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I think there's an inherent design hurdle with racing games that's almost impossible to overcome...

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Yeah, I'm having that experience again. I bought a game called Formula Legends and I'm struggling to even get ahead on Medium difficulty. Reading the forums the people there also seem miffed that the AI is so difficult to beat.
 
SolidSonicTH said:
Yeah, I'm having that experience again. I bought a game called Formula Legends and I'm struggling to even get ahead on Medium difficulty. Reading the forums the people there also seem miffed that the AI is so difficult to beat.
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Looks, arcady, so are you driving balls-to-the-wall enough or treating it as a sorta sim? Dirt did a pretty good job of teaching players to try and go flat out most of the time back in its day, and i feel many of us tend to forget how to stick to that.
 
I've heard that comparison be made.

There's actually another game, New Star GP, that's almost exactly the same in concept but using Virtua Racing/Hot Shot Racing-esque graphics instead of the cutesy "chibi" look of Formula Legends.
 
Hotshot Racing is guilty of this.

Every time I'm on first place, a not comes and aggressively kicks me out of the road or passes me... It's just so unbalanced I gave up, but I did play as much as possible so I got my money's worth.
 
SolidSonicTH said:
Yeah, I'm having that experience again. I bought a game called Formula Legends and I'm struggling to even get ahead on Medium difficulty. Reading the forums the people there also seem miffed that the AI is so difficult to beat.
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I tried this today just to see for myself. Game effing sucks. Uninstalled after playing for an hour. Back to Sonic Crossworlds for me. :)
 
Earthshine said:
I tried this today just to see for myself. Game effing sucks. Uninstalled after playing for an hour. Back to Sonic Crossworlds for me. :)
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HOW ABOUT YOU NOT COME INTO MY THREADS AND TELL ME GAMES I'M ENJOYING ARE ACTUALLY SHIT?!

I bet you would also think Xenon Racer (by the same devs) is fucking awful too, huh?!

:(
 
Last edited by SolidSonicTH,
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SolidSonicTH said:
HOW ABOUT YOU NOT COME INTO MY THREADS AND TELL ME GAMES I'M ENJOYING ARE ACTUALLY SHIT?!

I bet you would also think Xenon Racer (by the same devs) is fucking awful too, huh?!

:(
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How about you not have an all caps screaming fit over a strangers OPINION of a video game? I think the game sucks. You like it? Good for you. We all enjoy different things and we're all entitled to have our opinions. And about coming into "MY THREADS"? LMFAO! This is as public forum. If you don't want replies or criticisms, maybe the internet isn't the best place for you. It must be tough for ya, you know, with people and their differing opinions.

And Xenon Racer? Seems most people thought it wasn't very great. But I suppose it MIGHT be decent enough for an abandoned generic mobile type slop game that only costs two bucks. :rofl:
 
This game I recently found on sale cheap, Love it! Tough to get used to at first, but so much fun when you do. It's on all platforms. Even more impressive is that a single independent dev created it himself.
 
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Earthshine said:
How about you not have an all caps screaming fit over a strangers OPINION of a video game? I think the game sucks. You like it? Good for you. We all enjoy different things and we're all entitled to have our opinions. And about coming into "MY THREADS"? LMFAO! This is as public forum. If you don't want replies or criticisms, maybe the internet isn't the best place for you. It must be tough for ya, you know, with people and their differing opinions.

And Xenon Racer? Seems most people thought it wasn't very great. But I suppose it MIGHT be decent enough for an abandoned generic mobile type slop game that only costs two bucks. :rofl:
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I was just expecting you to say I have shit taste. I mean I did make that thread bitching about how I didn't feel respected for enjoying Metroid Prime 4...
 
SolidSonicTH said:
I was just expecting you to say I have shit taste. I mean I did make that thread bitching about how I didn't feel respected for enjoying Metroid Prime 4...
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I don't think you have shit taste. I just personally felt Formula Legends was a crap fest, for me. I'm sure others enjoy it.
 
I agree completely with the sentiment of this post, though it might have been more of a problem in the past than it is now. With online play, you're bound to encounter people of various skill levels and will be forced to accept being placed below 1st, so you're able to get the experience you speak of.
Maybe the only real thing stopping racing games from being designed around the player not having to be 1st at every race is that it would go against convention now.
 
The GT7 Power Pack is definitely trying to make the race experience of "you are not expected to finish 1st" a thing but it's definitely a line of thinking shift and not one I think is sustainable for a full career mode.
 
Hello Gentlemen,

Forgive me for reviving the thread, but I was curious if any racing game fans had tried out the new Star Wars Galactic Racer game. I considered posting a user review on the game, but @SolidSonicTH already listed most of the racing game design principles I would have written about.

I think the game would have benefited from a "true arcade racer" design (as described by OP) with extremely challenging opponents, where the path to victory is simply better driving.

Instead the game utilizes very strong rubber banding, so often the best strategy is to sandbag (go slow on purpose), until you are ready to pass the opponents. The alternative where you are front-running leads to losses too often as even if you drive a perfectly clean race, if you mess up the final turn(s) you will lose.

Anyway this post is not meant to discourage others from liking or trying the game, I just thought this would be a good place to discuss the design merits of this new racing game.
 
radicalten said:
Instead the game utilizes very strong rubber banding, so often the best strategy is to sandbag (go slow on purpose), until you are ready to pass the opponents. The alternative where you are front-running leads to losses too often as even if you drive a perfectly clean race, if you mess up the final turn(s) you will lose.
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Nah I very much disagree with that, Ace difficulty is perfect for the campaign. Early on you'll often end up in second or third place even when racing almost flawlessly, but as you get more stat points to invest and new parts to install, you inch toward being able to place first consistently, and then eventually reach a point where you're in first place the entire time. Then you get consistent bumps in difficulty with each new planet and act, but optimized builds will still keep you ahead of the curve. I've been finishing at least five full seconds ahead of second place for quite a while now.

As far as crashing goes, there's really nobody to blame but yourself, all you need is a few points into drift (knife's edge) on the skim speeder to turn on a dime, even with ramjet or afterburner engaged. Same with the speeder bike. The landspeeder is the only one I find a bit too cumbersome to control, but of course the tradeoff there is that it's the most resilient to damage.
 
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@Xzi Thanks for sharing your perspective. Mainly I just wish for the removal of rubber banding in the game completely. It's even in the multiplayer.

Multiplayer Rubber-banding in Star Wars Galactic Racer
 
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radicalten said:
@Xzi Thanks for sharing your perspective. Mainly I just wish for the removal of rubber banding in the game completely. It's even in the multiplayer.

Multiplayer Rubber-banding in Star Wars Galactic Racer
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Fair enough, I haven't touched multiplayer yet so I can't speak to that. However, I do think it's worth noting a speed boost can be detrimental when navigating tracks with narrow corridors and/or sharp turns, not to mention that any opponent you try to pass can force you into a wall or use abilities to damage and slow you down. The game very much incentivizes aggressive flying in that way.
 
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