Must.. have.. Guitar.. Hero.. II.. [Archive]

wumpus

11-02-2006, 11:05 PM

Nobody. Freebird is an actual song in GH2.

$49.99 for the game only version.
I'd probably buy it because I'm an addict, but I need the version with the sweet Cherry Red SG to complete my home multiplayer experience. I own three, but I leave the other two guitars at work.

That's another nice perk of GH2-- I hope a lot of people are tempted to get their second guitar when they buy the second game. As awesome as multi was in GH1, it's way more awesomer in GH2. Co-op career, Co-op multi, classic multi, pro multi, plus the fact that you can play both bass and lead tracks for each song. Did I mention there's a practice mode, finally?

Buy it.

dannimal

11-03-2006, 10:18 AM

The improved MP is a huge point for people who have 1 guitar that might otherwise have not bought the game+guitar.

Bezzy

11-03-2006, 10:28 AM

I am in America right now (normally I am britland). There was a demo booth for GH2 at best buy. I did play it on the expert mode, and I did come up against the three fret chords. They weren't as tough to take as I thought, and I'm not even the best GH player I know.

My friend wanted to vote on the 7th, and I reminded him that the 7th is Guitar Hero II's release date (and also that as a convicted felon, he cannot vote). "Fuck the election." he said, predictably. "I will kill anyone who votes instead of playing Guitar Hero 2".

He didn't say that last bit. Those are just words.

Wholly Schmidt

11-03-2006, 10:49 AM

I made it through Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart, You Really Got Me, and War Pigs all on expert in Circuit City this week. I didn't even have to star-power-cheese through the solo in Trippin! Then I tried Psychobilly Freakout, and learned that not knowing the songs is a big deal.

sluggo

11-03-2006, 11:14 AM

Psychobilly Freakout doesn't get much easier when you know it. It's pretty hairy on Expert.

Wholly Schmidt

11-03-2006, 11:32 AM

Is it really in one of the first two groups of songs then, or are they just grouped that way in the demo I played?

zabuni

11-03-2006, 11:37 AM

Grouped that way for the demo.

sluggo

11-03-2006, 11:40 AM

Aye. In the full game it's in the 7th of 8 groups. These are the last two groups (the final list was announced about a month ago)

7. Furious Fretwork
Anthrax - Madhouse
Living End - Carry Me Home
Lamb of God - Laid to Rest
Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout
Rush - YYZ

8. Face-Melters
Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
Dick Dale - Misirlou
Megadeth - Hangar 18
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird

scharmers

11-03-2006, 12:44 PM

Megadeth - Hangar 18

I can't wait to see how they handle the solos in this one. This one is hard in Real Life[tm] on guitar (I can barely play the inverted D chords on the first part of the song), and even hard on bass (where I can play most of it, all of it on a good day).

dannimal

11-03-2006, 01:42 PM

Awesome that they put Freebird in the last gorup.

Jab2565

11-04-2006, 10:41 AM

review up at ign, 9.5. So now you have to hold down three buttons for some chords?

Ign said that the songs are overall harder on expert then they were in GH1. Also that somewhere people were able to beat Bark at the moon on expert 100% That doesn't seem possible to me. Beating that song on expert is not happening for me at this point.

Kool Moe Dee

11-04-2006, 10:58 AM

I'm hoping that the addition of the practice mode can help me get through some of the crazier stuff. I hated having to repeatedly blast through earlier parts of a song just to get a look at a later, more difficult part.

jim crawford

11-04-2006, 02:47 PM

Also that somewhere people were able to beat Bark at the moon on expert 100%
I'm curious if he meant that literally or as hyperbole, because I see no evidence to support it. Bark at the Moon's rankings (http://www.scorehero.com/rankings.php?game=1&diff=4&song=120) on scorehero show the top scorer as having hit 98%, and they drop to 95% quickly after that.

The solos are already ridiculous, but there's a dense mass of notes at the end of the first solo that I doubt anyone will ever full combo. Until someone releases a patch to play it in the Guitar Hero 2 engine, anyways.

sluggo

11-04-2006, 04:03 PM

Wow, I hadn't seen that site before. Cool stuff.

I think my best BATM effort was around 95% / 260k, which these guys just crush.

Beach123456

11-04-2006, 04:29 PM

I'm curious if he meant that literally or as hyperbole, because I see no evidence to support it. Bark at the Moon's rankings (http://www.scorehero.com/rankings.php?game=1&diff=4&song=120) on scorehero show the top scorer as having hit 98%, and they drop to 95% quickly after that.

The solos are already ridiculous, but there's a dense mass of notes at the end of the first solo that I doubt anyone will ever full combo. Until someone releases a patch to play it in the Guitar Hero 2 engine, anyways.
Ive seen a video of a guy who hit 100. Ill try to find it and get it up here.

russellmz00

11-05-2006, 06:41 PM

I'm curious if he meant that literally or as hyperbole, because I see no evidence to support it. Bark at the Moon's rankings (http://www.scorehero.com/rankings.php?game=1&diff=4&song=120) on scorehero show the top scorer as having hit 98%, and they drop to 95% quickly after that.

The solos are already ridiculous, but there's a dense mass of notes at the end of the first solo that I doubt anyone will ever full combo. Until someone releases a patch to play it in the Guitar Hero 2 engine, anyways.

i don't know about 100% but i read one of the red octane guys could 5 star it...

