Soul Calibur IV

It's been awhile since i updated. Very busy due to school work and stuff. There will be a world tournament at Cannes, Fance next year during the first week of March. As much as i want to go, i need to consider the $$$ and my army enlistment. That aside, i hope to be there next year to represent SG.

Soul Calibur Broken Destiny is out. Changes are good for some characters and not good for some. One character that benefits the hell out of the system change is Setsuka definitely.

Ok back to my bunch of characters,

Yun has been buffed up abit but the changes are awesome imo. Yea.. head down to 8wr.com for more info!

Things that i hate about Singapore is that we always fail to have a competitive gaming scene except for a few gaming communities. ARGH.. U know i feel like doing something but i can't convince people to play competitive when they just wanna have fun. The mindset of people here really needs to improve if we wanna reach the maximum level. With that said, why are they no  Raymuses and Jovians anymore in the younger generation? We put in shit load of effort to pick up the game and learn it with heart.. 

I think the answer is simple.. Gaming Community :) Sorry man, at that point of time when i'm a newbie to the game, the community was huge with rivalry going on everywhere. That spurs us on! Yea where is it now? The flare, the passion.. U know i rather have people hate each other in game and have a huge community playing on a "I'M GONNA BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU" mindset than the "I don't give a shit whether i win or lose, i just wanna have fun"  

Props to Tax, sam and gang for trying to build on.. But we gotta buck up and seems like i need to do something too.. ARGH..

SOUL SINGAPORE!

Yun Seong- A character that i always been attracted to play around with. After playing much more than usual these few weeks, i found out that his potential is there.

Like after a few months, i finally understand crane better. Well, at least what i think i can do with it. A pretty much very powerful stance in the hands of a right player.

3[K]~ CR
CR K~ CR
CR A~CR

CR B will clash with i15 attacks. Considering that almost all BBs are i16, which makes only moves like AA or Amy and Raph's 6B being able to interrupt the CR B. However, CR A+K will go under the high and punish.

CR K has weird tech jump frames which i kinda understand now.

Along with CRB+K, he's a beast in CR. Well we'll see about that soon.

Soul Calibur IV

It's been awhile since i posted. Soul Calibur IV is out for around a month already. My thoughts on the game are that it's nice in terms of graphics. Some stuff which i don't like are that the character movelist is so small, and of course infinites and whiffing when your opponent is in front of you. Well, i played almost all the characters and i singled down to few which i'm interested in, and sad to say, it has nothing to do which who i like to use in SC3 AE. 

They are as follows according to preference:
1) Yoshimitsu
2) Voldo
3) Setsuka
4) Yun Seong
5) Cervantes

Yea i'm playing the freaky characters now. Alright i'll go indepth on Yoshi now as he's my main.

Yoshimitsu

I don't play him because he's broke. I already like him as a character since SC3 AE, just that it's already too late to go learn him properly as SCIV was coming out. He's pretty buffed up in SCIV in terms of damage. Speed wise, he's pretty quick with an i11 A. He's pretty unsafe in general. His main launchers are unsafe, but the risk vs reward is good, so i'll say it's balanced. There's no reason to get 3A, B on block if you check hit well. 3A is -14 on block but there's a follow up which practically makes it safe. He really does not need the combos to win. The strong point about Yoshi is his 50/50 nitaku in any situation. It's very strong. I'll break down all his mid-low mixup in all situations which i can think of so that you guys can understand him better. Firstly take a look at some of his frames below, it's awesome. And i'll highlight some stuff which you guys need to take note of.

i9: 2aB
i10: FC aB
i11: A
i12: a:B+K
i13: K/FC 2A
i14: 2A/3K
i15: 3A/4A/6K/2K/FC 2K/6A+B/6A+K
i16: 1A/B/2B/FC 2B/A+G_B+G
i17: 6B/3B/WS A/WS B/FC 1K/33B/66K
i18: WS K/bA/44bB
i19: FC 3K/33K
i20: 1B
i21: 4K
i22: 2A+B/3B+K
i23: 3A+B/1B+K/66A/66B/66B+K
i24: 4B/22A/11B
i26: 22B/44bA
i28: 214A/22K
i29: 44A/66A+B
i30: 8A+K

