When Rainbow Six Siege Took Itself Seriously

Summary

The video script critiques how 'Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege' has lost its original identity, shifting from a tactical shooter to a more casual and colorful hero shooter. It discusses the game's aesthetic changes, removal of features like Terrorist Hunt and operator intros, and balancing issues. The script questions Ubisoft's vision and target audience, suggesting that changes have alienated the game's core player base without attracting new players effectively.

Takeaways

• 📉 Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege is facing an identity crisis, shifting from a tactical shooter to a more casual and colorful game.
• 🎮 The game's aesthetic has changed significantly, with newer seasons featuring brighter and more colorful menus compared to the darker, more serious tone of the past.
• 🔧 Balancing issues have persisted, with Ubisoft struggling to cater to both casual and competitive players, leading to dissatisfaction among the community.
• 🏠 Iconic maps like 'House' have been reworked, causing controversy and indicating a shift in Ubisoft's understanding of the game's audience.
• 🚫 Removal of features such as 'Terrorist Hunts' and 'Operator Situations' has alienated some players who appreciated the game's original immersive elements.
• 🆕 The introduction of new operators like 'Sense' has marked a departure from the game's realistic roots, with abilities that feel more at home in other games like 'Valorant'.
• 🎨 The game's cosmetic items have become a point of contention, with players criticizing them for being out of place or not fitting the game's theme.
• 🎭 The shift from a tactical to a hero shooter style has led to a loss of immersion for some players who enjoyed the original atmosphere of Siege.
• 🤔 There is a perceived lack of clear direction for the game's future, with changes that seem to conflict with the desires of the player base.
• 🛑 The removal of fundamental game mechanics, like the ability to cook grenades or throw cameras outside as Valk, has been met with criticism for lowering the skill gap unnecessarily.
• 🌐 Despite attempts to attract a broader audience, such as with high saturation on drones or crossover skins, the game may be losing its core player base in the process.

Q & A

What is the main issue discussed in the video script about 'Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'?

The main issue discussed is the game's identity crisis, where it has shifted from a tactical shooter to a more colorful and less immersive experience, losing its original appeal.

What was the original aesthetic of 'Rainbow Six Siege' that contributed to its immersion?

The original aesthetic was dark and serious, creating a feeling of tension and fear, which contributed to the game's immersion.

What changes in the game's starting screen and operator introductions are mentioned in the script?

The script mentions that the starting screen and operator introductions have become more colorful and less serious, with animated cut scenes that cannot be replayed or viewed in the past.

What was 'Operation Black Ice' and how does it differ from the newest season 'Operation New Blood'?

'Operation Black Ice' was the first season of Siege, released in 2016, and had a serious tone and dark menus. 'Operation New Blood', released in 2024, is described as having bright and colorful menus, contrasting with the serious tone of the past.

Why were 'Terrorist Hunt' modes removed from the game?

The script does not provide a specific reason for their removal, but it implies that the decision was part of a broader shift away from the game's original immersive and tactical focus.

What was the significance of 'Article Five' in the game?

'Article Five' was a co-op mission that allowed players to engage with the game's lore and play with friends against the white masks, the enemies of Team Rainbow.

What was the controversy surrounding the reworking of the 'House' map?

The reworking of the 'House' map was controversial because it was an iconic, fun, and unbalanced map that did not need a rework according to the community, and its changes did not align with the game's original direction.

What does the script suggest about the introduction of the operator 'Sense'?

The introduction of 'Sense' marked a significant shift in the game's direction, moving away from realism towards a more modern and less immersive style, similar to other games like 'Valorant'.

How does the script describe the balancing issues in 'Rainbow Six Siege'?

The script describes balancing as a constant battle between catering to casual and competitive players, with the game struggling to satisfy both without alienating one side.

What is the script's stance on Ubisoft's approach to attracting more casual players?

The script criticizes Ubisoft's approach, arguing that lowering the skill gap, removing iconic maps, and making the game feel less like a tactical shooter will not attract more casual players.

What suggestions does the script offer for improving 'Rainbow Six Siege'?

The script suggests focusing on creating cool, thematically appropriate cosmetics, and returning to a more immersive and realistic game design that aligns with the game's original identity.

Outlines

00:00

😔 Loss of Identity in Rainbow Six Siege

The video script discusses the transformation of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, highlighting the game's shift from a tactical shooter to a more colorful, less immersive experience. The author criticizes Ubisoft for removing beloved features and introducing purely cosmetic changes for profit, suggesting that the company has lost touch with its player base. The script also laments the loss of the game's original aesthetic, such as the dark and scary tone of the early seasons, and the introduction of bright and colorful menus and operator skins that don't fit the game's theme. The removal of features like Terrorist Hunt and operator intros is also mentioned as contributing to the game's identity crisis.

