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Xythar · 07-29-2006, 04:01 AM

So I decided, what better way to spend a Saturday than to PR the ITG bracket? :P

Take what I say with a grain of salt since I don't have a lot of experience with ITG. I still tried to pay attention to how songs flowed on feet however, going so far as to slow down the more difficult ones so I could try them on feet. OK, here it is:

A NEW RAY OF LIGHT

Hard: 2.75/3 Some of the 16th usage felt like it was a little arbitrary when it would be better served by following a prominent pattern in the song at the time, but that's really just a matter of taste.

Expert: 2.75/3 This one doesn't seem to have the same problem, all the notes made sense to me. Nice chart! It felt like there were double steps in a few of the 8ths, but there were none in the 16ths or higher... so was it intentional?

Everything else: 3.75/4 Nice song choice, nice graphics and I liked your trademark 'trick mines' at points in the song where you expect the melody to continue but it doesn't. The banner gets cut off in ITG however, or at least it does in my theme.

9.25/10 Good file all round! I didn't think it was quite as good as Grip, but it's still pretty cool.

A VOICE SPOKE TO ME

Hard: 2.75/3 Well designed steps with some nice crossovers (although also a couple of instances of double stepping, I think). The start of the slow part takes some getting used to, but it makes sense given the music.

Expert: 2.75/3 Pretty much the hard steps x2. That being said this was a pretty cool 13 all the same (although maybe closer to a 12... perhaps? Not sure) and would probably feel easily at home in ITG. People are going to hate you for those freezes, tho :P

Everything Else: 3.25/4 Great song choice for ITG, decent graphics.

8.75/10 If I was going by an arbitrary scoring system instead of a predefined one I'd probably have rated this higher, because it's pretty damn good.

ASTEROID

Hard: 2.25/3 I liked the switch from 12th gallops to regular 8th/16ths, and I especially liked the rhythm during the slowdown, but there are a few parts with hands that are perhaps slightly faster than reasonable and something of a case of Pointlessly Short Freeze Syndrome (henceforth referred to as PSFS). I still enjoyed it, tho.

Expert: 2.5/3 The two quads in a row I think might be kind of tricky to do, and there's more PSFS (see above). It sort of felt like the slowdown part from here should have been in Hard, and vice versa... but that's really just a matter of taste again. End run looked kind of painful, but this isn't bad. (I think I've seen those 24th bursts somewhere before... :P)

Everything Else: 4/4 While the stop was too long for my liking and readme was only the bare minimum of content, the fact that the graphics are good, and that you made your own song, AND that it was awesome, make me disinclined to give you any less than a perfect score in this category.

8.75/10 Not bad at all! You're an excellent music artist, and if you improve your steps further and you'll have quite the winning skill set

BAD BOY (AVM REMIX)

Hard: 2.5/3 Pretty good, but a bit confusing (possibly doublesteppy, I'm not positive) in parts. Not a lot else to say, to be honest, they matched the music fine if not being stand-out amazing.

Expert: 2/3 I really didn't think the 32nds were warranted in a 9, they show up a couple of times early on and then never again which feels a bit inconsistent in terms of difficulty. The stepjumps could also have been tweaked a little to make them more player friendly. 16th usage seemed fine, tho.

Everything Else: 4/4 Good graphics, good choice of music, no problems here.

8.5/10 Expert in particular had a couple of problems, but still pretty decent overall.

BE PRINCESS

Hard: 2.75/3 No major problems here that I can see. The jackhammer 8ths are a little harsh, but it's a valid form of difficulty :P There were a few relatively large empty spots that could use a 4th or two, but overall, this was quite a good chart.

Expert: 2.5/3 This feels like a real ITG chart all right, what with all the facing left :P Solid chart however, with well designed stepjumps and good use of 16ths - although I think a few 16ths early on didn't quite go to anything. You know, in the part that made me think I'd left assist tick on my accident the first time

Everything Else: 2.5/4 Pretty standard graphics, song is suitable in terms of being happy hardcore but the vocals CAUSE ME PAIN. x_x Also, Stepmania (for me at least) just cut off the song before the fadeout, that's something you probably should've addressed.

7.75/10 Pretty solid overall.

BREATHE

Hard: 2.75/3 Good chart, all the rhythms used made sense and were fun to play, and no obvious problems in step placement. However, I think the steps should have ended slightly earlier rather than you trying to put them down during the breakdown - the 12ths were a bit weird and I didn't much like the series of freezes on the same arrow.