...with his back to the screen.

mok

11-05-2006, 08:37 PM

Hey, how many units of version one did they sell?

sluggo

11-05-2006, 10:31 PM

Yay, I can finally talk about this. :)

I've been playing this for the last week for my review (which went up earlier tonight), and I can't possibly say enough good things about GH2. It's better than GH1 in every conceivable way. The practice mode, co-op play, the expanded stats screen, widescreen + progressive scan support ... it'll be impossible to ever go back to GH1 now.

I generally avoid linking my own stuff here, but because I know there's a sizable GH fanbase here, here's my review (http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/guitar-hero-2/744174p1.html), as well as some rankings of the tunes (http://ps2.gamespy.com/articles/744/744177p1.html) (hardest to play, best co-op tunes, etc).

(Or, if you have some philosophical objection to clicking on links, I can just field questions.) :)

sluggo

11-05-2006, 10:35 PM

Also, because I can't resist, my current scores on Expert:

http://archive.gamespy.com/sluggo/gh2setlist.jpg

JPR

11-05-2006, 10:40 PM

I think that's a real testament to how hard Jordan is.

I haven't posted about this yet, but I have been, as they say, jonesing for this game pretty hard recently. I put in my preorder at Gamestop a while back, so I feel okay about going in and playing a couple of songs on their demo copy every couple of days. On Friday, though, my parents took my daughter for a week, so I actually went in and played for almost an hour. I felt like kind of a dick, but it was the only way to keep myself from driving to all the WalMarts and Targets around here to look for street-breaking copies.

I'm excited about Tuesday.

sluggo

11-05-2006, 11:13 PM

I had a GH2 party last night so we could spend a few more hours testing out the multiplayer stuff, and showed everyone what Jordan looked like on Expert. A friend of mine jokingly said the solo looked like it was created by a random number generator. :)

VegasRobb

11-05-2006, 11:20 PM

Can't wait to play "Them Bones".

"Yeah!"

Wholly Schmidt

11-05-2006, 11:52 PM

I've been dropping by Circuit City every couple days and going through Trippin' On A Hole a few times in each visit. I'm totally psyched.

Justin Fletcher

11-06-2006, 06:46 AM

My local Coconuts had it on Friday, so I spent the weekend in blissful Guitar Heaven. Here are some thoughts:

• Coming from a less accomplished perspective (I'm only about halfway through Hard in GH), GH2 is harder earlier than the original. I blew through the medium campaign fairly easily, but I could tell that if I hadn't already done the same in GH, songs like third-from-the-top Surrender would have been much more difficult. I'm thinking specifically of the single note/chord back and forth in the main verses. Crossroads prepared me for that; meanwhile, my girlfriend, who isn't as wild about Clapton, is having more trouble with Surrender.

• The Pro Face Off is an excellent addition and is sure to quell some debates in my household. Now if only we could get it for the original game.

• Different strokes and all that, but I like less of the songs this time around. Many of the tunes were unfamiliar in GH, but I soon grew to love them. Not so much in the sequel. I don't want to be the "Your favorite song sucks" guy, but I will say that I was especially disappointed by the Stones and Aerosmith selections.

• I also am less enamored of the devils and zombies motif for the menu art. The first game had no shortage of skulls, true, but it was more eclectic.

• I knew the Practice Mode would be great, but also being able to access the advanced stats on each song to chart your weaknesses is a godsend.

• Doesn't GH2 use the original recording for Stop, too? It's got the same "as performed by" tag as John the Fisherman. If it's a recreation, it's the best I've ever heard.

• All the new modes are awesome, but my award for Favorite Tweak goes to not having to sit through the entire intro "cutscene" whenever you restart a song.

In short, it's as great as ever. Here's hoping the Xbox 360 version with its downloadable tunes will address my personal disappointment with the song selection.

Jason McMaster

11-06-2006, 12:30 PM

I wonder if Wal-Mart will sell them at midnight.

jim crawford

11-06-2006, 01:02 PM

• I also am less enamored of the devils and zombies motif for the menu art. The first game had no shortage of skulls, true, but it was more eclectic.
Didn't the original also have pencil art all over the set list?

• Doesn't GH2 use the original recording for Stop, too? It's got the same "as performed by" tag as John the Fisherman. If it's a recreation, it's the best I've ever heard.
It's the original recording.

• All the new modes are awesome, but my award for Favorite Tweak goes to not having to sit through the entire intro "cutscene" whenever you restart a song.
I guess they wanted to make up somewhat for the first halves of Freebird and Hangar 18. In principle, that change is excellent. In practice, it only really bothered me when I was restarting Cowboys From Hell every fifteen seconds, and practice mode fixes that problem better.

sluggo

11-06-2006, 01:12 PM

Doesn't GH2 use the original recording for Stop, too? It's got the same "as performed by" tag as John the Fisherman. If it's a recreation, it's the best I've ever heard.
It's the original recording.
Here's the thing: it's missing some vocal harmonies in some spots, as well as the Spanish spoken-word intro, which led me to believe it was a cover version. Maybe it's a radio version or remixed for GH2?

jim crawford

11-06-2006, 01:47 PM

Here's the thing: it's missing some vocal harmonies in some spots, as well as the Spanish spoken-word intro, which led me to believe it was a cover version. Maybe it's a radio version or remixed for GH2?
I don't know the song, I'm just going by the official word.