Ok here are some of the things you need to take note of:

3B
B -17
H xxxx

3A, B
B -21
H xxxx

6A
B -3
H +7

a:B+K
B -3
H +6

FCaB
B 0~-1
H 0~-1

6K
B -21
H xxxx

3K
B -8
H +2

6B 
B -12
H +4

2K
B -14
H -4
CH +2

Alright, this are not ALL but some of the basic pokes that Yoshi will use up close. Beware of 2K on normal hit, because Yoshi has FCaB which makes 2K very powerful because if you do anything slower than i14 to i15 u'll get CH by FCaB. And please, punish accordly. There are alot more stuff which can be punished and i will list them later. 

His 50/50 yomi is very strong like i said earlier. Let's start of with a +7 situation Nitaku. 

What gives +7? 6A normal hit, a:B+K or any DOS which makes throw uninterruptable. Basically in this situation, Yoshi has 3 options (more actually, just the basic 3):

1) Throw -Yoshi throw game is very strong.
2) Do a launcher
3) Do a low which knocksdown

Throw will kill step and guard impact, so it's your best bet if you think they are goin to guard impact or step. If they are goin to duck, go for a launcher or even a safe mid like B, B will do. For lows, he has FC3K or even 2K. Standard, easy, very strong. This is for basic starters and from neutral stance. So from neutral, he has a mixup from a launcher (3B) and a low which knocksdown (FC3K). Like i said, higher risk= higher reward. Look at both of their frames, they are VERY bad on block. Always look on the bright side of life (:  

Let's move on to the 50/50 situation from stance.

Dragonfly
DGF K
B -22~-23
H xxxx

DGF B
B -5
H xxxx 

One of the STRONGEST mixup in yoshi's arsenal. The good thing is only the K which is unsafe on block (-22~-23). Both options guarantee alot of damage. Both options RO forward. If they are going to step, you got DGF A to cover it for CH combo. 

50/50 mixup rating: 10/10

Reflection

REF A
REF~G Throw
REF K
REF B, K
REF A+K
REF A+B

They are many options from this stance. However, the 50/50 is not as strong but yet it's up to your creativity to make it damn strong. The potential of this stance is infinite IMO. Firstly, REF A is a quick low which is hard to see and guarantees a front RO for most of the characters with 6A+B, B etc.. REF~G throws are very strong, but A and B throws are 65 damage. Ref K is a mid which guarantees a BT2K on hit but it's quite useful IMO cuz it's blockable on reflex. REF B however is another case because of the follow up K and REF B is +10~12 on hit. Yea, it's -14 on block so gotta becareful. REF A+K is the suicide, use your creativity here to set this up (: REF A+B is Yoshi auto evade which evades everything and almost guarantees 100 damage if you hit the correct button plus a chance to heal 30% of your life. 

50/50 mixup rating: 7/10

Flea

Flea has been buffed like no tml. Flea avoids all lows and has the ability to punish lows with a crazy launcher with gives 70+ damage. Flea 50/50 is "strong" in the irritating sense. Here's what i mean. 

Moves that are able to go to Flea:
1) 66A+B, B+K
2) 44B+K, B+K
3) From other stances
4) 2[A+B] 

The most useful is of course 2[A+B] which gives advantage on block which makes FLE B uninterruptable. 

Moves from FLE:
1) FLE A
2) FLE B
3) FLE B+K
4) FLE 2A+K
5) FLE 6_4A+K
6) FLE 9_8A+K
7) FLE 22_88
8) FLE 66
9) FLE K
10) FLE [K]

Alot of options. Lets start with FLE A. It's a slow rollover A which is blockable on reflex and is unsafe. It's not all that useful. I advise you to go for FLE B+K which is just a roll without the A. You will be in FC after this which gives you a 50/50 yomi again, FC3K or Grab or WSA to BT mix ups. The possiblities are just infinite. Come up with your own style! 

