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Assassin's Creed II - The |OT|

Ranger X

Member
DeadGzuz said:
Is that what he said or your interpretation?

"Locked" is not a technical term, what it implies is v-sync on and capped to 30. Which mean when the frame rate drops to 29fps internally, it will drop to 20fps on screen.

So how is the PS3 version different? Well it probably has v-sync off which means tearing or they used triple buffering like UC2 and it means you can render at any frame rate, 27, 32, etc and have zero tearing.

As far as I know (not my field, just info i've been told), I'm not sure what "locked" mean but the game doesn't go over 30fps to prevent tearing but it does dip under 30 when it's too much. However, it's not dropping to 20 fps. When it slowsdown (from my experience with the game) in stays in the 25-30 range.

.
 

eso76

Member
i only allowed myself to open one of those flv poster earlier and i was lucky enough to pick the one showing Ezio climbing to the top of Giotto's Campanile.

nice view

317718200_b91245b52f.jpg


they made the tower a bit taller than it really is, but that's good in my book
 

eso76

Member
Ranger X said:
WOW. o_O

I didn't know it was that accurate in the game! Cool.

.

everything seems quite accurate, from what i've seen. The entire map of Florence looks rather accurate, the entire layout is very similar and most landmarks are faithfully reproduced, judging by the pics and vids i've seen.

Ponte vecchio, gli Uffizi, Piazza della Signoria, everything can be seen from the top of Giotto's Campanile, although Piazza della Signoria is in a slightly different position from the tower :)
 

DeadGzuz

Banned
Ranger X said:
As far as I know (not my field, just info i've been told), I'm not sure what "locked" mean but the game doesn't go over 30fps to prevent tearing but it does dip under 30 when it's too much. However, it's not dropping to 20 fps. When it slowsdown (from my experience with the game) in stays in the 25-30 range.

.

So v-sync off and capped at 30. If v-sync is off then the game will tear, there is no way around it other than triple buffering and I don't know of one 360 game that supports it.

IMO the term locked means almost nothing so people should stop using it.
 

eso76

Member
eso76 said:
everything seems quite accurate, from what i've seen. The entire map of Florence looks rather accurate, the entire layout is very similar and most landmarks are faithfully reproduced, judging by the pics and vids i've seen.

Ponte vecchio, gli Uffizi, Piazza della Signoria, everything can be seen from the top of Giotto's Campanile, although Piazza della Signoria is in a slightly different position from the tower :)

actually no, watched the video again, everything seems to be in its place, it's just that the whole scale looks smaller.
 

Ranger X

Member
DeadGzuz said:
So v-sync off and capped at 30. If v-sync is off then the game will tear, there is no way around it other than triple buffering and I don't know of one 360 game that supports it.

IMO the term locked means almost nothing so people should stop using it.

So this means there's only "sub 30 fps tearing" possible to see? Makes sense.

.
 
So I just found out that apparently Best Buy will have the third DLC map not included in the Master Assassin's edition, has anyone seen a preorder box for this game at Best Buy? I'm wondering if I could just pick up the preorder box with the code, or if they'll be packaging it in the game.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
rainking187 said:
So I just found out that apparently Best Buy will have the third DLC map not included in the Master Assassin's edition, has anyone seen a preorder box for this game at Best Buy? I'm wondering if I could just pick up the preorder box with the code, or if they'll be packaging it in the game.
I saw the pre-order box at Best Buy, seems like the code was in it

I was wondering if it was the 3rd extra map that wasnt at gamestop. If it really is, I might go preorder it at best buy just for that and then refund the preorder later or something
 
These extra pre-order maps are very confusing in the uk, from what I can work out play.com have the black edition with all 3 maps, game.co.uk has the white edition with 2 of the maps (costs £10 less than the black) and a special edition which has 1 extra map.
 
Dead said:
I saw the pre-order box at Best Buy, seems like the code was in it

I was wondering if it was the 3rd extra map that wasnt at gamestop. If it really is, I might go preorder it at best buy just for that and then refund the preorder later or something

Says so on the website.
http://tiny.cc/GVjcA
If anyone happens to head to Best Buy to pick this up let me know if the code is actually in the preorder box so I'll know if I should drag my ass over there.
 
