Ghost Recon: Wildlands

[DeepOcean]

Only tactics here is Ubisoft marketing tactics of selling the same game they've been making previous 10 years as if it was new. Really funny, there are still people that believe Ubisoft after all these years. From the very trailers this is something marketed for GTA/Far Cry fans, just an open world popamole shooter, same way Ubisoft likes to posture about the historical "accuracy" of Assassin's Creed games they are posturing about the "tactical" on this game the same they posture about you could "hack" anything on Watch Dogs.

Ubisoft is the alternate reality company where Herve managed to be successful. Maybe some day people will discover the true Ubisoft CEO is actually Herve coming back from the future knowing all the decline games of 2050 and decided to found Ubisoft and start his decline empire.

 

[Tribal Sarah]

I played the beta with a couple of friends. We tried being all Ubisoft tactical but that was horrible so we just ran around the map stealing the helicopters. After 2 hours of fuckery we were done and I never want to see it again. I miss Splinter Cell.

 

[Gerrard]

It's a pretty good popamole so far, but the checkpoints are giving me Far Cry 2 PTSD flashbacks.

 

[Silva]

Yep. Finding it pretty fun too. Just finished a one-man infiltration Splinter Cell-like mission and it was a blast.

 

[CreamyBlood]

Four of us played the closed beta a few weeks ago, mostly drunk. I'm not sure if we did anything tactical. Get in vehicle, drive straight line towards quest maker ignoring all roads, terrain, etc. Going up and down 80degree cliffs, smacking trees, rocks, bouncing and rolling. If a car finally blows up just hijack another, repeat. Get to 'quest area', rambo everyone.

We did get wiped a few times but respawning isn't a big deal. 'Supposedly', some difficulty mode will make it better. I don't believe it and wouldn't pay $80 bucks for it but since my retard buddy really wants to play he's buying it for me, so I'll be playing. Also 3rd person, no option to switch to 1st so that sucks for me but I got sort of used to it. I suppose some of us might have launched some drones and marked some enemies so if that's 'tactical' then whatever.

I'll get to play for free and get drunk with buddies for shits and giggles but I wouldn't buy it and wouldn't play it solo nor without lots of beer. Maybe $20-30 bucks would be okay if you knew that this is just a sillyshit 'bro-laugh' game to kill a few weekends and not to be taken seriously.

 

[tormund]

Yep. Finding it pretty fun too. Just finished a one-man infiltration Splinter Cell-like mission and it was a blast.

There you go. You should trust my wisdom in the future, young one.

 

[Gerrard]

Four of us played the closed beta a few weeks ago, mostly drunk. I'm not sure if we did anything tactical. Get in vehicle, drive straight line towards quest maker ignoring all roads, terrain, etc. Going up and down 80degree cliffs, smacking trees, rocks, bouncing and rolling. If a car finally blows up just hijack another, repeat. Get to 'quest area', rambo everyone.

What difficulty were you playing on? I'm playing on Advanced and you die in 3 hits, there's no way to "Rambo everyone" unless "everyone" is like 6 people max. Unless maybe they are all just shooting me and if you're playing with 3 other people it's more spread out so you don't get hit so fast, but then again there's one more difficulty above that.
Also you have first person mode while aiming (you can switch between 1st/3rd as well on a per-weapon basis).

So far biggest issues I found is largely dumb AI teammates outside of the sync shot ability, trying the "defend radio" mission in the second zone and they are completely useless.
Enemies react to sounds but don't seem to notice dead bodies (that disappear in like 5 seconds, which is also weird).
Bullet speed and drop are super exaggerated like in Stalker games.
You can drive almost any car off road (though according to people vehicle handling is changed since previous test) and it will mostly work.

Like I said, it's popamole. I wouldn't pay 60 bucks for it though.

 

[Hellion]

It's also funny how enemies are programmed not to notice your AI teammates unless the player himself has already broken stealth. I was running around on the fringes of an enemy base trying not to be seen, my teammates started sprinting on a different path and slammed RIGHT INTO an enemy patrol, and the enemy just kept on walking like nothing had happened.

Other than that, they supposedly made cars more "destructible" compared to what was seen in the Closed Beta. But they can still climb up a steep hill like Skyrim's horses.

 

[Silva]

It's also funny how enemies are programmed not to notice your AI teammates unless the player himself has already broken stealth.

Not in my experience. Sent my team near enemies a couple times and they were detected. Enemies takes longer to detecting them as compared to the player, though (perhaps to avoid your teammates botching the stealth missions).

Overall, after 7 hours or so, it's clear the game has it's share of problems, but I've found it has a pretty solid base. If Ubi does its job with the expected updates (and perhaps one DLC or two) it could end up a badass open-world tactical shooter.

