I've been playing Weapons Master mode on Soul Calibur II, and it seems no matter how much I use practice mode, and study the moves, about ten seconds into the actual fight, I almost totally forget everything I learned.
You guys would love playing against me... I can't block for crap... I just seem to mash the buttons, occasionally remembering a move or two, using it over and over hoping to get lucky...
My name is Brian, and I'm a button masher.
I mean, I have a strategy guide for the game, but it's like trying to learn calculus for me.... ooh... Talim just owned Taki in the demo mode....
Anyway... any advice how to be less of a button masher? 
Incidentally, you just described my fighting game style.
I win against people who consider themselves good and plan out their moves about 50% of the time. [ 01-14-2004: Message edited by: Maradon! ]
Basicly, build your game around low risk moves then spice it up with a few high risk ones. Most characters only have 10-15 moves that are worth anything and the rest is just chaff. Cut out the chaff and you'll be doing well.
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Everyone wondered WTF when Mog wrote:
Ive alwasy thought everyoen who claismms they memorize special moves and use "stratagy" are full of shit and everyoens a button masher at heart
Well, it is just embedded into the way you play the game. After practicing certain moves it gets to where in given situations it triggers a chain.
After I unlocked Seung Mina it became a single button press. 
Occasionally I'd air juggle with another move, but L1 being mapped as A+B never failed me. Rather sad.. most of the game is killable with that.
1. Try out everybody, and pick a favorite character.
2. Play that character exclusively in every play mode, including versus and WM.
3. Spend time in practice mode analyzing that character's moves. Don't just look at damage; watch how far the move goes, how long it takes to perform, the amount of recovery time afterward, what position it leaves you in, etc.
4. When you have a good handle on #3, start looking for patterns. Most characters are built around a certain strategy, theme, or other methodology. For example, Talim has a lot of speed, guard breaks, and evades, allowing her to push through an opponent's defense. OTOH, her overall attack range is awful and she does minimal damage.
5. Refer back to #3 in order to play up your advantages and guard your disadvantages.
6. Even when you know all the moves and what they do, you still need practice. Experience counts for more than memorizing the move lists 
When you mash, you neither guard nor attack effectively. The only advantage you have is the randomness of your attacks. But random or not, an experienced player will still know what advantage or disadvantage each move puts you in, and act to effectively neutralize or capitalize on it, respectively.
Look at some of Maxi's combos.. especially one of his kicking juggles... you just keep pressing buttons till you see a certain part of him move, then you press another one till a different part moves, wash, rinse, repeat.
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ACES! Another post by Mog:
Ive alwasy thought everyoen who claismms they memorize special moves and use "stratagy" are full of shit and everyoens a button masher at heart
There are some characters in some games you can't really do that with.
My ex-roommate (pre Aury) was devastating with Hwoarong, because he knew how to do all his combos, and what hits where how and with what timing. Once he connected with a hit, 2/3 of your life was gone.
Gods it was a pain fighting him.
Link's basic throw is good for this.
All you really gotta do with that strategy guide (assuming you have the Brady one) is check out some of the combos they suggest in the character bio. Dont go through the list trying to do 1800203 different moves in one fight. Just use simple combos that work and work fast.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
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Sentow, Maybe stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
Someone who knows what they're doing will annihilate a button masher 10 times out of 10. In order to abandon this blasphemous practice, do the following:1. Try out everybody, and pick a favorite character.
2. Play that character exclusively in every play mode, including versus and WM.
3. Spend time in practice mode analyzing that character's moves. Don't just look at damage; watch how far the move goes, how long it takes to perform, the amount of recovery time afterward, what position it leaves you in, etc.
4. When you have a good handle on #3, start looking for patterns. Most characters are built around a certain strategy, theme, or other methodology. For example, Talim has a lot of speed, guard breaks, and evades, allowing her to push through an opponent's defense. OTOH, her overall attack range is awful and she does minimal damage.
5. Refer back to #3 in order to play up your advantages and guard your disadvantages.
6. Even when you know all the moves and what they do, you still need practice. Experience counts for more than memorizing the move lists
When you mash, you neither guard nor attack effectively. The only advantage you have is the randomness of your attacks. But random or not, an experienced player will still know what advantage or disadvantage each move puts you in, and act to effectively neutralize or capitalize on it, respectively.
Agreed. Back when I actively played, I stuck with Raphael. And I completely pwned with him.
The greatest part was, while everyone else I played against tried to do OMFGBIGGERTHANXOBX combos, I just did one small combo at a time, (ie. 6bb[B]b, or something like that... Been a while.) and never used the same combo/move over and over. After the move, I'd fall back (often with retreat step, 214) and instantly start blocking the upcoming enemy combo attempt. After that, when they're vulnerable, I whack 'em again.
Lots of people say that a defensive fighting style in fighting games just plain don't work, because you can't pull off big combos and juggles. Well if it doesn't work, then why was I winning? Not only that, but slowly whittling them away with small moves tended to whittle away their sanity, as well. I hit them for about 1/10, 1/12 of their HP, but I'm still at full because they can't hit me. Part of the strategy was psychological warfare, so to speak... I was playing against a friend, who played as Seung Mina, and used the same strategy. He fought well in the beginning, even getting a few Guard Impacts and taking my HP down. However, my defensive style won in the end... Whittling him away got him really pissed, and he started mashing L1. I just went behind him and threw him outta the ring.
Fighting against someone playing Heihachi was also fun. He had a GC and not a PS2, but he picked up the character *FAST*... 15 minutes in practice and he had all the moves down, including the 10 hits. I went extra defense for this match, because he could probably take me out easy with the f 
10 hits. I used my same general strategy, only blocking/GIing a lot more, and eventually got him so pissed he started just "mashing" the 10 hits. I went behind him, and backstabbed for the win. (For the record, I used 44AB.) One of the few matches I got Perfect. 
It pales in comparison to Smash Brothers
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Neo-Blindy stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
People talk about this game like it's got strategy.It pales in comparison to Smash Brothers
Surely, you jest.
Smash Bros is an amazingly fun game, yes, but it was made for the buttonmashers. Especially since you only really need to remember A + Any Direction, B, B + <-. and B + ->. Unlike Soul Calibur, where combos actually take some practice to pull off.
I love Smash Bros as much as I do SCII, but Smash requires no thought whatsoever. Especially if you use items.
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Neo-Blindy spewed forth this undeniable truth:
People talk about this game like it's got strategy.It pales in comparison to Smash Brothers
I owned you with Donkey Kong.