Today I got the game on PS3. See photo here:
4094793103_91825166c1.jpg


I have so far played the game for about an hour, so I thought I would point out a few things about the title.

I will spoiler out slight story based stuff, but as nothing much has happened in the game so far there wont be much.

You start the game
in the future, exactly where the first game finished, and this sequence lasts about 25 minutes. Unfortunetly this is as boring and as poorly done as the first game, where the character feels sticky and clunky. There is a bit of combat here (a tutorial, you'd think, but there are no button prompts), and some stealth (which is basically running around avoiding the guards) and then the game continues...

When in Italy
the game starts off very slow with a couple of fights where it finally tells you what the combat controls are (even though you've already been fighting guards from the real world, seriously Ubisoft), and then you go and meet various characters and begin some basic missions. I am a regular dude at the moment with no Assassin weaponry so the game gently warms you up first.

However, a few of us at work along with myself thought this took way too long, and after an hours play you'd expect a little more from the game, much like the first AC did so well. What is wrong with giving you all this cool stuff to do, then to take it away? It's classic game design stuff. The way this is, it feels very slowly paced and a little boring.


Performance wise the game runs pretty sluggishly on PS3 (contray to what others have said). I haven't seen the 360 version so I AM NOT COMPARING IT incase you were wondering. But from playing this, I can tell you the framerate is not smooth at all. The screen tears most of the time, even when the game is hardly drawing anything (in direct view) and even when its not the framerate is choppy to say the least. There are also many moments where windows, textures, and high LODs will pop right in front of you, and this is noticable from just running around the city on both the ground and on the roof tops. Where you do the dives from tall buildings there is very close LODing from character models as you're about to land to earth. The framerate also affects the controls, but more on that shortly.

Peope have said the game runs smoothly, but on this finished, retail UK PS3 copy this is not the case.

Also, the game feels much more glitchy than before. We were able to reproduce a bug 100% which meant the main character kicked an object (he was meant to pick up) THROUGH a brick wall which required us to restart the mission.

Once we managed to kick the box in the right direction, you walk up to it and the on-screen display changes 'O' to be "Pick-up". However, if you press 'O' the character does the 'swimming' pushing through crowds move instead of pick-up. You have to press 'O' very, very quickly for it to actually pick the object up. WTF. Why, if the games context system system is recognising the box, why does it still do the push-through-crowds thing when you press the button? Sigh.

Jumping, climbing and generally free running doesn't feel as smooth as before, but that might be down to the framerate performing so badly. I also think we have recently been spoiled by Uncharted 2 being so slick in that department; ACII just feels clunky and fussy in comparison.

Sorry to not be shouting from the roof tops about how awesome this game is, I was looking forward to this just as much as the next guy, but from an hours play I have to say its pretty disappointnig so far.

I am sure it will get amazing reviews.
 

MacBosse

Member
KennyLinder said:
Peope have said the game runs smoothly, but on this finished, retail UK PS3 copy this is not the case.

Also, the game feels much more glitchy than before. We were able to reproduce a bug 100% which meant the main character kicked an object (he was meant to pick up) THROUGH a brick wall which required us to restart the mission.

Jumping, climbing and generally free running doesn't feel as smooth as before, but that might be down to the framerate performing so badly. I also think we have recently been spoiled by Uncharted 2 being so slick in that department; ACII just feels clunky and fussy in comparison.

Ouch. Lets hope the 360 version is better!
 
KennyLinder said:
Peope have said the game runs smoothly, but on this finished, retail UK PS3 copy this is not the case.

Also, the game feels much more glitchy than before. We were able to reproduce a bug 100% which meant the main character kicked an object (he was meant to pick up) THROUGH a brick wall which required us to restart the mission.

Jumping, climbing and generally free running doesn't feel as smooth as before, but that might be down to the framerate performing so badly. I also think we have recently been spoiled by Uncharted 2 being so slick in that department; ACII just feels clunky and fussy in comparison.