Expert: 2.5/3 A bit like Bad Boy with the 24th bursts, but I think they work better here. This chart does feel awfully similar to Hard however, it feels like you mostly just turned a bunch of single steps into jumps, changed the arrows in the streams, added the 24ths and put mines everywhere. It's different, but not that different. The end does feel less awkward however.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Good graphics, good song choice, but bare-minimum-content readme.

9/10 Pretty well done file overall however.

CHEAP TRICK KINDA GIRL

NOTE: The OSC5 administration should be aware that I played this file before it was released in the ITG bracket (for testing). Up to them as to whether they want to count this review or not.

Hard: 3/3 Really no problems at all that I can see. Fun steps, good use of 16ths, nice recurring 12ths bit, jumps on cymbals, and so on. Mines are also easily ignorable

Expert: 2.5/3 'Hard with more' again, but most of the extra 16ths make sense and the mines are still ignorable enough. Hands are nice and reasonable too, which is good to see. It does feel a bit heavy on the doublesteps and spins to me, tho.

Everything Else: 4/4 Fitting enough song, good graphics, excellent BG script (and detailed readme).

9.5/10 Great stuff!

CLEAR BLUE WATER

NOTE: I wrote this before I heard it was DQ'd, so I'll leave the review in. It's a shame, to be sure

Hard: 2.5/3 An authentic feeling Bend Your Mind clone!

The hands are fairly well designed and reasonably placed, although I didn't really like the forced freeze spins as much (but BYM uses them, so I guess it's ok) and the gallops felt a bit arbitrary and would probably be better replaced with stream. These felt a lot like official steps, however, so that's cool.

Expert: 2.5/3 More freezes than an Ultramix song, but they fit the theme

Pretty similar to heavy for the most part, but there were some crazy freezes in the middle that I don't even know how you'd do short of doing a handstand on the pad or something (stuff like hold D+R, then hold U+L while still holding D+R, then *release* D+R and continue holding U+L, then hold D+R again) but I think you'd probably just have to do a lot of little hops while holding your position. Anyway this probably shouldn't be a 12 because while it's beyond BYM expert in difficulty, BYM is only a 10. 11 would probably be more correct, but I'm not sure. Not bad, anyway.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Pretty average graphics, but this is the best song I've heard so far in the bracket and excellent ITG material. Nice choice!

8.5/10 This certainly feels like it could be in the next ITG.

DAYS DREAMER

Hard: 1.75/3 These look alright at first glance, but upon closer inspection they're riddled with double steps and weird twisting that I don't think fits, and there's nothing overly imaginative about the rhythms used. It'd still be fun with better designed steps, I think. Also, this is a 7 at best.

Expert: 0.5/3 Sorry, this isn't great. The weird 24ths used early on don't seem to fit, but even if they actually do (I'm not positive) that's really the least problem. Steps placement is as awkward as Hard, there are a bunch of 32nd length freezes everywhere for no apparent reason (seriously, what was the deal with that? O_o) and a bunch of 8th length freezes at seemingly arbitrary locations later on. Add to this the 16ths while holding a freeze arrow and general lack of flow of the steps and I really didn't find this too enjoyable, sorry. It's also not much of a 10 but yeah.

Everything Else: 2.5/4 Alright graphics (although artist name is missing from BG). There are probably better Technic Beat songs to choose for ITG, but oh well.

4.75/10 Sorry. I enjoyed Metaphors and Ichirin no Hana was okay, but I've got some pretty severe issues with this file. Not your best :/

DEVASTATION

Hard: 1.75/3 No glaring issues with step placement, but it's like the chart can't decide what difficulty it wants to be and switches between really slow steps, or standard 8 foot type steps, or a bunch of 16ths, or that 24th machinegun run that was far harder than anything else in the song. It just wasn't terribly interesting or fun for me.

Expert: 1.75/3 Pretty much the same as Hard, but with even more variable a range of difficulty. The minespam towards the start felt pretty pointless and this is again not that interesting or fun. I don't really think the song helps, tho.

Everything Else: 3/4 The graphics are again pretty average, and you get a bonus for making your own song but much like Kang's 'Hell Fantasy' in TM6, while being a good enough song in its own right it's just not at all suited to any kind of dance game. Also, your sync does weird things later on... I'm going to assume it's still right since you made the song, but it's quite confusing.

