We got all kinds of closure. On the world ending, on the Ones That Came Before. The ending was really well done. I can see how people don't like it because it's not sunshine and roses, but it's extremely cohesive.
That's definitely not the problem though. People are OK with sad/weird/ambiguous endings. I think for a lot of people it's all the contradictions and oversights. A shame.
And yes, Haytham was great. The opera house was one of the better locations - visually speaking - in the series.
Truly awful. That stuff is what cutscenes are for. But instead most of the cutscenes are the "cool" things we are supposed to be doing ourselves. They missed that day of Game Design 101.
Yeah, it kinda did. Killing Haytham is supposed to be something Connor realizes he must do (especially given his reticence and insistence for cooperation with the Templars for most of the game), and was this was sort of reinforced by Haytham just senselessly ganking dudes left and right by the end (the same mercilessness for which Haytham went after Braddock). I suppose Connor could have been able to convert Haytham, but that would have felt even cheaper than the hidden blade death.
The team had wanted to tie up this particular story for some time, Hutchinson explains. "The Lucy twist [writers decided she would turn out to be a Templar triple agent] came about during the development of Brotherhood. When Desmond's story changed we realised we wouldn't need her any more."
Really telling, IMO. Brotherhood when Patrice Désilets was less involved/left the company. I'm sure there were other factors, but Brotherhood, as much as I like it, is where the story started to lose steam. AC2 ended on such a crazy note, it was basically MGS2 syndrome - difficult to follow up something so insane/awesome. And I would say both series squandered those opportunities.
Eurogamer said:
An early screenshot of Assassin's Creed 3 showed Connor paddling a canoe - a feature lost from the final version.
The Haytham/Connor switch was a little jarring and Haytham is definitely the better character but I understood the position Connor was coming from and sympathized with him as he saw his people slowly disappearing through the years. That was upsetting.
Connor was abrasive/rash at times but as the game progressed I think he was having a hard time figuring out who his allies were. Especially after Washington approved of that hit on his village. The Brotherhood was practically non-existent so he didn't have much in the way of support and he was primarily fueled by revenge which didn't help much either. Ezio handled it better but Connor had a lot more working against him.
The current world stuff was decent up until the end. The ending was terrible. There is no other way to put it. I actually like the Mass Effect 3 ending but I thought this was pretty damn bad. Not sure where they plan to take it from here.
The writers were obviously backed into a corner with December 21st 2012 quickly approaching. They probably shouldn't have used the Mayan calendar to begin with. I always knew that would be trouble as they would have to find a way to wrap things up for the Desmond story line before the end of this year. Bad move.
I wish I didn't read the updated Animus entry for Connor's mother when it was updated. It tells you she had a relationship with a Templar which spoiled the twist with Haytham.
The current world stuff was decent up until the end. The ending was terrible. There is no other way to put it. I actually like the Mass Effect 3 ending but I thought this was pretty damn bad. Not sure where they plan to take it from here.
Agree that the ending was bad, but I think it was more a matter of exposition than the content itself. There were two obvious goals for the ending of this game that were either hastily illustrated or not at all. One was to save humanity. The idea that the present day Assassins needed to find the Ancients' technology to save present day earth was well established, and Juno's explanations of the different methods they'd attempted were interesting enough. The problem is that when the end of the game came, just how or why Juno was able to avert the disaster was not explained, even though I now realize a plausible explanation was buried in the game the whole time. During your first encounter with her she mentions that their first notion was to build a serious of shielding towers that could dispel the sun's energy, and that while that solution was plausible they did not have enough time to complete it and moved on. Almost as a throwaway statement she mentions that a few returned to try to automate the process and continue building the towers. Implicit in this statement is that robots continued to build the towers, presumably subterranean structures, even after the Ancients had died, and that those towers were now ready to be activated. I'm fairly certain that this is exactly how Juno saved the earth and the cause of the electromagnetic disturbance that we see in the ending. Had this been better illustrated within the ending of the game itself I think that part at least could have been more satisfying.
