Assassin's Creed 3 Catch-All

I was playing a mission in Sequence 7 where I'm supposed to direct a bunch of firing lines, and I'm supposed to pay attention to what the enemy lines are doing so I can shoot them without exposing my own guys to too much fire and it was freaking impossible. All my guys kept dying once enough enemies stacked up that there was never a safe time to shoot. I checked in the interwebs and it turns out the key to the mission is to ignore all the advice it gives you and just run back and forth telling everyone to keep firing no matter what. I did that and lost about 10% of my dudes, and that only at the very end.

Then I spent a bunch of time in Sequence 9 upgrading my Homestead. Suddenly, I could actually make all the special items and upgrades. So instead of trickling those to me gradually over the course of the game, I got them all at once in one giant lump. I went from carrying a single flintlock with 8 spare rounds to carrying a pair of double-barrels with 40 spare rounds.

AC3 strikes me as a very poorly paced game.

Demosthenes wrote:

Spent last night working on the naval missions and there's this one that requires you, for the 100% sync, to destroy like an entire enemy fleet in 90 seconds. What's irritating about this (similar to the mission where you are chasing this dude and have to catch him without bumping into anyone in the crowd) is that the loading code is apparently imperfect. When you restart from the last checkpoint, you lose a good 4 or 5 seconds... which when you have like 10-15 ships and ninety seconds or the guy you're chasing has a headstart into a crowd, is kind of a big deal.

Never did finish that naval mission. :'(

Grapeshot is incredibly lethal on that mission. I once took out four enemy ships in a single volley.

SallyNasty wrote:

As someone with all MP achievements in all the games (including AC3) - wolfpack was a much needed, and much enjoyed, addition.

The wolf pack missions are timed aren't they? Is the timing tight or is it fairly loose. I'm not a big fan of timed missions but I like the idea of some co-op assassinatin'.

Higgledy wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

As someone with all MP achievements in all the games (including AC3) - wolfpack was a much needed, and much enjoyed, addition.

The wolf pack missions are timed aren't they? Is the timing tight or is it fairly loose. I'm not a big fan of timed missions but I like the idea of some co-op assassinatin'.

Timed, but you get more time by getting points. It is actually pretty fun.

SallyNasty wrote:
Higgledy wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

As someone with all MP achievements in all the games (including AC3) - wolfpack was a much needed, and much enjoyed, addition.

The wolf pack missions are timed aren't they? Is the timing tight or is it fairly loose. I'm not a big fan of timed missions but I like the idea of some co-op assassinatin'.

Timed, but you get more time by getting points. It is actually pretty fun.

Ok great. Thnx

This is one glitchy game. I almost wonder if there's some sort of destabilizing factor in there that accumulates as you play so the longer you've played in one session, the less stable the game is. Here's what my last night looked like:

- Game reminding me that I've unlocked stuff from the Captain Kidd quest (this seems to be permanent).
- Randomly vanishing and reappearing second pistol.
- Mission objective marker floating over absolutely nothing, rendering the mission impossible to finish without restarting.
- Missing textures under water in a specific part of the New York City Underground

And here's the big one, the one that told me maybe I'm done for the night. In the NYC Underground I was picking up a keg to blast open another shortcut, likely the third keg I'd used that playsession. The moment I picked it up, my screen flashed white and then faded to gray with my HUD still visible while the sound blasted a sound like an explosion mixed with a siren. And when I say "blasted," I mean it. I had my volume set respectfully low, just loud enough that I could hear the dialog, as is appropriate in an occupied neighborhood late at night. The sound suddenly decided it was going to be, without any exaggeration, as loud as my fire alarm. It figuratively scared the sh*t out of me. Fortunately I had my sound system remote next to me and turned it off quickly, so I could calm down a bit and try to figure out what had happened. The game wasn't locked up. I could still bring up my menu and fast travel, and I could get the loading screen as normal and the "coming down into the Underground" animation, but then the screen remained gray. At that point I returned to the XMB and cautiously turned my sound back on. It had stopped screeching and resumed normal operation.

