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

I was ready to impulse buy this last night but best buy's site was fucking up and wouldn't allow you to place an order for pick up or shipment.

Maybe they did me a favor because i have too much backlog and halo 5/black ops are going to be my jam next week/november.
 

Yoday

Member
Played a little more and to be honest the city feels like good downgrade from Paris, the geometry, the details and how it looks in general, to me is like something between Black Flag (on the current gen) and Unity, need to see more but is my first reaction.

Evie and Henry Green are awesome, Jacob is a douche. Navigation feels way better than Unity, more responsive and fast.
It's definitely still a generational leap from Black Flag, but it did indeed get a decent downgrade. I would guess that they simply have a lot of engine optimizations to do still and simply decided to take a step back to ensure better performance for the time being. Unity is probably what we should have gotten from the second or third year of the engine, not the first. One of the biggest things missing this time around that people who didn't play Unity might not realize is interiors. Nearly a quarter of Paris was modeled inside and out, and that is almost completely gone this time. I'm sure it's partly to do with making sure performance is solid, but it probably also has to do with asset generation, as I'm sure Syndicate was on a tighter budget.

Here is a good comparison video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4YU_hy9xFk

We got dynamic lighting, better weather, and better performance. We lost a significant portion of the crowd density, the better quality lighting, overall geometry, and interiors. I hope next year they improve the optimization enough to reach a nice middle ground where they can bring back interiors and some of the larger crowds while maintaining the dynamic lighting and weather.
 
Huge fans of the series. I think it's alright so far.

Some gripes I have with it so far:

Free-Running - It's definitely not as "floaty" as it was in Unity. There is a feeling of a little more weight. Though, now they seemed to of overly simplified it even further... which I'm not really liking. You can no longer input a jump while holding R2. This was handy when choosing to time your jumps before the end of ledges to jump early or to have more control when jumping to tightropes. Also, when approaching a wall there is a slight pause before beginning to mount up it. In Unity and other games there was a smoother transition. Also while trying to mount on top of a handrail on a walkway or something you now have to tap X to get on top of it. Again, I think this was done to help address the issue with some player hopping on top of smaller obstacles accidentally. Another thing they did was get rid of the player needing to input RT+ O to quickly mount over small objects or to slide underneath obstacles. It is all automated now while holding R2 which I don't like. I am liking the addition of the rope launcher though.

Combat - It's alright so far. I really hated the combat in Unity so I am glad they changed it. Though I thought they this game was going back to the weapon selection, being able to switch between the knife, cane sword or knuckles on the fly instead of having to go into the menu and fully equip/unequip them. I miss in previous AC games (Black Flag) being able to choose between the hidden blade, sword or unarmed....in turn being able to silently kill enemies in more various ways (unarmed quick beatdowns were awesome). Now, like in Unity silent kill are always done with the hidden blade or by holding the O button for a chokehold to KO.

Visuals - So far it's hit or miss. I love the atmosphere and scale of the city. They probably had to streamline some of the rendering systems from Unity after seeing how poorly it ran. I might just stop, trade in or sell the game to a friend and wait for the PC version for better performance.

Overall I'm somewhat enjoying it so far. Just bummed by some of the changes.

Sorry for the errors, Quickly put this together on my phone.
 

Yoday

Member
Huge fans of the series. I think it's alright so far.

Some gripes I have with it so far:

Free-Running - It's definitely not as "floaty" as it was in Unity. There is a feeling of a little more weight. Though, now they seemed to of overly simplified it even further... which I'm not really liking. You can no longer input a jump while holding R2. This was handy when choosing to time your jumps before the end of ledges to jump early or to have more control when jumping to tightropes. Also, when approaching a wall there is a slight pause before beginning to mount up it. In Unity and other games there was a smoother transition. Also while trying to mount on top of a handrail on a walkway or something you now have to tap X to get on top of it. Again, I think this was done to help address the issue with some player hopping on top of smaller obstacles accidentally. Another thing they did was get rid of the player needing to input RT+ O to quickly mount over small objects or to slide underneath obstacles. It is all automated now while holding R2 which I don't like. I am liking the addition of the rope launcher though.
Hmm, not sure if I like those Parkour changes. Why they made them is clear as day, as way too many people didn't actually learn the controls in Unity so we got countless people complaining about Arno flying around everywhere. Still, I liked the added player interaction of long jumps and vaulting. I'll have to get my hands on it and feel these changes for myself.
 

Elginer

Member
Looking forward to playing this when I get out of work. Nice to see that it is MUCH better than Unity. I mean shit, it couldn't have gotten worse.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Ubisoft, quit making Ezio clones, please. Jacob is the worst of the batch and damn near insufferable sometimes. Evie is a breath of fresh air compared to those guys.
 

ChuckNyce

Member
Alright, so the end of the year gaming hype has officially invaded my body and I'm finding myself doing crazy dumb shit like impulse buying this last night at 10 PM (digitally no less) knowing I had a copy of Dragon Quest Heroes and Halo 5 arriving later today. Only got to play an hour, and the world hasn't opened up yet, but so far it seems like some fun could be had with this. The fisticuffs combat feels fast and visceral, and I'm digging the setting/grahpics despite them not looking quite as good as Unity thus far. The dynamic of the two different playstyles seems like it'll be interesting too. Looking forward to playing more.
 
