Mortal Kombat 9

[Niji Superfan]

Oh dude, the best part? This guy was bragging about how he beat my Sub Zero with Skarlet, once, and "I just got her". Well, neverminding that it took him four tries to beat me once, just barely. Neverminding that he counterpicked my Noob with Smoke because he knows that's an 8-2 (it's literally Noob's worst matchup, REO and Brady agree), which he still just barely won. Neverminding all of that, he told me Liu Kang was a 4-6 with Sub Zero.

 

Fuck. That. How the hell does that make any sense? Liu Kang has a stupid-safe projectile which he can alternate high, low and air. He has some solid anti-air to stop jump-ins, as well as a parry for the same purpose. The ice ball is too slow to catch him on a projectile trade, so you're basically limited to EX freeze to actually catch him. You have to burn one bar just for an ATTEMPT to get in and do your one combo, at which point he's just going to use his brainless 50/50s or his glorious 3 1 2 string. This guy tried a host of characters on me, none of which could stop my Subs. Whenever he did pick Liu Kang, all he did was spam fireballs and jumpkick me whenever I tried to get in. The fact that this works at all is unbelievable.

 

I knew he was a TYM scrub, by the way, because he had the gall to say "Actually, Smoke vs. Noob is 6-4". When you need to defend your character choices by sliding numbers around, you know you aren't playing an honest game.

[Lenin]

The game right now is all about counterpicking. You should have waited him out on the character select screen until he picked Kang again and then done a mad dash for Noob. 7-3 in Noob's favor. Haha.

 

This counterpicking bullshit is why I actually just go for hidden cursor selection. You'd be amazed (well, probably not) at the amount of people who just ragequit on character select when you do that.

 

Also, I forgot to address this:

 

If she is the second number in these matchups, I really hope REO is just trolling (as he's known to do). I'm still kind of waiting on Brady's input, because while I don't agree with everything he says, he does tend to be more levelheaded in his assessments than REO is.

 

Brady actually agrees with REO. REO didn't even mention it until Brady brought it up, actually.

 

Then REO posted this:

 

 

She'd be less effective if she had a command grab that red-ringed your Xbox.

 

Granted, it's not actual match footage. But anyone could pull it off with at least relative consistency after maybe... two or three hours in training mode. On a scale between Liu Kang (1) and Kabal's old block infinite (10), I'd say it ranks about a 5 or 6.

[Niji Superfan]

...Wow. Either Brady's losing his mind, or NRS really went overboard on Skarlet.

 

I really should've gone hidden cursor, yeah. I don't know why it didn't occur to me, I think I was just too tired. I usually do when people start trying to do this counterpicking bullshit.

[Lenin]

I honestly think this shit with Skarlet was just an oversight. Remove the pushback on the first kunai and her df3,4~up slash plink and voila, balanced character achieved. (Edit: here's some really stupid shit to read through if you're interested. HOW CAN PEOPLE BE SO FUCKING RETARDED!?)

 

Since I started going hidden cursor, I've noticed a drastic drop in the amount of Reptiles I play.

 

It also really speeds up the rate at which people pick Scorpion, the counterpick to winning.

 

EDIT: Goddamn online play is terribad. I can do Kabal's f3,2~dash cancel about 23~ times or so offline without fucking it up. Online it doesn't even like me to connect the f3,2 on block. Works EVERY time on hit though. Only fucks up on block.

 

I know hotfixes don't work for the 360 offline (I think that's what I heard), and NRS is prone to nerfing stupid shit for the benefit of the crybabies. Did they remove the Kabal's ability to get f3,2 as a block string or something? Or is online still that laggy? At least it doesn't feel like it's under infinite water anymore, but it's still completely unacceptable.

Edited July 2, 2011 by Lenin

[Niji Superfan]

Well, I know they removed Ermac's ability to combo off a 2 2 or 3 1 2, so it wouldn't surprise me if they took some shit from Kabal. Cyber Subs lost the ability to combo off a 1 1 1 as well, from what I heard, though I never used that in the first place. It's really not much of a nerf, considering 2 1 is hit confirmable into better things and 1 1 1 is not.

 

So, I took a good, long look at myself the other day, and I realized that I'm not playing to my greatest strengths with Sub Zero. As someone pointed out, I play fighting games very, very aggressively. I don't let up for one minute; I rush your shit down, and if you won't give me an opening, I'll fucking take one. Now, on one hand, Subs can do that. He's the Ryu of MK9: He has offense, he has defense, he has space control, he has it all. On the other hand, his offense isn't quite up there with someone like, say, Kung Lao.

 

...Or fucking Cyber Sub Zero.

