Vampire Savior's aerial metagame is unique among capcom fighters. It combines the chains and aerial maneuverability found in the versus series, and melds it together with the pace and framework of an ST match. So, to re-iterate from above, and from linked articles/wiki's, you generally speaking have the following aerial options in Vampire Savior(Vsav):
-Throw
-Attack(single)
-Attack(Chain)
-Attack(link)
-Attack->special/ES/EX
-Block->attack
-Aerial Evasion/movement/special move
Since this is from a perspective purely from an air-to-air standpoint - the one factor lingering outside of these options is Vsav's engine mechanic of characters having near zero (0) blockstun in the air after the complete animation of an attack.
Teching and guard canceling are not available aerial options (since every character[including Anak] can ripost from an air to air encounter...a.k.a. chicken guard)
Also to note, in similar fashion to versus games, in the same jump you can transition from an aerial block to an aerial attack, but not from an aerial attack to a block.
Its ok to be a bit Chicken:
Chicken Guarding is a very powerful tool in air to air confrontations in Vsav. It is an aerial option that every character(including Anakaris) has the option to utilize effectively. A description and definition of its uses and application has been previously written by myself on its uses above.
Air chaining - Elaborated:
In a single jump losing the ability to block after an aerial attack underlyingly infers a commitment made in jumping in. If you(as the initiating jumping character) cannot maintain a continuous string of attacks for the opponent to block aerially, you leave yourself prone to counter-attacks from chicken-guarding.
So upon picking up Vsav for the un-initiated, air-chaining on hit or block is one of highest priority habits to acquire(even flailing normals without hitting is a first initial habit to learn).
Due to the fact aerial block-stun is non-existent, the start-up of aerial attacks plays into much greater effect. Knowing the start-up of your own aerial normals compared to those of your opponents allows for your character to potentially interrupt their aerial chains mid-string. Thus, taking this into effect, which normal you begin an aerial chain must be weight with each jump.
For example, Felicia's jumping fierce punch(HP) and roundhouse kicks(HK) are among the best aerials in the game - but starting a jumping attack with these normals leaves you with only one other button to chain into with HP, and NONE with her HK - leaving her highly suceptible to chicken guarding. In this example, should they not chicken guard, and instead be hit by say, the HP, the RK will likely wiff, still benefiting you with the meter.
Also to take into account when weighing where to start an aerial chain is the height at an encounter. At the early parts of your character's jump, it is much more preferable to start with the light or medium attacks, since a longer period of time in that particular encounter will be of both you and your opponent being in the air, or your opponent possibly landing before you(Chain combos will mitigate their advantage landing before you considerably).
Should you land before your opponent [from utilizing long air chains] to keep your opponent airborn, you can knock them out of the air with a [unblockable] standing normal.
Throwing Air-throws into the formula:
Throws, ground and air, have a super turbo speed to them (1f startup)- which is to say, very fast, via the older input method of utilizing the Forward or Back directional input simultaneously with an attack. Conversely, it is EXTREMELY easy to tech throws as it is to throw. the window after a successful throw input is quite high, and it negates the soft throw damage to near nothing(but you can die from a tech'd throw). The throw buttons may vary between characters from a j.F/B+mp and\or j.F/B+HP .
This in mind, you can start your initiating jumping attack holding back, and initiating with your character's throw button. During this initiating attack, chain as you would normally. As an option select, if you hit or are out of range, you'll chain as normal, otherwise, the game will register the input as a throw, or a throw tech to what the opponent was doing.
In a defensive manner, if you delay this maneuver slightly, and the opponent does/attempts the same thing, you instead get an O.S. tech throw, or chicken guard attack, depending what your opponent leads/chains with.
This option select greatly benefits characters with medium attacks that inherently have high priority, such as lei lei(j.mp) or aubath(j.mp). to lesser extents, lilith(j.hp) and morrigan(j.hp) can use it too(utilizing their command input EX's to cover the tail ends of their chains)
In air-to-air encounters, O.S. chaining/throwing trumphs an opponent waiting to chicken guard you, as well as opponents who start their jumping chains with chaining normals that do not chain fast enough to beat out what becomes your chicken guarded attack.
