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[phant0m]

Ubi had a bit of a rough go from 2013-2015. People grew tired of Far Cry, Unity was a disaster, nobody liked/cared about the crew, w_d was panned. R6 Siege bombed initially.


In the last year they've turned it around though. Division sold great and had a solid season pass attach rate (even though content was shit). R6 has a really strong community now, and Wildlands is selling very well. South Park TFBW will sell like hotcakes once they can get it out the door.

 

[BarringGaffner]

The typical open world Ubisoft games are what you should play if you're going through a break up or a death in the family or have a deep sadness.

Ubisoft don't make bad games. But I no longer get excited about anything they put out. They take no skill whatsoever. They give you 50 or so hours of warm mush gameplay that just barely makes you feel like you are enjoying yourself and keep playing.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

Well sure. to be fair, other games have upgrades that let you access other area's of the game. One example is Shadow's of Moridor. Also, what you stated was mostly production value improvements. Stuff like enemy variety, environment variety, AI, uprades, etc. etc. are pretty mediocre in many open world games. I think they rightfully deserve to be criticized, but there's nothing inherently wrong with Ubisoft games that would lead to them being used as an insult.

I've seen people criticize Horizon as an "Ubisoft game" while simultaneously praising BotW, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Really, what separates both Horizon and BotW from most Ubisoft games is simply that they're better designed, not that they are somehow radically different.

I haven't played Horizon yet either, but I have a mixed feeling about it. It seems to me that it brings the many same elements of Far Cry to the table (actually, by what I've seen some of them are very, very similar). HOWEVER the AI and the way you approach enemies, as well as the enemy variety there seems WAAAY better than Far Cry. Reason why I also believe it's a much better game. (Not counting that Horizon also brings a deeper customization to the table and more interesting weapons.)

BotW feels to me more distant from Far Cry then Horizon is. But yeah, I agree with you that none of them are radically different. I do not think "Ubisoft games" is an insult though... I just think it became a short way to descbribe an uninspiring open world game.

But (and here I talk about my particular point of view, and not others) I think the issue with open world Ubisoft games, generally speaking, is not the elements they introduce but exactly how they mechanically work; as you said, how they were designed. And that's what makes their games so uninspiring when compared to other "similar" games such as Horizon (which by no doubt inspired in some FC elements).

 

[Htown]

The exact moment this happened was the release of The Crew, which was a racing game that still managed to have the Ubisoft open world tower system.

 

[ramparter]

2006 Wii launch for me

 

[KonradLaw]

Is it even an insult? Most of their games are pretty damn fine and they seem to be able to learn from past mistakes.
The only bad thing about Ubi is their recent insistence of releasing PC exclusives inwhat's essentially beta

 

[forms]

It's like nowadays, if you want to take a big dump on a game, you call it an Ubisoft game, and everyone is to understand that means the game is shit.

I mean, I dunno, I thought Far Cry 4 was a pretty awesome game.

To me it just means "filled to the brim with too many pickups of just about everything".

 

[Endo Punk]

I always use "Ubisoft game" to downplay a game 😂 I don't hate the studio and out of the big 3 3rd party Devs I actually watch their e3 presentation. I just find that all their games follow the same formula and feel focus tested to hell and back or trying too hard to appeal to everyone. I would watch people play them just not purchase.

 

[zkorejo]

It became a thing when Ubi decided to pump out more of the same old in a different packaging. It went worst from bad when all their different franchises started to feel like a same game.

They started making basically a same game, following a formula with a slightly different twist to that formula.

I guess it started to become obvious when Watch Dogs released and it got worse when (I completely lost any faith I had in Ubi) they screwed up Unity. Even without all the bugs and stuff, that game had many issues.

Bland characters, terrible storylines with even worst storytelling, okay- sometimes good missions, Tons of mindless and boring side-quests/activities, TONS of collectibles to unlock customization and moving the left stick forward to see cool parkour stuff. All set in a really good-looking virtual world. Its quite obvious their entire hard work went into building a game world while half-assing and recycling gameplay features from other Ubi games.

Their game franchises lost their identity and all of them started to feel like a same game. That hurt AC the most as Assassins Creed games offered nothing that it should. It became a shell of this franchise from its glory days (Ezio games).

 

[Timu]

The last Ubisoft game got a 90+ Metacritic is Far Cry 3 ( 2012 )
Five years ago...

