Skull and bones to have a " historical " setting?

[Pieter Boelen]

Because I think there has to be a reason why only indie-developers attempt it, aside from the whole "SP-games can't be controlled by DRM"-argument. And we have gorgeous games like Tempest, Blackwake and Naval Action, while the latter seems to be screw itself over by questionable development-decisions.
All done by small teams.

You can add @Captain Murphy and @Flannery to that list; they definitely try to do it right. And in their spare time, no less!
It's definitely possible, that's for sure. But it's not an easy thing. Partly because of the technical aspects, but moreso because of political ones.

There are great pirate-games out there. But most of them hinder themselves with unlucky decisions and ballast, sadly.

True; the amount of wasted potential is really unfortunate. But what could be done about it?
I honestly don't know, because complaining to the developers is not likely to help.
And complaining here means that the only developers who are likely to see it, are @Captain Murphy and/or @Flannery.
But those are the two who I know really DO want to do this genre justice and who really DON'T need discouragement...

 

[Dat Scharger]

I'm already happy if a game doesn't force you to use only one ship through the whole game and offers you different types to chose (steal) from, with ship battles to boot.

Oh, and which also doesn't force you in an online-environment.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'm already happy if a game doesn't force you to use only one ship through the whole game and offers you different types to chose (steal) from, with ship battles to boot.

Oh, and which also doesn't force you in an online-environment.

There are plenty of games that do at least that, I think. The whole Akella series, for example.
They may not be 100% stable and perfect; but as far as I know, they're probably around 95% playable.
So if you can work around the limitations that do exist, there's a lot to be gained.

 

[Navegador]

Like maybe whaling?

I prefer being a trader and adventurer myself.

Hook

I was thinking more on the old company/Kings men concept, something like in character type, a Drake, a De Ruyter, a Da Gama, a Morgan, even if some of these were highly controversial. So bigger then action/pirate and more of a freelancer adventurer and explorer that could branch out in a number of other paths.

@ Pieter...the only issues is the Akella games have aged a bit over the year's

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@ Pieter...the only issues is the Akella games have aged a bit over the year's

Oh well, at least they exist.

 

[Dat Scharger]

Alrighty then, I've checked Google again and what I've found, doesn't really appeal to me. :/
From all the statements, it seems that Ubisoft doesn't really have an idea on what to do with it.
First of all, I don't like the "Games as a service"-idea, which already made Microsoft fell on its face. When I hear that they intend to build up the story over months, and even years, then I pretty much imagine that you reach the end of the current storyline very fast and then go into pvp because there's nothing else to do and have to wait months for the continuation.

Then they avoid the question on what and how the SP is going to be with vague answers or talk around it in a weird way, so you don't really have an idea on how the SP will look like. But it's correct, there will be indeed a SP-campaign which can be played entirely alone.
But they mention in the same breath, that they want to weave the narrative into the MP (However that's supposed to work) and that you have to fight against real characters - what that means? Historical pirates as bots or other players? Do you have to go into pvp to continue with the plot? No idea.

Overall I get the impression that Ubisoft doesn't know what they want.

 

[Cerez]

Pieter...the only issues is the Akella games have aged a bit over the year's

Oh well, at least they exist.

Aged or not -- I actually prefer low-poly games with wonderfully handpainted textures, stylistically, and games where the gameplay mechanics are more straightforward -- with bugs and all, they can still provide an innovative, amazing, immersive experience. I wouldn't trade CT and its colourful horizon for the world! It inspired me, won my heart (pretty recently, actually, way past its golden years), and it will stay with me forever. You can pry it from my cold dead hands! (There's something special about the personal, retro experience.)

There are some games that just last, and the declining quality of big-budget games, both in terms of gameplay quality and art merit, as well as the rich, long history in gaming we now have, is giving way now to a wide range of different games and preferences among players, including old-school titles being revived. It's really starting to come down to a personal choice -- even age seems to matter little. At least that's how I feel about it. I've been finding inspiring games I've never played from the past, and playing them for the first time with much immersion and excitement -- titles even before my time! Let that rum age, I say -- it'll still taste just as good the first time you open it (provided Thrifty here hasn't cheated me out of it in the meantime)!


