JDCR INTERVIEW DATE: 25th July 2012
Hello Everyone,
I met up with JDCR in Japan and thought it would be a great opportunity to have him share some of his amazing Tekken Tag 2 knowledge and insight with the rest of us as we are expecting to see a release soon so it’s good to know what we are in for. After a long day of fun sightseeing we sat down to a monjayaki dinner where we chatted about various things, including Tekken Tag Tournament 2. For those of you less privy to info regarding the Tekken titan, he is without a doubt one of the strongest Tekken players on the planet and probably ranks somewhere like top 3 in the world right now so everyone say hello to J-D-C-R!!!!!!!!!!!!
In this interview NaJin's JDCR talks about the tag system and mind games around it, his top ten+ character ranking, differences between Japan and Korea plus more!
1. RH: So JDCR, let me just start off by asking you, what do you think of Tekken Tag Tournament 2?
JD: Hmm, Ttt2 is fun but it is a very weird and random game at times.
RH: Why do you do you say that?
JD: Because of the tag system, and the combo damage being too high. In my opinion it has now become easier for weaker players to overcome experts than on Tekken 6 BR.
RH: So it’s easier to deal out critical damage from a small opening in defence? Hmm, I can see how that’s a problem. It kind of sounds like there aren’t enough ways to defend or something. I’m not really sure what can be done about that.
JD: One thing that is good about tag combos however is that characters who were bad at combos before are now good because of the tag options allowing them to make better juggles. This is an improvement to the game.
2. RH: Who are the most powerful characters?
JD: Kazuya, Lars, Leo and Devil Jin are the most powerful characters in terms of combos. They are far too strong in juggling. I cannot think of any other characters that can compete with these four in this area.
RH: I see, well as I’m using Kazuya and Leo, BLATANT! :D
JD: haha
3. RH: What do you think of the movement on ttt2?
JD: I find it really similar to BR. Except Tekken Tag 2 has some differences when it comes to tagging. Currently what I find interesting is when I get down to about half life and people start looking for your tag so they can punish you for it. You can fake people out really well by mixing up how you tag. There are times when I do a few backdashes to show that I’m running away then when the opponent approaches for the punish I launch them instead
RH: Sounds like the classic, backdash, backdash, electric from Tekken Tag 1
JD: Yes it works the same way but also another way to really surprise opponents is when you need to tag doing things like wave dashing really fast in the opponents face then suddenly tagging. This also works really well as people prepare their defence and are no longer looking for your tag. Once you start mixing these things up, the game becomes very interesting.
RH: Wow, that one is really cool, I like that.
4. RH: So who are your top 5 characters in the game?
JD: Hmm, Mishimas are definitely at the top but it’s really close between many characters I feel.
RH: Ok then, let’s make it top 15 characters so that its more interesting :)
JDCR really thinking hard.
JDCR’s Ranking (A lot of characters placed in joint positions as JDCR saw no difference in their strengths)
1.Devil Jin/Kazuya
2.Heihachi
3.Jin/Lars (Lars 3rd purely because he's easy to use and very dangerous)
4.Feng
5.Asuka/Bruce/Armor King
6.Leo/Steve/Nina/Bryan/Bob
5. RH: You placed Armor King joint 5th with Asuka and Bruce. Do you really feel this is where he belongs?
JD: When I use Armor King, I feel that he is a very strong character but I haven't seen any other players doing anything with him as he isn’t popular at all so it's hard to say. Basically I can't really say too much on Armor King because I have not seen enough of his play yet.
RH: Fair enough
6. RH: Which three characters do you hate the most?
JD: Jin, Marduk, Feng :(
JDCR racking up wins at Shinjuku Taito Station where noone was able to defeat him.
7. RH: Since your time here in Japan have you noticed any differences in the mentality or play style when compared with Korea?
JD: I have not been here very long but one thing I have noticed is that in Japan Heihachi is stronger than Devil Jin but in Korea Devil Jin is stronger than Heihachi. This shows an interesting difference in our play styles. Some top Japanese players say that Devil Jin may be stronger but find him too difficult to make that effective so here in Japan Heihachi edges him out.
I’ve also noticed that here so many players use Lars, he’s literally everywhere. We don’t have as many Lars players in Korea.
RH: Do you think Lars is strong or overpowered?
JD: I can't say Lars is a strong character but I'm just saying its too easy to make him effective and it‘s because of how easy he is to use why I placed him joint 3rd in the ranking.
8. Ok JDCR, just tell me straight. Who is better right now? Korea or Japan?
Korea is stronger than Japan right now, but Japan are really close. I think that out of the top players between both countries the level is really close, but Korea has a lot more top players whereas Japan doesn’t have as many.
I’ve also noticed that in Japan players use the dive a lot however most players in Korea prefer not to use that dive as they prefer to keep red bar and rage (netsu).
