[lrxevan]

Rating system is 6 points for steps, 2 for graphics, 2 for technical stuff like BPM and the like. Tilt is not used most of the time, and what it is, is quite simple: say that I gave you a poor score on graphics, which brought your score down. Graphics aren't terribly important so I make up for it in the tilt score for your overall. If you have problems with that, you can just pretend the tilt score is part of the steps score. Enjoy!

EDIT: Changed sachny's score to accurately reflect it's 9/10 rating.


24
Steps: 4/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 6.5/10

This is technically sound, if a little boring. There's nothing here that really grabs you. I would

say my biggest problem with this file is that it's not fun, which is, believe it or not, important.

Sorry, boss.

Action Radius
Steps: 3/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 5.5/10

You definitely get points or originality, here. It's a 10, it's very DDR-like (in the sense that it

makes its own rhythm instead of following every sound made), but like 24, it just doesn't grab me.

Adding another arrow every time a new part in the song comes up doesn't make for a fun simfile, even if

it is a 10. It feels like there are just a million arrows compressed into a small space, just so you

can have your 10 rating.

Ai~n! Dance no Uta
Steps: 5.5/6
Graphics: 1/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: +.5
Overall: 9/10

The steps here are very, very well-done, as are most files done by sanchy. There are a few problems

here, however; I feel you went a little overboard in general, but mostly at the end, where the file

suddenly makes a huge jump in difficulty. This isn't IIDX.

In any event, this is one of the better files in bracket 1. Nice work. I gave you some tilt because

the graphics aren't so hot, but graphics aren't that important and I figured you deserved the point

back... I think that makes sense.

Blow Me Away
Steps: 1/6
Graphics 0/2
Tech: 1/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 2/10

This chart is double-steppy, repetetive, and unoriginal. The BPM is incorrect (Blow me Away is NOT 198

BPM). The sixteenth-notes were excessive and unncessary. Graphics have two properties: they can

either add to a great file, or subtract from a bad one. In this case, it is definitely the latter.

Please rethink your approach to steps in the future! You know how mechanics work, obviously, but there

are many things you could have done to make this simfile work. The BPM gimmick was done correctly and

works pretty well, by the way.

Disco Dog
Steps: 2.5/6
Graphics .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 5/10

Aside from your background image being the best thing I've ever seen (but not really in a way that gets

you a high score -- it looks like an OWNED! image), this simfile is not notable. It comes from yet

another simfile author who makes primarily keyboard steps, and it shows. A lot of the transitions,

rhtyhms, and patterns prevailant in Disco Dog would not work in a dance-game enviornment. Playing this

on a pad felt uncomfortable and unnatural, which even the hardest 10s in DDR manage not to do.

Domino
Steps: 3.5/6
Graphics: 1/2
Tech: 1.5/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 6/10

Domino has ADD in the worst way. If the BPM ain't broke, don't fix'it, captain.

BPM gimmicks don't make files good. A lot of beginning simfile authors use BPM gimmicks as a way to

make their files interesting and as a way to grab attention, but I'm telling you now, it doesn't work

unless the file is also notable and interesting in other ways, which Domino isn't. The intro should

have been several seconds shorter, and the synth should have started sooner. Please continue to make

steps in the future, as you have potential, but this file just doesn't make the cut.

Dragostea Din Tei
Steps: 3/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 5.5/10

Once a song has been stepped enough times, it's time to retire it. Dragostea Din Tei reached the

breaking point about six months ago, and the only way I would retract that statement is if someone

actually stepped it well, which they haven't yet. (You'll notice there's no space for song selection in

my reviews anywhere, so calm down.)

The steps are too simple, even for a seven-step. I apprecaite the spirit of this file, but it's

boring. You probably play ITG a lot. The vocals are followed ridiculously closely, and the jumps

included are added arbitrarily and without much thought.

Dream of You
Steps: .5/6
Graphics: 1/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 3.5/10

There is no phrasing present in this file. The file has a syndrome I have not named yet (and I hope is

not named; we have enough cute words flying around in the simfile community as-is) where it just kind

of keeps going until it ends. There are no quarter beats that are not jumps. There are no eighth-runs

that aren't bizarre turns. The stepchart is aesthetically displeasing. The synth section is nearly

nonsensical, the song is cut badly, and the graphics make poor use of beveling. There are no notable

sections, because each section is almost the same. the_ditz can do better.

