meet your makers. (d6 destroyers)

[m0de]

i thought it would be interesting to get to know those who i myself, as well as others, look at as the top of the food chain so to say when it comes to rhythm gaming. what does a top rhythm gamers normal day look like? well thats the point of this thread. id like to interview "top" players with some questions that i have come up with, just to get to know who they really are.. besides amazing arrow smashers. so to cut to the chase, here are the questions i plan on asking top players:

for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!

what does a normal day for you consist of?

could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

who would you say your rival is?

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

i really hope that all of the top players will participate in this interview. i think it will be great to get to know those who amaze myself, and others with their skill. i will post another thread that consists of the same questions to all players later, so that we can get to know all of the community, and not just the elite..

first we begin with iironiic, who not only is an amazing key smasher, but an amazing person. his personality is greater then his skill in ffr by far. great friend! :]

for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, play an instrument, let us know!

Well, I'm sure most of you all know me as either one of the top players on FFR or more on a personal level, but if not, my name is Wilson. I am 21 years old and I am from New York. I am just a typical college student focusing his studies on mathematics, and I play FFR on my breaks. On my free time, I actually like to study math, I poorly play the violin/piano and I sing a lot. I also play tennis and run on my free time and occasionally play frisbee.

could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

In terms of gameplay, I like to keep my wrists separated as much as possible since I find myself feeling extremely cramped, especially when I play harder files. Therefore, I use the keysetup AS75 with the "75" being on the NumPad. I like to have my right hand situated in that strange position since I originally started playing FFR with two hands on the arrow keys placed in a similar fashion. In terms of scroll speed, I vary between 1.875 to 2.1, but I find 1.9x most comfortable even though framers are a little messy. I play downscroll since that feels most natural to me ever since I started playing the game. I refuse to use Velocity's Engine simply because it lags for me and even if not, I can't adjust to the timing of the FFR engine and the change of the engine's layout. Therefore, Legacy engine for me.

besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

As previously mentioned, playing the piano, violin, and singing. I also like to write lyrics, hang out with friends, solve math problems and puzzles on my spare time, and be physically active.

how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

About three or four years now. A high school friend of mine got me addicted to playing FFR.

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

Quite honestly, I never considered myself an "expert". I've always seen FFR as a chance to test my potential and my limits. It has gotten to the point where many would consider me an "expert". Although flattering, I dislike it when many refers to me as one because FFR should be a game that serves the purpose of being fun rather than receiving acclaim for the scores you obtain.

about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

I don't really keep track on this very often since it really depends on how much fun I want. Back in my "competitive" days, I'd ballpark this time to around "2 hours."

who would you say your rival is?

I am not interested in competitive play now. Back in the days, bballa48 and kjwkjw were my closest rivals, but they are also one of many great friends I have made on this site.

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

I don't plan on participating since I have much to focus on nowadays. If I were to participate, I don't think I'd even place in top 50% since there are many ridiculous people playing nowadays.

if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

Too tired to think of something now, but there are a few things I'd like to suggest when my brain is not clouded with confusion. I'll answer this question when I'm ready

once again thank you to wilson aka iironiic for the time!

next up we have the TC_Halogen aka aj. Halogen has been apart of the community for quite some time now, and is well known. not only is he a great all around rhythm gamer, but is also very involved in the community. for those of you who do not know, aj, with the help of friends, have brought us the dragon fury engine. he has hosted tournaments with custom files that have run flawlessly. that said, besides being an elite player, hes also very organized, and gives alot to the community. a big thank you goes out to halogen for everything he has done for the community!

for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, play an instrument, let us know!

My name is Anthony, but I preferred to be called AJ because my name is too common. My parents address me by that name as well, so I like to think that I have a pretty decent relationship with anyone who uses that name to contact me. I'm 20 years old, 21 at the end of August (precisely, the 28th). I was born and raised in Chicago, and then I moved to the East Coast in early 2010. I come from a musically talented family, as many people on my mother's side of the family are involved with some sort of music. I can play a little bit of piano, any sort of drums/percussion instruments (not limited to your basic bass and snare drum -- I happen to be quite good with xylophone), but my main instruments of choice fall within the brass section. I prefer trumpet the most.

could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

Speed: my speed has gone up gradually over the past year -- in the beginning of the year I was using 1.8, and currently, I'm using 1.925. I'm capable of reading up to 2.0 comfortably. Anything higher than that turns into a crap-shoot. After the creation of the Debbie Downers' downscroll group, I turned downscroll playing into an FFR hobby. When playing downscroll, I play at 1.75.

Keys: ER/UI, using a spread style with my index and middle fingers. I am proficient as an index player (I had to AAA Flight of the Bumblebee index, go figure), and I'm able to full combo a few Very Challenging rated files one-handed (old scale) of course.

Scroll: Upscroll, unless I'm playing on my alternate Debbie Downer account, which is of course, downscroll.

Engine: Velocity, all the way. I -can- play on Legacy, but I much prefer the appearance/performance of Velocity on my laptop.

besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

Swimming was one of my favorite activities in the past, but I don't do it quite as much anymore. Musical composition is something else I often immerse myself in, but I usually never come out with more than a scattered idea - max 30 seconds. Seems like I'll never be a successful producer/musician, haha. I also happen to be a big fan of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (nerd). My social life is somewhat lacking, but to be honest, I'm pretty complacent in it. I don't feel a need to engage myself in things that I shouldn't be.

how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

I first touched a DDR: 7th Mix machine during summer of 2002, at an arcade called Diversions located in the outskirts of Chicago. It was as an off-site trip during Chicago Park District summer camp, and they did it every year. One of the recreation leader assistants (known as a Junior Counselor) was playing it at the time and she was able to play on Standard. I couldn't resist trying the game. I ran into the game again during a visit to Waveland Bowl for my birthday, a years later. Waveland Bowl was less than a mile from my house, so I ended up going there more frequently. I was still playing on Light mode at the time.

My parents bought me DDRMAX2, along with a foam pad in Christmas of 2003. In a hilarious mistake, I accidentally picked Tsugaru on Heavy mode and I somehow managed to pass it. After that happened, I got really serious into the game and passed my first DDR 10 within a month. I started frequenting arcades, and come 2004, I was looking for multiple ways to satisfy this need to play. After searching "Dance Dance Revolution" online, I came across this site. I also came across StepMania around the same time. My encounter with In The Groove came shortly after.

I learned spread in 2007/2008 and got accepted into Team Chaos, a now dead FFR team. My old debit13 account had been associated with a lot of stupid things, like me acting like an immature idiot/spamming MP/etc -- so, I stepped in under TC_Halogen, and started raiding the leaderboards.

All in all, it has been nearly 10 years since I first touched a rhythm game. It's scary to think about.

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

This is a really hard question to answer. It's very dependent on the satisfaction of the player. When I first started playing these games, just getting full combo scores on songs like CIA Rave made me incredibly happy. But after progressing in the game, my standards in scoring increased dramatically. It's gotten to a point for me where if I'm not belting out perfect scores on For Gurus Only files, then it's considered a bad day. Play the game to your heart's content, improve gradually, and try to enjoy it. I play songs that I have perfect scores on over again simply because they are really well charted or they bring back good memories. Yes, it's alright to have a competitive side, but a game isn't a game if you're not enjoying it (to me).

about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

My play schedule is incredibly sporadic. Sometimes, I will open FFR or StepMania - play one game, and then stop for the day. Other times, I will sit and grind for hours on end. This number can range anywhere from two hours a week to... twenty-five or more. I like to think I'm on the lower end for FFR now, since I don't have much to play for ranks anyway. If I'm playing leisurely, I'm usually not playing for long. I rarely touch StepMania, though. At most, StepMania gets used for a song or two as a warm-up, and that's it.

who would you say your rival is?

