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Rock Band Blitz |OT| Rocking Out in the Instrument-Free World

The coins really become a non-issue IF you are completing the RBW goals from Facebook. I haven't dipped below 20,000 coins since Friday of last week.

If you aren't using RBW, you will have problems.
 
Apologies if this has been answered but is there a way to initiate a Score War without Facebook or the "app?" I originally assumed it was something exclusive to the social network stuff but upon seeing that there was an achievement I figure there must be a way to get it in-game....right? I seem to gather from posts that challenging friends isn't possible(why?!) but strangers are fair game. Question is how?
 

eJawa

would probably like a hook in his jaw for that matter
The coins really become a non-issue IF you are completing the RBW goals from Facebook. I haven't dipped below 20,000 coins since Friday of last week.

If you aren't using RBW, you will have problems.

I was using RBW and was already starting to have issues. The goals started to to dry up and I'm going to run out of new songs soon. I already can't replay the song I like too many times, or I run out coins fast. I don't know if they added new goals today or not, but I'm sure there won't be enough to allow me to play the songs I want to play the most, with all power-ups.

Issues aside, I still can't wait to get home, so I can play more. It just sucks that I will have to grind at least one song first, since I ran out of coins last night.
 

Mileena

Banned
Maybe I feel so comfortable with Blitz because I always have a laptop by my side and I use the grey controller. Rock Band World is so great that I does not feel like an harmonix product. It is so sleek, fast and cool.
 

CloudWolf

Member
Apologies if this has been answered but is there a way to initiate a Score War without Facebook or the "app?" I originally assumed it was something exclusive to the social network stuff but upon seeing that there was an achievement I figure there must be a way to get it in-game....right? I seem to gather from posts that challenging friends isn't possible(why?!) but strangers are fair game. Question is how?
There's a button to start a Score War in the menu where you select the songs you want to play.
 

Roto13

Member
I've been getting score war challenges from people who are not my FB friends though. And I think for that you don't need to have connected to FB. So you don't have to add anyone to FB for this game as far as I'm aware. You ARE able to select Goals from the FB app which will nab you coins from playing either RBB or RB3, which is pretty cool. But again, it doesn't ask you to add people for those.

Well, that's good, at least.

It'd be nice if this game had a real tutorial or instruction manual or something.
 

Minamu

Member
It hasn't crashed for me, but I have had a problem where the game will freeze for 1-2 secs randomly throughout a song. Makes it unplayable whenever it happens. So far it has fixed itself by restarting the Xbox/game, and hopefully it won't get any worse than that.
Ouch :S I also had some problems with audio/video lag but it got better when I used the same as in RB3. But I still miss things I feel I shouldn't.

Edit: I thought this game was supposed to have trophies for doing a song per decade etc? There's a lot of trophies missing from this list:
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/rock-band-blitz/achievements/

Aah, DLC achievements, how do you unlock those? o_O
 

Sp3eD

0G M3mbeR
There's a button to start a Score War in the menu where you select the songs you want to play.

I looked all through the menus and the only place you can start a challenge in game is when the recommended tab puts an automatic score challenge with a random friend / song.

Is it hidden somewhere I'm not looking? It definitly isn't on the main song select screen.

EDIT : oh I guess that did answer his question, I am still looking for a way to start a score war with a song of my choice for somebody that isn't on my facebook friends list (and is on my Xbox live list). Can it be done?
 

Grecco

Member
The coins really become a non-issue IF you are completing the RBW goals from Facebook. I haven't dipped below 20,000 coins since Friday of last week.

If you aren't using RBW, you will have problems.


Ignorning the sillyness of making facebook mandatory for fun in a game, the reality is ive completed plenty of goals from the facebook app but for some people its busted and the coins arent applying to people for others it is.
 

Holy Wars

Banned
The coins really become a non-issue IF you are completing the RBW goals from Facebook. I haven't dipped below 20,000 coins since Friday of last week.

If you aren't using RBW, you will have problems.

