DDR Universe Feedback

[KDEA JC]

Hi everyone,

I would like to know what you all thought of DDR Universe for Xbox 360. Likes, dislikes, any comments would be helpful!

Without the community, these games would not be what they are today.

You guys are the best!

Sincerely,

JC Rodrigo
Konami Digital Entertainment

[Cali]

Universe was pretty bad. Probably the second worse release US has seen, aside from Ultramix 1. Some ok songs, but a lot of terrible step charts, there was a couple of good things (like the onis to the older songs, Hot Limit being on there) But it was the only DDR mix I did not buy (and I wish I didnt buy UM1 either.)

[Ashura96]

Like:

*All of the new Konami Originals and Remixes (i.e. ON THE JAZZ (Smooth House Mix))

*Continuation of Power Courses

*Challenge difficulty steps added to older songs.

Dislike:

*Bland text on top of song banners

*All the good songs/ all hidden songs have to be unlocked in Quest mode (Please make it more like Ultramix 3 where songs can be unlocked by Quest Mode OR a special condition.)


Overall Universe is a decent game, I like how it really is a continuation of the Ultramix series.

[Cali]

Dance Dance Revolution Universe Xbox 360 Review Index, Dance Dance Revolution Universe Reviews
Theres average reviews, and one sites review of a 3 outta 10

Dance Dance Revolution UNIVERSE

Theres what everyone thought of it, Its in the old Universe thread.

Here we go. Im going to list what was good, and what was bad.
~Good~
There are a couple good remixes (I.E. Broken My Heart Remix, Tsugaru Remix)
There are some good challenge steps to old songs, especially implementing elements that werent available when those songs were released (I.E. Freezes in Ecstacy)
The interface was new and interesting.


~Bad~
Redoing all backgrounds in crappy art.
Bland black font on all the banners.
Way to many bad liscences
Almost all Konami originals and cross overs are featured on other games
Almost no new KO content song wise (that is available offline)
Maximizer oni steps were repetitive and boring.
Jondi and spesh is good at remixing songs, not at making songs.
Castlevania Freestylin Mix. First of all, you shouldnt name a song after a game, when it could have a specific name of the song or songs its interpreting, second of all, the song is miserable.
Misrating songs, especially songs that are already rated. Infinite Prayer a 7? Thats almost as bad as the candy <3 fiasco.
Quest mode was a joke.
Ultramix 2 was awesome, 3 was decent, 4 was ok, 1 and universe were miserable.

[KDEA JC]

"There are a couple good remixes"

JC: Which were good song remixes in Universe?

"interface was new and interesting"

JC: Like, did you guys like the way it scrolled? The way it looked? Would you rather have other sort options?

"too many bad licenses"

JC: Like which ones? Which music artists would you like to be in the game?

[Cali]

Originally Posted by KDEA JC

"There are a couple good remixes"

JC: Which were good song remixes in Universe?

"interface was new and interesting"

JC: Like, did you guys like the way it scrolled? The way it looked? Would you rather have other sort options?

"too many bad licenses"

JC: Like which ones? Which music artists would you like to be in the game?

Good Song Remixes
Broken My Heart (Cuisimo and Co. Starlight Mix)
Tsugaru (Or-If-Is Mix)
Healing Vision Gridlock Mix was a good song, but the steps were horrid.
Return of the Toe Jam was ok.

Interface
More sort options is always nice, the I didnt like the scrolling, but I liked the way it looked, the colors, the background. I hated the menus, because they are in a very generic bland font.

Liscences.
Redo the licenses, dont just pick up to much music to put in DDR, Have someone remix it! DDR SN has fairly bad liscences, mainly because they arent remixed. Supernova2 has licenses thare are all (as far as I know) remixed. I love supernova 2s Licencing. Ive never liked ANY of the Xbox games liscences. US songs are fantastic, but I cant emphasise enough, remix, make them a little different. Also, try to stick to dance-able music. Now, My Favorite things isnt really dance-able, but they remixed it and made it danceable.

[Reenee]

Worth stickying.

second of all, the song is miserable.

BullSHIT. One of the best songs ever.

I'd like to chime in on the whole part of the lack of a Course-type mode. I know you guys are trying to be different but if you guys want to "one-up" Konami's Japanese devs, I'd say make some Nonstops or more variety of Power Mixes to be played online. I would really, really appreciate at least Nonstop AND make it customizable online too because of being able to communicate with others over Xbox Live.

I think this is somewhat obvious but if you guys are using Phantom, why not make something that's the opposite of it? Phantom goes from Sudden to Hidden so why not have a visibility modifier go Hidden to Sudden too? I don't think it's practical though.

A more fleshed out Beginner's Mode. I think it's about time all players knew how to crossover. Or at least know about it. You know, put in the stuff needed to graduate from Beginner to Basic, Basic to Difficult, and Difficult to Expert.

Always could use more Oni charts. Enough so that Oni is actually showing up with its own foot rating on the songwheel.

Almost all Konami originals and cross overs are featured on other games

I don't think this is a bad thing. People should be able to play older Ultramix songs. A nice handful of them should be nice.

Total shot in the dark but Doubles/8-Panel should be advertised more. Greatly underappreciated.

Quest Mode needs to touch on the modifiers.