05:00

😠 Controversial Changes and Balancing Issues

This paragraph delves into the controversial changes made in Rainbow Six Siege, particularly the reworking of the iconic House map, which was seen as unnecessary by the community. The script criticizes Ubisoft for trying to balance the game for both casual and competitive players without fully understanding its audience. The introduction of new operators like Ace and Mei, and the rework of Sense's ability, are pointed out as examples of the game's shift towards a more modern, less realistic style. The author argues that Ubisoft's balancing attempts have been misguided, with the removal of key gameplay elements and the nerfing of operators without proper consideration for the impact on the game's overall balance.

10:01

😞 The Decline of Realism and Immersion

The final paragraph of the script focuses on the decline of realism and immersion in Rainbow Six Siege. The author expresses disappointment with the game's direction, noting the lack of thematic consistency in seasons and the absence of meaningful cosmetic items that align with the game's tactical roots. The script calls for a return to the game's original immersive qualities and criticizes the introduction of high saturation drones and other elements that make the game feel less like a tactical shooter. The author hopes for a positive future for Siege but acknowledges the uncertainty of its current trajectory.

Keywords

💡Balancing Changes

Balancing changes in video games refer to the adjustments made to the mechanics, abilities, or stats of various elements within the game to ensure fairness and competitive integrity. In the context of the video, the author criticizes Ubisoft for making 'terrible balancing changes' in 'Rainbow Six Siege', suggesting that these changes have negatively impacted the game's identity and player enjoyment.

💡Cosmetics

Cosmetics in gaming are visual enhancements or alterations to a player's character or equipment that do not affect gameplay but serve to personalize the player's experience. The script mentions 'Cosmetics purely for greed', implying that the addition of such features in 'Rainbow Six Siege' is driven by profit rather than improving the game's aesthetic or thematic integrity.

💡Identity Crisis

An identity crisis in the context of the video refers to a situation where the game 'Rainbow Six Siege' is losing its original thematic direction and appeal. The author suggests that the game is undergoing a transformation that is alienating its core player base and deviating from what made it enjoyable initially.

💡Tactical Shooter

A tactical shooter is a genre of video games that emphasizes strategy, teamwork, and skill over run-and-gun gameplay. The script laments the shift from a 'tactical shooter' to a 'semi tactical, extremely colorful hero shooter', indicating a perceived loss of the strategic depth and immersion that characterized 'Rainbow Six Siege' in its earlier days.

💡Operator Introductions

Operator introductions are the character-specific cutscenes or descriptions that provide background and context for the characters in 'Rainbow Six Siege'. The video script mentions these as a feature that gave 'life' to the vanilla characters and helped players understand and care about the operators, which has since been removed or altered.

💡Immersion

Immersion in gaming is the experience of being deeply engaged in the game's world, such that the player feels a part of it. The author of the video script feels that the changes in 'Rainbow Six Siege' have reduced the level of immersion, making the game feel less realistic and more like a typical shooter game.

💡PvE (Player versus Environment)

PvE refers to gameplay modes where players compete against the game itself, such as AI-controlled enemies or challenges, rather than other players. The script criticizes the removal of 'terrorist hunts' and 'co-op missions', which were PvE elements that contributed to the game's depth and lore.

💡Balancing

Balancing in the context of the video refers to the game developer's efforts to ensure that all aspects of the game, such as characters, weapons, and abilities, are fairly matched against each other. The script argues that Ubisoft's approach to balancing 'Rainbow Six Siege' is flawed, causing dissatisfaction among both casual and competitive players.

💡Skill Gap

The skill gap in gaming is the difference in ability levels between new or casual players and experienced or professional players. The video suggests that Ubisoft's attempts to lower the skill gap in 'Rainbow Six Siege' by removing certain mechanics have been detrimental to the game's core mechanics and appeal.

💡Theme

In the context of the video, theme refers to the overarching concept or setting that ties together the elements of the game, including the visual style, narrative, and gameplay. The author misses the thematic consistency of the earlier seasons of 'Rainbow Six Siege', which they believe has been lost in the newer seasons.

💡Cosmetics Based on Season's Theme

This refers to the idea that cosmetic items in the game should align with and reflect the theme of a particular season or update. The script criticizes the game for releasing 'garbage Cosmetics' that do not make sense for the season's theme, instead of creating items that enhance the game's immersive experience.

