Complaining About Rhythm Game Difficulties

Locked Rhythm Game Difficulties... A real problem that society faces in our modern time
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THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM ONG
I don't want to waste my time playing easier difficulties in rhythm games so please let me just play the harder difficulties. I understand they do this because to not let beginners pick higher charts, but please, I can fc all of lower diffs because of my experience in other rhythm games. You don't need to restrict me pleaseeeeeee. I HATE doing this in every new rhythm game I play REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

[@thetmosu]

imagine having to queue with 10 people in just 1 arcade here

[@SaowAngel]

Dw i've seen 22 before :)

[@junjun8855]

there were 28 credits in our maimai cab once.

[@thetmosu]

​@@SaowAngelwaiting for like 2-3 hours in just one cabinet is really crazy

[@SaowAngel]

it's not worth, at that point you're just they for the social aspect @@thetmosu

[@peakami]

my local arcade I usually wait 1-2 hours per game 💀💀 but one day i waited over 3 hours cuz there’s like 20+ queues idk how did i waited that long lol

[@bzchnt3143]

2:52 At least here in Asia, the most played songs will always be the ones that are newly released regardless of difficulty, because everyone is a tryhard and new players are intimidated by 50 people surrounding one machine 💀 thats another issue...

[@SaowAngel]

Whenever there's a perfect challenge moment

[@junjun8855]

hi Mr. skiddly

[@KudosK42]

I feel this Even if i'm around 13k in ranking people who are 14.5-16k are intimidating and it can put off some players just trying to play to improve or for fun. Gotta admit that some of the peeps in the community especially around my mall's maimai cab are nice.

[@FrozenBusChannel]

For games with multi-player modes like Project Sekai or Bang Dream, there _is_ a plausible reason to lock the levels: to prevent new players from affecting others' scores if they picked a chart too hard However, what I'd like them to add is automatic unlocking of all difficult charts once you reach a threshold (as mentioned in the video, like FCing x charts above level y)

[@lifinale]

one difficulty system I really like is d4dj, where instead of locking a certain difficulty rank (like hard or expert) it locks the actual expert difficulty number itself (like 12+ or 14) and you have to clear the difficulty below it to unlock the specific chart or clear one chart of the same difficulty to unlock all charts of that difficulty rating

[@RadeonVega64]

same

[@goose6993]

there are players that REFUSES to play levels suited for them, especially in arcade rhythm games and those people are the reason why there are locked levels in place since some of them can break the cabinet parts. I've seen that happened infront of my eyes alot of times now and its more common than i thought. I've also had encounters with random passerbies playing a rhythm game and choosing the highest difficulty from the get go and hitting WAY too hard because they dont know what theyre doing

[@r_kuroneko]

that "ProSeka knock off" actually got me LMAO both games are still from SEGA(y) anyway

[@SaowAngel]

I'm pretty sure i'm wrong about the sekai rip off, chuni came first

[@Pamiiyama]

sega(y)????😭😭😭

[@TFD500Official]

Something that I feel that more rhythm games should have is the ability to say if you’re already good at rhythm games or not. Example being a screen like “Have you had any experience with rhythm games in the past?” or smth like that

[@neko_koishi9791]

IIRC on Phigros, If you S rank an IN chart, it unlocks the next chart's IN diff.

[@Adli0804]

A rank unlock the next chart. S rank unlock the AT difficulty (only some songs have AT charts).

[@Tea.Rabbits]

I feel like a game that handles this system well is d4dj, once you clear a song level, all difficulties below it get unlocked, but if you want to play a specific song on "master" (expert is the hardest mode in the game) you can play the lower difficulty on that song to unlock it

[@lifinale]

what the

[@ZhadTheRad]

Wait, that's how it works in D4DJ? I've been playing it for a few years and nothing is locked to me, even levels higher than the highest I play. Then again, maybe it's because I have that paid monthly pass since like last year?

[@Tea.Rabbits]

@@ZhadTheRad maybe! I'm f2p but the other option is that you played a high level song on auto and it unlocked everything else

[@snfct]

My proposition is to have a sort of "skill check" in the very first playthrough. Then if the player can play higher difficulty, then the highest level is unlocked immediately. Else, it's locked until they get good (similar to phigros). or... maybe just don't lock it in the first place. The player would immediately know if they can't play the highest level yet and defaults to lower level.