"You'll be walking the plank one of these days, Thrifty, I swear you'll be walking the plank..."

Overall I get the impression that Ubisoft doesn't know what they want.

That sounds about right. They (their executives/producers) know what money they want, not what they want in a game, artistically speaking, or what a game even really stands for...

 

[Cerez]

Here's a brief glimpse into Ubisoft, behind the scenes:

Content warning: offensive language used.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Here's a brief glimpse into Ubisoft, behind the scenes:

Just watched it. Does not sound awesome.
But after everything I've seen, something like that wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Cerez]

Just watched it. Does not sound awesome.
But after everything I've seen, something like that wouldn't surprise me.

Indeed. So common with corporations. There's no room for free artistic expression, genuine quality, and humanity in the money-making machine.

(Incidentally, those insignificant, two little cogs there represent the many workers/people who actually turn the idea into more money for the owners of the machine in this illustration.)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Indeed. So common with corporations. There's no room for free artistic expression, genuine quality, and humanity in the money-making machine.

Or... They claim they do care and half do. But kind-of don't.
But they do. But not really. Or do they?

Goodness me, it's been confusing on my end.

 

[Cerez]

Or... They claim they do care and half do. But kind-of don't.
But they do. But not really. Or do they?

Goodness me, it's been confusing on my end.

Well, if they don't keep up the pretence, people might actually come to think -- heaven forbid -- that they only care about the money, right?

The evidence speaks for itself, though. The artistic quality of both big-budget movies and big-budget games has been stagnant and only getting worse. Everything's a rehash of what "has sold in the past", and everything is geared towards hype and sale in design, not the genuine, uplifting, innovative, and culturally worthwhile user/viewer experience.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Well, if they don't keep up the pretence, people might actually come to think -- heaven forbid -- that they only care about the money, right?

Oh well, I suppose I still have it better than most.
At least I'm not in game development at all.

The evidence speaks for itself, though. The artistic quality of both big-budget movies and big-budget games has been stagnant and only getting worse. Everything's a rehash of what "has sold in the past", and everything is geared towards hype and sale in design, not the genuine, uplifting, innovative, and culturally worthwhile user/viewer experience.

Give me an Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis already!

 

[Cerez]

Oh well, I suppose I still have it better than most.
At least I'm not in game development at all.

There is still good game development out there, it's just overshadowed by massive corporate money and hype. Most quality game development is happening in the indie scene these days, by individuals/people who got sick of working for the money-making machine, and want to do something quality, for a change, in their lives!

We, as consumers, actually have a moral responsibility to support ethical game development and art practices -- to not spend money on the latest, much-hyped AAA title, but to support quality games and their developers. The money-making machine has no power without the ignorant spending of the consumer.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Cerez: You are not wrong!

 

[Dat Scharger]

Bad news:

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Postponed until 2022.

But maybe that's a good idea. Because otherwise, chances are we would have received a chaos like the new Breakpoint that more or less serves as an interactive shopping-site. And who knows, they'll have more than enough time to implement a proper singleplayer. You know, playing alone with no other people screwing and ganking around...

 

[Navegador]

Last year it went totaly silent and got postponed to this year, no surprise it got delayed again. My reasoning is UBI doesn't know what to make of it, they obviously want to keep on riding the live services thing but...that seems to be back firing a lot these days. I doubt though they invest much into a single player experience sadly, big companies want cash and loads of it, single player's don't yeild as much for them.

We will wait and see.

For the little gaming I play recently ( mostly due to bad games ) I feel enjoying old titles is much prefered, at least for me and if anything i'm only waiting on CyberPunk for this year.

 

[Dat Scharger]

I think they knew what they wanted it to be - another "Games as a Service"-nonsense -, but after seeing how Breakpoint failed, they probably figured that going the same route would only end in more raging customers, thus they have to re-design the entire game.