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[RedAssedApe]

I dislike the new combat system's spongy scaling. I'd rather pace the game at my own speed than be forced to grind my character until I can proceed further. In games like Witcher 3 and FONV the grinding is rarely felt as there is a lot of interesting, well written content, but here in Syndicate the majority of side-content is repetetive and the writing is just really not that engaging. It's not enough to just insert a historical reference and wink towards the audience, they still actually need to have a character ark, like any other actor on stage. So yeah, both Unity and Syndicate had enemies with scaling health, but so far I find it more frustrating in Syndicate.

The whole combat in Syndicate heavily relies on repetition and button mashing, it does rarely resemble the combat of old games, where quick thinking and reaction was the way forward. Yes, you could slay 20+ enemies without losing a fracture of health, but hey - it was fun. Shadow of Mordor IMO perfected the AC/Batman system.

The only satisfying weapon for me in Syndicate is Kukri. The cane has ridiculously low damage and "lethality", while fisticuffs are OK, but just are outperformed by Kukri of equal levels. Also some of the animations for fisticuffs are just silly.

i dunno...previous games were way too easy with the countering. in this one if you get several enemies into stun, the multi-kills are super satisfying. i liked the countering because its not press X to win anymore and you have to time it a bit as well as deal with other things like ranged enemies. i do still think it needs a bit more variety. for an assassin you are surprisingly not that agile during combat. at least not until you murder the person heh

i do understand the problem with the level scaling. it definitely makes combat harder if you are exploring and visiting/free roaming areas out of sequence. i think previous games combated this by locking you out of certain areas until certain points in the game though? you could still beat a lot of the missions if you used stealth though and avoided straight up combat.

 

[Crossing Eden]

i dunno...previous games were way too easy with the countering. in this one if you get several enemies into stun, the multi-kills are super satisfying. i liked the countering because its not press X to win anymore and you have to time it a bit as well as deal with other things like ranged enemies. i do still think it needs a bit more variety. for an assassin you are surprisingly not that agile during combat. at least not until you murder the person heh

i do understand the problem with the level scaling. it definitely makes combat harder if you are exploring and visiting/free roaming areas out of sequence. i think previous games combated this by locking you out of certain areas until certain points in the game though? you could still beat a lot of the missions if you used stealth though and avoided straight up combat.

This is very true, headshots all day everyday with throwing knives makes for some super fast gang stronghold takeovers.

I'm trying to like it. I'll give it another go, tomorrow. + Thanks for the advice Crossing Eden, I'll upgrade my weapons first thing. I left the combat upgrades to Jacob, but I might need to also upgrade combat for Evie and forget about stealth.

Upgrade both, and parkour is still the better option for stealthing through areas instead of the rope launcher. Once you upgrade it's actually one of the easiest AC games since the Ezio trilogy. Even spending in-game currency to upgrade a weapon past it's base stats is super useful for dealing with higher level enemies.

 

[Data West]

I really hate that they put like level 5 missions in level 8 zones.

Why? It feels so disjointed and fucks up the pace of discovering the world.

 

[Stat!]

I've played most AAA releases. I haven't played a game like Thief, and I'm sure that Syndicate is a better game than that, but I try to curate the games I play and as such I don't play a lot of bad ones.

This game is a lot like Unity, but Unity had more of a cohesiveness, IMO. Syndicate just feels weird. The mission design feels off; the mission that I posted a video of consisted of sneaking to an icon to tap circle, 'climbing' a tower (really just looking up and tapping 'L1') to tap circle, than travelling across the city 500m to fight a dull boss fight.

Some core issues I have with the game come from enemy placement. It's bad, with no easily discernible stealth route. It's easily broken, by commanding an ally to attack the enemy, which makes all of them run towards him/her. The stealth isn't good, and the combat isn't good. The navigation has been reduced to tapping a button. I guess the horse and carriage is functional.

To your point there have been times where I've been swept up in the world, as I would expect living all my life in London, but those are fleeting moments separated by arbitrarily and artificially difficult missions and a confusing sense of overall direction in how I should be playing.

I'm trying to like it. I'll give it another go, tomorrow. + Thanks for the advice Crossing Eden, I'll upgrade my weapons first thing. I left the combat upgrades to Jacob, but I might need to also upgrade combat for Evie and forget about stealth.

