The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

I've heard a lot of ideas centering on the American Revolution and the freemasons. Also the Victorian Era sounds amazing, in my opinion. I'd love to see a Victorian-Era Assassin, but I'm afraid (from an artistic perspective) it would too closely resemble Ezio's style of clothing from AC2. Basically, a mix of AC2 and ACB's outfits, but with some more "poofiness".

I was thinking that the assassin order would be comprised of the poor, and the outfits would be more grimy compared to the other assassin's we've seen. Would make for an interesting change. I'm sure not all assassin's in history were white knights. and It could tie in well to making the player feel weaker when exposed, too.

Canada would be brilliant.

Quebec City's been repeatedly called the most European city in North America, and who doesn't want to climb the Chateau Frontenac? Montreal's tailor-made for an AC city - enormous, tightly packed, natural boundaries [the Island of Montreal], an enormous church [St. Joseph's Oratory], and religious intrigue [both of Canada's saints are Quebecois]. Personally, I'd also pick Kingston as a Forli-type city, as, like Forli, it features political history [Canada'a first capital!], military history, a big church, and fun round towers.

Alternatively, I submit South America as a modern destination for the series. Nazca Lines! Blood in the Amazon! The planned city of Brasilia! Climbing Christ the Redeemer!

I have a theory that Shaun's last words in Brotherhood(before Desmond touches the Apple) is a hint at the setting for the next game. The two symbols he points out, the Phrygian Cap and the Masonic Eye, only appear together in one place which is apparently during the French Revolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the...

Ofcorse there was speculation of this even before AC2 came out but this looks like a strong possiblity. Why else would they have Shaun start talking there only to be cut off mid sentence?

Setting the animus portion in quebec and more of canada, and the real life portion in american wilderness, and various places around the world could make for a huge game! I'm hoping the story is epically long, moreso than any other AC games.

Making it longer for longer's sake feels like a way to detract from the story. I'd rather go for something like AC1, where the game is set out very cleanly before us, and then spin it off of there with improvements of later games.

In terms of timeline, longer seems to only be there for continuity's sake - without the DLC, ACII jumps eleven years from second-last to last sequence, and Brotherhood jumps four years just to make sure Cesare dies at the right time.

Something I'd love to see, simply because of how much it would free up the continuity, is playing as a named historical figure, and the villains being a mix of real and fictitious.

My picture show the concept art for the victorian assassin, sorry if the resolution is too low but I couldn't find a better copy.

I think what I meant by longer is epic amounts of side-content after the 20 hour long campaign. A lot of it in the animus, but a decent chunk in the real world. Straight up side-quests, and some self contained epics.

Being a named historical figure would be interesting, but what if you played as a named historical villain, who, as it turns out, is not a villain after all?

Well, as of now, I consider the French revolution as the most likely setting for the in-animus parts of the game. We actually have to learn stuff about this at school and, since I tutor and have to check whether they know their stuff, so I know it pretty well.
French revolution was a really turbulent time. I'm just afraid that Ubi will go the easy way and let you guide the people while playing as an unknown historical figure and that the game just ends with the people getting power. What came after that, the Period of Terror, with Robespierre and, after that, Napoleon, would make for maybe even a greater game.
An oversight of the period can be found here. Yeah, it's Wikipedia, but it serves it's purpose. This list might give us some characters.

I haven't thought about the real world-part yet. I imagine it will be all over the world, in tombs (temples).

I really don't like the idea of the modern world being a series of tombs. After giving Desmond parkour and his own little town to run around in, it would feel like a step back.

Another idea I've been tossing around in my head for a while - since the Animus replays memories, could we relive a dream, or a hallucination, that an ancestor remembered? Something along the lines of a parkour version of Sherlock's deductive fever dream from the newest Sherlock Holmes movie.

That's a great idea, I'd enjoy that.

I have to say that if the French Revolution is chosen for AC3, that will make me the happiest puppy in the 'verse! It's my absolute most fave historical event. I would be able to bombard you guys with history lessons! (History lessons are like my own little hidden blade, I guess: tiny and lethal )

But it would seem unfair to Desmond and all of his training if he didn't play the majority of it himself. I predict that will be the case.

Of course, there's no reason that Ubi can't set a whole different AC game (with a different Desmond) during the French Revolution as well. That would be awesome.