I'm linked up to RBW, but I don't want to do Harmonix's goals, unless Harmonix are willing to reward me with a ton of coins for replaying Less Talk More Rokk repeatedly. This is the problem with the structure, it punishes you for wanting to do anything but "goals". And you can't even start a goal without going to your damn computer.
 

vg260

Member
The whole implementation of this game is frustrating. I was jazzed for this game. I want to love it, but everything about the coin/challenge/power-up system they implemented is convoluted, frustrating, and not fun. There were only about 8 songs I would have bought, so it kinda ended up a wash. I guess I got my money's worth in terms of DLC, but thats about it. Really disappointing.
 
Hopefully Harmonix is seeing a pattern with the feedback. You made a game with no campaign. It's Pac Man. It's Asteroids. Start game, get high score. Rinse. Repeat. Why are you putting up roadblocks to us getting those high scores? The cynical side of me knows why - giving more rewards for playing new songs leads to more track sales. BOOOOOO. Don't make me hate you, Harmonix.
 

Magnus

Member
I guess I'm the only one with a 'why bother' reaction to the idea of a RB game without instruments. Feels like an enormous step down. The instruments were pretty much the entire experience.
 
I guess I'm the only one with a 'why bother' reaction to the idea of a RB game without instruments. Feels like an enormous step down. The instruments were pretty much the entire experience.

Some of us had our first music game experience with Frequency and Amplitude. Those games were great at the time, and still hold up.
 

RedStep

Member
I'll pile in on this one; I love the idea of the game, but HATE its execution. As beaten to death, the reward and cost structure makes the entire object of the game an exercise in frustration.

I have way too many songs, so I'm not worried about having to buy tracks, but at this point (a few hours in), I can't even begin to get a five-star / gold star score. I'm just going through the motions until I can get some decent powerups (or, Jackpot apparently). Then I can start actually trying to get decent scores, but I'll be limited by coins.

Harmonix, I know you're here. I can see you in the corner. Just patch the damn game so that powerups are free and they unlock MUCH quicker (I would say within an hour of starting). If you MUST use coins, make them unlock something like slightly different player contraptions (whatever that thing's called), backgrounds, or something else that doesn't hurt your game. I know that's more than a patch, pull a Hydrophobia and go nuts.

This feels like a Free-to-Play game with paywalls everywhere, made even worse by the fact that it's for no reason whatsoever. You're not even trying to make money, you're just really, really bad at decision making and gauging audience interest.
 

vg260

Member
Hopefully Harmonix is seeing a pattern with the feedback. You made a game with no campaign. It's Pac Man. It's Asteroids. Start game, get high score. Rinse. Repeat. Why are you putting up roadblocks to us getting those high scores? The cynical side of me knows why - giving more rewards for playing new songs leads to more track sales. BOOOOOO. Don't make me hate you, Harmonix.

I have no problems at all with them wanting to promote more DLC sales. Why would they not? That's almost all that's left of RB, and I don't want it to die. In the end, more DLC sales benefits the RB fans, because it increases the chances of more and better DLC in the future. I mean they are a company after all, and the genre isn't exactly thriving. I think we need to keep that in perspective.

Not to mention there are those who have ben buying DLC for years, helping to keep it going, and being rewarded in a sense for it seems ok.

If I miss out on enjoying an offshoot arcade game, but it helps keep RB3 DLC alive, I'm ok with that. Heck, I'm up for anything that will keep the quality DLC coming for years. A side game that misses the mark for me is a small price to pay in that regard.

That being said, there's a balance in how it's implemented and executed I think it's just missing the mark at this point, unfortunately. I just want to enjoy the game too.
 

Addnan

Member
Enjoying this a lot now, at first was slightly confused as to how I should order the power up. Getting the hang of it now, getting gold in Cursing Akhenaten by After the Burial felt good.

Road rage is a good power, can bag 20K+ with one hit.
 
Some of us had our first music game experience with Frequency and Amplitude. Those games were great at the time, and still hold up.

That is the truth. Someone watched me playing Blitz at work Saturday, and they asked why I'd want to play "this game" without a guitar controller.

Because leave me alone!!!
 
So what control scheme are people recommending?

I've only played for a couple of hours last night, but I really find the default setup awkward.

Clacking sticks about is realy annoying and uncomfortable (and noisy!), and makes fast note changes really awkward.

I need to try some of the other setups.
 
So what control scheme are people recommending?

I've only played for a couple of hours last night, but I really find the default setup awkward.

