PhaseShift

[Selkie]

I'm not sure how many of you were ever into Guitar Hero or Rock Band when those were in their popular prime but I recently discovered a neat game for the computer that's pretty much Rock Band for free called PhaseShift.

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http://www.dwsk.co.uk/index_phase_shift.html

For a free game that's probably as close as we're gonna get to rock band on the PC it's extremely well made. You don't need to have any actual controllers since you can map everything to your keyboard (f1-f5 and 1-5 are respectively green, red, yellow, blue, and orange keys) but the game does support using all the instruments for RB/GH if you have a way of plugging it into the PC. Another neat thing is that it also supports real guitars and midi keyboard instruments.

The game comes with a set of songs already and while it's not a very long list, there's tons of community songs made for it (including full rips of the GH/RB games but you didn't hear that from me)

If you play with the computer keyboard I suggest using one that isn't you default keyboard.

Don't wanna break that now do you? I've gone ahead and ordered a cheap wired controller and hopefully it works. It's used but the condition is good. Woulda liked new but not paying $200+ for one. If not I can always return it.

Song packs: http://fretsonfire.wikidot.com/packs (If you're wondering why it says Frets On Fire, that's because these were originally made for that game, which is an OLD old GH rip off from like 2006 or something, but PhaseShift supports FoF songs so...) Signup required.

Some of the song packs are old and files are no longer available so keep that in mind.

 

[Jeb_CC]

Oh yessss... a thread for this. Wonderful! I've been playing away at the default songs already with the game, but more would be nice!

So far, I'm in LOVE with the electronic-sounding songs. XP "H8-U", "Inside of Me" and "Pacing Energy". LOVE THEM! SQUEE!

Also, I would love to post our highest scores on here.

I know you'd probably beat me at everything Rarity, but hey, I can work towards a goal of beating you. XD

I also realized that half way through playing through all those songs, that I SHOULD get another keyboard. I've been kicking myself for using the bloody enter bar all this time when I REALLY should have been using the Shift that I NEVER USE. I've got a bunch of spare keyboards lying around, they're not great... but they'll surely be good for "holding it like a guitar"

Thanks again for exposing its existence to me. XD I've always wanted a game like this, but never had a console for it.

EDIT:

Spoiler

Achievement get: Perfection! B) Oh yeah. Probably on the easiest song ever though. XD

 

[Binky The Rabbit]

Innnteresting...I've got a USB interface, so I could possibly use it with my Les Paul.

 

[Selkie]

Oh yessss... a thread for this. Wonderful! I've been playing away at the default songs already with the game, but more would be nice!

So far, I'm in LOVE with the electronic-sounding songs. XP "H8-U", "Inside of Me" and "Pacing Energy". LOVE THEM! SQUEE!

Yeah, the chiptune songs are great. Never thought chiptune would be good for a guitar game XD. I especially like the LukHash songs, my favorite being "Like A Dead Pixels" which is a fun song on expert for both guitar and keys. I've been looking up his music outside of the game and it's just as good.

One thing I suggest which has been pretty fun is I re-keyed some of my controls for playing keys to make it more unique. I have the 5 lanes bound to 6 keys(I wish I could make it so there was 6 lanes) the keys are Q, W, E, num7, num8, and num9. Q, W, and E are green, red, and yellow, and num7, num8, and num9 are yellow, blue, and orange.

This does kinda mess me up sometimes since it uses 2 hands like on a piano and I never learned piano beyond lessons in 1st grade where I only played like 1 line from a nursery rhyme with only one note pressed at a time, so I have trouble splitting my my brain like that. Having 2 keys bound to yellow is oddly both very helpful and very confusing. Though the more I play it like this the more I realize my hands are practically acting on their own. It's when I start thinking about what I'm doing do I make the most mistakes.

Also, I would love to post our highest scores on here.

I know you'd probably beat me at everything Rarity, but hey, I can work towards a goal of beating you. XD

lol. If you're not already then keep at it and you will be better than me. I'm 5 years out of practice from when I used to play GH and back then I committed a lot of bad habits to muscle memory and breaking it has been a chore. Not to mention I've never actually gotten perfect on any song, not even the easiest ones, so you've already got that over me.

