The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

I think i'm in love. After reading all that info, i am literally dieing of excitement.

So ubisoft.....

ok. i'm finally starting to warm up to this thing. it has potential.

but Connor doesn't sound very...indiany to me

Ratohnhake:ton (pronounced Ra-doon-ha-gay-doo) is his Native American name.

oh, they have last names?
i was half expecting him to be called something like "Running Bull" or "Flies Like an Eagle"

I'm guessing one of them or both mean eagle. I am so happy we finally get some weather.

EDIT: I might skip the jail house i call school just for the trailer. Its worth it.

That's a mouthful. It's spelled with a colon and rhymes with "gay doo". I think I'll just call him Connor.

Yeah, I don't think the colon was supposed to be there, and "gay doo" doesn't sound right with the spelling.

You aren't the only one.

This.. This is beautiful.. Everything about this has been everything we've wanted in an Assassin's Creed game.. OmGZ. Guys.. I'm almost forgetting that Lucy is dead. THAT's how excited I am!

Let's go down the list, shall we?

* The main character’s name is Connor / Ratohnhake:ton (pronounced Ra-doon-ha-gay-doo). Connor is of mixed race: His father is English, and his mother Native America.
RESPONSE: Hm. A half-breed. Excellent choice, Ubisoft. A perfect character tied between 2 worlds, and must decide on which side to align to (suspect). Have you been visiting this site?

* Connor will have “thousands” of new and unique animations as a part of the game’s new combat system. No animations from previous Assassin’s Creed games will be present.
RESPONSE: THANK YOU! Seriously, I'm getting a bit tired of seeing the same, boring animations again and again. Hopefully there will be...NO CLIPPING!

* Assassin’s Creed III will no longer feature target locking—targets will be detected automatically. Counter and defense are now the same button to “prevent turtling”.
RESPONSE: Not sure how this will work out, but I'm exited nevertheless.

* Control in and out of battle will be the same, and Connor will go into battle with two weapons.
RESPONSE: Hopefully, there won't be any lag. What I mean by that in ACII, ACB, and in ACR, there was a brief moment where Ezio just STOOD STILL for 1 bloody second, THEN decides to sheath his weapon, THEN decides to start sprinting. Sheesh.

* New movement aspects to the game will allow players to climb and scale trees and mountain cliffs. Traversing the wilderness will also be a big deal in the game.
RESPONSE: Similar to the Kingdom in ACI. This better be not tacked on *ahem*Tower-Defense*ahem*.

* Combat has an increased focus on speed and momentum, and being on the offensive.
RESPONSE: No comment. I'll wait for the game footage - thank you very much.

* Assassin’s Creed III will be running on a new version of the Anvil engine, one which allows the game to “depict thousands of troops engaged in bloody battle” even to the point of having highly detailed close-ups of faces. Says that previous games could allow only about 100 people on screen, where now they can do a couple thousand.
RESPONSE: Does this come with texture popping, shadow popping, and a slower frame-rate?

* There will be a level of “grey morality” in the game—the Colonists will not just be the “good guys”, and the British will not just be the “bad guys”.
RESPONSE: Moral ambiguity? *GASP*

* For those wondering, yes—Connor will have a hidden blade at his disposal.
RESPONSE: Who didn't think he would have one in the first place? Native Americans are quite ingenious when it comes to dead animals and their bodies.

* Connor’s gear and equipment can be changed and upgraded as the game goes on.
RESPONSE: A better economy system? Removing armor? Dyes? Weapon customizing?

* Fighting during the winter will put enemies at a disadvantage. Soldiers will have problems travelling through snow and ice, while Connor will still be able to use his more stealth-based means of movement.
RESPONSE: O.K. It's official. One of us here at this forum has to be working with Ubisoft. SHOW YOURSELF, COWARD! Perhaps this would be integrated in the day/night cycle, and not just set in certain memories.

* You’ll be able to hunt animals for resources, and the more skilled you are at killing them, the better materials you’ll get off of them.
RESPONSE: Live animals will replace treasure chests/Borgia messengers/stalkers? Does this process takes more than 2 seconds?

* There will be no tower defense aspects in Assassin’s Creed III.
RESPONSE: A wise decision.

As you can see, I still maintain a healthy cynical attitude towards the AC franchise. Comments?

You are wise to retain the cynical attitude. Keep that mentality, but ease up a LITTLE because they've been working on it for three years since ACII (y'know, the last good one?)

