I disagree
1.) The templars are still assholes. Munro rather coldly manipulates Shay if you think about it, Gist admits he would have killed Shay otherwise, and Shay at the end is willing to ignite revolution (which will inevitably claim countless lives) purely to restore power to the Templars despite the fact that he joined the templars to stop the assassins from doing it. Since the assassins did it by accident, Shay's even worse
2.) It actually ties in with Achilles in 3. He says "in your haste to save the world boy, take care you don't destroy it." Considering that he was rather disdainful of Connor's naiveté and assumpt that he could do the good thing and charge forward consequences be damned if anything it fleshes out so much; achilles saw the same recklessness.
Sorry for the late reply. Fair point about the Templars. But my points about the Assassins being made more "evil"/stupid for this game still stands.
Also very late, but still. In all fairness, just as the Borgia reign is seen as the Dark Ages for the modern-day Templars, the Assassins underneath Achilles could be considering similar. After all, their entire motivation is that of 'Templars-equal-bad-must-kill-and-oppose', rather than actually achieving peace. And some of the initial tenets of the Creed have gotten distorted in the process, such as while they praise freedom, they still must have absolute loyalty in their Master...
Achilles has that angle enforced for the Assassins underneath him, and when Shay calls him out, that and his subsequent betrayal just makes him another enemy who needs to die; no bothering to explain themselves, no attempt to speak calmly, etc. In other words, while the Assassins as a whole (and Shay) aren't exempt from the issue, Achilles is more-or-less to blame for what we see of them in Rogue
In fact, it seems to be more of a subtle Deconstruction on the Forever War trope; both sides are poisoned by this, largely incapable of thinking their enemies are anything less than monsters, who need to be stopped before all else (even their original goals). And of course, that their way is right, no exceptions allowed...
I really enjoyed the game even though I'm stuck wondering if I read too much into it. I saw the Templars as manipulating Shay since he left the Assassins and the Templars only look like good guys because they've limited the scope of what Shay could see. Essentially, my take from Rogue was Shay is what Abstergo hopes to do in the modern day by sanitizing the historical record through their technology.
But, like I said, I might just be reading too much into it. Anyway, the naval battles were amazing. Enjoyed them more than those in Black Flag.
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First Impressions - Can't really complain
This isn't really a full review, since as of typing this I have only completed sequence 4 of the game.
I'll get the comparisons between this and the earlier games out of the way first. Gameplay-wise, most of the good stuff from Black Flag is here, but you don't really get anything that hasn't been seen in previous AC games. You get new collectables, different weapons for your ship, and a new type of side mission and enemy archtype that reflect on Shay's role as a Templar, but there's nothing truly revolutionary for the franchise, such as a shitton of new gamplay features, the chance to build and operate your own Assassin Brotherhood, your own ship, or the ability to freeroam with your ship.
Story-wise, you do get a few things that make the game interesting to look at: the River Valley and North Atlantic locales, the Seven Years War setting and subsequent return to Colonial America, the chance to interact with past characters such as Haytham Kenway, Adewale and Achilles, and of course, the fact that you're on the Templars' side in this game and get to fight against the Assassins.
So far, my only gripe with the game is the reason it gives Shay (your character) for defecting to the Templars. In short, it's not because Shay comes to see that the Templars actually have good reasons for doing what they do that Shay agrees with, but because the Assassins get given the Ron the Death Eater treatment and the Idiot Ball and risk getting many people killed with their stupidity, prompting Shay to jump ship. Since Assassin's Creed III, the Assassin/Templar conflict has felt like less of a battle between good and evil, and more of a struggle between two opinions on what the world needs more. This game however, I feel it regresses back to the Good vs Evil days of Ezio's time, but switches the good/evil labels around, which I personally find disappointing.
In conclusion, this game is decent in its own right, and while there are a few differences between it and Black Flag, in terms of gameplay they're both very much alike. You guys decide whether or not that stops you from buying the game.