Ben-DutkaConan loves to have some fun with games.
The much-anticipated Assassin's Creed Unity drops today and Conan O'Brien has already produced a Clueless Gamer segment on the blockbuster.
Conan is shown the game's beginning – where the protagonist Arno is just a child – and he runs around in circles after stealing an apple. Okay, so it's not that exciting, but it's all part of the story foundation, right? Anyway, Conan always cracks plenty of jokes when playing any new game, but he does have some nice things to say about Unity 's beauty and breadth. "That was just to get to the beginning of the game?! Just so we're clear, I've been here for six days."
Conan says the amount of stuff to do is "mind-numbing" but really, are we surprised?
and Unity is receiving the lowest scores in the franchise's history.
and to add to this, I think the glowing reviews of Inquisition (last gen design) show that more power and processing wasn't what was holding devs back. Good game design is good game design. Some guys nail it. Other guys don't.
I couldn't agree more. I was planning on passing on AC:U only because I'm not long done with Black Flag but apparently it's a mess on all consoles and even high end PC's. They need to wrap the series up.
However next week can't get here quick enough for Dragon's Age Inquisition.
Last edited by frostface on 11/11/2014 1:52:34 PM
I find it interesting how I can see many of the same graphical glitches in Inquisition that I see in Unity, but people turn a blind eye to the former.
Unity isn't as technically stable, it's true. But it's completely false to call it a "mess." I mean, unless you're hopelessly anal to the point of absurdity.
It's a result of Ubisoft overselling it. Nothing more.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 11/11/2014 4:19:30 PM
Welp… Digital Foundry (at eurogamer) just analyzed the PS4 and X1 versions of Unity and the X1 version runs better than the PS4 version.
Granted, both games run below 30fps (sometimes hitting 11-15 fps even without any NCP's around). But the X1 version makes better use of the extra GPU power. So it runs better in exteriors.
I dunno about you, but this proves that Ubisoft seriously dropped the ball with this game. On a technical level, it was badly optimized across the board.
And when Dragon Age drops to about 3 frames, almost freezing during extremely hectic combat (as the series has always done, really), is that also a badly optimized game?
Ben, I'm guessing that you enjoyed it? It seems the biggest gripe from the reviews that I've read is the lack of enough supporting characters. Glitches aside (for the sake of your point on DA having its share), I can see that making the game have less of an immersive story than other games in the series.
Nobody plays Assassin's Creed for the story. It just never happens.
I wish they ALL had better stories but they're hardly a focal point, although the characters are more of a draw than in other open-world adventures.
Fair enough. I've always enjoyed the stories and characters. Most of the reason I've kept coming back was to have another twisted sense of history unfold.
I play AC for the character and stories. To an extent the gameplay. I was never interested in Desmond story though. I'll admit the gameplay in AC makes me cringe in frustration, so I'll never admit that it's the reason I play the games despite those times where I'm very satisfied with a cool move I completed.
So, you spend at least 20-30 hours being frustrated for about an hour's worth of story? Are you serious?
I'll be brutally honest the only two AC games I really enjoyed actually playing were AC Brotherhood and Black Flag. I did finish them all but I'd be lying if I said I loved playing them through. So yes to a degree I did play them for hours just trying my hardest to finish them. And that's because I was intrigued by the atmosphere, characters and plot lines. While not told well to an extent the games still interested me based on the time periods and so forth.
And when I say gameplay I'm referring in most part to controlling the character: combat, climbing, etc. The naval battles were exceptional though.
I actually started playing the AC games for the story Ben and not for the gameplay to be 100% honest.
I loved the twisted take on history and was really interested in the story of AC1 and AC2. I liked learning about the people who created humans the weird adam and eve story etc.
But I will admit MOST people play the games to feel like a bad ass.
ACs always been about the story.
well the first 4 were, then 3 turned into the sh*thouse it is now.
hell the only reason why people put up with the repetitiveness and frustrating convoluted boring combat of the first AC game was the story!
exactly why 2 was the masterpiece it was, it delivered on the story just as well as AC did, and the gameplay was night and day better!
Last edited by ___________ on 11/12/2014 4:39:46 AM
That was funny…
I find it funny how Ubisoft knows this game is weak and they are just pushing so much PR and marketing to try and get those sales.
There have been so many videos on their youtube channel, igns site and gametrailers showing off the games features but it seems like the game is a bit of a flop…
Looks like Dragon Age might be the one I get instead of ACU which I was only going to get for the coop anyway.
I'm surprised by the performance. The PS4 is noticeably running slower than the XO from the framerate tests I've seen.
While the XO does have a slight CPU advantage it shouldn't be manifesting itself in consistently lower performance PS4-side. It's too bad all of the PS4's extra compute units aren't being put to work to aid the PS4's cpu… maybe that comes in a few years time.
And seeing that the PS4's really wide and fast memory should be very accommodating to open world games this is surprising, CPU or not. I suspect it's just less optimized code. This sort of thing can make a big difference. I expect future patches to smooth things out.
EDIT: and the atrocious PC requirements are ridiculous. My somewhat newer computer doesn't even meet it's minimum spec (the GPU requirement is insane)
Last edited by Temjin001 on 11/11/2014 4:33:16 PM
Temjin, that's what my old post was referring to with the series and agree. It's a shame. Truly a shame.
Love Conesey.
I've flip-flopped when it comes to this game as much as the average politician, but since Dragon Age is going to keep me busy for a good while, and remembrance day meant my order hadn't been shipped out, I ended up canceling it.
I'm also getting the deluxe wwe 2k15 for the ultimate warrior story pack.
I can always get it next year, minus the poison bomb mission.
The straw that broke the camels back for me though is the apparent time-saving micro-transactions and pointless app integration that requires a cell phone to open chests.
The naval side missions in black flag were a quaint distraction that gave a point to capturing ships whole and gave me tonnes of cash for upgrades.
This just sounds like money-grubbing that shouldn't be condoned with day 1 sales.
Although I did quite enjoy Conan's review as usual.
This game sucks. Give me an updated super awesome version of the old Genesis game…… Shining Force. I mean a strategy game and not some dumbass action game.
so affense to you americans but hes got the attention span of a mouse(really short, couldn't think of anything else) and hes a complete dick about everything thats not action. cos the story is half the game so watever go figure but i don't like the fact tht he was being a dick about nothing
happy gaming