So what do you think, guys? Is my PS3 haunted?

So, in all likelihood a stupid question, but...I've made all sorts of timber, veggies, and furs available for my homestead...where the hell do I get it from? Because it's not my stockpile.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

So, in all likelihood a stupid question, but...I've made all sorts of timber, veggies, and furs available for my homestead...where the hell do I get it from? Because it's not my stockpile.

YOU purchase them from the stockpile. That was not well explained. It will say there are 0/10... that apparently means nothing. That whole section irritates me so I've only bought enough to make some weapons, ammo pouches, and the Franklin inventions.

Finished the main game last night, gotta work on some feathers and chests and the underground still (all while trying to raise enough money to get that last 100% sync for the ship missions).

I gotta say... a CHASE MISSION which requires you not to bump into anyone is the worst optional objective ever. Especially when the crowd is NOT scripted and just does whatever it feels like so that you can potentially fail that IMMEDIATELY due to nothing you could have foreseen (literally, 3 times when attempting this, someone ran into ME from behind, and that apparently counts as failure).

Ending?

Spoiler:

The idea of CHOOSING subjugation seemed weird at first, but I think I get it. The Assassins will fight just like they always have.

I had a really strange glitch last night that was pretty upsetting ..

Spoiler:

After Archimedes' funeral, I had another homestead mission from him of putting up his picture. Then he was still puttering around. The Hell? Really detracted from his death scene.

Patch by the end of next week. List may contain spoilers.

That's a huge list, yet it still doesn't include the vanishing pistol glitch. That's now evolved, by the way. For a while, instead of denying me my second pistol it gave me a standard flintlock. Then later, a navy pistol. So basically I can keep three shots loaded at any given time.

So I have put about 30 hours into this game so far, and am not quite sure about how I feel about it. The story and setting are excellent, but the awkwardness of the controls coupled with the difficulty of getting 100% sync has really soured me on the game. UBI really went overboard with side content as well. I am working on the 100% completion - and it is ridiculous how much they want you to do, and how obtuse the system is in informing you on how to do it. Right now I am kind of regretting day one purchasing this game, as this really needs a patch.

The Aquila is a lot of fun, however.

SallyNasty wrote:

So I have put about 30 hours into this game so far, and am not quite sure about how I feel about it. The story and setting are excellent, but the awkwardness of the controls coupled with the difficulty of getting 100% sync has really soured me on the game. UBI really went overboard with side content as well. I am working on the 100% completion - and it is ridiculous how much they want you to do, and how obtuse the system is in informing you on how to do it. Right now I am kind of regretting day one purchasing this game, as this really needs a patch.

The Aquila is a lot of fun, however.

It sounds like you've done too much of the 100% sync thing to give up now but if at all possible I'd let it do. I toyed with doing 100% on previous games but very soon, with all the annoying extra stipulations on missions, I realised that it'd kill the game for me.

I REALLY wanted this game but couldn't really justify paying full price. I'm glad I waited. There is a patch inbound (it may well not fix some of the interface implementations stuff.)

Yah, I am up to sequene 10-2 with 100% in everything so far. Most of them are pretty easy, but some of them are so stupid and non-intuitive. I probalby tried 20 times on the f*cking grenadier, and the one where you have to chase down the brit officer and then air tackle him was also very frustrating.

I should say that I absolutely love the homestead missions. I find them compelling and I have really enjoyed watching that story play out.

Higgledy wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

So I have put about 30 hours into this game so far, and am not quite sure about how I feel about it. The story and setting are excellent, but the awkwardness of the controls coupled with the difficulty of getting 100% sync has really soured me on the game. UBI really went overboard with side content as well. I am working on the 100% completion - and it is ridiculous how much they want you to do, and how obtuse the system is in informing you on how to do it. Right now I am kind of regretting day one purchasing this game, as this really needs a patch.

The Aquila is a lot of fun, however.

