BEST-mix.net - DDR Simfile Tournament

ITG Bracket 2-1 Judging Thread
- The scoring from this thread will determine which 3 songs move on to the next round.
- This thread will be locked sometime on Friday morning/afternoon. Get your reviews in before Friday.
- You must pick 1 review method, you can't mix them.
- The entire bracket must be reviewed.
- The list of songs in this bracket are below for reference:

Code: Select all

Arabia'd - Akira
B & T (Blur & Tsukkomi) - hajtos
Divine Bloodlines - Dark Luke
HARDKORE OF THE NORTH - cpubasic13
Please Play This Song on the Radio (Please Play This Song on Stepmania Edit) - jammitch!
Pop ('Nsync Cover) - rikame

Thanks to Lisek (and will-i-am for ITG fixes), here are easy to use scoring templates

Option 1 - Complete Review

Code: Select all

[b][b][size=150]Song Title[/size][/b] __ / 25
[color=#0000FF]__ / 10 - Expert[/color]
[color=#FF0000]__ / 10 - Secondary Chart[/color]
[color=#BF8040]__ / 05 - Presentation[/color]
[color=#40BFFF]__ / +/- 01 - Tilt[/color]

Template Song 24 / 25
08 / 10 - Expert
Great fun chart but lacks something. It needs more 1/16th jackhammers.
10 / 10 - Secondary Chart
It's great, nothing to add.
05 / 05 - Presentation
The background is dazzling so much that I lost my eye-sight.
01 / 01 - Tilt
Nice video but I understand that some people may not like it.


Option 2 - Partial Review

Code: Select all

[b][size=150]Song Title[/size][/b] __ / 15
[color=#0000FF]__ / 10 - Expert[/color]
[color=#BF8040]__ / 05 - Presentation[/color]
[color=#40BFFF]__ / 01 - Tilt[/color]

example:
Bad Song 08 / 15
06 / 10 - Expert
Could be better. I thought that this was pad competition thought.
02 / 05 - Presentation
The background is ugly. Comic Sans is so 90's.
00 / 01 - Tilt
No tilt. Leave me alone.


Option 3 - Approval Vote

Code: Select all

[b][size=150]Song Title[/size][/b]

example:
Blue Sad Song
I cried. I cried a lot. It's nice.

Option 1: Complete Review (25 points/song)
- Heavy (10), secondary chart (10), presentation (5), and tilt (±1)
Option 2: Partial Review (15 points/song)
- Heavy (10), presentation (5), and tilt (±1)
Option 3: Approval Vote (5 points/song)
- Typical approval vote style; vote for as many songs as desired, each vote awards equal points (5)

Blur & Tsukkomi 08 / 15
05 / 10 - Expert
Rhythms were somewhat accurate - I think I saw some double steps, which are a no-no at 180 BPM. Some parts felt empty. I didn't like the freeze arrow and mine section. Decent chart other than that.
03 / 05 - Presentation
Typical anime graphics, and no extra charts.
00 / 01 - Tilt

Harmony of Despair 12 / 15
08 / 10 - Expert
Overall a good chart. No incorrect rhythms or double steps. I liked the use of streams and 24ths. I would have left out some of the jumps at the end.
04 / 05 - Presentation
Good graphics, full difficulties.
00 / 01 - Tilt

Hardkore of the North 13 / 15
09 / 10 - Expert
This is a good boss-level chart for ITG. I liked the use of 12ths and 24ths. The long streams could have been broken up, and this is more of a 14.
03 / 05 - Presentation
Graphics were OK. The text is a little hard to read.
01 / 01 - Tilt
A hard chart done right.

Please Play This SOng on the Radio 13 / 15
08 / 10 - Edit
I played edit because it's the real chart. While I appreciate the joke, Expert and Edit should have been switched. Joke charts don't belong in contests(I did pass it on KB) The lyrics changing to match the steps are funny(It's spelled "mine", BTW) The steps overall were decent but a little crossovery. Sync was good which is hard for this style of song.
04 / 05 - Presentation
Graphics were average, but the lyrics bring it up. Also, full difficulties.
01 / 01 - Tilt
LOL

Pop 10 / 15
06 / 10 - Expert
Good rhythmically but a little over gimmicky. I liked the jumps with stops. Mine placement was a little close in spots
05 / 05 - Presentation
Graphics capture the 8-bit feel of the song. Full difficulties too
-01/ 01 - Tilt
Song seemed kind boring.

