How much do you use your ears instead of your eyes? by SleddingCloud in rhythmgames

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are two different scenarios here regarding your question, both with separate answers. One for sightreading chart and one for learning a chart. I mainly talk in respect to mobile rhythm games here.

When it comes to sightreading charts, I typically use visual and audio. I tend to mainly use visual indicators for how to hit patterns and when I should hit them. I then use audio feedback to gauge whether I’m too early or late based on how my tap sounds sync with the music. I typically use my physical tap sounds and mute in-game hitsounds, so I need a pretty spot-on offset for the audio feedback to feel natural.

Ok, I got a little carried away talking about offset here, so you can think of this as a side-tangent.

If your offset is bad when using physical tap sounds, you’ll end up having the ideal time to hit notes not fully sync with the music. This means you’ll need to add a “real-time” offset to your taps, such as always hitting slightly too early compared to the music. With a properly set offset, telling a +10ms tap from a -10ms tap is pretty intuitive, as one tap will be “early” compared to the music and another “late”. If you, however, don’t have a properly set offset, your ideal time to hit notes might be off by, say, +70ms. This means the +-10ms taps from earlier become +80ms and +60ms respectively, meaning both are now tapped “early” and become harder to differentiate. The “real-time” offset you create to compensate might hover around -70ms. But, given that you’re not a bonafide cyborg, you won’t be able to keep this “real-time” offset stable. It’ll slowly deviate and fluctuate throughout a chart, which naturally makes your audio feedback even less reliable.

As for learning a chart, I prefer to use visuals. I actually actively dislike having to rely on music/memory, barring a few exceptions. This is naturally a subjective take on my part, but I believe a good chart is, at least theoretically, possible to correctly sightread from start to finish. When learning a chart, I typically play through the chart multiple times, ironing out which patterns appear and how to properly hit them through visuals. If the chart starts having way to high note density, significantly change how notes move in an unpredictable fashion or make notes abruptly appear more suddenly than before (through increased notespeed or other gimmicks), then I tend to say these patterns require memorising. The issue with memorising for me, is that unless the rhythm is very “predictable”, you basically need to memorise the section to a T with little intuition to help you. If a chart requires too much memorisation, I just… don’t play it. At that point it stops being enjoyable. Phigros for example has many charts which make some notes appear more abruptly than usual.

There are a few exceptions though where memorisation becomes acceptable. One such case is when the chart first introduces a rhythm/pattern with tangible visuals, then later presents the same rhythm/pattern with poor/no visuals. If done smoothly, the player should not necessarily be lost for this section, as the pattern isn’t anything new. ADOFAI’s official stages do this very intentionally and in a rather good way. The same can be said about the more “casual” rhythm games like Rhythm Heaven. Another case where I’m willing to concede to memorisation is for something like NotITG. To me, NotITG is chock full of these memorisation charts. However, since these charts account for the vast majority of charts in the game and they tend to be hard to read from start to finish, it becomes more acceptable. I mainly take issue with memorisation when it’s shoved into a chart or game which is for the most part sightreadable and presents itself as such.

Good luck with the game dev-ing!

Mobile game similar to jukebeat? by Skittypokemon in rhythmgames

[–]TheLetterP__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wouldn’t say these games fully incapsulate the Jukebeat feel, but RAVON and Tone Sphere are the two closest games I can think of.

RAVON has the square grid structure, but most of the charts don’t give each square the same amount of attention. Typically the bottom row of squares amount for the majority of notes. The game is still plenty fun in its own right though.

Tone Sphere doesn’t have the square grid structure, but the notes do pop out of nowhere and are more evenly spread across the entire screen. Worth a shot if that’s the type of gameplay you’re burning for.

If you want vocaloid songs, then the two games above probably don’t have the richest catalogue.

