Tetris Effect (PS4)

[Okey_Dokey]

The videos I link in this post are already 1 week old but I didn't pay attention to them because of the demo

It's confirmed now that Tetris Effect will be a Tetris game for casuals only. I am very disappointed. There's not a single mode I (as an experienced Tetris player) would want to play.

That was too harsh. I didn't realize that Purify mode was basically about downstacking; the purple blocks don't make much sense in my opinion though. Countdown mode is well designed; not sure if I will like it though. And then there's Master mode, a mode that starts already at 20G - but with a long lock delay - and lock delay decreases over time. It's 300 lines in total and it's still pretty slow at half time (see video below at around 19 minutes; player harddrops in the video above). So, I fear that the interval were the mode has the right difficulty for top players is too short - but maybe you can also start at a higher level if you want to. Note that some other guideline Tetris games had a master mode before. At start, it's roughly the same speed as in Tetris Zone but slower than Tetris Axis.

Here's another interview (this time Kotaku) which gives some background of the development process I haven't heard before:

[Okey_Dokey]

Tetris Effect came out for PS4 & PSVR today.

Wumbo playing through Journey mode on expert difficulty (first 80 minutes of the video):

Some remarks regarding certain Effect Modes:

• Purify / Infected Clears: Here's aruni playing this mode. The goal is to get rid of all purple cells which you do by clearing the second row (counted from bottom) or by clearing enough lines (so you mustn't necessarily restart after a misdrop). Once all purple cells are gone, your remaining time is expanded a bit and some lines are inserted from the bottom. It's the first time that an official Western Tetris game offers a downstack mode as far as I know (Tetris Online Japan had Driller mode; an obscure Japanese game called Epoch Tetris had a downstack mode; otherwise downstack was only available in combination with cascade gravity e.g. Tetris Worlds).
• Master: Here's heboMai playing this mode. This mode starts at 20g gravity (pieces spawn touching the ground) and lock delay reduces over time. You can start at any speed level (from M1 to M30) which is good. heboMai could handle M20 speed for 200 lines whenever he tried but he always topped out soon after reaching M22. And that's bad because it means that the game changes from manageable to too difficult in a matter of just 2 levels. This also means that you can't speedrun this mode because nobody will reach the goal M30. So, it's about getting the highest score possible and people probably start at around M15 so they can still chew in some T-Spins without misdropping.
• Target: Here's heboMai playing this mode. This mode is about clearing the marked lines. Your time expands each time you do so. You start with 1 minute on your clock and heboMai expanded the remaining time by another minute. So, this sadly means that this mode can be played forever by the best players (Time's Up mode in Tetris Ultimate had a similar problem). There are a few other modes in Tetris Effect which are about expanding the time (e.g. that combo mode) but it seems that the best players will eventually run out of time there.

This amemiya video is also a good overview of what Tetris Effect has to offer.

[Kitaru]

Yeah, unfortunately Tetris Effect "Master" suffers from the same properties of any other Guideline "Master" / 20G mode with decreasing lock delay. I really think it's not Enhance's fault, it's very possibly just timings or behaviors that are prescribed in the Guideline.

It becomes a matter of trying to move/rotate every single piece as soon as it enters in order to get the benefit of the extended lock delay reset (I genuinely think it's longer than the lock delay at the given level, but that could just be a matter of perception), otherwise you lose control. Moreover, the DAS timings aren't adjusted along with the decreasing lock/line clear delays. The game just becomes clunky and difficult in an awkward feeling way, rather than something smooth, satisfying, and deserved.

I also keep dying in the low M20s; 90% of the time I can maintain control due to the way lock resets work, but the 10% of pieces that insta-lock in the center of the playfield lead to a frustrating, crippling death.

Also, Initial Rotate and Initial Hold are implemented "wrong" in a similar way that they are "wrong" in Tetris Friends compared to TGM; I don't know if that was required to work around a patent Arika apparently has or another Guideline misinterpretation of behavior. At any rate, it's incredibly awkward and sticky/laggy feeling, -- it behaves better than TF in that it allows you to buffer rotation in from a previous piece, but much like TF it never allows you to "take back" an input before the spawn frame. Since they aggressively grab onto any input (even ones that are taken back or ones that were just accidentally held over when manual locking), they're essentially unusable (at least in Master).

Sorry if this post seems negative, as there are other things I've been enjoying so far or have interest in checking out more. Maybe I'll try to review more of it or talk about it more on stream tonight or something.

By the way, let me know if you find the technically plausible (but perhaps near-useless in practice) infinite point exploit.  It technically exists in other Guideline games, but there is something that makes it easier to do in Effect.

