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Old 10-15-2019, 07:58 PM   #2
bmah
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Edmonton, AB
Age: 35
Posts: 8,448
Default Re: 2019 September/October Set 1

Akasagarbha / Reshiram
rating: 6/10
- offset is far too early. Changed from -0.768s to -0.908s.
- 5.60s: single note
- 11.69-20.28s: this section is rather ambiguous because it seems like you're attempting to acknowledge both the piano melody and the hi-hats, while insisting that jumps only apply to kicks or arbitrarily-decided 4th note piano chords. Decide what you want to layer and be clear about it. The piano is the main melody and should still be a focus.
- 23.41s,108.41s: you can either step the drums to include the 32nd bursts and tone down the melody, or you could make the drumrolls all 16ths and step the melody which is what you did. However, I'd change the patterns to reduce some hidden one-handed trilling, even if that means foregoing PR with your jumps.
- 25.91-45.91s: some inconsistencies regarding the 16th synths. Quite a number of 16ths missing (e.g. 31.92s,33.17s), although I realize they were deliberately omitted around 35.91s to usher in a new synth that eventually appears. For 35.91s, I think the synths should continue until around 37.16s which is when they begin to fade out.
- 45.75s,etc.: I really don't hear any 24ths in these areas.
- 54.66s: jump
- 64.66s: I would stop acknowledging the increasingly fast drumrolls around here. The subsequent 24ths and a 16th feels weird. Also, there is no need for the melody to be represented as whole jumps after this point - single arrows will do as almost all of the layering disappears.
- 68.88s,74.50s,80.91s: no chord
- 70.28s: chord
- 82.16s: jump
- 82.47-83.41s: pattern works fine, but would be nice if you can get off of the left arrow anchoring. Also, I don't understand what the colored notes are for.
- 84.66s: hand would be better
- 85.91-93.25s,95.52s,100.52,100.91-101.38s,102.16-102.63s: probably the biggest issue I have are these areas where the last notes of the syncopated synth melodies compel you to add jumps, all the while ignoring 4th note beats to the drums. Even worse are areas like 100.91s where it's an even 4th beat that changes to a syncompated beat, but this is not reflected in your steps.
- 94.97s: this is not only poor PR but the pattern creates a one-handed trill as well.
- 103.41s: there can't possibly be continuous 16ths until 104.03s kicks in the drumroll.
- Summary: Technicalities abound, but the main one is that you need to work on pattern placement (as well as some missing notes) - a lot of patterns don't -flow- very well and feel janky. But the biggest thing that needs to be fixed is the latter part of the song starting around 85.91s.


Bloody Mary, Kate And Ashley / storn42
rating: 8/10
- 4.83s,etc.: throughout the song, there are areas that you resync to have the steps adjust to the song's time signature. However, I'd recommend changing these 8th note areas to 12ths. It feels particularly weird in some cases such as 139.42s.
- a few notable drums missing in areas like 21.07s,62.72s
- I feel there are some areas that would really benefit from a jump/hand, especially at cymbal crashes such as 46.48s,48.36s,100.83s,etc. In some ways, the cymbals are audibly more significant than the jumps that are placed on the usual drum kicks. On the rare occasion, there are a few hands you have that actually don't feel justified, such as at 155.89s
- 88.48s,144.25s: 24ths being jumps feel rather arbitrary
- Summary: Nicely stepped song. I urge you to change the syncing so that you don't see 12ths masquerading as 8ths. Paying more attention to cymbal crashes will help make the file feel more satisfying as well.


Come With Me (feat. Leah Culver) / TC_Halogen
rating: 8/10
- 29.51-49.38s: I don't think it'd hurt to step to the singing. It doesn't occur so frequently that it'd make the layering too complicated either.
- 54.75-60.96s: I'd recommend stepping the 4th percussions, especially since that's what you follow as the percussion does 8ths.
- 68.00-91.17s: in this section there are some inconsistencies in jumps: some feel arbitrary (e.g. 81.24s) while in other similar areas they're omitted (e.g. 84.55s).
- 93.65s: would be cool if you stepped to the 16th drums instead here.
- 116.51-116.72s,etc.: I'm very aware there is deliberate omission of stepping certain sounds throughout the song. In this case however, it feels a bit strange to omit these, as the subsequent 16ths show that the player is certainly expected to be able to hit these sounds, so it feels strange to omit the preceding ones.
- Summary: I think this chart does generally a good job of carefully controlling the difficulty, although in a few spots the omissions seem a little questionable. Also some inconsistencies with a few scattered jumps. I'd personally just iron these little things out, but you're otherwise good to go.


