anime profile picture = no rights to use chat + ratio + get a life + touch grass + stop being pedo + get a job+ stop bein dissapointing to everoyne + grow up + ratio + cope
I worked at Ubisoft for 6 years. They've somehow figured out how to turn a creative industry, into feeling like you're working in a factory. Just like this guy says, we did the same things, over, and over again. It was great for coming to work, shutting my brain off, and drilling a hole in the sheet of metal that came down the conveyor belt. But it murdered my love for game development, so I bounced.
"somehow" = going public kills innovation, quality, and joy. That was inevitable and planned as soon as they took all those mountains of cash. Sad that your talent went unappreciated and underutilized. It sounds like art school. May I ask what you did there?
@@TigerGreene I worked with the art teams for a couple of their brands.. The company did appreciate some of their employees, but that mostly came down to raw skill, and politics. This sort of thing you'll find anywhere. I'm not sure I agree with what you say by going public kills innovation etc... I've worked at other companies where this happened and things continued as usual. But this is agreed upon before any sort of acquisition/merger or any other parties becoming involved. The sense of idea creation at Ubisoft was one birthed from fear, always. On one hand, it was understandable. The bigger you are, the harder you can fall. They had no make conservative decisions. On the other hand, the things I saw go down there, when it came to game ideas, had a lot going against it. Fear, placing prepubescent children at the head of dev teams, immense ego, pride, lack of industry experience, idea isolation (many had never worked anywhere other than Ubisoft and understood nothing about games that were made by other companies), did I mention fear? There were a lot of people who loved it there. But in all, they were mostly new to the industry. They were mostly just happy to brag to their high school friends that they're working for Ubisoft and couldn't care less about striving for great game development.. A lot of their games suffer as a result with poor quality everything being greenlit.
@@zipzorp8858 wait, they placed children at the helm of dev teams? Like young, inexperienced adults, or like literal (executives’) children in positions of decision making?
@@24fretsoffury Well they didn't hire any actual children. Though they did have kids come in to playtest our games. They weren't employees though. Just free labor with "bragging to your friends you got to play a Ubi game before release" as payment.
As a former Ubisoft designer, you nailed the point on several things. But there is a reason why Ubisoft's games have this kind of same taste over different titles, but also different brands. The structure is quite similare to EA. They have an editorial team overseeing every game and bending the design to the creative direction of the whole company. The guy leading the studio-wide design direction used to be Serge Hascoet, who got kicked out of the company for horrible things. But that's not the point here. Even if you have 90% of your team, eager for innovation. The core team (directors) have to directly report to the editorial team. They are the gatekeeper of content. So if you make a design pitch and it doesn't fit the "vision" of the studio, it will be shut down. Designers are forced to work along the line of so many bad features (think of climbing a tower or the Quest Icon formula). As long as Ubisoft keeps forcing this structure upon developers, NOTHING will change. No wonder that Ubisoft Montreal (Who are leading the AC and FC teams, since they made the most successful titles of each brand) is experiencing a massive exodus of developers.
@@SalamiKing7 Well, the biggest shift that happened there was the firing of Serge. But apparently he has been replaced by someone similar. The future is bleak for Ubisoft games. The only thing that may offer change is that the Brand Director of FarCry and key directors of AC have left the company. Maybe that will prompt a change in those brands, but I doubt it. The good side is how many people left the company and either founded (or joined) new studios around Ubisoft studios. You can look at new studios like Cloud Chamber, YellowBrick studio, Haven etc. Or already existing studios that have massive growth (EA Motive, Eidos, Compulsion). Just keep in mind that A LOT of talented devs at ubisoft grew angry and unsatisfied that the editorial were greedy and unable to innovate . Everyone at Ubisoft are passionate gamers unable to express themselves creatively. When I was working on a project, EVERYONE hated microtransactions, but Paris wanted them. What Paris wants, goes in the game.
Also, one thing that I've noticed in the studios that I've been in, is that once the marketing team is also invited in game design meetings, the game will turn into a generic bland game. Every.time. That's what happened to Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard. They don't care about the games, their job is to maximize revenue, but devs can't do anything about it.
I hope I've made some fans understand that shitting on devs isn't really productive. A rower in a ship has little power when the captain is repeatedly steering the ship toward the same plain, uneventful and boring lake.
Growing up, Ubisoft was one of my favorite developers. There was so much variety in their catalog. But their current day adherence to the same bland open world live service formula (which many other companies have also adopted) has replaced my enthusiasm with cynicism. I have no interest in another continent of bland side content to sleepwalk through.
Another game that I feel yhat has been kinda affected by the DLC problem is Payday 2. Now hear me out, the initial story and overall is amazing, and the main dev did a good job connecting each Heist DLC with each other to create the whole Niphilim story and the good heist trailers, but the thing is... It's kinda boring! The lack of innovation was solved just by creating a new character or joining some AU like Miami Hotline, Scarface, or John Wick and a new heist, dialogues, and new map. A youtuber, Generalmcbadass, literally kept doing solo and group heists, with different difficulties and teammates. But the thing that made that interesting was his commentary. The game itself was rather undistinguishable. Alas, I can see that players like myself are getting hyped for the upcoming Payday 3. I really hope they move on from the main story, perhaps they will develop it to be a prequel for thr Payday series, or a sequel idk.
I wanna say something about Science and Atheism on YT, if i may. Ever noticed how Science-RU-vidrs and Atheist-RU-vidrs are basically 'blood-related'? They even all cover Kent Hovind and such people; which aint a Coincidence. The Fanbases don't overlap enough though. Professor Dave pointed out in his video about the Discovery Institute: Some right-now literally fight for a Reverse of the Seperation-of-Church-and-State, which would be devastating. Telltale says to that: We need more Science-Enthusiasts and Atheists in-Office (he even provides infos how to run for Office). The fanbases not overlapping enogh is 1 thing, but people not quite realizing just how widespread and actually-intentional Science-Denial really is, as Professor Dave and Telltale recently expertedly explained, is 1 bigger thing.
