gotta focus less on the characters and the high level play, and more on yourself as a player
#unbearable character crisis
frozen blade
so start with just picking a character, and setting a goal for doing something like
"Im gonna do my placement matches, and see where I get put in ranked"
and then from there "i'm gonna try to play better. How? by learning how to do x with y character"
rn your focus is probably way to broad; looking at all this stuff you "could" be
just know that it all takes a lot of work
and once you start doing that work, you'll find what you like spending your time on, what you don't really care about, etc
crisp bridge
Character choice really doesn't matter. You're going to win a lot and lose a lot regardless of who you pick. They all play a little different but still play "Street Fighter" so you'll learn the game no matter what. It's much more important to learn the big, general things about the game rather than character specific stuff anyway
wide hedge
And... You can always change chars if that one didn't click.
I've been playing since launch and can do basic stuff with most chars and advanced with a few but I still don't know who i want to stick with in the long run as a main
dark pivot
Character choice really doesn't matter. You're going to win a lot and lose a lot...
Whoever I land on in the end probably doesn't matter, but swapping characters after a couple sets probably isn't the best right? Went from Chun to Ed, got told the style I was playing would be better suited for someone else. Tried Juri then Honda and now I'm not comfortable really going online until I pick a main
frozen blade
Again; focus on yourself as a player
The character is the tool; it can’t be changed
Focusing on what you can do with them lays things out in a clearer way
dark pivot
I'll see if I can narrow down my list today, hopefully not going to spend my entire weekend trying to pick. Might be that I can't play SF and should try something else. Current list being Blanka, Rashid, Ryu, Luke, Deejay, Dhalsim, Marisa
crisp bridge
Definitely stick with one character for at least a few months, it's much harder to learn and enjoy when you're swapping characters over and over.
You'll be able to play new characters eventually, but it's most important to feel 100% comfortable with one character first
dark pivot
Might have to hit random and force myself to main whoever I land on, at least for a while
spiral bluff
I chose my first main strictly because I liked the special moves, it was Lily and I really liked the idea of a character with a gap closer and a command grab, + I liked her other special moves and that's what hooked me, it's just a very enjoyable character to use for me, so keyword is: enjoyment, I think it's the most important thing about any game really
just pure "I like playing this character, playing her gives me enjoyment"
dark pivot
No matter who I pick that probably wouldn't happen for a while since I'm terrible. When I did go online it was against diamond and master players which was fairly miserable lol
I'm not really good enough to enjoy a character until I put enough time into them. It's about who I'm going to spend that time with for hundreds of hours
spiral bluff
why are you playing against diamond and masters? go ranked and play people on the same level as you, trust me, playing a literal cyborg while you're still a squirrel wont make you like your character
dark pivot
Because I have bad ranked anxiety so I either go to the hub or ask in discords
spiral bluff
is the anxiety coming from losing a lot or something else?
dark pivot
Might not be right to go into ranked until I'm even slightly comfortable with a character. Picking a character and going into ranked immediately landed my Chun in Bronze and Lily in silver
spiral bluff
that sounds really good for a newcomer, especially silver
like, if you don't land in Iron you're pretty good
dark pivot
Silver is still far on the lower end though
spiral bluff
no, Silver is the higher end of the beginning ranks
dark pivot
Gold/Plat is the average right?
dark pivot
Or playing a character more than just my placements
Although I think if I lose to another one of those types of Ken players I'll lose it
spiral bluff
gold is the average i think, or maybe gold/plat, but silver is just one rank lower than gold, so thats definitely not low
anyway, I'm sure this is easily fixable, usually people struggling as beginners have a lack of knowledge on fundamentals, that was my story and I hated playing ranked like you
dark pivot
But I dunno. Haven't been able to pick a main in any fighting game I've played until very recently. Uni being Gordeau and in Skullgirls I ended up with Peacock/Bella/Double before giving up
spiral bluff
no character has anything that you really like about them?
dark pivot
It's more so I think most of the cast is cool
spiral bluff
nah, i mean gameplay-wise
dark pivot
Nothing really stands out, no
spiral bluff
oh
dark pivot
Dhalsim looks as fun as guile who looks as fun as ryu and Blanka, etc
spiral bluff
well that's a bit of a problem, Lily's ability to dash almost full screen and command grab doesnt stand out as well, for example?
dark pivot
Maybe I'm being dumb. Trying to say yes they're all different but nothing that makes me go "Oh this character is for me because of X"
crisp bridge
Pick the character with the best loading screen faces
dark pivot
Dhalsim
crisp bridge
Or pick the best costume
dark pivot
I mean most of the cast is ugly
crisp bridge
Ranked is 100% the best way to learn though
It'll let you see how a character moves around the screen, maybe it'll make it easier for you to see which gameplan clicks with you.
