Where does ITG go from here (ITG3 thoughts/ideas?)

[DJTyrant]

I was thinking that with ITG2 being out for a good while and now being completly unlocked we could really think about what could really be done to improve the game. What does Roxor do well? What areas do they need improvement?

I'll start off with a few ideas:

The Good
- Music Selection: for the most part the somewhat generic techno/dance music really fits the game well.
- Presentation: the game is definetly a graphical upgrade from DDR and the best looking dance game around.
- Mods: mods really add a whole new dimention to the game that we've never seen before, I love the mods and find them to be a good change of pace from just traditional percentage attack.
- Marathons: Taking the nonstop course concept from DDR and really expanding upon it. I love the courses and I think Roxor is doing a great job with these and even letting us preview songs that are not unlocked through these fun courses.
- Battle: An absolutle blast because I love mods and I have a friend who loves mods, makes for a fun variation on straight percentage battles.

The Bad
- Stepcharts: ok, a lot of the stepcharts I think are not that great (Chris Foy I'm looking at you) they definetly could improve in this department and not use such BS charts and be more creative. Stop the BS mines (hi VerTex) and rediculous hand usage in some songs and just make more FUN stepcharts. I've been playing DDREX again lately and been having more fun just playing easier stepcharts that are not as crazy/bs.
- Doubles: scrap the doubles stepcharts and start over. They're terrible and do not work well at all. Why do you think so few people play doubles?
- More Characterization: I think ITG2 headed in a good direction with some characters in the option selection screen in the beginning, but I think it definetly could (and should) be expanded on.
- BETTER TESTING: the crashing bugs are getting old Roxor. At RGC Gamma the machine crashed at least two times during the tournament, at least once right before arrows appeared, and once during the middle of Hardcore Symphony. It just seems like the game is not in enough of a testing stage before release (look at the dedicabs scoring bugs, crashing when upgraded etc.) Maybe there should be more testing locations? This is an area that definetly needs improvement. I think Bloodrush should have stayed a 13 but because LilQ said it should be a 12 it was brought down. I think for dance game players of all levels/experience should be survery and maybe brought in to test out the game to make it more enjoyable for all.

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This is all just opinion by me to spark up a little bit of debate. If you agree/disagree just add to the topic, I think this could potentially help the future of ITG possibly into making an even for enjoyable/fun dancing game for all levels of players.
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[Wolfman2000]

I'll comment on the whole doubles thing, partly due to my own experiences and due to discussions with MJ.

DDR doubles is...well, with the exception of a few songs (say, PSMO, LoM, Unlimited, etc)...mostly a cakewalk. Only a few charts actually challenge you with more than basic crabstepping plus simple crossovers, and a good deal of those charts were relegated to 1st-3rd mix Standard.

PIU doubles is challenging, but fun if you know how. With that game, you know that all of the charts were specifically made so that it's possible to pass/A/S provided you understand where the feet go. Of course, that doesn't mean it's easy; some of the Nightmares probably beat Vertex^2 Expert Single/Double.

ITG doubles actually takes the best (worst?) of both worlds. Hard doubles is pretty close to what DDR doubles is, minus the occasional hands, stretch jumps, rolls (why hello thar Renaissance), mines, and occasionally tougher crossovers found only in a few of the DDR songs. Expert doubles, though, is best considered to be "8 panel Pump". Many of the patterns can involve twisting, super stretching, difficult three+ panels to hit...the things that are present in Nightmare mode. ITG also made Habanera 1 Expert Doubles as a tribute to PIU's half double mode, which is what some of the Nightmares basically are.


I don't see any problem with the expert double charts in general; yes, some aren't that high quality, but I for the most part have nothing against it. If you want your traditional DDR doubles (or as traditional as one could get with ITG), stick with Hard mode. For those that want to push themselves/like Pump, Expert is there.


That is all.
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[[+Duracell-]]

The entire point of ITG is to raise the difficulty bar that DDR has set, which isn't very high at all. Aside from the hard 10s in DDR, everything else is fairly easy.

Now, I'm not very good at all...but I find ITG more challenging and fun than DDR. I'm not even going to waste my time trying to pass the final 3 songs I haven't passed yet, because i think those are BS stepcharts. (LoM, PSM, and PSMO). A lot of ITG Expert charts make more sense and are more fun than those songs (Infection ftw)
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[tac-tics]

[Joel Stud?!]

I wouldn't dis my grandpa, I I would visit him a little less often if he wasn't up to the visit. I do pop in DDR occasionally, it's still a good game. And I bet you ANYTHING that the next installation in DDR will be upgraded a few steps in dificulty.

