Current State of IIDX and the Path to Kaiden
August has ended in the blink of an eye. As a wrap-up, I'll organize the current state and challenges of IIDX, and consider what's missing to achieve Kaiden.
Current State
Subjective
I've finally broken out of a long slump and can feel an improvement in my skills. Until now, I couldn't surpass my past self, consistently getting 5 times my Best BP, which broke my spirit many times. But this time, I feel I've improved steadily, which is the biggest achievement.
On the other hand, even with this much growth, I still don't feel like I can achieve Kaiden, which makes me realize the depth of the IIDX path. I used to think that 10-dan and Kaiden were the same, or that I couldn't understand the difference between Kaiden and All-White, but as I get closer, I can see the differences clearly. I feel my meta-recognition has improved.
AC
Lamp Status
Let's look at CPI. It's a very useful tool, and its creator, Rise-san (@rice_Place, rice_Place's Diary) continues to provide useful information. They deserve an IIDX contribution award.
CPI
I achieved my August goal of getting under 50% for Minan. Since I mostly focused on filling in Hard clears, the Easy/Normal status doesn't reflect the actual situation.
CPI (hard)
I was filling from the bottom up. My feeling is that I can mostly clear the 1550-1600 range (Okashi), but some difficult patterns remain unlit. For the 1600-1650 range (Badmani, Tenkuu), I can still compete and probably light up about half in my current state. I haven't touched much of the 1650-1700 range (Mendes, Scorpion Fire), and depending on the pattern, I don't feel like I can light up quite a few. For the 1700-1750 range (Armageddon, Nageki, Ongaku) and beyond, I've never even thought about trying to light up Hard, so it's unknown.
I've only done EXH for a change of pace, but there are still patterns that seem like they could light up. I'm happy because I couldn't imagine lighting up EXH on ★12 just a little while ago.
There's no screenshot, but for ☆11 Minan, various turntable patterns, FAXX which probably requires memorization, and Do It!! where mysterious misses occur as if the judgment has changed, remain, totaling about 10 patterns.
Kaiden Songs
The benchmark for achieving Kaiden should be clear if you try the Kaiden songs. Everyone says not to do them on Regular, so I tried them on Random.
EMERALDAS
Shakunetsu
Himiko
Mei
Kaiden is so far away---. It's clear that not a single one meets the standard, so I need to work harder.
Turntable
Almost all ☆11 turntable patterns are Minan. Moreover, Shakunetsu at ☆10 gets about 70 BP, and I can't EXH HEARTACHE. It's clearly a weakness, but because it's a weakness, I don't choose it and there's no learning - a common pattern. At this point, I don't feel like I can do it at all.
Various Individual Elements
I can't get scores at all. To begin with, the judgment is all over the place, and depending on the difficulty, it's common for the Fast/Slow ratio to exceed 3. I've never gotten AAA on a ★11 pattern that I've Full Combo'd, and even on ★10, I rarely get AAA on only a handful of songs when I really try.
I'm confident I'll Hard fail when slow speeds come. Poze hasn't lit up.
I'm not good at CN, but it feels like it's not fatal. However, I'm Hard failing on BEAT PRISONER and Painful Fate, and I don't feel like I can EXH Gouman-chan, so it's a situation that doesn't allow for digression. I'll consider watching it closely with a sense of crisis.
BMS
For BMS, I'm basically filling in the sl difficulty table. There's a wide variety of patterns, and I'm doing them all on Regular to identify my weak patterns.
sl
I've gone through sl10 once. I'm progressing with the feeling that it's good if about half of the folder lights up EASY. Until recently, sl10 was full of incomprehensible note density that had me crawling at 2%, but somehow I suddenly became able to fake it. Of course, there are still some in sl10 that I can't handle at all, and now sl12 looks like a bunch of incomprehensible patterns.
I haven't touched the Insane difficulty table much, and by feel, I'm aiming for Easy around ★12-14. The difficulty difference within the folder is quite large, so I'm thinking of filling it in without worrying too much. By the way, ★1 naturally has 2 songs that are Minan (AltMirrorBell, twinklesky).
My dan status is as follows:
- Insane 4-dan
- New Insane 4-dan
- Satellite Skill Analyzer 2nd sl7
I can't get 5-dan because Angelic Snow -extreme- and SCARY BANQUET [BESESSENHEIT] are tough. But I can't get 6-dan either, so I'm in a halfway state.
Challenges
From here, I'll focus on the Kaiden patterns and identify the problematic elements.
It seems that Kaiden is a dan level that can't be passed unless the main elements of IIDX meet the standard. In other words, if you can't handle rapid hitting, vertical chains, turntables, and slow speeds, you'll be told "You're not worthy of Kaiden". Each of the 4 songs has a different difficulty, making it a well-designed dan level. Let's look at these elements individually.
Rapid Hitting
Since it includes the top ☆12 patterns, you need to be able to handle high density at least to the extent that the dan gauge doesn't decrease. For example, looking at the last part of EMERALDAS, there are about 40 notes in one measure. At BPM 176 with 1.36 seconds/measure, it's about 30 notes/second. Hitting all of them is too difficult at the challenge stage, but you need to be able to hit such high density to the extent that the gauge doesn't run out.
Vertical Chains
The first thing that comes to mind for vertical chains is Himiko, but it's short, so I don't think it needs to be considered much for the dan gauge. The challenge is the two parts in Mei.
