Neji

Subject: Neji Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:46 am

SWBF2 Hall of Fame Inductee

Neji

Quote :: Neji and I have a similar relationship to Kratos and I, although it was never quite as extreme on either side of the balance. We began as disinterested, childish and really quite arrogant clanmates, to a brief period of student and teacher, and now have naturally progressed to acknowledging one another's mastery of the game, while somehow able to maintain a friendship.

I will be honest. When I first met Neji, I did not like him. I do not think he liked me either. We were both in {Ninja} at the time, and both of us were more or less all bark and very little bite. Despite the fact that we were clanmates, we may as well of been one another's kryptonite. Simply put, we did not mix well.

I remember when the Ninja clan faced off against Zarex and LordJada's clan LOS. We were not favored at all to win. In fact I do not even think we ourselves expected to win, but somehow we did. There is one thing I clearly remember from this time:

Everyone from LOS was furiously griping at Neji. They said all he did was perfect block on the villains nipple, claiming it was the only reason we won. This was the first, but certainly not last time Neji would be talked about. It was pretty amusing how much hatred they had for him haha. I think this was my first ever inclusion into a star wars argument. Perhaps his too. While I don't doubt Neji did perfect block on the nipple a lot during the match considering he was quite a wiener back in those days - remember, during this time perfect block was almost universally discouraged - I think LOS was just trying to reach for an excuse and Neji was an easy target.

After this, I can't recall anything about Neji up until he was in GOR, besides perhaps the clan he created with Mystery. I think they were the only two members haha. Anyway, I remember Neji always being a pubstar in the GOR server. It seemed like there was a point in time where it didn't matter when I went in that server; he was always there, always playing. He was good, but was so obviously squandering his potential. It was painful to watch in a sense, kind of like seeing a wild animal be caged. So, I scooped him out of there. (no offense to GOR, he simply needed a different environment) This was borderline deja vu, except this time I was Super and Neji was me.

Many people confuse what happens next. I'm not sure why. Let me be clear; Neji and I have never played one another in a 1v1. After he departed from GOR and came to be alongside me I immediately sparred with him for several reasons.

1st. I wanted to see how he would perform outside of the ever popular, but mostly thoughtless public server mindset. I had seen many players play well in pubs, but fail to keep up in a more serious environment. I wanted to make sure he hadn't contracted this disease and could adapt.

2nd. I simply wanted to gauge his abilities, to see what exactly he could do and how he did it. To figure out what was missing from the equation to make it easier for him to improve.

3rd. I wanted to show him what competition truly is.

Needless to say, he surpassed all my expectations. I was surprised by how quickly he was able to adapt and by the many things he already knew. It was obvious he didn't have the disease. So, the next step was rather easy; just play with him and talk with him. So this is what I did.

If you must know, I believe the final score after sparring was 10-9 or 10-8 me. We played one side as that was all which was needed to make an accurate judgment. To consider this any sort of 1v1 is neither just or fair to Neji or myself. This was his first introduction to this sort of environment and winning was never my objective.

You see, Neji is the rare type of player who can see things. I am not talking about obvious things like a ramp or a one hit aerial or what have you. I am referring to something much more obscure. This is something you either have the understanding for or you don't. Plain and simple. Neji had it, so the need for constant instruction was never necessary, which was both a relief and also a disappointment haha.

After this he and I would go on for a bit to play together in a few joke clans. I think during this time I had placed quite a stranglehold on him. I was keeping him from becoming his own. So, naturally he broke free. It was a necessary step, although humbling for me to admit. This is when he truly came into form.

Over the next year or so, he went on with Fearless and made many clans. Admittedly most of which had pieces of talent, however neither of them seemed to develop solid leadership qualities for quite some time. But again, this is where he grew and would began to establish himself as a premier and prime player, someone to be feared in both a 1v1 and a group play setting.

Defining how Neji plays is both easy and difficult.

His knowledge of the game is quite vast. Big deal right? You know a lot of stuff too huh? What sets Neji so far apart and ahead of you and so many others is how intelligently, intuitively and seemingly effortlessly he implements his knowledge into his gameplay. To me, he is a strategist, an improviser, a teammate and a playmaker all in one. He calculates the most effective plan of action in his head, seemingly within fractions of a second, and then he carries it out, usually with matchless precision. Meanwhile you are still trying to understand what just happened... yet he is already planning his next move.

Not many people think so deeply and yet so instinctively like this, at least not to me. Perhaps they do, but there is almost no one who is as good as he is at it. He is one of the ultimate mind players. He will fool you into thinking he is playing one way, and in a flash he turns the tables. His speed is matched only by a select few. He can be as diverse as Tyrlan, as aggressive as Berserk or Kratos and as focused as Fearless. He has certainly established a name for himself and now been solidified as one of the greatest players of all time.

