DJ Max Portable / Portable 2, PSP Rating Options

[E. Randy Dupre]

Jesus Christ.

Now I remember why I never tried to learn the piano.

[Fuddle]

i assume its a bit tricky?

i've only ever played two korean made games, but i'm going to take a guess and say they dont understand the concept of difficulty levels.

[E. Randy Dupre]

It's fucking nuts, Fud.

For those who don't know - it's a Korean Beatmania/Pop'n Music clone. Icons scroll down the screen and when they hit the bar at the bottom, you have to press the corresponding button. Like DDR stood on its head. I'm playing 2 - you got the first, yeah Fud?

The mistake I made was thinking that because I'm decent at other music games, I could handle this. Big-headed dipshit that I am. And while I've only seen the Game Over screen once in two or three hours play, an awful lot of my successful scrping through has been because the game is generous enough to let you spam it by rubbing your fingers over the buttons and hoping. You won't get a good score, obviously, but you will creep through without being told that you phail.

That joke about playing the piano has some truth - I can play string instruments and a couple of wind ones, but keyboards fuck with my head. I can't get both hands working in tandem, yet doing different things to each other - whatever it is that keyboard players have in their brain that lets them effectively play two interlocking pieces of music at the same time, one with each hand, is something that I'm missing. The reason that's fucking me up here is because of how the controls work.

The easy mode is the four button one. Those four buttons? Triangle, circle, and left and right on the d-pad. both hands at the same time. When the icons are scrolling down the screen and you need to hit one button with each thumb, but at slightly different times than each other and in slightly different rhythms, my brain falls over. or was doing when I started playing - there's been a noticable improvement already, but I do worry that it's going to crawl to a halt pretty soon and I'll be stuck at a brick wall.

And that's because you often need to be doing more than two things at once - at their most difficult, the four-button songs demand that you hammer all four at different times, which feels physically impossible when you're using your thumbs. At these points, it feels like a game that wasn't developed with the PSP in mind - which, of course, it wasn't.

So you end up mashing your way through, because imprecise timing only negatively affects your score - as long as you hit the buttons somewhere around the right place, they'll register. And as long as they register, your health bar stays up - this isn't Ouendan, where a single mistake can cost you half of your life.

You know, I kind of love this game already, even though I'll never be anything more than barely passable at it. The presentation is perfect - bright, sharp, colourful and with superbly designed icons and interface. The videos that run alongside each track fit the music perfectly and the music itself is hugely varied and exciting - some tracks sound a bit shit, tbh, but then that might be more my fault than anything else, seeing as your button presses actually play sections of the music. Mashing = noise and tunelessness.

Couple of things I'm confused about. Some songs have sections where a double button press is linked by a colourful tube - you got any idea what you're meant to do here, Fuddle? Simply pressing or holding the buttons indicated doesn't work and counts as a miss, killing your combo. Also, you gain money from performing well, but I can't figure out where I'm meant to go within the game to spend my winnings.

[E. Randy Dupre]

So, the coloured tubes need to be attacked by squiggling the analogue nub.

Promo vid (basically the intro movie with some bits from the game added over the top):



Be chuffed if I can four button this one with Max Combo, tbh, and it's still one of the earliest tracks here:



And yeah, five buttons does seem to be completely impossible on the PSP, although other people can clearly cope with it. I have no idea how they manage to cope using thumbs :S

Max combos on about five of the four button songs so far. It's amazing how enjoyable a game it is, even though it's effectively impossible for me to get ranks above D at anything over four buttons. Even on the lowest difficulty five button songs

[Singho]

Jesus Christ.

Now I remember why I never tried to learn the piano.

It's fucking nuts, Fud.

For those who don't know - it's a Korean Beatmania/Pop'n Music clone. Icons scroll down the screen and when they hit the bar at the bottom, you have to press the corresponding button. Like DDR stood on its head

Be chuffed if I can four button this one, tbh:



And yeah, five buttons does seem to be completely impossible on the PSP, although other people can clearly cope with it. I have no idea how they manage to cope using thumbs :S

Your not kidding about it being "fucking nuts". A PSP with this game would last no longer then 10 minutes in my hands. Good luck!

