I see Isomac, thanks for the info!

And jesus christ! My rep has taken a nosedive after I started playing VF. Apparently I'm "unsporting" to the point where 23% avoid me! :O

I'm just good, you bloody wankers.

Haha, yeah, uramawari tactics are pretty annoying. VF3 was shock full of them. :)

There is, like you say, an easy fix for them when you iron out that instinctive rising low/high kick though. Most intermediate players haven't done that however, so they're pretty easy targets. I try not to do it too much if the player isn't kicking my ass though. :P

Aaaaaah! I'm going insane! There are some pretty hardcore people on right now.

Haha, I pretty much do the same thing. You'd also hear me hitting myself with the controller when I get an input wrong.

Wait, this game isn't even out yet in the US? You guys got it first?! What the hell?

I don't hate noobs, they're cute ;)

Dammit! I need to stop the flow of information!

Well, more than just learning the moves, people need to learn the basic gameplay system and they'll find it far more enjoyable. That's really the same with any fighter, there's just a slightly bigger learning curve here but it's really not that bad. It's too bad to hear that VF5's training modes are actually less complete than VF4's.. but oh well.

Movement, blocking, throws, evades, etc. Everything that's not specific to a single character.

If you say so.. I think of "moves" as the characters set of commands and not the games system. You can call it whatever you want though.

Actually, speaking of which.. It's easy to look at this and be fooled that it's just like VF4 - it really isn't.

I'm noticing tons of weird stuff that happens that I haven't read up on at all. For instance, certain throws seem to cancel out certain basic moves. I've ended up interrupted in a combo by a whiffed throw a lot, which was usually a sure way to get the OTHER guy. Intercept the throw with a punch and go for a juggle or a throw of my own (risky) on the recovery. Here though it seems it can actually be the other way around, but only in some instances.

Also, there seems to be emphasis back on evades after having cut back on them some in VF4. They wanted a more focused game, keeping people wrapped around the attacks by only allowing a proper escape move as a response to an incoming attack. I liked that, I prefered it over VF3's VERY movement based fighting at the time. Here though, standard sidesteps repositions the character pretty dramatically, and the ring out game is definitely more pronounced again.. if you wanna play it that way. ;)

There are also offensive moves within the basic sidesteps (beginning with u, u/d, d + g+p+k) and of course the u + g+p+k is still there from VF4.

Other things I've noticed is that throws generally seem to have higher priority now, and I dunno if it's just me but throw escape buffering seems more forgiving. I usually have no idea about the playing style of people I meet online, but I seem to be throw escaping rather frequently. That could be because they're sticking to very basic throws, or maybe the frame windows have increased a bit to level out the slight shift in focus back to VF3's throwing game.

Um.... apart from that I don't think there's anything in particular that I've observed so far.. I'm useless at spotting these things, mind, but I've noticed enough to know it's definitely not VF4 in a new coat of paint like I expected.

Since Kataoka took over VF it's gotten increasingly cool for real and less cheesy.. There is of course loads of cheese in here still, but sometimes it's actually so genuinely stylish you're worried it's not the VF you know. Then someone goes "START RUNNING.......................................NOOOOOW!" and you're like "alright we're back."

But yeah, if you've played Fighting Vipers 2 then you will DEFINITELY get some vibes here. The frequently dreadful techno music for one thing, and I even think I recognize some of the voice work from FV2.

Still, Jacky is awesomer than ever to play, and he looks absolutely snazztastic aswell, so it's autmatically my favourite VF so far.

(In weak moments of nostalgia I'll still tell you it's VF2, but going back to it it's actually a bit.... limited.)

Yes voices are so terribly important in a fighting game. TRASH!

The lip syncing sucks too, everyone return it!