The second goal was to end the Desmond story arc in a satisfying way. They obviously meant to illustrate that through the Animus Desmond had become a badass assassin, but our times controlling him were too brief to drive that point home. Having him sacrifice himself is somewhat trite but, had it been done well, could have been satisfying. However, he seemed to be making a rash decision rather than a altruistic one by the ending's tone and it does come off as something of a dick move that his father was almost nonchalant about the whole ordeal. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if his consciousness has endured somehow. The whole bit about syncinc to the cloud during the epilogue has to mean something, and I suspect the next Assassins Creed story arc may have some role for Desmond in the battle against Juno.
So, despite being a good or bad ending, I feel like the series has changed a lot since its debut. If I'm not mistaken, the development team (or, at least, the main designers and writers) went for other projects. Jade is at Ubi Toronto for Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Patrice Désilets is at THQ. I wonder if the story would be different with them and others that left...
finally played the game this week-end and just finished it.
what the hell did they do? I dunno the inside-background developers gossips, but fuck...
I Played the whole series (even on Vita...), I loved the conspiracy story, everything is linked and the whole world order turns around the 2 clans, the glyph stuff, the photo/paintings analysis, the fact that the characters from the past we play don't understand shit of what happens, I even enjoyed playing Desmond... until this. I didn't find any AC 'spirit' in this game.
What happened to the writers staff? Did they all die 6 month ago? Haytham calls Connor "son" out of nowhere? Achilles died? When? We play this whole period..only to find where is the 'key'? seriously? We don't even see any relation between what we play and the 'real' world.
Templars are everywhere and can track anyone but our retard crew can just fly from place to place to find power source using...google? I also only realized that I (Desmond) had to do something with these light cubes sometime before the end...
Seriously?
(I didn't feel the need to play ANY subsidiary missions, I even stopped looking for viewpoint after sequence 2. I just rushed the game and finished in 2 days... ok i'm maybe a slow player but usually any AC game took me 1-2 weeks)
Anyway, just my reaction after a huge disappointment. I will forget everything about it in 1 hour.
Connor will find the fountain of youth and be alive in the future as president of the universe, with Juno as first lady, and their kid will be a t-1000 named George who will bring back the dinosaurs and save the world.
On a serious note. They really need to do a clean sweep of the series. AC3 was just full of fluff and not much substance which left me with a sour outlook on the series.
It was the first game I traded in at GS in over 5 years. I never trade games, but I just hated how it played out in the conclusion of the series that I didn't even want it. It's a shame as it had flashes of brilliance and was squandered by poor storytelling.
The Templars found a way to eliminate all of the colonial Assassins. It seems that Achilles was captured was the only one allowed to live because he of his resentment to the Assassin's cause (see: all of his friends slain, his family dead in order to support a war that is seemingly as old as time itself.) His injuries would also make him a pretty lackluster assassin anyway...
And then, just when Haytham leaves for America, he is tasked with establishing virtually a beginning base.
The Assassin's aren't wiped out prior to Haytham's arrival AFAIK - I mean, the game covers a pretty long stretch of time in Connor's life. That gave the Templars what, two decades to wipe them out?
LMAO. Fucking seriously: Where the hell is the option to say "fuck you both, I'll make my own creed with Blackjack and Hookers. You know what? Screw the blackjack! Assassin Hookers!"
Desmond's choice is too rash and too quick to be a logical ending, in my opinion. Yeah, Juno gave reasoning ("we tried this and this and this and it didn't work") to where you're lead to believe that whatever is hidden at the end will SURELY save the world. But then they add in a twist of "Oh, well, you'll be letting her enslave humans LOL" is where the ending jumped the shark. It's not that I want a happy ending, they could've left it at "Desmond tries the third option (transmuting humans into robots or something)/other option in the tombs. Fails. Humanity/Earth is destroyed. Bad end." and I'd have been fine. At least something less rash and more thought given than the current ending.
