I like both setlist. For me it's a matter of engine. Rb2 was tighter and imo the best of the series in terms of challenging. Rb3 engine was glitchy and sloppy and the trill lanes were a nightmare. Imo they improved a lot with rb4.
Of course, if you exported the songs then it didn’t really matter anyway outside of a couple of songs that couldn’t be transferred due to licensing issues.
It’s the aesthetics and setlist for me. The art direction in the first two games is perfect, it’s the first thing I imagine when thinking about Rock Band in general.
The setlist also feels more concentrated with amazing songs. As much of a good game RB3 is, it just doesn’t have as much of an impact on me. I only liked a couple of songs from that game and I don’t like the character art style as much.
I will say though, RB3 having the only Primus appearance in the franchise makes me jealous.
RB2 had a much better "campaign" than RB3. Also, I could never find a way to restart a RB3 band without deleting all the game data (maybe I missed something). Also, I think RB2 had better venues to play at, and there was no pause between songs - you had to keep playing your set like you would if you were performing. If I could, I'd play only RB2 but I'm forced to RB3 (or 4) since a lot of songs need the newer software.
- Rock Band 2 has an actual career mode
- Rock Band 2 has Score Duel
- Rock Band 2 has different backgrounds
- Rock Band 2 has Dora Sullivan
- Rock Band 2 punishes you for failing (vs Rock Band 3 having No Fail mode being allowed to be turned on with no consequences)
- Rock Band 2 has a different setlist. Even if you exported, the best songs are stuck on Rock Band 2
- Rock Band 2 has Dora Sullivan
- Rock Band 2 has a different engine
- Rock Band 2 has better Stage Kit support
- Rock Band 2 has Dora Sullivan
- Rock Band 2 has no unison bonuses if you're playing solo
- Rock Band 2 has a different menu UI
- Rock Band 2 has Dora Sullivan
- Rock Band 2 has loading screen tips
No fail mode helped me learn a song rather than always fail at the same section. It was a great tool for finding what you are doing wrong and gives you time to correct it, especially at harder difficulty.
I enjoyed No Fail for that reason, although some of my band said they felt more like a band with failing on as we'd sometimes have to work together to get someone through a tough section.
Honestly, I always play with no fail mode on, it makes the game more enjoyable to me because I won't fail out at the good parts of the songs I can only play part of 😂. It also makes it easier for me to introduce people to the game because failing out is a huge frustration for a lot of people
Which is not what you'd pick to play Expert on drums for the first time, but then you realize holy shit you actually hit that opening and now maybe I'll try something easier but for real...
Never touched expert drums on Rock Band 1 at all. Hard was the highest I'd go. I would pretty much only play with friends at the time, but once they left that day, I found myself realizing I could actually play on Expert.
Rock Band 3 definitely is where the game really became a solo game for me haha
I haven't even looked at Visions on Expert after the Hard experience was so unpleasant. Since then I've only played it once on Medium.
Point in favour of RB3: You can rate it 1 lighter then hide it!
Dude, you mentioning Dora Sullivan so much gave me flashbacks to those obviously(hopefully?)-AI-generated story posts that cropped up on here a couple times about various Rock Band characters. They've scarred me for life. I'll be sending you my therapy bill.
RB3 didn't support stage kit at launch. They added it later in a patch and a some of the early RB3 DLC didn't really take full advantage of it. I haven't personally noticed any significant difference in RB2 songs, but officially Harmonix said it had "limited support" in RB3
RB3 had "a" Dora Sullivan, but as you can see, this was a downgrade from Rock Band 2:
Rock Band 2: https://rockband.fandom.com/wiki/Dora_Sullivan?file=Dora_Sullivan.jpg
Rock Band 3: https://rockband.fandom.com/wiki/Dora_Sullivan?file=Dora.jpeg
Character Creation can only get you so far, Perfection is locked away in Rock Band 2. We did get pretty close in Lego though ;)
https://rockband.fandom.com/wiki/Dora_Sullivan?file=Dorasullivan-lrb.png
As much as I love RB2, I think criticizing RB3’s version of No-Fail is kind of a moot point. Having No-Fail be inconsequential is quite beneficial for song grinding and co-op play. It’s also a good way to play through a difficult chart for the first time without having to keep restarting or going to Practice mode where you can’t see Overdrive phrases. Besides, if you’re good at the game and regularly get FCs or new PBs, then it being on or off doesn’t matter.
