Asmongold Reacts to: Assassin's Creed Shadows DESPERATELY Wants You Back
by @gameranxTV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q5GneXwDJY
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by @gameranxTV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q5GneXwDJY
► Asmongold's Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/zackrawrr
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Channel Editors: CatDany & Daily Dose of Asmongold
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00:00Ubisoft needs a win. 2024 was not a good year for them financially. It was, uh...
00:05If you look at their chart, the red line is going down.
00:09The many of their less-than-popular design practices.
00:12When all those chickens finally, uh, came home to roost,
00:15it was the year that everyone finally decided to collectively turn on...
00:18Will you just look at this game?
00:20Came home to roost. It was the year...
00:21Look at this. What year did this come out?
00:24Uh, it might surprise you, but this actually came out in 2010.
00:28The year that everyone finally decided to collectively turn on the company,
00:31and honestly, justifiably so.
00:33Oh wait, it was six months ago.
00:33Fans have been complaining about the state of Ubisoft's formula for years.
00:37Will you continue down that river? Or choose another path?
00:41But for whatever reason, we're now at the point where those complaints have
00:45finally manifested into mainstream disinterest.
00:48Ubisoft games just aren't selling like they used to,
00:51which is a big problem for an outfit as big as Ubisoft is.
00:54They need to sell big numbers to keep...
00:56I'm probably gonna buy Ubisoft.
00:59I've been saving up three dollars,
01:01and so probably by next year I'll be able to afford it.
01:05International chain of developers working at max capacity,
01:08and those sales did not happen in 2024.
01:11It's one financial disappointment after another.
01:13Avatar, Frontiers of Pandora, Skull & Bones, Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown,
01:17Star Wars Outlaws.
01:19They all underperformed.
01:20They were.
01:21Ubisoft, and it's not necessarily those bad games.
01:24The Avatar game, surprisingly good.
01:26Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown as well.
01:28I mean it was kind of unfair to expect what they expected there,
01:30but it's a great game.
01:32The less said about Skull & Bones and Star Wars Outlaws the better right now.
01:35These are the bad ones,
01:37because the other two games were like much smaller in scope,
01:40and they cost less money.
01:41So it's like Prince of Persia probably cost like,
01:44you know, less than I'd say 20-30 million dollars to make,
01:48realistically, given the scope of it.
01:50So that doesn't really matter a whole lot,
01:52but whenever you put 100 million dollars into something,
01:55and you lose on that,
01:57that matters a lot more.
01:59Avatar is amazing.
02:01I would only want to play Avatar,
02:03if I could play as the humans,
02:05and just go shoot all of the Avatar people.
02:09I want to be the bad.
02:10I want to be the bad guy.
02:14Yeah.
02:17The situation has been so bad.
02:19They're actually considering a buyout,
02:21or selling the entire studio to whoever.
02:23They did,
02:24and this is the only time in the last year
02:26that their stock went up.
02:29Whoever is willing to pay.
02:30A recent deal with Tencent fell through,
02:33because the founders wanted to keep control of the company,
02:35and...
02:35Smart, bro.
02:36Tencent, I'm telling you guys,
02:38like these guys over in China,
02:39they know what they're doing.
02:42They say,
02:42why would I...
02:43So you want us to buy your ship,
02:46and not change the captain?
02:48But the captain is the one who keeps tipping the ship over.
02:51Why does this happen?
02:53When you're owned by somebody,
02:55that's not how it works.
02:56Yeah.
02:57So honestly,
02:58yeah, you can say,
02:59there were some big problems with some of the games.
03:01You exclude Skull and Bones,
03:03and all the games I mentioned are decent games.
03:06You exclude Star Wars Outlaws,
03:07and well,
03:08they're actually very good games.
03:09Some of the best the studios put out in years.
03:12They're finally starting to evolve their formula.
03:13The problem doesn't matter,
03:14because this game was massively overpriced.
03:18So it's like,
03:18you can win,
03:19like,
03:20so,
03:20like taking a game to market,
03:22you have like multiple factors,
03:24right?
03:24It's like timing,
03:27the game quality,
03:28the price of the game,
03:30the distribution of the game.
03:32All these things matter.
03:33And the fact is that
03:35this game was sold at such a high price range,
03:38with early access,
03:40that it alienated a large audience of people
03:42that I think,
03:43if for 20 or 30 dollars,
03:45could have truly appreciated it
03:47as a faithful recreation of Prince of Persia,
03:51in some cases,
03:52and if nothing else,
03:54just a relatively pretty good Metroidvania game.
03:57But they decided not to do that.
04:01But it's kind of too little too late.
04:02So with all that said,
04:03it is a pretty big question mark
04:06on top of the new game
04:08about the oath that murderers take.
04:11Hi folks,
04:11it's Falcon,
04:12and today on Gameranx,
04:13we're going to talk about
04:14how much is riding on Assassin's Creed Shadows?
04:17Uh,
04:18a lot.
04:19I mean,
04:20this game needs to be a success.
04:22If this game doesn't sell 5 million copies,
04:25studio's done.
