Got Street Fighter IV

Had a few more online matches today, with mixed results.

I won a few, lost a few, but the losses were compounded by my first encounter with the dreaded lag. It wasn't huge, only half a second or so, but that's still gamebreaking, because by the time you've blocked that Hadoken, it's already hit you, and it means that any kind of combos are impossible. It brings the whole thing down to luck, which is neither fun, nor very Street Fighter.

I haven't had too much cause for complaint though, and the people I've fought have all been decent sorts, no spamming, no trash talk, no cheapness. I guess I've been lucky there.

Whilst online, I've tried to get a better feel for some of the lesser used characters. I'm amazed at myself, but I don't rate Akuma, he simply takes too much damage and his Raging Demon is very difficult to hit with, unless you're fighting a newbie. Seth's a big waste of time, he's too watered down in playable form, and I haven't found anyone using Balrog, Rufus or El Fuerte.

I have fought against a very competent Dhalsim, an extremely decent Bison, and someone who knew Abel far better than I do. Needless to say, I lost heavily in those instances.

For the most part, I've spent my time trying to better understand Gouken and Zangief. Gouken for the reason that many people simply don't know what to expect, and he can chain into his Ultra from a simple throw, and Zangief because he's got power to burn. There are a few Zangiefs online, and he's simply overwhelming in good hands. I'm not there yet, but I'm learning.

I've beaten 13 Characters Arcade Modes so far.

Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, Sakura, Dan, El Fuerte, Cammy, C. Viper, Abel, M. Bison, Fei-Long, Guile, & Rose.

Sakura, Cammy, Ken, & Fei-Long are my best characters so far.

A few more observations;

Think all the fighters have the same amount of health? Think again. Seth and Akuma are among those with significantly less than average, whilst Sagat and Zangief have half as much again. Sure the health bar is the same length, but that's a lie.

Also, moves do less damage the lower your opponent's health. For instance, Akuma's Wrath of the Raging Demon will inflict 600 points on Zangief at full health, yet when Zangief is down to almost zero, damage is scaled back to 520. So, to get the most out of your Ultra and Super moves, you need to use them as eraly as possible.

Why did they do that?

I can kind of understand why they'd vary the health, but I think they should shout about it more; I only found out this morning by playing around in training mode.

Using Akuma, Raging Demon on Seth did 590 odd damage points, yet Seth was down to 1/3rd of his health bar. The same move on Ken did 570 damage points, but Ken had half his life remaining. So Seth has total vitality of about 900, Ken has around 1150.

Aren't there some sort of character description o something that should tel you that?

No. Nothing at all, that's why it's taken me two days to pick up on.

Seth has 800 and Ken 1000.

Where'd you find that?

If you beg me, I may provide you with the links to the top SF4 strategy/informative sites.

Spoiler:

I'm already browsing Shoryuken.com, but the eventshub is new to me. Thanks.

Meh, if I had more free time, I'd have already bought it and used that data too.

i played this today i beat seth on my first try on whatever the default difficulty is, second round caught me off gaurd though hehe

I honestly can not use El Fuerte with any decency. He has too many technical attacks!

i have yet to try that guy

Trust me, even after you figure out how to use most of his techniques he's a whirlwind of frustrating timing, and pain in the ass techniques.

man, i was looking forward to playing him

You might as well for completion's sake.

I have yet to unlock Akuma, Seth, and Gouken, so I don't know if you have to beat every other character's arcade mode to get him.

I'm assuming so for Seth, though.

i didn't buy it though, i played it at my friends house

Nnnnnnng I wanna play this!

get a friend to buy then play it like i did

To unlock Seth to need to beat Arcade mode with everyone else, which is a pain, especially as he's not worth it. Gouken and Akumamost certainly are though.

There's a lot of disagreement over exactly how to unlock the two of them, but I did it like this;

Arcade mode, set difficulty to easiest, rounds to one. Pick Ryu, or someone with a QCF fireball attack. Spam it to get a perfect in the first round. For Akuma, I also got one Ultra combo finish, but the main requirement is not to lose any rounds, even against Seth.

For Gouken, you'll need to have unlocked Akuma, and finished Arcade with him. Same as before, finish the first fight with a perfect, ditto the second, then get three Ultra Combo finishes. Again, no continues allowed, when you beat Seth, Gouken will appear and challenge you. Beat him and he's yours.

As for El Fuerte, most of his special moves are triggered from his weird running move, which makes him unpredictable and difficult to use. That said, his anti-air leg throw has really high priority, meaning it'll take down just about anything short of an EX or Super Dragon Punch.

I'll just get Seth for the sake of completion.

And by god it is a pain in the ass to use Chun-Li, Bison, and Guile Super and Ultra Moves.

If it hasn't changed, Guile's is hold a dircetion for a few seconds, Then whip to the opposite direction and fire away. ...Ofcourse, I've never figured out how to do his Ultimates or anything, I used to assume it was his backflip kick move. Kinda like in the old cartoon of Street Fighter. I can remember him doing it and it fired off a sort of Sonic Boom and it hit Bison's helicopter and made it go "boom".

The 'charge' characters Supers and Ultras are usually;

Charge Back for 2 seconds, then quickly forward, back, forward and all three kick / punch buttons. Guile's is Charge down-back, then down-forward, down-back, up-forward and all three Kicks.

Have you done many of the challenges Baal? Some of the combos required there will blow your mind.