The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Those clips that they show after you highlight a weapon are actually game clips of said weapon being used. If you have a Mac, use the x-ray light ( ctrl+option++8 ) to see them a little better. The glyphs that hold the answers to the puzzles are shown directly before/after the video clip, and each one is one of the six answers to the glyph puzzle. Once the glyph puzzle is solved you will be shown the sixth weapon and game clip, and you will also receive a link to download some wallpaper.

I am assuming that the countdown is to the release of the first AC2B teaser, but I'm just speculating at this point. Around this time last year we had the first teaser for AC2, so I'm fairly certain this is what it is.

I recieved this same e-mail message today. I'm guessing that if there's a "Versus" mode (there most likely will be) then you will be able to play as Templars as well as Assassins. If you look closely, each weapon has the Templar logo (the cross) somewhere on it. I couldn't really tell what was going on with the previews of each weapon. Ubisoft's videos don't agree with my computer. I could make out that the weapons were being used, but I couldn't tell what the kill animations were like. If anyone finds better quality clips from Youtube or something, post them here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCX4MbEWEA&feature=player_embedded
There I found a good quality video, enjoy!

I just realized the windows in the animus hall make up a Templar Cross. Don't know how I didn't see that while going down the elevator in AC2.

Oh, I saw this! No, I was talking about the kill animations as you're solving the glyph puzzle on the site.

Gametrailers has that...

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/weapons-preview-assassins-creed/100077...

Did anything happen when the countdown hit zero?

As far as I could tell, no. Just enabled preorders, I think.

There we go! Thanks, YN!

Found out about it a few days ago thanks to twitter, can't wait for it to be released...!!! x3
It's so gonna be EPIC...! 8D

I heard that pre-ordering at Gamestop will give you access to download the Harlequin, one of the classes available to us in multiplayer.

So it would seem. Looks like it's an Assassin class, too.

do you know how many people are gonna say Joker lines? "WHY SO SERIOUS!? LOLOLOLOLOLOL" (shank)

Yeah... I fear for the maturity of... well... any game with that character. He's an interesting character concept, that's for sure. but yeah, too many kids and teens are going to definitely be acting like they're the Joker.

I still am treading with caution when it comes to this game. Can't say I've enjoyed any of Ubisoft's previous MP games. I have a feeling we'll get to see what the gameplay for MP will be like at E3 though.

Actually, looking at that second image, I see three, possibly four of the characters shown on the Gamestop placeholder cover. From left to right, the Priest, the Noble, possibly the Courtesan (or the Templar's equivalent), and the Thief/Assassin analogue.

Never played FarCry2? Well you certainly missed out on a gem then...

So THAT'S What Harley Quinn links to in Batman. Harlequin-->Harley Quinn. I feel so stupid

If La Volpe is unlockable I am unquestionably being him. He was easily the coolest NPC in Florence. Anyway I'm liking that screenshot so far, looks like there will be plenty of overhead assassinating to look out for. I just hope there's a grace period between pouncing on someone and getting up to run again (otherwise there are going to be A LOT of cheep kills). It will be interesting to see how respawning works as well.

How did you get that out of my statement? 0_o

I've played basically all of Ubisoft's major games except the Splinter Cell series (tried playing the first one, felt just plain meh to me and didn't bother with the rest) and had plenty of poor experiences with all of their online games. Hence the caution. My roommate had FC2 on his Xbox, and he enjoyed it, but I found it to be utterly boring. I honestly can't recall the last time that I played a MP game that I thought was really, really fun. Q3, maybe.

I wouldn't mind playing as Machiavelli. I certainly wouldn't want to play as Crazy Caterina. I'd most prefer a create-your-own-Assassin feature, however.

If we don't get to create our own and don't get to use story-based characters, then I think I would aim for a priest or nobleman type.

Do you think you can customize your own character from scratch? Or perhaps you'll have to choose from a variety of classes? Or perhaps a mix of both?

Seems like it's all class-based, and each class has its own weapons and assassination styles.

My question is what side will we be playing...?
Will we be forced to go with Templars or can we choose the Assassins...? =/

Cause most the weapons seem Templar related so I wonder... xP

I believe that we'll be told to be on a side, unless a person is hosting a game, like in Left 4 Dead 1 & 2's multiplayer, such as Versus or Survival, the first-come-first-serve method is used. If you're the first person there, you can choose either the Survivors' side or the Infected's side. If you're late to the picking, and everyone else chose the Survivor's side, you'll HAVE to choose the Infected team. I'm guessing it'll be like that. I hope so, at least.

