Just another newbie who needs help

[WillWork4Instal]

Okidoki, check this vid. It shows some countering. The counter DD is great for punishing multi hit distortions like Litchi's 13 orphans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLX4uZIB0rM
EDIT: There are Yukikaze complitations from the same guy. Check those too.

[mAc Chaos]

I disagree withe everybody saying to try everybody. It's not like you can tell what their play style is really like until you can get decent with them, and that means playing with them for a bit. You will learn more about how other characters play, by fighting them when other people use them.

I never went through a lot of characters, I just picked Hakumen and that was it.

As for knowing how to punish moves, that's where frame data comes in, or just asking us what moves are unsafe. Some moves have longer recover than others, which means once you block them you can attack. Inferno Divider, for instance, is invincible during its attack and beats pretty much anything you throw at it. But if you block it, it takes forever to recover, and that's when you can hit back. You can learn that kind of stuff through trial and error, or looking at frame data for the character's move and comparing to your own moves and how fast they are for which ones to use to respond. (By the way, Hakumen's counters also fall into the punishable category. If you do it and they don't take the bait, you're stuck in recovery for like 3 hours and they can hit you.)

For Hakumen's counters, you should look at them like checkmating the opponent's attack as if it was a chess game where you saw their move coming or they did something that's too late for them to stop, rather than just throwing it out there and hoping you get lucky.

The classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75sS8F66idI

[Osuna]

That's some nice contribution, and I like the detailed explanation of a simlpe yet important set of concepts however...I have no idea what checkmate an attack is supposed to mean. I thought you might mean to defeat an attack in some strange sense, but you took the extra time to make sure we knew you were using checkmate in the chess sense and I just... what is that supposed to mean?

Counters are good defensive tools against reactionable attacks too. They also can seal slow options since they can be D'd on reaction. Playing against Spark as Tager sucks btw.

[mAc Chaos]

Basically yomi / hard call out. Everybody knows chess.

A lot of the time when I'm playing someone I kind of have a mental flowchart going through my head of what I think they're going to do, what I'm going to do to counter it, what their response is going to be, and what my response to that will be, until I reach the "solution" where I win. Usually against my brother who plays Tager it goes something like: I knock him down, I go for Hotaru on wakeup, he goes wakeup MTW, (I saw it coming) Hotaru clashes, I go directly into j.D to avoid getting destroyed, he rapid cancels and goes for mixup, and then one of us will win the exchange based on what I thought. But if I made the right move then that's what I meant by checkmate. Technically it's more of a general thing.

Should've just called it a call out. :3 The reason I made the chess analogy though is you don't want to just do it all over the place randomly, you want to do it only after you thought it through and know what they're about to do, in a deliberate way.

[Osuna]

Basically yomi / hard call out. Everybody knows chess.

A lot of the time when I'm playing someone I kind of have a mental flowchart going through my head of what I think they're going to do, what I'm going to do to counter it, what their response is going to be, and what my response to that will be, until I reach the "solution" where I win. Usually against my brother who plays Tager it goes something like: I knock him down, I go for Hotaru on wakeup, he goes wakeup MTW, (I saw it coming) Hotaru clashes, I go directly into j.D to avoid getting destroyed, he rapid cancels and goes for mixup, and then one of us will win the exchange based on what I thought. But if I made the right move then that's what I meant by checkmate. Technically it's more of a general thing.

Should've just called it a call out. :3

...Do you know chess? Because that isn't how checkmate works and while good chess player can see ahead into the game that also isn't analogous to yomi/call outs.

Just a note for the new player, if you're going to yomi or call out an attack you think will happen by countering it you should measure your confidence. High risk moves like hakumen's drive require a high success rate to be worth it, so often there are better options! Another reason to not worry too much about being psychic with counters and react to things appropriately.

[mAc Chaos]

bodied

[Okidoki_Sir]

I see how good they are to counter multihit drives, but I think that is something which needs tons of training, right?

And about the chess thing: I understand what you wanted to tell me. But I am far away from reading somebodies mind. And even if I were a pro it would be hard to da that. Of course there are some basic combos, every player uses, but I think everybody has his very own playstyle and therefore is unpredictable if you encounter him the first time.

And although some say I should try every character before I decide, I will stick to Hakumen for some time now. The videos were awesome and I also like his style.

@ WillWork4Instal: I found another reason why playing on vita is easier: You can put sticky notes below the screen in case of blackout/to learn the combos :D This is what I am actually doing right now. I tried beating Arcade with only 2 basic short combos (B+C, 214A, 6C and 4C, 214A, 3C) to get used to those and see where I can apply them and where I cannot. Then I will learn some new combos which I can do when I can't do those and eventually I will replace them by something longer and more difficult.

Or is this a stupid idea? :D

edit: Whats "yomi"?

[Airk]

edit: Whats "yomi"?

I believe it's "reading" in Japanese - as in "reading your opponent" as in "being able to tell what he's going to do before he does it"; aka "being psychic" or just "calling him out". It's a term you'll see thrown around a good bit, and it boils down to being able to get into your opponent's head so you can tell what they'll do and counter it.

[WillWork4Instal]

@ WillWork4Instal: I found another reason why playing on vita is easier: You can put sticky notes below the screen in case of blackout/to learn the combos :D This is what I am actually doing right now. I tried beating Arcade with only 2 basic short combos (B+C, 214A, 6C and 4C, 214A, 3C) to get used to those and see where I can apply them and where I cannot. Then I will learn some new combos which I can do when I can't do those and eventually I will replace them by something longer and more difficult.
Or is this a stupid idea? :D

That's pretty smart. Taking notes is extremely helpful, and sticking it to your Vita is a very good idea. Having two or three combos in the beginning is good; memorizing simple stuff helps you understand more complex situations. Keep up the good work!

[Okidoki_Sir]

Thank you two

For now I got no further questions :D I will practice now Played some games online today, just to see how good the opponents are. They aren't even that good. But the lag is horrible