Glyph Clusters: detailed secrets (spoilers *through all 10 Clusters*)
Making a new topic so as not to spoil things (mods, move this if necessary). There are two "levels" of spoilers -- (1) where the hidden things are, and then (2) what they mean -- and I'm going to hide the innermost level within spoiler tags.
So I just finished the 7th of the 10 clusters and am looking for the really secret stuff that hides in the backgrounds of these things -- AC2 had a ton!
Cluster 5 has the following letters in the background; visible when you move the red camera lens over it: YKVZKSHKX KRKBKTZN.
Looks like one of those classic "Cryptoquote" ciphers from the newspapers. The most common letter in there is a K, so let's make that an E and see what happens. Actually, let's cut to the chase:
Elsewhere in the picture are the words "eye tea tee". Is this the corporation ITT?
Also in the same cipher as above: on the car license plate, you can see LUXJ, and elsewhere SGQ ZNK KUT USB, YIXK.
References to F's visit to Chile. K is probably Henry Kissinger.
Cluster 6: Images of Russia in the 1980s and 1990s. There's a 1980 Soviet stamp, 5 kopeks, which says Perestroika, eto ogora na skivoe tvorchestvo mass. I only had one year of Russian; someone tell me what this means!
The backgrounds feature a lot of
Cluster 7: US Supreme Court. In the background are several strings of numbers: the shorter one (bottom center) is 101, 270, 156, 264, 50, 262, 94, 301, 192, 295, 263, 284, 168. and the longer one (on the left, in groups of three) starts 230, 129, 213 / 218, 251, 261 / 194, 35, 11 / 263, 9, 261...
I thought they might be encoded in a [spoiler]book cipher, in which numbers refer to the initial letter in that word in a certain document -- the famous "Beale cipher" uses the Declaration of Independence. That document doesn't work -- work it out yourself using this: http://members.fortunecity.com/jpeschel/gillog3.htm .
Any other ideas?
And any other discoveries in the puzzles in general? (Nothing past Cluster 7, please!)
I'll see if I can't write out a copy of those musical notations. Might record it on the piano too, if it's anything interesting!
EDIT:
I just wanted to add that these glyph clusters in both ACII and ACB might be the most educated, and politcally aware segments I've seen in any video game. Ever. All this anti neo-liberalism/capitalism (atleast that's how I see it) just blows my mind, in a good way.
NoFlogging, I'm looking forward to it! I know which lines correspond to which notes (E-G-B-D-F and F-A-C-E in the spaces, right?) but have no ear for music and can't mentally "hear" the notes -- and I don't have a piano!
I too an enjoying the political stuff; obscure but not overly so. I love how this game implies that Keynes is a Templar!
Unfortunately it seems like the notes hidden in the picture of Yeltsin shaking hands with someone-I-can't-remember-the-name-of is just random notes.
The sheet music hidden in the picture of the Belavezhskaya forest is so tiny I can't even make out the 5 lines...
Here's a MIDI-file of it:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/83163207b5ce0767/
EDIT
Ooh! I see it now! The musical notations is an encrypted letter. Above the notations there is a key: "f=n". Applying that to the notes of the sheet music gives the letters:
JJMOOMNLMML IJMOIMJO OIMJNNLMMJ MM
Which make absolutely no sense...
NoFlogging, good going! That F=N must refer to something else, then. It's not the key to the letter code in the previous cluster -- in that, an encrypted F is a decrypted Z, and a decrypted F is an encrypted L. Maybe it's connected to the series of numbers in the backgrounds in the Russian photos? I can't seem to get anything going there, though...
OK, I just thought of something using F=N. Cluster 5 had the words "eye tea tee" near the spark of electricity that you had to click on. Using F=N, the word "ALL" encodes to "ITT".
Then again, if you use the cipher that "eye tea tee" was actually in, "CNN" encodes to "ITT". So it's either a big corporation or a big news station that's benig referenced!
Just finished the tenth and final cluster!
Wow!
There's stuff in the backgrounds of this one, and I figured it out quite easily. Still doing some of the drudge work involved, so I'll post (spoilered) solutions later this evening. And I went through some of the earlier ones and found a whole bunch of stuff that I missed, in the backgrounds. The strings of numbers in Cluster 7 are still baffling me, but I've got the rest.
