13 Million!

Okay so this is probably my last post because I'm heading back to school and won't have as much time to play Rock Band and Guitar Hero anymore. Fortunately, it ends on a good note.

So if anyone remembers the goals I set when I first started this blog my two main ones were to reach 9,000,000 career points in RB1 and 13,000,000 in RB2 for expert guitar. Well I haven't made it to 9 mil and quite possibly never will (I am at 8,932,877), but I finally reached 13,000,000 points in Rock Band 2.

I got to the 13 mil with improvements on many songs including Rob the Prez-O-Dent, The Trees (Vault Edition), Let There Be Rock, Down with the Sickness, Teenage Riot, Psycho Killer, A Jagged Gorgeous Winter, and an overstrum FC of Spirit in the Sky. So, yeah, it took a lot but I finally did it so I'm pretty damn happy. Next I want to improve my scores on the songs in the final 2 tiers but we'll see when I get to that.

Also, while I didn't get to my other goal in RB1, I have been getting closer and closer to GS on Flirtin' With Disaster which would be sweet. Hopefully I can get that soon. I also reached a new high for Highway Star which is nice because that solo is awesome.

In Rock Band 2 hard drums I finally beat Panic Attack after failing at 98 and 99% the previous two runs (and way before that in all my others haha) so I'm pumped about that. I may attempt the ESL 2 on hard now before I go back if I feel like it but probably won't because I'd rather not spend 8 of my last 72 hours at home playing Rock Band (crazy, I know).

But yeah, that's about it. Thank you everyone who followed this blog -- I know it wasn't too entertaining but I liked keeping track of my progress and seeing my improvements. I may return one day with an update (maybe when 0and1 and I beat the ESL2 of Winter break or something). I also want to thank 0and1 for encouraging me to make this in this first place.

Rock on everyone!

Rock Band Scores for 8/26

RB1 Guitar
Total: 8,932,877

RB2 Guitar
Total: 13,000,304

RB2 Drums (Hard)

Country Track Pack and Other Stuff

Recently, I started to get tired of playing the same on-disc Rock Band songs over and over again and since I can't download any I decided I was going to buy another Track Pack. I ended up choosing between the AC/DC Track Pack and the Country Track Pack. I have never really been interested in country music but I really liked Sin Wagon when it came out as DLC a couple of months ago (just by watching videos) and many people recommended the pack and said it was the best one released so far. So, even though I do enjoy AC/DC, I chose to buy the Country Track Pack and so far have not been disappointed.

I've only played the songs on guitar so far, but almost all of them have really fun note charts and a lot of them are catchy. My favorite song so far is Good Times by Alan Jackson but Sin Wagon and I Told You So are also really good. I recorded a sightread video of Sin Wagon (meaning it's my first run through it, although I have seen the chart in videos) and another of my current best run of Good Time. Both videos are posted below.

Besides buying the Country Track Pack, a lot has happened in the past 2 weeks since I wrote about my scores. My biggest accomplishment has been my FC of half of Rock Band 1 (29 out of 58 songs). I also broke 300k on Green Grass and High Tides, got new scores for Cherub Rock, Won't Get Fooled Again, Can't Let Go, Run to the Hills, Paranoid, a some others. Paranoid was really really frustrating because I FC'd the whole song and then missed the notes after the Big Rock Ending, I was pretty pissed. Some of the recent FC's I got are Reptilia, Detroit Rock City, Suffragette City, and Should I stay or Should I Go. I will post some pics I took.
below. Also, with all my recent successes I broke the Top 100 on Scorehero for RB1 PS2 which I'm really proud about.

In the Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 2 I finally five-starred Rio giving me a full game 5-star. I also GS Indestructible, got a better score on Just What I Needed, and FC'd It Hurts and Call Me.

For RB2 guitar, nothing too interesting since I talked about new scores in my last post about BNS. I did do better on Girl's Not Grey, though. I also beat Painkiller and Battery on Hard drums which is cool.

Sin Wagon Sightread Video
Good Times Video

Rock Band Scores for 8/7

Rock Band 1 Guitar
(Country songs are further down page)
Total: 8,902,983

Rock Band 2 Guitar
Total: 12,948,208

Breakneck Speed

A little while ago 0and1 and I decided to try playing Rock Band 2 with Breakneck Speed, or BNS, enabled. BNS is very similar to Hyperspeed from Guitar Hero series but is a considered game modifier rather than a cheat (no code is needed to use BNS, it is available as an option from the start). Basically what is does is it speeds up the fret board a lot, making the notes easier to see because they are more spread apart. Think of it as putting the normal fretboard under a magnifying glass. However, 0and1 and I found out that having BNS on was not worth it because it made it so hard to see the notes because they moved so fast.

Yesterday, though, I decided to give BNS another shot in single player to see if it could help me with some of the tougher songs. To my surprise, it helped a ton, spreading out the notes during the really quick HO/PO sections helped me out quite a bit. With BNS I was able to 5-star Shoulder to the Plow, GS Carry on Wayward Son, and drastically improve my scores on Master Exploder, Panic Attack, Painkiller, Visions, and Souls of Black.

However, there has always been a pretty big debate over whether or not using BNS is cheating. I for one, don't feel like it is due to the fact that it's an option available in the game from the beginning. Also, it doesn't make the notes any easier to hit, just easier to see. Furthermore, Scorehero doesn't differentiate between scores using BNS and those that do not. 0and1 agrees with this as well and believes that it's really just a matter of preference and just a different way of playing.

Other people, though, feel that using BNS is not the way the game is meant to be played and they feel that it does make it easier. Therefore, these people view scores obtained using BNS shouldn't count or that the people using the modifier as less skilled than those who don't.

I'm going to continue to use BNS for the harder and higher-tiered songs because it makes them more playable for me and therefore more fun. I am not solely going to use it, though, because I don't want to be stuck on that mode or, in other words, be only able to play with it on. I will transition back and forth between the fast and slower moving fretboard because I know when I play with more people who are less familiar with the game, using BNS would be too much.

The debate about BNS will continue as long as it is a part of the game. As of now I view it as just a modifier but maybe my opinion will change, who knows. Right not I'm just happy it allows me to have more fun while playing the more difficult songs.

For more specific, visible information about BNS, here are two videos of the same song one using BNS and the other not: BNS, Normal


This is Part 2 of my Rock Band Debate series (drum FC the was last one). Stay tuned for more if I can think of more hot topics in the RB world.