Triggerhappytel
Member
Aka "we want more games like Overwatch"
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Ubisoft wants "less and less storytelling" in their games.
- Thread starter Iceternal
- Start date
blastprocessor
The Amiga Brotherhood
I only own Rayman. The last Ubi game l bought before that was Far Cry 1 on PC. 99% of their stuff is hot garbage anyway.
OmegaTreeFish
Banned
Well personally my pet peeve with big open world games is normally the main story. Its always to long, has to much filler amd ends up being rather uninteresting.
My best example of this is gemes like oblivion and skyrim. Doing all the smaller but more interesting side missions is way more fun that the main plot. Same in witcher 3.
Give me an open world where i can go and experience lots of smaller storys and affect the world peice by peice in a manor i see fit. Then work some interesting game mechanics into that in how your actions might change the world.
Following a main story that leads you around the map for normally boring reasons just to force you to experience it needs to end. They need to give me a reason to travel somewhere other than 'this npc needs to to talk to this person here'.
However knowing ubi this means making a huge open world and filling it with icons to run to x1000 which would blow.
My best example of this is gemes like oblivion and skyrim. Doing all the smaller but more interesting side missions is way more fun that the main plot. Same in witcher 3.
Give me an open world where i can go and experience lots of smaller storys and affect the world peice by peice in a manor i see fit. Then work some interesting game mechanics into that in how your actions might change the world.
Following a main story that leads you around the map for normally boring reasons just to force you to experience it needs to end. They need to give me a reason to travel somewhere other than 'this npc needs to to talk to this person here'.
However knowing ubi this means making a huge open world and filling it with icons to run to x1000 which would blow.
sublimit
Banned
Problem is that other aspects in their games are usually bad too.
User123456
Member
Funny. I want less and less Ubisoft in my storytelling.
Far Cry 3, 4 and the more recent AC games...
Recent Raymans have like no story and they're great, though. So maybe this IS the right way to go for Ubi.
Far Cry 3, 4 and the more recent AC games...
Recent Raymans have like no story and they're great, though. So maybe this IS the right way to go for Ubi.
Magic Mushroom
Member
They're getting better at it if R6 and FH's Alpha are anything to go by.
Not too mention Zombi U and the Rayman games I mentioned earlier. I think their more gameplay focused games are actually their best games (at least since PoP). Even FC2, which was less about the story and more about the mechanics, is testmament to this I feel.
Wildlands had a lot of potiential if they pull it off. A co-op Phantom Pain with less focus on story and a really big, varied open world. More dynamic gameplay that isn't dictated by story beats is not a bad thing.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Emergent storytelling is really overrated, particularly when the only stories players are able to create for themselves is finding creating ways to murder people.
michaelius
Banned
See I told people that nothing of value will be lost if Vivendii buys them - they are already on their way to everything wrong people expect after ownership change.
Not even sure we would notice the difference honestly.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Then I'll just stop buying their games
I feel like this is a direct response to the Voice Actors' strike. I'm not opposed to the strike at all, but I predicted major games backing out of using Professional Voice Actors and relying on cutscenes so much.
Games, unlike TV, Movies, Anime, and Cartoons can get away without Actors and just telling stories in other ways and still be successful. Cutscenes and Audio Tapes and NPC's talking to you are something that a big company can decide to avoid and suffer very little.
Again, I support the strike, but I feel there is a realistic uphill battle for them that doesn't exist elsewhere. Games can get by on the things that make games unique, and I think that's exactly what Ubisoft is doing here.
I also wonder if the proliferation of cinematics in games is in part due to the cost cutting companies were getting away with, and that the strike, even if they get all they're asking for, would drive certain companies to back off on those a little.
Games, unlike TV, Movies, Anime, and Cartoons can get away without Actors and just telling stories in other ways and still be successful. Cutscenes and Audio Tapes and NPC's talking to you are something that a big company can decide to avoid and suffer very little.
Again, I support the strike, but I feel there is a realistic uphill battle for them that doesn't exist elsewhere. Games can get by on the things that make games unique, and I think that's exactly what Ubisoft is doing here.
I also wonder if the proliferation of cinematics in games is in part due to the cost cutting companies were getting away with, and that the strike, even if they get all they're asking for, would drive certain companies to back off on those a little.
Glass Rebel
Member
Assassin's Creed became a parody of itself like 3 games in and it'd have been the same thing for all their long-running franchises so less of all that bullshit is an actual improvement.
On the other hand, it's not like their tower-climbing simulators offer much else of worth.
On the other hand, it's not like their tower-climbing simulators offer much else of worth.
There was another explanation for this general design a couple weeks ago after the quarterly results.
It's not so much about ditching story telling, it's about the core gameplay consisting of being immersed in open worlds where the player is doing his own adventure. The game gives you an open world, the player is doing what he wants so the story elements are more "meta".
It's not so much about ditching story telling, it's about the core gameplay consisting of being immersed in open worlds where the player is doing his own adventure. The game gives you an open world, the player is doing what he wants so the story elements are more "meta".