It sounds like you've done too much of the 100% sync thing to give up now but if at all possible I'd let it do. I toyed with doing 100% on previous games but very soon, with all the annoying extra stipulations on missions, I realised that it'd kill the game for me.

I REALLY wanted this game but couldn't really justify paying full price. I'm glad I waited. There is a patch inbound (it may well not fix some of the interface implementations stuff.)

I can tell you, from my experience, MOST of the 100% syncs are really not that bad. The ones that are "bad" when you start usually have some trick to them that once you find, makes it very easy (one mission where the option objectives are not to be seen by anyone on a boat, but also air assassinate a grenadier, which is basically a beacon unless everyone else is dead... once I figured out how to get those other guards without doing the pop-up, stab, jump back off the boat hoping no one notices it got much easier).

My biggest stumbling blocks for 100% sync were all the chase someone but "don't shove or push any civilians/pedestrians" (crowds are not really scripted, so it's not just finding the right path past the guards and such, but adapting that path to civilians, or being ready to restart from last checkpoint if they have blocked it such that you can't get past them without a shove). That said, I can say I got 100% sync on the main missions this weekend and am now following up on some of the side missions rocking Altair's robes, which are cool, if weirdly missing a quiver for my arrows. That and the achievement are your rewards... nothing terribly fascinating, but makes me feel like a badass.

EDIT NOTE: Talking about AC3 here for 100% sync. Still haven't done it on Brotherhood or Revelations, have no desire to. Learning a dungeon for 3ish hours to get that finish in under thing... meh.

Demosthenes wrote:

My biggest stumbling blocks for 100% sync were all the chase someone but "don't shove or push any civilians/pedestrians" (crowds are not really scripted, so it's not just finding the right path past the guards and such, but adapting that path to civilians, or being ready to restart from last checkpoint if they have blocked it such that you can't get past them without a shove).

I somehow lucked into this optional one, but then failed the next one on that campaign :/

My first attempt, I chased him in circles 3 times before I killed him (didn't realize I had to tackle). Restarted then lost him. Restarted again and HE got hung up on the first crowd and I tackled him getting the optional.

I also found that the restart from last checkpoint is like a 3 or 4 second delay in your next start. The privateer mission that I still have 100%ed (well there are two now, but let's not get into keeping 8 boats alive when you can't control them against 4 frigates) where you're timed on destroying the fleets (where like 5 boats don't come in until like 30 seconds left anyway *rolls eyes*) if you restart from the checkpoint, you're at like 1:24 by the time you can do anything rather than the 1:30. Stupid bug.

Well, I finished the campaign last night, and I am not in a very favorable place with this game right now. Part of that is my fault and part is Ubi's. It is my fault in that I went for 100% sync on all the missions, and that really soured me on the game. There were frustrating checkpoints and the syncs were not intuitive/possible on first try on a lot of missions. The game was beautiful, but the quality of content was inconsistent. Delivery missions? Doesn't explain really how to use the crafting system to make those items. Level your assassin's? Go for it - but you can't use them in most missions or in the frontier where you spend 50% of the game. Mini-games? Sure, but they aren't fun and add nothing to the game.

I was really frustrated by the controls as well as the bugginess of the product. I don't usually buy full priced games, but I was really excited for this game but kind of feel ripped off by the fact that this was released so buggy. I had a couple of objectives that didn't spawn and I had to go to youtube to even find out where I was supposed to go. I got a lot more frustration than I did fun out of this game, and that is really sad as I am a pretty vocal AC fanboy.

Well in contrast, I've just started on PC. Awesome stuff so far. Just finished Sequence 1 and what a great way to open the story. I'm hooked. I have no idea what's going on which is awesome.

Not sure I like the B to counter instead of left trigger... I may change the scheme back to original, but will give it a little longer depending on if it was changed to suit something in particular.

Now I'm paying the price of staying up late on a work night... where's my coffee!?!!?!

