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Ghost Recon : Wildlands Open Beta Impressions.

I've been playing this solo and unlike Dragon's Dogma, I can honestly say I've barely noticed the existence of my AI teammates outside of Sync Shots. They just seem to teleport in and out of the general area while I get all of the kills and frankly it makes me wish I could turn them off entirely. They don't have any unique skills of their own so they feel quite useless and goofy when you're sneaking around. I understand that this is a 4-player co-op game and Dragon's Dogma isn't, but I would still like some more options for your AI squad members.

The shooting felt pretty nice (I enjoy having to lead shots) and while the driving wasn't the greatest, at least the vehicles aren't made of paper and can take more than a few dings before conking out. Weapon and character customisation is pretty good as well, even though it makes no sense to be able to swap your loadout freely at any time. The weather and lighting system looks great and I like that nights are actually dark.

I really appreciate that Ubisoft puts out playable demos like this. There was a good long while where demos weren't common at all and now they're starting to come back in the form of "alphas" and "betas," which may not necessarily be the complete truth in name but I welcome it nonetheless. I might pick this up on sale or maybe wait and see what modders can do to the PC version to make it more palatable for solo players.
 
Playing this game, it's a poor man's MGSV in gameplay...

But it has online co-op which makes it fun...

Definitely not worth a full $60 to me though.
 
J

JeremyEtcetera

Unconfirmed Member
Playing this game, it's a poor man's MGSV in gameplay...

But it has online co-op which makes it fun...

Definitely not worth a full $60 to me though.

Even knowing that, there won't be an actual MGSV successor(aside from Survive) to play in the known future, which makes this close enough for the MGSV fan in me. Honestly, if Wildlands had a slide or dive button that would improve it greatly.
 
I've been playing this solo and unlike Dragon's Dogma, I can honestly say I've barely noticed the existence of my AI teammates outside of Sync Shots. They just seem to teleport in and out of the general area while I get all of the kills and frankly it makes me wish I could turn them off entirely. They don't have any unique skills of their own so they feel quite useless and goofy when you're sneaking around. I understand that this is a 4-player co-op game and Dragon's Dogma isn't, but I would still like some more options for your AI squad members.

Your companions will actually murder everyone if you put them in fire mode.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
After one last multiplayer session... I don't know. I think sleeping somewhere in there is the potential to be the next major step in open-world shooters, but it's not there yet. The thing about that though is, Ubisoft is in the business of "live" games now. From what I hear Siege got off to a rough start but Ubisoft stuck with it, treating it as a service, and now in year 2 it's apparently a highly regarded game (I haven't played Siege I'm just repeating what I've read).

Glixel said Wildlands felt like Ubisoft was trying to combine everything it had learned from Far Cry, Creed, and Siege, but it remains to be seen whether Wildlands will represent the best of those games or the worst.

There are times here where I feel like this could be a fun quick-session co-op explosion fest with a tinge of the old SOCOM or Ghost Recon 1 feeling. Maybe GTA Online really is better at this and I need to play it. There are times when I look at the landscapes and think "this is exactly the kind of open world I've wanted in a game," but Wildlands sort of wastes it in more than one way. In co-op you're moving so fast you can't fully absorb the environment in all its scale. In solo where I actually can take the game as slow as I want I realize how shallow it is. The various areas present different types of level design but the core gameplay doesn't have the variety or dynamism of MGSV.

The game I keep coming back to in comparison is Arma. For those who haven't played it, Arma is often considered the only true successor to the original 2001 Ghost Recon, but is based in a really massive open world similar to Wildlands. The difference is Arma has a much slower pace to it, often making you feel like a wandering RPG party except with modern military gear. That gives the open world more time to breathe and players more time to absorb it, which now that I think about it is something every Ubisoft open-world game after Assassin's Creed 2 has lacked. Arma is also said to have that potential resting in it like Wildlands, but is the epitome of Eurojank right now. The reason I'm actually willing to put up with the jank in Wildlands is because that game is actually easy to control. Arma often feels like a PC simulation game from the 90's. Wildlands was supposed to be the more polished casual gamer version of that.

But I'm rambling. If Ubisoft is approaching this anything like it has approached Siege and how it's probably going to approach For Honor, I don't think Wildlands is going to be the same game in 12 months that it will be at launch. Ubisoft is going to try to work on it and keep it afloat. We can only hope that pans out, because I really do think a great game is hiding somewhere inside what we're seeing right now.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Playing this game, it's a poor man's MGSV in gameplay...

