The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

[hi19hi19]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

What the hell all this drama lol
I had no idea submitting to this pack was a competition to be "the best" or whatever? Not sure I'm following why I'm being compared to MN...
I mean, I like a bunch of MN's files, I like a bunch of my own, I like a bunch of everyone else's too; I don't think any of these stances is incompatible with the others.

That said I do want to say one thing about reviews: Everything is appreciated. Everything.

Escape of the Infidels - Ahahahahahah

In the Fires of Ignition - <3

"Reviews" like these are honestly really nice to see despite how short they are.

Seeing "Ok" as a review for a file, for instance, tells me first of all that the person actually played it, but also that they felt nothing was super amazing enough or terribly wrong enough to bother commenting about. That's valuable feedback!
Plus the warm fuzzy feeling that at the very least they got to experience your creation. It's always nice to see that, even if they didn't find it to be some life-changingly awesome file.

Betrayal (hi19hi19) - WHY, hi19, WHY did you pass up the opportunity to make the climactic ending really pop by making it all jumps when the piano kicked in?? at that bpm and length of time it wouldn't have even been stupid hard. giving 7.9/10 because blue balls.

And I appreciate reviews like this too.
To answer, I actually did have the ending as a wall of jumps, but it was a lot less fun than it seemed like it was going to be. Much harder than the solo, too. So I had to make some jump sections jumptrill-y so that it was possible to read, and even that wasn't fun, so then I took some jumps out such that the layering was just the snare and the strings, and then I was left with the jump sandwich JS that was the same as the non-piano section. I probably should have had some non-jumptrill transitions like [14][23][24] instead of [14][23][14] following the piano emphasis, but at least it plays nice on rates this way.
Honestly try adding in jumps on the notes that don't have them and play it on whatever rate makes the solo barely FC-able for you, then compare the solo to the jumps. I found even really nice patterns to be pretty bad relative to the solo, which was a problem. If you get something that you think works, please show me, I'd love to learn lmao


I have read everyone's comments on every one of my files, and I appreciate them all even if I don't reply to them or if they're a negative review. I honestly like reading the negative reviews the most, it's how I get better at stepping.
Thanks for leaving them!

[Kalre]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

I randomly put arrows to sounds.

[MarioNintendo]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

Actually re-reading my post, just want to clarify, I wouldn't even mind being dead last in the pyramid of good steppers, just because all of the people that contributed to this are A+ people. Well, I'd probably mind a bit, but really just a bit. These people are the best people around: being last is meaningless.

[rCaliberGX]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

Oh what I have a file here rofl

Loving the song and chart selection just scrolling through in-game! Unfortunately, I haven't played most of the games featured in the song list, so I'm kinda lacking the emotional connection to these songs that brings out the nostalgia in me (though they are still fantastic in their own right).

Rarely do I end up playing more than 50% of the songs in a pack, especially something of this size, so I probably won't give reviews on every single file. I'll doodle out some notes on some files when I get a chance to play through the pack sometime soonTM

[CyclopsDragon]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

.execute - I have never really liked non-sightreadable gimmicks

Commodore - See .execute

I get that this is a personal preference, but I really don't understand what "non-sightreadable" is supposed to mean in this context. Every BPM change in Commodore, aside from the two slowdowns, is purely for visual flair; the notes still line up with the exact rhythms that they're charted to. They're honestly really tame. And isn't the point of a sightread to learn what's going on in the chart so you can do better the next time? I dunno, that's my personal thing with gimmick files.

Your Worst Nightmare - This is here strictly because the first pause section doesn't align correctly for me and I think Arnt would be able to vouch for this possibly. Conceptually it looked pretty good though, but I dunno.

I mean, I can understand what about that section would make it feel like it wouldn't align; the pauses come right before the next notes instead of right after the notes just so you can see the upcoming notes before you play them, but mathematically speaking there's no reason why it shouldn't align properly.

