Street fighter V, yay or nay?

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so, all i care about is the online multiplayer, im not into singleplayer with this kind of game, i play ssb4 like crazy online, so all i see with this game is that its basically that, but ill be getting rewarded with new costumes and fighters and stuff the more i play. but im debating whether i should....kind of a hard decision as the community is split 50 50. i like the concept that if i play online i can earn the extra fighters. and it looks great....help?

If all you care about is online or in person multiplayer, you'll probably really like it. Mechanically, it's a great fighting game. It pretty much has no single player option other than training. Yeah, the story mode DLC came out, but it's pretty terrible in every aspect. The only problem with multiplayer is that it's slow. The actual fighting is usually smooth and lag free, but for me, it can often take upwards of 10 minutes to find matches. There aren't lobbies or anything like that, so you just have to wait for the match making service to pair you up.

cool thanks! hey maybe people will have it at uni when i get there in september....then maybe i could use it to make friends! (or you know, people who can tolerate me)

Honestly, to me, the best way to decide is simple: Do you like SF4, or the SF series in general? If yes, then you'd like this. Well, as long as multiplayer is your focus, that is. For the most part though, it's.... well, it's Street Fighter. The series never changes THAT much, and that's the same this time around. Some differences, but mostly it's what you've always known.

Not exactly my favorite fighting game series (a bit too slow-moving for me, I'm more a fan of the wild/fast combo-based ones like Blazblue) but from a mechanical standpoint it's always been a high quality series. Capcom certainly had some mistakes here, but that's mostly in terms of things like single-player content and marketing and all of that crap. None of which are important if you're in this for the multiplayer only.

I keep hoping they'll release a single player arcade mode that will allow you to be challenged by other players while playing single. Just about every other fighting game has this feature.

I'm also looking forward to see what new characters they bring in. Right now, the game feels more like Street Fighter III than Street Fighter IV, which for me is unfortunately because SF3 was my least favorite SF series. I just don't find many of the characters in SF5 to be very interesting.

I did play during a free weekend of sf4, all that bothered me was the controls, but then i wasn't used to it at all yet, i also played soul calibur at a friends house, it was great (also i played cheap, literally spammed the triangle button, then the circle button when i found that didn't work anymore). you say its slow? that might be really beneficial for me, as that would give me more time to think and input actions, it looks like a good pace for me, ive been watching Maximilian dude play it for a while now.

my only question is are the combos really hard to input? i mean i found dead or alive to be easy combos wise, but like ryu in ssb4 you have to slide the control stick in a 90 degree motion and press a, and im struggling with that already, but something like dead or alive it was just holing directions and pressing the right buttons in the right order.

did i also mention the game wouldn't cost me a penny? i have some games to hand in for cash that would fully pay for it, so its basically free.

god im REALLY bad at making decisions, i take forever, like days.

Well, the way I've always looked at it is that there's two different types/styles of fighting games in an overall sense: 2D, and 3D. Which sounds like a purely visual thing, but it isnt. Somehow the two ended up being completely split mechanically as well.

Dead or Alive works like you say it does there; combos have certain ways of functioning, and are mostly what I call "canned" combos (pre-made, you can see them listed), which is usually the case with 3D fighters. Tekken does it, Soul Caliber does it, all of those games do it. Most attacks involve holding down a direction and inputting a series of buttons. Characters have very, very, very few true "special" moves in games like that, but a large variety of what are to me "normal" attacks".

I suspect all of these things are done because of the fact that the player... and thus the controls... have to deal with the third dimension of movement.


In 2D fighters, you have no third dimension of movement, even if the graphics themselves are in 3D (like they are in SF or Smash). Since there's no need to worry about that aspect of controls, they can get a bit more detailed when it comes to the rest of the controls. The bit you mention there about Ryu, for instance, is a pretty normal way of executing a special move; aka, an attack/move with some sort of very unique property that has a special command that needs to be put in. Ryu's famous Hadouken special attack.... the fireball.... is always used by inputting it's equally famous command, which is a quarter-circle-forward (start with DOWN on the dpad or stick, and roll to FORWARD) motion and then some punch button. That's one of the most basic and well known input types, and LOTS of special moves in 2D fighting games use the Hadouken command for various moves.

