I play this most of the day yesterday and I think it's my favorite AC yet. I love the setting and the frontier. I can't imagine carving Red coats up with a tomahawk is going to get old.
It does have the longest tutorial I've ever played. I don't think it opens up till at least sequence 5 after like 6 hours. Who thought that was a good idea?
Also, did I miss the tutorial or explanation for the Assassin missions? I swear they never even mentioned that at any point in the game. I just happened to notice the "Press X" prompt in the Assassin menu like 20 hours into the game.
After all of the context they gave those missions in Brotherhood, I wonder why they half-assed it so much in this game.
Nope, there really is very little said about how to manage your assassin recruits.
The way this game prioritizes it's systems is a mess. The first 4 to 6 hours of the game are spent going over the basics like eagle vision, eavesdropping, tailing targets, etc. which are all series mainstays and easy enough to grasp for newbies. But then when it comes to explaining it's more complex systems like the economy, or how to manage your recruits, barely a tutorial is given.
I felt the same way for the first 10-15 hours or so. It helps that I really like the setting.
It was around the point where Connor grew up and started going on his real missions that things started to fall apart for me. Context largely went out the window and the story started to devolve into nonsense and absurdity.
Then you start discovering how many pointless systems there are that go completely unexplained and you have to wonder if this project even had a director or any kind of oversight.
I don't think the game is great, and I think it's even quite bad in many ways, but I still love it for the setting and lavish production values. I played it on the PC and it's the most visually impressive game for me this year. I just love running around the streets of Boston and meandering about the Frontier.
I'm just disappointed at how much potential for greatness they completely squandered, both inside the Animus and with the Desmond stuff.
Well that's disappointing to hear. I'm just reaching the point where Connor has grown up so it seems like the game is going to take a dive at this point. Ah well, I've already put in a good 10 hours, which is longer than many other games, and have had a blast. Heck, I finished Sleeping Dogs, also an open world game, in just 14 hours.
Still, games are not judged by the hours you've put into it and losing momentum can definitely tarnish an experience overall. Sad to hear that the game takes a dive off a cliff.
Well that's disappointing to hear. I'm just reaching the point where Connor has grown up so it seems like the game is going to take a dive at this point. Ah well, I've already put in a good 10 hours, which is longer than many other games, and have had a blast. Heck, I finished Sleeping Dogs, also an open world game, in just 14 hours.
Still, games are not judged by the hours you've put into it and losing momentum can definitely tarnish an experience overall. Sad to hear that the game takes a dive off a cliff.
Honestly, I would not say it takes such a dive. It just does not keep that 'holy shit awesome' feeling from the start. I liked a lot of parts of it more than previous entries, the boat stuff is so much fun.
Asked this question before but I didn't get an answer.
But are the multiplayer characters in the single player? In the past games the mutliplayer characters were templars and were part of a mission, but I haven't found any of them yet. Anybody find them?
What if... now I may be reaching... but what if severe changes were made because of the "murica fuck yeah" comments? That may explain the disjointed narrative and plot.
I mean what else explains this (besides a new engine and trying to fit too much)?
The more I play, the more I'm disappointed. The character's heritage, the setting, the players, the series' pedigree... How do you mess that up?
What if... now I may be reaching... but what if severe changes were made because of the "murica fuck yeah" comments? That may explain the disjointed narrative and plot.
I mean what else explains this (besides a new engine and trying to fit too much)?
The more I play, the more I'm disappointed. The character's heritage, the setting, the players, the series' pedigree... How do you mess that up?
Might just be because of some different writers or some such. I know at least 1 of them does not show as returning from AC2 to AC3. It certainly is bizzare, but out of the 4 games released prior to AC3, only AC2 had a plot significant enough for me to care about. Brotherhood and Revelations were fun, and the worlds were cool, but they did not try anything unique with their storylines. Perhaps this one did indeed fall apart because of them trying too hard with the setting more people are familiar with.
