will-i-am wrote:lol this is sad, but predictable. I'd say it's safe to say a song from Bracket 1, at least for DDR, will win this contest based on feedback. And I think we all know which song that'll be *cough*
sigh*cough*
You mean the file that didn't even advance to the next round (even though it still has a chance I guess)? I don't know about you, but I think it's highly likely that Space Truckin' will win based on feedback thus far. Just look at the round 1 results -
everyone who chose the approval vote gave it the nod, and all of its public reviews were also highly positive.
Anyway, I do agree with most of your points, will-i-am. The Simfile Olympics over at DDREvolved.com have kept a lot of active simfiles busy and maybe a little burned out. I can sure speak for myself, because I had trouble deciding which entries to submit to this pack. I included Love In The Shadows because I had that file lying around since at least January and I wanted a proper chance to release it, but it didn't fit any of the themes in the Simfile Olympics. Candy Girl I originally had in mind for Cheesemix 7, which I probably won't run until sometime into next year, but I had gotten a nice start on the file just before this contest, and so I decided to just submit it while it was still fresh. I'm pleasantly surprised by how relatively well both of my DDR files and especially Hammerhead in the ITG bracket have done so far, but I didn't really come into this competition with quite as much confidence as I did in, say, Best-Mix #1 with Frontal Impact or Best-Mix #2 with Satellites.
Part of the reason why this pack might seem a little lackluster could be that so many of the simfile community's most prolific authors have long since disappeared. There are some relatively new faces who've improved a lot in the past few months like Zero-X and Telperion, but on the other hand, Titiln, Super_Ray, sanchny, and lrxevan, all serious contenders in previous competitions, aren't around anymore. Most recently, and perhaps more significantly, however, is that Xythar and the_ditz are no longer active in simfile competitions. the_ditz never actually participated in any Best-Mix's aside from 1.5, but he was one of the founders of DDREvolved.com and ran most of the contests there, not to mention he was always one of the most popular step artists as well. Xythar, on the other hand, has always been one of the most active, prominent, and consistent members of the simfile community since he first started joining in the fun several years ago. In OSC, Best-Mix, and DDREvolved alike, his frequent and loyal engagement in simfile competitions, I think, was a crucial component to their spirit and participation. But he somehow vanished just before the Simfile Olympics got set up, and hasn't been around since.
I don't want to exaggerate how much the success of the simfile community was dependent upon the_ditz and Xythar, but they both had a sort of leadership role within it, and so for both of them to retire at the same time is almost like injuring the heart of the simfile community.
Thankfully, BlueSS is still here to run Best-Mix Final, and to be fair, I think it's still been a pretty darn successful competition, but it's still pretty evident, based on the times, that the simfiling scene is in its elder years. I stepped in to replace the_ditz and Xythar in order to run DDREvolved.com because nobody else seemed openly willing to do so, and I'll try to continue to keep the site running for as long as seems appropriate, but I can still personally say that it
really just doesn't feel the same without them around anymore. It's only one factor, of course, and it's not
horribly significant, but I think it contributes at least somewhat to this situation.
Zounder wrote:I agree and disagree. I agree that there's a lack of -amazing- simfiles in this pack, but there overall quality is something that I don't think I've ever seen in a non-DDREvolved pack. Now, I wasn't around for BM4, but in my opinion every other Best Mix pales in comparison to the overall quality in this pack. the lower-end files of this pack would fare decently well in some of the older mixes.
I do agree with you here. Even if there aren't nearly as many entries that blow me away as much as, say, CHOU! from Best-Mix #1.5 or WoW from Best-Mix #2, it's still a very solid and consistent pack. All of the previous contests here have definitely had their share of rather sub-impressive entries (9000 (remix) *shudder*), but there aren't really any particularly
bad simfiles in this pack, and most of them are at least
good, even if not great.