Clacking sticks about is realy annoying and uncomfortable (and noisy!), and makes fast note changes really awkward.

I need to try some of the other setups.

I tried them all and went with R1/L1 for notes, left stick for switching tracks.
 
I tried the default controls and the Freq controls. I thought I'd like the freq controls better since I'd be used to them from Frequency and Amplitude, but I found that hitting the shoulder buttons is more tiring than hitting the A button and D-Pad, so I switched back to the regular controls. I'm still settling on which I prefer though.
 
I use freak controls with the bumpers on 360, with the tips of my index fingers on the edge of the bumpers.

Also, when you press both analog sticks in the same direction, you jump two instruments at once. This is very important for high level play. I've gold starred almost 80 songs on the first run with this technique (and right combination of power ups)
 
I use freak controls with the bumpers on 360, with the tips of my index fingers on the edge of the bumpers.

Also, when you press both analog sticks in the same direction, you jump two instruments at once. This is very important for high level play. I've gold starred almost 80 songs on the first run with this technique (and right combination of power ups)

OK I'm thinking I need to adapt and get used to the Frequency controls again.
 

SuperPac

Member
The whole implementation of this game is frustrating. I was jazzed for this game. I want to love it, but everything about the coin/challenge/power-up system they implemented is convoluted, frustrating, and not fun. There were only about 8 songs I would have bought, so it kinda ended up a wash. I guess I got my money's worth in terms of DLC, but thats about it. Really disappointing.

What I think is interesting about the system as they implemented it is because coins are scarce (and are used as incentive to get you to link to RBW), it changes the way I personally approach the game. I'm not playing a new track for the first time with 3 boosts enabled, for instance, because I'm not sure how well I would do on the song itself. If I'm behind a friend on the leaderboard maybe I'd enable a few boosts, but there's a cost to using them—so it feels like there's more on the line when I do. There's a failure cost that has never been present in RB games before if you're the type of player where ascending the leaderboards and beating friends is important.

I do wish you could accept and be notified of goal/score war progress in-game or at least on-console instead of on FB (and would be nice to get that without having to check the RBW app), but the consoles really aren't set up very well for social play like that yet. There's a lot that asynchronous mobile social games do that console games need to start doing.

The goals remind me just a bit of Infinity Blade II's clash mobs, though not quite to the same extent. I haven't finished one so I'm not sure how you're notified - if at all - of your progress or if you just have to keep checking RBW.
 
I use freak controls with the bumpers on 360, with the tips of my index fingers on the edge of the bumpers.

Also, when you press both analog sticks in the same direction, you jump two instruments at once. This is very important for high level play. I've gold starred almost 80 songs on the first run with this technique (and right combination of power ups)

Thanks for the tip. I'm definitely going to get used to that.
 
So I bought this game the other day but don't really get the whole coin controversy as I haven't been able to play anything other than the demo. I don't have a FB account; does that somehow limit what I'm able to do in the game?
 

CloudWolf

Member
You guys do know that you can complete the goals in Rock Band 3 right? Right now I have 34K coins, so I'm not running out of coins any time soon. I guess collecting the coins can become tiresome when you try to do the goals in Blitz, but you really don't have to do that.
 

Hop

That girl in the bunny hat
So I bought this game the other day but don't really get the whole coin controversy as I haven't been able to play anything other than the demo. I don't have a FB account; does that somehow limit what I'm able to do in the game?

Not really. If you play well enough and play enough different songs, you can continue to profit soundly from run to run and build up coin reserves. And even then, you can always do practice runs without power-ups to maximize profit and get a better feel for the song (so when you do go for the high score, you know what you're doing). Having the FB link-up just lets you be more judicious with your power-up usage because you get more coins faster.
 
You guys do know that you can complete the goals in Rock Band 3 right? Right now I have 34K coins, so I'm not running out of coins any time soon. I guess collecting the coins can become tiresome when you try to do the goals in Blitz, but you really don't have to do that.

