[Concluded] 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

[hi19hi19]

Rather than review every file briefly, which seemed to get a bad reaction from people last round, I thought this time I'd play a few files but review them a lot closer.
This is just randomly selected (literally used random.org) file reviews:


Children's War 2- Interesting cut; flows very nicely but skips my two favorite parts of the song (babbling section and second chorus) so I'm torn. Felt the occasional area where I wasn't sure if a syllable was skipped in the vocal stepping, but largely felt very good. Basically, close enough that I can't say "that's clearly wrong" and more like "hmm I'd need to check that spot at slow rates." Not sure exactly what was going on with layering in the choruses. Some of the hands felt like they were not really loud/layer-y enough to be hands. Again with something I'd have to check, but my gut says there might be an error. Interestingly had minijacks throughout the file but elected not to step the minijacks in the final solo, which was curious to me. Also those 24ths in the chorus... I'm pretty sure those are faster than that. Like a 32nd triplet then a 32nd gap. Not sure if 24ths were used intentionally for difficulty reasons but I thought I should bring that up. Definitely not a bad file!

Palms Read 2- Grossly offsync when I played it. Seems like a conversion error rather than bad stepping; should probably get that looked at.
If this isn't an error, as Opkiller said below, then... well yeah. Has nothing to do with the music, and I played up until that first absolutely gross 32nd burst. Uhh... needs work.

Palms Read 1- Very simple layering. Sync was definitely good enough, can't say if it was perfect of course. Interesting focus on the guitar in places many would have stepped percussion. The most glaring error was just difficulty spacing: the 16th jump transitions and the one right arrow jack were astronomically more difficult than the rest of the file. If that level of difficulty was the goal, then there was a lot of layering in the other sections (such as crash cymbals) that could have brought those parts up to be less boring. Alternatively, get rid of the jack and jump transitions.
Definitely missing a snare or something in the drum fill before the end (about 75% of the way through) because that part felt very strange to me on my sightread. Overall a solid start, but needs more variation in patterns -lots of [12][34] 16th jumptrills- and better difficulty curve.

My Love Is A Bulldozer 3- Holy difficulty curve issues. Basically everywhere there was a 2-framer was an error just due to difficulty curve. The crazy 32nd trills (one had shit layered into it too, ouch) were obviously a problem, but also stuff like the 32nd burst 1234(23) transitions which led to jacks on 3. Interesting cut that managed to capture one entire repetition of the vocals and plenty of breakcore, but the intro dragged on a little too long for my tastes relative to the difficulty of the rest of the file, and it ended in a somewhat arbitrary place. Positives included that left hand color stuff at the end that went to the weird scratching sound; I'd have to check if it was on-sync of course but it was a very fun section of the file. I also liked, for the most part, the hand usage in the middle sections. Essentially though, this file has too many issues with insane 2-framer bursts to really get past them into other aspects.

Children's War 5- Started off strong, but I really wasn't a fan of the stepping in the choruses. The 3 note triplets got old, why ignore the vocals in those parts? Also I was not sure what was up with color theory in the choruses, seemed to be doubled bpm but sometimes blue and sometimes red on the 4th and I couldn't immediately tell what it was being used to. Some of the 32nd bursts (16ths at doubled bpm) also felt like they had one too many arrows in them. Good color theory to the "race start sound" before the babbling section and the grunting sounds (for lack of a better term) and the babbling section was handled as elegantly as possible without stepping the vocals. Overall not bad, but I feel somewhat let down by the chorus sections- so much potential, and the way they were stepped here seems to be the most bland way of doing it.

My Love Is A Bulldozer 5- Damn. What a file to end with. Incredible cut! Basically stitched together every part without vocals, and it worked really well. Difficulty curve never got overly boring or overly difficult, while still having climaxes and breaks in an appropriate rhythm. Sync seemed spot on and the rhythmic variety was great.
I especially liked the Nomina Nuda Tenemus feeling of the runningman climax, except unlike NNT this file had reasonable bursts and was fun all the way through. It's hard to say bad things about this file other than a few janky one-hand transitions, though each was sort of a more personal thing than an outright error.
Definitely wouldn't be surprised to see whoever stepped this placing very high. Also, I know I'm going to regret this as I definitely could be wrong but... I think I know who stepped this haha

[xXOpkillerXx]

Originally Posted by hi19hi19

Palms Read 2- Grossly offsync when I played it. Seems like a conversion error rather than bad stepping; should probably get that looked at.

