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Samwise
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on: June 09, 2009, 12:32:57 PM

So my home internet is out for a few days (thanks AT&T) and in my enforced vacation from TF2 I'm firing up a few of the single-player games that I keep installed for just such an occasion.  First up is Assassin's Creed.  I've played worse, but after a couple of hours I think I'm done with it.  There are faint glimmerings of a good game there -- I like the plot (such as it is), and I like climbing and jumping around stuff.  And it's kinda pretty even if it's mostly brown.  But the walking.  Dear God, the walking.  Not just the walking, but the fact that if you walk any faster than an amble past one of the Templar guards, they get pissed at you and you have to run around looking for a hay bale to jump into.  I just got to the point of needing to travel cross-country to the next town, and although galloping around on my horse is fun I keep getting hung up on medieval speed traps unless I go at crawling speed.  FTS.  I got this game on sale for $10 and right now I'm feeling like I got robbed.

Rating: Avoid.

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
Yegolev
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Reply #1 on: June 09, 2009, 12:57:12 PM

On the other hand, if you get good at killing people then you can do more running around.  Likewise if you get good at leaping over shit and going all ninja on city buildings, you can do even more running around.  Almost as much as a normal game!  But yea, there's a lot of slow walking in many massive maps full of realistic buildings and assholes.  Finally, the missions/activities you do in the first thirty minutes are the same missions you will be doing for the whole game, so if you don't like it now: stop playing.

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cmlancas
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Reply #2 on: June 09, 2009, 02:59:51 PM

I think Rating: Avoid is a little harsh.  I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed, and I think for $10, it's worth your time.

It's awesome to plan and execute a well-timed kill from a three-story building.  I can't not see how that's fun. :)

I'll concede that the missions are very repetitive, but I think your review is a little off.


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Rasix
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Reply #3 on: June 09, 2009, 03:18:39 PM

I beat the damn thing and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone. Still, for really cheap it may be worth a look to see if it's your game.  Some of my friends rather liked it, where I traded it in the second I was done.

For the most part you can just ride like the dickens past initial checkpoints if you just want to go to the cities.  I tried to not spend very much time on the open road as you mostly spend your time trying to avoid over sensitive guards or diving off a tower into a hay stack.  awesome, for real  

As a whole, it's not a fun game.  Every single aspect gets repetitive outside of taking out your main targets.  Unfortunately your targets are sandwitched in between layers of annoying and repetitive tasks.  The combat also gets increasingly annoying and becomes more and more prevalent the farther you get into the game.  The payoff in the end is pretty darn weak as well.

At the end of it, your most interesting interactions were with Veronica Mars and the little stuff you could do outside of the machine.  Game was pretty and some of the climbing/platforming aspects were kind of fun.  The whole thing would have played better as something more akin to Uncharted.


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Samwise
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Reply #4 on: June 09, 2009, 03:55:48 PM

It's awesome to plan and execute a well-timed kill from a three-story building.  I can't not see how that's fun. :)

It's not fun if after multiple hours of gameplay I haven't gotten to the fun part.  It sounds like it might be more fun if you ignore everything the game tells you about sneaking around, but the game still deserves an F if that's the case.

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
Malakili
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Reply #5 on: June 09, 2009, 04:41:06 PM

I paid something like 30 bucks for it and I'd say it was ALMOST worth my money then.  For 10 bucks the novelty value alone is probably worth it in my opinion.   I will admit the game starts a little slowly, but once you get a fuller compliment of weapons, you can start taking on truly crazy amounts of guards at once. 
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Reply #6 on: June 09, 2009, 04:49:05 PM

The repetitiveness did get to me after a while, but as a long-time fan of stealth games I really had no problem with having to walk around certain areas. The free running side was highly enjoyable and something I'd love to see incorporated into games with a little more depth of gameplay in other areas.

