Couldn’t agree more, I said as much during FH4’s life.
I’m glad more people in general are finally starting to see what live service does to a franchise though, I’ve frowned upon it from the very start of it’s use in FH4 as there is not a single AAA franchise that’s benefitted from switching to it.
Releases are more buggy, content becomes shallow, things are held back to be drip-fed at a later time and the developers give the impression of simply not caring.
I just wish it hadn’t taken 4 years for it to start really being noticed on a bigger scale, the rot started in FH4 and like any rot it spreads if you let it set in.
Live service belongs in free-to-play games + games built from the ground up to get the most benefit from it, they have no place in established AAA franchises.
I too am pessimistic.
They advertise that they are actively trying to incorporate community input, but I doubt it.
I get the feeling that PGG, and Microsoft behind it, are no longer looking at anything but “player engagement”, a curse number that kills games.
Unless Microsoft is willing to look at actual player feedback instead of this devilish number, the decline of Forza will not be stopped.
Unfortunately, this has been made very clear through the activity-reward system with focus on online activities.
Great example: we get a “new” radio station of previous songs but you have to complete a story & weekly championships to unlock the songs.
“Get great new badges” as long as you login to play every week during the anniversary.
Feels more & more like they are taking Pavlov’s approach to the player base…
I think one of the biggest issues with “player engagement,” and the general shortsightedness of it, is that the numbers are so easily skewed that nothing matters.
For every one person that hates this update, there will be 100 new players on Game Pass that don’t know or care about how bad the game is and how bad this update is. These people will just think “haha cars go brrr,” play for a couple hours total and then uninstall it and never play it again.
The issue then being that those 100:1 passerbys contribute more to “player engagement” numbers than regular players. And that, as already stated, is literally all that PGG and MS care about.
Strong disagreement there buddy. Let me summarize - oh wait that’s not true in the slightest. Graphics is the least concern to me; the gameplay matters.
And it’s still a great game, but the FP and the way PG has been dripfeeding cars is borderline terrible. I wish they didn’t have to cut so many cars because of this…
Same sentiment here on graphics, FH could still look like 2014’s FH2 + the new FM like 2013’s FM5 and that would still be more than good enough, I’d much rather resources were put into a bigger map + more content.
I think that is more down to MS than PG though, now it’s a system seller I wouldn’t be surprised if PG are pretty much forced to have graphics as their #1 priority with everything else only receiving full attention after they’ve satisfied MS with showcasing the graphical power of their console.
But saying that the unfortunate truth is a lot of modern day gamers can be blinded + fooled just by great graphics, it doesn’t seem to dawn on them that the games that stand the test of time and are still played + spoken about 15+ years on from their release have stayed relevant because of their content.
There are few franchises around now where the most beloved game in the series is the most recent one ie the most advanced technically, I mean in the case of MS’s flagships both Forza + Gears’ most recent entries seem to be the most criticised by it’s long time players, Halo Infinite’s fared better but it’s still not even in the same discussion as say Halo 3.
What grew all these franchises to such beloved status in the first place seems to have been lost somewhere down the line.
Edit: After being a little kinder to Halo this came up on TA by pure coincidence less than 1 hour afterwards.
OK, I think something’s getting lost jn translation here. Yes, the gameplay is more important, but if there isn’t enough incentive to partake in that gameplay, it doesn’t matter. FH5 is not a great game because there isn’t enough meat on the bone to make it worth going after.
Get rid of the stupid dances and other stupid things like badges (it’s a car game not a nursery (kindergarten) classroom “here’s a gold star Jimmy”)
We need more story lines that aren’t just an hour long or incorporate it as a new chapter to a story every month instead of this chore list, give us more visual (car) upgrades and maybe if they can be bothered check the car votes before adding any other cars, maybe then there maybe praise instead of the hate it gets, I wouldn’t mind but the game has the basis to be great but at the moment it’s a shambles.
There not just catering to the fortnight lot there making it just for them instead of the ones who kept this franchise alive, us car and racing enthusiasts
I am not a fan of being so slowly drip-fed either and I don’t think it’s negative to feel short-changed knowing that NEW new cars that I didn’t already pay to drive in the last game are available and just… being kept back?!
Yep.
I don’t think people are negative enough about the direction AAA games are taking, actually. Call me toxic, but I do also praise the things I like.
Who is actually happy with this, though? (and not getting paid or incentivised for it haha) That’s rubbish to me.
Fair enough, these days everyone does it. Everyone now releases half a game at a time and adds to it as they go, masking it as some kind of extra or “expansion”, but please don’t make out we’re some kind of problem for wanting NEW new content.
How many cars have they literally shown in the GAME ITSELF and in trailers that aren’t actually in the game? The Boxster would be way more interesting than the 3 woody cars from FH4 that were added in S14.
This way they get to milk engagement through aggressive use of FOMO. The content is created and ready to serve. But only as slowly and little by little as they can get away with and for people to accept it and not y’know… complain.
It’s not good enough and I hope this is being fed back. We know this developer is egregiously holding back the new content we paid PREMIUM for whilst serving us seconds we paid premium for last time. They are actually dangling this new content in our faces and we got people telling us to pipe down and accept our woody’s.
Hell, my own personal wish list is currently at a staggering 175 vehicles, but 100 of them are all from previous Forza games, and 56 of them are all cars cut from Horizon 4. Granted, a good chunk of that list includes the missing FCA brands, but even then, that still leaves around 40 cars cut unceremoniously between 4 and 5, and one year later, most of them still aren’t here in 5.
Heck, I feel like Playground have gone out of their way to return the cars we didn’t want back instead of the ones we do. Lotus Esprit V8? Nah, how about we readd that overgrown Caterham from the Netherlands. Vauxhall VX220 Turbo? Nah, the Morris Mini-Traveller should go in next.
And don’t even get me started on the continuing absence of Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Lancia. They’re absence at launch was at first understandable as this is where everyone’s favorite excuse “licensing issues” likely legitimately played a factor. However, over a year later, other games have included either one or all four brands in their games at launch, so there are most definitely no exclusivity agreements in place or FCA favoring developers and publishers from Italy. Playground and Microsoft have the money, but can’t resist the temptation to create 5 Festival Playlists where all we earn is the missing FCA cars.
That’s the problem. They could’ve used them as SEASONAL rewards, not 20-point requirements all the time. Or alternatively, they could be in the FP Shop for the week. Licensing is a pain but there’s no way around it. Also, it is just me or did neither the current series nor the new series offer any 80-pt rewards at all??
Again, it’s licensing that’s the problem. Just because something was present in the previous game does not necessarily mean they will be present in future titles. Unless if T10/PG have more time on their hands, they can acquire those licenses. But remember, this was developed while there was an ongoing pandemic, so that’s probably why we have a kneecapped car list and was hastily rushed to meet deadlines (sort of). It really irritates me that there’s yet more unreleased cars they’ve been held back like the 987 Boxster or the Hudson Hornet which should’ve been the seasonal reward rather than the Ultima that is clearly listed as “Season Reward”.
Again, I am aware of that, but like I said in my own post, other developers have managed to get the missing FCA licenses since Horizon 5’s launch, so there’s clearly no issues now, and thus, no room for excuses or defenses.