Opponents who's characters can force you to block, and perform aerial chains that generate enough block push-back without allowing for a chicken guard opportunity counters this mildly(you are still not taking damage). Fast Jumping attacks (i.e. llight attacks), that manage to hit outside of throwing distance while being faster than the normal move being optiones for counters this strategy straight-out.(but they lose any chance of teching a throw if you do get in range)
Bufferable aerials & special moves
(Applicable to Demitri, Bishamon, Jedah, Gallon(talbain), Leilei(Hsien-Ko), Lilith, Morrigan, Q-bee and Zabel(L. Raptor), )
In similar fashion to standing normal moves, jumping normal moves are also bufferable in Vampire Savior. Depending on the characters set of aerial special moves, users have the option of creating varied situations which result in optimal positioning. I will give a brief rundown of each listed character:
Demitri
Demitri has two aerial special moves, his chaos flare projectile, and the drill. He can actually do a pseudo jumping kara-fireball, with a wiffing j.rk quickly canceled into fireball to build additional meter. An aerial move canceled into drill can be used to escape, by using stronger strength drills to get away from the opponent, or to add additional upfront pressure. A blocked aerial->lk drill will actually make demitri prone to chicken guarded attacks. On hit though, an opponent will flip out, and demitri's drill will wiff and/or come into contact with the opponent on the ground(depending on how high the aerial encounter happened.) [I have to test this option more, but it is infact an option that demitri has, I wouldnt mind a demitri expert's opinion weighed in on this]
Bishamon
Bishamon has the potential to cancel into his aerial projectile, but his projectile is quite straightforward, and has a bit've startup(in an aerial encounter, zero aerial blockstun allows a chickenguarded attack between the buffered normal and the projectile), so its not often a viable option in any scenario. [I wouldnt mind a demitri expert's opinion weighed in on this]
Jedah
Jedah has his aerial command throw, and aerial projectile(the "wheels"). In scenarios where jedah hits the opponent [causing them to flip out], canceling into either his aerial command throw(HCB+K) or wheels makes for advanced positioning greatly in jedah's favor. On block, it is much more favorable for jedah to catch the opponent when they're in the descent, minimizing the chances of an aerial reposté.
Gallon/Talbain
Talbain can cancel an aerial move into beast cannon(bc), in both scenarios of hitting and blocking, he reaches the ground first, which is advantageous to him upon his opponent's landing. [I wouldnt mind a gallon expert's opinion weighed in on this, and whether or not he has feasible cross under options, etc.]
Leilei
Lelei's j.lp and j.lk are the only bufferable normals she has. It is feasible to buffer into gong or pendulum off of these jumping normals - circumstances for usage of these buffered moves are limited though, due to the short range of her j.lp and j.lk normals. Canceling into gong allows for a mistiming in landing. Canceling into a low ES gong allows for a player to extend his combo into a ground combo. On block though, this is not safe.(since the extended block stun allows for significant ease of teching/gc'ing). Similarly, canceling into the pendulum provides leilei with a varied landing time, and if the opponent is not expecting it, you are provided with further mixup via pendulum canceling.
Lilith
Lilith users should be proficient in using her projectile via a tiger knee motion. The height that her soul flash comes out(above the average character's head roughly) stops many opponents from advancing on her in certain scenarios. (see/inquire in the LeiLei Thread). Lilith can cancel a soul flash off of her normal moves, but more often times than not, she is in the air for too long for a favourable ending position.
Lilith's LI(luminous Illusion, aka Raging Demon EX) can be used at the end of aerial chains to zing your opponent for a full combo, after they thought chicken guarding lilith is safe.
Morrigan
Morrigan's projectile fires at a downard arc, and really serves little to no purpose when buffered off of a normal move. It is a defensive option, whereas she vies for forward momentum more often than not. In similar fashion to Lilith, morrigan can tack DI at the end of her aerial chains to deter opponents from using chicken guard. Morrigan can also cancel into her valkyrie turn. The primary issue though, is that valkyrie turn is really a get out of jail free card. You should be using that EX raw to get out of any pressure that you're in.
Qbee
Qbee doesn't benefit from buffering into her jaguar tooth move - but if you are committing to an airdash, you can cancel directly into her jaguar tooth move at any time. Doing this allows for extra "air time," and lets Qbee completely avoid EX moves such as Talbains Dragon Cannon Wave, LeiLei Knife Waves and Sasquatch's ES Ice Towers.(and other wave related ES/EX's that I'm forgetting. Qbee can cancel into her ES's off of her bufferable normals, but the nature of her landing those normals fits no scenario where using a buffered aerial in that manner is normally possible.
Zabel
Zabel has such ridiculous normals which normally take precedence over canceling aerial moves into special ones. BUT, canceling into his up-down sawblade move provides for some interesting block scenarios(air to air, and on the ground.), and canceling into the appropriate hurricane allows for zabel to land before his opponent.
