What do you prefer in a file

Re: What do you prefer in a file

I honestly just follow however the song is characterized, so I don't really have a "preference", especially if we're just referring to a file for SM. When it comes to FFR though, we all know (and I agree) that a difficulty spike near the end with the rest being easy is aggravating compared to the difficulty spike at the beginning. In that case, if you put gun to my head and forced me to choose one of your options, I'd have to go with the second one.

As mentioned, probably the former choice. However, it really depends on why I'm playing a particular file. If I'm playing not for a AAA, but general scoring purposes, I don't have much of a preference where the difficulty lies. A difficult finale might make the file pretty exciting, but that's not the case for someone trying to whore on squeezing out a slightly better score or a AAA. Also, if you do well on such a file, you'll get a great sense of accomplishment - it's a tradeoff of risk. Some people prefer consistency and a generally static sense of pleasure; others may gamble for the adrenaline and pride of doing well on a file that goes nuts at the end.

Definitely 1:30-2:30 in length.

Genres influence me a lot, but is certainly not the deciding factor in choosing a song to step. I'd say I give both factors equal consideration. You'll certainly have me loving some songs but would hate to step them, and songs I don't necessarily like but actually think they're pretty fun to step.

In my reviews, I often mention variety, and that's something I feel is important because it's what keeps you from being bored. The confluence of the music itself (how much I like it) and the way the steps are made basically sums up what I think a good file is, as a very general description. I think I may give a slight preference to how a file is stepped...I can imagine myself playing interestingly-stepped files with music I don't really like moreso than boring files with great music.
Also, some people have certain degrees of preferences on musical accuracy towards stepping. I get the feeling that some people want to be contrarians to this ideology (they misuse terms such as "technicality", etc.) simply for sake of being different, and not worry about musical correlation at all. Because people in the end play whatever they find fun, those people can reap such benefits without much "musical thought". To me, I think there's merits in stepping according to the music, and many steppers don't want to take the time to find a good balance in their accuracy of layering reasonably. And for that I say: step however you like, but don't give "technical steppers" a bad name.
Overall, you need to get a sense of musical pleasure (liking the song, steps correlating what you're hearing) and playing pleasure (solely how the taps feel to your fingers). Moderation is a good thing.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

Of the following, which do you prefer most in regards to the difficulty curve:
- Completely consistent difficulty throughout
- Patches of areas that are roughly the same difficulty, with breaks in between
- One or two very clear "hard parts" that define the difficulty of the file

In files with clear hard parts do you prefer:
- Difficult parts near the start of the file
- Difficult parts where the song justifies it
- Difficult parts near the end of the file

Of the following, which do you prefer most in regards to song length:
- Short files (sub-1:30 long)
- DDR/ITG-length files (1:30 to 2:30 min)
- Long play files (2:30-5 minutes)
- Marathons (5 min+)

How much does the genre of the music influence how much you like the file?
(i.e. how much do you "hear" the song vs just treating the song as a rhythmic basis for hitting the arrows)
If it's Fruity Loops/Newgrounds techno/trance, Voc@loid, pony-fanmusic, I will not like the file. Even if the file is great, I simply can't stand listening to it.

What makes a file fun for you? (intentionally a very open-ended question)
Interesting and varying rhythms. Which is why I step Godspeed a lot.
Stamina-demanding streams/jumpstreams are fun for challenge alone.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

Difficulty curve: all of them. If there's a major spike that defines the file, it depends on how it's executed.

Files with clear hard parts: both. If it's at the end, it's nerve-wrecking (with the exception of System Doctor since I have low expectations of AAAing it in one go). If it's at the beginning (Shotgun Surgery), hopefully it's compensated with the rest of the file being fun.

Track length: on SM, I don't give a damn about repetition+the length of the file for the most part. On FFR, it's a slightly different story. Files that have a slow first 3-6 minutes, then barraging you with maximum density afterwards for the next 2 minutes is rather irritating to replay.

Don't really care about the song choice. I can stomach radio pop/crunkcore/newgrounds/ponyfest/wall noise anyway - if it's got stuff I enjoy smashing to, then I'll enjoy playing it.

What I find fun: files that require control - combination of speed, bursts, gluts, jacks, and to a lesser extent, polyrhythms without going too overboard (Metro, Eclipse, Jamais Vu, Vortex etc.) that it's a pain to PA on FFR with the exceptions of DP and RATO, are what I find fun to play on. Admittedly, I whore DP and RATO just for some spare grandtotal and I'm wanting to snag a rank #2 on DP (can't vibrate the trill which now guarantees ~50g and a miss ), and a rank #3 on RATO (so many mindblocks on that file now lol).

