Assassin's Creed 2 Catch-All

Executive producer Jade Raymond. And no post from Certis saying we can't talk about her in this thread. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

OOOOOOOOOOGABA!

I saw another demo for the same assassination level and this time it was in HQ. I was wrong, there's nothing wrong with palette, first video they've released was just sort of bleak-looking.
I'll update first post with all new screens, videos and info as soon as E3 is over.

EDIT: Oh, boobies indeed:
http://www.playstationpure.be/blog/i...

There's a nice long interview with Patrice Désilets, the game's Creative Director, up on Joystiq. It seems both broader and deeper than most others that are coming out of E3. My favourite bit, in regards to the first game:

What about the people who got all the flags?

Those are crazy people.

[laughs]

But that's all my fault by the way. I assume it fully. I wanted to show gamers that sometimes collection is just a useless waste of time. So I put in four hundred and twenty flags that were useless. And I knew it.

Are you going to do it again?

No, I'm not that mean! Once is enough.

... It's part of what we explained at the press conference, this idea of confluence.

Nyaaarrrrrgghhhhhh!

4dSwissCheese wrote:

There's a nice long interview with Patrice Désilets, the game's Creative Director, up on Joystiq. It seems both broader and deeper than most others that are coming out of E3. My favourite bit, in regards to the first game:

What about the people who got all the flags?

Those are crazy people.

[laughs]

But that's all my fault by the way. I assume it fully. I wanted to show gamers that sometimes collection is just a useless waste of time. So I put in four hundred and twenty flags that were useless. And I knew it.

Are you going to do it again?

No, I'm not that mean! Once is enough.

What a super jackass. Those flags were easily the worst part about Assassin's Creed (with the exception of a few areas, like the ruined city of columns out in the Kingdom... the flags made it worthwhile to find ways up to the top of the columns, which was sorta fun). Still, though, unless you were playing with a walkthrough, there's no way you're finding them all. And playing with walkthroughs feels more like work than play.

I like achievements, but I hate achievements that require me to blindly grope around hoping that something sparkly will be around the next corner, and then just a hundred more sparklies to go. I would've been okay with it if they had just included the Templar Knights as the obligatory search & collect quest... at least you got to stab those guys when you found 'em.

The flags were fun to the extent that you would occasionally see one in some hard to reach place and it would give you a reason to climb it. I never went looking for one I couldn't see from far off, though.

Did anybody get all the flags? Over at trueachievements.com (a site for 360 gamerscore whores), the flag-collecting achievements were completed by about 15% of all registered users who have played the game. That's 15% out of a group that, through the act of signing up alone, self-identify as completionists.

I got all the flags for Masyaf, but there were only a handful and it was a small area.

I remember going into a side walkway in an out of the way courtyard and seeing a flag lurking there. The damn thing was only visible if you were in that particular annex. You'd have to do a systematic room by room search of all three cities to find all the flags (or slavishly follow a walk through.) ... and he did it one purpose .....grrrrr

You can see the item but have to work out how to get to it is the way to go.

I didn't. At one time I tried to convince myself it was worth doing but I soon realised it was no fun and stopped.

They could have made the flags less annoying if they glowed a bit after you did your 'eagle vision' thing. Instead they were just pointless.

I certainly hope this guy isn't responding to Crackdown in the whole 'hunt the item' completionist business. Because, quite frankly, the Crackdown orb hunt is fricking awesome. The orbs are in reasonable places, they ping, and they give you awesome freaking powers!

I even felt like the COG tag search in the original Gears of War wasn't too bad. There weren't that many of 'em, they fit into a story in a way, and they often had visual clues that could remind you to look for them. Now, the collectables in Gears 2....well, if he's trying to make fun of that sort of treasure hunting, then okay. He's got a point.

I got all the flags.

I actually enjoyed it. I used a map to find them all (the world ones in particular can be extremely annoying), but getting all the flags took me to areas that I never would have gone to otherwise, and showed the depth and detail of the world. Plus, scaling the church steeple in Jerusalem was a *huge* blast.

I think of the flags in AC as simply exhaustable supply of save points. If I saw one, I picked it up. If I died, I woke at that point. Kinda handy.

Those who pre-order from Gamestop get an extra interior space to jump around in.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Plus, scaling the church steeple in Jerusalem was a *huge* blast.