6.5/10 To be honest, I think you should have made a second KB chart and entered the KB division instead. The song is much better suited to KB play, IMO.

DON'T CHA

Hard: 2.5/3 Not bad. A few double steps (like the parts where you have to crossover L-D-R and then hit L again right afterwards, that's a bit annoying) but other than that there's nothing wrong with it.

Expert: 2/3 I'm a little torn on these. The middle part with the 16th runs was pretty cool (especially the first few) but the one early in the song feels out of place to what surrounds it and there's more double stepping here. Also you face left waaay too much in these steps, but again was this done for ITG authenticity? Heh.

Everything Else: 3/4 Pretty average graphics, decent choice of song.

7.5/10 Not bad.

EMERALD SWORD

Hard: 3/3 No problems at all! Nice broken up 8th streams, well designed steps with good crossovers, and good use of jumps and mines. Well done!

Expert: 3/3 Brilliant! Well placed jumps, reasonably designed stepjumps, and well placed 16th stream that actually matches the song. Not to mention, no double stepping. No problems at all, excellent chart!

Everything Else: 4/4 Great graphics, cool song, hilarious video, decent enough readme and doubles steps! There's nothing more I could want, other than maybe a lyrics file but ITG doesn't show lyrics anyway, so that's not a problem.

10/10 That was legendary.

ENDLESS JOURNEY

Hard: 2.5/3 Not bad! A bit heavy on the freezes for my liking, and a few too many 16ths for an 8, and the hands don't really leave you a lot of warning or time to execute them, but it's still pretty decent.

Expert: 2.25/3 Firstly, thanks for doing your stepjumps properly

Not all the 16ths made sense to me, and the 16th crossovers were a bit harsh, and it had a few pointlessly short freezes but overall this wasn't bad at all.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Nice graphics, cool song. You could say there was precedence in ITG, namely Da Roots. Banner is cut off slightly in my ITG theme however.

8.5/10 A well made entry. Good job!

GRADATION

zomg bestest evar 11/10

Actually, this is my file, so there's no review here.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN MELLOW

Not a particularly mellow remix... :P

Hard: 3/3 Nothing wrong here that I can see. The steps all make sense to me, even the gallops, so good job I guess.

(Hard score multiplied by 2 due to lack of Expert chart)

Everything Else: 2.5/4 Okay graphics, weird and rather fuzzy video, weird song :P I'm going to take off a small amount of points here however for not having expert steps, otherwise it wouldn't be fair to the people who got less marks for expert than hard. Also, banner is slightly cut off.

8.5/10 Not bad! Just really weird. Given that I'm not sure if I'd play it again just due to sheer weirdness factor.

I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME

Hard: 2/3 These steps weren't too bad (I liked the use of jumps in particular) but there were a few purple and then even orange arrows that probably shouldn't have been there (I understand the drumroll ones, but the others are a bit questionable). There was also a fair bit of double stepping - not too bad at this BPM, but the steps would flow better without it.

Expert: 1.75/3 Expert shares the same problems as Hard, but makes the double stepping worse by putting it into 16th streams (and also some 16th crossovers or even spins I think). The oddly coloured arrows later on are still here too and not all the 16th streams seem to make sense.

Everything Else: 2/4 Graphics are okay, but this song does not belong in ITG in any way shape or form :P It's just not very 'dance'able. The song cut used was also a bit short for ITG and banner is significantly cut off (right now it makes it look like the song's name is "Anna Talk About Me")

5.75/10 Honestly, I think you'll be able to do a lot better than this if you take care to work out your steps on pad to avoid double stepping and pick better music :P Careful with the 32nds or whatever as well, you'll find they rarely need to be used.

IDENTITY

Hard: 2/3 I dunno. For the most part, these steps are pretty good, but then you have the stupid BPM tripling over the freeze arrows. If it had just been a freeze I would have just thought "oh, that's kind of neat", but apparently I am also meant to be able to read and hit a couple of steps during each one at triple speed. Are you insane? -_- There was also a bit of double stepping later on. The end run was pretty hard but I guess it's not enough to make it a 10 by itself...

Expert: 2/3 Shares the same problems as Hard while managing to have more double stepping (at least early on) and some pointlessly short freezes. The 16th stream seemed fine however so I guess it evens out. Maybe more of an 11? I'm not sure.

