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New Assassin's Creed 2 Screens!

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
luxarific said:
Loved the first game, but I hope the second fixes some minor irritations I had with AC1:

1.) Lack of subtitles. I know there was a lot of dialog, but not all of us have 100% of our hearing.

2.) Skippable cutscenes for all missions (because if we have to repeat them (those damn informer/assassin missions), it's incredibly annoying/time-consuming to hear the speeches our contacts make again and again (and again). Along with this, don't lock our focus when the contact is speaking (e.g., the citizen rescue (also more diversity in the thank you speeches would be greatly appreciated)).

3.) Please let Desmond run in the "present" scenes. He walks veerrrrryyyy slowly.

4.) I loved the animations/platforming in AC1 (I think they're the best of this gen), but it would be nice if they could be a bit quicker. Altair was not the fastest climber in the world. I know Ubi was probably going for realism here, but it made for tedious platforming.

and my own personal request:

5.) Fewer beggars and insane people. Video game characters rarely inspire such hatred in me as they did.

Looking forward to AC2!

Patrice already confirmed in the GI article that they made it so that Ezio can climb faster.
 

luxarific

Nork unification denier
Ether_Snake said:
Patrice already confirmed in the GI article that they made it so that Ezio can climb faster.

Woo, yay! Glad I'm not the only one that thought Altair was a bit of a slowpoke.
 

Mr. Sam

Member
luxarific said:
5.) Fewer beggars and insane people. Video game characters rarely inspire such hatred in me as they did.

Actually, I liked them. Odd considering I remember carefully negotiating the crowd, blade drawn, drawing close to the target, ready to pounce and-- oh, the leper shoved me into him. I think he noticed me. Douchey leper.

Also, better hiding spots. Get rid of the bench one.

"Is that him?"
"No... no, the guy we were looking after wasn't sitting down."
 

smik

Member
wow WTF crazy art direction i love all of it.

imho Assassins Creed was a truly unbelievable game despite the slack it may get for some people, well this has just pushed me over the edge to buy the PC version (superior graphics) again Assasins Creed 2 is looking to shape up well after seeing these.
 

Ramenman

Member
Slavik81 said:
Most of the people you killed were interesting, and upon their deaths there was usally a moral discussion. It's easy enough to write off the first few as crazies, but you slowly come to realize that they can't all be insane.

That's one thing I really liked about the first AC.

Though I would have enjoyed it even more if I could understand what the victims actually said, because you know subtitles and stuff.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
Doosi said:
Assassin's Creed was such a fucking awesome game.

No it wasn't. It was tedious, redundant and filled with "filler"-gameplay.
- "Ooo, we can't have him go at the target directly, that would make for 2 hours gameplay."
- "I know, let's incorporate mandatory side-missions that add nothing to the actual killing of your primary target, but with the annoying and irritating population of the cities will bump the gameplaylength to 20 hours."
- "Great idea, let's do that! And to top it off, your present-day alter-ego can't run!"
- "YESH!"
 

thaOwner

Member
Ramenman said:
:lol :lol :lol

Oh, you guys sometimes.



E3 confs are June 1st ??

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

:O

I thought it was something more like mid-june :O

June first is also the day Microsoft have their press conference. Maybe its just a coincidence or something else.
 
neorej said:
No it wasn't. It was tedious, redundant and filled with "filler"-gameplay.
- "Ooo, we can't have him go at the target directly, that would make for 2 hours gameplay."
- "I know, let's incorporate mandatory side-missions that add nothing to the actual killing of your primary target, but with the annoying and irritating population of the cities will bump the gameplaylength to 20 hours."
- "Great idea, let's do that! And to top it off, your present-day alter-ego can't run!"
- "YESH!"

None of those things were as much of a disapointment as the actual assasinations themselves - once you had researched the target it was literally; head to target > watch cutscene > kill target > escape - but the main problem was that you weren't able to complete the kills in novel ways, instead you only had the option of just by running in and killing the target or sneaking round and killing the target.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
Bootaaay said:
None of those things were as much of a disapointment as the actual assasinations themselves - once you had researched the target it was literally; head to target > watch cutscene > kill target > escape - but the main problem was that you weren't able to complete the kills in novel ways, instead you only had the option of just by running in and killing the target or sneaking round and killing the target.

True, and even if you were going for the sneaky part, there was some fucked up mechanic that made you go into balls-blazing-mode. I only got 2 stealthy assassination (the one in the barn with all the sick people and the one on the boat).
 

