IS THIS ONLINE ONLY? What happens if the servers go offline?

[Chii Heartbeat]

I respect Assetto Corsa Competizione for the great singleplayer experience.
Can I play the entire Forza Motorsport game offline, including all its game modes?

[ElektroSmokes]

I refunded because of this. I won't even give it another glance unless this horrible decision has been reversed. I know this will never happen, so they'll never get my money. They don't care, I don't care.

[Sofwan Lutfy]

Първоначално публикувано от Dekaid:

Първоначално публикувано от SinglePemain:

Maybe similar to Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo Sport and 7 right now e.g. game randomly kicks you out and offline support implemented at the last moment.

Polyphony has never made an EOL Patch for any Gran Turismo game, GT5 and GT6 both miss features that were tied to online for no reason, GT Sport they haven't even properly confirmed that players will be allowed to save offline when the servers go down next year.

Първоначално публикувано от SinglePemain:

Doubt that FM will just get removed by Microsoft, that's a bit too evil, but you never know.

They don't really have the best history either.

Polyphony did confirm that offline save will be there.

"The offline portions of the game can still be played, including purchased Add-Ons."

"What happens to my “Garage” cars and my Career Mode progression?
All existing cars and personalized Car Settings kept in Garage will be accessible. Gameplay progression required as normal to unlock additional cars and items."

"Would I be able access all the world circuits?
Yes, all world circuits will be accessible. Gameplay progression required as normal to unlock selected tracks."

Of course, Polyphony could backtrack or lie about all of this, as they have done so in the past with some features (no microtransaction with GTS = GTS ends up with microtransaction down the line, etc).

[Dekaid]

Първоначално публикувано от SinglePemain:

Първоначално публикувано от Dekaid:

Polyphony has never made an EOL Patch for any Gran Turismo game, GT5 and GT6 both miss features that were tied to online for no reason, GT Sport they haven't even properly confirmed that players will be allowed to save offline when the servers go down next year.


They don't really have the best history either.

Polyphony did confirm that offline save will be there.

"The offline portions of the game can still be played, including purchased Add-Ons."

"What happens to my “Garage” cars and my Career Mode progression?
All existing cars and personalized Car Settings kept in Garage will be accessible. Gameplay progression required as normal to unlock additional cars and items."

"Would I be able access all the world circuits?
Yes, all world circuits will be accessible. Gameplay progression required as normal to unlock selected tracks."

Of course, Polyphony could backtrack or lie about all of this, as they have done so in the past with some features (no microtransaction with GTS = GTS ends up with microtransaction down the line, etc).

Reread that all, nowhere does it say saving offline will be enabled. They only say offline portions will stay accessible as normal (as currently possible) and what can't be done offline, not to mention the mileage shop and livery editor being locked out for all time is bs...

This is what'll eventually happen to this game too lol

[Moga CMDR]

Before I started playing, I shut off my network and played it in offline mode.

Loaded up freeplay, picked any car and course. Set the conditions (laps, time of day, car class, displacement, country of origin, you name it), the rules and all of that. This game has a ton more options on how to configure your race than I've seen before.

I played it like I play AC, ACC, BeamNG, F1, and many other games, by my own rules, without any of the Live Service FOMO. Worked perfect. It's a great thing to have, considering many games don't let you do that anymore.

I've enabled the network now that my test is done. I've still only bothered with freeplay for now, but with the internet on I'ved leveled up my car to 25 and modded it a good bit.

So for the people saying that freeplay is pointless, I can't disagree more.

[bb10]

Първоначално публикувано от Moga CMDR:

Before I started playing, I shut off my network and played it in offline mode.

Loaded up freeplay, picked any car and course. Set the conditions (laps, time of day, car class, displacement, country of origin, you name it), the rules and all of that. This game has a ton more options on how to configure your race than I've seen before.

I played it like I play AC, ACC, BeamNG, F1, and many other games, by my own rules, without any of the Live Service FOMO. Worked perfect. It's a great thing to have, considering many games don't let you do that anymore.

It's nice that you were entertained by the 2% of the game you were allowed to play offline. Still doesn't negate the fact that 98% of the game is locked behind an internet connection requirement.

Първоначално публикувано от Moga CMDR:

I've enabled the network now that my test is done. I've still only bothered with freeplay for now, but with the internet on I'ved leveled up my car to 25 and modded it a good bit.

So for the people saying that freeplay is pointless, I can't disagree more.

You literally had to connect to the internet to even level up your car...

Also, at this point you are comparing freeplay with an internet connection to what we are talking about, freeplay without an internet connection.

