Gh iv > gh:wt?

[Argon]

I'm probably bringing up a moot point but I'm interested to see if other people would agree.

When Harmonix and RedOctane split ways (read: MTV buyout), GHII was the game to play. It had a lot of cool songs that GHI couldn't win over, and a few songs that people had never heard of but were great fun to play. And it had Sweet Child of Mine (my favorite on that game). Red Octane and Neversoft weren't going to mess with success; so long as it still said Guitar Hero it would sell. Naturally, when Rock Band came out and became the de facto party game of choice, success felt like it needed messing with. But Harmonix made a lot of choices which would alienate the same people who sank the most hours and were most determined to get the next plastic-guitar-toy game. Rock Band was easier, more forgiving, and no longer sported the groovy solos guitar playing which made GHII so appealing. But it sold. A lot. Neversoft, of course, was going to bring new things to the table as well. "Battle mode" was their way of saying "we can be cool too! Now the competitive play is actually competitive!" And as admirable as the intention was, battle mode turned GHIII from a music experience, back into a video game. And people liked Rock Band more, because in many ways Rock Band made them feel like musicians, and playing cooperatively made better parties than playing competitively, or even stiffing someone with the bass.

So Neversoft tried to make Rock Band. And then they tried to one up Rock Band again, this time with music creation, slide input, and a few other mechanics Harmonix may never put into Rock Band. And they gave their drum set cymbals.

And of course, GH:WT was GHIII with three other instruments. The song list was guitar-focused, the gameplay for vocals was at the same time unforgiving and yet musically detached, and all the things that made Rock Band feel like you were a band, were missing from GH:WT. And that's okay. GH:WT is still outselling RB and RB2.

However, Neversoft chose to try and include the people Harmonix targeted the whole time, and was forcted to appeal less to the people which really appreciated what GHIII stood for.

If, instead of trying to make a drum set, a singing track, and a more interesting bass, Neversoft (and Red Octane, I guess) had made GH IV, focusing on a game that really brought out the awesome guitarist in you, would they have made a better game?

Neversoft has been far more willing to mess with the gameplay formula than Harmonix. When Harmonix would focus on making it feel like playing the music, Neversoft could have gone and added more buttons. Half the time when I'm playing on guitar I wonder about how awesome it would be if there were 6, 7, or even 12 buttons on the guitar to play, or a way to strum six strings instread of one strum bar. The game would have gotten alot harder without necessarily being impossible, the songs would have felt even more awesome to do well on, and amazingly, we would feel even more like guitarists.

Would it have been better? I feel like there's still that possibility waiting for whoever's willing to take it. I admit that 5 buttons is a handful already but I know I had more fun dying on expert than getting 100% on medium and still dream of the challenge and fun that might bring.

Yes? No? Am I the only one who thinks mashing five buttons really fast is less cool than hitting 6 with style?

guitar hero has nothing to do with playing guitar

[boffo]

I don't think it would have mattered too much as to which way they decided to go with the Guitar Hero franchise. When you stop and look at what happened with the seperation of Harmonix and RedOctane that really tells the story. Harmonix was the company responsible for the game itself, while RedOctane dealt with the instruments. So despite Guitar Hero being the already established name (hence the higher sales) they had a new development team and less experience then those that were making Rock Band into the better playing experience.

[codenamelenny]

6 buttons would make things too difficult.