The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

http://youtu.be/fJlv36uWC8c
[Front-paged. -stabguy]

A collection of additional assassinations in AC1, made possible by back to the future exploit.

Maria
Start this the same way as the original early assassination of Maria.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaikxWTUYVI
Reinitialize the memory by going through the city entrance in the south of Jerusalem. The game doesn't recognize Maria as a target anymore. Now there is no memory corridor scene, and Maria stays dead. It's probably possible to get an instant kill from this by taking out her health and talking to the bureau leader, but I didn't have enough time to record more.

Sibrand
Start this the same way as the original early assassination of Sibrand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tww7kpXiA8
Reinitialize the memory by going through the city entrance in the north part of Acre (there's also an entrance in the eastern part, but you desynch before getting there from the game thinking you already started the mission). Sibrand usually goes onto the docks and walks back and forth along them just like the guard patrol. He's unresponsive to you, but still reacts to seeing dead bodies (in the original Back to the Future assassination he can detect you and would run back to the ship to get to the guard tower). Now that the game doesn't recognize him as a target there's no memory corridor scene. You can also take out his health for an instant kill, but it isn't very interesting.

http://youtu.be/WChyupk-afE
[Front-paged. -stabguy]

Losing City Alert
A new easy setup for restarting an assassination mission. Put simply, desynchronize while autosaving. Why? Because while desynching you aren't under city alert. And since the game records you being under city alert why wouldn't it keep track that you're not? The way I did it was fall into water after talking to a saved citizen, but there are probably other ways. After respawning you no longer have city alert and can reinitialize the memory by going through one of the city gates. Now the fun begins.

Tamir's Early Death
As a result of Back to the Future Exploit, Tamir walks around randomly after accepting the mission. He can still detect you, and the memory corridor scene can be started. One thing to also note is Tamir spawns back at the assassination location when you get within a certain area of it. So what happens if he spawns back while you assassinate him? You appear at the prestaged location, which also contains the character Tamir kills in the cutscene.

Instant Kill
Reinitialize the memory by going through one of the city gates. Since Tamir is no longer recognized as a target by the game, taking out his health won't result in the memory corridor scene. Then talk to the bureau leader to restart the mission. Afterwards Altair teleports to kill because the game recognizes Tamir as a target. Tamir was killed in the place where the assassination takes place, and from that far away he glitched under the ground. Now Altair is stuck in limbo, spawning where he killed the target.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUX0ywBguqM
[Front-paged by stabguy]

Setup
To start this glitch out of the city and restart the assassination mission. Here's the original video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKrs0HyY7hg
By restarting the mission this way you change the mission structure. The game still thinks you have to assassinate Majd even though you haven't started the assassination cutscene yet. However Majd is nowhere to be found. You can still hear his voice, though, and the target sign on the map is fixed where Majd should be on stage. So go to one of the city entrances to reinitialize the memory. Go back to the execution area. Majd Addin is somehow there. The first time I did this he was walking out of the area, but every time I try it now he is glitched under the stage (seriously, what's up with me getting extremely lucky the first time?!). This is because the game can't model objects from far distances away, and they disappear, a technique known as "There is no Spoon" (or "TINS" for short).
Luckily, Majd isn't unresponsive and can fight you. If he does a combo kill he glitches out. Killing him will result in a non-story assassination with no memory corridor scene.

Instant Kill
I wanted to see what would happen if you took out the target's health without assassinating him, and then restarted the mission. And to make it better I took out his health on the bureau entrance. Well, as you can see, the game recognized him as a target and teleported Altair for the kill. I also tried taking out his health in the execution area to see what would happen. The cutscene seems to have started during the kill and ended. All the HUD elements disappeared and didn't reappear until I desynchronized. The invisible memory barriers during the scene were still there, which I had to glitch out of. One thing I also tried was leaving Majd alive and restarting the mission, but he disappeared. Too bad, I wanted to see what would happen if I had managed to clone him.

http://youtu.be/ay-Bmgt6Sd8
[Front-paged. -stabguy]

The result of Back to the Future exploit done on Jubair al Hakim. Another name for this video would have been "Jubair Quits his Job" (but I wanted it to have a unique title).

