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[Bloodporne]

Basically they are trying to save money by removing story telling?

That's what I got out of it. I highly doubt Ubisoft is making any decision regarding their games based on some creative and artistic direction. Whatever it is, there's a big fat $ sign at the end of it surely.

I think their stories, and games for the most part, embody what I don't like about current gaming trends so go to town axing those goofy D-grade Action flick Hollywood plots.

 

[G-Fex]

I would like to play Assassin's Creed game but it seems like I have to wait 2-3 hours worth of cutscenes and scripted stuff to actually get to some gameplay

 

[FrontalMonk]

Uhm...am I the only one that's getting the point here?

Did none of you people play Shadows of Mordor?

I don't know about you, but when I played through Shadows of Mordor, I didn't give two shits about the revenge plot, the Celebrimbor nonsense, or the Hands of Sauron or whatever the fuck they called those worthless excuses for bosses.

I cared about beating the shit out of that one fuckass of an orc captain that became warchief who was immune to almost everything I could throw at him because he kept killing me, and I put him where he could hurt me most. I ended up killing him by systematically turning every single one of his captains, and ambushing him after letting him fight ALL his subordinates. Even THEN he almost killed me, but I got him, barely.

When you got to the end of the game and after fighting the last boss, you had to fight that one fuckass of an orc captain that gave you so much grief all over again...THAT was the boss fight. THAT was worth feeling excited over emerging victorious.

And THAT is what they're talking about. Building systems that encourage emergent experiences. Why is that a bad thing?

 

[Nategc20]

Good. Most stories are too in your face and takes away from the gameplay. Especially when you can't skip a cut scene. Ugh

 

[FarFromAnyGame]

Says the company that recently added a story mode to the multiplayer-only game, For Honor.

 

[Servbot24]

let players experience "their own story".

aka, close your eyes and pretend our games don't suck. You'll love it!

 

[patapuf]

I could do with less hollywood-style scenarios. But it's not really up to Ubisoft. What Vivendi wants is the more relevant question.

Multiplayer, Free form open worlds, game as service.. all these are things the whole industry in trending towards. I really doubt Vivendi will suggest something else.

 

[MiamiWesker]

If the focus is on gameplay then yes all the way. I'm playing WD2, the story is better, ok big whoop. They took away all the awesome side quests and mini games like digital trips from the first game and replace it with CRAP. Gameplay is more important, give me digital trips.

 

[Fudgepuppy]

I think the most essential part of storytelling in games, is how you as a player become the driving force of the plot.

The ending of Arkham Knight just made my jaw drop. Not because of its writing, but because of the way they conveyed the story by taking regular gameplay, and twisting it around to subverse your expectations. Once you started to figure out what was going on, the gameplay and the rules of the game changed, all affecting your emotions.

When I say that ME2 was the best of the ME games, I don't do it because of its writing, but because I got immersed in the world and the story because of my interactions with it. The suicide mission is stupid when looking back on the series as a whole, but being there and feeling the raw stress and anxiety of losing your squadmates, it felt real.

If this is what the developers will try to get in their stories in the games under Ubi's new rules, I'm okay with it.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

I'd generally call it bad news... but they're right. Assassin's Creed storytelling is the worse! Had potential at first, but since AC2 expansions it turned out to shit and never got any better (actually it managed to become worse).

So yes... sure! Bring more gameplay and less shit storytelling.

 

[leng jai]

Uhm...am I the only one that's getting the point here?

Did none of you people play Shadows of Mordor?

I don't know about you, but when I played through Shadows of Mordor, I didn't give two shits about the revenge plot, the Celebrimbor nonsense, or the Hands of Sauron or whatever the fuck they called those worthless excuses for bosses.

I cared about beating the shit out of that one fuckass of an orc captain that became warchief who was immune to almost everything I could throw at him because he kept killing me, and I put him where he could hurt me most. I ended up killing him by systematically turning every single one of his captains, and ambushing him after letting him fight ALL his subordinates. Even THEN he almost killed me, but I got him, barely.