[Fuddle]

You know, I kind of love this game already, even though I'll never be anything more than barely passable at it. The presentation is perfect - bright, sharp, colourful and with superbly designed icons and interface. The videos that run alongside each track fit the music perfectly and the music itself is hugely varied and exciting - some tracks sound a bit shit, tbh, but then that might be more my fault than anything else, seeing as your button presses actually play sections of the music. Mashing = noise and tunelessness.

this is exactly how i feel about the first game.
everything about it is so nice, the makers obviously know what they're doing, but they're also deffinately targeting a pretty hardcore demographic. every time i try it i'm astounded at how it gets so hard so quick. its very tempting to mash and get through, but it seems a bit pointless as i know it wont result in me ever getting good at it.

as i said in the other thread, if there was an option to practice a track without fear of getting 'game over' after a few seconds i might be more encouraged to try and learn a few songs.

i dont think there was any nub use in the first game though, unless i didnt get that far.

i'll just hang on to it and be content that its a nice little package, and refuse to be tempted by the second game. but i did get the poster for the second game through from play asia yesterday, which is nice, although a bit small.

[E. Randy Dupre]

You can pause a level at any time and restart it in the sequel - don't know if it's the same in the first game. It's a poor substitute for a practice mode, but it can be used the same way.

I've max combo'd three or four more of the easier tracks now, but I'm still convinced that anything at five-buttons or above is impossible to do this on. Unless you've got double-jointed thumbs or a sneaky way of hooking your PSP up to a proper controller, that is - this game was so not developed for this machine.

[E. Randy Dupre]

That second video was confusing me for a while - it's definitely four-button mode, but the scrolling speed seems much faster than I'm used to and there appear to be different patterns than I've seen for that song. I've just discovered why - there are *loads* of different ways to play any of the songs.

Press left or right on the song selection screen and you'll go from Normal, through Hard, to Max difficulty. That's within a single game mode - four-button, five-button, etc. So that's three variations for every track on every play mode, once you've unlocked them. And each has its own visualisation.

But then you get into the song itself and realise that you can change it even more - pressing the right shoulder changes the speed of the scrolling, which in turn changes the patterns for the song. You can slow it to half its normal speed, which is counter-balanced by the screen becoming packed with button presses, or you can speed it up (through 1.5, 2, 2.5, all the way up to 5 times normal speed) and make the pattern simpler. And you can do this at any point in the song - before it's begun, in the middle of it, 99% of the way through - as many times as you want, which makes the patterns virtually endless.

I can't get my head around how much stuff there is in this game.

Also discovered how you spend the gold you get. Press the right shoulder on the song selection screen and you go into your equipment screen. You can equip any avatars, button icons and HUD styles that are available in this screen, after buying them - they become available for purchase when you meet certain conditions in the game. Each has its own benefits - the first couple that I unlocked gave me a 5% bonus to gold and a 5% bonus to exp (you level up as your score increases, and your level opens new music, equipment and extras).

Extras: watch all of the visualisations for the songs that you've unlocked, listen to the music, use artwork as PSP wallpaper, etc.

I goddamn love this game. Going to have to hunt down a copy of the first now.

<edit>

Actually, I'm wrong about the speed settings. They *do* just slow down or speed up the visual representation of the patterns, cramming them together if the screen's moving slowly and spreading them out if it's going faster.

Just managed to max combo that one in the vid. I've got to say, the learning curve on this game is superb, at least so far - I can notice myself improving with every single attempt.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Eeeee! EEEEEE!

Thew PC version's only a free MMO! Works like a lot of other Korean online games - free signup, with premium content available should you wish to buy it. But there's loads of content in the basic, free starter version. Here for instructions.

My summer is OVER.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Not going to let this die.

When you start out, it seems totally impossible, even on 4B. Now, though, I'm making some headway into almost getting max combo on the easiest songs in 5B mode and doing fairly well on the same in 6B. I can't stress how perfectly judged the difficulty curve is in this - I've put a lot of time into it this last week and I'm now at the stage where I'm finding that I'm building the direct link between my brain and thumbs that allows them to hit some insane strings of notes without me even thinking about it consciously. It's in my blood now.

Also completed two of the missions in the Xtreme Challenge mode, which is the really meaty part of the game - preselected strings of tunes that have certain, harsh requirements you need to meet. Get above a certain score, keep above a certain hit %, complete a certain number of songs without missing X number of beats, that kind of thing.

You can see the game's online origins in stuff like levelling up - you get exp and money every time you complete a song. Mentioned the money above. Exp automatically boosts your level, which opens new gear/songs/images/animations up.

I don't know how much of any of this is in the first game.

Still not ventured near the online versus mode, partly because I don't know if there'll be anybody else playing it (although the online PC game always has people on, whenever I boot it up), partly because I do know that I'll get my arse kicked badly.

Seriously, this is the first game I've played that I'd say is worth buying a PSP for. Anybody with the machine *needs* to put some proper time into it. Think there's a demo available somewhere.

