Skull and Bones

[Vandle]

Did a search for this, nothing!

Ubisoft's latest which looks just like AC Black Flag but without the AC bit. I absolutely loved the pirating and ship battles in that game so looking to get this although I heard there is no boarding which is a bit weird.

Open Beta, free with no pre-order starts on Thursday which is a bit of an unusual move. Are they using us to iron out the bugs then delay release or are they so confident in their product that they think people are going to be flocking to buy it? Day 1 Ubi games are usually a bit of a mess so looking forward to seeing this.

Skull and Bones Open Beta | Ubisoft (EU / UK)

Plunge into naval mayhem to become the most fearsome pirate captain! Play until Infamy Brigand (Tier 6 Rank 1) and carry over your progression to launch upon purchase of the game.

www.ubisoft.com

 

[Plainsong]

They released a dev diary last week which I watched and it actually looked really good. I also loved the big ship battles of previous AC games so will give the beta a go and keep an eye on how it reviews.

 

[Vandle]

There seems to be a suspicious lack of gameplay videos only two days from beta launch and 10 from full launch. Even that dev vid showed your character walking around a town or home base but nothing actually showing us him doing anything?
According to Kotaku, this is a $120m Ubi project that initially started life in 2013 as a MMO spin off from Black Flag. It was announced at E3 in 2017 and scheduled for release late 2018. So it has a 10 year development and is almost 6 years late.

https://kotaku.com/first-it-was-an-assassins-creed-expansion-now-its-ubis-1847326742

So the final version has to be finished, transferred to disc, printed, boxed up and shipped on boats, planes and trains to be available to buy in a little over a week in every games shop in every city in the world, so chances are its well on its way to my local shop if it's not there already.. And there is no gameplay footage of it other than a few sea battle set pieces??

I am skeptical!

 

[biron_w]

It's going to be really crap, isn't it? Ubisoft will pull the plug after 6 months.

 

[Mint8]

Its a bit rubbish - but to say there is no gameplay is just wrong. There was a closed beta not long ago and tons of footage from that.

It could and should have been a full open world pirate game but instead its just fairly simple point and shoot sea combat with some brief walking around on land bits but no land combat.

The ships handle like speedboats.

The scenary you sail past looks interesting but then you realise you cant actually visit most of it.

Lots of ship customisation but to me it all seemed a bit soulless.

 

[Plainsong]

Yeah it looks pretty and I will give it a try because I loved the ship combat in Odyssey. Only one way to find out seems a bit marmite from what I’ve seen on YouTube.

 

[Vandle]

Its a bit rubbish - but to say there is no gameplay is just wrong. There was a closed beta not long ago and tons of footage from that.

It could and should have been a full open world pirate game but instead its just fairly simple point and shoot sea combat with some brief walking around on land bits but no land combat.

The ships handle like speedboats.

The scenary you sail past looks interesting but then you realise you cant actually visit most of it.

Lots of ship customisation but to me it all seemed a bit soulless.

I meant no or at least very little gameplay footage outside of ship battles but since realised there really isn't anything else but ship battles. The ship boarding is non existent, you defeat the ship and then press to board and it fades to black and just says boarding success. Weak.

 

[dannyjo22]

That's a shame, Black flag was one of my favourite releases and boarding and taking out the whole crew was most of the fun. I find it hard to believe they never did a black flag 2 especially considering most of what they do is churn out the same game over and over.

 

[Scort]

Sounding like a wait and see/bargain bin job to me - the videos I've seen do indeed make it seem like the boats are powered by engines; at least the ones in Black Flag felt slow and cumbersome

 

[Vandle]

That's a shame, Black flag was one of my favourite releases and boarding and taking out the whole crew was most of the fun. I find it hard to believe they never did a black flag 2 especially considering most of what they do is churn out the same game over and over.

Totally agree. Ubisoft games are just copy and paste. Ghost recon, AC, Far Cry. It’s all essentially the same thing with a different skin. The S&B team did black flag and then were tasked with making a MMO version of it which would have been great. This just seems like they got part of the way there and instead of abandoning it have turned it into what looks like some half hearted effort. It looks good so will definitely give the beta a go tonight but it needs to sell a hell of a lot of copies to start to recoup that $120m outlay. That’s why I think the open beta a week before release is such a bold / strange move, there doesn’t look to be enough to entice players into a purchase once you’ve had a couple of hours of attacking some ships.

 

[Vandle]

40g download. Its actually been available to pre load since Tuesday. Available to play same time worldwide on the 8th. Which is, or was, 3am UK time. Likely wont be finished by the time I go to bed so will get on it over the weekend.
Search Skull and Bones Free in the MS store otherwise it'll just bring up a preorder for the full game. $150 for special edition, jokers. Took me a little while to figure that out

 

[Hutch]

I really liked the ship combat in one of the AC games so will give it a try I suspect

 

[Plainsong]

Had a very brief go on PS5 this morning. Runs ok at least. No real impression yet as I’ve not done enough to know anything.