As for Connor: I have no opinion on him. He was simply a vehicle used to put the games in Colonial America. I mean, shit, if Ubisoft didn't plan this ahead of time we could've had "Beefcake Ezio and his sexy time adventures #4" and I'd have been over the moon because to me AC2 > AC1 > AC3 in terms of protagonists and story-line (excluding the modern-day storyline, granted) to where I was sad Ezio didn't get a cut-scene death like Alitair did in Revelations. Just a mention in an archive of "Chinese Assassin meets Ezio before he dies. How? Retirement/old age? Possible, but we aren't going to explain or show you Ezio late in life before moving you to Haytham, LOL!"
As for Haytham: Likeable character and the twist I didn't see coming because I went in completely blind so they NAILED the Templar twist with me. I "what the hell"ed along with Desmond and crew at that point.
But then they turn him evil and only do it so Connor's story of revenge kinda matches Ezios BUT he has to kill his dad! OMG SO EDGY!
Also is Guesong part of the development team, because if so: Please slap all 200+ people in that 20 minute long credit sequence for me for not thinking of a better ending and better reasoning for Haythams fall from "protecting the people"/Templar being actually good, just a different method/line of reasoning of wanting to save the people than Haytham normally would do in the later story for me, please.
Oh, he did: Please slap yourself and the rest of the development team Guesong if you're still here. Because this story is a way to waste my time investment and wanting to know what actually happened to Desmond. Seriously, that's how I feel. Just pure anger over that quick ending.
The game isn't "awful," in the gameplay department, terrible combat revamp and glitches aside. I had fun with it. But that ending ruined the time-investment I put into the series in hope of having a somewhat satisfying ending. Lord knows, the DLC will probably be worked/tweaked to try to make it satisfying, but since you say "LOL NO IT'S NOT" I got not hope of that and so Ubisoft can go cram it up their ass if they think I'm going to get a AC3-2/3-3/AC4 just to explain the Juno freeing ending.
I probably totally will since I'm a consumer whore.
Juno could be freed and that would've been fine, provided the ending of Desmond's sacrifice was actually worthwhile. It isn't though. Because I/you know you're going to use the whole "cycle repeats because Juno controlling the world is now the Templar order while Desmond's group/Desmond's dad has the blood that prevents her mind control and finds others and begins work on freeing the humans enslaved by her." You know it, I know it, so there's no reason to do it. Go think up another reason for doing this, seriously.
Recovery Disc said:
Basically, speaking as if they had no idea that Abstergo was already selling them (AC:Liberation).
To be fair, they probably didn't. Clay/Subject 16 in the Lost Archive asks Vidic "What are you really after Vidic?" and Vidic is all like "maybe we're making a history documentary, Mr. ForgettingHisLastName. Ponder that while you do these tests." Basically, Abstergo started Abstergo Entertainment to sell the Animus software as a game (basically AC3's multiplayer and AC3:Liberation's story is a product of that) while internally they use the Animi system for training templars (AC2:Bro/Revs multiplayer) This is within a span of three-six months since Clay dies in August 2012 wile Desmond is found in... October? Unlocks Subject 16's memories/Lost Archive happens in October. Ending run happens in December from 14th-to today/20th. So, yeah, very short time frame. But it's possible Desmond/crew was in the dark in regards to that since Shawn hacks the database in Brotherhood and finds the Animi system/multiplayer portion and mentions it to Lucy and crew.
Really though, I want AC4 to be "Beef Cake Ezio and Straightman Haytham's adventures in France #4." That would get me to buy a AC4. "BUT THAT MAKES NO SENSE IN THE TIMELINE!"
