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[ThoseDeafMutes]

There are a lot of minor issues that they could fix, but the core thing holding me back from enjoying the series seem to be fundamental design choices. They don't seem to want to change the balance between Stealth and Action, wherein the latter is not only viable but much easier. They don't seem to want to want to include robust stealth systems, at all. The games try to be too much at once and instead of polishing up what they've got and rethinking the formula, they seem to just want to tack on more useless busywork mini-games and subsystems. Half the time it can feel like you're playing a facebook game in the background of an action game.

But when each game sells sixty hojillion copies as it is, I can see why they're not keen to rock the boat.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Go back to the roots. Put absolute focus on assassinations, social stealth, and free running. And design intricate mechanics around these things. Cut the fat, quit the padding.

This. Part 3 felt like such a cluster fuck. They need to focus, that's for damn sure.

 

[SiskoKid]

They MUST do the following:

- Start focusing back on the whole 'da vinci code' like stories again. They lost that connection that assassins and templars fight to this day and tie into the real world

- The side quests need to unravel deeper mysteries again. AC 2 & Brohood did a great job at this. Like with adam and eve or seeing things like the supreme court holding an apple or finding subject 16

- Stop doing DLC that is pointless. Washington is evil? Who cares when it doesn't actually affect the main story in any way. Everything should be helping unfold the mysteries between the assassins and templars.

- Fix the enigma that is the ending of ACIII. If the first civ can see the future, then when you're choosing the future of the planet, Desmond should be asking them how all options play out not just one option. Also, if the assassins end up beating the enemy (keeping things vague to avoid spoilers) how did Juno not see that? Otherwise it seems clear that assassins never win.

 

[Alfredo]

I hated glyph puzzles
Kinda
Just me?

I hated them, too. They felt like lame browser games. I'm pretty sure they were even made in Flash...

Anyway, this is what I want from AC4:
- Shorter intro/tutorial segment. I really like what they did with the prologue in AC3, with the switch between Haytham and Connor, but I didn't like how it felt like a reeeeaaally long tutorial.
- Bring back the inventory system from AC2 and Brotherhood. The only reason I could think of to rationalize the AC3 system was to sell a feature for the Wii U version.
- More time for polish. And I want the game to remain consistent its polish. The modern day sequences were TERRIBLE, and felt pretty obvious they were done by a "B Team" or whatever. They paled in comparison to anything happening in the Animus. Ironically, the stuff that happened in "the real world" felt more artificial than the stuff in the Animus.
- No multiplayer achievements.

 

[GetemMa]

Insert a ton of elements from Pirates Gold!.

I want a fleet of 12 ships and a mutinous crew that I have to keep happy.
I want resource management for my fleet.
I want to sack a city and install a governor from another country.
I want to earn commissions/bounties from different countries for my deeds/misdeeds.
I want to have 6 wives who know nothing of each other (or do they?) across the Caribbean.
I want to go treasure hunting with random maps I pieced together from my adventures.
I want to go discover ancient cultures in Mexico and South America.
I want to hunt other Pirates for bounties.
I want an ever changing status that is dependent on my behavior.
I want a career where I build up a riches and property.

But I am sure Ubisoft will give us the same repetitive gameplay, poor mission design, and overly convoluted story that it always does because maintaining that boring dross of a story is SO IMPORTANT (rolls eyes)

Sorry, but AC4 is bittersweet to me. When I played the battleship parts in AC3 I was hoping Ubisoft would take that and make a new pirate IP, but now we are going to get all that bad AC3 baggage and probably an average game that should be great.

 

[Psychological Intellect]

make the parkour/free running non-automatic make it controllable and skill based somehow

 

[pakkit]

I admit, I guffawed as soon as I read Assassin's Creed described as a "thinking man's game."

 

[TheHater]

better controls. My biggest problem with AC is the control and free running. Ever since the first AC game, I have always hated the controls. It never felt right to me. I just don't exactly that it is, but I cannot play any AC game for more than an hour at a time.

