Scratchin' Melodii - Expression 101 (How to Freestyle)

So far, it seems a lot of people are having trouble understanding how the freestyle system and Expression meter works.  I definitely would like to improve the in-game tutorials in the full version, but for now I thought I'd take some time to explain some of it here! 

Those who've played the older demos may notice that the rhythm system here is a little more "strict" than before. This is because frankly, the old rhythm system wasn't doing a very good job of detecting your rhythm at all! It had a very hard time detecting when something was off-beat, thus it would just consider many of your inputs on-beat whether they actually were or not. I hate to say it, but if you're having trouble, I think you just need more rhythm! But worry not! I'm here to help.

Please note that the game is designed around gamepad controls. Keyboard controls are functional if that's your thing, but you'll probably have an easier time with a gamepad. You do you though!

Available Buttons

The most important thing is using the available buttons and landing them on the beat markers. Pressing any other button than those would count as a misinput and deduct points. (Also, on pink lines your opponent may have a different set of available buttons than you, so be sure to stick to your own!)

For example, the suggested line here says "A A B X X Y Y", so the available buttons would be A, B, X, and Y. Forgetting to utilize one of them in your line somewhere can deduct points as well.

Staying On Beat

Following the exact order or timings of the notes isn't really necessary. Think of it as more of a "suggestion". This is where freestyling comes in! As long as your note is one of the available buttons and its center is close enough to a beat marker (dot or star), it'll gain points!*

     

*Some special notes may require you to follow their timing, such as the "Pow Notes" used for hitting the tennis ball in Supastar Tennis

Freestyling/Remixing

A common way of freestyling is by adding extra notes (as long as it's one of the available ones!) on empty beat markers. For example, on a line that says "L R", "L L R" is worth more points! If you do this enough to get more points than you would have gotten from playing the line normally, the Expression meter will begin to rise.

But freestyling isn't just about adding extra notes, you can also gain bonus points for rearranging them! For example, on a line that says "L R", pressing "R L" is worth more points! Doing this will immediately raise the Expression meter.

Expression is super important if you want to raise your score enough to get higher ranks.

Playing the song well enough without freestyling will usually land you a solid B rank, but doing twice as well as that by freestyling can get you an A rank, or even an S rank if you get the Perfect Bonus! Perfect Bonus is acquired when you beat a complete a song after staying in Hi-Fi status the entire time without making any misinputs.

In conclusion: 

• Stay on beat! It's gotta sound good. 
• Use the buttons shown in your line! Pressing X on a line that doesn't have an X will deduct points.
• Remix it for extra points!

Also, for those who were concerned about "3D Mode" or "Ascension" being absent here, don't worry! It was only temporarily removed because it needs to be redone to work with the new rhythm system. It will definitely return for the final game.

I hope this info can be helpful in the meantime! I definitely understand that a lot of this is stuff should be explained more in-game, and I plan to do just that in the future. Sorry for the confusion!