I’m stucked, I’ve reached that limit I feel I reach in other things in my life. It’s like a point I feel not matter the effort I put, I just can’t improve or is so little that’s feels imperceptible to me. I don’t have the “genetics” or whatever to get pass this limit. I don’t have the gift to get better after that point.
Or maybe that along with feeling a bit depressed. I wish I could be so much better, but I’m not getting results and can’t play better, I can’t solve situations. Maybe is time to move on.
Or until I find my limit in another field
Mind block? Maybe hands not synchronizing with a mind that can’t solve situations fast enough to get positive results. I could only train reactions, but I don’t play like that since I was 15. And I’m not as good as I used to be and I am much older now.
Talking skill capped in KI? Or what? No one can be unbeatable, and sometimes people try to train too much. Too many combo’s too many mixups, it’s good to know a lot, but the more you know the more options you have to go through in quick process situations. So what I do, I pick setups and a window that allows whatever I need in that window. It is always variable and I know where the mix up portion is so all I have to do is press a different button. Cinder, I learned the height all of his air normals juggle opponents and where they reach, with just that knowledge I can be creative on the fly with my juggles and not drop confirms. With Fulgore I have my teleport mixups down to hopefully 3 frames or less left right mixups from a projectile that allow any strength manual or a manual special into an ender for blender setups.
Maya has quite a bit of technicality to her too but once you find the right spacing for dagger pressure you can make some players feel pretty helpless. It’s a matter of finding your sweet spot and getting to that spot.
You can achieve anything. Do not let ANYTHING stop you from doing what you want to do, or improve in. It’s not the end of the world if you are at a road block. Look at it from a different angle. Turn it around upside down, and figure out what is wrong. Then, improve those areas the best you can. Take it from someone that doesn’t let things get to me and always looks ahead and improves every chance I can get.
You got this. Remember we are here to help as well.
I was in your positions some years ago, when SFIV Arcade Edition was launched.
I thought I was at the pinnacle of my skill, and that I couldn’t improve any more. But I managed to overcome this situation, improved inmensely since that moment in every aspect of my gameplay, and become a much better player. I have a long way to walk yet, improving even more, but at least now I know that I can push my limits even more
What was the key point which made me improve? I was in a mental block.
I was in a point where I had several wrong ideas in my head that needed to be eliminated. Several habits that should be corrected. It took me months to overcome some, but I managed to.
The key is look objectively at your gameplay, and consider everything by this: what I have just done, why did I did it, and would a better player do it?
Once you can answer the reason of the first question, and “the same” to the second, you know you are in the good path.
It takes a lot of time, a change of mindset in some areas, and help. But it’s doable
Y no es cosa de la edad, señorita, no me busque excusas! Puedes hacerlo, y lo harás Maru
Congratulations! You’ve hit your mental barrier, one that tells you, “that’s it huh? At least I tried”, but you should do away with that blasted voice! Approach your character and your playstyle and ask your own questions, “If I get zoned, how do I approach. Do I dash, block, dash?” or “Do I get a life lead and just sit on it, playing the patient game?”
It sounds silly, but answering trivial questions like that help you understand how you, as a player; function, think, react, etc. Seriously, get your honest and best match and submit it to the Replay Analysis. The wizards there help you see things in new lights, or at least they provide critique and suggestions. It helps not only to see the advice, but to see yourself in hindsight. Like Dayv0 mentioned, look at yourself objectively and see what can be done differently.
I hit this wall too, believe me,
Took me forever (first fighting game, mind you) but I finally valued what I did good and what I did bad. Find your way and set yourself on the journey.
There’s plenty of different mental approaches to playing a fighting game. For example some treat health as a resource to get in, while others try to play as if they should never get hit. But one mental approach I’ve been thinking about lately, will definitely help anyone willing to get better. Its a very bottoms up approach, where every action is driven by intent.
Basically, every single thing is done for a very specific purpose. I realized that I auto pilot movement and defense a ton and so I’m trying to implement this idea. Here’s how you practice:
Start with movement.
Round start, don’t move unless you are reacting to your opponent (i.e. if you’re fighting Kan Ra and he starts running away, then chase him). Then formulate a game plan (example: Jago is tossing fire balls from full screen and you wanna get within footsie distance). Then act upon it (jump over or block jago’s fireballs) while maintaining the thought process of each step you take, you take for a specific reason. You should never (ideally speaking of course) never take a single misstep.
Basically after each action you take, if someone asked, “Hey why did you do that?” You should have an answer; “Because I thought it would hit him.”. Moreover, if they ask, “Why did you think it would hit him?” you should have an answer; “Because last time we were in this scenario he took an action, and my this will beat his action.”.
