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Topic: The everything Xbox thread

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NEStalgia

@Grumblevolcano You say this as I need to add about 5 games to my backlog just this week....

@ThanosRexxx btw I ended up re-buying Earthlock since it was on sale 33% off on Switch which is where I should have bought it in the first place but didn't realize it was on there.

NEStalgia

Ryu_Niiyama

@NEStalgia I agree with IV sucking (Edward stole some clothes and somehow sidestepped the whole training aspect...wait what?!)

I like III but I like Connor and I know half the world doesn't. His dad and Charles Lee can fall down a well.
Altair was a donkey in 1 and then a message bearer in revelations. Ezio was pretty much just there to function as an email client to Desmond. The others were messengers as well mostly.

I'll grant you that the AC's plot is a bit jagged but in part because it was a PoP game first before they spun it off into its own thing. (also losing writers is terrible and the best example of that is ME2-A) When I talk about the modern/Isu plot I speak within the context of the games and AC:Odyssey still messes that up. The animus is designed to view genetic memory if the dna is corrupt then it either skips around or mashes up existing memories. But it is a viewer, not a simulation. That is why the dysync thing worked the way it did. If you were doing things that your ancestor didn't do it couldn't show an alternative scenario...it just booted you out. It's not a holodeck...it can't conceptualize anything. Hence linear story (with the added full sync nodes but that is more you didn't follow the memory completely rather than the fact that you just either sucked at the time trials or didn't get all the collectibles or whatever because this is a video game.

Syndicate was already playing a little fast and loose but the similar genetic markers between siblings accounts for two people with a linear story line (hence the lockouts were you are stuck with Jacob) in lore that covers why Ubi didnt want a mainline (key is mainline) female protag. They are ok with a deuter but even in marketing and the cover Evie is off to the side.

However lets go back to in game reasoning. Even if you take the Abstergo (Making a videogame for public consumption ...even though why would they make anything that shows the assassins in a positive light but ok) with the most recent AC games, Layla has an animus. So again no conceptualization but it should just view memories (so no RPG elements) I understand that Ubi is soft rebooting the franchise, but just the same way ME2 did it.. It breaks lore (and since that is why I am playing it makes me not want that game aside from the surface reasons I stated earlier. But that is just a sign of desperation on my part (female protag, homosexual relationships, greece) , not a good narrative on ubisoft's.

The dna being corrupted doesn't hold water. You don't have enough genetic material to tell biological sex but I'm supposed to accept that a full (multi choice) narrative can come from this? and if both people were present during the events but not in the same space they should have different memories (As in this should be 2 games, one with Alexios' story and one with Kassandra's if you are going to use the two dna sources excuse) also if the the dna is so corrupted/fragmented that the animus has to fill in gaps (which it can't in lore unless you count the subject 16 stuff. ..and that didn't look like a world at all) then how is this useful information? How does Layla know that she can trust that it will lead her to more Isu information? It breaks lore. Now before you go "this is game, Ryu chill" I look at what is presented. If you present a world with a lore I expect you to abide by it. I don't analyze mario...cuz there is nothing to analyze. But ME or AC I'm going to tear that apart because the writers promised world building.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't ignore Liberation or Evie in Syndicate and quite frankly if all the AC games had a deuter be it male or female then I wouldn't care so much. I would still long for a female to be the protag but I would understand (Because lore would back it up) Lucy was almost one but she is still just a plot device. Her job is to advance Desmond as an assassin and (via dlc) advance Juno's plot (I really hate the modern thing of putting major plot in comics and dlc...just stop it EA and Ubi...and capcom). Ubi has come a long way from not being able to "animate the female anatomy properly"...but I still want an assassin's game that focuses on a female protag (by the time I'm 80 there will be one about a lesbian and it will just be her back story and not player choice...same as heterosexual protags that I have to suffer though. I'm asking for ONE, not trying to take over the world with an "agenda").

Despite Kassandra being canon she was not featured in the majority of the marketing and she is on the reversible cover...(she should have been the main cover with Alexios as the reversible). (the only way i can get a statue of her is ubisoft's store and ....gamestop. but I can get alexios' all day long). Also again my issue with sex select games (since social gender is now considered interchangeable with biological gender/sex I will have to say sex because I am not dealing with that nonsense) is that the female character is not a female character that is treated like a woman in her time period the game treats her like a male default and they just use female pronouns. Now in a lot of situations...that works (we are all humans after all) but when it doesn't, as a woman it is jarring (and a bit insulting).

