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Learning a new scroll direction

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Topic Starter
Cozzzy
I've been playing Stepmania forever (almost 6 years of 4K + upscroll) and decided I'd finally like to learn 7K, just for a new challenge. So, I grabbed a copy of O2mania aaaaaand ... it's downscroll only. Of course, coming from vanilla SM means I can only read upscroll.

Now, I know performance-wise it doesn't really matter which direction it scrolls, but being able to read downscroll would be nice, because otherwise I have to invert my keys and flip the monitor just to play upscroll in other games. Even if I became ET with those settings one day, I wouldn't even be able to understand any gameplay videos that are downscroll (all of them lmao). So, I thought I'd just go ahead and learn it.

Here's where it gets frustrating: I've been playing O2mania for a few months on and off with default settings, and the other day I just thought I'd try upscroll for a laugh. Even though I've never played 7K with upscroll, I played far better than I ever play with downscroll o_O



Does this mean I have to practice downscroll for a huge amount of time, and will this mess up my upscroll reading? Should I give up and stick with awkwardly-forced upscroll? Is there anyone who ended up learning both without any problems?
Agka
Use what you're comfortable with.
Xcrypt
I don't see any reason to play downscroll if you perform better with upscroll and you are not forced to play downscroll. It's not that the experience is that much different, it's just what you are used to. I personally can't read upscroll for f* :p
xxbidiao
You may have to spend a lot of time on practicing downscrolling, but like other members said, it is not necessary at all.

We osu!mania don't have such challenges that force you to read upside down

But TBH when you use a common stepmania skin in osu!mania, you should be likely to use a circle note style skin. It seems that there would be some difference on judgment time between upscrolling and downscrolling...
[FX] AEM
i've played stepmania too, it all depends on how your experience with upscroll or downscroll. i can play both up and downscroll but when i play upscroll my accuracy is really piss me off. so use what you're experiencing.
akebono
hey, if you play with upscroll, isn't that make you special :3 ???
PyaKura
Or you could download o2jam/mania converts on osu, grab an o2jam/mania skin, set the scrolling direction bottom-up ? :D
Bobbias
I played stepmania for about 5 years before I started playing o2jam, so I had to learn to read down scrolling notes after 5 years of playing up scrolling. It took me a little while to get used to it (of course, the 7k also took time to get used to on top of that), but it wasn't particularly hard to get used to. If you decide to switch don't give up after a short period. If it takes you a week or a month to feel like you're finally used to it, the only way you can tell how you do in downscroll properly is by practising exclusively (or spending far more time than upscroll) until you feel comfortable. Until you feel comfortable, you will always perform worse with downscrolling. I found that making changes like this often actually led to a good skill increase afterwards. In stepmania I switched from 1-handed, to a weird 2 handed setup, to index, to spread, for example, and every switch I made took me a few days until I felt comfortable, but then I'd notice a fairly quick jump in skill shortly afterwards. In o!m I switched from nomod to using Hidden on everything, and then to FL on everything and saw benefits as well. My accuracy increased on hidden, and when I switched to FL I found that while my accuracy didn't get any better (and sometimes got worse), I'm much better at reading complicated LNs than I used to be.

I believe that the act of making a switch in your playstyle and having to relearn certain skills is beneficial. I think the fact that you are forced to relearn certain skills gives your brain a different "perspective" on the problem, much like how a common trick in art is to draw something upside down.
Taadashi
Well for me.. I read downscroll 7k much better than upscroll 7k. But at the same time I read 4k downscroll worse than 4k upscroll. Guess the 4k thingy comes from being a stepmania player for the most part. But I never had a problem reading them 7k downscroll though anyway. :P

Answer to OP: Just use whatever feels best for you. There's no rule that forces you to play either style and it wouldn't be seen as cheating or whatever either. So use what you like best. :)
Topic Starter
Cozzzy
Good to know that learning 7K downscroll won't mess up my 4K upscroll ability (and that 7K upscroll is still viable if I just can't get used to it) :) thanks for the posts everyone!

I think I'll try to stick to downscroll for 7K, mostly because I've noticed I don't get the same bad habits when it comes to LN as I do with upscroll (Stepmania's leniency on hold notes I guess)

EDIT: Just tried again, and the difference between my upscroll and downscroll 7K reading is completely overwhelming. I could probably force myself to learn downscroll eventually, but I'm so weak at it that I'm not having any fun with it at all, so I'm gonna stick to upscroll. With Stepmania, not once did I ever have to force myself to do anything; I just improved by enjoying the game. Lesson learned - just stick to whatever's more comfortable/fun.
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