Interview with DMG PR Balrog by ArcadiaFighters
Posted by Nyoronoru • July 9, 2011 at 6:56 a.m. PDT • Comments: 16
ArcadiaFighters, a Spanish-speaking Street Fighter community website has sent in a recent interview with DMG PR Balrog. They have also done the favor of sending in the complete English translation. If you would prefer to read the article in Spanish, click this link.
Topics include the Puerto Rican fighting game community, preparation for EVO and SFxT. Click the link after the short piece if you're interested in the rest of the English translation.
ArcadiaFighters: First of all thank you for doing this interview, I guess you are pretty busy right now practicing for evo right?
DMG PR Balrog: Yes, that's true. I'm practicing a lot for EVO plaing every day and training for the new character matchups.
ArcadiaFighters: A lot of people know you as a pro gamer, but let's talk about you. What kind of hobbies do you have? Music? Occupation? Let us know you a litle bit more.
DMG PR Balrog: My name is Eduardo Pérez and I'm from an island called Puerto Rico but right now I mostly live in the US because there it's easier to continue my career as profesional gamer.
I play basketball when i'm not training. I enjoy every kind of music haha, well, there are exceptions but I can hear almost everything. I like to hear dubstep and trance before playing in tournaments because that music helps to clear my mind.
I used to promove events, but right now Í'm only a profesional gamer.
DMG PR Balrog: Yes, that's true. I'm practicing a lot for EVO plaing every day and training for the new character matchups.
ArcadiaFighters: A lot of people know you as a pro gamer, but let's talk about you. What kind of hobbies do you have? Music? Occupation? Let us know you a litle bit more.
DMG PR Balrog: My name is Eduardo Pérez and I'm from an island called Puerto Rico but right now I mostly live in the US because there it's easier to continue my career as profesional gamer.
I play basketball when i'm not training. I enjoy every kind of music haha, well, there are exceptions but I can hear almost everything. I like to hear dubstep and trance before playing in tournaments because that music helps to clear my mind.
I used to promove events, but right now Í'm only a profesional gamer.
ArcadiaFighters: Let's get into your gamer side a bit more. We would like to know how many hours do you practice, if you do it online or offline, on what console do you play and what's your plan regarding fighting games right now?
DMG PR Balrog: When I train for big events like EVO I play 8 hours a day or more if I can, there is no limit for practice. I do it offline or online, depending if there are friends to play with. When I play online I prefer to do so on xbox 360 but offline I mostly play on ps3 which I may change depending on what console the tounament will be. There is a little diference on frames and stuff and you need a bit of time to get used to it.
I play fighting games because they are entertaining for me but also for the ones that watch me play, that's one of the main reasons I keep playing them. When I become bored of them I will just quit, but that time is not even close right now :D
ArcadiaFighters: You have played against almost every top SSF4 and Mvc3 out there, who is the best for you? And the one you've learned the most from?
DMG PR Balrog: Hmm,the only one i've played but couldn't beat is Daigo so I have to say he is the best SSFIV:AE player right now, but that could change!! In mvc3 the best player is Justin Wong, no doubt about it.
I think the one I learned the most from is Justin, since I started playing he has been helping me and we share strategies and knowledge pretty often.
ArcadiaFighters: There has been any opponent you have really felt helpless against? What has been your most diffcult match to win?
DMG PR Balrog: To be honest I've never been beaten so badly that I felt that way, I think all my loses have been in tense moments where a decision could change the outcome of the match. The most difficult match for me was against Tokido in Final round, it was pretty tough to come back from losers bracket and win two sets against him.
ArcadiaFighters: Of all your wins, what's the one that has been more important for you and why?
DMG PR Balrog: My victory against Tokido has been the most important one because he is a leyend. Everyone thinks it's impossible to beat him, but if you practice and put dedication into something you can do the impossible. I came back from losers bracket where I was sent by him and beaten pretty badly, but I could finally win.
ArcadiaFighters: As we have seen, you play Mvc3 too. Do you think the game is balanced or there are "broken" characters?
DMG PR Balrog: Hahaha, Marvel it's a difficult game to undertand. The game is totally unbalanced and as we can see Wolverine and Phoenix are completely broken, it's almost impossible to block their stuff and have a solid defense against them, another character I think will be a problem in the future is Dante because imo people will discover more stuff about him in the future and the game is still pretty new.
