Learning Curve

This is a topic worth discussing because it can potentially address some of the misconceptions and fears about the game that turn off a lot of players initially.

Many people are inherently impressed by the performance of skilled rhythm game players because of the sheer speed and density of the notes the player is hitting and reading. While this is part of the beauty of rhythm games, for some people it is a turn-off because they believe they will never achieve that level of skill, or believe that a similar level of skill is required to play and enjoy the game.

The skill a player has comes from several major factors: amount of experience, natural talent, and the learning curve of the game being played. Experience is self-explanatory, but the learning curve is something most people overlook and misjudge.

What is a learning curve? It is a measure of how quickly the player has to improve or learn. Depending on what rhythm game you play, you might improve really quickly or really slowly.

Why is this the case? Consider the comparison between DDR and KBO. DDR requires the player to keep up using their feet, so there are lots of limitations to how fast or dense the notes can be because of the amount of effort it takes to hit a single note. Not only do you need to visually get a sense of when to hit the note, but you may also need to look down to make sure you don't miss the dance pad button. On top of that, you need to expend time and energy to lift your entire leg and drop it again. Hitting two notes at once requires you to jump and land on time. On the other hand, to hit a single note in KBO is marginally easier, as your fingers are already in position and therefore do not need to move, and the amount of energy required to press the keyboard key is very small and the action is quick. As a result, there are much fewer limitations to the speed and density of notes. Players who play DDR have to not only focus on reading the notes, but being able to hit them as well, whereas KBO players spend much less effort physically hitting notes, and therefore can spend more of their energy reading them. KBO players improve far faster than DDR players in terms of reading ability, much more than most people realize.

In conclusion, KBO seems to have a very steep learning curve compared to other rhythm games, but in actuality, it is quite the opposite. It improves the player's reading ability faster than virtually all other rhythm games. While the higher difficulty levels might seem discouraging, it won't take as long to reach a particular level of skill as one might think. Not only will you be rewarded with the ability to perform well on KBO, but this reading skill carries over to other rhythm games as well. After a lot of experience with KBO, most veteran players find the transition to other rhythm games really easy. So if you're a fan of rhythm games, KBO is a great place to start, and also helps you improve in the entire genre in general as well.

Either way, everyone (yes, everyone) is capable of reaching a skill level high enough to enjoy most of what the game has to offer. This threshold is much lower than you would think. You should play the game because you enjoy it, not because you can't be one of the best at it!