Week 14: Learning AF- All Good Things (Finale)

     Welcome to Learning AF (Anime Fighters), this was an ongoing blog about me picking up and learning anime fighters and leverless controllers. As the title states tho this will be our last blog about this topic.

    During the previous week; I play next to no anime fighters at all and I currently aiming to still play and compete in them, especially Under Night In-Birth 2 but I think the learning period is over and now my blogs will be about just playing the games. I'll still post updates especially when these anime games drop new characters, Beatrix in Granblue for example will get a blog later this week for example.

    Do not forget this blog is done chronologically. We will discuss more about the future in the WHAT'S NEXT section below, with the introduction done, lets get started.

Monday

- Break Night

- However now I playing Darkest Dungeon II more seriously I have finally beaten the first boss Denial. I also found a team I like a lot.

Tuesday

- Darkest Dungeon II is so addictive it looks like my previous blog talking about slowing down is coming true.

Wednesday

- It was a good run but I think we might stop our ongoing blog series in the next blog.

- I think I might do a blog about Beatrix in Granblue Fantasy Rising tho. She looks fun and has tons of combo possibilities.

- To replace the gap in my content stopping this blog will create we will starting a new blog later this week called 'Dungeon Diving' which of course will focus on Darkest Dungeon II.

Thursday

- Got a preview of Nen Master who looks sick and I can always play more DNF Duel. Speaking of DLC and new characters, I got to say not enough credit is given to UNI2 for selling a character pass for the 3 upcoming DLC characters for FREE if you purchase the game (including the regular game) before a certain date.

Friday

- I would like to take this time to thank the folks who have read this blog. I appreciate you sharing my Learning Anime Fighters time.

Saturday

- Break Night

Sunday

- We will be continuing our Anime Fighters journey especially with UNI2. I brought a brand new arcade stick (Eclipse) after all and I will be doing dedicated PIT STOPS when new DLC characters come out but this will be our last Learning AF blog and for it to be ongoing for 14 weeks was an achievement which I am proud of.

WHAT'S NEXT:

    I've think I've said my piece above but again, thank you for following along. My next big thing will be 'Dungeon Diving' which will be an ongoing Darkest Dungeon II blog. We will have blogs dedicated to the upcoming DLC characters for the Anime Fighters I play as well.

    AV

Learning AF: Week 4- Decisions, Decisions

 Welcome to another Learning AF blog! First let us do some house cleaning. This blog is an ongoing account of me picking up and learning Anime Fighters (hence AF). Our main focus is on Under-Night In-Birth Sys:Celes, Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising and DNF Duel. However as of today, we are adding a final anime game, Melty Blood Type Lumina! I feel 4 games should be sufficient tho and I'll add my thoughts about learning Melty Blood in our next Learning AF blog. This blog is is also written in successional way so you can really see my learning process. With that out of the way, lets dive into Week 4 of Learning Anime Fighters

Monday

- Feeling I was neglecting Granblue Rising; I hoped back into it today.

- Since I got the deluxe edition with the season pass whilst it was on sale, I  already had 2B from Nier Automata already as well as the upcoming new characters, Vane and Beatrix respectively.

- 2B is actually has pretty complex (not surprisingly) set of moves and a quirk where her combos do not work inside a corner. Her combo routes are fun tho and I enjoy mucking around with her. I do question if I can her 720 super (where she self destructs) with MidNite/ my Leverless controller. The irony of the game with the simple inputs having a 720 super has no escaped me.

- Speaking of MidNite, I did not sit right with me that I had to switch back to my stick to do Grimnir's one trial so I was determined to complete all his trials with MidNite only. Eventually I pulled it off and it required a lot of trial and error. Also I noticed for the last section you can air dash forward not up forward and it'll still count, which actually helped a lot (even tho I can do it was the up forward motion too aka 9).

- Belial was last and his quirk was his moves can push enemies closer to him or further away. His combo trials were not hard but the irony is that I need a corner to keep folks close where I could not use the corner with 2B. Still none of the character screamed main material for me so I think I sticking with Zeta and Djeeta so far.

Tuesday

- Carmine was originally the hardest UNI2 character I tried (more on that later) and the fact he has specific timing and has UNI2's version of what they call 'negative edge' (a concept where you hold a button down and release it at specific times). Carmine also has a quirk which he leaves behind blood puddles which he can activate with other specials of his. Very cool. Once we understood that, his combos became much easier, he is not 100% done but I completed some of them.

- Merkava's trials are still complex to me through, despite trying them before. I was making some head room but my biggest issue is cancelling his 66B into 66C. I tried to look up videos and read forums to find help but I found nothing.

Wednesday

Leona custom colors FTW

- Made a Leona custom for Linne and attempted clean up some of her trials. I was able to complete her final trial which involves cancelling into her super and her 22A/B/C combos make more sense to me now. I do not see myself maining her but I do enjoy not being completed stumped by her like I was in Week 3.

- Nanase was another character that seem complex at first and her aerial mobility is very high, even more than Kaguya making certain combos harder. She seems to require a lot of tiger knees into aerial 236A to keep her combos going.

- I found the missing piece of why my combos kept failing with Nanase. I was doing aerial 236 hold A when I could have just done 236A in most cases. Her Combos became much more doable after realizing that. I also think I found the main culprit for my finger pain with Nanase having a lot of combos involving long presses.

- Finally completed all of Wagner's combos. As the person I had in mind as my main when I picked up UNI2 I actually happy I could at least finish her trials. I might still have as a back-up if Kaguya doesn't work out competitively.

- Merkava's 214 charged air fireballs which OTGs (Off The Ground) was another sticking point for me but I realize it can be buffered during his 66C attack, that made those combos much more doable instead of constantly trying to tigerknee them. 66B into 66C combo paths still elude me through. I might ask locally if anyone knows the trick to it.

Thursday

- Monk in DNF release day. I already posted some thoughts in my Monk blog but this one is more my thoughts when I first started using him.

