PDA

View Full Version : A "how I got my Just Attack to work" story :-p



Bitey
Nov 29, 2007, 09:01 AM
So, for the longest time I could not get Just Attack to work, at all. I have read all of the guides I could find, I have asked friend and foe alike how they can get it to work occasionally, but it seems my resources were limited because almost nobody I knew could get it to work indefinitely whenever they wanted it too work. I was very close to just eliminating my lvl 68/10 Wartecher out of frustration.

But then, yesterday morning, I had a sane point, and decided instead that I would sit down and make Just Attack work no matter how long it took. After hours of soloing Fight For Food runs with a newly made character wielding nothing but some 36% Light Twin Brands and a single Light Brand I finally cracked the secret and got it to work.

The problem was when I was trying to activate it. All of the guides and advice I got was that "I need to activate it at the end of an attack". That is actually horrible advice and what I blame for misleading me the whole time.

First of all, nobody ever defined "attack". "At the end of an attack" could mean several things. It could mean after I cause damage, it could mean after I swing my weapon once, it can also mean after I am done swinging my weapon entirely. They should have clarified more and let me know that what they meant by "at the end of an attack" is after a combo part is over. When you hit the button to activate an attack once, the attack is over after the combo for that one button press is over.

Also nobody would tell me how to activate it, like as in which buttons to press. "Oh, you just hit the attack button." Yeah sure, I will get right on that. I was freely switching between both X and Y trying to get anything to work and at first I could only get Just attack to work using the X button, any combination or use of Y had no results. So a lot of my time trying to get it to work I thought you could only activate it with X >.> It would of saved me some time to know that you have to hit X to perform Just Attack with regular weapons attacks and that you have to hit Y to perform Just Attack with a Photon Art. I know it should be common sense, but when you are not sure either way and only one button seems to work, you have your doubts.

Another problem that I had was with the Just Attack cue. I needed some sort of universal cue to look out for on all weapons to actiavte Just Attack when needed. Timing and weapon visuals are the most widely advised that people told me.

The largest key of all though, to get Just Attack to work, is not the timing; like what was widely suggested. There is no indefinite timing that is universal for all melee weapons. Some weapons are faster while some are slower. The same timing does not work for everything. While one timing worked for my Twin Brands, it was horrible for my Brand and vice-verse.

Going off from visuals of your weapon swinging instead helps, but not by too much. I noticed that some weapons may have a lag to activate Just Attack, like the Twin Brands I was using to practice, and that will actually throw your Just Attack off quite a bit if you go by weapon visuals. For example, if I try to Just Attack right after the first swing of my Twin Brand using X, my Just Attack will fail, because there is actually a momentary lag after the swing that I actually have to hit the button. my Just Attack would of failed because it was premature. So while weapon visuals may help, some may also hurt.

Instead, I found the universal cue to be the X and Y button displays at the lower right hand corner of the screen. When you press either button, a white filled circle expands from the button, stops, then fades away. That circle is the universal cue. There is a slight moment after that circle stops expanding and before it fades away entirely that you need to hit either X or Y to activate a Just Attack. This cue has not failed to produce a Just Attack on either my Twin Brands or my Brand for me.

After all of this, the rest is just stuff.

I experimented with my combo possibilities and learned that I could start a Y Just Attack after I have attacked once or twice with X, but I cannot seem to get Just Attack Y after I triggered a Just Attack with two X attacks (X->Just X->Just X->Y).

Just attack, as you all may also know, greatly increases your damage. It was increasing my regular damage and PA damage by nearly double when it activated. As a lvl 9/1 Hunter I was already hitting for triple digits with my Light Twin Brands on lvl 5 dark foes.

The use of Just Attack makes being a melee character more engaging as well. It was very addicting to actually apply some skill to spamming Photon Arts in the general vicinity of monsters rather than just mash a button until everything as dead.

I am happy that I have finally figured out how to get this thing to work.

DEM_CIG
Nov 29, 2007, 09:02 AM
ummm just time ur swings ???

