Deriaz
03-29-2008, 11:36 AM
(First off, I apologize if this is in the wrong section. Looked around, didn't see a better place for it. If I've got this in the wrong area, go ahead and move me on over to the right area of the forums. XD)
So, with the recent addition of the Music Store, I got to thinking. . . And I came up with 4 suggestions for Rock Band that I thought would be nice to have. I even sorted them in order of what would be most useful, in my mind, to what would just be kinda nice to have. ;)
1. A way to more accurately judge the difficulty of the song.
This was the main idea that started my train of ideas. In the Music Store, when selecting a song, you have a little indicator that tells you the difficulty of the song--judged by circles, and is there for all 5: Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocals, and the all-around Band difficulty.
Now, I know songs are already sorted into tiers, like from Warm-up to Impossible. But sometimes, those just don't feel right. Example being, Green Grass and High Tides is high up there. But on Expert Drums, I usually get bored due to the ease.
So, what I'm asking for: In the song selection screen, when making a setlist (And even when doing just a single song), allow us to push a button that would bring up a screen similar to the Music Store. In it, you would find the difficulty of each instrument. So, it may be a hard song, but you could see that Drums would have a breeze in it. Also, this would serve as a good way to judge what songs your band can tackle if you're all together. Maybe your Vocalist has a sore throat. Maybe your Drummer has a sore ankle. Using that screen of difficulties, you would be able to accurately judge what songs to pick.
2. Better vocalist filter.
First off, no idea if that's what it's called. Y'know the thing, where you play online, and the singer can't be heard while singing unless they hit a button? Well, that filter (At least, that's what I call it) seems really weak.
I usually sing, both for my band offline and once in awhile for online. But I learned really quickly it is possible for people to hear you sing, regardless of whether you're holding a button down or not. All someone in the band needs to do is speak into the mic, and all of a sudden the game thinks that you're trying to talk back to them, and your "oh-so-wonderful" singing voice flies back at them. And when you're in a song that you might have to sing at a high octave for (Like I have to once in awhile. Lol.). . . It's a little embarrassing.
Make this a little stricter, I think. Even if someone's talking, force the filter to remain on. Keep it on unless the vocalist absolutely wants to talk, and he or she has pushed the button that allows the vocalist to talk during a song.
(I've noticed, at least on the XBox 360, if you mute your mic, this problem lessens. . . But then sometimes it still goes through.)
3. Band World Tour Online
This would probably be a rather big undertaking (Not as big as the next one, though), so I could see why it wouldn't work.
I've got a few friends on my friends list, on the XBox 360, that can do instruments on Expert. I've got an Expert guitar friend, bass friend, and even a vocalist, since they met me when I was playing drums. All of us can do Expert, no sweat. So why can't we do Band World Tour by inviting each other to someone's band?
It would sort of be like assembling a quickplay. You would be leader of the band, and all of you would assemble by having the band leader invite you. Once you're all settled in, each person selects a rocker (Or is given a separate screen to create one, if they haven't. Separate as in we don't have to wait around and watch them, but can chat in the lobby), and away you go.
'Course, trying to save the band mates gamertags, online progress, etc could get tricky. So, if this never came about, I wouldn't care less. Band Quickplay is still great fun to just jump into and rock out for a bit.
4. Multi-platform Online
I can see why this would be a HUGE task to do, so if this got a flat out no. . . Meh. Oh well. No problem to me. But here's my thinking:
Tralfamador and I are both in an offline band--he's drummer, and I'm vocalist. Both of us practice a lot, but there's one catch: He's got a PS3. I've got a 360.
Now, he lives, I dunno, 3 or 4 miles away from me, so it's a little hard to get together a lot and just play. So, why not practice online?
Other than that, I don't think I need much explanation. Of course, Harmonix would have to somehow link the two systems together (Or more, if you link more systems together--does PS2 have online? Never bothered to find out. XD). . . And even then, I would assume it would probably grow into a Microsoft and Sony agreement issue-kind-of-thing.
