Early Death: A Man They Call the Sage
[Front-paged. -stabguy]
Sequence 2 memory 4.
A Man They Call the Sage
At the beginning of the memory you catch glimpses of assassins running around. So far I've seen five, which all can be killed in one take. They're everywhere, in the streets, on rooftops, even in haystacks. Some are scripted to appear at certain times, while others are affected by being within a certain area of them. And they disappear at a certain point, so killing them has no effect on the mission.
For the mission itself you protect Torres from assassin attacks. The rooftop archers are the only ones who can do damage to him, so if you take them out fast enough there are no worries about him losing any health.
Early Death
The last part of the mission has you chasing after the Sage. The game developers didn't want you to be able to kill him, and so desynched you if he was killed or incapacitated. However... there is an exception. A ground stomp, which actually seems to start the scene.
The way I did it was plant barrels from the nearby places (one in a restricted area and two in a building) and shot them after the scene to knock him down. It seems the barrels will kill him if he's too close when they blow up. A ground knockout with fists or hidden blades is recorded as an incapacitation in the stats, which is a way of assassinating targets, so I'd count it as an Early Death.
A ground kill with swords desynchs you. Also if you perform an air tackle you have time to perform a ground stomp (not enough time with a regular tackle), so using barrels isn't necessary, although it adds some THB flair. Since it's so easy I expect other people may have discovered this, although I have yet to see anyone else document it. Another thing to note is if he's knocked down and you get near him the scene starts even if he's already gotten back up.
Preventing a Scene
Normally the scene starts when Torres and the Sage reach the last place, you are within a certain area and aren't in open conflict. However exploding barrels move both of them, which in turn can prevent the scene from starting. I've tried this trick to move other invincible characters in the game, without much luck. The other Templars stand nearby and walk back to that area if moved, which takes away creative opportunities. I've also found if El Tiburon is hit with a smoke bomb while in a battle stance he swings his weapon at you a few times.
This entire video was incredible!
Shoutouts to Aurel for using Controlled Descent... Before it was even implemented...
@3:18
Well thanks guys. 
You know now that I think about it Early Deaths seem a bit more, what's the word, a term I use loosely. Some of the games have targets you kill only to have them miraculously survive, even though the games counts it as a kill. One good example is during one of the Templar Hunts. After killing the wrong target you enter a cutscene where he's all like, "don't kill me, you've got the wrong guy". At this point I'm thinking it's too late, but the game's saying honest mistake, you didn't really kill him. 
Somehow I think the stats beg to differ.
And now that I think about it, I would consider the unarmed finisher on Dante Moro in Cheaters Never prosper memory a successful death.
Well thanks guys.And now that I think about it, I would consider the unarmed finisher on Dante Moro in Cheaters Never prosper memory a successful death.
I mean, you clearly should have killed Maria in the original game with whatever move you tried, right?
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Now it's like everyone has their own reason for liking the video. Anyone notice at 1:15 Edward forgets the Templar Armor outfit doesn't have a hood?
I mean, you clearly should have killed Maria in the original game with whatever move you tried, right?
Yeah that would be the first example. However it wouldn't be unreasonable to think she could have survived a stab to the chest, although the counter kill animation for stabbing someone in the head would be a little too unrealistic. The most realistic way they've done a surviving target in AC is with Shakulu the Renegade because first of all he had good armor and second of all the game tried to make you perform an air assassination.
AC1 is the most realistic of all the games when it comes to killing targets in that taking down their health results in a kill with the hidden blade instead of saying that normally non lethal takedowns actually kill them. Hopefully the future games will try to fix this issue.
When you grabbed the explosive barrels from the small patio, I smiled a little. 
I knew these were going to be really funny the minute I saw them in AC3. Remember the firecracker assassination of Johnson?
When you grabbed the explosive barrels from the small patio, I smiled a little.
I knew these were going to be really funny the minute I saw them in AC3. Remember the firecracker assassination of Johnson?
My mouth stayed open for about a week after watching that video. 
That was awesome, my favorite part is how you killed the five first assassins in the beginning.
And the Templar outfit was a nice touch, considering the nature of this mission 
Nice! That looked really cool.