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How to Path in DJ Hero 2

 
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Fedora  





Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 2286
Location: Des Moines, IA

PostPosted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:19 pm    Post subject: How to Path in DJ Hero 2 Reply with quote

(This was taken from a blog entry I posted over at vVv. Figured this would be a better place to get some discussion on it though.)



Sadly, there is no "exact way" to determine the best paths in DJ Hero 2. It's a process of trial and error. (There are potential ways to use an Excel spreadsheet and captured video to plan out a path ahead of time, but the amount of time and effort that would go into it makes it hardly worth it.
Still, by following some basic rules, we can get a rough path out a mid-tier song in about half an hour.

First thing's first - Do your homework, and read up on how freestyle sections are graded. Also be aware that this guide is set up with an advanced player in mind, someone who can FC the songs they are trying to path on a consistent basis. (Or come very close.) The information here can also help players who haven't quite reached that level, but obviously there may be a few discrepancies.

Second thing - Do NOT use your rewind deckduring the pathing process. When you play through the song on the actual high score run, you with use a rewind deck.] Pathing for leagues has caused me stumble onto the revelation that the optimal paths for leagues (where no power decks are allowed) are the same paths that set #1 scores if executed WITH the Rewind Deck active. Do your pathing with a normal "classic" deck and wait until you want to do an actual run before switching to the Rewind Deck. Saves you time and the little bit of sanity you are sure to lose after the 20th time listening to the opening bars of "Replay."

Third, play through the song once to get a sense for the song structure, and to make sure you can combo everything. (Or at least figure out where you are likely to break combo at.) Try to look for "chokepoints" - Checkpoints that occur near streak multiples of 60. Also look for any "must-have" rewinds, such as a section that is one big long crossfade freestyle, or a heavy scratching section with no effects knob. Ask yourself "If I were to rewind at 60, 120, 180, and so on, would I be closer to rewinding a full checkpoint? Or would I only be rewinding half a checkpoint or less?

And for the love of God, TAKE NOTES. Most smart phones have some sort of notepad problem, write this shit down so you don't have to play through the song 6 times to remember where everything is at.

It's important to note how rewinds have changed from DJ Hero 1 to DJ Hero 2. In the original game, rewinds were all the same length, so it made sense to rewind as soon as you could in order to maximize the number of potential rewinds. Here, rewinds proceed to the previous checkpoint. (And once you bust out the rewind deck to start setting leaderboard scores, two checkpoints.) Every note or freestyle that can be included in a rewind effectively triples the possible score from it. (Once through at normal, and then again during the rewind at 8x).

It is also important to know the rules behind rewinds. There is a window just past each checkpoint under which you can still rewind and go back a "full checkpoint." The window usually ends at the first "minor tick mark" past the Checkpoint. (Minor Tick Marks are the small white lines that go by on wither side of the track, usually denoting a measure, but do not glow like checkpoints.) A perfect example of this can be seen in War/Superstition: If done right, you can rewind all the way to the beginning of the song if you rewind right at 60 despite passing the checkpoint sometime around 54.

With all of this information in hand, we start to plan out our attack.


I. CHOOSE A REWIND PATH.

Find your "Chokepoints" and work backwards from them. If your first chokepoint occurs at 185, you know that your previous rewinds can come no later than 65 and 125 streak, respectively. As the goal is to rewind as close to a checkpoint as possible every time (as to maximize the amount under said rewind), it would probably be best to rewind these as close to 65 and 125 as possible (without making it hard to keep combo, which is PRIORITY #1 at all times.)

After that, just use logic to flesh out the rest of the rewinds. If the big chokepoint for the song occurs at 320, and the song only has a possible streak of 490, you know that you have almost 50 notes worth of flexibility (490 - 320 = 170. 170 = 2 Rewinds + 50 extra notes). This means it will be more advantageous to let the rewinds at 380 and 440 go until the end of their respective checkpoints before rewinding. On the flip side, if there were only 130 notes between the chokepoint and the end of the song, it would be better to rewind earlier to ensure two rewinds can actually occur. Deciphering the best way to balance between "more potential rewinds" and "longer potential rewinds" is about 70% of the real work in pathing for DJ Hero 2.

It's also worth talking about freestyle sections during this part, because freestyle sections can count for a LOT of points, and they don't count towards your streak. As long as you can get to the end of a freestyle section before needing a critical rewind (when the points are actually awarded) it is always worth it to play through and finish a nearby freestyle section before rewinding. This is the key to getting high scores on low to mid tier songs.

Finally, play through your path (with rewinds) and make sure that you can reasonably hit any potentially tight squeezes, and make any final tweaks that might need to be made, such as opting to extend any rewinds a few notes farther.

II. CHOOSE A EUPHORIA PATH

Once you have the rewind path in place, it's time to figure out where to use your OD. The basic rules for Euphoria can be listed, by importance, as follows:

1. Euphoria must fit between rewinds (to maximize the amount of time spent at 8x). To this end, try to use each Euphoria before acquiring the next one. You should NEVER have more than two Euphorias at a time during a song, and only use two in late sections with a lot of crossfade freestyle sections.

2. Euphoria is worthless in sections with a lot of effects knob. If knob constitutes more than 25% of the section, do not deploy Euphoria.

3. Euphoria used to keep combo (in a hard spike section) where the DJ can't will save the most points.

4. If comboing is not an issue, Use Euphoria with freestyle sections when possible. Heavy emphasis on crossfade freestyle sections. Euphoria only doubles for the duration it is active, so use early in longer freestyle sections. (Getting "A" grades on these sections is also critical to a good score.)

5. If no freestyle sections are available, deploy Euphoria in areas with heavy scratch patterns or any other section with lots of turntable & crossfader action, as all of these actions result in points to be doubled.

6. The last few measures of a song are usually the most active, and result in the most points. It is good practice to save your last Euphoria for the final sections of the song.

These rules, combined with a little trial and error, should get anyone pretty close to an optimal path. And, as Always, if you find a good place to use your euphoria? Write that shit down!



III. Nailing the path

Once you have your Rewind and Euphoria paths settled, all that remains is to switch back to your rewind deck and start running up the score. As you play through, pay special attention to any fireworks - getting straight "A's" on the freestyle sections is usually what seperates the top 3-4 spots on any single song leaderboard. If you find something that works, don't be afraid to do it that way every time. Ultimately, it will take some rewinds and some patience, but you WILL be able to start pulling down some top 5 scores.
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The original Rock Band career bassist.
Former DJ Hero player for vVv.
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AnubisGX  





Joined: 19 Feb 2009
Posts: 103
Location: Oahu, Hawaii

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good guide. You mentioned pretty much every thing I've done to get those few #1 scores I have in DJH2.

Just to add more detail, the euphorias last till just before 16 beats (tick marks), if I remember correctly.

You also mentioned you can still get full rewinds up to the minor tick mark past a checkpoint, I assume this is the 4th beat after a checkpoint. You can actually go all the way up to right before the 5th beat, but not on the 5th beat.

Hopefully my XBL #1 scores hold up. Lol.
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Ktulu45  





Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 168

PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2011 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for this Fedora, I finally started pathing and this definitely helped out a lot.
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youhas wrote:
inv4der wrote:
Wouldn't Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys be better and more feasible options?

But of course, from a "selecting songs that jibe with the spirit of the occasion" standpoint. But that'd be too easy, and does not scratch my abritrary "supremely idiotic query that perhaps only ScoreHero may know the answer to" itch.
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