One is the detailed vertical chains (first half). It's often said to be like a pattern with S-Ran applied, which makes sense. You need the skill to increase the gauge here. It also seems to be a necessary skill for improving stability in other keyboard parts.
The other is the hellish combination of acceleration & vertical chains. I haven't properly experienced it yet, but I often hear that this is extremely tough. I hear that Black Ika is similarly tough with the same combination. You need to be able to hit it to the extent that you don't fail.
Turntable
It's only used in Shakunetsu, but for keyboard maniacs, this is what increases the difficulty of Kaiden. I don't understand it at all, so there's nothing I can say at this point.
Slow Speed
When you think of Kaiden, you think of slow speed, and 3 out of 4 songs have slow parts. The well-known slow part of Mei is the boss of Kaiden, boasting overwhelming difficulty. From the numerous experiences I've seen, if you have a certain level of skill, you either fail on Shakunetsu or on the slow part of Mei.
EMERALDAS isn't that bad, but in Himiko and Mei, the gauge can melt, so you need to be able to adapt to sudden speed changes and hit. Aside from the difficulty of the placement, the last part of Himiko has 48 notes in one measure at BPM 88, which is about 17.6 notes/second. It seems to be close to the difficult part of quasar(A) at ☆11. It's a terrifying pattern where it's also difficult to change gears.
Countermeasures and Practice
Now, based on this information, I'll consider what I need to do.
Countermeasure: Rhythm Hitting
Looking at the major challenges of turntable and slow speed, summarizing the things I'm not good at reveals a challenge of not being able to "hit on rhythm".
I can't get scores, can't do turntables and vertical chains (Do It!!, Impla, etc.), and slow speed is a disaster. On the other hand, I can handle rapid hitting.
From this, I think the situation is that while horizontal recognition and block recognition have developed, hitting in rhythm and the accompanying vertical recognition haven't developed. Conversely, if I can hit in rhythm, that is, if I can get high scores, it might be the foundation for turntables and slow speed.
Thinking about it, the basics of turntables are being able to spin a certain number regularly, and for slow speed, only the scroll speed changes while the rhythm remains the same, so it makes sense that it's hard to acquire these skills just by playing Whack-a-Mole Mania. As a reflex hitter, I didn't understand the meaning of expressions like "practice with high BPM songs" or "match to medium speed patterns", but I feel a sign that I might understand if I can hit on rhythm.
Furthermore, with high density and vertical chains, it's easy to hit the limit of the ability to see and hit, and there's a need to skip some recognition. You can't compete unless you do things like hitting some lanes in 16th notes, hitting denim in 8th notes, or matching vertical chains to the melody. While working on sl10, I've felt the need to rely on rhythm to hit based on experience, and I infer that both recognition ability and rhythm need to be developed.
Therefore, I'll incorporate practice to hit on rhythm and get high scores, while also practicing individual elements.
Practice: Score
I'll start with simple patterns and move on to the next pattern when AAA becomes stable. There are plenty of patterns, so I'll try practicing low difficulty on the 1st or 2nd song of AC, or aim to improve scores on BMS songs that I've EXH'd or Full Combo'd. First, I'll focus on lighting them up.
Practice: Turntable
Often there's otherworldly advice written like "Look at the number and if it's even...", but I can't even see if it's odd or even. No, I might not be looking at all. To get used to focusing on the turntable while also hitting the keyboard, I'll start with simple ones and get used to it gradually.
For BMS, I'll get used to spinning easy-to-understand turntables on the 3rd Turntable Difficulty Table, and for AC, I'll aim to light up Hard on ☆9,10. For now, my goal is to be able to Hard ☆11 turntable patterns.
Practice: Slow Speed
It's tough to practice on AC, so I'll start with low difficulty on BMS with double Hi-Speed. Since even ☆8 on the normal difficulty table was shaky, I want to start from here and work on it until I can hit simple ☆12s.
In beatoraja, you can switch accounts at startup, so I'll separate a low-speed account to easily see the progress of lamps.
Other Practice
Rapid hitting and vertical chains like S-Ran can be continued as before. Looking at the progress of the Easy gauge when playing Kaiden songs on Random, it seems I can hit them to the extent that the gauge increases at this point. However, Regular is still unknown, and continued effort seems necessary to increase stability.
I also want to train normal vertical chains. It seems useful for aiming for Mei's slow speed and All-White on ☆11, and it seems fun to be able to fight bizarre patterns. I want to progress through the 2nd Term Rapid Hitting Difficulty Table, which is a parade of weird patterns, as a change of pace. When it stopped due to a human accident, I crawled at 2%.
Similarly, I want to train CN. For some reason, I like many songs with CN patterns. For BMS, there's the 3rd Term LN Difficulty Table, which is full of noodle patterns, so I want to practice to be able to firmly hit sensible patterns around ◆8.
Summary
It got long because there are too many challenges, but in short, it can be summarized as "do what you've been avoiding until now".
From September, while continuing to challenge existing high-density patterns, I'll incorporate the following practice. Probably the AC version will change and I won't be able to take Kaiden while I'm doing this, so I plan to work on it slowly.
- Aim for scores
- Reduce BP on simple turntable patterns
- Practice slow speed on simple BMS patterns
- Progress through difficulty tables for vertical chains and LN as a change of pace
The biggest discovery is that I felt that this game might actually be a game about pressing buttons in time with the music. Whether this is correct, what kind of world I'll see after practice. I'm looking forward to it in a few months.
