VF4 Newbie Questions/Comments

Sup fellow VFers! I finally got to play VF4 and I must say I'm very impressed. I'm glad I saw some videos first or might have died from the sheer coolness of the game. Am2 did a really good job with this one and hope everybody enjoys it like I did.

Graphics: Very impressive, but some of the characters look weird to me. Akira's lips look a little swollen and Pai's eyes are a little too open. VF2 Saturn still has the best lookin' characters in my eyes. However I must give Naomi 2 graphic power a thumbs up. Kage's scar almost looks as nasty as it would in real life. I'm tired of anime scars that make that shit seem like a cool fashion accessory.

Sound: Pretty cool. I just wish they had the VF2 voices back. I'm glad to see the classic sound effects are still there.

Gamplay: I was worried when I heard all the changes but it still feels like VF to me. VF is still the king of the hill when it comes to gamplay.

Random Stuff:

Rings-Can you pick your ring in this one? I played on two different machines and couldn't pick my ring in a challenge.

Tech Rolls-I think I've been playing too much Tekken because pounces where starting to annoy me on VF4 until I started to tech. Are they anyways to exploit tech rollers? In Tekken there are guaranteed hits if you tech, is the same for VF4?

Getting up-Is it harder to get up if you don't tech? It seemed like if I didn't tech I always got pounced.

Taka-It's almost blatantly obvious he couldn't be in VF4. He'd probably eat long ass OTB combos before could think about tech rolling.

Sidestep-Is it just me or is VF4 more linear? The normal sidestep is crazy short. Can it be effective like in VF3?

Back turned-Why can't you run with your back turned anymore? Was this cheap on VF3 or something?

Throws-Playing Tekken 4 will definitely fuck your reflexes for breaking throws on VF4. Why in the hell would they give Wolf a dashing GS? I'm already soft from T4 and now you're grabbing me from outside punch range? Cheap!

CPU-I didn't think much of the AI until CPU Kage knocks me down, rolls up to me while I tech and DPs me as I block down expecting the sweep. I can't imagine the shit they pull on Hard.

Vanessa-Finally a fighting game chick who looks like they could actually beat the shit out of a man.

Lei-Damn! It seems like you have to guard cancel after every attack so you won't end up in a stance.

New Moves-That's what's cool about the VF series, since there are so few characters each one gets good treatment with moves. Shun's a bigger pimp than a ever, Jacky get's a ton of new animations for old moves, Kage gets a shitload of weird stuff, and almost everybody got fun play to play with.

VF2-Why didn't they bring the coolest thing from VF2 to VF4? You know, when the match was over and you could perform a move into the screen with your character facing you (it looked like they were attacking the camera). I loved that.

Anyway, I'm very impressed and I would be surprised if VF4 doesn't get more of a following here in America. With a PS2 release and the utter lameness of Tekken 4, VF4 is in a good position for western sucess. Happy VFing everyone, l8r!

 

Normally everyone would say "look it up!" but since you're a pai player, I'll be forced to answer. <-- mostly kidding.

Rings-Can you pick your ring in this one? I played on two different machines and couldn't pick my ring in a challenge.

Yes you can, but it's an option the arcade owner has to turn on. Ask someone who works there to turn it on.

Exploiting tech rolls: When someone tech rolls, you can low throw them right at the end of the roll. That's if you're playing someone with a low throw. Also be aware of the PKG getup (quick-rise). You can throw someone at the end of that, but it's still useful because it gets up even faster than the tech roll.

During the very beginning of the tech roll, if you're not still recovering from the last attack you did, you can try a sidekick or any other midlevel attack and see if it smacks them out of the roll. Sweeps work great because they move in 3-D. Other attacks don't work so well because they sometimes won't hit an opponent who is to the left or right of you. A perfect anti-techroll move is akira's b,f+P+K. Knock them down, let them tech, and quickly do a b,f+P+K. Akira will smack them out of the roll every single time. This is because it tracks people who are to the left or right really really well. Find a good anti-tech attack and use it, but remember you have to be starting the attack at pretty much the same time they start their roll. One last bit: keep an eye out for situations where the opponent falls on their face instead of their back, and watch to see if the enemy tech rolls in these situations. If they do, knocking them out of the tech roll rewards you with a free look at their back - they'll be facing the wrong way.

Getting up-Is it harder to get up if you don't tech? It seemed like if I didn't tech I always got pounced.

Yeah, in general you'll eat a lot of pounces if you don't tech up.
In some cases you can't tech and the only way to avoid the pounce is getting up normally. The best way to get up normally: make circles with the stick and tap all the buttons for the first second or so, then switch to whirling the stick and tapping just G and P. You wanna be careful tapping K spastically because you might get up with a rising heelkick/sweep by accident.

[Sidestep-Is it just me or is VF4 more linear? The normal sidestep is crazy short. Can it be effective like in VF3?]

A regular sidestep barely moves you, but if you sidestep with perfect timing during a character's attack, your character will yell out and do a biiiig sidestep, about the same or a little bigger than VF3's.

Back turned-Why can't you run with your back turned anymore? Was this cheap on VF3 or something?

You sort of can.. you can buffer a dash while you're doing a move and then as soon as the move ends, you dash away from the opponent. The only way to use this is A: buffer the dash during the move that turned you away or B: do a move while your back is turned that doesn't turn you back around. For example, Kage's u/f+K.. then buffer the dash during that move.
It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't really how Sega wants you to fight I guess. You can still do 3D walking (hold U/F) to move away from the opponent while your back is turned. This can be a pain in the ass to stop apparently.

