Week 12: Learning AF- Gloomy Invitation

     Welcome to another week of Learning Anime Fighters! This is an ongoing blog where we discuss learning Anime Fighters (AF). This week is a little bit spare due to two reasons. One, we are now a week after our first major offline tournament so I did not need to train as hard for it. Two, I was super busy this week and I just got tired and went to bed early a lot, late night being my main gaming time.

    Related to this, is this week's blog is probably going to be much shorter compared to my previous ones. Are we winding down? Maybe. Or I could just hit a slump for a week and maybe I'll be back at this week. I guess we shall see. However this onward to this week.

Monday

- Since the tournament is done I've decided to jump back into UNICLR and started with Hilda's trials.

- Hilda us so much work but her UNICLR trials do feel much easier compared to her UNI2 stuff which is par for course for the more harder characters (Seth/Bya/Chaos) that I have done so far.

- UNICLR's Seth's 4-8 and 4-10 done. I'm finally beginning to understand the delay necessary for his 623x attack which really makes these combos so much easier.

- Add 4-13. The delay just makes sense now.

- With 4-2 I realize I should start with my back to the wall so the wall bounce part becomes easier to pull off and that worked.

- 4-15 done. Actually one of the easier ones once I got the timing for 214[B], FF Kick down.

- I have actually completed the last Seth trial's in UNI2 so I realized I just need to do 4-16 and 5-2 and 5-3 and I'll be done with Seth's trials in UNICLR and that blows my mind.

- 4-17 done. Noticing the 214[C] after Cast Veil Off (CVO) needs to be timed compared to UNI2 where I can just do it. Good to know.

- 4-18 done. Since I did it in UNI2 I knew the UNICLR one could be done.

Tuesday

- UNICLR's Seth 5-2 done. Really came down to delaying the FF Kick considerably. 2 more to go!

- 5-3 done. Just like 5-2 you got to delay FF Kick.

- 4-16 done. As the last one this really felt like the most technical especially when it came down to the timing. The micro-walk after 214C into the 6C, small delay Veil Off (VO) is really the hardest part.

- On that note we are completely done with Seth in UNICLR. This is something I thought I could have never done. Seth in UNI2 is a different beast but this has motivated me to keep at it.

- Akatsuki's 5-2 done. Just really need to train my muscle memory to do aerial B,C,A which felt foreign to my fingers.

- Speaking of buttons: My button layout for all anime games might be a bit unique and is set up thus. A,B,A+B,A+D on my top row, C,D,B+C,A+B+C on the bottom row. The back four buttons can be changed around but I will not compromise on the placement on my A,B,C,D as a box. This is a rollover from my Marvel and KOF days.

- Turns out Akat's 4-7 can be done without the re-jump 2C. You can just do 2C after the neutral aerial C. Make it so much easier.

- This is not possible in UNI2, you need to do the re-jump 2C. However the UNI2 starts with 2A,2A whilst UNICLR's variant is 2A,2B so maybe the 2A,2B has less hit-stun? Testing needed.

Wednesday

-  Akat's 4-12 is done as well. Used the same strat above and did the aerial 2C after the neutral aerial C. This is way is sooo much easier.

- 4-5 done. Such a strange combo and nowhere near optimal. Really had to get used to delaying the jumping A,B as the opponent was descending but early enough to have time to do the dashing B.

- 100% Akatsuki in both games now. Feels good.

- The only characters I have picked up in UNICLR and I have no 100% yet are Merkava, Hilda and Bya. 8 100% out of 11 characters is pretty impressive.

- Turns out you CAN do the UNICLR combo with 2A,2B,C,6C in UNI2 and do not need to do the re-jump to get aerial 2C. So 2A,2B does have less hit stun. Nice to know.

- This will probably be a short 'Learning AF' week. I have been getting really sleep come Midnight. I've actually been doing most of my combo trials during the day.

- I have also fully embraced 'Tainted Grail Conquest' this week and been playing a lot of that too. This is good because literally in my last Learning AF blog we were discussing me getting stuck and frustrated.

