Weather and environmental changes in FH4's shared world Seasons

Forza Horizon Legacy Horizon FH4 Discussion
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[Mod Edit - thread merged. Suggest you post in the Features Wish List thread - MM]

Please please please … I beg you , please make the enforcement of seasons when playing “Offline” /solo optional.

I feel the idea of enforced Seasons terrible to be honest.

Don’t get me wrong I completely understand why this is a thing when playing in the Online world, but why must this work the same way when playing solo against Drivatars??
Why can it not be a choice?? I simply do not understand why you want to limit the game like this.

In my opinion the perfect solution would be to have the Seasons offline per default match the Seasons that are Online just like now, but then you also get the option to jump to the season of your choice. Ideally this should then also be possible if you set up a private freeroam.
Then I would not have to wait for weeks to play the game if the season of the week happens to be a season I do not feel like playing in.

If it was possible to select a Season when playing in a private freeroam it would also be easier to get friends to join in (at least it would be for me as I have a friend that hates to play “winter” when it is summer he he weird I know )

I am not saying that one season would be less fun then another to play in, I am sure all of them will be amazing on their own right. What I am saying though is that I might feel like playing a specific season one day, and that might not at all align with the season of the week. And then at least I will simply not play the game at all that day, and if this happens more often then not, I will in the end not play the game at all. I’m even considering not to buy FH4 at the moment… and I normally buy all Forza games and play them like possessed when a new one comes out .

The great benefit of Forza Horizon 3 is that I can drive in the summer, with occasional rain, which allow me to use basically all my cars properly at all time.
and then if I feel like driving in the snow I can switch to Blizzard Mountain at the time of my choosing/convenience

Forza Horizon 4 now promises to remove that choice completely, and that honestly have me thinking’s about cancelling my pre-order already.
I am hugely disappointed in this limiting new feature Seasons will bring.

Lets say I just brought a new Pagani Zonda Z and I want to just want to drive around in the world pushing it to its limit … But it happens to be time for winter now, so that will simply not be possible in any good way, Lets face it , few super-cars work ideally in wintertime and snow. And I prefer to drive super- and hypercars
So I would have to wait for at least a week to drive the car I feel like driving in the environment/setting I prefer (It might even be weeks if the time is Autumn and that season is anything in game like autumn in UK can be )

There is only so few time there is time to play after work, if I then can not even choose to drive a majority of the cars (in any useful way) in a preferred setting even offline, then whats the point?? Why buy a game I can barely play?

Today I can start the game, and play the car I want in the setting I want for the moment in Forza Horizon 3, and even Forza Horizon 2 kind of let me choose autumn (I feel with Storm island ) at my convenience. Forza Horizon 4 feels to me like a huge step back, that more or less limits when I can play.

Is the target of Forza horizon 4 to have people play the game less?? Then I think you are on the right path.

So I beg you … please give us a choice when playing Offline.

I do understand that I could technically force the Xbox offline and manipulate the clock to get to a season, but that is just not a reasonable solution.
I am also aware that you can select a season when you setup a blueprint/race … .but that is way to limiting as well.

I am sure I’m not the only one that likes to start up Forza Horizon and just drive around… so only having the option to select a season in a specific race/challenge (what ever ti will be called) but otherwise not when playing Offline is for me simply to limited

And yes, in real life you can not drive your super car when it is winter and it suck, and then you just have to wait, but I play games to escape reality, not be in the same miserable weather as it is most time of the year where I live (this single summer excluded)

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I feel this must already be in the game, because there are Barn Finds on island which you can only access in winter, and having to wait potentially 3 weeks to get a barn find is not something I want to do. (Source: Forza Horizon 4 Gameplay Demo - IGN Live E3 2018 - YouTube) I feel this will have been thought of

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I asked them multiple times in the Mixer live stream this Tuesday, and even though I could not at all get the people engaged in the show to even acknowledge the question , just like the when I asked the same question several times in the Live stream the week before…the mods in the chat (that I assume work for either Turn10 or Playgrounds Games) told me that Seasons can not be chosen or selected or turned off when playing Offline , at all. You can only select a season if you setup a challenge/race or Blueprint .

It would be nice if someone officially commented and answered this question , but so far they seem to be reluctant to.

So as it looks now, you WILL have to wait for weeks until it becomes winter to attempt to find a barnfind in that case.

Seems like they in fact have not thought about this at all, or so it seems. I really hope I am wrong, but so far they refuse to answer that question .

