Them's Fightin' Herds (f.k.a. Fighting is Magic)

NDA is lifted. Come for the Oleander!

Oleandering again for a bit.

Ok, so I finally booted up the game, now that the game is in a playable state (it has some sound, most animations are finished)... and I have no clue how any of it works. I got trounced by the AI on Easy, juggled to death without understanding what was going on and there's no list of controls anywhere. Well, at least the music is nice!

Is there a place or a guide to help me in the first few steps in the game? Because it's hella confusing to me right now!

There has to be a tutorial or something...

No tutorial just yet (I guess that's later down the road) But if you are a backer beta tester (I assume you have to be in order to play), go to the forums and hit up the Beta Discussion section under 'Backer Rooms'. There should be a thread called MOVE LISTS - TFH Closed Beta **Updated 31st May** near the top.

That'll learn ya at least for the basics. Being beaten up by the AI is not something I can help . If you haven't made an account there I think it'll take a small amount of time to verify you're a backer when you do make one.

edited 23rd Sep '17 7:14:14 AM by edvedd

So how will the controls actually work? Will they be SSB-controls where you hit Up and something else to do a move, or is it actual button combos?

It's kind of a mix. For instance, with Oleander, if I hit C (heavy), it's just a wide book swipe. If I hit 6C (forward and C), it's an overhead move where Oleander opens her book and Fred's fist shoots out in an arc. 2C (down and C) is a book sweep. 3C (diagonal-forward and C) is her launcher where the book opens up and Fred's fist sends the opponent flying into the air. That aside, you can also link certain moves together. Usually, the basic stuff's just some variation of a sequence of A (light), B (medium), C (heavy), but once you get into cancelling moves into other moves, you can link some things (there are moves that just can't plain be linked, period, though) that don't strictly follow that. There's also a few things that require pad/stick motion. 236C (classic hakoden) gives me a fast fireball as Oleander. Doing it with A or B creates slower ones with lower shot recoil. 236 and two attack buttons is her super laser (provided she has at least one meter).

A very basic combo sequence is: A > B > C > 3C > j.A > B > C (where j.something means jump and do something).

Make sure you work on your blocking, too (hold away from the opponent). The AI is very good at turtling, so unless you really know your character and how to get in, the easier approach is to poke with an A or two and then back off and block and hope they use a C move (which usually has enough recovery time that you can slip in an A to open them up to the above basic combo).

I would recommend going into the training room and just beating the crap out of one of the dummies until you're comfortable with at least one 7+-hit combo.

Yeah, as explained, it uses traditional fighting game button combos (i.e. Street Fighter, Skullgirls, and Marvel vs Capcom), not Smash controls. Holding a direction while inputting a button for a variant attack is typical among almost all fighters. I'm not sure what gave the impression that it'd play similar to Smash...

Fair enough. I'll just have to try and remember the moves xD

The game's pretty logical and patternistic about what does what. The move list for any given character is rather concise. Making the moves do what you intend them to do or chaining them together can be trickier, though.

Thanks for the advice, I've browser the forums and found at least some explanations. I have button-mashed my way to a few victories, so yay!

Now, to try someone else than Arizona.

HERESY.

Anyone new to fighting games in general, absolutely do not pick Tianhuo.

Honestly, Paprika is a gigaton of fun to play. And I can't even play charge characters properly!

kinda surprised my shitty laptop runs this game as well as it does!

I'm gonna need to get a fightpad though- keyboard is just frustrating me.

any recommendations? or should i just use a ps4 controller and download some stuff to use it?

That might be best. It's what I plan on doing.

How much experience have you had with arcade controls? You won't magically get better by getting one and controller versus stick seems to be preference. You already own the PS4 controller, correct? If so, and you haven't played at arcade machines enough for a proper judgment, give the PS4 controller a go first and see how comfortable you feel with it (I don't think you'll need extra software—I've heard of people using PS3 and 4 controllers with the game without much fuss). If that still doesn't feel right, then maybe consider buying a new (potentially pricey) peripheral.

I've got experience with both, but yeah PS 4 controller will certainly be less pricy so I'll use that unless I really hate it

Streaming again for a bit. Arcade, then we'll see if anyone's in the lobby.

I would recommend the Hori Fighting Commander (PS 4 but works on PC). It's a wired controller and about the same price as a Dual Shock 4 (after Amazon discount).

If you held onto on from having a PS 3, a Dual Shock 3 is also worth using.

Guess what? It's patch day! And I'm streaming!

Lobby count's still riding the post-patch population high, so gonna stream some more PvP tonight and try not to get wrecked.

Friendly tourny going on tonight. Spying on and broadcasting various matches for a couple hours.

RELEASE DATE IS FEBRUARY 18!

Unfortunate, but guess that'll at least give me a chance to derust for a release stream. I've been kinda slacking on playing it for the moment.

I really need to learn Arizona a bit better, since she's the only one planned to have a campaign on release.