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Assassin's Creed 2 - Spoiler Thread (Discuss all plot and story here)

Yes, it's Al Mualim. I blame AC1's lack of subtitles. :P

And I think we'll see more extensive gunplay in AC3 for sure.
 
Young Nobleman Of Sadness said:
Maybe 16 ancestor appears in the game? Leonardo? Borgia?

It was always about 16 the video did not belong to 12, pay attention or something. AFAIK 16 was an assassin. Was leonardo and assassin? What about Borgia? :lol

I have toyed with this idea though, but it's not like they could both meet up inside the animus this isn't an innerconnected platform like the Matrix. It's closed off to the user and those operating it. The only reason 16's shit seeped in was because Lucy pulled the HDD from his animus before she left, the crazy rebel animus operator plugged it into her animus. So it's not like Desmond could go converse with these other people that are also in the animus controlling other assassins from the same time period, like say, mario or someone who was actually an assassin.
 
Terrordactyl said:
It was always about 16 the video did not belong to 12, pay attention or something. AFAIK 16 was an assassin. Was leonardo and assassin? What about Borgia? :lol

I don't know about Borgia but I'd like to think that Leonardo da Vinci was a more intelligent version of Shaun Hastings.
 
Terrordactyl said:
It was always about 16 the video did not belong to 12, pay attention or something. AFAIK 16 was an assassin. Was leonardo and assassin? What about Borgia? :lol

I have toyed with this idea though, but it's not like they could both meet up inside the animus this isn't an innerconnected platform like the Matrix. It's closed off to the user and those operating it. The only reason 16's shit seeped in was because Lucy pulled the HDD from his animus before she left, the crazy rebel animus operator plugged it into her animus. So it's not like Desmond could go converse with these other people that are also in the animus controlling other assassins from the same time period, like say, mario or someone who was actually an assassin.


Well, their ancestors may have met up. That's not impossible (and is actually something I think would be pretty cool). That's kinda something I'd like to see in the next one. 16's ancestors might be "Jaguars" that meet up with the "Eagles" at one point in time.
 
some insightful discussions going on here, i just finished last night and they did a great job with it.

one thing i haven't read but i'm sure it's been asked/answered/obvious answer is:

what was the point when they brought Machiavelli in at the end? all i remember from that short sequence was he said "hey i'm an assassin, what's up, go kill the pope". is that basically the gist of it being a namedrop like davinci (but in a much less believable/interesting way to me)?

was there some historical context/something from "the truth" i glazed over i'm supposed to be getting that i just don't know about that would have made it work better? i mean i guess the more i think about it his works fit in pretty well, but idk, davinci's seemed more natural or maybe i'm just not as familiar with machievelli as i should be. any context (even if it's just part of the ac story i've missed by not so careful reading) would be great.
 
Prezhulio said:
some insightful discussions going on here, i just finished last night and they did a great job with it.

one thing i haven't read but i'm sure it's been asked/answered/obvious answer is:

what was the point when they brought Machiavelli in at the end? all i remember from that short sequence was he said "hey i'm an assassin, what's up, go kill the pope". is that basically the gist of it being a namedrop like davinci (but in a much less believable/interesting way to me)?

was there some historical context/something from "the truth" i glazed over i'm supposed to be getting that i just don't know about that would have made it work better? i mean i guess the more i think about it his works fit in pretty well, but idk, davinci's seemed more natural or maybe i'm just not as familiar with machievelli as i should be. any context (even if it's just part of the ac story i've missed by not so careful reading) would be great.
others in the thread seem to think that it's a piece of a larger bit of content that got cut towards the end of development because they didn't have the dev time to flesh that bit out.
 
I went back to collecting some missing feathers (why the hell not, I'm listening to some podcasts any way) and decided to take a break so looked at the hidden world map on the codex pages.

My guess is that those Assassin Guild marks are locations of hidden/old tombs where some sort of artifacts/history would be found while the dots are either Assassin Guild locations or Templar bases. I'm basing this on the fact that there is only a dot for Jerusalem, one at the Nile delta in Egypt, Persia, Mongolia and northern part of China (not sure about Italy but it doesn't matter). Each of these locations had a major assassin appear throughout the history of the game.

Now that I think about it more, I hope we get to visit multiple locations in the next installment but being realistic, I doubt that would happen (they clearly didn't have enough time to finish every thing they planned for 2 any way).
 
I just remembered my favorite cheesy cutscene in the game.

