Wildlands - My Opinion so Far

[Zeealex]

Intro

Okay, so I’ve been putting this off for a while because I don’t know, I guess it’s just going to be a long one, you might lose interest and who the hell cares about my opinion anyway?
Nevertheless, I thought I’d share my views, open up discussion, feel free to disagree with me on any point but keep it civil.

Ghost Recon has had a pretty up and down past, with the GRAW games and GRFS not being too great, the latter having a very rocky start on the PC and many considered it as the forgettable outcast of the series.

4 years of development in, we get Ghost Recon: Wildlands, so what’s my opinion of the game as one of the sceptics.

 

I’m willing to bet a lot of us were sceptical about this game I bet even Rocky had his initial doubts, and some probably still are, especially with the relative hit/miss nature of ubi games at the moment. I put my money where my mouth is after the open beta was over, even after the beta was over and I found myself enjoying it, I still didn’t quite trust Ubi. But I bought the game anyway, I got a massive reduction on it and after the nice man in the game store took off all my unclaimed pre-orders the game was £7.99, so I’m not moaning.

My opinion, simply put, is that it made me look and feel like an idiot.

 

To all of the people I got hacked off at, to all the people I started heated debates with, and to the devs, I’m sorry. But to the people who remain sceptical and distrustful of the game, I respect your opinion.

I’m going to try and keep this brief as un-technical as possible and structured, apologies if I ramble, I’m a woman, that happens. I've also added some recommendations, just on the off chance a dev does catch wind of it, but they're kinda just what I personally would do, and may not necessarily work. 

 

Pros

-Have You seen It Recently?!-

The game looks fantastic, the best entries in the screenshot competition are testament to that, the work that had to be done to pull off the procedural terrain, the new engine features to handle that terrain, is just genius, that in itself warrants my utmost respect. The characters, while some criticise them and I can see some faults which I’ll talk about later, look fantastic, and it’s inspired me so much that I’ve wanted to de-construct their workflow to see how they did it. If I as an artist feel inspired to do such a thing from playing a game, it’s usually in receipt of a lot of gratitude and respect from me. I’ve kind of cracked it, I’ll detail it in my gigglepit soon.

 

-It Did Open World Right-

The environment not only looks fantastic, but feels alive; armadillos scuttling about the place, birds flying off as you approach, falling silent as you shoot. The people talking to each other and responding to you walking by, the lack of restriction as to where you could go, nothing was locked off to you. Seamless blending from one ecosystem to the next, the wildlife is everywhere, from llamas in Inca Camina, to deer in Ocoro, to sheep in Pucara, to Flamingoes in the lake at montuyoc, the fact that the world around you isn’t ‘perfect’; things are on fire, some towns are burned out entirely, ancient ruins are seen all across the region seamlessly integrated with their surroundings distant gunshots can be heard on occasion, flares go off if unidad are in a spot of trouble, and Santa Blanca presence is all over the place, often doing despicable deeds in the process. And one thing I rarely see in these games; Children, it’s amazing how much more alive the world feels when it has children in it, it feels more natural, less artificial, I can understand the controversy behind adding them in but Wildlands seems to have attracted little on that front.

 

-They Nailed the Playstyles-

This was one thing I was worried about prior to release, is the ‘play how you want’ gameplay, with no consequences attached a majority of the time, I thought it would play out similar to a run and gun and it came across that way often in the gameplay videos. I was pleased to see this wasn’t a thing, I was also pleased to see I could literally approach the objective in whatever way I wanted, because of the open world nature of the game, if I wanted to take a potshot at a guy from 500 meters away, I could.
I found myself in the end adopting the very guerilla style hit-and run tactic, taking out the alarm, then deliberately putting them on alert and make them search for me, before I moved to another position then picked off any pillock who isolated himself from the party.

It rewarded stealth tactics by making the enemy relatively easy to kill if they weren’t jacked up and hunting for you.

