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Old 02-15-2013, 10:39 PM   #17
stargroup100
behanjc & me are <3'ers
FFR Simfile AuthorFFR Music Producer
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,051
Default Re: FFR Community Pack 4 Released!

k here it is. my monster wall of text

Preface: Before I begin, I just want to explain that these reviews are a combination of my own opinions and constructive input/criticism. If it ever seems like I'm being too harsh, please excuse me. Every chart in this pack has some positive merit and, in my opinion, worth at least a playthrough. I have to say that on the whole, I'm really diggin this pack. Lots of good stuff.

In addition, these reviews are directly copied from the playtesting phase, so if changes were made to the chart before it was released, let me know and I'll re-review them.

However, there are some things I want to say about the large scale of where charting has taken us, based on what I've seen in this pack. Firstly, the community as a whole needs to cut back on the mines just a tad bit. There's a ton of files in here that have waaaay too many mines, and this usually messes something up. While I'm glad everyone is taking the "new-school" styles well, I do think there's a kind of polish that is missing on most of these files due to people jumping a bit too far trying new techniques without mastering some fundamentals. Many chart artists are trying to incorporate everything they want into a chart, and while this isn't a bad thing by any means, it usually happens at the cost of smooth pattern flow, directional control, and note density control, which isn't good. In this sense, I actually think we need to take a couple of steps backward to the days of ODI2, maybe even as far back as ODI. There's something about "technical" charts that leaves a clean, polished feeling on a chart that is difficult to attain with the more artistic techniques everyone is trying to use now. The chart artists whose work we should emulate include dondon151, Ducky, Kil, Kommisar, Zaghurim, jimerax, blurk, Kn33grow, and Yesssss (there are probably more, but these come to my mind first). Examples of charts in this pack that have what I'm talking about include Kommisar's Lightning Strikes Again, Puppet's id, Kil's The Least 100 Seconds, and dondon151's Made in innocent.

As for my numerical ratings, here's a general idea of where things fall:
0-5: Given that the charts already passed through a judging process, no chart should fall in here. Severe technical problems and/or not fun.
5-5.9: Lots of technical problems that make the chart difficult to play and/or a very boring chart.
6-6.9: A couple of significant problems ruin an otherwise solid chart, or it's just really really boring.
7-7.9: Chart's either solid but has nothing noteworthy, or a potentially really good chart has a few problems.
8-8.9: Very solid and fun chart with no major problems. Optimally you want to aim at least here.
9-9.9: Absolutely nothing wrong with the chart and outstandingly fun. Usually has something in it that's particularly noteworthy.
10: yeah right like I'd give a chart a 10 LOL jk but really though 10's will be rare

It may seem really egotistical for me to lay out criteria for my ratings like this, but when you're judging like a hundred charts, you realize your reviews are very inconsistent about one-third through. I figure that if I'm gonna write out criteria for myself anyways, I see no reason not to explain myself.

And now we begin the reviews of this monster:

------------------------------------------------

(Arntonach) At Dawn: Fun, simple. Both of the xmod effects were done really well, though the second one is kinda hard to read. 8/10

(Arntonach) End Of The World v2:
[Hard] This chart really proved to me that this guy has potential. Intense freeform patterns that keeps driving the song forwards all the time. 8.5/10
[Challenge] I don't know why you would do this. The heavy chart was great. -_-
*Highly recommended just deleting the Challenge chart.

(B3nny vs rog) Red Heat:
[Hard] The frequency and usage of holds I think fits the song well. They're a bit rigid for my taste, I would've varied the hold lengths a bit more. However, this is just my personal view. I feel like there is some inconsistent accenting/layering in the first major section, because some sections feel abnormally empty compared to others, but it really is a minor nitpick. Overall, it's simple but well done. 7.5/10
[Challenge] No accenting problems here. Also well done. Not much to say. 7.5/10
*There is something else I would like to point out though. If this chart is meant to be played xmod (which I assume it is, as there are xmod effects in it), I highly recommend that the speed be toned down for the two speed-up sections, especially the first one. The first one looks like a straight rhythm but plays as an irregular one, making it extremely frustrating to deal with. The second one is borderline unfair. While the trill is somewhat manageable and people can catch on pretty quickly, the transition out of it should be clear as possible. The problem is the readability is not there. Something should be there to make it readable, whether it's color manipulation, proportional spacing, the speed itself, or a combination of them. If it's cmod then nvm fuk it

