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

Hop

That girl in the bunny hat
Can't complete any of the new setlists (besides the two easy ones and the community one). I love Jack White, but don't care much for Dead Weather or the second Raconteurs album. Bah.

Any task that's open to Blitz and RB3, you only need half the songs. You can then play them once in each and they count twice, and the goals only count how many qualifying songs you did rather than if they're all unique. (At least that was the case with last week's goals.)
 
Play it again real quick with no power-ups, and boom, you'll be in the green again.

I play songs all the time with no power-ups. It's good practice for lane-switching and getting a feel for the charts. Then I can go back later with power-ups based on what I observed from how I played (what super instrument I should use, if I should use note-removing power-ups if I struggle with filling the lanes, etc.) and get a high score and even more coins. Maybe it's just me, but I'd like to take my time an just enjoy playing the game rather than constantly be rushing in and gold starring everything off the bat.

See, the argument always seems to be, 'This problem is easy to overcome if you do <whatever>.' I never hear something like 'This coin grind makes things more fun because of reasons <x>, <y>, and/or <z>' (Although if you got something, please feel free).

It's great that you're not having problems. But your experience wouldn't change at all (for better or worse it seems) if the coin grind was removed. But for all these other people who are having problems, they would be enjoying the game more. Is that not reason enough? Is this coin grind worth defending for some reason?

If we're just arguing over if it sucks a little or sucks a lot, does it matter? If it sucks and has no redeeming qualities, it should be gone.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
How do you hold the controller for this? I keep slipping and hitting the sticks. My scores with every control scheme but the default were terrible.
Just hold it regularly? To clarify, I mean the configuration that is mimicking Amp/Freq controls with bumpers being the note buttons
 

jgkspsx

Member
Oh, you can just use one stick at a time! Heh! I thought you needed the left stick to move left and the right stick to move right.

Any task that's open to Blitz and RB3, you only need half the songs. You can then play them once in each and they count twice, and the goals only count how many qualifying songs you did rather than if they're all unique. (At least that was the case with last week's goals.)

Nope, these require playing all the specific songs, not just hitting a star count.
 

Hop

That girl in the bunny hat
Nope, these require playing all the specific songs, not just hitting a star count.

The Parenthetically Speaking one was that way too, and it worked with just the three Blitz songs played in RB3 as well.
 
The Parenthetically Speaking one was that way too, and it worked with just the three Blitz songs played in RB3 as well.
Yup. Just found out about that.

Basically, any of the challenges that allow for both RB3 and RBB encourages you to do 1 of:

a) Own as much of the DLC so you can concentrate on one of the games
or
b) Have at least half the DLC, and split your work amount RB3 and RBB
or
c) Setup your Facebook RB World App so that you work with a friend and split the challenge up even further.

For example, I just finished the Medium All American Rejects challenge with just 3 songs, 5 staring all 3 in both RBB and RB3. (Just did it on Guitar)

The Grohl challenge, if you do get the max group size allowed (15) would be a cakewalk, only requiring each person to play at most 4 songs each.
 

jgkspsx

Member
Cool. Just got Parenthetically Speaking just under the deadline. Thanks!

I have 7 White Stripes songs (+ Hardest Button in RB3) and Steady As She Goes. I guess that should do it.

What a crappy economy that even requires thinking like this. OTOH, I'm up to almost 40K coins in the bank, playing with full loadouts all the time...
 

Holy Wars

Banned
Play it again real quick with no power-ups, and boom, you'll be in the green again.

I play songs all the time with no power-ups. It's good practice for lane-switching and getting a feel for the charts. Then I can go back later with power-ups based on what I observed from how I played (what super instrument I should use, if I should use note-removing power-ups if I struggle with filling the lanes, etc.) and get a high score and even more coins. Maybe it's just me, but I'd like to take my time an just enjoy playing the game rather than constantly be rushing in and gold starring everything off the bat.

Yeah, it's just you.
 

SuperPac

Member
I play songs all the time with no power-ups. It's good practice for lane-switching and getting a feel for the charts. Then I can go back later with power-ups based on what I observed from how I played (what super instrument I should use, if I should use note-removing power-ups if I struggle with filling the lanes, etc.) and get a high score and even more coins. Maybe it's just me, but I'd like to take my time an just enjoy playing the game rather than constantly be rushing in and gold starring everything off the bat.

Not just you, this is how I play as well. And from doing the FB goals I have 18k coins. But I'm not a 'leet player jockeying for overall high score leaderboard positioning - I'm just playing for fun. *shrug*
 

Roto13

Member
Not just you, this is how I play as well. And from doing the FB goals I have 18k coins. But I'm not a 'leet player jockeying for overall high score leaderboard positioning - I'm just playing for fun. *shrug*

So am I.

It's not fun without power ups.
 

