DanceDanceRevolution WORLD (AC)

Pretty much me, nowadays; I've kinda just accepted the fact I'm not gonna really surpass that peak of passing level 10s back in the MAX2-Extreme days, and playing a 17 once absolutely winded me, a decade ago.

I dread to imagine what a 20 is going to be like, once Konami finally stops beating around the bush, because Superior MAXXX looks pretty close to me. XD

On the other hand SMAXXX’s DSP chart (15) looks quite fun for me a mortal

These 2 quotes are me as well. Full disclosure, back in the MAX2-Extreme era, I was never able to do a 10, ever. I could do maybe five 9s (still proud of myself when I finally passed Cartoon Heroes).
I found more fun in the 7s and 8s which by today's scale would be between a 11s to 13s (maybe 14s). With arcades no longer being a neighborhood/mall thing, no regular home releases, I would have to regularly drive 30-35 mins to play, and yes, I'm older. So I can only play via SM. I still love the game and have thought about going on eBay to get some cushioned pads to play with, but I've found fun playing it still via SM on controller, and just got to the point where I can pass some 17s there....but even on controller I can't pass most 17s, and no 18s and up.
I am all for challenging songs, but I made peace with focusing more on steps I find fun instead. Konami "beating around the bush" and not giving us a 20 yet, honestly, I kinda feel it's silly at this point. I said before that if Hou isn't a 20, then I don't think I wanna know what one looks like; I don't know what the requirement is that Konami or players would look for to make something a 20 if it isn't something like Hou, or to some, Endymion.
I always felt DDR shined more bright when most songs fell into the 12s to 15s (old 8s to 9s) range and that seemed to be the focus, with the harder songs being more niche and "rare." I look back at the previous DDRs that we all praise: MAX2, Extreme, Extreme2 (PS2), SuperNOVA2, X3rd vs 2ndMIX. The steps for most of these were a nice balance, and even the harder charts were fun. I'm all for challenging, pushing yourself and moving the needle forward. But yeah, different times, man....different times.
At least some of these 18s and 19s don't piss me off as some of those "Special" steps done in DDRX.... Paranoia Evolution is probably the only one recently that I find that upset me most.

I feel the opposite, actually. Playing an "11 out of 20" doesn't feel lame to me. It's still on the upper half of the rating scale. It's satisfying that it's a double digit number. People who don't play DDR at all will still stop and watch you play an 11 and think it's impressive that you passed.

What Burtz said. I can play 15s and 16s. I have passed a few 17s and one 18 (Healing-D-Vision ) The fact I'm playing at the level of difficulty I once though impressive and impossible when I was young and MAX/MAX 2 were new is what inspires me to push. But also know that if I can't do any more, that I'm stuck at 16s, that means I'm able to play ANY of the songs without issue. This means any song they release will have some difficulty I can play. What sucks more than anything else about rhythm games, is having songs that you can't pass due to your skill level.It's such an arbitrary way of keeping certain songs locked away from players.

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Not that anyone asked but coincidentally I did fairly recently just for fun put together the rating scale that I would’ve designed around the time of SuperNOVA 2 to take care of the rating problems it was having at the time. The trajectory of DDR difficulty distribution probably would’ve been pretty different for following games in this alternate universe.

Lv 10+ PARANOiA ~HADES~ Cha
Lv 10 Fascination MAXX Exp
Lv 9+ MAX 300 SMMM Cha
Lv 9 MAX 300 Exp
Lv 8+ NGO Exp
Lv 8 DROP OUT Exp
Lv 7+ Matsuri Japan Exp
Lv 7 DYNAMITE RAVE Exp
Lv 6+ PARANOiA Exp
Lv 6 AM-3P Exp
Lv 5+ TRIP MACHINE Exp
Lv 5 Look to the Sky Exp
Lv 4+ Afronova Dif
Lv 4 Love <3 Shine Dif
Lv 3+ Brilliant 2U Dif
Lv 3 Put Your Faith In Me Bas
Lv 2+ Boom Boom Dollar Bas
Lv 2 Butterfly Bas
Lv 1+ Bag Beg
Lv 1 Dam Dariram Beg

The game is designed in a way that we don't play on a difficulty name as much as we do a difficulty number. The names exist to differentiate the charts, but it's not like back in the day when someone would say they play on Maniac, Heavy, or Expert. So ehitshe has the right idea here, look at the chart that fits the difficulty you like to play. Personally, the kind of difficulty I enjoy peaks around level 14. I have a handful of 15 PFCs and more AAA'd so its not even necessarily a skill or stamina issue, I just don't enjoy most of them. I enjoy even less 16s and 17s, and basically passed a couple 18 passes just to say I did but there isn't a single one I've seen that made me think "damn I want to learn how to do that". I spend most of my sessions playing 14s, I don't care if they're on Challenge, Expert, or Difficult, a 14 is a 14. If you like 15s, ignore Superior Maxxx's 17 and 19 and play the 15. Konami wants the 15 to be played too, it's gonna be required for the level 15 clear lamp. It's not just about the 19.

