Hard Reads: Why Getting Bodied is Good For You

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BGM In Order:
CPS1 - Ryu’s Theme
Under Night In-Birth EXE Late - Nanase Theme
KOF ‘97 - Kyo Kusanagi
Rising Thunder - Crow
Guilty Gear X3D - Jack-a-Dandy by The Consouls ( • Jack-a-Dandy (Guilty G... _

[@thechugg4372]

"Just ask them" The response: "git gud lmao"

[@DuckieMcduck]

Sometimes I play people who know stuff but just need to work on their defense/execution. There's nothing glaring about it that can be said, other than get better at it.

[@judsonwanderer]

Responses may vary based on community and the questions you ask. Asking generic questions like "What do I need to get better?" are harder to give good answers to than "How to I deal with Elphelt's shotgun?" Also, depends on who you ask. If I am in a random queue, I do not expect someone I matched up with to probably provide much. But if I am in a lobby and just played a dozen sets with someone, I might ask.

[@DragoonCenten]

Used to play Zasalamel is SC and when a really good one beat my ass he just said "I don't know just look at the move list".

[@the_exxtra1425]

When my friends ask me, I have no idea what I did myself since I'm just so unga, so I have no idea why something worked.

[@KaiMCGRPS]

@@the_exxtra1425 Unga gameplay is peak human

[@bageltoo]

There’s no better feeling then finding someone at your skill level online

[@cyrusbrown2275]

@@austin529 I am so sorry for you lmao

[@benzini-ce6bm]

Austin thank you for sharing this, I feel this in a similar mental space, glad you put it into words

[@dogtaro5729]

@@austin529 Happened to me last night as I was trying to practice Heihachi and came across to a cocky Jin player who'd teabagged, got my ass handed to me so I went panda and lucky me I encounter the same Jin player, to keep things short- it didnt ended nicely for him with having a 7 win streak until he left

[@Spomeroy014]

Yeah, I like going 5+ rounds with those unicorns. Win or lose, it's really fun!

[@negentropyagent7337]

@@austin529 can relate to this a lot. Basically in everybfighter

[@raisuu6293]

The enemy can't read me if I don't know what I'm doing!

[@fiveromannumerals]

Fucking brilliant

[@gabikralj94]

That's why I love playing with newbies. Especially in Tekken where every button does cool shit xD In other games and brawlers when you use one of the buttons for the attacks and combos, it doesn't really work.

[@70smebbin]

:points to brain repeatedly:

[@smithsmithony5401]

"Become unpredictable, strike from your subconscious mind, let your moves flow out from your individual essence. Even the most masterful opponent will fall from a strike that has no history or reference, the moves created from your own essence may surprise even you." -Bruce Lee

[@echo5172]

Top decking as hero

[@davidolinger3948]

Great lesson from PPMD: "You can learn from any match, against a better player, you learn your bad habbits and common mistakes; against an even player, you learn to finish out matches and make smart decisions in neutral; and with bad players, you can learn just how far you can push your punish game"

[@Zerlot]

What I like is going against someone who uses the same character, but plays differently than you.

[@therattleinthebook397]

With a bunch of smash tech like DI, SDI, etc. Mixed into the paragraph

[@machete2k516]

Can I get a link to where he says that, I would love to have it on hand

[@therattleinthebook397]

@@machete2k516 kzbin.info/www/bejne/bp2tqKZ9lKisnKM 7:55

[@davidolinger3948]

@Ian Corral well, it says you can learn, not that you will learn

[@youtoobay]

who are you and what have you done with Gerald? And more importantly, does this mean we are getting twice as many Core-A videos?

[@raphaelb.8665]

Gerald, man. He may be a pro, but he ain't no Jared.

[@goddamnit426]

i just can't get into the video as well if it's gerald the one who's commentating

[@fordprefect5104]

Hard Reads is a separate series to Analysis.

[@Trollingtonsrus]

PattheFlip is the chillest guilty gear player ever.

[@cenizen]

@@raphaelb.8665 Yeah bro, I'm Jared

[@TreyGamr58]

Here’s something fighting games should do: So, I’ve been playing this game called Command & Conquer Rivals and it has these “Challenge Battles” in matchmaking. Sometimes it’ll hook you up with a player stronger than you and it’ll say, at least practically, “here’s a really tough opponent, you won’t loose your ranking but try your best, learn something new, and if you win you’ll get a big bonus!” Although I think this is to make up for a shortcoming in its matchmaking, I think this is an ingenious way to help players get bodied and learn something without it feeling rigged.

[@AriyanK0091]

This sounds like a really fucking cool idea. Fighting games need to get better with their matchmaking and training options for sure, especially for newer players.

[@Sellipsis]

Then you have bullshit in Soul Calibur where players who are really high ranked only get 1 meager point for beating people too low level but if you’re looking to practice some stuff on an easy opponent it’s valuable to stick around for rematches. The problem os doing so on the off chance they beat you then suddenly you lose 90 points for daring to continue to rematch some low level until you lost. Doesn’t matter your winstreak.

[@theWIIISEguy]

@@Sellipsis Yes. That system is honestly bullshit.