Does it still involve linking to Facebook?
 

aku:jiki

Member
You guys do know that you can complete the goals in Rock Band 3 right? Right now I have 34K coins, so I'm not running out of coins any time soon. I guess collecting the coins can become tiresome when you try to do the goals in Blitz, but you really don't have to do that.
I don't get why some of you guys are talking like this game is, like, a loading-screen minigame in Rock Band 4 or whatever. It's a standalone game; the reasonable thing is to expect people to be able to complete and enjoy the game by itself, not needing to go on websites, play other games or buy more shit. That's the unreasonable way to play games! No one should have to own 20 previous games and peripherals, or hundreds of dollars of DLC, to be able to complete this game. That's nonsense and shitty, ripoff game design.

(Nothing against you personally, CloudWolf, but there's way too many people in this thread going like "300 songs? So what, I have 8000 DLC songs for my 24 different versions of Rock Band, I'm set LOL!" like that somehow changes the bullshit factor of it all.)
 

bounchfx

Member
love harmonix, love rock band, love freq/amp, but this is.. eh. I'm not really getting into it. It's very well made but I just dont find the two button mechanic fun. Will still pick it up as the track pack though, those sneaky bastards.
 
I don't get why some of you guys are talking like this game is, like, a loading-screen minigame in Rock Band 4 or whatever. It's a standalone game; the reasonable thing is to expect people to be able to complete and enjoy the game by itself, not needing to go on websites, play other games or buy more shit. That's the unreasonable way to play games! No one should have to own 20 previous games and peripherals, or hundreds of dollars of DLC, to be able to complete this game. That's nonsense and shitty, ripoff game design.

(Nothing against you personally, CloudWolf, but there's way too many people in this thread going like "300 songs? So what, I have 8000 DLC songs for my 24 different versions of Rock Band, I'm set LOL!" like that somehow changes the bullshit factor of it all.)

It's not really a game you can complete though. Not being able to get all achievements won't affect you at all, and besides, a lot games have DLC only achievements.

The coins on the other hand is complete bullshit and completely affects how you have to play the game.
 

aku:jiki

Member
It's not really a game you can complete though. Not being able to get all achievements won't affect you at all, and besides, a lot games have DLC only achievements.
What? I think I get to decide if I care about getting all achievements or not, it's not some objective truth.

The important difference between some random game having a map pack is that the map pack is $15 (or even as low as $3 on XBLA), and that's all you need to pick up. This game could cost up to $300 to complete. Fuck that.
 
I use freak controls with the bumpers on 360, with the tips of my index fingers on the edge of the bumpers.

Also, when you press both analog sticks in the same direction, you jump two instruments at once. This is very important for high level play. I've gold starred almost 80 songs on the first run with this technique (and right combination of power ups)
Was just about to ask what control people are using, and whether I'm missing out on some sort of fast lane switching mechanic with the Freakish control (the 360 bumper buttons are getting a workout here) ... That explains quite a bit on why I can't get over the lanes fast enough...
It stops you from having any kind of multiplayer with your friends, for starters.

It also removes any kind of objective based gameplay.
I can totally still challenge my 360 friends on the leader board even if they didn't hook it up to Facebook. The only thing I see that I'd be missing out without facebook is the extra coins...

As for "objective" gameplay: Agreed. Basically the story/objectives in RB2/RB3 were yanked out onto facebook.
 
What? I think I get to decide if I care about getting all achievements or not, it's not some objective truth.

The important difference between some random game having a map pack is that the map pack is $15 (or even as low as $3 on XBLA), and that's all you need to pick up. This game could cost up to $300 to complete. Fuck that.

I meant that it won't affect how you have to play the game. You're not forced to get the achievements, but you're forced to get coins to be able to get decent scores. The whole game revolves around the coins and powerups.

EDIT: When I say "you", I mean anyone who plays the game, not you specifically.
 
You guys do know that you can complete the goals in Rock Band 3 right? Right now I have 34K coins, so I'm not running out of coins any time soon. I guess collecting the coins can become tiresome when you try to do the goals in Blitz, but you really don't have to do that.
I can complete things in Rock Band 3 to earn coins in Blitz?
Not really. If you play well enough and play enough different songs, you can continue to profit soundly from run to run and build up coin reserves. And even then, you can always do practice runs without power-ups to maximize profit and get a better feel for the song (so when you do go for the high score, you know what you're doing). Having the FB link-up just lets you be more judicious with your power-up usage because you get more coins faster.
So the coins are used to unlock powerups, and one needs powerups to gain high scores? Is there a point to getting high scores other than that's really all there is to the game? Like, I don't need certain scores to unlock songs / progress or anything like that, right? All my DLC works out of the box? There's no real "campaign" to even speak of, right?
Not at all.
Thanks!
Yes, but is that really such a big deal for you guys? Just make a fake account you only use for Rock Band Blitz.
Kind of, yeah.
It stops you from having any kind of multiplayer with your friends, for starters.


