Stepping Stones of Stepmania released!

[Kraezymann]

Moochikins I'm curious, since you have been playing through them, which files are missing their gfx? I am currently down for the count - my hdd failed and its going to be a while before I can get a new one. So my earlier statement about fixing them up is now null and void. When I looked at the pack I went through the folder, not through stepmania. I hadn't installed it yet since my hdd was just starting to act up

[moches]

Hmm, everything has graphics on my end!

[choof]

Originally Posted by j-rodd123

lol this pack that took that long only has that many files, good job

no one makes easy charts

[ilikexd]

Beebs

[moches]

Originally Posted by ilikexd

Beebs

this file fucking owns, would have fit perfectly into this pack

[LunaXII]

nice the file I sent in twice months ago isn't in there

[xVaLoRx]

petite feet

[ilikexd]

light house

[moches]

more fieesslllsss

Forbidden Tracks - played this already, it's good but probably geared more towards intermediate players than beginners

Galactic Encounter - to be honest, I did not get the ending of the Challenge chart at all. those jacks are hell on the hands. Heavy was better if a bit generic - the song's fault, really, since you did an okay job with what was there. I am very glad you made all five charts for this file, but a little polishing would have gone a long way with this one.

Ganryu - short but amazingly fun and unique, superb

Hajimari No Resolution - short but pretty sweet, a lot more dynamic than I was expecting. good rhythms throughout, good patterns (even if you didn't follow PR - that's really more of a technical nitpick since this still flowed quite well for the most part.

Horizon Variations - HOLY FUCK I HEARD THE SAMPLE MUSIC ABOUT TEN TIMES but I just realized this is the same melody in goreshit's o'er the flood HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT. also very good file

I Don't Care (Reggae Mix) -


ps Heavy's a lot harder than Standard

Kirlian Voyager - see Forbidden Tracks. I should also mention that I attempted to step this once when I was a wee 13-year-old. I'm glad somebody finally succeeded.

Lion Skin - that color note motif whenever the rhythms switch up is so so cool, very colorful and creative. one note: when crafting beginner files, make sure to give the players a little space to breathe with your patterns. try not to force consecutive 16th jacks when there are jumps, and careful with your mine placement! otherwise, this is cool and fun.

Melody Circus - fun file, lots of variation throughout. a couple of aesthetic things bothered me: a few freezes could have been shorter considering the overall mood of the file (light, playful), a few times you had bursts that felt a bit abrupt and would have flowed more smoothly with different patterns (perhaps a bit of jack theory would have worked nicely here), and there were a few notes that came right after freezes. I guess overall, pattern planning is key! but I'm being pedantic, this was a very fun file.

[kommisar]

moches do you actually watch dance moms

[moches]

Originally Posted by kommisar

moches do you actually watch dance moms

I've seen it secondhand on The Soup occasionally - that particular GIF was just off of this site :P

[moches]

I'm also a little sad that my last serious file (Blah Blah Blah) will probably be as a part of this pack - at least, for the foreseeable future. At least I went out on a good note!

[Wineandbread]

nuuuu mochie ),:

[Coolboyrulez0]

Decently enjoyable pack (especially song choice which is all over the place and thats good) and someone stepped a song of mine which was rather surprising haha

[ReikonKeiri]

moches liked a file i made (sun)

[Kraezymann]

Alright mukkas, the harddrive is fixed so you better believe I'm downloading and playing the hell out of this. Expect thoughts tomorrow or the day after! I hope a lot of people are playing this, it would be great to make more packs catering towards more novice players.

[moches]

Mirror Mirror - this file is fantastic (a few awkwardly arranged freezes here and there, some bursts could have been much better-patterned) but is in no way a beginner file - at least, not the Heavy chart. who in the hell rated this an 8?

Moranatsu Title Theme - with freezes off, it's perfect. great easy piano file that's just the right length.