It's not an error, I kinda have to say this.

[choof]

6 people stepped the song that obviously should have been stepped by bmah

you guys suck

[TC_Halogen]

aha, I know exactly what is going on with Palms Read 2 and I am fucking dying

[tosh]

[9/17/2014 11:26:28 PM] Tosh: I hope no one stepped my love is a bulldozer

wow I was way off with that

Edit:
To whoever stepped my love is a bulldozer 5: thank you for cutting out the vocals omg ilu.

[hi19hi19]

I played and reviewed 6 of the files. Hopefully nobody flips out this time over the reviews...

My Love Is A Bulldozer 5 was definitely my favorite of the ones I played. Great file.

[xXOpkillerXx]

hi19 just play/review them all, imo you've missed some good ones really.

personally I rly enjoyed Bulldozer 1 the most out of the five charts with 2 & 5 being pretty nice too.

[hi19hi19]

I have work to do rofl already spent like an hour on this that I should have spent on my Cognitive Science paper...
Maybe I'll review the rest later idk if I'll have time though I'm pretty busy this weekend.

[MarioNintendo]

That palms read 2 review hi19. I am disappoint. lol

[xXOpkillerXx]

Alright after some thoughts and a few replays I think Bulldozer 2 is the best of the 5 and that's mainly because I think the 1st quarter of Bulldozer 1 could've flowed better than it does. It feels like the big spike is only in the beginning jumpjacks and that bugs me a little bit whilst Bulldozer 2 has a nice difficulty consistency all around and the patterns are pretty friendly.

[ilikexd]

pr2 was traumatic

[ilikexd]

Originally Posted by TC_Halogen

aha, I know exactly what is going on with Palms Read 2 and I am fucking dying

me too but HOW

[hi19hi19]

Yes I am quite clearly missing something with Palms Read 2. Someone sent in their file with either the entirely wrong song or wrong cut of the song, perhaps.
That or wrong .sm file rofl

All I know is that, if that's how it's going to be judged, it's not going to end well. Which is kinda sad, but that's how it is

EDIT- okay after talking to people I apparently just don't fucking get it
EDIT- okay it was explained to me in plain English and I like, understand what happened, but I still don't "get it." Whatever.
EDIT-

Originally Posted by xXOpkillerXx

Alright after some thoughts and a few replays I think Bulldozer 2 is the best of the 5 and that's mainly because I think the 1st quarter of Bulldozer 1 could've flowed better than it does. It feels like the big spike is only in the beginning jumpjacks and that bugs me a little bit whilst Bulldozer 2 has a nice difficulty consistency all around and the patterns are pretty friendly.

I played all the Bulldozers. 3 I addressed above, but 1 2 4 and 5 were all pretty good.
The big (23)(23)(124) transition in 1 kinda rubbed me the wrong way. 4 is a little long (stepped one more "chorus" part and one more intermission) and easier than the others. I like the stepping but the cut is a little less focused than the others. Choosing between 2 and 5 is a really tough call for me personally.

EDIT- Played Children's War 3. The entire time I was like, damn are you sure icyworld isn't in this round? Played like an icyworld chart, and I mean that in the best kind of way (definitely a compliment to be compared to the guy with some of the most downloaded packs ever)
Fun as fuck and would play again. That said, there were some very clear technical errors (the 24ths, for starters), and it's just generally "overlayered" as far as being able to make out what is being layered and therefore show off technical stepping skill. So I don't think it's the right kind of stepping style for a competition like this, sadly.

This leaves Children's War 1, 4, and 6 as the only files I haven't played. I'll get to them sometime.

[dashoe93]

Here's some lame reviews. Check it out.

