Thoughts From a Rhythm Heaven Veteran

[Ms. Switch]

Lemme start by saying I really like this game and can't wait for it to release. The music is extremely pleasant and just a treat for the ears, however a problem I personally find is that the audio cues often just blend into the music too much and levels can feel like they rely too much on visual cues. This might seem like an odd thing to say, but I do not feel confident in my ability to play these levels blind as I would with most Rhythm Heaven levels. I really like how the chapter is open allowing for the player to choose any level from the bunch they want to master instead of road blocking them at a single level that just isn't fun or is too difficult. Giving each level a Hard Mode after beating them is also a nice treat, especially helps the game not feel as disjointed when you suddenly have to play a sequel level 20 levels after the original. The game could definitely use visual brightness and contrast sliders, I feel like I'm looking at an almost entirely white screen most of the time haha. I played each level and each Hard Mode getting at least 2 stars or rings(?) from them all and I will likely go back to get higher scores too. As for the levels themselves, heres my opinions on each level individually:

Food is such a good and strong opener, definitely my favorite of the batch by far, I even decided to get a Perfect for it. Though this one could use more noticeable sound cues. Not much else to say other than I'll be replaying this one a lot.

Shopping is also pretty good, though it could use maybe a "ding" sound cue for when you should start pressing the button as I found myself caught off guard when the screen expanded to 8 beats. I also think the Hard Mode for this level doesn't quite match the music as I'd get thrown off by the song not having an offbeat when there would be another press as the end of a set.

Tech was alright, I definitely had a problem with this one when the reticle was removed and could be helped with more distinct sound cues.

Followers just felt off to me personally and was the weakest of them all. It has visual disconnect where your instinct is to press the button when they land, but instead you need to press as they reach the lowest point. I couldn't really tell if the game wanted me to follow the beats or offbeats. Though the double presses felt really nice to pull off especially in the Hard Mode.

Lastly, the Remix was a surprise, I was not expecting to see this game tackle those but I am so glad it does. It was good, fun, and lives up to the expectation of a Remix level, even not letting itself be bogged down by one or two minigame types that felt like hit or misses.

[snarewaves]

played tons of rhythm heaven and i gotta disagree, the cues all seemed very well telegraphed to me

[Nootrishus]

Not played much in the way of rhythm games but got near perfect score on all but the Followers one.
As Mr. Switch said, it just feels a little off. I feel like I'm following the beat and then the visual queue just throws it off as my instinct is to press when he lands. Tried to compensate but I feel like I'm only getting lucky when I get it to hit.

[Liy4b-Derg]

gotta agree on the audio cues. i tried playing with my eyes closed (as i've done with some rhythm heaven games) and some audio cues are barely audible. also worth mentioning that some sound effects are quite loud and add to the noise

[Zinx]

Originally posted by BS004:

gotta agree on the audio cues. i tried playing with my eyes closed (as i've done with some rhythm heaven games) and some audio cues are barely audible. also worth mentioning that some sound effects are quite loud and add to the noise

So, I actually went and played all of them with my eyes closed as a test. For reference, here's my preference with eye sight:
1. Shopping
2. Food
3. Tech
4. Remix
5. Followers

Now without eye sight, my list actually changed:
1. Shopping
2. Followers
3. Tech
4. Remix
5. Food

What I noticed was that Shopping does actually have a distinct way to tell when it's your turn to go, but there should still be a ding noise or something as when paired with visuals, it can actually be difficult to notice that it's your turn (basically the visuals muddy it up).

As for Followers, the biggest hurdle for that entire challenge is by far the visuals. The visuals really hurt the timing and I found that the instant I opened my eyes, I started doing worse. I think part of the problem with followers is that it seems easier to get into a "bad rhythm." What I mean is that there is no CLEARLY different sound between early, late, and even perfect. This means a person who is good at maintaining a rhythm could be stuck on maintaining a rhythm of just early's. This isn't as much of a problem in things like Shopping or Food as they rhythm is generally reset shortly after the early or late.

With Tech, I feel like the biggest hurdle is how it can suddenly spring extra enemies onto you. I don't know if there's really a reliable solution to this, but maybe its Rhythm Heaven counterpart AKA Samurai Slice has an answer?

For Food, maybe the audio indicators could be a little bit more noticeable, but this is still a very, very solid package when paired with visuals.

Lastly with Remix, the biggest problem I feel it has is weirdly stemming from Tech and the sudden transitions. There have been times, namely in the beginning, where the transition from something like Followers to Tech feels too sudden when Tech's lock-on cursor is basically right next to the enemy.

Either way, I absolutely love this game, but that doesn't mean I don't want it to be the best I know it can be. Also, for accolades, I got 3 stars (not perfects) with every single level in the demo--including hard mode. While playing with my eyes closed, I got 3 stars on Shopping and Followers, 2 stars on Tech and Remix, and 1 star on Food. As for the Rhythm Heaven series, the only game I have played fully and beaten was Rhythm Tengoku for the GBA.

[ZekeXyZy]

This. I love RH to death and this is what I thought when I was playing it. Still I'm interested in picking it up.

[Kitah]

Haven't played Rhythm Heaven, but I can say that there is a slight desync with Shopping and Followers.

For Shopping, not knowing when it's my go was the biggest thing that I struggled with and I still haven't been able to get past 1 stars because of this, like someone else mentioned in this thread it would be great if we could get a ding noise or something at the start of the 'turn' so its easier to identify when you can go.

For Followers... I worked out the beat and tune and I managed to get 1 star with my eyes closed (literally, I closed my eyes) but I only did that because I was struggling with the on-screen visuals to be able to pair it with the action to do the beat. It also seemed different when the button should be pressed, for example when he was jumping on the phones sometimes it would be when he left the spring, and others would be when he landed - which made it hard to identify.

Absolutely loved the game though and will be picking it up on release, but hopefully those little things get ironed out. Personally I think Food and Tech were perfect, visual and sound queues are very easy to identify for those.

[Noidberg]

i think shopping was really straight forward, its similar to the hair plucking game in rhythm tengoku imo. it will play the sounds your supposed to replicate first, then its your turn.

[RunAndOne]

To me, followers was the second easiest. Maybe it was the way I thought of it. Instead of hitting when he lands, or following the beat, think of hitting when he can jump or when you think he can jump. It starts to become intuitive once you get the hang of it. Though that could just be me. Hope this kind of helps.