ArcadiaFighters: We all know mvc3 is a game 100% US, but recently we have seen Japanese players do pretty well. How do you see Japanese players in this game?
DMG PR Balrog: I think mvc3 is a game apart from the mvc series. The game is too easy and too random, it's not like mvc2 where you need a good execution to win. I hope an american player wins mvc3 EVO (or me =p). I think only Tokido is good enought at mvc3 right now, Daigo didn't look too good with his playstyle, but we will see at EVO.
ArcadiaFighters: Going back to SF, are you going to change character in AE or will still play balrog? A lot of people complain he is easy to play and win with, what's your oppinion on the character?
DMG PR Balrog: I will never drop Balrog, he is the one that brought me where I am now, but I will play Yang too in certain matchups because boxer damage is a bit lower now and it has become more difficult for him.
People don't undertand that even if Balrog has a good defense the character is extremely linear, he doesnñt have any real mixup or big damaging combos. Winning with balrog at high level is extremely hard, because everyone knows him so well also.
ArcadiaFighters: Are you part of any team or clan? Talk about it a little bit.
DMG PR Balrog: Right now I'm part of Dominion Method Gaming (DMG), that is getting more popular and as the time went on it has been recognised more and more because we usually make top 8 on every tournament.
They help us so we can go to tournaments and we represent them.
ArcadiaFighters: With the release of SSF:AE players complain that this version is more unbalanced than Super, and that adding twins has been a Capcom marketing strat to release a fourth patch for the game. What are your thoughts about this?
DMG PR Balrog: I agree that this version is awful, but before SF series we played unbalanced games like 3rd strike, mvc2 or cvs2. When a new game or version comes out you need to adapt it doesn't mater how balanced/unbalanced it is.
Maybe Capcom did it to release another SF version, and it seems they are going to do so because people are complaining too much about yun and yang.
ArcadiaFighters: Have you played SFxT? Are you going to play the game seriously when it comes out?
DMG PR Balrog: Tbh I couldn't play it yet, but I will play it seriously when it comes out because I think it's going to be pretty entertaining.
ArcadiaFighters: Have you played against any Spanish players?
DMG PR Balrog: I think so, when I went to Super versus battle last year if I'm not mistaken I played against an Ibuki and Chun-Li and I think they were from Spain. They were really good and I hope I can go there soon and play against you guys again :)
ArcadiaFighters: PR means Puerto Rico, your country. We would like to know how's the fighting game scene there.
DMG PR Balrog: The scene here it's composed about 50-60 fighting game players, about 6 or 7 play them a good amount of time and are good or decent at them. The main problem here is that if I win too much people don't want to play against anymore because they get tired of losing or think it's a waste of time. The community was more united when there was arcades to play, but when consoles arrived it split the community so few people kept playing seriosuly. Regardless of that, I think we are a strong community on games even if we are only a few.
ArcadiaFighters: Talking about the scene, alot of us watch tournament streams of the USA tournaments. Do people play tournaments for fun and just have a good time or it's everything about winning and taking the money?
DMG PR Balrog: Most people go there to play and have more tournament experience, it's not the same playing in home that against someone in a tournament. For us the pro players we enjoy going there to play, the money and fame is just an extra for us.
ArcadiaFighters: Well, with that last question we are finished, thank you so much for the interview and we wish you luck at EVO!
DMG PR Balrog: Thank you,I will do my best!
DMG PR Balrog: When I train for big events like EVO I play 8 hours a day or more if I can, there is no limit for practice. I do it offline or online, depending if there are friends to play with. When I play online I prefer to do so on xbox 360 but offline I mostly play on ps3 which I may change depending on what console the tounament will be. There is a little diference on frames and stuff and you need a bit of time to get used to it.
I play fighting games because they are entertaining for me but also for the ones that watch me play, that's one of the main reasons I keep playing them. When I become bored of them I will just quit, but that time is not even close right now :D
ArcadiaFighters: You have played against almost every top SSF4 and Mvc3 out there, who is the best for you? And the one you've learned the most from?
DMG PR Balrog: Hmm,the only one i've played but couldn't beat is Daigo so I have to say he is the best SSFIV:AE player right now, but that could change!! In mvc3 the best player is Justin Wong, no doubt about it.
I think the one I learned the most from is Justin, since I started playing he has been helping me and we share strategies and knowledge pretty often.
ArcadiaFighters: There has been any opponent you have really felt helpless against? What has been your most diffcult match to win?