[@TreyGamr58]

@@Sellipsis I think in C&C:R Challenge Battles are treated like regular matches for the higher level player. If you lose to a low-level, you just lose the same amount of rank as with an equal opponent. Plus, there's no rematching. I don't know how top-level players fare at the matchmaking because those people are nuts at the game. I can see this system easily becoming terrible if not implemented right. I feel the same way in Smash Ultimate when you get matched with an opponent lower than you but turns out they're really good and then you lose like half your gsp. ugh

[@mastercontrol5000]

whatever MMR/ELO systems exists in fighting games probably do that under the hood already, it just doesn't tell you explicitly.

[@roadside360]

I remember accidentally challenging a top player in Guilty Gear. I didn't realize that he was more than "Familiar with Guilty Gear" until I was watching the Frosty Faustings 2020 GGXRDrev2 tournament

[@ChaiKirbs]

haha, same thing happened to me when I first started playing bbtag

[@its_tunezz]

On noe

[@its_tunezz]

The wash

[@AMVaddictionist]

That happened to me with arcana heart, asked the closest guy to an available set up if he wanted to play and it turned out to be some japanese top 8 level player lmao.

[@taxxxevasion]

i was playing skullgirls ranked and ran into someone i thought was a random. then i started watching match footage and saw that this 'random' was bodyjng sonicfox and dekillsage lmfaoooo

[@duchi882]

*Lesson:* When you Lose, study what went wrong and what went right When you Win, STILL study what went wrong and what went right.

[@freecomkcf]

the irony is that the most popular fighting game franchises are Japanese, who have a habit of: "when you lose, bury the problem until you can save face"

[@OfficalRavoos]

This actually reminds me of a moment when I played Killer Instinct online. I was playing Saberwulf and fought against a Shadow Jago. The guy fucking bodied me like hell. I couldn't predict a single thing and he ended up taking the game with me just getting about four hits in. After my inevitable loss, I just picked rematch and we played again. For four games, I got bodied, beaten and taunted like hell.....then it just klicked. On our last game, I managed to see his pattern and punish him for always doing the same move when ever he was in the corner. Through defence, grapples and a fuck ton of patience, I managed to beat him and win.......and then he rage quit.

[@rudydudes]

Feels good man

[@chronology556]

At least your game has rollback,

[@blueicydasani4543]

That's crazy relatable

[@kyuuketsukikun420]

I did the same thing with a peacock on Skullgirls except it took me 17 rounds before I got my first win

[@wildrussiansnake8978]

Man this is literally the fighting game experience in a nutshell, including the ragequit 💀

[@freshbroceries4601]

I find that playing against worse opponents really helps me learn to play safe. Because they don't know what they need to respect, they respect nothing, leading to you usually getting counter supered or randomly DPd.

[@webbowser8834]

Am bad player, can confirm that I will fall for most frame traps.

[@devonbrody822]

Haha so true I will challenge everything just to see who wins in specific situations.

[@tingispingis]

Yeah when I started playing Tekken everyone I met online was just spamming random moves. I was still new to fighting games and that shit pissed me off but I quickly learned to play more patient and react to my opponent instead of assuming what they're going to do. So playing against dumb button mashers actually helped me develop my neutral and whiff punishing. Those assholes can still go fuck themselves but at least I got something useful from it and grew as a player.

[@rwentfordable]

@@webbowser8834 'I'm bad player...'

[@rwentfordable]

It's the same in poker between good and bad players, newbies don't know what to respect.

[@commanderaki1152]

2:44 “Wait it’s JDCR?” “Always has been” *gets Dark Uppered*

[@InitialXG]

I once played flocker before he won evo. Played 37 games. Took only 1 character from him. Not one game. One character.

[@GeneralLazySpoon]

I had a casual FT7 with dekillsage in SG. I took his Eliza once out of the whole set. But, there was a wealth of knowledge to be had in retrospect. So, I feel your pain.

[@iDrKx]

I lose vs local top players 57 to 0 online lmao

[@jorgecds]

He was prob practicing that zero loop with you

[@ZenoDovahkiin]

That is a success. A small one, but a success nonetheless. I havebn't done that.

[@thatkleinguy]

Sadly getting bodied is the most casual killer thing ever

[@bagelman2634]

The problem with the advice of “just ask” is that when I do, people respond with saying they don’t know the answer themselves.

[@YangyChaddyDad]

Google it then

[@fernandobanda5734]

@@YangyChaddyDad You can't google "Why did I lose my match?"

[@ahmednasser8214]

@@fernandobanda5734 Weak argument, you can Google "What's (character name)'s counter? " or something similar. You can look up tier lists and try to counter pick them (if the game allows that, such as MK11). You can look up the specific match (your character vs their character) on KZbin or in the game itself if that's an option, such as in SF5 and watch how the person playing your character won.

[@fernandobanda5734]

@@ahmednasser8214 ...You act like everyone has maximized their character and already plays the matchup the way it's analized at top level.

