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[UpDownLeftRight]

So Ubi, what happened to that promise about not having issues like Unity?

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

They need to give something away on a certain date during beta so that they can get a huge amount of people to stress their servers.

Just by going off the MMO games of the past, they usually have terrible launches when it comes to servers. Unfortunately, now tons of games are always online and either there servers can't handle the # of players or the code has some problems that basically DDoS attacks their own server even if they could handle the people. Scale is the problem with most of these games during testing.

So Ubi, what happened to that promise about not having issues like Unity?

"We are sorry about the launch issues surrounding The Crew™ and we can assure you that our next title (Insert new game here) will not ship in this state."

 

[FlyinJ]

I had this exact thing happen to me last night when playing a single player race.

Right in the middle of it, the game stopped cold with a window that said "connection to server lost, press A to continue"

I thought whatever sure, pressed A, and I was BACK AT THE TITLE SCREEN.

So angry.

 

[popsicle_sundays]

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Wait, you can literally drive across the country in this game? Wouldn't that take a couple of days? Or is the map not to scale?

2014... the year everyone forgot how to properly make a racing game.

Forza Horizon 2 is pretty good. But yeah, the number of unquestionably broken online games is staggering this year, especially given the dev/publishers involved. Is there something about the PS4/Xbox One dev environment that lends itself to these kinds of stability issues?

It's kind of amazing that Destiny is the only game thus far to pull off "always online" properly.

 

[Neuromancer]

Can this be played offline like Driveclub? I had interest, but I forgot all about this game, and then it just shows up on the shelf.

Nope.

There's no offline at all because the developers thought that then they'd have to have an offline save and an online save, and that gamers would be too confused by that system.

 

[Amir0x]

Wait, you can literally drive across the country in this game? Wouldn't that take a couple of days? Or is the map not to scale?



Forza Horizon 2 is pretty good. But yeah, the number of unquestionably broken online games is staggering this year, especially given the dev/publishers involved. Is there something about the PS4/Xbox One dev environment that lends itself to these kinds of stability issues?

yeah it's not even close to scale, just much bigger than normal open world racing games

 

[baconcow]

At least DriveClub has the sensibility to save your progression offline and sync once the connection restores. Losing progress is a killer.

I know. I have DRIVECLUB and enjoy what works of it. But, there is definitely a parallel to be seen.

The Crew Beta was just bad, so I am not surprised.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

And they'll still give it a good score.

Probably. Despite the actual driving engine being (apparently) horrible and the game being fucked by server issues, I bet they score it on potential rather than the here and now.

A great game world is great, but if the game plays badly it's irrelevant.

 

[Hendrick's]

So who was the Ubi guy who guaranteed it will all work flawlessly?

Edit: OK, maybe not a guarantee.

Serkan Hasan

For The Crew, we've reaped the benefits of a long term beta program, designed specifically to push our infrastructure as far as possible in real world situations, with thousands of players from all over the world playing the game at the same time.

The launch of any online game these days has potential issues, but I hope that players will be encouraged by our open approach. If you had any doubts that we could pull this off, I hope that the betas proved our credentials and the game’s stability.

 

[Oddduck]

It wouldn't be a Ubisoft game if it didn't have 100's of bugs and tons of problems at launch.

 

[JCX]

Why do gamers put up with this time after time?

 

[Neuromancer]

I asked if they're worried that The Crew might run into the same sorts of launch-day problems that SimCity ran into—players who bought the game unable to play due to server-side problems. "We're doing extensive testing," Gerighty said. "It scares the living bejesus out of us. When you work so hard on a game like SimCity, only for it not to work perfectly, according to plan, it's soul-crushing for the dev team. I really feel for those guys. So we're gonna do as much as possible to stop that from happening. We're gonna do beta testing, make sure that the entire system [works], but you never know." He laughed. "Don't give me nightmares now, we're just announcing it!"

http://kotaku.com/ubisofts-next-gen-racing-game-is-always-online-they-e-512250025

 

[John Kowalski]

(putrid genre)

You're worse than Ubi.

 

[bud23]

So Ubi, what happened to that promise about not having issues like Unity?

Eh? Who cares?

Have you seen the new ass creed London trailer yet? It's awesome!!!

 

[CosmicQueso]

STOP BUYING UBISOFT GAMES AT LAUNCH

I don't think anyone bought The Crew.

 

[Chû Totoro]

Wait, you can literally drive across the country in this game? Wouldn't that take a couple of days? Or is the map not to scale?

Well it's quite big but not as you might think it is. Also Detroit, Chicago etc. are located not really in an appropriate way. It doesn't matter if the rest of the game was good but when the only thing you can do is listing flaws then you can say you have an average game (I would say bad but some people could still enjoy it... I just hope they won't pay full price).

