Comments 1,372

Re: Big New PS5, PC Shooter Concord Has an Uphill Battle Ahead of It

MFTWrecks

This would have been fire as a competitor to Overwatch when that mattered. I believe the ship has sailed on a 5v5 shooter hit penetrating that market unless it is STELLAR gameplay. And from the looks of it, even THAT looks like a cheap imitation.

And let's not forget... they highlighted a competitor IN THE SAME SHOWCASE. If Concord is a purchased title and Marvel Rivals isn't... I'd bet on the Marvel IP being able to have longer legs than this will.

I was personally hoping this would be an extraction shooter, which is a genre sorely lacking on console. So while I may give this a spin, I can't see myself getting fully into at this stage. I'll need to try the beta and see for myself. But so far... YEESH.

Re: Ubisoft Free-to-Play Shooter XDefiant Is Actually Off to a Strong Start

MFTWrecks

I've been enjoying it more than recent CoDs, but then I'm the type of player who likes new maps and abilities, not the same old stuff rehashed ad nauseum the way CoD does it. No, I DON'T like playing maps I played 15 or so odd years ago, Activision. That's NOT progress to me.

So, yeah, this has been pretty decent. I just hope they fix/tweak the hit registration and weapon progression. Those are the two things I see doing some harm long-term. I also hope they have a solid pipeline of factions and maps and other content. Guess we'll see!

Re: Ubisoft Pirate Game Skull and Bones Gets Trial Version, Price Cut as Player Count Reportedly Plummets

MFTWrecks

The fact they thought players wanted a pirate game where you just (more or less) stay in your ship to do all the activities is just baffling to me. Like... it's bonkers stupid.

They had the tools and the framework to make an EPIC pirate ARPG and spin off an entirely standalone IP with it. Put it in a region of the world like the South Pacific (which I think is where this is based?) or the Caribbean (which is where I think Black Flag was based) and make it a full third-person ARPG a la AC with violence and action ON FOOT. But then throw in a fully customizable ship AND an island fortress.

Have the player build up their base of operations while they loot and pillage dozens upon dozens of small island havens. Make it MASSIVELY large. Like AC Odyssey but all island-based. No huge land masses, necessarily. Have each island have a strategic purpose. And then spin out resource/control mechanics almost like that old Scarface game. Let the player build a friggin' piracy-based empire and become lords of the sea.

It coulda been friggin' WILDLY cool. But we got... this. Ugh.

Re: XDefiant (PS5) - Solid Shooter Does Little to Stand Out, But Still Has Potential

MFTWrecks

Considering I don't think Ubisoft games or characters are nearly as iconic as Ubisoft thinks they are, I like the fact that the characters themselves are basically just generic skins. We all know if Sam or Vaas were in this, they're ALL anyone would play as. It's smart to give people generic players so that it's truly not all the same people jumping about.

As for gameplay, I think their biggest issue right now is hit detection/net code. It can feel very very hit or miss (pun intended).

A very close second is the unlocks. The cadence for them is far far far too slow. And the fact they're also tied to the gun, not the class, it's going to take players a ridiculous amount of time to make any new gun they get late into their play time (or introduced down the road) viable, which will annoy and drive players away. Why play with the newest AR and go back to basics and lose fights when ole reliable is sitting there kitted out?

Otherwise, I think it has potential. Hopefully they support this like Siege and For Honor and less like Hyper Scape.

Re: Microsoft Leadership Reportedly Want No 'Red Line' Stopping Xbox Games Coming to PS5

MFTWrecks

@HonestHick They now have a very small handful of IP that sell new games in high enough numbers to crack billions in sales (Minecraft and COD... maybe Diablo and Warcraft). But the underlying companies they purchased had been making their own mistakes for ages (especially the Blizzard IPs). The jig is up for many on the quality of Bethesda games after Starfield landed like a wet fart.

It is going to take them YEEEEEEEEEARS to make back the money they spent on the purchase.

You're not wrong in that they'll make hand over fist if they go purely software. But they spent an ungodly amount on these studios and... there's nary a system-defining or chart-crushing title among them (besides the stalwarts mentioned).