Fair enough. To me, that wasn't a boss fight though. The boss fights, if you want to call them that, are the end of sequence missions where you can get unique kills and unique opportunities. Getting those opportunities to find unique ways to go about the level are awesome.

I will agree that some missions have issues when it comes to stealth but for 95% of them, I haven't had an issue in terms of being stealthy. You might have to be lethal when stealthy but the throwing knives can be a huge help with Evie as well.

 

[KorrZ]

Personally I like the level mechanic for enemy encounters. Every other Assassin's Creed within an hour or two you're basically invincible in combat - in this one it makes a nice challenge when you stumble into a group of high level enemies. It's totally possible to defeat them by being on your game, or alternatively playing stealthily.

I don't see why higher level enemies = harder to fight would be such an alien concept, it seems pretty straight forward for many games.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Personally I like the level mechanic for enemy encounters. Every other Assassin's Creed within an hour or two you're basically invincible in combat - in this one it makes a nice challenge when you stumble into a group of high level enemies. It's totally possible to defeat them by being on your game, or alternatively playing stealthily.

I don't see why higher level enemies = harder to fight would be such an alien concept, it seems pretty straight forward for many games.

Other AC games didn't push the rpg aspect as much as this one does. Aside from Unity, you could basically rip through enemies that were supposed to be more difficult by just countering. So I imagine that it can be a bit jarring for some. Speaking of, I love that they lowkey brought back counter kills and even multi counter kills.

 

[RedAssedApe]

thought it was pretty hilarious where the doctor guy

Spoiler

spots your boots

and you can't do the unique kill if you wait too long lol had to replay that one

 

[Alienous]

Personally I like the level mechanic for enemy encounters. Every other Assassin's Creed within an hour or two you're basically invincible in combat - in this one it makes a nice challenge when you stumble into a group of high level enemies. It's totally possible to defeat them by being on your game, or alternatively playing stealthily.

I don't see why higher level enemies = harder to fight would be such an alien concept, it seems pretty straight forward for many games.

It just seems like such a weak way of enforcing artificial boundaries.

Basically it's "we'll make this mission un-fun for you if you attempt it" when you aren't the instead of just locking it out, and that's terrible, self-damaging game design. At no point in Unity did I feel like the game was making itself artificially difficult; there would be more guards, and they'd be better at fighting, but I didn't encounter "we're going to quadruple their health because you haven't leveled up enough".

Rather than building a combat system that has a lot of mechanical depth, like the Arkham games, they've built one that relies on creating difficulty by multiplying the health of an enemy. It's just weak game design.

 

[damien1928]

Man I'm so confused about this game, I loved unity and it seems everyone hated it now I've not played syndicate but I've watched a lot of footage and it doesn't look as fun to me as unity. The beginning in particular looked incredibly bland.

I expected gaf to hate this game, however this topic isn't very active for a typical new release so I assume the people posting are pretty much prepared for the worst in it and we're surprised it didn't totally suck?

I was hyped for the reveal of "victory" I watched it and was disappointed, the co op in unity was fantastic, it's underrated, syndicate doesn't have any.

From what I've seen Jacob seems annoying and Evie seems decent, how much balance is there between their missions? Are the majority of them Jacob or are they evenly balanced?

Would any recommend syndicate?

My favourite creeds are 1/2 brotherhood and unity, hated black flag

 

[El-Suave]

Finished the game yesterday and I have to say this may be my favorite AC game ever. No origin story is a blessing and the two main characters are superb (Jacob has really grown on me). The villains were good, too - the long cutscene in the final mission was very nicely done. I'm going for the Platinum now.

 

[B-Dex]

I'm really enjoying my time so far. A couple of missions had some weird bugs that ended up frustrating me more than anything so I rated them poorly. Obviously needed a bit more tweaking. One I had to restart 6 times. Which sucks with the load times.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Man I'm so confused about this game, I loved unity and it seems everyone hated it now I've not played syndicate but I've watched a lot of footage and it doesn't look as fun to me as unity. The beginning in particular looked incredibly bland.

I expected gaf to hate this game, however this topic isn't very active for a typical new release so I assume the people posting are pretty much prepared for the worst in it and we're surprised it didn't totally suck?

I was hyped for the reveal of "victory" I watched it and was disappointed, the co op in unity was fantastic, it's underrated, syndicate doesn't have any.

