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[suikodan]

So far it's a mixed bag for me. The setting of the game is nice but the gameplay is meh so far.

The worst offender so far is the human shield. I have a screen prompt asking to press X to grab the guy next to me. I press X and nothing happens... wow.

I've seen the prompt on the X button to the right but the character will not grab anyone.

Can't say I'm impressed so far and I feel bad because a good friend of mine worked on the game.

 

[FGMPR]

Re: Framerate

The framerate is true garbage everywhere I go, but at least the frontier is not stab myself in the face bad...



Hahaha, oh yeah. And add some weather effects while you're doing that, and the game commits Seppuku on the spot. Literally... my game crashed and froze my system three times so far mid-trot during a storm.



I honestly think this game is so buggy even a quick playthrough of the game would manifest many of the worst offenders. It's pretty much a betrayal of game "journalists" job that they didn't do a more vigilant job of pointing out the extremely over-the-top problems this game has.

I will say that I still like the game, I like it pretty well. But it could have been so much more and you can't help but stare at the final product knowing what it could have been. It just never turns into the game it should be. And it's always so tantalizingly close.

Fuck me it sounds just like AC1/FC2 again (I'm waiting on the PC version).

 

[Epcott]

Finished the Conor's Epilogues.

This game is depressing

 

[exYle]

Finished the Conor's Epilogues.

This game is depressing

I know, right?
I mean, he finishes his personal war (which was an awesome cutscene), but how much injustice did he really stop?

 

[Epcott]

I know, right?
I mean, he finishes his personal war (which was an awesome cutscene), but how much injustice did he really stop?

Yeah, pretty much. Most whored protagonist I've ever played...

Spoiler

He's given a vision quest by Juno who ultimately uses him.
He's used by the patriots and Washington to win battles who end up selling his land anyways.
He's even used by the Templars (the dear old dad missions) who want him dead.
In the end, he returns to his village to find an old man telling him "Oh, they moved away".

In summation, what was the point?

 

[exYle]

Yeah, pretty much. Most whored protagonist I've ever played...

Spoiler

He's given a vision quest by Juno who ultimately uses him.
He's used by the patriots and Washington to win battles who end up selling his land anyways.
He's even used by the Templars (the dear old dad missions) who want him dead.
In the end, he returns to his village to find an old man telling him "Oh, they moved away".

In summation, what was the point?

And he witnesses the beginning of

Spoiler

the slave trade

.

 

[SJRB]

And he witnesses the beginning of

Spoiler

the slave trade

.

That specific part came across as extremely random.

Spoiler

He glances at that guy trying to "sell" the three black people, shrugs and is like "whatever".

 

[brandonh83]

Thanks for the replies, Noi and Amir0x. It seems like I may possibly like it/enjoy myself if I can look past the bugs and get through the running shit. I hate the running shit. I hate it so much.

 

[rdrr gnr]

That specific part came across as extremely random.

Spoiler

He glances at that guy trying to "sell" the three black people, shrugs and is like "whatever".

Spoiler

Don't get me started on this nonsense. It wasn't "whatever"; it was supposed set up the contrast between the "free men" and the men who are not free (i.e. slaves). It's a valiant theme that was executed horribly by C-tier videogame writing. They should have ignored it all together. This game has plenty of political wank that just falls flat from prototypical native american depictions to Shaun's falsely equivalent email drivel. YUCK. It tried too hard not to be "America, fuck yeah" and it just comes off as tacky. It tired to do too much -- and tackle too many themes. It should have been relegated to the Americans vs. the British; American figures versus British ones. No King George? No General Howe? No Thomas Paine? I mean, I get it, Jefferson was in Paris most of the time. I don't care. Put him in the game. Instead I do what amounts to a 18th century tandem bike ride with Paul Revere (and insignificant player in the scope of things) and the dull Samuel Adams. I'm chucking tea overboard and riding with Paul Revere; it's like a 5th grader chose the events for this game.

 

[one_kill]

The plot twist at the end of sequence 3 was great!

 

[Epcott]

And he witnesses the beginning of

Spoiler

the slave trade

.

Spoiler

That's what those fully clothed people were doing on the pier? I saw them standing there and had to wonder "Are those slaves?" It looked like they were buying a home. Not that I have a problem with the inclusion and it's significance, but the way it was shown was so stifled, I have to wonder why they showed it at all.

