What are some strats that you picked up over the years that work in games still?

If given the option, jump or roll instead of walking.
It's not always faster, but it feels faster.

kill the dogs first

In every single first person game I play I try picking up random stuff to see if it's possible. It's becoming more rare, sadly.

Always save in a new save slot if the game gives you the option. You never know when it might be useful to roll back to an earlier save, and if you're just constantly overwriting the same save file you might be out of luck.

I melee every breakable object in FPS games. It's so satisfying in Far Cry 5 because you can kick stuff lol.

Kiting enemies away from the pack.

Stupid enemies.

Walk around corners, don't crouch.

They see you before you see them and therefore you'll die, so just move normally and drop them.

Horde rare items and never use them ever in case you need them.

Suppose that's not really working for me...

in a beat em up. stand just below or just above an enemy and spam attack - they will walk into your fists/feet.

Postponing decisions on how to use skill points until I actually have some difficulties in the game (typically a boss fight). Then I know better what improvements would definitely be most welcome. Also, it makes normal encounters a little more challenging and fun as well as helping me hone basic gameplay skills.

One of the things I do that works great and I think most action gamers learn over time is just how to fight a boss. Just to recognize patterns, separate attacks and methodically come up with a strategy for each. If one attack/form is absolutely destroying you maybe you're misunderstanding it or not seeing a simpler solution

other than that, exceptional metroidvania secret instincts

In competitive multi, if I'm about to bite it, I dip out. Seems so much like common sense but people like to try to fight back so often from a disadvantage that it's usually unexpected when their target runs off to fight another day.

Don't forget to go left.

bunny hopping in halo / most other FPS PvP

Always kill minions, then focus on the big boss

Horde every rare item and never use them, even in dire situations. YOU MIGHT NEED THEM LATER

Protect the healer in your RPG. Always

Ping /lag in games makes peaking a disadvantage, go full throttle round the corner

An actual one is to avoid progress like the plague, non progress areas usual have loot/side stories/easter eggs.

...Always look behind the waterfall.

I always go the opposite direction of where I think I'm meant to go to find secrets.
Souls games have taught me how to kite enemies and that the safest place against a big boss is right next to them and their legs.

If you're fighting a boss for the first time and not entirely comfortable with the controls then hitting and running/rolling/jumping away is the optimum solution. Hit and away always works.

Always reload when you've finished an encounter. Drives me insane when I'm watching my dad play uncharted and he's running around an arena with a couple of bullets in his clip, then he complains when he's caught off guard.

Also, this depends on the age or quality of the game but sometimes you can shoot through walls in third person shooters by aiming and peeking out of the edge of cover. It's kind of hard to describe but it saved my ass many times in uncharted 1 on crushing difficulty because it makes it very hard for the a.i enemies to hit you.

Counting enemy moves and patterns.

From the Atari/NES era all the way up to now it's mostly been the same root of the same tree. Each boss usually has an attack pattern in a set number of steps and a set number of angles. No matter how cool or advanced the animation becomes over time it still becomes the case. Count those steps and attack during openings.

In multiplayer shooters: Counting bullets. I started doing this when halo came out and do it even now with overwatch for characters like reaper and widow. You listen for the pistol shots or sniper shots. Remember how much is in a clip/magazine. Once you know that person is out, use their reload time to advance, flank, and/or deal damage.

In some games AI dictates that enemies hide behind a wall if you are aiming down sites in their direction, so I just look to the side, in order to allow the AI to dictate that the enemy can aim and fire and then I quickly look back and shoot the enemy.

It's amazing how once you figure out AI, you can manipulate it to play how you want it to.

Lure all enemies to the same bush or dark corner and knock them out one by one. If this works in a stealth game, it's a bad stealth game though.

Go left first, usually.
Look behind you upon entering an area.

Edit: beaten

Make friends, be friendly, especially in new games where you don't know people. Congratulate teammates who perform well and party up.

In a multiplayer FPS do not reload after a kill, only reload when there are not enough bullets in the gun to get a kill or you know it's safe.

In the early game focus on survivability and staying alive longer. This gives you more time to watch and learn about how things work. Once you have a decent understanding of how things work start spec-ing for your playstyle.

Be on the lookout for mechanics that you might have missed or have not been formally introduced yet. They usually make a big difference.

Get to know the "meta" builds early on. If you don't feel like using one it helps to know what the majority of other people are using.

Pay attention to heatmaps and high traffic areas and use area denial abilities to inconvenience enemies and score free kills.



General FPS Tips
At a range shoot in short controlled bursts, don't spray.

Throw grenades if you have them, you respawn with more.

3 round burst weapons usually have enough kick that if you aim for upper-center mass at most ranges the recoil off the first shot sets you up for a decent headshot.

Smoke grenades are great as a diversionary tactic as most players will focus on the smoke to see if you're going to rush through it.

Running away is a legitimate strategy, disengage and regroup when you are able to do so.

ARs are for mid to long range, SMGs are for mid to close range, know your playstyle and find the gun that works best for you.

gebler said:

Postponing decisions on how to use skill points until I actually have some difficulties in the game (typically a boss fight). Then I know better what improvements would definitely be most welcome. Also, it makes normal encounters a little more challenging and fun as well as helping me hone basic gameplay skills.

