Forza Horizon is basically a series worth owning Xbox for imo, happy for the team this game in particular will always have a place in my heart as I bought it merely two days before a huge transition in my life. The expansions were pretty solid too!
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Forza Horizon 4 exceeds 12 million players
- Thread starter Theorry
- Start date
Physical codes cost nothing to produce? I kiiiinda think that they do, not to mention that's not really environmentally friendly. Besides, there's no difference between physical and digital codes, what's being sold is the code, not the medium on which it is written. Expansions all get purchasable code cards, but I'm not sure if it would really be reasonable to do it for every single piece of DLC. Maybe if they sold codes for complete DLC packages a few months after delisting? That might work, although we both know that scalpers would be having a field day with those.
They have a solution to not owning the game: buying the game. Not sure what you are looking for here, but the do offer a discount to games on GP
they could give DLC to ultimate subscribers or something. Alternatively they could still give you access to the DLC islands after you have unsubscribed as losing access to content you've bought feels bad.
I'm not surprised. It's a great game. I would like to see their take on a futuristic sim racer. Think forza horizon with a Wipeout or f zero type aesthetic. They can design their own cars while trying to keep it somewhat realistic. For example, a lambo with some kinda of grav tech underneath to keep the car off the ground. We know they can do loops ala the hot wheels dlc in FH3. They could make crazy cityscapes, tracks that defy gravity and skyboxes that can really be whatever they want since it's futuristic/scifi.
It's an idea I've always wanted to see done, but with so few devs making racing Sims as it is...it'll probably never happen. Would any one else be interested in something like that? Also if something similar exists, please share.
It's an idea I've always wanted to see done, but with so few devs making racing Sims as it is...it'll probably never happen. Would any one else be interested in something like that? Also if something similar exists, please share.
Did i said something wrong? I don't think so. Btw. didn't member pswii360 ( which my post was referred to his post ) also said something similar? Oh, yes, he is an Xbox fan. Xbox fan surely can't downplay Xbox game in any way
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Don't know about the other guy, But You on the other hand have a history of console warz. So you shouldn't be surprised if you don't get the benefit of the doubt.
I'm curious, but I have no idea what they were talking about. I've played the pretty (?) consistently since right around launch. Someone else asked the same question earlier, and there hasn't been a reply yet.
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User Banned (2 Weeks): Antagonizing Another User Over Multiple Posts in this Thread; Prior Bans for Similar Behavior and Numerous Accumulated Infractions
Seriously, how old are you? I singled you out because I have seen your posts on here. The person you mentioned is level headed, you ain't mate.
Why are you not in next gen thread talking about the ps5?
Looks like you didn't read his post. Yes, you're worse than both of us then. I'm shocked, really.
That's a great player count, and it's well deserved.
Sarcastic or not, this post makes me sad.
Sarcastic or not, this post makes me sad.
Player numbers are actually a more accurate metric of success now than raw sales.
Love it, love it, love it! First actually playable version of Forza Horizon IMO (60 fps) and I have been absolutely addicted. Everything about the game is refined, polished, amazing, fun. The online features are a ton of fun, too! Forzathon Live is a quick, great team effort...team racing is great...and winning The Trial is really satisfying.
Just need to finish Car Masteries and I've got all 3000 Forza Rewards points, wooooooooooooot!
There is definitely a difference between driving and racing games IMO.
I think back to the old Gran Turismo games, where you "raced" against 5 dirt-dumb AIs. You'd pass them during the first lap and never see them again. That's a driving game.
A few days back I was racing a 6-lap race on The Goliath. It took just under an hour to complete. The Drivatars made mistakes one by one and allowed me to take the lead before the first lap was done. My focus wandered a bit during lap 3, and...wait a minute, you're still here?! Two of them blew by me. This is actually a race!! Over half an hour later, I won, but only by a few seconds. Now THAT is racing.
Just need to finish Car Masteries and I've got all 3000 Forza Rewards points, wooooooooooooot!
There is definitely a difference between driving and racing games IMO.
I think back to the old Gran Turismo games, where you "raced" against 5 dirt-dumb AIs. You'd pass them during the first lap and never see them again. That's a driving game.
A few days back I was racing a 6-lap race on The Goliath. It took just under an hour to complete. The Drivatars made mistakes one by one and allowed me to take the lead before the first lap was done. My focus wandered a bit during lap 3, and...wait a minute, you're still here?! Two of them blew by me. This is actually a race!! Over half an hour later, I won, but only by a few seconds. Now THAT is racing.
