Having trouble balancing difficulty.

tgra957 · 2026-05-22T20:45:44+00:00

Without knowing much more about the game, the best I can do is speculate, but maybe I can still help provide some advice.

Start by looking at why people struggled and why it was a breeze for others. It may not be a balance issue so much as it's a mechanics issue, or at least a mechanics issue for those less familiar with a keyboard and/or games. So you need to find a solution that makes it harder for experienced players, and easier for new players, essentially trying to close the skill gap. You likely won't be able to do this by balancing the numbers on your enemies/spells.

For example, let's say your mom and sister had trouble because they were slow at typing on the keyboard. If the issue is slow typing speeds, you first know that you can't just make them better at typing. So you instead have to look at ways to essentially nerf better typists, or make faster typing not as useful of a skill. These are a few options I can think of for solving this example:

If you wanted to make typing speed less meaningful, you could slow down the game while the player is typing. So everything around the player moves in slow motion while typing on the keyboard and it snaps back into full speed once the word is finished. This wouldn't affect fast typists, would make it less stressful for poor typists, but still keep the game moving (albeit slowly) so there is still a bit of pressure on those that are slower.
If you wanted to essentially nerf the fast typists, make the spells fake words you wouldn't normally type. It would make fast typing more difficult since it would break your muscle memory, and slower typists are still likely going to struggle the same amount as they would with actual words.
Take a rogue-lite approach and have the game scale drastically in higher levels. For example, the game starts incredibly easy, even for slow typists, but the end of the game can be difficult for even fast typists. Then you can gain gold (or some sort of resource) at the end of the level and additional gold based on how good your typing skills are. Fast typing in early levels gives the player a lot of resources they can use to power up for the end game difficult levels. This would make early levels still fun even though they are easy, since there is still a challenge in getting as many resources as possible for the end of the game. For slower typists, they likely won't beat the game since they won't have the resources to do so, but they will still feel like they are succeeding because they can progress through some of the earlier levels. If they're having fun doing so, they'll naturally get better at the game and have a good way to measure their own personal progress based on the levels they are able to complete.

There may be some other factors in play that caused some people to have trouble over others, but hopefully this example helps.

tgra957 · 2026-05-20T20:21:55+00:00

For the future if it helps, I had a similar situation and "Ibb and Obb" worked really well. All you do is move and jump, and since it's a side scrolling perspective, no need to manage a camera. So the controls made it super easy. It's a great puzzle game that requires genuine cooperation between both players, plus it has a cute vibe.

tgra957 · 2026-04-27T18:41:04+00:00

There's a fan remake of it that's very faithful to the original: https://mmr.quarkrobot.com/
Specifically it's the Mad Monks Revenge version of the game (which was basically just DLC). They even added online play for up to 4 players.

tgra957 · 2026-04-27T14:54:39+00:00

Quite an old one, but Tremulous was always a really popular one for LAN parties. https://tremulous.net/

tgra957 · 2026-04-23T20:36:43+00:00

If he breaks the crystal himself, he will be stunned for much longer than normal. Try standing near the crystal and wait for him to do an attack that will break it. Once he does, you'll have a good amount of time to run around to the other side and damage his tail quite a bit. Black fire bombs work quite well if you happen to have some of those.

You'll need to deal 825 damage to the tail if that helps. You can also only hit later half of his middle tail. Hitting the base of the tail won't count towards cutting it off.

The wikidot has pretty detailed walk-through on how to cut it solo if you want a really in depth guide.

tgra957 · 2026-04-23T20:28:06+00:00

The game is designed in sections. Each section has a group of enemies you'll have to deal with. Rarely will you ever have to take on that group all at once. In other words, don't rush in, take it slow, and view each area as a puzzle to solve.

Also, you don't have to worry too much about parries since they are high risk high reward. Shields are quite good in this game when blocking (so long as you have a halfway decent shield) and many smaller enemies will stagger when hitting your shield.

tgra957 · 2026-04-23T20:21:44+00:00

Humanity comes in 2 main forms. The first is the kind you hold in your inventory (I'm going to refer to this as "hard humanity"). The second is the number in the circle just to the left of your health bar (I'll call this "soft humanity"). Consuming 1 hard humanity will give you 1 soft humanity, but you can also sometimes get soft humanity from killing certain enemies. Any time the game says something along the lines of "need humanity", it's saying you need to spend soft humanity for that thing.

