just out of curiousity
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just out of curiousity
they have Beatmania for the PS2 on sale at Target in b-town for 40$ for the game and controller bundle....I have just recently getting into music games all together, I am so-so on Pump, I suck a DDR, I am more of a button clicking / button smashing kinda gamer rather than a dancing gamer......pretty much what I want to know is do you guys recommend this game??? or not?
It's a good deal, but it may have expired on Saturday (now that I think about it, I probably should have bought it for the controller). It's normally $50 or $60.
The controller is the best IIDX controller out there short of various ASCs (which are generally $200 or more): it's even better than the standard Japanese home controller. The buttons are bouncy and stable, unlike the buttons on the Japanese version which rock and are mushy.
The game isn't bad if you're just starting out, but experienced players (or those who have all the Japanese versions already) will probably dislike it for various reasons. The grading system, though not the underlying scoring, is easier, and if you have all the Japanese versions, you already have most of the songs.
The controller is the best IIDX controller out there short of various ASCs (which are generally $200 or more): it's even better than the standard Japanese home controller. The buttons are bouncy and stable, unlike the buttons on the Japanese version which rock and are mushy.
The game isn't bad if you're just starting out, but experienced players (or those who have all the Japanese versions already) will probably dislike it for various reasons. The grading system, though not the underlying scoring, is easier, and if you have all the Japanese versions, you already have most of the songs.
A normality test:
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+++ATH
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If you find this funny, you're a nerd.
If neither of the above apply, you are normal. Congratulations.
I left you guys one apiece. Enjoy. 
It is said that wise men hold their tongues while fools waste many words. Therefore, in proportion to his greater Beatmania knowledge, I will use a greater number of words than MonMotha. (Wisearses may try to extend this axiom to my general forum behavior: to them, I say nothing.)
Yes, I would say Beatmania in general is great fun, and if you're a button-masher you may find it helps you solidify your rhythm for the dancier games. Bewarned, though, I found it pretty hard starting out on the arcade version. (Granted, it might have helped if I weren't too proud to try 5k for a while.) There are a few reasons for this:
- Unlike DDR, PIU and other dance games, button presses in IIDX correspond to notes played by the machine. Therefore, if you miss notes or hit false ones, you'll get very confused very quickly. I had the same issue with Pop'N Music when I started learning it (about the same time).
- There's no one key <-> one note mapping, so you may hit something expecting the last note you heard from it, go "WTF? That's not what I played..." and go down in flames trying to find the real C#. (I've been told that people with normal pitch perception - i.e., relative, not absolute - have fewer problems with this.) This also gets better with practice, as you learn not to try to map lines to pitches, and it's also relevant to PNM (and other games).
- The timing windows on Beatmania are much narrower than on DDR and OMG infinitely narrower than on PIU. Thorough abuse of practice mode may help you get used to this.
These are basically technical factors. If you're not afraid of a challenge, all are surmountable.
As to the American release: bought it today with the controller, haven't tried it yet but plan to. Will give a rundown in a few days if anyone really cares. Several others, including MonMotha, already posted reactions in this thread. You may find the responses to Dan's query particularly enlightening.
BTW, I don't know if it's mentioned later on in the thread, but Beatmania US does have both the autoplay options available (machine plays 6th & 7th keys, machine plays turntables). Learn from my mistakes and take advantage of them.
It is said that wise men hold their tongues while fools waste many words. Therefore, in proportion to his greater Beatmania knowledge, I will use a greater number of words than MonMotha. (Wisearses may try to extend this axiom to my general forum behavior: to them, I say nothing.)
Yes, I would say Beatmania in general is great fun, and if you're a button-masher you may find it helps you solidify your rhythm for the dancier games. Bewarned, though, I found it pretty hard starting out on the arcade version. (Granted, it might have helped if I weren't too proud to try 5k for a while.) There are a few reasons for this:
- Unlike DDR, PIU and other dance games, button presses in IIDX correspond to notes played by the machine. Therefore, if you miss notes or hit false ones, you'll get very confused very quickly. I had the same issue with Pop'N Music when I started learning it (about the same time).
- There's no one key <-> one note mapping, so you may hit something expecting the last note you heard from it, go "WTF? That's not what I played..." and go down in flames trying to find the real C#. (I've been told that people with normal pitch perception - i.e., relative, not absolute - have fewer problems with this.) This also gets better with practice, as you learn not to try to map lines to pitches, and it's also relevant to PNM (and other games).
- The timing windows on Beatmania are much narrower than on DDR and OMG infinitely narrower than on PIU. Thorough abuse of practice mode may help you get used to this.
These are basically technical factors. If you're not afraid of a challenge, all are surmountable.
As to the American release: bought it today with the controller, haven't tried it yet but plan to. Will give a rundown in a few days if anyone really cares. Several others, including MonMotha, already posted reactions in this thread. You may find the responses to Dan's query particularly enlightening.
