Introducing New IIDX Player: DJ Kroko

[sobek]

Well, last week was an evenful week for Kroko-gaming. In the past 7 days, I got myself beatmaniaIIDX 9th Style (on sale at Play-Asia for a mere $40), a flip-top for the PS2 to play it on, beatmaniaUSA w/improved controller, and Tetris DS. Very much fun indeed. :D After 3 years, I FINALLY get to play a real-life PS2 IIDX game! I did learn from this

Comments

[acrothdragon]

hehee...cute icon Sobek ^.=.^ well you peeked my curosity again at Legendz, trying to now find a couple torrents with the other epsoides. Sadly it seems they only dubbed the first six, but I've watched undubed versions before and you can likey make the jist of it. By far which epsoides would you recomend?

[sobek]

What I recommend? I dunno. I kinda rushed though ep 6-36 in one night, and I've been sparingly watched the rest for several weeks after that, so it's all just a blur to me. I do know there are some "filler" episodes that aren't really that important to watch. All I know is that episode 44, a flashback episode about Ed the "Fire Saga" and his Legendz Fire Giant, is the most strangest episodes in the series. XD And that Dandy is in ep. 4, 19, 23, 24, 35, 36, 40 and onward.

[sobek]

Easier than DDR?! Gawd no! @_@ It has a very high learning curve. Takes dedication and patience to be able to do well in IIDX. The game has been in Japan for 8 years now, and it has become very challenging every since. The US version of beatmania takes it's music from older versions of the game, so the soundtrack isn't as good as what appears in the newer arcade versions. However, the notecharts on the older songs are a bit easier than the newer stuff by comparasion. There is a beginner difficult, mostly level 1-3 notes. It's a hit-or-miss kinda game. Either you'll love it or you'll hate it. I suggest finding some videos of it on Google Video or YouTube to see some experts playing it. @_@ It might be a bit discouraging knowing that it's insanely difficult at it's highest difficulty, but you get to see how it's played.

[argon_vile]

I picked up Beatmania USA like 2 days ago, it's kind of a disappointment in my book! The menu system is horrible (and you know how easygoing I am about that kind of stuff) and they took out the feature to make doubles take up the full screen! I can barely do the simpler doubles songs now. And it sucks that all the new american songs are 3s and 4s. Well at least the song choice is pretty good (comparable to the japanese releases). Also, it's respectable that they kept the tight-tight timing windows on e-motion (and presumably some other songs).

I'm already back on 7th style personally. Maybe I'll come back to US if i get sick of the other styles, or if I somehow find the patience to unlock the "Anothers" or something.

[sobek]

Yeah, I find myself actually getting drowsy from playing the US version. There are a couple of songs I REALLY love (Attitude, Jelly Kiss) but for the most part, the US version isn't as energizing than playing something newer from later styles. You'll have to have a LOT of patience with Anothers...have to play every song at least once to unlock Another, even the 5-Key songs, none of which even have Another notes. XD This version still has 9th Style's timing window, but with a more laxed letter grading system. I've read that the 5-key songs are still has it's off-sync problems that plauged them since the early beatmania days. @_@

5-key timing

[argon_vile]

I've read that the 5-key timing isn't really "off" per se, but rather that it's just a lot tighter on specific songs... i guess at the time, it was their way of preventing people from picking the really easy songs (e-motion) to get a high score (200,000ish) without much effort

It's a pretty silly idea. But i guess Beatmania was one of their first games ever! so i can't really fault them.