Fight Homework, Entry 1
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising markets itself as a fighting game that is easy to access. It gives me the choice of technical or simplified inputs and a four-button control scheme that makes new characters a cinch to pick up. People described the previous Granblue game as "anime Street Fighter."
This game is easy to approach, but the buried lede is that Granblue Rising is not "anime Street Fighter." Every character has 2 or 3 neutral skips, 66L is still a god button even after a significant system-level nerf. Every high-level character comes with a thicket of knowledge checks. The price for simple inputs is the need to hit the lab to closely study the variations between Soriz's light, medium, and heavy specials to learn when you get to press your government assigned button in response.
I'm hard stuck at A5, and I would be shocked if my career win rate was above 30%. I am not uniquely bad at fighting games. This is a very well-trod road for people wanting to put more time into the FGC, to break out of a bare bones level of casual interest, to develop the skill of fighting games. I have chosen Vaseraga, a cruel joke of a character who is shaped like a big-body bruiser but is forced to play the most timid, reactive style. I picked him because I like the moments when I connect with big swings. I like putting generic, protagonist-shaped twinks into the ground.
I take my losses with more grace than I did as a child. My SNES controller has teeth marks from heartbreaking losses to Vega in Street Fighter 2. But I still tilt. I can feel when anger and frustration gets the better of me. I curse under my breath and withdraw.
My bugbear with this game is still 66L pressure. I do not know how to check dashing light attacks with a character as slow as Vaseraga. I truly believe that once I figure this out, I will shoot up an entire letter grade in this game.
I found a fighting game discord full of people who are welcoming to newbies and willing to do long sets. This is very good. I know these are the best ways to actually improve at the skill of a fighting game. Ranked matches are easier to find, but you do not stay with a single player long enough to really learn the way you can with a long set.
This weekend I will pick a fight with someone who can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Once I understand the shape of the problem, finding a solution is so much more straightforward. In Street Fighter 6 I would get stuffed by crossups again and again, until a kind soul on Romolla's discord told me to just walk forward. I expect a similar kind of revelation will be at play here.
Let's see how it goes.