My FFR rivals are samurai7694 (all-around), EzExZero7497 (speed), and Zyphoror (technical). Eze is one fast kid and he's packing this much skill only at 14. It's terrifying. Zyphoror is a really strong player too, and I still envy him for that Grist AAA... it'll happen eventually. I'll get my revenge. samurai is just brilliant -- not only is he an amazing player, but I can relate to him on as a fellow musician, performer (concert band/symphony), and just as a person in general. Despite how close the skill level is between samurai7694 and I, we manage to stay very friendly with the competition and it's a strong driving force for improvement.

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

I've had a very easy to see trend. In the fourth official, I placed 5th, but I received 4th prize because Shashakiro was a staff member and he placed first. In the fifth official, I got eliminated on round 8 (out of 10) and placed 4th. In the sixth official, I ran into a tiebreaker into the final round (round 8) against samurai7694, and he slaughtered me -- ending my tournament and putting me in 4th place. This tournament, I actually have the Compaq Presario that I was using when I started getting some insane scores (like La Campanella AAA, for example), and I actually plan on pushing really hard this time around. I'm aiming for top 3 or better this time around. We'll see how things ago. Gotta represent everyone in Dragons_Fury and Team Pony (yeah, you heard right).

if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

There are a lot of biased/fueled answers that I could answer this question with, but I won't do so. Honestly, if I had the opportunity to prevent the downtime that happened on the site, I would do so. FFR was an amazing place during 2006/2007/2008. I miss those times. Another thing that I'd love to see in the near future is an overhaul in site appearance. I know it was in the works, but it's been quite some time since we've seen progress.

once again thank you AJ for taking the time to answer the questions!

next we have alexdest who has one of the best MA accuracy out there. he continues to impress all with his scores. gaming aside, he is down to earth, and gets along with everyone in the community. i myself love to see him post insane scores :]

for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!

- Those only know me as a top player, maybe even personally as well. But, those who don't, my name is Alex. Residing in North Carolina currently and 17 years old. Right now, I'm going into my senior year of high school. I actually used to run track in the 7th grade, and a little in the 8th grade. Not too much to say about me, I'm usually just laid back and "going with the flow."

could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

- I use the new R^2 FFR engine (may switch back to just the regular Velo engine). I'm still adjusting to what speed would be satisfying for me, but right now I'm using x2.5 and being a spread player I use the keys, "WE[]". The noteskins I'm not very used to which jams into my focus for reading speed (ex. Eclipse (Solar)), but I use the Stepmania noteskin.

besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

- My hobbies consist of drawing, story writing, and basketball.

how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

- My father actually bought me DDR Extreme 2 around the time for its first release to the U.S., which was around late 2005. Gotten into Stepmania around early-mid 2007 and joining FFR in September 2007, I haven't gotten into the game until early 2008. I as well got into Osu! around very late 2009, but I'm not as motivated with that as I am with Stepmania/FFR currently.

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

- A skill level seems to only matter by someone else's perspective, which can be flattering and motivating. Being a modest person, I don't like to think of myself as an "expert." Stepmania/FFR is but a mere game that tests a person's determination, motivation, confidence, dexterity, skill, etc.

about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

- It varies, usually 1 to 3 hours for a day. I'd usually take a couple breaks often so I don't develop any mind/skill blocks.

who would you say your rival is?

- I've never been open to any rivalry or competition. But, for FFR, my dead-on rival would be TC_Halogen (AJ) and my Stepmania rival being Eze.

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

- Around top 5 in D6, depending if I feel motivated to keep participating through the rounds.

a big thank you to alexdest for taking the time! <3

following alexdest's interview, we have Dossar, who is very well known around here. he is without doubt the best here on ffr, and arguably SM. theres not much to say other then the fact that hes been beasting kids since his arrival. sky is the limit for dossar, and i myself am looking forward to what he can add to his list of achievements.

For those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. Where you are from, participate in any sports, play an instrument, let us know!

Well to start my name is Roy Steven Van Liew and I live in Massachusetts. My birthdate is July 14th, 1994 (currently 17 years old). And man, I don't even know where the hell to start in terms of what to talk about my journey. Back in middle school I was lonely and depressed and my first account was made in this time, ffdfadsdasd. The earliest I can remember from FFR is when Captain Jack was released in 2005 and taken down shortly after. In 6th grade my brother invited me to compete in a DDR tournament with another high school; it was funny to see me as a small kid going against high school seniors. That tournament resulted me in getting 2nd place, the last round being Max 300 and I got a C while the other guy got a B rofl. Needless to say I did have an interest in DDR back in the day. I don't remember how I stumbled onto FFR. Anyways, back in early 2007 I was called "Mr. Molto Boy" by Shashakiro and I had other alt accounts that held the same reputation. I was notorious for BS'ing like a mother****er, l0l. I tried coming clean but after February 2008 I just saw that I honestly couldn't continue like that any further, so I actually came up with a new idea: Dossar. I basically wanted to start from a clean slate with a new name and keep a low profile. It was still a bit risky since it was March 2008 and my RVL account BS was still very very recent at the time. I did get comments like "how does someone AA 0x1311 within 3 weeks of SM playing, etc", so I wound up making lies about starting in 2008 in an attempt to deviate from the recent drama on my other alt accounts. For those of you that don't know, the "ODI" part in my name refers to omgdidinsane.com (that site is now dead) and it was another attempt to make it look like I was someone that came from ODI, not the previous bullshit Mr. Molto Boy that was receiving a lot of whiplash from the community haha. But that's basically how this account came into existence, this is not my first account on this site and I certainly did not start playing stepmania in March 2008 as I claimed back in the day when I wanted people to not think I was Mr. Molto Boy. Basically in 2008 I did notice I was naturally good at vibrating so I mainly did vibrating files; anyone who's seen my stepfiles from 2008 will notice the obvious vibrating influence and how poorly stepped they were. I liked the dump stepping style more than anything else because I always thought of these rhythm games as just AAAing with good MA or whatever, and these dumpfiles were definitely a change. Back in 2008 I was known for my Jackhammer Madness AAA, which was definitely a huge turning point and it was certainly a huge step up from the "Mr. Molto Boy" BS label I had earlier.

I used to play soccer and my parents made me try out basketball. After basketball I found that sports really just wasn't my thing. I used to do percussion up until freshman year of high school, then I stopped. I used to play Runescape way back in the day along with some other MMORPG's, but now those types of games are totally past me now.

What does a normal day for you consist of?

That depends. I don't have a clear, cut out plan for each day; rather if things work out the way that I'd expect, I have the time to get to what I want to do during the day. A lot of the time though, I run short on time RIP.

Could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

The way I play is a bit strange. Anyone who's seen my videos will probably notice that I sometimes quickly extend my fingers during a song; this is basically a quick stretch that is actually sometimes involuntary (I can't have my ring or pinky fingers stationary for that long so this happens quite a bit). I use upscroll 1.75x speed when I play FFR; 0.25 intervals make the game smoother for me, and 1.5x was too slow and 2x was too fast. 1.75x allows me some time to interpret a section while still being a comfortable scrolling rate. I use DFJK as my setup right now, but sometimes I might have to change my setup (such as the case for Revolutionary Etude and back when I played AIM Anthem, I used m,./ instead which basically has all four keys right next to each other for an "anchor setup"). Every since the Velocity Engine was released, I've adapted to it and it has a lot of neat features.

Besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/interests?

I'm actually not much of a gamer at all. FFR/SM is basically the only game I've been sticking to for some time now. Occasionally I read (most of the time being for school, but sometimes I find interesting things) books, although that's not something I like much because my reading speed is ridiculously slow. I have an interest in seeing how computers are made (I'm majoring in Computer Engineering for my college career) and I spend most of my time on this laptop. I'm also interested in learning some programming along the way. I also help my family with household things and participate in community events such as walks and volunteer work. I also have an interest in improving things on FFR to the best of my ability.

Communicating over AIM/Skype is something I do frequently too, so if you want to contact me, I'm usually on unless I'm on vacation or something. I'm interested in getting to know other people too, sometimes to the point of "I don't want to talk to you about this" haha. Another interest that has a good chance of becoming a potential hobby is alphes art (don't get me started).

How long have you been playing rhythm games, and who got you started?

Seven years now (2005). I first played Guitar Hero when it came out, and like I said I also played DDR back in the day, DDR Extreme 2 when it was first released. I'd say my brothers got me started because they did introduce some of these games to me. However mostly self-motivation got me to where I am now.

When do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

Good question! If you have enough skill to appreciate higher level files, I'd say you've reached an expert level. You don't have to be SDGing a file or even FCing it to see what the stepartist was going for. Of course, it also depends on the file.

About how much do you practice/play FFR/SM a week?

I don't keep track of this. Sometimes I don't play at all, sometimes I'll have sessions that can last 3 hours or around that time. I do like playtesting my files and stepping files though, so this could probably count as "playing". If that's the case, I'd say I could spend anywhere from just a few hours to maybe twenty hours a week. It really depends on how things work out during the day.

Who would you say your rival is?

High D6. Too many players to name. I'd definitely consider Staiain and Isaac speed rivals, but they don't play FFR.

With the Official FFR Tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

I'm definitely seeing myself placing Top 3 unless there's some massive twist, haha. I'm not as concerned this time if I don't place 1st because I already got the support tokens, vrofl, freedom dive, etc. from the 6th Official Tournament, but I will still give a genuine effort like I did in the last Official.

Can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

Use a speedmod that is comfortable for you; by this, I mean that you will encounter complex files. Like I stated earlier in the settings question, 2x was too fast for me. Even though I can somewhat read it, hard patterns become a nightmare, so I use 1.75x instead. Even then, this is a difficult question to approach because I already started out with decent jacking control and vibrating, so I can't really tell the limits of another player physically. Back in 2008 I played a lot of "dumpfiles" on stepmania simply because it was the type of file I liked. I didn't even have a set routine or anything, just overtime I got better from these files. Also, keep in mind that FFR is a frame based game. AAAing becomes an entirely different story on FFR compared to FCing with a few goods, and some files are really really ugly. Look for 1-frame intervals, and get used to what these intervals look like on your speed mod setting. 1.75x is good at determining intervals, another reason why I use the speed. 1-frame intervals can change your approach to a file; for me, it can make the difference between hitting a jump or doing gallops. Of course, make sure you have a tolerable keyboard. This haggard smashed laptop has lasted me quite some time and it doesn't limit me as much as a windows 98 pos bulky keyboard would.

If you could change, or add something to FFR what would you change/add?

On Indeed, there is a big list of ideas that Rebound, qqwref, and I have put together. Simply put, there are a lot of things I think could use revamping on FFR, but I'd rather not get into that here.

samurai7694, who just so happens to enjoy pictures of monkeys eating watermelon, is my next pick. with an average rank of 1, and a 100% full combo bar, its obvious that luis should be considered the best around. he is a serious threat in tournaments to others in d6.

For those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. Where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!

My name is Luis. I'm currently 17 years old, turning 18 pretty soon this year, July 6. I was born in Florida and currently live in Miami with my parents and sister. I consider myself a brilliant musician as I have perfect pitch and can identify different speeds and rhythms in most songs which gives me sort of an advantage when playing rhythm games.

What does a normal day for you consist of?

I wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, shower, and use the computer throughout the day. Since I'm trying to lose weight, I exercise by either doing 20 push ups an hour or have a day of jogging two miles in about 30 minutes. If I'm not on the computer, I'm either watching random shit on Netflix, practicing on the piano, or not at home.

Could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.


On FFR: 2.15x speed mod, combo and accuracy are turned off. Velocity FFR Wide engine. Upscroll, FFR noteskin.
Stepmania: C825, distant mod, typically no mines, metal noteskin, judge 7.

on both I use the key setup: m,./ because I find that the bottom row keys are best for wrist jack control and this is actually my first time having my keys very close together.

Besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?


Music. Anything music related, I'm down with. I like listening to music and I play music, either on the violin or piano. If I feel bored I may experiment with FL Studio but I'm very bad at music production. I enjoy playing the piano the most. It gives me space to stop worrying about what's out there in the world and my current problems and just let myself go emotionally and spiritually.

How long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?


Funny story: My first rhythm game would be those cheap-ass flash-run DDR knock-off arrow games from Cartoon Network's website under the Games section. I don't remember exactly what year I discovered it but it must have been 2003-2004 or something. It was way back when I had Windows XP and lived in a townhouse. It was only those games, until I discovered FFR in 2006. I guess I could say the "real" first rhythm game I played was FFR. I discovered it myself so no one really got me into it, but I will say that players like XXXsmittyXXX and Shashakiro were those people who really inspired me to get good and I NEVER in my life imagined myself being where I am today.

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?


Very good question. Stepmania really did push me to the limit (cue Scarface music), and I thank certain people for that, mostly GG_Guru. Yes, that guy got me into SMO and constantly playing Stepmania more and more every day. Not to mention the files I mostly played were the dump files found in Hard Songs Megapacks and midare megapacks. On this samurai7694 account (my first one is actually cyrx900) I decided to rank up as many AAA's as possible until I couldn't get any more AAAs, and for a while my lowest average rank was 3 and I thought I could never reach 1 with people like [TeRa] and MrRubix back when he was still in game. On Stepmania, however, I wanted to really push myself by getting my first world record which was on Question, and I achieved that on video.

About how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?


Nowadays, I play at least 10-20 minutes of FFR a day. Stepmania, I play like 4-5 days a week, and it's usually until I get to the point where my arms cry and tell me to stop playing, haha. It's not such a bad thing to get sore and sweat from playing Stepmania and really pushing hard to get better. It shows you're dedicated, and you'll thank yourself later for passing a Dossar file.

Who would you say your rival is?


TC_Halogen, AJ, would probably be my Puerto Rican older-brother-like rival. He comes close to me in a lot of the files, although his strong points are a bit different than mine (I'm referring to that one time he mentioned that he's able to do left-handed runningmen patterns in La Campanella while I on the other hand prefer those patterns mirrored because my left hand is really weak).

With the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?


That's hard to say. I think luck was on my side the last tournament. leonid and TC_Halogen definitely have the potential to knock me out hard this tournament. In fact, Husigi was one of my weaker files because I'm terrible at jacks (uh oh, weakness found). Dossar is just at a different level. If I get lucky enough to come close to him again, that's cool. If not, I'll at least say that I did my best because I won't give up until the round ends.

Can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?