I guess the problem would arise if you see this more as Devil May Cry with walking, rather than Thief or Splinter Cell with running. I'm more in the latter category, and had a bunch of fun. I guess my other complaint would be that the development is a little slow, and far too predictable (do mission, get new weapon/move etc). Character development could be a lot better, and due to being hamstrung on the gear and abilities the truly interesting stuff doesn't really start to get underway until about half-way in. For me, the novelty of the free running lasted long enough to see me to the point where you had enough options to engage the more complex locations.

Definitely one to rent, wouldn't say avoid it. A fun game for a rainy day imo.

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Samwise
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Reply #7 on: June 09, 2009, 04:54:14 PM

The free running would probably have impressed me more if I hadn't already played Mirror's Edge, which is a little similar except that you feel like you're actually in control of your character.  (My guy in Ass. Creed liked to hurl himself off buildings for no apparent reason.)

Also, no, shuffling around slowly in plain sight does not count as stealth.  I generally like stealth games.  This isn't one.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2009, 04:56:00 PM by Samwise »

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Reply #8 on: June 09, 2009, 05:03:48 PM

One of the things I liked best about that game was perfecting the counter with the hidden blade, which was somewhat difficult since you can't block with the hidden blade, so you've got to time your counters correctly or get whacked.  After that I just kinda did whatever I wanted as far as the running and such goes, then amused myself dealing with the guards that were after me, instant-killing them with hidden blade counters.

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Reply #9 on: June 09, 2009, 05:20:57 PM

I'm giving this another shot right now, actually.  I bought it on a Steam deal a few months back and never got around to playing it. 

I realized that one must be patient with the game.  Once I realized that, it plays a lot better for me. 
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Reply #10 on: June 09, 2009, 05:34:48 PM

One of the things I liked best about that game was perfecting the counter with the hidden blade, which was somewhat difficult since you can't block with the hidden blade, so you've got to time your counters correctly or get whacked.  After that I just kinda did whatever I wanted as far as the running and such goes, then amused myself dealing with the guards that were after me, instant-killing them with hidden blade counters.

Yes!
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Reply #11 on: June 09, 2009, 10:07:20 PM

I'm giving this another shot right now, actually.  I bought it on a Steam deal a few months back and never got around to playing it. 

I realized that one must be patient with the game.  Once I realized that, it plays a lot better for me. 

Actually that is the opposite for me. I just went on recklessly and discovered the game never lets you fail rooftop jumping. Ever. As long you gauge the distance right, you'll grab on the ledge as you fall. It was thrilling to just get a large group of guards on my tail and dispatch them on rooftops, throwing several of them down the street and tossing knives to snipe off archers. Until the retarded snooping missions came around that is. I only enjoyed the open combat aspect of the game, the rest doesn't seem to grab me much.

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Reply #12 on: June 10, 2009, 06:08:24 AM

Had a lot of fun with this back on the 360. Did pick it up on the PC with the steam special offer, but haven't got around to installing it yet - is it a good port stability/control-wise?

The downside for me was with the story - it felt like it was leading up to something that never materialised, with a 'huh?' ending. Would also love a more sandboxy open-ended type game. GTA meets Assassin's Creed. Mmmm.
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Reply #13 on: June 10, 2009, 08:34:38 AM

I think I read somewhere that the story will be picked up in AC2 where it left off in number 1? Not entirely sure though, I could've imagined it. I do that, sometimes.

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Yegolev
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Reply #14 on: June 10, 2009, 10:11:38 AM

(My guy in Ass. Creed liked to hurl himself off buildings for no apparent reason.)

This won't happen if you walk instead of run.  A point already made in this thread is that if you want to play fast, this game sucks donkey balls.  That is true on every single level of gameplay: travel between towns, travel across towns, stalking targets, even combat.  It's definitely for very patient people, and this is apparent in reviews.  Reviewers, of course, play games as a job and are trying very hard to get to the end before a deadline and such an approach will hamstring you in AC.  If you don't want to immerse yourself in being Altaïr and lurk around killing people (hey, he's an assassin), there's not a lot of draw because the game will punish you for moving too fast.  At least you can pick and choose which information missions to do and are not required to do them all, but if you don't enjoy the base gameplay then you're better off just quitting now.

