Why is PGG so obsessed with adding features that no one cares about?

Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 5 FH5 Discussion
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Making this post might be some bad timing considering they’ve just added the long overdue ability to search for custom multiplayer lobbies based on class and surface type, but seriously there’s so many useless features PGG has been substituting for gameplay improvement since FH4. Other than all the UGC features they’ve been adding, what really have they added that improves Forza Horizon’s gameplay formula? NOTHING.

Think about it. Think about all the time, money, and effort went into making these features.

Forza Link is completely useless and exists for no reason. Why did they think that slapping in the guest chat feature from any 2000s MMO was necessary?

Emotes were shoved into the game to appeal to the Fortnite hype. (A motion capture suit costs around 31,000 dollars. Have fun imagining what else that money could’ve gone to)

Seasons were purely cosmetic outside of Winter, and were forced on the player. Winter completely ruins the enjoyment of road racing.

Time, effort, and energy was put into flooding the player with stupid and ridiculous clothing outfits, in a game where at best you’ll see only the back of your head during gameplay.

Don’t get me started on the Eliminator. I’ll ramble for way too long. Even if you enjoy playing it you can’t argue that the game would’ve been completely fine without it.

I do commend PGG for implementing the small handful of QoL updates, and the expansion of Eventlab, we still have a plethora of CAR-FOCUSED features that just aren’t in the game.

While I don’t expect massive change from FH5 in my favor, the next title, however far off it is, needs to completely revamp the franchise. With NFS2022, TDU:SC, and recently GT7, the Horizon franchise has some competition and better get off it’s rear and start acting like a car game.

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I actually don’t mind the clothing and emotes, eliminator I can take it or leave it but there are those that do like it, different people like different things, I don’t like drifting but I wouldn’t ask for it to be removed as I know there are people who do like it and its not all about what I want or don’t want.

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Let’s face it it doesn’t have to though really does it?

GT7 is a different type of racing game on a different console, while NFS and TDU will likely just continue the trend of doing some really nice things in certain aspects that would be great to see in FH but ultimately being a let down due to inferior core gameplay.

The series has reached a point where it can sit around twiddling it’s thumbs and it will still be the most successful, you only have to look at the other genre leaders with no real competition to see they seldom innovate once they’re established at the top of the tree.

I mean look at the open world genre, sure there’s lots of good games out there but which is still the top dog? A game 9 years + 2 console generations old, a game that has ended up tossing out what that franchise and whole company was built on, but people still flock to it because of it’s reputation.

Other than the odd exception AAA games aren’t made with proper gamers in mind anymore, that’s the sad truth.

It sounds so condescending but most of FH5’s player base are probably just satisfied with the pretty graphics, plenty of cars with simcade physics and a decent sized map while all the smaller things just go over their heads.

This forum is actually a fine example, for the amount of players FH5 has/has had the amount of us who have enough passion for the game to want to come to the main forum for it and discuss, talk about and even argue about the game is shockingly low.

TrueAchievements is the same, they do an article every Thursday with suggestions for the new season’s events, a huge amount of people have played + unlocked at least 1 achievement in the game on there yet the comments sections of those articles are almost always basically just me, another guy and then various different people having problems with stuff.

That’s 2 people who want to discuss the game out of a possible 298,378 players on TA.

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The things in the opening post are OK, just not implemented very well. Rather than remove them, improve them.

Car game elements can be improved too.

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I think we need a separate section of the forum for pointless whining.

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But yours is the first off topic, pointless whine???

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Meta, but I like it.
I was merely suggesting a separate section for people whining about features they don’t like.
They could call it ‘FH5 pointless ranting’ maybe?
Would be easier to separate threads like these from actual constructive criticism.
Just an idea :smiley:

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I still don’t understand what was so great about “endgame” of FH2.

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Some people often look back at the past with rose tinted spectacles on.

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I never played FH1, and 2. I think for FH6 they should just remake FH1, and 2 with improved graphics.

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That would be a no buy from me unless they gave it as a freebie to those loyal players that played the Forza franchise right from the start.

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OK, but they did it with Tomb Raider, and I bought both.

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I think its better when game companies look to the future rather than just rehash older games to milk a franchise.

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I look to the future of FH, and see that each game gets progressively worse than the last, so by looking to the future I want to see the past…lol.

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Well I don’t consider the games have got worse, I like FH5 and think it does have improvements over FH4 in my opinion.

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Eliminator is the only mode for which I keep coming back. But 6 months in, it needs cars refresh and some balancing. It also needs more final circle possibilities as most folks have memorized all the 20 final circles and the possibilities for final destination.

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Never played 2 as I never had an Xbox, but I can tell you what was so much better about the endgame in 3 vs 4 and 5.

Custom championships provided nigh endless endgame for single players, and made setting custom restrictions and weather worthwhile for a much longer set of races.

Also online was a much more rewarding experience, as it was an active choice to be online back then, as opposed to being passively forced on everyone. People would actually want to group and do activities with each other. Also helped that the online actually worked as advertised, unlike 4 and now 5.

Now we have this horrible compromise that not only doesn’t satisfy either party, but also has never once worked as advertised and probably never will given FH4’s online track record. Yet playground games keeps doubling down this fundamentally flawed concept when the effort should be going to restoring proven endgame content for both single and multiplayer players.

It’s not too say that every single decision that PGG has made in 4 or 5 is bad, but they really do need to get off the general trend they are on and refocus back on the racing experience which is supposedly the core of this game, though sometimes I’m not so sure anymore.

Maybe this game isn’t for me anymore, but there is no other open world racer with at least half decent physics out there. The game has no competition, and (from my view at least) it’s floundering in a cavalcade of terrible design decisions and inane irrelevant ideas that arrive at the expense of the racing experience. It’s that last part that’s important. I may not like game modes like the eliminator, but I don’t mind them being in the game. But when they arrive in the game while easy, low-hanging fruit like restoring custom championships that can elevate the core racing experience are left ignored, it raises a great deal of ire in me.

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Well in your case, drifting is a heavy part of car culture and FH5 is advertised as a car game. Emotes and clothing have nothing to do with cars.

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From what I remember TDU and TDU2 also had clothing and houses, and I suspect TDU SC will have the same, does that mean people who don’t like the clothing and house element of FH wont be buying TDU SC?

Any whether its a car thing or not I still like the clothing and emotes.

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As someone who uses these games for just drifting and Eliminator mostly, I can’t say I agree about your slight dig at the gamemode. It adds something different to the game and a lot of people enjoy it