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What actually is Watch Dogs and how can it be fixed?

Which direction should go with Watch Dogs?

  • Watch Dogs

    Votes: 41 65.1%
  • Watch Dogs 2

    Votes: 19 30.2%
  • Watch Dogs: Legion

    Votes: 3 4.8%

  • Total voters
    63

cormack12

Gold Member
I've pretty much completed them all except for a bug in Legion in the last 5% of the game which meant no way was I repeating the previous 30 hours or so. I'm really confused with what we will see next from the IP. I don't even think Ubi know what to do next. It's a shame because this IP probably has the most about it to become an actual rival to GTA or provide an alternative.



Watch Dogs
The first game was a bit edgy, based on a vigilante and instead of just being about hacking also had a heavy focus on guns and explosives. Overall decent first outing. Most of the complaints were about non lethality options, the downgrade and edgy Aiden Pearce. I think this was the start of white male protagonist crap though so I think it was judged too harshly in its time and if you go back now, you can see it was actually a decent game overall and Chicago looked amazing.
OIP.oJpS73y_WM48l4EJ5hc_tQHaEK






Watch Dogs 2
The second game seemed like it took a lot from the first game and built on them in really cool ways. The drone was cool, the extra interactivity and the little puzzles. Marcus was likeable. I thought the locale was not as interesting as Chicago and the theme/dedsec/characters where too 'try hard'. I can see why they added some 'fun' missions after Watch Dogs 1 but I think they over corrected and some of the missions felt forced/OTT as well as the character cast.
Ra98cd1e3eee8229f709f1f75b8b36293






Watch Dogs: Legion
Being honest, I wasn't really a fan of the hyper stylised dystopia from the release screens but Ubi provides junk food for the soul. So I bit eventually. This is where the series has gone off a cliff edge for me. The main story was pretty boring, the city just felt like a sandbox of stuff. The world, population and characters were dull and all this promise of recruiting skilled operatives just didn't work for me. I felt like the skills made me view the NPCs as disposable more than WD1/WD2 where sometimes I'd hang round and listen to the convo's or pick up a pretty interesting text chain.
OIP.LQ_Wnhl7QOdzq7sywQKJoQHaEK





Me personally, I'd really love to see something like a Niko from GTA IV story. An immigrant comes to USA (maybe Eastern European, Russian or even Chinese), to basically just wreak havoc in the system. Tonally, more in line with WD1 but with all the extra hacking interactivity that WD2 provided. I prefer the sole/single support type of game - at the end of the day it's not a JRPG or a Bioware game so trying to make me care about 6/7 people when it's hard enough to care about poorly written mains doesn't work.
 
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anthony2690

Banned
I just don't want it to be road man simulator like legions :l

A main protag would be better too, and a phone you can use as a Walkman and other stuff like 2 would be cool too.

Legions felt like it cut a lot of cool features than 2 had
 
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LMJ

Member
I would think it would be fairly easy...

#1 Make the hacking a unique and challenging game mechanic...thus success equals reward. Not hold button...hack

If there are any RPG mechanics, make them related to hacking...ONLY HACKING!

#2 a more relatable protag who isn't a piece of driftwood (Aiden) or a try-hard sign of the times (Marcus)

#3 DONT TAKE YOURSELF SO SERIOUSLY! Christ this series is up it's own but, the prospect of hacking everything is silly by it's very nature, so make the game like summer popcorn flick, you can have moments of seriousness, but Amadeus this isn't!


Hacking Rocco Botte GIF by Mega64

This is current WD...and it's stupid lol
 

Certinty

Member
They ruined the franchise.

The first Watch Dogs was amazing. All the hacking (at least on higher difficulty levels) played like puzzles being worked through which was unique and fun for an open world action game. The gunplay was amazing as was the stealth, the character controlled great and Chicago looked and played great. The game had its own identity but for some reason because the story and characters sucked a lot of people ignored how much good was in the game.

Then we have Watch Dogs 2 and Legion where the hacking became “mindless fun” to say the least. They tried to get rid of the serious tone at the expense of something more along the lines of GTA and it sucks. Don’t even get me started on how bad the gunplay is in both those games too, a truly laughable five steps backwards. Both games have nice maps but that’s literally it. Also a joke how all three games still have pathetic driving models.

But yeah, if Ubisoft can save this franchise it’s going back to what the first game was and building off that. Never going to happen though.
 

jaysius

Banned
The real issue with Legion is that it’s uninspired, UBI now makes games like sausage, churn that shit out as fast as possible, so what is there’s a little snout or foreskin in it, the people eating it will never notice over all the spices, all the meat is churned into the same slurry then wrapped in a pretty casing.
 
