Challenged :P.

[crazy_frog10]

Yesterday, I got challenged to beat a song that is literally like, 4x harder than my difficulty level. I usually play around 45-50 levels. And even at that, I still get about 10-20 misses. But they're so much fun, that I still play them. Yesterday I got on multiplayer and I got challenged to try to play a song at the rank of level 68, and to achieve less than 9 misses. I'm not going to give up without a fight, but I'm more than certain I wont be able to do it. XD.

I'll try to keep y'all posted with how well it's going by editting.

Y'all can check out my progress by checking out my replays. I'll save the best score everytime, but might I warn you. It's not that great XD.

Current best score: 793 - 285 - 25 - 86 - 65

Scores:
679 - 335 - 20 - 155 - 91
745 - 308 - 27 - 109 - 99
793 - 285 - 25 - 86 - 65

P.S. Please note, Yes, I'm not that great of a player XD.

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong section. First time Forumer. (Even if my account is 11 years old.)

[woker-X]

This is the type of thing that make you improve, so I'm rooting for you!

[crazy_frog10]

Originally Posted by woker-X

This is the type of thing that make you improve, so I'm rooting for you!

Haha, thank you so much. I'm still going strong. My arm is hurting though, So taking a small break. Haha.

[crazy_frog10]

Hmmm. There seems to be this one part that ALWAYS gets me. The one section where it's (Ex Up(1), Down(2), Up(3), Down(4), Double(0.5), Left(1), Down(2), Left(3), Down(4), Double(0.5). I hope that makes sense, (The numbers represent the button hit. Odd = Red, Even = Blue, Decimaled number = Yellow.

Besides that, the near end where doubles start becoming implanted like crazy seem to trouble me like crazy. Doubles are the bane. DX. (I also have a hard time hitting the triple notes because my older keyboards never were able to hit 2+ notes, so hitting triples were next to impossible unless you pressed the third key in very quick succession to count it as a hit.)

[Dinglesberry]

Sounds like you are either describing jumpstream (streams of notes that have jumps on certain spaced beats), or do you mean trills (alternating notes) with jumps between em?

Practice jumpstream though, play like {Frozen} or somethin

[crazy_frog10]

Originally Posted by Dinglesberry

Sounds like you are either describing jumpstream (streams of notes that have jumps on certain spaced beats), or do you mean trills (alternating notes) with jumps between em?

Practice jumpstream though, play like {Frozen} or somethin

after playing about 20 seconds of Frozen. Yes, it is that. I can't seem to register when the doubles come along and my brain goes "DURRRRRR."

[Dinglesberry]

Originally Posted by crazy_frog10

after playing about 20 seconds of Frozen. Yes, it is that. I can't seem to register when the doubles come along and my brain goes "DURRRRRR."

I'm gonna post this here cause I think it applies, something I sent a friend one time when he asked me how to play jumpstream:

what u need to do is look how you play the jumps - the problem ur having, im gonna say, is that when you do the jumps, you treat them as isolated "jumps", which is a waste of finger movement.. lemme try to explain:

you know how in DDR, for new players, people say that you shouldn't move your feet back to the center before stepping to the next note, and that you should work on stepping from a note to another note? (also at a higher level, using toe/heel to press faster instead of full foot, high level ddr is all about minimizing movement lol)

well, applying that to FFR/SM, basically, lets say you are doing a jumpstream, and its like this (assume its scrolling up, like how u normally play)

 <  v  ^  >  <-- hit receptors
[X][ ][ ][ ]  the notes be scrollin
[ ][X][ ][ ]  up towards receptors^
[ ][ ][X][ ]
[ ][X][ ][X]
[ ][ ][x][ ]
[ ][X][ ][ ]
[X][ ][X][ ]

A pretty standard jumpstream.. lets say you are playing it though, basically, do you see how the first part is a ascending triplet going up, [1][2][3], into a jump like [24]? What I think you need to focus on doing, which is just something that comes with practice, is instead of viewing the "jumps" as isolated jumps, think of it like this:

you are already playing [1][2][3][4], a normal "roll" of sorts, and on the last note, you are simply using your other hand to hit [2] - so basically, instead of mentally hitting [1][2][3], then syncing up both fingers to hit the [24] jump, you should try to treat them as single notes, if that kind of makes sense.. another pic:

 <  v  ^  >  <-- hit receptors
[X][ ][ ][ ]  the notes be scrollin
[ ][X][ ][ ]  up towards receptors^
[ ][ ][X][ ]
[ ][X][ ][X] bold notes make the primary
[ ][ ][x][ ] pattern of single notes.. then
[ ][X][ ][ ] the italic shows the "added"
[X][ ][X][ ] note to make it a jump

Imo thats the only way to do em fast, you just kind of learn to do it subconsciously after alot of practice.. you need to basically work on patterns like [2][13], [3][24], [2][34], [3][21] etc, doing them smoothly

hopefully this makes sense

[Soundwave-]

Song is Wildstyle, for any who can't be bothered to dig to figure that out.

