The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Ooh. That's actually pretty crazy - and we know Ubisoft likes to do things like this. (Just like with the 2012 Disaster). Celestial bodies messing with Earth is a favorite concept of theirs, and I wouldn't actually be too surprised if something like this happened. Your ramblings may not be ramblings at all, it's an interesting point you bring up.

You also have the possibility of the Tunguska explosion in 1908, which would certainly be less modern day, but which would also involve a comet striking in Russia.

The question is, what would they do with that? It was a really remote section of Russia, so there were no reported fatalities, even though the impact could've crushed a large city. It doesn't seem like there's much to work off of there.

Also I'm pretty sure that there was a mention of Lake Baikal in one of the Animus database entries from ACIV, but I can't remember which one. Depending on whether or not they want to continue using Desmond's DNA for the game, we were given the following potential eras and locations:

12th century: Holy Land/Crusades (already been played as Altair, mother's side)
13th century: Egypt and Northern Africa (mother's side)
14th century: Ashikaga Shogunate in Japan (mother's side)
15th century: Italian Renaissance (already been played as Ezio, father's side)
16th century: Ottoman Empire (already been played as Ezio, father's side)
18th century: American Colonies/War for Independence (already been played as Connor, father's side)
18th century: French Revolution (seems like this is AC: Unity, mother's side)
19th century: New England and American Midwest (father's side)
20th century: "Summer of Love" American Pacific Coast (mother's side)

That is a list of nine periods, four of which we've played and one that seems like the basis for Unity. That leaves Egypt/North Africa, Japan, and a few US locations to capture from Desmond.

Vidic's DNA provides a link to Joan of Arc, but Olivier's email notes that he doesn't think Abstergo would let Vidic's DNA be used, so I imagine that isn't an option. He also says the following that seems to rule out anything from WWII:

"Let's avoid digging into any modern periods (i.e. 20th century) unless we find something incredibly compelling. Because, as fun as a World War Two setting might sound, we'd do well to avoid any settings with vehicles: cars, motorcycles, helicopters, tanks, etc...Why?...Because our research has shown that....this makes data retrieval somewhat more difficult."

For selfish reasons, I really hope Comet isn't in Egypt or Japan, since I want that game to come out for next-gen consoles. If they do go with Russia, it seems like it's a break from Desmond's DNA, though.

The Tunguska event would fit in well with my ramblings, good point! I was just thinking about the name, because I like names and named titles in the past have had more or less something to do with the actual game (which is what a name is supposed to be like).
Black Flag and Liberation were most obvious, and directly hint at setting if you only look at the name.
Brotherhood - introduction of recruits (and if you want to go reaaaally deep, it's set in Rome, the city founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus.)
Revelations - Ezio learns more from Altaïr, not really anything regarding setting, afaik

Of course, Comet could also be a figurative title...

Tunguska event was already explained in Assassin's Creed: The Fall. It was the result of the Staff of Eden exploding, if I recall correctly.

It's still possible that it would be Desmond's ancestor even if russian, since the report in black flag was not a comprehensive summary of important ancestors, just the sorts of memories they'd already managed to sequence and prepare for recovery.

Would be nice if they took a break from him, yeah. Sure, he's the result of 70,000 years of lineage and specifically chosen by the TWCB because of the unlikely amount of exceptional ancestors that he's descended from, but there are other important assassins, like Adewale and Aveline and Nikolai.

Ahh, gotcha regarding Tunguska. I never read The Fall, so I didn't know.

Additionally, after reading about Nikolai, I found he's an ancestor of Daniel Cross's. Just out of curiosity, because one of those Abstergo emails specifically mentions both Cross (Subject 4) and Clay (Subject 16) being off-limits as far as getting material, how we'd be able to access said memories? I suppose someone could steal the DNA samples.

I think Ubisoft is trying to lull us into a false sense of security with those emails. Abstergo entertainment may have limits, but they can take the story any way they want. I'm trying to not rely too much on those letters to predict where we'll go in the future, they've proven they have no problem with taking hard right turns regarding plot. And as you suggested, simply stealing the DNA could work. maybe we're in an assassin animus again next time?

I swear I remember reading an article a few months ago that had Ubisoft saying the modern day story line wouldn't be the exact same format as Black Flag (I wish I had a source). So maybe each game in modern day will be from different points of view of the Templar/Assassin conflict and we won't always be the Abstergo analyst.

that's very likely. Judging by the Unity trailer's homage to the AC1 feel, I hope we'll get a third-person camera, real modern Assassin to control.

