Topic: Mario Kart World

@CJD87 If it is just RNG for getting three stars: In MK8, on average, it would sometimes take up to four tries doing the grand prix until you get a run where the AI isn't brutal. ....I haven't played enough yet to test that formula for MKW.😆

I know almost no shortcuts yet. The time trial staff ghost showed me a couple shortcuts in Shy Guy Bazaar.

@CJD87
Yea, you have to get first in each of the four legs. You can do it!

One thing I can recommend: if you’re front running, dump your items every time you can get a double item box because you always want to try to get a horn for the inevitable blue shell.

@WoomyNNYes I read something online regarding dynamic difficulty... apparently the more items you use, rail grinding you do, speed boosts and drifting - all of this makes the AI tougher??

Just beat every track on 50cc difficulty. Yeah I like this game, it just feels good.

Getting hit by a blue shell, when you are on the water, makes a big splash with waves. I enjoyed this little detail. Mario's costume set is complete.

I’ve never seen anyone only with a good impression of SNES Mario Circuit, and yet every time it comes up in a lobby, it is overwhelmingly the most voted for.

@Munchlax Wii nostalgia for SNES Mario Circuit 3 perhaps? The tracks that appeared in MKWii were popular in MK8 Deluxe so might be the same here.

I've only played 4 races with the family. Need to play a little more solo to see what it has to offer.

@CJD87 I read this also and tested the theory today on 150cc. Sure enough, just by holding down A and using items as normal I won (3 stars) with similar ease to 50cc. Will need to try on other cups later, but if this is indeed true, its absolutely ridiculous.

My new favourite mode is Knockout Tour Online, forget the GP, Knockout Tour is where the action is, non-stop uninterrupted racing across 4 tracks and it's absolute carnage, I haven't laughed so hard in years while playing it. It would be easy to lose your cool and get really angry when you lose out, you can go from first place to last place in a split second, but it is so much fun you can't stop playing.

@Shellcore
I think it's just kind of random how the 150cc races go, much like online matches. Sometimes it's just utter chaos and sometimes you get lucky and nothing much hinders you.

@rallydefault I hope so, but will certainly be looking into it further. The game is great, just a little sour on this one particular aspect of it should it be proven.

@Shellcore
Sorry, I'm confused, what are you trying to prove about this aspect?

All I can say is that in my experience, 150cc was consistently more difficult to get 3 stars than 100 or 50cc, which is the way it should be, right? The karts go faster, you have to be more precise in your steering, and the AI is smarter about their item use and shortcut use. And like I said, sometimes you can still get lucky and get a couple 150cc races where the pack basically destroys themselves and you can front run without too many blue shells coming your way, but more often you need to be smart about your item usage and on point with your driving.

In particular, I'm having a really tough time getting 3 stars in all the Knockout Tours on 150cc. To get 3 stars for those, you need to be the first through every checkpoint along the way on top of coming in 1st at the end. Pretty difficult to do so far. I think I'm down to five of the Tours.

@rallydefault I see. So, I haven't tested the Knockout Tour, so can't speak to that. This just relates to the GP cups. The premise read online was that it was easier to 3 star 150cc races if you didn't use more advanced racing techniques due to adaptive AI difficulty, such as speed boost, drifting and grinding. I was banging my head against the wall last night trying to win using all these techniques. This morning I decided to test the AI theory by not using these techniques and just accelerating normally. No boosts, grinding or drifting. I three starred the first cup on the first try using this idea. I can't speak to item use or on track boosts. I used them as normal. Perhaps give it a try yourself to see if you get similar results? I'm not 100% convinced until I can repeat this across more cups.

@Shellcore I need to test more as well - but I just managed to get a 2 star on a 150cc race, essentially by playing as if I was a small child! Minimal drifting, minimal item-use, no boost jumps or grinding.

What i noticed is that the % of aggressive powerups that were used by CPU was greatly reduced, especially red/blue shells.

