These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Assassins Creed I
Breather Level: Between the action-packed assassinations, Altaïr has to complete multiple relatively peaceful investigation missions.
Complete Monster: While most targets in the first game are literal cases of a Knight Templar, the same can not be said for Majd Addin, the de facto dictator of Jerusalem who regularly orders and personally carries out executions of innocent people. Unlike all the other targets, he does not think that he is doing something good, he is not crazy or blind, he executes all these people for fun. When he is finally killed by Altaïr, Altaïr chews him out for killing innocents for "thinking differently than [Majd]", he responds:
Majd Addin: For thinking differently? Of course not! I killed them because I could! Because it was fun!Do you know what it feels like to determine another man's fate? And did you see the way the people cheered? The way they feared me? I was like a god!
Disappointing Last Level: Most of the game is built around stealth and free running in sprawling cityscapes. The last part is a linear, rigidly structured sequence in which you have to fight your way through dozens of opponents with no possibility of evasion or escape.
Best Level Ever: Thought for some this's the best level since you finally don't need to bother with stealth and just go all out Rambo style, with Robert de Sable and Al Mualim as the final bosses of great challange for you to fight.
To a (much) lesser extent, Sibrand. He's the only Templar who has much presence in fandom.
The nameless Rafiq in Damascus, mostly for his cheery nature and amusing sarcasm. He's not as dour as the Acre Rafiq, or as bitter as Malik.
Fan Yay: Malik and Altaïr. Strangely due to the huge amount of Foe Yay between the two that lasts until about halfway through the game when Malik forgives Altaïr for costing him an arm and getting his brother killed. Though quite a bit of the resulting fan art set out to only tamely fill in the blanks of what Altaïr does when he rests at Malik's Hideout.
Game Breaker: Counter attacking with the hidden blade is a One-Hit Kill, even against the final boss (once you jump through his other hoops)... so long as you have the timing down enough to succeed consistently (key word here).
You can kill entire armies with the hidden blade. Throw two people to the ground and knife them, and others will start to recoil in horror or distract themselves. The ones who recoil can be assassinated before they recover, that assassination will make someone else react, and so on and so on...
Throwing knives, other attacks can, especially, in the 2 and Brotherhood, be countered themselves, so a counter attack won't 'always' kill, but throwing knives cannot be blocked, even on a fight where the boss will block all your attacks, throwing knives can make quick work of them.
Goddamned Bats: The guards can feel like friggin' bats when you're trying to run and hide, and they pelt you with rocks as you climb away, or the alert goes off again just as you're about to dive into a rooftop garden.
There also the beggars, who constantly harass you (and only you) for coins, and the lepers, who shove you (and only you), sometimes into a group of guards.
The archers. Up close, they are just normal guards, but at a distance with their bows out they are unblockable.
Unless you use throwing knives. Simple.
Hilarious in Hindsight: After one of the main Assassination targets used poison on some civilians, Altaïr makes a side comment to another Brotherhood member that poison is a coward's weapon. In Assassin's Creed II, one of the main character's weapons is poison. (A blade dipped in poison, to be exact)
Said blade was invented by Altaïr himself, as Da Vinci builds it from the designs in the Codex.
Memetic Badass: The In-Universe mechanics indicate that only a perfectly played game is canon, in turn implying that Altair was literally so badass that his enemies couldn't touch him. Keeping in mind that Altair is forced to fight dozens of opponents at once to the death at certain points. This has not escaped fans' notice.
Nausea Fuel: One of Altaïr's counter attacks with the short knife is an elbow to the stomach and a punch to the face, which leaves the victim standing there for a split second, dazed. You have the option of letting him fall and get back up again, or pressing X to finish him off. If you press X, Altaïr takes his knife in both hands, raises it above his head, and stabs the guy in the skull. Just . . . the sound effects (sounds like wet wood snapping in half) and the fact that Altaïr has trouble pulling the knife back out again . . . ugh.
Or you can stomp on his knee, folding his leg in half with a sickening crunch.
Anti-Climax Boss: Due to the game's mechanics, the fight with him can end quite abruptly if the player manages to knock him down early on in the fight and follow it up by stabbing him with the hidden blade as he lays on the ground. This can be done in a matter of seconds after the fight with him starts, effectively having Altaïr curbstomp the man who curbstompedhim at the beginning of the game.
Uncanny Valley: The generic character models have simplified hands, the fingers stuck together in pairs. It leaves them looking like they have two broad fingers on each hand, and never stops being disturbing.