Thursday

- UNI2's Seth harder Tiger Knee (TK) 623x combos still feel out of my reach.  214B,214A,214[A],7 combos especially. However I originally thought I could do do any of Seth's advanced combos and look at us now. I will keep at it.

Friday

- Making progress with the above combo. I think I understand when to do the 214B now and I found a guide that explains you need to do it early and I agree. It actually needs to be done as soon as the input the TK 623B and you do the 214B as he vanishes.

- I can do a variant of this combo off 2C (2 hit), 214[C] combo now. I also found out that surprisingly 2C is safe for a sweep so that is a good hit confirm combo starter.

- Spent a good portion of my afternoon working on Seth's hard combos and got no success. Bruv it should not be this hard.

- I did finally beat Tainted Grail Conquest tho. Turns out I just need better cards and a better approach to certain battles. A RAVE for it will probably be coming soon.

- I am thinking of not wasting a whole afternoon again. I think I'll put a limit on how many times I can fail the Seth combos and than move on to Blazblue Central Fiction or go do some UNICLR characters I have not complete/ started.

- Speaking of, looks like Linne in UNICLR has the infamous 2369 air fireball combos I have heard about. Ironic that UNICLR has the harder combos for once not the other way around cause UNI2 definitely did not have any combos like that.

- Also to make her even harder is she still has her aerial 6[C] combos which anyone who reads this blog know I can not stand doing. Akatsuki's combos with aerial 6[C]... *shudder*

This is my new most hated move. Move aside Akat's aerial 6[C]

Saturday

- Break Night. Spent a good portion of my day helping at my church for a Mother's Day luncheon. Was super tired at the end of the day and just wanted rest.

Sunday

- Break Night. It was Mother's day and I was exhausted at the end of the night again. This weekend was a real bust for any video games LOL.

WHAT'S NEXT

    Now I've finally beaten Tainted Grail Conquest, I think I might actually start playing Darkest Dungeon 2. I do not know why I've been putting it off and the wild thing is I did the same for the original Darkest Dungeon and I ended up loving it. Hopefully the same thing will happen with DD2.

    Anime Fighters-wise, I think I'll focus mostly on UNICLR this week with some BB: Central Fiction thrown in. I can justify it by saying I ain't entering a UNI2 tournament soon so I can play what I like.

    I know this week was shorter but I still have a drive to get better at AF so we will not be stopping anytime soon.

AV

    

Learning AF: Week 9- Storytime

 Welcome to Week 9 of Learning Anime Fighters (AF). This is an ongoing blog about me picking up anime fighters.

    This blog is done chronologically so follow along as we explore Anime Fighters and more.

Monday

- This week we get started with Seth as promised.

- I've actually always had an interest in Seth even going back to BBTAG, he is even my current 3D avatar for the 'arena' sections.

- Seth is tough tho, I am getting stuck doing his advance combos. Not a good sign lol.

- I think I might have to switch back to my Hori. With Eclipse, my current 'main' stick I've noticed I have issues doing 236 into 214 motions. I originally noticed that when I using Kaguya previously.

- I figured it out, unlike Kaguya, there is a slight delay with Seth's 236 into his 214. I am thankfully because switching from stick to leverless between games is okay but switching sticks in the same game might be a bit much.

- Okeeeey the expert combos for Seth are ridiculous. I've never had a character where I could not do any of their expert combos. His skill ceiling is really high it seems.

- I seem to have a lot of issues but the key one is getting confused when he switches side, the timing for 2A+B into 6A and the jump cancel into 6C window.

Tuesday

- There is no visual aids for Seth's combo structure which is wild because how complex it is. Something this complex is normally great material for Youtube videos, like how to Korean Backdash in Tekken. I have found nothing tho.

- Finally able to get Hyde's 5-15 combo on the 2p side aka the side where I get less accidentally DPs. Hyde as a main character is funny cause he is not Akira from Virtua Fighter complex but he sure is not Ken from Street Fighter easy to pick up either.

- Add 5-16. I knew once I got focused I could do the 236B,6A dash C, 236A,6B combos if I swapped sides. I do not understand the need for delay 236B,6A, I just do at my normal timing at it works.