Mysterious Exorcism Rod - not a bad file, has some creative layering choices and good flow. the biggest thing is the lack of focus. also the mines at the end are a SERIOUS difficulty spike and not at all appropriate for a file of this level

Our Turn - played Heavy. very cute file, you managed to pack in some intense rhythms in a way where it was perfect for intermediate players

Petite Feet - was hoping for the Jakazid remix but I can't even complain, this file fucking owns

Plastic Promises - ha, more ska! diggin' it. this is MAYBE a little too long but you do a great job of keeping the rhythms fresh and varied throughout, great mine usage to punctuate the syncopation. I noticed maybe a handful of misrhythms (the only really blatant one is in the chorus), but everything else seemed on point? also, I would have experimented with the freeze usage to be heavier in places where the song is heavier and lighter in the more upbeat sections. but these are just suggestions and I really enjoyed this file overall.

Quartz Quadrant - felt like something I would find buried in VGMP2. that's a very good thing. yay for another fully-charted file, too! only thing is maybe this would have been better at half the BPM ????

Sacred Campaign - enjoyed this when it was in the FFR Spring 2012 pack, still enjoy it today.

Sannin No Dragon Slayer - I really like this file; the slow but fair difficulty progression keeps things interesting, and you didn't water down any of the interesting aspects of the song, even though things were relatively easy throughout.

Symbolic - even though this is something like the opposite of how I would have stepped this song, it's still a solid file with a lot of interesting ideas, particularly in regards to jump usage (the decision to emphasize the background sounds with jumps made the whole file feel a lot more off-kilter, but that made me want to see where things would go - the trade-off is that you kinda missed the big build-up that happens in a lot of TaQ songs, this one included, where he introduces new elements in each section before combining everything at the end). some patterns may be rough for intermediate players, but they're totally doable with practice.

Taiyou Iwaku Whatever - typical Chef Kommisar animu fiel feat. unexpected guitar solo (ps still fun)

Theme of Hawkeye - i <3 u and ur MvsC files Ferrari

GRAND FINALE TO COME TOMORROW !!! !!!! !!!!!

[Kraezymann]

Incoming wall of text.

I think the original purpose of the pack was for a pack of files that was accessible for everyone. The idea was that if we kept pumping out packs that were really hard, people would be turned off from the game. I know everyone has a different idea of what is difficult, but we all had to start somewhere, and this pack was going to help cross that gap between total newcomer (heard of the game, yet to play; or maybe only played very casually) to someone with a load of experience (the ones who play the hard stuff as a warm-up). Personally, I fall closer to the bottom of the ladder - I have been playing this game (and FFR) for over 10 years now, but I'm not as invested in it as many other people, so my skills are a lot less developed than of someone like Staiain, for example, who seemingly flies through packs with ease. This review, therefore, will hopefully give a bit of a glimpse as to what it's like for someone at my skill level to be a part of this awesome community.

So shoutouts to everyone who build the bridges like this one for the Stepmania player (however skilled they may be) in all of us. Thank you to everyone involved!

Bear in mind that at my skill level, if you were trying to achieve something specific in your file (such as a certain theory or artistic use of mines), that it will probably have passed over my head. Usually these days I'm more worried about passing the file! This is ALSO the first time in a long time I will be turning mines back on, because what the hell - it's a learning experience.

A Broken Heart Can Mend - Fun! It will be a good file for me to practice my timing for 24ths... I always have trouble with them. Nicely done.

Across the Nightmare - Easy - Perfect for a bit of 16th run training. No scary jumps or anything in the runs will be a relief for those less skilled. Medium - I'm glad you included this chart, because it was the perfect challenge for me. I'm not really a stranger to a bit of jump stream, but it felt good.

Adept - Quite the challenge. It wasn't bad chart though, everything seemed to fit the song just right. I did hit a few mines, but I enjoyed the chart, so it will be great mine practice.

Always Yours - I failed out guess that just means more practice for me. I'll make this a goal, perhaps!

