Is it just me or is there precious little hype for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate?

I don't even think Unity was the worst AC. There was a lot to like but I have a combination fatigue of Assassin's Creed as well as Ubisoft's overall design of throwing everything and the kitchen sink in their open world games. Nobody wants to make a solid and cohesive experience anymore. Just throw a shitload of "content" in there.

AC2 is and always will be their best AC game. They perfected their formula right then and there and ever since they've turned it into this massive rushed bloatfest that gets farmed out to 80 different studios.
 
The franchise has been run into the ground since Revelations. No surprise people are getting out. Hoping Ubisoft spends all that deb time on something other than Assassin's creed after Syndicate.
 
Only played AC2 since people said it was the best one. If the rest are like that, I'm shocked the series made it as far as it did. I can't even imagine what it must be like to slog through that hamster wheel year after year, let alone to be excited to do so.
 
Is COD hyped here? When it's going to be the biggest selling game of the year?
Same with Madden, Fifa, and others.

In comparison to Bloodbourne, that had a never ending annoyance of fanboys proclaiming greatest game before they even touched it. Yet is going to sell millions less.

AC has become one of those annual releases that have become the status quote. Its still going to come out to gangbuster numbers and sell really well just because of the name. Lots of kids, mothers, and just general gamers are going to pick it up.
 
I actually had this marked on my calendar for next Tuesday and wondered where all the talk was for the game. Then I realized it comes out Friday. Good for me since finale of Life Is Strange takes precedence anyway.

But I think we can all feel that this one is a sleeper. Everyone knows the formula now, and there just isnt any more investment into the series. I could tell something was up when Ubi didnt do its annual CE package ver. with a statue. They realize its hard to get the public to care when you reset the protagonists every game. Even they get tired of marketing their own game.

Once public reaction is 'meh', then you know the fatigue has sunk in deep. Its also the "fool me once..." feeling. There is just not much to discuss. The gameplay is stale, and they don't have a great enough underlying thread of a story to tie in the next chapter so there is no investment or anticipation.
 
After the shitshow that was Unity, people were going to be cautious with the series anyway. That combined with how bad this game looks, the hype is almost non-existent. I'm a huge fan of the series but this game looks pretty awful. I hope it turns out to be good though.
 
Maybe you can only use marketing and hype to convince people to eat a giant steaming pile of shit so many times, before they begin to figure out they are actually eating shit.
 
Next week? As in Tuesday? Are you sure? I thought this was due out November-something.

I'll wait for reviews, but it's doubtful I'll buy it as it looks a bit dull. Guess I hoped for something more inspired, like a game that took place (or partially took place) during the the era of "Those who came before", or modern day parkour, or Egypt, or at least feature woodlands and countryside outside of London.

Hmmm, next week. *shrugs*
 
Ubi knows that people (like us) who are tapped into the games industry already know about it. So their marketing is focused elsewhere. It's also an established mainstream property with predictable yearly releases (like a sports game or COD), so it doesn't really need much marketing.

Even though many of us will pass on it, I'm sure it will still sell well enough to justify keeping the series alive for a few more years at least.
 
CitizenCope said:
Black Flag 2 must happen.
Click to expand...
They already made it. It was called Rogue.

Changes Assassin's Creed desperately needs:
- go back in time. 17th century and later is kind of boring. Do a Precursor game in ancient times. Or an alternate history in an apple, similar to the ACIII DLC.
- a fleshed out modern storyline. I loved the Desmond stuff. Now the mystery is gone.
- a different mission structure. Keep it fresh. No more climb tower, clean out icons, repeat.
- less icon-mania. Doing the same thing 10 times just to fill a map is not fun.
 
I think there is a lot that influences it.

Series fatigue
Last years complete disaster
This years setting seemingly very similar to the last games setting
The lack of response to the time periods and locations fans have been asking for since 3

That said, even if it doesn't have the mind share of past years, or the excitement around it, it will still sell a bunch, review ok, and lead to a very similar game next year.
 
Echo the sentiments already posted...this franchise needs a serious break. Typical Ubisoft, they had to whore the crap out of it until no one cares any more. I've played every game up until Black Flag and even though I heard that was good, I'm almost too tired with the franchise to bother playing it.
 
