Watch Dogs thread (new story trailer and release date announced!)

[sze5003]

So far I'm very underwhelmed by the game and that was after not expecting much with the reviews and leaks over the last few weeks. I agree that this game feels like a bad console port. Not Dark Souls bad, but reminds of the major disappointment I had with Skyrim when it launched. The mouse acceleration is also enough to make me not want to play. Glad to see that there is a pseudo fix by changing the game config XML.

Add to that, horrible driving physics that makes GTA V feel like a driving simulator. Also found out that my little Fiat look-a-like car is nearly indestructible after hitting everything from trucks to telephone pools. Maybe the are compensating for the driving issues by making cars unrealistically durable.

Also seeing a lot of stuttering when driving that makes it nearly impossible to not smash into everything. That coupled with the average textures and horrible shadows does not make this feel "next gen" in the slightest. Nothing makes me really go wow so far. I will give it more time, but this game is nothing above a 7/10.

Average textures? Why do you need a 780 for all ultra then? Or is the game not optimized where high is not a big difference compared to ultra?

 

[gorcorps]

What a fucking disaster and good example of why shitcan DRM is crap.

Uplay down, can't login, can't activate key and can't get the game you've paid for.

In game; no FOV control, diabolical mouse controls, abysmal performance.

Right now the path of least resistance to playing this game is pirating it. Debating getting a refund on my purchase and doing just that.

Uplay/ubisoft = garbage.

Eh, you can kind of justify downloading it from elsewhere if you already paid for it if the servers are down... but you'd still get bit by the law if caught. If you didn't pay for it at all there's no justification.

 

[lilrayray69]

Yeah I think the driving is pretty bad, it also annoys me they fade out the speedometer and other gauges which are static and don't function at all. I also wanted to shoot while driving but I guess you can't. The songs on the radio suck too, idk why they didn't include separate channels like every other of these types of games.

It's also annoying trying to pull out the weapon you want, for some reason my always defaults to a shotgun instead of my silenced pistol or whatever. The crafting system feels like a cheap version of what The Last of Us did.

Has anyone found if you can actually customize the characters clothing? So far all I've found is different color schemes of the same outfit (which I think looks silly).

My biggest problem is the camera system. A lot of times my guy is right in the middle of the screen. The camera jumps around while I'm driving, like if I want to look to my right and then turn it will snap back, I can probably fix that in the settings though.

To me it just seems like there is shit all over the screen. I played one minigame where you drive a car and are supposed to run over zombies or something, and all the score counts and objectives came up right in the middle of the screen in front of my car to where I literally could not see what I was driving towards.

I do like the gun play, feels more realistic than most of these types of games. My only problem has been the character not responding how I want, like I end up running into an enemy and can't figure out what button to melee him before I get shot to pieces. There are several missions that to me seem very hard as well. Mostly side missions, like the gang hideout thing. I end up getting in a firefight with like 10 guys who then call in 20 more for backup, and then the cops get called and come after me too. I really just wanna go kamikaze and kill everyone around, but that messes up your reputation (which I'm not sure how much that affects the game yet).

And is it just me or are the hair textures awful? Especially the main characters sister's.

I know I just complained a bunch, but overall I think it's good and fun. But to me it is also just another GTA-clone which adds some sort of cool gimmicks, improves on a few features, but then comes up short on some of the most standard features of these types of games (driving, camera angles, radio, UI, - even the minimap, button mapping)

I also do not see anything 'next-gen' about this title. Not that I really expected to with it also being released on 360 and PS3. I've also read about the Nvidia optimizing and AMD problems - a shame.

Oh one last thing! What had me most excited for this game was the E3 demo where he's in a firefight in the street and someone in a car gets struck by a stray bullet, and the guy in the passenger seat starts freaking out and I think tries to save the person but ends up getting out and running, or something. That AI looked awesome. I've yet to see anything like that happen. I also hear a lot of repetitive conversations walking around, and I haven't played that much yet.

 

[BSim500]

It's a pretty average console port so far...

So far I'm very underwhelmed by the game and that was after not expecting much with the reviews and leaks over the last few weeks. I agree that this game feels like a bad console port.

