More musings about DJMax Technika Tune

2012/12/302013/02/20 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

DJMax Technika Tune - ASS — Not a result I see often

No idea how I managed to get 8 breaks on First Kiss but I did.

Anyway, I’ve been periodically doing bitchfests on Twitter about the location of the Fever button. It’s rather annoying to try and activate it during quick tunes and especially if you’re only playing with the game with your right index finger. (This excludes Pop & Club Mixing patterns since they require 2 hands … although I suppose some folks with long fingers and insane reflexes could manage some tunes with one hand.) For a while, I had my left hand wrapped around the Vita with the index finger poised to hit Fever when it was ready. Sadly, this caused me to break some times and I’d still magically miss the thing too. If only the button were a big larger.

I received a tweet this early morning that stated Fever could be activated with the O button as well. That’s great, I suppose, but it’s still kind of inconvenient, especially playing Pop Mixing with the default touchscreen + touchpad setting. It would have been great if Neowiz/Pentavision let us map the Fever to whatever button we wanted. Heck, it would have been even more awesome if the Fever button was right in the MIDDLE of the play area so the player could easily treat it like part of a note pattern.

In my quest to find a way to access the Fever button easier, I tried several different ways of holding the Vita like attempting to play the game with my thumbs instead. This made Pop very difficult since I had to re-adjust the hold every time I had to hit the touchpad. This resulted in a lot of breaks. Things might be easier if I had giant man hands though. 😛 In the end. I started practicing playing with my left and right index fingers with the Vita sitting on a flat surface. I changed the play style to touchscreen only as well. I think, with more practice, this will be a good way to play the game. And with two hands going, it’s much easier to tap the on-screen Fever button.

Honestly, I haven’t checked out many gameplay videos. If I did, then maybe I can figure out a play style that’s right for me.

Anyway, at this point in time, I’m 5 levels away from 50. Apparently, all tracks are unlocked once the player reaches that level. The last track that I’m waiting for is SigNalize. Hope the pattern’s fun.

Hmmm. I’m going to randomly list some tunes I wouldn’t mind seeing as DLC. I’m not a Technika player so all these will be from DJM Online, Trilogy, and Portable. XD:

Whiteblue
Carmen Toreador
Csikos Post
Perseus Remix [this was in DJMax Online China]
Aurora Borealis
Feel [how did this not make the cut for the initial tracks included with the game?]
Grid System
Dancin’ Planet
Space Of Soul
So Much In Love
Get Out
Ventilator
DARK ENVY
NB Rangers Returns
Enemy Storm
NB Ranger
Girlz [okay, so this is from Ray]
Stop
Dear My Lady
IF
Funky People
Cherokee
Brave It Out
Minus 3
Squeeze
Memoirs
Syriana
Showtime

All right I’ll stop now. :3 I wonder if they’ll do packs like DJMax Ray? >:/

My DJMax Collection (plus thoughts on Technika Tune)

2012/12/192013/02/05 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

Just had my DJMax Technika Tune LE delivered today. Paid an arm and a leg for it, no thanks to the UPS Brokerage and their INSANE fees. I used to constantly blame the Canadian customs and government for the additional import cost but it turns out the culprit for the excessive charges comes from the broker. Anyway~ Here are some photos of the set. :3 They’re all kind of blurry here because WordPress resizes them to fit the blog’s theme/style. You can click on them for larger, crispier, & clearer versions (except the one with the open game case).

Clockwise, from top left: artbook, wrist strap + screen cleaner, game + card case, soundtrack, Vita slipcase

As a bonus, here’s my current DJMax collection. XD There were a few that I didn’t buy since they were either way too expensive and/or hard to find (like the Portable and Portable 2 ones), or just had stuff that I didn’t care about. I think DJMax Trilogy LE came with a mug or something goofy like that. Oh yeah, these are all pre-orders too so I got them all at retail price. :3

Haha. I didn't realize that DJMax Trilogy was upside down until I was cropping the photo. XD — Haha. I didn’t realize that DJMax Trilogy was upside down until I was cropping the photo. XD

I have an unopened copy of Fever in The Crew Edition LE because I bought the game first before PM Studios decided to sell the limited edition. The shiny silver thing between the Technika Tune LE and Trilogy is the DJMax Technika Exclusive Collection soundtrack. Bought it on a whim even though I never played the arcade game before. In fact, Technika Tune is the first time I played a game in the Technika series.

DJMax Portable Black Square: Quattra Edition has tape on its cover because either Play Asia or the people putting together the thing slashed it. I know for certain that it wasn’t me since the box itself was no where near the opening flaps of the shipping box that it came in.

Man, between all the limited and special editions here, I have 3 or 4 Platinum Crew cards. ^^ I’ve never used them before either. :3

DJMax Hot Tunes LE. I decided to open up the box again since I had the game on my shelf for the longest time. I forgot how extravagant and over-the-top this design was. — DJMax Hot Tunes LE. I decided to open up the box again since I had the game on my shelf for the longest time and wanted to put it away. I forgot how extravagant and over-the-top this design was.

