#1

This would be far better suited to its own topic, so copying over chatbox stuff here for future reference (read from bottom to top):

Jimbobslimbob
So how does the co-op work - do we need to keep a character slot free for just 4-player when we are all on etc.?

expon
You pickup medals, skill points and weapon mods in the world, so you can upgrade things like your character stats, skills etc yeah I've bought it already on pre order before it's at £40 for ages

Gregory
With you on that one.

Maximus
It does look very good i think i may get it when it comes out

Jimbobslimbob
High praise indeed. I am glad it's not a bullet-spongey MMO-type, like the Division. Is it a skill/gear grind?

expon
you don't take much more punishment, you can be revived once by any team mate the it's curtains. we need to get this one bought I think

expon
yes, I thought it was brilliant for the time I spent with it, admittedly only 5hrs or so but was really good, and the open world map size was akin to farcry 3-4. was more tactical than say the division with almost a one shot kill fo NPC.

Jimbobslimbob
Reckon it's worth a purchase then, G-Man?

Jimbobslimbob
It does look promising indeed. Steam link here too.

expon
Link here to purchase on cd keys

Jimbobslimbob
Haven't had a look-see and will not get time to try the beta. Hopefully we can have an in-depth Expon review...?

Maximus
It does sound good and i did have a quick look last night it does look really sharp. I am certainly happy to give this a go once we have finished division.

expon
really works, and you get a drone to tag targets with which is well handy. texture quality is better than the division, and the game engine feels more sandbox, like farcry but more like division in the climbing objects, over walls etc.

expon
it is really, really good - proper far cry type open world, spent the majority of the time ferrying my squad around by chopper - even the AI is spot on - you can set up a target sync so all 4 of you can be designated a target, then pull the trigger -

Gregory
Just had a look at that game Expon, it does look like a good one. Would any of you guys be interested?

expon
if anyone gets this in time - give ghost recon: wildlands a go, its free open beta till tuesday, 30gb download. plays really well, like farcry 3-4 but squad based, so seamless drop in/drop out

Last edited 1 Mar 2017 at 11:43.

#2

Some interesting articles about it here and here.

Some memorable quotes, ranging from good to meh to crap:
"Fun with Friends"
"When infiltrating a camp, you can choose a number of approaches"
"feels more like an action stealth shooter"
"Iffy Story"
"Subpar Vehicle Controls"
"Empty Open World"
"The AI is either way too good or way too dumb"

Last edited 1 Mar 2017 at 13:04.

#3

Interesting review here
 which is not that complimentary what are your thoughts Expon?

#4

Thanks really want this to be a good one. What is the verdict of the good captain?

#5

Hmmm, doesn't look promising. I will have to watch that video properly tonight but he seems to hate it.

Was just looking back at my original review of the Division - namely the things I didn't like. I am hoping that the majority of these things do not turn up in this game, because if so I may pass on it.

So, as before... an Expon Q&A would be appreciated before I am tempted (if you would be so kind).... would be good if you could answer a few questions for me/us here, Captain G, as Ubisoft has a tendency to trow out "triple A shit" recently.

"- Still a bit buggy (getting stuck in objects, disconnecting, falling through levels)."
Looks like Ghost Recon is indeed quite buggy at present. Is Wildlands buggy?(#1)

"- Enemies don't need to be far above your level to make them severe bullet sponges. This leads to..."
Expon - how does levelling (if that even exists) work in Wildlands?(#2)

"- Grouping issues, since characters more than 3 levels above/below cause severe balancing issues."
If we all start and play together, this isn't a biggie, but be good to know how it works with Wildlands.(#3)

"- Skills are unlocked by doing side-missions instead of levelling up. This leads to..."
Hated this in the Division - stupid system. Expon?(#4)

"- ...if you spend a while doing missions in a block (without going back to the safe house), you feel like you are getting nowhere until you do finally get back and suddenly unlock tons and tons of skills all at once."
Same as above.(#5)

"- The loot is very "meh". Other than increasing damage/dps/armour numbers, nothing really makes you too thrilled with getting new loot. It is also replaced very quickly as you level."
Loot was shit in the Division... how does loot / gear work in Wildlands?(#6)

"- No incentive to start another character - every one is EXACTLY the same and there is no permanent skills/classes to "shake it up"."
Yeah, additional replays seem a bit silly in the Division - how does Wildlands stack up?(#7)

"- It's repetitive. 1-30 is fun, but end-game will not be for everyone. To be fair, I am never a fan of these end-game MMO-ey things anyway... it's the journey there that I prefer and will not be playing the endless grinding raids etc. If you do not plan on doing this then this may not be so much of a "con"."
Ditto - Comparison?(#8)

And one other question I did not mention - sidequests. How do they stack up in Wildlands, Expon?(#9) Division was full of MMO, grindy filler crap that I did not care for.

