The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Lol, I know right? If you take a step back from anything in Assassin's Creed, it always seems so bizarre. It's kinda the western Metal Gear.

Anyway, maybe they'll use the shroud of eden in some way? Maybe they've used it to create a suspended animation or reanimation chamber, somehow. It's one of the least defined PoEs, all I know for sure is that it animate corpses and transfer information and AI into a living being, as well as restoring their health somewhat.

If the DNA encodes everything, they can take a bunch of DNA samples and throw Desmond into the fire, no?

Well the subject being alive was necessary before, which is why Vidic threatened to induce a coma. At this point I think they'd need to at least simulate life and light up neural pathways and such, which is why I think of the Shroud.

I think the DNA is what encodes the memories, but your brain is what plays them back. The animus just induces that playback, records it, and simulates the gaps that your memory leaves out.

Over time, the bleeding effect basically teaches your brain how to access those memories without help, as we saw with Daniel Cross. I'd assume that won't happen with the new models, but the basic idea still stands: they need Desmond's functioning brain to access his memories.

This is all my understanding, I don't know if it's the official explanation.

Oooooor.... they just chop off his toe and that's all they need because of "advancements". I dunno. It would be cool if the writers did more with it than that.

Exactly my understanding. Just advance the technology enough for other people's brains/consciousness to relive memories found in DNA... that's what they said all through AC3, anyway. And how they set up AC4...

I'll have to watch this one later.

From the beginning they've mentioned the present day free roaming and puzzle solving. I'm glad they keep mentioning it, because that way they can't throw it out. They have to deliver on it.

Did they mention it was free-roaming before? Up until now, I assumed that it was all just menus and cutscenes in the present, like in multiplayer.

EDIT: On the subject of Desmond, I would consider it wise to keep his boy in storage o suspended animaton of some kind, in order to ensure genetic material is always on hand.

Oooh, ooh, and they'll also probably intend to eventually dissect him because of the unique properties given to his body by his TWCB lineage.

In a word, yes. Excerpts from earlier in this topic thread...

I'm going to be honest, I would probably pay 60$ for a full assassin's creed game that was just first-person and non-stealth/action about hacking and solving puzzles and finding secret files from insde abstergo.

I get so invested and caught up in that stuff! Glyphs were so amazing.

You'll apparently get your own desk, computer, and everything else an employee would have in the modern day. If you log onto your computer, you can look up information about Edward and other Assassins (I assume Templars as well).

How much do you want to bet there's a secret mini-game on the computer? 8-bit AC1 or something like that? : P

http://kotaku.com/ubisoft-has-three-assassins-creeds-in-development-vow-...

3 new AC games in development? I never asked for this.

Look at it this way: three new AC games were going to get made. Period. It's too big a brand for Ubi to give up on, and having totally new locations, times and characters for each one gives the brand a lot of staying power. You shouldn't expect a popular series that has given itself all of human history to pull from to go away any time soon, and people keep buying them as yearly releases, so don't be surprised if they keep BEING yearly releases.

EDIT: What I'm meaning to say is that even if you're getting tired of the franchise, wouldn't you rather they did yearly releases that have several years of work behind them than doing yearly releases of nessecarily lower quality?

At least they're getting enough time for each one to get made. That's my optimism poking through.

http://www.ausgamers.com/features/read/3316901

It reminds me of Patrice, having a guy with a really thick french accent as Creative Director, lol.

I think this was the first I heard of land-based animal hunting being back in.

Not really much new here, just interesting to hear from the Creative Director.

Re: Ship at beginning of that video

It's not really that surprising that Woodes Rogers and his ships would be in the game, as he was the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas (in Nassau), and Nassau is one of the three cities.

Looks like we found our first Templar, folks. Woodes Rogers - sea captain, privateer turned Royal Governer. Not only that, but a governor that sought to impose more local taxes on the Bahamas. When the governing assembly rejected his ideas for a tax, he dissolved the assembly. Died in 1732.

Either that, or he's a friend to the Assassins and the assembly he dissolved was Templar in origin... but I think it's more likely to be the other way.

Re: animals on land to hunt
Awesome. I'm glad they aren't just getting rid of that mechanic even though we won't be on land a lot of the time.

Re: Bermuda triangle
Vault/Grand Temple entrance?? something else from TWCB?

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Two of my own comments:
1 - ever since AC2 we've been able to open treasure chests to gain resources/cash... now that it's a pirate game, it finally makes sense. haha

2 - no one has asked or commented on whether NPCs can swim or not... this seems, to me, to be crucial given that a lot of the game takes place on water...

Actually, it sounds funny, but most sailors in those times couldn't swim. I have no idea what they're going to decide to do for gameplay balance, but they do have an excuse to keep them from swimming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8nXLl80VnU&feature=youtu.be

Community questions answered by Ash!

