NOISZ STΔRLIVHT/Difficulty and Power

In NOISZ STΔRLIVHT, there are three general metrics indicating the difficulty of a song: Boss Power, Difficulty (e.g. Hard) and Difficulty Level (e.g. Lv10.5).

# Difficulty

There are four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard and Overload. While Easy, Normal, and Hard are designed to be playable using thumbs (two fingers), Overload has no such restriction and often requires even more fingers.

* Easy and Normal difficulties are unlocked by default.
* To unlock the Hard difficulty, get an A in the Normal chart.
* To unlock the Overload difficulty, get an S in the Hard chart.

Alternatively, buying a Club Pass unlocks all Hard difficulties in its corresponding song folder, and buying a Maso-Pass from the Support Shop unlocks all Overload difficulties in its corresponding song folder as well.

# Power

Each boss has a certain number called Boss Power, and each character/style combination has Style Power that can grow based on the level of that style. Facing a boss with lower Power will incur a penalty by reducing some stats; the game will issue a warning as such.

## Boss Power

Each chart has its own Boss Power. While the chart may have its Boss Power freely determined, the community has found some correlation between Boss Power and the difficulty level, difficulty name, and song appearance in the story.

Boss Power appears to follow this formula:

P
B

=

P
0

N
D

(
25
×
D
)

{\displaystyle P\_B = P\_0 + N\_D + (25 \times D)}

* P
B

{\displaystyle P\_B}

 is the resulting Boss Power.
* P
0

{\displaystyle P\_0}

 is base power. This corresponds to the song and generally matches its appearance in the story; the later it appears, the higher the base power. Some songs have special importance in the story and have different base power than expected.
* N
D

{\displaystyle N\_D}

 is additional power from the difficulty name.
* D

{\displaystyle D}

 is the difficulty level of the chart. Difficulty numbers that end in ".5" are treated the same as those that don't (for example, 10 and 10.5 would both give the same value for this variable).

For example, consider ikasu on Normal difficulty.

* ikasu appears in Chapter 2.I. The base power for songs from Chapter 2 is 125.
* Normal difficulty adds a difficulty power of 150.
* This chart is Lv5, so the difficulty level contributes power of 25 x 5 = 125.
* In total, the Boss Power is 125 + 150 + 125 = 400.

## Style Power

Each style has a base power (its Style Power at Level 1) and a per-level power (additional Power added for each level up). Barring other changes, a style's Power scales linearly from its base power at Level 1 to its maximum at Level 44. A style's Power is capped at 999.

In the most general form, a style's power can be computed using this formula:

P
S

=

P
0

P
L

(
L
−
1
)
75
×
U

{\displaystyle P\_S = P\_0 + P\_L (L-1) + 75 \times U}

* P
S

{\displaystyle P\_S}

 is the computed Style Power.
* P
0

{\displaystyle P\_0}

 is the base power for the style.
* P
L

{\displaystyle P\_L}

 is the per-level power for the style.
* L

{\displaystyle L}

 is the style's level.
* U

{\displaystyle U}

 is the number of upgrade points spent to increase Power.

However, there are other circumstantial bonuses and penalties that add to this formula:

* Playing a song in the same folder as the character using this style awards a **+200 Power** bonus.
* If Sumire or Hitori is using the other character's style, there is a **-200 Power** penalty.
* Grace's Blue Moon style awards the same folder **+200 Power** bonus for playing in Dia folder.
* Similarly, Sera's Attitude Mint style awards the same folder **+200 Power** bonus for playing in Clover folder.
* All Reminiscence styles award **+250 Power** for playing a chart that has previously been cleared.
* In the Forge of Antiphon mode, Style Power is a currency. It can be spent for numerous uses during the mode, which also permanently deducts the power from its Antiphon Armament style for that run. Some modules also award bonus Power.
* While in Joker folder, Sera's STΔRLIVHT STΔGE Style gets an additional 75 PW.

Some styles can be further leveled up to Level 50. The Style Power at Level 50 is set directly and does *not* follow the formula above.

## Penalty from Power

Facing a boss with lower Power will incur a penalty by reducing some stats. For every 25 Power difference (including any remainder), one stat of the style drops.

The dropped stat is determined as follows:

* The first stat dropped goes to the main stat of the character. For example, Grace's main stat is HP, so the first stat drop will be to HP. (The exception is Joker, whose main stat is PW but whose first stat drop will affect HP)
* Further stat drops follow in a cycle: HP → SPC → ATK → TEC → HP, in a cycle.
* A stat that is lowered below F remains at F.

For example, suppose a Grace style is 140 Power lower. This is a total of 6 stat drops. The stats dropped will be HP, SPC, ATK, TEC, HP, and finally SPC; for a total of 2 HP drops, 1 TEC drop, 1 ATK drop, and 2 SPC drops.