 

[dream431ca]

I would fix it by not making Assassin's Creed 4 and giving the series a break.

 

[RustyNails]

AC3 was not an assassins creed game at all. Even judging by their cinematics and trailers. Connor running ahead of a retreating army and single handedly taking out redcoats in a vast open field, giving general Washington a nice surprise. The fuck is this. This is not The Patriot: Videogame. Why is Connor even wearing a hood if he's doing this shit? The hood has now become just a cool looking piece of cloth and that's it. It made complete sense in Altair's time and some sense during Renaissance due to the gaudy nature of clothes back then.

Change the strategy from hay whats a cool setting we can throw our character in??? to how we can make a perfect Assassins Creed game

 

[UrbanRats]

Also they should've never pushed the whole

Spoiler

"sun is about to explode"

bullshit.
If there was a glimpse of something interesting in AC's plot, it was the conflicting social and political views between Assassins and Templars, they should've focused on those, maybe letting you play both sides.
The Apple of Eden should've been just a McGuffin to explore that side, not the whole

Spoiler

ancient civilization

bonanza.

 

[publicpwnerer]

For such a big open world, the quests felt so claustrophobic. Literally every quest (except naval missions), were just a quest marker followed by dialogue or a cutscene.



So basically, far better quest design. Create more fun systems, like recruiting assassins, leveling them up in fun ways, other than sending them off to complete tasks. Create a massive and unique quest chain about your Assassins "den", building it up and facing various problems.

 

[Sober]

I actually don't remember straight up assassinating anyone in AC3 like they had you do in previous games. I wouldn't mind if they took the AC1 formula of "figure out who this guy is" if they died some of the story missions towards that and maybe the odd sidequest or two for extra info (guards, escape routes, etc.)

Did I assassinate any major characters in AC3? It felt like they saw me coming and I just ran them down with a sword or they ended up being boss fights.

 

[metalmania4evr]

Huge franchises like AC should be biennial, not annual installments. That kind of production time just doesn't sit well with me.

 

[FloatOn]

Make it so that the combat is more than simply mashing counter attack over and over. Ripping off the Batman Arkham games would be a wise move (it worked for Sleeping Dogs).

 

[Sober]

Make it so that the combat is more than simply mashing counter attack over and over. Ripping off the Batman Arkham games would be a wise move (it worked for Sleeping Dogs).

Since AC1 I think you could actually mash attack to combo as long as the enemy didn't block it or something. I mean, it was there, but countering was so much easier.

I also was confused why they moved defensive stance or whatever off RT/profile change and onto a face button.

 

[SummitAve]

Needs a new engine or something. It's the same handful of repeated pedestrians across the entire series. They're all mindless idiots who don't notice or react to shit. Not much in that realm has changed since the 1st game and with every new game it comes off as worse and worse. Also get rid of the present day stuff.

 

[Replicant]

* Good story + protagonist.
* Stop it with controller-throwing, ridiculous sub-missions ("don't hit others while running". WHY?)
* Please don't copy + paste your cities. They all look the same in AC3. Make them unique. If you really want to boast about the 600 people working on the game then don't come up with a game where the majority of the areas look similar to the others.

 

[ultron87]

Make the side stuff actually affect the main game and let me buy armor and other cool stuff that affects how my character looks and plays.

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

Tweak the combat so I have more input on the destruction happening on screen. Countering should be something that you have to think about and time correctly (something like Royal Guard or the Rising parry system). Make it something you develop skills at instead of dropping all the tools for rage murder street clearing chain kills the second you touch a blade.

Design 3-5 excellent and LONG assassination missions including working over guards, stealing uniforms, disrupting the peace of a region to draw a target out, forcing a battle so your target is present on the field of battle, track and subdue an ambassador and take their place in a theater next to your target. so on and so forth. Make the kill something spectacular and a long term goal you've been working multiple missions towards. Make the rewards suitably handsome.

Always running didn't bother me but the context sensitive nature of SO MANY of your actions as you play did. Give us a control scheme more like brotherhood or even AC1 where i'm allowed the freedom to destroy or be destroyed via mistakes.