04:27I think even if the game doesn't sell 10 million copies
04:30in its lifespan,
04:32it's almost like the studio's done.
04:33I think that they're too inventive.
04:34It will not.
04:36I do not think that it will.
04:39I think it's 4 to 6 million
04:41is my projection with the new game.
04:43Assassin's Creed is their premier franchise,
04:45and while Valhalla may have been responsible
04:47for a lot of fans giving up on Ubisoft
04:49in the first place,
04:50it was without a doubt a massive hit.
04:52It sold over 20 million copies
04:54and earned over a billion dollars.
04:56That's a B in revenue.
04:57That game's success has been a double-edged sword.
05:00It made a lot of money,
05:02but I mean,
05:02for,
05:03I guess,
05:04lack of a better way of putting it,
05:05it also just bludgeons you
05:06with sort of endless content.
05:08I'm using the word very deliberately here
05:10to convey what people think of the word content.
05:13I can see why for a lot of people,
05:15enough was enough.
05:16It was a game where people were finally
05:17getting fed up with the Ubi.
05:19People are just tired of clicking on a collectible
05:22and it says one of 465.
05:30That's really what it is.
05:32I think people are tired of that.
05:34This is,
05:36it's OCD bait for mental illness players.
05:40Ubisoft formula,
05:41like,
05:42full-blown.
05:42The funny thing,
05:43I don't think Valhalla is bad at all.
05:45I think it's a good game.
05:46It's just really long.
05:47It's really bloated,
05:48and it's ultimately pretty formulaic.
05:51It wears out its welcome,
05:53I guess is the way to put it.
05:54To really enjoy Valhalla,
05:55you have to play it until you're sick of it,
05:57and then put it down for like a week,
05:59and then play it until you're sick of it,
06:01and then put it down for like a week.
06:02And you're going to do that at least twice.
06:04You're going to put it down for a week
06:06at least twice while playing it
06:07to really enjoy the game,
06:08which is not good.
06:09The game was an endurance test.
06:11It did not do enough to advance
06:13Assassin's Creed as a series.
06:15Shadows,
06:16Assassin's Creed Shadows,
06:17the new one,
06:18is supposed to be that evolution.
06:20The game where Ubisoft finally innovates
06:22their stale gameplay systems,
06:24and updates all the tired cliches.
06:26I don't know if it's actually going to or not,
06:28but from all the previews going around...
06:30I mean, like,
06:30this is Assassin's Creed,
06:32and part of the Assassin's Creed game
06:34is a house building simulator
06:36where you can pick the color of dog
06:38that you want in your house.
06:39This is very problematic.
06:44Huh?
06:46Huh?
06:46Huh?
06:50And all the pre-release information,
06:51it does seem like Ubisoft
06:53really wants us to think of this game
06:55as a new beginning for the series.
06:56It's not just that Assassin's Creed Shadows
06:58desperately wants us back either.
07:00It needs us back.
07:02The future of the entire company is right.
07:03Well, you need to have a cool main character
07:05to be able to play the game.
07:07Well, you need to have a cool main character.
07:10And Yasuke, there's no real personality
07:12behind the character that's...
07:14Like, if you look at Ezio,
07:16like the old Assassin's Creed character,
07:18if you ask every 15-year-old guy,
07:22does this dude look cool?
07:23Everybody's gonna be like,
07:24yeah, he's so cool, right?
07:26But, and it's like,
07:27because there's a degree of kind of,
07:30what's the word for it?
07:31Like, there's gravitas to it.
07:34And just like his expression on his face,
07:37the way he's dressed, everything about it,
07:40it indicates a certain type of personality
07:43and a vibe to it, right?
07:45And with Yasuke,
07:46I feel like they haven't really done that
07:48hardly at all.
07:49And I think the reason why is that
07:51I think that if they give the character
07:53too much of a personality,
07:54it could seem like it's antithetical
07:56to him being a Japanese person.
07:59And if they don't give him enough,
08:01then it's like a boring character.
08:02So they're in like this really weird spot.
08:04Yasuke no Aura.
08:05Yeah, he just doesn't have Aura, exactly.
08:07Like there are characters like,
08:08you know, Senator Armstrong,
08:11fucking like Heisman in metaphor,
08:14like Luis in metaphor, right?
08:16Like that's Aura.
08:17Like this is an Aura.
08:19This is like whatever the opposite of Aura is.
08:24Yosemitsu, yeah.
08:27Yeah, Henry.
08:28Yeah, Henry and fucking,
08:30what's his name?
08:30The guy with him, Hans.
08:33Yeah, Clive has Aura.
08:34Duke Nukem has Aura.
08:36Yeah.
08:37On this game,
08:38it has to make a splash or else.
08:41And there's a certain desperation
08:42around the release of this game
08:43that you usually do not see from Ubisoft.
08:46They push it back to March 20th
08:48in order to release the game with no competition.
08:50They're offering DLC with pre-orders.
08:52They're finally releasing day one on Steam again.
08:57That's a roach play.
08:59They're roaching.
09:00You can tell, right?
09:02The fact that they have their own system
09:04and they're still going back to Steam.
09:06Yep.
