Hello, mod from your M4M queue! This mod will take a look at the individual difficulties for the most part, but will also talk about some spread issues.
d = don
k = kat
D = large don
K = large kat
[ General ]
I'd say all the SVs on Oni and Muzukashii that are not already 1.0x or below can be lowered by .1 (with the exception of the .9x SV before the end, that should be a 1x SV for better flow), most of the SVs just scroll too quickly to play comfortably at first.
Futsuu does not scale well in difficulty compared to Muzukashii. We'll get to this in more detail in the individual mod.
[ Kantan ]
Alright diff overall, can't really find major problems with it, but I do have a few suggestions.
The main suggestion I have is to get rid of any SV changes at all in this difficulty. Kantan assumes that this could be someone's first map they ever download, and if the notes suddenly change speed, it could throw off beginners. Outside of that...
00:54:409 (54) If you add the next point, please change this to a d to simplify the added pattern.
00:55:102 Add a d here, it makes for a nice lead in for the kiai time.
00:59:611 Could add a k here, it adds the small back and forth dk kd that plays nicely and fits the song fine enough.
01:06:200 Add a d here to lead into the second half of the kiai time.
01:10:709 Refer to 00:59:611 for this reasoning.
01:16:952 If you want, a better way to end off the kiai time I think is to add two d on the white ticks, ending on the most intense part of the vocals.
02:03:079 Same point as 00:55:102 though no simplifying of this pattern is needed, the kdkdK works fine.
02:07:588 Same as 00:59:611 except instead of adding k here, add d for kd dk
02:18:686 Add k here for the starting tail end of dk kd, then change (137) to a d to complete the dk kd.
02:23:888 Not certain why a d isn't here, it stays consistent with the previous kiai time in terms of where the notes are.
02:24:929 Same as 01:16:952 except instead of adding two d, you add two k. Works as a nice offset from last kiai.
03:04:466 Add d here for the starting tail end of kd dk, then change (179) to a k to complete the kd dk.
03:11:056 Add k here, it works to lead into the second half of the kiai time.
03:20:767 Add k here to have a buildup to the end of the song.
03:21:807 Add d here for pretty much the same effect.
[ Futsuu ]
I don't have a long list of changes here because simply put if I did, it'd be 50% of the mod. In this case, the Futsuu compared to the Muzukashii is too easy, and doesn't work as a transition difficulty very well. Here are just some suggestions that should be used, if not scrapping the difficulty entirely and reworking it from the ground up.
>Sometimes the density between notes is far too great, and feels more like a Kantan more than a Futsuu. Point in case, the entire first half of the map. Don't be afraid to string longer 1/1 chains or even group some 1/2. If it's a transition from Kantan > Futsuu, Kantan has basic 1/1, so Futsuu would have more advanced 1/1, and basic 1/2. However, Kantan > Futsuu is not the main concern.
>And then during the latter half of the map, the spacing is awkward and doesn't fit very well for the song in general. 3/2 gaps definitely aren't a great way of introducing 1/2. 1/2 triplets and quintuplets are some of the perfect introductions to these.
>Finally the main point: in terms of transitioning to Muzukashii, Futsuu is too bare comparably. Muzukashii fleshes out 1/2 introduced in Futsuu, but in Futsuu there aren't really any 1/2 to flesh out. Don't always rely on star rating to determine your spread (I've fallen into that trap before), rather
this helpful wiki page should help balance out a spread. Also just look at the note count between the two difficulties! 356 > 912 is crazy, more than 2.5x the number of notes found in Futsuu! Note count should not be the end all be all of how to build a difficulty, but this large of a gap is certainly not acceptable.
Keep in mind these points I've made with the Futsuu, as anything I could've mentioned would've aligned with these.
[ Muzukashii ]
It's alright if not a bit unbalanced at certain sections, so let's see if we can fix those.
00:15:738 Just a minor suggestion, but adding a d here makes this section a bit less dull. Don't have to take this at all.
00:16:778 (54) This is still a pretty calm part of the song, so introducing the triplet is fine, but this note afterwards might be a bit of an odd lead off. Removing it would fix that and still have a pretty okay transition.
00:18:339 (59) Seeing how this song feels a bit swingy at this point, moving this to 00:18:166 feels pretty nice. Not needed either, but just a style change.
00:24:929 (82) Let's give our players a bit of a break, shall we? Remove this, 2/1 gaps aren't that uncommon in Muzukashii still!
00:27:877 (96) Same deal as 00:16:778 but more so, as we've introduced two different triplet colors now.
00:33:079 (114) Let's remove this for a bit of a lead in and to lower the note density a bit.
00:34:120 (120) (121) I'd say because the song is building up a bit, having notes after the triplets is now fine, but let's make them the same color to still easy them in. So change these to k.
00:35:507 (127) Same story as ^ but instead change this to d.
00:36:894 (134) Same story as ^.
00:37:241 (136) (138) To keep with consistency on how this was mapped so far, I'd say remove these two notes.
00:39:669 (150) (151) Refer to 00:34:120
00:41:056 (158) (160) ^ but change to d and remove (160).
00:42:617 (167) ^ but change to k and remove (168).
00:43:310 (171) (175) ^ change both to k.
00:44:871 (179) (180) (181) (182) Just a suggestion, but I think emphasizing (178) by removing (182) and moving (179) (180) (181) over to the right by one red tick works really nicely.
00:51:027 The way you build up to the kiai time isn't bad necessarily, but I think triplets make the emphasis better. That being said, adding a k here makes this a triplet.
00:51:461 (213) But of course with doing this, we need some 1/1 breaks, so remove this.