Also why does everyone read the title as Your Worst Nightmare, I get that's an actual common phrase but it's Your Best Nightmare :P

Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans - Not a fan of these charts, but considering I'm charting it myself, I've got some biases here. The heavy does stuff right, but isn't what I wanted out of it, the experience feels incomplete, however, the oni is too much, to a point where it just feels uneedingly over-layered. Like I kinda get what the layering is to, but I can't say it's feels good to play.

Now this is totally fair, I can understand the own-chart bias because I experience that all the time with Guitar Hero charting. The heavy was basically my original chart and then I was asked if I could add an oni with more layering and jacks and I did that.

Although telling me that it "isn't what I wanted out of it, the experience feels incomplete" doesn't really give me much to work off of for future charts, so I would like to know what this really means.

[~Zero~]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

I mean, I can understand what about that section would make it feel like it wouldn't align; the pauses come right before the next notes instead of right after the notes just so you can see the upcoming notes before you play them, but mathematically speaking there's no reason why it shouldn't align properly.

Also why does everyone read the title as Your Worst Nightmare, I get that's an actual common phrase but it's Your Best Nightmare :P

Out of curiosity I decided to look at a few notes randomly in Your Best Nightmare and compared the times to what I think they should be based on looking at the song in DDream. Not sure how bad these differences could be affecting someone, but here you go.

[XelNya]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

I get that this is a personal preference, but I really don't understand what "non-sightreadable" is supposed to mean in this context. Every BPM change in Commodore, aside from the two slowdowns, is purely for visual flair; the notes still line up with the exact rhythms that they're charted to. They're honestly really tame. And isn't the point of a sightread to learn what's going on in the chart so you can do better the next time? I dunno, that's my personal thing with gimmick files.



I mean, I can understand what about that section would make it feel like it wouldn't align; the pauses come right before the next notes instead of right after the notes just so you can see the upcoming notes before you play them, but mathematically speaking there's no reason why it shouldn't align properly.

Also why does everyone read the title as Your Worst Nightmare, I get that's an actual common phrase but it's Your Best Nightmare :P



Now this is totally fair, I can understand the own-chart bias because I experience that all the time with Guitar Hero charting. The heavy was basically my original chart and then I was asked if I could add an oni with more layering and jacks and I did that.

Although telling me that it "isn't what I wanted out of it, the experience feels incomplete" doesn't really give me much to work off of for future charts, so I would like to know what this really means.

Of course I typo the title

But shouldn't the pause be ON the note rather than before or after? Like this:
(It's the yellow number)


I also calculated the time between 16th (maybe it's the 32nds it's been a while since I made this) notes and that's how long the pause is for the sake of sync and because I didn't need to add anything during the pause.

I mentioned that I was charting it myself because it 1. Let's any bias I have be known 2. It shows that I'm just not shooting shit and that I've gone through it myself.

But to mention kinda like the whole "it feels incomplete, it's not what I wanted" deal, you're right in that it's not really helpful so I'll try to explain it (might fail.)

When I was playing the intro of the heavy version the intro is a bit dense with a LOT of mini jacks that I just don't understand their purpose / what they're to. Then @34.107 you have this really tame jumpstream going on and in oni it's more like what I did, but it's still a bit tame and I think some hands would have spiced this up better than wherever else you've used them in the oni file.

Like here's what my section @34.107 looks like for reference:



Like you could pull out the mines and it'd suit your oni chart a little better I think.

Just neither your oni chart or the heavy chart hit that nice blend of simple yet effective I was looking for. One is too dense, and the other has parts like 34.107 that are just, I dunno why it'd be jumpstream even in an easier version of the file.

Hopefully that gives you more to work with, at the end of the day this is purely down to preference and just two people approaching it differently. Which is sometimes why charting can be really fun.

[CyclopsDragon]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

But shouldn't the pause be ON the note rather than before or after?

