Related Sections: Strategy Games
Ubisoft can't be bothered with Dawn of Discovery
That picture up there is both a screenshot from Dawn of Discovery, a quite lovely city builder released last week, and a metaphor for how the publishers at Ubisoft are treating its North American release. The church is the game: grand, serene, majestic. The burning shantytown is Ubisoft's support: unsightly and well on its way to being a forgotten smoldering ruin that will lower the property value of the lovely church.
For starters, the documentation is pathetic. This is a richly detailed game with a thin manual and no in-game reference for all the various buildings, populations, resources, and interface elements (the previous games in the series, called "Anno
Since Ubisoft maintains a message board with sections for each of their games arranged alphabetically, you'd think you could just check between Chessmaster and Driver. No such luck. Dawn of Discovery doesn't appear on the list. Instead, if you look hard enough, you might stumble across a post directing you to the English language section of a German forum for the series as a whole. If you don't leave, and instead ask a question about Dawn of Discovery anyway, the community manager will politely tell you to go away.
So if you have questions about Dawn of Discovery, here are a couple of tips: The big long word with "name" in it means "username". "Ubermitteln" means "enter". "Abbrechen" means "cancel". "Passwort" means "password".
But the more dire problem is that there is apparently zero support for Dawn of Discovery's online features. The game has a truly wonderful system of achievements and medals. These give you points to spend on unlockables tracked across all your games, such as unique buildings for your cities, as well as coats of arms, portraits, and titles for your profile. This all hooks into an online server, where you can upload screenshots and even saved cities.
So once I realized that the button on the main menu labeled "Gateway to the World" was a button and not just a bit of decoration, I gladly started over my profile. I gave up the gems, awards, and unlockables I'd earned and even reset my progress in the campaign. I really enjoy Dawn of Discovery, so I'm happy to start over so I can plug into the online community, called the "Anno Portal" by the button in the game that will take you there.
Once I had reset my profile, I pressed the button to visit the community site. Here is a screeshot of it:
After a bit of hunting around online, it turns out the site is actually working. You have to track it down yourself. Apparently, the "Gateway to the World" button in the game is like one of those fake doors Wile E. Coyote paints onto the side of a cliff.
Come on, Ubisoft. This is a really swell city builder. How about giving it some of the love it deserves?
By wingus at 6:37 AM ON 07/01/09
Sadly, it looks like there is a manual available, for US$20:
http://www.primagames.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780761562795
Curses!
By Sembiance at 8:14 AM ON 07/01/09
One thing you forgot to mention, there is HORRIBLE DRM in this game.
It only allows you to install the game 3 times and installs a root kit on your machine.
That means if ubisoft decides to turn off the DRM servers you'll never be able to install the game again. What a load of BS!
On top of that I don't want some 3rd party half-assed and buggy root kit on my machine eating up resources, causing my machine to be less table and potentially being a security risk.
I thought buying it on Steam would be the answer because Steam is DRM I can put up with, but sadly Steam doesn't have any balls in this area and allowed Dawn of Discovery to be put on their system with all of their ugly full buggy root kit laden DRM in tact.
Then I read this post here? About how horrible everything else is regarding support for the game?
Makes me wonder if anyone at Ubisoft even gives a damn anymore.
By ScottE at 10:20 AM ON 07/01/09
Last night, I ran into the same problem as Tom. I got excited when I found a manual.pdf in the game directory, but it turns out it was just a pdf of the woefully inadequate printed manual =(
Can anyone comment on the quality of the Prima guide? I'm looking more for information on the interface rather than a bunch of quest spoilers.
By joesocwork at 10:45 AM ON 07/01/09
A city builder like in Sim City and City Life? I thought the industry gave up on the genre after the disastrous Sim City Societies.
