Bracket 1 - Discussion

[Zounder]

Quick first impressions and a handful that caught my eye:

freeze- (Edited after a second playthrough) This is such a great song choice, and I loved the "freeze" parts. One thing I didn't like was how there wasn't a whole lot of variation within the song itself, and although the step patterns were varied through the song (I believe the term for this is "phrasing?") for some reason the steps didn't seem to flow very well for me. It's hard to describe in words what I mean here, but hopefully I'll figure it out by the time I officially score the file. This problem faded as the song went on, though. Otherwise, I did like the patterns and rhythms, and overall it was enjoyable.

Tweet Tweet- This was an Akira file if I ever saw one! Very nice. A bit lacking in rhythm/step variation at times but the song doesn't call for it much.

Fireflies- I really like the banner. A very good portion of this song doesn't really fit DDR to me, but if it did, I feel like the stepchart should be much simpler and mellowed out, with much less 16th note patterns. I'll expound on this when I officially score the song, but I didn't end up enjoying it very much. Could have been a lot worse, though.

Love in the Shadows- I am enjoying infinity's E.G. Daily fix. Just really solid overall. This song has a great old-school DDR feel.

Sparks Fly- I am admittedly appalled that this was compared to Gangnam Style in terms of karaoke, because this is on another planet! That being said, it's not terrible. Aside from the lack of creativity in the rhythms, the step patterns themselves were pretty fun, and the song choice is nice.

Bubble Pop- (Warning: I am probably going to be overly critical of this because I had this originally registered for this contest and was planning to step it anyway in the near future, so I had already begun thinking about how I would step it.) First off, great song choice! We now have two videos in this bracket with Hyuna in them! However, there's a bunch of small things about this chart that add up to me not enjoying it very much. It's way too long of a cut, the steps begin immediately when the song comes in when it's not necessary to do so, there's a noticeable error in the song cut, the random left arrow at the end of the song that follows nothing... All that being said, the steps themselves had some nice rhythms, but the actual step patterns seemed a bit lacking. A lot of LDLD-type patterns floating around where there could be patterns that call for more movement.

Space Truckin'- This is just awesome. I have nothing more to say.

Trial Machine PhoeniX WrighT- (Side note unrelated to simfile quality: Of all the Cornered variations, 2004? That's the worst one! And really, it's the only one I don't like.) (Another note: Alright, I promise this is the last time I comment on this, but given it's your file, I have to say it. You say Gangnam Style is karaoke, but your own file follows the same synth sound the entire time! Important to note that it really doesn't bother me that much, but just pointing it out.)

ANYWAY, This was the first song I played way back when I first downloaded the pack last night, because I'm a Phoenix Wright nut. Anyway, I didn't enjoy this much. The steps and the song get really repetitive, and even within the repetitive nature of the patterns, I didn't find them very interesting. I did like the one small portion of the song that's very trip-machine-ish with the trip machine vocals. But otherwise, nothing stood out to me here.

[NIQ9]

to whomever stepped flip flap, i'm sorry but i cannot avoid comparing it to akira's stepchart which gripped the shit out of my interest throughout the whole song, whereas this one it was barely held during the main riff; and flatlined after. high energy steps, but after the main riff, all those 12s were kinda unnecessary, maybe some different rhythms, SOMETHING other than a stream of offbeat 12s.

I went out of my way to make all 3 of my entries easier than I would normally step. I don't know the general dance game ability in this community, but the last BM I entered I submitted a very easy 10 and people called it a boss song. I figured an easy 9 would be the way to go and I didn't want this to be harder than Burning Heat. I pad tested all of my charts for this contest and I am generally pleased.

Also, for the part you mentioned it was either a bunch of purple notes or a gallop stream, which would be TOTALLY COOL and NEVER SEEN BEFORE. I hate gallops. This also serves as a break period.

[BLueSS]

I almost think it's crazy to expect anything beyond "karaoke steps" for a song like Gangnam Style, which is popular outside of Korea almost solely due to a cheesy dance move in the music video. :p

[Aki]

Finally, it's done downloading, I can finally join the ̶b̶a̶s̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ I mean fun

I wouldn't call Gangnam Style karaoke-stepped. It has the right balance in it, and I liked it... though positioning got a little awkward at points

I define "karaoke steps" when it religiously follows a melody without variation.

