I think if they can get some the connection stuff sorted and give Clubs more purpose, that could help (minus cut-scenes)
Maybe a theme month that focuses on an aspect of racing instead of Halloween costumes for our avatars… Like Don Joewon Song’s Ninja training -Gymkhana Month where the goal is to produce a viral YouTube clip of you hooning the map… or PINKS!, race what you bring, winner takes all… allow spectators to bet, lose a race, lose your car - great way to get rid of common duplicates
Enduro map crossing where you run sim damage w/ fuel/tire wear (kinda like a solo free-roam rush), rewards could be special visual upgrades (beadlock wheels/light bars/brush guards)
Fun despite flaws… All reads like a typical rant thread disguised as critique. First off, fun is the objective. People complain about it being short? It is a racing game for freeroam, not a NFS title. It is done to fast? Well there are lots of cars and route and all that which is the design objectives.
The only reason it is short is that we get free cars and too many easy credits. From day 1 we can have best of the best maxed out. As such, this has something NFS and other story titles dont. Replayability. Example. NFS the run. Done in a weekend. And then what?
Now the game has obvious flaws and areas for improvement. But “Done in a day” usually means it isnt a game for you. Dont hate the game, hate the player for just expecting motorsports rehash.
The only reason why it’s short because there is not any story, story part ends pretty mutch that point when first yeard ends (prologue part). Even prolugue part is made badly because you can become horizon champion before having even spot in main roster, how you can be champion if you are not really even part of the roster yet? Yes you can play fh4 every way you want but it’s really lacks any kinda progression that would feel meaningful. Like fh3 you was festival boss and goal was made festival more known and bigger or nfs most wanted long time a go what was also freeroam but there you have goal what you wanna do raise to list so you can face razor and get your bmw back.
Bad story part wouldnt be that big of a deal if end game would be great but we dont have even good end game, terrible online, bad rivals mode, no blueprint championships. And forza horizon 4 have worst replaybility of all forza games fh3 have million times more replaybility than fh4 have.
Totally agree with the OP. Progression is by far the weakest aspect of this game, and like you said, it’s not even really a “game” anymore. It’s a sandbox simcade open-world driving simulator with a car, house and clothing collecting minigame on the side. The closest thing to a “win” state is to collect all the cars and houses and complete all the events.
I really miss FH1 where we actually had meaningful progression and the “win” state was to work your way up to and win the final epic race.
I certainly agree with the “Lack of Progression”. There is no progression. Think about it. From my estimation, over 90% of the story, challenges, most barn finds, all showcases and “story”, was complete before I even qualified for Horizon Life, or whatever that is.
Very disappointing. After qualifying, what’s left? 2-3 barn finds and a bunch of races that you only need to complete to be rewarded with a gold trophy.
Just to add - the last race I tried, I got 2k less credits coming LAST than I did finishing first. 2 THOUSAND. What game gives you 90% of the winnings for finishing last!??
I also am not particularly content with this fact… NO PRESTIGE as a good/skilled racer. Skill does not make you special. It should, but it doesn’t here! Exclusive things & cars are not earned… they are won in a slot machine. Go to a FORZATHON and look what everyone is driving. Is there any prestige to the one who is driving the Koenigsegg or Mclaren? No just a Lvl 10 with a preorder car. Why bother striving for anything if everyone has easy access to the same things without putting any effort? Especially with the auction house, there really is no prestige to any car.
I’m not trying to give that impression . Definitely great times and leader boards positions are nice. I also find it much more prestigious in the Forza Motorsport series compared to Horizon though. Reason being it’s a much more controlled environments, much more seriously taken, and more skill based in my opinion. With Horizon being much more of an arcade style not so much. I don’t and really do not see or hear much attention taken and people striving for a lap time in Horizon. That’s fine though. Its not meant to be a simulator.
So as far as something to strive for (in-game wise) I find little in Horizon. I actually find much more prestige having a Photo or a Design of featured. However that will not keep people wanting to progress through the game. Think of it this way… back when COD was really good, people played like mad to get a gold camo gun. Earning that was a way to show skill or dedication. Same was Gran Turismo (back when) and all Forza Motorsports did… Some endurance races lasted forever, but you got a very exclusive vehicle. I highly doubt anyone is striving (and enjoying to put effort into) for a golden mustache.
For me it is good that you get the same rewards if you finish first or last… because if that would be distinguished, people would just lower the difficulty. I enjoy being able to drive vs unbeatable AI and still race clean, because I don’t need to care if I will be first or last.