Hmm, not sure if I like those Parkour changes. Why they made them is clear as day, as way too many people didn't actually learn the controls in Unity so we got countless people complaining about Arno flying around everywhere. Still, I liked the added player interaction of long jumps and vaulting. I'll have to get my hands on it and feel these changes for myself.

Long jumps are still there. It's just all done at the end of a ledge now. Instead of being able to time it early. Maybe there is some sort of upgrade in the skill tree for it, but I don't remember seeing it.

And yes, a lot of people who I saw play Unity were always holding down the "Assassin's Claw" RT+X.
 
Lately buying games at launch is a complete disaster. I am actually happy I have a backlog on my Steam account. By the time I get to play this game it will be less than half of the original price and at the latest patches to fix this generation's plague (bugs).
 
It's kind of different actually. Attacks are faster, counters are less tied to animation priority, and you get a dedicated bullet dodge counter which is prompted by a big triangle above your head. I'm assuming you can turn off the blatant prompts but I haven't tried.

I should add it's also a fair bit easier. But most of the difficulty in Unity's combat came from the bullshit gun attacks which you couldn't avoid.

Thanks, I died from gun shots way too much in Unity and thats one of the many problems I had with that. I seem to remember in Black Flag they made countering them so cool, but it sucked ass in Unity.
 
One of the biggest things missing this time around that people who didn't play Unity might not realize is interiors. Nearly a quarter of Paris was modeled inside and out, and that is almost completely gone this time. I'm sure it's partly to do with making sure performance is solid, but it probably also has to do with asset generation, as I'm sure Syndicate was on a tighter budget.

Do you feel that this makes their claim that Syndicate's London is 30% larger than Unity's Paris a bit disingenuous (or at least inaccurate)? While the exterior space is 30% larger, losing all that interior space must eat into that total a little.

One of the things I liked about Unity was the ability to run through a building rather than just over it, despite all the times I'd get stuck on a window. That being said, the rope launcher might just be a fix for this since now it's easier than ever to just go over it.
 
Huge Spoiler below:

You play as the grandaughter-niece of Evie and Jacob, and there is an entire free roam section in WW1 occupied London, and you work with Winston Churchill who wants to recruit you into the secret service.

SOLD.

Gonna go get my copy today.
 

Nugg

Member
Wait, the Gold Edition doesn't come with a disc?
Is that what this is saying?

Those charts are often inaccurate, the physical Gold Edition does have a disc. And the answer to those charts is always: if you want everything, get the base game and the season pass, and fuck the physical content crap. It's always been true, even for watch dogs.
 

nOoblet16

Member
Huge Spoiler below:

You play as the grandaughter-niece of Evie and Jacob, and there is an entire free roam section in WW1 occupied London, and you work with Winston Churchill who wants to recruit you into the secret service.

Welp...just bought the game !
 
Ok I'm giving this game another chance after uninstalling it. I'll see how I go. The thing is it's 2:45am and I should be asleep :).
 

artsi

Member
I got the game today and I'm very pleased so far. I usually play on PC but I didn't have the patience to wait and the game looks pretty good on PS4 too.
 
Asked earlier but don't think enough in here had played it to answer.

How often does the game have a creepy, foggy atmosphere? From what I've seen they nail the dingy, dirty side of Victorian London, but the draw of fiction based on the era for me lies in the oppressive, dangerous Jack-The-Ripperish side of it.

Actually, is there fog and gas-lamp lighting at all?

Gonna buy it regardless
 

Pearson

Banned
I skipped Unity and I'm really thinking about getting this.

For the price currently, should I just pick up Unity (assuming it's patched and fixed completely by now) to scratch my AC itch or actually get Syndicate?

I just get caught in the hype and it makes me spend my money
 
I skipped Unity and I'm really thinking about getting this.

For the price currently, should I just pick up Unity (assuming it's patched and fixed completely by now) to scratch my AC itch or actually get Syndicate?

I just get caught in the hype and it makes me spend my money

Get Syndicate. Unity still has problems that aren't just performance.
 
This is the first Assassins Creed I've played with the very brief exception of the vita one (hated that) and I've spent all afternoon playing this as I impulse bought it this morning, I have to say I'm throughly enjoying it, it's taken me a bit to get used to the free running but other than that I think it's really good, maybe it's Assassins Creed ignorance but it's good fun do far.
 
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FlyinJ

Douchebag. Yes, me.
Is there a way to go immediately to a new encyclopedia entry when it informs you of something new? In previous games if you tapped start before the notification went away it would bring you to it. Can't find a similar shortcut here...
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Sheesh, the mission "A Spoonful of Syrup" is like the epitome of typically bad Assassin's Creed mission design, holy crap what a mess. Did a sidemission after that which was also a total goatfuck.

Decided to take a break for a few.

