Assassin's Creed [Day 25/60] Assassin's Creed Origins - Act II - 'Shimmering Sands' |
- [Day 25/60] Assassin's Creed Origins - Act II - 'Shimmering Sands'
- Eivor Cosplay by me - Hi guys! I'm finally able to share a couple of new shots with You all. Since You appreciated the first shot I'm very curious to know Your opinion about these new ones :) The photographer is FOCAL FOX and I really threw the axe to her :D (second Pic). I hope You'll like them.
- My Inktober drawing of Kassandra and the Spear of Leonidas for Inktober, day 5, BLADE
- All Assassin's Creed Legends
- Echoes of Valhalla is a must listen to
- Some of the voice acting is a bit hit and miss but this has weirdly gotten me even more hyped for Valhalla. It’s a mix of historians and characters. I randomly came across it as an ad on Facebook.
- TIL that Civilian NPC's can single handedly clear out a Pirate Hideouts.
- Revelations is way better than Brotherhood
- I'm making an AC Video Games Database but need help with some of the information. Message me if you know anything in one of the empty sections, Any help would be appreciated.
- Will Origins get better in time?
- The Political Landscape of Scandinavia in the Great Northern War - Mildly Obscure Setting Discussions
- The characters mechanic in Valhalla will be like Syndicate or like Odyssey?
- Whats your favorite stealth mission in the AC Series?
- A Review of Assassin's Creed Altair's Chronicles and Discovery: A mix of AC, Prince of Persia and Sonic the Hedgehog
- Do you think Valhalla will go gold soon?
- Archery skill ceiling and usefulness
- How do I get the community challenge items in Black Flag?
- Origin/Uplay odyssey download twice?? Second download bigger???
- [Unity] How do i deal with firing squads?
- Can someone give me a clear idea on the different Assassin's Creed develop teams?
- Will there be a Valhalla Edition Xbox?
- Assassins Creed The Ezio Collection PC
| [Day 25/60] Assassin's Creed Origins - Act II - 'Shimmering Sands' Posted: 05 Oct 2020 06:00 AM PDT AC Marathon 2020 - Day 25Assassin's Creed Origins - Act II - 'Shimmering Sands'Welcome back, Medjays! Today, Bayek is told to make contact with Apollodorus, who can help with the identity of his son's killer. After meeting with Apollodorus, Bayek is introduced to Cleopatra, who makes Bayek her medjay. She also gives Bayek four names, now targets. The Scarab is the first to be dealt with. Today's Target: TaharqaDAILY OVERVIEW1 - Egypt's Medjay (Main) Side Quests for additional XPOld Times, The Weasel, In Protest Check out our full Origins overview here. DISCUSSIONShare your feelings about today's sequence in the comments below. What did you think? Talk about what you liked, what you disliked, and your general thoughts. Feel free to engage with others and ask questions of your own! Being active in discussions will make you eligible for an official Marathon giveaway. More info in the 'Giveaway' section below. WALLPAPERSMake sure to download the official Marathon wallpapers for Assassin's Creed Origins! Desktop 1920x1080 || Desktop 1920x1200 || Mobile FAN CREATIONSHere is today's Fan Art of the Day for Assassin's Creed Origins. Featured Video: [Rogue Academy] AC Origins | Smoke Bombs LIVE STREAMS AND VIDEOSHere's the list of streamers that will be broadcasting today's sequence. All times in EDT. 9:30 AM - /u/SerHolmes on Twitch 10:00 AM - /u/GamerGirl_9623 on Twitch 12:00 PM - /u/Ikraik on Twitch 6:30 PM - /u/InfinityGB on Twitch 2020 Schedule
GIVEAWAYThree lucky winners will receive a copy of The Art of Assassin's Creed Valhalla! To be eligible for this year's giveaway, you must comment on at least 24 total threads across all games, including one thread from each game. (DLCs don't count as separate games.) Replies to other comments count as well. Engaging in discussion with other Marathoners is strongly encouraged! Your account must be older than the Day 01 post of this year's Marathon, and you will have to confirm your participation at the end of the Marathon by commenting on the final thread (Day 60) using a keyword given in the post. Please refer to our FAQ for additional details. TOMORROWTomorrow, on Day 26 of the Assassin's Creed Marathon, we will be playing as Aya with some naval combat, as well as take on Bayek's second target, the Hyena, as part of Assassin's Creed Origins - Act III: Part 1! Follow us on Twitter || Follow us on Instagram || Marathon Megathread & FAQ[link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 05 Oct 2020 05:52 AM PDT | ||
| My Inktober drawing of Kassandra and the Spear of Leonidas for Inktober, day 5, BLADE Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:25 PM PDT
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| Posted: 05 Oct 2020 11:50 AM PDT
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| Echoes of Valhalla is a must listen to Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:50 PM PDT
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| Posted: 05 Oct 2020 12:48 PM PDT
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| TIL that Civilian NPC's can single handedly clear out a Pirate Hideouts. Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:54 PM PDT So, I came upon the Pirate Hideout on Abantis Island, as I approached, I called out Icarus to mark out all the enemies, and was about to start my stealth clear out, when I noticed everyone had started freaking out and running over to where the Captives were... Then I noticed all the captives suddenly get freed, and then enemies start dropping. Walk over closer to see an NPC Woman a little taller then Kassandra taking on all the enemies. She ended up taking out all but one enemy who didn't notice the fighting going on and took the Captain down to about half his health bar before I just ended up stealth killing him. Ironically, she is only considered a regular NPC, and not legendary. I unfortunately couldn't recruit her, because she was immortal (which explains why she managed to fight everyone off) and would not fall to my fists, nor would she fight back when I punched her. [link] [comments] | ||
| Revelations is way better than Brotherhood Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:14 AM PDT So I know in the context of release Revelations felt maybe like another sideways step and didn't really add anything new. But in 2020, does anyone else agree Revelations was a way better experience than Brotherhood? I played the Ezio Trilogy version. I found the graphical upgrades to be unbelievable. It looked almost like AC4. The story was enough of a departure from AC2 and Brotherhood to feel new enough. I also really didn't like Brotherhood that much. I really did not like the map. Mainly the older part of Rome I found amazingly bad for parkour (the bit near the river). Anyone else agree? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 06 Oct 2020 12:10 AM PDT
