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Post by mikeweeks2346 on Mar 9, 2017 23:50:46 GMT
After looking over some game play, reviews, and player comments, here's what strikes me the most about GRW:
First, ignore whether it's best played in COOP or solo player, but focus on the basic premise - that a team of highly trained Delta Force types (the Ghosts) are officially tasked to take down a group of bad guys in a large open-world environment.
IOW it's not some guy found by Dennis washed up on a beach is a gawd-forsaken island, or some dude who is simply attempting to return his Mom's ashes to her final resting spot ...
How is it that the Ghosts aren't equipped from the get-go with the necessary equipment and skills as well as the freedom to accomplish the stated mission in any way they deem appropriate, and how they go about it will impact what happens next? IOW, if you start at point A, and do something, that impacts the next step differently then if you decide to start at point B, and do something based on that starting point. Think of the re-playable options if you have the freedom of how to start off the game and each and every step impacts the next.
Apparently, if I understand it correctly, you have to level up (or collect something or other) to get better skills/weapons/attachments. Excuse me, how does that make sense given the premise of GRW? Shouldn't there be more of a focus on how to accomplish certain tasks, and not how do I learn how to use the parachute (for example).
I could see however the benefit of allowing some types of unique weapons that normally the Ghosts wouldn't show up with, be made available after doing something with-in the game.
So, it's not so much the game play mechanics itself that I'm struck by, but the very basic premise of the game itself which appears to be off.
Does the above appear accurate to others? |
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Post by flanker1six on Mar 10, 2017 17:19:50 GMT
It is a fantastic game world. If it's not as big as some of the ARMA series maps..............it's darn close. Very well executed too; visually and the ambient sound; did I mention the viewing distances? You can finally add and detach rail mounted and other accessories as you like. Oh yea.................the point you make (as did I; in a previous post). Top Tier 1 Bad Ass Dudes....................who have to roam around scrounging enemy bases for kit they should have had from the get go, scrounging for XP, and four kinds of stockpiles (food, fuel, meds, commo) so you can upgrade your character (and many other "realistic" aspects such as being able to tote about 500lbs of **** up and down wwwaaayyy too many mountains [all I can say is I'm real glad it's not me for real!], and use the aforementioned accumulated goodies to miraculously make you, your vehicle, team mates, and rebels more better bullet proof, and make enemy vehicles less better bullet proof! The guns look and sound great, and the suppressors are getting more realistic (louder from the shooters perspective). The guns are still BALANCED FOR GAMEPLAY. Guns firing the same caliber from similar barrel lengths having very different power factors. Smaller calibers shot from shorter barrels in some instances being more powerful than larger calibers shot from longer barrels.............you get the drift. You've got XP granted night & thermal vision, and it's MAGIC! Why is it magic? No helmet, headbands, NODS, or any other type of kit on your character. WTF??!! Finally............suppressors DON'T scrub off performance, BUT you have to wait until you level up to 14 and spend BIG XP to get this as a perk. Enemy and friendly AI is MEH at best (OH!! And enemy AI has no trouble seeing you hiding at times, even though you've done NOTHING to make them aware you're there, and they insta shoot your *** with terminator like speed and accuracy because as they come into view...........they're already facing you!). At least there's no spell casting! The sad part is a lot of this goofy immersion destroying **** could have been incorporated into the game largely the same way it is in the real world. Higher threat level and more comprehensive body armor at the cost of load carrying and mobility (which you'd only wear for direct action ops and not for most other stuff (as it is all the armor stuff in the character creator seems to have NO in game protective factor, and be for appearances only) , NODS that require actual II and FLIR weapon and/or head mounted optics. Setting up improvised vehicle armor manufacturing ops with rebel allies; that become more and more available as time goes on. FID (Foreign Internal Defense) training ops to make rebel allies more better fighters; so on and so forth. Raiding stuff to acquire the four supply types mentioned are great (or would be if it wasn't for the goofy purpose of functioning as four more types of XP), as it's all stuff resistance movements need. So on and so forth. Anyway after two + days of scrounging kit and buffing myself and other stuff with 5, count'em 5 different types of XP.................I'm ready to start playing the game!  It's kinda like Bolivia...........................if you ignore all the bad and stupid ****......................it's actually pretty good and fun! Why Devs insist on goofy RPG gaming cliches in a game like this is beyond me. |
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Post by JRavens on Mar 10, 2017 17:40:30 GMT