Also - I've reached a point where the game goes out of its way to depict Jacob as a douchebag and Evie as a smart and sensible girl. It's pretty silly, really.
 

Roussow

Member
Just completed the first mission with the grappling-hook / zipline thingy. Tremendous fun, moving at such a great pace across the Palace of Westminster was wonderful.

Oh, and this game easily has the best stealth system Assassins Creed has ever had.
 

El-Suave

Member
Loved the first two sequences I played today. The only complaint is that they didn't do enough with the train level. When there was the chance to window assassinate from outside the train cart the ride was almost over. I wish they would have given the player the chance to play around with the mechanics sandbox style some more, but that might have been too much at the start of the game. I hope we get another train mission that's more open. Anyway, the start to the game is great and the characters are very likeable.
 

chadskin

Member
Geez, sales must be horrible, at least here in Germany.

Amazon had it for pre-order for €70, then lowered the price to €61 earlier today and I just saw they've dropped the price again to €52 now. Never seen a game fall this low this quickly, let alone on launch day, damn.
 

El-Suave

Member
Geez, sales must be horrible, at least here in Germany.

Amazon had it for pre-order for €70, then lowered the price to €61 earlier today and I just saw they've dropped the price again to €52 now. Never seen a game fall this low this quickly, let alone on launch day, damn.

That may be them reacting to the Media Markt 3 for 2 deal. It's the same price for Fifa and other big games, too. So instead of being horrible sales will be enormous.
 

AdaWong

Junior Member
I want to know why the name change from Victory to Syndicate. Victory felt like a much better title for different reasons, the V could stand for AC5 and Victory is a good play on the victorian setting of the game. Victory makes sense in terms of the plot of this game and it's apparently a good AC game so it's a victory overall!
 
Wasn't going get this, but looking at some reviews and this thread encouraged me to make a snap decision when at the supermarket this morning.

Played it most of the day, and I'm enjoying it. Great setting, the tutorial was mercifully short and the characters are pretty good. Had a few issues with the unresponsive controls, especially when fighting but to be fair, I've been playing MGSV this week and it just nails that third person movement so I guess I'm not as tolerant as usual.

Good game. Looking forward to playing more.
 

Logash

Member
Just finished the intro and here are my impressions:

-Jacob and Evie are two of the best Assassin's I have ever played with. Maybe it's because I am a twin or maybe it's because I love the whole brother sister thing but I instantly fell in love with them. Of course this is only based off the hour or so playing them so there is still much left to see

-This soundtrack is amazing! This I have no problem saying with only an hour into the game. The soundtrack for this game is the best in the series and might even be the one of my favorite video game soundtracks.

-The return of post Assassination conversations! I personally believe that this is one of the most underrated story driven mechanics in AC. When done right it gives much needed context and purpose to the not very fleshed out villains in the game. It doesn't help that the best games in the series (2 and brotherhood) don't use this mechanic as well as two of the worst in the series (3 and 1). For this I don't blame ubi for trying something new with them in unity... So f-ing glad they are back though and the two I've seen are great!


-Combat is fast and fluid and seems like a sstep up from unity in my opinion. I really like how brutal fighting with fist look but I think the cane sword is probably my preferred weapon.

-So far the side activities are really working for me. It feels relevant because of the whole taking over london thing. Not sure if I will get tired of them or not but I have seen that I have much higer tolerance for things like this. We will see.
 

Fliesen

Member
Jesus, this is such an UBI game. insofar that it totally scratches my collector's itch. going to spend a lot of time getting sidetracked, avoiding story progression for hours.

Totally gonna platinum this game, fo sho.
 
Just finished the intro and here are my impressions:

-Jacob and Evie are two of the best Assassin's I have ever played with. Maybe it's because I am a twin or maybe it's because I love the whole brother sister thing but I instantly fell in love with them. Of course this is only based off the hour or so playing them so there is still much left to see

-This soundtrack is amazing! This I have no problem saying with only an hour into the game. The soundtrack for this game is the best in the series and might even be the one of my favorite video game soundtracks.

-The return of post Assassination conversations! I personally believe that this is one of the most underrated story driven mechanics in AC. When done right it gives much needed context and purpose to the not very fleshed out villains in the game. It doesn't help that the best games in the series (2 and brotherhood) don't use this mechanic as well as two of the worst in the series (3 and 1). For this I don't blame ubi for trying something new with them in unity... So f-ing glad they are back though and the two I've seen are great!


-Combat is fast and fluid and seems like a sstep up from unity in my opinion. I really like how brutal fighting with fist look but I think the cane sword is probably my preferred weapon.

-So far the side activities are really working for me. It feels relevant because of the whole taking over london thing. Not sure if I will get tired of them or not but I have seen that I have much higer tolerance for things like this. We will see.


Forgot to mention the soundtrack, and I totally agree. Amazing.
 

chadskin

Member
That may be them reacting to the Media Markt 3 for 2 deal. It's the same price for Fifa and other big games, too. So instead of being horrible sales will be enormous.

Oh, haven't heard about them doing this again before, then it very well may be a response to that. Too bad this deal doesn't apply to pre-orders. :/
 
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