Z-I-v Summer Contest 2016

111 (or is it ||| or III?) - Hard had a lot of good ideas but very frequently (and imo too rapidly) changed patterning on similar audio cues making the chart's flow odd. Expert alleviates this to some extent - but that one jump off the break was wierd since you didn't follow through with it all the way. Probably too easy for a 14 but this didn't factor into your ranking.

Always Three More Years - Double check your crossovers in the first third of the song, a lot of them don't flow into the next pattern without the player having to far away from the screen for too long (and I think there were too many in general but that's more of an opinion thing). The part where there were jumps on the more noticeable guitar sound was cool, I wish there was more of that. This felt like a tough song to step for some reason, not sure if you feel the same way.

Aurora - The chart seems to be way too early, this is fixed a bit by the stops about halfway through but it still is very noticeable; I don't think the adjustment for ITG would compensate because I was getting frequent greats/decents which is far outside the 0.012 sec window. Aside form this, after the stops the 16ths did not seem to go to the music; making your own patterns can work but it was very confusing here unfortunately. I'm not sure what you're supposed to do off of the hold at beat 36 and even outside of that the crossovers should definately be double checked as many times it seemed like you had to double step to not face backwards. I like the song though.

Bad Time - Technically solid, very easy on the eyes. Straightforward, so much so that maybe a bit more spice might have helped - definately some missed opportunities in the beginning and end on noises you could have some rhetoric to. The crossover triplet/hold parts were the highlight, as well as the song.

Borealis - The slowdown was incredibly cruel but looked awesome, I probably would have signaled that . Good crossover use in the beginning; there are a couple of sound patterns at the end you could have signified though. While the hold pattern at beat 92 works, it's a really tough sightread, fyi. This chart would probably have benefitted from a cut of a few measures in places after the stop but before the 16ths started kicking up since it felt a bit too repetitive. Solid effort regardless.

BULLIT - Not a song I'd expect to hear in this sort of contest but it was pretty cool. Hold rhetoric was generally on point. I'm not sure how you're intending the player to do things like the part starting at measure 76, as even after a few rounds of me trying to tap it out I was confused. Using mines to encourage the players to move their feet can be used to help in these sorts of scenarios but meshing it with spins, where you can't see the mines, makes a nasty catch 22. That being said though I don't know how to express it exactly but I think this is one of those charts that has an appeal that I can't put into words exactly, maybe because of the song, so the effort was certainly not to waste.

Chernobog - Simple patterning was an interesting choice here because this song strongly gave off the boss vibe, that being said this looks good technically. On the flip side though, you might have been able to accent the changing tones of some of the 16th runs with slightly more complex patterns. You seem to have missed a crossover or two in what I assume was your pattern for where to place them, mostly towards the beginning. Overall though, good stuff.

Cyber Elex - First off, hats off for composing a song for this (I think you did, right?). Technically it was reasonably good but around the halfway point the crossovers in the hold parts seemed either awkward or incorrect, those merit another look at in my opinion.

Designed World - Pretty solid technically, I liked how the difficulty slowly ticked up through the song, it worked well with the song (even though it was a bit repetitive). The mix of crossovers and candles in the beginning was an interesting touch but you might have missed a few, and there were some chances for 16ths that I think might have done you well, if you wanted to go with the progressive theme, maybe in the second half? I really didn't like the stop, it threw off the flow and was extremely hard to anticipate even after the sightread.

Enhanced Reality - Technically on point. The speed boosts were a nice touch but they usually didn't feel like instant, maybe 4x speed at most, so they looked a bit jarring, however the ones on the holds did the instant feel better and were a lot cooler. You had quite a few 16ths that you could have used, and the triplets in the beginning were too repetitive, thankfully the chart picked up towards the end. I wasn't a huge fan of the break part with only 4ths since it dragged on for a bit too long in my opinion, in this regard I would have cut the song or make more happen there. This all being said though this chart felt pretty fun so nice job.

Envidia - Really liked this song, good pick. Interleaving the parts you were following towards the end made the end a nice highlight. However, this didn't work so well in the beginning, in part because I could barely hear the noises you were stepping to! Tough call as to whether I would cut parts out to avoid repetition or risk skipping a similar part. That being said though, after the first quarter or so things began to pick up and got way better.

