It would certainly be great if the article this piece is referring to actually had a link to the meta-analysis. Now I have to search for it and see if it's even remotely truthful...
@jayrizzo: Aaaaalright, let's have a look at all of these...
Online ONLY?!?! Well, the game isn't online only in the strictest sense, but the game does state that an internet connection is very much advised.
* WTF! you are going to take away the one of the fundamentals? They didn't. The GT League - the "campaign" that people got so antsy about because of its absense - is making its appearance later this month in the form of an update. You can argue that it should have been included from the start, and sure, you may have a point. But they're not losing a fundamental part of what makes GT, GT.
* At the VERY LEAST: they should have giving you the split of leveling up ONLINE and OFFLINE. Uhhhh...? Care to explain?
* Leaving ALL THE CONTENT available regardless of Network status. Ok, I can see why this may bother some, since internet connections based on where you live can be rather unreliable.
Online Races: * Are a joke, their are ONLY 3 races at "Polyphony Digitals" discretion time frame There are three daily races sanctioned by PD, as well as those that are league based. It's fairly simple. Plus, if you wanted to do something different to that, you can very easily just jump into or create a lobby and have it the way you want.
* LIMIT you to ONLY the LOWER Tiered Cars. No they don't. Granted, daily races are usually Gr.3 or Gr.4 races, but One Make races aren't all "lower tiered" cars - plenty of them are highly powerful Gr.X cars. And, again, if it bothers you plenty, make a lobby or join an existing one.
* LIMIT you to what customizations you can make(most all settings are locked)?!? Gee, it's almost like the devs want the playing field to be as equal as possible. It's called 'Balance of Performance' for a reason.
* What about all the other CARS in the game! What about them?
* What about all the other tracks in the game! What. About. Them.
* In the HISTORY of GT all the "DEFAULT" settings have always been CRAP! Sounds like a personal problem, really, but what do I know. I've only been playing the games since GT3 was out and not had an issue with the default settings.
* So the fact that they are locked to their crappy settings is F****n sad! Now you're just sounding sour for the sake of it.
As for the livery editor stuff, I can't say I've done much with it, so I'll spare you my thoughts on your points there, but...let's move on to the next bit.
Controller Mapping: * For the Gas & Brake have been limited to their 3 settings Yep. X and Square, R2 and L2, and the right stick.
* THAT IS absurd! Uhhh......?
* You are going to ONLY provide 3 ways to drive? Wait, short of using the left thumb stick, what other ways of controlling gas and brake could you possibly need?
* JUST... PATHETIC... NO Other GT has EVER done this before! And that makes a difference how? They're the three most commonly used methods of gas and brake in GT. And besides, the X and Square buttons now aren't very helpful as gas and brake since the DualShock 4's face buttons aren't pressure sensitive, unlike the DualShock 2 and Sixaxis/DualShock 3 controllers of the PS2 and PS3.
* EVERYOTHER button is customizable! And that's a bad thing?
Car Customizations: * There is no purpose for the Money except for buying new cars I mean, yes, the sole purpose of credits is to buy cars that you can use to drive.
* The Customizations of the Gears, Suspension, Shocks, Dampeners, Weight, Wheels, Tires, etc. * Saying that it has been OVERSIMPLIFIED is an understatement!!!! No, it's an overstatement. Customisation has been simplified because - breaking news - racers aren't racing engineers, and the cars are largely already adjusted to the appropriate specifications that they need to be at in order to race. It's hardly a problem, and I struggle to see what your point is here. Just because it's simpler now, it doesn't make it bad.
* Using the mileage points for your upgrades (most cars only get 2 upgrades for power & weight are a joke Racing to get some currency that allows you to make stuff yours in a sense and to power up normally grouped cars to more powerful groups is a joke, apparently.
DR & SR Ranking: * is a joke, great idea, but poorly implemented. Eh, I wouldn't say they're bad at all. A few problems, sure, but on the whole, hardly a bad thing.
* You shouldn't punished the Good Drivers because some other person doesn't understand the D*** game. I get you. I really do get you. The Sportsmanship system does need some adjustment for it to work properly, especially since I myself have had a few races killed because of an undeserved 10-second time penalty. However, I'm not going to just damn the game forever just because of that.
SUMMARY: * Gran Turismo Sport for me, (considering myself one of the top fans & avid promoters of the series) A top fan, eh? And an avid promoter......OK, then.
* Is the BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE ENTIRE SERIES! Well, that's a personal thing, again. GT5 was more disappointing for me, personally (though having played through it recently, it's still pretty good), but whatever.
* I HAVE BEEN PLAYING SINCE THE FIRST ONE! Woah, watch out, guys; we got ourselves a GT super-ultra-mega-gigafan up in this!
* 1 out of 10 Star rating. but don't think that i didn't give it a try. Oh, I won't be thinking you didn't give it a try. Or at least, I won't be thinking that you didn't give the game itself a try. It's a shame you didn't consider what the purpose of the game was, though. Does the FIA collaboration ring any bell?
* I'm NOT sad to say that I am turning in my PS4 & GTS for an Xbox One X. Ooookay? You do you, boo. You want Forza 7, go right ahead. I'll just stick with GT out of preference (note: I do own Forza 7 for PC. Eh...I mean, it's alright, but I wouldn't write home about it either).
Polyphony Digital: Remember no one ever bought GT for its simplicity, that is what made you guys stand out from the rest. And like that, this just shows the crux of your argument. 'The game is simplified for the sake of simplification.' I'll address this in a moment.
