Week 13: Learning AF- The Fall Off

    Welcome to another Learning AF (Anime Fighters) blog. We have now reached Week 13 of this ongoing series of me picking up and learning Anime fighting games. This week however is bit scarce because it was another busy week for yours truly and I have been playing other games as well (more on those later).

    We will be making a decision soon but before we get there let drop into a new week of Learning AF.

Monday

- I have completed all of Blazblue Central Fiction (BBCF) tutorial. Some good information and it was helpful but also nowhere near as deep as UNI's ones. UNI seems to have the best tutorial when it comes to game depth even tho I will say, sometimes it gets really deep for a beginner.

- After finishing the tutorial I decide to pick my main and I always had one in mind for this game, which is Hazama. Regular readers of this blog know I like Hazama and he was actually # 5 in my top 5 favorite video game characters LIST. Peep that here. LIST

- His combo trials are definitely unique, some hold over concepts from BBTAG (where I used him) but also some new stuff having to cancel his 214x attacks because 214x puts you in a stance.

- Similar to how BBTAG only gave me ideas how UNI combos work and not the whole concept, it did not prepare me for how in-depth BB combos are.

- After completing Hazama's normal combos, harder combos became unlocked. Interesting.

- It looks like I grossly underestimated how hard BBCF combos are. Spent hours working on one hard Hazama combo and it does not even look that hard on paper. Sheesh

Tuesday

- Played nothing but Tainted Grail Conquest today. I really wanted to get the true ending. I also wanted to get my RAVE out and normally I do not do my RANT or RAVE until I've completed the game to my satisfaction. Turns out my OCD-ness of completion extends to everything in gaming not just fighters.

Wednesday

- After what felt like a lifetime I finally pulled off Seth's 5-7 in UNI2. I kept putting it together like a puzzle and it finally clicked. Also the hard part with 214B,214A,214[A]7 only started working because I stopped putting pauses in it. You just need to do it back to back, no pauses.

- Does this mean I can do all the other combos that involve this ender? I hope so because this is the last hurdle I need to cl_r (lol) if I want to start using Seth seriously.

- [BBCF] so when this game says a combo is hard, it actually means it is hard. It took me a long time to finally get Hazama's hard # 1 combo.

- One thing I do not like about Hazama's combo involving aerial B, aerial C into more aerial C is the lack of 'hit stun' the moves do. I feel like I got to mash it out but at the same time I can not visually tell when to do the double jump. I feel like I am barely touching the opponent when I am hitting buttons like mad.

- These BBCF Hazama combos feel like they are beyond me right now.

- Completed Es' normal combo challenges. Let's see if her hard ones are like Hazama's.

- Okay Es' hard combo challenges are much easier and doable. I guess Hazama is another high execution monster ala Seth. Why do I always gravitate to the hard characters to learn.

- Completed 8-10 of Es' hard combos. I guess Hazama was not the best character to start with lol.

Thursday

- UNICLR time. Gordeau feels similar to his UNI2 version. Like other character his UNICLR combos have less emphasis on dashing attacks. Also slight charge is back but I feel it is not really a charge at all. I feel the point of the slight charge is to stop you from doing 2 hit 2C.

- 100% Gordy's trials. Feels good I still have some execution.

- Looks like all the dash combos was saved for Phonon cause they are back... in spades.

- All of Phonon's 5-x series require charged 236[B] and 2C, delay 3C which I am used to thanks to UNI2. She however has one that involves one hit of her Force Function (BC) cancelled into her 22A which I am not used too.

- Pulled off a Force Function (FF) 1 hit into 22A combo in 4-12. This one does not require exactly one hit of the FF but it does require good timing with the falling aerial 236A, this needs to be done with a slight delay after 22A.

- Okay the FF combos are easier to do now. The science comes down to delaying the 4B as long as possible.

- 4-2 was a weird one. Normal aerial 2[B] is the ender into the ground series but this one required you to aerial 2[B] into aerial B, aerial 236A. You really got to hit the aerial B early. No delay.

- 12 out of 15 so far for Phonon. Her 4-3 is alluding me. I guess it is true that combos that start off Assault have more severe hit stun scaling because the opponent kept dropping out of it at random places but especially near the end.

- I knew I was not crazy, UNI2 has no combos involving FF into 22A. I wonder if they are still viable or they have been pushed out for 236[B] combos instead.

Friday

- Phonon's 4-3 completed. Precision is need because as noted before hit stun is very short with this one.

