Elite Beat Agents Game Analysis FAQ - Started and Completed Dec 10, 2006 -updated Dec 12, 2006 (thanks to Kool Kid Joe for update on the "elite beat") - this fixes up some stuff which were wrong in my FAQ ------------ Start of FAQ ------------ This is an FAQ that describes some of the finer points of this game. However, I will not say anything about the multiplayer part of the game since I know no one who actually plays this game. In fact, the only reason I know that some people may actually look at this FAQ is because I've seen posts of pro EBA players on youtube and have seen comments by people who are struggling with Cruisin' mode (whom may actually be compelled to look at this FAQ). I didn't do very much formatting, so it's a little disorganized but the information is there. (Actually, FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. So I guess this isn't really a FAQ, it is a written analysis of this game. I merely called it an FAQ because that's what this type of analysis is usually referred to as within the gamefaq.com website) ----------------- The Elite-o-meter ----------------- Your health is the Elite-o-meter. You will need to keep this non-empty to complete a song. Depending on which song and which difficulty you are playing, your health will constantly decrease at some rate while you play (but not while you are viewing a cutscene). You must constantly keep increasing your health to counter this effect. In Breezin', the meter hardly decreases as the song goes by. In HARD ROCK, it goes down really fast. The meter comes in two chunks: the "no" part and the "yes" part. Basically, if you dip below some certain amount of health, you will be in the "no" part. Otherwise the "yes" part. There is also a "!" part, but that is still the "no" part of the meter except it's telling you that you're about to lose. Now, each song comes with 2-4 checkpoints (each checkpoint comes at some fixed time during the song). If you arrive at a checkpoint with a "no" as your health, then you will receive a negative cutscene (i.e. not a "happy" cutscene). Otherwise, you will get a positive cutscene. To pass a song, you need not complete the song with all positive cutscenes (you may still pass it even if you receive a negative cutscene for all of them). To pass, you simply need to prevent your health meter from going empty. -------------- The Hit Marker -------------- This object is simply a circle icon with a number in it and some type of filled color. There will exist a larger circle (with no fill) that will encompass the marker and linearly decrease in diameter until the diameter is very small (which will then disappear along with the marker) or when you tap the marker. To successfully hit the marker, you must tap the inside of the marker when the big round circle is VERY NEAR the edge of the marker. Depending on how near it is, you will gain a certain point value for your tap. I will orderly list these points in descending order with respect to the diameter of the circle. Miss - no where near the marker's edge (but still hit the marker) 50 - somewhat near the marker's edge 100 - very near the marker's edge 300 - right on the marker's edge 100 - very near the marker's edge 50 - somewhat near the marker's edge Miss - you didn't hit it You'll know if you miss the marker when there is an X on the marker. You will receive a certain amount of health for each point: 300 - medium health gain 100 - small health gain 50 - very small health gain Miss - lose health Take note that sometimes a hit marker will have 2 larger circles encompassing the hit marker. That means there is another hit marker right underneath the current hit marker. The outer, larger, circle will tell you when to hit the other marker. ----------------- The Phrase Marker ----------------- This object has a marker (that has a number), which I call a start marker, and has a "slide" that runs out of it and stops at another marker (that doesn't have a number), which I call an end marker. In this end marker, either a curled arrow or nothing will appear, Also, sometimes there exists small dots within the slide. To successfully finish this marker, one must tap the start marker, like you would a regular marker, but you must continue sliding your stylus across the "slide" until it reaches the end marker. If there is a curled arrow in the end marker, you must continue sliding backwards towards the start marker. The start marker may also have a curled arrow now, so keep your stylus sliding across the slide until it reaches an end marker without a curled arrow. However, when you tap the start marker, a ball will come out and roll across the "slide". It is the case that you must have the stylus within the ball while you move across the "slide". (More accurately, you don't necessarily need the stylus on the ball at all times, only when the ball is on a small dot) Each part of the phrase marker merits points: start marker - 30 points small dot - 10 points end marker with a curled arrow - 30 points end marker without a curled arrow - 50-300 points You will gain a certain amount of points for finishing the phrase marker with a certain performance: Miss - did not touch any of the phrase marker 50 - touched less 60% of the phrase marker 100 - touched between 60%-100% of the phrase marker 300 - touched all of the phrase marker (Remember that the only parts that matter in the phrase marker would be the start marker, the small dots, and the end marker. You DO NOT have to have your stylus on the slide at all times. However, it is best that you do.) (Also, if you touched the start marker within a "100 point" range, like if you had tapped a hit marker, you may still get the full 300 points in the end.) --------------- The Spin Marker --------------- This object fills