Anyone else totally suck

tommyb · Post by **tommyb** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:07 am

At shmups but just enjoy playing them anyway?

TLB · Post by **TLB** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:13 am

*resounding FUCK YEAHs*

henry dark · Post by **henry dark** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:17 am

tommyb · Post by **tommyb** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:35 am

Hahaha, okay, making sure I'm not the only one ^_^

I just can't seem to do good in...well...any shmup I play. haha.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:50 am

People don't suck at shooters; they just don't spend enough time playing them. Have you been playing your shooters as much as you your RPGs (20-40 hours)? If not, don't expect to be 1CCing left and right. But then, that may or may not kill your enjoyment; that pleasure should be your foremost priority.

tommyb · Post by **tommyb** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:57 am

Ganelon wrote:People don't suck at shooters; they just don't spend enough time playing them. Have you been playing your shooters as much as you your RPGs (20-40 hours)? If not, don't expect to be 1CCing left and right. But then, that may or may not kill your enjoyment; that pleasure should be your foremost priority.

Hm, you make a good point there. I've had Mass Effect for a couple days now and already have like 10 hours into it, more than I probably have in most of the shmups I play. I'll keep that in mind =]

innerpattern · Post by **innerpattern** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:28 am

the difference is shmups are intense, 10 hours will knock you on your ass, 10 hours at an RPG and you're trying not to drool on yourself, if you're still awake...

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:09 am

innerpattern wrote:the difference is shmups are intense, 10 hours will knock you on your ass, 10 hours at an RPG and you're trying not to drool on yourself, if you're still awake...

Indeed. I wonder how many shmups have caused heart attacks. I played quite a few that raced my pulse and caused me to sweat.

ChurchOfSolipsism · Post by **ChurchOfSolipsism** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:43 am

Yeah, I pretty much suck. And I mean SUCK, I must have played DDP DOJ hundreds of times and I'm really happy when I make it to the 4th stage. Oh man.

Post by **spadgy** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:11 pm

The fact that I see fellow visitor to Casino arcade progress so much faster than me makes me think I suck, and that some people are just born with the ability to do better.

A friend of my father's, however, is one of the world's best banjo and steel plate guitar makers and players, and he finds the notion of born/natural talent insulting the the effort he's put in over the decades. I can't decide if some people are born with the knack or we're all actually on a level playing field...

I'm certain though, after notching up an equal amount of hours, some of use just progress faster. I'm sure there was a raging debate about this topic at the end of last year here...

Ozymandiaz1260 · Post by **Ozymandiaz1260** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:27 pm

Ganelon wrote:People don't suck at shooters; they just don't spend enough time playing them. Have you been playing your shooters as much as you your RPGs (20-40 hours)? If not, don't expect to be 1CCing left and right. But then, that may or may not kill your enjoyment; that pleasure should be your foremost priority.

I play shmups all the time, and I'm still pretty terrible at most of them.

MR_Soren · Post by **MR_Soren** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:55 pm

I'm terrible at them, but I have fun playing.

Regarding intensity, I had several occasions last week where my jaw did not close quite right after multi-hour Progear sessions.

(a quick look at the STGT scoreboard will reveal that this did not help me much.)

TriggerHeartExelica · Post by **TriggerHeartExelica** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:08 pm

Me! Im embarassed to admit it but as much as I love shmups I suck at them. I try not to play for score ever as its quite depressing to realize just how much you suck.

tommyb · Post by **tommyb** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:25 pm

Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one.

And going up to what someone said up there, I don't think people are born with any abilities whatsosever, I just think some people catch on quicker/are better at honing their abilities then others.

Tigershark · Post by **Tigershark** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:30 pm

It's all relative.

My friends (who are not shmuppers) will remark on my ability to avoid on screen bullets without dying. I suck though. The reason I know I suck is because of the high score tables. If I can get on them it's normally way down the table (i.e. last).

The point being that because I do play them I look good to those who don't but as soon as I come accross people who play properly, I'm a gibbering piece of jelly cowering in the corner asking for forgiveness.

Tigershark · Post by **Tigershark** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:32 pm

tommyb wrote:And going up to what someone said up there, I don't think people are born with any abilities whatsosever, I just think some people catch on quicker/are better at honing their abilities then others.

Well I can't agree with that. Two people playing the same sport will result in one of them getting better than the other. They may both practice for the same periods and have the same coach, but one is obviously better. That my friends is called natural ability.

It wasn't that long ago that there was talk in this much blighted land (as oposed to Blighty) amongst some of our liberalists who had nothing better to do that it was a good idea to ban sports at schools in totality to avoid "winners" and "losers". Ho hum.

I suppose the greatest thing about schmups generally is that you've got nowehere to hide and no one to blame but yourself if you die.

tommyb · Post by **tommyb** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:40 pm

That's exactly what I said, some people learn faster/get better quicker then others, but it doesnt mean that the other person can't get good eventually. I dont know, I guess I'm really contradicting myself now that I think about it -_- hahaha.