There's others though, too. For example the also-famous Shoryuken (Ryu or Ken's rising punch move) uses a command where you start with FORWARD, then DOWN, and then DOWN/FORWARD (alot of games will also accept "forward" as that final command, most of these arent very picky, with Mortal Kombat being the only exception I've found as far as how bloody strict it is). That's another command type that's used in basically all 2D fighting games, usually in multiple places. Other types of commands involve half-circles (like the Hadouken, but you start by hitting BACK instead of DOWN and then rolling forward), full circles (dont try these until you're used to the genre, new players will tend to attempt this and end up just jumping up and down instead) or even double full circles ("git gud" before attempting that type). Full or double full circle commands are fortunately rare, and tend to be used for special moves that are also throws. And then some games have less common types of special move commands, for example the Mortal Kombat series has a variety of move commands that involve you tapping multiple directions and then hitting a single button (Scorpion's spear, for instance, is hitting BACK twice and then punching, there's no "rolling" move to make and you cant just hold down a single direction either).


Now, that's just for special moves. When you do those things right, you get ONE special attack. Simple, right? Well, the problem for alot of players comes when they try to do combos. Combos in 2D fighters dont work like they do in 3D ones. There's no big list of combos for you to read, and they arent really "canned" as they often are in 3D ones. Combos depend entirely on the properties of the moves being used. Some "normals" (basic attacks") or special normals (slightly odd normal attacks) have the property of being able to directly combo into others. Street Fighter isnt my thing, but if I recall correctly you can, for instance, walk up to someone with Ryu, and hit punch, followed by a heavier punch, and you'll do a 2-hit combo. Combos are basically defined as one move activating directly after the last with no cooldown between them. When you are doing combos, if you watch carefully, you can actually see move animations being outright "cancelled" into new ones, which is important.

A basic combo in SF might look like: Punch, punch, medium punch, heavy kick, followed by a Shoryuken command. Note, I have no bloody clue if that ACTUAL specific combo works or not, I aint played SF in awhile. But that's what a basic combo in SF tends to look like. Special moves are usually used at the END of combos (or by themselves) in 2D fighters, usually not comboing into other specials or back into normals, but there are exceptions.

Some games get a little weird about combos, and some can go really far. For example, Arc's games, like Guilty Gear or Blazblue. In those, even "basic" combos are often many hits, and "long" combos can be 30 or more, and these are frequent things. In addition, the mechanics are a hell of alot more complicated, allowing you to do things like use special meter to forcibly cancel an animation (by hitting a button) allowing you to combo into ANY move at cost, or other things... a full combo in a game like that might involve hitting one attack button a couple of times, then a different one, then another one, then a special command, and then hitting the cancel button at a specific point during the animation, and hitting Kick (or whatever) instantly after that, and then doing a jump-cancel (leads to more air comboing, I dont think SF does this so I'm not going to explain how it works, just that it adds even more complexity), and then doing some more basic commands with maybe another jump cancel and then a special move and.... yeah, you dont have to worry about SF going THAT far, that series doesnt. But that's how some of these games get. All of these combos have to be done QUICKLY, even when it's gotten REALLY screwy and you're adding in full-circle commands or whatever in there.

The good thing is that Street Fighter is one of the slower-moving 2D fighters. Games like Guilty Gear are known for being very fast, which is also probably part of why many players have so much trouble learning them. SF definitely has a slower pace, and isnt ABOUT combos like GG is. You can certainly do combos in SF, but you dont have to obsess over them. Sometimes single, careful hits can form a good tactic in that series. So, slower pace, simpler combos (much simpler) and no complete FOCUS on those combos means that SF is more of a for-everyone series.



Ok, yeah, that was a bit of a rambly post, but even if you're getting the game for free, I think it's good to understand what you're getting yourself into before dedicating the kind of time it takes to get anywhere in one of these games, so I've done my best to give a little detail.

Just be warned of one thing: The fighting game community is NOT a nice, happy group. I strongly recommend avoiding them. If you're going to play against other players, that's fine, just... avoid the actual community like the hideous plague of rabid badgers that it is. NASTY group.

Oh, and dont use the analog sticks for controls in a 2D fighter. Works in a 3D one: Bad, bad, bad idea in a 2D one. Either use the DPad, or get an actual arcade stick. I personally prefer the DPad. Many other players think I'm crazy for doing that; but considering that I'm usually the one winning, they have little room to speak, hah. The arcade stick is the popular option. Just... not the analog stick. Just dont.


