Focus Pocus Part II: A Philosophical view

Howdy yall, what's up? I thought I'd write a bit more about what I discussed in the previous post, which can be viewed here. I explained how I was in a funk after vacation and how I couldn't get anything done, mainly my reading and guitar playing, in a lull. 

Well its been almost a month since I've been back, things have been going good for me. Work has been pretty insane, retail, over 40 hours a week. I'm working from today (Thursday) until next week (Friday) with no days off in between. The crazy thing is that although the thought of that is a little depressing, I'm actually getting a lot done in the sense that I've divided up all my time for rest and only the essentials. What's that pray-tell? 

The essentials for me is reading, writing, and music. Once I realized that I have no time to play video games probably ever! it was a pretty hard thing to observe, and then to get over. I used to love video games but now there's simply no time for it if I'm going to become a better writer, keep reading great science fiction (The Difference Engine) and philosophy (Adam Smith), and learn more classical and jazz guitar pieces (so much practice). Its a full time job all on its own, forget about the retail job, this is my job! 

There's a philosophy to this. Breaking everything down in your life to just the bare essentials. What do you want to accomplish in one day? What do you want to accomplish in a lifetime? Practice it one day at a time until you achieve complete and total mastery. 

My job gets in the way but if I take away the video gaming and stop spending so much time procrastinating on Facebook or playing video games, I can actually get a lot done in a day. Because I stay up very late (sometimes till 4 or 5, reading on my Kindle, which I got from a co-worker for free, retail is great sometimes) I can get a lot of reading done late at night after my late night shift. Everything's turning up Millhouse.

Happiness is a very tangible thing. Happiness is practicing guitar every day, reading, and writing. Find your passion and stick to it. Work is a necessary by-product of monetary situation, but it doesn't dictate who I am or who I will be. The future is ours to decide! 

Smash 4 player Abadango signed to Luminosity Gaming

Pro Smash 4 player Yuta "Abadango" Kawamura has signed to Luminosity Games. This was heard from an esports organization the other night. This news comes in the middle of the Big House 6 tournament that was went on in Michigan. It appears that Super Smash Bros players are getting signed by pro gaming teams left and right.

Is this the hype of Smash 4 finally hitting the masses and people love the game and want to see it bigger as an esport? I think so. It's pretty much the best fighting game I've ever played. I've played all iterations growing up but I think Smash 4 is just far out. I used to go to a lot of Smash 4 tournaments but I haven't been to a tourney in a super long time. I plan on changing that soon. But that's another story...

These pro Smash players are getting signed everywhere now.

"Just over a week ago, the recently formed BOXR, founded by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive commentator Mohan “launders” Govindasamy, signed Super Smash Bros. Melee player Julian “Zhu” Zhuand. Prior to that, James ‘Duck’ Ma was picked up by Denial eSports last August, and Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman joined Echo Fox, NBA player Rick Fox’s esports organization, back in May. Not to be outdone, G2 eSports went on to sign their own Melee pro with Weston “Westballz” Dennis being added to the organization in July." (Kotaku)

Abadango is an Smash veteran who came up in the Brawl era. He started off as a Wario main but then switched to Pac-Man, Metaknight, and Megaman in Smash 4. After patches 1.1.3 and 1.1.5 he found an epic Mewtwo style. Mewtwo's buffs weren't understand before he came along.

He won a big tournament earlier this year at Pound 2016. He's currently the 5th best Smash 4 player according to the ratings.

Luminosity Gaming’s founder, Steve Maida, said:

“We have always had our eye on the FGC community, and have been actively looking at players and possibilities in the scene. After meeting with Abadango, getting to know him and his history within the competitive scene, it was clear that he was someone we wanted on Luminosity. This is just the beginning of our journey into FGC and there is surely more to come. The community is unlike any other in gaming and one we hope to be a welcomed, contributing member of for years to come!” (Kotaku)

This North American esports organization also has Overwatch, League of Legends, and Hearthstone teams. Their CS GO team won the ESL ESEA Pro League Season Three finals-earning $200,000.

Smash 4 is finally getting professionalized. We knew that you could win tournaments and make money by defeating everybody. But to actually make a full time career of it is hard to do. I have many friends who all play Smash and a lot of them try to do something in the gaming industry. Some are great players who are trying to go pro or semi-pro, artists, casters, technicians, TO's (tournament organizers), and then some of them are like me-people who play for the love of the game but wants to keep getting better and experiencing more of the tournament environment.

Everybody wants to do something based around competitive smash. It's one of the most beloved games in SoCal and around the world. I think because of all these signings and esports associations the game will development into a more interesting meta as well as make the game more respectable in the fighting game community.

I'm pretty glad to hear this. I still love playing Smash 4 with my friends. We just played today. I rapid fire picked Cloud and my friend was all like,"Everybody has a pocket cloud..." And I was like,"Heh. Yep."

Funny

Gaming plans

I have some plans for gaming that I'm working on.

Getting on a semi-professional and/or rookie gaming teams
I'm interested on getting on semi-professional gaming teams. Right now I'm in the process of trying out for a smash 4 team. But I'm also interested in joining a team fortress and an overwatch team. I play games so much competitively and I want to get better and keep moving forward with my skills. I know a lot about a plethora of games. Now I want to put my skills to the test and keep improving. It will be great working together with teams and having coordination. Up until now I've mostly been a solo queue type of gamer. I wrote all about what that's like here. As a solo queue player I must say that these are.....trying times. But in all seriousness once I get on a team things will be more difficult because I'll have to play better but I will most likely enjoy it more. Although it seems like a lot of pressure I can handle it. In the past I was on a Starcraft II team called Team Peace and we did scrims twice a week and I even played in a tournament style setting. Good times.

Getting more Twitch viewers
So my Twitch account can be viewed here. While my total views has skyrocketed when I stream I hardly get 2 or 3 viewers. I'm not sure what to do. I post when I'm live on a Facebook twitch streamers group and also on my Twitter but the viewers don't seem to be coming in. I know that streaming is a tough gig and that it might take a long time to get more viewers but I've had moments where I've had like 16 viewers in the past. That was when I was playing Starcraft II. So one thing I'll do is play more Starcraft. And try to find other games that seem to attract viewers. Because right now Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm isn't bringing the noise. An important factor that I've worked hard to improve upon is my demeanor and commentary.  

Making more YouTube videos
My first YouTube video can be viewed here. Although it wasn't that great I think it was a good first attempt at a YouTube vid. I plan on making more. My friend suggested that I make guides for Overwatch. That sounds like a great idea but I'm also interested in making comedy gaming videos as well. My stand-up and general banter is pretty hilarious and I think it would be great to expand on that through viral media. The problem I've run into right now is that my friend doesn't want to help me out with making more videos. Its mostly the fact that he's not good at editing videos himself that's the problem. So I'm going to have to learn something-like in school! My next step is to download Blender and look up some tutorials and learn it myself. Good luck to me!

So yeah hopefully once I get things crackin' on this stuff things will be more interesting. I'm already having fun and enjoying everything but I'm at the point now where I want to work harder and produce better and more content. I've got a whole 'lotta work to do. Rip my free time.

7/10 Fire and Dice Smash 4 tournament Road to Evo Edition

So I attended yet another Fire and Dice Road to Evo Edition Smash 4 tournament. I had work that day and they called me in early so I didn't stay to watch all the matches. But from what I played and what I saw, it was a good day.

First off, I won my first set on stream. It was against this Yoshi player going by the tag Smooth. His Yoshi skills were on point. You can watch the set here. Set the timer to around the 16 minute mark and that's when my set begins. As you can see it was a great set. His style was pretty interesting but once I got into the groove of the fight I started to play better and get the KO's that were giving me trouble. It's a great feeling winning my first set on stream. Although I only took one set it was the highlight of my tournament career. I felt like a million bucks. Smash has taken me far not only as a player but also my confidence as a person and a gamer.

After I won 2-1 my next set was against Void-one of the best Sheiks in SoCal. Hell, he might be one of the best Sheiks in the world at this point. I played him game one as Bayo and he annihilated me. I couldn't do anything and got two stocked instantly. I switched to Sheik game two because I knew I couldn't win with Bayo and I wanted to test if he would play differently against another Sheik. The interesting thing is that he did play a bit differently when I switched to Sheik. It was almost like he respected me more or something, its hard to explain. However, I did manage to put up more of a fight and put a little percent on him before he two stocked me. Again, even though I lost playing Void was another highlight of my smash career. He's one of the best players our region has produced and the fact that he came to our humble local tournament was awesome.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about a great set I saw before I took off for work. It was Bam, one of the premiere smash 4 casters from SoCal against K9SBruce, one of the PR (power ranked player) Sheiks. K9 went Diddy this whole set and Bam was playing Bayonetta. Bam's Bayo took me by surprise here. I've seen videos of him playing from Mega Smash Mondays or Wednesday Night Fights but seeing him play in person makes me think that casters can be as great as pro players-if they stick with it and keep improving. The crazy thing is that I heard K9 ended up coming back from losers and winning the whole tournament. What a player.

