Assassin's Creed Catch-All

subaltern wrote:
Certis wrote:

I have a better question: who cares? If this threads turns into a percentile wank-fest I'm going to be pissed. Let's try and talk about playing rather than talk about what other people arbitrarily assign after they play.

Certis, I hate review scores as much as the next guy. I just thought it was weird that the PS3 version had a higher percentage than the 360 version despite all the "framerate issues." I believe Stric9 said the slowdown was only bad in a few areas, It's just ridiculous how these minor problems get blown out of proportion.

He wasn't singling you out, just the subject you were bringing up, it's not worth debating. He had to shut down the first thread because people weren't talking about the game. Forum moderators do this, it's their job. Just find Certis online and teabag him, you'll feel better.

Yoyoson wrote:

Wow. I just performed a counter with the hidden blade. Cool!

Yeah with some timing and some good luck in a couple moments I did one really big fight against like 9 guys where I killed them all in a row, one after another

new question. After the credits how do I make it save so that I can go in and play levels again without seeing the ending and credits again?

souldaddy wrote:

He wasn't singling you out, just the subject you were bringing up, it's not worth debating. He had to shut down the first thread because people weren't talking about the game. Forum moderators do this, it's their job. Just find Certis online and teabag him, you'll feel better.

Oh I know, I was just making a point.

Do you get anything beyond satisfaction for collecting all the flags in the game? Sorry if it's already been asked.

polypusher wrote:

new question. After the credits how do I make it save so that I can go in and play levels again without seeing the ending and credits again?

It does it automatically I think.

At least it did for me. I alerady went back in and played the last mission again once.

I'm enjoying the game immensely however I really stink at stealth kills. I get caught virtually every time which makes the informant tasks/missions very difficult and frustrating.

Any tips for a third tier assassin?

Dramatic Marlin wrote:

I'm enjoying the game immensely however I really stink at stealth kills. I get caught virtually every time which makes the informant tasks/missions very difficult and frustrating.

Any tips for a third tier assassin?

Use throwing knives from rooftops, easiest stealth kills imaginable.

Trainwreck wrote:
Dramatic Marlin wrote:

I'm enjoying the game immensely however I really stink at stealth kills. I get caught virtually every time which makes the informant tasks/missions very difficult and frustrating.

Any tips for a third tier assassin?

Use throwing knives from rooftops, easiest stealth kills imaginable.

Without throwing knives, you lockon to the target in the crowd, walk up behind them, hidden blade from behind, and walk away. They'll sway for a few seconds before dropping, so you've got enough time to calmly walk away without a guard putting two and two together. When throwing knives from rooftops, make sure there's no archers around that can see you make the throw. That'll kill an informer mission.

IMAGE(http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/108004/Optimus-Prime-Assassins-Creed.jpg)

Does it transform?

souldaddy wrote:

Does it transform?

LOL thats exactly what I was going to ask but you beat me to it!

PAR

subaltern wrote:
Certis wrote:

I have a better question: who cares? If this threads turns into a percentile wank-fest I'm going to be pissed. Let's try and talk about playing rather than talk about what other people arbitrarily assign after they play.

Certis, I hate review scores as much as the next guy. I just thought it was weird that the PS3 version had a higher percentage than the 360 version despite all the "framerate issues." I believe Stric9 said the slowdown was only bad in a few areas, It's just ridiculous how these minor problems get blown out of proportion.

There could just be less PS3 reviews. It's like IMDB, where a movie can be completely skewed the opening weekend towards a perfect score or a 0%, and then it gradually levels out to a more reasonable level when enough people contribute.

Anyway, there's not a huge difference between a "B" and a "B" is there?

I'm having a blast with it. The game mechanics are great. There have been a few throw your controller at the wall moments for me when I was trying to escape and the damn character wouldn't climb or just stood like an asshat not climbing into cover, or alternately got stuck climbing, or wouldn't exit combat, or... you get the idea.

