That’s fair. You could even rope in other games for comparisons, where relevant.
I guess what I’m saying is, reading about the fact that you’d picked up on the slower startup of the lights relative to [other popular game] and how that affected some interactions, and then reading about how the overheads in KI were surprisingly potent compared to [other game] due to various key properties, and so on, gave some grounding in what the roles of those moves were and what properties made them better or worse, and why. In fact, if I were to suggest any improvements to that section, I’d suggest being more comprehensive or categorical: explain the qualities which make, e.g., both Jago’s close MK and Orchid’s far HP, great moves for their own respective reasons. Maybe blow up the section on specials to (vaguely, abstractly) describe the “kinds” of neutral constraints they impose, building on the already helpful information you give about why each of the examples you gave was a strong move.
This might cross a line into your offline world and/or stir up some tension (so feel free to brush off this question), but I never asked you what you do in academia. You said you’re involved in TCS research?
Heh, well, the reason I didn’t talk too much about it is because I could probably do a whole interview on that sort of thing.
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I’ve mentioned a ton of different training mode additions I would like to see in the past (recording local replays, telling the AI to auto-reversal, online training mode, etc).
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If they had a larger budget, I would love to see them take their replay mode more seriously. Right now, replays are an afterthought, because you can’t share them with other users, the input display is broken for the opponent (a bug that’s been in the game since S1 launch that they haven’t prioritized to fix), and you can’t browse and download “top” replays for the day. It basically means there is no easy way for someone to become the “YogaFlame24” of KI (a person who receives replays from top players of their online matches and posts them daily to Youtube, often posts online FT10s, etc). I think this is one aspect that SF5 is really going to crush them on, because they seem to be investing huge in the ecosystem around the game.
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Character balance is interesting, and another whole discussion, but to give one example: if I had my way, I would take away “mixup reversals” from people if the reversal was blocked and the mixup doesn’t cost additional meter. Stuff like Maya’s blocked DP into dagger toss bugs me. If I felt the character absolutely needed this technique to survive, and taking it away would cripple them, I would buff them somewhere else. This shouldn’t be a thing characters “have to do” in order to win.
Yeah, that’s all good feedback. I’ve been thinking about specifically reworking the specials section… I feel I’m not clear enough on some things, and that one video where I show like 6 special moves is too fast and confusing. It’s so dense with things to watch for that the “caption” for the video is essentially an entire paragraph, so I think I can do better there. Maybe when I have to go back and redo a bunch of stuff for Season 3, I will put this on my list.
I’m glad you picked up on the way I talk about how some things in KI are worse than [game] and other things are better than [game], because I wrote that section specifically in that way and I wasn’t sure if I succeeded or not. If you’re able to deduce a bit about how these moves should be used in neutral because of that explanation, then a) I think you’re pretty bright about FGC theory, especially as a beginner and b) I guess I did an okay job at my explanation!
I have a Masters degree in computer science (specializing in graphics, specifically mathematical models for B-spline and NURBS surfaces). I currently work as a research programmer in a (non-graphics) lab at the same university. If you want to hear more specifics, feel free to PM me.
This is probably the least interesting question you’ve been asked but… Where’d you get the name infilament?
thanks for your response. i agree with you totally and i hope keits is listening
Very good interview. You’ve definitely done a great service to the KI community in writing and updating your guide @Infilament, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that your continued insights and input on the forums is much appreciated as well!
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There needs to be a second interview. His insight and knowledge of the game needs to be highlighted further. I’m more excited about the future of this game with this guy around. I.G pick his brain. Good stuff @infilament
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Wait… another interview? Isn’t that against the Geneva convention or something?
(If Jebailey sent me more questions, I would always answer them! So if this is something you want, feel free to ask him! But at the same time there are tons of awesome people in the KI community that I’d love to learn more about before they talk to me some more.)
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Since I have you here for the moment, I had a question in regards to Strengthening ones defense in the neutral to better execute your offensive counter. What should one be looking for before even committing oneself to an offensive move? How should the player react to baits and still maintain a solid defense without giving the opponent the advantage of reading a defensive pattern? @infilament
That’s a pretty tough question to fully answer… it will depend on a lot of factors, including who your opponent is and what characters you’re playing.
A lot of the strong players in any fighting game are excellent at noticing patterns, which often means they have a pretty strong reason for doing any move in neutral. Because KI’s offensive tools are so strong, sometimes it feels like you can kind of just roll the dice and pick a special move at random, and maybe at a beginner to intermediate level you might have success with that, but I feel it loses pretty hard as you play better players. So my best advice to you here is probably to try to improve your pattern recognition. To give a KI specific example, if you’re playing a Wulf player, what do they tend to do after doing running uppercut? What about Jago after you block one of their wind kicks? Typical options here include backdash, DP, or throw. If you are able to notice a preference for one or the other for this specific player, you can use it in a clutch moment when he is panicking, because people very often revert to internal, unnoticed patterns when they panic.
As another quick point, blocking is very good in almost all fighting games. You should never really be scared to improve your blocking; even though KI has super potent offense, it doesn’t have much chip damage, so if you can convince your opponent that he can’t hit you, all he can do is throw (which do considerably less damage in general). Opponents who are frustrated at good blocking often start doing crazy, risky things which can get them killed. Advice I almost universally give to players trying to play better neutral is “block more” (in KI, this also means you can start improving shadow counter reactions).
Not really sure if this answered your question much… it seems like you were mostly asking “how do I play fighting games better?”, but hopefully it answers at least some part of your question.
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I find it interesting that you mention how the opponent might resort to throws in your last post, because 1 thing I’ve noticed in my own play-style is that I have a tendency to throw an awful lot as a punish when I could otherwise potentially be using a normal attack (that’s just as fast as the throw as far as frames are concerned) to start a much more damaging combo instead - it’s something I’ve been working on changing, since performing the throws seems to be turning into what I consider a rather bad habit due to losing out on the potential damage that could otherwise be there in place of said throws instead.
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I enjoyed the response. Thanks
You also play Aganos, which probably inclines you to throw a bit more than normal just because (1) he gets good things off of it, and (2) because he’s generally on the easier side to break within combo.
Some characters get more off their throws than others, while others have more limited options of opening up the opponent in the first place. While a throw as a punish is not generally the best idea, it’s not a terrible option for some characters.
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Infil one of the wisest members on the forums. Good to see an interveiw with him!
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