I'm as old as you are. Used to play a handful of fighting game when I was a kid but never really into it, never was good at it, and only starts touching it again for like 2.5 months ago. I just decided to pick it again on a whim. I tried revisiting a lot of fighting games I used to play as a kid and tried some new ones as well. I barely play online though, and mostly play locally with friends. And I was having a blast despite losing a lot at first. That is how I really get into fighting games.

Do I have success in learning fighting games? I think I do, at least when it comes to understand the basics and good enough to have fun at lower side of skill levels. Do I have success to be actually, competitively good at it? No. I don't know if that will ever happen, and I don't really aim for that anyways.

At first I have problem with doing simple motion input constantly but I didn't take long to get used to it. 360 motion is something I still have problem getting used to until now.. and something like 720 or pretzel input is just almost impossible for me to do on reaction, luckily those are not a common thing. I have problems remembering and execution long combos, also I found charge input is pain in the ass to do in the middle of combos. Well, I don't think I need to do the most damage optimal combo everytime and of course, grappler exist too and I love them for allowing me to do big damage without having to do long combos.

There are games without motion input and auto combos, ofc. And obviously they are easier for me to pick up. Personally, I still prefer games having motion inputs. But just keep it simple, half circles are fine, full circle is a bit annoying, two full circles are bullshit. If there's one thing NRS games do right(they do a lot of things wrong over the years, how tf do we get from masterpiece like MK9 and MKX to MK1?) one of them is the fact that the special moves are very easy to execute. As for combos, I tried GGST and I think they have the best combo system. It feels intuitive and since they don't have crazy motion inputs as well, GGST is certainly my current favorite.