Forza Horizon 5: General Discussion

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but rarely get bigger - though please prove me wrong, I've probably missed some good examples here.
You are not wrong. The only DLC I know that is connected to the main map is Big Surf Island for Burnout Paradise. But technically both DLC for Hot Wheels Unleash are also connected to the main (road) map. 🤣

Will try the expansion tomorrow since I still have 8h of downloading....
 
You are not wrong. The only DLC I know that is connected to the main map is Big Surf Island for Burnout Paradise. But technically both DLC for Hot Wheels Unleash are also connected to the main (road) map. 🤣

Will try the expansion tomorrow since I still have 8h of downloading....
I think the witcher 3 did but it’s absolutely not the norm on AAA games. It’s probably just easier to separate it out like this anyways since there’s always people that won’t buy it that have to be gated off in an online open world.
 
You are not wrong. The only DLC I know that is connected to the main map is Big Surf Island for Burnout Paradise. But technically both DLC for Hot Wheels Unleash are also connected to the main (road) map. 🤣

Will try the expansion tomorrow since I still have 8h of downloading....
Yeah, I always think about Burnout Paradise and the bridge that was "under construction" until the Expansion released and the bridge opened to the new area. Kind of reminded me of Disneyland or Universal Studios when they have a new "land" under construction.

I thought that was brilliant and wished more games would do something similar.
 
I think the witcher 3 did but it’s absolutely not the norm on AAA games. It’s probably just easier to separate it out like this anyways since there’s always people that won’t buy it that have to be gated off in an online open world.
I was thinking racing games. If we are talking about open world games in general, than there are many more.
 
You are not wrong. The only DLC I know that is connected to the main map is Big Surf Island for Burnout Paradise. But technically both DLC for Hot Wheels Unleash are also connected to the main (road) map. 🤣

Will try the expansion tomorrow since I still have 8h of downloading....
Midnight Club LA? They added the southern part of the map as dlc. NFS Most Wanted 2012 also have terminal dlc on the main map
 
Admittedly I only played it for a little while as I'm going to be busy, but while I do generally like the map it does feel like more of the same. Maybe I'm just burnt out. I like the deeper sand though.
 

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Oh geez, Johniwanna left too??
Yup, when Turn 10 gutted their Twitch schedule he was one of the cuts.

Apparently he’s now working for some cool car collector, so I’m sure he’s in a happy place.
I remember that she just disappeared suddenly. After being very active.
Look maybe she really left on her own but it was still strange. Maybe she was just tired, because I remember she even had to remind certain users they needed to buy the DLC to get access to that specific content. And of course she needed to check that specific person's account first.

And now I'm sad again. 😅
I don’t think it’s right to speculate on Retro’s departure, especially if there’s rumours of it being because certain people weren’t behaving the way they should. Funnily enough I interviewed for the role back in 2018 (I was at Konami at the time), got pretty far along too. Ended up on DiRT Rally 2.0 instead though, that’s the perfect game for me to work on 🙂

Forza community vibe hasn’t felt the same to me since the old guard started to fade away. That’s not a knock on the new crew at all (@ManteoMax is a legend), but I’ve gone drinking with the old guard before, so there’s a connection there 🙂
 
Playing the DLC now and just exploring. All I'll say is has any else found the painting on the side of the house in Pueblo Artza yet.❤️
 
I genuinely don't understand how PC issues that have been around since launch haven't been squashed yet. I reinstall the game, wanting to take the expansion for a spin and the audio bug is still a thing. I change the sampling quality and it's still there.

Suffice to say, I've uninstalled all over again. I'm just...so tired of shoddy PC ports and issues never being resolved. Is that too much to ask for?
 
Yes, Horizon Festival Badlands confirmed in the Forza Monthly at 16:39



EDIT: lol, tree'd by 21 because I left the tab open for too long

Ah, I guess I missed that part. :lol:

--

Well it's a very short-ish expansion as I've almost done everything already. I feel like all the races are fairly short, even the Goliath in the stock Focus took 8 minutes to complete. With that said, some of the roads are so good there's definitely some replayability in there.
 
I genuinely don't understand how PC issues that have been around since launch haven't been squashed yet. I reinstall the game, wanting to take the expansion for a spin and the audio bug is still a thing. I change the sampling quality and it's still there.

Suffice to say, I've uninstalled all over again. I'm just...so tired of shoddy PC ports and issues never being resolved. Is that too much to ask for?
it doesn't happen to me...
 