I will say that I did originally have it charted that way (and you can see that style of stops in my Commodore chart). However, I play on M900 + Distant for reading purposes, and when I had it charted that way, it was significantly harder to read, as I could only see up to the next quarter note, and I wanted to account for people playing at higher scroll speeds. I know it's unconventional, but it was a conscious decision I made for respect of the fact that while I appreciate gimmicky files, I also have a very clear-cut guideline in my head of what I feel gimmicks should be; I appreciate gimmicks much more when they're less of a total memorization game and more of an "I can still get by with reading, I just have to be aware that this is coming up" kind of thing. That's why for all of my gimmicks in both YBN and Commodore, they're all simple things that you only really need to be aware of, or that you could easily adjust to in a sightread (I say you but I used myself as a guideline, sue me).

But to mention kinda like the whole "it feels incomplete, it's not what I wanted" deal, you're right in that it's not really helpful so I'll try to explain it (might fail.)

When I was playing the intro of the heavy version the intro is a bit dense with a LOT of mini jacks that I just don't understand their purpose / what they're to. Then @34.107 you have this really tame jumpstream going on and in oni it's more like what I did, but it's still a bit tame and I think some hands would have spiced this up better than wherever else you've used them in the oni file.

I left out the other stuff because that's really more just stuff for me to review, but I guess my whole deal with the mini jacks was to separate what I was looking at. I did a whole bunch of pitch-based charting in that guitar line (I don't know how evident that is under the layering), and the mini jacks are sort of an interjection for the sake of keeping a constant stream of notes, because that felt more natural to me; because of the fact that there's no guitar to chart anymore, I'm now pulling from the kick drum, which is obviously the same pitch over and over. I guess I'm just in a very musically-aware headspace where there's always something happening and I want people to be aware of that while they're playing. I'm still very much new to serious charting, I only ever did it for fun and then I took a huge break, so I'm still experimenting and seeing what ends up successful.
And to address what you said about the density and other things in reference to your interpretation of the song, I honestly would've gone with something like that (minus the mines), but a lot of it just boils down to the fact that I've lost a lot of skill not just over my break but also more recently due to wrist problems causing me to stop playing, and I just wasn't comfortable charting like that because I couldn't reasonably playtest it myself. I was never very good at rapid jumps + hands, and jumpstreamy stuff like my Sunahara Plains file is what I got better at more recently and was basically the edge of my comfort zone. I'm working on breaking out of that as I try to balance playing with managing my wrists, so it's really helpful to hear this kind of critique for the future.

[MooMoo_Cowfreak]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

Third set of reviews, link to my second set.

All the files in this pack are quality, so instead of reviewing each file I’m just noting down what I think are some of the standout files. I play without mines on.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Opaque Air V2 (Gundam-Dude) - V1 was already great and a file I’ve played quite a bit, this one is even better!

Rhythm and Balance (bmah) - I like this one a lot for nostalgic purposes cause I used to be so into this song, and you stepped it great! Enjoyed the holdstream

Ringo's Theme (Kommisar) - Oh yea, very fun dense jumpstream file. This one would play great on rates for all you D7 boys

River Stage (cedo) - Another knockout Marvel file, enjoyed those crispy minijacks

Ruins of the Giant (bmah) - Quite a tricky file! Very fun to play

Shard (Combat) (hi19hi19) - Dang! Short and sweet and a lot of fun.

SILVER LINING (Scylaax) - I was already digging this file, and then the solos came. Excellent use of hands!

Skate Or Live (Nullidifian) - This felt like it had a tinge of a retro feel to it, sorta like a VGMP 4 meets VGMP 1, if that makes any sense

Splash Down (bmah) - I love this one cause it just suits the music so perfectly

Staff Credits (MarioNintendo) - I thought you did a good job of maintaining interest over such a long song

Steel Massimo (Tim) - I’ll probably be coming back to this file cause I’m a big fan of those 32nd trills

