Gaming New Baghdad-set Assassin's Creed game will reportedly be called Mirage

saik

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Hmmm. I think they made the AI less threatening in general because apparently Basim can only get hit a few times until he's killed. Worried that a strong AI would kill you too easily in regular combat.
That's the way it's supposed to be right? If you want to push people towards stealth, make the regular combat harder.
 

Shane88

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Is there any AAA open world game out there these days without that fecking press-R3-to-see-through-walls-and-enemy-silhouettes mechanic?
 

Tyrion

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Releasing on Oct 6th. Most streamers were invited to try it out. Honestly looks so much like Valhalla. Some of them mentioned that it started out as a DLC for Valhalla before branching out as a new game which makes sense when you look at this. Don't see any reason to spend another 80$.


Feel like another cash grab from Ubisoft. I was more excited for Skull and Bones and after watching some gameplay even that game doesn't feel worth it.
Most Ubisoft games seem slightly similar. They all seem to have big open worlds stuffed with collectibles and some tower to unlock sections of the map. More than any publisher, they find a formula and stick to it. Makes their games extremely repetitive. I payed Far Cry Primal set in the stone ages and there was a grappling hook ffs. Just because there was in other Far Crys.

Saw some recent gameplay last month and it doesn't look impressive at all. Basically what @hobbers has said. It's like they didn't know which direction they wanted to take with that game. They just wanted to create a pirate game.

Valhalla, Skull and Bones and now this. All of them feel fecking bland. There's no story to write home about and the missions are boring fetch missions. The studio itself needs a reset I think. So many resources, so many studios all over the world and they can't come up with a decent game.
Afaik, they signed a deal with a government (I think Singapore) that obliges them to release Skull and Bones and that's the only reason they haven't canned it. They obviously think its a failure and don't want to realise it but they can't just let it die either.

It's incredible that they made a good game that was half about pirates about 10 years ago, decided to make a game that was fully about pirates and have got something worse at being a pirate game than the original. If you gave me about 20 minutes I could think of fun things to add to Black Flag that would make it a better pirate game but they just screwed it up. I'm looking forward to it flopping and Ubisofts embarrassment.

Does this one still have Desmond and the tragic future sections when he's not in the animus....?
I dont think so. Iirc, they stopped that in AC3 and have had less and less of the present day stuff since then. They know few people enjoy it and don't bother making it good.

Ubisoft are pretty much the opposite of innovative.

Is there any AAA open world game out there these days without that fecking press-R3-to-see-through-walls-and-enemy-silhouettes mechanic?
It's another of the Ubisoft-isms. That and the towers and marking things on your map. God of War doesn't have it. RDR doesn't have it either. W3 has it but it doesn't apply through walls and it makes sense there.

Tl;dr: Ubisoft's games aren't very good because they don't innovate and do the same old shite they've been doing for a decade.
 

hobbers

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Nobody likes the Desmond stuff but still AC1 and 2 are the best games in the franchise by miles. Followed by Black Flag and Brotherhood.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Let's face it, we all realised that Ubisoft were destined to fail when Black Flag was essentially a wank marathon for the developers to speak French in the non-Animus areas, and for the Canadian Devs to pretend they're actually French in the same pompous way that Boston twats pretend they're Irish.
 

saik

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Afaik, they signed a deal with a government (I think Singapore) that obliges them to release Skull and Bones and that's the only reason they haven't canned it. They obviously think its a failure and don't want to realise it but they can't just let it die either.

It's incredible that they made a good game that was half about pirates about 10 years ago, decided to make a game that was fully about pirates and have got something worse at being a pirate game than the original. If you gave me about 20 minutes I could think of fun things to add to Black Flag that would make it a better pirate game but they just screwed it up. I'm looking forward to it flopping and Ubisofts embarrassment.
I heard about that deal from RadBrad I think. But still to have so many studios involved( I think I saw Ubisoft India, Singapore, Vancouver/Montreal), work on the game for so many years and that to be the output is very disappointing from Ubisoft.
 

Tyrion

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I heard about that deal from RadBrad I think. But still to have so many studios involved( I think I saw Ubisoft India, Singapore, Vancouver/Montreal), work on the game for so many years and that to be the output is very disappointing from Ubisoft.
It is embarrassing. It shows how much they struggle when they leave from their formula. Far Cry, Watch Dog, Tom Clancy games and Assassins Creed all have specific formulas and barely change. It's like they just got lost when trying to make a new one.

It's embarrassing how a supposedly AAA publisher could do this badly. The game will be laughed at whenever it comes out.
 

saik

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It is embarrassing. It shows how much they struggle when they leave from their formula. Far Cry, Watch Dog, Tom Clancy games and Assassins Creed all have specific formulas and barely change. It's like they just got lost when trying to make a new one.

