Kival Evan

Behind the Beat Saber OST Gameplay (not official)

Hello, you may know me behind couple of Beat Saber OST gameplay I posted over on my YouTube channel.

To clear this from the start, I am not affiliated with Beat Games nor Meta, and I was not obligated to post the videos nor involved in official Beat Saber gameplay footage (although, would be nice, i’m just not there yet :p).

I have been playing Beat Saber over the last 4 years and still am, both modded and unmodded, simply because it is fun. Safe to say that I’ve gotten really good at the game to the point that I can full combo or at least, reach SS-rank score without much hassle. Looking back, especially from my older video is a proof of that over time.

The original intent was simply just me playing official Beat Saber map through all difficulties, that is it. I, and couple of others over time within the community, find the value of OST footages for various of reasons that being for overviewing, checking, showcasing, etc. I later shifted to vanilla only gameplay footage to better showcase the OSTs and expectation of the game.

Smooth gameplay and a good viewing experience is quite important to me. From time to time, I’d try experimenting with different camera and graphical settings to help improving the experience overall. I generally avoid trying to any custom settings such as color scheme, environment, as I want to showcase the intent of the OSTs as presented by the developers and artists.

I always try to get decent score for the gameplay footage, viewers love seeing such a good score. Top that with smooth swing and it can be quite pleasant to watch. But occasionally, some maps just aren’t made for me, accepted that I cannot score well on it and move on. I do retry the map quite often for each bad score to get the best play but it can get very tiring. If I miss on the very last second, tough luck, but I’m definitely not gonna retry that.

In a typical pack release can have up to 10 songs at a time, which can be rather time consuming and tiring to get through between sessions. Each 3-4min standard map can take up to 30min to go through, not accounting for the retries. Although I do not need to record every difficulties to showcase the map, I took the liberty to do it anyway. After all, these difficulties are made for a reason and can be as enjoyable to play even for seasoned players.

But why play OSTs when custom maps exist and completely free, and why do you not post them instead?

I do play custom maps, a lot of it as evident in third-party leaderboard. There is no denying that custom maps is vast with plenty of decent and unique custom maps offering completely new experiences or upping the challenge. I do personally find modern OST maps to be just as enjoyable as custom maps, although most of them are paid DLCs, are still quite decent overall. Understandably, having paid OST map that doesn’t fit your enjoyment do suck but you are never obligated to own them if custom do just enough for you.

That said, I don’t consider posting custom maps video as I’ve established this channel as Beat Saber OST gameplay. Although as Beat Saber mapper myself, I would also rather dedicate this channel to post my own custom maps instead. Totally not shameless plugging, my channel my own rules anyway.

I should state that I am not promoting the DLCs, and I am not liable for purchasing decision made from my gameplay footage. Half of the DLCs I owned are through my own purchase, and others are (in)directly gifted (thanks for generousity). That said, I do believe the game could use a bit more free official contents, perhaps a limited time of free DLC to play would be neat.

For the comments I received on YouTube, yes I do read them, sorry for the silent treatment but I chose not to respond for personal reason. I’m not sure how I would want to answer them but I’ll answer briefly here. Maybe in a QnA if needed any more specific, so here is some of the questions I often get from YouTube comments:

  • What VR headset are you using?

    • I’m using Meta Quest 2 on PCVR via Link.

  • How are your sabers/notes far from you?

    • I’m using camera mod that offsets the camera back so you are able to see the whole saber movement without sacrificing the FOV. The saber/notes is still as close to me, just the spectator sees it different.

  • How do you have that camera settings?

    • Using either Camera2 or CameraPlus mod, whichever gets updated first. Then, I adjusted the Z-offset and FOV. Currently using 64FOV and -0.375 z-offset.

  • How do you remove the debris from camera?

    • From camera mod.

  • Why do note comes at you faster/slower?

    • That’s just perspective problem especially with FOV and offset. I do try to mimic as close as what you see in VR as possible.

  • How long have you been playing?

    • Over 4 years, about 3000+ playtime recorded on Steam (although it might also include me AFK in there).

  • How many take did you do to pass the map?

    • Depend on the map, OST map are generally easy to me so a single take isn’t too surprising given my experience. Maps like Camellia will take a few try to get it right.

  • Can you do x song/difficulty?

    • You’ll likely find it in my channel.

  • How do you get as good?

    • Play more.

  • Any advice on how to get better?

    • Play more.

  • How are you swinging so clean/smooth?

    • It’s a playstyle thing, maybe I’m that optimised at swinging from playing more.

  • Is your wrist destroyed?

    • idk.

  • Is this a human playing the game?

    • Maybe.