I hated the flags and ignored them almost completely, but I climbed that church in Jerusalem several times while playing the game just to look at all the pretty stuff and make the crazy dive down into the wagon below.

Some new info has come out.

Towards the end of their panel the floor was opened to Q&A, with a few interesting questions coming from the audience -- and answers coming from Ubisoft. For one, the mysterious symbols that appeared at the end of the first game "do have a meaning, but not the one you think it means," explained Ubisoft's Cory May. Now aren't you glad you spent all that time on Wikipedia trying to figure all that stuff out? Other concerns where about when this game would be taking place -- Ubisoft revealed that Assassin's Creed 2 will start at the moment part 1 ended.
Additionally, it was confirmed that there will be around 15 different types of assassination missions since "we threw out the old system of investigating time and time again," stated May during the panel.

Damn, I almost completely forgot about my very own AC2 catch-all thread.
So, some new screenshots and info from Gamescom:

What is the animus database?

We have worked hard to improve the animus in Assassin’s Creed 2. As in the first game, the animus is a machine that lets players explore the genetic memories of his ancestors, but this time, it will have a database, giving extra information about all the key locations, characters and services that the player will encounter during play. For example, when the player approaches a famous church – like Santa Maria Novella in Florence – with a simple button press, its history is revealed. This is only one piece of the database; however, the rest is a secret…for now

Finally. I really wanted feature like that in AC1.

What are the Secret Locations?

The Secret Locations are interiors of several famous landmarks. You can discover their entrance in various regions of the game. The gameplay in these locations will challenge the player in acrobatics, puzzles and stealth. These locations are not bound to the main quest but offer hours of additional gameplay, details about the story of the assassins/templars war, and a special reward as players complete each of them.

Full Q&A is here: http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/49...
I like the direction they're taking with main character. Instead of making him a member of semi-religious sect, they really try to give him some background, motivation and fit him into the setting.

IMAGE(http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/images/05/77/57760_AssassinsCreed2-Screenshot-11_normal.jpg)

This game is looking really good. Is it still on for release this year?

Yep.

I thought BioWare had sewn up the Worst Trailer of the Year award with their Dragon Age/New sh*t trailer, but Ubisoft won't go down without a fight. Ezio's other sleeve better be hiding a retractable glow stick, because I gotta dance when I watch this trailer:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/vi...

I've been avoiding AC2 coverage, hoping to be pleasantly surprised when it hits, but this popped up on the 360 dashboard so I gave it a watch and am now very sorry I did. On the other hand, I'm not sorry that its funky rhythms got me dancing. I can't stop dancing.

Gravey wrote:

I thought BioWare had sewn up the Worst Trailer of the Year award with their Dragon Age/New sh*t trailer, but Ubisoft won't go down without a fight. Ezio's other sleeve better be hiding a retractable glow stick, because I gotta dance when I watch this trailer:

Oh, it's not the best, but I like the opening beats--they have a real Italian trash cinema flair. The rest gave Ezio a real swaggering charm, which contrasts with the austere Altair, who must be a big House fan:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/27924.html

But from me, Ubi gets a lifetime pass because of this one:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36271.html

I beat #1 again last week, this time at a more leisurely, less binge pace, and the game's faults seemed much, much smaller this time. I eagerly await #2--it runs neck and neck with Uncharted for me in the "What am I most drooling over" race.

I loved the first Assassin's Creed trailer, with the music from (iirc) UNCLE. That was an awesome trailer. I can't watch the new one because I'm at work, but when I get home I need to have a quick gander. Disco beats in renaissance Venice sounds intriguing

I don't see how this trailer is any different from the trailer for the first game. It's a trailer. It's not like they're gonna blare that music in the game while you run around Venice.

And as far as what the trailer shows of the game I'd say it's one of the better trailers released recently for just about any upcoming game.

I guess I just don't watch enough game trailers, or maybe the AC2 one just struck me as too incongruent, compared to, for instance, the nice fit of Fallout 3/Ink Spots or the new Borderlands/Cage the Elephant trailer.

Anyway, I fixed up the AC2 trailer with even more Italian trash cinema flair. Now this I could play the whole game to, maybe a little Suspiria too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKgal...

UCRC wrote:

I like the direction they're taking with main character. Instead of making him a member of semi-religious sect, they really try to give him some background, motivation and fit him into the setting.

