For Honor - A surprisingly not shit Ubisoft game.

[Azazel]

So this just got released today. Some of you probably played the open or closed betas from a while back. I was pretty apprehensive about it because Ubishit, and despite the fact that it needs Uplay for the PC, it's a very satisfying game.

Combat is surprisingly complex even if it first glance it looks like a dumb hack-n-slash. Relying on direction blocking and attacking, actual parries (not just Dark Souls style deflections) and counterattacks, there's a lot of depth and strategy to duels.

Here's a full round of multiplayer in case anyone is curious as to what a round usually looks like. This is a 4 vs 4 dominion mode, with capture the flag type objectives. There's also 4v4 straight brawls, 2v2, and 1v1, as a single player campaign (haven't tried this yet):

And some less chaotic 1v1 duels:

So, to anyone that's played it, what's your favorite class? Mine would be the Nobushi (the character used in the second video), though I still need to try out some of the others that weren't in beta. Also, which faction are you representing?

 

[Strelok]

I think the For Honor devs learned a lot from the R6 Siege dev's salvaging of what for all intents and purposes should have been a dead game into something that's growing to become a minor CS:GO as far as game size, player retention, and longevity.

I feel someone at Ubisoft finally looked at this chart of Siege and realized "maybe we should have other teams do that sorta shit instead of 'assassin's creed but with cars!' or 'assasin's creed but with cars AND guns', etc"

 

[Azazel]

So far on release day, after spending some time with the final product, my major complaints are:

P2P servers are pretty much dogshit. A lot of the matchmaking bugs from the betas are still present. Disconnections aren't uncommon. Match queues error out. Non-dedicated servers will do this game a disservice. If you don't have a decent internet connection, just walk away.

First a AAA price point at $60, then a $40 season pass, and on top of THAT, you have fucking micro-transactions. You can pay about $30 to unlock a characters skill progression tree, and $5 for 5,000 steel (this games currency that you use to buy randomized loot crates with armor and weapons. 5k gets you about 10 crates with 6 items a piece. You earn rough 30-40 steel per match if you win).

Then you have premium account bullshit they call "Champion status" that gives you extra loot and exp after matches. All in all seems like a massive money grab with all this horseshit.

This games only saving grace is that the actual mechanics are really really polished and addictive, and the fact it's not bad to look at either. Very well optimized, runs at a steady 60FPS on my computer at max graphic settings.

 

[RJ MacReady]

I'll give Ubisoft Montreal credit: They seem to be doing a lot of things right. Day 1 anti-cheat (though who knows if it'll be any good), well-polished gameplay and passable balance for a new game.

My biggest gripe so far is that every map and game mode is overflowing with environmental instakills. I get that it's a confluence of map design, need to give people options and opening the door to the occasionally clutch wins, but it's hard to say there's a skill gap when all it takes is one guard break for the worst player to kill the best player in nearly any area. I think fire is a good compromise, but the maps need some serious work.

It also looks like gearscore is way more important than Ubi promised and as people start to prestige I'm seeing builds with epic gear that maxes stats outright and makes you super fucking juiced in stat-enabled modes: Berserker top heavies can do 80% of someone's max health (might be the most powerful single attack in the game) and fragile classes can win 1v4 ganks using infinite Revenge.

 

[Club Sandwich]

it's a slightly clunkier dark souls to me when i played the beta with some friends. i am annoyed by the p2p connections though - that was annoying in MW2 and it's still annoying in For Honor. that and i'm sick of picking up a game for the multiplayer and then having that same game dropped by my friends so i wind up playing alone

otherwise it's decent pvp melee with a mediocre story and passable visuals/audio. animations are pretty good actually.

still think i'm more likely to dive into Wildlands. The Division was hugely disappointing to me.

 

[OwO What's This?]

So far on release day, after spending some time with the final product, my major complaints are:

P2P servers are pretty much dogshit. A lot of the matchmaking bugs from the betas are still present. Disconnections aren't uncommon. Match queues error out. Non-dedicated servers will do this game a disservice. If you don't have a decent internet connection, just walk away.

First a AAA price point at $60, then a $40 season pass, and on top of THAT, you have fucking micro-transactions. You can pay about $30 to unlock a characters skill progression tree, and $5 for 5,000 steel (this games currency that you use to buy randomized loot crates with armor and weapons. 5k gets you about 10 crates with 6 items a piece. You earn rough 30-40 steel per match if you win).

Then you have premium account bullshit they call "Champion status" that gives you extra loot and exp after matches. All in all seems like a massive money grab with all this horseshit.