Evil Enchantress - Not a ton to say about this one, everything was put together quite nicely. Minor nitpick - the jump transitions off of the 8th not jump pairs seemed to go back and forth on whether to step on the alternate foot or not. Great use of double taps. This song sounds verrrrrry eurobeat brony

Going Haywyre - In expert, the transition after beat 195 is incorrect here, or the move you're expecting here is really obtuse. You possibly could have taken out the wave on beat 79 because the music doesn't sound like it. Aside from that REALLY good. (Probably should be rated a 10 though) Hard had some inconsistent rhetoric with jumps, and the beginning part felt a bit wierd (but it is correct, more of a personal preference here). All in all though, great chart.

Illuminate - Scrolls were generally used well, especially the one where the jump seemed to bob backwards. Aside from that, on an 11 you can afford a 24th or 2 which I'm about 90% I heard scattered in there, and while there was evidence of careful crossover rhetoric a few seemed to be offset a 4th or so, and some didn't seem to be there. The crossover patterns in the 16th runs seemed a bit scattered. Nothing bad to say techically, except the first not being an up was a bigger problem than usual here since if you start with the right foot like the judge arrows tempt you to you get a bit tangled.

Like Asian Spirit - A stop right around 75% could have been cool. The biggest thing that stuck out to me here was that, besides that this should probably be an expert 11, is that the crossovers on expert didn't feel like they added anything. To be fair, they worked technically and didn't detract, but they felt kinda...there. You had quite a bit of other rhetoric, which you used to your benefit.

Lorikeet - The crossovers in the last third of expert kind of felt a bit too much, more towards the beginning they seemed to hit musical cues better, and I would have liked a run instead of the jumps at the end of it. Hard did a bit better in the crossover regard but it might have been more interesting with a few more 16ths in the beginning. I wasn't a huge fan of the scroll trick but it worked alright; it felt very Pump it Up, for better or worse.

Masked Heart (Feraligator) - Only thing coming to mind in Expert is that a jump hold or two maaaaaybe felt like a gallop, regardless, stellar. Hard didn't have quite as much pop but any changes I'd make seem more debatable than anything and expert carries this chart enough. Only thing is that the cut was a bit too long in my opinion.

Masked Heart (Benpai) - Reviewing this after the last Masked Heart was an interesting proposition. This one also felt good but in expert there were a few scattered instances where you missed 24th placement that would probably have been to your benefit. The cut you chose was a bit repetitive and that manifested itself in Hard greatly (maybe some more steps instead of the quarter holds?), but overall it was good. The crossover at about 60% in seemed out of place (in hard).

Meat Beat Mania - Flambe - Good song choice, but I don't really love the fade-out ending. The spins and crossovers at the end felt a bit unneeded, and I would probably check them again too. Jump rhetoric was on point, as were the gallops. Not too shabby.

Mettatron - I might get some flak for this but honestly I loved the hold with 8th run thing you did in expert, but I don't think there are too many fans of this. Right before that part, there seemed to be a mistake in the 16th run's patterning. On top of this, this chart has long segments where the player faces in one direction, this should probably be changed. Hard was a bit better, I liked the "slow part" at about 75% there.

Mitosudaria - For expert, the second slowdown was really cool, I liked the first besides that the speed back up felt a bit awkward to time. Really good stuff with the hold/crossover thing in the beginning but I feel like the first holds maybe should have been shorter. Expert had some interesting choices with some of the ending patterns, occasionally which Ielt a bit overkill. Great song for this sort of thing.

Oceanus - Technically solid. In expert I liked the hold with quarters section as you placed the holds on loud noises, which was an interesting twist on the concept. The major concern I had with the charts was how because of the composition of the song the 16ths in the song (not the chart persay) tend to blend in with each other which makes keeping track with the song complicated, making the flow a bit hard to follow. Hard alleviates this to some extent and was generally more enoyable for me.

On My Wings - I think my favorite part of this one was interestingly your use of empty space - the parts that were understepped below a 4th per beat felt pretty cool and made a few memorable moments. On the other hand, some of the 8th runs left me wanting a bit more, and could have made for a really interesting contrast. No patterning issues to speak of, so A+ there.

Platnium - The gallop sections where you alternated betwnn AB,BC and AB,CD were cool and fit with the music very well. What didn't quite catch me as well were the speed changes, it seemed like some of the time you marked with holds and rolls and other times you didn't, which despite some of them being easier still felt a bit jarring to me. Patterning was generally on point, as was intentional rhetoric use.

