I need some pointers before i start hating this game enough to quit, or use someone else's save.

[Tatsuya]

Let me point out that though i am a fast learner, i haven't played a racing game in 10 years before this.
I want to unlock ages and reala, and i honestly do not care about the console mods, however i only have 133 stars, meaning i have to get around 32 stars, i've completed everything up to this point but the characters themselves and 3 console mods i believe.

The problem is, the difficulty is starting to suck out the enjoyment from the game for me, the races are impossible for me on hard or above, and the only missions i've been able to beat on expert are the pursuit, ring race and i bellieve battle race, most others are beaten on medium.

Honestly as much as i love this game, the ai is really starting to make me hate it.
Please offer some pointers, i do not want to use someone else's save just so i can enjoy the game again.
Thank you for any assistance.

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

I've got 156 stars myself. First off, at this point, as far as racing is concerned, Vyse or Sonic w/ Speed or Shadow, Eggman or Metal Sonic w/ Console are really the only viable solutions character-wise. You might be able to get away with BD Joe with console.

As for strategies, you could try using the barrel-roll bug on flying. I know it's not usually a good idea to recomend an exploit, but as far as most players are concerned it's one of the few things you can do to even the odds against the AI. Other than that it's really just practice and luck (mainly luck though, unless you are willing to commit a few hundred hours to perfect your line to the point where the AI can't actually get a chance to overtake).

I've dealt with unfair AI before (F-Zero on the SNES comes to mind), but S&ASRT takes it to a level I've never seen before. The difficulty is comparible to some bullethell games and even some of the hardest community tracks in Trackmania.

It's not 100% impossible, it's just extremely hard, especially for how casual the kart racing genre usually is.

[Ratham]

Dunno, I used to have problems with Hard/Expert but I just kept playing and eventually started winning. I too was after unlocking AGEs As for stars, I just did drift challenges with Amy and her handling mod. Boost challenges with Sonic/BD Joe. Pursuit on all difficulties is also very easy for stars as are some of the traffic attacks with the right character(s). Sometimes I had to play the actual races multiple times before I got first place but somehow I just adapted/learned where to drift and whatnot.

Personally, I used Sonic with his default mod, Amy with handling, and Metal Sonic with acceleration.

[Tatsuya]

Barrel roll bug?
Sorry i've never heard of that before, what does it do?.
Thanks for the advice both of you.

[Katie]

I don't think chosing any given character or mod is key to beating World Tour. For the races I usually just picked my fav and a mod with a descent amount of acceleration(2-3 at minimum). For me it just took a lot of practice and persistance. I did get very frustrated several times, so I get where you are coming from. Just stick with it.

In terms of tips: Overall- Drifting is key. Stunting on jumps is key. Following the optimal path is key. Take your finger off the gas, or tap it on sharp corners, and try to hug them.

For races a new tip I've figured out in the last few days that has been very helpful for me is that incoming attacks like ice, firework and twister can be blocked by shooting ice or firework behind you(it's similar to holding a green shell behind you in mario kart). You can also block them by dropping a blowfish behind you at the right time. You can also evade a twister or ice shot by driving left and right, or just by luck on jumps and corners or lucky turning. Make sure you pick up as many items as you can in race, and don't be afraid to hold onto them(ie don't just fire them right away). I've found that playing online against much better players helped prepare me for expert ai races.

For the battle races I found it best to hang back a bit, not too much, but that way it's easier to avoid attacks and take out other ai's, and then when it's down to just you and 1 other opponent you can take the lead or hit the remaining ai and knock him out of the game.

For pursuit I found that drifting was not my friend for the most part(though don't avoid it entirely). Pick up hearts when you're life level is below 100. Pick your shots carefully. You can shoot out the stationary obstacles ahead of you, idk about the moving(2nd part, fireball ones), can't remember. Don't be afraid to fall behind;you have lots of time to catch up.

For Sprint I found time attack really prepared me. I found time attack really improved my driving overall in general.

Traffic Attack was most difficult for me, but far from impossible(glad I didnt' play the console version, probably would've pulled my hair out). It's just takes practice, and belief that you can do it.
Just keep practicing and you'll get it. Good luck :)

[Zork Nemesis]

Tatsuya の投稿を引用：

Barrel roll bug?
Sorry i've never heard of that before, what does it do?.
Thanks for the advice both of you.

It's an error in vector caculation; when you're flying, if you fly at an angle and constantly perform dodge rolls you will go faster than if you were to just fly in a straight line. S0L and the dev team has acknowledged that it's not working as intended and plan on fixing it in the future.

Practice makes perfect, but here are some tips from me:

Expert AI cheats like hell, don't let it get to you though. I've been playing Expert GP over and over for a couple weeks now in an effort to unlock the mods, but they aren't perfect. Sure, they pick on the player and clearly don't follow track rules, but they aren't impossible to beat. One of the best strategies I hear for beating them is to hold on to an All-Star powerup if you get one, and use it on the last lap since the AI tends to go a little easier if you haven't been winning the whole race.