For Honor - A not surprisingly shit Ubisoft game.

 

[smallmilk]

Lawbringer is cool as shit. Love his executions.

 

[Azazel]

For Honor - A not surprisingly shit Ubisoft game.

Nah, Ubisofts payments models have always been garbage. Microtransactions, pre-order content and season passes abound. But these don't ruin the game in this case. It's fully possible to only get the $60 base game and fully enjoy everything it has to offer and remain competitive with people who spent more money on it. I've gotten less salty about it as I've come to realize player skill is much more of a factor than your gear. Dumping money to buy loot crates isn't a guarantee of epic gear, and epic gear won't save your ass from getting tossed off a cliff if you suck.

As far as the P2P servers I've heard pros and cons, with the pros being that input lag is much more rare. I agree with that, typically when you block, the attack is blocked, and when an attack hits you, it's because it struck your hitbox. Compared to Dark Souls PVP where all the time I saw laggy connections resulting in teleporting, attacks that missed by a mile hitting me, and all sorts of other fuckery including the possbility to cheat (which is much harder with a P2P server connection), FH's system is much more accurate.

 

[Strelok]

I'll wait a year to see where it is then. R6 Siege was a buy for me because the lower price point and seeing where the development path was going, combined with a free weekend letting me see the gameplay. I'm not taking a blind gamble on Ubisoft anymore.

Plus unlike R6 Siege being the only slow CQ FPS, there's already a game exactly like For Honor I can play, it's called Mount & Blade and it's sequel is coming out eventually, some time before the sun dies I think. Seriously love me some Mount & Blade online, espeically when you get a full 100v100 server going.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

Seriously on the fence on this one. Played the Beta and loved it, but from everything I've heard its online play is actually less stable than the beta. Plus I'm also concerned it'll wind up like one of those games where I play it nonstop for a week and then get bored. I'm short on cash lately so paying a full sixty bucks gets me really ancy.

The cost especially has me flip-flopping because we also have Horizon Zero Dawn coming out next week

 

[Strelok]

Seriously on the fence on this one. Played the Beta and loved it, but from everything I've heard its online play is actually less stable than the beta. Plus I'm also concerned it'll wind up like one of those games where I play it nonstop for a week and then get bored. I'm short on cash lately so paying a full sixty bucks gets me really ancy.

The cost especially has me flip-flopping because we also have Horizon Zero Dawn coming out next week

Like I said, probably best to just wait. If they are taking ques from R6, they plan to keep this alive for several years CS:GO style, which means free weekends and price drops a plenty in 6-8 months. On the other hand despite the DLC model resembling R6's but more scummy because the loot drop system (R6 has weapon mods, but those are all XP bought only, and you know exactly what you are getting, not hoping it drops a reflex sight), they may not actually be planning the long term system the same way, so look that up I suppose. But with all the talk of Year One, which is the phrase R6 has been using, I can't imagine they aren't planning very long term support for this assuming sales hold.

 

[Bagronkleton]

Guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break: The Game.

 

[Azazel]

Guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break guard break: The Game.

Except counter guard breaks are a thing.

 

[CleverJokeHere]

Fuck Ubisoft.

 

[RJ MacReady]

Six months post-release and dead.

Long story short: Poor balancing (the Warlord class has dominated every tournament since release), widespread network/connection errors and boring gameplay that has zero surprises after a few days of playtime has left yet another victim of Ubisoft. It's unlikely it'll bounce back since its design is fundamentally self-limiting; you can't have a fighting game with a low skill cap. Even The Division has four to six times more players on average.

I don't feel bad for Ubisoft, but damn would I hate to be the devs who care about it or the players who got signed to pro teams anticipating a decent comp scene. It always struck me as a genuine attempt to try something new that miraculously made it through the execs in charge. Its failure is just going to reinforce to Ubisoft that they should just stick with their churn-and-burn strategy and never take risks.

It's a dramatic, quiet failure - this game never really had widespread hype or media interest behind it like Ubisoft's other titles; even AC games get better marketing. I had no idea it even existed until last winter despite being announced years ago.

 

[OwO What's This?]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/07/28/for-honor-getting-dedicated-servers/

lmao, 5 months after release and they're implementing dedicated servers

 

[patchwork]

Too bad everyone stopped playing after the first patch. No one to even use them.

 

[AnimuGinger]

"A surprisingly not shit Ubisoft game"

Lol

 

[DeAtH]

Welp, I am one of those players who still play it like crazy. I sometimes wonder about my sanity...

 

[DeAtH]