When you got to the end of the game and after fighting the last boss, you had to fight that one fuckass of an orc captain that gave you so much grief all over again...THAT was the boss fight. THAT was worth feeling excited over emerging victorious.

And THAT is what they're talking about. Building systems that encourage emergent experiences. Why is that a bad thing?

SoM is exactly the problem actually, that game was interesting for about 4 hours and that was it. The story was non-existent, there were barely any interesting characters and the environments were all generic filler. Without the Nemesis system that game was would have been terrible, it had nothing else.

 

[skynidas]

I don't care too much about story so that is fine by me.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

SoM is exactly the problem actually, that game was interesting for about 4 hours and that was it. The story was non-existent, there were barely any interesting characters and the environments were all generic filler. Without the Nemesis system that game was would have been terrible, it had nothing else.

Yep. I actually regret putting a big amount of time into SoM because it was no longer interesting by the end of it.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

I thought they already made this intention abundantly clear when AC3 assassinated the series' plot. The awkward, half hearted continuation in AC4 really hurt my love of the franchise. Haven't even gotten around to finishing Rogue, Unity, or Syndicate.

 

[The Last Wizard]

I thought they already made this intention abundantly clear when AC3 assassinated the series' plot. The awkward, half hearted continuation in AC4 really hurt my love of the franchise. Haven't even gotten around to finishing Rogue, Unity, or Syndicate.

It's half hearted in syndicate as well imo(haven't played unity or rogue), though it definitely is a passable game. AC for me was fun because of the story, mostly the modern day stuff with the first civilization.

 

[Euron]

I have enjoyed the Implementation of long term monetization like microtransactions the most this console generation from Ubisoft™ because instead of spending hours playing a game simply for the fun of it like the dark ages, I can now buypass that (LOL PUNS) through my own wallet thanks to the job I have! I don't have time for fun, so it is rather incredible that Ubisoft™ lets me skip this gameplay stuff and get straight back to the visceral experiences I paid for.

Nintendo should learn a thing or two from Ubisoft™ because they haven't been relevant this generation with their dark age microtransactionless gameplay-focused antivisceral children's games. This is why each Assassin's Creed™ has outsold Smash Wii U and Mario Kart 8 combined.

Please remember to purchase Watch_Dogs 2™ this November on the Playstation 4 Computer Entertainment system and buy the Season Pass to get more visceral experiences.

 

[Archaix]

The last few times I've tried to play a Ubisoft game, the story/tutorial intro nonsense put me off of them entirely. Cutting those bits alone would make their games far better.

 

[N.Grim]

Says the company that recently added a story mode to the multiplayer-only game, For Honor.

Story mode =/= storytelling

 

[Dabi]

lol, oh how they've fallen.

 

[Dabi]

They should also do away with multi-studio development while they're at it.

 

[DangerMouse]

Yup!

Less storytelling and less singleplayer = No buy

Yeah. One of my favorite parts of games. I just got worried about BG&E2 for the first time, damn

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Thank god. I hope the whole industry gets inspired by this. Fuck video game stories. Virtually all of them suck and waste my time. I don't play video games to get harassed with D-level writing. The lack of an explictily told story is one factor that makes the Souls games so good. If you stripped all of the existing games down to only gameplay and no story, >95% would benefit from that and turn into more tightly paced games at an instant.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Thank god. I hope the whole industry gets inspired by this. Fuck video game stories. Virtually all of them suck and waste my time. I don't play video games to get harassed with D-level writing. The lack of an explictily told story is one factor that makes the Souls games so good. If you stripped all of the existing games down to only gameplay and no story, >95% would benefit from that and turn into more tightly paced games at an instant.

But the Souls game have a story.

It's not the story that you seem to dislike but the way it is told.

It's exactly what the article is about, less explicit narrative (cutscenes that take away the control from the player) and more room to role play.

