Topic: The everything Xbox thread

Nabbed the 2 barn finds and my overall in-game completion now reads 100%.
Back to Horizon 4.

@DarthNocturnal Okay, you got me there. And truth be told, previous outings of both Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport games have had some bonus vehicles that would in real life never even come close to qualifying as a serious option for a contender in a race with high end sports cars and muscle cars...

I mean, come on:

And even some ATV's and pickups wouldn't be much use in real life races:



But then again: I guess that's exactly the fun part of these games. And perhaps for some people, also learning about the existence of some of these weird cars in the first place...

@thanosrexxx well I won't fully reply in details because then we'll keep the text wall going. I'll just say I strongly disagree with your disagreement. Yeah yeah, I know you're an S&M professional, bound by the creed, tied up in the examples, whipped into the status quo. It's a leathery topic. But this is less of an S&M topic and more of a business model/platform life cycle thing.

As a consumer I'd love for them to say "here's your new xbox for the next 6-7 years." I also know that's unlikely to happen, because everything about the industry model, the needs/wishes of the publishers and industry partners including retail, the trajectory of software deployment, etc. etc. is screaming to end the idea of console generations. Every industry voice that has a voice wants to leave that model behind, from Gamestop to EA to Walmart and Amazon to Ubisoft. None of those Phil quotes negate that, they sound like basic PR fluffery that could mean anything in hindsight and still be true. If we get "one new XBox for 6-7 years" I'll be a happy bunny. I'm just not, even slightly, anticipating that. There's just no reason to expect that's how this goes, regardless of what they may make it appear to be at launch.

RDR2 runs amazing on 1X! Great game so far. The hype is overblown by 10x but I expected that. With unreasonable expectations from hype in check, it's excellent. So far, a really well done solid game. If I have one complaint it's some weird control layouts....downright bad in ways. B to reload. It has several control layouts....it includes "FPS Standard"......and it's still B to reload. Every FPS I can think of....CoD, FarCry, Wildlands, Division, Battlefield, Destiny all use X. Halo doesn't by default, but MCC has a "FPS Standard" control option.......that puts it on X to match Battlefield and CoD. I'm not sure what Rockstar was playing that led them to believe that's anything like an FPS setup. Other questionable button placements are slightly off, but the real annoyance is the controls are way more complex than they ought to be for the game. Too many nested "press this for this, hold it for something else, but if you're standing in front of a horse, it's a different menu. Press X to search, but Y to loot bodies, even though it's a similar activity...One tutorial personifies it when you drop your gun and hat and it tells you to hit Y to pick up your gun, but press-and-hold X to pick up your hat. pressing one button and holding a different button to perform the same action of picking something up is pretty intuitive. Or the odd dialog system of targeting a character with LT to pop up dialog options in the bottom right corner....which only works at specific times, the rest of the time LT draws your weapon and aims it so there's that moment of "I'm either going to talk to my friend, or point a gun at his head.....we'll find out which when I press the trigger" Wildlands has excessively complex controls with multiple functions embedded on each button, but it's very clear in that game you're playing a tactical PC shooter and that was the only way to shoehorn all the keyboard driven functionality onto 16 buttons. RDR2 throws in layered buttons but so much of it isn't core functionality and feels unnecessary. It keep thinking of "Press F to pay respects".

It doesn't detract from an otherwise well thought of game, it's still great so far. But I hate when I have to fight controls, or worse. play by instrument and watch the text prompts for what buttons to hit where rather than play intuitively. It breaks the immersion, which is the strong point of RDR2 (it sure as heck aint the CoD-like shooting. )

I’m not loving the controls either (talking rdr2 still) but I kind of expected it as it’s pretty much the norm for me with R* games. As much as I loved the original RDR I remember trying to navigate through doorways could be a mission unto itself!

To be fair to reviewers (for once) I’ve seen it mentioned in a few reviews which is a novel/welcome change as let’s face it, the shooting has been ‘average-at-best’ since they first started doing GTA in 3D yet they’ve always seemingly gotten a free pass?

In no ways does it ruin the experience, just one of those little niggles that you notice more than you should - sure after 30-odd hours i’ll get used to it/not notice anymore!

I have watched several live streams of RDR2 and my take away is that while yes, it’s absolutely stunning on the Xbox One X, and the level of detail is immense, the core mechanics seems poor. The hand to hand fights still feel jarring and old fashioned compared to how other games are handling such things. It just brings you out of the immersion.

@DarthNocturnal Ha! Nice one. I think I remember having seen one in an episode of Top Gear once. Haven't seen 'em in Forza yet, but then again: I'm a LONG way off from having collected all there is to collect...

@NEStalgia Well, you can disagree all you like, but until proven wrong, I will still stick to my beliefs and statements, which simply seem more logical to me. Not because they're mine, but because of the info we have so far, in combination with what would seem logical, based upon how Microsoft has handled things so far. Microsoft may have made some odd decisions in their time, but they're not Nintendo, so they won't go too far in angering and or stupefying their customer base (again).