BTW, I don't know if it's mentioned later on in the thread, but Beatmania US does have both the autoplay options available (machine plays 6th & 7th keys, machine plays turntables). Learn from my mistakes and take advantage of them.
Beatmania US has special songs in 5 keys mode. They're from original beatmania (rather than IIDX). Play them. They're good.
5k autoplay from 7k is fine. On the JP versions, this will get you playing the 7k instead of L7 chart (Hyper, rather than normal), which isn't what you want. But on the US version, 5keys is a mod, so you don't have that problem.
Don't use autoscratch. It defeats the entire purpose of the game. Besides, if you use it, you'll automatically be ranked at the bottom of VJ Army (and disqualified from most other rankings: the Japanese versions don't even consider an autoscratch clear a clear at all).
One other thing to realize about beatmania (and you'll learn it quickly enough): button mashing will make you fail. You are penalized for hitting something you aren't supposed to the same amount as if you missed something you were supposed to hit entirely. It will drain your pass bar VERY quickly.
5k autoplay from 7k is fine. On the JP versions, this will get you playing the 7k instead of L7 chart (Hyper, rather than normal), which isn't what you want. But on the US version, 5keys is a mod, so you don't have that problem.
Don't use autoscratch. It defeats the entire purpose of the game. Besides, if you use it, you'll automatically be ranked at the bottom of VJ Army (and disqualified from most other rankings: the Japanese versions don't even consider an autoscratch clear a clear at all).
One other thing to realize about beatmania (and you'll learn it quickly enough): button mashing will make you fail. You are penalized for hitting something you aren't supposed to the same amount as if you missed something you were supposed to hit entirely. It will drain your pass bar VERY quickly.
A normality test:
+++ATH
If you are no longer connected to the internet, you need to apply more wax to your modem: it'll make it go faster.
If you find this funny, you're a nerd.
If neither of the above apply, you are normal. Congratulations.
+++ATH
If you are no longer connected to the internet, you need to apply more wax to your modem: it'll make it go faster.
If you find this funny, you're a nerd.
If neither of the above apply, you are normal. Congratulations.
How, exactly, is turning on autoscratch for your first 5 plays different from turning on 5key for your first 5 plays? Conceptually, they're both meant to remove a complicated element temporarily so a newbie can get the basics.MonMotha wrote:Don't use autoscratch. It defeats the entire purpose of the game. Besides, if you use it, you'll automatically be ranked at the bottom of VJ Army (and disqualified from most other rankings: the Japanese versions don't even consider an autoscratch clear a clear at all).
And if you tell me "Well, autoscratch turns off the turntable, whereas 5key turns off two of the keys," I will hit you over the head with an ASC.
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SoDeepPolaris
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With 5key you still have the element of a different motion (i.e. scratching) which is really important for harder songs when you have to pinky-scratch or one-hand sections of a song. Turning on autoscratch is turning the game into a 5key or 7key stepmania. It changes a huge aspect of the game that you should be getting used to from the get-go.Arka wrote:How, exactly, is turning on autoscratch for your first 5 plays different from turning on 5key for your first 5 plays? Conceptually, they're both meant to remove a complicated element temporarily so a newbie can get the basics.MonMotha wrote:Don't use autoscratch. It defeats the entire purpose of the game. Besides, if you use it, you'll automatically be ranked at the bottom of VJ Army (and disqualified from most other rankings: the Japanese versions don't even consider an autoscratch clear a clear at all).
And if you tell me "Well, autoscratch turns off the turntable, whereas 5key turns off two of the keys," I will hit you over the head with an ASC.
I really love CS:GO's 64 tick servers.
Ugh. I appreciate that you were probably trying to answer my question, but it didn't really help. MonMotha made it clear in his post that he thought it was a huge aspect of the game. What I want to know is: what makes it huge as opposed to merely significant, and more importantly, why does that in turn mean that it is impossible to learn the game's other aspects (reading, keying - nowhere did lgolem mention having played Stepmania) and then learn to play with the turntable?
If you're saying that Beatmania is so trivial without the turntable that there's nothing one can possibly learn about it... well, I respect your desire to promote the impression that good IIDX players spring fully-formed from the brows of their local arcade owner/operators (or maybe Brian), but I still disagree. Am I the only one who thinks I would have had a less rocky introduction to Beatmania if I had taken the extreme divide-and-conquer approach (lesson 0: change difficulty, lesson 1: keys, lesson 2: turntable...) than I had toughing it out with 7 keys, a turntable, a menu system I couldn't navigate and a screen I (mostly) couldn't read? If I had just ignored all the scratches for the first day I played, would my turntable use have been developmentally delayed? If not, how would that have been different from using autoscratch? But most importantly, why is it perfectly safe to use 5key while autoscratch is forbidden ground - is autoscratch a highly addictive mod, peddled covertly by the Japanese to turn all our youths into sucky IIDX players, or what?
