Topic: Forza Horizon 3

[Xessive]

This game is awesome.

I'm playing it on PC, it runs beautifully and looks gorgeous. The Xbox One version also looks stunning and phenomenally the game is cross platform!

I've also recruited the Drivatars of F1eshfeast and HypnoticCoqui into my crew

Anyway, game is awesome, must play for everyone, co-op is fun! Wooh!

[Cobra951]

I played the demo for, oh, about a dozen hours, so far.  Hard to put down.  I guess that's where my driveatar comes from.  I raced Fleshfeast's a few times too.

I noticed an achievement from you yesterday.  Lucky guy, you get to play it early.  I'll be getting it after it releases officially, sometime.

They've really upped the technology since FH2.  Looks a lot better, particularly the lighting, it's smooth everywhere, and the weather doesn't seem to be such a random killjoy in free roam.  Sharp controls, great fun.

How's the event organization?  I liked the first game's quite a bit better than the second's.  The first featured events that opened up as you earned higher wristbands, and those events remained accessible at all times after they were unlocked.  The second ties all non-special events to individual championships, are sort of generated on the fly, and they go away after they're completed, leaving the map fairly bare of races until you decide to join the next "road trip".  What do they do in FH3 with the standard races (as opposed to one-offs like following a jeep on a helicopter tether)?

[Xessive]

They implemented "Blueprint" mode for organizing your own events, which is applicable to any discovered route (not the preset events). It's not insanely detailed and pretty easy to grasp.

This is my first real foray into a Forza Horizon game (other than the hour or so I put into the X360 Forza Horizon), I'm still grasping at some of the game concepts. So far, so good!

[MysterD]

The download version (which netted your Microsoft account both for PC + X1) was accidentally $20 for Standard Ed; or $30 if you bought both Standard Ed + VIP Pass together on Target last night.
Could've saved $1 more, if you had a Target card.

Price mistake's dead.

[Cobra951]

Lucky you.  I just bought the standard ed yesterday (no price mistake there).  47 GB took until about 7 AM today to download.  I'll be playing it later today when I get the chance.  Maybe I'll run into the drivatars of all you guys.

[Quemaqua]

I would love to get into this on PC if they actually released it via a real platform.

[MysterD]

Lucky you.  I just bought the standard ed yesterday (no price mistake there).  47 GB took until about 7 AM today to download.  I'll be playing it later today when I get the chance.  Maybe I'll run into the drivatars of all you guys.

I didn't get in on it, Cobra. I saw it all over the Internet posted.

[Cobra951]

I've played the hell out of it for the past 3 days.  Great stuff, though it still needs some stability updates.  I think 4WD is the way to go this time around.  Most of the fun is offroad.  Quite a rush hopping around hillsides and knocking down entire banana plantations sideways.  My favorite car so far is this Audi Quattro rally car I lucked into with a level-up spin.  Everything looks amazing, and finally night-time visibility is good--pretty, even.  When it all behaves itself, it's perfectly fluid too.  No issues at all with car-engine sounds this time either.  If you read my most bitter complaints about the 2nd game, you'll know what I'm talking about.

There are some unfortunate irritants, ANNA in particular.  There seems to be no way to disable her or her concentration-killing interruptions.  In the last game, "she" was tied to Kinect, so disabling that disabled "her".  No such luck this time.  Also, I thought it was cool that you get to select which radio stations you want, but that was an illusion.  Eventually, they're all thrust upon you, including that Groove app which I'll never pay for.  I despise rap, and I really tried bypassing that hip-hop station.  Cannot be done.

Xessive, I've been seeing a lot of your alter ego.  I still don't really know how that tech works.  My guess is that your driving is captured somehow, then scaled to whatever vehicle and class it's used on later?  There has to be more to it than that.  It seems like magic to me right now.  I guess W7RE only played the demo.  His drivatar is still at Lv 1.  I still hired it into my lineup, though the game keeps throwing much-more experienced ones at me (which I've been ignoring).

Anyway, I'm hooked.  These guys did a superlative job.  Fix those crashes, and the hiccups I assume are due to imperfect online communications (because they come in a bunch of frequent occurrences, and later disappear entirely) and we're golden.

Edit:  I was right about the hiccups.  Started getting some today, went offline, and they disappeared completely.  A patch came down when I tried to go online again later--a bit over 1 GB on size.  It seems to have fixed the crashing.  (I got one crash every day, 4 total, with 3 related to doing things in the garage.)  I played a marathon session after that, with no ills at all.  No proof yet, but it feels right.  Smooth performance for all those hours too.  Only a couple of momentary hesitations in free roam while online this time.

[Xessive]

It's pretty sweet!

I love the Drivatar system. There's an AI based on your driving patterns wandering around in my game

[Cobra951]

Events are so much better too, more like the first game's.  They stick around after you complete them, and only grow in number as you unlock more of the campaign.  Even better, you can use the car you want most of the time, and even design events ("blueprints") to your liking--car type, laps, time of day, weather.  The 2nd game totally blew this, leaving you with no events to choose other than showcases until you went on those dumb "road trips".  They also added the Forza Vista feature from FM4, which was wholly unexpected.  So you can look into the cars themselves with all the hinging covers open.  Sweet.  No Jeremy Clarkson, though.  

I guess this offshoot of the Forza franchise has gone from experimental on the 360 to front and center now.  I bet it sells oodles more than the more serious FM games.

[Cobra951]

 

[MysterD]

@Xessive and Cobra

So, in that pic - are you guys both playing on XBox there?
Or is Cobra playing on X1 and Xessive on PC?

Is this a cross-platform game for PC and X1 where they both can play together?

[Cobra951]

@Xessive and Cobra

So, in that pic - are you guys both playing on XBox there?
Or is Cobra playing on X1 and Xessive on PC?

Is this a cross-platform game for PC and X1 where they both can play together?

No.  
Yes, but not at the same time.  

Yes it is, and yes we could (but we haven't).  Time-zone difference alone would make that a challenge.

[MysterD]

No.  
Yes, but not at the same time.  

Yes it is, and yes we could (but we haven't).  Time-zone difference alone would make that a challenge.

Oh - so is that like showing the "ghost" of whatever he did in his race?
And you're challenging his time/score?

[Cobra951]

Not quite, but similar.  It's what's called a "drivatar".  He plays his game on his own time, as do other players.  The game records what they do.  Then it replays those performances, with adjustments as necessary (which is the part I have no clue how they handle), as the basis of what some cars do from then on in the game.  These are the other racers, the ones you would take on in races, not the sedate AI cars that populate the roads and mostly just drive slow and get in your way.  Your friends' drivatars take priority appearing in your game, but there are many others.  I just happened to be in photo mode trying to capture a car I hadn't photographed before (for a game activity that gives you money), when I recognized X's chosen avatar (in the driver's seat).  I looked at the license plate to confirm, then went back to driving, and chased him to a place that would make a decent photo, with all the greenery and the road signs.

I could have challenged him right there (to a street race), but it would have been no contest.  That blue Datsun I'm driving doesn't look like much, but it will leave the '53 Vette in the dust immediately.

[Xessive]

Haha I'll best you yet, Cobra!!