It's always the case that innovation dies when developers are replaced by managers and people more concerned with forms and approval than making a good product
I wish more people understood how game development works. These money hungry decisions are usually made by the Publisher, not the developer. Publishers finance the development team for the game, and since they are being paid by the publisher, developers have very little say in the final product or general gameplay, artstyle, quality, etc. Most devs WANT to make quality games, with innovative ideas, but it’s ultimately the publisher that limits development time, and quotas. Most publishers want as little investment as possible, with the greatest return on investment. Don’t blame the developers.
What I'm most mad about Ubisoft is that when Rayman turned 25 they didnt remember it in any way. Rayman is probably the biggest reason Ubisoft is what it is today and they did NOTHING for the character to celebrate the occasion
They wiped their filthy rich asses with Ancel Michel and kicked Rayman off a cliff then pissed on his corpse. Rayman put them on the map. Ubisoft is a bunch of greedy ingrates.
When he said "remember when you worked for the gear you get in a video game instead of just paying for it" i immediatly thought of an argument i had with a freind where he justified microtransactions and the steam community market by saying "its cool when you see that one guy with an expensive skin" basically saying he liked gambling and rarity by price.
Ftfy - Minimum effort. Maximum perceived profitably. Ubisoft. No where near a real max profitability of a quality game. They making hills of money instead of mountain ranges.
You know what the definition of insanity is? It's doing same shit over and over again expect shit to change Man this quote lived in my head rent free for so long it's mad
They gave birth and killed Far Cry, Assassin's Creed and For Honor for me. Three games I loved were murdered and now they continue to r*pe their corpses over and over.
Some of the best content in gaming right now man, great work. If you’ve ever played titanfall, especially titanfall 2, I’d love a video with your take on the game. It’s still one of the most fun and well designed shooters I’ve ever played
From the beginning Assassin's creed was supposed to be a trilogy and that's it. 1 was in the 11th century and introduced desmond and his bloodline of assassins. 2 was set in the 15th century and we saw Desmond on his own, learning the ropes of being a modern assassin. 3 was supposed to take place in the 21st century and be Desmond's game where he put all his skills gained from his ancestors to use in a modern setting and finally take down abstergo and the modern templars who ruled the world. Unfortunately Assassin's creed 2 was one of the most popular games of the decade and the rest of the storyline was completely scrapped and the series became a never ending cash cow that has almost nothing to do with the original storyline. Sufficed to say i was pissed when i heard Assassin's creed 3 was basically a minor update of 2 and so have all the games been since.
I wouldn't say unfortunately. The Ezio Trilogy as a whole is a masterpiece, AC3 while a bit rougher story-wise still had great gameplay (and trees free-running which was mindblowing). Black Flag also was an excellent game, even if it was more of a Pirates of the Caribbean game Disney never made. Was only after Unity things started to go wrong and with Origins the series fate was sealed.
@@MollymaukT 100% agree with you. It was a slow decline in narrative quality since Ezio's trilogy, but at least every game before Origins could claim they still had their roots in assassin's creed. (Except Syndicate maybe, idk. fun game tho)
@@austinsharpe8157 Syndicate is way better than people give it credit for. But it underperformed hard cause people still had the bad taste in their mouth from Unity
im sorry but all i see is blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah
the closing point in this video hit the nail on the head for me, even games like Cyberpunk 2077 these days : a game about corporate scumbags destroying the world, was ruined by its early release and corporate scumbags... the industry is much bigger than it was a few decades ago, and quality control appears to have dropped head first off a cliff
@@kwayke9 It wasnt too weak, game runs stable 30 fps now on old gen. And it could run even better if they would downgrade it a little, graphics wise it would not be noticeable. I tweaked the game radically, on my old gtx1060 to achieve 60fps and it still looked suprisingly good.
I had this same shit ass feeling for years and now someone has finally put it into words. Thank you. It became so bad that I can tell when a game has Ubisoft vibes and it turns out to be a Ubisoft game.
took you long enough lol. I couldn't finish a single far cry or AC game, only FC3 managed to keep my interest but only until I killed Vaas, after that I never launched this game again, didn't feel like it was worth my time. The only ubisoft game released after 2013 that I played to the end and enjoyed is Valiant Hearts, damn masterpiece
Well luckily for ubisoft a new gamer is born everyday so they can just continue making far cry and ass creed games for the foreseeable future and continue raking in the money doing so.
An excellent point was brought up towards the end: half of Ubisoft's income is from MTX. We often see mass complaints about the AAA industry shifting towards releasing unfinished games that are plagued with microtransactions, but that is primarily due to the consumers showing AAA publishers that this is what a large enough part of the population wants through their spending habits. NFTs are a prime example that the consumer base does have the power to push companies into shifting away from nefarious tactics in video games. However, the community at large is so divided on the topic that I don't foresee anything changing over the next decade.
One thing that does tend to get lost in the story of Ubisoft is the hostile takeover bid that they had to fight off from 2015-2018. Those 3 years coincidentally mark the beginning of the downfall and microtransaction "innovation". I suspect that Yves main objective was to keep his company for his family AND as a result they needed as much cash on hand to buy back their stock in order to prevent Vivendi (the company that owns Universal... yes _that_ Universal) from buying their company. A CEO desperate for cash will sanction crazy stuff that they otherwise might not have. I bet Yves saw microtransactions as the "holy grail" to his cashflow problem.... and then the cancer spread. In any case - the worst part about Yves fighting off the hostile take over attempt by Vivendi is that he had to make a deal with one of the worst perpetuators of microtransactions out there.... Tencent. This battle that was under reported by RU-vid gamers actually played a big role in why Ubisoft is the way they are. I think we saw a convergence of several bad practices all at once. The saddest part? Go look at Valhalla's player numbers on steam. Ubisoft won't be changing their "formula" anytime soon. P.S. I strongly suspect the reason Splinter Cell was shelfed for so long was due to Ubisoft being uncertain how to monetize it.
Some context because some people are going to take this the wrong way. Tencent owns 5% of Ubisoft. This is barely enough to have any considerable sway in the business of the company.
