Ride 4

[Wolfe]

It isn't all bad. I have a new appreciation for Ride 3 for the time being, and I've wanted to pick that up again soon. I only have a small portion of the career left to complete.

I confess -- yes, I've abused the rewind function to slog through some events, like @ctdc67 mentioned in post #144.

 

[SDSmurf]

The rewind is a bloody lifesaver... Or controller saver to be more accurate.

 

[Exup]

Well...
Being a fan of Ride3, this one was a certain buy too.
I tried it yesterday, but my main problem is other...
My xbox one X died (motherboard) two weeks ago, and until the Series X (pre ordered), I could only try the game on the xbox One S...and i definitely can't recommend playing the game at 30fps...(same happens to motogp20).
Maybe (I'm not trying to defend the game), the problems that everyone is mentioning about controlling the bikes on the challenges, come from the poor interaction (slowliness) between control and bike, due to the 30fps.
I consider myself a good Ride3 player...and on Ride4 (and motgp20), I gave up after 5min...

Nevertheless, I believe I will still love the game, as soon as I have the opportunity to play it "should" be available to everyone. 60fps.

Till 10th November, I'll see you guys playing on YouTube

 

[Scaff]

My Initial thoughts

 

[zargdin]

Well so far my initial impression is that the career is just a badly structured mess with utterly absurd difficulty spikes.

Looks great however.

After the grueling license tests (which, as Retro UK pointed out, that if they are difficult for seasoned players they would be next to impossible for newcomers, and thus form an impenetrable barrier to the main game content) I got down to the European career. Got the Rookie session (just about) then on to the Stock 600 group of races. Having problems so reduced the difficulty level down to very easy (20%) just to get through the damn thing. The resulting race could under no circumstances be described as "very easy".

Agostini-type AI scooting through those very difficult corners at Cadwell park with ease, and in doing so, knocking me off my bike several times. This is another thing I have noticed about this game - how easily it is to get knocked off by an AI rider approaching you from behind.

Anyway, just managed third place. I may have another go later, but to be quite honest, I don't think I can be bothered.

 

[Retro_UK]

One thing I haven't seen talked about with the next generation of consoles is A.I. I wonder if it's something that might actually start to get a real improvement? Or will devs still consider eye candy the main target (I think I know the answer)

 

[Scaff]

I may have another go later, but to be quite honest, I don't think I can be bothered.

That's pretty much how I fell about it right now as well.

 

[Populuxe]

It took me an hour last night, but I finally got a bronze on the final test at VIR. It was just awful. No fun at all. Once that was done, I spent my money on the Harley VR1000 and had a single race at VIR on it. (I couldn't find a way to change the race track.) I came in dead last by something like a full minute. I fell off the bike at least twice every lap. The braking line is completely useless in this game. If you brake when it tells you to, you are going to blow the corner and fall off. You need to start braking about a hundred feet before it tells you to if you want to make it through the corner. Which makes the braking line pretty useless. Might as well turn it off. I honestly think Ride 4 is worse than Ride 3.

 

[doblocruiser]

Sad to hear/read this. I was going to pick this up but I'll wait after reading up on all the issues

 

[RZ05]

well it's basically the same old issues that plague Milestone titles. I swear I could go back 10 years of posts about each new release and they basically all say the same thing.

I don't know who tests their games but they should be fired. I mean like the night races in Ride 3. Who thought racing in almost complete darkness was cool? The headlights didn't work. How do you miss that?

While graphics have been upgrade the rest is pretty much the same. They lock up the game to force a career mode but create the cheapest AI known to man. It's not even that they are cheap it's just they aren't in the same game that you are. That's why riding in a pack with the AI is just about impossible So there is no racing you either check out from the front or set the race to long and let them spread out so they don't take you out. The only mildly saving grace this time around is that most of the time the AI does go down when they take you out. But they shouldn't be taking you out.

As for the braking it can only be describe as having been designed by someone who's never ridden a motorcycle. Engine braking has more stopping power than using the brakes? geez. And you can't follow the AI reference points or the recommended points those only work for the AI. you can be going slower brake sooner/harder/longer and still outbrake the AI.

I've given up hope on any type of AI advancement. With each gen all devs seem to care about is pretty graphics . Honestly I'm just asking the AI be aware. that you are there. They don't have to learn my riding/driving happens, just some kind of avoidance logic and I'd be happy

 

[zargdin]

I just checked out the Ride 4 facebook page and a lot of people are saying the same thing about the license tests, as well as the crap AI, and a few people saying they have just given up. Quite a few with gushing praise though. The moderators only seem to respond to the gushing praisers.

