I wonder how much of the story arc for AC3 was already in place (especially the present-day material) by the time Revelations started moving forward. That might have severely tied the writers' hands. Just a hunch. Tough to make a game relevant when the story arc has already been drawn from A to B, and you're trying to write something substantial that fits between the two. That might be why they shifted focus to Desmond's backstory.
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Assassin's Creed Revelations |OT| Requiescat in Pace (56k)
- Thread starter iNvid02
- Start date
DAT ENDING.
Alitar's end and Ezio's ending is so sad. I really hope
but I know that won't happen. It sucks we probably won't see a true end in AC3 with the way they're setting it up.
Also DAT CGI (that looks like crap a year later)
Alitar's end and Ezio's ending is so sad. I really hope
Ezio shows up in a time-jump for AC3
Also DAT CGI (that looks like crap a year later)
Just finished this morning (~25hrs total playtime, 100% sync, 100/100 animus fragments, etc.). My earlier judgment stands. Love this game. Excellent mechanics and game design, beautiful tech, best environment in the series, weak story, and really bad scripted action sequences (beginning, final chase, and all the Altair sections). Also, I never had to do one den defense after the tutorial one.
And did anyone else think that the final pre-rendered CG sequence looked really awful and cheap? Compared to the opening CG sequence at Masyaf, it looked like something from the PS1 era. It took away from the gravity of the events to see such a cheap sequence. I'm sure Ubisoft could have found a better alternative for the same money and effort.
AC Revelations is simultaneously the best and the worst the series has ever been. Luckily for me, the good stuff far outweighs the bad stuff.
And did anyone else think that the final pre-rendered CG sequence looked really awful and cheap? Compared to the opening CG sequence at Masyaf, it looked like something from the PS1 era. It took away from the gravity of the events to see such a cheap sequence. I'm sure Ubisoft could have found a better alternative for the same money and effort.
AC Revelations is simultaneously the best and the worst the series has ever been. Luckily for me, the good stuff far outweighs the bad stuff.
Except that the series has been building toward a 2012 Mayan apocalypse. Don't know how long they can keep making that work once we pass 2012. But if they keep making excellent games at this consistently great quality, I'll keep playing them.
Except Revelation's ending blew that away.
"Oh, we have a vault and you need to locate it. Let's not mention that it'll show other pieces of Eden and stuff like that so you'll probably be leading the Templars there so while your chapter will end AC4 is go! LOLZ!"
(Also whoever created this "Impress Warren Vidic" trophy in the Lost Archives needs to be punched in the face. EVERY. GODDAMN. TIME. I get to the end and make it to the last drop to safety I get fucked by the fast corruption viruses. And I've been attempting this for like four hours straight. Fuck you Ubisoft.
Blue Ninja
Member
Uh, no it didn't.It showed the location of the Grand Temple, because as AC2 said, that's where the First Civilization worked to prevent the Apocalypse, but failed due to the war. Now Desmond has to find a way in using the memories of Connor, and then he has to stop the Templars.
Desmond's story is ending this year, they didn't want to tell a "sci-fi story taking place in the past".
Pretty much. The ending of Revelations made the 2012 Apocalypse even more significant, not less.
In order to keep the series going, they'll have to invent/retcon some other originary crisis along the lines of the planetary extinction event (was that a gamma ray burst?). Though I'm not sure how you raise the stakes beyond world-wide destruction.
Without the present-day plot, there would be nothing at stake in the historical plot. I know I wouldn't bother playing it.
Even though the present-day stuff was incredibly slim in Revelations, it always felt "present." Hell, I even played using the Desmond skin for a good long while just because it somehow felt "right" to let him have a go in his own skin for a bit. Even if the game was lacking in his storyline, I found ways (like that) to bring it back in some small way.
Even though the present-day stuff was incredibly slim in Revelations, it always felt "present." Hell, I even played using the Desmond skin for a good long while just because it somehow felt "right" to let him have a go in his own skin for a bit. Even if the game was lacking in his storyline, I found ways (like that) to bring it back in some small way.
