I'm hearing there aren't any special linear areas this time other than the Avelline DLC, which is really disappointing. On the other hand they seem to have been replace by more elaborate, multi-step assassination missions, which some people may like. As for the islands, it's about as good as you can expect from a game this size: not everything is unique, but you've got deserted islands, shipwrecks, caverns... What I don't like about it is that when discovering a location a bulletpoint breakdown pops up and "spoils" whatever secrets that island has (chests 0/12, Animus fragments 0/3, that kind of stuff) and these annoying "filler" islands that aren't named, don't have fast travel points, but do have one single fucking collectible, forcing you to get off the ship, swim to shore, get it and swim back.
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Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag |OT| Not Based on a DisneyLand Ride
- Thread starter dangerbyrnes
- Start date
I'm hearing there aren't any special linear areas this time other than the Avelline DLC, which is really disappointing. On the other hand they seem to have been replace by more elaborate, multi-step assassination missions, which some people may like. As for the islands, it's about as good as you can expect from a game this size: not everything is unique, but you've got deserted islands, shipwrecks, caverns... What I don't like about it is that when discovering a location a bulletpoint breakdown pops up and "spoils" whatever secrets that island has (chests 0/12, Animus fragments 0/3, that kind of stuff) and these annoying "filler" islands that aren't named, don't have fast travel points, but do have one single fucking collectible, forcing you to get off the ship, swim to shore, get it and swim back.
Awesome!
So it really does seem like ACIV is AC3 while only keeping the good parts of AC3 and improving them (mostly) and bringing back some of the better parts of AC2 series. Sounds cool and what AC3 should've been. Will give this one a shot.
Wolves Evolve
Member
I am going to play this on PS3 and then see how it looks on PS4 for a sort-of best comparison for the switch to next gen.
I must say I don't know why it isn't possible to do save transfer considering the data can be listed as a vast table and converted but what do I know? Doesn't seem so impossible to me.
For Bepbo and others; I would be cautious about this game if you're expecting open-world environmental complexity. Its there but not there. The cities are well.. they're island states in the 1700s. And not meticulously researched at that, even. Not a lot of six storey buildings. Not a lot of complex churches.
I can say that I -did not- actually enjoy the ship travel in AC3 all that much and all I'm doing right now is sinkin' and drinkin'.
I must say I don't know why it isn't possible to do save transfer considering the data can be listed as a vast table and converted but what do I know? Doesn't seem so impossible to me.
For Bepbo and others; I would be cautious about this game if you're expecting open-world environmental complexity. Its there but not there. The cities are well.. they're island states in the 1700s. And not meticulously researched at that, even. Not a lot of six storey buildings. Not a lot of complex churches.
I can say that I -did not- actually enjoy the ship travel in AC3 all that much and all I'm doing right now is sinkin' and drinkin'.
How does it not make the game free? I am buying 4 PS4 games at launch so a b2g1 promotion enables me to get 2 extra games for free. I struggled with math in school but I'm pretty sure getting something for free means I spent no money on it. Except for tax I guess, but if Amazon matches the deal as is heavily rumored then that won't be a problem either.
Because you're still giving something up at the cost of AC4, and the money spent on the two games is part of the cost of AC4 as well. But now we're just getting into economics bullshit so whatever, I don't really care what you decide to get. Just saying that AC4 isn't miraculously going to change your views on the series, it's still very much an Assassin's Creed game.
I'm not giving anything up, I meant when I'm eventually done with the game it'll trade in for around $30 given the popularity of the series and whatever deal is going on at gamestop (hopefully a 30% extra towards Infamous).
The 4 games I'm getting I was going to get no matter what so this deal is pure bonus for me. I would not have picked this game up if I couldn't get it for free.
Well, I immediately liked how the story started better than III when
So much more exciting.
I also love the little touches in the environment, such as the rainbows through the waterfalls. It has a really great atmosphere so far. The gameplay actually feels more fluid for some reason as well. Or am I imagining things?
I had to kill the assassin and Edward stole his clothes in order to impersonate him and head to Havana in search of reward.
I also love the little touches in the environment, such as the rainbows through the waterfalls. It has a really great atmosphere so far. The gameplay actually feels more fluid for some reason as well. Or am I imagining things?
