Bemanistyle [dot] com Forums - View Single Post - DDR Bracket 01

Xythar · 08-05-2006, 12:44 AM

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KAGEKIHA

Steps: 5/6 You made me go load up Tsugaru to see if it actually uses 32nds as well so thanks a lot >_> And it does, so I can't complain too much about them here, but they feel kind of pointless because you can just hit them as a jump and get perfects. You wouldn't think you'd be able to copy a DDR song's step style pretty closely and yet be really weird and unconventional, and yet you managed to :P Also, I don't know how PH managed to not double step during this, I'm having a hell of a hard time with that.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 I didn't know lrxevan made music! This is pretty cool, and the graphics are great as well. The artist name is a little tricky to make out but I understand the effect you were going for. Nice videos too, although the one from Horizon looks a little out of place with the rest. That one stop really pisses me off, tho.

8.25/10 I sort of get the feeling this whole file is too complex for my puny brain to handle.

UPDATE! I increased the step score by 0.25 points because PH posted a large and detailed image. Fine, so there's less double stepping than I thought, but I still don't personally enjoy the level of turning you have to do in order to not double step on this chart, hence the score not being higher than that.

LAST REGRETS (XMAS DANCE MIX)

Steps: 5.5/6 Pretty good! A bit heavier on the freezes that I'd like, but they flow pretty well. I especially liked the bit near the end with the jumps. There were a few parts where it looked like you would have wanted to use ITG rolls but since this is the DDR division you just used freezes instead, heh.

Everything Else: 3.25/4 Fairly good graphics and decent song choice. A little light on the extras and readme, tho. Also, steps during the fadeout are probably best avoided.

8.75/10 Pretty solid and fun, if not the best of the best.

LET ME STAY

Steps: 5.5/6 I still think you could have followed the synth a little closer at the start and end, but I liked the placement of the jumps. Just not the long stream towards the end of the intro. The middle was fine, no problems with it, although the step-jumps are pretty hard in the context of a 7. Nonetheless, it's quite good, and I felt the outro worked better than the intro in terms of steps.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Good song choice, pretty good graphics (as I've said, I like how the text looks) although the BN is practically the same exact image as the BG, heh. Could use a lyrics file or something, tho >_> Also, BGsux.jpg needs that speech bubble! XD

9.25/10 Fun stuff!

ONE HEART

Steps: 5.25/6 These steps walk the line between too karaoke and not, but I think in this case they work pretty well, although I didn't really understand why the song got harder at the quiet bit. I like how you weren't afraid to make this easy, although with some of the long streams (particularly during the aforementioned quiet bit) and forced freeze spins it's debatable as to whether this is really a 6 or more like a 7 (although I admit to also doing the latter in a 6 - SPARK!, specifically)

Everything Else: 3.75/4 This song actually almost works for DDR, since it has a beat to it. Decent graphics too, and lyrics file!

9/10 I like this a lot better than your ITG entry. Well done!

PARASITE WORLD

Steps: 3/6 I liked some of the 16th usage but not other parts - mostly the bit earlier on where it was a paired gallop back and forth that matched the music. The other gallops (that went around the pad) felt a bit arbitrary by comparison. Good jump use, tho. Um, it's a shame you didn't finish the last third or so of your steps, however, so I can only rate what you've done out of 4.

Everything Else: 2/4 I suppose the song choice works well enough, but the graphics are a bit lacking, and much like the guy who made Xepher in OSC4 you need to learn how to compress a video so you can include it as opposed to just saying "download this video from the media shop and drop it in the folder, thanks". Also, it's usually customary to finish your heavy steps >_>

5/10 This probably would've been good if it hadn't been regrettably torpedoed by an acute case of Over Drive Standard Syndrome. But how do you not notice that when it's on heavy?

RADIO STAR

Steps: 6/6 I love these steps - they're simple but they work so well. The right amount of stream, good use of 16th arrows to match the melody, fun crossovers, etc.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Great song choice, nice graphics, and lyric file! It seems to be missing a line or two, tho...

9.75/10 This has to be the best first file ever.

RAGNAROK ONLINE TEMP IT UP

Steps: 4.75/6 It might be the song's fault, but these were pretty repetitive and uninteresting for me. Technically sound, but on my first play I was wondering just how much longer it was until it was over. Also, I think freeze arrows were a little overused, but at least you didn't try and put 8ths during them or something.

Everything Else: 2.75/4 Decent graphics except your song name as specified in the SM doesn't seem to match the song name in the graphics. The song isn't that great for DDR I don't think as it's so repetitive, and your cut was a little long especially given that.

7.5/10 I wouldn't say there are any major problems with the steps, but at the same time I wouldn't really play this again.