I also do not see anything 'next-gen' about this title.

I have to agree. Despite GFX being nerfed from the E3 demo, and although they do look good at night in the rain, otherwise they're decidedly average, little better in some placed than Deus Ex:HR. Driving physics really are as absurd as everyone is saying, and due to the size of the city it isn't optional either. It's the triple-whammy of pop-in (pedestrians suddenly appear in the road out of nowhere), stutter even on high-end rigs (causing you to crash when driving fast), and non-existent physics (ie, invincible weightless cars) that cause it to just feel silly. Weapons are also way unbalanced - again as TB said just get a silenced pistol and throw the rest in the bin. Controls are playable but very noticeably consoley (annoyingly so) in some menu's (mainly weapons & smartphone).

AI is nothing like what was advertised for most bystanders. And police AI is surprisingly poor. As soon as they're near you they basically try and execute you on the spot even for minor violations, but then don't really bother to chase very far if you drive off. Likewise, pull out a pistol for 1 second then holster it, and a dozen people start calling the cops. But steal a car and mow down 30 or 40 pedestrians on a murder rampage, and often no-one bats an eyelid...

The issue many on metacritic (and other forums) are complaining about though is that it's fun for typically the first few hours, and by then you've basically seen & done everything, ie, the novelty of "press Q to hack" on everything has long worn off after the 500th time, so it starts to get boring as nearly all crime plots (eg, "Fixer" missions), etc, are cut & paste jobs. Play one and you've played them all. Likewise, world is "wide open" and you can hack anyone, but it doesn't take long to figure out the obvious pattern that most "unique people with glorious next-gen AI" are just bots with randomly generated metadata (ie, x person with y cash does z job and has either w health issue or q hobby/interest) pulled from a database at random.

It's very definitely wildly over-hyped vs how it plays vs what the earlier trailers tried to show - basically a GTA with absurd vehicle handling but otherwise more control over the environment with a novelty Q button, which itself is highly variable as to how long you'll enjoy hacking the same traffic light/steam valve/car alarm, etc, before the "one trick pony" fun starts to wear off.

It's not a horribly bad game, just OK-ish. Another victim of the "success" of its own over-hype whipping people up into a hysterical frenzy with over-expectations and ludicrously over-exaggerated demos (in terms of both GFX & AI). 65-75% at most. 80% tops if they fix the pop-in / stutter / AI bugs. Right now though, it's getting a serious panning on metacritic - 4.4/10 user score over 492 ratings at time of writing mainly due to a combination of above mentioned comically bad driving physics, consolization, poor performance despite average GFX quality, iffy AI, and the boredom that sets in after the 300th hack and identi-mission...

 

[futurefields]

The pop in im hearing about is my #1 complaint about modern graphics. There has to be a better solution than shit just materializing out of thin air in plain view. This was also incredibly distracting in Far Cry 3, Assassins Creed series, Saints Row etc ..

 

[Granseth]

I have to agree. Despite GFX being nerfed from the E3 demo, and although they do look good at night in the rain, otherwise they're decidedly average, little better in some placed than Deus Ex:HR. Driving physics really are as absurd as everyone is saying, and due to the size of the city it isn't optional either. It's the triple-whammy of pop-in (pedestrians suddenly appear in the road out of nowhere), stutter even on high-end rigs (causing you to crash when driving fast), and non-existent physics (ie, invincible weightless cars) that cause it to just feel silly. Weapons are also way unbalanced - again as TB said just get a silenced pistol and throw the rest in the bin. Controls are playable but very noticeably consoley (annoyingly so) in some menu's (mainly weapons & smartphone).

AI is nothing like what was advertised for most bystanders. And police AI is surprisingly poor. As soon as they're near you they basically try and execute you on the spot even for minor violations, but then don't really bother to chase very far if you drive off. Likewise, pull out a pistol for 1 second then holster it, and a dozen people start calling the cops. But steal a car and mow down 30 or 40 pedestrians on a murder rampage, and often no-one bats an eyelid...

(...)