Granted, I also blame the use of voice acting. If devs have to devote time/money/resources to everything that goes with Voice acting...dialog gets streamlined. Look at the dialog in a bioware game before voice acting and after...heck look at it with voiced npcs and silent protag and then when everybody speaks. Dialogue shrinks...a lot. So you can't put in those nuances.

Also without Juno the Assassins vs Templars story grinds to a halt (imo). The templars are winning.... like absolutely winning. They are wiping out assassins cells left and right, turning assassins to their side.... and the assassins are not regrouping fast enough. (I guess they can make the sage the villain...which given one of the current sages...that could get... um interesting)

As for isu tech. They are our gods litteraly. Humanity was created to be chattle we are essentially domesticated dogs mad in their image. (That they can breed with) Tech so advanced to appear as magic. I think the isu story only works with some sort of human narrative in conjunction. Since they aren’t literal gods. Just the Architect. Lol.

"Holy heck can you imagine the political fallout of a game daring to treat any differently a female protag versus a male protag? One changed line would have Kotaku and Polygon ranting, demanding apologies, CNN would pick it up. That would never get past legal. Blame the politically correct mob. Women are just men in different clothes (if so chosen), didn't you know? I agree with you, but given the poo-storm of political knee-jerk reactions to this stuff, they probably made the right (safe) call. Even if anyone with sense knows it's stupid."

-yeah and that is why I am a second wave/radical feminist instead of this-snowflake-but-everybody-is-the-same-becuase-biology-doesn't-exist-cuz-of-my-feelings-and-we-all-have-sexual-kinks-for-male-titlation-rather-than-female-agency-and-autonomy that is current liberal feminism (Which is fast eroding women's rights as is but this is not the time or place for that.)

Edited on by Ryu_Niiyama

Taiko is good for the soul, Hoisa!
Japanese NNID:RyuNiiyamajp
Team Cupcake! 11/15/14
Team Spree! 4/17/19
I'm a Dream Fighter. Perfume is Love, Perfume is Life.

3DS Friend Code: 3737-9849-8413 | Nintendo Network ID: RyuNiiyama

NEStalgia

@Ryu_Niiyama I think you're the only person that actually likes Connor The Brick. It's a good thing you don't also like the DualShock, otherwise we'd have a real problem.....

I still like Altair. He was unlikable but he was supposed to be unlikable. His status and position as master assassin though made him interesting. I liked the sense of he's the best there is even though he's a total jerk and everyone hates him but his arrogance tripped him up and now he's starting from scratch even though he's really the best. It was much better than all the later protagonists that were pretty much ill fated spoiled little boys that stumbled into being assassin's, a random pirate, and wannabe revolutionary siblings. Aveline was really the only other quasi-seriously-trained assassin in the franchise until Origins. And while I like him, he's a retcon that's now the first assassin even though it makes less sense, but there was no formal training. Only Altair had the true "member of the guild" kind of status.

Well technically with the anime story, all the historical characters are just Minerva's email clients to Desmond....at least in the Desmond arc. In a sense that's the point, but it's also what sucked about the whole aliens triangle.

Animus as a concept was borked after AC1. It almost towed the line through the main #2, but by the time it got to Brotherhood they'd lost the whole concept. Once it left the lab and become a portable display unit it really stopped making sense.

Yeah, I don't get playing down the second character particularly with Syndicate. Odysey, ok it's just a gender choice but they're not really different characters technically but Syndicate was two distinct characters. I'm not sure if that was Ubi not showcasing a female character, or Ubi avoiding stealth gameplay even in the marketing The cynic in me says its the latter. If Jacob were the ghost maybe Evie would have been the prominent character. Or maybe it's a French thing. It's probably a French thing.

I'm not certain the RPG elements are really part of the "lore". I don't think you're really playing as Layla "playing" the Animus. They flipped it around. You're living Bayek/KasAlex original life, thus the RPG choices. Layla is passively watching you (Bayek/KasAlex) from the "future". At least that's how I interpret it. Or it's the only way it makes sense. Playing to match up a former life was the original game's idea, but relaly since then we've been playing the actual ancient person, not the memory of them. Or so it seems? See this is why I hate "looorre!" everyone interprets everything differently. (Sorry dark souls!)

