Reading arrows

[Senact]

Quick question(s) for the FFR pros. Im struggling to pass songs on Standard right now, though I'm just getting into it. My guess is Standard is childs play for the pros, so I'm wondering. How much of your skill is your ability to see and decipher the arrows (what keys to press at the right time), and how much is memorization of the keys? I watched a guy on AGDQ and I have no idea how he could possibly read the arrows that fast. Is it something you acquire with lots of practice or is there more to it that I don't see yet?

[Travis_Flesher]

Ancient Wisdom from the Grandmaster

From my experience there is no memorization of the notes. Simply tap as they come. Familiarity with a song will help you memorize certain parts that are coming up. There are a slew of tactics in the bigger picture. Diligent practice is my motto. Always try to get amazing accuracy. If it becomes too fast, mash efficiently but also try to go super saiyan because it's really possible to hit all the notes in rhythm. My visual setup shows just the health bar amazing/perfect and combo count which helps to quickly correct the timing and make a quick recovery from a boo/miss. Spaced out red receptors and scroll speed 2.35 is my client.

Realistically it is a truly enthralling experience on the whole. I am now comfortably playing songs in the 80s difficulty range and some of them have really awesome beats riffs rhythms and patterns. FFR is probably the best game in the world considering it's 2000 songs of various gènre that you can listen to while playing a simple rhythm game through your browser.

Once the difficulty ramps up, it would just be a huge cluster of arrows.

Indeed. Interestingly it is still possible to play that way as some people do. (Rapta has some videos where he uses a low scroll speed.) As I recall I gradually built the scroll speed up over time i.e. 1.25 for a while, 1.5, 1.75, 2 at one point, then capped at 2.5.

[Ristyy]

Re: Reading arrows

We don't memorize arrows, its all about building your muscle memory, maintaining focus while playing, and just improving bit by bit over time.

One more thing is increasing the scroll speed of the arrows helps keep the arrows spaced and less stuff on a screen at a time.

[V-Ormix]

Re: Reading arrows

To me the best way to read is to try and focus on the whole screen while following the arrows from top to bottom at the same time.

[Senact]

Re: Reading arrows

We don't memorize arrows, its all about building your muscle memory, maintaining focus while playing, and just improving bit by bit over time.

One more thing is increasing the scroll speed of the arrows helps keep the arrows spaced and less stuff on a screen at a time.

Interesting, I noticed the default was the arrows were set faster which initially I didn't like cause it gave you less time to react to what was coming, but that makes sense. Once the difficulty ramps up, it would just be a huge cluster of arrows.

[hatefully]

Re: Reading arrows

It's just practice practice and practice. When I was starting out my brain couldn't connect the keys to the arrows on the screen and I kept pushing the wrong key even though there was only one arrow on the screen. I remember how great I felt the first time I was looking at the screen and thought "oh what aaaah what do I press" and I started panicking, but my fingers just pressed the correct keys.

It's about muscle memory and getting your fingers used to executing certain patterns.

[rushyrulz]

Re: Reading arrows

How much of your skill is your ability to see and decipher the arrows (what keys to press at the right time), and how much is memorization of the keys?

before level 70+ files, 100%/0%, after that it's more like 95%/5% depending on the patterning. Obviously, being already familiar with a chart going into it, you'll be better off (usually) than having never played it before.