Street Fighter x Tekken x Street Fighter Catch All.

The patch to fix it is dropping tomorrow. No argument it should have been fixed sooner (IMO, it should never have launched with that issue).

I don't think the canned combos are useful, you're spending 1 bar of meter to do a combo that you could do on your own if you just spent a bit of time in training mode. That said, if certain types of combos are really difficult for you, say dash cancel combos, then it might be worth 1 meter to be able to easily pull that combo off. I know that one of Asuka's canned combos is her 20th Trial, which is a combo that involves a rather tricky dash cancel to link, so that's just one example.

Note that the canned combos are actual combos, they include links and cancels, and they don't tag. The universal chain + tag is totally separate.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

Are the canned combos useful?

No! I think they're a big liability, actually, and if you rely on them you're cutting yourself off from actually learning. You're basically committing to it for an obscene amount of time, which makes it very punishable. Think of it like an H attack that lasts a few seconds. I suppose if you could confirm into them reliably they'd be useful, but at that point you might as well learn a bread and butter combo.

Speaking of which, is there a way to turn them off? I occasionally will accidentally activate one.

They're no more of a liability than an EX move if it gets blocked. It's all in how you use them, and you have to set up for them properly.

For example, one of Asuka's quick combos starts with Double Lift Kicks, so you could hit confirm into that quick combo off any move that can be special cancelled. The real question is, for that 1 bar of meter, could you have done more damage on your own (actually, 2 bars in this case because the quick combo includes an EX)? That's the real tradeoff with quick combos, so you have to determine on your own if you could have done better.

I don't know of a way to turn them off, maybe you could just set both slots to empty like with gems?

I used the canned combos as a way to learn combos I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. In the Customize screen there is a Preview option that shows you not only the combo in action but the inputs used. Ryu and Ken's canned combos are pretty easy to just pull off on your own and are more useful that way. One of Juri's combos is pretty technical and only executable at about 25-0% distance facing a corner. So, use them to learn or to do stuff you can't do yet.

Also, when examining them notice how much meter is required for the full string. It can range from 0 to full.

BishopRS wrote:

I used the canned combos as a way to learn combos I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. In the Customize screen there is a Preview option that shows you not only the combo in action but the inputs used. Ryu and Ken's canned combos are pretty easy to just pull off on your own and are more useful that way. One of Juri's combos is pretty technical and only executable at about 25-0% distance facing a corner. So, use them to learn or to do stuff you can't do yet.

Also, when examining them notice how much meter is required for the full string. It can range from 0 to full.

Hmm that's a good point. If pulling off the combo manually uses more than one meter it's more economical to throw out the autocombo. I definitely think they are a liability as well and wouldn't recommend using them, but if they can save you meter....

It's not possible for the quick combo to use less meter than doing the combo manually. Activating the quick combo is 1 bar alone, and if the combo itself uses any then it requires that you have enough meter. If you don't, the quick combo will simply abort when it reaches an EX or Super.

What it comes down to is that if you can do it manually, there's no benefit to using the quick combo. However if you cannot do it manually, and it's a potentially high damage combo, then you might consider learning how to hit confirm into it and use your meter for the damage. Some of these combos probably do significantly more damage than just an EX move would at the same meter cost.

EDIT: Also, how are you accidentally throwing these out? The buttons are complete opposites on the stick. Are you just mashing butans with your hands like all those fabulous b@stards?

ahrezmendi wrote:

EDIT: Also, how are you accidentally throwing these out? The buttons are complete opposites on the stick.

I know, I know. Sometimes my hand slips, I guess. Honestly I'm not sure.

You haven't done enough to prevent cases of finger lapsing. Solution: Bind everything to FP and mash.

ahrezmendi wrote:

You haven't done enough to prevent cases of finger lapsing. Solution: Bind everything to FP and mash

EDIT: I see what you did thar.

ahrezmendi wrote:

It's not possible for the quick combo to use less meter than doing the combo manually. Activating the quick combo is 1 bar alone, and if the combo itself uses any then it requires that you have enough meter. If you don't, the quick combo will simply abort when it reaches an EX or Super.

What it comes down to is that if you can do it manually, there's no benefit to using the quick combo. However if you cannot do it manually, and it's a potentially high damage combo, then you might consider learning how to hit confirm into it and use your meter for the damage. Some of these combos probably do significantly more damage than just an EX move would at the same meter cost.

EDIT: Also, how are you accidentally throwing these out? The buttons are complete opposites on the stick. Are you just mashing butans with your hands like all those fabulous b@stards?

That's how I figured they worked before. Ok so they are back to being useless. Just get into training and practice those links!

Bunch of news about the Vita version just came out. It will have cross-platform play with PS3, and if you have both the PS3 and Vita games then you get the extra characters unlocked on PS3 for free (not surprising, they did this with U. MvC 3 too).

I just hope there's a way to tell it "please do not match me with PS3 players", because I don't know if I'd be comfortable facing stick players with a Vita as my controller.

Interview with Seth Killian from Dualshockers about the Vita version:

I did a double take when he said you can do multiplayer over 3G. I will believe it when I see it, because right now I cannot see how they could possibly pull off synchronous multiplayer over 3G at all, let alone with a game as lag-sensitive as a fighter.

The rest you've heard before, full roster of characters, cross-platform play, plus they have some augmented reality stuff in the works (my guess: fighting arena overlayed on video from the camera, ala Mortal Kombat).