 

[tormund]

It's also funny how enemies are programmed not to notice your AI teammates unless the player himself has already broken stealth. I was running around on the fringes of an enemy base trying not to be seen, my teammates started sprinting on a different path and slammed RIGHT INTO an enemy patrol, and the enemy just kept on walking like nothing had happened.

That is far removed from my own experience, to a point where I doubt that you even played the game. There is definitely some leverage given to AI teammates, probably to ease things up and to balance their unavoidable AI stupidity, but it is nothing balance breaking.

 

[Hellion]

It might be tied to the difficulty level then, I was playing on Regular when this happened.

*in before "why not play on Extreme you filthy casual"

 

[Gerrard]

Well, even on extreme you still have magical enemy tracking fairies after you mark them, which is the single most broken thing in this game and has no logical explanation.
The only thing removed is the map indicators that show enemies are in the area (and the indicator showing that someone saw you isn't). If you play with 2-3 other people it would probably become pretty banal.

It's also funny how enemies are programmed not to notice your AI teammates unless the player himself has already broken stealth.

Not in my experience. Sent my team near enemies a couple times and they were detected. Enemies takes longer to detecting them as compared to the player, though (perhaps to avoid your teammates botching the stealth missions).

Possible that they can see them if you give the order to move to a position, but if they are just following you normally they don't see them.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Wow. Been playing lately (on extreme) and it's everything I said it was going to be on page 1, but even worse. I had no expections for this and Ubisoft still somehow managed to let down.

Been testing the game's AI, gunplay, difficulty and other things.

So...

The game's AI is bad (no surprises there), they take sometime to react, they give up pretty quickly to search for the player, they can see the player to a max of 30 meters (give or take) wich for a sandbox this big is kinda sad, and their reactions to player's actions are very few and simple (nothing akin to MGS V). Once a enemy saw me for about 2 seconds (I was 10 meters away from him), but since I dodged quicly from his line of sight he just stood there like a retard for half minute before saying "Must been my imagination" and carrying on with is life. Few enemies so far decided to investigate after "seeing something". And even more strange is that I never have seem them using an alarm. There was plenty of times were I attacked a outpost/camp (with alarms), and the enemies never used the alarm, and no I didn't disabled them.
Also their combat AI is very simple. The fuckers just limit themselves to run for cover and throw grenades randomely from time to time. Them don't try and flank me, or get me out from my cover, they stay behind cover and some idiots try to run straight to me (although the snipers do stay behind and far away).
Stealth is easy (shocker).

Markers, markers everywhere... Even undiscovered locations apper marked on the map (and there's no way to remove them).

The guns are nice. And it's fun to shoot stuff.

The vehicles also behave differently, but most of them seem to have the same speed. But surprisingly enough if crash against something at high speed (even on fucking bikes) you are not projected from the vehicle... wow, what a fun sandbox.

The world is huge, and as expected empty and fucking boring to explore. Full of collectibles, shit level design and missions that all feell and play exactly the same. Some outpusts are somewhat big but have very few enemies. The visuals are stunning though. Funny how AAA studios nowdays think that: big pretty World with lots to do = good sandbox

Why the fuck does Ubi still keeps on slaping a terrible skill system for their sandboxes? And most of these are so dumb: "Ugrade this skill to improve the damage vehicles can witstand."

Also killing civillians with vehicles is quite difficult (I once pushed a old lady against a mountain with a construction vehicle and nothing happened).

Also you can't kill civilians.

Also there is no jumping mechanic so I could parachute down a cliff.

Nor a load mechanic (even something like resart from checkpoint would been nice).

And finally I am forced to play with 3 annoying AI's on solo, that teleport near me (even if I leave them somewhere else in the map) and they don't let me die, nor enjoy the fucking the game because they kill everything for me.
Such a fun and tacticool sandbox (to be fair co op is quite fun but it still doesn't compensate the price tag)

But I have to thank Ubi for the open beta, now I know where not to waste money.

 

[Silva]

DJOGamer PT , all true, but then you corroborate my own impressions that all those problems are (in thesis) fixable through updates, right ? There is no need for MGSV/Splinter Cell level accoustics or OPF/ARMA physics here. If they just iron out the AI and some basic physics like bullet drop/speed and vehicles handling it would be enough.

Except the "treasure hunt map" concept that is. I admit having to do some mental gymnastics for not having my immersion broken each time I open the map. As I said earlier, I'd rather have the "rpg nomenclature" getting a more military-appropriate coat of paint. MGSV is a good example of this done right IMO.

Possible that they can see them if you give the order to move to a position, but if they are just following you normally they don't see them.

Yeah could be. The times they were spotted for me were when I sent them ahead (I like to stay back on high ground).

 

[Gerrard]

If the AI teammates kill all enemies before you do you must be really shit at this game, they are useless most of the time.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

If the AI teammates kill all enemies before you do you must be really shit at this game, they are useless most of the time.

No.