ROCK STEADY

Steps: 6/6 There's really nothing wrong with this that I can see. The steps are placed well and match obvious elements in the music, and you were nicely light on the 8th stream.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Good graphics, but no extras really and the speedup on that last arrow broke my full combo >

Given the song and challenge chart I should ask why you didn't switch this with A New Ray of Light but I'm pretty sure you considered this already and everyone else is going to ask the same thing and I'll just save my breath. :P

9.5/10 Another file that basically meets expectations.

SEVEN

So is this meant to be like GO with 7 beats per measure...? Guess not

Steps: 3/6 I wasn't a huge fan of these. The 8th stream at the start seems pretty arbitrarily placed, like Lisek you spin too much, and there's a lot of doublesteps in general. There are a lot of parts which feel copy/pasted due to having the same step pattern over and over and it doesn't do a lot for facing in one direction too much either. And the difficulty was wildly inconsistent - you go from really slow steps following the piano to the OMGWTF GIANT 16TH RUN in the middle and then back to really slow steps again. It's like the file can't decide whether it wants to be a 8, 6 or 10 and it averages out to 9 somehow. Also, that one 16th double-hit on one arrow early on felt sloppy.

Graphics: 2.25/4 The graphics were okay, but not really that pleasing to the eye and I didn't really get what they had to do with anything. The song, despite being by DM Ashura, was a bit subdued and repetitive for me, and the readme was only the absolute bare minimum of content.

5.25/10 This one just feels very amateurish, although the song choice might not help. Don't hesitate to try again after you've had some more experience, tho.

SHAKE IT DOWN

Yeah, this is my file, so no review. :P

THE GREAT BLUE SKY AND THE STARS ABOVE

Steps: 3.5/6 It's well synced, but it's not very fun. There's too much empty space (including time spent holding freezes) that contrasts too heavily with your faster steps, like the 16th gallops and runs. Unless you fill in that space with some more steps, it just kills any flow your simfile might have had. I thought it improved a bit towards the end with the 8th streams but those were a bit double-steppy, too. Try and be a bit more creative next time and fill in the gaps a bit better.

Graphics: 1.75/4 The graphics were basically just images with MS Paint text added, and this song just does not make for good DDR in any way, considering it's just background music. It's also a bit lacking in extras or any kind of detail in the readme.

5.25/10 You can follow the music exactly, but that's not what making good DDR steps is about. Following the music is secondary to making steps that flow well and are fun to play on feet (as opposed to keyboard files that can follow the music exactly because that's what people expect, although I think this song is also too simplistic for a good KB file). Your song choice certainly did you no favours, but you need to work on making interesting steps as well.

THESE EMOTIONS

Steps: 3.25/6 Aurgh, freeze arrow abuse! Way too many freeze arrows here and most of them seem to go to nothing at all, not to mention more short freezes than anything else I've seen so far in this bracket. The steps follow the music too closely to the point of awkwardness and weren't really a lot of fun to play.

Everything Else: 2.25/4 Not the best choice of song in my opinion, but better than some of the others in this bracket. Banner was alright, but the BG looked like you just took the album cover and resized it (possibly adding "These Emotions", I'm not sure, it's not really prominent enough either way). Pretty minimal readme, but at least it includes a lyrics file, I guess. However, it is entirely too long and you should have ended at the L+R freeze instead of having steps during the fadeout.

5.5/10 Another file that suffers from trying to follow the music too closely. I'd say to play more of the official or high-ranking files and see how they handle things instead.

TORI NO UTA

Steps: 5.5/6 Pretty good! I would've started them about a measure later and I wasn't sure what a few of the 16ths were going to, but overall these used jumps and freezes well and had well thought out placement of stream and some fun crossovers. I thought the end was fine too, not too excessive or anything. Well made all round.

Everything Else: 4/4 Nice graphics, and the song choice is technically from a Bemani artist

That was a cool trick with the video, I thought for a moment you hadn't included one. Great transition from BG to video, too.

9.5/10 This is how to do an anime file.

UNDER THE SEA

Haha, was there something in particular they made this for? XD

Steps: 5/6 Not bad. There were a few gaps which I thought were overly large due to following the music perhaps a little too closely (which also led to maybe a few too many yellow arrows) but overall, it was pretty fun.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Great graphics and fun song choice. It could use a lyrics file or more detailed readme, tho.

8.5/10 This is a pretty good entry, I had fun with it.

YOU RAISE ME UP

Steps: 5.5/6 I wasn't that fond of some of the freezes or freeze jumps, but on the whole this was good. 16 perfects makes it the new sync winner or something, I dunno. :P

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Good song choice, great graphics, but it's relatively light on extras (like a lyrics file).

9.25/10 There's nothing much wrong with this entry, although it's not one of my absolute favourites in the bracket. Feels pretty authentic in any case.