- First, he hits like a TANK and he is built like one too. Damage gets nutty especially with his Gold Cube awakening (aka when his below 30% health) allowing more damage and sway/ duck cancels on hit and whiff and also after certain Magic moves. 6S, S after 6M for example.

- Kind of wish his movement options was not locked behind a motion and a button (aka 6S for Duck, 4S for Sway) mainly cause it requires some finger gymnastics to constantly do the high level stuff.

- Speaking of, holding 6 down helps a lot in harder combos, for example 6S, M, 6S, S. The 6S, S has a weird cancel window I had to get use to as well.

Friday

- Friday was a weird day, I was over-tired and did not sleep well. I still did some more Monk training (lol) and was finally able to complete his last combo trial which was surprisingly hard compared to his much easier 1-7 trials. All of them done with MidNite which I am trying to use exclusively for DNF Duel

- Almost done with Hyde and Linne's trials, the remaining ones are some of the hardest ones but I think overtime I should be able to complete them. Hyde's 66C into 236 moves still kill me and we will be re-visiting that problem very soon.

- Whilst I was grinding these trials out, in the background I was listening to Tsukihime lore to prepare myself for Melty Blood. The lore is WILD and I think I already have some characters I want to learn in mind.

Saturday

- Remember above when I said Carmine maybe the most complex character I've used. This was what I thought until I tried Byakuya. Not only is 66B into 236 rekka strings and double tapping after he does his web attacks. I can honestly say, he maybe the first character where I do not understand his quirk. Right now he is my biggest hurdle.

- Discouraged by failing to get Byakuya down, I switched to Mika, whom I heard is very easy to use. She has some quirks too like having to waiting after her mash A to do her charged C attack into her charged B+C attack. I also found out doing a charge C into a charge B+C manually wasn't working for me so I actually use a B+C macro to make it easier and it made a world of difference.

- Mika gives me heavy Gallon/ J. Talbain from Vampire/ Nightstalkers fame. The cancelling of her air attacks into another one into another one. As a former Gallon main (a long time ago), I found that very fun. She is also very funny as a character and I see why folks have latched onto her as UNI's unofficial mascot. Her character design really does not appeal to me which I have discussed in previous blogs. The young loud Lolita type really doesn't vibe with me.

Sunday

- Going forward Sunday is going to be a rest day for me, will probably won't do much on those days. Sunday is also dedicated to church, resting and spending time with my family. My Mondays are always busy too at work so I like getting a good nights rest before diving back into that.

WHAT'S NEXT:

So the crux of the matter and the reason for this week's title. I am purchasing Melty Blood Type Lumina and I intended on playing it, however this would mean I will playing at least 4 different games at once. Kind of crazy considering I used to play one, sometimes two fighting games at most during my whole fighting game career. So I think even tho I am playing all these games at once I need to make a decision which ones I should focus on competitively.

The no-duh is of course UNI2. Its the game I have been coming back to a lot, I have pretty much decided on a main and secondary and I intend on attending a tournament at the end of this month to play it. If you did not figure out I was going to go mainstream with this, I have clearly failed as a blog writer lol. I would love to go mainstream with DNF Duel too, especially with Monk being as fun as he is and of course Spectre is Spectre and I get to use MidNite but being realistic there is no real competitive market for DNF Duel.So of course I should then settle on Granblue Rising BUT whilst I enjoy playing it and I get to use MidNite, I have not latched onto it as much as my other AFs. I could start focusing more time on it and see if my attitude changes about it. However we might have a dark horse in the form of Melty Blood: Type Lumina. Seeing is I am a fan of how French Bread games play, Melty Blood (also by them) has similar style and shares some common traits (reverse beat originated in Melty Blood for example) so I might favor this game instead. Mind you this is just speculation because I have not actually played it but after this upcoming week, we might be ready to make said decision. However I'll need to divide up my time to fit all 4 games in PLUS get my break day and still play Marvel's Midnight Suns on the side which I started like I promise myself.

Also I did not follow up like I said with going online with my respective games but hopefully I can rectify it this week. A lot of the cool stuff I want in Granblue is locked behind the online component too and of course I want to get some player vs player exp before going to an actual tournament for UNI2.

On that note; this is week 4 of Learning AF.

AV

Mashing with Monk and Melty Blood

     What a week. Yesterday I was so tired for some reason I could not really get out of bed but today is another day and a different story. As I mentioned, this week has been non-stop since losing that one hour to the final boss Daylight Savings. This boss is so tough, no-one has defeated him and every year they always take an hour from us. Wait, maybe that's why I've been so tired on and off this week? We still got a lot to chat about so lets get to work.

    Even through he came out on Thursday, a lot of this week was focused on getting back into DNF Duel and playing around with the latest DLC character Monk.

    As his trailer and other media since has implied he is a straight up boxer with hands blessed by God. I was able to go through his skills and magic attacks, his basics and most of his combo trials pretty quickly. Being a boxer he has movement options 'Ducking' aka 6S and 'Sway' aka 4S which can be cancelled after neutral into a couple strong dashing attacks with a big portion of them being projectile invincible (cough DLC privileges perhaps cough). He also has a extremely blessed (hah) jumping S called 'Skywinder' which has a amazing hitbox and great for combo extensions too. I bet Monk mains will be abusing the heck out of this one cause it just gets the job done. He also has a very satisfying regular throw which really looks like it hurts. However it is magic attacks that where things get a bit hectic. First he has, an I hate to say it cause the term is so over-used in the FGC, a 'neutral skip' move in the form of M aka 'Big Bang Punch'. This lunging special covers the screen, is projectile invincible and he can chain at the end of certain moves for extra damage. The aerial version is just as amazing and this one is a overhead and can be cancelled into Ducking or Sway on hit. Basically this is Ralf's Diving Punch special in KOF (jumping 236C) which is one of my all time favorite moves lol but you can combo after it. Specifically, you can cancel it into Sway, 'Chopping Hammer' (4M if done normally, 5, M if done within Sway) and this move not only juggles for some crazy damage but you can also do it in neutral and its ARMORED. One of his missions actually encourages you to use it to armor through another attack lol. This move is going to give folks fits I already see it. His other neutral attack from Ducking, 'Demolition Punch' is also great in combo extensions, is projectile invincible and just has Big Dick Energy attached to it. Speaking of BDE, his Awakening Skill 'Execution of Justice: Holy Seat of Lemidios' has a nice build to it and the last blow hits hard. I must say I do enjoy Arc System works when they use the black and white filter for certain attacks like with Bang in Blazblue or Soriz in Granblue that showcase the impact of something.