All the original recordings are remixed to some extent, to boost the guitar and bass parts. I can see them ditching a guitar-free intro; the intro to "Cheat on the Church" was annoying from a gameplay perspective. Can't imagine why they'd leave out the vocal harmonies though, in either a radio edit or GH2.

Qenan

11-06-2006, 04:13 PM

Wall Street Journal had an article about guitar hero today. Apparently many professional rock musicians play it obsessively.

flyinj

11-06-2006, 04:22 PM

Here's the thing: it's missing some vocal harmonies in some spots, as well as the Spanish spoken-word intro, which led me to believe it was a cover version. Maybe it's a radio version or remixed for GH2?

I'm pretty sure that every single song on GH1 and GH2 are covers. They had to for reasons of making it work flawlessly with the game.

Erik J.

11-06-2006, 04:23 PM

I just picked up the original Guitar Hero, and I have to say, my favorite song is Cavemen Rejoice. Looking forward to the second one coming out so I can shred my friends face off.

Erik J.

sluggo

11-06-2006, 04:29 PM

Heh, I loved "Caveman Rejoice." It wasn't a particularly hard song, but anytime we had some kind of party with Guitar Hero about, we'd end up playing that song, if for no other reason than to sing, "cavemen, now that we are a team, we'll attack those other cavemen across the stream."

Now, it's all about "Trogdor." I almost peed myself when I heard the end of the song. :)

Justin Fletcher

11-06-2006, 05:09 PM

Didn't the original also have pencil art all over the set list?
Yeah, but I'm talking about the other menus as well. It seems like it's all demons and dead guys, whereas the original had a wider array of weird stuff (the squid musician, the skull balloon, fire breathing dude, coffin rodeo guy, etc.). But I know this is kind of like complaining about the Rapture because you don't like the color of Jesus's robe.

Ergo

11-06-2006, 05:16 PM

I'm pretty sure that every single song on GH1 and GH2 are covers. They had to for reasons of making it work flawlessly with the game.
You have just answered a question I have long wondered about. Seriously, thanks!

sluggo

11-06-2006, 05:21 PM

The Primus song is definitely not a cover. I was told this firsthand by the producers and we even interviewed Les Claypool about it.

The reason for using covers, as it was explained to me, is twofold. The first is that they need the tracks in a format that they can use in the game -- i.e. being able to remix the song and drop the guitar (edit: and now rhythm and bass) tracks in and out when necessary. That's not always an option with older songs. The second reason, as I understand it, is simply $$$ -- it costs more to license the actual track than to license the composition and re-record it.

I honestly have no idea whether Stop is the original version or not. It's close enough to be the original, but I hadn't seen any official announcement about it.

Justin Fletcher

11-06-2006, 05:51 PM

According to the official GH2 forums, both John and Stop are "master tracks."

jim crawford

11-06-2006, 06:07 PM

I'm pretty sure that every single song on GH1 and GH2 are covers. They had to for reasons of making it work flawlessly with the game.
All the bonus songs are originals. They don't need to be recorded any special way, as long as each instrument has decent isolation, which is standard nowadays.

I can only guess what reasons you're thinking about, but to cover two, the "level designers" create the note streams by hand, using the guitar audio as a reference, and they have techniques to deal with drifting tempos, so the performers don't have to play to a click track.

Erik J.

11-06-2006, 07:49 PM

Aszurom

11-06-2006, 08:08 PM

Walmart is definitely selling at midnight.

I know this because my wife and her sister intend on being right there in about 2 hours to pick it up.

Marcus

11-06-2006, 08:13 PM

I just got the call from EB that it will be in tomorrow morning.

Jab2565

11-06-2006, 08:31 PM

So Guitar Hero the First... I am getting my ass handed to me trying to beat either No One Knows or Crossroads. I can play all the other songs, plus the purchased tracks reasonably well, but those two are just kicking my ass. Any suggestions? (This is on Hard.)

Erik J.

I was at that point as well. I still can't regularly beat those songs on expert.

For no one knows I found when it goes into the long strings of notes going really fast. Try to only play every other note if you can. As for crossroads, saving your star meter for the big chains helped me out. Saving your star meter is good for any hard part of a song.

wumpus

11-06-2006, 09:29 PM

Heh, I loved "Caveman Rejoice."
We call this song "Gay Man Rejoice".

I'm just sayin'.

wumpus

11-06-2006, 09:37 PM

I am getting my ass handed to me trying to beat either No One Knows or Crossroads. Any suggestions? (This is on Hard.)
I guess I'd look at which note sequences particular to those two songs you're having trouble with and practice those. It's kinda bizarre that you can beat CFH and BATM but not these two!

sluggo

11-06-2006, 10:17 PM

We call this song "Gay Man Rejoice". I'm just sayin'.
Hey, whatever gay stuff you do at home is your business. I'm not here to judge. :)

Jason McMaster

11-06-2006, 11:43 PM

I am... and I judge SEXY UNTIL PROVEN NOT SEXY!

what the hell am I talking about

Ragnar Oppedal

11-07-2006, 04:00 AM

Psychobilly Freakout and Carry Me Home on expert are completely destroying me. I have no idea what's going on and then I get song failed.