But yeah, Conner's expression was hilarious. It was like "Hmm, ya don't say."

 

[conman]

Fuck me it sounds just like AC1/FC2 again (I'm waiting on the PC version).

The difference, though, is that at least with AC1 you could introduce a few basic tweaks on your own (no maps) and turn it into an absolutely incredible game. But I was willing to look for that "other" game beneath the surface of AC1 because it was still super compelling and it was a relatively simple "fix." And as I started digging, it became clearer and clearer that the game had largely been designed with this "other" way to play in mind.

But with AC3, I don't know what you can do to "fix" it easily. I'm convinced that there's a good game in there somewhere, but it's buried too deep for me to get at it. So far, the only solutions I've heard are: don't read the animus database entries, don't go for 100% sync, don't pay close attention to the story, and don't be so bothered by the mission-breaking bugs.

I sincerely hope that Ubisoft does what it can to fix this game and that I ultimately enjoy it after it's been improved. We shall see.

 

[endlessflood]

The worst offender so far is the human shield. I have a screen prompt asking to press X to grab the guy next to me. I press X and nothing happens... wow.

I've seen the prompt on the X button to the right but the character will not grab anyone.

I had this problem too. I think (hopefully somebody will correct me if I'm wrong) that you need to be locked on (i.e. L1 on PS3) to somebody in order to grab them with X.

 

[Anatoli Bacharach]

That specific part came across as extremely random.

Connor should have turned to the camera with a big smile, saying: "Assassin's Creed: Salvation. Out 2013, bitches!"

You know what Ubi should do though: Give the series like three years off, come back on next gen with a rock solid game, built from the ground up. I know it's not going to happen as long as the annual games keep selling, but wouldn't that be awesome?

 

[krameriffic]

Fantastic point. The series depends on an urban atmosphere to make sense--both mechanically and thematically. They seem to have gotten sidetracked by the whole "frontier" thing. But that's not what defines the series, and it doesn't play to the series' mechanical strengths. "Social stealth" makes no sense when there's no real "society" to speak of.

The ship stuff was great, but it seems like it might make more sense as a totally different IP. Nothing very "assassin" like about a big naval vessel.

Yep. I really don't like the continuing efforts of Ubisoft to move this series away from stabbing people. Whether it works or not, they keep adding shit to distract me from what I'm in this series for: climbing on buildings and stabbing people.

 

[Autofokus]

Wait, how do you send assassins to protect?

As soon as you get the message that your convoy is under attack, open your assassins menu (hold L2) and go to the contracts screen (square, where you normally send your guys on missions). There will be a notice in the bottom right corner with a prompt (again, square) where you can assign your assassins to protect your land convoy.

 

[one_kill]

Edit: NVM. Figured it out

 

[Bladenic]

Personally I don't feel like the series has had very good assassination missions since 2. Granted I skipped Revelations, but I recall being very disappointed with the main assassinations in Brotherhood. 3 had some okay ones, but it's still very little to do with assassinating IMO. It's much more about other activities at this point, and I don't really mind since stuff like naval battles is way more fun than the main story assassination missions anyway.

 

[LightofRohan]

It's my favorite series in gaming. To say my expectations were "high" would be an understatement. It's a series that hits all the right buttons for me. It brings together my love for cultural history, political philosophy, stealth games, adventure games, action games, and open-world games under the same roof. So far, it's a series that has continued to meet my (admittedly lofty) expectations. AC3 has fallen far short in terms of its technology, design, mechanics, story, and themes. Might it be restored through a series of patches? Maybe. But at this point, I'd almost rather see them put some of that energy into making the follow-up into the game that this one isn't. I'll check back in on AC3 in six months or so. But in the meantime, I'm venting and trying to articulate (to myself and others) exactly what it is that this game isn't doing right.

So am I overreacting? I don't think so. It's not like I'm calling for anyone's resignation or anything. Yes, I'm pissed off about the spoilers (justifiably, I think). But as for the rest, I'm simply incredibly disappointed, and I feel like the series deserves better. It's a sub-sub-quality release in a series with a stellar track record. To see it in a state well below any acceptable quality standards for any major release (let alone for the AC series) does serious harm to the franchise and to its fanbase.