Thief leader "oh Ezio, I just got this new treat! It's called cafe!
Ezio "it's a bit bitter...maybe with some cream and sugar"

Ezio truly is the prophet

jett said:
And I think we'll see more extensive gunplay in AC3 for sure.

I don't know if I want this. Archers and throwing rocks are annoying enough when it comes to ranged enemy attacks.

But I want one kill to make it into the game: Grab enemy's head, fire wrist gun point blank into face.
 
Fantastic game. Minerva's speech to Desmond through a totally befuddled Ezio was brilliantly handled. So much potential for a third game, and perhaps some DLC to "finish" Ezio's arc.

One of the Glyph puzzles was signaled with Hebrew text that read "olam haba" or, in English, the world to come, or the next world.

Just finished reading the entire thread, and thought that there were some interesting ideas thrown out here, but no one mentioned that little tidbit.

I'm off to play the DS game next. Very happy I played the PSP game before this, as I probably would have been very confused by some of Altair's codex writings and the non-Animus scene with Maria...
 
I think most of you know, it was in the other AC2 thread, but Ubi is releasing two DLC packs dealing with the missing segments (12 and 13, right?).

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/105/1050718p1.html

December 1, 2009 - Hot off its impressive first week sales news, Ubisoft revealed today Assassin's Creed II is receiving two additional download pack add-ons starting in early 2010 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The first DLC episode, Battle of Forli, is planned for release in January, while the second, Bonfire of the Vanities, hits a month later in February.

The downloadable content will fill out the missing memory blocks in Assassin's Creed II. The titles of the content are telling in themselves. The battle of Forli most likely deals with the town being seized by Cesare Borgia (The villain in ACII) in 1499. Control of the town had previously been claimed by Pope Sixtus IV and given to his nephew Gerolamo Riario. Riario's wife was the beautiful Caterina Sforza, who fans of the game might remember running into as Ezio tried to board a boat to Venice. It's possible that the plot aligns Ezio with Caterina as she fights for the town's independence.

The Bonfire of the Vanities is a more popular historical event where supporters of the church would congregate and burn possessions that were associated with vanity like mirrors or make-up. The game refers to one such event taking place in Florence during one of the missing memories. Historically, the confrontation resulted in Caterina being taken prisoner by Cesare Borgia and relocated to Rome.

Ubisoft didn't mention any pricing details just yet, however, they did drop an unusually large harddrive space requirement. Each DLC has a minimum 1GB of needed memory, meaning these episodes could be pretty lengthy.

I hope they delve into Ezio's character and family life a bit more. Think they might release a final DLC for Sequence 15 where Ezio kills Borgia? The fact that he left him alive ticks me off a little.
 
Battle of Forli is probably going to be 1488 onwards. It will probably include the assassination of Carterina's husband, and the siege of Forli by the Visconti. Bonfire of the Vanties is almost certainly 1497 in Florence. Both dates will nicely match in order between Sequences 11 and 14.
 
Just saw this and I'm losing it! This is such awesome news. I really didn't expect it to be this soon. Hopefully we'll get a good deal of add-on things, preferably weapons/armor/dyes with these as well. Hope to see more of Machiavelli as well!
 
eso76 said:
I found the story fascinating.
I never realized you were not just murdering random guys in AC1, as i never really paid attention the story and i never finished it (quit playing very soon in the game actually) but i am considering going back to it since, for once, it seems all the pieces fit together in creating one huge "conspiracy theory" where major events in our history are just the surface to one larger conflict. And the writers did a very good job in putting templars and assassins behind them imo.
?

Hmm it still seems like to me that they were just a bunch of random guys, except for the last kill. That may be because of how tedious the AC1 felt though.

LiK said:
Man I loved the ending. It's so cool how they connected the first game to the sequel. They really did a good job expanding Altair as a character in the Codex pages too. I loved the first AC so it was nice to see Altair so revered in the sequel.

I guess I missed the connections to one, besides the trip out scene and Altairs armor. The only thing I got from the Codex pages was the world map, I guess I missed something.

I'm definitely interested in reading the stories from the DS and PSP games though.
 
Dead said:
:D

:( at 1GB each though

I am actually really excited about this fact, it puts it somewhere on the same level as the GTA episodes in terms of potential overall change and features.
 
Choc said:
I am actually really excited about this fact, it puts it somewhere on the same level as the GTA episodes in terms of potential overall change and features.

Ubisoft has outdone Rockstar imo. Not only is the DLC coming out right on the heels of the game's initial release, but it actually fills in gaps in the storyline the main game hints at, and it will be on both platforms with no exclusivity bullshit.