But I think that's the thing, it makes no sense to you because you interperet they've changed the lore of the animus and Layla/Patient is interacting with the historical world because we're Layla/Patient. I don't think that's it. We're not playing the present character reliving the past like in AC1/Desmond. We're playing the past character's life, the modern day Layla/Patient in the present is a side story that isn't us (well ok we control them in their own scenes but you know what I mean.) Thus they didn't break the animus lore, they've just shelved it almost entirely as a functional component of the game, but it presumably works the way we knew it works. Or maybe it's Animus 4.0 that does offer simulation (no reason to believe we're still in the decade old AI-less Abstergo model, is there? That would also make sense lore-wise. Maybe it interpolates where the original couldn't? )

Is Kassandra really the canon protag or is it truly split? Because you're right all the marketing is Alex and I assumed he was the main and Kass was a doppleganger as a result. If she ever was to be canon, it's as though they reversed that decision.

"(since social "

The fact that this sentence needs to exist at all is the reason we can't have nice things. And probably the reason Alex is on the cover because safe is good business.

" female character is not a female character that is treated like a woman in her time period the game treats her like a male default and they just use female pronouns. "

And that follows the previous. I agree, that it makes no sense. In a modern context, ME, CoD etc it makes some sense based on actual military etc. But AC, the Battlefield nonsense, it just bugs me when the historical context is rewritten to suit modern political correctness. Call me crazy but I like even historical fiction to be period accurate. But for business..... political correctness dictates that there must not ever be differentiation between genders (social, physical....none of the seventeen genders should be ever seen portrayed differently than any other.) For a business, nobody's going to step on that landmine. So the male and female choice are the exact same character in accordance with modern expectation.

Good point about voice acting. No doubt they get a budget and are tallied on a cost-per-line basis. Especially at EA with ME they probably told them exactly how many lines they may have from a budget planning body.

I'm still not sure how good an idea it is to have a series about roughly historically accurate time periods and an ancient conflict of two secret groups that spans to today and explain the purpose and methods of the entire thing as:
Untitled

NEStalgia

NEStalgia

I mean....how...just.....how can anyone like Connor? If he were transported to the future he'd spend every day whining about how the WiiU was short changed and Switch has no third party games and paying for nothing means NSO will fail.

NEStalgia

Ryu_Niiyama

@DarthNocturnal Sorry, you know how we get.

Taiko is good for the soul, Hoisa!
Japanese NNID:RyuNiiyamajp
Team Cupcake! 11/15/14
Team Spree! 4/17/19
I'm a Dream Fighter. Perfume is Love, Perfume is Life.

3DS Friend Code: 3737-9849-8413 | Nintendo Network ID: RyuNiiyama

Ryu_Niiyama

@NEStalgia I'm going to excuse that you just called Connor sliggy (or whomever the resident dude downer/negative nathan is). Aveline was actually an interesting protag, but she is in a sideline game with horrible controls (HD is better but still) Yet if Odyssey had done the same I would not be complaining (provided both were full games) as I would have just bought Kassandra edition and both she and Alexios would have gotten fleshed out character arcs. Please understand I personally feel that narratives that focus on a sex select protag (that interacts and is not a slate like Link or skyrim or whatever) hurt both...but they hurt the female protag more on the virtue of usually the character is written by a man and as an afterthought (that is the real face of pandering). What gets me is it isn't needed. We have games where a female protag stands on her own (TR reboot, Mirrors Edge, Remember me, even if I'm the only one that played it, Horizon, Wet (well not the best narrative but it was funny), heavenly sword etc and men don't burn down dev studios (granted they don't sale as well for the men that don't want to play as a woman, but hey I don't play god of war games Kratos embodies everything I hate about male machismo so I don't begrudge any dude that doesn't want to step into a woman's shoes. Give me more games where I can say the same about men. Not in a I hate dudes, but I've had to play male stories for the better part of 30 years... I don't want to do that unless it is a good story or I can ignore him.)