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Forza Motorsport 6 apparently recently keeps having troubles being down. Heck they even announced recently later after no acknowledgement they were down that they were back up again, and then the next day people couldn't get in. This is your basic matchmaking. Don't they have access to Microsoft's multiplayer infrastructure or whatever? Forza Motorsport 5's design and tuning market place servers are permanently down with as far as I know no announcement. Forza Horizon 1 and 2 on xbox 360 has numerous times had their multiplayer servers down for months on end with no response. This most recent one was down since may for FH2 on 360. I know of no other first part games of Microsoft's that has this issue so much. It's just really poor for a first party franchise.
They could entirely issue their own digital codes like Amazon sells digitally. I don't see why not.
"Maybe if they sold codes for complete DLC packages a few months after delisting? That might work, although we both know that scalpers would be having a field day with those."
Well sure, but it would be a much better solution. Plus, scalpers don't seem that interested in what is already there. You can get FH1's rally expansion and have been able to for a while from Newegg and Gamestop. It's definitely limited, but I haven't seen it for a super high price. What sucks is that you can't get the 1000 club DLC since that was free, and it had to be delisted because they decided to bundle like two cars with it (just think if it hadn't there's no reason they couldn't keep listing it ugh). You also can't complete the 1000 club even if you did have it because it requires three shelbys and only two are in the base game. And as far as I know a case season pass isn't available anywhere else either.
It's just inconsistent and frustrating. I know about this shit now, so I probably won't ever be at a loss, but for newcomers? Well fuck em I guess. It sucks.
I absolutely wish at the end of a game's life they would sell complete codes, although thankfully it seems FH4 ultimate actually for once includes all the DLC, so that might be a thing going forward. I hope so. Just sucks they'll never go back and address the old games.
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12 million players in a years time. Huge success with no way to downplay. One of these 3 things happened
1) the game sold really well
2) gamepass is doing amazing
3) most likely a mix of both. Game is selling great and gamepass is causing millions of downloads.
1) the game sold really well
2) gamepass is doing amazing
3) most likely a mix of both. Game is selling great and gamepass is causing millions of downloads.
Forza Motorsport 6 has had this a few times iirc:
Here it is going up and down and incomplete a bunch if you want a recent example. This wouldn't be so bad but their support NEVER acknowledges it. They'll straight up ignore support tickets too, or if they do respond, absolutely not read anything you actually said. Complain matchmaking servers are down? They'll say "sorry, we only support matchmaking leaderboards for legacy titles." And then not respond to you when you say uh...yes that's what I said, for two full weeks.
Forza Horizon 2, which I wanted to replay with a friend since both of us have xbox 360's...well I couldn't. The servers were down since May, and it took me into end of June before I got even a remote acknowledgement they'd look into it (previously they not only denied it was down but pretended it had only temporarily gone down, which was nonsense because people on forums and places were saying it was down for them too). No public acknowledgement anywhere. They finally were up again earlier this month. Again, no acknowledgement from support or their twitter anywhere. By that point my friend was just completely disinterested.
As I mentioned in my last post above Forza Motorsport 5's marketplace servers went down and apparently forever with no announcement. Forza Motorsport 4 and Forza Horizon 1 and 2 on xbox 360 have had a number of occasions where all or part of their online features were just gone for indeterminate amounts of time.
Oh and I just remembered Forza Motorsport 6 Apex's challenges were retired with no notice whatsoever. Given these were just repeatedly rotated out, I do not understand why they couldn't have just been added to the game. Now there's no way to do them and no way to max out your forza rewards. Just because you didn't know that the game had a weird arbitrarily limited event thing. And once the servers go down (why does it need servers?) you won't be able to even access the DLC you PAID FOR because for some reason it needs to access the servers to access the premium races/tracks.
Just so many weird senseless things that complicate an already dumb problem
This was the most frustrating shit ever when this happened recently.
Forza Horizon 1's server was down for 3-4 days in the past month, and that locks you out of everything in the 1000 Club. You can even see the 1000 Club challenges for each car in the background of the server error message, they're present and just barely viewable, but the game will not let you attempt them unless it can reach the server which is straight up bullshit.
