• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    209
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Ubisoft does the Ubisoft thing - nothing new under the sun.

    Refund, refund, refund. The only single thing they will ever care about is the $.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    182 years ago

    Hardly anyone is streaming it. It’s the same cringy dialogue with the same boring game as its predecessors. I haven’t seen anything in any of the streams that would change my mind.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    832 years ago

    The sad part is that tomorrow they could release “Assasins Creed: Reflection”. And people would make the exact same mistake all over.

    You know Ubisoft has a shit reputation. You know Bethesda is famous for broken, buggy, glitchy games. You know Blizzard Activision isn’t the same as old Blizzard. Don’t you guys have phones?

    I didn’t buy this game. I didn’t buy Starfield, and I didn’t buy Diablo IV.

    Anyone not blinded by hype could see this coming to all those games from a paid pre-alpha deluxe collectors gold season battle pass track booster mile away.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        7
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Origins was first AC game I played. 3 months after completing origins, which had bored me to death, I tried my hand at Odessey. The gameplay was exactly same. It felt like I was playing the same game again. Exact same mechanics and combat style. Uninstalled within half an hour.

        Then I tried Unity and Syndicate, because people praise them so much. And I realised that Ubisoft has been remaking the same game over and over for more than a decade now. They just change the setting and rehash everything. The animations in Unity look exactly same as Odessey.

        I had the same fear when I picked up Miles Morales, that it would feel the same as previous Spidey game. But they quickly introduced a few new mechanics which made the game feel ever so slightly different.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          62 years ago

          It was OK when the games were a bit smaller (and also makes more sense when played in the right order).

          Going from 1 to 2 was a huge improvement, as 1 felt more like a tech demo. Then they added two more 2’s, and frankly they were the exact same.

          3 was a bit shit, and lost the city charm. It doesn’t really work in the countryside.

          Black Flag was massively popular at the time, because the pirate ship stuff was cool, and it also featured the least amount of Assassin’s Creed gameplay. I think the more recent games still haven’t matched that feel with any of the ship gameplay.

          Unity shoehorned in multiplayer, and managed to annoy both single player fans (who don’t want multiplayer) and multiplayer fans (because there’s like 4 missions you can do in co-op).

          I didn’t play Syndicate because I was bored to fucking death of AC by this point.

          Origins tried turning it into a massive RPG, with levels and choices that don’t really do anything, and stopped assassinations from actually being a guaranteed kill if your stats weren’t high enough.

          Odyssey did more of the same, added the boat back in, and made the whole game ridiculously big. Like, there’s good stuff in there (the Minotaur tourist trap is a favourite, along with some of the fantasy elements), but you’ve genuinely seen most of the gameplay the game has to offer before you’ve even got off Tutorial Island. It doesn’t even really get harder. There’s just more of it. It was in serious need of an editor to bring it down to about a third of the size.

          I’m still so burnt out on finishing that like 3 years ago, that I’ve not played Valhalla either.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            12 years ago

            I’m kind of the opposite side of the spectrum for at least some parts. If anything, I’ve been wishing the games would go back to the old formula. I felt like as the games progressed, they added just enough to keep me interested, and I liked the story. Black Flag was really great, despite the fact that it had less traditional AC game play in it. But I did like it when it was there, and the ship stuff was cool.

            Then came Oddysee, which, I liked, but kind of wish it had more AC stuff. Played a decent bit of Odysee, but didn’t ever get around to finishing it.

            When they said they were going back to their roots, I thought that sounded awesome, but for obvious reasons was a bit hesitant to get excited.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            12 years ago

            3 was great in the forest and old timely cities/towns

            It also had better ship combat than 4

            But like you said; it shouldn’t have been in the IP

            I think Odyssey has comparable ship combat to 4

            I tried Valhalla (on console so I pirated it) but I have no idea how long the game is. At the start of the game you’re told to wait “there” so I left the console on for an hour and it was still just waiting. Haven’t touched it since

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          2
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          Odyssey had a lot of QOL fixes over Origin