There's actually a set of collect-the-flag races that run counter to this.

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Reply #15 on: June 10, 2009, 02:22:40 PM

I ran most of the time and never had a problem. Then again, I got so good at counters that I once wiped out an entire guard tower in about fifteen minutes of continued fighting. The place looked like that scene at the end of the Fellowship of the Rings when the camera pans past all the orcs that Boromir killed. About the only time I slowed to a walk was when I walked right past a guard, then I'd just run again. I also spent most of my time on the roofs and rarely had problems with falling off. You just learn to hit jump right as you come to the edge and you're good to go.

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Reply #16 on: June 10, 2009, 06:08:06 PM

I think I read somewhere that the story will be picked up in AC2 where it left off in number 1? Not entirely sure though, I could've imagined it. I do that, sometimes.

You must mean the modern storyline right? The core of AC2 is set in 1490s Venice.

Also, Assassins Creed stuck me as a game very much intended to be played on a console, not on a PC. I've only played it on the PS3, I can only imagine it being less fun on a PC.

The free running would probably have impressed me more if I hadn't already played Mirror's Edge, which is a little similar except that you feel like you're actually in control of your character.  (My guy in Ass. Creed liked to hurl himself off buildings for no apparent reason.)

Also, no, shuffling around slowly in plain sight does not count as stealth.  I generally like stealth games.  This isn't one.

It's not an out-and-out stealth game, but nor is it a pure action game either. Again here I wonder if the difference between playing with a PS3 controller compared to a keyboard and mouse exaggerates how the walking feels. For me it never felt too slow, it felt about right; and since you could get almost everywhere over the rooftops, you're not really forced to walk around much.

I should probably go back and replay the game though, just to be sure.

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Samwise
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Reply #17 on: June 10, 2009, 06:13:34 PM

For me it never felt too slow, it felt about right; and since you could get almost everywhere over the rooftops, you're not really forced to walk around much.

The part where I gave up was when travelling between the first two cities (from whereever I started to Damascus).  I was having fun galloping around and climbing the watch towers, and then suddenly I started drawing aggro everywhere, with the on-screen help chiding me that I was DOING IT WRONG.  After some experimentation I determined that the only way to avoid aggro and make the game happy was to slow my horse down to a speed at which it would take me approximately a week of playtime to reach the waypoint for my next quest.  That is the point at which I said "fuck this" and stopped playing.  

I never had too much trouble in the city itself, but at the rate I was going I was never going to get to see a city again, so that's pretty much moot.

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Reply #18 on: June 10, 2009, 06:16:01 PM

Yeah, the riding between cities sucked balls, but I recall I always was given the option to fast travel to most places, so it stopped being an issue after the single mandatory quasi-tutorial segment.

Can anyone confirm/deny this?

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Samwise
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Reply #19 on: June 10, 2009, 06:20:15 PM

I think if there were a mod that removed the speed limit mechanic AC could be a decent enough if somewhat repetitive game.  Doesn't seem to be such a thing, though.

I suspect you get the fast travel option only after you've walked to the place once the slow way.  I didn't even have enough patience for that.   why so serious?

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Reply #20 on: June 10, 2009, 10:12:11 PM

Also, Assassins Creed stuck me as a game very much intended to be played on a console, not on a PC. I've only played it on the PS3, I can only imagine it being less fun on a PC.
I haven't tried it with a controller but the mouse and keyboard controls work well enough, though they are somewhat complicated.
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Reply #21 on: June 11, 2009, 09:00:21 AM

Also, Assassins Creed stuck me as a game very much intended to be played on a console, not on a PC. I've only played it on the PS3, I can only imagine it being less fun on a PC.
I haven't tried it with a controller but the mouse and keyboard controls work well enough, though they are somewhat complicated.

The controls work fine on the 360, but they are definitely non-standard and require a bit of paradigm adjusting, in my mind.

