Assassin's Creed

If Desmond's story was useful for anything, it was serving as a framing device to justify the game centering on the lives of Ezio and Altair. Without it, there's really no urgency, no plot to give it meaning.

Here are my thoughts about Origins: the idea of a game going into the origin of the Brotherhood and the Templars is very interesting, the time period is not really one usually looked into so that's nice, and I sincerely hope they keep the special assassination system from Unity and Syndicate. The RPG stuff is leaving me a bit uncertain, though.

edited 21st Oct '17 6:50:36 PM by fredhot16

Its also that Desmond's story had potential that was finally being realized by AC 3. The first two? Eh. But, by the third one, Desmond's relationship with his father parallels the relationship between Connor and Haythem. They compare in many aspects; both father figures are unwilling to look at their son's as their children and instead as adults and also refuse to see the harm that they have had on their respective relationship dynamics. Difference is that Connor and Haythem are incapable of resolving their differences while Desmond and his father are able to by the story's conclusion.

Plus new UbiBlog on the Stealth mechanics

On a different note, my parents apparently saw the AC movie (Before I have) the other night and actually liked it.

PC Gamer had a preview and whilst they like the world, they are umming and ahhing over the RPG esque combat - it doesn't have that same heft of the older games and has moved more towards whittling down a healthbar.

Yes, the old AC combat turned into a counter cheese fest. But if they can marry the AC environmental traversal to solid RPG mechanics then that'll be pretty impressive.

REALLY holding out hope on this.

I feel like the 'arrow cam' sequence needs an animation to it. It looks too wierd to me for the arrow to make such dramatic turns with no turn to it. Like a model being dragged by a string. Even if its unrealistic to the extent we can control that arrow, something to make it look a bit nicer? Like, I do archery so arrows can spin and they can curve (to an extent) if shot with enough force. Something like that might make it look cooler and less noticible that its and arrow model being dragged around by the game engine.

Desmond's story did get more interesting when he was allowed to be an actual Assassin instead of some shmuck that lies down all day and occasionally does some parkour.

Just don't suck, Origins.

edited 6th Oct '17 9:47:02 PM by AnotherGuy

So I actually saw the AC movie last night. I didn't think it was all that bad tbh.

Assassin’s Creed Origins – Season Pass DLC and Free Content Detailed

edited 10th Oct '17 12:32:32 PM by rmctagg09

Hey this DLC looks pretty good.

Might even get the season pass cause that nightmare pack looks fun.

I find it mildly funny that one of the movie's big flaws (Introducing historical figures, barely giving them any character development) is one the series itself has been rather... repeatedly prone to doing.

Da fuk are Helix Credits?

edited 10th Oct '17 12:48:04 PM by Ghilz

I believe they're the stupid real-money-for-in-game currency to upgrade your gear.

I still haven't gotten around to watching the movie, but I imagine part of the problem is time. Not only did the movie spend less of its running time in the past compared to the games, but a movie just has so much less time to work with in general. A movie is two hours, while a typical AC game can easily last thirty-five hours even without worrying about 100% Completion.

But my point is the 30 something hour games ALSO do this. The shared flaw is a weird kind of adaptation loyalty, hilariously enough.

TL:DR The Game Director confirms the lootboxes spotted in some of the pre-release footage are only purchasable with in game currency, not RL money. They exist to spend the innevitable money pile you build in Asscreed game.

So good news, not going the way of Deus Ex and Shadows of War.

Maybe Ubisoft had a moment and went "Welp, lets not be drawn into that shitstorm".

Though it seems loot crates are insanely popular with people.... the concept I don't mind if it fits the game or can be handled well.

Was the Assassin's Creed Unity Co-Op system popular or any good?

edited 13th Oct '17 2:55:08 PM by fredhot16

I played it. It was... a co-op system. Marred by the fact that you had to play with other people, who either knew the missions better than you and finished all the objectives before you'd finished hijacking a carriage, or ran off in the opposite direction picking pockets while you did all the work. Functionally, it was fine.

I don't think it was very popular from the story fans either. The missions were all over the place on where the assassins allied and at what point in the story these occured timeline wise. It could feel like 'The Theme Park Version' of historical events and even more so than the series is known for because none of these characters could get characterization or development.

It just wasn't helpful for a good story for a criminally poorly used setting.

That's what I thought too.

Anyone know at what point co-op was implemented in Unity's development time? Cause it really feels like they gimped potential story missions & gameplay to force in co-op.

I just finished Assassin's Creed: Rogue by 11 today!

Now that I'm done, I'll say that I found a certain oddity about Shay that I noticed only after he had killed Hope.

Shay's story is personal, not ideological.

He never defected from the Assassins because he was swayed over by the Templars or because he didn't believe in the Assassin cause anymore. Over most of the game, Shay didn't actually seem to be convinced by the Templar doctrine.

He had defected out of necessity. He became a Templar because he needed help to stop the Assassins from wreaking the same destruction he had unknowingly done and the Assassins had tried to kill him when he told them about it.

His story is not a tale of ideals but of sins, a quest for personal redemption.

P.S Yes, his remark about "starting a revolution of their own" does come off as plain wrong for someone like Shay to say. One of the best lines in the game is when Shay stops Haytham from killing Achilles.

Shay: "What kind of world are we making if we cannot show mercy?"

It's quite the cognitive dissonance to reconcile the Shay who refused to let the man that was responsible for exiling him from the Brotherhood and nearly killing him be executed with the Shay who wanted to bring about the French Revolution with all the deaths and terrors that it would bring so as to give the Templars more power.

edited 14th Oct '17 12:59:29 PM by fredhot16

Not to mention that's not what people wanted from a Templar game. They wanted the ideological side that could give the Templars their sympathetic moment and shed more gray on the whole conflict.

Instead, it just... didn't. Templars are assholes and the Assassins get the conflict ball because... reasons.

That's another thing Unity wasted. The supposed Templar/Assassin alliance was shallow cause Elise didn't feel like a Templar. Sure Arno didn't feel like an Assassin either but despite being raised by the Templar Grand-master Elise never talks or does anything Templar like. Damn Arno & Elise's story is like Shay's then, completely personal with none of the conflict revolving around the organizations ideology.

Man a game about the Templar's would be pretty rad especially if the Assassin's becomes the games antagonist title.

And I think that's because the writers don't WANT us to like the Templars. It was a wasted opportunity..

And that means the writers aren't adapting their material. I don't want say 'Writer's Vision is God' or its counter that the developers should play to their fanbase entirely, but there's going to be give and take on that in every franchise and especally one that lasts over a decade and has a new installment about every year or two. If the fanbase wants to know about the otherside to a morally grey conflict of ideologies and understand why people would gravitate to something that seems 'evil' in all the other games, you should probably honor that since its a reasonable question in understanding the world created.

Hell, from square one, you probably shouldn't create a more morally grey conflict with ambiguous aspects and then try to make the players always hate one side of the conflict. It doesn't work that way.