 

[Populuxe]

I just checked out the Ride 4 facebook page and a lot of people are saying the same thing about the license tests, as well as the crap AI, and a few people saying they have just given up. Quite a few with gushing praise though. The moderators only seem to respond to the gushing praisers.

I only have Twitter, not Facebook. I checked and they are almost completely absent on Twitter. Just one or two announcements a year and that's it. So not much luck letting my voice be heard.

 

[MenocidiX]

Well... About 8 hours in.

It's sad. As embarassing as it sounds, I'm happy if I manage to get bronze on some tests. A few golds here and there, but overall I don't know why they made it so hard. I can't see me winning a single bike. So I have to buy the needed ones to earn some cash to buy a nice bike I want to have fun with some time in the future.

Speaking about buying bikes: The 10 most expensive bikes cost ~19.1mio Credits. Fully upgrading a bike costs around 100k. And you earn what? About 10k for a gold medal (don't know about the world league events yet). You do the math.

It feels like even Gran Turismo has easier achievable gold medals and it's okay if a sim game has tough gold times. 1.5 seconds are a lot in pro racing, but 1.5 seconds from gold to bronze, even in a sim game, has nothing to do with fun. And it's still a game that should be enjoyable. I really don't get it and I'd consider myself as a decent racing gamer.

I loved Ride 3, earned the platinum trophy in roughly 2 weeks. Compared to this now... It's disappointing to say the least.

Something good about the game: Visuals, Sound, Editors, Bike & Track selection (even though I miss a couple ones on both, but that's a permanent individual issue everyone suffers from).

Conclusion: Beautiful, frustrating bike game which I'd recommend buying only for half the price.

The rewind is a bloody lifesaver... Or controller saver to be more accurate.

It is. Honestly, without it I might have given up too already.

Having problems so reduced the difficulty level down to very easy (20%) just to get through the damn thing. The resulting race could under no circumstances be described as "very easy".

Same here. I'd love to see a dev mastering a race on the hardest difficulty.

The braking line is completely useless in this game. [...] I honestly think Ride 4 is worse than Ride 3.

I agree on both.

I don't know who tests their games but they should be fired.

I mean like the night races in Ride 3. Who thought racing in almost complete darkness was cool? The headlights didn't work. How do you miss that?

To be fair there wasn't even real night races. I had no issues doing them. Same in Ride 4. What's meant to be "night" is more like sunset, dark blue sky. Now with the dynamic day/night cycle it looks like the progression stops at around 9pm and continues at 4am. There aren't many games with a decent "night" feeling.

I've given up hope on any type of AI advancement.

Yeah I don't see anything about that fancy neural "A.N.N.A." system. Maybe the AI learns how to bang me off the bike more efficient.

The moderators only seem to respond to the gushing praisers.

Awesome. I sent a mail to Milestone on Saturday about the PS4 preload issue. No reply at all.

 

[Retro_UK]

So, this is clearly one of those cases where the devs/testers get so used to playing the game, that they forget people with no experience will be buying it as well. The licenses are nuts in some cases. I started with the Asian career path and the last license is a timed lap at Suzuka, and the penalty for barely touching off-track is ridiculous. You can't rewind, it quits you out immediately and you have to restart. Just immediately give me the option to try again instead of the half dozen steps (slight exaggeration for effect) you have to take to restart it.

Quite enjoying the racing once I got started, but yeah, having to do easy to have any chance of being on the podium. I am still using a 1080p plasma TV so decided to go with quality mode at first. Bad choice! The slowdown on the tracks is crazy....there is no way this has been optimised. It's a shame Microsoft don't make the Forza engine available to devs like these for the Xbox.

There is something about it that doesn't look as clean as Ride 3 to me. I tried taking some pictures in photo mode and I haven't managed to take anything yet that equals what I could take in Ride 3.

Priority for them though, should either be making the licenses optional, as I believe they are these days with Gran Turismo? Or making them easier by lowering the goals for bronze. Leave it harder for gold and silver if they want, to satisfy the real hardcore. But let newcomers at least be able to start a career in the game!

I fear I should have waited as I think this is going to plummet in price pretty quickly.

 

[notsofast]

My Initial thoughts

I saw this video pop up on YouTube last night and I’m glad I saw it as I was thinking of buying Ride 4 on release. Now if someone who has experience with the Ride series is having big issues with the licence test then I can see someone like me who has no experience and no idea being very frustrated. Thanks for your thoughts. If that’s the case then I’ll use the money elsewhere.

 

[r_outsider]

So, this is clearly one of those cases where the devs/testers get so used to playing the game, that they forget people with no experience will be buying it as well. The licenses are nuts in some cases.

