Sept. 10th and 17th 2023 DDR A3 Score Reports
I’ve been busy with work these past couple of weeks, and it’s only been on weekends I’ve been able to go out of town to Round1 to play DDR A3. Nevertheless, the past two sessions there have been the most score-productive sessions I’ve ever had, and time on the pads provided a much-needed stress relief.
Longform score posting isnt’t anything particularly new, but I take a cue myself from Japanese player SYLPH, who published a LIFE4 rankup submission a while back on their blog. I’m mainly here because I ran out of space on Google Photos; but in being on Substack or something other blog, I can go into as much or as little detail as I’d like without being burdened by character limits. For now, though, I’ll keep it brief, since writing up score posts is time-intensive.
Sept. 10th Highlights
The major highlights of my session on the 10th-my first-ever full-length session of DDR A3-were earning my newest level-14 PFC’s in three months. I’d not gotten a new level-14 PFC since I got #59 on Second Spring Storm ESP on June 13th this year.
To boot, I not only got one new PFC that day, I broke my single-day record for new PFC’s at four:
#60 - Closer to my Heart (jun remix) ESP. 3.75x. No Display Timing (“DT”) adjustment (DT+/-0.0).
On my Round 1’s white cab, I use a base Display Timing of +/- 0.0.
On its gold cab, I use a base Display Timing of -1.2.
#61 - Just Believe ESP. 3.5x. DT+0.5.
#62 - The Ancient King is Back ESP. 3.5x. DT+0.5.
#63 - Wolf’s Rain ESP. 3.5x. No DT adjustment.
Aside: A Note on DT Adjustment
Adjusting the Display Timing value has become something I’ve quickly become comfortable doing. Using Telperion’s FinalOffset tool, I’ve been learning quantitatively how on or off-sync a chart is and taking advantage of that to adjust my DT value accordingly.
“Adjust the display timing of the arrows. If you feel that the input is lagging behind the Step Zone, decrease the amount.” - Display Timing option description
The process is simple.
Load https://finaloffset.telp.gg/ and select a “Reference” song that has a Single level 14 chart or higher available to play in DDR A3 that you would consider on-time or on sync.
Select a “Target” you want to compare the sync to.
The website will display two graphs like the one screenshotted below and a computed result of how many milliseconds earlier or later the target song will feel to you based on your reference song.
Take that number, and divide it by 15 to compute the DT adjusment value. Add a negative sign if the song is reported to be early, and leave the value positive if the song is late.
Let’s illustrate using the screenshotted example. I consider “Top the Charts” CSP 14 to be on-time, and I know from prior experience “On the Bounce” ESP 14 is very early, but by how much was unclear to me, and would always leave me guessing on how much padding I need to add to my aural timing in either direction. With all that in mind, after programming the site, I got graphs and a report that “On the Bounce” will feel 17.6 milliseconds early (for reference, the Marvelous window in DDR is 16.7 milliseconds wide in either direction (33.4 ms total window size), meaning that if you were hit a beat exactly at its audio cue, you would always get a Slow Perfect.
When to use Display Timing adjustment is for another post; but to briefly answer, using it correctly reduces scoring on a chart to a matter of mechanics and chart knowledge that discounts sync.
Sept. 17th Highlights
I felt confident, riding on the success of the session on the 10th, and determined to move as quickly as possible to complete LIFE4’s Amethyst 1 rankup, to enter today to earn more level-14 PFC’s. I did not only just that, but broke my single-day new level-14 PFC record to five!
Here’s how that went:
#64 - On the Night of a Still Wind ESP. 3.25x. DT+0.0 (gold cab, base -1.2, net -1.2).
#65 - Flip Flap ESP. 3x. DT+1.3 (gold cab, net +0.1)
#66 - Yuni’s Nocturnal Days ESP. 3.75x. DT+0.2 (white cab, base +0.0, net +0.2).
#67 - Perditus Paradisus DSP. 3.25x. DT+0.5.
#68 - Glacia DSP. 3x. DT+0.0.
In this batch, Perditus is special as, at a 17-perfect Perfect Full Combo (999, 830), it’s my highest score on any Single level-14 chart in the game (my “ceiling”)! I wasn’t expecting it, but after I got through the off-beat freezes in the middle of the song, I was more happy that I converted the PFC than I was to get a good score.
An Advancement on Double!
In a major milestone in my Double gameplay, I got my first Double level-14 PFC on Closer to my Heart (jun remix)! 3.25x, DT+0.0, net -1.2. Shout-out MISTAFOO for being a model DDR Double player in my area.
A New Level-15 PFC!!!
Fatigued after three hours of nearly nonstop gameplay, I was looking for one more song to end the session on. I was chatting with someone when I realized I need to pick something, so I ended up on this by accident.
Nevertheless, since I was tired, I opted to step lighter than usual and try to keep the body together. It was a minor surprise then, when I was maintained a gold combo over halfway in; and by tht time I was done, I was even more confused than when I started.
A lot of popping off at this session was me looking at the screen going “What. What? Huh? I did that?” and being utterly bewildered at how good the scores I was getting even though, to some extent, I was gunning for them in the first place. Anyway:
#20 - Let Me Show You ESP. 3.25x. DT+0.0, net 0.0.
Likewise, it’s my newest level-15 PFC in three months, so I don’t take the circumstances of my success today for granted.
… I’m getting sleepy. I’ll try to get this out the door and then hit the hay. DDR is tiring.
Shout-Outs and Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank LUBANAH, a DDR friend of mine local to me, for playing with me and allowing me access their unlocked content. It’s made reaching LIFE4 Amethyst I come a few sessions sooner.
I’d like to thank Telperion again for creating the FinalOffset tool and enabling me to experience a period of accelerate score ceiling development.
Finally, special thanks KITSUNNY for the hype during my Sept. 17th session. Seeing her play motivates me to play better.