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

aku:jiki

Member
I've been really warming up to the gameplay today, but man, the coin system is really bringing me down. I haven't really been into music games for a long time so I'm fairly out of practice and need a few runs to get gold stars, but the coin loss from practicing is just too much. I think I'm shelving this game until people start posting sure-fire tactics for songs and/or Harmonix patches it.

Really disappointed in that HMX explanation posted earlier. None of it makes any sense.

Well, the ones I've unlocked so far, yeah. But that shouldn't matter if I don't have the more expensive ones yet, should it?
It shouldn't in a more well thought-out game, it does in this one.
 

VanWinkle

Member
It shouldn't in a more well thought-out game, it does in this one.

Huh. Kind of stupid.

You unlock 2x at the start, and (MUCH) later unlock one which is basically 3x. So yeah, it matters.

I have the 2x and use it. Just seem weird that you can't (or it's incredibly hard to) get 5 stars on a song without first going through a huge unlock system. I would think you could get 5 stars based on accuracy and notes hit, and powerups should just relate to more points to compare with your friends/others on the leaderboard.

But darn, I haven't played Rock Band Unplugged in years, and I was watching this video and it made me think how much better of a game that was. I also loved how you could choose to just play one instrument in of the different modes. What I wouldn't do to have THAT game on PSN for PS3/Vita :eek:

To be clear, though, I do like this game a lot, mostly in the gameplay department.
 

aku:jiki

Member
I have the 2x and use it. Just seem weird that you can't (or it's incredibly hard to) get 5 stars on a song without first going through a huge unlock system. I would think you could get 5 stars based on accuracy and notes hit, and powerups should just relate to more points to compare with your friends/others on the leaderboard.
That's the way I think it should work as well. Scoring is basically the oldest mechanic in gaming and I feel like there's a trend this generation with developers trying to reinvent that wheel, when it has always worked perfectly. It used to just be you do well, you score high, and that's it. Then it evolved a bit with multipliers and such, and that was cool, but now devs are trying to change it with having you use in-game economy, unlockable items and characters and other nonsense that just devalues the concept of the high score, not enhance it.
 
I just bought this game on PS3 and I think it's great.

I own a regular Rock Band disc and a Beatles Rock Band disc. Is there anyway I can export the songs off those disc into my Blitz library?
 
I just bought this game on PS3 and I think it's great.

I own a regular Rock Band disc and a Beatles Rock Band disc. Is there anyway I can export the songs off those disc into my Blitz library?

Rock Band can be exported, but not Beatles.

I think you go to Settings in RB and choose Export Songs or something like that. It costs $5.
 
I just bought this game on PS3 and I think it's great.

I own a regular Rock Band disc and a Beatles Rock Band disc. Is there anyway I can export the songs off those disc into my Blitz library?

The option to export RB1 songs is in the menu for RB1 somewhere, I think.

Beatles: nope. Never, ever, no chance at all.
 

aku:jiki

Member
No, you should be fine with any set of 3 if you use them efficiently.
Definitely not true for the last tier, though. That one makes the least sense - you need Super Vocals just as early as you need Super Drums, since their efficiency depends on the song. Still scratching my head over why they're unlocked that way.
 
No, you should be fine with any set of 3 if you use them efficiently.

That's simply not true. There's a 3x power-up that makes the 2x power-up completely obsolete. Obviously you have to not mess up while it's active but not messing up will always be your aim anyway, so 2x is utterly useless. And if you haven't got the correct instrument power-up for the song, you're at a disadvantage there too.
 

VanWinkle

Member
What's this about importing songs from previous rock band games? What about if I have rock band 1 and 2 on 360 and blitz on ps3? I didn't know whether it was tied to a rock band account sort of thing or the system itself.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
What's this about importing songs from previous rock band games? What about if I have rock band 1 and 2 on 360 and blitz on ps3? I didn't know whether it was tied to a rock band account sort of thing or the system itself.

you have to pay for a license transfer and have the discs. I did the transfers but deleted the songs when I quit playing these games. Now I'd have to go back and buy the games from gamestop or something. I don't even know if you have to pay each time you do it.
 