Clearly. And they seem to have concluded that whiz-bang graphics are more important than a smooth running game. And apparently that we're all masochists of a sort who think this is an enjoyable time.

I just checked out the Ride 4 facebook page and a lot of people are saying the same thing about the license tests, as well as the crap AI, and a few people saying they have just given up. Quite a few with gushing praise though. The moderators only seem to respond to the gushing praisers.

Naturally, they only respond to the positive, but at least you know they're reading. More real folks need to start piping up. Loudly.

Also, once again, we can see plainly, never, ever read or watch the pro reviews (high 70's average across the 3 platforms on Metacritic, not a single user yet). While I'm not going to say that they're outright attempting to lie, if the deep flaws like virtually impossible challenges and career or get a mention at all, they definitely make an effort to soft sell them. They seem too far removed from the average Joe Public who doesn't play video games 80 hours a week to be able to provide an opinion of any value to us whatsoever. Sometimes I wonder if the pre-release test copies are the same game or if they dumb them down. Honestly, Scaff has some of the best racing game reviews out there, I learn more from a single writeup than watching stupid videos from the name reviewers for hours that tell me nothing of substance or value. And I'm not saying that to blow sunshine, I mean that.

I won't get a crack at it before the weekend now, will post thoughts up when I have them. Seems I'm stuck with it now, might as well enjoy it...

 

[bluemoon_19]

I was close to butting a pre order down for this on steam but glad I held off based on previous disappointment. I could never get into ride 3 since it was so dependant on picking the bike that was op compared to the rest, like not even a chance of winning if you have the wrong bike. And of course the time trial events, I love a good time trial (Venom hot lap 1 and 2 anyone?) but these were no fun.

How is the balance in this game? does the bike rating actually reflect how good a bike is compared to the others in the class?

 

[Retro_UK]

If you were struggling in Ride 3 with your chosen bike, just be sure to buy the engine upgrades etc that boost performance without going over the limit. Apologies if you have already tried this, but I did find it much easier to ride my chosen machine once I dialled in the upgrades etc.

 

[bluemoon_19]

If you were struggling in Ride 3 with your chosen bike, just be sure to buy the engine upgrades etc that boost performance without going over the limit. Apologies if you have already tried this, but I did find it much easier to ride my chosen machine once I dialled in the upgrades etc.

I can't remember the race series since it was a long time ago(it was some of the lower levels since I didn't play much) but I upgraded one bike to the top of the class and it wasn't close to the ai. I them chose a stock bike with a lot less PP and it cruised to the front of the pack with little effort.

 

[John Wells]

Picking my copy up tomorrow, so will see, good or bad. Looking forward to new sound, bikes, tracks, but see how career is. Some the challenges in the new TT game, are tough, only completed one.

Money for a fully up graded race bike, is about right, if buying in real life. All ways found the credits, in these games fairly easy. Not like the grinding in GT, for 20m cars, can be real slog.

 

[Griffith500]

I can't remember the race series since it was a long time ago(it was some of the lower levels since I didn't play much) but I upgraded one bike to the top of the class and it wasn't close to the ai. I them chose a stock bike with a lot less PP and it cruised to the front of the pack with little effort.

The PP system was broken in Ride 3, I did it the old fashioned way, with the power and weight figures. Unfortunately each bike had a seemingly random cornering ability according to the maximum lean angle the devs decided it could achieve, and this was not always consistent between types of bike or really made much sense at times.

The leaning thing is probably the cause of the sense of understeer, I think if there was visual and audio feedback, it would help players with it a lot. Like play sounds for knee and toe sliders, or even pegs down on some of the less sporty bikes etc.

Milestone have not paid enough attention to this core feedback to elevate what is occasionally a satisfying experience into one which could be sublime. Someone needs to study the early arcade greats I think. As for the career mode, there's a real design by focus group feel to a lot of these midrange games these days. They don't seem to realise it'll ultimately lead to their agglomeration into and dissolution under a corporate megalith one day. Almost like it's not about the games...

 

[RZ05]

To be fair there wasn't even real night races. I had no issues doing them. Same in Ride 4. What's meant to be "night" is more like sunset, dark blue sky. Now with the dynamic day/night cycle it looks like the progression stops at around 9pm and continues at 4am. There aren't many games with a decent "night" feeling

Originally the Night race at Macau was insane almost pitch black and it was required to pass one of the tests. It was bad to the point they patched it to make it a day race.

Another problem with Milestone is they imitate without understanding. They see something in another game and try to do it and just get it wrong. Their pricing structure is terrible. I mean you look at their games and it's not uncommon to see something like a helmet cost more than a set of suspension. but they are worst than most when it comes to locking up games. What's the point of having a deep bike list if they aren't accessible? What's the point of challenges if people dumb the settings down just to complete it? If you have to "force" people to play modes then that should be a hint.