Again this is for characters that are narrative driven. Blank slates don't matter because you are playing a piece of cardboard. That's why I didn't like the character select for FO4 either. As it's lukewarm. You give a very detailed backstory (age, occupation, sexual orientation, family) to a character that is supposed to be a blank slate... it still alienates people especially since that isn't enough to make a distinct character narrative...it is just enough to make the blank narrative no longer yours to mold. TES does it better. You are a prisoner and the chosen one (since this is a video game) but that's it. Everything else is up to you. Why did your Dragonborn go to Skyrim? Well mine did because she is the granddaughter of the Heroine of Kavatch (pretty sure I spelled that wrong) and is on the run from the Thalmor that wish to use her bloodline for political gain after they killed her family. I like to be able to fill in the gaps and motivations. And if it is a narrative with a fleshed out character I like to see it tailored to the character.

Altair's brotherhood was never billed as the first. Just the jump point that Abstergo and Ezio for that matter used for more information. They always established that the templars Assassin feud was older than Altair's group. Also agreed that Altair was a redeemable arrogant jerk. Ezio never shook the self centered privileged aspect... he is bruce wayne...his pain is greater than anyone else's while he ignores that while he endured a trauma he is still wealthy and of high social status....and that means something. — #id--Altair-s-brotherhood-was-never-billed-as-the-first-Just-the-jump-point-that-Abstergo-and-Ezio-for-that-matter-used-for-more-infomation-They-always-established-that-the-templars-Assassin-feud-was-older-than-Altair-s-group-Also-agreed-that-Altair-was-a-redeemable-arrogant-jerk-Ezio-never-shook-the-self-centered-privileged-aspect-he-is-bruce-wayne-his-pain-is-greater-than-anyone-else-s-while-he-ignores-that-while-he-endured-a-trauma-he-is-still-wealthy-and-of-high-social-status-and-that-means-something

...I may get flamed for this but you find a technologically advanced precursor race (not aliens) with the ability to create mass hallucinations farfetched as opposed to an invisible unknowable creator (except maybe when you die but there is NO evidence of that at all) that doesn't interact with the world at all. HOW many religious people are there in the world because their parents raised them to think that way? ... .... ..... um. ok....

According to the ubisoft it was Kassandra that is canon and she will be in the book and then they kinda went...there is no right or wrong answer, something something corrupted dna... I'll look for some links once I'm done with work.

The issue isn't political correctness it is appropriation. That never ends well for anyone. (I'd go into detail but we have hijacked this thread enough.) The real form of PC (which is dont be a jerk) is fine. Its when you can be a jerk to this person when you cant be to this person but you can tell that person that you know more about their plight than they do. ...............
However you are correct, companies will do what they must to keep the money flowing. But it is stifling and one of the reasons I don't consider videogames to be an artform.

Not done but work is getting busy. will edit later. This is going to be stream of consciousness until i can edit. so take it as you will.

Edited on by Ryu_Niiyama

Taiko is good for the soul, Hoisa!
Japanese NNID:RyuNiiyamajp
Team Cupcake! 11/15/14
Team Spree! 4/17/19
I'm a Dream Fighter. Perfume is Love, Perfume is Life.

3DS Friend Code: 3737-9849-8413 | Nintendo Network ID: RyuNiiyama

Ryu_Niiyama

@DarthNocturnal NES and I tend to argue about 6 points per debate that's why the walls are so big. I started coming to the forums less to curb that...but there are a few members that draw me into conversation. (all in good fun I love to debate and discuss as long as you don't insult me)

Taiko is good for the soul, Hoisa!
Japanese NNID:RyuNiiyamajp
Team Cupcake! 11/15/14
Team Spree! 4/17/19
I'm a Dream Fighter. Perfume is Love, Perfume is Life.

3DS Friend Code: 3737-9849-8413 | Nintendo Network ID: RyuNiiyama

NEStalgia

Ooofff..... Trying to download horizon 4 with game pass.....400kbps to 1.2 mbps download speeds...... Normally it's 250+mbps for me. well there's a 1 hour download turned into a 3 day download........ They must be getting hammered. Or my isp is throttling it hard after the weird login issues but speed test are fine and split second downloaded normal speed yesterday. This must be ms getting positively nailed on horizon launch day.

NEStalgia

NEStalgia

@Ryu_Niiyama ohhh breaking out the po'd Nocci Avatar? Someone must have done something....