Didn't realize it was out next week either. I expect it to be pretty polished but the gameplay I've seen looks just so boring. Guess I'll pick up Unity in this years winter sale for the graphics though, should be 10 bucks by then.
 
No... I think Ubisoft is more strategic in their marketing department with syndicate, they've been paying youtubers and other channels for promotion (see: didyouknowgaming and outside xbox)

But in the traditional way of marketing they havent done much...maybe the game is not worthy of it and they are saving for R6 and the division.
 
I didn't even realize that it was coming out next week. With little to no marketing, it seems like Ubisoft is aware of the AC burnout that people are having.
 
I hate that they don't have numbered entries, I can't keep track of which one is which, because of how frequently they come out. Will likely skip this one.
 
The game will sell by inertia, the series is so ingrained into its audience that its gonna sell anyway even if its broken and shit.
 
The setting is interesting but it doesn't fit an Assassin's Creed game and what they made with the twin characters doesn't help either. What's the tie with the name of the franchise? They should have made a new game that is reminiscent of Peaky Blinders and freed from that forced bond to the AC franchise.

Black Flag is great, now imagine if it had a more dark pirate story not tied to AC, Ubisoft would have a new promising franchise. Instead, it is forever linked to AC and the chance to see a new good game in the pirate universe is very small.

Now, Ubisoft brings new IPs, at least more than some other big publishers. I have no problem with the new Far Cry being called Far Cry, we're used to that. Each new entry was different, it kept the gameplay mechanics and the idea of survival in a hostile territory. Makes you wonder if a "sequel" must or not follow the story and/or characters from the previous title but that's another debate.
But Assassin's Creed, they are just keeping the bad gameplay mechanics. Where's the assassin's credo? Their belief in something? Some would argue that the Desmond/present timeline linked all that and since now it's not there anymore they don't know what to do. I don't believe that, it shouldn't be that hard to create a story of an assassin with values better than brawling in the streets of London.
 
It totally does feel that way but didn't we have some sort of consumer survey a couple weeks back showing as like 3rd most anticipated game this fall?

Can never judge the mass market frankly :/
But feels the press and enthusiast crowd has abandoned AC now.

I guess it'll be quite down on Unity but will still be more than a modest sales success.
 
I've been playing the game for a couple hours a few weeks ago and, unluckily for them, Ubisoft let us capture screenshots and videos.

Bear in mind that this is on PS4 before the 3.00 update so it's compressed jpg but you might have an idea of what we are expecting.

This is supposed to be Charles Dickens.

h5OZk7e.jpg


I have a few more on my Twitter account and am not sure I'll have the time to post more but here they are :

https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655350524024193024
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655350691339173888
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655350766853472256
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655351129929216000
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655351294723395585
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655351810266263552
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655352038247657472
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655352599038660608
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655353225403461632
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655376817289715712


(I don't post much but maybe that kind of mass linking isn't allowed. If so, I'll remove them.)
 
owasog said:
They already made it. It was called Rogue.

Changes Assassin's Creed desperately needs:
- go back in time. 17th century and later is kind of boring. Do a Precursor game in ancient times. Or an alternate history in an apple, similar to the ACIII DLC.
- a fleshed out modern storyline. I loved the Desmond stuff. Now the mystery is gone.
- a different mission structure. Keep it fresh. No more climb tower, clean out icons, repeat.
- less icon-mania. Doing the same thing 10 times just to fill a map is not fun.
Click to expand...
Ninjas vs samurai and shoguns, ancient Japan

Come on, Assassins Creed and ninjas is the perfect match

YHRir.jpg
 
Now that you mention it, OP, I have not been seeing news or hype threads/posts. Inb4 a "How Important is Hype Prior to a Game's Release?" thread.
 
owasog said:
They already made it. It was called Rogue.

Changes Assassin's Creed desperately needs:
- go back in time. 17th century and later is kind of boring. Do a Precursor game in ancient times. Or an alternate history in an apple, similar to the ACIII DLC.
- a fleshed out modern storyline. I loved the Desmond stuff. Now the mystery is gone.
- a different mission structure. Keep it fresh. No more climb tower, clean out icons, repeat.
- less icon-mania. Doing the same thing 10 times just to fill a map is not fun.
Click to expand...

