The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE-7zxDx22U&feature=youtube_gdata_player

^ It seems king george is into singing....

There we are...my Youtube playlist of the dlc!

i've been watching this, cause i'm never gonna play it myself, but i still wanna know what happens.

did you make a mistake in the upload order?

Yes, I left out one video on accident and didn't realize it until 2 or 3 videos later. It's all fixed now. I'll insert annotations to make it easier in the videos to navigate through them.

Just picked this up last night, the new abilities seem interesting, love the alternate history scenario.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4oGSRP81lY

Eagle Power: The ability to...well...fly.

Ezio, eat your heart out.

Holy crap, they're actually putting "Eagle Strike" in the game.

But we'll all know that that's not a REAL Eagle Strike...

I guess our videos on youtube will be harder to search for by the term "eagle strike" after this comes out...

Also, not sure how I'm going to play off the ability to FLY in my mind.

With the invisibility, sure. Connor is so in tune with his environment and nature that he becomes super stealthy and the only way we can render that in the Animus is by invisibility. Same thing with the wolves: Connor is a super stealthy fighter and can instantly kill enemies just by looking at them the wrong way.

But flying.... there better be a satisfying explanation for these powers at the end of the day. [spoiler alert: there probably won't be.]

It's all controlled by the Apple. None of this is really happening to Connor. That's your explanation; The Apple did it.

Okay, so who is using the Apple on whom? That doesn't really answer any questions.

Ubisoft said that this is all canon to Connor (and Desmonds!) story... I just wish they'd release them closer together... 4-5 weeks is more than enough to play 2-3 hours of gameplay...

Perhaps using such a power would drain his life force.

When you start part 1, it shows Washington facing Connor with the Apple in his (Washington's) hands, then Connor wakes up to see his mother. I made a video about a cutscene that happens when you collect all the fragmented memories in the DLC that hints more towards this.

What's next, super strenght?

Can't tell if joking or not... but yes. Power of the bear = super strength. This aspect was released/hinted at a while ago. Only one I didn't know was flight.

Part 2 sucks.

......I'll be uploading it tomorrow.

For those thinking of buying these, I'll post my opinions as well.

I didn't think it was that bad... however, nothing was answered at all. I just wish these parts could stand alone if they are charging $10/piece for them.

They really designed the missions for use with animal powers. With the new one, you don't feel like an Assassin anymore. With the first one it was still sneaking around doing things... Then again, you AREN'T an Assassin, so maybe it shouldn't be that way.

Part 2 just left more questions to be answered in part 3. I hope the payoff is worth it, but having completely beaten the main game once and worked my way through most of it a second time, I find these episodes a nice change of pace. You just have to know that it's not going to be the same.

The lead up to the second Assassination really wasn't there though. Because they want you to use your newfound animal powers, and the second power isn't really designed for stealth, the option for stealth in many of the missions isn't immediately obvious.

It was about 2-2.5 hours of gameplay for me to finish the missions (along with a few side things). I anticipate another 2-3 hours to fully sync the area with the side missions.

Boston does not feel as post-apocalyptic as the Frontier did to me. Perhaps this is because I was flying overhead and not walking around. I need to fully investigate the city more to get the real feeling of the environment and not just go through the motions of the missions.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that it doesn't feel the same as a typical AC game...

The fundamental thing they are trying to do with DLC is give you, not more of the game, but a different game. AC2 DLC was simply because they didn't have those sequences ready for game launch (so I don't count it as the same type of DLC)... and there are still glitches in it. ACRs DLC was a completely different experience to the main game. This is what they give you with AC3's DLC.

That said, to most augment the gameplay, Ubisoft is augmenting their 3 pillars of gameplay with these animal powers.
1 - Stealth has been augmented with the wolf cloak, "stealth on demand."
2 - Navigation has been augmented with the power of the eagle, to zip from place to place in the environment.
3 - Combat will be augmented with the super strength of the bear (from everything I've read, anyway).

So the more we get into the DLC, and the more spirit powers Ratohnhake:ton recieves, the more the fundamental AC gameplay is augmented and supplemented; and the less it will feel like a typical AC game.

Is this good? Is it bad? This will definitely be a matter of preference from person to person. All I can say for certain, is that it is different. And it is different by design.

As for my opinion so far? A nice change of pace from the usual sneaking and stabbing. I like it.

It isn't too different from what we've experienced in the AC games so far. For example:
The power of the eagle sounds like an upgrade from parachutes.
Super strength doesn't sound too different from some of the combat cheats that have been around since ACB.
The wolf cloak is like carrying a hiding spot around with you. The closest thing we had to that was super/hyper blend, which has been around from AC2-ACR (although it's more of an oversight from the game devs).