No storytelling, no buy. Imagine playing Assassins Creed without any character development or story events that give player reason to do anything. What are they on about? For some games this would be fine (online mp shooters, platformers like Rayman etc), but it would be extremely detrimental to some of their biggest ip's.
Yeah they'd have to actually focus on game design, instead of relying on simpler gameplay being an inflation of play hours between cutscenes. Making a game that's fun to play for 20 hours without story is it's own challenge, let alone 100 hours.
Camp Freddie
Member
Sounds good in theory, but I'm not sure how it works in practice.
Knowing Ubi, it means less focus on the main story and even more nagging UI elements telling you "Rift detected", "Crime in progress!", "Chase mission available", "[$Collectible] nearby!".
blankslatenator
Banned
This is why crowdfunding must save us.
Diprosalic
Banned
Sounds great.
DevilDog
Member
I think they want to go the Dark Souls way, in a way. Fine by me.
It is, but the overwhelming majority of videogame stories are trash.
What is Dark Souls about? That game engaged me in its story like no Ubisoft game has, except perhaps AC1 and 2. Maybe.
It is, but the overwhelming majority of videogame stories are trash.
What is Dark Souls about? That game engaged me in its story like no Ubisoft game has, except perhaps AC1 and 2. Maybe.
If they now would start to make FPS and stuff like this
I've seen Rainbow Six Siege considered as the best shooter of the generation
So if the plan is to turn more of their IPs into online FPSs it's not all rainclouds
Jakartalado
Member
I fear for Assassin's Creed "The Witcher" style
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Ubisoft makes pretty much nothing but shit games anyway. Wouldn't want their output even if I got it for free.
Make a sequel to PoP '08, you fucking hacks.
GillianSeed79
Member
Eh not a fan. Oh well, less games I have to worry about. Come to think of it I find myself playing a lot older games these days like Skyrim and RDR
dealer-
Member
Exactly, I'd be hard pressed to remember a story from a Ubisoft game. A new approach would probably benefit them but there still needs to something to hang the framework of the game on.
Yeah I'm trying to get into AC: Unity at the moment and the gameplay is just so dull. The premise around the French Revolution is interesting but there is nothing else there to draw me in.
I feel like the Assassin's Creed story has basically gone off the rails at this point, and has done so since 3. A game that just mines the texture of a locality might do better, honestly.
Realistically how many people play a game past 20 hours, let alone 100? It might make more financial sense to build a game this way, especially if people aren't going to go back and replay it.
We always think about games like Skyrim or big multiplayer titles you sink tons of hours into (I have thousands of hours invested in the Halo series, and Steam tells me I have 1200 in Dota 2) but they're at the extreme end of the bell curve. Hell, because those aforementioned games are great the only games I tend to want to jump into are shorter ones. The time I was willing to spend 60 hours grinding through a JRPG are a decade behind me now.
MarkMclovin
Member
I'd love to see a game where there is no main story, but one can be created due to your actions.
So like, so end up in a city rife with crime, both political and street level. If you want, you can just live your life, get a job (or not) pay bills, get into a relationship, that kind of stuff, but then you read an article on the games 'internet' that some criminal guy might be working with the cities mayor for example, and so that can be a topic to discuss with someone, or you can get in touch with the reporter. You find out a little more and investigate and the story is developed from there.
Or again you hear a conversation that some guy killed a kid and after a little digging, you find his address and become a mercenary.
So like, so end up in a city rife with crime, both political and street level. If you want, you can just live your life, get a job (or not) pay bills, get into a relationship, that kind of stuff, but then you read an article on the games 'internet' that some criminal guy might be working with the cities mayor for example, and so that can be a topic to discuss with someone, or you can get in touch with the reporter. You find out a little more and investigate and the story is developed from there.
Or again you hear a conversation that some guy killed a kid and after a little digging, you find his address and become a mercenary.
Personally I like the minimalist approach to storytelling. Something like Ico, SoTC, INSIDE, Journey, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, etc...
Otherwise if a game features a more extensive narrative it better be as creative and interesting as Silent Hill 2 for example, or as entertaining and eccentric as Undertale.
Otherwise if a game features a more extensive narrative it better be as creative and interesting as Silent Hill 2 for example, or as entertaining and eccentric as Undertale.
I don't care about the actual story most of the time (since they kinda suck). What I care about is framework and structure. Purpose and drive. It does sound like they're not gonna actually improve mechanics but just make less meaningful content. Kinda reminds of the Dead Island 2 approach where there was supposed to be endless repeatable missions instead of a proper campaign.
Can Crusher
Banned
The only thing they want is to eliminate end game, so that they can create a limitless amount of dlc and opt buys etc.
^ yep.
also, related to this, from interview with Amy Hennig http://www.glixel.com/interviews/amy-hennig-on-taking-star-wars-somewhere-new-w450064
Bedameister
Member
Guess I want less and less Ubisoft games then.
Similar threads
- Poll
- Poll