Ghost Recon Wildlands

[Danimal]

Played some of the DLC with Terry, maybe he feels differently but this is one you could skip if you don't have the season pass. It feels like they mashed the fast and furious movies with that God awful remake of point break.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, I don't get why it's a completely separate thing--can't use the same character you've been developing (at least not on PC--maybe if I tried it on Xbox where I have completed the campaign, it would let me?), have to completely get out of the game to load Narco Road up...and it's a COMPLETE "dudebro" vibe like Dirt 3, which drives me up a wall.

That being said, the Trials bike stuff was sort of fun, but nothing about the DLC wowed me like the main game did. It's just not my thing, even though you'd think "put more racing into Wildlands!" would be right up my alley. The stunt planes behave completely differently than any other plane, so even the simple act of getting through a hoop seems absurd. Combination of the hyper-responsive plane with a delayed camera makes it a struggle with the camera more than the plane. The nitro bursts on the vehicles are over-the-top absurd.

I played it for 30 minutes or so, and couldn't wait to go back to the normal game.

[pk500]

Thanks for the hand's on head's up, fellas. You just saved me $15.

And for the unenlightened who don't own this great game, it's on sale for $35 today at Amazon:

https://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/362 ... amazoncom/

[Danimal]

The other thing is we played for what maybe 30-45 minutes and I was like 10% done. I'm guessing you can do the whole expansion in 6-7 hours. Plus the techno dance beat music, good lord.

[TCrouch]

It's really tough for me to say "don't get it!", as if my opinion is the one that everybody would share. Honestly, I can see some people having fun with the lighter tone and different activities (flying through airborne hoops, trials bike courses where you need to jump ramps and balance on rails,drift challenges, etc.). The only ones I found moderately cool were the trials courses, and the "find the car" activity. It gives you a photo and an overhead shot of the map, then you need to find the spot on the map, drive there, and find the photo perspective to find the car referenced. All of that is timed, but I've had tons of time leftover on the ones I've done so far.

I can see some people having fun with it, it's just a bit over the top for my tastes.

[pk500]

I have Steep for those kinds of thrills, Terry. Again, thanks to you and Dan for the hands-on feedback.

[Danimal]

I've got no problem capturing some gameplay footage of the expansion if you want to see it PK, or anyone else.

I'm kicking myself for not having it on last night when Terry shot over my head last night going 100mph on a dirt bike. Turns out that was just his body, the dirt bike hit a rock. Was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

[Teal]

I kind of figured, from videos, that this expansion would be different. Had a little reservation about getting the season pass, but what the hell, I'll tear through it anyway. I own it, so why not... Lol

[Teal]

On the plus side, I can finally BE T.C., Paul! The chopper is totally Magnum PI... Lol

[TCrouch]

On the plus side, I can finally BE T.C., Paul! The chopper is totally Magnum PI... Lol

...wait, you wanna be me? There's only room for one of me!!!!

I kid, I kid!

I'm kicking myself for not having it on last night when Terry shot over my head last night going 100mph on a dirt bike. Turns out that was just his body, the dirt bike hit a rock. Was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

And yeah....the flying-human-missile-down-the-mountain was something I was laughing so hard at, I couldn't breathe. I knew it had to be close, because I was chasing your icon and had the bright idea to just 'take this shortcut down the mountain'...didn't know that the ridge had one of those "slightly raised shelves of rocks". I hit it at 100mph and just flew off the front of the bike at full speed, with this ragdoll down the mountainside. I could have sworn I kneed you in the head as you rode by underneath.

[Teal]

Yeah, this is goofy. It's supremely NOT Ghost Recon. But I don't think I mind. Feels more like GTA combined with Just Cause. It'll be a diversion. And could yield some seriously funny co-op moments, as illustrated above...

[Teal]

The thing is, I got into a base to rescue some girl, and... It's ghost Recon. Plays the same in that situation. Has its own loot, guns, and everything. And hold the phone...I love the stunt planes. Love em. Yes, completely different handling from the sky busses. But you can dodge SAM fire all day long in them, and pull off some great stunts (I recorded a few). There​ are stunt jumps, stunt loops for air vehicles, races, etc. And it got me thinking. There's not much here that we don't already do on our more "screw it" nights, except the eternal turbo. It's just that we have a reason to do those things now... Lol. I get it's not GR. But it'll be perfect for PK's more intense laundry nights...

[Teal]

Upon further play, nevermind. Don't buy it. It's a f*cking mess. Dialog is repetitive and really campy, 3rd or 4th mission in is INSANELY annoying and over long...If this were the full game, it'd be worthless. Save your cash for the next DLC. Hopefully it'll be much better. Ubisoft should be embarrassed by this idiotic DLC. I'm not even sure I'll be able to finish it. Just goofy, buggy, and profoundly disappointing. Given how it's getting universally trashed, I hope they'll take it to heart and make certain that "Fallen Ghosts" and the PVP mode are actually Ghost Recon material, and good. Because this crap is neither.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, my initial instinct was it was a waste, but I gave it a little more of a shot. I still don't think it's worth much--and it's head-scratching to me that they'd make it completely disconnected from your main character you've spent all that time developing. And suddenly it turns into a solo game? It's basically a "Just Cause" add-on for Wildlands.