Hop

That girl in the bunny hat
What's this about importing songs from previous rock band games? What about if I have rock band 1 and 2 on 360 and blitz on ps3? I didn't know whether it was tied to a rock band account sort of thing or the system itself.

It's by console account (PSN ID or Gamertag), you can't export across consoles.
 

VanWinkle

Member
Oh okay,so same system? Do you remember how much a license transfer would cost if I were to find the first two games for a cheap price on ps3?
 
you have to pay for a license transfer and have the discs. I did the transfers but deleted the songs when I quit playing these games. Now I'd have to go back and buy the games from gamestop or something.
It's that or borrow the RB1 disc.
I don't even know if you have to pay each time you do it.
Nope, just the once.

RB1 has to be exported from a menu on the disc, and then it exports from the disc. RB2, Lego and Green Day are all unlocks from a menu on the disc, but actually downloads from online.

Just go to your download history and redownload the licences/export packs and then fire up the RB1 disc to get the songs from RB1.
 
That's simply not true. There's a 3x power-up that makes the 2x power-up completely obsolete. Obviously you have to not mess up while it's active but not messing up will always be your aim anyway, so 2x is utterly useless. And if you haven't got the correct instrument power-up for the song, you're at a disadvantage there too.

I can 5 star every song with the band mate powerup which you get pretty early, exploding note, and any instrument powerup. I can't gold star with those though.
 
you have to pay for a license transfer and have the discs. I did the transfers but deleted the songs when I quit playing these games. Now I'd have to go back and buy the games from gamestop or something. I don't even know if you have to pay each time you do it.

You can re-download the songs from your Download History and you'll be set. There is no need to get the discs again.
 

Grecco

Member
No, you should be fine with any set of 3 if you use them efficiently.


Not if you want gold stars/top scores. Some powerups are incredibly stronger than others

also im guessing you cant really use the default control scheme either. I dont think you can skip 2 lanes with it like u can with freakish
 

Montresor

Member
Am I focusing too much on trying to equally level up each instrument's multiplier?

I feel that I'm spreading out the notes hit across every lane so much so that my third power up, the instrument-specific one, always ends up being pointless.
 

VanWinkle

Member
How do I earn more coins? I want to use my powerups, but I only earn 300 coins for a song, and if I use one of my powerups with those 300 coins, I never have enough to use three power-ups. I usually don't even have enough for two powerups after having played all of the songs now (where they gave double coins on new songs).

Getting kind of frustrating at this point.
 
Am I focusing too much on trying to equally level up each instrument's multiplier?

I feel that I'm spreading out the notes hit across every lane so much so that my third power up, the instrument-specific one, always ends up being pointless.

If you don't level up each track prior to the cutoff point, you lower the amount of times you can level up the tracks' multiplier in the next section. Getting them all leveled before the gate should be a priority, and then focus on your instrument of choice. Most songs I play have guitar solos, so I choose Guitar, and then I choose explosive notes, and I've found that Road Rage provides a lot of points if used wisely and helps level up the tracks I'm not currently on prior to me moving to them.

How do I earn more coins? I want to use my powerups, but I only earn 300 coins for a song, and if I use one of my powerups with those 300 coins, I never have enough to use three power-ups. I usually don't even have enough for two powerups after having played all of the songs now (where they gave double coins on new songs).

Getting kind of frustrating at this point.

You've run into the game's fatal flaw. It wants you to use 3 powerups to maximize score, but then screws you for doing it by charging you more coins than you can earn even if you gold star the song.
 

Grecco

Member
How do I earn more coins? I want to use my powerups, but I only earn 300 coins for a song, and if I use one of my powerups with those 300 coins, I never have enough to use three power-ups. I usually don't even have enough for two powerups after having played all of the songs now (where they gave double coins on new songs).

Getting kind of frustrating at this point.

Facebook. You HAVE to use Facebook to get enough coins to be competetive. Its incredibly silly and not fun.
 

