Over the Frail Dream

Quote:

Legend- AAAA on all Invocation files, AAA+ on all Stages, AA+ on all Bosses and Incarnation (34-36 MSD)
Expert- AAA+ on all Invocation files, AA+ on all Stages, A+ on all Bosses. (30-32 MSD)
Intermediate- AA+ on all Invocation files, A+ on all Stages, pass on all Bosses. (25-28 MSD)
Novice- AA+ all Invocation files, A+ on all Stages, excluding Bosses. (20-23 MSD)

Stage 1 wrote:

[1-1] The Festival of Ghost 2 - O2Jam music does the best job of expressing the ancient StepMania packs' music vibe, this chart is no exception. This is a really good pack opener. Not only a chart is literally from 2000's, but the song also gives the opening aura.
Rating: 8/10

[1-2] ABRACADABRA - Can't think about any other charter from modern era that is such a pattern factory as Zeta. Honestly, this is my first time seeing jumpstreams where the one edge of playfield is gray and the other is regular colors. While imo this doesn't 100% represent the flow of the song, it's still a really nice addition to the file, considering that it plays as nice as the rest of the file. Minijacks are also a really cool part of the file, but is challenging for both for reading and playing aspect (at least for such a tech and jackspeed failure as me). The review will be too dull without mentioning the song. It's probably the best white girl music i've heard in a while, despite that i'm not really a fan of it.
Rating: 9/10

[1-3] All Night Passion (Radio Edit) - At this point i was already getting feelings that a good couple of files in this pack will be oriented around the heavy usage of color theory or polyrhythms. This file is a good preparation for what you will be experiencing for pretty much the entirety of Stage 1 and Stage 2. While i played this file at 1.0x (and also the rest of the pack), i think it gets the best on uprates as a scoring file (a la "guys check out how hard i can hit those runningmens!!!1")
Rating: 8/10

[1-4] Anagura-gurashi - I know zaalseen as a charter for probably the longest time most of the pack players know him, and it's really nice to see his progression in charting. When i saw this file for the first time, i mostly knew him as a dump charter, rather than a tech-y charter (despite that this file is mostly dumps) (we are not talking about his Super Polska Chordjack era), so it was a surprise for me to play it. Despite that this file is almost 6 minutes long and is definitely a really easy file for me to play on 1.0x, it doesn't feel boring at all. Imo this chart excels at the density usage and expressing the vocals. The song is also really kawaii so moe..... ;_; O_o
Rating: 9/10

[1-5] Can't Fight The Moonlight - While i was playing this file, i had no memory of how the Mina file looked like, so i pretty much couldn't rate this file on the restep perspective. Looking at both Mina and Cuckson's file now, i wanna admit that Mina file looks more interesting than the Cuckson's one, which is not immediately a bad thing, since both of these files serve different purpose, and the current generation will probably find Cuckson's file more attractive. Still, a good file.
Rating: 7/10

[1-6] Barbecue - It's surprising to see Lofty keeping up with the modern charting techniques. This time, it's apparently a fake usage. Gonna admit, on a sightread these fakes are really confusing to read. One good thing to mention is that this file felt like no other Igorrr files that Lofty charted, which surprised me even more throughout playing. Really solid file, will definitely replay it on higher rates on push session.
Rating: 8/10

[1-7] Cities In Dust - I like playing jackspeed, i like this song and i also like this file. Jacks are definitely brutal (especially the 48th triplejacks at the beginning), which adds even more spice to the file. I first saw this file while looking through the Minty 4 pack folder and this file was hidden there. I kind of get why this was rejected from Minty 4, and i'm glad that this file found its new home in this pack.
Rating: 8/10

Stage 2 wrote:

[2-1] Lavender Town - I don't know what to say about this file except that it's a CosmoVibe file and it's probably first time someone charted this song (which surprises me ngl). Color theory is cute, i have no problems with the layering. This is probably the best how you can chart this song.
Rating: 7/10

[2-2] Image - We are getting another white girl music, though this time it's Tim's turn. I really enjoyed the song, i enjoyed playing this file, the color theory usage is good, the fake usage is good. I was expecting to see a much more mid file considering the setting of Valedumps 4 (i'm sorry but in my opinion this pack was not that good) but this file didn't disappoint me at all.
Rating: 8/10

[2-3] Maldito Amor - I was expecting to see another Leo-style file (jumpstreams with polys etc) but those 24th jumpjacks caught me off guard. That was the last thing i would expect from Leo. The one hand trills also surprised me a lot. This is definitely not the stuff that you will see in a Leo file. Despite that, it's still a really good file. Definitely not felt boring for me.
Rating: 8/10

[2-4] Peach's Birthday Cake Sped Up - I'm either too young for having an obsession on Peach, or there is something in this file that i didn't notice. This file is the shortest one in the pack and I don't know how to rate it properly. Technically, there is nothing wrong with it, but it just feels like a filler file for me.
Rating: 7/10

[2-5] fuck ANIME (Extended) - When it comes to collabs, i have absolutely no ability of telling who made which part. This is probably for good, since the entire file felt pretty consistent, except for probably midgy part which was the 3rd quarter of the file i assume(?). I liked the Minty 2 version, and i like this version even more. This version utilizes pretty much the same patterns that were used in Minty 2 version, without making the file too boring, which is surprising for a 5 minute file and a collab of 4 people from completely different charting eras. Will definitely play it again on a push session.
Rating: 8/10

[2-6] Atrax - Assuming that this is Pain Triangle's lost sister file, i'm not sure if this file matches the pattern_factory-ness of it. It definitely lacks the mines and the breaks between bursts felt toooooo long, especially in the 2nd half. Apart from that, the bursts still feel fun to play. The beginning is the weirdest part in the file for sure. 10 seconds of nothing then dumping nothing? qhat? Anyway, good file.
Rating: 7/10 (used to be rated 8/10 when i played it on stream but i think it's a bit lower than that)

[2-7] A Few Elements of Vocabulary - So glad to see someone charting more Gangpol und Mit. Despite that the middle section looks kind of hollow compared to the first and last third of the file, it still felt really nice to play. And as always, ricetoast manages to add some of the most unhinged patterns i've seen in this game. Good job for doing that. And don't get disappointed, we will see even more of crazy ricetoast patterning decisions later. For now, this feels just like a preparation for later stuff.
Rating: 8/10

Stage 3 and above wrote:

WIP for now

Windoze wrote: *

Sun Nov 30, 2025 8:34 pm

[1-7] Cities In Dust (0.85x) - banger song, super unique and fun chart. this is how you make a jackspeed dump. 7/7

Lofty Rhino wrote: *

Tue Dec 02, 2025 12:58 am

Windoze wrote: *

Sun Nov 30, 2025 8:34 pm

[1-7] Cities In Dust (0.85x) - banger song, super unique and fun chart. this is how you make a jackspeed dump. 7/7

I was very surprised to see a perfect score for this, as it leads more with charm than playability, but I'm happy that the charm wasn't overlooked 8)

Lofty Rhino wrote: *

Tue Dec 09, 2025 10:55 pm

[2-6] Atrax - 7.5/10
This is also a jack file that knows what it is about. That being said, the beginning is a little weird and the “chorus” is much easier than the rest of the file which really forces you to pay attention to those minijack/bursty patterns. This was originally a Minty 4 reject file. It was charted the same time that Pain Triangle was charted and Dour, James, and myself just happened to take the same approach on an Arabic song. Something, something, linguistics and charting? That being said, Atrax is definitely the weaker of the two files.