Whatever they do, I hope they dont use more than 1 location

Really? For the final game, I'd expect them to go all out!

MGS4 tried that, other MGS fans will know what im talking about.

Ok here is an example for MGS4, at one point you revisit Shadow Mosis Island, the same place that MGS1 took place. It was extremely nostalgic, as it was all the way back in the 90's, and the level had barely changed. I thought back to MGS4, if I were to revisit a stage in a future game, I would not get the same feeling. Same with AC3, if they mix it up you dont get really get attached to the game or the stage, it ruins the atmosphere.

Did it ruin the atmosphere in AC 1 when you traveled to several different cities, some with entirely different atmospheres and races? All I'm saying is that the Animus place is a few different locations in a country, with the occasional faraway mission, just like the other creeds, and in the meantime, desmond has several different places on different continents to play around in.

AC1 is completely different to what you are suggesting. From my experiences with MGS4 I dont want this to happen, just my opinion.

Different cities appeal to different people who run around on the rooftops for fun. We all have a favorite city in each game. So what if we have different cities, Jack? It makes the atmosphere more diverse and interesting.

Im fine with different cities like in AC1 and 2, like i said its a different thing to what he is talking about

Yeah, there should definitely be different cities, but entire different CONTINENTS, I don't think so.
I'm fine with that during the later stages of the game, or maybe an Exotic WarMachine-style mission, where Desmond is practically teleported to another location or tomb-like, but definitely not for Free Running/Roaming around in.

It would shatter the game into too many fragments in my opinion.

Especially with the apparent one-game-one-year model, I fear it would spread the developers too thin to try and really capture, say, Rio de Janiero, St. Petersburg, and Calgary. Remember, 250 developers barely managed to do one city, using a familiar time period, in the first entry in this new release schedule.

Guys, you're not getting it. What I'm saying is that each city in the real world is on a different continent. Not that there are several cities on each continent. If you knew nothing about the size of the world you could imagine they're right next to each other. The main thing is that they'd all have a different visual style, and in all of the AC games, the visual style of the cities have been very similar. Just adding variety. Not increasing the amount of cities that much. And

Hewikii, I'm thinking that they're going to take their time for AC3. Probably hire more people for helping with the once-a-year's and simultaneously work on this. Or maybe, they were working on this and brotherhood at the same time, and technically have been working two years? I dunno. All I know is that whatever balance issues brotherhood had, it was extremely impressive to have been done in just a year. If they've been working on AC3 for two years already, we may be surprised in 2011.

So we're all assuming that Desmond is still in Italy after he's shoved into an Animus during the credits, right? Hopefully we'll be able to do some Assassin-Desmond gameplay a lot more or whenever we like. I was just thinking that maybe Ubisoft can recreate Rome into its modern-day counterpart so Desmond can take on missions taking out modern-day Templar agents.

Then at the end of the game, we go on a suicide mission for Vidic (who most likely has the apple somehow).

Now there's a good idea. They just need to change some things in the city to make it modern-day, so it will only take half the work it normally would to make a city (like they did to the villa in ac:b).

I'm against that idea, for AC 3 I want them to come up with new ideas so we don't get the same 'seen it before' feeling that Brotherhood has. I'd like to see a new ancestor (preferably french revolution) and then Desmond using him to find the temples somehow so we have a really long game with different styles of architecture in modern day cities and french architecture wth the ancestor

True, but they've recycled areas in the second and third game, so I bet they will do the same for the next one. In ac2 you play as Altair in Acre, and in ac:b there's those Christina missions where you play in Florence. However you play in those areas for only a short time, with not much to do except the main mission in there.

I wouldn't mind seeing modern-day Rome if they did it right. Have you seen it today? With all the modern technology, cars, roads, new buildings, etc, it will feel like a different city. Also, Desmond would actually get some action in a real sprawling city!

If they did that it shouldn't be all of Rome, just maybe a district.

Fast travel could be replaced with taxis.

I'm all for that if you can hijack the vehicle.

If Desmond can hotwire cars to fast travel, I don't wanna drive in an AC game. It would feel too out of place.

