This was an interesting little gem to trip over this year. Very Parappa inspired. I don't have too much to say that hasn't been said so far. I adore the game's aesthetic. It feels like a Parappa game but with the art style of the Rhythm Heaven games. I love how dynamic all the background animations are during the songs, but its a little unfortunate that it's difficult to fully pay attention to them when you're being bombarded by a butt load of notes. Not a gripe against the game or anything.
Now, as far as gripes ago, I will echo what I've seen on some of the other reviews. Holy heck, it is jarring to be suddenly switched to Pink/Support Mode with zero warning and just fumble everything cuz I wasn't prepared for it. The only suggestion I can think of off the top of my head is to change that big circle at the end of each bar/line. It's almost always just a pink circle with Melodii or the Rival's face in the center. Make the circle blue or pink depending on what color the next bar is going to be. That circle is big a very noticeable. You could use that to warn the player of what's coming next.
As far the shortened bars in Nami's stage, I'll actually disagree with the complaints there. While it IS jarring the first few times cuz the game never warns you that that could happen, I've noticed these shortened or half bars or whatever you wanna call em have the dotted lines in their bars abruptly stop halfway. You can see it coming if you notice the dotted line cuts off abruptly. At most, I think you should put a tutorial that warns the player that that can happen.
Those issues aside, I'm interested in this game now. Definitely sharing this with friends.
EDIT:
ALRIGHT! Right after writing that, I redid the tutorial and another stage and I JUST noticed that the game DOES tell you what type of line is next on the top left. Also quickly figured out what those two sliders on the left meant. The sliders seems to just be there to judge your performance and freestyling so I don't think those need to be changed. But the "Next" indicator needs to be much more visible and the tutorial needs to also point it out for the player. That alone would make the sudden shifts to Pink Bars less sudden and violent for the player. Although, I still think that some of the Pink Bars shouldn't have notes near the beginning of the bar. Even knowing they're coming, they can still violently blindside the player. Jamtine's Stage, Stir and Mix, is the biggest offender of this. Without knowing they're coming, you're guaranteed to fail those bars. Even knowing the Pink Bar is coming, you're going to fail the two where the first note is near the start of the bar and that last Pink Bar because of how fast the song is.
Now, as far as gripes ago, I will echo what I've seen on some of the other reviews. Holy heck, it is jarring to be suddenly switched to Pink/Support Mode with zero warning and just fumble everything cuz I wasn't prepared for it. The only suggestion I can think of off the top of my head is to change that big circle at the end of each bar/line. It's almost always just a pink circle with Melodii or the Rival's face in the center. Make the circle blue or pink depending on what color the next bar is going to be. That circle is big a very noticeable. You could use that to warn the player of what's coming next.
As far the shortened bars in Nami's stage, I'll actually disagree with the complaints there. While it IS jarring the first few times cuz the game never warns you that that could happen, I've noticed these shortened or half bars or whatever you wanna call em have the dotted lines in their bars abruptly stop halfway. You can see it coming if you notice the dotted line cuts off abruptly. At most, I think you should put a tutorial that warns the player that that can happen.
Those issues aside, I'm interested in this game now. Definitely sharing this with friends.
EDIT:
ALRIGHT! Right after writing that, I redid the tutorial and another stage and I JUST noticed that the game DOES tell you what type of line is next on the top left. Also quickly figured out what those two sliders on the left meant. The sliders seems to just be there to judge your performance and freestyling so I don't think those need to be changed. But the "Next" indicator needs to be much more visible and the tutorial needs to also point it out for the player. That alone would make the sudden shifts to Pink Bars less sudden and violent for the player. Although, I still think that some of the Pink Bars shouldn't have notes near the beginning of the bar. Even knowing they're coming, they can still violently blindside the player. Jamtine's Stage, Stir and Mix, is the biggest offender of this. Without knowing they're coming, you're guaranteed to fail those bars. Even knowing the Pink Bar is coming, you're going to fail the two where the first note is near the start of the bar and that last Pink Bar because of how fast the song is.