 

[cyber_ninja]

I haven't bought a Ubi game in years and it doesn't look like that trend is going to change.

 

[silva1991]

Uhm...am I the only one that's getting the point here?

Did none of you people play Shadows of Mordor?

I don't know about you, but when I played through Shadows of Mordor, I didn't give two shits about the revenge plot, the Celebrimbor nonsense, or the Hands of Sauron or whatever the fuck they called those worthless excuses for bosses.

I cared about beating the shit out of that one fuckass of an orc captain that became warchief who was immune to almost everything I could throw at him because he kept killing me, and I put him where he could hurt me most. I ended up killing him by systematically turning every single one of his captains, and ambushing him after letting him fight ALL his subordinates. Even THEN he almost killed me, but I got him, barely.

When you got to the end of the game and after fighting the last boss, you had to fight that one fuckass of an orc captain that gave you so much grief all over again...THAT was the boss fight. THAT was worth feeling excited over emerging victorious.

And THAT is what they're talking about. Building systems that encourage emergent experiences. Why is that a bad thing?

Story is boring

Combat is brainless and repetitive Batman Arkham-esque

World is generic as fuck.

Ubi can make SoM style games all they want, but they certainly won't win me back.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

But the Souls game have a story.

It's not the story that you seem to dislike but the way it is told.

Which is exactly how I phrased it!?

 

[Jackpot]

Translation: it costs too much, let's stuff the game full of side-missions and collectathons!

 

[Kaako]

Not a fan of this. Most games that have you "make your own fun" don't have the proper tools/assets in place to truly make your own fun. I don't have much faith in Ubisoft to deliver on this considering their cookie-cutter open world design for all their fucking games at this point. Nope.

 

[ookami]

Really interesting article, mostly when they talk about the repetition of their gameplay in some of their games.

They're trying to build believable worlds and then apply systems and mechanics with an emphasis on emergent gameplay and storytelling. As with the repetition it seems they're trying something different for their next games.
The next Assassin Creed will have the foundation of this new state of mind and next games might be fully implemented like this.

 

[tallbroski]

Wow i`m suprised many people do not care for story. Its one of the reasons I play video games

 

[JimmyRustler]

But the Souls game have a story.

It's not the story that you seem to dislike but the way it is told.

It's exactly what the article is about, less explicit narrative (cutscenes that take away the control from the player) and more room to role play.

The Souls games have lore. They have a lot of it. Story on the other hand.... Nah...

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Says the company that recently added a story mode to the multiplayer-only game, For Honor.

What makes you think it was ever going to be multiplayer only ?

 

[TheSeks]

I'm glad Ezio's arc was completely wrapped up.

Not sure the sad face, it was. He retired.

I'd be for another Ezio outing, personally but I can understand why they don't. They did 3 games with him, 1 (well, 2-3 if you do cameos) of Alitair and like 1 or 2 with the newer ones.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

Thank god. I hope the whole industry gets inspired by this. Fuck video game stories. Virtually all of them suck and waste my time. I don't play video games to get harassed with D-level writing. The lack of an explictily told story is one factor that makes the Souls games so good. If you stripped all of the existing games down to only gameplay and no story, >95% would benefit from that and turn into more tightly paced games at an instant.

I kind agree... it's much more interesting a game with an interesting background story told by elements (such as collectibles), giving more room to actual gameplay, then games where the story is told by constant cut-scenes, serving mostly to break the game pace.

Most videogame stories are badly told, and the ones with better lore (i.e. Halo, Metal Gear and Kingdom Hearts) can be simply impossible to understand just by progressing it, since they use to rely on external data like books, notes, or even games released only in a different platform.

I see nothing wrong in using different elements to tell a story, but it's a bit nonsense to put strong story elements such as cut-scenes in the game, if the average player can't understand shit.

 

[Wagram]

Looks like i'll be buying fewer Ubisoft titles in the future. Ubisoft games do not have strength in their gameplay.