It also removes any kind of objective based gameplay.
So without the FB app I can just play the game to enjoy a little controller-based rhythm gaming but in a completely barebones sense? I don't care about a campaign or high score chasing, so I guess the coin dealy is a non-issue for me provided I'm understanding it correctly.

Thanks all!
 
I can complete things in Rock Band 3 to earn coins in Blitz?
According to the app, yes, but I haven't done it myself.

So the coins are used to unlock powerups, and one needs powerups to gain high scores? Is there a point to getting high scores other than that's really all there is to the game? Like, I don't need certain scores to unlock songs / progress or anything like that, right? All my DLC works out of the box? There's no real "campaign" to even speak of, right?
Yes. Everything is available out of the box.

ISo without the FB app I can just play the game to enjoy a little controller-based rhythm gaming but in a completely barebones sense? I don't care about a campaign or high score chasing, so I guess the coin dealy is a non-issue for me provided I'm understanding it correctly.
I wouldn't even say it's in a barebone sense. If you just want to play a rhythm based game, it's all there. You won't be competitive in the high score without grinding for coins, but you can also think of it as practice runs.

I'm playing all my songs first without any power up (just to see how each leaderboard is, and how I should play each songs), which also lets me save up coins. Then I'll attack each leaderboard if I really want to try.
 

Minamu

Member
love harmonix, love rock band, love freq/amp, but this is.. eh. I'm not really getting into it. It's very well made but I just dont find the two button mechanic fun. Will still pick it up as the track pack though, those sneaky bastards.
25 songs for that price is pretty great no matter how you slice it. And you get an alright game with it! :) Not being able to 5* (usually) or get to gold without power-ups is a bit annoying though. And I can't seem to find the dlc trophies?
 

Lothars

Member
(Nothing against you personally, CloudWolf, but there's way too many people in this thread going like "300 songs? So what, I have 8000 DLC songs for my 24 different versions of Rock Band, I'm set LOL!" like that somehow changes the bullshit factor of it all.)
Which your argument is completely bullshit as well, There's nothing wrong with them having an achievement like this one with the 300 songs, I may not have 300 songs and probably will never have, It really shouldnt' affect your enjoyment of the game especially if you've tried it and like the songs they currently have plus it gives you a way to add to the game if you so choose.
 

Ozone

Member
25 songs for that price is pretty great no matter how you slice it. And you get an alright game with it! :) Not being able to 5* (usually) or get to gold without power-ups is a bit annoying though. And I can't seem to find the dlc trophies?
There are no DLC trophies since PSN limits the trophies for downloadable titles more than XBLA does.
 

Balotelli

Banned
Harmonix are ok, they're not this great company that people pretend they are that where hurt by the MAN (Activision), this game is okay. It needs some real help to make it great though.
 

aku:jiki

Member
I meant that it won't affect how you have to play the game. You're not forced to get the achievements, but you're forced to get coins to be able to get decent scores. The whole game revolves around the coins and powerups.

EDIT: When I say "you", I mean anyone who plays the game, not you specifically.
Sure, but the same logic goes for achievements... They're just high scores with slightly different logic. So I'd say that this game has blockades for enjoyment both of high scores and achievements. That's pretty unfortunate for everyone.

Lothars said:
Which your argument is completely bullshit as well, There's nothing wrong with them having an achievement like this one with the 300 songs, I may not have 300 songs and probably will never have, It really shouldnt' affect your enjoyment of the game especially if you've tried it and like the songs they currently have plus it gives you a way to add to the game if you so choose.
My argument is bullshit because you, Lothars, have decided that no person on earth is allowed to enjoy or like achievements? Sorry, sire, I missed your lordly decree on that.
 
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