Parrying is invariably the mechanic which draws a huge portion of the new/beginner 3rd strike player base. My first experience with 3S was the famous Daigo video, which from a purely technical standpoint is not that impressive - the first parry was a combination of bad decision making on Justin Wong's part and luck on Daigo's (you could see Ken move forward right before the super flash), and the rest was simply a matter of execution, nothing more. Even so, watching Ken, on the brink of death, staving off seemingly certain defeat and turning around a lost situation, and factoring in the stage, the crowd's reaction, and so on, it still ends up being a great moment. Parries possess a certain flashiness, a certain "gotcha!" to them that never gets old, keeps the game still going more than a decade after its inception.
Unlike my previous posts, which have (for the most part) been strictly technical in nature, I want to explore parrying from a slightly more psychological view. Of course, the focus is, as always, on improving as a player, so the technical aspects of parrying will be at the forefront, but this is more a personal view on how to approach parrying intelligently, and is not as cut-and-dry as my previous posts.
"The emphasis on building meter without fighting, just running to a corner and whiffing moves repeatedly, combined with the universal advantage of parrying, is the primary reason I could never get into the SF3 series as a whole."
The quote above, despite the quotation marks, is a paraphrase of a statement I read in a review quite some time ago. I don't think the review was even for an SF3 game, probably for whatever version of SF4 was newest at the time, but of course my mind became fixated on this point since I both love 3rd Strike and don't particularly care for the SF4 series.
Although this is straying off topic a bit, the first point has always been the one massive scratch on the otherwise nearly flawless diamond of 3rd strike in my mind, and I am ready to concede the point to any 3S critic. Allowing characters to gain meter by whiffing normals has had all sorts of negative impact on the game, from discouraging actual fighting - you know, the point of a fighting game - in favor of just mindlessly hitting normals at a safe distance to being a large part of the reason why Chun and Yun dominate the tier lists so thoroughly, for so long. Both characters are massively stronger with meter than without, and being able to get it so freely without any real effort or risk undermines the whole point of a meter system in the first place.
Now, with that out of the way, I am also prepared to say that the second point is not only indicative of someone who is a beginner at best (at least when it comes to 3S), but is completely, utterly incorrect. Parrying does give an advantage if used intelligently, no doubt; however, to characterize that advantage as "universal" is so thoroughly, utterly wrong that it boggles my mind. And if I seem unusually vehement or worked up on this point, it is because this sentiment - that parrying is universally great - is so widespread among beginners, especially among weaker players who have been playing for a long time without actually progressing much in terms of skill beyond that of an early-intermediate player, at best.
Debunking the myth - appreciating the risks of parrying, and not just the reward
The simplest place to start when explaining why parrying is not "universally advantageous" is to point out that "parrying" has two distinct, mutually exclusive modes: high parrying and low parrying. Immediately, there's a dichotomy that can't be bridged - you can't high and low parry at the same time, and the majority of moves fall strictly into one category or the other. Now, one could say "well, given that there are moves that can be high and low parried, doesn't the overall balance fall in your favor?" Putting aside the gross oversimplification involved with such a mindset, it still doesn't remove the element of chance involved with cold, complete guess parrying - you will come out in a disadvantageous situation a significant portion of the time, and you'll do so in a manner that could've been easily avoided, just by blocking, for example. You hurt the consistency of your play significantly by resorting to such chance-related tactics, and consistency will do much more for you in the long run than a flashy parry here and there.
Now let's peel away the layers of oversimplification a bit more - let's add throws into the mix. Throws do have limited range, but they can't be parried and are very fast, and are thus very effective against parry-happy playstyles. Command grabs are also very similar in nature, and often have better range than throws. Now the scales have tipped somewhat more against mindless, "universal", willy nilly parrying.
