WTF -- I have no consistency

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GaijinPunch
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WTF -- I have no consistency

Post by GaijinPunch »

Since breaking out the super gun AND PCBs is kind of messy, I'm just leaving it out and playing some Ketsui... pretty much exclusively. I come home, crank it up, and EVERYTIME on the first 1 credit I get near my high score, and don't use my bombs which would surely get me a new high score. I try again, and every fucking time after some dickbag peashooter hits. WTF?!?! Should I play it once a day and no more?
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MadSteelDarkness
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Post by MadSteelDarkness »

The same thing happens to me when I try to play DDP-DOJ too much. I put it aside for a week or two, and BAM, new high score. Wacky...
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iatneH
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Post by iatneH »

Damn, I want this game... it will probably be the first game I buy after I buy a used arcade cabinet (and recover sufficiently from the cost of that...) I only had a chance to play it while I was in Hong Kong last summer, I must have dropped a few hundred $HK playing it over 3 months... it was in Hard mode too :(
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raiden
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Post by raiden »

I always find it hard to keep concentration when playing after work, but do much better early in the morning, right after getting up.
japtor
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Post by japtor »

lately ive just been playing until i get 2-3 good runs. i seem to be breaking 50 million at will, so i just set that as my mark. once i do a crappy run after some good ones, i basically just do one more and stop there, or keep playing until i suck again. no real routine i guess, just sort of a semi conscious way of playing with a groove then stopping when sucking consistently.
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freddiebamboo
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Post by freddiebamboo »

I find it's the games you play in between.

rRootage seems to be slowly but surely destroying my skill level at cave games.

I couldn't make it off level 2 of esprade yesterday after 3 attempts :(
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Davey
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Post by Davey »

freddiebamboo wrote:I find it's the games you play in between.
I read this book "Mind at Play," it says you're better off playing totally unrelated games inbetween sessions. In other words, you'd be better off switching between DDP and Tetris than you would, say, DDP and Espgaluda.
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Blue Lander
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Post by Blue Lander »

When I'm playing for high score, I usually stop playing for at least a few hours after each time I do well. Usually I play once or twice to warm up (dying from something stupid each time), then I have a good play through. If I try playing after that, I can never get as far as the last time. So I go do something else for a few hours, clear my head, then try again. In between I'll play an RPG or watch TV or read the news. It definietly helps my score to take a shmup break.

I do better if I play early in the morning, too. It all depends on how my eyes are feeling. If they're tired after a day of looking at computer monitors, I always get hit by some stray bullet that I don't notice. And if I had a bad night's sleep, I'm pretty much screwed as far as shmups go for the entire day. I've also found that if I have any stimulants in my system (sugar or caffiene), I always do terribly. So I play in the morning when my system is free of soda/coffee.
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landshark
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Post by landshark »

This is how all cave games are for me. My highest scores are the games where I die with like 6-8 bombs in stock at least once.
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GaijinPunch
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Post by GaijinPunch »

Yeah, that bomb thing just kills. I got 40 mil last night, and the only reason I got to 1-4 was b/c I bombed like hell on the 3rd boss... didn't want to take any chances. That's not bad considering my high score before was 33 mil, and got almost halfway through stage 4.

Been playing either Sakura Taisen 2 in between, or Texas Hold 'em. :)
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

Getting burned out is another possible factor in poor performances in gaming. In my case, sometimes I can play a game exclusively for months, and start to notice continual degradation in performance as the time goes on, punctuated with the occasional highscore beating run. My credits will continue to get worse and worse until frustration sets in, and I tire of the game. Lots so far have been cast aside because of this - Espgaluda, Gradius 5, Dodonpachi Daioujou, Brave Blade, R-Type Delta and Final, Shikigami no Shiro 2...

Nowadays, for a game that averages about 20 mins per good credit for example, I put in about a minimum 5 creds and a maximum of 12 or so a day, and take regular breaks inbetween, either reading, watching TV or a film, or just chilling. Not pushing yourself too hard can be beneficial in both keeping enthusiasm for a game, and energy to play it. Plus, with this way of playing, I tend to think about the game when I'm away from it, forming strategies on paper and in my mind while I'm doing other things like work, which sort of helps my performances when I finally get a pad in my hands to play.

Different things work for different people, but I find that not forcing yourself to play makes you play all the more consistently.
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popawell
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Post by popawell »

I have a routine to playing games. First I play WTF hard games like Gradius III (arcade) for an hour. Then when im fustrated I go play an easy blow the crap out of everything game like Metal Slug X to relax. Then I go back to a hard game and get a high score.

Simple like Ed I am.
black mariah
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Post by black mariah »

I am undoubtedly the streakiest dude here. The first time I played Darius Gaiden I got to the sixth level and haven't even been near there since. A loooooong time ago there was a big DDP score contest going on here and ONCE I managed to get to level 4 without dying even once (a MAJOR feat for my scrub ass). Of course, I bought it almost immediately but that's the point. Every once in a while I'll whip out some serious judo shit then 15 seconds later I'm in the corner with the light out crying like a My Chemical Romance fan.
Blow up self to involve enemies.
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