Why I hate ITG(2)
Ok, so I get really mad when I play ITG2. I don't mind some of the patterns being boring and uninspired on the easier songs. I don't get mad that I can't pass or do all of the harder songs as well as I'd like to because I can do that by practicing. And even though I don't like the rhythms they use in certain songs or don't understand why they made stepcharts like Ride the Bass or Lipstick Kiss, I can live with it and for the most part, the stepcharts are good. But, I hate In The Groove because Roxor still hasn't seemed to understand the importance of syncing all that well. Almost every single 9 and 10 in the ITG2 folder is synced very poorly. Now, a lot of people don't seem to notice, but if there's anyone more qualified to say what songs are and are not synced correctly or anyone who has a better musical background than me, feel free to say something. In case anyone doesn't know, and I don't mean to brag or anything, but I'm a pretty damn good musician and it's something I've been doing all my life and as a result, I have a very good sense of where the beat is, etc. Also, many people don't seem to notice because they DON'T play musically.
Anyway, back to the game. Up until this past summer, which was over 2 years since I started playing DDR, I NEVER looked at the arrow grid. I was played completely off of the music and that's why I didn't see where speed mods came into play. Yeah, I've switched now, but I still rely a lot on the music. The point is, I got over 250 AAA's on DDR and some of the highest oni scores around without looking at the arrow grid once. In other words, DDR's syncing to the music is pretty damn good. People say that all DDR songs are synced early, and that is true to a very small extent. For the majority of DDR songs, the syncing is on top of the beat, but not ahead of the beat. There are very few songs that stepping RIGHT on the beat will get you less than a marvelous most of the time (depending on your own sense of timing). Of course, there is D2R and Hyper Eurobeat and other songs that are horribly synced, and yes, there are a few other songs that are not synced one hundred percent where you might notice a slight difference if you're playing an oni or paying attention to the marvelouses at the arrow grid (Eversnow, Crash, Destiny), but if you're playing strictly to get a AAA and you're stepping correctly on beat, there are very few songs, no more than 10 I'd say, that would cause you to get greats. Even on a song like Destiny or Eversnow, where you do have to step slightly early to get marvelouses, if you stepped every arrow on completely on beat, you'd AAA it. Now, the problem with this is that if you don't have a great sense of rhythm and you're playing off of the music, there is less leeway on the latter part of the beat to be late, but, that's not really the game's fault. If you want the AAA, step on beat. Off the top of my head, and I'm sure there are a few others, the only songs where you can't get an AAA by stepping on beat are D2R, Hyper Eurobeat, and Telephone Operator. Again, I'm sure there are songs that I'm missing.
There are a few exceptions to this on DDR. There are songs that drift slightly. This means that parts of the song have either BPM changes in the music that aren't reflected in the arrows or programming errors on the scroll speed of the arrows that aren't in the music (this is more the case of Telephone Operator than proper syncing). There are a lot more songs like this in DDR than songs that are strictly synced wrong, but like I said above, in almost all of these cases, by stepping on beat you will still get perfects. Also, keep in mind, pads aren't perfect. I know there are plenty of times that you feel that you step perfectly and you still don't get a perfect. Pads DO give pad greats, but you can't do anything about it. Anyway, the moral of the story and the reason why I respect Konami more than Roxor is that I feel that they made their dancing came cater to people interested in the MUSIC GENRE.
DDR and ITG are both dancing games. You can't dance without music. The game is ALWAYS placed in the music genre. It surprises me that people learn to play the game by looking when the arrows reach the arrow grid rather than listening to what the rhythms of the arrows go to in the music. If dancing games are in the music genre, require you to step to the music, and have stepcharts that are based off the rhythms of the songs (for the most part), then wouldn't the most important part of making a game like this to make sure that people can "dance" to the music?
Here's where Roxor is making a mistake. So many of the songs are not synced well. If DDR is synced early as people say (which I don't believe is true *see above about how the game is on top of the beat, but not early*), ITG1 was synced 10 times worse in the opposite direction. For almost every single song, I had to make a conscious effort to step late. Now, in ITG2, Roxor has "fixed" the timing to make it more on beat. I'm glad that they recognized the fact that the syncing was late and on the ITG1 songs, for the most part they did a good job. Like I've said, I still don't rely on my visual skills to FA, but most of my ITG1 scores, especially on the 9's are pretty respectable because the syncing has been significantly improved. However, look at the ITG2 songs. I can't even stand to play them because when I do, I have to focus on finding where the timing window is rather than concentrating on hitting the steps and the patterns. It's not only not fun, but it's frustrating too. Furthermore, Roxor has released what, like 4 or 5 different versions? How can they not realize this? Some songs they have resynced are still not actually resynced. They don't fix some of the most obviously off sync songs in the game. Their idea of upgrading the syncing windows, with the exception of a few songs, is currently flawed and ineffective.
