Did patches improve the framerate on PS3? I played this game last night after not having played in months and it seemed ... smoother?
Which is one of the reasons I roll my eyes at the individuals who trash the game in that regard in every new AC thread. 15fps? Come on, son. Keep proving you haven't played it. (Talking to a ficticious poster there haha)
This game was lent to me by a friend, and I'm going to return it. I'm relatively early on with Connor, but the amount of fluff this game throws at you from the start is extremely unappealing. I actively dislike this game, which is a shame because the initial information sounded really appealing (Assassins + Native Americans + U.S. History + Red Dead Redemption).
What we got is a bloated mess. So many of these missions revolve around running from checkpoint to checkpoint. Anvil really shines in animation - climbing has never looked so good - but as a consequence we've been given flash with little substance. So, you're given a checkpoint to travel to and your options are: ride a horse (which is boring), run along (which is boring and slow), freerun and hold the trigger (which is boring but at least looks cool). The wilderness is astounding. It's really beautiful to walk through, and despite some sharp angles, running through the trees is just as beautiful as I had hoped. And yet...so little gameplay. Why aren't we stocking more enemies in the trees? Or using the wilderness as cover? Even stalking prey could have been fun, but we have paper-thin AI and buggy navigation coding leading everyone from Sam Adams to a hapless deer running into shit repeatedly. Immersion breaking, and unforgiveable for a game with this much anticipation. Ubisoft has shown with this series that they care more about their yearly revenue than QA and game design.
Initially, it does seem bloated and I felt the same way once upon a time. But upon completetion, with no backlog, plenty of time to dedicate to it and a bias born from in-laws who are American Rev war reenactors, I discovered the amazing in the post-game cleanup that has gone unnoticed by those who have dismissed it because of the technical issues and bloat. Doing the club assignments, the forts (especially stealthily), the naval missions, collect-a-thons, and homestead missions really added depth and a game to the game, in a fun way.
Hunting QTEs are terrible, but attacking from above makes up for it. They have responded to the criticism of the waypoint markers and the distance and time between them saying they regret not having more fast travel points but also still wanted players to see the beauty of the frontier. In the GW DLC, they address it by letting you pick the next story point and fast travel you directly to the mission start prompt. The bugs I've seen just as often and just as batshit crazy in RDR.
Don't even get me started on this plot. This has the most boring intro to an AAA game since Twilight Princess, the difference being that Twilight Princess eventually stops barraging you with tutorials. The gamer sits idly as Desmond, Haytham, and Connor are all reminded of the Precursors - as if we haven't heard this drivel hundreds of times by now. This is a script that has no respect for its audience - "hello, Connor, we've appeared to you as an eagle because your people really relate to eagles," "I'm a guy with a limp named Achilles," "Just pretend you're italian in the city and people won't notice your obvious native american garb." It just makes my head hurt. In Adam Sessler's review of DmC, he viciously attacked the narrative for dropping the series' tongue in cheek attitude and replacing substance with explosions. In my opinion, ACIII is an even bigger offender - cherry picking moments from the Revolutionary War that students learned about in elementary school and throwing Connor there, while ignoring the racism of the era, or even fully exploring native american history. Which isn't to say they hadn't maimed the history in previous games, but having it so close to home hurts even more. Django Unchained, flawed as it was, at least had the decency to explore new avenues of the era, with a sense of humor to boot. In the end, I'm amazed this series chugs along - it obviously has suffered from too many cooks in the kitchen. There are gameplay systems in place, minus the fun gameplay. There are remnants of a good story hidden behind layers and layers of crap. Alright, rant over.
I have a hard time nitpicking these things since they're easily understandable to me. The eagle has represented the assassin's since the original. With the exception of Connor, even the protags' names loosely mean eagle in some form. Given Connor's lineage and his people's tendency to speak of spirit guides and animal guides, of course it makes sense.
If I'm not mistaken, weren't there folks in the colonies who dressed in Native American garb?
They have gone on record saying that we know so much about the era, that it would have been disappointing not thrusting players in the middle of some of the most important, most intersting and most well known moments of history and the era. Could have handled some of it better and added more but... I enjoyed what I played, at least. And they hint at racism at the end almost as if they were setting up a sequel but alas... My wish doesn't seem to be coming true.
As someone who loves the game more than most, I respect this rant compared to the drivel I've seen since launch.
Something has been bugging me since I finished this game. I may have missed something but...it seemed like Haytham had no idea about Connor's existence in the beginning of Connor's story but at some point (off screen, it would seem) he learns about him and isn't surprised to meet him.
Was there a scene I missed? I did play some of the game on the GamePad which means I had the sound off and probably paid no attention to a few cutscenes so I could have missed the reveal but as of now...I'm confused.
I need to check, but I could have sworn there was some sort of reveal. They kept it small because they didn't want the dramatics of the "I'm your father/son" trope.