Prelude - Considering what you had to work with the syncing wasn't too bad, the issue here was that because there were so many, and unmarked, minor speed changes (this to say, it wasn't halved or doubled), the chart didn't have much flow to it. Repeating triplet sections were a good touch. At some points the audio was too quiet so it was difficult to hear a lot without making other parts too loud. For what it's worth the chart was a noble effort but I would save this song for the mp3 player rather than stepmania.

Shamisen - The gallops stood out in that I think they would have been better off as 16th jumps since the 16th was overpowering the note that was next in the music. Great use of boxes in the beginning for different segments of the same sort of chord, same with some direction changes later in the song. A few of the crossovers felt out of place towards the end though.

Shining Wizard - Focusing on expert here, the use of changing run patterns in the 16ths shined very well in the beginning but I think you could have made some of the beginning run sections less broken up. Overall the song was fairly repetitive but technically competent so I don't have a ton of specific feedback to give.

Shooting Fireball - This chart seems decisive because it feels like pre-Extreme DDR, so while I can definately see that there would be people more attracted to this kind of chart, I'm not one of them. Even considering what you said about the end you followed the music pretty well but your step rhetoric seemed random, and transitions between blocks of patterns didn't always seem comfortable. Try tapping this out like people described earlier in the thread and I think you'll see a few of them; pay attention to where you face at the end of each block if you don't doublestep.

Targets! - To be honest I don't think expert was needed at all, though I did like the way you arranged the gallops. There's a place for stream charts but I'm not sure this was it. Hard on the other hand was a lot better. Good use of repetition in the 8th patterns, and while I think the gallop, gallop, 16th patterns probably should have been 3 gallops, for the most part the flow was fine.

The Fateful Return - I wouldn't have added the no 24ths edit, the 24ths were done quite well As were the holds as well, and overall this chart seemed like a pretty good time. A few of the transitions off the jump holds suffer similar problems to the first step being an up/down issue however. Shovel Knight songs/arranges are very good step material as well for anyone else who wandered into this review.

Time to Game - Jumps on the one louder booping sound were cool but I wish you focused your jumps mostly there. Most of the patterning was fine but especially towards the middle checking out the crossovers would be advised. The hold useage was solid but you could have gone further with it if you wished.

Welcome to GTI Club - Watch out for steps on the holds where you're already expecting the player to be lateral, the head twisting might be kind of awkward. I really liked the step rhetoric in the beginning though I think there was a bit too much turning for my liking. Overall I feel like this one wasn't really made for me though, not to say it's a bad chart.

Wicked Fate - Ooooh boy... For the most part the rhetoric was awesome, the only thing would be that the triple jumps might have worked better as either a jack or miniholds since they didn't sound like jumps. Ok so that gimmick... on hard it was great, you jump and then see the second note, on a sightread. This doesn't work so great on expert since my expectation was seeing the notes that close that you jump then hit the blue note. It took me until a cmod to figure out that it was repeating which in retrospect makes sense. If it was me I would have put some mines with repetition like the pattern had to show "hey you need to repeat here". That being said though everything else was excellent.

CHERNOBOG - 3
envidia - 3

Backflip Dinosaur - 2
Going Haywire - 2
Shining Wizard - 2

Designed World - 1
Masked Heart (Benpai) - 1
Prelude (From Holberg Suite) - 1

Bullit - HM
Masked Heart (Feraligatr) - HM
Mitotsudaira - HM
On My Wings (Hardstyle IIDX) - HM
Welcome to GTI Club - HM

Always Three More Years - 0
Borealis - 0
Cyber Elex - 0
Enhanced Reality - 0
Evil Enchantress [Euro Spell Mix] - 0
illuminate - 0
Like Asian Spirit - 0
Lorikeet - 0
Neat Beat Mania - FLAMBEE! - 0
Oceanus - 0
PLATINUM - 0
Shamisen Drives the Wind - 0
Targets! - 0
The Fateful Return - 0
Time To Game! - 0

III - !
Aurora - !
Bad Time - !
METATRON - !
Powerhaus (Klippa & Mayhem Mix) - !
Shooting Fireball - !
Wicked Fate - !