LAUGHTREY

Modesty becomes a woman
I want a little more interactivity in the movement here, not just "push forward + A and you go across these crazy elaborate structures like a swan" I get as much fun from that as turning on a movie.
 
Bootaaay said:
None of those things were as much of a disapointment as the actual assasinations themselves
neorej said:
even if you were going for the sneaky part, there was some fucked up mechanic that made you go into balls-blazing-mode
Agreed. I spent ages scanning the information you'd learn for entry/exit routes, guard positions etc. With de Monferrat I scaled the rooftops, steath-killed everyone unseen, climbed above him as he was giving a speech but then there was no way to drop down and get him without being noticed.

I don't mind getting chased after the kill, but the way the controls are, I had to fight about 20 guards before I could even get de Monferrat. I want to drop down for the kill, and then have those 20 guards chasing me across the rooftops! I'm an assassin, not Conan!
 
Really looking forward to AC2, i was a big fan of the first and can never understand the ammount of hate it gets. Yes the missions were the same formular each time but the world, story and climbing mechanics were so good that i could overlook its shortcomings and still really enjoy the game.

The fact that when i would play on my 42" HDTV and jump from the jump points into the hay i would get the feeling of dropping in my stomach for me shows how emersive the game could be.
 

Mohonky

Member
As always, fuck the AC haters, one of my favourite games this gen, visually gorgeous with an animation system far beyond anything else to this day; amazingly fluid.

If the game looks like that, coupled with the beautifully fluid animation it'll be a technical highpoint for titles this generation.
 
LAUGHTREY said:
I want a little more interactivity in the movement here, not just "push forward + A and you go across these crazy elaborate structures like a swan" I get as much fun from that as turning on a movie.

Yep. I'll give this a chance but the repetitive gameplay and auto pilot controls need to be addressed. Especially after Mirror's Edge, a game I feel got the controls so right (or atleast did it better) I don't see the need/justification for "point forward and we'll do the rest" controls. I know you want to make him do some crazy shit, but I can have more control. Give me it.

Mohonky said:
As always, fuck the AC haters, one of my favourite games this gen, visually gorgeous with an animation system far beyond anything else to this day; amazingly fluid.

If the game looks like that, coupled with the beautifully fluid animation it'll be a technical highpoint for titles this generation.

Oh. Ok.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
Mohonky said:
As always, fuck the AC haters, one of my favourite games this gen, visually gorgeous with an animation system far beyond anything else to this day; amazingly fluid.

If the game looks like that, coupled with the beautifully fluid animation it'll be a technical highpoint for titles this generation.

Techinically, yes-ish (v impressive, save for the tearing galore). Gameplay-wise: not so much.
 
Although it was a gorgeous game, it was filled with completely unnecessary graphical glitches. The cloak through the wooden beams was fucking retarded.
 

MacBosse

Member
Mohonky said:
As always, fuck the AC haters, one of my favourite games this gen, visually gorgeous with an animation system far beyond anything else to this day; amazingly fluid.

If the game looks like that, coupled with the beautifully fluid animation it'll be a technical highpoint for titles this generation.

Thank you, it had to be said.
 
I don't usually buy into hype machines, but I really bought into the AC hype, and thought it could be a truly classic game. However the typically poor Ubi Soft AI, combined with repetitive gameplay was game breaking. This was supposed to be a dynamic world, and the dawn of a new kind of stealth mechanic. Instead, the platforming was automated, I had to run down the same stupid mountain to begin each mission, endure shallow combat, graphical glitches, un-interactive environments etc...I really could go on for days.

I pray that Ubi can resolve these issues, because the setting, ethos and art direction are the basis for something truly amazing.
 
Level 8 Boss said:
I really bought into the AC hype
A classic mistake.

Level 8 Boss said:
the platforming was automated
Possibly slightly too simplistic, particularly when climbing straight up a tall building, but it's certainly not a platformer. When you're running across rooftops with a dozen guards and archers on your tail it was seamless and worked perfectly.
 

Darkpen

Banned
I don't know if anyone's pointed this out yet, but I was just on youtube, and came across a few MGS4/MGO machinimas, and found myself watching the 2008 april fools video for kicks, and saw this segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlM4W4yco-Q#t=4m52s

...wow.

We basically got a hint at where the next Assassin's Creed game was going to take place way back then without even knowing it (though I'm sure there were those who might have speculated as much). Pretty epic D:
 
Darkpen said:
I don't know if anyone's pointed this out yet, but I was just on youtube, and came across a few MGS4/MGO machinimas, and found myself watching the 2008 april fools video for kicks, and saw this segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlM4W4yco-Q#t=4m52s

...wow.