RH: Isn’t not using the dive risky sometimes?
JD: It’s very common that players die without tagging out, even when they are standing, they prefer to tag safely rather than desperately. They prefer to score a knockdown or make space somehow before tagging. For example make the opponent block an EWGF-tag, the blocked EWGF creates some space as it pushes the opponent back and they tag within that window, this is just one example.
RH: They are very clever in not being exploited when tagging it seems, this is nice to hear as it seems the game has a lot of depth beyond what Tekken 6 BR could offer. And yes I know what you mean about tagging. When I was in Busan arcade, I tagged and the guy I tagged in was left with less health the guy I tagged out. Haha.
JD: haha
9. RH: What in your opinion are the three most important things in Tekken Tag 2?
JD:
1.How To Tag - experts in Korea use tag quite frequently in some matches. This isn’t to save health or anything like that. It’s to avoid moves with big whiff recovery. For example after Dragunov’s ff+1+2 throw, he has a few down attacks after that but if you tag here you can escape them not only that, you also get a punish on him as well. This makes interesting mind games for both players. So knowing how are where to tag is important.
In Korea, one tag strategy some players use is they deliberately like to give the opponents character rage to make the opponent want to tag and in places this makes the opponent more predictable.
2.Maximizing Combo Damage - Players should remember that they have better opportunities for better combos now as there is a partner for tag bounds
3. I can’t really think of a third as all the other elements - movement, time, spacing, throwing, defending-for example are all the same as in BR.
I can say though that in Korea some people say that sidestepping is more effective than in BR so mastering these differences is definitely important.
RH: That’s awesome, thanks for that.
10. RH: Lastly, will you be entering SBO this year?
JD: Yes, I will be teaming up with Ace.
RH: Nice team! Wait, so you will be going back to Korea in a few days then coming back again next week?
JD: Yes haha
RH: Haha. Great, look forward to seeing you then and good luck in SBO.
JD: Good luck to you too Ryan,
RH: Yeah thanks! See you there Haha
RH: Thank you for this by the way, this will be great to share with the community.
JD: It's my pleasure, this is good for me too as I really want to share my knowledge with everyone to help them.
Thank you very much to JDCR for sharing his gems of knowledge with us!
Guys! Check out JDCR on Facebook and Twitter and cheer for the Korean superstar next weekend at the SBO tournament. :)
JDCR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tkjdcr
JDCR on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TKJDCR
Hello Everyone,
I met up with JDCR in Japan and thought it would be a great opportunity to have him share some of his amazing Tekken Tag 2 knowledge and insight with the rest of us as we are expecting to see a release soon so it’s good to know what we are in for. After a long day of fun sightseeing we sat down to a monjayaki dinner where we chatted about various things, including Tekken Tag Tournament 2. For those of you less privy to info regarding the Tekken titan, he is without a doubt one of the strongest Tekken players on the planet and probably ranks somewhere like top 3 in the world right now so everyone say hello to J-D-C-R!!!!!!!!!!!!
In this interview NaJin's JDCR talks about the tag system and mind games around it, his top ten+ character ranking, differences between Japan and Korea plus more!
1. RH: So JDCR, let me just start off by asking you, what do you think of Tekken Tag Tournament 2?
JD: Hmm, Ttt2 is fun but it is a very weird and random game at times.
RH: Why do you do you say that?
JD: Because of the tag system, and the combo damage being too high. In my opinion it has now become easier for weaker players to overcome experts than on Tekken 6 BR.
RH: So it’s easier to deal out critical damage from a small opening in defence? Hmm, I can see how that’s a problem. It kind of sounds like there aren’t enough ways to defend or something. I’m not really sure what can be done about that.
JD: One thing that is good about tag combos however is that characters who were bad at combos before are now good because of the tag options allowing them to make better juggles. This is an improvement to the game.
2. RH: Who are the most powerful characters?
JD: Kazuya, Lars, Leo and Devil Jin are the most powerful characters in terms of combos. They are far too strong in juggling. I cannot think of any other characters that can compete with these four in this area.
RH: I see, well as I’m using Kazuya and Leo, BLATANT! :D
JD: haha
3. RH: What do you think of the movement on ttt2?
JD: I find it really similar to BR. Except Tekken Tag 2 has some differences when it comes to tagging. Currently what I find interesting is when I get down to about half life and people start looking for your tag so they can punish you for it. You can fake people out really well by mixing up how you tag. There are times when I do a few backdashes to show that I’m running away then when the opponent approaches for the punish I launch them instead
RH: Sounds like the classic, backdash, backdash, electric from Tekken Tag 1
JD: Yes it works the same way but also another way to really surprise opponents is when you need to tag doing things like wave dashing really fast in the opponents face then suddenly tagging. This also works really well as people prepare their defence and are no longer looking for your tag. Once you start mixing these things up, the game becomes very interesting.