 

[Scort]

Only just done the intro bit with the British fleet, feels really 'meh' to me.

I know it's a beta (but we all know it probably is representative of the final) - it so far seems pretty soul less, the initial audio didn't hit hard at all, just a few badly voiced characters chatting with a slight bit of wind noise; I had to check that the audio wasn't on stereo or some low mode.

The ship battles are tiresome after you've sunk two ships - it just seems like button spamming, nothing like Black Flag, which had different weapon types and a firing arc to adjust - this just has a cross hair and you just spam the fire button. Fighting one of the main ships elevated this to a new level of dullness.

I'm on the character creation screen now, and seriously thinking of just sacking it off - Black Flag did this setting a whole lot better in, what, 2013/2014....

 

[Plainsong]

Only just done the intro bit with the British fleet, feels really 'meh' to me.

I know it's a beta (but we all know it probably is representative of the final) - it so far seems pretty soul less, the initial audio didn't hit hard at all, just a few badly voiced characters chatting with a slight bit of wind noise; I had to check that the audio wasn't on stereo or some low mode.

The ship battles are tiresome after you've sunk two ships - it just seems like button spamming, nothing like Black Flag, which had different weapon types and a firing arc to adjust - this just has a cross hair and you just spam the fire button. Fighting one of the main ships elevated this to a new level of dullness.

I'm on the character creation screen now, and seriously thinking of just sacking it off - Black Flag did this setting a whole lot better in, what, 2013/2014....

It gets better I think. The first battle isn’t a reflection of what’s to come as you will get different types of weapons and weapon placements etc.

I am surprised actually after being initially underwhelmed. I quite like it but not sure of it’s longevity. I am a sucker for questing and upgrading so maybe that is it. Got my second ship and some nice sails, rams and guns and I’m off ship hunting in a very pretty environment. It’s a bit barebones maybe but it is a beta and it’s not as bare as sea of thieves was when it launched that’s for sure. Quietly ok with it so far.

 

[Scort]

Sacked it off and grabbed Hell divers instead - much better from the off, and doesn't feel like it'll be a slog.

Will keep a weathered eye on Skull and Bones, to see what the release version is like - but I'm not sold by the beta, and the cynic in me expects this is exactly what the final game will be.

 

[Vandle]

Sacked it off and grabbed Hell divers instead - much better from the off, and doesn't feel like it'll be a slog.

Will keep a weathered eye on Skull and Bones, to see what the release version is like - but I'm not sold by the beta, and the cynic in me expects this is exactly what the final game will be.

They only have a week to fix it or change it up. Full release on Thursday.

I've not played yet but I feel you've written my thoughts in your earlier post! I want the Black Flag experience multiplied by 10 years of improvements. Doesn't look like I'll get it.

 

[Scort]

They only have a week to fix it or change it up. Full release on Thursday.

I've not played yet but I feel you've written my thoughts in your earlier post! I want the Black Flag experience multiplied by 10 years of improvements. Doesn't look like I'll get it.

If they'd done a remaster of BF I'd be buying that up, without hesitation! But not this, it's also pretty odd that you don't seem to have the freedom of BF either; you transition from sailing to a port with a button press and black screen. It just makes it feel a little disjointed.

There's a bit where you have to explore one of the main ships you sink, and it looks great inside, but it has like 3 things to interact with - a couple of papers and a cannon (well three, but I expect they all did the same thing). And I use the term 'explore' loosely, as its a set path to go pick something up. There's even a massive treasure chest you just walk by!

There's also some odd lock picking mechanic that you do from your boat - using telekinesis it seems, you have to unlock this ship before you can dock. You also find wrecks (that all looked the same) where you must do the same, to get their loot.

The island bits also felt pretty stale - NPCs just stand there doing the same things, I don't recall BF any better in that regard, but it was less noticeable in that as you could go anywhere on foot; here you're just hemmed into a small area.

Who knows, maybe after leaving the starting area, it opens into a magical utopia - personally, it just felt like it was going to be a slog, the standard Ubisoft fayre these days. And the point and mash ship combat, I couldn't face that for goodness knows how many hours.

And with the ship combat, it seemed like every shot lands hits - whereas in BF you could have shots that pass the sails without a hit; forcing you to use the aiming arc to hit the sides. I swear that in this, every cannon ball hits, it just felt over simplified compared to BF - like it's been made for a tiktok generation who don't have time to aim for critical points etc.

Try the beta though, you never know!

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

There was no way this was ever going to be a good game. Development hell, and one that Ubisoft would have definitely pulled the plug on if it wasn't for the threat of huge financial penalties.

 

[Darujhistan]

I'm here for the laughs.