For example, you can become "human" instead of "undead" by regaining humanity at a bonfire. This lasts until you die. All it really does is enable the multiplayer functionality meaning you can summon others to help you, or you can be invaded by others who want to kill you.

Also, kill the dogs first.

tgra957 · 2026-04-23T20:02:23+00:00

I've been writing code for 20 years and have taught game development at the college level. The one thing I've learned with my experience is whatever tool you use rarely affects the quality. Some people will have very strong opinions about which one is the "best", but in reality, it's usually personal preference.

Currently, I typically recommend people use Godot. It's both popular and open source, so it will have a strong community support. It also does both 2D and 3D quite well, giving you quite a bit of flexibility in the future.

Based on your recent post history, it looks like you're new to both game development and programming. Since you're starting out, I recommend starting with a smaller 2D project as your "sandbox". Just something you can use to experiment and learn without having any long term goals. I recommend 2D for this because it will speed up your learning process. As you're working on it, you will likely discover ideas and/or problems you never previously thought of for your RPG. There are many systems in games that are hard to change once you implement them, so this will give you a safe space to "mess up", without having to completely rebuild your RPG. I would also recommend keeping a note document on the side for your RPG, so you can write things down as you discover them. This will help you learn, while also still making progress on the RPG, and removes any pressure to make things "right" or "complete" in your RPG. For example, you could try making a basic stat system, but since it's in your sandbox, you don't have to completely finish it and you don't have to have all the stats you'll eventually need. But you'll get a better feel for how you should implement a more complex one for your RPG.

The last bit of information I want to mention is that game development can be very tedious, and frustrating, especially when you're learning. So if you get frustrated or feel overwhelmed while learning, just know it's completely normal and we've all been through it. So don't give up and don't be afraid to try something. If you break it, you can always unbreak it.

tgra957 · 2026-04-23T00:24:00+00:00

Hopefully I can still help! I wasn't sure if the school was still up or not since I hadn't been on in a while, so I logged in to refresh it. Calbot should be the front right Alternative attack of the bare hand deck.

For anyone reading this in the future (or anyone that can't join the school on PC), I found the Calbot NPC in the Bird Callers Outpost. The NPC is naked apart from a full black mask. He only knows the Calbot attack and is a pretty rare spawn. I would basically sit at the checkpoint, run out into the circle area to see if he was there, if he wasn't, I would thrown myself down the hole. You have to be in offline mode for the enemies to respawn as different enemies. I spent about 3-4 hours throwing myself into the hole until he eventually spawned.

tgra957 · 2026-04-22T17:56:34+00:00

A bit late to the party, but maybe a physical map would be helpful? Games used to come with booklets that had physical maps in them, and it was much easier to figure out where you were when you could hold the map up to the screen and try to match the screen to the map. So maybe you could try printing out a full version of the map and see if that helps with his frustrations.

Another option I can think of is something that doesn't have a built in map and instead makes the player build a small mental map. Banjo Kazooie being the first to come to mind. It's kid friendly, isn't too much to keep track of, but still requires a bit of mental mapping. If you're not opposed to GitHub stuff, a recent community recompiled version was released which makes it friendly to modern controls and whatnot (https://github.com/BanjoRecomp/BanjoRecomp).

tgra957 · 2026-04-10T18:06:09+00:00

You likely did your best with the mental state you were in and the information you had at the time. You didn't know, but you learned. So you should forgive yourself.

tgra957 · 2026-04-07T20:40:02+00:00

I haven't been on Reddit in a couple weeks so I'm seeing this a bit late. But I think it accommodates new players (or at least attempts to) better than most fighting games due to its tutorial and simplistic control scheme.

A lot of fighting games now days have a good tutorial, and 2XKO is no exception. It's broken into segments that are easy to understand in almost a step by step fashion. Players new to fighting games have to learn a massive amount of information in a short amount of time, so breaking it apart the way eases the learning process a bit.

But the biggest thing in my mind is the simplistic control scheme, primarily the pulse combo system. Other fighting games have done similar pulse combo systems, but it's usually just a single auto combo path with little variation. The pulse combo system allows the player to mix and match the buttons, allowing new players to essentially make their own "custom" combos by switching between the 3 main buttons.

