. . . This Post Briefly Defined . . .
The process of smoothing the path to begin properly deploying (that is to say publishing) a Walkthrough / Video Game Guide often requires a number of preparations that, in the absence of a previously prepared outline or skel or stipulations of a similar design by the editor or sub-editor who has issued that assignment - and especially in the case of a video game that is the direct (or the indirect) sequel to a previous game in a series, the process - no matter how well-ordered - often involves addressing matters uniquely connected and yet disconnected from the subject at hand.
In the simplest of terms and in particular I speak of obtaining a minimal set of levels in one or more of the previous titles in the game series - Forza Motorsports 3 and Forza Motorsports 4 in this case - so as to reap the benefits that are provided under the flag of "Loyalty" in terms not just of unlocking the associated Achievement but also in unlocking and obtaining a series of particularly useful models of automobile whose presence and availability, which are dependent upon having attained a specific minimum Driver Level - certainly will result in an expanded measure of capability in the game at hand.
These are, therefore, several of the topics upon which I will reflect in some detail within the body of this post below... My intention being to acquaint you with those contents in order to magnify and establish your appreciation and interest in the same, by way of encouraging you to embrace and take in this post with a finer understanding for what it contains, and therefore what it might provide to you in terms of both information and enlightenment.
Forza Horizon & The Forza Motorsports Series
Preamble Note: With the understanding
that I am and have been variously employed within the beat of Games
Journalism for a number of years, when it is appropriate (or when I
feel that doing so will add to both the convenience and some measure
of additional edutainment) I have included links to related articles,
reviews, or other documents, columns, articles, and the like, the aim
of which is to enhance your experience on these subjects.
In simple terms then, you are invited
to indulge me in following any such links within the post at your
leisure and with the clear understanding that in doing so you will
encounter the spawning of a new browser session and window rather
than being forced to constantly push the “Back” button and thus
have to hunt for your previous position in reading - my notion being
to make this as convenient an experience as is possible in result.
The Nature of the Modern Gaming Environment
When a gamer is restricted either by
budget or space, it is often the case that they find themselves in a
position of being loyal to a particular platform or gaming console to
the exclusion of the other(s) in the present generation, to the
extent that they might almost be said to be a loyal and particular
fan for that console.
As it is often the case, and presuming
you to be particularly fond of the auto racing simulation genre that
extends beyond the Cult of Left Turns, you will surely be familiar
with the long-running and heated rivalry between Microsoft and its
Xbox Console and Sony and its PlayStation Console in terms of the
very fine and very realistic auto racing simulations known as Forza
Motorsports and Gran Turismo, respectively.
It is even fair and very accurate to
suggest that, with each new version of each respective series, the
realism and the experience of realism improves, promising the fan of
each game if not a major improvement in the racing experience than at
least many minor improvements in a game genre that seems to
constantly improve as if it were a natural matter of law.
This being the reality and
acknowledging that special care is often taken, from game version to
game version within the respective game series to ensure that the
specially-created livery and graphic designs, often differentiated by
either car racing club, manufacturer model, or the particular
preferences of the individual, are seen to move forward from the
previous generation of a game in the series to the next, where this
is allowed, to permit the gamer to present themselves to their rivals
in the familiar form to which they each the two of them have become
comfortable.
This being the case, and emphasizing
that unique and very convenient shorthand to which a great deal of
detail has now been expressed - between the lines so to speak - it is
understood therefore that we have now covered and dispensed with a
vast forest of information covered by those subjects, and in as
satisfactory a manner as one might have wished for, so that we can
put aside the topics of technical realism, design, tyre tech, and
livery, and so move on to the colder but no less important topics
that make up the bulk of the detail in the preparations that
necessarily must be seen to in order to commence with the creation of
the new guide - that is to say, that we are now ready to move on to
the areas that must be sorted out in order to best take advantage of
the requirements present for the same.
Paving the Way
As it turned out a great deal of the
work that was required for the creation of the Walkthrough and Guide
for Forza Horizon took the form of supporting material and topics
that eventually made up the bulk of the branches of the figurative
tree around which this guide is structured.
The catch here is that the actual game
play portion, the leveling and levels, the individual races, and all
that these contain, sensibly makes up the tree trunk upon and from
which these branches naturally thrust and to which they are attached.
This being how it worked out, I was
more than a little surprised to realize that the presentation of all
of the supporting information was utterly and nearly completely
reliant upon the presentation of the game play segments to the extent
that the guide would look, well, bad... If the supporting
information was presented prior to the meat of the game play sections
being deployed - a realization that is based largely upon the
disheartening experience that was obtained when the approach was
applied to the guide project for Minecraft.