 

While I was in my totally sweet introspection stage, I realized I need to start putting some real work into my Cyber Subs. He's my third best character, but truthfully, I've just never pushed him as far as he can go. I never hit confirmed my 2 1s into freezes for maximum damage, I never learned practical combos for situations outside of just midscreen and corner, I never learned when to chuck iceballs or how best to place my divekicks. Sure, I win the majority of the time I use him, but whenever I DO lose, I just go "Good job, you fucking idiot, this wouldn't have happened if you just stopped being so lazy and really learned the character." So, you know what? I'm doing that. I'm learning the character. I've played Cyber Subs almost exclusively over the past few days, and already, I feel like I've improved by leaps and bounds. I get a solid 40% off every single opening, and it's ridiculous how fast I'm breaking down the kids I'm playing. This is definitely the sort of aggressive character that plays to my strengths, even better than human Subs does. At this rate, he may very well be my new main, and Subs might just be a very reliable second. We'll see if I'm still singing the same tune a few weeks from now.

 

...Oh, and I also uncovered this.

 

 

This is the most terrifying goddamn thing I've ever seen, and I saw The Ring when I was thirteen.

[Lenin]

Well, I know they removed Ermac's ability to combo off a 2 2 or 3 1 2, so it wouldn't surprise me if they took some shit from Kabal. Cyber Subs lost the ability to combo off a 1 1 1 as well, from what I heard, though I never used that in the first place. It's really not much of a nerf, considering 2 1 is hit confirmable into better things and 1 1 1 is not.

 

Well, they took out the ability to combo from Ermac's 2 2, 3 1 2 and CSZ's 1 1 1 because you shouldn't have been able to do it in the first place outside of juggles since those are complete strings. I can't think of a single logical reason to nerf Kabal, though. So I think it's the lag.

 

So, I took a good, long look at myself the other day, and I realized that I'm not playing to my greatest strengths with Sub Zero. As someone pointed out, I play fighting games very, very aggressively. I don't let up for one minute; I rush your shit down, and if you won't give me an opening, I'll fucking take one. Now, on one hand, Subs can do that. He's the Ryu of MK9: He has offense, he has defense, he has space control, he has it all. On the other hand, his offense isn't quite up there with someone like, say, Kung Lao.

 

...Or fucking Cyber Sub Zero.

 

While I was in my totally sweet introspection stage, I realized I need to start putting some real work into my Cyber Subs. He's my third best character, but truthfully, I've just never pushed him as far as he can go. I never hit confirmed my 2 1s into freezes for maximum damage, I never learned practical combos for situations outside of just midscreen and corner, I never learned when to chuck iceballs or how best to place my divekicks. Sure, I win the majority of the time I use him, but whenever I DO lose, I just go "Good job, you fucking idiot, this wouldn't have happened if you just stopped being so lazy and really learned the character." So, you know what? I'm doing that. I'm learning the character. I've played Cyber Subs almost exclusively over the past few days, and already, I feel like I've improved by leaps and bounds. I get a solid 40% off every single opening, and it's ridiculous how fast I'm breaking down the kids I'm playing. This is definitely the sort of aggressive character that plays to my strengths, even better than human Subs does. At this rate, he may very well be my new main, and Subs might just be a very reliable second. We'll see if I'm still singing the same tune a few weeks from now.

 

...Oh, and I also uncovered this.

 

 

This is the most terrifying goddamn thing I've ever seen, and I saw The Ring when I was thirteen.

 

You know, I shit you not dude, just last night I decided to start working more on my CSZ, not necessarily to main him since I think this game is doomed to not have a character I like well enough to main.

 

And I am SO happy about that bomb trap. For the way those bombs have been an absolute hindrance to how I feel like I should be playing CSZ (dash in 3 3 2~slide isn't possible and it should be) it's about time those things worked for something other than pissing off the ∞% of people who just decide they're going to hold down and hit uppercut whenever I get close to them.

 

I've been digging him because he completely facefucks Raiden. The natural lunge of 2 1 ~ freeze means that sweet spot where superman is safe doesn't exist. That string completely rapes his teleport too. Raiden can barely move in that fight without eating a bare minimum of 32%. If only ice parry could catch the superman too.

 

I was owning people last night with him so hard I just started leaving the matches when I saw "FINISH HIM" and sending my opponents messages saying "You're welcome." Ragewin.

 

Playing CSZ makes me really hate Kitana, though. The real advantage to playing him is that he'll never be nerfed since he'll never be popular. That bomb trap IS bullshit, though. But that won't stop me from turning it into my BnB combo.

[Niji Superfan]

I wouldn't necessarily use it as a BnB since it's unsafe and not hit confirmable, but it's something to do. Used as a crossup punish, it's consistent.

[Lenin]

True.

 

So, despite the fact that I have played at least eleven trillion Scoprions, he's apparently only been picked 5.9 billion times.

 

EDIT:

 

noobde

RT @DFA807 DAMN IT BOON! HOW DOES STRYKER GET KENSHI INTO HIS X-RAY? DUDE IS BLIND!

