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Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag |OT| Not Based on a DisneyLand Ride

In AC4 it feels to me that the combat has become harder, because enemies attack you more often and deal way more damage when they hit you (at the start it's 3-4 hits and then you're dead) and human shield now works properly, hooray! Also, the new gun controls (LT for aiming, RT for shooting and quickly hitting Y for chain shooting) are way, way, way better than that stupid gun system in AC3. Who invented that LT to aim and Y (!!!) to shoot system? I don't have three thumbs...

HYPE!
 

Derrick01

Banned
Wouldn't get too excited at that combat part. I'm seeing now with Arkham Origins how annoying frequent attacks can be, but granted that game is from a series that has good combat and one where you can pull off a diverse set of moves. In AC games you pretty much just hold the block button and counter everything so maybe more frequent attacks wouldn't bother much.
 
Gemüsepizza;87814978 said:
Here is a video comparing a ingame cut scene on the PS3 to the PS4 version (slight spoilers):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HIHH_PNwcVE

Don't know if this is thread worthy so I just post it here, it doesn't go into great detail and for example it does not highlight all PS4 specific effects etc.

Except for the sea and a little crispier textures is the same. I don´t understand why the PS4 version isn´t working at 120 fps...
 

Rolfgang

Member
Wouldn't get too excited at that combat part. I'm seeing now with Arkham Origins how annoying frequent attacks can be, but granted that game is from a series that has good combat and one where you can pull off a diverse set of moves. In AC games you pretty much just hold the block button and counter everything so maybe more frequent attacks wouldn't bother much.

AC3 ditched the constant blocking button and AC4 doesn't have one either. You can only block if you time it right, just as in the Arkham-games.
 
So 'a lot of stuff to do' is a given. how much of that is fun and rewarding?

Never really got why AC games have any sorts of upgrade systems and gear when you can counter kill enemies with ease out of the gate.

But i guess with boats being the thing now, curious how important having a upgraded up ship matters with combat.
 
Gemüsepizza;87814978 said:
Here is a video comparing a ingame cut scene on the PS3 to the PS4 version (slight spoilers):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HIHH_PNwcVE

Don't know if this is thread worthy so I just post it here, it doesn't go into great detail and for example it does not highlight all PS4 specific effects etc.

This is a terrible scene for comparison.

PS3 game on PS4 with more AA, much better AF, high quality shadows, bigger draw distance, less bullshit depth of field. I think what's really missing here is next gen lighting, it's just non existent.
 

njean777

Member
Cannot wait to play this game, will be getting the ps3 version so I can have a game to play till the ps4 drops.
 

Pitmonkey

Junior Member
The YouTube video is actually very telling. YouTube compresses the shit out of the video quality - for the differences to be even that apparent will only amplify 10 fold in real time.
 

Rolfgang

Member
So 'a lot of stuff to do' is a given. how much of that is fun and rewarding?

Never really got why AC games have any sorts of upgrade systems and gear when you can counter kill enemies with ease out of the gate.

But i guess with boats being the thing now, curious how important having a upgraded up ship matters with combat.

Upgrading your ship is really important. I tested the Jackdaw against a Man-of-War without any upgrade, it got destroyed by about 85-90% with a single cannon volley.
 
Upgrading your ship is really important. I tested the Jackdaw against a Man-of-War without any upgrade, it got destroyed by about 85-90% with a single cannon volley.

can you play this like side mier's pirate? Ram enemy ship that outclasses you, board and take out the captain?

I can't imagine it being too hard to murder everyone on board as an assassin.
 

UrbanRats

Member
can you play this like side mier's pirate? Ram enemy ship that outclasses you, board and take out the captain?

I can't imagine it being too hard to murder everyone on board as an assassin.

I didn't play the game, but didn't they said you have to damage their ship to a certain point, before you can board them?
 

Rolfgang

Member
can you play this like side mier's pirate? Ram enemy ship that outclasses you, board and take out the captain?

I can't imagine it being too hard to murder everyone on board as an assassin.

You have to disable a ship (destroy it's masts) to board it. I haven't tested it yet if you can just ram 'em, I'll try it as soon as I play again.
 
I didn't play the game, but didn't they said you have to damage their ship to a certain point, before you can board them?

I know for sure you can ram ships. You can even upgrade your ships ram. I haven't saved up enough for a good ram upgrade.