I felt the same way for the first 10-15 hours or so. It helps that I really like the setting.
It was around the point where Connor grew up and started going on his real missions that things started to fall apart for me. Context largely went out the window and the story started to devolve into nonsense and absurdity.
There was actually a brief moment of Connor when I was all in... when they were introducing the tree climbing, the hunting, the huge frontier started really opening up. For a brief flicker I thought 'yay sweet.'
The more I think of AC3, though, the more my biggest problem is mission design. This game really choked the chicken for mission design. They are some of the least interesting and laziest designed missions in the entire series. And some of the sidequests have been stripped of all personality - assassination quests are pointless as shit.
In past AC games, we had amazing challenge tomb missions, tons of memorable missions with unique design and unique landscapes that required fairly well distributed combinations of platforming and combat and sneaking, but here it's so often just forgettable. Shit even the missions that COULD have been amazing were stripped of power by lazy design:
The one battle mission where you have to get across the battle field is really just a "run between a few rocks and then climb a tree to assassinate the guy mission." Some of the other Revolutionary War battle missions were similarly lazy: sit around and bomb people with your cannon in the most repetitive, tedious fashion, then run across town. I mean, this is the best they have! Remember how cool the Carnival mission in AC2 was, by comparison? And that wasn't even a particularly GREAT mission in AC2... Argh!
I really hope they choose a setting with cities that are actually filled with recognizable landmarks, have far better interconnected designs that make roof travel the preferred method and fix the hide system *(add disguise plz).
When you play an amazingly designed city that is perfect for assassin roof travel like Venice and then go back to a city like Boston, it hurts. It hurts deep
When you play an amazingly designed city that is perfect for assassin roof travel like Venice and then go back to a city like Boston, it hurts. It hurts deep
Yes. This more than anything. Even Broherhood and Revelations, that were 'yearly' entries, had such amazing cities to climb through. I really hope they go with fan input and make the next entry more like AC2. Like I've said previously Haytham in London could work pretty well. Something inbetween the timeskip in AC3, if they want to keep it relevant and not jump to AC4.
Asked this question before but I didn't get an answer.
But are the multiplayer characters in the single player? In the past games the mutliplayer characters were templars and were part of a mission, but I haven't found any of them yet. Anybody find them?
There was actually a brief moment of Connor when I was all in... when they were introducing the tree climbing, the hunting, the huge frontier started really opening up. For a brief flicker I thought 'yay sweet.'
The more I think of AC3, though, the more my biggest problem is mission design. This game really choked the chicken for mission design. They are some of the least interesting and laziest designed missions in the entire series. And some of the sidequests have been stripped of all personality - assassination quests are pointless as shit.
In past AC games, we had amazing challenge tomb missions, tons of memorable missions with unique design and unique landscapes that required fairly well distributed combinations of platforming and combat and sneaking, but here it's so often just forgettable. Shit even the missions that COULD have been amazing were stripped of power by lazy design:
The one battle mission where you have to get across the battle field is really just a "run between a few rocks and then climb a tree to assassinate the guy mission." Some of the other Revolutionary War battle missions were similarly lazy: sit around and bomb people with your cannon in the most repetitive, tedious fashion, then run across town. I mean, this is the best they have! Remember how cool the Carnival mission in AC2 was, by comparison? And that wasn't even a particularly GREAT mission in AC2... Argh!
hallelujah!
I really hope they choose a setting with cities that are actually filled with recognizable landmarks, have far better interconnected designs that make roof travel the preferred method and fix the hide system *(add disguise plz).
When you play an amazingly designed city that is perfect for assassin roof travel like Venice and then go back to a city like Boston, it hurts. It hurts deep
Listening to the latest Bombcast, it sounds like quite a bit got cut from the game, in what I assume was an effort to get the game out by it's announced date. And it shows! I think that's what upsets me about this game: the lost potential. I tried to do all of the things the game was throwing at me, but it wasn't doing me any favors by accomplishing them.