If you're saying that Beatmania is so trivial without the turntable that there's nothing one can possibly learn about it... well, I respect your desire to promote the impression that good IIDX players spring fully-formed from the brows of their local arcade owner/operators (or maybe Brian), but I still disagree. Am I the only one who thinks I would have had a less rocky introduction to Beatmania if I had taken the extreme divide-and-conquer approach (lesson 0: change difficulty, lesson 1: keys, lesson 2: turntable...) than I had toughing it out with 7 keys, a turntable, a menu system I couldn't navigate and a screen I (mostly) couldn't read? If I had just ignored all the scratches for the first day I played, would my turntable use have been developmentally delayed? If not, how would that have been different from using autoscratch? But most importantly, why is it perfectly safe to use 5key while autoscratch is forbidden ground - is autoscratch a highly addictive mod, peddled covertly by the Japanese to turn all our youths into sucky IIDX players, or what?
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Fluffyumpkins
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Yes, definitely. Sorry for sidetracking the discussion.lgolem wrote:ummm....so I take it you guys do recommend me getting this game, I have never played it before it just looked neat.....
Maybe that's my problem - my warped definition of fun.Fluffyumpkins wrote:I can't imagine IIDX being fun without the joys of scratching.
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pimpmachine
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i personally am glad i didnt ever play autoscratch or 5K. both are a hinderance in my opinion. if you play autoscratch, youll get used to the keys and then try to play with the turntable and then your style will be thrown off when you have to "add" something else. the same thing applies with keys 6 and 7. they have some of the harder note patterns and rolls on those buttons are especially tough. leaving out any aspect would definitely hinder advancement in the game. so if you suck for a long time... big deal. i played on beginner for almost 3 months until i was used to everything. unless youre something really special, you wont get instantly good.
and to be on topic, Beatmania US is a great game for the people just jumping into it. but probably not so good for the more experienced players.
and to be on topic, Beatmania US is a great game for the people just jumping into it. but probably not so good for the more experienced players.
Yay!lgolem wrote:Dude, one of my friends came over and he brought his beatmania for PS2 and I am great at it, I picked it up with no problem. I love it and I am buying it as soon as I can.
The reduced price at Target goes through the end of today, but they now have none left in stock, and I have no idea whether they'd accept orders at the lower price (probably not - c'est la vie).
I tried Beatmania U.S. yesterday afternoon. Well, yesterday afternoon into this morning. I made myself stop because I have to go do work-type stuff shortly. I've played exclusively on the older arcade versions, so I didn't find the interface inferior at all (just slightly purple) - and I actually liked the song selection for once! Bonus points for including Holic, era and V in the same version. And I won't even go into how much better my home television is than the one currently with the IIDX machine out in Fort Wayne (sorry, guys).
Interesting. Everyone else keeps telling me the beginning would have been SO much more manageable if I had been willing to start with 5k, etc.pimpmachine wrote:i personally am glad i didnt ever play autoscratch or 5K. both are a hinderance in my opinion.
I *wish* I had played on beginner for 3 months... but even though I suspected there should be different difficulty levels, I didn't know how to change to them! So I wound up learning on normal. By the time I discovered how to get to beginner mode it wasn't really necessary any longer, though I enjoyed some of the songs that were still too hard for me on normal.pimpmachine wrote:so if you suck for a long time... big deal. i played on beginner for almost 3 months until i was used to everything.
Looking back on it now, it's extremely funny that I was so dense, but at the time all I could think about was that the learning curve was like a brick wall. And eventually, how sick I was of 511.
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BakaOrochi
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Think of it this way.
Playing IIDX with auto-scratch is like playing DDR with little on. In some songs, it's like playing with no down arrow. If you can learn to pinky-scratch (which I highly suggest you learn early on), then scratching isn't as hard as it seems anymore.
Plus, your accomplishments with auto-s means SQUAT. Would you take someone who says they can FC PSMO with Little on seriously?
Beatmania has a hard learning curve. Don't spoil the game for yourself by turning auto-scratch on. It makes getting off it A TON harder. Learn without it, and don't ever be tempted to use it. If you need to pass songs, turn EASY on, and put the gameplay level to 1.
Playing IIDX with auto-scratch is like playing DDR with little on. In some songs, it's like playing with no down arrow. If you can learn to pinky-scratch (which I highly suggest you learn early on), then scratching isn't as hard as it seems anymore.
Plus, your accomplishments with auto-s means SQUAT. Would you take someone who says they can FC PSMO with Little on seriously?
Beatmania has a hard learning curve. Don't spoil the game for yourself by turning auto-scratch on. It makes getting off it A TON harder. Learn without it, and don't ever be tempted to use it. If you need to pass songs, turn EASY on, and put the gameplay level to 1.