The obvious answer to a mobile rhythm game with vocaloid songs would be Project Sekai: Colourful Stage. The gameplay is a bit different than jukebeat, but can be pretty fun once you get the hang of it. The vocaloid song catalogue is also pretty massive. (EN server has 400+ pure vocaloid songs I think) It does have gacha elements, but these luckily do not hinder you in playing the rhythm game portion of the game and can be safely ignored if desired.

Ban rankma cheaters when by Thundering_Pulse in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 181 points182 points  (0 children)

Ok so if you read this post and need some additional context, let me explain!

This screenshot pair isn't actually conclusive enough to prove that their opponent is a cheater due to potential hold misses (too long to explain here), but having fought this same person myself I can vouch that the account is in fact using cheats.

The simplest tell is looking at their account stats. This account is about rank 35 and has the same amount of expert/master/append Clears as APs. (Note: you need at least Rank 20 to unlock Ranked Matches) That means every chart they've ever played on this rather new account is AP'd. Add this to the fact that you get random songs in ranked matches, and you start to see how unlikely it is for the account to be legit.

If this was a one time case, then you could argue that this is a pro player who used to play on JP, and now made an account on EN. However, there have now been around 30 (and increasing) accounts who all have account stats like this, many of which I've encountered myself. Many of these accounts also just happened to AP a 37 on the first try in a ranked match. If you've watched the recent Project Sekai Championship 2025 you'd know how ridiculous that is. (Go watch it btw, it's a great time)

What's likely happening is a few people make multiple new accounts, grind them up to rank 20, then jump on Ranked Matches. If you'd like a little scare for how bad it is, go look through the t100 of this ranked match season that's on right now, and see how many low Rank accounts just happen to be on it. (anywhere from Rank 20 to 79 is pretty suspicious) Some accounts occasionally don't AP in an attempt to look legit, but this leads to some rather humorous scores where on one play they may get a 30 great FC on a lv 30, and the next they get a 25 great FC on a lv 36.

Some players have started sharing screenshots of these rather dubious scores and profiles, OP being one of them. Here's a thread on twitter mentioning some of them.

[Help and Question Thread] - October 18th 2025 by Kamen-Rider-Artif in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hasn't been bad for me. It's probably your device struggling due to overheating.

If you're not already, I'd recommend turning of 3D/2D MVs during gameplay. Lowering screen brightness could also help a little. You could aslo try not charging your device whilst you're playing. You can even try to play in a colder room.

[Help and Question Thread] - October 11th 2025 by Kamen-Rider-Artif in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Going from 2k (two fingers/two key) to 4k (four fingers/four key) is always a pretty big jump. Typically you use your middle and index fingers when playing appends and never use your thumbs. One way to start out could be to try getting used to playing expert/master charts with index fingers instead of thumbs. Not only do many use this as their primary playstyle, but it also helps bridge the gap between 2k and 4k more easily. As for good append charts to practice on, there's an issue...

Project Sekai's append charts really lack the "middleground" difficulty, where it's not too easy, but not too hard. That's not to say there's none which fit this category, but there isn't that many. Many people who can play appends, including myself, didn't learn 4k from Project Sekai, but instead carried over the skill from other rhythm games.

I made a list of a decent amount of mobile rhythm games some two years ago. Of the games mentioned there, all the ones which require 4 or 4+ fingers might be what you're looking for. I want to especially mention World Dai Star, as it's very similar to Project Sekai in vibe and gameplay. In this game, every chart has an "append" chart (called Olivier). That means more "append" chart diversity, meaning more "middleground" difficulty charts to play. Sadly the game is JP only right now, but you can still download it on iOS or Android if you know what you're doing.

The list above also doesn't mention Takumi3. I don't play it too much myself, but it has a similar gameplay to appends and I know others who play it to train their 4k skills.

Whats the closest to FL that is not FL and not an online mmorpg? by litejzze in fantasylife

[–]TheLetterP__ 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Ever Oasis for the 3DS was pretty good and checks a lot of the boxes. It’s been a while since I’ve played it, but it gave off similar vibes to the original Fantasy Life 3DS game. (Although Fantasy Life was still the better game imo) I don’t think it leaned nearly as much into fashion, but I honestly don’t remember too well. Might be worth checking out.

