Assassin's Creed III

The Game Room
1

I’m going to work through Revelations – I got about halfway through and then never finished it (got distracted by the multiplayer, and then eventually other games), but I’m excited for ACIII. First impressions? Better or worse than the “Ezio Arc”? Is there a bunch of forced Native American language to succeed all the forced Italian and Arabic? (I’m being a bit hyperbolic, it’s completely unnecessary but I find it charming in a way)

How’d they deal with the Founding Fathers? They’ve already made clear certain ones of them being Templar (I’ve long since forgotten who, I think Ben Franklin was one), but there are certain ones I don’t think they’d throw under a bus – notably Washington – who I haven’t gotten a chance to read the journal of yet.

I’m looking forward to it, I think they could easily do a lot since the Tyranny vs Freedom theme in the Revolution plays mindbogglingly well into the EXACT same dynamic between the Assassins (freedom) vs Templar (order). That said, I’ve never really liked the American Revolution that much, but I’m willing to see what they did with it. I think it’s more strategy games that are more the problem with that era.

ETA: Though I’m not convinced they can top fisticuffs with the Pope for a final boss battle :p.

2

I have seen this picture out-and-about that is supposedly from a DLC for AC3 that has George Washington as a king.

Honestly no clue how it is all supposed to play out but the picture is cool.

3

Meh. Only about half as ridiculous as this famous monstrosity.

4

Reminds me of Rip van Winkle, where one of the only things that “changed” is that a picture of King George III is replaced by a picture of President George I.

5

I just started playing it last night. It seems pretty cool and fun, but then I loved the games. I never finished Revelations either, and I loved Ezio’s story. I did really well in II but had a really difficult time with the mechanics in Revelations. Perhaps I’ll go back again, but I’m not fond of the bombs. I wish they had left that out entirely and am waiting for them to dump it on me in III.

Beyond that I’ve only just got to Boston, and Haytham Kenway is pretty cool.

6

I’m a few hours in and am also still with Haytham Kenway. He doesn’t have the charm that Ezio had, in my opinion, but he’s okay. It’s still in the 1750s right now, but I think I might be about to go forward in time soon.

7

There aren’t many people who have Ezio’s charm, I’m afraid.

8

I’m also still on Haytham Kenway in Boston. I find him annoying as hell, but maybe it’s just because there hasn’t been any cool combat yet. I hope I get to the real main character soon.

Anyone else wasting WAY too much time playing Nine Men’s Morris and Fanorona?

9

I actually might pick this up when I’m done with Borderlands 2.

But I’ve never played AC: II…or Brotherhood, OR Revelations…maybe I should play those? i was burnt out on AC I (the repetitiveness,) but I’ve been told the other ones are much better in that regard.

But I figured since it’s a new main character (well…I assume you’re still Desmond,) it would be the best place to “jump back in” if I didn’t want to play through 3 previous games.

10

Play at least AC II first. It’s a much better and more fun game than AC I, and it gives you a ton of backstory that’ll come in handy.

Personally, I’d also recommend Brotherhood, though most people found it skippable in the main story sequence. I just loved the way they did Rome.

Revelations you can skip. It’s more of the same in a different place with a few new, mostly silly, mechanics.

11

AC II is awesome. I highly recommend it, even if you never play any other games in the series. Fun game, good story, interesting characters, good voice acting, and awesome, awesome moves.
The problem with Brotherhood I had is, isn’t it mainly multiplayer? I don’t want to play with anybody else… I just want to play by myself. If I wanted to play with someone else I’d play Borderlands.

12

I agree with muldoonthief’s assessment - definitely get AC II, Brotherhood is worthwhile, Redemption is skippable.

EDIT: Anaamika - Brotherhood introduced multiplayer, but it is just as big a single player game as AC 2. Absolutely worth it.

The George Washington as King thing is a future DLC/alternate past thing, which is a departure for Assassins Creed. The main game will likely follow history closely; they are very particular about that, to the point of all the targets are historical people, all of whom died at the time they did in the game, although not in the same manner.

I’m 5 or so hours in, and enjoying it. I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.

13

Not at all. Brotherhood was a full single player campaign, just set in Rome instead of Florence/Venice/other. Probably a little shorter than ACII, but not significantly so.

It did have the whole “Brotherhood” mechanic, where you had to rescue civilians and recruit them into the Assassins, then send them on missions to gain experience, and could then use them on missions. But they were purely AI, no other real life players involved.

There was a multiplayer game as well, but I skipped it completely and didn’t miss it.

