Just bought FNC - any tips?

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

The two main things I struggled with in this game were understanding why or how I was getting stunned/ stunning people and why I was unable to land combo's when I flurried.

Landing Clean Punches.
From what I can gather, this game is more about angles and openings than any other boxing game that I've played.
The automated blocking system works off reflexes so assuming your opponent isn't too tired, busted up or doesn't have the reflexes to defend themselves, you have to seek openings and work off angles to have any real chance of landing good clean punches.

You can't just tee off in this game. You might have a jab that is faster than a fighters reflexes but if you experiment you'll see that using the jab too exclusively will just wear your left arm out (yes you can wear individual arms out this time!)

'Openings' in this game relate to exploiting bad positioning where a fighter can't react by getting his elbows in or hands up quick enough.
For example if you are leaning to the left, your right elbow out of position leaving you open to a jab or maybe even left hook to the body.

'Creating Angles' is achieved by punching while moving (assuming you are one step ahead of your opponent's movements... think circling left while jabbing) or more effectively by timing you side-step after your opponent has committed to something like punching or stepping in to reveal a nice juicy opening.

Stunning/ Getting Stunned/ One Punch KO's.
The key principle to understand is that damage works on momentum as well as openings. That means that damage is not only rated on how clean the punch is, but also how much force is involved. This means that for example, your punch can be given extra weight if your opponent leans in to it. Also, there is a very cute system at play were your opponent can be seriously susceptible to damage at certain points of going through a specific motion.... Think of Hasim Rahman getting KO'd by Maskaev http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQeqquW1ugo
He's body was open and his force was just about to travel forwards only to be rudely interrupted by a big right hand.

I think I'll leave it there for now.... Until you have some more specific questions.