[MTS]

Crustaceous Apt, on 19 November 2013 - 05:28 PM, said:

MTS, on 19 November 2013 - 04:57 PM, said:

If you must have the Animus as a framing device though, all they needed to do was make it like in Acts of Caine, with people plugging in to live the lives of others in a virtual world. That would have solved the need for a convoluted, over-arching meta-story and put the focus where it belonged: on the historical side of things.

I agree with this. In fact reading the Acts of Cain one of the things that struck me about the books was that they would work incredibly well as a videogame. Especially in terms of explaining away things like a HUD and strange equipment and abilities of the player as sensor equipment implanted by the Studio and props and nanomachines brought in from Earth.

How ever I've never been bothered by the Animus and Desmond story stuff. In fact I would go so far as to say that this stuff is far more interesting than the badly written historical fiction. The problem with the sci-fi storyline is that it is criminally underused.

Spoiler

The fact that you are inside a computer should mean that you could actually hack the memory and alter events inside your mind to help yourself out. Basically, they should extend the idea of the Subject 14 stuff, to mean that you could break the world in places. Create a door where there was none. Brick up an alley to escape the guard. Freaking erase people if you want.

The pieces of Eden, along with other post-human stuff, should figure much more prominently in the story. The bad guys who have the apples should be using them to control the masses and defend themselves against Assassination attempts. Vice versa the Assassins should have anti-piece of eden stuff on them to protect themselves from the powers of the orbs. There should be end game sections where Ezio gets the Apple and uses it as a special power in critical situations the same way he is able to summon assassins and call in arrow attacks.

Generally speaking the stuff about these Atlanteans or what ever they are should pop up more prominently in past and present. Just like there are powers guiding the Assassins there should be powers guiding the Templars.

But truth be told the real problem for the series is that the stories and characters are piss poor. Assassins Creed is one of the worst examples of mediocre story writing being greenlit again and again by studios who are more interested in polygons and frame rates than the story stuff that is supposed to glue the gameplay together.

I suppose ymmv, but all the 'Pieces of Eden' crap just broke the immersion for me, because it felt more like magic than the more sci-fi aspects of the Animus. I do agree that not integrating the Animus into gameplay was a missed opportunity, even something like the Tears in Bioshock: Infinite would have been cool.

[Aptorian]

I guess what I really want is Brisco County Jr. in the middle ages.

[Jakovasaurus]

Holy shit! I just chased down a legendary ship (there were two!) and I got worked! This game is immersive!

I did bag the white jaguar, so that's a win.

[Aptorian]

Urgh I need to rant.

I just found a remarkably cheap offer on Assassins Creed 4 on OnePlay and thought "score!". It's 33% off compared to other places I have seen the game.

The purchasing process is surprisingly quick and simple. The usual stuff about making an account and putting in your personal information and your credit card, etc. I click purchase and the confirmation goes through but there's just this little issue.

Since I am a new customer they need to verify my credit card. A valid demand in my opinion I could be some russian scammer trying to steal their precious cd keys. So what is this verification process? Do they use one of the numerous other verifications services I have encountered on Greenman Gaming and the like? No. Oh no. They will charge my card a small amount of money. Between .01 and 1 euro. Then when I see the number they have charged me I type in the number in a verification box in my user account on the site and that way they will know that my card is legit. Of course, this process can take between 1 to 3 days. Three fucking days. They will wait to send me the code for the game until then.

The fuck kind of business practice is this? Why on earth would I use an online store if the one benefit of using it, quick and easy online purchasing, is not available to me? I have to wait for some clerk in Las Vegas, Nevada to check his e-mail, confirm there is a purchase, charge my card, wait for the transaction to travel through space and time to reach my bank, which probably wont register or process the transaction before some time tomorrow. Then I have to check my bank account and go back to their site and type in the amount of money and hope to god that the process is automatic and then, ONLY THEN, will I be able to start the download of a bunch of 1's and 0's.

WHAT THE FUCK ONE PLAY!?

Who the fuck thought up this Rube Goldberg like verification bullshit?! Use a fucking professional credit card security system, you bunch of assholes.

[Traveller]

Jakovasaurus, on 24 November 2013 - 12:18 AM, said:

Holy shit! I just chased down a legendary ship (there were two!) and I got worked! This game is immersive!