But it has online co-op which makes it fun...

Definitely not worth a full $60 to me though.

I'm pretty much in the same boat. The game is "fun" in being able to plan your missions out and the co-op element gives it an edge over Phantom Pain. But at the same time, I don't think it's worth $60. Especially with it hitching on my hardware when it should've auto-detected itself.
 
Played for a bit with a couple friends. It's okay and can be fun to screw around it but man it's incredibly janky in a lot of areas. Can't see myself picking it up anytime soon.
 
OK, played another session of co-op running missions (Extreme difficulty, no minimap), being tactical, just two players, and this game is back in my good graces.

Edit: First was infiltrating an enemy town for intel, going block by block, setting overwatch positions and leading some great cat and mouse chases in buildings, rooftops and through darkened streets, avoiding civilians and running night vision. It ended with us freeing some rebels and using the chaos to jack a helicopter and escape.

Second was a Unidad Base, infiltrating by way of the docks, reaching the roof of a warehouse to allow my buddy to take out the snipers in the compound proper while I took out guards on patrol. Then we stole a Unidad truck just as the sun went down, drove it through the gate, with my buddy driving slow and me crouchwalking beside it, using it as cover, as we drove to the rear of the base, humped over a shipping container to get over the compound walls proper, found the captain (approaching and clearing from both sides), and interrogated him for intel. Then we blew the generator, fought of the last of the guards in the dark and stole away on their helicopter. We wanted to escape using gunboats but the river was outside the demo zone.

As we were flying away I pulled the helicopter up to get some serious altitude before asking my buddy whether he had unlocked the parachute. Turned out he hadn't, so I jumped out, opened my chute and watched as my buddy smote his flaming ruin upon the mountainside. A solid ending for the open beta period.

Both encounters were tense, each of us played our own roles (my buddy sniping and overwatch on rooftops, me going in close quarters w/ silenced SMG and an LMG for if things got crazy). We played with the last known position system to keep away from reinforcements, set traps, and basically, no, actually got our Ghost Recon on.

The open world and some of its small side missions don't do the game any favors, but when you're in a base complex or making your way through city streets in stealth it can really shine, and feels more like MGS V co-op than something like Mercenaries.

And with that the game from a wait for patches to an early buy. It has its moments, and what moments it has just isn't available anywhere else on the consoles this gen.
 

calder

Member
Try making roadblocks with the vehicles, (drive one up, use the one there, and call in a third). Then place mines on the roads ahead of time. Lastly equip an under-barrel grenade launcher to take out the chopper.

That's how I managed to beat it.

Thanks for the suggestions all, I was about to uninstall the beta but decided to try one last time.... but just to help a bit I brought an APC and parked it next to the radio. ;)

Needless to say, success! It made the choppers instantly die and although it couldn't shoot backwards the rest was easy.
 

jryeje29

Member
I don't think I've ever felt more meh for a game. It just stirs no emotion good or bad. I would not pay $60 but if on sale for $20 or even was included for $30 with other games in a humble bundle or something I'd buy if a had a friend buying with me. The game was merely okay.
 

Cubed

Member
I don't think I've ever felt more meh for a game. It just stirs no emotion good or bad. I would not pay $60 but if on sale for $20 or even was included for $30 with other games in a humble bundle or something I'd buy if a had a friend buying with me. The game was merely okay.
This is me. 100%
 

Weetrick

Member
I had a great time playing with a friend today. We had a blast running around the map like idiots before switching over to a tactical approach during missions.

But I wouldn't buy this game on my own. Having a friend to play with makes a huge difference. I don't have many friends that play games so it's rare when someone I know is interested in an online game.
 

Lizardus

Member
After failing to get a constant 60 FPS with High graphics, I cranked everything to Ultra and capped the game to 30 FPS. It stays at 30 FPS consistently. If I can't have one, I'll take the other.
 
Messed around in co-op with some friends after initially refusing to play the beta because I thought the game didn't sound very interesting. Story isn't very interesting obviously but doing stuff with friends is pretty fun, the customization is pretty neat, and I like the level of detail of the world.

Might pick it up when I have the money.
 
Is the dying earth costume from the ubisoft club a mad Max out fit? If so that is pretty dope.

I couldn't find any pictures of it on Google though.
 