* Assassin’s Creed III will be running on a new version of the Anvil engine, one which allows the game to “depict thousands of troops engaged in bloody battle” even to the point of having highly detailed close-ups of faces. Says that previous games could allow only about 100 people on screen, where now they can do a couple thousand.
RESPONSE: Does this come with texture popping, shadow popping, and a slower frame-rate?

WTF, why would they even attempt this.

New version of the Anvil engine. They did it in Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and that game didn't have those problems during those parts of the game. They've developed the engine even more since that game (and yes, PoP:TFS DID use Anvil). It'll be fine. I have faith in Ubisoft for ACIII. It's their crown jewel, they'll be pulling out all the stops guaranteed so that we can wrap up the story.

Y'know. So that when Assassin's Creed Neo comes out in 2014 it'll be all cooool and sci-fi and lasers and stuff.

Connor looks amazing in all but....what about:

Why wouldn't they improve the engine? It's already good. Improving it specifically for this game will make it the epic ending the series deserves. We might be witnessing a lot of war battles and dodging cannon fire in the woods.

They'll get to that. Right now, people are more focused on Connor and the setting.

To be honest, I'm more excited to see Desmond's story come to a close. I say only Desmond's story because I'm sure Connor will be getting a spin-off or two. Just like Ezio.

I'll wait it out before jumping on the bandwagon, at least until a gameplay demo or something...

Also found this looking around, has some cool info that's been shared in the GI issue~ xD
http://kachibitos.blogspot.com/2012/03/all-leaked-info-on-assassins-cree...

They're not releasing Desmond information because they never do. That's the part they always want to keep secret because Desmond is the crown jewel of their series. Also, Connor will not be getting spin-offs due to ACIII being the last game, and Connor being connected to Desmond. Desmond's storyline is ending = we won't see more of his ancestors because we don't need to.

Also, I just found this:
http://gamingbolt.com/assassins-creed-3-info-blowout-new-engine-protagon...

Some of it we know, but others we don't.

- There will be brand new environments and all-new ways to exploit them to your advantage, according to the creative director Alex Hutchinson.

- The cinematic presentations will extend beyond combat into a complex way of storytelling. The game will have actually have the Mohawk language (Iroquois) in some scenes. Mohawk was one of the languages of the native Americans.

- The development cycle was the longest compared to any Assassin’s Creed game. It seems the game was developed simultaneously with the other spin-offs (Brotherhood and Revelations). According to Ubisoft’s CEO, AC3 has been in development for three years.

- The game tells a story of Templars vs Americans. It’s not about winning the war, but a story based on the main protagonist’s life.

- The game will feature a new camera, which focuses on the best possible view of the action.

- The game runs on a brand new version of the Anvil engine.

- The new Assassin is the son of a Native American woman and a British soldier. He calls himself Connor, but his birth name is Ratohnhaké:ton. Born into the Mohawk, he eventually crosses paths with the Assassins in his search for righteousness.

- Connor is quiet and stoic, letting actions speak for himself rather than conversing with others. In contrast to Ezio, Connor is a freedom fighter who acts in the name of justice rather than on personal revenge.

- Settings will include Boston, New York and a large countryside. The countryside will be the setting of about 1/3 of the game, and will be the location of many events during the game. The countryside will be about 1.5 times as big as Rome in Brotherhood.

- The protagonist will fight on the American side, with primary allies being George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Lee. However, this does not mean that the Americans are the good guys and the British are the bad guys. Templars are everywhere.

- There will be seasons in the game, meaning that the sun will shine during summer and the landscape will be covered in snow during winter. This is probably the best new feature in Assassin’s Creed 3.

- You can chain kills in the game using the tomahawk and the knife.

- Fighting and stealth will be completely redesigned, with Connor being compared to a “predator”. The player will be able to climb trees and other natural elements, and dual-wielding weapons such as a dagger and a tomahawk is now also an option.

- Animals will be present in the woods, like deer and bears. The player will be able to kill them and pelt their skins, to sell them later with the reformed economic system of the game.

- There will be puzzles similar to The Truth, only they will not be given by Subject 16.

- Desmond will go into the new Animus 3.0 and will find himself going into “significant events”.

- 100% sync in memories returns, though this time you will be rewarded when you complete memories to 100%. Checkpoints will also be introduced to mission replay, meaning you don’t have to replay an entire mission to get that 100% sync.

- The Brotherhood, or the Assassin’s Guild, will return in some form, albeit differently than we have seen before.

- Human shields are in, along with context sensitive actions. The target locking is gone, so the combat dynamics have changed.

- There is a fast travel system.

- There will be no more Mercenaries, Thieves, Courtesans, Romani or other factions, but there will be a replacement for them.

- Den Defense will not return.

