Hello, I look forward to getting to know you all.
My cubing story:
I have had the same Rubik's cube for maybe twenty years. I figured out how to do the first two layers on my own and then I never really got anywhere on the last layer other than by following the LBL guides that typically come with the cube. For whatever reason, I refused to sit down and just memorize the algorithms I would have needed to learn to hammer out the last layer. Fast forward 10 years, and now my kids get a 4x4x4 cube for Christmas from my parents. Needless to say, I broke one of the center pieces of the cube within the first few weeks of playing with it. Eventually, I went out and bought another 4x4x4 (and broke it as well). I was able to figure out reduction on the 4x4x4, though on the final edge pairings portion I can only do with 3 unpaired edges, and again I've resisted learning the edge parity algorithms at the very end that I would need to solve it.
About a month ago, I went back to my twenty-something-year-old rubik's cube and started playing with it again. I managed to track down some guides through youtube which insisted that you only had to know a few simple algorithms for the last layer (still doing a layer by layer method). I managed to play with my cube so much that all the stickers were sorta smearing off, but I still couldn't consistently solve the cube. I have since found out that the method for the last layer basically included a corner swap (nikalas I think it is called), a corner orientate (just sune over and over), and then a 3 edge rotation that did not preserve the OLL (not sure what this one is called). The issue I kept running into was that the edges would end up with two properly orientated and located, and two properly located but not orientated (either next to each other or across from each other). Eventually I ran into badmaphistos guide (and then this website) and now can consistently solve the cube, though quite slowly (like 5 minutes).
I would like to get faster and at the same time I want to be able to understand or figure out what is going on. I am starting to think I really need to pick one method to make significant progress. Roux and Petrus interest me, and I'll have to give ZZ another look now that I am starting to figure some more things out. CFOP initially turned me off due to the large number of videos which essentially were "if you see this pattern, do this OLL/PLL". I think I could get into it more once I start having a better feel for what is going on in those algorithms.
I've restickered my old cube, purchased a 3x3x3 sticker-less moyu and a 4x4x4 sticker-less moyu (and love them).
Advice time:
Do I need to pick one method to get below say 1 minute, or 30 seconds, or 20 seconds on the 3x3x3?
Which method do you use and what do you like/dislike about it?
Do you wish you picked a different method? Why?
Thanks for your time,
wildmnboy
My cubing story:
I have had the same Rubik's cube for maybe twenty years. I figured out how to do the first two layers on my own and then I never really got anywhere on the last layer other than by following the LBL guides that typically come with the cube. For whatever reason, I refused to sit down and just memorize the algorithms I would have needed to learn to hammer out the last layer. Fast forward 10 years, and now my kids get a 4x4x4 cube for Christmas from my parents. Needless to say, I broke one of the center pieces of the cube within the first few weeks of playing with it. Eventually, I went out and bought another 4x4x4 (and broke it as well). I was able to figure out reduction on the 4x4x4, though on the final edge pairings portion I can only do with 3 unpaired edges, and again I've resisted learning the edge parity algorithms at the very end that I would need to solve it.
About a month ago, I went back to my twenty-something-year-old rubik's cube and started playing with it again. I managed to track down some guides through youtube which insisted that you only had to know a few simple algorithms for the last layer (still doing a layer by layer method). I managed to play with my cube so much that all the stickers were sorta smearing off, but I still couldn't consistently solve the cube. I have since found out that the method for the last layer basically included a corner swap (nikalas I think it is called), a corner orientate (just sune over and over), and then a 3 edge rotation that did not preserve the OLL (not sure what this one is called). The issue I kept running into was that the edges would end up with two properly orientated and located, and two properly located but not orientated (either next to each other or across from each other). Eventually I ran into badmaphistos guide (and then this website) and now can consistently solve the cube, though quite slowly (like 5 minutes).
I would like to get faster and at the same time I want to be able to understand or figure out what is going on. I am starting to think I really need to pick one method to make significant progress. Roux and Petrus interest me, and I'll have to give ZZ another look now that I am starting to figure some more things out. CFOP initially turned me off due to the large number of videos which essentially were "if you see this pattern, do this OLL/PLL". I think I could get into it more once I start having a better feel for what is going on in those algorithms.
I've restickered my old cube, purchased a 3x3x3 sticker-less moyu and a 4x4x4 sticker-less moyu (and love them).
Advice time:
Do I need to pick one method to get below say 1 minute, or 30 seconds, or 20 seconds on the 3x3x3?
Which method do you use and what do you like/dislike about it?
Do you wish you picked a different method? Why?
Thanks for your time,
wildmnboy