Thankfully the server has been back up since, and remained stable for now.
I wish they'd patch out that online check. The 1000 Club adds a nice little extra checklist of missions for each car, I'm sure it will gone forever at some point.
Good on Playground. They have made two of the best Xbox One exclusives, with Horizon 4 being in the conversation for the best exclusive of the entire console.
Exactly the same senseless nonsense behind making the challenges in Forza Motorsport 6 Apex cycle in repeating challenges instead of just letting you permanently keep them. Even the paid version (which I went ahead and got since it's the only way to 100% the achievements now and has some good races and it'll be delisted in a couple weeks along with FM6 proper in all likelihood), doesn't even include that many more challenges. It does have some good tracks, like Nürburgring, but really honestly not that much many more challenges, and not even enough to max out Forza Rewards. Why? This doesn't increase engagement. It just increases FOMO and frustration for no reason. Why make stuff that is unsustainable. That's not how you grow a userbase. Not when the game is already anemic. It just drives people away when the content that is there will just disappear right away with not even so much as a warning of when that'll end. It's so senseless. Just add all of the events for the paid version and rotate them out for the free version if you must. SOMETHING.
But yet, even now, one day the servers will go down, and since the premium events you pay for are tied to the spotlight events menu, guess what that means. It means you have to access the servers to do the content you paid for. Just. WHY. Just baffling. Just give me the races for goodness sake. Who makes these decisions to make a game that adds work to THEM to maintain for no benefit for either party. I don't get it.
I think 3 is better than 4 but Im not mad at 4's success, after Turn 10 fixed 4's multiplayer I can say they deserve it.
With respect, what you describe could be achieved by bog standard rubber banding. Competitive AI is very important to any single player racer, of course, but it's by no means sufficient to describe Forza Horizon as a good racing game.
You're right that there is a difference between a driving game and a racing game, but Forza Horizon is a far better driving game than it is a racing game. The same is true of Gran Turismo 1 through 6 and Forza Motorsport 1 through 7. All three franchises are better at cars and driving than they are competition and racing.
If you want great racing, you'd be better off with GT Sport which is the only game to ever do online racing well in a manner that doesn't require substantial prior organisation. You'd be better off with Mario Kart 8. You'd be better off with F1 2019. You'd be better off with the GRID franchise or with Wipeout or Burnout.
Forza Horizon fails as a racer on several levels.
Firstly, the game faffs around way too much. Online particularly its genuinely mind boggling how little time you spend racing and how much time you spend matchmaking, loading and watching the tedious as hell intro/outro/progress screens.
Second, while the game clearly suits racing etiquette (as opposed to an arcade racer where contact is part of the competition), it does effectively nothing to penalise those who use their car as a weapon, use other cars to brake and turn and so on.
Third it uses checkpoints to delimit tracks. These are rife for exploitation by cheats and simply less interesting to drive through and around than a proper track be it a circuit or an open world city. The off road stuff is great in FH, but it's presence makes the street and road racing so much worse.
You could probably make an argument it's a better racing game than Gran Turismo 6, but it's not saying much. It still falls far short of the feeling of actual racing offline and off.
Thus far, my experience with the Drivatars hasn't been quite the same, and this cuts across most of the modern Forza titles tbh. If it's just rubber banding, they're always easy to pass but somehow reappear later. Once you raise the difficulty, I don't find them easy to pass, and they can only catch up if I make mistakes. So it actually feels like I'm racing against opponents and not dumb rubber-banded AI. I think that's what I'm getting at more than anything. It adds excitement to the game in a way that simple rubber-banding can't.
As far as the your other criticisms:
Yes, there's a lot of loading. There's no loading while you're driving, which is great, but it's a massive open world, so there's a lot of loading when you're fast traveling/transporting for an event. Maybe it's worse on base XB1/XB1s than it is on my X, and if so, I haven't seen that, but I haven't considered the loading times to be unfairly steep considering the size of the world and the amount of data being loaded. It's not like Tekken 7 or SFV where it feels like it's taking FOREVER for a match to start. I'll also add that if you're playing a multi-race series, the time in between races is relatively short, so you're back in the action pretty quickly.
I don't find the matchmaking to be so bad because I can still Freeroam while it's happening; or I check e-mail, browse the Web, etc. I know that's not a great answer (it's not a problem for me, therefore it's not a problem!) but realistically, how else could the game do it? Matchmaking is necessary in order to support all of the different events; you've got the several seasonal ones that change every week, the 100+ built into the game, and the unlimited number of custom events that players can create themselves, so as far as I can tell, there's no way around it.