Damn. There you go, that's how you say it... haha. Fair enough!

 

[Wind's Howling]

This has been my favorite gaming series this generation as well, but I quit playing this game yesterday due to the sheer amount of games that got released in the last couple of weeks. Not to mention the fact that this one does not seem to grab my attention like AC1, 2 and Brotherhood did.

I blame this on the yearly releases of the AC franchise and Brotherhood was the last game I could handle before having this 'here we go again' feeling. They released too much of the same thing, and while a new car is always fun to drive with eventually it is just another car.

The thing they did wrong with AC3 is that almost nothing feels like new. They have oversimplified the entire gameplay and both the free-running and combat is nothing more than a simple push of a button. There is little to no strategy involved.

While the world, weather effects and tree climbing has definitely been improved and added it just does not let people ignore the overall amount of simplified gameplay and tons of annoying bugs.

 

[Autofokus]

Dammit, one of my land convoys bugged out.

It got attacked and my assassins failed to protect it. Instead of losing it, now after 5h playtime, its still marked as 'attacked' within the trading menu. Can't select it or anything, crafting a new one isn't allowed because my inventory is already 'full'.

 

[SxP]

Dammit, one of my land convoys bugged out.

It got attacked and my assassins failed to protect it. Instead of losing it, now after 5h playtime, its still marked as 'attacked' within the trading menu. Can't select it or anything, crafting a new one isn't allowed because my inventory is already 'full'.

Yeah, got the same thing but all the way back in sequence 6. So that just double sucked. Especially since money still kinda mattered that early in the game.

 

[haikira]

Interesting read for any folk planning on the PC release or anyone waiting on the console patch.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-14-assassins-creed-3-pc-will-be-less-buggy-than-the-console-versions-at-launch

Hopefully they're not just blowing smoke and they do a good job patching it up, to how it should have been at launch. I'm still hoping to get the pc release, near launch. I just hope i don't regret that decision.

 

[Eideka]

I hope that Eurogamer will update their face-off with the PC version as they did with Max Payne 3 and Batman Arkham City.

 

[winstano]

They're timed unlocks based on the Ubisoft servers. To find them, you first need to see where the Pivots you already have are located and pick them up via the Pivot map. Then:

1. You look at your list of Pivots to see which one has been revealed next.

2. Warp to the place where said pivot is.

3. Once there, you can place one of the three pivots you had from the start in the location you're standing. The idea is to place pivots to triangulate the location of the next pivot you need to find. It works like this:

3a. Place Pivot A on one end of the map. Quick travel to an opposing end and place Pivot B there. This should form a line across the Pivot map. The highlighted green area is where the Pivot you're looking for can be.

3b. Hoof it to a location inside the green area mentioned before and place Pivot C, which should form a triangle. If the highlighted area is inside it, then the pivot you're looking for is inside that triangle.

4. Continue to make the triangle smaller until you only have a small area to search and can easily find the pivot.

5. Wait for the timer to run down on the Pivot list so you can find the next one.

Alternatively, what I just typed in video form: Click.

The more pivots you find, the easier it becomes to find the next one since you have more pivots to use for finding them. the whole thing is dumb though.

Thankyou for this, I had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on. I thought it was just me in a dazed and hungover state, but no, it's absolutely not been explained.

 

[NinjaFridge]

Anybody else having trouble getting the Prince of Thieves trophy? I've looted a two convoys without killing anyone and I still can't get it.

 

[Noi]

Anybody else having trouble getting the Prince of Thieves trophy? I've looted a two convoys without killing anyone and I still can't get it.

Are you being careful about not being too unarmed-attack happy and breaking the neck of someone already on the ground?

 

[PinkCrayon]

Anybody else having trouble getting the Prince of Thieves trophy? I've looted a two convoys without killing anyone and I still can't get it.

I got it by just using my fists (you're technically not killing anyone). Be careful not to disarm someone and kill them with the weapon you took. Didn't have any trouble with it.

 

[matrix-cat]

Hopefully they're not just blowing smoke and they do a good job patching it up, to how it should have been at launch. I'm still hoping to get the pc release, near launch. I just hope i don't regret that decision.