          Miles Morales,

          That’s funny because I hated everything they changed. If I’m playing a Spider-Man game why would I want to have a super punch (and metre to fill it)? And they showed that in the teaser for the next game so I feel they didn’t learn any lessons about spider man being spider man

    • Final Remix
      link
      fedilink
      English
      26
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Or, just don’t play UbiSoft or EA games. SEGA sometimes removes Denuvo after a time, so they’re sometimes good ib a waiting list.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      192 years ago

      Yeah, at least if they’re not free-to-play. Publishers have shown time and time again that you can NOT trust them with your money. Only pay for something if you know exactly what you’re getting.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      192 years ago

      Patient gamer all the way! I recently played dying light 2. Fun game but a year after release and it’s still buggy as hell.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        52 years ago

        One reason I’m glad to be a pretty broke parent gamer. I can only afford to spend money on games a couple times a year at best so I have to be really patient and picky about what I do decide to buy. I end up having no choice but to wait a year or more to pick up any games I’m excited about.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12 years ago

          I’m happy paying for psplus and enjoying the free monthly games and whatever games get uploaded there. Aside from that, my city has a great library with a huge selection of games you can borrow for 3-6 weeks at a time, plenty of time to finish them.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        12 years ago

        I quite liked DL 1, but reading the reviews made me stay away from 2. It’s not even about the bugs, but apparently the game is just meh.

        Maybe I’ll get it in 5 years when it’s 10$. Maybe.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        92 years ago

        I started Fallout New Vegas last month. It’s pretty neat so far, glad I finally got to it after … holy hell, it’s been THAT long!!!

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          42 years ago

          FNV is amazing. I’ve gotten all the achievements on Xbox and I recently finished another playthrough on my Steam Deck. Absolutely amazing game

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      102 years ago

      I play Factorio, it was more stable at 0.8 alpha than the average €/$ 60 AAA game at release.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      162 years ago

      I’m a patient gamer so I don’t normally preorder, but I made an exception with CyberPunk as a tribute for paying $5 for Witcher 3 (which was my first game of the series, I went in blind and I couldn’t believe how good it was).

      I wasn’t even mad with the shitshow but I decided wasn’t going to play the game in that state.

      Fast forward a few years, the game runs almost 3 times as fast (went from 25 to 70 fps on my computer) and they fixed a lot of problems people were complaining about for the DLC release. Now it’s ripe.

      Patient games keep being right

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        22 years ago

        I pre-ordered Elden Ring for a slight discount off of the launch price. No regerts whatsoever about that one. Best game of the 21st Century.

        But yeah usually I get games well after launch on sale. Starfield looks cool but they can eat a $70 bag of dicks before I pay that much.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        22 years ago

        It’s because people weren’t patient that they were able to fix it

        But it still isn’t the game they marketed it as

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        4
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Pretty much the same story here. Finally playing it now, and I can barely put it down. It’s story is nearly as good as W3, and my car doesn’t even take random hard lefts off the road for no reason whatsoever in this one. Actually, gameplay is a massive step up in general.

        • TheSaneWriter
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12 years ago

          I'm glad to hear the game's gotten much better! I purchased the game on sale but have left it sitting in my Steam library for a little while, knowing that it is playing much better means I'll move it higher on my playlist.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            2
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            Well, I meant a step up from the overall quality of Witcher 3. But, it is really smooth and solid combat with a real variety of styles/builds. I’m digging katana/guns/mantis blades/sandi. And I know the 2.0 skill revamp made a huge and smart impact on the gameplay.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      72 years ago

      The only game I’ve ever preordered is Animal Crossing New Horizons. I knew it wasn’t gonna be horseshit on release lmao. I wait until games are on sale and have been out for a while. My friends keep harassing me to buy Baldurs Gate and I’m not doing that until it has all dlc released and is on sale lol

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        12 years ago

        Play Divinity 2 with your friend

        Then go into DM mode to run a DND campaign or into the SDK to build your own levels/quests

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        62 years ago

        I’m the same way but I bought bg3 because of how not asshole they are. It’s a great game and honestly worth the money. This is the first game I’ve bought at full price since games came on cartridges.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          22 years ago

