Over the Frail Dream

discuss the pack that inspired this forum and post scores while ur at it


(god that image is huge)

eo release link

song list for nerds

also i added a poll for fun, we'll see how that goes
(edit: doesnt show the voters yet. will try to fix that soon but that'll require writing my own extension i think)

reserving first reply for my eventual feature-length review of this pack that when dropped will be measured in geological epochs

for now, here's a very small review that doesn't cover any charts in particular (since that will come later), but gives my thoughts on the general scope of the pack:

this pack has more personality than most packs i've ever seen, it's pretty evident how lofty leaned hard into the older stepmania dump philosophy with some of the packs he mentioned in his mission statement. while it feels nostalgic, it feels refreshing and the charts are excellent. the atmosphere is generally dark and weird in a way that feels intentional, but still has plenty of moments that break the tension in fun or unexpected ways

the quality of the charts is some of the most consistent i've seen from lofty. tons of variety, lots of charm, and a lot of spots where you can tell charters had fun with their ideas. there's a nice balance between freeform dumps, chaotic shit, groovy tech, etc.. it's a really enjoyable mix of modern creativity, homages to older packs and charts, and lofty's newer stylistic quirks. definitely feels and looks like a pack made with a lot of care and passion

ill write some shit too in a bit once i actually play the pack

been busy between playing terraria and setting this site up

speaking of which i need to change the mrgreen emote in a bit

edit: its changed now

good pack lofty, thanks for letting me borrow your lamborghini this weekend

PACK VERY GOOD

came together excellently, has a unique sort of style similar to the "Xclusive Edition" mixing all different types of files in there truly you can't be let down.

definitely could've done better on my part. this year in charting for me has been extremely disappointing for one reason or another. despite that the pack as a whole really stands out in the sea of releases this year and I can personally say that I've been waiting for this release since the announcement as something to look forward to as the series' reputation precedes itself massively.

everyone really did a good job, the motivation was there from the start and it was a very quick turnaround which is surprising because of how good it all turned out, the graphics work cannot be understated to really make the whole thing suck you in. not something that i tend to think about, but you see art like this and it really makes you appreciate the amount of detail and care that goes in to something like this.

see you in 2026 pack nerds

Tasty paq! :)

These dumps are awesome

The vibe is very nice and the selections are surprisingly sharp, very few files that I dislike, alot of files I like. :D

Very files of lot quality! Some out of place, this is normal because Lofty.

heres reviews for the first stage. same rating scale i used for the poll

scores:


[1-1] The Festival of Ghost 2 - definitely a perfect fit aesthetic-wise for the pack, spooky boomer chart. i wouldve used the minedodge diff but i can get why you didn't. also this chart is so offsync lmao. 5/7

[1-2] ABRACADABRA (0.8x) - pretty fun, really like the minijacky patterns in the chorus and the 24th js patterns. theyre like mini ripple stars. what i didn't like though was the 192nd color theory in those. i think i get that it's to express that theres two voices being charted but it looks messy IMO. also i imagine those 48th minijacks make this awful to acc lmao, will be interesting to look at scores on this. cool chart overall, 5/7

[1-3] All Night Passion (0.9x) - super quiet audio, i had to turn up my game volume to hear the music over my keytaps. anyway this chart reminds me of abracadabra w/ the patterning, lots of 16th minijacks and 24th js. in this case though the nasty spiokes arent from minijacks but instead 16th jacks and anchors. if theres anything for me to nitpick about, i'd make the vocals in the intro/outro all offset by 48ths instead of just the first half of them. that way you'd have a neat contrast with the verses/chorus that have the 24th streams. 5/7

[1-4] Anagura-gurashi - the restepper strikes again . jokes aside this definitely distinguishes itself from xingren's file with a very different approach in both difficulty and patterning. very fun to acc though the file's a bit too loosely structured for it to be a favorite of mine. also lol that gfx. 5/7

[1-5] Can't Fight The Moonlight (0.95x) - idunno about this one. structure's good though i think theres a bit too much of a gap in difficulty between the chorus patterns and the verses. think you couldve gotten a bit harder with some of the verse patterns to make the file more consistently engaging. 4/7

[1-6] Barbecue (0.95x) - first half is wayyyyyyyyyyy harder than the second half for me. 11 cbs in the first half and 3 in the second. fakes were neat though my favorite part was that one minedodge part, reminds me of shell shocked. besides buffing the second half i think i wouldve also not dumped the sections where there's no drums; i think it'd make the chart fit the pace of the song better. 4/7

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

ive only playtested a few files in here before the release, but what i could tell from that + lykos stream i would say its a nice 6/7 :D

stage 2 reviews



[2-1] Lavender Town - again, definitely fits the pack's energy. honestly playing this on 1.0 is awkward enough due to the slow speed that it fits the song in a weird way. only complaint is that i don't like this style of charting fadeouts where you try to delayer with the fadeout; it always just feels wrong (this time not in an expressive way). shouldve had the chart end when it starts to loop again, then have it fade out. 5/7

[2-2] Image (0.9x) - not as backloaded as i expected from the nps graph; the patterns in the second half are pretty friendly. the slowdowns at the end of the streams felt really smooth and the minijack patterns in the choruses were pretty spicy for a tim chart (maybe i just havent been looking at his recent output enough?). i also didnt mind most of the color theory for once because its in clearly defined sections not jumbled up with normally colored notes. also a good way of indicating the weird fake stacking thing. 5/7

[2-3] Maldito Amor (0.85x) - not gonna lie i was pretty bored the first half of this chart but then that chorus hit and woke me up. love those 24th jumpjacks and long 32nd ohts. with a less boring first minute this could be a favorite of mine, but it does drag down the experience a bit. 5/7

[2-4] Peach's Birthday Cake Sped Up - should've called it Peach's Birthday Cake GAMMA GAMMA (assuming this is 2x speed?). i guess this chart's fine? kind feels like an invocation file. nice reuse of that one old cdtitle btw. 4/7

[2-5] fuck ANIME (Extended) (0.8x) - first im going to guess who did what: lofty did danny's verses and the choruses (closest to the original file and way more abstract than the other charter sections), zeta did ab-soul's verses (really nasty tech patterns but also follows the song pretty closely, midgy did kendrick's (very clean style and nice flowing patterns but a bit safe compared to the other 3), and that leaves tim for last (checks out; nobody else is using fakes besides when the ghost of arrowvortex future possessed lofty for Barbecue). really liked all of the parts though i think midgy's part lacks difficulty and spice compared to everyone elses. it's not charted poorly; in fact it really reminded me of one of my own charts while playing (B.O.B.) but it doesn't really fit with what everyone else did. btw tim's part was really good, probably some of my favorite dumping ive seen from him. nice nuts theory too. 5/7
(gonna be really funny if i was wrong about who did what)
(edit: i wasnt)

[2-6] Atrax (0.9x) - pain triangle jr (mildly irritated line segment?). the pattern factory didnt feel too expressive to me but its pretty fun to play, 5/7

[2-7] A Few Elements of Vocabulary (0.85x) - surprised i haven't seen another gangpol und mit song charted until now. pretty fun though the difficulty definitely feels concentrated only in the first section and the preview point. could be fine when accing though since the patterns are still pretty tricky in the middle. liked the mine/hold usage in this chart. 5/7