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ToTTenTranz

Banned
I played WD2 for a handful of hours when Epic gave it away, but I quit because later that week I got the PS5 with the Plus Collection (Days Gone 4K60..) and the game wasn't really that interesting to me anyway. I don't think I'll pick it up later.

I was gifted WD Legion for the PS5 and I played it close to the end, so I'll probably finish it.
Gameplay is fun, but I don't really enjoy the Legion's concept of not having a main character.

I do think Watchdogs could be a massive success if it was a coop campaign game. The open world GTA-esque genre is tired, but being able to experience it with friends would change it for me.
 

nowhat

Member
edgy Aiden Pearce. I think this was the start of white male protagonist crap
I didn't care one way or another that he was male and/or white. I just found him to be such a dull and one-dimensional character that I really didn't care at all what happened to him. The fact that the VA decided to go with a dollar store Christian Bale imitation didn't help either.
 

jigglet

Banned
A fight against totalitarian regimes. It can’t be fixed now that Ubi is in bed with China. When they took down that freehongkong poster for watch dogs 3 at Beijing’s request I knew it was done for.
 
By opening up the world to be your allies it’s made it stale….hopefully the dlc will focus more on a single character and narrative
 

fatmarco

Member
Having replayed Watch Dogs 1 recently, it's biggest issue is that it's a bit boring. A fight against a dystopian government sounds cool, but I just can't believe Ubisoft could actually pull off the potential of that story.

I just really don't want goofy robots or silly comedy stuff in a game that involves serious real world issues.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
The real issue with Legion is that it’s uninspired, UBI now makes games like sausage, churn that shit out as fast as possible, so what is there’s a little snout or foreskin in it, the people eating it will never notice over all the spices, all the meat is churned into the same slurry then wrapped in a pretty casing.

puke GIF by Jason Clarke
 

jm89

Member
Prefer if they go back to what they did with wd1, i preferred it's focus on a single protagnist with a more serious story. The new ones look fun if you enjoy just running around causing mindless havoc, for me that shit has gone old, but then again i'm getting old so probably no longer the target audience.
 
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quite enjoyed the first game. it wasn't perfect but it was a new IP so didn't criticise it too harshly. with Watch Dogs 2 they nailed it. that is such a fun game. Watch Dogs Legion...lol what utter fucking garbage.

the series needs a reboot. they obviously have no idea WTF they want to do. imo they should forget Legion exists and just make a sequel to Watch Dogs 2. but if they picked the first game to continue from that wouldn't be so bad either.
 

brian0057

Banned
If Watch_Dogs were basically a third-person Deus Ex instead of the bland, generic Ubisoft open world borefest that it's today, it would be a much better game.
A much smaller world with an insane level of depth, a more involved hacking, better stealth, and a main character that doesn't make me wanna commit sudoku. That's how you make Watch_Dogs a better series.

Maybe it's just me projecting how much I want a new Deus Ex.
Fuck you, Square Enix. And fuck that Guardians of the Galaxy game you're forcing Eidos to make instead of a sequel to one the greatest videogame series of all time.
 
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b0uncyfr0

Member
They had a decent idea with 1 but they fucked up all the sequels. 2 and 3 tried to appeal to younger players which mightve worked but it flopped. They should learn from that and go back to a serious story. Players like that more nowadays. Also fix the stupid repetitive jank and dumber than rocks AI. But cmon, its Ubisoft were talking about here.
 

Arun1910

Member
This is easy.

Hacking capabilities of WD2 with the gritty Tone of 1.

WD2 had such a massive hack arsenal compared to 1... even Legion cut it back for some reason.
 

Topher

Gold Member
I enjoyed the first two. Legion is a dumpster fire. The "no protagonist or story" experiment was an absolute failure. Not doing that again would be "fixing" it for me.
 

Derktron

Banned
They should have stuck to the first one a bit more in terms of story, the first protagonist was nice and had a decent story, he could have stayed in Chicago and then elsewhere to take out the "Big Brother" along with new characters to play with on top of that. But as always Ubisoft has to screw it up somehow.
 

Kuranghi

Member
Make the hacking a much more exciting part of the game, the whole city should have hidden (and interesting to interact with) systems underneath what you see, then make how you solve the missions part of that and you get more tools to do crazier stuff as it goes on. So basically what the initial trailer implied.

I think they tried that and it felt like you were never doing anything "yourself" and it was visually boring so they went back to the AC well and cribbed tailing, stalking and assassination missions from there, ie went the tried and tested route instead of trying to make something actually new.

