How do you practice/train/improve?

[Marc]

Shatterhand wrote:
Samudra wrote:
2. Read and/or watch (superplays) anything about the game that you can get your hands on. Try to find people playing that particular game (or genre) and discuss it with them.

3. Keep a diary. Note down your progress, mental states while playing, obstacles encountered, &c.

4. If you have a VCR or a capture card in your PC; use it.




You know, me PERSONALLY could never do this stuff.

Shatterhand wrote:
I can understand someone enjoying, but I really couldn't care to be "good" enough to go through the trouble of setting my VCR to record myself playing, and then watch a VIDEO OF MYSELF playing... this just sounds too stupid to me.


Imagine trying to beat Rocket Knight Adventures on Crazy Hard mode (1-hit death, no extra lifes (picking up 1-ups will count though) and no continues). This requires complete memorization of the game. You'll wish you had more advanced equipment than a VCR.

But why would I want to?

Really I am not crazy about gaming. I am a very irregular gamer even. Sometimes not playing for months! Yet, when I do play I like to do it properly.

This comment really annoyed me. 'Properly'? What is properly? I completed Rocket Night Adventures, I didn't 1LC it on hardest difficulty (defaults), does that not count as 'properly'? Some games I will come back to an infinite amount of times (R-Type & Gynoug spring to mind immediately). Some I will never touch again. I have to find a game 'fun' before I dedicate hours of my life playing it. That has nothing to do with the learning vs fun argument, it's more a case of am I having fun learning? On DDP - yes. On Mars Matrix - no, it bores me. Fun comes first, only once I know which game I'm enjoying most can I decide which to apply myself to. Some guys act like dedication to any given title should come first, and if you happen to have fun along the way, fine.

Many people watch movies. Yet, how many people go deep in the meaning, symbols, techniques employed in a movie? It is the same with games.

Video games aren't movies, as countless magazines and articles have been pointing out for years, and they probably never will be. Shmups in particular.

[Marc]

Double post, sorry all

[Nemo]

Keep playing the game.

[Zweihander]

Lately, I've been credit feeding 'lunatic' on PCB to warm up for my easy/normal runs. I think it helps, but what I really need to do is play the game more often. If you do anything long enough, you can't help but get good at it.

I do something similar to that with...

R-Type Final: warm-up with a 1-credit run on Very Hard mode.
EspGaluda: warm-up with a few runs of Arrange Mode.

Also, I found (surprisingly) if you quit one game for a while, play similar games, and go back to it, you'll be better without even having practiced that particular game. After nearly 1CC'ing Mushi Arrange mode, I've improved greatly in Galuda. Also, the shooting stages in Astro Boy: Omega Factor.. I used to suck immensely at them, but I was surprised when i blazed through them earlier. (bought the game today; last time i played was on my shmup-mentor's GBA, months before i converted to Shmupism) Notable exceptions include:

Ikaruga, since there's nothing else quite like it-- Hell, one week without Ikaruga and I lose my m4dd polarity-flipping skillz. T_T

Giga Wing 2 -- don't know how i ended up sucking at GW2, the game i nearly 1CC'd, but i found out the hard way... The same would probably apply to GW1, even though GW1 was shit compared to GW2.

Keep in mind that's probably just a retarded little me-thing. ^^;

[Randorama]

I think Pa is just having a laugh at the difference in meaning

Well what else is there to do around here besides getting linguistic on Mr Linguist?



Pa

You're making fun of me just because i'm a poor foreigner!


...Or with me?


Shatterhand: in short, labelling it "stupid" is unappopriate, as it requires thinking (and we could say that something stupid doesn't require thinking, i suppose). If you find it excessive, actually, fine, because i'm getting that this is what you mean. However, i'm not talking about being the best around, but just of improving. Personally i'm satisfied if i can make progresses, even if this means still being a "scrub".If really want to be good, i'll practice, and enjoy the process of becoming "good".