Shup up, Ubisoft/ubernerd fans: I don't care. I want more of both of them. >:|
Like, the entire second half of the game feels rushed. Once you take over as Connor, things just get glanced over and forgotten about constantly. The most jarring one for me is how nobody ever talks about Connor's father and his being a Templar, it's just assumed that they both know it. There's no revelatory scenes like Empire Strikes Back where Connor finds out the truth about his father, or Haytham learns that the assassin who's been working against them is his son. They just sort of know already, and presumably they learned that offscreen at some point we don't get to see.
The ending is just ass. It cheapens and invalidates a lot of the stuff that happened before and leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It basically means that I spent about 60 hours of played time over the course of the last 4 games in an effort to... get Desmond into some vault that has an object in it to save the world? If Red Letter Media was more into video games they could easily make a video like the Prometheus Questions one for AC, so I'm not even going to bother trying to analyze all the ways in which it made no sense.
Like, the entire second half of the game feels rushed. Once you take over as Connor, things just get glanced over and forgotten about constantly. The most jarring one for me is how nobody ever talks about Connor's father and his being a Templar, it's just assumed that they both know it. There's no revelatory scenes like Empire Strikes Back where Connor finds out the truth about his father, or Haytham learns that the assassin who's been working against them is his son. They just sort of know already, and presumably they learned that offscreen at some point we don't get to see.
The ending is just ass. It cheapens and invalidates a lot of the stuff that happened before and leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It basically means that I spent about 60 hours of played time over the course of the last 4 games in an effort to... get Desmond into some vault that has an object in it to save the world? If Red Letter Media was more into video games they could easily make a video like the Prometheus Questions one for AC, so I'm not even going to bother trying to analyze all the ways in which it made no sense.
Finished it yesterday and it was shit. Can't believe I've played this series for 5 years just for it to turn into evangelion.
Stupid ending. What's the purpose of Desmond training all these months and work on becoming a master assassin? Oh, so he can climb ledges to plug in blocks and use am apple to kill people. Fuck off with that bullshit.
Nothing paid off and they clearly set up a sequel trilogy with Desmond lost in the animus or some billshit so he can become neo and visit all his ancestors and then the assassins and the Templars unite to stop the twilight princess looking lady from enslaving humanity.
They should have pulled back the layer one more time and have humanity existing within the animus and Desmond's descendents using the animus to find where he left all the artifacts since he did all the busy work in the 5 game trilogy. (Could easily be the plot of the next trilogy).
Very disappointed.
Edit, reading through the thread, seems lots of people agree on a similar sequel
There's no revelatory scenes like Empire Strikes Back where Connor finds out the truth about his father, or Haytham learns that the assassin who's been working against them is his son. They just sort of know already, and presumably they learned that offscreen at some point we don't get to see.
Finished it yesterday and it was shit. Can't believe I've played this series for 5 years just for it to turn into evangelion.
Stupid ending. What's the purpose of Desmond training all these months and work on becoming a master assassin? Oh, so he can climb ledges to plug in blocks and use am apple to kill people. Fuck off with that bullshit.
Nothing paid off and they clearly set up a sequel trilogy with Desmond lost in the animus or some billshit so he can become neo and visit all his ancestors and then the assassins and the Templars unite to stop the twilight princess looking lady from enslaving humanity.
They should have pulled back the layer one more time and have humanity existing within the animus and Desmond's descendents using the animus to find where he left all the artifacts since he did all the busy work in the 5 game trilogy. (Could easily be the plot of the next trilogy).
Hey now I was disappointed with the ending as well but to compare it to Evangelion is pretty harsh...
I loved the modern day missions but that was more from me craving such adventures since Assassin's Creed 1. Really makes me sad when you realise how much they butchered you returning to Abstergo. All you do is walk in the front door, and take out a couple guys with stun sticks? Also the guys who have pistols who like to pretend they're muskets and can only shoot once every 30 seconds. Where the fuck are the armed guards who took down all the Assassin camps?