But hey, I can dream, right?
Lemme know what you guys think. ;)
-Deriaz
So, with the recent addition of the Music Store, I got to thinking. . . And I came up with 4 suggestions for Rock Band that I thought would be nice to have. I even sorted them in order of what would be most useful, in my mind, to what would just be kinda nice to have. ;)
1. A way to more accurately judge the difficulty of the song.
This was the main idea that started my train of ideas. In the Music Store, when selecting a song, you have a little indicator that tells you the difficulty of the song--judged by circles, and is there for all 5: Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocals, and the all-around Band difficulty.
Now, I know songs are already sorted into tiers, like from Warm-up to Impossible. But sometimes, those just don't feel right. Example being, Green Grass and High Tides is high up there. But on Expert Drums, I usually get bored due to the ease.
So, what I'm asking for: In the song selection screen, when making a setlist (And even when doing just a single song), allow us to push a button that would bring up a screen similar to the Music Store. In it, you would find the difficulty of each instrument. So, it may be a hard song, but you could see that Drums would have a breeze in it. Also, this would serve as a good way to judge what songs your band can tackle if you're all together. Maybe your Vocalist has a sore throat. Maybe your Drummer has a sore ankle. Using that screen of difficulties, you would be able to accurately judge what songs to pick.
2. Better vocalist filter.
First off, no idea if that's what it's called. Y'know the thing, where you play online, and the singer can't be heard while singing unless they hit a button? Well, that filter (At least, that's what I call it) seems really weak.
I usually sing, both for my band offline and once in awhile for online. But I learned really quickly it is possible for people to hear you sing, regardless of whether you're holding a button down or not. All someone in the band needs to do is speak into the mic, and all of a sudden the game thinks that you're trying to talk back to them, and your "oh-so-wonderful" singing voice flies back at them. And when you're in a song that you might have to sing at a high octave for (Like I have to once in awhile. Lol.). . . It's a little embarrassing.
Make this a little stricter, I think. Even if someone's talking, force the filter to remain on. Keep it on unless the vocalist absolutely wants to talk, and he or she has pushed the button that allows the vocalist to talk during a song.
(I've noticed, at least on the XBox 360, if you mute your mic, this problem lessens. . . But then sometimes it still goes through.)
3. Band World Tour Online
This would probably be a rather big undertaking (Not as big as the next one, though), so I could see why it wouldn't work.
I've got a few friends on my friends list, on the XBox 360, that can do instruments on Expert. I've got an Expert guitar friend, bass friend, and even a vocalist, since they met me when I was playing drums. All of us can do Expert, no sweat. So why can't we do Band World Tour by inviting each other to someone's band?
It would sort of be like assembling a quickplay. You would be leader of the band, and all of you would assemble by having the band leader invite you. Once you're all settled in, each person selects a rocker (Or is given a separate screen to create one, if they haven't. Separate as in we don't have to wait around and watch them, but can chat in the lobby), and away you go.
'Course, trying to save the band mates gamertags, online progress, etc could get tricky. So, if this never came about, I wouldn't care less. Band Quickplay is still great fun to just jump into and rock out for a bit.
4. Multi-platform Online
I can see why this would be a HUGE task to do, so if this got a flat out no. . . Meh. Oh well. No problem to me. But here's my thinking:
Tralfamador and I are both in an offline band--he's drummer, and I'm vocalist. Both of us practice a lot, but there's one catch: He's got a PS3. I've got a 360.
Now, he lives, I dunno, 3 or 4 miles away from me, so it's a little hard to get together a lot and just play. So, why not practice online?
Other than that, I don't think I need much explanation. Of course, Harmonix would have to somehow link the two systems together (Or more, if you link more systems together--does PS2 have online? Never bothered to find out. XD). . . And even then, I would assume it would probably grow into a Microsoft and Sony agreement issue-kind-of-thing.
But hey, I can dream, right?
Lemme know what you guys think. ;)
-Deriaz