The player count of Valhalla deeply saddens me. I remember playing the game as an OG assassins creed fan, dropping it after 4 hours, thinking “this is the lamest most bland and uninspired Ubisoft game I’ve ever played” and seeing news articles about it being one of the best selling Ubisoft games of all time and just being depressed with the state of gaming.
When you think about the issue with Ubisoft on the whole, it's kind of sad. Ubisoft used to be titans of innovation & then gradually over the course of the past decade have bastardised everything their games used to mean just to chase a bottom line. At the same time, the entire situation is also very funny. Can you imagine the conversations that have gone on behind closed doors that lead to the absolute drivel they pump out? The amount of good ideas that get shut down for the sake of turning their games into digital storefronts? The corruption of a franchise's integrity to the point where it releases ridiculous superficial nonsense? Come to think of it, when you factor in the disrespect for players' wallets, the misconduct allegations that have come out over the past 2 years, and the complete failure to innovate Ubisoft existing in 2022 is like a real life satirical piece on corporate greed & inhumanity. For me, the tragedy is if the business methods of Ubisoft work, which unfortunately they do, other companies will sooner or later follow suit and kill the games industry entirely. Ubisoft aren't the only ones doing it, but before long the companies doing it will be the only ones still in the industry. Worst case scenario, I know. However, when you think about it, how far off is that reality really?
What's funny is, if they allowed the good ideas some of their developers are surely proposing, it'd make for a better experience for the players and we would, in turn, WANT to spend money in their fucking online stores. I can't see myself ever purchasing another AC title, certainly not at $60, so seeing some of these ridiculous shop items, and picturing ANYONE spending over $200 on their game, makes me literally laugh out loud.
Ubisoft has had to chase a bottom line because they've been dealing with an attempted hostile takeover for years. If you had Vivendi trying to buy their way into forcing you into selling your company, you'd do everything you could to make sure you were making money hand over fist to keep them away. If you're looking for someone to blame as to why Ubisoft have become cookie cutter, blame Vivendi.
Funniest thing to me is when they talk about being inclusive... yeah right. Didn't want choice in assassins creed, but got forced to have it. Then I figured, this sucks but atleast I can finally play as someone of my own demographic now I guess. (Gay man) Oh no wait, ubisoft will insist I "don't count" and that I wasted my time, because I was infact a womam all along. And that is what we call gatekeeping. It seems ubisoft only know how to swap victim, rather then solve a problem.
Ubisoft, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, CDPR, Dice, 343, Square Enix, Take Two Interactive, Devolver Digital, Bungie, Epic Games...all have produced hotdogwater consistently for almost five years now. the industry has been steadily declining ever since the glory days of sega vs nintendo. I think there is a massive socioeconomic issue with not just video games, but intellectual properties in general. if congress passed a bill that voided ip lawsuits, anyone on the planet would be free to create things like star wars products. star wars franchise would not be exclusive to $billion dollar disney$, spiderman would not be exclusive to marvel, etc...though disney & marvel could continue creating their content at the price of making less money
back in the day the crew 2 was my fav game. now that i've grown up a lil i realize how shit it is and i play the first game more than the second one now
I literally have had to stop playing Ubisoft games, along with quite a few different publishers but mainly Ubisoft, solely because I have an addictive personality and find that I get way too involved in microtransactions when I'm invested in a game. Like I understand it's about self-control but the current state of Ubisoft games are not healthy for people like me, and they don't care, publishers no longer care and haven't for a very long time.
My last AC was Odyssey, I own every last piece of content in that game as with every previous AC, but Valhalla is just too much, Odyssey costs you around 300$ to own everything but Valhalla's 700$ is just ridiculous, I'm not poor but it's just pushing it. In a way I'm glad that Ubisoft didn't release their recent games on Steam and went Epic exclusive because I only use Steam and it has saved me a lot of money.
Last Ubisoft single player game I bought was the original watch dogs, which looking back was only mediocre instead of terrible but it burned me enough that I put them on the naughty list with EA Last multiplayer was rainbow six but that's also years ago at this point.
I remember having so much fun playing Division 1. The Dark Zone was scary. I remember being hunted by a squad of rogues across the map. I remember looking behind us, seeing someone following us, calling it out, and positioning for a firefight. It was nerve-wracking. Division 2 came out and I was excited, but the split up DZs never had the same feel. Now I play Tarkov to scratch that itch. If AAA titles don't start to innovate, we'll see more BSGs or other new developers step in.
This is the first time I've ever heard of this channel and I'm already wondering why it took me so long to discover such a quality content producer. Two thumbs up from me.
The same way you felt about Valhala, I felt about Odyssey. I'm Greek, and it is a major part of my identity. I've waited since AC 1 for them to come to Greece. They had Greek Characters throughout the first 4 games that spoke in Greek, swore at you in Greek, and I knew it was only a matter of time before reaching Greece. I wasn't totally disspointed with Odyssey, but your complaints are valid. It was very mystical for a AC game.
Odyssey is definitely my favorite out of the origins,odyssey,Valhalla trilogy I loved walking around a 1:1 greece and it really made me interested in ancient greece and mythology. I had a blast playing odyssey but i did eventually get bored of the combat.
The best part of far cry 5 was the co op mode. I remember crying laughing with my friend purely because friendly fire was left on. Killing my friend in that game in as creative ways as possible was the best part. That and attacking civillians
I think we can all agree that game companies’ greed and laziness is getting old. Let’s hope teams like FromSoftware will inspire and lead others to innovate and be passionate about their works.
@@boboscus Definitely.But people like them because they put an incredible amount of work into the story and lore.The gameplay hasn’t changed much because there’s really nothing more they can do to improve it other than adding some small mechanics.
Assassin's Creed Unity is an interesting story. It was simultaneously the most ambitious game in the franchise, and the point at which Ubisoft's greed became a real issue. I was all about the direction Unity would take the series, it's why I bought a PS4. Unfortunately, Ubisoft forced it out before it was ready and the technical problems hurt an otherwise great game's reputation. This caused Ubisoft to overcorrect and now we can ride Pegasus and travel to Asgard. The parkour system was good and actually different enough from the original parkour system to feel next-gen. The city of Paris is the best map in the franchise and Unity still has the best visuals in the series almost 9 years later. If Ubisoft gave the developers the time they needed, this franchise would look a lot different (better) today.