VanWinkle

Member
If you don't level up each track prior to the cutoff point, you lower the amount of times you can level up the tracks' multiplier in the next section. Getting them all leveled before the gate should be a priority, and then focus on your instrument of choice. Most songs I play have guitar solos, so I choose Guitar, and then I choose explosive notes, and I've found that Road Rage provides a lot of points if used wisely and helps level up the tracks I'm not currently on prior to me moving to them.

Wait. So, I could just do one multiplier on each instrument in a section and then do the 3 multipliers in an instrument of my choosing, instead of doing 3 multipliers in all of the instruments? Or am I understanding it wrong? Because it usually takes me a whole section to get 3 multipliers on all instruments, if I even get that far, lol. Maybe you just get all of the multipliers fast enough to focus on that instrument of your choice for the rest of the section?

Facebook. You HAVE to use Facebook to get enough coins to be competetive. Its incredibly silly and not fun.

So basically, since I don't want to use a third-party social service that has nothing to do with this game, I can't play it properly. Ugh.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Did any of you go to the donuts meetup? I forgot to ask for clothing to ID people by :lol

Also for some reason unfathomable to me I signed up to be a contestant on their game show. This was a bad idea. I'll try to go through with it.
 
Did any of you go to the donuts meetup? I forgot to ask for clothing to ID people by :lol

Also for some reason unfathomable to me I signed up to be a contestant on their game show. This was a bad idea. I'll try to go through with it.

Let me know if you win a pair of Blitz Mittz! ;)
 
Wait. So, I could just do one multiplier on each instrument in a section and then do the 3 multipliers in an instrument of my choosing, instead of doing 3 multipliers in all of the instruments? Or am I understanding it wrong? Because it usually takes me a whole section to get 3 multipliers on all instruments, if I even get that far, lol. Maybe you just get all of the multipliers fast enough to focus on that instrument of your choice for the rest of the section?

You could do that, but then in the next section you wont be able to level up the multiplier of your chosen instrument since your other instruments are behind it. I believe the rule is that they need to be within 3 of each other. I may be understanding it incorrectly.
 
With enough skill, you should be able to get every multiplier maxed well before each section ends for nearly every song. There are some outlying exceptions.
 

aku:jiki

Member
Does anyone else agree that Jackpot and Bandmate are the only useful tier 1 power-ups? A fully charged and well-played Jackpot yields upwards of 50k, a Bottle Rocket or Road Rage can to my knowledge never do that. So why even bother using anything else?

Any consensus on the 2nd tier? I feel like Runaway is the highest-yielding one, but it can be annoying to incorporate into playing a song so I just go with Blast Notes since they're the easiest. They give shit for score though... Wait, the pinball is in 2nd, isn't it? Maybe I should try that.

Facebook. You HAVE to use Facebook to get enough coins to be competetive. Its incredibly silly and not fun.
Even that doesn't yield very much. I've done every challenge that can be done with the included songs and after gold-starring a half dozen songs, my coin count is dwindling fast. I'm at 16,000 and dropping steadily. It's all about buying songs, both the Facebook challenges and the in-game bonuses. Harmonix bringing horse armor back.

At this point, I've kinda decided to just stop playing and taking part in community challenges on FB for like a month or two until I have enough bankroll to really sit down and play.

With enough skill, you should be able to get every multiplier maxed well before each section ends for nearly every song. There are some outlying exceptions.
Can someone explain exactly how upping the multiplier works? Sometimes, I can focus on the best-scoring instrument and just quickly hop over to the closest lane when the icon is about to pass, the icon stays still and I get the multiplier, but other times it feels like the game wants me to play an entire bar, or whatever, of an instrument and the icon keeps moving up unless I hop over and play that lane for a while.
 
Does anyone else agree that Jackpot and Bandmate are the only useful tier 1 power-ups? A fully charged and well-played Jackpot yields upwards of 50k, a Bottle Rocket or Road Rage can to my knowledge never do that. So why even bother using anything else?

Any consensus on the 2nd tier? I feel like Runaway is the highest-yielding one, but it can be annoying to incorporate into playing a song so I just go with Blast Notes since they're the easiest. They give shit for score though... Wait, the pinball is in 2nd, isn't it? Maybe I should try that.