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| Will Origins get better in time? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 03:36 AM PDT Please NO SPOILERS Yo so I'm using the time for the next generation consoles to come out to play through all Assassins Creed games and since finishing Syndicate which I'll admit I wasn't a big fan of to begin with it majorly grew on me which I ended really enjoying and I've now reached Origins. So far I find the setting amazing and Bayek is a well done character but my issue right now is at 17 levels in I feel I'm barely progressing. I'm spending hours on hours on hours to upgrade all my stuff and try attempt quests which I always die in the hunting is enjoyable but after 5 days it's become boring to have to do 24/7 like I am right now While aspects of the game have been fun and enjoyable and it feels like an alive game. Progression wise I don't feel anything like hunting for material to upgrade rather than grind out missions/quests just don't seem that exciting especially when after I upgrade my stuff quite a lot my damage and health still feel terribly low Can anyone give me some idea on their experience with the game and how they found it and if I should should eventually enjoy this game? Since I've really enjoyed all the previous games bar Rouge heavily. I hope this isn't the one that turns me off the next games ahead of me [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:00 AM PDT A common trait Assassin's Creed groups have is the constant theorizing about future settings, because historical tourism is one of the best parts of the series. Many fans want pretty cliche settings such as the American Civil War and Wild West, World War 2, Ancient Rome, and Feudal Japan. Most of these popular settings will be discussed in my series on commonly suggested settings. The common thread between all settings in this series of posts is that they have not appeared on a Ubisoft poll or survey that can be easily found (China, Japan, Rome), they are not overly requested settings by the fanbase (see wild west and world war 2), and they all are relatively known enough to be marketable to a broad base. In each of these posts, I'll be discussing map areas, cities, architecture, culture, wars, historical events, historical characters, broad conjecture on how AC could work with this, and any existing lore in this area. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Sweden had built itself an empire in the Baltic, and in part took land around the Baltic that previously belonged to Denmark, Germany, and Russia. As a result in 1700 with the new King of Sweden, Charles XII having just been crowned, the three formed an alliance and decided to invade Sweden with Tsar Peter the Great leading the alliance. The War began invading southern Sweden and Northern Denmark but quickly moved to Poland-Lithuania and Saxony. While the war was to the south and west, Tsar Peter moved in but lost the battle of Narva in 1702 only to then capture the fort and town around Nyenschantz, officially creating St Petersburg in 1703. The following year he retook Narva and the war continued at a standstill in Lithuania for about 6 years as the fronts moved after various battles. In 1710, Charles XII began to fall back towards Denmark, and in the process began losing Finland to Peter the Great. Peter could make a solid Templar, and considering Russian Nobility's history with the staff, may have held one himself. In 1715, Britain declared war against Sweden, who was now at war with all of Northern Europe. In 1718, Charles XII died, likely to an assassination by Swedish Nobles who disliked a tax he intended to enact. With Charles dead, his sister Eleonora took the throne for two years until she abdicated to her husband, Frederick I in 1720. The war was going poorly at that point, as Tsar Peter had entered northern Sweden. Sweden continued its attacks and attempted an invasion of Norway, but Peter began pillaging Sweden and in late 1720, early 1721, the treaty of Nystad ended the war. Despite the loss, the Riksdag of the Estates - which was a diet or assembly made of 4 smaller assemblies of people from each of the major social classes - was able to use this to regain more power and push through a new constitution that would last several decades beginning the Swedish Age of Liberty. It was around this time that Arvid Horn was becoming prominent in the Riksdag and played a role in the rise of Hats and Caps political parties. Horn was a cap who attempted to use his power to peacefully negotiate and create alliances with Northern Europe, while the Hats headed by Carl Gyllenborg and Carl Gustaf Tessin used military dominance to gain what they desired, drawing Sweden into War in 1741 and 1757. Personally, I wouldn't want to see too much of the actual war in this period, instead of using it as a backdrop like the Italian Wars of Assassin's Creed 2. Let us solve murder mysteries and deal with the political landscape of Scandinavia during a large-scale war in Northern Europe. Find the conspirators who killed the King and assassinate them ala the Medici Conspirators. Tsar Peter died in 1725, making an easy assassination mission for the end of the game, perhaps gaining a piece of Eden for our republican allies in the Swedish Courts, be it the Queen or Arvid Horn. The beauty of this setting is that it would give us the ability to explore major Scandinavian cities that didn't exist in the Viking age such as Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, and St Petersburg. Just to the east of this is Moscow, which could make an interesting DLC dealing with Russian politics following the tumultuous war. Alternatively, it could be a reason to explore Kitezh. Kitezh is a famous mythical city that was supposedly sent underwater to escape the oncoming Mongolians. This being tied to Peter's PoE like a staff or apple could be an interesting reason the Russians always retained several PoE. There is a vault or PoE in Saint Petersburg, a potential reason to capture the city, perhaps tied to Kitezh, and how it was hidden? Maybe this would better suit a game in Napoleonic Wars Russia or Russia under Ivan the Terrible. Alternatively, we could explore Finnish mythology and the Kyöpelinvuori - mountains haunted by ghost women - and Pohjola which was the farthest North and "Dark place". Perhaps we could unintentionally inspire the stories within the Kalevala. [link] [comments] | ||
