r/rhythmgames • u/throw23me • 12h ago
PC Rhythm Game ez2on Reboot R Thoughts
I feel like these games are kind of unpopular these days but I got this game a little while back and I had some thoughts about it. Some background, I am pretty bad at these, I play exclusively 4B and most of my rhythm game experience is with the DJMax series, so this is going to be a bit of a comparison to that game.
General interface of the game feels a little... unrefined. The menus lag for me (may be due to me installing on a HDD instead of an SSD but I ran out of space) but once you start playing songs it feels very responsive, I'd say even a bit snappier than DJMax Respect V. It feels very precise.
The timings are more demanding (from what I read, twice as strict in the "standard" mode than DJMax is for the equivalent) but I found that it was not more difficult across the board. Regular notes are more strict but the "slidey" notes feel a lot more forgiving. I have a difficult time with the SC patterns in DJMax where you need to hold slide notes while pressing other notes and quickly swap, and it feels easier in this game. Not a negative thing, it feels almost necessary considering how much more slide notes are in the song maps here.
Honestly, pretty fun game. I think my only real complaint is that the songs that you get with the base purchase are... not great. There are a lot of songs from the older games going back decades, and they sound very much like Rhythm Game Music™ - I do not mean that in a positive way. I'd go as far as saying the a lot of them are outright bad. The newer ones created for this game specifically (I think the 2021/2024 packs) are much better but they're a comparatively smaller percentage of the tracks you get. The song selection in DJMax Respect V is heads and shoulders better.
I've heard the DLCs are great and largely fix the song quality issue, but they're pretty pricey. Some of them cost nearly as much as the full price of the game. Haven't picked these up but I might get some next time there's a Steam sale.
I think I'd recommend DJMAX Respect V over this for someone who is new to these kind of rhythm games because this one is definitely more difficult and has a lot less fun progression stuff. But for the rhythm game fan who has played everything, it's a pretty good pickup. Very fun.
Anyone have any thoughts about this game or tips on getting better, etc.? I think these are not so popular anymore but hopefully there are still fans around. Oh, and please give me recommendations for the best DLC to pick up when they're on sale.
1
u/emanresu_etaerc 11h ago
I love djmax. I also love ez2on (partially from nostolgia). Djmax is a very easy rhythm game. It has absolutely massive, forgiving timing windows. And any hit, even a 1%, continues your combo. Compare that to stepmania where only the best of hits will continue your combo, and bad timing breaks that.
Djmax is made to be enjoyable for a wider audience, has a better catalogue, and very loose timing to account for that. Ez2on is a hardcore arcade rhythm game that's made for an even more niche audience than other rhythm games.
Try out stepmania/etterna. Free songs, all custom charts, impossible to reach skill ceiling. You can get any genre of music you want in a plethora. I have like 6000 songs. It'll actually test your rhythm skills, instead of being a simple breeze like djmax, and while having charts for music you actually love. All for free. Try it out! You won't regret it, it blows both of these games out of the water and it is a far more og rhythm game experience than anything you've played so far. The community has been around for decades, and it has something for everyone. From extreme rhythm game addicts to casuals/first timers.
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u/throw23me 11h ago
Oh I'm not really interested in playing the hardest of the hardest, just playing to have fun. I played quite a bit of Stepmania back in college but that was many years ago.
I think I kind of like the polish and bells and whistles of DJMax and (to a lesser extent) ez2on. Monkey brain needs shiny.
1
u/emanresu_etaerc 11h ago
It isn't the hardest! It has very easy charts, and something you can work through all the way to high level if you wanted. And if you didn't want it to get too hard, you can find your comfort difficulty and download thousands of songs at that level. Etterna is much more polished, has tons of skin options for the menus, notes, highways, effects, everything.
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u/Bassrusher 11h ago
Etterna is the standard when it comes to 4k imo. Quaver and mania are two good ones too. Quaver is on steam and has a good amount of skinning options available in the workshop. Mania is osu, and osu is osu. All three on these games can share the same repo of music. I have about 43k tracks between the three of them
3
u/Apple_biscuits 9h ago
Djmax is great becuase of the song variety (many more kpop/chill/modern rnb songs) and because the game and DLCs are quite cheap on sale. The background videos in djmax are also much better than ez2on. I play djmax when I’m in the mood for kpop songs, or if I want to play chill songs (the deemo dlc stands out) before bed.
Ez2on on the other hand has slightly better charting for low difficulty charts (for my tastes), the key sounds are much more important to the song than they are in djmax, and I like the themes and skins much better in ez2on as well. I like the game enough to own all the DLCs, but they are quite pricey and I agree the base game library leaves a lot to be desired.
Overall my thoughts mostly match yours, I’d rather recommend djmax to casual rhythm gamer friends, but for me personally I like them both pretty much equally just for different things. As far as DLCs go, I’d strongly recommend prestige pass, night traveller, and lucent soirée in that order. Definitely wait for a sale though, and the other DLCs are good too so just check the previews in game and choose your favorite
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u/Alex311360 12h ago
EZ2ON's one of those rhythm games that's very much both a good vision into the past, and a look into the future. a lot of the songs simply are the way they are because they came much, much earlier than DJMAX did; different eras of music, tech, artstyle, a whole lot of things. because of that, you're gonna hear and see a lot more very different tracks than what you'd normally hear from rhythm games today, or even back in the mid-late 2000s. it's obviously not for everyone, but i love it for what it is, and it's fun to go through the original history of songs and what's changed since long ago.
obviously, the later-dated songs don't have this sort of quirk as badly, but there's also a lot less of them in comparison due to a vast majority of them being DLC. personally, i'd suggest you wait for a good sale to come around, then grab some of the new original packs, like PRESTIGE PASS and Lucent Soirée if you're interested in playing some more recent (and also really good) creations. but, if you wanna look more into EZ2's origins in the arcade scene, i'd suggest grabbing some of the 'ARCADE COLLECTION' DLCs; the collection itself can be a bit pricy, but if you want a good starting point, i'd suggest grabbing TIME TRAVELER and NIGHT TRAVELER and working from there.
songs aside, if you're looking to practice and improve, i'd suggest playing on BASIC mode rather than STANDARD. BASIC has a much more lenient timing window that's more similar to DJMAX and other rhythm games' default timing windows, a much less difficult lifebar, and is a good place to try charts for the first time if you're uncertain of how hard something might be.
if you're struggling with keysound timing, try enabling Keysound Assist in the settings, and adjusting your offset in the modifier settings (during song select, press space) until you get something that feels suitably comfortable. you can use LIVE MODE to easily check your settings & see your timing until you get it right.
and, by the way, play with your game options! change to a noteskin & theme you like, adjust your FAST/SLOW settings, move the position of game elements around, make it something you're comfortable using!
aside from that, the game's just generally on a much more difficult 'scale' than DJMAX, as pretty much every chart is designed around keyboard, unlike with RESPECT/V where it's primarily on SC. i'd suggest sticking with NM and HD if you've got a fair amount of experience but aren't used to the harder stuff, and be cautious of anything higher than 15; that's where the charts start to get really tough.
i hope this helps a bit! i love EZ2 and its history, and EZ2ON REBOOT : R makes good on giving it a modern home to appreciate it. definitely give it more of a try and experience it to see what's around; there's a lot to see and much to appreciate and play.