[Okey_Dokey]

So far, Tetris Effect has reached a metacritic score of 89. For comparison, Puyo Puyo Tetris got around 81 points (depending on platform). Here are 2 reviews with associated videos:

IGN

GameSpot

And here's another user review:

[Okey_Dokey]

Zin_ss playing Master Mode as an example of how you can stack under very high gravity: Tetrises on the wall with occasional T-Spin Zeros and Donation T-Spins (like Kaidan or Yoshihiro SD).

Zin_ss started at level M21. There seems to be a huge speed difference between M21 and M22. I assume lock delay decreases by more than 1 frame there.

---------------

Tetris Effect has a hidden 1989 theme in GameBoy Tetris style (the beeps are awful though). This theme is temporarily available when the community has fulfilled the "weekend ritual" goal. It is unlocked permanently, if a player has collected enough experience points to reach level 50.

All themes and songs in theater mode:

[Okey_Dokey]

People wondered if a 21 lines zone was possible. It is! And it's easier than thought. Under normal conditions, you would assume that you could only get 21 lines by clearing the last 2 lines with an O piece. However, Initial Rotation System (IRS) was messed up in Tetris Effect. Apparently, the game prerotates a piece whenever rotation button is pressed down. It doesn't matter, if rotation button was pressed down during spawn delay (line clear delay in TE) or not. Rotation (or Left / Right) can be even pressed during Pause menu. First 21 lines zone:

The player rotated the S piece twice on purpose. On the second rotation, he held down rotation key thus IRS was triggered for the J piece. As a result, the player didn't top out immediately and the game tried to rotate the J piece which resulted in a 1-row-up-1-column-left kick.

[fumen]http://harddrop.com/fumen/?v115@TeC8DeF8CeG8Ae5+JeAglvhDXMtFATJ8nEOBAAAPMt?GAy3WeD0oBAAHMttAy3WeD0488AwR5dDJG98AwnoRBo3MoD?FbEmDvjpTAS4gNE0iW5DPG98AZAAAAnMtEAtX7rDYeR4GeR?4LhAAtEAsng/DWeg0Ieg0RaLhAAtMATJ8nEuoo2ABM1dDWe?gHg0QaGegHAeglHegWChAAtHAy3WeD0oaCAXegHwhHewhQa?HeglChuLtiAreg/DFbcRAS0eRASo/QEFbslAFb85AFbEBEF?q2TAylAAA[/fumen]
Note that this is considered as a 21 lines zone by the game in every way. The Zone leaderboard is sorted by amount of cleared lines first (and score second), so it's the first place in said leaderboard.

[!--ImageUrlBegin--][a href=\\\"https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/147897421169426434/512462140158771231/Tetris_Effect_20181114215731.jpg\\\" target=\\\"_new\\\"][!--ImageUrlEBegin--][img width=\\\"500\\\" class=\\\"attach\\\" src=\\\"https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/147897421169426434/512462140158771231/Tetris_Effect_20181114215731.jpg\\\" border=\\\'0\\\' alt=\\\"IPB Image\\\" /][!--ImageUrlEnd--][/a][!--ImageUrlEEnd--]

Also: STSD is still a Mini T-Spin Double and Mini T-Spin Doubles don't score any points.

[Kirby703]

Small corrections, but mostly accurate. Very cool fumen!

Apparently, the game prerotates a piece whenever rotation button is pressed down. It doesn't matter, if rotation button was pressed down during spawn delay (line clear delay in TE) or not. Rotation (or Left / Right) can be even pressed during Pause menu.

Actually, the pause menu is no help. It remembers what buttons you're holding when you open it, and restores those when you close it. This leads to a different bug where you can hold down a button, pause, let go, and then have the game think it's held down until you press that button again.
(Ooh, you know what else is annoying? No ARE or line clear delay in zone! It makes working with IHS a nightmare.)

As a result [of IRS], the player didn't top out immediately and the game tried to rotate the J piece which resulted in a 1-row-up-1-column-left kick.

IRS doesn't have kicks
the O piece has no IRS; every other piece spawns such that it gets rotated then the lower left corner of its bounding rectangle is placed in column 4, row 20 (only visible with the J at the end, no other piece used IRS)

[Okey_Dokey]

the O piece has no IRS; every other piece spawns such that it gets rotated then the lower left corner of its bounding rectangle is placed in column 4, row 20 (only visible with the J at the end, no other piece used IRS)

