Well, Ploot and I faced off for a handful of matches tonight and we both seemed about even, IE we both suck. So if anyone wants to join the suck crowd, you know where we at.

@Zero
OH YES!! Good times indeed.

General question: I was fighting Vega in Training Mode, and his claw fell off, followed by his mask. They have a "2" arrow pointing at them. Sooo... can I pick them up or something?

@roykoopa64

No, the "2" pointing at the fallen items refers to the "2nd player" (in this case, Vega) - kind of an indicator for the player to know where his stuff is. The fighter can pick that stuff back up, if he's playing as Vega. It's also an indicator for the "1st player" too - they may want to keep the 2nd player from reaching the fallen items so they can't get them back. Vega is of course a bit more deadly when he's wearing his claw. I don't think there's a difference if he's wearing his mask or not, though.

There's a similar indicator for when someone chooses to play as Cody, too. He can use a knife, and the location of the knife is highlighted with a number and an arrow pointing at it.

Awesome thanks @GameDadGrant!

If you don't mind, I have a couple more questions:

Juri: She's pretty cool, as you mentioned to Zero already on a previous page. But what I don't understand are two of her moves:

Kasatushi (down back P), it seems this is a counter type move, and I've used it sometimes in battle, but how does it work exactly? Only against certain attacks? Do I have to follow up with something?

Ultra Combo I Feng Shui Engine: Her eye glows... Now what? Is she simply more powerful?

Hakan: I don't get his Oil Rocket move, where you make a complete circle then P. How do you avoid jumping while making the full circle? Something about the timing just seems off. I'm sure other characters require this kind of input too.

@Waluigi

Juri's Kasatushi is indeed a counter-type move. She dash in a certain direction depending on which punch button you press, allow you to escape a hit and (hopefully) counter back with an attack of your own. It will absorb most hits, but not all. I admit I'm not sure which ones she can counter and which ones she can't. It's kind of trial-and-error for me, still. But yeah, if you counter something, be sure to follow it up with a move of your own. Projectile, or a throw or something, depending on how far away you are from your opponent.

The Feng Shui Engine basically allows you to combo her normal moves into one long chain... but you have to enter them yourself. In the hands of a really experienced Juri player, I suppose this could be quite devastating, but I prefer her other Ultra. It's more reliable IMHO, and the damage it causes is nothing to sneeze at.

Awesome, that's good to know about Juri.

roykoopa64 said:

Hakan: I don't get his Oil Rocket move, where you make a complete circle then P. How do you avoid jumping while making the full circle? Something about the timing just seems off. I'm sure other characters require this kind of input too.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Nice games there, Grant! Your Chun-Li is just as annoying as any of her other iterations :P. But what was that taunting all about?

@dlbman22

Taunting? Those are MIND GAMES, MAN!

I have really underestimated E. Honda. I've always thought of him as a "throwaway" character, because I've never considered him to be any kind of decent. Yet, I fell to him SO. MANY. TIMES.

I was completely baffled. How was this ridiculous character ending up on top so often? It totally didn't make sense to me.

But then it clicked. I had to watch our life meters at the top to figure it out. HOLY CRAP. Honda deals damage like no one's business! He's nearly broken, lol! But I think that's the balance of the game coming into play. Honda's not that great of a character, but he makes up for it when he can actually land a hit - a single hit (or two at most) knock Chun-Li's life meter down to like, 1/3 of the way. Chun-Li could hit him like, 5 times, and it wouldn't do nearly the same amount of damage TWO hits from him would do. The Hundred Hand Slap does major chip damage, and his Ultra? Fuggetaboutit. And it's hard to counter his attacks, too. Even the Sumo Headbutt, when it missed or is blocked, keeps Honda so far away from his opponent, counters are nearly impossible unless you're Ken or Ryu and you can throw a Hadoken his way. Yeesh. But I got some wins of my own in, so I figured out a way around it. Not often enough, though.

But honestly? My biggest problem in those matches was the lag. You seemed to deal with it rather well, but any amount of lag for me, and it's really difficult for me to compensate. I *swear* I was blocking far more often than I wasn't in those matches, but the computer didn't seem to agree. Gah. Frustrating.

But, good games. I was lost in a world of confusion for the majority of the matches, but I had fun. Let's fight again sometime - ever since my buddy sold his PS3, I need a new Street Fighter rival that'll keep me on my toes!

@roykoopa64

Yeah, those "360" moves are hard to pull off. The trick is, you don't have to do a full circle motion. Do a half-circle motion (starting forward, then working down and then back) and then hit the appropriate attack button as you continue to press up and back. And that should do it. It's a timing thing, and one that I'm not entirely comfortable with myself. As such, I really don't use those "360" characters, like Zangief and T. Hawk.

Have you guys been trying out the Trial mode under Challenge on the main menu? Each character has 24 trials, starting with very simple things like "perform a sonic boom," then getting more complex as it starts getting into combos.

Performing basic combos in this game (like a punch followed by crouching kick) sounds like it should be easy, but it's not! It's all about the timing, and there are still a lot of trials I have not been able to complete. But the coolest part of Trial mode is I'm learning how to start simple combo that can lead into someone more devastating like a Super or Ultra combo, including the use of focus attack as the starter. It's quite neat.

@GameDadGrant Thanks, I'm a little better with the "360" moves.

I'm online now (9:00pm (EST) on Tuesday, April 12th), if anyone is up for a fight, just join my lobby.

GG's, Grant. Your Ibuki is amazing, good lord...

I need to stop being so impatient against defensive players. I also need to work on the timing of my techs.

Good games, Casper! Sorry I had to drop out just as we were getting into our groove, but that's when my newborn decided she would start crying and screaming her head off, lol. Had to help the wifey.

We're putting the kid down soon, so if you're still on later, maybe we can pick it back up? Just let me know.

@GameDadGrant

Oh ok, cool. I thought you might have gotten tired of playing against my M. Bison (I'm the type of player that practices until I 'master' one character at a time). I do enjoy playing against all of your characters though. So I look forward to some more matches. When did you want to reconvene?

Also, I can't count how many failed attempts I made with trying to trick you with my warp+ultra/super combo. You adapt well!

EDIT:

BTW, player points/battle points are still calculated in friend matches!!! So I've lost a healthy amount of player points thanks to you. Hopefully I can earn them back!

Yeah, looks like those points are still tracked in Friend Matches. Not something I was expecting - I can't remember if those points are calculated in Friend Matches on the HD twins or not.

In any case... yeah, I'll hop back online now. And no worries about using the same character over and over - play how you normally would. I don't mind if you stick with one or not.

Your warp trick is nice - caught me off-guard a couple times! Although admittedly, I was able to kind of predict when you'd do it after a while. But I bet you could surprise a lot of random players online!

Alright, I've joined you're lobby.

Hey I'm in too! I think! Once one of you gets bored? Or can multiple people be in the same lobby at once? How would that work?

Hey, Grant, what's going on? You're not moving!!

EDIT:

Zero, I'll play you next.

Man, that lag is ANNOYING!!! It might be my connection. Maybe I should restart my router? GG's, though I wonder what happened with your character not doing anything a couple of those times.

Anyway, zero, I have a room open.

I don't see anything!

Wait... are we friends?