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Watch Dogs Media Coverage [Starts April 23]

puffyshirt said:
Good preview. At least the new footage looks pretty good. This was on PS4? If so, how did the water look compared to the awesome PC water effects?
Click to expand...

The water looked good to me, but I really wasn't focused on the graphics that much, especially since anytime I was in the water, I was just trying to get out of it or get across it.

The first time was during the initial cop chase. I drove onto the train tracks to try to lose them, then suddenly drove off a bridge. Expected the game to reset me, but Aiden just popped out and let the car sink. Then I had to swim to shore and find another car. That's one way to lose the cops.
 
Revven said:
Okay, Tailing and Hacking both sound like really great MP modes (mostly tailing). I could see myself having hours of fun trying to stalk someone LOL.

Will check out the MP video footage later today (when I get home from class).
Click to expand...

Yes! I love the fact that the game doesn't notify you at all apparently. That's pretty genius design. Though I would like, perhaps at the end of my session before quitting a game, for the game to let me know how many times I've been tailed.
 
Further images,
Watch_Dogs-41.jpg

Watch_Dogs-8.jpg

Watch_Dogs-9.jpg

Watch_Dogs-7.jpg
 
Bloodworth said:
The water looked good to me, but I really wasn't focused on the graphics that much, especially since anytime I was in the water, I was just trying to get out of it or get across it.

The first time was during the initial cop chase. I drove onto the train tracks to try to lose them, then suddenly drove off a bridge. Expected the game to reset me, but Aiden just popped out and let the car sink. Then I had to swim to shore and find another car. That's one way to lose the cops.
Click to expand...

THanks for the reply. Just at it's most basic, did the game seem fun? Despite it clearly not reinventing the genre, did you want to play more? I just can't shake the feeling like this is Ubi going overboard with their open world formula, almost to a point of "alright guys, the jig is up".
 
legbone said:
cool. this game is looking really good. preorder justified i guess. i'm not sure what to think of the ar missions (spider tank) but i'm sure it will be fine. at night the world is reminding me of a suped up sleeping dogs.

oh, and the fact that the driving was compared to driver (by dawg in his post above) is making me absolutely giddy. i was concerned about the driving the most. if it is half as good as driver it will be fine. i'm going to roll on a bike most of the time like i did in sleeping dogs and just about every other open world game i play.
Click to expand...

I loved driving a motorcycle in this game. I'd say I was pretty addicted to just driving around the city and letting the cops chase me while I fuck them up with hacks.

I'm a pretty big fan of Sleeping Dogs and it kinda reminded me of that game when I drove around on a bike during rainy/reflective weather.
 
Sorry if this is a old news but I noted down the 100% completion breakdown (I attended the San Francisco event):

Main Missions (#s are the amount of main missions per act)
Act I - 9
Act II - 15
Act III - 6
Act IV - 8
Act V - 1

Side Missions
Criminal Convoys - 18
Crimes Detected - 20 (there are actually more than 20, but 20 is all you need to count toward the 100%)
Fixer Contracts - 40
Gang Hideouts - 15

Investigations
Human Traffic - 11
Burner Phones - 8
QR Codes - 17
Missing Persons - 7
Weapons Trade - 10

Collectables
Song Sneak - 23
Privacy Invasion - 30
ctOS Towers - 13
ctOS Breach - 16
City Hotspots - 100
Audio Logs - 10

Mini Games
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%

Online Contracts
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%
 
normalmode said:
Sorry if this is a old news but I noted down the 100% completion breakdown (I attended the San Francisco event):

Main Missions (#s are the amount of main missions per act)
Act I - 9
Act II - 15
Act III - 6
Act IV - 8
Act V - 1

Side Missions
Criminal Convoys - 18
Crimes Detected - 20 (there are actually more than 20, but 20 is all you need to count toward the 100%)
Fixer Contracts - 40
Gang Hideouts - 15

Investigations
Human Traffic - 11
Burner Phones - 8
QR Codes - 17
Missing Persons - 7
Weapons Trade - 10

Collectables
Song Sneak - 23
Privacy Invasion - 30
ctOS Towers - 13
ctOS Breach - 16
City Hotspots - 100
Audio Logs - 10

Mini Games
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%

Online Contracts
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%
Click to expand...

Yup, that looks like the usual Ubisoft game design. Snore.
 
puffyshirt said:
THanks for the reply. Just at it's most basic, did the game seem fun? Despite it clearly not reinventing the genre, did you want to play more? I just can't shake the feeling like this is Ubi going overboard with their open world formula, almost to a point of "alright guys, the jig is up".
Click to expand...

I enjoyed what I played so far. I definitely went for a more stealthy approach than any of the footage they gave me shows. I got through a couple missions without alerting guards whatsoever.