[@syrelian]

@@fernandobanda5734 Not every match on youtube is top play, and even top play has lessons to learn if you can slow down and pay attention to the broad scope tactics and plays, rather then being caught up in following individual moves

[@calamorta]

YES. You only improve after getting exposed, after seeing the opponent toying with you. That's how you realize your flaws and then you have to work on it. That's why facing skilled opponents make you better. Rage quitting is the worst move a player can do if they want to be good.

[@FeanixFlamage]

i agree for the most part, but at the same time i think it's also important to recognize when you're getting too heated to be able to focus and play effectively. being able to step back, take a breather, and collect yourself is equally as important.

[@theWIIISEguy]

@@FeanixFlamage All true. But still rage-quitting is a detrimental habit. It's better to finish your matches and get the full experience. As well as make sure you don't create a new habit of giving up by self-conditioning your brain to opt out before you finish a task.

[@spookyman6473]

@theWIIISEguy I think feanix was more talking about when the set's over being able to recognize that you're too heated to get anything important from more matches, so you take a break before you play more. I agree that quitting midset is gonna get you in the bad habit of not playing through the whole game though

[@theWIIISEguy]

@@spookyman6473 "t's better to finish your matches and get the full experience." Yeah, sorta said that already. I understand what he meant. But there's a difference in quitting out of anger prematurely vs finishing a set amount of games to build up patience to persevere. Mental training is a part of getting better too bro.

[@Jose_Doe]

Course at the end of the day If they don't want to get better and just want to play casually that's good too

[@captainnwalps6689]

I would love Capcom to add “Another Brazilian Ken is coming your way” to street fighter

[@keystone5750]

Captain Nwalps he’s gonna take you to Brazil

[@ultimateman55]

Brazilian Kens would begin experiencing a new phenomenon: pre-fight rage quits.

[@captainnwalps6689]

The Arch ....is that an MvC2 reference?

[@keystone5750]

Captain Nwalps it is now. But also this knowyourmeme.com/memes/youre-going-to-brazil

[@osorionegao]

Hey it's not like we love to get matched with north americans, you know?

[@MVCFighter88]

"It's ok to lose to opponent, must not lose to fear!" - Mr.Miyagi

[@optimusdime3735]

I remember watching replays and it seems like the solution is so obvious when it's not all in the moment

[@leandronc]

"A BRAZILIAN KEN IS COMING YOUR WAY" Sucks right? Imagine being a Brazilian, all our matches have lag.

[@M4TTYN]

they bath in the lag, embodied the lag! 😂

[@jeppyjep]

@@M4TTYN they are the lag

[@jares317]

As a Brazillian Ken, I feel you

[@leonardodelimaferreira8509]

Feels sad man

[@THENAMEISQUICKMAN]

According to the replies on the Scrubquotes Twitter, if you don't live in NA or Asia you should stop playing the game because you're ruining it for them omegalul

[@garymcginnis8511]

"somedays youre the hammer, and other days you're the nail." as a switch this rings all the more true

[@jasonjean5333]

Haha g@y

[@pattheflip]

shoutouts to the switches out there!!!

[@Professor_Utonium_]

based

[@turtleboy1188]

Gross

[@garymcginnis8511]

@Negative Space jealous much

[@CurlyHairedRogue]

_“Just ask”_ Insinuating any degree of learning a fighting game can be described as “just” anything.

[@DoubleCFiend]

This, but for every remotely competitive game ever.

[@shardofkingdoms9816]

Leffen laughing after he 5-0’d chillin is such a badass move

[@christopheraustin1173]

My brother watched me not only get 5-0'd by Zain, but 20 stocked. Wooo. I knew I'd lose but that was a reality check. There are levels to this shit.

[@shardofkingdoms9816]

Christopher Austin Getting bodied is good for you someone told me

[@BigDeepz]

@@christopheraustin1173 zain is insane so you should feel no shame haha

[@G8tr1522]

How could he not, chillin made an entire rap video about beating leffen

[@Richy0326]

"Gee, it sure would be nice if I got to play at some point during this match" is a feeling I suspect most fighting game fans have had at some point :P

[@flamaniax5728]

yeah, that's basically me with some/most matches in +R. Honestly if I'm playing some so good that I don't really get much of an interaction in the match, I'll only play one match and then not rematch in favour of finding someone else. TBH I also make sure the person I challenge is about my rank, so I'm not playing someone so much better than me overall.

[@henryreturns1397]

- Every top player have been destroyed before , and that was like a motivation for them to get better. - In Smash Bros Melee , Armada and Mang0 said that “friendly matches” is the best moment to try new things and to lose, since it helps the player to build better habits, and know what works and what will not work. - Also , you learn more from losing to a better played , rather than learning from one sided victory. Losing helps a lot since is back to the drawing board. - I do believe people of these days just want to get good fast and taking the easy way. It takes a lot of time and hard work to become a top player in a fighting game.

[@Rugg-qk4pl]

Losing isn't fun though, especially thre harder you lose

[@yonatanbeer3475]

There is no royal road to geometry

[@Harmless_Music]

Rugg0064 I guess the trick then is to make it fun. Or look at it from a positive mindset. After all, you’re the biggest influencer of upsetting yourself after a loss.