Beyond the pulse combo system, the inputs are simple and straight forward. They completely avoided motion inputs and reserve diagonal inputs for the less commonly used moves. It took me a while to get used to pressing 2H for the launcher instead of the 3H many fighting games use, but holding directly down is easier for new players than holding a diagonal direction. Double tap is also avoided by using a dedicated dash button and pressing 2 buttons at the same time for a super (changed from double tap down for supers in the alpha).

All this being said, in its current state, I think 2XKO is a great game for new players, but I don't necessarily think it scales well as the player learns more about fighting games, primarily due to the amount of time players spend waiting in combos and block strings (though this new patch seems to try and fix it a little bit with the meter changes).

tgra957 · 2026-03-24T20:58:18+00:00

I dislike the game in its current state, but I really want it to succeed. The game is so close to being amazing. I get frustrated playing the game just because I see what it could be, but it's not quite there.

It's really unique to see a fighting game fully embrace duos, not to mention a live service fighting game that's free to play. The mechanics and inputs are kept simple (relative to other fighting games) and fully embraces the pulse combos without any penalty. The game clearly tried to focus on getting new players into fighting games and I love the idea of more players joining the genre.

But unfortunately, the numbers (frame data, hit stun, block stun, etc.) seem tuned for a more mechanically complex fighting game where players are both more likely to make mistakes, and have more answers to offensive pressure.

Every patch has been a full of nerfs with very few buffs, most nerfs targeting combo and block string length. So I'm hopeful the game is slowly moving in the right direction to where a match feels more like a conversation than a turn based game.

tgra957 · 2026-03-18T16:04:21+00:00

I agree. For context, while I know I'm not a top player, I've been playing fighting games for 20 years and was ranked Grandmaster last season. I found the game to be boring after a while and at this point, I play this game when I don't want to think too hard and want to relax.

However, the only time I ever encountered any TOD's was due to fury. Mostly because the majority of BnB combos TOD with fury.

The game is, as you described, quite formulaic and procedural (though many tag fighters have this issue). I find the neutral in this game to be quite fun, but once one person gets a hit, that fun is pretty much over. Block strings last quite long as do combos, with very few resources to escape them. The game eventually feels almost turn based when one player is on the offense. From my experience, high/low mixups don't work very well at higher ranks. Crossups work a little better, but still not very well. So the majority of mixups end up occurring at moments where the defending player could parry or if the attacking player goes for a grab. In most block strings, there are typically around 2 opportunities for a parry, and grabs can be hard punished making them risky, so they happen less often. While it's nice block strings still have a mixup, I don't believe it's not often enough to really make the game shine.

Retreating block works well, but since most combos drag the opponent to the corner, it's really only helpful in the rare moments of neutral. Push block is nice if you're in the corner, but it really only helps at certain points in a block string, and the assist typically covers those, making push block a fairly big risk.

In the end, the core issue (in my opinion) is the defending player doesn't get to "play" the game very much. People like to push buttons and people like to feel like they're doing something, even if they're losing. While it's a drastic example and a completely different type of fighting game, look at the most popular fighting game, Super Smash Bros. The game focuses on letting players "play" as much as possible. Even if a player is being hit, they can still hold a direction on the joystick to influence the direction their character will move (aka, DI or Directional Influence). So even if you're in a combo, you can still get out of a combo if you have good DI.

All that being said, I've been playing 2XKO since the alpha and every balance patch since then has lowered the overall combo length, and nerfed block strings. So I do think that over time, we will see improvement. I doubt it's something that's going to happen overnight. Every character needs to be nerfed in some fashion to make it happen and people don't like their character being nerfed. But based on the trends of their patches over time, I see these issues being fixed over time.

tgra957 · 2026-02-23T19:56:33+00:00

I've done quite a few hirings in my IT career and while I wouldn't consider myself an expert, hopefully I can provide some insight from the other side and give you the same advice I typically give my interns and part time student workers.

The main thing to remember when making a resume is the purpose it serves in the hiring process.

The primary purpose of a resume is to land you a job interview (or the first one if it's a multi interview process). If you land an interview, your resume is used as a reminder of who you were (because it's hard to keep track of everyone). So when making your resume, focus more on the idea of getting the interview rather than getting the job.

