The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

On the one hand, it sucks that I wont see all you THB folk's high scores since I'm playing on Xbox One, but on the other hand I'll be able to live in ignorance of how much better you all are than me : P

That's cool. Let us know how it plays.

I don't plan on getting a new console anytime soon as I just replaced my Xbox 18 months ago and have many unplayed titles.

From what I hear, current-gen AC4 won't be much different other than less environmental physics and slightly longer load times, so you'll be fine!

My mind automatically read this in the most sarcastic form possible. I'm sorry, but I did laugh at it.

I think I'm going to hold off on the PS4 for at least a year, just so bugs can be worked out and the price drops and whatnot. Pre-order on PS3's AC4 is looking eminent.

Assassin's Creed 4 director Ashraf Ismail tweeted that the PC version will be available "2 weeks later" than the consoles. For now I'm not accepting this as an official release date (it doesn't even mention a date). At least it sounds like they're making an effort to get it published in November.

That's better than usual PC releases for AC, isn't it? The others usually didn't come out for a couple of months after.

Yes. I believe only Revelations achieved this two week delay from console to PC.

X-Bone: 11/22/13 http://news.xbox.com/2013/09/xbox-one-launch

I saw I could get a discount on AC4 if I ordered it now, so I went ahead and ordered it. I know I'm going to buy it anyway, might as well be early. After all, I was too late with ordering AC3 and had to wait a few more weeks.
The site said: "available 1 November 2013"
Does this mean that's the release date for PC-Europe?

Lol, looks like I'm either going to have to go dark for a full month, or buy the 360 version and get the One version later.

I may actually do that. will be an interesting benchmark to compare next-gen to last.

I'm getting AC4 for the PS4 because they're both fours.

And Aveline missions.

...

Both the new Batman game and AC4 get bonuses on both Sony consoles. Glad I'm getting both practically free!

Arkham Origins gets extras on the PS3?

What do they get?

I remember that Asylum has PS3 exclusive Joker challenge maps.

I'm getting Arkham Origins for PC because I don't have a current-gen console.

Taken from the Gamestop description:

"Pre-order Batman: Arkham Origins for PlayStation 3 and receive the Knightfall Pack!
Exclusive to the PlayStation 3 the Knightfall Pack includes:
Bane's forces have seized control of several key locations across Gotham City and only Batman can stop them! Inspired by events from the DC Comics Batman: Knightfall story arc, you'll fight your way through five challenge maps and push yourself to the breaking point in a new challenge campaign! This pack also includes two new skins: Knightfall Batman and Classic TV Series Batman. "

At least it's a separate character and not part of Edward's story, that's nice. I feel like I'm getting the full AC4 experience.

It'll probably be just as small as Benedict Arnold's stuff, I'm totally happy to just watch it on youtube.

And I think I decided to just go complete blackout as soon as AC4 releases. a month isn't too long.

Actually, I feel like the Aveline stuff should be longer than the Benedict Arnold stuff, because it is a separate character.

Well, I at least expect to be able to free-roam as her in whatever areas her missions are in

I wouldn't expect free-roam beyond the area the missions are in. Like, within the actual memory, and probably with "head back to the mission area" notifications. Reason being they won't want you to explore to much because then they would have to adapt parts of the game world to make sense with the time period Aveline is in, where the golden age of pirates is over and many things have changed. For that reason it will likely be in the Carribean map in jungle or ruins.

They said the Benedict and Copernicus missions were 60 minutes of content each, and they said the same for Aveline. Don't expect too much. :/

Those time things really don't mean much to me.

And since you access these memories through a different animus than you access Edward's memories, I fully expect free-roam for Aveline.

that particular fictional element doesn't restrict them in any way. They could just as easily make it a menu from which you select memories.

And the fact that it's going to be running on existing assets and using existing geography is still there, just like all the other exclusive content for playstation that AC has had.

All I'm saying is I'll be happy watching it on youtube after I finish with the rest of the game, and I don't expect it's going to be a super pivotal moment in the story of Aveline.

Well, Darby said that you access the memories through a different animus. In the modern-day you go over to one of your co-worker's work area and access the Aveline memories through their animus.

And I have a feeling that it's supposed to close Aveline's story.

Yeah, I know what darby said. What I'm saying is that using an animus as an access point doesn't mean they are bound by law to create or utilize a totally full-featured free-roam world/environment (for 40-60 minutes of missions) and they could easily just bring up a menu interface where you choose memories.

Neither of us know exactly what they will do, I'm just saying they're still free to do whatever they want even though they're using an animus and another character, as long as they thinly justify it with appropriate UI and context.

This was a total slap in the face to non-PS3 gamers though. Benedict Arnold was a MAJOR player in the King Washington DLC. Connor referred to their past in the DLC. He was a main assassination target in the DLC. If you were not as tuned in as other people and only casually played the game, talk about a huge moment of confusion with those conversations. "Wait. I never met Arnold before. What is going on?"