Yeah I gotta agree it's pretty contrived. Basically it follows the same ole Ubi leveling and scrounging formula with just a different way of laying it out (those fuels, meds, etc flanker mentions - because it TOTALLY makes sense that I need a bunch of medical supplies to improve my drone battery life or whatever  ) I think you are right though they could have easily "fixed" this by saying "ok boys welcome to Boliva you got full stock of gear for boots on the ground to start your mission, BUT because you are Ghosts and you know we disavow all knowledge etc etc you ain't getting any resupplies. You'll need to scrounge more weapons and ammo from the cartel, work with the rebels or try and contact the black market." Then the player either has to conserve and collect ammo or say f^&k it and scrounge enemy weapons or do missions for the rebels/black market to get more goodies. This finding a red dot sight in a box in an old warehouse is some dumb BS to be honest. "Oh hey this medal has a cocoa leaf on it. That's kind of cool." No it's not. And why the eff does finding that medal give you some kind of special skill?? I don't mind leveling up and all that. It's just kind of silly the way they do it and it really doesn't fit Ghost Recon AT ALL. Instead of "skills" they should have even more advanced gear they unlock and equip. It's not that hard really to come up with video game analogs (instead of "faster revive" skill they get access to advanced portable defibs or something. It's still video game logic, but thematically it makes more sense) Anyway we all know this song and dance. Oh another pet peeve... Here's a pro tip for you: NEVER wait for your team to board the vehicle they always magically pop into it about 5 seconds after you leave them in the dust <facepalm> |
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Post by willyr1100 on Mar 10, 2017 23:23:32 GMT
speaking of scrounging enemy weapons you can pick them up, but if you respawn u have your original kit which bites, agreed with all of the above, top tier gets top gear no ?'s asked from the get go,i would think they would at least have more than 2 grenades, and defiantly a better sniper scope than the 1 at the start, i like the fact that at night at the prison if the sniper shifted to you and he was facing the night light u can see the reflection off of his scope while i was overlooking from the hills and picking off targets, and that u have to compensate for bullet drop at range,
imo,i know it's heresy, but i like this a lot better than the far cry series, more of a thinking and planning game than just go in gun blazing, as it has now been 7 tries to finish the prison mission, think i'll do as flanker did and build up the upgrades before trying again, i can get in but after that it's a cluster f*** darn mortar, chopper and the heavy gunner, 2 rounds from the sniper rifle a close range didn't put him down didn't have the cross hairs on so must have missed him lol
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Post by mikeweeks2346 on Mar 11, 2017 2:10:43 GMT
I could see this standard Ubi game structure be very enjoyable given it just not be labeled as a Ghost Recon game. Perhaps something akin to a Far Cry Plus - as mentioned, more of a thinking and planning game beyond the more arcade style of game play of the fore mentioned.
Imagine, for example, the start is you as a sole survivor [insert any number of reasons that came about] of a [insert type of para-/ex-/merc-/military] team without any of the original equipment, and you and your team will be re-built (both equipment and personnel) as you level up. Again, more of a story line premise versus game play mechanics.
I know this isn't the forum which will impact how Ubi makes game-design decisions. Just a gut reaction to what Ubi decided to produce and label it Ghost Recon.
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Post by JRavens on Mar 11, 2017 3:46:52 GMT
I like that idea too Mike. A kind of trapped behind enemy lines situation. Maybe your team goes in full lock, stock and barrel but the chopper gets hit by SAMS and you crash down losing your team and most of your gear. It could be revealed there's a mole somewhere that sold your operation out which opens up storyline possibilities as well. Any number of ways really to setup the players as starting from scratch that at least has SOME kind of explanation. It is a bit nonsensical the way they did this one... especially given all the really cool movie trailers we got beforehand hammering home how these guys are a crack team with top notch training and gear. Anywho I know this stuff never reaches the Ubi Gods but it is good brain exercise  Ok and bit fun too Maybe we can mod this thing later on to some degree or another. There's already someone working on updating his tool that lets you view the Assassin Creed game files which apparently this engine is built on. Dunno though since this game has some "easy anti cheat" software with it apparently and the always connected thing like The Division. Don't think Division got any mods either (did it?) Like willy says there are some neat little things you notice here and there. Definitely the level designers and animators were working hard to create a thousand little details. It was somewhere higher up that determined they needed to dumb this down. "Oh the team AI walks in front of the enemies, but it won't be fun if they blow the players cover so we'll just have the two ignore each other until the player starts shooting or the baddies spot the player" Crap like that. Why can't we go completely solo? Would it really hurt the game if we ordered our team to wait back at base? Sigh. Well like most of these games we just make the best of it. The CORE GAME is fun. It's lackluster in a lot of areas (and requires a heap of suspension of disbelief) but it's still a decent game. Ghost Recon? Eh not so much... Maybe when your fully kitted and playing with a couple of live players who are serious - then I could see it getting pretty cool and tactical. |
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Post by mikeweeks2346 on Mar 11, 2017 5:58:53 GMT
Yup, "crap like that" indeed - give me a break for Pete's sake!!
