The Skull and Bones Open Beta has ended and now we can only wait for the official launch to continue sailing the seas, which is scheduled for February 13-16, depending on the pre-order edition. Opinions about this new pirate adventure from Ubisoft are varied.
While many fans of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and Sea of Thieves are disappointed (due to comparisons), many players have found in Skull and Bones a video game with the potential to explore, bomb other ships, and stick around for a while.
Personally, I have accumulated 34 hours to Open Beta and I am looking forward to having access to the final version to continue progressing and bring you the most complete analysis possible. It will arrive a little after its official launch. However, I want to comment on a section of the free trial that has been a nuisance.
Shut up, damn it! From The Crew Motorfest to Skull and Bones
Ubisoft has a very serious problem with its NPCs and I truly believe that it is the result of a atrocious fear of losing our attention. It’s obvious that a decision maker has attention issues to overcome. That or you know too well a society that suffers from anxiety if it doesn’t have an eight-second stimulus every so often. And yes, I mean TikTok and Instagram.
The issue has been going on for a long time and I already told you about it in mid-September 2023 with the launch of The Crew Motorfest: Cara, the artificial intelligence that guides us in the experience, was not silent even under water. She was something monstrous, worse than Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West… And that’s saying a lot!
Although there was an option to remove all dialogue, which is problematic for any NPC other than Cara, Ubisoft finally released an update that added the option to specifically silencing Cara whenever we want. Perhaps the criticism was more general than many thought at the time.
Now, Ubisoft makes the same mistake again in Skull and Bones…but worse. Let me clarify that I really enjoyed the open beta, so much so that I put up with my ship’s crew for 34 hours and a few more while I watched other people enjoy it live on Twitch.
I think I’ve accumulated enough hours to safely say that this game has the most whiny, annoying, and verbose NPCs ever. The crew of Skull and Bones He doesn’t shut up for a single second, reaching absurd limits such as questioning my decisions and complaining that they have bad tools before getting through the first hour of play.
And yes, there is an option to lower crew volume, but it is still an extreme that affects the gaming experience. After all, they are not useless: the crow’s nest lookout shouts warnings of sightings, the crew whispers and sings, and the second on board shouts our orders (actions) and tells curious stories. It is enriching and that is why I do not want extremes: neither absolute silence nor boring in my ears.
The point is that Ubisoft has believed it is a good and coherent idea (it is not) that the crew question the captain’s decisions (us) every two by three. Without wanting to make the mistake of asking for something realistic, I would like a little common sense when introducing the dialogues.
How is it possible that the crew constantly questions me about everything? I stop to loot a wreck, log or any other action that involves acquiring resources and, if they have nothing to do with the mission, the crew tells me that we don’t need that. And not content with that, they accuse me that they have bad tools and that they need better ones.
And not satisfied with this, they comment on absolutely everything. It’s cool to listen to the second in command’s orders and many of the warnings, but they go crazy when several things happen at the same time because, as I said, they comment on everything: orders, everything that happens around them, various phrases, insults and expletives and various other fillers. There is rarely two minutes of silence to listen to the waves.
I admit that I could live with a chatty crew in exchange for enjoying the little things. little gems that the Spanish dubbing has, but I am incapable of having patience with the constant complaints and claims. Not only because it is another proof that Ubisoft is afraid that you will get bored if there is not a stimulus every five seconds, but because where have you seen pirates complain (loudly) to a bloodthirsty captain who has just devastated a city for pleasure.
It is not the most pressing problem of Skull and Bones and it probably seems silly to many of you, but personally it completely takes me out of the immersion. The only way I have found to silence them (without muting them) is to order them to sing, but it happens that (forgive my heresy, Black Flag fans) I only like Salomas at very specific moments. I just want small moments of silence to listen to how my boat rides the waves of the sea. Is that too much to ask, Ubisoft? I’m not going to leave, I promise you.
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