the entire screen. It has a large circle (with no fill) that decreases in diameter until the diameter reaches 0. There is a background with a "wheel" that you can drag in a circular motion. To successfully complete this marker, one must to start drag the "wheel" around the center using the stylus in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. To finish, you must drag the wheel at some minimum speed for some time (which will also increase a gauge in the background) before the diamter of the large circle reaches 0. You will know when you complete the marker when the gauge reaches the top. You receive 100 points for spinning the "wheel" for some amount of time and continue receiving it as long as you keep spinning the wheel. If you stop, you stop receiving 100 points until you start spinning again. Also, if you fill the gauge in the background then you will receive an addition 1000 points for the first additional complete revolution of the wheel, and 2000 for the second, and so forth until the spin marker is gone (you do not receive the continuous 100 points for spinning the "wheel" at this time). You will get 300 points for completing the spin marker after the marker is gone (actually you only get this if you get an "elite beat" when you complete this, else you just get an "Oh Yeah"), otherwise it's a miss if you do not get the gauge to the top in time. You will receive 300 points (part of the combo, btw) if you complete the spin marker. If you do not finish, but come close you will receive 100 points. If you fail to come close to finishing it, you will receive a miss. Also, depending on how fast you are spinning the wheel, you will receive health benefits. The benefits are never negative, so you may spin as slowly as you desire and still receive health. However, if you do not complete the marker, you will lose points for having a "miss". (You can start spinning your stylus around the center, to get a head start, before the marker even appears. However, this does not raise the gauge for you doing so; you merely only setup your initial rotational velocity.) (Also, if you get the gauge to the top, then there is no need for you to spin any further to complete the marker. However, you may wish to continue spinning for health and point bonuses.) (One last thing, I've not taken a very deep analysis of this marker. Therefore, I have not yet able to verify exactly as to the requirements of the end points of this marker.) ------------ Combo Number ------------ This number is your current "combo". It appears on the bottom left (or bottom right if you are using the left handed settings). This starts at 0 and goes up by 1 for every: - Hit marker you tap (50-300 points) - Start marker of each phrase you tap - Small dots of each phrase you slide across - End marker of each phrase you slide onto - Spin marker you complete (300 points or 100 points). Your combo number resets to 0 every time you do no satisfy any of the above. (In regards to the phrase marker, it is the case that you may not have the stylus on the "slide" at all times, just when the ball rolls over the small dots, to continue a combo) ------------ Color Groups ------------ Each hit marker and the start marker of a spin marker has a number in it. Each of these two markers will have a color that fills it (with a similar color for the larger circle that shrinks towards the markers). The color stays the same for each marker that appears until one of the markers resets to 1, then the those new markers will have a different color. Also, each spin marker will sometimes represent the last marker of each color group (which means that the marker right before the spin marker can sometimes not count as the last marker in a color group). Other times the spin marker will represent its own color group (obviously a group of 1 object). You may receive a "beat" for every set of markers of a similar color that you combo. However, it is the case that you will not receive a "beat" if you receive either a miss or a 50-point on a hit marker or phrase marker (this means that you may combo a color group, but still not receive a "beat"). The "beat" comes in two types of points: normal or elite. You get an "elite beat" if you hit the all the markers with a 300-point success. You get a normal "beat" if you hit some marker with a 100-point success. Let me give you a few examples. We will assume the color group: {hit marker, start marker, small dot, small dot, end marker, hit marker}. The following groups will represent the points received for each of the markers. {hit, start, dot, dot, end, hit} {300, 30, 10, 10, 300, 300} receives an elite beat {300, 30, 10, 10, 300, 100} receives an 100 point normal beat {100, 30, 10, 10, 300, 300} receives an 300 point normal beat {300, miss, 10, 10, 100, 100} receives an 100 point normal beat {100, 30, miss, 10, 100, 100} receives an 100 point normal beat {300, 30, 10, 10, 300, 50} receives no beat {50, 30, 10, 10, 300, 300} receives no beat {300, miss, miss, 10, 50, 100} receives no beat {miss, 30, miss, 10, 100, 100} receives no beat {miss, 30, miss, 10, 100, miss} receives no beat {miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss} receives no beat So getting a beat is independent of your combo. Also, you do NOT receive bonus points for a beat. Instead, you receive bonus health: 100 point "beat" - large gain of health 300 point "beat" - even larger gain of health elite "beat" - very large gain of health ----------- Point Bonus ----------- There are two ways to receive bonus points. One way is to spin the spin marker, after you fill the gauge, for extra points (as described above). The second way is THE way to receive points in Elite Beat Agents. Every time you have a combo number greater than 2 (i.e. 3 and above), you