Assassin's Creed Unity Provides A New Narrative Start

[Esmeralda Portillo]

Assassin's Creed Unity Provides A New Narrative Start


Assassin's Creed Unity will be a new start to the Assassin's Creed narrative.

The story of the Assassin's Creed brand isn't very straightforward, especially when you account for all the games in the franchise and the additional source material. So it's understandable if newcomers are hesitant to jump right into Assassin's Creed Unity, but creative director Alex Amancio is letting fans know that's been accounted for.

"Everything that happened before in the brand happened, and we're assuming that, but it's a new start, it's a new narrative start," Amancio says in an Ubisoft video, "That is symbolized by a completely new context for the present day." He goes on to explain that Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unskippable/8840-Assassins-Creed-IV-Black-Flag] provided a small taste of what that actually entails, and that, "What we're doing with Unity is really the beginning for this new cycle of Assassin's Creed games."

Amancio details how starting fresh on the story gives the development team room to not do anything redundant, "I would say that Assassin's Creed Unity is probably the best entry point for the franchise since AC1."

Assassin's Creed Unity launches worldwide on October 28, 2014.

Source: GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/assassins-creed-unity-best-entry-point-since-assas/1100-6420999/]

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[Sniper Team 4]

Considering that the end of Assassin's Creed III kind of wrote the entire plotline into a really tight spot, it makes sense that they're basically starting over. Which is why I feel that they didn't plan this story out very well.

Spoiler

I think they listened to so many people complain about Desmond, and how he was starting to look more and more like a certain celebrity and how people found him boring, that they went and killed him off, but in doing so suddenly went, "Oh crap. Now what?"

I understand that stories are always evolving and adapting as they are written, but the overall narrative of this series doesn't really seem to have been planned out at all. I hope they're able to get it together better with this new start.

 

[Often]

Coming in 2026, Assassin's Creed 37: This time we listened to all your demands for playable female characters, and... since that's still too hard, we'll have a female assassin FOLLOWER tag along after you. That's just as good, right? Give us more money. Maybe Assassin's Creed 38 will give you a couple side missions to play as the female. Maybe.

 

[circularlogic88]

So we're not setting up fighting evil ghost-lady that Desmond stupidly unleashed at the conclusion of Assassin's Creed 3?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Unless Unity is about Pinkie Pie and Luke Skywalker fighting the Cavity Creeps on Cybertron using proton packs I sincerely doubt they're going in a new narrative direction or starting a new narrative all together.

Hands up if you think its a game about genetic memories about an ancient assassin order doing a whole bunch of stuff in one or another classical setting.

 

[Veldel]

Unless Unity is about Pinkie Pie and Luke Skywalker fighting the Cavity Creeps on Cybertron using proton packs I sincerely doubt they're going in a new narrative direction or starting a new narrative all together.

Hands up if you think its a game about genetic memories about an ancient assassin order doing a whole bunch of stuff in one or another classical setting.

I would so play that game but I call dibs on Pinkie Pie.



OT: So everything til now is being tossed aside? So what about that lady Desmund freed?

 

[J Tyran]

So we're not setting up fighting evil ghost-lady that Desmond stupidly unleashed at the conclusion of Assassin's Creed 3?

Spoiler: Assasins Creed 4: Black Flag spoiler

Possibly, the character you play in first person during the Abstergo subplot was nearly possessed by some kind of ancient AI. There was some immortal guy, a sage or something Kenway met and the Templars where after him and then he popped up during the first person sections 300yrs later with a plan to bring this AI thing collected from ancient fragments or something back to life.

To be honest though I rushed those sections and didn't pay much attention to that plot, I enjoyed the Kenway sections far more than that Animus stuff.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I hope this 'new narrative start' involves taking the utterly superfluous and poorly written meta narrative, throwing it the bin and just giving us a historical narrative about being an assassin.

 

[AdmiralCheez]

I have a feeling that what they meant to say is that they're starting a new narrative arc, not a new narrative. If they really meant to start fresh, they had the perfect opportunity with Black Flag. But they still kept all the sci-fi genetic memory/ancient aliens plot stuff around, so it's not going away. It might take place from a different viewpoint, but it'll still be there.

 

[Vault101]

Coming in 2026, Assassin's Creed 37: This time we listened to all your demands for playable female characters, and... since that's still too hard, we'll have a female assassin FOLLOWER tag along after you. That's just as good, right? Give us more money. Maybe Assassin's Creed 38 will give you a couple side missions to play as the female. Maybe.

[i/]wer'e very excited about our new female assasin charachter! she has an acitve role in the game in which she being hot headed and eager constantly gets herself into trouble and YOU the player must pull it was

[shows clip]

gaurd: grrrr stupid female!

Female: what's you say to me?? huh? I'm gonna FIGHT ALL OF YOU !

gaurds: get her!

Female:...huh...it would appear that was a really stupid thing to do

Assasins:.....heh oh you! female assasin! *wah waah waaaahhhh sound*[/i]

OT: this probably isn't a bad thing given how the plots gone so far

 

[Falterfire]

[i/]wer'e very excited about our new female assasin charachter! she has an acitve role in the game in which she being hot headed and eager constantly gets herself into trouble and YOU the player must pull it was

[shows clip]

gaurd: grrrr stupid female!

Female: what's you say to me?? huh? I'm gonna FIGHT ALL OF YOU !

gaurds: get her!

Female:...huh...it would appear that was a really stupid thing to do

Assasins:.....heh oh you! female assasin! *wah waah waaaahhhh sound*[/i]

OT: this probably isn't a bad thing given how the plots gone so far

Nah, it'll just be a standard issue Strong Female Character. She'll be tough as nails, as clearly demonstrated by the first few scenes she shows up in where she will do Something Badass. After that point she will resume the usual Love Interest arc wherein she has no actual personality of her own and ultimately wins the affection of the hero.