[@lifinale]

preposition: every difficulty is locked until you clear a test that the game puts you through for that specific difficulty, otherwise you can unlock a unique one by clearing the difficulty below it the only exceptions are the special charts like at in Phigros that require you to do something special

[@stevefan8283]

did you mean: SDVX ranking system

[@pikoisu]

i think the point of having harder diffs locked is so that beginner players wont play the hardest charts first and then give up on the game because they thought it was too hard

[@lifinale]

@@pikoisu that’s exactly what the comment does, locks the higher difficulties until the player passes a skill check

[@rgrectangle]

dancerail3?

[@GuivenYongChart]

Taiko no Tatsujin has the highest difficulty available to anyone, just not visible for new or "cardless" player. Simply go to hard and hit right continuously to reveal.

[@flanticia407]

First of all, great video! Good points you mention here, part of the reason why I abandoned Sekai for D4DJ after a while. Re: maimai, yeah, if you have a bunch of people who are already at endgame who's going to play all difficulties for the shiny nameplates anyway, then you play with them and you effectively bypass having to play Expert altogether. Better yet, task tracks are free Master from first try, so that's already better than having to sit through Expert for your first run of the song. Re: Chunithm, they made getting Masters even more accessible, since now not just a Master Play ticket is good, but a Character Boost x6.0 (earned from logins, shop etc.) and EXP Stock Ticket (overleveling some character) also lets you play Master, and yes, you can play Master with your friend who already has it unlocked too so bonus point for social people. (Also I have like 3 million coins, you can't go broke even if you tried, lol) Now for other games: SDVX literally makes you spend upwards of 5x more if you have skill issue (damn you, Hexadiver), but that's perfectly ok because you're probably not going to excel at MXM anyway if you're not already at least Volforce (rating) 19++. Ongeki makes you pay a little more (like, 1/4 of a song or from 40 -> 50GP) to bypass the expert requirement, but that's also ok because it's not so overpriced you feel scammed, it's almost 12 master bypasses for the extra cost to total up to 100 yen. Phigros still makes you play IN to get AT, but that's fine because most AT charts are lv15-16 anyway so it's like a bonus on top of the standard IN. It's like Re:Master in maimai, you get the regular standard experience before you go for the bonus. So yes, either make master ticket accessible with minimum extra spending, or just go D4DJ and unlock everything once you've proven your skills once.

[@SaowAngel]

This is a really interesting explanation of how different games do this. I still don't understand why maimai sweats try and get those jpg nameplates. Looks pretty meh

[@flanticia407]

@@SaowAngelIf you ask me, at some very far endgame point, rating becomes more of a side quest to hit the last few 14+ and Paradoxxx, and the true proof of skill becomes "Can you FDX and/or AP everything in a single version and more" since that becomes more difficult than just getting SSS+ (which gives some room for error, but FDX requires FC+ consistency with a friend and AP is, well, AP) As for doing lower levels, think of it as a rite of passage. Once you do all of Master, you go ahead and clean up the rest for completion's sake and you get shiny nameplates and frames to flex your skill some more.

[@CHR15-P]

​@@flanticia407there's some matter of those bypasser or who just denies to play lower diff even though they can't play and eventually break the cab in maimai so I feel kinda okay with the lock but at the same time I feel like if you are not gonna go for kami plate then it's a little bit waste of time and money so my feeling is kind of ambiguous.

[@arxsoluz5031]

Imo project sekai has one of the most pointless implementations of this system like the master unlocking system doesn't even make them any money since it's not an arcade game and it's made simply to waste your time😭, I've played this game for 3 years i don't need to play another lv.22 to prove I'm good enough to unlock a master chart😭

[@maxu0]

EXACTLY

[@bagelbagelbagelbagelbagelbagel]

in maimai i usually don't mind playing the experts if ever the master is locked. i play them when i get too tired or if i wanted to monitor my accuracy. and if i get all perfect i'll gladly take it (i can never get any AP from master charts). but i do sometimes not feel like playing low level experts, like if they're not at least lvl 12 i'd go straight to the master chart for the middle ground i think arcaea also falls into this? in most song packs, higher level ftr charts can be unlocked by clearing other lower level ftrs, some of them also have a score rank and/or ptt (💀) requirement, but yeah unlocks aren't tied to the lower difficulties. in memory archive and world extend though all difficulties are free real estate, as well as byds (after 29383829392 hours of grinding)

[@_4y4m3_ch4n_]

ptt is kinda justified tho, since you will need to have some skill

[@pikoisu]

i think the ptt restrictions are good because if you arent at 11 or you have to actively grind to get to 11 youre not ready for aegle and saikyo anyway (although the fv byds dont have any ptt or clearing locks which is kinda funny)