    On top of all this, his Awakening Effect; One True Justice (aka the buff he gets at less then 30% health) first he gets a buff on the damage he does which is already crazy high and it also allows him to cancel moves into Sway or Ducking on hit or whiff and when I say it can get a bit crazy. Just mucking around I was able to cancel Demolition Punch into itself 3 times for some STUPID damage. Now do I think Mr. Monk (lol just the TV show) is a bit over-tuned? Hell yeah but man is it fun. I might even find out for myself since I actually plan on going online since this probably the best time to find matches in DNF Duel with the release of a new character.

    As anyone who frequents this blog knows, we are DNF Duel supporters here so any excuse to play this game again is welcomed by me but I might be playing it along with UNI2, GranBlue Rising and very soon, Melty Blood: Type Lumina.

    The last big piece of the Anime Fighters puzzle, Melty Blood aka French Bread's other fighter that is not Under Night In-Birth, has always peeked my interest but it was only recently that I decided to do more research and I made a decision since I am going all in for Anime Fighters (AF) I would get into Melty Blood too. The path to it is very wacky tho. First Arc System Works had their yearly publisher sale on Steam as I tempted to pick Melty Blood: Actress Again: Current Code cause it was cheap, however I was told this by my homie Cinn that this was not the current one so I held out. Seeing the latest version was $50, I decided to hold out and thankfully I did. The second time I was tempted was when I learned about a Playstation sale and the game was 50% off! I, of course wanted the Steam version but that one was not on sale and yes I would be playing it on a system I barely use anymore and do not have Playstation Plus so I would have pay extra if I wanted to go online. 50% off tho was tempting so I decided to even put it in my cart and waited for pay day. Then it happened.

    Yep, another Steam sale, this time the Spring one so I'll be buying this and a couple other games too (my poor wallet). So because of fate and me not getting paid till this weekend, I avoid a massive mistake and actually will get the latest Melty Blood for my preferred platform. Tying this all back to Monk ain't God good? I've also done some seriously Tsukihime research (aka the manga/ light novels Melty Blood is based on) and boy that was a trip but we will talk more about that when we dive deeper into Melty Blood itself.

    With that in mind, 'Learning Anime Fighters' will now have a 4th game but I do not know how long I can stick with all 4 games as 'main' games so I'll make a decision soon which ones to focus on.

AV

    

Learning 'AF': Week 3- Holding On

    So yes, we have changed the title of this blog series. Whilst Learning Leverless had a nice alliteration ring to it, I realized, realistically, it would be better to call this series learning Anime Fighters aka AF. I know in the fighting game community we typically refer to these games as just 'Anime' but that of course would be confused with the actual anime culture. Also a lot of this blog will be about learning and playing Under-Night In-Birth 2 and that is a game I only play with a arcade stick. I will keep using my leverless controller/ MidNite for other anime games like Granblue Rising and DNF Duel but right now the focus is on UNI2.

    Also the actually format is going to change slightly too, I've been writing this blog series like I write most of my blogs but I think something that would make it all more suitable would be a day by day play with my thoughts and extras at the end. On that note; lets kick off week 3!

Monday

- Returning to whom I thought was going to be my main, Wagner (more on that later) and Akatsuki (my main in BBTAG) and tried to complete their respective trials. Both are really hard for no reason. Akat in particular has some frame perfect combos which require a lot of execution for a guy folks like to call the 'simple' character.

- Another session with Akat and still not getting the results I want, I decided to try the other 'guest' character Eltnum (from Melty Blood) and she has some unique combos too with lots of extended button presses to get her modified gun attacks and some unique frame kills (where you purposely whiff a move to get better positioning), she also has a lot of combos into dash attacks which was what was giving me the most grief with Wagner.

Tuesday

- Back on Granblue Rising: After being stressed by UNI2 I decided to go completely simple and use Annila, a new character to Rising. Her trials where hella easy and I completed them all with MidNite. On top of that, the fact she is homage to Terry Bogard from KOF is hilarious.

BUSTER... SHEEP?

- After completing Annila I immediately want to do something difficult again (I am Soulsborne player of course I am a sadomachoist) so I decided to try Grimnir. Funny aside, I originally wanted to use Grimnir cause he kind of reminded me of Swift Master in DNF Duel whom I love using. Grimnir is a tough as people said. He's 'practical' combo which involved multiple air dashes and using his 'air traps' actually required me to bust out my stick to complete. So far, he is the only Granblue character who's trials feel actually hard.

- His last combo trials into his super had me in the dumps too and actually made me change my button config. I than subsequently realized the combo required me to do heavy, heavy into super and I was just doing one heavy lol. I was able to complete it much easier after realizing that.

Wednesday

- Switched back to UNI2. So I had a grand plan to go back and forward between UNI2 and Granblue during the week but as you'll soon see, all plans eventually go to crap LOL.

- Decided to give the newcomers a try starting with Tsurugi. Had a bit of issues with his skateboard move into his 236 strings but I soon realized you can cancel the skateboard attack into the string without waiting. Once I understood that I was able to complete all his trials. Good times.

- So confession time, when I saw all the fuss for the other brand new character Kaguya, I did not believe the hype. Big booby waifu character with guns seem rather obvious bait. I can not lie through, her gameplay look interesting through. As I started doing her trials I actually really enjoy her combo routes and felt bad for pre-judging her.

- Ironically, on the other hand, a character I had interest in, Linne seems overly complex and required a lot of execution to get going and I realized maybe she was not for me. Funny that.

