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Assassin's Creed Syndicate |OT| Once more unto the glitch

SentryDown

Member
So, overall, how does this game compare to Unity and AC2? In terms of gameplay rather than performance, since I'm on PC.

Better than Unity for sure. I'm not sure how I could answer to the AC2 question, the series has gone so far over the years. Okay people loved it for many reasons but I feel like most of these reasons became a common thing nowadays such as great reconsistution, fluid parkour, etc etc
 
God damn Jesper Kyd is the GOAT composer. It's amazing how much of the ambiance of AC2 is tied up in his music, I'm immediately transported back not just to Venice but also that mind-space of mystery, of desperately trying to find those glyphs to get another glimpse of the 'ones who came before', of the feeling that there's some grand plan in place and all would be revealed in time. That feeling is never coming back, is it?

Yeah, there were parts of AC2 that were just downright creepy to me. Especially The Truth puzzles.
 

jorgejjvr

Member
Gaf, if I loved black flag will I like this game? Are there ships involved?

Is it really legitimately good as per your impressions?

Story? (only care about the past)

Characters?

Music?

Game play?

Etc

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
 

AdaWong

Junior Member
Gaf, if I loved black flag will I like this game? Are there ships involved?

Is it really legitimately good as per your impressions?

Story? (only care about the past)

Characters?

Music?

Game play?

Etc

For the first question, they're different as the focus with BF is on the pirate/ship stuff while this one does not have any ships, but it introduces the two-protagonist and zipline mechanics which are fun.

For your other questions... Read a review? lol
 

jorgejjvr

Member
For the first question, they're different as the focus with BF is on the pirate/ship stuff while this one does not have any ships, but it introduces the two-protagonist and zipline mechanics which are fun.

For your other questions... Read a review? lol
I have, but I don't trust them too much, I was looking for gaf/player feedback

Is it good?
 
Can anyone tell me what exactly happened with this mission? Spoilers for the first mission you get from the "C" icon follow:

So I guess I tracked the guy down. Halfway through what I presume is the final fight he countered me twice and then I was no longer able to do any attacks. I threw a smoke bomb which stunned him but still I couldn't perform any attacks but he could attack me. I switched to throwing knives and after throwing two he just vanished and the mission concluded. Here's a video: https://youtu.be/ehrJGhA5KcA?t=1625

Did I just break the scripting for the mission? How did this play out for other people?

The exact same thing happened to me.

I have no idea what happened
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Was Unity actually fixed on PS4? I normally buy the last year AC version when the new one comes out but I'm not sure this time with all the news about bad performance...

I JUST started playing Unity on PS4 after getting it on sale super cheap last month on a deep PSN sale. With the many patches it received over the last year I can say I have seen absolutely no glitches or bugs yet and the framerate has been relatively close to 30, even with massive crowds. Granted I am only up to Sequence 4(of 10 or so?) with about 17% of side activities completed, so plenty of game left to prove me wrong eventually, but so far it really does seem very much cleaned up. (Jankiness of traversal is still a major problem though as Arno often still doesn't quite move where I direct him during parkour or gets hung up in geometry)

Unity looks stunning and the detail is exquisite as I am regularly blown away by various aesthetic niceties both small and large throughout my time playing thus far. That said, the core plot and progression has been pretty weak and forgettable thus far. The Romeo & Juliet-esque primary plotline taking place between the protagonist and his love interest is not really grabbing me(Arno is a weird mix between the confident and devil-may-care Ezio and the annoying prat Altair of AC1 and I am just not really intrigued by his tale).

Even worse, the French Revolution as a backdrop feels wasted amidst the poorly structured "Assassin/Templar war" which sadly in the franchise STILL just feels entirely cartoonish, with the Templars standing in as nothing more than the puppet-masters behind ALL that is corrupt and illicit in the world. Templars are one-dimensional monsters that just perform the most heinous of crimes for the sake of power and greed and seem to just revel in it, laughing and twisting their waxed mustaches. If there is some inhumane atrocity being committed, you can guarantee the Templars are the cause and the world is too dumb to recognize it outside of the Assassins. (How the fuck is this a "hidden" war anyway??)

That said, I do love the density of the crowds in Unity, Paris just looks and feels alive with so many patrons just existing in the world. Some of the missions are surprisingly forward-thinking in allowing the player to actively approach completing them in a semi-non-linear fashion(finally!). Some side-missions are also a bit creative(while plenty are snooze-worthy all the same). It's seemingly hardly as bad as the industry made the game out to be, but it still suffers from some real problems that has more to do with the franchise at large rather than exclusively to this game.
 

Cleve

Member
I'm just chiming in to say that I'm enjoying Syndicate in a way I didn't enjoy unity. I like the protagonists/story arc more, the gameplay feels better, and there aren't some of the insane frame drops Unity had.

It's still an assassin's creed game and riddled with bugs, but none of them have been more than a laugh for me at this point.

She is the character playing the "assassin's creed/pieces of eden" part in the game, for me she is the main character, I don't touch Jacob outside the forced missions, Jacob for me is a funny/douche sidekick at best.

