Theatrhythm Final Fantasy/Gameplay

Introduction
In Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, one needs to touch, slide, or hold the stylus on the 3DS's touch screen in time with the music. Hitting in time rewards the player with a higher score for the song and another bonus depending on the song type, while doing a poor job or missing the notes entirely reduces the player's HP. In order to pass a song, one must simply keep their HP above zero until the song runs its course.

Controls
Press Start to pause the game. All other controls are touch-based.

Trigger Types

 * Red/Regular - Can be simply tapped or touched.
 * Yellow/Arrow - Slide the stylus in the shown direction. Be sure to actually slide, rather than flicking the stylus.
 * Green/Hold - Hold the stylus along the length of the line.
 * Blue/Feature - Depending on the mode, this will activate an special part of the song.
 * Yellow - Feature-based notes.

Please note that notes can fall under multiple categories

Song Types

 * 1) Intros and closings are only playable at the beginning and end of any Series, and simply require players to tap the screen as notes hover over the crystal.
 * 2) Battle Music Stages, or BMS, are fast, uptempo songs, often taken from a game's battle or boss themes. Triggers run across the screen from left to right in four separate rows, one for each party member. The position of the stylus on the touch screen is irrelevant. The challenge comes from keeping track of the four rows of incoming notes.
 * 3) Field Music Stages, or FMS, are happy, relaxed field songs, often taken from a game's overworld or area themes. This mode features a single row of notes, but it is fully two-dimensional. This means that it is necessary to position the stylus up and down the touch screen as the green hold notes go by. The challenge for this kind of song originates from the difficulty in keeping the stylus in line with the music.
 * 4) Event Music Stages, or EMS, are vivid, emotional songs. They are associated with key moments in a game. Rather than dealing with incoming waves of notes, your note Mark itself will move around the screen towards notes, constantly changing velocity. The challenge here is keeping up with the constantly moving Mark

Features
If you do well on a series of the bluish silver Feature notes, you get get a special reward depending on what song type you're playing. In a BMS, the Feature will be a summon, which simplifies the battle to just one row and deals major damage. FMS Features temporarily replace the player with a Chocobo, increasing their walking speed, and thus distance traveled. For an EMS, the song is extended, allowing for a higher score.

Scoring
FMS, BMS, and EMS are scored on a scale from 0 to 9,999,999. You get more points for hitting notes in general, hitting chains of notes in a row, and hitting individual notes accurately. If you hit all notes perfectly in a song, you will receive a score of 7,999,999. The remaining 2 million points is only available via a special bonus, and is earned if your party is entirely unequipped of abilities and items. Due to the usefulness of abilities and items, it is suggested that you only go bare of them specifically when trying to get high scores.

The following scores are necessary to receive the following letter-based grades.


 * 0 - F
 * 2,000,000 - E
 * 3,000,000 - D
 * 4,000,000 - C
 * 5,000,000 - B
 * 6,000,000 - A
 * 7,000,000 - S
 * 9,000,000 - SS
 * 9,999,999 - SSS