To me it sort of feels like a mix between Assassin's and Splinter Cell (with a side of Split/Second). There are definitely some parts of the formula that are starting to feel obvious like having to hack watch towers to open up local objectives, but at least with Watch Dogs, Aiden can't just climb the side of a building. So you have to find a clear path, hack lifts, etc. to make it to the top.
 
I haven't seen it mentioned so far in any of the previews I've read but is there any free roam multiplayer mode if you just want to mess around with friends. I saw it mentioned in the past
 
normalmode said:
Sorry if this is a old news but I noted down the 100% completion breakdown (I attended the San Francisco event):

Main Missions (#s are the amount of main missions per act)
Act I - 9
Act II - 15
Act III - 6
Act IV - 8
Act V - 1

Side Missions
Criminal Convoys - 18
Crimes Detected - 20 (there are actually more than 20, but 20 is all you need to count toward the 100%)
Fixer Contracts - 40
Gang Hideouts - 15

Investigations
Human Traffic - 11
Burner Phones - 8
QR Codes - 17
Missing Persons - 7
Weapons Trade - 10

Collectables
Song Sneak - 23
Privacy Invasion - 30
ctOS Towers - 13
ctOS Breach - 16
City Hotspots - 100
Audio Logs - 10

Mini Games
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%

Online Contracts
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%
Click to expand...

hah! nice thinking
 
normalmode said:
Sorry if this is a old news but I noted down the 100% completion breakdown (I attended the San Francisco event):

Main Missions (#s are the amount of main missions per act)
Act I - 9
Act II - 15
Act III - 6
Act IV - 8
Act V - 1

Side Missions
Criminal Convoys - 18
Crimes Detected - 20 (there are actually more than 20, but 20 is all you need to count toward the 100%)
Fixer Contracts - 40
Gang Hideouts - 15

Investigations
Human Traffic - 11
Burner Phones - 8
QR Codes - 17
Missing Persons - 7
Weapons Trade - 10

Collectables
Song Sneak - 23
Privacy Invasion - 30
ctOS Towers - 13
ctOS Breach - 16
City Hotspots - 100
Audio Logs - 10

Mini Games
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%

Online Contracts
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%
Click to expand...
Expected more to be honest.
 
I'd just like to stress again that I really love the digital stealth you can perform in the game.

As I said, when you want to hack a ctOS facility... you don't have to shoot a single bullet. The building is usually protected by an army of armored guards with assault rifles (+ backup) but you can avoid all of them with hacks.

You start by hacking a camera and then you can jump from camera to camera. You then have to find the guard with the security key. You enter his phone and then you get a first-person view from there. You can stay in his phone and then jump to a different guard later.

The trick is to jump to a guard that enters the facility. Then you jump from that guards phone to the final computer. You have to play a small puzzle minigame (simple but can be complex at times :p) and then the building is hacked.

And then you basically got in the building without ever having to use Aiden himself.
 
So far what I am seeing of this game doesn't get me excited. The initial promise of Watch Dogs sounded cool but it looks like what we got is a Ubisoft open world game with some hacking stuff bolted on. Seriously there is even tower climbing? Why have all their games basically have to be the same?
 
Messofanego said:
Brad says there are pretty profound differences between the PC and PS4 versions, it's the one to play, PS4 version still looks "decent" and "not bad looking".
Click to expand...

Brad is quite awful with how he conditions graphical and gameplay differences between versions.
 
I know it's nitpicking but, dam do I hate the physics of some of the game. Bikes that make over the jump from bridges, players that stay fixed in the back of a truck despite it getting slammed or crashing, and cars just ploughing through all manner of street fixtures like confetti with little effect on the vehicle - of course it would be super annoying more than anything to have a game that was actually any different, but it still irks me and just makes me laugh at it since the nature of the game is so serious compared to something like saints row or gta
 
Today's batch of news looks interesting.

One month ago this game was dead for me ... this game has gone back and forth from zero to hero lots of times in the past months.
 
Nzyme32 said:
players that stay fixed in the back of a truck despite it getting slammed or crashing
Click to expand...
Yeah this stood out pretty badly to me. There seemed to be no contextual animations associated with 'crouching in the back of a pickup', it was just the same as if they were crouching on flat ground. That kind of moment is where a game like this desperately needs a Euphoria-style animation system.
 
Dawg said:
Well, here is the interview I did with Jonathan Morin:



I had to write down everything from about 19 minutes of recorded audio so please excuse me if the English isn't always perfect. Sometimes, the audio is a little distorted because of the many voices at the event so I had to improvise. There's a couple of interesting answers in this interview though, especially the extensive reply he gave to my question about the E3 2012 trailer etc.

