Through the Fire and Flames - DragonForce (Pad Lead 100% FC) Fortnite Festival

first of all, thank you john halo and my heroine academia for your service

Yeah, it's not Rocksmith (I have not actually played in a long while), but I am so immensely proud of this one that I had to record it. It is a monumental achievement for me. Not only is this easily the most complex pad chart in the game, and has a high chance of staying that way forever, but I had to put in so much work to make this happen.

First of all- I had to transition from controller to keyboard. Every single other song, on all instruments, I did on controller- even fumbling my way through Paradise City- and when I got to TTFAF, I knew on the lead chart I'd be screwed on a controller; on drums, I just decided to move over. The transition actually wasn't terrible- I FC'd drums about 24 hours after the song launched- but I was playing on a $20 Bluetooth Microsoft membrane keyboard.

Soon I found myself in possession of a SayoDevice, recommended by osu! players, and I began practicing with that. I got an Iqunix EZ63 as well, and while I didn't start practicing on that, it would come in handy later. About a month in, I decided to just try playing on the EZ63, and lo and behold- first try, I hit the trill. But I had already been practicing so much on the SayoDevice that I knew I had to finish there- so, in between solo 2 and the chords that lead in to the keys solo, I actually scoot my chair over and start using the SayoDevice. Overkill? Maybe, but it works.

This took so much time and energy. The tough parts are, in order of difficulty:

1) That damn trill at around 3:00
2) The triplets at the outro of the bridge
3) The "double note" solo (5 orange, 3 blue, 1 yellow, 1 blue with the green/red alternating on the left hand)
4) The fast solo right after that one
5) The outro trill.

Managing all that, with OD activation, was a nightmare. But I managed to find a calibration sweet spot where I could still hit a ton of perfects, then start playing early at the trill, play the trill slightly slower/late, and still hit it. I'm still not consistent- every run I hit it I considered a fluke, and to date I've only hit it 29 times- but it was a strategy that worked.

The chart itself is, in my opinion, S-tier. It's a grind, it's hard, but- and there is a but- it's incredibly fair, challenging, rhythmically satisfying and enjoyable. Every time I'd pass the trill I was excited, because I knew the chart was fun from thereon out.

But that trill, man. I waver between if I think it's genuinely too much or not. We've only seen one person hit it with thumbs on a controller, which is how I assume most console players play, and we've seen a couple (at least one) people hit it on triggers. Since we can't anchor notes like you can on pro lead, this makes the pad chart actually harder than the pro lead at that point in my opinion. Obviously it's hittable on a keyboard, and it even is technically hittable on a controller, but I'm of two minds:

1) TTFAF should be a difficult achievement that not everyone can make, so it's fine to have difficult parts of it, but
2) The hardest part of a TTFAF chart should be, in no world, a pre-chorus trill.

I don't know. It works, and it's playable (on keyboard), but for a primary console input mechanism I don't know if I agree with it and for the part of the song it is, I'm not sure I agree with it either. But then again, should "this part of a song shouldn't be the hardest" dictate how a song is charted? Also no. It's complicated. I really wanted them to nerf it for a while. I think I still do, and I'm glad I got the FC, but it's... a lot.

Thanks for reading if you did! I'm immensely proud of this FC and love Festival. Free Bird drops today, and that'll be a lovely cool down. :)