I should mention I have played a decent chunk of Unity but I've been using head canon trying to make it a Connor sequel haha. I do want to finish it soon.
God... I remember when Unity stuff was leaking ahead of E3 and the co op banner was revealed... I got so excited thinking one of the co op characters was going to be Connor.
I like all the AC characters but "so nothing" feels apt.
They never seem to take risks with character arcs or situations, they just layer on the story and plot. Things are never cut away or destroyed (Except perhaps in the exposition for AC2 and 3).
Things never feels desperate or edgy, just by the numbers.
Again, i like them all, but they feel super middle of the road
This is what irritates me the most about the twins.
I dislike Arno because his motivations made no sense. "Oh my templar girlfriend hates me because her templar father was killed.
IM GONNA JOIN THE ASSASSINS!"
I hate the twins because they undergo no change or narrative arc. Their entire reason for going to London is literally "Hey, you wanna go kill some templars?"
Syndicate is just dull.
The only reason I prop the game over unity is simply because unlike unity, it ran properly.
But man, the twins are so nothing. Only reason Evie seems good is because of how idiotic Jacob is, propping her up. At least the Jack the Ripper DLC makes her some what interesting, but base game is just bland.
I think 3 would have been meaningfully improved if the VA for Connor received better direction. A lot of his lines were delivered blandly making moments that should have been impactful fall kind flat.
It's disappointing because I think Connor was interesting and AC3 feels like the last time that they tried to have a story that was both really personal and tied to the world that the characters lived in. Black Flag was a rad game but Edward's character didn't really lend him to giving much of a crap about the world. Arno's never really felt like he cared much about the Assassins. Jacob and Evie felt more like they were using London as their playground than they did about the larger conflict. I miss the scope and intimacy of 3 even though parts of it were flawed.
That was the whole point!
Connors VA was Native American, and his direction was to speak with that dialect. They don't emote very much, and keep to themselves. They hide emotions and tone in their voice.
Honestly, the reaction to Connor back in 2012 and to this day really made me feel the push for "diversity in game protagonists" was superficial at best. Where people superficially wanted different skin color, but not cultures.
The size of the game and expense to develop it justified calling it 4.
I remember reading somewhere that the game was going to just be a spinoff, but they felt the naval added a completely new dimension to the game that 4 was justified.