Final Boss / Psychotik
rating: 7.5*/10
- 1.32-14.01s,etc.: there are some ghost notes in these areas, so check the synths more carefully. Some examples: 2.12s,3.97s,9.39s,11.24s,etc.
- personal preference: I'd prefer if 15.86-21.39s was layered and not a blend of two components into a single layering. That's something I'd expect from easier difficulty files, but this isn't the case.
- personal preference: I'd prefer if the main melody was actually the focus at 23.24-28.55s and not entirely the percussions but this plays fine.
- 46.32-47.01s,etc.: the echoes that I presume you're stepping single arrows to after jumps in places such as 46.43s and 46.78s are pretty negligible. I would omit them.
- 59.12s: jump to the 16th drum
- personal preference: I would continue acknowledging the 4th beat by placing jumps at 68.93s and 70.78s - something feels missing without them. But I understand that may disrupt the current symmetry of your patterns.
- 75.86s,77.70s,etc.: this entire jack section certainly helps define this chart for being more jack-based. However, the synths clearly play three-note jacks and never four. I'd change the jumps in a few areas to reflect three-note jacks.
- 81.86s: jumpjacks are great, but they become a bit more awkward when there are three or more jacks. I'd adjust the patterns to reflect two-arrow jacks instead.
- 83.59s,83.93s: why not layer in the hand claps too? Perfect time to revisit them and add some climax theory.
- 96.97s: missing 16th
- 98.70s,100.55s: these are 24ths
- 100.55s: the one-handed trill is kinda mean, despite the difficulty being presented from this file.
- 101.30s,101.76s: missing 32nds
- Summary: This is quite a fun chart and will test people's jack and minijack skills. I'd take another look at the extraneous 16ths at the beginning and ending streams, fix some 32nds to 24ths, and move around some of those jack patterns.


Hajnal 2 / FFR Pro 21
rating: 9*/10
- might just be me, but I found syncing to be a little strange. For the first third of the song, I adjusted the offset to 2.539s and that worked well for me, but starting at 101.57s, your original offset of 2.499s felt closer to being correct. I wonder if you need to do a slight bpm adjustment in a small section so that the entirety of the file is on sync with one offset. Or maybe I'm just crazy.
- 47.50-48.02s: would love to see you step the 16th electronic sounds here
- personal preference: in both your file and the Hajnal that's in-game, the violin is pretty much ignored, but I think there are a few areas in which you can definitely take advantage of the violin playing 16th notes such as at 65.43s, especially since that violin gets caught up in the mess that is 66.47s.
- 96.75-98.21s: don't forget the other violin being introduced
- 141.27-144.03s: despite this pattern being as friendly as possible for the addition of 4th jumps into 32nd rolls, this is a sustained pattern for two whole measures and injecting it in the middle of a long song doesn't feel great at all. Please omit the jumps.
- 170.58s: 32nds in the 1324 pattern are doable but awkward, especially this far into the song. I'd change these into a different pattern.
- Summary: Very fun chart despite the length of this song. The conditional status is based upon the section at 141.27 being changed. Please also take a look at the offset and see if any adjustments are needed.


Hope 4 Hopeful / AutotelicBrown
rating: 9.5/10
- 27.67s,47.78s,59.08s: personal preference - see if you can make these jumps also of an ascending pattern
- 29.16s: missing 16th
- 39.92s,42.44s: jump
- 76.44s,81.78s,81.94s,96.39s,96.86s,: ghost arrow
- 79.50s,103.38s: personal preference - I would make this a jumptrill for climax theory, since you already have 8th note jumpstreams in adjacent areas.
- 95.21s,97.72s: personal preference - single arrow as the melody is briefly absent here. However, I think the jumps are more preferable at 100.24s and 102.75s in favor of keeping with the climax.
- 99.22s: missed note
- Summary: A very fun chart. Take a look at the ghost arrows. Overall this is excellent.