I mean it would be okay if you snuck in through the vents or did another sweet roof landing, which would explain bypassing main entrance security leaving just stun stick dudes, but to walk through the front door... god.
I mean they even had a great device with the First Civ Bullet Shield that Conner can earn from the pirate missions. It would have made so much sense for Desmond's dad to give him this Assassin artifact that explains why he just walks through the front door and is resistant to close range bullet shots (I remember they were a bit too quick for you to do the bullet shield counter).
You're right, because evangelion is actually pretty decent once you figure out what's happening.
Just frustrating because i assume this will be the last big game in the franchise as ubi will move on to a new AAA franchise next gen and this will fall to the wayside ala prince of Persia.
Prediction time. Next gen trilogy:
1) find out the story actually takes place in the animus and future peoples needed info on Desmond
2) assassins and Templars work together along with holographic Desmond to stop Juno. Templars have hidden agenda
3) Juno is stopped thanks to sacrifice of Desmond again. Templars use hidden agenda to turn table on assassins/world at last moment enslaving world and setting up future trilogy on ps5 & Xbox 1440
You're right, because evangelion is actually pretty decent once you figure out what's happening.
Just frustrating because i assume this will be the last big game in the franchise as ubi will move on to a new AAA franchise next gen and this will fall to the wayside ala prince of Persia.
Where can I read up on making the end of Eva make sense? All of that introspective BS and religious allegory fluff left the most bitter taste in my mouth. Especially when the entire rest of the series is gritty, dark, awesome scifi.
I think there will still be Assassin's Creed games for a few years to come. Ubi have gotten the yearly cycle down reasonably well, and they still sell like gangbusters so I don't see why they'd cut it loose before sales start to dwindle significantly. I'm kinda gutted that they most likely won't ever give us a full on game set in either the modern day real world, the near future, or in the past during the war between the Ones Who Came Before and the first humans. I love visiting history as much as the next guy but with each game in the series the reasons for needing to go into the past become less and less convincing.
Where can I read up on making the end of Eva make sense? All of that introspective BS and religious allegory fluff left the most bitter taste in my mouth. Especially when the entire rest of the series is gritty, dark, awesome scifi.
I think there will still be Assassin's Creed games for a few years to come. Ubi have gotten the yearly cycle down reasonably well, and they still sell like gangbusters so I don't see why they'd cut it loose before sales start to dwindle significantly.
I never read any spoilers so I thought he was going to be the main character for the whole game. But even then I wondered how well he had everything under control, and he came up with all kinds of plans instantly. I have never played a game where the main character is so competent in everything he does.
I never read any spoilers so I thought he was going to be the main character for the whole game. But even then I wondered how well he had everything under control, and he came up with all kinds of plans instantly. I have never played a game where the main character is so competent in everything he does.
So that bit with Desmond after he's told about the crystal ball that literally sees the future. He claims he knew that Lucy was going to betray them, and that the satellite would fail. This indicates that somehow he had precognitive powers of his own, and chose to do absolutely nothing with them. When the hell did he have this vision? What purpose does this plot device even serve?
I'd like to add that the Abstergo HQ sequence is one of the most disgusting things I've ever experienced, even disregarding all the incredibly obvious plot holes it has. I felt dirty during the scene where Desmond forces a whole room of people to kill themselves. And there's supposed to be an emotional moment with his father right afterward! At least they give you the choice to not kill all the guards as you make your way to the exit. Still, they're practically daring you to kill dozens of enemies that don't fight back. If this is some sort of statement, it's tone-deaf beyond belief.
So that bit with Desmond after he's told about the crystal ball that literally sees the future. He claims he knew that Lucy was going to betray them, and that the satellite would fail. This indicates that somehow he had precognitive powers of his own, and chose to do absolutely nothing with them. When the hell did he have this vision? What purpose does this plot device even serve?
