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13 Mar 2018
Project Loved: Week of March 11th
Project Loved: Week of March 11th
Another week of Project Loved voting has arrived, with incredibly popular maps nominated for all 4 modes! Come check out the picks for this round, which feature some of the biggest names in mapping!
Hello everyone! Welcome to the first of two Project Loved showcases for March 2018! Below you'll find handy headers to help you navigate between all 4 modes, as well as videos showcasing each mode done once again by the lovely Strato. We really hope you enjoy the picks this week; there are incredibly exciting maps up for voting in every game mode!
Without further ado, let's begin!
Navigation
osu!
osu! map descriptions written by Kaifin
First up on this week's list is Saten's classic speed map Assailant in the Night. The map is chock full of winding high BPM streams and traditional linear alternator style patterns, as well as the geometric patterning and symmetry that Saten is known for! Before playing this map, remember the wise words of Monstrata: A God of Speed doesn't need to alternate!!
Next up is my personal favourite from this week, rrtyui's technical masterpiece YUKARI. This mapset features 4 vastly different difficulties by various mappers which each represent this interesting track in their own unique way, most notably Taeyang's difficulty which will be instantly recognizable to anyone who is a fan of Hollow Wings' TSUBAKI, which is another map of a song by the same artist. Be sure to play each difficulty at least once, especially the rrtyui diff which is a masterful technical map!
From the extremely well known mapper SnowNiNo_ comes God and the Illusory Garden, a mapset featuring two difficulties filled to the brim with extremely high spacing 175 BPM streams. To those unfamiliar with the map, it's almost reminiscent of his classic Blue Army map, just really REALLY jacked up in terms of spacing and intensity! The mapset features two difficulties that revolve around the same concept, just at different levels of difficulty, so if you can't clear the top diff and are looking for something a bit more toned down, you can play the lower difficulty and still get the same experience! make slider tick rate 0 rankable
From the famed top player Azer comes F.K.S., a well known technical map of a Sound Voltex song! As you'd probably expect from both the song and the mapper, the map features challenging rhythms and tricky patterns while still remaining accessible to most players due to its lower star rating. Be sure to check out captin1's absolutely masterful difficulty featuring tricky cutstreams as well, it's one of my favourite captin maps and kind of a hidden gem seeing as it's a guest difficulty!
From notable mapper fartownik comes the highly coveted Polish meme map Bylas dla mnie wszystkim, which has been highly requested through the Loved Submission form (which you should all be using to submit maps by the way)! The map features high velocity sliders and tricky cross screen jumps, as well a different completely related background for each guest difficulty, all of which are by various Polish mappers and players. Be sure to check out each difficulty, as they all are unique in their own way and offer different levels of challenge for a wide variety of players.
From the extremely popular high star mapper Settia comes Walk This Way, an appropriately challenging beatmap that will push your aim to its limits! The map features highly structured geometric jumps which are both comfortable to play as well as satisfying to hit. Are you strong enough to clear this brutal 260 BPM map?
People who don't know who Midge is or have never seen his maps may not fully grasp just how momentous of an occasion this map being up for the Loved vote is. aura is a unique technical map which was shunted and denied ranking at the time of its creation due to its unusual aesthetics and its stylistically extreme flow and appearance. However, this map has endured as a classic set still today, and more than deserves its leaderboard all this time later: #loveaura.
On a much less heavy note, koreapenguin's Promise should be instantly recognizable to any older osu! player as a classic extremely difficult map. Honestly, it still holds up quite well to today's standards for very high star mapping, featuring very challenging yet intuitive square jumps that are sure to beat down anyone not accustomed to playing non 1-2 jump patterns. The map has been updated somewhat recently to raise the AR and OD, but if you'd like the original experience or feel like tackling an old school challenge, I'd recommend trying to pass this behemoth on AR9 and OD7!
EphemeralFetish's Bloodthirsty Nightmare Lullaby / The Empress is an incredibly infamous 9 star map which has amassed nearly 350 favourites since it was first uploaded in 2016. There's no getting around the fact that this map is absolutely brutal, featuring nigh impossible winding 270 BPM streams which push the stamina and aim limits of even the best stream players in the game. Any pass on this map is an absolutely inhuman feat, and I personally hope we get to see some amazing plays on this map if it pushes through to Loved!