Emoticons
Steps: 4/6
Graphics: 1.5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: +.5
Overall: 8/10

There is a lot to say about Emoticons. It's cute, cheery, and infectious, and I'm not just talking

about the song. There is a lot of style in this file, and it completely overshadows some of the

blemishes the file has, which include some moderately annoying double-stepping and inappropriate freeze

arrows. But it's just so damn fun, anyway.

Geno's Woods
Steps: 1/6
Graphics: 1/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: -.5
Overall: 3.5/10

Geno's Woods is similar to Disco Dog in that it seems to come from someone who does keyboard steps more

than DDR steps. It actually started out kind of okay, and then went down hill about the time the

massive freeze-jumps and sixteenth runs started. This is not an 8 step. As a matter of fact, it would

be nearly impossible to rate on the DDR scale.

This is also a poor choice for a song to step in DDR, and no, it's not because I dislike the song.

Orkybash is actually an old friend of mine, and he's quite musically gifted. This just isn't the song

for this type of medium. I've taken -.5 in tilt for that.

Go Berzerk
Steps: 2.5/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 1.5/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 4.5/10

Bevels ruin good text.

In terms of steps, this starts out okay. At first my only concern was the use of the short

jackhammers, but they were used sparsely enough where it could have been the primary justification for

the song's 9 rating, but then something interesting happens when I see in simfiles a lot. We'll call

it "flailing."

Flailing occurs when a simfile author runs out of ideas and realizes he still has to somehow make the

next half of the song work, and then realizes that the second half of the song is exactly like the

first half.

Golddiggers
Steps: 3/6
Graphics: 1.5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 6.5/10

I don't hate Golddiggers, as it is somewhat obvious that the author was trying to create a good,

wholesome, classic DDR atmosphere here. I'm not sure if he/she succeeded or not. Some of the turns

present here are way too much. A wise man once said, "There is a time and place for everything, and

it's called Paranoia."

Hikari (Inukami)
Steps: 0/6
Graphics: 0/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 2/10

In order for this file to succeed it, it has to rely on a lie; people aren't sick of poorly done anime

files. There is no rhyme or reason to most of the steps here, hold for the almost completely

unnecessary 16th notes. A large percentage of the time, I was trying to find what I was dancing to,

and I couldn't.

Kagekiha
Steps: 2/6
Graphics: 1.5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 5.5/10

I'm willing to bet that this file was created on a very old computer, because I had to resync it myself

before I could start playing it. There will be no tech score penalty because gaps are relative, but

it's just something I should note to ranatalus: try to make your files on newer computers, because

people are going to be asshats about your gap and they shouldn't be.

What they perhaps SHOULD be asshats about, however, is the completely random nature of this chart. I

am, in case you guys don't know, the song's original author, and even I can't hear what is being

followed most of the time. The song, as I wrote it, relies on the strength of the beat and on the

weaknesses of the offbeats -- which are what they stepchart desperately tries to draw strength from.

This is incompatible in a pretty large way. Couple that with the large amount of

spinning/doublestepping and rather unremarkable implementation of turns, and this file just can't work.

Last Regrets
Steps: 3.5/6
Graphics .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 6/10

This was a pleasant surprise. It's not often you play a file with a generic anime girl in the banner

that doesn't depress and disappoint you, so take that for what you will.

This file has fun, easy-going steps that aren't bad, and aren't great either. This is a good example

of a file that doesn't do anything amazingly well, and has its (rather serious, even) flaws, but

manages to still be fairly entertaining. A tip: try to avoid large amounts of activity in certain

sections in songs like this one. There is just too much activity in certain places, and some freeze

arrows could use adjustment.


Let Me Stay
Steps: 4.5/6
Graphics: 1.5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 8/10

So even with the high rating I gave this file, I don't like it. Oh, don't get me wrong, it deserves

the score, it just doesn't sit right with me. Step-jumps are a very delicate thing, and you threw them

in without really thinking about why or how many there were going to be in the end. There are several

awkward turns, but what this chart lacks in flow it makes up for in marketability; the look, the feel,

and even the graphics add up to a very professionally marketed simfile that manages to pretty much

destroy my rating system.