But I'm being unfair, really. For all Ubisoft's management may be terrible at this, it's pretty clear that the actual writers care - Mary Read in ACIV was (in my opinion at least) handled well. So if we really go down that sad slope, I'm blaming the management rather than actual writers.

 

[Vault101]

Nah, it'll just be a standard issue Strong Female Character. She'll be tough as nails, as clearly demonstrated by the first few scenes she shows up in where she will do Something Badass. After that point she will resume the usual Love Interest arc wherein she has no actual personality of her own and ultimately wins the affection of the hero.
.

I just remeber years ago the cartoon/show "dragon booster" the token female chick is hanging out and sees two guys doing something illigal she jumps right in and says "somones gonna have egg on their faces!" or something eaqually inane and then they grin say something back to her then make out like their going to beat her up and she's like "oh shit!" then the main charachter comes in to save her

and it made NO fucking sense, its not like she jumped in and then the situation changed (more showed up or they more better armed/stronger than they apeared to be) no she sees them, decides shes gonna do..."something"....and then when they act how you'd expect them to act (why is this kid giving us shit? instead of "oh sorry, your right) she THEN realises she's being a dumbass?

granted it was a kids show but when I saw it it felt familiar which tells me its something that happens enough (though I wager its more of a "kids show" thing than a female charachter thing)

 

[Something Amyss]

Considering that the end of Assassin's Creed III kind of wrote the entire plotline into a really tight spot, it makes sense that they're basically starting over. Which is why I feel that they didn't plan this story out very well.

Spoiler

I think they listened to so many people complain about Desmond, and how he was starting to look more and more like a certain celebrity and how people found him boring, that they went and killed him off, but in doing so suddenly went, "Oh crap. Now what?"

I understand that stories are always evolving and adapting as they are written, but the overall narrative of this series doesn't really seem to have been planned out at all. I hope they're able to get it together better with this new start.

The writing was on the wall well before the spoiler. They had stalled out trying to continue the series.

I was sort of hoping they'd drop the overall framing device now that we were aware of it. The way they did it in Liberation could work, because I reckon most people don't give a crap about the modern day arc.

And since I know people will respond, I know some people do care. But if we're going to get into why they should pander to the six people who liked Desmond and the present/near future/whatever storyline, we might as well get into why they don't pander to the women, and nobody wants that.

[i/]wer'e very excited about our new female assasin charachter! she has an acitve role in the game in which she being hot headed and eager constantly gets herself into trouble and YOU the player must pull it was

[shows clip]

gaurd: grrrr stupid female!

Female: what's you say to me?? huh? I'm gonna FIGHT ALL OF YOU !

gaurds: get her!

Female:...huh...it would appear that was a really stupid thing to do

Assasins:.....heh oh you! female assasin! *wah waah waaaahhhh sound*[/i]

OT: this probably isn't a bad thing given how the plots gone so far

That's better written than most of AC's characters. Why are you giving the female special treatment???

 

[Something Amyss]

granted it was a kids show but when I saw it it felt familiar which tells me its something that happens enough (though I wager its more of a "kids show" thing than a female charachter thing)

Based on the kids shows I've watched, I'd wager it is more of a kids show thing.

But then, female protagonists in media are so often either the insufferable know-it-all or there to get in trouble, so it could go either way.

 

[Vault101]

Based on the kids shows I've watched, I'd wager it is more of a kids show thing.

But then, female protagonists in media are so often either the insufferable know-it-all or there to get in trouble, so it could go either way.

also in a some kids shows I remember the female charachter is often "love interest with no dicernable personality other than "nice""

 

[zombiejoe]

So we're not setting up fighting evil ghost-lady that Desmond stupidly unleashed at the conclusion of Assassin's Creed 3?

Oh come on now, it's not like they never had female assassins. The way Unity handled the topic was poor, but there have been playable female assassins before, it's not something that the fans never experienced.

 

[Reaper195]

Man, this series ran out of steam so fuckin' fast. After the asian text all over the wall when Desmond gets his eagle visin at the end of one, I was hoping the series would mix ASSASSINS with FUCKING NINJAS, but no, because it would be hard for the developers and fans to take them seriously. But FUCKING PIRATES are fine.

And then there was the fact we spent three games as Ezio, where the writers had to find something for Desmond to do. And when they finally started developing his character after four goddamn games, 3 happened. And the 4 happened and it's gotten to the pint where I think Ubisoft don't give a flying fuck about the present day setting. I was hoping that by the third or fourth game, Watch Dogs would've happened. Instead, we get a series with such terrible writing, it's making Uwe Boll not want anyhting to do with them. And when a modern stealthy game like AssCreed came out (Watch Dogs) it also suffered from shitty writing and the most boring protagonist from an Ubisoft game since Connor.

 

[james.sponge]

Just get rid of the entire present day gameplay and that ancient aliens crap and let this be a simple game about killing people set in various historical periods. Really, this is what it always should have been. I enjoyed AC games (AC2 especially) but the SF plot needs to go it ruins the immersion...

on the topic of female assassins, recently replayed Tenchu 3 it's amazing even Acti had time and money to model and voice Ayame character and in Fatal SHadows they had two female characters can you image how crazy it is?

 

[Ambitiousmould]

The whole present-day setting in AC is shit anyway. Would anyone really have complained if, upon realising that it is stupid, they just didn't do any present day narrative from say, AC 2 or 3 onwards. If they completely ignored it and just set the games entirely in the time period that they were mostly set in. I know I wouldn't have.

 

[RedmistSM]

Why not just ditch the whole future thing? I don't need the framing device "It's a computer simulation" to enjoy my video game, and not enough happens in it to make it interesting.