My issues with the game is also like most others. Car driving is just silly, I feel like I am riding a soap bare and hoping to not crash into too much.

And the police AI. I tried to play nice, not drawing weapons and hiding sneaking. But the go bananas as soon as they spot you, and they show up with lots of cops for small infractions. It's so hard to relate to this world that there is a big problem with immersion. My hope is to let the game rest a little while, and then hope they have a few good patches.

 

[sze5003]

My issues with the game is also like most others. Car driving is just silly, I feel like I am riding a soap bare and hoping to not crash into too much.

And the police AI. I tried to play nice, not drawing weapons and hiding sneaking. But the go bananas as soon as they spot you, and they show up with lots of cops for small infractions. It's so hard to relate to this world that there is a big problem with immersion. My hope is to let the game rest a little while, and then hope they have a few good patches.

AI should be fixed with a patch. The ps4 has an update to fix AI issues on day one.

 

[KentState]

Average textures? Why do you need a 780 for all ultra then? Or is the game not optimized where high is not a big difference compared to ultra?

Not sure, but the game only runs at 60fps or below, even in doors with the recommended Nvidia settings.

 

[Dahak]

Well first Uplay issue in a while... cant log in to play it, don't recall it being this bad with AC4 Launch...

Oh well guess back to work for a bit

 

[Carfax83]

Well first Uplay issue in a while... cant log in to play it, don't recall it being this bad with AC4 Launch...

They are having issues with their authentication server. They tweeted about it..

Just play in offline mode until they fix it if you really want to play.

 

[cyclohexane]

I told you guys that this game was going to be mediocre...

People in this thread hyped it up too much.

 

[Grooveriding]

Well uplay finally started to work. Was able to download the game.

Is there any solution to the atrocious mouse acceleration ? It's really bad.

 

[Granseth]

Well uplay finally started to work. Was able to download the game.

Is there any solution to the atrocious mouse acceleration ? It's really bad.

For Windows 7) Go to "C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Games\Watch_Dogs\*\GameProfile.xml" (Or figure out where GameProfile.xml is stored in your PC) and open this GameProfile.xml in text editor like Notepad."

In '<GameProfile....</GameProfile>' change "Sensitivity=" to 1, "UseMouseSmooth=" to 0 and also set "Smoothness=" to 0.

Now start your game and you can move mouse without acceleration, let us know if you find more tweaks.

For win 8 you have to go into your document folder and find games and a folder with a strange name.

 

[Grooveriding]

For Windows 7) Go to "C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Games\Watch_Dogs\*\GameProfile.xml" (Or figure out where GameProfile.xml is stored in your PC) and open this GameProfile.xml in text editor like Notepad."

In '<GameProfile....</GameProfile>' change "Sensitivity=" to 1, "UseMouseSmooth=" to 0 and also set "Smoothness=" to 0.

Now start your game and you can move mouse without acceleration, let us know if you find more tweaks.

For win 8 you have to go into your document folder and find games and a folder with a strange name.

Thanks for that!

 

[Dankk]

I told you guys that this game was going to be mediocre...

People hyped it up too much.

FTFY. The problem isn't exclusive to this thread. People overhyped it everywhere. I was interested in this game back in 2012, but Ubisoft's marketing campaign has been so drawn-out and heavy-handed, puncuated by so much misinformation and development delays, that I am completely tired of Watch Dogs to the point where I don't want to play it anymore. It's really sad when you make your customers get burned out on your product before it even releases. A whopping two years worth of advertising and trailers is never good for a game that is essentially just another generic open-world crime title with a hacking gimmick.

Before release, the Watch Dogs hype train was travelling at full speed and had no brakes. I didn't want to spend any money for fear of being burned when it inevitably crashed. Sure, it may not be a bad game; but at the same time, there was absolutely no way it could have lived up to those two whole years of massive hype. Everyone should have known this. If you didn't, then you need to sit down and do some serious expectation management.

Had I been one of the sheep who actually pre-ordered this game, I feel like I would've only become another cog in the leviathan internet hype machine for this thing. I just can't bring myself to do that. And this is coming from someone who likes to pre-order games. Goddamn.