Last edited 1 Mar 2017 at 13:52.

#6

Wow, after watching that video I cannot say I am too enthused - comparing it to the Division and then saying that some of the wort parts of it are EVEN WORSE in this game has me very worried.

#7

wow, if I hadn't played the open beta, that video review would have probably put me right off.

I hope, BTW, that no one holds me responsible for their £30-£40 on the division (if they didn't like it) I do, and would start my 5th character so, I'm just saying, maybe I'm not as good a judge of whether a game is good compared to these reviewers, they just seem to know more games and are more critical I guess...

1. the UFO car in the video looked amusing! as I'll probably say a few times here, I only played 5-6 hours, but didn't notice any missing textures, odd physics, flying cars, stuck AI etc. I actually thought, this is a really well made engine, thought of the later GTA games

2. no bullet sponge behavior, even the heavy classes with body armour went down with a couple rounds to the face, obviously much more elsewhere. There is no levelling as such - it works just like farcry 4 which I assume is very similar to 3 - you get skill points to assign, and unlock functionality to your kit, get the ability to call in better support etc.

3. didn't play enough with other people to see, but the difficulty increase seemed to be more enemies, with more armour, more support, better gear etc. rather than the same NPC, with the same kit that could kill you outright from 500ft with one bullet

4. you hated levelling up or doing side missions? the side missions in this are again, like farcry, you attack  bases etc. rather than have them set out like the medical, tech, security like the division, there are 4 types of skill pool, fuel, medical, food, munitions (something like that) and you tag them with a GPS transmitter when you find them in mission. These allow you to unlock, along with your skill points, eith character upgrades, rebel support upgrades etc.

5. you can upgrade on the fly, you don't need a safe house

6. not really a looty game, you have lots of tech to unlock, C4, drone upgrades, flash bangs etc. and the weapons to unlock, mods to add, some replace others, quite good in that you can break the whole gun down - barrel, stock, magazine, suppressor, attachment etc. theres a long path of weapon unlocks for ones with better base stats, but like the division, this isn't borderlands, you'll always be disappointed with these military type shooters if you want to fire off an elemental e-tech splash weapon, or have those awesome longbow MIRV grenades etc.

7. yeah, this is the same, there's no character classes, you can customise the look of the character AKA division, but no real upgrade path, but again, this isn't an RPG or MMO. I play the division for the gameplay - I'm currently loving our current 4 player co-op and this is my 4th or 5th character. I know I'll lose interest if or when I ever get to level 30, but I always find it's the journey getting there where the fun lies

8. kinda covered it in 7. but yeah, fully agree, if I still like playing the game, as I do the division, just start another character. wildlands, I imagine will be quite different, again, more like farcry. The side missions in division can feel more copy/paste whreas (again, remember my play time) in wildlands, they felt a bit more individual in that, maybe the format remained the same but the open world, tactical 'do it your way' element remained

I imagine this will be one of those games where you finish the story, and still have the side missions, open world etc. but i guess when you've completed the campaign, it's the same with any game, open world or not, you need to restart it or end up on those 'raids' you mention.

to sum it up, more like an arcade version of arma, simple cover physics, more climbing/interaction with environment etc. with an engine that feels a bit like the GTA series, well, maybe a bit better in the physics dept. I thought the AI was pretty good (played 3/4 difficulty level). I thought the controls gripe in the review was unfair - helicopters, planes were more difficult to control, but It felt like because they'd tried to give them more realistic handling tendencies, rather than the controls were just bad. And you could push vehicles into oversteer and lose it, again more realism than bad controls in my book. As far as being an empty open world, I thought it gave it more depth, unlike farcry where an enemy patrol turns up every 30 seconds and allows you to create a roadblock of death. it felt like a much larger land mass which would be uninhabited, due to the conditions. After taking a brief drive, I always drove to the nearest aircraft and stole that to get about as you quickly realise it's a far better method of getting about!

I'd like us to play this sooner than we got round to the division, but, appreciate, you may have doubts!

#8

Appreciate the response there, expon. Just to respond to some of your comments:

4. you hated levelling up or doing side missions?

I thought the side missions in the Division were dreadful if I am honest. Absolutely no "life" to them - they are just boring, repetitive MMO filler content - one of the things I generally think Ubisoft are known for and why I avoided Farcry 4 after getting bored to death with number 3. The Division is at its best with the larger scale "main" missions.

this isn't borderlands, you'll always be disappointed with these military type shooters if you want to fire off an elemental e-tech splash weapon, or have those awesome longbow MIRV grenades etc.

You are missing the point here, I don't expect Borderlands style loot and never did. What I was hoping for was more variety in loot, rather than spending your time looking for higher numbers, where the guns largely are the same thing from beginning to end. Proper progression. Not lazy devs, half assing everything.

to sum it up, more like an arcade version of arma, simple cover physics

This statement gives me hope - I really liked the Arma games.