Here are a few examples of the ITG2 songs that I know are off sync. If you don't agree with me, that's your opinion, but chances are you're a visual player and my sense of the beat and rhythm is better than yours based on over a decade of experience, no offense. All these thoughts are based off an R8 machine that I've been playing on over the last week. I'd say I've played about 50 games in this time.
Agent Blatant: I think this one is pretty obvious. You have to step early for the entire song. The syncing is not horribly off, but it's enough to make me think about it for the entire song while I'm playing.
Amore: I haven't played this that often, but I don't think I've ever made it through the first slowdown without a few greats. I know this was off even more on earlier versions, but it's still not 100% fixed.
All of the Hybrid songs: All three of the songs are synced the same, but it's not right. It's songs like this that make me hate ITG. The patterns are not that difficult. It's only 16th patterns over and over, but the timing is incorrect, so playing based off the music makes it nearly impossible to do well on any of them.
One False Move: Another song that is pretty infamous for having syncing issues. I don't think I have to go on.
Both of the hispanic songs: I don't remember whether Holy Guacamole is early or late, but the syncing is consistent throughout the song...but it's consistently wrong. Hispanic Panic on the other hand starts out in one place and drifts all over the timing window throughout the song. Both of these songs are not difficult at all (with the exception of me messing up one stupid part on Hispanic Panic), but playing strictly on a music-level puts me in the 30ex range almost everytime.
Psalm Pilot: Another one I can't remember whether it's early or late, but the first 100 steps or so are off. Once it gets to the part with the freezes it corrects itself.
Temple of Boom: Everyone knows that the runs drift off.
There are more examples that I have, but I feel that that's enough. One thing that does surprise me is that almost all of the 11's, 12's and 13's are actually pretty well synced (except what did they do to the timing on Delerium. That's the one ITG1 song I'd rather play on an ITG1). Monolith seems to have been fixed to the point where stepping to the music is comfortable. Robotix is slightly off, but not horribly so to the point where it really affects things. With the exception of Energizer being slightly off, if I can remember correctly, all the 12's are near-perfect. So, if Roxor can do it pretty well with the higher difficulty songs, why can't they do it correctly for 9's and 10's? I wish that the level of detail put into syncing these songs was applied to all songs.
Contrary to popular play styles, I still believe that DDR and ITG are music games. If you play strictly visually, to me, these games become just like any other videogame; an eye-to-hand coordination exercise with the exception of using your feet instead of your hands. The reason I've been interested in dancing games as long as I has is because it involves music. It's more of a challenge to dance to the rhythms of different songs than it is to play a fighting game or do whatever else. So, all I ask is that when the next upgrade comes out, or especially when ITG3 comes out later this year, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Roxor, have a musical expert play the steps. Have someone play all the songs with dark or hide targets on and see what their scores are like. I know I'm not the best in the world at these kind of games, but I do consider myself to be pretty good, and when I get scores like I do on some of these songs, it really makes me wonder how the game got through the syncing stages as is. I don't care how generic or stupid the steps become, as long as knowing the rhythms and stepping to the beat will get me a good score.
Anyway, back to the game. Up until this past summer, which was over 2 years since I started playing DDR, I NEVER looked at the arrow grid. I was played completely off of the music and that's why I didn't see where speed mods came into play. Yeah, I've switched now, but I still rely a lot on the music. The point is, I got over 250 AAA's on DDR and some of the highest oni scores around without looking at the arrow grid once. In other words, DDR's syncing to the music is pretty damn good. People say that all DDR songs are synced early, and that is true to a very small extent. For the majority of DDR songs, the syncing is on top of the beat, but not ahead of the beat. There are very few songs that stepping RIGHT on the beat will get you less than a marvelous most of the time (depending on your own sense of timing). Of course, there is D2R and Hyper Eurobeat and other songs that are horribly synced, and yes, there are a few other songs that are not synced one hundred percent where you might notice a slight difference if you're playing an oni or paying attention to the marvelouses at the arrow grid (Eversnow, Crash, Destiny), but if you're playing strictly to get a AAA and you're stepping correctly on beat, there are very few songs, no more than 10 I'd say, that would cause you to get greats. Even on a song like Destiny or Eversnow, where you do have to step slightly early to get marvelouses, if you stepped every arrow on completely on beat, you'd AAA it. Now, the problem with this is that if you don't have a great sense of rhythm and you're playing off of the music, there is less leeway on the latter part of the beat to be late, but, that's not really the game's fault. If you want the AAA, step on beat. Off the top of my head, and I'm sure there are a few others, the only songs where you can't get an AAA by stepping on beat are D2R, Hyper Eurobeat, and Telephone Operator. Again, I'm sure there are songs that I'm missing.