Sorry to not be shouting from the roof tops about how awesome this game is, I was looking forward to this just as much as the next guy, but from an hours play I have to say its pretty disappointnig so far.

dude, don't be peein' in my cheerios :(
 

Ranger X

Member
KennyLinder said:
Performance wise the game runs pretty sluggishly on PS3 (contray to what others have said). I haven't seen the 360 version so I AM NOT COMPARING IT incase you were wondering. But from playing this, I can tell you the framerate is not smooth at all. The screen tears most of the time, even when the game is hardly drawing anything (in direct view) and even when its not the framerate is choppy to say the least. There are also many moments where windows, textures, and high LODs will pop right in front of you, and this is noticable from just running around the city on both the ground and on the roof tops. Where you do the dives from tall buildings there is very close LODing from character models as you're about to land to earth. The framerate also affects the controls, but more on that shortly.

Peope have said the game runs smoothly, but on this finished, retail UK PS3 copy this is not the case.

Also, the game feels much more glitchy than before. We were able to reproduce a bug 100% which meant the main character kicked an object (he was meant to pick up) THROUGH a brick wall which required us to restart the mission.

Once we managed to kick the box in the right direction, you walk up to it and the on-screen display changes 'O' to be "Pick-up". However, if you press 'O' the character does the 'swimming' pushing through crowds move instead of pick-up. You have to press 'O' very, very quickly for it to actually pick the object up. WTF. Why, if the games context system system is recognising the box, why does it still do the push-through-crowds thing when you press the button? Sigh.


I think this is a description from someone that is REALLY sensible to framerate or any minor smoothness problem. (as expected from GAF really -- nitpick through the roof is the moto here afterall).

However, I wonder what's happening about that box thing. I don't understand what you mean by kicking because there's no kicking in the game. You can't kick stuff. About the "pick-up" and "gentle push", it's on the same button. Pick-up is on tap and Gentle Push is on hold.

As for the tearing, it shall be expected if you read my posts I periodically make about the game. The 360 version is having a cap at 30fps preventing the 30 fps + tearing, however it also drops in the 25-30 range from time to time therefore it can tear in lower fps.
The PS3 version also go into 25-30 but it also goes over that in quiet or close places. You can have both sub and over 30 fps tearing.

The thing I don't believe though is how you say the game really isn't smooth and that it affect controls. Reality is that it's bullshit. I have 10x + more time than you on this game and on both consoles and I don't remember a single place where it affects controls. Mostly you overreacting I suppose. And I'm not playing any games or trying to hide stuff, I sure am not paid by Ubi to say things and I work in quality assurance as a living so i'm not affraid of pointing flaws and whatnot.

I just hope people will take you with a grain of salt because really, this won't be dramatic like that for most people. GTA4 or Prototype or any other freeroamer this gen simply aren't smoother than AC2. Maybe Infamous but I didn't play this one much --- the demo did look smooth at least. I'd say the game is mostly like GTA4 (more often than not at 30 fps but often in the 25-30 range).

.
 

DMeisterJ

Banned
KennyLinder said:
Today I got the game on PS3. See photo here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2783/4094793103_91825166c1.jpg[img]

I have so far played the game for about an hour, so I thought I would point out a few things about the title.

I will spoiler out slight story based stuff, but as nothing much has happened in the game so far there wont be much.

You start the game [spoiler] in the future, exactly where the first game finished, and this sequence lasts about 25 minutes. Unfortunetly this is as boring and as poorly done as the first game, where the character feels sticky and clunky. There is a bit of combat here (a tutorial, you'd think, but there are no button prompts), and some stealth (which is basically running around avoiding the guards) and then the game continues... [/spoiler]

When in Italy [spoiler] the game starts off very slow with a couple of fights where it finally tells you what the combat controls are (even though you've already been fighting guards from the real world, seriously Ubisoft), and then you go and meet various characters and begin some basic missions. I am a regular dude at the moment with no Assassin weaponry so the game gently warms you up first.[/spoiler]

However, a few of us at work along with myself thought this took way too long, and after an hours play you'd expect a little more from the game, much like the first AC did so well. What is wrong with giving you all this cool stuff to do, then to take it away? It's classic game design stuff. The way this is, it feels very slowly paced and a little boring.


