Dropping in and not having to get back up to speed with a game has become more important to my gaming life than I wish it was. I don’t have time to change it. Even minimal-story games like Valheim or Elite: Dangerous have become too cumbersome because I have to spend a bunch of time figuring out what I did last, what I need to gather, and what I need to build to progress. I can either go mine/sail iron in Valheim, I can hope my pirate hunter ship and pirate activity are close to where I last docked… Or I can just play some basic game and take 5 minutes to get up to speed instead of spending the first 45 minutes recalibrating my memory. It makes a difference when you might only play 3 times a week and have less than 2 hours left. I’m hoping next year goes better, but for now, it’s battle Royale, team match, or racing games.
Obviously, there’s a massive competitive attractiveness for some people to games like PUBG and CS as well. But it’s not all trigger-finger addicts. Some of us are just trying to have an OK time, not the best time.
You say you don’t care for Porsche IRL. If you have any interest in driving performance vehicles and have an opportunity to drive one, try to not pass it up. 10 years ago, I drove a 10-year-old 911 and it remains the best driver’s car I’ve ever driven. So precise, so confident. It’s what they’re known for. I knocked them before because they always looked so understated and the owners seem pompous. While both can be true, it’s still an excellent sports car. I’m out of the car scene and can’t talk about modern hybrids/electrics/SUVs and wouldn’t recommend a Panamera as the basis for your opinion.
FH4 just went semi-offline (no more seasonal or promotional content, still has online play/free roam randos). I wonder if that played a role in that pricing inversion. Last minute cash squeeze? Maybe it ushered the market away from 4 and into 5?
I do enjoy the FH titles. I wish there were more normal cars, but that’s probably partly due to not keeping up with the latest hypercars. With limited time to play, I spend a ton of time cruising in semi-normal cars across the open world. One of the unusual activities is 4th+ gear highway pulls in some blundering V8. Just hear it wind out from idle to redline. FH1 remains my favorite story because it actually had a story, it felt. It was shallow, but it had a clear progression of races, rivalry, and all the world building for the horizon festival. The rest have just too many races, tournaments, and events thrown at you at once. Every race unlocks 4 more. FH2 did an amazing job introducing the open world, drive anywhere style although I found the European map to be bland. FH3’s Australia was more diverse, but I was further overwhelmed by the number of map icons. I’m currently in FH4 and I suppose have finally accepted there’s never going to be another “campaign” style title. I guess that’s really the gaming industry as a whole with all the battle Royales and similar arcade-style games.
I guess I should hurry up and get FH5 before all the time-sensitively content runs out there, too, right? Damn consumer cyclism.
It depends on the situation. There’s plenty of games that made the DLC era notorious by putting out games with only half the content as prior games. In the case of Forza Horizon, I feel they’ve provided substantial content in the base games, at least as far as maps and modes.
I will agree with OP about the number of DLC cars though, because it’s excessive. I wish I could filter out DLC and stop being teased. It’s particularly annoying when basically and entire manufacturer is DLC (Porsche in FH4 I think) or when some 3rd party sponsor brand drops a ton of “sponsor edition” cars. Maybe I’m just out of the pop loop but I do NOT need Hoonigan cars when I can modify any of the base cars to be stupid fast. I rest my cane.
Not sure if joking… But someone did take advantage of the 3rdgparty heat map and spent a couple dozen hours of game time drawing this dick in the galaxy
Oh yeah, I don’t have time to play my main Elite:Dangerous profile anymore but I’ll totally have time to use my free Epic license to plaster my name across the galaxy on deep space exploration.
Lol I thought it was just my advanced age of 33 that made it difficult to understand a game from the Xbox previews. A majority of screenshots look like garbage once you’re not in character and the store highlights that.
Or that the Northeast Corridor (DC>Philly>NYC>Boston) is all electrified and has the fastest passenger train on the continent (Amtrak Acela can do 150mph, soon to be replaced with a 165mph variant that can do like +30 in turns). And that NJ Transit on that line (following US 1 and I-95) is electric along that massive population concentration. But yeah, good for California. I get it, running power is a really expensive project but at least this section goes back at least as far as the GG1 loco days.
Do you not have a whole archive of screenshot because it looked cool at the time and then it didn’t really hit the same later when you no longer had the context of the action? Just me?
I’d like to answer as someone without nostalgia: yes it does. I played Odyssey in 2020 and IV 2022-current. The ship mechanics are very enjoyable to me. I beleive Odyseey made it more polished but I can’t actually remember how, so it must not be that important
If you’re a new homeowner and either have a lot to fix or a lot of projects in mind, a pickup is great. Daily driving it is useful for when you have to grab materials after work. I opted for an older $2000 Ranger 4cyl 2wd earlier this year for that so I’m not killed by fuel economy. It gets 20mpg on my commute but I do also split that with a 50mpg motorcycle. It’s also great for when you see random bulky things on the side of the road you want. I did start with a 4x8 trailer but it’s not as convenient. I admit, part of that was because my wife s car was the only one with a functional hitch.
But I’m talking a Ranger. Like an F-050. 115hp. This little guy has hauled so much already. The only thing it can’t technically do is tow a car and I don’t have the capital left to buy a nonrunning project car. I’ve been eyeing the new Maverick in hybrid form. But maybe by time I have the cash for such a new vehicle I won’t be doing reno projects anymore
I used to be part of such wagons. As I got older, I lost the time available to be so picky. I started with Unity and had a good time. I’ve had a good time with each subsequent entry through odyssey (haven’t played further yet). The same type of people complaining about RPG AC complain about Ubi’s other series, Far Cry. It’s ironic that people vehemently argue whether FC3 or 4 is better while both were departures from 2 which was a drastic departure from 1.
It’s a game. If you have fun, you’re good. If it’s compelling enough to keep you playing, they’re good. I really enjoyed Odyssey, moresoe than Origins. I do wonder if Origins was a sacrificial game that conditioned me to the RPG style, but I don’t have time to revisit it. I know I really enjoyed the sailing warfare mission as Aya so I was certainly happy to find that in Ody. (I’m actually currently 2/3 thru AC4). Still waiting on time for Valhalla and mirage…
PS: whichever version you played between 13 and 18 years old will always be the perfect one. Same goes for music. Or any interest, really.