Take the fucking guns off the face buttons, for christ's sake.

Cut your "mini-games" down to 2 or 3 core concepts you build through out the game. Sailing would be a perfect example except instead of stepping foot on a boat and becoming it's captain you start as a bodyguard. You learn the ropes and how to board/take over enemy ships. You learn using/aiming/timing cannons by being in charge of one side of the ship's guns. Learn navigation from your stabbed in the gut and soon to be dead captain as he helps you return home after a brutal encounter who then bequeaths to you his ship.. making you the captain.

Substance. Not content. Make everything mean a little more than a casual nod or a one off gimmick they give you for one mission.

Finally.... attempt to design and build a main character that is at the very least just as compelling as your main villain instead of a fucking dour sourpuss bore. <3 Haytham.

 

[idolminds]

Sorry, but AC4 is bittersweet to me. When I played the battleship parts in AC3 I was hoping Ubisoft would take that and make a new pirate IP, but now we are going to get all that bad AC3 baggage and probably an average game that should be great.

When I heard they were making AC4 pirate themed I was thinking it would be awesome if they made something along the lines of the old Sea Dogs/PotC games. I would play the crap out of that, but sadly they aren't going to do that to a numbered AC game.

 

[Sober]

Connor was good if you played the Homestead missions but he really did drag when it came to the actual main plot.

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

When I heard they were making AC4 pirate themed I was thinking it would be awesome if they made something along the lines of the old Sea Dogs/PotC games. I would play the crap out of that, but sadly they aren't going to do that to a numbered AC game.

The early rumblings certainly sound like an open water travel where you like in your boat and port to pick up missions kind of deal. Honestly i'm far more excited for Black Flag than I ever was for AC3.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

In light of the AC4 announcement, I just thought it would be interesting to discuss what people thought was wrong with AC3 and what they'd like to see in AC4.

I think my views are probably different than other people's...

1. Bring back Glyph Puzzles. AC2 and ACB felt like the thinking man's game partly because of these puzzles. It added an old school adventure game element to the series which I really enjoyed. And it allowed the game to expand on it's fiction in an elegant way.
2. Auto-free run shouldn't be available everywhere (by default). Yes, its needed to make tree free-running work well, but having it also ruined any chance of having fun platforming sections in AC3. So it should only happen in trees, but not everywhere else. Maybe it can be turned on as an option for everywhere else.
3. Bring back the puppeteering philosophy. Head, Free Hand, Armed Hand and Feet. AC3 got away from this and ended up with a context sensitive control scheme which didn't do what I wanted it to do many times. For example, trying to tackle AI was nearly impossible because it only enabled in very specific situations compared to previous games. Also, you're not able to interact with NPC's in the ways you used to be able to (like grabbing and throwing them). Triggers/Bumpers should be used for aiming/shooting with a gun instead of the face buttons.
4. Loosen up the fail conditions on missions. Don't force us to be within 30 ft of the target, or take a specific route to a target. Go back and play AC1 and the Borgia towers in ACB and look at the freedom that some of those Assassinations gave you. Even some of the regular assassinations in AC2/ACB had way more freedom.
5. Bring back verticality. Don't set the entire game in flat cities. At least have a few areas with tall buildings.
6. 100% sync stuff shouldn't be in your face. OCD folks ruin the game for themselves by obsessing over these instead of just enjoying the game.
7. Bring back tomb style missions. This would only work if auto-free run is changed as I suggested earlier.
8. More Music. AC3 did not have background music playing in certain areas of the game for some reason. Don't do that again. I think one of the things that made AC2 awesome to play was just the fantastic Jesper Kyd music. I enjoyed listening to most of the general city music tracks in that game.
9. Make better use of forest/frontier type areas. It was a great to have this area where you could hunt for animals and trudge through snow but it felt as though the area was sparingly used for the main story missions of AC3. Also, random encounter stuff like in RDR would be a fantastic addition.
10. Have a difficulty option for combat. AC3 combat was too easy. I'd like to see a mode which gives just a bit more challenge (and I'm sure there are those who would like a *lot* more challenge.
11. Get rid of the floating in-world distance HUD overlay when you set a marker. Its distracting. And bring back the old version which just sat in the corner of the screen. And even when you hadn't marked an objective, it would show you the distance to your primary objective.