Sunahara Plains (CyclopsDragon) - Okay, I’m going to do something different for this as it is really the only file I’ve had some major issues with. There’s a lot of potential in this song, which I feel was wasted in both the heavy and the oni. I played the oni first, and was quickly bored by the constant 16th jumpstream. I’m all about rhythmic variety and doing that for so long, even if it’s technically present in the music, it tends to bore me regardless of how fast I’m slamming my fingers. The polyrhythmic sections were kinda nifty, but following it up with more 16th jumpstream made that climax moment feel hollow. At this point I quit out of the oni and played the heavy. The file started off at a good pace, and then felt woefully understepped during some of the heavier drop moments. The song had a wonderful climax for you to use at the end, and you instead opted to step some jumpstream with jumps every other 4th that was identical to the jumpstream the song started with, giving the file absolutely no sense of pace or climax to me. There were tons of layering opportunities, and it would have been the perfect moment to step more in the style of the oni, but instead I just felt like I was doing more of the same when the music was clearly not more of the same. I would have liked to see a difficulty that fit somewhere between these two, because I did enjoy the song.

Temple (MarioNintendo) - Oh man this file is HOT! Attention to detail was astounding, and everything just felt so damn good. I will absolutely be checking out more of Shnabubula!

The Apparition (cerdo_claro) - This file is quite punishing but still fun

The Legend Of Zelda 25th Anniversary Medley (wv) - Props for taking on an endeavor and stepping something so very different. Unfortunately, I don’t see myself playing this file again, as it suffers very much from pacing issues that are absolutely no fault of your own. As much as I appreciate this as an artistic expression, I would have enjoyed playing this more if the two more busy and engaging sections of this 8 minute marathon were cut into two individual files.

The Mysterious Murasame Castle (MarioNintendo) - Very fun, the holds are tricky but satisfying to navigate

Training Mode v1.5 (ferrari) - Maybe I just have a soft spot for Marvel, but this is def my favorite of your files. The jacks on the bari sax notes feel godlike

Tropic of Capricorn (cerdo_claro) - I don’t have much to say other than this file is super fun and I am a big fan!

[MarioNintendo]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

Ibitsu Naru Shinen Sono Na Ha Mao (XelNya)
??? I didn't find this song in my song list, what


I Left My Heart in Rosmarie (RoughSketch Remix fiercest train) (Nullifidian)
.... ?? What I couldn't also find this song in the list, am I retarded?


Hornet Dance (Tsuka)
Groovy Genesis, you found my one weakness tsukaaaa D:
Maybe it's me who's too rusty/tired/bad, but I found the minijacks hard! Still fun man


Hope & Joy Peace & Love (MarioNintendo)
I cry every time... Or at least feel some emotions in me.
This song is surprisingly special to me: it's being played by Miki Higashino, the composer of the original Gradius Theme. This is the last song she played for Konami before leaving the company (for what reasons, I don't know!)

I like to imagine her state of mind playing this piece. I keep wondering "Did she feel nostalgic about the old Konami, like most of us do? Was this is cry of the heart from her?"

I simply love this song.

Home (Pazzaz)
That was really sweet, man (AAA'd on my first try wow!). Makes me want to finally see what the buzz is all about with this Fez game. <3


High-Speed Beast (hi19hi19)
La Mulana (2005)?? 2005????? I gotta check this out 0_0 These graphics sold me
This song was way too hard for me. I first survived thanks to the break in the middle (barely made it), then died like a noob in the next section One day I'll be good enough to play this!!!

Hard Man's Theme (Tsuka)
I'M HARD FOR HARD MAN'S THEME
Maybe it's because I'm longing for easier songs right now, but I actually preferrerd this to Hornet Man's theme! <3 Lovely file :3


Ground Theme - Underground Theme (MarioNintendo)
Smash wii U has GOOD songs


Grannies World Tour (dub)
My favorite file from dub so far. STEP MORE FILES!!!!!!!!!!


Gradius II NES Medley (JX)
I was really surprised how this song was layed out, the pausing between each song, I've never heard something like this before! Did you make these cuts yourself? :O Either way, awesome awesome file. DEFINITELY in my top 5 contenders!



Too tired to play more!

