC, about 1200 entrants (so not HUGE, but big enough). The top prize was only 2000 euro. The gaming community is pretty small in Greece. I used to play when I lived in the UK, but was nowhere near the top, there are just so many more players over there, so don't be thinking it's a huge acheivement. If you are good in a very developed country, you will be very good in less developed countries. But even so, the ranks at the top, as always, the gap becomes bigger and bigger. The 6th place guy beat me 15-3 on my favourite map, I couldn't touch him.

feo

PC Gamerz (largest gaming cafe here) just held a statewide COD 4 tourney. Id estimate there being maybe 150-200 competitors.
1200 entrants seems like a lot to me! I cant imagine playing in a tourney on that scale. CAL O probably had 1500 players, but all the teams were split into 6 divisions based on location if Im not mistaken.
How much did you beat the guy that placed 8th by?

Foxy

My imagined 1200 total includes those who played their matches online, and agreed the results, for qualifying purposes (and as I say I can't really remember total, it could have been half as many as that, I really don't know). The final for the LAN part of the tournament was about 80 people I think. Also though, there were a lot more UT players back then, than there are CoD players now.

I don't remember how much I beat the 8th place guy by. It was probably close. I was playing the best games of my life during that tourney, and in reality I did better than I probably deserved to, I was ranked consistently (rolling online leaderboard) between 20th and 30th during the couple of years I was playing.

Anyway, much as I'm enjoying this nostalgia, I'm afraid I must insist we get back to the thread topic. Thanks bud.

slayerphonics

Foxy,

I do the same, my friends think i'm crazy putting things on the hardest difficulty right off. But with SF4.. its just out of my league.. I never was the best at fighter games.

Nice work beating Seth perfect.. I would of danced around my living room too