I'll reply to the rest later witha real keyboard

NEStalgia

Dezzy

Ryu_Niiyama wrote:

— #id--Altair-s-brotherhood-was-never-billed-as-the-first-Just-the-jump-point-that-Abstergo-and-Ezio-for-that-matter-used-for-more-infomation-They-always-established-that-the-templars-Assassin-feud-was-older-than-Altair-s-group-Also-agreed-that-Altair-was-a-redeemable-arrogant-jerk-Ezio-never-shook-the-self-centered-privileged-aspect-he-is-bruce-wayne-his-pain-is-greater-than-anyone-else-s-while-he-ignores-that-while-he-endured-a-trauma-he-is-still-wealthy-and-of-high-social-status-and-that-means-something

James Joyce, is that you?

It's dangerous to go alone! Stay at home.

NEStalgia

Wow Horizon 4 is truly excellent. Sure, it's just more of Horizon and it still feels like more Horizon, but it's the little things. The physics model appears to have been updated to be much more similar to Motorsport 7, and that's a huuge deal. Especially with most assists off cars feel a lot weightier. It really handles well and the world design so far is gorgeous. Opponent racers feel more "grid race" like rather than random smatterings of opponents too....I think a lot of 7 made it's way into Horizon 4, and that's a good thing. Plus the music is just great (3 didn't have the best selection IMO.)

Of course it's "more of the same" but it's a better version of more of the same. Shame, Split Second and Stuntman were handouts but they seem uninteresting to even look at while Horizon 4 is new.

Only thing I can't decide is if I prefer the pretty mode of the 60fps mode on the X. 60fps is so buttery and wonderfully smooth and I love it. But pretty mode is soooo dang purdy. It's a harder decision than I thought.

NEStalgia

NEStalgia

@DarthNocturnal It's a harder call than I imagined. The Quality mode is easily some of the best visuals I've ever seen in an open world game. It makes me want to stick with it and the plus is it's not a control downgrade from past Forza Horizon since they were always 30fps.

OTOH as soon as you put it on 60fps it feels like VR....and everything feels like it's moving faster. It's smooth and responsive and I love it. BUT the visuals take a notable hit. The whole "this looks like the real world!" thing drops back to looking like an arcade video game more or less. In races if you're looking above the asphalt you're playing wrong, so it doesn't matter much.....but the joy of just roaming around and looking at the world is diminished IMO. Yet dropping back to 30 FPS feels amazingly slow and choppy after a race at 60.

It's a really hard call. For actual "Events" 60 all the way. But for free roam I think I prefer 30 with full gfx. But you have to restart the game to change.

NEStalgia

NEStalgia

@Ryu_Niiyama And yet Connor is exactly how I picture Sliggy.....

I don't think who writes a character matters much, they either do a good job or poor job writing the character. But I do agree a "pick your character" that's not either two distinct characters or a blank slate or semi blank slate (Destiny 2 or Saints Row that has a variety of a few selectable kinda slate characters isn't really the same) really ends up with an awkward character more than a predefined character. Though I'm not always certain it matters. In a historical game it matters as the two would have had a different experience entirely. In a modern setting game (M/F Shepard in ME) I don't think it matters much at all.....in that context there's little reason to feel the situation or interactions would have played too differently (though I can't imagine the alien races interacting with human females without some odd results....but unlike Ubisoft, I can ignore aliens ) So on the surface I don't think "no matter the character's nature: This is the story of what happened to him/her" is problematic. But if you throw them in the ancient world....yeah....no way the two stories would be similar so it tends to feel odd. But it pleases the political advocates.

You know I've still never played a GoW game other than like 20 minutes and found it boring. "Papa Kratos" seems different from old Kratos though, so who knows. I'm looking forward to it, but I never saw old Kratos as anything other than Hulk Smash comic fare.

That said it sounds like you go all in on fanfic, lore, creating a head-canon out of a story before stepping into it so that would all be more impactful. For me, I don't do that. Lore and such never really appeals to me, I don't do the background comics, I just rely on what's in the game. My high elf in Skyrim isn't the product of some intricate backstory in my head, his story begins on the prison wagon, and he is the Chosen One.....I might create some head story between in-game events but I never really go beyond that, and anything else applied to it I kind of just draw it as being "me" rather than inventing a fictional character arc. So yeah I woudn't have as much issue with the starting point in that situation. (Yeah, that's some srs. role playing you do )

Ezio as Bruce Wayne...I never thought of it but you're right! Good analogy. I like him a lot more than you, but he's also not the end-all to me. And I still think Altair is a lot more interesting. They never said Altair's was the original but....it was the Masyaf stronghold....based in the Hashashin, the origin of the very word assassin. Led by Al Mualim...one of the actual Hashashin leaders. It kind of made sense if you're going to make an assassin game, set in Masyaf led by Al Mualim that that's kind of the starting point of the future events....it's a little weird that it's not now. And it breaks the "wow we're playing history!" factor of the game.