. My dyslexia is strongest when it comes to sequential tasks like these. The only reason I'm even able to play expert songs is because back then my friend who also played this game was better in every way and I saw it as a challenge. Never did reach his level. No way I'm gonna figure out how to actually play that Dragonforce song on expert outside of practice mode. He would strum with his elbow and use 2 hands for the notes and somehow not miss anything. O.O

I also realized that half way through playing through all those songs, that I SHOULD get another keyboard. I've been kicking myself for using the bloody enter bar all this time when I REALLY should have been using the Shift that I NEVER USE. I've got a bunch of spare keyboards lying around, they're not great... but they'll surely be good for "holding it like a guitar"

incidentally my 4 key is already starting bug out a little. XD It's okay, I need a new keyboard anyways. The A key sticks and both shifts only work half the time. It's not even that old either, just guess it wasn't made very well. Got it for free from someone who won it in a ping pong tournament(lol) and had no use for it so I didn't lose any money.

Thanks again for exposing its existence to me. XD I've always wanted a game like this, but never had a console for it.

You're welcome! I actually stumbled across it by accident. I was originally trying to get that Frets on Fire game working as a sort of nostalgia trip but it kept crashing. When I looked it up the overwhelming response was "just get PhaseShift. It runs FoF songs and works better."

Innnteresting...I've got a USB interface, so I could possibly use it with my Les Paul.

A real Les Paul or the GH Les Paul controller(because there is one and apparently it's a lot of peoples recommended to use for this game.) Regardless you should check it out. And if it is the real, you should totally do the actual guitar track and you should totally go into details about it.

As for high scores, I don't have any screenshots but I here are the percentages.

Guitar Expert

Spoiler

Cybernetix Theme - 76%, 29957

Dirtbag - 87%, 49767

H8 U - 78%, 17046

Like A Dead Pixels - 85%, 66854

Nightmare Night - 93%, 40991

Pacing Energy - 71%, 24831

Positive Force - 80%, 26200

Keyboard Expert

Spoiler

H8 U - 86%, 27494

Inside Of Me - 91%, 58990

Like A Dead Pixels - 78%, 22474

My Arrival, Orphanage - 84%, 66633

Nightmare Night - 87%, 43162

Pacing Energy - 90%, 11138

Pressure Cooker - 81%, 25786

Also I'd like to make note that for keys and guitar, I pretty much only play expert even if I can't play like half the song. Just more fun for me that way lol.

 

[Binky The Rabbit]

A real Les Paul or the GH Les Paul controller(because there is one and apparently it's a lot of peoples recommended to use for this game.) Regardless you should check it out. And if it is the real, you should totally do the actual guitar track and you should totally go into details about it.

Real thing

That would be a lot of fun to do! Like, if I already know the tune, I could see if it differs from what I play.

(warning, old photo)

Spoiler

 

[Selkie]

Nice!

Yeah I can imagine it'd be fun if you know what you're doing. I really should actually learn how to play the guitar I've had for like 10 years. You're probably gonna spend a lot of time in practice mode slowing down the song to learn the parts you don't know yet (at least I probably would)

I wonder if this game has like a beginners version of the real guitar... It would help me learn if it did. At least with finger dexterity if nothing else.

Also I went and grabbed a bunch of those GH 1-3 packs. Not all the songs since some of them I don't really care about but got a bunch of my old favorites. Cliffs of Dover tho... Definitely can't do that with keyboard.

Edit: It doesn't have beginner versions for real.

 

[Binky The Rabbit]

Cliffs of Dover tho... Definitely can't do that with keyboard.

Haha! That's certainly beyond me on real guitar! I mean look at this. My fingers don't move like that!

 

[Selkie]

Holy... and here I thought having 4 fingers for 5 buttons was bad. I retract my complaint, I couldn't even follow his fingers.

Edit: Just managed Cliffs of Dover on expert with the keyboard if the US grading standard of a C- is acceptable lol. Once I sorta picked up on hammer on/off patterns it made it easier but still, that hurt.

 

[Jeb_CC]

Guitar Expert

Spoiler

Cybernetix Theme - 76%, 29957

Dirtbag - 87%, 49767

H8 U - 78%, 17046

Like A Dead Pixels - 85%, 66854

Nightmare Night - 93%, 40991

Pacing Energy - 71%, 24831

Positive Force - 80%, 26200

Keyboard Expert

Spoiler

H8 U - 86%, 27494

Inside Of Me - 91%, 58990

Like A Dead Pixels - 78%, 22474

My Arrival, Orphanage - 84%, 66633

Nightmare Night - 87%, 43162

Pacing Energy - 90%, 11138

Pressure Cooker - 81%, 25786

Well I don't have time to go and do much else at the moment... But I did manage to get this one done. X3 First time I tried playing it for the day, accidentally play it as guest and swore at myself for it repeatedly. XD 'Nightmare Night' Keys on Expert mode:

Spoiler

So I HAD to do it again, so it could record my score - and I ended up getting better anyway so. XP (In score, not hits)

Spoiler

I love this song by the way. So damn catchy. Also, I don't know exactly how you play... but I try to limit myself to using only one hand when it comes to playing the Keys. 4 fingers - 5 keys. XD Cause fuck trying to use my thumb.

