DDR Bracket 02 - Public Review

[Aeronautical Vigilante]

THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR PUBLIC REVIEW! Discussion = -3 to your score or ignorance of your public review. Take it to the Discussion thread!

Please try and review as many files as you can. The more complete, the chances are your PR will be accepted.

Also, please keep them in forward alphabetical order - even if you actually do them in a different one, sort them into forward alphabetical order for Inc's sanity, please.

This is how the public review works:
Total Points Per Song /10
-Steps /6 - This is the same number the judges work with. Please try to play more than one chart if you can.
-Everything Else /4

The public reviews for each song will be averaged, and then multiplied by 4 to create the /40 of the /100 total points for each song in this round.

Any review can be thrown out by staff if deemed inadequate, irrational, or disrespectful. (Look at the KB ones for an example).

[discovolante]

All in the Way-
Steps: Heavy- Really good. I like what you did with the rhythms in the secnd half. Very DDR-like. 3/3
Challenge- Not that good. First of all it's really not a 9, it's still about a 7 or an easy 8. Second, the sixteenths seem pretty forced here. Could've been better. 1.5/3
Other: I feel like the end of the cut didn't really need to be there, but it's really not enough to dock points. The art is a bit plain, doesn't really stand out. 3/4
Overall: 7.5/10 Challenge chart was kinda unnecessary. Loved heavy.

Bouncin!-
Steps: Inconsistent. Rhythm shifted way too often (and at random points) for my tastes. Loved what you did with the freezes. 16ths following the drums were out of place for the difficulty. 2.5/6
Other: Really good art. Well-synced. 4/4
Overall: 6.5/10 Kind of lacking, good try though. I liked at least that there was a lot of jumps... since it's called "Bouncin'!" ^^

Dancin' In My Dreams-
Steps: With the exception of basically all the synth syncopation, this was great. My problem with the syncopation was that it changed too often, generally not following the synth properly at all. Great otherwise though. 4.5/6
Other: Love it. Art and video are perfect. 4/4
Overall: 8.5/10 Nice work.

Do You Know-
Steps: Heavy- Didn't like where the rhythm was sacrificed for straight 4th notes. Rest was good though. 2/3
Challenge- Same problem as heavy, only sometimes it's on blue notes instead of red ones. And now there's too much doublestepping. I just didn't like it very much overall. :/ 1/3
Other: I like the art. It's not perfect, but it works. 4/4
Overall: 7/10 Ehhh, your steps need work. Shows promise though.

Fuku Wa Uchi-
Steps: Brilliant as hell. 6/6
Other: This probably wasn't necessary, but I would've liked some English or at least the transliteration on the art. Mainly I'm reminded Aoi Shoudou (for Extreme), where I didn't even know what the song was until recently. At least the title in SM is transliterated. The art was great though, and I'm sure the text doesn't matter, so I've decided not to dock anything. 4/4
Overall: 10/10 Really good.

Gasolina-
Steps: This is like Ska a Go Go having sex with The Saints Go Marching In/ Wild Rush. And I love it. A 9 with a lot of character. 6/6
Other: Good art, if kind of plain. Song is a great choice. 4/4
Overall: 10/10 Nice work, a real keeper.

High School Love-
Steps: With the exceptions of the step direction being really repetitve in the first half and the sixteenths not really fitting the feel of the chart, it's great. Reminds me of Love <3 Shine. 4.5/6
Other: The art is terrible. Not only is there no continuity between the banner and background, it's very blurry and is basically just Pop'n-style art pasted on a Google'd background. Umm... sorry, this isn't good at all. It's well synced and everything, but the art's just no good. 2/4
Overall: 6.5/10 Good steps marred by really bad art.

INSPIRATION-
Steps: Not feeling the 9 here. It's a pretty solid 8, I'd say. That said it's really good, I loved it. 5.5/6
Other: CUUUTE! Love the art, and it's well synced. No complaints. 4/4
Overall: 9.5/10 Just missed a perfect rating on the count of a misrate. Great stuff though.

Kickstart My Heart (omg... it's the Crüe...)
Steps: Heavy- Couldn't really feel a lot of the rhythms you were going for here. At least not until the chorus, where it become pretty fun. Not a fan of the doublestepping though. 2/3 (I think 1.75 would be more accurate but that would be kinda awkward)
Challenge- Again, I really can't feel your rhythms for the first half of the song. Just doesn't feel right. Only the chorus isn't as fun this time once it gets to it... :/ Also this feels like an 8 more than a 9. I guess it could pass for an easy 9... Again, doublestepping. Crossovers are fun though. 1.5/3
Other: Sooo early at that slowdown. Great art. 3/4
Overall: 6.5/10 I seriously want to give bonus points just for having the gall to use Mötley Crüe... I'm not gonna though. It was average.

Little Little Princess-
Steps: HIP HOP JAM. Arbitrary 16th note gallops... </3 Not very consistent with them either. Don't like the doublestepping either. End is so weird. This whole stepchart/stepfile is bizarre. Could be a borderline 10. I don't know what to say here... 2/6
Other: Not a fan of the one unnecessary speedup. Art is quirky, cool. 2.5/4
Overall: 4.5/10 Kind of ridiculous overall.

Love is Eternity-
Steps: Heavy- Except for some awkward syncopation (a medium amount) and doublestepping (a lot), this is pretty good. 2/3
Challenge- Syncopation was much better here. Doublestepping was about the same amount of bad. Good though. 2.5/3
Other: I loves me some Sota Fujimori. Cut is definitely too long for DDR. Good art, if kind of inconsistent. 2.5/4
Overall: 7/10 Well, it's the best 10 (or harder) from the DDR brackets so far, I'll let you know that much.

Nagai Yume (the last song, I just wanted to make this alphabetical)-
Steps: Kind of uninteresting except for the jumps... and even those weren't amazing by any standard. 3/6
Other: Love the video, but like You Give Love a Bad Name, it's lifted from a music video channel, so all their crap is still there. Song reminded me of Katamari slightly. And I love it. Name is nowhere in English except on the filename. That's bad. There should be a transliteration that is visible somewhere while playing. 2.5/4
Overall: 5.5/10

Paranoia ~sky~
Steps: Heavy- Really paranoia-like. They definitely succeed in that respect. They're also quite fun, which I personally don't find paranoia-like. So good job pulling that off somehow. Little doublesteppy. 2.5/3
Challenge- Not quite as paranoia-like. Not as fun either. Just doesn't have that fun feeling that Heavy does.. Part with the sixteenths runs is terrible... specifically, why do they start then stop for three measures, never quite going with the music? They're also inconsistent with the difficulty of the rest of the chart. Not so good, Al. 1/3 (should probably be 0.75/3 but, again, that's a bit awkward)
Other: Song was definitely too long. I don't like that the video ends before the steps do. All of the graphics are literally hoisted from DDR which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. One more thing (that won't affect your score): If you are the person that made this or know the person that made this, tell them to ease up on the watery synth. It sounds like someone taking a liquid shit... musically. 2.5/4
Overall: 6/10 Eh, it was alright.

Pump Up the Jam
Steps: Wacky rhythms! Really hard for DDR and, if I may dare, ITG-like. Except for the gallops, which were very DDR, and very fun. I dunno, it was ok. 3/6
Other: Weird art... liked the brackets in the BG. Could be a bit higher quality, IMO. 3/4
Overall: 6/10

Right Now (I thought this would be Van Halen... Halen and Crüe in the same bracket? AHHHH the 80's)
Steps: Uh, this is like a hard Standard chart for the most part. Needs some more Heavy. The rhythms are there for you... Sorry. It wasn't so bad overall, but it just needed a little more oopmh. 2.5/6
Other: Flashy, great art. 4/4
Overall: 6.5/10

Sakura Kaduki (heh heh heh... Sakura)
Steps: Starts a little early, which is no problem on SM but kind of a bitch on pad. (on a hacked ITG machine the steps would be starting during the fade in, or right after :/) Very fun though. Could've been rated a 9, no question. 4.5/6
Other: VERY unique art for DDR. I'd give extra if I could. Stop seemed a little out of place... thank god for those extra points! 4/4
Overall: 8.5/10 Nice!