26:07 The answer is shareholders. Ubisoft is a publicly traded company, as is EA and other utterly dissapointing Goliaths of the industry. When a game studio's shares become publicly traded their managerial focus strays very far from being quality and innovation focused, such is the nature of the stock market's everlasting endorsement of near-sighted upward economic growth
It makes sense and it is pretty logical. But apart from a lot of mistakes, Nintendo for example still is pretty much the same all these decades. The need for endorsement and the subsequent pace they need to follow it, doesn't need to go this way. Quality control is a matter of logistics.
This is such a wrong argument and got used extremely often. Shareholders want good stock prices and please check especially Ubisofts stock price. Shareholders want sustainable and we'll doing games. Games that get sold and games that will also be played, so that the player come back I'm a few years to buy new games. Unlike the new battlefield for example. You can also check the Activision price. Activision is in terms of numbers a very good company but the pricewas relatively low, due to a bad reputation in the industry for being greedy with Microtransactions, etc and bad games, which still got played.
@@leongerdes7860 >Shareholders want sustainable and we'll doing games Absolutely fucking wrong. shareholders want yearly releases of the same content with loot boxes, copy and paste, copy and paste. the moment the investment to a game is anything more then 2 years development gl with getting that trough in them modern triple aaa market. they want big line go up fast, you know why? because why invest in a line that moves slowly when i can get the same return many times faster? If i can invest in a company that has makes a quick growth i can make profit in a reasonable amount of time. so why take the risk of "sustainable" here when i can pump out shit games and just pump and dump the studio? Literally the stock market changes on a dime Elon musk will make a tweet about somethn minor and suddenly tesla loses stocks like crazy. what does it matter to me that its "sustainable" when i am just losing to cash out my stock anyways once it grows? why wait 5 years when i can do it in 1 year. the stock market is a fucking heroin addict mentality market is what it is. and the only people that are actually "sustainability" oriented are people like bill gates that actively run their company. people that are just mindlessly selling and buying stock have 0 investment in the company's future just their profit NOW. why do you think games try to fill you with microtransactions and quick short term creation plans from year to year? Because any time there is even any hint on not cashing out instantly the shareholders panic, they want the profit and they want it now.
@@leongerdes7860 No, it is not. Corporatization of the video gaming industry and particular bigger developers/publishers is the biggest driving force for the identical garbage that is churned out every 1-2 years. The pattern is the same, release the same hashed games by set release date (consistently incompete/unpolished and buggy) to maximize sales and hit quarterly goals by X date.
@@JackSather you're gonna keep blowing up, people will respect the high quality polished content and keep coming back. just keep it up man !! nothing but support from over here
I resonated so heavily with your rant on Assassin's Creed. My dream AC game would be one with polished Unity mechanics, combat similar to Ghost of Tsushima, less HUD (especially no big health bars on enemies and levels, damage counters etc), a proper story that follows the Desmond storyline and the Isu people, and maybe a setting like ancient Persia (bc the real order of assassins originated there before branching off to Syria), and minimal supernatural shit
@@johngalactus4014 fucking exactly. Ubisoft have proven that they’re capable of making good AC games, they did it for the first 4, so why the hell did they stop??
You want an AC setting in ancient Persia? That's literally Prince of Persia, where Ubisoft first started experimenting with a spinoff title that later became AC, and they trashed Prince of Persia all together because they couldn't decide on a game's direction. Ubisoft right now, is a cookie cutter company. You can't expect good games from them anymore, as long as they keep up their yearly "triple A" releases that are a copy-paste of a game they made 10 years ago, but with a different setting and story.
@@WeskerUmbrella4 A lot of people bitched on Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands back when it released in 2010, but I enjoyed my time with it. Ubisoft in the late 2000s - 2012ish still had variety in their games. Far Cry 2 is rough, but at the time when it released in 2008 it was a huge step up from the original Far Cry. There's no way Ubisoft would put that much effort and innovation into their games anymore. I think the ONLY reason Ubisoft took a break after Assassin's Creed Syndicate was because of the horrible reviews Unity received and the poor sales Syndicate got as a result. Origins I think is the ONLY modern era Assassin's Creed game that I felt that I enjoyed playing from start to finish. But Ubisoft has already gone off the deep end, starting with Odyssey and now with Valhalla. Present day storyline sucks and is a waste of time, it died when Desmond was killed off anyway. On the historical side it's not so much as being an Assassin as much as you are a mercenary or a crazed Viking who just slaughters a lot of innocent people, even though Ubisoft still tries to throw the 'de-sync warning' towards you when you kill unarmed civilians. Prince of Persia didn't do well enough in the sales department. That's why the series is completely dead. Rayman, can anyone here remember Rayman anymore? Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, that's another franchise Ubisoft dropped by the wayside. Ubisoft is fully focused on monetizing, to the point where they failed to mention Rayman at all during his anniversary because they can't come up with a way to monetize it. Watch Dogs, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, they're all the fucking same now. Even For Honor felt scummy after I played it for a while, which is a multiplayer game. Ubisoft is hot garbage.
Your content is always so engaging and it feels really authentic and funny. I've had a lot of the same pain points with ubisoft which is why I don't even take their releases seriously anymore for the same reasons mentioned. Hopefully they get it together.
Far Cry 4 was my first far cry, and I LOVED it. It wasnt until years later I realized a lot of people really don't like the game. And no matter how much I loved the campaign, the co-op, the stealth, the characters in the game, I 100 percent fully understand all the criticism and hate for it. Ubisoft just love to ruin everything thats great by putting out the same thing over and over.
Exactly, their games are all the same, but each of their games is _someone's_ first. Doesn't mean it isn't awful that they just create the same experience over and over again, it's just that there'll always be a new person whose not sick of it yet, and who is easier to please.
