Officially done. I'm sorry if I got a little rushed in feedback; if you need anything clarified, just ask.
Amatsu Boss
STEPS: 1/6 The Heavy chart is very poorly made. Too much attention is paid to the melody and flourishes, and not enough to the beat, which would have made the chart more danceable. This is yet another mediocre-at-best video game song with too many freezes, jarring triples, and
absolutely retarded and unnecessary 16th runs. There's a reason I shut off auto-fail when I play these. Rating: .5/3. Oni is marginally better; the opening has the beat-centric triples that make this more of a dance chart than Feetmania. There is still too much attention paid to flourishes in the song, on top of very confusing freeze sections. To be honest, this just feels like Heavy with some extra steps, not enough of a difference to warrant it being a separate chart. You need to pay more consideration to foot placement, because some of your patterns are just bizarre. Rating: .5/3.
PRESENTATION: 1/4 Poor. More attention should have been paid to technical aspects of the graphics (since the base images were presumably from some kind of game). The banner is all squished together and makes me feel like I'm missing some of it (I'm not, it's just a feeling). The title on the background is comparatively miniscule, not to mention completely blocked by my target arrows. It doesn't feel to me like you spent any real time or effort on this simfile, especially given the Long version designation.
TOTAL: 2/10
Caravan of Love
STEPS: 2/6 Haphazard and uninspiring, like arrows were just tossed out at the screen to sort of fit the vocals. It doesn't help that the GAP was off for me, even after accounting for the proper BPM changes. I'll whine LOWBPM2EZ on this, though I was a little surprised by the big gaps in the middle, for the dual freeze patterns.
PRESENTATION: 2.5/4 The background amused me somewhat. The graphics are decent, but... Y'know, I've considered stepping a capella songs before. I think it's doable; this one in particular actually has a distinguishable beat, which is a typical failing point of the genre in regards to dance steps. But I've learned something very important, I think, which I will keep in mind should I ever attempt this on my own: make sure the song is louder than the dancer performing jumps.
TOTAL: 4.5/10
Darling
STEPS: 3.5/6 Not exciting in any way, but neither are they boring. These definitely feel like the steps of a practiced simfiler.
PRESENTATION: 3/4 The banner is a little plain, the background doesn't
quite work, but the video is very high quality. Also, I HERD OV DEEZ GIEZ DEY MAED TEH INOO YAWSHA SONG LOLOLOL
TOTAL: 6.5/10
Dashboard
STEPS: 2.5/6 The ending is... weird. I mean, it felt like an interlude and I was very surprised to see everything just end. Otherwise, the steps are pretty average. The 16th artifices don't add anything to the chart. I just didn't like it that much, I didn't find it interesting at all.
PRESENTATION: 3/4 The background is plain, plain, plain, though the text is pretty awesome. I wish you'd used the same effects on the banner text to unify them. I also wish I could see the subtitles of the video; I only noticed them about halfway through.
TOTAL: 5.5/10
Down 4 My Words That White People Are Not Allowed to Say
STEPS: 2/6 The first half or so, I did feel like any of those 16ths were actually following something in the song. I mean, I'm all for dancing to music instead of just stomping along with it, but if you're going to do something that unusual, it had better be for a good reason. (I sound like a total hypocrite lol.) The literal machinegun chain of jumps was awful.
PRESENTATION: 2/4 Made of lolz. The readme is a little over the top. The graphics aren't really that great, but at least the background works with the video. Although what's with all the South Park Sesame Street shit? Seriously. I am not down for your n... African Americans.
TOTAL: 4/10
Frontal Impact
STEPS: 4.5/6 Wait, why is the ending extended beyond where it should have ended? D: Oh hell, it's Harmony all over again! The opening is just a little bit of a light touch, but I love what you did with that first bounce set. I wish you'd repeated it, because I've never quite seen that before and I loved it. As in, it would have made the whole chart for me, ending notwithstanding, had you put two of those in because it was just that sweet. Steps are energetic and varied, highly enjoyable, and a definite favorite.
PRESENTATION: 2.5/4 The graphics are what I've come to expect from Eurobeat files, though not the greatest made. I'm docking you serious points for the song edit, though, becuase... That ending is just so light, it really destroys the energy set up in the rest of the song. It's a real disappointment.