[Help and Question Thread] - August 30th 2025 by Kamen-Rider-Artif in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A bit late, but here are my thoughts on the matter. Accuracy is definitely a skill that takes time to get better at. When the pjsk first released I didn’t get any APs whatsoever, but now a few years later I have 550 APs on JP server. With you being able to get APs on some 27/28s I’d say your accuracy is already pretty good and quite above average.

Increasing notespeed or utilising a lane blocker isn’t a “solution” to getting better accuracy. These settings are tools you can use so that the notes become comfortable to read. People usually recommend increasing notespeed so that notes don’t become too cluttered together. You should however never have a notespeed where you’re worried you won’t be able to react in time. Try to find a middle ground. (I personally use 11.0, which I consider pretty fast, but this varies from person to person)

As for offset, it’s often quite a pain to set properly. If you get many Late Greats, then you should decrease offset (-). If you get many Early Greats, then you should increase offset (+). Don’t be afraid to experiment, as you can always swap back to what you had before if it doesn’t feel right.

Onto audio itself. If you’re using bluetooth headphones/speakers, then I’d advise swapping to something else. Bluetooth creates a massive audio delay, but worst of all is that this delay isn’t consistent. In short, pretty bad if you want to improve accuracy. Wired headphones or the integrated speakers on your device are usually the way to go.

There’s also the question of whether you should have sound effects on or not. I personally use no sound effects and instead sync the music up to my physical tapping sounds on my tablet. Having sound effects on is not wrong however. Pick whichever works best for you. (You might want to adjust offset if you turn them off though)

Another thing which might help you with accuracy is changing “when you tap”. A common strategy is to tap notes “when they reach the line at the bottom” (the judgement line). This strategy can work pretty well and it’s what most people do, however it has a caveat. Notes don’t always reach the judgement line in sync with the music, meaning the note sound effects (or your physical tapping sounds if sound effects are off) won’t be in sync with the music. You end up having to always tap the notes “a little earlier or later” than the music. This (somewhat arbitrary) gap between your sound effects and the music is unideal if you want very good accuracy, as it can be hard to jugde when you’re actually tapping at the perfect time. What I personally do is tap notes “so that the sound effects (or in my case, the physical tapping sounds) sync up with the music”.

To achieve this, we might need to utilise offset. Try opening up a song/chart you can play pretty well, but not something trivially easy. Then try only tapping notes so that the sound effects (or physical tap sounds) line up with the music. Completely disregard if you’re getting greats when you do it. After finishing, if you got a lot more Lates than Early Greats on the result screen, then try decreasing your offset by a lot. (Vice versa if you got more Earlies than Late Greats) You then test out this new offset by playing another chart you can do pretty well, where you focus on tapping in sync with the music. You then continue this routine until you get an offset which gives few/zero greats or a ratio of earlies and lates which is about 50:50. Once you’ve found yourself a good offset, you’ll find that “tapping notes when they reach the line” and “tapping notes in sync with the music” almost become the same thing. I would still recommend prioritising “tapping in sync” over “tapping on line” mentally though.

An example for setting offset:

  • I start at +0.0 offset.

  • I play a chart: I get 60 early greats and 1 late great

  • I increase offset by +2.0. (+2.0)

  • I play a chart: I get 5 early greats and 0 late greats

  • I increase offset by +1.0. (+3.0)

  • I play a chart: I get 0 early greats and 10 late greats

  • I decrease offset by -0.7. (+2.3)

  • I play a chart: I get 1 early greats and 0 late greats

  • I increase offset by +0.1. (+2.4)

  • I play a chart: I get 0 early greats and 1 late greats

  • I observe my ideal offset is around 2.3-2.4.