TACPhilly

Banned
after extensive time on the beta all I keep thinking is that this game is a mediocre version of MGSV, plus co-op. If only MGSV had co-op, and it wouldve been so much fun!!!
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Do you work for Ubisoft? Your fanboyism in this thread is outstanding.

Vast majority of people have pointed out the game is bad. Deal with it.

Accusation of shilling due to conflicting opinions, claiming fanboyism to dismiss someone else's tastes, and then ending the post with a catchphrase meant to discourage further debate.

Quality post.
 

Vintage

Member
This may be worth picking up for less than 20$ later this year if you have at least 2 friends to play along. Otherwise, the time you'll waste in it will be worth more than whatever you'll pay.

Player the closed beta solo and open beta with a friend. Coop removes bots, so playing with only friend can be difficult and still not that fun.

Apart from bugs and lack of polish, the main problem is that the game is pretty shallow. After spending several hours we realized we're doing the same stuff over and over again. The missions are generic, without any sense that we're accomplishing anything. The gameplay rarely reflects the story actions you are doing. The game reuses the same enemy bases for different missions and these bases just respawns all the enemies like nothing happened after that. The only sense of progression is one sentence radio chatter after the mission, without any actual impact on the world/gameplay.

There's no way I can see myself playing this 20+ hours.
 

Timu

Member
This game takes up a lot of RAM, I mean, I hit 8.9GB RAM and that's with no browsers on in the background.

grw_2017_02_27_04_12_a8s20.png

It seems to be around 8.1-8.3GB though.
 

Brakara

Member
I don't think it's going to bomb. It's a co-op multiplayer shooter coming out in March. It'll sell by default. Maybe not amazingly but UBI knows what it was doing launching it now

How do you define a bomb anyway? I mean, if it sells better than Future Soldier is it a bomb? It will most likely do well on Xbox and PC (hasn't it topped the Steam sales chart for weeks already?).
 

smik

Member
Playing the beta has left me utterly disappointed, its just sad for me really.
im a huge Ghost Recon Fan, all the way from GR2 to GRAW's and my favorite entry GRFS

i kept out of the thread to make my own judgement but yes, the game has alot of movement jank that GRFS didnt have. What happened to all the smooth gunplay/ animations from GRFS? they even totally ditch the great cover mechanics that GRFS offered, also nothing really has weight to it and to make it worse the vehicles play much worst.

The bad A.I is close to what GRAW offered 12 years ago and the emphasis on Bigger open world has had a negative effect for me, i wouldve have settled for a more focused campaign like GRFS but with a slightly more larger areas with different points of attack, GRW's MAP is just HUGE and actually boring


all this world building only to experience poor gunplay/movement and vehicles controls.


and to top it off, the announcement of no MP to a later date turned me right off, been invested in GR since 04. so for me its minus 10 or so sales on my end, lots of my personal friends and family are not buying into it.
 
I think it's hilarious that they had the Beta, not long after the Open Beta, and the game is releasing on march 7. As if its even close to being finished xD I haven't used that smiley in ages but the stupidity in the development of this game is just boundless.
 
Wow I must be taking crazy pills, I've been really enjoying the beta and have only played solo. To me it feels like they took Far Cry's structure and removed 90% of the filler, while it plays and feels a bit like a lesser MGS5 (one of my favorite games ever). If I wasn't getting a Switch and Zelda I'd probably get this day one, I really dig it. Remains to be seen if it has longevity though, I can see it getting old. I agree it could use more depth with how you use your squad. I use them for sync shots, which are basically magic, and that's about it.
 
I'm sure plenty of people ran into the glitch where a party member doesn't enter vehicles and instead runs beside or on top of them...

...but has anyone encountered THIS? lol
 

Floody

Member
Played all the story missions and ended up liking it way more than expected, it's a lot of fun just stealthly taking out a base with friends spotting and giving you cover from afar. Not a day 1 buy, but can definitely see me picking it up eventually. Could make for a really good game a few patches in.
 

Matush

Member
Played all the story missions and ended up liking it way more than expected, it's a lot of fun just stealthly taking out a base with friends spotting and giving you cover from afar. Not a day 1 buy, but can definitely see me picking it up eventually. Could make for a really good game a few patches in.
My exact thoughts. Will buy it down the line for 20/30€.
 

alt27

Member
Accusation of shilling due to conflicting opinions, claiming fanboyism to dismiss someone else's tastes, and then ending the post with a catchphrase meant to discourage further debate.