Far Cry 2 was mine. I've still never played Far Cry 1. But I just can't stand Ubisoft anymore. Everyone's gay, Trans, or a woman. Gay vikings. Female warriors and female vikings and Spartans. Its all a historical joke and never happened and isn't historically accurate. All they care about is "muh diversity and inclusion" despite the fact that most gamers hate that crap. The Spartans and vikings would have laughed at the idea and then sworded them in the gut. Trans revolutionaries like in Far Cry 6? Lmfao yeah right. That's a first world, post modern luxury and fiction that would disappear the second a country became war torn. Not to mention all their games have become cookie cutter and stale. I wish they just made games like they used to without all the sjw garbage that no one wants and tried innovating more rather than make the same damn game over and over with a different skin and more woke revisionism.
@Basically I'm Schlorping There's nothing wrong with 4, just as there's nothing really wrong with any of Ubisoft's games. They impart a feeling of ennui that is separate from the games themselves, a remarkable feat when you really think about it and something that other AAA video game companies are also starting to do unfortunately... Ubisoft's games truly feel like they're cranked out in a factory, sure they're decent, but they're soulless, uniform and mass produced/assembled. You can only experience the same thing with a different coat of paint or a new jigger so many times. But as my first post said, there's always someone new who hasn't seen/played Ubisoft games before. So they'll probably always persist in mediocrity with people saying "their games are great and people are too hard on them!" only for those same people in 10 years becoming the ones who say their games are soulless and all the same. :P
Same here, but imo even if fc5 was a reskin it somehow made things worse from fc4. Forgettable characters (except the main antagonist), silly and annoying missions and worst of all, a non existent progress curve, since your character is op from the very beginning. I ended up giving up on it
Goobisoft is so eroded, they created a character in rainbow six siege that is the embodiment of the fanbase criticism i.e generic kill everyone villain
The video was good overall but I was disappointed that there was no acknowledgement of the abusive environment that Ubisoft has fostered over the years. It ties in with why the games are of such a repetitive quality and why game developers are treated like factory workers, labour violations and assaults at work included!
@@JumalaPlays no she's exposing abuse in the industry not making videogames for the market. You were probably only joking but like... girl come on here
Really enjoying your content Jack. I’ve been gaming long before I started playing stuff like AC, FC3. There was something about it, it was simple and it was fun. Particularly Assassin’s Creed all you’d do is just climb walls, explore the cities, assassinate and fight people with a story going on. Sure, it got stale, but it was simple and felt fun to do, which is far from anything Ubisoft do anymore. I took a break from AC after 3 and tried Valhalla and I hated it, I paid £50 for what should be a F2P live service game. By extension I think games have too much content if you get what I mean, no game should need to be completed in 60 fucking hours. I have a job, I just wanna come home and play some shit with my friends, not go straight to town on a second job. Anyway, sorry for the long comment. Great video again, which just made me long for the good old days of just getting home, booting up and playing a game with my friends without any FOMO content or need to spend money on top. I miss when games felt like they could stand on their own two feet for how good they are, as they are so few and far between nowadays.
For Assassins Creed I don't think it needed to be 60 hours due to it's repetitive content but I disagree that no game ever should be 60 hours. For example Zelda BoTW was around 50 to 100 hours red dead redemption 2 was a similar length. Assasins creed just had a lot of missions that were repeated in a different location but if a game continually has new content & ideas throughout the campaign then I think it's fine
There are still games being made that are a few hours long (whether it be 1 - 10 hours). There were always games being made that were exceptionally long, look at Baldur's Gate 1 as an example. Just because you don't try to look for other games that fit your criteria, does not mean they don't exist today. Nor does your nostalgia mean that these aspects in games you dislike have not existed in the past.
@@binguser344 I believe you’re right, as BOTW was a game I came late to and absolutely loved it! Same with something like Ghosts of Tsushima. I think I worded it poorly, rather than have an issue with long games generally, my issue lays with long games that are extremely repetitive with false content as you said. For example the new Dying Light, with the headlines they’re pushing saying it’ll take like what, over 1k hours to get 100%? That immediately puts a sour taste in my mouth and makes me not want to play it. BOTW does this brilliantly with the only thing remotely comparable in Korok seed collection, the rest of it is natural and feels so fresh.
@@jared.mohammedthanks for the response. I think you’re right for the most part regarding nostalgia having an effect, because my love for the 2007-era of gaming is unwavering as many of my favourites came out between then and 2010/11. Could be considered a golden generation for me. I have to disagree with a point though regarding not looking for other games, especially stuff that would not be on my radar. I’ve tried a lot of games, particularly SP games such as Persona 5 (one of my all time favourites now). Maybe it is nostalgia that has me going back and replaying some classics more often than not, but I think the issue stems from that back then games would be either made to be good or make a quick buck (see Duke Nukem Forever, I fell for that at the time). Do you have any suggestions for good games, either long or short? I’m happy to try broadening my horizons 😄
@@vitalweinerdog Totally, very few games can reach that 1000 hour mark without reusing content but if a game could hypothetically have exiting new content until the 1000 hour mark then I wouldn't hold that against it however unlikely that may be. PS - thanks for being chill and having a thoughtful discussion on the internet bc those can be pretty rare
It's not just the repetitiveness, it's the attempt at pleasing everyone in the same game. They take a game like AC, and turn it into something completely different for the sake of profit. I loved Origins when it first came out, even though it contained the usual copy-paste Ubisoft formula. Odyssey and Vallhalla was like a knife up the ass, though. Ubisoft has managed to create the franchises I love the most, but I hate their games. Far Cry 6 felt like a high school drama.
@@vision821k4 it's kind of fun for maybe 20 hours despite the repetitive gameplay and poor writing/voice acting, then you realise you're about 1 15th through the game.
@@vision821k4 i mean story was better than origins but it was grindy as hell. Plus i got bored by the 20th hour and story was boderlining on boring and generic imo.
@@vision821k4 What is wrong with you? Odessey had a terrible story, cringy voice acting, grindy as hell it was discount Witcher 3 branded as Assassin's creed.
The production values are through the roof. You got a great script, and good presence. Where did you learn to make content like this, or are you paying a team?
