The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Good stuff man. I got 5 levels in MP left to Platinum (and to see more of Juno and Erudito's pockets of activity around the world.)

Now everybody knows why I disappeared, the game is that good. =P

Wow just finished the game, that was a blast~
Now to motivate myself to play the MP, if not for the story stuff~ >=P

We can wait for videos soon, Hidden Bladers?

Well, actually I've already got an entire Silent Extermination set up and ready to go, but my pezzo di merda capture card won't work. >.<

If any of you want to make a guide/walkthrough, I'll be very happy to watch it.

I always thought that people here from Hidden Blade could gather together and make a Commentary Let's Play in one of the games as well. You guys are funny, would be entertaining.

Oh my God, you're a genius.

I have a hard time wanting to pick up ACIV it looks fun but I can't just sit there knowing that the next game will be revealed in 4-5 months. It kind've makes me less excited for AC games cause they're getting like C.O.D.

I beat the story today.

I love this game.

A lot has been said already, I'll try and add my experiences where I can.

Edward + story (no spoilers)
I liked Edward's personality and his position in the Templar-Assassin struggle. Didn't LOVE it.
But then there was the ending!!! The ending was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Other characters
They were great. They all had their own things that made them unique and lively.
-PEOPLE DYING SPOILER-

Naval
Enjoyed it very much. The spyglass is very helpful. I even tried to use it in real life. When I was waiting for the bus and thought I saw it arriving, I wanted to check the number with the spyglass. That's how immersive this game is, haha.
I got cocky after a while though. Tried to beat a legendary ship (the one in the top right corner of the map) after I had succesfully boarded a frigate and 2 brigs. "How powerful can it really be, right?" Needless to say, I got blown to splinters.

Stealth
YES. I loved the possibilities and I can't wait to check out what wicked assassination techniques you have used. Stalking zones were very useful and the blowpipe is my new best friend.

Combat and weapons
Somehow it took me some time to get used to the combat. Don't know why. 4 pistols are great, I just wanted a bit more of those to choose from when shopping, in comparison to the number of swords. As for the ropedart, I was bummed that it took so long to finally get that thing, but then again, storywise it makes sense. I completely forgot about the throwing knives, haven't used them yet.

Side content
I'm a bit afraid of drowning and being underwater in general, so underwater shipwrecks were going to be tough. But then along comes Ubisoft who says: "Haha, let's throw in some shark-patrols and ambush-eels, to make it even tougher!"
Nah, I'm kidding. It wasn't that terrifying for me. I liked these.
Harpooning was pretty brutal, I can see why PETA tried to ban AC4, lol.
Cities were great, true AC2-vibe.
Coconut islands, smuggler's caves, mayan ruins - I haven't visited that many locations, so there's still a lot of exploring and discovering for me to do, YAY!

Modern Day
LOVED IT. Missions were decent, but walking around Abstergo, hacking and learning the company's secrets was awesome.

Companion App
Was kinda fun. I didn't really need a second-screen experience to enhance this game, but sometimes, an off-screen map would help. Kenway's Fleet was as expected. Also, it was pretty fun to look for treasure chests with my mom co-piloting.

Misc.
I still noticed some bugs (left over from AC3?), mostly in free-running. Also...
-Story spoiler-

TL;DR - I. LOVED. IT.

I've finished the game, possibly to the fullest extent I'm going to. I don't know if there's any potential for the kind of stuff I liked doing in AC3, though I think on average this is a much better game. Despite the core mechanics being better than they ever have been before, the level design doesn't have the high points I was hoping for. Scenarios are generally either too simple to be satisfying or too difficult to play stealthily without using cheap tactics.

I've looked for a candidate for a nice Silent Extermination, and the best I've found is the second segment of the story mission "To Suffer Without Dying." I thought I was making progress for a bit, but I've encountered a serious problem, a problem new to AC4. Some static guards can now turn their heads between a couple of set positions, a la Metal Gear Solid security cameras. The thing is... they do it at random. They can look in one direction, switch to another, and hold that position for a while, or come back to the one they were at before a half second later and there's no way to predict it. This is arguably worse than those animations for static guards in AC3 that had them covering a huge area with their sightlines, because at least those were at set intervals (aside from starting at a random point at spawn), and they were less common. It's really too bad, since it seems possible with minimal tool use otherwise (no berserk darts, and sadly no rope darts since they're introduced so absurdly late in the story). I'm questioning whether to soldier on with this.