TOTAL: 7/10
Full-Consciousness Green
STEPS: 2/6 This would be really boring if not for that speed-up. The slow section is extremely repetitive. The fast section, ironically, just has a lot of flaws. I hate double-tapping and doing 16ths at that great a speed. Overall, didn't like it, hands down.
PRESENTATION: 2.5/4 Graphics are a little painful, especially the banner. Background makes me go "wtf?" Song is weird. Overall, this feels a little amateurish, though I guess that's just what happens when you go back to simfiling after a long hiatus. So, half a point for effort.
TOTAL: 4.5/10
Hold the Line
STEPS: 4/6 I feel some tribute here to the jump-heavy Korean mix songs, though I think you should have left it at that. The 16ths don't fit or work at ALL, and I can't even read the ending streams. The 8th streams I have to give you credit for, though. Very fun, lots of interesting twists, and kept the file moving. The repeated cross-jumps were a wonderful artifice and lent a lot of character to the chart. Except for the end, I really liked this a lot.
PRESENTATION: 3.5/4 Graphics are very nicely made, good quality, nothing too fancy.
TOTAL: 7.5/10
I've Got a Jar of Dirt
STEPS: 3/6 The gallops actually become fairly enjoyable once you just start stringing them together. Of course, I like gallops. There are a few awkward patterns, and the triples near the end don't exactly fit with the song, so they throw everything off.
PRESENTATION: 2/4 About what I would expect for a joke file. The song is a little annoying, but it's funnier than the other two jokes file songs I've heard so far. Wins the award for Best Joke File.
TOTAL: 5/10
Kimi no Machi Made
STEPS: 5.5/6 Oh man. I love the ending of Heavy. I love the long freeze sections, and the gaps are very artistic. This was surprising and phenomenal. Well-balanced, high variation. Too bad I have to split this score up between two charts, but we'll see how that goes. Rating: 3/3. Okay, the only thing I don't like about Oni is the strings of step-jumps. I don't feel they're very effective, and they make the sections they're in unecessarily complicated. If there hadn't been so many, I'd not have felt it necessary to take off for them. That being said, this is a stellar chart. Rating: 2.5/3.
PRESENTATION: 4/4 WE HAS A WINNAR. The graphics are amazing. You really put a lot of work into this file, and it's paid off.
TOTAL: 9.5/10
Kokoro Odoru
STEPS: 4.5/6 Heavy has a lot of a character. A lot. Not everything works, however; I specifically don't like the long jump-step chains, or the solitary jump pairs, which slow the chart down. The section right after the first slowdown is a bit, well, slow also. This is a fairly high-quality chart, however (I liked the jump-step-gallop patterns!), with a lot of interesting rhythms. Rating: 2/3. Oni is thoroughly bizarre, but it's got as much character as Heavy and I think it really improves on a lot of the steps. The jump chain I didn't mind as much in this one, FWIW. Rating: 2.5/3.
PRESENTATION: 4/4 Those graphics put the "be" in "bee-zarre". I can't help but feel this is a high-quality file. The steps may not be my favorite, but it really feels like there was a lot of work put into this, like I'm experience something tremendous that I simply can't understand. I have no qualms about giving you a perfect score here.
TOTAL: 8.5/10
Lady Chopper
STEPS: 4.5/6 The steps are high quality and feel a lot like a Konami 7. In effect, this isn't very innovative, but it is highly enjoyable. The steps take no chances, but pull off a very fun and fitting dance experience.
PRESENTATION: 3.5/4 So wait, you got the disco ball from Lucky Star? O.o Where? Anyway, having that (very nice) animated banner made me disappointed that there was no video to go along with it.
The disco ball was a good choice, though, since this is, well, very disco. "Lady Chopper" just makes me think of a misogynistic serial killer, FYI. c.c
TOTAL: 8/10
Let's Get Rockin'
STEPS: 3/6 Heavy for the most part lacks any amount of character. The streams are fun but sort of the same thing over and over. There's a part near the beginning where the beat cuts out, and the steps in that section don't work very well, I found them hard to follow. The long strings of 1-2-3's were odd, but not too horrible I suppose. This chart needs a bit more balance, the difficulty keeps ramping back up every now and then. Rating: 1.5/3. Oni is basically your average ITG chart. There are a few surprises, though, so it's all right. Rating: 1.5/3.