When they gave FLE the ability to avoid lows, it was good, but now it has the ability to avoid highs! FLE 2A+K, it's an instant techcrouch move and you can punish the high with FLE K or FLE B. FLE even has the ability to step verticals now (: So Yoshi players, please do not complain. Work with what you have. 

FLE [K] is a very good low from FLE to finish off your opponents. You can start by keep doing this move till they block it and mix it up with FLE K combo. (: What did i say? Irritating eh?

FLE 66 is a horrible move. Even though you hit your opponent with it, your opponent still get free hits on you. Lolx. FLE 6_7_4_9A+K are decent moves but don't overuse it, you'll regret it.

50/50 mixup rating: 7/10

Meditation

He has an autoGI from it now which auto GIs all mid As and Bs and follows up with an unblockable attack, but it can be stepped. Please take note. MED B+K adds pressure and prevents your opponent from using A or B to knock you out of Meditation. Make sure you take advantage of this. If they are goin for a low, you can switch to FLE stance to punish, the transition is almost immediate. There is little 50/50 in this stance. It's just a matter of guessing what your opponent gonna do. Use MED A and B to confuse them. It works well here. When they start blocking the A and stepping the B, you can switch up with MED 2A+B which teleports behind them and does nothing. And here we go again, 50/50 yomi. (:

50/50 mixup rating: 5/10

Super Dragonfly

There is no 50/50 mix up here. LOL. However, do take note that the suicide is very usable in this game. U lose like 90 life where as your opponent loses around 150.

50/50 mixup rating: 0/10

Ok that sums up everything FOR today. (:

Ok let's start now.

Cervantes: I think he's my main now. I put alot of effort in this pirate. I played very badly on friday night mainly because i was very exhausted from the video firming during the day. Had to think alot. After which, i realise that i really need to improve on my cervantes's 50/50 options to make him more deadly. 

Like what i like to say, Cervantes is different with and without iGDR. If iGDR comes out 100% of the time, yr opponent wouldn't dare whiff. You don't wanna eat 83 damage just by whiffing. Not nice! You shouldn't be whiffing in the first place though! A cervy without iGDR is hard to play. Cuz your punishers suck big time at max range. What do you have? 66B? HAHA! 

IMO, one of the best punishers in the game : aB, deals hell lot of damage for an i12 move. Even though it's -6 on hit, you're at force crouch. So there's a chance that you might get your next move on CH even though it's risky!

So here's the 50/50 list:

2A+B/ 2K (U can switch with 1K or 11K) : Basically 2A+B is safe enough to be used as a 50/50 mid, only the sisters can punish it. And on CH, it launches for big combos and tech trap. Even on normal hit, it gives good dmg. So i prefer 2A+B over 3B at times. 

That's all! xP

The rest is pretty much up to your Yomi. Usage of standing cancel moves helps cervy ALOT. eg. B~G, 1K. B~G, 3B. Very strong mind game there. 

Cervy becomes god tier near the wall. Opponents u face are always wary of this. His best move against the wall is A+B. It's unsafe on block -15 if i'm not wrong. If it hits, you easily get 100+ over damage from the combo. People seldom duck against Cervy when their back are against the wall. Take advantage of this! 

I'll update more soon.

Anyway, had some nice games with Shen Yuan and Shen Ou today. Didn't get to play with Jouli though. Shen Ou's kilik improved alot since a year ago. Like finally. He was predictable at times, he uses too much iWSB too. Yea, i know it's god like. So launcher usually works effectively against him. Shen Yuan was playing NM today. Pretty much nonsensical. LOL. Anyhow. Yea, had fun playing. 

Alright gotta go right now!

iGDR!

Alright, this is where i gonna share my thoughts on the days we played Soul Calibur. For those who do not know me, I'm Jovian, your friendly neighbourhood Cervantes/Yun Seong/Siegfried Soul Calibur 3 player. I started playing this game a few years back and i'm loving it still (: 

SCIV is around the corner. July 29th. Can't wait. Whoohoo!