[@chrispo7610]

@@Rugg-qk4pl that depends on your outlook. It can either be "shit, i lost" or "what can I do to beat this playstyle?"

[@animalchin5082]

Yeah Zain said that he would practice tech in training and then spam said tech in friendlies as much as possible. Friendlies are the place to lose games. Even though it can feel horrible to just get bodied over and over by an unranked rushdown fox or falco lol

[@RealPrismsword]

I appreciate this crossover between two good set of folks!

[@ariesomega2487]

9:20 This whole statement was so true. It just describes the feelings of most online players perfectly

[@RealPrismsword]

@@ariesomega2487 5:31 Was the relatable content for me. Playing against top players as someone from the NYC FGC has given me a ton of "wham" moments and learning lessons, like fighting Rayray or Fooblat in UMVC3 I was like "dang every neutral option is consistently getting blown up"

[@gerardligonde4083]

The problem with the advice of “just ask” is that when I do, people respond with saying they don’t know the answer themselves.

[@technic1285]

So: Sparring with someone better is a chance to find your weaknesses Sparring with someone worse is a chance to make new strengths And sparring around your level is a chance to throw it all together at just the right amount of challenge to push your limits?

[@epiclegend8787]

yea something like that

[@CylonDorado]

I don’t know, I think they should probably just nerf the characters I don’t like. That should fix it. What I really hate is characters that are too good at long range, close range, or medium range.

[@0Enigmatic0]

Seriously, I wish more fighting games would wait a while for the meta to settle before making balance changes. Maybe something is kinda fraud and will have counterplay, maybe another character will be found to be a check, maybe something is secretly broken but wont be explored until higher levels of play, just give it time. That being said, fuck Puff in melee, and fuck Zero in MvC3

[@angrypepe7615]

@@0Enigmatic0 lmao puff is only played by 1 player who has a losing matchup against the most prominent character in the game. They're certainly are top tier if hbox has been able to consistently win tournaments but by no means are they absolutely broken.

[@0Enigmatic0]

@@angrypepe7615 Well Hbox wasn't the first person to be best in the world with puff, Mango was #1 with her before. She also doesn't play like a melee character. Stage control means nothing vs her. She has an insane combo game while can't be consistently combo'ed. The risk/reward for trying to edgeguard her is super skewed in her favor, her mobility and recovery make it very difficult, while most characters die if they look at puff wrong near the ledge. She's pretty much the sole reason edge grab limits have been imposed recently, they gained popularity when hbox stalled Wizzy/Chu/etc. Also for characters that tend to kill off the side and not the time she survives a damn long time with good DI thanks to her recovery. Also rest can just steal games, just look at when hBox won Evo. Frame 1 insta-kill sounds damn good to me. So rest, great combo game, hard to combo for most of the cast, insane recovery. risky to edgegard, arguably the best at edgeguarding in the game, a good disjoint for pokes... yeah, she's damn good, and she makes most characters change their gameplan around her more than any other character aside from ICs. Hbox is really fucking good, obviously, but his Puff has the same tools as every other Puff.

[@jfmhunter375]

@@0Enigmatic0 still, i can think of 10 good (top) fox players off the top of my head, 10 good falco players, 10 good marth players... only 2 good puff players.

[@phabiorules]

I agree. I also think they should buff my main a bit more, just on his biggest weaknesses though.

[@XLNC_YL]

"You just got *put on sunglasses* Bonded" - n0ne

[@Sir_Robin_of_Camelot]

ggs

[@justscrollingby8384]

Lmao random n0ne mention. The man got skills at melee

[@oops3798]

If getting bodied is good for you then I guess I'm a health nut now...

[@hopefulhyena3400]

The main thing keeping me from improving is the fact that I never play anymore. I used to love fighting games, especially Street Fighter. I sucked ass, but I still loved it. Somewhere along the line, I got really, really busy with life, and I stopped making time for fighting games. Someday I'll get back to it, I hope.

[@bennymountain1]

You could apply the advice to real life and git gud at that.

[@arishkhan5918]

I'm sorry for how hard your life has been and I hope that you do get back into fighting games! I'd suggest that you true fantasy strike which is really easy to get into (And now free) or blazblue cross tag battle if you're interested in getting back

[@hopefulhyena3400]

@@arishkhan5918 hey man thank you for letting me know that Fantasy Strike was free rn. I actually saw that back when it was early access and I thought to myself "I'd love to play that but I don't like early access games". I'm gonna at the very least download it. Thanks for the tip, amigo.

[@arishkhan5918]

@@hopefulhyena3400 your welcome! Hey want to play multiplayer against me sometime?

[@ThorAxiun]

@@arishkhan5918 It makes me sad that they never replied to you :(

[@SolidSonicTH]

In my mind what really stings about getting mismatched is adjusting your approach leads nowhere. You can identify what you need to change about your gameplan to compensate for a tough opponent but where it gets disheartening is when they were ahead of you the whole time and knew you'd be changing tactic. They won't let you feel them out because they predicted when you'd shift strategies to try and reset the situation.