Blah Blah Blah - Oh moches. I played both charts, and other than the numbers in the chart info, I think I missed the difference. I passed them but the mines totally messed with me. I guess that's what I get for keeping them off for so long. The steps made sense, and I liked the colour notes tossed in, that was kinda neat! Other than that, I don't think I will be playing this file again, but only because of song choice haha. I have never liked ke$ha so it ain't your fault!

Clumsy Thoughts - Much love for fully charting the song! Easy - One or two 16ths is great for introducing them to the real newcomers, and the 8th note stream with jumps at the end will be great practice at that speed. Medium - Quite the step up in difficulty, but not too bad for me. It was good practice for anything faster than 16ths. It was a nice chart, I thought there was a good flow to it. Hard - Another couple steps up the difficulty ladder. Good practice for triples and learning about layering (I think. I know nothing about it haha).

Daybreak - Awesome! A very pleasant and easy to read chart. Files like this really get me into the game. Takes me back to the days when Aspergian was stepped a lot (TGWP a noteable example)

Faint - Medium - Hella fun. Good practice for players at about my level to work on some jumpstream, it's just slow enough I think. I was a little sad to see the file end where it did, but no biggie! Hard - Failed out but that will be a great chart for practicing chords.

Favorite Daughter - Thank you for fully charting this one! Easy - Probably a go-to chart for real new players. Medium - Good for said players to learn about 16ths. Hard - A great chart for MA practice, fits just right. Even jack practice too!

Feel the Flow - Medium - Good for starting to build stamina. A consistent stream like that really helped me when I started out. Hard - An excellent chart for getting early players off their arrow keys and onto a spread setup! Also great MA practice for said players. Expert - A tough challenge for me. I think it's a great example of some of the current charts out there, good practice for me.

Flower Flag - Medium - Tougher than FtF but a solid chart nonetheless. They work well together. It's like a sequel for FtF! Hard - Fun, and a good chart for learning jumpstream. Good for heavier practice than the Medium chart would provide, anyways. Expert - Easier than it's FtF counterpart, so this would be my go to chart for practicing for FtF's Expert chart haha. Will be fun to try and get a full combo on it, I'm very close.

Forbidden Tracks - Failed... A remarkably hard file. I'm not so sure this fits in to the pack. Having said that, I'm willing to bet that this file will be a HUGE hit among the skilled players. It reminds me of the (also too difficult for me) Autumn Insomia Sessions that I've seen. I want to say nice work, but I'm not good enough for it to mean anything haha

Galactic Encounter - Just gonna toss this out there, but I think the wrong music was linked to me, so I may have made a poor set of graphics to fit the song. That said; Easy - Not sure what else you could have done with this song. But it was quite easy. Something about it didn't feel right. Like there were gaps when there didn't need to be or... it just felt like there was something missing. Medium - Same deal. Good stream practice for novice players though. Hard - Better, and a challenge for me to keep up. Can be a good MA challenge for better players than I. Expert - Failed out

Ganryu - Medium - Holy shit that was fun. A bit hard for an Easy chart, but that's nitpicky. Expert - Okay, there's the hard part lol. I failed out, all those jumps got to me

Hajimari no Resolution - Medium - Not bad. Was easy to follow. Seemed like one or two notes were missing, but it could just be me hearing something I shouldn't. Hard - A better test of my skills. I think it was a more fun chart than Medium too. It will be good for practicing hands anyways.

Horizon Variations - Loved it! A simple chart but quite nice to play. And it will be excellent for people starting to play on XMODs with the consistent but simple changes.

I Don't Care - Medium - Nice for practicing swing-style charts, since it at a reasonable speed. I THINK I would have liked a chart a bit lighter on the jumps and chords, but only because I think it would benefit players less skilled than I. Otherwise it's pretty catchy stuff; the tune and the chart. I think it might grow on me. Hard - A better challenge for me because of the mines, so it will be good practice. Not quite fast enough for the burst at the end, but soon...

