Opinions about DDR stepcharts

sigh

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Stepcharts- serious business.

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let's stick to that.

also, I saw some people bring it up, but this was originally geared just around boss charts, so it would make sense that so many posts would be centered around them.

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At this point, he looks more like the LiLo of this forum.

I will give give my two cents about this topic: When a new DDR comes out, i will not lie: I look for the songs of Dj Taka and Kors K first, then i look for something of Nekomata master and SF.

I love allmost all of the production made for Taka: Good music, good stepcharts; but when i say almost i must mention Message and some others. Music blah and stepcharts bleh just dont make it.

If i am in a DDR machine at this point, let say, a X3 one, i pick Tribe or some other, because i like it as a warming up workout and then i procede with a song like Amalgamation or a Evolved one.

The bottomline is: good song and good stepchart is a winning combination. And old stepcharts are just a little overrated. I still dig the MAX ones -MAX: Period is pure love- but i understand the evolution of the bemani games.

X3 boss songs have great charts, and kind of WTF?! ones.

Maybe I'm weird for saying this, but I actually have a bit more fun with the KAC/2nd Mix remix charts than the ones. And I usually LIKE hard charts.

Also, BRILLIANT 2U (AKBK remix) is a total 16. SO. MUCH. DENSE. VOLTAGE. "!!".


I'm surprised that there's 4 Tohoku EVOLVED charts, rather than just making a L-R jump, and using "insert attack" to set it on Shuffle. ~.~ (Though I'd also imagine, if you just hit all 4 panels, you shouldn't miss it anyways.)

Much as I adore UNBELIEVABLE (Sparky Remix), I'm thinking TRIP MACHINE EVOLUTION is probably the best and funnest of the X3 vs. 2nd Mix boss songs. And such a pounding beat, too!

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Same goes with Supernova... heheh.. Healing-D-Vision

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Holy shit!!! I'm glad I'm the one who didn't up the black hole to suck us all in for once. Anytime ITG & DDR comes in the same sentence, all holy hell breaks loose.

I will say that the reason I LOVE ITG is for the same reason why I despise DDR. ITG's charts go with the music. I mean charts that are as precise as IIDX's charts. Back during the 5th mix days I started to crave more detailed charts. Ironically I wanted to play IIDX with my feet. I brought this to some people's attention and they thought I fucking bonkers.

I HATE most DDR charts because they seem to avoid going with the music. I don't want to double step to song with under 300 notes, which to say, is nothing but 8th note runs. Even then I felt like the synching was all over the place(Supernova). I also felt like konami wasn't really picking music from a wide enough range of genres. Adimiro does this wonderfully. I come to love pump far more because of it.

In the end, I understand konami wants to do things their own way, but at least try to raise the bar without crossovers. Can they do it at least once? This is why I despise PSMO.

One last note, I LOVE chaos!! Holy fuck do I love the chart and the song. Plus, I love playing any of the Maxes. I'm done.

Don't yell at me too much guys. I'm waiving the white flag here. I will also say that Ben certainly said some things that were out of line.

I am a DDR guy, but i concede that i still enjoy playing ANY of the songs by Virgill, Agent Blatant or any of the classic remixes. -Except Carmen, it sucks big ****s.

Glad to see this thread completely ignores non-15s. A Stupid Barber? S-Expert, leaving... D-Challenge, Bonafied Lovin' Doubles Expert, AA S-Expert, D-Expert, Me Against the Music S-Expert, L'Amour Remix D-Expert, Fire D-Expert, Fire Fire S-Expert, Dance Celebration Remix D-Expert? Omg look at those non-Japanese, non-love songs. Omg omg omg. Then again, a turn isn't my greatest fear.

PSMO is a 16.
I'm so Happy is a 16 without crossovers. REVOLUTIONARY ADDICT is pretty close.
Sumidagawa Karenka is supposed to be a 16 too in DDR 2013 loctest.
POSSESSION is a 17 without crossovers. PARANOiA (kskst mix) comes close.
888 is an 18 with minimal crossovers.

Though to be honest it's hard to get above 17s without crossovers/gimmicks or resorting to tasteless dumpstreams.

Also what Daiz said. People tend to forget stuff lower than 15s (that's also fun) exists. If your definition of fun = difficulty then go play your precious ITG customs with dumpstreams.

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What's the point of playing a dance game when you have to actually MOVE and do something other than vibrate in the centre for 2 minutes?

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I'm assuming that was supposed to be sarcastic.

It is. The fact of the matter is, there's a group of people who would be fine if dancing games were simply 2 arrows, left and right, and the whole point was to keep rhythm. That's fine if you prefer this, but dance simulation games generally move beyond that and try to make the player at least somewhat resemble dancing by having the them turn fluidly in various directions. I break charts attributes into the following categories:

-Rhythm - complexity of the beat, speed of the song, etc.
-Motion - how much fluid turning is involved
-Readability - how complex does the chart look? are speed changes or pauses involved?
-Stamina - how much physical exertion is required by the song?

If you apply basic principles of video games to DDR, which, it IS a video game, any thing that makes the player feel good or rewards them will be deemed as fun. That's obviously subjective, but at the same time, it's not limited to the "omg boss charts". And it's not always discovered on a sight read. There's tons of charts that on first play I disliked, but upon further play, I grow to love it. If a chart has a particular movement that I find difficult to perform, I feel a sense of accomplishment if I retry it several times and finally "nail" that part. That's what I find fun.

Add Social Acceptance and Rejection between dance crews, and you have the answer why a lot of people broke their ankles trying to pass BEMERA on PIU* a few years ago.

*Song just used as example.

I hear ya, Daiz. I was addicted to chart-symmetry and stepchart maximization, and then CaptivAte ~CHIKAI~ came along. For a song that practices neither, it's sooo freaking stellar fun to play/listen to.

And yeah, that seems to be the definitive difference between ITG/DDR fans - movement sequences vs. density maximizing; although some songs on both sides cater to the other (ENERGIZER comes to mind).

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What's the point of playing a dance game when you have to actually MOVE and do something other than vibrate in the centre for 2 minutes?

You're talking about ITG right? If so, I completely agree.

BUMP: because this thead needs it...
in my opinion, Osaka and New York EVOLVED were rather under-stepped...

I was kind of hoping for challenge charts to be unlocked for both of them when they came to the arcades

Osaka could've made for a decent 17 while New York could've made for a decent 18...

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Thank you dom

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you are welcome...

I am really getting tired of seeing opinions cluttering the DDR 2013 AC thread instead of news on it...




also...
I say MAXX UNLIMITED is a high 15
16 though...
maybe, but not entirely

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Dom, I want to hug you.

Osaka EVOLVED was perplexing for me, cause I always thought there could be so much more done with it, but then I wondered if that would be overstepping. An overly difficult chart just wouldn't match the way the song flows, yet sometimes the steps feel like they're missing something. I'm not sure what to make of New York EVOLVED; I never much cared for it, but I think the difficulty is about where it should be. I could definitely see it being harder, just not sure what it would look like.

Also to carry over the opinion debate from the DDR AC thread, or whatever it is now, I think Max 300 and Maxx Unlimited are pretty equal in difficulty as far as 15s go. Max 300 is harder for those who struggle with very consistent streaming, whereas Unlimited is more technical and requires more skill with timing jumps and the slowdowns with the galloping. One is only harder than the other based on what you perceive as being more difficult to do, so there's no definitive answer.

I'm sure someone will say im totally wrong about my max 300 vs Unlimited opinion, because that's how opinions work right?

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