Everything Else: 2.75/4 Good song, and alright graphics (although they're used straight from O2Jam and the banner is slightly cut off). Bare-bones readme however, and when you made your Crazylegz Edit you probably should have edited down the intro a little more. (Also your name shouldn't be on the directory just because you edited the song)

6.75/10 Decent steps marred by poorly executed BPM gimmicks and some double stepping.

INNER UNIVERSE

Hard: 2.25/3 It's a rather quiet song to have steps this difficult. I didn't really get what the 8th stream at the start was meant to be going to, it was just there. The few green/orange arrows were a little suspicious, but there weren't too many. The step difficulty seemed to fit in a bit better near the end once the song got a bit louder (I had to turn my speakers up just to play this... :P) but the gallops seemed arbitrary. Well executed slowdown at the end, although I'd have preferred it without the 32nds at the start I think. I think there was also some double stepping near the end...

Expert: 1.75/3 I was hoping you might follow the background sound or something, but it looks like you just took the 8th stream from Hard and replaced it with 16th triplet after 16th triplet after 16th triplet. It feels more than a little arbitrary and repetitive to be honest. The green/orange arrows are back in full force again and I'm again not sure what they're for, it looks like you're trying to approximate a 12th stream without actually using 12ths? O_o I think 12ths would work much better... It also has some rather counterintuitive, twisty steps which are made even harder to follow by the mines. I suppose this could be considered challenge, but I wouldn't find it to be a very enjoyable challenge. :/

Everything Else: 2.75/4 Nice graphics and beautiful song, but I don't think the song itself was a good choice for this competition. On a plus side you have a decent readme, although you kind of oversell your expert steps a bit :P

6.75/10 To be honest I have no idea what I'd do with this song, so I suppose this is as good an effort as any (minus the oddly timed arrows in parts).

JUMP

Hard: 2.5/3 Not too bad, but not stand-out good either. There were a few parts where the flow could be improved a bit, but no big deal. I liked the jumps on the obvious audio cues

Expert: 2.75/3 I liked this a bit better than hard, especially the effective usage of hands. I don't have a lot more to say about it, tho.

Everything Else: 3/4 Decent enough song choice and graphics, although your readme's a bit minimal. Eh, no matter.

8.25/10 A fairly good, if not stand-out amazing entry.

KISS ME

Hard: 1.75/3 This was a shame, because it started off well then you fell victim to overusing 16ths. Especially if you're aiming to make a 7, it's a much better idea to stick to sensible 8ths for most of the song and maybe the occasional 16th where it fits. In this case I think you tried much too hard to follow the vocals exactly which led to a bunch of gallops followed by yellow arrow syndrome but also gaps that were too large when she wasn't saying anything. You also had these brief 16th runs that made this more of an 8 at least in difficulty. It got better again towards the end, but the middle just isn't pretty due to excessive karaoke-stepping - it's usually not necessary or warranted to follow vocals that closely especially in song with a decent beat like this one.

Expert: 2/3 I liked this a bit better than Hard, I guess because the 16ths felt more fitting in the context of a 9. It still follows the vocals too closely during the middle, however.

Everything Else: 2/4 It's a song that's already in PIU if people want to 'dance' to it - couldn't you have thought of something more original? :/ The graphics are alright, but they *are* just the PIU graphics (albeit with some editing work, I know). I think you also should have cut the video to remove the bit at the start which shows the old BG, because it's kind of a waste bothering to edit it if the player doesn't even get to see the right one at the start anyway.

5.75/10 It makes a lot of beginner mistakes, I think, but that's excusable and I'm sure you'll improve with some more experience

MARIO TAKES A WALK

Hard: 0.5/3 The first time I loaded this up I had absolutely no idea what was going on - seemingly random arrows everywhere of all the colours of the rainbow, and it was full of double stepping to boot. The BPM seems correct, hence your 0.5 points, but I have no idea at all what the rest of the arrows are meant to be going to. If it's a gap issue, it's much too severe to be remedied by autosyncing, and I'm not going to sync your file for you beyond doing that.

Expert: 0.75/3 Basically the same as hard. The big runs in the middle were the only parts I could actually figure out as going to something in the music, the rest seemed just as random.

Everything Else: 2/4 Fairly standard graphics (picture with text, etc). Song choice not really suited to ITG, I think even if this were synced properly it'd be better off as a keyboard file.

3.25/10 If you give me a gap value that makes this file make sense, and it's allowed by OSC rules, I may be able to re-review this. But as it stands it's basically a non-stepfile.