09:31A hundred different things I could point to right now
09:34of people who just refuse to learn the lesson.
09:37Just do what people want you to do and it'll work.
09:40So I just do the thing and make the game good.
09:43That's the crazy thing with Marvel rivals.
09:46They just did the thing and they made the game good.
09:50Stop putting things.
09:51I think that also like a lot of players
09:53are becoming fatigued
09:55with live service retention mechanisms.
09:59Things like daily quests,
10:01things like login counters, stuff like that.
10:05I think that that's beginning to fatigue a lot of players.
10:10Marvel rivals devs got fired.
10:12Yeah, but like, I mean, I'm going to be honest.
10:14I really feel bad for them
10:15and I think that sucks on a personal level.
10:18But like, I don't give a fuck how they run their company.
10:20That's not my problem.
10:20I just play the game.
10:23Like, I mean, Samsung wants to use child laborers
10:25to make a new fucking phone.
10:27That sounds great.
10:28How much is it?
10:28Oh, it's only a thousand dollars.
10:29Great.
10:30Wow.
10:31Thank God for cobalt miners.
10:33I mean, that's not my problem.
10:37I mean, to some extent,
10:39we do have to look at this as an aberrant situation.
10:41Nobody cares.
10:42Desperation or no, I don't really care why.
10:44They're doing what we want them to do, at least.
10:46So let's at least hear them out.
10:48Is your honest?
10:49Yeah, I'm, everybody feels the way that I do,
10:53but some people like to pretend that they don't
10:55in order to, you know, make themselves sound good.
10:59But I think that their actions, actions are what matter.
11:03Not words.
11:05They're trying to do is show.
11:06They're pretty serious about PC support on top of just
11:10straight up releasing the game on steam.
11:12Day one.
11:13They recently put out a trailer specifically to show
11:15off all the PC support features,
11:17including the stuff you'd expect,
11:18like access to all the AI upscaling tools and ray tracing
11:22features.
11:22But they also mentioned stuff like built in benchmarking
11:25tools and a wide range does look good.
11:26By the way, medium end systems game looks good,
11:28meaning optimization, perhaps low.
11:31I mean, does this really look that much different?
11:36I mean, I guess a little bit.
11:39I don't know.
11:40We'll see.
11:40Like, am I crazy for thinking that?
11:44Like, maybe this is going to be a really hot take,
11:48but I think this is the beginning of the exponential
11:52growth curve of graphic quality leveling off.
11:57I think we've hit the 80 20 rule right here.
12:03Probably 90 10.
12:05They could make games that look like this for the next
12:0810 years, and as long as they play well,
12:11people aren't going to complain.
12:15Graphics have hit a threshold to where they are basically
12:18good enough.
12:21Perhaps.
12:22I don't know.
12:22We'll see.
12:23But another highly requested feature.
12:26Yeah, immersive mode where you can set it so that
12:29characters actually speak their native language.
12:36It's just an option.
12:38Default looks way hotter in that local languages,
12:41but it's a welcome feature.
12:42I'll probably play it in English.
12:43If I'm completely honest, assuming there's a second
12:47time, I'll probably go through with immersive mode.
12:50But for AC fan, Shadow sounds on paper like the game
12:53we've all been waiting for.
12:54A game set in Japan with more complex stealth systems,
12:57visceral combat.
12:59It promises an immersive open world with things like
13:02changing.
13:02I just can't think of a single action combat game that's
13:05come out in the last two years.
13:07That's as bad as this.
13:09Like, basically, every single action combat game that
13:12comes out is better than this.
13:14I mean, I would say that.
13:16I mean, maybe this is better a little bit than Veil Guard.
13:19I'm going to focus on actual investigation where you
13:24don't just find your target simply by following a series
13:26of linear quests, but actually searching the world and
13:28discovering things naturally on paper.
13:31Sounds like the Dream Assassin's Creed game, right?
13:33But what matters is the implementation.
13:35We've seen Ghost of Tsushima already.
13:37This is what I need to play.
13:38In a lot of ways, I am describing Ghost of Tsushima.
13:41On that same hand, it's also pretty hard not to be
13:44cynical about a new game from Ubisoft, which is one of
13:46the most cynical game developers out there.
13:48But from everything I have seen, this new game does look
13:51like a genuine step up for the series, perhaps even a big
13:55one, but whether it's big or not.
13:56I don't see how you can say that after watching the
13:59combat in the game.
14:02I don't.
14:04I've looked at the combat in the game, and as somebody who
14:07spends a lot of time evaluating that, and that is my prime
14:10focus of gameplay, I don't agree with that conclusion.
14:15The combat before was worse.
14:17That doesn't really matter to me.
14:20Like what matters is like what it's competing against in
14:22the contemporary market.
14:25Is yet to be seen.
14:26A lot of what they've shown so far is pretty exciting.
14:29Almost all the changes to stealth sound like huge
14:32improvements.
14:32Finally being able to hide in darkness, noise being a
14:36concern with things like creaky floors and being able to
14:39crawl and go prone.
14:46I will admit, though, that is clean.
14:48Like, that's really good.