Basically in every game K9 combo'd Bam super hard with tons of strings (combo connections). Once Bam got to high percents he was able to bring it all back with short succinct combos. His rage (smash 4 mechanic: at high percentages you deal extra damage and send enemies flying farther) got to high enough levels where he was able to KO Diddy with simple stuff. The score was 2-1. I couldn't believe that Bayonetta could come back from high percentages against Diddy. Bam played smart and carefully, something I need to learn how to do if I'm going to keep playing Bayonetta in tournament.

All in all it was a great tournament experience. Probably my favorite Fire and Dice tournament so far. Looking forward to going back on Thursday and giving it my all. I've learned how to play in tournament calmly and not worry about winning or losing. It's all about playing the game to me now. And that's just the way I like it.

Fire and Dice sm4sh tournament, The road to Evo edition

So today I finally made a return back to tournaments after a hiatus. That was because of work. I usually never get Thursdays off but today I was finally able to make it. It was a great experience and I even played well. I've gotten so much better at the game even though I haven't been to any tournaments for a while and I don't get to train with anybody really good. My only training was an all night session I had on For Glory (the online mode), which is sort of frowned upon in the tournament community because they all think its bad because it trains you into playing with lag. There's my friends I hang out with on the regular but lately we haven't been playing smash. Instead, we've been going out to the beach, working out, playing YuGiOh!, and working our asses off to make money.

I got to the venue pretty early before doubles (2v2 matches) and there was already a good amount of people there. I started playing friendlies with this random guy with long hair and it turned out to be awesome. I got bodied sometimes but other times I completely wrecked him. Very even. He had a strong Ryu, that's for sure. Way more people showed up and eventually we found out there was like sixty people that signed up for singles. Needless to say, there wasn't any friendlies going on until late in the evening when a lot of people left. This tournament wasn't completely stacked but there was the usual PR (power ranked) Socal players like K9SBruce (Sheik), S2H (Metaknight), Aphro (Bayonetta), Zenyou (Mario), Rich Brown (Mewtwo), Zork (Bowser), and Nicko (Shulk).

I got called to play my first set right away once singles started. I played some young guy that went Kirby. He had good spacing but I overpowered him with Bayonetta. He switched to Robin and it was super close. I thought I was going to lose but he sd'd (suicide death). However, it was so close that he might've lost anyways. Plus, I was ready for whatever he had in store if he had won. It was a pretty clean set for me and I bodied his Kirby. It was great! I felt like I had more matchup knowledge than he did against Robin because one of my best friends has a super good Robin.

After some waiting I went to sit down against my next opponent. K9SBruce. One of the best Sheiks in Socal. However, he went Diddy against me. But he didn't hold back whatsoever. He was getting me in so many linked chain combos it was ridiculous. I lost fast as Bayonetta. Game two I switched to Fox and gave it a go. At first I was getting in a lot of good hits and some short chains. I even taunted! On accident of course lol. I lost but I went down fighting. I had him well over 100% which to me is an accomplishment saying since I'm out of practice and I was going against one of the best players in the area. The best part of playing K9 is that he gave me some great advice. What a guy! Later on I watched him play more of his tournament matches but he didn't do so hot today. Part of it I feel is that the nerfs hit Shiek hard but another part of it is that some players have to be "really feeling it" to play well and I think he's one of those players.

After more waiting around I played my last set against a Samus player. Game one he outplayed me but I still played well. Game two I played better but I sd'd after getting an early kill on him. He started to wreck me hard but then I figured out his style and adapted. We were both well over 100% but he got off a clutch charge shot that finished me off. I was a little upset because if I didn't sd I know I would've taken it to game three. But as the smashers say,"we take those".

Also, I almost got the Bayonetta zero-death combo on him where you take them over the top of the stage and kill them. Close but no cigar. This guy was like the first guy I played. He was a young guy that was good but probably not more experienced than me when it comes to tournaments. If only I didn't sd. Oh well. I can't see it as a bad thing because I almost brought it back after killing myself. It shows that I've improved despite not having good training partners. Kind of nice.

After that I got some Subway, came back to the venue, and watched some of the high level players duke it out on the big screen. My favorite set was grandfinals which was Zenyou (Mario) vs Nicko (Shulk). It was a great set. At first Nicko was bodying Zenyou with all these great Monado sword hits. Nicko's spacing was amazing and he was doing all these short hop fairs and nairs. It was so cool to see someone play Shulk at such a high level. However, Zenyou adapted. He started pulling off these amazing Mario chainlink combos that usually ended with Mario's up-B coin jump attack, even getting the final KO with it. Although Nicko lost the set he went down fighting, rightfully earning that second place finish.

I also enjoyed K9 versus Aphro. I'm a big fan of Aphro mostly because he plays Bayonetta and he's one of the better Bayo's in Socal. He has an interesting style that doesn't rely on the zero-death combo stuff or divekick. Instead, he relies more on spacing and a lot of backairs for his KO's.

Rich Brown (Mewtwo) had some great games versus Nicko (Shulk). They had a pretty good set where I thought Rich was going to take it but then Nicko switched from Marth to Shulk and it was like a whole different ball game. That was a pretty fun to see. 

After a bit I got to play a few more friendlies. Won some, lost some. It was a great time overall and it was great seeing all my sm4sh friends that I haven't seen in like two months because I've been at work on Thursdays. I might consider trying to get Thursdays off on a permanent basis to get back in the tournament scene like I was earlier this year. Something to figure out for the future. I look forward to doing better at the next one I attend. Here are the top players placements.

1st - ATRAKT | Zenyou [Mario]
2nd - FAD | Nicko [Shulk/Marth]
3rd - eM | Aphro [Bayonetta/Rosalina]
4th - NIPS | K9sbruce [Sheik/Diddy]
5th - PG FAD | Zan [Toon Link]
5th - 2S | SM [Corrin/Ike]
7th - A2 | Dynamo [Sheik]
7th - NxT JP | SoCalGohan [Mario]

That's all for now. Watch this space.

Overwatch hype and other gaming news

     Hey, its been a long while since I've last written. I've been busy w/ the daily life grind-making money, resting, and repeating. It's been good working hard but I've also been having fun too. Work has become somewhat of a fun place with great people and attitudes. I've been gaming and playing a lot of guitar. This simple ritual I do everyday makes up most of my life at the moment. I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the hype gaming news that has been percolating the media recently.
     Overwatch has been getting all the hype recently. Its the main and probably most popular game to come out of the brand new "heroes moba first person shooter genre", even though the game hasn't even come out yet. It launches May 24 but it already has such a big business model (pre-order anyone?) going for it and its super popular because Blizzard has released all these animated shorts (which thankfully are free) and people are all goo goo about the game's lore and heroes. I played in the closed and open beta and I can say that the game is interesting enough for me to buy it and keep playing it, at least for a while. We will have to see how good the game is on the long term but usually when these brand new fps (first person shooter) games come out they are fun in the beginning but they don't usually last. Hopefully that's the case with Overwatch.
     I only played a bit but from what I remember Payload is the main game mode. Its pretty much the exact same idea as Payload from Team Fortress 2 but Overwatch stands out from Tf2-it is by no means a Tf2 clone. Overwatch is visually more busy than Tf2, has more variety and more heroes, and costs $40 for the basic build, or $60 for a bonus edition w/ cool character skins and stuff. The only similarity (which is good btw) between Overwatch and Tf2 is the graphics (which are cell shady and cartoony), the idea of character hero classes which are all different, and some of the play style is similar. However, in Overwatch its only 6v6 pvp battles. Tf2 usually has more players.
     Anyways, Payload doesn't stand out in Overwatch by any means but the game is fun. Don't trust my judgement? Just buy the game when it launches on the 24th, you will see how good this game is. The game doesn't push the envelop in terms of play style or anything new but it keeps the player engaged on a purely fun level. In addition, the game has a steep learning curve. It's easy to get into but hard to master. I can see this game going places in terms of esports as well. Players were already great players in the beta but once the game is released and fully polished w/ more maps and heroes it will turn in a competitive fps gamer's paradise. I might be pushing it saying that but I do believe its true. This game is literally a game changer.
     I wasn't really that good when I played the beta but I still had fun because Overwatch focuses more on team based objective game-play, rather than picking an assassin and seeing how many rambo kill shots you can get. Don't get me wrong. When the game comes out there will probably be tons of people playing it like Call of Duty rambos but once the game gets going long enough it will be great. Anyways, enough about Overwatch, its already been hyped enough since like BlizzCon 2015.
     In other news there's supposedly another Smash 4 patch coming out soon-1.1.6. I think its going to come out overnight. I don't know the details but I heard about it from the SoCal Smash Group I'm in on Facebook. They usually know whats up. However, I don't know when the patch goes live or how long the servers will be down. I think the game needs another patch because some of the low tier characters could be better and of course some of the high tiers should be nerfed a bit. It's always hard to balance a fighting game because just changing one thing causes a chain reaction that changes everything. But its a necessary act because it keeps the game evolving-something Smash desperately needs. I haven't played Smash at my house in so long but I still play a lot with my friends. It's the main game we play competitively and although I haven't been practicing or going to tournaments (b/c of work) I feel like my playstyle has changed for the better, especially with Bayonetta. I've also improved by leaps and bounds with Fox, who used to be my original main before I played Zero Suit and Bayonetta. Even before Fox I used to main Shulk. Good times :D
      Lastly, a new hero came out for Heroes of the Storm today. I was off today so I got to check out this new hero in-game. She's a time manipulator (named Chromie) sorta hero from World of Warcraft, she's a gnome. I feel like the whole time thing is played out because Tracer is in Heroes too but its cool. She's not the coolest hero but I do think some of her abilities are flashy and she has some cool aoe's (area of effect: like slowing people down). I've become a high level player at heroes and I try to focus on playing ranked matches when I do play. I still focus on mastering support healing characters but I'm also great with dps and tanks too. It's a free to play moba game by Blizzard and if you haven't already been playing this gem you should definitely go install it on your computer right now. Right now, this game is that good. It has that League of Legends moba vibe but its such a better game. I can see it becoming just as popular if not bigger than League and Dota.
     There's still some other cool gaming news. Battleborn was released recently, its another one of those moba fps games. I'm in the beta for another game like that called Paladins (developed by Hi-Rez Studios, which brought us Smite), its okay but its no Overwatch. There's also the reveal for the Pokemon Sun/Moon starter Pokemon, which all looked hella lame to me. Dark Souls 3 came out recently too. And finally, the new Doom game will be released soon. That's a lot of new gaming content that's already out/will be coming out. As I said I'm really excited and focused on Overwatch. I just hope that it lives up to the hype that it's had. First person shooter games seem to be a big let down sometimes, especially when there's not enough maps or engaging player modes. We'll just have to wait and see.