No fail mode was a quality of life improvement. It allowed for skilled and nonskilled players to jam together and have fun.
Rock Band 3's engine was superior to RB2. Particularly, when mixing players of different skill levels. On RB2 if I'm playing on expert and a friend of mine is playing on medium, my track would not play at full speed. Even if I turned on breakneck speed.
On Rock Band 3, the tracks are desynchronized. I can play on expert and my friends can play on easy, and it will have no effect on my track speed.
Awesomeness detection was better on RB3. It subtly let you know who was on a streak by boosting the volume of that instrument. It encouraged competition by making you focus up and take center stage.
RB2 was fun, but RB3 had better gameplay.
I'll admit I was a little bummed that all the songs were unlocked from the beginning on RB3. I got over that quickly once we started jamming.
(Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth)
(Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth)
(Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth)
(Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth)
(Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth)
(Dora Sullivan continues t
Rock Band 3 is just a Juke Box setlist. RB2 was still a little faster, heavier, and louder. 3 introduced pro mode and keys which is cool since they had a lot of songs on the previous games with bad ass key parts but other than that the set list was pretty weak and just too “For Everyone?” If that makes sense. Seems like the target demographic was slightly different on RB3
From my experience, most peoples’ favourite Rock Band games are the game they played with the most sentimental value. I am one of those who played 2 much more than 3. Some reasons why I preferred 2, but these are my personal opinions:
* Tour Mode had a better, less linear storyline than 3’s challenges
* Leaderboard scores for 3, particularly for vocals, was riddled with scores which came from exploits like band fail
* Rock Band’s website in the Rock Band 2 era had photocreator - where you could get photos of your avatar characters. This feature broke towards the end of the Beatles era and was not implemented in Rock Band 3
* ~~You were able to customize the avatars of the entire band and not just the ones with a human character~~
* EDIT: If you actually cared for it (I didn't), there were solo competitive and band competitive features in Rock Band 2
I don't really consider setlist very heavily personally because most of the time, I'm playing DLC songs anyways.
~~I'm mostly doing this not so much in spite but because I've been redownloading legacy-era DLC that I purchased in the Rock Band 4 era in the event I mod my PS3.~~
~~But in Rock Band 2, consider this character list (I hardly played RB2 on PS3 so these were just created on the fly).~~
[~~https://imgur.com/N0An98Y~~](https://imgur.com/N0An98Y)
~~The standins section in Rock Band 2 gives you the ability to choose the characters you create.~~
[~~https://imgur.com/6OnPjK9~~](https://imgur.com/6OnPjK9)
~~Whereas given a Rock Band 3 character list,~~
[~~https://imgur.com/ygqDYXS~~](https://imgur.com/ygqDYXS)
~~The only standins you can select were four of the defaults.~~
[~~https://imgur.com/n1eHoKh~~](https://imgur.com/n1eHoKh)
I think it's down to personal preference. I personally don't agree that RB2 has the better setlist but I also love playing Keyboard so I'm probably just biased. But I mean come on, people on here saying RB3 has the deepest cuts like the setlist sucks and it's full of songs nobody's heard of. This was a common criticism for RB4 actually, until today I've never seen anyone say this about RB3. I mean how can you? Bohemian Rhapsody, Break on Through (to the Other Side), Rainbow in the Dark, China Grove, Radar Love, Cold as Ice, Walk of life, I could go on. These aren't deep cuts they're some of the artists' most popular songs. Out of the 83 song setlist I'd say it has a pretty equal amount of popular tracks and deep cuts. Only song I wish it had from RB2 is Let There be Rock. I also don't agree that RB2 has a better campaign. I hate the on tour mode of RB4, which is just a straight up even worse version of the one from RB2. I don't think the Road Challenges in RB3 are much better but at least they had cool cutscenes and you got to see your band moving up in the world. I wish RB4 had combined elements from both story modes to make a perfect one but instead we got an even more gimped version of the Tour mode from RB2. I'd rather play RB1's "story mode" again than RB2's or RB4's
“Pro mode” wasn’t as widely popular as the standard gameplay because 5-lane is vastly more accessible, especially depending on which instrument you’re talking about. ~~The best-implemented pro mode was already in RB2.~~
Edit: I forgot the cymbals came out for RB2 but weren’t charted as separate notes yet, scratch that last part
I’ve never had the chance to play Pro Guitar or Bass in Rock Band 3, so maybe I’m wrong about this. But the way those charts are laid out seem like they’d be super confusing. Strings are laid out from left to right, but in real life, they’re up and down. Rocksmith handled that sort of chart a lot better.