Even that doesn't yield very much. I've done every challenge that can be done with the included songs and after gold-starring a half dozen songs, my coin count is dwindling fast. I'm at 16,000 and dropping steadily. It's all about buying songs, both the Facebook challenges and the in-game bonuses. Harmonix bringing horse armor back.

At this point, I've kinda decided to just stop playing and taking part in community challenges on FB for like a month or two until I have enough bankroll to really sit down and play.

Can someone explain exactly how upping the multiplier works? Sometimes, I can focus on the best-scoring instrument and just quickly hop over to the closest lane when the icon is about to pass, the icon stays still and I get the multiplier, but other times it feels like the game wants me to play an entire bar, or whatever, of an instrument and the icon keeps moving up unless I hop over and play that lane for a while.

On your first point I use nearly exclusively Bottle Rocket and Blast Notes and I'm typically right around the top 1% of scores and gold star a good chunk of what I play. Not that they're the only things I use but almost every time I roll with those. While the final score may make it looks like those power ups aren't as good since they will have lower score values I imagine they allow me to stay in Blitz longer than other people as well as max my multiplies more easily. Bottle Rocket has even saved me a couple times where I'm near a checkpoint before a multiplier is maxed but by shooting beyond the checkpoint I was able to max the multiplier before passing through. It's a great power up.

And from what I can tell the multiplier in a lane is determined by a set amount of notes hit per sections per song. It's cumulative so let's say it takes twenty notes to hit the next multiplier up in drums. You hit fifteen but there's a purple note next in the bass line so you zip over. While in the other lanes you'll see that drum line near the front but constantly moving because it'll mark that fifth note back. It also means that if you miss any of those five notes while in the drum lane it'll move back that many number of notes. Held notes still only count as one so generally what I do when working on multipliers is to hit the front of a held note, hop over to a lane with a bunch of notes, and then hop back over to the held note lane to hit the next note when it arrives.

Does that answer your question or did I not understand what you were asking?
 

aku:jiki

Member
Great stuff!
Oh man, thank you! Your advice is what finally pushed me over the edge from wondering wtf is going on to running an assembly line on gold stars! I went from struggling with the third song for days to knocking out some 15 gold stars in a row, most on the first attempt.

The ticket for me was realizing that Road Rage and Bottle Rocket are actually overall better than Jackpot - Jackpot gives more points, yes, but a good Road Rage will also up your multipliers for you! Also, unlike Jackpot, you don't need to save up and can just spam Road Rages all over the place as soon as you get them.

About halfway through on golds, but I'm oddly stuck on Avenged Sevenfold. I really suck at the slow songs in this game.
 

Hop

That girl in the bunny hat
About halfway through on golds, but I'm oddly stuck on Avenged Sevenfold. I really suck at the slow songs in this game.

I've found, that's because they tend to have a lot more sustains on bass/guitar/keys hitting at the same time. If there's only one slow part, you can tap it and go off to something denser, but if there's multiple they kinda eliminate each other's chances of hitting a high multiplier.
 

Holy Wars

Banned
I've done every challenge that isn't "play songs by a band you hate" on Facebook. So now I'm just running down my coins before I inevitably run out and have to grind to get more.

Random people from Harmonix who view this thread, fix your stupid game because it's pretty good outside of this nonsense.
 

aku:jiki

Member
I've done every challenge that isn't "play songs by a band you hate" on Facebook. So now I'm just running down my coins before I inevitably run out and have to grind to get more.

Random people from Harmonix who view this thread, fix your stupid game because it's pretty good outside of this nonsense.
Did you get the free songs to help build up some coins? It's something, at least.

There's a list here:
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=385529
 

Forsythia

Member
It's almost as if they wanted to implement microtransactions for coins in the game, but decided that it wasn't that great of an idea and went with the Facebook crap. They both suck, obviously.

I understand the implementation of goals, but that wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to go to Facebook to start them. What were they thinking?
 

chixdiggit

Member
I have not played this yet but does anyone else think this game is a bad deal? Other music games like Beat Hazard and AudioSurf cost around $5 and you can use your own music. So your guaranteed a huge play list of all your favorite music no matter what it be at no additional charge.