If you put it into a fictional setting entirely, the stakes would be based entirely around what happens while you are playing it. There would be no set way of things happening. It could be cool.
But then it wouldn't be Assassin's Creed. Without that core hook, it'd just be another game in an historical setting.
The series is in no way defined by anything that occurs in its present day section. Everyone knows AC for how it plays when you are in control of one of the Assassins, and that basic setup can easily be transferred over to a fictional setting without any detriment whatsoever. I don't care whether the buildings I am running up existed at all so long as they are fun to run up.
"Everyone," eh? I think "everyone" disagrees.
"What is this Assassin's Creed game?"
"Oh, its this game set in the future where you talk to a group of three people about a conspiracy that goes back hundreds of years."
or
"It's a game that takes place primarily in the past where you control this badass Assassin who is capable of killing guards in a variety of different ways with different tools and weapons and also freeruns his way through multiple open-world cityscapes."
I mean, the three pillars of the series are Combat, Navigation, and Social Stealth, all things which you spend 95% of your time doing in the historical setting. You can easily transplant those things into a fictional setting without losing anything core to the series.
Am I saying the future elements aren't important? No. I'm just saying that they aren't at all necessary for the continuance of the franchise. If there is nowhere else to go with the future stuff, why continue it? They certainly aren't what makes the franchise sell millions with every outing.
Hell, what does everyone ask before they reveal a new game- "Where will it be set this time?"
"Oh, its this game set in the future where you talk to a group of three people about a conspiracy that goes back hundreds of years."
or
"It's a game that takes place primarily in the past where you control this badass Assassin who is capable of killing guards in a variety of different ways with different tools and weapons and also freeruns his way through multiple open-world cityscapes."
I mean, the three pillars of the series are Combat, Navigation, and Social Stealth, all things which you spend 95% of your time doing in the historical setting. You can easily transplant those things into a fictional setting without losing anything core to the series.
Am I saying the future elements aren't important? No. I'm just saying that they aren't at all necessary for the continuance of the franchise. If there is nowhere else to go with the future stuff, why continue it? They certainly aren't what makes the franchise sell millions with every outing.
Hell, what does everyone ask before they reveal a new game- "Where will it be set this time?"
Depends on who you're talking to. Certainly not "everyone."
For me--and for many of the most dedicated fans of the series--there would be no "Assassin's Creed" without the frame story. The frame story gives the series a "voice" and a sense of purpose. Almost every little detail in the historical world contains some element of the present-day frame. Without it, the series would just be solid open-world action games. It would be Just Cause in Italy/Jerusalem/Istanbul/Boston. I'd probably play it and enjoy it, but I wouldn't love it.
For me--and for many of the most dedicated fans of the series--there would be no "Assassin's Creed" without the frame story. The frame story gives the series a "voice" and a sense of purpose. Almost every little detail in the historical world contains some element of the present-day frame. Without it, the series would just be solid open-world action games. It would be Just Cause in Italy/Jerusalem/Istanbul/Boston. I'd probably play it and enjoy it, but I wouldn't love it.
For me, the stuff set in the present day was absolutely fantastic in the first game. There was this great sense of mystery and intrigue to the world, but I really felt that it went to complete shit in ACII. It became just so damn generic that I didn't feel as if it would be worth continuing and I certainly don't believe it is necessary to start up an entirely new story in the modern day once Desmond's story is over with. In fact, I'd much rather the team focus on delivering a complete and entirely original story that can grow freely without them feeling the need to fit a storyline into how history actually played out.
I don't disagree. If AC1 was Philip K. Dick, AC2 was Dan Brown. But the solution wasn't to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Brotherhood got the present-day story back on track, even though it kept the Ezio stuff going way beyond its expiration date. And what little present-day story there was in Revelations was enough to keep me going.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
I would buy dlc that makes these games period pieces rather than a sci-fi clusterfuck.
PixyJunket
Member
I just finished up the single player DLC. It was kind of a waste, I guess. I don't feel I got anything out of it.