07-29-2006, 04:01 AM	#4
Xythar DON'T BE CUNNING!! Xythar is offline Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Xythar's Collection Posts: 2,035 Marketplace Rating: 0	So I decided, what better way to spend a Saturday than to PR the ITG bracket? :P Take what I say with a grain of salt since I don't have a lot of experience with ITG. I still tried to pay attention to how songs flowed on feet however, going so far as to slow down the more difficult ones so I could try them on feet. OK, here it is: A NEW RAY OF LIGHT Hard: 2.75/3 Some of the 16th usage felt like it was a little arbitrary when it would be better served by following a prominent pattern in the song at the time, but that's really just a matter of taste. Expert: 2.75/3 This one doesn't seem to have the same problem, all the notes made sense to me. Nice chart! It felt like there were double steps in a few of the 8ths, but there were none in the 16ths or higher... so was it intentional? Everything else: 3.75/4 Nice song choice, nice graphics and I liked your trademark 'trick mines' at points in the song where you expect the melody to continue but it doesn't. The banner gets cut off in ITG however, or at least it does in my theme. 9.25/10 Good file all round! I didn't think it was quite as good as Grip, but it's still pretty cool. A VOICE SPOKE TO ME Hard: 2.75/3 Well designed steps with some nice crossovers (although also a couple of instances of double stepping, I think). The start of the slow part takes some getting used to, but it makes sense given the music. Expert: 2.75/3 Pretty much the hard steps x2. That being said this was a pretty cool 13 all the same (although maybe closer to a 12... perhaps? Not sure) and would probably feel easily at home in ITG. People are going to hate you for those freezes, tho :P Everything Else: 3.25/4 Great song choice for ITG, decent graphics. 8.75/10 If I was going by an arbitrary scoring system instead of a predefined one I'd probably have rated this higher, because it's pretty damn good. ASTEROID Hard: 2.25/3 I liked the switch from 12th gallops to regular 8th/16ths, and I especially liked the rhythm during the slowdown, but there are a few parts with hands that are perhaps slightly faster than reasonable and something of a case of Pointlessly Short Freeze Syndrome (henceforth referred to as PSFS). I still enjoyed it, tho. Expert: 2.5/3 The two quads in a row I think might be kind of tricky to do, and there's more PSFS (see above). It sort of felt like the slowdown part from here should have been in Hard, and vice versa... but that's really just a matter of taste again. End run looked kind of painful, but this isn't bad. (I think I've seen those 24th bursts somewhere before... :P) Everything Else: 4/4 While the stop was too long for my liking and readme was only the bare minimum of content, the fact that the graphics are good, and that you made your own song, AND that it was awesome, make me disinclined to give you any less than a perfect score in this category. 8.75/10 Not bad at all! You're an excellent music artist, and if you improve your steps further and you'll have quite the winning skill set BAD BOY (AVM REMIX) Hard: 2.5/3 Pretty good, but a bit confusing (possibly doublesteppy, I'm not positive) in parts. Not a lot else to say, to be honest, they matched the music fine if not being stand-out amazing. Expert: 2/3 I really didn't think the 32nds were warranted in a 9, they show up a couple of times early on and then never again which feels a bit inconsistent in terms of difficulty. The stepjumps could also have been tweaked a little to make them more player friendly. 16th usage seemed fine, tho. Everything Else: 4/4 Good graphics, good choice of music, no problems here. 8.5/10 Expert in particular had a couple of problems, but still pretty decent overall. BE PRINCESS Hard: 2.75/3 No major problems here that I can see. The jackhammer 8ths are a little harsh, but it's a valid form of difficulty :P There were a few relatively large empty spots that could use a 4th or two, but overall, this was quite a good chart. Expert: 2.5/3 This feels like a real ITG chart all right, what with all the facing left :P Solid chart however, with well designed stepjumps and good use of 16ths - although I think a few 16ths early on didn't quite go to anything. You know, in the part that made me think I'd left assist tick on my accident the first time Everything Else: 2.5/4 Pretty standard graphics, song is suitable in terms of being happy hardcore but the vocals CAUSE ME PAIN. x_x Also, Stepmania (for me at least) just cut off the song before the fadeout, that's something you probably should've addressed. 