The assassin's guild in the first game was very real and played an important part of the history of that part of the world.

souldaddy wrote:

The assassin's guild in the first game was very real and played an important part of the history of that part of the world.

Thanks for linking that. That was an interesting read.

Although, what struck me as very inconsistent with AC game was the method of assassination that they used:

Preferring a small hidden blade or dagger, they rejected poison, bows and other weapons that may have allowed the attacker to escape and live.
MoonDragon wrote:
souldaddy wrote:

The assassin's guild in the first game was very real and played an important part of the history of that part of the world.

Thanks for linking that. That was an interesting read.

Although, what struck me as very inconsistent with AC game was the method of assassination that they used:

Preferring a small hidden blade or dagger, they rejected poison, bows and other weapons that may have allowed the attacker to escape and live.

They were in many ways the first suicide bombers...which would make for a very short SP game, even by this generation's standards.

But, in the game, there's also a great little exchange in the game where Desmond tells the Doctor he doesn't trust the Magic Memory Machine, because what he's seeing doesn't match the history he knows. Vidic says something hilariously close to "Oh, it doesn't match what you read on an open-edit online encylopedia?"

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
MoonDragon wrote:
souldaddy wrote:

The assassin's guild in the first game was very real and played an important part of the history of that part of the world.

Thanks for linking that. That was an interesting read.

Although, what struck me as very inconsistent with AC game was the method of assassination that they used:

Preferring a small hidden blade or dagger, they rejected poison, bows and other weapons that may have allowed the attacker to escape and live.

They were in many ways the first suicide bombers...which would make for a very short SP game, even by this generation's standards.

But, in the game, there's also a great little exchange in the game where Desmond tells the Doctor he doesn't trust the Magic Memory Machine, because what he's seeing doesn't match the history he knows. Vidic says something hilariously close to "Oh, it doesn't match what you read on an open-edit online encylopedia?"

"Anytime reality gets in the way of fun, fun wins."

souldaddy wrote:
UCRC wrote:

I like the direction they're taking with main character. Instead of making him a member of semi-religious sect, they really try to give him some background, motivation and fit him into the setting.

The assassin's guild in the first game was very real and played an important part of the history of that part of the world.

Of course. I knew about Hashishin and liked the setting in first game. I was trying to say that *this time*, in sequel, they've done the right thing of creating original setting and character motivations instead of trying simple to extrapolate story arc of first game with no actual history roots to justify it.

Gravey wrote:

I thought BioWare had sewn up the Worst Trailer of the Year award with their Dragon Age/New sh*t trailer, but Ubisoft won't go down without a fight. Ezio's other sleeve better be hiding a retractable glow stick, because I gotta dance when I watch this trailer:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/vi...

I've been avoiding AC2 coverage, hoping to be pleasantly surprised when it hits, but this popped up on the 360 dashboard so I gave it a watch and am now very sorry I did. On the other hand, I'm not sorry that its funky rhythms got me dancing. I can't stop dancing.

Is this GWJ, or did I accidentally click a link to Joystiq?

UCRC wrote:
souldaddy wrote:
UCRC wrote:

I like the direction they're taking with main character. Instead of making him a member of semi-religious sect, they really try to give him some background, motivation and fit him into the setting.

The assassin's guild in the first game was very real and played an important part of the history of that part of the world.

Of course. I knew about Hashishin and liked the setting in first game. I was trying to say that *this time*, in sequel, they've done the right thing of creating original setting and character motivations instead of trying simple to extrapolate story arc of first game with no actual history roots to justify it.

Based on what I've been able to read from AC2, what most bothered me from the original title was that your character felt very generic and that there was a very thin story-line connecting everything. AC felt to me, at times, like a single-player grind-fest where I had to ("go kill these 9 or 10 city leaders and come back with their heads this bloodied feather").

I hope the assassinations and their reasons get a deeper meaning and reason and not like the first title, where killing the city leader meant "help citizen, disguise as monk, investigate city, assassin leader, hide from city+and their mother, rinse and repeat". some important kills SHOULD go undetected, some city leaders' assassination should get you high-fives even from the leader's personal guard because he was a real a_hole.

A new feature that seems only as an afterthought was "hire assassins", I would much rather give mini-side quests to the player such as "bring incriminating evidence about target to security detail", and depending on the evidence; a) they kill him for you, b) walk away and let you kill him freely, c) will become neutral, trying to defend him but if you kill him, will only half-heartedly chase you for a block or two.