DDR X2 (AC) (International)

This is not a bad thing. I'd prefer X2 to be a roaring success outside of Japan (even if that is just every casual person playing the same songs over and over) so perhaps there will come a day when DDR is not subject to cost cutting and global sillyness. I will also order my flying sofa that day and take it to Venus for some gourmet truffles.

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okay, i'm not trying to be condecending by pointing all this out, but its necessary for you to know what point i'm making so i dont look like an idiot by just saying it. i mean, i'm sure you know the ratings too, but you'll see what i'm getting at...

max300, maxx unlimited, paranoia hades expert, NGO expert, the legend of max, max300 super-max-me-mix expert, and others are 15s.

on the bounce expert, healing-d-vision expert, konoko no nanatsu no oiwaini, and paranoia survivor, among others, are 14s.

all of those songs are challenging for different reasons, but some of the 14s are as challenging as some of the 15s if you dont know how to do them. the ratings now disagree with what we all found to be a fact when extreme came out. for a lot of people, paranoia survivor is harder than max300. paranoia survivor is harder to pass, but realistically you need less stamina to pass paranoia survivor than max300. i've never known anyone who could cross over that could pass max300 but not paranoia survivor. i've known plenty who can cross over and can pass paranoia survivor, but lack the stamina for max300. see what i'm saying here?

unreal is the paranoia survivor of SN2, at least IMO. if you know how to do the step jumps at that speed you can pass it. if not, you will fail it despite having max300 stamina. that doesnt make unreal a 15, but unreal isnt a joke either, its right up there with the other 14s for having its brutal section of the song.

so songs that are hard to pass because of one section that is technical look to have been made into 14s, while songs that are hard to pass because DUDE I'M TIRED were 15s, 16s and up generally have varying degrees of both.

unreal isnt the only rating i disagree with, i think paranoia hades heavy should move up, and trip machine phoenix oni should move down, etc. unreal just caught my eye as the most out of place.


shotgun!

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Rather then, say, songs like Afronova and Afronova Primeval which they are probably going to play over and over if they can find them in this new engine?

I'd rather hear decent licences played over and over then *shudder* Ice Ice Baby.

They also need to start centring the music videos for ones that are 4:3 because the stretching looks HORRIBLE. Sort of what they did for Hottest Party 3 but expanding them to fit the screen as well (including widescreen versions for certain songs wouldn't have hurt either). I do this already and I'm a lowly Simfile artist.

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I wouldn't be surprised if this guy is the first to pass VD.

Already 3 videos of him trying? He'll surely pass it within the next few days.

I really hope he's the first so I wont have to do it my self. Currently I'm stuck at around 300 combo and my friend 513 made it in the 400's.

As for anyone who thinks Unreal is harder that max 300... If you were stepping/doing the cross-overs correctly, there is no reason Unreal is harder than Max 300. If it seems harder tp you then I suggest learning how to play it correctly.

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Unreal and MAX 300 are about equal on S-Heavy passing-difficulty-wise no-bar. Other than that, Unreal < MAX 300.

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unreal is a harder wakalaka. instead of straight foreword step/jumps, unreal makes you crossover while doing them, but thats the only hard part of the song. its all technique, you have to know how to do unreal to pass it just like paranoia survivor, but neither song is as hard, brutal or draining as max300.

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Umm...
Sorry if I derailed the topic..

Is there any X-Mix in DDR X2?

No. Even the ones from X were removed.

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According to BEMANIWiki, no.

Okay.. Thanks for the info..

No more long version..

Oww this sucks a bit :s
I had this question in mind weeks ago but always forgot to ask.
Xmix 6, 7, ect would be awesome. Too bad...

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I don't know if this has been posted or not.

But if this has been posted before, I apologize

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esCzUr7KZSk

KIMONO PRINCESS DOUBLE EXPERT (FIXED STEPCHART)

I'm glad they changed it, because it was totally impossible! I wonder if they changed some of the Roppongi Evolved Double charts, I can't remember which version, but one of them had a stupid part I could never pass...

@zodiak: it's ver. C

I can't disagree with you, I realize that justifying the rating of two songs isn't addressing the underlying problem that the new rating system succeeded in adding 10 more numbers to the range instead of making the ratings more accurate like everyone had hoped.


Let me ask you this; When Konami was making essentially 'KO Best Hits' mixes and slapping seven European chart tracks into them did it really make a difference for the casual audience? As oppose to releasing almost faithful Japanese ports without anything by Kylie Minogue or Sugababes or Super Grass?

You'd be surprised. Localised licenses does make a difference. It's very biased to assume the entire public audience would enjoy arcade ports with music they haven't really heard of. Why do you think the majority of the casual players in the UK would rather play EM1/EM2/Fusion rather than SN/X?

Everytime We Touch on the DDR X2 was the #1 picked song on the machine for the UK location test.

Yeah, it makes a big difference. When I use to have SuperNOVA US running in a dorm lounge, the most picked songs were Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Let's Dance. New players gravitate towards songs they already know; they don't want to scroll through and listen to every preview. I've noticed they only explore outside the license area once they're more comfortable and familiar with the game.

It's a good move that they moved the Japanese licenses to the back on the English versions of X2, but they should probably have put Everytime We Touch and Feel Good Inc. first, rather than the SUPER EUROBEAT song no know will know.

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So the choice is between the old model where there was a special version of DDR for each major region. Pros, positive reaction in each region with song people like making the game more profitable for operators. Cons, more expensive to produce different tiers of the same game less return for the manufacturer.

Or the current (more or less) model where there is one version, with minor tweaks (not even touching on the hardware) for each region. Pros, easier to produce and cheaper for the manufacturer for greater return. Cons, if it doesn't touch every possible musical genre the game could flop in certain regions causing losses and loss of trust for the game for operators.

The reason DDR made me keep coming back was because it was NOTHING like what was in American arcades. It brought me back to arcade after I had sworn them off as no longer being entertaining. Then I was dared to play a 3rdMIX machine. Yeah it had music that I would be familiar with as an American but I zero'd in on butterfly! I understand that I'm not a common game player. Konami can't count on there being enough otaku/types that purposely look to foreign pop culture for entertainment to justify putting a Japanese game in America or Europe or elsewhere.

I would say that for best results the game should be tailored for each region it's released in but that's not going to make Konami as much money as making one game that has a dab of something for everybody (hopefully). I hope they keep trying to make a DDR that works in Japan as well as it would anywhere else, I certainly don't want to the game to fail again causing Konami to rethink where it gets released. "Global" releases of DDR are already on unstable ground as it is.