First off: enemies attack faster, do more damage, and there's a ranged enemy that can kill you in two shots, all to encourage stealth.

They have a new level layout design process to improve the stealth experience. AI has also been improved. detection rules tweaked. Mantra for stealth: Challenging, but accessible and fun.

Brian Tyler to be doing the soundtrack. He did Iron Man 3's soundtrack, which I loved (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ido-a1W8sN8/), as well as Far Cry 3's soundtrack. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YSluEH0TDA)

Talk about most missions being less linear: you're given an objective, and left free to accomplish it however you can with the tools are your disposal.

New philosophy for full synch constraints: They don't force you to kill someone in a certain way, they ask you to explore the game in a different way. Examples given were "On this mission, use stalking zones" or "On this mission, use the blowpipe".

You can go belowdeck or to your captain's cabin on the Jackdaw at any time. The cabin is access to customization for edward and the jackdaw, and well as control of your fleet.

Multiplayer characters will be back in the singleplayer, apparently involved but not extremely fleshed out. Side missions for certain allies are apparently in, such as (don't know how to spell it) Odo-something, the black dude in the E3 cinematic trailer at the beginning. I think he's your first mate.

There will be ambient music, and you will also find music sheets that you can use to teach your crew new songs to sing while you're sailing. This seems odd at first, but it's genius when you consider that it's perfect for when you're sailing for a really long time across the sea and don't want to do any side-content, just get to your location.

EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWm-V6o3g_0
Hint about watch dogs reference.
Brutes are supposedly tougher, Agiles attack really quickly and thus are harder to counter.

Advice to those who want more difficulty is to not upgrade any weapons or equipment, as even though fighting has become harder Edward will have more of an advantage if he has those things.

So.... just like every other AC game since AC2?

"If you want a tougher game, don't turn yourself into a tank."

Got it.

This only works if baseline difficulty is high enough. It's not. In fact, I would argue there is very little progression in difficulty from the start of the game to the end of the game in most AC games. Notable exception of course being AC1.

For me, anyway, there was noticeable difficulty increase through the course of the game of both the recent games.

In ACR, you get a massive influx of Janissaries roaming the streets near the end, which are more difficult than other archetypes.

And in AC3, the overall guard difficulty in New York is higher than in Boston, and because it is a better British stronghold, there are more of them.

Is either game impossible if you are skilled? No. Can you master both without increase in abilities/weapons? Yes. But the fact is that they both do get more difficult.

Double Mcstab, I think he's saying that the baseline difficulty is harder now.

No, and I believe it's not hard enough:

I meant that Ash was saying so.

Without difficulty settings (argh), they really can't do much, can they? They want the games to be accessible to as wide of an audience as possible, right?

Just like my previous statements of the new Abstergo Entertainment Shell giving way to potential co-op modes in the future, I think it might open up new options for difficulty. "You've shown us that you are an excellent researcher. In actuality, some of the memory has been dulled down to make it accessible to our full team, but now we think you can handle what really happened." -- new difficulty option, no change in story, just a change in difficulty.

I expect the game to be rather challenging if you advance the story without ever upgrading. I don't expect a ridiculous level of difficulty, though I really hope to get a new game + feature in this series at some point.

Ash is answering a bunch of questions on twitter right now.

https://twitter.com/assassinscreed/with_replies

well, that answers that...

https://twitter.com/assassinscreed/status/347801796011495425

and this is freaking fantastic... in a stealth game, this should have always been an option... https://twitter.com/assassinscreed/status/347800176670433280

https://twitter.com/assassinscreed/status/347797075834052609

They mentioned in previous games that it was about wanting to have stealth mechanics that made sense in a social setting, and crouching isn't really one of them. It sounds like it's not a straightforward crouch button. Might be contextual in ways we don't know yet.

Not everything in other games was social stealth though... When Altair is breaking in and hunting down William, why not be able to crouch? When Altair is climbing on the walls of Abul's palace, why not be able to crouch?

There are plenty of situations when it would make sense, but if it's in the game, you might be encouraged to use in in crows, and it wouldn't make much sense if that went unnoticed. That's their logic as I understand it, and that's why I'm expecting it to be more contextual.

it also doesn't make sense to weigh yourself down with plate armor and battle axes and be able to nimbly jump from roof to roof.... but they let you do that.

Roofs aren't in crowds. The idea of free-running is that it gets you quickly away from where you can be seen, even if it's not in a very subtle or normal way. And wearing armor was way less conspicuous in times where... people wore armor. Maybe not every person, but unlike the game's portrayal, which is obviously done so for gameplay reasons, it wasn't only the guards who carried weapons and wore armor.

EDIT: Ohhh, I get your point now. Well that's more of a gameplay concession. It doesn't seriously impact the feel of playing the game, like a lack of emphasis of social stealth would.

Its been confirmed that one of Assassin's Creed IV's DLC will be continuing the story of Aveline (From AC liberation). Interesting....