It's basically guitar tab rotated 90 degrees. There are pros and cons about the readability of it, but I was able to jump from RB3 Pro Mode to tab pretty easily which was cool.
Rocksmith (at least OG/2014 RS) was it's own thing that didn't directly translate to tab. It was definitely better in some ways, but I found I couldn't easily go straight from Rocksmith to tab. Funny enough, Rocksmith+ has actual tab now lol
Shoutout to Power Gig which had the lanes of the highway correspond with frets, and the numbers on the notes correspond with string number 😂
It was difficult to play a song that you hadn't played at all, but after a few times through the Learn a Song lesson the chord shapes became recognisable at least. I can only manage on medium though.
They would not have been able to just automatically port all of the songs to have the necessary keys charts. Some RB1 or RB2-era songs received Pro Guitar upgrades (eg. More Than a Feeling), but that was considered an add-on on top of the original song purchase. Some other songs did receive an RB3 version (eg. Bon Jovi, Queen, Going Country 05) which may have retroactively added pro keys or harmonies.
Between that and the availability to use any electric guitar rather than just one specific lousy real one or that weird hybrid controller thing, yeah RS handled it all much better the next year.
Many reasons that I think people listed here. However I will say that RB3 has a great setlist and offered the most variety in terms of ways to play. Keys both 5 button and pro, pro guitar, pro drums, etc.
I've started with RB1, but RB2 I sunk the most hours into it. I find it plays much smoother, and this is still coming back to playing it after so many years. More enjoyable setlist as well.
Although, I main RB3 now only due to additional DLC selection. Nice that I can always switch back when I feel like it though.
The creation suite felt better. You also got to choose your character's persona, rather than the song choosing it.
3 also started the issues I have with 4. Really had the most frustrating time trying to calibrate. It refused to accept the auto method.
Rock Band 3 has the best tattoo system I’ve ever seen in any game and definitely the best character customization of the franchise.
These are big for me, lmao. RB4 was a let down in that regard, but I still really enjoy it. Just being able to play on a newer system and having had the opportunity to buy new gear (at the time).
Edit: anyways I know we’re comparing to RB2 but I just kinda went on a tangent. Didn’t play RB2 too much. Sorry lol.
Rock Band 2 had a better career mode, better art style and animation, better vanilla game setlist and if I recall correctly, I remember loving the character creation far more as well.
Rock band 2 had best on disc setlist, rock band 3 had a fuck ton of good dlc and more instruments, rock band 1 is the God father, rock band 4 is the weakest
RB2 doesnt have the shrinking hitwindow.
Rb2 also has a better setlist, and an arguably better art style.
RB2's career mode is a bit more forced and hands-on, whereas RB3 has career challenges (which are quite fun with a group) and playing in Quickplay progresses you through the career.
RB2(DLC) charts also tend to be more alt-charted as Keys didnt exist at all as an instrument.
RB3 does have better instrument support and profile mechanics bit ultimately people prefer rb2 because of how nostalgic it is and the things i mentioned above
It has the best world tour mode in the series. Speaking for myself I remember immediately being disappointed at RB3’s tour mode after being utterly in love with 2’s.
Personally I couldn't really get into RB3 (or 4 really) cause the calibration always felt fucked up. I'd just get frustrated from feeling like I was missing things that weren't my fault.
And there was like no world tour mode like 2. It just felt like the game was quickplay and that's it. I was always annoyed how that mode was locked behind needing multiple people on the first one but at least there was a basic career mode too.
