Watch_Dogs by Ubisoft

What, you've never seen an in destructive car before? :oops: But seriously, the material physics is this game are terrible. When a wooden post falls it breaks into little pieces like polystyrene.

On the plus side, tactical fighters will love the options. Really makes you feel like <insert your favourite spy> :yep2:
 
The difference is simply huge

I wonder if it was the release on older platforms the reason for the downgrade.
1)Either the new consoles are not capable enough and they didnt want a huge disparity with the more capable PCs
2)Or targeting on the older platforms meant that it would be too much effort to create assets for the more capable and then trying to figure out what to cut back and readjust.
3)Or probably they saw that they were aiming too high and considered too costly to create high quality assets for the whole City.
 
This is slightly OT but I was wondering is there any way to increase the deadzone for watch dogs on pc because aiden gets forward drift and its driving me crazy.
Using a 360 joypad
 
I played for about 3 hours straight yesterday (didn't realize I had been playing that long). So far I've found it to be quite enjoyable. I like the setting, the characters (from what I've seen) and the execution of cutscenes. I quite like the voice work and the interaction between characters, which I didn't think I would based on the trailers. Watching them play out on my TV there appears to be a bit more subtlety to them that didn't not come across from watching the Youtube trailers. On the gameplay side of things it clearly has a hook that I've bitten on to for both the side missions and the main story. So far I've found there to be quite a bit of variety in the way you can approach a mission.

Graphically it looks a lot better than I thought it would based on some of the impressions and media that were out before release. Even during the day when the videos I saw seemed to make the lighting look quite flat, in person it has a bit more warmth to. Just enough not to make it look completely flat (to my untrained eyes). I would say its a good looking and performing game overall so far (texture quality/variety, character models, environments, lighting and framerate). Consistently solid all the way around, I would say. Nothing has jumped out that made me say "holy crap, that looks bad". Conversely, nothing has jumped out that made me say "hold crap that looks really good" either.

There are 2 things that bother me the most at the moment. The first is that you do not seem to be rewarded for taking a stealth/hack approach to missions. In some cases with a bit of patience and experimentation its possible to bounce around from stationary cameras to the guards with cameras into a key area remotely to complete your objective by playing with the AI and hackable objects. I find this to be very gratifying when I can pull it off. No reward for stealth, in it of itself, isn't a big issue to me. I believe one of the developers referred to this as not encouraging or punshing any particular play style. What bothers me is that you are rewarded with XP for engaging in combat. Even stealth combat actions (non lethal quiet take downs) get XP. So by taking the stealth/hack approach not only do you lose out on the items that are dispersed throughout the environment (understandable as you're executing things remotely) you also lose out on the combat XP with no equivalent hacking XP to make up for it.

The other things is a miner quibble but one I've found to be quite annoying. When in a vehicle you have a nice 1st person dashboard view you can switch to. I really like that view and I'm glad they included it. My issue is that camera control when in this view is extremely limited. The range to the left is almost non-existent and you get maybe a few degrees of range to the right. Essentially your view is limited to that of the windshield and I don't quite understand why they would do that. Whatever the reason it adds an unnecessary layer of frustration to what is otherwise a cool feature. It would be a cool and very usable feature if I could at least look out the front side windows.

I have the first 90 minutes (the first 2 or 3 campaign missions and some side activities) uploaded to YouTube, and my entire initial 3+ hour play-through archived on Twitch if anyone wants to check it out. I can't attest to the quality of the videos as I haven't had time to look them over.

EDIT

YouTube link updated.
 
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I think the game looks still quite lovely. Given the right weather conditions it actually looks stunning. It's kinda stuck in a somewhat uncomfortable position right between Second Son and GTAV, though. It doesn't have the visual dazzle Second Son's static envronments afforded Sucker Punch to create, but it also doesn't come anywhere near GTAV's level of sophisicated city simulation. I love how the wind affects everything. I also think the assets are mostly of really high quality too (everything is smooth in Watch Dogs. Barely any sharp edges to be found either). At the end of the day Chicago still feels a bit like a half measure.
In typical Ubi design-by-commitee fashion it also sports a lot of distractions that feel like arbitrary check lists. I loved how GTAV didn't shove side activities in my face. They all simply felt like they belonged. Partake in them or don't. It's your choice. It doesn't even impact the game. What it does is flesh out the world by giving the player options. Pretty much like in real life. By comparison, the open world feels a little wasted on WD really.

I also think the mp is pretty odd. Like a half-assed Dark Souls where nothing's really at stake. Or is there something at stake and I just didn't get it?
 
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The other things is a miner quibble but one I've found to be quite annoying. When in a vehicle you have a nice 1st person dashboard view you can switch to. I really like that view and I'm glad they included it. My issue is that camera control when in this view is extremely limited.

Yes, this is really annoying because you can profile and hack people from inside vehicles but you need to target them which is nigh impossible in dashboard cam mode.

My other niggle is if I shoot a runner in the leg, that should stop them running. But nope. I'd rather bring criminals down alive than just appear out of the shadows and shoot them in the head but the second way is faster and doesn't seem to penalise you. Actually, based on my rampant reputation, the citizens of Chicago seem to like this style of justice. It probably saves them on taxes prosecuting people.