Quality post.

I dont care that much if people like the game or not, everyones different. But the poster that I was replying too at the time was targetting anoter poster for 'not liking' this particular product and has been doing alot of that in the thread.

As you say, everyone has different tastes and I was simply stating that a large majority of the feedback for this title has been negative, so no reason to try and spin it otherwise.
 

Sidon

Member
Welp, I'm around, I'll be picking it up.

I'm a sucker for these open world games and after playing the beta loads more with buddies yesterday, I'm in. If they give this game the same treatment as R6 Siege and The Division post-launch, it'll be amazing and I'm willing to risk the money.
 

luulubuu

Junior Member
I really enjoyed my time in this weird Bolivian-Mexico, there are a few issues with controls in vehicles and maybe after a long time the side-missions would get old, but for now I really like it, played with a friend yesterday and we had a blast for 5 hours straight;

We did a few side missions and a pair of story missions, the map is pretty much empty and you only can do "ghost stuff" but the landscape is so well made... I liked to enter a zone by bike, be silent and kill everybody then left in a tank.

We even did a few sniper competitions, it was fun

I also think the whole premise is online heavy, playing alone isn't that special, it's also fun but it loses some charm.

I recommend the game, will buy

The game is stunning from time to time, I really enjoy nature landscapes
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
I dont care that much if people like the game or not, everyones different. But the poster that I was replying too at the time was targetting anoter poster for 'not liking' this particular product and has been doing alot of that in the thread.

As you say, everyone has different tastes and I was simply stating that a large majority of the feedback for this title has been negative, so no reason to try and spin it otherwise.
Your reading comprehension must be way off base because nobody outside a few people like you are trying to spin the game in any light but the poster and the history as you can see said the game have no identity to which I asked what identity to that person meant which he then suggest a game had to do something well for it to have identity which my response was pretty clear; Does the game do nothing well?

To which you start throwing accusations of conflict of interest around like that somehow would even factor into the argument at hand just to proceed to "deal with it, games bad the people have spoken" effectively ending the conversation as there is nothing left to say. You set the stone for going with the masses and made anyone else out to be in bed with the company for liking it.

Whatever, call it CoI if you want, call it whatever makes you sleep at night.
 
I am so very unsure on this one.

It took a while to find it's footing in 2-player co-op (single player sucks, no chance), but when we got to the mortar destruction mission in Montuyoc where there is a good sized base to play with, it was genuinely exciting to develop a plan, call and take shots and work towards all of the mission objectives. Subconsciously I actually started using actual terms like a knob.

My only problem is that I don't know how much longevity the game will have. The map is absurdly huge and there doesn't seem to be too much variety in the side missions. More often than not it's either finding some dude or a piece of paper in a base, steal a thing or do some hacking.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
I dont care that much if people like the game or not, everyones different. But the poster that I was replying too at the time was targetting anoter poster for 'not liking' this particular product and has been doing alot of that in the thread.

As you say, everyone has different tastes and I was simply stating that a large majority of the feedback for this title has been negative, so no reason to try and spin it otherwise.

"Simply"

...really? downplaying your own antagonistic post to come off as the voice of reason, then indicating I'm the one spinning my message? If calling someone a shill and a fanboy is your idea of rational conversation, then I'm eager to see what else you can come up with.
 

Jamiaro

Member
I am so very unsure on this one.

It took a while to find it's footing in 2-player co-op (single player sucks, no chance), but when we got to the mortar destruction mission in Montuyoc where there is a good sized base to play with, it was genuinely exciting to develop a plan, call and take shots and work towards all of the mission objectives. Subconsciously I actually started using actual terms like a knob.

My only problem is that I don't know how much longevity the game will have. The map is absurdly huge and there doesn't seem to be too much variety in the side missions. More often than not it's either finding some dude or a piece of paper in a base, steal a thing or do some hacking.


This is my fear also. Co-op will surely dry up in the long run if those are the only options. :/
 

Macrotus

Member
I've played the open beta and its definitely fun when playing co-op.
But its missing something MGS5 had. Maybe its the A.I? I'm not really sure.

It had some interesting bases to infiltrate though.

Its not a game I would be interested in getting at launch, but definitely would consider if it goes on sale.
 
The terrain quality setting has a massive impact on performance. Ultra looks awesome but it tanks frame rate on my 1070. I believe the foliage quality setting is also a bear.