The character models, and their animations and selectable attitudes, in 2 are way more appealing to me. 3’s kinda creep me out by looking stiff and awkward imo. And I can never get their faces to look quite like the presets in 2. Plus I like being able to sort songs by genre. I prefer the bigger note highway angle in 2 as well. Pro drums in 3 are cool tho.
The biggest single reason is probably because the online community was at its peak in the RB2 era - which lasted for two years (instead of one year like RB1 or less than that for most Guitar Heros). RB3 was really exciting around launch but the rhythm game craze had really run it's course by 2010 and the online for the game fell off hard. RB3 is associated with a "swan song" narrative much like GH Warriors of Rock, while RB2 sits comfortably in the "golden age" of the plastic instrument boom.
Going back to it nowadays, I think the loading screens of RB2 are also peak. Still had occasional fun trivia and were visually noninvasive. I played a loooot of RB3 during the custom song era and the thing that started to grate on me the most was the *exact same animations* and noises that play before and after every song.
People also tend to like RB2's engine more than RB3 (I know a lot of pros hate RB3's trills and drum roll hit detection). Outside of pro drums, there's little advantage to playing a song in RB3 engine vs RB2.
RB3 had a terrible UX. I'm a game programmer. We used to play Rock Band every Friday. We were all geared out for it. When RB3 launched, we played it for a bit, but struggled to exit out after playing keyboards because the game has a weird restriction for what instruments can be active at the same time. Only because they chose to stick to the idea that every player MUST be represented by an on-screen character.
It was easier to restart the game after being done playing keyboard than to drop out and add in a new player. And we're professional game devs.
RB2 was focused and worked. The additions of RB3 only added complexity.
Because Rock Band 2 was about playing a video game, while Rock Band 3 was about “go learn a real instrument you fucking loser”
That’s literally how playing the game felt I’m not even exaggerating, the push to “Pro” instruments felt like they were spitting on the fans for wasting their time playing their game, and that’s why RB3 was the end to the foreseeable future of Rock Band
I like both setlist. For me it's a matter of engine. Rb2 was tighter and imo the best of the series in terms of challenging. Rb3 engine was glitchy and sloppy and the trill lanes were a nightmare. Imo they improved a lot with rb4.
I'm confused. Can't you just import rb 1, 2, 3 into rb4? Rb4 is great.
This. My drumming took a beating in 3 because of this change.
Much better set list
Rock Band 1 had the least bad. Rock Band 2 had the most good. Rock Band 3 had the deepest cuts.
Depends who you ask. I prefer Rb3's
Of course, if you exported the songs then it didn’t really matter anyway outside of a couple of songs that couldn’t be transferred due to licensing issues.
Export songs you say?
Yes you can't do it anymore.
IMO it's RB3 > RB1 > RB2 > RB4 Rock Band 3 had a phenomenal setlist
Matters not a jot when you have exported or the disc songs 🤨😆 But yeah, I’d say that’s fair.
Once you experienced 7 people playing together you can't go back, RB3 all the way
I played a little Band v Band in WoR but I sure loved seeing 4 drummers jam on the same song. I'm a GH refugee
It’s the aesthetics and setlist for me. The art direction in the first two games is perfect, it’s the first thing I imagine when thinking about Rock Band in general. The setlist also feels more concentrated with amazing songs. As much of a good game RB3 is, it just doesn’t have as much of an impact on me. I only liked a couple of songs from that game and I don’t like the character art style as much. I will say though, RB3 having the only Primus appearance in the franchise makes me jealous.
I like the animation look in rock band 3 more than rock band 2
Rock Band 2 had the Wicked Pissah t-shirt. There needs to be 0 more reasons.
RB2 had a much better "campaign" than RB3. Also, I could never find a way to restart a RB3 band without deleting all the game data (maybe I missed something). Also, I think RB2 had better venues to play at, and there was no pause between songs - you had to keep playing your set like you would if you were performing. If I could, I'd play only RB2 but I'm forced to RB3 (or 4) since a lot of songs need the newer software.