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Reply #22 on: June 11, 2009, 01:32:33 PM

I think I read somewhere that the story will be picked up in AC2 where it left off in number 1? Not entirely sure though, I could've imagined it. I do that, sometimes.
You must mean the modern storyline right? The core of AC2 is set in 1490s Venice.
I must, yes.

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Reply #23 on: July 06, 2009, 10:12:45 PM

Yeah, the riding between cities sucked balls, but I recall I always was given the option to fast travel to most places, so it stopped being an issue after the single mandatory quasi-tutorial segment.

Can anyone confirm/deny this?

You get the fast travel option from Memory Block 3 onwards. Memory Blocks 1 & 2 requires you to ride everywhere.

However, I get the feeling it was a late addition to the game - the first time it happened, I decided to not do it, but it wouldn't let me reactivate it so I had to ride to the next city.

I've found in AC that once you stop caring if you alert the guards on horseback, you can get around much quicker. Plus get throwing knives, to take out the archers on rooftops.

All in all I'm enjoying my time in game, but I can see the issue of repetition very clearly. Let's hope they have some new ideas for AC2.

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Reply #24 on: July 07, 2009, 04:47:09 AM

Quote
Let's hope they have some new ideas for AC2.

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 Ohhhhh, I see.
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Reply #25 on: July 07, 2009, 07:04:55 AM

How much you want to bet that they add some sort of "gather the flag" activity to that? 

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Reply #26 on: July 07, 2009, 09:00:56 AM

Having finished the game (on 360) I think the best part of it was running around rooftops, and climbing up really tall shit so I could see the beautiful views.

Of course, by the time I finished the game, I no longer cared about the beautiful views. But early on, at least, they were breathtaking.


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Reply #27 on: August 07, 2009, 06:30:23 AM

I agree that the main fault of AS was its pure repetition. Yet without the repetition it would have been a very short game.

As a sideline bitch: as stupid as it is to complain about the science backing up the story of a video game, the whole "all of your ancestor's memories are encoded in your DNA" was a particularly dumb background.

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Reply #28 on: August 07, 2009, 05:25:07 PM

Running across the roof-tops and navigating the buildings felt very fun. But I could have done without the absolutely useless middle area between the three cities and some of the dumber elements already mentioned.

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Reply #29 on: August 12, 2009, 05:21:00 PM

But the middle area has another set of flags!

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Reply #30 on: August 14, 2009, 11:07:44 PM

Posting in another thead just made me thing - did AC on PC ship with a bunch of extra/different missions in it? I seem to remember something about that...

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Reply #31 on: August 15, 2009, 09:11:31 AM

Yep:

* Archer assassination
* Rooftop race challenge
* Merchant stand destruction challenge
* Escort challenge

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Reply #32 on: August 15, 2009, 09:18:58 AM

Like Mirror's Edge, this was a good underlying idea, but it was missing too much to feel like a complete game. Both of their sequels (if there are any) will probably be loads better.
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Reply #33 on: August 15, 2009, 12:04:46 PM

I enjoyed it on the PC. The controls felt a bit odd and I sometimes felt as though I was fighting through jelly, but I'm a patient sort and overall I had no problems wandering though cities. All you had to do was remember to not run in front of guards.

The Minigames were pretty interesting too, though after a while the whole "climb up to the top of every tower in the city to open the map up" got very old. The combat I found very enjoyable, I mixture of circling around and constantly moving, and the running parts very very enjoyable.

One thing that irritated the hell out of me were these madmen that kept pushing you every time you went near them Bloody irritating as there were loads of them in the endgame. Twords the end of the game I was knifing them, Assassins Creed be dammed.

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Reply #34 on: October 16, 2009, 09:01:02 PM

Yep:
* Archer assassination
* Rooftop race challenge
* Merchant stand destruction challenge
* Escort challenge

hm, I thought it had actual extra content, instead of bullshit.

oh well.

I was half tempted to preorder the black or white editions of this, for the extra content and the figurine because I like shiny things, but 10 minutes of fucking around with the first one again put paid to that idea.

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