- Expect Uncharted level of character interactions with 2.5 hours of scenes recorded.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
My thoughts:
I like the quiet, introverted character that Connor is. Ezio was really OUT THERE and Altair was kind of, "touch me and you die." Whereas Connor is different.

Yay, no more Den Defense!

Human shields is interesting because every guard in the game now carries fire-arms and I can only imagine the 2012 sections having almost no bladed weapons now. You're gonna need that human shield mechanic. No more target locking? Wow, alright. Context sensitive actions are always cool, you can make more buttons without needing more buttons.

Yes for 100% sync, approved.

The new fighting and stealth being revamped is super exciting for me.

ALSO GUYS! YOU CAN CLIMB TREES! TREES. Games can't do that! Well, they can NOW but remember before in a video game whenever you tried to climb a tree your character would just slip down the branches? WOWzerz! Ubisoft came from "drowning in water" to "being able to climb trees" in a video game. This is beautiful. From a pure technical standpoint that's awesome because we've never been able to do it before.

- There will be brand new environments and all-new ways to exploit them to your advantage, according to the creative director Alex Hutchinson.
RESPONSE: I wonder how Patrice Desilet feels about this. And by exploration, I assume more than just horse travelling, right?

- The cinematic presentations will extend beyond combat into a complex way of storytelling. The game will have actually have the Mohawk language (Iroquois) in some scenes. Mohawk was one of the languages of the native Americans.
RESPONSE: Truth be told, I was expecting this. Profanity, anyone?

- The development cycle was the longest compared to any Assassin’s Creed game. It seems the game was developed simultaneously with the other spin-offs (Brotherhood and Revelations). According to Ubisoft’s CEO, AC3 has been in development for three years.
RESPONSE: I've already put my thoughts into this, and I'm not repeating myself again.

- The game tells a story of Templars vs Americans. It’s not about winning the war, but a story based on the main protagonist’s life.
RESPONSE: Hopefully, his life will be filled with strife and turmoil...for our amusement.

- The game will feature a new camera, which focuses on the best possible view of the action.
RESPONSE: Does the camera shift for the best possible jumping angle? Similar to Nero's Golden Palace?

- The game runs on a brand new version of the Anvil engine.
RESPONSE: And why didn't ACB or ACR ran with it?

- The new Assassin is the son of a Native American woman and a British soldier. He calls himself Connor, but his birth name is Ratohnhaké:ton. Born into the Mohawk, he eventually crosses paths with the Assassins in his search for righteousness.
RESPONSE: Is he Altair or Ezio? Let's hope for the former.

- Connor is quiet and stoic, letting actions speak for himself rather than conversing with others. In contrast to Ezio, Connor is a freedom fighter who acts in the name of justice rather than on personal revenge.
RESPONSE: My answer has just been answered...

- Settings will include Boston, New York and a large countryside. The countryside will be the setting of about 1/3 of the game, and will be the location of many events during the game. The countryside will be about 1.5 times as big as Rome in Brotherhood.
RESPONSE: Wait a minute. If the countryside in ACIII is 30% of the game, and it's bigger than Rome in ACB, that means...* concentrates to preform complex math*...*GASP*. This game will be HUGE! Fingers crossed for no dreadful loading times, erratic frame-rates, texture popping, or shadow clipping.

- The protagonist will fight on the American side, with primary allies being George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Lee. However, this does not mean that the Americans are the good guys and the British are the bad guys. Templars are everywhere.
RESPONSE: You're starting to MARGINALLY impress, Ubisoft. But I'll comment on this after playing the game.

- There will be seasons in the game, meaning that the sun will shine during summer and the landscape will be covered in snow during winter. This is probably the best new feature in Assassin’s Creed 3.
RESPONSE: Will this affect the loading times in anyway?

- You can chain kills in the game using the tomahawk and the knife.
RESPONSE: Swords/heavy weapons/spears/maces...eat your heart out. It's TOMAHAWK TIME! MUAHAHAHA!

- Fighting and stealth will be completely redesigned, with Connor being compared to a “predator”. The player will be able to climb trees and other natural elements, and dual-wielding weapons such as a dagger and a tomahawk is now also an option.
RESPONSE: And crowd blending? How much Indian/British does Connor look? He's carrying a bow and arrow on the back, so people will assume that he's Indian...and I think they stand out in a town full of English people, don't you?

- Animals will be present in the woods, like deer and bears. The player will be able to kill them and pelt their skins, to sell them later with the reformed economic system of the game.
RESPONSE: Ubisoft must've taken a page off of Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption.