- 13 out of 18 combos for his 4-x series and 3 out of 4 for his 5-x series with Hyde on my first night with him. The combos I am struggling with most involve 22x into 3B into delayed 236x

- Speaking 236x, you need to do it twice for the follow ups to come out, unlike UNI2 where you can simply do 236x,6x. Now like Seth you need to do it quickly.

Saturday

- 4-7 now done. It says delay and delay it meant. 3B DELAY 623B lol.

- 4-10 done as well.  For something that looks simple, you really need to time the last 3 hits.

- 5-3 done. I remembered a similar combo in UNI2 with the fireball cancel into a beam. UNICLR's motion is slightly harder tho requiring 646 instead of just 46. On that notes all of Hyde's 5-x series are done.

- 4-3 done. Another combo which look simple at first and just required more precise timing. I am also happy none of Hyde's combos require the dash B combo which frustrated me to no end in UNI2.

- The last 2 combos are variants of his wall bounce into 3B delay 236B,236A which I know I will eventually get.

- Phonon's 4-15 done. I was getting so close the previous day but today I locked in and everything just feel into place.

- For some reason Phonon's 4-14 combo just was not working for me. The 2A,C (2 hits), delay 4B, FF (1 hit), 22A was refusing to come out no matter how much I delayed the 4B.

- Remembering I can do FF (1 hit), 22A off 2C better, I decided to do 2A,C (1 hit),2C, delay 4B, FF (1 hit), 22A instead and the simple change of putting the extra 2C helped me do it. Phonon's combo trials in UNICLR are completed!

- Now we are pretty much done with Tainted Grail Conquest. Check out the RAVE review. RAVE. I decided to finally start Darkest Dungeon II as my new rest/ break night game.

Sunday

- Break Night

- I have been putting off starting Darkest Dungeon II for weeks now as regular readers of this blog know. I have no idea why. After I started it I was hooked again and now I am really enjoying myself.

WHATS NEXT

    So now the title should make sense to you. I have really fallen off with my Anime Fighters to the point where I might actually be ending this ongoing blog soon.  This blog used to take FOREVER to write because I had so much to discuss but now it just I did this combo, I did that combo. This blog originally started as me wanting to learn Anime Fighters and using my Leverless controller MidNite and now I mostly do combo trials and I do not use MidNite at all.

    I am really not 'Learning' it anymore and whilst I do want to still play it competitively I also feel I will not do as well in it as say a certain 3D fighter and well personally I do not want to do that.

    I think I will see how this week goes but if I continue to loose interest next weeks Learning AF might be our last one. Not to be a Debbie Downer tho, I will still play UNI2 at least for fun and I intended to play some Blazblue Central Fiction and do its story mode at least.

    This blog might soon go back to its original focus. Speaking of, I will probably drop a impression video for Darkest Dungeon II later this week. Till next time.

AV

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 5- Blood on my Hands

 Welcome to Week 5 of Learning Anime Fighters (AF), this is an ongoing blog series about me learning Anime Fighters and also mucking around and getting the hang of leverless controls. This week I will be a bit different than most. Instead of multiple AF's this week most of our focus will be on our latest AF we picked up, Melty Blood: Type Lumina.

    The latest in the Melty Blood franchise, we picked it up late last week and this whole week we were mucking around and getting the hang of the game and it's diverse cast. We do squeeze in a bit of Granblue Versus (on our Leverless controller too) later in the week. Speak of, this blog is written in a chronological order because it makes more sense to me if I do it that way. Lets kick off a Week of Melty Blood (mostly)!

Monday

- Being a French Bread game I decided to go purely with my arcade stick this time. The game does have some more simple combos but as time went on, I realize this was the right idea.

- MB tutorial is pretty competent, not as many info dumps as say UNI2 and you are allowed to try some of the concepts. I like it and it gave me a good idea how the game works.

I love this image so much it is my current wallpaper.

- Started with the female heroine and cover model Arcueid. Pretty easy to pick up with only one 'hard' trial. I think she could be a easy character to main.

- The Count of Monte Cristo aka Dantes was also a very fun pick up. Lots of cool attacks and he has his own version of Geese's Raging Storm. He also has a blue/ white Michael Jackson color scheme and you know we are MJ stans over here so another potential main?

- Night 1 of Melty Blood? Yeah, I think I am going to have a good time with this game.

Tuesday

- Right now I am picking character to try based on their looks lol. Next up is Saber who I've read is a guest character (like Dantes). Her combo trials were one of the easier ones but I do like her combo routes and of course her backstory of her being a gender-swapped King Arthur is pretty cool.

