Yomi: A Game of Strategy, Insight and Rock Paper Scissors

[Aerodynamik]

I was wondering if any of the playgrounders had played a game called Yomi at all before? It's a really neat competitive card game made to simulate a fighting game. It's based around a sort of rock paper scissors mechanic where your block or dodge defeats your opponent's attack, your attack beats their throw, and your throw beats their block or dodge. It's actually fairly simple on one level, but the real strategy comes in predicting your opponent's attacks and countering them, which can get really involved.

It's really scratching my competitive games itch, and it can be played online for free (or for pay, if you want) here. (http://www.fantasystrike.com/game/index.php) You can play games for free as a guest using the different free characters each week or you can sign up to either pay for the other characters or buy them using the in-game coins you earn after each match. If you do like it enough to start a real account, you should use my referral link here (http://www.fantasystrike.com/forums/index.php?register&ref=Aerodynamik) so I can get bonus coins and stuff.

Anyway, I figured if there were people in the playground who already played the game, or if there were enough new people who liked the game we could have a GITP tournament or something. Let me know what you think.

[Razaele]

I own a copy of the game myself, though it has certainly been a while since I last played with it. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game and all, but real life gets in the way.

Personally though, I really think that this is the type of game best played face to face, because I find that half of my readings on my opponent are based on body language.

Still, if enough players band together to play the online version I'd be more than happy to join.

[Wolf_Haley]

The games pretty awesome. Legendary Game Designer David "Low Strong" Sirlin, creator of Yomi is a bit of a puts but his other games are all pretty awesome.

[Aerodynamik]

The games pretty awesome. Legendary Game Designer David "Low Strong" Sirlin, creator of Yomi is a bit of a puts but his other games are all pretty awesome.

Well, I can't say how much of a 'putz' that he is, but I can say that he's definitely really smart when it comes to game development and balance. In Yomi for example, some characters are better than others, just like in any real fighting game, but the level of variance in the power levels is so low that any of the characters can be played competitively, which is pretty impressive in my mind.


Personally though, I really think that this is the type of game best played face to face, because I find that half of my readings on my opponent are based on body language.

Well there's definitely a lot of reading that's still going on. You eliminate the ability to see your opponent, and it only makes you ability to guess their next move based on their previous plays that much stronger. I played an official tournament over on the site the other day, and those guys were able to pull off some really good reads, especially on more inexperienced players like me. They would predict my plays round after round– It was actually kinda frustrating. I'm hoping I'll get good enough by the next tourney so that it won't happen again.

[Pie Guy]

I just signed up. The game is pretty fun so far. I lost my first two games against the same person, and then I won a game against someone higher level without getting hit once. That was a bit strange.

[Aerodynamik]

I just signed up. The game is pretty fun so far. I lost my first two games against the same person, and then I won a game against someone higher level without getting hit once. That was a bit strange.

I've come to learn that the rating is really partly a measure of skill and partly a measure of how long you've been playing. I've easily won a match two games to zero against the guy ranked #4 on the leader boards before, but lost by the same margin to a guy who was ranked lower than I was– and I'm ranked pretty low.

Glad you think it's cool though. In my opinion, it's only gotten more fun since I started playing, and actually picked up on the nuances of the game. Playing in the official weekly tournament (http://www.fantasystrike.com/forums/index.php?threads/yomi-tournament.6369/) on Saturday really helped with that. Lots of the players will be more than willing to give you advice if they know you're new, and watching the better player's matches and watching the chat is pretty informative too.

[Craft (Cheese)]

I've come to learn that the rating is really partly a measure of skill and partly a measure of how long you've been playing.

Which is kinda strange if you read Sirlin's blog: He rails against competitive games with ladders that work this way all the time.

Anyway, I love what I've seen of Yomi so far, but most of the time I spend playing Sirlin's games (which isn't often, I'm more of a single-player type) is spent on Puzzle Strike instead, so I don't have much experience with it, sadly.

[Aerodynamik]

Which is kinda strange if you read Sirlin's blog: He rails against competitive games with ladders that work this way all the time.

Well, it might change when you get to a certain point. I know that for the student-level rankings, you never lose points when you lose a game, you only gain point for winning. Maybe it's different for master-level players. I do know that friiik, the guy who is considered by everyone on the site to be THE best Yomi player, is at the top of the leaderboards. I'm not sure if that means anything though. If you really want to see who's the best player, you have to check the forum's league thread.

[Pie Guy]

Since apparently we get bonuses for friend referrals, I'll just leave this here.

http://www.fantasystrike.com/forums/index.php?register&ref=Qwazes

[Aerodynamik]

Since apparently we get bonuses for friend referrals, I'll just leave this here.

http://www.fantasystrike.com/forums/index.php?register&ref=Qwazes

Hey! No fair! I left *my* referral link at the top of the page. If anybody is going to get referral points, it should be *me*, since *I* was here first!

... :P Just kidding, it doesn't really mater who gets the referral points. I've got a subscription until the end of the month, so the extra coins won't really do anything for me right now anyway.

[Bucky]

Well, it might change when you get to a certain point. I know that for the student-level rankings, you never lose points when you lose a game, you only gain point for winning. Maybe it's different for master-level players.

Here's how it works:
As a student, you gain points for winning and never lose points. Once you reach Master level, you lose points proportional to your rank and inversely proportional to your opponent's on a loss. So for a while your rank will increase constantly, but it will stop increasing somewhere that's a good indicator of your skill.

If someone is above about Master 6, they're pretty good at the game.