Assassin's Creed

Okay, so yeah, High Profile + Unarmed Hand is Grab, out of combat. I totally forgot about that. Came in handy today when I wanted to abuse some civilians to keep them away from my tripwire bombs.

I beat Revelations tonight. The final memory brought tears to my eyes; it was so great to see the resolution of Altaïr's life and how it did, indeed, tie into Ezio's and Desmond's. It also makes Those Who Came Before look even more badass at running Xanatos Gambits.

The final fight didn't even bother me that much for being essentially a glorified QTE. At this point in his life, Ezio was so sick of murdering people that he just wanted it all over with and was more than happy to let other people take care of the dirty work.

I can see how Sixteen's ending can seem like it came out of nowhere, although he did say throughout the Animus Island sequence that he was responsible for holding the cleanup routines at bay and keeping them from destroying Desmond's mind. I actually want to go back to Brotherhood now and solve the three Truth puzzles that I missed.

And... really... goddamn Ubisoft for ending Every. Single. Game. with a cliffhanger. At least this one leaves things with a clean slate, so to speak — no more ancestor baggage for Desmond to resolve, just the impending End of the World as We Know It to avert.

edited 4th Feb '12 6:50:24 PM by Fighteer

personally I really enjoy being medieval/rennaissance batman and would be totally fine if they came up with an excuse plot to throw Desmond back in the animus. Alternatively, finish the game and give us a new protagonist.

Also, yeah, grab is useful for getting beggars to run away from you.

Well, according to Ubisoft, they'll do Assassin's Creed III with a new ancestor's memories. I haven't heard if that means there'll be a new protagonist in the modern day, but I doubt it; Desmond is already the Chosen One so it's hard to imagine that a brand new character will suddenly pop up out of nowhere to steal the spotlight.

Edit: I've been looking at some commentary on the ending and it's not just me that cried at the scene in Altaïr's library.

edited 5th Feb '12 7:46:54 AM by Fighteer

Yeah they did the library really well. Got shivers with the rotating pan and transition thing.

No kidding, right? Best Transition Ever.

"Sit and rest a moment..."

So AC III will have a new historical character? Wonder if we'll get that female Assassin everyone's talking about.

Certainly hope so. That lady from Embers maybe?

I dreamed that it happened so calling it now.

You heard it here first!

Didn't Ubisoft say they were going to wrap up the 2012 plot in this one? Something along the lines of it not making sense past the actual date (Dec 21 2012)?

I recall something like that as well. It's bullshit though.

Too much cash cow

needs more cowbell

It's not the end of the series, although it's presumably the end of Desmond being the framing assassin.

Yeah, they might "wrap up" the 2012 plotline by moving the end date.

Guys, guys, we forgot to carry the one! The ancient prophecy actually should have said "The World Will End in 2022." Sorry. Whoops. Carry on.

Nah they'll probably just end Desmond's story and do a sequel series set a few years later with a different storyline.

Personally I think once they wrap up Desmond's story they should tone down the future element in any other games.

Assassin's Creed is awesome for the freeroaming in amazingly authentic historical locations. The future stuff is kinda boring filler by comparison even if it's the only section with a proper arc (at least, regarding Brotherhood and Revelations).

Are you guys serious? In-story, Desmond and company have maybe a couple of weeks left to prevent a second apocalypse. You really think they're just going to cut from that and pick up with a different protagonist some time later? The fans would storm Ubisoft headquarters (all ten of them) with homemade Hidden Blades and crossbows.

The only legitimate argument against this is, of course, the fact that there's no way they could reasonably whip out a fifth game in time for Christmas 2012, so something's gotta give in the timeline, even if it's just the synchronicity with the real calendar.

Edit: Can anyone tell me how to get hold of Embers legitimately without paying for the collector's edition or whatever? Or is that not possible?

edited 6th Feb '12 8:29:24 AM by Fighteer

You can buy it it from Ubiworkshops (or w/e it's called) and one or two other places I believe.

It's on sale on the PSN, maybe it will be the same thing on Live.

edited 14th Feb '12 10:07:54 AM by HellmanSabian

One Revelations playthrough that I watched explains Altaïr's use of the Apple in his next-to-last memory as causing its powers to make the Mongols think that they were being murdered by illusionary assassins, so convincingly that they actually died. Is that canon? Because it's really freaking awesome.

I just read our page on The Hashshashin (man that's a mouthful) and it's yet another way in which Ubisoft wrote their plot around actual history — the Assassins were eventually done in historically by annoying the Mongols, and Revelations shows Altaïr sending the order into the shadows during this specific time period.

Also, we just got two separate threads to discuss the Assassin's Creed 3 announcement. Let's put it all here, okay?

edited 14th Feb '12 9:54:10 AM by Fighteer

And now for something completely different. Yep, I've come to foul up this thread with my nonsense. Flee...

I haven't played this series, but it interests me. From what I've been reading, it sounds like I should pass over the first game. Do any of the other three suck?

Yes, all of them.