So many people missed out on a good game in Rogue. It was all about how much Unity sucked but Rogue was a pretty great experience. It wasn't better than 2 but I liked it more than Black Flag
 
Revelations was meh.
AC III was ass.
AC IV was pretty good.
Unity was ass.

So for the past 4 years they've only put out one game that's actually legit good. That's not a good track record, and I wouldn't be surprised if droves of people are starting to give up on the series.
 
AC:R was the beginning of the end for me. AC3 cemented it. I gave AC4 a shot regardless and, while I really enjoyed the piratey stuff, the regular AC content was still the same old, same old, and I never came close to completing it. They promised to re-do it all for AC:U, but that ended up being a flat-out lie, as all the gameplay I saw looked exactly the same, so I skipped it, and I'm glad I did based on feedback. AC:S looks like AC:U2 to me, so I'll skip it yet again. Looks like everyone else is doing the same. And it looks like Ubisoft knows it. Advertising and big marketing budgets don't do squat for people that have already made up their minds. The die-hards will continue to buy every game, but their numbers are dwindling, while the rest of us are waiting for the actual overhaul they promised us two years ago.
 
More_Badass said:
Ninjas vs samurai and shoguns, ancient Japan

Come on, Assassins Creed and ninjas is the perfect match
Click to expand...

If you mean it's the obvious match every 1st grader can think of then yes but ninjas do not make a great game all of a sudden.

China during the opium wars would be a great setting that's rarely been used to boot and it would fit into the timeline.
 
brandonh83 said:
As bad as it might've been and as much as people ragged on it, I actually didn't mind the modern element because it at least served as a backbone that made the series feel episodic. It was ridiculous and they obviously had no idea where they were going with it, but if they did and actually put some forethought into it, I think it would've been a lot more interesting. At the very least, it was something, which is better than nothing IMO. Some would disagree with that but whatever, it's just a dumb videogame and I was on the ride.

I did find myself starting to care much less after 3.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Losing Desmond and the lack of proper follow up to the modern narrative really hurt my longer term interest in the games. Fatigue from the yearly releases also played its part but i'm sure many others feel the same way even if they can't put their finger on "why" they feel like that.

RyosukeTH said:
I bet that even without hype it will sell a lot.
Click to expand...

Don't underestimate the power of console bundles on game sales.

InfiniteCombo said:
This is one aspect of it. The framing narrative with Desmond in the modern day felt like it gave the series some purpose. Playing Black Flag (which was very good) still felt somewhat empty without that compelling modern day narrative.

Also, burn out on the formula, especially the collectathon nature of it. I'm a huge fan of the series, and right now I'm playing through Brotherhood again, but looking at the map it's almost repulsive how much clutter there is. It's like I almost have to turn off all the markers because if I don't turn them off, I can barely see where my "Mission Start" marker is for the damn actual missions.
Click to expand...

I agree with this completely - especially after playing Unity and seeing the state of its map. The worst part was that you could play the game in co-op but couldn't do a lot of that stuff. Having that ridiculous number of objectives and collectables and side missions wouldn't have been so bad if they were things you could do with a buddy to kill time after work etc.

I did enjoy playing Unity's actual specific co-op missions though.
 
Wasn't aware of it coming out either. I figure the fall of Unity (buggy mess aside) after the surprising deviation with Black Flag burned people hard and Syndicate looks to be more of the standard AC formula, as least as far as people on NeoGAF; general public will probably secure the series for a another few years.
 
Pipomantis said:
I've been playing the game for a couple hours a few weeks ago and, unluckily for them, Ubisoft let us capture screenshots and videos.

Bear in mind that this is on PS4 before the 3.00 update so it's compressed jpg but you might have an idea of what we are expecting.

This is supposed to be Charles Dickens.

h5OZk7e.jpg


I have a few more on my Twitter account and am not sure I'll have the time to post more but here they are :

https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655350524024193024
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655350691339173888
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655350766853472256
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655351129929216000
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655351294723395585
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655351810266263552
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655352038247657472
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655352599038660608
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655353225403461632
https://twitter.com/Pipomantis/status/655376817289715712


(I don't post much but maybe that kind of mass linking isn't allowed. If so, I'll remove them.)
Click to expand...

This, honestly, looks much worse than Unity on PC.
 
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