Okay, searched the thread and couldn't find anything about other folks' experiences playing without the HUD/map. I'd been avoiding the thread up to now because I wanted to avoid spoilers.
First, I was a HUGE fan of the first game, and am a major proponent of playing that game HUD-less and map-less. I even wrote a freaking "
guide" to prove to others that the game was designed with that in mind.
I put off starting AC2 until I had a bit more time, so I just got around to putting a few hours in last night. To my
great disappointment, there's no way to play without a map. None. No more environmental clues. No more hint system. No more sounds or visuals to guide your investigations. Now you
must use a map to find your destinations. If that's the case, then there's no reason not to also use the HUD since the map just requires an extra button press and accomplishes the same thing.
Now I'm feeling the same feeling that other gamers felt about the first one. Dull, mindless repetition. How stupid is it that now all you do is go to a dot on your map? The devs did so much right in the first one, but now the greatest aspects of the first one (exploration and a careful attention to detail) are completely gone.
I'll play the game because I love the fiction and the core mechanics and attention to historical detail, but I'll always feel that
it's missing its soul. Where the first game was
truly great and among the best games ever created, the second one is only "good."
I would love nothing more than to be convinced that I am incorrect. So if I'm missing something in the environments that
does give you clues as to where to go (without consulting the map), someone please tell me!!