Arrow speed and FA

Asymptote · Trick Member Joined: 07 Feb 2006 Location: Alloway, NY

I'd like to know what you guys think about this... I've noticed that most of the really high scoring ITG players use really fast arrow speed, almost always with 3x or 4x.... even the one and only guy that has passed Vertex^2 ex. at my old arcade plays it on 1.5x which seems rediculous to me (555 bpm x 1.5? ouch).... I however am more comfortable at lower speeds (usually 1.5x - 2x, 1x for really fast like Energizer or Vertex and 2.5x maybe for special cases).... i'm guessing this is because i prefer to play DDR on 1x, so playing DDR for a while 1x only has me comfortable with lower speeds rather than blazing arrows. Now here's the thing.... i want to know, do you guys think that even if i have no problem READING the chart at a low speed (Euphoria expert, very complicated but i pretty much know exactly what i have to step on 2x), would i greatly improve my FA if i started to train myself to better play higher speeds like 3 and 4x regularly? Do you think those high speeds have something to do with your great FA? Do you maybe use those high speeds for just the sake of FA or is it just because you really can't read the chart that well unless your arrows are going that fast? I'm wondering because i have relatively horrible FA compared to many, and i'm also in the minority in my arrow speed preference. Well?
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Thomas Hobbes · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:56 pm Post subject:

Playing with high speeds is just a play style. If you are more comfortable with lower speed mods and you start playing with high speed mods, you're not going to be used to it and you will most likely fail.

I play with high speed mods because it helps me read. I usually 4x or 3x everything. On songs like VerTex^2, I 2x it with hallway. If you make me play a song I usually 4x on 3x or lower, I will score poorly and will do poorly.
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Kalek · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:03 pm Post subject:

I find that I get better FA in higher speeds - to a point. But, as you're going up, don't all of a sudden go up from 2x - 4x. Go up from 2.5x only on songs like 130 BPM or less until you get used to it. When I switched to 4x, I also went to Hallway. Hallway allows you to see farther down the screen. Now I use 5x up to about 140 or 150, and 4x on anything higher, except super fast songs like Pandy, Energizer, and Vertex^2.

Synaesthesia · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:44 pm Post subject:

Mini is also a good trick for increasing read speed.
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CHUCK BASS · Trick Member Joined: 26 Jul 2004

It's something you can't do on DDR.

The ITG arrow skins make fast speeds easier to read, so now anything that isn't 300+ is slow on 1.5x/2x for me.

I usually read on 3-4x now. It helps a lot.

Edible Bondage Tape · Trick Member Joined: 26 Jan 2002 Location: Kerri

Synaesthesia · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:53 pm Post subject:

Depends on how big a mod you put on it. If you take a 150 song and put it on 1.5x, then yeah, you probably notice an immediate improvement. But if you have no speed mod experience (as we don't in this example), and I said play this on 3 or even 4x (a speed range I would rather comfortably read at) it would mostly likely be too big a jump for the average 1x player.
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Thomas Hobbes · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:58 pm Post subject:

J. S. Mill · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject:

Speed increases the visual size of the fantastic window, so they will improve your visual FA. Some players notice a critical difference (visual players), some none at all (audio players). It depends on you.
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Tyrgannus · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:37 pm Post subject:

Correct. I am an audioplayer, and I space the arrows out enough just to read them comfortably and no faster because I never EVER look at the target arrows thus the improved FA doesn't really help me.

And yes, Pandemonium x1 isn't very logical. I don't think anyone asked it, but even us audio players usually play it on x1.5.
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Capajoe · Trick Member Joined: 14 Sep 2005

Pickles... nuff said >_>

If I remember correctly he has a 90% on Euphoria 1x.

J. S. Mill · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:15 am Post subject:

djzmudpony · Trick Member Joined: 11 Nov 2003 Location: Edison, NJ

In my experience, I've found that playing somewhere around 400 - 420 BPM is a comfortable play zone for me. Generally this is 2.5X or 3X and it makes it easier to read large clusters of arrows. For the most part when I speed it up faster than this it allows me to READ the notes better, but my FA goes down.

My two cents.
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Rainault · Trick Member Joined: 21 Mar 2004

I'm gonna have to join the minority and say that although I like speed mods in ITG, I don't use the higher-end mods like most people. I've noticed that my speed mod preference depends not only on BPM, but also on song difficulty. For example, Pick Me Up and Tango is a sub 140 song (I don't recall the exact BPM), and it's an 8 on Hard, so I'll play that on 1.5x most of the time. Charlene is at about the same speed, but it's an 11, so I play that at 2x. Euphoria is only slightly faster at 140, but it's a 12, and a densely packed 12 at that, so I would play that at 2.5x or maybe even 3x.

There are only four songs in which I always play 1x: Pandemonium, VerTex, VerTex^2, and Energizer. I can't think of a single song I'd play at any speed higher than 3x, not even Bloodrush. Granted, I haven't passed Bloodrush yet, but I can read it relatively well at 2.5x or 3x. It's just a matter of stamina for me. Every once in a while, one of the other players will challenge me to play a song at 1x (he's a 1x no-bar whore, though no offense intended to him), and I'll do it. I score lower than I would have with a speed mod, but I can usually read the song just fine.

Rajjab · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:05 am Post subject:

IHYD.Blake · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:42 pm Post subject:

MFS has triplestarred almost every double expert 9, and probably all hard 9s and below on 1x. Its just a playing style.
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DJTyrant · Maniac Member Joined: 25 Jan 2002 Location: Ventura, CA

Kaku · Trick Member Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Location: Surrey, BC

mydixiewrecked · Trick Member Joined: 29 Mar 2005

J. S. Mill · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:53 am Post subject:

Baggage has it right. If you play frequently (and he does) and you started as maybe in the top five in the world, it's inexcusable for it to be the case that you could enter one of my local tournaments and not make top eight.
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