October 24, 2012 is quickly approaching, and with it the Playstation Network and Xbox Live release of Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core+ is nearly upon us, of course this is merely a preface for the newly tuned Accent Core+R! But as great of a game as Guilty Gear is, it can also be a very complex one, and while veterans have spent years mastering these tricks and tactics, a whole new generation of players are coming in blind. Luckily this knowledge can be passed on and hopefully aide up and comers!

Recently posters have been debating on exactly what a "1 Frame Jump" is and it's applications, and thanks to poster Horokei we have an excellent video which shows and explains the mechanic in-depth. Although it's shown using #Reload the premise is still prevalent and existent in Accent Core, see the video below:

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So! You've just bought the latest Arcsys fighter on the block. Maybe you're excited to play as your favorite Persona characters; maybe you want to see for yourself what all the hubbub about this "Guilty Gear" is. Who knows? But in any case, you wind up on Dustloop because you're not a filthy casual and you want your game to have a little substance. That's good! You're on the right track.

But all these Dustloop members keep talking about doing stuff in Training Mode - mostly combos, but also some other things. That seems boring to you! You bought the game because you wanted to fight people, not beat up on a standing opponent for hours on end. Why should that be so important?

I had that exact thought when I first got into Guilty Gear. GG was the first fighter I tried to learn competitively, and I heard some pretty crazy-sounding things: "80% of your time with the game should be in training mode" was the most extreme advice I got. But I've come to learn that it's not that Training Mode is the most important part of a fighting game - after all, there are lots of things you can't practically train without a human opponent - but that unless your name is Tokido or something, it is crucial to your success as a competitive-minded player.

Why is Training Mode Important?

At any fighting game's most basic level, playing the game is about being able to consistently perform the action that you want. Sure, you can mash buttons and dash around like a newborn, but that won't win you very many matches after a while; eventually, you'll want to be able to do the right move at the right time in the right place. Anything else is essentially wild flailing, and wild flailing gets you killed.

The kinds of things you'll want to be able to do consistently include:

1) Poking (at what range is each attack optimal? Which moves are always good and which are situational?)
2) Movement (doing the right jump, the perfectly-timed airdash, etc. - in general, not being "out of position")
3) Combos (which combos work all the time? Which are situational? How can I best optimize my meter usage in combos?)
4) Pressure and hitconfirming out of pressure (how do I keep the opponent blocking? How do I mix them up? What do I do when I hit them?)
5) Reacting to and punishing your opponent's actions (my opponent likes to do -action-. How can I make him/her feel bad for doing that?)

While number 2 is a little bit difficult to practice without having someone to fight, numbers 1, 3, 4, and 5 can all be honed with the magic of Training Mode - and you don't even need another meatbag to do it with you!
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Loketest is running at Akihabara Hey! from August 6th to August 12th.

System

• Gold Bursts have been removed, replaced with Overdrive.
• Green Bursts work as before.
• Crush Trigger: Pressing A+B during certain attacks will break your opponent's guard (unless they're using Barrier). This costs

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On August 4-5 it will be time for SBO/Tougeki 2012! Unfortunately BB is not part of it this year but the new fighting game by Atlus and Arcsys, Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena is!

Here’s a basic rundown for how to qualify for a SBO spot in Japan:

Local Qualifier (Red ticket) > Block Final (Blue Ticket) > SBO!

The number of local qualifiers in an area varies depending on the population, as an example there are usually more qualifiers in the larger cities. This gives anyone who wants a shot at SBO a chance to qualify; You can win multiple local qualifiers in different blocks. The block final is after each local qualifier, where all the winners from the local qualifiers compete for the real spot in SBO.

So, if there were three local qualifiers there will be three people competing against each other for the SBO spot in the block final. A player can lose a qualifier or block final in one area but if they go to a different area and win both events there, they can still compete in SBO.

If you are interested in seeing the players that made it to SBO 2012 for P4U please check out this article! P4U will take place on August 5th and will be streamed on NicoNico. More details on this to come.

Here are the qualifiers sorted by block and then into local qualifier and block finals with the winners listed at the bottom; Some events are in playlists. Note that any qualifiers that happened before the beginning of June are not the most recent patch!

Sources and thanks: Jourdal, pktzn1213, zero3japan, gulliver01uru, nakajoy01, GcomWajiro2, Ruv0324, Tougeki official website





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[Author's note : I originally posted this on my local Facebook group for some of our scene's newer players, but I figured I haven't seen any instructional articles on the front page of DL lately, so I decided to share it.]

A major problem I see with most tutorials for fighting games is that they're TOO beginner focused. "This is the button layout!" or "Here's how to use such-and-such system mechanic!" seem commonplace. Where are the tutorials for players in between novice and pro? Personally, I believe it's an issue that should be addressed, and hopefully something we'll see more of. With that said, I'm going to offer my technique for combo selection for intermediate players. The specifics of this guide apply to Guilty Gear, but its principles can apply to virtually any fighting game.
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A series of Lambda-11 tutorial videos have been created that covers everything from a breakdown of the characters normals to tips ...

After a long time, we finally got the 2nd part out. it's way shorter when compared to the 1st one, though.
There's also plans to turn what was to be the 3rd part into a series of shorter videos, each one focusing on applications of all that stuff that was covered in these videos



Feedback, questions, comments and all that is always welcome
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By: Lion's Eye (Patrick Walter)

Warning

If you couldn't tell by the size of your scrollbar, this is a long piece. This won't be for everyone, but I do encourage you to read it as you may find something to your liking. It's as much about fighting games as it is about a personal journey. It's heavy and thoughtful. It's a little self-indulgent and at times embellished. I'm not a big name in the community (yet) and this is mostly for new or newer fighting gamers to consider. But, if you have the time and are still interested, as I said, I encourage you to keep reading.

Opening Words

Beginnings are just as important as endings. Having been a passionate writer for almost seven years now I know this better than most. The first sentence must have just as much impact as the last, and all those in-between. It takes a lot of time and effort to make this happen. More than that, it takes passion, patience, imagination, and most important of all, belief in oneself and what you're doing. It takes a reason, or, in some cases, more than one. It takes many things, even friends, and a failure can be just as meaningful as a success. This too, I have learned, applies to many endeavors in life, including, of course, fighting games. And it doesn't matter whether someone is on the outside or the inside of an art, a profession, a trade, or a competition, people will always find reasons to diminish what it is you do. In our world the common phrase is some variation on, "It's just a game." And it is, just a game. But then again, having already spent a year in this community and having only just begun, it really, really, is not just a game. ...

As you may or may not know, Persona 4: Arena is set to get a balance patch sometime at the end of May. ASW have released official patch notes as well as changes to the characters themselves. Translations of the changes courtesy of Dakanya. (This post will be updated as more changes come in)

Credits go to DevilTrigger and Dakanya for this. So it finally got revealed that the rumored balance patch is indeed not a rumor. Here are the changes scheduled for May.

+ Indicates a buff
- Indicates a nerf
= Indicates a neutral change.
? Indicates something I'm unsure of.


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