 

[mdubs]

Thank god. I hope the whole industry gets inspired by this. Fuck video game stories. Virtually all of them suck and waste my time. I don't play video games to get harassed with D-level writing. The lack of an explictily told story is one factor that makes the Souls games so good. If you stripped all of the existing games down to only gameplay and no story, >95% would benefit from that and turn into more tightly paced games at an instant.

Posts like this are making me realize more and more that I'm getting over video games with the way the market is going

 

[Mac the KNife]

If it means better mechanics, I'm all for it. I'll take Grow Home over Assassin's Creed any day.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

Posts like this are making me realize more and more that I'm getting over video games with the way the market is going

Actually even older games that managed to interrupt you less telling a story used to be the best. Zelda for example, it's mostly pure gameplay with little storytelling interrupting your way.
ICO, Shadow of The Colossus... same rule.

He is not saying that a game should have no story. But that the story could be told in a different way, much less intrusive then most games do.

 

[Wagram]

Actually even older games that managed to interrupt you less telling a story used to be the best. Zelda for example, it's mostly pure gameplay with little storytelling interrupting your way.
ICO, Shadow of The Colossus... same rule.

He is not saying that a game should have no story. But that the story could be told in a different way, much less intrusive then most games do.

Star Ocean tried that. It was worthless.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Posts like this are making me realize more and more that I'm getting over video games with the way the market is going

What? The industry is hardly coming from a story-driven direction but rather going there. I'm heavily a retro gamer. My ratio of retro:new games I play yearly is about 4:1.

 

[Kacho]

This is a good thing and I hope more developers go this route. Video game stories are so bad and I can never convince myself to care about them. I skip cutscenes whenever I can. Give me more ambient storytelling and just let me play.

 

[partyphone]

Star Ocean tried that. It was worthless.

what's your point? no other games should even try? just shoehorn in exposition and take away player control at every opportunity to tell the most hamfisted, cliché-ridden, contrived story possible?

 

[Spinluck]

I'm glad Ezio's arc was completely wrapped up.

What's the consensus on that? Was it good?

Assassin's Creed 2 is still my favorite of the series.

 

[RedSwirl]

What I hope Ubisoft means is "less cut scenes" and more letting players actually play the game. The problem is that it used the word "storytelling" to suggest cut scenes are the only way to tell stories in a game.

Ideally, the gameplay should be the real device to tell the story, or at the very least the storytelling should happen without having to stop what the player is doing.

 

[Instro]

What? The industry is hardly coming from a story-driven direction but rather going there. I'm heavily a retro gamer. My ratio of retro:new games I play yearly is about 4:1.

That's a bit inaccurate don't you think? The PC market was largely dominated by narrative heavy games for many years.

 

[Stone Ocean]

Considering the quality of stories Ubi has been putting out, nothing of value was lost.

 

[Deepo]

If that's the case, I care less and less if they are taken over by Vivendi.

 

[FarFromAnyGame]

What makes you think it was ever going to be multiplayer only ?

It was announced as a multiplayer game in 2015. They recently announced they're making a story mode for it.

 

[nikeboy94]

As a person who very much enjoys video game stories, I think this news really sucks. RPGs are probsbly the best for stories but that doesn't mean that all other game types should abandon it. Some of the best games in the world have been the ones that have amazing gameplay tied to an amazing story, like the Metal Gear Solid series. Games like uncharted, the last of us and Batmam Arkham have also had some of the best stories in the medium so its not like games are shit at them. I think that there are certain types of games that are best without a story but then I feel like are other types of games that fundamentally require a story to push things along. Assassin's Creed's more recent titles feel more like checklist games ('Here's a list of shit to do, go do it') and removing story would kill alot of incentive to get to the end of the game after you've done most of what the game has to offer (gameplay-wise).

 

[True Fire]

Ubisoft needs better storytelling, not more towers and sidequests. When they said they wanted to make a Witcher like game they really got the wrong idea.