I've been plugging away at TAP ever since I got a hold of it, and I'm becoming increasingly frustrated at my inability to play fast enough. I know there are a lot of things to do in game to make it go faster, like placing pieces efficiently and trying not to only clear singles when it can be avoided. I still have a lot of work to do on those, too, but that's not what I'm talking about. I mean I can't physically hit the buttons fast enough to place the pieces that quickly. I've watched a lot of videos, including the ones from Arika and a bunch from people on this forum, and while I can follow the action with little difficulty, "playing along", if you will, my I can't move my fingers fast enough to be able to do it myself. I've been experimenting with different input devices, too, but once I adjust to them, my speed seems to be pretty much the same moving from gamepad to joystick to keyboard. I'm an accomplished musician, so I never figured that dexterity would be a problem, but this is really starting to bug me. Anyone have a comparable experience and/or tips to help me get my hands in playing shape?
Have you verified that your speed is being limited by your fingers? Often, players may mistake reflexive thinking for dexterity. Your physical reactions are directly influenced by how fast you think.
Hi Ken. I'm fairly accomplished on the piano, though I suck at trills. I suck at button mashing in general, really. Yet I can play TGM. I think TGM is actually less demanding in this respect than "0G" time attack. There are places where it is technically possible to place a piece, but that is merely a theoretical placement and not a valid option because it's so hard to *tap* *tap* *tap* fast enough to get a piece there. The trick is to not place the pieces there! The beauty of TGM is that mashing is not necessary so skilled play remains graceful. At high speeds, your only options are: -leaving the piece in the middle -tapping 1 space away from the middle -using DAS (delayed auto shift) to go as far to the side as possible -tapping one space away after using DAS to go as far to the side as possible Those are the only options! Everything else is a risky move that you should not rely on. This applies to Death Mode in particular, but if you're playing Master Mode for speed you've got to play in a similar fashion (without the risk because the speed is voluntary and not forced). Note that though this seems like a very limited vocabulary of moves, under 20G by using rotations intelligently you can expand your moveset in creative ways. Common extensions include: -using piece orientations to control where a DAS'ed piece stops -using wallkicks when unneccessary simply for the purpose of reducing the amount of *taps* you have to make. And that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Note: the game only forces you to play this aggressively when in Master Mode 900+ and Death Mode 300+. The rest of the time, you should be able to tap repeatedly to get anywhere. Though I consider this bad form, and these placements should be used as a temporary crutch to prevent disaster (which would then slow you down even more) rather than a standard placement option. <EDIT> Also, for easy double rotation, you should flick A then C in quick succession. Note that you can not depress them at the same time, but one may be held down while the second is depressed. This keeps double rotation an option at high speeds.
Thank you for this lot of advice but I fear it's not enougt.. I don't speak only for me but for all people who are around ~320-380.. Colour_thief hasn't insisted on the fact he has practiced very hard to reach "M" grad.. When I stop only one week, I decrease at an average score at ~340..And I must play 3 or 4 hours to recover at ~420.. You musn't stop your training if you want improve at this level.. Every day : 1h30 minimum..And maybe everybody here havn't the time to that..
I've definitely stopped longer than one week on the road to M, and I'm lucky if I play 1h30 combined for all of Monday-Friday! I mostly only play on the weekends, and even then my girlfriend and friends populate most of my free time. After hitting the torikan last weekend, I was extra motivated to practice during the week... So it was an exception. And I really stress that my advice above explains the process you must go through to survive at high speeds. You must destroy your slow instincts, and force yourself to play with the fast but reduced set of options. It's really hard to change your mindset. You have to rewire your brain to emphasize the fast moves. It feels really uncomfortable at first seeing that there is a great place to put the piece, but forcing yourself to place it elsewhere in the name of speed. I'm definitely still rewiring my brain to adjust, but I'm pretty sure this is the overall direction you have to go.
I defintely agree with ct here. Moving from SRS 20g to ARS 20g, I've had to rethink optimal piece positions one by one. It's extremely frustrating because it takes constant repetition and effort to reform your tendencies. However, one by one, you'll change your reflexes and make new habits. All it takes is a matter of time and practice.
But at least TGM is easier than, say, NES Tetris on level >=19. One position. Two more, making three. Two more, making five. Two more, making seven. That's nearly the eight positions normally available to a tetromino other than I or O placed "across". Here's another method: -exploiting the step reset of lock delay by building a big ass pyramid in the middle of your field, as seen in the first minute of Death 800
while there are a few positions which take three movements in ARS (like for instance, z to the right all but one column), i don't understand why you say move only once away from middle, but you can move das the wall and back (two movements).
