Klopzi

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@golguin: Thanks! I don't know how you were able to make a character that looks like an honest-to-goodness human. My first character looked like a mix between my grade 11 English teacher and an (ugly) duck.

Here's one I put together last night:

And that's the limit of my artistic sense. Back to chopping up monsters...

Always look forward to the podcast and Quick Looks every week, hearing Ryan and crew talk about anything and everything. I remember thinking last week that the podcast is not the same without Ryan. Can't believe he's gone - saddest piece of news I've heard in a long while.

I didn't know Ryan personally but can't even begin to count the hours I've spent listening to and reading about his thoughts on the games industry.

R.I.P. Ryan. You will be sorely missed. Giant Bomb and the games industry will not be the same without you.

I've had Rocksmith for a couple weeks now. Before getting the game, I'd never picked up a guitar. Given all that, here's my response to the Ars Technica article:

1. There is lag.

True enough. If you are not willing or able to have your 360 output stereo audio directly to headphones or a sound system (or your TV if using component video with stereo audio), you will experience a slight delay in the time you strum your guitar to the time the sound comes out of your TV. I fixed this issue by picking up a $13 cable from Gamestop. HDMI video and sound to TV; RCA sound to a pair of headphones. I change the audio source for my headphones depending on what I'm trying to do. Easy fix but most people have problems hooking up TVs and receivers properly.

2. There is no way to select your difficulty

This is true. You can only reset songs to their easiest difficulty or to the hardest difficulty "unlocked". I thought that the hardest difficulty setting defaulted songs to their toughest arrangements (100% single note, chord, and/or combo) but that's not the case. All players must level up each of a songs riffs until 100% of the notes are displayed. I've found that the game levels songs a little too quickly for my liking but I'm a new guitar player. Anyone who knows how to play guitar will likely level up songs fairly quickly judging by the number of mastered songs popping up on YouTube. Any missed notes or poorly performed riffs will cause the song to reduce the difficulty of the riffs to help you finish the song. If you feel the song levelled down too harshly, you can always reset the difficulty back to your highest watermark.

3. Unlocks? Why?

I'm not a good enough guitar player to worry about the various unlockables. But I could see how good players might want access to everything right away. Then again, I'm good at a lot of other games and am still forced to play the "unlockables" game.

4. It's not a terrible game

Rocksmith is for anyone interested in learning to play guitar (as a beginner) or anyone looking for some easy achievements (10+ years experience with guitar). If you fall in between, have no interest in guitar or music, or are looking for a game to play with friends, Rocksmith is not for you. I will likely spend 1,000 hours or more with this game supplemented with some light reading on music theory. I'll also need to practice chord progressions and scales on my own as well (though the game does present some arcade to help with this).

Learning to play any instrument well is not fun for the first few years. It is rewarding though. And in time, when the practice, scales, theory, and finger exercises start to finally pay off, you can finally enjoy yourself. I'm really looking forward to the time when I can pull out my guitar and my wife and kids are excited to hear me play. Right now, they all leave the room or, in the case of my youngest son, start crying.

I tried playing as a Wanderer and Knight because I didn't want to take the "easy route" and go with Royal.   But honestly, on your first playthrough, I'd go with Royal.  You can play as a melee character even if you selected Royal because everything is customizable.   The Royal also gains levels very quickly allowing you to pump up your Strength, Endurance, and Vitality as necessary to make yourself a better melee class.  However, starting with the Soul Arrow spell will make things so much easier on your go at the game.
 
If you finish the game as a Royal, you can always start a new game with another tougher starting class.  My problem with trying a tougher starting class on your first playthrough is that you're more likely to get frustrated and give up on the game.
 
In the end, starting class has very little impact on your overall game plan.