          My thing is that I wanna wait until Larian comes out with all content for it. I don’t wanna get the game and immediately have to replay it because dlc came out. I’ve done that with games before and replaying just for dlc made the game feel like a chore. I’ve waited since the announce of cyberpunk’s expansion to even consider finishing the game. I plan on playing that one once I get myself a steamdeck later this year. My gaming computer became a total turd since 2020 lol.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            12 years ago

            I get that, but that game is so big, you’re going to want to play over regardless. You’ll probably start over anyways after at least 40 hours of game play. The game is really insane on how much there is and how much every choice you make matters. You could play this game for the rest of your life and I don’t think you’d have the same game twice.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      34
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Denuvo is always online DRM software, that usually results in performance issues (reduced frame rate, increased latency, stuttering, etc.).

      In this case it appears Ubisoft avoided tried to skirt the potential bad press from performance issues by delaying the inclusion of denuvo until after people had bought the game/early reviews came out.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        12 years ago

        Are there any publishers that aren’t actively trying to sabotage their own userbase? Activision? Ubisoft? Blizzard? EA? Even Valve now going to town on shitty microtransactions and deleting CS:GO?

    • amio
      link
      fedilink
      9
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Denuvo bad.

      In the (vain) quest to make people stop pirating, it goes so far (admittedly also comes the closest to “working”) that it starts causing significant side effects. It’s also apparently always online, which is a historical pet peeve for a lot of people: it doesn’t add any value to the game, but it does add a buttload of possible extra ways for the game to crash or become unavailable. With no benefit to you, the player, and not much you can do about it, other than playing the games of someone who’s not quite as much of a dick.

    • InEnduringGrowStrong
      link
      fedilink
      English
      762 years ago

      Denuvo is like having to call your helicopter mom every other minute to make sure you still have the right to play.
      If the call fails, or she doesn’t pickup, or if you can’t call for any reason (maybe your in the woods and have no service) you’re instantly teleported into a dark room and all your toys are gone because everyone assumes you’re a criminal now.

    • TheOneCurly
      link
      fedilink
      English
      852 years ago

      Denuvo is a very complex anti piracy system for games that is pretty controversial. There’s a lot of evidence that it affects performance and it forces games that wouldn’t otherwise need Internet to be activated online regularly.

      It’s the kind of thing that a reviewer would mention and that some people would use in their buying decisions. Sneaking it in after launch is going to make some people pretty mad and I’d feel used as a reviewer.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      202 years ago

      I guess they did it since Denuvo is generally known to cause performance issues in games.

      So, reviewers gave scores on the denuvo-less game, which would have better performance, thus better scores, then they patched denuvo into it, so that they will get their drm and any performance drops will not play a role in any low scores.

      But I can’t understand why reviewers can’t update their review… maybe it’s expensive for major reviewers?

      • gila
        link
        fedilink
        English
        102 years ago

        I’m sure some will, the result will still be as intended though: a higher Metacritic score

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1292 years ago

    I think anyone who reviewed it should publish a secondary videos explaining this.

    This seems like it’s legitimately false advertising

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        182 years ago

        Denuvo has an impact on performance for many games, so they artificially inflated the performance, and some people don’t buy games with Denuvo on principle, many reviewers will note that in their video.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              02 years ago

              Imagine being so dumb you think that correctly pointing out when something isn’t false advertising is “corporate shilling” 😂

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                22 years ago

                You’re arguing over semantics. Legally it’s not false advertising but it effectively is. You’re both talking past each other but only one of you is being stubborn for the sake of it. I’d have little patience for you too.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        352 years ago

        None of the reviewers experienced the game with Denuvo. Reviews are a form of advertisement (good or bad)

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12 years ago

          That’s not how it works. Someone else reviewing your product isn’t advertising by you.

          • Riskable
            link
            fedilink
            English
            12 years ago

            Actually this guy is correct: What Ubisoft is doing here isn’t false advertising, it’s fraud.