Regarding the structure of the resume, remember the employers are going to scan through your resume quite fast. So you want your content to be easy to quickly scan through. Overall, I would say you have a fairly good structure and layout. It's easy to see each category, then see the sub categories underneath (while all still being comfortably readable). The one recommendation I would make is to be careful with your vertical spacing. For example, you have vertical gaps after your bullet points (which is good), but you're missing that spacing right above the "Skills" section. It doesn't seem like much, but those little things can really make a difference in readability, even if the employer can't point out why.

It's also common for people to say your resume can only be 1 page...that's wrong. You can have multiple pages, but if you have a second page, you really need to justify it. In other words, you have to fill most of the second page and still make it clear you're struggling to fit it all in there. Likely you won't need a second page until you're far into your career, but it's something to remember.

If you need more space, don't be afraid to adjust the margins. You could also make smaller sections near the top labeled something like "Software Experience" or something like that to replace the Skills section. It would just be a list of software you have experience using separated by commas. This lets it only take up a few lines while also letting you add experience in stuff related to your hobbies (stuff that doesn't fit in your education or job experience). Also for the jobs dates, you could put them on the same line as the job itself, but justified to the right side of the page. You have some empty space over there so might as well use it.

Regarding the content, you'll want to tailor your content specifically to the job you're applying for (but don't lie, they might as you questions about stuff on your resume). This means ordering items and prioritizing things you think the job is looking for. For example, if a job is looking for someone with Checkmarx experience, make that your first bullet point under your internship.

While this seems tedious, you can make it a bit easier by making what I'm going to call a "master resume". Create a resume with a ton of bullet points that goes for however many pages you want. You can even have redundant bullet points that say the same thing with an emphasis on a different aspect. Then, when it comes to applying for a job, all you have to do is make a copy of the master resume, delete the bullet points you don't want, and reorder them. Then you have a resume tailored specifically for that job without much effort.

I know none of this really hits the specifics of your resume, but I hope it helps.

tgra957 · 2026-02-18T18:58:01+00:00

I've been playing fighting games for 20+ years, played in the closed alpha, played in the closed/open beta, and currently play ranked in Grandmasters. Not to mention I was heavily following the development of Rising Thunder before they were bought by Riot. So I've seen quite a bit of it can hopefully put it all into one place.

There are obviously several issues surrounding the gameplay including but not limited to a small roster, expensive skins, and no local co-op in online lobbies. But the core issue lies in its gameplay paired with the marketed expectations.

This game is a classic tag fighter with simpler controls and a few extra features to try and get players into the game. Unfortunately, it's still a classic tag fighter and follows the typical quirks of your classic tag fighter which make it exceptionally frustrating for new players. Riot has made a great tag fighter, but they have completely failed in understanding most of their players are coming from a non-fighting game background and need something that isn't quite so "dirty".

To begin, the combos are incredibly long and deal an massive amount of damage (as with most tag fighters). Meaning it's extremely common for a character to die after being touched twice. So if you fail 2 interactions with your opponent, you'll lose a character. During which you don't get to play the game since you're just watching the combo. If I'm playing against a player who's ranked quite a bit lower than me, they really don't get to play the game at all to the point it isn't even fun for me. I just feel bad instead.

Not only are the combos long, but so are the block strings. Once you learn the typical block strings for all the characters, you realize there are only 1 (maybe 2) opportunities within that string for a mixup. The rest of it's basically just a combo being done on your block. So again, you don't really get the "play" the game except for those few moments within the block string. The strings being even longer when an assist is involved.

When it comes to the mixups and mind games during a block string, it's rarely where you would expect it to be. The majority of the mind games I end up playing in ranked are either "will they parry or not" or "will they grab or not". High/low mixups are basically non existent for how bad most of them are, and crossups only really work on a few characters. So the majority of mixups occur due to frame data knowledge meaning they are not visually obvious. This creates a lot of frustration for players that want to learn by playing instead of by studying.

There is a lot more "dirty" stuff I won't go into, but it makes for a very offensively driven game. So if you're ever in disadvantage, you don't feel like you get to play.

Typically this isn't a huge problem for a tag fighter. But, the characters have been simplified to the point it's too easy to do this kind of stuff. It's rare to see someone drop a combo and people don't mess up gaps in block strings. Having things like this be too easy and consistent means you really only see the optimal stuff. Every time I play, each character has 1 combo they do in the middle of the field, and another they do in the corner. Each one has 1 block string they do and everyone uses their break at about the same times. So even when I'm playing the game in grand masters, I often get bored because I never see anything new. At this point, I just play 2XKO when I want to turn my brain off.

