Hello guys, I'm kinda new, as you can probably tell. Soooo, I'm going to sum up all my noob questions up in one thread Everybody gets one right? Just one and I'm done!

So... first thing is first; about me. I've been playing Osu for about 6 days. I've been playing offline, a friend in irc showed me this game and I started and then stopped due to me not immediately getting the hang of this game (RARE!). I play piano and love music IRL. However, I think that barely helped :s. Anyway, I can play pretty much any 4 star song, a good bit of 4 star [insane], and a few 5 stars. Of course, those are without going through the song 20 times to memorize it. Usually it depends on bpm and overall difficulty. Note size isn't too bad... However recovery after a spinner is... ugh.

Is memorizing songs entirely the only way to go? (even though I probably won't ). I don't know, some things that help me is running through the song in Edit mode if I can't figure out the tempo; though, I feel like that is cheating. I would prefer to just watch the song go by without the X's appearing, because the X's are distracting, and to not hear the hit sounds (figuring out the rhythm is a part of the fun imo).

So... second thing; getting good. How does one progress from... oooohhhh say... When the Love First Ends[Normal] to Chocobo Gold? I've been slowly memorizing When the Love First Ends[hard] or [intense] (I forget) and ... man that song is brutal! I finally decided to ramp up my mouse sensitivity to 2.1 (or 2.8, again I foget, lol). I got my fair share of James Training... but, again I'm not up for memorization :S (unless everybody recommends it)

Finally... Great game peppy (amidoinitright?)! I look forward to playing Osu! for quite a while longer

OH! and mouse clicks for life. ****?**** x and c... ctrl and space... etc. etc.

When practice is evident, it's kinda hard to explain how the skills come by. Sightreading is probably the overall best skill to have in playing standard, which will let you see when the notes are even if they're wildly spaced (badly =/= wildly). it just comes along with getting used to the actual game, and later on you'll realize that every ranked map can actually be sightread pretty easily.

But Chocobo [Gold] is not a good example IMO; that map's really designed to screw people up; it has intentional traps which kind of have to require you to memorize it. This shouldn't be the case with more proper maps; the majority of the latest ranked maps aren't really a 'only-memorize to FC' thing I guess.

Really, the best way to become good at osu! is quite simply, practice. Try to clear songs that you have trouble on, and try to clear as many hard maps as possible. As you clear songs, you'll find that maps become easier to clear. Practice enough, and you'll find yourself S'ing those maps. Its not easy though, So don't expect yourself to S maps like Chocobo [Gold] yet if you're new to osu!

Ok. I'll get some of the more new beatmap packs. I have 1-70 right now, with plans to get the rest in the very near future. Though, I'm going to skip ahead and do 150+ for now. I retry songs that I enjoy listening too and think that the beatmap is well made. (About 10 or so songs atm)

Anyway, again thanks for the tips. Oh, and ofc I will practice . I didn't expect to be SS'ing songs in 3 days. I give myself a month.

Probably one of the best tips ever given to me was to focus on reading the approach circles rather than the hitcircles themselves. It's probably not something you should jump right into, but once you get a bit more used to the gameplay, give it a try. It helps you read crowded areas and distance changes.

Also, if you're having trouble recovering from a spinner, spin smaller and focus on 300ing it rather than scoring the highest bonus.

Yeah Rolled, I managed to figure that one out a bit later. When I first start a song and have never heard it before I focus on the the approaching circles until I figure out the rhythm. That was back when I was failing all songs though and wasn't able to do much at all

Destro168 wrote:

However recovery after a spinner is... ugh.

Spin small and close to the center, and slow down towards the end so you can recover better. If you're a high sens player (like Cyclone) then you're kind of stuck with spinning huge and all over the place, that's something you'd have to adapt to.

Is memorizing songs entirely the only way to go? (even though I probably won't ). I don't know, some things that help me is running through the song in Edit mode if I can't figure out the tempo; though, I feel like that is cheating. I would prefer to just watch the song go by without the X's appearing, because the X's are distracting, and to not hear the hit sounds (figuring out the rhythm is a part of the fun imo).

No, it's not the only way to go, and no, it's not really cheating. Some people play by their sense of rhythm; personally, I'm a sight reader, that's why I'm good at streams because I follow the approach circles like a hawk and can get my mouse movement and tapping to coordinate with that. If you're going to completely memorize the song then you might as well just play with Flashlight.

So... second thing; getting good. How does one progress from... oooohhhh say... When the Love First Ends[Normal] to Chocobo Gold?

lol

Not even a week of playtime and you can already clear 4 or 5 star maps? You're pretty amazing, I think.

You'll eventually get everything you need to be even better at this game with practice, as everyone said. Memorization is also a pretty important factor, on a per-map basis, since I believe no osu! map is similar to any other (unless, maybe, with the official or official-like ones). The auto-pilot mod helps a bit if you have no idea of what the hell is going on a certain map, as does watching replays (but pay attention to what mods were used on them).

As for spinners, well... they mess me up sometimes too. Spinning only until you can see the next approach circle works wonders for me, and using a skin that doesn't have both spinners and cursors with the same color helps a lot (even though that Ouendan2 skin is so awesome!).

And finally: turning off mouse acceleration might help too, not only with jumps, but with everything else. For me, at least.

Now, why someone who's slowly getting to the 5000th rank is helping you, that's something I don't know.

Yes, I'm a high sens player. I have vista sens maxed out and Osu at 2.1x. Well... I guess that's high... I really don't know :s OH WELL, I'll have to adapt to it I spin so fast that lately I just finish the spinner and instead of getting an extra 2k or so, I simply wait for a second to regroup.

