Replaying Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F

2022-09-09

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When I've had free time in the evenings this week, I've been playing Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F on my PlayStation 3. Project Diva F is a rhythm game featuring the popular Japanese Vocaloid character Hatsune Miku, in which the player hits the four action buttons and tilts the control sticks in time to music.

The PS3 version of the game was released in the US in 2013. In those days the only music games I played were DanceDance Revolution and a PC clone called StepMania, but I greatly enjoyed them and devoted a lot of time to them. I didn't (and still don't) care about Hatsune Miku in general, but a friend of mine loved Vocaloid music, and I bought the game at his behest.

I immediately came to dislike the visual mechanics of the game. DanceDance Revolution and many other music games traditionally have a "lane" in which the notes move, all converging at a common spot on the screen. In Project Diva F, the target markers can appear anywhere on the screen, and sometimes are deliberately placed where they are inconspicuous or blend into the background music video. Some rhythm games like Reflec Beat have a similar target style, and I am similarly put off by them.

I and the friend who encouraged me to buy the game eventually had a major falling-out. The break was so extreme that for a long time, everything I associated with him became distasteful to me--and on top of that list was Project Diva F, a game I never would have played without his influence.

That falling-out happened almost eight years ago. My life has changed a lot since then, and I've moved on. The game hadn't crossed my mind in many years, until last Saturday when I was struck with a memory of it out of nowhere.

I first seriously got into Bemani rhythm games in early 2015, just after I stopped talking to the friend who introduced me to Project Diva F. Those seven years of experience have made the game much easier for me to both read and play, even with moving target markers. It's still not my preferred style of gameplay, but I'm not as off-put by it as I used to be.

The tracklist for the game contains several songs I hadn't hears since early 2014. Listening to them again brought back many memories I was expecting to recall, but other memories, such as the recollection of playing one chart on a day when my university classes were canceled due to a snowstorm, were quite surprising.

The Project Diva series has released many games, but I've only played F and Mirai. It's not a series I'm heavily invested in, and I'm sure this time around I'll lose interest in playing in a few weeks.

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[Last updated: 2022-11-14]