I'd love to see what modern state of the art hidden blades look like.

Umm... we already know. Check the encyclopedia:

Easy there with your knowledge drop.

Seen that before.
http://thehiddenblade.com/assassins-creed-encyclopedia-potential-spoiler...
Did they decide not to have it in AC3 because there weren't that many Desmond missions?

Seeing as how AC3's development was a clusterf*ck (the Desmond missions were done separately from the rest of the game), I don't think they even thought about using the encyclopedia as reference for anything.

This seems most likely to me.

One concept sketch that was never used, shown in a story, or written about, doesn't constitute canon for me. The Assassins in Initiates don't use anything like that.

I would also imagine they're not going to copy an almost 5 year old sketch exactly if they do end up showing it in-game. That design is way too showy for my tastes, anyways. why would modern assassins not design their blades to fit comfortably under sleeves?

So let me get this straight: They make a sketch for the "modern Hidden Blade" as DAZ would put it in an AC encyclopedia and never think to put it in the games, thus making it no more than wishful thinking? And all this time I thought the picture might have just been a fake fan art. Good grief, Ubi.

Back on track: http://www.stealthybox.com/leaked-release-assassins-creed-comet/

"The alleged press release goes contrary to the rumors that Assassin’s Creed Comet would be a last gen only release, stating that the game is in fact bound for both the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 4. The “press release” shows a November 1st release date for both systems with exclusive content.

Comet is set to conclude the “Kenway trilogy” of games that began with Assassin’s Creed III and was continued by Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag. The story features Eseosa, grandson of Adewale from Freedom Cry, as he seeks out the guidance of fellow assassin Connor Kenway.

The gameplay in Assassin’s Creed Comet will apparently follow along the same lines as recent entries in the franchise and utilize the AnvilNext engine. According to the press release/post, Comet will have “the series’ strengths to date and add new ones to the mix”. A more “varied and ruthless” multiplayer experience is also promised."

This is probably why I have a hard time believing this 'leak'. Could also be, I don't want to believe this, because I think the Kenway trilogy is fine the way it is and I really want to see new characters in a new setting.

The leak is horseshit.

That's a... more... direct way of putting it, yes.

The leak about Eseosa and Connor was confirmed a fake on the official forums.

No, they made concept art for AC2, and it was put into the encyclopedia because it was a neat idea. Plenty of concept art from the encyclopedia is clearly non-canon or non-final designs of things. They're not locked down to consider things that were never used in the games or official stories canon.

Also, yeah. That leak is so obviously fake. Mostly because the entire thing is based directly on something involving Connor that was on initiates lately. Screams "hey if I connect the plot to this recent story thread people will believe it"

That leak happened this morning and this thread needed some help getting back on track. I usually don't post news so quickly, but why not try this time?

I'm wondering who will be starring in either game, as neither really have a number attached to their titles, and we all know that numbers on an AC game means a new Assassin to play as.

...Unless Ubisoft has completely thrown that rule out of the window now...

I feel like having "Black Flag" on the end of AC4 was their way of easing us into:

"hey, numbers are dumb and they remind you of how long this series has gone and it we don't want you to notice when we get to AC22 so maybe lets forget about numbers OK?"

So yeah, I think we can safely say that Unity is AC5 in all but name, and there will never be an actual AC5.

Shots fired.

I completely lost track of the numbers because of IV Black Flag and whether or not there should be a 'III' in Liberation or Liberation HD...

cynical as I am, I do think that at least part of it comes from wanting to give each game a sense of specific identity beyond a number. makes them feel more like unique experiences than a list of products in a franchise, on a perception level.

And it must give far more of a sense of ownership to the dev team when their game has its own thematic name separate from the overall brand.

Clearly, I am confused.

Why are some things published by Ubisoft considered "canon" (the games, the books, the website), while other things published by Ubisoft (the Encyclopedia) not? Who decides? It's not like it's some dude on deviantART publishing his thoughts... it's "created hand in hand with the Assassin’s Creed Dev Team in Ubisoft Montreal."

The encyclopedia is canon, but not every bit of concept art included in it is.

For example, it includes concept art of Desmond and his buddies hiding out in a room filled with paintings, and we know that never happened, since it was just an early concept of the assassin hideout.

It also includes concept art of characters from the games that has minor inconsistencies with how they turned out visually in-game.

The Encyclopedia's text is accurate (with a few mistakes, as people on the internet typically find) but the images are chosen more to show off the art that went into concepting certain things.

