Tips For a New Player?

[DumbassofDojima]

I liked the Persona rhythm games, and all the Yakuza rhythm minigames, which is why I picked up this game since I wanted a really song complete package. However, I am terrible at this game. Absolutely, completely godawful.
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I bomb every single challenge round spectacularly. I've been playing on Normal and cycling through the Meiko songs since I like the songs and how her voice(bank) sounds. The highest rating I've gotten is a 77 on Jitterbug, and all the other ratings are mostly 50-60s across her songs. I really struggle with the challenge rounds because of the long strings of button presses required in quick succession. I think I end up button mashing, and I don't know how to beat that instinct. Even when I replay songs, I never do any better on the challenge rounds.
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Any advice for a new player on how to get better? I never had any trouble with the Persona rhythm games on Normal or Yakuza's minigames, but I also understand this is a more hardcore experience than either of those. Also, the reason I stuck with normal difficulty is because I saw some songs weren't available on easy.

[PD Addict]

Originally posted by DumbassofDojima:

I think I end up button mashing, and I don't know how to beat that instinct. Even when I replay songs, I never do any better on the challenge rounds.

Actually, Project DIVA Arcade/Future Tone/Mega Mix(+) will punish you less for at least making an attempt. People use this fact when doing Score Attack runs, where you purposefully hit WRONG notes so you can continue a HOLD.

Originally posted by DumbassofDojima:

Also, the reason I stuck with normal difficulty is because I saw some songs weren't available on easy.

The same goes for NORMAL. Some songs don't have an EASY note map. Some don't have a NORMAL note map. Every song has a note map on HARD and EXTREME.

I'd start out on Easy and get yourself familiar with where ☓ and ⭕ are as well as the strict timing the game uses. Challenge Time will add △ and ▢ but misses don't drain your life bar. Sort songs by star rating and go from easiest to hardest. Feel free to skip around as you get close to Perfect.

When you're ready, bump up to Normal and do the same thing going from easiest to hardest. You'll now have to deal with all four buttons, and Challenge Time will now have some multi-notes.

When you start coming across really quick notes and you're using a game pad, you will have to learn dual-wielding where you use the d-pad in conjunction with the buttons. This can take a while to get down 100%. This is where having a good d-pad on your controller makes all the difference. Do not attempt MM+ on an Xbox 360 contoller. Highly recommend a game pad with either a Nintendo-style or Playstation-style d-pad. Also, I've found it extremely helpful if the game pad is Playstation-style where the buttons and d-pad are directly across from each other. This makes dual-wielding make more sense. When the d-pad is offset from the buttons like with an Xbox 360 controller or on the Switch Joycons, dual-wielding get a bit frustrating.

This game requires a lot of practice. As you get into the higher difficulties (Extreme and Extra Extreme) you start having a lot less time to think and you need to rely more and more on muscle memory.

[handsoap]

Take breaks. I find my performance takes a dive after 6 or so attempts and when I come back to it a day later I suddenly have the muscle memory of a god.

[Ogami]

You dont even have 4 hours in the game yet. It takes time to get a instinctive muscle memory reaction to symbols appearing.
In 15-20 hours you wont even consciously think about the buttons you press, you just do it.
Also the "challenge" sections are unique to normal difficulty, for that part of a song the difficulty basically switches to "hard" to show you what will be expected there of you.
On hard difficulty there are no challenge sections at all, its just the same constant difficulty for the entire song.

Again, just play more. When i started out i barely could finish many songs on Normal with more then 60-70%, now 95-100%+ is standard with many songs even 103%+ and "perfect".
On Hard i am now trying to get Excellent for most songs.

I am definitely not the best Rhythm game player and being nearly 45 does not help with the reflex time one bit but with patience and practice you 100% will become better just by playing more.