Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
slowly getting there
slowly getting there
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
reviews/updates time
Eurydice (cataclysm) - You're off to a really strong start here. I'm digging the overall feel and presentation of the chart. The intro is spot on. The general approach is well executed so I'll shift to more specific comments for this review. There's a lot less consistency between pattern choice and vocals than I would place in a file and while that's normally something I would insist more upon I think it's a stylistic approach that works well with this particular song, so I'll try to keep my comments in that vein restricted to what I feel are the most necessary changes.
36.8s- Consider placing a hand here.
53s- I understand the change in patterning compared to the previous held vocal at 50 however I don't think the lead-in really captures the pitch change at the onset (12th at 52.8 should probably be on 2). That being said I think the whole setup is a little backwards. The low "hope" is probably better off as the slow-trill (mirrored to left hand) and the higher and slightly more intense "devotion" is similarly better represented by the poly runningmen. On the other hand this raises hand balance issues, if you don't mirror the runningmen you end up with a slow trill into a (moderately) short transition into a left hand runningman which can be trying, and if you do mirror it then both the early runningmen end up on the right hand which can be trying in a different way. Not sure if you want to play around with restructuring this but if not change the note at 52.8 at least.
95s- Piano note here is prominent enough to feel awkward without a jump when the two other 8ths in the piano sequence have them.
122-127s- I didn't really notice it while playing but in the editor this section seems a bit empty compared to the first half of the chorus. Consider playing around with something like shifting between the 32nds you have and 24ths to better represent the waxing/waning of the background vocals. Doesn't need to be hard, just a little more different? If it doesn't work, abandon it.
127.7s- The 16th hand here looks really odd. I'll have to give this another playthrough and pay close attention to it to see if it feels off. I understand the jack tension at play here but you can also achieve a sense of transitional tension by not having a 16th note here at all. My main concern is it creates this long left hand chain pattern that doesn't make too much sense musically. If it has no real bearing on gameplay I guess you could take it or leave it.
146-149s- Hate it. All of it. Would prefer 4th chords with freezes and I would hate that too. Strings are probably some of the hardest sounds to chart in a way that feels natural but it is crucial that you nail this small section. It may take you another 5 attempts before you get something that works but once you figure out what to do with the strings you can extend that to the following section and make it a little more consistent/interesting. Interlude sections are the sections where faithful adherence to traditional charting (rhythms, pr, layering) are the most important. If you do nothing else you have to change this.
172s- This little bit here seems like a bit much following the long 48th run. It also forces a generally uncomfortable transition from hitting rolly streams to dense anchored js. I would break up the 4 note anchor. Direct adherence to pr here is not as important as cutting the player a little slack.
176s- Personally this shit drives me nuts, it's awkward on all sorts of levels and this is the sort of pattern that I would reserve only for sounds that strictly demanded them. I don't think this is one of those cases. It would be a little different if a large part of the file were centered around use of this kind of pattern but as it stands it's just an awkward departure from the rest of the file.
260s- If you're going to intend to use minianchors for the strings or the piano or whatever they're going to there needs to be a more consistent use of them. If the minianchors here are just because
, repattern them. The [34] 34 gallop into 43 gallop into [34] on the right hand is cool but this pattern really needs to be assigned to something, not just used incidentally.
The outro needs to devolve into lower denominations more quickly than it does. You could start 24ths as early as 263s imo. Starting the fade of the outro earlier allows you to adopt a more logical graduation scheme. Layered 32nds -> Unlayered 32nds -> Layered 24ths -> Unlayered 24ths -> Layered 16ths -> Unlayered 16ths -> Layered 8ths -> Unlayered 8ths, or something akin to this. But don't sacrifice sound representation in the process, 279.7s should have a 16th regardless of whatever general schematic you are employing at the time.
Nepal (celirra) - This file suffers from a lot of the same issues as alloyus' submission so I would scan my review of that file in addition to any other comments here. It also falls into the "shows enough promise to not be auto rejected but needs work" category.
24.7s-30s- The earlier use of copout 16th chord patterns is acceptable (though not particularly engaging) but if I were just playing this file and not reviewing it you would have already lost my interest and I would have quit out. This section needs to be more dynamic with more attention paid to background sounds (the little keyboard flourish at 26.4 is a perfect example).