08-05-2006, 12:44 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	20K POST SIZE LIMIT KAGEKIHA Steps: 5/6 You made me go load up Tsugaru to see if it actually uses 32nds as well so thanks a lot >_> And it does, so I can't complain too much about them here, but they feel kind of pointless because you can just hit them as a jump and get perfects. You wouldn't think you'd be able to copy a DDR song's step style pretty closely and yet be really weird and unconventional, and yet you managed to :P Also, I don't know how PH managed to not double step during this, I'm having a hell of a hard time with that. Everything Else: 3.75/4 I didn't know lrxevan made music! This is pretty cool, and the graphics are great as well. The artist name is a little tricky to make out but I understand the effect you were going for. Nice videos too, although the one from Horizon looks a little out of place with the rest. That one stop really pisses me off, tho. 8.25/10 I sort of get the feeling this whole file is too complex for my puny brain to handle. UPDATE! I increased the step score by 0.25 points because PH posted a large and detailed image. Fine, so there's less double stepping than I thought, but I still don't personally enjoy the level of turning you have to do in order to not double step on this chart, hence the score not being higher than that. LAST REGRETS (XMAS DANCE MIX) Steps: 5.5/6 Pretty good! A bit heavier on the freezes that I'd like, but they flow pretty well. I especially liked the bit near the end with the jumps. There were a few parts where it looked like you would have wanted to use ITG rolls but since this is the DDR division you just used freezes instead, heh. Everything Else: 3.25/4 Fairly good graphics and decent song choice. A little light on the extras and readme, tho. Also, steps during the fadeout are probably best avoided. 8.75/10 Pretty solid and fun, if not the best of the best. LET ME STAY Steps: 5.5/6 I still think you could have followed the synth a little closer at the start and end, but I liked the placement of the jumps. Just not the long stream towards the end of the intro. The middle was fine, no problems with it, although the step-jumps are pretty hard in the context of a 7. Nonetheless, it's quite good, and I felt the outro worked better than the intro in terms of steps. Everything Else: 3.75/4 Good song choice, pretty good graphics (as I've said, I like how the text looks) although the BN is practically the same exact image as the BG, heh. Could use a lyrics file or something, tho >_> Also, BGsux.jpg needs that speech bubble! XD 9.25/10 Fun stuff! ONE HEART Steps: 5.25/6 These steps walk the line between too karaoke and not, but I think in this case they work pretty well, although I didn't really understand why the song got harder at the quiet bit. I like how you weren't afraid to make this easy, although with some of the long streams (particularly during the aforementioned quiet bit) and forced freeze spins it's debatable as to whether this is really a 6 or more like a 7 (although I admit to also doing the latter in a 6 - SPARK!, specifically) Everything Else: 3.75/4 This song actually almost works for DDR, since it has a beat to it. Decent graphics too, and lyrics file! 9/10 I like this a lot better than your ITG entry. Well done! PARASITE WORLD Steps: 3/6 I liked some of the 16th usage but not other parts - mostly the bit earlier on where it was a paired gallop back and forth that matched the music. The other gallops (that went around the pad) felt a bit arbitrary by comparison. Good jump use, tho. Um, it's a shame you didn't finish the last third or so of your steps, however, so I can only rate what you've done out of 4. Everything Else: 2/4 I suppose the song choice works well enough, but the graphics are a bit lacking, and much like the guy who made Xepher in OSC4 you need to learn how to compress a video so you can include it as opposed to just saying "download this video from the media shop and drop it in the folder, thanks". Also, it's usually customary to finish your heavy steps >_> 5/10 This probably would've been good if it hadn't been regrettably torpedoed by an acute case of Over Drive Standard Syndrome. But how do you not notice that when it's on heavy? RADIO STAR Steps: 6/6 I love these steps - they're simple but they work so well. The right amount of stream, good use of 16th arrows to match the melody, fun crossovers, etc. Everything Else: 3.75/4 Great song choice, nice graphics, and lyric file! It seems to be missing a line or two, tho... 9.75/10 This has to be the best first file ever. RAGNAROK ONLINE TEMP IT UP Steps: 4.75/6 It might be the song's fault, but these were pretty repetitive and uninteresting for me. Technically sound, but on my first play I was wondering just how much longer it was until it was over. Also, I think freeze arrows were a little overused, but at least you didn't try and put 8ths during them or something. Everything Else: 2.75/4 Decent graphics except your song name as specified in the SM doesn't seem to match the song name in the graphics. The song isn't that great for DDR I don't think as it's so repetitive, and your cut was a little long especially given that. 7.5/10 I wouldn't say there are any major problems with the steps, but at the same time I wouldn't really play this again. ROCK STEADY Steps: 6/6 There's really nothing wrong with this that I can see. The steps are placed well and match obvious elements in the music, and you were nicely