Organizing the Current State of IIDX and the Road to Kaiden
August flew by in the blink of an eye. As a conclusion, I will organize the current state and challenges of IIDX and consider what is lacking to achieve Kaiden.
Current State
Subjective
I have finally overcome a long slump and can feel an improvement in my fundamental skills. Previously, I couldn't surpass my past self, and I continued to achieve a state where I would get five times the Best BP, which broke my spirit many times. However, this time, the biggest achievement is that I was able to improve smoothly.
On the other hand, despite growing this much, I still don't feel like I can achieve Kaiden, which makes me feel the depth of the IIDX path. I used to think that 10th Dan and Kaiden were the same, or that I couldn't understand the difference between Kaiden and All White, but the closer I get, the more I understand the difference. I feel an improvement in my meta-cognitive abilities.
AC
Lamp Status
Let's look at it using CPI. It's a very useful tool, and the creator, Rise-san (@rice_Place, Rice_Place's Diary), continues to provide valuable information. IIDX Merit Award.
CPI
I achieved the goal of cutting below 50% of unachieved in August. Most of what I did was hard filling, so the Easy/Normal situation is disconnected from reality.
CPI (hard)
I was filling from the bottom. As a feeling, the 1550-1600 range (snacks) is almost filled, but some difficult charts are not lit. The 1600-1650 range (Bad Mani, Sky) can still fight, and probably half can be lit even now. I haven't touched much on the 1650-1700 range (Mendes, Scorpion Fire), and depending on the chart, there are quite a few that don't feel like they can be lit. I haven't even thought of lighting hard on the 1700-1750 range (Armageddon, Lament, Music) and beyond, so it's unknown.
I haven't done much EXH either, but there are still charts that seem like they could be lit. A little while ago, I couldn't imagine getting EXH on ★12, so I'm happy.
I don't have a screenshot, but there are about 10 charts left for ☆11 unachieved, including various plate charts, FAXX which probably requires memorization, and Do It!! which produces mysterious misses that make me think the judgment has changed.
Kaiden Songs
The guideline for obtaining Kaiden should be clear when you play Kaiden songs. Everyone says not to do regular in any case, so I tried measuring with random.
EMERALDAS
Shakunetsu
Himiko
Mei
Kaiden, too far away―――――. It's clear that none of them meet the standard, so let's work harder.
Plates
The so-called plate charts for ☆11 are almost unachieved. In fact, even ☆10's Shakunetsu produces about 70 BP, and HEARTACHE cannot be EXH. It's clearly a weakness, but because it's a weakness, I don't choose it, and there's no learning, which is a common flow. At the moment, I don't feel like I can do it at all.
Various Individual Elements
I can't score at all. In the first place, the judgment is traveling to Brazil, and depending on the difficulty, the Fast/Slow ratio exceeds 3 daily. I've never gotten AAA on a full combo ★11 chart, and even for ★10, it's only occasionally when I put in a lot of effort on a handful of songs.
I have confidence that I'll drop hard when low-speed comes. Pose is not lit.
I'm not good at CN, but it's not fatal. However, I'm dropping hard on BEAT PRISONER and Painful Fate, and I don't feel like I can EXH Arrogant-chan, so it's a situation that requires vigilance. I plan to monitor it with a sense of crisis.
BMS
I'm basically filling the sl difficulty table in BMS. There's a wide repertoire of charts, and I'm doing everything regularly to identify difficult charts.
sl
I went through sl10 once. I'm progressing with the feeling that it's okay if about half of the folder lights EASY. Until recently, sl10 was a barrage of incomprehensible volume that made me crawl at 2%, but for some reason, I suddenly became able to fake it. Of course, there are some in sl10 that are completely insurmountable, and now sl12 looks full of incomprehensible charts.
I haven't touched much on the insane difficulty table, and it feels like aiming for Easy at around ★12-14. The difficulty gap within the folder is quite large, so I'm thinking of filling it without worrying too much. By the way, ★1 naturally has two unachieved songs (AltMirrorBell, twinklesky).
The rank is in this state.
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Insane 4th Dan
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New Insane 4th Dan
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Satellite Skill Analyzer 2nd sl7
Angelic Snow -extreme-, SCARY BANQUET [BESESSENHEIT] are tough, and I haven't gotten 5th Dan. That said, I'm in a halfway state where I can't get 6th Dan either.
Challenges
From here, I will focus on Kaiden charts and identify the problematic elements.
Kaiden seems to be a rank that cannot be passed unless the main elements of IIDX meet the standards. In other words, if you can't handle the four elements of random play, vertical play, plates, and low-speed, you'll be told, "You can't have Kaiden." Each of the four songs has different difficulties, and it's a well-designed rank. Let's look at these elements individually.
Random Play
The top charts of ☆12 are lined up, so you need to handle high density to the extent that the rank gauge doesn't decrease. For example, looking at the last part of EMERALDAS, there are about 40 notes in one measure. At BPM176, it's 1.36 seconds/measure, so it's about 30 notes/second density. Pressing everything is too challenging at the trial stage, but you need to be able to press such high density to the extent that the gauge doesn't run out.
Vertical Play
The first thing that comes to mind with vertical play is Himiko, but it's short, so I don't think there's much need to be conscious of it in the rank gauge. The challenge is the two parts of Mei.
