Thoughts On Ryu, SFV

ISo I've had quite some time to get a feel for SFV now and most of that time has predictably been spent on Ryu.

Ryu retains most of his expected attributes, at least superficially, but you will find that he performs very differently.  All of his normals are woefully short ranged and the exceptions all come with drawbacks. For instance, his st.HK only hits standing opponents and cr.HK is easily punishable on block. St.MK is relatively lengthy, but has an exploitable start up. You will find that in every match up you will be out ranged in the normals department. If you do not accept that he cannot perform at mid range like he could in previous games, you will constantly find yourself whiffing attacks.

The fireball is a good tool, although it requires very thoughtful use. Curiously, it's hitbox begins around the core of the fireball and extends slightly downward, reducing your ability to cause jumping opponents to land on the projectile. It is easily jumped over and the "sweet spot" for fireball/dragon punch is much harder to find and hold onto for zoning in this game. Speaking of dragon punches, the dp is very risky now and gives opponents an opporunity for massively damaging counter hit combos on recovery.

On the good side, the fireball is still a full range projectile, dp is still an invincible reversal, and Ryu has received some great offensive tools in his st.mp, cr.mp, st.lk, st.hp and b+hk. His dashes are also very quick.

The result is a general strategy of using mobility and mid to long range zoning in order to pry open the opportunity to enter close or point blank range, where Ryu's strengths lie. No longer can he be relied on for an ironclad defense. Zoning is not his strongest asset in V, it is merely a necessary tool to begin a close range rush.

There is a second strategy which is less effective and difficult to make win, but may be necessary in some fights. This is to stay highly mobile and carefully build up damage through chipping with fireballs and white damage. It requires lots of focus and sound judgement and takes a long time to produce results, but is viable.

I personally find this change to Ryu a little jarring as I've always valued his ability to "fight from defense." Offense is strategically necessary, but defense necessarily precedes it, as per Sun Tzu:

 "To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself."

Silver Trash

So, it took me a while to actually play Street Fighter V, but eventually I received it as a gift from my father who was waxing nostalgic over our playing Street Fighter II Turbo during my childhood.

My time is far more limited these days and playing games is usually contingent on sacrificing an hour or two of sleep or a sufficiently fathomless nap from the kids. But, after having managed some preliminary exploration into the game, I determined that I ought to at least be able to make it as "silver trash" with minimal training. Recently I met this goal more easily than I had expected and I'm curious what it will take to get to gold.

Now, I'd heard a lot of talk about rage quitting being a major issue among SFV players. My personal experience was at odds with this, though; where were all these quitters, anyway?

Turns out they are in Silver league.

Almost uniformly the bronzies I had been playing saw their matches through to the end and overwhelmingly they chose to play out the whole set without much regard to gaming the system for points. Likewise gold players would often see through an entire set with me despite the paltry gains in points a victory over myself would have netted them. But, when I began to regularly compete with players the three silver ranks, things started to change; suddenly I understood the complaints.

Based on the quitting, the style of play, and meta gaming for points seen in Silver league, my current hypothesis is as follows:

Silver leaguers are disproportionately prideful to their actual skill level.

For the record, I take on nearly all commers. I'll finish a set with just about anyone, except perhaps the poorest of rookies who would be done more harm by it point-wise and people proven to rage quit when things don't go in their favor. If something needs to be addressed in real life, i leave the controller and forfeit the points. I never rage quit. I've received some massive blows to my score because of this, but also seen massive gains by overcoming high rankers.

Part of what is so fascinating about fighting games for me is how they reveal the personallity of players. I'm curious how Golds will behave, but for now an important lesson is that Silvers are probably very vulnerable l to trolling tactics. Repeatedly throw them or tick away at them with only light punches; being obnoxious in gameplay will likely put a silver on tilt and if you can then withstand and counter their offense you'll have yourself a win.