Wholly Schmidt

11-07-2006, 12:07 PM

A'ight. It took me three Wal*Marts to find this last night (one only had the game-only version and I wanted a second [red!] guitar), but I got it, and I've been through once on medium. I'm certainly no sluggo, and I wanted to get all the songs unlocked without having to retry them.

First of all, it's fantastic to be able to play this without lag on my HDTV. Also, progressive scan and widescreen support make a world of difference.

Second of all, I don't like these songs as much. A lot of my favorite songs now in GH1 are songs I'd never heard before, so I'm optimistically assuming I'll grow to love the GH2 setlist, but after one trip through the campaign, most new venues I opened up only had one song out of the five that I would recognize and actually want to play. And to further defend the game, this is just medium. It's not till hard and expert that some songs actually become fun to play.

It's been a long time since I've played any GH1 outside of multiplayer, so it's been a long time since I've actually had to pay a lot of attention to how well I'm doing and the specifics of what I'm struggling with, but it seems like GH2 really ramps up the difficulty of off-tempo notes and songs. Nothing in the medium difficulty goes too fast to play or has too many notes at once, but there were plenty of embarassingly silent solos where I couldn't quite hit the timing. Was GH1 as tricky with the tempo, or is it just me?

Anyway, as down on the musical selection as I am (and still feeling burned after the rumors of a Tool song), I had the biggest, stupidest grin you can imagine when Freebird was introduced. I dare you not to enjoy it.

wumpus

11-07-2006, 02:04 PM

Hey, whatever gay stuff you do at home is your business
listen veeery closely to the song. Caveman rejoice? or Gay man rejoice? I think it's a very fine line. I take a "don't ask, don't tell" policy towards interpreting these lyrics.

And for my next trick, I'll explain how Cherry Pie is not about baked delicacies.

wumpus

11-07-2006, 02:06 PM

I want to add that hammer-ons and hammer-offs are approximately one bajillion percent easier in GH2. I am hitting notes I would have no chance in hell of hitting in GH1. I didn't notice this in the demo version, but it's huge in the final. Thank you Red Octane!

p.s. Schmidt, I started on Hard, you big pussy. I've only failed that Sword - Freya song so far. Man, what an annoying track.

Union Carbide

11-07-2006, 02:20 PM

I had planned on playing Medium for the first two setlists to get back in the groove, and then switching to Hard, until I noticed that there are unlockable guitars for completing AND getting 5 stars on all songs in easy and medium. Now I'm actually going to have to play those difficulties.

sluggo

11-07-2006, 03:08 PM

Freya is a horrible song. That repetitious break near the end is just painful to play through. IMO, it's the worst licensed track in the game.

Dick Dale: Pwnt!

http://archive.gamespy.com/sluggo/gh2/8c_misirlou.jpg

RedTide

11-07-2006, 05:15 PM

I'm slowly working my way through on expert, my hands started hurting so I decided to take a break. It seems like every other song has a big solo.

russellmz00

11-07-2006, 05:52 PM

i am trying to figure out where to buy it. at best buy, it comes with wayne's world dvd, at circuit city a guitar skin and gh beanie, and if i go amazon, i can get the equivalent of 3% back and free 2 day shipping. i'm leaning to circuit city for the skin.

Union Carbide

11-07-2006, 06:14 PM

Someone on the SA Games forum 5-starred Jordan today.

http://1000000000chan.net/guestdump/jordanex.JPG

sluggo

11-07-2006, 06:23 PM

Nice. So far only 5 people on ScoreHero.com have even gotten through the song on Expert, and that's the first 5-star there.

r________

11-07-2006, 10:34 PM

The new hammerons and pulloffs seem to allow for about 1/4 second between lifting the previous finger and placing the next one, which is surprisingly lenient. I thought GH1 was a bit too strict with HO/PO timing, but GH2 is perhaps too loose. My fear is that GH2 will make my fingering too sloppy to play GH1, whose songlist I like better.

I didn't get my desired revamping of the HO/PO system with respect to chords. Ah well.

Wholly Schmidt

11-07-2006, 11:35 PM

On further reflection and a bit more time with the game, I think I've decided it's not that the GH1 tracks were really much better, it's just that for me there are a few standout duds in GH2 (Freya, Tattooed Love Boys, Institutionalized, and Jessica, with the last two being songs that I just hate in general regardless of how good or bad they are in this game specifically, so not really GH2's fault), and I can't think of any I really disliked in GH1.

sluggo, maybe I missed it in your article, but could you throw together a list of the best bonus songs? All I've got so far is Trogdor; I don't know anything about any of the rest of those songs so I don't know what to pick.

GH1 and 2 should win an all new gaming award category, "Best UI Writing." Halo 2 would've been the first to win the award with its amusing descriptions of all the options and gametypes in multiplayer, and GH is just as awesome, if not awesomer. The loading screen bits of wisdom are always funny, and so's pretty much everything else written anywhere in the game.

Also, the drummer explodes at the end of Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight. In case anyone was wondering.

Angie Gallant

11-07-2006, 11:38 PM

Get thee hence and purchase Thunderhorse. POSTHASTE.