I genuinely don't understand how PC issues that have been around since launch haven't been squashed yet. I reinstall the game, wanting to take the expansion for a spin and the audio bug is still a thing. I change the sampling quality and it's still there.

Suffice to say, I've uninstalled all over again. I'm just...so tired of shoddy PC ports and issues never being resolved. Is that too much to ask for?
What audio bug are you experiencing? I haven't noticed any issues on PC
 
I genuinely don't understand how PC issues that have been around since launch haven't been squashed yet. I reinstall the game, wanting to take the expansion for a spin and the audio bug is still a thing. I change the sampling quality and it's still there.

Suffice to say, I've uninstalled all over again. I'm just...so tired of shoddy PC ports and issues never being resolved. Is that too much to ask for?
If you mean by the engine sound not responding quick enough on upgrade screen. That has been fixed sometime ago (atleast for me)
 
What audio bug are you experiencing? I haven't noticed any issues on PC
If you mean by the engine sound not responding quick enough on upgrade screen. That has been fixed sometime ago (atleast for me)
It's been an issue since launch. Rather, it's been an issue since...3? 4? If you have your audio bit depth and sampling rate to something specific — I honestly forget what it is because it's been so long — on 24-bit (as I do for listening to music) there's static/crackling that only goes away if you set it something lower. I set it lower and it was still there.

I just can't be bothered. :lol:
 
Speaking of ETS2 though... I'd argue the game's open betas are proof that PG could release cars after their dedicated series without losing "player engagement". Why? Simple - early access is a surprisingly powerful thing. ETS2 open betas attract a bunch of players, even ones who aren't very interested in bug reporting simply cuz they get to enjoy some of the perks of the upcoming update (map reworks, new gameplay features etc) early. If PG added playlist cars in a latter series through say wheelspins (if not the series directly after, maybe the one after that?), I would not be surprised if a similar phenomenon occurs, with player engagement for the series being impacted very little (if at all) and with players being able to access cars that they couldn't get their hands on in time maybe it'd quell atleast some of the negativity around the game. Sounds like a win-win situation in my book.
If anything I'd play more! The playlist does nothing but lead to me getting tired of the game and eventually burnt out. I wouldn't mind getting the cars on a month or two delay if it means I can just do what I want instead.
 
If anything I'd play more! The playlist does nothing but lead to me getting tired of the game and eventually burnt out. I wouldn't mind getting the cars on a month or two delay if it means I can just do what I want instead.
The reason my friends left Forza and went to GT and other games was exactly the same pattern as your post.
They burned out on the playlist and left the game. Even though they were all avid players who had been loyal to Forza for over a decade.
They are going more "Pokeforza" style to increase user engagement, which appears to be polarizing the player base.
Those who can't stop playing the game for the limited time content and those who are tired of it and conversely are leaving the game. And sadly, the latter seems to be dominated by veterans.
Their current policy is at least having some success, so I guess they are not wrong in that sense. However, I can't think of any way to get my friends who have left Forza to come back to the game.
 
The reason my friends left Forza and went to GT and other games was exactly the same pattern as your post.
They burned out on the playlist and left the game. Even though they were all avid players who had been loyal to Forza for over a decade.
They are going more "Pokeforza" style to increase user engagement, which appears to be polarizing the player base.
Those who can't stop playing the game for the limited time content and those who are tired of it and conversely are leaving the game. And sadly, the latter seems to be dominated by veterans.
Their current policy is at least having some success, so I guess they are not wrong in that sense. However, I can't think of any way to get my friends who have left Forza to come back to the game.
I guess it's really something we experience very differently. I follow a lot (100) of players (my Xbox friends) and 90% of them I met trough Forza. There are 2 things I noticed during FH4 and 5 period. After the first few months most of them are playing the game Thursday to Sunday and the second thing is 90% of them stopped playing FH4 after Series 39 (I'm not sure of the number) that was the last to feature exclusive cars.
There's also another thing. Every single on of them (ok 99%) doubled their playtime from FH3 to FH4. Compared to FH2 playtime is even 3x or 4x greater.
I'm all for rewards being offered later for players that missed those cars. But I'm pretty sure the Playlist is a positive thing for most players. Another thing is that the Playlist is the main reason FH4 got 170 free cars after launch. Without it we would probably get a dozen or two cars at most. Like it was in FH3. And even that game had limited time to get exclusives since most were Forzathon prizes.
 