And I really don't get the Phil Spencer bashing. He's probably one of the most genuine, if not THE most genuine people in the business. Reggie should most definitely take notes...

Don't get me wrong: I don't blindly follow and/or believe everything he says, but he most certainly isn't one to throw around hollow words and standard PR/marketing fluff. Me asking you if you still remembered that I am a sales & marketing professional was on one hand a joke, but on the other hand, it was to signify that someone with my experience, which now totals almost 20 years, can cut right through any of such marketing fluff and BS, like a hot knife through butter, so it would be pretty damn hard for any of these people to fool me, if ever.

And the absolute final thing I'll say about all this, is that I never claimed or implied that the next Xbox was going to be a one size fits all for the next 6 to 7 years to come, so you definitely read me wrong there. I just see the trials and errors of the Xbox One as a reason for them to do things better next time around, so no Xbox Scarlett introduction fumbles, such as with the OG Xbox One, no stop-gap models such as the S, and a perhaps too soon release of a model X of the console which actually should have been the console they should have released in the first place all along...

But improvements can still be had, across/during that one generation, which is what I meant with "revisional", much like that which happened with the various models PS3 and Xbox 360. And perhaps, somewhere halfway the generation, they actually WILL release some kind of premium edition, but the whole life cycle and marketing trajectory of that process, will almost certainly be a lot more solid and smooth, compared to how it all went down in this generation.

But we'll see what happens. I will not be surprised at all, if what I've laid out so far, will be the closest to what actually happens.

On a side note: it's actually quite annoying and puzzling to me, how much trouble I seem to have with getting people to agree with me or at least get to some sort of middle ground, when I'm in an online discussion. In real life, I'm pretty much known, and almost famous among family, friends & colleagues for being able to get along with just about everyone from every walk of life, and besides that almost always being right (not because I'm a smart@ss, but simply because I think before I speak, and check info before I spread it, so I already know that what I say is correct before I say it, because I hate looking dumb), and or being able to get my point across or getting people to see things my way, so apparently, in spite of all my effortless text-walling, I'm a much better talker than a writer...

Glad you're enjoying RDR2. I always figured it was going to be a good game. I never expected it to be perfect, unlike the idiots at IGN, who gave it a flawless score (aka a 10), but I also didn't expect it to be a lousy game. It would be pretty devastating to Rockstar's reputation if they would have released a dud after having been working at it for nearly 7 years, with over 1000 men and women...

Otherwise, a lot of people would probably have to question, if they're actually in the right business...
Although, I do still expect some patches and updates to come along, somewhere during the game's life cycle, seeing as that is simply the standard, nowadays. Might even iron out that last, minor wrinkle in the Xbox One X version, and finally give PS4 owners a version they can be proud of as well.

As it now stands, I just have to laugh at Sony's over-exaggerated marketing campaign concerning this title, and I feel sorry for all the people that have to play this game on a vanilla PS4, and I myself won't be buying the game either, because the One S version also isn't really up to snuff far as I'm concerned, so this game goes on the wanted list for somewhere in the hopefully not too distant future, when I'll finally have an X, or a backward compatible Scarlett X Pro...

A shame about those button controls/layout, though. That does bring me back to what they must all have been doing for 7 years. Maybe they should have made it one year shorter: sometimes, when all is done, you're just trying to make (tacking on) "improvements" for the sake of making improvements, instead of them actually adding something to the final product. More or less over-achievement, if you will...

@FragRed The game is supposed to feel old-fashioned: it's a Western...
(I'll leave myself out, thank you)

But all kidding aside: this could potentially become somewhat of an issue, seeing as you're certainly not the only one mentioning the controls, so if several people are already having issues with it, this short after its release, then there's probably going to be quite a few more people commenting on this and having issues with it...

How do I know if I have barns left to find in Forza Horizon 3?

@BlueOcean They should either pop up on the map, or be mentioned by your voice-controlled route planner, depending on where you're driving, where the latter is concerned.

You should also be able to find a list of objectives somewhere, or a list that shows you what to find.

Alternatively, if you're done searching on your own, you could always check one of these links:
https://www.gamesradar.com/forza-horizon-3-barn-find-location...
https://www.ign.com/wikis/forza-horizon-3/Barn_Finds
https://www.shacknews.com/article/96882/forza-horizon-3-barn-...

Phil Spencer has done a lot of good for Xbox, the big test though is his comments about wanting Banjo in Smash.