| The characters mechanic in Valhalla will be like Syndicate or like Odyssey? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 10:26 PM PDT I mean, Will I be able to change characters in the game or will I have to choose one at the beginning? I saw both versions in one room in the trailer, so I think and hope it works like Syndicate [link] [comments] | ||
| Whats your favorite stealth mission in the AC Series? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 11:04 AM PDT Mine was the Assassination of Lucy Throne in the Tower of London. I generell loved the blackbox mission design. But the entire level building and environment was so great and varied in this mission. You had so many ways and possibilities to get into the Tower and when you get finally the possibility to assassinate her this was so satisfying. Evie stealth abilities and the entire atmosphere let you really feel like an assassin. Especially because this mission was at night. What where your favorite stealth mission in the series? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 05 Oct 2020 03:45 PM PDT Hello Everyone. Today, I am reviewing the DS Games Assassin's Creed Altair's Chronicles (released in 2008 by Griptonite) and Assassin's Creed 2 Discovery (released in 2009 also by Griptonite). These games were also released on various mobile platforms but have long since been removed. The only difference there was that they had faster load times and had more voice acting. I'm going to assume you're generally familiar with the main franchise as a whole when reading this but I'll try to be somewhat general and include links where needed. Note that this is a long read and I will be going pretty in-depth into both gameplay, story and occasionally lore. Spoilers ahead for the 2 DS games. Note that because of Reddit's post limits I will post a link to my blog article where the entire article is there if you wish to read the whole thing https://mieckfram.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-review-of-assassins-creed-altairs.html I've played Altair's Chronicles to death as a kid. So much so that I started basically speedrunning and sequence breaking it. If there was a speedrunning community for that game in 2008, I almost certainly would be in the top 20 (sadly, the game is empty on speedrun.com so my time of 3:36 will never be appreciated). This is my first time playing Discovery though and I'm excited to play it. If you want a short summary of the games, Altair's Chronicles is a pretty nice Prince of Persia Game with an AC Skin (which is pretty funny given that AC was originally intended as a POP spin-off). The game is at its best when you're Speedrunning and platforming through levels like a 2D Sonic game and not when you're doing Stealth and Combat. The Story is cool but is full of holes when you think of it. Discovery plays closer to a "2D Demake of AC2" with much better integration of stealth, combat and parkour but the story feels so needless and the Insane Speed of Ezio takes a lot to get used to. I'd personally rank ACAC as better than Discovery. With that said, let's get into the games starting with Altair's Chronicles. -Presentation The graphics look like those of a PS1 Game (and I mean that as a compliment). Environments look nice. Altair's character model looks pretty detailed (he doesn't have a face here. Although that kinda makes it more charming in a way). I don't value graphics that much anyway so I'm not holding anything against the game here. The game reuses a lot of the sound effects and music from AC1. So they're pretty well done. The issue is that the game only has 1 alert theme so it starts to get repetitive. Add in that many missions require you to be in combat or otherwise be spotted for minutes, the music gets really grating. I wish there were a couple more alert themes the game could have cycled through. I love the UI (and how they change colour depending on your area). Instead of using an Animus Sci-fi aesthetic (except for the health bar and pause menu. The iOS version used more of AC1's aesthetic), the game uses this paper map aesthetic that's pretty cool. -Gameplay Since going for an open-world game would have been beyond the scope of the DS, the game opts for a linear platformer with an isometric perspective. So The player can move all directions but the camera is fixed. The people who hate Oddyessy must really hate this game because this game shows Altair as being able to jump over buildings outside the simulation of the animus which should really conflict with the lore. Jokes aside, the gameplay is pretty good. Altair can run, jump and triple jump like in Mario 64, stick to walls and quickly run up them, balance and swing on poles and beams (you need to hold R, the command for walking, when you're on beams to not fall off. I feel it could be cooler if the player could run on beams and risk falling off for some extra speed. But I guess you could jump while on beams instead), climb specific objects like ladders (you can't climb buildings normally like in the main games), shoot out a grappling hook to swing across gaps etc. All this gives the player a lot of tools during platforming. It may not play like AC1 but it feels more fun. Levels that let you run across rooftops and let you sequence break (which isn't too hard) sections and puzzles with platforming tend to be the best parts of the game. There's this "Sonic the Hedgehog meets Prince of Persia" feel to when this happens. Unfortunately, this starts to become rarer after the first half of the game. The game starts slowing down with combat and linear platforming sections that I feel are much less fun than the more open first half. Combat has been surprisingly carried over from the main game, and it is even worse. For one, you don't need to time your counter attacks, you can just mash Y or X while holding R and Altair will counter most weaker enemies automatically. Enemies that can't be countered require you to constantly repeat spamming moves because they are damage sponges. Unlike say, Odyessy which also has enemies with large health pools, there are no abilities or special moves the player can use early on to cut through enemies. You're better off running past enemies, or knocking them off ledges. Sadly, these aren't always feasible so you'll be repeating YYX until you get the YXX and then the XXY combos to deal with enemies. Conversely, Bosses are a joke. They just