r/AvatarFighters • u/RockstarCowboy1 • 13h ago
Discussion Does anyone else hate the combo system?
Please pardon my bias, because I hate long combos in every game, but there’s something about the way they’re executed in Avatar that I find them totally inaccessible to me.
I get the A>B>C command normal xx flow cancel into follow up or xx special into follow up xx flow cancel etc.. I just don’t understand how everyone accesses these. When I watch people do these combos that start a juggle and chain into extra specials and rejumps that land into standing normals that go into more specials and flow cancels and etc. I’m flabbergasted. Never mind that I think the combo is too long. I watched evo France and that’s just the standard for high level play. But everyone down to pro bender is accessing them. Except me. Mine just drop regularly. I feel like the timing on everything changes, it’s so frustrating. I tried learning a critical combo yesterday, but converting it depended on where on screen you were. Sometimes the follow up works, sometimes it doesn’t, I was either too close or too far. Like why? Why make it so hard to get a basic conversion off of a key starter?
Here’s what really kills me. I’ve spent about as much time playing avatar as I have every other popular combo centric game. I played 2xko, strive 2.0, sf6 season 1. After 50 hours in 2xko I couldn’t do the strongest optimal combo, but I could do a basic bnb combo that did almost as much damage. In sf6 I couldn’t do every optimal combo, but I had a DR combo off cMK, a blanka install combo with oki setup, an anti air combo. In strive I spent less time learning an actual optimal triple bomber time stop combo.
I just don’t get it. Why did they make this game’s combo system so obtuse? I bought this game cause my girlfriend wanted to try it out. She doesn’t like the system either. The game reviews from YouTube and Reddit praised the mechanics and flow system for its quality. I was told it had great neutral. Maybe it does. I currently feel like I need to win neutral 4 times as often as my opponent cause they kill me in two hits where I need 8. I could literally sign in and spend another hour failing at combos. But I don’t want to. It feels like a futile exercise that ends in frustration. That’s why I’m posting here. It’s a lot of my accrued frustration with this game and I want anyone else feeling like this that they’re not alone.
Do you think they’re going to improve the accessibility in the future? Or increase the damage scaling so that long combos don’t become necessary? If the game devolves into a technical execution contest I’m going to stay out.
EDIT: got it, it's a tech fest execution game, cool. I guess I'm just not going to play any more. Like every other casual player who can't be bothered to queue up or hang out on this sub. Just the hardcore vet types who like grinding practice mode. Please stop telling people the game is accessible and new player friendly. Thanks for the replies, may you all succeed at your combos.
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u/BromoFom 13h ago
The combo system is the most fun part of the game to me. It definitely has an initial learning curve, but once it clicks it’s so satisfying. Every character has simple bnbs that do decent damage, but obviously if you’re wanting to go into the higher ranks you’re going to need to learn the more optimal combos. This game doesn’t hold your hand like other modern FGs do
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u/RockstarCowboy1 13h ago
give me roku avatar state aang bnbs to learn and I'll tell you I've already tried learning them since I started playing and that I still can't do them.
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u/BromoFom 12h ago
I haven’t played much of avatar state aang but he is definitely on the more technical side of the roster. Maybe you should try playing another character with simpler combos?
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u/RockstarCowboy1 12h ago
I want to play a zoner.
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u/BromoFom 11h ago
Then hit the lab ig idk what to tell you
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u/RockstarCowboy1 10h ago
I’ve been in the lab. And after labbing as a part time job for a whole month I still can’t consistently do any combos. Hence my frustration with this game
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u/VerdantDaydreams 13h ago
As an oldhead this is exactly the beauty of this game to me. It is an older style execution heavy game, a lot of modern fighting games have moved away from this because it can alienate new players but personally I love that aspect of it. If you're dropping combos a lot, pick up an easier character, or grind it out on ranked. You can't expect to nearly master a character in 50 hours like you can in sf6 or strive.
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u/RockstarCowboy1 13h ago
old head? what games did you play? none of the old games I played required technically challenging combos like what goes on in avatar to play a decent game.
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u/VerdantDaydreams 13h ago
I played a lot of +r and xrd, but I used to play a good amount of third strike and mvc2 too, and I would say imo all of them except xrd have tougher baseline combos than avatar. It's going to be character dependant but as long as you aren't playing katara or aang (and kind of even then) you can learn easy bnb combos that have like 80% damage of the optimal combos.
