I don't quite have a handle on Yomi yet. I don't think it's going to break my streak of enjoying card games, but I'm still not sure how to get the most out of my time with it. The strategy looks to be pretty deep and that's a double-edged sword for me.
I tend to go on and on about how strategy games are my favorite, and how I can play turn-based strategy games more or less indefinitely, and those things are true, but I have a confession to make - I have no head for strategy.
It's strange, because I'm a relatively smart guy. I graduated from college with a degree in mathematics. And you'd think some of those skills would transfer over - looking at a problem, noticing areas where you can simplify and reduce, and working out the steps to a solution. But I think my training might actually be a hindrance, and that I tend to look at strategy as too much like a math problem. I see a likely-looking avenue of attack and then I charge down it, confident that if it turns out not to work, I can backtrack to my last point of certainty and try a different approach. You know, just chip away at the thing until it's solved.
Except I always seem to forget that I'm playing against an opponent, someone who is doing to me what I'm trying to do to them. My instinct is always to create baroque structures, traps, and combos that would be elegant in execution, were they not easily disrupted by the most trivial of enemy countermeasures.
The good part about Yomi is that its Rock-Paper-Scissors-style resolution system forces me to consider the other player's viewpoint. The bad part is that, given the impetus to do so, I immediately start spiraling. I'm like Vizzini from The Princess Bride. I can't play a throw, because I know that you have a powerful attack, but clearly, you know that I know you have that attack, so you will be expecting me to play a block, except that I know that you know that I know, and thus . . .
After awhile, I tend to get flustered and just go with my intuition, which is frequently based on nothing and overly concerned with avoiding risk, and thus is frequently wrong, and ineffectual when it isn't.
But the aggravating thing is that I know about this weakness in myself, and as much as I try to control it, I can't. I read books on strategy, and I think I understand them. Card advantage, tempo, territory control - these things make sense to me. And I can't count the number of times I've resolved to myself - "okay, this time I'm going to go in and play a disciplined, intentional game (of Magic: the Gathering, or Chess, or, most recently, Yomi) and I'm going to avoid all my characteristic mistakes." But then, the time comes, and I panic, or I get distracted by a convoluted combo that will take 3-4 moves to set up, but be absolutely sweet if I can pull it off, and suddenly I'm no longer playing for the win, but to make the highlight reel, and before I know it, I've lost. And then come the self-recriminations and the vague feeling of guilt, like I didn't respect the game enough.
That's silly, though. No one is relying on my strategic acumen, and losing a game to a friend is more fun than playing it alone. I just have accept this part of myself and remember to buy more co-op games in the future.
Hmm. You've definitely identified a crucial skill in the game: learning to evaluate options instead of falling into "You know that I know" traps. To me, it's a game all about taking calculated risks. Should I be scared of my opponent's big four Ace super?
ReplyDeleteThe biggest way I try to approach "getting in their head" isn't on the level of individual moves, but trying to get a read on their patterns of play. Are they showing hesitation to block? Are they attacking a lot? That tells you volumes about the risk level of certain moves.
Also, don't feel bad about blocking. It's very good, especially if you're Rook.