I did bag the white jaguar, so that's a win.

Not found a legendary ship yet, but took a Man of War and added it to my fleet. It was anchored in a bay - I swam over to it, climbed about until I killed the entire crew, then went back to my ship and boarded it. Then raided the warehouse on the shore.

Got a few ships in my fleet running missions now, plus quite a few ship upgrades. No diving bell yet though, I might have to do some more missions for that.

[Obdigore]

Traveller, on 25 November 2013 - 07:32 AM, said:

Jakovasaurus, on 24 November 2013 - 12:18 AM, said:

Holy shit! I just chased down a legendary ship (there were two!) and I got worked! This game is immersive!

I did bag the white jaguar, so that's a win.

Not found a legendary ship yet, but took a Man of War and added it to my fleet. It was anchored in a bay - I swam over to it, climbed about until I killed the entire crew, then went back to my ship and boarded it. Then raided the warehouse on the shore.

Got a few ships in my fleet running missions now, plus quite a few ship upgrades. No diving bell yet though, I might have to do some more missions for that.

I just got the diving bell. I really don't like it at all. Can't see the sharks, generally, and they like to eat your face.

Once you start taking over the northern (easy) forts, it'll show you 2 'legendary ship' markers. I haven't been over there yet, but I've upgraded enough that I can take 3 frigates at the same time without losing 1/3rd of the total health of my ship, so I think I'll go see if I can find a lone Man of War to play tag with.

I need to find the final armor and cannon and harpoon plans. I have 1/19 plans it says, I wonder what the others are.

PS - I've found it easier to just kill everyone on the warehouse grounds and take the key and raid the warehouse instead of sneaking it open.

This post has been edited by Obdigore: 25 November 2013 - 07:57 AM

[Traveller]

I've taken a few treasure fleets now which are quite lucrative. Upgraded mortars are really useful.

[Aptorian]

My purchasing update. The transfer went through. It was precisely 1 kroner. What is the point of doing this if you don't even try to obfuscate the amount to make it harder to cheat?

What made it even worse is that the cd key they send you is a digital camera picture of an A4 page that they printed the key on. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw that.

Anyway, I've played around 3 or 4 hours now. The game is absolutely fantastic. Easily the biggest innovation since AC2. I find the merging of game ideas from Farcry and AC interesting. We know the two games take place in the same universe. The Abstergo stuff takes place in the first person for the first time. I wonder if they will end up merging the stories.

On a side note I don't know why it never struck me before but I love the duality and difference between the Assassins and the Templars, symbolised by the Templars wearing the symbol of their allegiance on their ring finger, while the old Assassins would cut off their ring fingers to allow the use of the hidden blade.

[Traveller]

It's still a bit weird that these supposed 'covert' organisations all wear distinct uniforms through the ages which means that they can be identified anywhere.

I've been turning the HUD off more frequently now. It's much more satisfying when you spot the seagulls circling the whales and sharks through the telescope. Reminds me of Windwaker. (A giant octopus, now that would be fun).

This post has been edited by Traveller: 25 November 2013 - 06:55 PM

[Obdigore]

Traveller, on 25 November 2013 - 06:55 PM, said:

It's still a bit weird that these supposed 'covert' organisations all wear distinct uniforms through the ages which means that they can be identified anywhere.

I've been turning the HUD off more frequently now. It's much more satisfying when you spot the seagulls circling the whales and sharks through the telescope. Reminds me of Windwaker. (A giant octopus, now that would be fun).

Heh someone was watching me play the other game, and they said 'Know what this game needs? Giant sea creatures. SHOOT THE KRAKEN BEFORE IT KILLS US!'.

I couldn't disagree.

[Traveller]

That would be DLC material I would happily pay for.

[Jakovasaurus]

I acquired the diving bell. Sea urchins and jellyfish and bite my left nard!

[Traveller]

Keep an eye out for the squid.

[Jakovasaurus]

Never found the squid. Where might I find it? Also, where is the White Whale?

Heh, this made me giggle. The gravy train for Johnny Depp is still going strong.

[Silencer]

Jakovasaurus, on 19 December 2013 - 12:14 AM, said:

Never found the squid. Where might I find it? Also, where is the White Whale?