Is anyone else having any luck? Am I completely wrong, or overlooking something important? I'll take suggestions on other scenarios to tackle. In general, I'm pretty satisfied with the game, though it doesn't cater well to my specialist tastes. I know this is a review thread, and this post isn't very topical, but I thought it would be the best place for it.

It's an opinion and a valid one. Works for this thread! I agree some of the paths of guards being unpredictable can be annoying sometimes, but I adapt as I play, so it's actually a good thing for a player like me.

I got a silent extermination in the final mission of sequence 2 fairly consistently once I got the checkpoint system working.

Only if my Elgato would function.

Finally, glad to hear from you. I've been waiting for your new videos, bro!

Unfortunately it doesn't cater well to your specialist tastes, in fact, me too. Unless we can find some way to ensure that they are able to clearly and completely listen to our views, otherwise I don't think that we should take too many optimistic expectations for ubisoft.

I may release my reviews in my videos about Stealth part, when I finish this game, Because I can not to clearly express in English. If anyone wants to talk about it with me, please let me know and I will try in English.

So, I want to know how you going to do? No HUD? Not to be detect any dead bodies? No eagle vision? What is your rules?

Look forward to more exchanges with you. Cheers.

Well, I would be amazed if you managed to do a complete ghost run and ghost extermination (no SSI's popping up whatsoever). This is extra hard because you can't whistle to get guards to come to you.

AC 4 managed to actually beat my expectations, granted they were at an all time low due to AC:R and AC:3.

I really enjoyed both the past and present stories, with the present story beating the past story due to all the new information we got to experience. Plus it had a similar vibe to the present gameplay of AC1 (for me at least).

It wasn't perfect though, I enjoyed the sailing somewhat but it just isn't my thing I guess. Wish they delved more deeper into Assassins/Templar lore/motivations instead of the "we're pirates argg do what we want".

Actual freedom during the assassinations was nice though! I plan on making video's once I figure out a good way to do so on my PS4 . Though the criticism about the targets being a bit random is correct.

Another point of criticism that I have are the "tutorial missions", they take the pacing out of the game imo. And there were to many tailing missions.

But all in all this AC has given me some hope for the future, I wish they wouldn't release these games yearly but I don't think that Ubi is suddenly going to change their stance on these games with the reviews/sales usually being good/very good.

I'm pretty happy with the good comments on the game. My expectations were low since AC 3 (which I had REALLY HIGH expectations for) but one problem bothers me: in AC3 I wasn't that much into sailing. I didn't like that much the naval missions, I preferred to be on the ground, being a badass warrior or killing everyone without being noticed. So.... do you think that I'll enjoy AC 4? (Despite the fact that what I just said is equal to saying that I don't like shooting, will I enjoy COD).

And to add another point of criticism that i failed to mention earlier:

The assassination contracts should really go back to the way they were in AC:2, not side activities that can be done during missions/etc, IMO

Thanks. It's not the paths guards take that are unpredictable, it's the way some non-moving ones change their sightlines by turning their heads. Moving guards with random patterns would be... even crazier, though that's something that could happen in AC3 under some circumstances, clearly unintentionally.

I saw your comment earlier in the thread about how I would love this mission, and you weren't far off; I did like it. It's mainly a tutorial for corner cover and whistle lures, but its open nature makes it interesting. It's problematic in a few ways though. This post got me thinking about why I'm dissatisfied with on-ship stealth in this game in general, and I might make a post specifically about that some other time, since I feel compelled to go into way to much detail to talk about here.

Anyway, it's definitely a good mission, just not great. It falls into the "too simple to be satisfying" category for me personally, but I won't really knock it since it's meant mainly as a tutorial. My favorite aspect of it is the way you're encouraged to transition from ship to ship, using ropes to swing (into assassinations if you time it right, always a bonus) or the nose to leap or assassinate from. Wonderful stuff.

