A History of Index: Vertex's Reign

Sorry for the reuploads, copyright/editing shenanigans were holding me back from having this up lul
To start off, I just wanna say I'm SO SORRY for the commentary audio. I didn't have time to record it all over again so hopefully, it didn't turn out to be too bad.
I hope I was able to educate you all on a player I thought was interesting to me to the game and that kinda went under the radar in terms of his legacy. This took me a few months to make and I'm pretty happy with the finished product overall and that I was able to finish this the day before I go back to college.
Along with that, I'm not quite sure how my streaming schedule will be in terms of how often I will be able to stream. I start classes in about a week and while my schedule isn't bad on paper, I might run into some instances where I will have to take another break from this game. Dw though, I'll be sure to work on some vids about the game, as this was a ton of fun to make.
I have an idea for the next player I'll be making on, but it may come as an even bigger surprise to most of my viewers, so stay tuned for that.
Thank you all for watching. Hope you're doing well, Vertex.
Vertex's Profiles:
KZbin: / @justins7428
Twitch: / hahawoo222
FFR: www.flashflashr...
Sellout links:
Twitch: / etiennesm
Twitter: / etienneffr
Discord: / discord

[@You-vg6yt]

It's funny how the conclusion is to not randomly accuse people but then you go the complete opposite of the spectrum multiple times with jhlee0133, even funnier now that ATTang smashed most of his scores beyond recognition and sillyfangirl (and others) replicating most of the ones from his classic "cheat" stream. I guess history repeats itself. Stepmania is such a toxic environment, glad I don't play. I'll however say you put a lot of effort into this video and the history is super interesting. You presented it well and superb video quality in general. Good watch.

[@You-vg6yt]

Nixo NoobStone That's pretty convenient, he was toxic so he got accused of hacking. Wonder if Etienne has a more intelligent answer yours didn't seem very evidential.

[@EtienneYT]

I never mentioned *randomly* accusing people. When you're a top player, you start to be able to analyze plays/player progressions a lot easier and determine whether or not they seem reasonable. This is an instance where Vertex made a proof video and livestreamed requests on multiple different occasions, but still got blatantly harassed by other players. The example you provided is much more subjective and still doesn't have a definitive answer to this day. I don't wanna derail this comments section so you're free to message me on discord if you want to discuss further. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@conservation10]

You 100% agree. Imagine harassing someone and accusing someone so much they quit the game despite live plays on stream.

[@EtienneYT]

Conservation Jhlee never quit from harassment. He had basically everyone on his side lmao

[@conservation10]

EtienneSM are we ignoring what happened over reddit between staiain and them and that entire shitty thread. And also that thing with loctav before he left

[@Aoreo]

Seeing that Blue Planet 1.1 quad live was so insane because I had made him download the pack during his session and he sightread it.

[@ZebulonHollus]

Although the focus of this video was VerTex playing index, something that wasn't mentioned in this video was that VerTex did in fact try out spread for a brief period of time. He did get some very good spread scores (I specifically remember a MinaciousGrace's OP AA) but went back to index afterwards. I do remember setting him up with an offline FFR engine with Disregard when he was getting the BS calls. Considering he was probably in his early teens back in 2012, that means now he's at an age where he has graduated high school and probably has other more important things to take care of. If you look at VerTex's videos, you'll see the progression to a better stream setup so it looked like he was in a good position IRL wise. My perspective is that VerTex knows what's best for himself, and is still playing index on a regular basis. On the return in 2015, even though he wasn't really posting that much in the hiatus, he was getting better scores -- so he was still playing, just not posting. And I know firsthand how bad staying in a toxic community can be for your health. VerTex didn't go out and start trouble intentionally like I see some other players do, he just happened to attract a lot of attention from his scores. There is someone I know who has passed ITG 18s and is a decent index player, but does not post his scores. He doesn't want to be involved in drama, but certainly has an interest in the game itself. I feel like that is where VerTex is at now -- he is considering what he wants to do in his life, and wants to continue setting goals without needing the attention and drama.

[@fanispadimos2029]

make more videos like this please we need to get stepmania educated .

[@ColossalFailure]

Good to see. It's unfortunate that the index scene is such a small part of the Stepmania scene but I've enjoyed playing it casually over the last 12 years or so. It's crazy that I remember feeling so elated after passing Epic Manner for the first time and feeling elated, only to see these guys completely take it apart using rate mods. Madness. I topped out at around 280bpm which is where I stopped improving but I take off my hat to you folks who blast past 300bpm. Sadly my wrists are knackered now and I rarely play, I also very rarely recorded videos but at least I've still got a few uploaded. Thanks for the video man, I've seen most of the clips before (Archowl was one of my initial inspirations to get good!) But this was a cool insight into Vertex's history too.