I went back and started playing through the PC version to 100% clear each zone as I went, and have been having a blast still. It's a different experience when I don't run around and collect everything, get the insta-call-chopper and rebel skills, and actually have to hoof it from location to location

[Teal]

My biggest beefs are that is not even close to ghost recon, and it's executed rather poorly even then. It's buggy (I have failed the same part of the same mission because my truck inadvertently and suddenly lurches to the left or right, or the brakes lock up when I don't touch them), and I have to sit and listen to the most asinine 5-6 lines of dialogue over and over and over during the 3 mile drive. The stunt stuff would be fine, but this is not GTA or Just Cause. It's ridiculous in this game.

[Danimal]

As you said it is getting ripped to shreds, problem is any DLC has already been planned and worked on so if the other DLC is along these lines this could be the worst season pass purchase ever.

[Teal]

What worries me is the description of the next DLC could signal that it's like a "horde mode", which also isn't GR. Gonna keep my fingers crossed that it isn't. If I pay 40 dollars extra to extend the life of a game, it needs to extend the game I enjoyed enough to fork over that kind of money. Not give me arcadey, stuck in the 80's goofy stuff. This world is too​ big for the main game style to be a one off.

[TCrouch]

Yeah--I loved the main game so much that I've played through it twice now practically and have no desire to stop. Yet that DLC? Zero interest in playing through once.

[Teal]

Yeah--I loved the main game so much that I've played through it twice now practically and have no desire to stop. Yet that DLC? Zero interest in playing through once.

If this DLC were in Just Cause, I think I'd like it. Because it'd fit into that world. When I'm simply fighting bases, it's not that different from the main game. That said, my evolving opinion is...somewhere between my initial "eh, I'll give it a shot" and "WTF is this crap". It's not completely irredeemable, it's just...not GR. I can have some fun with the side missions, and now that Senor Nutjob is out of the picture, along with his stupid techno music and horrid dialogue (he's the first "boss" you come in contact with, and it's a great relief to move on from him), it's not AS bad. Still not GR. Still irritating that they chose this far less serious route, and such a drastic deviation from the main idea. But if you bought it already...it's not unplayable. Just pretend you're playing Just Cause, or even Saint's Row: Bolivia or something, and it's tolerable. But damn them for wasting DLC in a Tier 1 military style game on this arcade stuff.

[Danimal]

So I really didn't pay attention to the difficulty of zones I just kind of went where the road would take me, so to speak.

Now I've doubled back and I'm in this zone with all the stealth missions and hate it. After a bunch of tries to bug a house, mainly because I didn't understand that I couldn't kill anyone. I finally finished it and when I went to leave the area tried to base jump and splatted against a rock. I turned off the game in disgust for the 1st time.

Are there any other zones with stealth missions? I hope not I just want to take out bad guys.

[RobVarak]

So I really didn't pay attention to the difficulty of zones I just kind of went where the road would take me, so to speak.

Now I've doubled back and I'm in this zone with all the stealth missions and hate it. After a bunch of tries to bug a house, mainly because I didn't understand that I couldn't kill anyone. I finally finished it and when I went to leave the area tried to base jump and splatted against a rock. I turned off the game in disgust for the 1st time.

Are there any other zones with stealth missions? I hope not I just want to take out bad guys.

There are probably 3-4, maybe a few more. Some of them are horrible. The bizarre use of checkpoints can be an issue as well. Many story missions have several distinct segments. Some have checkpoints after each, others have none at all. So if you inadvertently "base jump" and fall 2 feet to your death (something I did more than once. ), you end up replaying the whole damn mission.

A tip on the stealth missions though. You can't be seen, but if you kill someone before they fully ID you, you'll be fine as long as nobody sees the body. Use sync shots to take out all of the standalone enemies. Then work your way through, executing the remainder quickly. This is how I did several of them that I saw folks online saying were tough.

One last tip: I finished the story last night. There are two endings. One if you have 100% eroded the cartel, another if you have anything less. I inadvertently overlooked one mission so I was at 99%. I was able to go back and finish to see both endings. I recommend it.

[Teal]

Anyone want to do the challenges tonight? Doing know what they are, but who cares? You get loot for it!

[RobVarak]

I'd be up for that, but it's only 50/50 that I get done with work early enough.

[Danimal]

Thanks for the tips Rob.

I was honestly confused because I just did one where I needed to record conversations and all I had to do was leave my drone in the right spot but apparently the drone can't plant a mic

The noise lure helped with this mission but as you said I base jumped 3 feet to my death and it started me way down on the beach again.

[Danimal]

My new PC came with my 1080TI card, I didn't think this game could look better but boy was I wrong. I'm going to try and grab some footage tonight.