Finishing off our list is by far the most popular map this week, Cyllinus' Flicker. This map honestly needs no introduction, seeing as it has over 850 favourites, which is an incredibly staggering amount, especially for a lower difficulty map! The set features a full spread to the beloved Porter Robinson tune, and because of that it's fitting for every skill level. Everyone can enjoy this mapset, and it's really the ideal Loved map to end off this week's list with.
osu!taiko
osu!taiko map descriptions written by Backfire
"The Fate Of Three Billion Seven Hundred Twenty Million Judgements" kind of sounds like a light novel title, now that I think of it. But anyway, a real long title shouldn't turn you away from an otherwise beautifully made map from the mapping veteran -[ ix Ishida xi ]-. Her gimmicks employed in the map are varied and easy enough for most good players to grasp on the first or second play-through. Well known for her abstract streams as well, they are on full display here. An intense start to an intense cycle for this week's Loved maps!
One of katacheh's stranger maps, it has a very difficult but unique gimmick that they have since started implementing into maps, which is a "simon says" style game with varying sizes of disappearing Slider Notes. It's hard to explain, but seeing it in action will typically give you the jist of what you're dealing with! katacheh maps are kind of standard fare now, you know what you're dealing with, not to say it's of bad quality however! Their maps are always high quality and welcomed into the Loved family.
A pretty infamous map for tournament players and older members of the community alike, Mirage Garden is a map from 2013 from a mapper who may not have been around for a long time but has left their mark on the mapping community, Mono Kuma. Perhaps an unassuming looking map, it is an intensely difficult style of map that tests even the most technical of players. Beware the dense, long streams of varying snap in this one!
A personal favorite of mine, in fact, I was such a big fan that I requested to make a set of it with Y O U T A, to which he did comply with! However, this style of map was destined for Loved. The song itself is a fast paced Nanahira speedcore romp, complete with tons of opportunities for streams, to which in the top diff is perfectly represented. A true testament to the vulnerability of the Star Rating system, this is no normal 6* map. Of course, if you find it too hard, it's a full set, so hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!
One of my favorite things as a captain of Loved is the ability to give certain maps exposure, and make other creators have a level of pride in being featured in this great section we have created over the period it has been introduced. On a personal level, applerss is one of those people who I will never understand doesn't get the level of exposure that they should. This map features a beautiful, melancholy breakcore interpretation of a touhou track, as well as flawless technical mapping. A map that is worthy of being shared with the world, please give AKUTAGAWA OVERFLOW some time out of your day.
A superstar compilation of Japanese mappers difficulties on a single song, lead by yassu-, Shippuujinrai is a great map for practicing your technical side of play, as well as just having a cavalcade of quality difficulties to enjoy. Also featured in TWC, the difficulties here are usually rife with different styles of 1/6 and interpretations of the music, there is certainly something for most levels of play, even some on the easier side with Osamix's Oni!
Finally! The arrival of the infamous KinomiCandy, with one of his popular YUC'e Ma-...Oh it's not YUC'e? Actually, this is one of his more unique maps, with a piano heavy track that's unlike the usual poppy, happy tracks that he has become popular for. We simply chose this track because of it's uniqueness to his catalogue, but certainly some of his YUC'e maps will hit Loved in the future. Kinomi's style of mapping lends itself well to the ever-growing catalogue of Loved!
osu!catch
written by Deif
A quite difficult challenge presented by one of the most memorable NoMod players. Amphisbaena alternates calm sections with complex hyperdash combinations that'll hopefully twist the mind of the most experienced players.
written by Sartan
One of the most severly underrated and cleanest maps made by Arthas (now known as Razor Sharp) makes a comeback on the loved selection after having been left untouched for almost a year. This map is filled with very straightforward patterning which really compliments the beautiful song that Ice Angel is. It also serves to be quite a challenge to FC, especially when attempted with mods such as hardrock or hidden, so the replayability on this one is great as well. All in all: if you want to be Razor Sharp's little (ice) angel here, go vote!
written by JBHyperion
Turning the clock back slightly to the 2016 osu!catch World Cup, Deif's rendition of ginkiha's "eastward" is an excellent combination of aesthetics and technicality. Crafting an outstanding balance between flowing streams, snappy jumps and clever wub rhythm usage, this map will serve as an exciting challenge to more experienced players seeking a rounded test of their skills.