Performance wise the game runs pretty sluggishly on PS3 (contray to what others have said). I haven't seen the 360 version so I AM NOT COMPARING IT incase you were wondering. But from playing this, I can tell you the framerate is not smooth at all. The screen tears most of the time, even when the game is hardly drawing anything (in direct view) and even when its not the framerate is choppy to say the least. There are also many moments where windows, textures, and high LODs will pop right in front of you, and this is noticable from just running around the city on both the ground and on the roof tops. Where you do the dives from tall buildings there is very close LODing from character models as you're about to land to earth. The framerate also affects the controls, but more on that shortly.

Peope have said the game runs smoothly, but on this finished, retail UK PS3 copy this is not the case.

Also, the game feels much more glitchy than before. We were able to reproduce a bug 100% which meant the main character kicked an object (he was meant to pick up) THROUGH a brick wall which required us to restart the mission.

Once we managed to kick the box in the right direction, you walk up to it and the on-screen display changes 'O' to be "Pick-up". However, if you press 'O' the character does the 'swimming' pushing through crowds move instead of pick-up. You have to press 'O' very, very quickly for it to actually pick the object up. WTF. Why, if the games context system system is recognising the box, why does it still do the push-through-crowds thing when you press the button? Sigh.

Jumping, climbing and generally free running doesn't feel as smooth as before, but that might be down to the framerate performing so badly. I also think we have recently been spoiled by Uncharted 2 being so slick in that department; ACII just feels clunky and fussy in comparison.

Sorry to not be shouting from the roof tops about how awesome this game is, I was looking forward to this just as much as the next guy, but from an hours play I have to say its pretty disappointnig so far.

I am sure it will get amazing reviews.[/QUOTE]

Sheeeeeit... That's f'n terrible.
 
The O button doesn't make sense. You can't have it say one thing, but when you press it it actually performs a different function. That is broken logic. As for the kicking, it certanly looked like he kicked it through the wall when he was meant to pick it up. If you drop the item it rolls forward slightly, it looked like he kicked it when he ran into it.

I wouldn't call the framerate thing nitpicking, the game is very choppy and it did affect controls. It affects how you jump, how you perform in combat, when you press an attack button it feels laggy and slow.

You work for Ubi? Then you've played the game absolutely loads and over time you get past the control issues and automatically learn to get around them. For someone picking them up on their first try, it feels clunky. Other people here played this and we were of the same opinion.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
KennyLinder said:
Today I got the game on PS3. See photo here:
4094793103_91825166c1.jpg


I have so far played the game for about an hour, so I thought I would point out a few things about the title.

I will spoiler out slight story based stuff, but as nothing much has happened in the game so far there wont be much.

You start the game
in the future, exactly where the first game finished, and this sequence lasts about 25 minutes. Unfortunetly this is as boring and as poorly done as the first game, where the character feels sticky and clunky. There is a bit of combat here (a tutorial, you'd think, but there are no button prompts), and some stealth (which is basically running around avoiding the guards) and then the game continues...

When in Italy
the game starts off very slow with a couple of fights where it finally tells you what the combat controls are (even though you've already been fighting guards from the real world, seriously Ubisoft), and then you go and meet various characters and begin some basic missions. I am a regular dude at the moment with no Assassin weaponry so the game gently warms you up first.

However, a few of us at work along with myself thought this took way too long, and after an hours play you'd expect a little more from the game, much like the first AC did so well. What is wrong with giving you all this cool stuff to do, then to take it away? It's classic game design stuff. The way this is, it feels very slowly paced and a little boring.


Performance wise the game runs pretty sluggishly on PS3 (contray to what others have said). I haven't seen the 360 version so I AM NOT COMPARING IT incase you were wondering. But from playing this, I can tell you the framerate is not smooth at all. The screen tears most of the time, even when the game is hardly drawing anything (in direct view) and even when its not the framerate is choppy to say the least. There are also many moments where windows, textures, and high LODs will pop right in front of you, and this is noticable from just running around the city on both the ground and on the roof tops. Where you do the dives from tall buildings there is very close LODing from character models as you're about to land to earth. The framerate also affects the controls, but more on that shortly.

