Topic: The everything Xbox thread

@ThanosReXXX I only ever had a few games, and aside from Forza Motorsport 4, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic 06, and the Kinect games and the 2012 Olympics, they're all available on Back-Compat. I've still got the 360, but it remains as a DVD player in the main room as those listed games are never played. I think there's a few more to that list, but I've either got them elsewhere or never cared much for them anyway.

@NEStalgia If the video doesn't convey what you're trying to explain to me, then why link to the video at all?
And I wasn't so much the guy trying to get you to buy the X because of the graphics difference, seeing as the discussion back then was PC vs console, in which case the PC would ALWAYS win, graphics-wise, but it was more about convenience and still getting good results regardless, making all the hassle with PC modification/adjusting of settings the bigger negative, regardless of the pros that PC gaming could offer.

But by now, I'm kinda used to people twisting my words, so no offense taken...

@DarkRula So, you're telling me that you've only had a handful of games for the 360, or am I misunderstanding you here? You seemed to imply more games in previous comments.

Either way, it does make it easier to move over to the Xbox One, if there isn't much of interest left anyway, and what IS of interest can be played on the Xbox One, but for me personally, that just isn't the case, so the Xbox 360 is still in active duty in this house, and it is hooked up to the same screen as the Xbox One, so it is quite easy for me to go from one console to the other. They're even designated to the same TV inputs, thanks to an HDMI hub.

If you get over the performance hiccups, messy menus and glitches of the remake, Fable Anniversary is one of the most interesting and enticing games that I have ever played, honestly. It's wonderful.

@ThanosReXXX The games stated in the above comment are those not on Back-Compat. Although I don't think the total amount of games is that much higher. I only started adding to that collection through Back-Compat on the One. Maybe thirty in total before the One. It was a mix of digital and physical for me back then, so I sort of forget what I actually own.

@DarkRula I see. Thanks for the addition. Does make parting with your Xbox 360 much easier than me with mine, though, so I'll keep it around for a little while longer. And to be honest, I actually also like being able to play games without having to install them first...

As for your digital titles: you probably already know, but just in case: all digital Xbox 360 titles that will work on the Xbox One, can be found in your "Ready to install" list under the "My Games & Apps" page.

That way, you also don't have to remember all of them. All Games with Gold downloads will also go there.

Yeah, that I do know.

Drift zones in Forza Horizon 4. Does anyone else feel they've been made harder than the third? Or did I start trying to three star them on one of the hardest in the game? Don't ask how long I spent trying that one near Kingfisher House. I'd rather not think of it.

@DarkRula I hated the drift challenges of the bucket list in FH3. I can drift but not as much as the game expects me to.

The drift zone by Kingfisher House just feels so thin that everything needs to be done right otherwise you'll end up losing out on points. After trying it for so long, I'm surprised that there's a long list of people in the leaderboard who have almost double the amount of points needed to three star it.

@DarkRula What is the name of the challenge in a white van in rainy weather? I still haven't beaten that and it always shows up as a suggestion killing every good vibe I have. You have to be fast, get tons of points and not leave the road for a second. I wish I could erase it from suggestions at least. How do people do this challenge I wonder.

No idea. I haven't touched many of the challenges in FH4 yet, and don't usually take note of the challenge names anyway. But it sounds like a tough one.

@BlueOcean Ah, yes.... The challenges, a lot of which include the infamous barn finds...

In every Horizon game I've played, I've always come across a few that I can't complete myself either.
I always have, and probably always will. Comes with the territory of not having enough time, or not as much time, to play games anymore, because life and all of its more necessary obligations simply takes precedence over hobbies.

And at my age, even if it does seem like I'm putting in a lot of my time, it's STILL not enough.
I simply can't compete with kids and/or younger gamers, who have the luxury of being able to spend next to all of their waking moments honing their skills. I already experienced that sad fact, back in the early days of the Xbox 360, when going online in first person shooters with anyone else other than my friends.
I probably got shot around 10 to 12 times before I'd even have a chance to get a score of my own, let alone get my bearings after being respawned for the umpteenth time...

