The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

I miss grab-throw and grab-move. It was so useful for getting targets where you wanted them for fancy assassinations.

I miss the ability to manually trigger Catch Ledge.
I miss having Walk, Fast Walk, Run and Sprint. In Unity you can only Walk and Sprint.
I miss being able to equip Hidden Blade as a combat weapon.

I miss solving conspiracy puzzles, codes and riddles to unlock S16's messages in ACII and ACB.

It's still kind of there. It's dependent on how far you press the control stick.

If you press part way, you do a slightly slower than normal-for-AC walk. If you press all the way, the walking is equivalent to fast walk from previous games. When you press the stick part way and hold the trigger, you do the old style high-profile run. Hold the stick all the way along with the trigger and you do the full sprint.

It's not a great setup, but a lot of Unity's controls took a hit due to them trying to force in additional features. In an effort to keep the core controls the same as previous AC games, the new ones had to be shoehorned in wherever possible. That inevitably resulted in controls that vary depending on your position and footing.

IMO, they should have just gone back to the drawing board and redesigned the controls in a new way to work properly with everything. The controls used to be really solid in this series, but they kept adding things piecemeal and now it's a mess.

Anyway, enough of my ranting.

What I miss is how a low-profile hidden blade kill took time for observers to determine that the guy was killed. He would stumble for a moment, fall over, then they would approach him and see that there's blood and then go yellow alert. In Unity, if you do a low profile hidden blade kill in an enemy's line of sight, instant red alert. They didn't see my left hand, the guy is still upright, so how the hell do they instantly know that I just stabbed him?

I also miss being able to whistle or call out when in cover. Why take that out? Especially when the mechanics for throwing cherry bombs is such a disaster.

I can actually never get enough of your ranting, especially on game design, mechanics design or level design. It's genuinely my favorite stuff to listen to and discuss - part of the reason I missed you so much. I've gotten much more interested in the philosophy and mechanics of good, tight, fun game design recently. (I tore apart Watch_Dogs for kind of not having that.)

About controls taking a hit due to the attempt to inject new features, that actually makes sense - there are only so many buttons on a controller, after all.

I definitely agree that they should have redesigned the controls from the ground up. If they work well, they work well. I think even AC veterans would adapt far better to brand new controls than we'd adapt to controls that should feel familiar to us - but actually end up crippling us because of the weird zone they're in where they're not quite similar enough to be the same, but not different enough to make us forget about the old ones completely.

Adding new controls piece by piece was definitely a detrimental move. With a series as long-running as this one, being able to change future titles' control setup based on what that particular game requires should be something they deeply consider.

This x 1000. I'd also have preferred that, even if they absolutely must be able to detect you like that - at least make it a rate of detection and not a binary switch that gets triggered. Then alter that rate of detection based on how far away the guard you're Assassinating is from the observer. Air Assassinates or High Profile Assassinates make sense to Expose you, but this? Crazy.

100% Agree. Taking out old mechanics is just sort of weird when their used button wouldn't interfere with another action.

For (Circle) or (B), the button would have [Catch Ledge], [Whistle] and [Knock-Out] all attached to it in Unity. None of those actions happen close to each other in the gameplay psychology of Unity, or if they do, then it's still fine.

You wouldn't mean to Whistle for a Guard that's right close to your Cover. It would be useless, you'd want to take him down anyway. As for Catch Ledge in mid-air, Circle or B or whatever the Drop button is on PC doesn't do anything in mid-air except "buffer" your next Controlled Descent step. The Catch Ledge mechanic and the Whistle mechanic are probably the two that I miss most. The mechanics for throwing most bombs are pretty disastrous but there are so many times that Cherry Bombs barely even register as a proper Lure and enemies just ignore 'em.

I never even thought to check this site back when I was playing Watch Dogs. It had some great aspects (it borrowed from Splinter Cell more than Unity did) but the story was strange and generally uninteresting and the driving mechanics were lousy. I loved clearing gang hideouts though.

Agreed. It really makes me shake my head when you have a certain button to do something when on the ground, but an entirely different one to do the exact same thing when climbing. Like entering windows.

I understand why it was done – there was no single button that went unused in both positions. But that's why the controls need re-working and not just piecemeal additions. They need to not be afraid to do some re-inventing. Some of the best games in gaming history had totally revamped controls compared to their predecessors.

That's when it's worst! There were several unused buttons when in cover, yet still no whistle. They could have even carried over the sound effect from a previous game. It would have required next to no effort to code and test this feature.