I'd like us to play this sooner than we got round to the division, but, appreciate, you may have doubts!

The mistake we made last time was hanging about for Greg. If we are to give this a shot I recommend we all just get it and start right away - as you say, to prevent the shitstorm that happened with the Division. I don't regret buying the Division - I have had many hours of fun out of it. It just saddens me that a game with that much potential was not given the attention it deserved - it truly could have been something amazing.

I am not sure how much weight to assign to the video review then, given your comments. Seems, as before, he may have been overly critical. Despite the Divisions obvious flaws, I still enjoyed my time with it. If this is a similar experience then I am leaning mroe towards a yes than a no.

#9

I think the best thing to do is DH and pout!

#10

I am with you there meg. 

#11

Rather than spend months going back and forth, like we did with the Division (due to a certain left-handed vegan that shan't be mentioned by name), shall we all agree whether or not to get and play this one now...? Because, let's face it, if just one of us does not get it, we will be in the same situation we were with The Division.

#12

Let's give it a month while we finish off Division and see what the post launch reviews are like.

If they are ok we all buy it and play it straight after we are done with Division?

#13

greg sounds quite on board so I'm hoping he's going to like it, I thought when playing 'greg's going to be our pilot'

Side missions, yeah, I agree, I do the side missions because my tech/security/medical points aren't high enough to afford an upgrade that I want/need. Some of them were fun, even memorable'ish but most, as you say were just copy/paste filler. Although I would say, (like farcry 4 that I'm currently playing through) we are die hard completionists - I have to force myself to stop trying to do everything, otherwise the objective of the game - having fun does sometimes get lost when you find yourself trudging back and forth carrying items or trying to find the last loot box or skull etc. it is more tactical though, where in division you can run and gun, soak up some damage, spam health pack etc. in wildlands, though there is a sort of (i think) regenerating health, it only means the difference in being able to take another couple shots again - if you go rambo, or can't get to cover again, you're toast!

loot wise, yeah, sorry, wasn't trying to be obtuse, but yes, it's not like the division, you don't keep finding identical weapons of higher level with higher stats, they are what they are, you can mod them to your playstyle - much is put on stealth and suppressed weapons, but you could have one player with a LMG that gets dropped off early to make massive noise and suppress/cause diversion allowing the other players to flank or come up the rear undetected, it's also a function of being able to call rebels in to create a diversion too

yeah, like arma, or games like delta force 2 that led the way back in the 90's. The latter was advanced enough to have bullet physics, wind etc. something it took about another decade and games like sniper elite to put in. This has the more arcade feel, like the way in mercenaries (or battlefield vietnam?) you could call in a vehicle drop off or maybe carry a little bit more equipment than you really should have been able to.

#14

Wow, loved Delta Force 2 as well, still have my CD copy lying around somewhere. Well I think you have convinced me, Dyson. It sounds like everything I wished the Division actually was.

P.S. I was a killer helicopter pilot in the old Battlefield 2 game

#15

cool, I forget you played DF2, I always thought it was a bit niche, though the pages and pages of servers on novaworld at the time would suggest otherwise.

Well that's cool, if Greg and yourself are on board then we're over the hump, I'm sure we can hammer our current characters in the division to death til the end of the month then move onto this...

#16

Yeah, it was way ahead of its time and so much fun to play over LAN. I think I had 3 of them, 1,2 and "Land Warrior" or some-such I think it was called. Great fun. Arma was also a great laugh. I remember pissing about with Arma 3 level editor to create epic battles.

#17

it's available for pre load now apparently, if you've purchased it straight from steam/uplay...

#18

So it is...

#19

the suspense is killing me, have I given every one a bum steer, or do we like it, more or less than the division?!

#20

I had a brief go last night. Some of my initial thoughts:

- Looks very pretty.
- Gameplay-wise, it's a mix between Just Cause, Farcry and The Division.
- Helicopter controls are absolutely dreadful.
- Not sure I am sold on the third-person and cover mechanics yet. Seems like this game would be much better suited to first person.
- Bullets feel like they actually "do stuff" (unlike The Division).
- Some real nice touches for teamwork like the "sync shot", tagging enemies, the drone etc.
- It has "police" - a system very reminiscent of Just Cause, where it gets harder as your wanted level goes up. Encourages stealth play and a tactical approach.
- I think this will be a winner co-op.
- Weapons! There is actually different weapons to unlock with different characteristics.
- Character customization is quite extensive - I can foresee the insanely weird outfits we all end up rocking looking interesting indeed.

Honestly, as a whole I think G-Man was right - this will be a lot of fun. More so, I think, than The Division.

Last edited 8 Mar 2017 at 08:07.