From what I've seen Jacob seems annoying and Evie seems decent, how much balance is there between their missions? Are the majority of them Jacob or are they evenly balanced?

Would any recommend syndicate?

My favourite creeds are 1/2 brotherhood and unity, hated black flag

The game has come along way since that original pre-alpha demo. Really strange of them to do a demo reveal of a side mission though. I've spent more time playing with Evie(95% of the side missions can be completed with either character) than with Jacob. Jacob is about killing templars and Evie wants to find a POE so she gets less main missions while Jacob gets more. Pretty evenly balanced. Jacob is a bit polarizing, some love the guy, others hate him, both characters bounce off each other so well that I can't imagine either of them having a solo campaign without the other to bounce off of.

 

[Markitron]

It's a bit janky here and there, but a lot of fun. The missions so far have been ok to good, hopefully it picks up in the last couple of sequences.

 

[RiZ III]

The last AC I played and enjoyed was Brotherhood. I played the one after that set in Constantinople and thought it was ok. Skipped 3 and black flag.

So now I finally started Unity and am about three hours into it and hating it so far. I hate the stealth, it's near impossible escaping from guards since they seem to have perfect aim, and why the hell can't I pick up weapons and bodies?

So my question is, is this new one still similar to Unity in those ways? Is that shitty cover system still a big part of the game? Can I still not pick up weapons and bodies? Are the enemies still frustrating as fuck to fight?

Also I wish they'd take the series back to the middle ages. The newer cities don't have the same charm or intrigue.

 

[ryseing]

For anyone saying the combat is too easy I do encourage you to check out the higher level fight clubs. You can't spam medicine anymore during matches like you could for the ones in Unity so they're a legitimate challenge. Combat really shines in the clubs, especially when you're getting multi kills.

The last AC I played and enjoyed was Brotherhood. I played the one after that set in Constantinople and thought it was ok. Skipped 3 and black flag.

So now I finally started Unity and am about three hours into it and hating it so far. I hate the stealth, it's near impossible escaping from guards since they seem to have perfect aim, and why the hell can't I pick up weapons and bodies?

So my question is, is this new one still similar to Unity in those ways? Is that shitty cover system still a big part of the game? Can I still not pick up weapons and bodies? Are the enemies still frustrating as fuck to fight?

Also I wish they'd take the series back to the middle ages. The newer cities don't have the same charm or intrigue.

Honestly, the stealth isn't much better. Can't pick up weapons, but you can pick up bodies. I do prefer the new combat system to that of Unity. Cover system is now soft cover which I like better than the horrible snap system Unity had.

I found London to be much more charming than Paris FWIW.

 

[Markitron]

So my question is, is this new one still similar to Unity in those ways? Is that shitty cover system still a big part of the game? Can I still not pick up weapons and bodies? Are the enemies still frustrating as fuck to fight?

IMO it's quite similar to Unity in most ways, so if you really didn't like Unity then your probably not gonna like this. I would say stealth is a big part of the game, however the upgrades make it far easier. You can pick up bodies but not weapons. The combat is improved from Unity but it's still pretty poor.

Unlike Unity, everything else in the game is pretty good though (story, characters, main missions, side content, framerate etc).

 

[RiZ III]

Well that's unfortunate =/ I'll still probably try it out at some point because I do have a soft spot for this series.

 

[Crossing Eden]

The last AC I played and enjoyed was Brotherhood. I played the one after that set in Constantinople and thought it was ok. Skipped 3 and black flag.

So now I finally started Unity and am about three hours into it and hating it so far. I hate the stealth, it's near impossible escaping from guards since they seem to have perfect aim, and why the hell can't I pick up weapons and bodies?

So my question is, is this new one still similar to Unity in those ways? Is that shitty cover system still a big part of the game? Can I still not pick up weapons and bodies? Are the enemies still frustrating as fuck to fight?

Also I wish they'd take the series back to the middle ages. The newer cities don't have the same charm or intrigue.

-They changed the cover system to the system used in TLOU/Metal gear: move near cover while in stealth and you'll take cover.
-You can pick up bodies but not weapons.
- Enemies are much more fun to fight due to way less animation priority and reduced latency. The tradeoff is the animation while still great isn't as realistic

- Much easier to escape guards because they added features like the ability to dodge bullets while fleeing and the rope launcher.

-There's less intrigue but London certainly is charming, each district feels unique especially the richer districts, Westminster especially.