Rashiid
Nov 29, 2007, 09:04 AM
http://home.cfl.rr.com/morph/tldr.jpg

I'm sure it was interesting, though http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif

CelestialBlade
Nov 29, 2007, 09:12 AM
Ah, finally, a universal cue. This is excellent advice, glad someone provided an in-depth analysis instead of "lol u just hit it at end of atk omg."

ljkkjlcm9
Nov 29, 2007, 09:13 AM
you could never do a regular attack after a photon art, you could always link regular attacks into photon arts.

Honestly, sometimes it's faster damage not to do just attack, depending on the weapon. With doublesabers, I find doing the second part of the regular combo to be laggy and difficult, and faster damage wise, to attack earlier, because the second part is only one hit, and then just attack for the last part of the combo that hits 3 times. It saves a few seconds, that over time, will out damage he who always just attacks.

it's once again strategy... but thank you for pointing out that some people are on different levels of understanding

(note: Honestly the first time I was trying I noticed it was basically when that circle dissapeared. I however don't care, and just hit attack when it feels natural, typically getting a just attack, but sometimes not, because some weapons are just dumb like that)

THE JACKEL

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ljkkjlcm9 on 2007-11-29 06:16 ]</font>

Ken_Silver
Nov 29, 2007, 09:13 AM
lol, funny story, But I'm glad you got it to work. Now only if I could get Just Counter to work... but alas, that is another story for another time http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

MetalIdol876
Nov 29, 2007, 09:20 AM
Just attack is effing awesome. I was just soloing Holy Shrine S with some 50% dark whips and it was like, wow.

150-180 normal whip strikes
300 Just Attack normal strikes
500x however many times and targets the PA's hit for

Wicked cool. I can't wait until I get higher level and get more ATP or one of those A rank Power units. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

Soulless
Nov 29, 2007, 09:30 AM
I personally go by movement and whenever I start using a new weapons I have the "excitement" of learning the new timing. The problem about looking at the button display all the time is... you tend to lose sight of whats happening around you, at least thats been the case for me at the beginning. I died a lot coz I was too focused on learning JA ^_^
Right now Im happy just to surf into a group, time 2nd combo right so I stab with JA and then I swing with JA... dealt almost 3k a swing in HIVE S2 - dus majarra if you couldnt tell by now http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

darthplagis
Nov 29, 2007, 10:11 AM
i actually find JA to be instictive rather than timed, doule sabers took me forever to nail but once yu find that sweet spot its actually really easy and you do instictivly choose when to and not to JA.

my little tip for those having trouble, do the 1st part of the combo (X once for 360 players) and watch the animation.

there is a little pause when you either slow down the swing of the weapon or stop completly but the animation is still going this is the cue. take a claw, you swing from shoulder then back hand swipe for next hit of combo. if you just do the 1st hit you will see a brief pause just before your animation is done this is the cue to JA.

panzer_unit
Nov 29, 2007, 10:32 AM
JA after the first swing of the sword combo takes ages. It's hilarious.

SWING! (don't hit the button yet)
reposition the sword for the next normal attack move (DONT HIT IT YET)
reposition to the resting stance (ok now hit it DONT BE SLOW! too late)

Fortunately sword also has this option, that takes LESS time if anything:
SWING!
SWING!
blink (HIT THE BUTTON OMG FREE CRITICALS)

I go on instinct, if that doesn't work I'll practice for a while and watch the animation for its JA point... then try to get the timing down by heart. If it's too slow or too touchy I'll skip JA on that move unless the next is really damaging.

physic
Nov 29, 2007, 10:46 AM
uhhh the weapon fading thing isnt universal, try it with a slower weapon/pa like sword gravity break and that wont work. every weapon, and every skill is different heck ikk hick lasts like 3 times the length of that circle fade, if your getting it with this technique, its just coincidence with those weapons
best way is to try it till you get it, and look at the animation, for example to JA off the first sword strike you have to wait till the sword comes back in front of you but before the animation ends. (male) its really not too tough to figure out and of course everyone will have thier favorite weapons, but yeah there is no universal cue. sorry mang just gonna have to learn the weaps

Freshellent
Nov 29, 2007, 10:48 AM
Just curious if anyone could confirm this,does JA criticals put foes in hitstun? Or is that just an animation? I know when a knock back type move lands a "swirl" animation appears around the foe.
For example,use Mayalee Fury on a Jarba,you'll see this cone like swirl appear around them. At least on v.1,haven't tested on AoI.

Might have just been me. When I spent a few days in LL practicing JA with every melee weapon I THOUGHT I noticed a hitstun. A point which the enemy couldn't counter attack,save for moves with super armor.(Fighting game term,somewhat applys here.) Monsters like Kogs,or moves already in motion. I wanted to know if anyone knew for sure. You can solo LLS2 with just a Double Saber JA,it's actually quite amusing.

Like mentioned before,sometimes JA doesn't really pay off,depending on the weapon. I was really hoping it work out for Sword,but I only use the last hit to JA. Even with Gravity,I only JA the last hit,being that it's just so slow.

panzer_unit
Nov 29, 2007, 10:57 AM
I think for normal attacks it's just the last combo hit as always... I haven't noticed any serious stun off of first/second attacks even with criticals. Guns stun on EVERY HIT now. A mechgun can shove monsters around all over the place, it's awesome.

JA's are awesome on sword... the second normal attack is the only one with a good JA, but it's really quick and easy to hit. Tornado Break and Spinning Break are easy and very quick to JA through as well. Gravity Break you might be best off comboing: attack -> (fast) attack -> (just) PA -> (fast) PA -> (just) PA ... the middle move was always lighter damage anyway and usually it's better to get to your launch move ASAP to buy some safety.

Freshellent
Nov 29, 2007, 10:59 AM
Alright,I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

Sinue_v2
Nov 29, 2007, 11:46 AM
I can't believe this is giving people so many problems.

When you attack you'll see the animation for the thrust and follow-through. Once this animation is over, there will be a very brief pause at the end of the animation before your character returns to their neutral non-attack position. The return to neutral animation, after the attack is over, is the time you want to hit your next attack to trigger JA.

Remedy
Nov 29, 2007, 11:47 AM
On 2007-11-29 06:13, Ken_Silver wrote:
lol, funny story, But I'm glad you got it to work. Now only if I could get Just Counter to work... but alas, that is another story for another time http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gifJust Counter is easy as hell. When you hear the sound effect from your block, press butan, recieve counter

stukasa
Nov 29, 2007, 11:56 AM
Eventually you won't need to rely on visual cues and it just feels natural, like it was back in PSO when all the melee weapons had timed hits. It gets so ingrained in your mind that the combo just flows. It's a big difference from the PA-button-mashing days of yore (and by that, I mean pre-AoI).

XenithFlare
Nov 29, 2007, 12:47 PM
Yeah, I just hit the button when it "felt" right, and it works for me with every weapon. Some people need a visual clue though, so thank you for posting this. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif

physic
Nov 29, 2007, 12:52 PM
the just felt right thing is fine with certain weapons/pas but there are some that require a different approach particularly the slower or longer attacks

WrathOfMegid
Nov 29, 2007, 01:07 PM
On 2007-11-29 09:32, Thanubis wrote:

On 2007-11-29 08:56, stukasa wrote:
Eventually you won't need to rely on visual cues and it just feels natural, like it was back in PSO when all the melee weapons had timed hits. It gets so ingrained in your mind that the combo just flows. It's a big difference from the PA-button-mashing days of yore (and by that, I mean pre-AoI).
I was just about to say the same thing. The timing of Just Attack is very similar to the timing of a combo in PSO.



The sound effect of a JA is similar , if not the same, as the one for PSO's heavy attack.

Oh, and swords are a pain to JA.
SWING!
*eats a meal*
JA!
*reads War and Peace*
JA!

XenithFlare
Nov 29, 2007, 01:23 PM
On 2007-11-29 09:52, physic wrote:
the just felt right thing is fine with certain weapons/pas but there are some that require a different approach particularly the slower or longer attacks



Erm.... nope. If you're feeling it out, there are no weapons that require a different approach. I've JA'd daggers, twin daggers, swords, axes, spears, fists, slicers, whips, and sabers thus far using the same method. If you need a different method, then feeling it out isnt working for you and you've been using some other clue that you might not be realizing.