Thursday

- So the plan to go back and forward, did not last long, I decided to continue in UNI2 cause I was having more fun with it so far.

- Tried Londreika, a lot of his combo routes got very same-y and he had some hard to execute timing on his 66b into 214b combos but his trials weren't super hard. He did have some 'cool; (hah) combos especially involving his 6b command move freezing folks which I enjoyed.

- Went and fully completed Kaguya's trials. The hardest parts of her trials was getting used to the timing needed after she does her grenade specials and flies back over her opponent as well as the correct time to do her jumping charge C to spike the opponent down. I noticed I had now completed all the combos trials for all 3 newcomers and it made me think if maybe their combos were a bit easier cause they are not legacy characters?

- Completed Waldstein's arcade story. UNI lore is surprisingly well written (not surprising cause its all based around a visual novel) and it really feels like this ends the a big chapter in the Under-Night In-Birth storyline. Also it was fun to actually use the character outside of training mode. Wald is in heavy consideration as a main, no doubt.

- So funny enough, Eltnum's strange combo routes, taught me how to delay my air combo strings so I can get the dashing C for her spike down, this immediately transferred into Wagner's combos and I was able to do a lot more of them especially the ones involving her dashing C. One of the big problems with all dashing attacks into 236 attacks kept popping up through and I would get a 623 instead of 236. It happens with a lot of trials I do and I low key wished the buffer windows wasn't so big after 66 where the last 6 lingers causing me to 623 over 236. Wagner's combo trials are close to be completed through.

- The same 623 over-riding 236 kept popping up during my Hyde's combo trials as well. I was able to complete a lot of them once I understood the exact way to get the delays in 214 rekka. Hyde seems fun but as a person who rarely plays protags I don't think I can main him.

Friday

- Back to GranBlue and I decided to complete Narmaya's trials but this time with leverless. Arguably the most technically character in GranBlue with multiple stance switches DURING the strings. I can honestly say to get her trials done, I used both my hands on the attack buttons and my thumb on the up button because she has a instant air move in the combo too. Eventually I got it done with MidNite and man I was happy. Narmaya definitely has a skill ceiling but man she is such a cool character and I would love to main her.

-  Going from overcomplex to something not was fun. I decided to bust out BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (BBTAG) and mucked around with UNI character like I've been wanting to do. I was blown away but how BBTAG simplified a lot of the complexities of UNI especially removing most command normals but they kept a lot of what made the character that character. Definitely a interesting non-sequitur.

-  I originally tried Orie's combos in week 2 but now I had a bit more understanding of certain systems I was able to complete a lot more of her trials. She is similar to Wagner in I have most of her trials done with the exception of some really hard ones.

Saturday

- My Saturday was incredibly busy and on top of that, daylight savings kicks in and we lost an hour. I decided to take a break because of that and another reason.

- Now to address the elephant in the room, a lot of combos with every character in UNI2 requires long button presses to pull off certain moves. Eltnum especially and even Kaguya's most important part of her combo requires a hard press on C. Doing combo trials repeatedly and over the course of many nights has actually slightly damaged my pointer finger and now I feel a bit of pain when I hard press on anything. Being I am not used to constantly doing this hard presses, I account it to over-usage and hopefully a break night or two will make it ache less. I thankfully caught it early so hopefully it won't a problem. I've also decided to start limiting my sessions in UNI2 so I won't be playing it all night and repeatedly put stress on it.

- Related to all this, I finally have decided on a main in UNI2 and to my surprise, it is Kaguya. She gives me Spectre vibes with her air mobility into attacks into her outstanding reach and just general rizz. I have designed multiple outfits for her in the color editor but one of the ones I enjoy a lot is this Iori from KOF themed one.

Sunday

- Break day, part 2. I did muck around with Carmine but nothing serious. I will probably work with him more tonight when we begin another week of Learning AF.

UP NEXT:

On that note, we have explored some more anime games last week but I think I am ready for a bit of a side project and also so I do not strain my finger too much. I think I am ready to start Marvel's Midnight Suns so we will be playing that, Thursday will be dedicated to DNF Duel with Monk dropping and he will definitely get a blog depending on how much I like him and a focus in next weeks Learning AF as well.

I think this is also the week where I stop talking about it and start doing it and actually go online with a couple of my games. I ain't about the online aspect of fighting games but because some of the achievements are now tied to it I really have no choice plus I do want to get some Player vs Player experience before I attend my first UNI2 tournament at the end of this month. I think this week is the week I stop procrastinating and do stuff, be that online sets, starting a game I've been wanting to play and to focus on getting better in all aspects.

AV

Learning Leverless: Week 2- Stick Shift

 Welcome to week 2 of Learning Leverless; an ongoing blog series discussing learning my leverless controller and also learning some anime fighting games like UNI2 and GranBlue Rising. I think going forward Monday might be the best day to upload since it technically is the beginning of the week.

Off the bat, first I want to talk about DNF Duel. Out of all the anime games I am playing this is the one I enjoy the most (thanks in big part to Spectre of course) but it is also the game that probably gets the least love. Thankfully we might see a injection of some interest with the introduction of the 4th DLC character Monk.

Since I do not play Dungeon aNd Fighter Online (aka the series that inspired DNF Duel) I can only go with the trailer to speculate about Monk but so far he looks like his from the same order as Crusader (another Holy themed character in the game) and looks like DNF Duel's boxer cause I saw no kicks in his trailer. This is kind of ironic of course because Street Fighter 6 just dropped Ed and his is their pure boxer as well but with psycho powers so that's funny. Design-wise he actually looks pretty cool, the older man vibe with gray in his hair and summoning the a big golden gauntlet for the finishing touch. My old small gripe with the design is we already had a male character with a cape-esque design in Brawler but its a small gripe and I definitely like his design much more than Battle Mage. Anyhow he drops on March 14th and I think I might give him a try. I might even jump online and get these pesky online achievements I need as well.