It's good to hear. I'm still trying to decide whether to get the PC version immediately or wait for the Christmas Steam/Amazon sales, and hearing about how buggy the game is has me leaning towards the latter.

 

[mxgt]

Traded in my PS3 copy.

I like the game, but I can't handle the frame rate. Will rebuy and finish on PC.

 

[Effect]

Putting the story and seemingly annoying chase missions to the side for a moment. Can the other issues with the game be patched? Or is there something about them that makes you think they can't? If they were would that drastically improve your opinions about the game?

There seems to be a patch incoming, at least what I gathered form the reddit thread and that the PC version will launch with two patches ready, so I am reconsidering the Wii U version. Only if most of the issues can be sorted out. Story and like and dislike of some missions can be subjective and there has never been a game where I've liked all the design decisions.. The other issues are of more concern.

 

[nib95]

Just did the sequence 10 naval mission. So boss. No cannons? Who cares. Ship vs man. Even better with the gorgeous sunset, waves and billowing smoke from numerous ship wreckage in the distance.


On a side note, someone please edit out the GIFs from the first Page? This is the only page/site I have to wait to load on my mobile and that for some reason I can't just quickly navigate away from. Doesn't help you always have to load the OP even if it's one you've seen dozens of times!

 

[rvy]

Traded in my PS3 copy.

I like the game, but I can't handle the frame rate. Will rebuy and finish on PC.

You did good.

 

[JB1981]

Traded in my PS3 copy.

I like the game, but I can't handle the frame rate. Will rebuy and finish on PC.

I have been thinking of buying an X51. One of the main reasons I want to is because I want to play some of the AC games with good IQ, framerate, minimal pop-in etc. If AC3 is a big improvement I just might do it.

 

[Noi]

On a side note, someone please edit out the GIFs from the first Page? This is the only page/site I have to wait to load on my mobile and that for some reason I can't just quickly navigate away from. Doesn't help you always have to load the OP even if it's one you've seen dozens of times!

Why are you seeing the OP? Just tap on the arrow on the right side of the thread name when you select it and it takes you to the last page.

 

[nib95]

Why are you seeing the OP? Just tap on the arrow on the right side of the thread name when you select it and it takes you to the last page.

On mobile GAF that arrow doesn't pop up. Only choice is to click the thread and go straight to OP. You can press the arrow at the bottom to go to last Page, but in this thread it doesn't always work due to the high load out of GIFs etc.

 

[Noi]

On mobile GAF that arrow doesn't pop up. Only choice is to click the thread and go straight to OP. You can press the arrow at the bottom to go to last Page, but in this thread it doesn't always work due to the high load out of GIFs etc.

I'm using mobile gaf and the arrow is right there... It's on the far right of the thread name when tap to view it.

edit: It's the right facing arrow to the right of the name:

 

[iNvid02]

On mobile GAF that arrow doesn't pop up. Only choice is to click the thread and go straight to OP. You can press the arrow at the bottom to go to last Page, but in this thread it doesn't always work due to the high load out of GIFs etc.

strange, there should definitely be a light arrow on the right hand side of the thread name which takes you straight to the last page

 

[nib95]

Holy crap just noticed the little arrow now. But I swear it wasn't there just a few minutes ago lol. Maybe they only appear if I wait for the whole page to load.

 

[conman]

Putting the story and seemingly annoying chase missions to the side for a moment. Can the other issues with the game be patched? Or is there something about them that makes you think they can't? If they were would that drastically improve your opinions about the game?

Well, they can't add a patch that digs into my brain and un-spoils the big plot twist that their glitched animus database revealed. So, no.

As for everything else, it's possible they could fix a lot of the bugs. But there's just so much that it would really take a heroic effort to get this thing running properly. Fix the geometry issues (clipping and falling through the world). Fix the mission-breaking AI issues. Fix the detection scripts and overhaul the stealth mechanics. Tighten up the hunting game. Fix the bug that makes items disappear. Fix the other dozens of mission-breaking bugs that people have run into. Overhaul the chase sequences.

And that's just the important stuff. It's a tall order. Can they do it? Sure. Will they? Who knows. And I was so distracted by these things that I'm not sure what I'll think of the actual game without them. It may be incredible, or it may not be.