If they were worried about it being too easy, then give the whistle a good range and have everyone in the area not investigating be on yellow alert and watching the guy investigating. Then you can't use it to just chain kill a roomful of guys in a doorway.

It seems like they were really trying to play it safe with controls in Unity. There's a lot of stuff where I can't shake the impression that they didn't want any risk of you not having a particular ability available to you when you want it. As if we need to be able to drop down off a ledge when standing right behind an enemy or something. Or going from a cover spot to dropping down (are there even any cover spots right along edges??).

With a little more inspiration, the controls for this game could have been both intuitive and allowed for more freedom. An idea right off the top of my head is to require the high-profile trigger to be held to drop down from a ledge, since it's not exactly a low profile action. Hold both buttons = downward parkour. Hold the trigger + tap B = drop off and grab the edge and stay there. Then suddenly B without the trigger is open and available to anything you want while on your feet.

My thoughts exactly. The cherry bombs are so disappointing. They are difficult to use effectively (especially in a hurry) and they rarely work the way you want anyhow.

At the very least, why can't we also have the option to aim with LB and throw them at the cursor with RB?

I haven't put a ton of thought into it yet, but here's a preliminary concept of how I would do the controls if I were in charge of redoing them:

Profiles:
no trigger = low profile
= high profile
= stealth profile
Note: Stealth profile overrides high profile; holding both triggers allows for more action-oriented controls while still keeping you in a stealthy position and making very little sound. For example, + will crouch-run (faster than crouch walking but slower than running). Another example is + + will allow you to slip down off the ledge you're on without standing up.

In all profiles:
= gadget wheel
= use gadget

Low profile, on ground, outside combat:
= walk
tap = subtle hidden blade kill (if next to standing enemy; will not attack prone enemies), reach-and-stab from cover (does not reveal you, enemy stays where he was stabbed)
hold = subtle hidden blade kill and hold enemy upright until you let go (when next to enemy), pop hidden blade (threatening stance when away from enemy, causes yellow alert when seen)
tap shoulder tap (distraction tool, makes non-alerted enemy turn around), whistle (when in cover)
hold = pickpocket/loot (if near NPC/corpse)
tap = step up onto object (waist height or lower), climb onto ladder, enter window
hold = fast walk (causes more commotion in crowds, may catch a yellow-alert guard's attention if they aren't too far away), standing corner cover (when close to a corner wall)
[click left stick] = toggle first-person perspective (third-person when in cover) with reticle; holding at this point goes into aim mode (threatening, induces red alert)

High profile, on ground, outside combat:
= run (does not make any attempt to get higher, automatically jumps over/slides under objects as applicable)
tap = high profile hidden blade kill (instant red alert when seen, scatters civilians), fires ranged weapon (in aim mode), jumps out and does high profile hidden blade kill from cover (reveals yourself to enemies in view)
hold = draw weapon/enter combat (weapon is drawn automatically if you are put into combat by red alert enemy)
tap = shove (if near civilian or enemy), tackle (when running)
hold = grab and hold enemy (when near enemy), pick up corpse (when standing over corpse), downward free-running (makes every attempt to get to the lowest surface possible in the fewest number of moves and in the fastest fashion possible without injuring yourself)
tap = jump
hold = sprint, upward free-running (makes every attempt to reach higher ground)
[click left stick] = quick-fires ranged weapon at current target

Stealth profile, on ground, outside combat:
= crouch walk
+ = crouch run
tap = subtle hidden blade kill (if next to standing or prone enemy), reach-and-stab from cover (does not reveal you, enemy stays where he was stabbed)
+ tap = pulls enemy down and hidden blade kill (if next to standing enemy; good for in crowds or behind waist height geometry), pulls enemy up and hidden blade kill (when above enemy, good for pulling them out of sight), pulls enemy behind cover and hidden blade kill (does not reveal you; enemies witnessing the target disappear go into yellow alert)
tap = whistle/whisper (gets guard attention in a small radius, all directions)
+ tap = knock on wall/bang sword (gets guard attention in a larger radius)
tap = enter cover (when close to cover)
hold = climb quietly (if near waist-height object; stays low)
+ tap = dive for cover (Splinter Cell style), dive to alternate cover (Splinter Cell style), hop over object (if in cover behind waist-height object; lands in crouch as long as you're still holding the trigger), spin around corner and snap to cover on other side (when in cover behind a wall; works for doorways and 90° corners)

That's a start. If I had more time, I would cover every situation (climbing, combat, etc). I tried to remain consistent and intuitive.