Flailing aerials
[also pertains to scenarios where the opponent is on the ground, listed as Empty air chaining in the previous post]
As said initially, once you begin to input a jumping normal attack, [unless you are anakaris] your character loses all options to block. without any opponent around, you can still throw normal attacks. This is done by rising with one jumping attack, and falling with another. The second attack can be any lighter or stronger attack button, but cannot be the same as the initial attack button that was flailed. additionally, it cannot be a raw, unbuffered special attack/EX
Two positive scenarios occur with the second normal attack:
a. The move hits, or is blocked, enabling you to chain further or buffer a special move out of it.
b. You throw a jumping opponent (which happens on lesser occasions.)
This topic can be expanded further upon in scenarios against grounded opponents, but in both cases, having a second normal move to chain into always is in your character's benefit.'
Aerial Mobility vs. expanded Options.
A major oversight that new players[I myself at times ^_^;;] have when playing characters with airdashes (leilei,jedah,zabel,qbee,) is overutilization of airdash attacks in too many different scenarios. Ideally, iad'd attacks are the only form of air-dashed attack utilized by your character. these low to the ground attacks prevent the opponent from having the time to chicken guard you [since landing after performing a low altitude attack allows you to block immediately]. Additionally, characters lose the ability to buffer normals into special moves after a command airdash.
Airdash attacks can be used out of chicken guard. This is an overlooked option against characters who's aerial block strings leave them a significant distance away from your own character(such as jedah's j.hp).
Monday, September 12, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
regurgitation 1: beginnings
A short series of things i have written up previously, this being of where and when I had begun playing fighters, and how I went about picking up Vampire Savior:
I believe it was the early fall of 2003, while in college, that I had first sat down, and played my first Vampire game. Prior to this, I had come from the Jersey Shore(yes, THAT one). Where no fighting game scene had existed, and it was only my brother and old memories of arcade crowds(far and few from where i am from) that had piqued my interests in fighting games/street fighter.
It was the start of my second year in college, and the penn state crew was at its largest and yet most infantile state. 2003 feels like not to long ago, but videos were scarce. Before torrents, there was really only direct downloading from sites, morpheus/kazaa, and the newly popular DCC(i forget what it stood for, but there were mad crackdowns on it by the end of Q1 2004 ). Anyway, I was initially a mvc2 player at that time. It was my 'gateway game.' morrigan/bb/felicia seemed like such interesting characters, you'd think that the game they came from would be just as charming. The first time playing Vampire Chronicles was overwhelmingly fun(despite what people say). At that time we didn't know what we were doing, but the way that each character did ANYTHING was just cute/amusing/entertaining.
Eventually, I found my way to kaillera & mame, where at the time there was a small scene of about 6-10 people. scattered of course (all over the world) mostly play Vampire Savior. Its interesting thinking about it now, but even with the little flow of information between the US and japan, Vampire Savior was the primary Vampire game being played. Vampire Hunter(Darkstalkers 2) and Vampire savior 2 got their runs every now and then, but Vampire Savior was always the home-base among Vampire Games. So, its also to these people whom I initially owe credit to for the first draft of the SRK Vampire Savior Wiki(the pseudonyms of which i can remember: SoldierZero, princesschibibobo, GeorgeWBush, cbyer, jmin, tetsu, dragonangel, assclown, d'nyce). There were alot of habits/skills that just developed from playing people all the time(i'm sure much in the same way the hotspot scenes develop) that you don't learn from just watching match videos.
And there's something you can tell, by just playing the game, that there was definitely more potential in it than to be just a cult following game (i.e. bloody roar). I had decided, this scene needs to develop. I can start it, despite my technical skills (because I knew i was no Justin Wong, I sadly have a ceiling to how well I can play at any fighting game). I could spearhead knowledge for the game, but inevitably geniuses would rise above, and I'd be a mediocre, knowledgeable player. I can live with that.
Contemplating what creates continuing interest in a scene, I had broken down a simple list:
-a game with depth/quality/substance
-a consistent place for players to play
-a centralized location of information on which new players could reference to, and veteran players could build upon.
-regular tournaments (in any interval of time) to maintain interest.
The game speaks for itself, and kailllera was/is a good jumping point for players to begin playing vampire, before introducing it to their local scene.