00:52:414 Basically the same as 00:51:027 but with d added instead.
00:52:848 (221) And the same as 00:51:461 for removal.
00:53:541 The music's basically begging for a build up, so let's give it to them! Add d here.
00:54:235 Then add a k here.
00:55:189 Then finally let's turn this into a triplet by adding a k here and changing (233) over to a k. Build up to kiai complete.
01:04:813 (280) (282) This is a really long stretch of notes, removing these would not only alleviate some of that, but also add emphasis onto (281) which just sounds nice overall.
01:16:085 (339) Same dealio as before just not with the idea of emphasizing anything. Removal should still be considered though.
01:24:322 Just a suggestion, but this could be a triplet by adding a k here and changing (372) to a k.
01:29:611 Adding a d here is once again just a minor suggestion, but I think this longer chain works well.
01:34:120 (415) (416) (417) But this, ehhh doesn't feel right to play in my opinion, removing (415) and (417) fixes that, but if we want to follow the music a bit better, (416) should probably be a d.
01:42:270 (451) The next few points'll just be suggestions, but I think they add some spice to the song, and well it's a k-pop song; spice is always welcome in those. Starting with this, move this note to 01:42:443 . If you do that, please also remove (453) .
01:45:044 (466) (467) (469) Remove notes (466) and (469) and change (467) to a d to keep some consistency with the last pattern.
01:47:819 (482) (485) Just remove both of these for consistent in spacing patterns.
01:50:594 (498) (501) ^
01:52:848 (2) (3) (4) (5) If you took 00:44:871 take this one as well, it's the same suggestion but at a different time.
01:59:091 (36) Going to go for a different build up this time, so just remove this one instead only. No triplets are happening this time though, or at least not yet.
01:59:784 (38) (39) Completely subjective, but I think swapping these two works well.
02:00:825 (44) Remove for the build up alterations.
02:01:518 Add a d for build up to the kiai. Now the real build up begins.
02:02:212 Add a k for build up.
02:03:166 Add a k for a triplet right at the end, and then change (56) to a k for the mono-color triplet.
All the suggestions from the previous kiai time apply here too.
02:44:871 (225) Completely your choice, I think removing this is a better chain than keeping it.
02:46:952 (237) (241) This is not subjective, this chain goes on for too long, I think these two notes being removed is the best course of action.
02:54:235 "Ha-woo!" Sounds like a good mini-build up, so let's make this a mono-quintuplet by adding a d here.
02:54:582 And add a d here to finish that mono-quintuplet.
02:58:917 (286) (288) Completely your choice, but I think this, along with the following change, works better for this section. Just swap these notes.
02:59:177 And add a d here for a triplet right at the end of these hype inducing SFX.
And of course this last kiai can be altered the same way as the other kiai.
[ Oni ]
Initially I thought this would've had the most problems, but I was pleasantly surprised. Still, there are problems and suggestions I can make.
00:10:536 (36) I think d works better here, though that's your choice.
00:18:686 (77) (78) Also your choice, but swapping these two also keeps some consistency with sound choices right before.
00:28:224 (124) (125) To keep consistency with spacing, this doesn't need to be a triplet, so remove these two notes.
00:30:825 (133) (135) Minor change, think swapping these two sounds better.
00:31:692 (140) And I think separating these patterns from each other makes this section more interesting.
00:44:698 "Joo-rijimon" (note don't know if it's actually saying that but for the suggestion don't mind that). Notice the emphasis on the first syllable? Currently, the pattern is d ddd k d, but I think instead, d - ddk d would work better, the dash obviously meaning no note at all.
00:50:073 (246) Removing this works better for leading into the build up for the kiai.
00:58:137 I think adding a d here for a triplet helps to differentiate the parts right before, and adds some spice.
01:00:391 You had so many quintuplets before the kiai, so we should at least have some in here as well, especially when it fits. So add a d here.
01:00:651 And ending off of just a quintuplet in this case would be an awkward finish, so let's add a d here too to flow better.
01:09:235 Same as 00:58:137 (just as a side note we're not gonna spice up the next section because the music doesn't ask for it as much, and we can use that to build up to the end of the kiai better)
01:17:559 Maybe a bit of an odd suggestion, but having a k here matches the sudden cutoff of the voice better in my opinion. Because it's odd, feel free to ignore it, but I think it works well. If you do that however, also change (402) to a d.
01:23:628 Spice up this section with a k here?
01:29:177 ^
01:40:709 (21) Seeing as the instruments start to cool here, how about changing this to a d to reflect that?
01:52:154 (87) (89) I think removing these to emphasize (88) and lead into the next section works really well.
01:58:050 (121) same as 00:50:073
Seeing as this second kiai is pretty much identical to the first kiai, everything said there can be said here too.
02:44:871 (333) Stated this in the Muzukashii, but I think removing this works better for what you're trying to accomplish here.
02:45:044 (334) - (340) The current pattern is ddkdkdk, but I think ddkkdkd work better. Your choice.
02:59:004 & 02:59:177 Add a d to both of these, works really well for the hype inducing section that this is.
03:02:992 This kiai time is actually a bit different, but some same suggestions still stand, like the addition of d for a triplet here.
03:14:091 ^ and here.
03:22:414 Refer to 01:17:559
In conclusion, your map certainly needs work. The Futsuu compared to the Muzukashii is completely unbalanced, and almost feels more like an Inner Kantan, as weird as that sounds. The rest of the difficulties are not nearly as bad scaling-wise as Futsuu, but they have their own problems, with Oni fairing the best. Hopefully we'll see this in ranking soon though, it has potential!