[MooMoo_Cowfreak]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

I Left My Heart in Rosmarie (RoughSketch Remix fiercest train) is just called Fiercest Train in pack

[macgravel]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

And the other one is nemesis ba'al theme

[Celirra]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

~~My totally relevant and well put together reviews (pt 4)~~


Three levels I used:
-Amazing; I'd go back to this pack just to play it.
-Decent; if I'm stumbling through the pack I may play it occasionally.
-Unimpressed; likely would just skip right past it.

Please do note that unimpressed doesn't mean it's bad, it just means I don't like the file relative to other ones in the pack, and I also have very niche tastes. Also if you're in the mood for noting still, please also note that if a file was on the fringe of decent and amazing, I'd always round down, likewise with unimpressed and decent. Gotta conserve those high ratings bruh!

(may not be able to do the rest for a while pls lemme know if the more detailed reviews are worth it)

Pulse ~Elemia Arrange~
This file was an epic journey, it definitely had a lot of good moments. A bit of an issue I have is that some parts could have used more substance to go with the backgrounds. For example, the area from 30.375 to 48.375, or around 57.000 and 70.500 with the choir like music, and especially at 76.000ish for the buildup could have been terrific with some holds built in, not just for a bit more difficulty and diversity, but to really just add to the epic feel of the song; the holds worked well where they were used in this track and I'd have liked more like that!
Decent.

Rhythm and Balance
As an aside, I love this song, easily my favourite from SA2 (suck it, City Escape!). This file definitely did the song justice and I loved pretty much every part of it. I don't know if this is due to my own poor ability to sync or if I'm going crazy, but the holdstream starting at 38.5 seemed to start early with some of the holds (eg. the holds at 39.876 or at 42.245 being about 1/16th early, a couple others too), but I loved even that part too regardless. Loved the use of 32nds with the quick drum segments, and the quick holds for the prominent vocals.
Amazing.

Ringo's Theme
Another masterpiece, by far one of the most perfect jump/handstream-centric files I've played. The fact that the JS wasn't thrown in haphazardly and was used for good emphasis, and the fact that everything done was so well synced made me really happy. The use of jumptrills for the repeated beats was super cute too.
Amazing.

River Stage
This file's tough for me. On one hand it was really fun, and you nailed the timings with what was done. But I think a bit too much is lacking here, such as some kind of emphasis, from hands or holds or something else clever with the vocals (see: 8.500 ish), and in other segments too use of those elements is either a bit odd or lacking. It WAS a fun file with what worked, but again it's just lacking quite a bit.
Unimpressed.

Ruins of the Giant
This file with me is like giving a fine merlot to a chardonnay afficionado; it's possible to appreciate the work that went into the merlot but you still don't love it. The file's beautifully done and I really love a lot of what went into it, the holds and jumps and jacks etc, from a "that's amazing work" perspective, but not from a "this is a really fun file for ME" perspective. This is a 10/10 file for sure but it's not the one for me.
Decent.

Sally (Select)
I enjoy this kind of file for warming up, it's nice and short and contains a bunch of little bits of what really get your fingers and mind in the groove (ha get it). That being said, I'm just not a big fan fundamentally of the patterns used, though they were well made and fit the song well.
Decent.

Samekichi's Resolve
I think the file here was done REALLY well. The holds and syncopation were on point and emphasis where needed, very impressive. But the song itself doesn't make for a great file in general I guess. I'd say it's good for newer players though, but there are quite a few dull moments in the song, which could only be avoided by incessant overstepping and dumping (which would ruin a pretty stepfile so pls dont do that).
Unimpressed.

Shard (Combat)
I've played this file before playing any other file in this pack on each session, it's essentially a go-to at this point. I don't love the file by any means, but it really warms up my fingers (and pains them after a few times) and makes me really prepare nicely for the "fun" stepmaning that's to come. I think it might be a bit overstepped maybe, but it serves the original goal of a warmup file nicely so for once I don't even mind. It's a fun file.
Amazing.