Go for as many AAAs as you can get, starting with the easiest songs on FFR. I understand it's boring and some songs are long, but all of us top players have been through that road before and it payed off. Just from eliminating those too-easy-too-boring synthlight files, you can definitely see an improvement in your own ranks. Remember, people like to see AAAs and clean scores, not mash-FC's of Death Piano (yes, I AM one to talk...I should go improve my own score on Death Piano brb...). There is also other FFR engines out there where you can get out of your comfort zone and play files created to make you better at certain stuff like trills, runningmen patterns, jacks, and so on.

If you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

I would like to see more competition as well as more hard charts. It would be awesome to see a ton of people in the highest division instead of just a handful. I would also like FFR VC to come back...

farts. next up is FFR's very own, One Winged Angel aka rob. for me, rob has been one of my favorite players since ive got to know him. his personality is great, and he has a hot girlfriend that AAA's fmos. kidding. but not really. jokes aside, rob is truly someone i have looked up to. great player, better person.

For those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. Where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!

Sure why naaaat. Rob, 22, reppin’ the shitty little town of Hamilton, Ontario (about an hour south of Toronto). Recent graduate of McMaster University with an Honours Bachelors of Commerce. Currently looking for full time work experience in order to prep for my MBA, which I’m hoping to apply for within the next three years. I’ve been playing piano for about 15 years and guitar for almost 8. Supposedly I was a big deal back during my piano-playing days lol, winning several provincial competitions when I was much younger. Got my black belt when I was 11 (lol from United Family Martial Arts, so you know it doesn’t mean jackshit in the long run), and took Kung Fu for another three years in high school. Competed in a few sparring tournaments and always placed top three, get at me. Big on math, statistics, psychology, memory, fitness/bodybuilding, chess, philosophy, poker, gambling…somewhat of a movie buff as well. Also a huge Pokemon nerd and probably know more about the game and metagame than most Smogon mods. Could probably continue but that should suffice~

What does a normal day for you consist of?

Alarm’ll wake me up, I’ll reset it another 10 minutes from now and go back to sleep. Wake up a second time. Piss, shower, wash my face, brush my teeth, and downstairs I go. Feed my retarded bird because I’m the only one in the family she doesn’t bite for some reason (why that bird isn’t dead yet is beyond me). I’ll usually bum around my house during the morning doing God knows what. If I can muster up the will to actually get in my car and go to the gym before noon, then A+ for me. Otherwise I’ll prob try and get a few hours of some sort of reading in, which has been my GMAT prep book as of late (although I already wrote a mock test and scored well enough to get into Ivy League schools, hehu). Sometimes by lunch, my retard friends will text me the stupid thing they plan on doing that particular afternoon (and usually continuing into the night), and if I’m not busy I’ll drive over to whatever location to watch them make asses of themselves (the vast majority of my friends are intoxicated almost 24/7). Otherwise, days have been pretty slow lately, but I’m enjoying the free time while it lasts. I’m anticipating securing a full time job doing investment banking and other really boring ‘bankly’ duties by the beginning of July, so had I been asked this a month from now, I probably would’ve answered with smashing my keypad randomly and moving on to the next question.

Could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

95% of the time, x1.9. I only use x2.0 if I’ve just finished a long SM session and I’m comfortable using a slightly faster speedmod. SDJK is my main setup, although there’s a few songs with obviously gay spikes where I need to change that up to play well (Crowdpleaser, p4u v1, some others). Usually try to play on the Velo engine as much as possible, despite the fact that it’s been a laggy piece of merda for me as of late. R^2 runs smooth as a baby’s bottom for me, but I haven’t been using that as much because I’m OCD as fuc and like saving replays of my more difficult AAAs (anything that was a former FGO on the old system or higher). I’ll most likely be using R^2 for the Official Tourney though, with a speedmod of around x2.4, give or take five hundredths.

When going for AAAs, I’ll turn off combo/judgment and hide my raw score at the bottom of the screen by bringing up Task Manager. Helps to almost completely alleviate any nerves or shaky-hands-syndrome going into the last 150 notes of any file with the AAA. I encourage anyone that gets extremely nervous about losing a AAA after bypassing all the hard shit in a file to give this a go. Occasionally this backfires (lol like getting 2g in the first 10 notes of Mephisto Waltz without noticing and then AAA’ing the rest), but it’s really helped me out in the long run.

Besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

Music’s up there. I really enjoy playing shows and gigs, hoping to play a lot more now that I’ve finished my schooling for the time being. I’m also really big on MMA, despite the fact that I haven’t been part of any sort of ‘dojo’ within the past four years. Aside from that, everything else I’d mentioned while answering the first question.

…actually hang on, one interesting little hobby of mine as of late has been seeing what’s the hottest thing I can eat without killing myself. I like to go to grocery stores, markets, and those crazy little Punjabi huts that have batshit crazy hot sauces and buy the hottest thing I can find. Then I’ll come home and eat it. My dad will proceed to call me a ****ing retard for the next several minutes as I run around the house (like a retard) seeing how long I can last without drinking any milk. Eventually I’ll succumb to the milk but that only makes things worse for my stomach because I’m lactose-intolerant. Within ten minutes, I’ll end up on the can taking the gnarliest shit imaginable (I’ll spare you the details). After I’ve calmed down, sometimes I try to show my new poo baby (more often than not, babies) to Maggie (DarknessXoXLight) over Skype, but she always manages to hang up before I get it on cam. I’ll get her one day

How long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

Haha there used to be this really shitty arcade by this really shitty mall by my house (it’s now a giant Telus booth, rip). Me and my elementary school friends often derped around at the mall/arcade, and one friend of mine was obsessed with this foreign dancing game they had there. I think it was called Dance Dance Revolution. Lmao I remember watching her pass Love Shine [Standard] and I thought she was some sort of demon (a demon for passing a 4, lmao). Anyways, she tells me specifically out of all my friends to give it a shot, just to see how I’d do because I was the video game prodigy of the group (and I guess this was a video game to her lol). Surprisingly passed a bunch of 4s and 5s on my first go, and was no longer impressed with Cheyenne’s Love Shine play (she was mad as hell rofl). Worked my way up to passing 10s over the next few months, and eventually got to the point where I managed to high AA/AAA some of them.

So that was…9 years ago? Then they got rid of the arcade less than two years later and we were all mad -.-

Found FFR in 2006. I either Googled ‘DDR for your fingers’ or found it on addictinggames.com, I honestly forget which, but I’m pretty sure it was the former. Didn’t make an account till 2007, casually played until I found out about Tokens/Skill Tokens, at which point my OCD for ‘collecting all the things’ took over and I started to play more often.

Never played PiU, played ITG maybe three or four times (I’m garbage). Guitar Hero, Rock Band etc. I’ve played casually (read: drunk as fuark at high school parties) so I’m not that good at either or.

When do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

You’re probably an expert once you can read higher level files without mashing like a tard during some sections. I’d say something around the level of Kidney Stone is a good benchmark for measuring that.

Personally, I don’t consider myself a very good player. Maybe I am in comparison to others, but I’m positive I haven’t plateaued yet; I know I’m still capable of much better scores. This is my cue to insert the immortal words of darkshark, but I’m far too lazy to find the post in order to quote him word for word. I believe it was something along the lines of ‘the moment you start thinking you’re good at this game is the moment you stop getting better’. There’s always room for improvement when you’re playing a game like this. That’s why it’s so addicting for some people; it has almost infinite replay value. You can’t ‘beat’ FFR. (skype_sun.gif)

About how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

Lol nowadays? I’m almost down to playing FFR just once a week when new songs are released. I’ll try to AAA all of them and maybe play for an hour max afterwards but that’s it. SM I’ll maybe play two or three times a week, about an hour max each session as well.