Yeah, I'm with you Sabre. I just got Connor's assassin robes and I'm not really seeing all the complaints about the 'tutorial' section. I agree with what Mark Beer was saying on Weekend Confirmed: it's a throwback to AC2 where you are literally seeing Connor grow up from childhood, seeing how his skill set grows with him and slowly learn about the history of the Assassins and Templars.

Protip: whenever the game takes you out of the Animus and gives you the choice to look around the cave or go back in, look around the cave first. Everyone has dialogue options that flesh out their characters as well as the backstory, and there are little areas you can explore that trigger cut scenes with more backstory. Very cool.

What is the deal with the craftsmen levels that Justin and rabbit were going on about in the podcast? Do craftsmen level up? Is it a permanent stat? What's going on?

Wow. Very impressive story so far.

End of Sequence 3.

Spoiler:

Did not see that one coming. Very nicely done with Haytham being a Templar.

kazooka wrote:

What is the deal with the craftsmen levels that Justin and rabbit were going on about in the podcast? Do craftsmen level up? Is it a permanent stat? What's going on?

The homestead missions will upgrade them. Same quest markers as the ones where you recruit someone for the homestead.

Up to about sequence 8 and have very mixed feelings. I'm really enjoying the setting and much of the atmosphere and when the combat works, it's pretty engaging. However, many of the missions just feel too scripted. What happened to the "infiltrate this compound and stab a guy" missions. Everything is so broken up by cutscenes and scripted sequences, that there isn' t much tension. In the AC2 games, there was always the Borgia Tower missions but those are strangely absent here.

I'll keep playing for now if only because I haven't fully explored the Aquila but with the wealth of other games vying for my attention, AC3 is having a hard time.

SallyNasty wrote:

Well, I finished the campaign last night, and I am not in a very favorable place with this game right now. Part of that is my fault and part is Ubi's. It is my fault in that I went for 100% sync on all the missions, and that really soured me on the game. There were frustrating checkpoints and the syncs were not intuitive/possible on first try on a lot of missions. The game was beautiful, but the quality of content was inconsistent. Delivery missions? Doesn't explain really how to use the crafting system to make those items. Level your assassin's? Go for it - but you can't use them in most missions or in the frontier where you spend 50% of the game. Mini-games? Sure, but they aren't fun and add nothing to the game.

Just finished up the campaign myself about 15 minutes ago and this is pretty much where I'm at with the game. I initially started to 100% sync every mission, but then ran into the wall of weird and frustrating optional objectives. Eventually I just let those go and burned through missions, and I ended up finding the game to be fairly void of *any* enjoyment after that. I never really saw a need to try the delivery missions or get into crafting as they didn't have an apparent reward or goal aside from checking an objective off a list.

I was also sorely disappointed to see that most missions end up just being a sequence of the same type of objectives--which either meant a chase, a fight with a group of enemies, or both. Which I guess is the basics of the game, but there was never a time when I really felt challenged by anything the game threw at me. Most engagements boiled down to waiting for the attack icon to appear over an attacker's head, counter kill, then start a kill streak on all the regular enemies. From there, it was just disarming/knocking down the stronger enemies until everyone was dead.

So yeah, I'm a little let down by the overall experience.

CptDomano wrote:

Which I guess is the basics of the game, but there was never a time when I really felt challenged by anything the game threw at me. Most engagements boiled down to waiting for the attack icon to appear over an attacker's head, counter kill, then start a kill streak on all the regular enemies. From there, it was just disarming/knocking down the stronger enemies until everyone was dead.

You could pretty much say this about all Assassin's Creed games. They've never really been challenging. Seriously, the older ones were even easier since you could just hold trigger and block indefinitely. Now you at least have to use a little skill. I like the new fighting system. Seems pretty much same old, but a few new elements to keep it enjoyable. Like quickly grabbing a nearby soldier when the others are about to open fire.