Oh, and it's far superior to the PC version, I've decided. The music choice is better - the PC game basically throws everything at the wall and hopes that some of it sticks, which is always going to be one of the problems with a game that makes its money out of premium downloadable content. The control layout is better - playing on a keyboard doesn't feel half as immediate or natural as on the PSP. Most importantly, the link between the player's button presses and the music isn't as tight on the PC - the samples that it ties in to the buttons aren't as important to the tunes on the PC as they are on the PSP.

I love this game so much I'm even considering shelling out for the big limited ed box - wouldn't even have to think about it if Play Asia would ship the fucker to the UK, but as it is I've got to consider the additional hassle of finding somebody US-based who'd be willing to have it delivered to their house, then ship it over to me themselves. Gah.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Five in a row!

Anyway, I just got hold of the original PSP version - the same one you've got, Fud. Korean version, as opposed to International. Differences are minor, apparently - International has language options (not that they're really needed, as everything bar the 'would you like to create a save game' screen that pops up the very first time is in English anyway), has two songs removed that are in the Korean version and includes one that wasn't, and has some beeping out of naughty words. Apparently.

If you've enjoyed the first game at all, I strongly recommend picking up the second. It's a far more polished release all round. The biggest addition is the Fever meter - a bar that fills as you hit notes and can be fired off when full to act as a score multiplier (you can chain it, too, up to a x5 multiplier). It really adds to the gameplay - playing the first game, I really miss its presence.

Other stuff that the sequel improves on:

- English, Japanese and Korean language options
- The inclusion of a 5 Button 'normal' difficulty
- A more forgiving difficulty curve (there are a wider range of song difficulties in the fourth stage of 2 than there are in the fourth stage of the first game)
- A *much* more forgiving timing bar - you have to get the notes absolutely spot-on in the first game in order to get Max 100%, whereas the sequel lets you get away with slightly wonky timing, which makes it far easier to get over 90% accuracy and rack up the awards
- Less harsh punishment for missing notes - miss a couple in the first game and you lose a whole chunk of your health bar, miss the same amount in the sequel and you'll get away with only losing a small sliver of health
- A better selection of tunes (imo, obviously)
- Mission Mode
- A link-up option that lets you swap the UMD over for that of the original game and play its songs with the Fever meter included, while also opening the first game's tunes up in the soundtrack for the second*
- No Gainaxing in the opening movie
- Music videos that display in the correct ratio when you set the Gear to display on either the left or right of the screen (in the first game, they get stretched out to fill the widescreen ratio regardless of where the Gear is placed)
- The EXP bar, which adds another element of addiction

Portable 2 also has really pumped menu screens, with insne levels of polish - the results screen, in particular, is far more attractive in the second game than in the first. I'll grab some comparison photos later on tonight, if I remember.

You can tell that the first game was an attempt to transfer the online PC game across to the handheld system, whereas the second was built from the ground up for the PSP. That doesn't mean that the first is a poor game - far from it - but the second is simply miles ahead of pretty much anything else on the format. And as it's quite a lot easier in 4B mode, I think you'd definitely find yourself getting more from it - things like the EXP system mean that it's easier to get the unlocks if you're not brilliant at the game, too.

* <edit> On this backwards compatibility thing - which is a superb idea and the only time I've seen a developer do soemthing along these lines on the PSP (Ridge Racers 2 desperately needed it, eh?) - it's worth pointing out that because you're now playing the tunes from the original game within the new game's structure, you're also playing them with the new game's rules. That doesn't just mean the introduction of the Fever bar, it also means the less harsh timing of the sequel, so it forms a kind of trainer for the more difficult first game, as well as allowing anybody having trouble passing certain tunes in their original format to get through them. It's a mint idea and I take my cap off to whoever thought of it. Or would do, if I was wearing a cap. I might have to take my pants off instead.

[Willei]

Five in a row!

Acheivement Unlocked!

Anyways, I have been playing this a lot through the last few weeks after trying it on a whim. I think it's no exaggeration to say that it's just about the best music game I've ever played. It's also part of the reason I'm finding Guitar Hero 3 such a miserable experience - the feeling of playing the music on this game with your clicky PSP buttons is so much stronger than that in GH3 and your plastic guitar.

I like the music much better in this game too which certainly helps! But even on the tracks I don't like so much, I still play them every so often becasue they're all really satisfying - the beat matching between the music and the button presses is top-tier pretty much without exception. The game doesn't really have a training mode to help you learn the songs, but you can listen to them in the MV and OST sections - sounds a bit daft, but just listening to the way the music is meant to sound is a big help. If you're mashing the buttons the end result sounds not much like what you're meant to be playing, especially on the hard and MX mixes of songs.