-Sinister

Quote :: There is no person in this game I am more proud of then Neji. In this game, as in life we mature and learn hard fought lessons of friendship, loyalty and maturity. Neji’s skills speak for themself. Everyone knows of them, respects them and honors them. But for me, Neji’s true accomplishments have been his ability to grow as a person in this game and in life. And in no way am I trying to say he is the angel now or perfect, for no one is. Nor am I saying he is done learning about life in general, none of us are, but from when I first met him in 2009 until now in 2012, I have seen more accomplished from him on a personal level than anyone else I have encountered and have staked time and friendship into.

The knock on Neji had always been his temper, and his longevity and loyalty issues. For years he would move from clan to clan, never seemingly able to find a home or just feel comfortable with the members around him. He also always seemed to manage to burn himself out, with training and matches. And in the process burn those around him. When Neji first came to JOG in 2009, he had these issues. And as much as I enjoyed him in the clan it was not to anyone’s surprise that he would end up leaving us twice during that year. The second time seemingly was the final time. He would continue to bounce around from clan to clan throughout the next year, never in any one spot for that long.

However I remember having a conversation with him prior to his eventual return to JOG in 2011. And we spoke at length about these things, and why it seemed those in clans tended to garner a better longer lasting reputation of being great. I do not remember all the specifics of the conversation, but I feel he understood that what ultimately makes a person great, especially in this game isn’t always ones skills, but that true greatness is brought about by those that you surround yourself with. It was just a talk about where he was at in the game and perhaps in life and what he wanted to accomplish, perhaps in both.

In February of 2011 he came back to JOG and hasn’t left since. JOG’s strength has always been that it has a solid core group of members that stick together no matter what. And Neji is now a part of that. And for that he has help JOG prosper, helped the community see an surge of excitement in 2011 to here and now helping bring JOG back to a place where many of its members are happiest and place where the community can come and just share a laugh.

Neji’s greatness in this game and place in this hall of fame could be directly related to his skill. His legacy of all the people he has trained, played matches with, or played matches against is an obvious pathway to the hall of fame. But for me and sinister, Neji is more than just a great player and an obvious hall of fame member, but it is because he is respected, because of his ability to grow as a person, to his understanding of loyalty to others, and to ultimately learn that we all are better when we surround ourselves with good people who we can call friends.

And it is that respect that has brought two rivals to get together for the first time ever, to write this tribute to him

Congrats Neji!!!!

-Jeff

Quote :: Neji, i met this guy one time in the abyss site, i had just played in that server and i saw how good he was! i had just started playing the game by the rules, soo i challenged him for a 1v1, He shout me out 20-0 I was so amazed by this guy that i asked if he could be my Master. I recieved a no as an answer because he was training The Joker. After that 1v1 i was like " he is the best in the world" And so when i was at DJC, he came by the site and started sparring with us, dang it he was killing it! so he started 1v1ing Lak, and i was just spectating him, he was playing and destroying lak badly! By then i thought Lak was like a GOD or something....Now i dont see him THAT good, but anyways i would watch everymove he could do and it was way too fast that my eyes wouldnt catch very much of his gameplay.

Later on I had just joined JOG, he was inactive for a while, and i tried to recruit him to JOG, he had already o joining the clan! I had asked him to be my master again, then he said NO one more time Lol, by 2 months or so he was in JOG, I started playing a bit more with him and trying to Look good infront of him everytime i would see him in a server.

Then one time he came to me asking me if i wanted to be his padawan, I was like OMG! YEAH!!! that was probably one of my greatest days in this game lol Being the padawan of the best in the world? I was too proud of it! i would go and tell it everywhere!. From that time on is when i started to appreciate more how good of a player is this guy, He was given The council spot and soon i started seeing his leadership in the clan and in scrims.
Being trained by Neji is one of the most amazing things i´ve ever experienced! He has such a way to teach me things and show me a wide variaty of ramps, combos, jumps, chokes. He put his 100% Into my trainning that summer Making sure i would use only Luke and vader to master them...He was there all the time doing scrims with me, 1v1ing going in to the abyss, locking the VIP to spar with the good players of the game!.