Hot Tunes had one of the best looking DJMax limited editions, IMO.

Now about Technika Tune itself~~ it’s pretty fun! Only played about 4 songs in Freestyle (on Easy XD) though. I’m gonna need a lot more practice with this game since I’m bombing here and there on 2 – 3-star stages and might not move out of Easy difficulty for a while. ^^; (Bombing = breaking quite a bit. My lowest rating has been a C but I mostly get B’s and A’s)

I just switched it to Normal to see how different it will be in terms of judgement and if note patterns change. I have a feeling I’ll be putting it back onto Easy though.

Edit:

Adding some thoughts about the game~~

I do like this game quite a bit! I gotta say that it’s more fun than DJMax Portable 3. 😛
Mostly playing on Star Mixing mode until I get my reflexes up a bit more. I tried Pop Mixing and failed the first stage. XD Played it again and go through 3 stages. Had to set the difficulty on Easy though. .___.;
I find myself using one finger only. Also, I’ve set it so that it’s only on touchscreen and the time line comes from the left.
Some tunes have distracting videos. For example, I Want You just flashes at some point and unless you’re familiar enough with the pattern, you may end up mistiming some things cuz the time line becomes hard to see.
The hand DOES block notes so it’s always good to glance ahead a little if possible.
Really wish they’d get rid of the stupid “Thanks for playing” splashscreen after completing a mixing mode. I KNOW it’s supposed to emulate arcade style gameplay but bleh. I guess that’s what Freestyle is for.
Fucking hell. I wish the goddamn Fever button wasn’t at the top right corner. Would worked better in the center or something.
Ugh. Forever is another one that suffers from the time line that blends in with the video. 9__9
Grr. Ghost is one of my fave songs but I can’t do well in it. .___. Same with Ruti’n.

Edit #2 (Dec 20th):

More babblings!

Getting better at the game now. Managed to pull off some full combos (with Anti Break 3 … but even with it equipped, it doesn’t need to kick in at times ^_^v) and some S and S+ ranks in Star Mixing and Freestyle (Star ones, of course). Currently trying to get a higher combo in Freestyle. I went back to Easy difficulty to ensure a better chance of maintaining a combo. XD
Almost 100%.
Spammed the hell out of Facebook last night to see what kind of exclusive items I can get. Turns out it’s some Fever +40% and EXP +40% consumable items. Looks like you can spam FB like 15 or so times? But because I did it like midnight – 1 AM, I won’t be able to post any more updates until tomorrow. XD
Stocking up on consumable items via spamming Facebook status updates. XD
Pop Mixing is pretty fun! I think I like the touchscreen + touchpad gameplay. I just kind of suck at it at the moment. 😀
I just realized that I officially own some Kara tunes now. ^^; The only song I heard from them before was Jumping and that was from the Japanese version of Just Dance Wii. Actually, I think they may have another song or two on that but I never cared about it. I even bought the Japanese single of Jumping off iTunes JP. I like Step and Lupin now after hearing them so much in Technika Tune. ^^; I guess I’ll look for the singles to hear them in their entirety.
Managed this on Easy difficulty. I think I would have gotten a game over in Ghost if it were on Normal.
Pop Mixing. Ghost almost did me in.

games

DJMAX TECHNIKA TUNE pre-orders opened at 12 PDT

2012/09/242012/09/26 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

I think the limited edition sold out in less than 30 minutes since on the official DJ Max (will they make up their mind on the official spelling of the word?) Facebook page, a user reported in at 12:21 PDT as being the 731st fan to secure a copy. (There will only be 750 of them produced!)

As for me, well, take a look:

DJMax Technika Tune LE pre-order purchase confirmation — Order #617~! :3

Yeah, by 12:07 PDT, 616 copies were already sold! It’s pretty crazy. I’m thinking some rich folks probably got multiple copies for resell though.

There were some hiccups during checkout where I suddenly lost connection to the store while it was calculating the shipping options to my postal code. It came back pretty quickly, however.

Regarding the shipping, I was only offered UPS as an option and that $21.72 is the Super Saver or whatever method. It was the cheapest since everything else was 1 or 2-day shipping. I’m not THAT desperate for it. Those particular shipping methods ranged from $80 – $97 too. I’m sure folks living in the United States got better shipping rates. ^^

Mmmm. Can’t wait for the game! I’ve never actually played Technika before even though there is an arcade in an adjacent city that has a Technika 2 machine. It’s usually swarmed by players, however, so I’m not sure I’d even be able to get a chance. (I suppose asking to have a go at it won’t hurt though. XD Not sure what the etiquette is at that arcade.)

Edit: Correction about the order number from Pentavision rep in reply to a comment at the official DJM Facebook page: “… The order numbers are not based on how many LEs we’ve sold, they’re based on lifetime sales, including the Technika 3 Platinum Blue Collections.” Since Bemanistyle just tweeted to “[g]rab yours before they’re all gone!”, I think there are actually still some left! :O I know some people backed out after seeing the shipping costs.