2nd Official FFR StepCon!

[hi19hi19]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

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]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

i'm just gonna cry in a corner

[hi19hi19]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

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]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

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]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

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

[ilikexd]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

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

the exact opposite imo
people should be willing to receive such criticisms even though they can be quite sensitive about it

[xXOpkillerXx]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

Really this time Hi19 I would really tell you to believe what people say; you're being a good critique and the notes are well detailed and show no offense.

[choof]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

hey if you give someone criticism and they don't like it, they're just being a little bitch

[xXOpkillerXx]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

hey if you give someone criticism and they don't like it, they're just being a little bitch

There's a way to give feedback without being a bitch too lmao ^^

[XelNya]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

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

Dude, stop worrying about everyone's feelings. Even if you say "your chart is shit this is why it's shit /notes here" it is still much more than I used to do. If they can't take such posts, they should get the fuck off the internet in the first place anyways. Post what you want, how you want. Some of us appreciate the honestly, even if the phrasing is harsh. It's not a good feeling to see like "yeah I like this file, it's pretty good" then see it like 4/10d in the batch notes by the same person. It's actually infuriating if you asked me. (Not a specific example, but you get my point hopefully.)

Just what I think though.

There's a way to give feedback without being a bitch too lmao ^^

Everyone's a pussy. (Oh sorry is this sexist? Eh who cares.)

[MarioNintendo]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

Really this time Hi19 I would really tell you to believe what people say; you're being a good critique and the notes are well detailed and show no offense.

This man has the right idea

[xXOpkillerXx]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

Middie pls. "Ohhhh you don't accept that I call your work absolute bullshit, you're the one who should get off of the internet !" (example). Well all I can say is Seriously dude ? I could explain in details why your post is hilarious but do I really need to...

"I think you have a lot of work to do on your layering. @x.xx time there are many sounds that are too loud not to be stepped considering the rest of your layering."

"Ok why didnt you step that BOOM sound srsly wtf it appears like 10 times oh and the vocals should REEAAALLY have been stepped man your file feels so empty pls stop stepping."

Guess what, both are right, but one is a good critique, the other one is not. Can you find out which one is which ?

[hi19hi19]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

Hm well thank you all for the positive response to these reviews.
I've definitely learned a lot from reviewing these three rounds. What people expect, what people like, how people react.


With regards to "Middie-ing," please let me proselytize for a bit...
Even the most "objectively bad" pieces of art (stepfiles included) has merit if the artist created with a purpose; if people put effort into their work, you should at least acknowledge the value of their intent before criticizing the execution.

Kind of a pithy, life-lessony bullshit sounding thing for me to say, I guess. But I do believe that it's worth noting, as it's perhaps an easy concept to understand in your head, but a lot harder to internalize. Generally, you will find people are more open to criticism if you first acknowledge the purity of the goal they had. In fact, I'd go so far as to say doing so is a necessary part of criticism being constructive, as without internalizing the artist's purpose you're merely deconstructing instead of working to help them better achieve that goal.

[lurker]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

i guess i only made that post because i'm extremely embarrassed about even joining this in the first place and it only got worse every round
there's no problem with your reviews

[gold stinger]

Re: 2nd Official FFR StepCon!

so how's this thread doing?

do I get credits for participating 1st round yet?