One could argue it was a really really bad purchase. If it was so great, do you think they'd be in this specific position? Because I don't.

Re: Publisher Nexon Investigating Cause of The Finals' 'Lower-Than-Expected' Performance

MFTWrecks

I simply thought it was boring and frustrating. It immediately had an annoying meta and the highly-touted destruction mechanics were buggy and did way less to impact the matches than I anticipated. Mostly, they just annoyed me when they didn't work properly and I'd have debris blocking my path or that I couldn't climb over swiftly enough.

It would rapidly swing from slow and cumbersome to so friggin' fast it made me head spin. Like it could channel Siege or Counterstrike at one moment and then Unreal Tournament the next. It felt like it didn't know what kind of shooter it wanted to be.

The fact it had no system to fill in lost allies in a match (I dunno if they ever addressed that) was also idiotic. The moment you were down a player, you knew your chances of winning were basically nil. So why bother trying? It was easier to quit because a full team steamrolled in ways that other shooters don't necessarily allow (it's far simpler to 1-man a full squad in Fortnite than it was for a team of 2 to take out a team of 3 in this, somehow).

The base gameplay was okay, at best. But the gimmick ended up being just that: too gimmicky.

I also don't think it had NEARLY enough content at launch. It got too old far too fast.

Re: Microsoft Leadership Reportedly Want No 'Red Line' Stopping Xbox Games Coming to PS5

MFTWrecks

Good. I love the deliciousness of Microsoft spending such massive amounts of money to buy up exclusives (instead of making their own games) only to pull an about face and put all their IP on the competing platforms they were trying to defeat with the purchase, anyway.

And to be clear, I'd feel the same way if this was Sony doing this and then being forced to put God of War and TLOU on Xbox. It's just such a boneheaded move that bit them in the ass. No matter who it is, I love watching big dumb corporations eat crow.

Re: Strategy Legend Jake Solomon Explains Where Marvel's Midnight Suns Went Wrong

MFTWrecks

I mean, for me it was the fact it was turn-based at all. I've never enjoyed the cognitive dissonance of watching people in a fight take turns slapping each other. It's always perplexed me.

If you're throwing me in a game with a ton of wildly fun and powerful superheroes, I don't want to watch them standing around. Period.

The moment they said it was turn-based was when I knew it wasn't for me. Had nothing to do with cards.

Re: Ubisoft Cancels Free-to-Play Shooter The Division Heartland

MFTWrecks

By all means, divert resources from a brand that is known to sell and put them toward a game nobody asked for whatsoever that will be in direct contention with thew biggest name(s) in FPS gaming.

Make it make sense, Ubisoft.

Side note: I've always felt Ubisoft had a unique opportunity with The Division. They could have made a pretty damn great battle royale/extraction shooter (the Dark Zone is arguably one of the first extraction shooters conceptually) within the universe.

Build out a giant, unique city (as in one not seen yet... like Baltimore, LA, or Vegas). Stuff it with all the great detail Snowdrop is capable of (no one has ever argued Division games look bad) and have your player character be a complete random person. Then the overall concept would be it "tells the story" of everyday survivors of the outbreak as they fight to survive in the new world. It'd be like every match is sort of in the immediate aftermath of the world collapsing and you are someone merely trying to survive it and escape before it's too late.

You start with nothing and fight to scavenge guns and whatever else. But then you can also find Division (and other enemy faction) loot caches, just like you'd find guns in chests in Fortnite or whatever, that house higher quality gear. But given the IP, THAT'S also how you find your Division tech like the sentries and rolling bombs and whatnot.

So each match, you sort of gear up and have to make an effective kit like you would over the broader course of a Division game. Have government helicopters around the map that will extract you and "save you" from the city before it's overtaken or destroyed (whatever the "story" calls for).

Throw in roaming bands of the gangs they already have (in order to steal their loot), and Division agents you can hire to fight alongside you (like Fortnite has characters who can help), and you've got the makings of a pretty damn decent multiplayer experience. Support it with cosmetics you could earn through XP or some currency so you can create a unique-looking survivor and WHAM. That's a fun time imo.