It's a nice balance of difficulty vs. fun. Like how they make it extremely difficult to kill an innocent (most games like these, having a swordfight in a crowded street=tons of dead bystanders. Might be more realistic, but it's annoying as hell. See: Crackdown.) But on the other hand, whoever put those beggar, drunk, and mentally ill characters into the game needs to just be punched in the face. I get their existence as a blow your cover element, but god damn, after the tenth time that stupid beggar woman slowed me down I just wanted to stab her. In fact, if I play through a second time, I'm killing all of them. The stealth elements are fun, but aren't too demanding (I don't have the patience to finish a Splinter Cell game because of trial and error bullsh*t like that in other games.) The combat is simple like it is in the Prince of Persia games, but with more depth, and more of a variety in the fight/kill animations. Whoever did the body animations for the game did a great job, Altaire's climbing and the horse's galloping are perfect.

The gameplay is so engrossing that I'm still mildly startled every time I'm pulled out of it. Which is a nice touch, if that was intentional.

Free-running like crazy over rooftops never gets old. The environment is beautiful, and the framerate is silky smooth.

The gameplay is extremely repetitive. It's a testament to the designers that after 6 assassinations, I still enjoy climbing towers and hunting down informants, but honestly, how many times can you hear "I wish my sons were are brave as you!" Each city is essentially the same, not just architecture-wise. There's always someone you rescue outside. There's always an innocent right inside waiting to be rescued. There's always a tower near the front as well. The characters say EXACTLY the same things, over and over, whether it's at the assassin stronghold, or with the NPCs. The pickpocket and eavesdropping missions provide unique conversational tidbits, I wish the same care had been taken with the optional missions.

Oh, the maps default zoom is useless. That's a nitpick. And the maximum zoom is almost useless. And I wouldn't have minded a save system on the more difficult missions since I was trying to get some of the achievements and wanted the missions to go perfectly.

However, if the cost of making everything else in the game better was sacrificing a little variety on what is some completely serviceable "filler", then I think they made the right decision. Still, I'd say the repetitiveness definitely is a negative, and places the game just short of being a "great".

If they add more mission variety in the next one, and some elements where how you go about the assassination actually matters (you can pretty much just run in like a madman and leave a pile of bodies, but it's more fun to stay "in character"), a la "Thief" or "Hitman", this will become an amazing franchise.

unntrlaffinity wrote:

But on the other hand, whoever put those beggar, drunk, and mentally ill characters into the game needs to just be punched in the face. I get their existence as a blow your cover element, but god damn, after the tenth time that stupid beggar woman slowed me down I just wanted to stab her. In fact, if I play through a second time, I'm killing all of them.

Right trigger and B to grab and throw them. It makes a high profile for a bit, no better than if they had outed you, but you get to decide when. If you need to do some sneaky work on the ground near a beggar, just preemptively man-handle them before your mark gets near. The lepers and I have an understanding. They don't touch me, and I don't stab them.

My impressions of AC have been, for a very long time now, "meh." It has always looked to have a lot in common with Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which I had a love/hate relationship with (loved the acrobatic puzzles, hated the overlong combat sequences). Seeing the stark division in reviewer's opinions on this game only seemed to cement my apathy toward it.

That said, seeing the game in motion in the Gametrailers review has made me really want to play it, and I'm putting it on a list of things to pick up for $30-$40 in the lull at the beginning of next year. The graphics look great, and the climbing and moseying around the cities looks like something I could definitely have fun with, even if the missions are repetitive.

However, if the cost of making everything else in the game better was sacrificing a little variety on what is some completely serviceable "filler", then I think they made the right decision. Still, I'd say the repetitiveness definitely is a negative, and places the game just short of being a "great".

I got the sense that they were shooting for 100% dynamic gameplay. I need to play it again but there are very few scripted sequences outside of the cutscenes. The targets that you followed had paths, as did some of the soldiers, but most everything else I could set up outside of a mission.

souldaddy wrote:
However, if the cost of making everything else in the game better was sacrificing a little variety on what is some completely serviceable "filler", then I think they made the right decision. Still, I'd say the repetitiveness definitely is a negative, and places the game just short of being a "great".

I got the sense that they were shooting for 100% dynamic gameplay. I need to play it again but there are very few scripted sequences outside of the cutscenes. The targets that you followed had paths, as did some of the soldiers, but most everything else I could set up outside of a mission.

I think we're referring to different things. I meant more the types of missions, and their dialogue, like when you rescue someone, they're either going to say, "I wish my sons were as brave as you!", "I'll tell my brothers about you!", or "I'll make sure the people know about you!" Once you've rescued 60 of the bastards, that gets kind of old, especially since you're temporarily locked into that "cinematic mode" when they're thanking you. I'd rather be like Batman, in and out. After all, there's many more citizens in peril. It's also apparent at the stronghold, those students always need help demonstrating your sword skills, and the trainer always says the exact, and I mean exact, same thing to ask you to help (which is another thing you're locked into.)