14:52It's all very intriguing, and these are long requested
14:54changes.
14:55You can put out lights like in Splinter Cell or even just
14:59stuff that existed on PlayStation and Nintendo 64.
15:03I don't know why.
15:04For whatever reason, you can't put lights out.
15:06I don't understand that.
15:07I like that you're going to be able to do it here, though.
15:10There's servant NPCs.
15:12They'll run and call guards if they see you.
15:14It all sounds a lot more complex.
15:16And even like I kind of mentioned old school, like
15:20there's stuff here that reminds me of like PlayStation
15:23one and 64 to PlayStation two and Gamecube era stuff.
15:27I like that combat looks more intense here, too.
15:30They're clearly taking inspiration from, and I
15:32mentioned this already, the more fast and brutal fights
15:35of Ghost of Tsushima.
15:37I do.
15:37I just like, can we go back and watch that again?
15:40PlayStation one and 64 to PlayStation two and Gamecube
15:45era stuff.
15:46I like that combat looks more intense here.
15:49I've seen Unreal five tech demos that are more responsive
15:52and better than this.
15:58This is a joke.
16:02Every single gotcha game is better than this.
16:05Two, they're clearly taking inspiration from, and I mentioned
16:10this already, the more fast and brutal fights of Ghost of
16:13Tsushima.
16:14I do kind of think they realized they were out assassins
16:17created by that game, but they aren't just trying to, you
16:20know, copy that.
16:22They're also giving us a much wider array of weapons to
16:25play with, which potentially I think makes that fast and
16:28brutal combat a lot cooler sounding.
16:30The thing a lot of people still aren't into is the fact
16:33a lot of people still aren't entirely sold on are the split
16:36protagonists.
16:37There's now the shinobi and Yasuke the samurai.
16:42Now I basically play as like your old school AC protagonist
16:46where sneaking around rooftops, sneakily stabbing people.
16:49Yasuke is a big bruiser who sucks his stealth, but excels
16:52at combat.
16:53It's an interesting concept.
16:55And from all the previews, I actually respect they're trying
16:58to make each character actually play differently rather than
17:00just be reskins.
17:02That's smart.
17:03Yeah, true.
17:12But also Yasuke, the sort of big bruiser style, it makes the
17:16game sound less interesting mechanically.
17:18I don't know that that's the truth, of course, but now way
17:21gets access to all the cool ninja tools like a grappling
17:25hook.
17:26She can run on walls, hide in tight spaces, all these
17:29interesting tricks.
17:36Well, Yasuke allegedly can just kill stuff better.
17:40He's the melee.
17:42Yeah, that's what I want to play.
17:46Yep, that's right.
17:49I don't give a fuck about how many flips she can do.
17:52If I want to see that, I go watch the Olympics.
17:54It's like Ubisoft is afraid to make a game where you just play
17:57as a ninja in Assassin's Creed.
17:59They have to have a warrior in there somewhere for people who
18:01want to run around killing everything without having.
18:03So this guy actually brings up a really great point.
18:07And I think that this point of view is something that Ubisoft
18:11needs to take consideration into, especially for the fact
18:13that like Assassin's Creed, I don't like stealth games.
18:18Straight up.
18:19I don't.
18:20I don't find them fun.
18:21So in a way, Assassin's Creed as a game, if it appeals to me,
18:26it's losing its grasp on its original identity.
18:29Does that make sense?
18:30Because by appealing to a person that is not interested in
18:33these kinds of games, then it would be obvious that they're
18:37trying to like, I think they did this with Valhalla, right?
18:40And I noticed this a lot because I watched Shroud play it, and
18:43Shroud wasn't sneaking around that much, right?
18:45He was just killing people.
18:46And I was like, well, this isn't really, this isn't really
18:49I was like, well, this isn't really, is this really Assassin's
18:53Creed? Like, what is this?
18:55And so now they've created an audience of people that want
18:59to play because like Valhalla was the last big one, right?
19:03And so they want to capitalize off of that audience that
19:06they brought in.
19:07But I think also at the same time, it's going to be hard for
19:10them to reconcile their original audience and make it basically
19:14also an Assassin's Creed game with assassinations.
19:16You see kind of what my point is, right?
19:18Where you're trying to have your cake and eat it, too, with
19:20like both different audiences.
19:22You want the traditional action combat audience, but you also
19:25want the audience of people that like the more Assassin
19:28gameplay.
19:30And so I think that as a long term fan of Assassin's Creed, I
19:33could feel very frustrated about this.
19:35If I was one, I'm not.
19:39To worry about the boring stealth crap, which I mean to at
19:42least some extent I get.
19:43I do kind of understand the thought process here.
19:46I don't hate the idea of getting the options.
19:49I just worry about one of those options, making it so that
19:53the development of both of those options was effort diverted
19:57that could have been put into one thing that would have been
20:00better.
20:00I guess that's actually a great point that he's bringing up is
20:03that he's absolutely right that by adding in two protagonists
20:06and by doing that, you're spending development time on
20:09something that you could have created the ninja experience
20:13and made it even better.
20:14That's a great point.
20:17Our way is fantastic.