- There will be puzzles similar to The Truth, only they will not be given by Subject 16.
RESPONSE: Sweet! Puzzles! Variety!

- Desmond will go into the new Animus 3.0 and will find himself going into “significant events”.
RESPONSE: Rebecca, you crazy son of a bitch.

- 100% sync in memories returns, though this time you will be rewarded when you complete memories to 100%. Checkpoints will also be introduced to mission replay, meaning you don’t have to replay an entire mission to get that 100% sync.
RESPONSE: Not exactly what I have in mind, but it's a step in the right direction.

- The Brotherhood, or the Assassin’s Guild, will return in some form, albeit differently than we have seen before.
RESPONSE: I'm assuming that you can call on you Native American allies.

- Human shields are in, along with context sensitive actions. The target locking is gone, so the combat dynamics have changed.
RESPONSE: In B:AC, the combat/interrogation was context sensitive. Batman can utilizes nearby walls and rails in his counters to hurt unfortunate thugs. Though mostly an aesthetic thing, it was a nice bonus.

- There is a fast travel system.
RESPONSE: No, really?

- There will be no more Mercenaries, Thieves, Courtesans, Romani or other factions, but there will be a replacement for them.
RESPONSE: Truth be told, I was kinda hoping that they won't turn up. They seemed like a tacked on game-play gimic rather than something that was integrated fully with the story.

- Den Defense will not return.
RESPONSE: You've already told us that, Ubisoft.

- Expect Uncharted level of character interactions with 2.5 hours of scenes recorded.
RESPONSE: If I'm going to dish out $60 for ACIII, then I should be having the feeling that I'm playing a game - not watching a movie. Dynamic camera angles, anyone?

Wait, what? O.o

For a more humorous take on these facts (and less cynical like some people), I've compiled my own list!

- There will be brand new environments and all-new ways to exploit them to your advantage, according to the creative director Alex Hutchinson.

I'm just hoping for more than one city.

- The cinematic presentations will extend beyond combat into a complex way of storytelling. The game will have actually have the Mohawk language (Iroquois) in some scenes. Mohawk was one of the languages of the native Americans.

That's expected, but I was secretly hoping the final Animus we got into would be Abstergo-level quality (accents, but perfect interpretation). Still, it's nice to see the unique diversity Ubisoft wants to show us.

- The development cycle was the longest compared to any Assassin’s Creed game. It seems the game was developed simultaneously with the other spin-offs (Brotherhood and Revelations). According to Ubisoft’s CEO, AC3 has been in development for three years.

That means they've been working on it since the last game and the last two were "tests" for new features for AC3. That's actually brilliant on Ubisoft's part (wish they didn't make two add ons full priced, though).

- The game tells a story of Templars vs Americans. It’s not about winning the war, but a story based on the main protagonist’s life.

I would have preferred an Assassin that was already an Assassin by the time we jumped into his life. Seeing his "secret origin" is like watching a superhero movie. It's not necessary here.

- The game will feature a new camera, which focuses on the best possible view of the action.

The camera has always been good to me. I hope they aren't going crazy with it.

- The game runs on a brand new version of the Anvil engine.

Yay! Make it look smooth and flawless for us!

- The new Assassin is the son of a Native American woman and a British soldier. He calls himself Connor, but his birth name is Ratohnhaké:ton. Born into the Mohawk, he eventually crosses paths with the Assassins in his search for righteousness.

Either he has issues with his Native American roots or he goes by Connor to be accepted more by the white men.

- Connor is quiet and stoic, letting actions speak for himself rather than conversing with others. In contrast to Ezio, Connor is a freedom fighter who acts in the name of justice rather than on personal revenge.

Cool! An introvert like me! These Assassins are way too much like Batman now.

- Settings will include Boston, New York and a large countryside. The countryside will be the setting of about 1/3 of the game, and will be the location of many events during the game. The countryside will be about 1.5 times as big as Rome in Brotherhood.

I hope they include another city like Philadelphia. These better not be the only locations. Come on, 1 more city!

- The protagonist will fight on the American side, with primary allies being George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Lee. However, this does not mean that the Americans are the good guys and the British are the bad guys. Templars are everywhere.

I want to see Benedict Arnold as an Assassin. Make us Americans hate Ubisoft! COME AT US, BRO!

- There will be seasons in the game, meaning that the sun will shine during summer and the landscape will be covered in snow during winter.

Hopefully I can use my idea of blending with the snow in the white Assassin gear. Bring us more stealth!

- You can chain kills in the game using the tomahawk and the knife.