I guess it's really something we experience very differently. I follow a lot (100) of players (my Xbox friends) and 90% of them I met trough Forza. There are 2 things I noticed during FH4 and 5 period. After the first few months most of them are playing the game Thursday to Sunday and the second thing is 90% of them stopped playing FH4 after Series 39 (I'm not sure of the number) that was the last to feature exclusive cars.
There's also another thing. Every single on of them (ok 99%) doubled their playtime from FH3 to FH4. Compared to FH2 playtime is even 3x or 4x greater.
I'm all for rewards being offered later for players that missed those cars. But I'm pretty sure the Playlist is a positive thing for most players. Another thing is that the Playlist is the main reason FH4 got 170 free cars after launch. Without it we would probably get a dozen or two cars at most. Like it was in FH3. And even that game had limited time to get exclusives since most were Forzathon prizes.
Those numbers largely show that it's working as intended: it's boosting engagement numbers. I definitely put a lot more time into FH4 than FH3 (1,032 hours in FH4 vs 324 hours in FH3) but that doesn't mean I believe it's a better game. It means I felt like I had to get all the playlist cars. In FH3 I may not have played as much overall, but I had a much better time not feeling any pressure to do things that I didn't really want to do because I wasn't sure if I'd ever get another chance at the car.

Personally, I believe the ideal solution isn't even to add the cars to wheelspins or the autoshow, but rather to remove any and all time limitations on playlist content. If someone started today but wanted to play the Series 1 races, they should be able to do that, and unlock the rewards from them. This means you still need to complete a challenge to get the reward, but there's no FOMO attached. It's always there. My play time may fluctuate more, but I could spend more time doing other stuff, then get around to earning the new cars on my own time instead of in the week the devs want me to. If I've been playing a lot and need time off, I can do that with no punishment. If I just want to drive my own cars right now and get the playlist done in a month, I can do that. I still need to do the challenges. Just not right now.

If you really like the playlist challenges, you could also go back and do them whenever you want. It would add so much permanent content to the game. The only thing missing would be "evolving world" challenges, which really, they should be toggleable anyway. The stunt park is much more fun than an empty stadium.
 
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After waiting all this time for the DLC and update I had Internet issues yesterday evening so only managed to play an hour or so. Enjoyed it. The roads are so much fun and more entertaining to drive than the majority of the base map. Look forward to diving in later today.
 
Those numbers largely show that it's working as intended: it's boosting engagement numbers.
You see, here is where I see things differently. I have things to do and I'm getting rewarded for doing so while you have a feeling of being forced to do stuff devs decided for you.
After the Playlists is done I'm back doing the same things I did a week, a month before that. The Playlist is breaking the monotony for me. Even when I go back to FH4 from time to time I'm still doing the Playlist first. Even when I already own all the cars. I even did multiple Trials last week since we failed to win again and again just to complete things. Because when I have things to complete I tend to complete them regardless. But I'm also less motivated to play if there's no rewards. Without rewards I wouldn't play as often so I welcome this system.
I also don't see any difference between being forced to do a Playlist vs any career mode. I'm doing the same things since it's a racing game. But then players can be against career rewards too I suppose.
As for FOMO I just never cared enough I guess. Even now I'm missing some cars from November and December. I could try the AH but I know they will return eventually. So I'm just waiting patiently.
All I know is that without the Playlist I probably wouldn't play this game anymore.
 
Almost all modern game engagement models (both free to play games which entice purchases and paid games which entice player commitment) are based on FOMO.

To be honest I can only give PG a big complement: Their FOMO doesn't cost extra in the form of microtransactions or extra DLC. I paid once for the Ultimate/Premium edition of the game and absolutely all content afterwards was covered by this single fee (OK, FH4 did bring out the Hot Wheels DLC pack later, but that's a tiny exception).

I can think of a lot of paid games which not only take your money up front but also use FOMO to get you to purchase later, be it season passes, cosmetics or more.


And yes, this well designed and entirely optional seasonal playlist which PG provides has caused my hours played in FH4/FH5 to greatly exceed FH3 or FM7. In fact, I've played FH4/5 about 3 times as many hours as FH3/FM7, and the number will only grow.

Even FM7's huge single player career mode was only around ~60 hours of total gameplay for all 103 race events. In comparison, weekly playlists will cause me to easily exceed that in well under half a year.
 
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Started the season and 40 minutes later the game softlocked when I completed the Miami Vice EventLab. The heck?? I completed it as it is but the game displayed "Finished _" and the game refused to load the leaderboard. Had to kill the game.
 

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