20:20It doesn't really matter to me.
20:21That's who I will play as.
20:22And to be frank, Yasuke does at least seem to have some
20:26interesting skills.
20:26He can smash through walls.
20:28For instance, he can shoulder check enemies off cliffs, got
20:31a more traditional combat system with the parry and block
20:34button.
20:34He's got access to a traditional Samurai sword along with some
20:38bigger weapons like the Naginata and the Kanabo, the giant
20:41cudgel that can smash through the mace.
20:44Yasuke might sound a little bit like easy mode even, but
20:47they're attempting to balance him out by making it so he
20:49absolutely sucks at stealth.
20:50Climbing is slow and awkward, and don't even think about
20:53trying to use tight robes because they're just going to
20:55snap with the weight.
20:56His animations play up the fact that he is not built for
20:59stealth, which is both kind of interesting and potentially
21:02pretty limiting.
21:03His stealth basically begins and ends with the bow, which is
21:07a silent kill weapon that he has access to that Naoe doesn't.
21:11She can be worse in combat, but she actually sounds more
21:14unique and interesting as a character to play as, at least
21:16from the previews.
21:17Instead of the standard parry, she has deflect where she
21:20repositions after well-timed block, moving around to attack
21:22the enemy from behind.
21:24But that leaves her vulnerable.
21:26I mean, to be fair, you did just see the frame fuck up there.
21:29That was not very good.
21:31It sounds like the guys you fight are going to be more
21:34aggressive in general, too.
21:35They're not afraid to gang up on you, and they can probably
21:38easily overwhelm the much squishier but stealthier Naoe.
21:42Shadows might be able to modernize the formula in a lot
21:45of ways, but it's also bringing back a few old gameplay
21:48staples of the series.
21:50For one thing, you can no longer climb absolutely everything.
21:53Certain mountains and smooth surfaces can't be climbed.
21:56You need an actual handhold to get anywhere in AC Shadows,
22:00and honestly, that should allow for more interesting and
22:03complex world design just because it works in Breath of
22:06the Wild doesn't mean it works everywhere.
22:08Sometimes the limitation is good, and I think that in terms
22:11I mean, Sekiro had that in a lot of cases, and it worked
22:14fine.
22:15I feel like there's not really a right or wrong way to do it,
22:19but if you do it the right way, or sorry, if you're doing it
22:22the right way is understanding what you're doing and doing
22:24it well.
22:26Bastion's Creed, that limitation is it's necessary.
22:28It's a design.
22:28You can't just go wherever you want anymore.
22:30That allows designers to come up with more carefully curated
22:34locations that are more rewarding to explore.
22:37Seasons could also affect level design, like winter freezes
22:39that can be walked on.
22:41I've seen some previews that are skeptical about the whole
22:43weather system, saying it doesn't seem to change much in
22:46terms of gameplay, which may be true, but it seems like these
22:48seasons are more like measurements of time rather than
22:50strictly a gameplay thing.
22:52See, the seasons in the game, tying this whole scout mechanic
22:55where you can recruit scouts to do various things for you.
22:58They can be used to help narrow down objectives in the game.
23:01See, this is the kind of stuff that I feel like in a lot of
23:04these games, like you're just adding in a bunch of these
23:07features and functions that the game has.
23:10Like, so you have like Assassin's Creed and you have this
23:14narrow game, like in some cases.
23:17And I think that they try to broaden the game.
23:19And at a certain point, the game loses its identity and it's
23:23just another like piece of slop.
23:26Like, why do we have, why do you need scouts?
23:29Like, why is this system exist?
23:31Like, and you ask yourself the question.
23:33The important thing is that why is there, why is the design
23:38made in a way that scouts feel like they're necessary?
23:44And I think that like, it was really illuminating for me to
23:46go back and play games like Metal Gear Rising Revengeance or
23:51like Ninja Gaiden Black.
23:54These are just very narrow, great games.
23:57Assassin's, or Armored Core 6, another great example.
24:00You don't need to do everything.
24:03Not every game needs to have a building simulator.
24:07Not every game needs to have a collection system.
24:10Not every game needs to have a costume functionality.
24:15And so you see games that are just becoming larger and larger
24:19in scope because they want to include more types of audiences.
24:23But the fact is that I think in a lot of these cases, does
24:27this feature really improve the quality of the game?
24:30Does it really make the game better?
24:32And I think in a lot of cases nowadays with AAA games, the
24:36answer to that is really no.
24:38And sometimes less is more.
24:41And I think the best example of that is Sekiro or Armored
24:45Core 6, one of those two games.
24:47These are narrow, great, amazing experiences that don't
24:52have a million other functionalities that have nothing
24:55to do with the core gameplay experience.
24:59And I think also that that broadening of scope is what's
25:03led to the price and the ballooning of the cost to make
25:09video games.
25:10Because now video games are so expensive to make.
25:13Well, yeah, I wonder if they'd be any cheaper if you stopped
25:16creating all these unnecessary systems that the player doesn't
25:20really want to, like they don't really add anything, any real
25:23substance or texture to the game.
25:26They're just there for the sake of being there.
