Skull & Bones PC

[DjchunKfunK]

Not one single gram of fuck from what I can tell. It never did sound interesting and from the sounds of things is as by the numbers as it gets, plagued with loads of issues and less fun than AssCreed Black Flag which is an old game now.

It was such an open goal too, if they had only thought of what would make a fun engaging pirate game without immediately looking at how to monetise it to the Nth degree. They should take a long look at Helldivers as a live service game. Sure a few launch wobbles but quickly ironed out, premium content that you can buy or just not bother, simply earn premium currency in the game, save it for a while till you have enough, then buy the expansion content in-game for no money. And look how it is doing, we can't stop bloody playing. Ubi you need to have a word with yourselves, only you won't.

I don't think it being a live service game is the issue, it's just a poorly designed game with uninteresting gameplay. If you strip out all the microtransactions, which are all cosmetic anyway, it's still not good.

[Drarok]

Some of my friends played the free weekend, their complaints were around bone-headed UI/UX (e.g. you have to clear enough inventory space free in your boat to place its armour in, and then immediately apply it to the ship leaving a big hole in your inventory – why not just have to immediately apply, skipping inventory?), and little understanding of what makes games fun (fast travel options instead of sailing your cool boat anywhere). I didn't even get around to launching it!

[Sly Boots]

It takes real skill to take a game you made 12 years previously and make it worse in every regard, well done Ubisoft!

**golf clap**

[DjchunKfunK]

Let's be honest, did anyone expect this to be any good after the multiple delays?

[Drarok]

I've not believed in Ubi for years now. Their launcher on PC has to ask for admin permissions at least three times every time you launch it, and it's been broken like this for years. It may not be the biggest bug in the world, but it impacts affected users every single time they launch the shitty thing, it's mildly infuriating and should have been a priority to fix at any company that gives any shits at all for user experience. There's mismanagement showing at every turn, I am unsurprised they'd shit out a non-fun game at the end.

[Animalmother]

The last Ubisoft game for me that was good was Ghost Recon Breakpoint and they had to almost literally remake the game after fucking it up so badly. Far Cry 6 was so painfully unfun I just quit out of frustration.

They are no doubt praying that Star Wars Outlaws will be successful but they're just the publisher so there's hope.

[Snowy]

I think the problem was that it was ill-conceived from the start. I fucking love pirates, love the history, the fiction, Black Sails was awesomeness incarnate. I want that as a videogame, preferably huge and open world. I want to be able to sneak into towns, have dalliances with the ladies in low-down dives and governors manors alike, drink, gamble, assault towns, find treasure, have swordfights and ship combat, engage in a spot of trade and a spot of plunder.

You see that Sid Meier's pirates over there Ubi, that game released in 1987 for fuck's sake? I want that, but I want it grimdark as a motherfucker, make it so real the screen bleeds. Strip out all the cutesey and give me a game representation of the world illustrated in Black Sails. Then add in co-op. That will do nicely.

Instead we have the option to buy a game where you play as a ship. You never leave unless it is to go into a menu. And it is PvP. And it is all about grind. The first time I read about it I went from "Oh fuck!" to "Oh... fuck" in the space of a couple of paragraphs. It sounded shit, and has kept sounding shit. It was a bad idea and despite all the resets, has resolutely stuck to that bad idea. And it turns out to be shit, quelle surprise.

Ubisoft are such a frustrating firm, they have so much fucking talent. The worlds they create are the absolute pinnacle but they are so bad at creating a compelling game to sit on top of them. If only they would stop thinking about money and how to embed cash-claws into them from the very initial design and pour as much fun into it instead, they could make something that would really establish them as a top-tier firm. Sadly the state of the management of the firm is well known and probably incapable of ever allowing it to happen, but it's a nice idea.

There is a big old hole in the market for a game like I describe above (at least I hope so - I would buy it!), but Shaft & Bag ain't it.

[Animalmother]

Pirates used to inject mercury down their Japs eye as a treatment for syphilis. True story.

[Snowy]

Pirates used to inject mercury down their Japs eye as a treatment for syphilis. True story.

That needs including.

[Sly Boots]

Pirates used to inject mercury down their Japs eye as a treatment for syphilis. True story.

That needs including.

Arguably a better way to spend £70

[Mantis]

What I find interesting about this game is the general commentary online is that people just wanted the ship combat from Black Flag with a game built around it.

Having replayed Black Flag fairly recently I think people are really looking back at it with nostalgia tinted perspectives. The ship combat in it is seriously not all that good to begin with.

[Snowy]

I haven't replayed it in years but I remember always enjoying getting back to the sailing. I don't remember the combat that fondly but I did like the recreation of the ship, the ocean etc.

I did read that in co-op you can heal your buddies (or at least the ships they are represented by) by shooting healing cannonballs at them. I mean, for fucks sake...

[DjchunKfunK]

I always felt the sailing stuff was a bit overrated personally but I had my own issues with the game in general as I missed the move away from the city being the main character and I didn't think the sailing stuff made up for that. It wasn't like Origin and Odyssey which managed to create a new template that meant I didn't miss being in one big city.

If the rumours about a remake are true it would be interesting to see how people react to it now.

[Snowy]

That's fair DJ, I remember being worried about the change of scenery but was excited enough for the story that I took the plunge - and enjoyed it mightily. It doesn't have the location though I agree, visiting towns and cities (in Italy mostly) that I have explored as Ezio is always so funny, you look at famous buildings and recall how you scaled your way in. I think there's room for both though, I also enjoyed the Egyptian and Greek ones, and to an extent the Viking one although by then the veneer was wearing very thin.