Samba Brazil-
Steps: Heavy- NICE. I like this a lot. Even the doublestepping was fun to alternate. Couldn't hear all your rhythms but it was just too fun. 3/3
Challenge- I had a feeling I wouldn't like this as much. The runs stink worse than the kind you'd get in Mexico (or Brazil lol). The rest was alright, if similar to heavy. 1.5/3
Other: Yay Captain Jack! Good art, nice sync (though I had to adjust the gap more than usual) 4/4
Overall: 8.5/10 Challenge chart keeps this from getting a 10.

Seasons of Love-
Steps: Very DDR. Except for that one hand that should've been fixed. Could be an 8. Fun though. 4/6
Other: I just want to say that I hate this song, and I have ever since having to sing it in choir. I don't like RENT, either. Again, that's not your fault. Great art, good sync. 4/4
Overall: 8/10

Sphere-
Steps: This is like an 8 or a hard 7. Really. There's nothing going here that makes it a 9. Nor is it very fun. 2/6
Other: Anyone reminded of Xepher here? Hahaha, it's like the same song... Sync isn't so hot. Love the art. Sorry but sync is more important. Arbitrary speedup sucks. 1/4
Overall: 3/10 Out of sync, boring steps.

This Is Love-
Steps: A lot like a slower version of Toxic. The sixteenth+freezes thing didn't feel right. Other than that it was good, but a little generic. 3/6
Other: Great art... very original. On sync. 4/4
Overall: 7/10 Steps could use a little more originality, but it was good, shows promise.

Together- (lots of DDR artists here, huh?)
Steps: Pretty plain, but a solid 7 nonetheless. Liked what you did the jumps and syncopation. 5/6
Other: Yay video. Yay art. It's good stuff. BG is kind of plain and doesn't fit the BN, but what can you do. 3.5/4
Overall: 8.5/10

Tunak Tunak Tun- (OMFG)
Steps: Whoa. Whoa. What the fuck. The part with the sixteenth-note jumps goes with the music at first, then REALLY doesn't. SO awkward, it's like the end of Higher, but throughout the whole chart. Gallops were incorrect as well. With the exception of the verses, this whole chart follows the music very, very poorly. 0.5/6
Other: GAHAHHHH DALER MENDHI. Art was a little low-quality, and the song was just a tad out of sync. 2.5/4
Overall: 3/10 TERRIBLE steps. I mean, bottom-barrel stuff here.

Way of Life-
Steps: They were alright, there was a lot more you could've done with the music though. Doublestepping was fun to alternate. Would be a 9 if it were any faster. Good, not amazing. 4/6
Other: Crazy video... >_> Good art, although the banner is just random compared to the background/video. 3/4
Overall: 7/10 But really that video is gonna haunt me forever...

Wild Thing/Poor Boy-
Steps: A lot more you could've done here. I don't think the chorus is very good... really generic. Liked the runs in the prechorus though. 2.5/6
Other: This is the same band that did Sucks To Be You, which I love. Is this video from Nickelodeon or something? Didn't really like it... Art didn't fit the video, which I think it should've. Should've at least been the same level of brightness. 2.5/4
Overall: 5/10 Average.

Wowowee-
Steps: EXORBITANT?? Ok... I don't agree. I thought this was pretty good in a minimalist sort of way. The gallops were a lot of fun. Pretty much no problems here... 6/6
Other: Don't get the background at all. What does it have to do with the song? Looks like a rescue boat... or something? I dunno, I just would've liked something brighter and more exciting, more like the banner. 3/4
Overall: 9/10 Good steps, very good.

You Give Love a Bad Name-
Steps: Ehh, ok. Nothing really amazing. I guess the 12th notes were different. Kinda boring otherwise. 3.5/6
Other: Video was lifted from MTV. I would've preferred the version without the MTV banners. But it's got a naked lady in it. Art works. 3/4
Overall: 6.5/10

I liked this bracket a bit more. The average was overall better, and what was really good was REALLY good.

[Xythar]

OK here's the first half and then I'm taking a break

Scores are subject to change if I finish rating everything and then decide they're not consistent across the board.

ALL IN THE WAY

Steps: 5.25/6 These were pretty good, but at the same time they felt like 6 foot Standard steps rather than 7 foot heavy steps (and it's not just because there are challenge steps as well). I felt the red, red, red-blue-red pattern was a bit overused at the expense of not following the music as closely as I'd like - the steps all worked fine, but the patterns felt a bit too generic. I liked the end, I would have preferred it if the start was more similar to the end I think.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Alright song choice, alright graphics. It could use a lyrics file, tho, and I probably would have ended the cut a little earlier but this way works too.

8.75/10 Fairly good/professional, I just wish heavy had a bit more to it.

BOUNCIN

Steps: 5/6 I can appreciate that you made an effort to vary your steps for a song which basically consists of the same four bars of music over and over and over, but some parts (like the freezes with three steps) repeated a bit too much for my liking anyway, and I'm not sure the 16ths were really warranted for an 8 footer. There are also some short freezes here and there which could stand to be removed.

Everything Else: 3/4 I liked the graphics, but the song was just so boring and samey throughout that I think it made your file less fun to play than it could have been. It's sort of DDR material but there are probably better choices.

8/10 Technically it's not too bad, but I still probably won't play it much in the future.

DANCIN' IN MY DREAMS

Steps: 5.25/6 These were pretty good, I liked the use of jumps and even the stepjumps worked pretty well but I didn't agree with all the 16ths. A significant proportion of them didn't feel quite right in terms of matching the synth, particularly towards the end - I don't mean that you didn't use enough, just that they were placed a bit weirdly I think.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 I was going to invoke the "eurobeat is more than just Initial D clause" but I guess you wanted to use the video and have the graphics match the video so fine. It's all done pretty well and the song was a decent choice (although I've heard better eurobeat, from both a musical and DDR suitability standpoint, IMO), and I'll ignore the lack of a lyrics file in favour of the inclusion of a video and doubles steps, but the Initial D artstyle is so uglyyyy

9.25/10 Yeah, pretty good. You got a pretty significant bonus for your extras in the end but I probably would play this again all the same although the weird 16th placement will take some getting used to.

DO YOU KNOW

Steps: 5.25/6 They felt a bit double steppy for me at times, and every time you went red-yellow-blue (or vice versa) on "do you know" I think the yellow on "you" was a 16th too early (so it should have been red-red-blue or blue-blue-red). However, other than that, I thought these worked well.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Excellent song choice. Children is a cool song and this is a nice vocal version of it which works well for DDR. Graphics aren't bad either, although there's no extras. I really did like your choice of song however, enough to be worth saying so twice

9/10 This was a pleasant surprise!

FUKU WA UCHI

Steps: 6/6 Really fun! I was a little iffy about the very end, but not enough to take points off for it. I especially liked the main chorus line, with the string of 8ths and then a jump slightly after on the "hey!" or whatever.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 I still don't really like Domino much (especially her faux-Japanese vocals) and the very start of the song makes me want to hit something, but the song works pretty well here, and the graphics are good. No extras, tho...

9.75/10 Best so far in this bracket, well done!