RH: Wow, that one is really cool, I like that.
4. RH: So who are your top 5 characters in the game?
JD: Hmm, Mishimas are definitely at the top but it’s really close between many characters I feel.
RH: Ok then, let’s make it top 15 characters so that its more interesting :)
JDCR really thinking hard.
JDCR’s Ranking (A lot of characters placed in joint positions as JDCR saw no difference in their strengths)
1.Devil Jin/Kazuya
2.Heihachi
3.Jin/Lars (Lars 3rd purely because he's easy to use and very dangerous)
4.Feng
5.Asuka/Bruce/Armor King
6.Leo/Steve/Nina/Bryan/Bob
5. RH: You placed Armor King joint 5th with Asuka and Bruce. Do you really feel this is where he belongs?
JD: When I use Armor King, I feel that he is a very strong character but I haven't seen any other players doing anything with him as he isn’t popular at all so it's hard to say. Basically I can't really say too much on Armor King because I have not seen enough of his play yet.
RH: Fair enough
6. RH: Which three characters do you hate the most?
JD: Jin, Marduk, Feng :(
JDCR racking up wins at Shinjuku Taito Station where noone was able to defeat him.
7. RH: Since your time here in Japan have you noticed any differences in the mentality or play style when compared with Korea?
JD: I have not been here very long but one thing I have noticed is that in Japan Heihachi is stronger than Devil Jin but in Korea Devil Jin is stronger than Heihachi. This shows an interesting difference in our play styles. Some top Japanese players say that Devil Jin may be stronger but find him too difficult to make that effective so here in Japan Heihachi edges him out.
I’ve also noticed that here so many players use Lars, he’s literally everywhere. We don’t have as many Lars players in Korea.
RH: Do you think Lars is strong or overpowered?
JD: I can't say Lars is a strong character but I'm just saying its too easy to make him effective and it‘s because of how easy he is to use why I placed him joint 3rd in the ranking.
8. Ok JDCR, just tell me straight. Who is better right now? Korea or Japan?
Korea is stronger than Japan right now, but Japan are really close. I think that out of the top players between both countries the level is really close, but Korea has a lot more top players whereas Japan doesn’t have as many.
I’ve also noticed that in Japan players use the dive a lot however most players in Korea prefer not to use that dive as they prefer to keep red bar and rage (netsu).
RH: Isn’t not using the dive risky sometimes?
JD: It’s very common that players die without tagging out, even when they are standing, they prefer to tag safely rather than desperately. They prefer to score a knockdown or make space somehow before tagging. For example make the opponent block an EWGF-tag, the blocked EWGF creates some space as it pushes the opponent back and they tag within that window, this is just one example.
RH: They are very clever in not being exploited when tagging it seems, this is nice to hear as it seems the game has a lot of depth beyond what Tekken 6 BR could offer. And yes I know what you mean about tagging. When I was in Busan arcade, I tagged and the guy I tagged in was left with less health the guy I tagged out. Haha.
JD: haha
9. RH: What in your opinion are the three most important things in Tekken Tag 2?
JD:
1.How To Tag - experts in Korea use tag quite frequently in some matches. This isn’t to save health or anything like that. It’s to avoid moves with big whiff recovery. For example after Dragunov’s ff+1+2 throw, he has a few down attacks after that but if you tag here you can escape them not only that, you also get a punish on him as well. This makes interesting mind games for both players. So knowing how are where to tag is important.
In Korea, one tag strategy some players use is they deliberately like to give the opponents character rage to make the opponent want to tag and in places this makes the opponent more predictable.
2.Maximizing Combo Damage - Players should remember that they have better opportunities for better combos now as there is a partner for tag bounds
3. I can’t really think of a third as all the other elements - movement, time, spacing, throwing, defending-for example are all the same as in BR.
I can say though that in Korea some people say that sidestepping is more effective than in BR so mastering these differences is definitely important.
RH: That’s awesome, thanks for that.
10. RH: Lastly, will you be entering SBO this year?
JD: Yes, I will be teaming up with Ace.
RH: Nice team! Wait, so you will be going back to Korea in a few days then coming back again next week?
JD: Yes haha
RH: Haha. Great, look forward to seeing you then and good luck in SBO.
JD: Good luck to you too Ryan,
RH: Yeah thanks! See you there Haha
RH: Thank you for this by the way, this will be great to share with the community.
JD: It's my pleasure, this is good for me too as I really want to share my knowledge with everyone to help them.
Thank you very much to JDCR for sharing his gems of knowledge with us!
Guys! Check out JDCR on Facebook and Twitter and cheer for the Korean superstar next weekend at the SBO tournament. :)
JDCR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tkjdcr
JDCR on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TKJDCR