The example with Assassin's Creed is kinda bittersweet: I'm glad that they did embrace the fact that they needed to update the game in terms of its mechanics, which is exactly what Far Cry needs (over 10 years the game has changed less than Origins after Syndicate), but it failed a lot of fans of the franchise yet gained popularity among newer players because yeah, it was essentially a completely different game.
It is. And I don't consider those games Assassin's Creed. Until they return to how they used to WITH innovation; then I will never play another Ubisoft game. (Far Cry 5 was the last one I played. Never again.)
I play AC since the first one.. but unity and syndicate fail to impress me after the black flag. Same gameplay and mechanic like an old one... At first, origins came out and I hate that RPG style of gameplay.. so I don't play it. 2 years later, I decided to play it because I just want to try it. And I can't believe I really like the new trio mythology AC... For me, they really did it good to change the gameplay with the same title. I really enjoy the new one rather than back to how it used to be before because it's a boring repetitive game. So, I just wanna say everyone has their own taste... I don't think it's a "different" game.
To be honest, in Odyssey, I started having fun when I accepted(convinced myself) that Kassandra is a demi-god. It was the only way I could justify that extremely dumb but extremely fun ''teleport'' skill. I agree it shouldn't have been called AC.
AC still have supernatural elements but in main game you are an assassin not a god. In Origin, Odyssey and Valhalla everything is just beyond my imagination. Except when the game forced me to go stealth i just go out side and wipe out enemies with my superpower skills. Pretend to be an assassin and sneak around in these game make me tired.
@@TienTran-uq6to I just finished a mission in Valhalla where you're asked how do you want to handle it, stealth or all out assault. I picked stealth since I still like attempting to stealth in these games. Not even five minutes into the mission, one of the characters goes YOU'RE TAKING TOO LONG FUCK THESE GUYS and all the soldiers are aggro'd. Why bother letting me choose if you're going to make me do combat? And yes, I understand that's how that character would act but still.
Desmond had ultra violet vision and the Eagle eye and got triggered into being an assassin by the second game. That's hardly a criticism, hell the main plot is based on the Bible lmao.
You are like the only reviewer I've seen that actually agrees with my thoughts on why I hated Origins, Odyssey, etc. The levels and enemy sponging was so completely un-Assassin's Creed. I was perfectly fine and even looking forward to no longer being a god of war just standing there and perfectly countering. I would have loved challenging combat or even combat that punished you for being seen. But instead it became *even more* of a brawler with ridiculous, spongey enemies that completely eliminate the stealth aspect. And yet so many people say this was their favourite. I just never understood. (It's a different kind of game entirely, so fair if you enjoy it. But for someone enjoying previous titles it just felt super weird and bad to me.)
I still remember in AC Rogue I managed to win the first boss fight by shooting a berserk dart at Lawrence Washington so he fought and got killed by NPCs while I went to hiding in the bushes.
Odyssey has ridiculous power creep when wearing good gear. You were a "demigod" and good gear made you actually feel like you were a god, taking no damage, one shoting everything. It was the best game since Black Flag imo.
@@kynlaan3332 I didn't played assasins creeds since unity so I don't know anything of odyssey but when you say that wearing good gear makes you a God you can't read anything else than; when you pay for good loot you are a God. In my time you could be a God by just being Good at the game
@@johnniewaiker6203 You are making this point without playing the game as you said. I never spent money playing odyssey, other than purchasing the season pass when it went on sell. You can easily find good gear while playing.
I remember with Rainbow Six Extraction I saw the reveal and was like “ok this could be good” but then I saw what the gameplay looked like and I was like “no way am I paying $60 for the same exact game but against AI cause that’s what it is. Siege with alien zombie AI.
@@ragingoaktree outbreak mode had more story and was at least applicable as content. Ubisoft was greedy and thought they could cash in on outbreaks 5 minutes of fame
The game doesn't even cost 60$, bro. What are you talking about? Furthermore, it's on Game Pass so you could basically play it for almost free. Heck, you could play for free to try it for yourself since it has a Trial version, or for 2 whole weeks if a friend invites you. I hate how much this game's been shitted on by people who didn't even give it a fair try, or with blatantly false arguments.
I still think 2008's Far Cry 2 was the absolute pinnacle of the entire franchise. There were so many features, mechanics, and AI behaviors that were either downgraded or just completely missing even in Far Cry 3.
@@NexusKin I think if they did far cry 2 in a new game again but reworked the poor mechanics while removing the unfun ones it would be a really cool game hell, maybe even remake far cry 2. That would actually be interesting.
My biggest problem with Valhalla was I wasn't able to find a new weapon until after TEN HOURS and when I did it was just another axe that was worse than the one I already had. It was like someone at Ubisoft heard people's complaints and was like "we'll just make it so there's ZERO loot now"
I miss the days when passion was a huge part of game development. I even went to college for Game Art & Design. But man, the way these big companies operate now, I'll pass on working for them.
@@yt-shmost smaller studios don't have the budget to pay more, unless they're being backed by a large company or VC, which typically means the first successful game will destroy the entire ethos that made said game work now that you're making money.
old games were made by nerds from all walks of life who just wanted to make something cool. Modern games are designed by committee using "theory" and spreadsheets and statistics to find out how to appeal to and squeeze the most money out of people, and as such they are soulless...
I always split up AC into 2 parts. I consider the Altair and Ezio storyline to really be the actual "Assassins Creed" series. Starting with AC3 ( which I also liked) the series became "Historical Exploration and Fighting Simulator." I like running around in ancient Egypt and Greece, but agree it feels like a totally different franchise. IMO Revalations is the last main line AC title.
It ends with Rogue for me, it concludes most storylines prior & adds a prologue into the next generation that I avoided. Dropping the ball with desmond drove the series into the ground with them thinking the world was gonna end in 2012 😑
@@SpectreStatus to be fair yeah but it was still a good game that at the very least had the core assassin stealth elements and didnt become an RPG with healthbars .
It's incredible that I had to play a game like Elden Ring to remember what playing a FUN game felt like. This might sound snobbish, but I'm through being patient with AAA studios who put out shit game after shit game. Just think about how many AAA titles have ABSOLUTELY BOMBED in the past 5 years or so. It's fucking ridiculous.
