been a huge fan of souls games for ages, and its been immensely valuable to me in countless ways, but funny enough that feeling of overcoming struggle isnt something i really felt much from the games, it was mainly about patience more than anything for me... some of what you said made some stuff finally click for me regarding what ive been struggling with internally irl. much appreciated, great video, and the persona music in the background is a nice touch that elevates the thoughtful tone of the video. i look forward to seeing what else you decide to upload, and best of luck

Like a wise man once told me. "Why pick one when you can play em all?"

Improvement plateauing before reaching the highest ranks is pretty common in many competitive games. The first obvious answer is that getting better at anything comes with diminishing returns, meaning that the people above you spent exponentially more time than you to get there. It's misleading to think that being 'one rank above' only reflects a slight difference. That rank could mean double your playtime. When you've played hundreds of hours, that may mean the people above you have spent thousands, and that's probably how long it's going to take you to get there; don't expect to see results too soon. There's another dividing factor between those who are 'above average' and those who are exceptional. Most people don't really know what focused practice feels like, and are confused when they seem incapable of reaching exceptional levels. An important shift in mindset from playing to practicing needs to be made to improve past that point. Unfocused practice--in this case just playing the game--is fun, and it will get you pretty far; certainly well above average. However, as you climb up the ranking, you're going to run into people who take the game more seriously. Focused practice, on the other hand, is monotonous, mentally exhausting, and uncomfortable. Most people naturally avoid it, sometimes to the point of not ever knowing what it feels or looks like at all; it's unintuitive, especially if your motivation for playing the game is just to have fun. I'm also really happy to see you talk about another conversation that's ignored a lot in competitive games: whether you *really* want to improve. I think with the understanding that a lot of people are unfamiliar with focused practice, the question may seem confusing. You're telling people they don't want what they explicitly claim they do. They enjoy playing the game, and they want to be better if it means doing the thing they enjoy many, many times. The reality is, that's not what being better feels like. Being better feels like getting off the game, cracking open a book, and studying. A better way to introduce the thought to those people might be asking them this: imagine the only way to get better was to sit down and learn about some boring topic for hundreds or even thousands of hours, then when you go back to that game you'll be as good as you want to be. Would you still want to improve? If not, there's nothing wrong with that. It's better to know you're making the conscious choice not to improve than blaming yourself, your genetics, your teammates, or whatever other excuse. Not every game with a competitive rank or elo requires you to be at the top, despite how game companies have perfectly mastered the art of tempting you. Even as someone who loves how rewarding focused practice and improvement can be, I still have many hobbies where I don't concern myself with such things, and that's okay too.

As I've grown older I have experienced a similar trend. Easier to adapt to new games cause I'm so used to all the tropes and formulas, but harder to be REALLY good like I used to be at some games. I think for younger people you fully immerse yourself and the game becomes your reality. For adults.. it's just another game. With that said I did manage to get GM in OW2, but not the highest ranks. I feel good enough about it.

Your argument is "don't learn to play musical instruments unless you're musically gifted" I think at your level of gameplay there are oceans of knowledge that can make you immediately better at the game. Yeah, you will not be fricking Beethoven but you can play some cool songs. Just git gud. I played with a friend stuck at gold and he became masters. Don't gaslight yourself into believing in ello hell.

I've always found that a lot of people think they can just play competitive only and get to the highest rank of their respective games. Sure, some people can, but not very many. Most people need to also spend time actually working on getting better, through aim-training, practicing techs, doing VOD-reviews, learning the deeper interactions, mechanics and game knowledge that just playing isn't going to teach you in a time effective matter. Think of how long a professional football player drills just shooting at a goalkeeper, on repeat, for hours. If the same football player only played full football matches, he'd have maybe a handful to a few handful of attempts to score a goal every match. Instead, he can get the same amount of attempts in five minutes from practicing shots on the goal and nothing else. Practice doesn't make perfect. *Perfect* practice makes perfect. There is a big difference in the quality of how you choose to practice and learn things. Manage your time and training effectively, and you can become good at anything in life.

