I can just leave my zones in conflict forever? The only negative is that there are templar patrols now in all my cleared zones. Makes it like a full scale battle sometimes.
I go back and forth on hating this game. Also PS3 version runs like poo.
I've got to say I agree.
After the first mandatory tower defense segment I never wanted to play one again.
I just synced every viewpoint and left my zones in conflict for the entirety of the game.
I think I commented on it earlier but I hate the new facial designs as well.
At least the book/key recovery segments were fun and the ending was decent.
I thought AC2 was great (though the main quest felt too long/bloated) and Brotherhood (so far ~20 hours in) appears to be an improvement. Sounds like Revelations is a step backwards?
I thought AC2 was great (though the main quest felt too long/bloated) and Brotherhood (so far ~20 hours in) appears to be an improvement. Sounds like Revelations is a step backwards?
Personally, I think Revelations is the best. I just beat it last night, and I loved it. The tone of it as well as the characters are simply much better done. I guess I can understand the hatred for Tower Defense, but it didn't bother me at all. In fact, I kinda had fun. I only had to do it 5-6 times before I had a Master Assassin at each Den protecting them, but I never lost one. They give you lots of variety to use, and the trick is to ignore them---Greek Fire Barricade, Riflemen and 2 Caltrop guys and you will win every time no problem. I can't say much more other than if you liked the previous AC entries, you'll probably like this one too.
I thought AC2 was great (though the main quest felt too long/bloated) and Brotherhood (so far ~20 hours in) appears to be an improvement. Sounds like Revelations is a step backwards?
It's less that Revelations is a step backwards and more that it's "Brotherhood with an extra thing that sorta sucks". Everything that kicked ass about Brohood is still there.
Can anyone add some light as to what assigning assassins in the mini game to do each city they are assigned to? Does it reduce the control erosion, make missions easier, or increase maximum control %?
mission but now that I'm past it, everything is hunky dory.
Playing in 3D with depth/strength at 10. Love it. Sure there's hiccups and tearing every now and then but I'm playing my 4th AC game on the PS3... if I didn't expect that, someone would have had to take me out with a hidden blade.
Anyway, the 3D makes me not want to play it normal at all. Climbing towers and making leaps has never looked more impressive. Dat viewpoints.
Started today, played for about an hour. Really liking it so far. Hopefully the tower defense stuff everybody has been talking about won't sour the game for me completely.
I really don't like Subject 16. They should have kept him offscreen and mysterious.
Then again, the character of Subject 16 can be taken as a sort of stale green light. Conspiracy stories never stay great once questions start getting answered.
I really don't like Subject 16. They should have kept him offscreen and mysterious.
Then again, the character of Subject 16 can be taken as a sort of stale green light. Conspiracy stories never stay great once questions start getting answered.
The notion of a guy trapped in the animus, exposed to huge amounts of the bleeding effect, and ultimately going a little insane is conceptually strong.
He just doesn't have enough screen time to let his character breath, so he just comes off as weird and forced.
None of that enhances the gameplay for me. I am not interested in more of these undercooked missions or laughable "puzzles." The design has been reduced to a small variety of missions (if I have to tail one more person, things will not end well) while the core gameplay has been reduced like some kind of fine sauce. How in the world didn't they notice that Eagle Sense has become their answer for everything?
The actual gameplay needs very serious enhancements. I am not interested in incremental changes to the existing formula. And there are many here.
Explain Den Defense however you like. It's uninspired, perfunctory "we need to add something here" crap.
I never said it did. The game feels rushed. I like the concept of many of the elements, including den defense and bomb crafting, but none of them are well-designed or elaborated on enough to make them feel substantial and fun.
I was just saying the criticism of there being 'too much' is a little misrepresentative of the problem. In my opinion, they tried to evolve the formula, didn't have the time to do it properly, and everything feels half-way completed as a result.
Everything at the core of the experience - the cities, the characters, the free-running, the crowd-cover dynamics, the combat, the major assassination missions all still feels incredibly strong. So anybody that likes Assassin's Creed will like this game too. It's just not the strongest entry in the franchise.
So guys, I need your opinion. Amazon is going to have this game for $35 in a few hours and I wanted to know your opinions on if/when I should buy it.
First off, I loved ACII. The facial animations and textures were terrible but everything else was great. I loved the storyline, including the ending, as well as the gameplay. I bought AC:B last Black Friday/Cyber Monday and while I felt the gameplay was improved the storyline was worse. I felt that the only the events in the beginning and end of the game had any real relevance to the overall story of the series. The middle parts were just Ezio frolicking around without any real purpose.