[@unicorn_xxx3424]

The first thing I though of is when you start playing the game there's a map you have to play and depending on how good you are it unlocks some songs like if you're amazing at it you unlock a lot of hard songs and it picks out songs that suit your level(I got this idea from reading eggs😭)

[@user-fw4nj6pf5b]

Tips for maimai デラックス master charts (for single person) You can find songs from "battles" or "according to your rating" (30 songs, refreshing randomly) category. You can directly play purple or white (if it exists) charts. Also if you follow the ongoing version, you can also directly choose purple charts for task tracks. Last but not least, you can go to 段位認定 mode and see if you can luckily get a DX chart that you have not unlocked before

[@azander1958]

I like the approach project sekai did They only locked one difficulty which is Master, and expert is already difficult for many casual players especially those who play in mobile phones where they have a harder time to use four fingers due to how the screen is, and we can see the top competitive players using a tablet or an iPad So yeah tldr i liked the locked approach Project Sekai did

[@Phildewy]

I see the locking difficulty a good idea for most of the new beginners have very little to no experience with rhythm game, but there are some people who improve fairly quick (or those who have very good rhythm game experience) than most new player who wants to play higher difficulty. Sadly, because we live in a capitalism, they (as at least most of other gaming corpos) want you to spend half of your life savings for that high difficulty. Though I do wish there are some restrictions for those who are new to the game like osu!, since there's no locking difficulty restrictions in the game as of right now (and the leveling system is kind of useless in my opinion since it always count towards your ranking scores (?) instead of having a star rating restriction)

[@lain2236ad]

A recommended maps section that is geared towards recommended SR would be cool

[@Alberos]

That currency in Chunithm is earned from advancing the map, which you will done automatically when you play each song. As for master play ticket, one ticket last the entire coin 3 songs or 4 songs whatever. And if you S rank a master song while it’s still lock using the ticket, you unlock it forever. S rank is not that hard (when the highest is SSS lol) if you’re comfortable playing at that difficulty.

[@jerecakes1]

yea i loved the master play ticket, gives you some extra progress too iirc

[@bck9505]

I was NOT prepared to hear mystery dungeon music while watching this video

[@Soulstarrr]

I started playing Chunithium as a break from Maimai since it’s a little less taxing and then I started playing more… so now the arcade visit is for both-

[@Popcornio]

For MaiMai players, at least all of the unlocks you can get from playing the actual game. For us DDR players, some SONGS (not just charts) are time gated and require you to play DIFFERENT GAMES to earn points to spend on unlocking content. Even worse for doubles players since you cannot leech these songs/charts off anyone.

[@iluVioletLink]

Taiko has a cool way of doing this, it's kind of like Chunithm's middle ground without having the need to buy things with in game currency. You just beat your drum 10 times on the Ka right side to unlock oni and you're good to go, don't need to do anything else, if you don't own a card. Otherwise you're free to choose Oni if you have a card.

[@Foolharded]

im glad that there's a somewhat leech prevention when you cab-to-cab in maimai, it just locks the mas if you dont have it because you aren't directly playing with the other person who has it (witnessed this multiple times already as an endgame player)

[@SaowAngel]

I didn't know this before and i made experienced players play experts 😭

[@7_FON]

I really hope maimai add something that makes unlocking master charts way easier for example once you get to rainbow rating you can unlock all master difficulty or smt like that

[@SaowAngel]

Yes something like that would be so nice, doesn't have to be rainbow can even be 13k

[@lonelyweeb03]

I'm personally not willing to play through all the difficulties to unlock whatever I wanna play, it doesn't make sense to lock them in the first place

[@Cheezeeeee]

I think, that system was there to keep you playing the game... And make you spend more resources or money sicne it feels like "something to achieve." Although I get it for some of the idol rhythm games I played (Proseka, bandori), because it's a way to give out rewards for you to gacha. But for the arcades though... It will cost you monnies... Like holy fuck. I wanna try maining maimai, but I wanna main my living expenses first.

[@theDanishD]

SAOW MY BELOVED

[@yukaristannn]

I just use the MASTER unlock ticket in Chuni whenever I can bc when there’s a queue I can’t waste 2 out of 3 of my songs on one song and then not be able to use the cab for another 15-30 minutes Also I’m pretty sure you get the points in Chuni by just playing credits or getting achievements

[@huantian]

I thought I was going insane when I thought I heard the start of Don't Ever Forget but then I heard the main motif I knew the intersection of rhythm game nerds and PMD fans wasn't just me!!!!!