But Ubisoft doesn't create. They just copy (often poorly). So we never got THAT game. We got AC #24849873, Skull & Bones, and Hyper Scape.

Re: Warner Bros Revenue Plummets as Suicide Squad Falls Completely Short of Hogwarts Legacy

MFTWrecks

@Jdubz Or, ya know, use the IP in a way that makes sense.

Why TF would the Suicide Squad ever be set up against Brainiac AND the most powerful heroes on the planet? It's dumb even by comic book standards.

If you want a Suicide Squad game, take equal parts Ghost Recon Wildlands and the old Mercenaries IP, blend it with full four-player Suicide Squad shenanigans and crank it up with some good uber violence.

Make a game that makes more sense than a poor looter shooter grindfest.

Re: Rumour: Ubisoft Is Going All-In on Assassin's Creed with Black Flag Remake, Another Remake, Co-op Multiplayer Games, and More

MFTWrecks

Heaven forbid Ubisoft makes a new IP with the AC games as a blueprint. AC lost itself long ago with a bit here or there. But this is straight overkill. Color me uninterested.

What they SHOULD do is let the teams that make the admittedly awesome DLC into a full-on fantasy RPG series. I think with their skill at large open worlds and ARPG mechanics that they could make a Witcher-style epic if they tried.

Plus, it'd give 'em another IP to run into the ground.

Re: Talking Point: What's Next for Xbox Games on PS5, PS4?

MFTWrecks

@sentiententity Agreed. I thought they'd release more of their smaller games like Ori, or maybe even some of the console exclusives they got for Game Pass. Smaller, simpler stuff to port over (I would think). I was surprised 2 of their initial releases were larger-scale GaaS titles that themselves sort of compete with one another.

Re: PSN Data Says Foamstars' Future Is Bleak, Just Two Months After Release

MFTWrecks

Look: a tale of two pricing models.

What publishers and developers need to take from Helldivers 2 is is that live service/GaaS titles are NOT necessarily dying. The market isn't necessarily outright against them. What is against them is their egregious price gouging for worthless/trivial *****.

You can make a hit game in the space. But focus it on fun and respecting players' time and wallets and you can have a hit on your hand that exceeds all the wildest expectations.

Re: Hooray, Helldivers 2 Players Can Unlock the Game's Platinum Trophy Again

MFTWrecks

As a big Helldivers 2 fan... I loathe playing against bots. I do not find them fun to fight against. At all. It's like they're a notch or two higher in difficulty compared to the equivalent bug missions because of a whole host of BS the bots get away with like rocket sniping, tracking through objects, inconsistent damage taken from falling dropships, and a bunch more. I just truly, utterly, despise playing their missions.

Re: $70 Games Are Just a Phase, Believes Saber Interactive CEO

MFTWrecks

Wait a gosh darn minute. Are you telling me game companies are going to have to start being responsible with their money and budgets?? Nooooooooo. Could never happen!

Sarcasm aside, $70 wouldn't need to be the norm if companies making games were REMOTELY good at managing the money spent to make their games. They're (generally) horrendously managed companies who lucked into the successes they've had in the past and rarely learn how to become efficient businesses. THAT'S a big reason why game budgets have ballooned.

Re: Diablo 4 Season 4 Could Boast the Game's Biggest Improvements So Far

MFTWrecks

I ***** LOVE Diablo, but 4 left a really bad taste in my mouth. They changed the Paragon point system by hard-capping the points available. I much prefer D3's endless system that let you feel as though you were always making SOME progress. There's no carrot on the end of the stick once you max out in D4 and I think that was a bad design decision.

Obviously the other loot and XP issues and general design problems were worth critique, but it was the hard-capping that made the least sense to me.

Plus, for an "MMO-lite" they removed waaaay too much of what made D3 a fun game to play with others (gifting, trading, death demon invasions, for example). The only "improved" aspect that made it more social was running into other people and... that barely mattered.

They still have a LONG way to go, even after the loot changes, to make it feel like the sort of game they claimed they wanted it to be.