If any of this could be skipped, it would be less annoying, but you're locked into those sequences every single time you perform a side mission. Something like a skip-forward button would have been nice (hey, the right bumper isn't assigned to anything, use that Montreal!) I really didn't want them to thank me every time.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

Right trigger and B to grab and throw them. It makes a high profile for a bit, no better than if they had outed you, but you get to decide when. If you need to do some sneaky work on the ground near a beggar, just preemptively man-handle them before your mark gets near. The lepers and I have an understanding. They don't touch me, and I don't stab them.

The time it really annoyed me was the doctor mission. That areas tightly packed, there are guards everywhere, and the lepers are ridiculous. That's good to know about the throwing, I wasn't sure if that would kill them (I accidentally pushed a guard into a merchant stand once and the thing collapsed on him, whoops). I didn't want to press my luck and harm an innocent, even though riding over them with a horse doesn't kill them, ha (which I appreciate.) Are there any real consequences to killing civilians? I was just pointing out that for a game where they're focusing on "fun", the beggars and lepers are nothing but irritating.

Count Elmdor wrote:

My impressions of AC have been, for a very long time now, "meh." It has always looked to have a lot in common with Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which I had a love/hate relationship with (loved the acrobatic puzzles, hated the overlong combat sequences). Seeing the stark division in reviewer's opinions on this game only seemed to cement my apathy toward it.

Except for the combat, it pretty much has nothing to do with PoP, definitely an apples and oranges comparison. It's a free-range world, there are no puzzles to speak of, and there's no rewinding (but you essentially have unlimited lives.) The combat has similarities, but even that's not the same. There's more variety in it, if you really hate it, there's a variety of alternatives, like blending, running, or hiding.

I'd say if it drops anywhere from $40-50 you should check it out, with those reservations about it. If I had $60 to burn, I'd buy it, but other than that it's a definite rental. Which I wish didn't have this "game isn't very good" or "game is too short" stigma, because that's not a fair comparison, but with the way Blockbuster does late fees now, you could essentially eke a solid 2 weeks of gameplay out of it for 8 bucks.

Thin_J wrote:

And one other thing, for anyone that hasn't tried using the hidden blade when actually in open combat.. you should. It only really works when countering or, I think, with a step, but either way you should try it. Especially if you actually get into a fight with a target and they seem to be roughing you up.

I use it all the time to get the first kill when i save the citizen. I start walking up to them and right before they agro me for being so close i hit my lft trigger/assasinate buttons. Good for dropping the first guy. I've been lucky to actually taken 2 out in this way.

Anyone find it strange that you're supposed to keep a low profile, but if you save citizens you can't just break them up you have to kill all the guards in broad daylight?

I think you get what I'm saying, but I'm not sure. I don't mean shanking someone when they're not expecting it because you haven't actually initiated combat yet.

I mean pulling out the hidden blade when there's six guys surrounding you taking turns swiping at you.

Thin_J wrote:

I think you get what I'm saying, but I'm not sure. I don't mean shanking someone when they're not expecting it because you haven't actually initiated combat yet.

I mean pulling out the hidden blade when there's six guys surrounding you taking turns swiping at you.

O i totally misread that. The lack of caffiene this morning is wrecking me.

I never use the hidden blade in regular combat. I have more fun watching the counter attacks using the regular blade

ranalin wrote:

I never use the hidden blade in regular combat. I have more fun watching the counter attacks using the regular blade

Just try it. It's just like countering with the other weapons, cool different moves/animations and all. Of course the downside is that if you screw it up you take damage every time instead of just on occasion when they do an attack that breaks your block

Thin_J wrote:
ranalin wrote:

I never use the hidden blade in regular combat. I have more fun watching the counter attacks using the regular blade

Just try it. It's just like countering with the other weapons, cool different moves/animations and all. Of course the downside is that if you screw it up you take damage every time instead of just on occasion when they do an attack that breaks your block :P

I remember the first time I did that it was by mistake. Total wow moment. I also like the dagger counters, especially the one where you impale a guy's foot.