Noobde: Not worth getting upset over, he can see light.

 

ED BOON WINS.

FLAWLESS VICTORY.

Edited July 4, 2011 by Lenin

[Niji Superfan]

You know, I really can't bitch too much about Scorpion anymore. I see him far less often, and I'm finding more and more DECENT Scorpions when I do. I can honestly respect a guy who plays an honest game with Scorpion, even if he is the Ken of MK9.

 

To be fair, he IS blindfolded, but I guess that's only going to block out so much light. Someone actually came up with a pretty good justification for this: They worked out that Stryker's flashlight is probably a torchlight, since cops do tend to carry them. Torchlights give off a lot of heat as well, so it'd still sear his face if Stryker caught him with it. I'm sure the dev team never thought of this at ANY point, but it makes perfect sense. Granted, Boon still put up the obvious answer to this one, and it shut that kid down hard.

 

Also, some guy on GFAQs was preemptively bitching about how broken Kenshi is going to be. He said "So far he has ermac type force combos a very fast mid range sword slash that also throws back projectiles. what more could you want?"

 

I said "a slide and an ice clone."

[Lenin]

Torchlight is a good theory.

 

Now how the fuck does his taser work on Raiden?

 

Dude, I have STILL never been combo'd by a Scorpion. Scorpion is only the Ken canonically. This game's actual Ken is Liu Kang, just when measured on the fagometer.

 

I would ask for Kenshi to have an unpunishable, 2 frame start up anti-air reversal launcher, like Kung Lao used too.

 

And an ice clone.

Edited July 5, 2011 by Lenin

[Niji Superfan]

I've only been comboed (I don't care that this isn't a word) by Scorpion because one of the guys I play with mains him. He doesn't play Scorpion like a scrubby bitch, so I can respect that.

 

Also, I finally started messing around with Cyrax's real high damage combos, experimenting with his EX bomb + midbomb business, and holy shit. Why the fuck haven't I been doing this since day one? Why didn't I even TRY? Christ, I usually beat kids when I'm racking up 20% off a Cyrax combo, I can't imagine the kind of unjust sodomy I'm about to visit upon them now.

 

Also also, I just watched ep8 of the Brady show like a good little boyscout, and according to him, Kenshi is going to be the anti-Skarlet. He half-jokingly claimed that he was put in the game just to ruin her. Like, this fucking guy does to Skarlet what Skarlet does to Sub Zero.

 

...Fucking bitch.

[Vincent210]

So wait, she and her un-godly laser beam of kunai isn't going to be curbed any time soon? Because that seems broken enough for change. But the footage makes it look like she's going to ruin everyone with just a handful of motions. It'd be like if Stryker had a AA-12 instead of his handguns.

[Lenin]

Come to think of it, Stryker should've had an AA-12 in one of his fatalities...

 

I can 100% guarantee you that they're going to fix Skarlet's bullshit. NRS is really good about that. All they need to do is remove the on-block pushback on her first kunai and the whole thing is fixed. But I can also tell you not to be surprised if they nerf the start-up and recovery on the moves as a whole because players online dislike being zoned.

[Niji Superfan]

Brady is pretty certain they aren't going to nerf Skarlet, other than some blood dash cancel she can do and the damage on her neutral throw. His rationale is that if her knives DO get any worse, it's going to make her bad matchups almost impossible. He doesn't even think Skarlet is S-tier, she just has a very turbulent matchup chart.

 

Also, Kenshi still isn't out. What the fuck? He better be up on the marketplace by the time I get home.

[Lenin]

Where did he say that? I read Tom Brady saying over at TYM that she should be banned at Evo because of her dagger bullshit, with my own eyes. Haha.

 

Her only bad match-ups are the anti-zoners. Having some almost impossible match-ups with the anti-zoners is a hell of a lot more reasonable than going 8-2 and 7-3 with everyone who isn't Nightwolf, Raiden, Smoke, Kung Lao or Noob. Just thinking on it more, I guarantee you they won't nerf Skarlet because no one will complain about it ever, since no one online will ever be able to do it. And that's the only thing that motivates NRS to change anything; bitching scrubs. I honestly don't care if they nerf her because that just means a new patch that will probably completely fuck up the game again.

 

Regarding Kenshi, he's out on the PS3 but probably not going to be on the 360 until tomorrow. There's a fuckin' surprise right? Some sort of announcement on it is supposed to be coming up shortly.

 

EDIT: Kenshi reminds me of Rose from SSFIV + Liu Kang + Ermac, only rape-ier.