Rywill

11-07-2006, 11:46 PM

A friend and I each picked it up today, and I went to his house and spent the evening jamming with him and his wife (IN GUITAR HERO YOU SICKOS). What an awesome game. We blasted through the first two sets in multiplayer (SO MUCH FUN) and then started trading off the guitar to unlock stuff in SP so we could play it multi. I think we worked through the first five sets before calling it a night. Fun!!

Angrycoder

11-07-2006, 11:51 PM

GH1 and 2 should win an all new gaming award category, "Best UI Writing." Halo 2 would've been the first to win the award with its amusing descriptions of all the options and gametypes in multiplayer, and GH is just as awesome, if not awesomer. The loading screen bits of wisdom are always funny, and so's pretty much everything else written anywhere in the game.

The warnings before you play the Freebird encore had me laughing out loud.

Wholly Schmidt

11-07-2006, 11:57 PM

The warnings before you play the Freebird encore had me laughing out loud.
Me too. As did the annoucement of unlocking pro-faceoff mode, or whatever it was.

Greedo

11-08-2006, 12:17 AM

Get thee hence and purchase Thunderhorse. POSTHASTE.

Seconded.

And also Jordan.

Union Carbide

11-08-2006, 01:43 AM

A couple of observations:

1. Inappropriate character/song combos: Lars Umlaut and Jessica, Freebird, or Message in a Bottle. I'm sure there are others, those just struck me as the most amusing.
2. Freebird was surprisingly fun to play.
3. My fingers hurt like a sonofabitch.

sluggo

11-08-2006, 08:56 AM

Everyone's mileage will probably vary with regards to which bonus songs they like, but if anyone's totally lost as to which songs to buy first, here's a suggested order:

First:
Trogdor / Thunderhorse / Raw Dog / Gemini
Arterial Black / Push Push Lady Lightning / Radium Eyes / Less Talk More Rock

Next:
Collide / Fall of Pangea / One For The Road / The Light That Blinds
Parasite / X-Stream / Jordan / Six

Last:
Soy Bomb / FTK / Laughtrack / The New Black
Mr Fix It / Red Lottery / Elephant Bones

Really Last:
Yes We Can - as a Guitar Hero exercise, it's OK, but as an actual song ... it's just painful to play through. Worst song evar.

Matthew Gallant

11-08-2006, 09:08 AM

Freebird
All the encores are pretty cool. Especially the end of Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight. A very nice touch.

Jab2565

11-08-2006, 09:41 PM

Union Carbide

11-08-2006, 09:53 PM

I bought GH2 + Guitar. I had been waffling about buying the 2nd guitar, but Frys solved the dilemma for me by not actually getting any copies without the guitar controller.

Justin Fletcher

11-08-2006, 09:55 PM

When the HELL is this (http://redoctane.com/gh-sgwireless.html) going to be released?

dannimal

11-08-2006, 10:41 PM

I'll buy GH2 + guitar whenever I get around to it (still working on 5-starring medium on GH1, only had it a few weeks).

Why? 2nd guitar = multiplayer ftw. I love co-op multi in most all forms.

Jaysun

11-09-2006, 02:40 AM

When the HELL is this (http://redoctane.com/gh-sgwireless.html) going to be released?

http://www.theguitarmania.com/servlet/Detail?no=20

You can also buy this one, but RedOctane doesn't like 3rd party controllers. My red flying V isn't compatible with GH2.

sluggo

11-09-2006, 02:43 AM

When the HELL is this (http://redoctane.com/gh-sgwireless.html) going to be released?
It's supposed to be available towards the end of the month, I believe.

TheWombat

11-09-2006, 04:57 AM

Using Lars Umlaut on Jessica is, as noted above, a very jarring experience. But well worth it. Sadly, Jessica is not the Allman's song I'd have chosen, but nobody asked me.

The songs are easier for me than they were on GH1 for whatever reason. My main goal though is simply to unlock Freebird. I assume it's an encore for one of the sets?

fuzzyslug

11-09-2006, 06:41 AM

So did anyone who had the original guitar controller buy the $69 version for the red one? Also so far I'm reading mixed reviews about the song list, some say the original was better others say that gh 2 is better. As someone who isn't a huge metal fan, I didn't recognize one song on the track list. So I can't be a good judge that way.

Put me down for one of those folks with a second guitar. The wife and I are having a blast with co-op.

The song list is a personal preference. While I haven't unlocked everything quite yet, I haven't been disappointed. I spent a lot of time with the first one. It had time to grow on me. I expect a similar experience this time around. Add in some really nice tunes (Freebird, Sweet Child O'Mine, YYZ) and you really don't have much to worry about on this front.

Justin Fletcher

11-09-2006, 07:43 AM

http://www.theguitarmania.com/servlet/Detail?no=20

You can also buy this one, but RedOctane doesn't like 3rd party controllers. My red flying V isn't compatible with GH2.
Yeah, that's why I'm going with the official controller. Don't want any nasty incompatibility.

It's supposed to be available towards the end of the month, I believe.
Well, damn. I'm planning on giving a couple of these away for Christmas as well as buying two for me. I would have thought they'd try to get it out earlier in the season. Hope their inventory is high and their shipping is fast.

Charles

11-09-2006, 11:17 AM

Is this out on xbox 360 yet? Is it coming to the 360? I swear I read it was.