Thanks for the reply. 19k is a score that is hard to top. I wondered why the J piece spawned one row higher because the 1-column-left kick would have also been available and it comes before 1-row-up-and-1-left in the kick table. So, what you said makes more sense. If I understood you correctly, then these should be the evasion movements:
[fumen]http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m115@TeC8DeF8BeA8AeA/JeAg0pABzkTASYM5Dl1kaEFbsi?DPzE5Dk488AwnoRBF1QrDQP98Awc88AZAAAAMeh0Heg0Ieg?0NhAAtWAQMNXEPP0dEpXpTASYcNEzuW5DP2BAAMegHIegHg?0Ieg0MhAAeMeglgHHeglgHHeBPMhAAeNeglHegWglHegWNh?AAeMeQpgWHewwQpHewwgWMhAAeMeQLwwReQLwwMhAAeNeQa?HeRaHeAtQLMhAAeCewhIewhAPHewSAPHewSNhAAeCeQaIeQ?aIeQaAeA8GeQaNhAAtMAToo2Aj3MDEJ3kaEMeQ4IeR4IeQ4?MhAAtWAQMNXEPP0dEpXpTASYcNEzuW5DP2BAA[/fumen]

While prerotation should help a lot to get 20 lines in the Zone, I have problems finding a use for 21 lines PCs other than the J piece. L piece shouldn't work. This one should work but it's pretty meh:

[fumen]http://harddrop.com/fumen/?m115@TeC8DeF8DeF8AeA8AeG8AeI8Ael+JeAglvhAsRtcAr?4cQEFbUVEPP0dEpXpTASYkXElt0rDkoo2AZeAtHeBtHeAtB?hAAteAFb2OEyIiNE0i2rDFb0HEFF3TASYM5Dl1UTAylAAAv?hB5GtLAp7rSASI7QEhjxCApVtOAy3WeD0488AQud5DjoBAA?gewhIewhIewhIewhvgAAtWAFb2OEyIiNE0i2rDFb0HEFF3T?AylAAAvhBdHtLAp7rSASI7QEhjxCAFMtJAyp78AQ3DKEFBA?AA[/fumen]

[Kitaru]

However, Initial Rotation System (IRS) was messed up in Tetris Effect. It doesn't matter, if rotation button was pressed down during spawn delay (line clear delay in TE) or not.

This is the correct implementation from TGM. The actual issues with Tetris Effect IRS is that a) it will apply wallkicks (TGM will not), and b) Tetris Effect seems to be "greedy" like Tetris Friends and check for input any time during entry delay instead of just the spawn frame (TGM only checks for buttons held during the spawn frame so you can "take back" buttons that were pressed by accident earlier in ARE). Also, Tetris Effect has 6 frames of entry delay just like Puyo Puyo Tetris, so it would be correct for it to be usable any time (as opposed to just line clear animation in Tetris Friends).

[Brent]

Has anyone alerted Enhance to the scoring glitch in the game that causes the first t-spin double in a STSD to register as a t-spin double mini worth 0 points when a t-spin single mini in the game still gives you points. Seems to have been missed in play testing and needs to be patched.

[Brent]

Looks like they just patched it. It's still a mini TSD and has a base value of 400 points now instead of 0 while keeping the b2b bonus in tact (barely more than the 300 points you get for a double line clear). You will receive the b2b bonus and get an extra 50% to make it worth 600 points if you did a t-spin or tetris prior to the mini TSD and it maintains the b2b chain for the next one.

For comparison the mini t-spin single is worth 200 points (single line clear is worth 100) plus 50% with b2b to be worth 300 points. I think perhaps the mini t-spin double should be worth 600 points and 900 with b2b for it to keep the same ratio and make sense. What do you guys think? Should it even be consider a mini TSD instead of just a regular TSD? How is it applied in other versions of modern tetris?

This is also still much less than the 1200 points (1800 with b2b bonus) for a normal TSD so it's still a very inefficient strategy in high score runs unless you have no other choice following this update.

Also I just noticed a mini t-spin which clears no lines is actually worth the same as a mini-TSD and more than a mini-TSS (400 points). I can't see any logic behind this at all.

[Okey_Dokey]

Scoring in official games:

• 100 Single
• 300 Double
• 500 Triple
• +50*n points for increasing combo counter to n
• 400 regular T-Spin Zero
• 100 mini T-Spin Zero

Note that a Double is almost as score-efficient as a Triple or non-b2b Tetris. High combos can surpass the efficiency of Tetrises but can't reach the efficiency of  T-Spin lineclears. The following moves start back-to-back and receive +50 % points if back-to-back:

• 800 Tetris
• 800 regular T-Spin Single
• 1200 regular T-Spin Double
• 1600 regular T-Spin Triple
• 200 mini T-Spin Single (100 points more than a Single)
• 400 mini T-Spin Double (100 points more than a Double)

Mini T-Spin Double was only present in Puyo Puyo Tetris as far as I know. All other scores are very old and canon by now. Newer games like PPT, Tetris Burst and game @ tetris.com use different score bonuses for Perfect Clears depending on how many lines you clear at once (maybe also present in Tetris Twist and Facebook Messenger Tetris):

