The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

I put away my Assassin's Creed disc when Assassin's Creed 2 was released about 21 months ago. Shortly afterward, I lost the disc, and I was pretty much convinced that I would never see it again. Much to my surprise, I found the disc about a month or two ago, and I started playing it again a few days ago. It was nice to play Altair again...

Eagle strike on Sibrand from the top of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross

The Cathedral of the Holy Cross has the highest viewpoint in all of Assassin's Creed. Way back in 2009, Caim256 took the challenge to perform an eagle strike on Sibrand from the top of the church. He did a great job working his way up to higher altitudes, but he had trouble getting much more than half way up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCmbWI3tY80

The problem is that, at any higher altitude, you need to manually aim the jump, which is difficult on console controllers. (I'm pretty sure that aiming this jump is easier using a PC keyboard and mouse.) Complicating matters is that it can take up to 10 minutes just to set up an eagle strike attempt - and then you have to start all over if your aim is the least bit off because Altair will die.

Here are important tips on executing the eagle strike.

1) The most important trick is to use markers at the corners of the screen to fine tune the aim of your jump. Position Altair at the very end of the cross, and make sure that he has the same pose each time. Aim the camera down as far as the game permits, and press the high profile button (which causes the camera to zoom out a little). Twist the camera and pay special attention to what you see at the corners of the screen. Once you have the right camera angle, tilt the left stick straight up. I recommend looking at your controller to make sure that the stick is precisely tilted in the up direction. Press jump when you are ready. If you've done everything right, you should be able to very precisely aim your jump this way.

2) If you've done eagle strikes and other stunts before, you know that practicing the jump several times ahead of the assassination mission is often helpful. An important consideration when practicing this jump is that Altair does not leap as far after he has been injured. This means that your aim on the jump needs to change depending on whether Altair has been injured since the last checkpoint. Waiting for the sync bars to fully regenerate does not restore Altair's jumping distance.

3) You need to catch the last ledge before hitting the ground. At this height, Sibrand will start to move again, which is what makes him vulnerable to the air assassination. You can watch your shadow as you fall to help with timing the catch. Remember - it's better to catch the ledge a little too early than a little too late. If you catch early, you can climb back up to the top for another attempt.

A real leap of faith
I think this is the farthest that Altair can fall without using a haystack. Altair brushes against the tree to break his fall. Jumping from any higher causes Altair to miss the tree. I actually recorded this clip years ago, and I've been looking for an excuse to include it somewhere.

Complete Setup of Eagle Strike
This is the unedited clip of me setting up the eagle strike. It takes awhile, so I don't actually expect anyone to watch this unless they are trying to duplicate then stunt. Here are some tips:

1) When the chase begins, stay within 15 meters of Sibrand so that he runs instead of walks toward the guard tower.

2) Once Sibrand reaches the guard tower, he will start to chase you. As you run to the Cathedral, do something random every once in a while so that he doesn't trail too far behind you. The mission ends if he is more than 60 meters away.

3) Throw pursuers off a nearby rooftop to quickly eliminate them. Make some effort not to injure Sibrand too much; you don't want to accidentally assassinate him here. He is not injured from falling.

4) As you start to climb up the cathedral, you will need move around a bit to manipulate Sibrand into a favorable position. Use the fact that Sibrand will back up to throw stones as a way to position him.