/only played the second one and just feels like being a dick

edited 14th Feb '12 9:56:14 AM by CTM

The first game is optional. You do not need to play it to understand the rest of the series but it is a fun intro and gives you a chance to get a connection with Altaïr as more than just a character that Ezio reveres and talks about. Also, you get the details of Desmond's start at Abstergo and how he meets Lucy and Vidic. The metaplot only really gets into high gear with II, and I suppose you could technically skip Brotherhood if all you care about is advancing the Precursors story; you get enough of it in Revelations that you aren't missing too much. II and Revelations are the crucial games for the main storyline.

None of the games "suck" by any objective definition. I played through the whole series start to finish in 140-150 hours, trying for as much completion as I could stomach (and at that I missed a few bits in Brotherhood that I mean to go back to at some point). It's worth it IMO.

edited 14th Feb '12 9:59:32 AM by Fighteer

With the exception of turn-based JRPGs, I generally play games for gameplay over story, so that's what I'm more concerned about, though I will admit that the idea here is pretty original.

The things I heard about the first game, namely the ludicrously hypersensitive guards, repetitive missions and gameplay features (scaling walls to be specific), the stiff combat and the lack of any replay value, sound like they'd put me off. My question is asking if any such annoyances exist in the rest of the franchise.

edited 14th Feb '12 10:10:13 AM by DeviousRecital

Oh, okay. Yes, the gameplay does evolve a lot from the first game. The first is very linear and each of the nine primary missions consists of the same concepts: sync viewpoints to reveal quest opportunities, do enough of the evidence-gathering quests to stalk your target, assassinate him, repeat. Since Altaïr lacks the ability to block with the Hidden Blade in this game and combo kills are not automatic, Open Combat is extremely defensive in nature, waiting for an opponent to attack so you can counter. The later missions can be very difficult because of this as your opponents will use unblockable Guard Breaks with increasing frequency. Oh, and Altaïr has Super Drowning Skills.

You can think of the first game as a prototype for the later ones. Assassins Creed II introduces many of the core concepts of the rest of the series: effective Hidden Blade counters (and the Dual Hidden Blades), the Hidden Gun, Poison, a more freeform story with sidequests and exploration, looting and treasure collections, money and gear purchases, etc. Rather than regenerating health, you have to take medicine to heal injuries. There is also a series of optional platforming missions (the Assassin Tombs) that will test your free-running skills extensively; this is where the quirky camera angles will get the most annoying.

Brotherhood gives you Assassin Recruits, full Combo Kills, Kill Streaks, the evilly powerful Crossbow, and horseback riding in towns, plus a much richer economic model as you renovate Rome and free it from Borgia control. You get more control over your Notoriety as well. Most but not all of the platforming sequences are optional this time around, even though the annoying Stop Helping Me camera issues are still present. There are some amusing minigames in the Leonardo's War Machines sidequests where you get to pilot a tank, machine gun-equipped carriage, hang-glider bomber, and warboat. The biggest annoyance combat-wise is dealing with horseback opponents. It also is considered to have one of the weaker endings in the series.

Revelations is very similar to Brotherhood gameplay-wise. It adds the Hookblade and Bombs to your arsenal, and adds the all-new Den Defense minigame (optional save for the first one). I found the platforming segments (mandatory) to be much more forgiving and the camera a bit friendlier to me this time around. The gameplay has grown ever more cinematic over the editions and you'll find a lot more slow-mo cam highlighting your vicious death strikes, as well as tighter cutscene and gameplay integration. Revelations' one weakness is that the game gives you the opportunity to unlock the best weapons and armor very early in — basically as soon as the last Templar Dens become available to liberate. In fairness, this Disc-One Nuke does require a lot of time to pull off.

Something else you mentioned was "hypersensitive guards". While it is a bit immersion-breaking in the series as a whole that guards who are aware that a Master Assassin is stalking targets through the streets of their city will ignore a guy in a very distinctive hooded robe with an Assassin logo prominently featured on the cape, it's explained In-Universe as Gameplay and Story Segregation — Altaïr and Ezio do really know how to blend with the crowd and appear inconspicuous, and the Animus is simply making it easy for Desmond as the "player" to understand what's going on.

That said, there are situations where guards will be very alert and attack quickly.

• Roof hopping. Rooftop guards don't like people up there and will get pissy with you if you don't get out of their line of sight (or kill them, natch).
• Guarded entrances like the gates to a city or certain buildings. Guards in a protective formation will fight you if you try to push past them without distracting them in some way.
• Performing Illegal actions in their sight — this includes brawling with or stealing from civilians, looting from or carrying bodies, attacking with any weapon, or performing High Profile actions on the guards themselves (running into them, tackling them).
• "Restricted" areas. Some areas are off-limits to civilians or places where the guards are automatically at high alert. Becoming visible at all here will lead to a quick fight.
• Being Notorious. In certain phases of the game, all guards will be directly alerted to your presence and will automatically recognize you on sight unless you're in a Blend spot. In the first game, this happens after you kill each main story target and lasts until you reach your Assassin Den. In subsequent games, you have a meter that increases when you perform Illegal actions. Filling it up makes you Notorious until you can reduce it again, and some memory sequences make you Notorious automatically.

edited 14th Feb '12 12:40:51 PM by Fighteer

If you want to be renaissance era batman, the gameplay is for you.