I read we can do multiple takedowns (like in Arkham City). Can't wait to see one soldier chopped in the head with a tomahawk and another stabbed in the chest with the knife in one graceful motion.

- Fighting and stealth will be completely redesigned, with Connor being compared to a “predator”. The player will be able to climb trees and other natural elements, and dual-wielding weapons such as a dagger and a tomahawk is now also an option.

I hope running through trees at high levels wont be a tedious task. Make it flow easily as if we were on the ground.

- Animals will be present in the woods, like deer and bears. The player will be able to kill them and pelt their skins, to sell them later with the reformed economic system of the game.

I heard this will add to an "RPG" element to the game (getting experience points). I'm all for that. Hopefully we can REMOVE ARMOR!!!!

- There will be puzzles similar to The Truth, only they will not be given by Subject 16.

Time for my brain to explode for the third time.

- Desmond will go into the new Animus 3.0 and will find himself going into “significant events”.

...Go on...

- 100% sync in memories returns, though this time you will be rewarded when you complete memories to 100%. Checkpoints will also be introduced to mission replay, meaning you don’t have to replay an entire mission to get that 100% sync.

THANK SWEET BABY JESUS R KELLY CHRIST!

- The Brotherhood, or the Assassin’s Guild, will return in some form, albeit differently than we have seen before.

They could've removed this entirely. I like working on my own better than having an easy button.

- Human shields are in, along with context sensitive actions. The target locking is gone, so the combat dynamics have changed.

They've tried this (human shields) before, but it was useless except to quickly kill easy guards. I hope the target locking being gone isn't a bad thing. I'm wondering what they have in store.

- There is a fast travel system.

Well...good!

- There will be no more Mercenaries, Thieves, Courtesans, Romani or other factions, but there will be a replacement for them.

Will the replacement be Native American versions of these?

Actually, I never used them unless I had to during missions. Pointless!

- Den Defense will not return.

Thank God.

- Expect Uncharted level of character interactions with 2.5 hours of scenes recorded.

Cool! Hopefully that means it'll be a long game with excellent writing!

Well, since everyone is doing these.

- There will be brand new environments and all-new ways to exploit them to your advantage, according to the creative director Alex Hutchinson.
I think we'll be taking the 'exploit' a little further than Alex intended.

- The cinematic presentations will extend beyond combat into a complex way of storytelling. The game will have actually have the Mohawk language (Iroquois) in some scenes. Mohawk was one of the languages of the native Americans.
I don't give a shit about cinematic presentation.

- The development cycle was the longest compared to any Assassin’s Creed game. It seems the game was developed simultaneously with the other spin-offs (Brotherhood and Revelations). According to Ubisoft’s CEO, AC3 has been in development for three years.
He could be lying out of his ass, though. Or they could've "worked on the story" for three years.

- The game tells a story of Templars vs Americans. It’s not about winning the war, but a story based on the main protagonist’s life.
It'd better be, because 'AMERICA IS GREAT'-games don't get a place in my game collection.

- The game will feature a new camera, which focuses on the best possible view of the action.
I want control, I'll decide what's the best position. Just don't mess with the damn thing.

- The game runs on a brand new version of the Anvil engine.
Yay, I guess?

- The new Assassin is the son of a Native American woman and a British soldier. He calls himself Connor, but his birth name is Ratohnhaké:ton. Born into the Mohawk, he eventually crosses paths with the Assassins in his search for righteousness.
So he's a native american/british guy and affiliates himself with George Washington? Interesting guy.

- Connor is quiet and stoic, letting actions speak for himself rather than conversing with others. In contrast to Ezio, Connor is a freedom fighter who acts in the name of justice rather than on personal revenge.
Good.

- Settings will include Boston, New York and a large countryside. The countryside will be the setting of about 1/3 of the game, and will be the location of many events during the game. The countryside will be about 1.5 times as big as Rome in Brotherhood.
I don't give a shit if it's big if it's built really shitty. Just make sure it's well done. The navigation seems cool, although I like social stealth with ASSASSINATIONS better.

- The protagonist will fight on the American side, with primary allies being George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Lee. However, this does not mean that the Americans are the good guys and the British are the bad guys. Templars are everywhere.
I would've been surprised if there wasn't any sort of moral ambiguity.

- There will be seasons in the game, meaning that the sun will shine during summer and the landscape will be covered in snow during winter. This is probably the best new feature in Assassin’s Creed 3.
Hard for me to care less, though it should spice up the game somewhat.

- You can chain kills in the game using the tomahawk and the knife.
It's probably going to be very easy once more.

