Tips for switching between special grinds?

[coolcharles45]

Hi, currently halfway through sketchside and the local heroes are toughhhh, i cant seem to swap special grinds as fast as when i watch youtubers, full combos are becoming difficult so a simple fix like this would go a long way. Any suggestions?

[harsly]

I usually just do a Backside 5-0 Grind (left stick left), then special grind by flicking the right stick in the same direction and switch using  while still holding the left stick to the left. 

 

Do note that I beat all of the local heroes without special grinding once, mostly by just holding R2 to spin continuously and trying to do the level in one combo.

[dieselmanchild]

Forget switching special grinds, I can’t even reliably switch regular grinds. Is there a trick to this?

The guides says to hold X and then press the left analog stick in the opposite direction, but the left analog is also inconveniently the same button for Ollie’s/flips so I’m always tricking out of the grind instead of switching.

 

I know this input does work as I’ve managed to do it quite a few times while trying, but it only seems possible on super long rails. I can’t do it consistently which leads me to think that maybe I’ve got the timing wrong or something.

 

[PunisherXD]

13 hours ago, dieselmanchild said:

Forget switching special grinds, I can’t even reliably switch regular grinds. Is there a trick to this?

The guides says to hold X and then press the left analog stick in the opposite direction, but the left analog is also inconveniently the same button for Ollie’s/flips so I’m always tricking out of the grind instead of switching.

What normally works for me is to just never let go of the stick whilst on the rail. For a grind switch you need to switch to a different position (from my experience), so for example, I'll land on the railing holding down, do a quartercircle so im holding left now, then press X. Hopefully this helps, for switching between special grinds you do them same, just do a special grind by flicking the right stick before switching.

[dieselmanchild]

13 hours ago, PunisherXD2006 said:

What normally works for me is to just never let go of the stick whilst on the rail. For a grind switch you need to switch to a different position (from my experience), so for example, I'll land on the railing holding down, do a quartercircle so im holding left now, then press X. Hopefully this helps, for switching between special grinds you do them same, just do a special grind by flicking the right stick before switching.

Yeah I never let go of the stick while on a rail, my problem though is how do you prevent yourself from doing a trick and jumping off the rail when you’re moving the left stick?
 

Like with the example you stated, if you land on the rail and are holding down to grind, how do you shift your analog stick a quarter circle to left without doing a kick flip out of the grind? Basically whenever I shift the left analog stick to try and grind switch, my character does an Ollie/flip and interrupts the grind, rather than the switch I’m aiming for.

 

I know it works because I manage to pull one off maybe every 10 tries or so but I just can’t figure out why it’s so inconsistent. My guess is that there’s a trick to the timing or something that I am screwing up. 🤷‍♂️

 

 

[PunisherXD]

7 hours ago, dieselmanchild said:

Like with the example you stated, if you land on the rail and are holding down to grind, how do you shift your analog stick a quarter circle to left without doing a kick flip out of the grind? Basically whenever I shift the left analog stick to try and grind switch, my character does an Ollie/flip and interrupts the grind, rather than the switch I’m aiming for.

Huh, that's pretty weird, it consistently works for me as long as my analog stick is pushed throughout, there isnt any weird timing you have to follow. There is a time window that you have to wait before grind switching on a rail, thats why its only viable on medium or long rails, however the time window isn't that drastic. We're on different versions of the game too although I don't see why that would affect anything, so im really not sure 🤔

 

Edited January 11 by PunisherXD2006

[dieselmanchild]

On 1/11/2024 at 12:22 AM, PunisherXD2006 said:

There is a time window that you have to wait before grind switching on a rail, thats why its only viable on medium or long rails,

Well I feel quite foolish but I eventually discovered the problem on my own. Like I said above, I’d managed to pull off a switch every once in awhile but I only seemed able to pull it off on very long rails… The problem is that I was not very far along in the game yet and so I hadn’t encountered many rails long enough to actually pull it off. 🤦‍♂️

 

I’ve now progressed a few zones beyond where I was when I first posted this and I’m encountering a lot more medium-long rails where I can switch successfully. Like you said, it seems the only trick to timing is that you are unable to switch positions until you’ve been grinding in one position for like 3 seconds or so, and so this was basically impossible in earlier zones of the game.

 

If I had waited longer I would have figured this out on my own eventually, but since the start of the game I’ve been trying to keep an eye on all the trophies that require X number of actions, like perfect landings, tweak grabs, grind switches etc. Grind switching was the only one I couldn’t pull off so I thought I was doing something wrong.

[PunisherXD]

43 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

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Ah yeah that'll do it, quite a few of the levels don't have rails long enough to reliably grind switch  😅

Glad to hear you figured it out though, I finished the plat earlier today and the whole experience was great imo, hopefully you're enjoying the game too so far haha

[dieselmanchild]

12 minutes ago, PunisherXD2006 said:

Ah yeah that'll do it, quite a few of the levels don't have rails long enough to reliably grind switch  😅

Glad to hear you figured it out though, I finished the plat earlier today and the whole experience was great imo, hopefully you're enjoying the game too so far haha

That’s awesome man, congratulations! It’s a tough one for sure. I’m not very good at the game but I’m certainly enjoying it a lot, it has quite an addictive “just one more run” kind of nature that makes it hard to put down. I hope I’ll be able to handle the later challenges and scores in order to get the platinum! 

[PunisherXD]

27 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

That’s awesome man, congratulations! It’s a tough one for sure. I’m not very good at the game but I’m certainly enjoying it a lot, it has quite an addictive “just one more run” kind of nature that makes it hard to put down. I hope I’ll be able to handle the later challenges and scores in order to get the platinum! 

thanks! and don't worry, I was also sucking big time early on 🤣

I found that getting through the learning curve and trying to understand how to exactly maintain momentum and combo was the hardest part. The challenges themselves add onto that, but I found most of them doable once I got a full grip on the game's mechanics. Just keep playing and you'll get there  

[dieselmanchild]

Just wanted to add a few things I’ve since learned about grind switches that make a huge difference:

- Re: Special grinds — these are very easily performed by simply pressing the right analog stick in the same direction you pressed the left analog stick to grind. These can be performed immediately.

 

- For regular grind switches, the quality of your grind determines how quickly you are able to switch. With a perfect grind you can switch almost instantly, with good or less you have to wait awhile

 

- If you’re having trouble with the timing, use your points as a visual marker, 200 is the max for a grind and I find you can usually initiate a switch once your points maxes out. The speed at which your points maxes out is once again based on the quality of the grind.

 

- Don’t flick the stick up/down/left/right to initiate a grind switch like the game tells you in the grind switch tutorial. This will always make you Ollie or trick off the rail. Instead you want to roll the stick in semi or half-circle motions to reach a new position then press X to initiate the switch.