Related to this is how using leverless/ MidNite feels so comfortable for me in DNF Duel. One little shortcut I found that is blowing my mind is you can hold down buttons and it still registers the moves. For example, when I want crispy air dashes with Spectre I just need to hold down the jump button and it comes out as soon as she can do it. Even more amazing is you can even use your right hand which of course traditionally you use to hit 'attack' buttons to hit a 'movement' button. This was a revelation for a stick user and truly helped see the potential leverless has.

However despite all the victories I had with leverless in DNF Duel, I quickly realized as I played more and more Under-Night In-Birth 2, that stick might be where I'll plant my flag. In the first week playing UNI2 I realize just how much harder it is to pull off certain motions and esp some of the more complex juggles require almost King of Fighters execution and that is a game I would never consider playing on hitbox due to its complexity. Speaking of KOF, I thought the trials in KOF 13 was the pinnacle of hard trials but some of these UNI2 trials are on some next level that even stumps me.

I will not lie through, seeing how MidNite made instant air moves easier and certain other movements easier (like micro dashing, another key component of UNI2's combos) in DNF Duel, its a shame I could not translate it over to UNI2 but I think a big part is UNI2 special moves require full motions and not simple movements as I've noted before. This will however come back later and will be discussed again when we get to the Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.

UNI2 with stick is where we are going now through and so far it has been a good relationship. As I mentioned the combo trials are tough but with a good stick they feel doable and after a couple days working at it I got my first 100% completed trial and it was for a character I least expected.

My first 100% combo trial was completed with Waldstein, UNI2 premier grappler. Waldstein also has a 360 command throw which is very hard to pull off on leverless so it even made more sense to switch to stick. I will not lie, it was a great feeling completing it and as I did, I actually grew kind of attached to to the big guy where I might even consider using him. I have played grapplers before (Clark in KOF, King in Tekken) so I can make it work and Waldstein's kit just screams fun.

After low-key joining the Waldstein army, I start experimenting with more characters but all of them had moments when the strict execution stopped me from getting 100% again at least, until I found Enkidu. Enkidu ironically is Waldstein's rival and the two are linked in the lore so that was a funny moment. Enkidu similar to Waldstein is a up-close and personal fighter with some rekkas style attacks. The term rekka is borrowed from games like SF, KOF and others but the I hope as a person following/ reading this blog I do not need to breakdown all fighting game terminology lol. Enkidu had some challenges the biggest one being a dashing attack at the end of a aerial combo which can ONLY be done when the person is outside of a corner. I quickly learned, that positioning is super important for some of the combo trials for Enkidu but it was done and I got my second 100% complete.

I once again played around with a couple more characters during my 3 day exploration of UNI2 and actually ignored all other games, I realized despite her visual appeal I do not think I can play Eltnum (and that she is actually a guest character from Melty Blood) and protagonist Hyde was cool but not my cup of tea (I seldom play a protagonist with the biggest exception being Virtua Fighter where I am all about Akira but that's a massive outlier case). This is all lead up to my most surprising moment through. A character I had no plan of using or was interested in surprised me the most.

Yes, edgy (pun intended) as hell antagonist Kuon. Brand new to UNI2 but not to the lore, Kuon actually has some of the coolest combos and set ups I've seen in the game. Sure he looks like what happened if Timothee Cahaleet and Darkstalkers' Jedah decided to fuse together but getting away from the fact he is ANIME as FUCCCK, he has a lot of tools which I was like I think I might have fun using him. Shocking cause as I said I originally had no plans of using him. Also just like how Waldstein taught me to do motion's during animations, Enkidu taught me the art of spacing out my combos, Kuon taught me the funniest one. Mashing is good.

One of my biggest annoyances with UNI2's combo structure is holding down attack buttons in a very tight frame specifically jumping heavy/ C. This attack increases the hit stun for the jumping attack but doing in then finishing a regular air combo became a big point of contention until I realized I can mash out certain attacks and it should still come out. For example: a big part of Kuon's bread and butters ask him to do a 2C (hold) cancel into jump C (hold) into a aerial A,B,5B,22A (I am using the number pad notations because that what UNI player use). The aerial B after the A was constant missing or not coming out until I started mashing the B and it finally started coming out more consistently. YAY. Figuring out mashing was the key to success I eventually completed all of Kuon's trials as well and spark my interest in using him. With the Kuon breakthrough, I decided I was due to go back to leverless and see if it would work with the other anime game I am interested in.

As I shared last week; thanks to my wifey, I was able to purchase Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising whilst it was still on sale. Not only was I able to purchase it I got the deluxe one with the DLC character pass so yeah 2Butts in the house lol.

As I mentioned above, one of the most important reasons why DNF Duel works so well with MidNite for me at least was the simple commands. Well Granblue also has simple commands and Grablue has gone in where there is even no penalty for using simple commands like it did in the previous game. So with that in mind I figured leverless would work better here and boy did it ever.

In one night, I got a much better feel for it and another thing I appreciate GBVR being a more grounded game and jumping is not as encouraged as say DNF Duel or UNI2. Heck I completed trials for Zeta (whom I hope to main), Djeeta who is dual-tagonist (not Gran tho lol) and Soriz's combo trials in one night.

I need this battle pass outfit, Not only its amazing we have a Spectre color scheme!

If anything the combos are so easy that I might not even discuss them as much as I do the UNI ones. The main thing is, I enjoyed GBVR enough that I went into the arcade mode and finished with MidNite, something I haven't even done in UNI2 with a stick. First I was surprised by the fact that you can change the difficulty of your opponents during the arcade ladder climb and the presentation was amazing. This is truly a beautiful game but that does surprise me because Arcs System Works are wizards when it comes to 2.5D animation. I think I will stick with MidNite/ leverless when it comes to GBVR and I think we are going to do fine so I am happy my leverless is not only being used for a dead (even tho it is my fave) game.

