Post by Pikachu on Dec 8, 2010 15:36:10 GMT -5
[Just some random thoughts for this post to share, nothing more]
So.. one of the things that seemed to be missing in RB3 were streaks. Traditionally, note streaks were displayed at the end of the song. I remember Jon and I being mystified about this because RB3 had solved so many RB2 issues we had complained about.
As it turns out, this just isn't intuitively communicated at the post-song screen. If you look REALLY closely, you'll notice some "arrows" on the yellow aura surrounding the box indicating score and accuracy. This should have been more obvious from the get-go, and is one of the complaints I have about this game because of the importance of such information provided.
Upon scrolling, there's a breakdown of your score due to accuracy, overall notes hit, and so forth. The song is then segmented by percentage accuracy so you know which parts to improve on. Additionally, it also shows # of notes hit, max streak, and, imo most importantly, average score multiplier. When I saw this, my Rock Band 3 approval went through the roof.
Ok, since a lot of us are (maybe? hopefully?) picking up on this game, let me speak to this as a point of ambition and improvement. The Captain Obvious method of being good at this game is "hit every damn note in the song and get gold stars". Well, no shit - but this isn't a useful tip while you're working your way up to Expert (and even when you've hit this level).
The problem of looking just at percentage of notes hit is that at a certain point, it deceives you into thinking you are near perfect. One look at the leaderboard should make the case here - there is a MASSIVE gap in scores even amongst players with 99% in Expert mode. In other words, you can start to hit 90+% in a lot of songs and go, "Well, this is good enough... time to go to a higher difficulty level..." and get completely smashed and discouraged, thinking that they have to learn the game over again.
Truth is, this happened to me circa GH2 and again in RB1 (after my play regressed), and it didn't make me feel like trying. In retrospect, something like Average Score Multiplier would have easily revealed that I wasn't ready. Displaying a note streak every time along with score multiplier information tells way more because pseudo-mashing difficult parts of a song or errors spread over the course of a song, while still being able to pass, is a sign that a player is basically where they are supposed to be in terms of difficulty. On the other hand, you can still do these things and get a deceptive high percentage on accuracy.
Lastly, if one's score multiplier is 4x+, it means energy was liberally used and in parts of the song with more notes. This means it wasn't hoarded for survival purposes. If you're playing on Medium/Hard and you see a near 4x or more multiplier, it definitely indicates the need to go up a level.
Incidentally, of all the instruments, this is most true for vocals. You can get literally 0 streaks, and still hit over 90% of a song.
On another note - Pro Drums were an easy transition... except when I need to hit the yellow cymbal + blue pad, or yellow pad + blue cymbal. Habitually, when this didn't matter, I'd hit both the yellow and blue pads whenever I encountered this combination, but I can easily do red pad + any cymbal because the muscle memory was already there. Unfortunately, having the cymbals before Pro mode means I have COMPLETELY forgotten about the green pad because I have stopped hitting it for a year now. Now that it is differentiated, I think it will be an interesting process to readjust my habits.
That said, Pro Drums are a blast to play. Once you start, it is not possible to go back.
So.. one of the things that seemed to be missing in RB3 were streaks. Traditionally, note streaks were displayed at the end of the song. I remember Jon and I being mystified about this because RB3 had solved so many RB2 issues we had complained about.
As it turns out, this just isn't intuitively communicated at the post-song screen. If you look REALLY closely, you'll notice some "arrows" on the yellow aura surrounding the box indicating score and accuracy. This should have been more obvious from the get-go, and is one of the complaints I have about this game because of the importance of such information provided.
Upon scrolling, there's a breakdown of your score due to accuracy, overall notes hit, and so forth. The song is then segmented by percentage accuracy so you know which parts to improve on. Additionally, it also shows # of notes hit, max streak, and, imo most importantly, average score multiplier. When I saw this, my Rock Band 3 approval went through the roof.
Ok, since a lot of us are (maybe? hopefully?) picking up on this game, let me speak to this as a point of ambition and improvement. The Captain Obvious method of being good at this game is "hit every damn note in the song and get gold stars". Well, no shit - but this isn't a useful tip while you're working your way up to Expert (and even when you've hit this level).
The problem of looking just at percentage of notes hit is that at a certain point, it deceives you into thinking you are near perfect. One look at the leaderboard should make the case here - there is a MASSIVE gap in scores even amongst players with 99% in Expert mode. In other words, you can start to hit 90+% in a lot of songs and go, "Well, this is good enough... time to go to a higher difficulty level..." and get completely smashed and discouraged, thinking that they have to learn the game over again.
Truth is, this happened to me circa GH2 and again in RB1 (after my play regressed), and it didn't make me feel like trying. In retrospect, something like Average Score Multiplier would have easily revealed that I wasn't ready. Displaying a note streak every time along with score multiplier information tells way more because pseudo-mashing difficult parts of a song or errors spread over the course of a song, while still being able to pass, is a sign that a player is basically where they are supposed to be in terms of difficulty. On the other hand, you can still do these things and get a deceptive high percentage on accuracy.
Lastly, if one's score multiplier is 4x+, it means energy was liberally used and in parts of the song with more notes. This means it wasn't hoarded for survival purposes. If you're playing on Medium/Hard and you see a near 4x or more multiplier, it definitely indicates the need to go up a level.
Incidentally, of all the instruments, this is most true for vocals. You can get literally 0 streaks, and still hit over 90% of a song.
On another note - Pro Drums were an easy transition... except when I need to hit the yellow cymbal + blue pad, or yellow pad + blue cymbal. Habitually, when this didn't matter, I'd hit both the yellow and blue pads whenever I encountered this combination, but I can easily do red pad + any cymbal because the muscle memory was already there. Unfortunately, having the cymbals before Pro mode means I have COMPLETELY forgotten about the green pad because I have stopped hitting it for a year now. Now that it is differentiated, I think it will be an interesting process to readjust my habits.
That said, Pro Drums are a blast to play. Once you start, it is not possible to go back.