- 5-11 done. Its is looking likely we might finally finish Hyde today.

- Spending so much time in the trials I wish there was a button to automatically go back to the 'Challenge Select Screen' like hit RB to go back to that menu OR the cursor stayed on its last selected option. Just a quality of life thing.

- Hyde's 5-6 is soo dumb and it is not even optimal but I finally got it. I had to move the opponent closer to the wall so the dash B would connect sooner. All Hyde's combos are done and it is pretty good because I started with 14 out of 18. Feeling accomplished. I do not see myself main-ing Hyde, getting his 214 series delay down takes work and I rarely main protagonist.

- Bought Darkest Dungeon 2 as I promised myself I would in my Triple I blog. It'll be a fun game to play on nights when I am taking breaks from AFs.

- Finished Blazblue story chapter in BBTAG. I keep forgetting to mention I do enjoy that this story mode is fully voiced and the UNI cast even gets English voice overs which they have never had. I am also knowledgeable on BB lore so it was cool all the references that showed up during it aka Hazama not being reliable, Ragna, Jin and Noel's complex relationship and more.

- We will be doing its Story mode for the rest of the week, so the next chapter will be the Persona cast.

Wednesday

- Spent a lot of time working on Seth's combos. Made zero progress. This feels like my first execution wall I have hit in this game.

- Found out you can change the color you character has on by default in a menu which is pretty dang cool. Nice work UNI2.

- Completed the Persona chapter of BBTAG story mode, a unique one where the character actually did not split up for once and stayed as one big party. My own critique is it would have been nice to had the option to choose whom you could team up with when the time came up instead of being thrown into default teams. Also I have never played a Persona game before but I feel I'll like to give Persona 4 Golden or Ultimax (the fighting game) a try.

- Nakayama is the most white bread of protagonists tho. Hopefully he has some rizz in the RPG.

- RWBY story mode is next

- I can complete Seth's combos in BBTAG. I know BBTAG Seth is 'easy mode' but hey its something. I do like the concept of Seth, if only he was not so hard to use.

- UNI2: Mika's 5-10 actually was not hard, it really came down to timing her 2B, delay 2C, 3B to make her push Orie over her head into the rest of the combo. Interesting concept and different enough to change up her combo trials.

- Carmine's 5-12 combo completed. Really need to get the hang of the timing for his 2C,jc,6B and jump [C],B,3B,2C combo ender but they feel doable. His one combo with multiple plinking gives me Hilda PTSD tho.

Thursday

- Interesting Knee, a Tekken legend, has spoken up about Tekken 8 and saying it is not fun to play. I already made up my mind about it ages ago but it is nice to see other people have issues with it and its identity as well.

- Granblue Rising tonight. Started with Siegfield and I can see why people like him and gravitate towards him. Strong attacks, good buttons. If Gran was not the protagonist of this game I could see Siegfield filling that spot. Completed all his combos too which was nice especially after the struggles I have had with Seth the last couple nights.

- Speaking of Gran, completed most of his combos but his last one has some weird timing to it. I can not seem to get it so I decided to skip it for now.

- I have found a small, feisty female character I do not dislike. Cagliostro is actually pretty cool and I love her Super Skybound Art where she turns folks into a statue of herself. Her combos require a bit of patience especially with her multi hitting close H to get more hit stun for them but she is done.

- Lancelot feels like Rising's version of Seth. Quick, multi hitting moves, ninja like stealth. Only difference is his combos are much easier LOL.

- Charlotta is another small character with a feisty attitude. I do not mind her tho, definitely would not main her. Most of her combos relies on her multi hitting 'Sword of Lumiel' and understanding the timing of when you can attack again. All complete.

- Yuel's combo were not that difficult but I feel as 'stance' character she might have more sauce. Overall, I like her design and she hits hard.

- I must say, I do like Rising's sound design. The epic clash when you do a Guard Break into a Raging Strike is pretty nice.

- Finally got Gran's last combo. I realized after watching the demo you need to wait for the last hit of fireball to hit before you can combo them for more height. It is a pretty technical combo for a beginner character.