Jason McMaster

11-09-2006, 11:23 AM

it is, but not until next spring/summer

shift6

11-09-2006, 03:25 PM

The songs are easier for me than they were on GH1 for whatever reason. My main goal though is simply to unlock Freebird. I assume it's an encore for one of the sets?
Yes for the final set.

I enjoy both games equally, I think because I'm not intrinsically good enough to ace everything on the first try, but also don't think I'll ever get 100% on all the experts.

Also: confirming that the wireless TAC-V which was awesome on GH1 will not work on GH2. Sad panda.

Jaysun

11-09-2006, 03:44 PM

Yes for the final set.

I enjoy both games equally, I think because I'm not intrinsically good enough to ace everything on the first try, but also don't think I'll ever get 100% on all the experts.

Also: confirming that the wireless TAC-V which was awesome on GH1 will not work on GH2. Sad panda.

Just saw that they are releasing this nifty device:
http://www.theguitarmania.com/servlet/Detail?no=31

Jab2565

11-09-2006, 05:24 PM

Just played it today at eb, I found it easier on hard then guitar hero 1 was. Mainly because the timing for hammer ons is alot easier now. I actually nailed a 12 button hammer on this time. I played thru the first 8 songs and I didn't really like any of them. At least on the same level as GH 1. I also for the hell of it tried thunderhorse on expert, I got about 12 seconds in and lost.

edit: I was using the red guitar, is it me or does it feel alot lighter then the guitar with the first GH?

sluggo

11-09-2006, 06:00 PM

Something fun to try: Unlock "Less Talk More Rokk," and see how much of the song you can do without strumming. On Expert, the patterns are so dense that you can sometimes play 15 notes or more off a single strum and simply left-hand the rest.

Which means, while you're playing huge patterns with your left hand, your right hand is free to throw the horns and shit. Which should make for some more entertaining GH videos. :)

Beach123456

11-09-2006, 06:52 PM

Just a quick question here.... Can someone please tell me what hammerdowns and pulloffs are? I keep hearing about them, and really have no idea.

sluggo

11-09-2006, 07:03 PM

flyinj

11-09-2006, 07:54 PM

Hammer-ons and pull-offs are named for a guitar technique where you don't actually strum all the notes. You strum the first note, and then "hammer-on" and "pull-off" the notes with one hand. Eddie Van Halen is noted for popularizing this, where you'll often see him tapping out notes on the fretboard with his right hand.

Hammer-ons and pull-offs in Guitar Hero 2 work in a very similar way -- in fact, they work a lot more like playing a real guitar than they did in GH1. As long as the notes are sequential, you can strum out the first note and then hammer-on and pull-off the next notes in the phrase without strumming them.

For instance, when you're playing Less Talk More Rokk on Expert, a section of the main riff quickly goes 2-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-2-3-4-5. As long as you fret the notes with the right timing, you can simply strum the 2 and one-hand the rest of that phrase.

I've played guitar for over 15 years, and I find hammer-ons and pull-offs extremely hard and unpredictable in Guitar Hero 1 and 2. I can pull off (haha) both techniques flawlessly on a real guitar, but guitar hero just doesn't work right. I'm actually practicing over and over and over on the solo for "Woman" on hard, and I can get a pulloff to work correct one out of ten times. I think it's the bulky buttons, combined with their spacing, just makes it impossible for me. Is there some trick I'm missing on how to do it?

Basically, for the solo, I keep my fingers on the RYBO position. The first note comes down, a blue. It's followed very closely by a yellow then a red. I hold down all RYB, then when the blue note hits, I strum, then let go of blue when the yellow note hits and then yellow when the red note hits. Half the time it recognized that I pulled off the yellow note, but it rarely recognizes that I pulled off the red note.

I'm finding hammerons to be a little easier, but still unpredictable.

I feel like the construction of the controller itself just isn't accurate enough to allow for such quick button presses.

sluggo

11-10-2006, 01:21 AM

When I played GH1, hammer-ons were so difficult that I completely avoided them. So now I'm learning how to do them from scratch, and while they're doable, they're still much harder than doing them on a real guitar. It's something that I guess will take time to get the hang of.

Jason McMaster

11-10-2006, 05:09 AM

Yeah, they're much easier this time, but harder than actual guitar notes. I think playing the guiitar makes me worse at this game.

mlatin

11-10-2006, 10:06 AM

Something fun to try: Unlock "Less Talk More Rokk," and see how much of the song you can do without strumming. On Expert, the patterns are so dense that you can sometimes play 15 notes or more off a single strum and simply left-hand the rest.
I had seen a video of this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd8PpBrpev8) on youtube the other day, and the first thing I did was unlock it. When I began, I started with the song in practice/hard/full-speed, and had problems. Now, I can pretty easily do the whole song in practice/expert/slow, and I'm doing pretty good on the whole song in full-speed mode.. can't quite finish it yet, but I'm getting there. It's super fun, and after practicing it for several hours(!), my fingers are hurting pretty bad. Despite that, it's definately one that I recommend.. cheezy 80's synth-pop ftw!

Also, for fun, unstrap the guitar and lay it down like a keyboard for a try at this one.

JPR

11-10-2006, 10:27 AM

sluggo

11-10-2006, 12:42 PM

The approach I've taken:

1) Make an initial pass through Expert Mode to unlock all the songs and buy all the bonus tunes. I cleared 61/64 songs on my first attempt, only failing Institutionalized, Jordan and Six.