I'll think of more later.

[ΩOMEGAΩ]

I got to be honest with you, its pretty bad.

I would like to see more songs from the arcade versions, thats what people play, and that what MOST people want to play.

Also the dance pad that came in the bundle was pretty horrible too, it gets scrunched WAY easier then the PS2 ones.

The theme also hurt my eyes, it was too bright!

I also hated the Dance Master Mode, I liked SuperNOVA's better then that!

[KDEA JC]

Thanks everyone! Keep it coming. I'm reading all of these myself. =)

-JC

[New Folder]

My only complains were the generi-banners and the bs difficulty of the quest mode regional dance offs. The song list was hit or miss, with gems like Brightness Darkness (hint: IIDX crossovers are good), Sky High, and Return of the Toe Jam. But PLEASE can you guys never put songs like Indian Summer, there's a rhythm, we are connected, or loops.


Anyways, thanks for the game!

[Brazoliange]

I agree that IIDX (and Pop'n Music) crossovers are a great addition in general to DDR, whereas licenses generally tend to be a miss and KO's can really go either way as of late. I'd personally suggest Waxing & Wanding by Ryu* from IIDX.

I only got to play Universe a bit. The way you did the song wheel was interesting, but it was also a bit hard to access the songlist as easily. Overall it was a breath of fresh air, but I probably would not prefer it to the 'tried and true' DDR scroll wheel in the long run.

The Tsugaru remix was nice, and I really appreciate that you guys gave it an actual 10-footer chart.

An example of a good license you guys picked for the game would be Slam by Pendulum. Honestly I would suggest trying to get some of the older Dancemania stuff which is not on current arcade or home versions and try to bring it back. Other DanceMania stuff which hasn't been on DDR before also tends to be good candidates for licensing. A big thing to stay away from in general (imo) is more of the mainstream music. 'Big-name' American pop/rock stars such as Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, or Fallout Boy generally don't make for good danceable music (imo). A license I might suggest would be Go Berzerk by Scott Brown (which again, was also in IIDX).

More Oni charts (both rhythmically complex and 10-foot/difficult ones, although I understand you guys don't have the most control over that) are always a plus to the 'hardcore' players.

I'm not very helpful, but thanks for coming on here to ask for opinions. It's really heartening to see developers interact with the community and know that Konami isn't just churning out generic games to make money from the crowd that will buy each release regardless of content.

[sports]

JC, is there any chance you and the folks at KDEA can get Konami of Japan to listen to our input for AC SN1 and SN2?

[KDEA JC]

Originally Posted by Brazoliange

It's really heartening to see developers interact with the community and know that Konami isn't just churning out generic games to make money from the crowd that will buy each release regardless of content.

Hehehe, I came onto the DDR team not too long ago, and I really want to see the community of DDR players have a say. Now that I work very closely with the producers, your voices will be heard. =) These guys are really, really busy, and they're doing a fine job, but I'm sure they'd like to do the same thing, like, ask the music game fans to see what they like and what they don't like. However, due to time constraints, the producers may not have the time to do things such as this...but, that's why I'm here. thanks for the post! Keep it coming! =D

[KDEA JC]

Originally Posted by sports

JC, is there any chance you and the folks at KDEA can get Konami of Japan to listen to our input for AC SN1 and SN2?

Well, since those projects are handled by Producers at Konami of Japan, I'm not too sure...

...however...

I will do my best to pass this information along to the ring of Japanese producers. hahaha, I was only able to post this thread because the Producer for Universe gave me the thumbs up to do this...so, i'll probably have a heck of a time to get Japan to allow me to do this as well. hehehe! =D

[Daggett]

DISLIKES::

- Song banners. The white & black text on every banner looked pretty bland and "cheap". I think the Extreme/SN/Ultramix style banners would fare much better for UNI2.

- The framerate. I didn't like the fact that I had to turn videos off for the arrows to scroll at 60fps.

- No arcade style Challenge/Oni mode. Power courses are great addition, but I still think the series needs an additional course mode with a battery/"4 chances or you're dead" lifebar.

- License selection - A lot of the techno licenses seemed to be downright boring.

- No alternate song unlock methods. The majority of UNI1's Quest Mode unlock system relied more on luck than skill. There should be different methods to acquire certain songs like UM3.

LIKES::

- License selection - Some of the other new licenses were pretty damn awesome. September '99, Everytime We Touch, Youngmen Blues, and Don't Play Nice were my personal faves. One thing that's missing from the UM/Universe series is a huge rock license with a good stepchart. Supernova CS did it with Dance, Dance, I think it's time for Universe to have one too.

- Some nice classic DDR revivals like Hot Limit and Sky High. I'd love to see some more license revivals from MAX2 AC or 5th mix.


- The interface. Banners aside, the new songwheel is great. I didn't feel lost trying to find a specific game mode. Two small things I'd like to see changed:


1. Song grouping(i.e. have song title text in different colors to represent their song origin, like in the UM series and SN).

2. Show oni difficulty ratings.


- The new Bemani crossovers. Brightness Darkness and Tir na Nog had amazing stepcharts. It'd be great to see more IIDX and Pop'n crossovers!

- New oni charts. It's awesome to see fresh, challenging charts for classic songs.


On a side note, we need a 2.5x speed mod!