(blind vs moches) I Knew You Were Trouble:
[Hard] The acoustic sections were done well and flowed nicely, but started to become oversaturated towards the end. This in turn made the drop sections feel underwhelming. Othewise, nothing really wrong with the chart. 6.5/10
[Challenge] Goddamn dodgeball. Chart is okay, it's just mine-centric, so people who don't like mines won't like it. 7.5/10

(blind) Lost Woods Dubstep: yeah not playing all 3 charts LOL
[Challenge] It's the right style, and there's nothing wrong with it, but it just feels a bit bland and basic. S'okay. 7/10

(bmah) Tabibito Rerun: wtf once again only playing hardest chart not playing all 4
[Challenge] I'm surprised by how easy that was to read on an xmod, even though it's cmod. Patterns are a bit oldschool, but they work well. I think the play on color notes is what will win everyone over though. 8/10

(bmah) The Road Is On Fire: Little issue with flow at various points but this is a very minor nitpick. Overall insanely fun and felt kinda refreshing to play towards the end. 8/10

(CosmoVibe) Black Light Machine: Mine. I haven't been this proud of a chart I made since ==PLANETKARMA== so hopefully you guys will enjoy what I think should be one helluva monster chart.
*IMPORTANT: I'd also like to point out that I have 2 measure of really sick xmod, so I recommend playing the chart in xmod. However, if you're sight-reading, I suggest not going past 4x, or you're gonna have a bad time LOL

(Detrimentalist) Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus: I don't understand the reasoning for note placement but it flows incredibly smoothly so I'm not gonna complain about it. 8.5/10

(Don) Luna's Tower: Every note precisely placed. Clean and fun as hell. But dude, you really need to figure out how to do that BPM ting in the beginning properly LOL 9/10

(eastsideman09 vs rog) Happy Screaming Night Businessman: I just can't. I can't. This song is almost as bad as that nick galvez eulogy earpoop crap plz nobody ever chart a song like this again NA/10
********REMOVE THIS CHART FROM THE PACK jk im just mad

(eastsideman09) Pulse de Chocobo: This is by nature a very fun song to play. Chart was fun and does have a lot of nice things about it, but there are still some minor problems. The flow of some of the patterns are a little bit off, but instead pointing all of these minor things I'll just say that as a whole, this is something you improve on with experience. I guess you could classify this as the technical "cleanliness" I was talking about in the preface. Difficulty balance is much better now. However, the sax solo problem remains. Where the sax solo repeats, you can/should repeat your patterns, but as soon as there is a variation/difference in the phrases, your patterns should reflect that, and right now this occurs a tad late. Otherwise, it's a huge improvement and definitely very very fun. 8/10

(eastsideman09) Wolfgang's 5th Symphony: Overall pretty good. A couple of the xmod effects are a little bit unfair, but at least I don't see any extreme cases. 7.5/10

(FissionMailed1) Canary Part III: I won't take off points for how bad the song is. Otherwise, chart is pretty tight. 7.5/10

(FissionMailed1) Floating Through Time: Really chill and nice. I would've used more vivid patterns but this works just as well. 8/10

(Gameoson) Lewd Violence:
[Challenge] Actually pretty solid. There was one particular mine thing that bugged me and there were like two xmod effects that were sorta unfair, but otherwise fun. 8/10

(Gundam-Dude) Bird Sprite -Awakening of Light-: A lot cleaner than I expected it would be. Just about everything was planned out very nicely. 8.5/10

(Gundam-Dude) Leia:
[Hard] A brilliant example of how important well-planned patterns are in a chart. Even though there's nothing special about any of the rhythms in this song, the careful planning of notes and changes in their direction control the flow and emphasis of the song. 9/10

(Gundam-Dude) The Clear Blue Sky v2:
[Hard] A brilliant example of how important well-planned patterns are in a chart... again. Surprisingly really damn good. The seemingly arbitrary choice of layering somehow fuses the instruments together smoothly. When the driving drum beat comes in, there's a very cute play on patterns on the left hand. 9.5/10