• +800 PC Single
• +1000 PC Double
• +1800 PC Triple
• +2000 PC Tetris
• +3200(?) PC b2b Tetris

Again, PCs can't reach the efficiency of T-Spin lineclears, except for the very rare b2b Tetris case. I think the significantly higher score for a Triple PC over a Double PC has the following reason: There's a small chance that you can get a 2 rows PC after a 4 rows PC, so with this scoring system it's guaranteed that the 2 rows PC barely scores any points. Somehow, it's the opposite in multiplayer: a 4 rows PC will send more lines, if you do Doubles (if achieving a PC, then the game will disregard lines sent by multi-lineclears and sometimes even combos - Tetris Battle on Facebook is the only exception as far as I know)

It's still a mini TSD and has a base value of 400 points now ... I think perhaps the mini t-spin double should be worth 600 points and 900 with b2b for it to keep the same ratio and make sense.

I agree. In other official games, the T-Spin Triple kick upgrades a mini to a regular (see STSD & Fin), and in this case Neo (& this lol TSD) is the only ways to achieve a mini T-Spin Double. In any case, STSD, Neo & Fin aren't easy to setup, so they should score at least the half of a regular T-Spin Double. A mini T-Spin Single is easy to set up (thanks to the non-overhang version) and scores as many points per cleared line as a Tetris. A mini T-Spin Double should be more score-efficient than a Tetris in my opinion. BTW it's the same in multiplayer (PPT): A mini T-Spin Double just sends 1 line without b2b and 2 lines with b2b. So, it sends 3 lines less than a regular TSD; and without b2b it's the same garbage output as just a normal Double.

Also I just noticed a mini t-spin which clears no lines is actually worth the same as a mini-TSD and more than a mini-TSS (400 points). I can't see any logic behind this at all.

No logic, that's just a bug (if what you say is true). A mini T-Spin Zero should score 100 points. They are very easy to set up.

-----------------

The recent reward of mini T-Spin Doubles has a downfall thanks to yet another bug. Currently, this one counts as a mini T-Spin Double but it will be fixed in the next few days:

Player holds down softdrop before rotating. Somehow the game thinks that the rotation was the last move although the softdrop (or gravity in later levels) pulls down the piece by a few other rows.

[Brent]

Lol that video at the end is such a hack.

Sorry I got confused before, regular t-spin zero is 400 and mini t-spin zero is 100 but the way they're calculating the mini-TSS and mini-TSS is just by adding the 100 points for the mini t-spin zero to the single and double line clears.

The STSD setup in PPT gives you two TSDs, no mini-TSD, not sure what the points value in PPT for the other mini-TSD setup is, haven't checked it.

[Okey_Dokey]

One of the random effects in Mystery mode gives you a giant piece (twice as big, 16 minos). So, in theory you can clear more lines with them than usual. The game even has some T-Spin recognition for giant pieces and rewards them accordingly. Here's a T-Spin Sextuple - game calls it "Tetris T-Spin Triple" and it's worth whooping 6400 points for 6 lines! And here's a Mini T-Spin Triple (still 1200 points), using the previously mentioned bug:

Note that you wouldn't be able to make Mini TSTs without the help of giant pieces.

[Okey_Dokey]

New update:
[!--ImageUrlBegin--][a href=\\\"https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/147897421169426434/519501762407694346/te_update_106.png\\\" target=\\\"_new\\\"][!--ImageUrlEBegin--][img width=\\\"500\\\" class=\\\"attach\\\" src=\\\"https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/147897421169426434/519501762407694346/te_update_106.png\\\" border=\\\'0\\\' alt=\\\"IPB Image\\\" /][!--ImageUrlEnd--][/a][!--ImageUrlEEnd--]


STSDs and Fin TSDs are regular T-Spins now. The most useful change should be customizable controls.

-----------------------------

There seems to be a huge speed difference between M21 and M22. I assume lock delay decreases by more than 1 frame there.

From what I've heard it's just 1 frame difference between M21 and M22, but M22 is the first level where lock delay is shorter than the DAS charge delay (DAS = 12 frames, ARR = 2 frames). So if you press and hold down Left or Right AFTER a piece spawned, the piece will lock before it will make the first autorepeat step. Still, you can prevent the lock in this situation by pressing a rotation button during the DAS charge delay (because this will reset the lock delay). Another way to circumvent this behaviour is hypertapping (tapping Left or Right quickly) - the best players prefer autorepeat though. Kitaru said that the lock delay is measured in miliseconds instead of frames which can lead to irregular lock delay intervals in practice. For example at level M30, pieces will sometimes lock after 7 frames but most times after 6 frames. Kitaru also said that some later levels were made slower in Master mode in a previous update. GreenTea has reached M30 twice but is still 10 lines away from completion.