Z-I-v Simfile Shuffle 2016 — thank you for playing!

(8.9) +5 I Can't Fix You
(8.7) +4 Iine!
(8.6) +2 Like Fire Tonight (Extravagant Fire Mix)
(8.3) +2 DITTO (feat. ABSRDST)
(7.9) +1 KOOKSEVERYWHERE!!!
(6.9) +1 diagram
(5.1) +0 Hidamari Days
(4.5) .. On Your Side (Tiltronica Remix)
(3.9) .. Drop the Mambo
(2.2) !! 2 MINUTES FIGHTERS

Please PM me if you would like me to analyze your charts in further detail.

Sorry, I've been getting more distracted with life in the past few days and I want to try to spend my time more on getting my file up to my standards and other projects that reviewing files has really distracted me from. That being said, here's my general comments about each file.

Once again, I played through the , , and available , but based my votes more on the former two.

2 MINUTES FIGHTERS: Both charts are plagued with doublesteps, and there were glaring misrhythms and misquantizations (b195-198, 309.75-315.25, b375.5-377.5). Standard in particular didn't seem to flow at all, while heavy had doublesteps in a 200 BPMish 8th stream (b261.5).

Also, there's large amounts of copy + paste between standard and heavy... not a fan of that.

Also, it's difficult analyze the charts due to damn VBR mp3s. To the file submitter, please switch over to .oggs.

diagram: There were so many bizarre rhythm choices to be had here (for instance, are you sure these notes are actually in the song: b36.667? 43.333? 70.667? 88.333?), but for the most part it played out alright. The first half of both charts seemed harder than the second half, though.

DITTO (feat. ABSRDST): Good work making use of a minimalistic song once again! There are some parts I would've changed, but overall it's nice to see curious stepcharts like this in the contest.

Drop the Mambo: Okay, I will say you're getting there. I enjoyed your rhythm choices this time around, but this time it's traded for a higher concentration of double steps across the chart (b53.5!! 158!! 171.5!! 178!! 210!! 255.5!!). Remember to watch how you leave the player turned when writing patterns for your chart!

The standard chart seemed as hard as heavy in terms of difficulty and in some cases I sensed copy + paste from heavy.

Hidamari Days: Not that bad. It's better than the other submissions you've put out. I do suggest to cool it on patterns such as L-D-[LU jump] (b133.5-135), and whenever there were breaks in the chart like in the first verse of the song, you should have kept stepping 4ths every so often to keep the beat. Most of the rhythms were technically correct, but there's a bunch of other fun rhythms you missed (e.g. b23? 27? 52.75? 53.5?). I liked the spin you put in the chart though.

I Can't Fix You: Heavy is the best chart I've seen this week so far. There's some small opportunities to make it better (one thing I recall is the 8th stream in b227-243 could've used holds to mark the vocals maybe) but for the most part I enjoyed it. I like that you used holds to mark the rhymes. Standard was relatively solid too, although I wish you used a little more crossovers in the chart.

Iine!: Good job here too! I like Standard and how it manages to make an ambiguous jump near the ending not that bad if you step on it with the wrong foot (actually, it qualifies for a "photo finish" ending haha).

KOOKSEVERYWHERE!!!: Heavy's pretty good, although;

*I kinda wish the first section had freezes to mark the vocals (or even simply the "wooo"s).
*The change from 284 to 142 is pretty difficult to see coming.
*The pattern during b340-343 is bad as it is. Try switching the arrows on b339 and 339.5.

Like Fire Tonight (Extravagant Fire Mix): I loved the gallops on heavy, and the BPM changes were easily telegraphed. Keep up the good work!

Standard was also relatively solid, but I feel like parts such as b160-162 should be 4--16--8- instead of just 8ths.

On Your Side (Tiltronica Remix): This has 01angel's name written all over it...

Heavy is... well, it could use polish, I noticed a significant amount of facing left bias and like two doublesteps, and overall it didn't leave an impact on me.

Challenge... I see you went for a similar direction with my simfile but, well I can't say I enjoyed this one. I don't know, there's just something fundamentally missing with this chart... It also has some noticeable misrhythms, in addition to facing left syndrome and a couple of accidental doublesteps. There's interesting ideas in here though (rolls to mark TILT's sustained notes whenever they vibrate, short freezes to mark her singing normally, others). Also, how come you ended this chart earlier than the other two?

Also, there's copy + paste across difficulties and again, to me, this is pretty lazy, unless it was somehow a bizarre coincidence. :/