GASOLINA

Steps: 5.5/6 Pretty cool, although the first slow part takes some getting used to. About all I'd say is that it felt a bit sparse at times, you'd have 16ths and then nothing and then 16ths, where it might be more fun to fill in the space a bit. The 16ths late on could also use more variation instead of being on the same two arrows for several triplets in a row. Still, I liked it.

Everything Else: 4/4 The graphics are okay (CD title is a bit too big I think) but it's an interesting song choice with a well executed speedup and a lyrics file too (not to mention the bonus one, hahaha) so I'll give the full 4 here in recognition of technical achievement in particular. Also your readme is hilarious.

9.5/10 Memorable and well made!

HIGH SCHOOL LOVE

WHERE ARE THOSE LYRICS I WORKED OUT

Steps: 5.25/6 Pretty hard for an 8 (long streams, that one bit with 16ths), I think this most likely should have been a 9 although it's pretty easy to score. It's straight 8ths most of the way here, but you use them pretty well and I liked the freeze usage also. There are some parts where it feels like you used jumps unnecessarily (ie, they didn't really go with anything in the music) and some parts where you could have used jumps more, tho. For instance you use two jumps on two synth hits at the start, which makes sense, but then you use two jumps again on three drum hits, I realise three jumps is a bit hard but maybe put three steps instead, or two steps and a jump on the two arrows the player just stepped on, that pattern's usually cool (or maybe even a jump and two steps?). Especially at the end of the middle part because that triple piano chord with drums is so emphasised that two jumps feels like you're just shortchanging it. Also, I think you could have done more with the middle part - that's like the coolest bit of the song, but the steps are mostly the same as the rest except for that one part with 16ths that were probably more than what was necessary (actually, I think I've made the same complaint about Yolcu Mustafa with not using 16ths where I'd have liked to see them and then turning around and using 16ths where they weren't necessary but this is probably mostly a matter of 'is this how I'd step it' rather than 'are these good steps' so it's no big deal). But yeah, I just play that piano bit and it feels like it's missing something, I don't think the standard 8th streams do it justice, it's meant to stand out from the rest of the song and not just be the same as the rest (I realise the 16ths were kind of intended to do this but I didn't really feel it was enough, and I'm not talking difficulty). Sorry, that's just how I felt about it, but either way it was pretty fun and I really do like those freezes with steps on the cymbal hits, they're awesome. Holy crap this is like the longest paragraph I've ever written

Everything Else: 2.75/4 The song choice works pretty well but your graphics are still ugly as sin The text is alright but the character is as always rather pixelly and it seems like you've brought in a random pixelly Google Images background to match. I realise this is your style but it still doesn't exactly look pleasing. You had no excuse not to have a lyrics file this time :P although I only take off points for not having any extras if I was going to give a 4 otherwise, so it doesn't really matter in the end.

8/10 Honestly at this point I think your graphics are the main thing holding you back from a better score, so maybe we need a new scoring system, I dunno. I think I've already used enough words on this review, onto the next :P

INSPIRATION

...Is this seriously your first file? I can't help but wonder if this is someone's alias.

Steps: 6/6 Great! Probably closer to 8 than 9, and I wasn't certain about two of the 16ths, but most of it was excellent and matched the music really well. No other problems, and the ones above I didn't think were worth taking anything off for.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Nice song choice, not to mention that you have hands down the best graphics in the bracket. But it doesn't have any extras, so I can't give the full 4...

9.75/10 Seriously, is this by one of the ex-nDDRo crew (I'm thinking Titiln, but I'm not sure) under an assumed name? >_> Um, if it's not, then you should take that as a compliment, heh. It's just a combination of factors that make me suspicious (such as the file contrasted with the readme, and your account only having two posts and both of them being in the OSC5 forum)

KICKSTART MY HEART

Steps: 5/6 To be honest, I think this one has the problem shared by a lot of other rock-based entries to OSC5 in that it basically just makes you pound out uniform chains of 8ths that don't particularly match the music for 2 minutes. Or at least, it ended up that way at the end, because I went to replay it and it does follow the music a bit early on, then it gets less interesting. It's not particularly bad, but also not particularly interesting and it doesn't make the file stand out much to me. Also, the slowdown at the end could have been a bit more graceful.

Everything Else: 2.75/4 The graphics are good, but I should probably be complimenting the guy who made the image instead, since the text added to it didn't look particularly amazing. Song isn't really what I'd pick for DDR, it's a bit hard to make steps to without them ending up kind of samey.

7.75/10 This isn't really technically bad in any way, but it doesn't stand out to me as a file I'd want to play again.

LITTLE LITTLE PRINCESS

Steps: 3.5/6 I will admit to a certain level of bias here because I am already quite used to the stepfile prepared for VJAMix for this (which is quite different) but even when trying to look at this objectively I just don't think this is that great. It's just a very amateurish stepfile, for lack of a better description - it follows the vocals too closely in some parts and follows seemingly nothing at all in others. Random 16th gallops (which at this BPM aren't a lot of fun) are thrown in where they don't belong. Freezes are overused for no good reason (I especially disliked the 16th gallop-into-freeze bits and saw one or two short freezes too) and the steps on the whole feel too random, they're unevenly spread all over the place without much regard for flow. At least you knew how to avoid double stepping for the most part, tho.

Everything Else: 2/4 The banner could be better, as the contrast between the text used for the title and artist are a bit too great, I think. The BG source image is a bit low quality as well. The song choice is alright, but all the BPM changes were just completely unnecessary - the double wasn't as bad as Domino's because it was so brief, but the numerous halvings were just annoying for the most part. I've played this song a bunch of times on IIDX, and the only time I remember the BPM slowing down was right at the end! Whereas you halve the BPM right before the end and then speed it up slightly for the last few notes, which is just strange any way you look at it considering the song slows down at that point.

5.5/10 Again, your steps'll get better with practice, I think. Just don't overuse BPM gimmicks so much, it's not a good way to make your file stand out other than in a negative light.

LOVE IS ETERNITY (SF SYNTH TRANCE MIX)

Steps: 5/6 In all honesty I think these could benefit from being easier, you do this thing often where you have a yellow arrow immediately followed or preceded by another, whereas just the yellow would also do (and I'd like it better that way). Still, that's pretty much a matter of preference. I found it a bit hard to grasp what some of the later patterns were following, however - they didn't go to the obvious elements in the music that I thought they would. In particular, the part after the first "Love is eternity" felt too early to me - I actually quit out and played light the first time I got there to see if the BPM/gap were off at all and they weren't, so I think the steps are just a bit counterintuitive, or at the very least not what I'd expect.

Everything Else: 3.25/4 Good song choice (I love this song ), and decent banner, but the BG felt a bit lacking to me (not as 'futuristic' as I feel the song should have, and the text was a bit plain). The graphics were alright overall, tho.

8.25/10 Pretty good but it didn't feel completely natural to me.

PARANOIA ~SKY~

Steps: 5.5/6 Ouch. These were really twisty and annoying for the most part, but then you're trying to emulate Paranoia, so I'd say you succeeded admirably in that respect. You have nearly 600 steps here, however, which is really pushing your 9 rating a tad. I think they were designed fairly well without a significant amount of double stepping (just lots of twisting), but I don't entirely enjoy steps like this (especially at this BPM). I liked the wind-down at the end with the red arrows.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Cool song choice, nice banner, but background could need some work as it took me a moment to even see the "sky" element of it. I think the sky should be more prominent, much like the banner, so maybe you should take out more parts of the foreground like that grid or something. Good work on font matching, tho. The videos sort of alternated between cool (especially towards the end) and really annoying (especially towards the start), but I suppose in the end the net effect was positive. Song edit is a bit long.