- On that note, 3 more character and I am done with all recommend combos in Rising. I am calling them recommend combos because they actually do not feel like combo trials at all. I also notice you get no reward for doing them.

- Will probably be starting the Story mode for Rising soon as well, it seems to be a big one so it'll be a over time investment.

- Finally got Akatsuki's 5-8. The delay window for 2C into C is so precise. It really had me

in fits for days now. One more and its that silly one with the Jump 6[C].

- I have completed all of Akat's trials. This 'easy to pick up character' has some serious

complexities. 5-10 made me depressed for so long. I've been low key working on Akat since Week 3. 

- Lets chat about it. First the delay is 100% required after his C, the 236A needs to hit at the

right spot too. For the jump cancel Jump 6[C] I realize the best way to do it is to just hold 9 until he jumped and then inputted the 6[C]. I do not have it down to a science but I am much more consistent. Finally and this was the part that was killing me when I sometimes fluked the Jump 6[C] is the dash into 2C is a microdash, not a full one. Thanks to 'Demo assist' I was able to work only on it and got the timing down.

Friday

- In what feels like a big accomplishment I finally got Chao's 5-14 down. It takes a lot of precise hand movement and some great timing but it is done. We only getting started tho cause we are still only at 7 out of 15 for his expert trials.

- Hooked up MidNite to finish out some Rising combo trials? Rising was in the middle of maintenance. Since I had it out I played some DNF Duel instead. Man, Monk is so much fun.

- Completed RWBY's Story chapter. Unlike the Persona one, Ruby kept losing her partners but I was at least able to use characters I like, like Hazama, Es and Waldstein. I also cracked up when the game paired RWBY's scythe/ rapier combo vs UNI's Scythe/ rapier team.

- The ending was cool but now I need to figure out why Blazblue's chapter does not have 100% like everyone else? Maybe it ties into Chapter 2? Will continue this Story mode in the new week.

- Small, feisty female fighters seem to be an Anime Fighter trend but surprisingly I do not mind Es. I actually like her a lot. She reminds me of Saber from Melty Blood and she even has moves named after the Round Table (Saber being a alternate King Arthur and all).

- I also like how Es can combo into her command throw into another combo and she can combo into her assault (C) which I think is the only character that can do it. Now I think about it, I did not mind using Ruby during her chapter, her voice can get on my nerves tho.

- I think it is the loud pitch  voices they pick for these female character that throw me off. Linne for example is another small female character I do not mind but its because she has a very low voice.

- Chaos' 5-9 is now done. You really need to be aware to use him properly and timing hits with his 22x Azi attacks isn't easy. Slowly but surely.

- Okay, I thought Seth's trials were hard, Yuzuhira's combo ain't any easier. A lot of fast button presses, changing sides mid combo and more insanity. We have hit the specialists characters and they are not joke which is wild because the regular cast ain't easy to use either lol.

Saturday

- I have told my wife many times and it might even be a meme between us that 'x' character combo trials are the hardest in the game and a couple hours or days later I would master them. However I think I have reached the hardest combo trials and thy name is Vatista.

- When I am having trouble with the easy combos I know I have a problem. The reverse charging is throwing my brain off and I actually use charge characters. Leona from KOF is one of my favorite characters and she is a charge character but this. It wrinkles my brain.

- Thankfully she does not have a loud obnoxious voice because combine that with the difficulty of these combos and it would have been too much.

Sunday

- You know what day it is. Break Night.

- So my normal Sunday goes like this. I wake up early for church, do some running around with my family afterwards, have some lunch and then I take a long nap till the evening.

- Evening, we go to my mother's house for dinner, we watch some tv shows with her and by the time we get home from there I am pretty warn out and I do not think about gaming. Add a typically early day at work the next day I normally like to get a good nights sleep as well.

- I do not see any of these changing anytime soon so Sunday break nights will stay a thing.

WHAT'S NEXT

    So this week is my Anniversary week (16 years!!) and more specifically it is Thursday. We will probably not be doing much gaming on that night.