Also note that Smash is the exception to.... ALL of these rules. It plays like no other 2D fighter, and in Smash, Ryu is the ONLY one with special commands available.

haha im going to go one step crazier and use a keyboard, i figure having solid 4 buttons to use to move and thus enter inputs will allow more precision, to be honest thats what im afraid of, is being too inept to put combo's in to do the actually unique moves a character can do, i mean, if i can't do that, isnt every character essentially exactly the same?, looking a max's videos (i mentioned him earlier?), he did ones where he played the basic stories for everyone, and it showed the kind of commands you do as part of the level....i think i can do those, not that good or fast at first but im sure with some focus and practice (basically, picking a main and sticking with him or her, and practicing them) i could do it, it just seems like going "left right left right punch" really quick (yeah, thats not a real combo...might be..for a character somewhere in some game though by coincidence) or "punch punch kick" kind of thing, i think i could do those, and probably get faster at them, as long as its not as weird as ryu's "move the control stick in a Z motion and press A" kind of impossibility, someone like balrog, his look relatively easy to input, i don't think id care how easy the character is to use in a fight, as long as I can do their combo's ill just get better with practice, hell by the end of the summer, i hope that i make it to ranked play, ill be so proud if i do, the GLOW and happiness i felt when i could finally sort of do ryu's true haduken in ssb4 (thats quarter circle , then A). ill be so proud if i get good enough to do ranked play.

Lol, dont use a keyboard. You'll just frustrate yourself. Keyboards + fighters = bad idea.

The best thing to do is just not to worry about how difficult it is. I know you think that "Z motion" as you call it (which is Ryu's Shoryuken command) looks impossible now, but trust me, after you've had a bit of time with it, it becomes effortless. I thought the same thing, back when I started playing fighting games. But now I can do even Guilty Gear's craziest 40-hit meter-draining cancel combos with ease.

A keyboard though? It actually takes alot more effort to do that way. If you're using a dpad, for instance, you do things like the 90-degree or "z motion" moves by just rolling your thumb across it; this is why it's so easy to do, and this is why moves like Ryu's Hadouken are so very, very common in this genre. But if you try to do the SAME MOVES on a keyboard, you suddenly need like three freaking fingers JUST to do it. AND you need to be dealing with movement and the actual attack buttons at the same time. WASD works for first person shooters, or first person games in general, and also twin-stick shooters (for those that want mouse aim). But it's used for those genres because in those, it's the easiest way to do them. ALWAYS go the easiest route, when it comes to controls.

Honestly, the best way to learn a game like this is to just grab a controller (or arcade stick) jump in, and give it a go. Even if a specific move seems impossible to do, keep trying it anyway as you continue to play. Eventually, you'll find that it just starts working.


Also, when watching people play in videos: Dont watch the commands they're putting in. The methods of displaying those are.... screwy. They often make it look WAY more complicated than it is by showing inputs that A: didnt do anything and B: arent needed.

In other words, just give it a try with normal controls and dont let it intimidate you. The other thing though: DONT try ranked play until you've at least gotten decent at fighting the AI for awhile. Ranked players will eat your face if you're new to the game. If you cant effortlessly do special moves like the Shoryukens or whatever, you're not ready for ranked.

Good luck!

haha alright! i got the game!, i have decided to main R. mika, she is AWESOME and super fun to play, i can't do a lot (but im using a ps3 controller instead of a keyboard, win) i have some combos sort of made up like for me on this controller with type 1 controls, when the opponent is near the edge of the stage, dash triangle triangle then when he bounces off the barrier at the edge of the stage as he is coming back hit circle then R1 and BOOM wombo combo, i can actually land it on live opponents too now. i can even do the mic drop thing (not sure what its for but appears to give super armor for one hit).

ive played just a few online matches but this game is ludicrous amounts of fun to play, i mean, i don't really feel the want to play any character other then r.mika (i also really like her personality she's a cool character) but that means im focused on one person which means i can get better...i seem to be the only r.mika online though at the moment, im encountering a lot of ryu's, one chun li and a rashid of the turbulent wind (yes i had to say his full name, its just fun to say) oh and a zangief. so much fun though even though i lose a lot. i actually have a rank too, im: rookie, LP 66, rank 45675 or something close to that last number.

im so glad i bought this game. though im really struggling in the story mode, nash vs M. bison (the final fight between them in shadaloo base) i get DESTROYED utterly, sometimes M. bison just defeats me without me landing a hit. i did get him down to a small amount of health once out of sheer luck though.

oh thought id add, my fighter id is the same as my username here, randomeu, if you want to find me and beat my poor R. mika and fang plays to death haha.


if that doesn't work, try my steam name of Sir Swordinface (with a UK flag)

I haven't bought SFV yet, since I'm more of a casual player who sticks to single-player arcade mode.
I'll wait for that feature to be added before buying it ... which I'm sure they'll get around to doing eventually.

....They STILL havent done that?

....I swear.... only freaking Capcom... ugh