Why do they call the beeps and bloops in electronic music "instruments?"
They're nothing like the real instruments normal, cool people play and listen to.
Amen brother. If I wanted my computer to play me music I'd give it hands and a guitar. And the capacity for love since that's like 83% of what goes into playing the guitar.
How the hell do i keep my combo up when switching lanes?
With the default control config, the right analog stick will make you move you to the nearest active lane in whichever direction you push, so you skip over any empty lanes automatically. This is pretty necessary to use in order to keep combos up when the notes on the next lane start right at the beginning of the measure.
Wait, really? That's a huge bummer. That seems like it'd remove almost all of the strategy of making sure to play the songs in ways that allow you to keep combos flowing. Routing that stuff out was a huge part of the score chase in the original two games. Automating that seems like a really terrible idea for a game that appeals to basically nobody but fans of the series. You'll still have to route out the best way to get powerups and tracks that are worth the most points, but that's still incredibly disappointing to me. Plus it felt so good when you could manage to quickly switch over a few lanes and keep a combo going.
I played a bit of the demo last night and next thing I knew I'd spent half an hour replaying the same track over and over again in pursuit of the perfect run. Even though the DS4 triggers aren't well suited to the game, and the somewhat underwhelming soundtrack it just proves that the core of Amplitude is as good as it ever was.
I have to admit to not liking the Harmonix-produced tracks immediately, but the moment I unlocked Phantoms I was reminded just how much fun the game is with the right songs. I hope it does well so we can get a few more DLC tracks of that calibre.
You mention that the DS4 triggers aren't well suited for the game; is there any gameplay-related reason not to use the face buttons for hitting the notes? I found myself very quickly switching to using Square for left, Triangle for center, and Circle for right. I'm an admitted total novice at this particular series, though I did play a LOT of Rock Band Blitz a few years back. I just wonder if there's some more advanced techniques or something that I'm not aware of that might make using the face buttons a sub-optimal method.
If you're holding the controller in a normal manner, using the face buttons gives you one finger (your thumb) available for hitting notes. If you're using the triggers you have a discrete finger at the ready for everything coming your way. Just using your thumb might cut it for easier difficulties, but it'll hold you back when things start to get crazy. While you could probably manage to get more fingers onto the face buttons, sort of like Vinny did in this Quick Look, you end up having to hold the controller in an uncomfortable way that might also limit your ability to quickly switch tracks.
On the subject of the triggers being suboptimal, a lot of people even in the days of the triggerless PS2 controller have used the L1/R1/O configuration for playing these games. Hands seem to be wired in such ways that it's a little easier to alternate between thumb and index finger than they are index and middle finger, so it allows for a little more dexterity maybe? I've never entirely wrapped my head around that way of playing, but I probably will for this game because of the trigger not being so good for accurate presses.
(I also want to try what playing this game is like on a fight stick)
I tried the R1, L1, O approach when I was trying to play the original Amplitude on my friends backwards compatible PS3 and hated it. It just felt wrong. Granted, I probably put 100+ hours into the first Amplitude so maybe it is a situation that I could get over but I felt like I would have to go to a lower difficulty level to readjust my technique and that sounds tedious and boring. Or maybe I'm just a giant baby.
I haven't looked into it but I'm sure there's a third-party controller that would have bumpers instead of triggers for L2 and R2.
On one hand I'm kinda a Platinum fan boy and want Scalebound to be as good or (ideally) better than any of their projects to date.
On the other hand I hope it's not, strictly because don't want to have to buy an X-Box One. Not because I hate the system, just my wallet will hate me for it.
That being said, if it's Platinum's take on Monster Hunter with a little Drakengard thrown in I'm on board.
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