PS : I haven't played final version, only beta.

 

[danowat]

I really don't understand why Driveclub keeps popping up in these discussions about The Crew.

The games both feature cars, that's pretty much where the similarities end.

edit : Ok, parallels with the online nature and failure(s) of said nature just after release not withstanding......

 

[djplaeskool]

I know. I have DRIVECLUB and enjoy what works of it. But, there is definitely a parallel to be seen.

The Crew Beta was just bad, so I am not surprised.

I'm kind of shocked they would just dump out of the game and not have any sort of contingency to prevent loss of progress.

 

[BigDug13]

Nope.

There's no offline at all because the developers thought that then they'd have to have an offline save and an online save, and that gamers would be too confused by that system.

They can't bilk people for microtransactions if you have a way of hacking your own saves. That's the real reason there's no offline.

 

[DorkyMohr]

Developer of the Year Nominee, Ubisoft.

 

[Kleegamefan]

And Microsoft thought we were ready for always online? lol

Yeah, could you imagine the XB1 as it was originally conceped, an always onlineconsole?

Microsoft should thank their lucky stars for all that initial complaining from us "whiny gamers " because the outrage over non-working online games would have been biblical in comparison to situationsee like drive club, unity and the crew.

Xbone dodged a bullet there

 

[AlucardGV]

i tried the demo yesterday, i coudln't connect 4 times in a row and then i deleted it. not surprised

 

[BigDug13]

I really don't understand why Driveclub keeps popping up in these discussions about The Crew.

The games both feature cars, that's pretty much where the similarities end.

And considering Driveclub can be played offline unlike The Crew makes even the connection issues comparison invalid.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

you know last year my "Watch Dogs" was The Division, right now i lost all hope for the game. thank you based ubisoft

 

[Montresor]

i would object to putting that Watch Dog failure on the list!

And also would add about eighty other bullshit things Ubisoft did this past year and a half.

"Wanna turn $60 customers into $300 customers with microtransactions" FTL

I really enjoyed Watch Dogs. I got a huge kick out of using the smart phone to solve puzzles via hacked cameras, or using the smart phone to follow buried power lines across multiple buildings (i.e. trying to find the power source for a panel switch).

I was likely not going to get The Crew, and that's because I think my cross-country open-world racing game itch will be satisfied with Forza Horizon 2 (whenever I buy it). But the online-only nature of this game, the micro-transactions, and the embarrassing server problems means I won't even give this game a sniff. I won't boycott Ubisoft as a whole though - if they make a game I think I'll like, I'll purchase it, regardless of their past transgressions.

I'm skipping Unity because the issues with the game are just way too numerous for me to ignore. I had played every AC but I skipped AC3 because it looked awful. AC4 brought me back with its wonderful Carribean setting. I'm skipping Unity but next year's AC already looks intriguing - knock on wood they get rid of everything that was shitty about Unity and I dive back into a Victoria-era London-themed AC next year.

 

[jet1911]

Online "only" games certainly had a hard time this year. Hint for devs, if you are going to make an online only game please make sure that the online works flawlessly.

 

[HazySaiyan]

I'm sorry for anybody who bought this and is having issues, but is anybody even remotely surprised? .

 

[Neuromancer]

They can't bilk people for microtransactions if you have a way of hacking your own saves. That's the real reason there's no offline.

Good point!

And considering Driveclub can be played offline unlike The Crew makes even the connection issues comparison invalid.

Yeah you're not getting the full experience in Driveclub if servers aren't working, but you can play the entire career mode and offline single events.

 

[7DollarHagane]

Ubisoft went from:

Assassin's Creed Black Flag (incredible AC game in my opinion, with some flaws, but the Carribean setting, the next-gen graphics, the pirate characters, and sailing with the Jackdaw all made for a fantastic experience)

Child of Light: slight negative for playing like a JRPG (putrid genre), but this was a beautiful game

Rayman Legends (one of the top 2d platformers)

Valiant Hearts (very enjoyable side-scrolling point-and-click-style adventure game)

Trials Fusion (nowhere near as good as the Trials Evolution, but still mildly enjoyable)

Watch Dogs (fantastic open-world game with actual unique puzzle mechanics - using your smart phone as a puzzle mechanic throughout the game was very satisfying)

That's 3 top tier games (Black Flag and Rayman Legends and Watch Dogs), two really good mid-tier games (Child of Light and Valiant Hearts), and one mediocre game (Trials Fusion).