And again, it still doesn't negate the fact that 98% of the game is locked behind an internet connection requirement.

[Sofwan Lutfy]

Първоначално публикувано от Moga CMDR:

Before I started playing, I shut off my network and played it in offline mode.

Loaded up freeplay, picked any car and course. Set the conditions (laps, time of day, car class, displacement, country of origin, you name it), the rules and all of that. This game has a ton more options on how to configure your race than I've seen before.

I played it like I play AC, ACC, BeamNG, F1, and many other games, by my own rules, without any of the Live Service FOMO. Worked perfect. It's a great thing to have, considering many games don't let you do that anymore.

I've enabled the network now that my test is done. I've still only bothered with freeplay for now, but with the internet on I'ved leveled up my car to 25 and modded it a good bit.

So for the people saying that freeplay is pointless, I can't disagree more.

Thanks for the info about how the game does provide some freeplay mode. As bb10 points out, most of the game is still locked behind online connection. This is the exact same case with DiRT Rally 2.0.

I'll just agree to disagree with the freeplay thing.

[Red]

Първоначално публикувано от bb10:

Първоначално публикувано от Moga CMDR:

Before I started playing, I shut off my network and played it in offline mode.

Loaded up freeplay, picked any car and course. Set the conditions (laps, time of day, car class, displacement, country of origin, you name it), the rules and all of that. This game has a ton more options on how to configure your race than I've seen before.

I played it like I play AC, ACC, BeamNG, F1, and many other games, by my own rules, without any of the Live Service FOMO. Worked perfect. It's a great thing to have, considering many games don't let you do that anymore.

It's nice that you were entertained by the 2% of the game you were allowed to play offline. Still doesn't negate the fact that 98% of the game is locked behind an internet connection requirement.

Първоначално публикувано от Moga CMDR:

I've enabled the network now that my test is done. I've still only bothered with freeplay for now, but with the internet on I'ved leveled up my car to 25 and modded it a good bit.

So for the people saying that freeplay is pointless, I can't disagree more.

You literally had to connect to the internet to even level up your car...

Also, at this point you are comparing freeplay with an internet connection to what we are talking about, freeplay without an internet connection.

And again, it still doesn't negate the fact that 98% of the game is locked behind an internet connection requirement.

Could not have said it better. Just 10 years ago gamers would be saying "HELL NO" to single player saving requiring a server connection, let alone the majority of the single player game being locked behind one also. How the hell have our standards fallen this low?

Next up in gaming: No option for physical media whatsoever. It's already ♥♥♥♥♥♥ we don't get a new manual smell anymore, but now we don't even get a disc with the game on it and are forced to only buy our games using manufacturer storefronts at whatever prices they set. Literally the only exception to this is PC which thankfully has many websites and storefronts that compete with each other and that is precisely why I believe that people don't care so much about physical media on PC anymore.

Also, this is the guy who runs Xbox. I don't mind him, in fact I kind of admired him a little... but now I am starting to see that there's a lot of talk, and not a lot of walk when it comes to his words, especially with this first party title and with them shutting of the Xbox 360 store in the near future...

https://www.windowscentral.com/phil-spencer-hopes-industry-wide-game-preservation

What does this mean for a future without physical media? Well to me it sounds ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ scary but apparently gamers of today just don't give a ♥♥♥♥ anymore.

[ele]

Servers are still up for Horizon 4 2 years after 5 has come out. You will be fine for a couple of years at least. If it was the mid 90s I'd understand it being a bit much of a requirement but...it's not.

It also serves as a type of non-invasive DRM. Yes you can download a pirated copy of the game but no you can't play it's main features which is what most people would want access to. I prefer that to having denuvo etc.

[Hungry Manticore]

Първоначално публикувано от ele:

Servers are still up for Horizon 4 2 years after 5 has come out. You will be fine for a couple of years at least.

And then the game dies anyway. Because who cares about game preservation, right? At least you admit that the game you purchased has an expiry date. BTW, FH1 and 2 servers are already down.

Първоначално публикувано от ele:

If it was the mid 90s I'd understand it being a bit much of a requirement but...it's not.

Games from the 90s are still playable thanks to this. FM on the other hand will be lucky if it survives a decade.

Първоначално публикувано от ele:

It also serves as a type of non-invasive DRM.

🤣🤣 non-invasive my arse! Wait for the next server maintenance.

Първоначално публикувано от ele:

Yes you can download a pirated copy of the game but no you can't play it's main features which is what most people would want access to.