Some general tidbits of the gameplay:

- You have your own apartment in the city with a wardrobe, bed etc. It's kinda similar to the buildings you have in GTA games
- When you hack someones phone, you can hack their bank account but you can also steal their car registry information and then you get their car delivered to you.
- When you hack certain NPCs, you'll find out they might suffer from cancer or poverty and that might make it harder to steal their money or their car from a moral aspect.
- There are clothing shops with an extensive amount of different outfits
- Driving feals great in my opinion. Could be they used some experience from Driver.
- Being chased by the cops, opening a metal gate in the distance and then driving through it while already closing it is very cool. When you manage to close it just when the police tries to enter -> pretty damn awesome when you see them getting rammed.
- Same can be said about activating bollards. No greater feeling than seeing cop cars getting pulled into the air because they were driving over bollards and I activated them right at that moment.
- You have ctOS facilities that can be compared to the forts in Assassin's Creed and the outposts from Far Cry 3. You have to collect a security key from a guard so you can enter the server room and hack it. These facilities are being protected by armored guards with guns.
- New way of stealth: You can hack a camera, jump from camera to camera till you find the security guard with the key. Hack into his phone, collect it and then jump from his phone to a different guard on patrol. When that guard enters the server room -> jump from his phone to the computer. You'll then play a small hacking puzzle. When you complete that puzzle, the building is hacked. This means you did the entire thing without doing any physical action with Aiden himself. It's pretty much digital stealth.
- You may also get sidemissions from hacking people, they're pretty dynamic. I found a guy stalking his ex-girlfriend and he was about to hurt her. I traced his location and beat him up before he could do a thing. I also discovered a rich guy who was into hentai and you could challenge him to a drinking game at the bar!
- Controls/movement feels similar to Assassin's Creed, but game itself feels very different and there is definitely more freedom
- You can listen to music everywhere, you can hack other phones for music and you can even hack the music installation in a bar. You can also customize your playlist etc
- You can also order cars through the phone. There's a pretty expansive list, ranging from cheap towncars to luxury sportcars. You unlock them through the story, challenges or by simply buying them.

Something I REALLY liked -> the augmented reality games

- You can fight against aliens in Chicago. Nothing really changes in the city, but these small augmented aliens float around, you get a special augmented reality gun and you have to shoot them down wave after wave.

- You also have Madness, which is basically Watch Dogs meets Carmageddon. I loved this. Chicago turns into some kind of hellish city, all the citizens are flaming zombies and you drive around the city with some kind of post apocalyptic car. You'll get objectives like reaching a certain killstreak, killing x amount of zombies or reaching max speed for several seconds. You have to complete these things with a timer and it gets harder, but you'll also unlock some new powers for the car.

- Another AR game is where giant golden coins appear around Chicago and you have to platform your way to collect them while avoiding large skulls. Again, you have to collecting everything under a certain time and there's awards based on your time.

- You can also control a giant armored spider and wreck havoc around town. I don't remember exactly what the objectives were, but it reminded me about Saints Row where you can drive around a huge armored tank and destroy everything. It's pretty fun.

Also tried some multiplayer races. You can race against 7 other people and EVERYONE can use hacks. So yeah, it can get pretty chaotic but I liked the crazyness of it. Someone hacking the traffic lights and seeing a bus ramming two opponents in front of you is pretty cool. You can also cause a blackout and then the entire city goes dark for a while during the race.

Loading screens were kinda long at times, both singleplayer and MP. Could be this was just the preview version though, but it did bother me at times.
Click to expand...

Just read through all of this, digital stealth sounds really rad. I was not getting hyped over the footage they were showing in trailers, not focusing on the hacking or nitty gritty details. But from that interview and other previews, it seems hacking and environment manipulation is the core foundation which is what has hyped me back up.

Also, that bit about the E3 2012 trailer, he is remarkably calm about the reaction to jett's thread where people expressed their desire not to play the game because of the downgraded graphics (from PC to PS4) but he took it as people caring about it because they want the best.
 
normalmode said:
Sorry if this is a old news but I noted down the 100% completion breakdown (I attended the San Francisco event):

Main Missions (#s are the amount of main missions per act)
Act I - 9
Act II - 15
Act III - 6
Act IV - 8
Act V - 1

Side Missions
Criminal Convoys - 18
Crimes Detected - 20 (there are actually more than 20, but 20 is all you need to count toward the 100%)
Fixer Contracts - 40
Gang Hideouts - 15

Investigations
Human Traffic - 11
Burner Phones - 8
QR Codes - 17
Missing Persons - 7
Weapons Trade - 10

Collectables
Song Sneak - 23
Privacy Invasion - 30
ctOS Towers - 13
ctOS Breach - 16
City Hotspots - 100
Audio Logs - 10

Mini Games
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%

Online Contracts
There are infinite opportunities to participate; you just have to complete a handful to count toward the 100%
Click to expand...