At some point, I just decided not to be bothered by all of that anymore, so if I go online, it's only with friends, so that matches are still fun to play, and in the case of these challenges in games, I just skip the ones that I can't complete, either until I feel like I've improved, so I can try again, or I simply ignore them for good, adding another unfinished game to the list.

I've got quite the collection of those, unfinished games...

And especially in the case of older games, it's much harder to go back to them and still try to complete them. Also because you'd have to get back into the flow of the game itself, to even be able to make a useful attempt.

Ultimately, what counts for me when gaming, is having fun or feeling good about it. If I have to replay some section or level for WAY too many times, and I still can't improve enough to achieve the required result, then it's time to let go, because by then, it either becomes an obligation, or borders on OCD territory, and that is not what I want games to feel like to me...

Oh, and suggestions are called that for a reason. No need to feel obligated to actually do them, no matter how many times they appear in the list.

Imagine all the unnecessary things we'd buy online, if we agreed with every suggestion that was presented to us...

@DarthNocturnal I'll try that tactic for Forza Horizon 3, I have 1 road left which I can't find and eventually gave up.

By the way, Microsoft announced Project xCloud for 2019. It's the Xbox game streaming service for phones and tablets they briefly mentioned at the end of E3.

@DarkRula It's on FH3.

@ThanosReXXX Man, the suggestion is the first that pops up every time I ask the navigator. It's a useful feature if you don't want to drive aimlessly, but I wish I could ignore that particular one! Or someone will have to come to my house and do it.

Of course I don't expect to beat every game 100%, that's only possible playing a few games or playing 100% of your time as some OCD players do.

@BlueOcean Yeah, I know, but it's still only a suggestion. You've always got multiple options. Just because Forza Horizon's Cortana has the suggestion at the top of the selections, doesn't mean I have to go for that one...

Haha, yeah, I've done that sometimes, with certain parts in shooters such as COD or Gears of War, although often times, doing them in online co-op (or with a friend in spectator mode, giving hints) was already helpful enough...

@ThanosReXXX But every time I ask for things to do that challenge pops up, it's annoying. I don't even know until I'm there because they just guide you there.

@BlueOcean Well, if it still works as in the previous games, then she should tell you beforehand, what it is that she'll show you the quickest route to, so that should help. And of course, the choices are also displayed, next to the directional controls on screen...

EDIT:
Alternatively, you can just skip using the voice operated route planner altogether and use the full screen map to plot your course and look for barn finds, billboards and what not.

@ThanosReXXX "can be found in your "Ready to install" list under the "My Games & Apps" page."

Well this week, anyway. After the patch, "Ready to install" is going away and will become a tab on the My Games page.

Also, yeah it was 1X vs. PC, but also 1X vs Pro. I remember someone sending me comparisons of how much better Shadow of War looks on the 1X, and the importance of the best looking version of the game other than the PC version

FWIW, each day I get closer to settling on 30fps/HQ for FH4. Smooth is really really cool. If I were racing online, smooth would be the way to go. But man, you give up so much wow in the game with turning the gfx options down. Especially with the seasons. Fall is so cool...leaves blowing, trees blowing in the wind, leaves on the road in slick puddles, beading on the windows, it's all so "present"....if you turn it to 60fps, the cars are smoother, but the trees look kind of like sprites, the leaves blowing look ok but kind of non-distinct, the puddles lose that wet feeling the rain feels UI-like and the road/fields feel kind of flat and empty.

60fps is very cool to have and it looks kinda pretty still, but it's all so clinical looking. 30fps looks like watching cars in a movie, but you get to play them. 60fps shows cars moving like real life in a world that looks like an arcade Cool in their own ways, and I haven't given up on 60fps totally, but more and more I feel like the full quality is how "Horizon is meant to be played." They spent a lot of time building beautiful seasons to explore, and 60fps mode just makes it a clinical racer with low-minimum PC spec type graphics. I really great option to have, but I'm not sure it's the ideal way to explore that world. Maybe a great setting after you've seen it all and get bored with it and just want some races though.

