December 31st, 2024 - Arcaea, vivid/stasis, ProSeka
-- NOTE: vivid/stasis Final Chapter Part 1 spoilers located deeper into the post // Read with caution, and click off before the Arcaea scores end if you fear spoilers! --
Today is the day... the final day... the day we would finally wrap up this absolute hell of a year and enter the new year 2025 on a completely new slate . It's honestly still really shocking just how fast the year went by, and (as of the 2025 where i'm writing this post) it still doesn't feel anything like a new year . well, i guess that's a given, right? not like a new year really changes anything... except maybe giving a new beginning/clean slate to start on some resolutions and set some goals!! so in that case, i'd say it's still pretty important!!! i've got several ideas for goals i'd like to shoot for this year, mainly ones in my real life that could really use all of my focus, so i might be a little more lenient with my goals in regards to rhythm games this year... but i'll still set some tough and significant stuff for me to achieve this year when the rhythm gaming goals come around, so stay tuned for that later today!!!
the scores today...! ...started off pretty weak, in all honesty . i was just trying to complete some challenges for a silly little arcaea community server and so the scores themselves aren't very good, but i guess there's a few easy song upscores due to one of the challenges??? one being Dement ~after legend~ (FTR-7+, MAX-10 -> MAX-6), the other being Brand new world (FTR-7+, MAX-7 -> MAX-4), both definitely MAX-able in the near future... maybe i could go for more MAX scores as part of the new year??? there's also a bunch of plays on Prayer while helping a friend with another challenge, including a MAX score on the PRS-5 and a MAX-1 (tragic) score on the PST-2!!!
<== VIVID/STASIS FINAL CHAPTER PART 1 SPOILERS BEGIN HERE // BEWARE IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED IT IN FULL!!!!! ==>
given what was just about to come, however, these Arcaea scores above were less of the spectacle of the day and more of a warm-up for things to come... i wrapped up the arcaea gaming as i finished depleting my stamina and was about to head out into the open of the house to ring in the new year with my super loud family... that was, until talking in the Hajimeli Hideout server for a bit and making jokes with the other members gave me a VERY daring and VERY silly idea for wrapping up the year... what if -- despite only having 17821 rating at the time of getting this idea -- i managed to grind my way up to 18000 rating before 2025 approached in my timezone?
fufufu... delightfully devilish, 2dkaps! but how were you supposed to achieve that with only 5 hours until the new year and a bug that made the final chapter song unplayable (and also your skill level lol)? that's a good question, and as for the answer... i didn't know . i honestly didn't know why i was doing this or if it was even possible, but each new play i got only served to synthesize the planted idea deeper within my brain . like, just recall the rating i had before this whole run started: 17821, only achieved by playing through and clearing Class 12!!! and even before that run, i was only at 17717 rating at the start of C5P1, and 17762 by the time i unlocked everything in the chapter!!! it was still quite a long shot away from being achieved, sure, but i believed in myself... i believed in the grind... i believe i could legit pull this off .
and so, with a peek into the final chapter folder and the songs i had to defeat along my path, i got to work!!! starting with a sightread on one of the new node songs, ULTIMATUM [FIN 16], where i got a sweet sightread near-FC and near-V rank -- a lot of rating to start with right off the bat!!! and then it continued with my first S+ (and 999k) on B3611V [ENC 16+], getting me to the 17850 mark already!!! 4 hours left on the clock, so i had to act faster if i wanted to make it in time . looking to the Phigros Soundscan songs for inspiration, i targeted and got quite a bit of rating from an SS and SS+ (1.002M -> 1.005M) on Distorted Fate [ENC 16], followed by a somehow way better sightread score on Rrhar'il [FIN 16+] that pushed my rating from 17868 to 17896??? hah???? ...well, i'll get to my slight concerns about that one later . doubting my ability to repeat my performance on the chart due to it being Rated a 16+, i set my sights on yet another newly unlocked 16+, SENT://INEL [ENC 16+], to boost my semi-poor score on it, and i managed to upscore it to a clean SS and broke the 17900 rating barrier with 17903!!!!