You have lost me and my father as customers... Aight. Whatever you say, boss.
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Ok, so basically, your entire tirade can be summarised as "I thought I was getting an old GT game".
Time to wake up, old man; things have changed, but GT's absolute primary focus has remained the same - the goal to be the ultimate driving simulator. And as far as I'm concerned, the driving in this game is the best it has ever been, in no small part thanks to stuff like the MFD, and twenty-five years of progress and refinement of an idea. Granted, it's probably not the most realistic game in terms of driving physics, damage, or whatever else. There are enthusiast sims on PC with greater accuracy than this game. But I can't agree with the assumption that GT's core pillar is giving the player a single player experience first and foremost. That's just how GT had to succeed in the past. But then you look at GT6 and realise that the same basic formula can't work for more than a few games at a time.
GT Sport's focus towards its multiplayer more so than single player was, for me, a very interesting change in direction, given I don't usually go for multiplayer games. And yet, the only two games this year that actively made me pursue multiplayer matches were this and Quake: Champions. Racing against other players in this game can actually be genuinely fun. When someone's not trying to be Yuji Ide or Pastor Maldonado, this game's multiplayer is actually really enjoyable, and in spite of the problems it may have (like the awkwark Sportmanship Rating system), the negatives are outweighed by the positives, as far as I'm concerned.
Like I say, all of this stems from your expectations being betrayed, but not because GT Sport is a bad game. No; instead, it's because your expectations led you to believe it would be like the older GT games, which...no. It's like Forza Horizon compared to Motorsport; they're both very similar games in a sense, but handle progression and their settings VERY differently.
Basically, you should have done your research. When the word 'Sport' was used at the game's title, that had long-standing implications towards the game's focus. This game is very much online-focussed and more interested in the racing itself than it is the customisation of cars. Which is why the FIA collaboration is a big deal; it gives GT something of a legitimate platform to be a serious racing competition. After all, GT Academy was incredibly successful, so it stands to reason that stuff like this be done.
Times change. Interests differ. Perceptions warp. But GT's focus is pure - to be a racing sim, first and foremost.
For one thing, it has something to show for its crazy crowdfunding campaign. No Kickstarter scam out there has something to show for however much money people put to it, but this does. It's actively being worked on, updates are regular, open to all and explain what's going on with the project, and most importantly...you can buy the game, download it, and play in its current state. You couldn't really do that with Elite. And secondly...it's not the fault of the campaign some people threw thousands of dollars to it. That's the fault of those people who threw so much money into something that might be. Not that I necessarily blame them; they have been wanting a proper space sim for what feels like an eternity, but still.
@drumjod: Yeah, it's supposed to say 'billion' instead of 'million'.
Aside from that, the sources are solid (although the full report from Jon Peddie Research is behind an account wall which likely requires money, so I had only a brief summary to look at).
I honestly did not want this game to flop. I mean, I had no intentions of playing it at all, rather I would just acknowledge its existence and move on. But to see this flop is a bit sad to me.
I do hope this only leads onto something else for the Metroid series. Something for NX, maybe? After all, it's the only Nintendo franchise I really genuinely care about, and they don't seem to be doing a very good job of keeping me invested...
@rglgathrawn: To be fair, it was also "some random company I never heard of" that made the Metroid Prime series, and another random company that made Prime Hunters, and yet another that made Prime Pinball.
@IanNottinghamX: I don't think you understand the problem at all.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution's bosses were all terrible. Poorly designed, whether you take them down lethally or non-lethally doesn't make a difference at all as they will just die anyway, and if you were going full on stealth, you'd be boned unless you kept in mind the boss battles and brought a weapon just in case.
The Director's Cut at least provided a couple more avenues for you to take the enemies down, but it all amounts to the same problems; they're still badly designed, they still die regardless, but at least you could kill them with other things now.
Also, if you knew how Deus Ex was designed, you'd know it was designed to allow for the players to do whatever they wanted. The start of the original Deus Ex at the Statue of Liberty shows that. You're given free reign over how you tackle the objective, and you even have a couple sub-objectives you can do if you wanted. You can go in with brute force, taking everyone down lethally or non-lethally, you go in through the front of the Statue or go around the back and climb up it. You can even choose to take the terrorist leader down or allow him to live and let him explain what's going on. All of this will affect how the game is played, and once you leave New York for the second time you'll start to settle into a new play style, and affect the game in a significant way one way or another.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution's bosses are the antithesis of what made Deus Ex so great. How each one ends doesn't affect anything in the story; the bosses serve as nothing more than unnecessary road blocks for no good reason. At least with the original Deus Ex you have the chance to avoid most "boss" encounters and leave them for later, or leave them entirely. And considering they're only a bit more powerful than regular enemies, they're not really bosses per se, just enemies that are tougher to kill.
In fact, Deus Ex: Human Revolution - as great as the game is - doesn't allow for the same extent of player freedom as a whole that Deus Ex does. In fact, the game actively discourages gunplay in favour of non-lethal takedowns, simply because it's more lucrative in the long run. It's not in Deus Ex's best interest to railroad you down one play style; the player has to do it as he/she progresses. It ultimately makes the game feel less like Deus Ex and more like a stealth game, which Deus Ex inherently is not; it's a game that allows you to do what you want.
It's not about difficulty. It's not about challenging the player. It's not about pandering to casuals. It's about being Deus Ex. Boss fights are not Deus Ex.
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