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[chickdigger802]

Something that always nagged me... but what was the point of better gear in AC? Armor giving you more health blocks, ok i get that, but I remember weapons having different damage/speed and parry parameters, but I don't think any of them actually did anything noticeable. Ok the starting sword isn't as strong as altair's sword in striking damage, but for the most part you still 1 hit kill counter enemies with your starting weapon as good as the final weapons? I don't recall countering being any more effective with weapons with max stats. Have there been frames comparisons of animations? I feel like its all placebo outside of striking damage... but it doesn't really matter.

Heck i'm pretty sure i beat AC3 using just the starting tomahawk with zero issue with combat and i pretty much only used the hidden blades in AC2 trilogy because they had the coolest kill animations imo.

Seems like one of the most pointless gear system in modern games of recent unless i've been looking at it wrong?

 

[nbthedude]

+10 damage to giant crab.

 

[Derrick01]

As long as the combat remains a joke in those games where you can just counter your way out of every battle and there is no incentive to do anything else then there will be no visible reason to have gear and weapon upgrades.

Crafting in those games has pretty similar issues too.

 

[Lemonte]

I played AC2 without really upgrading my gear at all. I just somehow missed whole upgrading stuff. It was still pretty easy game.

 

[Effect]

It seemed mainly cosmetic in AC3. Maybe it took less hits (2 or 3 instead of 4 or 5) with a better sword on some of the more tougher enemies but that's it.

 

[Cragvis]

They did nothing. That was my main gripe with ac3. It had lots of crafting that was totally useless, as money had no use. nor weapons.

You could easily go through the whole game with your blades with no problem. Weapons had diff stats, but with the 1 hit counter kill, there was no reason to use any of them.

The crafting was vast, but it just let you make mostly useless stuff that you sold for gold to upgrade your ship which you hardly would even need to use.

You COULD craft bullets and arrows, but the kicker here is there was no need. You LITERALLY would loot arrows off soldiers you killed with your axe...same with bullets, if you ran out, just kill 1 guy and boom, instant ammo.

I really hope they fix that in ac4, and make crafting meaningful and lets you actually make your character stronger, like say, in far cry 3, you could upgrade your shit by hunting.

 

[waterydave]

After playing AC1, 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations it became quite apparent that everything in the game is just a time "sync"

Spoiler

LOL

. Just play the story straight through and skip all of the other BS.

 

[KillerDark]

Just increases your damage and blocking and stuff... but as people are pointing out kill streaks and counter kinda make that pointless.

 

[WrenchNinja]

I don't know, man.

I just used the Hidden Blade the whole series.

 

[chickdigger802]

They did nothing. That was my main gripe with ac3. It had lots of crafting that was totally useless, as money had no use. nor weapons.

You could easily go through the whole game with your blades with no problem. Weapons had diff stats, but with the 1 hit counter kill, there was no reason to use any of them.

The crafting was vast, but it just let you make mostly useless stuff that you sold for gold to upgrade your ship which you hardly would even need to use.

You COULD craft bullets and arrows, but the kicker here is there was no need. You LITERALLY would loot arrows off soldiers you killed with your axe...same with bullets, if you ran out, just kill 1 guy and boom, instant ammo.

I really hope they fix that in ac4, and make crafting meaningful and lets you actually make your character stronger, like say, in far cry 3, you could upgrade your shit by hunting.

Oh yeah. Didn't know it was a glitch or not but your ammo and arrows seem to disappear after a reload or restart or anything.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

I just used the Hidden Blade the whole series.

Considering how hilariously easy the game is, why use anything else?

 

[danmaku]

Considering how hilariously easy the game is, why use anything else?

For the sake of variety? It's not a competitive game, no one is forcing you to play in the most simple/efficient way. A better game would've given you more reasons to change your weapons, though.

 

[chickdigger802]

For the sake of variety? It's not a competitive game, no one is forcing you to play in the most simple/efficient way. A better game would've given you more reasons to change your weapons, though.

True. The blunt weapons are hilariously brutal, but alas too slow to use all the time. Same with the big swords.

 

[JimmyRustler]

It was always cosmetic throughout the whole series.

 

[Stitch]

Different kill animations.

 

[Suzushiiro]

Weapon stats matter when you're whittling the enemy down with normal attacks, I'd guess, the problem is that the combat system is so focused on the flashy instant-kill moves that weapon stats are rarely relevant.

I kinda feel like the different weapons are there more for the "LOOK AT HOW MUCH HISTORICAL RESEARCH WE DID, LOOK IT UP BITCHES, ALL OF THESE ARE ACTUAL WEAPONS THAT ACTUALLY EXISTED IN THIS ERA" effect than because they wanted weapon upgrades to be a thing you care about.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I always use the big-ass butcher knife in AC games (if its available).

It still has the brutal stabbing animations, only it's even more crazy to see it happening with a 4in wide blade, haha.

 

[Mman235]

It made bars go up.

 

[Cragvis]

Weapon stats matter when you're whittling the enemy down with normal attacks, I'd guess, the problem is that the combat system is so focused on the flashy instant-kill moves that weapon stats are rarely relevant.

I kinda feel like the different weapons are there more for the "LOOK AT HOW MUCH HISTORICAL RESEARCH WE DID, LOOK IT UP BITCHES, ALL OF THESE ARE ACTUAL WEAPONS THAT ACTUALLY EXISTED IN THIS ERA" effect than because they wanted weapon upgrades to be a thing you care about.

True, if they removed the insta kill counters, then there would be reason to use different weapons.

But then the children would cry out "y u tak away r sik pwn move?!"

I would have liked the insta kill moves to ONLY come from surprise assassination kills, not counters.

 

[Dark Octave]

I played AC2 without really upgrading my gear at all. I just somehow missed whole upgrading stuff. It was still pretty easy game.

Same here. It seemed really pointless. It's not as if the enemies got any tougher, which were pretty easy to begin with.

 

[Meccanical]

Make a painfully easy game even easier I'm assuming.

 

[Suzushiiro]

True, if they removed the insta kill counters, then there would be reason to use different weapons.

But then the children would cry out "y u tak away r sik pwn move?!"

I would have liked the insta kill moves to ONLY come from surprise assassination kills, not counters.

Honestly, I'm okay with a combat system being style-over-substance in a game like AC, because the main draw of the game to me is the stealth and parkour. Much like how I'm okay with shallow/easy combat systems in story-centric JRPGs like the Ar Tonelico series- that's not the aspect I'm there for, so as long as it doesn't get in my way too much I'm fine with it being weak.