How to AA or AAA difficult songs...

I've cleared Under the Sky [a]. I fail TTFaF in the intro. Many, many times.

---

Surely anyone that thinks IIDX is a GH rip-off is A) a fucking arsehole B) I don't need a B) because A) was so great.

But to AA and AAA difficult songs, well... Practice. And as mentioned don't be afraid to replay the song to death. Another key point to remember is that
if you're constantly getting combo breaks at the same point in a song, you're probably using the wrong finger placement. If your accuracy isn't up to scratch
(mine isn't either, but I'm working on it) you'll probably be needing FC's for AA's and AAA's, so finding finger placements that are guaranteed to hit the notes
is pretty vital.

Final point (Which I'm also currently doing myself) don't run before you can walk. I can easily A most 9's/10's, and have done 2 11's, but to rack up AAA's (and to get used to the timing)
I've gone back to playing [n] charts, 3's, 4's, that sort of level. From there, I'll slowly build up to 5's 6's and beyond, until the level I AAA at is the same as the level I can clear at (Will probably
be 12's).

Don't give up. It IS possible to improve your accuracy at this game, but it isn't easy. Then again, I hope you didn't take up IIDX thinking it would be easy...

---

K-Dogg, you are absolutely right!!! Beatmania IIDX learning curve is soo steep, it may take YEARS to play as well as experts like Dolce and 1048. Sometimes, what I do to improve my letter grade on a song is take a week off from IIDX and play another game (I'm hooked on old Super Metriod right now. I have an SNES emulator and have been playing this game to death the last few days). A week later, a song you used to clear with a B regularly may become a A (or higher) the next time you play the song. BTW, I think training mode helps a little as well, especially if there is a part of a song you don't understand...

---

That is all.

I got started in IIDX with so of the elites out in Cali like DJ Paranoia (eddie) and his crew. They were AAA-ing 11s and 12s. They made the game look so easy then I was brave and tried to play a level 5 my first time and it was so so so so so so so so so so so so so tragic. I felt like crying. By time I left California I was Getting Bs on Level 4s. I noticed that not everyone played the exact same. Me I play goofy. (I just transplanted a skating style into IIDX. +1) I tend to use my thumbs for drum parts once I locate the drum notes after playing a few times and my fingers for melodies. You should have seen me playing Treasure x Star over and over and over and over to locate the instruments. I still have some problems with songs that are mostly piano based. Like ピアノ協奏曲第1番 “蠍火” or Presto.

---

*hugs* It's ok tofu, you don't need to listen to him. He knows not the people he offends with his poor choice of words.

Someone around here mentioned the use of Shuffle or Random (forgot the mod's name). And it does help. Sure you won't hit much as you'll be used to the same pattern but it exposes you to different patterns and and helps in stretching out the fingers.

---

I know. But you gotta point out things like that or no one will realize people take offense to them. =]

I totally agree though, Random helps soooo much! When I get IIDX-block on 11s, I take a break and play songs on normal with Random. When I go back to 11s (after a day or two) they seem much easier. I'm sure there's some sort of correlation.

Me and my big online mouth... I think I just worked out why you took offense at that... Sorry, it was completely unintentional. If you knew me well you'd know I sometimes talk like that when I feel strongly about something without realising the consequences... Again, I'm really sorry, and the post has been edited Thanks tofu for pointing it out.

As a brief aside, and I feel I have to make this clear, I have no objections or prejudices to people of any sexuality, as anyone who knows me will testify.

---

Hey =/ I like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and I'm not that whiny about them.

Quoted because i cannot stress just how true this is

Dont have any helpful input to put on the page though sadly oh and btw i also play rock band / guitar hero and im not a whiny fanboy so i think it only applies if you are such a 'tard you ONLY play guitar hero BECAUSE you believe its the best game in the world ever and every game past present and future, was/is/will be a rip off of guitar hero *Whatever spin off is popular at the time mix*.

There we go rephrased into a form that can be understood by everyone and applies only to those who deserve it xD

We have another admin??? O.o

Sup =)

---

I hope you know Under The Sky is a very, VERY easy another. Go play some mei or Nageki another then we'll talk.

Replace that with Xepher [h], then.