Episode 1 was actually very well done. Ep. 2 was a big let down for me because it felt too short, had frustrating stealth missions, and doesn't really feel worth the price. The Washington fight was surprisingly enjoyable; it felt like a "classic boss fight".

Part 1

(I used the time I was editing the video together to create a new intro for my AC3 videos, which you can see at the very beginning of this one)

Except for the fact that they are super-powers....

The bear super-strength is is more akin to using the Apple... you'll be able to pound the ground and incapacitate all enemies within a certain radius.

Example of how gameplay has been changed:
- Kill someone from a distance by swooping down on them with Eagle Power
- While in air, switch to Wolf Cloak to become invisible right after killing
- All enemies surround dead body to see what's up
- Use power of the bear to kill everyone at once

That doesn't sound like something possible with other AC games to me.

I like the ability to disappear, then (while invisible) escape via flight to a nearby rooftop. If you use the powers (and not just the powers, but your Bow and Poison Darts) you really can accomplish some great stealth in the environment. In fact, when collecting all the boxes and chests, it's advantageous to eliminate the closest enemies with stealth, otherwise wandering ones will come wave after wave to join the battle...

After playing again last night, Boston didn't have the same apocalyptic feel as the Frontier to me... again, maybe because I used Eagle Power to fly around too much...

Sure, the color palette is grayed down, buildings are boarded up, all the fun birds are still replaced with crows, there are a couple packs of wolves in the open areas, there are firing squads killing citizens on the streets, the heralds are yelling a lot about curfews and whatnot... but for some reason, it doesn't feel as different and dark to me as the Frontier did.

It could also be that I didn't know what to expect with the Frontier... which made me expect more for Boston.

I've played parts 1 and 2 and i like what they're doing with the alternate timeline. I just hope it has a satisfying conclusion and it's not just "kill Washington and Connor wakes up" type of ending.

One thing i really wish was in the main game is Connor's tribal outfit, feels much more appropriate for an Assassin of his origin. Sure it wouldn't blend well in a crowd but when has that ever stopped AC character design?

Or worse, press X to kill Washington.

Unless it was either Halloween or a costume party (similar to the one in Venice in AC2) in the game. Then he would really blend.

So I finally finished the second episode of the DLC today and was wondering what everyone's fastest time was for stealing the bluecoat uniform for Franklin (and meeting the optional objective). With a little luck from my wolfpack, I was able to knock out the guard and carry him back, undetected, in 23 seconds (unfortunately I don't have a camera to have recorded this feat).

Perhaps someone with a camera can take a crack at this. The best method appears to be throwing the wolf cloak on immediately and running over towards the target, calling the wolfpack as you pass by the single patrolling guard. With luck, the first wolf will take out the patrolling guard, you can knock out the target, then the final two wolves will take out the second set of patrolling guards in the main street, allowing you to scoop up the body and quickly run back so fat Ben Franklin can squeeze into it.

There's a very fine line between executing this (I got it once that quickly) and failing (I lost count of how many times it didn't happen). Be wary of the guard on the rooftop up and to your right from where you spawn and the two drunk guards down the alley to your left from where you spawn. If you kill the first patrolling guard quickly enough, his body won't be able to be seen by the two guards on the left.

Seeing as how we haven't had a ton of new content up here, I figured this could be a nice little project for people to compete in.

I'm...........I'm just so......disappointed.

Played the third entry...

What the hell was the point of this entire DLC?

It just f*cking ends!

There's nothing that adds to the story!

Ubisoft failed me again!

Joey, you're forgetting the part where

However, I've only done the first 4 missions and haven't had a chance to explore New York yet... so I will reserve judgement.

The point of the DLC was to do something weird and different that had no bearing on the overall story, so people who skipped it wouldn't miss important plot points, and also to show that

As for

I can 100% see how people might not like it. The animal powers make it feel like a completely unrelated action-adventure game, and it has a very unrealistic feel even besides that. Plus, yes, the whole story is LITERALLY just a dream. (though I suspected that ever since they said it would be canon so it wasn't a let-down for me at all)

The enemy detection glitches were not fun.
it sucks that a lot of the features in the main game are gone.
It sucks that there's no native american language in the game, presumably because recording entire scenes in that language would have taken a lot of translation time and such that they couldn't really justify for a DLC, especially since they're probably voicing the majority of Black Flag right now.

But I liked that it felt like someone took the base game and made something new with it, rather than just cutting something out of the main story and waiting til after launch to release it. So far, all of the other AC games' DLC felt something like that. Even Bloodlines seemed to be some stuff that would have been good to have in AC1. (more than one scene with Maria)

I hope that the next DLC is about giving you lots of advanced assassinations and some cool puzzles, as I think that's what most of the fans want, but I did enjoy this weirdness.