You Just Got Arabia'd 04 / 15
01 / 10 - Expert
Where do I begin. This is about a 17, and not a good one. Bad mine placement for pad play. Impossible fast 24th run, some 24ths to nothing, jumps, tell jumps, double steps, 16th jacks at 200+ BPM. It was on sync and made some sense rhythmically, so a point for that.
04 / 05 - Presentation
Good graphics
-01 / 01 - Tilt

Technically, you can't grade Edit. And you can't play that song on Stepmania anyway, so why try to grade it seriously?

Blur & Tsukkomi: 7/15
4/10 - Expert
First off, I think a roll is missing at beat marker 61.000 since the stream just suddenly cuts off right there and leads into an unforced doublestep. The same thing happens at beat marker 123.000. If these were both intentional, then I really don't see the point of having those sections be so empty when the music is so active. I like a lot of the patterning, though there are a number of places where you have unforced doublesteps which, at this high of a BPM, will be awkward if you don't know exactly where they are; some examples are beats 83, 102, 214, etc. I also feel that the hands and spins are unnecessary, the spins moreso since they really aren't accenting the ever-increasing pitch with their consistent patterns. Personally, I would have made more of the streams unbroken (as the guitar itself is) and bumped up the rating. Still though, there are good ideas present, and with polish this could be really fun to pad.

3/5 - Presentation
Neat text effect , though the positioning will make it crop really badly on most ITG themes. I'd also like to see an artist text if possible. Maybe crop the image in a different way so that you will have more usable space on the right side of the banner, that's where ITG themes allot the most area for text.

0/1 - Tilt


Divine Bloodlines (Harmony of Despair) 9/15
6/10 - Expert
Layering in the rhythm guitar at the beginning would maximize the steppability of the section (i.e. notes at 17.250, 21.250, 25.250, and 29.250). I cannot for the life of me tell what you're going to with those holds at b32 onward. I'll emphasize that you want to be consistent with what rhythms you're following unless something significant happens in the music, so it irks me when you adopt the hold strategy while the guitar rhythms remain the same as the first few measures. You're missing a note at 44.500. Another consistency issue is how you pattern gallops. Sometimes they are one-foot gallops (i.e. the section starting at measure 21), and other times they are two-foot gallops (i.e. the ones in the section starting at measure 13, these ones would be best as one-foot gallops for pitch-relevance sake). Again, if there's a clear distinction, then I have no problems with them being differently patterned, but these are all going to the same bass-kick/guitar riff combination that screams for consistent patterning. There's no note at 211.500. There are a few other issues that I have with this, but they're more subjective and I covered my more major complaints. Most of the other rhythms and patterning look pretty good, and I'm a sucker for rock music simfiles.

Presentation - 3/5
Honestly not a big fan of the color scheme on the text and the positioning will cause the text to be cropped on most ITG themes.

0/1 - Tilt


Hardkore of the North 13/15
8/10 - Expert
The first half of this I don't have much to complain about other than minor rhythm issues (most notably the breakbeats around measure 27 to measure 35 being slightly off in places, but it's not a huge deal) and some of the crossover usage (it's nice, but a bit excessive and it doesn't really accent anything in the music). I really would have liked to see the stream at measure 47 broken up and given accurate rhythms according to the lead synth, which would have provided a nice technical challenge in line with the rest of the file. This is a minor point, but I'd move the first arrow of the 24th bursts at beats 228.500 and 244.500 so that they don't form a jack with the preceding arrow just for consistency's sake. Speaking of consistency, the harshness of the patterning of the 24th bursts at the end varies from easy (the ones on only two arrows) at first, switches to hard (the sweeps across all four arrows), then goes back to medium (the ones such as LDLR, etc.) Personally, I'd prefer if they were all one degree of patterning since the intensity of the music never changes throughout that whole section. Pretty neat file overall, though, looks to be a fun technical 13.