Edited July 6, 2011 by Lenin

[Niji Superfan]

I wouldn't say Kenshi is rape-tier. Like Nightwolf or Kung Lao, he's an all-around solid character, but not without his exploits. Everything he does is unsafe on block, and he really has no answer for rushdown. He zones like a mixture of Noob and Shang Tsung, and like Noob, he has some decent rushdown as well. Unfortunately, he also has extremely punishable specials like Noob, and Kenshi doesn't have Noob's unique uppercut or godly anti-air. Once Kenshi is crossed up, he's completely fucked.

 

I actually really like Kenshi. Three of us just immediately jumped into a private KotH with him the minute we had him downloaded, without even stopping to learn the character. It was truthfully a lot of fun. I'll have to actually hit the lab with him later and see how he stacks up.

 

You know what honestly excites me most about Kenshi being released, though?

 

The fact that we're going to see Rain's trailer soon.

[Lenin]

I'm psyched as hell for Rain. Bitches don't know. Probably here on the 19th. HYPE AS FUCK.

 

I really like Kenshi, though. And what I said above wasn't an honest assessment of him, it was just based on the videos that were out at the time. And not "rape-tier", rape-ee-err. Haha

 

... Everything he does is unsafe on block ...

 

This isn't true. df4 and dbf4 are safe because of the range (I don't know if this applies to the likes Reptile and Raiden since they can punish everything, but I'll find out more tomorrow), bf2 is safe on block. f22b2 gives you advantage on block (you can even go f22b2~bf2 and that's still safe, though Reptile can interrupt it). f22b1 is safe on block as well, as are 21b1 and 21f4. His df3 is only unsafe at closer ranges. db1 is flat out unsafe, the enhanced version isn't though. Which pretty much all makes sense, considering cross-ups, a simple aspect of this game, are his demon. He should be very good at keeping players the fuck away from his side of the screen.

 

Regardless, I agree with you on Kenshi so far. I was absolutely trashing people earlier today with him, his zoning is really good, but it's all done on reaction. It can be motherfucking hell to get in on this guy though. His d,f4 reminds me of A.B.A.'s Danzai from Guilty Gear, not that it's as good. It just feels kind of similar. He's good at doing simple punishes that equal good damage and totally re-zone your ass too. I like this. Also glad that this guy is just not going to end up being mega-popular. He's way too technical and easy to fuck up for the scrubs... well, the zoning game. The misfortune here is that his combos are brain-deadeningly easy and look awesome, so some dipshits are just never going to give up.

 

That being said, I couldn't believe it when it happened, but it did; I'm so not used to playing a character that has to respect Smoke. God that's the most tedious fucking fight. Nightwolf wasn't any fun either, but I only fought the one. It was mostly Scorpions and Kenshis searching for lost brain cells.

 

His fatalities are so satisfying though.

 

And I still want Rain yesterday.

 

EDIT: bf2 and df4/db4 are amazing together. bf2 is completely safe all the time, unless your opponent reads it and jumps over it. Take that into consideration and predict their asininity to swat them back down to the ground LIKE A FUCKING BOSS. The combination really shines in the corner.

 

Also, Kenshi seems to have a distinct advantage after your opponent breakers your combo unless he gets breaker'd into the corner. The whole thing just starts all over.

 

Kenshi covers his ass well, and is overall a very safe character. Just don't get crossed up.

 

EDIT 2: I started this thread. It lacks information, which will change soon enough. Working on filling in the corner combo/strategy sections as we speak, but if you have anything you want to contribute, go ahead dude.

Edited July 8, 2011 by Lenin

[Niji Superfan]

Best corner combo I've come up with so far is:

 

F2 2 B1, 2 1 B2, F2 2 upslash, 1 1 4 charge. 41%, no meter whatsoever. You can improve this to 43% with EX upslash and EX charge, though... I don't know why the fuck you'd ever want to. You could always X-ray at the end, though.

 

My midscreen BnB is:

 

F2 2 B1, 2 1 upslash, 2 1 charge - 33%

 

This one is pretty good as well, if only because it opens with his 50/50:

 

2 1 B2 upslash, 3 2 charge - 31%

 

Unfortunately, I haven't found anything off his low starter that really hurts, but this one's still not bad:

 

3 2 upslash, F2 2 B2 - 26%

 

I swear there should be a way to break 30% with this, but I couldn't find anything. If there were some way to bridge another string to 3 2 without an upslash, it'd be more than possible, but that's easier said than done. I really feel like Kenshi should be able to use some of his EX moves to bridge combos better or at least squeeze more damage out of them, but so far, they just don't do anything. EX upslash is actually HARDER to combo off of, and while it works in the corner, it adds sweet fuck all for damage. The same can be said of all his other moves.

 

The only use I've found for EX upslash is as a wakeup or punish with a mid downslash. You can't follow a normal upslash with a downslash (consistently, anyway), but an EX upslash + downslash does an unbreakable 16%, which is pretty nice. Granted, normal upslash + charge is 12%, so this is only so useful.

 

Add away. Just credit me as Altaire, I go by the same name on TYM.