---

No no no, I know you didn't mean it like that! Seriously, it's all good. It's just disappointing to see that word used that way, y'know? =]

Oni-91 --> Haha, at first I read it as "In the Sky [a]" and I was like "Okay, you win!", but Under the Sky isn't too bad.
I was just trying to make a point though, that if anyone that plays IIDX and is good plays GH as much as IIDX, they'd probably get damn good at it.
Of course, if you're good at one music/rhythm game you're probably good at the rest too.

you can stop right there i doubt anyone will ever be as good as dolce unless robo counts with his pop'n controller, but that's totally different.

edit: i didn't even help. as everyone said, practice. you can use training mode, you know. it's not there for nothing. i can't AAA 10s... i used to be able to, but the most I can pass is 11s and AA those, but for some reason when i start going on time i feel weird and just screw up on purpose almost lol but oh well i'm working on being on time.

also, i think the type of controller you use also effects your playing. for me the USKOC isn't that great to play on due to the buttons being too far up. the JKOC is awesome and the arcade JKOC is even better. i love it, but i unfortunately do not own neither of those and i have yet to play on a dao, but from playing on the pop'n controller i can assume that the iidx controller is down right amazing.

anyway, you'll get there eventually. practice, playing different styles, and patience will bring your AAAs.

---

Stupid questions and thoughts maybe...it's JGREAT related but well I'll get to it slowly you can skip it but it explains my experience and my oddity kind of.

<for those interested>I bought a new TV, hooked my consoles to it and my controller...run IIDX and bam => http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c113/STsung/temp/djt.jpg (visual way of playing)
I gave up completely on playing for a while. Then made another try with Happy Sky and it was much better (I suck utterly on HS CS, the timing seems off). I then tried AC release on the same setup to see if both versions behave the same or not. => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQcHG4ob7Y
At first it felt the same, but I noticed that when starting to listen to the song and hitting the keys at time I should be hitting them I get flashing greats on AC but I get random greats/goods on CS. So I abandoned CS altogether.
Now slowly to the AA/AAA thing.
Few years ago when I started playing DDR I was able to clear tens in month or so but couldn't PA at all. (not even on stepmania o_O) later I started using pretty high speed mods on AC like 2x max300 no bar and started getting AAs. BUT I was playing ONLY visually. Rhythm and even different color notes meant nothing to me. When switching to IIDX I realized that it does not work that way. I was getting FCs on 3* songs but I was getting Es and Fs. (my 7 great score on CSFL was epic!) anyway no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get better score. HS helped but for such an visually accuracy I would need like HS 6x and more.
Now 2 years later (as it seems) from my first F hard clears I can get better scores and actually manage to be hitting JGREATS with like 80% but on a different song of the same difficulty I get like 50% for example. Why??
When playing DDR/ITG etc I can turn the sound off and get the same result as with volume turned on (on a synced system). I can even do better without sound. In IIDX I would get like loads of goods. When I got better at IIDX I got a new ability I did not have before - I can sync with the audio. that's why HS AC was playable and felt right even though I was visually confirming the notes in the middle of the screen with higher HS. On CS the audio was off, but video as well. So I couldn't find a way WHEN or WHERE to hit the notes and it made the game unplayable.

Now when I manage to AAA a song in IIDX it's usually because I can feel the rhythm but still I have no idea what sounds I will be producing.... </end>

My question is as follows:

when being able to AAA songs ...what is the difference between not getting AAAs on songs and getting them?

because for me this is for the first time a game that actually requires some kind of rhythm sense. otherwise I manage to get random JGREATS/GREATS ratio. with that I mean that I actually don't feel when I hit JGREAT and when I'm late or early. (But I can distinguish early perfect, late perfect in DDR.) Do you have this kind of feeling as well? have you noticed this in other games as well?

(the question is probably more about can you still AAA stuff playing purely visually?)

I wouldn't say the timing is off on HS. It's just different.

Most IIDX's you have to hit very slightly before the actual sound. HS makes it so you hit it on the sound.

---

I only said it seems off. For some reason I'm pretty much struggling on HS but that's not my point nor I wanted any comments on it. Even though I will give it a try probably later to see if it really seems to be that way. (each style 9-15 feels differently (in both directions)to me but HS stands out)
=>

What I'm trying to find out is how it feels for you when you are AAAing something and when not. Because for me when I AAA something it's not usually by accident I can kind of control it. I hear when I'm late and when I'm early and according to that I sync (but half visually/half the other way - listening to the rhythm). When playing something more difficult I don't get that feeling. And it's different from other bemani because in no matter the sound I get perfects, in DDR no matter the sound I get perfects....??

Psh, sorry to inform.

---

The timing on Happy Sky CS is totally messed up. They really screwed up on that one. Supposedly it was meant to be used with HDTVs, but the lag on those things is different from model to model so even with Timing Adjust it's nearly impossible to get it perfect, whereas DistorteD, Gold, and Dj Troopers its easy to find a great timing setting. I don't think there's a difference on the TV I play on between game mode with timing at 0 and no game mode with the timing at -2. That is, except on Happy Sky, in which case there is no correct way to go about it. But on the other styles, you should be able to adjust easily after a few songs.