Should be November 22, not 29.

I doubt Aveline's missions will be free-roam. It's a tiny extra exclusive piece for Playstation owners. It most likely will only be missions like Altair's in ACR. I remember a screenshot of her in a sewer-like area sneaking past soldiers.

Still, I've been wanting to play as Aveline since she had her own game on the Vita. I'm excited no matter what.

He was a major real life historical character and information on him was in the database. It doesn't really matter if you played his little DLC that barely explained anything about it.

It kind of does, though. Connor talks about him personally meeting Arnold and what he experienced with him. Some people do some research with these games, but the majority doesn't. Anyone that bought the DLC was sitting there thinking, "Um, where was this guy at?"

Bad writing plot holes.

How is it bad writing if the parts that explained who he was were written? You can be damned sure Corey May wasn't the one who said "hey, can you make sure LESS of the people who play this game see the stuff I wrote?" that's a business decision, and was made by a person on the business end.

I can assume that Connor met some people that the player didn't see in AC3. Just like I can assume that Connor learned about Edward sometime offscreen.

None of the DLC requires you to know anything about what Benedict was like before. He's pretty much a totally different character.

Would you find it interesting to see how he's changed from his last appearance? Sure. But at no point is it crucial to understanding the plot.

If the character directly references a story plot that was exclusive to a particular group of people, then the player will be confused if they didn't watch or play through the specific set of missions.

They could have left it alone and have him be another target and leave his info in the database, but they decided to assume everyone that plays these games knows who he was in real life and Connor's story.

They overlooked it, which happens in any media.

Oops. Fixed.

Thanks for the info, Cheese. I had totally missed the announcement.

That screenshot was concept art...

And they have the abilities to give her a free-roaming area. I would be surprised if she didn't, considering it's probably her last story.

I will bet you any amount of money that they didn't forget that his missions were only exclusive to PS3. Just like they didn't forget that not everyone watched Embers when they made a Shao Jun reference in AC3.

If someone gets a reference, it's fine. If they don't, it's not important to the story.

Even if it was a colossal mistake, the fact that it doesn't matter to the overall Tyranny story means it all worked out in the end and it doesn't really matter.

I think it DOES matter to the Tyranny story though. That's the key difference in our opinions.

No, you think it ADDS to the story. It shows you an alternate version of Benedict, and if you've never read or heard about any of his history or played the ps3 missions, you don't know what he was like before.

However, knowing what he was like before is not CRUCIAL to the story. His character and motivations are explained and clear within the context of the Tyranny DLC, and in this universe, he never even did any of the stuff that he did in the PS3 content.

When I say it doesn't matter to the story, that's not the same as me saying that it doesn't add anything. But the things that it adds are not important in the context of the story that The Tyranny is telling.

Now, in the case of Daniel Cross, for example, the fact that he wasn't supposed to be chasing Desmond is a HUGELY important part of the AC3 story, as it doesn't make much sense why Abstergo would keep sending a guy who gets beat up so easily and is suffering from the bleeding effect.

But that was hidden away in a limited-access augmented reality game.

And the fact that he was mentally damaged at all was only explained if you did all the side conversations.

One of these things damages how a player might understand a story, one doesn't.

They both lack a lot of explanation, but AC3 suffers from that at so many points. These are two big examples of plot holes that the writers assumed every player would simply work out in their own minds without any hint of the history of the character.

I know Benedict Arnold from history, but I don't know Benedict Arnold from Assassin's Creed's history. They could've made him out to be a different guy to make me see him differently as Connor. But all we get is:

"Hey, you did that thing man!"

"Nuh uh! You're crazy!"

"You no remember? Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrnn..."

I'm sitting in my chair thinking, "That paraphrasing was overly simplified" and "But what exactly did he do?! I'm out of touch because I played on Xbox 360!"

They simply had to flesh it out a bit more. Maybe give us a flashback scene of Connor remembering Arnold, similar to the beginning to every AC game where Desmond explains the backstory. It's not hard to do that without calling your fanbase stupid.

Seeing how linear the Altair memories in ACR and Desmond missions in AC3 were (and they were basically their last story) I wouldn't get my hopes up. Of course that's left to the development team, but it seems they prefer these linear type sequences.

OK, so I just went and watched the cutscenes for Tyranny Episode 1. At no point in the DLC does Connor refer to Benedict as if he has known him before, and his speech after assassinating him is entirely about how Benedict has been under the apple's control and doesn't remember anything, but then he tells Connor to go to Boston and free Ben Franklin. There are no references to anything that happened in the PS3 DLCs or what Benedict was like before the apple controlled him, nor what he was like historically.

He could literally have been a totally random dude and it wouldn't have made any difference, all you'd have to do is change the name that people refer to him as and use a different model.

EDIT:

Ooh, info about Aveline's missions:

@AshrafAIsmail
Its been 5 years since the end of Liberations, and she is not a pirate.