require QTEs so they're faster to deal with than some regular soldiers. Basically combat slows the game down to a crawl. There is some hidden technique where if you can counter a grab by a guard, Altair will assassinate them instantly with the hidden blade. But it's both random if an enemy will do a grab and they're so fast you can't do them even when they happen so it's an unreliable strat. The combat only becomes bearable when you unlock the grappling hook pulling move that knocks enemies down leaving them vulnerable to an instakill. You can collect orbs by picking them up while platforming, opening chests by blowing in the microphone and killing enemies to upgrade your health and damage. Stealth is present in the game. You can sneak up on sleeping guards (who are somehow sleeping while standing up) by walking (by holding R) and pressing A to stealth Kill them (Altair will even do a short prayer for them when he does this). However this is pretty rare. Other times, there are missions where Altair can't be seen either by sticking to rooftops or he's wearing a disguise. For the most part, stealth is a small part of the game. The player has quite a few tools and gadgets they can select using the touch screen, they have a crossbow, explosive bombs, smoke bombs, throwing knives and a grappling hook. Some of these tools are used during platforming (throwing a knife to open a platform, using a bomb to clear debris) and many of these feel like gimmicks and are only used once in the entire game like the knives. Like I said earlier the grappling hook ends up being the best tool for both combat and platforming. There are puzzles as you play through the game. Many are incredibly basic (push a block to get a door open), some straight-up tell you the answer. There are 2 pretty cool ones. One during the Temple of Sand (which really goes against AC1's realistic style but looks great so I'm not complaining) where the player must time their jumps to press floor tiles in the correct pattern. And one later on where you have to rearrange a floor puzzle by moving pieces but each tile moves 2 different pieces. I once ended up solving it accidentally in 2 moves by going left and middle but I still think it was neat. Minigames- There are 2 minigames the player will have to do as they play the game. A minigame for pickpocketing that has the player using the touch screen to move a key out of a target's pocket all while avoiding moving apples and coins like that board game Operation. And a minigame for interrogation where the player has to play a version of Elite Beat Agents where they touch specific spots and drag a spot. These are the game's way of paying lip service to interrogations and pickpockets from AC1. I'm glad some effort went here to make the activities more fun and distinct but its telling that said minigames are used semi-regularly in the first half of the game and completely dropped in the 2nd half. Also, one issue is that there's a menu that shows the player what they've unlocked. Like once the player unlocks the triple jump, they can always triple jump and the menu shows that. But some skills are so situational and limited that I wonder why they're even listed here. There's a skill called "Disguise" that says "Take on anybody's appearance". Sounds cool right? Except Altair only uses it 3 times during the whole campaign during scripted sequences. He can't take just anybody's appearance. So why have it be a skill in the menu then and why have it appear unlocked (there are other skills like blending which are similarly too situational to be worth calling unlockable skills)? I feel it would be better that, if the player can get a stealth kill, they can take on anybody's appearance for a short time so they must balance having to move fast enough to get the most of the time limit but also not arouse suspicion by moving too fast. -Story I am not going to summarize the story here. That's what the Wiki is for: https://assassinscreed.fandom.com/wiki/Assassin%27s_Creed:_Alta%C3%AFr%27s_Chronicles I also recommend reading this: https://assassinscreed.fandom.com/wiki/Adha It's not too long a read. But I am going to discuss the story so spoilers. The first main issue I want to discuss is the ending. It is very unsatisfying given that nothing is resolved nor is it climactic. The story feels unfinished, like there would be a few more chapters of Altair looking for Adha one more time. By the way, do you want to know what happens next with Altair and Adha and how that ties into AC1? Tough Luck. You gotta read the codex entries from AC2, the novel The Secret Crusade and play some of AC Memories (which is a card game!) to find out more (or just read the Wiki) From the Wiki: "I had thought Adha would be the one to lead me to rest, that I might lay down my blade and live as a normal man. But now I know such dreams are best left to sleep..." ―Altaïr, in his Codex.[src] For many days and nights, Altaïr pursued the Templar ship across the Mediterranean Sea , but in the end to no avail. When he had at last nearly caught up with Adha, she was executed by the Templars, and he could do little but cradle her lifeless body in his arms once he found her.[3] Adha's death would go on to haunt Altaïr for the the next year or more as he embarked on a quest for revenge, hunting down each and every last man responsible for her demise. So thorough was he that not a single Crusader with any connection to her murder remained alive by the time he was finished. In spite of this, he was unable to derive any solace from their deaths, and he returned to the Assassins numbed and heartbroken from his tragedy.[3].... "Contrary to his expectations, the Assassins did not punish Altaïr for assassinating Harash, and he remained a respected member of the brotherhood until his transgressions compromised them the following year. While he was welcomed back with full arms, this did not allay the scorn he had begun to feel towards the Creed, fueled in part by his bitterness over his failure to live a normal life with Adha.[4] His defiance towards the brotherhood eventually manifested during the mission to Solomon's Temple for the Apple of Eden in 1191, where he violated all three tenets in rapid succession. Not until his subsequent mission to regain his lost esteem in the face of demotion was his respect for the Assassins revived, as the experience—and standing against his traitorous Mentor—reinvigorated his passion to resolve the conflicts of humanity.