Fire and Dice Smash Tournamnet 3/17

     Another smash tourney at Fire and Dice today. I really enjoyed the tournament this week, partly because I wasn't taking everything so seriously and it was a super stacked tournament with a ton of great local players. Observe.
      Top 8 w/character usage
      1. K9sbruce (Sheik)
      2. Nicko (Shulk)
      3. Rich Brown (Mewtwo)
      4. SS (Villager/Ness)
      5. Mr. Concon (Luigi)
      5. KY (Yoshi)
      7. Zenyou (Mario)
      7. Angbad (Olimar)

     It was awesome seeing Mr.Concon (Luigi) in action against Aphro (Bayo). That was a fun set. Aprho is probably my favorite local player but I saw so many great pr (power ranking) players today and the skill level was through the roof.  Another great set that I saw was KY (Yoshi) versus Mr.Concon. It seemed that they were even in that set with Concon taking both games with a forward smash after KY missed an attack. Angbad (Olimar/Zss) is another great player that I saw play. He seems to play a small plethora of characters but I thought it was cool seeing him play Zero Suit Samus when nobody else there other than me and him were playing her. 
      The matches on stream were great as well. I really liked seeing Rich Brown (Mewtwo) versus SS (Villager/Ness). At first SS was getting mewtwo'd but once he switched to Ness his true skill shined through. Nicko (Shulk) put in work tonight getting 2nd place. He played amazingly well against SS with all these great Monado sword strikes. I saw a great Shulk for the first time ever. It was pretty cool seeing him play Shulk over his usual Cloud. K9SBruce (Sheik) just stormed through everybody and took the tournament. I barely remember seeing him play Rich Brown but it was an exciting match full of the usual K9 shiekisms. 
     My tournament matches didn't go so hot. Its not like I played poorly or anything but I didn't play great either. First set was against my friend Saladin (Rosalina) and for some reason I decided to go Samus in game one. I ended up sding first stock and didn't play a very good neutral against his aggressive Rosalina style. Second match I went Zero Suit and lost my first stock pretty fast to offstage shenanigans but once I got into the hang of things I ending up spacing really well against him and thinking on my feet more. Thinking of other tactics, sometimes running up to him and not doing anything just to see his reaction. Stuff like that. 
     The other set in losers bracket was against Shinta (Robin/Pikachu). He had an amazing Robin. I went Zss first this time and just went all out aggression without much thought and lost pretty fast. He switched to Pikachu and I switched to Samus, thinking Pikachu was his easier character to beat. I was wrong. I ended up getting combo'd relentlessly by Pikachu's tail whip and electric attacks. It was a good experience playing someone as good as him in bracket though. I feel like I definitely learned a lot more about my play and how to improve. He ended up getting 13th place at a stacked tournament so that shows how good of player he is.
     Overall, this was a great tournament. I'm glad that Fire and Dice is able to draw out this many people and this many skilled players. For the last couple weeks it had seemed that there was a dip in attendance but now it seems like everybody's going to be there again. Some of my friends that weren't there the last couple weeks showed up so it was good to see them again. FAD is also going to be starting Sunday tournaments starting this Sunday, on March 20th. They host great tournaments and its a happy/friendly environment for both pros and intermediate players as well. I'll definitely be back next Thursday for some more action!

Fire and Dice Smash tournament 2/25

     Today was just one of those days where nothing worked out for me. Unfortunately that was what went down in my tournament matches as well. Before the tournament I was hanging out with my friends in the morning and we decided to go to some no name Mexican restaurant that wasn't very good. They messed up my order and then made me pay extra for the mix-up because my meal was more than whatever they gave me. Then later on when I got to Fire and Dice I went to this pizza place called Fretteli's and they messed up my order as well. I ordered a large pizza with bacon and pepperoni and instead they gave me a small pizza with bacon and pepperoni. In the end I guess it was ok because they decided to give me the small pizza for free and then make me my large pizza as well. I ended up sharing a lot of the extra pizza with my friends and some fellow smashers. This isn't really bad stuff but it really got to me because I was super hungry when I ate at both of those places. To put more salt in the wound, earlier in the morning my friend and I played smash and he's not better than me or anything and I just got bodied super hard, a lot of the time barely losing matches. In the last match he zero to death-ed me with Gannondorf and I just walked off the stage and left the room. I've never been that salty before to do that but there's a first time for everything. Today was just not a good day. But I digress.
      In my first set I played against Jinx, this really good Rosalina player that I saw playing doubles with Aphro. I just got bodied. He played a super campy defensive Rosalina, focusing on punishes. I don't think I played bad against him but I did sd (suicide death) in one of the games. I would say overall my neutral and spacing has gotten much better but there are sometimes when you can't do much against a more skilled player. I was playing Bayonetta in both games. It was a fast 2-0 for him.
     My second set was against Abyss, a random character player. He doesn't really have a main. He's a cool guy and we've talked before but never got to play until today. He played Lucina game one and kept breaking my shield with her side-B sword charge. I kept falling for it and getting shield broken and forward smashed. This happened three times in a row! Needless to say that game was over fast. Game two I switched to Zero Suit Samus and he went Game and Watch. This game was much closer but again, what can I do when my opponent is much more skilled than I am? I'd have to play a perfect game without any mistakes and pull a rabbit out of my hat, which didn't happen unfortunately. In the end it was another quick loss. I lost two sets in the blink of an eye. It was the worst I've ever played smash in tournament ever. I was pretty salty but I still said good game and stuff to the guys.
     My reaction to playing my worst day of smash 4? Just sitting down and taking it all in by playing some friendlies and talking to friends. This didn't help at all because I was in such a bad mood and funk that I just kept losing every game to dumb stuff. I kept doing dumb stuff and getting hit by dumb stuff. Everything was just terribad and I couldn't focus on the game at all. I'm thinking about listening to music when I play at tournaments just so I can calm down and focus. Today just wasn't fun. But there are going to be days like this and I need to accept the fact that people are just better than me at the game and that it might take be months, if not years to surpass them. I consider smash a big part of my life and I want to become good enough to get top ten at Fire and Dice but the more I go, the more I realize that it's becoming insurmountable.
     I watched a few games but I was kind of detached from everything. I saw my friend lose to a Sonic because he sd'd and lost his momentum. My friend Saladin played really well today although he sd'd in a crucial game three. One of my Simi Valley friends beat JeDi using Toon Link. I didn't really watch any of the high level players today but I saw Aphro pull off this sick Bayonetta combo where he took his opponent super high into the top of the stage and killed them. I've gotta learn how to do that if I'm going to seriously play Bayonetta. As far as all the salt goes today, after writing about it and venting I'm honestly not that upset. When I got home I played some matches on For Glory and did pretty well, until I lost a game because I was timed out by a Greninja that just kept running. In the end its just a game and there will always be players striving to be the best. Everybody has bad days. I just have to put in more hard work and effort, and just keep playing the game. Hopefully, I'll be able to take these guys out sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading, peace out. 