    We will be starting Darkest Dungeon 2 this coming week, finishing out BBTAG's story mode and probably getting a start in Rising's story mode too. Most of my other games have kind of fallen off due to my focus on UNI 2 so we will bring some of them back. I still need to beat Tainted Grail Conquest and I want to play more Remnant From the Ashes too.

    We however won't be slacking on UNI 2 and with the 3 biggest hurdles ahead of me in terms of Vatista, Yuzuhira and Seth which I'll try to conquer them as well. I will also be preparing for the upcoming tournament Cincy Clash on May 5th where I'll be entering my first UNI 2 tournament. Wish me luck! I also can not believe this upcoming week's blog will be the 10th one as well. Quite an achievement.

AV

Learning AF: Week 8- Eclipsed

    Welcome to Week 8 of Learning Anime Fighters (AF). This is an ongoing blog about me picking up anime fighters and also learning a leverless controller and brand new arcade stick. 

    This blog is done chronologically so follow along as we explore Anime Fighters and more.

Monday

- So it was teased last blog but this week we can discuss it in full. We got a brand new stick baby!! As you can clearly see it is a Qanba Drone 2. I mainly brought this because I need a 'cheaper' stick but I want PS5 compatibility (which most games are played on now) without breaking the bank. I see myself buying a PS5 eventually (because Xbox isn't making any moves) so it can be used on that too.

 - This new stick (tentatively called Eclipse) is already doing wonders. It is named Eclipse because it arrived on the day of the solar eclipse (4/8) and I actually saw it in person.

- During my first day practice with it, some of my Kaguya in UNI2 combos were not connecting at first but after some practice it felt good again. Felt I just need to adjust to it.

- Eclipse is already paying dividends. Sure I was making head room with my old Marvel vs Capcom 3 Hori Stick but I have been doing better with the Qanba. Byakayu's expert combos are now 8/13 and I think I finally understand how he works.

Tuesday

- Mostly a Tainted Grail Conquest night. Doing much better progression-wise until I screwed up during the second boss battle. Still enjoying it and I feel once I've beaten it at least once, I'll put up a full length RAVE for it.

- Londrekia is finally done. I had 2 combos which refused to work but after getting Eclipse, I was able to get both done after a couple tries. I started Londy's trials back in Week 3 when I was getting frustrated with his delay 2C, into 214[A] (The [] meaning hold the button in UNI2 terms) this combo refused to be completed until tonight.

- Smaller success as well, completed a trial for Orie and Carmine.

- Maybe it is not a placebo effect. I do recall my Hori stick which I was using being extra sensitive and causing my cursor to move much faster, down especially. I do not have that issue with Eclipse? More research needed perhaps?

Wednesday

- Making small progress again but completing 2 Eltnum trials which once felt impossible is a good feeling. Also I should know by now when the game says 'delay' it means DELAY it lol.

- On that note; Eltnum is now 12/14 expert trials. Soo close.

- Eltnum? More like Eltdone (I do not know if this joke has diminishing returns). She definitely has some complexity to her, especially with her Force Function aka FF aka B+C cancel and her 2B into 22B combos. Now I think about it, if the Hori's issue was down inputs, could that have interfered with it? I really like her character design but I do not see myself maining her as a starter character because she is pretty taxing on the mental stack.

- As promised in our previous blog, I started playing Story mode; first up; Melty Blood: Type Lumina. I have actually never did any story content for MB so Story week should start here.

- I settled on Noel as my first character, I like how easy she is to pick up and since my other main Kaguya is a warrior nun, it would be nice synergy.

- MBTL's story mode is cute, a lot of interactions, the ending being only one picture is on brand too. French Bread seems to favor those for endings (UNI2 has one picture endings as well).

Thursday

- Break night; I did even look at my Steam Deck I was so tired lol.

Friday

- Continuing Story mode week; I played BBTAG specifically UNI2's chapter. Turns it out its only part of a bigger story so I need to do all the other ones too. The games difficulty is not hard so I can probably do it when I get some time. Maybe chapter a day in the new week.