It's embarrassing how a supposedly AAA publisher could do this badly. The game will be laughed at whenever it comes out.
Actually its a lot more studios than I imagined. :lol:


This is going to be their biggest flop isn't it? Atleast Mirage seems like it has some improvements over Valhalla even if I don't think it's worth its price. But this game has no redeeming qualities and that naval combat belongs to a mobile game not a AAA game.
 

hobbers

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They're trying to tap into the Black Flag/Sea of Thieves fanbases without actually offering any of the good gameplay elements that either of those games offer. Just another full scale MTX experiment to see what they can get all the brainless saps to pay for next.
 

VeevaVee

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They're trying to tap into the Black Flag/Sea of Thieves fanbases without actually offering any of the good gameplay elements that either of those games offer. Just another full scale MTX experiment to see what they can get all the brainless saps to pay for next.
Harsh on @esmufc07
 

Hoof the ball

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Nobody likes the Desmond stuff but still AC1 and 2 are the best games in the franchise by miles. Followed by Black Flag and Brotherhood.
There's no way that's true. Just go see the AC sub-reddit. They routinely run polls on this very thing. The "modern" day Desmond stuff is overwhelmingly loved. Desmond himself is much beloved. Pretty much anything involving Desmond from AC1, AC2, Brotherhood, Revelations and possibly AC3, is positively spoken of.

The issue is post-Desmond.

They transitioned into a modern story as you playing as an employee of Abstergo or other similar first person narratives where you didn't have a character. Then it transitioned into Layla Hassan for the RPG open world stuff, and by that time the modern day had lost its focus or momentum.
 

hobbers

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There's no way that's true. Just go see the AC sub-reddit. They routinely run polls on this very thing. The "modern" day Desmond stuff is overwhelmingly loved. Desmond himself is much beloved. Pretty much anything involving Desmond from AC1, AC2, Brotherhood, Revelations and possibly AC3, is positively spoken of.

The issue is post-Desmond.

They transitioned into a modern story as you playing as an employee of Abstergo or other similar first person narratives where you didn't have a character. Then it transitioned into Layla Hassan for the RPG open world stuff, and by that time the modern day had lost its focus or momentum.
Yeah I could understand that view.

My impression at the time was nobody cared that much about the Desmond sections. But it all gets lumped together in nostalgia at how good and focused the stories were in AC1, 2 and Revelations/Brotherhood compared to the collectible driven slop they put out now.
 

Tyrion

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Actually its a lot more studios than I imagined. :lol:


This is going to be their biggest flop isn't it? Atleast Mirage seems like it has some improvements over Valhalla even if I don't think it's worth its price. But this game has no redeeming qualities and that naval combat belongs to a mobile game not a AAA game.
God its sure to be a flop. It's the video game equivalent of that Flash movie. Whatever hype there was for this was around the time Trump first became president and its changed so often since then, no one cares.

Looking at the Wikipedia page for the game, it mentions 7 delays over 5 years, 3 different types of games and over 100 million budget which is hard to imagine.

Though it was nominated for Beat Original Game in the Games Critics Awards and they've mentioned a TV show. :lol:
 

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From the reviews I've read and seen, they went back to the pre-Origins formula without actually bothering to improve anything about the gameplay systems that people were already tired of back then. Scaling back is good, reverting to a tired formula is not.
 

Redplane

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From the reviews I've read and seen, they went back to the pre-Origins formula without actually bothering to improve anything about the gameplay systems that people were already tired of back then. Scaling back is good, reverting to a tired formula is not.
Yeah I watched part of a walkthrough and have zero interest in picking this up. I used to love AC. It just got very lazy to me. Same engine, same mechanics, same UI etc etc. Sure this seems to have more stealth elements again but it still looks like if you played Valhalla, Odyssey and Origins at least - that this is more of the same. Maybe Ive lived too long and they just assume they can fool a lot of brand new players (and sadly they re probably not wrong about that).
 

saik

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From the reviews I've read and seen, they went back to the pre-Origins formula without actually bothering to improve anything about the gameplay systems that people were already tired of back then. Scaling back is good, reverting to a tired formula is not.
You nailed it. It's a Valhalla DLC. They removed most of the open world contents and scaled it down to a 30-40 hour game without changing much. Re-using animations, no mo-cap for cutscenes and using AI so they look like how cutscenes in Valhalla looked. From what I've seen, people are saying that the story is meh as well.


This bit was cool though. I think this is new?
 

saik

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Yeah I watched part of a walkthrough and have zero interest in picking this up. I used to love AC. It just got very lazy to me. Same engine, same mechanics, same UI etc etc. Sure this seems to have more stealth elements again but it still looks like if you played Valhalla, Odyssey and Origins at least - that this is more of the same. Maybe Ive lived too long and they just assume they can fool a lot of brand new players (and sadly they re probably not wrong about that).
Agree with this. It's more of the same which probably some people will like. But they are charging full price for what is essentially supposed to be a DLC so it's less effort and a win for them. They have marketed the hell out of them "returning to their roots" though. Probably better value when it goes on discount. I do like how the game looks but it just doesn't captivate me enough to buy it at full price.
 