9/10 This is pretty well made all round, I guess. I think you pretty much succeeded in doing what you set out to.

Note: Please see a few posts down for the remainder of my reviews.

[jesterline]

My judging might seem harsh, but I'd say a 6 = average. So if you think your score is low that's because my judging is kind of low, but it isn't as bad as it seems! Or something.

Also, I liked bracket 1 better. I'm weird.

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All In The Way - Sarina Paris

Steps: 4.5/6
It was good I guess, but nothing about it really stands out. It just kind of boring in

idea.

Everything Else: 2/4
The graphics are pretty bad. Weird bevels, and the base of it is ugly and doesn't really

fit.

TOTAL: 6.5/10

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Bouncin! - H-Corps

Steps: 4,5/6
It seems like you kept trying to do different things with this chart because of how

repetitive it is, which is good, but it felt weird sometimes. Also, you put freezes that

are so short that you don't need to even hold them to get the OK.

Everything Else: 1/4
The graphics are kind of "blah" with the blurry text and everything. Also, it's offsync.

The BPM is too fast, I think.

TOTAL: 5.5/10

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Dancin' In My Dreams - J. Storm

Steps: 4/6
The synthline was kind of awkward and strange, and the rest of the steps were kind of

"boring in idea" which I guess is my new phrase! Too jump, too, at points.

Everything Else: 3/4
The graphics are okay, kind of random anime girl and bg video but I'm sure they fit in

somehow! Right?

TOTAL: 7/10

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Do You Know (I Go Crazy) - Angel City

Steps: 4/6
I'm going to pull this one out again: boring in idea. It's pretty average.

Everything Else: 2/4
The graphics don't match the subtitle on the songwheel, which is pretty weird... The BG

is really blurry too.

TOTAL: 6/10

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Fuku Wa Uchi - Domino

Steps: 4.5/6
Good, kind of average. Nothing really stands out as amazing but it's good!

Everything Else: 4/4
Nothing wrong here.

TOTAL: 8.5/10

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Gasolina (Delaction Remix) - Danny Ray

Steps: 5/6
Finally I have some real feedback to give out. Some parts, I really like what you

did. Others, kind of strange. Mainly, the verse and chorus were kind of weird at points.

Still a fun chart, though!

Everything Else: 3/4
Weird graphics, mainly the background. Nice lyrics and everything, cool beans.

TOTAL: 8/10

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High School Love - DJ Yoshitaka feat. DWP

Steps: 4.5/6
I'm giving out a lot of 4.5s... These steps have a great idea but with some flaws. Like

when you put a jump on the really stressed beat, you would always put one on the silence

before it, which made no sense and did make it worse. Also right before that part with

the huge three stresses eighths, you put two jumps. Just follow it, it will be fine! You

definitely have talent and can make a really good chart!

Everything Else: 2/4
That background looks really pixelated and gross.

TOTAL: 6.5/10

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Inspiration - Eri

Steps: 6/6
Wow, this is definitely the best file of this competition. This is everything Dream Of

You should have been. It has the perfect combination of creative steps and steps that

follow the synth and... I don't really know what to say other than amazing job.

Everything Else: 4/4
The graphics are amazing, the song is amazing, it's just amazing. AMAZING!

TOTAL: 10/10
I didn't even know people made files this perfect. This is the winner of the contest.

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Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue

Steps: 3.5/6
A lot of jumps, pretty crazy. Sometimes I didn't like the steps, sometimes they were

good. You were creative though, which is good. Yeah.

Everything Else: 1/4
This song could have been way shorter, the "chorus" was really repetitive and got

extremely boring and annoying after hearing it like 20 times. The graphics are also just

a cut and paste on a random generic 3D thing, which doesn't really fit the song, which

doesn't really fit DDR!

TOTAL: 4.5/10

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Little Little Princess - Shrine 418

Steps: 1.5/6
Ehh... this chart really had no flow at all. There were a lot of awkward gallops and

freezes that are too short to be held. Just not good sorry.

Everything Else: 1/4
BPM gimmicks... badly compressed/stretched graphics (not really sure which)...

TOTAL: 2.5/10

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Love Is Eternity (SF Synth Trance Mix) - Sota Fujimori

Steps: 2.5/6
You tried to follow the rhythms the whole time, but you really messed them up a bit

throughout the chart.

Everything Else: 4/4
On sync, nice graphics, nothing wrong really.

TOTAL: 6.5/10
This file reminds me of Ultramix. Take that how you want.

----------

Paranoia Sky - NW180

Steps: 5/6
This was really hard to rate. I didn't know if I should rate it as a Paranoia file or a

regular stepfile. It worked as a Paranoia file so you get a FIVE because it isn't all

that amazing but it's good.

Everything Else: 2/4
Bad graphics, and there are already enough Paranoias to go around.

TOTAL: 7/10

----------

Pump Up The Jam - Technotronic

Steps: .5/6
You follow the vocals and melody so close (and fails at it a lot) and it doesn't work at

all. I guess you'll get a ,5 for um... I don't know.

Everything Else: .5/4
When I think of Pump Up The Jam, I think of the 70s and the hair of a skunk. :X :X :X

It's on sync...? Too long...

TOTAL: 1/10

----------

Right Now (Dance Man Remix with The Bandman) - Atomic Kitten

Steps: 4.5/6
Kind of double steppy, but it actually worked. I don't know what to say about this, it's

a pretty good chart.

Everything Else: 3/4
The banner is absolutely impossible to read on the normal theme.

TOTAL: 7.5/10

----------

Sakura Kaduki - Akito

Steps: 1/6
You were trying to follow things that didn't exist in the song... and then a freeze note

orgy following something being plucked?

Everything Else: 2/4
I was going to say the graphics looked nice, but then I read your readme and saw that you

just took them from another game. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm kind of confused

about that.

TOTAL: 3/10

----------

Samba Brazil - Captain Jack

Steps: 3.5/6
Seems kind of messy. Pretty generic until the second chorus which was just kind of

strange.

Everything Else: 2/4
I don't know why you'd step a song called Samba Brazil and not at least use one color of

the Brazil flag. Not a big deal though. A big deal was the cut! What was with that long

section of percussion? That is not good for a DDR cut.

TOTAL: 5.5/10

----------

Seasons Of Love (Gomi's Lair Club Mix) - Rent

Steps: 2/6
This was mostly following the wrong things! A lot of weird things being followed in this

file. Usually it's trying to follow the vocals too closely. Also, freeze orgy!!! Why was

that last note like a 64th freeze?

Everything Else: 3/4
I can't really read the subtitle in the banner. The BG isn't bad and whatever.

TOTAL: 5/10

----------

Xe-sphere - Tatsh feat. K. Nayuki

Steps: 2.5/6
Not sure what's going on here. Really "messy" and weird. There's a lot to follow.

Everything Else: 1/4
Since when do we add BPM and genre to BGs? Also: BPM gimmicks and bad audio!

TOTAL: 3.5/10

----------

This Is Love - Utada Hikaru

Steps: 3/6
I liked the parts where there was a beat mostly. It seems like when the beat dropped

out/became more quiet you didn't really know what to do.

Everything Else: 4/4
Yeah nothing really wrong here! I like the graphics.

TOTAL: 7/10

----------

Together - Smile.dk

Steps: 5/6
These steps are very good! They don't totally stand out but they are really well done,

good job!

Everything Else: 3/4
The background was kind of boring, and the cut was kind of weird.

TOTAL: 8/10

----------

Tunak Tunak Tun Created by Dj ThugLife

I get this strong feeling that you aren't a thug considering you're making a stepfile and

it's to a Daler Mehndi song.

