Is there a trick to make this game enjoyable?

[VeganVermithor]

I've played tons and tons of rhythm games in VR and while I certainly roll my eyes at every new Beat Saber clone coming out, but I still like to dive into the genre here and there in between all the roguelites and horror shooters we get. Beat the Beats appeared to be getting a lot of praise and many people seem to be having no issues clearing the trophy list, but after having spent an hour in it I have to say this is by far the most infuriating rhythm game I have ever played. I struggled to even finish the first song and had to rage quit in the middle of the second. The hit detection in this is so utterly shit that I have to assume I have messed up a setting or something. It's so bad that it can't be a design choice. Hitting or missing a note, especially the hooks, feels like pure RNG. On top of the missing "no fail" mode, it feels impossible to string even 2 minutes of feel good flow together. I think I tried the 2nd level 10 times and couldn't get through.

What's hurting the most is that the music and the presentation are top notch, but with all the stress and anxiety about the hit RNG, playing this is torture.

 

So the big question is, what exactly is wrong?

 

 

[HuntingFever]

If a game isn't clicking for whatever reason, it's time to cut your losses and move on, because nothing on this planet will force you to like it when you clearly hate it.

[Royalcommand]

On 4/6/2024 at 8:59 AM, VeganVermithor said:

I've played tons and tons of rhythm games in VR and while I certainly roll my eyes at every new Beat Saber clone coming out, but I still like to dive into the genre here and there in between all the roguelites and horror shooters we get. Beat the Beats appeared to be getting a lot of praise and many people seem to be having no issues clearing the trophy list, but after having spent an hour in it I have to say this is by far the most infuriating rhythm game I have ever played. I struggled to even finish the first song and had to rage quit in the middle of the second. The hit detection in this is so utterly shit that I have to assume I have messed up a setting or something. It's so bad that it can't be a design choice. Hitting or missing a note, especially the hooks, feels like pure RNG. On top of the missing "no fail" mode, it feels impossible to string even 2 minutes of feel good flow together. I think I tried the 2nd level 10 times and couldn't get through.

What's hurting the most is that the music and the presentation are top notch, but with all the stress and anxiety about the hit RNG, playing this is torture.

 

So the big question is, what exactly is wrong?

 

 

I got this game a few days ago and quite enjoying it as a mix of Beat saber and boxing. I haven't had too much trouble playing, with the hit detection generally fine on my end. The only ones that get me are the red arrows that you have to dodge. Sometimes, they go too quickly if it's one after another, causing me to get hit. TBH, it sounds like something's wrong on your end, maybe reinstall? Are you hitting right when the box turns to the full color? As the box nears you, you'll see the color of the box start as a small circle until it covers completely, that's when you're supposed to hit it. 

[KyonKuchiki]

On 4/6/2024 at 10:59 AM, VeganVermithor said:

I've played tons and tons of rhythm games in VR and while I certainly roll my eyes at every new Beat Saber clone coming out, but I still like to dive into the genre here and there in between all the roguelites and horror shooters we get. Beat the Beats appeared to be getting a lot of praise and many people seem to be having no issues clearing the trophy list, but after having spent an hour in it I have to say this is by far the most infuriating rhythm game I have ever played. I struggled to even finish the first song and had to rage quit in the middle of the second. The hit detection in this is so utterly shit that I have to assume I have messed up a setting or something. It's so bad that it can't be a design choice. Hitting or missing a note, especially the hooks, feels like pure RNG. On top of the missing "no fail" mode, it feels impossible to string even 2 minutes of feel good flow together. I think I tried the 2nd level 10 times and couldn't get through.

What's hurting the most is that the music and the presentation are top notch, but with all the stress and anxiety about the hit RNG, playing this is torture.

 

So the big question is, what exactly is wrong?

 

 

 

I went straight into this after Box to the Beat, and was having the same issue where I thought the hit detection was crap by comparison. I quickly learned what the actual difference between the two games is that while Box to the Beat is more an exercise/fitness game, this one leans more into being a rhythm game. You can't punch at targets early at all in this game, and have to punch more or less on the beat, or else your fist goes through the target and counts as a miss if you do it too early. For hooks, I found on those when I focused on putting my arm a bit more forward in front of me when hooking, it would land the hit more consistently.

[ValkerianCreator]

This is only an assumption (I don't feel like going back to the game at 1 a.m. just to test this) but make sure that for the upward punches and the sideway punches the palm of your hand is facing your face, while you do that movement. Perhaps, if you do them with your hand sideways (which isn't the right way to do it to generate more power in real-life, but it might work in some of these boxing games) it doesn't like it and it doesn't count it as "correct" in this game.

 

I didn't have much trouble with it registering all the hits correctly (which means that there is something wrong on Mr. Vermithor's end).

I did have trouble getting full combos for some of the A ranks, but that is to be expected. Whenever I missed, many times it looked like I had hit the target correctly (but maybe 1 second early or late) so KyonKuchiki is perfectly right with his answer (rhythm and timing matter here). However, the unexpected misses were once or twice in an entire song, so it really wasn't a major issue.