light on the 8th stream. Everything Else: 3.5/4 Good graphics, but no extras really and the speedup on that last arrow broke my full combo > Given the song and challenge chart I should ask why you didn't switch this with A New Ray of Light but I'm pretty sure you considered this already and everyone else is going to ask the same thing and I'll just save my breath. :P 9.5/10 Another file that basically meets expectations. SEVEN So is this meant to be like GO with 7 beats per measure...? Guess not Steps: 3/6 I wasn't a huge fan of these. The 8th stream at the start seems pretty arbitrarily placed, like Lisek you spin too much, and there's a lot of doublesteps in general. There are a lot of parts which feel copy/pasted due to having the same step pattern over and over and it doesn't do a lot for facing in one direction too much either. And the difficulty was wildly inconsistent - you go from really slow steps following the piano to the OMGWTF GIANT 16TH RUN in the middle and then back to really slow steps again. It's like the file can't decide whether it wants to be a 8, 6 or 10 and it averages out to 9 somehow. Also, that one 16th double-hit on one arrow early on felt sloppy. Graphics: 2.25/4 The graphics were okay, but not really that pleasing to the eye and I didn't really get what they had to do with anything. The song, despite being by DM Ashura, was a bit subdued and repetitive for me, and the readme was only the absolute bare minimum of content. 5.25/10 This one just feels very amateurish, although the song choice might not help. Don't hesitate to try again after you've had some more experience, tho. SHAKE IT DOWN Yeah, this is my file, so no review. :P THE GREAT BLUE SKY AND THE STARS ABOVE Steps: 3.5/6 It's well synced, but it's not very fun. There's too much empty space (including time spent holding freezes) that contrasts too heavily with your faster steps, like the 16th gallops and runs. Unless you fill in that space with some more steps, it just kills any flow your simfile might have had. I thought it improved a bit towards the end with the 8th streams but those were a bit double-steppy, too. Try and be a bit more creative next time and fill in the gaps a bit better. Graphics: 1.75/4 The graphics were basically just images with MS Paint text added, and this song just does not make for good DDR in any way, considering it's just background music. It's also a bit lacking in extras or any kind of detail in the readme. 5.25/10 You can follow the music exactly, but that's not what making good DDR steps is about. Following the music is secondary to making steps that flow well and are fun to play on feet (as opposed to keyboard files that can follow the music exactly because that's what people expect, although I think this song is also too simplistic for a good KB file). Your song choice certainly did you no favours, but you need to work on making interesting steps as well. THESE EMOTIONS Steps: 3.25/6 Aurgh, freeze arrow abuse! Way too many freeze arrows here and most of them seem to go to nothing at all, not to mention more short freezes than anything else I've seen so far in this bracket. The steps follow the music too closely to the point of awkwardness and weren't really a lot of fun to play. Everything Else: 2.25/4 Not the best choice of song in my opinion, but better than some of the others in this bracket. Banner was alright, but the BG looked like you just took the album cover and resized it (possibly adding "These Emotions", I'm not sure, it's not really prominent enough either way). Pretty minimal readme, but at least it includes a lyrics file, I guess. However, it is entirely too long and you should have ended at the L+R freeze instead of having steps during the fadeout. 5.5/10 Another file that suffers from trying to follow the music too closely. I'd say to play more of the official or high-ranking files and see how they handle things instead. TORI NO UTA Steps: 5.5/6 Pretty good! I would've started them about a measure later and I wasn't sure what a few of the 16ths were going to, but overall these used jumps and freezes well and had well thought out placement of stream and some fun crossovers. I thought the end was fine too, not too excessive or anything. Well made all round. Everything Else: 4/4 Nice graphics, and the song choice is technically from a Bemani artist That was a cool trick with the video, I thought for a moment you hadn't included one. Great transition from BG to video, too. 9.5/10 This is how to do an anime file. UNDER THE SEA Haha, was there something in particular they made this for? XD Steps: 5/6 Not bad. There were a few gaps which I thought were overly large due to following the music perhaps a little too closely (which also led to maybe a few too many yellow arrows) but overall, it was pretty fun. Everything Else: 3.5/4 Great graphics and fun song choice. It could use a lyrics file or more detailed readme, tho. 8.5/10 This is a pretty good entry, I had fun with it. YOU RAISE ME UP Steps: 5.5/6 I wasn't that fond of some of the freezes or freeze jumps, but on the whole this was good. 16 perfects makes it the new sync winner or something, I dunno. :P Everything Else: 3.75/4 Good song choice, great graphics, but it's relatively light on extras (like a lyrics file). 9.25/10 There's nothing much wrong with this entry, although it's not one of my absolute favourites in the bracket. Feels pretty authentic in any case. __________________ Last edited by Xythar : 08-08-2006 at 11:03 PM.