I'd like to add that the Abstergo HQ sequence is one of the most disgusting things I've ever experienced, even disregarding all the incredibly obvious plot holes it has. I felt dirty during the scene where Desmond forces a whole room of people to kill themselves. And there's supposed to be an emotional moment with his father right afterward! At least they give you the choice to not kill all the guards as you make your way to the exit. Still, they're practically daring you to kill dozens of enemies that don't fight back. If this is some sort of statement, it's tone-deaf beyond belief.
Well they are Templars... If your going to mass kill a bunch of people I think the facist elitists trying to undermine the democratic nature of society in order to control the world is a good place to start.
So that bit with Desmond after he's told about the crystal ball that literally sees the future. He claims he knew that Lucy was going to betray them, and that the satellite would fail. This indicates that somehow he had precognitive powers of his own, and chose to do absolutely nothing with them. When the hell did he have this vision? What purpose does this plot device even serve?
I'd like to add that the Abstergo HQ sequence is one of the most disgusting things I've ever experienced, even disregarding all the incredibly obvious plot holes it has. I felt dirty during the scene where Desmond forces a whole room of people to kill themselves. And there's supposed to be an emotional moment with his father right afterward! At least they give you the choice to not kill all the guards as you make your way to the exit. Still, they're practically daring you to kill dozens of enemies that don't fight back. If this is some sort of statement, it's tone-deaf beyond belief.
From the way he puts it in the conversation with Rebecca, it was Juno's powers while she was controlling him that allowed him see the future where Lucy betrays them and gets the apple back to Abstergo. He says she was controlling him but he still "agreed to it on some level", like she was "running a program" on him that showed him things.
And yeah, the Abstergo HQ sequence was total ass and somewhat offensive. Had the potential to be the climax of the present time sequences, with a proper invasion mission where Desmond uses his abilities to their full extent. As it stands it's a rush job using areas they had from the previous games in a nonsense sequence where he's able to just walk through the front door. Not to mention the contrived as shit setup. William says "I'll handle this by myself lol" in a quick scene and they all agree with this terrible idea just so he can get captured and in need of saving.
After getting it for Christmas I got round to finishing it.
So, game developers have just given up on doing proper endings at this point right? I mean while Mass Effect 3 had a pretty darn shitty ending most of the game was alright, AC3 however was rather meh with a shitty ending.
On the Desmond side, that as a whole was pretty disappointing, after the build up I was expecting more. The point of AC2 was to give him these abilities that previous Assassins had so they didn't need to train him but then you barely actually do much with him.
The 3 actual missions were nice I guess but also a bit lame, ignoring the first 2 Desmond levels, I don't believe they send us back to Abstergo and then give us that terrible level. I was expecting some huge level that would be this kind of big climbing sneaking level of awesome, instead we got easy kills, an elevator climb, a lame chase sequence and then a walk out with the apple.
Then there is the ending, what shit was that, jesus, for once I would like a game developer to sit down to write a beginning and an end and then go from there, this can't be what they originally had in mind when coming up with the first game.
So much was left dangling, ignored and unexplained throughout the series for them to just pull some nonsense out of thin air for some reason to finish it off.
As for being inside the Animus, the best part of the game to me was probably the beginning and following Haytham missions, it was a right cock tease at the beginning with the London mission but it was probably the best level in the game. Victorian-ish London to me has always seemed like the perfect location for an AC game, the old timey world, structures, street layouts, all seem like the perfect environment for running around but yet is ignored for other locations.
The whole Templar thing was groovy too, I had kept myself away from spoilers so I was generally surprised when we played him first but also the little hints followed by the outright telling you they were Templars, that was cool.
Then we move onto Connor, I found him to be pretty boring, people might have been bored with Ezio but he had character and charm, Connor didn't really do much and his story was terribly developed.
They ignore any sort of tension from his first meeting with his father, they just know suddenly and continue on when to me that was kind of a big point I was looking forward to getting to, any tension from his tribe from his actions before or after he kills his friend is thrown aside almost immediately and I think you only visit them after leaving like once?