[@soullux2089]

underrated channel lmao

[@takara111]

AI generated elevator music building 🥺

[@SaowAngel]

You know it's true

[@pk_.5885]

my favourite youtuber

[@crazybP]

I like how in d4dj expert is locked behind hard BUT if you play a song with a higher difficulty (lets say 14) then every expert song below 14 is unlocked

[@xetearVI]

I play maimai, I dont really mind getting forced to play expert charts, because it can be a benchmarck for my accuracy while sightreading. And for my case it could help me understand and predict what kind patterns that going to appear in the master chart.

[@Dou2_]

Maybe the developers want to make it beginner friendly? Like you need to get a certain score to unlock the higher difficulty so the newer players don't mindlessly play hard difficulty and get no improvement. When i started playing osu, i got many low acc FCs because i kept playing high difficulty maps. Maybe because of that, many developer lock difficulties to keep the players improving steadily and not rush?

[@SaowAngel]

but it's when you already reached a certain part of the game where it feels like a waste of time to keep playing lower levels

[@Jal_Ei]

muse dash has a great system where it auto unlocks all diffs of a certain number if you get enough good plays. if only other games did this...

[@WerrorWolf]

As a maimai veteran(I think), I have been used to unlocking Master difficulties, since I will go back to All Perfect lower difficulties later anyway, so this isn't a big deal for me.

[@SaowAngel]

mans already at the end game

[@xetearVI]

​​@@SaowAngelthe true end game is the one dude that Ap pandora remas while blindfolded. How tf did he do it 😭

[@Nole2701]

To be honest, the DX pass in Japan isn't too bad of a purchase. The passes are typically bought when a new version drops and usually within 2 weeks you should have the opportunity to try every Master chart using the pass and unlock them. Each one only costs 200 yen. Of course though I'd much prefer they just unlock every difficulty from the start but I guess they kind of want people to appreciate the chart work that Expert charters do since iirc every Expert and above chart is credited to a charter.

[@hyperhero2]

1:17 Don't think I don't notice the Timezone app haha

[@SaowAngel]

App sucks, it keeps crashing and lagging

[@hyperhero2]

@@SaowAngel It does, it absolutely sucks.

[@marioandsoniczone]

wait that's a thing?

[@hyperhero2]

@@marioandsoniczone Yep, it's mainly just to keep track of your current credit and ticket balance, as well as allowing an easy way to top up your card without needing to go into a store.

[@aguy7208]

2:58 yes I too don’t like the beatmap of fragrance

[@Tofusky]

all these games have a rating system and I think just use that should be enough to tell if a player is experience enough to not block all difficulty songs as that's the only reason for most game to blocking higher difficulty charts diff locking is one of the worst game design, yikes can't tell how many VSRGs i quit simply because of this.

[@AustinWithAHead]

this in my opinion is a big problem in the project diva games (mainly F and F2nd)

[@SaowAngel]

Yeah they have all the expert and master locked but it's fine for me because i suck at that game

[@hitneXXX]

ARCAEA SPOTTED

[@lleytonlow]

maybe all rhythm games should like set a certain rank for mas. so like for mai mai, they should let masters available for 1 play and if the player hits an S rank in 1 try they unlock it but if they dont they must play the expert

[@Riltea]

I feel like a good way to not overwhelm new players while not locking anything would be to have a dedicated section which shows songs recommended for your skill level. I don’t really know any rhythm games that do this though.

[@lillyie]

chunithm also has locked difficulties but unlike maimai, where you have to spend real money to unlock masters, you can use lux, which is ingame currency that you earn for just playing the game. with lux, you can buy tickets to unlock masters without playing experts or access other difficulities like world's end or ultima. i wish maimai could have that system

[@SkipperReu]

Ok im not here for fragrance slander but tbh im lucky i dont feel like playing those dx charts more than others and you can optimise with a set and 2x credit to play all locked songs anyways so its not as egregious now unlike back in uni uni plus and before

[@SaowAngel]

I'm pretty sure that in finale cabs you would have to unlock all of the masters diffs, so i'm glad they fixed it too an extent

[@ruikazt]

im pretty sure u need an s on an insane diff to unlock another

[@Mye_kuwu]

"only 27 cab in australia" is more when you can found in europe............

[@SaowAngel]

well that's fucked up...

