Lets be honest, people would be bitching and moaning no matter what EA/Ghost did.
You build a game that is based on the so called classic aspect of the series? You get the Underground fans whining about how they want customization and more JDM fare.
You base a game around Underground ideas? You get the classic fans whining about all the JDM garbage. (Though they whine about anything that isn't in their narrow wheelhouse, it's like fanboys for Doom / Doom II at this point, so dyed in the wool that they miss the forest for the trees)
Unfortunately, that's just the industry, and is something that plagues most any developer. That does not mean that they can't find idea's that can work well with both camps. Either way, most of the time, the people that would complain about something like that are usually those that are a bit too over the top, not willing to compromise their ideas or opinion one bit.
And remember, Ghost has to build a game as well that appeals to the casual fan as well. The one that doesn't play racing games often. Being here on GTPlanet has shown me that when it comes to how racing games are built by developers, most often, posters here are enclosed in their own little bubble, meaning what they want, is vastly different compared to what the general public wants.
Yep, we are by far the minority here. We're the crazy ones probably
This isn't meant to defend Ghost or the so called modern NFS games as a whole, as I also have reservations on the game right out of the jump. But Ghost is in a rock and a hard place with many portions of the fan base each having ideas on where the series was 'the best', where the downfall was, and what to do to fix it.
To be honest, I believe the thing that plagued NFS15 was bad design choices, and implementation of features. Post-support was pretty bad, but thats what happens when they try to make everything free, and I had a feeling it would turn out that way.
Simple things like the garage limit, or no manual transmission fall into that catagory as well. As well as the extremely basic features that where implemented into the photomode at a later date. It's odd how all these things are overlooked.
The Cop AI was absolutely horrendous, and really baffling that is what they where content with.
Using customization as a huge selling point, only to find out that the consistency within that was absolutely horrible.
The physics needed a complete workover, to be honest. The issue that people have here is that when they hear that word, they automatically assume everyone's asking for a simulator, but that's not the case at all. They're going backwards.
A lot of things seemed like so much of an afterthought. They definitely need to make more solid, thought out decisions in my opinion.
Quoted for truth. The fact that the Need For Speed franchise has tapped into so many divisions in the racing game genre is both a blessing and a curse for the reception any new title receives. A blessing in the sense it captures attention on a massive scale and a curse through the inevitable dismissal from people who have yet to see any gameplay footage.
They released a pretty bad game, so I'm confused as to why you think its unheard that people are skeptical of the next iteration being made by the exact same developer? I'm not going to wait for actual gameplay, I'm going to wait until the actual game releases, because sure they can(and have) make things sound good on paper, but they have a hard time hitting that target. They'll get their time of day when we find out if they haven't botched things again.
I think if they just nail the customization aspect, the physics, remove the garage limit, and make sure basic features like manual transmission are there from the get go, they'd likely have a buyer in me.