(Cluster 10's background code really was too easy, as were the regular puzzles. I hope people didn't complain about the difficulty in AC2, causing them to "dumb it down".)
Here's the hidden text behind the photos in Cluster 10:
THE DICTATORS CANT CRUSH IT
THEIR CONTROL IS SLIPPING
THE OLIGARCHS CANT KILL IT
CHEMISTRY WILL OPEN IT
THE COURTS CANT STOP IT
ABSTERGO OWNS IT ALL BUT NOT YOU
LEAVE THEM THEIR WORTHLESS PIECES OF PAPER
DECEMBER 21 2012
(spaces added but not punctuation; the last three signs should, from context, be numbers)
Just completed all glyphs last night. Has anyone made it to the end of S16's freerunning area after you solve them all? I saw what happens at the end and I have to say that's another WTF moment. 
Just completed all glyphs last night. Has anyone made it to the end of S16's freerunning area after you solve them all? I saw what happens at the end and I have to say that's another WTF moment.
Yeah, I made it to the end.
Shame that we can't actually see what S16 LOOKS LIKE. But what happened definitely made me look up the quote and think about it. Also, combined with what Juno says at the end of the game.. *shudder*.
If Desmond actually has to
I can't imagine what would happen in the next games.
Also, does that include the possibility that Desmond
This is all getting way too sci-fi for the series, I think. 
I think it's alright, I mean, technically the series IS sci-fi..
The important thing is that they don't take it WAY over-the-top with stuff like energy walls/beams/sabers/guns.
If there's just a hint of sci-fi, that would be great.
I mean, no other game I've known has SO effectively mixed sci-fi with historical fiction. I love it.
I think they should ease up on it just a little bit.
Yeah, wouldn't hurt.
Um, could someone make a map of the glyphs? I'm having a really hard time finding them 
Um, could someone make a map of the glyphs? I'm having a really hard time finding them
Games Radar's page (DAZ's link) really is a perfect guide to finding them.
Thanks for that 
Thanks for that
No problemo! 
What, the maps on this site aren't good enough? 
They're pretty great, but I don't really know where to find them.
And how the Legend is.
Can't really tell what a glyph is, are they the redish squares?
I figured it was obvious when there are dozens of red squares (to be numbered at a later date) and just a couple blue dots on certain main landmarks. There will also be mouseover screenshots coming in the future, but as it is, most of the dots' positions are very precise. Far more than any help the official strategy guide provides.
Awesome. It's just that some people (like me) are a bit slower about figuring out what's what. I don't know, I guess I just lacked common sense in that situation. But yeah, your maps are definitely really awesome, and I can't wait for the screenshots.
Is there anything else I can do around this site, you know, like.. to help?
I don't have a capture card... how much does a good capture card cost, and how do I go about using it and extracting the videos?
I don't have a capture card... how much does a good capture card cost, and how do I go about using it and extracting the videos?
The important question is whether you want to capture in SD or HD. For SD, there's a lot of inexpensive hardware out there. For HD, you really only have two choices, both of which are around the $200USD mark (or higher).
Personally, I can't stand SD. I'm a high-res junkie. I find even 1080p to be somewhat lacking. I don't like watching 720p, never mind 480i/p (SD). I absolutely refuse to play current-gen games in SD. So when I make videos, it has to be in HD. But that's me.
Capturing in SD is both cheap and easy. The Dazzle Video Creator Plus HD is fairly cheap (~$70USD) and is easy to find. But don't let the "HD" fool you – it can take HD as a source (from HD camcorders) but only outputs in SD. There is another Dazzle in (I believe) the $40USD range that is even more basic but still gets the job done. Barring the common ones, there's plenty of other hardware out there too.
For capturing in HD, you're limited to only two devices. The Hauppauge HD PVR, which I use, is an external USB 2.0 device that accepts 720p and 1080i input via component video (so it's analog). It's easy to find and works fairly well. The other option is the Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro (ignore the Shuttle, it's USB 3.0 only). It's digital (via HDMI) and records up to 1080p. It's an internal PCI-express card, meaning it goes inside your computer. Obviously this won't work with laptops, whereas the HD PVR will. The Intensity Pro also requires a fairly beefy system as it records in a less streamlined manner, but you would end up with better quality videos from it, mainly because it accepts digital input (HDMI).