I was going to say cancel/delay it and give the game a makeover, but your suggestions make me kinda want the game. I would add something final- Add something new to the core gameplay, to mix movement with combat.. I want the game to feel fresh and new.. I feel like I have been playing the same thing over and over. But yeah, I want more freedom in missions also, I want to feel like an actual assassin.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Oh, I know. I'd bring back Lucy, Clay/16, Daniel, and maybe Vidic cause this series has a thing for killing off the more interesting characters.

 

[R_thanatos]

Optionnal objectives suck but i don't care .

Free running shouldn't be changed what should be changed in the awefull level design ..
So yes to more verticality.

Yes to more assasinations mission, less restrictive however.

More boat missions , i can agree with that .

-I want a hidden island as a base that i could customise however i want .. but only if
-Change the trade system and the crafting system. it just doesn't work.

Please introduce a main vilain that works ..they totally missed their target in AC3.

 

[SummitAve]

The early rumblings certainly sound like an open water travel where you like in your boat and port to pick up missions kind of deal. Honestly i'm far more excited for Black Flag than I ever was for AC3.

The only way this could work out well:

Scrap everything but the ship combat
Recreate a third person version of Sid Meier's Pirates
Throw back in the awesome Lairs of Romulus platforming for when you hunt down hidden treasure in exotic ruin locations.

Otherwise all I foresee is another same old Assassins Creed game with a more cinematic version of blood wake (with wooden ships).

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Just copy the entire Batman Arkham combat system. Rip it off wholesale, I don't care. It's the only way the combat of this game is ever going to be good and flow like it should.

 

[jett]

It's too late to fix that game. Ubisoft needs stop shitting out yearly releases and redesign the entire franchise from the ground up. It has become stale as fuck.

 

[Winterblink]

I actually really liked where the story was going at the end of Revelations. AC3 really screwed the pooch on what looked to be a very promising thing.

 

[bearythebear]

Go back to historic setting.

Here's my dream: Alexandria/Ancient Rome. Set during the reign of Ceasar, Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, Augustus. Focus on Cleopatra because she's part of everything, plus the tragic end.

You get so much cool shit:

-Motherf*&%ing Library of Alexandria for Sci-fi twist.
-Assassination of Caesar
-Fall of Roman Republic
-Caesar/Cleopatra and Anthony/Cleopatra
-Lighthouse of Alexandria (Tallest structure in ancient world)

 

[badcrumble]

The game mainly needs to stop being a pretty version of Progress Quest and get back to actually making the open-world interaction genuinely rewarding.

 

[AllIsOneIsNone]

More rpg aspects that would increase replayability.

 

[UrbanRats]

Go back to historic setting.

Here's my dream: Alexandria/Ancient Rome. Set during the reign of Ceasar, Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, Augustus. Focus on Cleopatra because she's part of everything, plus the tragic end.

You get so much cool shit:

-Motherf*&%ing Library of Alexandria for Sci-fi twist.
-Assassination of Caesar
-Fall of Roman Republic
-Caesar/Cleopatra and Anthony/Cleopatra
-Lighthouse of Alexandria (Tallest structure in ancient world)

I would play that.

 

[JaseC]

Go back to historic setting.

Here's my dream: Alexandria/Ancient Rome. Set during the reign of Ceasar, Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, Augustus. Focus on Cleopatra because she's part of everything, plus the tragic end.

You get so much cool shit:

-Motherf*&%ing Library of Alexandria for Sci-fi twist.
-Assassination of Caesar
-Fall of Roman Republic
-Caesar/Cleopatra and Anthony/Cleopatra
-Lighthouse of Alexandria (Tallest structure in ancient world)

I approve. I didn't mind the frontier but the cities of AssCreed 3 were architecturally and aesthetically dull and consequently boring to navigate.