 

Honestly, I found Box to the Beat harder to complete than this one. And as usual, "perfect hits" are a whole different story. I can get full combos without big problems here, but landing a high percentage of perfect hits for a higher score was beyond my perception.

 

Also, @VeganVermithor I find it hard to believe that you would consider this harder or more annoying to deal with than Audica on expert 🤣. If that's really the case, there's obviously something wrong for this game on your end. Hopefully, the idea from my first paragraph will help.

[VeganVermithor]

On 4/12/2024 at 8:45 AM, ValkerianCreator said:

Honestly, I found Box to the Beat harder to complete than this one. And as usual, "perfect hits" are a whole different story. I can get full combos without big problems here, but landing a high percentage of perfect hits for a higher score was beyond my perception.

 

Also, @VeganVermithor I find it hard to believe that you would consider this harder or more annoying to deal with than Audica on expert 🤣. If that's really the case, there's obviously something wrong for this game on your end. Hopefully, the idea from my first paragraph will help.

Box to the Beat is pretty unfun too and I haven't picked it back up yet. It feels like its emphasis is heavily on getting the player to sweat though without trying anything fancy, and that it admittedly does well. Unfortunately it seems the devs go the "pump out paid DLC and add a few new trophies so everyone has to pay us money on a monthly basis to keep at 100% trophy completion" so I'm even less inclined to continue with it, but eventually I probably will. But nothing is worse than trying to chase 100% completion in a game that is no fun and constantly releases new mini DLCs. Drums Rock is the best example of that. Better get out early and don't get attached.

With Audica you are right too, of course. Audica is the worst rhythm game in existence, but at least it's honest about it. It has shit, wristbreaking and unfun mechanics that it shows to you right from the get go. I dropped it before completing even a third of the trophy list iirc. If you want something with Audicas level of complexity you won't find a rhythm game much similar to it, so more power to anyone who enjoys that.

 

But whats so next-tier frustating about Beat the Beats is that it pretends to be a good game, with very high polished graphics and very good songs. It then fails because of the RNG of hitting notes correctly and having no flow to it whatsoever, especially at higher difficulties where it's just draining mentally and forces you to bend over backwards like Neo in The Matrix. Everytime you come even close to feeling good it fucks you over with an RNG miss or a new idiotic note pattern that makes no sense at all. And don't get me started on the point balance. 3 misses in a song can range between an S and a B. Finishing the Daily Mix pretty much always rewards an S. Anyways, I will complete this game eventually, but I'll be very happy when it's over. I pray that the trophy for all A ranks is only for the A-Side songs, but given my luck I probably have to finish all B-Side versions, too.

 

It's insane to me how there are tons of rhythm games that obvisouly steal ideas from each other left and right, but only Beat Saber and Synth Riders get it all right and stand so wildly above the rest.

[ValkerianCreator]

17 hours ago, VeganVermithor said:

Audica is the worst rhythm game in existence

 

🤣🤣 (That's why @MikeCheck-- recommended it to us!! 😎😁 (jk) 🤣🤣]

 

I loved it until I started to do the gold stars in expert, and then, I quickly realized how hair-pulling-level difficult it would be to complete it. Its "sci-fi rhythm shooter in zen space" vibes were truly great (that's what I liked the most about it) but the inconsistent tracking in expert mode and the incredible difficulty for the final trophy were a serious killer of joy there. I think it's up for debate if it's truly the hardest VR rhyhtm game completion however, because RagnaRock is just as bad, but with drumming instead, which can be crazier than shooting. And there are other unfair contenders in the mix, like Hatsune Miku VR for example.

 

The easiest for completion is definitely Synth Riders. Beat Saber is quite challenging for a beginner VR player, but still very doable if you just continue playing it for a few weeks, on a daily basis. My favorite was Dance Collider because of its music. It had some of my favorite music in all of VR gaming. OhShape was enjoyable too, but not better than the others (and extremely grindy to complete). Drums Rock is just ok. I wasn't impressed after seeing RagnaRock lol. It's worth playing, but the classics (beat saber, pistol whip, etc.) were more enjoyable.

[KyonKuchiki]

On 4/13/2024 at 2:39 AM, VeganVermithor said:

I pray that the trophy for all A ranks is only for the A-Side songs, but given my luck I probably have to finish all B-Side versions, too.

 

Yes, you have to do both A-side and B-side versions of songs at A rank or above for the trophy. The other trophies also seemed to inconsistently pop. I'm convinced for example the 1000 targets at full power and 25000 target hit trophies have been swapped as far as unlock methods since percentage of 25000 blocks destroyed is higher than the 1000 full power, and I was far below 25000 targets destroyed when I did pop it. The 10000 blocks, I ended up having to do 10700 before it popped.

[VeganVermithor]

1 hour ago, KyonKuchiki said:

 

Yes, you have to do both A-side and B-side versions of songs at A rank or above for the trophy. The other trophies also seemed to inconsistently pop. I'm convinced for example the 1000 targets at full power and 25000 target hit trophies have been swapped as far as unlock methods since percentage of 25000 blocks destroyed is higher than the 1000 full power, and I was far below 25000 targets destroyed when I did pop it. The 10000 blocks, I ended up having to do 10700 before it popped.