you're*

i'm gonna be honest, you make a few good points, but in the first half especially its a lot of cope. i don't like to big myself up a lot but i too am the one in my friend group that, no matter what game, if we play customs, the team i am on will win. i have played videogames for a long time and in the same way i find it easy and natural to pick up a new game at a rate my friends cannot match. okay. done with the self ego boost lmao, personally i believe in these lobbies you state you can 'best them 1v1' but 'cant win as a whole', is a major red flag that you crutch on your mechanics, the major aspect of gaming that carries over from game to game, so, its understandable. i was the same, in most games i could reach what i like to call the mechanical barrier. think of ranks similar to mid-high dia in ow, while yes, it is very close now to master level. you can most likely attest to it yourself that often times the mechanical skill level of players in each game is far from evenly matched. this is a rank any mechanically proficient player can easily attain and hold just performing at their base, innate skill level, even having some games of incredible performance due to the mechanical disparity. to reach higher you must understand the game on a much, much deeper level. those at ranks above you possess all, if not more mechanical skill than you do. only their macro knowledge is far superior. this is why you feel you cannot 'win as a whole'. you simply are not well versed enough in the games actual macro meta. i'm not referring to 'best heros' or 'best comps', but deeply rooted strategy, for overwatch, namely; positioning, timing, ult/ability tracking, ult usage, mindfulness of teammates and opponents positions at all times, to name a few. this is what you must attain to change these games from a loss to a carry on all fronts. once you can see the enemies' mistakes as they make them, opportunities to punish become plentiful. then, as you climb higher the opportunities will lessen once again, not because you got worse, but because your opponents are now aware that you are looking for these opportunities, and they too are watching you just as closely. this got real long real fast but i want to finish by saying your mention of 'playing on autopilot' is a big factor into reaching a plateau with your skill level, and that i was also guilty of it for a time. as a former LoL player i can firmly say, autopilot playing vs non-autopilot will be the first change you should make to your game, and it will also be the most effective. good luck on your future ranked endeavors in any future games. but don't forget to have fun ;p

I have abs but if every guy had abs my tinder match numbers would be half of what it is.

The irony of the title is funny to me lol

what do you if you like too many characters? that's my problem

I have one main and then like 7 or 8 secondaries because all Strive characters are fun

If your understanding of the game is actually good (if we're talking ow specifically), you'd know you get the rank you deserve, barring external influences such as stacking and/or playing exceptionally good/bad heroes. I am a mid-high masters player. If for whatever reason I am playing in diamond I will consistently stomp lobbies until I am within a division or two of my peak. If for whatever reason you feel that you "are good enough to beat these players alone" you are more than likely a player that crutches a lot on their mechanics to gain value in situations such as isolated 1v1s while lacking in other aspects without actually knowing. You have to understand that for the most part, all players on the competitive ladder are subject to the same randomness of matchmaking and that you are not special in regards to getting bad teammates (who mostly are not even bad relative to you if they are the same rank as you).

To be honest if you're getting a fighting game you should do it because you're drawn in by at least one character, if there's NO ONE you can immediately recognize as someone you'd like to main then you should choose a different game entirely.

This was a nice video. You sound pretty chill and calm, a nice reminder that it's just a game and I should enjoy my time. I tend to get burnt out my FG in general a lot quickly because of hyper-focusing on every single detail, which ends up diminishing my progress.

For me character play style barely matter at all. I find myself choosing a character based on how much I like them as a character, not playstyle. I play I-no in Strive because she's the first one I played, and I feel attached to this character, so she's the most fun I have with the game, therefore she's my main. Ky Kiske in strive is cool, I enjoy piloting this character. Millia is my old main from Xrd, I didn't pick her because she's not the same as her counter part in xrd, but I still enjoy playing her because she's still Millia, so she's one of my two main with I-no. That's why I play I-no, and Millia instead of Leo who fits me the most. Everyone in big fighting game are designed to be fun to play, so everyone is fun in their own ways, so your attachment with the character matters more than their playstyle.

As a strive player, I decided to stick with Ram and Jhonny, but im definitely manning Venom for 2025

i just play whoever i feel like playing at the moment 🙏🙏

Something I found helped me a lot with narrowing down who to play in Guilty Gear is I just went through the whole roster and did 5 minutes in training mode blind with the character to see how they worked, did 5 matches with them online, fully expecting to lose, then tried to ask questions about what I felt I might be doing wrong, what abilities I feel I'm not understanding, do a little bit of research and then play 5 more matches. I just ranked them after that, and it cleaned out around 70% of the roster of characters that just passed the longevity check of is this a character that I can feel some depth behind I want to continue exploring, am I already feeling bored of this character, do I enjoy playing them in general, etc. I think its also a good way to get a general grasp on what every character is atleast doing at a surface level. Before touching Ino or Zato, I had no clue wtf they were doing when I fought them, but the general gameplay loop made total sense after spending some time with them. I think its also good because if a character really clicks for you, but you feel you're just, way out of your depth with them, its good to know that and you can come back to learn them more another time. Asuka and Milia were both super fun to play to me, but trying to pick them up in an hour, they felt nearly impossible to play well, but its a fun future project to work towards!