PRESENTATION: 3.5/4 Graphics are pretty good. Song just cuts off, so I have to wonder if it came from a nonstop mix or what. Since there's no info about that in the readme, I just have to assume it was an oversight on your part.
TOTAL: 6.5/10
Love in Your Arms
STEPS: 3/6 Not too surprising, though I did like most of your freezes, especially the double-tap parts near the end.
PRESENTATION: 3/4 The graphics are pretty good, some nice text effects.
TOTAL: 6/10
My Selene
STEPS: 3/6 This song is a real drag until it hits the chorus. Definitely not SA's best. I don't think you should have used any 16ths, beyond the 1-2-3s, until right at the end, which would have made for a nice consistent chart with a real bang finish. Looking at the groove radar before playing this, I was relieved to see there wasn't a chaos spike, as there tend to be for power metal files; however, I knew pretty much how the steps were going to turn out. I was close; there were some surprises, but I was close.
PRESENTATION: 2.5/4 Graphics are all right. Would have liked to see something more in the readme though.
TOTAL: 5.5/10
NB Rangers Returns
STEPS: 1/6 Okay. The stops? I'm okay with those, they add challenge. Not okay with the BPM doubling. The Heavy chart is ill put together. The steps are haphazard, often
very difficult and awkward to pull off. The opening, after it speeds up, is highly repetitive, and the 16ths don't help. In all, a very poor chart. Rating: .5/3. I'm not even going to finish playing Oni. It takes everything wrong with Heavy and makes it worse. I can't give you a 0, because the chart exists, so I'll just ask, have you ever played DDR before? Rating: .5/3. I'm not touching the edit chart.
PRESENTATION: 2/4 The graphics aren't too bad, though I'd only consider the Power Ranger knock-offs fitting if this had anything to do with, say, Japan, or not-metal. I don't feel this is very well put together, and the song choice is bad, in the "does this work for a dancing game?" sense.
TOTAL: 3/10
Ne~e?
STEPS: 5/6 I call this chart "tight". Honestly, it's very solid. The steps are enjoyable and fit the song well. The big ending run is a nice bang-up finish. Yeah, this is good, darnit!
PRESENTATION: 3.5/4 Unfortunately, I can't do anything but compare this to the Cheesemix version, which had the same graphics, same video, and so forth (except I don't recall the video making my Stepmania get all jaggy). Of course, everything's good, so...
TOTAL: 8.5/10
Onna ni Sachi Are
STEPS: 3.5/6 These steps rely far too much on karaoke, especially before you introduce the 16ths about halfway through. That makes for a very significant portion of this chart that I found to be uninteresting. More rhythm would have helped, is what I'm trying to say. The steps in the middle are the most interesting, but the regression to the end of the song again leaves something to be desired.
PRESENTATION: 4/4 A Morning Musume song that doesn't make me want to puke? Awesome! XD You know, I was only going to give you 3.5 on presentation: the graphics are good, the video is really nice quality and you made that video banner too, but overall it's not the "best" presentation, per se. Then I saw just how much goddamn detail you put into your readme. That, my friend, is something I like to see (but not all the time, please do not take this as a general statement of my desires x.x). Totally worth 4 points.
TOTAL: 7.5/10
Poodle
STEPS: 4/6 Very fun. Not the best technical steps ever (a little too focused on the same rhythms, and altogether very simple), but hard not to enjoy, and that counts a lot to my opinion. I do love the little bounce at the end.
PRESENTATION: 4/4 Cute and irresistible.
TOTAL: 8/10
Rocket (Dancing in the Moonlight)
STEPS: 2.5/6 If I've learned anything by participating in simfile contests, it's don't put steps in sections without a strong beat. For sure, don't use jumps, and definitely don't use stream unless it fits a vocal or something. That being said, the opening and ending of this chart are very weak, because the steps don't really go to much. The middle needs some work; I mean, playing it on a keyboard is fun, lots of neat rhythms and you go back and forth between the jumps and chaos. The jump strings (outside the 1-2-3-jump streams) just don't work. But this is definitely an ITG chart. I wouldn't want to play it on foot.
