Support NeoGAF

[Summer Haze]

A weird thing for me to focus on, but does anyone know if this game has the same wind simulation tech from the first game? It was a cool effect and really added to to the believably of the world imo.

 

[ezekial45]

The creative director did an interview with GR. Here's some short passages from the article.

http://www.gamerevolution.com/featu...r-parkouring-hacktivists-with-handson-footage

he Watch Dogs franchise has had a unusual history. After turning many heads after its surprise reveal at E3 2012, the original Watch Dogs got a lot of people excited about the prospect of an open-world hacker action game. While it ended becoming one of Ubisoft's most successful launches for a new IP and was a largely solid game, a lot of players—and that includes me—felt it missed the mark and lacked a certain something, despite such a rich concept. Speaking with creative director Danny Bélanger, we talked about how WD2 overhauls much of the existing structure of the previous game, and how the new setting has given the franchise a fresh and exuberant energy to it.

"What we wanted to do was to have stronger tech themes, like really talk about technology. We also wanted to have a shift in tone, to talk about those themes differently," said the creative director. "We listen to the fans. We read the good, we read the bad, and we gather all that info."

"We have our new character Marcus Holloway, he's a brilliant guy and he's very sociable, so you're not alone this time around. You're in a hacker group and the way the story is told is very different now. We have a new open-world structure where exploration is a focus, rather than the game simply telling you where everything is. [Missions] are not linear, and you take most of them on in any order you want."

I hope they go into detail about the state of things in SF.

I really enjoyed exploring the city. Not only to recognize the locales, but also to see how civilians would react with me hacking everything I could. The NPC chatter and AI seems way more diverse now, and they're much more easy to provoke than the ones in Chicago. I guess this is another result of how high-rent and growing resentment towards the tech community manifests itself. This divide between the new and old versions of the Bay Area is something the developers plan to not only poke fun at it, but also examine.

"The Bay Area brings a lot of color and culture, which what we wanted for this game," said Bélanger. "The counter-culture and the birth of [new and radical] technology, all in one place. With the Silicon Valley, where the technology is born, it gave us a strong opportunity to create a strong narrative."

Regarding current politics, the creative director added that they crafted an original story that examines these issues, but still largely tells its own story.

"We definitely want to talk about San Francisco, and the subjects and issues that are present to this day will be talked about in one form or another. With that said, it's a work of fiction and we don't target a specific [real] company or organization. However, issues like gentrification and other will touched upon, because it makes our game feel more real if we do. We talk about the real things that are going, and it honestly makes for a better game to focus on such issues that happening in the real world. Or close to it."

 

[Ascenion]

These impressions finally pushed me to pull the trigger on WD2, imagine my disappointment when the Collectors Edtion wasn't there anymore. I am not a happy sponge.

 

[lcap]

Man, the Driver SF app sounds amazing. Just takes the whole "be a taxi driver" from GTA 3 to a whole new level.

 

[Pepin]

Some pure drone racing footage here, too.

 

[AfroDust]

Looks fun, but sloppy on the little details. Ejected shell casings clip right through the environment, and the sound for them hitting the ground plays while they're stil at the top of their arc. Small stuff, but it drives me crazy.

....

 

[ezekial45]

Another article from Venture Beat

http://venturebeat.com/2016/09/23/h...usade-against-the-smart-city-in-watch-dogs-2/

It’s easy to see that Ubisoft’s writers are still pulling in paranoid headlines from the real world to highlight just how realistic their fictional tale about our surveillance society is. Just about every day, we hear about the efforts of companies such as Intel, IBM,and General Electric to create smart cities that are centrally managed by a huge computer network. And we hear an equal number of stories about hackers breaking into corporate networks.

“We talk about technology that’s here already or coming soon,” said Bélanger.”We looked at that in the first Watch Dogs and knew there was a risk there. We used that ability to hack everything. But definitely, everything is going to be connected in the future. Hopefully we make people think about security, make sure it’s robust, find ways to prevent any risks.”

 

[jett]

Dem tiny, nigh-unreadable, borderline useless subtitles.

Why you even bothering devs. Subtitles are supposed to aid, not hinder.

 

[SomTervo]

This game would be so cool if they just eliminated the lethal options.

Seeing this cool, hip kid hacker with an ak-47 totally kills it for me.