Well the precursor aliens don't really compete with religions though as religion is an attempt to explain the origins of life, the universe and everything. The precursor aliens still needed to have been created just as humans did somehow, they're just a randomly meddlesome middleman. I.E. whether or not one believes in precursor aliens interfering as ancient dieties doesn't replace or conflict with any creation theories at all. And while some explanation of the existence of live, the universe, and everything exists somehow, so whether it's random particle collision, an all powerful diety, or a non linearity of temporal mechanics, we created ourselves in the future of the past, and I'm my own grandpa somehow the universe definitely was created. Aliens posing as gods on the other hand doesn't have to have happened (not saying it didn't, just saying I don't know that was the right thematic choice for a game about secret guilds in the 4th century and the present day continuation of the conflict..... )

Interesting if Kass is canon. I'd play as her if she's canon but I get the feeling they went back on that idea given the marketing. And the Amazon Alexios. (I'm not kidding, did you see that? I'm mortified to be both a gamer and an amazon customer now.)

Whatever "political correctness" once meant, it's no longer merely don't be a jerk so much as it is an almost centralized program of speech and thought censorship that prescribes specific lines of speech, specific grievances, accepted boiler plate ideals and values that all must pretend to adopt and enthusiastically support even if they don't, and any deviation is ostracized. Speech control for a harmonious society (by force if needed.) As with most things that rely on force or shouting down others, what started as Good Intentions(TM) to define things that bothered people became a platform for a range of enforcement of harmony through control of speech. For businesses it becomes imperative then to always stay up to date with the latest word list and acceptable terms to never offend anyone. Public discourse reads like a Corporate Trademark Usage Guidebook. And everything is "unoffensive" by being sanitized of any meaning at all. Like Kassandra and Alex here. But if anything had any actual inspiration then one group or another gets offended at it. Best to avoid inspiration. Just use the boiler plate templates that are pre-approved! It's bland but there's no backlash!

Still, is art really art either? Commercial art is still commercial and adheres to the same garbage. And "independent" art is either unheard of and remains obscure or is not different from independent games. Anyone that makes any statement by not towing the approved thoughts, is sure to be shouted down and their lives destroyed. I posted in the (horrible) violence in gaming thread that we're in the post-science world....real science isnt done anymore, just justification for predetermined results. Maybe it's also the post-art world, no free art exists without the destruction of the artists. And in a post-science, post-art world, what is it? Sounds like an authoritarian "utopia". Perhaps that's what it is. Subjugation of thought of the people, by the people, for the harmony of the people.

MM11 and Forza was yesterday. AC: Societal Analysis tonight I think! I'll probably play Alexios. I blame society.

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia Ah, I see you have a nice discussion going, so I'm feeling entirely within my rights, and totally not embarrassed or uncomfortable, to add a text wall of my own making to it...

"ended up re-buying Earthlock on Switch"

Aha, you did huh? Well, guess that saves me the trouble of asking if you still like it, after your initial struggles with the slowness of the beginning of the game. Seems like it has really grown on you, and even to such an extent (apparently) for you to double dip, no less...

And from here on out, it only gets better. Tinkering with the skill trees of your characters can already be a quite time-consuming activity, as is the growing and collecting of plants and herbs to make ammo and special ability weapons with, but I'll not spoil anything about the interesting plot.

Nice to see that the game has found another fan, though. I think it deserves all the support and credit that it can get, and who knows? Perhaps that will even lead to a sequel.

I see you've downloaded Split/Second too. Good man, wise decision. I'm all but sure that you're gonna love it to bits, what with it being such a marvelously over the top arcade racer. Been playing it myself again as well, since the whole mention of the game. I have the original physical version on the Xbox 360 and on PC, and thanks to Games with Gold, I also have the digital version, which I've now also installed on the Xbox One.

And it runs smooth as butter on the Xbox One S, so I suspect it will run even better on the X, although it could of course be that they only did some general improvements that work for all models, but it's still a great game regardless.

As for me, I'm semi-embarrassed to have to admit that I haven't been able to stick to my own words concerning games. Although it's slightly off-topic, it's still about games, so here goes:

One of my regular online game shops had a rather nice discount on Wii U titles, so I just couldn't help myself.
I probably should go look for a Gamers Anonymous initiative or something...