The outro and progress scenes at the end of races do drag on too long, yes, but not only are the progress scenes skippable, they are also there to mask loading. So if you jump through those, you just get to sit at the normal loading screens for longer.
As far as the actual online racing, I do really like the fact that your car will ghost for a few seconds if it's about to collide with another at high speed. That definitely cuts down on the "rubbing is racing" and I wish more games would do this. IMO, that, combined with the speed limiter you can get for a period of time when hitting a wall, actively reduce the number of people that just ram into you, walls, etc. because I definitely don't see as many of them as I see on the occasions I race online in FM. So I don't agree with you that the game does nothing about it.
Then, as far as checkpoints, I sometimes hate the checkpoint system (such as when I miss one), but after using the route creator, I totally understand why they're there. You're creating any route you want through a gigantic open world...there has to be some sort of system to actually ensure that you're sticking to the plotted course. And the chances for exploitation have been all but eliminated. I've tried to game the system to level up faster, but outside of a few specific locations in the world, the game will figure it out and penalize you. I don't know how it does, but it does. And all of the other games you mentioned as alternatives (with the exception of Burnout Paradise) are course-based, not open-world.
It's not that your criticisms aren't valid, but the things I specifically want in a racing game--a real sense of speed, the feel of competition, the thrill of a close race, the satisfaction of a hard-fought victory--are all there, and imo aren't significantly impacted by the things you mentioned. But I know that what I want out of a racing game may not be the same as someone else. It's great that we have a lot of choices in 2019, even in racing. I'm not all that interested in Mario Kart or WipEout, but I know many others love them. (Nintendo, bring back F-Zero, you cowards!)
Definitely not the best FH game in the series, but I wish nothing but success for this franchise. It's great to see what started at the beginning of the gen as an underrated gem become a staple for the genre.
My wish-list for 5 is the return of the Toyota license and custom radio station, but honestly for the series to truly level up, I'd love a bigger focus on city-driving, anything closer to a 50-50 divide
My wish-list for 5 is the return of the Toyota license and custom radio station, but honestly for the series to truly level up, I'd love a bigger focus on city-driving, anything closer to a 50-50 divide
At the start I preferred FH3, but to be honest after all of the updates, festivals, etc, I find FH4 is just top notch.
I would LOVE to see Toyota return to FH5 but I don't think that is really on Playground that they are not in FH4, seems more a Toyota issue.
I can't speak to Lego as I don't have it, but Fortune Island was pretty good, especially if you like the mud/dirt rally cross style stages, it had some good ones. But my primary issue with the expansions is that all the GaaS-like stuff they add with the festivals and weekly challenges only happen on the mainland, because they can't guarantee everyone has the expansions. So really once I won all of the races and 3-starred everything on Fortune Island (which took maybe 6 - 8 hours), there wasn't really any reason to go back. You can get some nice cars, and of course the $10 MM is pretty great. If you are liking FH4 and can get Fortune Island on sale, it's a good time IMO... just don't expect it add a lot to the game.
Definitely a Toyota issue. MS should drop the bucks on it though.
Honestly 3 is my favorite just for the sandboxyness of it. The variety of terrain and driving styles is super fun. Weather in 4 is pretty cool, but just aimlessly driving in 4 isn't as fun, which would be okay if the progression was engaging to me. In that regard I still find 2 to be the best - everything feels earned in that game
I was lucky enough to pick up FH2 with Gold before it vanished, and I've been pretty happy with it... and it still looks great as well. But after FH4 and FH3 at 60 fps it is a bit hard to go back to 30 fps ;)
What to you mean by the bolded?
The seasonal challenge stuff gets added to the expansions too, have done since the start.
Nah. For a is for driving. FH is for racing. Both deeply own in their respective genres. Top tier games, hands down.
The xpacs get the weekly forzathon, but not the seasonal champsionships and stunts from the festival playlist.
So how come I've got seasonal championships and pr stunts on my expansion maps right now?
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FH4 sold a lot more in the same timeframe of FH3 while being in Game Pass, so yeah, FH4 has far more impressive numbers.
You guys can spin it however you want to, though. Doesn't really change reality.