FingerCramp rehab guide to Kazuya:

Some really good stuff in here, and he covers all the reasons why I switched to Juri/Kazuya as my main team. He's got insane damage from simple combos, he has a ton of mixup, good pokes, and a lot of moves with invulnerability to various attacks. His high damage makes him a great pick for 2nd on your team, get in there with someone who has a good Cross Rush move (Juri's Pinwheel, Ken's SRK, Rolento's Patriot Wheel, etc.) and good poke, then finish up with a heavy hitting Kazuya combo. In training mode I regularly get 400 to 450 damage combos with him using 1 bar of meter and extremely simple combos.

Replay analyzer and more free gems tomorrow. I'm about to get back into this after a week of being hardcore into The Old Republic, so hit me up on XBL if you want to play some matches.

Details on the upcoming balance patch and first for-pay gems:

http://shoryuken.com/2012/04/27/stre...

The high profile infinites are gone (Kazuya re-stand, Xiaoyu M Hakkesho, Jin target combo float, Pac-Man LP/LK). A few characters have had some other balance changes, like Zangief lost an overhead, Ogre can no longer follow-up a c.FP, and Rufus can't cross-up with dive kick as easily. Notable for me are the Juri changes, her LK Pinwheel is now -5 on block (up from -2) and her MK and FK versions are now -10 on block (up from -7 and down from -14 respectively), so hit-confirming any Pinwheel is more important now. You can probably still toss out LK Pinwheel and not get punished most of the time, since 5 is the median startup for a light attack, but it's not guaranteed safe anymore.

The gem packs are meh. $3 for the new assist gems, $1 each for the new SF and Tekken specific gems. The new assist gem they call out gives +20% to your vitality, but it takes up at least 2 gem slots. Could be a way to make lower HP characters a bit easier to play, but considering how easy it is to get 400 to 500 damage combos in this game I don't see this changing things at all.

7inchsplit wrote:
1Dgaf wrote:

It doesn't say gems will be free, it says nine packs of gems are free. I think, though I'm not sure, that there are substantially more gems in the game even after those are given away. Go and have a look at the 'hacked gem list' videos I posted.

EDIT:

And they're still calling the gems 'DLC'.

Ok, seriously? At this point, with nine packs coming out for free, I think we need to wait for the actual announcement that they're going to sell gems before just assuming that it's going to happen.

Ahem.

*Pops collar, brushes lint from shoulders, spins on spot. Finger guns.*

Yeah, that was one point I didn't disagree on. I will give Capcom props for getting their pricing in order, as opposed to absurdly priced Soul Calibur 5 costume content ($3 for maid outfits...)

We will disagree on pricing. I don't think there's any good price for that sort of content, apart from free. (Which I'm not sure is even a price.)

Oops, I wasn't clear that I meant costume pricing. I'm not paying for gems.

Sorry, I misunderstood. I still don't like things being on disc, but if Capcom want to earn money by selling cosmetic stuff, I have no problem with that. Quite a few times in SSFIV I wished I had more stages to choose from.

Speaking of which, we're about to start a month of Super SF4 AE on the weekly Fight Nights. Check out the thread for details, everybody should show up!

Here is a collection of great matches from some of the top players in Street Fighter:

Poongka is particularly nasty with Ryu, but the one who impressed me the most was -6 with Julia. Well worth watching.

Damn you, Capcom, you're making me eat an entire humble pie with this:

So I still love this game, it's the most fun I've had with a fighter since Soul Calibur 2, but this is the worst decision ever made in the history of ever. 1Dgaf was right, Capcom screwed this up.

Gems are banned for Fight Nights as of now.

News! The release date for the 20 additional characters have been moved up to July 31st. In addition, a patch is coming to address balance issues, specifically:

Auto-block and Auto-tech gems now require more meter. As well, the gems will now take away additional meter if you block or tech.
Players will have the option to disable Quick Combos with the Quick Combo DLC. The team is also looking for a solution to accidental quick combos.
Rolento standing LP blockstun reduced by 2 frames.
Xiaoyu cr.HK phoenix loops only possible 3 times.
Shoto hurricane kicks have had their hitboxes severely reduced. Blockstun on each of the moves has now been reduced by 5 frames.

Hooray for no more Rolento LP pressure, that crap is absurd. I like that you can disable Quick Combos if you don't use them, though I've yet to accidentally hit one myself I'm sure others have had this issue.

New characters are out today, and Desk released a Sakura combo involving charge cancels to link moves she hasn't been able to link before:

This game is the midweek madness deal on Steam for $13. I think it's a good deal at that price, if you have a PC which can run it. If anybody is interested in playing, I'll gladly join you.

Just in case anybody here still plays this game (so sad, I really wanted this game to take off), the DLC is on sale starting today for both XBL and PSN. 25% off the additional characters, and the costumes are discounted a bit more (looks like 33% to 50% off). Source.

The v.2013 patch also dropped today, addressing a TON of balance issues/bugs with the game. If you haven't played in a while, or were put off by balance issues before, give it another look. Full system changes can be found here (Japanese only, so load in Chrome).

I discovered that I was much more capable of getting into dota 2 as a competitive game than fighting games. I loved the depth there but could never develop the muscle memory. Likely due to lack of patience with the repetitive practice necessary.

Of course, I'm still looking forward to watching evo this year!

SF x Tekken should be a lot more competitive now. They fixed the time out issue, they made Pandora actually useful (you can use it in combos now!), they fixed gems, the list goes on.

This game is the weekend deal on Steam for 66% off. That's $10 if you want just the game, $20 for game + all DLC, or $13 for all the DLC if you already have the game.

EDIT: It's worth noting that the PC version does have the 2013 balance patch, which includes this batch of system changes that make the game move a lot faster. The days of Street Fighter X Timeout are thankfully gone.