The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

The Hidden Blade's member spotlight turns to YurkleNorf for September. Some of us know him better as bobbyrk on GameFAQs, where he has been the resident expert on Assassin's Creed games from the beginning. Here's what he had to say in our interview:

Tell me about the first time you played AC.

Rather than answer this directly, I'm going to start by my very first introduction to the series - reading the GameInformer cover article from June 2006. After reading that, I knew it would be a hit series. In fact, I bought my 360 JUST for Assassin's Creed. Now, the first time I played Assassin's Creed, I sort of knew what to expect from some of the promotional material and whatnot, but seeing it in action, seeing the crowds, and how movement was so fluid, was just a wow moment for me; being that aside from maybe Conan, it was my very first "next-gen" game didn't hurt either.

What do you like most about the games?

The overall story for sure, even though it's taken some twists and turns that may have been unnecessary and the presentation hasn't always been up to par.

What AC accomplishment are you most proud of?

Well, this isn't actually an in-game accomplishment, but it does have to do with the games, I promise! Back in 2009, I wrote up a pre-release FAQ for Assassin's Creed 2 that caught the eye of the dev team, and Corey May himself sent me an email saying that the team really liked my work and wanted to thank me and send me a shirt. Coming home from classes and spotting that email just made my jaw drop.

What is your favorite quote from the games?

Al Mualim's scriptural quote: "I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind. For in much wisdom, is much grief. And he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow;"

That or "Nothing is true, everything is permitted," of course.

What would you like to change about AC?

Make the enemy AI a bit more difficult, and stop giving us these godly weapons. We went from having to be careful when there are more than half a dozen guards (in the original) to having bombs that can kill entire groups of guards in one shot. With the kill-chains in Brotherhood, six guards aren't even a problem anymore, they become a six-second roadblock.

Which Assassin's Creed game is your favorite: AC1, AC2 or AC:B? Why?

AC1 for sure. As I've posted around before, AC1 may have flaws in its mission structure, but the story elements behind it were perhaps the best of the series, with very well written enemies and more of a shades-of-gray morality structure, as opposed to the rather simple coming of age story in AC2 and the barely-worth mentioning "villains" of Brotherhood (not to mention their abandoning of the shades of gray for a more simple LOL TEMPLARS ARE EVIL JUST BECAUSE approach)

Who is your favorite Assassin's Creed character (main or secondary)?

Either Malik, La Volpe, Rosa, or Leonardo. Sorry, I can't pick just one :/

What time and place would you like the animus to go to in AC3?

Ooh, good question. I don't really want it to go up to (or past, for that matter) the American Revolution, though setting it further in the past may be hard for some people to take (they'd lose half of the arsenal that Ezio has developed), I'd prefer something more like ancient Greece or maybe Egypt.

When you're not playing Assassin's Creed, what other games or activities do you enjoy?

Games-wise, Minecraft is a big one. Also been playing a lot of older games that I missed out on in my youth thanks to emulators (and remakes on the DS) - though by now I've got around 70 games on my Steam list, and I've only played about half of them, so I'm trying to catch up on some of those as well.

Otherwise, well, Star Wars is a big thing, something I've always been into, probably the only thing from my childhood that I'm still a fan of.

We have five dogs (a standard poodle, two dachshunds, a chihuahua, and a pomeranian - and that's not including the chihuahua puppy that we're taking care of for the time being!) at our house, so things can always get a bit hectic there.

I like to read a lot as well, mostly fantasy with some sci-fi mixed in every once in a while, or some other genre when something looks interesting.

I've also started getting back into Pencil & Paper RPGs - starting with a few games with some friends online, including one that I am getting ready to launch.

Is there anything else you'd like to add or promote?

Just that I appreciate all the work that the staff here have put into the site.

What question would you like me to ask the next featured member?

What is your opinion on Ubisoft making the series a yearly title?

And here is a question from the last featured member, PatrickDeneny:
If you could add anything to a previous or future AC game (weapon, assassination, technique, target, city/location etc.) what would it be?

Well, since they're keeping the chain-kill from Brotherhood in Revelations, maybe add unarmed chain attacks. Otherwise, make unarmed just as viable as any of the other weapon varieties, without having to resort to disarming enemies - especially if the next assassin ancestor is going to be nearly as well-trained as Ezio is. That's one of the things that always bugged me.