Wow I'm really happy with how they've streamlined some of the stuff from 3
First off the horrible and clunky pause menu is gone thank god. Also I like how they have consolidated all the challenge stuff into one menu located in the pause area. None of the frontiersman location bullshit.
I'm getting a huge AC2 vibe from Havana too. I'm expecting to be called a Stronzo at any minute now lol
Graphics are sick for PS3 too
First off the horrible and clunky pause menu is gone thank god. Also I like how they have consolidated all the challenge stuff into one menu located in the pause area. None of the frontiersman location bullshit.
I'm getting a huge AC2 vibe from Havana too. I'm expecting to be called a Stronzo at any minute now lol
Graphics are sick for PS3 too
Hell, even the main menu itself is really slick. A nice surprise.
That was a nice touch and the story showed promise, but I was really disappointed by it. It feels like a bad pirate story, with AC lore haphazardly thrown in. Both AC1 and AC3 did a good job of painting a grey area, where there really isn't a "good and bad", just difference in ideologies. AC4 being a game based on pirates I feel had an opportunity to show the darker and more destructive side of the Assassin's ideology taken to the nth degree, what happens when men are completely free from restraint and without guidance, but they don't really go in any interesting direction with it.
And I already know since they played it safe with Edward, that the general consensus is going to be how much better and more "likeable" he is than Connor, but I still think Connor is a much better and more interesting character. His story resonated with me more than Edward's "lets go find the observatory."
Having Edward become an Assassin's at the last hour of the game was so lazily done.
The quick glance at your progress for the city is also awesome. Let's you know in one second what you've done and what's left instead of having to dig through tons of unintuitive menus...
Not reading your spoiler, as I just started the game. All I know is I immediately fell in love with how it was introduced and the overall atmosphere. III was just too bloated for it's own good. They wasted no time here, and while Edward may not have aspirations as noble as Connor, it sure works better for wanting to have fun and adventure in a game. At least that is how it seems so far in my short time with it.
denshuu
Member
I'm having the same experience. Sequence 6 was where I stopped playing last year though, since by the time I got to that point I just didn't want to play it anymore. Now I'm having a lot more fun with it. The Boston Tea Party mission was freaking incredible. At least right up to the point where it crashed the game.
I really hope 4's PC version isn't marred with all these issues because this is probably my most anticipated game next to Mario Kart, which isn't coming for half a year.
See I think that is part of what made AC3 so enjoyable for me. That and the settings, how the story unfolded, etc. I didn't like the underground though. I liked Conner though I didn't always agree with the decisions he made. The lack of that I think is what is causing this detached feeling I have with AC4. While fun to play, I like the sailing and visiting the different island (I enjoy all the individual aspects of the game) and I don't think I like (on the flip side I don't hate any either) any of the characters save one and he isn't Edward. Indifference I think might be the right word here to describe what I'm feeling as I play.
I'm only at the very beginning of sequence
5
Krappadizzle
Member
Finished the game and I cant decide if AC3 is the worse game or this one...
It has a few good features:
- Edward is a slightly better character than Connor (albeit only slightly)
- the actual naval combat (sans the sailing part) is fairly fun
- I actually found the real-world abstergo component quite intriguing
but it shoots itself in the foot with all this crap:
- too many eavesdropping missions which are aggravating as fuck
- sailing around isn't very interesting and oftentimes boring and I hated how the game would often place mission objectives miles away to force you to sail further
- there's little to no character development for any of the major characters and game fails to make you care about any of them (I didnt care about blackbeard, kidd, rackham, hornigold, etc.etc. and I simply scoffed when any of them died)
- utterly forgettable story where very little ever happens. I particularly hated how the game would jump the story forward with little to no explanation of how or why events occurred, like
Plot holes everywhere. With AC2 and ACB I always felt like there were huge stakes involved, with this game and AC3 I never felt like anything was at stake at all.
- Freerunning still hasnt been fixed, and the game still makes me climb up walls or jump somewhere that i never intended to.
- My biggest problem with the game is that it doesnt FEEL like an assassin game anymore. First 3 games were all about being an assasin, and assassinating people. That was all well and good as that was the game's focus. Ubisoft seems to have completely lost focus on what AC is supposed to be all about. Now it's about living the life of a pirate, or managing a homestead. It's not about being an assassin anymore. This game should have been a brand new IP, not a sequel to an established franchise.