DrEngrish
Nov 29, 2007, 02:10 PM
I was wondering about this, thanks for the in depth explaination. ^...^

sange
Nov 29, 2007, 02:20 PM
the main problem i had with just attacking when i 1st started doing it was when i was trying to time my skill at the very end of my 3 swings. It's pretty easy to tell when to attack during your 1st or 2nd swing but i found it slightly harder to tell when to attack at the very end of a normal combo. I did figure it out and it comes almost naturally now. You just wait untill your character looks like he is putting his weapons away.. for example with the twin saber, After the final hit. wait for him to start flipping them around then hit the skill button and then it should work.

Elley
Nov 29, 2007, 02:25 PM
People were having a hard time with JA? ... why?

ShynLocke
Nov 29, 2007, 02:36 PM
On 2007-11-29 11:25, Elley wrote:
People were having a hard time with JA? ... why?



I have no idea. Only weapon that took me a while to get JA down is double sabers, and no i havent tried Swords because i dont use em. Took about 5 minutes to get slicers down after using em, dus majarra= easiest PA to JA with, twin daggers were easy also.

I do see in-game alot of people not doing JA, maybe theres some that dont even know about it and go crazy when they see that big yellow glow around them?

D1ABOLIK
Nov 29, 2007, 03:02 PM
On 2007-11-29 08:46, Sinue_v2 wrote:
I can't believe this is giving people so many problems.

When you attack you'll see the animation for the thrust and follow-through. Once this animation is over, there will be a very brief pause at the end of the animation before your character returns to their neutral non-attack position. The return to neutral animation, after the attack is over, is the time you want to hit your next attack to trigger JA.

QFT. Worked first time for me after expansion and been workin ever since.Its like habit now.

________
Honda Z history (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_Z)

Noblewine
Nov 29, 2007, 04:59 PM
Congrats on figuring out how to Just Attack now learing how to Just Counter without the expansion is another story. ><

Remedy
Nov 29, 2007, 05:01 PM
On 2007-11-29 13:59, Noblewine wrote:
Congrats on figuring out how to Just Attack now learing how to Just Counter without the expansion is another story. ><Like I said earlier - push the button once you hear the audible "ping" of your block. Just Counter is very, very easy.

Esufer
Nov 29, 2007, 05:09 PM
On 2007-11-29 14:01, Remedy wrote:

On 2007-11-29 13:59, Noblewine wrote:
Congrats on figuring out how to Just Attack now learing how to Just Counter without the expansion is another story. ><Like I said earlier - push the button once you hear the audible "ping" of your block. Just Counter is very, very easy.


Pretty sure there's a visual effect as a cue as well.

Noblewine
Nov 29, 2007, 05:10 PM
On 2007-11-29 14:01, Remedy wrote:

On 2007-11-29 13:59, Noblewine wrote:
Congrats on figuring out how to Just Attack now learing how to Just Counter without the expansion is another story. >< push the button once you hear the audible "ping" of your block. Just Counter is very, very easy.



Is this in the expansion or in original. Ironically I have the expansion but I'm outta room on my Memory card. ><

ThEoRy
Nov 29, 2007, 05:11 PM
On 2007-11-29 13:59, Noblewine wrote:
Congrats on figuring out how to Just Attack now learing how to Just Counter without the expansion is another story. ><


I guess I could see where this might give some fighter types a bit of trouble as opposed to the savy tech users who've been using this tactic for months already.
When you hear the sound and see the big ass shield pop up when you block. Just counter attack immediately after yet still during the block animation. I would guess you have about 8-10 frames of animation to pull this off.

ThEoRy
Nov 29, 2007, 05:12 PM
On 2007-11-29 14:10, Noblewine wrote:

On 2007-11-29 14:01, Remedy wrote:

On 2007-11-29 13:59, Noblewine wrote:
Congrats on figuring out how to Just Attack now learing how to Just Counter without the expansion is another story. >< push the button once you hear the audible "ping" of your block. Just Counter is very, very easy.



Is this in the expansion or in original. Ironically I have the expansion but I'm outta room on my Memory card. ><


Both.

RemiusTA
Nov 29, 2007, 05:22 PM
On 2007-11-29 06:01, Bitey wrote:
So, for the longest time I could not get Just Attack to work, at all. I have read all of the guides I could find, I have asked friend and foe alike how they can get it to work occasionally, but it seems my resources were limited because almost nobody I knew could get it to work indefinitely whenever they wanted it too work. I was very close to just eliminating my lvl 68/10 Wartecher out of frustration.