[@djsercy5879]

DOA6 literally matched me (a B rated player) with players ranked A+ today. It happens a lot and I've been matched against S ranked players when I was ranked B-. I learned to not focus on the rank and focus on learning what the character does

[@ghiidra__]

well how many people are playing DOA online at once? like 4?

[@djsercy5879]

@@ghiidra__ basically yeah. The player base (at least on PS4) is borderline nonexistent sometimes. No one ever creates public lobbies, either

[@abrittishpanfish6269]

"as my coaches used to say" *ad starts* "sneak is made for us"

[@edgelord8337]

It actually helps you grow. Every time you get beaten. Unless you are dsp you will get back up and learn until you've gotten better.

[@Elfarcher73]

one of my favorite bits of advice is "hey DSP is somehow still kicking, you can do this"

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

If you don't know why you lost it won't help you get better.

[@EMINEMISAWESOMEful]

who or what is dsp?

[@ebenezerj]

@@EMINEMISAWESOMEful darksyde Phil. Look up Finch's video on him or Fredrick Knudsen's video on him. He's a salty gamer and a pretty shit human being

[@Elfarcher73]

ebenezer also look up him making cup noodles, it will make you feel just a tiny bit sorry for him to then have that squashed by literally any other thing you learn about him

[@DMitsukirules]

Exactly, it exposes your weaknesses and lets you grow as a player.

[@ReginaldAnteel]

The title is true, lowtiergod is healthy af!

[@awalludinsyam1500]

Getting bodied is good for you? LTG : what do you looking at? me : nothing.

[@NoConsequenc3]

LTG is such an omega crybaby lmao

[@Sly_Maverick_19]

Gtab

[@firehunterz2311]

_"You say this video was inspirational?"_

[@f1r3hunt3rz5]

@@firehunterz2311 _Mods, you know what to do_

[@manuelsalazar7998]

When you ask for advice but the opponent hit you with "just don't get hit."

[@haughtygarbage5848]

PAT your essays are so damn inspiring, so glad to see you showing up here

[@pattheflip]

thank you!

[@TheShayminGamer]

I’ve played fighting games with friends who are too proud to even check the special move list because they don’t remember what the motion for their special is. I wonder if this type of pride is learned.

[@Lectical]

Oh yeah it’s absolutely a cultural thing

[@blushingralseiuwu2222]

Man, I remember on my high school days, everyone don't know what Smash Bros. Melee is, but interested because there's a Mario and Pikachu on it. Every break or end of school time, we open our laptop and did a small tournament before going home. All of us suck, but thought we're good. Imagine our surprise when one of my friend show us how Melee supposed to be played lol XD

[@Ray-tf5wu]

That sounds hella fun. When Ultimate came out, I brought my switch to school and we were able to play it in class all the time, since it was the end of the school year. I made new friends... Then I left the school. Fml.

[@xardinlume7345]

"I remember feeling like every attack I tried was so predictable" lol I just played a bunch of matches as Valerie in Fantasy Strike against a Geiger, I coudn't do anything and lost 5 or so sets because the moment he was putting a bit of distance, I couldn't do anything without getting anticipated. It's probably just matchup knowledge or neutral, but when I try 3 or 4 different options and get countered by the same invincible move... feels bad man.

[@webbowser8834]

As someone who also struggles with the Geiger matchup, one thing I can recommend is try baiting out his flash kick with empty jump towards him and holding block (empty jump recovers much faster than landing aerials, allowing you to recover fast enough to block most reversal options). Obviously if you guess wrong he gets to have tempo again, but if you manage to bait out a DP, you get to punish with a full combo. Even more importantly than that, you only need to block a couple flash kicks before the opponent stops doing them, letting you do your pressure game again. But yeah, Geiger is a rough matchup to be sure. I still have no idea how to deal with his pressure strings.

[@AskWaffles]

As PPMD has said, there's something to learn from everyone. He said something along the lines of, when playing someone better than you, learn/practice DI(basically defense), when playing someone worse, practice and hone your punish game, and when playing even, execute everything.

[@LendinSwiftbolt]

I was getting really hyped to watch this video and learn... and then Nanase's theme started playing. In all seriousness, this format compared to the last Hard Reads was greatly improved. Great video. I'm trying to implement this into my own improvement and it's been going well so far.

[@LimitRX]

Imagine getting your ass beat while the Nanase theme is playing

[@hachi7646]

As someone who is currently in the process of being bodied... I needed this

[@shinbakihanma2749]

Someone at Core-A gaming watches Juice. Props😆

[@pattheflip]

hell yeah

[@namename1302]