Holy Wars

Banned
Not just you, this is how I play as well. And from doing the FB goals I have 18k coins. But I'm not a 'leet player jockeying for overall high score leaderboard positioning - I'm just playing for fun. *shrug*

I don't see how it's fun without power ups. The score means nothing, so switching lanes means nothing, so it's just a bad RB.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
tsc tsc

yIm6J.jpg
 
I don't see how it's fun without power ups. The score means nothing, so switching lanes means nothing, so it's just a bad RB.

It's a terrible Amplitude/Frequency. With powerups its mildly amusing, but still inferior to Amp/Freq.

LOL at that tweet. At least they're being upfront about what a screwjob the coin system actually is.
 

marjo

Member
LOL at that tweet. At least they're being upfront about what a screwjob the coin system actually is.

I wonder what all the "the coin system is there to make the game better and not as a sleazy money making scheme" people are going to say now.
 
Looks like I was wrong.

I had previously attributed the awful 'economy' to incompetence instead of malice.

That will teach me not to be so naive in the future.
I think most of us can see that at some level, yes, RBB is meant as a way to push you over the edge on visiting the download store again (probably catching users who hasn't played Rock Band recently to check out the store). It's pretty apparent throughout the entire game (loading messages, the "recommend page" which is usually filled with songs you don't own or songs your friends played that you don't have...)
 

marjo

Member
I think most of us can see that at some level, yes, RBB is meant as a way to push you over the edge on visiting the download store again (probably catching users who hasn't played Rock Band recently to check out the store). It's pretty apparent throughout the entire game (loading messages, the "recommend page" which is usually filled with songs you don't own or songs your friends played that you don't have...)

It's one thing to encourage you, and another entirely to purposely gimp your game to get people to spend addtional money. Harmonix has crossed over the line here. I really do feel like I've paid for the privelege of 'enjoying' a free to play experience.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Looks like I was wrong.

I had previously attributed the awful 'economy' to incompetence instead of malice.

That will teach me not to be so naive in the future.

Except you can get double coins on any Linkin Park song.. I'd be miffed if it was that pack specifically.
 

PAULINK

I microwave steaks.
I've played the game for at least 15 hours now and I don't see what the big deal is here. I've been making more coin than I've been using (and for the past 50 songs i've used all the power up spots), thanks to both playing new songs and facebook goals. I've racked up 50,000 coins.

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with the in game economy in this game. Unless you don't have any paid dlc, in which it's possible you might need to grind a few songs. But i've been getting rock band DLC since RB1 days so I have amassed quite the library.
 
So, how does joining goals work then? I started a bunch and invited my GF to join them. she got the little FB message that I wanted help doing the goal and when she clicked on the request in RBW it took her to the goal page, so she started started the goal.

Now it says on both of our goal lists that we're the only ones in our group (as in, on her page it says she's a group member and on my page it says I'm a group member, but not both of us in the same group - individual groups).

So we're in two groups of one person each instead of one group of two people.



Christ, I'm shit at explaining the simplest things. It's been one of those days!
 
There's nothing wrong with loading messages telling you to buy more DLC. I really dug the "recommended" feature on Rock Band 3 because it was an easy way for me to go "Oh, I missed that song by x artist!" Stuff like this is fine. I mean sure, having most of the writing of the game going "buy more buy more!" feels lame, but it's not a big deal at all and if they get more DLC buys out of it, awesome.

What is not acceptable is when these teams design the base game to deteriorate unless you go buy more. I paid for this game, damn it, it's not a subscription and I shouldn't have to keep buying more DLC to continue playing it the way it's supposed to be played.

It's one thing to encourage you, and another entirely to purposely gimp your game to get people to spend addtional money. Harmonix has crossed over the line here. I really do feel like I've paid for the privelege of 'enjoying' a free to play experience.
I think that most reviewers were on a system which has far more songs than most players, which means they'll never suffer with that economy most actually purchasers of this game will see.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Two notes:

1) Can the double cR system be applied to any rule? We see this one as a Linkin Park bonus week. Can it be done by Decade, Difficulty, Source, Album etc as well

2) anyone else notice Green Grass and High Tides doesn't have any solos in Blitz? Is that a special case they added for GG&HT or did the algorithm determine that?
 

Holy Wars

Banned
Two notes:

1) Can the double cR system be applied to any rule? We see this one as a Linkin Park bonus week. Can it be done by Decade, Difficulty, Source, Album etc as well

2) anyone else notice Green Grass and High Tides doesn't have any solos in Blitz? Is that a special case they added for GG&HT or did the algorithm determine that?

Songs with really long solos don't seem to have them in Blitz. Pick Me Up by Dinosaur Jr springs to mind.
 

