DJ Max Technika [PLATINUM CHRISTMAS ~GLOBAL DJ MAX VIP CLUB~]

[DizzyBum]

Ooh, very shiny cabinet. Looks like I've got to get down there before the machine magically disappears!

[dustyfang]

I wish Upstate New York had arcades

that have/would be getting technika :|

[Empathy]

Wow that Future Play video was pretty wicked sick haha.

[KMasaki]

Holy crap I just got back from playing technika. It's... fun. Amazingly fun. Perhaps the best thing to come out of the whole Metro Project- nay, a culmination, I guess you could say. But it's not without a scathing grading system, strict timing, and a VERY fragile life bar.

A few impressions:

The top attract screen is significantly smaller than the 47" IIDX screen. However, what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality: the graphics are gorgeous, with an interface that's incredibly polished and a nice touch-up on old Portable and Portable2 MVs that were beginning to show their age. The touch screen is slightly less detailed, but when the sweep lines are rushing in, you don't really have time to notice.

Lite mixing has a few exclusives: To You was one. I... can't remember the other. XD The life bar is much more lenient- complete with expressions. Yes, like such:

(T_T)(;_(._.)(>_>)(^_^)() - something to that effect.

Pop Mixing, the game's normal mode, is where most of your time will be spent playing. Difficulties span the gambit, with STOP being a brutal 5 while The Clear Blue Sky is a sorry excuse of a 7. So far, I haven't seen anything past 7- even during the final stage.

Grading is ridiculous. 3 Breaks will send you into C territory, while you can still F and song and clear it. One break can destroy almost an eighth of your life bar. Complete measures (without breaks in your combo) will add bonus health to your life bar.

At the Break location, there is no network, and thus Platinum Mixing is not available for selection. You can still accumulate Max points, however. And as a note: Only scores saved under Platinum Crew cards will be carried over to the next day. All non-member high scores are erased and reset. (As noted by one of the guys at the location test)

DO NOT BE FOOLED; THIS IS NOT AN EASY GAME. In fact, I was lured into the trap on how easy it was (Ladymade Star boosted my ego quite a bit), only to eat dirt on Final Stage (Lover). Many were failing on first stage. I must have put $5 in the machine alone just to try and pass Your Own Miracle. And when you think you're in the clear, the game will throw you for a loop (see: STOP, I Want You TM, To You TM, Blythe). Even if you know most of the songs, you'll be shaking your head, admitting you've been bested again by Penta.

Technical Mixing is IIDX Expert class for... the more adventurous types. Given select genres, you're allowed to select three songs from said genre to play. The fourth stage is a mystery "Boss Song". While your life bar doesn't get hit as hard in PM, you're faced with a new challenge: in the first stage, you must pass with more than 75% of your life bar remaining. The second, 50%. The third, 25%. And the boss song, all your health bar is given to you. Dipping below said levels fails you early. Recovery is practically non-existent; no health is returned to you upon completing a song.

There is a headphone jack. I didn't use it. The music was crystal clear and twice as loud as the IIDX machine a mere ten feet away.

Everyone there said the game was tough, but also very fun. There was about six of us playing off and on; we all had our share of first stage fail-outs, but no one really seemed to mind. Hopefully this will mark the beginning of seeing Technika as a standard in popular arcades... whatever's left of them.

[Dan.]

^
Good writeup, I agree with most everything KMasaki said. I've been spending a lot of time with Technika this week, so I can also give some thoughts.

Song grading. Based on what i've seen, S rank is a 100% Max full-combo, A rank is full-combo (with high Max % maybe), so breaking your combo guarantees you a B or less based on your accuracy. I should also point out that top song scores will not save unless you actually complete your entire 3 song set (plus non cardholder scores are wiped daily, intentional I presume?)

Best advice I can give to someone trying Technika for the first time, play your first set on LITE mode!! Whether you're pro at other music games is irrelevant, it really takes a couple songs to get the "feel" down for the game, but once you do you'll find that your skill increases very quickly. Also some songs on Pop stages 1/2 can be brutal, so watch what you pick.

Card-related bug i've noticed, I can't get a personal score to save for "Closer" on Pop stage 1, no matter how many times I clear it. Might be known already, but thought i'd mention it.

PS: Who is DJ LUCENTAI? You were the only one with scores on the machine when it arrived, Cali player?

[ThatsGobbles]

Originally Posted by Dan.

^
Good writeup, I agree with most everything KMasaki said. I've been spending a lot of time with Technika this week, so I can also give some thoughts.

Song grading. Based on what i've seen, S rank is a 100% Max full-combo, A rank is full-combo (with high Max % maybe), so breaking your combo guarantees you a B or less based on your accuracy. I should also point out that top song scores will not save unless you actually complete your entire 3 song set (plus non cardholder scores are wiped daily, intentional I presume?)

Best advice I can give to someone trying Technika for the first time, play your first set on LITE mode!! Whether you're pro at other music games is irrelevant, it really takes a couple songs to get the "feel" down for the game, but once you do you'll find that your skill increases very quickly. Also some songs on Pop stages 1/2 can be brutal, so watch what you pick.