Class one.
 
I wonder how the DLC will work. Will we just select sequence 12 and 13 from the DNA menu and will you only be able to play them once you have finished all the main story missions or at least reach sequence 14?

It would be nice if they patched in the option to replay all missions from the DNA menu when these come out.

Edit: Also I assume they will add more races and other side missions with this DLC since those sequences are still maked as incomplete in the DNA even when you have completed all of the ones available. I also think that the Secret Locations sequence is marked as incomplete as well so hopefully these will include more Assassin's Tombs/Templar Lairs.
 
Don said:
I wonder how the DLC will work. Will we just select sequence 12 and 13 from the DNA menu and will you only be able to play them once you have finished all the main story missions or at least reach sequence 14?

It would be nice if they patched in the option to replay all missions from the DNA menu when these come out.

I really hope they patch in the option to replay memories. There could even be a story excuse for it. While they're on the run from Abstergo, Rebecca fixes the corrupted data, and patches up the Animus. With Animus 2.5, Desmond is not only able to access the previously corrupted memory segments, but also replay any old memories.

COME ON UBISOFT! DO THE RIGHT THING! :D
 
Let's see. Game features 12 sequences, that is 5 bucks per sequence.

Each DLC better not cost more than that. :P
 
jett said:
Let's see. Game features 12 sequences, that is 5 bucks per sequence.

Each DLC better not cost more than that. :P

You arent getting any significant single player content for under 10$ in this day and age.

Ok maybe like 7.99 ish :lol
 
After finishing the game and doing the truth and all that, yeah, totally 2012. Gonna visit Mayan temples next?

It's pretty much silly. But at least the game was good.

Edit: DLC with the missing sequences, ayup. I hope these missing DNA sequences are long, though, because it's easy to complete an individual sequence in around an hour or less. The 1GB size thing doesn't mean much length-wise.

I wish they just included these memories from the start :P
 
Don said:
Edit: Also I assume they will add more races and other side missions with this DLC since those sequences are still maked as incomplete in the DNA even when you have completed all of the ones available. I also think that the Secret Locations sequence is marked as incomplete as well so hopefully these will include more Assassin's Tombs/Templar Lairs.

There are, in fact, 3 empty secret location slots. So it's pretty likely you will get those in the DLC.
 
I wonder, doesn't this mean that they need to have a part of the game set in the present too? Cause how does Desmond access those memories when he couldn't in the game, if not after the ending?
 
d0c_zaius said:
I guess I missed the connections to one, besides the trip out scene and Altairs armor. The only thing I got from the Codex pages was the world map, I guess I missed something.

Yep, they are pages from Altair's journal that you can read. Some of them have text while others contain pictures. At least one contains both.
 
linsivvi said:
There are, in fact, 3 empty secret location slots. So it's pretty likely you will get those in the DLC.

Only 1 empty location if you bought the LE from an American Gamestop.
0 empty locations, I hear it, if you bought the EU-only Black Edition.

That 1 missing location is probably what is preventing me from upping my sync from 99.2% to 100%, and I'm insanely annoyed by it.
 
Ether_Snake said:
I wonder, doesn't this mean that they need to have a part of the game set in the present too? Cause how does Desmond access those memories when he couldn't in the game, if not after the ending?

In my personal opinion they're going to end up with Desmond in modern times. Desmond acquiring all the abilities of his ancestors, he's going to have to put them to use. I personally don't mind a modern Assassin's Creed.

With the qualifier that I'd like an Assassin's Creed like that to ALSO have a few cities from the past as well.

So it'd be like Modern City Desmond -> Home base (Animus 3.0) -> Ancient Past City (?)
 
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
I hope they delve into Ezio's character and family life a bit more. Think they might release a final DLC for Sequence 15 where Ezio kills Borgia? The fact that he left him alive ticks me off a little.

Why on earth would Ezio, having just had a catharsis where he realizes he doesn't need to kill Borgia to achieve his objective, then turn around and kill Borgia? There's no way that'd have any emotional payoff at all.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Why on earth would Ezio, having just had a catharsis where he realizes he doesn't need to kill Borgia to achieve his objective, then turn around and kill Borgia? There's no way that'd have any emotional payoff at all.

I think people just want an excuse for Rome to be a DLC city. :lol
 
i was a little disappointed that I only got to go into the Vatican in ROME. I looked off across the vast bridge, and saw the Colosseum, and shed a tear.
 