Kirlian Voyages - I really liked that one. Fits much better in the pack difficulty-wise than Forbidden Tracks too. It will be excellent for chord practice.

Lion Skin - I liked it a lot! Every time I hear music like this in a pack I usually skip it because I can't pass them, but this chart finally fixed that. It fit the song quite well, wasn't too difficult for me, and will be one that I go back to to play again.

Melody Circus - Easy - Wasn't bad. It will be good practice for MA since there wasn't many jumps. It felt kind of same-y throughout though, but I think that's because you stepped the whole thing. Expert - I liked that chart a lot more, not only because it challenged me a bit more, but because it just seemed to fit better with the extra jumps. The freezes felt kind of long, but maybe thats just me.

Mirror Mirror - Medium - I think this would be better as a hard chart, and an extra chart that was easier would have been great. As it is, not bad at all. Struggled through the jump streams but somehow prevailed. Hard - Failed out a couple parts were just a bit too much for me yet

Morenatsu Title Theme - Another piano file! I think this one is more difficult than the others because of the chords, and thats a good thing. Fun, although I wasn't a big fan of the long freezes. I'm not sure if they work, so if someone with a better ear could explain to me whether they do or not and why, that would be wonderful!

Mysterious Exorcism Rod - This file had everything! Mine practice, stream practice, notes-greater-than-16th practice, minijack practice... awesome stuff! Practice!

Our Turn - Easy - For slightly more experienced than those who play charts like Novice. I'm really happy you decided to fully chart this song. Medium - Fits the bill. Nothing really much to say about this one. Hard - This one was really fun. Perfect for players who want to experience breakcore style files without breaking much of a sweat, like... Expert - This one threw me off, for sure. I couldn't quite keep up for the final part of the song, but somehow stayed in. Because of its progressive difficulty I can come back and practice without worrying too much about being turned off of it.

Petite Feet - Would have been a good boss song haha. Really jump heavy, but I think that's the only way it could have been difficult. It will be good for burst practice and mine practice. A slightly easier chart would have been cool, but no worries.

Plastic Promises - That was lots of fun! Just the right difficulty for me to work on MA runs, and the mines kept me on my toes.

Quartz Quadrant - Because of Our Turn I did not start with Novice and just went to Medium - Wasn't too bad. The sync was off on my end. After adjusting it, the chart still felt funny. Maybe Hard will be better? Hard - There it is! That felt a lot better. The jumps are what fixed it for me. The bursts too. I'm thinking on the lighter difficulty it didn't make sense to me to have the 12ths for them instead, so that's why Medium felt off. But I liked this one! And again, kudos for a full chart!

Sacred Campaign - This music is so fucking badass. Medium - Nice and simple for those around my skill level for an easy MA. Hard - A lot more suited for players like me to work on some jump/freeze stream, but this was fun! Expert - All those jumps made me feel sad that I couldn't top them. I didn't fail out, but I Was sort of mashing. I will stick to the Hard chart for now!

Sannin no Dragon Slayer - A solid file overall, if a teensy bit easy for me. Not bad!

Symbolic - My file.

Taiyou Iwaku Moeyo Chaos - Hard - Was a fun, bouncy chart; reflected the song well. Expert - It wasn't too hard, I managed to pass it... but I didn't enjoy it as much as the Hard chart though. The mines almost got me, as did some of the more jump heavy parts.

Theme of Hawkeye - Medium - Good stuff. A touch easy for me, but I really thought the chart fit the song well. Hard - I really want to combo this! I know I have it in me. I'm very close. The jumps at the end seem to be what gets me the most, other than a couple screw ups at throughout. Expert - I quit out, but only because I was just sort of button mashing towards the end. I really liked the song and first two charts though, so its not like I won't play it again!

This Will Be The Day - I quit out of Medium because I found myself mashing too much. It seemed okay, but I'm not good enough with chordstreams and freezes yet to really play it. So I avoided the other two charts. Sorry!