- Fighting and stealth will be completely redesigned, with Connor being compared to a “predator”. The player will be able to climb trees and other natural elements, and dual-wielding weapons such as a dagger and a tomahawk is now also an option.
Looks cool. I just hope they expand on the social stealth more.

- Animals will be present in the woods, like deer and bears. The player will be able to kill them and pelt their skins, to sell them later with the reformed economic system of the game.
This isn't an RPG.

- There will be puzzles similar to The Truth, only they will not be given by Subject 16.
I like doing puzzles.

- Desmond will go into the new Animus 3.0 and will find himself going into “significant events”.
As expected.

- 100% sync in memories returns, though this time you will be rewarded when you complete memories to 100%. Checkpoints will also be introduced to mission replay, meaning you don’t have to replay an entire mission to get that 100% sync.
Alright. I hope they don't do the whole '100% SYNC FAIL YOU SUCK YOU FUCKING NOOB', like they had in Revelations and Brotherhood.

- The Brotherhood, or the Assassin’s Guild, will return in some form, albeit differently than we have seen before.
A feature I'm going to use rarely.

- Human shields are in, along with context sensitive actions. The target locking is gone, so the combat dynamics have changed.
Fuck this shit. I want control. Human shields are cool, context sensitive actions are just annoying.

- There is a fast travel system.
Oh, gee, really? MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THE FRONTIER IS 1.5 THE SIZE OF ROME?!

- There will be no more Mercenaries, Thieves, Courtesans, Romani or other factions, but there will be a replacement for them.
As long as they integrate it with the gameplay more, great!

- Den Defense will not return.
YES.

- Expect Uncharted level of character interactions with 2.5 hours of scenes recorded.
Blegh. I'm playing a game, not watching a movie.

- There will be brand new environments and all-new ways to exploit them to your advantage, according to the creative director Alex Hutchinson.

So,can we set traps?

- The cinematic presentations will extend beyond combat into a complex way of storytelling. The game will have actually have the Mohawk language (Iroquois) in some scenes. Mohawk was one of the languages of the native Americans.

I learned a bit of Italian by using subtitles in ACII -Revelations. This is the only way cursing is going to be permitted i guess.

- The development cycle was the longest compared to any Assassin’s Creed game. It seems the game was developed simultaneously with the other spin-offs (Brotherhood and Revelations). According to Ubisoft’s CEO, AC3 has been in development for three years.

Just like phi. They could've started AC3's game play development just last year. But worked on the story for three years.

- The game tells a story of Templars vs Americans. It’s not about winning the war, but a story based on the main protagonist’s life.

Why not, make this song relevant

- The game will feature a new camera, which focuses on the best possible view of the action.

Hopefully the camera can catch how many f*cks i give.

- The game runs on a brand new version of the Anvil engine.

Awesome,i guess.

- The new Assassin is the son of a Native American woman and a British soldier. He calls himself Connor, but his birth name is Ratohnhaké:ton. Born into the Mohawk, he eventually crosses paths with the Assassins in his search for righteousness.

maybe because his birth name is TOO F*CKING HARD TO PRONOUNCE !!.

- Connor is quiet and stoic, letting actions speak for himself rather than conversing with others. In contrast to Ezio, Connor is a freedom fighter who acts in the name of justice rather than on personal revenge.

All three are like little batmen.

- Settings will include Boston, New York and a large countryside. The countryside will be the setting of about 1/3 of the game, and will be the location of many events during the game. The countryside will be about 1.5 times as big as Rome in Brotherhood.

....wheres Philly, Delaware.

- The protagonist will fight on the American side, with primary allies being George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Charles Lee. However, this does not mean that the Americans are the good guys and the British are the bad guys. Templars are everywhere.

Again...

- There will be seasons in the game, meaning that the sun will shine during summer and the landscape will be covered in snow during winter. This is probably the best new feature in Assassin’s Creed 3.

So they are lurking on this site after all....

- You can chain kills in the game using the tomahawk and the knife.

These two weapons only?

- Fighting and stealth will be completely redesigned, with Connor being compared to a “predator”. The player will be able to climb trees and other natural elements, and dual-wielding weapons such as a dagger and a tomahawk is now also an option.

Sure...

- Animals will be present in the woods, like deer and bears. The player will be able to kill them and pelt their skins, to sell them later with the reformed economic system of the game.

Animals in assassin's creed game !. And its not all chickens and horses and eagles!.

- There will be puzzles similar to The Truth, only they will not be given by Subject 16.

Damn it!!. Now i gotta go study.

- Desmond will go into the new Animus 3.0 and will find himself going into “significant events”.

Hey ! why'd you stopped there.