One Heart
Steps: 3/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 5.5/10

Average. Goes on too long without really making a statement worth listening to, for the time

investment required.

Parasite World

Unfinished, no score. (0/10)

Radio Star
Steps: 6/6
Graphics: 2/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 10/10

When I do reviews for simfiles, rather than looking for ways to add points, I look for ways to remove

them because I feel like it creates a more honest rating than if you build from the ground up.

With Radio Star, I simply can not find a single place to remove points. Radio Star is fantastic. It

is fun, professional, and aesthetically pleasing. There are no outright problems, and Jesterline has

even gone so far as to include multiple CDTitles for those of you who would rather have a "jesterline

originals" cdtitle.

There aren't many simfile artists who are capable of creating an atmosphere that just feels like

it came from a real Dance Dance Revolution title. Jesterline... are you Konami?

Ragnarok Online TeMP It Up
Steps: 1/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 3.5/10

Too many freezes, too many crossovers, too much double-stepping. This file isn't very fun.

Rock Steady
Steps: 4/6
Graphics: 1.5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 7.5/10

Rock Steady is what would happen if Max 300 and Drop Out proliferated. It represents a love child too

horrifying to speak of, a genetic experiment, a lamentable plight. The steps are actually pretty good,

but they are repetetive and predictiable, much like its "parents'" steps. The graphics are good, but

look a lot like the graphics from most other jammitch! simfiles. The challenge steps, which aren't

rated, are also higher-rated than is possible in DDR. The author has this to say:

Yes, this is harder than my ITG entry. However, in the words of Ken Kutaragi:
"I believe we made the most beautiful thing in the world. Nobody would criticize a renowned architect's

blueprint that the position of a gate is wrong. It's the same as that."
So there. Neener neener.

I read this as "It's an 11-step. So what, I'm jammitch!" DDR doesn't have 11-footers, and last I

checked, this is a DDR competition.

Make no mistake, however; despite my comments that seem contrary, this is a good simfile. It just

happens to be predictable, conventional, and yet at the same time, doesn't fit the DDR profile.

7
Steps: .5/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 3/10

Holi- I mean, 7, suffers from a disease caused by the song it follows. There is nothing worth

following in this song. It is overall, a fairly poor choice as a DDR song. Hol-, I mean 7, which was

written by DM Ashura, is generic trance with a piano in it (big surprise there) and just doesn't have

much rhythmic activity.

It actually does okay, for what little it has to work with.

That is, it WAS doing okay, until that retarded sixteenth run.

Shake It Down
Steps: 5/6
Graphics: 1.5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 8.5/10

This is serious 3rd Mix jutsu, no joke. Xythar, this is probably your best work to date. Please make

more like this. As a side note the, background scripting was pretty bad, IMO. Could have been a

little more varied, but the important stuff was all solid. Nice work.

The Great Blue Sky
Steps: 1/6
Graphics: 0/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 3/10

There is no creativity at all. As such there is very little to actually talk about. Follows the

melody for almost the duration of the song.

These Emotions
Steps: 1.5/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 4/10

Pretty generic. Very little rhythmic activity, and what activity there was, was done somewhat

incorrectly; very awkward rhythms, here. The slowdown was awkward and poor. This goes on for far too

long, as well.

Tora No Uta
Steps: 3.5/6
Graphics: .5/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 6/10

Above average, but nothing special. Sixteenths were a bit out of place. Otherwise, it was fine, if

not a bit boring.

Under the Sea
Steps: 3.5/6
Graphics: 1/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 6.5/10

I enjoyed this more than most files in the bracket. It has some rhythmic problems, but it's definitely

one of the better 'complex karaoke' files I've played. It's still pretty uncreative and unimpressive

overall, though. Great source material. Good simfiles don't come from following vocals 90% of the

time, they come from experimenting with rhythms and finding what works best; karaoke is lazy in files

like this!

You Raise Me Up
Steps: 4/6
Graphics: 2/2
Tech: 2/2
Tilt: 0
Overall: 8/10

This is a great file. Too many freeze arrows in my opinion, but you did well with what you had to work

with. Very solid stuff.