Setup
Start the setup with the Instant Kill from the original video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFHli77es2Y
Since you aren't under city alert you can leave the city. There will be a warning that leaving the city will reinitialize the memory. If you pay close attention you will notice that the bureau disappears from the minimap. Also the current status changes from "Escape and return to the Bureau Leader" to "Return to the Bureau Leader". This confirms the memory has been restarted. So you don't even have to leave the city for this exploit.

Back to the Future
So what happens when the game knows you already did the mission? Well... Jubair and his minions already shown up as targets on the map. They casually stroll outside the Madrasah Al-Kallasah, unaffected by the scene that will start. However if you get too close they will teleport back into place for the scene. So keep some distance. In the video I find a spot with a good view of the front door (which is open). Just wait for Jubair to walk by. And since the game recognizes him as a target assassinating him results in the memory corridor scene, unlike the original Early Death which is non story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apmob4kOYug
[Front-paged by stabguy]

So it turns out Abul Nuquod can be killed before it should be possible, even though you can't get to him without the memory recording.

Setup
For the basic setup watch the original video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHvrRuha1K8
You get in the place by countering a guard through the other side of a wall.

Early Death
After glitching inside the palace the memory starts recording before you reach Abul Nuquod. Walk to the front where you can fall off the roof. There's an invisible barrier that prevents you from going back inside (and in this case also a blue memory wall from being exposed). Walk to the nearest city entrance. You will receive a message that the memory will reinitialize if you leave the city. Going further will refresh the memory and allow you to regain high profile actions. So run back to the palace. Guess who is strolling out the side door? Abul, and maybe one of his bodyguards (I've done this only twice, so I don't know the chances). The game doesn't delete them when you reinitialize the memory, probably because they don't appear until the memory starts recording (actually you can see the bodyguards on the balcony from outside the front door, so it's probably based on distance until the memory starts recording). The palace is empty, and there is no target on the map. Even after killing Abul Nuquod you still have to start the mission again.

Note: Aurel found this first and then told me about it, so I didn't really do anything.
You can do this by starting the William assassination at the bureau and then infiltrating the fortress without the scene starting (see this article). At certain points in the fortress, all the soldiers will disappear. You can then setup an 'invisible kill' with air-to-assassinate: you lock onto your target and make sure you jump through one of these spots. Near the back of the group is a great spot.
Altaïr then performs an air-assassination ( ) and the memory corridor scene starts. Afterwards, you can just stroll out of the area and get back to the bureau, after which you will have completed the mission.
I opted to get out of the city instead, to see if the back-to-the-future exploit worked. It didn't, but William's army has become substantially smaller, which makes setting up an anonymous kill very easy with a couple of knives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tww7kpXiA8
[Front paged. - stabguy]

An early death on Sibrand, made possible by glitching out of the city and restarting the mission. For those not familiar with this exploit watch the original video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKrs0HyY7hg

Early Death
Since the game knows you started the assassination mission Sibrand is already on ship before you start the cutscene. Getting to him is another matter entirely since he appears back at the scene location if you enter the shipyard directly. So enter it from the south wall by the way shown in the video. There are some guards along the way that can easily detect you, so be careful (or fight them all off like I did). Before you reach the ship Sibrand gets on the docks nearby. He seems to just walk back and forth along it. Killing him results in the memory corridor scene.

Setup
Getting out of the city after the assassination is trickier in Acre than in Jerusalem since Acre has two closed gates at the entrance. So I used a different method. I did the save citizen mission outside of Acre and gentle pushed the citizen all the way to the bureau, then started the mission. Then I moved the citizen all the way to the cutscene and afterward to the target. After assassinating Sibrand I talked to the saved citizen, which resulted in saving the game. Then I desynchronized. When I respawned it was outside of Acre. Saving the game by a talking to a save citizen results in spawning where the save citizen mission started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-rL2hsGhRM
---promoted to front page by Ian---

So I went back to find more things in King Richard's Citadel just prior to the scene in memory block four. And I'm glad I did, because I found a much easier way to get in there, as well as some interesting discoveries.

Easy Infiltration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFHli77es2Y
[Front-paged. stabguy]

Like the title says, the early death of Jubair right before you are supposed to kill him.