During my first two years of playing, I probably played FFR at least six hours a week, sometimes more. But lol, I can say with absolute certainty that I haven’t played as much as my grand total indicates. My friends used to play on my account all the time (and still do from time to time), I don’t even think 70% of that total belongs to just me hahaha.

Who would you say your rival is?

There’s a good handful of people that are pretty close to me in skill. I’m inclined to say subin, but God knows where the hell he is nowadays (and I was kinda half-assing that entire rivalry, oops [lmao love you Subey~])

Yeah, I think I mostly play for myself. Trying to fill up my AAA bar as much as I possibly can for myself is more fun/rewarding (and far less frustrating) than if it the main motivation behind that was just to try and outdo someone else's scores haha.

With the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see yourself placing?

Relatively high now that I’m almost completely nerve-free and have access to an engine that runs much smoother. Realistically hoping for at least top 8, although I might be able to sup a few of the more elite players if things go well. We’ll see.

Can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

Isolate the weaknesses in your skillset and practice playing more files where that weakness is exploited. That’s as simple as I can put it. Do that and you’re sure to improve.

If you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

I miss the 06/07/08 regs. If some of those dudes became active again today, I’d be so content. That’s all ;_; (ending on a sad note )

next up is Opkiller~ Opkiller was influenced by guitarhero which later brought him to key smashing. with an average rank of 1, and some recent extremely impressive scores, i myself am interested to see how he does in the official tourny.

For those who don’t know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. Where you are from, participate in any sports, play an instrument, let us know!

Hello, my name is Mathieu (Matthew in English) and I am from Quebec, Canada. I’m 17 years old and I’ve almost finished Secondary school, going to CEGEP next year (Quebec’s way of education haha). I love learning anything by myself; actually I’m starting to study Japanese, I do some advanced maths (compared to what we did in class this year) and I try to get into C++ programming. Most of the time, I’m a pretty competitive person in general but I’m also very lazy when it comes do doing stuff I just don’t want to do. For the sports well I’ve been practicing martial arts since I was 3 years old. At first I was doing Karate, but I stopped when I was 7 (I had the blue belt) because the way I learned it was too violent and not enough about self-defence and techniques. Then I immediately started to practice Taekwondo until this year; I got my black belt 1st Dan 3 years ago. And now I’m doing Kung-Fu (stopped taekwondo 5 months ago). Finally for the instruments well I have a keyboard in my room but I’m too lazy to learn how to play it right now haha, maybe this summer!

Could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings?

My usual key setup is “34-=” downscroll (Because of Guitar Hero) which is almost the same as “askl”. My speed mod varies very slowly; I’ve been using 1.75 a lot this year but now I’m using 2.1 and I think it will get higher and higher with time because I think the most you develop the ability to read the denser patterns, the easier it is to take a look at them, for example in a replay or even ingame, and hit them correctly without having to remember it (in your head or simply by muscular memory), which in my opinion helps getting over many mindblocks. I never really tried isolation files but I think it can also help a lot as long as you don’t overuse it.

Besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/interests?

I got to say I really like video games, which is probably why I have much interest in programming and computers. I want to go to Japan when I’m done with school because of technology and fooooood haha.

How long have you been playing rhythm games, and who got you started?

Hmmm, the very first time I’ve played any rhythm game to get better at it and not just for fun was when Guitar Hero 2 came out. I’ve become pretty good at that game but I lost interest in it after GH3 so when I saw a video of someone playing some Pac Man file on SM, I thought I’d give it a go and I failed, but I really liked the game and I had some skills in rhythm games already so I was seeing myself getting way better than most of my friends so that was some kind of boost for my interest in the game. Then, for a very long time, Izzy was, for me, The SM God because I didn’t know much about the whole community and AAAA (AAAAAs even) looked so impossible to me until last year.

When do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

Last year (Early 2011). Some people in FFR’s community know I went from big mashing pro who loved combo scoring to the D6 player I am now.

About how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

It varies a lot; sometimes I can play up to 5 hours in a row because I get fully warmed up and try to clean as many scores as I possibly can, which usually takes much time because I have to FC the files. Also, if I decide to stop playing ffr or SM for any amount of time, I always manage to get my skills back even though the skilldrop is important.

Who would you say your rival is?

I honestly don’t know, even though Eze and Zypho say I’m as good as them (better even) I think I have no rival really because all the players near my skill level are statistically far ahead.

With the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see yourself placing?

Well I might place in the top 8 if I put a lot of effort in it since I’ll have much time to whore the files and practice but then I don’t aim for anything, I just want to participate and to my best so I can be happy with the final results.

If you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

Since many things are already in the process of being modified or replaced I don’t know what could be improved at the moment. However, maybe some statistics could be added to the players’ profiles like how much AAA’s you have in each difficulty or maybe give a rating on every file (from 1 to 10) for their different pattern difficulty (trills, jumpstream, jacks, bursts, etc.) and use the file’s actual difficulty (from 1 to 100 now) to determine how influent the pattern ratings are and then use the player's AAAs to tell his/her general abilities. The only problem is that it would take years haha.

icontrolyourworld aka icy is next up on the list. before his arrival to FFR, he was very well known in the SM scene. i was extremely surprised to see how quick icy climbed the ranks to where he is today. with an average rank of 13, and over 80% of all public songs AAA'd icy continues to impress. i decided to ask icy 2 questions that i have not asked the other pros. hope you guys enjoy!

for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!
I'm Nick! And I guess I like to ride my bike sometimes xD

what does a normal day for you consist of?
Waking up and getting on the computer to play video games, watch youtube vids, and make simfiles. I need a job.

could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

On stepmania I use C735, on FFR i use 2.0x. As long as my keysetup is close together aka asdf I'll use that and I switch around every couple of months. I use 3.95 for SM, and I use velocity for FFR. I use default noteskin on StepMania, and I use Stepmania noteskin on FFR. I wish ffr had the default noteskin from sm 3.95

besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

I used to build up a pretty big rubber band ball about 6 years ago, I got another bag of rubber bands last week and I already added them to the ball. Generally if I ever get rubber bands I like to build my ball bigger. I also like watching anime/tv a lot. And I collect hentai pics :3

how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

About 4 and a half years now. Well my friend Mark got me to play Dance Dance Revolution first, so him. We're still best friends xD

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

When I stopped taking it as seriously as I used too, so about a year or 2 ago. I also don't improve very much as a result.

about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

For a solid session I'd say once a week (maybe less), but recently I've just been playing other games. I used to play every day though. I do play in MP a lot though, I won't get better by playing in there because i get random goods all the time, but it is a lot of fun just playing with other people and chatting. I miss smo

who would you say your rival is?