Art Academy Atelier - €5 ($5.76)
Devil's Third - €12 ($13.82)
FAST Racing Neo (Nintendo eShop Selects) - €18 ($20.73)
LEGO City Undercover (Nintendo Selects) - €18 ($20.73)
Mario Tennis Ultra Smash - €12 ($13.82)
Star Fox Zero - €8 ($9.21)

Luckily, the funds reserved for things like these are now well and truly exhausted, so that will at least keep me from buying any other stuff for at least a month or two...

@NEStalgia and @Ryu_Niiyama Aw, you people...
On the one hand, a bit of a logical discussion, on the other hand, sorry miss Niiyama, it's games, not REAL history. I can completely understand some of your more elaborate gripes, except for me, and probably for most people, games are meant as an escape from reality, NOT a reflection of it.

As such, political correctness and gender equality should not even be a topic in that respect, no offense.
And I truly HATE political correctness in general. I think we should relabel the positive form of it, because the only version I've ever encountered, is the negative one, so even the mention of the term already makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in absolute horror, so that's the most predominant emotion that I feel when somebody mentions anything to do with political correctness. In real life especially, I feel it's almost always ambiguous, or quite appropriately so, politically motivated.

These kinds of practices in games, and in other aspects of life, can be truly disruptive and even destructive. Sticking to games, I can still vividly remember the whole Resident Evil 5 discussion, and it annoys, no DISGUSTS me to this day, because entire tribes of SJW's decided that the game was racist, because you were shooting African zombies, so apparently, it was white against black violence in their eyes.

First off, the entire origins of zombies IS African, and second, and of course most obvious: it's a damn game, not a documentary or real life soap. And what disgusts me most about it, is that in all likelihood, it actually managed to scare away people from playing the game, or at the very least made them feel WAY too conscious about the fact that they were "shooting black people", possibly making for quite the disconnected experience, completely taking away from the ACTUAL premise of the game, which couldn't be further removed from racial violence, even if it tried...

But if we're going to look at the positive side of it, and the possibilities instead of the obstructions, then where AC is concerned, in regards to sociopolitical themes, such as same gender relations and female rights and/or strength, then we have to look no further than keeping the series in the era that it is now, because Greeks were most certainly not against those things, so it offers options that they can build upon, even if they haven't done so yet. And of course, Greek lore and legends talk about many strong women, the Amazons probably being the most famous example... Just imagine a female assassin living (and loving) amongst a tribe like that. Might even come close to what you seem to be looking for.

And then there's the Romans: for them, it was more like everything goes, so that would offer even more options...

But all kidding aside, they too had many strong women, and the same could actually also be said for the Egyptians, so with these three eras/realms, they should have more than enough source material to take/make stories from, for many more games to come. But of course, there's also a reason for moving into other areas and eras, because you wouldn't want to allow the series to become stale. (although it arguably already is for some people) Otherwise, they could just have kept to Jerusalem, and just let the series jump through time.

And besides, they could also have an Assassin in modern times as well, so there's actually quite a lot of space in between the first game and the current age we live in, to make stories from, even if they WOULD have stuck to Jerusalem.

Anyway, hope you didn't mind me butting in, and I hope I didn't ruffle your feathers to much. Just my two cents, basically...

@DarthNocturnal Expert tip from your resident Mad Titan: if you don't want to have a mountain dropped on you in a conversation, don't have a discussion with the Hulk...

@DarkRula No external drive yet? Or were you talking past tense? On the X, you're definitely going to need one, since with the 4K textures and game sizes, the internal hard drive is going to be full in next to no time at all...

And on the regular or S model, hard drives can be filled pretty easily as well, once you start to download all the free stuff that comes with an Xbox Live subscription, and the dozens of free to play/free to start games that you can get from the marketplace.

I got this one last week for my Xbox One S:
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Game-Drive-Xbox-Special/dp/B07...
There's also a green version:
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Game-Drive-Green-STEA4000402/d...
And if you just HAVE to have it in black, because it just matches better with the X, then there's this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Portable-External-Drive-WDBCR...

Gonna bookcase this text wall, with you, @NEStalgia...

Oh, the troubles of the first world people: how to play their games while pondering the age-old (well, in this modern century anyways) discussion about beautiful looks over frame rate...