EDIT: Am an idiot and didn't realize you've already said how you play. XD Oops! I don't know if that'd actually be any easier for me. X3 When it comes to my piano playing, I usually have one strictly as a bass/chord player, the other is a melody player. And thus my hands are used to doing different things. XP Would be kinda weird to have them both play a melody...

 

[Selkie]

Nice. Gonna be a while before I even get near that on keys if ever lol. Closest I could get was 91%. It's the "solo" parts that get me.

Guitar however, I only missed like 13.

It's also miles easier lol. But hey I have too much caffeine in my system and I'm a bit low blood sugar right now so it's a miracle 13 was all I missed.

Spoiler

I did try using the one hand for the keys thing and nope, doesn't work lol. I'm so used to guitar it's sort of thinking backwards for me so the more fingers on each hand I need to use the more confused I get XD

Edit: Damn it, so close! XD

Spoiler

Our max combos are the same lol.

 

[Jeb_CC]

Nice. Gonna be a while before I even get near that on keys if ever lol. Closest I could get was 91%. It's the "solo" parts that get me.
Guitar however, I only missed like 13.

It's also miles easier lol. But hey I have too much caffeine in my system and I'm a bit low blood sugar right now so it's a miracle 13 was all I missed.

Spoiler

I did try using the one hand for the keys thing and nope, doesn't work lol. I'm so used to guitar it's sort of thinking backwards for me so the more fingers on each hand I need to use the more confused I get XD

Edit: Damn it, so close! XD

Spoiler

Our max combos are the same lol.

I pretty much suck at the guitar and bass for all of it. XD I much prefer the keys.

So we can make a deal. You're King of the Guitar, I'm Queen of the keys. XD But every now and then we compete. Cause why the hell not.

And remember, you're still 5,000 points off!

95%, smmh...

With the combos though, would be even greater if we started and finished our combo on the same exact parts of the song. XD

This is my most recent accomplishment...

Spoiler

I could probably do better, but I'm feeling WAY too impatient to play this game right now. XD

 

[Selkie]

Lol I'm okay with that XD

Though I'm sure anyone else who has GH experience could beat me just fine. I can get decent amount of notes hit but my misses are usually scattered which resets my multiplier more often than I'd like. I'm hoping when the controller arrives I'll be able to do much better. Some of those songs are quite literally impossible on a keyboard like mine since they require you to slide your fingers for some of the crazier hammer on/off sections and I can't slide my fingers when they hit the wall of the keys I'm trying to slide to.

Also I'm not doing too well tonight even though I'm not hungry and more rested than yesterday. XD My fingers just refuse to obey tonight. Though this happened which I consider impressive for me since it's like 95% chords and I'm not always that good at those:

Spoiler

That combo tho.

 

[Jeb_CC]

Spoiler

That combo tho.

Holy shit! XD That's awesome!! You are amazing at that guitar stuff, dayum. XP Can't wait to see what you pull off when you get that controller. I look forward to it.

Some of those songs are quite literally impossible on a keyboard like mine since they require you to slide your fingers for some of the crazier hammer on/off sections and I can't slide my fingers when they hit the wall of the keys I'm trying to slide to.

Ha! How do you think pianists feel? XD One of my songs requires a LOT of finger sliding, and it hurts like all hell afterwards. I've sorta gotten used to it now though. XP There's a certain way you gotta do it, but I think keyboard keys are too different for that anyway.

The preferred method is to use your nail though... Either your thumb or your middle finger - your palm sorta facing upwards if that makes sense. XD It sounds really wicked if pulled off right though.

 

[Selkie]

Yeah I can see that.

It's things like this though that fuck me over the hardest:

Spoiler

back with a controller things like this were no big deal beyond being a typical combo breaker but with a keyboard it's a song ender.

Edit: Ziggy Stardust. from the downloaded songs

Spoiler

Also I noticed it's kinda hard to type after I play XD

 

[Selkie]

Spoiler

Guitar expert. In no way a glorious score but I take pride in the simple fact that I beat this with a keyboard and not the controller. This song is insane with keys.

Also I keep occasionally trying nightmare night on keys and I always land just short of my last score. XD I can do the solo's well now but I can't keep my combo going long enough to take full advantage of the 4X multiplier.

If only I knew what the star power button was.

(don't even think there is one.)