Steps: 1/6
Um, yeah. The TUNAK TUNAK TUN parts were crazy, too hard and off. The rest was pretty...

blah.

Everything Else: 1/4
Terrible graphics... Also you don't put your name on the songwheel no!

TOTAL: 2/10

----------

Way Of Life - Stylophonic

Steps: 2/6
You don't have to follow everything so closely!

Everything Else: 1/4
Went on for too long, atrocious graphics.

TOTAL: 3/10

----------

Wild Thing/Poor Boy - Prozzak

Steps: 5.5/6
Very good! I liked it a lot. I don't really no what to say other than it's quite good!

Everything Else: 3/4
The banner was pretty bad, and the background was kind of bad. But not too bad.

TOTAL: 8.5/10

----------

Wowowee - Willie Revillame featuring Lito Camo

Steps: 5,5/6
Predictable, to be honest, but I really think it works well for this song. It seems like

you were afraid to put in brakes a few times, though. Really good chart!

Everything Else: 3.5/4
The background seems a little weird, like more could be done. But it's good. I really

liked the banner, too. Perfect.

TOTAL: 9/10

----------

You Give Love A Bad Name - Mandaryna

Steps: 3/6
Really.. I don't know... average? It's kind of boring.

Everything Else: 2/4
Bad graphics, and for a while the BPM is doubled.

TOTAL: 5/10

----------

Nagai Yume - Yuki

Steps: 4.5/6
These were actually quite good. I didn't like some of the ending, though. I'm not sure what to say but it was pretty good.

Everything Else: 3/4
The text on the graphics is bad. BAD. Did the BG ever even show up? I don't know, um, but I looked at it and the text is bad. Yeah.

TOTAL: 7.5/10

[Rob00996]

I am reviewing from Z to A with an exception. Nagai Yume will be the first song I review. I will rate Heavy and Oni steps only.

NAGAI YUME

Heavy 4/6

Not bad. The steps at the beginning started off pretty good, the steps reminded me a little of Mahou Na Tobira from DDR. There was an excessive amount of freezes near the end and the steps got more boring near the end.

Extra 3/4

The banner is nice, but there is no background. The video is nice though. This would have been a 2 out of 4 if it weren't for the video.

Overall 7/10

A pretty solid way for me to start off reviewing the 2nd bracket. It could have been alot better though.


YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME

Heavy 1/6

Pretty bad. You should have avoided using 12th notes to try and follow the vocals. Some of the steps or jumps didn't even go to thje beat of anything. ONe thing I liked though is that the stream during the chorus was well placed.

Extra 1.5/4

The banner is ugly. The background is allright. The song choice was pretty decent. This would have been a .5 out of 4 if it weren't for the video.

Overall 2.5/10

So far, it's my least favorite simfile in the bracket. It could have been alot better if you fixed a couple of issues.


WOWOWEE

Heavy 5.5/6

Really fun steps. Nothing wrong except for some double stepping.

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong. The song choice is pretty good.

Overall 9.5/10

Has some really good steps. This would have been perfect if you fixed that double stepping.


WILD THING / POOR BOY

Heavy 4/6

The steps were entertaining, but it was pretty repetitive. The steps could have been a little more diverse.

Extra 2/4

The background and banner were allright, but they had nothing to do with the video. I disliked the video and song choice for some reason, but I will still give you credit for adding a video. This would have been a 1 out of 4 if it weren't for the video.

Overall 6/10

Steps-wise, this simfile is allright. Everything else about it I don't like as much.


WAY OF LIFE

Heavy 5.5/6

These steps were really fun. This would have been perfect if there weren't so much double stepping.

Extra 2.5/4

The background is pretty ugly, and the banner has nothing to do with the video. The song choice would fit for a DDR song. This would have been a 1.5 out of 4 if it weren't the video.

Overall 8/10

Not bad at all. The song reminds me of Get Up and Dance (from DDR) a little bit.


TUNAK TUNAK TUN

Heavy .5/6

I was REALLY dissapointed with the steps. I was expecting better steps. There was just wayyyyy too many jumps with some of the jumps that didn't go to the beat of anything. The streams were repetitive too. There was quite a bit of double stepping at the 16th note steps at the end also.

Extra .5/4

The background was allright but the banner is terrible. The song choice is not bad. You should have also added the video of this.

Overall 1/10

Well, If I had to say one good thing about this simfile, it would be that at least you have it at the right BPM.


TOGETHER

Heavy 5.5/6

The steps were good also. My only problem was the 16th note jumps are awkwardly placed going to the beat of the vocals.

Extra 3/4

The background and banner is good. The song choice is good but the way you edited the song at the end was bad.

Overall 8.5/10

Another really good simfile. The song editing was badly made though.


THIS IS LOVE

Heavy 5/6

I enjoyed these steps as well. The double stepping actually worked well with the song but the only problems are that the 16th note freezes felt wierd and didn't go well.

Extra 3/4

I can't see the background that well, but the banner is good. The song choice is good as well.

Overall 8/10

A pretty good file. I would play it again.


SPHERE

Heavy 1.5/6

I didn't like these steps that much. The jumps steps at the beginning weren't that good. The steps were just boring.

Extra 1/4

The song is called Sphere but I don't see no sphere in ther background or banner, and the background looks more like a Pump background than a DDR background. I did like the speed change at the end though.

Overall 2.5/10

Another one of my least favorite simfiles in the bracket.


SEASONS OF LOVE

Heavy 4.5/6

I enjoyed these steps alot. The only problems were that you used to many freezes to follow the vocals and the freeze at the end was unnecessary.

Extra 3.5/4

The background and banner doesn't look like it has anything to do with the Rent, but it fits the song I guess. I hated the original version of this song, but this remix makes the song tolerable.

Overall 8/10

This is definitely my favorite simfile you entered into OSC5. And I will be playing this simfile a bit.


SAMBA BRAZIL

Heavy 2.5/3

I enjoyed these steps alot. But I think this should have been a 9 footer. There was a doublestepping part in the end also.

Oni 1.5/3

The steps were allright. There was some unnecessary short freezes in the middle of the song and the steps were ridiculously difficult for this type of song. However, these are now one of my favorite 10 footer steps in the DDR bracket.

Overall 4/4

Nothing wrong here. Captain Jack is always a good song choice for DDR and the background and banner are nice as well.

Overall 8/10

The Oni steps could have been done without. The steps in heavy were fun.


SAKURA KADUKI

Heavy 1/6

Quite a dissapointment. There was way too many freeze jumps and the steps could have had a little more variety. The 8th note freeze steps were unnecessary and the gallops could have been done without.

Extra 3.5/4

The background and banner are good. I enjoyed your song choice and the fact that you added background animations in certain parts of the song. The stop in the middle of the song was unnecessary and a little offbeat. This would have been a 3 out of 4 if it weren't for the background animations.

Overall 4.5/10

Quite nice presentation and song choice, but the steps are what ruined this simfile.


RIGHT NOW

Heavy 5/6

The steps were really fun, but there was alot of double stepping that's not that bad since theres just 4th note double steps most of the time. The 16th note at the end was unnecessary since you didn't really put any other 16th notes anywhere else.

Extra 3/4

The background and banner I don't like alot. The song choice is okay also.

Overall 8/10

Not bad, but there was just alot of double stepping that could have been fixed.


PUMP UP THE JAM

Heavy 1/6

The steps started off pretty good until the vocals started to kick in and you tried to follow the vocals most of the time. The steps had some unnecessary small freezes and tons of double stepping.

Extra 1/4

The background and banner don't really fit, but it's sorta does with the DDR arrows in it. The song choice is boring.