He trully helped JOG with a amazing participation throughout his carrer, and We are very thankful for him....I know i´ve shared my personal experiences with him only, but i know he is done way more things that just train a guy like me Lol. his leadership and skill have put that spicy taste in the game, and helped it to be what the game is today..... Im very thankful for him as a friend, leader, master and clanmate :]

Well deserved this spot in the hall of fame my brother

-Raul

Quote :: When I first met neji he was very nice. He wasn't the kind to be mean to you or judge your noobiness by your name. Its really hard to kill this guy when you always know your going to lose against him. Thats the kind of reputation he has earned. But he is an overall bad ass and a good member of JOG

-Sony

Quote :: Neji was one of the people i wanted to nominate for vVv but i left it to JOG to do it since he actually stayed with you guys for a while. He is obviously an excellent player as many know but he is also a very kind person. He has helped many players improve by just giving them some pointers. He has always been up to doing 1v1s or any scrim/match. He was even one of the people trying to convince JOG to do a match with vVv but they never listened to him. Neji is one of my best buddies on this game and i am glad i got to be in many clans with him. The man of Hyuga clan gets a Yes from the Sandman.

-Younes

Quote :: Neji is in my eyes the greatest player ever. He's also one of my better friends from this game, and considering how we didnt like eachother much some years ago is suprising. He helped countless people get better, when i came back after my 3 year hiatus, neji really was the one that got me back into shape. With little pointers and me just playing alongside him watching what he did, then asking how he did that haha. Neji is one of the most important players this game has ever seen.

-Bill

Quote :: When i first played Neji back in the day his skill was rapidly increasing and i had a feeling he was going to be amazing such a smart player, and it increased so much he became arguably the best player ive ever seen in pretty much every facet of the game, i can only say the same high praise for someone like Sinister honestly...i cant decide whose better between them lol. they're one of the few players i cant seem to ever kill, no matter how cheap i play lmao

-Inderjit

Quote :: Neji started playing Star Wars Battlefront 2 online sometime in 2006 I believe. And I think he actually bought the game November 2005. He joined Ninja sometime and from 06-07 was mainly a conquest player though he did also play jedi those years. At that time, he definitely wasn't one of the top 10% or so jedi players... But he was FAR BEYOND the skill level of your average player. I didn't fight him too many times during this time period... And/or when he was in Ninja... And he could sometimes put up a decent fight against me which was incredible considering the fact that he was mainly a conquest player at the time. And he was easily Ninja's best assault player when he was in it.

Then came 2008. That year, he went from an okay conquest and above average assault player who was better then the average joe but took too many breaks from the game... To really starting to take assault seriously. In early 2008 he started his journey to become easily ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS OF ALL TIME . 2008 was when he started competing in official 1vs1s. Early on in his 1vs1 career when he was no where near as good as he would eventually become he lost one time to Superduper. But since then squashed Super like a bug next time they met in a duel.

Neji would go on to attain a record of 300 wins and 1 loss as far as official duels go. Though some say he lost to Kratos 4 times which would make his record 300 - 5. Either way he has more official duel wins then ANYONE else who EVER played assault during the games near seven year history.

NEJI IS DEFINITELY THE SINGLE VERY BEST GREATEST ASSAULT PLAYER OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE GAME'S LIFE IN TERMS OF SKILL. In official 1vs1's he defeated a lot of the best new school players of the last few years like:

Berserk
Kratos
Fearless
Master Tyrlan
Viking
Blaine
Mastaisac
Bill
LAK
Blade
Mystery/Ninja
Gman

And never lost to any of these greats of the last few years, or against ANYONE else he went up against. Except for that one loss vs Supderduper. And Kratos as well, but whatever the case Neji beat Kratos 4 times himself to avenge those possible losses. And think, only 1-5 losses... Out of 301 1vs1s Also I think the one major victory/1vs1 that escaped him was against Sinister. Sort of how like I beat 99% of the best players of my time... With that last 1 percent being Washington who I never faced even though I wanted to for so long. But whether Neji would have defeated Sinister or not we won't know yet. Since Sinister has turned down a challenge to a 1vs1 from Neji several times.

Neji is someone who's skill is feared, hated and respected by even the best at the game of the last couple years like Berserk, Tyrlan, Fearless, Kratos, Sinister and Jeff. Even after Neji took an 8 month break from the game and came back just two months ago in June... He's still probably the best currently. Or soon will be once he shakes off two thirds of a years worth of rustyness.

If Neji had never played the game, all the other current greats might not have been around these days since... There woudn't be Neji there at the top of the jedi assault mountain... As a symbol of someone better then yourself that you want to get as good as/better then. Which keeps you playing the game

-Wooooooooo

Quote :: I barely remember the time when I introduced Neji to Battlefront (or to be more accurate, Mos Eisley assault), since I was like 13 years old then. However, not to long after that, he started beating me in like every game we played (not just Battlefront). The only exception at the time was Melee, which he couldn't beat me at. When he started beating all the top players in Battlefront, I honestly wasn't really surprised, lol. By 2009, I couldn't even beat him in Melee. In fact, I couldn't even make him play seriously.