Elite Ninja is probably the closest to me in skill on FFR, and I guess MetzgerSM would be my rival in SM if we both still played xD

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

14th-30th in D6 (out of like 40 to 50 people I'm guessing, kind of like last year)
D6 is totally unfair, there's no way I have any chance of coming in 1st. Oh well I'm really just playing for the fun of it anyways

can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

Relax, tap your keys lightly. Get good at 1 hand thrilling with both hands, and get good at wristjacks. Overall have fun when you play and play often!

if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

I'd like to see more variance in FFR charts in general. Most upper level songs are upper level simply because it has some weird burst or some weird set of jacks in it. I'd like FFR to have files that are consistently 1 difficulty and not just spiked. I'd also like to see more Stamina draining files in FFR

And as for easier charts in FFR. There needs to be way better song selection, and the charts need to be more basic. As in don't use 32nds, 48ths, and 64ths for 90% of the chart. Always use 4th/8th/16ths to get new players familiar with how to time their keytaps.

the next to be interviewed is someone who i think is the player of 2012 in my opinion.
EzExZeRo7497 has improved EXTREMELY fast. his recent scores posted have baffled me.

For those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. Where you are from, participate in any sports, play an instrument, let us know!

My name's Eze. I'm a 14 year old from Singapore, turning 15 in the 4th of July. I'm just that little boy who stumbled upon this website and got really good at this game. I tend to play instruments casually. I don't play them that much since I could not use them regularly (I don't have a piano, drums, a keyboard, etc.) but I do know how to play some of the basic songs on the piano. I know this sounds very cliché but I'm not a very social person. However, when you come and talk to me for a while, I'll probably talk a lot more, I tend to go a little out of hand sometimes though. Other than that, I tend to be quite the person who just laughs at a lot of stupid stuff I guess.

What does a normal day for you consist of?

Wake up, listen to music, eat stuff, take a shower, listen to more music, eat more stuff, play some rhythm games, listen to even more music and then go to bed. That's a generic day for me. School gets in the way sometimes, and outside activities with my family as well.

Could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

I use the keys RTYU at the moment. I used to use ZXCV, but something stupid happened, so I'm forced to switch to RTYU. I use a close setup because I can hit patterns differently compared to setups that are spread apart. For example, I can hit one handed trills as a two handed trill without any problem transitioning. I don't do that often however.

My main speed mod would be 2.25. I tend to use a range of speed mods, ranging from 2.15-2.25. I use 2.15 for reading long streams/jumpstream, 2.2 for AAA-ing in general and 2.25 for PA-ing really hard files. My previous main speed mod would be 2.2, I bumped up to 2.25 because I could extinguish frame intervals a lot easier with 2.25. I tend to challenge myself a bit more, and even play on 2.55. It doesn't really help much, but sometimes it could be a good warmup for me.

I use the Velocity Engine. I rarely use the Legacy engine. When I do, it's usually because the Velocity Engine starts to lag. It rarely happens though, so I tend to use the Velocity Engine more because of the extra features. (Gold combo, restarts) I would like to use the R^2 engine. However, I'm not a FFR Veteran so I can't use it. Oh well. /shrugs

Besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/interests?

I don't really play games that much actually. I do have a lot of hobbies/interests though. My main interest besides gaming would be listening to music. I like music a lot, and I listen to it a lot actually. I have other hobbies such as sudoku, ranting, reflecting, researching on stuff, watching documentaries and funny videos. I'm not quite the sports person, I don't really do that many sports. I just run whenever I feel like it since it eases my mind a lot.

How long have you been playing rhythm games, and who got you started?

Around two and a quarter years actually. (Started Stepmania in March 2010) I remember watching a video years ago, I believe it was Strangeprogram AAAA, by IzzySM. I searched it up again, and I found out that the game is Stepmania. I downloaded it, and played it a lot. I decided to play FFR in August 2011, since Icy was playing FFR at the time. We were rivals for a very little time, then I got too good. :/ I started playing ITG and DDR months after playing Stepmania. I don't remember the exact month though.

When do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

For SM, I wouldn't say that I can consider myself an expert just yet. I have high standards for myself in Stepmania since it's the rhythm game I devoted most of my time in out of every rhythm game I've played.

For FFR, I don't really consider myself an expert either but in reality, I'm kinda close to the top, so I
can consider myself an expert in early June, which I SDG-ed Metro and got really insane scores (80 raw goods on RATO, sub-80 on DP). Sadly, I can't reach that skill level at the moment since I've been playing too much Stepmania haha. I could probably come back up after some getting used to though.

About how much do you practice/play FFR/SM a week?

I don't really keep track. I tend to play from 3-5 hours a day or none at all. Basically it could range from 15-30 hours a week. I've been starting to play less and less though, since I'm losing that urge to play FFR/SM these days.

Who would you say your rival is?

I consider myself my own rival. Besides myself though, I consider TC_Halogen (AJ) a rival, when it comes to high 13s/low 14s (Old difficulties), Zyphoror (Dylan) and Opkiller (Mat) as my rivals when it comes to high 12s/low 13s, they're also two of my closest friends in the community actually. For Stepmania, Alex is my speed rival.

With the Official FFR Tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

I can see myself both ways. I will either not go very far in the tourney because of AAA rounds, or top 5. AAA-ing is my weakness and if I don't manage to keep up with D6 in the earlier rounds, I wouldn't have a chance in the later rounds anyway.

Can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

I'll just make this short and sweet. Push yourself. If you're playing low 12s and you're able to AAA them, push yourself by playing high 12s or even low 13s. You'll eventually PA them, and you'll destroy them. If your speedmod is 0.05 away from a 0.25 interval, I recommend you switch to the 0.25 interval. (For example, if you use 1.95, switch to 2 instead) Distinguishing frame intervals would be much easier and the game would be much smoother. Also, if you don't have files you could practice (If you're playing high 12s and PA-ing them really well, this problem tends to be very common), play on alternate engines. Tarrik's Engine, Community Engine, Dossar's Engine, Indeed Engine and even Stepmania (I don't really recommend this though, only do it for speed) would be a very nice alternative for hard files.

If you could change, or add something to FFR what would you change/add?

Implement raw scoring into the high scores, that is the only thing that's bothering me on FFR really. I would definitely want to see way more hard files that aren't difficulty spike galore (Not pointing at anyone), I would really want to see some really stamina draining PUBLIC files since Pants and FREEDOM DiVE aren't really stamina draining to most high D6 players haha. I wouldn't mind seeing a file like Mmmmmmm or even files like this. Of course I wouldn't mind seeing some speed files as well haha. Other than that, there isn't really much I would change about FFR.

up next we have leonid~ leonid is someone i have looked up to since i have started playing FFR. watching his vids/replays always blew me away, and that hasnt changed. leonid is a serious threat when he decides to particiapte in tournys, as all of d6 knows very well.

For those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!

Name's Sun. Born in South Korea, decided to study abroad, graduated from CMU last year, and am now working as a programmer.

what does a normal day for you consist of?

Wake up at 10:30 am, drive to work, and stay there for 8~9 hours. When I come back home I'm pretty much exhausted, but I happen to find enough distractions to keep myself awake until 5 am, which causes me to wake up late in the morning again


could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

I use the old engine (the one right before Velocity's). Speed is 2x, and I use A S L ; but this can change once my keyboard gets fixed. I play downscroll.



besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

I solve and collect puzzles, make simple programs for fun, and also like to draw and make some music.



how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

I started rhythm gaming in 1998, when my father bought me a CD which happened to contain bm98 (the oldest bms simulator). He believed that playing rhythm games makes me use my fingers intensively, thus stimulating my brains and such. Not sure whether it actually did improve my brainpower, but I have never stopped playing until now.


when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

FFR: When I AAA'd I Hate The 80s and drama ensued.
Stepman: I think it's when I FC'd Disregard with 2 greats


about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

About 4 hours a week. I'm too busy playing Diablo 3 xd

who would you say your rival is?