PRESENTATION: 2/4 Fairly standard graphics, a little dark in the text. Not bad.
TOTAL: 5.5/10
satellite020712
STEPS: 4/6 Weird song choice, right up there with Leading Cyber in terms of... just... weird. That said, the song doesn't seem to present a lot to dance to, which is what makes Heavy feel very light. We'll see what Oni does. The ending of Heavy is fairly repetitive, too, and I kind of got lost at some point as to what, exactly, the rhythms were supposed to follow. Rating: 1.5/3. Oni is far better, a good example of taking minimal input and getting something worthwhile out of it. I can feel some of the less-annoying Cyber elements creeping into this, and I don't consider that a bad thing. There were one or two sections that didn't quite work, but there are also a number of sections that work far better than Heavy (the very quiet part in particular). I really do like this chart. Rating: 2.5/3.
PRESENTATION: 3.5/4 The videos chosen were good, as far as fitting the song; however, there are some definitely quality issues between individual components, so they don't present a real unified whole (i.e., the good-quality vids stand out an awful lot). Graphics are AWESOME. Good info in the readme, too.
TOTAL: 7.5/10
Spring
STEPS: 5/6 Whoo! Fun twisty streamfest, I like! Maybe a little more variation would have been nice, but you capture the song's energy early and hold it, giving just enough breaks to keep the chart playable. Definitely a favorite.
PRESENTATION: 2/4 Err... why isn't the "1st Movement" part on the banner? Or the background, now that I mention it? The graphics are pretty nice, and fit the song well, but the banner is a little... pink...
TOTAL: 7/10
Symbolic (Cryptex mix)
STEPS: 2.5/6 I hate to say it, but I never really like this until it got into the main Symbolic theme at the end. The single gallops were a nice touch, and the chart progresses decently well, but that opening just has
nothing to go on. Rating: 1.5/3. Oni has some real problems. The opening this time around is very repetitive. The chart is very strikingly, at times, divided up into disparate sections. The bounces in the middle are fun, but do feel rather forced. The one-two-jumps have been done to death. There are a number of patterns that are just awkward and break the flow of the song. It's hard to compare the two charts, but... Rating: 1/3.
PRESENTATION: 1.5/4 Graphics are fairly basic, especially the background. Thanks for giving us a crappy cut of the song? I guess there's a reason this is one of the lesser simmed DM Ashura songs: there's little to step.
TOTAL: 4/10
The Game of Love
STEPS: 3.5/6 The ending really detracts from the rest of the chart; you should have cut the song off before the tingly bits. The opening was surprising, as were the gallops; both were welcome. The steps otherwise are a little too karaoke on the whole.
PRESENTATION: 3/4 Graphics are creative and fitting. Most of the videos worked well, except for those featuring the dancing characters. I've never seen those videos before; you really should have stuck to the flowers and hearts, though. I mean, really. Readme is sofa king, we todd did.
TOTAL: 6.5/10
TKO
STEPS: 4/6 Whoa, that was short. o.o I like the easy streams in the opening, but they leave the chart very top-heavy. The gallops were all very nice, but the rest of the streams are too light. I'd have liked to see some consistency on that note. Otherwise, fairly enjoyable and with a good bit of character.
PRESENTATION: 3.5/4 Cool graphics. Good work in this, I think.
TOTAL: 7.5/10
Why Did You Go Away
STEPS: 5/6 Wow. I'm really impressed. Like, my main complaint is that there's no transition into the chorus (you jump, jump and then it just sort of
happens, and it's awkward). This is obviously done by a student from the school of Konami, and your skills are impressive. Way to keep on the beat and such, while throwing in enough variation to fit the vocals and keep things interesting!
PRESENTATION: 3/4 Decent graphics. Not much else to say.
TOTAL: 8/10
Favorites from this bracket:
Frontal Impact
Kimi no Machi Made
Kokoro Odoru
Lady Chopper
Poodle
satellite020712
Spring
Why Did You Go Away
Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:05 pm
in mind.
Graphics look nice, but aren't really that special (taken from the video, right?). Then again, the video is included as well and it's so <3