Z-I-v Battle Royale 2021 (Thank you for playing!)

8 -eight- (Lampshape): 4/10

- Not bad! I wish the movement of the patterning as a whole felt a bit more natural though, and step rhetoric (rhythms, patterning choices) to be more consistent.
- Think of what you're accenting or what your steps go to whenever you implement something like a crossover.
- You've definitely improved a lot since Freestyle Showcase btw

Akairo no Azalea (CLOUDIO): 9/10

(CSP)
- This is actually really cute lol. I feel like the jacks/footswitches are gonna be divisive vote-wise but I really vibe with this. Good on you for trying something new
- 15 imo; jacks and intermittent 24ths at this speed aren't enough to make it a 16

(ESP)
- I like that the CSP builds on the patterning in this one
- Well-done. Not much else to say

Cry For The Moon (blank): 8/10

- Freezes going to the little breaths are a nice touch
- m45~ Banger. Crossover -> reset into jump is an awesome pattern
- Nice chill chart. There are some rhythm or patterning choices I would've done differently but your meta is relatively consistent, which is most important

Destroy (Maractus): 7/10

- Chart is 'spiky' pacing-wise in a frustrating way. All the 12th/16th runs felt like they were patterned too hard (using crossovers, candles, relative to the rest of the chart.
- Good flow otherwise. I appreciate that you kept your patterning phrases generally consistent to what they went to.
- Slightly early?
- Would rerate from 15 -> 16

Finally Dive (Forced): 9/10

(CSP)
- Pacing feels a bit monotonous
- Don't really understand why all the stream cues are patterned differently
- Otherwise loved the chart; the flow felt natural and the patterning phrases felt spot on for the most part

(ESP)
- Same thoughts as CSP
- Maybe a 13?

First Level (Raverace): 4/10

(CSP)
- Intro feels very heavily right-facing
- m27 This feels like a very weak audio cue to chart a full stream to imo
- Needs breathing room. Chart feels like it's going 100% the whole way and it doesn't feel that nice to play as a result. In officials, even charts like Love You More ESP have relatively calm sections for gauge recovery

(ESP)
- A few odd patterning choices that stick out to me, e.g. the long drill run in the intro
- Jumps going to the vocals felt neat
- Why is the outro so hard lol the music calms down here. The rhythms are inaccurate too'

Hell Scaper (ApplesCats): 2/10

- m16~ All of this faces right, making it rather monotonous and uncomfortable play. I'd really revise this part.
- b194.50 Incorrect stop value leading to everything here being shifted a 16th off at 200. Yikes dude
- m65~ Seems like you played with the BPM values to try and 'fix' this offset, but now the rest of this song is late. (also... confusing patterning - Are all those LR patterns meant to be hit sideways?)
- I think you're VASTLY underestimating jump and run difficulty, especially at this speed. This is easily a 13.
- I can see some effort put in here! The best thing you can do is to reference how other simfiles handle BPM gimmicks, and to look at DDR officials or DDR-style sims to see how they're paced or structured (and how they vary patterning phrases to keep things from becoming repetitive)

Journey (Kex): 9/10

- Super clean. I can see this being a very effective practice chart for bursts at 170
- m61 Ehhh I wouldn't have put 16th drills here
- Love the use of freeze doublesteps all around.

Mirage (VanEden): 8/10

- m15 Personally not a fan of candle box patterns like these; they feel kinda uncomfortable to play
- m55 Why is this run easier than the first bro just make the first stream this pattern as well then
- Feels like it stays facing one side for too long at times, particularly in the middle
- I actually really like the minijacks; DDR needs more of those imo
- Well-paced
- Good shit

Moustache (vonafroa): 5/10

- The chorus is very repetitive; wish you could've implemented some spicier patterning motifs there. As is the chart feels very front-loaded

of the first magnitude (Pandy): 7/10

- Felt like a 'safe' chart. Not exactly my cup of tea but it's well-executed. You kept things varied just enough to keep it from feeling too boring
- That being said I do feel like it just stays the same intensity the whole way through and I don't really like that kind of pacing

Party Out (djVERTICAI): 8/10

(CSP)
- I like the 16th 'jack' motif a lot! Really elevates this chart for me

(ESP)
- Would've liked to see the difficulty of the 8ths in the first drop build a little more coherently (goes from crossovers to candles to just regular anchors when it feels like it should be the opposite)
- A few rhythm choices I disagree with (4ths -> 8ths in the buildups)
- Otherwise enjoyable! Feels very 'modern DDR'

