HOLD MY CURTAIN CALLS, THERE'S A NEW THEATRHYTHM: Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line

[Kazin]

Wait, what mechanic? I played a bunch yesterday, then did one song today and didn't notice anything special happen. But I did hit 2k rhythmia yesterday, so is it just rhythmia bonus that doesn't even display if you're maxed?

In the Music Stages section (separate from the mission menu) where you just pick songs from a list, there are little green icons next to songs that will give you a rhythmia bonus for playing them, in Curtain Call it was three songs per real life day (iirc. Maybe it was five. Been a while lol). In the demo, since you max out rhythmia at 2,000, you don't get any bonus for the moment, but it'll be pretty helpful I think once that cap is removed in the full game.

 

[Kirin]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, it's been so long since I finished up CC I'd forgotten about that.

 

[YangusKhan]

I am considering buying the HORI Split Pad Pro to play this game more comfortably in handheld mode. It's just really not that nice to use joycons for this game at all, and my Pro Controller + TV isn't always going to be an option.

 

[YangusKhan]

Speaking of RPG mechanics, I am wondering if the same multiplier passives will stack from multiple party members. So 2+ people having Faith and/or Enfire, for example.

I djd manage to beat the Guard Scorpion quest and I've allllmost cleared the 2x King Behemoth one from FF14, but that Odin one from 13 seems unreachable.

 

[SpoonyBard]

After spending more time with the demo I might be coming to the opinion that this is my least favorite of the Theatrhythms so far? I feel like something has shifted in the way they design the music stages because I could at least SS rank every song in the second-hardest difficulty in the two OG games and at least clear them on the highest difficulty, but here I'm struggling on Ultimate and Supreme feels insurmountable. I may be out of practice, but some songs require movements that are beyond me and have given me hand-cramps in trying to complete them.

I kind of hate the double-trigger setup in this game? Just something about it makes it very hard for me to parse. I understand this is probably a me-issue, but even so, it's disappointing. I know there's a Basic mode, but that kind of does too much? I don't want to eliminate the Slide triggers, I just don't want the doubles.

I dunno. I'll keep at it and see if something clicks later, but at the moment my opinion is that the double triggers were an addition too many and are currently spoiling the experience for me.

 

[Vaeran]

I agree that the double triggers are very hard to get used to, and I'm not there yet, but it hasn't negatively affected my enjoyment of the game so far. It still feels like something I can handle eventually, with enough practice. That said, they feel very satisfying when you do manage to hit them properly.

EDIT: I'm not sure if this was said already in this thread, but do note that when it comes to double slide triggers, the game treats and as the same input. As long as one stick is holding left and the other is holding right, it doesn't care which is which.

 

[SpoonyBard]

Yes, that one took some getting used to but it's not a big deal. The ones that really trip me up are when you have to hold one button and input other things on another. It starts with just two hold triggers that tended to be the same length in the first two difficulties and that's fine, but when you have to hold and also press and slide, or hold and then hold another for different lengths of time with press and slide triggers following it that just flusters me completely. It's a new level of complexity I'm just not enjoying yet, and the one remedy for it, Basic mode, removes other things I DO like.

I may get used to this with added practice and/or the full suite of tracks which may implement these doubles on Ultimate and Supreme better than the sampling we have. But for the moment I'm just a bit bummed out.

 

[YangusKhan]

Soooo, this is interesting: I got a Drain Scroll as an item drop. You use it the same way as the stat up consumables, and it teaches someone Drain.

 

[Kazin]

I'm glad at least customizable movesets are back, then, that's good.

 

[Sprite]

I'm having a much easier time controlling this game with the 8bitDo Lite SE, a controller designed for players with limited mobility. It has trigger buttons on the face of the controller and a non-slip pad on the back so you can lay it flat while playing. I've got it on a book on my lap and am finding it a lot more comfortable than JoyCons, and less likely to make my hands tense up and cause pain.

I'm not sure how good the latency is yet, as I'm not the best judge of such things and the buttons have less resistance than a normal controller so I may just not be used to it yet. It will drop inputs if I'm too far from the TV so I have to sit closer than I'd like. It seems pretty good so far, though. I was second guessing whether I wanted to buy this game or not but I'm definitely picking it up now that I think I've figured out a way to play without hurting myself.

 

[YangusKhan]

I'm having a much easier time controlling this game with the 8bitDo Lite SE, a controller designed for players with limited mobility. It has trigger buttons on the face of the controller and a non-slip pad on the back so you can lay it flat while playing.

Oh dang I've never heard of this controller before and it's pretty rad.

 

[Kazin]

I don't know if I want that controller for this game specifically, but I think I do want that controller because I really hate shoulder buttons lol

 

[Sprite]

Thanks to Reddit I just figured out that the stick inputs are pretty generous. Each of the eight directions will be triggered by the two surrounding directions, meaning each cardinal direction also includes the surrounding diagonals, and each diagonal includes the surrounding cardinal directions.

