Bracket 5 - Rating and Discussion
Ugh. Horrible bracket, I see why no one's reviewed it yet. MOVE MANIA is the best song, but it only reaches the status of "good", not "great".
RANKING
1st: Move Mania: 21
2nd: Crank That (Soulja Boy): 18.5
3rd: Greenhorn: 18
Everything's Magic: 16.5
Angel of the Moon: 14.5
The Sun Always Shines on TV: 9
This Ain't a City: 4.5
Angel of the Moon
Heavy: 4/10 - Sorry, this is not V. I felt the steps were horribly predictable on account of being extremely repetitive. Furthermore, the long runs progressed in a terrible manner: it should have started with the freezes, then gone phrase-ending bounces, double bounces, and finally the triples. The way you have it here, it feels completely random. There are far too many step-jumps, it's ridiculous. The long 16th run in the middle wasn't appreciated. Hell, neither were the long 16th runs at the end. I think one problem with this song is you're stepping parts of it that aren't awfully noticeable while playing, lending a sense of randomness to the overall effect.
Standard: 3.5/5 - A few flashes of extreme brilliance, but overall I don't think you knew what you were going for. The trance breakdown in the middle was wonderful, but you made it get too hard too quickly. This is busy enough for a Standard chart without all the 16th jumps and bounces and all that other nonsense. The light touch ending makes sense in a "you'll need a break" sort of way, but really bottoms the chart out in terms of flow. Still, I liked it better than Heavy.
Light: 4/5 - Generally, I feel it was a well balanced chart, though a 2 shouldn't open with four jumps, regardless of how spread out they are. The transition from two to three-step patterns in the trance breakdown was awkwardly done at best, or else that five-note phrase wouldn't have been necessary. After that bit of weirdness, though, the rest of the chart flows well, and you used freezes pretty well. I would argue that this ought to be a 3, however.
Presentation: 3/5 - Pretty, but terribly cliche and unrelated anime.
Tilt: +0
Total: 14.5/25
CRANK THAT (SOULJA BOY)
Heavy: 7/10 - I really could have lived my life without ever hearing this song. That being said, I actually enjoyed the Heavy chart, though I feel it has some flaws. You should have applied the mirroring to the chorus steps, at least once. The consistency within the phrase is nice, but I'd have liked to hop a different way for at least one of them. The long spaces in the middle of the chart confused me, as did the ending. Following the drum beats doesn't work. You put so much into the rest of the chart, why take those sections lightly?
Standard: 4/5 - Again, I think the chorus is handled well, the drum beats work better than in Heavy, and you actually mirrored one of the chorus phrases. It's not perfect, mind, but flows well, and the gappier spots make more sense than Heavy.
Light: 3/5 - I'm really conflicted about this chart. First, I know the 16ths and 12ths (which don't, by the way, work in the manner you've used them in either Light or Standard) were not a good idea. The 8ths I think can actually be left, as can the corner jumps, but I can't help but feel that neither was a good choice. You could have tackled this chart without resorting to using either, but since it's so slow, I don't feel like I can take off a lot of points for them.
Presentation: 4.5/5 - What's with the background? It looks like something's been pasted in. Otherwise, the banner is nice. Video included.
Tilt: +.5 for Beginner chart.
Total: 18.5/25
Everything's Magic
Heavy: 7/10 - Augh, not A&A. ._. Okay, first thing, the sync is horribly off. It starts out fine, then gets dodgy, then just goes completely nowhere by the end of the song. I'll be taking points off for that in Presentation, though. So, the Heavy chart, I thought it was pretty darn good. VERY consistent, which is important given some of the rhythms you followed. I liked the 5-note runs, I felt they were judiciously used and fit well. The chorus section I liked less, but it still maintains that consistency to itself, so I figured out what was going on by the time the pattern repeated. Overall, a fun fast chart, a few flaws, but honestly not bad at all and had a few things I don't feel like I've seen before.
Standard: 5/5 - Okay, I really really liked this chart. This is a solid reconstruction of Heavy in a lower foot rating that preserves elements of the Heavy steps while leaving out just enough that it would be a fun challenge for a Standard player. Good work!
Light: 3/5 - While sticking to alternating 4ths might have been a little on the boring side, I think a bit more of that could have helped this chart. That is, the two-step rhythms in the verse I really felt were too much, they work much better in the chorus. I also think you went a little jump-happy, and I'm not just talking about the end.
Presentation: 0/5 - The graphics are nice, but as I'm lumping pretty much everything not step-related into Presentation, I can't give you any points because of the sync problems.