whew! now here's a quick split in images because writing that much in back-to-back paragraphs is probably very dizzying . however, this also serves as a safe space for me to complain about Rrhar'il [FIN 16+]'s rating and why i think it's placed so awfully high... now i appreciate how much it boosted my rating and i really do love the chart, but to rate this a 16+, the second-highest visible difficulty in the game... feels way too ridiculous . to be fair, i should've seen this coming given just how confusing and conflicting the scale has gotten since probably v3.0, but it's the culmination of nonsensical ratings and inconsistent difficulty that make this the straw that broke my camel's back... it's not a 16+, it's not anywhere close to a 16+, it's way closer to any 15+ i've ever played in terms of difficulty, and to compare it to the other, much harder 16+s (even Last Wish, which has the same chart constant as this chart!) despite lacking heavily in any of their difficult qualities... it's so hard to take this game's rating scale seriously when half the charts in the game straight up lie about their difficulty level . i can't even confidently place this at 15+ because i don't even know what it means for a chart to be 15+ anymore, but i definitly think this chart falls way short of even being a 16...
ah well, enough complaining, i'm gonna grow gray hairs at this rate if i keep shitting on a passion project that isn't even out of early access yet... but i really do hope they reconsider their rating scale as a whole so gross misratings like this one don't happen again . while this is technically my first and only 16+ FC, it really does not feel like one and i'm ashamed to brand it as such... unlike Rrhar'il, however, these songs seem to reflect the difficulty of a 16+ WAY better!!! AND there were way more potential upscores to be achieved on the charts in order to boost my ratings!!! revisiting SENT://INEL [ENC 16+], i raised it from a clean 1.000M up to almost 1.003M, giving me a +8 rating boost!!! following this was ANOTHER near-1.003M upscore, this time on B3611V [ENC 16+] (which i hadn't even gotten to SS yet before this play!!), giving me +11 rating this time!!! paid another visit to APOCALYPSE CALL , the ENC 17 and FIN 16+, to snag some rating from both... and i got quite a bit!!! ...though alas, i'm still a bit unsatisfied with the scores on each chart
no time to worry about that though, because i was burning out on both difficulties and needed a quick break... and that's where switched over to set another upscore on SENT://INEL, raising it up to a 1.005M and breaching the 17950 rating threshold, stopping right at 17951!!! just 49 rating to go until the big 18000, i was so close i could taste it...!! ...but alas, that's where the story ends for me . it was already 2 1/2 hours until 2025, my arms were super tired, and i just didn't feel the motivation to continue my grind any further... i definitely don't think i reached my limit overall (i can probably snag the 18000 rating this week, if we're being honest), but i definitely would've gone insane and missed out on a lot of familial interactions if i kept going... which is why i made the decision to call off the run and leave the 18000 rating final stretch for later this week . that unfortunately means i won't get to show off my fancy 18000 rating in the 2024 recap, but it does mean i'll get to set my sights even higher rating-wise for 2025's goals!!!
one last silly score for the year before i hop off, but here's a heal-free clear on Proto Disco [Append Lv.34] before ringing in the new year!!! such a banger chart and song... i'm gonna absolutely love grinding this one out for the new year www
aaaaand that wraps up 2024 in terms of scores!!! quite a lot of writing for a considerably smaller quantity of scores, but it's always quality over quantity down here in 2dkapsddr town nowadays... i jest, but still!!! thank you all so much to anyone who's followed and liked my posts over this year and earlier, read any of my rhythm game ramblings, and stuck with me as i complained about stuff that just didn't make sense to my super perfectionist autistic brain . i can't really say how 2025 will go, given it's only just started by the time i'm writing this post, but i'm gonna set my sights even higher than i did this past year and aim for even bigger achievements that may or may not even be feasible!!! i expect the recap, review, and comments on my 2024 year in rhythm gaming post to take quite a while, so i'll be working on that in the background this week and hope to have it published sometime this week, but regular daily rhythm game posts should continue as per usual!! happy new year to all, may all your wishes and achievements come true this year as i'll try to shoot for with mine, and until next time!!!