So obviously to start, Vampire Savior had no centralized location of information. Which seems very obvious, but in my opinion many persons see the way American interest in the Vampire Scene has grown, but don't recognize the roots of why. Others will look at game X, and say 'why is this beautiful game abandoned from play?' Sometimes the best approach to resolving a problem/question is to break down, isolating issues into smaller more manegable/traceable pieces. I knew giving just straight up strategies/methods right off the bat would actually shoo away certain new players. As a gateway, the first thing players look for when picking up a fighter are, "what combos/gimmicks can I do?"
So my first steps toward initiating a scene was to scour for information already out, and gauge whether it was legitimate, led to something legitimate, or a pro-tip(aka not useful & blatantly obvious). There were a sizeable amount of guides on Gamefaqs (though only a handful had gems of information). SRK had B-izm and Jchesnor/john choi(apologies, i am getting confused thinking about it on which one was pro VS, or if they're both the same person). There were a handful of threads actually explaining the mechanics of various VS characters.
Around this time, I had also found someone's giant cache of Vampire savior footage on Direct Connect(the bit-torrent at that time). This is the cache that had superplay/skillsmith videos, as well as a slew of japanese VS matches. For what was available, this was an information treasure trove, and subsequently became the base of the original VS thread.
Spring of 2004 came and went. During and after this time, I had elaborated on additional general strategies as well as a few character strategies. People took the time to look and I think there were definitely people dabbling with the game because of the thread. Kaillera had quite a few notable players come and go. From the start, I knew realistically, nothing happens instantly; and pushing for people to play only comes off as being desperate. If the thread died (and this may be conceited, but I believed that that thread was something of a lifeline for interest in VS) then so be it. I continued updating it from matches I played, japanese videos I saw. Spring of 2005, my scene held a tourney, Vampire Savior included. The NEC of 06' I ran what I think was their first Vampire Savior tourney with the Kaillera crew. Fall of 2005 actually, FMJaguar asked me, "you still want to keep writing about Darkstalkers? SRK is going to start its own wiki."
Spring of 2006 was also my 8th semester in college. I was nearing the end of my educational career, and most of the original crew at Penn state had graduated and moved on. Furthermore, the local arcade had closed, decreasing the chances of maintaining a pool of fighter' players. (Fmj moved to Vegas around this time ) I think on and off for that year I worked on the VS wiki. That NEC I had run Vampire again. & at the last two East Coast Championships I had run Vampire. Then I graduated.
Early 2007, ggpo came out. Vampire Savior was Ponder's Xmas gift that year, or the year after(or maybe even 2006 he added it, I forget). The Vampire thread was still kickin. I was aloof (sorry ^_^;
. For a short while, after VS was first released on GGPO I had run Vampire Ranking Battles(VamBats). And I've attended every other NEC. (And Evo East)
Honestly, I find having a professional job, a social life, a dedicated physical activity, and performing at some decent level in ONE [fighting] game difficult. I don't know if i'm slow or normal. But in my time aloof between the real world and the internet, the US Vampire scene has remained resilient. Different from when things had started, youtube and live streaming has become the king of internet media for this generation of fighting game persons(the japanese are so proactive!). The Japanese host regular tournaments(of both Vampire Savior & Vampire Hunter), and upload them. They even have a 'Cup' for Darkstalkers.
This is where I end [for now].
I believe it was the early fall of 2003, while in college, that I had first sat down, and played my first Vampire game. Prior to this, I had come from the Jersey Shore(yes, THAT one). Where no fighting game scene had existed, and it was only my brother and old memories of arcade crowds(far and few from where i am from) that had piqued my interests in fighting games/street fighter.
It was the start of my second year in college, and the penn state crew was at its largest and yet most infantile state. 2003 feels like not to long ago, but videos were scarce. Before torrents, there was really only direct downloading from sites, morpheus/kazaa, and the newly popular DCC(i forget what it stood for, but there were mad crackdowns on it by the end of Q1 2004 ). Anyway, I was initially a mvc2 player at that time. It was my 'gateway game.' morrigan/bb/felicia seemed like such interesting characters, you'd think that the game they came from would be just as charming. The first time playing Vampire Chronicles was overwhelmingly fun(despite what people say). At that time we didn't know what we were doing, but the way that each character did ANYTHING was just cute/amusing/entertaining.
Eventually, I found my way to kaillera & mame, where at the time there was a small scene of about 6-10 people. scattered of course (all over the world) mostly play Vampire Savior. Its interesting thinking about it now, but even with the little flow of information between the US and japan, Vampire Savior was the primary Vampire game being played. Vampire Hunter(Darkstalkers 2) and Vampire savior 2 got their runs every now and then, but Vampire Savior was always the home-base among Vampire Games. So, its also to these people whom I initially owe credit to for the first draft of the SRK Vampire Savior Wiki(the pseudonyms of which i can remember: SoldierZero, princesschibibobo, GeorgeWBush, cbyer, jmin, tetsu, dragonangel, assclown, d'nyce). There were alot of habits/skills that just developed from playing people all the time(i'm sure much in the same way the hotspot scenes develop) that you don't learn from just watching match videos.