I found America to be pretty boring, climbing trees was a nice addition but everything was made so much more horizontal yet you still get around as slowly as you always had which made trodding through the cities a bore. AC3 seemed to be one of the worst for generally getting place, at random times for seemingly no reason the guards would chase me down even though I was just jogging down the street incognito, and running across rooftops was the same as always except there seemed to be more guards that previous games up there who are all far more willing to shoot you down making it just not as much fun getting around that way.
The underground was also terrible, I'm not sure I saw the point of it.
That's all I can think of at the moment, it's 5am so I will be going to bed now, but as a whole the game was disappointing, Desmond was lame, Connor and America was boring, the only really interesting part of the game was the beginning and it was over too quickly.
For example that both little twists the game offers, like that Haytham is a templar and that it was the Patriots who are responsible for the attack on Connor's village, were spoiled long before through the animus databank. I stopped using it halfway through the game because of that.
Then stuff like Warren Vidic's and Haytham's deaths. Sooooo anti-climatic. Connor just stabs Haytham, why wasn't Haytham more careful? He knows about the hidden blades, hell, he even uses them. Same with Vidic. He asks Desmond to "Hand him over the apple" and then is totally shocked when Desmond just uses it, yeah, wow, who would have thought of that, smart move Vidic.
Posted this in the OT but I'll put it here spoiler tag free as well.
Just beat it. I'm one of the few that enjoyed the ride.
I felt Connor's role, no matter how naive, was by design. Complaints about that and his weaker qualities seem undeserved unless you're an adolescent and only want one-dimensional action heroes. His arc from a determined and strong boy in a small pond, to a confused young man thrown into a new and changing world, to soaking in knowledge from a father figure while his real father plays games with his heart and mind, to eventually standing by his conviction to right the wrongs around him.... loved it.
His voice actor wasn't even as bad as people say. He was soft and well-spoken, and sounded like some native American actors I've heard before (but can't name or recall).
And Desmond's story. Why is this ending hated? I get that the simple way to look at it is "He went against what the Assassins stand for. WTF!" But it's deeper than that. He chose not to be a hero of the people and instead allows humanity to rise up against a threat themselves. He's breaking the cycle that has played out already. Hell, Haytham said their goal is for the world to just be the way it is. Desmond went against that and has sparked a change. He may have even created the catalyst that unites mankind against a common enemy without force or mind control.
I never read any spoilers so I thought he was going to be the main character for the whole game. But even then I wondered how well he had everything under control, and he came up with all kinds of plans instantly. I have never played a game where the main character is so competent in everything he does.
After getting it for Christmas I got round to finishing it.
So, game developers have just given up on doing proper endings at this point right? I mean while Mass Effect 3 had a pretty darn shitty ending most of the game was alright, AC3 however was rather meh with a shitty ending.
On the Desmond side, that as a whole was pretty disappointing, after the build up I was expecting more. The point of AC2 was to give him these abilities that previous Assassins had so they didn't need to train him but then you barely actually do much with him.
His virtual training only served him for virtual reality, not really the real world. There was no real use for it, which is funny. Ubi focused on world building and the past, but forgot to build the world outside of those worlds -- Desmond's reality.
I can't say I'm disappointed. Honestly, I think the next game would all be in a virtual environment again. How else would they try to remove Juno.
When I finished the game I couldn't help but think that the whole thing was one giant missed opportunity.
Imagine that we played as Haytham for the whole game. Keep the London start, the ship going to America and we play as Haytham the whole time we get there.
Game plays out in the fashion of Haytham (and his templars but we don't know that yet) manipulating some of the events of the American Revolution. Then at a late point in the game, say Sequence 10 or whatever, the Templar twist is revealed. Instead of the way the game currently handles it where it's practically forgotten in the Desmond story this becomes a big deal and not only do the modern assassins start questioning themselves but we as the players do too.
