[DM Ashura]

I was looking over my Skype conversations this morning, and I came across this. Stillwind had asked me for feedback on DDR X, which had somewhat recently come out at the time of this conversation. This is the feedback I gave him, the best I could based on people I knew who'd played X at the time. I'm not sure if it ever got to the rest of Konami, because Stillwind passed away about two weeks later. This is the last time I ever talked to him. But, it shows that Stillwind had the right intentions for DDR, and really wanted to make it the best he could.

I suppose I'm curious of your opinions and thoughts on this feedback. Incase I do get a close contact at Konami again sometime soon with whom I can talk like I did with Stillwind, I'll try to send over this feedback and any other you guys have.

If you want to talk a little more at some point about DDR X . . . I've had more time to take a look at it recently.
[1/24/09 2:09:17 AM] stillwind: sure, i'd like to hear your opinions
[1/24/09 2:09:34 AM] DM Ashura: The biggest news though is that I heard you guys fixed triplets.
[1/24/09 2:09:44 AM] DM Ashura: People are very happy about that.
[1/24/09 2:12:35 AM] DM Ashura: Anything in particular you want feedback on at the current moment, while I've got you here?
[1/24/09 2:13:19 AM] stillwind: well, the music is my main thing so any comments on that?
[1/24/09 2:13:34 AM] DM Ashura: Hmmm
[1/24/09 2:13:37 AM] DM Ashura: lemme pull up the songlist
[1/24/09 2:16:36 AM] DM Ashura: Okay let's see.
[1/24/09 2:16:43 AM] DM Ashura: 30 Lives is cute.
[1/24/09 2:16:48 AM] DM Ashura: Love the X-edits
[1/24/09 2:17:11 AM] DM Ashura: The various hip-hop tracks you used were great... I'm a fan of Taj He Spitz and Playa
[1/24/09 2:17:28 AM] DM Ashura: X-mixes are REALLY well pulled off
[1/24/09 2:17:46 AM] DM Ashura: I think I already told you about my opinion of Saber Wing vs its remix
[1/24/09 2:18:04 AM] stillwind: yep. i can see you r point on that
[1/24/09 2:18:21 AM] DM Ashura: Horatio = Awesome. Very unique, having basically a latin boss song.
[1/24/09 2:18:25 AM] DM Ashura: And potatoes = <3
[1/24/09 2:18:33 AM] DM Ashura: Not a fan of Trigger at *all*
[1/24/09 2:18:43 AM] stillwind: everybody loves pirate potatoes
[1/24/09 2:18:48 AM] stillwind: ahh trigger
[1/24/09 2:18:55 AM] stillwind: yeah, i am not a fan either
[1/24/09 2:19:00 AM] DM Ashura: It's a decent song, but its steps are excessive and an example of everything that's wrong with DDR boss songs today
[1/24/09 2:19:01 AM] DM Ashura: No offense...
[1/24/09 2:19:10 AM] stillwind: no. i agree
[1/24/09 2:19:31 AM] stillwind: unfortunately i had nothing to do whith that song.
[1/24/09 2:19:50 AM] DM Ashura: Players are really kind of missing the boss songs that were rhythmically intense, rather than changing speeds and stopping all the time as if the song is having an epileptic seizure
[1/24/09 2:20:23 AM] DM Ashura: Artists . . . Jena Rose, Darwin, Or-If-Is, and Neuras are all awesome. More of them would be great.
[1/24/09 2:20:26 AM] stillwind: yes, i have heard. and i've been trying to relay that sentiment to the dev team.
[1/24/09 2:20:29 AM] stillwind: cool
[1/24/09 2:20:40 AM] DM Ashura: But some people were somewhat disappointed by the lack of things by our favorite Bemani regulars.
[1/24/09 2:20:50 AM] DM Ashura: It's a great thing to bring in new artists, but it has to be balanced with familiar names
[1/24/09 2:20:58 AM] stillwind: yeah, that seem to be the common gripe
[1/24/09 2:21:08 AM] DM Ashura: Of course we're aware that some are probably just Naoki ;P
[1/24/09 2:22:12 AM] DM Ashura: Oh. Lift You Up.
[1/24/09 2:22:18 AM] DM Ashura: You know my opinion of this.
[1/24/09 2:22:23 AM] DM Ashura: You knew my opinion when you first sent it. X3
[1/24/09 2:22:39 AM] stillwind: errrr.yeah....
[1/24/09 2:22:56 AM] DM Ashura: Anyway . . . overall
[1/24/09 2:23:11 AM] DM Ashura: X's soundtrack is great in that it takes DDR in a unique direction
[1/24/09 2:23:30 AM] DM Ashura: But at the same time it feels slightly disjoint to the series because of not having many familiar names
[1/24/09 2:24:19 AM] DM Ashura: Also . . . at some point, I *really* want to talk to you about shock arrows.
[1/24/09 2:24:28 AM] stillwind: ok
[1/24/09 2:24:34 AM] DM Ashura: You know by know that reception was pretty universally negative . . . BUT
[1/24/09 2:24:41 AM] stillwind: yes
[1/24/09 2:24:45 AM] DM Ashura: I think that you can make them work if you change your approach to them
[1/24/09 2:25:33 AM] DM Ashura: You up for it now...?
[1/24/09 2:26:08 AM] stillwind: sure. shoot
[1/24/09 2:28:22 AM] DM Ashura: Okay. So . . . basically here's what I suggest could be done with shock arrows
[1/24/09 2:28:59 AM] DM Ashura: One of the reasons that they felt very separate is that a number of challenge charts were nothing but a random difficulty, with a number of arrows replaced by shocks.