As for pro "reviews" well I'm going to try and be nice, but the problem is most aren't bike people. TeamVVV for example. When it comes to cars they go into deep details and have high expectations, but then turn around and constantly give Milestone a pass for crap games. "They are a small studio, etc......" Which is BS. They have been making bike games (basically the same game) for over 20 years. still make the same errors over and over. I own all of their bikes from 1999 Superbike World Championship to Ride 4. Unfortunately the pro reviewers see pretty graphics (this time around in Ride 4) a big bike list, a couple of bells and whistles and they are happy.

I don't think they understand motorcycles. When I want a car game I will play a car game. Car people would be up in arms if you could drift a F1 car in a game. Yet all pro reviews seem to not ride because if they did they'd see how un-bike like Milestones bike games are. It's 2020 and still the best feeling bike game is the 1st person view on Tourist Trophy. I just laugh/cry when reviewers even mention any of Milestone's games as comparable to Tourist Trophy cause it's obvious they don't have a clue.

The worst part is that it's just a bunch of little things that kill Milestones games. Small things that could easily be fixed, if they'd listen. But it's the same thing every year and it's obvious they aren't going to listen or change. I mean for example the "physics" settings are a joke. To them realistic apparently means hard, which is anything but real. I'm not asking for some ultra hard sim. Riding bikes is easy. Riding bikes fast is actually pretty easy too. Getting that last 10% is hard but its not a completely different skillset. I have an R6 and a R1 that I take to the track all the time and they are nothing like Milestones interpretation of motorcycles. because if they were I'd be dead. Its telling that I can bring my playstation to the track and some racing games. And you get a ton of bike mad people who live and breathe bikes, they will play anything but the Milestone games. There is a reason for that. It's sad Milestone will never understand that. Worst that still no real sign of a Tourist Trophy follow up. Bike Sim Experience doesn't appear to ever be coming out. just a bummer

 

[THOMASBARNES]

managed to unlock the second tier of career mode events but the idea of having to do more license tests is already killing my motivation to continue. I don't remember them being this bad in Gran Turismo

 

[Scaff]

managed to unlock the second tier of career mode events but the idea of having to do more license tests is already killing my motivation to continue. I don't remember them being this bad in Gran Turismo

I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday, as I re-did the original GT licences recently, and even they are not as bad as the ones in Ride 4.

 

[zargdin]

I just had a quick look through the "professional" reviews on Metacritic. None of them seem to have noticed this big problem about the absurd difficulty of license tests, nor have they commented much on the other problem of the hyper aggressive AI. "Screenrant" referred to previous problems with the chaotic AI but concluded "This problem is largely fixed in RIDE 4, and results in very few race-ending accidents fully at the fault of the impressive AI."

It makes you wonder.

 

[ctdc67]

How good is the quick race options. Can you just make your own races and not do the career. That's what I do for most of my games anyway. Are some bikes locked up like in R3?.. I see many bikes are expensive.

 

[Scaff]

I just had a quick look through the "professional" reviews on Metacritic. None of them seem to have noticed this big problem about the absurd difficulty of license tests, nor have they commented much on the other problem of the hyper aggressive AI. "Screenrant" referred to previous problems with the chaotic AI but concluded "This problem is largely fixed in RIDE 4, and results in very few race-ending accidents fully at the fault of the impressive AI."

It makes you wonder.

Good chance many of them are playing it with a copy that already has the content unlocked, so may not have had to deal with the absurdly stupid licence tests.

 

[Iconiqk]

How good is the quick race options. Can you just make your own races and not do the career. That's what I do for most of my games anyway. Are some bikes locked up like in R3?.. I see many bikes are expensive.

You can, but expect to earn less credits then if you were to do the exact same race in career mode.

 

[John Wells]

Career in Ride 3 was locked to, get so many stars, next tier open. Been watching some stuff on you tube, Scaff and their games are locked.

 

[RZ05]

Career in Ride 3 was locked to, get so many stars, next tier open. Been watching some stuff on you tube, Scaff and their games are locked.

yeah but there's a big difference in the career of Ride 3 vs Ride 4. Ride 3 you had paths you could take. and you didn't have to do them all and could jump around. I only like sportbikes 600 and above . With that said I could basically do only those events to get to that final tier.

Ride 4 is LOCKED. and there is one path. period. Even this thing of only being able to chose one region. It won't even give you the option to quit and start over in another. Why? What is the point? This is supposed to be fun not homework. Heck if they still made SBK games I wouldn't bother with Ride in the first place because I'm not a fan of Racing RPGs.