Picturesque Escapades - Fight Stick, SCV, UMvC3

Fighting Stick
So I'm using an older Hori Real Arcade Pro, recalling why I went to this stick, I'd read that was that it was "easy to mod." I'm more comfortable with Hori than I am with the TE sticks overall.
Before:

After:

Don't let claims of "easy to mod," fool you though. Trying to get the buttons out and replaced took close to 4 hours. Not all button cutouts are created equal apparently. Also wedging the "quick," disconnects off was more than tedious and the overall necessity of pinching/pushing/pressing left my fingertips in a painful spot. I'd hate to see what "long," disconnects are. I also wish I'd decided on some art, had I known it was going to be that difficult, I would have picked up a new plexiglass and considered the stick mod "finished," for the time being. Despite the difficulty it was a fun experience, it was a good emulation of the geeky dream job that would be working in an arcade.

Soul Calibur 5
One of the male Soul Calibur creation peices is the spitting image of Kajiki Yumi from Saki:


The default color and form are spot on. What's most hilarious though, is this hair style is not available for the female created characters. And they said SC5 would have more gender neutral equipment than before, HAH.

Marvel

I'm getting this error in both Vanilla and Ultimate Marvel. I don't know what's up with it because I never had DLC for either game. I'm going to post this issue somewhere as well, but Google searches for this error actually haven't helped. I can still load into the game just fine, but it's another click on top of the "check for online content," gauntlet. It's getting more annoying with time.
While I'm on the topic of Marvel, I've taken up the task of farming Galactus for endings in Arcade. This has given me a better feel for a Magneto / (Whoever I need an ending for) / Sentinel team, but I shouldn't fool myself to think that the basics of Arcade are the same basics in multiplayer Marvel. My 1 - 14 losing streak this past Monday was painful proof of that.

Replay overview "Lowbie Revisited" -- AE2012, BB:CSX, KOF13, SFxT

Street Fighter 4 AE 2012
Probably the biggest amount of progress is Cammy. With help from a few YogaFlame24 videos I have a better sense of approach. I feel like I've shed a lot of my crappy habits from Vanilla SF4 too. Back with vanilla I could just use MK all day for a Cannon Spike > Super Cancel. Until this push to really "play Cammy," I could not to 236 MK then trigger a Super with MK.

PuFfIn3308 (T-Hawk) vs Eienhikaru (Cammy) Ranked Match 06/13/2012

This fight was the "rank up," fight that I had. In a previous match I'd fought this guys' Sagat and my victory was scarily decisive. It was clearer that T Hawk was more his main though in this match. What probably really "saved," me in this match was his impatience to get the Ultra out. To be fair it was some crazy damage, but he could have closed it out if he kept that meter to have it kill.

Eienhikaru (Cammy) vs WoAh_323 (Akuma) Ranked Match 06/06/2012

An early game of dusting my Cammy off. What a way to bring it back, dropping a B-ranked Akuma like this. I pretty much got away with murder in this match. Seems like there was a lot more going on besides just Akuma's low health and Cammy's high priority in this one. I was unable to fight him again, so who knows.
Also did two sets of FT5 against Boshadro's Makoto this week which were crazy intense. Almost swapped to Chun Li when I was 4-2 in the first set. I think I'd like to do more FT5's. Bosh and I talked about this afterwards and even a best of 3 set seems way more "autopilot." friendly, and if gimmicks work for now they get you the win and you move on. However, even with 3, up to 9, more potential matches you're forced to use different tech, adapt, and really push yourself to think and act on reaction.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
The matches so far have been truly bi-polar, either I will destroy someone who fights like they're "day 1" at this game or character. Or a pro will body me with his fully tested sub character. Despite my talk I'm really a hothead in terms of "getting out there," and seeing what happens. I don't like hanging out in training mode all day, and somehow I wish the trials were more BnB / approach focused as opposed to seeming "beyond," character mastery. So far the frustrating thing with Mu is there seems to be a great deal more "Counterhit combos," or stuff off a throw. The counterhit stuff I feel is situational, and it feels like an eternity between her throw animation and when you can successfully dash cancel into something.