Anyway, now to see if I can tackle the multi-player achievements before next weekend. If anybody want to try to get a GAF 360 Party together to tackle the more annoying task based MP achievements (the ones to the MP DLCs, specifically), send me a PM with your GamerTag and your available gaming times for the weekend.
Anyway, now to see if I can tackle the multi-player achievements before next weekend. If anybody want to try to get a GAF 360 Party together to tackle the more annoying task based MP achievements (the ones to the MP DLCs, specifically), send me a PM with your GamerTag and your available gaming times for the weekend.
Doh! But it said Assassin's Creed in the title and nobody should be playing Revelations now. =(
Late to the party. I love this game. Let me get the negatives out of the way:
-The fighting in this game is so ridiculously bad. Every time I'm in a sword fight against more than two people I want to pull my hair out and throw the game away. Thankfully, you can avoid fights for 90% of this game. But there are those moments where you're fighting 10+ people, and you just want it to stop, and you try to run away, but they outrun you, and you try to jump to the rooftops, but they shoot you, and you try to jump into a haystack, but they spot you, blargh.
-I've only played the first Desmond sequence but it was really mediocre. Not interesting at all.
-The notoriety meter (and by extension, the tower defense game) should be trotted out in every Game Design 101 lecture to show people how not to mess with your user base. This game has a putrid tower defense mini-game that I (and I hope many other players) have moved heaven and earth to avoid at all costs. All game long I have been renovating shops to accumulate money towards the Sage achievement/trophy (buy all books), but every time you renovate one of these shops, your notoriety goes up by 25%. If it goes to 100% you might be forced to play tower defense. To be safe, I have never renovated more than two shops in a row. Afterwards, I wait until I can bribe a herald or two. And sometimes the heralds do not show up on the map right away, so I have to give up for the time being on renovating. It's not even safe to hover at 50%, because that 50% might jump to 80% or 90% performing illegal activities in story quests or side quests.
-I have no problem with stealth sequences that automatically fail you if you get spotted. What I do have problem with is when the game doesn't notify you that this is the case. This seemed to happen much more in Brotherhood, but I get really annoyed when I get an unexpected automatic failure when I get spotted.
---------------
The above are not trivial points to me. I get really annoyed when I have to deal with those negative aspects. And when I first started the game, I called it trash, because the above seemed front and centre and the brilliant moments of the game had not surfaced yet. Now onto what I love about this game:
1) The bomb crafting. I fully agree with whoever said it feeled tacked on at first, but becomes much better later on. I really enjoy being able to throw Datura poison bombs or Cherry noise bombs whenever I'm in a rough situation.
2) The Masyaf key dungeons. The highlight of the AC series for me. For someone like me who absolutely loathes the combat in these games, the Masyaf key dungeons were a godsend. There are no enemies at all, just beautiful, dark environments and long, sastifying, platforming sequences.
3) Graphics / open world / music / characters.
Funny how I have so much more to say about what I hate in AC Revelations. Either way, I can confidently say I love the game. It has huge warts but they are worth trudging through, especially to experience the dungeons.
-The fighting in this game is so ridiculously bad. Every time I'm in a sword fight against more than two people I want to pull my hair out and throw the game away. Thankfully, you can avoid fights for 90% of this game. But there are those moments where you're fighting 10+ people, and you just want it to stop, and you try to run away, but they outrun you, and you try to jump to the rooftops, but they shoot you, and you try to jump into a haystack, but they spot you, blargh.
-I've only played the first Desmond sequence but it was really mediocre. Not interesting at all.
-The notoriety meter (and by extension, the tower defense game) should be trotted out in every Game Design 101 lecture to show people how not to mess with your user base. This game has a putrid tower defense mini-game that I (and I hope many other players) have moved heaven and earth to avoid at all costs. All game long I have been renovating shops to accumulate money towards the Sage achievement/trophy (buy all books), but every time you renovate one of these shops, your notoriety goes up by 25%. If it goes to 100% you might be forced to play tower defense. To be safe, I have never renovated more than two shops in a row. Afterwards, I wait until I can bribe a herald or two. And sometimes the heralds do not show up on the map right away, so I have to give up for the time being on renovating. It's not even safe to hover at 50%, because that 50% might jump to 80% or 90% performing illegal activities in story quests or side quests.