Game doesn't seem that well optimized, but the scale is impressive so it's hard to tell. It looks amazing in spots and mediocre in others.

I've played a few hours solo and a few more with one friend, and this game is much better with friends. If you are meh on the game solo, just try it with a friend and see if that changes your opinion.
 

OrangeOak

Member
Thunderstorms at night are amazing. Especially while flying a plane.
As for aerial controls I think planes are perfectly ok. Helis would need some tweaking.
I am most afraid that game will be too repetitive though.
 

Peroroncino

Member
Its a thread on a game. I played the game. I commented.

You seem to be suggesting people shouldnt be commenting on things they dislike? Wow, people should know this is a bad product and not to waste their money.

But it's not, me and my friends like it very much and find opinions that it completely sucks very hyperbolic [especially graphics complaints].

I'm also not sure how anybody can say gunplay sucks, when it's almost identical to the one in GR:FS which is still great today - I've even replayed it 2 months ago so I don't have it clouded by nostalgia.
 

Ont

Member
I think it's hilarious that they had the Beta, not long after the Open Beta, and the game is releasing on march 7. As if its even close to being finished xD I haven't used that smiley in ages but the stupidity in the development of this game is just boundless.

Closed and open betas are mainly there to test the server infrastructure and a wider range of PC configurations. The real player feedback was already given many months ago, and this build is probably very close to the final. Any further changes based on a player feedback will be incorporated during the next 12 months or later.

Personally I think the game is ready for the release as there are no game breaking issues. Clearly there are areas which need improvement, but it is a good start.
 

Tensketch

Member
I will probably get this game on a deal of some sort. There's no way I'm paying full price. I had fun with my friends on the parts that worked for me (I have an i5 processor that causes stuttering) and when my PC wasn't blue screening (submitted a support ticket to get that sorted). But otherwise the game seems very middle of the road, but a lot of fun with friends.
 

Airan

Member
My main complaint is that the story missions feel so shallow. The finale missions in both provinces amounted to nothing more than a 2 minute romp through an area before 2-shotting the boss on the head.

The El Polito fight was the worst. Reach the ranchhouse, saw nothing, expected an ambush once we opened the door, turns out I could walk down underground, pop a few goons then kill the "bosses" instantly. I'm hoping the rest of the missions are better, but looking at the La Plaga mission showcased in the 2015 E3 trailer I realized that outside of the myriad options to approach the mission there was probably very little to do once you've chosen your entry strategy.
 
My main complaint is that the story missions feel so shallow. The finale missions in both provinces amounted to nothing more than a 2 minute romp through an area before 2-shotting the boss on the head.

The El Polito fight was the worst. Reach the ranchhouse, saw nothing, expected an ambush once we opened the door, turns out I could walk down underground, pop a few goons then kill the "bosses" instantly. I'm hoping the rest of the missions are better, but looking at the La Plaga mission showcased in the 2015 E3 trailer I realized that outside of the myriad options to approach the mission there was probably very little to do once you've chosen your entry strategy.

What difficulty were you on? The missions weren't epics that had unqiue mechanics, but they had unique settings and certainly took me and friends longer than that on Extreme - the mine missions especially (albeit the
backdoor entry would make it a very quick run if you knew about it beforehand!
 

aember

Member
What difficulty were you on? The missions weren't epics that had unqiue mechanics, but they had unique settings and certainly took me and friends longer than that on Extreme - the mine missions especially (albeit the
backdoor entry would make it a very quick run if you knew about it beforehand!
I know what they mean with how "meh" the finales were.

I played through the beta content solo, on Extreme, with no HUD and neither one took me more than 5 minutes.

The first one isn't even worth a mention really other than the bosses having superhuman strength and being able to withstand multiple shots to the head.

The second area boss was the same deal because of the guard placement. They were always either 2 guards close to each other or just 1 guard patrolling. Then near the end once the armored guys showed up - so what? They just ran right for the player, instead of taking cover and suppressing. By the time they'd stop their run - they'd be dead already.

Overall it's not bad, certainly not something I'd play for a challenge, but totally a "play a podcast and chill" type of game.

e: actually I do remember that in the closed beta, guards tried to ambush me after killing the bosses. I checked out the room a bit and when I was back in the hallway, I noticed guards coming down the stairs. That kind of made me go "oh damn!". Although they died in the blink of an eye, it was still a bit more amusing compared to how killing the boss was just a "alright, gg" in the open beta.
 
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