Got that despite lagging balls and just got home from school, but I'm also quite a bit more experienced so no surprises that it wasn't really a challenge for me.

Personal recommendation is to not try to improve just by playing Wildstyle over and over again. Wildstyle is very bursty, relatively speaking, with the jumpstreams not being of consistent pace or tempo, so practicing jumpstreams in general will only help so much. It sounds like you don't have a grasp on the fundamentals of column reading, which is something that can only really be learned best by experience. Try songs that you can get FCs on, even if you have to go way below 68 or even 40, and work your way up. Also practice getting AAAs and SDGs, even if you have to go to easy songs, because forcing yourself to have a minimum baseline for accuracy will ensure you have good reading fundamentals. Once you can FC around 50, maybe even less than that, you should have no trouble with the challenge.

EDIT: Dinglesberry's post is what column reading is. Some good stuff right there.

[Sanjixcon]

haha I was that friend he was talking about listen to dingle he knows whats up. That diagram really helped me with js and the mentality of treating the jumps as single notes (not focusing on the jumps, just kind of having an extra tap in the stream). Playing songs that are hard for you is how ya get better for sure just as long as your not just mashing through the whole song. Hey Soundwave nice score on wildstyle. Crazy frog for js practice i usualy play makiba on rates, for you i would start at like .7 and slowly work your way up.

[Soundwave-]

Originally Posted by Sanjixcon

Hey Soundwave nice score on wildstyle.

Pfft you're too nice.

That was a terrible choke.

[crazy_frog10]

Actually, something that I've always been embarrassed in asking. but I'ma just say it now. Where should I be looking? Cause my eyes can usually see the single notes, and I follow the notes, but when I see a double note. My eyes fixate on the double, and it basically makes seeing other notes hard afterwards. Which is why Jumpstreams are so difficult.

[xXOpkillerXx]

Forcing yourself to look somewhere won't change much tbh.
Playing with your speedmod will though. Make it fast enough so that when you read the notes you don't wait too long to hit them, but slow enough to be able to actually read them.

[Sanjixcon]

never be embarrassed to ask anything man. I personally look just a bit below the receptors, but my eyes wonder all over sometimes.

[Walrusizer]

dont follow notes, look in a fixed area of the screen which for most people would be near the middle

[crazy_frog10]

I have like, 3 different options here. Don't keep your eyes in the same spot, still, but wander, as if I were driving, and stare at a fixed area. DX. I guess it's pref.

[Sanjixcon]

well I would probably take the d7 guys advice lol but I don't think it's that big a deal. the faster your scroll speed the higher up on the screen you'll probably look.

[Soundwave-]

Originally Posted by crazy_frog10

I have like, 3 different options here. Don't keep your eyes in the same spot, still, but wander, as if I were driving, and stare at a fixed area. DX. I guess it's pref.

Depends a lot on the song and patterns. If you're playing lots of quickly varying patterns (as you tend to in the increasingly complex songs as you approach D7) then yeah, you stare dead center at a height that depends on scroll speed, reaction time, and personal comfort, being sure to not fixate too hard on the center, lest you miss notes in the 1st and 4th columns passing by.

But certain patterns can be made easier by using different vision patterns. For example, especially with long, fast streams containing few jumps, I tend to visually follow the stream. I find that it helps increase accuracy and prevent drifting, while gearing peripheral vision, which is naturally more sensitive to change, towards looking for and reacting to approaching jumps and the end of the stream.

An aside, because I noticed it:

Originally Posted by crazy_frog10

...but I'm more than certain I wont be able to do it. XD.

It's never about if you can do it. It's about when you can do it.

[rushyrulz]

Few things:

@Dinglepost: That's one approach, but my advice on jumpstream is drastically different. Master stream until you can do it in your friggen sleep, then when you progress into jumpstream (you should have at least some JS practice by this time), you actually want to focus on the jumps. The stream part is so mindnumbingly easy since you've committed it to muscle memory that the jumps are the only new thing you really need to worry about. I still use this technique when I play files with complicated jumpstream patterns such as Etude for the Sinners.

@Where to look: Should be a fixed position, any drifting should be completely subconscious because you're adjusting to denser (or less dense) clusters of arrows.

Soundwave is absolutely right in saying that you don't want to play any one song too many times in a row. Mindblocks are nasty and you're particularly susceptible to them at your current skill level.

[Soundwave-]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

Master stream until you can do it in your friggen sleep, then when you progress into jumpstream (you should have at least some JS practice by this time), you actually want to focus on the jumps. The stream part is so mindnumbingly easy since you've committed it to muscle memory that the jumps are the only new thing you really need to worry about.

Only thing about this approach, which comes down to practice (huh, there might be a theme here), is that if you're not really smooth slipping in and out of streams, focusing on the jumps will punctuate your streams to an extent that it becomes difficult to follow them through a jump.