[@Dezomm]

I seriously enjoyed this video. Love the "documentary" style you went with, and I would definitely want to see another one like this. I can't believe how I went from not knowing who Vertex was to being fully emotionally invested in his story, along with many other index players I've never heard of. I had to pause the video and said out loud, "What the *actual* fuck" when i saw his AAAA on Blue Planet 1.1. If nothing else, this is one of the most motivational and inspirational videos I've seen yet. Hope Vertex comes back one day.

[@MrGuilherme404]

you're getting better and better at this, man, good stuff

[@Seph4096]

as someone who still plays index, i deeply enjoyed this video.

[@TheZiemniax]

Thanks a lot for this video man. Vertex is a true legend, and I think that nobody in no vsrg ever has outshadowed other players as much as him.

[@christiangrab4278]

I must’ve kinda vanished before vertex drama began but I remember distintcly seeing them post ridiculous scores and being wowed I’m happy my back to the gate quad was that remarkable back then too lmao

[@Halogenvsrg]

This was a pretty awesome video, man! I'm definitely digging this kind of content from you, and this was a hell of a throwback, no doubt. Worth clarifying since I'm very noticeably in this with a sizeable post: all I wanted was to ensure legitimacy, and I do agree that Vertex went through a hell of a lot of shit (more than anyone ever had to) in his climb to index-playing stardom. It's a shame, really.

[@EXDSPRTS]

i still miss vertex man, im sometimes sad i never pushed myself in index enough to reach where vertex was but that motivation was good enough for me, hope he's okay also hope you're well homie, just scrolling through older rg vids to reminisce

[@zetorux]

Why were people not satisfied with the proof video? Did he follow the steps correctly? It's pretty unfortunate if all his scores were real and he just couldn't shake off the haters, but at the same time, I think suspicion was justified given how dodgy his communication appeared to be (at least from how it seemed in this video -- I don't have full context!) By the way, I actually remember anobody AAA'ing Eruption when I was a kid! Super deep cut. Also I've always thought index was a cool playstyle because it mimics pad play very closely. Usually if I could pass something on index, it meant I at least had a decent shot of passing it on pad, because my fingers weren't really that much faster than my feet

[@EtienneYT]

Yeah, his progress was quite literally exponential, and even today, these scores are *likely* way ahead of their time still. He was like some weird, once-in-a-generation genetic hyper-responder to index, but once he started getting shit, I think he just didn't think it was worth his time anymore. If anything, I commend someone at that age (14/15) for knowing their limits of not wanting to deal with terminally online 2000's forum culture-millennials lmao. All things considered, I've tuned into a couple of his streams in the past, the vids pulled from his streams look legit, and the keytaps add up too. I tried reaching out to him on Skype a couple times a few years back and have even tried cross-referencing some things to see if he was still around in some capacity, but he left without a trace, and did it fast, which I think makes his legacy as a player akin to someone like Peter Snell in track and field. Tangentially, I actually do have a couple files he created that he sent to me on Skype on an old HDD that I *should* have lying around somewhere. Maybe I'll upload those to Gdrive and add them as a fun easter egg in the description nowadays haha.

[@toone1562]

​@@EtienneYT I tried cross referencing too and its pretty impressive how well he just logged off and disappeared from the internet lol

[@sir380]

I came back to this video today and realized that the song playing in the background of the conclusion section is the See You Again Instrumental from Tyler the Creator.

[@ClickbaitGrifting]

one piece of trivia for this: I actually can't be as good as I used to be at index because my fingers are now too large/thick for the keys. even though I'm objectively faster, I trip up too often. this started happening when I was 17 years old, and really solidified when I started strength training and upping my grip strength.

[@makoara]

Amazing video, I love history videos for games. Nicely done bro!

[@Vladislavchooo]

Amazing video. Showcasing a lot of interesting and new concepts for most players. I also genuinely quit SM partially because of the community's harassment and partially because of irl reasons. Videos like these are what get the point out. Glad you were able to present it in such a well-mannered fashion.

[@hi_im_los]

What a legend

[@Daisuken92]

This video was very well put together

[@LethalPony64]

honestly, great video. nice to learn more about a playstyle that isn't often adopted by players, especially newer players (including me ): ) i also love that you used brockhampton for some of the background music, haha. good shit etienne

[@jeffreygorski7915]

Index play is the only play worth even mentioning. If you play spread you're basically playing at half speed.

[@icemocha6703]

I hope he comes back one day, would be cool to see him especially on etterna

[@jakobhansen5439]

I definitely want to see more of this!

[@Game24984]

Interesting to see how toxic the stepmania community was back then x) seems like nothing has changed much. That was a good watch though.

