In Xinyi there is rising, falling and middle power generation and also the range of movements gets much smaller and more practical in the small frame which makes it easier and faster to shift between them. For demonstrations people usually do the exaggerated big frame moves that are meant for improving power generation or as you said very rare decisive situations. There are many soft moves, openning moves and fighting drills(not paida) that are not usually shown in demos and I haven't seen most of them on the internet.However the power of these traditional techniques lies in Changing stance, attitude, Using different Shenfa. THis is more powerful, but it cannot return to this neutral stance quickly AND often it cannot be done immediatley from this neutral stance. Some techniques are rising, some falling etc. From rising you change to falling, you can't go rising -- neutral---falling---neutral, because for the falling technique to work you need to be in the 'high' attitude, you can't do it from neutral