I'm on mission 8 of Act I and really enjoying the missions. I'd estimate I've spend only a quarter of my time on the main campaign. I've been messing about, accruing skill points and investing in arsenal to rival Rambo. Plus even when you are going to a mission, getting to it without being distracted is hard :)
 
Second Son is one of the best looking games I have ever played and yet was the hollowest open world games I have ever played with little or nothing to do outside the rather mediocre main story/missions.
I also don't think that the comparison with GTA V is fair.
GTA V has been developed for 2 consoles which probably allowed Rockstar to put much more care and attention in everything plus had a stellar budget AND I believe many more developers worked on GTA V than on WD.

Bottom line: better quality in games is often achieved thanks to more than just talent which is something that gamers tend to forget, or rather ignore.
 
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My other niggle is if I shoot a runner in the leg, that should stop them running. But nope. I'd rather bring criminals down alive than just appear out of the shadows and shoot them in the head but the second way is faster and doesn't seem to penalise you. Actually, based on my rampant reputation, the citizens of Chicago seem to like this style of justice. It probably saves them on taxes prosecuting people.

:LOL:

Perhaps I'm remembering incorrectly, but I thought there were bonuses for non-lethal take downs of the criminal (and a separate bonus for the victim being uninjured)?

I'd estimate I've spend only a quarter of my time on the main campaign. I've been messing about, accruing skill points and investing in arsenal to rival Rambo. Plus even when you are going to a mission, getting to it without being distracted is hard :)

Probably the same split in regards to time spent on main/side for me (although I'm not nearly as far as you). However, I have not built up my arsenal at all. In fact, I think I've only fired my gun once so far in the ~4 hours I've played. :oops:
 
GTA V has been developed for 2 consoles which probably allowed them to put much more care in everything they did and also had a stellar budget.

And why should I care about that? It's a realistic open world game in a post GTAV world available on much more powerful hardware for 60€. If it didn't want to be compared it should have put a more unique spin on things. That's why the later Saints Row games are so well liked.
I'm also pretty sure WD had a pretty massive budget, a gargantuan staff and loads of development time anyway.
 
Perhaps I'm remembering incorrectly, but I thought there were bonuses for non-lethal take downs of the criminal (and a separate bonus for the victim being uninjured)?
There's definitely a bonus of the victim surveys, I've not been attention enough to whether the 'criminal neutralisation' bonus varies between kill and disable.

I'll have a go, right after mission 8, Act I, which my first two attempts failed miserable at. But I just bought this sniper rifle and grenade launcher so.. ;)


Probably the same split in regards to time spent on main/side for me (although I'm not nearly as far as you). However, I have not built up my arsenal at all. In fact, I think I've only fired my gun once so far in the ~4 hours I've played. :oops:
You're saving money on bullets! I've not fired that many shots either - the silenced pistol and creeping around Splinter Cell style is thoroughly enjoyable. This game aches for GTA-like stats on weapons, shots fired, accuracy and so on. Why is it missing, Ubisoft, WHY!?! :cry:
 
I probably will end up being a rather poor hacker as the bank account hacks seems like the most douchebag mechanic in gaming history. Emptying out accounts of the 22 year teacher and the guy recovering from leukemia is hardly enticing. And I still had issues justifying the act even when trying to limits those hacks to the biggest douchebags I could find or people higher up the socioeconomical ladder.

The combat in this game (at least on hard) outshines GTA by a country mile. When enemies become aware of your location, they all converge on your spot versus some sitting around waiting for you. They pressure and flank and because you are not a damage sponge it makes for a more suspenseful experience.

The combat is WD's saving grace because everything else outside of combat and the main missions seems pretty incomplete or rushed.
 
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@dobwal: Since this is an Ubisoft joint, all the systems like economy and even hacking are barely interlocking bullet points at most anyways. There's nothing worth buying with the stolen money, so you can safely ignore it and keep your concience clean.

By the way, are some of these little notes on the people of Chicago supposed to be humorous? "Takes prescriptive medication for genital warts" - zinger if I've ever heard one.
Well, the game is rather tone deaf anyway.
 
I read everywhere that even cards with 3 gb of memory stutter...
Luckily the game runs fine on ultra on my pc, but nowhere near 60fps.
Is there a way to check the framerate in game?
Or a benchmark we can run?

The actual game is fun.
And when you do hack your way out of some pretty hard situations it gets very rewarding!
Some of the elements do feel like bullet points though.
At least it's a complete game compared to AC 1. That game was proof of concept...!
 
I read everywhere that even cards with 3 gb of memory stutter...
Luckily the game runs fine on ultra on my pc, but nowhere near 60fps.
Is there a way to check the framerate in game?
Or a benchmark we can run?

The actual game is fun.
And when you do hack your way out of some pretty hard situations it gets very rewarding!
Some of the elements do feel like bullet points though.
At least it's a complete game compared to AC 1. That game was proof of concept...!

I expect you have to combine Ultra textures with high levels of MSAA and possibly >1080p resolution to cause problems for 3GB.
 
The available control schemes are pretty weak and having "hack something" and "put away your phone" mapped to the same button is nonsense (PS4). I also discovered yesterday that "invert Y axis" does not apply to the hacking "water works" mechanic which especially sucks when you are working against the clock.

Another thing is that pedestrians interpret car horns the same way cats react to one pointing at something (i.e. they look at the finger). This makes the car horn more of a "get in my way" device which is not particularly useful when trying to avoid mass murdering pedestrians while fleeing from pursuers.

=)

Cheers
 
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Downloaded and installed. Just played the tutorial part where they tell you what to press , before work. Game looks sharp man :cool: ! Characters and indoor lighting looked cool ! Can't wait to restart properly tonight
 
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