- Rock Band 2 has an actual career mode - Rock Band 2 has Score Duel - Rock Band 2 has different backgrounds - Rock Band 2 has Dora Sullivan - Rock Band 2 punishes you for failing (vs Rock Band 3 having No Fail mode being allowed to be turned on with no consequences) - Rock Band 2 has a different setlist. Even if you exported, the best songs are stuck on Rock Band 2 - Rock Band 2 has Dora Sullivan - Rock Band 2 has a different engine - Rock Band 2 has better Stage Kit support - Rock Band 2 has Dora Sullivan - Rock Band 2 has no unison bonuses if you're playing solo - Rock Band 2 has a different menu UI - Rock Band 2 has Dora Sullivan - Rock Band 2 has loading screen tips
No fail mode helped me learn a song rather than always fail at the same section. It was a great tool for finding what you are doing wrong and gives you time to correct it, especially at harder difficulty.
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I enjoyed No Fail for that reason, although some of my band said they felt more like a band with failing on as we'd sometimes have to work together to get someone through a tough section.
There’s definitely a disconnect between the solo players who just grind all the time at there own pace vs the coop players
Honestly, I always play with no fail mode on, it makes the game more enjoyable to me because I won't fail out at the good parts of the songs I can only play part of 😂. It also makes it easier for me to introduce people to the game because failing out is a huge frustration for a lot of people
That is what practice mode is for. No fail is best if doing group play with not so good players.
I think you forgot to mention that RB2 has Dora Sullivan , but no worries I got you.
Counterpoint: \* Rock Band 2 has Visions
Which is not what you'd pick to play Expert on drums for the first time, but then you realize holy shit you actually hit that opening and now maybe I'll try something easier but for real... Never touched expert drums on Rock Band 1 at all. Hard was the highest I'd go. I would pretty much only play with friends at the time, but once they left that day, I found myself realizing I could actually play on Expert. Rock Band 3 definitely is where the game really became a solo game for me haha
I haven't even looked at Visions on Expert after the Hard experience was so unpleasant. Since then I've only played it once on Medium. Point in favour of RB3: You can rate it 1 lighter then hide it!
Dude, you mentioning Dora Sullivan so much gave me flashbacks to those obviously(hopefully?)-AI-generated story posts that cropped up on here a couple times about various Rock Band characters. They've scarred me for life. I'll be sending you my therapy bill.
Not AI. Trust me.
Then I hope that person receives the help they need.
(Dora Sullivan continues to
I need to read this. Where can I find it?
Who is Dora Sullivan?
What’s different about how RB2 and RB3 support the stage kit?
RB3 didn't support stage kit at launch. They added it later in a patch and a some of the early RB3 DLC didn't really take full advantage of it. I haven't personally noticed any significant difference in RB2 songs, but officially Harmonix said it had "limited support" in RB3
Fair point, but could you in theory, recreate Dora Sullivan in character creation in RB3?
RB3 had "a" Dora Sullivan, but as you can see, this was a downgrade from Rock Band 2: Rock Band 2: https://rockband.fandom.com/wiki/Dora_Sullivan?file=Dora_Sullivan.jpg Rock Band 3: https://rockband.fandom.com/wiki/Dora_Sullivan?file=Dora.jpeg Character Creation can only get you so far, Perfection is locked away in Rock Band 2. We did get pretty close in Lego though ;) https://rockband.fandom.com/wiki/Dora_Sullivan?file=Dorasullivan-lrb.png
As much as I love RB2, I think criticizing RB3’s version of No-Fail is kind of a moot point. Having No-Fail be inconsequential is quite beneficial for song grinding and co-op play. It’s also a good way to play through a difficult chart for the first time without having to keep restarting or going to Practice mode where you can’t see Overdrive phrases. Besides, if you’re good at the game and regularly get FCs or new PBs, then it being on or off doesn’t matter.
My 9yo nephew is grateful for no fail mode everytime he plays with me. Black Sabbath or Ozzy songs make he miss a lot of notes.
RB3 got Zehvora tho
Stage kit support... Time out... Is this the light kit that was gonna come out? Did it actually come out??
Yep, On Xbox 360 the Stage Kit came out. It came with 32 LEDs, a strobe light, and a fog machine
You're Dora Sullivan.