And there's something you can tell, by just playing the game, that there was definitely more potential in it than to be just a cult following game (i.e. bloody roar). I had decided, this scene needs to develop. I can start it, despite my technical skills (because I knew i was no Justin Wong, I sadly have a ceiling to how well I can play at any fighting game). I could spearhead knowledge for the game, but inevitably geniuses would rise above, and I'd be a mediocre, knowledgeable player. I can live with that.
Contemplating what creates continuing interest in a scene, I had broken down a simple list:
-a game with depth/quality/substance
-a consistent place for players to play
-a centralized location of information on which new players could reference to, and veteran players could build upon.
-regular tournaments (in any interval of time) to maintain interest.
The game speaks for itself, and kailllera was/is a good jumping point for players to begin playing vampire, before introducing it to their local scene.
So obviously to start, Vampire Savior had no centralized location of information. Which seems very obvious, but in my opinion many persons see the way American interest in the Vampire Scene has grown, but don't recognize the roots of why. Others will look at game X, and say 'why is this beautiful game abandoned from play?' Sometimes the best approach to resolving a problem/question is to break down, isolating issues into smaller more manegable/traceable pieces. I knew giving just straight up strategies/methods right off the bat would actually shoo away certain new players. As a gateway, the first thing players look for when picking up a fighter are, "what combos/gimmicks can I do?"
So my first steps toward initiating a scene was to scour for information already out, and gauge whether it was legitimate, led to something legitimate, or a pro-tip(aka not useful & blatantly obvious). There were a sizeable amount of guides on Gamefaqs (though only a handful had gems of information). SRK had B-izm and Jchesnor/john choi(apologies, i am getting confused thinking about it on which one was pro VS, or if they're both the same person). There were a handful of threads actually explaining the mechanics of various VS characters.
Around this time, I had also found someone's giant cache of Vampire savior footage on Direct Connect(the bit-torrent at that time). This is the cache that had superplay/skillsmith videos, as well as a slew of japanese VS matches. For what was available, this was an information treasure trove, and subsequently became the base of the original VS thread.
Spring of 2004 came and went. During and after this time, I had elaborated on additional general strategies as well as a few character strategies. People took the time to look and I think there were definitely people dabbling with the game because of the thread. Kaillera had quite a few notable players come and go. From the start, I knew realistically, nothing happens instantly; and pushing for people to play only comes off as being desperate. If the thread died (and this may be conceited, but I believed that that thread was something of a lifeline for interest in VS) then so be it. I continued updating it from matches I played, japanese videos I saw. Spring of 2005, my scene held a tourney, Vampire Savior included. The NEC of 06' I ran what I think was their first Vampire Savior tourney with the Kaillera crew. Fall of 2005 actually, FMJaguar asked me, "you still want to keep writing about Darkstalkers? SRK is going to start its own wiki."
Spring of 2006 was also my 8th semester in college. I was nearing the end of my educational career, and most of the original crew at Penn state had graduated and moved on. Furthermore, the local arcade had closed, decreasing the chances of maintaining a pool of fighter' players. (Fmj moved to Vegas around this time ) I think on and off for that year I worked on the VS wiki. That NEC I had run Vampire again. & at the last two East Coast Championships I had run Vampire. Then I graduated.
Early 2007, ggpo came out. Vampire Savior was Ponder's Xmas gift that year, or the year after(or maybe even 2006 he added it, I forget). The Vampire thread was still kickin. I was aloof (sorry ^_^;
. For a short while, after VS was first released on GGPO I had run Vampire Ranking Battles(VamBats). And I've attended every other NEC. (And Evo East)Honestly, I find having a professional job, a social life, a dedicated physical activity, and performing at some decent level in ONE [fighting] game difficult. I don't know if i'm slow or normal. But in my time aloof between the real world and the internet, the US Vampire scene has remained resilient. Different from when things had started, youtube and live streaming has become the king of internet media for this generation of fighting game persons(the japanese are so proactive!). The Japanese host regular tournaments(of both Vampire Savior & Vampire Hunter), and upload them. They even have a 'Cup' for Darkstalkers.
This is where I end [for now].
Sunday, August 7, 2011
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