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LTTP: Assassins Creed Syndicate - 3 years later

Elcid

Banned
Only took 3+ years but I finally beat it. I bought the game on launch. I'm on a beating spree. Beat Disgaea D2, Dead Space 3, and now this. Working on Atelier Ayesha too.
Can I just say, this game has so many great aspects and so many meh ones too?
The good:

1. Fun main characters, I love the dynamic of Evie and Jacob. Much better than the model/voice swap in Odyssey.
2. Storyline is actually pretty good, including the present when it's there
3. Gameplay is solid, nowhere near as buggy as Unity, but still a bit buggy
4. London is pretty cool and the grapple makes a world of difference
5. I love the ending minus the shoehorned romance below

The bad:
1. Holy fuck Ubisoft, you have practically unlimited money, you can't make more than 4-5 fucking models for the thugs? It's ridiculous when I summon a cart of Rooks and all 5 of them are the same model. Or I'm in the
WW1 parts of the game, does it really make sense my rooks and common street thugs all look the same?!
2. The shoehorned romance with Evie. There was zero chemistry there and it was obviously forced from the first 5 seconds of introducing that character.
3. The false gender equality bullshit. Look with a female lead character, and a bunch of other female characters in the game, do you really need to make 50% of the common Rooks and thugs female? It feels so odd when I'm surrounded by 3+ women with knives. It ruins the feel of the era, sorry but it's not realistic. Especially when all 3 women are identical.
4. The stupidity of the Helix glitches and treasure chests in some areas not being displayed on the map unless you either buy a map with 1000 helix credits (REAL MONEY), or run around like an asshole for an hour. The the future era you can't even buy a map for the chests so running around like an asshole is the only option.
5. As always, the damn tailing and stealth missing. I cannot stealth for the life of me. I'm the guy that killed 200+ guys on MGS4's first mission. I fought helicopters regularly in MGS3, my best friend who beat it didn't even know helicopters spawn after a while. I can't stealth, seriously, stop making me.

WW1 thing was really cool with Juno, but I would have rather not dealt with that prick Churchill.
To anyone who hasn't played it yet, or hasn't beaten it, I'd recommend just plow through the main story, it's worth it. Don't be a dunce like me and do every single side mission, they're mostly pointless. I have 1 V mission left, 8 deadly murders, and the Jack the Ripper left to do. I'll likely finish them all tomorrow.
Fuck the 5 helix glitches and 2 treasure chests I can't find.

Going to move on to Origins next, I'm hoping they improved on my complaints considering they had so much extra time between Origins and Syndicate.
 

Rodolink

Member
I agree with you on the stealth part, I hate wasting time memorizing enemy paths for example. But one of these series design column has always been stealth.
I like the series though, but stopped at Black Flag. But will play them eventually.
 

KonradLaw

Member
I liked it, but it's one of the weakest Creed games. It's less glithy than Unity, but it looks worse, the combat sucks and the inclusion of grapple is double edged sword as it killed the parkour element.
I liked stealth, especially since they added whistling back. Also the standarized mission types were fun.
The problem is that overall Syndicate feels like huge example of wasted potential. They managed to make Victorian London boring, the storyline is practically non-existent too. Jacob is great character, while Evie is bland, but they have no arcs and no past, so it's all a wash. This is a game that would have been incredible with one more year of development, with adding stronger plot focus, connecting the gang warfart to main storyline etc.
You know how you sometimes blast through main campaign of open world game and then are left with countless standalone small side missions ? Most of the time Syndicate felt like you started the whole game from the that point.
 

MadYarpen

Member
I quite liked it, but it didn't feel like an Assasins Creed game (rather a gang simulator tbh)*. Previously I played only the original trilogy, so that was a surprise.
 

Armorian

Banned
I quite liked it, but it didn't feel like an Assasins Creed game (rather a gang simulator tbh)*. Previously I played only the original trilogy, so that was a surprise.

Same can be said about AC4 (pirate simulator), Rogue (the same), ACOr and ACOd (both are RPG's with main focus on melee combat). Only Unity can be called true AC title this gen IMO.
 
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MadYarpen

Member
Same can be said about AC4 (pirate simulator), Rogue (the same), ACOr and ACOd (both are RPG's with main focus on melee combat). Only Unity can be called true AC title this gen IMO.

True! But then I didn't know what's coming! I had only known AC1 - 3 when playing Sindicate.

Personally I think this is a shame, because it was one of the unique things about the series. It had its own character.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
I really liked Syndicate, consider it one of the strongest in the series. I really loved the Thames and the London setting. The Ripper quests started off good but then went a bit wacky. But the brickwork and the atmosphere just captured me up totally.

I prefer alternating between Jacob and Evie rather than the Kassandra/Alexios deal in odyssey. Felt more organic and cohesive in Syndicate.

The grapple was evidence of how an inauthentic choice by a developer can actually complement gameplay without breaking immersion. Convenience was well worth the choice. The train was a decent idea as well and the fightrings.

Regarding Origins, the opening is awful and I parked it after making it out of Siwa. My advice is is you find the transition a bit jarring, keep with it because it's now by far my favourite AC (Origins -> AC2 = Syndicate), and the story beats, world building and combat are just superb. There's enough to be busy, and what you could consider as bloat is not intrusive as to kill your time (like the forts in Odyssey).

But yeah Syndicate never really got the plaudits it deserved, especially when you review the MC against Odyssey.
 

Elcid

Banned
I see mixed feelings about the twins. I preferred Jacob.
Also forgot to call out, those Darwin and Marx missions were stupid as hell. Darwin is ok with me murdering 50+ people because they put up a flyer mocking him?
 
3. The false gender equality bullshit. Look with a female lead character, and a bunch of other female characters in the game, do you really need to make 50% of the common Rooks and thugs female? It feels so odd when I'm surrounded by 3+ women with knives. It ruins the feel of the era, sorry but it's not realistic. Especially when all 3 women are identical.
Are you suggesting that woman are not equally capable of "cutting a bitch" as men? If anything, you should be more afraid of the gang ladies, because you know they going for your eyes and your balls first.
 

Raven117

Member
I enjoyed it for what it was...But then again. I enjoy most AC games to some extent or another for what they are.
 
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