2) Try to improve star ratings on the songs that needed it. (I'd 5-starred 54/64 tunes on this first pass.) I approached this with efficiency in mind: if I could see improvement after 2 or 3 attempts, I'd keep going. If I wasn't even in the ballpark (cough*Jordan*), I'd put it aside.

3) Try to quickly improve scores of lower-tier songs where I'd left huge amounts of points on the table. ScoreHero was really helpful here, showing me which songs I'd sucked at as opposed to which ones I'd already squeezed a good amount of points out of.

4) This is where I'm at now: starting to attack the higher-tier songs, which will require lots of replays and, probably, my first significant time in Practice Mode. I'm pretty close to 5*ing Hangar 18, and I'd really like to beat Jordan this weekend, so I can stay in the overall top 10 rankings (http://www.scorehero.com/rankings.php?game=2&diff=4). :)

russellmz00

11-10-2006, 11:15 PM

owies...damn freya...long boring endless g r-b y-b followed by endless boring wrist aching o y-b g

Becoming

11-11-2006, 12:27 AM

Holy fuck I just saw some video of a guy playing Hanger 18 on expert and I'm scared.

JPR

11-11-2006, 01:49 AM

Yeah, I just got to it an hour or so ago, and it's kind of annoying. It does the same thing that Bark at the Moon did -- it's the first song that you can't trash your way through the solo with star power. You only have enough to get you through the first half or so of the last series of solos, so you lose at 90-95% until you can learn to passably play the solo.

I mean... I guess that's good, but it's a little frustrating. I imagine that Freebird is going to be impossible if I'm not able to get Hangar 18 first.

I just have those two left on Expert, so I went back to Hard to try to five star some of the later songs (I had left the whole last section except for Hangar 18 with 3 or 4 stars). Unfortunately, that's proving pretty hard. I can get 172,000 on Institutionalized, and I really thought that would be good enough to give me the *****, but not quite. I'm at 93% complete, and I don't think I'll be able to do any better than that except by sheer luck.

I'm enjoying the game a lot, though.

Aszurom

11-11-2006, 11:16 AM

OHS NO!

I picked up my git-fiddle today and found the whammy bar limp. Shit. Didn't happen when I was playing so god knows how. Anyway I ripped the thing apart and I'm just apalled at the constuction of that thing inside. There's this tiny plastic tab about 1/16in thick and 1/8in wide that operates the tension spring. It's just born to die.

http://forum.guitarherogame.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=5164

I'm going to take mine back since it's like 3 weeks old and exchange it at walmart. However the above link looks like a mint solution to the problem should it happen again. Hell, it should have been built that way in the first place I think.

flyinj

11-11-2006, 11:23 AM

The construction on these things is just appaling.

I bought 2 guitars initially. One of them got the problem where you strum down on the strummer, and 1 out of 5 times, when it clicked back into position, it would register another strum being played. This is, by far, the most common problem I've seen with these controllers. Both mine and others I have used.

So, I got another controller to replace it... and then the inital second controller I bought got the extra strum register thing. This was right after I bought GH2... and I didn't buy the controller/game bundle. I've noticed that the construction on the GH2 guitar is a bit more solid than the GH1 version, from playing a friend's copy. I went to bestbuy.com and noticed they're selling the new red guitar individually. I order two to replace my aging, broken fleet of GH1 guitars. I arrive at Best Buy, and low and behold, the individual guitars are actually the old models. They just show the new models on the web page because hey, who cares what the image looks like.

So, I ended up just getting one extra GH1 controller so I have 2 controllers that don't have the extra strum bug to make multiplayer fair. That makes total guitars bought at 4. Fingers crossed that these don't fail as well. GH is turning into a big money pit.

Aszurom

11-11-2006, 12:21 PM

I wonder how the 3rd party wireless ones fare?

sluggo

11-11-2006, 01:06 PM

TomChick

11-11-2006, 01:28 PM

some of them require you shake the guitar instead of lift it

Good lord, what kind of moron rock god shakes a guitar?

-Tom

dannimal

11-11-2006, 01:54 PM

I just have those two left on Expert, so I went back to Hard to try to five star some of the later songs (I had left the whole last section except for Hangar 18 with 3 or 4 stars). Unfortunately, that's proving pretty hard. I can get 172,000 on Institutionalized, and I really thought that would be good enough to give me the *****, but not quite. I'm at 93% complete, and I don't think I'll be able to do any better than that except by sheer luck.

This give me the chance to sneak in a question that's been bugging me for a while.

How is a star-rating assigned? Is it score-based? % of notes hit, or some combination of both? Does anyone know for sure if it's the same (or how it differs) in GH1 and GH2?

Also, does it show in the setlist any differently if you get 100% on a song, or is it still ***** and the high score?

Jasper

11-11-2006, 01:55 PM

I had to take back my initial GH2 because of what I think was a short in cord -- every minute or so the game would think the guitar wasn't plugged in. :-/

I can see why they went the cheapo route though, as the game is already expensive, althoug with the guitars and dics bundled the cost of returns has got to be killer.