But then, yesterday morning, I had a sane point, and decided instead that I would sit down and make Just Attack work no matter how long it took. After hours of soloing Fight For Food runs with a newly made character wielding nothing but some 36% Light Twin Brands and a single Light Brand I finally cracked the secret and got it to work.

The problem was when I was trying to activate it. All of the guides and advice I got was that "I need to activate it at the end of an attack". That is actually horrible advice and what I blame for misleading me the whole time.

First of all, nobody ever defined "attack". "At the end of an attack" could mean several things. It could mean after I cause damage, it could mean after I swing my weapon once, it can also mean after I am done swinging my weapon entirely. They should have clarified more and let me know that what they meant by "at the end of an attack" is after a combo part is over. When you hit the button to activate an attack once, the attack is over after the combo for that one button press is over.

Also nobody would tell me how to activate it, like as in which buttons to press. "Oh, you just hit the attack button." Yeah sure, I will get right on that. I was freely switching between both X and Y trying to get anything to work and at first I could only get Just attack to work using the X button, any combination or use of Y had no results. So a lot of my time trying to get it to work I thought you could only activate it with X >.> It would of saved me some time to know that you have to hit X to perform Just Attack with regular weapons attacks and that you have to hit Y to perform Just Attack with a Photon Art. I know it should be common sense, but when you are not sure either way and only one button seems to work, you have your doubts.

Another problem that I had was with the Just Attack cue. I needed some sort of universal cue to look out for on all weapons to actiavte Just Attack when needed. Timing and weapon visuals are the most widely advised that people told me.

The largest key of all though, to get Just Attack to work, is not the timing; like what was widely suggested. There is no indefinite timing that is universal for all melee weapons. Some weapons are faster while some are slower. The same timing does not work for everything. While one timing worked for my Twin Brands, it was horrible for my Brand and vice-verse.

Going off from visuals of your weapon swinging instead helps, but not by too much. I noticed that some weapons may have a lag to activate Just Attack, like the Twin Brands I was using to practice, and that will actually throw your Just Attack off quite a bit if you go by weapon visuals. For example, if I try to Just Attack right after the first swing of my Twin Brand using X, my Just Attack will fail, because there is actually a momentary lag after the swing that I actually have to hit the button. my Just Attack would of failed because it was premature. So while weapon visuals may help, some may also hurt.

Instead, I found the universal cue to be the X and Y button displays at the lower right hand corner of the screen. When you press either button, a white filled circle expands from the button, stops, then fades away. That circle is the universal cue. There is a slight moment after that circle stops expanding and before it fades away entirely that you need to hit either X or Y to activate a Just Attack. This cue has not failed to produce a Just Attack on either my Twin Brands or my Brand for me.

After all of this, the rest is just stuff.

I experimented with my combo possibilities and learned that I could start a Y Just Attack after I have attacked once or twice with X, but I cannot seem to get Just Attack Y after I triggered a Just Attack with two X attacks (X->Just X->Just X->Y).

Just attack, as you all may also know, greatly increases your damage. It was increasing my regular damage and PA damage by nearly double when it activated. As a lvl 9/1 Hunter I was already hitting for triple digits with my Light Twin Brands on lvl 5 dark foes.

The use of Just Attack makes being a melee character more engaging as well. It was very addicting to actually apply some skill to spamming Photon Arts in the general vicinity of monsters rather than just mash a button until everything as dead.

I am happy that I have finally figured out how to get this thing to work.



What the fuck are you talking about

Hokokaru
Nov 29, 2007, 05:38 PM
@ the OP:
lol my story is similar =p i got my Expansion downloaded and started my trek to the casino by soloing as a new AF with a handful of slicers and crimsons and the first mission I did I hit a JA and i remembered I can do that so I
TIMED my attacks and hit everything w/ my crimsons for about 2k+ and Ive already mastered mt JA with my slicers and i ALWAYS pull it off lol

sorry if this is a little late =p I just read 1st post and ignored the rest....

physic
Nov 29, 2007, 06:12 PM
it wasnt in the original, but it has been added with the update, if you play online, if you play offline on the original psu niether JA or JC is there