I've unlocked Oni mode before. I've FCed songs on Oni before. I've FCed ten star difficulty songs on Oni before (though a certain few remain out of my reach). The next step, aside from drilling on with the few remaining songs I CAN'T FC no matter how hard I try, is to score as high as I can on the songs I've mastered.
That is the principle behind getting a Full Perfect, which gives you the maximum possible score you could hope to achieve in any song. In other words, it's goddamn score attack. For the uninitiated and those who haven't lurked Taiko Time, Full Perfect is getting all 良 on a song with 0 可. On lower difficulties, doing this is significantly easier since the accuracy required for 良 is less strict. But on Oni...god. It's equally hard to get similar achievements on other rhythm games, but I digress.
How the heck do the Japanese do it? And make it look so easy? How is it they can freely manipulate whether they WANT to get 良 and when they don't want to? (no miss no clear, borderline clear, specific scoring). There has to be some sort of special skill involved. So I tried my hand at it.
High Touch, Oni 5*, 9 可, and the first song I could achieve less than 10 可 on. My previous attempts at doing this ungodly stunt were Koi wa Mizuiro (12可), Saikou Everyday (13可) and Gake no Ue no Ponyo (11可, sad, I know). Most of the other times when I wanted myself to be accurate I get at least 15 or 20 or slightly more (usually hovers around 30-40 when I don't give a damn and just want to play normally)
Anyway, after getting the score as shown above I was feeling pretty good about myself. I was setting high scores left and right and shaving away the 可 count from all manner of songs I tried, though never less than 10. Taiko Wii 3 came out soon after and I tried my hand at Full Perfect on the easiest Oni song I know that was my favorite- Kimi no Akari (Oni 5*). I had never gotten a Full Perfect before. This is my chance. I know I can do it if I tried hard enough. I turned up the volume a little and sat closer to the screen.
Half an hour later I arrived at the same level as my High Touch play. 9 可. Already my score had exceeded Autoplay because of drumroll spam. But still a long, long way from that elusive Full Perfect...I turned up the volume even more.
My fingers failed me for hours and days after that. I just could not get to 9 可 again no matter how hard I tried. Turning up the volume to get a feel of the music beats didn't do any good. Trying to focus on the screen intensely didn't help me get more accurate either, although it worked sometime. Oni's hit accuracy needed to get 良 was just way too strict for me to handle. Even though I just felt like I want to sit back and enjoy the song, every time I play Kimi no Akari my mind is dead-set on getting as few 可 as I possibly can, because since the song was easy I still knew a Full Perfect was within my reach. Within my reach...come on, work, dammit!
I took a break at some point after 3 days trying to bust my 9 可 record with no fruitful results. I went to Anime and played Go-Go Tamagotchi, which I haven't played in quite some time. Guess my score.
8 可.
On my first run.
In just two minutes I smashed my lowest 可 record without even thinking about it. I was awestruck. Even more so because Go-Go Tamagotchi was 2 whole difficulty stars higher than Akari. I didn't screenshot it, which I learned to regret later. All I did was hit the notes exactly to the beat of the song, which was really easy to follow. And all this time, what was I doing to Kimi no Akari?
I decided to give it another go. Feel the music in my head, fingers primed to tap quickly as soon as the beat ticks. Retry. Retry again. Get the first 200 notes accurately, then 1 可...argh. Retry.....Managed to get to Go-Go Time without getting a single 可...was this it?
*gets a long string of 可 towards the end of the song*
FFFFFUUUUUUUUU
No matter WHAT I did I just couldn't nail that perfect run! This is my lowest score to date. FOUR. The days following this I was tearing my hair out trying to beat this, but couldn't. I get less than 10 easily but never lower than 4. If I get 可 early on in the song I retry. Turning the volume up or sitting in front of the screen till my eyes bleed don't work. By the time I get to the end of Go-Go without getting any 可 my focus would always loosen because I either got nervous or too excited.
How in the name of holy mutha crazy insane skills did the Japanese players Full Perfect this song, on the arcade, on the FIRST DAY it was released for Taiko 13? I've been listening and playing this song for months and still haven't figured out what separates me from the elites. It wasn't just accuracy- to get a Full Perfect requires outright years of practice and near-robotic accuracy (guess that's what Mekadon does best- being a frickin robot) and a giant bucketload of luck (though it certainly wasn't a factor for them Japanese players on Youtube). Not to mention keeping your head on straight for the entire duration of the song. You're not allowed to feel excited or nervous at all, lest you falter and get one single 可. It's that unrelenting, trying to be perfect.
...What, you expected a victorious tale where I would finally get the Full Perfect I wanted? Not this time. Maybe in a few more years. Or maybe never. Besides even if I do Full Perfect Kimi no Akari it's STILL nothing to brag about, as people have already done this on much, much harder songs way before I did. Would be cool for me though.