Highlights

Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Siege is experiencing an identity crisis, shifting from a tactical shooter to a more colorful, semi-tactical game.

The game's aesthetic has changed significantly, with a move towards brighter and more colorful visuals, contrasting the darker, more serious tone of the past.

Original features like visual recoil, night maps, and operator situations helped new players understand the game but have since been removed or altered.

The removal of Terrorist Hunt mode and the shift away from PvE content has left players without a campaign mode or a reason to care about the game's lore.

The introduction of new operators like Ace and Mei in Operation Steel Wave has changed the game's meta, but also raised concerns about Ubisoft's direction for Siege.

Reworking iconic maps like House for no apparent reason has upset the player base and questioned Ubisoft's understanding of their audience.

The release of the operator Sense marked a clear departure from the realistic gameplay of early Siege, introducing abilities that feel out of place.

Balancing issues have persisted, with Ubisoft struggling to cater to both casual and competitive players, leading to dissatisfaction on both sides.

Fundamental game mechanics have been removed or altered in an attempt to lower the skill gap, which has negatively impacted the game's tactical nature.

The game's direction is uncertain, with changes that seem to target casual players without a clear understanding of what made Siege unique and appealing.

The lack of thematic consistency in seasons and cosmetic items has led to a loss of immersion and connection to the game's original identity.

Ubisoft's attempts to attract a broader audience through cosmetic items and balancing changes have alienated the core player base.

The video argues for a return to Siege's roots, suggesting that thematic consistency and meaningful cosmetic items could improve player engagement.

The community's hope for Siege's future is mixed with apprehension, as the game's direction has strayed from its original vision.

The video concludes with a call to Ubisoft to consider the needs of its daily players and to refocus on what made Siege a beloved tactical shooter.

Transcripts

[Music]

from terrible balancing changes remove

Ming loved features introducing dumb

Cosmetics purely for greed to Simply

Having no idea who actually enjoys their

game anymore Ubisoft has lost the plot

on Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege this

is the story of how Rainbow 6 Siege lost

its

[Music]

identity make sure to subscribe for more

videos like this it's clear from anyone

who has played Siege in the past that

Siege is going through an identity

crisis but what I even mean r six still

has thousands of people playing the game

every day and in no way is this video

about gameplay although R six has plenty

of issues on the gameplay side I don't

want this video to be about the Gameplay

at all but purely the aesthetic what

made Siege so much fun in the first

place that feeling of immersion a game

that actually felt and looked like a

tactical shooter not this semi tactical

extremely colorful hero shooter remember

loading up the starting screen back in

the

[Music]

[Music]

day or the operator

introductions when you mix fuel metal

oxide and metal powder in just the right

way it burns at 2000° C hot enough to

cut through nearly any barrier known to

man

[Music]

throw some C4 into the

mix and you've got one hell of a

combination or how every season had a

unique starting screen

[Applause]

[Music]