From what you've described, Horizon 4 still looks beautiful either way, except less so in 60fps mode. But how much less? Equal to 3, or more like 2? Or more like the Xbox 360 version of 2? All of those are still beautiful to me, so that might persuade me personally to go for 60fps, even though I'm not even one of those "60fps or unplayable" types, as you know...

But then again: I don't even notice the frame rate, most of the time, unless the dips are real easy to discern for the average Joe, and not just for the frame rate aficionados. I'm no average Joe by any means, but in regards to not being able to see single frame drops (or even if I do, and then not being bothered by them at ALL), I actually am.

And a game is supposed to look like a game, so if it is noticeably "less purdy", then that still wouldn't bother me,
if the smoother gameplay more than makes up for it. Sure, a sim should be realistic, but as we all know, that realism is more reserved for Forza Motorsport, whereas Horizon is its more arcadey little brother, so ultimate realism isn't really a prerequisite there, regardless of whether it makes the game look prettier or not.

And besides, once you're racing along at breakneck speeds, you shouldn't even have time to take notice of all the pretty environments anyways, much less if the falling leaves on the ground look less defined or not...

Phew! Okay, I'm done for the day. Time to watch some late night TV before getting some shut eye and move on to the next day...

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

ThanosReXXX

@DarthNocturnal Haha, yeah, I can imagine. Personally, I'm never too bothered, or impressed by text walls.
But I do agree with you on topics dragging on too long. I always like to either get to a point of compromise, or a gentlemen's agreement of agreeing not to agree, but online communication either sometimes make that impossible, or people simply lack the social skills to accept or get that.

Luckily, this community here, is one of the better ones I've ever been a part of, so I can take the occasional hit or two, even if they do come. I've already survived quite a few trolls here, and I'm not even remotely under the impression that I'm done with that and that there will be no more trolls or socially inept people in the years to come.

But I'll handle them, just as I handled the previous ones...

Oh, and unless it's something negative or inflammatory, NEVER regret speaking your mind. It's actually words unsaid that bother and (negatively) influence the human mind the most...

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

Banjo-

What do you want, history or gender parity? Because they are not compatible...

However, I agree with @ThanosReXXX. Games are not supposed to be historically accurate. Assassin's Creed tries to be credible and you can learn history just by playing the games while checking names and historical events on Wikipedia, but that's it. Animus doesn't really exist.

I dislike political correctness too and hypocrisy in general and I don't believe that we are better people, the only difference between people from the past and us is that we were born in the 20-21st century in Western countries, but even Romans and Greeks were more open-minded in some regards than our hypocrite society of stereotypes cursed by Catholic and similar religions.

By the way, @DarthNocturnal doesn't regret talking his mind because of fear or shame, but because the long replies might not satisfy him but he doesn't feel like explaining everything in detail either. You can thank me later. I don't mind explaining the same things to some extent, unless I am talking with @NEStalgia.

Edited on by Banjo-

Banjo-

NEStalgia

@DarthNocturnal you've unfortunately entered the trifecta triangle of text wallers I'm afraid. Me, thanos, and ryu are the articulate bunch who make sure to really flesh out our discussion points. Just be glad ralek isn't here. He outdoes us easily. And never, ever, ever mention HDR to him..... Even I've bailed out of THOSE text walls

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@BlueOcean Ehm... thanks for agreeing, but I have to apply the smallest of corrections there: I actually don't mind if games are historically correct, and if they're based upon a certain source material, then they had better be, or else people familiar with that source material might be taken out of their immersion in that game.

It's more that I agree with characters not being pasted into games (and the game's story line or premise subsequently being altered because of that, to fit the character), just for the sake of being politically correct, or to try and appease more than one group of players. If I decyphered @NEStalgia's text walls correctly, that is also part of what he mentioned, or at least hinted at.

@NEStalgia I saw Ralek having a blast in the comments section of the article on "violent games create violent behavior". Best to let sleeping dogs lie, indeed...

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

DarkRula

@ThanosReXXX I don't have an external drive and don't intend to get one. I can manage with the extra file sizes, even with just a TB of storage. I'm not a hoarder of games, after all.

Now onto the roster of Horizon 4 so everything has opened up. I love being back in summer.

DarkRula

3DS Friend Code: 4253-3513-2745 | Nintendo Network ID: DarkRula

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