Thousand Cherry Blossom - Was fun but had too many mines for me. I found myself trying to avoid them to the point where I was dropping my combo and missing notes. HAVING SAID THAT, I really liked it with them turned off haha.

Try and Follow Me - Moches, I will follow you. Easy was FUN AS FUCK. I played on a CMOD at first without realizing until a ways into the song that there was BPM changes. So I played again on an XMOD and loved it. Medium - Had trouble reading it on an XMOD so I switched back to a CMOD, sorry. But even without the XMOD this was fun in its own right. Hard - Those mines knocked me out

Up N' Down - Really tough. Felt like I was mashing during some of the jump stream but when I get my speed up that should go away. Not bad though.

Vertex Delta - I've never enjoyed the Vertex songs so I'm probably a little biased. Hard - It seemed decent enough, it would be good for working on stamina too. Expert - Failed out

Want u Back -Medium - Uggh so close to finishing... I hit too many mines throughout the song... and the ending just proved to be too much. I can play this again though, it will be excellent mine practice, and the chart otherwise was pretty fun. Unfortunately, I avoided the other two charts because I noticed the mine count basically doubled... so I'm sorry I didn't give them the chance moches. If you want I can give them a go, but if they are any more difficult than the Medium chart, don't expect a pass haha.

So there you have it folks! I hope everything made sense. Charts that stood out to me (in no particular order):

Sacred Campaign Hard
Theme of Hawkeye Hard
Ganryu Medium
Try and Follow Me Easy
Plastic Promises
Feel the Flow Hard
Daybreak
Kirlian Voyages
Our Turn Hard

[moches]

much thanks for the review, Kraezymann! very comprehensive, and a valuable perspective to see.

finishing up my review now.

This Will Be The Day - played Normal. really fun file (and song!), but I felt like the section in the middle could have really really been toned down, way too intense compared to the rest of the file. the quad mine is a neat motif but again kind of inappropriate for intermediate players.

Thousand Cherry Blossom - good difficulty for intermediate players except for those mines. those were hard even for ME to hit, which is saying something considering how much flack I usually get for overusing mines :P otherwise, decently-layered throughout and with a nice progression in parts. a couple of layering pet peeves (mostly minifreezes going to sounds that really don't feel like they need minifreezes), but I defer to subjectivemanias on that.

Try And Follow Me - Easy's the easiest file of mine in this pack and I hope beginners enjoy it. otherwise...



Up 'N Down - ha, great file but probably on the higher end of the intermediate difficulty spectrum, and that's being generous.

Vertex Delta - played Heavy. not the best song but you did a lot with it, and I enjoyed a lot of the repeating motifs you had throughout the file. the mines are maybe a bit overkill, but otherwise the file's surprisingly good for stream practice.

Want U Back v2 - I apologize. this really isn't a beginner file (the mines themselves are pretty much a dealbreaker), but I submitted it on a whim last year. it probably doesn't belong in this pack. three out of four isn't too bad, I guess?

favorite files:
A Broken Heart Can Mend
Adept
Clumsy Thoughts
Daybreak
Faint
Feel The Flow
Ganryu
Horizon Variations
Mirror Mirror
Our Turn
Petite Feet
Plastic Promises
Sacred Campaign
Sannin No Dragon Slayer

[XelNya]

Originally Posted by Kraezymann

Hajimari no Resolution - Medium - Not bad. Was easy to follow. Seemed like one or two notes were missing, but it could just be me hearing something I shouldn't. Hard - A better test of my skills. I think it was a more fun chart than Medium too. It will be good for practicing hands anyways.

I'm glad even the bad copy of it wasn't too bad. I appreciate it

Fun fact, I actually used my own one handed skills as the basis for how easy each chart was. I could have AA / SDGed both of them on a good day. (At least when they were charted and THIS copy. The other was admittedly harder.)

I'm currently recharting it tbh.