instead every season we get an animated

cut scene which is pretty cool but we

can't ever replay it or watch the old

ones let's go back in time and just look

at the menu for operation black ice

sieg's very first season which was

released on February 2nd

2016 versus the newest season Operation

new blood released on June 11th 2024

even in the menus everything is so

bright and colorful versus the very

serious tone used to get where

everything was dark and it almost felt

scary in the old seasons of Siege I

honestly could get jump scared if an

enemy was hiding somewhere in a dark

spot or I just got randomly flanked and

that feeling I don't get anymore in the

new seasons of Siege but that's because

of how immersed I was when you shot your

gun had visual recoil night Maps were a

thing operator situations existed

helping new players understand what each

operator did and even at the end of

completing all those missions there was

a co-op mission called Article Five

where you got to play with your friends

and defeat the white masks which were

the enemies of Team rainbow but instead

of expanding on that lore creating more

missions in the aspect of PVE in Siege

they just got rid of it all together and

on top of this they also got rid of

terrorist hunts now T hunts not being in

game anymore may seem like a small deal

the thing that they did end up replacing

it with made no sense at all I always

wondered why Siege didn't have a

campaign mode or gave a reason for

people to actually care about the

operators in the game we shouldn't have

to watch an hourong video explaining the

lore of Siege just to understand why we

should care about the characters in the

game the operator intros at least gave

the vanilla characters life but now

there's literally no reason to actually

care about who you're playing with in

the game other than does the r4c have

ACOG if so pick Ash I'm not saying that

you do have to actually care about them

or have any attachment to an operator

other than they look cool so I'm going

to pick them but now there's literally

nothing making them cool do you see the

problem but old Siege was definitely not

all sunshines and rainbows old Siege was

filled with bugs and glitches so on June

6th 2017

operation Health was released and

although this season brought no new

content it did add Alpha packs and much

needed bug fixes at this point in time

Siege still felt like Siege even though

there was no new content people were

excited about the future for this game

the next couple of years Siege would

change but not a whole lot the game

still had that same theme and still had

faith in ubisoft's Vision but this

season everything would start to come

crashing de June 16th 2020 operation

steel wave released as the new season on

R six this season introduced two new

operators in Ace and meoi two very good

meta changing operators but there is

something introduced in this season that

was one of the most controversial things

that Ubisoft has ever done and that was

reworking the iconic house if you have

never played on the map house was never

supposed to be this balanced ranked map

and was always very unbalanced and and

just overall meant to be a fun map it

was a house that's pretty much it but

the direction Ubisoft was taking Siege

was very concerning reworking one of the

most iconic maps for absolutely no

reason at all nobody was complaining

that house was a bad MAP and needed a

rework taking things out of the game

that nobody had a problem with is not

really knowing who you're making the

game for trying to rebalance casual Maps

to try and turn them into ranked Maps

instead of just trying to design a new

map is not a good idea and they even

tried to do this with favella but that

failed miserably and they took it out of

the ranked pool the next season but how

does this Kill theme or the immersion of

the game it's proving that the Ubisoft

developers were starting to not

understand who they're making the game

for and this will soon become very clear

that's for a couple Seasons later on

June 14th 2022 operation Vector glare

would come out and a new operator would

be released this operator would be sense

now why is Sense important it's because

the release of sense would officially

Mark the kind of game Ubisoft was trying

to make no longer was siege realistic

but instead the modern Siege was born

and if you have no idea what I'm about

to say just look at sense's ability do

you think something like this would

release in the early days of Siege

probably not not only did sense's

ability look identical to an ability in

valerant but since from a gaml

perspective was pretty underpowered if I

asked a Ubisoft developer who is your

exact target audience for Siege I don't

know if they could give me an actual

answer anymore the transformation of

Siege over time is like going from csgo

and trying to turn it into valerant it

just doesn't make much sense I'm so

funny it actually hurts although this

isn't about game play I need to talk

about balancing because it all comes

together Ubisoft no longer knows how to

balance Rainbow Six Siege balancing has

always been an issue with Siege because

there are two types of crowds who play

FPS games there is the Casual crowd and

there is the competitive crowd the

problem with sieg's balancing is that

the game is hard so you can't really

balance one side without the other one

getting mad it's a constant battle so

what do you do well you don't try to

balance both sides and that's exactly

what Siege is still trying to do you

need to pick one because if you don't

you're not making a game for anybody and

removing fundamental things from the

game to lower the skill Gap is a bad

thing you can't throw cams outside as

Valk you can no longer cook grenades

everyone too broken is nerfed to the

ground when they shouldn't even have

been nerfed that hard in the first place

saying that you no longer want to

balance around sites and then proceed to

balance around SES instead of just

buffing the bad operators that no one

actually uses which would cause the same

effect Rainbow Six Siege is not fortnite

I understand you want more casual

players to play but lowering the skill

Gap will not bring more casual players

to play your game removing iconic Maps

will not bring players to the game

making Siege feel less like a tactical

shooter and more like a hero shooter

will not bring people to your game

upping these saturation on the drones to

get Call of Duty kids to actually use

their drone will not bring people to the

game no one is seeing a Rick and Morty

skin or a Halo Master Chief skin and

saying yeah let me try Siege you're

trying to get more casual players to

play I understand that but you're

killing the people who actually play

your game every day but is there a

solution to all of this there might have

been some things that I missed in this

video such as Bartlet U being completely

removed from the game and the siege

membership even existing but the facts

are this Siege has not felt realistic

for a very long time but it doesn't

really need to just want to be able to

play my favorite game and be immersed no

crazy Cosmetics but ones that make sense

for the season why is Black Ice a very

good skin because it fits perfectly with

the very first season of Siege and yet

we've had nothing like it since maybe

instead of releasing garbage Cosmetics

you try to create cool cosmetics based

on this season's theme you guys are so

capable of making something realistic

but also very fun you literally had it

before I just missed the feeling of

having a theme and if you don't agree

with me you have to agree that the

direction that Siege is heading is very

uncertain but I hope for good things for

sieg's future and I guess we'll see

subscribe if you enjoyed I'm out

[Music]

oh