64s- I've been seeing a lot of this recently but alternating oh trills where the following ends on the same note as the initial due to a shared jump create a jarring transition that forces the player to execute a shared motion between two hands while moving between two uses of the most iconically single-hand focused pattern in existence. They're just super awkward and don't play well outside of extremely stringent justification (like extended 2314 rolls).
66.4s- You don't do justice to the pitch changes or the 16th drum hit in this section.
67-72s- This section probably has the greatest disparity between how interesting the music is and how boring the patterns are.
73-82s- Same comment as earlier about copout 16th chord patterns. These aren't nearly as bad but you could still do a lot more with what you have.
82-85s- You've established a heavily trill focused identity for the chart, yet this section has a number of same-hand minijacks (1122, 3344 etc). These are both unnecessarily difficult and don't mesh well with the identity of the chart. Repattern these based on "minijack trills".
121-132s- Same as 67-72s.
I'll have other comments after playing it more I'm sure but this should be enough to get you started on revision.
Emperor's New (lofty) - Wow there is a ton of energy in this song to play with. Love the quads to the claps towards the end. I'd like to see a little more consistency in the sections where the instrumentals dominate and a little more variation in the vocals/chorus sections. There are hidden oh trills inside some places that could be seen as literal pattern tumors. The 8ths starting at 80.3s are definitely flammable and if you strike a match with the right sounds it'll keep things interesting.
Oh and we're going to have words about that hidden 23 trill in the ending, but otherwise, great stuff.
Anime Janai (Tim) - First, lol. Second, lol.
38.3s- could do a [14][23][14] splithand with the 16th instead, emphasizing the [14] sound in the trill and on the following 8ths
that's really the only specific comment I have for now. Overall it looks fun as shit, though some of the sections towards the end look a little too dense/jumptrill mash bait. I'll have more specific comments after playtesting it a bit but for now its an easy pool.
orleavemealone_ (Tim) - My general comment is that I'd like to see the piano more technically layered into sections where there isn't as much else going on. Personally I dislike the gaps in notes (filled with mines) and I think it disrupts the delicate, flowing nature of the chart. However lofty really likes them so /shrug.
21s- Would like to see the subtle piano here followed.
43.6s- Layer in the piano here and on the following 12th?
49.3s- I'd like to see the note here shifted from 1 to 2 in order to form a more noticeable triplet, either that or make it a jump by adding a note on 2.
64.437s- With such a prominent sound I'd just full dick sync the note here and shift it down 96th. Or add an extra note on the 96th prior to the 8th. Same comment about following the ensuing subtle piano sequence as 21s.
updats n comments n stuff on the stuff in the pools
eighto (Wh1teh) - This file has been growing on me quite a lot. It blends the characteristics of a scoring file with a distinct and memorable feel. The song doesn't particularly win you any points with me but that doesn't get in the way of the file either. This along with the fixes to the last couple issues I had with the file have earned it green light.
tassa elama on (Wh1teh) - Both lofty and I have independently come to the conclusion that this needs a cut at around 180. By 3 minutes the player has already experienced everything both the file and song have to offer and dragging it out another 40s doesn't really accomplish anything. The last time I played the file I took my hands off the keyboard early because the file felt like it was over half a minute before it was. For me that is the strongest indicator that a file needs a cut.Last edited by MinaciousGrace; 03-28-2017, 07:00 PM.Comment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
good day (leo137) - Super fun. Minepainting is hilarious. I think the only major detraction from the file is the quadjack at 51s. I get it, but it doesn't really fit well together with the rest of the file during playthroughs. I'm sure you could come up with something equally as representative that does. My only other negative comment is that the sync in some places seems off by a hair. The pattern structure and assignment is excellent, I can actually feel the sounds I'm playing (though the use of oh triplets felt a little heavy handed at times- could just be me). Looking forward to your other sub.
hey baddabing badda badda binks this color is called dark orchid and it indicates that i have new comments on stuff that is already pooled or accepted
Anime Janai (Tim) - Going back to what I was saying initially about the meaty 32nds, and after a couple of playtests, I don't think they're quite at the level of mashbait. The issue is mostly that you have a two dimensional increase in difficulty- the first from the added layering, and the second from the fact that there are multiple 32nd runs in quick succession (7 distinct ones from 80-95s). It's not at the point where this section is too much harder than everything else, but it's approaching the level where it becomes "the only part that matters for scoring".
