This is a blog about strategies and tactics I have learned, mostly from my experience of playing 3D fighting games and reading classic strategy books. Oh... and Java.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sticking Tight

In The Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi has a section called "Sticking Tight".
...When you and your opponents have taken sides and are facing off and it is not clear who will prevail, right then and there you stick tight to the opponents, so that you cannot be separated, and in that process find the advantage...
This is often a very good strategy in video games, too. When I'm playing against someone who's giving me trouble, I often change my goal to get close to him, wait, and see how he reacts. By not attacking, he'll typically respond with confusion, then panic. In the panic stage, he'll hack together a spur of the moment attack which is easy to interrupt.

There is a Soul Calibur player named Semi who often just runs into his opponent after an exchange. This leaves Semi completely vulnerable but it has been the source of many victories. How can he succeed with a strategy that by all explanation is completely foolish?

It's the state of confusion it causes. No one in the right mind would do this so it takes a while for the opponent to realize what's happening. By the time he does, he's already been pushed to the edge of the ring and Semi has a good chance of knocking him out. Not only does this strategy work, it's completely demoralizing.

1 comment:

mxtbcca said...

Never thought about using the strategies of the five "Five Rings" in a video game - insightful! I'll have to pull it off the bookcase and give it to my son to see if it will change his tactics.