Children's War 1 - 6/10 Couple hiccups here and there, and I disliked some of those white notes and longer jacks. Wasn't too bad, but it wasn't much to win me over.

Children's War 2 - 7.5/10 The hands throughout felt necessary and were placed quite well. minijacks in my opinion could have been different. Haven't played it enough times to decide on that, though. The cut was really nice, but I do agree with hihi though. I would have liked to see that part in there. Definitely a solid file. Best of this song. Not by much, but if I had to pick, it'd be this one

Children's War 3 - 7/10 Not quite sure how I feel about this one. It's got some good hand spots, but the jump/handstreams are not doin' it for me too much. It might be because I'm not extremely good at it. I know those parts sound like a gigantic mess, so I guess it may warrant the jumpstreams. ALTHOUGH, I went back and played it again. Those streams do feel smooth.

Children's War 4 - 6.5/10 I had an itch during the song. Whoops. Another one I don't know about. I'm not one to be won over with all these fancy colored notes. It's an FFR thing, and I understand it does take a bit more tweaking to achieve, but eh. It's nothing bad, however. Some places were missing notes here and there, but overall, I think it's alright. Just felt like it needed more during the beginning.

Children's War 5 - 6/10 I don't have too much to say about this one. Nothing bad, nothing outstanding. I sort of agree with hihi's comment about the bpm changes and color changes, since I partially understand why they changed, but I just don't think it was too necessary. Could use a wee bit of touchups, but I'm satisfied. Also tired of playing this damn song hrng.

Children's War 6 - 7/10 I really want to like this file. The first verse with the jumps were pretty neat, but there were a few 16ths to the vocals that were sadly missing. I also took a look at another file, and they also have been missing. Might just be my opinion thing. Just think they should be there. The choruses lack something to me. Just needs more going on. The 32nd rolls would have been okay had there been more before it, since I swear I hear more of those toms than just there.

Palms Read 1 - 5/10 While most of it sounded correct, it felt largely understepped. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if it weren't for those 16th jumps all together, along with the right jacks in that one part. I feel like I could have accepted that if the rest of the file was stepped accordingly in difficulty. I actually would have liked seeing

Palms Read 2 - 0.5/10 I don't get it, but you did better than I, so kudos for that.

My Love Is A Bulldozer 1 - 8/10 I have no idea how well any of these will be because my wrists hurt like hell already. I can't judge on cuts, but I think this one was okay. Jump jacks are not my thing at that speed. It looked right, but you know. It's difficult.

My Love Is A Bulldozer 2 - 9/10 I really liked this one. Almost identical to the first one ohmygosh. I really liked this cut as well. Hands hurt. Ouch. Didn't see any issues, but it's hard to with allthesearrowhdjqwebkbes.

My Love Is A Bulldozer 3 - 4.5/10 compared to the other ones, it just doesn't quite make it. I felt like I was mashing the whole time. I mean, I suck, but at least with the others I could follow it. I know some of these arrows may be correct with the snares, but you may want to try to make it a little bit more playable. Also, 32nd trils are a no no.

My Love Is A Bulldozer 4 - 7.5/10 Thank goodness this wasn't as painful. Something my speed. Can't say there's much wrong with it. FFR makes the arrows look offbeat (not just this song, but the rest), but it plays fine. Weird. Anywho, a tamer VS song, but I'm liking it.

My Love Is A Bulldozer 5 - 9/10 Damn. This is so close with #2. The ending with the runningmen (I think it's called, I have no idea herpd) killed me, so I actually don't know how well this works or not, but the rest, pretty darn solid.


This probably doesn't mean a whole lot, since I have no idea how to rate things properly. Had I finished and submitted my file, I'd probably rate my own a 5.5 or a 6, honestly. If you want more info on any of these, let me know and I'll replay them a bit more.