In other words, if you see an up input, it is triggered by up+left, up, or up+right. Dual inputs seem a bit more strict, though, as while they’re just as generous with what directions count as correct, the two sticks should still be going in the same direction. I was able to trigger a dual up input by pushing both sticks up+left, but pushing one up+left and one up+right resulted in a “Bad.”

I don’t know if different controllers work differently, though, so YMMV.

 

[YangusKhan]

I am still burning with so much anticipation for this game that I've decided on the order in which I will unlock the rest of the main games:

4, 6, 8, 10, 9, 3, 1, 11, 12

After that the spinoffs and sequels are gonna be whatever my mood decides. FFT will probably be first, at least.

Oh oh, so I got another ability scroll item drop. This time it was for... Drain Blade instead of Drain. Cool?

 

[Sprite]

I'm unlocking Mystery Dungeon to get Chocobo, then VI to get Mog, then IX to get Vivi, so I can have a party of all non-humans headed up by Red XIII. Then I don't know how I'll proceed. Release order, maybe?

 

[Positronic Brain]

I wiped out my demo data because I want to experience the release fresh.

(14 -> 8 -> 10 -> 6 -> whatever the mood strikes for me)

Is it the 16th yet?

 

[YangusKhan]

Is it the 16th 12 AM EST on the 16th yet?

 

[Kirin]

So I finished off all the tracks on Expert and was moving on to Ultimate and.. it quickly became clear that the control method I'd been using of random face buttons on the joycons (in a controller grip) wasn't going to cut it anymore. I saw people talking about using L/R triggers instead of buttons so you don't have to shift hand positions for different patterns which makes a lot of sense, and I *think* it's working better for me (obviously some fast runs that were near impossible the other way are much easier) but the mental re-mapping involved from the way I was doing it before is still tripping me up sometimes. Also it doesn't help that the Joycon triggers aren't my favorite (I think the lower ones are better, I was slipping off the upper ones when things got fast sometimes) *or* that the two sticks are at such different heights meaning you almost have to grip the thing diagonally.

Yeah, I could just buy a better controller, but ugh, just spent so much on the full game itself....

 

[SpoonyBard]

I gave that a shot and found it helped a bit, though unlearning the normal impulse to hit A instead will be a struggle.

I feel less down on it than I was previously, but still just a bit bummed that (to me at least) there seems to be a pretty big jump in difficulty between Expert and Ultimate. I really wish there were a setting between those two, that used more complicated double triggers more frequently than Expert but nowhere near as much as Ultimate. I'm just worried I'll eventually find myself bored with Expert but frustrated with Ultimate if I can't break through whatever mental wall is giving me so much trouble here.

 

[YangusKhan]

Unlocking more of the music might help with that. You could sort songs by their difficulty level on Ultimate and start with the lowest ones.

 

[SpoonyBard]

That may help yes. The selection of Ultimates we have right now all seem to be fairly high, though I've found the numbered difficulty indicator to have spotty reliability. I've definitely had an easier time on some higher number Experts than some with a lower number.

 

[Peklo]

Korone is currently streaming the full game, for those who need all the Theatrhythm in their lives through a dog hitting buttons. Check her recent streams of the Dragon Quest game in the series too; I certainly had never seen that game in action before.

 

[gogglebob]

Why isn't it tomorrow yet!?

 

[Sprite]

Reviews are about as glowing as you'd expect. The complaints are a tad all over the place. Funniest bit to me is people complaining that FFXIV gets more songs than any other game. I've never played XIV and even I recognize it deserves that distinction. It literally has the most music! Though of course my complaints about the character roster are just as silly. When you stuff such an absurd amount of content into a game people's expectations get wonky.

That may help yes. The selection of Ultimates we have right now all seem to be fairly high, though I've found the numbered difficulty indicator to have spotty reliability. I've definitely had an easier time on some higher number Experts than some with a lower number.

Are you playing docked? I’m finding Ultimate significantly easier undocked, what with lag and all.

 

[Kazin]

FFXIV has like five entire FFs worth of music, so while you might wish the other games got that much, there's literally not enough music in them to match it, I'd expect lol

 

[SpoonyBard]

Honestly each FFXIV expansion should have gotten its own entry.

Are you playing docked? I’m finding Ultimate significantly easier undocked, what with lag and all.

I've played entirely docked for now, yes. I'll give undocked a try.

 

[Positronic Brain]

The XIV selection falls *short*. It lefts out a lot of tracks and it's heavily skewed to early expansions. Heck, there's not a single track from Endwalker (and there are several bangers there).

So, yeah, it has so much music I'd wouldn't be surprised if it is the main entry the less percentage of tracks in Final Bar.

 

[Kirin]

On the docked / possible lag issue, I’ve heard people claiming that adjusting the timing with the in-game setting to I think it was -4 or something can help. Haven’t messed with it yet myself.

 

[Troa11]

If lag seems to be an issue for you, perhaps you should duck into the settings menu and run the delay calibration.

 

[Sprite]

I’ve definitely calibrated, both docked and undocked. It helps, but undocked is still easier.