 

[UrbanRats]

I approve. I didn't mind the frontier but the cities of AssCreed 3 were architecturally and aesthetically dull and consequently boring to navigate.

They were also tedious due to the unbalanced wanted system.
Guards where EVERYWHERE, and once you were spotted it took forever to get them off you tail.
Sure there were less guards on the roofs, but roofs were also not as connected.

It really was a chore to go around in those cities.

 

[REV 09]

make it a period piece...as in, no more desmond. These games really don't need all that animus nonsense.

 

[JaseC]

They were also tedious due to the unbalanced wanted system.
Guards where EVERYWHERE, and once you were spotted it took forever to get them off you tail.
Sure there were less guards on the roofs, but roofs were also not as connected.

It really was a chore to go around in those cities.

I found that guards in liberated areas turned a blind eye for the most part, save for the occasional well-guarded area (which is typically -- and certainly not always [thanks, Ubi] -- denoted on the map by red shading). When I reached New York I was wondering why I was sparking up suspicion by simply running down the street, but after doing the liberation missions in the region the guards were far less trigger-happy.

The original game still has the most frustrating AI: simply running past a guard more often that not switches your social status to open conflict, and unlike 3 there's no way to change this.

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

I found that guards in liberated areas turned a blind eye for the most part, save for the occasional well-guarded area (which is typically -- and certainly not always [thanks, Ubi] -- denoted on the map by red shading). When I reached New York I was wondering why I was sparking up suspicion by simply running down the street, but after doing the liberation missions in the region the guards were far less trigger-happy.

The original game still has the most frustrating AI: simply running past a guard more often that not switches your social status to open conflict, and unlike 3 there's no way to change this.

Wanton murder sometimes did the trick.

 

[UrbanRats]

I found that guards in liberated areas turned a blind eye for the most part, save for the occasional well-guarded area (which is typically -- and certainly not always [thanks, Ubi] -- denoted on the map by red shading). When I reached New York I was wondering why I was sparking up suspicion by simply running down the street, but after doing the liberation missions in the region the guards were far less trigger-happy.

The original game still has the most frustrating AI: simply running past a guard more often that not switches your social status to open conflict, and unlike 3 there's no way to change this.

Yes the first game was also frustrating, especially outside of the cities, where you had to go super slow with the horse.

In 3, it made the non liberated areas painful to traverse or just be in for me, and i couldn't be bothered to liberate all of them, repeating the same mission over and over ( i didn't 100% AC2, either).
What bothered me was how the streets were full of marching guards and in general full of enemies, so if you were being chased, it would take you in a 10 minutes detour for whatever you were doing.
In AC2 it was easier to get them off your back when needed.

 

[rataven]

The OP's got most of my wish list covered -- glyph puzzles, puppeteering concept, tomb missions. But most importantly, refine the combat and ease up on the 100% synch conditions. It's time for an overhaul. I have literally screamed at my TV while trying to accomplish some of the synch stuff, and failing because the combat and detection mechanics are broken or ambiguous. It's tiresome, especially to those of us who have played every entry.

They also need to add a little mystery back into the stories! Build up the Assassin Order with intrigue and mysticism. Remember reading Altair's codex pages in ACII? Or that moment of reverence when you'd discover the tomb of a fallen comrade? Or that feeling of anticipation as to what would be found in the Masyaf library? The feeling of being part of something greater. That was sorely lacking in III, regardless of the current state of the Order.

Also, get back Jesper Kyd, at any cost. Kyd's compositions gave his games a dose of elegance that made them memorable. Nothing in ACIII's OST stands out other than Fight Club.

Oh, I know. I'd bring back Lucy, Clay/16, Daniel, and maybe Vidic cause this series has a thing for killing off the more interesting characters.

No kidding. The Desmond story really lost some of it's charm with Lucy gone. Their banter may have been a bit cliché, but it at least lightened the tone. Now the whole present day stuff is soooo painfully serious. William is an awful addition.

