Are you using power-ups cleverly? Are you staying in Blitz mode as much as possible? Are you leveling up every track as quick as you can? There's a lot that goes into your score beyond just accuracy.
Also, yea it is hard.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Rock Band Blitz |OT| Rocking Out in the Instrument-Free World
- Thread starter FyreWulff
- Start date
Are you using power-ups cleverly? Are you staying in Blitz mode as much as possible? Are you leveling up every track as quick as you can? There's a lot that goes into your score beyond just accuracy.
Also, yea it is hard.
I wish there was a manual because I don't really know what some stuff does, like the purpose of "Blitz." I don't think the tutorial explains it. I'm trying to unlock all the power ups first, there seems to be an initial grind to unlock stuff for the few few hours, which I'm not really enjoying but whatever. I was using powerups and the other perks but it seemed like I was just wasting my coins, so I'm doing the grindfest first and then going to go replay the songs to see if I can do better.
So far I'm just frustrated because technically I am playing well but I don't see why I'm not scoring high enough for 5 stars
They now have a chance of beating my scores since now I have to play something other than Bass
I just get a notice to wait until the game comes out. Also interesting that you can earn Blitz credits via Rock Band 3 itself. Looks like the first Facebook app I actually want to use.
The first game on the Wii was the best-selling RB title of 2008, and that included RB2 on the 360, and it had no DLC capabilities.
I imagine that Harmonix still kicks themselves for not treating the Wii SKUs better.
Yup, they pissed away the RB userbase on Wii and lost it to Guitar Hero. The fact that the Wii RB1 outsold both the 360 and PS3 versions is one of those little known factoids of this generation.
The powerups are absolutely vital. I've seen runs where one well-chosen note powerup resulted in millions of points. I don't know exactly what Blitz mode does, honestly (I don't have a copy yet). Might have some effect on your Overdrive supply or something, since I know it doesn't affect score directly.
Eh, likely not. Even though the discs sold well, the DLC sells terribly. Like, 1/10th of what PS3 sells.
And they could have prevented that from happening by not shortchanging the Wii early on like they did. They've got no one but themselves to blame for that.
Officially speaking, I don't think this will happen without the presence of a Rock Band 4, should one ever exist.
It is possible to get RB3 tracks into the game, but that involves slightly more illegal means.
I'd imagine that have something to do with GH establishing itself as the game that had DLC available, especially when it had DLC that Rock Band already had on Wii first. Momentum is everything.
No way to export RB3 disc tracks at this time.
I think you're giving the Wii audience too much credit.
BroggieDoge
Member
So figured this is best place to ask. I remember hearing some time ago madcatz was reprinting RB3 and re-selling it. How come I can't find RB3 new anywhere? Amazon has it for $25 in low quantities from 3rd party. Is that really the only option?
With that question aside to stay on topic I will be picking Blitz up. I have tons of dlc I'm looking forward to playing.
With that question aside to stay on topic I will be picking Blitz up. I have tons of dlc I'm looking forward to playing.
Madcatz, as far as I know, only took over the Xbox 360 version. Last I heard, their new retail bundle is going to drop right before the holiday season this year. EA still distributes the Wii and PS3 versions (again, as far as I know).
If you are on the 360, Rock Band 3 is available for 20$ via Games on Demand.
Aww boo.
I can play everything & blitz tracks in RB3 but not RB3 tracks in Blitz.
Hope they solve that quick.
From what it looks like, Mad Catz has been sticking them in instrument bundles, rather then selling the game on its own. If you're on the 360, the GoD version is an option. I don't know what to tell you if you're looking for PS3, though.
As Ridley said, the chance of RB3 exporting without an RB4 is low
The upside of Blitz for the DLC whores is it can load more DLC simultaneously than Rock Band 3. 6,000+ instead of RB3's limit of 3,000
BroggieDoge
Member
Thanks guys I may end up caving and grabbing it on GoD. I'd prefer a physical copy but I don't feel like rebuying a huge bundle this holiday. Too many other games dropping. I'll look into it.