And people will be equally as bad as you
spiral bluff
yeah, ranked is best for finding out which character is actually fun for you
dark pivot
Plan is to pick, go into hubs and discords until I'm comfortable playing them then go lock myself up in ranked until I'm good enough to go to locals and such
spiral bluff
that's a bad plan, let me tell you right at the start
you will need to gain knowledge as you play, just playing ranked will not make you better, there is a loooooot of knowledge to this game
generally speaking, you should start out by playing for fun and seeing what sticks, ranked will get you the best suited opponents (I know, anxiety is a bad block, I had it too), but before learning the character comes learning the game, the fundamentals
dark pivot
They're not mutually exclusive
crisp bridge
What's your local scene?
dark pivot
Seattle. From who I've played online mostly diamond and masters
crisp bridge
Getting coached by good players is helpful for someone to help when you're stuck, but you can learn A LOT by yourself if you have a good mindset
dark pivot
Yeah I might pay for a coach at some point but not when I'm bottom of the barrel and useless
crisp bridge
Yeah I might pay for a coach at some point but not when I'm bottom of the barrel...
Definitely don't pay. Your local scene/discord have a bunch of great players willing to coach. I'm not that great but I'd be happy to look at your reviews or give some tips.
spiral bluff
well if he has ranked anxiety there's something amiss, maybe lack of fundamentals, the best thing to do for now is asking someone from here to couch you (for free, thats how this discord works) so they can show you stuff you probably didnt know, and that will give you a lot of confidence
dark pivot
To deal with me? Nah, they deserve some money for their time and hard work lol
spiral bluff
i was garbage too, at least thats what I thought
turned out, 1 hour of friendly couching, and it all changed, I simply lacked fundamentals
went from losing most games to winning most games, lol
dark pivot
Yeah but I'm aware of stuff like controlling space, poking, delay techs, anti airs. Just not good and need to play
spiral bluff
what do you do to anti air?
dark pivot
Depends on the character
Again I haven't picked anyone. Character select is probably what's going to make me quit (again)
spiral bluff
okay, which characters are you most familiar with?
dark pivot
As in who I played the most?
spiral bluff
which did you play the most, I guess?
dark pivot
Lily I think? But it's been like half a year
spiral bluff
ok, what did you do to anti-air with lily?
dark pivot
I don't remember lol
I played her for placements then gave up cause the character crisis didn't go away
spiral bluff
ok, so that's a lack fo very fundamental knowledge right there, so I assume that's the main problem
dark pivot
???
Well anyway if I can't pick by today or tomorrow I'll give up again, maybe I'm too dumb to pick a character 
Thanks for the discussion tho, especially grateful since I don't have friends to talk to anymore
spiral bluff
sorry, im a bit all over the place with what I want to say
what I really wanna do is go and play with you, because thats the best way to teach you about fundamentals
dark pivot
I mean my fundamentals are bad, I tried to say earlier I'm aware of the stuff but I need to do better
spiral bluff
the reason I asked abot anti airing is because anti airing is almost universally the same for all characters: they either crouch and heavy punch (the easy, reliable way) or do a DP (harder)
and thats something everyone knows as part of 101 of SF, so thats why I think you simply lack very simple knowledge and once thats fixed you're on a great path
spiral bluff
oh, ok, but have you been doing it? especially the non-special ones?
dark pivot
Trying to
Again, working on it and trying to do better
But also, once again, can't pick a character and some options are different
spiral bluff
well, pressing crouch and one button should be a very easy thing to do, do you mean you are working on DPs? the special uppercuts I mean?
dark pivot
spiral bluff
anyway, if you wanna play right now for a bit, maybe I can spot something and give you a hint
dark pivot
Nah I'm too shit, thanks though