@BlueOcean In that case I've probably already done it and forgot about it - unless it was one of those extras not needed for 100% in-game.

@NEStalgia Well, that comment should be a statement to advocate lower frame rates in some other thread,
that I used to be in months ago, about the pros and cons of frame rate or better graphics (but which I now steer clear from, due to all the pig-headed people in it).

As you might know, anything in between 24 and 30fps is often also labeled the so-called movie, or cinematic frame rate, named so because of it being the predominant frame rate in actual movie making. As obvious by now, a frame rate which besides leaving more power for graphics, also allows for a grander scope of things, because of that "movie feel", which compares rather nicely with your own experience in and sentiments about the game.

But of course, we could also say that they have always made Forza Horizon work in 30fps, so it's no mystery that they have now done so again. The 60fps mode is just a nice bonus, but one that comes with a certain trade-off.

The stills (apparently) don't do it justice, though, because I really wasn't all that impressed and/or shocked, while looking at those comparison shots in that EuroGamer article, so that isn't going to persuade me that 60fps is ugly. At worst, a little bit less pretty, in my opinion. But not by much at all.

On a side note: this IS the first Forza Horizon game built from the ground up with X as the lead platform, so there's that...

And EuroGamer doesn't seem to agree with your choice of "going for pretty" either, seeing as they specifically mention that going back from 60fps feels like such a downgrade in racing feel, that it feels hard to pass up, so to each their own, I suppose. Which does make having the choice a really nice thing.

Concerning My Apps and Games: doesn't really matter much, since the Ready to install list was already always accessed by first going to that page anyway. At least, that's how I always do it anyway.

In the whole 1X vs PC vs Pro debate, I did post a couple of Digital Foundry comparisons (none of them Shadow of War, though, so that was someone else), so I guess I kinda did join in there, but I was never under any illusion, nor was I trying to persuade people, that console graphics could at any current point in time surpass PC graphics.

But convenience, and near-instant plug and play is a MASSIVE bonus to me, one that I would gladly trade a little less polish in the graphics department for...

@ThanosReXXX LOL, yeah. In most games I'm an advocate for 60fps. You'd think I would be in a racing game. But I think it's the combination of they did such impressive work on the visuals combined with their impressively rock solid 30fps and impressive use of motion blur that makes it feel totally solid. I think 30fps gets a bad rep because most games that are "30fps" actually play at 20fps at least a quarter of the time, and the unsteady frame-rate is really noticeable. Horizon 4 is 30fps, rock solid, and that helps a lot. OTOH an action game like Bayonetta would be awful below 60fps....taht smooth motion is important in a game where the camera is all over the place. In a racer the camera is wherever you're pointing.

Yeah the stills while showing a stark visual difference, IMO, I think with the game, in motion, what stands out at lower detail (when you're not stopping to gawk...which you do do) is just the overall LoD and density. Feeling like a real street with real fields on the side versus "the flat ground texture to the right". The immersion just doesn't happen at 60. Certainly it has pros and cons, but it's noticeable to me in the way I'm pulled into the world and want to play with and interact with the objects around me. In quality mode I was smashing fences just for the fun of it....the effect is so cool, and the scattered pieces everywhere are fun. The world invites you to mess with it more. 60fps just makes you want to race. The world doesn't become the main character anymore, your car is.

I don't disagree with EG. Droping to 30 from 60 does feel like a downgrade at first in racing. But the immersion and interaction with the world are upgraded. The flip side is also true, 30 to 60 is immediately smooth but the world feels less inviting, and I don't feel the need to interact with it as much, just fast travel to the next race.

Ready to Install: Now you'll just go to your big alphabetical list of games itself, and there's some toggle to show the ready to install ones. I don't actually like that change but they're playing it up like a big cool thing.

And no, of course 1X couldn't surpass PC. PC can do higher quality FH4 and do it all at 60fps...that's always a perk there if you're willing to spend the $$$$ and frustration. I do agree on the convenience (and thermal output!)