Disappointed by Assassin's Creed?

[Reaper195]

I liked how the combat has gotten better since the first. I don't like Italy, I fuckin' hate Ezio and his dickery, and I wish for the love of god it would spend muuuuch more time telling me Desmonds' story, the only character I have yet to dislike. I also wish that Revelations would end the series with an actual ending. All the endings for the previous games have done nothing but make me go "Oh....come the fuck on! Entirely cliffhanger is not good story telling!"

 

[Beliyal]

I somehow got the idea that, as Desmond is the main protagonist, we'll be exploring what matters to him. So if Ezio matters to him (and his gang), we get more Ezio. Of course, we can argue that they could've thought of a way to involve someone else.

The thing is, from what i remember of the plot (it's been ages since i played any of the AC games so bare with me and my poor memory) there were all sorts of... things left behind by those alien beings, after all, don't Desmond and the Scooby Doo gang have to travel half way around the world in order to visit some sort of temple to prevent the End of Days? Something about the world going supernova?

The point is that the Apple isn't the only thing these aliens left behind when humanity had its little uprising. They have every reason to explore all corners of the earth, and assuming this brotherhood is / was a global organisation, there is no reason why Altair or Ezio or anyone else connected to Desmond's ancestry wouldn't have ties with agents across the globe. The animus might relive memories of Ezio's best mate Rupert, for example, because he may have been an important part of Ezio's life. As for explaining it, you could say that the animus pieces together the missions and exposition purely from what that person had told Ezio / whoever. It's just an idea, and it's a rough one, but i don't see why that sort of thing wouldn't be feasible.

Not to mention isn't there something like an 800 year gap between the setting of AC1 and the present day? 8 centuries is an awfully long time to be able to explore all sorts of other progenies in the Desmond family line. You can absolutely squeeze 3 or 4 other characters through all sorts of periods of history who may have been involved in the Brotherhood. After all, Altair (if i remember rightly) knocked up a Christian girl, so who's to say the same wouldn't occur numerous times in other locales? Though i will concede that, more than anything, the Animus was really a tool designed to teach Desmond how to be an Assassin rather than be a probe for finding and explaining these 'divine' artifacts.

Yeah, you do have a point. I guess they just didn't want to do something like that, maybe thinking it'd be too confusing to switch characters and settings too much. Or it could be some other reason (once they picked the Renaissance, they pretty much realized they are set for more than just one game, as that period really doesn't lack things to do and explore). I don't know, maybe they just want to end Desmond's story as it is, without going into further details about his other ancestors. I'd actually pretty much enjoy more if they continue making AC games, but without the present day story arcs. I know it kinda goes against the overall theme of the games, but I really do enjoy history and would play just that if I could (not to say that Desmond's story is not interesting; it is, but me being a history buff, the past is much more enjoyable). Anyway, I guess they had a million choices, but chose this one. It didn't really disappoint me though, although I do admit that there was a lot of potential to do something else.

 

[Xenos Eriadin]

I'm really torn about Brotherhood, to be honest. I agree that the gameplay and combat was improved upon, but I think the story suffered overall. It seemed to ignore the cliffhanger at the end of AC 2 for the most part. I loved the overarching story that the developers have been setting up in the first two games, but in Brotherhood, it seems to go like:

Ezio: "Uncle, I've just uncovered the biggest secret in all of human history!"
Mario: "Fuck that! Those Borgia are causing trouble in Italy again!"
Ezio: "Oh yeah? We'll see about that."

I may be oversimplifying it a little, but it's like the Renaissabce era characters just forget about everything that happened in the final level of the previous game.

One of the aspects of Revelations that Ubisoft is hyping is that you can play as Desmond, Altair, and Ezio all in the same game. But I think this would have been a better idea to implement in Assassin's Creed 3. I am getting a little sick of seeing Ezio so much, but I would have liked the idea of seeing the assassin's of Assassin's Creed 1, 2, and 3, and Desmond together in one game.

 

[Ursus Buckler]

I had the same sort of feeling as you at first, OP, but I'm looking forward to Revelations. I liked that they're giving Ezio a proper send off, and I'm glad that they're (hopefully) going to add more depth to the characters of Altair and Desmond. All in all I feel like the games have really maintained an upward curve, and that the full synchronisation system in Brotherhood is a fun (yet not obligatory, therefore not alienating less skilled players) way of making the game more stealth-based. If anything I felt that Brotherhood was a lot more creative and covered everything I wished was in ACII (including the new combat system, THANK GOD FOR THAT). But, it's true that you only get out of AC what you put into it- everyone moans about AC1, but I found that putting the effort in to make all my assassinations as stealthy and skilful as possible made the game a lot more fun for me- I actually had to work for it, as opposed to ACII when the assassinations are essentially scripted.

 

[HazelrahFiver]

But, it's true that you only get out of AC what you put into it- everyone moans about AC1, but I found that putting the effort in to make all my assassinations as stealthy and skilful as possible made the game a lot more fun for me- I actually had to work for it, as opposed to ACII when the assassinations are essentially scripted.