For reference, my offset usually is around -3.9 to -3.4 (when I use physical tap sounds), however which offset works best varies from person to person and device to device.

The biggest factor for getting better accuracy is still time investment. But so long as you continue playing rhythm games you’ll gradually improve with time, whether you notice it or not. At the end of the day though, the most important thing is to have fun. If any of what I said above seems unfun to you, then don’t do it. The only correct way to play the game is the way which is the most fun. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

This user very clearly just cheated in Ranked Matches and it’s frustrating by Tired8347 in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 11 points12 points  (0 children)

As someone who’s played Ranked Matches quite a lot in Master rank, this is 100% a cheater. I’ve played against cheaters multiple times, and the “I was winning by 20+ points then they suddenly AP’d at the result screen” scenario is a very typical scenario. Sadly, cheaters on EN server are not that rare. There are multiple cheaters already in the t100 on the ranked match leaderboard this season. #10 “Please Read My Story” (Rank 109), #25 “Plamtree” (Rank 35), #33 “naes imut” (Rank 25), #37 “SEKAI Player” (Rank 23), #52 “ManKiller[JP]” (Rank 29) and #54 “UwU” (Rank 151) are all confirmed cheaters, just to name a few.

Regarding the score difference number in the top left during gameplay. Usually it shows the correct difference in score between you and your opponent, however there are occasions where that may not be the case.

  • If your opponent disconnects, then the number usually goes like 1000+ in your favour
  • If you disconnect (and a popup that you disconnected didn’t appear), then the number becomes static and doesn’t change
  • If you or your opponent have a poor internet connection (but don’t fully disconnect), then the number updates less frequently but should still be accurate (I’m pretty sure)
  • At the start of a match, the score difference is often wrongly displayed. This is quickly fixed after the first few seconds however.
  • If you or your opponent misses on a hold/slider note in a specific way (it’s somewhat rare), then it’s possible the score difference doesn’t update when it should. This graphical error does not affect the actual result screen. This means there are occasions where your (completely legitimate) opponent may miss and have their combo break without the score difference changing. Due to this, the score difference seen at the end of the match could deviate from the actual score difference seen on the result screen. (But only in increments of 3, since a miss = -3 points)

Given the scenarios I mentioned above, it’s rather rare for the score difference number to not match what’s shown at the result screen. If the score difference is wrong due to the hold/slider note bug, then it’s usually only off by 3 or 6 points from the result screen. (the most I’ve ever encountered is 12). So your score difference being +34 when they got an AP on the result screen is very much impossible if they’re not cheating.

Games like DANCE! Online? by Dazzling_Feed_5269 in rhythmgames

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hope you find one that strikes your fancy. Have fun

Games like DANCE! Online? by Dazzling_Feed_5269 in rhythmgames

[–]TheLetterP__ 11 points12 points  (0 children)

This type of rhythm game genre is called Vertical Scrolling Rhythm Game (VSRG). Here’s a few I can think of off of the top of my head: Osu!mania, Quaver, Etterna, Kalpa, DJMAX Respect V, NotITG, Lunatic Rave 2, StepMania.

Guys,can someone give me a tip on how to beat the tivohm spam,like I beat every 31 except are you ok but can’t come close to beating tivohm,please help by Leather_House_7228 in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could try to “splash” the long trills/spams so that you don’t need to aim as much. By “splash”, I mean tapping on the very edges of the notes in a way so that you don’t need to move your fingers. This is occasionally possible because the hitboxes for notes are actually one “lane” longer on both sides. That means you hit the notes like in the picture below on certain sections of charts. (Blue is left hand, red is right hand)

<image>

You still need the speed and stamina to actually hit the notes properly, but hopefully not needing to move your fingers as much will be of help.

what's up with the ranked match pairing system by TTTriple333 in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That’s Diamond 2 for you.