Here we've been playing almost a whole game completely ignorant of the fact that we were playing as a Templar, because - and as I recall Haytham telling Connor at one point in story - their goals were much the same at the time and did in fact work together in later points of the actual game that we got. So as the player we kind of ask ourselves whether or not the Templars are really THAT bad and the Desmond story could make so much more of his connection to a Templar.
Then, when we get to the ending part in the Vault, the game could have given us an actual choice where we the player get to choose either the path of what an Assassin would do or a Templar would, based on our experience of now having seen both perspectives in the games. And just end the whole Desmond thing there and then based on that outcome and allow the next game to do whatever it wants independent of Desmond and any baggage being brought forward. The developers can turn around and say "you played as Desmond for the last five games and brought your end to the arc, now play as a whole different assassin in a new setting" and leave it at that.
The Desmond plot and its ending were terrible, but I never gave much of a care about that part of the series anyway. I'm in it for the historical Assassins only, really. I am not disappointed in Connor or his arc--at least not to a great extent. I would have loved to see the game Guesong described, though.
I had a great time with AC3, and I'll be on board for more. Maybe with Shao Jun, if we're lucky, or another interesting person in another interesting time and place.
There was a lot of weird anti-climactic stuff like the Cross, and especially the Vidic deaths. This dude that has abducted you, hunted you and searched the planet got whacked off just like that?
There was something about Haytham that was pretty damn cool. Connor ran his mouth too much, and wasn't as fun to be as Ezio.
The ending. What?
The decision is made. Desmond just spoke for everyone.
Do they come back and throw him in the Animus?
She saved the planet now, but why didn't she save it before?
How are we back in the Animus after the credits.
The epilogue missions didn't reveal or feel meaningful to me.
After the pivot missions are done, you are in the cloud and someone is yelling about Vegas..who was that?
Could someone have been playing as Desmond all this time?
Or will his father or someone else jump in an Animus to get into the Blackflag character.
The games should drop all the in-your-face present-day and first civilization stuff. It should be subtle and under the surface, something used just to give a bit more intrigue to the games without distracting from the historical era. This was really something only Patrice Desilets understood. It takes someone who is passionate about history and cultures to realize how much potential the eras and locations have on their own without making the focus the whole conspiracy/aliens crap.
So to me when people say the series need a reboot, it's really the story that needs to be thrown in the garbage and make the future games about the eras and locations. AC1 was much better in that regard, and AC2 was pretty close to this too. It really started to get out of hand in ACR and ESPECIALLY in AC3. Also, the present was always a drag. Should be just a hub to justify the access to the different modes/menus/options/hud.
The games should drop all the in-your-face present-day and first civilization stuff. It should be subtle and under the surface, something used just to give a bit more intrigue to the games without distracting from the historical era. This was really something only Patrice Desilets understood. It takes someone who is passionate about history and cultures to realize how much potential the eras and locations have on their own without making the focus the whole conspiracy/aliens crap.
So to me when people say the series need a reboot, it's really the story that needs to be thrown in the garbage and make the future games about the eras and locations. AC1 was much better in that regard, and AC2 was pretty close to this too. It really started to get out of hand in ACR and ESPECIALLY in AC3. Also, the present was always a drag. Should be just a hub to justify the access to the different modes/menus/options/hud.
I denied it for a long time. But damn it, I'd love it if Patrice came back. You're right about the subtlety.
Having said that though, the Ezio trilogy was one of my highlights of this gen. Both the historical and modern day stuff was the right amount of intriguing and engaging (though I hated how they wasted Lucy and Clay in Brotherhood and Revelations respectively. Patrice wouldn't have done that I think).
She is "in the program", so she can't pull the trigger. All of her history manipulation is basically to work around the code to get Desmond there to (a) pull the trigger and (b) let her out. The device wasn't build in time for their species to use it, but it also gave her a really good way to force Desmond to let her out.