Even as the douchey sidekick I find his interactions with evie enjoyable. Jacob alone has a far more enjoyable personality compared to Dorian, and I think their interactions add enough that I'm glad he's there.
 
It'd be nice if the crafting menu told you what the level requirements are, I just spent a ton of money crafting stuff that I can't actually equip yet lol.

Really enjoying this so far. I bounced off Unity after just two hours but this has been great. I'm surprised at how much fun all the main and side missions are, I'm not sure if it's just the increased mobility or if there's actually more variation but I'm having a blast. Almost nothing so far has felt like lazy filler.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
You people disappoint me in that you all seem to have forgotten the best theme in the series.

Kyd is still the greatest, no question. I like how gritty and gloomy his first AC score is, really interesting.

His Venice themes for ACII are second to none, such a magical atmosphere he created. Playing in Venice felt like being in a fairytale of sorts, amazing stuff.

WwtgQfh.jpg

Sanctuary is my favourite. Running the Venice rooftops in the moonlight, fireworks going off, festival in the streets, this track in the background.

Man, what a game.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Bums me out because it's not even on the score. Though that's definitely Lorne Balfe's work.
Kyd is still the greatest, no question. I like how gritty and gloomy his first AC score is, really interesting.

His Venice themes for ACII are second to none, such a magical atmosphere he created. Playing in Venice felt like being in a fairytale of sorts, amazing stuff.



Sanctuary is my favourite. Running the Venice rooftops in the moonlight, fireworks going off, festival in the streets, this track in the background.

Man, what a game.
All you're doing is making me miss Kyd. This style fits the series so well.
 
The "look out the window" button is so great. Wish you could turn the camera, though. (Also wish there were a HUD quick toggle, or a straight photo mode.)
 

iTehDroiD

Neo Member
Big AC Fan here (got every platin trophy in each game). I played and loved every AC game except Unity . I don't think it was bad but I just didn't have much fun playing it. Definitely picking Syndicate up but my question is, are sidequests now relevant and fun again? I loved doing all of them in Black Flag for the money I needed to upgrade my ship, but in Unity they were pretty useless.

AC4, AC2 and Brotherhood are my favorites btw.
 

Sid

Member
Played for ~2 hours and WTF, the game's actually good.The only thing which I don't like are the janky animations, time to see how well the game quality holds up from here.
 

gossi

Member
Big AC Fan here (got every platin trophy in each game). I played and loved every AC game except Unity . I don't think it was bad but I just didn't have much fun playing it. Definitely picking Syndicate up but my question is, are sidequests now relevant and fun again? I loved doing all of them in Black Flag for the money I needed to upgrade my ship, but in Unity they were pretty useless.

AC4, AC2 and Brotherhood are my favorites btw.

Yes! The side quests are reworked. All side quests are now tied to major characters in the game, all historical figures (e.g. Darwin, Dickens). All have good, clearly marked, rewards, and plot threads running through them.

In terms of say Brotherhood, you also have areas to conquer and gangs to assemble who you can recruit for missions. You can tell them to kill, hold, they will join you in carriages and shoot from them etc.

I'm 10 hours into the game and it's a real return to form for the series.
 

Davide

Member
God damn Jesper Kyd is the GOAT composer. It's amazing how much of the ambiance of AC2 is tied up in his music, I'm immediately transported back not just to Venice but also that mind-space of mystery, of desperately trying to find those glyphs to get another glimpse of the 'ones who came before', of the feeling that there's some grand plan in place and all would be revealed in time. That feeling is never coming back, is it?
Been looking for this since 2010. The closest I've come to any of the ambience of the game is walking around Novigrad in The Witcher with "Merchants of Novigrad".

But yeah, The Truth was awesome in a time when people could still care about the lore. I was really disappointed in George Washington in ACIII.
 

dEvAnGeL

Member
Im trying hard to finish Unity before this comes out on PC but the gameplay is probably the worst of the series and I've played them all but rogue, i can hardly feel i have control of arno, fighting feels so disjointed, game runs great on PC now but the game as a whole is not fun at all, i just hope that all the good things you guys are writing about syndicate are true, i was gonna get it day 1 on ps4 but i wanted to finish unity on PC before playing this one but I don't think i can
 

iTehDroiD

Neo Member
Yes! The side quests are reworked. All side quests are now tied to major characters in the game, all historical figures (e.g. Darwin, Dickens). All have good, clearly marked, rewards, and plot threads running through them.

In terms of say Brotherhood, you also have areas to conquer and gangs to assemble who you can recruit for missions. You can tell them to kill, hold, they will join you in carriages and shoot from them etc.

I'm 10 hours into the game and it's a real return to form for the series.

Awesome to hear that. Been very excited for every AC game, but not a single bit for this one after Unity since it looked like Unity in London.
Now I'm extremely excited again, thanks :)

Will be picking this up around the holidays then, still got plenty other games on my list.
 
Funny. How are you playing with that ring? If I ever get around to the game, I'll have to turn that off immediately. What a horrible, immersion breaking idea.

Combat is tough without the ring. Not because of the ring itself but hiding that HUD element also hides level information about your enemies which is critical, and also hides prompts about when you're about to get shot from off-screen.
 
