Clemency

Composer • Improviser • Theorist

Music philosopher, humor theorist, burgeoning Street Fighter player and wannabe Dad. Seeking harmony.

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@clementcomposer
Mastodon: www.zirk.us/@clemency


Clemency
@Clemency

No matter what character I'm losing to, there should be a smile on my face. Street Fighter 6 is fun! If you're not having fun, take a breather. Frustration and adaptation are incompatible modes.

I find the popular pastime of ranking (and by extension, moralizing) character choices really strange. Obviously they have different tools and strengths, and are prone to their own well-suited playstyles. Further, if a character has a really good tool for a task, most players will end up using that tool, so yes, Ken's probably going to use that dragon lash kick. But: you're not playing against the dragon lash kick. You're not playing against a character. You're playing against a person.

Once again: you're not playing against a character or their moves. You're playing against a person.

This logically leads to two crucial points:

  1. It is not because of any character that anyone wins or loses. If that were true, the game would end at the selection screen, like tic-tac-toe.
  2. You are never playing against everything that a character can do: you are only ever playing against a particular person's knowledge, skills, and habits.

That second one is the secret sauce. You might be playing against the character in your head, instead of what your opponent is actually doing. This way frustration lies.

Here's your homework, dear readers: Next time you lose round 1 really badly, mentally concede the match and take round 2 to just study your opponent. Play pure defense. You have 99 seconds to learn what kind of a player they are. That's all the time in the world.


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