I had another glimmer of hope once I hit New York and actually felt invigorated to go the extra mile. Burning the pox blankets? Carrying the sick people to get help?? That FELT GOOD! But it only goes against all of the other lazy or unexplained shit. Assassination/courier missions where the only information I'm given is a fucking "Thank you, check your map?" WTF is up with that?! At least the people on the Homestead seemed to appreciate the shit I was doing for them. And that's the most damning things about it: it RARELY felt like I was accomplishing anything. The feedback was terrible.
*breathe*
Keep in mind, I'm NOT hating. I actually love the game...but it's a love despite itself, which makes the fall so much harder.
speaking of which, secondary weapons is really weird for me. Not sure if it's due to restarting a section or desyncing or new sequence or what not, but items just disappear .
Like for some reason i never seem to have any arrows, but I do always remember buying some
In my opinion the best missions are still the primary assassinations of the original. All those characters had some great back story, motivation and there were several ways to go about assassinating them. The rest of the first game wasn't very good though.
The thing I miss the most are the "dungeons" from the previous titles. The underground and the Peg Leg missions have some platforming, puzzle elements but mostly they are far too short and easy. I guess the naval missions make up for this.
The Tea Party once, right?I think that was the point I just said "fuck it" with the optional objectives.
I'm curious how it works, though. You drop the musket if you try to climb anything, and pressing the attack button while jumping from boxes doesn't seem to do anything.
There are 3 shops in Boston, in New York, and on the Frontier. They are indicated by the pound symbol. At them you can sell your skins and meats from hunting (sell a "perfect" skin at each one for a cheeve). You can buy consumable items, alternate weapons, costume recolours, and maps for collectibles at them.
You can craft consumable items at your homestead, as well as special weapons and items not available for purchase at the stores.
Anyone else, NOT able to get this one started? Is it a bug? I've finished the main story, but that shouldn't matter right? Damn, I want that Achilles outfit. Only one worth wearing.
In other bugs, Shard of Eden:
The news box tells me I have it acquired in each and every new map/load screen. Fuuuuggggghh.
Anyone else, NOT able to get this one started? Is it a bug? I've finished the main story, but that shouldn't matter right? Damn, I want that Achilles outfit. Only one worth wearing.
In other bugs, Shard of Eden:
The news box tells me I have it acquired in each and every new map/load screen. Fuuuuggggghh.
Did anyone get their PC edition with the encyclopedia from Ubiworkshop yet? It said they shipped it like tuesday of last week (or updated to say that) but it still says on UPS' site that a label was created but not shipped yet.
Nope, there really is very little said about how to manage your assassin recruits.
The way this game prioritizes it's systems is a mess. The first 4 to 6 hours of the game are spent going over the basics like eagle vision, eavesdropping, tailing targets, etc. which are all series mainstays and easy enough to grasp for newbies. But then when it comes to explaining it's more complex systems like the economy, or how to manage your recruits, barely a tutorial is given.
This particular one annoys me, because while they go over Eagle Vision with Haytham, they never do so with Connor. I spent most of the game assuming that Connor simply hadn't learned to harness/use it. Little did I know that I could have started using Eagle Vision since Connor was a kid playing hide and seek, but because there's not a single prompt or cutscene about him asking what that ability was, I never knew I could use it until I read a post here saying I could do so. Making it so you can't trigger eagle vision unless you're standing perfectly still (but can exit it even while moving) didn't do it any favors either. :/
The closer I get towards the end the sloppier this fucking game gets. I know game development is difficult but the sound dropouts and sync problems make the developers look they don't give a shit.
On top of that (Endgame Spoilers)
killing Haytham was as anti-climactic as it gets. Not for story or dialogue reasons, but because the final fight was a total gameplay failure. Just let me fight the motherfucker.