- Miyako is a Close Quarters Combat/ Bajiquan expert which I like but I am not a fan of her stubby limbs and her combos lack 'sauce'. Her one super where she just stomps on ground lacked some serious oomph for a game with so much craziness. Definitely back of the list when it comes to possible mains.

- Red Arcueid on the other hand has all the sauce. Her 'Final Arc' aka her big super is amazing and (spoiler for Tsukihime; very lore accurate). Ironically, like her regular version, she only had one 'hard' combo and it involved a double charged H in the air and getting the hang of her 236 jump cancels.

- Melty Blood combos as a whole so far feel so much 'easier' compared to UNI2 with every character I picked up being able to get 100% of their trials done.

- Speaking of hard combos, I jumped back into UNI2.

- Did a quick run through Kaguya's trials again to keep me fresh with how she works esp if I aim to main (her). One trick I found out for myself is the trials she has were you need to wait slightly, you can do her charge (hold down D) to help with the precise timing and you get a bit of GRD for your trouble.

- Finished some more Lodreicka and Mika trials, not 100% but getting closer. Unlike Melty Blood, I feel there will be some characters I can not get 100% completion with in UNI2.

- As I say that, I did finally 100% Nanase's trials tho. Tiger kneeing her air 236 is definitely required for some of the harder combos but it was do-able. My biggest moment was realizing I was doing a charge C when I just need to do a regular C during one of her combos, that keep messing me up for sure.

Wednesday

- Kohaku animations are hilarious and I had to add a extra aerial B in trials 4-6 and 4-7 to get the combo timing down.

- This was a little trick I picked up in my KOF 13 combo trials when it came to completing some trials I always added a extra move or two when necessary.

- Since we did one maid, we might as well do the other. Hisui has a more trap centric playstyle which really does not appeal to me but damn is some of the stuff she does hilarious. Both maids seem to be playing a different game sometimes.

- So since we did both, we might as well do the duo. Melty Blood is unique that is has a tag mechanic but only for the 2 maids. Their combo trials was a mix of each others so it wasn't hard but I bet if someone could master them, it'll be fun to watch with all the set up/ mix ups possible.

Thursday

- Mash 4-4 with the jump cancel into the air dash C gave me some serious grief at first but eventually I got it down. Speaking of, all her cancels seems to blend well into her kit. I love how one of her super is 100% a homage to Captain America's Stars and Stripes hyper in Marvel.

- Also Mash is such a hilarious name for a fighting game character where 'mashing' is general discouraged unless you are playing Marvel and want to do more damage.

- Vlov is the premier zoner of the game it appears and again spoilers I love how he is lore accurate when he changes to his ice powers when he is in danger of losing. Took a minute to get the hang of his descending B after a aerial charged C which reminded me of Wagner in UNI.

- Mario and his 'puppets' had some unique combos, typically I do see myself as a puppet main so I do not think I'll use him but he did seem less complex then some puppet character like Enchantress in DNF Duel.

- I feel like Melty Blood maybe one of the few games where I actually use the dash macro, normally I do 6,6 to dash but it just do not come out as fast as I want. Ironic because I can 6,6 dash in UNI2 without an issue and its the macro in that game that doesn't work for me as much as I like.

- When I heard about the character Roa, I did not know lighting would be his shtick but here we are. A very strong character and he strangely feels like mixture of rush-down and zoning which is wild because you are normally one or the other.

- Aoko has some tricks that took some time to get used too, the only character with a triple jump air combo and the 236P,P charge P took some time to get the hang of but we made it work. I like her tho and I think she has potential as a main. Maybe because she feels like a UNI character lol.

- Powered Ciel or PCiel as she is known has some long animations, she hits like a truck through and has some beefy hit boxes. She feels a bit more slower than you average bear but I think that is by design.

- Kishima is a grappler through and through, his combo trials were a bit easier then most even tho it took me a couple tries to get the hang of his 22B cancel into standing A combos.

- With only 7 more characters combo trials to complete, I can saw MB has much easier trials than UNI2 and once I am done with all of them, I'll start doing story mode content and find a main.

Friday

- Took a break from gaming and caught up on some TV instead. Quick spoiler: bar a disaster I foresee a RAVE for X-Men '97 and Invincible by the end of their respective seasons.

Saturday

- I went to bed hella early Friday (at least for me) and got up super early on Saturday and decided to just finish out Melty Blood's combo trials. This is going to be a long one.