7.75/10 Pretty solid overall. BREATHE Hard: 2.75/3 Good chart, all the rhythms used made sense and were fun to play, and no obvious problems in step placement. However, I think the steps should have ended slightly earlier rather than you trying to put them down during the breakdown - the 12ths were a bit weird and I didn't much like the series of freezes on the same arrow. Expert: 2.5/3 A bit like Bad Boy with the 24th bursts, but I think they work better here. This chart does feel awfully similar to Hard however, it feels like you mostly just turned a bunch of single steps into jumps, changed the arrows in the streams, added the 24ths and put mines everywhere. It's different, but not that different. The end does feel less awkward however. Everything Else: 3.75/4 Good graphics, good song choice, but bare-minimum-content readme. 9/10 Pretty well done file overall however. CHEAP TRICK KINDA GIRL NOTE: The OSC5 administration should be aware that I played this file before it was released in the ITG bracket (for testing). Up to them as to whether they want to count this review or not. Hard: 3/3 Really no problems at all that I can see. Fun steps, good use of 16ths, nice recurring 12ths bit, jumps on cymbals, and so on. Mines are also easily ignorable Expert: 2.5/3 'Hard with more' again, but most of the extra 16ths make sense and the mines are still ignorable enough. Hands are nice and reasonable too, which is good to see. It does feel a bit heavy on the doublesteps and spins to me, tho. Everything Else: 4/4 Fitting enough song, good graphics, excellent BG script (and detailed readme). 9.5/10 Great stuff! CLEAR BLUE WATER NOTE: I wrote this before I heard it was DQ'd, so I'll leave the review in. It's a shame, to be sure Hard: 2.5/3 An authentic feeling Bend Your Mind clone! The hands are fairly well designed and reasonably placed, although I didn't really like the forced freeze spins as much (but BYM uses them, so I guess it's ok) and the gallops felt a bit arbitrary and would probably be better replaced with stream. These felt a lot like official steps, however, so that's cool. Expert: 2.5/3 More freezes than an Ultramix song, but they fit the theme Pretty similar to heavy for the most part, but there were some crazy freezes in the middle that I don't even know how you'd do short of doing a handstand on the pad or something (stuff like hold D+R, then hold U+L while still holding D+R, then release D+R and continue holding U+L, then hold D+R again) but I think you'd probably just have to do a lot of little hops while holding your position. Anyway this probably shouldn't be a 12 because while it's beyond BYM expert in difficulty, BYM is only a 10. 11 would probably be more correct, but I'm not sure. Not bad, anyway. Everything Else: 3.5/4 Pretty average graphics, but this is the best song I've heard so far in the bracket and excellent ITG material. Nice choice! 8.5/10 This certainly feels like it could be in the next ITG. DAYS DREAMER Hard: 1.75/3 These look alright at first glance, but upon closer inspection they're riddled with double steps and weird twisting that I don't think fits, and there's nothing overly imaginative about the rhythms used. It'd still be fun with better designed steps, I think. Also, this is a 7 at best. Expert: 0.5/3 Sorry, this isn't great. The weird 24ths used early on don't seem to fit, but even if they actually do (I'm not positive) that's really the least problem. Steps placement is as awkward as Hard, there are a bunch of 32nd length freezes everywhere for no apparent reason (seriously, what was the deal with that? O_o) and a bunch of 8th length freezes at seemingly arbitrary locations later on. Add to this the 16ths while holding a freeze arrow and general lack of flow of the steps and I really didn't find this too enjoyable, sorry. It's also not much of a 10 but yeah. Everything Else: 2.5/4 Alright graphics (although artist name is missing from BG). There are probably better Technic Beat songs to choose for ITG, but oh well. 4.75/10 Sorry. I enjoyed Metaphors and Ichirin no Hana was okay, but I've got some pretty severe issues with this file. Not your best :/ DEVASTATION Hard: 1.75/3 No glaring issues with step placement, but it's like the chart can't decide what difficulty it wants to be and switches between really slow steps, or standard 8 foot type steps, or a bunch of 16ths, or that 24th machinegun run that was far harder than anything else in the song. It just wasn't terribly interesting or fun for me. Expert: 1.75/3 Pretty much the same as Hard, but with even more variable a range of difficulty. The minespam towards the start felt pretty pointless and this is again not that interesting or fun. I don't really think the song helps, tho. Everything Else: 3/4 The graphics are again pretty average, and you get a bonus for making your own song but much like Kang's 'Hell Fantasy' in TM6, while being a good enough song in its own right it's just not at all suited to any kind of dance game. Also, your sync does weird things later on... I'm going to assume it's still right since you made the song, but it's quite confusing. 