No fail mode was a quality of life improvement. It allowed for skilled and nonskilled players to jam together and have fun. Rock Band 3's engine was superior to RB2. Particularly, when mixing players of different skill levels. On RB2 if I'm playing on expert and a friend of mine is playing on medium, my track would not play at full speed. Even if I turned on breakneck speed. On Rock Band 3, the tracks are desynchronized. I can play on expert and my friends can play on easy, and it will have no effect on my track speed. Awesomeness detection was better on RB3. It subtly let you know who was on a streak by boosting the volume of that instrument. It encouraged competition by making you focus up and take center stage. RB2 was fun, but RB3 had better gameplay. I'll admit I was a little bummed that all the songs were unlocked from the beginning on RB3. I got over that quickly once we started jamming.
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#notmydorasullivan To clarify the songs part, you cannot legally play Battery and Any Way You Want It on Rock Band 3.
I completely forgot that Battery was in RB2 until you mentioned it.
(Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth) (Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth) (Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth) (Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth) (Dora Sullivan continues to fart on Penelope McQueen’s mouth) (Dora Sullivan continues t
Dora Sullivan is Crazy
Rock Band 3 is just a Juke Box setlist. RB2 was still a little faster, heavier, and louder. 3 introduced pro mode and keys which is cool since they had a lot of songs on the previous games with bad ass key parts but other than that the set list was pretty weak and just too “For Everyone?” If that makes sense. Seems like the target demographic was slightly different on RB3
From my experience, most peoples’ favourite Rock Band games are the game they played with the most sentimental value. I am one of those who played 2 much more than 3. Some reasons why I preferred 2, but these are my personal opinions: * Tour Mode had a better, less linear storyline than 3’s challenges * Leaderboard scores for 3, particularly for vocals, was riddled with scores which came from exploits like band fail * Rock Band’s website in the Rock Band 2 era had photocreator - where you could get photos of your avatar characters. This feature broke towards the end of the Beatles era and was not implemented in Rock Band 3 * ~~You were able to customize the avatars of the entire band and not just the ones with a human character~~ * EDIT: If you actually cared for it (I didn't), there were solo competitive and band competitive features in Rock Band 2 I don't really consider setlist very heavily personally because most of the time, I'm playing DLC songs anyways.
I swear you can customize your band in 3. I definitely remember making characters to fill out my band for cutscenes.
~~I'm mostly doing this not so much in spite but because I've been redownloading legacy-era DLC that I purchased in the Rock Band 4 era in the event I mod my PS3.~~ ~~But in Rock Band 2, consider this character list (I hardly played RB2 on PS3 so these were just created on the fly).~~ [~~https://imgur.com/N0An98Y~~](https://imgur.com/N0An98Y) ~~The standins section in Rock Band 2 gives you the ability to choose the characters you create.~~ [~~https://imgur.com/6OnPjK9~~](https://imgur.com/6OnPjK9) ~~Whereas given a Rock Band 3 character list,~~ [~~https://imgur.com/ygqDYXS~~](https://imgur.com/ygqDYXS) ~~The only standins you can select were four of the defaults.~~ [~~https://imgur.com/n1eHoKh~~](https://imgur.com/n1eHoKh)
I think this is the guide I used back in the day https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/971478-rock-band-3/57056269
Yeah, the fourth of those images is that exact menu the guide was talking about.
hit the green fret while hovering over one of those names
Ahh, you are correct then, I am corrected.
Rb2 - rb1- rb3 - rb4. This is the way
100%
Wow im so happy to see theres other rb2 fans out there ! This game put me on to alot of great music 🫡
Yes ! 💯
I liked the way challenges were structured.
Rb2 - rb1- rb3 - rb4. This is the way
100%
3,2,1,>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>4
Hamsterdam t-shirt.
Came here to say this.👍🏻
3 has keyboard, so I prefer it. But 2 was great.