Peope have said the game runs smoothly, but on this finished, retail UK PS3 copy this is not the case.

Also, the game feels much more glitchy than before. We were able to reproduce a bug 100% which meant the main character kicked an object (he was meant to pick up) THROUGH a brick wall which required us to restart the mission.

Once we managed to kick the box in the right direction, you walk up to it and the on-screen display changes 'O' to be "Pick-up". However, if you press 'O' the character does the 'swimming' pushing through crowds move instead of pick-up. You have to press 'O' very, very quickly for it to actually pick the object up. WTF. Why, if the games context system system is recognising the box, why does it still do the push-through-crowds thing when you press the button? Sigh.

Jumping, climbing and generally free running doesn't feel as smooth as before, but that might be down to the framerate performing so badly. I also think we have recently been spoiled by Uncharted 2 being so slick in that department; ACII just feels clunky and fussy in comparison.

Sorry to not be shouting from the roof tops about how awesome this game is, I was looking forward to this just as much as the next guy, but from an hours play I have to say its pretty disappointnig so far.

I am sure it will get amazing reviews.

Compared to AC1, how is the framerate and tearing? Better, same or worse?
 
That sounds worse than the original AC, which was an absolutely horrendous port. I find it hard to believe that after Shaun White and PoP, both of which were high quality ports, that they've turned around a made a port even worse than the original AC.
 

Loudninja

Member
KennyLinder said:
The O button doesn't make sense. You can't have it say one thing, but when you press it it actually performs a different function. That is broken logic. As for the kicking, it certanly looked like he kicked it through the wall when he was meant to pick it up. If you drop the item it rolls forward slightly, it looked like he kicked it when he ran into it.

I wouldn't call the framerate thing nitpicking, the game is very choppy and it did affect controls. It affects how you jump, how you perform in combat, when you press an attack button it feels laggy and slow.

You work for Ubi? Then you've played the game absolutely loads and over time you get past the control issues and automatically learn to get around them. For someone picking them up on their first try, it feels clunky. Other people here played this and we were of the same opinion.

The buttons always had different functions depending on what mode you where, in thats nothing new.
 

esbern

Junior Member
you're telling us your opinion on a game on 1 hour with of playtime? you can't be a serious journalist, thats just fucking stupid.
 
SolidSnakex said:
That sounds worse than the original AC, which was an absolutely horrendous port. I find it hard to believe that after Shaun White and PoP, both of which were high quality ports, that they've turned around a made a port even worse than the original AC.

Indeed. After PoP last year (which I completed on PS3) I had high hopes for ACII on PS3. :(
 

Ranger X

Member
KennyLinder said:
The O button doesn't make sense. You can't have it say one thing, but when you press it it actually performs a different function. That is broken logic. As for the kicking, it certanly looked like he kicked it through the wall when he was meant to pick it up. If you drop the item it rolls forward slightly, it looked like he kicked it when he ran into it.

I wouldn't call the framerate thing nitpicking, the game is very choppy and it did affect controls. It affects how you jump, how you perform in combat, when you press an attack button it feels laggy and slow.

You work for Ubi? Then you've played the game absolutely loads and over time you get past the control issues and automatically learn to get around them. For someone picking them up on their first try, it feels clunky. Other people here played this and we were of the same opinion.

The O button thing is simple. It's the gentle push button. If Pick-up is available (aka your character is in the pick up range of the object) it will change for "Pick up" in the hud as it is the present contextual action you can do. If you still chose to HOLD the button instead of just pressing it (tap), you will still do "gentle push" of course.

As for the smoothness, I respect your opinion, I just wanted to tame the fire down a bit because I think you are one of those that are very vocal and more effected by such issues that are in all similar games to AC2.

It's also evident that any games will look sluggish and not smooth when after you quit playing Uncharted 2. Uncharted trounce, bleeds, kills, murders everything that is on the market and most games by a great margin visually. It's the exception and far from the norm. I'm quite sure your impressions are amplified because of this.