And once you start playing against more advanced players, numerous other things come into play:
- Parry baits: baiting you into parrying low-forward and then catching you with uppercut, for example
- Safe parries: throwing out a jump-in late enough that it can't be punished even if it's parried, for example
- Varied timing: waiting for you parry, then punishing you in the interval between parries or between parrying and blocking
- Risk/reward analysis: "If I get the parry, my follow-up punish does 15% because I have no meter; if I guess wrong and get punished, he gets 40% off of a big super combo"
And there are many more things that could be added to that list, doubtless there are other considerations that are beyond my level. And all of this is before the biggest consideration of all: there is another human being on the other side of the machine. They are just as capable of dissecting your play as you are of theirs; they are constantly thinking, analyzing, varying their strategies to punish your patterns and mask or avoid theirs.
Before I give the impression of going off the deep end, I do want to come back a bit and point out that parrying can be used to great positive effect, but only if you abandon predictable, pre-formulated strategies - "I'm going to parry xyz seconds before he hits the ground on every jump in", or "after a knockdown, if he's at xyz range I'm always going to low parry" - and put some thought into your parries. Analyze your opponent's patterns - if he follows up 3 consecutive jump in crossups with strong-fierce (with Ken), and shows no signs of deviating, then you actually have a solid basis for parrying high after the next crossup. If your opponent can't discern between hits and parries, and always goes into super after a low poke, then it's fine to parry provided you either block, parry, or safely hit them out of the inevitable super afterwards. If you're at a range where your opponent's character can't hit you with anything low, then fishing for a high parry is fine, provided you're ready to switch back to a safer mindset the moment they get within a high/low mixup range. The more "evidence" you have for why parrying in a particular situation is a good idea, the more consistently you'll get good results out of it.
Ultimately, the point I want to emphasize above all else - and again, I'm more vehement about this because, in my experience, it plagues low-level play more than a lot of other problems - parrying always has a significant, unavoidable risk built into it. Don't fall into the trap of focusing solely on the positive outcomes of parrying; always be aware of the flip side, the risk of failure, and the punishment that comes with it. If you develop the necessary skills to parry effectively - zoning/spacing, meter/stun awareness, the ability to detect patterns in your opponent's play, good reaction time - then a lot of the risk built into parrying is eliminated, and it can be a consistently helpful, positive asset to your play. If you parry predictably or thoughtlessly, just because you have nothing better to do and you can't avoid the temptation of potentially going from a defensive position to an offensive one, you will always be beaten down by more experienced, analytical players who will pick you apart without trying. Think before you parry.
Unlike my previous posts, which have (for the most part) been strictly technical in nature, I want to explore parrying from a slightly more psychological view. Of course, the focus is, as always, on improving as a player, so the technical aspects of parrying will be at the forefront, but this is more a personal view on how to approach parrying intelligently, and is not as cut-and-dry as my previous posts.
"The emphasis on building meter without fighting, just running to a corner and whiffing moves repeatedly, combined with the universal advantage of parrying, is the primary reason I could never get into the SF3 series as a whole."
The quote above, despite the quotation marks, is a paraphrase of a statement I read in a review quite some time ago. I don't think the review was even for an SF3 game, probably for whatever version of SF4 was newest at the time, but of course my mind became fixated on this point since I both love 3rd Strike and don't particularly care for the SF4 series.
Although this is straying off topic a bit, the first point has always been the one massive scratch on the otherwise nearly flawless diamond of 3rd strike in my mind, and I am ready to concede the point to any 3S critic. Allowing characters to gain meter by whiffing normals has had all sorts of negative impact on the game, from discouraging actual fighting - you know, the point of a fighting game - in favor of just mindlessly hitting normals at a safe distance to being a large part of the reason why Chun and Yun dominate the tier lists so thoroughly, for so long. Both characters are massively stronger with meter than without, and being able to get it so freely without any real effort or risk undermines the whole point of a meter system in the first place.
Now, with that out of the way, I am also prepared to say that the second point is not only indicative of someone who is a beginner at best (at least when it comes to 3S), but is completely, utterly incorrect. Parrying does give an advantage if used intelligently, no doubt; however, to characterize that advantage as "universal" is so thoroughly, utterly wrong that it boggles my mind. And if I seem unusually vehement or worked up on this point, it is because this sentiment - that parrying is universally great - is so widespread among beginners, especially among weaker players who have been playing for a long time without actually progressing much in terms of skill beyond that of an early-intermediate player, at best.