The optional objectives really fucked this game up too in the campaign missions. The last thing the game should be doing is making me feel like I fucked up because I killed 16 men instead of 15. God forbid you do you'll have a giant splotch of red text with an X on it for the rest of the mission. I enjoy Achievement systems but when a game is constantly giving negative feedback for not finishing a mission exactly according to completely arbitrary specifications you are fucking the game up.
The saddest part is this game has some extremely well done naval missions intercut with this buggy garbage. I'm hitting these extreme highs and then running head first into scripted nonsense that makes me hate the game. Sneaking around and fighting people in this game is fun, just let me do it on my own terms.
As I typed this I saw a horse-drawn cart go right through the front door of the house my current mission objective is in.
ETA: They patched this game twice and the main character of the series still has a giant god damn pyramid coming out of his back
Nope. It's a bug that Ubi acknowledged and we assumed was going to be fixed with the first patch, but I haven't seen anything about it in the patch notes.
Completed this on PC. Took 18 hours.
Game does a lazy job in explaining thing. I completed the game without crafting any of the special items, without recruiting anyone expect the mandatory one and still don't know how to recruit a guy. Don't know how to get outfits show up on basements and all.
Terrible directing I would say. Its all becoz they fired(or he left) Desilets.
Did all the brawling missions, couldn't find the last location, had to youtube a video to find the location.
Finish the tournament.
No rewards.
btw: for that air assassination with musket, on that level, if you stand at the top of the plank from the ship to the pier, you can do a 'low' air assassination on a dude. It's pretty weird, but it worked. Could never get the game to register a push guy off the pier right though.
Also, anyone else love it when you are near the end of a multi part mission and finish it, then it pops up red text saying you failed an optional objective that you never seen before?
Same here. I'm aggroing every redcoat this side of the Atlantic for no apparent reason. Incognito or not it doesn't make a difference. Once it starts there is literally no way to end it because (for some idiotic reason I can't comprehend), the guards respawn endlessly and everywhere at once.
This is THE buggiest game I have ever had the misfortune of playing. Wanna hijack templar caravans? Sounds cool right? Nope. The fucking things disappear into the void randomly. I've dropped through the world more times than I can count. My horse has disappeared from under me, permanently lodging me into the trunk of a large tree. I've cleared an entire fort only for them to all respawn 5 secs later.
I can go on and on and not even touch upon my qualms with performance issues/design choices.
What a shame. AC:B was one of my favorite games in the last 5 years, but Ubisoft Montreal/Shanghai/Algeria/Timbuktu has now lost my confidence and my patronage (as far as AC goes anyhow).
Shhhh. Don't say that too loudly. The few people who haven't had serious bugs might think you're "crazy" or "exaggerating."
But, yeah. It's amazing to me that the press has been almost totally silent on the insane levels of bugginess in AC3, and as a result, Ubisoft isn't feeling much pressure to do anything or say anything about it. Ubi's just trying to get through the shopping season without much hubbub. And the media outlets are playing silently along--unintentionally or not.
This may not be the buggiest game ever made, but it's certainly the buggiest big budget game ever made.
btw: for that air assassination with musket, on that level, if you stand at the top of the plank from the ship to the pier, you can do a 'low' air assassination on a dude. It's pretty weird, but it worked. Could never get the game to register a push guy off the pier right though.
I played through the PC version, and while I saw plenty of bugs, jank, and general weirdness, I never really encountered anything too insane. Sure, I fell through the world a few times and some NPCs got stuck, but it wasn't at the level of a lot of posters who played the console versions.
Question: I am new to this series, I was wondering if I miss the mission objectives (get a bunch of red x marks) does it change something in the progression of the game?
and can I go back and try them again? I've searched and seems I can only retry my last save point.
Question: I am new to this series, I was wondering if I miss the mission objectives (get a bunch of red x marks) does it change something in the progression of the game?
and can I go back and try them again? I've searched and seems I can only retry my last save point.