As I see it you have a few options:
a) Do nothing and leave it.
b) Repattern the 32nds to make them friendlier (they're already pretty friendly and tbh going any further might do more to make them mash bait than less)
c) Reconsider the layering scheme. This is probably the most work and has the most considerations the results of which may only really be examined after you've done the work- and which may prompt further work or
d) Strip the 91-93s of 32nds, and convert it into 24ths. This would break up the 32nd runs into groups of two with a fair amount of space. It's the only set of 32nds that don't go to the chorus vocals and instead go to a held note, for which 24ths function perfectly fine. It's also the set of 32nds patterned the least interestingly and the most mash-baity. Using 24ths also allows you to better emphasize the drum hits. They're far and away the most prominent in this section of the song, and I'm pretty sure you recognized this since it's the only set of 32nds which have all 4ths and 8ths layered to jumps, which is why it was also patterned the most friendly and is the most mashable, which detracts from the drum hits you were trying to highlight in the first place. You want the player to slam em down, but they can't really do that if they're trying to jumptrill rolly 32nd js to preserve scores.
Naturally I would go with d).
Nepal (celirra) - Ok I should be a little more fair, while the copout 16 chordjacks aren't exactly interesting and engaging they aren't exactly so bad that I would have stopped playing the file due to them. I didn't really notice them one way or another during my playthroughs and while they don't add anything to the file, they don't detract spectacularly from it either. Anything I mentioned about improving them remains my strong recommendation however it's not really as "mission critical" as I made it sound.
48s- The weird sort-of-broken 64th pattern here gets mirrored at 54s and then straight copypasta'd at 102s and 108s. Some patterns play better the more times you hit them. Others play worse and worse and eventually become habit forming. This is very much a habit forming pattern. You have a 7 note descending roll ending on 2 followed by a 7 note ascending roll beginning on 1. This creates a 212 one-hand-triplet-gallop. The word triplet-gallop should automatically be a red flag. It's prone to misreads and misreads are prone to habit forming which is prone to repetition. Imo drop the rolls to 6 notes and you have something perfectly playable, just make sure to mirror at 108s. Alternatively you could repattern the same notes out of rolls or figure out something else completely.
58.3s- The jump on the 8th here is kind of awkward to hit, mostly because the same sound on the preceding 4th doesn't also have a jump when it should. You don't need to be strict with the layering scheme across an entire file (especially with dumps) but within a microcosm of sound like this, you should. Either have jumps on both the 4th and 8th, or don't.
89-94s- The longer sets of trills chained together during the chorus(es) are too much. Hitting fast alternating short trills can be really fun, and it is throughout a lot of the file, but having to sustain it can be frustrating for people who don't specialize in something like this. It's not inherently a negative approach, but I think there are more and less appropriate uses of them and this falls into the latter category. This is also the worst offender iirc. At a similar section starting around 30s you broke up the repeated 48th trills by using slower 24th/32nd polys, I don't see any reason not to use the same approach here. You could also repattern 91-92.5s out of trills into something more friendly.
110-113s- Similar issue here as above but I would take a different approach to resolving it. The first and third trill go to the exact same vocal so pick up the third one on alternating 13 rather than using a 23. The 4th trill covers too much variation in pitch to be viable, repattern it into a stream. This also eases up the jack tension prior to the 32nds (which you should also rearrange)
Migrant At Daybreak (swiftwinter) - Ok I've had the chance to play this through a few more times with the updated ending and have both specific and general comments.
35.6-36s- The buildup to the first highnote/23 trill seems a little exaggerated here. I'd drop the 48th on 35.9s, and maybe the following 96th as well.
55.33s- I generally find oh trills starting on 14 jumps to be super awkward. It could be me but I'd like you to look at this and see if you could come up with something else you're also happy with. Also after seeing the implementation at 73.7 I like the idea of restricting these to 5 notes rather than 6.
64.362- I would drop the 12th note on 3 here and leave the one on 4 as a single note. This breaks up the the anchor and fits more with the slow downward slide of the (pennywhistle? whatever it is) here.
