Proximity_13

While reading an e-mail newsletter from http://www.cp-journal.com there was a link to this interesting piece of business advice. Ubisoft immediately came to mind, so why not share? Source- http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/02/smartening-up.html Smartening up When you seek the mass market, there are two paths available: You can dumb down your message and your expectations, and meet your audience where they stand. You can coarsen your lyrics, offer simpler solutions, ask for less effort, demand less work, promise bigger results... Or you can smarten it up, and lead despite your goal of mass, not chase it. The very fact that "dumb down" is an expression and "smarten up" isn't should give any optimist pause. Culture is a gravitational force, and it resists your efforts to make things work better. So what? Persist.

After watching the video and reading other stuff on the game, I agree that he made a lot of valid points. I haven't picked up the game yet (still debating PS4 or PC), but the hud needs options. They did it for Watch Dogs 2, and it seems like an easy fix for Ubisoft. Friendly AI seems to need tweaking. I've heard vehicle controls are loose. Bugs are going to pop up this early etc. BUT if Rainbow Six Siege is any indication, the feedback will be listened to and the game will be updated and improved in the coming weeks and months. I will wait to see what Ubi does with updates, and hopefully they cater to those who don't want the "hand holding" hud among other things. I do have faith in this game, and I'm looking forward to playing it!

That was pretty cool. I wish the squad controls were a bit more in depth (individual troop movement orders) but what they have seems simple, yet effective, much like the original. This is a huge plus for people with less than optimal internet, and for the longevity of the game when people move on to other games. The gameplay looks like it has decent pacing. It also looks like there is a real potential for flexibility in how you play. Splinter Cell/Metal Gear on one end of the spectrum and Far Cry/Just Cause on the other. The story presentation leaves a bit to be desired, but honestly I don't think it's that big of a deal. The gameplay and world looks solid so far, and I am really glad about that. Beyond that is icing on the cake. Oh by the way, is that a Red Storm logo on the dude's shirt at 13:55?

And this is why the Santa Blanca Cartel needs taken down.

Soulswapping! To add to earlier posts, there should be an option to customize your AI team if playing offline. To get the greatest use out of this, allow the player to switch over to the other teammates. Also, if things go bad and a guy is dead, the mission is NOT over until the rest of the team is wiped out too! This is one element I have not seen in gaming for a while, and would be cool to have implemented in wildlands!

I think an old school/hardcore mode would be very cool. I think something along the lines of Perfectionist difficulty from Splinter Cell: Blacklist would work out great!. Or perhaps just have loads of UI options to play around with.

So about the Division. I recently got the game on sale. I came in after the 1.4 update, so I don't know what it was like before, but the steam reviews show people like the changes being made. I have yet to finish the game, but if we are talking about Wildlands as a possible Division 2.0 then we need to take a closer look at what The Division actually has. The first is a plausible story, or scenario if you will. A bioterror attack on a major city is a big homeland security concern, backed by the real life Operation Dark Winter exercise from 2001. Its an interesting read by the way. I like the flexibility of the AI. They react well to a variety of situations, though the game never really gives the variation to show it. Sometimes I try to play a firefight by breaking contact like in stealth games, or miss a sniper shot to test their reaction. Surprisingly, enemies lose track of you if you are careful enough, even more so in snowstorms. However the enemies are a bit too quick to find my exact location, even when firing from a distant position. It is tuned to be a shooter experience, but overall enemies behave in a semi-tactical manner. The map, weapon and sound design really stands out to me. The snowy streets are spot on, and there are loads of details. When you walk your agent through the streets, it can be quite atmospheric (perhaps the topic of another discussion). The weapons look and behave as you would expect, and the gunsmith system works well. The echoes of gunfire is well done and adds to the chaos of the firefights. I purposely kept my MP-7 unsupressed so I could hear it's awesome automatic bark! The RPG factor holds it back. Between story missions, you have to get experience from the story and side missions to advance. When your level outweighs the opposition, the game can seem very much like a decent Clancy hybrid. But with a big part of the game being getting better stuff, I am often swapping lower level guns for a harder hitting version of the same thing. The weapons do not feel as powerful as they should though, especially when fighting super enemy mini-bosses. I actually like the player's health system to an extent, because it doesn't fully heal you in a fight unless you use a medpack. A step away from the full recovery in other shooters, but not quite far enough to feel any true risk of death unless seriously outnumbered, outflanked or outgunned. So with all of that said, I'm having fun with The Division so far. While it doesn't have the tension of titles like Ghost Recon, it is a decent game. While core elements of the game limit really limit it's realism potential, I hope to see several of its design features in Wildlands. The pieces are worth more than the sum of its parts here, but if put together in the right way, it could really turn into something cool. Thoughts?