25:29You can look at Monster Hunter as a great example of a game
25:31incorporating extra systems that actually did add to the
25:33core gameplay loop.
25:34Yeah, and there are some examples of it working well.
25:38Yeah, replaces design with content.
25:40I really like that point of view.
25:42That's a great way of saying it.
25:44It replaces genuine game design with quote content.
25:48Yes, absolutely.
25:50Doesn't tell you their exact location, so I need it, though.
25:53Yeah, to smuggle supply caches from well-guarded locations.
25:57Once you use a scout to smuggle stuff that can't be used again
26:00until the season passes, which is.
26:14What is this shit?
26:16What the shit?
26:20When all the scouts complete their jobs, how the open world
26:23exploration works.
26:25Sounds like they took exploration mode from the RPG trilogy
26:28and expanded on that.
26:30Getting around isn't about following simple waypoints.
26:33You're given descriptions of where to go, or you might need
26:36to find clues to direct you to the proper area to continue.
26:39It sounds like you'll almost always have access to all the
26:42clues you need to get the targets or just uncover a point
26:45of interest, but you can also send scouts in the world map to
26:48find things for you.
26:49The more scouts spent, the larger radius of the area searched.
26:53Resources the scouts can collect can be used back at the
26:55hideout, which is a customizable location.
26:58You can build structures that.
27:09What the fuck?
27:15Who asked for this?
27:17What the fuck is this?
27:22Boost your characters or unlock new features.
27:26The Ravens Thorpe from Valhalla.
27:29Only you can control where the buildings go, and you can
27:31design and decorate the place as much as you want.
27:34Another big change is that they're finally removing the
27:36bird drone from the RPG trilogy.
27:38It was an impressive graphical flex in Origins, but somebody's
27:41got a you've got a you've got maybe a five head long term
27:44four dimensional chess opinion here.
27:48You're missing the big thing.
27:49They have made the last few Assassin's Creed games.
27:52This bloated intentionally to extend how long people subscribe
27:55to Ubisoft Plus for.
27:58I hate the fact that you're probably right.
28:00I hate that.
28:01Like, it's actually just some bullshit like that.
28:05That's that's so fucking annoying to me.
28:09Great point.
28:10Yeah, it was.
28:10That was a great point, but it was so powerful.
28:13There was never any reason not to use it, and actually going
28:16around marking everyone was slow and tedious.
28:19It made the first part of sneaking into any given location
28:22a chore.
28:22You had to hunt down and mark everything.
28:24Shadows removes the system and replaces it with Observe, which
28:27is the same thing, only a little weaker.
28:29Serves the same function.
28:31Marks points of interest and flags enemies, but you're stuck
28:34on the ground to do it.
28:35And specifically, Yasuke's version of is more limited.
28:38He can only mark a few guys.
28:39Well, now it gets extra skills, like being able to mark enemies
28:42through walls.
28:43The biggest concern with Shadows is if all these changes are
28:46actually enough.
28:47Some of the previews I've seen make it not.
28:49These are not.
28:50This is not.
28:57This is about the game.
28:58Like, this is the kind of stuff.
29:00Like, I feel like this is such a great metaphor for what I think
29:05happens with, like, a lot of companies and probably what
29:07happens.
29:07It's like it's basically you have, like, it's like the opposite
29:10of entropy, right?
29:11Where, like, you just have, like, this snowball effect where,
29:14like, more begets more begets more begets more.
29:21Like, this plays mostly the same as the old.
29:24It's not content.
29:24It's chores.
29:25Maybe the mechanics don't really shake things up enough.
29:28I've read other previews that are a lot more glowing and
29:30appreciative of what's going on in Shadows right now.
29:33It's really hard to say whether you turn things around here
29:36or not.
29:37A lot of the features do look suspiciously similar to previous
29:40games appears to be random.
29:42Again, the investigation system seems very similar to hunting
29:46the order from Valhalla, and there's still tons of resource
29:49you have to collect to up being random as a retention mechanic.
29:53That's it.
29:53That's what it is.
29:54I mean, I mean, I don't have really a huge problem with it,
29:59but it is, again, another retention mechanic.
30:02It's just okay.
30:02Well, now you have to farm more randomized loot in a single
30:06player game.
30:07I don't think it's really always bad, but it's just like
30:12it's like there's just a lot, right?
30:14Just a lot of these little things like little.
30:17There's experience levels and assassinations that can fail
30:21like in recent RPG games.
30:23And if you're not high enough level, it looks like you only
30:25do partial damage.
30:28I saw you coming when attempting to use stealth kills.
30:32A lot of what we're getting here looks very similar to what
30:35we've seen in other Assassin's Creed games in terms of
30:37controls in the basic gameplay loop, but more options for
30:40stealth, more complex levels and improved combat.
30:43It has the potential to be the best Assassin's Creed game
30:46yet.
30:46Like hunting has potential to be.
30:48So you think it has potential to be better than Black Flag
30:51or Odyssey?
30:52I don't know about that.
30:53I mean, I guess there's a lot of things that have potential,
30:59right?
30:59But I mean, we're going to have to wait and see what happens.
