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The Official Forza Horizon 2 thread
- Thread starter Wingznut
- Start date
purbeast0
No Lifer
oh snap! i will 100% get this day one. i was a pretty big fan of the first one. i loved how it was a mix between sim/arcade racer, although to be honest i would have been happier if they went even more arcadey with it.
tbh though i am not a big fan of weather in games. i think it is just a distraction. i wonder if they will let you turn it off if you don't want it.
i was also a big fan of a lot of the music in the first one so i'm glad to see that music seems to be a big part in this one as well. i'm sure at e3 we will see it in action. kinda sad it's also being developed for 360 though, would rather have focused everything on the x1 version.
tbh though i am not a big fan of weather in games. i think it is just a distraction. i wonder if they will let you turn it off if you don't want it.
i was also a big fan of a lot of the music in the first one so i'm glad to see that music seems to be a big part in this one as well. i'm sure at e3 we will see it in action. kinda sad it's also being developed for 360 though, would rather have focused everything on the x1 version.
radtechtips
Senior member
I loved horizon so I'll probably get this
zerocool84
Lifer
This might make me bite the bullet and get an Xbone this holiday season. I really loved the first one as well. It was a good balance between sim and arcade.
smackababy
Lifer
I didn't play the first one, but heard it was okay. I am actually not a huge fan of the arcade style I believe the first one was in. I might skip this one. I knew a few of you would like it though. =)
Well, when you have 80 or so million consoles out there and are still selling them, doesn't hurt to keep supporting it.
purbeast0
No Lifer
yeah i don't fault them for wanting to make money, but it could hinder the technical ability of the game as cmd mentioned earlier.
and horizon isn't really arcade style. it's a good blend between the two. it's not even close to being like burnout or need for speed. i'd actually say while it's a mix between the two, the control is more sim-like than arcadey. but it's still a mix of the two, but just not like split 50/50. more like 70/30 sim/arcade.
cmdrdredd
Lifer
So far nearly every game that is also on the 360 and PS3 doesn't feel as if it's as good as it could be. Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed 4, even Titanfall somehow looks like there could be more done.
I think that's part of the reason some people don't want a new console and that really holds back the development of games. It doesn't have to be held back and they can take maximum advantage of the new console sure, but many times it feels as if things are cut because it can't be done on last gen systems and it's easier to build one game, make it work on both and simply scale up the resolution and add a more complex lighting or shadow system on. That's why I'm glad that developers like Rocksteady for example are not building their new Batman game for last gen. They can take advantage of the new hardware in a more focused manner.
Like I said, I'll be keeping an eye on whether or not this looks like a game released 1 year after the XB1 has been in the marketplace as it should IMO.
I think that's part of the reason some people don't want a new console and that really holds back the development of games. It doesn't have to be held back and they can take maximum advantage of the new console sure, but many times it feels as if things are cut because it can't be done on last gen systems and it's easier to build one game, make it work on both and simply scale up the resolution and add a more complex lighting or shadow system on. That's why I'm glad that developers like Rocksteady for example are not building their new Batman game for last gen. They can take advantage of the new hardware in a more focused manner.
Like I said, I'll be keeping an eye on whether or not this looks like a game released 1 year after the XB1 has been in the marketplace as it should IMO.
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smackababy
Lifer
I think a large problem is the games we are getting were being developed before the next gen stuff was even finalized. I mean, they knew they were coming, but nobody knew the final specs. The games seem like they were "well, let's do the previous gen stuff and then add in more for the next gen" type of feeling. Games that go into development now (with slated release 1.5+ years in the future will be only next gen.
ImpulsE69
Lifer
Welcome to what every PC gamer has been saying for the last 5 years. (and pretty much since consoles became the defacto platform to create on, then port over). Seriously. This is precisely why people complain. Any time you are developing to fit the lowest common denominator, you are losing out what a product could/should have been. It doesn't mean it is bad necessarily, but the idea is you are holding back due to limitations. Unless you have separate dev teams to do what they want for each platform, well...yea...you get the picture.