-  First we had to hop back into Granblue Rising and we decided to go top tier and try Nier (BARS)

- Nier is notoriously easy to use and also top tier in Rising but as a puppet character I really do not want to use her. Also most of her combo trials end with set-ups instead of actually knockdowns. Her last combo was hella fickle too and was not counting my close standing H into her Super Skybound Art. Definitely not a character I want to main and she'll probably be nerfed soon.

- On the other hand, Eustace seems more my spend, some unique combos including bomb set ups and punishing crouching opponent. I recall enjoying Eustace in the previous Granblue as well so I might muck around with him more.

- I like how Vira can combo into her install super (a install super is a super where you self buff your character at the cost of a meter for my non fighting heads). She seems very strong once you get her up and running as well and her combo routes are unique because of the install.

- I do know if I've mentioned this previously but Rising has a weird auto-blocking during its combo trials and it is a very weird design choice. No other game has this and makes no sense in a combo trial. The practice dummy will block every attack for a couple sequences after some failed combo attempts before they stop blocking and allow you to continue the trial.

- Back to Melty Blood.

- It is funny but I did not use Ciel after completing PCiel previously but I made up for it by using her first in this final batch of characters. As noted PCiel is a weighty character and regular Ciel is a speed demon in comparison.

- She has a lot of hold down button attacks (yay *sarcasm*) and her air throws lack a bit of oomph but I feel that is because she can do extra attacks/ supers after them. She feels very strong tho and I enjoyed using her.

- Main character Shiki feels like a well rounded character which makes sense since he is the hero. He also has extra skills that unlock once his main super connects which is cool. His air combo timing is a bit strange through due to the extra hits on his jumping B.

- Speaking of; I realize as a concept I do not enjoy multi-hitting moves off one button press. I really mess with my timings in combos.

- I like a joke character as much as the next guy but man is Neco-Arc super weird. Weird hitbox, weird moves and set ups and hella weird combos. She gives me Dr. B vibes from Tekken 3 (not the actually useable one in Tekken Tag Tournament 2) where she is there purely to troll over players if someone picks her.

- Going from a character I would never main to one I might, Akiha has some potential. She has a command grab with a 632146 motion (what is this KOF?!) and some of her cancels require to not fully charge an attack before doing the follow ups. Despite all this, she has caught my eye.

- Dark Apostle Noel or D.A Noel's 4-5 gave me a headache with its jump cancel into air dash timing but we got it. I did not mind some of her combo concepts but as a Lolita girl with a cute voice archetype I probably won't be main-ing her either. I really do not like that concept I have come to realize. I like my women grown *cough Spectre cough*

- Noel on other hand is a grown woman and I actually like using her. She has run cancels, a meaty overhead into a combo and easy air combos (unlike D.A Noel). When I first looked into MB mains, Noel was one of the character I was considering.

- Ushiwakamaru (another guest character from the Fate series same as Mash and Dantes) ironically feels like she belongs in a different game. She seems pretty complex and has some unique combos including a very stylish combo in 4-4.

- On that note, that is all combo trials done in Melty Blood: Type Lumina which is funny cause I am only 3/4 completed with UNI2 combos and I've been playing UNI2 for much longer. It really show how much harder the combos in UNI2 are.

- One thing I really enjoy is how every character has a counter super in this game with the Shield (D) after A+B+C activation.

- Potential mains for Melty Blood is pretty long tho; starting with Arcueid, Red Arcueid, Ciel, Akiha, Noel, Roa, Mash, Aoki and the Count. I'll probably make a decision by the next Learning AF.

Sunday

- Break Night

- I could not resist doing some extra training with Kaguya tho.

WHAT'S NEXT

Another week in the bag and more anime was played. The last Learning AF was talking about where we were going from here and I have decided that we will become French Bread enthusiast. This week of learning Melty Blood really got me excited much more than I have been with Granblue and of course competition in DNF Duel is just not viable. This means more focus on UNI2 and now Melty Blood however sadly the 2 games I can use my leverless controller MidNite with are not the games I will be competing in. Learning Leverless was always a plan but as I played more competitive games, I realize I need my best foot forward and using my stick is how I do that. I will still aim to muck around in Granblue Rising so MidNite won't be gathering too much dust.

However I am also thinking about getting back to other games and toning back a bit of the fighting game frenzy now I'm focused on which game I want to compete in. I recently purchased the first Remnant whilst it was on sale and of course I want to get back to Marvel's Midnight Suns too. We are nearing the end of a month and I've actually have not done a review be it a RANT, RAVE or a OKAY since Pony Island so I would like to focus on some non fighters for a couple nights.