Pocket characters

      I played my friend in Smash today as I regularly do (on WiFi) and instead of picking my mains (Zero Suit Samus and Bayonetta) I was playing all my pocket characters. A pocket character is a character that you don't main and perhaps don't play a lot but you occasionally like playing that character. My pocket characters are Fox, Mario, Shulk, Kirby, Metaknight, Diddy Kong, Veria Suit Samus, and Sheik. Those are all super good characters if you know how to use them but they aren't exactly top tiers (except Sheik). However, I think Fox, Diddy, and Mario are really close to top tier characters. Its a blast playing characters that you don't normally play. Lately I've been so focused on just improving with Zero Suit and Bayonetta that they're the only characters I've been playing. I've been very successful with them on For Glory and against my friends I play well. I need to improve my neutral. That's like the main thing I need to focus on but its pretty hard when I'm playing against people that aren't way better than me. I feel like I could improve so much more if I was able to train with some really good players. Other characters that I would like to pocket include Zelda, Luigi, Rosalina, Peach, Bowser, Bowser JR, Ike, Marth, Lucina, and Donkey Kong(so many!). It would be great to start learning those characters. I think I'm going to start doing just that. Its fun learning new characters and figuring out all their combos. Who are all your pocket characters?

Smash tourney at FAD 2/11/16

      Today's tournament ended up being hype! In the beginning it was very slow because there were very few setups but later on there were a few more added. I didn't really get to play too many friendlies because of the lack of setups but the friendlies I did play I did so-so in. I played this Mario that beat me in tournament last week and I almost beat him (taking him way beyond 100%). It was cool because a friend that I met through my brother showed up and brought two friends and we ended up hanging out, talking, and playing friendlies. My tournament matches were losses but they were to really good players. I'm proud to say that I played much better against them than I have in the past times we played. I lost to Fox players. There are a lot of Foxes in SoCal.You can check how stacked this tournament was here, take a look at the bracket-http://challonge.com/fad_WE6.
     The first guy I played is this guy Mattman (Fox). He's beaten me in the past but back then he two stocked me. This time I played much better but still lost. I just kept making bad trades, you don't want to trade with Fox as Zero Suit. After he beat me he told me all about how I can improve and what I did wrong. He said the biggest thing I need to work on is my neutral, which I think is what I need work on the most. In all honesty I don't think I played bad against him considering last time he two stocked me doing nothing but up-air shenanigans. This time I at least took a stock both games and at least put in some work with a few combos. Its funny because I was super salty when I lost to him and when I lost the first stock game one I was really upset. First time I've ever been upset at a tournament. I felt extra salty after that set. But it went away after I realized that last time we played I did much worse. I'm improving!
     The second opponent was Fox16, another Fox player. I've lost to him twice in tournament so far but I have taken a game off him with my Samus once in the past. Game one I was playing super well and he was missing all his confirms (missing a lot of up-smash). I feel that when Fox starts missing its easy to punish him and start up combos. I took the first stock game one and I was feeling super confident. Then, he did a back-air and it was tied up. You could say that I choked because even though I had a percent lead, (small as it was) he brought the game back and won. Then game two he switched to Wario and again, it was pretty even first stock. Then he took the first stock and I kind of just fell apart. Its one of my biggest problems in tournament that when I'm playing really well and have a lead I just panic and start going for bad options when I should be playing patient and switching it up. Again though, I can't be upset with losing to Fox16 because he's a great player and I actually played really well against him today. I'm proud of how well I played today but I know I can get better. Those two guys I played today were technically better than me but that doesn't mean that I can't pull a rabbit out of my hat and slay them. That's my plan in the future if we face again, and knowing how many times we've played I know we will play again.
     One of the guys my friend brought was this cool black guy that played Mario. In friendlies he went around beating like ten people in a row before losing. But when it came to his tournament matches he didn't play so well. Its weird how good players lose in a tournament setting but annihilate in friendlies. Maybe it was the nerves that got to him. I feel like he did a lot of random smash attacks and didn't really play much of a neutral game but he made it work so well that it didn't matter.
     Anyways, some of the high level sets were great to watch. My favorite was winners finals-K9SBruce versus Larry Laur (Sheik vs Corrin). Larry went all Corrin this tournament and I think in the end it was the reason why he lost. I really wanted to see his Fox when he was losing to K9. However, there ain't no shame in 2nd place at a local. But its not like Larry played bad or anything, he played great! I think in the end it was 2-2 and K9 won in game five. The crazy thing about it though was that K9 reset from losers, what a comeback! It was a great ending to the tournament and they both played well. At some points it looked like Larry was dancing as Corrin with all the combos he was doing. He made Corrin look a lot better than she actually is. I don't think I'll ever see a Corrin play that well for a long time.
     Then there was Aphro versus K9. That was a fun match-up (Bayonetta versus Sheik). I really dig Aphro's style because he's a Zero Suit main like me and I've been playing Bayonetta pretty much exclusively too. After my matches today I felt like I should have gone Bayonetta considering the fact that I've been playing her nonstop for like two weeks now. Too bad I didn't play her when I lost a match. Maybe I could've brought it back with her because she's still new and people aren't used to her combos and style yet. Also, my Bayo's pretty decent. I've been playing great with her on For Glory and against my friends. I even played a match as her against my friend with a level 9 on his team and I almost won! Haha, but seriously next time I need to bring her out and try my luck. Aphro also played an amazing set versus this young kid that's a friend of mine, named Dynamo (Sheik). It was 2-2 and in game three Aphro was like at 130% and Dynamo had one stock and was at like 60%. Dynamo was close to timing Aphro out (it was at like 22 seconds) but Aphro just got in these up-air combos and just brought the game back. He ended it with an up-smash. It was a pretty sick comeback but he got super lucky that the timer didn't run out and that Dynamo didn't camp him out hard enough.
     Also, there was a great battle with this guy named Exeed (something like that), some guy that came from the Brawl days. He played a good Corrin against Larry but he ended up losing. It was sick seeing a Corrin ditto in tournament. That's a first for me because I don't watch a lot of tournaments. I prefer to see high level players play in person but maybe I'll start tuning into more of the competitive scene from other places and see what their players are like. I know SoCal is one of the best regions. Fire and Dice is such a stacked tournament setting, especially for a player like myself who just started committing myself to the game. Zork, Rich Brown, Aphro, K9, Nicko, Jwest, Zenyou, and CharlieDaKing were all there. It was a great tournament and I look forward to going to more. The guys running the place said next month they are going to start doing tournaments on the weekends, which I am hyped for. They also said they're going to start a points winning system for how many wins you get at the tournaments, you will get your entrance fee paid to go to Evo. Not bad, Fire and Dice. Not bad at all.

Smash full time

     Lately I've been playing tons of Smash. I haven't even been going on my computer all that much these days. Even when I'm bored of playing Smash that just means its time to go to work. I've been working a lot of hours lately as well but I've also been getting in tons of great practice. My main practice partner is my friend that I play online with a lot. He's a Yoshi main with some great fundamentals but I can see where his skills differ from mine. He's one of those players who will just throw out a lot of smash attacks randomly, a tactic that doesn't usually work too often. I've learned when to shield and when to punish very effectively against him. Him and my other friend play the same way its actually very interesting how they both play like that because I don't. Anyways, I've been labbing Bayonetta a lot and I love her! She's like my favorite character other than Zero Suit Samus. Although I've been playing Bayo 24/7 tomorrow at the tournament (at FAD) I'll stick with my main-Zss. Last tournament I did pretty well taking a game off a Mario player but I feel like everybody knows Bayo now and knows how to counter her. The only good Bayo I've seen is Nairo's and last night on stream he got bodied by Mr.R's Cloud pretty good. What's it like dedicating all your free time to Smash 4? Well its great. I've already seen improvement and its only been a week of solid practice just focusing on Smash. In time I will only get better.
      Also, when I was at work a friend came by and we talked about Smash for a second. He told me that the game was just broken and that he didn't like it, and that it wasn't a 'real' fighting game.  He did make me question the game a little bit when he said that the game is broken. Sometimes when I'm playing certain match ups against people online I do feel like the game is broken. Today I was playing a skilled Roy while using Bayonetta and I felt that the match up was heavily in Roy's favor for some reason. However, in the hands of a master any character against any match-up is viable. For example, today I was playing against my friend's Link and he had 2 stocks (with very low percent) and I had one stock while I was Greninja. Somehow, I started going hard in the paint (getting super close to Link and not giving him room for projectiles) and I just bodied him. I did a whole bunch of grabs, threw him offstage, and punished every get up on the ledge. And I've never played Greninja in my entire life! It was glorious. When things like that happen I know that the game is all about skill (natural or otherwise) rather than the game being rigged. Just a thought.
     I'm excited for the tournament tomorrow, it's become my favorite thing to do during the week. I usually win at least one game in my sets (but not always) but in the end I always choke. I've even taken a game off Fox16 with my Spamus Samus and he's a pretty good player. Also, I've beaten Jedi with Zero Suit at least once in friendlies. So I do have potential to beat good players, I just have to tap into that 'hidden power' just like Gohan did when he fought Cell. Can't wait till I get good enough to slay these kids like its nothing. Wish me luck!