By Anonymous at 11:02 AM ON 07/01/09
Documentation for PC games has become pathetic recently. I've long resigned myself to the passing of the old encyclopedia style manuals, and we've had pathetic brochures with console games for some time now, but usually you could rely on fairly extensive documentation of a PC game in either print or PDF form. But, increasingly, basic gameplay information about fairly complex PC games now has to be found through trial and error or the internet. Demigod was a particularly egregious recent example of this, but at least that game is the sort best learned through playing anyway. In a full on strategy game/economic sim, it's totally unacceptable.
By deckard47 at 11:34 AM ON 07/01/09
I bought the previous entry in the series (Anno 1404 AD, I think), and it was amazing. The manual was actually quite nice, compared to most games these days. Maybe they just couldn't be bothered with thi new one? Any idea of how it differs from older versions? Most reviews have been pretty unhelpful.
By joesocwork at 9:54 PM ON 07/01/09
When I bought Empire:Total War in March it automatically put me on the Steam System. I was leery of it as another form of DRM, but I did use to purchase other games they would to put on sale. I went to the website of one of the games, I think Assassin's Creed, and asked for a manual. But they were going to charge $20 also. However, the Steam forums provided it and other games online for free.
By Trithemius at 12:16 AM ON 07/02/09
It looks like the work-around URL is also b0rkened now.
[optimism]
Maybe Ubisoft is fixing things?
[/optimism]
By Trithemius at 12:25 AM ON 07/02/09
Actually, the wikipedia article points at both the currently dead US site and the apparently working UK site:
http://anno.uk.ubi.com/pc/
Unfortunately the SOE where I am right now uses IE6 (!) and it won't let me look at the page.
By George Brof at 5:16 AM ON 07/02/09
I was looking forward to the game, but I fear the draconic DRM ... 3 time installation only... ? It is said, that you can request further activations after that, but in 2 to 3 years, there might be no way to get further activation keys...
By Trithemius at 7:32 PM ON 07/02/09
Just a confirmation that the UK version of the site (see my previous comment) does sporta a functional Gateway to the World sub-site - you just need an ubi.com login.
Sorry for the delay in confirmation - I would have done it last night but I was too busy obsessively making carpets in the game... >_>
By intruder at 4:10 AM ON 07/03/09
The series is HUGE in Germany with over millions of sold copies that's why they still make those builders.
The DRM is draconic but it has to be seen if it will sell less copy due to that or not.
I imagine the manual is short because everyone in Germany that plays it is familiar with the series since years. Still stupid to use the same manual for the US...
How helpful are the in-game tutorials?
By Dark Helmet at 10:39 PM ON 07/08/09
If you are new to this game, and probably even if you played 1701, you will most likely hate 1404. Besides the bogus DRM issue, I can confirm there is no in game help and the 10 page manual is an insult to the ecology. Outside of the graphics, which are great, the game offers little more, and as I mentioned a lot less, than 1701. In my opinion, save your money or wait a year or so when you can pick it up in the bargain bin at Walmart.
By Dark Helmet at 10:41 PM ON 07/08/09
Forgot - the author's comments about the Ubisoft message board is spot on. If you don't read German you are stuck posting in an anti-DRM English thread - not a forum - a thread. Other than that Ubisoft does not support English. Believe it.
By Ziguirayou at 1:16 AM ON 07/17/09
Now you guys know how the rest of the world fell when american games are unsupported in our mother language (almost always) :-)
I'll just recommed what americans usually recommend in this case: Babelfish
By Guff at 5:59 PM ON 07/17/09
Let's talk about downloading. I purchase, get an email with the info of how and where to DL, I proceeded to DL all of the needed files and install. When I finally get done I am prompted for a serial number, no serial number can be found in my email however! ARRGHH..I can't play my game? So I email Ubisoft, and I get a reply back in FRENCH!! I'm not French and I'm pretty sure I emailed them in ENGLISH. Turns out you must WAIT several hours for them to send you the serial number after you've purchased the game. This sounds like a baddddd idea to me.
Guff:
Let's talk about downloading. I purchase, get an email with the info of how and where to DL, I proceeded to DL all...More »