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cmdrdredd
Lifer
I disagree because with the PC you can scale up the texture resolution, turn on HDAO, turn on various AA modes. I never really felt any game on PC was held back provided they give you some graphics options. Tomb Raider for example. In terms of textures and clarity, the PC version is better even than the definitive version on PS4/XB1. When you look at games that are also on 360 and PS3 but also on PC like Crysis 3, Sleeping Dogs, Bioshock Infinite, and Metro Last Light it is obvious how much better the stronger platform looks. That's the difference. On the PC I can turn on whatever I want in most games. On a console you use whatever they give you. So I disagree that that's how it is on PC, since almost no PC game is totally limited to medium when it is capable of high when you have the option right in the menu.
As for the development cycle smackababy, I get that but my question is why can't a developer work toward a spec. The XB1 can do DX11(with specific optimizations). Why not build a game conforming to the DX11 spec and optimize it and scale down what is needed when you have the final specs and a final dev kit? Why is it ok to use the excuse about "we didn't have a dev kit"? I'm a bit skeptical of the whole thing surrounding launch window games and believe that most of it is just a dev using an old engine built for last-gen and trying to make things scale up. I can understand lacking content because of trying to hit launch window, but what appears to be laziness in some areas I cannot accept the excuses outright. Especially when one of the major releases had a 6 month delay and still has some glaring graphical anomalies. Now I am no dev and don't claim to be. I know a bit about the development process, having followed gaming for a long time but I'm no expert.
My complaints are minor in my view but they are still things I am a bit disappointed in. The games I find flaws in, are still really good games. Watch Dogs despite it's static reflections and lack of water effects from bullet impacts, Assassin's Creed 4 despite it's relatively lower resolution textures and what I feel is a weak lighting system, are fantastic games. I just know there could be a bit more attention given to differentiating them more from the last-gen systems. I have no doubt that next year(maybe even this year with Batman Arkham Knight and Assassin's Creed Unity being current-gen and PC only) this won't even be an issue any longer, but I still fear that some titles that are supposed to be the showcase titles for the new platforms will not be all that they can be because they are still building the engine around last-gen.
I am hoping that doesn't happen with Forza Horizon 2 because Forza is supposed to be "the racing game" for the xbox platform. It deserves the right treatment for the XB1. Helps give an incentive to buy a new console too.
Am I being too critical/cynical?
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ImpulsE69
Lifer
Everything you are saying is exactly the same thing. They don't design to spec for this or that, they design to lowest common denominator. Anything beyond that takes special coding and time. In 99% of the cases they don't bother. Yes on the PC you can "turn" that stuff on, but it has nothing to do with them actually making a game for it and is just a benefit (if you can call it that) of a PC. The general idea is the same, if you are building a game to fit on older/slower/less capable hardware, everyone suffers.
cmdrdredd
Lifer
I don't think you understand...
On a PC when you have the option for textures on ultra, high, med, low...when you have the option to turn on HBAO, HDAO, SSAO... when you have FXAA, MSAA, TXAA, SMAA options...that takes extra time right there. They actualy did take the time to give you the increased graphics assets. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to set anything on Ultra. That has everything to do with a developer coding the game engine to take advantage of the performance potential of a PC when they offer you higher graphics options. Those things are actually in the engine. This happens because they code for DirectX spec rather than for specific hardware. They don't have to guarantee performance, that's dependent on your hardware. On a PS4 or XB1 they do have to guarantee a certain performance level so they are working closer to the hardware specs. The problem is, we don't know if some of the stuff in the game is left overs from last-gen since there is no options. It may very well be in some cases.
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cmdrdredd
Lifer
Two different teams are doing the two versions and different engines supposedly
That's good news then. Means each system gets the version it deserves to have.
futurefields
Diamond Member
I'm sure it will still be 30fps on 360, but the big question is if they will continue the tradition on XB1 of having the "Horizon" iterations run at half the fps of the main games in order to maximize graphical details in the open world environment.
Did anyone tell you that you spend too much time worried about benchmarks and specs, instead of whether or not the game is just plain fun?
XiandreX
Golden Member
Two different teams are doing the two versions and different engines supposedly
That right there makes me want to buy an XBone. I will keep an eye on this game. I loved some of the older Forza ones on xbox 360.
Hopefully the framerate is solid. 😎
On Lighting:
“Light is a really big deal for us for this game, and the reference points we’ve chosen for this game are famous for their quality of light,” says art director Ben Penrose. “So on this game we didn’t want to leave anything to chance. We didn’t want to give you an impression of what the places are like that we visited and have tried to reproduce. We wanted to model it as accurately as possible and have all that stuff work with the physically based set-up that we’ve got from Forza 5.”