Tilt: +1.5 - Well, the graphics deserve at least a point. +.5 for Beginner.
Total: 16.5/25
Greenhorn
Heavy: 7/10 - Hey, that was pretty fun. I can't think of anything that really stood out or was flawed, so that means A) the steps weren't really remarkable, but B) they weren't bad either.
Standard: 3/5 - Feels like Heavy with some steps taken out, but at least there are a few freezes, notably in the bridge prior to the chorus, that give it some character on its own.
Light: 4/5 - Very good Light chart! The gap near the end mystified me, but otherwise nothing was overdone, and the steps flowed well with the song.
Presentation: 3.5/5 - Graphics aren't as clean as I like to see, but look nice. Good color scheme. No readme, though they weren't required, I guess, but I do like seeing them. Video included.
Tilt: +.5 for Beginner.
Total: 17.5/25
MOVE MANIA
Heavy: 8/10 - The first Heavy chart in this bracket that I've really liked. The opening didn't impress me much, but once you get into those streams, it was delicious. There were a couple gaps I'd have liked to see gotten rid of, but otherwise, this is a good chart!
Standard: 4/5 - A little busy for a Standard chart, almost feels like an easy 7 on Heavy. I think it's still a good chart, though, although at some point I got distracted by the video and whatever I tried to hit didn't work. c.c I think something wasn't going to the song as I expected.
Light: 4/5 - I protest the 8ths, given that you didn't use them equally across that section. You could have done completely without them, your own steps prove it. Other than that, solid chart, very nice use of freezes.
Presentation: 4.5/5 - Very good graphics! Nice video include.
Tilt: +.5 for Beginner.
Total: 21/25
The Sun Always Shines on TV
Heavy: 3/10 - Clunky, karaoke'd, doesn't make use of the song's beat in the least way, and I hate those 16th clusters. I did not like this chart one bit.
Standard: 2/5 - The end run is where this chart finally starts recognizing that it's supposed to go to a song. By that point, the rest of the chart has let me down far too much for me to care. While Standard overall makes better use of the song than Heavy, it also has a number of sections that are far more busy than the beat suggests (mostly the 8th runs, also some freeze combos). And on that note, there were some pretty bad freeze combos in this as well.
Light: 2/5 - Starts out too strong. Needs to have spent more time following the actual beat than the inter-beats. Patterns are complex for a 3.
Presentation: 2/5 - Graphics are average. Sound quality is really bad, and I say that knowing full well that my own copy of the song is no better.
Tilt: +0
Total: 9/25
This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race
The only good thing I can say about that file is that the song was a good remix. The single stepchart is, in a word, BORING. I didn't play the entire thing because I sort of got the idea after the first URDR section; looking at it in edit mode, I can see that, yes, it's the same three patterns repeated over and over, to coincide with the video. While it's interesting that you can take a fitness video like that and actually turn it into a stepfile... however, if no one ever does it again, it'll be too soon. It just wasn't a good idea. The background is good, but the banner is... questionable. I mean, it doesn't fit with the theme, other than having the same title text, and the artist text is hooj liek xbox for reasons that aren't exactly clear to me. Banners really ought to emphasize the title rather than the artist.
Heavy: 0/10
Standard: 1.5/5
Light: 0/5
Presentation: 3/5, ignore what I said down there, I forgot about the video.
Tilt: +0
Total: 4.5/25
RANKING
1st: Move Mania: 21
2nd: Crank That (Soulja Boy): 18.5
3rd: Greenhorn: 18
Everything's Magic: 16.5
Angel of the Moon: 14.5
The Sun Always Shines on TV: 9
This Ain't a City: 4.5
Angel of the Moon
Heavy: 4/10 - Sorry, this is not V. I felt the steps were horribly predictable on account of being extremely repetitive. Furthermore, the long runs progressed in a terrible manner: it should have started with the freezes, then gone phrase-ending bounces, double bounces, and finally the triples. The way you have it here, it feels completely random. There are far too many step-jumps, it's ridiculous. The long 16th run in the middle wasn't appreciated. Hell, neither were the long 16th runs at the end. I think one problem with this song is you're stepping parts of it that aren't awfully noticeable while playing, lending a sense of randomness to the overall effect.
Standard: 3.5/5 - A few flashes of extreme brilliance, but overall I don't think you knew what you were going for. The trance breakdown in the middle was wonderful, but you made it get too hard too quickly. This is busy enough for a Standard chart without all the 16th jumps and bounces and all that other nonsense. The light touch ending makes sense in a "you'll need a break" sort of way, but really bottoms the chart out in terms of flow. Still, I liked it better than Heavy.