Flip Flap, if not for the middle section, it could've been an example of karaoke stepping, especially the beginning, where it has one step for every note of the chorus riff. This and Setsugekka has this what i'll call "IIDX Syndrome" where you're like playing beatmaniaIIDX with all those patterns where you play per note.

ALSO, FLIP FLAP'S GRAPHICS!!! Even if one doesn't know photoshop, there's an important one that we call "Effort"

Kimi no Heart ni Lock On also suffers from IIDX Syndrome, The gap should also be 1.000 instead of 1.064

Kakakata Kataomoi - C almost fell for it (it follows the vocals too much), however there are some sections where it is good as it is. Oh and yeah, that shabada-doo-bop part uses 12ths.

And yeah, here's a creditless OP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swPvag_bq5Y
HAKASEEEE~ <3

And here's the one for Joujou Yuujou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTUGtluiHg

I'll Be There For You follows more vocals than Gangnam Style, but blends it with the other elements, keeping that said balance I mentioned there.

Russian Unicorn - WTF AT THE LYRICS XD though I loved this one XD

Twisted makes me giggle... A LOT!

[k//eternal]

for god's sake, guys. i was just speaking my mind and defending that has made it seem like i hate those files more than i do

i point those files out not as the worst offenders, but as the ones i had the highest expectations for

so yes, akira, there are totally worse karaoke charts in here. but with a lot of them you just look at the banner and hear the preview and you're like yep. this is gonna suck bad. with gangnam style and sparks fly the presentation and song choice were stellar--but thus the unpleasant surprise when actually playing the chart

p.s., i'm sort of relieved that zounder pretty much thinks the same of trial machine, although if you think trial machine's steps are "repetitive" you probably should never play an actual trip machine chart. also i challenge you to find a 4-measure segment that actually repeats itself

And besides, if a step doesn't follow a beat, vocal, or rhythm in the song, then what does it follow? I'm not going to throw in random unnecessary steps just so I'm not following the "obvious" beat.

i feel like you're enough of a veteran to know this, but we're talking about the difference between charts like rain of sorrow versus pretty much anything in ddr that isn't a trance song

[Aki]

just look at the banner and hear the preview and you're like yep. this is gonna suck bad.

Yes, actually...

[will-i-am]

Anyone who has a file in DDR B1-4 got the shaft. Comparatively, it's the best bracket by far. I mean, DAMN. Some of these files suck, like expected out of any simfile tournament, but in B1-4, even the Pony song isn't bad. It's actually tolerable!

Aped - Really like that you're sticking to the indie rock song choices. You've developed a singular persona for yourself by consistently picking oddball choices and it's paying off. The chaotic parts were handled well with good placement. Everyone, take note of how that's done. Doubt this'll get too much support since it's highly unconventional, but this definitely took me by surprise.

My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic Extended Theme - Bronies would be proud. Everyone else, amused. It's overshadowed by every file in its bracket for reasons unnecessary to state. I had 0 expectations before playing, but guess what? I was wrong!

Space Truckin' - Ke$ha finally made another song! Er, wait. It's just TiK ToK ChoppeD UP. Intriguing. Amazed how you kept this interesting for 2 minutes. Er, wait. It's only 1:48. THA AHF!? So yeah, the song was almost annoyingly repetitive, but as expected from you, you know how to vary it up when you need to and to keep it from resembling Guitar Hero even with all the symmetry (which there seemed to be a lot less of this time, cool!/aw..), at least in terms of DDR charts. The graphics look ITG so initially I thought this was going to be an ITG entry from your siggy. It works just fine where it is, though!

Trial Machine PheoniX WrighT - Aside from being a completely useless mash-up other than for the excuse of its punny title, this was well done. Lots of Trip Machine double-step patterns and twists that never get old. It's like the original, only better! Minus the horrendous 8-bit discord.

BTW, BLueSS, when're you gonna make the public review topic?

[cpubasic13]

Since ITG division is supposed to be in the style of ITG 1&2, I am curious to know what % of official ITG charts/files are filled with sync gimmicks and what % of them have none. In my opinion what many people consider to be ITG style does not fit into ITG style.