I thought they said this was the only DLC 3 was getting...? I recall that explicitly said that a while back...? o.o

Anyways I had fun with the DLC, some parts were a bit tricky to get a full synchronization but after understanding the formula after some tries and getting lucky in avoiding silly glitches(THAT DAMN SOLDER WAS INSIDE THAT CART?! HOW DO KILL HIM QUICKLY?! *Fails Sync* ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG!!!!) I was able to complete it~ <3

I also DIED a lot in the DLC, something I didn't deal much in the main game which was a nice change of pace from being so OP... xD;

Also I enjoyed

May be slightly off topic, but I thought you'd like to know that Shaun mentions Edward to Desmond in the vanilla non-DLC storyline. So the "marketing trick" was at least somewhat well planned.

I meant the DLC for Black Flag. Yeah, I died in this DLC a few times due to unintelligent Bear Might usage and the seeming increase in amount of enemies and maybe even the amount of damage they do.

I also died in the main game while I was getting used to the way the new combat works. (and due to some jaegers)

Slem, when does Shaun mention it? Is it in one of his optional conversations? I'll keep an ear open when I finish the game again

EDIT: Oh, one thing I really liked was the Bear spirit journey. It felt like Shadow of The Colossus

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought that as well, it was quite nostalgic... =0

Me as well. I liked that (possible) nod at SotC.

Also, I don't think I've died in this DLC. I even got the "Protect the cart" mission the first try. Maybe I'm just awesome.

...maybe? Who are you and what did you do to Joey?

haha... my thoughts exactly, phi...

I tend to die a lot in this episode in my running around as well. If you overuse animal powers, especially the bear might, your health drops fast... don't use the bear when you only have 3 enemies around you, even though it's cool to do so... that's my problem.

One thing that annoys me in the side missions is the inconsistency in achieving them. In the "Save the Civilian from the Blucoats before they kill him/her" missions in particular. One time I did it from the rooftops with two poison darts, done. Achieved. Since then, I haven't been able to use the same strategy and get it to count.

I plan to get my last citizen and complete the last four missions tonight...

Hmm. I haven't had any problems with them, but I always took them out up close.

I finished part 3 and i actually like how it ended. I wasn't sure if they were gonna justify all this in the story but i think having the whole thing:

The bit where Connor talked about his Grandfather, Edward, being a pirate was a nice nod to the upcoming AC4. I wonder where Connor learned about Edward, maybe Achilles knew of him and told Connor at some point?

Yes, it's in an optional conversation. Not sure which one though...

I think it's after the Desmond Skyscraper mission. I didn't know Shawn mentions Edward by name until now when i decided to play through the game again.

I guess Ubisoft always planned to go back to Edward after AC3.

My best guess is that Ubisoft planned Edward as an AC3 spinoff (see: Brotherhood and Revelations for AC2). Many reviewers didn't like AC3, so they distanced Black Flag from AC3 by giving it a number. This is why it has it's own name "Black Flag" and none of the other numbered titles do.

In the final memory sequence did anyone else have issues with

Any comments are appreciated.

After saying this, I feel like I got the "easy mode" version or something.

My experience was the same as Joey's (in his spoiler).

That's really strange that we had totally different experiences. I wasn't prompted to run a system update or anything either, so it wasn't like this was an add-on. I wonder why that happened. Maybe you guys are just so baller that

AC3 got better ratings than revelations, actually. The use of both a number and subtitle was meant to both imply that this is a significant sequel rather than a spinoff, and that it was about pirates.

These projects are worked on in parallel and planned well in advance, I think people assume they have more leeway for snap judgements based directly on the release of the previous game than they actually do. This is not to say that they don't look at criticism in development, but that the decision to make Black Flag a significant numbered title occurred during its inception, not following AC3's critical response.

you put that in the wrong thread by accident, didn't you, Calvar?

anyway. Joey, you ever gonna upload the rest of Washington to your yutube?

Here's the thing: My original editing program somehow messed up. I can't use it anymore unless I upgrade my video driver, which I did several times, but it never worked.

I ended up getting Sony Vegas Pro 11.0 and I'm still getting used to it. I haven't had time to really try it out though. All I need for the King Washington videos is something that will allow me to cut and trim videos as easily as Adobe Premiere allowed me to.

I played Part 3 without recording, but if I can figure out how to properly edit Part 2, I'll post them all up ASAP.

"My best guess is that Ubisoft planned Edward as an AC3 spinoff (see: Brotherhood and Revelations for AC2). Many reviewers didn't like AC3, so they distanced Black Flag from AC3 by giving it a number. This is why it has it's own name "Black Flag" and none of the other numbered titles do."

Response to that post, though I didn't quote it.