Normally I wouldn't second-guess picking up Revelations, as I really want to finally see some answers, but I have been reading a massive mix of emotions on this game. I pulled up the meta critic and it seems to reflect this. 10 90+ scores, 30 B+ scores, 15 70+ scores, and 3 below 70. To me that says reviewers were very divided. The general consensus is that the tower defense sections aren't very good, the story is about on par with the other games, some character model redesigns seem without reason and a downgrade, and some say gameplay is improved while others say it is worse.
So GAF, help a fellow out. Is it worth $35 on Amazon tonight? Should I wait till Cyber Monday and hope for a better deal? Or, should I just wait till after Christmas where it will be in the $20's. I am a fan of the series but don't want to get feel as if I over-payed compared to the value I get.
The hook blade (aka The New Climbing Glove Animation) feels more forced to me than tower defense (note: I'm not saying I like the den defense stuff, but the concept isn't as superfluous as the hook blade). It's introduced to you like it's a ShamWow or something.
"Say, Ezio, where's your HOOK BLADE? We all use them over here for everything, and we didn't even need a da Vinci to invent it like that super high tech second hidden blade you had."
Then again, putting undue attention on it during its introduction is probably the only way any players will remember the hook blade for more than 30 seconds.
EDIT: I'd say you should grab it. I expected Brotherhood to be a mediocre expansion and it ended up being better than AC2; ACR is just about as mediocre as I had expected Brotherhood to be.
Constantinople looks really cool and is a cool town, but it seems like it has a lot less variety than Rome...Rome had a lot of variety and had more vertical landscapes in places, open fields, farms, forts, ruins, all kind of stuff. Constantinople just seems like one big flat city. It's a cool city, but still seems a little disappointing.
EDIT: Incidentally: I was thinking about this and ACIII. ACIII is presumably going to take place in a new area, with all new assets and new characters, and there's a lot of pressure for it to be different. Seems impossible to get that in year. I wonder if they're not already working hardcore on ACIII, and had to devote a more limited staff to Revelations(as compared to Brotherhood or ACII)? If true, that hopefully says good things about ACIII at least.
This was my least liked AC game. The story I thought was throwaway garbage that did justice to the game's beginnings as a shitty 3DS game. The Altair stuff was frankly boring, short and amounted to very little. The Ezio stuff equally boring and again amounted to nothing.
Third fucking time we go after an apple of eden, are you fucking serious
. Where were the revelations? Everything this game allegedly "reveals" we already knew from AC2. The Desmond stuff was also fucking horrible and the worst out of animus experience in the entire franchise.
Worst city design in the entire series too. Small, forgettable map. This series can't sustain this yearly shit any more. They pulled a minor miracle with Brotherhood, but clearly that was a one-time thing. Now they've screwed themselves with AC3 which has to be released next year no matter what.
Gameplay-wise I'm feeling some serious franchise fatigue, it's the third mainline AC game released in a span of 24 months. That's ridiculous for games of this size. I tried to skip all of the additions, meaning the Den Defense(which is SHIT) and the Mediterranean Defense(I hated leveling up retards in ACB, such a shore, I wasn't gonna do that again). They really need to lean this series and leave all the non-stealth/action crap on the table. Enough of that. Den Defense in particular is GARBAGE, and shit if you "liberate" a tower your status is immediately set to red. One time after I set a tower afire two other dens got invaded within two minutes, before I could kill a witness or bribe anyone. At that point I said fuck it to this shit mechanic.
The one improvement was the visuals, character models are really the best in the series, but overall this engine is really showing its age.
My assessment is to only buy if you are unfortunately already too invested into the franchise. I have some seriously low expectations for AC3, right now it's looking like in a perfect world this whole thing would've been put out to pasture after Desilets left.
I finished Brotherhood about an hour before I started Revelations, and I was pretty surprised with the graphical improvements. Although it feels like there aren't quite as many people walking around on the streets and the city's smaller (and it feels like there are fewer wide open areas). I'm finding moving to be more responsive, too.
I finished Brotherhood about an hour before I started Revelations, and I was pretty surprised with the graphical improvements. Although it feels like there aren't quite as many people walking around on the streets and the city's smaller (and it feels like there are fewer wide open areas). I'm finding moving to be more responsive, too.
I was really disappointed that they ditched any semblance of countryside in the game. No horsies at all. I'm more convinced than ever that the reason Brotherhood turned out good was because part of the game was ditched/unfinished content from AC2. They already had some stuff done before they started production on the game properly.
I actually am glad horses aren't in here, but I might be in the minority here. Always seemed to make the FPS tank, and in Brohood that whole wide open area was my least favorite section.