5:27 i think it's worth noting that while the approach of asking the opponent how to beat the stuff you're losing to will work when you're fairly low level, it will begin to fail as you get better. when you're bad at the game, your opponents will be able to give easy answers like 'that's -23, punish that' or 'it's reactable, so you can poke me out of it'. but as you start to get better, opponents will be forced to use techniques which are meant to beat opponents who know what they're doing; even if the massively minus or easily reactable tools are more efficient against a weaker player, they don't see as much use in competitive matches due to their glaring weaknesses-- that is, if the weaknesses can't be covered for. then, when they use their safe and effective options against you, and you ask, "what can i do against that", a common answer will be, "i don't know." this can be for a variety of valid reasons. perhaps it's a situation which simply has no valid counter once you let the opponent put you in it ("what do i do when you land X when i'm at low HP?" you die.) frequently, the opponent doesn't know what tools your character has to solve the problems theirs presents. this isn't because the opponent is being rude or doesn't want you to improve, it's just because if they knew a way an option could be countered by a witting opponent, they would use a more effective option, or at least mix things up so you can't consistently counterplay. often, you can approximate this question by asking how they lose to others who play the same character: how do other people punish X or prevent Y? while this works, it does depend on the other player having significant matchup experience with players of your character who they lose to, which can be inconsistent, especially if you play a mid or low tier, if the game has a large cast, if the game's community or scene is small, or for any combination of the three.

[@kangstakangsta]

LET'S GO PAT! What a sick crossover. I've always wondered what a video form of your essays would look like, and I'm glad Gerald could make that magic happen. Here's hoping for more content like this!

[@atsurokihara5525]

Legendary MMA fighter Ken Shamrock has a similar approach: "As a coach, when developing fighters Shamrock adopts an approach called ‘Plus, Minus, Equals’. His structure ensures that every fighter has regular time with other fighters who will stretch them in different ways. ‘Plus’ equates to a fighter who has better skills, to give the person a level to aim for. ‘Minus’ equates to another fighter who has less skill or who the person can mentor and teach. This pushes them to think in a different way, forcing them to work on explaining the theory behind each aspect of becoming a great fighter in a way that someone who is developing their skills can understand. Of course, they’re also giving something back. Finally, ‘Equals’ equates to having someone at the same level as the fighter who they can compete with every step of the way."

[@Robstafarian]

Ken Shamrock never was anything special.

[@stylesheetra9411]

@@Robstafarian no one in the early UFC were anything special, they were cherrypicked by the gracie who created the tournament

[@aosggame]

Although I've stopped playing fighting games, FGs have taught me a level of appreciation in competitive sports/games and to be able to look for those.

[@babyjoker997]

I needed this. Since melee rollback came out most of my matches have been really weighing on me, I find it difficult to have a session where I don’t start trash talking myself either internally or externally. It’s funny that I knew what I should be doing while losing but there’s something about hearing it from someone else that kind of knocks it into reality

[@MarsBars_Music]

7:32 hit me right in the heart dude... i have a shit ton of trouble asking people for help.

[@kholdkhaos64ray11]

Shoutouts to sticking around for casual matches after locals in order to find answers and test them out in long sets against a one or two people strong or weak people Also shoutouts to Discord communities to allow people to ask for long sets for the same purpose too.

[@theWIIISEguy]

I just recently picked up Yatagarasu: Attack On Cataclysm. Dope fighting game! I joined the discord and yesterday got to play against a nearby tournament player by the name of "NickCool". Dude bodied me 50-0. But I felt good taking my L's in stride. Knowing it's an opportunity to get better. I also played another player by the name of Yatsuba earlier and he wrecked me 11-1 before I wanted to stop. But it made me look at myself and inspired me to improved, like my session with the 1st player. For context the game's been out since 2015 and I don't even have a full day of pvp playtime yet. I'm sharing this in the hopes that someone else scrolling through will see that they're not alone in their quest to learn a new fighter or pick one up. It's rough man, but it's for your own good if you're not half-assing and genuinely desire improvement. Hold on and tough it out!

[@significantpepper5274]

Bruh how you do that, i get mad playing on casual gamemodes, nevermind ranked

[@theWIIISEguy]

@@significantpepper5274 It's easy to still get mad. It's just more space out between play and normally has a reason. So I think "the trick" is more about understanding what's bothering you and not making excuses or lie for the sake of immediately satisfying your ego. Otherwise you rob yourself of getting a chance to learn something and get better. Whatever is upsetting, it's normally gonna be situation or sequence that you need to focus on figuring out or getting better at handling. Which is sort of the point of the "game" aspect of all the fighting. If I play someone several layers deep into their gameplan and I'm a newcomer, I don't know what to look for or expect. I'm not familiar with how options play out. I barely know my own moves. So there's no reason to expect me to play as if I did. Which alleviates stress and pressure. Thus "getting tilted" turns into "How long can you take it until you start adapting or give in to the frustration." Ls are inevitable. If rather be learning while I'm losing than just playing and losing just because.

[@significantpepper5274]

@@theWIIISEguy I think i mostly get mad... just because i lost. I usually don't even look at how much elo i lost, i just get salty because i couldn't "prove" myself to the other player. Any tips to deal with that?

