Air to Assassinate from the Same Height
[Front-paged. -stabguy]
Air to Assassinate from the same Height
In AC1 the air to assassinate move isn't as simple as the push of a button. In some cases you have to be locked on and/or in high profile. But here's something you don't know. It can be done from the same height as the character being assassinated.
Here are the basics:
1. Stand by the edge of a platform/roof/anything with the option to drop.
2. Lock onto the character you will assassinate.
3. Move in high profile while facing the edge.
The option to assassinate should appear on the HUD. This is a bit different from the regular high profile assassinate because it can be done from farther away and the camera angle changes right after Altair jumps.
Talal
Here's a good example for this air to assassinate move (and also my first video on this target). First a few things. After fighting all the guards in the warehouse you can lock onto Talal, and after climbing on a short platform, throw knives at him. He will react with an exclamation, but make no effort to run away (he even walks back to the spot he was standing on). Also you can shimmy from the ladder to where the target is, only a few meters away when the scene starts.
Now for the parallel air to assassinate move. In the first scene Talal is so far away that the kill fails, with Altair bumping into Talal. Luckily it stops him for a regular kill. The second scene goes much smoother.
i recall some players saying that they killed talal before he reached the ground, and did so by just running at him by rooftop. i tried many times to replicate this, but could never do it with a direct approach. its clear now that this must have been the mechanism in play. nice job.
also, it seems that you may be able to get the best blitz time with this method. the current record is 24.00s. do you want to try to beat this time, or do you just want to post your current time of 25.47 s?
I'll eventually try to beat it. Like I said, it was just practice. And yeah, I remember some people saying that. There was even that one comment by braindead4m1.
It's plausible that one in a few million people might have gotten (pretty darn) lucky enough to get him from the roof on their first try.
Also the glitched jump from Jackreacher's video looks like a failed air to assassinate from the same height. It's a little different in that video, however, because the ledge is behind Altair. Maybe it worked because he was so close to the ledge. Also he wasn't locked on, so that might not be entirely necessary to make it work, but just in case.
Nice job killing five guards in a single collapse. I did it once but needed a bit of luck. It looks like you found a reproducible procedure.
Honestly that was the only time I got all five of them at once. And the swing and miss afterward, it was meant to be. Would this also be under the blitz section? It was just a practice run; when I go for an actual blitz I'll save a little more time jumping from the ladder to the candelabra. Also starting from the end of the cutscene you can get a little closer to the ladder, although it's a pain to restart all the way from the bureau.
By the way, the time on the practice blitz is 25.47 seconds (from when the hud appears to when the camera angle changes for the kill animation).
Did anyone enjoy the extra stuff? One thing I wonder about is what would happen if Talal was knocked off the roof with throwing knives. He runs away as soon as you come in locking distance, so you would have to manually aim. If anyone is up for the challenge.
Good question. If I understand this correctly you're saying that the Talal examples don't quite explain the parallel air to assassinate move because there isn't a ledge directly in front of Altair. If that's what you were wondering about, I was using the ledge on the roof to the left of Altair. That's why I stuck close to edge (I even moved a little towards it while running).
As for the drop option, I don't think it necessarily has to say drop (unless you are in low profile of course). It just has to be a place where you can normally drop down. I believe the game developers used ledges to aid in air to assassinate when in a stand up position, call it a hidden game mechanic. Just think of it as tricking the game into thinking Altair is able to jump farther since he's by a ledge. Which makes sense, since Altair jumps farther when running off a structure than in normal jumps.
Oh, and another thing. If I was close enough for a regular high profile kill in the second Talal example, that would have been the animation. I guess I was just out of range. Maybe if I had ran straight forward I might have gotten him in a regular high profile after a few or several steps.
Good question. If I understand this correctly you're saying that the Talal examples don't quite explain the parallel air to assassinate move because there isn't a ledge directly in front of Altair. If that's what you were wondering about, I was using the ledge on the roof to the left of Altair. That's why I stuck close to edge (I even moved a little towards it while running).
Thanks for the clarification. Guess I didn't think about the ledge to the side being your launching point. 
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
I gotta be honest, this one is perhaps moving to fast for me.
I can definitely see the example given and how it works, and it's a very cool find.
However, I don't see how the attempts on Talal are an example of this, as you aren't facing the edge of the wall like in your demo (and bullet #3).
In the first attempt, when you slow the video down to frame-by-frame, you land on the edge of the wall and you see the 
drop option very briefly (just a few frames). By the time the 
assassinate option appears, the option to drop has been replaced with tackle. This is what happens when you lock onto a target during a chase (on the ground). Even if he's out of range, you can tackle or assassinate him. Altair has even taken two steps away from the ledge before leaping for the assassination.
In the second attempt, no options come up after the initial drop appears. Before the options appear you are in the assassination animation. Perhaps this is because of an air-to-assassinate from the ledge... but you're also already close enough to Talal for a regular high-profile assassination, so I'm unsure. It is worth noting that I don't think Altair takes any steps away from the ledge meaning this could be as described, even if the assassinate option isn't there on landing, and you aren't facing the ledge.
Again, I mean no disrespect and I'm not saying what you discovered isn't a thing... it clearly is in your demo (and it's awesome). I'm just uneasy about the Talal assassinations actually being the best examples of your discovery, as everything happens so fast it's hard for me to distinguish them from other assassinations. Is there a button sequence you use that is different than a normal high-profile assassination in such an instance that would help clear this up or ease my curious mind?
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus