The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

If we're talking storywise there are TONS of big groups other than Assassins and Templars, and there have been since AC1.

Most of them are the obvious public faces like governments that aren't fronts, but are merely influenced by Templars and Assassins, but there are more secretive ones, like most of the secretive groups that have existed at any given point in our history, like the Hermeticists. Some of those are fronts of Templars or Assassins, like the Freemasons, but I personally think it would be weird if Assassins and Templars were the ONLY groups behind every secret group that has ever existed.

They're the most well informed, of course, and the most enduring. Darby McDevitt said that it's always going to be about the Templars vs Assassins.

But there are definately other factions. The Hermeticists are the only ones we've actually encountered in a meaningful way, in the Da Vinci Dissapearance DLC. And a bunch of stories in Project Legacy.

When I say they should stick with two factions, I mean in a multiplayer sense. Having "lesser" factions storywise just makes the universe seem bigger, to me.

I wish I had a dollar for every statement that you've made like this in 2011.

They went in a lot of bad directions with Brotherhood in my opinion, I just hope that they don't continue to do so.

I know. I actually agree with you. I'm just giving you a hard time.

Haha! At least you're honest, GB.

I try.

The Ezio story didn't really build up to much in my opinion, and the main assassination missions were not framed well enough storywise, but it wasn't really that bad. It felt more like an action movie than Assassin's Creed 2 (And all that means is that it is more exciting and cinematic, not that it is pandering. Some of you seem really paranoid about it being pandering.), and even though it wasn't as good storywise it was presented/told far better.

The glyphs talked about a story that mirrored the theme of Ezio's: the people rising up against the privledged who abuse their power. They used current or near-current day examples of leaders putting their own intrests ahead. They gave insight into how the Templars have engineered systems of control, and even though in real life these people were (probably) not all united by one group, what they did is still true, and I enjoyed the way it was presented.

Desmond's story was more involved than before, and I really enjoyed all the intereactions between him and his fellow assassins. The end of his story brought the TWCB more into focus and answered a few questions about the details of their abilities and society, but raised new questions about what their goal was. At the credits, I was consumed with a desire to know how this story ends.

How I feel.

You've made some great points there, Calvar. I've played through BroHood a few more times and in the main, it's fairly enjoyable and left me wanting more. The things you mentioned are indeed the strong points of the game it seems to me.

Yeah well said Calvar. Brotherhood's story was done as well as AC2 if not better. The only thing that drove me crazy is in AC2 we spend all this time hunting down the Spaniard and don't even kill him. ACB we spend the whole gamme weaking Cesare and his forces. Finally get to him and we push him off a castle wall. Im not mad of the way we killed him but that we didn't get to see him go splat! Story/plot is amazing but damnit Ubisoft, lemme kill these Templars! I mean you could have at least let us poison Rodrigo...

Yeah, it definately feels better to have lots of targets and to have involving choice in how to take them down.

In the Xbox Live Marketplace, there's a new AC Universe category for Avater gear. Among them is a "Cowboy Assassin Outfit". Have there been comics or other media involving the Wild West Assassin Order? Because they have Nikolai Orelov's Outfit, but that could just be for fans of the comic. The Cowboy, though, I've never seen before. Pretty cool, I have to say. His hat has the pointed tip just like Assassin hoods, the color scheme is black and brown, you can see two hidden blades on his forearms under his dust coat, a belt buckle with the Assassin logo, and he's got a scruffy beard.

If this is from a comic or something else, someone say so, because I'd love to see a Wild West Assassin's Creed game.

This might be based off of fanart. heres my proof

http://store.ubiworkshop.com/product_images/b/682/Seed7-ACartwork-FINAL_...

Yep, that's pretty much how it looked. Kind of wish there was some white in there. Maybe for the hat.

I like it. kinda looks like the prowler from ACB

I just read an article about the yearly releases of the AC games. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot basically said that Brotherhood and Revelations were games made to grab extra cash (that's what I got from it, at least). Hopefully this means they're aware of the failures they've committed and will bring us a worthy game this year that's called "Assassin's Creed".

Sounded a lot like "whipping up publicity boilerplate" to me.

They've claimed something awesome and amazing and flabbergasting for each of the sequels. That really really needs to be true this time, though.

After Brotherhood I thought they would correct their mistakes. Now AC3 is coming out at the end of this year. There's no reason to believe it's going to be worthy.

100% agreed.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1218767p1.html

Edit: I saw this comment...

"i think assassin's creed is a pretty cool guy. eh kills ppl and doesn't afraid of anything."

There are so many things wrong with this. My grammar nazi and love of AC are becoming an ever-growing steam pile of annoyance.

Know your meme.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pretty-cool-guy

I've never seen that. haha. Thank goodness it was intentional, then!

That article was much of nothin.

One time I used it myself. These guys on GameFAQs kept misusing the word creed as a synonym for brotherhood. So I had a little fun with them by playing dumb. (The summary on AC-maps is easier to read than the original on GameFAQs.)

I need to catch up on all these memes. I only know a few and haven't been on that part of the internet until recently. I'm so out of touch with my generation...

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/02/15/assassin-39-s-cree...

I died a little inside.

Why did you die inside? It's hopeful because they've been working on it since AC2 finished. And it's an official, feature length (I guess that term still applies) game.

"Official, feature length"?

I'm assuming that you mean it's a new game with a new time era with new characters and game-play mechanics.

I died a little because ever since ACB, Ubi has been cranking piles of defecation that we loyal fans have to take in. Where do I begin...