[MarioNintendo]

Pfff hahahaahahaha

[hi19hi19]

I played Children's War 6. It's quite good. Very basic but fun layering, vocal sync was definitely good enough, color theory was nicely used but not abused... just a really good generic file for this song.
Unfortunately it suffers a bit from not having the kind of "personality" you need to make a song like this really pop out. It's hard to explain, but basically anyone who stepped this song needed to pull off something really different and memorable to be able to compete with the rhythmic complexity of Bulldozer. My thought was color theory to the different voices... I was hoping someone would try this technique or even better, surprise me with something really unique, but it seems that nobody really pulled it off.

Also still not sure why everyone is stepping the 3-note 32nds in the choruses as full rolls, but I guess it's easy to assume they're all 4 notes long.

[lurker]

i'm just gonna cry in a corner

[hi19hi19]

Originally Posted by lurker

i'm just gonna cry in a corner

Man now I feel like a douche.
I should elaborate on my issues with Children's War 4... missing syllables (especially near the start) were a huge issue, and generally just missed sounds. I mean right at the 9th arrow in the song, there's a missing arrow to the bell sound. There's a lot more like that to vocals, and considering the quality of the rest of the file, it's logical for me to hold the vocal sync to that same high standard.
I was a huge fan of the choruses, but again used 24ths instead of 32nds for those 3 note rolls (this actually makes a difference on FFR, it possibly puts the second and third arrows of the roll a frame later than they should be)

Also nobody really utilized the babbling section in a fantastic way... idk
Some good files, but it has to be more than that, you know?


Anyway after playing everything, I would be extremely surprised if a Palms Read or Children's War wound up winning.
I think Bulldozer 2 and 5 are pretty clearly crowd favorites as well as very technically sound, so I would put them as the top two places in some order. My guess for third and fourth are also Bulldozers 4 and 1 respectively, but I would not be surprised to see one of the better Children's War files (in my opinion, 4 for style or 6 for consistency) appearing in these spots.

And that's my gut feeling.
Will be interested to see if the judging reveals something we couldn't tell from merely playing the files, or if things generally fall into line with how public opinion has been playing out in this thread.
I'm also really looking forward to getting the notes. I like feedback.

[hi19hi19]

Also I realize in addition to not posting about Children's War 4, I also didn't post my review of Children's War 1 rofl I'm so disorganized

Anyway, Children's War 1 was pretty fun but very inconsistent.
Stepper did a great job of catching most of the high pitched dings as minijacks throughout the file, and caught a lot of the unique buzzes and shouts with cool color theory... but then there were some completely obvious misrhythms and missing arrows. For example around 970 there's a loud drum roll that's just not stepped at all. And those high pitched temple block dings that were supposed to be all minijacks... some of them are just randomly 3-note jacks instead, sometimes with extremely tough transitions like 11(12) or 22(12). Then there's one very difficult jump transition about a third of the way through, which is the only one of the sort in the whole file and didn't seem to go to anything that really particularly warranted sticking out like that. Or as another example of inconsistency, the layering of the passage right at the end, which is extremely similar to the one at the start, is completely different. It's one thing to have little differences to account for the peculiarities of each one, it's another thing to just use two totally unrelated layering schemes.
Also the long jack was a huge difficulty spike, it's not taboo to break up a long jack into smaller ones (usually 2-note minijacks) if that makes the sense for the difficulty curve.

Finally the use of the babbling section didn't really stand out. Nobody bothered to step the vocals in that part, which is kinda sad, because that's definitely the most unique part of the song. Someone coulda done SOMETHING with it.

Also Children's War 1 was another person who used 24ths to the 3-note 32nd rolls. I actually just went back and like, quadruple checked, and I'm certain that they're supposed to be 32nds.
I think each of the six files did at least one of those rolls wrong rofl oh well







EDIT-
Man reading back through my notes I come across as kinda a dick, don't I
I don't want to Middie here, I really mean it constructively.
The entire time this has been going on I've been very interested in the files this competition has produced and I'd love it if this was the catalyst for more people taking stepping seriously.
So that's why my words might be harsh, but know that at least when I wrote them I was meaning well...
*sigh* I should really just shut up

[DarkZtar]

All your reviews look like sound constructive criticism to me hi19~ *shrug*

I swear you have the same general opinion of about like 95% of my files though haha