Card-related bug i've noticed, I can't get a personal score to save for "Closer" on Pop stage 1, no matter how many times I clear it. Might be known already, but thought i'd mention it.

PS: Who is DJ LUCENTAI? You were the only one with scores on the machine when it arrived, Cali player?

Oh wow, that means that it's the same machine that was at the very first location test at UCLA. LUCENTAI is one of my friends who won a Technika OST during the tournament, so he actually got a card early.

As for the bug with Closer, yeah, it has been noted already, and I would have thought that PM would have fixed it by now, but if they just shipped the machine straight to you guys without fixes (hence leaving the scores intact), they will probably fix it for the final release.

Has anyone tried Technical mode yet?

[Spiritsnare]

Before I comment back to you guys, I'm going to pimp out my Technika guide for people who need a handy quick 'n dirty reference. :d That said --

Originally Posted by KMasaki

Pop Mixing, the game's normal mode, is where most of your time will be spent playing. Difficulties span the gambit, with STOP being a brutal 5 while The Clear Blue Sky is a sorry excuse of a 7. So far, I haven't seen anything past 7- even during the final stage.

Technical Mixing is IIDX Expert class for... the more adventurous types. . . . Recovery is practically non-existent; no health is returned to you upon completing a song.

Yeah, the highest rating you'll see in this build's Pop mode is 7, shared by Blythe, Sweet Shining Shooting Star, and Son of Sun. Technical mode has 8s that are selectable (The Clear Blue Sky HD, WhiteBlue HD, Keys to the World HD) and 9s that aren't (the boss songs).

You can recover in Technical like you would in any other song; as you progress, the lifebar recovery (not to be mistaken with the lifebar itself, which I believe stays the same) gets harder, but not to a point where it is impossible to recover.

Originally Posted by Dan.

Song grading. Based on what i've seen, S rank is a 100% Max full-combo, A rank is full-combo (with high Max % maybe), so breaking your combo guarantees you a B or less based on your accuracy. I should also point out that top song scores will not save unless you actually complete your entire 3 song set (plus non cardholder scores are wiped daily, intentional I presume?)

Card-related bug i've noticed, I can't get a personal score to save for "Closer" on Pop stage 1, no matter how many times I clear it. Might be known already, but thought i'd mention it.

You're right on the money with the criteria for an S rank, but it is indeed possible to break and still get an A, as if I remember correctly, it's based off of percentage. So, breaking once or even twice on a song with a lot of notes (like, say, Blythe) and still coming out with an A is possible.

As for the high score list, yes, it's wiped intentionally so that people can't "stack" their scores by having more than one entry. Similarly, Platinum Crew members cannot save more than one high score per ranking table; whenever they beat their high score, the machine overwrites their existing one.

And, finally, yeah, it's been reported.

[coldman64]

Originally Posted by ThatsGobbles

Has anyone tried Technical mode yet?

Yea. Kmasera described it already in his post. This is basically the harder of the modes so far. ( I don't know about Platinum, since I don't own a card and the machine wasn't online yet.)

[Dan.]

Originally Posted by Spiritsnare

Before I comment back to you guys, I'm going to pimp out my Technika guide for people who need a handy quick 'n dirty reference.

Nice guide! Highly recommend it.

So EOTM isn't in our version? Damn, but least I know what's at the end of Customizer course now

Also, If anyone is struggling on a certain song, this YouTube account has the chart for every song in Pop mode:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

[Spiritsnare]

Originally Posted by Dan.

So EOTM isn't in our version? Damn, but least I know what's at the end of Customizer course now

Yeah, definitely not; and if you did have the updated version, you'd have to unlock it through Mission Mode anyway :>

Also, yeah, have fun with Customizer

[SoupNBread]

I notice on the front page it still show Technika being at Howie's Game Shack... I was down there last Sunday and the machine was no longer there. In it's place was some random racing cabinet

[Dan.]

Yeah, would be great if someone could update the front page. I have no idea how many cabs are still in CA, but I talked to the owner of 8otB yesterday and he said the Technika here is expected to be permanent. I'll let you all know if that ever changes.

[ThatsGobbles]

Originally Posted by Dan.

Yeah, would be great if someone could update the front page. I have no idea how many cabs are still in CA, but I talked to the owner of 8otB yesterday and he said the Technika here is expected to be permanent. I'll let you all know if that ever changes.

There's no cabs in CA anymore.

[Dan.]

So i've played a fairly decent amount this past week, since there really hasn't been many people playing when I go late afternoon/evening.

Card rank has advanced so far:
Beginner -> Trainee -> Amateur -> Rookie

I've cleared every song on Pop stage 1 & 2. Stage 3 songs left to clear: Lover, Landscape, Fury, WhiteBlue, SweetShiningShootingStar, Son of Sun. Haven't cleared any courses yet.

Fun game overall, Technical mode is really challenging.

[Spiritsnare]

It hasn't already been a week and you're already a Rookie? Damn, haha.

The player we've got here at SVGL who's progressed the most got to Pop DJ before they took down the machine. That's over the span of, ah, I dunno, a month. See how fast you can progress :>

Also, if you want quick clears on things like WhiteBlue, I advocate the use of Right Wipe. It helps. A lot.