FwD GS and GH5

So I finally got GS on Flirtin' with Disaster after many many tries. It felt really good especially because I got 91% on the solo which is one of the harder ones in the game.

I also got Guitar Hero 5 and so far I like it. While it is missing many features (because its PS2) that are available on the other systems, I still feel it's a good game and probably the best since GH2 (Metallica might be a little better though). The setlist includes a wide variety of genres which I like but could be a turn off for some other people. Overall, though, I've liked all the songs I've played so far.

Difficulty-wise the game is probably similar to RB2. The charts are better than in past GH games and the hammerons are a little more strict than the previous iterations of the game as well (a good thing I believe).

I would recommend the game to everyone, especially if you own a 360, PS3, or Wii.

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.

Drum Visions FC's

In the past week one of the most amazing Rock Band accomplishments occurred - an FC of Visions on Expert drums. By many Visions in considered the hardest drum song in the game so obviously this was a big deal. However, there was a bunch of controversy surrouding this phenomenal feat by I-jeff-I due to his use of Overdrive or OD (the thing like Star Power in Guitar Hero for those who don't know). To give background info, on drums once half a bar of OD is gained (either by hitting two OD note sequences or getting a Unison Bonus in co-op play) every 4 measures or so a portion of the song is cut out and a Fill is put in in which you can hit any notes and then hit the crash symbol at the end of it to use it. However, if you don't hit the last note in the Fill you will keep the OD and that Fill section will keep reappearing every 4 measures until it is used.

In I-jeff-I's FC of Visions once he got OD he held onto it until the very end of the song. By doing this, though, a bunch of the song was skipped with the OD Fill sections. He did FC every part of the song he did play, though, including the blast beats and other really hard parts thereby technically getting 100%. There are some people calling this a Bootlegged run because he avoided playing so much of the song but I would consider it legit. He chose to hoard the OD in order to get the FC but while doing so lost a ton of points - he wasn't close to getting GS and only 5-starred the song in the last 10 seconds or so.

Luckily, this discussion was helped out by another FC of Visions soon after (same day possibly) by Mrallen95, this time with a different OD path which included more of the song. Mrallen95 not only FC'd the song but also GS it which is also extremely impressive. Still, this brings up the debate which is more important the percent of notes hit or the final score? Also, should the way drums use OD be changed so as not to miss any of the song? I've heard that in The Beatles Rock Band this has been addressed a little but we'll see. Jeff's FC raised some controversy in the Rock Band world this past week but I still would like to congratulate him on being the first person to accomplish this, with the right path or not.

Yay Bass

So it's been about a week since I last posted. Nothing too important has happened but there have been some cool improvements and stuff. I haven't been able to make a vid recently, though. Hopefully I can get another one soon.

For guitar in Rock Band 2 I got better scores on Ramblin' Man and Pretend we're Dead, had a -1 run of Shooting Star, finally 5-starred Master Exploder, and also, after many chokes, FC'd Everlong bringing my total number of full combos to 28 or 1/3 of RB2 which is cool.

I have been playing a lot of bass recently and just finished all 84 songs in RB2. While many of the note charts are more boring than the ones for guitar, bass is a nice diversion and sometimes is more fun. Almost every run was a sightread and I ended up with 26 FC's and 55 GS. I'm definitely going to work on my scores often because I know most of them can be improved. For now, I'll post them below.

As mentioned 2 posts ago, I finally received my kick pedal and decided to try drumming a bit. I have never been too good at RB drums, usually sticking to Medium difficulty but I wanted to get better. I decided to go into the Drum Trainer and do the Beat workout thing and I feel that helped quite a bit. While I'm still not all that good, I have moved on to Hard and have begun playing some of the easier songs on that difficulty. Hopefully with guitar and bass going I'll still find time to practice the drums because it is definitely really fun.

In Rock Band 1 I got some new scores for Wanted Dead or Alive, Train Kept a Rollin', Reptilia, and Foreplay/Long Time. I think I found a better way to play Train so hopefully I can GS that soon because that would be awesome. Maybe I'll also start the bass and drums careers in RB1 if I feel like it.

RB Scores for 7/23

RB2 Guitar
Total: 12,826,754

RB2 Bass
Total: 10,991,558

RB2 Drums (Hard)

RB1 Guitar
Total: 8,793,652

Mentos Freshmakers

Mentos Freshmakers is a band consisting of 2 to 4 members playing on Expert difficulty. The band always contains stealthman and 0and1 on guitar and drums respectively and at times is accompanied by Mythical You on bass and DantheMan on vocals. The band has been together on and off since Winter of 2008.

As mentioned in my last post, recently the band has been trying to put some videos together. We have tried unsuccessfully a couple of times in the past few days but finally had a good run last night. The camera crew messed up some of the previous attempts by missing the TV completely or covering only half of it while in other cases there was too much talking. Last night, though, everything went well and we were able to get in a good Gold Star run of Rock Band 2's Supreme Girl on film. The video is posted below. The only issue is the sound because at times the instruments drain out the song, but hopefully we will fix this in the future. Any requests are welcome and keep checking our YouTube channel for more videos to come in the near future.

Supreme Girl GS