Not only that, but if Santa Blanca and Unidad were in the same area, shoot one of them, they start exchanging bullets with each other thinking it was one of the opposing factions, a nice touch I found, that made clearing certain mission areas very simple.
While they still forced the no detection allowed playstyle in some parts, it wasn’t overtly silly to have it, and it didn’t force you into compromising situations if you didn’t want do it, you weren’t following a given path most of the time, so keeping your distance and remaining undetected wasn’t an issue.

 

-Gunsmith... I needn't say much more-

Gunsmith was probably one of the redeeming features of GRFS, while the gunsmith in GR:WL is more limited, it’s really great to see it back!

-Character Customization-

Something that was woefully missing in virtually every Ghost Recon game except maybe GRAW-2 on the Xbox 360 and the original if you count mods. Wildlands’ customization is a welcome sight for me, it makes contextual sense; I see a lot of people, including myself changing their gear to match their environment, some just play operator Barbie, some just want something a little more personal.
The thought that has gone into this is incredible as well, the fact that your vest loadout changes based on your character class (what primary you have equipped) is a really great touch that they didn’t have to do, but did because it was a neat feature, it was a great consideration that I picked up on back in the open beta, and still makes me grin to this day.
I like that Nomad’s gender can be switched, as a gamer that happens to be female, it’s nice to play as a female character when possible.
Now obviously I have some critiques for later, and I’m hoping someone out there in Ubi-land is listening. But I really like the character customization and would like to see more in the future.

-The Setting and Story –

Okay so some bits are a little high brow, but it’s otherwise a believable setting and the story is actually quite intriguing, especially Sandoval’s internal conflict that highlights itself along the way. Nomad and his/her team feel very natural, they’re not overly burly soldier guys who follow every order to the tee and are all dramatic in everything they say (*coughs* Mitchell*coughs*), the camaraderie feels natural, the jokes exchanged are cheesy, the friendship shows itself with little to no exposition at all, and that to me is commendable. Even Bowman is believable and occasionally has some bits that had me grinning.
’m not sure if any of you do either, but I get myself absorbed in the story, and I still to this second don’t trust Bowman a damn bit, they’ve developed her character in such a way that she comes across very much as the stereotypical CIA agent, every word from her mouth seems to have at least some malice attached to it, her actions are questionable, even though she may not actually be the stereotypical CIA agent (I don’t know, I haven’t completed the game yet) she has me distrusting her a lot.

It’s the same with Katari, I’m still not doing any rebel missions because I’m half expecting them to turn against me once I’ve taken out Sueno.

The antagonists, the Buchones and the underbosses are very diverse, they don’t follow the typical stereotypes you usually see in shooters, I particularly give a thumbs up to whoever developed El Pozolero as a character, he was a very interesting one, and it almost humanized him, he wasn’t an evil mastermind who wants you dead, he just had poor mental development, with the mind of a child. And these humanizing traits can be seen in a lot of other characters too, they’re not all inherently evil, except for maybe La Plaga, La Yuri y El Polito, and a few others. El Boquita is another that really had me questioning whether or not what I’m doing is moral, he has a kid, you hear him on the phone with that kid before the mission gets under way, and if you get yourself absorbed into the story like I do, you stop and realise that you are killing the father of an innocent child.

I even feel sorry for Emilio, the runaway sicario you pick up when you’re taking down Lockheart, it makes you realise that every sicario went through that, and a good bunch of them would have found it equally as traumatic as Emilio
I guess as a woman I’m perhaps more emotionally tuned in to this, and as a woman, my natural maternal instinct, that I can’t deny I have, no matter how much I try to reject it, has me being more ‘protective’ of children like Valeria and child like figures, such as El Pozolero. It’s a really great story with some really great character development, I only really wanted a handful of them dead.
Another one is, it’s not overtly futuristic, it’s very down to earth, I think the most technologically advanced it gets is the AR system if you play with the HUD, and the Drone.

-Mitchell’s not in it -

PRAISE JEBUS, did I not tell you how much I hated that guy?

 

-Llamas–

I’ve said enough.
 