Jasper

11-11-2006, 01:57 PM

It does the same thing that Bark at the Moon did -- it's the first song that you can't trash your way through the solo with star power.
What do you mean by "trash your way through the solo with star power"? Do the play mechanics work differently under star power, or do you just mean that if timed right you can get so many points if timed right that you can afford to screw up all over the place?

dannimal

11-11-2006, 02:03 PM

I think that with star power, each correct note has a bigger impact on the rock meter. So hitting 1/3 of the notes in a solo with star power would be like hitting 2/3 of the notes normally (fractions pulled from rectum).

So you can hit fewer notes and still keep from getting booed off the stage.

r________

11-11-2006, 02:11 PM

This give me the chance to sneak in a question that's been bugging me for a while.

How is a star-rating assigned? Is it score-based? % of notes hit, or some combination of both? Does anyone know for sure if it's the same (or how it differs) in GH1 and GH2?

Also, does it show in the setlist any differently if you get 100% on a song, or is it still ***** and the high score?Star ratings were score-based in GH1. Each song has a base point value, which is what you would get if you hit every note perfectly in a song but left out the effects of score multipliers and star power. Your score is then compared to the base value to determine the star rating. According to scorehero.com, the 4-star and 5-star cutoffs are at 2 and 3 times base value.

I haven't seen any evidence that this system has changed in GH2.

sluggo

11-11-2006, 02:17 PM

How is a star-rating assigned? Is it score-based? % of notes hit, or some combination of both? Does anyone know for sure if it's the same (or how it differs) in GH1 and GH2?

Also, does it show in the setlist any differently if you get 100% on a song, or is it still ***** and the high score?
In GH1, there was a pretty definitive score-based cutoff for 4* and 5* for each song. The easiest way to explain it would be to say that each song had a base score you could achieve without any multipliers or star power; to get 4*, you basically had to double that base score; to get 5*, you generally had to triple it. (The community at ScoreHero compiled a list of all the cutoffs (http://www.scorehero.com/songstats.php?stat=4&game=1&diff=4), and even extrapolated that data to invent 6* and 7* ratings.)

There's still some uncertainty over how GH2's system works. It seems pretty similar to GH1, but many people -- myself included -- have gotten 5* on songs with a 2.8 average mulitplier instead of 3.0. Also, there have been a few odd reports where someone will claim to get above the 3.0 multiplier but only get 4*, so there may be some secondary criteria that hasn't been figured out yet.

If you get 100% on a song, the stars turn gold in your set list.

dannimal

11-11-2006, 02:18 PM

Thanks. I just checked scorehero out (why I didn't before? I'm a lazy moron).

That's some crazy ass stuff. It scares me a little that people sit down and figure this stuff out.

dannimal

11-11-2006, 02:19 PM

If you get 100% on a song, the stars turn gold in your set list.

This is possibly the worst news a guy with pseudo-OCD could hear.

flyinj

11-11-2006, 03:59 PM

Flyngj, I'm not sure what you mean when you talk about the strum bar clicking back into position. Are you pushing the bar with your thumb or flicking it?

I forget if I already mentioned this somewhere, but I would steer far, far clear of the 3rd party controllers for the time being. We had a bunch sent to us, and I hated every single one of them. The Flying V's look cool, but felt somewhat uncomfortable to play, and Star Power has been an issue with every 3rd party guitar we've tried -- some of them require you shake the guitar instead of lift it, which is a nightmare to execute.

FWIW, I've been fortunate with guitars -- I've only had one outright fail on me in a year.

Flicking the strum bar sometimes causes the bar to strum twice. I'll flick it down, it clicks, then when returning upward sometimes registers an up-strum enen though I'm not touching it.

Also, the star power on two of my guitars has become really finnicky. I have to shake one of them crazily to get it to kick in.

r________

11-11-2006, 04:20 PM

FYI, you can also turn on star power by hitting the Select button.

I'm looking for tips on Misirlou expert. In those double-picked 32nd note runs, there are some ho/po opportunities. Do you even bother with those, or do you just pick everything? What would you do if you were really playing it on guitar?

JPR

11-11-2006, 05:28 PM

Personally, in that long a stretch of fast picking, trying to drop a 16th or 32nd note every measure messes me up more than it helps me. Take that with a grain of salt, though -- I only have 3 stars on that song.

russellmz00

11-11-2006, 05:54 PM

I'm seeing a lot of talk about Practice Mode. It seems like a good idea, but I haven't actually tried to use it yet. I'm up to the second to last set of songs on Expert and have been able to complete everything in 4 tries or less. Are you guys using practice mode to just get THROUGH the songs, or to 5 star them? The latter I can understand, but you should be able to trash your way through pretty much anything in a few tries, I would think.

i used it on sections where i a) fail every time, b) it's late in the song so i have to get past half the song to get to it, c) i really fail it. like get 1/3 of the notes while trying my best but still failing.

sluggo

11-11-2006, 06:38 PM

Misirlou is a crapshoot. Of course, you have to learn the song and the chord changes and make the most of the Star Power phrases, but even when you've done that, getting a 5-star score comes down to whether or not you can sneak in a few huge streaks of 16th notes, which is hard to do consistently.

At the moment, I've 5-starred everything on Expert but 2 songs: "Six," which I'm a hair away from 5*-ing, and "Jordan" ... which I can't even beat. After saving it for last, I finally started digging at it in Practice mode, and I'm no closer to beating it now than when I first got GH2. I cannot make heads or tails of that solo whatsoever.