This is insanely poor balancing if indeed this adaptive difficulty turns out to be true. I am all for difficult games, but it seems ridiculous that the punishment for 'playing well' is a disproportioned mega-evil CPU response?

@Shellcore
Oh, ok, I see what you’re saying. That is interesting. I’ll give it a try later today!

I'm really surprised how hard it is to do a charged jump in tracks. So often my kart is still slightly sliding and defaults to a drift even with no input on steering, and I can't charge a jump. Seems like if there's still any lateral sliding, you can't do a charged jump.

Is it harder to charged jump with bikes? I feel like it is, but I can't tell for sure.

I'm struggling to do well in races but this is a good thing in my opinion! Every past MK release was easy and I'd often have a huge lead over second place, but in World I'm averaging 2nd-4th on 150cc. I'm loving the challenge and I think the game shows great promise for future updates.

Nintendo could use Worlds as a platform to promote future first party title releases through outfits, karts, and courses and make bank in the process.

@WoomyNNYes
Yea, when you start the charge you can’t be sliding at all. And I always make sure my thumb is entirely off the left stick.

Here is a list of my pros and cons with MKW:

Pros:
Jumping and grinding is such a cool way to evolve the Mario Kart series.
The stages are SO cool and unique.
The soundtrack is one of the best in Mario history! I have paused the game several times to listen to new remixes of old songs I love.
DK spaceport, Boo Cinema, and Rainbow Road.
I love playing as Stingby.
Going from a menu straight to Free Roam never stops being satisfying.
The costumes for the characters look great.

Cons and nitpicks:
Not enough battle mode options
No way to see where P switches or Peach Medallions are in free roam and not even a way to see how many you have yet to collect.
It needs to be easier to do 3 laps on any course.
I don't think it was truly worth $80, but I'm still glad I got it.
Desert Hills.
It's gonna' be painful grinding out every character costume.
Some courses needed more ways to jump on walls and grind and stuff.
I wish DK's fur was a little less... not furry.
It is so annoying dropping into water in free roam. It takes forever to find a way to get back up.

I do really love this game, but there are definitely reasons to play the older Mario karts.
I might edit this list later when I remember something I miss.

@Shellcore
Ok, so I just did my first experiment.

150cc, Crown cup

All I did was hold down A and steer normally. Didn't use items, drift, or trick. Rarely hit speed boosts on the ground or sky. I made sure to fall off the track plenty of times, run into the offroad, etc. I did stay to the middle of the track for most of the race, though. Basically, I tried to mess up a few times on each track and drive competently but without any techniques. I got 2nd, 3rd, 1st, and 1st in the races and 2nd overall with no stars.

So, something is definitely up with how the AI reacts to your driving, yea.

At the same time, it's weird because my daughter plays with the smart steering and auto accelerate on. She uses items pretty much as soon as she gets them, but she can't keep the kart to the middle of the road yet (she's always hugging the walls and stuff). She consistently gets 10-20 place when playing at 150cc. I think sticking to the middle of the road, even if you're not using items and drifting and all that, is the difference maker.

Further thoughts: Initially, I was shocked at how this really made the game seem easy. I thought I would place in the 20s for sure. But then I got to the results screen where I got 2nd overall and didn't get any stars. So... it's kind of a mixed bag, I guess. Yea, it seems you can place higher if you drive mediocre, but I also didn't get first overall and I didn't get any stars whatsoever on the results screen, which is the achievement for doing really well. So it seems like the AI is still drawing a line on how much it will let you achieve without using any of the mechanics.

More further thoughts: I definitely hope they tweak this a bit in one of the first patches, though. My guess is that they're trying to accommodate newer/not great players to not frustrate them, but placing in the top 3 fairly consistently by doing nothing except accelerating and keeping to the middle of the road is a bit much. Especially for people who don't care about getting 1st place overall and 3 stars for their save file, this seems too forgiving.