Thanks for the input.

I got the plat yesterday, no issues with the trophies. When I was done with all songs with an A the only thing left was the 10000 blocks trophy and for those I played the first 15 seconds of a song over and over that started with a bunch of the flying tiles. Luckily this game counts everything immediately, not like Beat Saber where only finishing a song counts.

[Royalcommand]

On 4/13/2024 at 12:39 AM, VeganVermithor said:

Box to the Beat is pretty unfun too and I haven't picked it back up yet. It feels like its emphasis is heavily on getting the player to sweat though without trying anything fancy, and that it admittedly does well. Unfortunately it seems the devs go the "pump out paid DLC and add a few new trophies so everyone has to pay us money on a monthly basis to keep at 100% trophy completion" so I'm even less inclined to continue with it, but eventually I probably will. But nothing is worse than trying to chase 100% completion in a game that is no fun and constantly releases new mini DLCs. Drums Rock is the best example of that. Better get out early and don't get attached.

With Audica you are right too, of course. Audica is the worst rhythm game in existence, but at least it's honest about it. It has shit, wristbreaking and unfun mechanics that it shows to you right from the get go. I dropped it before completing even a third of the trophy list iirc. If you want something with Audicas level of complexity you won't find a rhythm game much similar to it, so more power to anyone who enjoys that.

 

But whats so next-tier frustating about Beat the Beats is that it pretends to be a good game, with very high polished graphics and very good songs. It then fails because of the RNG of hitting notes correctly and having no flow to it whatsoever, especially at higher difficulties where it's just draining mentally and forces you to bend over backwards like Neo in The Matrix. Everytime you come even close to feeling good it fucks you over with an RNG miss or a new idiotic note pattern that makes no sense at all. And don't get me started on the point balance. 3 misses in a song can range between an S and a B. Finishing the Daily Mix pretty much always rewards an S. Anyways, I will complete this game eventually, but I'll be very happy when it's over. I pray that the trophy for all A ranks is only for the A-Side songs, but given my luck I probably have to finish all B-Side versions, too.

 

It's insane to me how there are tons of rhythm games that obvisouly steal ideas from each other left and right, but only Beat Saber and Synth Riders get it all right and stand so wildly above the rest.

Everything for me seemed fine until the last song on the 2nd to last album and the entire last album. Difficulty spikes very high, beats go insanely fast, and the red arrows come at awkward angles, almost like it's tracking your head when you lean over to avoid, making it almost impossible to avoid and punch at the same time. It definitely could've been implemented better like how Beat Saber does. I hope B sides isn't like this... pretty disappointing, so I agree with pretty much everything you said. 

[VeganVermithor]

58 minutes ago, Royalcommand said:

Everything for me seemed fine until the last song on the 2nd to last album and the entire last album. Difficulty spikes very high, beats go insanely fast, and the red arrows come at awkward angles, almost like it's tracking your head when you lean over to avoid, making it almost impossible to avoid and punch at the same time. It definitely could've been implemented better like how Beat Saber does. I hope B sides isn't like this... pretty disappointing, so I agree with pretty much everything you said. 

I'm sorry to report that B Sides songs are more difficult versions of A Side songs, mostly faster. The last song is a neck breaker for sure. And I've never been able to dodge the second arrow in the two songs that have that stupid pattern either, luckily you can still get an A with 2-3 mistakes, so it's definitely doable. Stick to it and GL!

 

Now that I'm done I still don't know what to think of this game. It got better every time I played, only to pull out the next stupid design decision.

So much of it is great, but the most important things are done so poorly.

[MikeCheck--]

On 4/13/2024 at 2:39 AM, VeganVermithor said:

 

With Audica you are right too, of course. Audica is the worst rhythm game in existence

 

I will not sit here and let Audica slander be tolerated! /s

 

In all seriousness, Audica is a game of skill, no unnecessary grind like OhShape or Beat Saber . . . just "git gud". I wish it were on PSVR2!

[Royalcommand]

About to get the Plat, small tip if you need to farm blocks like most people did. Do the song "Punchline" on the 5th album, last song. First 10 secs has about 30-31 notes to block, just repeat and farm until you get it. There's also the song "In my Head" 3rd album, which also has a lot of blocking if it get monotonous. 

Edited April 25 by Royalcommand

[Rengar9746]

On 4/15/2024 at 3:08 AM, KyonKuchiki said:

for example the 1000 targets at full power

What does it mean?

The game never provides any information about the maximum power hit. I attempted to vary my strikes on the boxes, applying both harder and lighter hits in real life, but I didn't notice any discernible differences in the game's response.

[VeganVermithor]

4 hours ago, Rengar9746 said:

What does it mean?

The game never provides any information about the maximum power hit. I attempted to vary my strikes on the boxes, applying both harder and lighter hits in real life, but I didn't notice any discernible differences in the game's response.

There is no way for the hardware to truly measure "power". It appears to be a mix of timing, precision and above all speed. If you get the timing down and do powerless but fast jabs you get a max "power" score of 200 very often. That trophy should easily be one of the first grindy ones you get.