Hop

That girl in the bunny hat
2) anyone else notice Green Grass and High Tides doesn't have any solos in Blitz? Is that a special case they added for GG&HT or did the algorithm determine that?

If more than 35% of a song is covered with solos, the solos aren't locked. That happens even if it's a ton of short solos.
 

jgkspsx

Member
RB3 songs do indeed count towards the goal. Neat! Well, I guess I'll finish the Jack White one.

I bet it's a bug that they will fix, though...
 

jgkspsx

Member
How is being able to finish "Play All Jack White Songs Ever Released" by playing half the songs Jack White is on twice not a bug?
 

vg260

Member
This is really frustrating. Something's messed up w/ my FB account's access to the app, and it refuses to load. Everything on the RB game side works ok. I can't even use the darn app if I wanted to.
 

jgkspsx

Member
I hope you're right.

Well, finished the Jack White Collection. That's it for me on Rock Band World until the next set of goals launches.

Can you back out of goals? I'm not buying the shit music needed for Come Fly With Me.

EDIT: It does amuse me that "Easy" "Medium" and "Hard" goals mean "Free" "Cheap" and "Expensive."
 
I hope you're right.

Well, finished the Jack White Collection. That's it for me on Rock Band World until the next set of goals launches.

Can you back out of goals? I'm not buying the shit music needed for Come Fly With Me.

EDIT: It does amuse me that "Easy" "Medium" and "Hard" goals mean "Free" "Cheap" and "Expensive."

I don't think you can back out once you accept one, but once they expire they just go away.
 

Montresor

Member
Well, here's my somewhat negative review. 5/10 because it's fun to play when you can use power-ups, which isn't often enough.

I'm late, but nice review. Though I think you were too harsh. You hit all the negative points flawlessly, explaining articulately why the game is being criticized so much. But really, the core game play in Blitz is downright incredible and I feel you didn't give the game enough credit in that regard. Juggling the four-five instrument lanes, working towards full multipliers across the board, and making snap judgments on whether to move to another lane for star power or a blast note, is exhilirating. It feels so good jumping from drums to guitar to expertly grab a blast note and then go back to drums for star power, etc...

I think the game should get two scores: 6.5/10 for people with no DLC, and 8/10 for people with a plethora of DLC, both scores down from a 9/10 score the game would've received if the economy in the game wasn't so suffocating.

As for me, someone with tons of DLC, there was a small learning curve, bumps along the ride wherein I was stingy with coins. I built up a stash of 40,000 coins playing DLC with no power-ups because I was afraid I would run out of them whenever I decided to gold-star the 25 Blitz songs. Now that I've gone and done that, I'm much much better at the game, and have been playing 50+ DLC songs in a row and counting with full load-outs and my stash of coins is increasing.
 
I agree, the economy is harsh for people with limited content, but it's not an issue at all personally, and it never has been. I've got 46,000 coins in the bank, the only difference is I've been playing with full load-outs the entire time.
 

jgkspsx

Member
I would rate this game a B for people with decent libraries, probably a D for those who don't have any DLC.

It's great if you can play songs you enjoy with all of the power-ups. The power-ups seem unbalanced, but maybe I just don't know how to use them. The star ratings seem completely random; some songs are ludicrously easy to gold star with just the basic Road Rage/Blast Notes/Super X loadout, while others seem impossible. But I don't really care that much, since it's the leaderboards that count.

The social stuff would be wonderful if it were in the game, or even on the Rock Band website (which already HAD a social framework). But fuck the Facebook integration. I love you guys, but I'm not adding you on Facebook, and nobody on my Facebook is admitting to playing this.

So, I've more than gotten my money out of this. It's been a blast and doesn't seem like it will get old for some time yet. But it could be so much better for everybody if not for the "economy."
 

Roto13

Member
I'm late, but nice review. Though I think you were too harsh. You hit all the negative points flawlessly, explaining articulately why the game is being criticized so much. But really, the core game play in Blitz is downright incredible and I feel you didn't give the game enough credit in that regard. Juggling the four-five instrument lanes, working towards full multipliers across the board, and making snap judgments on whether to move to another lane for star power or a blast note, is exhilirating. It feels so good jumping from drums to guitar to expertly grab a blast note and then go back to drums for star power, etc...

"Incredible" is not the word I would use. It's basically a simplified Rock Band Unplugged, and 70% of the time it's missing one of the two things that keep it from literally being a dumbed down version of Rock Band Unplugged. The more important one of the two things, even.

I agree, the economy is harsh for people with limited content, but it's not an issue at all personally, and it never has been. I've got 46,000 coins in the bank, the only difference is I've been playing with full load-outs the entire time.

See, you say this, but I don't know how it can possibly be true. You'd have to be averaging more than 750 coins every time you play a song. Even with the Rock Band World goals, I don't know how you can pull this off unless you've never played a single song twice.
 
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