You can take out the captain once the ships been disabled. From there you can board the ship or use the precision cannons from your own ship to take eliminate the rest of the crew, including the captain.

I don't believe you can board a ship or eliminate the captain unless the ship's been disabled.

I miss the epic music of AC2.

My man.


Easily the best in the series.

Black Flag has a damn good score though.
 

UrbanRats

Member
I miss the epic music of AC2.
Word.

But at least the Far Cry 3 dude seems superior to the AC3 one.

I'm pretty sure we all do. Jesper Kyd's stuff is legendary and I HATE how he's not a part of this franchise anymore.
He also got canned from the Hitman franchise. :(

Oh well, his work on Darksiders 2 and Borderleands 2 was great and so was the one on State of Decay.
 

Scrabble

Member
Does the music play while in the open world exploring? I could never quite put my finger on what felt off about AC3, until someone told me "there isn't any music while exploring, it's all relegated to set pieces" and it totally hit me.
 
Hearing that fans of AC2 and Brohood (my personal favorites) also like this one is starting to raise my hopes. Probably pick this up for PS4.
 
Word.

But at least the Far Cry 3 dude seems superior to the AC3 one.
Lorne Balfe did GOTY work on Beyond: Two Souls. Beautiful OST. His AC3 score totally sucked compared to Kyd's previous work though. So he seems really hit or miss. But boy, when he hits, he hits...
 

Martian

Member
Guyss: one question regarding the free-running controls

How is it? In AC3 the sprint/jump button was removed (X or A), is it back in AC4?
In AC3 it sucked major balls that you couldnt control where to jump anymore, something I never understood why they would remove it.
AC2 was the pinnacle in the series, regarding controls.
 

Rolfgang

Member
Guyss: one question regarding the free-running controls

How is it? In AC3 the sprint/jump button was removed (X or A), is it back in AC4?
In AC3 it sucked major balls that you couldnt control where to jump anymore, something I never understood why they would remove it.
AC2 was the pinnacle in the series, regarding controls.

It's still gone, but compared to AC3 it feels like you have way more control and Edward does what you want to do most of the times. In AC3 it was like all the time I wanted to do something, Connor was like "Nope! Let's just hang here for a while and screw this mission up. Jep, that's what I'm gonna do!"
 

Toa TAK

Banned
I miss the epic music of AC2.

Was just listening to the OST earlier today, too. I want Kyd back. But Tyler's score isn't bad for ACIV.

Lorne Balfe did GOTY work on Beyond: Two Souls. Beautiful OST. His AC3 score totally sucked compared to Kyd's previous work though. So he seems really hit or miss. But boy, when he hits, he hits...
Seems to be the case. Too bad he didn't hit with ACIII. =(
 

Rolfgang

Member
Oh and for the people who want to know (I saw a lot of dudes ask about it on other forums): you can switch off every (or almost every, it's at least a big list) little UI-thingy on screen.
 
Wouldn't get too excited at that combat part. I'm seeing now with Arkham Origins how annoying frequent attacks can be, but granted that game is from a series that has good combat and one where you can pull off a diverse set of moves. In AC games you pretty much just hold the block button and counter everything so maybe more frequent attacks wouldn't bother much.

AC3 changed that. Its actually the only thing that I really dug about it. How you can really go on the offensive if you are that type of player. But yes.....you could just hold block and wait to counter. That isn't really fun though.
 
Does the music play while in the open world exploring? I could never quite put my finger on what felt off about AC3, until someone told me "there isn't any music while exploring, it's all relegated to set pieces" and it totally hit me.
This is what I want to know. And thanks for the impressions so far! Gotta admit that it's nice to hear what I wanted to hear (impressions in line with: "I hated AC3, but AC4 seems to be better blah blah etc etc")
 

Rolfgang

Member
Does the music play while in the open world exploring? I could never quite put my finger on what felt off about AC3, until someone told me "there isn't any music while exploring, it's all relegated to set pieces" and it totally hit me.

In cities there is music and also a lot more ambient stuff (people shouting, singing from taverns), on sea your crew is singing shanties and you hear and almost feel the wind blowing through your hair. Haven't been on much islands so far, but I think there was music and a lot of environmental sound, like animals and stuff. To me the frontier in AC3 was quite dead, whilst AC4 is very much alive, also on open sea there are lots of other ships waiting to be boarded by yer's almighty!
 

