Gaming One Step Closer (and I'm about to RROD): The Xbox One Discussion

I loved Halo 4 but I agree with 07jonesj on a few points. The maps were used too much with Spartan Ops, though the story was great. The only problem I had with multiplayer was that the map packs were only available to play on for a short time, and then they were in their own playlist. If you bought the season pass then you got all the maps for free but once the playlist went then that was it, the only way to play on them was with custom games with friends.

For me, Forza 5 was enough of a draw for me to get an X1. Forza has be fantastic and I'm looking forward to this drivertar thing. I still don't have an X1 yet, but only because I don't have the funds for it. Didn't stop me preording Forza 5 though, but then I wanted all the bonuses that went with it.

 

Halo 4 had its moments during its campaign, mainly those dealing with John and Cortana's relationship. But beyond that, it was hardly memorable and at times even downright tedious. Spartan Ops was a bad joke and the multiplayer is a laggy, glitchy mess. And oh boy, do not get me started on how the season pass/dlc maps was handled. Sometimes I find myself playing it to scratch that particular itch, but Reach also does the job in that regard and at times it provides a more fun and stable experience.

 

A lot of folks have been criticizing microtransactions in Forza 5, but simultaneously some reviewers I really trust have been saying "OH MY GOD THIS IS LIKE NEUROMANCER LEVEL AI" and that's really cool.

 

Its what I'm doing, but I'm not sure Halo is going to be enough anymore. Halo 4 wasn't bad but unlike most I want more single-player features in the franchise. I'm tired of multiplayer heavy shooters and miss the likes of Halo CE and ODST. Even Reach had alot of fun to be had offline with Firefight and such. First-Person Shooters are becoming too stale and generic these days for me and I'm returning to my favorite genre of platformers.

Battlefield 4 is really the only multiplayer FPS I am playing now and could be the only one with a few others occasionally until Destiny. I'm actually going to get a Wii U amd 3DS, I really think Nintendo is coming back slowly to the games I like to play. Xbox I may just give up on unfortunately and stick with PS, Nintendo, and PC. I may be in the minority but the Original Xbox is my favorite Xbox console and my third favorite console after the PS1 and SNES. I miss that console...

EDIT: I loved the story in Halo 4 and the Cortana to Chief relationship but felt there was more the story needed, length maybe?

 

I won't be doing any microtransaction stuff. Never have done, never will do. The only time I got tokens was because I bought the Collector's Edition of Horizon and it came with 3, and I never used them. If you're really stuck for credits then there's always this: https://rewards.forzamotorsport.net/en-us/

 

Halo 4 was alright, but I like Halo Reach much more. I won't have to worry about the Halo games not being good in the future though as I never intend to buy an Xbox One, or any future Microsoft product.

 

Halo Reach is far and away my favorite Halo, the story in the other games has gotten so weird, especially in 4. Halo Reach was just kill the invaders.

I thought it was funny that GT6 came out a couple weeks later and was just as bad. Microtransactions don't really bother me because you don't have to use them, they are just an option. And for some people it is an acceptable option. For me I have used them in the last few MLB the Show games, because taking your player to the major leagues takes forever, so I bought training points because I had already done that grind multiple times.

 

So lots of Xbox stuff was rumoured today: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=760013d

Including a Halo collection for the Xbox One including Halo 2 Anniversary and ports of Halo 3 and Halo 4. I might have to actually consider buying a One at some point if this is true.

 

People don't mind wholly optional content that doesn't affect the game, people mind "pay to win" implementations, and there's a lot of stuff in Forza 5 that struck folks as "pay to win." The controversy isn't about microtransactions, it's about how they're implemented. Game content shouldn't be doled out in parcels for X number of dollars a pop.

 

How is it a "pay to win" situation and not just something akin to DLC?

 

They stuck a bunch of cars behind a paywall and said "You can either play a whole lot to get to drive these fun things or just pay now gimme da loot." The general consensus was that the usually banal unlock requirements were specifically increased in intensity to facilitate this model's economic viability. It's textbook pay to win.

Edit: And lol at the suggestion being floated in this thread that GT6 got a free pass, it also got crap for pulling these shenanigans. These kinds of microtransactions can and should be criticized when they're thrown on top of a $60 base product.