6.5/10 To be honest, I think you should have made a second KB chart and entered the KB division instead. The song is much better suited to KB play, IMO. DON'T CHA Hard: 2.5/3 Not bad. A few double steps (like the parts where you have to crossover L-D-R and then hit L again right afterwards, that's a bit annoying) but other than that there's nothing wrong with it. Expert: 2/3 I'm a little torn on these. The middle part with the 16th runs was pretty cool (especially the first few) but the one early in the song feels out of place to what surrounds it and there's more double stepping here. Also you face left waaay too much in these steps, but again was this done for ITG authenticity? Heh. Everything Else: 3/4 Pretty average graphics, decent choice of song. 7.5/10 Not bad. EMERALD SWORD Hard: 3/3 No problems at all! Nice broken up 8th streams, well designed steps with good crossovers, and good use of jumps and mines. Well done! Expert: 3/3 Brilliant! Well placed jumps, reasonably designed stepjumps, and well placed 16th stream that actually matches the song. Not to mention, no double stepping. No problems at all, excellent chart! Everything Else: 4/4 Great graphics, cool song, hilarious video, decent enough readme and doubles steps! There's nothing more I could want, other than maybe a lyrics file but ITG doesn't show lyrics anyway, so that's not a problem. 10/10 That was legendary. ENDLESS JOURNEY Hard: 2.5/3 Not bad! A bit heavy on the freezes for my liking, and a few too many 16ths for an 8, and the hands don't really leave you a lot of warning or time to execute them, but it's still pretty decent. Expert: 2.25/3 Firstly, thanks for doing your stepjumps properly Not all the 16ths made sense to me, and the 16th crossovers were a bit harsh, and it had a few pointlessly short freezes but overall this wasn't bad at all. Everything Else: 3.75/4 Nice graphics, cool song. You could say there was precedence in ITG, namely Da Roots. Banner is cut off slightly in my ITG theme however. 8.5/10 A well made entry. Good job! GRADATION zomg bestest evar 11/10 Actually, this is my file, so there's no review here. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN MELLOW Not a particularly mellow remix... :P Hard: 3/3 Nothing wrong here that I can see. The steps all make sense to me, even the gallops, so good job I guess. (Hard score multiplied by 2 due to lack of Expert chart) Everything Else: 2.5/4 Okay graphics, weird and rather fuzzy video, weird song :P I'm going to take off a small amount of points here however for not having expert steps, otherwise it wouldn't be fair to the people who got less marks for expert than hard. Also, banner is slightly cut off. 8.5/10 Not bad! Just really weird. Given that I'm not sure if I'd play it again just due to sheer weirdness factor. I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME Hard: 2/3 These steps weren't too bad (I liked the use of jumps in particular) but there were a few purple and then even orange arrows that probably shouldn't have been there (I understand the drumroll ones, but the others are a bit questionable). There was also a fair bit of double stepping - not too bad at this BPM, but the steps would flow better without it. Expert: 1.75/3 Expert shares the same problems as Hard, but makes the double stepping worse by putting it into 16th streams (and also some 16th crossovers or even spins I think). The oddly coloured arrows later on are still here too and not all the 16th streams seem to make sense. Everything Else: 2/4 Graphics are okay, but this song does not belong in ITG in any way shape or form :P It's just not very 'dance'able. The song cut used was also a bit short for ITG and banner is significantly cut off (right now it makes it look like the song's name is "Anna Talk About Me") 5.75/10 Honestly, I think you'll be able to do a lot better than this if you take care to work out your steps on pad to avoid double stepping and pick better music :P Careful with the 32nds or whatever as well, you'll find they rarely need to be used. IDENTITY Hard: 2/3 I dunno. For the most part, these steps are pretty good, but then you have the stupid BPM tripling over the freeze arrows. If it had just been a freeze I would have just thought "oh, that's kind of neat", but apparently I am also meant to be able to read and hit a couple of steps during each one at triple speed. Are you insane? -_- There was also a bit of double stepping later on. The end run was pretty hard but I guess it's not enough to make it a 10 by itself... Expert: 2/3 Shares the same problems as Hard while managing to have more double stepping (at least early on) and some pointlessly short freezes. The 16th stream seemed fine however so I guess it evens out. Maybe more of an 11? I'm not sure. Everything Else: 2.75/4 Good song, and alright graphics (although they're used straight from O2Jam and the banner is slightly cut off). Bare-bones readme however, and when you made your Crazylegz Edit you probably should have edited down the intro a little more. (Also your name shouldn't be on the directory just because you