Can I just say that I agree with this entirely. That was perhaps the biggest disappointment for me that they changed between I and II. The assassinations in the first game felt like a grand challenge themselves. In AssCreed II and Broho you don't work for them nearly as well. It was even great in the first game when you screwed up and had to run for your life, because it was your own doing that put you in such a situation.

 

[Chaos James]

I'm not disappointed by the Assassin's Creed series at all, they are pretty much the main reason I even invested into a Current Generation console. I don't mind the extra time spent with Ezio before moving onto a new character. I mean, even if people consider Brotherhood (and to a lesser extent, Revelations) as "Expansions" instead of full games, they still continue a great story and give them time to make sure everything is running smooth for AC3.

Hell, AC2 improved the hell out of AC, and Brotherhood added even more improvements on AC2 (Better combat, training Assassins of your very own, Multiplayer (with a nice internal storyline behind the Multiplayer) and Parachutes, lol). Revelations will be a nice combination of all the prior improvements to the series plus a nice way to tie together Ezio and Altair's stories while complimenting Desmond's.

I am excited to find out what year we will be exploring next, but I'm sure we'll see some great places.

 

[DrunkDonut]

I swear I heard when brotherhood came out that developers said that people did not play it they would not miss much of the story ? guess that got thrown out of the window then ?

 

[Hides His Eyes]

I understand what you mean, but why would Desmond and his gang need to explore a different point in history every time? I mean, it could be done, but we'd go through a vast number of characters and places that wouldn't really have the detail and development that Ezio (and arguably Altair) got. Not sure why, but I never expected for the games to feature a different period for each new game. It would be nice to see more of it, true, but I'm not sure that would really make the franchise really consistent. Of course, we can't know that now. I am also glad that we'll get something new for AC3, although I don't really understand how do they think they'll manage to include a completely new setting and a new character and finish Desmond's story in one, final game (assuming they'll keep their word about it being a trilogy). And I don't know how would I call Brotherhood and Revelations; they are not real sequels, as they don't have the number and do not count as the continuation of the main storyline, for which it has been said that it'll be a trilogy.

Cash-ins is what I would call them. I think they are just totally unnecessary. And it doesn't make sense to say "they're necessary for tying up loose ends in the story" because it was not necessary for the story to have loose ends in the first place.

As for not being able to put enough detail into each setting if they keep changing it: they managed perfectly fine going from medieval Middle East to Renaissance Italy. If they put in the amount of time and effort that every game made by anyone should get anyway, there should be no problem whatsoever with lack of depth or detail. I sometimes think gamers are nowhere near as discriminating as they should be.

"A trilogy of games about an order of assassins perpetuating itself down through the ages, with an over-arching story framed by one man's experiences in the modern age." What a fucking awesome premise. Why could they not have just stuck to that? As far as I can tell, the only reason is that they realised they could milk it by dragging it out. It's by no means a new phenomenon, but to be honest it never gets any less aggravating, especially when many people fail to recognise it for what it is.

 

[ruben6f]

I hated the ending of Assassin's Creed 2 and I gave up playing Brotherhood halfway, I am tired of Ezio and Italy.

For some reason, Assassin's Creed is the only singleplayer game that can make me rage more than when I am playing CoD or BC2 online.

 

[Ursus Buckler]

snip

Can I just say that I agree with this entirely. That was perhaps the biggest disappointment for me that they changed between I and II. The assassinations in the first game felt like a grand challenge themselves. In AssCreed II and Broho you don't work for them nearly as well. It was even great in the first game when you screwed up and had to run for your life, because it was your own doing that put you in such a situation.

Hehe, Broho lol.

But yeah, ACI seemed to actually understand that it was a sandbox. Take almost any assassination mission- Jubair, for instance. You could try and go through the front entrance, get swarmed by guards and have to chase him through Damascus, OR, better yet, you could go up through the top, kill the guards on the roofs with throwing knives and stealthily creep down and assassinate him. William de Montferrat (yes, I play this game THAT MUCH), you could just walk through the city and muscle your way through, or you could climb up all around the stronghold in order to get the tactical advantage and stick him in the back. Now while I appreciate ACII's need for innovation with the flying machine; making it scripted destroyed the feel of being an assassin. Don't get me wrong; I love Ezio's games for the character that he brings to it- but that freedom in Altair's game should be brought back.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

The thing that I didn't really enjoy about Assassin's Creed is the sudden shift in story: at first, it was to stop the Templar by finding artifacts that were hidden by your past ancestors. After AC 2, however, you have to prevent the world from being destroyed by a solar flare in 2012. I still enjoy the gameplay and the story setting, but knowing that it's all for some intergalactic prophecy kind of throws me off.

 

[Sparcrypt]

It doesnt bother me, as ACIII is still coming out sometime. They just took Ezios story and ran with it as it was so popular.

As far as gameplay goes, the games improved drastically with each new release.

Personally for revalations I'm looking forward to more Altiar - that time period is by far my favourite so I would love to see more of it.

 

[DanielBrown]

Kind of. I also hoped for seeing a different setting with each game. As much as I like Ezio(a bit at least) it's getting pretty dull.
That said; I still love the games.