Eienhikaru (Mu-12) vs TacticalHiderFTW (Carl) Ranked Match 05/28/2012

I'm really lost right now in terms of what a "range game," with Mu, may look like. This happens at ~1:20 where I'm waiting to see what happened to Hider's Drive, and more times throughout the match as I set up the Steins and either get blown up between them and my approach, or nothing really happens with the beams and you see me moving in from miles away.

KoFXIII
Switching out to Iori (claw), was probably the best selection so far. He chains into a bunch of his moves and the damage output is high enough that I'm not used to a character so "effective." I could probably have given more time to understand K',  but right now he seemed too slow and clunky for me. What I really need to do to improve my sub team is commit to some solid BnB's with Elizabeth and cut down on my accidental supers. Also I look at a more solid approach for Yuri.
Both Drizzmat's Iori EX and TimeAppl3's Kyo have really taken off and gave me a good deal of trouble this week. Despite my scheduling for more KoF time, I'm really sort of "stuck," right now in terms of skill, even with my main team.

Street Fighter X Tekken
The Cammy x Asuka team is moving albeit a bit slower than I'd like. Running into matches cold is problematic because I'm obviously losing tech with Asuka like incoming swaps, and crossups, so that needs to be addressed.  I'm really enjoying her counters, but I worry that  I want to rely on them too much. It's addicting to directly punish anything that gets stuck out there to be countered.
I'm not a big stats sort of player but the raw numbers I took were  5/11 rounds at "same" ranking. 3 wins with my main Chun x Lili team, and 2 with Cammy x Asuka. The matches I took with my main team were pretty scrubby, I probably could have done that with my newer alt team for sure. I'd like to get the numbers a bit tighter, perhaps only limit ranked matches to 5 or so and try to avoid the "Point farming," (whichever way it goes.) I really wish you could better counterpick online. Being able to see their rank before you select characters, would make it so I could switch to a "better character," if I needed to. AE has the same pre-match rank blinders too, so no hope on getting that added anytime soon.
In more recent news I've deleveled once again, pretty salty about that and being fully unable to reach a good amount of points and actually keep them. I've regained enough points to be in the thick of C+ maybe even B Rank, but I'm clearly missing something just stupidly fundamental.

Replay Overview: "Pyrrha-licious!" -- SC5

Catching up on some of the previously uploaded replays. I managed to catch both the MLG and ECT4 Soul Calibur 5 streams this weekend and I'm really glad to see the varied amounts of characters from both tournaments. Besides the few repeat Violas and Pyrrhas in the MLG stream, I think we'll have a great variety of characters come EVO and after. Even with the repeat characters there's so much room for personal styles to make the characters play differently. Not a strict set of BnBs that a lot of the other games and characters fall prey to. With that in mind, I don't feel as dirty, picking up a character that could be "trending," and will be lauded as "A or S tier."

Soul Calibur 5

BULBABRAWLER29 (Natsu - "Yaminto") vs Eienhikaru (Leixia - "Lili cosplay") Ranked Match 05/19/2012

Bulba's Yaminto has some serious Mai Shirunai! Oh and a pretty dominating Natsu as well. As I rank into the C's now, many of the fights are more serious, and my usual RTSD > sidestep > RTSD isn't cutting it. Especially with Natsu, her bombs very literally, blow me up all day. I really need get a better feel for the match up, and take up some anti-Natsu tech (hops, low blocks, faster punishes). On the bright side, I'm learning to Just Guard better online (2 times starting at ~1:46). The problem is even if it gives me some frame advantage, it's obviously not going to blow up a faster combo. Maybe I can get in a 2K or something if I'm JG-ing something high? Either way it's not helping me just doing the JG alone, or at the very start of something that's high multi-hit.

Eienhikaru (Seigfried - "Saber") vs kranks02 (Natsu - 2P) Ranked Match 05/19/2012

Amazing the difference in playstyles between kranks and Bulba's Natsus. I got away with a lot of 1A's which help clear out feet, and is easy to fudge my way into if someone is pressuring me hard. I was a little more aware of bombs this time, but this match was a lot of luck and simple spacing for me.