[1/24/09 2:29:09 AM] DM Ashura: And they appeared *only* on those challenge charts.
[1/24/09 2:29:27 AM] stillwind: right
[1/24/09 2:29:32 AM] DM Ashura: What may work better is to integrate shock arrows slowly into all difficulties, similar to the way that freezes were introduced in DDR MAX.
[1/24/09 2:29:46 AM] DM Ashura: Scaling their use to the difficulty.
[1/24/09 2:30:34 AM] stillwind: i think the team was basically concerned abot their reception, so only wanted to use them on certain songs oni, so that players had the choice of not playing them
[1/24/09 2:30:45 AM] stillwind: but could still enjoy the other charts
[1/24/09 2:30:49 AM] DM Ashura: Right
[1/24/09 2:31:01 AM] DM Ashura: Well... second of all . . . I think that they could be used more interestingly if you made them not just limited to being on the entire row of arrows. Making them so they could appear on one, two, or three, as well.
[1/24/09 2:31:37 AM] stillwind: yeah, i think that is a good idea
[1/24/09 2:31:42 AM] DM Ashura: That way they're not so intimidating, and can be introduced more gradually as well. As well as be used in more versatile ways. Having a stream of arrows with single shock arrows mixed in at some points.
[1/24/09 2:32:16 AM] stillwind: i do liek the idea of players having to jump though
[1/24/09 2:32:38 AM] DM Ashura: Oh yeah, that's definitely something that you can make them do. But you don't need a full row to do so, necessarily.
[1/24/09 2:32:50 AM] stillwind: or if they got creative, they could do a handplant in the center square
[1/24/09 2:33:28 AM] DM Ashura: Admittedly, my changes WOULD make them more similar to mines in ItG . . . but you have a number of qualities of the shock arrows that make them different, and in my opinion better.
[1/24/09 2:33:38 AM] DM Ashura: 1) They break your combo. As do NG's now I believe.
[1/24/09 2:33:46 AM] DM Ashura: 2) The "shorting out" is actually a *VERY* cool effect.
[1/24/09 2:35:36 AM] stillwind: yeah, i like that effect. visually it is pretty cool
[1/24/09 2:37:44 AM] DM Ashura: The third big thing you'd need to do if you want them to succeed is not abuse them.
[1/24/09 2:37:49 AM] DM Ashura: See: Horatio.
[1/24/09 2:38:27 AM] stillwind: yeah, that one is probably the worst
[1/24/09 2:39:59 AM] DM Ashura: So what do you think of my suggestions?
[1/24/09 2:40:56 AM] stillwind: so, you're basically saying to 1. use them as indiviual arrows. 2. use them in all charts (with increased difficulty) 3. dont abuse them
[1/24/09 2:43:08 AM] stillwind: is that right?
[1/24/09 2:43:59 AM] DM Ashura: Yep.
[1/24/09 2:44:16 AM] DM Ashura: i think if you did that... you could have great reception.
[1/24/09 2:45:34 AM] DM Ashura: I've discussed that with a number of people. They all agree pretty much. Shockhave a potential to be a great idea.
[1/24/09 2:47:03 AM] stillwind: well, for point 1, that is fine. i think it could be more creative that way. for point 2, that is a litle wierd. right now, people dont like them, but at least have the choice of not playing them (they are only in a handful of oni charts). if shock arrows were in all the charts, people would really bitch.. point 3 is good. that can be applied to anythinig in the game.
[1/24/09 2:47:26 AM] DM Ashura: Point 2 can be addressed in a way similar to how Freezes were addressed in Max.
[1/24/09 2:47:38 AM] DM Ashura: There's an option to turn freeze arrows off for the chart. I think there still is that option.
[1/24/09 2:47:55 AM] DM Ashura: So you add them into all charts, but you have among the song options: "SHOCKS: ON/OFF"
[1/24/09 2:48:24 AM] DM Ashura: That not only solves your problem, it does so in a way that DDR players are used to.
[1/24/09 2:48:39 AM] stillwind: right. i suppose that solves that problem. but, tell me, how does putting them into all charts make them more palatable?
[1/24/09 2:49:08 AM] DM Ashura: Not necessarily all charts . . . there could be some with, some without.
[1/24/09 2:49:15 AM] DM Ashura: Depending if you felt they would work.
[1/24/09 2:49:42 AM] DM Ashura: But if they were in all levels of difficulty... a Basic chart may only have the most basic shock arrows. Like only a few, only single-arrow shocks.
[1/24/09 2:49:51 AM] stillwind: i see
[1/24/09 2:49:57 AM] DM Ashura: Players would be able to more easily get used to them.
[1/24/09 2:50:18 AM] DM Ashura: Eep... I have to go for now
[1/24/09 2:50:22 AM] DM Ashura: But let's talk more about this later
[1/24/09 2:50:31 AM] DM Ashura: Be well. And thanks for letting me give my feedback!
[1/24/09 2:50:43 AM] stillwind: ok. just a reminder. please stay on top of the tax form
[1/24/09 2:54:56 AM] DM Ashura: Okay
[1/24/09 2:55:22 AM] stillwind: cool. thanks. well, take it easy, and i'll talk to you later

I think it'll be interesting to see whether any of this made it to the rest of Konami and was taken to heart for the new DDR game coming out soon.