In A Dream / XxXMetalheadXxX
rating: 2/10
- offset is far too early...actually, the offset isn't set at all.
- all of the arrows are also 16ths. Unless there is a specific reason for this (e.g. white arrows for the song Counting Snow), please step the arrows to an even beat.
- 1.25-47.25s: I understand this is a beginner's chart, but you have the same 1324 pattern for nearly an entire minute, and I don't think even beginner players would come to appreciate this. I think this is a fine line, because for beginners, repetition can be important as they become comfortable with the positioning of the keys they need to press. However, 46 seconds of this is far too long.
- Summary: The rating I provided is not the result of some kind of disdain for easy charts. The arrows and offset, and especially the repetitiveness of what limited number of arrows have been stepped, are the main issues.


pause / devonin
rating: 6.5/10
- 9.05s,11.05s: it's interesting that you step some jumps here, but subsequently some more prominent sounds are ignored, such as at 14.55s,15.55s. The addition of those jumps alternating with single arrows early on gave me the impression that a beginner player is already expected to be ever so slightly used to the game already, so I think the addition of a few prominent sounds later on wouldn't hurt. However, if you feel that would bump the difficulty too much, then perhaps don't even introduce the early jumps. What I'm trying to say is that the jumps feel pretty random relative to the rest of the file.
- 22.05s: I still would hope for some pitch relevancy, however little arrows are present in the file. For example, this one being a left arrow.
- 35.05s,51.05s: this arrow feels arbitrary, but I can't say anything bad if its intent is to add a beginner's degree of variety/challenge.
- 38.55s,etc.: for pitch relevancy's sake, should already be a down arrow. And perhaps 39.55s can descend to the left as well.
- Summary: Pitch relevancy should improve, and I think this can easily be accomplished without compromising the difficulty you intend to preserve. Beginners might as well get used to the fact that arrows generally play according to how the song sounds like, after all.


Sea of Dreams / devonin
rating: 8/10
- 3.00s,13.67s,19.00s: single arrow, as the bass note plays on the subsequent 4th at 3.33s.
- 8.33s,9.16s,9.66s: single arrow
- 22.00s,etc.: why not continue the jumps to the layering of the bass and main melody
- 29.63s,etc.: the portamento you're stepping comes slightly later, starting on the 4th and ending in your 32nd. However, I find the one at 44.29s a bit questionable and that one could go without it.
- 57.50s: reversed the pitch relevancy
- 63.84s: can do better PR
- 68.67s: single note
- 73.51s,73.84s: jump
- Summary: Overall easy to follow song, with the quick 32nd gallops providing a slight challenge. However, please adjust those gallops to begin on the even beat instead of starting as a 32nd.


Seppuku / Ghost_Medley
rating: 9/10
- 0.00-18.35s,291.22-305.06s: combining the bass and treble melodies into a single homogeneous layer feels really weird. I'd do proper layering on both melodies, and when notes intersect, do a jump.
- 73.39s: I think the trill is pushing it for the nebulous nature of the guitar lol. I'd keep this as a single arrow to be honest.
- ghost arrow at 143.64s, but jump at 143.88s
- 233.84-251.54s: similar to my first comment, I recommend layering the strings in with the piano instead of combining them into a single layer.
- Summary: Impressive syncing job, and a wonderful chart to go along with it. Lots of variety in both the music and steps too. I just wish the piano solo sections were layered a bit more fully, would love if you could do this.


Sugar Rush / Rapta
rating: 8*/10
- 14.94s: single arrow here as the repeating 8ths briefly stop
- 30.41s,32.29s,34.16s,etc.: I don't understand what the 8ths follow to up to around 39.79s. Are they ghost notes?
- 41.43-43.33s: the wub sounds go haywire but so does your syncing, so take a look at this section again. Also the file difficulty is such that I find it strange you omitted the latter half of the wub sounds - I'd recommend you fill those in.
- 45.65-73.07s: I find the selection of 8th jumps to the wubs a little ambiguous, as there are other sounds that I'd think would be equally deserving of a jump as well. At least the structuring is consistent.
- 73.30s: jump
- the ending cut is super abrupt...is it possible if you can edit the end of the song with a cymbal crash or a fade-out? Optional, but it just caught me off guard.
- Summary: Fun little chart. Please take a look at the offsync wubs and consider adding those other wubs you omitted around 41.43-43.33s.