Also, in this same vein, killing off

Spoiler

Haytham was a terrible move. The only character with any charisma in III, and the first truly interesting villain. They could have done so much more with him. He deserved better.

 

[adamsapple]

Give the present day story arc a proper conclusion.

 

[Spinluck]

Go back to historic setting.

Here's my dream: Alexandria/Ancient Rome. Set during the reign of Ceasar, Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, Augustus. Focus on Cleopatra because she's part of everything, plus the tragic end.

You get so much cool shit:

-Motherf*&%ing Library of Alexandria for Sci-fi twist.
-Assassination of Caesar
-Fall of Roman Republic
-Caesar/Cleopatra and Anthony/Cleopatra
-Lighthouse of Alexandria (Tallest structure in ancient world)

The setting isn't the problem.

 

[JaseC]

Wanton murder sometimes did the trick.

At a mechanical level, I mean: in the original game, suspicious eyes are always upon you and ready to pounce the moment you're no longer casually walking the streets, whereas in 3 liberation dissuades guards from reacting as they normally would.

Yes the first game was also frustrating, especially outside of the cities, where you had to go super slow with the horse.

I just beelined straight for my destination. The very first time I reached the hub overworld I decided I wasn't going to put up with that crap. Mind you, having a swarm of angry guards throwing rocks at you did make the occasional view point climb slightly frustrating.

What bothered me was how the streets were full of marching guards and in general full of enemies, so if you were being chased, it would take you in a 10 minutes detour for whatever you were doing.
In AC2 it was easier to get them off your back when needed.

On a related note, I liked that wanted posters were re-added as a means to reduce notoriety but I can't agree with the decision to not have them appear on the map as they can be easy to miss and the "Animus effect" that they project is subtle at a distance.

The setting isn't the problem.

I'd say he's just throwing his idea hat into the collective ring, not implying that a return to an early historical setting would magically make the game great.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

No kidding. The Desmond story really lost some of it's charm with Lucy gone. Their banter may have been a bit cliché, but it at least lightened the tone. Now the whole present day stuff is soooo painfully serious. William is an awful addition.

Also, in this same vein, killing off

Spoiler

Haytham was a terrible move. The only character with any charisma in III, and the first truly interesting villain. They could have done so much more with him. He deserved better.

Definitely. What the fuck.

Spoiler

Haytham was like an evil 18th century James Bond, it was awesome.

Definitely one of the best characters in the series. And what's worse is how it happened, it didn't have the gravitas it deserved.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

mechanics and gameplay systems need a huge overhaul

the experience is painfully shallow

 

[LiK]

NO MORE ANIMUS. Just let it be about the current time. Who cares about the modern story anymore after they fucked it up so good at the end of AC3.

 

[Stevetopsy]

I would remove the entire Animus/Desmond aspect completely. I remember looking forward to AC1 and thinking the game revolved solely around playing as an assassin in a historical period. Boy was I annoyed when I actually played the game and was forced into these present day sections so I could walk as slowly as humanly possible from the Animus to my bed and back, all while listening to labcoat man spout boring exposition at me. Ever since then, the present day characters and story have seemed completely unnecessary and kill any immersion of the main campaign every time they yank you out. I've played AC1 thru Revelations, and in that time they haven't managed to make Desmond or any of the other present day characters any more interesting or endearing than the first time you meet them. From what I've read, the Desmond sections of ACIII are equally as forgettable and poorly executed. All they've managed to do is continuously blow up the balloon when it comes to the pieces of eden/first civilization story.

There's no reason you couldn't still have a Templars vs Assassins narrative, with a common bloodline connecting the various protagonists you'll play as.

 

[AgentOtaku]

I would also remove the subtitle 'Black Flag'.

Either make it 'AC: Black Flag' or 'ACIV', not both.

agree

 

[Alcotholic]

I found the glitches to be hilarious. Aside from that, I would probably agree on the verticality even though I loved the environments from AC3.