Tetris Effect - DAS Preservation Options

[adventcavalier]

Hello all, first post here.

I am wondering if anyone have investigated DAS for Tetris Effect?

There are no options in the menus to adjust ARR or the like.

The reason that I am asking, is that I am trying to improve my 40L speed from 1:26 to sub 1:10 in order to get the SS rank.

I have not used DAS preservation before so I was looking at using it (after reading the excellent Sprint Guide by belzebub) to improve my time.

However, after trying to make use of it in Tetris Effect I can see little or no improvement in the delay.

Perhaps I am executing wrong, but given this is a new entry into the franchise I thought I would ask the question here and see if anyone has guidance for me.

Thank you in advance!

[adventcavalier]

I should also mention that, without much trouble, I am able to get a sub 1:20 speed on Tetris Ultimate by manipulating the DAS and AAR settings.

[Okey_Dokey]

Sorry, that you got no reply. Not many people have a PS4 and Tetris Effect here. Myself included - I had played the demo though: The autorepeat function felt a little more useful than in Puyo Puyo Tetris. It's probably still too slow for pure 2-step movement finesse though (tapping 3 times is faster than DASing to wall and tapping back).

You don't really need DAS preservation to get sub 1:10. You have to know where to put a piece before it spawns (i.e. you have to figure it out while moving the previous piece), move it immediately and harddrop as soon as possible (when you've finished your moves). I recommend playing with 2 or 3 previews. A second preview is essential for playing fast but a 4th preview is pretty redundant and may distract you. The way you handle your inputs plays a significant role. Most players will use their thumbs for controllers but laying the controller on a table will free the other fingers which may bing some speed advantage. Tetris Effect has reconfigurable controls now. For example, I like to play with harddrop on the same hand as rotations (right hand, one finger for each button) - otherwise I have problems pressing harddrop fast enough after I move left or right. You need a lot of time to adjust after changing the controls though.

Regarding your question: DAS preservation is useful in games with rather slower autorepeat like Puyo Puyo Tetris and Tetris Effect (compared to Tetris Friends and unofficial games like NullpoMino,Jstris, Cultris 2 and Tetris Online Poland). I assume you are stacking Tetrises in Sprint. Let's say the most right column is your Tetris column (otherwise mirror everything I say). If you want to move 2 pieces to the left wall, then keep the Left key pressed while harddropping the first piece. If you want to drop the first piece one column away from the right wall and the second piece on the left wall , then move to the right wall, press Left, and keep Left pressed down while harddropping. Those 2 things combined in one example:



That's the basic DAS preservation I use for stacking Tetrises. Like said before, it's not that important. It may help to shave off one second but not really more. Some people also leave the 4th or 3rd column empty (counting from the right - instead of a column at the wall) which increases the chance to use DAS preservation.

[adventcavalier]

Okey_Dokey, thank you for your thoughtful reply!

I wanted to spend some time practicing with your advice this weekend before I responded.

Firstly, I turned on the 3 piece preview as you suggested. Trying to focus on this immediately increased my time. I am having trouble keeping everything in my field of vision, possibly due to my bad peripheral vision. However, after I turned off Ghost Piece I saw an improvement as I think my eyes were not longer dashing from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen. After a few hours of practice I was able to get my time below 1:20, but with still needed to shave 10 seconds off, it seems like a long way to go!

Secondly, regarding DAS. What I had read earlier was as you suggested, ARR to the wall and then backtrack a few spaces for the hard drop. I tough myself to play this way, but when watching others who have scored below 1:10 on Tetris Effect, none of them are using this technique. I think I need to train myself back into the minimum number of moves.



That being said, I think this game has slow DAS and ARR speeds and I can not get lateral movement anywhere near as quickly as the videos. I think they must be using a quick tap method instead, but it is hard to tell from only from watching. In addition, they are using ghost piece, so maybe I should reconsider.

I will continue to post on progress in case this discussion can be useful to anyone else in the community.

[Okey_Dokey]

Firstly, I turned on the 3 piece preview as you suggested. Trying to focus on this immediately increased my time. I am having trouble keeping everything in my field of vision, possibly due to my bad peripheral vision.

Did you only play with one preview beforehand? In that case, try 2 previews. I come from games with one preview and when I started playing with 2 previews, I was immediately faster (I was sub 40 in Cultris 2 at that point though).

However, after I turned off Ghost Piece I saw an improvement as I think my eyes were not longer dashing from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen.

I striclty recommend to play with ghost piece.

Secondly, regarding DAS. What I had read earlier was as you suggested, ARR to the wall and then backtrack a few spaces for the hard drop.

I didn't say you should do that. That's what people do in fast games. It's called 2-step movement finesse because you will use 2 Left or Right keystrokes per piece at most. The 2-step finesse placements minimize the amount of keystrokes when you count "DAS to the wall" as 1.5 keystrokes. However, in slower games "DAS to the wall" can take longer than 2 normal keystrokes (taps), so the 2-step finesse rules don't apply anymore. What you should do for sure:

• If a spot can be reached with 2 taps, then tap twice.
• If you want to place a piece directly at the wall, then use DAS.
• If you want to place a S or Z piece vertically in a spot, that can be reached with at least 2 taps: then always use rotate left, if you want to move to the left side; and rotate right if you want to move to the right side (rotate right = clockwise rotation).

There are some placements near the right wall, that you can reach with 3 taps OR with DAS to wall and tap-back / rotation afterwards. Not sure what you should do in that case. Probably tap three times.

I think they must be using a quick tap method instead, but it is hard to tell from only from watching.

Whenever they place a piece at the wall in the video, they use autorepeat. They leave the 4th column empty (counting from right side) to minimize the amount of placements where you place a piece one or 2 columns away from the right wall (those are the slowest placements because you have to tap 3 times or use DAS & tap-back / rotate). This way of playing is for experts only. I recommend, leaving the 1st column empty (counting from left or right side) until you are sub 1:10 at least.

[adventcavalier]

Okey_Dokey, just wanted to check-in and let you know that after a few weeks of practice I was able to get my sprint time below 1:10! Thank you for your help!

In regards to specific feedback that may be helpful for others:
- playing with 2 peice preview defiantly helped, 3 was too many as you indicated.
- changing the hard drop from up to R1 was a BIG help.
- focusing on flat stacking was also a critical change to my play style.
- in the end i used neither the DAS or the tap back, just go use enough to the ARR that I could mostly the piece to the precise position with a single hold.
- found it much more effective to focus on dropping as quickly as possible vs trying to get the perfect placement

Still pretty sloppy, and with more practice I feel I could get under 1:00, but moved on to some other challenges to obtain the platinum in this beautiful game!

here is the video of the SS run:



Thanks again!!!

[Okey_Dokey]

Thanks for reporting back and nice that you got the sub 70 so fast (also thanks to that Perfect Clear ending). Sounds like you hold the controller in your hands and use thumbs except for harddrop (R1) and hold. Note that 2 previews may hold you back eventually. I personally can't use more previews but there are other players here who can play a little faster and better with 3 or more previews. Anyway, thanks to bag randomizer, 2 previews are usually enough to make good decisions (despite of 2 previews I make better decisions than almost every other player on my speed level).