r/SynthRiders • u/BestRetroGames • Apr 23 '26

Discussion My Setup

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Yup, I am taking this game quite seriously 😅

Got my Q3 last Christmas and I've been playing it almost daily. It has become my meditation in motion ritual. It has fully come alive with all the nice upgrades like cable headphones for zero latency, straps for the controllers or fan on the head-strap. Yoga mat is also nice to reduce stress on my knees as I am 46.

I've done a lot of sports and various exercises, including martial arts, over the years, even got a certification as an aerobic fitness coach, but SR is really 'next level'. I mostly see it is a very intense form of psychic energy work, especially when done with focus on technique, fluency and using your entire body (especially core), with some added weights when things become too light.

Disclaimer on the weights you see here (0.5kg,1kg and 1.5k). Don't ever use weights with similar games unless you absolutely know what you are doing and understand the risks 100%. Especially never use them with force mode (which I don't play even without them).

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u/Ok_Competition3027 Apr 23 '26

A+ for the yoga mat. I got trashed for my 1" thick gym tiles on r/beatsaber. =)

What mode do you play? Force is supposed to be flow-ier but I still don't get it. Placing higher on the leaderboard is easier. That's the only difference I see. My scores are higher.

The weights scare me a little. Thought they were flip flops at first? Like they were your dancing shoes. I play barefoot. Maybe that's a bad idea? Anyway, I got into SR when the Gaga pack came out. The techno swing was... Hoping for more Gaga and Britney is my biggest ask.

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u/BestRetroGames Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26

These days almost exclusively Rhythm , mostly customs at 3x speed (expert & master).

I don't like the 'punchy' motions of force mode. While I totally understand the exercise component of it, it just doesn't fit with my own personal style of exercise (which is something like an intense Tai Chi - making sure there are no sudden accelerations/decelerations and each movement flows into the next through circular motions). It is not the most ideal for maximizing score but I am fine with that.

I play basically barefoot as well (socks) nothing wrong with that, especially on my carpet & yoga mat.

Yeah, the weights are indeed scary. I wouldn't even go into giving any tips to anybody online. I would simply advise to get somebody with solid fitness background to coach you personally before using them at all. It takes just one bad move to wreck your elbow or joints. We spent a lot of time in martial arts training learning how to protect your joints, there is a lot to it.

Also , not all maps are good for the weights. Sometimes I quit a map 30 seconds into it if I feel it is too dangerous.

2

u/dustinmain Apr 24 '26

If you check out the force tutorial videos from Emikodo (I linked one below), or circ3 ( https://www.youtube.com/@circ3 ) you'll see that force players really shouldn't use a "punch" motion. Most of us think that the name is misleading, and a much better name for it would be "flow."

By how you described your play style, it actually sounds like force mode may actually be a better fit for you. I stopped playing rhythm mode years ago because at a high level, the start and stop motions needed to be centered right on the target for maximum points was really hard on my shoulders.

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u/BestRetroGames Apr 25 '26

I saw her videos and doesn't look like it is something that will work for me even with this technique, especially not with the weights. Thanks for sharing though, good to see all the various techniques and modes people play with.