This is the thing: I usually read technical stuff to compare it to what I already now. Now I can say “tick throw” to an action I used to do since a long time ago but didn’t know the technical name. I’ve done this with many other actions, I usually don’t translate them to Spanish (because there’s no short word for some actions) others I do. Whatever I get to know I tell others as well, to share all the technicism in the fighting game I’m playing and general so we can all learn.
This is my latest question of something I can’t fully translate: Hard reads
So, how do you define a hard read?? I do believe it’s something I’ve done, because of my time playing fighting games. But I can’t find a good Spanish word or meaning for them if I don’t get the full meaning or the situation it involves. “¨Lecturas” would be reads..
Can you help me to define it?
Hard reads would be like doing a Shadow Dragon Kick on Jago’s wakeup, knowing deep down that he’s gonna reversal and you’re gonna hit him with the second hit of the move and take away half his bar.
Basically it’s doing something that’s usually a bad idea because you somehow know it will work, and it ends up working. Something like that.
You knock someone down on wake up. You know they will try something and will never block and you only have 5% of health left. It would be smart to just block in case but instead you meaty dp the opponent because hard reads.
I’m Aganos and I"m playing against Jago. I’m fullscreen with a shadow bar, and second round is about to start. Previously he threw some fireballs against me when he was fullscreen. So I’m hard reading a fireball incoming in no time, so I use shadow ruin, even knowing that if I’m wrong and Jago didn’t throw a fireball, he can block and punish me easily.
But my read was correct, and after the freeze, I see the startup frames of the fireball for a moment, just to hit Jago with my shadow ruin during his startup frames, dealing insane damage
The translation to Spanish would be “Lectura difícil” o “Lectura complicada”.
A hard read generally describes an action that is:
-unsafe
-usually a bad idea
-specific in application; covering only one option
-can’t be done as a reaction
-is done based on knowledge of the opponent’s habits
Think of it as something you do to punish someone for a specific thing they do that will only work if they do that thing and will otherwise leave you screwed. DP in footsie range to catch a poke is a classic example, or a meaty super to beat a reversal, typically a safe one.
It’s basically guessing what your opponent is going to do and throwing out a move that punishes that action you are guessing before the move happens. This becomes relevant in situations where it’s impossible to punish your opponents action through a reaction, so your only option is to make a “read”.
It isn’t luck if it works all the time. If you attempt it but fail, then it isn’t a hard read. Therefor a hard read works all the time so it isn’t luck.
I thought the whole point was that it was risky and likely to not succeed, which is what made it a lucky, hard read in the 1st place. If it works 100% of the time (like with a clueless opponent who doesn’t know how to counter it), then it’s no longer a hard read, because it’s virtually guaranteed.
A hard read isn’t something that works 100% of the time. The point is that if your read is good enough, it CAN. “Lucky” implies that your decision to do a completely unsafe meaty DP to beat a reversal was not strategic or an intelligently considered decision.