Overall 2/10

This simfile could have been so much better if you didn't try to follow the vocals so much.


PARANOIA SKY

Heavy 2.5/3

These steps were really fun. Only problem was the 16th note gallops were kind of unnecessary.

Oni 2.5/3

Same thing exactly as heavy mode steps. I also believe you didn't really need an oni step chart.

Extra 4/4

The background and banner and song choice fit. Nothing wrong here.

Overall 9/10


LOVE IS ETERNITY

Heavy 2/3

These steps are pretty fun. However, you did have a bit of double stepping and you followed the beat of the music a bit too much.

Challenge 2/3

These steps are definitely without a doubt, my favorite 10 footer steps in the bracket now. But that doesn't mean it's perfect. You were still following the beat a bit too much and the steps could have used a little more diversity.

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong here.

Overall 8/10

A really good simfile with good 10 footer steps (finally).


LITTLE LITTLE PRINCESS

Heavy 1/6

The steps were pretty bad. There was alot of double stepping and jumps freezes throughout the song. The gallops were unnecessary also.

Extra 1/4

I did like the song choice and the banner. But the background was ugly and pixelated. The BPM changes were badly made too.

Overall 2/10

Not one of my favorites in the bracket.


KICKSTART MY HEART

Heavy 2.5/3

These steps were really fun. The double stepping was the only problem here.

Oni 1.5/3

These were really boring to me. I don't think you need an Oni mode chart for this song.

Extra 2.5/4

The song choice was allright. The banner and background I don't think have anything to do with Motley Crue though.

Overall 7.5/10

An average simfile. Nothing that bad about it though.


INSPIRATION

Heavy 5.5/6

Nothing wrong here except for the first awkwardly placed 16th note jump.

Extra 4/4

Definitely nothing wrong here.

Overall 9.5/10

This simfile could definitely be a DDR song, I will also be playing this song for a while as well.


HIGH SCHOOL LOVE

Heavy 5.5/6

Nothing wrong here except for the first jump when the music stops and the chorus starts which was awkwardly placed.

Extra 3/4

The banner and background are allright, but the character sprite looks pixelated, especially in the background. I don't know if it's just me or the sound quality is bad, so I won't count off for that.

Overall 8.5/10

A really good simfile as well. Boy, there's alot of good simfiles in this bracket.


GASOLINA

Heavy 6/6

One of the best steps in the bracket. Definitely nothing wrong. Good work!

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong here either. The BPM changes were spot on.

Overall 10/10

Right now, this is one of my favorite simfiles in the bracket so far.


FUKU WA UCHI

Heavy 5.5/6

The steps were really good, but you started the steps off at a rather odd spot.

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong here, it's rather nice looking and good song choice.

Overall 9.5/10

I enjoyed this simfile alot. Good work!


DO YOU KNOW

Heavy 2.5/3

There was a bit of double stepping that ruined the stepchart.

Oni 2/3

The steps started off bad with the steps trying to follow the vocals and alot of double stepping. But it then got progressivly better. You also placed your 16th note arrows perfectly.

Extra 3.5/4

The song choice is good. But I don't think the font you used for this simfile fit the song well.

Overall 8/10

Another good simfile, I will be playing heavy and oni for a while.


DANCIN IN MY DREAMS

Heavy 5/6

Your jumps were perfectly placed. However, I the 16th notes weren't well placed in certain areas, and there was some double stepping at the end.

Extra 4/4

The background was allright, but the banner and background and song choice were good. This would have been a 3.5 out of 4 if it weren't for the video.

Overall 9/10

Yet another really good simfile.


BOUNCIN

Heavy 1.5/6

These steps are really boring. You used way to many freeze arrows and there wasn't much variety in the steps.

Extra 2/4

The background and banner were allright, but the song was really annyoing.

Overall 3.5/10

Not one of favorite simfiles.


ALL IN THE WAY

Heavy 3/3

One of my favorite Heavy mode steps in the bracket.

Oni 2.5/3

These steps were also good except for the fact that the 16th notes weren't needed in the steps.

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong here.

Overall 9.5/10

Once again, another good simfile which I'll be playng for a bit.


Here are my top 3 for this bracket

1. Gasolina
2. All In The Way
3. Wowowee

And here are the averages of my revies from each bracket.

Bracket 1 - 72.22

Bracket 2 - 60.82

Apparently, The 1st bracket is wayyy better based on my public reviews.

Well, I once again wish the best of luck to everyone in this bracket and everyone going to the challenge rounds.

[Akira]

Yes, this is incomplete. Songs are picked by random.

All In The Way
Steps: 5/6
Extras: 3/4
Comments: Sweet. Defenitely great song choice. The chart is practically easy and fun. The title in the BG needs more emphasis though.
Total: 8/10

Bouncin
Steps: 4/6
Extras: 2/4
Comments: Bounce...Bounce...Bounce streamstreamstreamstreamstreamstream... that's how I felt with the chart then add some holds to add variation. Still this song still feld kinda repetitive especially with the main rhythm. On the graphical side, it matches well. It gives more bouncy feel. Although you need to fix that bad samplestart and there are too much unnecessary holds.
Total: 6/10

Dancin In My Dreams
Steps: 3/6
Extras: 3/4INITIAL D FTWcapsfilter
Comments: This is an example of a great song that gets messed up with a bad chart. At the start, I liked the patterns until the intro phrase ended. The steps may seem randomly done as it doesn't follow most of the song which showed either laziness or lack of imagination. You should have spent more time for this file. +Points for using Initial D
Total: 6/10

Do You Know
Steps: 5.5/6
Extras: 3.5/4
Comments: Great song choice. I loved that song! The steps has quite a number of spins. One part forced me to doublestep though :p But still, it's a great chart. The graphics are somewhat night vigilante superhero-ish... heh great one.
Total: 9/10

Fuku Wa Uchi
Steps: 5/6
Extras: 3/4
Comments: I got a BSOD in the 1st try of this file.
Oni wa soto, Fuku Wa Uchi... para, para, para, para B.S.O.D! OMG L.S.S.! I also liked the flow of this song. Steps are nice and just right. No further violent reactions.
Total: 8/10

Gasolina [Delaction Mix]
Steps: 6/6
Extras: 4/4
Comments: LIEK WHOA! Dammit! This should be the best one in this bracket! Steps flowed out fine and everything is at sync, especially at the speedup part as it goes back to 143BPM. This is defenitely a win!
Total: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!

High School Love
Steps: 4.5/6
Extras: 2.5/4
Comments: Yes this is a cute song. Well, I SEE WHAT YOU DID WITH THE BACKGROUND You should have used Photoshop or Gimp to smoothen it out. Looking for a better pic for a basketball court is also a good option. For the steps, pretty nice. Some parts somewhat felt weird but in majority, it fits with the song.
Total: 7/10

Kickstart My Heart
Steps: 4/6
Extras: 3/4
Comments: Cool. You just gotta love the 80s
Aside from the forced doublestepping, those jump+short 8th streams gives this song a rating of 9 at heavy. Challenge level has a lot of spins O_o... although most of the steps are more guilty of doublestepping rather than spins. And yeah, cool graphics! I liked them
Total: 7

Little Little Princess
Steps: 5/6
Extras: 2/4
Comments: Awwww.... so cute :3 I dunno but it sounds like Handsome jet with Yu Tokiwa (Sorry I dunno the details for this song but I know it's from Happy Sky)
I liked the song. It should have been cut into DDR Length. Great job on the steps and BPM changes. The graphics seemed messed up since you only used a screencap of the video and stretched it out. You should have at least find a similar/alternate source.
Total: 7