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kittens said:

bunny hopping in halo / most other FPS PvP

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TalonJH said:

...Always look behind the waterfall.

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Mexen said:

Go left first, usually.

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I have generally used all of these and find them relatively useful.

kittens said:

bunny hopping in halo / most other FPS PvP

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The bunny hop has instinctively carried over for me, I use it in Overwatch to this day.

If you're having trouble with a boss in some kind of action game, try playing a few rounds where you don't try to attack at all, but just try to survive as long as possible evading its attacks while noting the windows you have to attack safely.

Once you can really increase your survival time, you can usually beat the boss once you start attacking.

When investigating a large new town, area or even a room with a lot of interactive elements, I'll generally move clockwise around it to make sure I don't miss anything. Similarly, I'll always take a left turn in a maze.

An enemy who has dropped their gun is dead; an enemy who hasn't is still alive. Tip from the Goldeneye days, and still applicable in games that have ambiguous "ow I've been shot, but I'm not dead yet/okay now I'm dead, but I'm going to look shocked for a bit before falling over!" animations.

circle strafe

In turn-based JRPGs, generally you want to try to stack every possible damage-boosting mechanic in the game simultaneously.

To use Octopath Traveler as a recent example, you want to set up situations where simultaneously:
- The enemy is broken, reducing their defense
- The enemy has a defense debuff
- You have an offense buff
- You have max BP to spend
- You use your most powerful attack

In many turn-based RPGs, this is key to victory. The Etrian Odyssey series is a particularly extreme example, where using the right set-up you can take out the most powerful bosses in the game in a single turn.

I think often people who complain about turn-based RPGs being too slow or too grindy don't realize this. If the game has a damage boosting mechanic, you need to use it!

Let's say I have two route options.

100% of the time, the first route chosen by instinct will lead onto the next area/cutscene/boss, the second will be a dead end with a useful pick up. So always go against instinct and pick the other route first.

Monster Hunter taught me that not getting hit and hitting things till they die is the most surefire path to victory. Yup.

soulsborne tought me to watch the enemies instead of going in blind while mashing buttons. it works in most games.

There's always something hidden behind a waterfall.

That stick you start with will one day become the most powerful weapon in the game, so don't toss it.
(In fact in RPGs try to never sell anything.)

Healing point + save point + empty area ahead = boss fight

Claw grip so that I can use face buttons without moving my thumb off the right analog stick. This is a strategy that works in every game and is objectively more efficient than holding the controller normally.

Always upgrade health first.
Buy armour before weapons.

Zerg rush always works.

Sacrificing everything in a real time strategy game to get a handful of very basic units out in the fastest time possible and micromanaging them will beat most beginner to moderate level players.

chasingclouds said:

Healing point + save point + empty area ahead = boss fight

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Just as an additional point to this, if the dungeon architecture starts getting symmetrical (like a temple inner sanctum, a single door centred in a wall, or a single staircase surrounded by braziers) that's usually a sign of a boss ahead too.

When trying to escape, throw the smoke grenade closer to the enemy than to yourself. It will block more of the enemy's pov.

FiveSide said:

Claw grip so that I can use face buttons without moving my thumb off the right analog stick. This is a strategy that works in every game and is objectively more efficient than holding the controller normally.

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This is necessary on the Rom spider in Bloodborne but I realised I could just remap the controller.
DS4: L1 for roll and X for Shield is more useful.
Gotta keep ya thumbs on the sticks!

Always upgrade capacities first - larger inventory, bigger clips for guns, bigger wallet etc. You never want to be leaving things behind because you can't carry them.

Wen you enter a level the first thing you should do is check behind you

Onekumar said:

The bunny hop has instinctively carried over for me, I use it in Overwatch to this day.

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Yup, the first thing I did when I got Overwatch was switch jump to the left bumper (playing on Xbox). It helped that Lucio was one of the first characters I main'd.

Don't get hit, don't fall in the pit, check all chests, cupboards, and barrels.

Don't jump in.
Wait
Punish



Repeat

- Any form of competitive game with classes : KILL THE HEALS FIRST ! I've been saying that for like 10 years now... DotA, HoN, WoW pvp and now Overwatch where people rather focus the tank or whoever is getting healed instead of Mercy, who's like 5 meters away. Drives me NUTS
- Any game with ARPG combat style (Dark Souls, Zelda, Ni No Kuni 2 recently) : Circle around the enemy till you face his back (or his side if there's some kind of tail mechanism) if possible. But really this one is more "playing videogames 101" more than an actual strat.
- Platformers, exploration games : As soon as the character is playable, go backwards.
- 3rd person shooter : If you see a room full or crates or half walls, you're in for a fight. In Mass Effects all the figthing areas were so heavily telegraphed you could never be surprisied.
- And finally any multiplayer game with communication : When a teammate insults another teammate, I try to make him understand this will achieve litteraly nothing : people lose time arguing, the person being insulted will no become any better, and will likely leave game in the middle... TLDR : You achieve nothing by being an ass in-game, on the contrary the result is almost universally worse.