Yeah drive me mad in the first one too.

If your game is trying in any way to resemble or mirror reality, allowing the player to carry around 20 large guns at once is going to ruin your efforts.

Looks fun, but sloppy on the little details. Ejected shell casings clip right through the environment, and the sound for them hitting the ground plays while they're stil at the top of their arc. Small stuff, but it drives me crazy.

The game is not finished.

 

[eshwaaz]

The game is not finished.

Sure, but the final month of development will likely be spent on bug fixes and performance. I'd be shocked if issues as small as these are a focus, but here's hoping.

 

[CaptainofIndustry]

I really enjoyed Watch Dogs 1. This looks even better.

 

[ymgve]

Sure, but the final month of development will likely be spent on bug fixes and performance. I'd be shocked if issues as small as these are a focus, but here's hoping.

The press build is probably a few months old too.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

Looks really fun, I'm liking the protagonist.

But, that fucking dipshit in the awful mask is just the worst. I have no idea why they thought that was a good idea. He just looks like an absolute tryhard edgelord, and that's saying something when everybody is an ultra-"cool" hacker.

 

[Hierophant]

your experience points are followers on twitter

i have a feeling this game might be good guys please hold me

 

[Basketball]

Can you not knock bitches out in this game ?

 

[DOWN]

The streets look a bit empty compared to GTA V. There's a lack of debris and trash cans and people in many places

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

I promised myself to not care about this game after the first one, but that skyline shot has me so nostalgic of my time living in SF, that I just want to see how well they recreated it.

 

[Crossing Eden]

.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Based on the cutscenes the animators had a lot of fun with Wrench's mask.

Lol curious to see how far they take that

 

[Crossing Eden]

Based on the cutscenes the animators had a lot of fun with Wrench's mask. And there's some subtle physics on his hood, nice detail. DP.

 

[ActWan]

It actually looks pretty nice.

 

[FarFromAnyGame]

I've started watching the first video.

I was wondering if anybody knows about a cockpit view while driving? It's often a tricky thing to get right in a game like this but it is my preferred camera view while driving.

it was there in the first game. Not sure about this one.

 

[flaxknuckles]

it was there in the first game. Not sure about this one.

It's there, I saw it in one of the vids.

 

[Killer Queen]

Watching some of the videos and looking a little closer at Wrench I can't believe some of you guys are taking half this stuff seriously;it's definitely tongue in cheek silliness, their conversations and the fact that Wrench has a blackhat hacker tattoo on one hand, a login tattoo on the other and an Anarchy symbol on his neck. Then there's the talking about Dolphin snuff films and hairy 80s Greek porn. I get that the humor might not be for everyone but it's definitely meant to be as silly as it seems

 

[ffejeromdiks]

Judging by the truly abysmal dialogue I'm hearing in these quick looks...I seriously doubt this is true.

 

[Mr. Mister]

Judging by the truly abysmal dialogue I'm hearing in these quick looks...I seriously doubt this is true.

Feels like unintentional satire. It's a game "for the millennial" and seems super try hard.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

do we have any PC Ultra settings gameplay?

 

[Mediking]

Looks really good yet oddly boring at the same time.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

I think the game will be good, cause WD1 was actually much better than I gave it credit for the 1st time I played. However, that "Haum Sweet Haum" gameplay was actually pretty bad... I know the player didn't help at all doing many stupid decisions trying to infiltrate that base, but god damn, it seems like he totally messed the A.I. cause the NPC's acted terribly against his actions.

 

[zkorejo]

I promised myself to not care about this game after the first one, but that skyline shot has me so nostalgic of my time living in SF, that I just want to see how well they recreated it.

Check out the kinda funny plays wd2 for that. Its mostly them free roaming and looking for places.

 

[Kthulhu]

Watching some of the videos and looking a little closer at Wrench I can't believe some of you guys are taking half this stuff seriously;it's definitely tongue in cheek silliness, their conversations and the fact that Wrench has a blackhat hacker tattoo on one hand, a login tattoo on the other and an Anarchy symbol on his neck. Then there's the talking about Dolphin snuff films and hairy 80s Greek porn. I get that the humor might not be for everyone but it's definitely meant to be as silly as it seems

Same. Ubisoft failed at serious, it's time to get goofy.