I was thinking of making a guide to help new players understand the game and git gud, since there's no real ingame tutorial and the manual sucks. I'm still pretty new myself, though, so I'd appreciate it if other guys share their tips, too. We can compile it in a rentry or something when it's done.
>Basic Game Mechanics:
- You gain spell meter quickly by passing through boost rings and slowly while driving normally. Drawing a spell card while the meter is full (green) will consume the meter. Drawing a spell card while the meter is filled twice (blue) will give you a stronger spell card and consume the meter. When your LW meter (yellow) is full and your spell meter is also filled twice, you can consume both to get your LW. (Spell cards can be seen here: https://gensou-skydrift.fandom.com/wiki/Spell_Cards).
- You charge your spell meter and LW meters faster and you get boosting and jumping spellcards more often when you're in a worse position in the race.
- Drifting helps conserve speed while changing direction and going around corners.
- Your current stats are those of the racer who is currently the "board". Switching characters consumes a bit of spell meter, but it will switch the stats you are currently using, which can be well-worth the cost.
- The importance of all the stats is explained here (https://gensou-skydrift.fandom.com/wiki/Stats), but just know that they're all important with maybe Mass being less important than the others. It's recommended to choose two racers whose strengths complement each other.
>Advanced Knowledge and Tricks:
- Switching characters gives you a small boost. This will let you gain distance even on straightaways with no boost rings.
- Jumping spellcards can be used on some parts of the tracks to hop over short fences, sizable gaps, or onto higher ledges for the sake of shortcuts. Be sure to activate them early enough to gain the height you need.
- Pressing up while in the air can give you a small vertical boost. Use this to gain a little bit more height while flying or to help you cross small gaps without falling. This can help with cutting really tight turns over ledges, like in the two lava levels. Also, pressing down will in the air will give you a small boost downward.
- Drifting conserves the speed you already have while lessening the amount of speed you gain from boosts. So if you start a drift at the exact moment a boost ends (and not too much sooner, or else will you miss out on some speed gain), you can keep your heightened speed for longer. This is called "break drifting" (https://gensou-skydrift.fandom.com/wiki/Break_Drift). Many turns typically have boost rings within them, so break drifting can be used many times in a race to great overall benefit.
- Some tracks have big hidden shortcuts that don't require items. Some of them just require you to fly fast enough and far enough to skip a section of track or land somewhere high up. Try exploring the tracks on your own time or by watching other people while racing (CPU players don't bother with shortcuts, so you won't learn from them).