In final stage of the second mission, you have to defend a radio transmission for about 1min30-50secs. Of the 5 cars full of enemies that appear from 2 different spots I only killed enoughto fill almost 2 cars. The other anoying pricks killed the rest.

If you get shoot in a outpust and are left almost to die, those 3 anoying pricks teleport to your location and kill every enemy around you and then revive you.

You can try out for yourshelf in the game.

 

[Gerrard]

Try doing the radio defense side mission that is in the second province, near the enemy training camp. You will weep at how useless your squad is.

 

[Alienman]

In single-player the game is kinda boring, but playing with a friend it is actually fun. Not exactly tactical, it's more Saint's Row fun. Some missions turn into pure chaos with everyone trying to kill each other, rebels vs gangster vs unidad.

 

[Icewater]

I watch a ten minute gameplay video to inform my decision of picking either this or For Honor for the 1070 promo and man this game looks like dogshit.

 

[CreamyBlood]

What difficulty were you playing on? I'm playing on Advanced and you die in 3 hits, there's no way to "Rambo everyone" unless "everyone" is like 6 people max. Unless maybe they are all just shooting me and if you're playing with 3 other people it's more spread out so you don't get hit so fast, but then again there's one more difficulty above that.
...
Like I said, it's popamole. I wouldn't pay 60 bucks for it though.

We were playing on whatever 'default' was on the closed beta. This weekend they played and cranked up the difficulty one notch. I showed up drunk and I guess without explaining any details, still thought it was shit, but I was hammered so maybe my thoughts don't matter. The other players said they were getting one-shotted or two and it was harder. The 'rambo' effect wasn't working as well for them.

I come from an Arma backround or old RS6 and really loved Vice City and even most of San Andreas. This, I don't know what it is, even playing with friends it sucks.

Then we got into an argument with an idealistic moderate liberal in TS so it turned out to be fun night after all.

Nobody was bothering to continue playing the FREE open beta on Sunday for some reason. Glad I didn't pre-order (like I've ever pre-ordered anything in my life) and I'm not going to hold my buddy to buying it for me because I don't care about this game, at all. Opinions, as usual, may differ.

 

[typical user]

The biggest problem this game has is the lack of macro play of any sort. Wildlands is basically Jagged Alliance 2 clone so if it would borrow training rebels and securing cities for operation funding it would actually make sense to explore the world. Right know the only reason you have is because every weapon is locked behind Ubisoft collectibles wall.

Other issue I had was lack of optimazation. If I have vsync on then I get 25-35 fps if I turn it off I get 45-60 but with screen-tearing. Most options don't affect performance unless it is connected to draw distance.

AI is dead, enemies don't care for NPC squad-mates, they can't see you past 100 meters and if they do then you still can go prone and they will act completely oblivious. If I saw someone I would immediately raise low-grade alarm, shout, put weapon on stand-by and invastigate. Enemies in this game can see you but if you dissappear before detection bar gets full will ignore your presence. Bodies tend to despawn so the game gets even more unrealistic.

This game could use actual tanks requiring to use mortars or LAWs like in JA2 to take down and have more detailed equipment management like tools for drone and vehicle repairs, medpacks for healing squadmates and removing debuffs, grenades, gasmasks, termo-goggles and such instead of convenient ammo boxes refilling all your supplies. Just so you have to buy stuff from black market and get money from shady missions and taking back cities and gaining rebel support.

Just driving from place to place and playing popamole won't be enough to warrant success even with excellent graphics and attention to little details like animations, different firing modes or envioremental destruction which made good impression on me.

If Ubisoft would've made TPP JA2 rip-off with dumb enemies, their stupid collectibles and braindead stories then I wouldn't mind. But shooting stuff and marking supplies gets boring fast, no?

 

[anus_pounder]

Wildlands is living up to everything I thought about it. This is indeed one of the finest gaming experiences I've ever had. I'm unfortunately unable to say it's my game of 2017, because I've just seen and pre-ordered Shadow of War.

ALL FATHER UBI! FORGIVE ME FOR MY MORTAL WEAKNESS!

 

[Silva]

Got the full version. It's good if you approach it as a tac-shooter limiting HUD and going stealth as much as possible. It just seems as it will get repetitive fast. I give it a solid 8/10 right now. Hope Ubi keep improving it through patches, as it has potential to be much better.

Wildlands is living up to everything I thought about it. This is indeed one of the finest gaming experiences I've ever had. I'm unfortunately unable to say it's my game of 2017, because I've just seen and pre-ordered Shadow of War.

ALL FATHER UBI! FORGIVE ME FOR MY MORTAL WEAKNESS!

 

[Gerrard]

Have they actually improved anything since the """beta""" or is the million pieces of DLC (in a full price game) the only thing that was added?

 

[typical user]

Have they actually improved anything since the """beta""" or is the million pieces of DLC (in a full price game) the only thing that was added?

You have more backpack stripes or clothes unlocks after boss takedowns.