And Ubisoft followed that up with:

AC Unity: English accents during the French revolution, barf. Forced companion app integration in order to open blue chests, barf - the companion app is not fun and requires hours of grinding. Forced AC Initiates web site integration in order to open other chests, barf - the AC Initiates web site is widely reported to not even work. Glitches up the ass at launch. New stealth controls don't work properly - people report issues accidentally sidling up against walls. Previous stealth controls removed - whistling to attract guards is no longer in. Performance issues - the 1000s of NPCs cause mediocre frame rate and pop-in issues. Also, a patch downgraded the graphics slightly. And the notoriously bad melee combat in the game has been made worse and more frustrating. First ever AC game to have microtransactions in the single player campaign.

Far Cry 4: Decent game by all accounts.

AC Rogue: By all accounts a decent game - essentially Black Flag 2.

The Crew: Open world online-only racing game with glitches up the ass, and surprise surprise, server problems cause lost progress. Also - there are microtransactions.

Ubisoft has fallen quite mightily... In my eyes they were kings last year.

Calling any entire genre "putrid"

Lol

 

[ambar_hitman]

There was absolutely NO REASON to make this a MMO. I would have got this DAY 1 had it been like TDU 2. But NO, they had to shove always online down our throats.GG Ubi, you done goofed.

 

[Alebrije]

You can hear a far cry comming from Ubi's office at this moment

 

[Kouriozan]

That Ubisoft Seal of Quality.

 

[BRocknRolla]

Developer of the Year Nominee, Ubisoft.

I keep thinking of that too... Sure they've put out some relatively good games this year... But given the number of horrendous releases in recent time, that nomination seems ridiculous.

 

[Karak]

I had this exact thing happen to me last night when playing a single player race.

Right in the middle of it, the game stopped cold with a window that said "connection to server lost, press A to continue"

I thought whatever sure, pressed A, and I was BACK AT THE TITLE SCREEN.

So angry.

According to many on my channel they are connecting without issue and the game is perfect
But then again some people need to eat shit for hours before realizing they are.

The game is simply a mess.

 

[Elandyll]

Ubisoft Ubisoft'ed it ...

Sad that it probably was expected.

 

[Montresor]

Calling any entire genre "putrid"

Lol

Are you offended? I find very little that has any redeemable values in that genre. That doesn't mean other people can't enjoy it - but I find it to be a boring genre.

 

[Petrae]

Why do gamers put up with this time after time?

Because they accept broken games at launch as normal.

"Just give it time."
"Why can't you be patient? It'll work in a few days."
"Games are too complex these days and shit is gonna happen."

We've become adept at making excuses for and defending this industry from criticism for stuff like this.

 

[Art Vandilay]

I really wish Ubisoft would delay shit. I'd rather wait and get an enjoyable experience than a broken game every other release.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

GAF is just picking on Ubisoft stop being so mean guyz

LEAVE UBISOFT ALONE!! LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Man, it really is going to be a very, very long generation, isn't it?

 

[RK9039]

They couldn't animate all the cars?

 

[BRocknRolla]

Are you offended? I find very little that has any redeemable values in that genre. That doesn't mean other people can't enjoy it - but I find it to be a boring genre.

Your point seemed totally fine. I think it probably would have been much better taken if you hadn't made an antagonistic, sweeping generalization like that. You knew people would comment on that, right?

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

yeah it's not even close to scale, just much bigger than normal open world racing games

So Burnout Paradise

 

[SmokyDave]

I really hope this leads to a patch enabling an offline mode. I really want to play this and have no interest in the online side of things.

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

I swear, if The Game Awards had a sister similar to The Razzies, Ubi would sweep the whole god damn ceremony.

 

[Dynedom]

My post from the "Crew won't make the same mistakes as Unity thread"

Of course it won't. It'll make brand new ones.

...

 

[conman]

It's kind of amazing that Destiny is the only game thus far to pull off "always online" properly.

It's all about money and time. Publishers may be stupid, but they aren't idiots. They know that it's far cheaper, faster, and more profitable to ship an online game that's broken for a week or two (or more) than to bother with the time and money it takes to do a comprehensive beta--especially for a new IP in a niche genre. Destiny had tons of financial support (from Bungie fans and from Activision).

If an online game sells well, the publisher will fix it and fund a (less broken) sequel. If it doesn't sell well, they'll just get it "good enough" and move on to the next new IP. If we've learned nothing by now it's that we should never buy games on launch day.

 

[Pjsprojects]

Just patch in an offline mode please. Already sick of games that 'need' to constantly be online.

 

[Petrae]

I swear, if The Game Awards had a sister similar to The Razzies, Ubi would sweep the whole god damn ceremony.

Gaming media outlets should add a "Broken Game of the Year" award to keep up with the changing times.