written by Tenshichan
An incredible marathon map by Kyuare with over 20 minutes of content. By the length alone it is already obvious that a lot of work has been put into it. The difficulty is varying throughout the marathon, but overall it is very challenging to get an FC or close to an FC on this map due to the length and the consistency required. It is sad to see that such a big project has been in the graveyard for roughly 2 years now and it would certainly deserve to be put into the loved category.
written by Sartan
Man, have we seen this map A LOT. And yet again here it is in the loved selection. This one has been used in a multitude of tournaments and has also been a very famous pick in multiplayer lobbies for as long as it has existed. The structure of this map is very much like you would imagine from Spectator: very clean, great emphasis on the musical changes throughout the song, no uncomfortable difficulty spikes and a calming, enjoyable song, with its replayability having been proven by the map's usage throughout various community activities. Even though we can't change the fact the song is called No title, perhaps you can help it become Yes entitled to being loved after voting!
osu!mania
written by Shoegazer
Resident shipgirl admirer/admiral Daikyi gets his first nominated chart for the Loved section with Kan-Construction. His charting tendencies are difficult to overlook: His music selection (which are usually dynamic sonic affairs) and slight playfulness are two of his idiosyncrasies, but he has this level of technical proficiency at capturing multiple levels of musical intensity that is hard to compare.
He does not hide his technical prowess in this chart. In this chart, Daikyi strings a myriad of patterns (e.g. fast jacks, long split jumptrills) that are typically seen as unconventional and uncomfortable to equally unconventional rhythms to create an end product. That end product can be interpreted as dynamic, methodical, complementary, and, above all, refreshing. I consider this to be Daikyi's best chart, and his list of good charts is not small by any means. For any player who enjoys technical charts, this should be a definite staple in your catalogue. For its dynamic nature, community acceptance, and general novelty, it only makes sense for this chart to be a nominee for the Loved section.
written by Shoegazer
Someone told me that we didn't have enough Camellia in the more recognised sections of osu!mania. I don't know if what he said is facetious or not, but here is another Camellia chart anyway.
Lude has been charting for a few years, but he is a charter that I feel is overlooked by many. He gets his first ever nominated chart with In Black & White, a chart that nicely displays the modern charting meta today. The chart and song choice seems to be heavily inspired by charts such as Glitch Nerds and PLANET//SHAPER; charts that utilise both heavy layering and heavy SV usage, but Lude throws in his own flair with very tasteful LN usage to complement the chart's already hectic structure. What you get is a chart that is not only memorable in its splendour, but also intricate in its approach.
Given the popularity of the aforementioned charts, there is going to be a considerable demand for charts like In Black & White. Tie that with the fact that In Black & White is solidly done, and it makes this chart a solid contender for the Loved section.
written by Shoegazer
LeiN- gets another nominee for the Loved section with another old but gold chart. Ooi [Game Edit] is infectiously catchy, and the chart complements its infectious catchiness with an incredibly exhilarating chart structure. Heavy chordjacks, frenzied (but nuanced) 1/4 jumpstreams, tactful use of SVs, they're all there. The chart is very very simple in structure, but that is really all you need to capture the essence of something as visceral and forward as this track. I don't think that anyone can make a chart structure for Ooi [Game Edit] that is significantly different from LeiN-'s chart that is significantly better than his interpretation.
written by Pope Gadget
How about a chart that's been praised by many for being consistently thrilling throughout - Raspberriel's Groundhog (Beat Juggle) is a chart of the perhaps infamous DJ Hero track which has the Scratch Perverts transform Noisia's music into a concoction of insanely tricky patterning. Now imagine taking the DJ Hero chart's structure and throwing a few maniacal SVs into the mix; what you end up with is the paragon of absurdly fun experimentation.
It'll be interesting to see the no-doubt concentrated accuracy battles on this one akin to what MWC 2017 had shown us. Fear not though - there is also an SV-less version if you'd prefer to practise like a wimp before delving in.
Have you really met your match?
written by Shoegazer
Stepmania? Stepmania.
Despite the highest difficulty being primarily used as a benchmark to assess a player's streaming ability, hi19hi19's Trickstarz mapset has simple yet sound structures to go with their viability for skill assessment. The highest difficulty has blistering fast streams clocking at 354 BPM 1/4s (23.6 notes per second!) that only get longer as the song progresses complemented with chordjack patterns that are very prone to error. While the chart is certainly challenging, simplicity is very much beauty here; I see many players coming back to it due to how straight-forward and rewarding the chart can be.