@ThanosReXXX phone typing, so small response

I'm not Phil bashing, but he's a pr guy. All pr guys are reggie, it's just that reggie is the reggiest. . Saying things that are to the letter, true, but sounds like something else until you see what it was really meant to mean later is the standard expectation. You give too much leeway to marketing spin

Rdr it feels like they went out of their way to make controls different just to be different. Remapping buttons for common functions to non standard buttons is awkward enough, but the fact that the only standard buttons are aim and fire, and none of the 6 or so other control schemes actually change most of them is as frustrating as dark souls switch reversing a and b from Nintendo a and b to xbox a and b. It wreaks havoc on muscle memory and induces frustrating moments. Plus taking long time standards like talking to npcs, and instead of just walking up to them and hitting a button you use the aiming trigger.... And the dialog options are in the bottom right corner. It works once your figure it out, but it's just so odd to change 25 year old controls for one that doesnt really make it better.

Plus it has a very naughty Dog feel in terms of forced interactivity. Like one time you have to puta wagon wheel on a wagon. "Press up on stick to lift wheel. Now left. Now up again to lift. Now a to bash it in". Or the 5 minute blocks on the road of "hold a".... So many of those

@ThanosReXXX Someone was attempting a Forzathon Live in Horizon 4 when I was playing. I couldn't help but wonder what good a P50 is ever going to do in such events - even with an upgrade which this one didn't seem to have.

@BlueOcean The discovery stats tab will show the total number of barn finds found, but I'm not sure if the Forzathon ones show on it. The current challenges are those needed to unlock them, so if you find those are the only ones missing, get the two events complete [ten drift taps and complete a championship - one for each]. The barn finds from the expansions will show on that discovery stats tab as well.

@DarkRula @ThanosReXXX I have 18/20 discovered barns according to the game. Now I don't know if I missed two or those two are the current two challenges, but I haven't done the new challenges anyway. I am looking at the map right now and I don't see those challenges... I am a bit confused here.

@BlueOcean Look on the menu for the challenges. Complete any championship and one should unlock as soon as you finish it. As soon as you get the tenth drift tap, the other one should unlock. If looking on the map to see if you already have them, they'll both be on the long stretch of road up north, with one being just east of the Outback Site, and the other about half way between that one and Surf City.

Phil Spencer is the best guy in the industry, but NEStalgia is stuck in the first years of Xbox One when Don Mattrick was the boss and he will never move on.

@DarkRula Thanks for helping me, this was my first Forza game, I am overwhelmed by the menus and I never pay much attention to them because of that. So where can I find the challenges in the menu?

Looking at the map I can't find Outback Site or Surf City but I see Surfers Paradise.

EDIT: On Google everyone asked about this in 2017 when the challenges were not active, the most popular results are never the most useful.

@BlueOcean Outback Site is the Festival site marked with the circled H in the outback. Surf City and Surfers Paradise are the same thing. There's no need to accept anything from a menu for the challenges, just complete a championship and get ten drift taps and both will unlock. As for where the challenges can be found, I think it's one of the bottom tiles of Home.

@DarkRula You are using unofficial names which makes it much more confusing.

I accidentally earned a barn rumour by completing a championship, it's one of the Forzathon rewards that ends in five days (A very Horizon Halloween) and now I see there is this other one that you mentioned now that unlocks when you perform 10 drift taps, I will try to do this.

Are there any more barns that can be only unlocked by time-limited events or just these two?

@NEStalgia
You summed my thoughts of RDR2 up perfectly.

let me preface this by saying I do love the game. And if the issues I'm about to talk about didn't exist I might say it's in the running for, possibly, one of the best of all time.

What holds it back for me is the controls, and 1000 different button combinations for ordinary actions that can be done with one single button, and the game taking away control from you as it interweaves cinematics into the game play. You'll be walking in and suddenly you're automatically walking and then suddenly the game expects you to be pressing forward again.

That said I am adjusting, and I found that by going into the settings and changing the camera speed, aim speed and the acceleration speed, it makes the game feel a lot more responsive. Still getting used to all the thousand different button combinations for simple actions, but I'm getting better at it.

Aside from that though, I really do love it. Definitely the best looking game I've ever played (playing on X1X). It's good enough that it's torn me away from Monster Hunter and Dark Souls, and you know very few games can do that. But it's also a story driven game and I know it won't last forever, whereas these other games I'll be playing until next year (500 hours into MHGU).

By the way, I really like how all snappy the OS is now. it seems they finally managed to get it super responsive like Nintendo switch OS. That's what really turned me off from using the Xbox for such a long time. I hope they keep it this way because they do seem to change their OS over and over and over and over again

@BlueOcean Yeah, I usually just use shorter names to refer to stuff, shortcutting the official names in the process.

As for the barn finds, it's just those two for the time-locked ones. Plus the two in the expansions, but they aren't tied to base game completion.

Hm so amazon currently has one of the Xbox one s bundles for exactly 299 dollars (equivalent in pesos). This is a bit cheaper than usual in Mexico.

I wonder if this is a good chance or if maybe it could go lower on the holiday season.