Reason of being (DJSuperNOVA): 6/10

- Best song pick this round imo

(CSP)
- Patterning feels a little 'messy' and 'random' at times. I'd stick to a few ideas for what you want to write and go through with them
- b159.50 This is such a random difficulty spike lol
- Some doublesteps here and there
- I like the dotted 16ths -> burst -> dotted 16ths -> burst thing you got going on starting at m72. Don't like how candle-y the patterns are though

(ESP)
- b65 Don't do that. In a 14??? I already hate Kneesocks Princess for pulling this shit. This one sticks out like a sore thumb since it's the hardest spot in the whole chart and it's just thrown randomly in the beginning
- Lots of odd doublesteps between every 8th 'phrase' in the song. Please doublecheck for flow errors! I like the way this chart flows otherwise

Ska-sh All Neurons!! (t7r): 9/10

- Not a huge fan of crossover jack patterning. m68 this is super hot though
- Pacing feels really nice. Good job!
- So when's the CSP coming? Lol

Skymie (Tony): 6/10

(CSP)
- m19, m97 Yeah no that's REALLY pushing it for a 15
- b131.5 That's harsh lol
- m40~, m74~ Liking the crossover rhetoric in these sections
- Very 'spiky' chart; wasn't a fan of how overly difficult the measure-long runs were compared to everything else in the song
- Should be a 16 imo; runs are too long (and the runs themselves are difficult)

(ESP)
- Gallops are kinda cute
- I like that the crossover 'motif' is shared between both charts

Sonshi ~The Guru~ (Daffa): 8/10

- Speedup -> stop gimmick is pretty nice

(CSP)
- Imo the spins at m9 (and later) could've been notated as forced doublesteps or something. Not a fan of inserting spins mid-phrase like that since it feels messy
- Patterning felt pretty good otherwise. I think you matched the steps to the intensity of the song pretty well

(ESP)
- Cute! This actually feels a little bit cleaner than the CSP
- m14 would've patterned this just as dotted 16ths and not gallops

Stardust (KevinRocker10): 8/10

- Scroll gimmicks felt well executed!
- Not really a fan of the mines forcing you to crossover in the first speedup. m34.50 mines also feel player-unfriendly since they force the player to lift their left foot up but there's no particular audio cue that justifies it
- Not much else to say. Well-patterned otherwise

The Real Thing (Astroman): 8/10

- I actually like the 'old-school' feeling of this. Good work matching the patterning to lyrical cues
- Patterning felt varied enough to at least offer some good fun to even higher level players

When I Look Into Your Eyes (Braeden): 4/10

- Please don't start your chart right when the song starts :/
- Cut felt very abrupt

(CSP)
- Feels overcharted... but not really in the fulfilling way. The streams and bursts are just there for the sake of being hard; there's no creative patterning or tech that justifies a 16 for this imo. The 16ths don't exactly follow ITG convention either so I don't know who this caters to

(ESP)
- Definitely more enjoyable. I like the mix of gallops and 16th bursts used in the first half of the song.
- Jumps are cute!
- Ending feels like you could've done more with it

Akairo no Azalea (10/10):

I really like the footswitches (or at least that’s what I treated them as)
I also really like the freeze notes
Just a very fun chart


Cry For The Moon (8/10):

A lot of the 16ths didn’t really go to anything in the song
I really like the slowdown, and what happens in it
Pretty fun chart


Destroy (8/10):

For some reason, the audio section in the “.sm” file is set as “music.ogg”. This prevents the audio from playing in ArrowVortex, unless I change it to “Destroy.ogg”. Not sure if this affects anything in Stepmania, as it played the correct audio either way in Stepmania 5. The same can be applied to the banner and background.
Note placement follows the music
I really like the jump sections, the stepjump sections, and those sections with the freeze notes
Overall, a very clean chart. I could not find much to nitpick about besides some elements outside of the chart that don’t really affect it that much.

Finally Dive -kors k Remix- (9/10):

Very nice chart

First Level (5/10):

The transition from m10-m11 is like ?????
imo it would be better to remove the 16th drill thing that’s at m27, and instead start it at m28, when the snare roll is at a higher volume
16ths into jumps at this bpm are pretty weird, maybe at a lower bpm it would’ve been fine, but i think i’ve seen them at higher bpms, so this isn’t too much of an issue.
the ending could’ve gone on for longer
a lot of the chart has you just facing right
thank you for not charting the super fast part of the snare roll at m56
m65-71 is pretty good, but why does 69-71 have a different freeze note rhythm, when it sounds basically the same as 65-67


Hell Scaper (U-sk's BPM 200 SPEEDCORE REMIX) (3/10):

has the same file name issues as Destroy (except that it’s just because it’s named HELL SCAPER 200 SPEEDCORE REMIX)
kinda just facing the right the whole time from m16-31, and also it could’ve been more interesting and fun if the same pattern didn’t repeat over and over again
i like the 1st speedup, the jump patterns are pretty fun
most of the patterns are kinda awkward
how is this an 11, it should’ve been rated more like a 12 or 13
the beginning could’ve been WAYYYYYY more interesting
the freeze arrow jump on m86 starts an 8th note too late



Hop! Step! Cooking! (9/10):

High quality audio and graphics
I really like the shock arrow placement
m60-61 is really cool
I also really like m69-75
i can’t comprehend a lot of the stuff in the chart, it’s too complex for me :((((( (don’t worry this doesn’t affect the score)
Overall, very good chart. It’s very complex, and it’s charted well.

