MM: Well, when I made the nominations last time, my basic approach was to find a character who would feel MUCH different from the player's current main, but which could bring out different elements of gameplay for that player. For example, when you were maining Ryu, I nominated Abel for you. Why? Because Ryu has life easy in Street Fighter IV, and it's easy for players to mistake Ryu's inherently good moves for their supposed high skill. I had seen (and still see) really sorry Ryu players do almost nothing at all, but still almost take the match. By choosing a character like Abel for you, it would have, I reasoned, given you a better, more concrete foundation of fundamentals (spacing and footsies in particular), because Abel gets basically NOTHING for free. He's also different enough from Ryu that, had you decided to go back to him, you wouldn't have too much difficulty transitioning back.
So, knowing that you're now looking at maining Akuma, I might reason something like this: Akuma players need to be able to do more than jump back and throw fireballs for a whole match; they need to be able to bring the offense. So, I might suggest a non-projectile character who relies on heavy aggression to win. Or, I might way, Akuma has low stamina, and Akuma players need to know how to preserve what HP he does have, and therefore nominate someone who does best when they keep it simple. Then again, because of his low stun, it is extra important that Akuma players have solid execution, since a punishing combo on Akuma is double-trouble. If I went that route, I might look for a character that would get you into the habit of finishing your big-damage punishes every time. Make sense?
jks22112: The Ground-Up Project is...
For one month, you use only one character, and that character cannot be your main or any other character you're already highly familiar with. The trick is, you don't get to pick who that new character is for yourself, the other players in the project do. If you say you're in, you tell us who your main is, any of your alt characters, and your playstyle. You do NOT, however, say anything about which characters, if any, you WANT to have chosen for you. You also do NOT chime in when your project main is being decided upon.
Once the decisions have been made, everyone uses only that new main for a calendar month. That means no training mode with other characters, no arcade mode with other characters, no tournaments with other characters, nothing. You play your new main and your new main only. Of course, there is absolutely no way to "enforce" anything about this project, so it all comes down to what you make of it. Personally, I think if you say you'll do it, you should stick it out, no questions asked. Then again, if it winds up making SFIV life something you just cannot stand, then by all means, do what you have to.
Log in to comment