Learning AF will continue tho, no doubt so look forward to our next entry as we kick off April in style.

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

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

Learning Leverless: Week 1 - Stick to It?

As I've promoted in this blog, we are now fully in our leverless phase and it has been... challenging.

MidNite

Part of learning leverless, was also learning a new game as well and as we previously mentioned, it was going to be Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes (hereby referred to as UNI2). Now I had a good idea it would be a struggle but since I was doing pretty well using my new controller of choice in DNF Duel and being able to pull off some of the harder combos with it I figured I could work with it.

However within the first couple days of using MidNite (the name for my Flatbox) I realized how different UNI2 felt compared to DNF Duel. For the people who do not play DNF Duel (on that note, shame on you! Its a amazing game just let down by its parent company Nexon) DNF Duel has motion inputs as well as 'simple inputs'. So yes, you can do a quarter circle forward and attack but you can also do just forward and attack and get the special move (at slight more mana costs but that's DNF system rules and we don't want to get stuck in the weeds). DNF Duel also does not have anything more complex then a Dragon Punch motion (aka forward, down, down forward) and does not even have a half circle forward attack.

So when I started using MidNite to practice UNI2 movement and specials I realize just how much more effort is required to do some of the more complex motions the game has like half circles, full circles and even charging up to down surprisingly. I quickly picked up the quarter circle forward and back motions without much issue but even the dragon punch motion for me is hit and miss which normal is not an issue when I was using a stick. Even more worrying was the half circle motions (another motion I had no issue pulling off with a stick/ I play Clark in KOF and King in Tekken) was coming out 1 out of 4 attempts. I know, I know, it is early days and I just started using leverless but for stuff that was once as natural as breathing for me to feel much more foreign was a step back. With that in mind, I decided to keep at it and using MidNite to complete all the trials in the Tutorial for UNI2 and was able to do most of them. Some trials required a lot more attempts but eventually I completed most of courses ranging from Novice all the way to some of Expert.

At this point, it is time to talk about my experience so far with UNI2. I have had a passing interesting in UNI series and always wanted to give it a try and with the new one coming out I thought it was a prime time to try. All this was previous discussed in other blogs leading up to this one so if you want the full story, make sure you read those. With this being my first UNI, I of course decided to go into the tutorials and learn about the game and BOY... is there a lot going on there.

UNI2's tutorial is extensive and a bit overwhelming to be honest. It also has a lot of just theory tutorials and not stuff that can be shown in-game and just a wall of text was not always the easy thing to retain. With Learning Leverless this series will be about not just picking up a new controller but also picking up a new game but I also wisely decided to do both it in 'chunks' so I did not get completely overwhelmed with info dump but even with chunks and not doing multiple tutorials back to back it is still a lot.

UNI2 also uses a lot of abbreviations like CS and D.I and tons of others but no glossary in the menus where you need it the most and instead I have to have a wiki up so I know what it was asking me to do. This I must say is a big mis-step and something that should be corrected. Say what you want about Tekken but the glossary is accessible during menus and is very detailed.

I really noticed these abbreviations became a real issue when I started doing the combo trials and even through you can use the 'demo' to show you what it looks (aka delay this hit here, charge this attack here) it still helps to know what the game is asking of you.

Despite this, I did enjoy learning the combo system and realized just how deep it was. I had made a decision before I even picked up the game I would main Wagner and she has a lot of cool stuff. I can honestly say, I always enjoy combo trials the most in every game I play so it is no surprise I was having fun. This all came with a big caveat tho. I was doing all these combos with my Xbox stick and not my MidNite.

Hello Old Friend

So confession. As I got closer and closer to the end of the Tutorial and in the Advanced section, I consciously switched back to stick (which is how I learned how to play fighting games) and started doing much better of course, I even re-did the previous sections with a stick and everything just felt more right. Now I do not want to say 'screw it' I am going back to stick because I really do enjoy using MidNite for DNF Duel and I think I can make it work in that game but I do not think I'll be playing DNF Duel competitively and I might be trying with UNI2 since its a new game and there are people actually playing it actively so I want to be at my best when I do play.

However I am not completely deterred so I have decided to use MidNite and see how I do with the combo trials and I might even go half and half for awhile and make a final decision before I go to my next competitive event. By then hopefully I had spent enough time with the leverless lifestyle that I can make a more inform decision. This will also be covered by this blog as this is an ongoing series which will be added too every week.