[4]" So basically, we don't see Adha getting killed and how that affected Altair and how that leads into his personality for AC1 and that whole story. And here's the thing, if it was a time or development constraint, then I'd rather the devs cut a few dud chapters from early on in the game if it meant that the final chapter got a lot more closure even if it ended with Adha dying and Altair killing all Templars there and the story ending on a sad note because at least it would feel complete. The game already feels like it has segments padded out anyway. If the reason was that they intended for an "Atair's Chronicles 2" with Atair finding a dead Adha and setting out to kill all the Templars responsible and were never able to make it, then that's just sad. I suspect it was more the latter given that the ending still has a fully animated CGI cutscene suggesting that was intended as the ending. Altair's character: I'm a little mixed on Altair's character. On the one hand, it makes sense that he's so chill in this story and becomes a dick in AC1 given what happens to Adha. On the other hand, we don't really see that in-game since Adha's death isn't seen so it feels like Altair's character goes from chill in this game, to a dick in AC1 to back to being chill in Revelations in a more inconsistent function. I think it would have been better if Altair was written to be a bit more arrogant in this game. It would contrast well against Basilisk who's more of a gentlemen at first. And Altair being all respectful towards Adha would make their relationship feel more special to the player. At the very least, it would have made this story seem to tie into AC1 a lot better and give him a more clear arc. Basilisk: As an antagonist, Basilisk starts out interesting enough. He's presented as more of a gentlemen to Altair's laser-focused approach before turning out to be more of a coward and pushover. I feel the story doesn't lean into that enough and seems confused on whether Basilisk should be a serious threat or someone who's not but is able to use underhanded tactics to get the upper hand. I say this because as a serious threat, Basilisk loses his credibility when Altair beats on 2 separate occasions, the first of which makes him run away and the second has him begging for his life and some info to spare him, And then the final encounter plays it straight and serious with Basilisk as the final Big Bad that Altair must defeat without leaning much into their past encounters. There's something with how Altair is just angry but that's never taken advantage of. I think the story here would have been better if Basislisk was consistently set up as this big guy everyone's afraid off but isn't actually that hot and instead basically uses underhanded tactics to get ahead. Like a heel wrestler that talks up himself but in matches either uses DQs and the like to make it out and gets his comeuppance later when he's trapped with the Face that the whole audience has been waiting for because even though he's not a physical threat but still has some tricks up his sleeve, his actions still make him a credible antagonist using his unique approach. Bringing this back to AC, I think it would have been better if the final encounter was presented as Basilisk throwing everything he had at Altair and hopes that they softened him enough for him to finally win. That would have been in line with his presented character and would have been a lot more interesting. It also would have lined up with the gameplay as the player knows that Basilisk's boss fights are a joke but would be so annoyed by everything thus far so like Altair, they would be all for taking him down. It's not a matter of if but when and that can be played up to make it so much sweeter. Adha: Adha is handled oddly. In terms of the story and her relationship to Altair, she's one of the more important characters possibly in the franchise given the dominoes she ends up knocking down. Yet she's barely present in the story(ies). Even in this game, she has a unique model, icon and dialogue bar (Not even Altair has all 3 given his model is reskinned for the Assassins and some Templars), yet is in the story for like 1.3 chapters at most. She's presented as being someone Altair loves so much he's willing to leave the Assassins behind for her (something Revelations shows Altair wouldn't do given how "it's the only life he knows") Quote "It was then that the two, in love as they were, agreed to flee together to a faraway place, away from the conflict between the Templars and Assassins, so as to settle down and pursue lives of normalcy.[2][3] " Yet in-game she shows up 3/4 through the story, Altair immediately recognizes her there even though it's the first the audience has ever seen her (I remember as a kid going on the wiki for this game wondering if I had skipped anything but no. That is her first appearance even though the story suggests they met before). We the audience have no connection to her. She's described as "the chalice" that can unite the Holy Land based on who controls the Chalice yet that's never shown how. It also makes the first half of the story a waste since Altair had to go around to different cities to find keys to go to the sand temple to open a chest to find the chalice only for it to be empty and for Basilisk to show up and say "No. The Chalice isn't an object, it's a woman" like the audience is supposed to figure it out (also, if Baslisk already knew that, why was he even at the Temple? Why were there keys in the first place? The whole thing feels like a waste). Perhaps this was the best the story could be due to the nature of the game's development. I can't fault the devs here. But let's say I could improve it. How would I rewrite the story so it flows and works a lot better? I'll assume it's within reason and limits of the DS. Firstly, I would have Altair written like how I said earlier. Make him more arrogant. The story has people like Basilisk and the Templar already hyping up Altair so it would be good characterization to have Altair as that arrogant yet loyal member. It would also make it all the more impactful when he changes his tune around Adha. It's a small touch so it shouldn't be too hard to implement. For Adha, I'd change it so Altair meets her early on in the story. Drop the whole mystery. We learn that she has magical blood (i.e Isu DNA) and that when she holds a special chalice, she gets special powers that can help whoever controls her win in the Holy Land. Her powers can be basically anything but I'd pick something like she can see the future or can see through people's eyes like the Observatory from AC4 or she can see thoughts or