People that say AAA aren't as good as it used to be are ones that say you can't find good music anymore, you simply don't know where to look. For example: Doom Eternal??? RE2 Remake???
Lol ight I'm ngl. Yall act like every generation of games weren't absolutely littered with crappy AAA titles. Yes some games these past five years have been booty. But what about Modern Warfare 2019? DMC5? Doom Eternal? RE 2 and 3 remake? Nier Automata. God of war 2018. Sekiro. Any level of game development is full of crap titles lol. It's easier to mess up and make a bad game than to make a good game, and people need to understand that. Nowhere am I defending Ubisoft, but I just find it so lame to say an entire level of game development is bad because of some bad apples.
@@m0dp1g21 I think you missed the point lol. And honeslty it's unfair to compare 5 years to two games lol. You can look into those 5 years and find good games, yet many people only want to look at the flops.
I am glad that you had the same exact turn off point in assassin's creed as I did. I thought maybe it was me getting older, but really, it was Ubisoft getting worse
@@godzillazfriction it's the new AC RPG fans. And then they can't take criticism. They're so hypocritical and so disgusting. First of all, there's hundreds if not thousands of other RPG games so why do they demand the AC series to continue being an RPG? The root core of this franchise was all about stealth and assassins in the first place. Why can't they be the one to respect us? I don't get that kind of logic...
@@kiyoma Im a huge fan of AC and RPG games. At first, I didn't mind that AC was going in an RPG direction. It was like the best of both worlds for me. But then when I got to Valhalla, a thought occurred. I'm playing another long RPG game alongside this one. I liked playing AC cause it gave me a break from long RPG's. I enjoyed AC because it was another genre I could play alongside them, or at least it USED to be. I want to love AC again, but the games are just EXHAUSTING to play now. They are fun, but its too much effort to play through them to the end.
Players fatigue and redundancy of the AC franchise ain't helping, I recommend playing one of the AC RPG games. Played Odyssey and Origin, seeing Odyssey as a shell of its former, but an improvement for it's open world arpg aspect, but doesn bear the AC identity.
I can remember when I was a kid and teenager seeing a Ubisoft or EA logo at the start of the game sent chills down my spine, like; this is gonna be freakin awesome!... Now I recoil in disgust
27:42 me too dude! Exactly! I’m excited when I game I loved does well and gets recognition. But it’s just become clear to me that too much money and too much people just becomes an uncontrollable beast and suddenly the original team is all gone, and the monumental effort and quality that was once pushed out by a couple dozen people can’t even be matched by 100’s. That’s why I respect the hell out of the makers of valheim.
Still don't think their devs get enough credit for the amount of love and effort they sometimes put into their game worlds. Unity, Origins, and Division 2 all have some of the most astonishing recreations of real life places I've ever seen, and the level of historical research and attention to detail in the former two is frankly really impressive. Obviously most of the games are lifeless empty wastelands (recent Ghost Recon games are prime examples) but it is cool that once in a while their factory line model produces something great.
if only the sound design team had the talent that the environment team has. i cant stand the awful audio quality in the last few AC games. the Far Cry games have great audio, why not AC too :(
The Division 2 is probably the one game I've sunk the most amount of hours into. The amount of detail in that game is on par with anything Naughty Dog has released.
This video was very well done. From the writing, to the editing, and the critique of Ubisoft. As a former Ubisoft fan and gamer, I approve of this message
I'm sorry to say this, but the only way to make a statement is to not buy their games. As long as you buy their soulless products your opinion and criticism doesn't matter. Be more critical before buying the game.
@@WrathofFenrir99 Exactly, people do it backwards. First just look at the gameplay to decide whether you like it or not, then decide to buy the game. People who pre-order before seeing any gameplay basically ask to be let down.
The one game that I feel perfectly represents Ubisoft is The Crew 2. its a fine game, and ive had fun playing it before, but that's all it will ever be, it doesn't try to do anything new, it doesn't take risks, it doesn't even feel like a game, it feels like a product, a corporate product that was made because people will buy it, and nothing more.
Yo man, just discovered this channel with your Red Dead Online vid. I just can’t resist commenting here at 14:25. RSVegas 1+2 hold such a special place in my heart. Dopest dope I’ve ever smoked, incredible memories with the bois. Hearing you bring the games up, I quite literally started applauding. The most “Did we just become best friends?” Moment with a creator I watch. Preach it, brother. Those games were too beautiful for this cruel world. Preach it, brother.
Never before seen your videos, but i can see that you're very passionate about gaming and videogames overall(just like the rest of us). I feel like lately the gaming industry has been going downhill exponentially in regards to innovation and integrity of games in favour of corporate greed and pandering to shareholders interests, aswell as the ever growing amount of people who fall for their traps and still let themselves be deceived by promises and false hopes. Loved your video, must have been a lot of work!
that coop in unity was sooo dope, there were level 50 missions you could only join at said level, and clearing out an armed mansion of soldiers with five assassins without alarming a single npc was so much fun
I’m glad you’re talking about this. Since primal I’ve been hoping that they try and do something new or try and make something that isn’t just a rehash of it’s roots, maybe even a remake of Farcry 2 with better characters and story but keeping that gritty combat I loved so much as a kid. Hopefully they reintroduce the grittiness and brutality that 2 had in its gameplay because with their higher focus on interesting characters I think that characters being able to die because of your dumb decisions during combat would be a good idea.
FarCry Primal, taking it on its own and playing without the UI, makes it feel like honestly one of my favorite Ubisoft games. And I’ve played a lot of their games
Dude, you just basically summed up why I refuse to give Ubisoft any more of my money. I actually advocate for gamers to stop buying products from companies that do this to us. They make gamers look dumb. Fuck Ubisoft. Subscribed!