Journey (9/10):

fun chart, m67 is nice
generally, just the whole main part of the song is charted well (and the rest of the song too)


Mirage (9/10):

a good technical chart for a good technical song
not a fan of the 16th jacks, but they don’t really affect the chart much


Moustache (7/10):

Banner and background have a bit of a blur to them, not sure if that was a stylistic choice, but otherwise, good.
The bpm change fits well, and doesn’t last too long.
Kinda wish there was a freeze note on the last step
Also, kinda wish m17-23 had jumps or something on the 1st and 3rd beats of the measures (on the snare notes), instead of just following the vocals
Also, m30 has nothing on the 3rd beat, which feels kinda weird
I feel like there should be freeze arrows on some of the steps with vocals, particularly in the main part of the song
Kinda weird that there’s just one shock arrow part in the entire song
Overall, pretty good

of the first magnitude (9/10):
very fun chart
i really like the freeze arrows, they feel great with the song


Party Out (8/10):

nice chart
charted well
the crossovers in m44-48 are very fun


Reason of being (9/10):

I like the slowdown at the end/the ending in general
Chart flows well, I like the spins

Ska-sh All Neurons!! (10/10):
Chart flows very well
Very fun chart
I like the spins
I really like the jacks, they feel natural with what goes on in the song during them

skymie(^^)v:
same issue as Destroy and the HELL SCAPER remix, where it doesn’t load the files in Arrow Vortex, because the file names are different than what’s in the SM/SSC file
something felt off about the chart, but i can’t pinpoint what it is
the crossovers at the beginning are very fun
i like the gallops


Sonshi ~The Guru~ (9/10):

very fun chart
very tricky and complex
i like the slowdown and the speedup


Stardust:

very fun chart
i wish the chart didn’t start on measure 1
i really like the gradual speedup, and the mines


The Real Thing (10/10):

feels like a classic ddr chart (probably because it sounds like a song that would be in max2 or smth)
very fun chart, it flows well, and it’s generally just fun to play :)
m6-8 is my favorite part, the laterals (not sure if that’s what they are) are very fun

When I Look Into Your Eyes (8/10):

Gives me Tiger Rampage CSP vibes
i feel like the chart could’ve ended 2 notes before (on the 8th note)
The chart flows well, and surprisingly, the long 16ths streams do actually go with the music
Otherwise, I’m not sure what to feel about the chart. It’s pretty solid.

Agehachou (KOSIN): 3/10

- Make sure that your chart can be alternated with two feet for player comfort. If you choose to force a doublestep, it should be justified in some way by the patterning or the music. This chart comes across as rather sloppy since the step rhetoric isn't consistent

(CSP)
- Rhythms aren't bad though! Just need to work on the patterning flow. There are some good ideas in here (like the jump gallop patterns near the beginning)
- 14 imo

(ESP)
- Same thoughts here

Cutter (blank): 8/10

- b69 this is 270 propaganda, I'm not falling for it
- m23 Blessed pattern. This shit is so fun
- b120 jump ambiguity It's way easier to not cross than cross here. If you want to have the player cross I'd use freezes here
- Spin at the end is cute
- Pretty enjoyable overall lol, your sense of crossover flow is pretty clean

DAYWALKER! (Kex): 10/10

- Yeah lol you already heard my critique in the Discord. This shit is soooo good
- Tbh in retrospect this might be a 14 due to overall density and length
- Seems like you synced it to +0.009? Or just a bit early

Diggin It Baby (ApplesCats): 3/10

- Intro had some interesting patterning ideas! I like crossover jump stuff
- I feel like you cling to the same few patterning phrases for too long without connecting them well, making the chart feel repetitive and awkward to play
- Still, this looks like an improvement over your file last week. The difficulty spikes aren't as egregious as in Hell Scaper
- b136 That's so harsh

Driven Shooter (t7r): 8/10

- m34~ feels too left-facing
- Love the bits with the laterals and the gallops, since they feel comfortable to do even if you cheat them
- Spins feel a little hit or miss here. I feel like you've used them with more thought before
- Very well-paced

It's Too Late (Braeden): 4/10

- Such an odd place to start the chart
- b14 ?
- Intro is pretty heavily left facing
- I thought the patterning was pretty interesting at first... then you just kept repeating it... and repeating it... and repeating it...
- Pacing feels really odd
- Cut is abrupt

Lemon Rave (RaverAce): 6/10

- Sync seems late?