Silver Lining
Preface: I play with no mines so I missed some elements of this chart. I found the way you did the quick drums nice, since it flowed well and synced perfectly. Maybe it's due to the mines though but I didn't find the file very fun. Like the chart makes sense and all, but something about it is off. Might be the tempo or the patterns, I'm really having a hard time with rating this one for some reason.
Decent.

Skate or Live
Really fun file. What I REALLY loved was all the tempo changes. It would've been easy to just use 32nds instead of 16ths, but the fact that you changed the bpm instead gave the file some life and really made the fast segments seem faster (that and I just don't like 32nds), though the use of 32nd in place of 16ths with the tempo slow really helped in the other way by pointing out the slow down effect. Fun to go for PA with this too, with the short and simple enough nature. Can't think of anything I'd even want changed, and the music fit well for a file in general.
Amazing.

Skydeck A Go! Go!
Another instance of the song not being great for a file; considering the repetition in the song you did a good job changing it up a little bit with patterns and making the rest good, but the repetition really drags the whole piece down unfortunately for me. There's only so much that can be done with a song like this; you did all that was possible, but I can't really see a way to make a better chart for a song like this at all.
Unimpressed.

Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans
Cool file, one thing I really liked is that you kept the theme of the file consistent between difficulties, which is cool (unless you're going for a different take on it I suppose); also you've put a lot of thought into this as a whole so thumbs up there. Regardless, I'm still biased against jacking files like this so take with a grain of salt the rating. As an aside, undertale music works better than I thought for stepping.
Decent.

Sortie
Loved it. The patterns in this are literally my favourite kind; between the minijacks into a jump, and the [4] [3] [2] 24ths into [14], so much fun. And it works so well with the file too, the rest made me so happy as well. Will be coming back to this one often.
Amazing.

Splash Down
So chill, and good fun too. What I really loved about this is it's not a stressful file that requires a lot of attention based on how mellow the patterns are, but it's still challenging enough to be fun and interesting, and to go back for more plays. Huge credit to the song choice as well, but it was executed flawlessly.
Amazing.

Staff Credits
Ok first fuck those jacks at 13.190 lol (nailed them easy but it's a matter of principle). I think this file had a few missed notes honestly, or some were slightly off. It's a minor thing but it bugged me, eg. at 16.075, some of the trills at 19.190 were kinda awkward with the beat, and a few other areas later on too but that may just be me going crazy. The thing is, despite the file not being PERFECT with the song, the file was a ton of fun anyways, which is the opposite problem than I'm used to with this pack given my tastes. And I mean it's really fun, even with the length.
Decent.

Steel Massimo
Fun, but there were a few key elements to the track that bug me a bit. Firstly, at the area starting at ~18.858, I think more could have been done by not focusing solely on the drum in the background and perhaps adding something to correspond with the main instrument in question (guitar/keyboard/synth/whatever). It was done a bit, say at 33.406 and 39.099, but I think a bit more use in other sections would've helped me at least to link the song to the file itself. Nice anyways, just a little issue I had.
Decent.

Streamworks (Saliva Island)
SHANTAEEEEEE!!! I love this music from Shantae, and this is why; it works so well to be stepped, and the music itself is cute/10 too. I really like how you kept the file fresh by using different styles at different points, but still having enough cohesion as a whole by re-using patterns when necessary.
Amazing.

Sunahara Plains
I don't think this is the best choice for a jump/handstream chart (I know hard isn't jumpstream but it's similar in nature still), a lot of things that could have been really fun were missed due to it and at parts the (jump)streams just didn't feel like they belonged. Take for instance, at around 64.794, between the wubs and other electronic elements there could have definitely been more than just simple jumpstream, like what you did in the segment earlier with the holds and 12ths and such (which I LOVED). The (jump)streams were justified for parts of the song for sure, but when the main hype part of the song dropped off it didn't fit as much anymore.
Unimpressed.

[pedolad]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

hnng so close to my fav submission

any chance of getting a quick review on swamp stage??

[macgravel]

Re: The Video Game Mega Pack 4 (RELEASED!)

Swamp Stage was hands down my favorite file from you in the pack.