 

[Markitron]

Well that's unfortunate =/ I'll still probably try it out at some point because I do have a soft spot for this series.

If it makes you feel any better I despised Unity, but the impressions of this one convinced me to give it a go and I'm glad I did as it's good fun.

I'd recommend you go back and try Black Flag, should be pretty cheap by now.

 

[ryseing]

If it makes you feel any better I despised Unity, but the impressions of this one convinced me to give it a go and I'm glad I did as it's good fun.

I'd recommend you back and try Black Flag, should be pretty cheap by now.

And if you still have your last gen consoles hooked up/ a decent PC, go grab Rogue!

Just wiki summary 3 though. For your own sake.

 

[ClivePwned]

I beat this last night. Absolutely loved it.

Although I quite liked Unity for all its flaws, this was just so much more confident in pulling off everything they set out to do. There are actual horses in the streets, unlike Unity which has very few horses, but lots of shit in the streets (maybe the Parisians really needed to go).

I didn't think Jacob and Evie were that much better than Arno and his redhead GF from Unity, but being able to play as both was great.

So yeah, this may have supplanted Black Flag as my favourite non-Ezio AC.

 

[Megasoum]

Is it me or there's like no ways to get off the train gracefully? I always end up getting stuck between a wall and the train or I get run over by it lol.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Is it me or there's like no ways to get off the train gracefully? I always end up getting stuck between a wall and the train or I get run over by it lol.

Press B/O twice to roll when you parkour down off the train.

 

[Megasoum]

Is it me or is the "New item" icon always comes back for outfits and cloak on Evie? Everytime I go back to her inventory I have to re-highlight the dlc stuff to mark it as not new.

 

[H3rTz DoNuT]

Is it me or is the "New item" icon always comes back for outfits and cloak on Evie? Everytime I go back to her inventory I have to re-highlight the dlc stuff to mark it as not new.

yeah, happens every time for me, so annoying

Am I the only one that really like Jacob? Everyone seems to hate the guy but I find him kinda funny and charming in his own way The only Assassin's Creed character I hated (still do) is Ezio, for some reason just can't stand the guy lol

I find the game really enjoyable, If nothing changes it might get the third spot in my top 3 AC games, with Black Flag being #1 and Rouge #2. I liked Unity more than AC3 but not enough to take on Rouge, so for now Unity has #3 spot.

 

[Crossing Eden]

These pro players man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmwqQUoVHNo

Friends with Stealthgamerbr.

 

[jorgejjvr]

Better than black flag?

 

[Toa TAK]

Better than black flag?

Yes.

 

[Data West]

Better than black flag?

Better than Brotherhood

 

[everyday math]

The forced

Spoiler

romance

in this game is so annoying and not needed.

 

[B-Dex]

The last story mission was pretty great. Absurd but great. Working on the platinum now. Surprisingly balanced to obtain. Just glad we don't need every perk. Cause that going would suck. Also that drift 5 corners perk? Does anyone actually know what to do for that?

 

[Comrade Crunch]

I snagged this today, i'm only a few hours in, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorite AC games. The last few games in the series kind of killed the franchise for me, more specifically, the main characters in them, but that's really changed here and the protagonists are actually quite likable. Evie and Jacob play off each other well and the supporting cast is pretty diverse and well written.

The gameplay always kind of wore thin on me in previous games as well, but I don't really see that happening here, largely because of the speed of it and the over-the-top violence of the finishers.

 

[Data West]

That Baron crafting outfit for Jacob is so good

 

[Fliesen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljbg8hzljvQ

... i really like this game.

 

[WeTeHa]

The last story mission was pretty great. Absurd but great. Working on the platinum now. Surprisingly balanced to obtain. Just glad we don't need every perk. Cause that going would suck. Also that drift 5 corners perk? Does anyone actually know what to do for that?

Press X (PS4 Version) when you are in a carriage to speed up (i.e. boost) and when you reach a corner press (and hold?) L2 to brake while still holding R2. When you press L2 and take the corner you will drift. Take the corner without slowing down too much and it "may" count towards the perk. Repeat that 5 times and you will get the notification that you got 1 London drift-thingy.

Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. I found it easiest to use the fastest carriages (the one where you sit behind of the passenger places for only 2 people), hammering X and then drifting around 90° corners. Still couldn't figure out a 100% strategy, but i still got it eventually.