whatever. Something that's useful enough for people to be fighting over her but not powerful enough that she can just fight out and would need to comply with her captors. Basilisk and the Templars and the Sacrsens are all looking for both Adha and the Chalice so Altair must set out to find the Chalice. I'd also have it that Adha has a way to communicate telepathically with Altair throughout the adventure. She can help Altair with figuring out where to go and things like that as well as having some fun banter between the 2. I'm imagining 2 particular sequences where in one, she tells Altair a password to get through an area unscathed and another where there's like 6 sleeping guards and she tells Altair which one has the key he needs to pickpocket. The idea is that since Adha is so useful to both Altair and the player, the player is likely to connect with Adha and thus feels more like how Altair feels when she gets kidnapped and later killed. Her also having a tangible power provides a reason for the player to care if she falls into the wrong hands (this is set up for something later as well) as well as leaning into AC1 and Rev as to show why Altair might be willing to take responsibility for Isu powers and artifacts to not fall into the wrong hands. The story then mostly proceeds the same until you get to the end. Now Basilisk has both the Chalice and Adha and uses her power to help him leave traps and ambushes for Altair. Altair barely overcomes this and Baslisk is confident he can win this given how much he's tried to stack the deck. This should make it all the more satisfying to take him down given that he was working around his weakness in combat and it had an impact. Ideally, I'd have a chapter after this where Altair tries to rescue Adha, she gets killed in the chaos. Altair is devastated and kills all the Templars on the boat. The story fast forwards some time later when Altair kills all the Templars connected Adha's death, returns home to Masyaf to a hero's welcome for all his good work but he's become bitter as a result. Leading nicely into AC1. I think my version of the story is an improvement while still being reasonable to pull off on the DS, at most requiring a few cuts to some lacklustre levels and maybe a few more months of development. Altair's characterization is more on display and he even has an arc somewhat reminiscent of a standard hero's journey. Adha is now as important as the story thinks she is and helps connect the player and Altair. Basilisk is made a lot more interesting. The story now also avoids the issues of its first half being a waste, the chalice and importance not going anywhere and the ending becomes somewhat satisfactory. There are some issues with this. For one, I lean quite a fair bit into the powers whereas AC1 is quite grounded for 90% of its runtime. I think this is still a better approach because ACAC is already quite ungrounded at times (literally the whole Temple of Sand, Altair's gameplay, the premise of an artifact that can control the Holy Land) so why not take advantage of it? It's also the only way to make most of the gameplay the same while making Adha present and important without her having to tag along which would make the missions unwieldy. The ending still has issues. Once Adha dies in this hypothetical version, Altair will quickly kill all the targets and then the game ends. It still feels rushed but that's probably pushing the DS and amount of data anyway. So there you have it. Assassin's Creed Altair's Chronicles. An Ok game with some neat ideas but inconsistent all around. Had it spent more time in development and had a bit more focus, it could have been a lot more special. It feels unfinished in places but is still fun. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're curious and/or a huge fan of the series though. Now, onto the next game I'm going to cover, Assassin's Creed 2 Discovery. Discovery is a 2D Side-Scrolling Game that plays like a 2D demake of AC2 + Sonic the Hedgehog. I know that sounds weird but hear me out. Unlike ACAC which was more POP than AC, Dis has levels where the player is expected to move through and use stealth, there are multiple ways to move through levels. You can climb buildings. Combat is counter based on timing. Stealth kills, hiding spots, throwing knives, the leap of faith are all useful and quick to activate. Completing Optional Objectives awards you bonus synch (oh, and it actually takes place in the animus). Again, most of AC2 is translated here instead of being more on the periphery like in ACAC. And like Classic Sonic, you have insane speed that builds up as you run. You have momentum-based platforming that requires you to build up momentum before you make jumps (unlike AC2 where you could jump your max distance from a standstill), slopes you can run down to run even faster so you can jump even farther, a kind of homing attack when moving at high speeds to magnetize to an enemy to kill them. Multi-tiered level design with different vertical routes based on how you play that incentivize exploration to find collectibles and other items. There's a scoring system that tracks how you play. You're expected to play through levels multiple times to get the best run. There are even little white rings (these don't do anything except highlight a path you can take though). Basically, like Sonic, there's a mix of speed, platforming and exploration in one game only now Stealth is a thing. That last one is what makes the game feel inhospitable at first. You're constantly forced to go from supersonic speeds to a crawl as there's an enemy ahead and you don't want to be spotted, often feeling like the worst 2D Sonic levels like Marble Zone. And unlike ACAC, the minimap is a joke. It's so zoomed in that it can be hard to quickly switch between looking at the top screen where the game is being played so fast to the bottom screen where you'll learn an enemy is ahead of you only when you're almost in their sightlines. The iOS version does display the arrow on the screen so that's something but I wish the game had an option to zoom out more when running for both screens and the map actually showed you the path ahead and enemy locations before you got to them. You might argue this might break the game but this is how AC2 worked and it at least made the experience more consistent and fun. Your minimap gave you a massive heads up and let you proceed accordingly. Discovery does have a "walk/sneak" command that slows Ezio down and zooms out the top screen by holding L but I wish I didn't have to rely on it as much as a