BTW, one of the best/weirdest multimedia experiences I’ve ever had is to play through AC II and then Brotherhood, while also watching “The Borgias”. Enormous amounts of overlap between plots, characters, dialogue, even architecture. You keep expecting Ezio and Micheletto to have a fight to the death.

14

I’m at about 25% sync now so I think I can offer an initial assessment:

First, let me say Haytham Kenway is awesome. I love how they completely nailed his English arrogance during the 1750’s (no offense to our Englishmen/women on the boards). He may not be as charming as Ezio, but he certainly speaks with authority and self-confidence. However arrogant he may be, he has a solid moral compass and strong sense of duty. I won’t reveal anything else, but prepare yourself for one helluva mindfuck.

Fighting with Connor us just plain FUN. It took a few games, but Ubisoft Montreal finally fixed combat to the point that it’s not simply mashing the “Counter” button (a very contentious point for a lot of AC fans). Multiple enemies will attack at once, and I’ve had my ass handed to me on numerous occasions to the point I actually have to run away (something I’m not used to). As of yet, I haven’t seen any armor or medicine, so you can’t simply keep insta-healing yourself in combat, thus getting into combat is actually a consequential decision now. Also, you’re not just dealing with 4-8 town guards anymore, as I’ve often had 20-25 Redcoats and/or Minutemen crammed down my throat. Mobs are everywhere, so the second you come out incognito status, everyone in the vicinity is on alert looking for you. The mobs are a lot smarter now and hiding from them is very difficult.

I don’t find the free running to be as smooth as the previous installments of AC, but I think that’s because Ubisoft attempted a much more organic environment than before, which works most of the time. Previously, pretty much everything was a geometric shape and easily climbable. Now we have trees, climbable rockfaces, steep hills, angled roofs, and other environmental features that require more than just sprinting straight ahead. If you attempt to sprint in the treetops without any directional changes, you’ll find yourself on the ground real fast. The game itself claims that directional jumping is less frustrating now, but I disagree with that.

Plotwise, ACIII takes a lot longer to set up the story than ACII did. You’ll spend hours of play before anyone even considers you to be an Assassin. I think the long set-up will well be worth it. The game can tend to be too vague as to what you’re supposed to do next at times.

The only serious gripe I have with the game so far is that it appears Ubisoft didn’t spend a lot of time debugging. I’ve noticed quite a few glitches so far, both cosmetic and technical. Some NPC’s mouths don’t move in sync with their speech (or at all, in the case of one NPC). In one tavern, an NPC extra is glitched, spinning in the air over his barstool. Sometimes the game doesn’t “catch” that a story sequence is over or needs to begin, so you’ll need to enter a building and come back out to get the game to catch it. Air assassinations are either glitchy or have been nerfed to the point of uselessness, so I don’t really attempt them anymore. I haven’t gotten too much mileage out of my hidden blade so far.

Sorry for the long-windedness, but one more thing: the naval battles absolutely ROCK.

Ultimately, I think ACIII will exceed the near-unachievable expectations it has garnered. I’m very impressed so far.

15

I was playing the game, watching the Borgias and then went on a Honeymoon to Venice, Florence and Rome. I almost knifed a guy outside the Vatican because I got confused as to which reality I was in.

(seriously, it’s sort of surreal visiting some Italian landmarks after having played the game. Its like a weird psuedo-deja vu).

16

Kind of like the Animus? :smiley: It must’ve been exactly how Desmond felt going to Monteriggioni and Il Colosseo.

17

Just don’t go after the Swiss Guard. The real life ones are, if anything, tougher than the game ones. And they have automatic weapons now.

18

I went to Italy in September and visited those places plus San Gimignano. When I was up in the Torre Grossa, I kept thinking “Shouldn’t there be a rope between that tower and this one? Otherwise how is anyone supposed to get up here and assassinate me? And shouldn’t there be more archers?”

19

A) He seriously reminds me of one of the James Bond actors…
B) The twist is blatantly spoiled in the db entries. So you might want to avoid reading them until later.

No health potions anymore, just regenerating health. The reviews say that doesn’t affect the difficulty, but they’re smoking something. Two volleys of musket fire, or one missed predator QTE, and you’ve got a ruined day. OTOH, if you’re up a tree, it’s stupidly easy to kill a bear empty-handed. Connor must be quarter-Kryptonian or something.

20

I’m not sure how Brotherhood is skippable

That whole “Desmond killed Lucy” and “We now have the Apple” thing might be a bit jarring without it.