Barely a month after 200, I've reached the 300 public AAAs threshold. The 300th song was "Emotions." I had been trying to get a better AAA for a couple days, but repeatedly just missed on several more interesting songs. Regardless, I take it as a good sign that I was able to add another hundred so quickly. Unfortunately, I suspect 400 will take much longer; there were a lot of songs remaining in my ability range at 200, but I've polished off most of what is AAA-able for me at my current skill level now.

Since milestones are useful as indicators of improvement, I'll also use this (and any subsequent 100x posts) as snapshots of my FFR progress. So far:

Level 39 (72.26% to Lv. 40)

Public AAAs: 300
Total AAAs: 323
Public FCs: 496

Best AAA: Garden Party (34) and Song of Storms Dubstep Rap Remix (34)
Longest AAA: Clash on the Big Bridge (1062 notes)
Best BF: Driveway [Heavy] (38)
Best SDG: Galaxy (44)
Best FC: party 4u "holy nite mix" v2 (63)

Milestones, yo.

The 200th AAA turned out to be "Submission Rules." It would have been nice to reach this plateau yesterday (on my birthday), but I suppose you can't have everything.

So, I've been struggling with the current tournament song and, desperate, turned to a tactic I've been hesitant to embrace in the past. I had previously resisted suggestions to increase speed in the Options menu, but my inability to improve left me with little choice.

So, I moved the setting from 1.5 up to 1.75. At first, it was exactly as I expected; everything was harder. But as I adjusted to the speed, it did indeed make it easier to read faster/denser patterns. Although I'm still in the yellow at the moment, and may remain there, the impact the change has had elsewhere is undeniable. I AAA'd Curtain and Atop the World in a ten minute span earlier, and those two songs are now my #3 and #1 all time scores (respectively). The difference was especially noticeable with Atop the World, where the ending pattern became manageable (whereas it had been a "hope for the best" sort of situation previously).

Whether I advance or not, the speed shift definitely seems to being paying off.

Well, after failing to find a 100th AAA for about two days, I managed to get through "Dr. Wily Theme #1 v2" unscathed. While I'm still not especially skilled at FFR, I do feel like I've come a long way since I started playing actively. Hopefully I continue to improve moving forward.