Presentation - 5/5
I love that text effect. It always amazes me when such contrasting colors like magenta and teal work together so well. Just a lovely graphic overall.

0/1 - Tilt


Please Play This Song on the Radio (STEPMANZ EDIT) 5/15
1/10 - Expert


Presentation - 3/5
Text positioning is kinda nice, but again this'll get cropped.

1/1 - Tilt
Lyric file is the best


Pop 11/15
7/10 - Expert
I found the gimmicks at the start to be really excessive if the only reason they were there was because the main percussion hadn't started yet, this is compounded by the fact that the notes have sort of a "trailing off" sound when they end which makes the song never feel like it stops, which leaves the gimmicks feeling unjustified. The same thing occurs at m18 to the same effect. The wave gimmicks and normal BPM stops slightly later on, though, were kinda neat and add to the chart well. Because a lot of the instrumentation sounds like it echoes, finding specific rhythm errors is proving to be quite a challenge for me, so I'll leave it for now and edit this post with some more specific stuff later. I will say though I can't really tell what a lot of the 16ths are going to in m42-49 when the background music drops out.

4/5 - Presentation
An appropriate style/font that fits with the song. The backdrop image seems a little bland, though I'm having trouble envisioning what I would even look to use as a graphic for this song.

0/1 - Tilt


You Just Got Arabia'd 5/15
1/10 - Expert
Oh no. If this is how it feels to get Arabia'd, then I dun wanna get Arabia'd no mo'. I'm particularly baffled at how this was rated a 12.

5/5 - Presentation
And go figure, this has a really nice looking banner. Great text positioning, fonts, and layer styles here.

-1/1 - Tilt

Braeden47 and sudzi781 just got Arabia'd

Also, jammitch, if I can give you a million points for your file, I would; but we're at the same bracket :v

blur&tsukkomi 15.0 / 25
6.0 / 10 - Hardest Chart
Had some pretty good ideas - the hands were done well, and the use of mines was irregular but did force the desired movement - but in the end suffered too much from the doublesteps and lack of consistency to impress. More of a 12 or very high 11 than a 13, too.
5.0 / 10 - Second Hardest Chart
Felt just like the Expert chart, except dumbed down, and suffered from everything the Expert chart did.
4.0 / 05 - Presentation
Graphics and sync are rough but OK.
<> / +/- 01 - Tilt


Divine Bloodlines 23.5 / 25
9.0 / 10 - Hardest Chart
Good work keeping the rhythms interesting on this song while treating step density and movement just as carefully. I do wish more emphasis were given to the time signature changes in the end - make that 5/4 hit hard! Only technical nitpick I have is about the freezes in the beginning: they're too long and could result in an unfamiliar player doublestepping where they shouldn't have to.
9.0 / 10 - Second Hardest Chart
This chart follows the feel of official SH charts but with a more conscientious approach. I like it a lot, and the time signature emphasis I talked about for the SX comes through especially well. The freeze consideration above also applies here, though.
4.5 / 05 - Presentation
Cut ends a bit sharply. Graphics are very nice; again, a few text effects that help incorporate them with the backdrop would go a long way. Sync is quite on.
+1.0 / +/- 01 - Tilt
Great song choice. Definitely suggesting this to my old ITG crew, it's the sort of chart and music they dig. The DH chart also looks like a lot of fun; I will note that the jumps are a tad far apart.


HARDKORE OF THE NORTH 23.0 / 25
9.0 / 10 - Hardest Chart
Haha, holy gosh that's a fast one. The crossovers are a little iffy at these speeds, but in some cases I saw you keep the player facing the same direction for a couple in a row - if you keep that idea, you could have your crossovers and ITG it too I think. The placement during the runs: again, not wanting to pull the "too much movement" card again but make sure you consider the direction the player is facing. Overall though, this is a really solid hard chart.
9.5 / 10 - Second Hardest Chart
This looks like a lot of fun. Hard (maybe even a low 11 rather than a 10 block) but not in an atrocious way, just in-your-face enough to fit the song. The use of gallops and crossovers at different points work well. My only qualm is that the hands are a combination of slightly uncomfortable and slightly sudden where most players won't like doing them.
4.5 / 05 - Presentation
Sync's a bit off - I kept streaming Excellents. Those graphics are snazzy though (although the splatter effect on the text makes "Hardkore" hard to read).
<> / +/- 01 - Tilt
Glad to see somebody treating a "boss song" right.