Is the highest difficulty too difficult for you? That's no problem. There are 2 other difficulties present in the set, and those two difficulties have a similarly simple structure, albeit with slower streams and 1/4 patterns, which I am sure lower-level players will enjoy.
written by Kamikaze
We're going into more MWC picks, hooray! Here's one of the most evil charts from MWC 7K 2017 Finals, a collaboration between Jinjin and Evening, Angelic Party!
This 4 minute chart features most of what you can expect from a ridiculously hard chart that tests all skillsets: it has very dense streaming, it has very dense LN patterns, a combination of both, bursts, speedup SVs and nasty slowjams with 6 column inversions, clocking at 8.88 stars, this is a monster a lot of top players will struggle with.
If you're not a fan on LNs, there's always jakads' difficulty which has no LNs and focuses on stamina and chordstreaming with bursts throughout the entire length of the song.
written by aitor98
We all know Blocko for some reason, but this time we are bringing him here to talk about his map, Aragami by xi. This map is pretty much straightforward, with a really calm start filled by a few single notes every now on then, but be careful, it jumps to the first kiai section with really harsh chordstreams afer the first 15 seconds with a few bursts in it that lasts for another 10 seconds. After that, we go back to a slow section with a few chords and single notes, which can work as a break time between kiai sections. 45 seconds in, it becomes a complete madness, with almost nonstop chordstreams with stuttering intersections, which might lead to combobreaks due to the density of the bursts that we can appreciate during these sections which will last until the end of the map.
This map has been used for a few tournaments already, such as MWC 7K 2018, MWC 7K 2016 and a few more unofficial tournaments. It does have a great amount of favorites which is rarely seen in 7K maps and it really deserves a spot in the Loved category.
written by aitor98
Here we have 17VA, this time with Flower Flag by FELT. This map does distinguish from others due to the length and complexity of the patterns. This map starts slowly, with a few chords followed by Long Notes but do not be fooled by this because it gets harder and harder as further you advance into the map until we reach the first kiai section. We can find patterns such as shields, jacks, Long Notes, unconditional Long Note releases and a few but light chordstreams during the intersections of such kiai section. The second kiai is basically the same as the first one but a little bit denser and streamy. After that, a really harsh inverse section comes along with the ending of the map. It does have 4 difficulties going from 1.99 stars to 5.95 so it becomes accessible to everyone.
Talking a little about 17VA, he has been mapping since 2014 and he has made 31 (submitted) beatmaps which all of those are Long Note based. His maps are really popular in the 7K mania community, with a lot of favorites and a few of them have actually been used for both unofficial and official tournaments. He also has 2 loved beatmaps so, why not another one? His mapping style is somewhat unique even though it's really o2jam based, the structure that he uses can be distinguishable from other maps. Definitely a map worth enough for Loved.
written by Kamikaze
Next up we have TBSM's monster of a chart, Wind God Girl.
This mapset is relentless, it's 4 minutes of almost non stop onslaught on three diffrent difficulties: the 4K difficulty which has really dense patterning with an inhuman amount of minijacking and bursts, and two 7K difficulties. The BMS 21 is a chart featured in MWC 7K 2017 Finals and it's a very dense BMS style (as difficulty name suggests) chart with dense chordstreams throughout the entire chart, while the TBSM.DPJAM.ME difficulty has way more abrasive LN patterning with loads of shields and other hard patterns which are a test of might for even the best of the best.
Good luck and don't break your fingers!
written by Kamikaze
And to finish this list off, we have something to help you relax and help you get your mood up if you're not having the best of days, FrenzyLi's Friend Shitai!
It's a funny, uplifting song, and the mapset is keeping in theme, with various light streaming patterns, some interesting jump SVs and fun LN patterning.
Offering two keymodes, 4K and 9K with top difficulties made by Reyzra and Shinzo- respectively, the 9K chart focuses more on being an all round tester with a mix of streams, LNs and SVs, while the 9K focuses more on interesting and challenging stream patterning. Don't get lost!
From everyone on the Project Loved team, we hope you enjoy this week's selection, and look forward to the next! The winning maps will hit the beatmap listing sometime during the weekend and will be announced via the osugame twitter.
If you have any suggestions for maps to be added to the Loved category, please submit them using the Google form!
—clayton
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