That brings another interesting point. Where should they actually cap the easy level? Unbeatable is actually very easy if you use a well equipped car and take you turns well. Between rewind (which I was horrified when that became a feature) and the amount of assists… there is nobody on this planet that can ever say that a race is too hard.
I get racing may not be someone’s motif and there are casual players, but for the ones who do enjoy difficult and competitive play, there is no reward in doing so. Credits and experience are bountiful even without cranking up the difficulty. These give-aways and hand-outs have really hurt the Forza faithful, as they really see no distinct reward in being skilled or achieving difficult things.
That brings me back to my main point. No matter your skill/dedication everyone still have access to nearly if not everything you do. That in turn equals lack of motivation to keep playing. Which is why I think these forums have had so much success with competitions for photos, liveries, etc. Which is awesome. I enjoy those a lot! Seeing other people’s skill and talents! Truly awesome! But for me I’m kinda bummed, because I have to find something outside the game to keep the game fun.
How spoiled are gamers when “omg! Music in game” is a ragequit… You can turn off game music with a click. See, therecis something called game settings where you can adjust these aspects…
But would be nice to go with previous posters to more contextual progression. The unlocks of the big tracks arent bad but still not quite there. I cannot fault for unlocking top cars. People come to horizons for supercars. Not weeks of playing with modded golfs. That is Gran turismos thing. Horizons is a playground, let em play…
I would agree that most people probably wouldn’t want to grind through low level cars forever but there just needs to be something worth grinding for in the first place. If it’s not the cars at least certain types of cars. But again that was thwarted thanks to the spinny wardrobe wheel.
As far as the music… Believe it or not I’m ok with most of it. Would like a few more tracks though. For the most I like it ok.
My biggest compliment & praise to H4 would be the weather, scenery, and lighting. Wow. Graphics in general are incredible. I remember playing GT4 and thinking “wow, no way anything can ever get better than this…” LOL
“This seems like a hyperbolic statement but it really isn’t. Where is the actual GAME?? This is not a game. It doesn’t have any of the key elements that literally every other game I can think of has. I’m not sure I even know what the overall ‘win state’ is of Horizon 4. Grind enough XP to hit some arbitrary threshold then roll credits? Complete all the races? Collect all the hats?”
Is having an overall “win state” in a racing game really that important to you? It’s not Need for Speed - there’s no story, and no final boss race. You win events, level up disciplines, and then user content or multiplayer for longevity past that. This is an incredibly narrow view of what a game is supposed to be.
The Horizon games are more of a broad celebration of cars and racing, than a linear progression through an increasingly difficult set of events. You don’t start in a junker, and end in an FXX K. You’re encouraged to bounce around driving different cars in different classes and disciplines.
For competition, there’s leaderboards, (theoretically) ranked adventure, and the Horizon Stories which have star ratings and a final reward for 100%ing them.
You play racing games because you enjoy the act and competition of racing, not to grind.
I will say I agree that I dislike how FH4 only tracks completion of events, not what place you finished. The game has flattened the reward structure of events to a farcical degree, to try and be approachable to casual players (ie. the difference in CR payout for being first versus last, really isn’t that big). The Showcase events don’t have to be beaten - just participated in. Makes it seem more like a theme park than a competition - just going on all the rides is what matters.
At the end of the day, the Horizon series keeps getting bigger and bigger, and selling better and better, so I guess their strategy of maximum approachability has worked.
Forza Horizon 1 had Need for Speed style story and progression while still being a broad celebration of cars and racing, and that’s why it’s my favorite game of the series. Open sandboxes are fun and all, but for myself (and likely other people as well going by their comments) having some sort of progression and narrative goes a long ways towards motivating gameplay and making a game more satisfying to play.
FH4 lacks any sort of meaningful story, so nearly all of the gameplay is the grindy and repetitive endgame with the only real progression being collecting all the cars (which is kind of empty in its own right since there’s really no reason to do so with the lack of race restrictions outside of the seasonal championships).
There is no real “endgame” - there is only “game”. You either enjoy racing for the sake of racing, or you prefer games like Need for Speed, which have more linear progression hooks and story built into them. Either is fine, but Horizon hasn’t been the latter since the Xbox 360 days.
I don’t understand your perspective on it being “grindy”. The point of the game is racing. There is nothing to “grind” towards, unless you’re determined to own all of the houses, or 100% of the cars. If you want to play the game in a repetitive, “grindy” fashion to earn wheel spins or credits, then that’s your own prerogative, but the game itself doesn’t prod you into a grind - not even for achievements. I owned Bamburgh Castle before I even “prestiged” the first time.