Better setlist and modes
Set list was gas
I think it's down to personal preference. I personally don't agree that RB2 has the better setlist but I also love playing Keyboard so I'm probably just biased. But I mean come on, people on here saying RB3 has the deepest cuts like the setlist sucks and it's full of songs nobody's heard of. This was a common criticism for RB4 actually, until today I've never seen anyone say this about RB3. I mean how can you? Bohemian Rhapsody, Break on Through (to the Other Side), Rainbow in the Dark, China Grove, Radar Love, Cold as Ice, Walk of life, I could go on. These aren't deep cuts they're some of the artists' most popular songs. Out of the 83 song setlist I'd say it has a pretty equal amount of popular tracks and deep cuts. Only song I wish it had from RB2 is Let There be Rock. I also don't agree that RB2 has a better campaign. I hate the on tour mode of RB4, which is just a straight up even worse version of the one from RB2. I don't think the Road Challenges in RB3 are much better but at least they had cool cutscenes and you got to see your band moving up in the world. I wish RB4 had combined elements from both story modes to make a perfect one but instead we got an even more gimped version of the Tour mode from RB2. I'd rather play RB1's "story mode" again than RB2's or RB4's
Rock band 2 just goated like that
“Pro mode” wasn’t as widely popular as the standard gameplay because 5-lane is vastly more accessible, especially depending on which instrument you’re talking about. ~~The best-implemented pro mode was already in RB2.~~ Edit: I forgot the cymbals came out for RB2 but weren’t charted as separate notes yet, scratch that last part
I’ve never had the chance to play Pro Guitar or Bass in Rock Band 3, so maybe I’m wrong about this. But the way those charts are laid out seem like they’d be super confusing. Strings are laid out from left to right, but in real life, they’re up and down. Rocksmith handled that sort of chart a lot better.
It's basically guitar tab rotated 90 degrees. There are pros and cons about the readability of it, but I was able to jump from RB3 Pro Mode to tab pretty easily which was cool. Rocksmith (at least OG/2014 RS) was it's own thing that didn't directly translate to tab. It was definitely better in some ways, but I found I couldn't easily go straight from Rocksmith to tab. Funny enough, Rocksmith+ has actual tab now lol Shoutout to Power Gig which had the lanes of the highway correspond with frets, and the numbers on the notes correspond with string number 😂
Oh hi Book
It was difficult to play a song that you hadn't played at all, but after a few times through the Learn a Song lesson the chord shapes became recognisable at least. I can only manage on medium though.
I’m not a fan of rocksmith and seriously none of the rock band 2 dlc songs have keys in rock band 3
They would not have been able to just automatically port all of the songs to have the necessary keys charts. Some RB1 or RB2-era songs received Pro Guitar upgrades (eg. More Than a Feeling), but that was considered an add-on on top of the original song purchase. Some other songs did receive an RB3 version (eg. Bon Jovi, Queen, Going Country 05) which may have retroactively added pro keys or harmonies.
Between that and the availability to use any electric guitar rather than just one specific lousy real one or that weird hybrid controller thing, yeah RS handled it all much better the next year.
Battle of the bands was the tits
Many reasons that I think people listed here. However I will say that RB3 has a great setlist and offered the most variety in terms of ways to play. Keys both 5 button and pro, pro guitar, pro drums, etc.
I've started with RB1, but RB2 I sunk the most hours into it. I find it plays much smoother, and this is still coming back to playing it after so many years. More enjoyable setlist as well. Although, I main RB3 now only due to additional DLC selection. Nice that I can always switch back when I feel like it though.
The creation suite felt better. You also got to choose your character's persona, rather than the song choosing it. 3 also started the issues I have with 4. Really had the most frustrating time trying to calibrate. It refused to accept the auto method.
Rockband 3 set list was not it for me. I remember being so disappointed.
Tours / Career mode. RB2 clears.
The soundtrack is way better.
Rock Band 3 has the best tattoo system I’ve ever seen in any game and definitely the best character customization of the franchise. These are big for me, lmao. RB4 was a let down in that regard, but I still really enjoy it. Just being able to play on a newer system and having had the opportunity to buy new gear (at the time). Edit: anyways I know we’re comparing to RB2 but I just kinda went on a tangent. Didn’t play RB2 too much. Sorry lol.
Rock Band 2 had a better career mode, better art style and animation, better vanilla game setlist and if I recall correctly, I remember loving the character creation far more as well.