There are a few exceptions to this on DDR. There are songs that drift slightly. This means that parts of the song have either BPM changes in the music that aren't reflected in the arrows or programming errors on the scroll speed of the arrows that aren't in the music (this is more the case of Telephone Operator than proper syncing). There are a lot more songs like this in DDR than songs that are strictly synced wrong, but like I said above, in almost all of these cases, by stepping on beat you will still get perfects. Also, keep in mind, pads aren't perfect. I know there are plenty of times that you feel that you step perfectly and you still don't get a perfect. Pads DO give pad greats, but you can't do anything about it. Anyway, the moral of the story and the reason why I respect Konami more than Roxor is that I feel that they made their dancing came cater to people interested in the MUSIC GENRE.
DDR and ITG are both dancing games. You can't dance without music. The game is ALWAYS placed in the music genre. It surprises me that people learn to play the game by looking when the arrows reach the arrow grid rather than listening to what the rhythms of the arrows go to in the music. If dancing games are in the music genre, require you to step to the music, and have stepcharts that are based off the rhythms of the songs (for the most part), then wouldn't the most important part of making a game like this to make sure that people can "dance" to the music?
Here's where Roxor is making a mistake. So many of the songs are not synced well. If DDR is synced early as people say (which I don't believe is true *see above about how the game is on top of the beat, but not early*), ITG1 was synced 10 times worse in the opposite direction. For almost every single song, I had to make a conscious effort to step late. Now, in ITG2, Roxor has "fixed" the timing to make it more on beat. I'm glad that they recognized the fact that the syncing was late and on the ITG1 songs, for the most part they did a good job. Like I've said, I still don't rely on my visual skills to FA, but most of my ITG1 scores, especially on the 9's are pretty respectable because the syncing has been significantly improved. However, look at the ITG2 songs. I can't even stand to play them because when I do, I have to focus on finding where the timing window is rather than concentrating on hitting the steps and the patterns. It's not only not fun, but it's frustrating too. Furthermore, Roxor has released what, like 4 or 5 different versions? How can they not realize this? Some songs they have resynced are still not actually resynced. They don't fix some of the most obviously off sync songs in the game. Their idea of upgrading the syncing windows, with the exception of a few songs, is currently flawed and ineffective.
Here are a few examples of the ITG2 songs that I know are off sync. If you don't agree with me, that's your opinion, but chances are you're a visual player and my sense of the beat and rhythm is better than yours based on over a decade of experience, no offense. All these thoughts are based off an R8 machine that I've been playing on over the last week. I'd say I've played about 50 games in this time.
Agent Blatant: I think this one is pretty obvious. You have to step early for the entire song. The syncing is not horribly off, but it's enough to make me think about it for the entire song while I'm playing.
Amore: I haven't played this that often, but I don't think I've ever made it through the first slowdown without a few greats. I know this was off even more on earlier versions, but it's still not 100% fixed.
All of the Hybrid songs: All three of the songs are synced the same, but it's not right. It's songs like this that make me hate ITG. The patterns are not that difficult. It's only 16th patterns over and over, but the timing is incorrect, so playing based off the music makes it nearly impossible to do well on any of them.
One False Move: Another song that is pretty infamous for having syncing issues. I don't think I have to go on.
Both of the hispanic songs: I don't remember whether Holy Guacamole is early or late, but the syncing is consistent throughout the song...but it's consistently wrong. Hispanic Panic on the other hand starts out in one place and drifts all over the timing window throughout the song. Both of these songs are not difficult at all (with the exception of me messing up one stupid part on Hispanic Panic), but playing strictly on a music-level puts me in the 30ex range almost everytime.
Psalm Pilot: Another one I can't remember whether it's early or late, but the first 100 steps or so are off. Once it gets to the part with the freezes it corrects itself.
Temple of Boom: Everyone knows that the runs drift off.
There are more examples that I have, but I feel that that's enough. One thing that does surprise me is that almost all of the 11's, 12's and 13's are actually pretty well synced (except what did they do to the timing on Delerium. That's the one ITG1 song I'd rather play on an ITG1). Monolith seems to have been fixed to the point where stepping to the music is comfortable. Robotix is slightly off, but not horribly so to the point where it really affects things. With the exception of Energizer being slightly off, if I can remember correctly, all the 12's are near-perfect. So, if Roxor can do it pretty well with the higher difficulty songs, why can't they do it correctly for 9's and 10's? I wish that the level of detail put into syncing these songs was applied to all songs.
Contrary to popular play styles, I still believe that DDR and ITG are music games. If you play strictly visually, to me, these games become just like any other videogame; an eye-to-hand coordination exercise with the exception of using your feet instead of your hands. The reason I've been interested in dancing games as long as I has is because it involves music. It's more of a challenge to dance to the rhythms of different songs than it is to play a fighting game or do whatever else. So, all I ask is that when the next upgrade comes out, or especially when ITG3 comes out later this year, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Roxor, have a musical expert play the steps. Have someone play all the songs with dark or hide targets on and see what their scores are like. I know I'm not the best in the world at these kind of games, but I do consider myself to be pretty good, and when I get scores like I do on some of these songs, it really makes me wonder how the game got through the syncing stages as is. I don't care how generic or stupid the steps become, as long as knowing the rhythms and stepping to the beat will get me a good score.