Please Play This Song on the Radio (Please Play This Song on Stepmania Edit) 16.0 / 25
[FCC warning] / 10 - Hardest Chart

8.0 / 10 - Second Hardest Chart
It's not a bad chart, and fits the tone of the simfile well.
5.0 / 05 - Presentation
Great graphics (banner cutoff though I`m cry). Sync's good enough for what it is, lol. Lyric file a necessary and perfect addition.
+1.0 / +/- 01 - Tilt
someday I will be a stepmania dee jay legend and play this song on the radio while I play it on stepmania, but I'll probably still only pass the radio


Pop ('NSYNC Cover) 20.5 / 25
8.0 / 10 - Hardest Chart
Pretty solid. For a chiptune piece, this song's musical cues are pretty confusing. Some of the 16ths didn't feel like they fit, but in general you handled it well.
8.5 / 10 - Second Hardest Chart
Feels a lot better when you didn't have to worry about keeping as many 16ths in. A few of the jumps (in the very beginning, and the end chorus) weren't really needed, and especially in the case of the beginning, hike up the difficulty a lot right there.
4.0 / 05 - Presentation
Great use of gimmicks, both the color-correct and the "feel it when your" sorts. Graphics are okay but there's no real connection between the backdrop and the text.
<> / +/- 01 - Tilt
I think Kommisar learned how to harmonize after he wrote this, the song feels so empty lol


You Just Got Arabia'd 13.0 / 25
sand / 10 - Hardest Chart

That was a thing alright. By the camel's toes! I'm quite surprised I index passed that on a sightread
6.0 / 10 - Second Hardest Chart
Not bad, but still a bit odd. Guess I really shouldn't be expecting much different from this song, huh :B Could use some sort of markers for the BPM changes, and a lot of the mines are not quite timed right to force the proper movement. A few ambiguous jump-step sections. The hands are going to all be cheated by everybody (as was mentioned before).
5.0 / 05 - Presentation
ooooo those graphics~ Personally I'd like to see the text borders less sharp and more coherent with the backdrop though. Sync's good.
+1.0 / +/- 01 - Tilt
when I saw all the pretty colors scrolling up my stepmania it was like a desert mirage but then I tripped over my own feet and gave up on my pilgrimage (if you pronounce "pilgrimage" in a really hoity-toity accent this sentence rhymes YES I KNOW THAT'S STUPID give me a break though it's like one in the morning)



In summary:
Divine Bloodlines 23.5 / 25
HARDKORE OF THE NORTH 23.0 / 25
Pop ('NSYNC Cover) 20.5 / 25
Please Play This Song on the Radio (Please Play This Song on Stepmania Edit) 16.0 / 25
blur&tsukkomi 15.0 / 25
You Just Got Arabia'd 13.0 / 25

Blur & Tsukkomi 14.5 / 25
4 / 10 - Expert
Song seemed really understepped as a whole; I can understand why, but there were several rhythms that deserved to be stepped. A few weird crossovers, and I believe there was one doublestep. All the mines were unnecessary, and the spin section was stupid; if I'm playing a 13 I don't want to have to deal with spins. Overall I was more annoyed by this than anything.
7 / 10 - Secondary Chart
Pretty good overall; I liked the second half a lot better than the first. Ending hold section has a spin in it, not sure if that was intentional. Still don't like it either way.
3.5 / 05 - Presentation
Graphics are a bit weak; the banner has the text way too small, the outer glow is ugly, there's no artist text in the banner, and why are there anime characters?
0 / +/- 01 - Tilt
Cool song, but I was underwhelmed by the steps.