Trainwreck wrote:
Thin_J wrote:
ranalin wrote:

I never use the hidden blade in regular combat. I have more fun watching the counter attacks using the regular blade

Just try it. It's just like countering with the other weapons, cool different moves/animations and all. Of course the downside is that if you screw it up you take damage every time instead of just on occasion when they do an attack that breaks your block :P

I remember the first time I did that it was by mistake. Total wow moment. I also like the dagger counters, especially the one where you impale a guy's foot.

If you're not completely surrounded, it's fun to use when you knock someone down. Knock them down, select the hidden blade, and stab him before he gets up. You have to be ready to quickly change between weapons though.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, or if it is totally obvious, but if you are in a fight and are surrounded by guards, use combo kills to start things off. Then, while you're repeatedly attacking with X, pull in the right trigger. Usually, caught up in the rhythm of the combo kill, if you happen to get attacked while attacking another enemy, you'll time it just right so that you perform a counter kill on the guy trying to shank you from behind while you're busy killing his buddy. It's a convenient way to attack and defend at the same time. And it tends to make those long guard fights go a lot quicker.

My favorite of the short blade counter moves is easily the one where he hits them a couple of times to stun them and then puts the blade right into the top of their skull. The sound it makes is one of those awesomely disgusting crunch noises, and then he sort of quickly jerks the blade forward and then back again to pull it out.

In a funny coincidence the first time I ever saw that counter it was the second to last guy in a battle and after doing it the last guy gave up and started to run away

where's a place to find a list of all the achievments for this?

ranalin wrote:

where's a place to find a list of all the achievments for this?

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/a...

Danjo Olivaw wrote:
unntrlaffinity wrote:

But on the other hand, whoever put those beggar, drunk, and mentally ill characters into the game needs to just be punched in the face. I get their existence as a blow your cover element, but god damn, after the tenth time that stupid beggar woman slowed me down I just wanted to stab her. In fact, if I play through a second time, I'm killing all of them.

Right trigger and B to grab and throw them. It makes a high profile for a bit, no better than if they had outed you, but you get to decide when. If you need to do some sneaky work on the ground near a beggar, just preemptively man-handle them before your mark gets near. The lepers and I have an understanding. They don't touch me, and I don't stab them.

I also discovered that if you pull out a weapon while a beggar is harassing you, they turn and run away in fear. Made me giggle. Personally the beggars don't annoy me that much, I just hold down the gentle push button and laugh when Altair puts his hand on their face as they stand there.

This game is a lot of fun for the closet sadist.

My only real gripes with the game so far have to do with little inconsistencies.

Like, what is up with the archers in the Kingdom instantly knowing you're an assassin? Riding by with blend on doesn't seem to affect them - they still raise the alert and suddenly there's five soldiers running at you spoiling for blood. I've taken to just galloping between archer towers, climbing the things and pushing the damn archers off.
Also, the fact that you can take a heck of a lot of punishment and still live to tell the tale is good for gameplay, but, not so good for realism. Eh, I know, its a nitpick - after all, it's no fun to be suddenly dead and to have to restart, but still - Altair can take a sword hit to the back 12 times (at my current sync level) and keep on trucking, then when I finish whatever task I'm on I'm suddenly fully healed again. Oh well. I'll get back to suspending disbelief.

Oh, and I love it when you jump on someone with the hidden blade and shank them in the throat as you tackle them. Just awesome.

kilanash wrote:

I also discovered that if you pull out a weapon while a beggar is harassing you, they turn and run away in fear. Made me giggle. Personally the beggars don't annoy me that much, I just hold down the gentle push button and laugh when Altair puts his hand on their face as they stand there.

Grabbing and pushing them 25 times nets you an achievement...

nsmike wrote:
kilanash wrote:

I also discovered that if you pull out a weapon while a beggar is harassing you, they turn and run away in fear. Made me giggle. Personally the beggars don't annoy me that much, I just hold down the gentle push button and laugh when Altair puts his hand on their face as they stand there.

Grabbing and pushing them 25 times nets you an achievement...

I noticed that when I looked through the achievements list but I'd already found the 'pulling a weapon' trick before that. Just thought I'd mention it.

nsmike wrote:

Grabbing and pushing them 25 times nets you an achievement...

I accidentally shanked one. I was trying to assassinate someone behind them, and forgot to lock on to the target.