For instance, you could have control over stop signs and the like at the beginning and can cause crashes or put the roads in your favour, then you do a main mission and you now have control over both stationary and mobile plant (construction vehicles and the like) around the city so you can cause changes during chases and when on sites. Then later still you gain control of some weird tech hidden within the infrastructure, like secret government vehicles or weapons (Think Switzerland during/post WW2) hidden in plain site.

Basically just have some escalation thats better than "you find out you can fly on a drone in the first 30 mins of the game and thats the most exciting thing you do/revelation you have in terms of traversal/gameplay", because its so fucking boring compared to other open world games I enjoy so even if the mission themes, story and characters were great (and it really isn't) it would still be lacking that constant excitement/pace-changing you get in something like GTA V.
 

Kerotan

Member
The style and tone of watch dogs was awesome. WD2 had better graphics and gameplay. WDL is a woke turd and the L stands for loser.

The next WD needs the tone of the first with the graphics and gameplay of the 2nd.
 

wipeout364

Member
I always thought they missed a big opportunity with this series. When I saw the reveal trailer years ago I was thinking they were doing an open world game set in a blade runner style universe say 100 to 200 years in the future. That to me seemed the perfect set up where they could have really differentiated themselves from GTA, allowed for some really interesting technology.

I was crushed when they showed more/released Watchdogs and it was set in current day and was essentially GTA with some extra abilities and to this day everybody just compares it to GTA whereas I think this would happen a lot less with what I think was a their original vision a open world future noir game. Think about the interest in the cancelled prey 2.
 

Alebrije

Member
Watch dogs should no exist, UBI shoult take some ideas from WD and put them on Division 3 , WD as stand alone franchise is weak specially the last game..a crap of project with no story or main idea.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
I enjoyed the first two. Legion is a dumpster fire. The "no protagonist or story" experiment was an absolute failure. Not doing that again would be "fixing" it for me.

Yeah I would rather have those randos as complementary but a main protagonist is a must. I enjoyed one funny guy that speaks in African accent so played him 80% of the game. Voice acting is mostly good overall I give them that.
 

Azurro

Banned
I enjoyed WD1, even with its limitations and the pared down graphics. There was a lot of good things in that game, even if it was obviously a flawed game. Unfortunately, given that Ubi Soft develops games based on market research and polls, they over corrected and made the tone of WD2 and 3 very appealing for the weirdo twitter crowd, so I realised I was no longer their target demographic and the franchise lost me.
 
They totally went in the wrong direction with the series. They still haven't delivered on that very first gameplay reveal they showed with the awesome dark, spy/cyberpunk vibe, trenchcoat guy walking in the wind checking his phone.

Aiden turned out to be a very badly written character and people didn't like him, but they never should have abandoned that direction.
 

Tschumi

Member
The series has a tone and complexity problem. Trying to combine indirect action with GTA is dumn, imvhotyvm.

If this game was like a more fully featured cyberpunk or Deus ex it could be, like, a forza to those title's gt... But no...

Not for me.

But i like the colour palette in 2.
 

GinSama

Member
For better or worse I much prefer the direction of the first game. Didn’t like at all legion with 100 or something playable characters…..

Still I don’t think they go this direction. But one thing is for sure they need to stop this franchise and work a couple years before they announce something.
 
They should go with the tone of Watch Dogs 1, remove the main character and the city, in fact, just remove everything. Instead, build up a new game with stealth mechanics and call it Splinter Cell. Problem solved.

Church Saturday GIF


This is the real answer.
 
Watch Dogs for me works best as a dark, gritty, stylish single player game like the first one, but they don't seem to make many games like that anymore. It wasn't perfect, but the groundwork was there for something really cool. Blackouts, hacking puzzles, solid stealth, bullet time, a decent story with a few likable characters and some surprisingly fun minigames (spider tank, I'm looking at you) and DLC. Sadly the second game, although still decent, already moved away from or deminished a lot of what I liked about the first game, and Legion is just straight up clownishly goofy, like it's trying to be Saints Row.

Ubisoft these days wants all of its games to be huge, long-term monetizable investments with mass market appeal, so their games either move to multiplayer-only with heavy monetization (Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon) or adapt to a mix of single player / co op with in-game currencies, time-gating, cosmetic shops, time-savers and tons of DLC (Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, Beyond Good And Evil 2, probably). Everything that doesn't fit the bill, disappears.

So for those who are wondering where Splinter Cell is, it's currently in a Ubisoft lab being disected in order to discover how to best monetize the next installment.
 
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