Basically, the Encyclopedia is a collection of existing canon, but it can't make things that aren't canon canon.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/27/assassins-creed-comet-may-star-a-...

So apparently in comet we are rumored to play a templar and sailor named Shay, located in 1958 New York amongst other locations with Haytham and Adewale will play various roles.

I'm kind of torn on this one, I don't want another sailing game but with the right story (and right gameplay ofcourse) this might turn out decent.

Hey, Unity looks to be fully Assassinating-focused. I'm fine with having Comet as the side-partially-about-sailing game.

And the possibility of a game with Templars as the protagonists and Haytham as our boss is cool.

1958? That's surprising. They're Automobiles in the 50's and ubisoft has made it clear that they aren't planning on making an installment with a setting that technologically advanced. Which is why I think this is fake. I do like the idea of a full templar protagonist game. Lastly, wtf is with ubisoft and salors?

Wait, no, dude, I think that's meant to say "1758". they specifically mention meeting Haytham and Adewale, which wouldn't be possible in 1958.

That makes sense. If the rumors true,I wonder if adewale and haytham are going to have some type've confrontation. I'm pretty sure Edward would have told haytham about him. It would be so awesome to see these two interact.

I swear, if Haytham kills Ade... I'll not be happy.

In 1758 Adewale is 66 years old while haytham is in his 30's somewhere. So if this rumor is true. I could see the story being :
Where the protagonist starts off an Assassin in training. Then meets a templar who sees potiental in him/her and convinces him/her the Templars are a better cause. Has you kill your mentor, who i would assume is Ade',as your first contribution to the templars. Then later in the story haytham becomes your Templar mentor. I'm assuming this would be where the "purge of Assassin's"or the time where templars out numbered Assassins would begin. Assassinating Assassins...that's weird to say...very weird.

Gosh i hope this rumor is true now..

If they did meet, then Haytham would kill Adewale. By the time Connor becomes an Assassin, every North American Templar is 100% sure that the North American Assassins are extinct. They could only be that sure if they did it themselves.

Well, no. Not the entirety of the north american assassins, but the ones in that region. In Aveline's neck of the woods the order was doing alright, and a different Templar Grandmaster was running things. In those times, the reach of individual templar orders were far more constrained.

What we know about Ade indicates he won't be around Haytham's territory, I find it more likely we'll travel south on Haytham's orders and find him. I'm alright with us (Shay?) killing him, but I just don't want Haytham to be the one to do it. That's too much.

Ideally we'd fuck up our assassination of him/spare him and let him go sail off into the sunset

Well apparently Adewale was killed sometime in his later years, but not after having a child with a brothel owner... I'll need to check the dates to determine how old this child would be in 1758, but if comet indeed fills the gaps between Edward's story and Unity's, I have a feeling that we'll be playing as Adewale's...son?

I say this because there's even data on Adewale's grandson (courtesy of Initiates) but nothing on the father of the grandson. Just my guess. I'll come back here after a little more research to confirm my claim or disprove it

Disproved! Ade's son joined the brotherhood. Time to go back to the conclusion-drawing board lol

not to mention he would have been really young in the time period this seems to take place in (before connor became an assassin)

Assassin's Creed: Rogue possibly confirmed and could be the actual name for this last-gen version.

Access the Animus Facebook photo album shows screenshots of a supposed trailer. Looks like a Templar hunting down and finishing off an assassin whose robes look like Altaïr's robes. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.534670816633832.1073741963.340...
A few of the images:

Looks like we get to play as a Templar sailor after all.

Said video if anyone who wants it, or whoever is gonna make a new thread for it(We know how this works~ XD):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O85H4zECAYM

Apparently for 360/ps3, will wait for the inevitable PC release~

Cool. We know Haytham and the Templars led a charge in the Seven Years' War to eliminate the Assassin Order from North America. Looks like we get to lead that charge! Maybe let our final target and previous mentor, Achilles, live instead. At the very least, we should get more Haytham, which always earns a thumbs up in my book.

not sure it will be on PC though... Ubi may see PC as "next-gen only" at this point and PC will only get Unity.

Also, I love the contrast between the words Unity and Rogue. Hopefully those contrasts persist in the two games thematically.

I'm sure this will be an interesting entry, but I'll only give my money to Unity this time.

Don't worry. I'll keep you all posted.

Video looks top! What's that accent, I can't place it. Irish? Scottish?

I think it's Irish... but I could be wrong.

I hope my theory is right about story, because ... bring on more Haytham!