“So what we’ve settled on is a physically accurate model of Earth’s atmosphere,” Penrose grins.
“With Horizon we pushed dynamic lights with the headlights,” says Penrose. “Now every single light in a scene is dynamic, which is only something we’ve been able to achieve with the switch to a next-gen platform.
Removing invisible walls:
But Playground wants to take that further, so the team has torn down the barriers that largely kept us from leaving the road in the original Forza Horizon.
“We’ve taken the view that, if there isn’t a barrier in the real-world, if there isn’t a wall, there shouldn’t be one in our game,” says Fulton. “We want the player to be able to drive wherever he can in the real world.”
Map size:
“So that means that not only is the world of Forza Horizon 2 bigger than the one in Horizon, it also has three times more driveable area; a three-times bigger play space
Content:
“More than 700 events across the world, contributing to, I think a conservative 100 percent completion time of well over 100 hours. We have absolutely packed this game with racing, with non-racing, with discovery, and the ability to just point your car in any direction and just explore. So that’s freedom."
On Multiplayer:
“One of the few things they could do was plot a group GPS route to the other side of the world and they would start racing each other to that point. Rather than sticking to the road they would try to drive it as the crow flies, barrelling across fields and through the forest.
“I lost count of the number of people who came running to my desk over the next few days saying, ‘You’ve gotta include this in the game.’ And that’s how the cross country event was born.”
PGR lives on:
The other change to the second-to-second racing is the Skills system. It was a fun yet ultimately quite peripheral part of the original Forza Horizon, and Fulton agrees. But that’s changing with a little help from PGR.
“I think no game since the PGR series has put style on the same pedestal as winning,” says Fulton. “It’s as important with Forza Horizon 2 to drive with style as it is to win and we’ve put the Skills system front-and-centre in everything you do.”
“Light is a really big deal for us for this game, and the reference points we’ve chosen for this game are famous for their quality of light,” says art director Ben Penrose. “So on this game we didn’t want to leave anything to chance. We didn’t want to give you an impression of what the places are like that we visited and have tried to reproduce. We wanted to model it as accurately as possible and have all that stuff work with the physically based set-up that we’ve got from Forza 5.”
“So what we’ve settled on is a physically accurate model of Earth’s atmosphere,” Penrose grins.
“With Horizon we pushed dynamic lights with the headlights,” says Penrose. “Now every single light in a scene is dynamic, which is only something we’ve been able to achieve with the switch to a next-gen platform.
Removing invisible walls:
But Playground wants to take that further, so the team has torn down the barriers that largely kept us from leaving the road in the original Forza Horizon.
“We’ve taken the view that, if there isn’t a barrier in the real-world, if there isn’t a wall, there shouldn’t be one in our game,” says Fulton. “We want the player to be able to drive wherever he can in the real world.”
Map size:
“So that means that not only is the world of Forza Horizon 2 bigger than the one in Horizon, it also has three times more driveable area; a three-times bigger play space
Content:
“More than 700 events across the world, contributing to, I think a conservative 100 percent completion time of well over 100 hours. We have absolutely packed this game with racing, with non-racing, with discovery, and the ability to just point your car in any direction and just explore. So that’s freedom."
On Multiplayer:
“One of the few things they could do was plot a group GPS route to the other side of the world and they would start racing each other to that point. Rather than sticking to the road they would try to drive it as the crow flies, barrelling across fields and through the forest.
“I lost count of the number of people who came running to my desk over the next few days saying, ‘You’ve gotta include this in the game.’ And that’s how the cross country event was born.”
PGR lives on:
The other change to the second-to-second racing is the Skills system. It was a fun yet ultimately quite peripheral part of the original Forza Horizon, and Fulton agrees. But that’s changing with a little help from PGR.
“I think no game since the PGR series has put style on the same pedestal as winning,” says Fulton. “It’s as important with Forza Horizon 2 to drive with style as it is to win and we’ve put the Skills system front-and-centre in everything you do.”
futurefields
Diamond Member
Nope, no one told me that.
Did anybody tell you not to say anything if you have nothing to say? Cool.
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