Nagai Yume
[insert defensive blurbs here]

Pump Up The Jam
Steps: 4/6
Extras: 3/4
Comments: Heh! This song is so 80's! I liked the way you incorporated the DDR concept to this song. The steps seems nice but there are some parts that seems to be out of the place.
Total: 7/10

Tunak Tunak TUN

Steps: 3/6
Extras: 1/4
Comments: It's actually Tunak Tunak Tun. Terrible graphics. It screams out for the video you mentioned. I find the song a BIG LOL though
As for the steps, it's damn repetitive and it sometimes doesn't follow some parts of the "chorus"
Total: 4

Wowowee
Steps: 5.5/6
Extras: 4/4
Comments: I should give you a 1 for using the themesong of this god forsaken show. Hundreds got hurt and died because of this. (Reference 1) (Reference 2)

lol just kidding. It's a great effort to use a novelty song like this as an OSC entry

Anyway, we're not here to criticise a show. For the steps, they're great. This is an example of a cheesy song given life by a great chart. As for the graphical side, I bet you can't find any graphics related to the show right? Still, let's say that Willie Revillame is just in that crowd... and man, that's Hi-res

And thanks for mentioning me for the "JUST DO IT" PM

Total: 9.5/10

[Xythar]

I had this done yesterday but then Bemanistyle went down (boo). So here it is now, in a separate post of course because it wouldn't fit into the original, heh.

PUMP UP THE JAM

Steps: 3/6 Sorry, not great. I liked the start, but it went downhill from there (barring one part in the middle which was decent). Your main problem is poorly executed karaoke steps. In a song like this, you cannot afford to only follow the vocals closely because it leads to huge blank spaces where there are no vocals and therefore no steps alternating with bouts of awkward steps riddled with yellow-arrow syndrome. In a song like this, you should really be making more of an effort to follow the beat. You also used a lot of freeze arrows that didn't really go to anything and mainly seemed to be employed as a means to fill space (not to mention that the ones where one arrow starts a 16th later than the other look kind of ugly). Much like Little Little Princess before, this chart is just all over the place and has awful flow as a result, plus some double stepping later on (although you seemed to mostly avoid it until then).

Everything Else: 2.5/4 Graphics weren't particularly amazing, I thought the outline around the text looked a little ugly and didn't much like that lime green colour for the artist text. Song was also really quiet for some reason and didn't seem to have that much going on besides. It does include videos, tho, which is nice.

5.5/10 You need to work on your step rhythms a lot. Concentrate on making your steps more even throughout the music and avoid leaving in large gaps or following the vocals too closely.

RIGHT NOW (DANCEMAN REMIX)

Man, 10 perfects...

Steps: 4.5/6 Much like Days Dreamer hard, these would be really good if they weren't so double steppy. I had to double step a ridiculous number of times to get through this, you should really work on your steps a bit more and test them out on pad so that this doesn't happen. Other than that I thought they were pretty cool disco steps, I was thinking they should be a 6 early on but I guess those runs in the middle make it a 7. Probably.

Everything Else: 3/4 Pretty good choice of song, but lacking in extras. The graphics were so-so - I don't understand why you had to make the title and artist so ridiculously small on the banner considering that you had plenty of empty space to work with.

7.5/10 Double steps! Aurgh! They're what's holding you back here, so please work on eliminating them in the future.

SAKURA KADZUKI

Oh man, nostalgia value! Back when the closest I had to Beatmania of any kind was BMDX and my computer keyboard, I had a bunch of Akito BMSes that I used to play constantly, and this was one of them. I never actually knew its full name, since all I had was some unreadable shift-JIS in the title field and the directory name "sakura_k". It was awesome hearing this song again unexpectedly like this, so thanks for entering it. (And incidentally, your readme is wrong for this reason, as it originated as that BMS far before DJMAX)

Steps: 4/6 Where do you keep hearing 16ths in this song?! The first part was alright except for the 16th triplets that went to nothing, the bit after the freeze with the gallops etc had seemingly nothing at all to do with the music whatsoever, the bit after that with the 5-note runs was alright if repetitive, and then after that there are parts in the music where there would be an actual 16th triplet followed by 8ths but you'd put in two 16th triplets for no apparent reason (this part was also fairly repetitive in terms of steps and step placement, too.) Please don't just invent 16ths to make the song harder like you seem to be doing. There were a bunch of freezes, but they weren't too bad and I didn't even mind the short ones too much since it seemed like you were trying to emphasise that crossover for some reason. Double stepping was also kept to a minimum although that one part where you had to crossover LDR and then jump LD immediately after was pushing it a bit. I just wish the steps had more to do with the song in this case, and less random 16th triplets everywhere.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 The graphics were pretty beautiful, although I'm guessing you just took them straight out of DJMAX with minimal modification. I really, really love this song, as I may have mentioned already.

7.5/10 Honestly, I'd love to see better steps for this song that do a better job of following the music, but these are okay I guess... you might be mostly on riding the coattails of your song choice, however.

Maybe I should go step one of the other Akito songs... >_>

SAMBA BRAZIL

Steps: 5.5/6 I thought the two 16th gallops in a row were a little overused (or maybe I just don't like it when they both go the same way, and yes I'm a hypocrite) and I thought the cluster of 16ths near the start was probably a little out of place with the rest of the song. Your usage of 8ths and 12ths however (as well as that good old red-yellow-blue rhythm) was excellent and these steps were pretty enjoyable all round if a little repetitive (yep, huge hypocrite, right here)

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Can't go wrong with Captain Jack! Graphics were quite good as well, I think. But, this is another file lacking in extras, I'd have liked to see a lyrics file or such before giving the full score in this category.

(Incidentally, I tried your challenge chart and thought it was pretty good, kinda reminded me of a lot of the 10s from ITG2, although you overused the jumps a bit. Yeah, so I said ITG and not DDR, but that doesn't mean you should take it out, I think there will be people who enjoy it all the same. In any case, the challenge chart isn't a factor in determining your score by my system)

9.25/10 A quality file! Well done.

SEASONS OF LOVE

Steps: 5.25/6 Pretty good, but there seemed to be a few double steps in parts (not too many, tho) which are made worse by the presence of freeze arrows. However, I think without the double steps the freeze arrow usage is good - normally I'd be suspicious of a song with this many (possibly to the point of including a recommendation that the step author submit their resumé to Konami of Hawaii) but in this case, it goes well with the music. There are also a few points where the steps feel overly sparse, however.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Decent graphics and nice choice of song (it's got a nice beat to it, and I like the lyrics). Could use a lyrics file or other extras, tho.

8.75/10 Not bad. Could use a touching up with regards to step placement tho.

SPHERE

Steps: 3.25/6 Well, it's not rainbow soup at least, so that's one plus. However, they're not very interesting either and make little effort to follow the music much if at all - especially in a song like this which begs for specific 8th streams that you seemed to ignore entirely. Furthermore, the steps tend towards annoying doublesteps quite often and the stepjumps are overused and annoying at 160 bpm, especially when most of them have two steps and then a jump on the other two arrows (as opposed to sharing an arrow with one of the previous two steps) and some patterns tend to repeat too much, again with little regard for how the music is actually doing. It's better than Speedy Cat, but it's still not very fun.

Everything Else: 2/4 Firstly, the speedup was completely unwarranted in my opinion and made it really hard to hit the last few notes. The graphics are okay, but what do they have to do with a medieval choir or a sphere or the song in any way? The banner looks like Metroid or something and I have no idea what the background is even meant to be. DDR backgrounds also don't generally have the genre or BPM. I realise you used a game version for this because you made it way back before the RED OST was out but you could have taken the time to replace it with the OST version in the meantime, I think - especially considering that 'meantime' is well over a year now I believe...?