Divine Bloodlines 21.5 / 25
8.5 / 10 - Expert
By and large I like this, but the beginning had really awkward holds, and I would have liked to see some of the more interesting rhythms (like that drum fill in the middle you just had a hold on) capitalized on
8 / 10 - Secondary Chart
Pretty good. Hold usage in the beginning was a bit wack, but rest looked pretty fun
5 / 05 - Presentation
Good graphics, everything else is good too
0 / +/- 01 - Tilt
Neat stuff. I entered a remix of this song into r21Freak's Pad Comp VII without knowing what the original sounded like, so it's cool to hear the original here.

Hardkore of the North 22.5 / 25
8.5 / 10 - Expert
Interesting stuff. First and foremost, I'd nix all the crossovers; I don't want to deal with that stuff while preparing for the stream, they were pretty inconsistently and weirdly used and serve no purpose except to make the file harder. Mine usage was mostly good, the stream was well patterned, and everything after the stream looked great; I'm not sure if the 24th bursts that go across all 4 arrows are going to be doable at 190 BPM though, I'd have to pad test it. It's only 4 arrows though so it can't be too awful. Also as a last note, doublecheck the amen break section; several of the rhythms sounded incorrect.
9 / 10 - Secondary Chart
I like this a lot. I think the 12th gallops could go without being truncated; it's a 10 already, adding the extra steps won't make a difference. That's my only complaint really, I like how you treated this overall.
5 / 05 - Presentation
No extra charts or anything but the graphics are REALLY REALLY GOOD so it's ok
0 / +/- 01 - Tilt
I kind of prefer this over the original HotN musically. Maybe because I've heard the original so much?

Please Play This Song on The Radio 13 / 25
1 / 10 - Expert
i played this song on stepmania
7 / 10 - Secondary Chart
not too short, not too long
3 / 05 - Presentation
nice gfx !
0 / +/- 01 - Tilt
i'm not playing this song on stepmania anymore

Pop 18 / 25
8 / 10 - Expert
Second chorus went to nothing. Everything else was competent, but not interesting.
9 / 10 - Secondary Chart
Not amazing, but there's nothing really wrong with it, so take the points.
1 / 05 - Presentation
Nice graphics. The gimmicks during the chorus were good, the wave ones were a little suspect, and THE 8X GIMMICKS NO WHY WHY WHY WHY. Also how come the awful gimmicks were only in one verse, and not the other? Sorry for taking off so many points here, but those gimmicks made me really, really mad haha. You'll probably still advance anyway :P (having two joke files in your bracket helps)
0 / +/- 01 - Tilt
I usually like Kommisar's stuff, but this was annoying; I could barely make out the original song, and it didn't have any dynamic range or anything so it kind of started to blend together after a while.

You Just Got Arabia'd 11 / 25
1 / 10 - Expert
An average ITG chart.
6 / 10 - Secondary Chart
Get rid of every mine. Then this will be good
5 / 05 - Presentation
lol these graphics are actually really good
-1 / +/- 01 - Tilt
I liked I JUST 8 A BIT but this is the worst song I've ever heard. Also I'm not sure what "giving emphasis on the stereotypical ITG chart" is supposed to mean, most ITG chart makers are smart enough not to put 226 BPM 16th jacks in their simfiles

Approval Vote
Divine Bloodlines

Approval Votes
Divine Bloodlines (WHY AREN'T YOU WRITING MORE LIKE THIS)
Hardkore of the North (probably going to vote against this next matchup, because those crossovers are kinda ew. Rest of the chart is really solid.)

side note: You Just Got Arabia'd - wow . . . stepmania paradigm

Approval vote:
Divine Bloodlines
Just nice, I liked the song.

Approval Vote:
Divine Bloodlines
HARDKORE OF THE NORTH
Pop ('Nsync Cover)

Approval vote:

HARDKORE OF THE NORTH
Once again, i just enjoy cpubasic13's simfiles (his 'style', I guess) very much. This is not an exception. I had a great fun playing this, the song choice is fantastic, the same goes for the presentation. One of the best files in my opinion.

Pop ('Nsync Cover)
Fun! :)

blur&tsukkomi:

Hard - 8.5/10
A mostly solid stepchart. It gets a little inconsistent or weird when it tries to follow the guitar riffs, but the placement is mostly unproblematic and creative.