- 100% sync in memories returns, though this time you will be rewarded when you complete memories to 100%. Checkpoints will also be introduced to mission replay, meaning you don’t have to replay an entire mission to get that 100% sync.

Yay!.

- The Brotherhood, or the Assassin’s Guild, will return in some form, albeit differently than we have seen before.

Most likely , native American's will replace.

- Human shields are in, along with context sensitive actions. The target locking is gone, so the combat dynamics have changed.

Nice.

- There is a fast travel system.

I.D.G.A.F.

- There will be no more Mercenaries, Thieves, Courtesans, Romani or other factions, but there will be a replacement for them.

Said that already.

- Den Defense will not return.

Wont be missed.

- Expect Uncharted level of character interactions with 2.5 hours of scenes recorded.

So does this mean a long game.

At least 2.5 hours, I guess.

I'VE STARTED A TREND ON THIS FORUM.

MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

20G

I am definitely excited about the historical time period and locations. After the French Revolution, the American Revolution is my favorite historical period, especially the events in and around Boston (where I used to live!). I've always wanted to go to colonial Boston.

It just better be a great game, or the awesome setting won't matter.

Now, kids, for homework here is your reading assignment: Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer. It's not just about the ride, it also describes the first day of the Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775. It was a massively chaotic day, with large groups of people moving around from place to place and different events taking place simultaneously over a fairly large area, not to mention happening long ago with only written accounts that could only contain a small piece of the larger picture. Fischer makes it easily understandable and it's comprehensive. It reads like a gripping adventure story. History doesn't get any better than this book.

This will probably be on the test, so get busy. (lol, not really)

this is one thing i'm worried about.
that if handled badly, it's just gonna turn in to american chest pounding.
i have a strong dislike for that stuff

I agree.

Ubisoft are a Canadian studio. They won't resort to American chest pounding.

http://www.gamepur.com/news/7247-assassins-creed-iii-gameinformer-scans-...
I thought you guys might benefit from seeing the original article, not just vague bulletpoints.

Aaaand now for my thoughts on your thoughts.

-America Fuck Yeah-

Ubisoft is always careful to avoid really taking a side. they show people and civilizations and organizations more or less exactly as they were. Crusaders and Saracens were both portrayed equally, ottomans and Byzantines were too. Just because one side might have interests parallel to the assassins doesn't mean Ubi is saying they're perfect. Don't expect an overwhelmingly pro-american game. And remember, Shaun will be there to spread some hate whenever Connor and George Washy get too buddy-buddy. In fact, I'm excited to see what he says about all this american stuff.

-Stoicism-
About the Connor is stoic part, I would argue that we haven't really had a stoic, silent assassin yet. Not even Altair. Being silent in combat or during stealth is something Ezio was good at too, but Ezio rarely minced words unless he was joking around with a friend. He gets to the point when he talks to anyone about his "job", be they target or ally.
When Altair talked, he talked a lot, regardless of his recipient being a target in a hostile environment, a teacher at his home base, or a rafiq in the field. He expressed himself in a badass way, yes, but I would call him a wordy badass, not a terse one.

-People who complained about the 2.5 hours of recorded acting...-

#1 You do realize that all that means is that cinematics look better, and more content will have cinematics, right? Is that really so terrible? Do you prefer it when only the most important main story content gets polish? Does it enrich your experience to have huge portions of the game's experience that are presented as not important enough for a quick conversation or scene introducing them? Ubisoft is tightening the presentation up. Good for them.

#2, I don't think you realize how spread out these hours are going to be. A short AC game is about 15 hours long. Imagining that AC3 returns to the usual 20 hour length or more, it's not like you're going to be watching a movie non-stop. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

#3, I fucking hate "cinematics" where I control my character but can't interact with anything. It feels lazier to me, and the disparity between the NPC's with their unique animations and my characters default gameplay animations is ugly with a capital U. If you're going to plop me in front of a lecturer for five minuntes, have the decency to make it like a well acted/choreographed scene, with camera angles done FOR me. That way I can focus on the story, not on positioning my character so he doesn't make the scene look awkward.

#4, I know that you guys already acknowledge the flaws of AC1, but I feel like I must point out that the majority of the playable cinematics in AC1 were far more long-winded and "sit around not actually playing the game"ish than any of the uncontrolled cinematics we've seen in AC since.

-Camera-

If you look at the part about the game's camera in the context of the actual article, it happens during combat. It adjusts to show you as many of the enemies you're fighting as possible, and zooms in when you thin them out, basically.