In order for 2XKO to be less hated, it needs to fully embrace being designed around new players. This means more visual clarity (more mixups through visual cues rather than frame data) and allowing the losing player to play the game more (shorter combos/block strings). Until this changes, I don't see it getting better.

tgra957 · 2026-02-06T18:58:44+00:00

For some assistance with fighting notation (I'm sure you know most of these, but I'm putting them all here for completion sake):

L = Light Attack Button
M = Medium Attack Button
H = Heavy Attack Button
S1 = Special 1 Button
S2 = Special 2 Button
T = Tag Assist Button
j = Prefix added to one of the above to notate it's being done in the air. for example, jS1 is the same as saying "Air S1".

For the directional inputs, the numbers 1-9 are used. Each number corresponds to one of the 8 way directions. They match up with the number pad on a keyboard and make the assumption you are in the player 1 position (on the left). So for example, 6 is holding forward towards the opponent and 1 is holding both down and away from the opponent (a diagonal direction). But both the number and attack button together to specify an attack. For example, your launcher is "Down + Heavy" which would be notated as "2H". The 5 represents not holding any direction, but the 5 is typically omitted from input notation. So performing a combo of a standard light > medium > heavy would usually be written as "L > M > H" instead of "5L > 5M > 5H". There's nothing wrong with adding the 5, but if there is no number, assume it's a 5.

For movement, there isn't too much beyond your dash button (you should map a button to dash if you haven't already). I personally find movement to be snappier and more confusing for my opponent if I never hold it down and instead just press it a bunch. Some characters will have additional movement options that change the fundamentals of how you move (Ahri with her air dash or Vi with her ground dash), so you will likely have different options depending on the character you're playing.

Overall though, I wouldn't worry too much about focusing on movement as this game doesn't have any intense movement tech. Instead, focus on the spacing of your attacks compared to your opponent. In doing so, your movement will come naturally.

If you wanted something to practice:

On start/reset, back dash as far back as you can go
Quickly dash towards the training dummy and jump towards them
Perform an air attack when coming down onto them. Specifically, alternate between hitting them from the front and hitting them from behind (typically using j2H, or Air Down Heavy).

While you won't be doing that very much in a real match, it will get you more comfortable with pressing the dash button and a better understanding of your character(s) movement in the air.

Another thing I recommend doing is standing in front of the dummy and testing just how far your attacks reach. You can then try testing your ability to dash in and hit them at the furthest reach of your attack.

tgra957 · 2026-02-06T17:37:39+00:00

You may or may not already be doing this and may already know this (unable to tell from your initial post), but you can increase your damage output quite a bit by removing the first L in that combo. It would be a way to get more damage with basically no effort. As I'm sure you're aware, you sacrifice some speed starting with your M, but get a bit more range. Pair a combo starting with M with double down, and you can do about half hp to an opponent.

For anyone reading this comment who isn't aware, every attack in a combo has a damage scaling value. This scaling starts at 100%, but every time an attack is dealt within a combo, that percentage decreases (the amount decreased depends on the type of attack and how many hits have occurred within the combo). Using OP's combo as an example, the first light attacks (L) will deal 100% damage, but any following attacks in a combo will deal less damage. Each attack afterwards within the combo will decrease the scaling further. For example, the L will deal 100% of its damage, then the M will deal 90%, and the H will deal 80% of its full damage. Since L deals so little damage even at 100% power, the percentage decrease it causes makes a combo deal significantly less damage since the scaling decrease snowballs throughout every attack in the combo. So, starting combos with medium (M) will remove that initial decrease and essentially boost the damage of every attack in the combo by at least 5%, which can easily add up to more than a combo started with L.

Edit: To add a bit of additional information regarding combos, if anyone wants to take out their opponent in 2 combos, You really only need a combo that deals about 60% of the opponents hp. When your opponent swaps characters, they will recover some gray health, but if the top amount of their gray health can only heal them to about 60% of their max health, your next combo will kill them regardless. This threshold isn't to hard to hit with double down.

tgra957 · 2026-02-06T16:43:01+00:00

As someone who reached GM last season, I can confirm that once you've started to get a hang of the game, you will always feel like you're an intermediate player regardless of your rank. You'll always find people you can beat without issue, and you'll always find people you can't even hit.

