DanceDanceRevolution GRAND PRIX (PC)

Not gonna lie, this argument is kinda pointless because this sums up the majority of people complaining anyway. Hell, being in the UK counts as miles and miles, right?

I don't see people who can just go to the arcade all the time, I just see fans of the series disappointed once again by Konami having a winning concept and then fumbling the ball. This game is just exploitive and I don't understand why Konami keep failing to create a home version of DDR that is genuinely good enough to make people actually think twice about using Stepmania.

If the target audience for a game in a series isn't fans of said series, then... Sorry? I don't know who would be, and not being part of it shouldn't be an excuse to dismiss perfectly valid criticism because "oh well you're not a total beginner so the game isn't FOR you". Total beginners aren't even probably the target audience, because what non-fan drops the big amount of money required not only to play the game but buy a pad?

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The price of the trash bag pad they're selling pretty much rules out the "it's for beginners" argument anyway. The amount of money required to actually play this game with your feet, even the free version, says they either don't know or don't care about what their audience wants.

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I think the price is inflated so much because it's a limited run rather than mass-produced like the old PS2 pads were, but I agree. It's way too expensive to be worth buying for a casual player.

I feel bad for Japanese players because they don't have many options for playing at home. Do L-TEK pads even ship to Japan? I imagine it would be very expensive if they do at all.

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I don't think Konami takes Stepmania into account at all. Hell, I don't think they're taking anything outside Japan into account at all here, because it is not possible for non-Japanese Konami IDs to pay for anything (can't save a credit card to a non-JP account, or use Paseli).

Sure, it's extra money for them if people from outside of Japan go the extra mile to pay for stuff (and I sometimes wonder if switching credit card providers to one that accepted non-Japanese cards was intentional...), but I don't think they're actively aiming for it. If they really cared, they'd be taking measures to prevent people outside of Japan from logging in, like some Japanese-only MMOs do.

Grand Prix was updated.

* ルカルカ★ナイトフィーバー and 恋愛レボリューション21 are added, available in all modes like all the other licenses.
* Settings menu now has a Game Settings menu, allowing you to change arrow style, change guide lines, change the darkness of the screen filter, allows you to put judgment behind the arrows, and turn on and off early/late judgments.
* Gamepad options allows you to set controls for more than one Gamepad.
* Bottom right of the title screen has a JASRAC logo now.

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I wonder how many complaints they got about not being able to change any of those settings prior to this update.

Kinda bummed we didn’t they the DanceEvolution cover for ルカルカ★ナイトフィーバー but glad to see Konami is putting a bit more effort into player options

Waiting for this update:

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A DLC pack just dropped, allowing you to play some songs that normally require a subscription+tickets in Grand Prix play. Not sure I understand the point of DLC like this given these are already in the game, but whatever. Grand Prix Song Pack 01 consists of:

A Geisha's Dream
Chance and Dice
Dance Floor
FIRE FIRE
Flight of the Phoenix
Horatio
Mermaid girl
New Beginning
On The Break
Playa (Original Mix)
REBORN MAGIC
SABER WING
S-A-G-A
Second Heaven
She is my wife
smooooch･∀･
Ticket to Bombay
Tribe
ΔMAX
凛として咲く花の如く

I didn't like it when SOUND VOLTEX III CS did this back then either, but at least that game's INFINITE mode eventually added back in licenses for free for everyone, plus it had its own monthly exclusives. GRAND PRIX's gimped free mode doesn't even that going for it.

I don't even get what they're trying to do.

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Yeah, 40 bucks for 20 songs that are all 90 seconds is just criminal. They're not even licensed so people can't say this costs them anything.

Red card, get off the pitch.

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Seems they're trying to get money however they can if the subscription model was already unappealing.
By comparison, does this even save the player any money in the long run if they go the DLC route? I'm inclined to say no, especially since the number of songs left to release if done this way (minus licenses and challenge-only songs) would mean at least 30 more packs in the future.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to understand what's so "Grand Prix" about this game.

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Tried it out in "free play" mode and this finally makes the game playable at least (thanks Konami), though the announcer still takes away from the experience. (Is there any other rhythm game with that kind of problem???)

I'd love to try this out, but can't justify the subscription yet when it renews again on Jan 1st. Guess I'll wait a couple of weeks.


Yeah, I'm deeply puzzled.

I imagine there are two customers: those who pay for the subscription alone, and those who pay for tickets. Clearly this is targeted towards the former, but it seems fundamentally flawed:

- If I don't want to pay for tickets, why would I pay for DLC?
- If I'm so bored with the subscription, how long would the DLC satisfy me for?

The pricing is bizarre -- I think it would take 6-8 plays per song using tickets to balance the cost. Also consider something like Extreme 2 was a one-time purchase with 74 songs (and no subscription).

Perhaps it's a money grab, but that's only if people are willing to pay for it, and it doesn't seem compelling for a rational consumer.


Personally, I think the subscription model actually makes sense, but its value depreciates over time -- the same old content gets boring. If they want to make money, make a compelling subscription model and add new content over time to keep people engaged.

https://twitter.com/DDR_573/status/1488036855539183621



So why does DDR Grand Prix gets HOTTEST PARTY crossovers before A20+ huh??????0

DDR Grand Prix pack 2 on sale today

EDIT: they also announced some more licenses

https://twitter.com/DDR_573/status/1488054710200582147/photo/1

Thank god they did new charts for them! It's nice to see them still pulling old songs from the archives back to light. Hopefully we see them in AC someday.

Actually, buying the pack grants early access to the HP songs in A20+ (if I understand everything correctly).

Although, that's quite expensive for just 4 songs, since a Grand Prix subscription is required before buying the pack (4048 yen for the pack, plus 1628 yen/month for the subscription).

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If you subscribe to buy the pack then let your subscription expire would you keep the songs in AC? It’s an absurd pricing model already, but I have a feeling it’s worse than it seems at face value.

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https://p.eagate.573.jp/game/eacddr/konaddr/info/mode.html#mode_pre_play

From further reading, it does seem keeping the songs in A20+ requires an active subscription and logging in to Grand Prix on a regular basis (I'm guessing at the start of each month). At least this is until the songs are fully unlocked for everyone, but who knows how long Konami is gonna keep the songs gated like this, or if they'll do the same thing to more songs later.

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