Recently, the latest iteration of the Sound Voltex franchise, Sound Voltex V: Vivid Wave (SDVX V), has been available in Indonesia for arcade rhythm gamers to enjoy. At the time of writing, the new edition has been available at Maxx Games Maxx Box Lippo Village (Tangerang), Element Family Fun Lippo Mall Puri (Jakarta), and Game Master outlets at Cihampelas Walk and Festival CityLink (Bandung). This article will take a look at some of the changes to the game compared to SDVX IV.
New Features
Automation Paradise
This is one of the biggest additions to SDVX in the game’s history. Automation Paradise is essentially a new game mode which lets you play a mix of three songs from a selection of iconic SDVX tracks as a single chart. Automation Paradise can be played in light or standard start, or in the dedicated paradise start, which costs 2x that of light start, but allows you to pick the three songs you want, whereas outside of Paradise, the songs are randomly selected.
1080p Resolution
Players can now enjoy a sharper gaming experience with SDVX V now running full HD resolution. Song jackets now look better than ever and artists can get more of the quality they deserve. The improved graphics also help players to see notes more clearly. I personally have noticed my reading skill improve markedly just due to the change in resolution.
Live 2D Navigators
Your new default navigators Grace and Rasis (Rasis is only available if you completed the last SDVX IV login bonus mission) are now fully live 2D-animated. Furthermore, the first PUR card released since launch, Kureha, is also animated, so we can expect to see more and more of our favorite SDVX characters move on the screen.
Gameplay Changes
SDVX V is the first version which does not include new gameplay features. In comparison, SDVX II added chip FX notes, SDVX III added BT+FX overlap and knobs which can start anywhere and are not bound by the width of the lanes, while SDVX IV added hitsounds to FX notes. However, knob judgment is altered. How exactly is up for debate, but my own experience suggests that knobs are now harder to spam (no more free Firestorm scores) and knobs can be turned later than usual and still properly hit.
Other than these, charting styles always evolve from version to version and SDVX V is no exception. Be brave and try them out!
User Interface
Before you even get to play a song, you have to find it. And here, the SDVX V UI is different from its predecessor in a few ways.
Mode Selection
Upon entry you are now prompted to choose from five game modes (normal, friend, paradise, blaster, skill analyzer). In SDVX IV, the prompt was between light, standard and blaster. This means that the ‘normal’ game mode in SDVX V no longer includes local matching (which has to be explicitly chosen through ‘friend’) as well as skill analyzer (known popularly as dan’i nintei). This means if skill analyzer is failed on tracks 1 or 2, there is no advancing to the next track; the credit is over. This is the same approach as in SDVX III.
Sorting
Song sorting works differently in SDVX V. In SDVX IV pressing FX-L lets you choose between sorting categories such as track level or clear mark. In SDVX V, FX-L serves as a back button too. From the all songs screen, pressing FX-L closes the songs screen and displays folders of your current sorting category, as well as special categories not present on the FX-R sorting category wheel, such as Omega Dimension folders and Automation Paradise. All this information is displayed as boxes on the main screen, whereas in the old version the songs screen would be dimmed while categories would appear on the left hand side of the screen. Meanwhile, the FX-R button still works the same way (changes sorting method), but information about which sorting method is being used is now permanently displayed on the song select screen below currently highlighted song information.
Result Screen
The result screen displays only score and letter grade by default. Pressing both FX buttons still displays full early/late information, critical/near/error count, and how well you did on vol/long/button notes. Meanwhile, end-of-credit total result screens now include extrack scores.
There may have been new features and gimmicks we might have missed, so go ahead and try SDVX V for yourselves!
The Indonesian Anime Times | by Robert