Yeah would turn into GTA, you would end up driving everywhere. Man I can totally see this turning into GTA if they let you drive, now walking the streets and stuff would be much better, you could just hail a cab to fast travel

They should give Desmond a mini version of the economy system. Maybe you get some money to do a present day fast travel tutorial. Somehow (no stupid quests from Final Fantasy or anything) you can earn a few bucks for that, but make it hard to get too much. Why not bring back Altair's pickpocketing skills and pickpocket someone who always has money on them? ...If it was somewhere in the US, I'd say a pimp, cuz you'd risk getting into a serious fight at gunpoint.

Who has a lot of money on them in Italy/Europe? Hey, just trying to bring back some AC1 stuff.

I'd rather not go back to Rome after an entire game and a bit of it, but if we do, I demand that Abstergo's Animus lab be located on Tiber Island.

I can see that. It would really show how in control the Templars are.

The problems I can see if we keep moving forward in time is that eventually it will turn into a third person stealth shooter, as knives and swords won't really exist as main weapons for the guards, if they have them at all. Even by the French revolution it gets to the point that the army(which I am assuming would still supply the guards) was made of cavalry, artillery and riflemen, of which only the cavalry and the officers still had swords.

You're underestimating the developers' creativity, I think, not to mention the fact that you can't carry guns in public in the same way guards carry swords. If Desmond gets a bulletproof vest, maybe the "strike faster, strike harder" will translate to "knock their guards down and kill them before you turn into swiss cheese"? Just look at Arkham Asylum [which the developers have said they looked at].

Well, this is what I think should happen. We revisit Masyaf, now under the control of the Grand Master Assassin Altiar. He is older and wiser, and begins the second (and more mature) part of his life. He would take the place of Al Mualim in the first AC game and build an army of assassins to fight against Saladins army, which would take place over what is now modern day nothern Iraq. Altair himself should have 2 hidden blades, 30 knifes, 2 short blades, and two long swords. He would also aquire a totally new armour set that could go over his robes, and this armour would look like an extreme versian of the messalaggis armour from AC2.

Altiar should also travel to Japan and Cyprus, Japan because of the symbols from AC1 and Cyprus because (I think) this was were the Templars fled when they had taken the Holy Land.

By the way my history is probably terrible somewhere, but I want to bring back all that was good about AC1 and just revamp it somehow in a logical manner

It took until the sixteenth century for Westerners to be allowed into Japan - at that, it was Christian missionaries from Portugal. Considering the series is about social stealth, it would defeat the purpose to try and blend into a group of medieval Japanese when you're a Middle Eastern covered in more bling than Flavor Flav.

Also, Saladin bought peace from Rashid ad-din Sinan [Al Mualim], not to mention he died in the spring of 1193. Not much time, or reason, for Altair to mount a massive campaign. From how Richard I was depicted in AC, I had seen the Third Crusade not as Templars vs. Assassins, but as an unrelated war that the Templars and Assassins simply took advantage of.

Also, the Templars went to Cyprus because they had failed to take the Holy Land.

Since the best part of AC was its atmosphere and its story, I'm not sure how spreading it out over three completely different parts of the world and covering it in weapons would improve upon that.

Well, maybe I was getting ahead of myself. You superior knowledge of history is excellent and I appreciate your comments. It seems that Altair will never make a return to the series

Anyway, I am sure another individual can elaborate on this because after all it's nice to imagine an assassin even more badass than Ezio when AC3 is released.

No need to imagine an assassin more badass than Ezio. Altaïr's right in front of you.

I've been thinking about how I'd like a bare-bones, incredibly polished AC game for III, rather than something frillier than Lucrezia's collar. That led me to thinking, 'something new has to be there'. Why not falconry?

The way I'm thinking it, your bird would be an essential part of your equipment, second only to the hidden blade, really. Since your bird is your constant companion, whom you command through whistles, it would use the button. Since Eagle Vision is holding the button, and interaction with NPCs should require a lock-on, it wouldn't conflict with any other buttons. You wouldn't be able to get upgrades for your bird, or a new bird, though; do you get a Doberman when you're tired of having a pet Lab?

In normal movement, your bird would fly along a free-running path by tapping . Maybe it would leave an Animus trail? Whenever it gets a chance to land, it would land on the start of one of those free-run sequences, like the white sheets. In social stealth, you can send the bird to flap in the faces of guards by locking onto them and tapping - this has the added benefit of making thieves redundant. When in combat mode, plus would send it screeching in one's face, replacing the kick [freeing that button up for step again].