Practice courses in Time Trial. While Time Trial only lets you play one lap of a course (for example, you can only practice the third lap of Dragon Canyon), it still allows you to pick up race lines and stunt locations without any concern for crashing, unless you drive into walls all the time. Time trial removes all stage hazards so it's pretty relaxed and straight forward. It should be noted that you can practice for Sprint challenges on Time Trial, since Sprints are essentially ghost races. Sprint Expert Ghosts are not as fast as Time Trial Expert Ghosts, so if you can beat a TT Expert, you can easily win a Sprint Expert.

If you're getting caught up on Traffic Attack, you may want to consider a vehicle with better handling. I used Tails with his Super Handling mod (6 handling) to beat them on Expert. The Shibuya Downtown Traffic I consider the hardest since you don't get items to help you out. Also be sure to hit all the time extensions whenever possible, you'll need every second if you want to win an Expert Traffic Attack.

Boost Challenge and Boost Race I feel are the easiest, take a balanced vehicle with a high boost stat and keep at it. There's a bunch of characters who have moderate stats and high boost (3,2,2,5 for example) with their console mods (think Football Manager is in that boat) who are very strong in such a race as a result. These challenges come down more to knowing the course than luck. In Boost Challenge, use EVERY oppertunity you can to boost. Drift and stunt absolutely everywhere and in places where no boost is available, that's when you burn your boost powerup. I've managed to complete full segments on Roulette Road and Sanctuary Falls Boost Challenge without losing any time.

But keep practicing. They're not impossible. The difficulty was designed to encourage mastery and they do very well at that.

[b3rnwa]

i feel your pain. i'm on 228 stars atm with 2 traffic attacks (2 stars each) left to do. and its skull♥♥♥♥ingly infuriating...

the only advice i can give is to persevere, don't be disheartened if it takes you 100 tries to beat an expert race.. because believe me some will and more. Although saying that, some don't. just keep racing.

also, try n watch some vids of some expert players if you can. you'll find little stunts they do here n there can really boost your chances.

i dont play online coz frankly i haven't the dedicated time to do so, but this game has so much SP replay value that it still draws you back even after you get annoyed with it...thats how good it is.

Keep trying...ive been stuck on expert races for days, and then suddenly find my own personal 'bag of skill' is in fact full of wonder! and is far deeper than had first appeared :P

[Tatsuya]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, i'll try my best.

[Lywelyn]

i'm not sure about what i'm gonna say, but on my side, it seems that on certain try on expert mode, the bots use to team up and definitely violate you at a point you don't have a single chance to win a race, and sometime they are easy even if you remain on an expert race, my point, is that i think the coding is quiet like this

/Player.addvictoryvalue=0 ( you won't win )
/Player.addvictoryvalue=1 ( you may win if you are good enough)

just saying that's my opinion lol

[Djawed]

You're saying that you're a fast learner. If ya wanna get good at the game, then you will have to learn the game's mechanics, which is really all the game requires for the game to become easy. You will have to live up to that statemenet, because honestly this thread so far is only proving the contrary

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

Djawed の投稿を引用：

You're saying that you're a fast learner. If ya wanna get good at the game, then you will have to learn the game's mechanics, which is really all the game requires for the game to become easy. You will have to live up to that statemenet, because honestly this thread so far is only proving the contrary

Problem is, even with that knowledge this game is still quite a challenge unless you take that knowledge, put it into practice, figure out the best lines for each track, and somehow escape getting mauled by items.

Which brings up a question - how do you always escape being mauled by the AI? I've been trying everything legitimate short of playing dumb and hoping that the AI's aggressiveness is based on what the player does like it is in the later Mario Kart games, and I still get caught.

[Zork Nemesis]

=\RLT/= Akuma (updating system) の投稿を引用：

Which brings up a question - how do you always escape being mauled by the AI? I've been trying everything legitimate short of playing dumb and hoping that the AI's aggressiveness is based on what the player does like it is in the later Mario Kart games, and I still get caught.

You don't, you practice enough to minimize recovery times so you can get back the speed as quickly as possible, then counterattack when you have the chance.

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

Another tip I can give is persistance. I finally unlocked Reala, though it took me a while. How so? Because I kept trying. If I lost, I hit the retry button, not the quit button. Look at it this way - the quit button isn't there as an option at the end of a race, it's there in case you need to stop playing to do something else. The only other time it's excusable is when you need to change your setup.

[Djawed]

=\RLT/= Akuma の投稿を引用：

Djawed の投稿を引用：

You're saying that you're a fast learner. If ya wanna get good at the game, then you will have to learn the game's mechanics, which is really all the game requires for the game to become easy. You will have to live up to that statemenet, because honestly this thread so far is only proving the contrary

Problem is, even with that knowledge this game is still quite a challenge unless you take that knowledge, put it into practice, figure out the best lines for each track, and somehow escape getting mauled by items.

Which brings up a question - how do you always escape being mauled by the AI? I've been trying everything legitimate short of playing dumb and hoping that the AI's aggressiveness is based on what the player does like it is in the later Mario Kart games, and I still get caught.

AFAIK, that only applies to expert... or doesn't it?

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

Djawed の投稿を引用：

AFAIK, that only applies to expert... or doesn't it?

True, then again Expert mode is where people mainly get stuck at in the first place. I know unlocking Reala was a headache for me (and I still have five stars before I can unlock AGES).