[@theWIIISEguy]

Thats being competitive, which is fine. It all depends on how you channel that salt. Some people get upset and it ruins their mood and thusly affects their play alot more than the average person under pressure. Some will take their frustration and use it as a way to focus and stop thinking too much, like going Rambo. Some people don't like the feeling of taking that L so much, that they immediately take notes/brainstorm or practice until they're satisfied with some progress. Some, just jump right back in to playing on tilt. You're going to get salty. No matter what skill level of whatever you're playing competetively. The point is to better understand your game/skill/craft in order to refine your sensibilities. That way you can understand what's going on enough to be okay with losing and focus on the details that caused you to lose and learn from it. We too often overestimate ourselves and underestimate just the same. But if you know where you stand, it's a lot easier to make sense of your losses. If you practiced a specific scenario for hours and hours and feel like it's natural to you? Then you lose a game for not being able to perform said action? Yeah be salty. You know better. Thats on you and of anything it's a sign that you know what's going on. But if you barely practiced that scenario or play, then lost because of it. You gotta be aware enough of that to see it's why you might've lost, even though you can do other things well. Most of the time. It's just about being humble. I like to think of it like this: - If you newer or lesser skilled/experienced? So what you lost. You expect yourself to win magically, just cause your brain wished it would happen? No. These are skill based games with hard results. You'd actually be more silly to be upset at this stage and jist negatively affect your mood and potential investment in the game. - If you've got some decent amount of time in. And know some stuff already and can play pretty well at times. You lose now? Oh well.. You're at a level where you'll find tougher opponents that will make you play smarter and harder and more optimal. This is your time to absorb information now that you get what's going on fundamentally. - If your really good at the game by now. You lost? Oh well you're not perfect. Yeah. You could probably beat that guy or his team. But guess what? You didn't. If anything NOW is the perfect time to feel salt. You could've done way better and you KNOW for sure. But usually at this level you know why you lost or if you review your match, you'd be able to figure it out. And at that point it's just adjusting and practicing some drills until you get it right. So, unless you're playing for something, what is there to really be upset about? Nothing really. It's all ego. But ego can do a lot of good for your game too, like a "carrot on a string". Just make sure to not get lost in your ego. Hell yeah, be confident and bold. But don't go thinking you're the best for no good reason. Sure, be humble and spare some bravado. But don't think too little of your potential. Practice always goes along way and it's all too common that we started off sucking at things we become amazing at... Funny how that works right? (Sarcasm) But, yeah. Some things you gotta put your ego aside for. Other things, you gotta use it fuel your endevoars for your eventual success.

[@MegaMechaBasilix442]

"How do you block that?" "I have no idea."

[@Zetaku3]

Very nice video, always fun to watch the full video!

[@gomes3962]

2:15 As a Brazillian that was honestly hilarous.

[@godaelite]

A brazilian ken!!! OMG!!! I feel represented!

[@ivan9960]

Losing to powerpoint slides wake up dp

[@raychangalarza179]

I believe that this is a joke but in case it’s not, have you played online?

[@godaelite]

I’m brazilian, I fully understand the meaning.

[@akali2927]

what is a brazilian ken

[@godaelite]

Its the meta in brazilian fgc

[@Ali-fs7ze]

Wow I thought we weren't getting any more of this Let's Go!

[@katsutama]

Thanks, I`m feeling that I needed this reminder for myself.

[@IfYouInsist]

That feel when no friends to play with.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Welcome to the club.

[@neodymus]

*sigh*

[@Professor_Utonium_]

Discord exists, there's literally no excuse in 2020

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

@@Professor_Utonium_ Still a hassle. Sometimes interests just conflict, time zones are off, takes forever to wait on people, etc.

[@Professor_Utonium_]

@@HighLanderPonyYT This is a hot take, but I believe everything has a price. If that's too high a cost to pay, then the value you place on fighting games is probably lower than you think it is.

[@AcencialAMV]

This hard reads was so much more awesome than the last one, thank you for listening to feedback!

[@stuartherrera]

Your cutaway editing is always so on point! nice references, dude. keep it up

[@persiangeorgiev]

Oooooh, I've been waiting for a part 2 of this for a while now! Good to have you back, man!

[@SolidSneakers]

"We Saiyans get stronger every time we fight."

[@ethanalspencer7294]

People all love the glamor of a fighting movie where the protagonist has a training montage, climbs the steps, and overcomes their rival to be the champ. They seem to conveniently forget the part where they got that rival in the first place by getting bodied

[@sirpenguin2694]

This is a dope video. Great work!

[@ajko000]

such an amazing video I love fighting game concepts and communities for this reason: it's fundamentally about pure progress and everything involved in that. I would've never enrolled as a full time student this semester if I didn't get bodied so hard in my subsequent years - life is suffering: embrace and you become stronger.

[@Ryanmiller70]

Videos like this always make me wish I could enjoy playing against people more than I do. I enjoy fighting games, but when it comes to playing against actual people instead of the CPU, even when it's against friends around my skill level, I just stop enjoying it. My brain tells me that I'm making the game less fun for them due to me being bad and I should stop, even if I win the match.

[@shakirjohnson9616]

I didn't realize it was a good thing to practice/clean up your "weaker" skills while playing against people lower than your skill level.... Glad to know I'm not a fighting game weirdo lol

[@tinymocot]

Very timely for me. I needed to hear this. 👍🏼

[@clichechad6623]

Exceptional video as always

[@Angelic2142]

Gerald, you have great music taste

[@user-qj3cq5hr7l]

5:31 - "One of the beautiful things about fighting games: ass whooping comes in several flavors"

[@Wukeywukey]

Good stuff, Patrick!