I understand that selling the DLC is a big business for the Rock Band franchise. But is the game worth it with other options out there? Is it that much better than Beat Hazard and AudioSurf? I do plan on trying the XBLA demo myself but was just curious on peoples thoughts.
 

Holy Wars

Banned
The game is fundamentally a lot of fun. It's certainly more fun than Beat Hazard to me.

If you don't have a large DLC collection though, the set list it comes with is awful and you'll have to spend money to have a good time. It's worth $15 if you have a collection, it's not worth, say, $60 to buy an adequate library.
 

jgkspsx

Member
I have not played this yet but does anyone else think this game is a bad deal? Other music games like Beat Hazard and Amplitude cost around $5 and you can use your own music.

Are you confused? Amplitude (PS2) did not let you use your own music. It was the direct ancestor of Guitar Hero.

If you're thinking of Audiosurf, this really strikes me as a clone of that, powerups and all. However, the mapping of required actions to the music is much tighter and more direct, and of course each track is separated into a different lane. Audiosurf tends to relax me, whereas this one is extremely hectic. I think each has really compelling features, but I think this is better as a game.

IMO, this game is only worth the price if you have Rock Band 3 and significant quantities of DLC songs and would like to have more than a couple songs from the 25 songs it comes with. It's a lot of fun IF you have a huge Rock Band library, like I do. It would get incredibly boring extremely fast if you don't. (On top of that, you will not have enough coins for powerups without playing the same songs over and over again unless you have lots of DLC, which I pray they will fix in a patch. It's the single worst design decision I've seen in a game this year.) In practice, it's pretty much a reward for longtime Rock Band fans.

That said, if you haven't tried Rock Band 3, I'd highly recommend it, though the instruments are expensive these days.
 

Grecco

Member
I have not played this yet but does anyone else think this game is a bad deal? Other music games like Beat Hazard and Amplitude cost around $5 and you can use your own music. So your guaranteed a huge play list of all your favorite music no matter what it be at no additional charge.

I understand that selling the DLC is a big business for the Rock Band franchise. But is the game worth it with other options out there? Is it that much better than Beat Hazard and Amplitude? I do plan on trying the XBLA demo myself but was just curious on peoples thoughts.


The assumption is if you are buying this you already own some dlc from the previous Rock Bands. essentially you aree using "your favorite music" at no additional charge since you already paid for the dlc.
 

Holy Wars

Banned
Ran out of coins. Completed all the goals. Now I have to either play a bunch of songs with no power ups and grind for coins, or just stop playing.

Fuck Harmonix.
 

web01

Member
Ran out of coins. Completed all the goals. Now I have to either play a bunch of songs with no power ups and grind for coins, or just stop playing.

Fuck Harmonix.

I was going to buy this but after reading how Harmonix gimped the game because they want to milk people for DLC and free Facebook advertising they can go fuck themselves. Another developer has joined the rest of the scum that shits on their customers.
 
Heh, Blitz mainly got me playing RB3 again. I know I'm gaining Blitz Buxxx but really I'm just using the Facebook Goals as impetus to get through my RB3 library.

I'm sure I'll play Blitz more too, but right now it's got playing RB3 a whole lot, so on that score, I love the Facebook App. Blitz takes some getting used to.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
If you're thinking of Audiosurf, this really strikes me as a clone of that, powerups and all. However, the mapping of required actions to the music is much tighter and more direct, and of course each track is separated into a different lane. Audiosurf tends to relax me, whereas this one is extremely hectic. I think each has really compelling features, but I think this is better as a game.

I need to check out Audiosurf sometime. You can use music from your computer right?
 

vg260

Member
I was going to buy this but after reading how Harmonix gimped the game because they want to milk people for DLC and free Facebook advertising they can go fuck themselves. Another developer has joined the rest of the scum that shits on their customers.

I think you're overeacting and not looking at this in perspective.

