The Division 2

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JaySevenZero
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The Division 2

Post by JaySevenZero »

I picked this up the other week for the PS4 as it was on sale and Ubisoft put the whole game up as a timed playable demo and after a couple of days of playing it, I figured it was my kinda thing so I jumped on board.

I've been playing for over 100 hours and I've been pleasantly surprised by how much fun I've been having. The world is incredibly rendered with an impressive level of detail and the gameplay, albeit somewhat straightforward can still deliver moments of adrenaline-pumping intensity.

The thing that has impressed me the most so far though is the way the game world keeps evolving as I play. I got to what I thought was the end of the campaign only for the game to bring in an entirely new, more powerful faction to contend with and visually altered many of the areas due to their presence. After an exceptionally action-packed final mission in that world version, it has now fully opened up with the raid and DLC missions which have now massively expanded the in-game map.

I may fall away from this for a wee while as there's this little, obscure title called Death Stranding out later this week but as a title that, for me, wasn't necessarily on my list of games I wanted to play, The Division 2 has ended up being something of an entertaining revelation and one that I'm far from done with anytime soon.
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: The Division 2

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

I had a lot of fun with The Division 2 earlier this year (played on Xbox One X).

I found it to be a really comprehensive and compelling package overall with strong mechanics, deep systems, and a beautifully detailed world. I only really played with my buddy for about 40 hours up to the credits rolling on the main campaign, but he's actually carried on and much like you Jay has been blown away by the sheer amount of evolving game there is on offer.

The other thing that always impressed me about it was how rock solid it was performance wise. For a complex online 'game as a service' we rarely had even the whiff of a problem with it, which compared to most games of this sort at launch is pretty amazing.

I understand it underperformed for Ubisoft vs their expectations, but if that means it can be picked up for cheap nowadays then I'd encourage folk to give it go, as there's a massive amount of top quality gaming there for your money.
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Re: The Division 2

Post by JaySevenZero »

The thing I've found with Ubisoft titles over the last few years is that they often get a surprising level of post-launch support from them, which in most cases has lead to them being much better games than what they were when they were initially released. This applies most heavily to their games that contain a strong online component (Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, For Honor & The Division 2).
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: The Division 2

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

Definitely. You can't really fault Ubi for post-launch support, and not just that but also how much of it is actually free. They do a lot of paid stuff as well, but they've been consistently good at general quality of life and content updates to keep their games feeling fresh.

Even the latest Assassin's Creed, which isn't what anyone would consider an 'online' title, has been consistently supported since release.

Will be interesting to see if they turn around the latest Ghost Recon though - Yves Guillmot himself called it 'disaster' on a recent earnings call with shareholders! :shock:
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Re: The Division 2

Post by JaySevenZero »

I jumped into the Dark Hours raid on Saturday morning and fuck me, that shit was intense! We didn't even get to the first sub-boss but it was an absolute full-on co-operative shoot-fest from the moment it kicks off.

The multiplayer aspect worked really well given that none of us (8 players, two squads of four) appeared to be on-comms. Obviously, it would work so much better if there was actual communication between the players but Ubi have created a pretty stable set-up for the event so that it didn't necessarily have an overall detrimental effect on the gameplay.

Anyway, somewhat preoccupied with Death stranding at the moment but will be cutting into The Division 2 regularly, especially the raid itself. I put this out there again just in case anyone never progressed beyond the first world instance if you're on the PS4 send me a friend request and we'll get on it.
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Re: The Division 2

Post by ReprobateGamer »

Considering how many of their games I never quite get around to finishing, I have a lot of time for Ubisoft games in general. There is a bit of a habit of launching games a little early (presumably to meet shareholder deadlines) but the post launch support is very good with a balance of QoL improvements and additional content. You only have to look at the work that was undertaken on The Division from it's launch to it's state earlier in the year.

The Division 2 doesn't feel like it's quite having the support that it's predecessor did but I think that is in part that Breakpoint has been released in the same year. I think it would have been better to have been released next Spring in the same ilk that Wildlands followed a good while after Div 1 - Joe Public is going to see a 3rd person cover shooter in the same universe and think that they already have a similar game

I do keep dipping back into The Division 2 - I'm just into World Tier 1 so am taking it slow. The world is wonderfully realised and patching to reduce the AI aggression has helped to make transversing the map less of a chore. It needs a Survival mode, and more Inclusions (4 player raids) (storming a TV studio in the first one was a great adventure!) and the current road map looks a little sparse (tbf I haven't looked at it for a while). I did try going into the Kenley campus adventure on random but couldn't even manage a full fire team and I think we broke one of the puzzle sections in the metro station, which was disappointing.