(Sorry but I believe nothing IGN say or do , what I can say about this video is though … Playground seems to think the Seasons limiting access is a hook, for me it is a huge turn off)

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You must change your console in offline mode

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I completely agree with you, seasons in offline should be a choice.
Say you finally got that precious Pagani Zonda Z, and summer happens to end… Well, I suppose it would be undrivable for the next 2 weeks.
Leafs will get wet and slippery in the fall and don’t get me started about driving in the snow in the winter.
And hey, let’s say you have a very busy week in ‘‘summer’’ time, well you missed out on it completely!

absolutely love the idea of seasons though, and I can understand a weekly change in the online mode, but in a private session offline I shouldn’t be limited to what I want to do.
On a different note, about your friend who doesn’t want to drive in the winter time, well, I got a friend like that too, we have played together since the first Horizon game and he will NOT be buying Horizon 4. (Sadly)

The official channels haven’t said anything about picking your season of choice manually, and I’m afraid they won’t.
But hey! Guess I need to look into the forced offline xbox mode! :slight_smile:
-Regards!

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Not sure what you mean, but when in offline mode the Seasons will still change every week and you still can not select the season you want… It is confirmed that the Seasons change will then go by the system clock

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I dont know why people are freaking out. 3 of the 4 seasons will be extremely similiar leaving only winter as the major change. This game is not a sim, neither storm island nor blizzard mountain required any particular type of cars to successfully race. Obviously 4wd worked better in these environments, but it wasnt required. The changing seasons are going to be nothing more than a visual change for the most part.

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I happen to be “freaking out” (as you put it) because it seems Playground Games might be destroying a game I have loved to play for over 5 years, however I still have hope they will listen to the community and fix this.

If it was true that 3 out of 4 seasons will be very similar the whole concept with Seasons would we pointless to begin with, and I doubt they would have spent 4 separate live streams to show each season, and also keep talking about how different each season will be.

and Storm Island most definitely required specific type of cars to race successfully, same goes for Blizzard mountain.

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So the question is whether or not seasons are included in the off line mode, as they should be?! If I posted this question elsewhere I just can’t remember, but I would like a reply to this asap.

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I wouldn’t say people are “freaking out” but how can you say its unreasonable to want to drive in the environment that you wish when you are running the game offline and in solo mode? Is this too difficult to understand? It would be like saying that “well it’s raining on the Hockenheimring right now, so I guess FM7 will only run that track in the rain. Oh and by the way, its night time too at the track in question, so these tracks will be unavailable until daylight local hours at that track.” Now you see what we mean.

-k

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I understand what people are saying, i just think its premature to complain about something you havent tried yet. I also believe whether online or off, career progression will rely on the changing seasons. Im sure barn finds, showcase races as well as various career races will only be available during certain seasons. So i dont believe its as simple as adding an option in the settings. Im always for more options in any game, but seasons are the only major gameplay change from horizon 3 and i dont see them changing their minds at this point.

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I have tried driving a hyper cars and super cars in the winter… it is nearly impossible to control. and even if you do manage to control them you will still loose every single race against better suited cars because you will never get up to full speed.

It is very simple . If there is no way to way to jump to a prefer season, it will limit the amount of times at last I will play.
If I have to wait for weeks to play what I prefer in a scenario I prefer, and I also have to schedule my life around seasons in a game, I will most likely never play the game at all.

People have lives and often you need to pick the time you can play at random. Also most people have an ever changing preference for what they feel like playing at the moment.
Being denied to play what you want , at the time you can or want to play, well that is a huge letdown . It also in my opinion feels extremely tone def of Playground games if they do not listen to their fans concerns . I still hope they will.

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You wouldnt be waiting weeks, itd be 1 week for the winter season. Spring, summer and fall will all be almost exactly the same just like in real life. Theyve already said you can put any season in blueprint races meaning the only time youll be “forced” to drive in the snow is to get to the races themselves, you can then just turn that race into a sunny summer day if youd like.

The bottom line is forza horizon 4 is their game and this is the direction they chose to go. Your options are to not buy the game, play something else that week when its winter, or do what i said above and blueprint your races for that week.

As far as using hypercars and supercars in the snow, obviously they arent meant for that so why wouldnt you choose a car more suited to the track at hand. You wouldnt take a low top speed car to an oval track because youd lose, so i dont know what you expected to happen.