- BBTAG continues to surprise how easy it is to pick up. If you want to get into anime fighters it is a good entry point. However it will not prepare you for the complexities of some of the games. I heard BlazBlue is much more complex and UNI2 as I've found out is similar.

- Doing more research, I can confirmed my Hori Xbox360 stick does have a very sensitive down input. I can especially see it when I go to menus. Thankfully Eclipse does not have those issues and it'll be my main controller going forward.

- Bought Slay the Spire. I mentioned in my previous PIT STOP about the Triple I Initiative that I was considering buying it again. It is a good game to play when I am resting my wrist and I just LOVE the game. Nice to have it on a more portable console too.

- Speaking of wrist, its time to discuss my current issue.

Yes that's Kaguya as my wallpaper lol

- Thankfully the finger issues is not as bad. For awhile pressing down hard with my ring handed ring finger hurt a bit but that has gradually gone away. My wrist does hurt when I push down on it through, hence the brace. It helps and I wear it occasionally but not all the time. Most of the time I am fine but when I feel it, I am not ashamed to slap it on. I feel once I am not always doing combo trials and not constantly doing hard motions and pressing down hard to do the charge attacks my pain will lessen even more.

- Back on track, since I completed Eltnum's combo trials I decided I'll use her in Story mode. Boy was it hilarious. She is like the Deadpool of UNI with her constant 4th wall breaks. Beating the game with her also unlocked an achievement which was nice.

Saturday

- Hilda? More like Hildone (this is the last time I'll use this joke I promise). The infamous double plinking 5-12 is completed and I actually had to change how I held my stick to get it. It was some finger gymnastics for sure. For awhile Hilda's trials look insurmountable but we have conquer them. Now Carmine on the other hand.

- Finally got Mika's 5-9. I was delaying the 2B too long. I have to time it with the [C] hit. When I did it without it the the hit stun decay was too much. Thank goodness for the ability to slow the combo trials down to 30% speed to help me see where I was messing up.

- Revisited the advance tutorials tips and again there is too much 'wall of text' instead of giving you a chance to practice the concept or at least show a video of it. I feel if they add either of those options it would be a much better training tool.

- Speaking of tight timing, Orie's 623A needs to be done at the perfect timing so she can juggle after it. I finally got it done for one and now I just need to do her anti-air one.

- Orie's last trial that stumped me had a frame kill 2A, perfect height for her 236[B] and the perfect timing mentioned above. Once it all clicked, we got it and Orie is done.

- Most of Orie's combos were not that hard with the exception of the last 3. Those took me awhile before finally getting it. As a character, she is interesting but I do not see myself maining her.

- Completed 2 combos trials in one day? Feeling good.

- Eclipse is doing very well, my only issue is it is kind of light compared to my other sticks I've own. I did some trials in KOF XV and the stick was flying off my lap during some movements. Might look into adding a steel plate to the bottom to weigh it down a bit.

- Akatsuki's 5-6 or any of his combos that relies on a aerial 6[C] is so weird to me. When I step away from it I can do it during my first couple tries (and I did hence 5-6 being completed now) but if I mess it up and I keep trying it I will eventually get jumping C instead, no charged 6C.

I have beef with this move.

- Subsequently trying it again for the last of 2 combos I am stuck on and it will not come out. Jumping C only. So frustrating because I do not know what I am doing wrong.

Sunday

- Break night.

WHAT'S NEXT

    Eclipse, my next stick, really made this week enjoyable. Completing Eltnum, Hilda and Orie's trials this week was a definite highlight. I can also say this is the first week I did not feel as much strain on my finger or wrist which might be due to more breaks, my new brace or just me not dedicating as much hours to these combo trials.

    However not resting on my laurels, I have a couple goals for the new week. I aim to complete the all chapters in BBTAG story mode, start Granblue story mode and beat DNF Duel with a new character too (probably Monk). This week we are diving into the deep end with some of the hardest combo trials yet in UNI2 starting with Seth.

    We also have a UNI2 tournament coming up on May 5th at Arcade Legacy and since I have a PS5 stick I will actually sign up and play in it this time. It is almost time to leave the lab and see how much I've really learned.

AV