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u/RockstarCowboy1 13h ago
3s only has harder bnbs if you play yun or urien. chun and ken are so much easier than what I'm trying to do in avatar. Maybe it's my avatar character choice: avatar state aang that's holding me back. but I want to play a zoner and not a gorilla.
GG and MVC2 are historically sweaty technical combo games. I played ST and 3s and CvS2.
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u/Raskuja46 Toph 10m ago
all of them except xrd have tougher baseline combos than avatar
I'd argue dust loops alone are on par with or tougher than the combos I've been grinding in this game.
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u/wheatmcgrass 13h ago
There not that fucking haed dude (most routes anyway). It's just universal to all characters.
It's got a chain system, and some linking, and flow cancels that are used from a command normal.
It's highly character specfic routing with most execution coming from timing.
Absolutely nothing stopping you from doing 5B->5C into ex special into 5B->5C into a special cancel until you learn a better route.
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u/TronIsMyCat 13h ago
If you don't want to play a game that requires you to grind then you don't have to, but honestly avatar combos are not at all the hardest that I've experienced. There's only a few rules to work with and otherwise you know what moves are going to do.
There's no hitstun deterioration that makes you think about your starter, there's no combo limit that changes based on your assist usage, no burst you have to play around and try to bait, no juggle limitations to have to remember, hell you don't even have to worry about meter gain during combos. Your moves just do what your moves do every time.
You are just frustrated to the point where you can't think critically about what you are doing wrong. If you slow down, be humble and just try you will do better than you think you can.
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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 13h ago
Are you playing on a wired keyboard/controller, or?
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u/RockstarCowboy1 13h ago
Wired haute42 t16 on my ps5 pro if it makes any difference?
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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 13h ago
Could be ps5 acting out due to third party firmware?
I'm on PC, rebound my keyboard, so no issues. It is hard to time stuff, but that's because the window is short
Actually, yeah, that's it! Get the PS5's controller, and connect it with the cable. Try combos. In training. Hell, do basic inputs, until you can chain, say, 2 or 3 button inputs with precise timing, no matter how it is
Once consistent, see how hard or easy will it be to match on your t16
Might be your hands no agreeing with either medium, but my guess is that if you see jittering, timing being sometimes fast sometimes slow, or very late, that it's the firmware/OS related in general
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u/Broks_Enmu Katara 13h ago
That game tricky as shit man, gotta stick thought it for the love of the game because you will suffer at first while learning it
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u/Nodusmepls 13h ago
Combo system is same as most fighters with magic series. It’s a bit more old school tho. Not 90s oldschool but more 2000s/2010 kusoge type beat. It’s less room for errors in combos than any other modern game rn. You have to be speedy and precise with your inputs. Long combos exist in all modern fighters, hell there are longer in those games.
A long combo in Tekken/MK/2XKO is deadass like 20 seconds and leaves you at 20% health most times. I quite find the system in this game enjoyable because it really emphasizes skill and expression. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. Don’t be upset about it there are other games that will fill your needs
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u/RockstarCowboy1 13h ago
yea I wanna play neutral without neutral skips mechanics or long combos. sigh. strive 2.0 the best so far
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u/Nodusmepls 12h ago
neutral skip mechanics?
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u/RockstarCowboy1 12h ago
Dragon dash in dbz, but also drive rush in sf6, wild assault in strive etc. i want neutral where I play for space on the screen instead of dealing with someone skipping the whole process by using a fast movement option. And I want to be able to survive long enough so that my opponent’s mix can be learned, instead of losing after two setups. Like I want to be able to interact with my opponents and get inside their head instead of watching them auto pilot: neutral skip -> mix-> combo -> oki mix -> combo->death. Which is like, the way these high execution combo heavy games pan out.
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u/LawOrc Azula 12h ago
If you have a problem with drive rush being too fast... maybe you just don't like Avatar?
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u/RockstarCowboy1 12h ago
yea. I didn't like 2xko either. strive 2.0 is actually pretty good. I put 150 hours into that before I tried avatar. I want to play granblue vs. I loved that game. But I didn't get rising cause i hated all the changes they made in rising on principle.
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u/maki0129 Zuko 13h ago
Brother, I'm in high White Lotus, low Grand Lotus and I've yet to master a single combo that includes a flow cancel... That might be the thing that is preventing me from reaching Chosen right now, but tbh, reaching chosen is not even my goal, my goal is just to be better at the game than I was yesterday and right now I'm focusing on learning how to defend better against Ozai, Zaheer and Kyoshi, since those 3 seem to be my biggest achiles heel.