Improving at fighting games?

Saohc

(I haven't been on here in a while, I see)
Well honestly, I stopped playing fighting games a long while ago, because I kept doing horribly online and occasionally in single-player. Now that I recently started playing Arcana Heart 3, I still suck a bit.

Mostly I just messed around in MUGEN for a while, just playing other games on my consoles. But now that I've started playing Arcana Heart 3(I downloaded it back in 2011, but rarely played it.), I feel like improving my skills. I usually played doujinsoft fighting games like Akatsuki Blitzkampf (or "JEWPUNCHER" as it's infamously called) and Melty Blood(Act Cadenza. I didn't like Actress Again's removal of survival mode, nor the changes in two characters I liked.). With Melty Blood, I mainly played as Warachia and Nanaya Shiki(with Neco Arc Chaos thrown in for fun) and as for Akatsuki Blitzkampf, I mained Akatsuki and Adler.

One reason I strayed away from fighting games was, because I didn't enjoy Blazblue's advanced fighting system or the Marvel vs Capcom 3's(the original "Vanilla" version) unbalanced roster. But Arcana Heart 3 is the only game that has peaked my interest now, as it seems a bit more accessible.

At first, I had trouble finding any characters that fit, but just today I played through training mode and narrowed it down to Zenia and Petra. It's unfortunate that AH3 doesn't have a true "arcade" mode and I'd rather stay from Score Attack for a while.
I did consider setting the difficulty to easy, but I've decided on leaving it on "normal" difficulty, as that is how I learned to play Akatsuki Blitzkampf

Anyways, I've also considering picking up a fighting stick, as the PS3 controller isn't perfect(for some reason, I've been using the D-pad :P I used to stick with the analog stick, but couldn't do the Shoryuken or 421 motions that well on it.), but I'm beginning to question my button layout, as I have it set to what I normally used with Melty Blood and Akatsuki Blitzkampf. Not that easy to do "B+C", with B assigned to the circle button and C assigned to the square button.

However, I don't really play much, except on Friday nights(and occasionally Saturday nights) due to college and other stuff. I've heard Skullgirls is a bit accessible too, so I might check that out.(I have heard about the rough AI, though.)

TL: DR, I'm trying my best to improve my fighting game skills.

Narcowski

Since this is SRK, you can expect to get a fair number of "Play Street Fighter" type responses. That said, you can really learn with any game, and AH3 is fun. The best way to get better is to play; training mode can only get you so far, and AH3's AI is pretty awful, even on the harder difficulties (blocks and techs throws reliably where a human probably couldn't, but doesn't do combos). I recommend checking out your Regional subforum here on SRK as well as on HomingCancel to try and find offline matches. If you can't, then find some people to play online.

I'm willing to be your online training partner if you'd like, by the way.

Some AH3 resources for you:
http://arcana.mizuumi.net
http://homingcancel.com/
#examu on irc.mizuumi.net

doubleoh

Losses are more important than wins.

Let me repeat.

Losses are more important than wins.


Losing is more beneficial to upping your skills than winning. Go over your patterns and the opponent's patterns. Make a mental note of what has gotten you punished the most, etc. Rewatch a lot of your old matches in the battle log. It helps. Lastly, auto block in training mode must become your best friend. It will help you with timing your combos.

see what i did der

Circus

Homingcancel.com and mizuumi wiki are your new best friends. Street fighter players don't usually know how those games work. Not in the US at least.

Trouble Brewing

Find a group of locals to play with. You won't really improve much playing the computer.

GordonsBeard

Trouble Brewing, post: 7670671, member: 5950 wrote:

Find a group of locals to play with. You won't really improve much playing the computer.

Computers must cheat by design, they must know exactly what inputs you're putting in. This means you can never "trick" or "fool" a CPU, just exploit AI. You might learn how to finish combos, but you'll never learn how to fight another human with those tools.

I cannot advice much on those games you listed, but there is no fighting game out there that doesn't improve (in fun and skill) by adding another player or few. Head over to Regional Matchmaking and see if you can find the one other person in your state that plays AH3. (I kid, but seriously go check it out you might be surprised.)

Circus

In street fighter, at least, you can learn some fundamental footsies games with the computer. And, like gordonsbeard said, how to finish combos and perform under pressure. That's about it.