Re: What do you prefer in a file

I prefer files with a consistent difficulty, or one or two hard parts of the file. I'd rather the difficult parts be towards the end, since I tend to get easily mindblocked on the beginning of files.

To me, if I enjoy the song, the file becomes much more fun to play. If I really don't like the song, I just won't play the file.

I enjoy files with jumpstreams, streams, and some bursts and rolls. If I like the song but dislike the patterns, I'm kind of torn between wanting to play the file, and not wanting to play.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

[[[[[[[[[[Of the following, which do you prefer most in regards to the difficulty curve:
- Completely consistent difficulty throughout

[[[[[[[[[[In files with clear hard parts do you prefer:
hard parts evenly throughout

[[[[[[[[[[Of the following, which do you prefer most in regards to song length:
- DDR/ITG-length files (1:30 to 2:30 min)

[[[[[How much does the genre of the music influence how much you like the file?

dislikes:
songs with vocaloid (oster project is fine)
rock songs that are too easy (4th/8ths throughout entire file)
generic techno with no interesting rhythm (ex. a lot of dance/dance2 files)
overstepped classic files (winter wind, death piano, revo, etc)

likes:
pretty much everything else, acid/dnb/jungle are some of my favorites though

[[[[[[[[What makes a file fun for you?
everything's gotta be good
ex) my half, this dying soul, scarlet in the dream

Re: What do you prefer in a file

- usually ok if the intensity/feel of the song remains consistent. what makes it bad is a two minute long 16th jumpstream with 4th jumps even though the song might be changing in intensity. difficulty consistency is fine but it must be done without excessive repetition -- this might be unavoidable in some songs in which case I'd say it's a poor song choice.

- personally my favorite especially when corresponding to the intensity of the music. keeps players on their toes without annoying/overwhelming them and the experiencing of exerting oneself in relation to how strong the music is is enjoyable.

- possibly ok if those hard parts aren't excessively harder than the rest of the file. can be problematic when a song breaks the three minute mark as it's going to suck for playability to do two and a half minutes of something non-challenging followed by something very hard to score on.

It's dependent on how comparatively difficult those parts are to the rest of the file, and the length of the song. In general having a very hard part right at the beginning makes the rest of the file bland and unenjoyable, but having a somewhat difficult part at the beginning can be fine. For very long files (four minutes and longer) having a super-hard part right at the end is discouraged. It's ok to have a hard part at the end for climax theory especially since a lot of songs get most intense right at the end, but I'd prefer they not be something that will kill an AAA 75% of the time.

I'd say in theory I have no preference of one over the other, but I do have a preference for songs/files that are both non-repetitive and that have a stable difficulty flow (explained earlier). But in practice a lot of long files use poor song choice IMO and thus I don't enjoy them. Still, there are those that I enjoy, and I'd say song length in itself isn't an actual factor for enjoyment for me.

It never influences me so much that I won't like a chart just because of genre. However the confluence of a song I love and a chart I like is an extremely enjoyable experience. There are also songs I like that have charts I dislike and the dislike of the chart is usually enough for me not to replay.

flow: all difficult parts of a file are similarly difficult, and difficulty spikes are relevant to the music and not excessive

music relevance: if a song is going intense and it's the climax I want to be challenged and be hitting the hardest parts of the file. if the song just slowed way down and is mellow I want to relax and hit only a few notes, even if there are 48th bloops or buzzes in the background.

non-repetition: if a file is four minutes long there should be four minutes of stuff to play, not the same thirty seconds for four minutes

This was fun to write.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

Oh this'll be interesting.

Ideally I prefer one of two similar scenerios. The difficulty of the file more or less matches the intensity of the music (with all it's rises and falls), or builds to one or maybe a couple of peaks and then drops down again. Especially refer to my file for Samus Bubblebath.. in the current batch... dots..


Clear hard parts only really have to match the music, I don't care where they are as I don't really play for scoring any more.


I love me a good long file (3-5+ mins). I actually quite like picking out the little tricks that other stepartists use to keep files interesting (if it's repetitive like sharpnel or similar marathons), or in more progressive songs, things that are kept the same for the sake of consistency and then the variations off of that. If that makes any sense. Longer files make me feel like I'm getting more "bang for my buck" than a shorter file, as they're generally more memorable. I still remember the first time I passed Max Forever. (With tears in my eyes from exhaustion and because everybody's cheering! The crowd loves me!)


