Icarus wrote:
Playing "passive" - not planning new strategies, not experimenting with new techniques, not observing the game system in-play and devising new ways of manipulating it - is another.
That's something I'm really trying to avoid. It's hard though, as sometimes you have to take a backwards step.
For example, in Raiden III Double Play (my current STG fling), I've been plugging away for some time fine tuning a technique, and then I learned a few new tricks by mistake or from the superplay DVD, and now I'm trying to add them in it's really set me back. I can go back to my old technique and keep pushing my hi-score up a little, but I really need to focus on the new stuff if I'm to improve drastically, which means doing badly for a bit.
Also, Icarus, isn't it fair to say that occasionally playing 'passively' and doing the STG playing equivalent of letting you mind wander (letting your focussed approach wander) gives you a chance to discover things you might otherwise not discover? I guess though, that in doing that on purpose, it's actually not true passive play. Proactive-passive play perhaps.
I'm probably wrong!