We basically got a hint at where the next Assassin's Creed game was going to take place way back then without even knowing it (though I'm sure there were those who might have speculated as much). Pretty epic D:
Sorry to burst your bubble but that was actually a reveal of a later sequence of the game. But I guess you can say that if you want to :lol
 

Darkpen

Banned
untoldhero said:
Sorry to burst your bubble but that was actually a reveal of a later sequence of the game. But I guess you can say that if you want to :lol
Well, no shit it was a reveal for Act 3, but don't you see that the towers are a hint at the architectural design of the Renaissance period?
 

Ramenman

Member
Mohonky said:
As always, fuck the AC haters, one of my favourite games this gen, visually gorgeous with an animation system far beyond anything else to this day; amazingly fluid.

If the game looks like that, coupled with the beautifully fluid animation it'll be a technical highpoint for titles this generation.

It had awesome graphics so fuck people who didn't like its gameplay ?
 
Darkpen said:
I don't know if anyone's pointed this out yet, but I was just on youtube, and came across a few MGS4/MGO machinimas, and found myself watching the 2008 april fools video for kicks, and saw this segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlM4W4yco-Q#t=4m52s

...wow.

We basically got a hint at where the next Assassin's Creed game was going to take place way back then without even knowing it (though I'm sure there were those who might have speculated as much). Pretty epic D:
I'm about 120% certain that's a coincidence.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Apparently the development team is now up to 450 people.

NowGamer said:
Assassin's Creed II's development team is around three times bigger than the team that worked on the original game according to Ubisoft

Producer Sebastien Puel told us that around 450 people are working on Assassin's Creed II, and that 75 per cent of the original Assassin's Creed team is working on the sequel.

"The team's size for the second title of Assassin's Creed 2 is about three times the size of the team of the first game," said Puel.


"Making [Assassin's Creed] from A to Z took around four years...it's a very good thing we are keeping most of the core members who envisioned the first Assassin's Creed. They know the project very well."

Puel went on to say that devs working on the original Assassin's Creed had "thousands of ideas" that they "didn't implement" in the franchise's first iteration, but are now "integrating" them in Assassin's Creed 2.

That's a hell of a lot of ideas.

We'll bring you a huge Assassin's Creed 2 preview after E3 in a few weeks time, so check back for more info.
Source: http://www.nowgamer.com/news/513/assassins-creed-ii-triples-size-of-dev-team
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I can only imagine the cost of 450 people...was that 450 people throughout the entire project or just down the home stretch?
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Jtwo said:
That's like massively massive, right?
Yeah that's quite gigantic.

The only reason this probably happened is because the first game sold 8 million copies. I don't think anyone would attempt a team size like that otherwise.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
iamcool388 said:
450 people... Isnt that the biggest development team ever for a game?
Well, when you include all the outsourcing, voice acting, and composing, GTA IV had 1000 people and Super Smash Brothers had 700. But for the most part yes this would be one of the largest teams ever, especially if they're almost all core developers.
 

conman

Member
neorej said:
- "I know, let's incorporate mandatory side-missions that add nothing to the actual killing of your primary target, but with the annoying and irritating population of the cities will bump the gameplaylength to 20 hours."
It's been said a thousand ways by those of us who love this game, but if you played without using GPS or map, those bits of information were pretty damned important. As were the leads that your contacts give you when you first arrive in a city. All those seemingly "useless" details become incredibly important when they're all you have to rely on.

I deeply, sincerely, truly, completely, entirely, overwhelmingly hope that the dev team recognizes how they screwed up by adding all that last-minute hand-holding crap with the GPS and map icons. The entire "investigation" and "exploration" parts of the game were completely killed by the GPS/map. Luckily, you could disable them, but it took me playing almost all the way through the game before I recognized that the game was originally designed to be played without those things.

At the very least, I hope they include a "hard" mode that emphasizes gathering clues, exploring, and following leads instead of just telling us to connect the dots on our maps.
 
I really enjoyed the first one, if they can implement some more fresh ideas into this one, while taking a little bit of the grind out of it, it'll be awesome.
 

Johann

Member
Ubisoft tends to have very large teams for their big games, such as with Double Agent. I imagine it's a lot of contracted work and slave labor coders from their Asia based studios.
 

Aurora

Member
Definitely picking this up day 1 unless there's a major disaster. Looks great, and even if it only addresses half of AC1's issues it will make for a solid game.
 
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