Before I go through, during this week of experimentation, I realized I might have been wrong. I really tried to justify choosing UNI2 over Granblue as my initial game pick up (I always intended to pick up both through) but I realized that Granblue has simple controls too similar to DNF Duel and since I am doing well in DNF Duel with leverless it might have been more suitable for me to have went with Granblue and leverless as opposed to UNI2 and leverless. In the end I might be picking up Granblue Versus Rising during my next pay period so I can practice that with MidNite and seeing if I am more comfortable with it but we will see come week two of Learning Leverless.

AV

PIT STOP: Brave New Worlds

 Nearing the end of Tekken 7's lifespan, I made two firm decision. The first was to not play Tekken 8 competitively. I made a RANT post about this so if you want more of that story, you can read about it there. The other big decision I made was to try something different. A new fighting game genre which I always looked at and wanted to try but never had given a honest try. It was time to go ANIME.

Regular followers of this blog will notice the last couple months me constantly talking about anime fighting games like Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, Under-Night In-Birth, Granblue Versus and very frequently, DNF Duel. As I've explored each one I've got more into taking the genre more seriously. Sadly the one I want to play the most is the one with the least player base (that being DNF Duel) but thankfully both Granblue and Under-Night (or as most folks refer it to as UNI) have a decent player base and both have tournaments being run around them so if I wanted some serious competition outside of playing the CPU I would have some. Granblue online is good too and UNI's is...well let say its not good but I doubt I'll be playing either online much anyway since I barely played the fighting games I was good at online.

I know I'll have some friends willing to play it with me in my inner circle too which is nice and I fully intended to integrate myself into the local scene which I have as well so all in all, if I take to anime like I take to all fighting games I've previously played I think I'll be alright. However I did not want to spread myself too thin so I decided to just pick one to spend the most time with and focus on 'getting gud'. It came down either Granblue Versus Rising or Under-Night In-Birth: Sys:Celes and we went with...

There is a couple reasons why I decided to go UNI2 as opposed to GBVR (got to get used to this abbreviations). Playing the UNI characters in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle I realized some of them were pretty cool and I enjoyed learning just how different, with concepts like Reverse Beat (a system that involves hitting buttons in reverse strength aka instead of light punch into heavy punch, you can do heavy punch into light which normally is not a thing) and some of the character designs were very unique as well. I did some more research and I learned UNI is a very technical fighter with a lot of nuances which appeal to me as well.

It did not help I recently paid for the original GranBlue Versus before they announced a full price expansion and to get the game as well as its upcoming DLC characters would cost $75!! Sure this can mitigated with the Free version but the free version has a limited roster that is determined by the developers. UNI games on the other hand I've never brought, UNI2 is only $50 and you get the season pass/ DLC included with it as long as you purchase it before March 1st. In the end, I decided on UNI2 for Steam even despite the horrible online connectivity for matches (which the developers are constantly working on and updating which is a good sign) cause as I stated before, I do not need online to enjoy a game.

UNI2 player base also seems a bit more 'dedicated'. I noticed over time the GBVR players left the game pretty quickly, sure it might have been COVID or the lack of good online infrastructure (which I heard Rising did fix) but it does not change that UNI players have supported their game through thick and thin and made sure they even got a sequel. As of late, I find myself cheering for the indie developers and the developers of Under-Night In-Birth, French Bread are as indie as they can get.

However I wanted to challenge myself in another way, not only did I want to learn anime games competitively, I wanted to take another leap too. I always said if I wanted to get serious again about fighters I would go lever-less and well... soon that will come true.

Introducing the Flatbox based on the Snackbox Micro I purchased from AliExpress. I do not have it yet but it should be arriving soon and I can not wait to try it. This is my first time going lever-less and I have a feeling it will not be easy at first but I am willing to give it a honest try. I have never felt using a stick has held me back since I grew up in the arcades of Sydney so I was used to using it as my preferred way of playing fighting games but times have changed and I've noticed lever-less controllers getting cheaper and providing more advantages to players. I will probably use this blog to chart my progress with it and my feelings on the one I brought and hopefully if I take to it, I hope to customize to fit my aesthetic even more (through all black is a statement too).

So because I am deciding to learn UNI2 and a new controller I've decided to pair them up so I intend to do both at the same time so I can build my muscle memory and not pick up any bad habits. This will of course mean I can not practice for a upcoming local tournament 'Cincy Clash 6' but I intend to just play casuals at that event to get my feet wet and to try out my new toy in a competitive environment.

All in all, two brave new journeys, both will be chronicled here. Stay tuned!

AV