On that note, now I have 2 anime games I am playing with 3 come Monk's release. I am thinking of switching back and forward between them nightly (like a stream schedule but without streaming) mainly cause muscle memory and switching back and forward between controllers might be weird and we are jumping back into UNI2 tonight. Thinking of doing the arcade mode for it as well as some of the other side content before doing some more combo trials. I'll keep you guys updated with UPDATES which show up on the side of my blog as well as Learning Leverless every week. I am excited about fighting games again.

AV

PIT STOP: March(ing) On

 Well, after a packed February, you would think Rants & Raves (and Okays) would take a break but I have no intention to do so. If anything I have even more planned for this month.

I will not lie, I originally planned to pick up a new 'Triple A' game but since I have all these new fighting games to learn, I think that might be put on a backburner for a while. I have decided to go back to the triple A headspace because my last couple of indies were fun but I want a bit more substance.

Dredge was amazing and well deserving of the RAVE it got at the beginning of the month but Pony Island was just OKAY and I also played Doki Doki Literature Club + around the same time I was playing Pony Island and in hindsight, that game would be OKAY as well. As my second visual novel game (the first being Invincible: Presents Atom Eve) and my first real 'dating sim' I had fun with it despite its rather limited format. However the limitation of genre and just general lack of interactivity made me not want to jump back in when I complete one run of it.

For those not in the know, Doki Doki can actually get pretty dark and can be very triggering so keep that in mind but the game tells us this thankfully before starting it so you will know what you are getting yourself into. It also gets kind of fourth wall breaking which is funny because Pony Island also had some fourth wall breaks. However after a couple indie games in a row, I think I need a break.

Originally the plan was to finally get around to playing Marvel's Midnight Suns, a game I had an interest in but waned when I saw the reviews but still wanted to play because its a property (Midnight Suns/ Sons and me go wayyyy back) I like and after the game constantly going on sale I had the opportunity to pick it up for a decent price along with all the DLCs. I will still probably play it later this month.

However right now I am mostly pre-occupied with all the new fighting games I have committed myself too. Of course previous blogs have discussed my journey with Under-Night In-Birth 2 (UNI2) but now we can also add.

Yep, thanks to my incredible wifey, I was able to pick Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (GBVR) whilst it was still on sale to complete my full transition to anime FGC player. I'll save deeper thoughts and chat more about it in my new Learning Leverless blog (coming Tuesday) but so far I am enjoying myself and even better is GBVR is much more compatible with my leverless controller 'MidNite'. This is of course stark contrast to my experience with UNI2 and leverless because I have decided I am going to stick with my arcade stick to play that one. Again, this is a big spoiler for the next Learning Leverless blog so I'll keep it short and save the meat of it for that blog.

Of course, this being a Spectre sponsored blog, we also need to chat about Monk coming to DNF Duel on 14th of this month and from his trailer he actually looks like someone I want to try. Brawler definitely was fun and Battle Mage was kind of meh for me but Monk definitely looks like the type of person I can have fun with and he looks like he might be a boxer too which is interesting.

With that in mind, we also have other blog planned for this month other than the weekly updates of Learning Leverless, I have plans to do another LIST (these will be probably once a month) and of course anything else that catches my fancy will either by PIT STOPs. UPDATES is constantly updated too (imagine that lol) so keep an eye on that if you want to know what's going on.

AV

LIST: My Top 5 Video Game Characters (Fighting Games)

 I saw this post on X/ Twitter and I was going to respond but I do not really use Twitter like that anymore so I decided to make it more my own thing and even add some context to my picks. So with that out of the way, here is My Top 5 Video Game Characters (Fighting Games).

5. Hazama (BlazBlue Series)

Coming in at number 5. First a confession. I do not play the BlazBlue series. I've always had a interest in them but at the time when it was super popular I was focusing more on KOF and Tekken. However despite not playing the games I always liked everything about Hazama. From the first time I saw him fly around the screen on green snake coils to his bali-song knives (in Australia we call them butterfly knives btw), everything about him just screamed cool. It does not help he also dresses like Michael Jackson and their is a million Smooth Criminal memes out there that celebrate the fact. Now with me in my anime fighting game stage of my life I am actually playing BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (BB's latest installment) and I finally get to main him and he is challenging but fun to use.

4. King (Tekken Series)

Speaking of Tekken before; my eternal main character is King. Ever since Tekken 5 specifically, I have been a big King fan. I mean I love wrestling, I love luchas I love the fact he takes care of orphans and I love swinging people around and around and into things. Oh and I really like kneeing folks in the face too, shining wizard style. Now no matter the Tekken, I could probably pick up King and have a good time using him. You might noticed I used a older render of King above. Whilst I do not mind his Tekken 7 default with the cape and all, I am not a fan of his look in Tekken 8. It just looks way too busy. When I think King I think this classic image even tho I won't lie his NJPW Okada cosplay was pretty awesome and on point too.

3. Spectre (DNF Duel)

Okay, here me out. I know this is probably the honeymoon phase and King has been my homie since Tekken 5 but there is just something about Spectre that just ticks all my boxes for a fighting game character. She looks amazing, hits like a truck, wields a long katana, short katana and a wire expertly and just oozes charisma (or as the kids say... rizz). Oh and she casually speaks in Korean as well and I love me some Korean culture. I was interested in DNF Duel but the moment the Spectre trailer dropped I knew that she was the one for me and to be rewarded in terms of gameplay (she ticks my technical/ execution boxes too) and overall appeal, it is a perfect marriage. I have not bonded with a female character since my number 1.

2. Claudio (Tekken 7)

Coming in at number 2 and to no one's surprise who actually know me is Claudio from Tekken 7. Again folks will be like, King was your homie since Tekken 5, how can a guy who only technically been in one Tekken game rank much higher than King and to justify that to myself I realized that during Tekken 5 all the way to 7, if I ever played King I would always have other characters on the side. I enjoyed using King but I would always play other characters too to keep my interest in the game, especially competitively. However post season 2 and for the rest of Tekken 7's very long extend lifespan, I only really liked using Claudio in Tekken 7. The fact the roster kept growing and new cool characters like Leroy, Lidia or the classic characters like Julia came back and I still only wanted to use Mr. Serafino is a testament to him and he earns this spot because of that. Also nothing beats hitting someone point blank with a running 2 superman punch. It never gets old to me.