I'm on XB1 rather than PS4 so won't be diving into the raid anytime soon I imagine. Maybe one day ...
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Re: The Division 2

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ReprobateGamer wrote: November 19th, 2019, 12:10 pm The Division 2 doesn't feel like it's quite having the support that it's predecessor did but I think that is in part that Breakpoint has been released in the same year.
I never played the original The Division so I don't know how much extra content that got but so far for D2 there have been three expansions and the raid, with the fourth expansion on its way to round-off Year One - all free of course!

I'm currently on World Tier V and, and have to say, it hasn't become anywhere near dull but suffices to say you shouldn't expect any decrease in aggression once you get to Tier II and Black Tusk enter the fray!
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Re: The Division 2

Post by ReprobateGamer »

When The Division 1 launched, there were the replayable story missions, and the vanilla dark zone, and ... that was it!

First few patches were just fixing the game - the first expansion was delayed a few months until the 1.4 patch was tested and deployed (I think the first incursion has come out and that was all). It took probably two years for the game to truly settle in and get the bulk of the end game content.

My issue with the world in Div 2 was that it was hard to get from one part to the next early on. Once you hit the tiers I expect some aggression but there were so many random encounters and the AI largely employed the tactic of 'charge'. I found very discouraging. Devs have toned back the forceful aggression somewhat I believe (at least at lower levels). Now I'm at at tier 1 as well, I have suitable items and also the encounters fit better narratively. Plus, I can always fast travel if needed/pushed for time - which you absolutely can't do before unlocking the safe houses/story missions

That said, I really miss the gear sets from Div 1, collections of items that would give a special buff if you were wearing four or more at the same time. Whilst the sets that buff your attacks were useful, I had much more fun in any co-op encounter as a D3-F3NS (use a SMG with a riot shield) or Final Measure (absorb a grenade blast every 8 seconds) and running aggro so that team mates could get their damage/accuracy stacks up. There's nothing like this in the second one - it's all about damage output rather than having people with particular skillsets and it's removing something that made the first game special
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Re: The Division 2

Post by JaySevenZero »

ReprobateGamer wrote: November 23rd, 2019, 8:38 pm That said, I really miss the gear sets from Div 1, collections of items that would give a special buff if you were wearing four or more at the same time. Whilst the sets that buff your attacks were useful, I had much more fun in any co-op encounter as a D3-F3NS (use a SMG with a riot shield) or Final Measure (absorb a grenade blast every 8 seconds) and running aggro so that team mates could get their damage/accuracy stacks up. There's nothing like this in the second one - it's all about damage output rather than having people with particular skillsets and it's removing something that made the first game special
This is absolutely in The Division 2. I have several buffs that complement the entire team when using armor/health kits and improve my own health regen. Perhaps these only come into play with the higher end Elite, Exotic and specialization gear I can't remember, but they're definitely in there along with standard buffs based on the particular brands of gear and how many pieces you wear of it.
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Re: The Division 2

Post by ReprobateGamer »

JaySevenZero wrote: November 24th, 2019, 1:02 pm
ReprobateGamer wrote: November 23rd, 2019, 8:38 pm That said, I really miss the gear sets from Div 1, collections of items that would give a special buff if you were wearing four or more at the same time. Whilst the sets that buff your attacks were useful, I had much more fun in any co-op encounter as a D3-F3NS (use a SMG with a riot shield) or Final Measure (absorb a grenade blast every 8 seconds) and running aggro so that team mates could get their damage/accuracy stacks up. There's nothing like this in the second one - it's all about damage output rather than having people with particular skillsets and it's removing something that made the first game special
This is absolutely in The Division 2. I have several buffs that complement the entire team when using armor/health kits and improve my own health regen. Perhaps these only come into play with the higher end Elite, Exotic and specialization gear I can't remember, but they're definitely in there along with standard buffs based on the particular brands of gear and how many pieces you wear of it.
Looks like I need to go back into it and have a proper look. I've not been playing a huge amount of attention to gear to this point. I know I've got one exotic (the Lullaby) but it's massively underlevelled and I don't know if I can get it up to a decent score to use it (something else to investigate)
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