Cons

-The AI –

It’s goes without saying it needs some fine tuning, the friendly AI have a tendency of freezing in the presence of an enemy, despite me ordering them to move away to avoid detection, when coming up against unidad, this is particularly annoying, because patrols are upped and it messes up my flow, or gets me killed, or both, not great. Adding on to this, the enemy AI has some bugs, they blow something up, they go on alert and somehow know where I am. I noticed this when a truck they were in bugged out and blew up, they all came swarming towards me, even though I didn’t fire a shot.
Some AI seem to lack a self preservation instinct too, looking at you, El Pulpo.

-My Recommended Fixes/Tweaks –
-Add back “recon” and “assault” modes from previous games that dictate what behaviour tree the team will use, if on Recon and they are being detected, they will move to hide quickly and avoid contact. If on Assault mode, they will remove all detecting contacts by force.

-Add an ‘instigator’ variable for explosions, if the instigator is known they will either set their detection level to ‘engaged’ and attack the instigator if hostile or do nothing if friendly. If the instigator is unknown, they will set their detection level to ‘suspected’ (NOT hunted as it currently is) and inspect the explosion and the surrounding area. Having the detection level at hunted can be frustrating, especially if the explosion was not instigated by the player and they are on a forced stealth mission.

-Add ‘is on foot?’ and ‘Are enemies close?’ booleans to El Pulpo’s mission that, if true will force him to take cover if he’s on foot, until the player has eliminated the hostiles along the path to a car.


-Mission Context -

I couldn’t find a better name for this, but I noticed, due to the procedural nature of the game, things regenerate when you go about 500m away from the area. I was doing the El Muro mission, and there was a Unidad base nearby, with a buttload of SAM sites around that I didn’t want to deal with, I wanted a relatively safe and incident free extraction, so I did what any logical minded person would do, and tried to take out the SAM sites around the base, I did this only to find that the SAM’s had all respawned as I moved back to the helicopter.
Along side this, taking out Security seems to have very little effect on the number of Sicarios on the ground in the region, it would make sense that SB presence is reduced throughout the game at least story mission wise, and that Unidad are more likely to instigate attacks on Santa Blanca following full destabilization of security, it would be good if the world around you changed as time goes on, more than just more rebel cars on the road.
It would be nice if the player was rewarded for tactical decisions and destabilization of a cartel branch aside from stat boosts.
- My Recommended Tweaks –

-Add an “is on mission?” boolean in which if the value is true, will prevent the proximity based respawning of nearby Hostiles and emplacements while on a mission, if the player fails or dies, force the respawn.
-Add a “security Destabilized?” boolean in which depending on the value will dictate the level of hostile presence and their difficulty on missions. If security has been destabilized completely, reduce hostile presence by half to three quarters on missions, and add random unidad engagements with Santa Blanca

-It’s a little Buggy –

This will fix itself over time, but presently I can’t complete a mission due to my scope crashing the game in a certain area.

The Helicopter controls –

I think everyone will unanimously agree that the Helo controls could do with some serious tweaking. Just to allow more control over pitch and yaw.

-Low quality camo swatches and other character issues –

One of the things that bugs me greatly is the quality of some of the camo swatches, the M81 particularly has off colour and poor resolution. While the quality of the models and textures is generally nice, these lower quality swatches really let it down, it would be great if the artists could go through the texture sets and just check the colour values of the gear to make them more consistent too. I know for a fact the brightness of the camo on the opscore is far too high and needs bringing down a lot.
Along with this, some character options appear too cliché and also a little too outlandish, it would be nice for instance if we could just have a little bit of a facial scuff, maybe a scar on the jawline or something similar, nothing too overt, just something that paints the canvas a little.
A MICH and a few more vest options would be great as DLC too as well as some lower profile headsets like the Liberator III.
The Shemagh should also not have a skin weight to the head, it looks a bit weird as is at the moment, some more colours would be nice too.