I'll definately stick to practice practice practice until I can just sight read everything (path to glory!), or until I play every song and am forced to replay them all again :S. Every day I do notice improvement. Chocobo Gold didn't seem as difficult as before. Still very hard and I know I'm a long way off from ever passing it without no fail. However, I'm getting verrrrry close to beating When The Love First Ends[Hard] (such an amazing song and beatmap :*( )and Gunther's Like Fire Tonight[hard]. There are just a few hard parts in both that I can barely pass :

Oh and thanks nomedeusuarionaodisp (nice name). I don't think I'm amazing :s (past musical experience = easy introduction). Plus I played Osu! for at least 4-5 hours Saturday. Also, I WON'T TURN DOWN THE ACCELERATION :<

Anyways, good replies and all useful! I saw the stickied tutorials thread. Though, as you probably know, it's a bit incomplete. I think a "tips" list would be absolutely amazing and easier to create! I went through and searched the forum a bit for some tips before and there were just a few things I wasn't sure about (why I made this thread); unless there is a tips list that I totally missed o.o (wouldn't be surprised).

Welp, see you all around. Moral of the story: Practice makes perfect!

P.S. I've had this post sitting around for.... 3 days now and I had to edit update it so sorry if it has a few confusing parts. I reread and tried my best to fix it up :

Destro168 wrote:

Yes, I'm a high sens player. I have vista sens maxed out and Osu at 2.1x. Well... I guess that's high... I really don't know :s OH WELL, I'll have to adapt to it I spin so fast that lately I just finish the spinner and instead of getting an extra 2k or so, I simply wait for a second to regroup.

I'll definately stick to practice practice practice until I can just sight read everything (path to glory!), or until I play every song and am forced to replay them all again :S. Every day I do notice improvement. Chocobo Gold didn't seem as difficult as before. Still very hard and I know I'm a long way off from ever passing it without no fail. However, I'm getting verrrrry close to beating When The Love First Ends[Hard] (such an amazing song and beatmap :*( )and Gunther's Like Fire Tonight[hard]. There are just a few hard parts in both that I can barely pass :

Oh and thanks nomedeusuarionaodisp (nice name). I don't think I'm amazing :s (past musical experience = easy introduction). Plus I played Osu! for at least 4-5 hours Saturday. Also, I WON'T TURN DOWN THE ACCELERATION :<

Anyways, good replies and all useful! I saw the stickied tutorials thread. Though, as you probably know, it's a bit incomplete. I think a "tips" list would be absolutely amazing and easier to create! I went through and searched the forum a bit for some tips before and there were just a few things I wasn't sure about (why I made this thread); unless there is a tips list that I totally missed o.o (wouldn't be surprised).

Welp, see you all around. Moral of the story: Practice makes perfect! But no one's perfect! lol

P.S. I've had this post sitting around for.... 3 days now and I had to edit update it so sorry if it has a few confusing parts. I reread and tried my best to fix it up :

Other tip if you still want it, Don't push your arms on spinners too much! Your arms will get sore!
Like I did when I overpush the spinners. My arms get sore, that makes my spin rate decreased! Also, I missed some spins (Not circling around the center) because my arm is sore, Probably the sore decrease your spin accuracy.

i was gonna make a new thread, but i'll post here instead. like yourself, i play the piano and guitar, and have played a ton of rhythm and music games from rock band to ddr to bust a groove and space channel 5. the transition from piano to games like rock band was much easier, and i found myself able to do expert songs right off the bat. however, osu is much more "foreign" ( for lack of better words).

like you said, memorization i think plays a big part in this game, and i believe that is due to a less intuitive "note reading" system compared to games like rock band. for example, it is much easier to see which notes come on the beat or come in-between the beat in other games. and i'm not sure if this is intentional by some beatmap creators, but they sure do like to "hide" notes. so from a systems standpoint, osu is less uniform and harder to sight read (the advantage to this of course is greater possibilities in open-ended beatmap creation).

another thing that makes the transition more difficult is that i find a lot of the songs beatmapped (that i've played so far, i.e. not too many really), like to beatmap according to vocals. in other rhythm games like ddr, guitar hero, or taiko i'm listening to the instrumentals--the guitar, the drum, the bass, etc--and so i when i play osu, i tend to want to do the same. which totally throws me off because sometimes i wanna hit/step/strum/etc on that downbeat, but really the vocals will come slightly before or after it.

just my 2 cents.

@Aoitenshi

Haha, my arms aren't anywhere near sore. The pain is all in my hands I just spent 2 hours practicing and beating girugamesh[hard] - Break Down and getting a B. I need to get more finger/wrist strength though so that I can play through certain songs; like "When the Love First Ends! <3<3<3<3". I really liked girugamesh because of it's high non-trill click rate.

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The flow of all the beatmaps is VERY easy to memorize I've found. I don't have any problem remembering what is going to come up next. I could probably recreate girugamesh[hard] right now and get 90% of the patterns correct (the positions would probably be off by a bit). Right now the game is more of a, "Master the styles" game. As I become better with the patterns I think I'll adapt to seeing new patterns and play them better. Also, I find it near impossible to sight read the five star songs simply because they have lots of hidden notes, unintuitive patterns, and other goodies. So, I'm going to stick to playing the song in edit mode or with no fail on while occasionally mastering the songs that I really enjoy; at least until I can just site read every song, XD

Ah well

umm yeah memorization isn't really required unless there's a really annoying pattern, or if you're playing with hidden or flashlight on.

Well, I don't try to memorize them :/

It just happens when I play a song like 20 times.