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  1. #1

    Going from Closed Beta, to Open Beta, thoughts so far. (Mixed Feelings)

    I'm not real great at starting posts or writing catchy hooks to grab people's attention, so I'm just going to jump right into my thoughts on the overall experience, good and bad. The Division I have some definite mixed feelings about, because it feels I do like some of the features such as the near-seamless multiplayer, the integration of co-op being so easy to get into, it really is a drop-in drop-out kind of MP. That part is great, it's done well, and so on. The point of course is to play with others in this game, and this one accomplishes it well.

    As some have mentioned however, lone-wolf especially in the DZ is a bad experience. In the DZ you are completely screwed, especially if you are wanting to extract some stuff you managed to scavenge since of course everyone knows that your lone little self is going to be an easy target for a group of peopel who want more loot. The interaction of the player with the world as a whole feels really sterile and simplistic; Yeah, it's cool people come up to me to ask for help, but I give them a water bottle and send them on their way and that's it... The only interaction with dogs(obvious pets) is shooting them(who don't attack you btw, so wtf?!), the only course of action for rioters looting dead bodies is putting a cap in their *** instead of telling them to get lost, arrest them, and so on, and the instances of civillians fighting or harrassing each other is just apparently background noise that you pass by instead of, you know, being a mitigator, being a policing entity, being an aid worker, and a soldier wrapped up into one like you're apparently supposed to be.

    I don't feel the world, I see the scenery. That's the best I can describe it, because the scenery, the lighting, the environments are amazing in some places, like the subway morgue and some of the DZ, etc. The scenery tells a story, but I don't feel like I'm adding to that story in any real way by going in and shooting some stupid enemies who like to run at me with baseball bats or act like Pyro from TF2's wannabe.

    Some people are upset about others complaining about people mentioning how since this is a Tom Clancy's it should adhere to certain principles and going on rants about that. While I understand a good soapboxing, if you put Tom Clancy in the name of the game it comes with an implication of authenticity and realism. To complain about others complaining that it doesn't adhere to the brand is like if the new Ford Mustang was made and looked like a Camaro, and I complained about people going on about how they expected the car to look like a Mustang. Of course Mustang fans want a Mustang, to look like a Mustang. The RPG elements of course, to an extent, detract from that, but it's really more about the way the player interacts with the world that feels fake and uninspired. Yes, the quests have the potential to be interesting, and yes, the storyline overall might be also intriguing. But if you're telling me for instance, that the reason all I can do with the NPCs of the world roaming around is either shoot them to death or give them candybars is a beta... I have a bridge to sell you.

    Because watching the gaming streams, -with the devs there-, such as in Angry Joe's video he specifically asks about that. And they say one, there's no stealth mechanic(which there isn't, it's another matter, and a bad mark but not going to go into that right now), and two, yes when you see rioters your response is to shoot them each every time, instead of dealing with them like criminals and either intimidating the, arresting them, and so on. You can take away the RPG elements and still have a problem with the believability of player interaction with the world, even though the rpg elements I'm not a huge fan of, but could overlook if I felt like I was an actual policing force in the city.

    As an aside, play This War of Mine. A small budget game, a small studio to boot, made a game that has an authentic feel of being in a wartime environment with bandits and military occupation, while also having RPG elements. No it's not quite the same, but the theme sure is similar. And there is intelligence to the situations, as well as options in how to handle them.

    Many other Tom Clancy's games have nonlethal options as well, and it is disappointing to see none of that here. Obviously in the other games, the situations are also different than the situation in The Division, where you are the sole policing entity within a city that is occupied by mostly civillians and possibly some kind of paramilitary group or terrorists, but obviously the Rioters are not Al Queda or JSA(From Double Agent), and so on. Maybe some factions are and that's different, but it feels like there's a lack of intelligence to the game that is doubly bothersome when you have small budget games like This War of Mine do wartime so much better.

    Obviously, Tom Clancy is not alive anymore to see this come to fruition, but if he had involvement with this I am quite sure he would make a more believeable world.

    Summed up, I am going to wait to see if the world is handled intelligently or not, as I can play Gears of War or any other comparable-mechanic game set in fictional and/or fantasy worlds where I kill anything that moves.


    Edit 1: The NPCs also are ranging from difficult to be believable to annoying, with how the civillians are always in fear of the player character even when walking or trotting along, and the vendors talking smack at every opportunity.
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  2. #2
    As an addition, NPCs spawning in the middle of the extract point such as at the top of the parking garage while players are there really isn't something that adds difficulty, it is just cheap with almost no course of action when they are of the same level as the player with armor bars.
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