[TheRapingDragon]

Hi! I'm a new player! Looking around I saw this was a guide and thought I'd have a read...

Originally Posted by Samus Aran

Sometimes I type out somewhat long stuff I wish I could just send out to players so they can get better and I never post it because it sounds dumb reading through it to myself.

Well that's a pretty negative start. Should I really trust you when you can't trust yourself?

But I might as well suck it up and post it anyways!

Well I mean why not?

Some beginners tips
SETUP
Stepmania

What now? I thought this was about FFR?

After that you want to set your keybindings and scroll speed.

How do I do that?

Pick a speed that is fast enough that you're comfortable with it, but not so slow that all the arrows start to clutter the screen.

How do I change my speed?

Mindset [and image]

You want me to be positive but you started this post by being negative? I'm very confused right now. I also don't understand how this helps me to get better? Also, it's a game, what's wrong if I'm happy with playing it my way? Are you telling me the only way to enjoy FFR is to constantly improve?

Additionally do not focus on your skill rating,

My what? What's that?

or other arbitrary numbers, only focus on yourself as a player. You'll improve as long as you know you are.

Will I? And what if I don't improve, is that because I don't know I am? What do I do if I don't improve. How can I improve, so far this guide hasn't told me anything that's actually guidance.

The skill rating thing is really there just to group you into divisions for tournaments more easily.

What is this skill rating thing?

It CAN help once you start AAA'ing stuff to get you thinking what can I AAA if i really work for it? (and for epeen big numbers, for people like me that's all.)

AAA'ing?

PLAYING
From here on out you basically just want to play at least 1 hour a day

What if I don't have that long? What if I want to play longer? Will these impact my ability to improve? Is this the only way to play FFR?

Try your best to hit every single arrow. You know your limits better than anyone but definitely try to push yourself to improve if that's what you want.

Is this really a guide? How do I ensure I hit every arrow? What actual guidance can you give me to do that? How do I push myself to improve, what things should I be doing?

Levels 1-50
Early on you will want to focus a lot on hitting jumps, this is any combination of 2 arrows at the same time, it's tricky on the brain so it's good to learn! It will get crazy the higher difficulty you go.

And ignore all the other combinations of arrows? But now I'm failing songs? What if I can't hit other patterns, does that matter? Why should I focus on jumps, what inherent improvement factor do they have over focusing on everything (to improve everything) or focusing on my weaknesses to improve those?

You'll also come across various combinations of 3 arrows especially on stepmania where you could be holding a freeze arrow and hitting a jump at the same time.

I thought this was a guide to FFR? Why are you talking about Stepmania?

A good way to push your limits is to find songs with short bursts of arrows like 3 or 5 that are faster than what you would normally hit, so you can get used to playing faster.

Actual guidance! Great, now the pre-amble is out of the way we're really getting started. But there's so many songs, how do I know which ones have bursts of arrows? Can you perhaps guide me to good song choices to improve on?

Work your way up to something like 16 arrow streams,

To what? But I'm playing jumps, now you want me to hit these streams things?

and then you can work your way towards endless stuff from there at that speed. repeat the process everytime you hit a plateu of speed.

Repeat what process?

Go for full combos as best as you can.

Okay.

Improve your timing, and improve your stamina and speed.

How? This guide is very limited in actually explaining how to do things. How do I improve my timing and stamina? All you've told me is to 'hit bursts to improve speed'. And what if I can't read the bursts?

Levels 50-70
You can be comfortable playing around this difficulty probably in 2 months or so.

Well that's very presumptuous. So if I haven't hit that level in 2 months are you telling me I should quit because I'm not good enough? What if I don't hit this level in 2 months, what should I do? Can you actually guide me?

You'll find some very tricky songs in this range that involve a pattern called Jumpstream, and it's exactly what it sounds like.

Well you never explained what stream means so no, I don't know what that means.

Strings of arrows that have a pattern something like jump, step, jump, step except at a higher speed than what you would see before.

I can't visualise this, but don't worry I looked around and found an actual guide.

This is one of the core abilities to get good at on ffr and stepmania, it's fun to play, and it looks cool from a spectator standpoint.

Why do I care about spectators? This is a guide about FFR, not about becoming popular through rhythm games. Also, Stepmania? I really should look this up with how often you're mentioning it. Also, wouldn't every ability be a core ability when it comes to hitting all the arrows?

You'll also begin to encounter a thing called jacks, this is any number of 2 or more arrows on the same arrow forcing your hand/fingers to move up and down rapidly. This is also a core skill.

So can't you just tell me all the core skills required in one section rather than dotting them about randomly? (Also, I encountered these jack things way before level 50 and was completely unprepared because your guide never mentioned them until now, so thanks for that!)

Additionaly you may encounter some jumpjacks where a fast series of jumps result in your hands and fingers jacking rapidly.

Umm...okay?

Keep doing your best here, a LOT of people get stuck playing around this difficulty for possibly years! You'll be able to comprehend a lot of stuff up to the 80's, but the main focus here should be working on your jumpstream and jacking skillsets.

Why?

Go for full combos as best as you can. Improve your timing, and improve your stamina and speed.

This is the second time you've said this.

Levels 70-85
You're almost at the top of the difficulty ladder on FFR! You'll want to keep playing songs just out of your comfort zone to get better. Push your stamina at this point to where you don't burn out so easily on 80's+.

I'm starting to think your entire guide boils down to 'play the game and learn the patterns'. That's not really a guide you know?

Go for full combos as best as you can. Improve your timing, and improve your stamina and speed.

And now you've said it three times.

AAA'ing stuff:
Up to this point if you have not been AAA'ing (getting all perfects on your songs) you've only been playing half of ffr.

I don't agree with your percentage. If I've played through all the songs then I've played 100% of FFR, I just haven't perfected it. That's not the same as 50%.

If you are now comfortable playing stuff in the 80's you should be ready to really work on your timing.

So at no point in the preceding years working up to this level should I work on my timing? So I'm just a fast, aimless freak? I'm like the hulk, great.

Also, wait, didn't you already say like three times to improve my timing? I'm really confused about what I should be working on and when.

If you skipped up to this point and just want to AAA stuff off the bat, be my guest, it will not be as easy without some core skills to rely on. I only got my first AAA's after like a year of playing xD

This is not a guide! This only tells me that you had difficulty, not how to improve my timing. I'm starting to think this isn't even worth the bother.

FFR is very limited in song choice around 2000 songs or something are in the game at this point. And only like 100-150 of those are actually somewhat challenging.

Yet you're telling me I'll be spending years getting to a top level. That's challenging. Therefore, if I'm just starting out, everything is challenging. For you to tell me only 100-150 is challenging is insulting to my beginner skill level. What kind of guide is this?

You're also bashing the very game you're writing a guide about.

So if you want to keep improving your game try out Stepmania! There are something like 10,000 really good songs for practicing and just having a blast on. It's not as orginized as FFR to just pick a difficulty and play, so you'll have to download packs you think are around your skill level. But there's so many, it's just so fun to explore what's out there, and you'll basically not be bored for years xD

So in the end, your lasting impression is to forget about FFR and its limited song choice and play the superior Stepmania? Well why didn't you say that in the first place! This has been a complete waste of my time.

Now...can someone direct me to a guide on how to download this 'Stepmania' thing?