[PaCrappa]

With! Definitely. You're a great guy Randorama, inasmuch as one can gain accurate impressions from message board posting. But I'll still crack the occasional joke (which are almost always inside jokes for only my benefit) because I'm just that way.

Pa

[Samudra]

I 1 lifed Flashback, Sunsetriders, Streets of Rage 2, Aleste 2, Zanac EX, all in the hardest difficult when applicable. I can kick some ass in KoF 96&99 and Bloody Roar 2. I could reach 5th loop of Road Fighter. I've 1 CC Elevator Action Returns, and I think I will 1 life it someday (I got very close of doing it a couple of times).

Does that mean the Mania difficulty in the case of SOR II? Since you need two controllers to activate it I thought it was made for two players only. Heard about people beating it with Max on this setting though. Can't say I've tried.

Shatterhand wrote:
Samudra wrote:
2. Read and/or watch (superplays) anything about the game that you can get your hands on. Try to find people playing that particular game (or genre) and discuss it with them.

3. Keep a diary. Note down your progress, mental states while playing, obstacles encountered, &c.

4. If you have a VCR or a capture card in your PC; use it.




You know, me PERSONALLY could never do this stuff.

Shatterhand wrote:
I can understand someone enjoying, but I really couldn't care to be "good" enough to go through the trouble of setting my VCR to record myself playing, and then watch a VIDEO OF MYSELF playing... this just sounds too stupid to me.


Imagine trying to beat Rocket Knight Adventures on Crazy Hard mode (1-hit death, no extra lifes (picking up 1-ups will count though) and no continues). This requires complete memorization of the game. You'll wish you had more advanced equipment than a VCR.

But why would I want to?

You missed my point. I am not wondering who wants to do so or if you or Shatterhand wants to; nor why.

Someone who thinks Rocket Knight Adventures is one of the best games he has ever played may want to attempt such a feat. And attempting such a feat may want to use said devices to help.

Really I am not crazy about gaming. I am a very irregular gamer even. Sometimes not playing for months! Yet, when I do play I like to do it properly.

This comment really annoyed me. 'Properly'? What is properly? I completed Rocket Night Adventures, I didn't 1LC it on hardest difficulty (defaults), does that not count as 'properly'?

Yes, that would indeed count as properly; but I never said otherwise. Again you missed my point.

Dictionary: 4. proper - having all the qualities typical of the thing specified; "wanted a proper dinner; not just a snack"; "he finally has a proper job".

In other words what I meant was a thorough gameplay experience. Taking full heed of everything happening ingame. A methodical mastery of the game.

Some games I will come back to an infinite amount of times (R-Type & Gynoug spring to mind immediately). Some I will never touch again. I have to find a game 'fun' before I dedicate hours of my life playing it. That has nothing to do with the learning vs fun argument, it's more a case of am I having fun learning? On DDP - yes. On Mars Matrix - no, it bores me. Fun comes first, only once I know which game I'm enjoying most can I decide which to apply myself to. Some guys act like dedication to any given title should come first, and if you happen to have fun along the way, fine.

I really hope that I'm not seen as one of those "some guys". Since most people seem to skim over whatever they read I'll repeat it again. Fun is relative.

Many people watch movies. Yet, how many people go deep in the meaning, symbols, techniques employed in a movie? It is the same with games.

Video games aren't movies, as countless magazines and articles have been pointing out for years, and they probably never will be. Shmups in particular.

Again I never implied such a thing. What I did was compare the interest and study one can extend into any medium. In this case taking movies.

[Randorama]

With! Definitely. You're a great guy Randorama, inasmuch as one can gain accurate impressions from message board posting. But I'll still crack the occasional joke (which are almost always inside jokes for only my benefit) because I'm just that way.