Amirox: I mean for the DLC, how will Desmond relive those memories? They left the hideout.

And no way will Ezio kill Borgia, unless he poisons him. They will want to stay true to history.
 
IGN said:
The downloadable content will fill out the missing memory blocks in Assassin's Creed II. The titles of the content are telling in themselves. The battle of Forli most likely deals with the town being seized by Cesare Borgia (The villain in ACII) in 1499. Control of the town had previously been claimed by Pope Sixtus IV and given to his nephew Gerolamo Riario. Riario's wife was the beautiful Caterina Sforza, who fans of the game might remember running into as Ezio tried to board a boat to Venice. It's possible that the plot aligns Ezio with Caterina as she fights for the town's independence.

Does IGN realize that Cesare and Rodrigo Borgia are not the same person?

duckroll said:
Ubisoft has outdone Rockstar imo. Not only is the DLC coming out right on the heels of the game's initial release, but it actually fills in gaps in the storyline the main game hints at, and it will be on both platforms with no exclusivity bullshit.

Class one.

My one issue is that I had really hoped the inevitable DLC would take place in a new area. Maybe I was spoiled by Prince of Persia, but I absolutely loved the huge new dungeon that the epilogue to that game added and I kind of wanted something comparable out of Assassin's Creed 2's DLC. I'm sure they'll come up with some interesting new missions in Forli, but when it comes to buying new content, I really wanted new areas to explore, too. I think my purchasing will be dependent upon this... if they at least, rather than a new town, include some pretty intricate new areas like the assassin tombs or a palace as part of the quest, I'll be content with that.

Stumpokapow said:
Why on earth would Ezio, having just had a catharsis where he realizes he doesn't need to kill Borgia to achieve his objective, then turn around and kill Borgia? There's no way that'd have any emotional payoff at all.

But the catharsis was duuuuuuumb. Ezio kills so many people! Hell, my Ezio kills every. single. fucking. archer that yells at me to get off a rooftop! He may not need to kill Borgia to achieve his objective, but going off the historical framework, Borgia should die because he's, you know, completely fucking rotten to the core! Some of the atrocities he committed after Ezio left him alive (stupidly) certainly warrant revisiting that decision!
 
Yeah but in the DLC I bet we'll see Ezio "change". After all, Altair also changed after he got the apple.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Why on earth would Ezio, having just had a catharsis where he realizes he doesn't need to kill Borgia to achieve his objective, then turn around and kill Borgia? There's no way that'd have any emotional payoff at all.

Because Borgio is one of the most corrupt and horrible and all around evil men in history? I think it would've been better that Ezio killed Borgio, but not for revenge. For the greater good.

Ezio this whole time has been fighting for revenge, that has been his driving motivation, not so much the struggles of the people. He makes friends with those who want to change the system or who fight it, but his motivations are different.

As an Assassin, it should be his duty to kill Borgio, someone who delights in evil and torment. Not for revenge, but for the people, for the greater good of Italy. That's why Borgio should've been killed. It doesn't make sense to leave a rotten bastard like that alive even after all the killing.

If they have a Sequence 15, I hope Ezio comes back to finish off Borgio. Poison him then, there's potential for an epic stealth mission to get in, poison him, and get out.

It just doesn't sit well with me, after all these men that Ezio killed, the one truly responsible is spared? I don't care what kind of epiphany he has, he should've finished Borgio off. That would've been justice.
 
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
Because Borgio is one of the most corrupt and horrible and all around evil men in history? I think it would've been better that Ezio killed Borgio, but not for revenge. For the greater good.

Ezio this whole time has been fighting for revenge, that has been his driving motivation, not so much the struggles of the people. He makes friends with those who want to change the system or who fight it, but his motivations are different.

As an Assassin, it should be his duty to kill Borgio, someone who delights in evil and torment. Not for revenge, but for the people, for the greater good of Italy. That's why Borgio should've been killed. It doesn't make sense to leave a rotten bastard like that alive even after all the killing.

If they have a Sequence 15, I hope Ezio comes back to finish off Borgio. Poison him then, there's potential for an epic stealth mission to get in, poison him, and get out.

It just doesn't sit well with me, after all these men that Ezio killed, the one truly responsible is spared? I don't care what kind of epiphany he has, he should've finished Borgio off. That would've been justice.

They won't have a Sequence 15 because Borgia was not meant to die in the storyline. It's unlikely that they will change this. There clearly is a reason that the story was written this way. Borgia was not the "one man responsible", everyone involved made the choice as well. By the time Ezio got to Borgia, he realized he didn't need to kill him, he was more interested in what really was going on.
 