31:02Potentials.
31:03That word's doing a lot of heavy lifting.
31:05Let's say that.
31:09The order from Valhalla doesn't necessarily have to be bad.
31:13Like certain contexts could make that mechanic good or at
31:17least better than in Valhalla.
31:19It's not like it was terrible in Valhalla or anything, but I
31:22think the context really does have a lot of effect.
31:24And I'm not sure I'm sold on the split protagonist entirely.
31:28The story kind of looks, I mean, from what we've currently
31:31seen, a bit bland and uninteresting.
31:33There is.
31:34It will be.
31:36Yeah, it will be.
31:38Potential.
31:38I'm not going to lie.
31:39I can see that in terms of narrative.
31:42It's just I'm not sure we've seen it.
31:43I'm not looking forward to the damn Animus hub.
31:46We're already stuck with the crappy Ubisoft launcher on PC.
31:49I don't understand why we need another piece of bloatware to
31:51get between us and playing the game.
31:53I know.
31:53Yeah, I'm very much the mindset that nowadays if a game requires
31:58me to download a separate launcher for it and make another
32:04account, unless it's a game I really want to play, I'll just
32:09play another game.
32:13It's annoying, right?
32:15It's just annoying.
32:17It's not even about anything else or anything complex.
32:21I just don't want to deal with it.
32:23I lose interest immediately.
32:24Yeah, it's just obnoxious.
32:26It's friction at stage one.
32:27Yeah, exactly.
32:29Ubisoft wants to upsell this concept, but I don't care.
32:32It sounds stupid and pointless no matter how they try to spin it.
32:35Anyone who's gotten the opportunity to experience the joy of trying
32:38to play a Call of Duty game knows how absolutely awful these kinds
32:42of unified launchers can be.
32:44They just make trying to actually play a game more annoying, like
32:48trying to quarantine off the modern day storyline bits into this
32:51thing makes the modern day story stuff even more inconsequential.
32:55This is one idea that really should have been jettisoned with
32:57their plans for whatever Assassin's Creed Infinite was originally
33:00going to be.
33:01Maybe by some miracle, the Animus hub won't be absolutely terrible
33:05and it'll just be unnecessary.
33:06But with so much riding on this one game's success, trying to
33:09force something nobody wants into the package seems a little
33:13counterproductive.
33:13But that's Ubisoft for you.
33:15It seems like they're incapable of just doing it right.
33:17Even if all the signs point to the game being good, they got to
33:20throw in some bullshit.
33:22It's disappointing because otherwise everything else about
33:24Shadows looks and sounds pretty promising.
33:27A longtime fan of the series.
33:29It looks okay.
33:30Yeah.
33:31I mean, like the graphics for the game look decent in some cases.
33:36Like, I think this game is going to be like avowed.
33:40I think that's going to be like the quality level of the game.
33:45Who both likes the game and is well aware of the flaws, the many
33:50varied flaws.
33:51It's possible Shadows could be the revitalization of the series
33:55that it needs.
33:56The developers behind Assassin's Creed Shadows really want to
33:59bring fans back.
34:00And at least looking at the previews, all the information
34:02they've released so far looks like they're doing the right
34:05things.
34:05But also you can't really say that for sure until you played
34:13the game.
34:14We'll see if this is the game mainstream audiences really want
34:17or if the page is really finally starting to turn on open world
34:20games.
34:20It's a volatile mark.
34:21It's not turning on open world games.
34:23Absolutely not.
34:26See, this is the same mindset that people had before Marvel
34:32rivals came out.
34:34Hero shooters are dead.
34:35No creativity in hero shooters is dead.
34:40Quality in hero shooters is dead.
34:43Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is a massive open world game.
34:45It's already sold 2 million copies.
34:48It's bullshit.
34:52And games that traditionally were surefire hits are underperforming
34:56right now.
34:57It's not even just games like large entertainment properties
35:00that were once guaranteed hits regardless of quality across
35:04the board, whether it's Marvel movies or Indiana Jones and the
35:09Dial of Destiny or the second joke.
35:11Because these movies are garbage.
35:13That's the reason why they're not popular.
35:15It's because they suck.
35:18And they're just they're basically rehashes that the studio
35:21has only greenlit because it's behind an IP that they think
35:24they can sell merchandise for that will offset the bad sales
35:28of the movie.
35:30That's the reason.
35:32The second Joker is horrid.
35:34I've not heard a single good thing about Joker 2.
35:38I didn't even watch it.
35:42Audiences are not quite automatically sold on big.
35:46Like, unless you're Call of Duty, there's no certainty of
35:49success.
35:50And even if you're Call of Duty, there's not certainty of
35:52success.
35:53I think that the new Call of Duty, I think Black Ops, I actually
35:57think that it was really well received.
35:58It seemed like it feels like a lot of people like, yeah, it's
36:02not.
36:02I mean, it's not Modern Warfare 2, right?
36:03But it's pretty good.
36:06What I just said should make Call of Duty fairly nervous.
36:10Assassin's Creed Shadows could turn out to be a good game, even
36:13a great one, but it still might not be enough to turn Ubisoft's
36:16fortunes around.
