Watchdogs - wasted potential?

[LegendaryVKickr]

I mean, if it is a tech demo like the first Assassin's Creed, that's pretty pathetic. I saw a screenshot released today where somebody posted a picture of Aiden outside a window, with a reflection...of something that wasn't there. He was like outside a cafe or something, but the window reflection was of a grassy meadow. Reflections are cool and all, but I'd prefer something like Deus Ex where everyone either doesn't use mirrors or the landlord won't fix them, as compared to something that's supposed to be flashy and fails.

But I'm kinda glad it wasn't the success Ubisoft wanted it to be. Between years of overhyping, a bajillion ridiculous pre-orders, and the fact they're banking so much in an IP that it'll be needing something bogus like 15 million sales to be profittable (I'm pulling that number out of my head, but it wouldn't surprise me, both EA and Square Enix say this stuff all the time), I'm glad it kind of bombed (as in to Ubisoft, who probably see mixed responses as a really bad sign for their brainchild). Should teach them not to make such dumb decisions, if they were capable of learning.

 

[Windcaler]

They banned handguns, not much else. Yes it went to the supreme court but its still up in the air. They really hate guns.

They could have went on how technology changed how crime operates, and how guns go off the radar, but they didn't. They could've easily had gangs of programmers and hackers, but all I see is old timey regular gangs. They could've changed the entire idea of what crime is, but we get cliches.

Its heavily wasted potential, they could've easily followed Ghost in the shell or Deus Ex for ideas but they don't really do new ideas.

I agree the crime they portray is pretty old. It seems like they just wanted to make a crime drama with all the checkmarks while the hero was a not so super super hero. To be fair, Fixers do exist in the world. Basicly theyre cyber-mercenaries that take on jobs. The only jobs Ive seen them take on is tracking Aiden down though. I still dont understand how

Spoiler

the people who went after him and Damien killed Lena but didnt hurt Aiden at all and only crippled Damien. It just doesnt make any sense.

So far what Ive seen is stalking, breaking and entering, theft, attempted murder, smuggling, a human trafficking operation (more sex slaves then anything else under the context of the game), and good old blackmail. The only cyber crime Ive noticed is Aiden hacking peoples bank accounts.

I think youre right that they could have done a lot more with cyber crime, although its also possible that they have and I just havnt gotten to that point yet.

 

[mysecondlife]

Is that right? I haven't paid much attention to the game.

I recall people on this forum going "OMG OMG Ubisoft won the E3!" when Watch Dogs trailer came out.

Funny how things change

 

[Phourc]

Interesting I didnt know chicago outright banned firearms.

Admittedly I only played a little on my friend's ps4 while I was over, but I wish they did a better job of communicating this. Would have explained a lot, honestly.

 

[Kyrian007]

I can get behind going with "wasted potential." There's a lot of good so far (I work, so I'm only an hour into it or so) but the game is just bursting with "stuff to do." You can go in and just do whatever you want. You can grind for cool abilities, work on the main story, open up territory, stock up on stuff or money... the freedom is nice and you can do as much or little as you want. The CHALLENGE is there if you want it, that's why I don't gripe about the driving mechanics. Getting away from the cops (before you have many abilities) is a BEAR. And it PUNISHES you AS you fail to get away. Making the chases WAY more exciting than a 4 or 5 star pursuit in GTA. And if you don't want to trash your reputation then you CAN'T powerslide into a line in front of a hot dog vender. You actually have to be CAREFUL.

I know it sounds like I'm completely pro WD, but I can't help it. Modern sandbox games have never given a player much reason to exercise caution and made random pursuit difficult. Another plus... Chicago is soooo ALIVE. Never before has a sandbox felt more like an actual city... with millions of people living there. The devs did a great job there.

All that being said... it has serious problems. They really need to rope off single player and multiplayer. I want to keep other players OUT of my game and don't really care about the online stuff. Which you CAN do. But then in my SP game I'm being shown features and events I CAN'T do because I have the sheer AUDACITY to not want random dicks screwing up my game. They need to separate it. No advantages or penalties should ever cross over between multiplayer and single player.

The leaps in logic are a strech sometimes. I know I praised it for challenge, but where's the logic. You can make a crossing green in all directions causing a 5 car crash that surely killed the cops and pedestrians they crashed into at 70 mph and you're still the stalwart hero of the city. But you sideswipe one bus stop injuring a wife beater and killing a drug dealer and suddenly you're public enemy number Hitler.

And it IS just Assassins Creed with magic hacking cellphone replacing freaky assassin powers. That doesn't bother me so much though... I LIKE Assassin's Creed. This was kind of the game I was imagining the eventual "future Desmond" game would be back in the days of AC 2. And yeah it doesn't look as good as it's 2+ year old tech demo. And I couldn't care less. It looks good enough and like I said, the city just FEELS alive to me. Feel is faaaarrrr more important than looks. And the story... well, an hour in and so far... it's no Assassin's Creed. It's wavering back and forth between straight to dvd cyberpunk and made for tv Lifetime movie of the week.