            False advertising is a very specific thing: You say something that isn’t true in an ad or as part of your product’s packaging. Like saying your product has a USB C port when in reality it has a Micro USB port and comes with an adapter. Companies that pull stunts like that rarely have legal consequences but technically it is against the law (why there’s not usually legal consequences is because most retailers will refund a product within 30 days without any penalty to the consumer).

            Ubisoft is giving reviewers a different product than what they’re planning on giving to consumers. It’s like going to a car dealership, test driving a car, ordering that model, then when it finally arrives it’s a completely different car (e.g. smaller engine, different/weaker/flawed parts, etc). Case law is filled to the brim with scams like this. It’s one of the oldest and most widely-repeated types of fraud that’s ever existed: Bait and switch.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            6
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            The point is, the reviews represent a game that’s not the one being sold. Additionally, it’s reasonable to believe this was done on purpose. This should be simple to understand ?

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              02 years ago

              You know what’s simple to understand? False advertising. They’re not advertising the game as “no Denuvo!!” and then putting in denuvo. A completely independent company doing a review isn’t the publisher doing advertising.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                3
                edit-2
                2 years ago

                Of course it is.
                Them sending a copy of a game in the hopes the media outlet will write a favourable review is marketing 101.
                It’s practically free marketing, so it’s the best kind even.

                If the review came after launch from a purchased copy, then your argument would have had a leg to stand on mate.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  12 years ago

                  False Advertising has a definition, and that ain’t it. Someone else doing “free advertising” for them isn’t false advertising by them.

                  This isn’t rocket science. They’re not doing any advertising saying it has no denuvo.

          • sivalente
            link
            fedilink
            English
            212 years ago

            Providing a deceitful product for your reviewers before publication is kinda exactly that.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    17
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    It’s Ubisoft, who would be surprised? Pirates get a better experience than paying customers and it’s been that way for over a decade

  • gila
    link
    fedilink
    English
    3322 years ago

    Wait, but they already launched it without Denuvo. So pirates can easily crack the launch version without it, and only paying customers need to deal with the antipiracy bullshit? Nice, they took a pro-piracy hyperbole and made it actually real.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      142 years ago

      Reviewers get games prior to release day. So it may not be so likely that you can get a working game without the day 1 patch.

    • circuitfarmer
      link
      fedilink
      English
      362 years ago

      That’s the thing: paying consumers always pay the price for DRM by having to jump through any hoops.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      192 years ago

      Sounds like they added it after the review embargo ended but before the game releases to the public.

      • gila
        link
        fedilink
        English
        82 years ago

        You’re right, according to Ubi the update on PC was ‘included in the 41.6 GB game files ahead of Oct 5’. It was a prerelease patch, not day 1.

        Nice of Epic to start directly exploiting the lack of PC physical media around the same time people are talking about getting rid of disc drives on consoles.

          • gila
            link
            fedilink
            English
            1
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            I think the primary method of PC sales for this game is on the Epic Game Store. Yeah I neglected to consider it’s also available from Ubisoft+ or whatever but also does anyone actually use that

            Epic Game Store also doesn’t have any preloading, meaning they had all the opportunity to deploy Denuvo pre-launch but post-embargo without having preloads as a loose end.

    • Veraxus
      link
      fedilink
      2382 years ago

      DRM ONLY ever affects paying customers, ergo DRM is always unethical malware.

      Also, let’s never forget how Ghostwire Tokyo had Denuvo patched IN over a year after release.

      • gila
        link
        fedilink
        English
        72 years ago

        Eh, I only meant hyperbole in terms of antipiracy affecting the pirates that had to figure out how to crack it. As a broad gesture at the fact piracy (consumption) depends on piracy (effort) to work

    • Julian
      link
      fedilink
      English
      832 years ago

      I’m thinking this too… like what’s even the point of using denuvo if it’s not applied day one? The whole point is to delay piracy so they sell more copies during launch week (in theory), so waiting until after day one completely ruins that since you can just pirate the easily cracked launch version.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          32 years ago