Oh my goodness, I didn't even know you were on this site! Great to hear from you! I'd love to talk about stealth mechanics in general, and your videos will probably provide a great starting point for that conversation. I can't wait! Don't rush on my account though, do whatever feels right.

If I'm going to be doing Silent Exterminations I definitely don't want any dead bodies to be found, but I'm conflicted on the HUD and eagle vision, especially since their functions overlap more than ever before. The random head movements I complained about in my earlier post are more easily read using the HUD, but eagle vision can help there too. If anything I'll probably just turn the HUD off, and use eagle vision when necessary, but I'll experiment.

If I'm understanding you correctly, I completely disagree.

I think the side contracts should be just that: side contracts. Do them whenever you want. If you are on a mission to sail across the world and you happen to be close to an assassination contract, so be it. Hop off, kill the guy, collect your reward, continue doing what you're doing.

I actually disliked that the Naval Contracts HAD to be completed once you got them. You couldn't progress anything once you took them out.

I think it's just a difference of opinion, while I admit that when the assassination target is halfway across the world then yes it might be more convenient for it to be a side activity.

But I much preferred the system they had in AC2, where when you would accept the contract, then it would start a mission. One benefit of this system was that these missions could be replayed (They could be replayed in AC2 right?).
Having the contracts as a side activity also means that I can't reload when I'm trying to do something specific (Like trying to perform a flashy/stealthy assassination) but then failing for some reason. Then I have to either run away and wait for respawn, or I have to kill the target and earn 500 less reales. And because it's a side activity I can't replay it later.
Plus because they don't count as missions, additional objectives/restrictions cannot be added because you cannot fail, the only way to get desynchronized would be through death. This can ofcourse be positive/negative depending on the situation of course.

Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the assassination contracts, they're a definitive improvement over the ones in Ac3, but to me having them as a side acitvity instead of having a mission structure like the templar missions for instance makes it feel as if the targets are just dropped into a random place of the map, having a restricted area slapped onto their surroundings and then a few guards put around them.

but they ARE just dropped in randomly. that's the point. the assassin order in the west indies is behind on contracts and they need someone else to do it when they have time. to edward, they are just "bad people" that need to die for a paycheck. he doesn't care why, so the player (you and me) shouldn't really care that much either.

the templar hunt missions are more to the "killing for a reason" type of assassin contracts. and I loved them.

i cannot vouch for the replayableness... i haven't gotten around to playing anything in a while.

Nothing could be replayed in AC2, contracts are not an exception. I'm not sure about ACB though, as main memories could be replayed there in contrast to AC2's main memories.
AC3's contracts were ridiculous, so anything is better than that, but AC4's Templar Hunts were superior IMO. If only ALL side missions could be replayed... That's something I'd like to see in the future.

Actually side missions are replayable in AC2.

In previous AC's, when replaying the missions, did they allow the use of items that you didn't have at the time? Just tried to replay some assassinations using the rope-dart but I can't use it when replaying memories really lame!

And I was planning on making a video using them! I'll have to think of something else then..

I think it only let you use weapons you had access to at that part of the game, with some exceptions (main missions at least. Since side missions can be done at any time of the game I think you had all unlocked weapons available).

Weirdly enough I couldn't use the rope-dart or the other darts during my replay of a templar mission. Which should be possible I think since the templar missions can be done after you finish the main storyline.

Now I'm bummed out, was looking forward to trying to rope-dart assassinate all the main targets

Maybe the devs thought the darts would give you an unfair advantage, similar to how parachutes couldn't be used in secret locations in ACB (and I remember there was one secret location in ACB it wouldn't let me use poison darts).

Well guess what my present was! I'm currently on SEQ2. In Nassau looting chests, collecting fragments and maniscripts. The game is beautiful to look at. So easy to collect money as well. Its okay so far. I'm gonna take my time beating it.

Just got it thanks to the Steam Sales. Beautiful, and I actually like the naval combat (unlike AC3). On Sequence 2, just overly upgraded the Jackdaw immediately after unlocking the ability to upgrade it. And Edward is monetarily broke for a little bit until I make a bunch of money on chests and ship-boarding shortly.

You can make a TON of money on Kenway's fleet if you capture a couple man o' wars.