[@Akita23]

It seems like the commentary audio was a little low compared to the rest of the video clips but you did an amazing job with this, and it was very interesting to watch. I'm excited to see what else you'll create about other players as well

[@delrachdubal]

I'm so old I Remember Dance With Intensity and Arch0wl's very tough song at the time, Gluassian Blur or something to that nature. Maybe back in the mid 2000's or maybe even 06-07. Yeah.... unfortunately then and now the Rhythm game community can be Toxic depending on the People. It's amazing how some of the Best players ever that come out of nowhere disappear out of nowhere. Makes you wonder....

[@jeffreygorski7915]

Also, BOTH arch0wl and izzy played on judge level 1. They were later found out and became a joke.

[@EtienneYT]

Yeah, given the standard of acc even nowadays, it's pretty much impossible to believe Izzy's Quints (and probably his harder quads) were even remotely legit. His keytaps do not sound like he's staying within 12.5ms at times, and I could not get any better than an SDM despite having quads on ITG 23's/24's. Thaor also cheated a lot of his Etterna scores when he briefly returned to the scene for a bit (which has still never been formally called out to this day for some reason, but a robust investigative document exists that proves without a doubt he cheated), but you didn't hear that from me lol. WookE's Blur score was also probably cheated into oblivion looking back, Anobody's scores might be sketch too (in my heart I wanna believe them tho); it's only nowadays I look back and wonder just how fraudulent a lot of 4key's legacy might be given how ego-driven being good at the game was during that era, which is sad because there's a lot of fun scores to look back on. But I guess tbf, that mentality hasn't changed much 20 years later. I'm curious where specifically you heard though that Arch's and Izzy's scores were cheated. I know people just kinda assumed, but I've never seen anything come out of it first-hand.

[@6kirigiri9]

back when i was really into stepmania, i was passing 17s with an A pretty consistently, now that i really want to push that ive been looking more into index players. im having no luck finding other index players to talk to for help, and this is low key a last resort. anyone know where i can find a community of index players lmk

[@Walterw21]

I am an etterna stamina player who is also getting into index. You can reply if you are interested

[@6kirigiri9]

@@Walterw21 etterna?

[@oscarquinterogranadillo]

siempre fuí index player desde los mid 2000's ni sabía que existía el spread approach saludos!

[@k2sm0ke]

make more history type videos its really neat, i was on the ffr forums back in 2013 but would like to know more about the earlier days from 04-09. great vid

[@Kain_R_Heinlein]

And near or AAAA on disregard too! Also little Matt memes imcoming

[@Kain_R_Heinlein]

But yeah, I miss that chap tho. We were friends and I was praising the dude during the time even YOU doubted haha. Dude is still way ahead of his time

[@tysonultima]

Vertex come back!

[@webcrawler8244]

Tyler the creator was a good pick for this video

[@ClickbaitGrifting]

!!!

[@popop614]

i have a weird method for playing stepmania, i do spread but its different- i map the 4 keys right next to eachother so when i need to hit quads/stairs quickly i can just stretch both hands across and hit them all with at least perfect its weird so

[@ThinkAboutVic]

Do you happen to play guitar hero?

[@NamedKid10]

I do that too.

[@SilicosisNotBeta]

congrats on Tachyon

[@popop614]

@@SilicosisNotBeta i am nowhere near tachyon anymore

[@lelukeless]

Great video!

[@y4wnd3r3]

As a starting index player, who would you recommend watching? Im not sure if any players are really out there but if they are id love to watch them

[@skyedafloof]

I just 7 missed galaxy collapse lv 22 on malody, i cant record it thio

[@kabluei]

Do a "Etienne's Reign", when you beat Vertex's scores. :P

[@bommy9857]

i am vertexes 100th subscriber. i am the milestone man

[@charvos1]

Holy fuck you used jpegmafia* in this video, been bumping it all day. Do you use last.fm/rym?

[@sillygoosechinachina]

wowza

[@kakashi8121]

Play o!m 7k with the index style

[@Tweeeeble]

FFR and ODI forums hated lurkers back then. If they didn't know you, your score was fake.

[@llovebeats3749]

Funny that Etienne was the one to tell this story :o)

[@audiosurfarchive]

How so?

[@llovebeats3749]

@@audiosurfarchive Its nothing big really but Etienne used to be the number one suspect of being this guy back when FFR didnt know who Vertex was. It's really just a testament to how few people played index.

[@audiosurfarchive]

@@llovebeats3749 So you're saying this is a former alt of Etienne?

[@llovebeats3749]

@@audiosurfarchive I guess its up to you to find out :)

[@llovebeats3749]

@mega ok listen here cutie im just sharing a funny anecdote, peace love and prosper