I'm not really fond of competition, so I only play to achieve various milestones set by myself.

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

Not sure whether I will participate again, but if I ever do, I'll shoot for top 8 like always

can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

You can't suck if you play for 10+ years.. Tools matter, so try to get better keyboards/monitors etc. Raging is bad for your health

if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

Eliminate combo-based scoring. Allow players to adjust screen height. Make practice mode like the one in Guitar Hero.

Following leonid, is someone else i have looked up to since ive started played FFR/SM, Bluearrowll. ive always been impressed with Terry's skill.

for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!

-My name is Terry, I come from Toronto and am an avid Sharks hockey fan. I started rhythm gaming in November 2007 (specifically, November 17) when I saw a girl playing FFR on a library computer, and I wanted to try it out for myself. I went home that day and created the universal nickname that I am found everywhere as: Bluearrowll. In about 8 months I transitioned from Runescape to FFR, ultimately retiring runescape for the rhythm game I am still found on today. Compared to others, I am a very new rhythm gamer but I would say my peak time of activity was around 2009. I presently have a full time job to play around with.

what does a normal day for you consist of?

-Every day I wake up and the first things I do are eat breakfast and update my astronomy thread. The beach I live beside is frequently visited by me.

-On weekdays, after doing so I get ready for work where I am found at my full time co-op job: an IT Administrator at Esri from 9-5. After this, I come home and take a shower, then do dishes. Next, I cook dinner. Depending if hockey is on or not, I will watch that and may skype call Luis & Isaac because Maar & Luiig etc. I may squeeze in 20 or so minutes of FFR and / or stepmania in a day.

-On weekends, I am either travelling out of town to either visit parents, go camping, or doing -something-. Usually once or twice a month I'll have a maintenance weekend where I just take care of everything from laundry to haircut to keeping the house in check.

could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

-My settings are typically as follows:
Speed: 1.95 or 2.05
Keys: ASKL
Engine: Velocity Engine
Dark On
Combo visible, total visible, I have the PA count visible on the left hand side, but I have the song information hidden.
Metal noteskin.

besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

-Over the past 90 something days, I think I've established myself as the resident astronomer on these forums. lol. I am a member of the DAA/DI Colloquium of the University of Toronto and a Ryerson University undergraduate student. I am glad that I seem to pique the interest of others with my thread, and I hope to maintain at least 30 viewers daily, but this number directly relies on the amount of unique daily users on FFR.

-Photography is my other large interest, and primarily shoot nature and landscapes. Sunrises, sunsets, lightning, stars, tranquil scenery, and I'll also do special events such as the Annual Canadian International AirShow here, as well as rare openings. For example, around this time last year, Toronto released their newest subway train, the Toronto Rocket. I had the opportunity to board this train, and enter the cockpit (I pushed a button or two in there too!) over a month before the first Rocket was launched for customer service. If anyone is interested in some of the photos I have posted, by all means contact me.

how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

-From a previous question, I started rhythm gaming in November 2007 (specifically, November 17) when I saw a girl playing FFR on a library computer, and I wanted to try it out for myself. I went home that day and created the universal nickname that I am found everywhere as: Bluearrowll. In about 8 months I transitioned from Runescape to FFR, ultimately retiring runescape for the rhythm game I am still found on today. Compared to others, I am a very new rhythm gamer but I would say my peak time of activity was around 2009.

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

-2009 was my peak year and since my level of play has tapered off strongly since then, my main performance is still in tact. However, stamina has become an issue for me. That doesn't change the fact that I can nail "awkward patterns" better than "standard patterns".

about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

-Over a week, i'll probably have played rhythm games for 2 hours. This time dramatically increases over tournament season.

who would you say your rival is?

-Well this depends on how active i've been. I believe it was a year or two years ago where I squared off against TC_Halogen in the stepmania tournament that was hosted on FFR Brag Boards, which came down to a 3 song final. He won the long MA song, but I won the speed song and the jack song, claiming that title. Probably the most exciting stepmania period for me, it would be very common to see both of us posting screenshots of the same song over and over again in an attempt to best the other. You could say we were in the Business of Misery as we tried to best each other in Misery Business. And he will remember this. lol.

More recently I am a bit unclear on who my rival is, but I'm sure this tournament will help me determine just who that is.

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

-Historically I have been extremely consistent in tournaments. I placed 9th in the 4th official tournament in D3. I placed 10th in the 5th official tournament in D5. I placed 10th in the 6th official tournament in D6. I predict that I'll finish 10th in the 7th official tournament in D7. (Or D6 if we don't add a 7th division. lol) I'd really like to break top 8 though.

can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

-Do not get overly stressed about the song you are playing. Enjoy the song, the more you enjoy the song, the better you will do. This is a challenge if you get a song which ends up being a genre of song you don't like, but you can simply play the song on mute and then listen to another song.

I remember in Konata Spoon I AAA'd solely because I was listening to another song in a public area. I believe Konata Spoon was the only song I AAA'd in the 6th tournament as well lmfao. I was in the student centre at my school watching a couple of my friends "pop" to their music player, and on the side I was playing konata spoon. Turned out to be a one and done AAA run. Who knew?

if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

-In replays, I'd implement an option to skip to anywhere you want so you can analyse a select portion of the song without having to play the whole song to get to that spot (and have to replay the song again if you pass that area on accident!). This is especially annoying for songs such as Strawberry Sweetz.

yomanthiskidsawesome.. no but seriously.. yo man im awesome has some serious skills. if you post in the ffr scores thread, or read through it.. its crazy how fast he has improved.

for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!

Name's Kevin. I'm 15 years old, turning 16 on February 25th. I'm not very athletic in my upper body, but I'm a big soccer player, and I enjoy playing it whenever I get the chance. I'm pretty social, and I'm always open for conversation if I am available. I'm a very musical person. I love to play the violin, (pretend to, because I haven't learned yet -->) Piano, Guitar, and Sing. Listening to music has been a huge portion of my life, and without it, honestly, I don't think my life would be anywhere near the same as it is today.

what does a normal day for you consist of?

"7:00 A.M. Wakin' up in the morning, gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs..." *cough* I mean uhh... Normally I'll wake up around noon if not later, eat breakfast, head downstairs, make sure the internet hadn't collapsed on itself, go outside for a bit, come back in and get lazy for the rest of the day playing xbox and chilling on the computer. Just the generic life of a 15 year old.

could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.

I've noticed that I switch key setups quite often. I think that has to do with me smashing the keys just a little too hard. At the moment however, I use the setup QWUI and I use 1.75x speedmod. Anything beyond 1.75x is just too fast for my mind to process, and seeing people play on speeds like 2.1x is just absurd to me.

I use the Velocity engine. Legacy never really did it for me, and the Beta engine is incredible laggy and doesn't feel very synced to me.

besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/intrests?

As stated earlier, I play and listen to quite a bit of music, and I love playing Soccer. I've been talking and hanging out with my friends outside of school a lot more lately, and I've really started to enjoy myself more.

how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?

I've been playing rhythm games for a while, since right around the time Guitar Hero 3 came out. That was also my first rhythm game, introduced to me by my cousin. Eventually I bought it myself, and improved all the way to nearly being able to pass Through the Fire and Flames on Expert. (Only problem was the intro, big shocker there) My sister was the one who actually showed FFR to me. She had only just started playing herself, but because my 10 year old mind refused to let my sister win at anything, I had her make me an account and I ended up surpassing her quickly (at which time she basically quit due to college starting up for her.)

when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?