[Synaesthesia]

Super eurobeat for ITG3. And maybe a teensy bit of J-Pop/Rock/Pop Rocks. Seriously, I'm not even making this up. Those are so much more danceable than Machinae Supremacy, for instance. I'm not asking for a gigantic flood of these, but at least consider a couple super eurobeat songs. I can't play hardly anything beyond a 10, so I can't really offer much of an opinion on higher charts, but as long as the 9-10 range stays fun and challenging, I'll be happy.
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im a lasagna whale

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[DJTyrant]

[Geostigma]

i agree with syn, a lil jpop/rock would be very nice. id love to see a chart to The Mad Capsule Markets-N pulse. maybe just some more stuff with a danceable bass line...ooorrr...just some more speedcore, i love the songs like energizer and pande that have those quick speeds and dont need to have a bunch of colors you'll have nightmares about to be difficult('cept for that slowdown in energizer).

PS- ive only had a chance to play ITG2 once, so i cant really comment much on the new rolls and marathons.

[0rion]

I'd personally like to be able to change modifier percentiles like they do during Marathon courses. Think about it: -1000%Mini, 600%Dizzy, 200%Expand.

Now THAT would be cool!

As for the stepcharts, most DDR players feel uncomfortable with ITG stepcharts since they actually go along with the music (usually).

90% of DDR stepcharts follow the well known (and played out) "baseline 8th note steps, gallop section in the middle, more baseline eighth note steps" variations. The few that don't do stuff like this (Insertion, Vanity Angel, etc.) are often poorly made and in some cases, really off-sync stepcharts.
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-Sir "O"
There's a little yellow bird on my avatar. (Brawl FC: 4640-1720-6690)

[CHUCK BASS]

It really ticks me off how some of you are complaining about the difficulty of stuff, when thats what we all really wanted and loved about ITG2 in the first place.

Great, you can't pass it, dosen't mean it shouldnt be there.

ITG3, theres is a lot more they can do with mods.
In that sense, they should also make the modifier menu time atleast 40 seconds. I love using mod's and selecting and de-selecting is a real pain with around 20 seconds to do it.

ITG also went above and beyond with making the steps matching parts you don't always hear. Some of what you call "Pointless Stepcharts" are parts of the music. Euphoria keeps getting bashed for too much use of stuff and OMGZ ITS SO HARD!!11!1! Then practice, don't cry about it and say it sucks when you haven't even passed it. A challenge is what we've needed, and its what we got.

I agree with the fact that these need to be tested way in advance. Having to de-bug scores is a pain, and it could have easily been avoided. More test locations would really help.

Pad's are something that aren't a big problem but I want it fixed. Pad way off's and pad mines, there is a way to fix it, just just need to figure it out. Haha.

Basically, ITG2 was a longshot for RoXoR. Their first really big arcade game did great its first time out. But now they really need focus on the little things for ITG3.

[DDRNemesis]

I wish RoXoR would put more time and effort into the hard stepcharts. I have really only played ITg for PS2. Mouth hard was basically the same step patterns over and over, and the song became very repetitive. Hands are another thing that are more of a pain than a good thing, they are good in things like Rome0 & Juli8 but horrible in songs where you have to use 2 hands and feet at the same time. The mods don't make one little bit of a difference to me, the only ones I have ever seemed to care about are the speed mods and the overhead mod. All the others seem more like gimmicks to me just like eyetoy support in DDR.

I also have to agree with more variety in music. The songs get so boring for me cause most of them sound the same. Plus trance makes me sleepy. I aslo don't like most of the inhouse work just because its not very original and and most of it fits into very generic genres.

Overall I would still give the FUN and MUSIC part to DDR, while ITG does contain CHALLENGE. It doesn't contain the FUN that I get from DDR.
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[Joel Stud?!]

I'm just going to list off some of the songs I've played in Stepmania that I see good potential for for ITG...

1- almost anything i've played by DJ Sharpnel
2- Boy Girl Song (or is it Girl Boy song)
3- Something similar to I Am Maid would be fun

Pretty much it's the music that's lacking for me. Beyond that it's just improvements that are WAY beyond necessary. As mentioned above, percentages would be nice. And sometimes step charts need to be less reptitive (Don't EVER Copy and paste a series of steps to later in the song, even if you modify the arrow directions. Please TRY to modify the rhythym as well).

[Thomas Hobbes]

[VxJasonxV]

[Antipathy]

other than the fact that there are alot of pad errors on all the ITG machines ive play'd at, i see no problems with the game. im not a pickey person when it comes to stepcharts, if its not good, i dont play it. ITG3 should have more Trance to try and seperate it from DDR a bit.
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'nuff said

[DJZylch]

[DDRNemesis]

I hope he is, it seems like just about everything on ITG1 was trance. ITG3 should spend a little extra cash to liscense some well known dance tracks. Vincent de Moor seems to fit in well with ITG.
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[Synaesthesia]

Well, since zombies have risen from the grave, I guess Roxor will want to make sure ITG3 kicks even more ass than originally intended.
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im a lasagna whale

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[DJTyrant]

Yeah they definetly will (I think) need content to attract the more casual player into ITG. ITG3 definetly will make or break Roxor I think if DDR Nova is really succesful (which I think it will be).
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[Char]