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
Is it just me or does the running look a lot more stupid now than in previous AC games?
 
AC3 ditched the constant blocking button and AC4 doesn't have one either. You can only block if you time it right, just as in the Arkham-games.
AC3 changed that. Its actually the only thing that I really dug about it. How you can really go on the offensive if you are that type of player. But yes.....you could just hold block and wait to counter. That isn't really fun though.

Please this is not an argument anyone wants to have. As much as I am willing to defend Assassin's Creed, the combat in that game is only a superficial button masher that aspires to refined pinnacle that is the combat mechanics of Rocksteady's games.
 

Lime

Member
Are there tons of ship combat and is it easy? I am thinking that it's going to be ridiculous to kill off thousands of ships, like they have a high-speed factory pumping out all those ships.
 
Please this is not an argument anyone wants to have. As much as I am willing to defend Assassin's Creed, the combat in that game is only a superficial button masher that aspires to refined pinnacle that is the combat mechanics of Rocksteady's games.

I was never comparing it to the Batman combat system. Simply saying that AC3 fighting was less about defense compared to previous games. No argument needed.
 
Are there tons of ship combat and is it easy? I am thinking that it's going to be ridiculous to kill off thousands of ships, like they have a high-speed factory pumping out all those ships.

On the build that I played at the ubisoft event there were tons of ships at sea you could destroy. When I got to notoriety level 3 one of the bounty hunters absolutely obliterated me because it managed to fire 3 or 4 broadsides in a span of several seconds. From what I saw the difficulty of ship combat should be way higher compared to the bare bones stuff in AssCreed 3.

I was never comparing it to the Batman combat system. Simply saying that AC3 fighting was less about defense compared to previous games. No argument needed.
I'll go ahead and disagree with you about that specifically because AC3 has enemies which are immune to all of your attacks outside of consumables. The game gives you no choice but to play only defensively against them. Not to mention that certain enemies will break your kill streaks and can't be taken out with combos before disarming them or breaking their guard. The game design still forces you on the defensive and punishes you severely if you don't play that way.
 
asscreed combat is always the most fun when its chain killing + countering and the least fun when they throw commander units which your only option is a really sluggish looking counter hit thing or wack away with your sword in a really unsatisfying way. They never could figure out how to make it all flow well, like how batman does it with its different enemy types.


I just can't get used to how fucking weird looking the protag is in this game. he looked alright in the original cg stuff, but now? the fuck.
 

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
I just can't get used to how fucking weird looking the protag is in this game. he looked alright in the original cg stuff, but now? the fuck.

Yeah seriously, all is totally fucked up, his eyes creeps me out.

I can't forgive you Ubi.

isUM7B8ulGpPA.png
 
asscreed combat is always the most fun when its chain killing + countering and the least fun when they throw commander units which your only option is a really sluggish looking counter hit thing or wack away with your sword in a really unsatisfying way. They never could figure out how to make it all flow well, like how batman does it with its different enemy types.

In my opinion it's because they don't have an intermediate state where the enemies are knocked down or knocked out but are still not out of the fight. Where is in AssCreed the enemies are either alive and coming at you or are dead and they can't maintain the pressure of the combat without throwing more enemies at you over and over again if they don't want the combat to end in ten seconds. Also knock outs added an extra layer of complexity around which the majority of the combat is structured.
 
On the build that I played at the ubisoft event there were tons of ships at sea you could destroy. When I got to notoriety level 3 one of the bounty hunters absolutely obliterated me because it managed to fire 3 or 4 broadsides in a span of several seconds. From what I saw the difficulty of ship combat should be way higher compared to the bare bones stuff in AssCreed 3.


I'll go ahead and disagree with you about that specifically because AC3 has enemies which are immune to all of your attacks outside of consumables. The game gives you no choice but to play only defensively against them. Not to mention that certain enemies will break your kill streaks and can't be taken out with combos before disarming them or breaking their guard. The game design still forces you on the defensive and punishes you severely if you don't play that way.

You just contradicted yourself with that statement. Breaking the guard of an enemy isn't a defensive attack, its offensive and opens enemies up for kills. I would say that the only enemy type which forces you on the defense are the elite grenadiers (or whatever they are called) as you can only really get through their guard by disarming them first. They show up rarely, and only if you have a full wanted level in a city.
 
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