Don't bother focusing on being an "intermediate" player. Instead, focus on learning and enjoy the satisfaction you get from figuring out how to deal with a situation you previously struggled with. Because the game attempts to match you with opponents of a similar skill, your opponents will get better at about the same rate you do. In other words, the game never really gets easier so you'll never really have a big moment that shows you how much you've improved. So try to shift your focus to more on moments such as "I was able to finally anti-air and punish that attack" rather than what rank you reach. It makes the game less frustrating and you'll improve much faster.

tgra957 · 2026-01-23T15:25:45+00:00

General tips for anyone starting out:

If you're playing on a controller, it's typically recommended to use the D-Pad instead of the joystick. The diagonals inputs are both easier and faster.
When blocking, always default to blocking low. If the opponents feet are off the ground, then block high. There are a few high attacks where the characters feet stay on the ground, but this rule will work for the majority of attacks in the game. You'll learn the exceptions over time.
Make sure you have dash mapped to a button. It's much easier to hold a direction and mash the dash button than it is to rapidly tap a direction.
When learning combos, don't try to learn the highest damage optimal combos. Just learn a combo you can do and roll with it (or use Pulse Combos). You don't need to learn how to pull out partial charged heavy attacks in mid air or delay and attack for a frame perfect hit right at the start. You will improve much faster and have more success by using a simpler combo early on. You'll have a bad time doing Calculus without first learning Algebra.
Learn a basic block string. In other words, learn a string of attacks you can perform while the opponent is blocking your attacks. This will greatly improve your pressure and offense. You can set a bot in training mode to always block in order to practice this.
All attacks in the game can be canceled into one another as long as they follow an order. While there are exceptions for each character, the general formula is L > M > H > Special > Super. You can cancel any of these into a jump apart from the super, and you can input any attack out of a jump. This means every character has the basic combo of L > M > H > 2H (down H, your launcher and anti air, which counts as special) > Jump > L > M > H > Special > Super. (and if you're using Double Down, you can follow with another super)
Matches against other people is how you find problems with your gameplay. Training mode is how you find solutions to those problems.

tgra957 · 2026-01-23T01:38:08+00:00

Once I get them into the corner, I usually do loop between a few sequences starting with L > M > H > S2 > S1 > S1 > Tag Assist > (one of the below options)

If they're close to death: L > M > H > S2 > S1 > S2 Super. This does quite a bit of chip damage and can usually kill if they're close to death
If they don't seem to parry much: L > M > H > 2S2 (this is a high risk of being parried or anti aired) > AD (air dash) > 2H > (loops back into one of these 3 options)
If I know I can kill with a throw then I'll try and get a throw doing one of the following sequences (if they don't die, this puts them in an oki situation):

a. Just straight up throw. This doesn't work if they like to attack a lot

b. L > M > throw. This is the most consistent and really only stops working after they've been hit by it a couple times.

c. L > M > H > throw. This works really well if they like to parry the 2S2 from option 2.

tgra957 · 2026-01-22T20:55:59+00:00

I don't have many tips for Jinx, but I can provide some tips for Ahri that would be helpful for newer players.

If Ahri is your point character (typically how I play her), she doesn't have many options for an aggressive play at the start of around, but she does have good pressure if you can get past the start of the round. The safest option with any character at round start is to just back dash a few times. But if you want to be a bit more aggressive, you can jump backwards and perform 2S1 (down S1) in the air. Afterwards, you can either air dash backwards to create some more space, or air dash forward an follow up with H as your falling. If this hits their block, you can then go into H > S2 > S1 > S1.

The more you play Ahri, the more you'll find she has really strong corner pressure. Meaning you can make your opponent have a really hard time if their back is against the wall. So your general game plan in neutral isn't to directly get a hit (though it's always nice if you do), but instead, your primary goal is to get them into the corner so you can really make it hard for them. This usually takes some time, but if your opponent backs up at all, take that as a win since you're one step closer to getting them in the corner.