Along with this, the most fundamental thing I want to see is being able to change your teammates’ gear, I’m a tactical Barbie, my teammates? Not so much. It would be good if I could bring them in line with me so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb so much.

-Nomad gives him/herself away-
Credit is failure right? so why does nomad, at a party with dozens of people around yell into Carzita's ear that he/she works for the US government? pretty big tip off to anyone in audible range

-The Loadout System is Illogical –

you can change your weapons whenever you want, if I’m a sniper and suddenly get hit with helos I can go into the loadout menu and magic up an LSAT. It would be better if this loadout system was only available at the rally points of the area.

-No Barrett M107 –

just… how dare you?!

 

Notes

The one thing I want to note very quickly before I move on is people have a problem with the weapon collection thing going on, but to me it actually makes sense, government issue weapons and weapons sold in the US can be traced, in the interests of plausible deniability it would be better to use the enemy’s weapons against them, and make it harder for the enemy to fully know that the Ghosts are affiliated with the US government should they be KIA or otherwise, it doesn’t take an idiot to figure it out, but in the interests of evidence, there would generally be none.

Conclusion

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing Ghost Recon Wildlands, and I’ll probably continue to do so for a while longer, I’m hoping that Ubi will continue to support the title for a little while longer too, it’s too good of an engine and environment to treat it as disposable.

In my honest unadultered opinion, Wildlands has come, experience wise, very close to the original game, it isn’t the original game, no, but does that deem it ‘not ghost recon’? No absolutely not.

Ghost Recon Wildlands has done what other games have found it difficult to do prior, it has seamlessly blended multiple playstyles into one game and allowed the player almost full control over how they approach their missions.

The environment is a beautiful, living, breathing open world and has been a breath of Mitchell-free fresh air… Ubisoft have shown me that they are listening, and that they are learning from their mistakes. They’ve taken their time, they haven’t rushed, they’ve ensured as smooth a release as possible and their effort for this past 4 years has paid off.

It has inspired me to better myself as an artist, to de construct their methods, and has given me faith in the publisher again, my message to Ubi, if any of your employees are reading this right now, for the love of god don’t drop the ball, you have a GOTY worthy game here.

My scepticism was misplaced, and I’m seriously glad I chose this over Mass Effect Andromeda given the mess that game is right now.

Please, for the love of god make this game moddable, it would be the icing on the cake at this point...


Discuss as you please, but as i said, keep it civil and love eachother!

Edited April 4, 2017 by Zeealex

[5timechamp]

Some Random thoughts and questions:

-So looking back at how the "storyline" is playing out in the game... would you have preferred a slightly more linear game with a better story flow or are the "disconnected" region vignettes enough story telling for this game?
-the regional stories are told well enough but due to the structure of the game theyre pretty much self contained.. would the game gradually opening up regions have been preferable in exchange for a more cohesive story or are we here mostly to shoot stuff?
-I think each pillar of the Santa Blanca could have been connected a little better..

I did enjoy how some of the stories played out for the buchones, and as much as I want my heroes to "wear white hats" I can accept the reality and the cruelty displayed by the ghosts at times. (interrogations of bosses)

 

 

The game has been out for a little while now... at this point I would place it above every other Ghost Recon except the original and future soldier....as a SP gamer the environments in Wildlands echo the environments from all the previous games and better them (those jungles!).... Future Soldier is still over WL at the moment because of the great animations and the overall narrative (liked the Ghosts)

[Zeealex]

good questions here!

I would have personally enjoyed a more linear storyline, it would've flowed better and things would've seemed more connected, perhaps with some side missions along the way that weren't rebel ops, similar to how most RPG games play out really. 

I think a gradual opening could've been achieved in an open world if optional intel was more of a basis for this, similar to how sandoval's internal conflict was shown, it would've been interesting to hear recordings or watch videos regarding the regions i know you can pick up photographs and artifacts from time to time, but more would've been better, or even opportunities play through some 'historical' missions from the POV of a unidad soldier from time to time to make you feel really connected to the area in which you're playing and to the backstory of the game.  

