Mordax Praetorian
ShinRa Guard
Dissidia is a big step for the Final Fantasy series, but just as its new to this genre, I imagine its brought in a lot of RPGers that are new to fighters as well
I love both RPGs and Fighters, so its really great for me to see the 2 genres mashed together in one game, but I imagine its a little daunting for people who aren't used to it
So for those of you who are new to Fighting Games, I present this general advice to help smooth your experience
I'll start by talking mostly about Offense, then if people appreciate it, I'll talk about both Defense, and some Dissidia Specific Techniques later on
1) Learn a little bit of everyone
While learning your own character is very important, its also important to know how to fight against the other characters in the game
Its good to learn at least the basics of every character, as they all have their strengths and weaknesses and you need both to play to your own character's strengths, but also to your opponent's weaknesses, so get a fair feel for everyone
2) Watch your opponent carefully - Find Openings
An all out aggressive attacking style is what we fighter gamers call "Pressure", its good for keeping your opponent on the defensive, forcing them to make mistakes, and slowly chipping away at them
But Pressure isn't the best tactic all of the time, and certain characters are far better at both pressure, and countering pressure than others, so you can't use it all the time
Sometimes, its better to watch your opponent, and find the right opportunity to attack, perhaps if you dodge something slow, you can start your barrage while your opponent is recovering from their attack, this we call "Punishment"
3) Watch your opponent carefully - Look for Patterns
As stated in point 1 - fighting games aren't just about mastering your character, you need to play differently against different opponents
Keep an eye on what your opponent does, find patterns in what attacks they perform when, whether they tend to dodge to one side or another for example
If you can predict your opponent's actions, you can gain an advantage, perhps if you know they'll dodge left you can start the attack early and catch them out
4) Mix it up a little
This is where we get into Mind Games
The fastest attack isn't always the most likely to hit
If your opponent thinks that you're going to attack, they'll block, by the time you've recovered from performing the blocked attack, your opponent will be hitting you
If your opponent thinks that you're going to attack, they'll block, if you delay your attack slightly, you can hit right as they're recovering from the block, and the situation will swing in your favor
If your opponent thinks that you're going to delay as above, they'll attack, and you'll eat a face full of sword
If you extend the logic above, you come out with a pretty complicated set of scenarios, wherin sometimes its even best to charge an opponent and move straight into a block yourself
Mostly however, you can come out above average simply by randomly using different attacks with a variety of start up times, since your opponent can never know what to expect
5) The highest damage moves aren't always the most powerful
In Guilty Gear (a fighting game series thats popular among professional players), each character has an Instant Death Move, which, as would logically be expected, kills the opponent outright if it hits, regardless of what health they have
Instant Death Moves are hardly ever seen in Guilty Gear tournaments, because the sheer risks of trying to perform one, vastly outweigh even the immense rewards of landing (hitting) one
Moves that do a lot of damage are often difficult to hit with, take a long time to "cast" (we call this time a warm-up) or have a long space of time afterwards before you can move again (we call this time a cool-down)
Both of these things increase the risk of using a move, if you miss, you leave yourself open the opponent's attacks, if you have to spend time charging, you can expect your opponent to shoot you, and if you can't move for a while afterwards, then your opponent gets to hit you with something big themselves
You have to consider not just the rewards of a move, but also its risks as well, sometimes taking the lower damage move will bring you more joy in the end
I love both RPGs and Fighters, so its really great for me to see the 2 genres mashed together in one game, but I imagine its a little daunting for people who aren't used to it
So for those of you who are new to Fighting Games, I present this general advice to help smooth your experience
I'll start by talking mostly about Offense, then if people appreciate it, I'll talk about both Defense, and some Dissidia Specific Techniques later on
1) Learn a little bit of everyone
While learning your own character is very important, its also important to know how to fight against the other characters in the game
Its good to learn at least the basics of every character, as they all have their strengths and weaknesses and you need both to play to your own character's strengths, but also to your opponent's weaknesses, so get a fair feel for everyone
2) Watch your opponent carefully - Find Openings
An all out aggressive attacking style is what we fighter gamers call "Pressure", its good for keeping your opponent on the defensive, forcing them to make mistakes, and slowly chipping away at them
But Pressure isn't the best tactic all of the time, and certain characters are far better at both pressure, and countering pressure than others, so you can't use it all the time
Sometimes, its better to watch your opponent, and find the right opportunity to attack, perhaps if you dodge something slow, you can start your barrage while your opponent is recovering from their attack, this we call "Punishment"
3) Watch your opponent carefully - Look for Patterns
As stated in point 1 - fighting games aren't just about mastering your character, you need to play differently against different opponents
Keep an eye on what your opponent does, find patterns in what attacks they perform when, whether they tend to dodge to one side or another for example
If you can predict your opponent's actions, you can gain an advantage, perhps if you know they'll dodge left you can start the attack early and catch them out
4) Mix it up a little
This is where we get into Mind Games
The fastest attack isn't always the most likely to hit
If your opponent thinks that you're going to attack, they'll block, by the time you've recovered from performing the blocked attack, your opponent will be hitting you
If your opponent thinks that you're going to attack, they'll block, if you delay your attack slightly, you can hit right as they're recovering from the block, and the situation will swing in your favor
If your opponent thinks that you're going to delay as above, they'll attack, and you'll eat a face full of sword
If you extend the logic above, you come out with a pretty complicated set of scenarios, wherin sometimes its even best to charge an opponent and move straight into a block yourself
Mostly however, you can come out above average simply by randomly using different attacks with a variety of start up times, since your opponent can never know what to expect
5) The highest damage moves aren't always the most powerful
In Guilty Gear (a fighting game series thats popular among professional players), each character has an Instant Death Move, which, as would logically be expected, kills the opponent outright if it hits, regardless of what health they have
Instant Death Moves are hardly ever seen in Guilty Gear tournaments, because the sheer risks of trying to perform one, vastly outweigh even the immense rewards of landing (hitting) one
Moves that do a lot of damage are often difficult to hit with, take a long time to "cast" (we call this time a warm-up) or have a long space of time afterwards before you can move again (we call this time a cool-down)
Both of these things increase the risk of using a move, if you miss, you leave yourself open the opponent's attacks, if you have to spend time charging, you can expect your opponent to shoot you, and if you can't move for a while afterwards, then your opponent gets to hit you with something big themselves
You have to consider not just the rewards of a move, but also its risks as well, sometimes taking the lower damage move will bring you more joy in the end
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