I actually bought the Games on Demand version even though I already owned RB3. I figured I had RB3 installed all the time anyway, I like Harmonix and wish to give them more money, was worth the money so I could just turn on the Xbox and jump straight into the game. It did make the RB Store app kind of obsolete, though :lol
thekonamicode
Member
So far I've played 204 songs in Rock Band Blitz and Gold Starred 41 of them. I've only played one song more than once, so all of those gold stars were on first attempts.
AlphaTwo00
Member
How are you guys playing this now? Isn't it next wednesday?
I know a shit ton of people got it for free from various giveaways going on. I have a bunch of people on my friends list playing already.
That's a good question
thekonamicode
Member
The cool people already have it
How the hell
Road Rage and Blast Notes on fast songs. Jackpot and Blast Notes on the slower songs.
That's pretty much all I use at this point!
I've gotten over 100,000 points with one use of Jackpot in certain songs.
BroggieDoge
Member
Yea I was thinking the same thing perfect game for the hard drive to just turn on the console and play. I'll prob download it same day as blitz.
AzureSkies
Member
The Wicker Man by Iron Maiden, Give it Away by Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Death on Two Legs by Queen makes this really tempting.
Sadly, I'm not liking a lot of the other tracks on the track list.\
Sadly, I'm not liking a lot of the other tracks on the track list.\
Dead Man Typing
Member
Can I be one of the cool people?
thekonamicode
Member
If anyone wants to add me on XBL for Blitz, my gamertag is Gameware.
R_thanatos
Member
humph i have a bunch of stuff to finish so i'm fine with me not playing AM ... be carefull on your high scores starting wednesday. ( psn ) i'll be there !!
So it is totally power up based. I see.
I think this knocks the game down a few points for me.
toythatkills
Member
Yeah, the whole thing is entirely reliant on power-ups, which makes the decision to lock them all for hours just baffling. I can't understand it at all. "Here's our game, by the way, you're not allowed to play it properly."
nicholasbrutal
Epic Games PR Manager
To clear some stuff up about Blitz Mode. Youll enter Blitz Mode when you streak (i.e. not missing any notes on your current track; you can move between tracks and stay in Blitz Mode as long as youre not missing any notes while you do so). While in Blitz Mode, every tenth note you hit will earn you bonus points; the longer you stay in Blitz Mode, the more points youll earn for that bonus note. So the best players (the ones who will earn the highest scores) will be able to stay in Blitz Mode the most the time while playing a song. Its possible, if youre quick enough and know a songs structure, that you can do this; Id suggest finding gaps in instrument progressions and switching then, or if youre really fancy, using the Synchrony Power-up instead of an Instrument Bonus. (When you switch on a Synchrony measure marker, youll destroy the note on the track youre on and the track you switch to.) And keep this in mind: to really max out your score, you'll have to stay in Blitz Mode while also chasing Energy to use Overdrive Power-ups and chase Power Notes. So there's a lot going on here, and I think it should become obvious after a few plays why we went with two notes versus the "traditional" three.
As for Power-ups being essential to high scores and the game, we were pretty up front about that from the start. Power-ups are essential to the core gameplay experience, which is focused around fast, arcade-style action while maintaining the musicality of the song while playing.
To the point of having to unlock Power-ups via cred, Im a bit surprised to see people complaining about this; it's not something I had expected to hear. Having unlocks in a game, whether it be abilities, weapons, or what have you, is a pretty common progression system thats used across many, many titles. As to why we do it here (specifically), there are three Power-up categories and multiple Power-ups in each. Each of these Power-ups has a very specific function and different gameplay effect. By having you unlock them one-by-one, the hope is that youll begin to become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each, and learn how and when to combine them for maximum effect. Sure, its not unfair to say you have to grind to unlock Power-ups, but in this instance, grinding means playing the game, learning the mechanics, and (hopefully) having fun in the process. Considering that most players will have content on their hard drives beyond the core 25 Rock Band Blitz songs, theres actually plenty to do and see while learning. And once you unlock all of the Power-ups, you should be well equipped to head back to songs youve already visited and start kicking ass on the leaderboards (or at least beating your friends in Score Wars).