Expert - 5.5/10
I can't help but feel like this tries too hard to follow all of the speedy guitar riffs. There is a lot of really odd an uncomfortable interchanging between 16th and 24th patterns that aren't properly structured and just feel improvised to follow the song. Many of the 16th streams go on for a long time and aren't led into carefully enough, and the use of breaks is mostly abrupt and inappropriate. Some of the placement is also overdone.

Presentation - 3.75/5
There's no artist name on the banner (or bg), and the sample length is shorter than it should be.

Tilt - 0/1

Final Score: 17.75/25

Divine Bloodlines (Harmony of Despair):

Hard - 8.75/10
Mostly does just what it should. However, I don't agree fully with the rhythms used during the first phrase, and they stand out awkwardly from the rest of the chart, which follows the track much more precisely.

Expert - 8.25/10
This chart has a very clear and consistent sense of focus. It doesn't offer a whole lot in the way of step creativity or variety, but the placement is mostly really effective, save for a little too much right-facing at times.

Presentation - 4.5/5
Graphics fit the theme, I guess. They're not super appealing, but they're okay.

Final Score: 21.5/25

Hardkore of the North:

Hard - 10/10
From top-down, I absolutely loved this stepchart. Your ability to pack such a challenge into such a clean and well-measured set of note patterns is pretty remarkable, and it really shows itself off here. Definitely a perfect Hard 10-block.

Expert - 9.75/10
Now this is an example of a 13-block done right. There's lots of streamy movement that's compounded by some incredibly fast 24th notes, but they're all structured in a coherent and well-developed manner. There's lots of clever and creative phrasing here, and it's not just a bunch of 16th streams + 8th step-jumps just for the sake of challenge. Perhaps the use of crossovers goes a little over the top at certain points, but that's at least part of the trickiness.

Presentation - 5/5
Spectacular graphics; possibly the best ITG set in the pack!

Tilt - 0/1

Final Score: 24.75/25

Please Play This Song On The Radio:

Hard - 9.5/10
Such a surprisingly effective karaoke stepchart. It's just too bad you decided to joke out by ruining the Expert steps...

Expert - 1/10
:(

Presentation - 4.5/5
Graphics are okay, except the title text is too high on the frame and gets cut off, both with DDR and ITG-style themes.

Tilt - 1/1
Because I DO like Hard, and there is the Edit stepchart, even though it's not one of the main charts to be graded.

Final Score: 16/25

Pop - (-'Nsync Cover -):

Hard - 10/10
I actually have nothing to take off here. Everything is basically perfect, from your effective pattern variety to your slick placement.

Expert - 9.25/10
Again, there's very little that I don't enjoy about this stepchart. The only little part that I would change would the beginning of the second chorus, during which the percussion drops out for a few measures; I wish you had made that section a break instead of gone full-on with 16th streams that don't follow anything particularly audible in the track.

Presentation - 5/5
I honestly can't believe I'm giving such high marks to a 8-bit simfile, but somehow this file really works. Perhaps the thick bass drum, aka the only non-8-bit element of the track, gives just enough percussion support that the song can handle ITG steps. Graphics perfectly fit the 8-bit theme while still being aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

Tilt - -0.5/1
Minor penalty for the distracting and annoying bpm gimmicks in the beginning.

Final Score: 23.75/25

You Just Got Arabia'd:

Hard - 9.75/10
Creative, well-executed fun. Why, oh why did you throw away this simfile with a virtually unplayable Expert stepchart?

Expert - 1/10
See Please Play This Song On The Radio Expert. Also, this crashes whenever I try to play it.

Presentation - 4.75/5
Uh, graphics are not the best ever but still fairly good.

Tilt - 1/1
Again, I'll play this for Hard, even though it's otherwise ruined by unplayable Expert steps.

Final Score: 16.5/25

Hardkore of the North
This has the advantage and disadvantage of being a remix of an ITG song. Thanks to creative placement, this excels by setting itself apart from the rest.

Pop - (-'Nsync Cover-)
Now I have two Pop files! Fittingly, the ITG version is a gimmicky 8-bit remix.