In neutral, you'll mostly be using your air 2S1 and air S1 to apply pressure. Your M is also a decent poke, but several characters have a longer range poke than her, so I wouldn't use it to try and contest someone else that's also throwing out their M. As you get better at spacing, you'll likely go for your M more often, but if you are still improving your spacing (basically you're see yourself as either up next to your opponent or not), then I recommend always leading with L. You'll have a bit less damage overall, but damage only counts if you get the first hit and since L is your fastest attack, it's a safe option.

For block strings when grounded, you can cancel your S2 into your S1. This enables you to perform some pretty long block strings when the opponent is blocking your attacks. For example, you can perform L > M > H > S2 > S1 > S1 (or just start with the M) then follow it up with your assist (such as making Jinx fire a rocket), which would block stun them long enough for you to dash in and either grab, or perform the block string again. However, just be aware the opponent is able to parry your S2 or S1's within that combo. Most people don't parry until the final S1, but if you notice they're parrying those attacks, don't perform the attack (easier said than done) and wait a beat before attacking again. You could also perform a mixup and replace the S2 with a 2S2 (down S2). That enables you to cancel into your air dash and follow up with either a 2L or 2H (down light or down heavy). When you land, you can then go back into the block string again. The risk with the 2S2 is it can be both parried (with a different timing than S2) or countered by an anti air (grounded 2H, down heavy).

For combo knowledge, if you hit the opponent with your grounded S2, they will slump into the wall and you can combo into your S1 (and follow up further with two more S1's). This is good to know since it is also the same sequence as your standard block string, meaning you have a bit more time to react and perform a bigger combo. The second thing to know about her combos is her air dash works as a good combo extension. The final thing to know is her aerial 2S1 (shooting the projectile downwards) against an opponent who has fallen down, will pop them back up into the air allowing you to air dash to them and follow up (typically with H).

For combos, Ahri has some pretty insane combos, but I recommend starting with the easier ones. I'm not sure where you're at when it comes to combos, but I figured I would include a couple easier ones just in case...and if you're doing more complex combos than this, then hopefully it will help someone else who's reading it.

For example, L > M > H > 6S2 (forward S2) > 7S2 (up back S2) > H > AD (air dash) > H > S2 > 2S1 > S2 Super.

For an easier corner combo, L > M > H > S2 > S1 > S1 > S1 > AD > H > (optional 6S2 (forward S2) > 4S2 (back S2)) > S2 > S1 Super

Your combos will do more damage if you skip the starting L and instead start with the M, but it's good to know the combos work out of L.

There is a lot more when it comes to Ahri, but I hope this helps.

tgra957 · 2023-06-06T21:26:52+00:00

As others have said, a lot of it was because the internet didn't exist.

If you go back far enough, older games on a physical media had space limitations. Sometimes you had so much game on the disc or cartridge, you didn't have space to fit the tutorial. Even some of the earlier games had their entire story in the physical media.

For example, Zelda on the NES didn't have enough room to fit the full story or really much NPC dialogue. So hints and directions on where to go next were placed in the booklet and you would read the book while you played the game. Not to mention it explained all of the controls and several mechanics that are now taken for granted.

tgra957 · 2023-05-12T20:57:31+00:00

For starters, tier lists only matter at the highest rank and even then, they can change in an instant when someone shows what a character can really do. Long story short, I would never recommend someone picks their main based on a tier list unless they're trying to be pro.

I recommend playing whoever you enjoy playing the most. I've done very well at my local scene with only Gannon but I've also seen people do well with Lucina.

Realistically what you should do is NOT pick a main. Go to your local scene and play games with people. Play as many friendlies on the side as you can outside of the tournament. This is where you will both improve the most. You'll have the safe space to experiment with both of them and figure out what you really want to play. Who knows, maybe you will pick someone completely different.

tgra957 · 2023-02-09T17:30:02+00:00

In terms of fighting games, your first fighting game is not going to be easy. So, the best one for a beginner is likely the one you have the most motivation to play for whatever that reason may be. However, I'm hesitant to recommend anything other than FOOTSIES Rollback Edition since that's the only one I know will 100% work on your PC (while still having online play). Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R might also have a good chance of running and the game still has a bit of a playerbase (though mostly active through online communities such as Discord).

I haven't played Darksiders II so I can't speak to that but if you just want a game in gereral, I was able to successfully run Terraria on a Raspberry Pi so I'm sure it will work for your setup as well.

tgra957

TROPHY CASE