In any case, it seems some people are bummed about certain things about the game without having played it yet, and I guess thats to be expected because Internet. There will be a demo on PSN and XBLA (with some Power-ups unlocked from the start no grinding!), so check it out and see what the game is all about.
Also, regarding Achievements attached to DLC: the core game achievements (the 400 max an XBLA title can have) are obtainable from simply owning Rock Band Blitz and no additional content. We can offer an additional 100 Gamescore because we have DLC, for a total of 500 points "out of the box."
As for Power-ups being essential to high scores and the game, we were pretty up front about that from the start. Power-ups are essential to the core gameplay experience, which is focused around fast, arcade-style action while maintaining the musicality of the song while playing.
To the point of having to unlock Power-ups via cred, Im a bit surprised to see people complaining about this; it's not something I had expected to hear. Having unlocks in a game, whether it be abilities, weapons, or what have you, is a pretty common progression system thats used across many, many titles. As to why we do it here (specifically), there are three Power-up categories and multiple Power-ups in each. Each of these Power-ups has a very specific function and different gameplay effect. By having you unlock them one-by-one, the hope is that youll begin to become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each, and learn how and when to combine them for maximum effect. Sure, its not unfair to say you have to grind to unlock Power-ups, but in this instance, grinding means playing the game, learning the mechanics, and (hopefully) having fun in the process. Considering that most players will have content on their hard drives beyond the core 25 Rock Band Blitz songs, theres actually plenty to do and see while learning. And once you unlock all of the Power-ups, you should be well equipped to head back to songs youve already visited and start kicking ass on the leaderboards (or at least beating your friends in Score Wars).
In any case, it seems some people are bummed about certain things about the game without having played it yet, and I guess thats to be expected because Internet. There will be a demo on PSN and XBLA (with some Power-ups unlocked from the start no grinding!), so check it out and see what the game is all about.
Also, regarding Achievements attached to DLC: the core game achievements (the 400 max an XBLA title can have) are obtainable from simply owning Rock Band Blitz and no additional content. We can offer an additional 100 Gamescore because we have DLC, for a total of 500 points "out of the box."
nicholasbrutal
Epic Games PR Manager
There will be on Tuesday (PSN) and Wednesday (XBLA), when both games launch.
Having to unlock power ups is stupid. It'd be like Rock Band making you earn the ability to get 2x, 3x and 4x multipliers or over-drive. It just turns the start of the game in to a meaningless grind where nothing you do really matters because you're incapable of getting a decent score. There's smarter ways of introducing powerups to people than unlocking them one by one. And if you're bothered about not making things too complex, having a game based completely around the idea of using the right power ups at the right time doesn't seem like a smart way to go about it.
I don't see why the game didn't just play like Rock Band Unplugged or Frequency.
I don't see why the game didn't just play like Rock Band Unplugged or Frequency.
Is there a reason why there's a coin system? I feel like I can only do my score attacks every other run since you consume more coins than earning them if you decide to use all 3 slots for power ups. Or I find myself just going down my song list casually without any power ups just so I can have a bank of coins
It almost feels like this is an iOS game without the IAP. I just want to use my powerups freely?
It almost feels like this is an iOS game without the IAP. I just want to use my powerups freely?
toythatkills
Member
The difference is that in those many, many titles, the unlocks aren't the entire point of the game. You'll unlock a new gun but it won't mean your whole experience in Genero Shooter 4 up to that point was entirely worthless. You'll earn a new car but it doesn't mean your whole experience in Driving Cars 7 up to that point was entirely worthless. In Rock Band Blitz, you earn a new power-up and everything you've done up to that point has just been a total waste of time.
The only objective in the game is to set high scores, the only way to set high scores is to use power-ups, and yet all the power-ups are locked making it literally impossible to actually achieve the only objective in the game. It's just insane that you thought that was a good idea, I can't understand it at all.
