DanceDanceRevolution A3 (AC)

It's kind of like, the songs that we DO have access to are amazing, but it absolutely sucks that dream crossover songs will most likely never get added to the actual game.

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KONAMI: Hmmm... how do we get people to buy our new soft pad when there are so many better pads on the market that we are NOT selling?

The entire community: Concertino in Blue, concon, perditus, VALLIS-NERIA, and Wuv U would be so awesome to have in DDR!

KONAMI: ok here

The entire community: who let them cook wtf

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And that's if your R1 has A3 to begin with; I'm still shocked Konami has still not given US white cabs the update yet...

Insert obligatory comment about Europe still being stuck with DDR A and A 20 cabinets with no E-Amuse at all here!

I would not be surprised if at this point they just aren't interested in doing a western version of A3 with licenses like the previous games though sadly

I'm 99% sure a Western white A3 will eventually come. It'd be more than a little strange if they completely skipped an update.

At this point I'm fairly certain it's not happening. I don't think it's that KONAMI is just choosing not to allow the US to update, it's more likely that D&B and R1 got a really outrageous offer on the upgrade kits and refused to purchase them.

The US white cabs do not participate in the revshare system that other regions do. Rather than having KONAMI take a portion of the profit for each credit, D&B and R1 have to purchase an upgrade kit to upgrade to the next version. The only reason it's free of charge/OTA for other regions is because they do in fact participate in this revshare system.

So, it's not so much that KONAMI said, "screw America" it's that they said, "you need to buy the new mix because we don't get paid in your country for each credit" and D&B/R1 said "nah." I could be completely wrong, but this is the only plausible explanation.

Also explains why Taiko is now getting an official US location test in D&B/R1. Namco probably wants to capitalize on this opportunity.

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They could just release the update for free and paywall half the game through Grand Prix lmao.

people keep thinking that the GP packs are expressly for A3 content when it's the opposite way around. these packs are for incentive to play GP which is supposed to be for those who don't have easy access to A3 or don't wish to play in public. the ability to play these songs in A3 is the cherry on top, not the main draw. kinda irritating how people are like "what do you mean these songs are only available through this pack" like yeah no shit do you expect them to just not do anything to draw customers in? it's business.

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I'm only half-joking and not actually trying to complain, I genuinely think that Grand Prix exclusive content could somehow serve as an alternative to charging arcades for upgrade kits. By making DDR GP more accessible internationally (i.e. adding it to store fronts like Steam or porting it to consoles) they could potentially bring in way more customers, hopefully enough that they can afford to offer upgrade kits and e-Amusement for free or for a lower cost, since they'd see revenue from new content via Grand Prix, or some other type of payment that's separate from arcade credits such as a monthly membership. I know there's a Basic Course but I think there isn't any actual content locked behind it.

Pretty sure people would absolutely hate this but it's better than getting zero updates over things that are out of our control. Bemani is clearly going nuts with the new content and I wouldn't expect them to just put it out there for free. So just offering some ideas on how it could work. Should this go on Controversial Bemani Opinions instead?

99% of the Grand Prix song pack content is older stuff that’s already in A3, meant to be played in Grand Prix. Some of the crossover content is now available without buying it in Grand Prix. You’re not paying to play the songs in A20 Plus or A3, you’re paying to play it in Grand Prix and as a bonus getting an early unlock in arcades, that’s why these songs are in the A20 Plus and A3 folders. Is it a great idea? No. But it’s also not some mortal sin either. At the end of the day you’ll get to play that content if you even have access to a machine.

As for putting the game on store fronts, I don’t think the rest of the world would take to the subscription model. Even though $10ish a month gets you nearly 300 songs, most people won’t go for it. I know as someone who does pay monthly for this game I would have greatly preferred the DJMAX Respect V pay model. Give me less than that 300 song count for $60 and sell the rest in song packs, go away with tickets entirely. DJMAX still has the issue of the game not working without internet and no word if this will be fixed when it’s live services are discontinued, but it’s still better than Konami’s warning that if you stop subscribing you can’t access anything you pay for and when they shut it down all the content is gone forever. The pay model would need an overhaul if it’s going to go world wide.

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Looking over the current list of 18s, I feel like the difficulty needs to be split at this point. It's become a catch-all for old boss songs (Fascination MAXX CSP), janky monstrosities (NGO CSP and DEGRS), stamina drainers and footspeed tests (Elemental Creation CSP), and hellcharts that seem to combine all of these things together (Ryoushi no umi no Lindwurm CSP, Shakunetsu Beach Side Bunny CSP, etc.).

These charts are all difficult in their own rights, but I don't believe that MAX 360 ESP or Prey ESP should be ranked in the same tier as the higher-end 18s like POSSESSION (20th Anniversary Mix) CSP or Endymion ESP. A decimal system would help, though the category as a whole feels very broad now. I've been wondering if it would be neater to bump current 19s to 20 and push high-end 18s to 19. Does anybody else get the impression that the difficulty level would be better off split in two, or is it fine as-is despite being so broad?

I feel like a difficulty overhaul could be useful for anything from like 13 up. Splitting up each level so that easy 13s would remain 13. Hard 13s change to 14s. Easy 14s become 15. Hard 14s become 16, etc...

And if it does not come......

I figure it's more Konami wants to move to the revshare system for the general US area (the Hawaii cabs are already on it), but D&B doesn't want to. Before the US release of Ace, everything that was still supported was on the revshare system, and Konami probably wants to minimize the differences between the different region versions.

https://twitter.com/26964/status/1635083807631212544?t=vATXbZzaMIdKhdQknGFpqg&s=19

Apparently in the most recent update, they added a timing change option seen is tweet.

Apparently it's just visual offset, not actual sync offset. Booooooo.

Oh this looks like a bad time

Yeah, I'm a little worried about this one, too. I hope they don't go the step-jump or shock arrow route. The song feels like it just needs some streams where they're currently only holds and triplets and maybe some more crossovers. Hopefully it's tastefully done like Rampage Hero's Challenge chart and not another Give Me.

Yeah I was kinda right this is a little crazy

Though I kinda like that breakdown but at 30 seconds

I'm overall really happy with how the GlitchAngel CSP turned out, and I definitely want to see more stream-heavy charts with light amounts of tech like this in the future.

My only issue with the chart is some ambiguous UD jumps (or patterns just after jumps) at higher scroll speeds, like at combo 122, 361, and 544, where foot placement can vary before leading to a double-step. The way to avoid these is replacing patterns like L-R-UD (UD is ambiguous) with L-U-UD / L-D-UD, and replace LR-D-U (D is ambiguous) with LR-R-U / LR-L-U. Hopefully Bemani's step artists test more for ambiguity in the future to avoid awkwardness in otherwise great charts.