How should you learn a new character?

The first two days of playing Baiken didn’t really work out for me. The whole process of playing a brand new character, how to learn a new character, one that is brand new for everyone, only served the purpose of hammering in what I already knew… I am really not good at “labbing” characters. That’s ok though, the 90s are over, fighting games are very much crowdsourcing projects these days.

I need a leg up

For me to get started with a character I need at least some sort of resource that imparts knowledge about a character. Some people really thrive in training mode, discovering and experimenting with stuff, but that really isn’t me. I go into training mode to test things I already know about. Like for a specific problem and trying to figure out what the answer is. Not really to learn a new character from scratch. Just in case I am giving off the wrong impression, I am not saying that I need someone to spoon feed me how to play, but I at the very least need a frame of reference, like replays of people who already have a good understanding of the character.

Granted; starter guides, both written and in voiceover video form detailing how to learn a character are even better, but you have to give the lab monsters some time to put that together as well. All the stuff that does come out the first day, is usually not that great and outdated 2 minutes after it has been posted. Twitter “tech” is relatively useless on the first day for most people as well, as that stuff needs to be sifted through first. All the good and valuable information is drowned under a mountain of useless combos, which are so far from optimal, you can’t even make out the word itself anymore. Honestly, you might as well be at full screen hitting your burst and RCing twice, same difference.

With a frame of reference

Once I had seen people actually use Baiken’s tether on wake up, with left right oki mixes, frame-traping with her tatami mat in neutral and a few other things, I actually started having a lot more fun in training mode as well, which makes the whole how to learn a character deal a lot more palatable. Now I at least have a thread to pull myself along her moveset and options. I do decently well at refining stuff. For myself at least, it’s always highly questionable if what I know would be of any help to anyone and that’s if I could even explain it properly in the first place.

The best analogy I can come up with, as I have been complimented on my cooking skills quite a few times, is this. Give me a good recipe that’s detailed and chances are I will whip something up that’s delicious. If you however just hand me the ingredients without any directions, there’s either going to be no food, or something that’s borderline inedible. It’s the same with characters for me. To learn a new character I need the recipe!

I haven’t really internalised any major combos yet, although I have seen the insane amounts of damage she can do; just getting to grips with her buttons and how she is supposed to move around feels so much better already though.

Happy Chaos is up next

While I’ve decided to steer clear of I-No for all of February to learn as much about Baiken as I can, I do want to add a third option to my character lineup. Happy Chaos actually looks really fun to me. Learning Happy Chaos might be more difficult than learning Baiken will be, as he is a more complex character, having to manage two resources, his bullets and concentration at the same time. He has been labbed thoroughly over the past two months though, which means there are enough resources to take advantage of when I will pick him up. Actually getting to grips with him will really be a lot harder I assume, but still. It would also be nice if you could change his reticle back to what it looked like before, it does look kinda ugly now.

Learn a new character how you want to learn

I really like Baiken and I will stick with her. When I want to learn a new character, to me that is the most important part. If you can answer the question if a character is fun to you with a yes, I would always recommend to just stick with that character and keep learning. I’ve said this in previous pieces as well, but losing in a fighting game, online, where you have nothing on the line and the people on the other side of that screen are essentially nobodies to you, really isn’t a big deal. When it does get frustrating and it will, we have all been there, get up, go get a glass of water, chill for a second and try again later. Losing, learning and synching up with the character of your choice is a step by step process, don’t let the first day of getting absolutely destroyed online be the benchmark upon which you decide if a character is fun or not, when you figured out already that the character is fun. The next step is to figure out how to make that character work for you. If you need a frame of reference to get started, that’s cool, that’s what the guides and tutorials are there for.

Not everyone is a lab monster, some people just like playing the game with as much knowledge as they can possibly pool together prior to even doing something. That’s fine, it’s called research. I guess what I am actually trying to say here is, play and learn a new character,  your character of choice however you like. If you’re having fun with your character, try to remember why, even when you’re losing and you will be fine.

Closing Words

What are your thoughts on Baiken or learning new characters in general? Let me know in the comments. If you liked this what you saw here please consider leaving a like on the YouTube video this post was made for (linked below) and I am serious about that, I would highly appreciate it you you could leave a like on the video. Feel free to subscribe as well, but honestly, leaving a like and a comment are much more important to me than that subscribe button. Anyway, thank you very much for reading and or watching piece on how to learn a new character all the way to the end. See you next time.