[@kaponautas]

Ay finally a new video from this series

[@LostNujafu]

Patrick did a good job, it just throws me off to hear someone else. I feel like I'm cheating.

[@_Digishade_]

As someone who recently got back into For Honor, getting bodied is basically part of the process. That game is jank af. For all the other FG's I play, getting bodied feels less like part of the programming and more like me either not being used to a matchup or ceasing to function at the level I need to function at in order to accomplish the goal. It's a learning process.

[@pedroscoponi4905]

I'm properly learning an FG for the first time and few things have given me more joy in it so far than pushing against a brick wall with 10x my playtime in a casual lobby. Every little bit of HP I take away, every attack I learn to block or avoid, feels like I learned more about what my character can do than if I had spent 3 hours drilling combos. And the rare ocasion where I win a round, even if I lose the match? _Absolutely glorious_ feeling.

[@ZeldaDungeonfan]

This helped me a lot with my mentality while training. Thank you so much

[@Skapes11238]

Wow, great video. Instantly made me have more than a few "a ha" moments about my own mentality when playing and what I can do to progress.

[@PR1ME98]

I learn more from close matches. That’s just me tho.

[@TheNoComplyKid]

This video couldn't have come out for a better time for me, thanks Pat!

[@Eubanksy]

Absolutely great video; appreciate the content! And as a long time Insert Credit fan, it's great to see content on here from Patrick 'Hat Trick" Miller!

[@blackjack2814]

Except you know , when you try to enjoy the game but you can't enjoy it if you aren't skilled enough . Being a casual on most games is not even fun anymore when some skill gaps are too vast to make up for , and not everyone has the time to grind and "get good" from experience. Personally , that just disheartens me and I just stop playing competitive games all together .

[@SolracDude]

Ah new guy, he might have a different style so let's see if it's just as good *later* Yeah this is still great, have a like *even later* how do I like twice? This isn't fair. How can one channel be so good?

[@Sedeerah]

The writing of the script seems to have remained the same. I'm sure that helps

[@thewholeshebang___]

this video couldn't have come at a better time, it was really helpful keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍👍

[@7thesage853]

I’ve experienced that a lot DBFZ and I’ve been able to follow ppl that were around my skill level. Over the past couple of months, we’ve grown a lot and are trying to keep up with each other and even have rematches with each other.

[@hardeeharhar18]

That's where my paranoia comes from. "Sometimes we're the hammer, other times we're the nail". Yet no one cares about the hands in control of both

[@t.c.3917]

"Fall seven times and stand up eight. " --Japanese Proverb

[@khrashingphantom9632]

I loved this! And just to touch on one point, sir you have no idea just how right you are. The arcades were the BEST place to learn and "test your might" and I'm kinda sad we don't really have that anymore. Hell even playing head to head on the same console gives you that much needed learning curve simply because in that era and even when you play against another person PHYSICALLY in the room there is NO rage quitting, S*** talking, or cheating without consequences. LOL. Best of all there's no whining about "The Balancing!". If you lose you pick up them sticks and try again, until you win. Thanks for posting. I'm new to this channel and this was a treat. Getting bodied by my older brother for the better part of a decade made me a better player.

[@Local-M]

Thanks, I needed this.

[@cameronr4140]

Nothing better then losing to someone 30 time to finally beat them just the once by adapting and improving

[@taymc5150]

so did Zain watch this vid a couple of years ago or is he just a physic

[@Goombalove3000]

Really great video, and a massive improvement on the last Hard Reads video. The editing style is still more frenetic than other core-a videos, but the images and text are relevant and add to the voiceover now. Great job!

[@Lights_0wt]

I LOVE this channel!

[@somerando5961]

"getting bodied is good for you" Sounds like something out of a scrub lords prayer

[@mimipeahes5848]

A scrub wouldn’t be able to acknowledge they did anything wrong in the first place lol

[@justmavi7999]

Ah yes, it's a good thing to be destroyed by a perfect 50 hit combo in your first online match. Thanks smurf kun for kicking my ass. That was not a waste of time that I will never get back at all!

[@user-ql1qf1qz8n]

Truly exceptional work explaining ingeniously the core differences of the players even of those that are on the same skill level. And I agree, to truly understand and to truly love Fighting games, you have to play a lot. By yourself and with others. Either on your level or on the opposite sides of the skill spectrum. And the most important is to learn how to lose and accept those defeats. Only then one can realize the flaws on their playstyle. Be it neutral fundamentals or execution or reaction etc. Savor those crushing defeats, welcome them. They tell a tale of facts. Facts that expose flaws that can be improved upon. Loss is not a sign of weakness or lack of skill. Is an open door to greatness. Only thing that's left for you is to decide if you want to go through it or close it.......

[@thecoolerrats7144]

Love the channel, great video, I'm now ready to lose more at everything. Someone else did another video I think called Fail Faster, which was about getting in there as much as possible, with the knowledge that even though you might lose, you'll learn something. I sometimes have trouble being observant when I'm getting my ass kicked but that's just another skill to work on.