aight, 13 years away from this game, had a month of warm up, and I feel like i'm just below where I was back then. (I even started beating some of my old scores. there's hope!)

Joined the tournament for the hell of it. I thought for sure i'd be mismatched but it aint so bad actually.

D3,

Round 1 : Roundabout Rival
Song is fun (love lindsey!)
Stepfile is fun. I hate trips but they're not so bad in this file. they fit.
Sightread went surprisingly well, I was expecting much worse.

Now sitting with an SDG. working on that AAA. I know it's possible, I've aced all the parts of the song, just not all at once. nerves...

Yeah, grinded all of last day to get better than 6-0-0-1 and... I just couldn't. I was so fed up with the file lol. I was anticipating steps instead of reacting, and it just never unblocked. the AAA is possible, I just gotta distance myself from the file for a while...

Anyway, Score was good enough (barely... I was last) to get me to

Round 2! : Unshakable
Song is good
Stepfile is... ugh, it's all good, up until the hard kicks... which comes with trips... and.. they don't feel good. I mean, I get it, it's hard kicks, but...
feels like all recent "harder" files NEED to have trips and quads... /rant
fun little pattern with the jump stream at the end. Tricky. but playable.

Sightread went terrible. I still don't even have an FC lol... those trips...
I believe SGD is possible. when i finally get used to the trips, otherwise, this is gonna be my last round.

Ok, sub 20 goods is getting consistent. so yeah, aiming for the SDG. hopefully that gets me trough.

Got a pretty early 6-0-0-0 and left it at that, still pretty sure I won't beat that anytime soon. and again, it was BARELY enough to get me to...

Round 3 : Materialize anything
song is good
stepfile is... starting with a trip XD (hence I hate it! jk)
actually love the patterns, not a huge fan of how many "jacks" there is (only cause I suck at playing them), but honestly. it's well done. I like this file. (if you take away the little triple jumps with hands here and there... urgh, please save me)
Also, cool little tricks with the white notes and the song. adds a nice touch.

Sightread went wrong, as expected. still no FC but it won't take long. the real worrying part is I don't think SDG is close at all.... and I definitly won't be making it without it.

I think I'll need to get around 5-0-0-0 to get through.... and... this is lowballing it. welp, better get to grinding...

omg, my prediction was right.
I managed to score a 6-0-0-0 (I've been doing that consistently through huh ? lol) but this time it wasn't good enough. So i'm out.

Still gonna ghost the rest of the songs tho.

Round 4 : Enharmonix
song is ok.
stepfile tho, is super fun. It just flows well. still jacks and still hands but I like this one. I love the progression in complexity. Sightread wasn't as much of a train wreck as the previous one. SDG ? probable, but unlikely.

I'm loving the difficulty ramp on this tournament / division. it's been real smooth and gradual all along.

Managed to snag the FC at the end there. sub 20 goods.
I'm pretty sure grinding it I could get SDG, but nowhere near where the cutoff was (3-0-0-0 ? that's crazy)


Round 5 : Mirrorball Airride 2012
song is FUN. I love it.
Stepfile is hard but it's not cause it's badly stepped. the progression in this one also feels good, except that it goes beyond my skill level and I fall off with the last jump stream. it plays well and there's no complicated patterns to learn by heart.
Still think hands are overdone / overused. they don't feel "necessary" in this file

also, I don't think I'll FC this even. well, probably through grinding a bit / mashing at parts... especially those double jumps/hands things mid stream at the end, I just can't.

Yeah... uhm, i'm totally stuck on that airride song, I can't FC it. I feel like moving on to next round won't be a fair judgement of the files, but...

Round 6 : Boss - Marian II
Song is super fun, I love how jazzy it gets, piano is fun.
Stepfile is super hard, but it feels like it flows well ? I can't play it properly, and I don't think I will anytime soon. But generally, there's a few quirks here and there and patterns that seems to be best learned than sightread, but they're still fun to play. the most complicated for me in this file is the whole thrills in the middle of a stream, my brain can't process.

another one i'll leave as "played" and move on. still a fun song tho. I look forward to being good enough to play it, if ever.

Very Difficult
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{Satori}

Very Difficult
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8 Start Something 570,400*
8 Road To You 1,240,000*
8 Crazy Hair Day 1,402,750*
8 Twilight Techno 1,715,850*

Challenging
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9 Kaleidoscope 1,131,500*