I've gotta say, I don't really enjoy tower defense games at all, but den defense didn't bother me one bit, once I got past the first couple. It's so easy that it's kinda hard to hate. Having to run to the den to start it up sucks, though.
I'm still not sure how I feel about the lack of huge open areas, I kind of missed it and kind of didn't. In Rome sometimes it was cool in a "waaa, this huge open field!" way but in retrospect it was also boring having to cross open spaces with nothing, walking near a cliff trying to find a point where you could go up it for a single treasure chest, etc. Good thing about Constantinople is that at all moments I was climbing things and it never took long to get to the next point of interest in the map.
This was my least liked AC game. The story I thought was throwaway garbage that did justice to the game's beginnings as a shitty 3DS game. The Altair stuff was frankly boring, short and amounted to very little. The Ezio stuff equally boring and again amounted to nothing.
Third fucking time we go after an apple of eden, are you fucking serious
. Where were the revelations? Everything this game allegedly "reveals" we already knew from AC2. The Desmond stuff was also fucking horrible and the worst out of animus experience in the entire franchise.
Worst city design in the entire series too. Small, forgettable map. This series can't sustain this yearly shit any more. They pulled a minor miracle with Brotherhood, but clearly that was a one-time thing. Now they've screwed themselves with AC3 which has to be released next year no matter what.
Gameplay-wise I'm feeling some serious franchise fatigue, it's the third mainline AC game released in a span of 24 months. That's ridiculous for games of this size. I tried to skip all of the additions, meaning the Den Defense(which is SHIT) and the Mediterranean Defense(I hated leveling up retards in ACB, such a shore, I wasn't gonna do that again). They really need to lean this series and leave all the non-stealth/action crap on the table. Enough of that. Den Defense in particular is GARBAGE, and shit if you "liberate" a tower your status is immediately set to red. One time after I set a tower afire two other dens got invaded within two minutes, before I could kill a witness or bribe anyone. At that point I said fuck it to this shit mechanic.
The one improvement was the visuals, character models are really the best in the series, but overall this engine is really showing its age.
My assessment is to only buy if you are unfortunately already too invested into the franchise. I have some seriously low expectations for AC3, right now it's looking like in a perfect world this whole thing would've been put out to pasture after Desilets left.
You realize that same mechanic was in Brotherhood too, right? If for some reason you were unable to kill the Borgia captains, or they ran off, you would have to wait for a guard change.
Sums it up for me also. How can a game like this not have a crouch or cover mechanic? I'm not asking them to turn it into a Gears or Uncharted clone but it would really help with the stealth.
Totally disagree with you there. Rome is still my least favorite, simply because it felt so familiar to Italy, only with less of the variation that we saw from city-to-city in Assassin's Creed 2.
Constantinople has a flavor all it's own, a wonderful mix of the Middle East, Europe and Asia all in one melting pot.
Ubi Montreal is massive so it's entirely possible if not likely that they've had large splinter teams working on Brotherhood and Revelations while a smaller team has been behind the curtain toiling away at a fully-fledged sequel in the form of AC3.
If you have lv15 assassin masters at all the dens, is it still possible to play the tower defense game? The assignment lists says I need to play at least 3 games of tower defense, so should I complete this before assigning lv15 assassins to all the dens?
Actually I found that my level 15 assassin's completed this challenge for me automatically. I went the entire game only doing 1 extra den defense outside of the mandatory one, and I failed that one miserably. When I checked my Assassin's challenge progress later on, I had already completed that one.
Why? They began working on AC1 after Sands of Time came out. A small team could've been working on the high level concepts and broad strokes of AC3 after AC2.
Totally disagree with you there. Rome is still my least favorite, simply because it felt so familiar to Italy, only with less of the variation that we saw from city-to-city in Assassin's Creed 2.
Constantinople has a flavor all it's own, a wonderful mix of the Middle East, Europe and Asia all in one melting pot.
I can't believe how split people are on this game. Kinda crazy. This is the first AC in a long time I felt like replaying after finishing just for particular moments that moved me. I can think of a few things plot-wise I would've liked to see done better, but I can say that of all the AC games (especially Brotherhood).
However, I still really don't give a shit about Desmond. No clue why...he does nothing for me.
The hook blade (aka The New Climbing Glove Animation) feels more forced to me than tower defense (note: I'm not saying I like the den defense stuff, but the concept isn't as superfluous as the hook blade). It's introduced to you like it's a ShamWow or something.
"Say, Ezio, where's your HOOK BLADE? We all use them over here for everything, and we didn't even need a da Vinci to invent it like that super high tech second hidden blade you had."
Then again, putting undue attention on it during its introduction is probably the only way any players will remember the hook blade for more than 30 seconds.