 

Also, FUCK YEAH RAIN GAMEPLAY TRAILER ON MONDAY. I'm guessing we'll be finding out what the next two free skins will be as well. Fuck me, I am entirely too excited for this.

Edited July 8, 2011 by Altaire

[Lenin]

Best corner combo I've come up with so far is:

 

F2 2 B1, 2 1 B2, F2 2 upslash, 1 1 4 charge. 41%, no meter whatsoever. You can improve this to 43% with EX upslash and EX charge, though... I don't know why the fuck you'd ever want to. You could always X-ray at the end, though.

 

My midscreen BnB is:

 

F2 2 B1, 2 1 upslash, 2 1 charge - 33%

 

This one is pretty good as well, if only because it opens with his 50/50:

 

2 1 B2 upslash, 3 2 charge - 31%

 

Unfortunately, I haven't found anything off his low starter that really hurts, but this one's still not bad:

 

3 2 upslash, F2 2 B2 - 26%

 

I swear there should be a way to break 30% with this, but I couldn't find anything. If there were some way to bridge another string to 3 2 without an upslash, it'd be more than possible, but that's easier said than done. I really feel like Kenshi should be able to use some of his EX moves to bridge combos better or at least squeeze more damage out of them, but so far, they just don't do anything. EX upslash is actually HARDER to combo off of, and while it works in the corner, it adds sweet fuck all for damage. The same can be said of all his other moves.

 

The only use I've found for EX upslash is as a wakeup or punish with a mid downslash. You can't follow a normal upslash with a downslash (consistently, anyway), but an EX upslash + downslash does an unbreakable 16%, which is pretty nice. Granted, normal upslash + charge is 12%, so this is only so useful.

 

Add away. Just credit me as Altaire, I go by the same name on TYM.

 

Also, FUCK YEAH RAIN GAMEPLAY TRAILER ON MONDAY. I'm guessing we'll be finding out what the next two free skins will be as well. Fuck me, I am entirely too excited for this.

 

We've been using the same BnBs. And yeah, it's really hard to break 30% on the low starter without a corner. Check the guide again, there's some stuff in the corner starting with it that goes to about 31%. Can't believe I didn't post the 2,1,b2~db1, dash, f3,2~bf2 combo in there.

 

AND FUCK YEAH RAIN. Can't wait to start the guide for him now. Unless he's a braindead character, in which case somebody else can fuckin' do it.

 

EDIT: I updated the Kenshi guide again. As of now (the 10th), I'd say it's basically complete. It's severely lacking enhanced move combos, but with Kenshi... who fucking cares?

 

Hype as fuck:

 

 

The control orb is... so cool now. And I like how he's wearing a veil instead of a standard ninja mask. Looks like they did a really good job on this guy. Here's to hoping you don't have to burn meter to get good damage out of him.

Edited July 11, 2011 by Lenin

[Niji Superfan]

Honestly, even if you do have to burn meter to get good damage out of him, I think it'd be fair. He looks like he has ridiculous fucking potential from that video, so I'd be okay with this being his tradeoff. Honestly, I just hope that Rain has a steep learning curve. Rain's been one of my favorite characters since I was a kid, arguably just behind Ermac. I don't want to see him get spammed to all hell by every scrubby kid online. Hell, I actually want him to have more of a Shang Tsung learning curve, so it'll take serious fucking dedication to pick him up.

 

I honestly could not be more impressed with Rain, in either case. He has the control orb, which I've been pulling for since before the game came out. He has the SUPER ROUNDHOUSE, which is such a longshot that I'm amazed it was included. He has two fucking awesome fatalities at that, and the pressurized water blade is such a nice touch. I braced for disappointment with Rain, because I thought "I have such high hopes for this character that it'd be unrealistic to think NRS will live up to them", but like... They fucking delivered. I'm still pretty irritated with a lot of the little inconsistencies plaguing MK9, but if nothing else, their DLC has been solid.

 

Nice work on the Kenshi guide, by the way. I actually have a corner X-ray combo I want to add to it that's 50% off a jump-in punch, but I want to see if there's a way to break 50 without a jump-in. I really feel like there should be some way to push this combo further, and I'm not giving up until I'm sure that it's a lost cause.

[Lenin]

I believe there was a tweet a while back from Paolo Garcia (I think), that said all the DLC characters would be designed with advanced players in mind. So far that seems to be the case. I think it's only fair considering how braindead easy a good portion of the cast already is to play successfully in (at least) mid-level matches. But he's Rain, you can expect to see A LOT of people playing him. And you can expect random control orb xx uppercut/super-roundhouse/coolest looking string to be the most damaging thing they will ever do to you. And random teleports.