Sooo... wasted potential. Yeah. But its easy to see where Ubi could improve WD2. And if they do, it will be awesome.

 

[sanquin]

My very first thought when I saw this game's E3 stuff was "Looks like a more gritty GTA with some hacking elements." Plus with all the hype it was already generating back then I thought a lot of people would get disappointed. Because these days when a game is hyped up like that by it's company, there's like a 75% chance that it won't live up to what the company promised. Guess I was right.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I must admit I haven't played the game, but from what I've seen and the preview material, it was set up as really good and open-ended with a lot of different gameplay possibilities and a new angle, disappointments came to light just before release, and now that it's here, it's a competent GTA-like and the hacking is more situational that I'd have liked.

 

[Eve Charm]

What would you guys rather play pipe dream before you do a simple hack of anything? or do we need to be floating around on the super highway with zero cool in hackers ;p.

It's part one of an series, They need to see what works, and see what doesn't.

I'd rather like to know how far you can get going stealth and not killing anyone.

 

[Kricketz]

Honestly, Watch Dogs is fun, plain and simple. Maybe it's because I didn't let myself get hyped up. I've invested about 6-7 hours into it since release and so far I've cleared Act 1 and have tried just about every type of side mission at least once. Story is not too inspiring and mechanics feel similar to other Ubisoft titles, however the primary missions are quite fun.

I notice a lot of people saying that it's basically Assassin's Creed, but honestly it feels more like Splinter Cell than any other game, being able to move from cover to cover and corner. I guess that just shows how similar Ubisoft games tend to be. While playing through Act 1, I've managed to stealth my way through majority of the missions without killing or being noticed. Remote hacking cameras and bouncing around them allows for spotting/marking baddies making stealthing a more viable option. During escapes and gunfights I generally tend to just hack explosives while using the Silenced Spec Ops pistol you start with. Once I have them looking in one direction, I'll quietly slip out the other way. Maybe hack another explosive device for lulz on my way out.

I also enjoy just casually walking around profiling civies with the phone. Oh, this chick has a new song I don't have...hack. Oh, this guys bank account is available...hack. Oh, this old man has a RICH bank account...hack. Oh, this person is having a suspicious conversation...hack. What?! Potential crime victim? Time to follow. Wait a minute...the potential victim was actually the criminal! Probably would have noticed if I had profiled for a little longer and saw that the person actually had a police record. I love the little things like this. These are the things that make the city feel alive and Ubisoft has done an excellent job at this.

Wasted potential? Sure. But let's face it, every game feels like it has wasted potential when it's not what WE wanted or expected. Too much hype can damage a game's initial success and appeal upon release. There are a lot of things I would like to have seen done differently, however I'm not gonna get into that. It's a blend of Splinter Cell and GTA, with a touch of Assassin's Creed. It's far from perfect, but it's damn good fun for a new IP and I look forward to seeing them build on what they have with Watch Dogs 2.

 

[Racecarlock]

I watched a 42 part walkthrough. I know every detail of the plot and the game.

I still want to play it. I still want to mess with those hacks. I still want to see just how much I can get away with.

That's quality.

 

[sXeth]

I don't find the driving as annoying as most people, though by god it helps to use the behind-wheel or First-person cams so you don't see the non-turning wheels magic sliding all the time. And stairs are just hilarious.

The inability to blind-fire/hip-fire/run and shoot is irritating as all get go. As is the complete inability to shoot from your car (which considering how often you're supposed to take down enemy cars, is insane),

That and the miniscule window for intervention on a crime. It basically forces you to just sprint madly at the guy and end up in a chase, rather then use any finesse.

Hacking being the one button method (other then the "superpower" crafted gadgets) isn't too bad, but you seem to get all your options really fast, leaving you with all your city control tools by the end of Act 1 (even being fairly diverse in skill tree allotment). This not being really new for Ubi, as its been a big issue in the AC series.

 

[Windcaler]

I'd rather like to know how far you can get going stealth and not killing anyone.

Not far at all. Dont get me wrong the stealth gameplay is good, thats why I compared it to alpha protocol. I would dare say its even the most effective form of combat the game has. However there are moments in the game where Aiden (not the player) does something and that summons a squad of hitmen that are after him. You (the player) must then fight your way through them to escape, finish a download, etc. The first time that happened was...I think an hour or 2 into the games story. Its not long.

It pulls the same thing that Assasin's creed did by making the character screw something up just to get you into a contribed fight because the story says there needs to be one. Then it expects the player to bail them out because of the characters screw up. Ive only experienced this twice so far in about 16 hours of total gameplay (to be fair most of that has been spent doing side stuff)