67.5-68s- My guess is the single 32nds go to the background strumming but here I think more is less and you can better emphasize the percussion hits during the lack of (insert reed or possibly string or possibly air guitar based instrument here) by leaving them out and just having the jumps.
70.82s- same as 55s.
73.72s- same as 55s.
84.37-end- This is much better but I think it still needs some work. If you're going to form minianchors with 4th/8th notes and the following 48ths use an auditory cue to support it. If there is one then I can't pick it out. I actually think you're better off just avoiding minianchors entirely but if you really want to use them I would suggest placing them where the bongo (conga drum? idk) hits coincide with the prominent strums. No matter what you do get rid of all the oh triplets such as the one at 91.13. You want to straddle the line between the outro feeling empty and overwhelming, and this hurts that effort. You should layer in the prominent drum hits to jumps where you can, you some at 91.93 and 89.05, for example.
Love Boat Tracker (swiftwinter) - I've been waffling back and forth on asking you to change the 48th oh trills at the very beginning. They aren't really too hard, and they are jumpjack-able. But they do also appear fairly early on and are a lot harder than anything else in the intro, and they stick out to me. On the other hand this does foreshadow the difficulty transition to the latter half of the file and if you're going to put relatively long one hand trills at high speeds anywhere, early on before the player is burdened by stamina drain or other shit going on in the file is a good bet.
Short-but-not-so-short-they-aren't-immediately-noticeable one hand trills seem to be a staple of your charting style, so I think asking you to change it would rob the file a little of your identity as a stepartist, which I don't want to do, but I do want you to look at it again and double check that it is what you want to use.Last edited by MinaciousGrace; 03-29-2017, 03:03 PM.Comment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
33mb o dear lordComment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
Upon finishing it the chorus was significantly denser than anything else and definitely had rougher patterning than what I sent in, though I guess my mind slipped and forgot to touch up the sections outside of those that were mash-y or spiky.d) Strip the 91-93s of 32nds, and convert it into 24ths. This would break up the 32nd runs into groups of two with a fair amount of space. It's the only set of 32nds that don't go to the chorus vocals and instead go to a held note, for which 24ths function perfectly fine. It's also the set of 32nds patterned the least interestingly and the most mash-baity. Using 24ths also allows you to better emphasize the drum hits. They're far and away the most prominent in this section of the song, and I'm pretty sure you recognized this since it's the only set of 32nds which have all 4ths and 8ths layered to jumps, which is why it was also patterned the most friendly and is the most mashable, which detracts from the drum hits you were trying to highlight in the first place. You want the player to slam em down, but they can't really do that if they're trying to jumptrill rolly 32nd js to preserve scores.
Skwid already went over this file with me the other day, so I'll follow the advice you two have given and fix this up soon.
edit: oh and ill add the piano shit to that knxlwedge chart too (probably send in two/three more charts later as well)Last edited by -Tim-; 03-29-2017, 10:52 PM.
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
The Dream Alice Made That Day (Scintill) - There are a couple major issues with this file that are stopping it from being instantly locked.
The first is that the difficulty distribution is way too top heavy, for a 2 minute file this is an irritation, for a 6 minute file this might be welcome reprieve, but for a 14 minute file it cripples the playing value of the file. Possibly the hardest pattern in the file appears right from the onset- the 23 trill into the fast staircase at 3s, even if it weren't the hardest pattern in the file I'd still want you to repattern it more akin to the subsequent group of notes. It's frustrating and habit forming to have to hit something that demanding before you get your bearings. The next 3-4 minutes of the file are where I collectively got more than 70% of my cbs during playthroughs. It is my strong recommendation that you tone down the difficulty in the first fourth of the file rather than trying to make other sections more difficult to compensate.
Some places to start at:
214.3s- The 64th weapons of war ([24]3[24]3[24]3[24] etc) patterns here and following run at 270 bpm. That's way too fast.
258.4s- I get why this is a oh trill but you should really drop it to 24ths or use the 16th anchor and poly it out. It's hard to notice that this is going to a different instrument when you're like "oh shit why is this one a one hand trill when the others were 2h trils".
322s- the flute here is barely audible and the trill that goes to it kind of flies out of nowhere. I also hear two distinct flourishes of notes rather than a long set of alternating ones.