Just do good mixup

Ngl I’ve been struggling a lot with singleness/loneliness and your comparison of DS to any struggle, including emotional struggles, resonated with me. Nice job

Criminally underrated. Just started Dark souls remastered.

its why i enjoy spending hours on bosses to get them hitless, its so so much more fun at the end than bruteforcing bosses also great video, had the writing of a 100k+ sub channel

Awful audio quality. Like come on man, give some mercy for your viewers.

Seven minutes lacking a cohesive point; audio is mixed horribly; the "god bless" was cringe.

I have 100 hours in ggst and so far I've mained many characters like Ram, Johnny, Sin, Testament, Anji, Baiken and recently started to play Leo. They are all so fun to play and I love their characteristics but just can't stick with one character for too long. Idk why but I just get bored after a few weeks and want to play someone new

i can kinda relate to this video, I didn't give up on games as quick as you did but not being as good as i thought i should be was very frustrating and i ended up quitting for some time, recently i came back because you know that rush in the blood is peak gaming so i got ggst and is the game that im investing myself the most, im not where i want to be rn in terms of skill and sometimes i wonder how much better i would be if i had never given up of any game before, but i try to think positively and remember that the only path i can go to is forward

I always say to friends who are interested in Strive and are first timers to the franchise or at least to 2D fighters: For starters, pick either Sol or Ky. My reasoning behind this is most of the skills a beginner acquires through these two will mostly get carried over once they decide to pick characters that are less conventional. I'm even more favoring them to learn fundamentals with Ky first - as he helps you learn more of neutral, spacing and when to use his buttons (esp S1 Ky imho). Sol is good for a total beginner too, but I thought someone who's just starting out might feel overwhelmed by the aggression they'd always have to commit to all the time. Then once they feel they've learned enough - then they start switching to other characters they perhaps find "cooler" or a better fit to their playstyle, hopefully based on the skills they feel they were able to acquire from spending their first "semester" with Sol or Ky. Most people, even streamers say to pick a character who looks the most cool to you. That's fine and all, but I think that'd only apply to people who's had experience from other FG titles. People who already have knowledge of frame data, abare, when to take your turn and when not to, etc.

I literally wait for sin to be dlc to play strive

Playing multiple characters in each game is also the conclusion that I have landed upon! And fortunately with ArcSys and French Bread games it's often pretty easy to figure out who those characters will be for me, as I just look for the puppet character and a couple of complicated or oddball characters. Whenever I branch out of the anime fighter space though, I do frequently run into trouble. For a recent example, I spun my wheels for months in SF6, enjoying the game but not really finding a character I loved playing until A.K.I. came out.

Bridget is transgender so i picked her

The two most reliable and enduring ways to pick a character are A) the character closest to your exact gender, B) the character with the gender you're most attracted to. Any other metric for choosing a character will inevitably fall short. Good luck!

i picked up baiken the moment i first saw her. loved her look, her tools, and her playstyle. what bums me out were all the stray nerfs she got over the years. Now it feels like I'm just playing a shitty gimmick character with predictable sauce. Whats crazy is she great in season 2 but the same characters have been top tier since launch.

My rule when picking is the have to serve 💅

I honestly wonder what it's like to be like you, and others, who don't like picking one main. I like most of my mains, but 90% of my playtime Is just in the character I love the most, and will play non-stop.

Ngl there's some characters that i really wanna play but I REALLY dislike their inputs (like leo, may or pot in strive with the holding back inputs

millia rage :)

this channel seems cute :o

I personally didn't have a main till bedman came to strive since I mained him in xrd

I first mained Ash because he's hot, but his uga buga combos messed my brain. Now I play Dolores because she's hot

I just immediately picked johnny as soon as I saw him

Just don't pick zotto because the developers made him the worst character in the game for 400 days

I used to only play a character if they were the best. I played wraith in apex legends & pickachu in smash ultimate. I had an epiphany a couple years back. I realized that playing a character you don't like is like selling your soul. video games are supposed to be fun. Characters are a way to express yourself so why would I express myself unathletically?

Sol Badguy. You pick Sol Badguy.

I think the thing is you really don't need to worry about "picking the wrong character". I have swapped mains after 10s or even hundreds of hours on one. Especially when learning a game you aren't really going waist time.

thanks man, every game i ever played i couldnt stick to one character and this really helped

Nah i ➡️↘️⬇️↙️⬅️➡️🅿️

After 500 hours in the game, i realised that dropping characters isnt necessarily wasted effort. Practicing a varied range of inputs and overall gameplay playstyles solidifies your fundamentals. Another upside of this is the maychup knowledge. Knowing your opponent's character even on a shallow level can be a huge help towards scoring the win. So get out there and take the first step!