It has a few good features:
- Edward is a slightly better character than Connor (albeit only slightly)
- the actual naval combat (sans the sailing part) is fairly fun
- I actually found the real-world abstergo component quite intriguing
but it shoots itself in the foot with all this crap:
- too many eavesdropping missions which are aggravating as fuck
- sailing around isn't very interesting and oftentimes boring and I hated how the game would often place mission objectives miles away to force you to sail further
- there's little to no character development for any of the major characters and game fails to make you care about any of them (I didnt care about blackbeard, kidd, rackham, hornigold, etc.etc. and I simply scoffed when any of them died)
- utterly forgettable story where very little ever happens. I particularly hated how the game would jump the story forward with little to no explanation of how or why events occurred, like
when Edward and Vane get marooned on an island, the game doesnt explain how they got on the island given that they were on a completely wrecked ship. It also didnt explain how the ship that found Edward right after defeating Vane, managed to find him to begin with. And in the scene immediately afterwards, it shows Rackham already captured, and it didnt even explain HOW he was captured to begin with. Its like the devs just threw up their arms and hoped that we wouldnt notice such glaring plot holes. Oh yeh and Rackham also said he was gonna sell Adewale into slavery; welp, he's just sitting right there fine and dandy, no explanation, no need to rescue him from slavery, he's just sitting right there.
- Freerunning still hasnt been fixed, and the game still makes me climb up walls or jump somewhere that i never intended to.
- My biggest problem with the game is that it doesnt FEEL like an assassin game anymore. First 3 games were all about being an assasin, and assassinating people. That was all well and good as that was the game's focus. Ubisoft seems to have completely lost focus on what AC is supposed to be all about. Now it's about living the life of a pirate, or managing a homestead. It's not about being an assassin anymore. This game should have been a brand new IP, not a sequel to an established franchise.
It's not just braindead, they've actually removed features as well. Like the ability to call allies to kill someone or aid you in battle, they removed it.
Hmm...
Looks like I'll have to adjust the list.
1. GAME
2. GAME
3. ASSCREED4
4. GAME
5. GAME
6. GAME
7. GAME
8. GAME
9. GAME
1. GAME
2. GAME
3. GAME
4. GAME
5. GAME
6. GAME
7. GAME
8. ASSCREED4 <==
9. GAME
You MADE me do this Ubisoft.
I was already annoyed that so many features were removed going into 3. Blegh.
Oh god yes. The menus were an absolute mess and made me not even want to play the game after awhile. A complaint I have voiced many times. It's like they realized that they can make a huge, content-packed game without making everything seem like a bloated, unintuitive and disjointed clusterfuck. Everything is slick and the game wastes no time in getting started. Seems to play more fluid as well.
Regret Truth
Member
Its gone but you wont miss it. Moving in and out of combat is pretty seamless. With the added free aim ability with pistols, lock-on wont be missed at all IMO.
SJRB
Gold Member
I like the concept, it's just that the execution is so incredibly awful that it drains any kind of fun out of the experience. ACII had a couple of great eavesdropping parts where Ezio would just freerun across rooftops while observing his targets walking down the streets. That felt like a proper Assassin's Creed moment.
But after that everything became so incredibly scripted, forcing you to take one route [more often than not just the streets instead of the rooftops]. Resulting in stupid shit like:
"You're too close"
"You're too far"
"Lost target - desynched"
The worst mission in this trend was from AC3. The mission where you had to follow 2 soldiers in a camp, and the game would not autosave. So even when you finally finished the eavesdropping, you still had to kill everyone (or something like that). Everytime you got detected or died, you would have to follow 2 dudes for 10 minutes.
Fuck not autosaving properly.
D
Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, I think I'm gonna skip this, even if a Gaffer said he really enjoyed it after he hated previous games.
Yeah. I think I've read enough reactions now to know I don't need to bother. Sounds like a perfectly average-to-fine action game. Even if it's better than AC3, that's not saying much. Sounds like AC4 is utterly pointless as an AC game.
I think that's a design choice.
Remember what you're doing in the modern day portion of the game? It links to that.
I posted about exactly this a couple of days ago until I realized that it's on purpose, and now I find it very endearing haha.
Beta-tester indeed.
chickdigger802
Banned
So what are y'all's opinions on dual swords? I know all weapons are pretty much the same outside of smaller weapons having faster animations in AC... but like how are the animations?