 

They just did a season pass like almost every other game at the moment, granted it had day 1 DLC which is always a little cheap, but I don't see why it was a special case other than being an X1 launch game.

 

Do you need those extra cars to win?

The same case might even be made with the new Killer Instinct, as it operates as a "pay to play" model as well, wherein you need to pay to play certain characters. But you can still win without those characters. In fact, the new Killer Instinct has no alternative method of unlocking those characters other than paying for them.

 

I never got the controversy over KI, I think it finally died, but everyone is pissed about they way they did the "free to play." To get the entire game, it cost a whopping $20, but people were pissssed.

 

The whole point of Forza 5, GT6, and the like is to complete races to get more cars to race with. Generally, the unlockable cars have better performance than the default cars specifically to facilitate performance in later, more difficult races. So, yes, actually, you do.

As for Killer Instinct, fighting games are so ludicrously bad about charging extra for slivers of new content (Looking at you, Capcom) that it's not really that egregious.

 

Imo, the season pass thing is ridiculous. I still don't quite understand it. So, basically, for games like Mass Effect 3, I need to pay EA to connect to their server even though I'm already paying for Xbox Live?

 

Online passes have been dropped by both Ubisoft and EA.

Season passes are discounted pre-orders for a game's DLC.

 

Yeah, online passes was the scheme developers had to make a little money on used games. Most developers have stopped using it for the most part. As far as Season Passes, I still don't know what to think. For a Bethesda game like Fallout or Skyrim, or a Bioware game like Mass Effect, where I know the DLC is gonna be of consequence, I will totally buy it. For pretty much anyone else, I don't know. Still not many devs doing really good DLC, and for too many devs the season pass factors in their bland multiplayer modes.

 

If you want to get really technical, season passes are you paying money for possibly nothing because companies are already beginning to release DLC that "wasn't included" in the season pass and there's no guarantee that the promised DLC you're "purchasing" will ever surface.

It's beautiful in a diabolical sort of way.

 

Borderlands 2 comes to mind. They released all their season pass DLC, then just made some more. Then games like Bioshock, has been out for almost a year and it has had like one hour of story DLC, with one more coming soon.

 

No it can't. They're two completely separate situations. Killer Instinct starts off as a free-to-play game where you have access to a couple of characters, and the player is given the option to pay for the full game if they like what the free component contains. It's really not that different to a demo that offers you a slice of the full game.

As Ramza pointed out, the problem with Forza 5 (And GT6) is that you have already paid $60 for a luxury item, but to get access to the content you have already paid for you have to grind for experience or pay a ridiculous fee to unlock things on the disc. Video games are the only entertainment format that gets away with this practice. If the movie industry charged you a dollar every time you used the skip scene option on a blu ray you purchased, or if novels prevented you from jumping a chapter unless you contacted the publisher with your credit card details, there would be a massive uproar. So why should we accept the idea of paying to access content we already own here? We used to get such shortcuts for free, they were called cheat codes.

 

I am excited about the apparent Xbox leaks today, although I am kind of bummed that Halo 5 isn't coming out this year. I really want to hear more about the dashboard update, because I love my xbox, but some of it is sooooo unintuitive. I still don't understand how microsoft doesn't use Rare. They through a bone with Killer Instinct, but where is a real Banjo game? Another Perfect Dark? And dammit I want a new Blast Corps game! It doesn't have to be Rare, just bring back the IP with a new developer like you did with KI.

 

I have to say even as "Xbox Fanboy" I dislike how the game cases are smaller than the ones for the 360 and the original.


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So I've been getting a lot out of Xbox Fitness on the X1. Pretty decent library, though it's kind of lame that Beachbody isn't releasing full Kinect-integrated versions of their workout products (P90X, Insanity). Instead, once you complete the demo workout on the X1 (which is still a pretty decent workout), Beachbody flashes you an ad suggesting that you buy their DVDs.

Why would I buy a workout DVD that isn't integrated with Kinect when I'm currently using Kinect to do my workouts? C'mon, Beachbody.

 

Is Xbox Fitness pretty handy/decent?