2017-01-20 12:11:51DDR Addict: OK, same policy as before, I play easier on Expert if it's a 10+, Challenge if it's a 9+
2017-01-20 12:12:11DDR Addict: 2 MINUTES FIGHTERS - Something was deeply incorrect about this file, namely the BPM
2017-01-20 12:12:36DDR Addict: It drifts between 4ths and 8ths as the leading beat, and has some telling spots where the sync suffers for it
2017-01-20 12:12:49DDR Addict: Also, the flow was a bit messy at times with ambiguous patterns
2017-01-20 12:12:52DDR Addict: 2.5/5
2017-01-20 12:13:00DDR Addict: Not a good start to a round with only 11 files...
2017-01-20 12:16:22DDR Addict: diagram (Expert 11) - I'm guessing this is Quickman's submission, but unlike last time, this feels much more in control
2017-01-20 12:16:40DDR Addict: The gimmicks have good tells and even though I've never heard the song I was never thrown completely off-guard
2017-01-20 12:16:51DDR Addict: Combined with good flow and this is a very solid chart
2017-01-20 12:16:54DDR Addict: 4.5/5
2017-01-20 12:20:11DDR Addict: diagram (Difficult 9) - Some difficulty balance issues, but otherwise all of my praises of the Expert stand
2017-01-20 12:20:13DDR Addict: 4/5
2017-01-20 12:23:22DDR Addict: DITTO - And just like that I lose faith in this round again
2017-01-20 12:24:02DDR Addict: Sync issues again (though whoever stepped this was definitely screwed by whoever chose the song, because it's got one of those rap-typical problems where the melody is purposefully drifted from the beat)
2017-01-20 12:24:15DDR Addict: though it felt like it also had BPM problems of its own
2017-01-20 12:24:21DDR Addict: The chart itself was okay-ish
2017-01-20 12:24:27DDR Addict: but it was SO NOT a 7
2017-01-20 12:24:33DDR Addict: Hard 8 at least
2017-01-20 12:24:39DDR Addict: 2.5/5
2017-01-20 12:27:23DDR Addict: Drop the Mambo - This one's not too bad, but still not too good
2017-01-20 12:27:44DDR Addict: Stepper should've noticed the trumpets in the beginning aren't synced to the beat precisely and either compensated or trimmed the cut
2017-01-20 12:27:58DDR Addict: Also, there were a handful of questionable pieces of flow
2017-01-20 12:28:02DDR Addict: 3/5
2017-01-20 12:30:50DDR Addict: Hidamari Days - I finally understand why people hate karaoke stepping
2017-01-20 12:31:06DDR Addict: This chart, while competently flowed, is boring because all it follows are the vocals
2017-01-20 12:31:24DDR Addict: Leaving giant empty parts, especially the verses, where stuff's happening in the music but is ignored because it's not the vocals
2017-01-20 12:31:28DDR Addict: 3/5
2017-01-20 12:34:22DDR Addict: I Can't Fix You (Expert 10) - Just a fun ol' streamy romp; pretty well written, if losing a bit of steam near the end
2017-01-20 12:34:27DDR Addict: 4/5
2017-01-20 12:38:16DDR Addict: I Can't Fix You (Difficult 8) - Competently written, but a little formulaic, I noticed, doing pretty straightforward stair-ish patterns for most of the song, just alternating whether to lead on up or down
2017-01-20 12:38:23DDR Addict: 3.5/5
2017-01-20 12:42:14DDR Addict: iine - Another case of screwed by the cut; the opening metal part is rather boring chart-wise, and the eurodance part is where the chart shines, and it feels distinctly trimmed, especially the first verse
2017-01-20 12:42:28DDR Addict: 3.5/5
2017-01-20 12:45:33DDR Addict: KOOKSEVERYWHERE - Some flow issues here, a decidedly off offset, and some weird rhythm/accent choices mean what would've been a 4 easily instead becomes a
2017-01-20 12:45:34DDR Addict: 3.5/5
2017-01-20 12:49:16DDR Addict: Like Fire Tonight - This was rather fun, though I'd call it a 9 instead of an 8. It tries a whole lot of things and does pretty well with them while keeping good flow
2017-01-20 12:49:20DDR Addict: 4/5
2017-01-20 12:54:16DDR Addict: On Your Side (Challenge 9) - Worst opening and worst ending of the round, I'm not even done and I can already say that with certainty
2017-01-20 12:54:41DDR Addict: The 16th streams with jumps on a 140+ BPM song are a pervasive issue in the chart
2017-01-20 12:54:57DDR Addict: and starting off with a jump-step-step pattern is just...WRONG!
2017-01-20 12:56:22DDR Addict: There are quite a few moments where the flow gets lost
2017-01-20 12:56:47DDR Addict: and the chart keeps switching between tightly following the music and just flat-out ignoring things, seemingly at random
2017-01-20 12:57:14DDR Addict: The ending, since I forgot to elaborate, chooses to start the hold before the song itself begins to fade out and cuts off in the middle of the fade
2017-01-20 12:57:20DDR Addict: It feels really awkward
2017-01-20 12:57:40DDR Addict: It's got some good moments, but they're severely hampered
2017-01-20 12:57:41DDR Addict: 2.5/5
2017-01-20 13:01:23DDR Addict: On Your Side (Expert 7) - Not much better than the Challenge. Some awkward lack of melodic accenting, some ignored rhythms that feel like they should be part of this chart's logic, some iffy flow, and one part in the chorus that seemed to follow nothing
2017-01-20 13:01:45DDR Addict: Also, I don't tend to notice these things, but this chart was blatantly facing to the left too much
2017-01-20 13:01:50DDR Addict: 2.5/5
2017-01-20 13:06:32DDR Addict: Overdose (Challenge 9) - Oh my gosh, that was amazing
2017-01-20 13:06:53DDR Addict: I love how it actually gives you hints through the mines specifically which foot to hit each switch with in case you get lost
2017-01-20 13:07:09DDR Addict: and the highly technical flow would be easy to miswrite but is pulled off flawlessly
2017-01-20 13:07:33DDR Addict: Combined with great rhythm work and you've got a really memorable chart on your hands
2017-01-20 13:07:35DDR Addict: 4.5/5
2017-01-20 13:15:35DDR Addict: Overdose (Expert 8) - Some really good flow and tech that I was not expecting from an 8, and the rhythms were nice and pumping
2017-01-20 13:15:40DDR Addict: Clever use of shock lines as well
2017-01-20 13:15:52DDR Addict: and optional spins
2017-01-20 13:15:57DDR Addict: 4.5/5

Overdose - 4.5/5 (+5)
diagram - 4.25/5 (+5)
Like Fire Tonight - 4/5 (+3)
I Can't Fix You - 3.75/5 (+2)
iine - 3.5/5
KOOKSEVERYWHERE - 3.5/5
Drop the Mambo - 3/5
Hidamari Days - 3/5
2 MINUTES FIGHTERS - 2.5/5
DITTO - 2.5/5
On Your Side - 2.5/5