.
 

MMaRsu

Member
Don't latch on to impressions from 1 ( lol ) guy.

Also, that stream earlier here, didn't look choppy to me :p.
 

wouwie

Member
With two more years of engine development, one would have hoped to get a PS3 version which is as good as the 360 version. Seems it's still not the case. Proves once again (like all multiplatform games) that the PS3 must be a nightmare to develop for.

Still, not cancelling my pre-order. For some reason, i can live with tearing, pop-up and such in open world games. It didn't stop me liking the first game (or inFAMOUS).
 

Concept17

Member
wouwie said:
With two more years of engine development, one would have hoped to get a PS3 version which is as good as the 360 version. Seems it's still not the case. Proves once again (like all multiplatform games) that the PS3 must be a nightmare to develop for.

Still, not cancelling my pre-order. For some reason, i can live with tearing, pop-up and such in open world games. It didn't stop me liking the first game (or inFAMOUS).

Yes, lets base this off one guy's hour long impressions, when another whose played it for hours discredits him. I'm certain the complaints are coming from someone whose a little over-sensitive when it comes to things like FPS, tearing, and bugs, as it is with most of gaf to begin with.
 

JudgeN

Member
wouwie said:
With two more years of engine development, one would have hoped to get a PS3 version which is as good as the 360 version. Seems it's still not the case. Proves once again (like all multiplatform games) that the PS3 must be a nightmare to develop for.

Still, not cancelling my pre-order. For some reason, i can live with tearing, pop-up and such in open world games. It didn't stop me liking the first game (or inFAMOUS).

They were improving engine for the 360, what makes you think they were improving it compatibility with the PS3?
 
Concept17 said:
Yes, lets base this off one guy's hour long impressions, when another whose played it for hours discredits him. I'm certain the complaints are coming from someone whose a little over-sensitive when it comes to things like FPS, tearing, and bugs, as it is with most of gaf to begin with.
The person who says it isn't a problem works for Ubisoft though!! Of course he's going to say it's fine.
 

Ranger X

Member
KennyLinder said:
The person who says it isn't a problem works for Ubisoft though!! Of course he's going to say it's fine.

Again you sound black or white while I am not. I clearly said the game is often in the 25-30 range. And to think most people will not mind as much as you do is my personal opinion, nothing to do with Ubisoft really.

In the end, we'll all see how people are taking it when there will be multiple impressions out there after the release.

.
 
esbern said:
you're telling us your opinion on a game on 1 hour with of playtime? you can't be a serious journalist, thats just fucking stupid.

Dude, I hope you're not going off at this guy because he has an opinion that Assassin's Creed isn't the best thing ever. I'm proberly the biggest fan of Ubisoft's games and Assassin Creed I know (hell I'm gladly choosing AC2 over MW2) but an individual or a journalist can give a first look impression after a hour with a game, stop getting your knickers in a twist.

That said I'm still super excited for this game :D
 

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
KennyLinder said:
The person who says it isn't a problem works for Ubisoft though!! Of course he's going to say it's fine.

I don't work for Ubisoft, and I disagree with every single thing you said. You're completely wrong about
the controls in the future sequence. They're identical to the main game.
 
MattKeil said:
I don't work for Ubisoft, and I disagree with every single thing you said. You're completely wrong about
the controls in the future sequence. They're identical to the main game.
They were different in AC and they are different in ACII. The sequences feel like they're made by different teams!
 
Ranger X said:
Again you sound black or white while I am not. I clearly said the game is often in the 25-30 range. And to think most people will not mind as much as you do is my personal opinion, nothing to do with Ubisoft really.

In the end, we'll all see how people are taking it when there will be multiple impressions out there after the release.

.
The constant tearing is the main issue for me, and along with the sleepy framerate it doesn't look great to me on PS3.
 

Dave1988

Member
MMaRsu said:
Don't latch on to impressions from 1 ( lol ) guy.

Also, that stream earlier here, didn't look choppy to me :p.


Wasn't the steam from the 360 version, though? We're talking 'bout the PS3 ver here.
 
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