          Doesn’t this make it easier to crack the denuvo as well though? Since now you have a list of changes to look at for where denuvo is implemented.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            5
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            I mean, decompiling an obfuscated binary down to each individual CPU instruction is pretty nuts to compare two separate releases, even at that level, denuvo can be injected into game assets everywhere, so it gets hard to tell what’s an actual patch and what’s denuvo. I’m guessing it’s sort of on purpose, by combining legitimate updates with denuvo, it’s harder to tell what’s denuvo. If denuvo was included in version 1, it would be easier to tell what was a legit update in the patch, and rule out those pieces of the install being denuvo. But that’s all sort of the whole point of denuvo is that it’s all over the codebase, all over the binaries, the assets, the libraries. It’s hard to nail down every spot it exists

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        82 years ago

        It’s not a day one patch, but day-1 patch. The game will be released a few hours from now.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12 years ago

          If non DRM version is given to reviewers, it will leak to crackers, unless you control 100% of reviewers you give a copy. This does not make any sense.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    452 years ago

    Well, they’ve accidentally made a really easy workaround, then. Just download the day one depot and you can play without Denuvo.

    • FoundTheVegan
      cake
      link
      fedilink
      352 years ago

      True, but will also prevent you from getting any other updates or bug fixes. This is such a scummy action for Ubi to do, I wouldn’t it put it past em to pair this with some sort of game bricking… “glitch” that needs a patch.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    222 years ago

    I… but… that… that isn’t how this works…

    You’re putting the cat outside after it already ate the canary.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    222 years ago

    It was the same with lies of P… I think it’s becoming a trend and someone needs to stop it, it’s false advertising. None of the reviews are credible, they’re not reviewing the same game

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      12 years ago

      Nah, they don’t need to stop this at all. This basically lets people pirate games all they want so long as the devs don’t intentionally throw in a game breaking bug on the review version.

  • Neshura
    link
    fedilink
    English
    422 years ago

    On another note this will make for an easy comparison of Denuvo ridden game vs Denuvo removed. The Day 1 Patch bringing some Fixes and Performance gains would muddy the results a bit but I think it’s still a good idea to have a test like that. If the rumors/speculation about Denuvos performance impact are true I doubt even a Day 1 Patch would manage to balance out the performance difference.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      342 years ago

      That’s the thing though - they deliberately made the product crappier after people already bought it.

      Think this applies if Denuvo is included from the beginning, but it wasn’t here

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        22 years ago

        Only dummies buy games before they’re available to the public. I thought this has been known since Watch Dogs (another Ubisoft game lmao).

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        192 years ago

        Lesson is to make steps being even more patient and play backlogs and opt for older titles that are cheaper. Doesn’t even have to be super old. Could be just within a year. Very few games these days that are an absolute much play the moment it drops. Haven’t actually come across any of that caliber past decade, but maybe I’m too patient.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          62 years ago

          I’ve heard that Baldur’s Gate 3 was a massively successful launchday title, though it’s not my cup of coffee.

          There are still good games around, just unfortunately not the majority of them

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            72 years ago

            There were still a lot of bugs that they are still patching. But even on day 1 baldur’s gate 3 was amazing.

          • Neshura
            link
            fedilink
            English
            32 years ago

            Baldur’s Gate 3 also was in Early Access for a few years so people had plenty of independent experiences to base their opinion on. The release content was more, true, but there were a lot of known factors.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    94
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    If Denuvo’s claim that their DRM has no negative performance impact were true, then why Ubisoft pull this shenanigan (adding Denuvo DRM just hours before release)? Ubisoft must’ve know their game run better without Denuvo so they want the reviewers to play the drmless version.

    • icedterminal
      link
      fedilink
      English
      312 years ago

      Everyone knows Denuvo’s statement isn’t true. There are hundreds of games with Denuvo that have improved performance after being cracked, compared to the legitimately owned version. This conversation pops up all the time. It’s quite funny when pirated games have a better experience. At least until Denuvo is removed to cut cost (it’s a subscription).

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    30
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Well I know what game I’m not buying. This should just fuel the pirate ships I’d think.