Smash tournament at FAD 2/4/16

     So I went to yet another tournament at Fire and Dice. Fad has become a home away from home and its been a blast going every week. I actually played really well overall today although in my tournament matches I didn't play at my best.
     My first match was against this Mario player, really young kid. I thought I had it in the bag because I'd never seen him before there and I usually crush newcomers. Instead of picking Zero Suit Samus (my main), I went for Bayonetta and played a great game. I beat him game one and I was feeling super confident. Then in game 2 he went for the usual Mario shenanigans (uptilt, grab, upsmash). He took game 2 and then it was all to be decided in game 3. At that point I should've realized that I wasn't going to win with Bayonetta but I chose to stay her. I don't really remember the game too much except for that it was a really close game. I lost to the usual Mario stuff. I wouldn't say he was better than me but he still won.
     My second match was against this guy that was friends with a friend of mine. He played a mean Mewtwo. I brought out Zero Suit Samus and he took me out no problem game 1. It was not even close. Game 2 I switched to Fox and I started annihilating him. I took the first stock pretty quick but then somehow he started to adapt. He started blocking pretty much all my attacks and instead of switching it up or grabbing him I kept attacking him over and over again. He eventually took my first stock and continued doing the same thing. In the end he ended up winning. I should have really switched it up because I had that game in the bag. One of the things I need to learn is to change up my game plans mid match and not get tilted whenever someone counters it. I felt like I had the advantage too. Although this guy was a way better player than me I still feel I had the advantage because Fox just annihilated Mewtwo (imo). He played great overall tonight and I think he ending up getting 7th place or something. That tells you that he's in a different league than I am, yet I played so well against him that first stock! Oh well, next time I'll do better.
     Before singles started I played a bunch of friendlies against some random guys I'd never met. They looked like newcomers to the tournament and I asked them if this was their first time here. They said they were regulars. When we ended up playing I ending up slaying them pretty badly. It was a lot of fun! One of them played Yoshi. His Yoshi needed a lot of work but it seemed like he had the basic fundamentals down. I already know how to play against good Yoshi's because one of my best friends mains Yoshi. Every general Smash bros player plays Yoshi, he's super popular, like Mario. The other guy played Mewtwo. He beat me once. I'm beginning to see the inner power within Mewtwo because of all the good Mewtwo's I played tonight. I saw Rich Brown in action (a super good smash player from Brawl), the guy who beat me, and this random guy I met that I was playing friendlies with. They all played super good Mewtwo's. I never really took Mewtwo seriously until tonight because I saw how great he actually is. Anyways, in the friendlies against those guys I played amazingly with Corrin and Bayonetta. Later, I played some friendlies with some super good players that were friends of mine. Although I sometimes won because of suicide deaths (sd's) I did beat them in fair fights where they didn't sd, just not very often. To me that's a good day. I've definitely improved at Smash. I'm pretty proud of myself and plan on working harder to keep improving.
     Also, this was the first time at a tournament that I really enjoyed watching the top level players play. It was exhilarating watching K9SBruce (Sheik) play against Nicko (Cloud). They were going at it and it looked super even but K9 eventually took the set, but not before losing two games. Super close set. I'm not sure but I think K9 took the tournament.
     Then there was Dynamo versus Brandon (forgot his gamer tag). This was a super close Sheik versus Captain Falcon set. They both won two games and had to settle it in game 5. I'm not really sure what made Dynamo take that last game because earlier in the set he was having trouble. I'm glad he won though because he deserves it. And its great that Brandon is competing because the last time I talked to him he said he doesn't enter the tournament probably because he's unsure of his skill. I've played some games with him before and I never got close to beating him. He's a monster who will probably place higher at the tournament in the future.
     The best set though hands down was Rich Brown versus Nicko. They played and it was awesome. Nicko's cloud is super aggressive and heavy on aggro and Rich's Mewtwo kind of had to attack and counter attack a lot to stop Cloud's momentum. Nicko ended up beating Rich pretty convincingly. I think Rich got sent to losers but he won all those games and made it back to play against Nicko again later.
     This time Rich Brown knew what to do. This is probably what separates a top level player from a great player. He adapted so quick and knew exactly how to handle Cloud this time around. But it was still super even. They both won two games and it was all settled on game five. Rich switched to Olimar and he was doing work. I think Nicko lost because of one fatal mistake that cost him his stock. They were both over 100% and Nicko had limit charged up to full. I guess he felt like this was his last chance so when he hit Olimar off stage he jumped off stage and used his limit cross slash, missing Rich because he was above instead of where Nicko thought he was going to be. So Rich just spiked him and won the game. Nicko was really upset, understandably so. I've come to realize that when top level players lose they get super mad, sometimes even making a scene. The thing is that Nicko played great. He just messed up with that limit attack. It was super cool to see a high level Olimar player in action. It was like he throwing pikmin 99% of the time lol. It was kind of insane to see Olimar go toe to toe with Cloud and do so well. I guess Olimar is a much better character than I previously thought. Also, Rich Brown is just a great player. He's definitely one of the best players at Fire and Dice.
     All in all this was probably the best tournament I've been to in terms of how much I enjoyed everything. I played a lot, watched a lot, and learned a lot. I'm going to keep going and keep getting better at the game.

My favorite Smash 4 players

     When its super late at night and I'm really tired I watch a lot of Smash videos from tournaments that may have happened like a week, two weeks, or even a few days ago. Its a blast and I've learned a lot from watching high level players duke it out. I've seen some of these great players in action at the local weekly tournament that I go to. Here's a list of some of my favorite players. Some of them are from right here in SoCal.
     It goes without saying that ZeRo is arguably the best Smash 4 player probably of all time. In 2015 alone I heard he won something like 52 national tournaments in a row, which is an insane record for a pro gamer! He's put in so much time and work into this game that working another job just isn't an option for him when he can make money playing Smash. ZeRo is definitely one of my favorite players. Also, he used to be a regular at Fire and Dice, the place I go to tournaments at every week. It would've been great to see him in action at a small local like that. I feel like ZeRo's come from a very humble upbringing from Chile and now he's made it as a pro gamer in America. Its kind of like the Korean Starcraft pros moving to America and becoming household names as players here. It's a beautiful thing. The thing I like about ZeRo is that he used to be a Diddy Kong main and he was so good with Diddy back then before they nerfed him. Now he's a Sheik only kind of guy but that's ok. I do get tired of the fact that pretty much all the top players in SoCal play Sheik (that's kind of boring) but hey, Sheik is the number one character in the game so playing her definitely has its advantages.
     Although ZeRo is a hype player with mad skill my favorite player is Nairo. I don't know too much about Nairo but he mains Zero Suit Samus and absolutely annihilates with her. His combos and overall style is so fun to watch. He's not a SoCal player but he's beaten ZeRo before. In 2015 he beat ZeRo at MLG, probably one of the first times ZeRo lost a national tournament. Nairo is the best Zero Suit Samus player (imo) but there are others who represent ZSS really well in big tournaments.
     Mars is one of those players. I don't know much about Mars but I saw a mirror match (Zss vs Zss) against Nairo and it was one of the best sets I've ever seen in Smash 4. They were going off!
     I also have to mention Dabuz, a super good Rosalina and Luma main that really took it to ZeRo at Genesis 3. That set was so hype. Dabuz even two stocked ZeRo in Game 1! Again, this was one of the better sets from 2015.
     Now time for the locals. Zenyou is one of the first super good Smash players I met at my first tournament. His Mario is absolutely amazing. Uptilts for days and combos that will make you automatically eat 70% in one string. When I went to my first tournament he talked to me and gave me great advice about my playing and just overall what its like being at a tournament and stuff. He's a great guy and gives back to the Smash community.
     Next, Larry Laur. Larry is a great Fox, he's a space animal legend. He places really high at big tournaments as well as locals. I used to main Fox so I really dig when high level players main him. Because Fox is a fast faller I feel like he gets combo'd super easy and his recovery can be punished pretty easily if you don't mix it up a lot.
     In addition, my favorite local Smash player from SoCal is definitely Jwest, or Jweast. He's a Samus main that is absolutely amazing. People always talk trash about Samus about how she's a garbage character but when Jwest plays her he absolutely crushes people. I saw a set where he actually took a game off ZeRo, it was super hype! I've seen him play at the local I go to and hope to see him in action again. I feel like he can go super far with Samus. I don't even think Esam's Samus is as good as Jwest's quite frankly, although I could be wrong. I just love Samus but I'm always too afraid to play her in a tournament match. Maybe one day I'll just go all Samus instead of Zss and see how I do. I feel like I've learned a lot about how to play Samus from watching Jwest.
     Also, I see great things from this guy Dynamo, a Sheik main. He's super young and he's already good at Smash, doing really well at the local. He's one of the first people I met at my first tournament and he always gives me great advice. Whenever I lose a match he can explain to me what I did wrong and how I can improve next time. Then there's this other kid CharlieDaKing, a Fox main. He'll go really far in Smash 4 as well, he's already a super good player. I've played both of these kids and it was like I just couldn't do anything against them, they were that good. Sugoi.
     I have to mention Saladin because he's been a great friend that I've made through Smash tournaments. He plays a mean Rosalina too! Then there's GaryB (Fox main), another friend. Also, there's FuzzballJones, a Roy main that is really good. I feel like he could one day go super far with Roy at a tournament if he puts in the time and effort.
     I feel like SoCal's Smash 4 players all have a hidden history and persona that nobody really knows about because our region just isn't as popular as like Tri-State and stuff, despite the fact that we probably have the strongest region in America. I hope I shared at least a little bit of cool information about them. Most of these people are just regular people who just happen to be really good at video games. It's been great getting to know some of them and watching them in action.