So despite having what amounts to
nearly 75% of the guide written, as that huge structure fails to
appear elegant on its own, I am in the position of needing to
actually play the game and, in the process, make the game play videos
that are really part and parcel a major element in that process,
prior to being able to put up the supporting material without the
guide appearing ugly as a result.
I am OK with that?
You can imagine how surprised that I
was to realize that rather than being able to jump right into the
game and begin playing - sliding the game disc into the 360, arriving
at the loading page, hitting the record button on the separate
capture system PC, and racing away to the Festival, instead I found
myself making a list of the things that I needed to do BEFORE
actually being able to play the game?!
Seriously, call it a failure to think
ahead; call it a lack of the full mental image of the “Big Picture”
that is more or less required for such projects to proceed; call it
whatever you like, but I tend to call it a major miscalculation on my
part. And clearly I accept all the blame on this one.
Now I can honestly point to recent and
ongoing health issues as full justification for just such a failure
of memory and consideration - and the nature of those being what they
are, I have serious doubts that even the most annoying of critics and
detractors would be able to find much in the way of moral high ground
from which to find purchase for such an argument or accusation...
But that does not really solve the problem.
A History of Pre-Game Preparations
In a way this is one of those lessons
that should have been learned from the past. After all it is not as
if almost the entire Forza series did not contain just this sort of
catch in game play, right?
The original Forza Motorsports was
released for the Xbox (original) in 2005, and just two years later
the direct sequel to the game, Forza 2, made its debut on the new
Xbox 360, offering gamers not just the satisfaction of the
continuation of what had by then become a very well-loved and
well-established game that rapidly solidified in the minds of gamers
as a racing series.
The second Forza also fully embraced
the new Game Achievement and Gamerscore system that was then rapidly
growing in popularity to the extent that Sony found itself in a race
to devise a similar system of its own in answer to what Microsoft had
done (and eventually settled upon the Trophy system it now uses), but
that is a story for a different post...
When Forza Motorsports 4 arrived, with
its own unique and full set of Achievements, among them was a pair of
Achievements that had a tacit connection to the previous title to
which it was a sequel, specifically the “Forza Faithful”
Achievement, and one called “Unicorn Hunter” (though technically
the latter Achievement could be unlocked in alternate ways).
The Forza Faithful Achievement in Forza 4
Once you install and load Forza 4 and
complete the very first race - the introductory one that it does not
really matter where you place in - the game will look for a Forza 3
save and, if/when it finds one, notify you of that fact and ask you
if you wish to complete the import process from the previous game.
If you say yes - and you obviously
should say yes - while the doing of it will have no effect whatsoever
upon your Forza 3 profile or save, what it will do is read and
evaluate your Forza 3 game save and, based upon your level of
progress in the previous game, give you a graduated set of prizes and
rewards based upon the contents of that profile.
Several factors are taken into
consideration here - starting with your Forza 3 Driver Level, and the
cars that you own in that game. As long as you are online (that is
to say that your Xbox 360 is connected ot the Net and to the Forza
Server as well as Xbox LIVE's servers) you will be gifted a
combination of credits (aka “CR” which is the in-game money that
is used to buy things like cars, upgrades, and stuff from the in-game
store and auction house) that is based upon your profile level.
In addition to receiving a certain
amount in percentage of the CR you possess in Forza 3, you will also
be gifted with a specific set of cars depending upon your progress,
and of even greater importance, as long as you possess specific and
uber-rare cars in Forza 3, the importation of the rare car (or cars)
that will/may trigger the unlocking of the Unicorn Hunter Achievement
as well (more on that in a moment).