(hi19hi19 vs Scintill) The Cataclysm: If this is what the standard for a "stream chart" was, I'd gladly play them all day. The beginning solo section, where there is a mix of harmonized and nonharmonized notes, there is a distinct lack of layering/emphasis on that, which made the harmonized notes feel really empty and underlayered compared to the rest of the section around it. The latter sections rememdy this by layering something else. Aside from that it's a very solid chart and very fun to play. 8.5/10

(IcyWorld) Dolize:
[Hard] Could potentially be a really intense chart. However, while most of the jacks and polyrhythms are borderline questionable, the 24th polyrhythm sticks out like a sore thumb. 6.5/10
[Medium] Decent chart that delivers exactly what the song offers. 8/10

(IcyWorld) Polis Ruin: Again, this has some real potential. This time though, it'll significantly trickier because of the way you decided to go about layering the chart. The choice not to emphasize the heavy drum hits with doubles is interesting and can work, but requires much more precise planning of the patterns themselves. As of right now, a lot of the patterns feel a bit arbitrary, mostly where the piano and drums don't intersect. Minor nitpick, but it does slightly hinder the flow of the chart. Once the pizzicato comes in though, most of these problems are alleviated thanks to the driving 8ths. 7/10

(iRanch) Black Lair: As soon as I saw the first speed-up section (not the first note) I immediately switched to cmod LOL. There a lot of noticeable improvements since the fix, but for some reason I feel like the chart has lost a bit of soul. Some of the changes weren't necessary, for example the adding of drum layering in the acoustic guitar solo in the beginning. Still, decent chart to a good song. 7.5/10

(Kil) The Least 100 Seconds: I don't think I've ever seen xmod effects done like this before. Really fun and consistent and I'm actually kinda glad the solo didn't get charted. 9.5/10

(Kommisar) Lightning Strikes Again: Nothing I can really say. Solid as hell, straightforward. You can really tell that the person who made this has a lot of experience in making charts. 9/10

(leonid) Earth Tower Devotion: This almost made me cry. Almost. What totally killed it for me was the very inconsistent bursts throughout the chart. I personally don't agree with charting the snare rolls, as well as making other snare hits doubles by themselves. I don't really like most of the polyrhythm pattern choices either. I highly recommend that if you don't want to edit this chart, at least make a lower difficulty chart that is actually sensible and mostly fun to play. This is basically like looking at a beautiful plate of food, taking a bite, and realizing that it doesn't taste very good. 6/10
*please add a difficulty where the chart is sensible this could be so amazing dear god if leonid doesn't do it im doing it

(Linus) dengeki tube:
[Hard] holy fuuuuck linus holy fuuuuuuck LOLOLOL NA/10
[Edit] I DIDNT KNOW THIS EXISTED HOOOOLYYY FUUUUUUCK LINUS HOOOOLLYYYYYYY FUUUUUUUUUUUU

(Lynn) Sentou Amu: Uhhhhh, nothing I can really say. Fun, solid, guy(girl?) knows what he's(she's?) doing. 9/10

(mi40) Amber Shores:
[Hard] I think most of the veterans in this community know that I personally fundamentally disagree with the application of rolls to buzz sounds, especially when they're all over a song (thanks drum and bass) and especially when the large majority of the roll patterns are variations of 4321 or 1234. Nontheless, I can put my bias aside and say that it does work very well, and I can see it being a very fun and successful chart and there's nothing else I can really nitpick about it. At least in terms of the pattern choice I can see a lot of things I like. Which is good, because now I'm excited to see what this guy's other 6 charts in the pack are like.
(looks at song list)
...godddammit. 8.5/10
[Medium] Slightly better.

(mi40) Beyond Abilities: The flow of the colored notes sections is a bit weird. Not sure if it's the pattern choice or simply an issue of being too dense. Aside from that, not bad. 7.5/10

(mi40) Hajnal2: A lot of minor things that I simply disagree with, but in general I really liked the pattern choices. 8/10

(mi40) Lawn Wake III: Welp. Same review. Disagree with some things, overall liked pattern choices. 8/10

(mi40) Masodik Galamb: Mildest offender of my pet peeves so far. 8.5/10

(mi40) Non-Stop: This song. New guilty pleasure. T_T Chart's solid, nothing to say. 8/10

(mi40) Strangeprogram: This is clearly a pure scoring file so I'm not gonna bother reviewing the same way as the other charts. Xmod effects are kinda dumb so I recommend cmod. NA/10