They couldn't have free-roam for Altair because it wouldn't mesh up story-wise. Ezio was just reliving specific memories that Altair put in the seals, and Desmond didn't have access to Altair's memories past the point he shagged Maria. And you did have free-roam as Desmond before the game ends, only in the cave though, but that's good enough for me.

Also, it's not like I'm expecting free-roam in the Caribbean, I'm not even expecting side missions. But I do expect to be able to free-roam in whatever city/area her missions take place in.

It would have been the easiest thing in the world to say that the Seals let you free-roam, after all they're very similar to animuses.

Why didn't they? Because making a free-roam environment, even one created from the same environment the existing content was using, that's a significant amount of extra work.

If you combine that with the fact that there could be plenty of contradictions considering the time period Aveline's stuff is going to take place in clashing with the NPCs and systems that are set up in the default game world, free-roam has even more challenges and work attached to it.

I've said before: I'm not trying to tell you it's impossible or that I know for sure it won't be in the game. I'm just saying that there are plenty of reasons for them not to include free-roam for Aveline.

And considering that you're only playing 60 minutes with her, that implies that the animus you're accessing is only displaying a small portion of her memories, designed for quick viewing. That would be an excellent excuse for the free-roaming to be cut out, since in literal animus terms the free-roam portion is there to help you coax your ancestor's memories into revealing themselves.

It's basically like someone else finished playing a version of AC5 that featured Aveline and you're seeing the result: what they were supposed to find by working on those memories.

You're working towards finding a similar small sequence of memories with Edward, too, and when abstergo higher ups want to view what you find, they aren't going to want to dick around with free-roam. For us, this is a fun game, but they only care about the actual knowledge the memories give them.

Again, just saying, the devs can really do anything they want to do, since the animus is such a flexible fictional excuse.

Animus fragments. I think they're for finding Haytham memories.

I want Aveline free-roam mostly because it's probably going to be her last story and the only one on a main platform with graphics that are actually high-quality.

I certainly hope it's a good last appearance for her, but free-roam won't make her missions or story better. I agree that it would be cool, and I'm certainly not wishing bad content on you. I just have reasons for not having high expectations.

And I have no idea about the fragments, but I honestly am not that excited by that idea. I would much prefer the animus ghost of Desmond appearing, or something totally new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CcKMetP1WHY#t=21

Connor: "I have waited a long time to end your treachery. You escaped me once, but today, you die."

Arnold: "Who are you? Wh-What is happening?"

Connor: "You know who I am!"

Clearly referencing the dlc when they met, as in this alternate universe, they never met before. Oh, and Benedict Arnold escapes Connor in the PS3 DLC at West Point (Available on the Assassin's Creed Wiki; couldn't get the link to work).

It references the DLC directly. That's the proof.

Like we said, Ubisoft should've given us some more info for those that couldn't play/watch those missions themselves.

Oh, didn't catch that.

I assumed it was referring to earlier in the DLC.
And I actually DID watch the PS3 missions. It's very likely non ps3 mission people might just assume it's talking about earlier in the DLC as well. And it's still not an extensive conversation like you implied, it's a single-throwaway line in a conversation that never revisits it.

Connor pretty much summed up the plot of the PS3 missions in that one sentence for anyone who was confused. no need for a recap. It's just like the Shao Jun or Edward reference. If you didn't watch Embers or didn't know about AC4, you wouldn't understand the full implications of those throwaway lines or have seen Connor/Achilles learn those things.

But you get the basic idea: Benedict escaped Connor before. Connor's grandfather was a seafaring dude. Some person called Shao Jun left the Order some designs.

But really, in Tyranny, Benedict's only story function is to establish that Apple-controlled people are not in control of their actions, and give Connor a mission to find Mr. Franklin and free him from the Apple.

One thing we can all agree on, I hope: Console exclusives which are mission/story driven are a slap in the face to fans that use a different console. Want to give PS3 users a new gun or costume? Fine. That doesn't affect the story in any way.

Nah, a gun or outfit is way more substantial. All they need to do is continue to not make the extra content crucial to understanding the larger story, and you're good.

Besides, Aveline's whole game was exclusive to Vita before, this is nothing.

EDIT: http://www.polygon.com/2013/9/6/4702106/report-assassins-creed-liberatio...

heh, literally 1 second after saying that I saw a news article about AC: Liberation HD. Guess it's probably coming to consoles.

Uh.. a gun or outfit is more substantial? Story stuff is the driving factor in whether or not I even want a a DLC, let alone buy it.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Liberation HD was PS3/PS4 exclusive.

Only a substantial story is more substantial. And I haven't seen any PS3 exclusive missions that have substantial story elements yet.

You can easily watch story on youtube and get the full experience of that, but with an weapon or outfit, those are things you enjoy throughout actual gameplay.

I dunno, I tend to not buy outfits or weapons as DLC because I think they're useless.

Well we were talking about getting them for free with the playstation versions, not paying for them.

Holy hell, yes!