Both HD capture units are around the $200USD range. The Intensity Pro is quite hard to find (usually have to order it online) whereas the HD PVR is available everywhere (Future Shop, Best Buy, etc). The Intensity Pro is higher quality (digital input, can do 1080p) whereas the HD PVR is limited to 1080i via analog. The Intensity Pro requires a somewhat high-end desktop PC or Mac, whereas the HD PVR will work with more modest systems and even laptops, since the interface is USB.
Whatever capture hardware you get, you'll use the software that comes with it to record video. You'll hook your system up to the capture hardware, and then have an output from the capture hardware to your TV. You play off the TV as normal, and just hit record on your PC screen when you want to begin recording. When recording in HD, don't go nuts and record your entire play session. It uses up 100MB per minute recording at 720p and even more recording at 1080i. Recording at 480i would only use about 1/5th as much bandwidth, so you could probably just let it record the entire session so that you never miss anything.
Once you've captured a video file, you need to edit it. Some capture hardware comes with its own editing software, but they usually (pretty much always) suck. If you're using Windows, I recommend Windows Live Movie Maker. It's a free download and it's very easy to use and boasts lots of features. For Mac, I hear that iMovie is pretty great, though it might not be free.
Once you've saved your edited movie to your computer, log into your YouTube account and hit the Upload button. Browse for your video and then wait for it to upload. Edit the description and whatnot, and you're pretty much done. It's a pretty easy process overall.
Hmm. What happens if my PC is one floor up from my PS3?
Hmm. What happens if my PC is one floor up from my PS3?
Then you're not going to be doing any video capture. Unless you get a laptop and use the HD PVR.
Man I had a lot of problems with PC being in a different room when I started.
Here is a quick solution. Move your PS3 next to your PC, instead of plugging it into a TV plug it into the capture card connected to the PC. When you record it, you will have to play looking at the PC, on a small shitty screen with no sound ( I ticked the play sound while recording yet nothing)
Many of my first AC2 vids were filmed this way. In fact I practiced it a bit on my TV until I was satisfied, then I would record like videos in about an hour on the PC, and moved it back. Its a huge hassle but it worked until I got it in my room again
Man I had a lot of problems with PC being in a different room when I started.Here is a quick solution. Move your PS3 next to your PC, instead of plugging it into a TV plug it into the capture card connected to the PC. When you record it, you will have to play looking at the PC, on a small shitty screen with no sound ( I ticked the play sound while recording yet nothing)
Many of my first AC2 vids were filmed this way. In fact I practiced it a bit on my TV until I was satisfied, then I would record like videos in about an hour on the PC, and moved it back. Its a huge hassle but it worked until I got it in my room again
Wicked, thanks.
Here is a quick solution. Move your PS3 next to your PC, instead of plugging it into a TV plug it into the capture card connected to the PC. When you record it, you will have to play looking at the PC, on a small shitty screen with no sound ( I ticked the play sound while recording yet nothing)
Just a forewarning to anyone planning on using this method:
Ensure that your desired capture hardware is capable of real-time output on the computer screen prior to purchase. Most capture cards don't give real-time video. Often you'll have a full second (or more) delay between what you see and what's actually happening. It's impossible to play this way.
If it helps, the capture card is called Easycap 2 i think, something like that. The software is called Ulead, I would use Windows Movie Maker but I fail to record in full screen, my early videos were terrible until I finally used Ulead ( I still cbf getting used to editing as well, its pretty basic software)
Question/request for you high-resolution-monitor-with-capture-card folks: can anyone take a good screenshot of one of the doors in the Romulus Lair that has Babylonian or Akkadian cuneiform all over it? I think it's the lair at the Piramide Cestia, and the door in question is near the end of the lair. I want to try and read this cuneiform and see what it says!
The piece isn't random notes, I'm sure. Sounds a bit classical, but there are songs like it.
Running the piece through tune finding machines didn't deliver anything. Maybe someone knows the piece?
Double posting because new info has come up. The cipher of the music has been cracked. 
Topic on the forums: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5251069024/m/6071093398
TLS, some guys at GameFAQs have been working on the puzzles too, and have posted detailed answers for the musical note ones. I *never* would have gotten that!