Infiltrating the Madrasah Al-Kallasah
This is easy if you know how to do it. Have some guards chase you onto the roof. Then drop down to the door on the south side of the building. Engage in combat with the guards there. After a little while the guards on the roof will come down to the ground from inside the building. Since this is the only time in the game that the door is closed the guards' ai thinks they can go through. They will attack you through the door, which gives an opportunity to glitch inside by counter attacking. You need to be in combat with the guards outside since you can't lock onto the guards inside. Countering can be a little tricky because you might not be able to see the guards attack until it's too late.

Jubair's Early Death
Once you get inside you will find Jubair and the other scholars in the northwest corner of the building. They pretty much stay in the spot where they are (even grabbing and throwing won't move them). At the front of them are Jubair and the scholar he talks with during the scene. Now for pre-killing Jubair and/or the scholars. I've tried different killing combinations, each with their own results. First I killed everyone except the scholar Jubair talks with. Now for the scene... Levitating books?! Even the scholar I didn't kill doesn't appear for the scene, and the scene itself somehow won't end (when I had first originally done this I killed everyone and the scene ends as normal). Now I'll try killing just Jubair. You can identify him from the other scholars by the pouch he wears. Here's the problem with killing just him: You are exposed by the scholars, and the scene cannot start until you become anonymous. So glitch back outside the building the same way you came in. Lock onto one of the scholars so you are in combat and counter attack a guard who is outside. Then get far enough away that you escape the scholars and become anonymous (I had tried using a hiding spot but couldn't get out of it). Now for the scene... Wait, why is the scholar dead instead of Jubair?! When the scene ends you fail the mission as though the target had escaped. Now this is weird, the blade's low profile kill animation on the scholar is the same as on a target. Also one time I killed just the scholar and he still appeared in the scene as well as Jubair, but I failed the mission right after the scene ended. It's as though he is a copy of Jubair, and killing one of them affects the other. That's a very interesting thing in the game that can only be answered by Ubisoft.

Instant Kill
I wanted to try an automatic kill on Jubair like what I did with Garnier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiaiQfUGZPc
However I couldn't reanimate him because he can't be moved from the place he is. So I theorized it could be possible just by taking down his health with fists, since being knocked out isn't quite the same as being dead. Well it worked, but in a way that I didn't expect to happen. After I climbed up to start the scene and the dialogue appeared, "ancestor's memory synchronized recording..." Altair teleported to ground assassinate Jubair, causing the memory corridor scene to start. This is probably the only time in an AC game that a memory corridor scene has started before it should. It seems the game recognizes Jubair as a target when the scene starts. Afterwards the scene is cancelled. The invisible barriers are still there that prevent you from leaving, so I glitch my way through one of them by grasping a ledge. You aren't under city alert as you normally would, but can still complete the memory.

http://youtu.be/XSbXJIFgjHU
[Promoted to front page. -stabguy]

For the original setup of how to do this watch Robert de Sable's Early Death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY4fhqR6_3A

The gate to Masyaf is closed after you reenter it during the attack in memory block one. When you get far enough away it disappears and is replaced with the original gate. The concept of this is "there is no spoon", and there are other examples of this in the AC games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZZUmezCI2k&feature=player_detailpage

While doing this I discovered a few things. First off you can attack Robert off his horse. He is now in a stand up position but still can't be grabbed. Another thing is the assassin hostage the templars killed is still alive (can't believe I never noticed him during my first recording). But back on to Al Mualim. After you make the gate disappear go inside Masyaf. Al Mualim still stands where he was for the previous scene. Move him by gentle pushing or running/jumping at him. Notice how falling doesn't kill him. I have a little fun with placing the two targets together. You are unable to assassinate Al Mualim with the hidden blade, and he doesn't take any damage from weapons which means the only way to kill him is with throwing him into water. Then I kill Robert and continue on with the game to see if anything has changed. During this I discovered the assassin hostage reacted to Altair assassinating Robert, and when I lock onto him it gives combat options on the HUD. Also the two assassins in the leap of faith area are suspicious of Altair. In the next scene Robert is still dead with no one riding his horse. I also included something else in this video. If you move Robert he will fall through the ground at a certain point. Then Altair's health drops to zero and he desynchronizes. If your wondering why it's because when you kill targets by throwing them into water it says "target escaped" on the screen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-YmgAqIK7O8#t=485s

The game developers didn't want you to be able to kill targets with water since you had to be right where the target was when he died (in AC1 at least). It's interesting to know that this mechanic is part of a target's programming instead of being a part of the assassination missions.