I actually got it after grinding it for a while on the same stretch of road with 4 90° corners in close proximity. Only took a few minutes.

 

[Basketball]

Better than Brotherhood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecyivu9YMM4

 

[Markitron]

Better than black flag?

No, but it's far better than Unity. I haven't finished syndicate yet but so far for me it's shaping up like this:

AC2
ACB/AC4
AC Syndicate/AC1
AC Rogue
AC3
ACU







Ebola





Knack








AC Revelations

 

[nOoblet16]

So I was playing the game and it struck me...this is the first time in the entire AC series that we have an actual city that we can see today. Every other game just had cities that were more or less just created for the game with a few prominent landmarks here and there, but for the most part the city had designed elements rather than elements lifted straight form the real life city. AC3 was the worst in this area as there was little that resembled the American cities we have today.

Take Paris for example, you have landmarks such as Notre dame accurately depicted, or the landmarks in Italy but other things around it are just fictional. When you play Syndicate it's like "Here's the bridge and next to the bridge we have Elizabeth Tower, next to it we have the park, a few miles from there we have Buckingham palace which is next to another park etc etc". And you will see all of that today if you go to London.

I don't quite know how to explain it but the city feels made up of more than just iconic landmarks.

 

[Setsuna]

No, but it's far better than Unity. I haven't finished syndicate yet but so far for me it's shaping up like this:

AC2
ACB/AC4
AC Syndicate/AC1
AC Rogue
AC3
ACU

I tried to play Assassins creed 1 last week. its complete and utter garbage

 

[Markitron]

I tried to play Assassins creed 1 last week. its complete and utter garbage

It's all relative, It's was a lot more fun in 2007. A solid 7.5 back then.

 

[bryanee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecyivu9YMM4

Syndicate>All other AC games

They knocked it out the park with this one.

 

[Maxwood]

Why is that free Evie Steampunk costume over 1GB?! :/

Anyway, I wanted to share something I overheard while walking around London. As a big Monkey Island fan, this made me quite happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsIOE1hPTLw

 

[iamsirjoshua]

Why is that free Evie Steampunk costume over 1GB?! :/

Is this only for season pass holders?

 

[Radec]

It's all relative, It's was a lot more fun in 2007. A solid 7.5 back then.

Was garbage back then, still garbage today.

I can still remember those annoying beggars running into you with the same lines the whole game.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I tried to play Assassins creed 1 last week. its complete and utter garbage

Yeah, it's not very good. Got it when it came out, killed any interest I had in the series. But word of mouth on the second was good so I got it when it got cheap and it was a major step up. The series is a mix of good to great games and some really shitty ones.

 

[Alienous]

I've had better experiences with the game today. There's a lot of jank but I had some fun, and more than one 'Assassin's Creed' moment.

I appreciate the advice, Crossing Eden. I can feel the game coming together now that I've found a flow between the side missions and story ones. Without the frustration even the graphics have impressed me more. I still think the combat and stealth are subpar but moments like fighting atop a moving carriage, train or horse-drawn, are pretty awesome.

 

[Crossing Eden]

I just had a sudden realization that this game could've been dark as fuck if it was just about Jacob using his gang to take over London.

Spoiler

Everything he does actively makees thing worse until Evie steps in and fixes it. Clara for instance, and many other orphans and adults would've died. Transportation would've been taken over by gangs.

Also I wonder if that "secret" warrants it's own thread because many people seem to not know.

 

[Mideon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljbg8hzljvQ

... i really like this game.

That's awesome I need that gun!!

 

[zkorejo]

Better than Brotherhood

I am actually surprised people have not quoted this and argued over it. Brotherhood is considered one of the best AC games (with the best gameplay).

One Assassins Creed game I decided not to buy and have actually stuck with my decision so far and I get to read nothing but good comments about it.

The trailers/demo never piqued my interest. I didnt really like the setting and the characters, they seem bland and boring to me in the trailers/demos.

But Neogaf praising an AC game is making me really want to buy the game and see whats this all about.

 

[mosdl]

No, but it's far better than Unity. I haven't finished syndicate yet but so far for me it's shaping up like this:

AC2
ACB/AC4
AC Syndicate/AC1
AC Rogue
AC3
ACU







Ebola





Knack








AC Revelations

I liked Unity more than 3, but yeah screw Revelations.