DDR 1-4 Judging Thread

[BLueSS]

Simply quoting this for reference in case the original post gets edited.

I rate charts based on how they flow with the music and are dance-able. So a perfect score means I thought it went well with the music and had no errors (not that I was amazed at the steps I am being entirely objective). I'll decrease the score if I hate gimmicks enough. For brevity I thought all the arrows went well with the music unless noted otherwise, if so then I only knocked off points for making me face away from the screen unless it's a full spin and I enjoyed doing it.

APED 15 / 25
06 / 10 - Heavy I guess the steps went with the music although I STRONGLY suspect the 64th arrows were supposed to be 8th notes in fact I'm sure of it because you used 8ths for the same rhythm later on. Two points knocked due to double-stepping and two points knocked off for 64ths.
08 / 10 - Standard Steps flowed well in this chart and you didn't use jumps which makes step placement all the more crucial, but you paid attention and it worked. 64th Note syndrome here just like in Heavy.
02 / 05 - Presentation I like the image used but the text is very plain, the synching is awful and I bet the 64th arrows were used because you didn't sync it good enough, my pet pieve is poor synching so this one bugs me, if you choose a song with randomBPM's you really NEED to work hard to make sure everything is super-precise not just use random values that keep the steps 'close enough' to the beat.
-01 / ± 01 - Tilt What an odd song, I don't much enjoy random music though.

GANGNAM STYLE 12 / 25
05 / 10 - Heavy Five places made me double-step, I'm not sure who actually prefers double-stepping or how it makes sense when you use a double-step pattern in one part of the song but then in another identical section you don't IMHO that just looks like a careless chart, for instance there's one gallop section that forces a half-spin then the next gallop section doesn't, so even if you enjoy double-stepping why didn't you make it match? And my real question if the rest of the gallops all followed proper foot placement then why did you have one at all that caused a double-step? And have you ever seen a review that said 'those steps were alright, but I would have preferred more double-stepping', nope because even though some people look past them, nobody asks for them.
03 / 10 - Standard Six places, this chart is full of double-stepping. I would have also really liked to see some 16ths used instead of sticking to 4ths and 8ths for the whole chart (for instance between bars 8&9 the two 4ths in the middle don't go to anything in the song and using 16ths that spread out isn't going to be tough for a Standard chart and would have gone with the music).
04 / 05 - Presentation Bad video cut, but since video is not a requirement... Banner is fantastic, BG is um a freebie since it's just a web available image and you cropped it badly where there's a horse saying something but you cut out half of his comment.
00 / ± 01 - Tilt Neutral song choice, it's very popular and not a Korean girl band but still not my cup of tea.

My Little Pony Extended Theme 17 / 25
09 / 10 - Heavy Just one double-step, the rest of the chart is proficient and seem like they go perfectly with the song, a nicely fit 7-footer.
08 / 10 - Standard No double-steps here but the freeze-arrow section (bars 93-99) don't go to anything and the length of the last freeze is random.
01 / 05 - Presentation I believe the correct title is "Friendship is Magic (My Little Pony - Extended Theme)" but I'm thinking you didn't try to make it proper because that would have taken more work in the graphics department. Audio quality is much to quiet, synching is close but not quite good enough (I bet the 24.25 and 53.75 were really supposed to be 27.5 and 55). and I approve of the 110 BPM, no way should that have been 220 BPM as some people have suggested. Thank you for the music video but since I'm not docking points for video neither do you get extra points for having one. Your SAMPLE doesn't even include the "My Little Pony" WTF???
-01 / ± 01 - Tilt I've never seen the show and the song doesn't appeal to me but I think it could have worked well in a dance game if there was more attention to quality. The more I review this file the more cheated I feel because it feels like I'm spending alot of effort reviewing a file that you didn't care about.

Space Truckin' 25 / 25
10 / 10 - Heavy No question about it, this is a winner and through all the varied step patterns that went perfectly to the music you did not make me feel sloppy, you kept me flowing throughout.
10 / 10 - Standard Quite a bit of difference from the Heavy chart but still varied, proficient and FUN, congratulations.
04 / 05 - Presentation Is the BN hard to read, yes. Is it intentional, yes. Does that make it good, no. It's nice but the artist gets impossible to read. BG is well it's amazing but I wanted to mark it down because I did not want to see earth trucks on roads, but somehow they fit in better with the guitars and the gritty feel of the song. I really need a lyric file to try and understand what's going on in the vocals if anything coherant is even intended, but WTF it doesn't matter.
01 / ± 01 - Tilt Fantastic simfile.

Trial Machine PhoeniX WrighT 19 / 25
09 / 10 - Heavy Well that was interesting, I can't dock you point on the spin section because that's pretty much a requirement for a Trip Machine chart and you included it. There was still one awkward step early on that messed up, otherwise the Jump-8th pattern felt forced, but again it's Trip Machine...
07 / 10 - Standard Three non-spin sections that I didn't appreciate, the rest of the chart was great.
03 / 05 - Presentation Bad song cut at or something really fishy begins at Bar 20 to 34 everything becomes very late to the music then back to on-beat, seems like the song does that a few times, maybe it was a bad mash-up, if so you shouldn't have used it or you should have compensated the sync because it makes for an unpeasant experience. I like the graphics, unsure about the extremely long sample.
00 / ± 01 - Tilt No tilt.

Vertex (Stage1) 25 / 25
10 / 10 - Heavy These steps are absolutely perfect, the main reason why I don't double-step is because I enjoy turns and you turned me all over the place and did not spin me around, I really enjoyed that.
10 / 10 - Standard Seems cheap of me, but you turned me in different ways than heavy, even some that seemed unusual in a Standard chart but every one of them worked. I stepped out on a limb with my opposite foot and you caught me and kept me turning, another perfect chart.
05 / 05 - Presentation Graphics are amazingly delicious but the STOP gimmicks only served to make me fumble (does anyone actually enjoy when a file does this?), thankfully there were just a few. Also the slow-down gimmick isn't treated the same both times, the first one ramps down and the second one is just 1/2 speed, and honestly the more I play the file the more they make perfect sense, they go with the music. I even LIKE the STOPS (how did you do that to me?), they now feel like they go perfectly with the music and it would make the chart less enjoyable without them. Fuckin' good job sir.
01 / ± 01 - Tilt You did everything right, from song choice, to gimmicks, to graphics, to the step charts. If you add it up you got 26 points but the limit is just 25.