I agree on the pillars of SB, and the consequences of these actions could've been seen better as well, everything right now is far too constant, and on the ghosts too, it irked me (in a good way, if that's even possible) that my nomad would engage in such activities or not hold Bowman back when she did, as a person who will never support torture, it's not what I would've done, but it's the unfortunate reality. 


I've had troubled dealings with GR:FS, so i'll refrain from comment on that one. but it's certainly a good game, and will some tweaks or with the next game taking some of these things into account it could be what we've been asking for for so long. 

Edited April 4, 2017 by Zeealex

[TJbrena]

The Ghosts themselves are so-so. I mix up Holt and Midas' voices all the time. Weaver sounds like Gus Sorola from Rooster Teeth, so I can at least tell him apart. Nomad sounds like Mitchell in GR2/SS, and the GRAW games, or at least male Nomad with Snake face does. I actually liked Mitchell, so whatever. I need to see if different faces have different voices.

I've finished the game, and it has two different endings depending on whether you finished every mission before going to remove Sueno. Obviously, 100%ing the game gets you the good end. Nice touch, didn't expect that from this game.

Edited April 4, 2017 by TJbrena

[Zeealex]

That's actually something I forgot to mention, the V/O isn't great, its forgivable, but its not fantastic.

 

Female nomad can sound a little flat here and there, however when it comes to sarcasm etc its pretty good. 

There were a few bugs in the game where male nomad's voice was played instead of female nomad's, and honestly I'd compare him more to Ramirez than Mitchell. 

Different faces done have different voices, buuut it isn't exactly a deal breaker. 

As for Mitchell, i'm just not a massive Steve Blum fan, and the character was far too macho be all and end all Hollywood hero man for my liking.

I much preferred Ferguson in GRFS, a more toned down low voiced, calm and collected character who wasn't made out to be the saviour of the universe. 

 

As for the endings, I've heard, hence why that mission crash has me prevented from completing the game, because I want to 100% destabilize Santa blanca before I go on to kill cross face god complex dude. 

 

 

[TJbrena]

IIRC Steve Blum only played Mitchell in FS and Endwar. Prior to that he was played by David Cooley.

[Zeealex]

Nop, s'been blumface throughout

[NightCrawler]

Damn Zee, while it was a bit long winded. I actually enjoyed and read the entire post!!!

 

Write that down so that you can use that against me later.

[KlownSnypr]

good read

Had typed up my own wall of text but deleted it.

A solution for flying, which some people actually like the controls, would be to have an advanced flying toggle.

Camo brightness is another gripe of mine where some is very dark and others are very bright. Lack of a full Ghillie Suit, i.e. covering the backpack as well, is another gripe.

Unable to remove Back pack is another gripe.

Bullet drop in this game is way to severe to be realistic, but any of you know this. Would be nice to get relatively realistic ballastics and mre powerful scopes for sniper rifles.

Like the idea of customizing your ai squads gear

and the idea of a more linear story line possibly focusing on one arm of the cartel at a time. Story does feel a little disjointed if you bounce a around but even focusing on one arm at a time feels disjointed too. As stated it would be nice if taking out certain people actually had some effect in the world. I.E. Neutralizing General Maro would cause UNIDAD to leave you alone unless invading or being hostile towards them and being more agreesive towards santa blanca.

[Zeealex]

ask anyone here, i'm good at walls of text

 

Quote

A solution for flying, which some people actually like the controls, would be to have an advanced flying toggle.

this would be a lovely idea, I quite agree! 

 

Quote

Unable to remove Back pack is another gripe.

yeah that one kinda irked me a bit! but i can see the idea behind it too, you need to stay hydrated on long walks. 

 

Quote

Bullet drop in this game is way to severe to be realistic, but any of you know this. Would be nice to get relatively realistic ballastics and mre powerful scopes for sniper rifles.

pair this with a higher viewdistance and we're onto a winner! 

as for unidad post-maro, I agree, making them more passive to you would be a good addition I think. 
 