Competetive Gaming Skills, Do you have them?

     I was doing my usual daily duties at work and I thought I should do a post about this. The idea that if you want to have fun and be a competitive gamer, do you have to be really good at gaming? My short answer would be no. My other answer would be maybe, and my final answer would be sometimes. Let me explain a bit what I mean. No because games are meant to be for fun and you shouldn't be stressing because you didn't make top 8 on the leader boards or something. Sometimes though you want to be great because that's just how you play games, you just have a competitive attitude and want to crush your competition. Sometimes when I play really well, it makes me feel great about my style and status as a player in whatever game I'm playing. This makes me want to keep playing in order to get better and better.
     I don't think you need to be a super skilled gamer in order to play competitive games and enjoy them. I know tons of people who are gamers and aren't the best players in the world (at their respective games) but they have a ton of fun playing games competitively with friends, and dare I say it, even in a tournament setting. I myself, am one of those people. I attend Smash 4 tournaments every week (have been for like 4 weeks now), and although I'm not a great player I'm having a blast playing and hanging out with all the new friends (Smashers) I've made. Its super fun. Also, I am getting way better at the game. At the same time there are some people who when they lose at games they don't have a good time and they get super salty. Salty is a term in the gaming community that basically means someone is butt hurt. Basically they're upset. I've had my moments of playing online games where when I'm losing I get a little salty and show it by expressing my feels in the in-game chat system. This only happens when I'm playing in team games mostly, but there are times when I lose in a 1v1 game that I get salty. All you can really do about it is to learn from your loss and do better next time.
     I consider myself a decent gamer overall. OK, at best. That might be selling myself short quite a bit. I'm actually super good at all the games I play. These include games like Heroes of the Storm, Smash 4, Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex-First Assault, and Project M. Basically I have some gaming skills for sure but I don't feel like I'm MLG (Major League Gaming) material or anything. I haven't done anything spectacular at a Smash tournament yet but I have high hopes for the future. I haven't beaten one single open world game on console or PC (currently working on a few titles in this genre; Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim, Bioshock) but I'm a multiplayer gaming fanatic. If the game has multiplayer I'll be playing it, learning it, and kicking ass at it. I'm pretty good at all the multiplayer games I play but that's only because I've put in a lot of time and effort into them. When I'm playing these online multiplayer games I get super competitive and always strive to do my best every time. The first step in order to 'git gud' at games is to put yourself in the zone. For me, this basically means to put everything else out of my mind and just focus on the game. If its a 1v1 game then you have to keep in mind that the other player is in the same position as you and you can always defeat them if you play your cards right. The hardest part of getting good at competitive gaming is when you're first starting and you're not sure if you're a good player. Just to get into the mood of playing a game that is just 1v1 an be intimidating at first. You just have to realize that its all just for fun in the long run and that it doesn't matter if you lose because you can learn from your losses.
      Sometimes people don't even want to put in the time and commitment to be good at competitive gaming so they don't even play those kinds of games. Keep in mind that when I say competitive gaming I meaning multiplayer games like mobas, shooters, fighting games, racing games, and puzzle games. My brother is a great gamer, probably the best gamer I've ever met. He can learn any game and do well at it given time. But he sticks only to single player games and doesn't ever play any multiplayer games. His main multiplayer game used to be World of Warcraft but even in that he stuck mostly to pve (player vs ai) and focused on running raids with his buddies. There are a lot of different kinds of gamers and some of them just aren't interested in the competitive side of gaming.
     For me, I've always been interested in competing in games. I have a dream one day of being some kind of pro gamer but I know that isn't going to happen because I don't focus on just one game enough to be super good at a single title. I prefer to play many different games rather than just focus on just one. I may change that attitude soon though because I want to become better at Smash 4 in particular, and I feel like I have to put more time into it to become great. I could see myself becoming good enough at Smash to place high at a tournament. I don't think being a pro gamer is viable at my age though (26) because that's not a real career in the long run. Something that I could do is writing for a gaming magazine, blog, or the esports community, or being a community manager or PR person in esports. I would be great at that sort of thing because I'm a big peoples person and people tend to gravitate towards me because of the way I am. I'm a very friendly, easy going, positive attitude type that makes a lot of friends very easily and stays friends with those people over the long term.
     To make a long story short, yes if you're a gaming whiz it will be fun and you will do really well. But, there might be a guy who's not even half as good as you are and he might be having more fun than you are because he's not taking it as seriously as you are. I've seen people at tournaments get super salty after losing, even getting to the point of yelling and walking right out. It's pretty funny but don't be those people. They give the gaming community a bad name, especially the guys talking shit on online games where there's a voice chat option. Sometimes just playing a game for fun is the best thing you can do. Honestly, I have to remember to keep that in mind and just remember its all just a game (you're only a pawn in the game). It's just entertainment to have fun. The competitive part is secondary. At the same time, I play to win.. I like to have my cake and it too.

Fire and Dice Smash Tournament 1/28/16

      Yet another tournament at Fire and Dice. Didn't play well in my tournament matches but overall in friendlies and in my general Smash play I have made improvements in leaps and bounds. One of the most important things that I learned today about Smash is how to tech. I can't believe I didn't start doing it until recently, it makes a big difference. I still have a lot of things that I gotta work on in my play and I'm hoping to improve by just playing the game more. Today I brought my good friend to the tournament and although he got knocked out 0 and 2 like myself, he did play a really great game as Roy against this Captain Falcon. Let me tell you about how my matches went.
     My first match I went up against this Jiggly Puff main that goes by Hbox, obviously in honor of Melee Jiggly Puff Hungry Box.. I played him last tournament as well and he beat me pretty easily. This time I was able to space with him and play the neutral game a lot better but I still lost both matches pretty easily. I did feel like I've improved because last time he took me out even more easily. I could see this kid going far with Jiggs as he improves and plays more. He has the best Jiggly Puff I've ever played and I haven't played too many good Jiggs so I kind of don't know how to play against her. She's one of those characters not a lot of people play often. I feel like he has that advantage going for him. It also doesn't hurt that he's a great player. I think the best I did was take a stock off him in one game, but that's about it.
     My last match was against this Fox player that was pretty good. Game 1 he two stocked me pretty convincingly. Game 2 I spaced better and played the neutral game and took the first stock. Then he came back with a vengeance on his second stock and KO'd me with a bunch of up-air Fox tactics. I feel like I know all of Fox's tricks because I used to play him but this guy's up-air combos were insane. Every time I was in the air I was in a lot of trouble and he usually hit me at least once. I've got to learn how to play against that because there are a lot of Fox players at this weekly.
      My friends' match that I really enjoyed was when he was playing as Roy vs this Captain Falcon. My buddy pretty much owned this guy until he switched to Dark Pit Game 2. My friend switched to Link and got taken out. Game 3 my friend switched to Shulk and ultimately ended up getting combo'd super hard, losing the set. It was a sick set and it was good to see that my friend, using the tag Death, won a game in a set at his first tournament. I didn't see his other set but he told me that he was up against a really good Shulk and lost.
      I've got a lot of bad habits I gotta get rid of to get better at Smash 4. Continuing to go to Fire and Dice every week has made me a better player. The Fox player I played against told me that I roll too much and that Zss is such a fast character that I don't even need to roll that much. So the first thing I gotta work on is stop rolling so much. In addition, I gotta learn how to punish more effectively with Zss. He also said that Zss has the strongest punish game so I should be using that to my advantage. Also, I need to learn how to space and play the neutral game more effectively. And lastly, I should be more patient. Sometimes I just blindly attack and the enemy player is just waiting for me to whiff so they can punish. So yeah, I'll work on not rolling so much, punishing more effectively, spacing, and being more patient when I play. When I'm playing, I don't always consciously think of all this stuff. Instead, I just sort of just play and try to keep those things in mind. I think the best thing I can do to get better is to keep playing a lot (for me that would be For Glory, with friends online, and with friends in real life) and not succumbing to what I refer to as autopilot mode. Autopilot is when you just play without thinking about anything and just doing random stuff, hoping to win. This might work on For Glory sometimes but in a tournament setting you have to really think about all your options and choose the best one to use effectively. I'll keep playing and I'll keep going to the tournaments. I'm having a lot of fun! And the people in the Smash community are great. They have been really open and I've made a lot of new friends. At the same time, I've become a much better Smash player. Today I played really well against my friends and then at the tournament I played really well against my friend and another friend I've met through tournaments. Practice makes perfect. I feel like all the bad habits I have have to be beaten out of me eventually until I just play differently. Eventually I'll become a heavy hitter, I just know it. 