As for the 100% sync, yeah, I'm in sequence 5 or 6 and just haven't bothered. Ever since the one where you had to get 3 type of meat from animals and all I could find were deer and foxes. Not a fricken rabbit anywhere. 45 minutes later I killed a fox, finished the mission and there were nothing but rabbits everywhere! I'm just enjoying the story and having a great time exploring a new world and learning about all the things you can do.

Haven't quite worked out what to do with letters and assassination contracts or everything else for that matter, but whatever, first playthrough and just learning it all. So far it's fun.

BlackSabre wrote:

You could pretty much say this about all Assassin's Creed games. They've never really been challenging. Seriously, the older ones were even easier since you could just hold trigger and block indefinitely. Now you at least have to use a little skill. I like the new fighting system. Seems pretty much same old, but a few new elements to keep it enjoyable. Like quickly grabbing a nearby soldier when the others are about to open fire.

Yeah, and I think this is where my lack of playing the SP campaign about halfway through Assassin's Creed II (Brotherhood and Rev I played for MP, with the intention of always "getting back" to the story) has hurt me more than just not knowing the backstory. I remember a point in AC3 when I realized that stabbing three people in broad daylight really didn't have repercussions aside from bringing more guys to stab. That's when the game kind of "broke" for me. I always figured you were a stealth assassin and not a person with the ability to kill anyone you want for whatever reason. After talking with a few people, I realized that's just how the series has been since AC2.

So, bad on me for not realizing fully what I was getting into from the SP side. I still say the MP is fun as hell

Well the repercussion is it raises your notoriety. Which is a good consequence because it means you can't go anywhere without being swarmed by guards constantly which is actually a pain in the butt. Sure, you could kill them all, but eventually you'll need to run and hide. Then find your person to bribe or printing press. Still don't see any posters of me yet.

Also, if you are enjoying the multi, awesome, not a complete waste then! I might try and get into it this time once I'm done with the single player.

BlackSabre wrote:

Well the repercussion is it raises your notoriety. Which is a good consequence because it means you can't go anywhere without being swarmed by guards constantly which is actually a pain in the butt. Sure, you could kill them all, but eventually you'll need to run and hide. Then find your person to bribe or printing press. Still don't see any posters of me yet.

Also, if you are enjoying the multi, awesome, not a complete waste then! I might try and get into it this time once I'm done with the single player.

Posters, interestingly, don't pop up on your map like they did in previous games. But you will still see the little animus effect on a usable object on walls, just not as frequent or as weirdly placed as they were in ACII and Brotherhood (really, on a support beam in a house under construction that only I can even get to/see? I even saw one on top of a church, which was hilarious to me).

BlackSabre wrote:

Still don't see any posters of me yet.

Oh really? I tend to see them frequently when I've got the notoriety raised--they might not show up on the map, but keep an eye out for any sparkly white areas on the side of houses/trees when you're not incognito. 'Course, they'll only work when you're not seen, so be sure to lose those guards first

I think my complaint is that it's just too easy to brute-force your way through the missions. I might go for 100% sync on a second playthrough, but I'm just trying to enjoy the game right now and I resigned myself early on not to stress about optional objectives if I don't get them. But once I miss the optional objectives and things start to fall apart, it's almost comically easy to just fight your way through things. The animations are great but combat very closely resembles quicktime events (it literally does when you get attacked by wildlife).

Also, I have to agree with those who said the lack of in-game guidance on the game's systems is a little frustrating. It looks like a lot is explained in the in-game manual, but it's a bit surprising that they don't integrate or explain some things better along the way during missions. I just finished Sequence 7 and I'm still kind of clueless about the point of the crafting and trade systems. Is it just to make more money and craft your own items? Seems a little tedious for that purpose. I'm also scratching my head over some of the missions I find out in the Frontier area, like delivering letters or talking to the Frontiersmen. What's the point of those? Why am I doing this other than to waste time between main story missions? It's never explained.

I'm still enjoying the game. My wife, who initially wanted to buy it, has lost interest, though. Too much busywork and not enough meaty story missions.