If any part of Ubi deserves to survive, its Red Storm. And not just because of their history. They are the guys that bring a lot of weapon authenticity to games like The Division and Far Cry, even if most of the other elements don't do it justice. I hope Wildlands is a bit more...grounded. The situation is a good start, just look at the show "Cartel Land" (its on netflix). The world looks promising with size, depth and variation. But the gameplay seems to have too much run and gun potential. I don't think that people would mind playing slow and tactical, they just need incentive to do it instead of feeling forced to. I look at games like The Last of Us and Splinter Cell Blacklist as modern games that did this well. The gameplay encourages avoiding risk, but when things go bad the controls allow for good combat without feeling overpowered or overburdened. You have to play smart, even with the best loadout. It makes surviving a firefight that much more satisfying. For example, player and enemies could be more similar on a health standpoint, where moving under fire is a bigger risk, and flanking is a serious concern. Instead of Superhumans vs 100 rookies it would feel more like the ghost's training and gear gives the advantage, even if it only means you can take a few shots extra. What is the point of having all of the cool tech and ability to be stealthy if you can just roll in and gun everyone down anyway? That goes both way though. I don't want them to go down if they stub their toe, but not have bullet sponges either. Just tweaking a few numbers can change the whole experience in a game. Thrown in good, flexible AI and you could have a recipe for a good time. Fun and fluid gameplay should be a top priority of games, because that is part of what makes a game fun. But it should be easy to learn and hard to master, like Ghost Recon. The game controls are simple enough that I could teach my younger cousin, who never played a computer game before. After a two minute explanation, she cleared the Heroes Unleashed bank map on firefight by herself . It is accessible to people like her, but still challenging for people like me. Wildlands has potential, more than any Ubi game I have seen in quite a while. And that is good! It can be the exellent blend of ease of use of recent Clancy and Far Cry games and the tactical gameplay similar to ARMA and Squad. However I fear overcorrection to appeal to a wider audience.

How about the Korean DMZ? https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9560814,126.6766083,695m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en&authuser=0 I don't think its been done, and there's plenty of pictures to reference.

Happy Birthday Rocky!

The Scumm bar. Inhabitants now accept pieces of nine(mil)

From Monkey Island! The second biggest peak I've ever seen

More enemies posing

Nice shots Apex! Here's some from the beach landing map. A view of the beach defenses. And another of the ghosts landing. That isn't strange lighting making the shadows. It turns out the water actually makes parts darker, creating a soaked look.

Sniper on overwatch

Moving underneath the bridge.

Now a few from the river bridge mission. BMPs and a large group of infantry hold the bridge.

Thanks! Where was I? Ghosts overlooking the camp. Had to go with the nostalgic uniforms!

Alright, thanks! I'll see if it lets upload more later on.

And the allowed file size got changed on me. Its set to .12MB, so I guess I'm done for now?

Our good friend Mr.Papashvili

The camp. If you look in the background you can see an unwelcome guest.

Here's screenshots of the HU Caves map. So many photo ops for this mission! Here's a nice view

More to come...

And a 3rd person view of the last shot, just for fun