{"id":39143,"date":"2017-06-12T15:13:37","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T19:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=39143"},"modified":"2018-06-29T03:04:21","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T07:04:21","slug":"e3-2017-day-3-ubisoft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=39143","title":{"rendered":"E3 2017 Day 3: Ubisoft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now it’s Ubiosoft’s turn. I expect I’ll be pretty negative here, assuming I have anything to say at all. For most of these companies I can at least say, “Sure, the company leadership is annoying, but I really like their products!” But that’s not the case here. I hate their particular house style of open-world collect-a-thon. I can’t stand Assassins Creed. I’ve never connected with Far Cry. The Tom Clancy stuff doesn’t do anything for me. I hated WATCH_DOGS. Okay, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time<\/em> is one of my all-time favorites, but that was, what? 2003? And I’ve disliked where the sequels went after that one. For Honor isn’t my thing. <\/p>\n

And then there’s UPlay, this unsightly growth on the face of the company that they’re still insisting is a “beauty mark”. And before that was their ridiculous dedication to always-online DRM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So yeah. Obnoxious company with terrible policies, bad taste, an abusive approach to DRM, and a library of games I don’t care about. Probably not going to be a fun show for me. I guess I can at least look forward to seeing presenter Aisha Tyler do her thing, right?<\/p>\n

Actually, no. The rumor is that they’re not going to have Tyler hosting their press conference this year<\/a>. That’s bad news, since she’s always been the best part (only good part) of their show. Ubisoft is the stiffest of the corporate stiffs, to the point where they make Microsoft look punk rock by comparisonThe Division staged demos were always an epic cringe-fest. On the other hand, the For Honor guy was probably the coolest dude at E3 last year.<\/span>. So they really need a professional to make their presentation feel more like a party and less like a board meeting with an audience.<\/p>\n

They claim Tyler isn’t appearing this year so they can have a better focus on their developers. This seems like a strange reason, since one of the duties of a good host is to bring people out on stage and make them feel comfortable, even if they’re not in show business. If we’re talking about putting designers, programmers, and artists out on stage, then the last thing in the world<\/em> you’d want is to have them address that great big crowd directly. Instead you can have them come out and talk to the host. <\/p>\n


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Aisha Tyler.<\/div>
Aisha Tyler.<\/div><\/p>\n

Imagine a programmer walking onto the Tonight Show stage and trying to talk directly to the crowd. Now imagine how much easier it would be for them to come out and talk to Jimmy Fallon. He can greet them with a smile, make them feel relaxed (or just slightly less terrified) and give them a single face to focus on. Jimmy knows the script and can make sure they hit all their cues. He can prompt them if they freeze up or forget a line. He can make a joke to smooth over some awkwardness. <\/p>\n

Basically if you’re bringing a bunch of developers out on stage then you need a professional host more than ever, and so I have no idea why they would drop Tyler.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, who’s to say they dropped her? Maybe she passed on the job this year for whatever reason, and this is their plan B. <\/p>\n

On the other, OTHER hand, this show is being held in LA. It’s not like it’s hard to find a show business professional in the area. If Tyler can’t do it, just hire someone else. <\/p>\n

I don’t know. Maybe they’ve got a lot of really confident \/ charismatic \/ quick-witted \/ photogenic game developers and it will all be fine. Or maybe they’re going to do a lot of pre-recorded interview stuff. Or maybe it’s going to be CringeFest 2017. Or maybe Cringe-Con. Or The Cringe Expo. CringeDEX. Cringella. San Diego Cringie-Con. CringieCade. Sakura-Cringe. Cringeapolooza. EuroCringe.<\/p>\n

I guess we’ll see once the show starts. You can watch the stream here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First up:<\/p>\n

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle<\/h3>\n

This is happening. This is a real game.<\/div>
This is happening. This is a real game.<\/div><\/p>\n

Shigeru Miyamoto!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ubisoft brings legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto out on stage. I love this guy. It’s very strange to see him out on Ubisoft’s stage. I know Ubi works with Nintendo, but I don’t think they’ve ever done something like this before. They’re bringing the Rabbids<\/a> to the world of Mario. That seems like a strange blend. It’s like Ren & Stimpy visiting Phineas & Ferb.<\/p>\n

But it turns out the game is a… turn-based tactical shooter? I’m not sure I’m okay with Mario using a gun. Maybe he’s done that before, but it feels a little off for the character.<\/p>\n

The look and feel of this game seems just right. The controls, the colors, the interface, the music. It was developed by Ubisoft, but it feels like a Nintendo-style product. Lots of developers have tried to do this sort of thing and come up short.<\/p>\n

Asassins Creed Origins<\/h3>\n

This happened. They pointed a camera at a laptop.<\/div>
This happened. They pointed a camera at a laptop.<\/div><\/p>\n

I don’t play Mario games, but I still care about him as a franchise due to the massive cultural significance and the interesting things the series is always doing with gameplay. By contrast, I don’t play Assassins Creed and I also don’t care about the series. <\/p>\n

Although, it was ridiculous that they just aimed the camera at a washed-out laptop screen. It’s like, you’ve got a jumbo screen there. Just play some pre-recorded game footage on that. <\/p>\n

The Crew 2<\/h3>\n

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<\/div><\/p>\n

I know I’m often down on adding stories to mechanics-focused genres. It’s not because I’m against the idea of stories. It’s because I have no confidence in their ability to create a proper story. A story isn’t just a bunch of crap that happens in sequence. You need characters with internal conflict and character arcs. You need to introduce opposition, establish motivations, raise stakes, and have the internal character conflict expressed through their external actions. It’s hard to do, and too many games just have a chain of tasks that increase spectacle without really doing any of the nuts & bolts of storytelling. The trailer for the Crew 2 looks exactly like that sort of story. I mean, I don’t think we met a single character in all that footage.<\/p>\n

Which, fine. They’re showing off the gameplay now. But that’s my point. They’re showing us how fun the game is to play, but when you play the game yourself all that action will be locked behind a bunch of idiotic cutscenes. That’s what it looks like to me, anyway.<\/p>\n

South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Transference, Skull and Bones, Just Dance<\/h3>\n

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<\/div><\/p>\n

A South Park game, a VR horror game, a PVP pirate game, and Just Dance. None of this is really in my wheelhouse. There are some interesting ideas in these titles, but I don’t really have any desire to play them. <\/p>\n

Starlink: Battle for Atlas<\/h3>\n

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You can attach a huge toy spaceship to your controller to help you control your in-game spaceship. I hate this. I hate the idea of this. I hate the look of it.<\/p>\n

I get that this is sort of taking the Amiibo idea to the next level. I’m going to assume SOMEONE out there wants this, but it’s not me.<\/p>\n

Far Cry 5<\/h3>\n

For me the Far Cry series has always been a few interesting mechanics and a lovely open world, but hopelessly buried in hours of repetitive grinding. I just can’t get into it.<\/p>\n

Beyond Good & Evil 2<\/h3>\n

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<\/div><\/p>\n

Well, that won me over. It doesn’t look or feel anything like the original, but it looked spectacular. I don’t know if I want to play the game, but I really want to watch that movie. BG & E doesn’t have a release date yet and they didn’t even tell us what platforms it would be on, so we’re probably still pretty far from launch.<\/p>\n

Still, that movie was beautiful. It was new. It was charming. It’s the best thing I’ve seen at E3 so far this year. I’ll link to the video once someone uploads it. It really is worth watching. <\/p>\n

EDIT: Here it is<\/a>:<\/p>\n