Wrong. The game's already been cracked and the pirated copy even connects to the official servers.

Първоначално публикувано от ele:

I prefer that to having denuvo etc.

So the only choice you see is either getting punched in the right nut or the left nut? How about not getting punched at all and just enjoy the game? Is that an option anymore nowadays?

[NairBoT]

Ace Combat Infinity on PS3 was shut down when servers went offline.
It happens with some games.

Ace Combat Infinity - Wikipedia
Bandai Namco ceased all of the game's services on March 31, 2018.

Forza dev is calling the game a live service.
Maybe its services will shut down too.

[Red]

Първоначално публикувано от ele:

Servers are still up for Horizon 4 2 years after 5 has come out. You will be fine for a couple of years at least. If it was the mid 90s I'd understand it being a bit much of a requirement but...it's not.

I still regularly play games from 25+ years ago. You can bet I am probably going to be playing those as well as many modern games that are ethical enough to let me access them 25+ years from now too. Normally all we had to worry about were hardware changes, now we've got to worry about having corporate permission to play our games too. Just how many of these always online single player games that you paid for do you think will still be able to access by then, hmmm?

My money is on me still being able to play older games longer than I can play new ones.

Първоначално публикувано от ele:

It also serves as a type of non-invasive DRM. Yes you can download a pirated copy of the game but no you can't play it's main features which is what most people would want access to. I prefer that to having denuvo etc.

Paying customers should have the best version of the game.

Period.

If you make a game worth paying for, the vast majority of players WILL pay to support the game. This has been proven time and time again, don't believe me? Baldur's Gate 3 just came out and proved it yet again.

Right now, pirates get the best versions of the games (besides a very select few) and it's all because of corporate greed. Doing this crap to our games doesn't stop them, it just gives us more incentive to resort to piracy and less incentive to support the unfortunate people working on these games that aren't the ones making these stupid decisions.

We are literally just paying premium dollar to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ by greedy corpos, and have them ♥♥♥♥ the people making our games and you're saying you're completely fine with it.

[Poesghost]

I won't be buying this game because of it. I'm so sad and feel let down. I was really hoping this wasn't the case. I hope more people realize how crazy it is that you're only getting a portion of the game that you can play if you didn't have an internet connection. Plus you need to if you want to save your free play progress? No local saves? No thanks. They can keep it and I will keep my hard earned money.

[[Thee] Meritorious One]

Consumers; it is time to rise up against this insanity. Games should not be required to be online if not playing in online multiplayer mode. In addition, games should NOT contain any drm as Steam is enough.

Why is this slowly being adopted into games? Simple, because developers and publishers realize the potential of their game falls flat when they announce denuvo is in their game. Players know computational cycles are NOT free and thus denuvo hurts performance, especially in how it works; ever mutating encryption. They think that by removing denuvo and implementing online only, it will increase sales because the word denuvo is not attached and consumers are too stupid to acknowledge the impact because they take advantage of your FOMO. Seriously.

This is YOUR fault consumers. YOU are the reason the industry is going this way. Keep buying games like this and they will keep doing it. It really is that simple.

Send a clear message with your money that it remains in your pocket until the industry sees the decline and retreats back to not implementing drm policies. Steam is enough.

[ShillHog]

Първоначално публикувано от schM0ggi:

It's simple.
If people don't stop buying this sort of games, the companies won't stop doing this sort of games either. There is no justification whatsoever for an always-online requirement, to be able to access the complete singleplayer content. I was looking forward to have my first Forza Motorsport experience on PC, and I'm only interested in singleplayer/career, but always-online is a no go. But it seems I can well avoid the game anyway, as the progression system is generally grindy and bad.

Very grindy, but not as bad as Turismo.

[TheHuskyGT]

See, I don't mind that the game is online always. Forza Horizon 5 is like that. The thing is that this game takes it a level further. In Horizon 5, you can still play and pretty much do anything, except for Seasonal events. That's IF you are completely disconnected from the internet. Even if you choose Single Player/Solo, you can still have access to online features.

In Motorsports, you can't even save your settings!! Last night I was stuck in the settings menu, on an infinite "you're offline and cannot save" pop-up loop. Knowing how much the game randomly disconnects in Horizon 5, you can see how much of a problem this is in a game that requires online always for everything.

Local saves, offline career (like pretty much every game of this type has had for the past 20 years) and the most basic of all features, which is the ability to save your settings, should be patched in.

I really don't give a rat's glutes if this is because they need to make it fair for everyone online. Not everyone plays online or care about it the slightest. People will still find ways to cheat anyway.