I think it was around this time when Neji couldn't stay in a clan longer than a week. I couldn't keep track of what clan he was in at all, lol. It also wasn't long after when he learned how to sandbag (playing poorly on purpose), which is one of his greatest skills. Granted, he still wins while doing it. Btw, I think I figured out why he always wins. He has the Byakugan, giving him 360 degree vision, the ability to see through walls, and nearly perfect reflexes.

Anyway, as he continued building up a RIDICULOUS 1v1 record, we both tried learning how to play Melee at an advanced level. When we first started, we only knew about the players from the MLG era, meaning we still thought Ken, Mew2King, and PC Chris were the best players in the world. However, that's when we learned about a certain player named Mango. The reason I bring this up is because Mango since then has had a MASSIVE influence on Neji's playing style in every game, not just Melee. He also influenced my style a bit, but I was also influenced by Hungrybox later on. Anyway, not to long after this is when we started recording our various battles.

Neji and I have gotten WAAAAY better since then, as anyone whose seen our sets can confirm. However, our skill advancements have not only been reflected in Melee, but in gaming overall. The absurdly fast paced and technical gameplay of Melee has helped in forming him to be arguably the most technical player in the history of Battlefront. On the other hand, his ridiculous ability to come up with complex and effective strategies stems from Battlefront. This, as you can imagine, is a VERY dangerous combination, and it's no wonder he's so dominant at every game he plays.

On top of that, he also has amazing spacing, can consistently predict his opponents next course of action, and he WILL adapt to anyone he plays. Also, if you make a mistale, he WILL capitalize on it. The thing is, I've found that in the last few years, he has not only grown as a player, but also as a person and as a friend.

Neji has been a very good friend since not to long after we met. I remember the first time I went to his house, he was currently stuck on the Lava Pirahna in Paper Mario, and I was like "Yooo, I know how to beat this thing". Anyway, as I've said, he's become a very close friend since then. He's given advice on more than one occasion. I've tried helping him with all his problems too.

Anyway, this has been a long post, and I'm going to end it with one fun fact. Despite the fact that he's clearly better than me at Melee, and I live in a stronger region, I still place higher than him in tournaments. =D

Btw, did he really play conquest at one point? I didn't actually know that, lol.

-1337hax0r

Quote :: One of two people that I knew that would let me into they're clan despite not having a mic, a good friend as well who has helped me a lot on this game. It's been fun playing with Neji over the year(s) I played during the second half of this game, one of the better's and someone I always tried to emulate.

-Splinter

Quote :: For Neji,

Man what can I say? You and I have always clicked and have always been there for each other. You are defiantly one of the reason why I rage quit so many times. expectially when you start playing as Vader. I automatically just shut down and cannot do anything. You are a gifted player of this game and you have always been around when someone needed some advice. Many consider you to be one of the best, but at this current moment, I believe even on your rusty days, you are the best there is. I just want to say, the times we spent smoking a nice blunt relaxing and playing in Temple will be memories that will not be forgotten. Neji congratulations, you deserve this spot.

Take it easy,

-See No Evil

Quote :: Neji, you have evolved not skill wise, but as a person it is truly amazing and a real example of how being surrounded by good people can effect you. Also, the reason for me not saying skill wise is because... well, you ARE the best. There will always be people who say "one of the best", and sure, that's accurate because no one person can be the best, but you... are.

I remember hating you lol, not for how you played, but the fact that you had a lot of loyalty issues. I don't know, maybe if I first joined any other clan other than JOG, maybe I would have done the same thing as you, but I can't really know because I'm not the one who went through it all, you have. Anyways, when you first got into JOG, I was opposed to it, because I thought you would leave, where I would eventually be right, but you haven't ACTUALLY left, in a way. I was thrilled when you and I became Training Academy Conductors or something around that lol, and I started to realize of how much I misjudged you. I always thought of you as a bad person, but man, did I get a reality check. But then you left again lol. I thought it was the last of seeing you under the JOG tag, and inside, I wanted it to not be.

I hope none of this came off the wrong way, because I can see where it can, but just know Neji, that I think of you as a great friend and just a good guy. Good guys are the best in my view, and you have certainly changed my perspective a lot in how I see people, not only in the game, but in life.

Best of luck Neji, and hit the world hard!

-Viking