Because the DAS can be "charged", as it were, to activate as soon as the piece comes into play. This way it moves to the edge immediately upon becoming active, and you still have time to flick it back one space. This, at least, I understand. As for the rest, it'll take some time before I've incorporated it all into my play. CT is right, rewiring the brain is a long and difficult process. I was using some of those moves before, but not consistently, and there were a lot that I just never figured out until I started really looking for them. I'm still not convinced that my hands are 100% innocent, but I guess I'll come to accept that in time, too.
Nick: The timing is easier when you're DAS'ing to the side. You're more likely to make the first *tap* at the beginning of lock time after seeing the piece hit the wall than after waiting an invisible amount of ARE. You also get more time to prepare te maneuver. It's still risky though! Tepples: When you factor in orientation, as well as rotating to allow for more possible fast moves, you get a lot more than 7 spots. Just counting the 3 IRS'able orientations you get 21 basic spots, and then further rotation opens up more depending on the context. ...Though I guess yes, the O piece has 7 spots you can place it.
After some consistant training in Death lvl 500 Speed, I start to really handle the flow. and then almost all moves are possible. It's just a different manner to handle the gameplay and next piece focusing. Surviving also become more easy with manual slow down. Today i've survived 1min36sec, with a lot of try result over 1min. Some normal move just equal to suicide if you try at this game speed : but i would not say anymore that the move possibilities are limited as described by colour_thief. Again it's just a matter of next piece focusing. I've even tried "just for fun" to lock at this speed, and i was really suprised myself that it become really possible... (witch just mean more suicidal tendancies for the my actual skills level) i would even say that there is 2 major really dangerous situation : * when you just have to let the piece in the center of the field, strangely i have difficulty to handle the next piece,because his time appearance is really really short (but again it's a work of focusing) * and sometime when you want to IRS next piece, you may rotate the piece in the playfield by mistake. this is the WORST. because it result in an "instantly" misplacement, and may strongly interfere in most case with the next piece placement.
I never said other moves are impossible, only that they should be avoided. I think it's really important that the fast and easy moves are your first consideration. There are moves that are fast and difficult... Obviously you should learn these too but they should not be the priority. One thing at a time, and all that.
Hell, how many musicians are there here I've played the piano since I was a kid, and I can tell you dexterity is nothing in tgm. I personnally play with an arcade stick, and dexterity required in tgm is ridiculous compared to other games such as fighting games. You go left, you go right, you press a single button one, two, three times and... that's all ! The only problem in tgm is in your brain: you see the next piece, you think where you gonna put it, you think what your fingers should do and paf, they do it coz it's easy. But if you need to think about all this 3 times a second, ouch ouch ouch, that's becoming pretty tough If you play with an arcade stick, you could maybe use what we call in french "double tappotage" (which is one of the basics in playing fighting games, so you don't miss the timings): you press two times the same button but with two different fingers. But you need a good arcade stick or it will be registered only once. Can be useful if you want to turn a piece two times, in order to gain speed.
The first part I have no trouble with. The second part is where I keep getting tripped up. I've been training hard to incorporate the advice people have given, but it's still a work in progress. I've always thought we need a neural interface for Tetris. Just plug the game right into your brain. Completely removes the need for input devices of any kind. You just think where you want the piece to go, and it's there! The speed would make Shirase seem painfully slow!
h h... as myselft an accomplished player at Tekken or Kof, i know a lot about fighting game, and you should not lowerise the technic in TGM as you described. There is a lot of technical move mechanism that require lot of training as any fighting game. Only by very well understanding the mechanism of 20G and ARS allow you to a "ridiculous" tgm move on the speed flow as for example in this video level 768 with the J piece : http://www.arikaonline.com/download/mov ... master.mpg try to master L,J,T,S,Z synchro "jump hole" with 100% acuracy then do them "on the Death speed flow"... or get the Gm rank in TGM1 under 11min or M rank in Master mode and we'll talk again about "that's all".
Don't listen to jago! Single-frame moves are too unreliable to rely on. They should be a last resort and not a regular move. The main difference between a beginner and a top level player is not the technical trickery they can pull off, it's the mind with which they approach the game.