It's safe to say I'm really looking forward to playing AC4. Even if it means spending 60% of the time in Havana, which I'm definetly going to do. Havana is already my favourite city.

Where did you hear that? The only Aveline news I've read is that there will be PS exclusive missions (think, Benedict Arnold)... which makes sense, since that was a PS Vita game.

The DLC confirmation I've heard/read everywhere is about Adewale (Edward's first mate/another assassin)... who is the black guy on the right of this image.

Did you see this? Your face can be in some sort of painting, apparently.
Right now the site won't load for me though...

@UbisoftUK:
Here is your chance to be a part of the legend in a one of a kind gigantic masterpiece painting of ACIV Black Flag! https://www.ac4bf-defyhistory.com/
(June 26)

Not available in my country, darn... xP

How Edward Kenway becomes an Assassin - http://blog.ubi.com/assassins-creed-4-black-flag-edward-kenway-origin/

"Edward is almost a counterpoint to Connor in some ways."
> I didn't really like Connor, personally, so that's okay.

It's about what we can expect regarding Edward's personal story and characteristics. For example:
“... I started with a guy who was already jaded. He was cynical. He’s out for himself. He has this marriage that’s really rocky. He’s estranged from his wife. He wants to try to prove he’s a man worthy of her affection, so he goes to the West Indies to become a privateer, and that falls apart really fast and he falls into piracy.”

Worst part about AC4 is going to be every review that reminds everyone how much they hated Connor and how much they like Edward.

I mean, it's totally fine if people don't like or can't relate to a character, but hearing about all that has gotten a bit old at this point, especially since Connor is the first Assassin's Creed protagonist I've really related to and it sometimes feels like a criticism of my personal tastes, which is ridiculous of course but whatever.

That said, I hope Edward is awesome, his character definitely has potential.

Kenway saga, eh? Perhaps Haytham is gonna get his game next? I've always wanted to visit London. Though that's probably not gonna work, considering the fact that Ubisoft generally explores time periods that are rarely visited.

Eh, I'm pretty sure they consider Haytham's part of the saga to have played out parallel to Connor's in AC3.

Forsaken already covers his early life, and I doubt there's enough in there for a whole game, at least one which doesn't feel contrived.

Haytham's story is all in Forsaken; Ubisoft would be accused of recycling an already-told tale and being lazy if they did that.

Yeah, I hope we move on to new people and places in the future of AC.

I agree, Calvar. Connor was a change of pace. I've liked all the protagonists for what they are. The Ezio fanboys didn't like the change and made (and continue to make) their opinion known. So Ubisoft gives them a protagonist with more of the charisma they saw from Ezio. And that will continue to come out in previews/reviews.

It was all the dumbassery/repetitiveness in the side content (see: Phi's recent comment in the rant thread) that made the game unbearable at times... not Connor. But he's what takes the most of the criticism.

IMO, a large amount of the side content was the most fun I've had with AC side content, especailly the fleshed out stuff that had a story.

I know many disliked the Homestead, but I rushed to do a new homestead mission whenever it unlocked.

I just loved the idea of Connor creating a community like that, it's a reflection of his own values and personality, since he wants to protect people and do the right thing.

The main character's hideouts in AC have always represented them somewhat.

Altair's giant fortress represented his dedication to assassin tradition, Ezio's restored Villa represented his tribute to heritage, Connor's represents his dedication to justice and his vision of a better world, and Edward's pirate hideout represents his wild, partying side and his willingness to accept anyone who'll party and pillage alongside him.

My problems with AC3 were more in how long they took for the portion of the game where you're learning how to play, and then how they didn't teach much more than the basics during that time.
Haytham's story could have been removed and come back to at a later time in the plot, and more of Connor's training could have been played through.

Tutorialization is that game's biggest flaw, especially considering its complexity.

I agree with the homestead stuff being fun... but not "scan this person doing a series of actions that will take you 5+
hours if you don't look it up."

ahahaha, I don't really consider that to be part of the main homestead content, but yeah, that took me for EVER.

There were a bunch of smaller and kinda unfulfulling bits of side content, it's true, like the assassinations, messages, deliveries, and scans. But those didn't really mar my enjoyment of the game when I played it the first time, as I only went for the major side content. Instead, that stuff gave me an actual reason to continue playing the game for a ton of hours, rather than being done with everything pretty soon after like in some of the other games. I'd like to see those bare-bones side content systems either dropped or refined in black flag, to be more engaging and rewarding.

Agreed. But also, to be clear, my above statements were not directed at you. You enjoyed AC3... for the people that did NOT enjoy AC3, it was the slow pacing and the side content... and Connor becomes the scapegoat.

Nah I know who you were talking about, but I was just sharing my own opinion on the matter.

I don't think I've ever talked about the smaller side-content in the game on here.