In-story, it would give our hero something to talk to, and could have other functions.

That falconry concept actually sounds pretty interesting. I like the idea of no upgrades for it - like you have one bird loyal to you for life.

It could be a step too far, but if Eagle Vision is possible, why not elaborate on it with actual Eagle Vison?

This could be like one story mission or even just used as a cutscene/several main target cutscenes where the target can sort of be spied on from above from the bird's perspective - a bird's-eye view or 'Eagle Vision'!

The bird could also be used to receive contracts from far-away contacts, as an alternative to the pigeon coops and Assassin's Towers.

These are just extra ideas based on yours but I reckon the whole falconry thing you suggested would be really cool

If you'd want it to attack/distract guards, it would seem like an infinite use of a guild group (Thieves, Courtesans, Mercenaries) or Assassin recruits. I'm all for giving it a personality and really feeling for it as a companion you want to keep throughout the game.

I wouldn't mind them giving a sly, AC2 Ezio-like personality to the eagle/falcon, and the Assassin would have a loner, Altair-like style.

[The bird flies in to the Assassin's hideout]

AC3 Assassin: "Where have YOU been?"

[Bird coughs up chunks of a rat]

[Assassin looks at the chunks, back at the bird, then continues on with his work]

Exactly! I had first thought that if Altair had a bird [named Aquila, most likely] to talk to, he probably wouldn't be so seen as "cold" and "emotionless".

I could see Ubisoft selling out and making an AC kid's show on Cartoon Network or something. Only it would be about an "assassin" (that doesn't kill, just gives a warning) with a "falcon buddy" with Tom Kenny's (Spongebob) comical voice. And it all looks like japanimation (anime).

That sounds amazing, I can agree with you on everything you have said there.

I am interested in the falconry concept.
You would be able to use the Eagle a bit like Elika's Compass from Prince of Persia 2008.

In order to prevent spammed use of more powerful abilities, it could have fatigue or stamina, a bit like your dog from the Dead to Rights games.

If there are firearms, a quick flying object (like an Eagle) going RIGHT past a group of guards would startle them into shooting their bullets at it, and missing. During the reload time, Desmond/The Assassin could run in and slaughter them, or just bypass them.

The above idea could incorporate a "Risk Factor %" akin to the Brotherhood system already in place. However, it's in Real Time, and you have to decide on the spot.

Example: Desmond is behind a piece of broken wall, and he needs to get to the next part of broken wall. In between the two and slightly inside the building is a guard group, equipped with firearms. He locks on to either the guards, or some object in the distance (but not too far) and presses the "Use Eagle" context sensitive button. An instant pop-up appears next to Desmond/The Assassin's head and shows "84% Chance of Success". You press the "Use Eagle" button once again to confirm. The bird flies out and attracts the guards' attention, who shoot at it. The guards miss and are reloading their weapons. Desmond has an opportunity to fire a Smoke Pellet from his Hidden Blade Gauntlet, and eliminate the guards, or just to bypass them. Once Desmond gets through the guards and regroups with the Eagle, if the bird is hurt, he can use his own Medicine on it to Heal it, through a quick-menu.

Your Eagle should be able to get hurt, in a way that you can also purchase Healing for it as well as yourself.
No upgrades are necessary on the bird, as that would be a bit too easy and too RPG like.

The Eagle may have Health Squares of its own, and the lower they get, the less effective it becomes, and chances of success lower. It should be much lower than an Assassin's health, maybe 5 or 6 squares.

The Eagle may be commanded to circle around valid View Points to reveal them, if they are closer than a certain distance, horizontally and vertically.

Feedback on my ideas is always appreciated. I might have gone a bit over-the-top there.

I'm not really feeling the percentages and everything - considering how easy it's been to not die yourself, or not kill your Brotherhood, throwing a health system into your eagle feels like micromanagement. I also feel like you're not really going to be able to connect with it [as it's your pet in the game, that's what you're supposed to do] if you mainly interact with it through a list of menus and +1's.

BLOOOOOOODWIIIIING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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What if it dies? Would you have to buy/capture a new one?