I don't like the FB stuff, but it's not like the music genre is thriving. Sure they have Dance Central games, but other than that, DLC is their only business. They're not exactly pumping out games. What happens if the DLC business dries up? By most people's accounts the music genre is dead/deserves to die. They're regarded as one company who's handling DLC well too.

I'm not fond of the design choices in the game, but if they screw up on one downloadable side game (that also exports as a 25-song track pack for $15) in trying to boost DLC sales , perhaps it's not as awful as people are making it out to be. I think people may be reacting a bit too extreme.

Where do you draw the line between "Milking people for DLC" and trying to boost DLC sales because that's a major part of their survival in an industry where studios are closing left and right?

Just some stuff to consider.

I'll throw out that I don't mind a coin bonus for new songs. Heck for all the DLC I've already bought, it's a kind of a nice thank you. Losing coins for using powerups, and effectively forcing people to use FB or buy songs is a bit much. I think they just missed on the balance involved.
 
I think you're overeacting and not looking at this in perspective.

I don't like the FB stuff, but it's not like the music genre is thriving. Sure they have Dance Central games, but other than that, DLC is their only business. They're not exactly pumping out games. What happens if the DLC business dries up? By most people's accounts the music genre is dead/deserves to die. They're regarded as one company who's handling DLC well too.

I'm not fond of the design choices in the game, but if they screw up on one downloadable side game (that also exports as a 25-song track pack for $15) in trying to boost DLC sales , perhaps it's not as awful as people are making it out to be. I think people may be reacting a bit too extreme.

Where do you draw the line between "Milking people for DLC" and trying to boost DLC sales because that's a major part of their survival in an industry where studios are closing left and right?

Just some stuff to consider.

I'll throw out that I don't mind a coin bonus for new songs. Heck for all the DLC I've already bought, it's a kind of a nice thank you. Losing coins for using powerups, and effectively forcing people to use FB or buy songs is a bit much. I think they just missed on the balance involved.

Well said.

Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing that they want to try and sell more DLC. It's not like we'll ever get Rock Band 4, so sooner or later RB3 DLC will die out. A side game here and there might help boost things a bit so that we can get more DLC.

It's the Facebook nonsense I don't like with this game. I don't mind that they do FB integration, but don't make the game so that half the game is on FB. If they had just put all that stuff directly in the game, and kept the Facebook app only as a side thing that people could connect to if they want to share their stuff on FB, or whatever, then the game could have been fine. But, instead they decided to basically force Facebook down our throats if we want to be able to enjoy the game at all.
 

Holy Wars

Banned
I don't see how the shitty coin system is linked to wanting to sell DLC. IF you buy a song, you get double coins the first time you play it. Ultimately thats going to give you, on an average difficulty song, 600 or so coins, if you gold star it on your first go. That's still less than you'll use on a proper run using 3 power ups.

If they wanted to get people to buy DLC, they could just say a DLC purchase comes with 2000 coins or something. The way it is now, there's no real incentive to buy DLC in regards to coins.

What is annoying is how the game only lets you send Xbox score dul challenges to random people with random songs. I get requests off people for songs I don't own, I send challenges to people with whatever the game randomly decides to allow and they coul easily not have the song. It's complete shit.
 
I don't see how the shitty coin system is linked to wanting to sell DLC. IF you buy a song, you get double coins the first time you play it. Ultimately thats going to give you, on an average difficulty song, 600 or so coins, if you gold star it on your first go. That's still less than you'll use on a proper run using 3 power ups.

If they wanted to get people to buy DLC, they could just say a DLC purchase comes with 2000 coins or something. The way it is now, there's no real incentive to buy DLC in regards to coins.

What is annoying is how the game only lets you send Xbox score dul challenges to random people with random songs. I get requests off people for songs I don't own, I send challenges to people with whatever the game randomly decides to allow and they coul easily not have the song. It's complete shit.

Well, I consider the game itself as an incentive to sell more DLC. Some people prefer this game over Rock Band 3, so they will get DLC for this game instead. I doubt it will be many, but it might boost the sales a bit.

It's definitely the Facebook app they want people to use to get more coins, not new songs.
 
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