Spotted a UT video of a "play through" where the guy was attempting to go solo into a base, and I was thinking, "Great, left the three AI buddies behind. I could go for that." Then he gets discovered and all of a sudden there are his AI teammates rushing in and creating a massive free-wheeling fire-fight; instead of a allowing the player to perhaps do a solo tactical withdraw, and either try it again later, or could still get the job done by coming back around from another direction, or even have the AI teammates positioned to cover the withdraw. IOW, let the friggin' player decide on how to proceed. But, nooooo ....
Would indeed be cool if there's a chance to get it modded.
oh well ...
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Post by flanker1six on Mar 11, 2017 18:21:40 GMT
On the larger enemy bases/compounds; I've found it best to order the team mates to "stay there" outside of any possibility of them getting pinged by the bad guys and starting **** on their own. I do my thing; which is whittle the bad guys down starting with over watch types, and/or heavy weapons operators, and bad guys in my way into the base (if I'm just going to spy or steal something as opposed to killing 'em all and letting God sort 'em out!)  Once I've whittled things down to a more manageable size; it's time to use the rebel guns for hire, distraction, or mortar strike in combo with sending in my "attack dogs" while providing over watch covering fire (or sometimes going in with the assault). This is VERY difficult (and sometimes just doesn't work) on UNIDAD bases larger than outposts as they are so well armed and reinforce so rapidly. My proudest moment so far; has been getting into a UNIDAD base; stealing the gun (******* scrounging for stuff!  } getting into a nasty firefight and having to unass the area by fleeing for our miserable lives from four, count'em FOUR helicopter gunships shooting the living **** outta the pick up I jacked at the closest highway (if you flee far enough and long enough the enemy AI just gives up! LOL!). Which is a good thing, because they were wearing our ***** out! On the smaller bases/outposts it's take out outliers and overwatch, then kick in the door! MAN! I HATE taking out convoys (always two hummer type things or two armored SUVs with miniguns on top and the target vehicle in the middle with a gunship over head)! NO anti armor weapons (RPG, M136, Carl Gustav, etc) in the game, and taking out the lead escort with C4, or a 203 round is iffy because of timing issues/missing them, and it don't always destroy the hummer/SUV anyway, which means letting them go or chasing them if you have or can jack a vehicle immediately (if the convoy gets down the road a ways, as in out of sight-----it seems the game derezs them and there is nothing to catch), then shooting it out with them while attempting to ram the escorts off the road (preferably into a deep chasm they can't drive out of) without suffering an explosion of your vehicle, or going into the weeds your self, and/or ending up in a fire fight with 6-8 enemy reinforcing vehicles (knowing when to run  is important in GRW!) after you've stopped the target vehicle. |
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Ok and bit fun too 
Once I've whittled things down to a more manageable size; it's time to use the rebel guns for hire, distraction, or mortar strike in combo with sending in my "attack dogs" while providing over watch covering fire (or sometimes going in with the assault). This is VERY difficult (and sometimes just doesn't work) on UNIDAD bases larger than outposts as they are so well armed and reinforce so rapidly. My proudest moment so far; has been getting into a UNIDAD base; stealing the gun (******* scrounging for stuff! 
} getting into a nasty firefight and having to unass the area by fleeing for our miserable lives from four, count'em FOUR helicopter gunships shooting the living **** outta the pick up I jacked at the closest highway (if you flee far enough and long enough the enemy AI just gives up! LOL!). Which is a good thing, because they were wearing our ***** out! 
is important in GRW!) after you've stopped the target vehicle.