Games I've been playing

     Lately, I've been kind of taking it easy and trying to relax. In other words I haven't been gaming very much and the gaming I have been doing has been light and minimal. I've been feeling super sick since last week. It's some kind of cold virus going around. This is one of the reasons why working in a public place is bad, you get sick from others easily. Also, I haven't been streaming because I feel like I wouldn't be up to the task being super sick and all.
     Today I did manage to get some gaming in though. It was a super fun day. I've been playing Heroes of the Storm and trying out some heroes that I don't normally play. I played Rexxar for the first time and I wreck with him. Rexxar is a monster tamer that has a pet bear that can attack enemies. It's a cool idea for a moba. They've probably already down stuff similar to this in League and Dota. Another hero I was messing around with is Falstad, this guy who rides a griffin. What makes him interesting is that he can fly across the map but it has a cool down. Pretty neat. Heroes is like my bread and butter game. I always come back to it even when I'm bored. I don't think I'm particularly good at the game, I just enjoy it, weather its at the competitive level or just casual. In fact, I don't think I'm good at video games at all. I only play games because its super fun and I enjoy it.
     After Heroes I tried out Xenoblade Chronicles X. I am so intimidated by this game! I literally had to figure out like everything about the game today and it was a bit overwhelming and I got irritated. I played for a good while and only completed a few quests and gained one level. I guess I should be happy that I've at least figured out the game more and have more of a feel for the game. I'm level 13 and I'm still lost and confused in this big open world JRPG. Its one of those games where the combat seems super easy but there's more to it than you think. You have to use your abilities at certain times, not just spam them over and over again. I'll have to learn more and keep playing it to truely understand whats going on. The thing is, I don't think the original Xenoblade game was complicated at all. It was a pretty easy to pick up games and I'd say it was even beginner friendly. Whereas Chronicles X is a lot more in depth. I guess that's a good thing. It means that the developers went out of their way to make the game more interesting. I can't wait to see what the game has to offer in the future.
     The last couple days I've been playing Diablo 3. I had a friend power level me through Season 5 for my Barbarian. It's been fun but the grinding part of Diablo gets old. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is amazing and the game just keeps getting better and better but I still feel like its all just one big grind to get the best loot as fast as you can and to get the most paragon levels as you can. It's like a race between players as they all search for the best gear and get to the highest Torment levels. Apparently now the highest level difficulty is Torment X, which sounds like a cool name for a difficulty setting. All the updates in the game have kept the player base coming back for me. Blizzard is truly amazing. The one thing I don't like about Diablo 3 is how its mainly just a pve (player vs ai) game. I loved Diablo 2 because of the pvp combat, I didn't like leveling up a toon (character) and grinding to get good gear. I just loved fighting people and pking (player kill) them. I see great things for Diablo 3 in the future. This is just the beginning.
     Lastly, I played Smash 4 for a little bit today. I feel like I'm actually getting worse at the game because I haven't been playing. When I do play lately its just been doubles just messing around having fun as certain characters. I'm in the competitive scene in Smash 4 but I don't think I'm very good. I feel like I have to put in a lot more time and effort into practicing to truly become good. I think I can get a lot better by just playing WiFi For Glory. I just gotta find the time and put in the effort. There's so many games and there's only so much time in the day. The most important part of my day is when I'm deciding what to do and for how long. Smash doesn't usually enter my mind until the late afternoon. I better get on that Wii U and start training if I want to git gud! Anyways, that's whats been going on with my gaming activity. What games are you playing?

How I see For Glory

     For Glory is seen as a horrible thing in the Smash community. The main reason for this is that Nintendo's servers can be laggy at times. However, I've had some times where there was very little input lag and it was almost like I was playing against the other player in person. However, no matter how little the lag is, it will always be noticeable and different from fighting person in a lan (local area connection) context (in person). For those of you who don't know For Glory is the online mode in Super Smash Brothers for Wii U. I'm one of the few people that actually loves playing For Glory. Normally I don't play Smash 4 unless I'm with friends but today I decided to hop on and practice some unfamiliar characters on 2v2 For Glory and it was like I just couldn't stop playing. For Glory can be fun if you just bare with the negative aspects of it. Sometimes there are lag spikes that can change the momentum of battle, but it isn't always there.
     For Glory is great for me because I don't always get to make it to tournaments and practice in friendlies against people in person. Also, I can't always play wifi with my friends because I work different schedules from them. My last option is to just play For Glory. I always have players to play with and sometimes I get to face great players in 1v1 matches. One of the best players I've ever played against was a guy (a Ryu named Edwin) I played on For Glory and he actually let me train with him in a ton of matches and I learned a lot from those matches. I guess the best part of For Glory for me is that its endless and I can play anytime I want with no prearranged schedule like training right before a tourney or something. It's just great. Sometimes you end up playing some really good players and it surprises you. People are actually good on For Glory and I bet the Smash pros all play online. Another great thing is that nerves don't really get to you like how they do in a tournament setting. It's very relaxed and if you lose your matches, its all good because these are basically the same thing as friendlies. Although Smash 4 keeps a record of your wins and losses in a records tab, other players don't get to look at it and see how good you actually are. Smash 4 desperately needs a ranking system because sometimes you'll end up going against someone who is a complete beginner, which is rare because the game has been out for a long time. But yeah, there should definitely be some improvements on For Glory mode in the last updates in February.
     For starters, they should create a ranking system where high ranking players get to face off against equal opponents. Then, they should allow players to look at stats of players after the match real quick. That way they know if the player is someone good that they should keep playing, or just leave if they know they won't be able to put up a fight. Basically they should make For Glory like how real fighting games are. That's all I want for an online mode of Smash 4. Nothing fancy. Just something for our efforts for playing the game online. I don't know if you get anything really for winning in tournament mode because I've never even played tournament mode yet. Eventually I'll have to give that a try. I know that a lot of the pro players like to play that mode on streams a lot. So yeah, For Glory ain't all bad. Sometimes the lag is minimal and I have a great time tearing people apart online. It's great when you start beating someone badly in 1v1 and then they try playing their main over and over again, and always losing XD. It's a great time and I can turn it on anytime I want.
     In other news, I'm in the beta for this new first person moba (massive online battle arena) called Paragon. I downloaded it today so I wouldn't have to wait tomorrow because the beta is only going to be open from 6am-6pm. I've missed the first two beta tests just because I was out with friends but this time I'm focused on playing it. It looks stunning and it runs on Unreal Engine 4 engine. I feel like the future of gaming is Unreal Engine 4. Imagine young game creators today getting something like Unreal Engine 4 and just creating some of the best looking games that we've ever seen to date. That's the power of Unreal Engine 4. I'm expecting big things from Paragon, as its a super hyped up game at the moment. Its everywhere online and they want everyone to sign up for the beta. So look out for news about Paragon, it'll be interesting to see if it takes off in the gaming community. Lastly, I'd like to say that I'm going to keep up streaming but I noticed that my twitch page hasn't been getting any views even when I was streaming for multiple days in a row earlier this week. Knowing that makes me feel super discouraged but I'm going to keep it up. Stay updated on my twitter https://twitter.com/fig_land for when I'm live. 
     