I didn't find it to be that difficult in the beginning, but that's probably down to me playing Beatmania on the PS1 with a dualshock instead of the decks that came with the game. The deck that came out in Europe was one of the lowest quality official controllers ever made, especially compared the the godlike devices that were released in Japan. The box said "DJ Pack 1" down the side implying the release of newer packs in the future, but I guess it must have flopped since no other Beatmania games have ever been released in this country. Anyway, when faced with that rubbishness the only option was to use the dualshock!

The downsides? I found out through playing this that the triange button on my shiny new PSP Lite is a bit ropey. It misses occasional notes that I know I hit, and sometimes gives out during the long hold notes. I don't like 5 button mode at all, and I can see why it isn't in the original. The problem is that the middle button can be activated on either side of the controller, but if you do it on the side the game isn't expecting then can end up having to do a hard pattern on the same hand but with your thumb already locked in position holding the earlier button down. 4 and 6 button modes are much more sensible I find. I think there is an unlockable 8 button mode in the game too, but I dread to see that and have no idea how you unlock it. That's another slight niggle with the game, that you don't know when new stuff is going to be unlocked - can you spend a load of gold on some new gear and then get the opportunity to but better stuff on your next level up. Same goes fo songs, you dunno when you're getting new ones.

It could also do with more music, but I guess the Link Disc feature will take care of that one. Just need to hunt down originals of both games now, hard when no fucker ships Sony stuff our way now and Yes Asia don't seem to ever have it in.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Yes! Good man, Willei - I'm determined that more people are going to buy this game and have their lives ruined by its insane levels of addictiveness.

I'm still playing it regularly, over six months later, and I'm still seeing noticable improvement every time I pick it up. Quite honestly, I've never come across a game with such a superbly judged difficulty curve as this.

Five button, I've got used to now. It's still not a patch on four or six button, though. And eight button, which is unlocked from the beginning on the first game, is nutso mad - the two extra buttons it asks you to use are the shoulders, which wouldn't be too bad, but you have to have them pressed *at the same time* as you're fupping around with the other six! It breaks my brain every time I attempt it. The good thing about 5B is, I now realise, that it's the only setting that repeats tracks from the first game - because there's no 5B mode in the original, so Pentavision have provided those tracks again so that you can play them in the newer difficulty. And I started noticing a coupld of months ago that 5B seems to let you off if you accidentally let go of the middle button while it's meant to be held down for a long note.

But yeah, it's still a daft mode. I'm sure that the only reason they included it is because the PC game's regular difficulty is five buttons. Can't see why else they'd stick it in the second PSP game, not when the first didn't need it.

Gamefaqs has lists of the unlock requirements for each game, although they're not 100% accurate - I've unlocked stuff that, according to those lists, I shouldn't have yet. There's tons of tunes in each version, too - it might just be that you've not got a lot of them unlocked yet. Once you've played a track in 4B, 5B or 6B, you unlock it for play (under the same difficulty setting) in the Freestyle mode.

I think you'll probably have to eBay the first game. I was hunting around for it for a while and never managed to find it anywhere else.

Oh, one more thing. If you find yourself seemingly unable to get past experience level 30 (or 31, 32, around there), it's because after level 30, the game refuses to level you up any further unless you're playing on 5B, 6B or 8B. Took me a lot of wasted effort before I discovered that.

I didn't find it to be that difficult in the beginning, but that's probably down to me playing Beatmania on the PS1 with a dualshock instead of the decks that came with the game.

! You loon I've tried playing one of the IIDX games with the Dualshock once and it just wasn't happening. So glad that I forked out for the official Japanese deck.

[Singho]

Five in a row!

Acheivement Unlocked!

Heh. I've been reading the thread though!

It does sound interesting Randy, and I've played it a little bit on the PS2 and seen how it's meant to be played by my mate Vince, but it's a bit too much of an investment of time and money (PS2 decks) for this game. I can't be buying a PSP and this on top of all the things I've still got piled up.

How are you finding games like Guitar Hero and other Bemani\Rythem\Music games after having subjecting yourself to this torture? Must be a piece of piss.

[Pacman]

It does sound interesting Randy, and I've played it a little bit on the PS2 and seen how it's meant to be played by my mate Vince, but it's a bit too much of an investment of time and money (PS2 decks) for this game.

I think you're thinking of Beatmania IIDX dude. This is just on PSP, there aren't any decks for it.

I would buy this Randy, but I'm super broke. Shame, as I really want to play it. My memory stick isn't even big enough to pirate it, pathetic