(CSP)
- I like the way you picked up rhythms in the chorus. Pretty nice
- Chart feels rather repetitive; maybe a better song cut or another song pick would've helped
- Maybe vary the 8th rhythms in the verses to keep things from feeling stale?
- Looks like an improvement over your file last week!

(ESP)
- Spins going to the 'turn' lyrics look fun

Moogelus High (TonyAkita): 7/10

- Crossover motif going to the beep-boops are pretty cute
- Not much else to say here. It's a fair 13 and an alright chart

Namida No Te Extrano Mucho (Forced): 9/10

- Big fan of the crossover -> jump -> reset patterning motif!
- Good use of jacks

NIGHT OF FIRE (Daffa): 9/10

(CSP)
- b69 Love this lateral pattern, wish people used it more
- Crossover -> DU jump -> reset pattern is very creative!
- b190 Rhythms here seem a little sus
- Most memorable chart you've made recently imo, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Lots of interesting patterns and you used them consistently

(ESP)
- Good use of gallops and jumps
- b221 Jumps don't fit well here

Onegai! Konkon Oinorisama (Vonafroa): 6/10

- Quite a few patterning motifs I found cute in this chart (like m35~)
- I think you're improving on making more 'natural'-feeling patterning
- Freeze length errors on b166 (and its subsequent repetition)

Primitive Vibes (VanEden): 9/10

- Gets the tak award for best song pick this round

- m9~ rhythms I would personally change; it's going to samples but with the synths this prominent in this section it feels jarring to ignore them
- Great chart and flow otherwise. Definitely a lot more straightforward than I would've written it, ha

Rainmaker (djVERTICAI): 8/10

- b77 LOVE the stop effect here
- Good cut
- Awesome graphics
- Sync is late
- You've executed what you aimed to do pretty well. Personally it feels a little bit empty though; like you deliberately held back to make a 14 when a 15 or 16 might've maximized the possible 'fun' for this song

REANIMATE (DJSuperNova): 6/10

(CSP)
- m48~ Cues for these 12th runs feel too weak to chart imo
- m64~ Mm this part's relatively calm, I wouldn't have saturated it this much and made it the hardest part of the chart
- b334 Cheeky. Feels random though
- Rhythms and patterning still feel like they could be cleaned up here and there, but overall an improvement from last week

(ESP)
- Not much to say. Similar thoughts to CSP, although this chart is paced a little better

Still Down to Get Down (Pandy): 6/10

- Chill chart. Good, but felt boring to me
- Not a fan of jump/16th patterns that tax one leg, like m9

Underground (KevinRocker10): 9/10

- Loved this! Felt like an interesting mix of DDR and tech charting, with the patterning being straightforward like a DDR chart and the use of motifs and general pacing resembling a tech chart.
- Not sure why the second buildup didn't use rolls like the first

ZADAMGA (CLOUDIO): 9/10

- I feel like a smooth SM5 transition would've worked better in the beginning than a stepped one like you incorprated here. Nonetheless, nice idea

(CSP)
- I like this a lot! I dig the way you varied patterning by section
- Personally think you could've gone a little bit wilder with the 16th patterning near the end - incorporate some candles, crossovers, etc since the music gets wilder as well

(ESP)
- Good job retaining the rhythmical challenge from CSP here. Would definitely play this a lot if it were in arcade DDR
- Gallops in the back half of the chart look fun
- Paced really well

ZEAL of proud (Maractus): 5/10

- m11~ If these are crossovers, it's a doublestep; if these are footswitches, it's inconsistent with the rest of this section
- b205 Wtf is this random difficulty spike lol
- b237.5 same here but to a lesser extent since it's shorter. Pattern your 16ths easier my dude
- Too karaoke-heavy and freeze-heavy for the intensity of the song imo. Felt like there were a lot of missed opportunites for interesting patterns, while the existing patterns don't complement the song very well

ZENDEGI DANCE (Lampshade): 4/10

- b54 (and other repetitions) Hmm, I see what you were going for, but footswitches work best with 2 or more notes on the same pitch / same general sound, or as filler between two or more harder-hitting sounds
- Patterning still feels very 'blocky' for lack of a better explanation. Think about what you could do to make your movements feel smoother to the player, and how much speed or energy different patterns demand to the player