Smash Tourney at FaD 1/16/16

      I did really well last night at Fire and Dice's weekly Smash 4 tournament. I surprised myself, that's how well I played. This was a very light tourney with only 17 people entering. The people were good but they weren't good like Larry Laur or Zenyou, two great SoCal players that go to FaD quite often. Let me tell you about my matches.
      My first match was against this really good Ike player. I've played good Ikes in tournament before so I knew what to expect. This guy was great but in the first game I kept using Zero Suit Samus' somersault kick and took his two stocks with that move when he was over one hundred percent. It was really good stuff, I can't believe I got those hard reads both times after coming from deep off the stage. Surprised he didn't shield. Game 2 he kind of knew what to expect from me. I just ended up getting hit too much by dash attacks and just getting beaten by Ike's long reach and range. My somersault kick tactic didn't work anymore. He kind of knew my playstyle by now but he was still having a hard time. Another thing to keep in mind is that on Game 2 we played on Duck Hunt, which was making both of us whiff attacks a lot. Game 3 I went in and I played really well. But in the end he ended up killing me with a forward smash. I think he was at like 88%, it was a super close set.
      My next match was against this Captain Falcon player. I think he was using the tag Captain Gold because he went gold Captain Falcon costume. He was really good but I'm not sure if he was a regular at tournaments. I think he might've been more of an online player and he was just testing the waters at tourneys a little bit. His Falcon was really good and it gave me a little bit of trouble. Game 1 was really close. But Game 2 I just pwned him! It was great finally beating someone in tournament. I haven't done this since my first tournament and this was like my third tournament so I'm kind of experienced at this by now. His Falcon was good but I seemed to have a better understanding of the fundamentals of the game. Also, I was getting in a lot of the hard reads. He rolled a lot and I could expect and anticipate when he would roll in front or in back of me and punish.
     Because I won my second match I was still in the tourney. My third match was against this Jiggly Puff main. We played in friendlies earlier before the tournament started and I could barely even touch him, he was that good. He's just a young kid that has so much potential at Smash 4. He's better than Hungry Box at Smash 4, he's really good. His neutral game and spacing is just so good with Jiggs. It's like he's in the air all the time. I tried to do the same with Zss and do the same thing he was doing to me against him but it just ended up in a loss in Game 1. Game 2 I tried to switch it up and play patient and wait for him to mess up and then try to punish. But he just never whiffed an attack. He always hit me or always got away from my attacks. I could learn a lot from him but ultimately he ended up losing to this Mario player that goes by the name of SoCalGohan. Great name!
     SoCalGohan ended up taking the tournament. Free money for him basically. I don't think anyone there gave him any trouble. I saw him play this Shulk player, a Bowser main, a Ness main, and a Rob main, and he just annihilated all of them with ease. He did all the standard Mario stuff like the constant up tilts and head butt confirms but he was so good that he was improvising combos on the fly. It was great watching him combo the hell out of all those characters. It was great stuff.
     In the end I had a lot of fun. I did so poorly in friendlies that I didn't win a single game. However, I did learn a lot more about the game and I played really well in my tournament matches. I also made some new friends. It was fun. After the tournament ended I went to the bus stop to head home and while waiting my friend called me and picked me up because he was in the area at a poker tournament. We ended up chilling at his place. I brought my Wii U over and we played Smash 4 and Mario Kart 8 for a bit. I think he really liked Mario Kart because of the online mode. It was sick playing with him. Then we figured we'd play some PC games. And then I said why don't we stream.
     So we started streaming Starcraft. The stream went pretty well and it was cool having his webcam for the stream as well. Now, I'm getting back into streaming and I think I will keep at it and try to make something of myself as a Twitch streamer. My channel is twitch.tv/megaman1597, check it out when you can. I just finally got the settings just right on my computer to the point where it looks good (not blurry) and has good performance. It took a while messing around figuring out the settings using Open Broadcaster. I'll probably have to figure out more stuff when my webcam gets here. I'm going to try to get a new PC monitior (one with hdmi) so I can stream Smash 4. But at the moment I've been streaming Starcraft, Heroes of the Storm, and Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex-First Assault. Streaming is fun but I think I have to learn how to be more interactive, and talk more while I play, which can be a bit tricky in the beginning of learning how to be a streamer. Check out my twitter page https://twitter.com/fig_land for updates on when I'm streaming. Stay tuned for more content! 

Apocalyptic Wasteland

     

      2015 was like the year of Fallout. Nobody expected Fallout 4 to come out so quickly as it did and become one of the best games of 2015. I got my brother Fallout 4 for Christmas but I didn't buy myself a copy, partly because I wasn't sure if it was my kind of game. I never played previous Fallouts but when I saw how much fun my brother and pretty much all the rest of the gaming community was having I decided to give Fallout a go. I've been told to start playing Fallout 3 first but I decided on my own that I was going to play through New Vegas first. No real logic behind it, its just that I thought New Vegas seemed cool. The idea of a Vegas-like town in a nuclear wasteland just seemed super fun. So New Vegas is my first entry to the series and so far its been great. 

     The graphics on New Vegas run on ultra high settings on my PC so it looks absolutely stunning. I run some mods on the game using Nexus Mod Manager as well. I've been playing a lot of open world games lately (Xenoblade Chronicles X, Skyrim, and New Vegas) and its been very rough getting into them. I've been putting in time and doing the quests and trying to get farther but I just seem to get lost in the huge open worlds, or just simply can't find the person I'm suppose to talk to. 

     In addition, the combat system in Fallout takes some getting used to. You can shoot in real time but I suck horribly shooting in first person like that. The VATS system of firing is more my style but you have action points so you can't just keep shooting forever in that mode. So you have to play both styles in a way. It's interesting, I think Fallout 3 was like one of the first games like that on the Xbox360 when it first came out. I would say the hardest thing about Fallout for me is the huge open world, getting around places in the map (which I find to be a crappy map system), and finding people and/or things you need for quests. 

     The actual gameplay of the game is very smooth and lets you play anyway you want. It's a flexible game when it comes to the gameplay. Its just going around and doing things that I find annoying. But I'll stick with it. I find it to be a relaxing game and I was at it for a long while today. I made some advancements in some side quests and in the main story quests. So its been good. I wish I could say the same for Xenoblade Chronicles X. In that game I'm just straight up lost and confused like the first day I played it still. There's no real tutorials in that game but thankfully there is a manual you can read in game. 

     The coolest thing about Fallout is just the environment and the stories that the characters tell. I think of it as a nuclear fallout western game complete with laser guns, super mutants, and power armor. It's just amazing. That's why everybody is playing Fallout 4 and why there are tons of people streaming it on Twitch. My plan is to eventually beat Fallout New Vegas and then play Fallout 3. Then eventually because I'm sharing my steam account play Fallout 4 when my brother isn't playing it. 

     Also, I spent a lot of time playing Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex online. Its becoming my favorite twitch shooter. I like it more than Call of Duty now. Its just so fast paced and action packed for a twitch shooter. I'm also pretty good at it surprisingly. And I've also been playing Team Fortress 2. I even hopped on and play a bit by myself. Usually I only end up playing Tf2 with my good friend. 

     On a side note, I'm going to a Smash tournament tomorrow. Genesis 3 is coming up so a lot of SoCal's best Smashers are going to be competing in that. It's like one of the biggest Smash tournaments in California and I guess this will be the third one. I'm just going to complete at a local, at this place called Fire and Dice. It's a great place and I've made a lot of good friends that are great Smash players. They've taught me so much about how to play better and I've made leaps and bounds in my playing ever since my first tournament there, which I wrote about in the blog sometime back. I'm going to go hard in the paint with Zero Suit Samus. If I lose my first round as her then I will try Veria Suit Samus. Hopefully this time around I can beat some people. Usually the people at these tournaments are very good, but I'm at a skill level now where I'm about even with them. Pretty much how I am versus people on For Glory. I'm generally better than most people, even with some, and then there are a few who just annihilate me lol. I'm always trying to improve at Smash 4. I have a strong commitment to the game and my friends and I play every-time we hang out. Wish me luck!

Undefeated in For Glory

     Today was a hard day at work. But its all good. Where would I be without work? I wouldn't have all this money and all this cool stuff. Anyways, today was awesome. I played Smash 4 after not playing for like a day or two and I went undefeated on For Glory for around 25-30 matches, something like that. It was insane! I've never played that well in friendlies or at a tournament. I might be getting a lot better especially because I was using like every character-not just sticking to my mains (Zero Suit Samus, Veria Suit Samus). I found out that I'm pretty good with the other characters when I play them and that maybe I'm focusing a little too hard just trying to be great with just Zero Suit Samus. I'm also pretty good with Diddy Kong and I was playing well with Ness too. I played a couple different people but some of them stood out. One guy played Greninja and his strategy was to run away from all me and try to counter me. He hit me a lot but he could never do more damage by just countering me than I was doing comboing all over him. Then the same guy played Sonic and he just ran around the stage and whenever I missed hitting him he would punish with upsmash. Pretty basic stuff. He only stood out because he was sticking to one particular strategy with those two characters. Everybody else was playing standard For Glory style, a lot of rolling and forward smash attacks to punish. I feel like even though I felt great going undefeated, I know it doesn't really mean much because For Glory players aren't very good. In one sense I get this and acknowledge it. But on the other hand, I have come across some great For Glory players that whoop my ass almost as bad as people at tournaments. So I guess its tomatoes and potatoes, if you know what I mean. A better example would be apples and oranges. I do think For Glory takes skill if the other guy is way better than you and you somehow pull off a win. Although you could say that you won out of lag, the real conclusion to me would be that you learned their playstyle and adapted to it in a harsh environment (lag) and managed to be the victor. Which takes a lot of skill in my opinion!
     I feel like I've been getting better and better at Smash. One of the things I have to do is work on my combos. I've got to learn how to string all my attacks together rather than just getting a few hits in here and there. So I'm going to lab it up in training mode and come up with combos. There are a bunch for Zero Suit Samus that everybody knows but I haven't really tried them because they seem a bit out of my league. I still consider myself kind of a beginner, only having played the Wii U version since September 25th. But I guess that's no excuse that I didn't 'git gud'. I'm going to git gud soon. It's part of my New Years plans to work on become a real heavy hitter in Smash, at least at the local tournament I go. Playing online isn't ideal because of lag (crappy Nintendo servers) but I don't have a lot of options because I work nights and all the tournaments are in the afternoons when I'm just starting work. The struggle is real. Work is preventing me from becoming a champion Smash 4 player. But without work I wouldn't have even been able to buy a Wii U to play Smash 4. Everything goes full circle. Such is the wheel of fate.