36:18For me, all I really care about is good games.
36:21The business aspect of this is a curiosity, something interesting
36:24to follow and talk about.
36:26But for me, ultimately, I would rather see a struggling Ubisoft
36:30make a great game over a dominant Ubisoft making a bunch of
36:33mediocre slot.
36:34That's what I think, too.
36:37I think that we really have to turn our hopes towards a handful
36:41of AAA studios and a larger handful of dedicated and singular
36:49and focused AA studios.
36:52And I think also towards indie developers in order for them to
36:55really innovate in gaming right now.
36:58Why would you play this when Ghost of Tsushima is out?
37:00Well, I mean, that's a great question.
37:04We don't know exactly what Shadows is going to be, whether that
37:08is a great game or unfortunately, the possibility of it being
37:12mediocre slob is there, but they definitely want the game to be
37:16a success.
37:16And we'll see if they pull it off.
37:18Either way, you can just use Ubisoft Plus.
37:20It's on there day one, and that's a whole lot cheaper than actually
37:23buying the game.
37:24So if you're curious, just do that.
37:26That's all for today.
37:27Leave us a comment.
37:27Let us know what you think.
37:28If you like this video, click like if you're not subscribed.
37:31Now's a great time to do so.
37:32We upload brand new videos every day of the week.
37:34Best way to see them first is, of course, a subscription.
37:36So click subscribe.
37:37Don't forget to enable notifications.
37:39And as always, thank you very much for watching this video.
37:41I'm Falcon.
37:42You can follow me on Twitter and book me on Cameo at Falcon the
37:45Hero.
37:46We'll see you next time right here on Gameranx.
37:49I feel like that was a really fair video.
37:52I do in some cases, but I think that also like this is clearly
37:57from the perspective of someone who really wants this game to
38:00succeed.
38:02I am very much like I'm the kind of guy that I want to play a
38:06very good game.
38:08But the combat and the gameplay that I've seen from this, I think
38:11is below average.
38:13And I think that if you have something like this happen.
38:16And people see this combat, it's going to be like I can only
38:22imagine it's going to be like Star Wars Outlaw, like whenever
38:25it came out.
38:26And then everybody was posting videos of like, where did she
38:30go?
38:31Where did she go?
38:32And then she hits him in the head.
38:34She punches him in his metal helmet, and he's dead.
38:37Uh huh.
38:38Okay, sure.
38:39And then where did she go?
38:41Where did she go?
38:42Oh, you know, that's it.
38:44It's crazy.
38:44It looks bad even by modern modern Assassin's Creed standards.
38:48Well, I don't know about that.
38:49I would say that the the graphics quality and everything in the
38:52game looks pretty decent.
38:53That's my opinion.
38:54I think this is a high quality, great graphical setting.
38:57And I think this definitely passes the test.
39:01If graphics never improved past this, I would think that we're
39:04okay.
39:05So that's the way I see it.
39:06And it's decent.
39:08Yeah, it looks okay.
39:09It's not that bad.
39:10Basic Black Flag combat was basic as fuck.
39:12This looks 100 times better.
39:14Um, okay.
39:17Well, I guess we're gonna have to wait and see.
39:19And also, the game is not competing against Black Flag.
39:24It's competing against Sekiro.
39:26It's competing against Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yotai.
39:29It's competing against, you know, like whatever the new, like,
39:34I don't know, Phantom Blade Zero.
39:35Yeah, it's competing against that.
39:37Like, it's not competing against a 10-year-old game.
39:40Wukong.
39:41Yeah, Black Myth Wukong Neo.
39:43Yeah, so like Rise of the Ronin, another one.
39:46And so these, you can't say this is better than a 10-year-old
39:51game when you're trying to compete against new games.
39:54Like, that's it.
39:55Whoever said that's delusional as fuck?
39:56Black Flag's combat is 100 times more satisfying.
39:58And then also, that's another big component, is that having
40:02satisfying combat is better than having in-depth combat.
40:06Like, there are a lot of games that have, like, very, very
40:09base level of combat, but they're still very fun to play.
40:14I don't want current video game graphics to get much better.
40:16It's going to be as good as it is for many years.
40:18I want to focus on more content and bigger game environments,
40:21more story and features.
40:23I think the problem that they're going to start running into,
40:26and what I want to see the focus be put on, is a lower price point.
40:32Or at least a consistent price point.
40:35Because I think a huge problem right now in games
40:38is that they're just getting too expensive.
40:42And these games are becoming more and more expensive.
40:46And the scope of the games is growing more and more.
40:49And the process of that, I think that the outcome of that,
40:53is that the games have ended up just being too big to succeed.
40:57That's it.
40:59It's just they're too expensive for people to play,
41:02especially when there's so many negative people about the game.
41:05Like, I think Avowed is a great example of this.
41:09It's actually going...
41:11Oh my god.
41:14It's peaked.
41:20There's no way.
41:21There's no way tomorrow it's...
41:23Oh, let me link you guys the video, by the way.
41:25I forgot to do that.
41:27Yeah, that's nuts.