yogseadvice

so its been almost 2 months - my bad for such a late replay orz. on the other hand, this is a pretty good opportunity since you've had time to reflect since you asked me this. Before I answer some of these, you should definitely re-look at your question and answer the following: "what answers have you been able to find on your own thusfar, and which questions do you still have? In addition, are there any new questions that have arisen?"

Anyways since there has been a bit more time, i'll answer your question a bit more indepth:

Fundamentals are honestly a very vague and broad term, but I'll answer it in a round-about way: I often will refer to someone as either "knowing how to play the game" or not. If you "know how to play fighting games," you have fundamentals. Generally I think of fundamentals as anything that doesn't involve gimmicks or to some degree game-specific elements (though people will sometimes refer to game-specific fundamentals like "guilty gear fundamentals" etc). Again this is just my opinion but you can think of it as playing the game on an active, critical, and conscious level. Not to say that muscle memory or habits are BAD per se, but recognize that even those, if well built, were built based on some fundamental set of decisions you made once (blocking when you see X, jumping at Y, etc).

I'll break it down into Offense, Defense, and Neutral Game. This is vague and incomplete, but you should get the gist of it:

Fundamentals with regards to offense usually revolve around how to hit your opponent: Frame Traps, reading when they attempt to jump out, baiting, and counter poking. All that kind of stuff. Defense is usually understanding what is safe or unsafe, knowing where gaps are, and understanding what you need to do to get out of pressure on a basic level. Neutral Game usually revolvers around spacing, vulnerable points, movement options, and how moves interact with one another.

Anyways, your basic question looks like you're basically just asking what you should be doing in neutral fundamentally. This is probably one of, if not, _THE_ hardest aspects of the game to pick up on, because you're playing an In-Fighter archetype of character. If you compare a longer range character like Narukami to someone like Chie, the obvious question should be what Chie gains in exchange for sacrificing her range. The big ones are better close range normals (frame data) and better mixup potential due to the prior point as well as other tools. While one might see mixups as gimmicky or not a true form of fundamentals, realize that in some ways you can view mixups and mixup potential / opportunity as a way to REWARD an in-fighter / close ranged character for getting in. Obviously if a close range character had no trouble getting in, there would be no reason to ever play a long ranged character. As such, it should come as no surprise that it is difficult to get in against characters with longer range - you're probably not feeling as much of a problem when it comes to fighting akihiko or characters with similar range to yours.

With regards to closing in against long range characters, there are two big elements:

Spacing: having better spacing than your opponent can allow you to either win an exchange (5C'ing their whiff) or cause their normal to whiff. Forcing a whiff is an extremely huge part of any infighter's game, but you must know how to take advantage of it. Think of a whiff'd normal as causing you to be at +frames. During the whiff you can dash in closer before you are at "even", giving you better options. You can also attempt to jump or iad at points knowing they're still recovering.

Move Interaction: Some moves of yours can just straight up win in an exchange based on the move you choose: Obvious example is 2A vs Mitsuru. These are char specific, but an important element that exists in most games.

I've explained these two points so you know what you're looking for as you try and develop your neutral game. Particularly how an opponents WHIFFED move or movement can influence your options. Even something like them dashing forward or jumping can help you deduce what new options you have. Getting opponents to whiff is a really big part of getting past long range.

To answer your question again about how to improve fundamentals, simply playing a lot will of course help build game sense, which is directly tied to fundamentals. In addition, identifying small factors of fundamentals, such as "whiff punishing", and then focusing on trying to apply it in your gameplay will go a long way. When watching others, try to make sure you watch not only what the Chie player is doing, but what the opponent is doing. Often times an infighter is punishing an opponent for moving in a certain way or whiffing something, taking that as an opportunity to move in. Make sure you're looking out for these indicators and not just watching exactly how the chie is moving.

I'll stop here for now because it's a lot of rambling - let me know what you want me to elaborate on more because it's quite a huge topic that I can probably answer better with more specific questions.

Some fast Chie-specific advice would be: Use iad j.C to whiff j.C early to bait anti air whiffs, and move in while they're whiffing. Use dash 5A or dash jump when properly spaced to close distance while they whiff a long ranged normal. Blockspot can also be useful, and of course, 5C. Don't be afraid to roll to gain positioning or cause pokes to whiff too, it's a very useful option.