1. Leona (KOF series)

Ahh, if I ever had a first video game love it would be Leona Heidern from the King of Fighters series. Ever since KOF '96 and her introduction, Leona has always been my favorite fighting game character maybe even my favorite video game character of all time. Remember what I said above about Spectre ticking all my boxes? Leona did that back in 96. The style, the fact she is a bad ass, her signature blue hair and the fact she requires some real technical skill to get good with her. She truly is the landmark and it helps me understand why I always gravitate towards bad ass femme fatales over the cutesy girls. If a KOF has Leona, I am main her and there is never a doubt in my mind if I am going to have a amazing time playing her.

Well that's the first LIST. A new type of blog/ content coming to RANTS & RAVES. As promised in my previous blog, I hope to expand the content I put on her so look forward to more LISTs as time goes on.

AV

PIT STOP: I'm in Love: DNF Duel DLC Spectre Overview

 

    Spectre may be favorite girl character in a fighting game since Zafina in Tekken 6 and I do not even main her anymore so my last favorite female character I actually like using is probably KOF '96 Leona. Normally I do not favor female characters in fighting games, the last one that got close was probably Master Raven in Tekken 7 but I passed my love for her onto someone else *wink*. However Spectre has aesthetics for days, wields BIG swords, flies around on a wire like a superhero which she uses in other inventive ways as well. On top of that she is a technical character that requires good execution and just hits like a truck. In a game where I find myself flip flopping whom I wanted to consider a 'main', Spectre has the bean counter tipped in her favor and the cherry on the top, is the fact she yells "disappear/ vanish" in Korean as she does her Awakening. Of course I still love me some Swift Master but co-main? Maybe.

Now she might have already ticked all my boxes before I started using her but now I owned the DLC and gotten used to her playing style and combo structure and I loving her even more. This will be a quick breakdown and she'll of course get the combo trial breakdown treatment like the previous DNF Duel characters I liked.

    One of the things I'll really enjoy about Spectre is her mobility options, one of her signature moves is not an attack but a movement option called 'booze' (you'll soon see all her moves have some reference to drinking lol). This gives her infinite movement options in the air that even Swift Master would be jealous of. The closest video game equal I would say would be Spider-man but Spectre has attacks after dedicating to the forward movement (so up forward, forward or down forward) and the booze wire does not have a hit box like Spidey's web trail did. A lot and when I saw a lot I mean  A LOT of her actions are even jump cancellable or dash cancellable too keeping with her always moving philosophy.

    Some things so far I've noticed through is she is a execution heavy character and you need to be on point to not accidentally do unwanted wall jumps and drop combos because of missed inputs. Her timings are also unique due the nature of her multi-hitting special moves. Also one of her best combo extenders 'Shaker Blast' or 6M can be very fickle and cause unwanted side swaps especially near corners. When primed though, she can does a truck load of damage (breaking my old combo damage limit with almost 820 dmg) and in her Awakening state: Licence, her ability to constantly cancel specials into specials and her spectacular Last Order (just M when Awakened, M after priming with an initial M in normal state). Her projectile requires her to do a small hop back and no DP reversal either which maybe an issue in this aggressive game but we shall see if that really effects me.

    

    She also has some amazing color palates but the one I am riding with is this all white number which I affectionately call 'Umma' which means 'Mother' in Korean but also plays off the fact she looks like Emma Frost from the X-Men. I mean c'mon!!

So yep... this is where we are and we are sticking it out with DNF Duel. I'll probably drop a much smaller overview for the other 2 DLC characters Brawler and Battle Mage but right now its Spectre's world and I'm just living in it.

AV

Double Down on Duel: DNF Duel Combo Trials Tips

 

First things first. Happy New Year!! Welcome to 2024. It has almost been a full year since I've started actively blogging again and it has given me a lot of fulfillment so we are probably sticking around. I am planning a longer more introspective blog as we get closer to the full one year anniversary so stay tuned for that. 

So as previously mentioned, we are exploring DNF Duel right now and so far it looks like it might be my new fighting game. As previously mentioned my aim is to main Hitman and Swift Master but there are some other characters whom have caught my eye.

I have mostly been mucking around in the combo trials with some random stops in story mode and arcade mode when I want to test out the combos I have learned. I might eventually even go online with it and hopefully get some matches if anything just so I can get the online achievements out of the way. I have really moved away from online fighting games for fulfillment but its part of the game so I might as well do it. I have also heard DNF does have rollback net-code and its pretty good so if that is the case at least it won't be a pain to play especially if I aim to play a technical character like Swift Master.

So what is this? Well its me chatting about what I've had the most experience and fun with so far, the combo trials. I have also noticed there is not much information/ help with doing these trials so here is my 2 cents. Similar to my KOF 'Helping Hand' series (man that is a throwback right there) the main point of this is to help folks with these very hard (mostly) trials.

I have completed most of the trials (bar the 3 DLC characters but we will get there soon enough) with the exception of 2 for the Lost Warrior and 3 of the Enchantress (who I believe has the hardest combos in the game).

I will be giving tips for 4 of the characters I enjoy using the most. We will be using the Number notations and the standard buttons so 2 is down, 5 is neutral and so on and A,B,S,M buttons as per Dustloop's Forums/ Website.

Hitman: Hitman's combos are extremely straight forward. If a person is aiming for the achievement to complete a character's trials I would highly recommend his ones cause they are very easy to complete for most skill levels. A couple combos require a bit of linking but nothing too crazy. If anything I feel they underplay what Hitman is capable of combo wise. The important thing is when it comes to trials 7-8 is to do his Awakening skill (aka their cinematic super move) as the opponent begins falling from the last attack, do not delay it too long.

