Favorite music/rhythm games

[pierrot]

I really only played the main mode which lets you play songs ala Guitar Hero and that mode plays the guitar line from the original song (well, what you can play of it anyway).

Ah, I think I see. I was sort of wondering if that main mode has the actual sound from the guitar playing over the track or not. I'm fairly certain there's no preamp in the cable--and if there is, it's trash, but considering the space it would have to occupy, that's not surprising--so, I was sort of wondering if they used some kind of software approximations of the input to make things sound okay.

[nullPointer]

I've had one of the Rocksmith 1/4" stereo to USB cables for years, from when I was looking into cheap recording methods, and ways to poke around with Garage Band's peddle effects. I might think about just grabbing the actual game. Do either of you play it on PC? Does it actually reproduce the guitar's sound well in the game?

I would actually recommend going the PC route. Among other factors this will allow you to (much more easily) 'mod' the game with CDLC (custom DLC) tracks (read as: user created tracks for music not officially included in the game/DLC). Having said that, I've never played it on console so I don't have much in the way of direct comparison. I will say that Steam cloud saving is a super nice feature in this case as it will allow for play on multiple PCs with no loss of progress (I have it installed on three PCs - living room for big screen play on the TV, office for when I want to play but the TV is otherwise occupied, and laptop for when I want to take it out to the garage, more on that in a sec.)

I've never had any issue with the in-game guitar tones (as a bassist), but I suppose your mileage could differ significantly depending on your own tolerances, desired level of fidelity, 'quest for the ultimate tone', etc. The game does offer considerable options in this regard. Typically every song in the game will have it's own associated guitar tone that you can use anywhere in the game. It also features in-game amp and effects modeling all of which has it's own dedicated in-game 'sound lab' (the official name of which escapes me at the moment). There are a number of licensed amp and effects manufacturers represented (Orange and Marshall are springing to mind), and you can spend a ton of time designing and saving your own custom tones if you like.

In terms of tone there's also a 'dark horse' option. If you get yourself (or already have) an ABY splitter you can split your output to the game and to your existing amp setup. I use a Radial Bigshot for this purpose, but there are cheaper/more expensive options available depending. Basically you run the cable from your guitar to the ABY which has two ouputs; one with the RealTone cable going to your PC/console (the laptop I mentioned earlier), and the the other one going to your amp and/or existing effects chain. This affords a couple of huge benefits. The first is that you're playing with your familiar equipment and not the in-game tones. The second is that it allows you to control the volume of your output independent of the volume of the game. RockSmith can be just a teensy bit 'generous' in it's note detection, particularly when playing fast, and often this 'generosity' results in sounding sloppy when you play a song outside the game. So after I learn a song in the game (but before I have it fully memorized) I like to run it though my actual setup to get it dialed in. Definitely not necessary to the enjoyment of the game, but a fun possibility nonetheless!

[ESauced]

I had noticed the generosity of Rocksmith when I hooked up the guitar to the amp and played what I had learned. It gives you credit even if you’re pretty sloppy

[pierrot]

I kind of thought there would probably be some leniency to the game, which is nice for a game, but maybe not as great for a practicing tool. Good thought on the breakout box, null. I don't really have space to set up my gear anymore, though. I don't know if I want to pay full price for Rocksmith, but I'll be looking for it during sales, I think. Being able to add custom tracks with the PC version could extend its usefulness to me, too.


So, I happened to see that NanaOn-Sha, and iNiS were planing a "Project Rap Rabbit" game that failed to meet its Kickstarter goal, last year, and I just want to know: Why did I not hear anything about this?


Also, I was reminded of Beat Hazard, which is a really cool way to interact with one's music library under new and unusual circumstances, with time based, twin-stick shooter stages, and tons of strobing lights.

[ESauced]

Yeah I wasn’t in a position to find that Kickstarter but i really wanted it to succeed. They were asking for a lot though. 1.1 million is pretty high for what is kind of a niche game. It sucks but also doesn’t really surprise me that they didn’t hit their goal.

Edit: Found this interesting -
https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article ... er-in-2017

[pierrot]

Yeah I wasn’t in a position to find that Kickstarter but i really wanted it to succeed. They were asking for a lot though. 1.1 million is pretty high for what is kind of a niche game. It sucks but also doesn’t really surprise me that they didn’t hit their goal.

Edit: Found this interesting -
https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article ... er-in-2017

Yeah, that's pretty illuminating. I can see why it failed. Hopefully they still have it in them to try to find funding for the project.

[dunpeal2064]

Are the newer ones on PS4 and Vita better in any way? The real shock for me was playing the arcade version in Japan and realizing that none of my skills from the PSP games were transferable to the arcade machine. I guess Sega really found the perfect formula for maximizing profits between the home and arcade markets.

If you want to get a new Miku game, get Future Tone on ps4. It is a port of that arcade game you played, with over 200 songs. They've made a few adjustments that had a pretty big impact if you go for difficult clears. You now have multi-note hits that are brutal to read, and combined with hold notes make getting high scores insane, and they've also added an Ex Extreme, in case Extreme wasn't hard enough. On top of that, the game in general is just harder, I'd place the tougher songs on Hard here on the same level as 2nd or X's Extremes, and the Extremes here blow anything those games did away, without even digging into Ex Extreme.

That said, playing the game on a controller helps transfer skill from the older games, and you get access to more buttons that you can customize (ie: making r1 be X+O), so it manages to retain the difficulty of the arcade game, but feels more playable. The arcade game is brutal with just the 4 buttons.

And yeah, I totally get not really digging Miku, I tend to expect people to not like it, and am just pleasantly surprised when they do. I think Future Tone has diverse enough songs that you may find a few that surprise you, though. Also, while it is a $60 game, you can buy it in halves (Future Sound and Colorful Sound) at $30 each, and there is a free demo with 2 songs. Even one half of the game will last you hours on end.

[Erik_Twice]

Oh man, can't believe I didn't post in here sooner. Some of my favourites:

Beatmania IIDX
Pump it Up (DDR is just too easy after a certain point)
Osu! Tatake! Ouendan

I would play every single Bemani game if I could!

[dunpeal2064]

Oh man, can't believe I didn't post in here sooner.

I was wondering where you were

Pump it Up (DDR is just too easy after a certain point)

This game is so intimidating. I've tried it once in arcades, and it threw me off so hard. Feels like I'd need to not play DDR for a good while, and then come in fresh, since the muscle memory from DDR messes me up so bad.

[Erik_Twice]

This game is so intimidating. I've tried it once in arcades, and it threw me off so hard. Feels like I'd need to not play DDR for a good while, and then come in fresh, since the muscle memory from DDR messes me up so bad.

It is a bit odd at first, I remember prefering DDR for some time after playing PIU but in the end I liked PIU more. The extra panel just makes thinks so much more interesting and the notecharts and the possibility of double play makes things much better.