Does Rock Band feel imprecise to anyone else?

Lame Lantern

Hi hi.

I largely play Guitar Hero stuff due to a preference for the format and their charting philosophy, but I've decided to go back to RB2 since it seems to be the party game of choice. However, since I've started playing it again I keep missing notes I feel I should have nailed and dropping combos in weird locations, despite the charting being largely less convoluted and playing on hard rather than expert.

It's not a calibration problem, seemingly. I'm playing with the GH:WT guitar which may have something to do with it, but it's doubtful. Anyone else experience this or suggest what conspiracy might be at play?

Twilightning

Lame Lantern wrote: »

Hi hi.

I largely play Guitar Hero stuff due to a preference for the format and their charting philosophy, but I've decided to go back to RB2 since it seems to be the party game of choice. However, since I've started playing it again I keep missing notes I feel I should have nailed and dropping combos in weird locations, despite the charting being largely less convoluted and playing on hard rather than expert.

It's not a calibration problem, seemingly. I'm playing with the GH:WT guitar which may have something to do with it, but it's doubtful. Anyone else experience this or suggest what conspiracy might be at play?

It's because Guitar Hero is retard proof. You can be way off a note or a stream of notes in GH and hit it perfectly because the timing windows are massive. The timing windows in RB2 are a lot more precise which probably isn't what you're used to with playing Guitar Hero.

I went back to Guitar Hero II months ago just to brush up on it a bit and I couldn't for the life of me play it because I'd spent too much time playing GH3, which is where the timing windows became massive with the shift from Harmonix (Who develop RB) to the current Activision.

Lame Lantern

The timing window difference isn't the issue. I can correct the problem to a large extent by tuning out the song and relying more heavily on the visual guide. I'm used to playing at a *reasonably* high level in which precise timing is needed to navigate between very slim intervals of notes anyway, so I'd be reticent to chalk it up to that. Aside from which, I have no issues with GH2 compared the the subsequent entries in the series. It could simply be that I'm spoiled by the greater clarity in GH, but googling the problem there seemed to be a a sizeable number of people reporting the same thing with all reponses descending into "guitar hero is ****."

calex71

Had the opposite a while back when I went back to world tour, couldn't hit squat on expert. Took me a good hour to adjust to it even with the massive timing windows. Then i realised that for me I was actually having issues because the notes were circles and not rectangles like I had grown used to

As for the charts, it's down to preference at the end of the day. I just find RB cleaner and more accurate to the songs ...... most of the time.

Lame Lantern

Well I prefer the more elaborate charting the broader timing window in GH facilitates, compared to the dry if painstakingly faithful design RB has. Also, the timing window hasn't been truly massive since GH3, which was pretty laughable. If you're playing WT or GH5 with some skill, the distinction isn't really noticeable.

D4RK ONION

If you can correct the issue by watching the notes more than listening to the music, then my guess is you have lag issues either with your tv or a wireless instrument. If you have a wired instrument and a CRT TV, try rock band with that setup. I've never had any issues with this so called "inprecise-ness". The timing window in GHWT and 5 are certainly larger than RB, even a few miliseconds can make a huge difference.

for the format and their charting philosophy

you mean releasing games every two to 3 months that aren't backwards compatible?

And charting keyboard and organ sections, and adding in notes that aren't there? That's fine if you're into that kind of thing, but it isn't exactly what I would call the pinnace of preciseness.

Lame Lantern

D4RK ONION wrote: »

If you can correct the issue by watching the notes more than listening to the music, then my guess is you have lag issues either with your tv or a wireless instrument. If you have a wired instrument and a CRT TV, try rock band with that setup.

Will give that a lash, thanks.

I've never had any issues with this so called "inprecise-ness". The timing window in GHWT and 5 are certainly larger than RB, even a few miliseconds can make a huge difference.

True, the difficulty is that is puts the song designers on a leash. The slightly broader room for error facilitates designing the more elaborate, creative sections you see in GH.

you mean releasing games every two to 3 months that aren't backwards compatible?

Nah, I wasn't talking about Activision's business model. Mind you, buying large blocks of songs every couple of months would work out cheaper than buying an equivelant number of songs via DLC. I'm pumped about as much cash into both franchises at this stage with more songs to show for it in GH (just about)

And charting keyboard and organ sections, and adding in notes that aren't there? That's fine if you're into that kind of thing, but it isn't exactly what I would call the pinnace of preciseness.

Yeah, charting other instruments is perfectly fine with me. Superstition in GH5 is fantastic to play and features long periods of playing the brass section. The notes that are added correspond to the music in a satisfying manner in my experience (I'm actually struggling to think of an example where additional notes have been gratuitous or jarring unless you're talking about tracks with extended embellishment like Do It Again in WT which is done for the guitarist to have anything at all to do). I respond to innovative gameplay not an accurate representation of the guitar playing experience. Simply matter of taaste.

D4RK ONION

I'm pumped about as much cash into both franchises at this stage with more songs to show for it in GH (just about)

Yes but at the expensive of all the GH songs being scattered across different discs. GH is a franchise, RB is a platform.

I respond to innovative gameplay not an accurate representation of the guitar playing experience.

I would argue that charting in a convoluted manner does nothing for gameplay innovation. So what if one song has no bass track/drum track etc? If it's not in the song, it shouldn't be on the chart, that's my philosophy. If you're going to go down that road, they should just take a random song and chart it thus

calex71

This is the clincher for me , both games can release as many disc's as they want for all I care, but when you release as many as GH does and still offer very little in terms of new stuff in terms of game play then you are just out to mug fans of their money , it as simple as that. OK GH5 was a step up and is a good game.

But!!!!!! 2 months later comes band hero, which is little more than a new set of instruments and an expansion disc for GH5 but you still cant export all the songs into one game. This is where rock band for me wins hands down no question , value for money!!!! Instruments :€49 , rb1 + rb2 i got for 40 online and acdc and track pack 2 for 20 online,costing me just over €110 giving me about 180 songs playable in one game. And lets face it at the end of the day the games are basically the same thing with slight variations.

D4RK ONION

Similar games, vastly different philosophies!

cedomination

Let's not turn this into another gh/rb argument.

From the sounds of it,it seems that the sound and visuals are off-sync like Dark Onion said. You might find this helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GZdZX9f_-U

D4RK ONION

That's what I was just coming here to post. Very helpful resource.