Eienhikaru (Pyrrha - "Azunyan") vs Good_Cool_0306 (Hilde - "Haruhi Yatsubaki (6th)") Ranked Match 06/01/2012

Let this be a lesson in "Autopiloting is bad." Somewhere between D3-C5 I've run into this guy a bunch (5+ different matches). His Hilde is no slouch, but after the 2nd or so match previously I picked up on his B-throw > super low poke gimmicks (~0:40, ~2:04) early on. Also he has a combo that he can super into at ~2:08, but the amount of hitstun, or late execution make it a waste of meter. He only gets one hit as opposed to the full cutscene and the additional 4 other high damage blows. Finally mad props to the SC5 netcode, I'm fighting this dude who's in freaking Japan and the matches were super smoothe. I can't even get that fighting "localish" people in other games.

SoullessShogun (Voldo - "Sigyn") vs Eienhikaru (Pyrrha - 2P Recolor) Ranked Match 06/03/2012

Shoutouts to this Voldo player, I see them about as often as Vega's in AE. I'm also surprised at his choice of some of the crappiest looking armour for CaS, and making it work for that character. Amazing what some faux Zettai Ryouiki and a large rack will do for this game, haha! This was one of the matches where I fell in love with Pyrrha's 4A > B. I get one in at ~0:51, and it's the move where she spins and does like 2 huge strides to close in on the opponent with a massive overhead. I don't think it's that slow of a move, but I didn't see any of this move at all from the various Pyrrhas I saw on the MLG stream this weekend. I don't claim to be a real innovator, but I feel like this move is getting slept on, in favor of the 236 B stab move.

Negarema (Pyrrha - Custom) vs Eienhikaru (Siegfried - "Saber Lily") Ranked Match 06/03/2012

SPEAKING OF THE 236 B STAB MOVE... You'll see the varying versions of this in the match, the "good" version which requires an additional "just input," (perfect timing of a directional 4) starts off at ~0:34. Turns into a big command throw with flames and all. The "drop throw," which happens at "less than perfect timing," on that 4 (~0:46). Finally the stab with no throw at ~1:01. Sophitia had this move in the previous SC's and I grew to loathe it's speed and "spam-ability." Comparatively, Negarema has put a more time into his Pyrrha to know her punishes and mixups effectively. He also knows the Seigfried match up really well apparently. I had no idea that my 2nd wide sweep of that my 1A>A wasn't a true string.
TL;DR: Screw the Sophitia PTSD, punish with 236B with Pyrrha more, and learn to pick faster moves with Seigfried.

Replay Overview: "New characters, corner pocket," -- SFxT, AE2012

Street Fighter X Tekken
After much frustration with the "matchmaking," in SFxT I've decided that seeking "any," rank is equivalent to "same," and I get the added bonus of picking on newbs, along with *not* losing a ton of points to the B and A ranks.
 

Oloren (Sagat x Ogre) vs Eienhikaru / Boshadro (Lili x Asuka) Ranked Match 06/01/2012

Props to Bosh for picking Asuka back up in SFxT, and holding it down all 3rd round! That was some super-yomi at ~4:16 for using her Falling Rain to blow up Ogre's drop attack. I think everyone playing went "OMG" when that busted open his setup. She didn't get rusty at all, good show!

Eienhikaru / Boshadro (Chun-Li x Julia) vs CryX4 (Vega x Kazuya) Ranked Match 06/01/2012

2v2 Paired Versus can't even save this match. If I had a more thought-out complaint about SFxT it's that you get rewarded for turtling, running away, and spamming only "safe," stuff. I see this with characters Vega, Nina, Rolento even Heihachi to a certain degree. I despise the fact I (as Chun-Li) cannot respond/counter/challenge all the air-claw spam that goes on in this match. So much so that the Vega decides this is all he's going to do, and gets away with it.

Super Street Fighter 4 AE2012
I remember days where seeking matches in SF4/AE were dreadful even after the first release of AE, these days it seems really popular. I don't know what spiked the interest all of a sudden, SFxT sending people back to AE maybe(?) who knows.