edited the song) 6.75/10 Decent steps marred by poorly executed BPM gimmicks and some double stepping. INNER UNIVERSE Hard: 2.25/3 It's a rather quiet song to have steps this difficult. I didn't really get what the 8th stream at the start was meant to be going to, it was just there. The few green/orange arrows were a little suspicious, but there weren't too many. The step difficulty seemed to fit in a bit better near the end once the song got a bit louder (I had to turn my speakers up just to play this... :P) but the gallops seemed arbitrary. Well executed slowdown at the end, although I'd have preferred it without the 32nds at the start I think. I think there was also some double stepping near the end... Expert: 1.75/3 I was hoping you might follow the background sound or something, but it looks like you just took the 8th stream from Hard and replaced it with 16th triplet after 16th triplet after 16th triplet. It feels more than a little arbitrary and repetitive to be honest. The green/orange arrows are back in full force again and I'm again not sure what they're for, it looks like you're trying to approximate a 12th stream without actually using 12ths? O_o I think 12ths would work much better... It also has some rather counterintuitive, twisty steps which are made even harder to follow by the mines. I suppose this could be considered challenge, but I wouldn't find it to be a very enjoyable challenge. :/ Everything Else: 2.75/4 Nice graphics and beautiful song, but I don't think the song itself was a good choice for this competition. On a plus side you have a decent readme, although you kind of oversell your expert steps a bit :P 6.75/10 To be honest I have no idea what I'd do with this song, so I suppose this is as good an effort as any (minus the oddly timed arrows in parts). JUMP Hard: 2.5/3 Not too bad, but not stand-out good either. There were a few parts where the flow could be improved a bit, but no big deal. I liked the jumps on the obvious audio cues Expert: 2.75/3 I liked this a bit better than hard, especially the effective usage of hands. I don't have a lot more to say about it, tho. Everything Else: 3/4 Decent enough song choice and graphics, although your readme's a bit minimal. Eh, no matter. 8.25/10 A fairly good, if not stand-out amazing entry. KISS ME Hard: 1.75/3 This was a shame, because it started off well then you fell victim to overusing 16ths. Especially if you're aiming to make a 7, it's a much better idea to stick to sensible 8ths for most of the song and maybe the occasional 16th where it fits. In this case I think you tried much too hard to follow the vocals exactly which led to a bunch of gallops followed by yellow arrow syndrome but also gaps that were too large when she wasn't saying anything. You also had these brief 16th runs that made this more of an 8 at least in difficulty. It got better again towards the end, but the middle just isn't pretty due to excessive karaoke-stepping - it's usually not necessary or warranted to follow vocals that closely especially in song with a decent beat like this one. Expert: 2/3 I liked this a bit better than Hard, I guess because the 16ths felt more fitting in the context of a 9. It still follows the vocals too closely during the middle, however. Everything Else: 2/4 It's a song that's already in PIU if people want to 'dance' to it - couldn't you have thought of something more original? :/ The graphics are alright, but they are just the PIU graphics (albeit with some editing work, I know). I think you also should have cut the video to remove the bit at the start which shows the old BG, because it's kind of a waste bothering to edit it if the player doesn't even get to see the right one at the start anyway. 5.75/10 It makes a lot of beginner mistakes, I think, but that's excusable and I'm sure you'll improve with some more experience MARIO TAKES A WALK Hard: 0.5/3 The first time I loaded this up I had absolutely no idea what was going on - seemingly random arrows everywhere of all the colours of the rainbow, and it was full of double stepping to boot. The BPM seems correct, hence your 0.5 points, but I have no idea at all what the rest of the arrows are meant to be going to. If it's a gap issue, it's much too severe to be remedied by autosyncing, and I'm not going to sync your file for you beyond doing that. Expert: 0.75/3 Basically the same as hard. The big runs in the middle were the only parts I could actually figure out as going to something in the music, the rest seemed just as random. Everything Else: 2/4 Fairly standard graphics (picture with text, etc). Song choice not really suited to ITG, I think even if this were synced properly it'd be better off as a keyboard file. 3.25/10 If you give me a gap value that makes this file make sense, and it's allowed by OSC rules, I may be able to re-review this. But as it stands it's basically a non-stepfile. __________________ Last edited by Xythar : 07-29-2006 at 04:17 AM.