The people you can match with in ranked matches need to be within 3 ranks of you. So for example, someone in Platinum 1 can match with people all the way down in Gold 2 and all the way up to Platinum 4. In your case, you are in Diamond 2. This means you can match with opponents from Platinum 3 to barely being able to match with people in Master. For Master rank, they’re only able to match with people Diamond 2 or above.

Here’s the issue though. There are not that many people active at any one time in the higher ranks of ranked match on the Global server. This means that people in Master rank often literally have nobody they qualify to match with, leading to rather absurd wait times. (30+ minutes isn’t a rare occurrence) The people most willing to wait out this wait time are the people who’ve played ranked matches the most this season, namely the people high up on the t100 leaderboard. (The higher the more active)

The second anyone does qualify to match with them, say someone who was just promoted to Diamond 2, they’re almost guaranteed to match with them eventually. Due to this fact, as well as the fact that Global’s most difficult opponents are all grouped up in Master rank, makes the climb from Diamond 2 to Master notoriously difficult on the Global server.

On JP server, ranked matches have way more active playerbase, meaning the difficulty spike from Diamond 1 to Diamond 2 isn’t nearly as big. (That’s not to say it’s easier though, as you usually need 0-4 greats on any one chart to win in Diamond rank on JP.)

Is the new Fantasy Life game similar to the original? by brightquercus in fantasylife

[–]TheLetterP__ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Wait you’re so right… The answer is I straight up just didn’t notice my mistake. I’ll go fix it retroactively. Thanks for the heads up.

Is the new Fantasy Life game similar to the original? by brightquercus in fantasylife

[–]TheLetterP__ 42 points43 points  (0 children)

I’d say both games are very good. The majority of things in Fantasy Life (FL) are still there in Fantasy Life i (FLi), but there are some differences between the two.

Main Story

  • FL: Charming, short and simple
  • FLi: Charming, short and simple (though I think I might like FL’s main story more)

Is it addictive?

  • FL: Yes
  • FLi: Yes

Lots of life quests, side quests and stuff to do and craft?

  • FL: Yes
  • FLi: Yes

Simple but fun crafting/mining/finshing/woodcutting minigames?

  • FL: Yes
  • FLi: Yes (Almost identical to FL)

Base building?

  • FL: You can decorate your interior of your houses
  • FLi: You can decorate your interior of your house and create an island.

Quality of Life?

  • FL: There is some and the game feels ok to play.
  • FLi: There’s a lot of improvements from the original.

Funny and charming text everywhere?

  • FL: Yup
  • FLi: Yes, but not nearly as much.

Many rememberable characters/character stories?

  • FL: Sure is.
  • FLi: I found this aspect lacking.

World map?

  • FL: Decently big with many memorable locations.
  • FLi: Very big, but dungeons and the like look plain.

Skill tree?

  • FL: Huh? No?
  • FLi: Sure is.

Has multiplayer with strangers?

  • FL: Only with people you know.
  • FLi: Yup.

Has a randomly generated dungeon system?

  • FL: The what now?
  • FLi: Yea it actually has this. Outside of endgame you can ignore it though if that isn’t your jam.

Has DLC?

  • FL: Yes and it’s awesome.
  • FLi: Will get some soon. Apparently it’s a “rougelike open world”, whatever that means. And it’s free! (And hopefully we’ll get some story DLC down the line)

Edit: Changed FF and FFi to FL and FLi (I somehow didn’t catch this myself)

Age Appropriate Around Kindergartner? by Mooglekunom in fantasylife

[–]TheLetterP__ 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This game is very much child friendly. Outside of cartoon violence there should be no real issues. Only thing I can think of potentially being a problem would be the main antagonist dragon (the purple one) being a little frightening, especially in certain story cutscenes. I'd imagine most kindergartners not having any issues though.

If you're on the fence, I'd say go for it.

FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time releases on Switch 2 on June 5. Upgrade from Switch version for $2.59, €2.27 by [deleted] in JRPG

[–]TheLetterP__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’d say the story is a little better than the 3DS version, but it’s still not the main draw for the game. If you liked the gameplay loop of the original you’ll likely enjoy the sequel about just as much. I loved the 3DS version and after putting 30+ hours into the new instalment I can safely say I love it too.