 

[YuriLowell]

My reviewer finally got around to writing up his thoughts.

He enjoyed the game much more than I did.

http://duelanalogs.com/reviews/2012/11/13/assassins-creed-iii-review.html

 

[Anatoli Bacharach]

It's nice that they're patching it, but it doesn't matter much to me. The frame rate sucked ass when I played it and I won't play through it a second time.

Damn this game is such a disappointment. WHY UBISOFT

 

[conman]

Damn this game is such a disappointment. WHY UBISOFT

The one-year cycle for games this size isn't sustainable, especially when you completely revamp the underlying technology. It worked for ACB and ACR because they already had the technology and story arc in place from AC1, and they had the history and character in place from AC2. Both AC1 and AC2 had been in development for a good long while before ACB and ACR began. So compartmentalizing the systems within different studios for ACB and ACR was doable. The "big picture" stuff was already established, so they could focus on small scale development and design, and still end up with a polished and coherent final product.

But doing all of that from scratch and still keeping the annual cycle is just not humanly possible. AC3 didn't have the "big picture" stuff established already (neither story nor technology). From that perspective, it's incredible that AC3 turned out as well as it did. I hope this is a lesson to Ubisoft.

 

[NinjaFridge]

The one-year cycle for games this size isn't sustainable, especially when you completely revamp the underlying technology. It worked for ACB and ACR because they already had the technology and story arc in place from AC1, and they had the history and character in place from AC2. Both AC1 and AC2 had been in development for a good long while before ACB and ACR began. So compartmentalizing the systems within different studios for ACB and ACR was doable. The "big picture" stuff was already established, so they could focus on small scale development and design, and still end up with a polished and coherent final product.

But doing all of that from scratch and still keeping the annual cycle is just not humanly possible. AC3 didn't have the "big picture" stuff established already (neither story nor technology). From that perspective, it's incredible that AC3 turned out as well as it did. I hope this is a lesson to Ubisoft.

Haven't they been working on this since just after AC2. This game didn't have a 1 year cycle.

 

[I'm an expert]

Haven't they been working on this since just after AC2. This game didn't have a 1 year cycle.

Yep, bout 3.

 

[Petrichor]

I know, right?
I mean, he finishes his personal war (which was an awesome cutscene), but how much injustice did he really stop?

his personal war against who? What did charles lee actually do to him to merit conor's actions?

His story doesn't make any sense.

 

[PowderedToast]

they set a 2012 deadline for the desmond story, hope it was worth it for them

 

[conman]

Haven't they been working on this since just after AC2. This game didn't have a 1 year cycle.

Not saying this game took a year to make, simply that it took a year to release after the last one. And there are some things (story and mechanics-wise) that can't be done until after major elements of the prior game have been set in stone.

Keep in mind also that they used a lot of the same studios and creative personnel from the other AC games. With the way Ubisoft runs the development of these AC games, it's so compartmentalized that they end up doing an "assembly line" approach where different studios handle small pieces of the games as each goes through production. Different studios roll in and out of production as each game's production scales up and down.

Look at CoD as a point of comparison. Those re-use a lot of the same assets year to year, and those are handled by two totally different groups that function as coherent mega-studio "units." Even though they're on a "yearly cycle," they take two years to produce (longer if you count initial pre-production and early creative phases). But what Ubisoft is doing for AC is totally different.

So the "yearly release cycle" is a massive crunch regardless of the fact that the actual development cycle is longer than that. And unlike CoD or Madden, AC3 decided to rebuild the series' core tech and tools. Insanely ambitious. No one does that. This needed more time. Another year at least. Maybe even better hardware. Would have been a great way to kick off the new console cycle next year.

 

[SpaceBridge]

I think I missed a tutorial but how do you activate eagle vision ?

 

[rataven]

Oh Ubisoft. There is no info more useless to know via the HUD than the amount of pounds sterling Connor has, yet it's the only element you can't turn off. It's actually more annoying to see that lone tiny icon at the bottom of the screen than the entire display.

his personal war against who? What did charles lee actually do to him to merit conor's actions?

His story doesn't make any sense.

Connor assumed Charles Lee

Spoiler

set fire to his village, killing his mother.