Eienhikaru (Chun-Li) vs Havok2144 (Guile) Ranked Match 05/26/2012

Historically I've had really crap luck in the Guile/Blanka matchup, and initially when I saw his rank I was expecting this to pan out like most of my vs Guile matches. Seeing how I nearly start out the match with a crappy Ultra at ~0:44 it's already starting to look bad. Most of the advice I've seen is to "allow them to move to the offensive, and punish any mistakes." What might have helped me was Havok seems to underestimate my sweep distance and this probably ruffled his approach / responses. When he sticks out that 2.MP at ~2:34, I was expecting this for his hit confirm into Flash Kick, but judging by the inputs I wonder if he didn't want a Sonic Boom instead. Either way, I'm pretty stoked I reaction-punished that instead of repeating what happened 1st round.

Eienhikaru (Chun-Li) vs Miguel_2123 (Sagat) Ranked Match 05/26/2012

I'm used to seeing higher ranked numbers off of YogaFlame's YouTube Channel, not necessarily PSN. Props to Miguel_2123 for being 10th ranked Sagat on PSN. I sorta feel lucky I was able to hit him at all

TOMASE666 (Ken) vs Eienhikaru (Chun-Li) Ranked Match 05/27/2012

There were too many Shoryukens that I "blocked with my face," this match. Despite the special spam I was actually scared because you can kind of get away with that shit as Ken due to the high priority of all those moves, SRK, air Tatsu etc. Where I see him crack is that random Ultra at ~1:20. Now I know what to look for. However he's watching meters a bit more closer than I am when he gets that 2nd Ultra, that's actually pretty rare to get 2 Ultras I've seen. I don't know how it didn't just kill me seeing how we're both pixels away from dying. 3rd Round is looking pretty grim too, I think if he moved a bit into mid range and started SRK-ing again he would have had me. Amazing what a change of distance does when I throw him into the corner at ~2:34, all I remember being focused on was baiting that Ultra.

As a change of pace, I will work more some new and existing pocket / sub characters. This has been pretty gradual, some casuals on Pyrrha (SCV) here, some trials with Elizabeth (KoFXIII) there. Not to mention that it's been irksome that I can still only play Litchi in Blazblue. So for the following weeks or so I hope to have more of the following character replays posted:
BB:CSX: Mu - 12
I already need better BnB's and a better idea for approach. I took her for a spin in Arcade this week and my crappy day 1 training, and wimpy combos got destroyed by the Unlimited Hakumen boss.
KOFXIII: Elizabeth / Yuri / Iori (Claw)
This team may see some heavier revision. Originally I wanted to use K' as my anchor, but the few player matches I had with TimeAppl3 makes me think I need someone a bit more intuitive. Also I should probably learn Yuri better, I'm probably playing her too much like a Sakura (AE).
AE: Cammy
I think I subconciously dropped her when she got nerfed (like most everyone else it seemed) in Super. I don't think I've seriously played her since her Shadowloo outfit came out, if that gives you any idea how long ago that was.
SFxT: Cammy / Asuka / Julia
If my Chun Li  / Lili is a "yin" team, I'd like to see if I can roll a "yang," team of Cammy / Asuka. I want to Play Asuka as a more serious pocket character but I can't remember her inputs at all for stuff. Doesn't help me at all that her counter inputs are the complete opposite to Lili's. If that goes south with learning Asuka, Julia's really awesome too.
SCV: Pyrrha / Natsu
I have reached my "Taki," phase of Soul Calibur V. Usually a late-game thing where I have plateaued with my usuals and want to rotate in who I "wanted" to play from the very beginning. I've had this phase / problem since SC2, and every SC game now, including SCV. The biggest challenge is Natsu's / Taki's moves are so unique that my brain can't seem to remember anything from the training besides a sweeping 1A and 3B. I can use the her bomb move easy, but the airgrab followup never happens right.
Pyrrha on the other hand, caught me off guard in terms of how intuitive she was. She has a great deal of moves to close distance and keep pressure on people. I didn't know any of this until I'd seen her played at UFGT8. I had originally thought that her "weak," looking stance and stylized hesitations in attacking would keep her slow and defenseless, but I was totally wrong with that assumption. (If you want a spoiler of some of my progress, then by all means...)