Well deserved too.

 

[icecold1983]

They also consistently put out fake gameworks trailers to purposely deceive pc gamers

 

[massoluk]

The exact moment this happened was the release of The Crew, which was a racing game that still managed to have the Ubisoft open world tower system.

Man, I can't believe it the first time I heard of it.

 

[KonradLaw]

They also consistently put out fake gameworks trailers to purposely deceive pc gamers

Ironically they never do that for actual PC exclusives

 

[nacimento]

They still are the only competent developer doing non-strategy AAA games, so as long as AC keeps going on, they are fine by me (except for trying to push MOBA-crap in to their (cancelled?) Settlers game).

 

[idyllicLife]

It's used for games that are downgraded, overhyped, full of bugs, drowned in DRM whirlpool (Steam + uPlay + Denuvo). I frequently use it along with "ubisoft lol".

 

[nOoblet16]

- Anyone who says "it's because of the formula" is wrong....Horizon uses the same formula and no one shits on that game at least as far as the "formula" is concerned.

- People also conveniently seem to turn a blind eye to games like Siege, Division and Watch Dogs 2 when they are trying to prove a point on how all Unisoft games play the same.

- Someone in the first page said Wildlands is like Division with Cars. I mean dude wtf? Are you high or what? The Division is a fully blown loot based RPG.

 

[Interficium]

I frequently use it along with "ubisoft lol".

Edgy!

 

[120v]

i use the term "ubi formula" simply to describe the sub genre

its non derogatory. for example Horizon and Dying Light, two great non ubisoft games that have you unlocking "towers" along with rpg-ish upgrades, i'd classify it under

 

[John Harker]

Well, bge&2 is real so that's exciting!

Hopefully it's dope

 

[toddhunter]

An Ubisoft game is a game from a cookie cutter template that only aspires to be completely mediocre, yet still somehow achieves critical acclaim and sales success.

Is this an insult? It depends. When used against gamers who are contributing to the destruction of the games industry by supporting them? Yes it is a quite biting insult. However when directed at EA executives, it is a lofty goal for them to one day aspire to.

 

[icecold1983]

Ironically they never do that for actual PC exclusives

what pc exclusive ubisoft game are you referring to? cant think of one that has gameworks

 

[Hahs]

It's their engine templates - they make new character models, tweak some gameplay mechanics, make a unique but familiar/similar UI... It's like their shit is all adjustable presets​... Nothing's built from the ground up anymore it seems.

I mean it's hit or miss with Ubi, but a new engine/protocols/tools wouldn't hurt

 

[Jarod McChicken]

I've seen people criticize Horizon as an "Ubisoft game" while simultaneously praising BotW, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Really, what separates both Horizon and BotW from most Ubisoft games is simply that they're better designed, not that they are somehow radically different.

Thanks for this, this is seriously annoying. Just upthere in the thread we are making fun again of the tower formula in Ubisoft games. So i'ts like only my version of BOTW has towers to reveal parts of the map, or markers and beacons everywhere (the fact you put it manually on the map does not change the idea and the fact you have to rely constantly on your map) and a checklist of optional content more or less boring (sidequests, shrines, korok seeds). If anything, the "towers" in Horizon are the most unconventional of all open world games I've played and they are only 5 of them if I'm correct. Horizon is no more or less Ubisoftish than Zelda and indeed this is not an insult, although I couln't get myself to finish Far Cry 4 for example.

Now, one game that COULD deeply break those conventions may be Michel Ancel's WiLD, it they are bold enough to stick to what they said in 2015. From what we know, WiLD is supposed to get rid of the world map and not have any marker either. "Something I hate in games is when you have these mission things telling you exactly what you have to achieve in the game, showing you exactly what the goal is", said Ancel. On a more conventional design, there will still be shelters around the world acting as checkpoints and for fast travel purpose, but every player will starts out somewhere different in the world without specific objectives. "After 1 hour of Wild, we want every player to tell a different story," said Ancel. I'm impatient to see WiLD again because I've been genuinely wondering for a very long time if an open world game without map and markers can really work, and also if this is something players really want (and I'm not so sure about that).

 

[Interficium]

Is this an insult? It depends. When used against gamers who are contributing to the destruction of the games industry by supporting them? Yes it is a quite biting insult. However when directed at EA executives, it is a lofty goal for them to one day aspire to.

It's sad that you actually believe this.