One Night Only

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I've picked it up, probably start and finish it over the weekend. Not played much ps5 recently so thought this would be good to hop back in with
 

Herman Toothrot

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Have they dumped that weird science fiction angle yet? That VR memory thing seemed like such a weird, distracting and unnecessary feature. Or did people like that?
 

Bebe

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Yeah I could understand that view.

My impression at the time was nobody cared that much about the Desmond sections. But it all gets lumped together in nostalgia at how good and focused the stories were in AC1, 2 and Revelations/Brotherhood compared to the collectible driven slop they put out now.
I agree with this, it's an association with the older games that makes the Desmond stuff appealing. The actual sections themselves were tedious mechanically, but they were central to the story being told. And that story was very interesting. I loved the payoff at the end of AC 1 with the whole room covered in glyphs and names of locations that I thought future AC games might be set in.

The issue, as has been said by many before, is that they stopped making Assassins' Creed games and started making shite Witcher ripoffs.
 

RedSky

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This bit was cool though. I think this is new?
I actually hate that. The cool part with Assassins Creed was the parkour and having to plan your assassinations and/or be dynamic and flexible.

Now you just teleport...? Big no, it's utterly unnecessary.
 

Hamnat

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Have they dumped that weird science fiction angle yet? That VR memory thing seemed like such a weird, distracting and unnecessary feature. Or did people like that?
I always thought they should have just gone for it and done one that deals with that future stuff by now. At least that would be fresh. Rather than the little hints that go nowhere in the past games. Just here goes the future game whatever we were getting at all these years with the little pieces.

It could be a fresh series really break out of the historical mold.
 

saik

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I actually hate that. The cool part with Assassins Creed was the parkour and having to plan your assassinations and/or be dynamic and flexible.

Now you just teleport...? Big no, it's utterly unnecessary.
Probably end game stuff after you unlock all your skills. Just looks cool but if they actually justified the teleport using the story(something similar to how the Ghost stance was in Ghost of Tsushima) then I don't mind. But if they added it just for the heck of it then yea totally unnecessary.
 

RedSky

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I always thought they should have just gone for it and done one that deals with that future stuff by now. At least that would be fresh. Rather than the little hints that go nowhere in the past games. Just here goes the future game whatever we were getting at all these years with the little pieces.

It could be a fresh series really break out of the historical mold.
Agreed.

Or have it that the player's brain gets so fecked that they can't distinguish what is reality and what is modern life so it keeps warping between modern day and historical. So you could be chasing down an alley way in medieval times only to turn the corner to the same spot in the city but its 2135. Then gradually allow the player to control the time change so they can switch between historical and modern with a flick of a button.
 

hobbers

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I always thought they should have just gone for it and done one that deals with that future stuff by now. At least that would be fresh. Rather than the little hints that go nowhere in the past games. Just here goes the future game whatever we were getting at all these years with the little pieces.

It could be a fresh series really break out of the historical mold.
It could be but they'd just end up remaking Watchdogs.
 

Hamnat

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It could be but they'd just end up remaking Watchdogs.
True. But, that would be the challenge right. What have you been getting at with the future snippets the past what decade? Go for it.

But, I understand the want to just play it a bit safe. This was a Valhalla DLC they made modifications in order to call it a separate game. You don't need to go out on as much of a creative limb with the money a AAA studio puts into these things.

As far as this game, down the line on a sale maybe, but after playing the last what 5 AC entries looking at my library this is a no for now.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Have they dumped that weird science fiction angle yet? That VR memory thing seemed like such a weird, distracting and unnecessary feature. Or did people like that?
I always hated that about AC even back when it was a series that usually garnered groans. Felt like such a jarring break in the immersion.
 

dannyrhinos89

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Nothing much to report, it’s about what you’d expect I’m enjoying it so far but I tend to like AC games anyway.


I’ll be going for the platinum no doubt.
 

Van Piorsing

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Teleportation on top of x-ray vision. It's like someone at Ubi said, feck it, we'll just activate all cheats at once.
 

Ainu

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Teleportation on top of x-ray vision. It's like someone at Ubi said, feck it, we'll just activate all cheats at once.
I don't actually mind that sort of stuff when they're proper end/post-game abilities (no idea if that's the case here though). Let the player go wild with absurdly overpowered builds, sure, why not.
 

Van Piorsing

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I don't actually mind that sort of stuff when they're proper end/post-game abilities (no idea if that's the case here though). Let the player go wild with absurdly overpowered builds, sure, why not.
I want my assassin to have tactical nuke instead of hidden blade, while we're at it.