 

Rain honestly reminds me a lot of Sektor from that trailer. If he has solid BnB that you can spend meter to beef up like Sektor can, I think that'd be cool. If it's a Shang Tsung situation, wherein he needs meter for his combos, then that's just the third DLC character that's not going to offer me any real incentive to move away from the Sub-Zeros. I'll still learn to play him effectively enough to force ragequits so I can send voice messages of me singing the Purple Rain intro to those QQing bitches, though.

 

That's what's really bothering me, not liking the DLC characters. I didn't really have any hopes for Skarlet beyond "New character, hope she's awesome!" but I got her and didn't like her. Then there's Kenshi. I literally wrote the fucking book on Kenshi, he has EVERYTHING I look for in a character, and I don't like playing him. The fuck is that shit?

 

Maybe the inability to enjoy the characters as much as I do the Sub-Zeros is because of an unacknowledged love affair with untechable time. Maybe the control orb will work out for me.

 

As for the Kenshi combo, the highest damage I've seen him pull in an X-ray combo is 59%. I don't have the exact inputs for it so I haven't posted it in the guide. If you can figure it out, awesome. It's in TylerLantern's Kenshi combo compilation.

 

I was planning on really shaking that guide up with the addition of a bunch of new corner shenanigans, alas I can't find a way to combo into 2,1,f4. Not that I really tried too hard.

 

And thinking on it more, most of my Rain-gameplay-trailer hype centers around the fact that the countdown to the reveal of the mystery character has officially begun. I don't care who it is, but they're just being so damn secretive with it I just really want to know who it is. Everybody seems to think it's Shinnok. I actually don't mind that. It's lame, yeah, but Shinnok is also pretty cool. Reiko would be awesome too. Frost is still my preferred option.

 

... Just not Fujin or Tanya. That'd make me groan.

Edited July 12, 2011 by Lenin

[Niji Superfan]

I'd be okay with Rain requiring meter for his BnBs. Truthfully, I don't even think Shang or Sektor do, and I'm not sure why people think so: Yeah, they can rack up more damage with meter, but Shang can easily hit 30% without it. Sektor can get up to around 35% without it, and 40% on a good day. They definitely play off the meter a LOT more liberally than most other characters, but they're certainly not shackled to it. People act like Shang gets bent over if he doesn't have a bar to combo off of, but he has practical solutions for 30% from midscreen. As for Rain playing like Sektor, uh... Honestly, I couldn't tell who the fuck he's supposed to play like from the trailer, for whatever reason. I could kind of see the Sektor parallels, though I see some Ermac in there as well. The control orb SCREAMS space control, and he seems to have a lot of juggle openings. I do think he needs to start sending Sektor a christmas card every year for ripping off his teleport, but other than that, I'm seeing more Ermac. I just really hope his normals don't suck ass. Look at Smoke: His normals make him look like he should be decent up close, but the reality is that Smoke needs to run the fuck away from anyone with even a modicum of rushdown potential. Christ, STRYKER is a match for Smoke in close quarters, what the hell is that? If Rain is so limited in that regard, it's definitely going to deter me from playing him.

 

...Oh who the fuck am I kidding, he could fight like a sissy girl and I'd still play him. Rain's my negro, always has been.

 

I'm truthfully pretty content with how idiot-proof Kenshi was, because I got a very different impression from his trailer. Hell, I even like playing as him, and I've NEVER given a shit about Kenshi. I didn't really take to Skarlet, but I may just give her another go somewhere down the road; I think the big issue I had with her is that she just felt so... Unintuitive. I tried putting together combos with her, and nothing felt right. I spent all of an hour with Kenshi, and thought "Welp, I have 35% BnBs from midscreen and 40% BnBs in the corner, I feel like I'm making some good progress." With Skarlet, I felt like I had early onset Alzheimer's. Trying to get a feel for her erratic movements was shit-your-pants-and-forget-your-name-tier.

 

Right now, I honestly just want to learn Reptile so I can understand how the fuck to stop him. The best player I know mains him, and while I can go back and forth with his Reptile, I feel so lost. I CAN beat him, but when I don't, I can't even understand what the fuck beat me. The reason I don't have an issue with Kung Lao is that I know the character inside and out; it's rare for a Kung Lao to beat me, but when it happens, I understand why. When a really good Reptile beats me, I don't have even the slightest clue what the fuck just happened. At this point, I feel like the only way I'm going to understand is if I learn the character myself. The big deal with beating Reptile is that the people I play with have rolled tourney players. Milky Situation, the guy who gives me so much trouble with Reptile, has a record of something like 15-3 with Krebs. Krebs beat Tom Brady 3-1 in casuals at CEO; he was also just shy of top 16 in the tournament, and considering Chris G eliminated him, I think that's pretty commendable. Hell, Milky's beaten THTB and Krayzie Bone, to the point where they both blamed "broken thumbsticks" (I think this is actually on stream somewhere). Lionheart, another guy we usually play with, actually beat a "TS Sabin" in ranked: I still don't know if that's the real Sabin's GT, but if it is, uh... Holy fuck. In any case, I think you can understand why being able to consistently stop this guy's Reptile would be a huge accomplishment for me.