crutch as opposed to a tool. You also can't assassinate from hiding spots (which was one of AC2's whole selling points) which further hurts the pacing especially early on when you must wait for enemies to turn around or say screw it and take the score penalty and run past or jump over them getting detected. Eventually, you may get used to most of the quirks of the game. You can learn routes to minimize interaction with enemies or let you get the drop on them for those kill requirements. You can throw knives to instakill enemies who haven't seen you yet to keep the pace up. You can explore to find the collectibles and refills. It eventually gets quite fun. But there are things that keep me from fully getting sucked in like minimap, the stop and go nature and how the game will force you to get spotted sometimes so you get pelted with arrows and brutes and have few ways to respond. Had these issues been addressed, I can see this as being a better game to play than ACAC. Now regarding the combat, you might think based on everything I've ever said about the franchise that I hate this combat system. After all, it's basically AC2's combat system. The surprising thing is no. This might be the best implementation of Assassin's Creed's traditional combat and I don't mean that in a backhanded way. I mean it actually accomplishes the point of the counter based system. With most stealth-action games, the purpose of stealth is to be slower but safer while getting into combat is supposed to be faster but riskier. Look at say, Metal Gear Solid V. You can choose to slowly sneak your way through camps, taking care of enemies. You're at no risk of dying as long as you ain't spotted. In Combat, you can fight through enemies much faster, clearing them out sooner as well. But enemies are tough. They can use tactics like flanking, pincer movements etc to trap the player. The player also doesn't have a lot of health and enemies can call in reinforcements for backup. And if enemies are sufficiently geared up, they may even be more difficult to take down. It's often better to use stealth to clear out most enemies so if the player gets into combat it's more manageable. AC hasn't ever gotten this right (until Origins onwards which simply made both stealth and combat RPG paths you must invest in separately). Because while stealth is the slow way to play, combat is both faster and less risky. The timings are very lenient, you 1 hit kill enemies, enemies are scripted to attack one after the other as to not overwhelm the player. Said attacks also do pitiful damage. The player also has a ton of health that can easily be restored by dirt-common potions. Add in Brotherhood's chain kills and there is no danger or challenge. The player can cleave through armies like a hot knife through butter. And since enemy AI tends to be very basic, the player is more likely to get spotted and thus enter fights which brings more enemies so killing them all is always the most easy and efficient way to progress. In Discovery. When the player is fighting an enemy, they can either hold R and time Y with an enemy's attack to counter them. Counters aren't an instant kill on stronger enemies but they do the most damage. The player can time Y to do strikes that do some damage and can knock the enemy down but these take a longer time than doing counters. This also leaves you vulnerable to attack from archers and enemies surrounding you. Counters also require very precise timing and mistakes cost a lot of health. There's no potion or way to heal during fights. Some enemies like the ones with spears can't be jumped over. The end result is that the player can get through fights quickly but it's tough because it requires the player to stand in the middle of enemies timing perfect counters one after the other while mistakes can be fatal and the easier approaches may waste time. As a bonus, it makes all the cool combat finishers and animations all the sweeter because the player actually earned them and there was a huge risk of failure as opposed to the main games where they lack that impact. Anyway, Combat is actually challenging here (all it took was not making counters so OP, requiring players to have to actually time their moves, add a risk of failure and remove a whole dimension) which leads it to work well with stealth. Stealth is now the slow and safe way to progress while combat is fast and dangerous if you're not prepared. Hell, there's an actual benefit to running away from fights, something you only did in past AC games for the Hell of it rather than as a real decision. Of course, there are some issues here. Most standard mooks are easy to deal with. And combat can become frustrating if you avoid it for most of the game only to get forced into mandatory fights near the end that demand you instantly get good if you want to be fast or cheese a little to get through them. Still, like I said earlier this is the best implementation thus far. I wish there had been a training mode with the Animus sections so players could really test the combat system. Some other gameplay stuff (normally, I wouldn't copy from the wiki directly but whatever I would have written would have basically repeated the same points): Memories were played out in missions, similar to Assassin's Creed II, in that players were given synchronization points by clearing the mission, provided the required objectives were met in the mission's structure. These specific factors were the following: Time cleared, kills, damage taken, and notoriety. In order to achieve perfect synchronization with the requirements, the player had to complete the level as fast as possible, kill as many as they could, and take minimal damage respectively, though the required values varied from mission to mission. MissionTypes Several mission archetypes are present in game There were several mission types set in a specific memory, which defined how Ezio should have approached them, or the mission would be a failure. In all, there were three mission types in the game: Normal - Players could approach the mission however they liked and take their time to explore the environment for collectibles, however the basic mission factors were still present. Chase - Players had to run towards the objective whilst trying to avoid combat with any hostile enemies, determining the best route to reach the objective with speed. The player was followed by a rain of arrows that could only be avoided once Ezio was indoors or in a hiding spot. Stealth - Players were required to avoid open confrontation with hostile enemies at all