Combat is tough without the ring. Not because of the ring itself but hiding that HUD element also hides level information about your enemies which is critical, and also hides prompts about when you're about to get shot from off-screen.

Ugh, really? That fucking sucks. Honestly, that alone is enough to put me off buying this game. Hopefully they patch in more UI options because I actually do want to play this one.
 
Ugh, really? That fucking sucks. Honestly, that alone is enough to put me off buying this game. Hopefully they patch in more UI options because I actually do want to play this one.

Maybe "tough" is the wrong word. Maybe "annoying" is a better word. I didn't struggle much when I had it off. There was just the occasional fight against an unbeatable opponent. I would also learn to just press triangle periodically whenever I found myself in a big brawl. I do hope they patch better HUD display options though.
 

Alienous

Member
They should have went for something softer for the 'threat ring', more wispy (which was how it was in MGS4), instead of the hula-hoop. It does stand out when you notice it, at least in the footage I've seen.
 
What do you do for the character found at the N icon? I went to meet them at Waterloo station (or whatever they have decided to call the big train station in the borough of Southwark) but there was only a short "hey, get rid of the Blighters" talk and nothing else as far as I can tell. No mission, no changes to the map that I can see. I haven't missed anything have I? This series has me terrified of script-breaking bugs.

I had a cutscene where everyone was invisible. Jacob was just a floating gun. I am enjoying it though after skipping Unity last year.

I had one of these as well. Was it in the cut scene righter after defeating the gang boss in Whitechapel?
 
What do you do for the character found at the N icon? I went to meet them at Waterloo station (or whatever they have decided to call the big train station in the borough of Southwark) but there was only a short "hey, get rid of the Blighters" talk and nothing else as far as I can tell. No mission, no changes to the map that I can see. I haven't missed anything have I? This series has me terrified of script-breaking bugs.



I had one of these as well. Was it in the cut scene righter after defeating the gang boss in Whitechapel?

You can start doing hijack missions (and possibly escort ones) for that person and you level up your loyalty with them, I found it a bit confusing as well until I started doing the hijacks.
 

MacBosse

Member
Ok either I'm stupid or the person responsible for the design of the applying of skills is.

Why the hell do I have to;

1. Leave the skill screen
2. Change to the other character
3. Get thrown out of the menu into live action
4. Press start again
5. Go into skill tree again

... just so I can apply skillpoints to the character I wasn't playing at the time?
 

Anko

Member
So a certain quest ended after I dumped someone's ass (the
hypnotist
) in a cell. I then noticed that the cell doors could be opened and thus proceeded to do so, mostly out of curiosity but partly because I wanted to punch him. The prisoner then started to walk out. Seeing that, and remembering the
chicken dance
he made my Evie do, I decided to press circle to manhandle him. What. I can't let him run off, can I? Well, the police officers around then started attacking me, which forced me to retaliate. In the meantime, the ass actually started running for it. He got to the street and started walking like a normal npc. I killed the officers, knocked that ass out and carried him back to his cell but all the officers are dead and the door can't be closed. Whoops. Oh. And his inmate ran for it too. Lol.

Sorry, London. I'd kill him if I could, but it seems you now have to live with him wandering your beautiful streets.
 
What do you do for the character found at the N icon? I went to meet them at Waterloo station (or whatever they have decided to call the big train station in the borough of Southwark) but there was only a short "hey, get rid of the Blighters" talk and nothing else as far as I can tell. No mission, no changes to the map that I can see. I haven't missed anything have I? This series has me terrified of script-breaking bugs.

You can start doing hijack missions (and possibly escort ones) for that person and you level up your loyalty with them, I found it a bit confusing as well until I started doing the hijacks.

Yup that's when the carriage, train & thames hijack/sabotage type missions show up! Same when you go and meet Toppings, fight arenas and races will appear on the map.
 

Fury451

Banned
Damn, you have made my interest for this game skyrocket lol Im gonna hold out and see if any Black Friday deals come up. Thanks!

Definitely worth keeping on your radar. I wouldn't blame anyone for waiting for a sale, but it really is a good use of the concept this time around for sure.
 
I think it's a bad sign that this thread hasn't broken 20 pages yet. Unity did a lot of damage to the franchise + yearly fatigue.

That being said I'm playing my 10 dollar copy of unity right now and hoping for a Black Friday price drop on syndicate.
 

Spoo

Member
Was having fun with this last night until I ran into a boss character that seems to have some kind of QTE that instakills you no matter what you do. It's
cletus
-- any ideas how to get around this?
 

dEvAnGeL

Member
I think it's a bad sign that this thread hasn't broken 20 pages yet. Unity did a lot of damage to the franchise + yearly fatigue.

That being said I'm playing my 10 dollar copy of unity right now and hoping for a Black Friday price drop on syndicate.
Maybe people is busy playing the game....which is the thing to do when you buy a game.....you know.....
 

Grisby

Member
Wait, what. Intro spoilers

Rebecca and Shawn are now assassin assassins.
Lol.

I love the brother/sister dynamic already.
 
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