 

...Granted, I fucking ROLLED Krebs with my Cyber Subs the last time I played him, so you can imagine I felt pretty good about that.

 

I just watched TylerLantern's Kenshi compilation, by the way. On one hand, I'm seeing some interesting combo linkers in there that I really want to try. On the other hand, TylerLantern's videos are rarely anything more than a percentile pissing contest. I really don't mean to knock the guy and I have nothing against him personally, but let's cut the shit: His combos are rarely practical. I can remember seeing a video for a corner X-ray combo with Cyber Subs for a whopping 62%; you can imagine that grabbed my attention in short order. My excitement ended about three seconds into the video, when I realized the likelihood of landing it in a heated matchup. Like, cool, you can break 60% with a really contrived effort that's inconsistent even for a situational combo. I think I'll stick to my 57% corner X-ray; you know, the one that's actually going to work.

 

ANYWAY, here was my corner X-ray, which is just slightly adapted from my original corner combo:

 

F2 2 B1, 2 1 B2, F2 2 upslash, 3 X-ray

 

That's 48% without a jump-in punch, and 51% with it. Basically, the issue is that I couldn't finish the last string and still hit them with the X-ray, so I had to find something that'd pin them in the air long enough to hit. I tried fucking everything, and I marvel at how ineffective these strings were. You'd think that his 1 1 1 would lift them high enough, but apparently the recovery time kills that. Is there ANY use for that string whatsoever? Christ. What I DID see over on TYM was a combo where a guy did a neutral 2 before the 2 1 B2 to squeeze just a little more damage out, before gravity walks in and shits on your juggle potential. What I'm considering now is doing the same with a neutral 3 the next time I take him into a lab, since it's the highest damage single-hit combo linker at his disposal.

 

...All I know is, if building combos with Rain is as fun as it is with Kenshi, I'm never going to leave my room again. It'll be like regaining my virginity somehow.

 

ALSO, since I forgot to mention this, one of the devs dropped a hint as to who the next pair of DLC skins will be: "Blueberry and lime". Before Sektor and Cyrax were revealed, the hint they gave was ketchup and mustard. Before Noob and Smoke were revealed, it was salt and pepper. People have been saying "Sonya and Jax", but like... Blueberries aren't fucking BRIGHT MAGENTA. One of the other hints they gave was a link to a blue slush, which makes it pretty clear that the colors are blue and green. At any rate, likely candidates are Kitana + Jade, or Sub Zero + Reptile. If it's the first two, it'll probably be their MK2 outfits, which would... Really fucking suck. If it's the second two, it could be their MK2 outfits (which would be alright I guess), or it could be their UMK3s. We know the UMK3 outfits are coming sooner or later, so this might be how they're dropping them. If that is the case, I will bust a fucking nut. Sub Zero's my boy, even if he's not my main anymore, and I'd certainly have a lot more incentive to pick up Reptile if he didn't look like such a fucking tool.

 

Sidenote: If it IS Subs and Reptile in any form, this means pre-patched Sub Zero shenanigans. Just... Think of the trolling, man. I just have this image of me running around with my sleek as fuck UMK3 Sub Zero, doing 40% from midscreen. Kids are screaming. My inbox is OVERFLOWING with hatemail. The butthurt outcries can be heard from miles away.

 

...Suddenly, I'm a little more okay with NRS fucking up with the free DLC skins!

 

One last point of interest: According to MK wiki, Rain's EX control orb is going to stay active longer for more positioning time, and his EX roundhouse is going to have armor (holy tits this is awesome). On one hand, they don't have a source for any of this, but on the other hand, they had info on Kenshi's EX moves before he came out and it proved to be accurate. If nothing else, it's something to think about.

 

P.S. I just want to point out that Rain's match entrance is so fab.

Edited July 13, 2011 by Altaire

[Lenin]

I'm sick, and I have really no response for the first five paragraphs, so I'll pick up at the skins by quoting myself from TYM:

 

The more I think on this, the more it seems painfully obvious it's MK3 costumes for Stryker and Sonya. It sort of make sense, one was blue, the other was green. They're both cops. Some kind of a shit is given about them by some people somewhere, or so I hear.

 

And anyone who thinks Reptile is getting a cyborg alt, you're nuts. It's that simple. The palette swaps so far with the MK1/MK3 alternate costumes have just been for nostalgias sake. They're not going to make a new palette swap character, it would completely defeat what they set out to do in this MK iteration. Why anyone would want them to clog your harddrive making that a part of the DLC is absolutely beyond me.

 

Of course, this MK iteration has also been all about making sure the vocal minority gets everything they want for no good reason, so I suppose Cyber Reptile is theoretically a possibility, but it's a losing battle to hold your breath for it.