325s- more or less the same thing but with an even less audible cue
349.3s- no
470.5s- the trill here is like 30 bpm faster than any of the others, which were already really fast. I'm actually scared to math it out.
The second is that the entire section (or sequence of sections if you want to see it that way) from 279-385 feels like an empty void, with the exception of the super fast trills and bursts to barely audible sounds that I've noted. The emptiness of the section makes it non-engaging and the non-engaging nature of the section make the difficult bursts that much harder and more awkward, which is even further off-putting. I'd like to see more done with the back and forth between the lead and background vocals.
The first half is, as I see it, the problematic area. It's kind of hard to evaluate the second half of the file without the context of an updated first half, but as a standalone 7 minutes or so I think it's pretty baller. Some of the less interesting sections could be filled out more but it's not a priority.Comment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
Changed it.
Wrong answer, made the rest harder.
Hell no, they're great, not changing them.
Changed it to a... 7/192nd oh trill iirc
- Changed one note in the first trill.
- Hence why it rolls into the trill.
- Yes
I dunno about you, but those flutes and string trills are very audible to me.
Changed it to a... something like a 6.5/192nd oh trill
- Can't change the emptiness of some parts, they're essential to the buildup.
- The "barely audible" (again, I hear em just fine) parts are the only things to prevent the parts from turning into a complete borefest. Left em.
- Made some polyrhythms to places where are two voices.
As noted, made the second half harder.
Honestly, did you expect a scoring file?
The file's a journey, mang.
Edit:
Oh right, forgot to mention I actually did get rid of some stuff in the first quarter to make it easierLast edited by SKG_Scintill; 03-30-2017, 03:26 PM.
Originally posted by bluguerillaComment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
Here is what I am going to say: Read the fucking thread.
Mina and I do not haphazardly comment on files. We view them, play them over and over again, and only then do we decide on what NEEDS to be changed to ensure that the file is as good as it can be based, not only on the authors intentions, but our own play throughs and thoughts as well--keeping in mind the quality we'd like to set as standard for this pack.
If you don't heed the changes we suggest, your file will not get the green and will only be considered if we do not reach 60 files.
Mina and I have both said this multiple times by now. I haven't even opened chat yet, and I'm sure Mina has, yet again, reiterated this point to me due to this post.
Your file is good, but as the second judge of this pack, I'm saying that I wholeheartedly believe it would be even more enjoyable a "journey" if you take Mina's criticisms and form them into something constructive instead of heckling him and denying their credibility.Comment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
k, only consider it if you don't reach 60 files then
Originally posted by bluguerillaComment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
@lofty: bermuda triangle better get the v2 or extended treatment, its way too good to not end up in hereLast edited by Coolboyrulez0; 04-2-2017, 07:42 AM.Comment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
I'll be sending the fixes to City of Revelry real quick. There's also another simfile I'd like to send; a dump file I sent to Blitzkrieg 2, but it's some j-core shit so I hope you don't mind that too. I'm really bad at this "step stuff that's not stepable" thing. :<Comment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
kpop is super dumpable without being too stepmanias/requiring handsync imo
but im also doing 2 kpop songs myself so that's already dangerous levels of generic guilty pleasure there
looking forward to city of revelry fixes
jcore makes me go "meh" but if you picked the right song and put down a killer chart it's all good
tbh my advice for anyone stuck on music selection is just to pick a hit from the 70s/80s/90s (pop, rock, country, fuck i dont care) you really like and just start putting down arrows (but also try to make something that doesn't permanently ruin the song for me)
if you don't know any music created prior to 2005 then well that's an entirely different problem and you should at least be momentarily ashamed of yourself before telling yourself it doesn't matter and you aren't missing anything
ps. going to move the information in the op to a spreadsheet later today or tomorrow since it's beginning to get unwieldy and it'll make it easier for people to see the exact status of their files and what if anything i expect from them, as well as the most recent comments for each fileComment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
About to send a file, just wondering how hard is hard enuff ?I think Japanese should be taught because if animes have taught me anything it is that Japanese is superior. *strokes neckbeard and contemplates next cheeto*Comment
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Re: THREAD MOTHAFUCKAS MINTY 2 BITCHES NEW PACK YEAH
going to try stepping something for this
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