...wait a minute - if I listed why the AC franchise went downhill ever since ACB debut, then you would be reading this message for at least 6 hours.

Lets face the facts: one year isn't enough to make a solid A game. And Ubisoft has clearly proved that in the video-game world.

True, but I'm a little curious if you read the full article. They state that they've been working on AC3 for 3 entire years. This isn't another Ezio milking expansion (at this point, the entire franchise is considered milked). This is actually the final part of the main games. They've been building up to this point for this long.

And what I meant by "feature length" was that it won't be a kind of expansion pack like ACB and ACR. It'll be a full game with more than a few hours of gameplay. And a new ancestor, time and place. And, more than likely, Desmond as the ultimate Assassin.

The fact that they say in the article that they've been building Assassin's Creed III for THREE YEARS makes me happy, and there is now hope that Assassin's Creed will live up to its legendary name once more.

I agree, Joey and DAZ. If they really have put three years into this game, it should be brilliant. It needs to be brilliant.

Bear in mind that Ubisoft COULD be lying through their coporate teeth.

Or they could be telling the truth. Think about it - Ubisoft has roughly 25 studios, including their flagship in Montreal. This DOESN'T count other studios that have been bought or renamed (Hybride Tech.). The Castel in ACB was so huge that it needed one studio making the bloody thing! So I'm pretty sure that it's possible...

O.K. Lets go with the arguement that Ubisoft has been telling the truth. That would mean that they've already thought out the franchise's entire story during the development during ACII (I think). It's a hopeful sign that Ubisoft is putting effort. However, that effort hasn't been consistent in terms of gameplay and Ezio's Renaissance Era story.

For me, I would rather have a slow consistent stream of good games with a strong story and well developed game mechanics...

...compared to the downhilled slope that the AC games are going through, then a sudden sharp spike in greatness. That's just me.

I think everyone would have preferred this, but we've already had the series go somewhat downhill; let's just hope that ACIII is a gigantic spike in greatness.

Oh, and it should be set in Egypt!

It would be great if the games stayed consistently great. But I think for fans like us (if AC3 is brilliant), it'll be a great refresher that redeems the entire series. If not, then who cares? Don't buy it immediately. Wait until some of us tell you if it's amazing or not.

Welp, I'm looking forward to seeing what they're gonna make with it~ xD

ACIII will be set in Egypt?

And what era would that be in?

I even heard that it will follow Altair's son, Darim.

I can't tell if you're serious or poking fun. haha

ACIII being about an ancestor makes absolutly NO f*cking sence. Its supposed to be about desmond this time.

No, the ancestor makes sense. That's the whole point of the series. Going to different time periods. Desmond will have a big part, no doubt about it. But there will still be an ancestor. It makes perfect sense.

I'm being serious. Hopefully, it won't be Darim because Egypt at that time (around mid-1550's) is still under Ottoman control. Which means that there's a high chance that you'll be seeing the same Islamic architecture all over again. That includes similar, if not recycled, character models and cultural atmosphere.

*THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT WAS NOT TARGETED TOWARDS ANYONE OF THE ISLAMIC FAITH. THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT WAS TO EXPRESS THE IDEA THAT EACH NEW GAME WITH A NUMERICAL VALUE (AC, ACII, ACIII) WILL BE SET IN A MUCH DIFFERENT TIME ERA*

*whew*

Now that I got that out of the way, I was hoping that it would take place in feudal China. I wanna see Shao Jun's side of the story.

That would be going back further in time. There's a 300 year gap between Altair and Ezio. Approximately that much between 300 years after Ezio and before Desmond seems to work out pretty well. It's all about consistency.

I'm sure it would be fun to play as Darim, but I could bet you that it wont be him this time. It's either the French Revolution, the American Revolution or (kind of throwing out my 300 years theory) the Wild West, since an xbox avatar outfit from the AC section shows a cowboy Assassin outfit.

I wanna she china also.

But seriously if this is gonna be desmond's final game. Why not just have the game focus on strictly desmond himself?.

He'll have a lot of screen time, no doubt. But the Assassins are still looking for something an ancestor knows. So they're going to find it.

Wait, if that is the case. Then all that would of been solved in ACR. And also, what about the ending of ACR?. Where desmond wakes up and says:

"i know what i have to do"

Are we just gonna..forget about that. Surely whatever it is he needed to know was in that hole cut scence at the end.

Ubisoft has already stated that we're getting a new ancestor and time period in this one. Whatever questions you have will be taken care of.

ACR didn't have any worthwhile reveals. I wasn't shocked at all. And not a lot of people here were, either. If the game answered EVERY question we had, it would be over. It has to leave something for AC3.

Well..i 'll just have to deal with it i guess.

Hey, they thought of feasible ways of bringing Ezio back for two games when it could have easily ended at AC2. They'll think of a better reason for why Desmond has to look through another ancestor's memories.

I bet it will be something like this..

William: Desmond, you have to go back in the animus.

Desmond: *makes a funny come back*, BUT WHY!.

Shaun: BECAUSE YOU DO DESMOND.

Rebeca: Oh MY!. lucy, shes stuck in the animus.

Desmond : i must go save her.

Rebeca:Turns out shes stuck in another of your ancestors time.

If I were to meet Lucy once more, I would go through an infinite amount of animi.
I would suffer The Bleeding Effect tenfold!
I would take any Leap of Faith.

Would you watch Pootie Tang?

I'm sure I would *gulp*

I hope she stays dead, kinda lame if they bring her back now... =/