Ether_Snake said:
Amirox: I mean for the DLC, how will Desmond relive those memories? They left the hideout.

And no way will Ezio kill Borgia, unless he poisons him. They will want to stay true to history.

Remember when Rebecca was trying to resynch Desmond with a point of time? She comes to one point, but says it was corrupted. Then she comes to another point, but that's been corrupted too. While in transit to the cabin, or after they get there, she's able pull some data from those time periods and tells Desmond to go in and see if he can uncover something else that will help them.
 
By the by, did anyone notice right before Ezio entered the vault the PE he had been carrying was still on top of the other PE (the staff). I even looked back to see they were still connected to each other before I stepped into the memory circle. But, when Minerva asked to see the Apple, so that she could give thanks, Ezio had it with him in the red pouch tied to his waste.
 
The announced DLC sounds pretty sweet, and hopefully gives some insight on why Ezio decided not to kill Borgia. I mean, come on, Ezio had his hands around his neck. All he needed to do with unleash the hidden blades and be done with it. Okay, it's not fitting with history, but it would be a logical step and since when is history a factual piece of work? As someone once said: "History is written by the victors."

Where to go next? For AC3, I really hope they take it to Holland in the 17th century. It was the epicentre of economics, science and art in that century. Besides being a very beautiful period, it was also filled with conspiracies, bribery and politics, so it will be well-fit for an AC-game.
As for a WW2-AC, I'm not too fond of this idea, unless they manage to take it a level higher than what we've seen from games like Commandos, Velvet Assassin or The Saboteur. If they do it, the focus should be on high-level ranking officers. As much as I would like to go Aldo Rain on the Nazis, this would take the main focus off of the AC-series. Desmond's ancestor shouldn't be there to stop WW2, he should be after the PE (PE4 I think it was). Everything else is unimportant.
 
ethelred said:
My one issue is that I had really hoped the inevitable DLC would take place in a new area. Maybe I was spoiled by Prince of Persia, but I absolutely loved the huge new dungeon that the epilogue to that game added and I kind of wanted something comparable out of Assassin's Creed 2's DLC. I'm sure they'll come up with some interesting new missions in Forli, but when it comes to buying new content, I really wanted new areas to explore, too. I think my purchasing will be dependent upon this... if they at least, rather than a new town, include some pretty intricate new areas like the assassin tombs or a palace as part of the quest, I'll be content with that.

I will be very surprised if the DLC does not contain any new areas. The Florence one will almost certainly have the completed map of south Florence which is inaccessible in the game right now. It looks like quite a big district, and has 2 visible landmarks which you can see in the complete map when you use fast travel.

For Forli, I'm not sure what they can do, but I can't really imagine a very compelling story campaign taking place in the location which exists right now, so yeah I definitely hope they're going to be adding a substantial amount of content to it. It's pretty barren right now.
 
neorej said:
Where to go next? For AC3, I really hope they take it to Holland in the 17th century. It was the epicentre of economics, science and art in that century. Besides being a very beautiful period, it was also filled with conspiracies, bribery and politics, so it will be well-fit for an AC-game.

As much as i'm craving a 3rd person action game that takes place in Amsterdam (Remember the trailer for the cancelled PS3 getaway game? :(), i feel like AC wouldn't be able to do it justice - it doesn't seem large enough to center a plot around, and if it has to play second violin next to London, Paris or maybe even Brussels or Antwerp, it might turn out underwhelming. Although, if it were "Florence sized" with the rest of the game taking place in any of the other cities i mention, it might have a shot at being amazing.

Ok i want this now.
 
Truant said:
The next one needs to be set in China or Japan.

The problem is that the mythology - especially the Templars - is based entirely on the failure of the monotheistic religions. It doesn't help that the Piece of Eden (which itself is a Biblical reference) seemingly only had an effect on the "West" during antiquity and only reached South Asia during the 19th century.

That said, if they could do a whole thing set in India or China or Japan based around Buddhism? Christ, I'd pre-order that shit RIGHT NOW - hell, I'd send a 60 dollar check to Desilet himself via FedEx. :p

Maybe for the "Eastern" Templars, it's a 'Piece of "Karma"' or some such. They could do something interesting if they wanted to anyway.

Edit - you know, they should just play Muramasa and steal as much as that as possible. Christ, it's like the perfect blend of setting (with samurai and ninjas) AND mythology (Buddhism and Shintoism).
 
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