The Nature of Dying / XelNYa ft. Icyworld
rating: 7/10
- 4.48s,4.92s,11.58s,23.51s,30.53s,91.40s,91.67s,97.72s,99.30s,99.82s,100.53s,108.95s,113.51s,137.81s,144.82s: there are a number of barely audible or nonexistent sounds (ghost notes) and these should be omitted
- 9.48s,13.51s: missing 16th
- 24.47s: 32nds, not 24ths
- 24.83s: no 8th here. Also, the burst is comprised of three 32nds starting at 24.91s.
- 25.70s,26.23s: colored arrows seem pretty arbitrary
- 46.75s: jump
- 70.09-74.82: some incorrect steps to the drum patterns early on and missing hi hats
- 81.58s,85.88s,91.14s,105.53s: missing notes
- 91.75s: should be a two-arrow jack
- 96.67s: I expected the jump to be the following 8th, not the 16th, felt a bit weird
- 107.89s,109.82s: arbitrary 16th jump
- 114.30s: arbitrary minijack
- 136.93s: instead of 32nd jumps, how about a single arrow to the 64th sound instead
- 146.23-147.10s: the minijacks created from these patterns aren't necessary. Adjust the jumps here.
- Summary: On a preliminary playthrough, this chart seems fine, and it plays fine for the most part. The jacks weren't too much of a problem as I understand this is likely a main feature of the chart, though I would recommend placing more right-handed jacks (up, right) as opposed to left-handed ones (e.g. down arrows). I first noticed some minor technicalities, but upon investigation they really added up to the point where I ended up with a laundry list of them, both in regards to missing notes and extraneous ones. You'll need a fair bit more polish, but the chart overall looks promising.


Time and Space / Pizza69
rating: 9/10
- 40.51-40.88s,104.51-104.88s: these trills should be more PR relevant
- 72.01s,88.01s: a bit strange you begin the melody on the same arrow the previous one ended. I would adjust to avoid the same arrow.
- the 48th/64th colored streams are really neat
- 91.98-95.00s: I'd continue to acknowledge the main theme of the song just like you did everywhere else.
- Summary: I appreciate the way you stepped this song with minimal layering and the selection of the predominant melody when multiple melodies overlap. I think this chart is a good example of moderating the difficulty for an easy song.


Time Goes By / blanky
rating: 6/10
- 14.78s: why not start with a jump/hand/quad on this boom
- 37.86s,38.57s,etc.: missing some jumps according to the rimshot sound
- 41.03s,101.03s: no need for a jump when the fast drumrolls begin
- 41.03-42.90s,101.03-102.90s: the drumroll plays 32nd beats, not 24ths
- I think the quads are an interesting gimmick throughout the song, but it gets a bit too hairy as adjacent jack patterns make the chart play in a very stiff way. It's certainly playable by all accounts, given the moderately slow BPM, but the way the jacks are structured results in transitional patterns that don't feel good. For example, 110.87-111.34s is essentially a chain of one jack pattern to another, ending in the quad that'll inevitably result in another minijack for the subsequent 16th. I'd recommend either 1) minimizing the jack patterns that surround quads, 2) or at least break up longer jacks into minijacks, or 3) change quads to hands for increased pattern flexibility. I would personally go with 3), but assuming you wanted to maintain quads as a feature throughout this file, try one of the other recommendations.
- 124.86s: the 24th jump resulting in jacks into a quad is particularly hairy
- Summary: Interesting idea to incorporate quads into this chart so frequently, but the patterns surrounding them are not the most ideal. Also, the drumrolls leading into the drop are 32nds.



ULTRAnumb (Metal Revision) / XelNya
rating: 8*/10
- I noticed this chart follows the instruments more than the lyrics, and this is perfectly ok; you're also consistent about it.
- 41.87s,47.35s,96.72s,107.69s: jumps on the 8th here according to guitar riff (shouldn't need a jump at 42.04s,47.52s,107.86s)
- 88.83s: jump
- 148.91s,152.08s: missing notes
- 149.17s: 16th drums begin here
- 151.31s,155.42s,156.79s,159.54s,159.88s: extraneous notes
- 161.17-163.56s: quite a bit of extraneous notes, much like the above. Where are these additional 16ths coming from? I just hear 16ths in groups of three notes, nothing more.
- 188.08s,188.76s: yikes, what's with the minijacks from these jumps, and so late into the song too? Adjust the jumps so that they don't result in minijacks.
- Summary: Solid rock file, for the most part. Please check out what I think are ghost 16ths in the 2nd half of the song, but most importantly take out the minijacks at 188.08s and 188.76s.

Last edited by bmah; 03-9-2020 at 03:20 AM..
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