What Does Trials Mean to Me | Forums

[jhop420]

I recently had a debate with a friend over which replays/runs were the best runs on Trials and it led to an interesting discussion about Trials in general. What is Trials to you? What makes a good player?

It started when he first asked me which replay or run was "the best" and I asked him, "which track?" He didn't quite understand what I meant by the question. He's stated that the 1st place replay on each track is the best replay because it is the fastest. I said, " You wanted to know which was the best replay, not the fastest." His reply was that the "best run" is the fastest run. I respectfully disagreed, thus sparking a debate.

To me Trials is much more of an art than a sport, although it has heavy elements of both. Sure, to compete, the goal is to go fast as possible, but the faster the run doesn't necessarily make it the "smoother" or "prettier" run. There has been many times where I say to myself, "I liked my old run better."

It is about difficulty as well efficiency, and control. How smooth and easy you move from point A to B is important, but if the path from A to C is quicker and easier than from A to B, a" better ride" is does not make.

I explained to my friend that time is the mechanism we use to compete, much like sports use a point system. In sporting competitions, I often see a team lose that I thought played a better game and scored the better goals while the other team gets a "sloppy" win. The same applies to Trials in my mind. The mechanism we use to keep score isn't the only factor in determining a great run.

Lastly, towards the end of our conversation, we started to getting into Trials form a non-gameplay standpoint. I expressed that Trials for me has a strong connection to "the community", mostly this site and the two are inseparable. Trials isn't just a game, it's a group of people. When I started out playing this game, my main goal was to get the fastest times I could get. Now I just want to inspire people to play the game and get involved and have fun. If this site disappeared and never existed, it's safe to say I would have stopped playing trials a while ago. It's crazy to see a little video game like Trials evolve into something so much more important.

If you want to say what Trials is to you from either a technical and philosophical stand point, feel free. I'd like to know what you guys think.

[T4KShadow]

You are so right about runs. I too prefer the smoother, more entertaining runs over the quicker ones.

The best example of this that I can think of is my run on Technique, compared to GSW's run on the same track. While mine is indeed faster, it's rougher. The middle part is horrid, it's cringe-worty even. GSW seems to glide through the whole track, no mistakes to be seen.

This brings me onto Lestropie, while many runs are faster than his now, many will not be smoother.

I approve of this thread.

[lespritdelescal]

I totally agree with the smooth run thing. When I was first moving up the leaderboards, I would watch replays of people that were faster than me and think that their runs were worse than mine, because they were all over the place, bouncing, etc, etc. However, they were still faster.

There are some replays that I don't want to lose because I feel they are so smooth, even though they are slow. I still try for the smooth run, but I admit that many of my replays are sloppy.

I'll comment more on the other stuff later.

[willyums]

i agree with everything you said really j. as far as best replays, its a tricky one. the fastest run and the most enjoyable to watch are two different things.
the people i enjoy watching most are lestropie, murdoc loch and ko syndicate. they may not be the fastest on the track (although a lot of times in the past, they have been) but they seem to only make movements that are necessary, they dont jerk the bike around very much and their runs are generally very smooth and precise.

i think i like Trials so much because im generally competitive and creative, and Trials, to me, is perfectly split into those 2 categories of gameplay. it offers the player the chance to be as competitive and creative as they want, both with the in-game leaderboards and the deep, accessible track editor.

as you mentioned also, the community. it has its problems every now and then but it enhances the game so much that its taken a game that cost me hardly anything and given me more hours of enjoyment from it than anything else ive ever played. this forum has pushed me to become a much better rider and inspired me to make far more detailed and advanced tracks than i would have without getting involved here.

in short, i love Trials. even when its spelt wrong
bring on Evolution!

[T4KShadow]

in short, i love Trials. even when its spelt wrong

[willyums]

haha sorry jhop, i hate when people pick me up on spelling

[jhop420]

haha sorry jhop, i hate when people pick me up on spelling

I don't know what you guys are talking about. I'm just expressing my love for trails.

[jook13]

I find it interesting that this game and the actual sport of trials is so different. QcChopper is one of the very few people that try to capture the real life sport with his tracks. People still talk about "the flow" of a track more than anything else. Real trials has no flow, its about getting over crazy hard obstacles slowly with calculated hops and balance. I find it funny how your definitions are opposite to this. And I agree with you guys, the game is about speed and smooth runs.

To me though, this game of trials is a whole lot more than a 15 dollar game.
The editor is my canvas. Its where I go to create, just as I go to my sketchbook to draw.
If I dont feel like creating anything, I can just sit there and play a single track for hours. Sometimes going for fast times, sometimes just messing around, trying to find a new approach to certain areas.
There is no finish or end to trials, just constant inprovement and competition. Then there is the constant flow of high quality custom tracks from all you guys, so many that I dont even get a chance to play most of em.

Trials NEVER ends. At least for me.


If we wanna talk about smooth and entertaining runs, my favorite is NexusPhillips (is that his name? the number 1 guys run) on building blocks. It it truly something special.

[Retribution]

Agreed. I prefer to see it as an art rather than just speedrunning. This is why i constantly check out top 10-20 replays instead of just the number1 spot. One i am particularly proud of is my run (#19) on Rooftop Rush. I cleared the gap after the 2nd cp i think...inspired by jhop...who else? lol

[Colors_of_Life]

Agreed. I prefer to see it as an art rather than just speedrunning. This is why i constantly check out top 10-20 replays instead of just the number1 spot. One i am particularly proud of is my run (#19) on Rooftop Rush. I cleared the gap after the 2nd cp i think...inspired by jhop...who else? lol

I LOVE doing this.

Sometimes I watch replays of players even up in the top 50 because you never know if they might pull off something sick. This one person did a new timesaver on Jolly Jumper somewhere in the top 30. Saves half a second.

Real trials has no flow, its about getting over crazy hard obstacles slowly with calculated hops and balance.

Good news, based on looking at that curved driving line screenshot. It looks like they will be bringing this to the new trials.