LaserGun · Post by **LaserGun** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:52 pm

I still kinda do suck, since I don't play for score often.
It's only in the last couple years I started playing arcade games more seriously, I used to sometimes just listen to the radio and credit feed my way through like 5 different games for a couple hours.

Then I heard about 1CCing games and I really couldn't believe it that people could 1CC games like Metal Slug 3, Gunbird 2 and Gradius V, I took it upon myself to watch some replay videos and saw how it wasn't exactly rocket science and it just took practice.

I practiced Metal Slug 3 on and off for a couple months until I was able to 1CC it.
The reason I suck though is cause I don't put as much time into playing shmups compared to other games I play, since I'm just getting back into the genre.

So with practice I think I could do a lot better.

Never_Scurred · Post by **Never_Scurred** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:47 pm

innerpattern wrote:the difference is shmups are intense, 10 hours will knock you on your ass, 10 hours at an RPG and you're trying not to drool on yourself, if you're still awake...

clp · Post by **clp** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:11 pm

i sucked at shmups then i started practicing i get better , its the usual cycle , dont see the point in staying shit at every shmup you play forever i find the achievement enjoyable .

Avist Torch · Post by **Avist Torch** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:42 pm

I suck. The only shmups I can 1cc are Touhou games.

And some freeware stuff, but I hate playing those on difficulty levels where I don't struggle. Too boring that way.

I've gotten to DoDonPachi's Stage 6 boss on one credit before, but my score still sucks. Highest I've gotten is about 28 million on a really lucky run.

And I just ordered DOJ. Fun times will be had.

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:54 pm

been propping up high score tables since '06. i think i have about 3 good scores, but suck at most stuff

Ixmucane · Post by **Ixmucane** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:12 pm

I don't have a lot of talent, but:
- I'm still good enough to have fun and learn.
- I have a bad habit of credit-feeding games in MAME just to see everything rather than playing seriously; i find such an examination more interesting than the prevalent opinion in this forum.
- I can choose easier games and make progress against easier challenges; it's a matter of expectation management.

For example, I'm currently trying to beat Raiden III at the very easiest setting (Very Easy difficulty, 5 lifes*7 bombs; laugh at me).
At first I used to start dying in level 2 or 3 and bite the dust in level 4 or 5 (6M-7.5M points); now after some weeks of 1-2 games per day I find the first two levels very boring, I rarely die before level 4 or 5, and I often reach level 6 or level 7 (9M-11M points) and sometimes the final boss; soon I'll beat it and I plan to step up to "Normal" or "Arcade" difficulty with 3 lifes and 3 bombs (like in the high score thread).

[/list]

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:19 pm

I'm average at best, but it just makes me love this genre even more. Whether or not I ever practice myself (or to paraphrase DOJ, "BURN MYSELF") into doing better, the performance ceiling of this hobby is a draw in itself.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:33 pm

tommyb wrote:That's exactly what I said, some people learn faster/get better quicker then others, but it doesnt mean that the other person can't get good eventually. I dont know, I guess I'm really contradicting myself now that I think about it -_- hahaha.

That's true in all things, but probably not as much as you're thinking. Unless a person has reflex/hand-eye coordination issues, experience in similar games, or doesn't feel like getting better (the "scrub" mentality), someone who's practiced for 20 hours in any game should utterly dominate someone who's only practiced 10 hours.

Many folks who've never really reached a level they've been satisfied with wonder why other people are doing so much better. It's because these folks have been playing the game for far longer. Just try 1 game really hard and it'll quickly become obvious, even if you'll feel like giving up many times.

Octopod · Post by **Octopod** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:02 pm

I suck at them but i dont have alot of time for games. I sit down and play maybe 3 times a week for an hour or so at a time. So if i played more perhaps i would be better.

t0yrobo · Post by **t0yrobo** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:24 pm

Yup, same here. i think the amount of time I spend on them is a part of it though. the most time I have on any games in mame is 20 hours. And none of the other games come close.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:35 pm

Team Captain.

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:00 pm

It's all relative...(we all suck compared to the top japanese STG players)

but what amazes me is how much better I keep getting over the years, things that seemed impossible not so long ago slowly become "doable". And then you look back and realize how easy some games have become.

Part of what makes shmup so great is that when you get better at dodging bullets (multidirectional dodging, complex patterns, very fast bullets...) you become MUCH better at every shmup out there.

Minzoku · Post by **Minzoku** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:17 pm

Hi

I think in my case, it's more a lack of time/patience than actually not being any good. I'm sure I could develop my bullet-dodging skills better if I weren't also interested in so many other things that my skill development gets spread pretty thin.

Though it's possible that I could practice shmups forever and never get any better at them... like with playing golf