SoraanTribal
Member
So the first few times I turned on the game, it said "You have unlocked Altairs, Eizos, Connors outfit!", and I was like "ok, don't have to keep telling me..." They showed up in my Outfits list in the game though (but couldn't equip them yet due to the story I guess). Anyways, I'm in the second city now (after getting my ship), and the messages stopped popping up, but... at the same time, those 3 outfits no longer show up in the Outfits section. Why did they vanish? When can I equip them?
Figured out the issue I was having with the Ubisoft servers. I had to get Ubisoft support to delink my Uplay account from my Wii U Nintendo Network ID. When Ubisoft's servers were hacked months ago I had to reset my password and since you can't change the password on consoles it still had my old information stored. . With it now delinked and having logged into Uplay again (with my updated password) I'm no longer stuck in Limited Mode and my Wii U games are now appearing on the Uplay.com account page. I just have to reconnect to Uplay with ZombiU (already did) and AC3 (when I get it again) so they show up in the Uplay app.
I assume this would likely be the case with others as well if they are getting messages that they can't connect to the Ubisoft servers, etc.
I assume this would likely be the case with others as well if they are getting messages that they can't connect to the Ubisoft servers, etc.
nelsonroyale
Member
Wait, this doesn't feel like a typical AC game? There is hope for me then.
Wolves Evolve
Member
Never sure what the critirea for series purity are but I play AC games because they are action games. But yeah certainly would say don't get this if your expectations are that it needs to be as good as AC2. I don't know whether it was Patrice but that sense of cohesion across the entire game is gone. AC4 is just sort of pleasantly surprising for me after heartbreak two years in a row. Beyond that, no, it isn't punching Popes in alien bunkers.
Yeah that's like escort quest-levels of annoying right there. Especially if there's no checkpoint and you screw up...back to doing it all over again.
What really helps this game is that the cities are fun to explore again. They were just so drab and dull in III, but this has more of the old AC vibe, only flavored with the pirate element that gives it a fresh twist. Come to think of it, the pirate thing works so well in general that I really wish they would just make a pirate spin off series so they could expand on it even more. Maybe even get those ship battles in for multiplayer. Ubi is really hitting on something here and would be crazy not to expand on it.
It's very much still an Assassin's Creed game. I couldn't see anybody hating the series and liking this one, all on account of pirates.
Can you swim around fuck up sharks? Hammerheads, even? Can I shoot tropical birds and annoying monkeys?
I need a second game to get the buy 2, get 3 PS4 deal and this might be it. Considering I got 1, 2 and Brotherhood for around 30 on PC (haven't played them except for a bit of the first) I wouldn't feel too bad on AssCreed4 at German highway robbery prices, since it'd still average over the whole series to a decent price
I need a second game to get the buy 2, get 3 PS4 deal and this might be it. Considering I got 1, 2 and Brotherhood for around 30 on PC (haven't played them except for a bit of the first) I wouldn't feel too bad on AssCreed4 at German highway robbery prices, since it'd still average over the whole series to a decent price
Is that Buck?
SneakySneaks
Member
Since I'm waiting for the PS4 version can someone tell me if they have something like the Homestead trophies in this game? I always loved how you could unlock paintings, banners, flags and other stuff by completing missions. I'd be a little sad if they took that out.
Wind's Howling
Member
From what I have seen so far they removed the part of having to finish missions in order to improve your Homestead. Now you just invest a ton of money. This goes the same way for improving your 'town'.
On another note: I absolutely love hunting for treasure with those treasure maps. It worked like a charm in Red Dead Redemption and so does it here.
SneakySneaks
Member
Sounds good enough. Suikoden fucking ruined me, in every open world/RPG game I want to have a base that I can unlock trophies and items for, or at least see it grow into a huge stronghold.
I really hope to god it's intentional. My little mind couldn't cope thinking that someone would let that pass otherwise.
I thought most people were enjoying it? Most of the hate just stems from the people who hate the series, and have made it their duty to tell everyone how awful it is.
James Sawyer Ford
Banned
Same.
I just can't accept another game that is immersive with a great world, but superficial and shallow to the core.
Even the best entry in the series (AC2) felt like a chore to play.
I guess you're right. I probably just read a few negative post and made an assumption.
How many towns are in the game?