I sort of get the thinking behind wanting players to learn the power-ups, but they could do that by using them one by one, without having to unlock them all first. Instead you've just introduced an arbitrary grind "because that's what other games do" and it's absolutely detrimental to the experience. If you had separate leaderboards for "no power-ups" then at least the player could achieve something while they were unlocking everything, but as it is there is literally nothing for them for the first x hours of the game beyond the total waste of their time.
thekonamicode
Member
No complaints from me! Rock Band Blitz is fast becoming my favorite beat-matching game of all time.
Also concerning the coins, I have over 30,000 coins and I'm using full power-ups for every song I play. 235 songs played so far, 53 are gold starred. I had to work a lot yesterday, I'm falling behind.
I have about 65,000,000 points on the Xbox leaderboards. There are a few users with well over 100,000,000.
Also concerning the coins, I have over 30,000 coins and I'm using full power-ups for every song I play. 235 songs played so far, 53 are gold starred. I had to work a lot yesterday, I'm falling behind.
I have about 65,000,000 points on the Xbox leaderboards. There are a few users with well over 100,000,000.
thekonamicode
Member
Have you been signing up for the goals at Rock Band World? So far I've gotten 32,400 coins from that. Also, you get double coins for trying new songs.
Well I don't use Facebook, so...I guess I could just use a made up account. :|
I shouldn't have to do this...
nicholasbrutal
Epic Games PR Manager
Those are both really good games. Those two games also feature completely different mechanics from one another. Rock Band Blitz is also a completely different game from either of those titles. So it doesn't play like those games because it's not either of those games; it's Rock Band Blitz. It's a new game.
That's fair, but to say that playing if you're NOT earning sky-high scores is a "waste of time" seems a bit harsh. Because I'd like to think that the core mechanics (and learning them) is compelling enough that you won't feel like you're wasting your time; you'll be having fun. By the time you unlock all of the Power-ups, you'll be competent enough to head back in to some songs and start crushing the leaderboards. Even if we were to offer all of the Power-ups from the start, you'd still not be able to compete with someone who was experienced; it would take many, many tries.
In any case, I'm not really arguing about this -- you make fair enough points. I just was a bit surprised it was brought up at all (and people reacted so strongly to it) because Wario64 is the first person I've seen even mention it! (Of course, the game isn't out yet, so time will tell.) Ultimately, we hope you actually spend some time with the game, and find that the grind isn't a pointless waste of time, since you're actually having fun learning the mechanics.
toythatkills
Member
There's a subtle difference, though. If you were to offer all the power-ups from the start, I wouldn't be getting high scores because I'm just not good enough yet. By not offering them all though, you're telling me I'm not allowed to get high scores regardless of how good I am.
One of them would entice me to practice and get better. The other one just annoys me.
nicholasbrutal
Epic Games PR Manager
Fair enough. In any case, I hope that when (if?) you do play, you'll find you're having more fun playing than you're annoyed!
Baconsammy
Banned
I'm disappointed that it's not Amplitude, but also excited to see what they're offering. Will definitely grab the XBLA demo Wednesday morning.
Sure. But it seems new in a worse way. Unless you enjoy the idea of power ups being central to getting high scores. I'm only speaking for myself, but I'd rather a beat match game reward me based on my ability to hit gems in time, not equip the correct power up at the right time. But we'll see, I've only played the game briefly this weekend.
Monkeylord
Member
When I visit the Goal page it just says to check back on the 28th?
I was able to sign up for it now. Gotta join a bunch of goals and stuff. Wish you could have do this in game but whatever
The game is still fun for what it is and I appreciate that it's trying something new instead of being an exact clone of Freq/Amp. Just don't really agree how powerup stuff is handled
Shadow2222
Member
I can't wait to play this game. I haven't gotten lucky with any of the giveaways, but I'll gladly pay the 15 bucks if I don't win it.
oh look. its the guy who never responded to like 40 posts aimed at his question in the RB DLC thread.
hi!
nicholasbrutal
Epic Games PR Manager
Sorry.
I was busy trying to make sure this game got published! *cries*
I am the worst.