DMG PR Balrog: To be honest I've never been beaten so badly that I felt that way, I think all my loses have been in tense moments where a decision could change the outcome of the match. The most difficult match for me was against Tokido in Final round, it was pretty tough to come back from losers bracket and win two sets against him.
ArcadiaFighters: Of all your wins, what's the one that has been more important for you and why?
DMG PR Balrog: My victory against Tokido has been the most important one because he is a leyend. Everyone thinks it's impossible to beat him, but if you practice and put dedication into something you can do the impossible. I came back from losers bracket where I was sent by him and beaten pretty badly, but I could finally win.
ArcadiaFighters: As we have seen, you play Mvc3 too. Do you think the game is balanced or there are "broken" characters?
DMG PR Balrog: Hahaha, Marvel it's a difficult game to undertand. The game is totally unbalanced and as we can see Wolverine and Phoenix are completely broken, it's almost impossible to block their stuff and have a solid defense against them, another character I think will be a problem in the future is Dante because imo people will discover more stuff about him in the future and the game is still pretty new.
ArcadiaFighters: We all know mvc3 is a game 100% US, but recently we have seen Japanese players do pretty well. How do you see Japanese players in this game?
DMG PR Balrog: I think mvc3 is a game apart from the mvc series. The game is too easy and too random, it's not like mvc2 where you need a good execution to win. I hope an american player wins mvc3 EVO (or me =p). I think only Tokido is good enought at mvc3 right now, Daigo didn't look too good with his playstyle, but we will see at EVO.
ArcadiaFighters: Going back to SF, are you going to change character in AE or will still play balrog? A lot of people complain he is easy to play and win with, what's your oppinion on the character?
DMG PR Balrog: I will never drop Balrog, he is the one that brought me where I am now, but I will play Yang too in certain matchups because boxer damage is a bit lower now and it has become more difficult for him.
People don't undertand that even if Balrog has a good defense the character is extremely linear, he doesnñt have any real mixup or big damaging combos. Winning with balrog at high level is extremely hard, because everyone knows him so well also.
ArcadiaFighters: Are you part of any team or clan? Talk about it a little bit.
DMG PR Balrog: Right now I'm part of Dominion Method Gaming (DMG), that is getting more popular and as the time went on it has been recognised more and more because we usually make top 8 on every tournament.
They help us so we can go to tournaments and we represent them.
ArcadiaFighters: With the release of SSF:AE players complain that this version is more unbalanced than Super, and that adding twins has been a Capcom marketing strat to release a fourth patch for the game. What are your thoughts about this?
DMG PR Balrog: I agree that this version is awful, but before SF series we played unbalanced games like 3rd strike, mvc2 or cvs2. When a new game or version comes out you need to adapt it doesn't mater how balanced/unbalanced it is.
Maybe Capcom did it to release another SF version, and it seems they are going to do so because people are complaining too much about yun and yang.
ArcadiaFighters: Have you played SFxT? Are you going to play the game seriously when it comes out?
DMG PR Balrog: Tbh I couldn't play it yet, but I will play it seriously when it comes out because I think it's going to be pretty entertaining.
ArcadiaFighters: Have you played against any Spanish players?
DMG PR Balrog: I think so, when I went to Super versus battle last year if I'm not mistaken I played against an Ibuki and Chun-Li and I think they were from Spain. They were really good and I hope I can go there soon and play against you guys again :)
ArcadiaFighters: PR means Puerto Rico, your country. We would like to know how's the fighting game scene there.
DMG PR Balrog: The scene here it's composed about 50-60 fighting game players, about 6 or 7 play them a good amount of time and are good or decent at them. The main problem here is that if I win too much people don't want to play against anymore because they get tired of losing or think it's a waste of time. The community was more united when there was arcades to play, but when consoles arrived it split the community so few people kept playing seriosuly. Regardless of that, I think we are a strong community on games even if we are only a few.
ArcadiaFighters: Talking about the scene, alot of us watch tournament streams of the USA tournaments. Do people play tournaments for fun and just have a good time or it's everything about winning and taking the money?
DMG PR Balrog: Most people go there to play and have more tournament experience, it's not the same playing in home that against someone in a tournament. For us the pro players we enjoy going there to play, the money and fame is just an extra for us.
ArcadiaFighters: Well, with that last question we are finished, thank you so much for the interview and we wish you luck at EVO!
DMG PR Balrog: Thank you,I will do my best!