Technically the car imports does not
require any connection to Xbox LIVE and its servers, and based upon
your profile levels, Driver Level, and etc. you may receive the
following rewards for being a Forza Faithful:
FM3 Profile Level - Year - Make - Model
- 1 - 2010 - Abarth - 500 Esseesse
- 5 - 2009 - Ford - Focus RS
- 10 - 2010 - Chevrolet - Camaro SS
- 15 - 2010 - Audi - R8 5.2 FSI Quattro
- 20 - 2009 - Bugatti - Veyiron 16.430 - 2009 - BMW - #92 Rahal Letterman Racing M3 GT2
- 40 - 2006 - Aston Marin - #007 Aston Martin Racing DBR9
- 50 - 2009 - Peugeot - #9 Peugeot Sport Total 908
 |
| The 2010 Abarth Model 500 Esseesse - the cutest car you never heard of... |
Community Loyalty Reward Cars: In
addition to the above direct car rewards that are based on your
Driver and Profile Levels, you may also receive the following Forza 4
version cars if you have any of these cars in your Forza 3 garage:
Year - Make - Model - Original Source
- 1969 - Chevrolet - Camaro SS Coupe - Unicorn Car
- 1982 - DeLorean - DMC-12 - Community Choice Classics Pack
- 2002 - Mazda - RX-7 Spirit R Type-A - Unicorn Car
- 2006 - Subaru - Impreza S204 - Unicorn Car
- 2007 - Ferrari - 430 Scuderia - FM3 VIP Car Pack / FM4 Unicorn
- 2007 - Lamborghini - Gallardo Superlegerra - FM3 VIP Car Pack / FM4Unicorn
- 2009 - Chevrolet - Corvette ZR1 - FM3 VIP Car Pack
- 2010 - Ferrari - 458 Italia - Hot Holidays Car Pack
- 2010 - Lexus - LF-A - Stig's Garage Car Pack
Unicorn Hunter Achievement: As
previously mentioned, the Unicorn Hunter Achievement was also
attached to the loyalty import from FM3 (though you could also unlock
it in FM4 the usual way if you lacked an FM3 save of sufficient level
with the right cars).
Basically when you completed the
importation from FM3, as long as you owned any of the following cars . . .
- 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Coupe
- 2002 Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type-A
- 2006 Subaru Impreza S204
- 2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia
- 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Superlegerra,
. . . you would then automagically unlock the
Unicorn Hunter Achievement - which I might add while it could be
unlocked in the usual way in the game was, by and far away the easier
and more convenient way to get it since unlocking it in FM4 in “the
usual way” required either massive luck, or a massive pile of
legally obtained and filthy lucre!
 |
| The 2011 MINI Cooper S - this game is full of too cute cars! |
So how does that bring us to Forza: Horizon?
Simple really - just like FM4 and its
relationship with FM3, Forza Horizon has a similar relationship to
both FM3 AND FM4! That's right, the “AND” is intentionally
emphasized...
Basically in Horizon once you begin the
game and drive your way to the point at which you have unlocked and
received the first wristband (the Yellow one), you will be prompted
to activate the import process for the Achievement “May The Forza
Be With You” (10G) You received free cars for being a loyal Forza
fan!
Now granted the 10G may not seem like a
lot of Gamerpoints (and really it is not),but that isn't the major
focus for this Achievement - rather it is the Loyalty Rewards Car
Importing that is the major focus, and what that translates to is
actually very simple, really...
The evaluation is once again based upon
either your FM3 or FM4 Driver Levels - which was a problem for me in
that I had been forced due to the Red Ring of Death to replace my
Xbox 360 between when FM3 and FM4 was released, so I did not have an
FM3 save on the hard drive - AND - my FM4 save had been corrupted on
my current 360 so that while I did have a save, it was basically
empty in terms of progress!
Because of that I found myself in the
unfortunate position of needing to put the game play process for
Horizon on hold temporarily while I built up the stats and levels in
FM4 so that, when I did engage in Horizon gameplay, the game would
properly evaluate my save and thus deliver unto me the following
proper May the Forza Be With Me Rewards:
FM Driver Level - FH Award Car
- Level 01 - 2011 MINI Cooper S
- Level 05 - 2011 Citroen DS3 Racing
- Level 10 - 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8
- Level 15 - 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS
- Level 20 - 2008 BMW M3 E92
- Level 30 - 2012 Jaguar XKR-S
- Level 40 - 2009 Gumpert Apollo S
- Level 50 - 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4
Now this is not really a question of
being a stickler for getting what you can get, or for the whole ego
argument that has surrounded this sort of reward/element in the
games, but rather it is the recognition that several of these cars
offer performance characteristics that are highly desirable and, more
to the point, ownership of them represents a savings in time,
playing, and CR.
 |
| Pick the correct exit, get off the highway, and discover a new Forza World! |
That's my story and I am sticking to it!
Besides there were still a number of
Achievements in FM4 that I wanted to unlock anyway, well, that and
the reality is that FM4 is a fun game that is worth playing (and
replaying) so really it was more a question of putting in the time -
so for me it was a matter of working on other guide projects and
assignments while squeezing in racing sessions during breaks - an
approach that I found worked very well indeed.
This sort of situation begs the question: How much effort is too much effort?
The only answer that I can come up with is: How much fun are you having?
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