If I don't like the song, I probably won't like the file. If I wouldn't listen to the song while I'm going to work, I probably won't like the file. That cuts out a lot of the "buzz noise crap", cutsie wapanese crap, pony crap, dubstpe, and so on.
I have found a number of my favourite artists simply by playing. As a stepartist I hope that someone else can find some interesting music that I can help bring to them. Just cbf to actually make any files lol


Neat rhythms are always a bonus. I'm a HUGE sucker for swing-y or gallop-y or flam-y or jazzy or progressive stuff.
Ultimately I need to enjoy the music first. Afterwards, if the file makes it feel as though I'm the one playing the song then that's a huge plus. Then I like to pick out little techniques stepartists used in their files.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

A real stepartist doesn't care what the public thinks and tries to represent the music properly. Even the easiest of charts can be amazing, this includes 44 note songs.

That's what I think at the moment at least.

Also, yes I legitimately enjoy 5+ minute charts. AAAing isn't anything so long as it's fun. Pokemon Medley was one of the funnest charts I'd ever played. Sadly I look at it now as a step artist and it kind of hurts my brain so I can't enjoy it as I used to. Sometimes being a stepartist ruins some charts. Like Sleep. Sleep isn't a "terrible" file (I will gladly tell you otherwise, but that's my opinion VS what is realistic.) It kind of fits the chaotic nature of the song due to all the notes and background tones going on. I just think that if the hands had been kept to jumps mostly, it would have been a lot better. It's just not fun to play due to it's anchory nature.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

What makes a file "fun" is seriously just sticking true to the music. Making the file FEEL like you're on a keyboard jamming out with the tunes. Your file for The Cataclysm is seriously fun because it's very accurate to the music. If you can accurately construct the vibe the artist(s) of a given song put off, the file is going to be fun regardless of difficulty.

I don't play FFR anymore because of lag issues, but in stepmania for me the files I enjoy most are the ones that are replayable. If I can play through and instantly want to replay the file to get a better score because the file just feels right, then you have achieved your goal.

Overuse of patterns and repetitiveness are obvious turn-offs, but that might also fall on song choice more than pattern choice. A well stepped song might be horribly repetitive only because the song is. Really progressive music obviously works well in these situations because it hardly ever repeats, therefore the file is constantly fun because it's keeping you thoroughly involved and changing while doing so.

For me I think song choice comes more into play than anything else. I don't particularly care what genre it's from, but if the song doesn't have much depth and musicality to it, it just feels plain and boring to me. If you take a song that has multiple parts to it, including instrumental solos or other interludes to change up the pace entirely, the file is just going to be better because you won't get bored with it.

Of course there are times when you play files entirely for their steps for scoring purposes, but for files to play for sheer enjoyment I go for ones that no matter how many times I play it, one more time isn't going to make me sick of it.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

The obvious answer is that it really depends on the file, it's always situational since different tracks will create different types of files. Trying to make ==PLANET KARMA==-esque files from breakcore is pretty silly. Same with trying to make a relentless stamina jumpstream file with smooth jazz.

Very situational, as I mentioned before. But the ambiguity is there for a purpose. At a competitive player's perspective, I would like to see it to be completely consistent throughout as it would be on your toes throughout the entire file. At a casual player's perspective, the second option would be better, since chances are it'll interpret the track a lot better than the first. But like I said, very situational. Not a fan of the third option, but if the track calls for it, might as well. Though, I wouldn't step anything like that to begin with.

Musically speaking most songs/tracks tend to be at its peak either in the middle or towards the end. Playability wise will suffer if the hard part's at the end, but it can be solved if the ending isn't exponentially harder than any other part of the file. Having the hard part in the beginning would probably be a bit too draggy. Take Almost There for example, it is a pretty bland file but I personally think that it'll be a little less bland than it already is by having the hard part towards the ending more than the beginning.

This really depends on what the file is going to be like. All of them have their own forte over the others. For example, marathons can be used for relentless stamina files (Thru Our Scars, Conspiracy of Silence) whereas short files can be used for speed files (Disregard). I have no preference for this though. It ultimately depends on what the file is supposed to be like. I won't enjoy the file if it's all 4ths and 8ths for 5 minutes.

I don't have that much of a preference when it comes to genres. There are a couple of files that are really fun but I just don't like the song, like pretty much almost every midare dump out there. Whereas there are a couple of files that are pretty bad but the track is amazing, such as Kirlian Shores or Apocynthion Drive. I won't go to the point where I will detest a file because of song selection, but it will cause me not to play it as much compared to files that have tracks that I like. A fun file and a great track along with it will have a lot more replay value to me though.

From a player's perspective, pattern selection, layering and fluency would probably the most important factors. Music relevance would also be a factor, but when I'm playing I don't really put that much emphasis into it compared to patterning. The patterning is overly difficult and layering is overly emphasised for the atmosphere of a song, I won't enjoy it. I don't want to hit hands, uncalled grace notes and quads over some aNiMe opening theme, I want to at least see some relevance so that I can actually play along with it.

