Let's start with 2013.
"We're focusing a lot on the RPG aspects of the game since we are very much an RPG, so acquiring loot and gearing up your character is going to be a very big part of the game."
2013
"Our goal with Tom Clancy's The Division is nothing short of completely changing the way people play online RPGs," said Fredrik Rundqvist, executive producer, Ubisoft.
2013
At Ubisofts E3 2013 Media Briefing we unveiled the latest game in the Tom Clancy franchise: The Division, an online open-world action-RPG set in a very troubled version of New York.
2014
The biggest thing is its a Tom Clancy RPG, says
Rodrigo Cortes, senior brand art director for The Division. Its mixing realistic, tactical, possible scenarios with online play and RPG mechanics.
Cortes agrees that more games are throwing RPG elements into the mix, but points out that The Division started out as an RPG from the ground on up.
Youre starting to see similar mixing of genres in other games. Before a game was either a shooter, or a third-person game, or a driving game. But now more and more theres a blend of genres into a bigger game. It can make the game hard to define it has shooter elements, RPG mechanics, its cover-based, online and a seamless open-world.
It has all of that, yes. But we took it to heart. Its a proper RPG.
Its refreshing to hear a developer proudly admit what a game is, rather than float around the subject throwing in marketing phrases (shared-world shooter urgh) and talk of the experience. Its an RPG, but instead of swords and shields its loaded with grenades and sniper rifles. There is character levelling and upgrading for weapons, gear, skills and other stats.
Theres few, if any, role-playing games set in a modern war setting. Its a genre thats obsessed with fantasy and sci-fi. But what initially seems an odd choice for a brand famously associated with cold war thrillers and future tech espionage, may actually turn out to be the most refreshing take on the Clancy brand in years.
It was our biggest challenge from the very beginning, admits Cortes. We werent sure if it was even possible but after a couple of years to get things running it became the games strength.
Theres nothing like it out there so we can do things surprisingly well that nobody has done before. We dont have dragons or weird spell effects, we have technology and we have weaponry.
What we take from Tom Clancy... same article
Tom Clancy is what keeps us sane, says Cortes. Its like a compass for us. Designing the skills, the enemies and the technology its all based on the concept of realism. The concept of the virus and the collapse of society, but relevant to this generation. So before it was about terrorism or war but the new fear now is how easily society can collapse when there is no electricity, of the fear of something like SARS or ebola. Thats what we take from Clancy.
2014
For us, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to tell people how much of an RPG it is. It has shooting, and is shooter-like. If you look at it, thats the whole point because we want it to be very immersive. But its not a shooter with some RPG stats tacked on. Its actually a proper RPG from the very beginning. Theres deep progression when it comes to loot, gear and levels and youll be able to customise every skill, do exactly what you want and choose roles. So, thats probably the biggest communication challenge. We want to make clear to everyone that its an RPG.
RPG MANTRA SINCE 2013
So thats the mantra, but what about the details? As mentioned, Cortes and his team are adamant they wont give us too many pieces of the puzzle in case we piece them together wrongly and end up hoping for something beyond whats being promised. What he will offer, however, is a tantalising glimpse into the games class or archetype system, which sounds like it could be a refreshing mix between the traditional nod towards damage-absorbing, damage-dealing and healing classes we see in MMOs and RPGs and the loadouts found in shooters. The real draw on this front though is the flexibility Ubi is also adding, however.
TOM CLANCY'S THE DIVISION / 24 OCT 2014
"For us, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to tell people how much of an RPG it is." BY
LUKE KARMALI It's safe to say from the moment it was announced back at E3 2013, interest in Ubisoft's upcoming MMO shooter The Division has been incredibly high. Recently, however, weve been coaxed into focusing on other titles thanks to a delay and lack of new information, which has also caused an air of mystery to begin to surround the project.
The weight of expectation is more than sufficient to crush some of the past few years most-anticipated titles long before theyve launched. Its precisely for this reason art director Rodrigo Cortes and the rest of the team at Ubi Massive are content to play the long game. Determined to learn from the lessons of the past, theres no plan to reveal anything before its ready and even then, he tells me when we sit down to talk, it wont be done by press release. The hope is for potential previewers to have a full three days with the game so they can understand its intricacies before going away and writing about it, hopefully enabling the ensuing write-ups to contain the required nuance.
Exploring The Division's Awesome RPG Elements - E3 2014
"We want to show gamers the game they will end up playing. We dont want to sell a fantasy," Cortes says. "Weve been persistent with our messaging about high targets and benchmarks, and we want to deliver that. Then its about making sure people get the game were promising so they dont think its something else."
Its not a shooter with some RPG stats tacked on. Its actually a proper RPG from the very beginning.
With this in mind, Cortes wants to make it clear from the off we should expect a title that owes more to its RPG heritage than anything else. While game play does indeed take the form of third-player cover-based shooting, the actual wider point of the game is all about that genre-defining progression of leveling up, hunting the best loot, and using all you find to scale even greater heights.
"For us, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to tell people how much of an RPG it is," Cortes explains. It has shooting, and is shooter-like. If you look at it, thats the whole point because we want it to be very immersive. But its not a shooter with some RPG stats tacked on. Its actually a proper RPG from the very beginning. Theres deep progression when it comes to loot, gear and levels and youll be able to customize every skill, do exactly what you want and choose roles. So, thats probably the biggest communication challenge. We want to make clear to everyone that its an RPG."
So thats the mantra, but what about the details? As mentioned, Cortes and his team are adamant they wont give us too many pieces of the puzzle in case we piece them together wrongly and end up hoping for something beyond whats being promised. What he will offer, however, is a tantalizing glimpse into the games class or archetype system, which sounds like it could be a refreshing mix between the traditional nod towards damage-absorbing, damage-dealing and healing classes we see in MMOs and RPGs and the loadouts found in shooters. The real draw on this front though is the flexibility Ubi is also adding, however.
Cortes gives an example of you starting down the path of a healer but then wanting to play with three friends of a similar class, so you can quickly switch to something "more short range or assault or closer to the action. You can switch between offensive, defensive and support skills on the fly."
2016
Magnus Jansen, creative director at Ubisoft Massive, couldn't hide his frown when I suggested that The Division is an online RPG masquerading as a blockbuster shooter.
It was, I think, the implication that such an endeavor was perhaps deceitful, that wound his gears. "From the very moment we announced the game, we were super up-front that it was a deep RPG," he replied.
"We're not hiding the cat's medicine in its food."
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-division-interview-were-not-holding-anything-b/1100-6433828/
***** what have we learned? *****
The Division is an RPG. .
