New to IIDX

[xII Zephyr IIx]

Hey guys,

Great forum you have here. Seems like alot more people are into this game then I expected. Anyways I'm starting out with beatmania, and I grabbed a JPKOC and I downloaded Lunatic rave 2. I had a few quick questions, do you have any suggestions for songs I should start out with? Maybe ones that would give me a feel for all the different types of beats or note patterns? Or that would cater to a "beginner". Also Any tips for a new comer to the game?

[Bromeo and Fooliet]

Pick up Beatmania US and start from there. It's like 10 bucks at Gamestop and will get you from beginning all the way to level 9s if you're persistent.

[xII Zephyr IIx]

oh ok cool. I heard that Beatmania US was pretty terrible but i'll take your advice, I just need something to start with. Will the transition from this game to the actual Japanese games be pretty easy?

[IDeathI]

yea its the same except with a large songlist than the US version. Lunatic Rave 2 is somewhat different in terms of the groove bar or thats what I see. They do have a large amount of user made song and official charts from the emulator forum area, sherl0k post.

[Deca]

It'll teach you the mechanics of the game and allow you to start building muscle memory and technique and whatnot, but make sure you're aware that the grading scale in bmus is much more lenient than in the japanese games. Otherwise you'll feel like you took a huge step backwards moving to japanese mixes and have no idea why.

Aside from that you really shouldn't have any problems. The health bar in bmus seems to be about the same as usual so you won't be in for any weird surprises there.

Bmus isn't really terrible, it just has a very limited song selection. However, they selected some really good songs, and provided a very nice difficulty spread for beginning players. If you find yourself getting really stuck at some point with it, but are still interested in learning the game, I would recommend picking up a japanese mix or two. (personally I got the most out of 6th and 7th when I was starting out)

I say this because my friend was stuck around 6s for a long time, and was having trouble motivating himself to keep going. Just in the past couple weeks I brought all my games up to his place and let him play whatever he wanted, giving him access to a few hundred new songs. In the past week or two he's managed to pass his first couple of 8s. He's more excited about playing 2dx than ever, and is consistently improving now.

But yeah, to summarize, BMUS will do the job starting you out and has good songs on it. If you start to get frustrated with it/ feel your progress is tapering off, considering picking up a couple japanese mixes.

[xII Zephyr IIx]

ok Cool then it looks like I'll have to go pick that up today. Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated.

[xII Zephyr IIx]

I really hope I can get the hang of this game over time, it seems to have a decent following in the US and plenty of releases. I used to be really good at DJ Max but it kinda got boring after awhile.

[Bromeo and Fooliet]

Yeah, while not the best mix EVER or anything like that BMUS is perfect for the beginner because of both how cheap it is, and how they provided a substantial number of relatively easy tracks to play right from the start.

The only huge huge problem I have with it is the fact you have to play every song at least once in order to unlock it in Free Mode.

[xII Zephyr IIx]

ok well that seems like a definite good start. If I become interested in switching to the Japanese games in time I'll just "borrow" my girlfriend's ps2 hehe. She has a flip top and swap magic.... so I just need the game.

[Deca]

If you decide to get ahold of some of the japanese releases, Empress might be a good place to start just because of the Premium Best disc. It'll help you catch up on the series and sort of give you a sampling of all the past styles. Very good bang for your buck assuming it doesn't have any retarded timing issues (if the last 2 games are any indication it should be fine)

At the same time I might recommend playing the pre-9th games before that, just because a lot of players that start out on the newer interface end up having problems playing on the older one. I just hate seeing people miss out on all the great older songs.

[Exagon]

Just don't get Happy Sky CS, that's all. Every other style has the same timing (and by that I mean 9th, 10th, RED, DD, GOLD, DJT) but HS is just an outlier. So avoid it.

Oh and don't listen to anyone that says "x style is good for beginners" because every style is good for beginners, since they have a beginner mode.

[Bromeo and Fooliet]

Actually I would get any style that's before 10th for beginning into the JP styles. That way you wont get horrendously spoiled by Sud+ mods and .5 Hi Speed options.

[xII Zephyr IIx]

Yeah I'm guessing the high speed modes are like that of DJ Max and DDR right? More or less it speeds up the notes but spaces them out so they are easier to read? Yeah it made DJ max alittle easier to memorize note patterns.

[Bromeo and Fooliet]

Yeah it's p much the same. In 10th Style and onward they implemented .5 speed mods, which made things alot easier. I say avoid those for your first style so you can not be hindered in ability by old styles because they lack the same features as the newer ones.

[D.J.JSRF]

Newer styles got much more features and functions such like Sudden+.Old styles can be much more difficult without them,so,play the newest one.