 

[BrightCandle]

Well as per usual Uplay is living up to its reputation. It just wont login, keeps saying my internet connection is down. In solid Ubisoft fashion its their connection that is having the issues and they are choosing to blame it on me.

 

[sze5003]

I'm not expecting much and I wasn't in the beginning when it got delayed either. Not sure what people were really wanting out of it.

 

[lilrayray69]

At what point does something like the E3 demo become false advertising?

Also, what the hell ever happened to demos? Asking people to pay $60 without showing real in-game footage or allowing them to try it at all first is sort of ridiculous.

 

[BSim500]

Also, what the hell ever happened to demos? Asking people to pay $60 without showing real in-game footage or allowing them to try it at all first is sort of ridiculous.

They stopped making playable demo's roughly the same time cross-platform related "lowest common denominator" consolization started up. No coincidence there... :whiste:

 

[KeithTalent]

At what point does something like the E3 demo become false advertising?

Also, what the hell ever happened to demos? Asking people to pay $60 without showing real in-game footage or allowing them to try it at all first is sort of ridiculous.

Yeah, I totally miss demos. I bought a lot of games back in the day after playing their demos. These days, with fewer demos available, I buy fewer games.

KT

 

[toyota]

I never would have gotten into pc gaming if not for demos. AvP 2 demo got me interested and the Far Cry, Doom 3 and Half Life 2 demos really got me hooked on pc gaming.

 

[Aikouka]

Ubisoft... the same company that brought us the underwhelming and incredibly over-hyped Assassin's Creed game. Are we really surprised? Although, if they truly do follow suit, I guess we just need to wait for the sequel to get a good game.

 

[Attic]

Well as per usual Uplay is living up to its reputation. It just wont login, keeps saying my internet connection is down. In solid Ubisoft fashion its their connection that is having the issues and they are choosing to blame it on me.

Yea I thought this was pretty grade school of the uPlay too. Can't uplay even check an internet connection properly? Now software acts like a politician, take responsibility for nothing and blame somebody else, always blame someone else.

Uplay fails to work and it's response is, "User!, your internet connection must not be working"

Yea that must be the only thing even though steam logs in fine without a hitch whenever my internet is up and I'm staring right at my internet connection as I surf the web without issue.

Watch Dogs has been a massive let down both on the game and uPlay. Though i'm still intrigued enough that i'm going to give it more time.

The great trick Ubisoft pulled on me is that.. knowing what I know now, I would not have bought the game, but they got my money before I knew. Love it....


Bummer, was hoping for what I bought into. I got HYPED. Least the bill wasn't too expensive.

 

[pcslookout]

Yeah, I totally miss demos. I bought a lot of games back in the day after playing their demos. These days, with fewer demos available, I buy fewer games.

KT

Same here.

 

[Carfax83]

Wow, so much negativity. Well I for one am glad I bought the game, and I'm enjoying it.. :biggrin:

Yes, there are disappointments. But I'm tempering my criticism based on the fact that Watch Dogs is technologically speaking, a groundbreaking game..

There's never been a game based in an urban jungle setting (at least not one I know of) that has the size, scale, simulation and density of Watch Dogs. That's one thing Ubisoft definitely got right it seems.

However, it's the same size, scale and density that are causing these performance issues. When you look at the immense draw distances on ultra LoD, the CPU and GPU obviously has a crap load of stuff to prepare and render respectively.

Using ultra quality 4K textures just compounds the matter because all of those objects need textures, and it doesn't help that Aiden can move so quickly across the game world because the memory management has to be very aggressive to keep up. Also, the fact that this game is based in Chicago means that a lot of textures are unique and dissimilar, which increases the VRAM burden even more.

Heck, I can't even use TXAA 2x with ultra quality textures because it nearly maxes out my VRAM. So I've had to make due to temporal SMAA.

Of course, people could similarly lower the LoD setting to high instead of ultra (as it's the second my performance intensive setting after AA), but I think pigs stand a better chance of sprouting wings and flying truth be told. ^_^