EDIT: I'd say you should grab it. I expected Brotherhood to be a mediocre expansion and it ended up being better than AC2; ACR is just about as mediocre as I had expected Brotherhood to be.
I think players don't under how it's used. The hookblade allows you to climb a LOT faster. You can jump vertically while climbing, much higher than the basic vertical jump introduced in AC2 by the thief girl.
AND it allows for forward lunging using the lamp thingies, again making travel faster.
AND it can be used to steal from guards during combat.
AND it gives you an extra length to avoid falling down into the street when jumping.
Also, another thing people don't comment on which has been fixed and which people were always complaining about (I had no issue because I understood the controls well) is that you no longer jump off backward and fall to your death when pressing up + jump, he will actually jump up.
The hookblade is pretty much THE addition to the game that I felt worked really well, it just needed more polish animation-wise.
Why? They began working on AC1 after Sands of Time came out. A small team could've been working on the high level concepts and broad strokes of AC3 after AC2.
Still deciding on my feelings towards Constantinople as a whole, but I can say the Hagia Sophia is easily my favorite landmark in an AC game. The whole area is breathtaking and lovingly created.
Jett be wrong about Constantinople. Probably the most diverse city in any of the games. Every area also feels really unique. I can tell where I am at just by looking around. Couldn't say the same for when I was in Rome, Venice, or Florence (even though they were visually distinct from each other).
Also, the hookblade is a huge addition. EtherSnake forgot to include probably my favorite new feature wit it- The Hook & Run/Throw. I kinda wish they allowed you to use it more freely in combat though.
Don't really see what purpose a crouch or cover button would have in an AC game. You'd pretty much have to completely change the style of the game around to include it.
Don't know much about how these online passes work, but the fine print on the uplay passport card reads 'such contents may only be unlocked one single time with a unique key'
Actually I found that my level 15 assassin's completed this challenge for me automatically. I went the entire game only doing 1 extra den defense outside of the mandatory one, and I failed that one miserably. When I checked my Assassin's challenge progress later on, I had already completed that one.
I can't believe how split people are on this game. Kinda crazy. This is the first AC in a long time I felt like replaying after finishing just for particular moments that moved me. I can think of a few things plot-wise I would've liked to see done better, but I can say that of all the AC games (especially Brotherhood).
However, I still really don't give a shit about Desmond. No clue why...he does nothing for me.
Jett be wrong about Constantinople. Probably the most diverse city in any of the games. Every area also feels really unique. I can tell where I am at just by looking around. Couldn't say the same for when I was in Rome, Venice, or Florence (even though they were visually distinct from each other).
Also, the hookblade is a huge addition. EtherSnake forgot to include probably my favorite new feature wit it- The Hook & Run/Throw. I kinda wish they allowed you to use it more freely in combat though.
Don't really see what purpose a crouch or cover button would have in an AC game. You'd pretty much have to completely change the style of the game around to include it.
I think being able to move crouched would be really good, as it gives you a great ability to hide in your environment from enemy sight, so less emphasis on the damn hay stacks and such, and not standing up like an idiot when you are trying to be stealthy. Not having that ability just feels so lacking for a game about being an assassin.
Add me to those who don't care about Desmond. I like the Animus idea, reliving memories from people in the past, it's really smart. But the present-day story is what makes the overall story too heavy and it's a lot of useless drama I don't care about. I don't think you have to get rid of the Animus to get rid of a present-day protagonist. A more player-driven approach would work. Basically, yourself instead of Desmond, leaving it to you to put the pieces of the puzzle together in "the present". That way you can have deep "lore" for the game, but if you don't care about it it will remain out of your way.
You have to go to Custom instead of Play Now. It takes you to a menu where you can choose the game type (single, team, simple deathmatch) and the mode. It also tells you the activity level for each mode so you can better determine what most folks are playing (high, moderate, low). It's definitely an improvement from Brotherhood, but you can tell that MP is not Ubi's strong suit still.
My assessment is to only buy if you are unfortunately already too invested into the franchise...right now it's looking like in a perfect world this whole thing would've been put out to pasture after Desilets left.
I agree with your post, especially these bits. I know some people love Brotherhood, but AC2 is without question the high point in the series so far IMHO. It's not perfect, but it had vision. ACR really really does not. Feels very cheap, like a bad TV movie.
Started this up yesterday, love it so far. Bought all the stores, captured all the dens and even raised all the master assassins I can at this point and I just got to the bomb making part. Got some Guild master armor and a sweet axe, sword and dagger from the assassin dens. Only had the started 1st 2 armor items before I got the best stuff. Working on the landmarks now. Guess I gotta advance the story to get the last lookout point and lock up the last den.