will receive bonus points that are not displayed on the screen which will be added onto the total score. The bonus points formula for each time you successfully hit a marker is: ((Combo-2)*4%)*(Marker score) for Breezin' ((Combo-2)*10%)*(Marker score) for Cruisin' ((Combo-2)*20%)*(Marker score) for Sweatin' and HARD ROCK (Combo = Combo number, Marker score = {50, 100, 300}) A set of examples will further show you how the scores are added. Suppose the entire song were the set of markers as described previously and also assume we're in Cruisin' mode: {hit, start, dot, dot, end, hit} {1x 2x 3x 4x 5x 6x} - combo number {300, 30, 10, 10, 300, 300} - displayed {300, 30, 10, 10, 390, 420} - actual points received {1x 2x 3x 4x 5x 6x} {300, 30, 10, 10, 100, 300} - displayed {300, 30, 10, 10, 130, 420} - actual points received {1x 2x 0x 1x 2x 3x} {300, 30, miss, 10, 100, 300} - displayed {300, 30, 0, 10, 100, 330} - actual points received (Note that you do not receive point bonuses on the small dots or the start marker. You also don't receive bonuses during the spinning of the spin marker. Simply put, you only receive point bonuses on 50, 100, or 300 points) When you reach a certain combo, the pictures of your agents will appear out of the left side of the bottom screen and a "swoosh" sound will occur. This does nothing for you other than to tell you that you're doing well. The combos at which the agents appear are: 30 60 100 150 200 ... on and on ---------- To Survive ---------- As stated before, you must not allow the meter to be empty in order to complete a song. Remember, the meter drops over time and also drops when you miss. In Breezin' and Cruisin', the meter doesn't drop too fast, so you really only need to concentrate on not getting misses. In Sweatin' and HARD ROCK, most meters drop really fast. Note that you can still full combo a song with nothing but 50-point hits (i.e. no misses and no 100, or 300 point hits). However, if you try to do this in Sweatin' or HARD ROCk, you will most likely lose within the first few markers because the health gained from 50-point hits are so small. This is also the same case if you combo with nothing but 100-point hits. In fact, you could get 90% 300-point hits with 10% 100-point hits in a song and still end up losing! In Sweatin' and HARD ROCK, "elite beats" or "300 point normal beats" give enough health to counter the large decrease of health over time in most cases. So, you don't have to always get "elite beats", but ending with a 100-point normal beat will most likely put you into a more losing situation. ------------------ To Get High Scores ------------------ Never miss a thing. If you miss a small dot, or a start marker, then you should restart (if you're working on a high score). Suppose you missed a marker in the middle of the song, but you have combo'ed the song before and after the miss, then you'll receive a little over half of your potential score (where your potential score is when you did not miss a single thing). If you are to miss, then the best misses is either right at the beginning or right at the end (though either will decrease your score drastically in some situations). Extras ------ There are many things to unlock. To see what you can unlock, simply just look for another FAQ. However, as of right now... I haven't seen an EBA FAQ out yet (other than this one). Actually I lie, there is an FAQ for the demo of this game, but I wouldn't count it. Anyways, I suppose the best bet would be to visit the gamefaq website and check under the "cheat" tab of this game. To make up for not listing the cheats, I will tell you a few things about the game that I have found out: - The training mode automatically kicks in when the game has been freshly bought (not used) - If you pass all the checkpoints with positive cutscenes, then at the end you'll see a more positive ending to the song (in most cases it's just an extra picture tacked on) than if you passed it with some positive and some negative cutscenes - If you pass all the checkpoints with negative cutscenes, then at the end you will get a more negative ending (In the first song, usually you end with the guy being happy to be with the girl when she confesses her willingness to be steady. If you get all negative cutscenes, you'll end up with the guy being happy that he'll have someone to help him practice football with and the girl will be not so pleased.) - Press L+R+start+select to reset the game (this is useful if you are watching a replay of the last song but do not want to watch the ending of it) - When you are hitting markers, the top screen will display some sort of action going on at the moment. The actions are of 3 types: positive, neutral, and negative. This is dependent on your last "beat". If you received no beat, then it'll be a negative action scene. If you received a normal "beat", it'll be a neutral scene. And an "elite beat" will merit you a postive scene. ---------- End of FAQ ---------- This section is going to conclude my FAQ. - Please spread word of this game. Apparently this game isn't getting the fame it deserves. If you will do your best, then I will try to do my best at making it so that I'm not the only one I know who has this game. - My contact is kaokengoku@hotmail.com (I'm going to get so much junkmail now). - Don't do anything that involves copying of this FAQ in part or whole as I will get mad (but you may wonder how will I get mad if I don't know you're copying? hmmm... I don't know. So to make things simple, you should just assume I'll get mad). - Don't e-mail me retarded messages. - Don't add me to your MSN, cuz I don't want to talk to you... If you need to talk to me in a more "live" manner, please take your time to find my number and dial long distance to me.