[Might42]

Higher level than 30 after using the xp display being at lvl 30 the xp display disappears havnt played since 30

[Ayu Taiyaki]

Im pretty in agreement with ya zeealex.Im finding this more "ghost recon" since the original.

 

As far as your guys freezing up,you are aware as soon as you give a move order,your team is now detectable..

 

a  "hold fire" option would be nice

[Pvt. Snafu]

Great read, I see no reason for you to apologize at all for "rambling", this is your thread and you own the sh-- out of it!.. Isn't that why people use forums anyways, to read something, reply, and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way?

Still haven't played WL yet but I'm planning on getting it within the week, so this is a wonderful assessment of how far it's come since development and where it's at as a complete game now. 

I only have one opinion so far about the fact that there isn't a Rules of Engagement command for the AI Ghosts. It is really unsettling to me; I can't fathom how one is supposed to properly execute a stealth operation in SP if your teammates give away your position? It's kinda been a core mechanic of all tactical shooters since Rainbow Six started it all.

Won't get into my thoughts on Mitchell at the present time. However I'd love to read your take on why you so strongly dislike him at some point.  

I'm just greatful to have a good deal of opinions from what I consider to be highly credible sources, cheers! 

[shakealeg1212]

thanks for sharing your opinion zee!

i'm still on the fence about this game. I don't like giving money to Ubisoft and i've heard so far this game is buggy. In theory this game seems like it's a great idea but I cant look past it being a weak Far Cry and MGSV hybrid.

Edited February 13, 2018 by shakealeg1212

[TJbrena]

The game isn't too buggy. The worst that's happened to me is getting stuck in terrain geometry once, and there's not an open world game I've played where that hasn't happened at least once.

[Lightspeed]

I haven't seen bugs either other than getting stuck once as well. 

[Lightspeed]

The thing about this game shakealeg is that there are two very distinct parts. The open world, GTA V part which relates to travelling around.

Then the tactical gun play which is very well designed and requires a LOT of planning and precision to do right. I've had 5 or 6 goes at some missions as a result of being careless. It's unforgiving when you get it wrong.

Is it GR? No, it's its own game but with some strong GR elements when it comes to tactical combat.

 

[Zeealex]

I've seen a few pretty large bugs, however due to my job it's kinda hard to turn off that attention to them, it ruins my experience in most games and even movies, because I can notice so many subtle glitches that I've trained myself to look out for. there's nothing overtly game breaking there, for a game of this decade it's actually pretty polished, but there are some rather frustrating ones around. 
 

On 4/17/2017 at 23:58, shakealeg1212 said:

I cant look past it being a weak Far Cry and MGSV hybrid (i love MGS but not so much Far Cry).

I'd say the MGSV inspiration is fair, but from what i gather (i'm not a major farcry fan) it's very much its own game that deserves respecting as such. 

 

On 4/18/2017 at 10:31, Lightspeed said:

Is it GR? No

gonna have to disagree with you there, I think it is GR, both in title and spirit.

Off topic a little and i'm not having a go, i'm just voicing that ever so frank opinion of mine on myself, not you, you are free to say as you will as that is your opinion, but my reflection on myself is that I'm sick of being the edgy old-timer who can't let the past go, we will never have another GR1 because GR1's experience can probably never be imitated again. you can remaster the graphics and keep the base game and i guarantee you someone will be displeased. 

Wildlands is GR, if you don't count narco road and/or any future ridiculous DLC Ubi pumps out, but then, is Arma 3 still Arma with the ridiculous futuristic crap slapped on and the karts DLC? yes! so we should hold wildlands to the same respect. Yes, the gameplay is different in a large way to the first, but when you consider that all Ghost Recon games since the first have been intended as third person shooters (aside from GRAW PC), you have to ask yourself which one was the true outlier here in terms of gameplay, and I know that's going to rustle some jimmies with y'all, but think about it, every Ghost Recon game that has come out people have said "its not ghost recon" maybe we have to start considering the original ghost recon as not ghost recon, and put this frankly outdated argument in the past where it belongs... GR1 is a great game, but it is by no means the perfect 'God Game' that every developer ever should be striving towards; it had its problems, and the more the game ages, the more these problems show themselves. 