(moches vs Scylaax) POINT OF NO RETURN: Really fun. Not much to say. 9/10

(moches vs Torrent) Lovely Bloodflow: Solid. Really diggin' this. 8.5/10

(moches vs Valor) Guitar Hero: Patterns are solid, but chart feels a tiny bit bland, but I attribute that to the song. Difficulty spread is kinda inconsistent but that's minor nitpick. 7.5/10

(moches) Apple Butter:
[Hard] This gets better and better each time I play it. Funky as hell. Reminder to everyone: this is cmod. 9.5/10

(moches) Juicy: Slick. Love that bass synth licks. 9/10

(moches) Lataia: Groovy. Jacks are always fun. :3 8.5/10

(moches) Little Drummer Punk Droid v2: Nothing to say really but why is that song so cheesy ugh 7.5/10

(npv) Ossuary: Playing constant jacks on a single key while there's stuff going on around the other 3 for extended periods of time is extremely annoying. The rest of the chart is okay, not my cup of tea though. 7/10

(Patashu) Judgment Day: A lot of the longer holds were really annoying for me, and the mines at the end felt a bit tight. Otherwise pretty good. 7.5/10

(Puppet) id: I think the smartest thing about this chart is how certain instruments were chosen to be charted at certain times. Things such as not charting background sounds or doing the voice trading call-response thing gave a lot of space to work with clean, exciting patterns, rather than dense, lifeless ones. 9.5/10

(Roar176) Hayate: Only criticism is that some of the patterns with triples feel kinda awkward/heavy, as expected of roar. 7.5/10

(Roar176) Sol Cosine Job 2: Eh, chart was ok but more than anything else execution just felt dirty. Everything was all over the place. 6.5/10

(rog) Am I A Psycho: Pretty good. 9/10

(rog) Club Ibuki: Solid. 8/10

(rog) Drink That Shit: Good for scoring I guess. NA/10

(rog) The Hero Returns Home: Goddamn, you're really not afraid of inserting jacks all over your chart, are you? 7.5/10

(rparty) Watch Out Pt. 2 VS DJ Yoshitaka: I have mixed feelings about the first half. The polyrhythms and jacks in the beginning sections make the chart feel really messy but somehow add a high level of intensity to the song. However, the latter half of the chart becomes rather boring. Putting the 16th chordstream in between faster sections is fine, but when that basic chordstream is extended so much and previous layering schemes are not revisited or enhanced, the ending falls flat. 7/10

(Rumia) lmbo: I would love to see this song charted to the end, I almost broke into tears playing this. Most of this chart is beautifully done, especially the beginning and the solo. Why have I never heard of this guy before 9.5/10

(SCL vs Kommisar) Still Getting It: I really like the choice of difficulty. Not overlayering the chart allows the jacks to be able to breathe better and give attention to the parts of the song that deserve it the most. 8.5/10

(Scylaax) Log On:
[Challenge] The jacks in measure 40 are a HUUUUGE difficulty spike compared to the rest of the very difficulty consistent chart, making it stick out like a sore thumb. Everything else is great. Fun to play on xmod too. 8.5/10

(Scylaax) tick: I totally did not expect a Touhou arrange what the hell. Chart is simple, solid, and the only xmod effect in this piece isn't out of place. Solo's mad groovy. I would've done the hold lengths differently but that's just a style difference. 8.5/10

(Valor) Judgement Day: Chart's solid and fun. Has a nice drive. 8/10

(Valor) XTREMEPOLESTA: not touching that beginner chart with a 10-foot pole
[Challenge] Solid, nothing wrong that I can pick out. I'm happy the buzzes weren't charted as rolls. 8/10

(wc) Machine: Surprisingly tough but flows smoothly. 9/10

(Wineandbread) Unfounded Revenge -Smashing Song of Praise-:
[Hard] For once I actually ignored the highest difficulty. I think the Challenge chart was intentionally overloaded, so it would make sense to critically review the chart that was intended to be the most sensible to play. As for the chart, it's frickin' great. 9/10

(YTY) Koi no Bakkin Bakkingamu!! v2: Decent. There's a couple of minor technical mistakes but they're most unnoticable without a couple of playthroughs. Chart's got nothing special though. The chart artist forgot/isn't aware that triples exist, and layering is as straightforward as you get. 7/10



review to be continued...

Last edited by stargroup100; 02-19-2013 at 04:51 AM..
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