costs, resorting only to using a stealth execution move. Enemies were indicated by arrows that appeared whenever Ezio was near to them, and the player was permitted to be spotted 3 times in total. Exceeding the given limit would result in the mission being a failure. [I'm glad there are no tailing or escort missions from the main game] There were also challenge rooms present in the game, which required Ezio to clear a specific objective. The challenge rooms were played through in the Animus corridor, similar to the tutorial levels in the game. Cheats, dubbed "Animus hacks", were present within the game, which could be unlocked by obtaining enough synchronization points. These cheats ranged from character skins to boosted gameplay movement and perks, which gave the player an advantage or allowed them to customize Ezio. However, only one hack could be used at a time, and once a level was finished with a hack activated, the level wouldn't continue automatically to the next, instead returning the player to the level menu. Collectibles were also present in game, with there being a total of 5 different variations: Memory paths, which could be used as a guide to show a player where to progress; Renaissance maps, which unlocked the aforementioned challenge rooms; Knives, which refilled Ezio's throwing knives supply; Wanted posters, which could be torn off to increase the health meter once the required amount was met, and finally art pieces, which could be collected by unlocking hidden rooms in missions. The iPhone and Nintendo DSi versions of the game allowed the player to integrate their facial likeness into the game through photos, replacing Ezio's placeholder image in the wanted posters with the player's own image. Also, the art pieces found in the iPhone version could be imported for use as wallpapers. I'm kinda sad I never played this game as a kid. I know kid me would have absolutely loved this and almost certainly would have 100% this multiple times. I was always a fan of AC, Sonic and 2D Stealth games so this was a wild match for me. -Presentation The game looks quite nice. You have that nice Renaissance look with Animus UI. Buildings, models, animations etc all look detailed and nice. The music seems to pull from AC1, even reusing that same alter them from ACAC that I'm quite sick off now. Still, I'd call it a step above ACAC. I do feel the game starts to look visually repetitive at times. Much of the Italy and Spain we see looks very similar with only the countryside and night areas providing more variation at the expense of more interesting level design (a flat countryside doesn't have as many buildings to climb on. .......... Sadly, this is the extent of what I can post on Reddit. If you want to read what remains, the link to the article is here https://mieckfram.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-review-of-assassins-creed-altairs.html [link] [comments] | ||
| Do you think Valhalla will go gold soon? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 07:11 AM PDT Hey So today cyberpunk 2077 has officially gone gold (basically the game is completely playable and ready to be shipped) and I was wondering how close Valhalla is to being finished as well since it comes out 9 days earlier than cyberpunk Although I'm not sure Ubisoft ever announced whenever their game goes gold, for example Watch Dogs Legion comes out in 3 weeks and they haven't said anything about it What do you think? Maybe the game is already done at this point? [link] [comments] | ||
| Archery skill ceiling and usefulness Posted: 05 Oct 2020 06:10 PM PDT I have a suggestion. I think that instead of having remote-control arrows that do minor damage and a crosshair turns red when the target is locked in, we should have arrows that do realistic damage (with bosses being an exception) and a crosshair that provides no additional help except for showing you where you are aiming (No turning red when the arrow arc has been aimed correctly.) I think this would make arrows much more useful and fun to play, as long shots would actually take skill, and they would actually have an impact besides doing 20% of the enemies health and alerting them to your presence. [link] [comments] | ||
| How do I get the community challenge items in Black Flag? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:38 AM PDT So I recently decided to get Black Flag on my PC because the disc for my XBOX 360 stopped working, which makes sense because both are 7 years old. I'm in love with the game and want to 100% it. The only things that stand in my way now are two abstergo challenges, a few more main missions, items from Kenway's fleet, one treasure chest and map (presumably also from Kenway's fleet), two legendary ships, and... items from community challenges. What are those? How do I do them? Is it impossible to get 100% on this game? [link] [comments] | ||
| Origin/Uplay odyssey download twice?? Second download bigger??? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 11:01 AM PDT For odyssey, Origin had me download a 40gb installer, install that, then it launches uplay that downloads another 50gb?!? Why??? [link] [comments] | ||
| [Unity] How do i deal with firing squads? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 11:23 AM PDT By firing squads i mean groups of normal enemies who exclusively use either stun grenades or pistols, meaning i never get the opportunity to hit any as im always spamming a to dodge everything [link] [comments] | ||
| Can someone give me a clear idea on the different Assassin's Creed develop teams? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 05:06 AM PDT I know that there are different teams around the world, but I don't know and I don't understand which team has developed which game, and how they are different in the style of the games. And especially, for "Ubisoft Montreal" they mean the Canadian city or the French city? [link] [comments] | ||
| Will there be a Valhalla Edition Xbox? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 01:28 PM PDT Has anyone heard as to if and when there'd be a Valhalla special edition for Xbox Series S/X? Or how soon after release does do the developers usually partner with the console companies? I want to get the series X but I don't mind waiting. [link] [comments] | ||
| Assassins Creed The Ezio Collection PC Posted: 05 Oct 2020 07:20 AM PDT Hello! I'd like to know if the PC version of Assassins Creed The Ezio Collection is remastered like the xbox or playstation version? Thx [link] [comments] |
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