  But ask yourself, is Wildlands set in the Ghost Recon Timeline? Yes, Bowman confirmed this in the very beginning of the game, and Weaver linked to Kozak in ingame dialogue, I am expecting links to GRAW, seeing as SB was founded in Mexico in 2013, and to GRFS seeing as the first mission you're on as Kozak is in Bolivia, 5 years after Wildlands, in the future if Ubi truly wants to expand the story and bring a coherent canon back into the series. 

Is it a shooter with strong tactical elements that can punish you mercilessly with one wrong move? Yes.
is it open with full autonomy on how you approach your mission like the original? yes, even more so than the original. 
Is it called 'Ghost Recon' Yes. Then by my (admittedly loosening) standards this is Ghost Recon, and frankly one of the best Ghost Recon games to date bar none.

Add on to the fact that it has seamlessly combined areas and playstyles together, making the character set up worth a damn, you have terrific gameplay elements added into the game that the original will have struggled to have done so well. 


I played future soldier with my boyfriend on Wednesday while he waited for wildlands to download, and if any Ghost Recon game is to be accused of not being ghost recon by people's standards it is that linear crap-fest, needing a cutscene around every corner to open a damn door? no thanks. 

I'm sorry if i hurt feelings, it's my silly opinion at the end of the day, if you don't want to join along, you don't have to. 


I am hoping in six months time they capitalize on the major success of the game by releasing a mission editor. 


In other news, I played with the legendary @Ayu Taiyaki today was a cool game, sadly due to framerate issues (I was running an intensive max scene in the background and it was chewing my RAM, not the game's fault) I got a headache and became irritable so I wasn't able to communicate as well, but Ayu's a cool guy, i'd recommend anyone in the community who's looking to Coop with someone to give Ayu a go, he's really awesome!

[NightCrawler]

And that was a very articulate opinion. 

Very close to my own. But I doubt that I could have put down as nicely as you.

[shakealeg1212]

Zee your opinions are very well expressed and i respect them. I agree that being a GR fan has kept me and angry old timer unwilling to accept new things, especially things that contain the Ghost Recon name. I've sunk some hours into Wildlands so I hope my criticism is now valid. Wildlands does give us an open world and gives the player control and yes, sometimes better than GR. It's not linear and has a little bit of everything for people with broad tastes.

However, what drew me to GR and what keeps me coming back is the tense gameplay and feelings of fear. GR obviously isn't a horror game but it scares the crap out me. You the player is a vulnerable soldier who is always behind enemy lines and outnumbered. Methodical military tactics and patience is the only way to succeed at GR. And even with perfect tactics, the enemy can still win. even with the best specialist and the best weapon, the enemy can still win. It's a tense experience that has never faded i the 10+ years I've played GR.

Wildlands simply doesn't bring any of that to the table. That's not to say it's an easy arcade shooter ala COD but it's a generic shooter with a loose influence on tactical gameplay. Yeah I can do a 15 min recon of a cartel base, observing every enemys patrol route, egress points and fields of fire. But i can also go in guns blazing which will punish me but i have regenerating health and a team that can revive me. Wildlands is perfectly playable using twitch reflexes and the skill point unlocks only back that up. Why be stealthy when I can land a helicopter in the middle of an enemy base where I won't be declared hostile until an enemy makes 2-3 seconds of eye contact with me. 

If anything Wildlands has done something right by giving the player an open experience. But its nowhere near being any kind of tactical game on its own. 

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2017 by shakealeg1212

[Zeealex]

I know exactly what you're talking about agree the fear element is something that OGR had that was sorely missed in wildlands, but only to an extent. 

Frankly, having played the console versions of every game, as I see those as the 'true' look through the developers eyes, it's again something that has been missed from most of the games since GR2-SS, i'm not justifying the lack of it in wildlands, but can we agree here the fear element is still there in comparison to GR:FS and GRAW consoles? 