-I have no problem with stealth sequences that automatically fail you if you get spotted. What I do have problem with is when the game doesn't notify you that this is the case. This seemed to happen much more in Brotherhood, but I get really annoyed when I get an unexpected automatic failure when I get spotted.
---------------
The above are not trivial points to me. I get really annoyed when I have to deal with those negative aspects. And when I first started the game, I called it trash, because the above seemed front and centre and the brilliant moments of the game had not surfaced yet. Now onto what I love about this game:
1) The bomb crafting. I fully agree with whoever said it feeled tacked on at first, but becomes much better later on. I really enjoy being able to throw Datura poison bombs or Cherry noise bombs whenever I'm in a rough situation.
2) The Masyaf key dungeons. The highlight of the AC series for me. For someone like me who absolutely loathes the combat in these games, the Masyaf key dungeons were a godsend. There are no enemies at all, just beautiful, dark environments and long, sastifying, platforming sequences.
3) Graphics / open world / music / characters.
Funny how I have so much more to say about what I hate in AC Revelations. Either way, I can confidently say I love the game. It has huge warts but they are worth trudging through, especially to experience the dungeons.
It really is a fantastic game. But as you say, you have to be able to "shelve" a few of its problems in order to recognize its fantastic-ness. I disagree with some of your critiques, but I get where you're coming from. And you're definitely not alone in thinking so.
The only thing I would add to your list of complaints is the god-awful linear story sequences. Horribly designed, pointless, and clunky. A sign of what was to come in AC3.
The only thing I would add to your list of complaints is the god-awful linear story sequences. Horribly designed, pointless, and clunky. A sign of what was to come in AC3.
iNvid02
Member
this is revelations thread lol, there is a seperate thread for AC3 just do a search for it
I was looking forward to it about 2 weeks ago after finishing the game but they've split it into 3 parts each released 1 month apart
and with sonys 2/20 conference, crisis 3, tomb raider and god of war ascension close by its definitely killed the small bit of hype I had for this dlc pack
I was looking forward to it about 2 weeks ago after finishing the game but they've split it into 3 parts each released 1 month apart
and with sonys 2/20 conference, crisis 3, tomb raider and god of war ascension close by its definitely killed the small bit of hype I had for this dlc pack
After playing the rest of the Desmond sequences, and almost finishing the Lost Archives DLC, I'll have to pull a complete 180 and say I actually really like these levels! I love puzzle games, and the platforming puzzles in these sequences were pretty creative. I also like how there was almost zero instruction, other than "push LB/RB to change shape." You had to figure everything out on your own, like how to plant blocks in the first place, how the orange force fields work, etc...
I agree. I don't know what people saw that was so "terrible" about these sequences. I liked them.
My reference (that you quoted above) was to the linear story sequences--those sequences that take place in confined areas (similar to instance dungeons in an MMO), are story driven, and have instant fail states. These include all the Altair sequences, the beginning section when Ezio arrives at Masyaf, and the ending chase sequence. Those were horribly designed and went against everything that makes the series great. They were the low point for me in an otherwise fantastic game. And they're also the kinds of moments that define almost the entirety of AC3...
Whoops I didn't mean to include that part about the linear story sequences, but I'm glad that you explained your beef with them anyhow. I only wanted to contrast my opinion on the Desmond sequences with this comment: "I disagree with some of your critiques."
Lost Archive was so great. The soft piano music was so soothing.
I beat memory 4 in the DLC without failing, and so that makes all single player achievement complete (both in the main game and in the DLC). Now to mop up that damn multiplayer.
I'm really late, but GW episode? What?
iNvid02
Member
wrong thread, the AC3 thread is here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=496687
but i checked my playtime for the infamy ep1 and it says 1:25, i didnt bother with any of the treasure or side missions though, and got through all the missions first time.
i reckon you could stretch it to around 2 hours but 3 is pushing it
but i checked my playtime for the infamy ep1 and it says 1:25, i didnt bother with any of the treasure or side missions though, and got through all the missions first time.
i reckon you could stretch it to around 2 hours but 3 is pushing it
Sorry to bump. Just finished it. I liked it. Didn't expect to as I only found Brotherhood decent really.