-"Context sensitive actions are annoying"-

-.-
Let's put aside the fact that you don't even know what sort of context sensitive actions they're talking about, and also put aside the fact that the majority of Assassin's Creed gameplay is based on context sensitivity, and let's just focus on the simple facts: as long as context-sensitive means that the game changes the action that an input performs, so that it does what you would expect it to do in a given situation situation, context sensitivity only means "The game is more intuitive". And that in turn, means LESS frustration and annoyance.

-Origin Story-
I disagree about origins only being fit for superhero movies. This is supposed to be a place where new players can jump in, and a huge shake-up for old fans. We need to be introduced to this game in baby steps. Not everything is familiar any more. And from the looks of it, we'll start off playing Connor as a relatively young boy, not a basically-adult like Ezio, which give a much better sense of "beginning".

His native upbringing makes typical tutorials make far more sense and seem less contrived than Altair's demotion or Ezio's wacky parkour hijinks. Honestly, just seeing him at a transitioning age makes me feel closer to him than I was to Ezio, who we met when he was already mostly out from under the wings of authority. Connor's transition to the harsh realities of the world feels far more pronounced, not least because the force that causes his tragedy is one foreign to his people.

I don't need a boring old action movie stereotype with a mysterious past. Origins are good for character development, especially if he's not very sharing about them. Of course, it can go either way, but honestly, no matter whether you chose to keep it a mystery or show it full force, it's been done before, both ways. A billion times. That's the burden of choosing any element of a story, really. There is only so much true originality possible.

-New Engine-

The reason it hasn't been used for Revelations and Brotherhood would have to do with the fact that Revelations and Brotherhood had to be made in a year each, making it much easier to just find new ways to push and update the existing engine rather than try to get it to work on a prototype, and it also meant that existing assets like brooms, buildings, fountains, wells, ect. could be re-used and improved upon, instead of having to create an entirely new catalogue.

Also, creating a new engine and optimizing it is something that is not super easy to do, and I doubt that it was ready to be used to power a game until recently. Ubisoft used Revelations and Brotherhood to improve their cinematic-creation skills, and test out player reactions to new features, while giving fans some decent story tidbits and a alpha and beta test of multiplayer to keep AC on their mind while the next true sequel was being created. And doing it with just some (admittedly impressive) modifications to the engine which allowed the team to practice with different features such as lighting and advanced textures and camerawork.

So these were full paid expansions to AC2, yes, but they were honestly more complete than most games are these days, and both the experience gained by the developers and the rising attention garnered by the brand has undoubtedly made AC3 a better game than it would have been. I'm proud to be a fan of a series that treats its cash-grab expansions the way most games treat their full sequels.

That being said, if it turns out to be shit, it's shit. So let's hope it's not.

-Other Stuff-

Article mentions improvements to free-running, such as vaulting over or sliding under objects, more control and precision, as well at the aforementioned climbing of trees and cliffs.

Game will have seasons, wintry weather causes soldiers to move slowly in the drifts, while connor can avoid them by taking to the trees.

The game is not re-using ANY animations from previous titles, for Connor or NPCs. Connor's movement animations are context sensitive to the type of terrain he's walking on, as well as objects in his path. (stair climb animation, anyone?)

Counter and defense are mapped to the same button, meaning you have to time your blocks the same as counters, you can't just sit there and parry endlessly. Controls are the same in combat and out of combat. (meaning, I guess that you won't go into the super slow combat stance that Altair and Ezio did.) you can now actually kill without stopping your momentum, which I think was announced for Revelations but ended up being cut to just vaulting with the hookblade.

Game takes place between 1753 and 1783, meaning it's not just abount the war, and we're set up for another AC2-styled decade's long adventure.

1000 NPC's on screen doesn't mean that that's how many there will be at all times, it just means the engine can handle it. it means NPC's can be shown from further away, and that cities will seem more full of life from the tops of towers, and just in general.
And, of course, the potential for epic battle scenes requires less "faking" on the developer's part. Just in general if the engine can handle that many characters, we're probably looking at a very smooth frame-rate.

So, overall, I'm ready to be hyped. At the moment, I'm optimistic. Trailer/gameplay footy will determine hype levels.

Fucking hell that's a lot of text. I guess I'm back...

Tomorrow calvar....tomorrow.

Like I said, I don't give a shit about cinematics. Besides, if the cinematics look too good, there would be disparity with the actual gameplay.

And I fucking hate it when AC relies totally on cinematics to deliver the narrative. For a game like LA Noire it was expected and I enjoyed that, but for AC it's not appropiate. There are more ways to deliver the narrative than just cinematics. I highly recommend watching the Extra Credits episode on that.