Per an old friend:

Originally posted by oteek:

wrist arthritis

You have to give Fitterer credit. If I made the bar-none most accessible, comfy, and arguably sleekest rhythm game of the late '00s, I'd probably just take the money, live off that thing's legend, and maybe use it as a convo starter here and there. Instead, he just comes back and does it again, less than a decade later. It's kinda commendable.

Jokes aside; while it is engaging in its own way past a certain point, it's worth noting that Audiosurf 2 isn't exactly a "1:1 sequel" to AS1 (for lack of a better term), and some things might be disappointing if you got used to its bells and whistles. For example, default Mono no longer carries a handful of side feats for bonus points - e.g. filling up the grid with X blocks at any given point, clearing with no grays, etc - nor does it differentiate scores by way of medals, so no more aiming for the Gold. Now you only get a bonus if you clear a song with no leftover blocks on the grid, and instead of getting a feel for how good your score is through medals, you rely on... a high score list. Three of 'em, technically - divided by global, regional, and your friends' scores - but regardless. Workshop support's a thing, though, and some modders have integrated their own decently complex systems of score ranking (such as Endless Ninja, which uses an F to S scale).

That said, this is where AS2 is hit-or-miss for some, because while it DOES have a Casual mode, along with a couple of interesting puzzle-oriented modes which I still haven't played - call it a leftover habit from AS1 or something - it's arguably more competitive than its predecessor. On a personal level, I've found it both considerably engaging and, er... "inspiring," I guess? Because whereas my time with AS1's Mono was much more lax and straightforward with little care given towards the gameplay besides "get all da blocks," AS2's Mono and Ninja modes have both driven me to actually get better at strategically stacking stuff in the grid and mmmaaaybe improve my hand-eye coordination while I'm at it. I mean, the wrist arthritis thing takes precedence, I'll say that much, but hey! Silver lining all the same, y'know?

If you do end up embracing the competitive aspect of it - or, hell, if you just want to improve the experience by a fair bit - it'd be wise to snag the Community Patch[audiosurf2.info], which gives you a more "relevant" leaderboard, fixes the YT search and Song of the Day feature, and updates the game to be 64-bit, meaning that it won't crap the bed if you try to play any song past X minutes and Y seconds, along with a few other tidbits and niceties. It's pretty great.

Overall, a lotta fun and a lotta frustration in roughly equal measure. It may not follow its more-relaxed older brother every step of the way, but ultimately, I don't think that matters much. I'd obsess over it either way.




though probably not to the point of maining a mode called "ultimate true ninja," because who the FU—

Per an old friend: [quote=oteek]wrist arthritis[/quote] You have to give Fitterer credit. If [i]I[/i] made the bar-none most accessible, comfy, and arguably sleekest rhythm game of the late '00s, I'd probably just take the money, live off that thing's legend, and maybe use it as a convo starter here and there. Instead, he just comes back and does it again, less than a decade later. It's kinda commendable. Jokes aside; while it is engaging in its own way past a certain point, it's worth noting that Audiosurf 2 isn't exactly a "1:1 sequel" to AS1 (for lack of a better term), and some things might be disappointing if you got used to its bells and whistles. For example, default Mono no longer carries a handful of side feats for bonus points - e.g. filling up the grid with X blocks at any given point, clearing with no grays, etc - nor does it differentiate scores by way of medals, so no more aiming for the Gold. Now you only get a bonus if you clear a song with no leftover blocks on the grid, and instead of getting a feel for how good your score is through medals, you rely on... a high score list. Three of 'em, technically - divided by global, regional, and your friends' scores - but regardless. Workshop support's a thing, though, and some modders [i]have[/i] integrated their own decently complex systems of score ranking (such as Endless Ninja, which uses an F to S scale). That said, this is where AS2 is hit-or-miss for some, because while it DOES have a Casual mode, along with a couple of interesting puzzle-oriented modes which I [i]still[/i] haven't played - call it a leftover habit from AS1 or something - it's arguably more competitive than its predecessor. On a personal level, I've found it both considerably engaging and, er... "inspiring," I guess? Because whereas my time with AS1's Mono was much more lax and straightforward with little care given towards the gameplay besides "get all da blocks," AS2's Mono and Ninja modes have both driven me to actually get better at strategically stacking stuff in the grid and [i]mmmaaaybe[/i] improve my hand-eye coordination while I'm at it. I mean, the wrist arthritis thing takes precedence, I'll say that much, but hey! Silver lining all the same, y'know? If you [i]do[/i] end up embracing the competitive aspect of it - or, hell, if you just want to improve the experience by a fair bit - it'd be wise to snag the [url=audiosurf2.info]Community Patch[/url], which gives you a more "relevant" leaderboard, fixes the YT search and Song of the Day feature, and updates the game to be 64-bit, meaning that it won't crap the bed if you try to play any song past X minutes and Y seconds, along with a few other tidbits and niceties. It's pretty great. Overall, a lotta fun and a lotta frustration in roughly equal measure. It may not follow its more-relaxed older brother every step of the way, but ultimately, I don't think that matters much. I'd obsess over it either way. though probably not to the point of maining a mode called "ultimate true ninja," because who the FU—