Controls are still archaic (heard they're a bit better in 3). Didn't really follow the story because I foolishly did go in thinking, 'meh, probably make this my last AC game'. That and the fact the story always goes totally over my head with the animus stuff xD.
Might have to look it up on the net what it was all about.
Hope the controls did improve in 3 and beyond in the series. As they're awful.
Controls are still archaic (heard they're a bit better in 3). Didn't really follow the story because I foolishly did go in thinking, 'meh, probably make this my last AC game'. That and the fact the story always goes totally over my head with the animus stuff xD.
Might have to look it up on the net what it was all about.
Hope the controls did improve in 3 and beyond in the series. As they're awful.
Heh. You'll be sorely disappointed. The controls in ACRev are the best in the series by a long shot. The controls in AC3 are by far the worst. Too many shortcuts, too many button presses serving double-duty, bad camera, too many animations in combat, etc., etc.
Boy am I LTTP.
Just realised I have every AC game until IV except Revelations - do you think it's worth getting or not? I'm only up to AC2 (so Brotherhood is next) and whilst I enjoyed it, I did get slightly fatigued in the end (though I enjoyed it a lot more once I gave up on all of the collectables and focused on the story)
Just realised I have every AC game until IV except Revelations - do you think it's worth getting or not? I'm only up to AC2 (so Brotherhood is next) and whilst I enjoyed it, I did get slightly fatigued in the end (though I enjoyed it a lot more once I gave up on all of the collectables and focused on the story)
iNvid02
Member
If you just started playing through the series I'd suggest taking it easy, because doing them back to back will burn you out pretty quickly. Revelations ties up the loose ends in the Ezio trilogy, if you find that you enjoyed that (AC2 and ACB), then yeah I think its worth getting Revelations.
Very easy to get burned out on the series as a whole though like I said. Also I think in some cases its OK to create a LTTP thread asking gaf about it, this community thread is basically dead. I only saw this because I made the OT and I'm still subscribed to the topic.
Thanks iNvid02 I'm actually spacing out the games quite a lot (played AC2 over a year ago) so will try Brotherhood and then get Revelations if I want more of the same.
Just curious - will this thread not be bumped to the top then if I reply? I might create a LTTP if/when I get the game and start playing it, but for now you've answered my question perfectly, thank you
I'm actually spacing out the games quite a lot (played AC2 over a year ago) so will try Brotherhood and then get Revelations if I want more of the same.Just curious - will this thread not be bumped to the top then if I reply? I might create a LTTP if/when I get the game and start playing it, but for now you've answered my question perfectly, thank you
Giving this a bump as I have a question: I just spotted the Japanese version of the collector's/ultimate/GOTY/whatever-you-call-the-all-DLC-included edition at a game shop here for the equivalent of about $20 and was about to buy it so that I can finally do those DLC missions and see some of those exotic multiplayer locations.
I played multiplayer a little just to get back into the swing of things (I was awful), and I didn't see any unfamiliar personas, so it seems like nobody is using them. Nobody chose any of the DLC settings to play in, though that might be because they're blocked off if one of the participants doesn't have them.
Is this worth buying, or would I be stuck with some bonus content that is no longer usable?
And will the fact that it's the Japanese version affect anything, compatibility-wise? I know that my main-game save file will be incompatible, but that's OK. I was thinking of going through the whole game again anyway.
I played multiplayer a little just to get back into the swing of things (I was awful), and I didn't see any unfamiliar personas, so it seems like nobody is using them. Nobody chose any of the DLC settings to play in, though that might be because they're blocked off if one of the participants doesn't have them.
Is this worth buying, or would I be stuck with some bonus content that is no longer usable?
And will the fact that it's the Japanese version affect anything, compatibility-wise? I know that my main-game save file will be incompatible, but that's OK. I was thinking of going through the whole game again anyway.