5.25/10 It's a step in the right direction, but you still need to work on making steps that suit the music better, paying more attention to what patterns work on feet and varying things up a bit more.

THIS IS LOVE

Steps: 5.75/6 Nice! They're a little too twisty I think, but the rhythm is fun and you use freeze arrows well (except when they are combined with the aforementioned twisting). Still, these were pretty cool, although relatively hard for a 7, perhaps.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Pretty song and nice graphics, and lyric file! The only problem is that the BG has information too close to the top and bottom, which tends to get covered up in the default Stepmania theme... it does look really nice out of Stepmania, tho. The song and graphics together kind of remind me of Kingdom Hearts.

9.5/10 A solid, well-made stepfile! Not much to complain about here.

TOGETHER

Steps: 5.5/6 Not bad! I wasn't sure of the rhythms in a few places, you tended to switch between red-yellow-blue and red-blue-red too frequently and I couldn't usually work out why, so I'd do one red-yellow-blue bit and expect the next part to follow that as well, but it'd be red-blue-red and I'd end up getting a great. There was also the part near the end with more 16ths that I didn't really get. Overall however this was pretty good.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Great song choice, good graphics, lyrics file and video script - the only problem with this is the fadeout at the end which is a bit fast and early for my liking. I'd have preferred it if it started a little later and was slightly more drawn out, I think. Also, your CD title is way too big and it's just a square image - it'd be better if it had just the album logo on a transparent background. Other than that, nice work!

9.25/10 Well done, this feels pretty DDR-authentic except for a few minor issues.

TUNAK TUNAK TUN

Steps: 2.75/6 Blargh. Firstly, way too many jumps. The whole start and end and whatever have a ton of jumps in a row where normal arrows would suffice and be far more suitable - jumps are meant for emphasis, you don't just replace a bunch of arrows with them randomly. Most of the yellow jumps were off as well and didn't match the music properly. The rest of the steps weren't too interesting, didn't necessarily follow the music very closely, and had double stepping and one part with pointless random gallops everywhere. Really not much fun at all.

Everything Else: 1.5/4 Banner is stretched and ugly, background is blurry and ugly. CD title is way, way too large and ugly. Your name should not be in the subtitle field of the file, in fact this was explicitly stated in capitals in the official rules so you should probably count yourself lucky you weren't DQed for it. Song is absolutely awful (albeit moderately DDRable, I guess) and I did not enjoy it.

4.25/10 Sorry, not a fan.

WAY OF LIFE

Steps: 4.75/6 I liked how you didn't try to follow everything exactly, but to me it still felt like it was harder than it needed to be - too many 16ths and too many jumps, in my opinion. I think the steps would have been groovier if they were just mostly 8ths with the occasional jump to punctuate the end of a line or something, but maybe that's just me. There was also a small amount of double stepping here and there, although nothing serious.

Everything Else: 3/4 Song was alright, but I didn't really like the graphics that much. Text was a bit ugly & hard to read on the banner, and I didn't really like how much it was spread out on the BG, and the graphics didn't really have anything to do with the video (it would have been better if they did, I think). On the plus side, the video was pretty cool, although the song itself felt like it was cut a little long.

7.75/10 It wasn't too bad, but I didn't really feel like the song warranted the steps that it got.

WILD THING / POOR BOY

Steps: 6/6 Awesome! I loved the 8th runs and jump placement. Really nothing to complain about, great steps!

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Banner is a little plain, BG is alright. That's some pokecapn reasoning as to why you made them like that, tho... :P The video and lyrics were a nice touch, and I guess the song works pretty well (although the falsetto on the "Poor Boy" parts hurts my ears... >_>).

9.5/10 Great file! Although, it probably would have been better if you'd avoided the fadeout.

(just kidding :P)

WOWOWEE

Steps: 5.5/6 I liked everything except the gallops, which I thought were a little overused perhaps (I could see how the first one fit, the others not so well, but they were okay all the same). Especially the jumps, which were cool.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 The graphics are good, although their connection to the song is pretty tenuous... :P Maybe even some kind of generically game-show-like background would be better if you didn't want to use a Wowowee one specifically, I dunno. I guess the song works, although I have no idea where you got the idea to use this, heh. Lyrics and other random extras are cool.

9.25/10 Here's to another well done bracket 2 stepfile!

YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME

Steps: 5.5/6 Pretty good! The 6ths early on took some getting used to and felt a little out of place with the rest of the song, but I can dig them. The rest of the steps were fairly good throughout, although I liked the start of the synth hook a bit better than the later parts and there were also steps during this quiet part that didn't really seem to go to anything. Still, nice job!

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Graphics were okay, but the banner and BG didn't seem to have anything much to do with each other. Excellent song choice however, and nice video.

9/10 This bracket's hardly short on quality entries, that's for sure...

NAGAI YUME (a.k.a. "Akira forgot to enter a romanisation and so this is last in the list instead of being with the Ns like it should..." :P)

Steps: 5.25/6 Yeah, no huge problems, although you were guilty of following the vocals a little too closely at times I think, which led to a lot of freeze arrowry. They didn't stand out to me as fantastic, but they weren't bad.

Everything Else: 3/4 How come you didn't do a decent font effect on your new banner like you did on your old? The text looks nasty on the new one, and the image in the banner looks a bit fuzzy too, same with your 'background' (although black.png is the actual background used, which is kind of annoying because I think a transition from your real BG would be just as good and give you the added bonus of actually having a BG). Anyway, the presence of a video is nice, in any case, and the song's alright, when combined with the video it has a fun kind of marching feel. The lack of a romanisation in the SM file bugs me, tho.

8.25/10 Not stand-out amazing, but not bad either, a decent enough entry.

[sinh(Lily)]

This is Part 1 of 2. (12 / 24 songs)

Public Review for OSC 5 DDR Bracket 2
Reviewer: Thany117 / Lilina

=====================================

Version 0,5

Warning: I really give 0s. And not without reason. Also, I round up
scores if the decimal part is 75-99.

Guys, I do NOT give 1s for no apparent reason. You really gotta watch out-- you'll find that
most of the people who get low scores had poor Light and Standard charts. I DO NOT go for the
Heavy steps alone.

Table of Contents: (Use the Find command, the enter the stuff in brackets to jump to that part.)

1. [DIMD] Dancin in my Dreams
2. [GASO] Gasolina (Delaction Mix)
3. [HSLV] High School Love
4. [INSP] Inspiration
5. [LLPR] Little Little Princess
6. [LETE] Love is Eternity (SF Synth Trance Mix)
7. [NGYM] Nagai Yume
8. [PSKY] Paranoia SKY
9. [SBRZ] Samba Brazil
10. [SPHR] Sphere
11. [WWWE] Wo-wo-wee
12. [YGLB] You give Love a Bad Name

Review Breakdown:
6 points - Stepcharts

* I will not rate beginner charts.

* I am very strict with foot-sync. Plenty of double-stepping errors can give you an instant ZERO.

* If there are Challenge charts, point breakdown is as follows:
1 pt. - Light
2 pt. - Standard
2.5 pt. - Heavy
0.5 pt. - Challenge

* If there are no Challenge charts, Heavy becomes 3 points.

4 points - Everything Else
1 pt. - Graphics and Videos
2 pt. - Song Choice, Synching and Editing (This includes your BPMs)
1 pt. - Fun Factor (Replayability)

NOTES: I will complete this by Wednesday.

==== SONG REVIEWS BEGIN HERE ====

1. SONG: Dancin in my Dreams [DIMD]

STEPCHARTS: 5.5 / 6

Light - 1 /