To get every thing you do in a fighting game to have that much purpose behind it is super difficult. But that’s why its a good tool, because a cap is very hard to reach using this method.
Everyone has their own pace. Some progress slower than others. But they’ll progress none the less if they really want to. Just find your own pace and don’t get discouraged. I’ve played you before and you aren’t bad. So no need to get yourself down.
I’m a casual player too, heck, this KI is the first fighter that I’ve ever even remotely tried to get good at. I’ve played against the likes of ZeroMayCry, KI4Life, Paul B, Hologram and I’ve taken rounds and even the rare set from them once in a while and I’m by no means a top player. I’d say I’m pretty high up for a casual but I’d be a 0-2 pools player in tourney. That much I know. Experience is what I lack. But since I know what I lack I can work on it.
What do you think if I take a little (minimal) break and go to mash a bit in SFV ? Would help me or it would ruin my KI gamestyle?
I’m just trying to look things from a different angle. Doesn’t mean I’ll leave KI (no way). I still can’t find myself enjoying SFV.
Of course I’m also willing to take sets in KI. I honestly don’t feel ranked will help me more than sets. Ranked seems more like a test field. And honestly I don’t like my mixups depending on lag to be effective, it gives me bad habbits.
KI works amazingly good most of the times, but never will be better than offline to me, and in my city and country, no one wants to play and train offline <=(
PS: It’s not rare ppl telling me “drop that dead game, come to SF where you have local scene”. I get that, but do they get the part when I say “I’m not having fun with that other game despite the scene being sooo much bigger an inmportant?”.
I should have been born in Chile since they have better scene -_____-
But thinking about it…My personality may not be this “charming”_ I need to be a little annoying sometimes XD
Taking a break won’t kill your KI Playstyle. I had to take a 2 month break from KI due to work and when I came back, I was somehow better? One of my mentor’s who used to body me before I came back from my break has yet to beat me in close to 30 sets now. Can’t explain it but yeah, sometimes breaks are good!
I play street fighter, marvel as well as still playing ki. Though ki has taken a back seat of sorts for me atm playing the other 2 hasn’t hurt my ki game at all.
One of the best ways to improve your general FG skill is to play multiple fighting games, actually. Practicing movement in Marvel will give you better footsies in KI. Practicing footsies and hit confirms in SFV will give you better reactions to mixups in KI. You get to see more situations and learning how to solve them in other games will often overcome your hurdle in another game. You’ll see your problems from another angle, in other words.
Every FG player who wants to get better should play multiple fighting games. You don’t have to play all the fighting games, but find another one you like and play it more.
I’m a casual player although probably I would put myself in the same bucket as @SullenMosquito. Pretty darn good for a casual player but 0-2 in a tournament for sure.
I definitely don’t think playing other games will hurt your KI game. Obviously you will need to come back to KI and play a few games before getting back to your top form, but it can really improve your mentality to have experience from other games.
In addition to picking up on some skills like @Infilament mentions, it can also train you to think differently about strategies to deal with certain situations. So when you come back to KI you might see things differently and your mental evaluation of risk/reward for certain options might change. I have found that sometimes when I take a break from a game I come back to it and things that were challenging for me no loner are. It’s like a mental reset.
Plus, other games are fun. You have a lot of great positive feedback from folks in here and I wouldn’t want to discourage you in any way. But my perspective is a bit different. I play games for fun, when I can. I’m a bit amazed that I have been able to take KI as seriously as I have in terms of competitiveness. I’ve enjoyed it and I enjoy trying to improve and talking with people (especially in the forum) about the game and how to get better at it. But I suffer no illusions that I could “be the best” if I only tried hard enough. I’m turning 41 in a few weeks. My reflexes aren’t even as good as they used to be and they were never that great to begin with. I have trouble breaking Hisako, lol. And I’m not trying hard enough and I never will. I don’t expect I will ever be better than a Killer with a 50/50 win ration (maybe 40/60 against other killers).
And you know what? I’m okay with that. I’m not on a journey to anywhere else. I’m just enjoying my experience with the game. Because it’s fun. This means I don’t spend time labbing up situations even though I’m sure it would help me get better. I just accept that I’m going to lose a lot and play for fun.
Maybe you are not at all like me. Maybe you will win KI cup this year. Maybe you will be the best. But realistically, one person is the best. Thousands and millions of us settle for… not the best. So it might be worth it to ask what it is that’s driving you to want to get better at the game. In addition to adjusting your mentality when you play you might think of adjusting your mentality about why you play. Maybe you’re not on a journey to be the best, by you can still enjoy the journey.