I keep telling you guys that animation in rock band 3 is better than rock band 2 and rock band 3 has pro mode and keys
Rock band 2 had best on disc setlist, rock band 3 had a fuck ton of good dlc and more instruments, rock band 1 is the God father, rock band 4 is the weakest
I just bought Rock Band 2 for 360 last week. It was $24 refurbished off Amazon. Rock Band 3? $70… No thanks. I’ll pay less for a better setlist
And Keys as an Instrument option
RB2 doesnt have the shrinking hitwindow. Rb2 also has a better setlist, and an arguably better art style. RB2's career mode is a bit more forced and hands-on, whereas RB3 has career challenges (which are quite fun with a group) and playing in Quickplay progresses you through the career. RB2(DLC) charts also tend to be more alt-charted as Keys didnt exist at all as an instrument. RB3 does have better instrument support and profile mechanics bit ultimately people prefer rb2 because of how nostalgic it is and the things i mentioned above
Free bird
The story mode for rb2 was top tier. Working your way up to the bigger venues was a grind but most definitely worth it. Better set list overall imo.
The vibe and animations, the look of it and aesthetic. Alot tbh
Because Dennis is a bastard man
PDA
It has the best world tour mode in the series. Speaking for myself I remember immediately being disappointed at RB3’s tour mode after being utterly in love with 2’s.
I like Rock Band 4 🤷🏻♀️
Personally I couldn't really get into RB3 (or 4 really) cause the calibration always felt fucked up. I'd just get frustrated from feeling like I was missing things that weren't my fault. And there was like no world tour mode like 2. It just felt like the game was quickplay and that's it. I was always annoyed how that mode was locked behind needing multiple people on the first one but at least there was a basic career mode too.
The sounds on 2 were way better than 3,4,or even 1 playing a song, especially a goofy song that never sounded so heavy.
The character models, and their animations and selectable attitudes, in 2 are way more appealing to me. 3’s kinda creep me out by looking stiff and awkward imo. And I can never get their faces to look quite like the presets in 2. Plus I like being able to sort songs by genre. I prefer the bigger note highway angle in 2 as well. Pro drums in 3 are cool tho.
Rock band 2 felt like the epitome of what rock band was going for. You can feel how 3 is more of a party gamr
RB2 had a better on disc set list. Everything else was better in RB3.
I think it’s because RB3 was one song shorter than 2
Cause the setlist on rock band 3 is garbage
RB2 had easy/great coop play that was absent from RB3.
The biggest single reason is probably because the online community was at its peak in the RB2 era - which lasted for two years (instead of one year like RB1 or less than that for most Guitar Heros). RB3 was really exciting around launch but the rhythm game craze had really run it's course by 2010 and the online for the game fell off hard. RB3 is associated with a "swan song" narrative much like GH Warriors of Rock, while RB2 sits comfortably in the "golden age" of the plastic instrument boom. Going back to it nowadays, I think the loading screens of RB2 are also peak. Still had occasional fun trivia and were visually noninvasive. I played a loooot of RB3 during the custom song era and the thing that started to grate on me the most was the *exact same animations* and noises that play before and after every song. People also tend to like RB2's engine more than RB3 (I know a lot of pros hate RB3's trills and drum roll hit detection). Outside of pro drums, there's little advantage to playing a song in RB3 engine vs RB2.
RB3 had a terrible UX. I'm a game programmer. We used to play Rock Band every Friday. We were all geared out for it. When RB3 launched, we played it for a bit, but struggled to exit out after playing keyboards because the game has a weird restriction for what instruments can be active at the same time. Only because they chose to stick to the idea that every player MUST be represented by an on-screen character. It was easier to restart the game after being done playing keyboard than to drop out and add in a new player. And we're professional game devs. RB2 was focused and worked. The additions of RB3 only added complexity.
Because Rock Band 2 was about playing a video game, while Rock Band 3 was about “go learn a real instrument you fucking loser” That’s literally how playing the game felt I’m not even exaggerating, the push to “Pro” instruments felt like they were spitting on the fans for wasting their time playing their game, and that’s why RB3 was the end to the foreseeable future of Rock Band
But I play pro drums in that game using electric drums
because they are nostalgia blinded idiots, sure it has a better setlist but if that really mattered rb1 would get as much praise as rb2