Pa

Eh, fine, after all i also make a lot of inner jokes (but i don't understand them most of the time,damn me and my cryptic humour )










This board lacks cool smilies, though

[Shatterhand]

No, not Mania, it was in very hard. But it was nothing like "Thats something I want to do". It just that SoR 2 was one of the games I had for my now STOLEN Mega-Drive, and I played the hell out of it.

You can turn on Mania and Very Easy levels by doing a cheat. I havent played SoR 2 for more than 6 years now, so dont ask me what was the cheat (And nowadays I am not sure if I could 1 life it even in the default settings, hehe ). I think I only played in Mania a couple of times to see what it was like. I never remember cheats anyway

Rando, sorry for using the word "stupid" them. I agree maybe it wasn't the best word to use. It was not meant in a unrespectful way, and I can understand what you mean. I personally find I do improve playing my games, but that always feel like a natural process. But it what I really meant since the beginning, each individual enjoy different stuff. I still can't get how so many people enjoy playing Final Fantasy games..

[SAM]

My advice? Don't credit feed. Try to see how far you can get on one credit, and keep practicing like that. Even if you can't get very far (I can only reach Level 3 in Raiden III so far) you're still going to be learning how to survive with less lives/bombs since you won't be continuing after death.

Problem with the traditional approach is EDS (Early Death Syndrome). You will find yourself restarting the game over and over if you loose one ship early in the game on or if you aren't getting as good a score or as far as your last attempt. Leads to frustration and boredom.

Well, chances are that dying early would lower the rank and let you go further in that game. Especially early Stages usually contribute only a very small portion of your final scores. Its a very good place to die in order to lower rank...

[SAM]

I don't use any practice features in a game. And I don't have mame so I can't just practice a particular boss. As a result I keep bombing the patterns that give me trouble, instead of trying to find a way. I tell myself I'll try to dodge it, but when the time comes I don't want to waste a good run.

I have the problem completely opposite, I want to learn how to get pass the patterns and doesn't use bomb. The problem is I nearly always goes down in flame w/ a full load of bombs. I just doesn't hit the bomb button when I should, even after I have learned the pattern.

Fail to utilize the bombing feature really hurting my progress in many games.

[Samudra]

Suddenly it hit me.
Only prejudice can cause such a violent reaction.

Could it be that the people scoffing (whether mentally or actually in here) at my idea of using a VCR have never tried it?

When you play a videogame you are actively involved; completely immersed. When watching a video you are absolutely passive.
I don't care how good you are at a game or how great your detachment is, but the detachment (and consequentially the height of observance) reached when watching a video can not be reached while playing.

If you have never tried taping your electronic antics on tape and the above makes sense to you. Try it, you might like it.

[SAM]

Suddenly it hit me.
Only prejudice can cause such a violent reaction.

Could it be that the people scoffing (whether mentally or actually in here) at my idea of using a VCR have never tried it?

When you play a videogame you are actively involved; completely immersed. When watching a video you are absolutely passive.
I don't care how good you are at a game or how great your detachment is, but the detachment (and consequentially the height of observance) reached when watching a video can not be reached while playing.

If you have never tried taping your electronic antics on tape and the above makes sense to you. Try it, you might like it.

Well, I don't taped my play once. But I did make use of the save replay features of DDP DOJ, ESPgaluda & Raiden III. I did watch my replay and from that prepective I found that I am actually playing much better than I thought I was, especially in ESPgaluda.

I haven't use this features to found what I had done wrong through. For DDP DOJ & ESPgaluda, I mainly use it to save the states for running pratice mode. For Raiden III, I use it to take a good look with the bosses bullet pertterns, which are too fast for me to study while playing the at the same time.

I did watch replays of great players' games, but haven't yet learned from them, since I can not yet 1cc the game, and thus learning scoring streatry from them won't help much. But yet I can study the boss bullet partterns by watching they play...

[Shatterhand]

I don't know it that was aimed at me, but I am not even interested in trying that, because I don't care enough to do something like that.

Though I've recorded myself playing a few times just for fun.