As for the rating scale, its definitely better the way it is now. It could even possibly use more expanding like SMX. Even the guys who made ITG knew just going past 10 was actually a bad idea, and they didn't do it with their new game. Like DDR is actually getting bad enough with 14s like Come Back To Me (Feel It) in the same difficulty tier as Koisuru uchuu sensou, now imagine it's 1-10 and Koisuru uchuu sensou is either going to be the same rating as Paranoia KCET Expert or Pluto Relinquish Challenge. Hell, Pluto Relinquish Difficult shouldn't be the same difficulty as Pluto Relinquish Challenge. The X scale was one of the best ideas Konami ever had imo, and maybe it's an unpopular opinion but I think it's time to scrap that and expand it all again.

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Yea I can only do a few 15s and 16s well, the only 17-18s that would motivate me to try to eventually clear them are the more simple pattern fun ones like Red Zone CSP or 3y3s

As a veteran (who is still going strong, with 7 lvl 19's in my kill count), I grew up with the old/ITG scale, and honestly, I think the ITG scale always worked the best. Not only because there was this clear demarcation line between what distinguished a numerical difficulty from another (which in a sense was what the old DDR scale had going for it as well). By expanding beyond level 10, they solved that issue too. The problem I always had with the newer and bigger rating systems is that the line between one rating and the other becomes increasingly blurred.
And then there's the issue of re-rating songs from old scale to new, making something feel off between them and newer charts with the same rating because they were designed with different scales in mind

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I think your issue with the modern scale exists in reverse in ITG. Like in ITG a 9 could be Why Me (arguably a DDR 12), or it could be Hardcore of the North (arguably a DDR 14). That presents a huge problem for players breaking into a difficulty, and that was a problem with DDR as well. Konoko was the same rating as Frozen Ray at 9. Now they're 14 and 12 respectively, and they would be the same rating in ITG as well at 9.

Also old songs generally have better ratings now than they did in the old scale. Brilliant 2U, for example, was an old 6. That's roughly an 8 on the new scale, but it's a new scale 10 which means it was misrated in the old scale. It was rated lower than Kind Lady, but now it's properly rated higher than it (or would be if Kind Lady was still around, but it's X scale rating before being removed was 9). Kiss Kiss Kiss went from 8 to 12, meaning it should have been a 9. The ratings aren't all perfect, but they weren't back in the day either. I can't really think of any old songs that feel out of place in their rating next to modern songs. Can you list some that make you think that?

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This song is giving me hardcore bemanistyle simfile vibes from like pre-2006 and download a new MAX remix with some awfully synced chart that didn't go with it most of the time.

Ah, good times. MaxX Xstacy with the blue banner and a 10 footer, you will be forever missed.

Right alongside Max Infinity and Max 888

I think it would be really neat if the first 20 is a 4-minute song.

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Today's special word kids, is "torture." Can you say tooooooor-ture? Very good, I knew you could.......

as a resident ddr boomer, I require torture in order to stay functional.

rgtm knows what I'm talking about.

I honestly think we're never gonna get a 20 at this point...

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What if the real 20 footer was the friends we made along the way?

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I mean, it’s coming up on 18 years since the first 19 was introduced. I also remember over a decade ago Aaron In Japan interviewed a Konami representative who expressed that there would probably never be a 20 because the data shows a total lack of demand, I believe he said even 19s largely go unplayed.

On the other hand, 19 is such an ugly “top tier” number…

You know what, I think you're right; I vaguely remember this story, and how it being a "non-official" statement that there would probably never be a 20 and that Konami actually isn't interested in trying to craft one, or it's not a priority of theirs or something. This does sound familiar.

I agree with this, also make it challenge only. It’s only chart is the 20. It’s like a hardest difficulty exclusive boss fight.

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