Swift Master: On the opposite side of the spectrum to Hitman is Swifty. Swift Master (SM) requires really good execution and a lot of his harder combos require holding down his Special button for a couple seconds to pull off his 'Storm Strike' which causes a wall bounce. Mastering Storm Strike means getting used to holding the S as soon as the last S in a combo connects and releasing at the exact moment. In the case of 2B into Storm Strike, I've noticed the best time to do it is just as the opponent is about to touch the floor, hit the 2B wait a second then release. Even through I want to master SM, this has taken some time for me to get down as well so keep at it. Also an important tip for the final combo trial is you can start holding the S after SW does the 4M, 4M OTG and make sure you release it late so the opponent hits the wall right in front of him (not above) and hit the Awakening skill immediately. If the opponent bounces off the wall, you are too late.

Vanguard: Its funny cause I want to use Swift Master whom is top tier and according to most tier lists, Vanguard is the bottom tier but I'll be damned if he is not fun to use. Since this is not pick Vanguard and struggle to win guide, we will just focus on his combo trials. First, most important is learning the timing on his Jumping S which OTGs but has a very small window. A lot of his best combos require this so focus on doing your attack (in most case it just a regular B) as soon as the spear touches the ground. This is super important cause any later will cause it to whiff. Another trick I discovered is if you are having trouble with 5M into 2M in the middle of combos to not do the full 2 hits of 5M and cancel it after the first hit. This make it easier and I've noticed even gives you more time for your running jumping A OTGs. Lastly for combos 7 and 8, notice they have different timing for when you hit his Awakening skill. In Combo 7 its before the second hit and with Combo 8 you can delay till after the 2 hit wall bounces.

Our last subject is another funny one. I have no intention of using Dragon Knight but I found her trials very interesting and definitely something worthwhile talking about. When I first started playing, her trials were very daunting and her summoning dragon mechanic took awhile to get used to. Her are some tips which I discovered on my own because as I said before, there is not much help out there. The first one I believe most people will have trouble with is # 6. With this one I recommend delaying the 'Summon Astra to Dragon Force' (A + Magic) slightly after the 4S hits. Then immediately doing the B, hold S and with her hold S you don't need to time it, it'll automatically comes out once its fully charged, this will give the wall bounce into the Dragon fire and than this is important, delaying the next 2S to launch them back into another Dragon fire. Now # 7 for the longest time I believed it was and still feels glitched because no matter what I did 'Summon Astra to Dragon Breath' never worked like it looks like in the demo. Instead I found a way around it by doing an extra attack and doing it in the corner. This is how I got it to work; first I added a extra 4S after the B,2S and then I do (M + B) at the end of 4S with a delay like before. This gives enough time for Astra the Dragon to actually do his Dragon Breath attack and than you time the last 4S as a OTG and immediately do 4M before the hit stun decay kicks in. This has been the only way I've gotten it consistently. Also time the Awakening as the opponent is falling out of 4M like most Awakening and not immediately or it'll whiff. Her last combo in comparison to #7 is actually not even hard and just requires a micro-dash at the end to get the 2B to hit and to time 6M with the impact of the 4S. Compared to #7 it is a much easier.

Well those are the 4 main characters we will cover for the tips. I might revisit this, especially if I learn the Enchantress trials because that is another character I see no tips for and her trials are especially challenging, even for me. Also I'll eventually get the DLC and you know I'll have to do one for Spectre since I hope to use her too.

AV

UPDATE: DNF Duel

So thanks to Epic Game store Free giveaways, I am currently enjoying DNF Duel a lot.

I always wanted to get into it, especially because I really enjoy the art style. Out of all the 'anime' fighting games I have played recently, I honestly felt DNF Duel is the closest to a game I would actually play outside of mucking around in training mode/ combo trials. Granblue Versus is the other one and with Rising 'update' out now I might give it another try.

One of the things that did not distract is the amount of negativity DNF Duel gets, a lot of people seem very down on it for no reason other than its first DLC and updates was delayed (probably due to COVID and other complications)  and the game is very oppressive, offense wise.

Well the DLC are coming out now (3 out of the 5 characters are now out), a update changed some of the mechanics with more emphasis on defensive options and on top of that a balance patch that actually buffed everyone instead of nerfing folks (which I personally like as a balance option unlike some games heavy handed approaches *cough* Tekken *cough*.

With this being a fighting game I do not see a long blog about it (aka a RAVE) like most of the stuff I post but I do like to draw some attention to it and how much fun I am having.

Right now the two characters who have really caught my eye in base roster are Hitman and Swift Master. First to address the elephant in the room; yes I said Swift Master

Anyone that knows anything about DNF Duel know Swift Master is a terror and no doubt the top tier of the game. He ruled a lot of tournaments and people have frequently called for him to be nerfed because he was too oppressive. However one thing that Swifty has that attracts me is how high of a skill ceiling it takes to get good with him and he is very technical. So despite the stigmata surrounding him, I feel he is a good pick for me cause I love high skill level characters and in a game with rushdown mentality he seems like a shoe-in. Ironically my original pick and who I will also like to main is Hitman.

Hitman is nowhere near as vilified as Swift Master but I do know he can be a bit OP especially when he reaches his 'Awakened' game state (aka a form each character gets once they get below a certain threshold). He however has all I want in a character and the first character I muck around with that connected with me. Wildly enough, my biggest issue with him comes down to how I am supposed to approach folks with him because even through he has a gun, he is not a zoner and he requires to be up close to really do damage and I heard zoners dominate non-zoners in this game (hence Swifty as my back up/ anti-zoner).

I will say through, a big portion of the games cast really appeal to me and the only characters I do not see myself playing are Enchantress cause I dislike Puppet character types and probably the newest DLC Battle Mage who fighting style does not seem bad but I'm not a fan of the cutesy female characters either I've noticed over time (hence why I could never use Lucky Chloe in Tekken or Sylvia in KOF). Spectre on the other hand tho? Oh yeah... she looks like fun.

So yep, this is the beginning of my DNF Duel adventure. I wonder where it will lead me.

AV