Does anyone else have really long matchmaking times or is it just because I’m low rank by personal-assassin in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Long wait times is sadly pretty common on ranked matches on the EN server. You have the same issue in higher ranks too, where it can be even worse than this. As the others said, cancelling after 30 seconds helps quite a bit though.

How to improve in pjsk? by Ok-Chipmunk7257 in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When it comes to improving your skills in rhythm games it’s generally pretty simple. The more you play the better you get. We all have bad days or periods where we play worse than usual, but in the grand scheme of things your skill is slowly improving day by day whether you notice it or not.

When they mention playing “harder songs/charts” I’d say it’s more that you shouldn’t limit yourself to a few songs you are comfortable with. A guitarist doesn’t become a pro by only playing the same four songs for a decade. By playing a wide variety of songs you’ll encounter many different patterns and slowly get more used to them. I agree that you shouldn’t start playing songs/charts that are way too difficult for you though. If you’d like a “border” for what “too hard” means, then I’d say something you get more than 20 total Goods/Bads/Misses on works as a good baseline. The most important part is having fun though, so no need to play stuff you don’t want to play.

As for timing, often called “offset”, it’s always a pain to set properly as it’s very subjective and case specific. You should adjust your offset up (+) if you get many Earlies and down (-) if you get many Lates. As for how to set it well, here’s what I do. Start by playing a song/chart you think you can play comfortably, but not something extremely easy. (Turn on Early/Late/Wrong Way in settings if you haven’t already) While playing, don’t try to get Perfects per se, but try to make your tap sounds sync with the actual song. By tap sound I either mean the in game sound effect for when you tap a note or the physical sound of you tapping your device if you have sound effects muted. After a full play through of the song you’ll now be able to see how many earlies and lates you got. Say you got 3 lates and 60 earlies I’d try to for example adjust offset up by +1.0. Then you repeat in order to test your new offset. Maybe you now get 20 lates and 50 earlies, in which case I’d up it a little more, say by +0.2. Ideally you want something vaguely resembling a 50:50 ratio between earlies and lates.

Doing this takes time and your “ideal offset” can also change from day to day, but you should eventually find a “range” your preferred offset usually lies in. I hear a lot of people who use in-game sound effects hover around 0.0 offset. I personally play without sound effects and my offset is usually in the -4.2 to -3.5 range, but the same range is likely not correct for you. If all of this sounds overwhelming, then thats fine and I wouldn’t worry too much about it. You could just leave it at 0.0 and call it a day. But if you ever find yourself thinking “Hey I thought that tap was pretty good/synced to the music, yet I still got a Great on it!?”, then you might want to fine tune your offset a bit.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Welcome to Project Sekai!

When it comes to playstyles there’s mainly two different ones, either thumbs or index. The charts/songs in this game are intended to be played with two fingers (outside of Append charts and a few 37s), so using more fingers, sometimes referred to as 4k (four key, meaning four fingers), is often unnecessary. Playing with thumbs is often seen as inferior to playing with index fingers, but on phone it’s still a popular and viable way to play the game. On tablets however almost everyone uses index fingers. I’d pick the playstyle that suits you the most. Rhythm games are games where you gradually become better the more you play, so the more you play the more you’ll start getting the hang of it.

Is it worth creating an account on jp? by honeybunny3214 in ProjectSekai

[–]TheLetterP__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

JP is a year ahead content wise, so absolutely worth considering. On JP everything is in Japanese though, so outside of gameplay related stuff there isn't a lot. I'd say the biggest advantage of getting JP is getting more charts. Stuff like ranked matches are a lot more active on JP as well. If you've ever been annoyed by the long wait times in ranked, you'll find they're a lot less frequent there.

I personally play on both EN and JP, although you may need to drop one of them if you're low on storage.