Light: 4/5 - Generally, I feel it was a well balanced chart, though a 2 shouldn't open with four jumps, regardless of how spread out they are. The transition from two to three-step patterns in the trance breakdown was awkwardly done at best, or else that five-note phrase wouldn't have been necessary. After that bit of weirdness, though, the rest of the chart flows well, and you used freezes pretty well. I would argue that this ought to be a 3, however.
Presentation: 3/5 - Pretty, but terribly cliche and unrelated anime.
Tilt: +0
Total: 14.5/25
CRANK THAT (SOULJA BOY)
Heavy: 7/10 - I really could have lived my life without ever hearing this song. That being said, I actually enjoyed the Heavy chart, though I feel it has some flaws. You should have applied the mirroring to the chorus steps, at least once. The consistency within the phrase is nice, but I'd have liked to hop a different way for at least one of them. The long spaces in the middle of the chart confused me, as did the ending. Following the drum beats doesn't work. You put so much into the rest of the chart, why take those sections lightly?
Standard: 4/5 - Again, I think the chorus is handled well, the drum beats work better than in Heavy, and you actually mirrored one of the chorus phrases. It's not perfect, mind, but flows well, and the gappier spots make more sense than Heavy.
Light: 3/5 - I'm really conflicted about this chart. First, I know the 16ths and 12ths (which don't, by the way, work in the manner you've used them in either Light or Standard) were not a good idea. The 8ths I think can actually be left, as can the corner jumps, but I can't help but feel that neither was a good choice. You could have tackled this chart without resorting to using either, but since it's so slow, I don't feel like I can take off a lot of points for them.
Presentation: 4.5/5 - What's with the background? It looks like something's been pasted in. Otherwise, the banner is nice. Video included.
Tilt: +.5 for Beginner chart.
Total: 18.5/25
Everything's Magic
Heavy: 7/10 - Augh, not A&A. ._. Okay, first thing, the sync is horribly off. It starts out fine, then gets dodgy, then just goes completely nowhere by the end of the song. I'll be taking points off for that in Presentation, though. So, the Heavy chart, I thought it was pretty darn good. VERY consistent, which is important given some of the rhythms you followed. I liked the 5-note runs, I felt they were judiciously used and fit well. The chorus section I liked less, but it still maintains that consistency to itself, so I figured out what was going on by the time the pattern repeated. Overall, a fun fast chart, a few flaws, but honestly not bad at all and had a few things I don't feel like I've seen before.
Standard: 5/5 - Okay, I really really liked this chart. This is a solid reconstruction of Heavy in a lower foot rating that preserves elements of the Heavy steps while leaving out just enough that it would be a fun challenge for a Standard player. Good work!
Light: 3/5 - While sticking to alternating 4ths might have been a little on the boring side, I think a bit more of that could have helped this chart. That is, the two-step rhythms in the verse I really felt were too much, they work much better in the chorus. I also think you went a little jump-happy, and I'm not just talking about the end.
Presentation: 0/5 - The graphics are nice, but as I'm lumping pretty much everything not step-related into Presentation, I can't give you any points because of the sync problems.
Tilt: +1.5 - Well, the graphics deserve at least a point. +.5 for Beginner.
Total: 16.5/25
Greenhorn
Heavy: 7/10 - Hey, that was pretty fun. I can't think of anything that really stood out or was flawed, so that means A) the steps weren't really remarkable, but B) they weren't bad either.
Standard: 3/5 - Feels like Heavy with some steps taken out, but at least there are a few freezes, notably in the bridge prior to the chorus, that give it some character on its own.
Light: 4/5 - Very good Light chart! The gap near the end mystified me, but otherwise nothing was overdone, and the steps flowed well with the song.
Presentation: 3.5/5 - Graphics aren't as clean as I like to see, but look nice. Good color scheme. No readme, though they weren't required, I guess, but I do like seeing them. Video included.
Tilt: +.5 for Beginner.
Total: 17.5/25
MOVE MANIA
Heavy: 8/10 - The first Heavy chart in this bracket that I've really liked. The opening didn't impress me much, but once you get into those streams, it was delicious. There were a couple gaps I'd have liked to see gotten rid of, but otherwise, this is a good chart!
Standard: 4/5 - A little busy for a Standard chart, almost feels like an easy 7 on Heavy. I think it's still a good chart, though, although at some point I got distracted by the video and whatever I tried to hit didn't work. c.c I think something wasn't going to the song as I expected.