I'm not really a fan of grace notes and coloured notes, but if it's a gimmick that won't reduce the fluency of a file, I'm all for it. It's always a plus to see something a bit different in files. Just because the track has the potential to have grace notes doesn't necessarily mean that you have to add them, especially since they are extremely jarring to see if the entire track is serene. Yes, it's technically correct, but just because it's technically correct doesn't necessarily mean that it's a FUN file.

I greatly enjoy files such as This Dying Soul, Bud Ran Back Out, Scarlet in the Dream because they're fluent and also nothing too overly difficult all around. As a player, I also enjoy files like Gate Openerz and We Luv Lama for the challenge they create and since the purpose of the files is to set a new bar of stamina, I think the simfile author accomplished that perfectly. It challenges me to push myself and I enjoy pushing myself to my limits. These files do just that, nothing too overkill, just an all around difficult and challenging simfile.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

So I just skimmed through difficulties 56 through 67 for a list of songs I'd call my favourites at the moment.

Lives Without Meaning
Sexplosion
pain night grand tin
Retro City
spanish
CORETOON
ETERNAL DRAIN

Off the top of my head, a few files not within that range but still files I have a blast playing:

A FLOWER GARDEN
Document 13b
Sparkle Downer

Looking at this list, there are some general characteristics shared:

1. The files are of a difficulty that would engage me at my current skill level. I used to really enjoy Four Vents, but I don't think I could play it twice in a row without quitting out now.

2. The files are all of a reasonably short length. Actually I find that the long files in FFR often have really fun parts that are more enjoyable than the entirety of many shorter songs, but by virtue of their length these files just can't be addictive. There's a reason why Maltesers don't come in the size of cars. Trinity is an art piece, beautiful colour gimmicks and all - but, like Four Vents, I probably can't sit through it twice without quitting out.

3. The files have a really good sense of the ebb and flow of a song's energy...of the list above Document 13b is perhaps the one weakest in this aspect but even then it nails the concept better than 90% of the other files. I personally find that the jacks are placed such that they really bring a nice intensity to the file.

The colour in Trinity is amazing, and Retro City and spanish - two very different files - use colour to great effect as well. I really like colour notes, and when they're correctly used I honestly wouldn't mind even if the notes themselves are like one frame off or something.

4. The files have a whole variety of patterns. ETERNAL DRAIN is obv the standout here since it's mainly jsjsjsjsjsj but it flows so well I don't even care. For everything else on the list, there's always something exciting to look forward to round the corner in the next few seconds.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

It's generally good not to polarize difficulties, especially in longer files. Consistent difficulty isn't always needed but there should be a balance -- this is why I didn't mind files like Planet Karma and Red Wings Over Baron because even though they do have some rageworthy parts they're still good files with good songs.

When a file has the hardest parts near the end of the file (usually polarized to the rest of the file), I refer to it as Pandora syndrome. Depending on the song, if the ending is clearly more intense, then it would make sense for a difficult section near the end of the file but for marathon files such as Strawberry Sweetz this is executed very poorly.

I've always liked songs of DDR to ITG length. Breakbeat Acid for instance was originally almost 3 minutes long, but the cut to half its length makes it much better and removes the less interesting parts. Generally these files are better to play as well because it's very hard to keep a marathon interesting if it is very repetitious and filled with sudden bursts -- and no, adding a polarized difficulty spike at the end does not make it memorable (unless by memorable it means to never play again)

Genre of music: I dislike chiptune and 8bit songs a LOT, along with vocaloid and high-pitched anime vocals. Offbeat songs that have jumps on 16ths or weird intervals etc. I usually wind up turning off sound. What usually appeals more is the file itself in most cases, because for instance I dislike Milky Blue as a song but the file for it was nice.

In terms of what makes a file fun, I go to the stepper's intent. Sunshine Rainy [Light] is one of my favorite files on FFR period, and that one's an easy file that isn't forced and I can actually play along with the music. THE LITTLE MERMAID had a headbanging gimmick that was unique for an FFR file. Rave7 had plenty of bursts to manage after the streams in the beginning (and taking a look at those color parts during the official was pretty cool, I got to learn more about how to play through certain parts haha). If I see something like Winter Wind Etude, I picture the stepper going "hi I'm going to waste 3 minutes of your life every time you want to get a score on this file". This is also why I dislike long files with polarized difficulty sections and color note abuse.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

Kkrusty
Dorothy's Magic Bag

But you made pretty awesome files from those composers.

Re: What do you prefer in a file

There are some exceptions yeah, Famicom Selecta is also a chiptune song that I like along with some others (Old Skool Luv etc). Generally however 8bit and chiptune songs are not something I want to listen to (this is why I passed Visitor in the batches because there was no way I would've been able to judge the file without thinking about the song itself)