Debunking the myth - appreciating the risks of parrying, and not just the reward
The simplest place to start when explaining why parrying is not "universally advantageous" is to point out that "parrying" has two distinct, mutually exclusive modes: high parrying and low parrying. Immediately, there's a dichotomy that can't be bridged - you can't high and low parry at the same time, and the majority of moves fall strictly into one category or the other. Now, one could say "well, given that there are moves that can be high and low parried, doesn't the overall balance fall in your favor?" Putting aside the gross oversimplification involved with such a mindset, it still doesn't remove the element of chance involved with cold, complete guess parrying - you will come out in a disadvantageous situation a significant portion of the time, and you'll do so in a manner that could've been easily avoided, just by blocking, for example. You hurt the consistency of your play significantly by resorting to such chance-related tactics, and consistency will do much more for you in the long run than a flashy parry here and there.
Now let's peel away the layers of oversimplification a bit more - let's add throws into the mix. Throws do have limited range, but they can't be parried and are very fast, and are thus very effective against parry-happy playstyles. Command grabs are also very similar in nature, and often have better range than throws. Now the scales have tipped somewhat more against mindless, "universal", willy nilly parrying.
And once you start playing against more advanced players, numerous other things come into play:
- Parry baits: baiting you into parrying low-forward and then catching you with uppercut, for example
- Safe parries: throwing out a jump-in late enough that it can't be punished even if it's parried, for example
- Varied timing: waiting for you parry, then punishing you in the interval between parries or between parrying and blocking
- Risk/reward analysis: "If I get the parry, my follow-up punish does 15% because I have no meter; if I guess wrong and get punished, he gets 40% off of a big super combo"
And there are many more things that could be added to that list, doubtless there are other considerations that are beyond my level. And all of this is before the biggest consideration of all: there is another human being on the other side of the machine. They are just as capable of dissecting your play as you are of theirs; they are constantly thinking, analyzing, varying their strategies to punish your patterns and mask or avoid theirs.
Before I give the impression of going off the deep end, I do want to come back a bit and point out that parrying can be used to great positive effect, but only if you abandon predictable, pre-formulated strategies - "I'm going to parry xyz seconds before he hits the ground on every jump in", or "after a knockdown, if he's at xyz range I'm always going to low parry" - and put some thought into your parries. Analyze your opponent's patterns - if he follows up 3 consecutive jump in crossups with strong-fierce (with Ken), and shows no signs of deviating, then you actually have a solid basis for parrying high after the next crossup. If your opponent can't discern between hits and parries, and always goes into super after a low poke, then it's fine to parry provided you either block, parry, or safely hit them out of the inevitable super afterwards. If you're at a range where your opponent's character can't hit you with anything low, then fishing for a high parry is fine, provided you're ready to switch back to a safer mindset the moment they get within a high/low mixup range. The more "evidence" you have for why parrying in a particular situation is a good idea, the more consistently you'll get good results out of it.
Ultimately, the point I want to emphasize above all else - and again, I'm more vehement about this because, in my experience, it plagues low-level play more than a lot of other problems - parrying always has a significant, unavoidable risk built into it. Don't fall into the trap of focusing solely on the positive outcomes of parrying; always be aware of the flip side, the risk of failure, and the punishment that comes with it. If you develop the necessary skills to parry effectively - zoning/spacing, meter/stun awareness, the ability to detect patterns in your opponent's play, good reaction time - then a lot of the risk built into parrying is eliminated, and it can be a consistently helpful, positive asset to your play. If you parry predictably or thoughtlessly, just because you have nothing better to do and you can't avoid the temptation of potentially going from a defensive position to an offensive one, you will always be beaten down by more experienced, analytical players who will pick you apart without trying. Think before you parry.