Heh, this made me giggle. The gravy train for Johnny Depp is still going strong.

I believe things like the White Whales are special "events" - they occur randomly, across all games. For example, I found (and later harpooned repeatedly until dead) a White Whale today, and it popped up and said "the location of this event has been shared with your friends".


Anyway, I am taking a short break after three hours' play today. Not because I'm bored or anything, but rather because I'm down by Grand Cayman, and have been cruising around the general Charlotte area, and I have had nothing but endless storms for the past two hours. Storms, storms, storms. About ten rogue waves, twisters which seem to be actively chasing me, etc. I've captured about five Man O' Wars' in this time, admittedly, alongside various and sundry other ships, but it has seriously started to get ridiculous. I'm actively going on shipwrecks and harpooning missions *just* to avoid the weather. Wtf?!

[Traveller]

I've been really busy the last few weeks and not had a chance to play.

I've been on the app though, and using my fleet of Man o' wars I now have well over 100k's worth of reales waiting for me.

The squid is in the wreck that has a whale swimming around it. The tentacles are sticking out of the wreck - if you follow them you get to see it

Spoiler

swim out and attack the whale

(spoilered only because it was an unexpected event)

[Jakovasaurus]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks guys. The White Whale event has not occurred yet but I'll be looking for it. And I think I'll go hunting for that squid Easter egg.

I've finished all of the story sequences. I've found every chest and buried treasure. I've acquired all animus fragments and sea shanties. I've done all of the side assassin contracts and sea missions. I've acquired the templar amour. I've acquired all the Mayan Stelae, unlocking the Mayan outfit. I've upgraded my ship 100% across the board. I have fully pimped out my pirate's cove.

I still have two legendary ships to take down and one city to unlock with my fleet (with the app thingy @Traveller is referring to). I've attained mucho reales using this. The one resource that was initially causing me heart burn was metal. But in the south there are many Man-O-Wars that carry 100 + count of metal. Taking a few of them down solved my metal problem.

Other then that, the other Abstergo challenges I've yet to complete don't really appeal to me or are just too tedious to attempt. If I get bored and need something to play I may revisit them.

[Silencer]

Took down one Legendary ship (south-east quadrant) with no Elite upgrades.

Think it's the easiest Legendary to do, though.

Meanwhile, I'm stuck pondering which genius at Ubisoft/whoever did the PC control scheme layout, decided to make it so that the button 'E' not only functions as the 'counter' key, but ALSO the 'sheathe weapons' key. And NOT 'hold to sheathe' either. But press once to sheathe.

And also wondering which guy made it so that your own attacks can be interrupted by countering...but only SOME of the time, and then worked out the timing of the AI attacks (which now admirably do try and attack you when you're dealing with someone else, compared to like...the first game?). It's kind of annoying to have pressed 'E' at the right time (and to KNOW you've pressed it - mechanical keyboard does not lie) and yet somehow NOT do what happens 75% of the time which is turn around and parry the new attack at the expense of stabbing the other guy. More annoying when this happens in the middle of a melee aboard a Man'o'War. XD

Only in Act VII or so still, but going for a lazy 100% of all the locations so far.

[Aptorian]

My curiosity got the better of me and I bought AC Unity.

I've got to say, considering the amount of vitriol directed at the game, I am very impressed with the game so far.

I've played through the prologue and done a few more missions after that. So far it's been one of the strongest openings of an AC game I have played. It manages to set up the era and the plot well, while also introducing you to the core characters of the story, sprinkling various hints here and there about the larger scope of what is going on. It feels almost like playing a Disney story, only with more stabbing and blood splatter. Arno might be the most likable character in the series I think.

So far the only really egregious bugs I have seen have been the well documented floating/jumping NPCs in big crowds and clothes magically changing at a distance. Otherwise it runs well (I'm playing on PC on a good rig). The amount of detail in the world is absolutely astounding. I find myself just stopping in random rooms or pausing on my traversal across a historical building, just to admire the scenery and the detail.

Don't take my word for it but so far this game seems like a really strong entry in the franchise. Like on par with the release of AC2.

[Tiste Simeon]

Thanks Apt that gives me hope! I think I am getting Black Flag and Unity for Christmas now so should have a lot to do in the New Year!