ITG 1 (Total of 71 songs): Vertex? Delirium as well and that is only one section of the song.
ITG 2 (Total of 66 songs): Vertex^2 and Robotix (the latter being one section). Maybe ! as well.

May be forgetting a few, but definitely not a huge number here.

[k//eternal]

Trial Machine PheoniX WrighT - punny title

guilty as charged (ohoho), this is exactly why i make about 50% of my mashups :)

[hellrazor]

I also would have liked a 64466446 gallop on Gangnam, and who in their right mind cuts out the toilet scene and the elevator scene BOTH, those two make this song amazing. There's also an annoying video cut on the second "Sexy Lady" scene where the girl is shown for about 0.1 seconds then cut to the scene where everyone is dancing with lasers.

I've played a few files so far, I really like Hammerhead for ITG, the jump-mine-jump-mine bit is annoying but the majority of the file is pure gold. Ponies is quiet, Omega Gangster is awful (3-arrow 1/8 spins at 568BPM with mines everywhere WTF??). ITG was/is good because it's paddable, has good pattern flow (no double-stepping or spinning for most songs), and it's paddable with stepping each foot on an arrow, very few if any gimmicks used tastefully, this file is horrible IMHO and is nothing like an ITG style file.

cpubasic13 - ITG 1 (Total of 71 songs): Vertex? Delirium as well and that is only one section of the song.
ITG 2 (Total of 66 songs): Vertex^2 and Robotix (the latter being one section). Maybe ! as well.

May be forgetting a few, but definitely not a huge number here.

Actually Vertex and Vertex^2 are not gimmicky by BPM, the BPM's used are true to the song I believe. Delirium has a double BPM section, one change. Seems like Robotix is the only ITG song with a sync gimmick and it's just a cute gimmick not meant to cause any misses unlike DDR Boss Songs. Seems like just 1 out of ~135, just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something obvious before voting in the ITG brackets. Thank you cpu.

[k//eternal]

besides twisted which i just can't say enough good things about, other real standouts in the ITG division for me are: apocalypse, hammerhead, intelligent life, and one click headshot

as for omega gangster, sorry, there wasn't a beat beat revelation division so ITG had to do

[k//eternal]

hey blueSS now that the scoring threads are up, just checking--we should rate every sub-bracket except our own, correct?

[Zounder]

p.s., i'm sort of relieved that zounder pretty much thinks the same of trial machine, although if you think trial machine's steps are "repetitive" you probably should never play an actual trip machine chart. also i challenge you to find a 4-measure segment that actually repeats itself

Since I think I won't be able to review bracket 4 because my file is there, I'll clarify this now: I didn't mean literally copy/paste repeating, I meant in both rhythm and general patterns. For example: Measures 5-8 lined up with measures 35-38. Not copy/pasted but really really similar in structure. And since I have this open, the measures I mentioned earlier that I really liked were 25-33.

[Zounder]

A response to hellrazor's bracket 1 review:

I can't speak for others, but I'm guessing most of the instances of you "facing backwards" on a pad is intentional double stepping on the author's part. In other words, they intend for you to use the same foot twice in a row. I think you'd enjoy those charts more if you allowed for the same foot to step twice in a row than forcing yourself to face backwards. In most cases, it's not a big deal, especially when the double steps are a 4th apart, like in Teknopathetic.

[hellrazor]

A response to hellrazor's bracket 1 review:

I can't speak for others, but I'm guessing most of the instances of you "facing backwards" on a pad is intentional double stepping on the author's part. In other words, they intend for you to use the same foot twice in a row. I think you'd enjoy those charts more if you allowed for the same foot to step twice in a row than forcing yourself to face backwards. In most cases, it's not a big deal, especially when the double steps are a 4th apart, like in Teknopathetic.

Understood, but I still don't like it. I like being able to spin and turn my body with the arrows without having to memorize any section of a specific song that requires me to use the same foot twice, I'd much rather it play smoothly so I can get a high score and look like I knew what I was doing even if it was my first try and no matter how intentional a double-step is, it ruins the flow IMHO and also my enjoyment.