@@MrLeroyFox The same morons that all bought the GTA Remaster Trilogy back in November last year because they thought it would be a great nostalgia trip and tribute to the PS2 original games. Doesn't matter if Grove Street Games or Rockstar Games tried to apologize, they already took their fucking money. These masses would never touch Heroes of Might & Magic 3. Or have the intellect to get thru the original Deus Ex. Or set up a decent build with their desired character on World of Warcraft back in the days of Vanilla and Burning Crusade. EVERYTHING has to be dumbed down and saturated because the masses are too simple minded to think for themselves. Ubisoft went in this direction because it would make them a lot more money. Can you imagine these people trying to play thru the original Assassin's Creed? Or Far Cry 2? That game was hard even on Normal, and for story reasons you're hit with malaria! Nope, they couldn't do those things. They couldn't finish Super Mario Bros 3 or Sonic the Hedgehog 2. They couldn't imagine a time when 2-D platformers had no continues and limited lives. You lose all your lives, it's all the way back to the beginning.
I just wait a year or two and by their games cheap on sale I bought ac Valhalla ultimate edition for 30 euros for example. Ubisoft games don't deserve to be 75 euros and more when indie developers make better games and at half the price.
There’s one thing in Valhalla that summarises how much effort went into it: your outfit is attached to you at all times and there is no physics made for it when you’re running. It even clips through your fucking legs when you free run
@@jarredlucas4000 bruh what are you talking about🤣 does PC magically have outfit animations for running and prevents clipping? Because your PC must be magical then
Ubisoft has been replicating the same model of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood in their open-world games since 2010. You use stealth to mark enemies, climb some towers to unlock maps, finding collectables in places hard to reach, kill targets, taking side quests from wacky characters and it's all about taking down some tyrants. The games originally were more focused on player skills rather than in-game stats, but then Ubisoft made them more like RPG, forcing you to unlock items and level up. I didn't mind older AC's melee system even if you just need to spam parry-counter to kill most enemies, at least it's satisfying, just need more combo moves. I'm here to see how they make historical fiction fun, not finding an axe with higher stats to kill monsters.
Great video as usual, it was worth the wait! Ubisoft has been releasing garbage titles for years now and I don't see it changing anytime soon. Also you should have mentioned the fact, that besides Splinter Cell they've also abandoned the Rayman franchise... it's been 9 years since the last one... guess we'll get another one when they'll find a way to add microtransactions and nfts to it :)
LOL!! Do you think even one gamer is going to listen to this sensible advice, and not blow their money on despicable greedy scumbags who will inevitably let them down? 😂Gamers LOVE the abuse! They're enabling it! They have no self-awareness so they keep coming back for more. Ubisoft does it for the same reason wife beaters keep beating: their partner condones it and keeps coming back. You and I can vote with our dollars, but we are in the minority.
@@obiwanless and that's why we can't have nice things, consumerism is one of the worst things we have nowadays. Entropy destroys everything, If we aren't careful with what we have it can just disappear in an instant. We always need to be on watch if we want things to be good and gaming is no exception, therefore i haven't bought ubisoft games since blackflag.
ubisoft invited me to play farcry 6 behind closed doors for 500 dollars and I wanted to kms it was so boring, I only finished it because I was getting payed. I almost walked and killed someone losing my mind at the amount of times I heard a text to speak voice tried to say gorillia in Spanish OMG I AM GETTING ANGRY JUST THINKING ABOUT IT
I'm on the same boat as you man ,grew up playing ubisoft games and loving them and now looking at them go in the direction that they are going in is really painful and heartbreaking. Subbed and loved the vid!
9 minutes in, having the thought to cut his definition of crazy out and apply it to the state of Farcry, this is a brilliant video! It’s a shame these corporations won’t listen to articulate, intelligent criticisms and give people what they want. The smaller devs just don’t have the resources, and sometimes are just after the money themselves. I’m looking at you Easy Day studios and Skater XL! The screen is still tearing 3 years later on PlayStation!
@@ikeworkman4449 it’s a fun game, even without all the mods. It’s just the promises and talk about what’s coming, for it to be bullshit. I wouldn’t have paid £35 for it if I’d known they were lying. That applies to many games, and many consumers. It seems like people are waking up to it now but whether or not that will change buying behaviour is another question.
@@terenceflynn5125 Ya that's fair. I was lucky enough to get it for $20 on PC when it was in early access. I would not pay what they are charging now for how often I play it. Best skating game IMO but, only worth if you wait for a sale.
Why would they listen to intelligent criticisms? They can just feed the sheep and the sheep will never complain about shitty games. Sheep help make money.
Glad to hear my friends and I aren't the only ones that miss Unity for it's multiplayer, plus Paris was done really well and the parkour was the best in the series. Made it so much fun to run around w the boys grinding for our new outfits
Dude, you NEED to upload more 😂 this channel definitely has great potential - this is the first vid I’ve ever seen from you and I’m already subscribed. Awesome job 👏🏽
My favorite Assassin's Creed are 1, 4 and revelations, in that order. Still play them to this day. A shame the saga is nothing like it used to be nowadays.
4 is my absolute favorite. Funny how the series peaked right before they halted putting out numbered entries. They released Black Flag, announced they had an ending planned for the series, and the series proceeded to go absolutely nowhere ever since, with no ending in sight. Probably stating the obvious, but I think they *GASP!*... lied.
@@Sebastian_Torr assassin's Creed origins was good but assassin's Creed Odyssey came and ruined everything that game sucks it doesn't have anything to do with the assassins and you need so much xp to level up and who told Ubisoft you need to be at a specific level to do a mission the mission level is just there to be a diffecalty level that made the game so poring
Total repeat of what happened with EA, there was once a time in the early 2000's where you wouldn't curse their name and hate everything they did, they had great games, but they fell hard and fast, even before microtransactions, they pumped games full of pointless DLC, bought and killed franchises, it was and is awful. I remember loads of so called "hyperbole" with dlc when it was first really being understood by gamers, and one of the more common opinions was that games would become incomplete leeches with hundreds of DLCs for the most basic of things, and well, they were right in the end. Microtransactions are honestly immoral, given they pray upon things liked kids and such, they need to be illegal, the companies have no incentive to stop themselves.
I watched that Division trailer and when he said "brace for pvp", i never cringed so hard in my life that my face muscles actually hurts afterwards. Like..who says that when playing a game? WTF!