I was checking the image were Ezio is standing in the top of the Colosseum and thought, will we finally get a hold of that crossbow?
And now that we get into this topic, do you think any other weapon could get into this line-up?

I still don't care for the idea of even having a crossbow. They're military weapons, not something someone who's supposed to blend in with the public would be carrying.

Maybe for a sharpshooting mission?

They're not that accurate. They've got enough power to penetrate plate armor... and that's about the only real good thing going for them. And with one the size pictured on "Ezio's"* back, more than likely it doesn't even have that. An effective range of... maybe 30 meters or so. Accurate at less than 20.

*It probably is Ezio, based on the cover art from Brotherhood, but it's not guaranteed it is him.

And I'm rather conflicted on whether that image is an in-game screenshot or concept art, it seems to be a mix of both. The character model and the building look like they're rendered in-engine, and there are jaggies all over the image. There's also a distinct lack of post-processing on the image, none of the "image blur" we see at longer ranges.

I'm doing size comparisons (>_>) of the dimensions of the Colosseum compared to Giotto's Campanile and Santa Maria de Fiore. The outer wall of the Colosseum is approximately 48m tall, and the whole things about 190m long. Figured, cut it in half that's about 95 meters from the outer wall to the center of the "stage" of the Colosseum.

Here's where I ran into a problem. From the center of Giotto's Campanile to... about the end of the Duomo is only about 75-80 meters, so that's about 15 meters short. However, from the ground to the ledge dividing the top level windows and the windows of the level below, is about 50 meters. Close enough to 48. However, my experimenting has shown that the image of the Colosseum seems to be kind of fish-eyed, as none of the character models at that distance (the height plus the length) that my game is even rendering are anywhere close to the size of those characters shown on the Colosseum image. Even looking near straight down, I'm not seeing the people nearly as clearly or as large as they're shown in the Colosseum image.

Just a quick note on crossbows, in the first teaser trailer Altaïr is seen with a crossbow on his back, right? What most people fail to see is that on his way running up the ramp to his target, he actually stabs one of the guards in the back and throws said guard back with it, releasing the crossbow from his grasp. It is at this point that the crossbow is eliminated from Altaïr's arsenal. Now, originally, the crossbow was supposed to be a lead in towards the hidden gun which was planned to be used in the next game (which we now have in AC2). However, testers found the weapon to be extremely overpowered, and a fifth weapon would not follow the d-pad layout for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 (despite the fact that the dagger and throwing knives were both on the same d-pad selection). Because of these reasons, and because there wasn't enough time to tweak the crossbow to make it more fair as well as to integrate it into the control system, the crossbow was stricken from the game entirely. Whether or not it was replaced with throwing knives is unknown.

@YN
Then it may be just really good artwork. And as to the crossbow, i was just kidding, I gave up on it after not seeing on AC, and as you said, it wouldn't be a good weapon to blend in with, thou I don't understand why they insist on showing this weapon.

I bet you can choose a specific amount of alternate weapons, depending on your class. For example, you can choose whichever Assassin you wish, and maybe you're stuck with their class-oriented weapon(s), but there may be 1 or 2 weapons slots to insert any combo you want. Wow, that paragraph was full of redundancy...

Ok so let's say I picked a "normal assassin", stock weapons are hidden blade and sword, then I can choose 1 more weapon from a list: throwing knives, short blade, poison, smoke bombs, etc. Now I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to implement some kind of ranking system and then as you rank up you unlock more powerful weapons (hidden gun, double blades if they are not predetermined, maybe even bow and arrow).

EDIT: Maybe this post would fit better in the AC Multiplayer topic.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking. I don't know how I'd feel if they did the multiplayer "collectable" system, where there are floating weapons all over the map and you collect one in order to use it. I know that's almost a "classic" multiplayer component in video games, but I don't think that could work in the AC-multiplayer universe.

Also, I think this should be moved to the AC Multiplayer topic, as well.

When I first saw that, I thought of Jigsaw, from the Saw movies.

Jigsaw is an insane Templar. He keeps thinking he puts people into an "Animus". Guess they just desynchronize every time... meh.