I am far from an "Expert" at Stepmania. Honestly it's pretty laughable at how different my skill level is on stepmania compared to FFR. I would say you reach "Expert" at stepmania when you can start consistently AAA'ing files and getting some slick Quads (I haven't done either.)

On FFR, I have completed every goal I have ever thrown at myself, and because of that, I will finally call myself an "Expert" at it. I've unlocked vROFL, Placed in the Top 3 of an Official Tournament, AAA'd an FGO, and achieved countless other milestones. In my eyes, you become an "Expert" on FFR the moment you can FC an FMO without excessive mashing. That shows that you can read a file of considerable density, and play it pretty well.

Overall, to become an "Expert" at anything, I believe that you become one the moment you achieve every reasonable goal you can throw at yourself.

about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?

If this was around half a year ago, I would have said that I play FFR/SM more than 12 hours a week, without exaggeration. I haven't been playing nearly as much anymore (although it's still just as fun as it used to be, I just can't sit for 4-5 hours of continuous play anymore) I don't really keep track, but I'd say I play around 4 to 5 hours of FFR/SM a week.

who would you say your rival is?

Well, considering I have a rivalry thread with him and a few others (although I think it's clear by his system that he's the biggest the threat), I'd say that Jerry DB is my rival. Lately he's been kicking my ass, but we usually just go back and forth with AAA after AAA after AAA. He had a huge lead at first, but I've finally started catching up I think.

with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?

I honestly don't see myself placing very high at all. At most, I'd say that I could place in the top 30% or so, but Making the top 8, let alone top 16, is far beyond my reach at the moment.

can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?

Push yourself, but don't go overboard. The only way to improve is by playing files that are out of your comfort zone. That being said, don't only play things that you find unreadable and that you have to mash to play. If I did that, I'd be playing vROFL all day, expecting to improve.

Don't give up! If you see that your not doing so well for a day or two, just take a break. Maybe take a day or two off from FFR to give your arms a break, then ease yourself right back into it. Don't assume the moment you have a "skilldrop" that all is lost.

if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?

Add a few more difficult charts in-game. I'd say we have plenty of easy charts for the people who aren't quite ready for FMO/FGO level files, but there isn't nearly enough for the big leagues.

id just like to let everyone know that the OP (original post) WILL be updated with new interviews as i receive them. i encourage those who were listed to PM me the answers to my questions when they have time. a new batch of interviews will be conducted once the following have concluded. thanks, and i hope everyone enjoys.

[TC_Halogen]

I really like this thread. Do you want people answering those same questions, or do you plan on giving certain people their own unique questions?

[m0de]

same questions would be great. it would be awesome if i hear from those that i have listed. although new questions might come into play later. i can always PM those who have not answered them, and add them to their interview. but for now, i like the set of questions that are listed.

[Choofers]

talk to me about solo pls

[m0de]

Originally Posted by Choofers

talk to me about solo pls

get on longgones lvl plx.














just kidding, ive seen all of your solo vids since im subscribed. some srs buiznss.

[who_cares973]

what about me

[SKG_Scintill]

who am I?

[Choofers]

LG is eons ahead of everyone in solo due to BMS haha. Speaking of which, I need to msg bmah about his KOC...

This is a really cool topic, I've thought about doing this for simfile artists.

[m0de]

im really excited to hear from those mentioned. i also plan to do something similar for the upcoming official tourny. hope this turns out well!

[Elite Ninja]

Cool idea 8)

<- is not worthy

[EzExZeRo7497]

Oh hello there

Nice thread, would definitely want to see what they think of FFR.

[m0de]

Originally Posted by EzExZeRo7497

Oh hello there

Nice thread, would definitely want to see what they think of FFR.

youre next on my list :]

[Xx{Midnight}xX]

You should apply this to anyone who can answer these seriously and especially the winners of the upcoming official

[TC_Halogen]

Sent m0de a pastebin with everything.

[Jerry DB]

for those who dont know you, could you introduce yourself, and let everyone know a little bit about you. where you are from, participate in any sports, let us know!
I'm Jerry, I like to play ffr, work out, skateboard, play guitar, and just have a fun time. I live in Portland Oregon and I love it here. I never played on any real time sports because I was really poor throughout school, but I do MMA on the side and like to play football and kickball.
what does a normal day for you consist of?
I usually try to work out first so everything I eat in the day benefits my workout more directly. I am about to start college but for now I have a ton of free time. I usually play ffr, skate now that it is nice out, and hang out and sometimes party with my friends.
could you let everyone know what settings you use when you play as far as speed, keys, engine, and any other settings.
Currently I use 1.9 speed mod on ffr. My key set up is er[] right now but I change it quite a bit, keeping my hands around the same distance as that set up. I play ffr and all alternate engines on legacy on low res. I not only do this because I am used to it, but also because there is no other way for me to play without getting serious lag.
besides gaming in general, what are your hobbies/interests?
I already listed my main hobbies, but there is a little more that interests me. I am an athletic person so I really just get a kick out of pushing my limits in general. I live my life to spread positivity whenever I can, I'm a dreamer and only believe in giving it your all. I'm also very curious and love to find out how things work. Although I love to make friends and be cooperative as a society, I love friendly competition. I usually want to be the best at everything I do but I don't mind people being better then me at anything.
how long have you been playing rhythem games, and who got you started?
I actually picked up ffr before anything and the only other rhythem game I have played is guitar hero. I got started because my friend phelan found this site in early 2008 and rubbed in my face how he was better then me even though I never played. I wanted to prove I could get better so I passed him up and he quit haha. Anyways I pretty much love music and I can keep rhythem in my head very well so I fell in love with ffr.
when do you feel you have reached "expert" so to say level of stepmania/ffr?
I suppose around march 2012, I really started feeling proud recently when almost all the top players started encouraging me and telling me I was almost one of them.
about how much do you practice/play ffr/sm a week?
when I was playing a ton earlier this year it was around 30 hours a week. Lately though I avg 10 hours per week. It's hard to say it just depends on priorities I have to deal with and if it is the rainy season(I love being outside in the summer too much)
who would you say your rival is?
I don't think I could pick out a single rival, I have a ton and I always aim for the best so I'll just say D6 is my rival
with the official ffr tournament coming up, where do you see your self placing?
I see myself placing top 12 but I am shooting for top 8. Hard to say since I don't know how much I'll improve.
can you give any advice to those who are trying to improve?
First off you need confidence. Everything I do in life I try to be in top mental shape and ffr is no different. Second you need determination, if I were to get super upset every time I had a bad day on ffr, I wouldn't be where I am today. Everybody has bad days and if you let them get to you, it only makes it worse. There are many other ways to improve but I'll finish by just saying push your limits. I try and get in at least a 10 minute session or more every time I play, where I play just to get a little speed boost.
if you could change, or add something to ffr what would you change/add?
I love ffr and I wouldn't want my personal opinion to get in the way of how great this site already is. The thing I would love to see though is amazing accuracy in the legacy engine, since I don't play SM this would be ideal in order to improve my accuracy to further lengths

[MikeShinoda12345]

the thread's title O.o

[00Razor00]

you're forgetting the greatest ex-D5 player that has ever existed

[danny53x]

I love this thread. It makes FFR that much more intense. I feel like I'm watching a sponsored TV show or a livestream!

[m0de]

ill update the OP at around 2pm server time when im on break from work. thanks again to those who have msgd me, and those that are interested :]

[Herogashix]

am i a top player yet !_?