Ugh, this along with what brad said in the giantbomb QL about it feeling familiar to usual open world games makes me skeptical.


Dawg said:
Well, here is the interview I did with Jonathan Morin:



I had to write down everything from about 19 minutes of recorded audio so please excuse me if the English isn't always perfect. Sometimes, the audio is a little distorted because of the many voices at the event so I had to improvise. There's a couple of interesting answers in this interview though, especially the extensive reply he gave to my question about the E3 2012 trailer etc.

Some general tidbits of the gameplay:

- You have your own apartment in the city with a wardrobe, bed etc. It's kinda similar to the buildings you have in GTA games
- When you hack someones phone, you can hack their bank account but you can also steal their car registry information and then you get their car delivered to you.
- When you hack certain NPCs, you'll find out they might suffer from cancer or poverty and that might make it harder to steal their money or their car from a moral aspect.
- There are clothing shops with an extensive amount of different outfits
- Driving feals great in my opinion. Could be they used some experience from Driver.
- Being chased by the cops, opening a metal gate in the distance and then driving through it while already closing it is very cool. When you manage to close it just when the police tries to enter -> pretty damn awesome when you see them getting rammed.
- Same can be said about activating bollards. No greater feeling than seeing cop cars getting pulled into the air because they were driving over bollards and I activated them right at that moment.
- You have ctOS facilities that can be compared to the forts in Assassin's Creed and the outposts from Far Cry 3. You have to collect a security key from a guard so you can enter the server room and hack it. These facilities are being protected by armored guards with guns.
- New way of stealth: You can hack a camera, jump from camera to camera till you find the security guard with the key. Hack into his phone, collect it and then jump from his phone to a different guard on patrol. When that guard enters the server room -> jump from his phone to the computer. You'll then play a small hacking puzzle. When you complete that puzzle, the building is hacked. This means you did the entire thing without doing any physical action with Aiden himself. It's pretty much digital stealth.
- You may also get sidemissions from hacking people, they're pretty dynamic. I found a guy stalking his ex-girlfriend and he was about to hurt her. I traced his location and beat him up before he could do a thing. I also discovered a rich guy who was into hentai and you could challenge him to a drinking game at the bar!
- Controls/movement feels similar to Assassin's Creed, but game itself feels very different and there is definitely more freedom
- You can listen to music everywhere, you can hack other phones for music and you can even hack the music installation in a bar. You can also customize your playlist etc
- You can also order cars through the phone. There's a pretty expansive list, ranging from cheap towncars to luxury sportcars. You unlock them through the story, challenges or by simply buying them.

Something I REALLY liked -> the augmented reality games

- You can fight against aliens in Chicago. Nothing really changes in the city, but these small augmented aliens float around, you get a special augmented reality gun and you have to shoot them down wave after wave.

- You also have Madness, which is basically Watch Dogs meets Carmageddon. I loved this. Chicago turns into some kind of hellish city, all the citizens are flaming zombies and you drive around the city with some kind of post apocalyptic car. You'll get objectives like reaching a certain killstreak, killing x amount of zombies or reaching max speed for several seconds. You have to complete these things with a timer and it gets harder, but you'll also unlock some new powers for the car.

- Another AR game is where giant golden coins appear around Chicago and you have to platform your way to collect them while avoiding large skulls. Again, you have to collecting everything under a certain time and there's awards based on your time.

- You can also control a giant armored spider and wreck havoc around town. I don't remember exactly what the objectives were, but it reminded me about Saints Row where you can drive around a huge armored tank and destroy everything. It's pretty fun.

Also tried some multiplayer races. You can race against 7 other people and EVERYONE can use hacks. So yeah, it can get pretty chaotic but I liked the crazyness of it. Someone hacking the traffic lights and seeing a bus ramming two opponents in front of you is pretty cool. You can also cause a blackout and then the entire city goes dark for a while during the race.

Loading screens were kinda long at times, both singleplayer and MP. Could be this was just the preview version though, but it did bother me at times.
Click to expand...

Great interview. Some of this sounds really interesting, particular the digital trip saints row esque missions, but overall I don't think I'd enjoy another familiar ubi game based on info and footage I've seen. It seems like the game is trying to be a bit of everything and I wonder how much of the side content will be meaningful when there's so much (Ubi dev says he finished main missions at 30%). I've like to still give the game a chance though.

He speaks the truth here though regarding the downgrade comparisons. Also nice to know know the game will have custom playslists on foot.

People tend to forget, they will compare rainy/reflective nights with a lot of lights to a twilight time without any shadows. And then they're surprised there aren't any shadows or reflections
Click to expand...
 
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