Throws-Playing Tekken 4 will definitely fuck your reflexes for breaking throws on VF4. Why in the hell would they give Wolf a dashing GS? I'm already soft from T4 and now you're grabbing me from outside punch range? Cheap!

Breaking throws is the same as it was in VF3, and consider this - wolf's lunging grab cannot give him a guaranteed grab after he blocks your throw-counterable attacks in some cases. Other characters or other more 'normal' throws will give you the grab every time. So in that sense wolf's giant swing is weakened. It also can be teched for a lot less damage. Most of his other throws are better, for now.

 

Thanks Creed. I'll try that stuff as soon as I can. Peace.

 

You should also hook up with the other LA players such as Spotlite, Gribly, and whoever else might be out there. Look them up and give them a private message or something./versus/images/icons/smile.gif

-Chanchai

 

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Throws-Playing Tekken 4 will definitely fuck your reflexes for breaking throws on VF4. Why in the hell would they give Wolf a dashing GS? I'm already soft from T4 and now you're grabbing me from outside punch range? Cheap!

<hr></blockquote>

i had a VERY hard time adjusting to vf4 from t4. it had been so long since i played vf, i played it like tekken. this does not work....heh. i must say i again love vf over tekken. i am sorry i forgot my roots, vf isn't very big here at all, and has been forgotten by myself for lesser games.

 

Chanchai: I'll try next time I'm in the LA area (E3 maybe). Unfortunately my LA is Louisiana (the Marvel State) and I have to drive 2 hours just to play. Luckily however, the New Orleans arcades had it set to a quater and best of 5 rounds.

gaishou: My VF game was so rusty I was getting beat by a Wolf's PPP, clothsline (no VF unblockables don't spark up), shoulder ram, GS, and a pounce. Luckily I woke up and started to get vengance but it's scary to learn that your game is in that much need of some serious oil.

 

LOL, my bad. i just quickly read off the destination without thinking at all

Anyways, guess you and the Florida guys could have a special gathering then/versus/images/icons/tongue.gif

Anyways, as usual, nice to see another new VFer (and in some cases, returning VFers). /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

-Chanchai

 

hey.. im a newb too.. the last VF i played was VF2 so i forgot basicly everything.. im a fan of Shun so i wanna master him.. i was jus wondering.. while looking at his command list i noticed it said stuff like "requires 6DP".. whats a DP? drunk points??.. sorry if this has a obvious answer but im a SF player so the VF termenologies (sp) are new to me..

 

ever since VF3, Shun's "drunken points" are shown next to his lifebar next to a tiny bottle icon. certain moves that he does can build up the number of drunken points he has, and certain moves that he does or that the opponent does can reduce that number. shun of course needs at least a certain number of drunken points to do specific moves. the higher the drunken points, the more damage he does, the more guarenteed some of his combos get, and the more moves he can use.

 

DP = dragon punch
so 6DP means you'll have to do 6 dragon punches.

*joking!*


DP is drunken points. Shun is strong in VF4. You can actually get DPs after a fight now. Very cool.

=)

 

Umm, well Pai may not look it but she can beat the poo out of most of the fighters, if u know how 2 use her.....

 

Shun may be srong, but i don't find him a suitable fighter for newbies to the game like myself. possibly if he didnt require such diligance then i would have tried him out.

 

When someone tech rolls, you can low throw them right at the end of the roll. That's if you're playing someone with a low throw. Also be aware of the PKG getup (quick-rise). You can throw someone at the end of that, but it's still useful because it gets up even faster than the tech roll.


I can punish side tech rollers with a low throw with no difficulty. I haven't managed to punish quick risers (n+P+K+G, kip up animation). Do they recover low like side rollers, or high?

 

PKG (quick rise) recovers high, so punish with a high throw.

 

Getting up-Is it harder to get up if you don't tech? It seemed like if I didn't tech I always got pounced.

After normal knock downs, you get up just as fast as in VF2 or VF3. At least it feels the same to me. But after some attacks that slam you into the ground or that have special knock down animation, it does take longer to get up and you are very vulnerable to pounces.

Pai's KK is probably the best example that I can think of for a move that slams you to the ground. Pai's pounce is guaranteed after she hits with KK.

Note that some throws can be tech rolled out of to reduce damage too. Wolf's giant swing, Kage's ten foot toss, and Pai's from crouching throw are a few examples. Check out the movelists for others.

Sidestep-Is it just me or is VF4 more linear? The normal sidestep is crazy short. Can it be effective like in VF3?

Yes. To get larger side steps, you need to time it so that you tap up or down during the execution phase of your opponents attack. When done right, your character will yell out. The timing is similar to attack and throw reversals. One good time to try dodging is after you do a low punch or kick, as most opponents will try to counter with an elbow which can be dodged. Buffer a float starting attack like a knee into the dodge for good results.

CPU-I didn't think much of the AI until CPU Kage<snip>

Wait until you see CPU Akira and Dural... =)

VF2-Why didn't they bring the coolest thing from VF2 to VF4? You know, when the match was over and you could perform a move into the screen with your character facing you (it looked like they were attacking the camera). I loved that.

In VF4 when you have a time over, both character can keep fighting. Also when a round ends in KO, sometimes your opponent is still standing if he/she was hit with a weak attack like a punch. You can do some insane combos on a KO'd character... experiment. Practice SPoD/DLC/AS3 or modified double palms with Akira...