The best bit is that
they've started addressing their "stale open world formula". They've been making tweaks to the actual game and level design in the last 2-3 years to make it actually fun and more compelling to explore their open worlds, far more than AC Rev/3/BF/Unity/Rogue or Far Cry 4/Primal. For instance, they've begun getting rid of the 'towers to unlock content' and scaling back the amount collectibles (even if only a little) or at least making them meaningful to the gameplay.
- collectibles in Watch Dogs 2 being A) behind puzzles Batman style and B) being actually useful
- AC Syndicate A) improving stealth options a thousandfold, B) making factions fighting each other and introducing gang fight mechanics, C) streamlining the gameplay with the 'hold hostage' and grappling hook mechanics, D) still having the "eagle towers" but making the content they reveal actually playable (like little puzzles or enemies in the way of collectibles)
- in Ghost Recon Wildlands to level up you don't just get "skill points" - you also have to find and spend resources unique to each skill unlock. Like a Drone upgrade might need 1 skill point and 200 "tools" resource; an explosive tool might need 2 skill points and 550 "fuel" resource. It's like a really streamlined MGSV resource gathering loop. There's no longer this barely interactive "level up and updgrade skills" loop - to level up you actually need to explore and do side missions – it's incentivised
These aren't even comprehensive examples.
The core mechanics/gameplay in their games is still slightly ropey and unresponsive but they've been steadily and strongly improving everything else in their games.
This is a ridiculous post.
A) Rainbow Six Siege and For Honor? "lazy/bad gameplay"? Fucking seriously? Siege alone has like 10+ million players
just because of how good the gameplay is. It's better than Counter Strike IMO, and I have thousands of hours in CS 1.6 and Source.
B) You could call Far Cry 4/Primal or AC Unity/Rogue "lazy/bad", but ever since these games, Ubisoft have been upping the ante, really improving how their games work and play (see my examples above)
C)
Most importantly: "lazy" is something that no game ever is. So much work and thought goes into everything in a game. Sometimes it doesn't work, probably due to deadlines and resources, and that's a pity. But almost no videogame creation is "lazy". The exception would be games that literally rip assets off other games.
D) Driving bikes in Wildlands is fucking awesome. Did you make that vid, or even play the game at all?
. The only game where bloated could genuinely be a descriptor is AC:U as that game is filled to the brim with small side-quest lines on top of the main campaign, co-op campaign, heist missions, murder mysteries, nostradamus puzzles, and time anomaly challenges.