I'm sure, if i were to turn the majority of the HUD off and ramp up the difficulty to extreme I would get that fear element back, I'd have no target markers reassuring me of enemy positions, I can be killed in one shot, and I can be detected almost instantaneously with no idea where from. I would be once again that vulnerable soldier outnumbered behind enemy lines, but before I speak too soon, I'm actually going to experiment with this to see if it's the case. 

I agree however that regenerating health kinda sucks, it's been one of my major gripes in video games, however one thing i like is the one revive per fight thing going on, makes it a little more necessary to preserve yourself, but it's not to the extent of the originals. 


Now I will say one thing before I go and experiment, that if i want that hardcore fear element with no health regen and a more 'realistic' attitude, I boot up arma. but if i want a more relaxed experience with frankly stunning visuals and a bit of fun. I boot up Wildlands, and to be honest, I've not played Arma since february... 

 

Edited April 22, 2017 by Zeealex

[Ayu Taiyaki]

It's cool Zee, I ended up with a migraine later.I know the feel.

 

and it is all in who you play with,shake.

 

One thing i find /very/ realistic about GRW however is how quickly a plan can go south in a heartbeat,for any number of reasons.

 

And yeah...GR:FS was the least GR Ghost game ever.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Ayu Taiyaki

[Lightspeed]

8 hours ago, shakealeg1212 said:

However, what drew me to GR and what keeps me coming back is the tense gameplay and feelings of fear. GR obviously isn't a horror game but it scares the crap out me. You the player is a vulnerable soldier who is always behind enemy lines and outnumbered. Methodical military tactics and patience is the only way to succeed at GR. And even with perfect tactics, the enemy can still win. even with the best specialist and the best weapon, the enemy can still win. It's a tense experience that has never faded i the 10+ years I've played GR.

Yes exactly why I don't see Wildlands as a real GR - while you have to be tactical and things can turn ugly in a flash if you get it wrong - there is no sense of fear, no white knuckle moments. GR had and still has it in spades. One shot, one kill - f* and start over.

Wildlands is interesting in that the vegetation, environment, ambient life and the Ghosts feel very real (ignoring AI behavior).

But somehow the enemy AI feel somewhat cartoonish - and with the respawn, kinda feels like there is less at stake. They behave really well for AI, flank and can be suppressed but somehow they feel like cartoon characters, not humans.

If I'm not making sense here, then compare it to say the AI and gameplay in Ground Branch - I'm on edge when I launch into a terrorist hunt because the AI, while not particularly intelligent at the moment) are deadly and unforgiving - when I get killed and didn't see it coming, I jump out of my skin. That is totally GR!

Maybe it's the sensor indicators, the warnings when you've been spotted? I can't pin point it but I don't feel nearly as much pressure as I do with GR even now.

Still, I enjoy the game and the tactical elements and think it's worth every cent and I think the GR tag is fitting - but imho it is still not a true GR experience.

And I'm definitely not the diehard who won't let it go - I appreciate games in their own right.

 

 

[NightCrawler]

If we see that original GR experience in our lifetime again we will truly be blessed. 

 

But I gave up on that about 5 years ago.

[shakealeg1212]

14 hours ago, Lightspeed said:

Maybe it's the sensor indicators, the warnings when you've been spotted? I can't pin point it but I don't feel nearly as much pressure as I do with GR even now.

Yeah, Im going to do what Zee said and start a new playthrough at a higher difficulty with EVERY UI option turned off and then see how i feel about the game. 

 

I will admit I'm a sucker for open world Rockstar games (RDR, Bully, GTA) but for some reason Ubisoft's open world games always lack something that prevents me from being fully immersed. Wildlands,AssCreed, and Far Cry all had this and i can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the cartoony feeling Lightspeed said. Wildlands open world and travel system seems like a chore to me and I think its the biggest reason I can't fully enjoy it.

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by shakealeg1212