Is The Division shrinking or disconnecting? A full experience of The Division on PS4

When talking about Ubisoft, the first thing that comes to players' minds is the reduced graphics, poor optimization, and potato-level servers. That's right, after Watch Dogs and Unity, Ubisoft seems to have become the straw that broke the camel's back for players. Every time a creative and novel promotional video is released, players are tempted, but the disappointment of the finished product makes players want to pull it out but can't.

However, judging from the recent blockbusters, whether it is "Assassin's Creed: Syndicate", "Far Cry: Primal" or even "Rainbow Six: Siege", they have alleviated the criticism of Ubisoft in the past two years, but in terms of the highest quality, it is estimated that Ubisoft has bet everything on "Tom Clancy's The Division".

With the launch of "The Division" on March 8, this game that has been hotly discussed by players since 2013 has finally been released to players as a finished product. After experiencing the PS4 version of "The Division", although the game is indeed the culmination of Ubisoft's work in the past two years, the flaws of Ubisoft's style can still be seen.

TPS+RPG+full networking=MMORPG

If I were to ask what was the most striking first impression of The Division before the Beta test, it would definitely be the simplified Chinese. Although the Chinese cultural wave has swept across the country in recent years, there are really few Chinese versions released simultaneously. I have to say that just based on this point, I can give Ubisoft a thumbs up.

After all, it is a work that has been "honed for ten years". "The Division" gives people a different feeling from "Rainbow Six: Siege" from the beginning. Not to mention the cool AR-style show-off UI of the operation interface, there is also the chaotic scene of New York after the spread of the virus, and the agents of the division who were activated as the last line of defense of society. Finally, there is the sentence "When society collapses, we stand up". It is worthy of Ubisoft, a big company in promotional videos. I give full marks for this pretense.

In recent years, Ubisoft has always been mixing elements of other types of games. From the looting and smashing in the previous "Rainbow Six: Siege" to the ACT elements of the recently launched "Far Cry: Primal", we can see a lot of shadows of it. And in this game, the "Ubisoft style" is bound to be mixed in.

When you think you can conquer the world with just a gun, the actual situation is often the opposite. Brushing becomes the theme of this game. Of course, unlike "Destiny" where you repeatedly brush levels, multiplayer dungeons, a rigorous numerical system, and sophisticated drop design, plus the DPS output settings commonly seen in MMORPGs, make this game look more complicated.

Of course, due to the full networking factor, we can see other players in the base. Apart from the different faces and names, the strength of the combat power depends on the difference in their own equipment and weapons. After all, Ubisoft is relatively conscientious and has not added large-scale micro-transactions, which also ensures the balance of the game. Although weapons are divided into strong and weak ones, most of them are obtained by hard work in dungeons. Of course, the difficulty of the dungeon will increase a lot with the different number of participants.

However, for a TPS game, the mission setting is still a bit monotonous, and the tasks of killing enemies and protecting citizens are repeated. If it were not for the team copy with adjustable difficulty, this game would be like "Destiny", a brush game for numbers and resources.

Break the conventional morality of multiplayer mode in the dark zone

The setting of the dark zone can be regarded as the essence of this game. Of course, at a time when multiplayer mode has become the mainstream of TPS, the setting of the dark zone can be regarded as rather bizarre. After all, it is common for one side to be the enemy, but have you ever seen a melee with only enemies and no friendly forces? This may be Ubisoft's idea.

Brushing is an eternal topic in this game. The quality of equipment often determines one's own strength. You can think of the dark zone as a top-level copy. Only here can you get powerful weapons. Of course, you can't wear them immediately. They need to be transported away by helicopter within a certain period of time. Often within these few minutes, big problems are exposed.

So, you will see that after one person calls for a plane, people will arrive one after another soon, pointing guns at each other and no one dares to fire the first shot. If one person fires, the people in the same team will be marked as red, and the others can eliminate them to get the bounty and pick up equipment, and then a chaotic fight begins. That’s why I say that a lone wolf with equipment will have to kneel when he meets a team member. Everyone understands this principle: it is a crime to possess a treasure.

Although the players were relatively peaceful when the server was first launched, once the difference between the strong and the weak appeared, an immoral secret war began, creating chaos, scheming against each other, and framing each other, which also made the dark zone in this game appear very dark. It must be said that although Ubisoft's design of the dark zone is novel, it is not a good idea.

Is the whole territory shrinking or is the whole territory disconnected?

Since it was named a major Ubisoft company, I think only Child of Light and Rayman have not had their graphics shrunk. I don’t believe that other games have had their graphics shrunk. Although the game The Division was given a stunning first look at E3 2013, it is destined to remain shrunk.

Perhaps Ubisoft made some mistakes in its considerations in 2013. After all, the next-generation consoles had just been launched, and Ubisoft might have intended to show off the performance of the new consoles, but what it did not expect was that in just two years, the functions of both PS4 and Xbox One were instantly drained, which also turned "The Division" directly into a shrinkage of "The Division".

Of course, the rumor of "returning to the first generation" is indeed unreliable. Although the picture is indeed reduced, the actual sense of perception has not decreased. The dilapidated reinforced concrete buildings, the depressed streets and the snowy scenes still set off the decadent feeling after the disaster. Especially for console players, the picture rendering level is still at a good level.

Another problem is the players' aversion to "full networking". EA's original fast-food game "Need for Speed ​​​​19" was ridiculed by many players. This time it is Ubisoft's turn, especially under the title of "potato dregs server", which makes many players worried.

However, after the actual experience, I can only say that disconnection is not common. Why do I say that? Although Ubisoft's poor service is a well-known fact, perhaps this time they are kind to console players. Although connection failures and slow search for teammates during the game, waiting for more than 10 minutes is common, but during online battles on PS4, the network is still relatively stable. After all, when I heard that there was a disconnection factor, I plugged an Internet cable into the PS4 as a guarantee.

However, I heard that on PC, "The Division" crashes almost every time you log in, and you even need to use a VPN. Of course, when the game was just launched, there were countless incidents of the server being overwhelmed. It has to be said that whether this is a benefit for console players is still unknown, but for console players, it is indeed a rare good news.

Conclusion: Of course, for an MMORPG, the PS4 version of The Division does give people a stunning texture. Compared with the slightly simpler combat method of Rainbow Six: Siege, The Division is worthy of players' more than two years of waiting, whether it is the integration of multiple elements, rigorous content design, or even multiplayer methods such as dark zones. In particular, the addition of simplified Chinese and the support of Chinese consoles also provide a lot of convenience for domestic players. However, after creating many popular series IPs such as Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six, it is still unknown whether Ubisoft can take the Tom Clancy series to a new level with The Division.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.