[@ferry3245]

Also more than Indonesia, 10 cab total with 3 of them on the same mall lmao

[@Mye_kuwu]

@@ferry3245 LOL

[@finnly2276]

so true

[@kioesac]

when i started my rhythm games journey, maimai was the only rhythm game that 3rd difficulty really means "Expert". Basic, Advance are for newbie who doesnt know "mechanics" of the game. Expert charts are like "exam" of how you "familiar" with the game. Compared to any other second-to-hardest diff from other rhythm games, it's just another easy difficulty. I get it why maimai have to lock MASTER and above, some Experts are very fun to play, and somes are a** lol

[@rozanyan_8700]

In pj sekai, to unlock ranked mode, you need to reach certain level *and* fc 5 (10 in jp server) expert (2nd hardest difficulity) song. Level is kinda annoying, but the fc one is great requirement, because it mean they can play the music around that difficulity, so there's no big skill gap between the player

[@unoriginalname1028]

The skill gap is still massive, over 25 master full combos and stuck in low bronze/high beginner. I have no idea how everyone seems to near AP songs under level 20. The issue with ranked is that even if you are good at higher difficulties, you still wont advance because earlier ranks never play those difficulties.

[@unoriginalname1028]

@directorr_ yeah it bases of master fcs, did it when i got my first 5 fcs and barely had 3 master ones so i got placed low, and since my perfect accuracy is rather low its pain

[@unoriginalname1028]

@directorr_ no idea why i cant edit my other message but also the first 3 matches matter very little in placement, won all 3 of them and got placed at beginner 2

[@unoriginalname1028]

@directorr_ Wow, really good response, my hardest fc was a 29 when i got placed (back when i had 3 master full combos) and still was beginnered. i assume number does matter too, but it makes sense that higher difficulty counts. tbh i could probably get more full combos if i just fced every single 26/27 but i only really fc songs that i find gameplay fun.

[@bzchnt3143]

First of all: LFG more maimai content I don't even care that ur complaining about the game lfg maimai content ❤ I've never really faced this problem because every time I go I end up just playing with people who already have the chart unlocked but yeah it's annoying when I have to play a lower diff to unlock a higher diff. But then again, sometimes I play lower levels after constantly playing higher levels to take a break and use this chance to unlock the charts I wanna play. But I completely understand your complaints and it's something I've also been troubled about lol

[@SaowAngel]

I usually would wait a few days after the update to leech. But thankfully some new songs are task tracks with the mas unlocked

[@MasterYoshitaka]

I'm pretty certain that it's all about money, implementing a progression system means players will need to spend a minimum amount of money for that new content. It's never been about protecting new players.

[@patricksteinsen1147]

5:10 ok but WHAT KINDA MAP HAS THIS AS BACKGROUND WTF

[@SaowAngel]

Ummmmmm

[@ilovecorpseparty8930]

Yes, very interesting

[@5UP3RBG4M1NG]

I agree so much, this shit is so annoying to deal with

[@TempestStation1]

6:12 HUH THEYRE LIKE THE EXACT SAME AND CHUNITHM CAME OUT BEFORE HOW CAN IT BE A KNOCK OFF EXCUUUUUSE

[@SaowAngel]

i do a bit of trolling

[@childeofepickness]

me when uhmm umm LIES LIES FALSEHOODS i like LYING i’m a MISINFORMATION SPREADER i like PROPAGATING UNVERIFIABLE FACTS OVER THE INTERNET

[@TempestStation1]

@@SaowAngelEXCUSE

[@TempestStation1]

@@SaowAngelME

[@YT_AnanGames1026]

1:53 No, it’s S rank

[@mtonmt]

how dare you insult chuni

[@hilowandlowhi]

): sed

[@quentincorradi5646]

Locking difficulties is not a good solution to begin with, even for beginners. What is more helpful is recommending difficulties depending on how the player performs.

[@SaowAngel]

Actually that's so true

[@lifinale]

I think it’s called a skill issue /j

[@slug13]

i tried out a game called kalpa but quickly grew bored as the higher difficulties were locked behind a mechanic i wasn't familiar with at the time

[@c00t_doggo]

5:24 I literally don't know any of the games in the begginer category, while playing quaver, etterna, and osu exclusively

[@bwnzix]

me being the maimai jp player, when i go back to asia i just bit the bullet and pay another credit for tickets 🥲 or leaching off a rainbow friend LOL nice video!

[@JeanHSheenic]

pump it up does it perfectly imo basic mode has a small pool of songs with only have 3 difficulties for each song and after entering the "cheat-code" or logging in with your card, you get access to all the songs and charts.