One is the fine vertical play (first half). It's often said to be like a chart with S-random applied, and it makes sense. You need the skill to increase the gauge here. It also seems necessary for improving the stability of other keyboard parts.
The other is the combination of acceleration & vertical play, which is a hellish combination. I haven't experienced it properly yet, but I've heard it's really tough. Black Squid is also said to be a dangerous combination. You need to be able to press to the extent that you don't fall.
Plates
It's only used in Shakunetsu, but for keyboard maniacs, this raises the difficulty of Kaiden. I don't understand it at all, so I have nothing to say at this point.
Low-Speed
Kaiden is synonymous with low-speed, and 3 out of 4 songs have low-speed parts. Needless to say, the low-speed of Mei is the boss of Kaiden, boasting overwhelming difficulty. According to numerous experiences, if your fundamental skills are above a certain level, you'll either fall at Shakunetsu or at the low-speed of Mei.
EMERALDAS is not so much, but in Himiko and Mei, the gauge can melt, so you need to be able to respond to and hit sudden speed changes. Setting aside the difficulty of the arrangement, the last part of Himiko has 48 notes in one measure at BPM88, so it's about 17.6 notes/second. It seems to be close to the difficulty of the difficult part of ☆11's quasar(A). It's a terrifying chart that's hard to gear change.
Countermeasures and Practice
Now, based on the information so far, I will consider what I need to do.
Countermeasure: Rhythm Pressing
The major challenges of plates and low-speed reveal a challenge of "not being able to rhythm press" when summarizing weaknesses.
Score doesn't come out, plates and vertical play (Do It!!, Impra, etc.) can't be done, and low-speed is disastrous. On the other hand, I can press random play.
From this, I considered that while horizontal recognition and block recognition are growing, pressing in time with the rhythm and the accompanying vertical recognition are not growing. Conversely, being able to press in time with the rhythm, that is, achieving a high score, may be the foundation for plates and low-speed.
Thinking about it, plates are based on being able to turn a certain number regularly, and low-speed is just a change in scroll speed with the same rhythm, so it's understandable that it's hard to acquire even if you're a mole-whacking maniac. As a reflex presser, I don't understand the expressions "practice with high BPM songs" or "in line with medium-speed charts," but I feel a sign that I might understand if I can rhythm press.
Furthermore, in high density and vertical play, you tend to hit the limit of the ability to press by sight, and you need to skip recognition to some extent. You need to do things like pressing some lanes at 16ths, pressing denim at 8ths, or vertical pressing to the melody to be able to fight. While working on sl10, I feel the necessity of pressing relying on rhythm based on experience, and I suspect that it's necessary to cultivate both recognition and rhythm pressing.
Therefore, I will incorporate practice to press in time with the rhythm and achieve high scores while practicing individual elements.
Practice: Score
I will start with simple charts and move to the next chart once AAA becomes stable. There are plenty of charts, so I will try practicing by selecting low difficulty in the 1st and 2nd songs of AC, aiming to improve scores on BMS songs that are EXH or full combo. First, focus on shining.
Practice: Plates
There's often advice written in another dimension like "look at the number of plates and if it's even..." but I can't even see if it's even or odd. No, I might not be looking at all. To be able to allocate awareness to plates while also hitting keyboards, I will get used to it starting with simple ones.
In BMS, I will get used to turning plates that are easy to understand on the 3rd Plate Difficulty Table, and in AC, aim to light Hard on ☆9,10. The goal for the time being is to be able to hard plate ☆11 plate charts.
Practice: Low-Speed
It's tough to practice on AC, so I'll practice low-speed from low difficulty by doubling the high-speed on BMS. Even the standard difficulty table ☆8 was suspicious, so I want to start from here and work until I can hit simple ☆12.
In beatoraja, you can switch accounts at startup, so I'll split it into a low-speed account to easily see the progress of the lamp.
Other Practice
It seems okay to continue as before with random play and vertical play like S-random. Looking at the transition of the Easy gauge when doing Kaiden songs with random, it seems that I can probably press to the extent that the gauge increases at this point. However, since regular is unknown, and to increase stability, it seems necessary to continue refining.
I also want to train regular vertical play. It seems useful for aiming for the low-speed of Mei and ☆11 All White, and it seems fun to fight with peculiar charts. I want to progress the 2nd Phase Vertical Play Difficulty Table which is a parade of strange charts as a diversion. I crawled at 2% when it stopped due to a personal accident.
Similarly, I want to train CN as well. For some reason, I like many songs with CN charts. In BMS, there's a difficulty table full of udon charts called the 3rd Phase LN Difficulty Table, so I want to practice to be able to press common sense charts around ◆8 firmly.
Summary
There are too many challenges, and it became long, but in short, it can be summarized as "do what you've been avoiding."
From September, while continuing to challenge existing high-density charts, I will incorporate the following practice. Probably, while doing it, the AC version will change, and I won't be able to take Kaiden, so I plan to work on it carefully.
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Aim for scores
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Reduce BP on simple plate charts
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Practice low-speed on simple BMS charts
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Progress difficulty tables like vertical play and LN as a diversion
The biggest discovery is that I actually felt that this game might be a game where you press buttons in time with the music. Whether this is correct, and what the world beyond practice looks like, I look forward to in a few months.