Light: 4/5 - I protest the 8ths, given that you didn't use them equally across that section. You could have done completely without them, your own steps prove it. Other than that, solid chart, very nice use of freezes.
Presentation: 4.5/5 - Very good graphics! Nice video include.
Tilt: +.5 for Beginner.
Total: 21/25
The Sun Always Shines on TV
Heavy: 3/10 - Clunky, karaoke'd, doesn't make use of the song's beat in the least way, and I hate those 16th clusters. I did not like this chart one bit.
Standard: 2/5 - The end run is where this chart finally starts recognizing that it's supposed to go to a song. By that point, the rest of the chart has let me down far too much for me to care. While Standard overall makes better use of the song than Heavy, it also has a number of sections that are far more busy than the beat suggests (mostly the 8th runs, also some freeze combos). And on that note, there were some pretty bad freeze combos in this as well.
Light: 2/5 - Starts out too strong. Needs to have spent more time following the actual beat than the inter-beats. Patterns are complex for a 3.
Presentation: 2/5 - Graphics are average. Sound quality is really bad, and I say that knowing full well that my own copy of the song is no better.
Tilt: +0
Total: 9/25
This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race
The only good thing I can say about that file is that the song was a good remix. The single stepchart is, in a word, BORING. I didn't play the entire thing because I sort of got the idea after the first URDR section; looking at it in edit mode, I can see that, yes, it's the same three patterns repeated over and over, to coincide with the video. While it's interesting that you can take a fitness video like that and actually turn it into a stepfile... however, if no one ever does it again, it'll be too soon. It just wasn't a good idea. The background is good, but the banner is... questionable. I mean, it doesn't fit with the theme, other than having the same title text, and the artist text is hooj liek xbox for reasons that aren't exactly clear to me. Banners really ought to emphasize the title rather than the artist.
Heavy: 0/10
Standard: 1.5/5
Light: 0/5
Presentation: 3/5, ignore what I said down there, I forgot about the video.
Tilt: +0
Total: 4.5/25
Last edited by TakeWalker on Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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ANONYMOUS POST RE: Take Walker Review wrote:Can you do one of those anon quotes for the #5 bracket.
"RANKING
This Ain't a Stepfile, it's a load of crap and a DQ: 0"
While giving it a score of 0 is fine, the fact that you plainly said this is a load of crap, well that's not very constructive.
"This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race
This is retarded. It's not appreciated. Learn how to follow rules if you're going to enter a contest. 0/25"
And your official review is no more informative, all I can interpret from this review is that because the song is not competition worthy you didn't even bother to play it and resorted to name calling...
Did it ever occur to you that I specifically picked this song and video in order to be experimental, and that the point of this contest was to have 'fun'. This file was very likely the first entry submitted into the contest and BLueSS approved and allowed me to compete, even if just to get reviews. I could have easily cut the song shorter, and added in Heavy / Light steps but if I did well the point of this file would have been missed.
You need to go back over my entry and judge it fairly (there's only the ONE chart, how hard can that be to evaluate?) because if you don't I'll ask that your reviews be eliminated.
I did allow it to be entered. It will not move on due to the inability to get a proper score (due to the missing parts), but if you can still give feedback on it like a normal file, that would be appreciated.
[I make the rules around here]
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BLueSS wrote:I did allow it to be entered. It will not move on due to the inability to get a proper score (due to the missing parts), but if you can still give feedback on it like a normal file, that would be appreciated.
I'm a little insulted that someone would enter something like this in a contest, but given that contests are meant to be fun, I can't imagine they really expected it to go anywhere. So I'll stop being so pissy.
I'll take and update my post there to make it 'official'.
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Why be insulted? It pretty much is what Spring Break stands for: doing what the hell you want without any idea why.TakeWalker wrote:I'm a little insulted that someone would enter something like this in a contest, but given that contests are meant to be fun, I can't imagine they really expected it to go anywhere.
OH, ALRIGHT THEN, IT'S A NEW ONE.
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Yes, but there's no reason to be 'insulted' by it.DGJ wrote:except when it comes to reviews, in which case you're supposed to give the utmost consideration to a joke file that has no chance at all of moving on anyway.
OH, ALRIGHT THEN, IT'S A NEW ONE.
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I'd have been less insulted if it actually had, say, three charts. Maybe something trying to be serious for Heavy, with Standard being the jokey 'follow the video' chart. It's just kind of silly, serves no real purpose, the outcome wasn't enjoyable, I wasn't amused, and the rest of us put actual effort into our files, yaknow?
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