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Yes why would I pick a car I prefer to play .?? Why do you think??
Do you personally always pick the least favorite thing to do … and then do that instead of your favorite thing? Do you also pay a premium to do that

I realize it is up to Playground Games (and now Microsoft) to destroy a game they make if they feel like it … but I also have the option to tell them how idiotic I feel it is as a long time fan …
They can of ignore it, like they have for several weeks so far , or potentially listen.

As most grown ups I have a job and several other commitments… when I get home and finally have time to sit down and play I want to be able to play the thing I feel like I want to play. I do not understand how this concept is so hard for you, (and apparently Playground Games), to understand.

The day I have time to play might occur when it is winter. next time might be winter again. … or maybe it is Autumn, and I feel like Spring… It is not so unusually to have the desire to play your favorite game franchise of all time when you feel like it, in the way you fee like it … and then be annoyed when that is not possible …for no reason other then a badly thought trough decision

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Im sorry the game isnt going to revolve around your schedule. The changing seasons are an integral part of progression in the game, thats it, thats why it cant be changed. If you choose to not race in a particular season you can not finish the game. Career races, showcase races, barn finds and forzathons will all unlock or become available as the seasons change.

As i said 3 out of the 4 seasons will literally be almost exactly the same. So that means for 21 days straight you can use a hypercar for anything and everything, but for 7 days youll have to use the blueprint system to change the season settings.

Adding an option to pick a specific season would basically halt progression of the game and only allow for freeroam and nothing more, no multiplayer, no singleplayer races, nothing. Not an impossible addition by any means, but obviously one playground games feels to be unnecessary and most likely problematic.

This is what horizon 4 is plain and simple. You can either buy it and play it or not thats up to you. Theres no surprises here like there was in forza 7, everyone has the ability to make an informed decision. If you don’t like what theyre offering you can choose not to buy it, but to continue complaining about it is not going to change anything.

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This is exactly my situation. I’ll reserve full judgement until I’ve played the game, but:

There will be people who want to play predominantly in winter, just as I would prefer to play predominantly in the summer months, which is fair enough; everyone has a preference… So given this, why aren’t we given the choice to choose what season we wish to play in offline? I totally understand the online side of things, and fully support it, but I don’t see what the issue is if I want to switch off from the world and play in whatever season I want to? Surely it would make sense to provide everyone with a game that they can play how they want, when they want?

I’ve little interest in winter or off-roading, and I’m quite busy, so it’s disappointing to know that I’ll potentially miss out on a game that I’d like to play for a week at a time because I can’t change the seasons. If, for example 12 months after release, I decide that I fancy playing, boot the game up and it’s a season that I don’t like, chances are I’ll just switch off and go to something else. Being forced into a season doesn’t breed longevity for everyone, but could have the opposite affect.

I’ll finish with this. I’ve no sense of entitlement. If this is the way it has to be then so be it. The developers have clearly put huge effort into this game; it’s clear to see. But, as of now, I’m very disappointed about this.

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I find it totally incredible that they have gone out of their way to allow thing such as choosing your clothes for your driver as you see fit, something that really doesn’t affect the game in the least, but yet will not give us the ability to choose the season in off line mode.

This is not freaking out, but rather pointing out at least one of the inconsistencies in the decisions made. This may just be a deal breaker for some.

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Personally I think it sounds like it’ll be fun and unique. Some people like the idea, some don’t. Some won’t buy the game because of it (so they say), some will. In my observations neither Playground nor Turn 10 have ever decided on features based on fan feedback, nor have they ever changed a game post-release based on feedback. Personally I’m not thrilled with the setting this time around, but I’m sure it’ll grow on me as I play. Might as well just buckle up and enjoy the ride through all four seasons.

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They should make it so each season lasts three months, matched up with the actual season in the UK. :wink:

Really though, I’m totally fine with their choice here. If being in a particular season is ‘destroying the game’ then you just don’t enjoy driving games as much as you think you do.

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These modern trends with the online component make me very sad. For me, the game is a place where I leave people and do what I want, and when I want, and online violates this concept. In Forza Horizon 4 there is no strong online compulsion, but there is a hint of it in the form of a season change for everyone, however, if you can switch the season by changing the date of Windows 10 offline - it will be fine, but it is better to do without such manipulations. The idea of ​​changing seasons is certainly good, but personally I can not play often, because I leave home for a long time at work, and, apparently, the seasons will repeat for me. I also lose the opportunity to find rarities. I really like Forza Horizon, this is my favorite game, but depriving people of the season’s choice is a huge mistake, especially for the considerable money they pay for the game!

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