I'd argue that a shit ton more changes have been made to the AC series than the call of duty series(especially the underlying tech aside from the improvements to the rendering engine). I say that as someone who has played every COD game.
There have been notable changes, and I feel that Unity represented a game which tried to buck the trend somewhat yet was buried under corporatism, unreliable console performance, slam-bang QA, a poor story, and inconsequential multiplayer.
Revelations iirc was in full production for 10 months. I certainly wouldn't call the Homestead missions weak, it was like an entirely separate campaign that showed a totally different side of the time period. Then ofc the naval mission mini campaign and the peg leg trinket hunts leading to these relatively cool set piece missions. If you're only doing collecting when there's a ton of other content in the game than the issue is sort of with you. Yes there is always a lot to collect but there is always a ton of stuff to do aside from collecting. I just made a post the other day about why and how AC4 succeeds in it's writing on both a surface level and the nuance seen in the game. The other games at varying points display similar levels of nuance, it doesn't always work but the series writing, especially character writing and dialogue is far from atrocious.
Well it depends on which features you're talking about. The rope launcher for instance allows for way more mobility than what was possible in Revelations. It speeds up gameplay quite a bit and makes you think quite differently about how to approach situations and the level design was affected way more than what was seen with the hookblade. Brotherhood most certainly did not have a traffic system anywhere near the one seen in Syndicate. There's also the fact that the rpg-esque mechanics mattering way more in these recent entries than in past entries.
But they've done more than "just create band-aids" to their game design. You also shouldn't speak for the majority of the fanbase. And ffs since people keep pretending that literally the only side content that they put in the games are collectibles,
Still on schedule. Wonder if it'll coincide with the first major patch.
Mildly more interesting than before but still a reshuffle of trite activities. Leave the grunt work to the grunts; that's not what the player should be doing. Are any of those things really above collecting flags? Chests? Nomad points?
Yes. Many of the side activities are above collecting things. They're missions, not something you collect while free-roaming to your next objective.
But here's the thing, they're making blanket statements about the side content as if it only consists of collecting things. If Ubisoft has been actually making improvements and then people who aren't playing are saying "No it's still the same and they aren't fixing anything" then wtf are they supposed to do? How am I supposed to discuss the series when the other side is so blatantly dismissive of all the changes while making blanket statements about the content of the games themselves. Do you not realize that that's not how feedback works? Concerning sales AC4 also was a cross gen title, that alone makes it a slippery slope when it comes to sales comparisons I already voiced the issues I had with the game in this very thread. You say I keep dismissing the complaints but I keep presenting actual facts instead of making blanket statements, if a person says "it's all collectathons" it just shows me that they aren't actually playing the side content. THIS is not a collecthaton, it's a mission. Neither is this. Or this. These are the side activities in the games. If someone is only focused on the chests yet is ignoring these activities and calling it a collectathon then that is being incredibly disingenuous about the content that comes in each game. The devs have been actively accepting feedback for their games, otherwise we'd still have the exact same gameplay as past entries with no differences.
Places like markets and stations take a hit with performance due to an increased amount of npc activity there. Which console are you playing on?
.Are you referring to me? I didn't actually say that. My post was rather a poor attempt at explaining the decline of the sales. Certainly if the core gameplay was compelling to your average gamer, sales would be higher, no? And there's no doubt that there are changes between iterations, but Ubisoft is, like all large publishers, risk-averse. There's no need to shake things up too much; don't rock the boat, y'know? I feel these are tautologies rather than subjective opinion born out of ignorance. (I don't think I'd like them to change the core gameplay a whole lot as it's why I enjoy the series in the first place, only that if sales are going to recover they may need to.)
). I had been reading Rex's posts in the NPD and since his post in the Halo thread was ignored I hoped to start some discussion in this one. This thread was slow and I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone.I wasn't referring to you.Are you referring to me? I didn't actually say that. My post was rather a poor attempt at explaining the decline of the sales. Certainly if the core gameplay was compelling to your average gamer, sales would be higher, no? And there's no doubt that there are changes between iterations, but Ubisoft is, like all large publishers, risk-averse. There's no need to shake things up too much; don't rock the boat, y'know? I feel these are tautologies rather than subjective opinion born out of ignorance. (I don't think I'd like them to change the core gameplay a whole lot as it's why I enjoy the series in the first place, only that if sales are going to recover they may need to.)
As to the new entries, being a fan of the series I have read a lot of posts and opinions on both Unity and Syndicate. The changes in Unity didn't seem to be well received but Syndicate has a lot of positivity; it's a good sign and I'm hopeful for the future of the series.
I posted what was my read of the franchise in the eyes of many consumers and what I thought might help to rekindle the popularity. There's plenty of supposition in there, and if you wish to dismiss it as ignorance that's fine, nothing wrong with that, but I never said that the games were essentially the same and I hope you don't think I'm some hater, nothing could be further from the truth.
Re-reading my post, I regret submitting it. It's long-winded, rambling, and poorly thought out (not unlike this one
Anyways, I'm currently playing ACIII and looking forward to Rogue, Unity, and Syndicate. Once I play through them I can hopefully tackle this topic with more insight.