 

A CSZ alt would be really nice, but they probably won't bother. The guy just isn't a popular character. Plus, they're doing the classic costumes, so we're only going to get them for "classic" characters.

 

I'd actually pay for an alt for CSZ at this point. I'm not getting particularly sick of looking at the Artic Warfare Predator x Samus Aran lovechild... but Jesus Christ, motherfucking Mileena has FOUR costumes before he even gets two. WTF?

 

And I'm not rejecting the notion of MK3 Sub-Zero/Reptile. I'd be TOTALLY FINE with the possibility of unpatched Sub-Zero, despite the fact he's still top-tier and spreads a serious case of rapedface everywhere he goes, I honestly think the freeze scaling is a little ridiculous. It only happened because scrubs can't stop jumping into clones since they don't have the required level of brain cells to compete in the Special Olympics. But the DLC costumes only seem to reject the 1.02 patch. I don't particularly want unmasked Subz at all though. Maybe the UMK3 classic Subz costume will have a glitch wherein the Ice Puddle becomes not worthless.

 

Also, I figured out why I can't get away from playing CSZ and Subz. CSZ obviously because he's gdlk. Subz because... Well, okay, look, Street Fighter spreads AIDS worse than a mobile bathhouse filled with South Africa, that's a given. And 3s is just an exceptionally AIDSy portion of the AIDS riddled repertoire of diseased filth known as Capcom fighters. BUT Urien is an awesome character. Ice Clone = free Aegis Reflector. Can't ever stop playing Subz now. Still hoping Rain's got the shit to help me vary this up a little.

Edited July 13, 2011 by Lenin

[Niji Superfan]

My issue with Subs having his damage toned down is that Ermac STILL does the same amount of damage that pre-patch Subs did, and he doesn't have to work near as hard for it. Hell, look at Cyrax: If you get one net and you have one bar, you get a fucking 50% combo. What the fuck? Is this a joke? Even then, if you get a dash in or a crossup? Same thing. Any situation that would allow a 2 1 rewards you with a combo for half of some poor fuck's health, which is retarded. The fact that Sub Zero got toned down to mediocre damage output when all these easy-spam characters run rampant is just fucking arbitrary.

 

I still really doubt it's going to be Stryker and Sonya, granted, because 1) I've seen literally one person ever who actually wants MK3 Stryker and 2) I doubt any of them won't be mirrored skins. The first two were, and they're far from exhausting their repository of old palette swaps. I think they'll reach for that first.

[Lenin]

My issue with Subs having his damage toned down is that Ermac STILL does the same amount of damage that pre-patch Subs did, and he doesn't have to work near as hard for it. Hell, look at Cyrax: If you get one net and you have one bar, you get a fucking 50% combo. What the fuck? Is this a joke? Even then, if you get a dash in or a crossup? Same thing. Any situation that would allow a 2 1 rewards you with a combo for half of some poor fuck's health, which is retarded. The fact that Sub Zero got toned down to mediocre damage output when all these easy-spam characters run rampant is just fucking arbitrary.

 

I still really doubt it's going to be Stryker and Sonya, granted, because 1) I've seen literally one person ever who actually wants MK3 Stryker and 2) I doubt any of them won't be mirrored skins. The first two were, and they're far from exhausting their repository of old palette swaps. I think they'll reach for that first.

 

I don't really see how Ermac can land any of his BnB combos outside of punishment situations. All his starters are slow as dick. Cyrax though... 50% for 1 bar? Nope. Try this:

 

 

Yeah, 73% off one bar. You can even get it up into the 80s and 90s for the same meter, but that's situational. People thought the bomb trap was broken. The best part is that there's actually a thread on TYM filled with people saying that it's totally balanced that Cyrax can do this and it shouldn't be removed, and not only that, if it's removed THEN BAAAAW HE CAN'T COMPETE. I'd take never-ending nerfs to Sub-Zero if it meant a buff to the community's brain cells.

 

Like I said, Sub-Zero got his shit toned down because scrubs were complaining that they kept jumping into ice clones.

 

And dude, I'd rather it be anyone but Sonya and Stryker. Fuck it, give the dipshits what they want. Green CSZ suit for Reptile, and alternate fucking one for CSZ. Blueberry and lime. Why the fuck not. Costumes aren't really an issue for me until they start creating all new ones for DLC.

 

Also, I've decided I don't need the block button against Kenshi. Seriously. I've been wasting Kenshi's all day and just babalitying them until they QQ out. Then I send them a message that says "I WROTE THE BOOK ON KENSHI. WHO ARE YOU?" and then tell them to google "Kenshi Living Guide" so they can learn to play him like their brainstem is connected to something other than their ass.

 

Oh well, I guess.

Edited July 14, 2011 by Lenin