You actually hit pretty much every beat that would be required for a fun, functional control system.
What's more, it actually follows the Puppeteering Concept and the Profile System of AC1! Very nice.
To me, that's what made AC1 intuitive and amazing. I had this conversation with my friend recently and she said;

The additional Stealth Profile controls are wonderful - I was very puzzled by Unity's lack of anything of the sort, really. Holding both Triggers at once does absolutely nothing special.

I don't particularly care anymore which Time Period or Setting Assassin's Creed goes to next - I just want a fun, well-designed Control System, well-designed game mechanics and well-designed gameplay structure.

I would eventually like to see them go back to First Civilization memories in the Animus, as that's a huge part of the Universe and the Lore/History of Humanity. Judging by the Modern Day story unlocked by replaying Unity's Rift Missions enough times, that's actually going to happen eventually.

In terms of the immediate future, and what setting they'll go to that's not First Civ, it's less relevant to me than making a playable game.

So I guess this topic is also about proposed changes and improvements. One thing that comes to mind is the use of medicine. It's obvious why they brought it back. The game's combat difficulty is what keeps people from criticizing the idea of healing.

So I had this idea I call "synchronized healing". How it works is certain actions in combat will heal you. Examples:
Dodge enemy attacks 5 times in a row without getting hit.
Perform a killstreak of at least four.
Get a perfectly timed combo.

Different actions will heal you by different amounts. This will discourage button mashing. It will also need to be well balanced to prevent the healing from being overpowered or underpowered.

Does this sound like a good idea?

If implemented correctly and well-balanced, that sounds like I could actually have a lot of fun with it. Bloodborne already seems to have a similar system in place, so I'll be on the lookout for how that works when it hits PS4. I wouldn't make the system able to heal the Assassin back up to absolutely 100% (maybe have a greyed-out or transparent Lifebar section that only fills back up once you finish the fight, however that is - either Evasion or Killing) but that would do wonders for increasing the tension in a fight while giving Purpose to each possible action the player can perform. Interesting.

just spit-balling here...

Alternatively, you can add a Stamina mechanic similar to I Am Alive (and I'm sure other games too). Health is what it sounds like, your health. Stamina is used up doing high profile actions. Use too much Stamina and it starts to deplete you Health, lowering the maximum recharge of your Health.

To apply this to AC, have stamina medicine (e.g., Gatorade), but not health medicine. The longer you are in a fight, the more your Stamina depletes to the point where you are now dipping into your Health to just swing your sword (you're exhausted). Any Health that is depleted by use of Stamina (vs being hit, for example), can't refill until the Stamina is refilled. You now have a lower health bar for the foreseeable future; you can work through pain, but not exhaustion. This means that the long you are in a fight, the easier it would be for you to die. And the longer your previous fight was, the easier it would be to kill you until you can drink some Gatorade. Your health still auto-refills, but is limited based on how much you've exerted yourself.

At the moment I'm missing catch ledge the most

I don't suppose anyone here has managed to accomplish ledge grabbing consistently and/or from very high places?

I was just about to post something about that! So you CAN catch ledges from high (not sure exactly how high) falls. I jumped from a tower and grasped a ledge in front of me after falling at least fifty feet a few times and got 100 creed points for "breakfall". Looking it up, I found this.
http://www.gosunoob.com/assassins-creed-unity/collect-creed-points-ac-un...

Breakfall - Perform a breakfall after a fall of 20 meters.

Now for figuring out the exact controls. I believe I was holding down the left analog stick (as far as I can tell you can only grasp forward), but I'm not sure about what other buttons are required. Practiced for a little while, but the strange thing is sometimes it seems Arno would grasp the ledge for half a second and let go, dying even if the ground was right below the ledge. Maybe it's glitched or there's a limit. I'll make a video on request.

Another thing. If you don't want to be spoiled about the number of targets in the game like what happened to me, don't read the letter from Prime Games, which is found in the E-manual of the database. The reason for that was to offer help and tips on the targets at a website.

yeah I remember getting that breakfall thing pop-up myself. That's why I was trying to figure out how to do it with a 100 percent certainty myself.

Guess I'll have to try a little harder

This achievement is partly why I said Catch Ledge may not be impossible in Unity.

It's funny - I've only played Unity for a few hours (all on the night it came out) and happened to notice a couple of important things: Breakfall and how to toggle the HUD.

I looked up breakfall online and somewhere it claims you get the achievement from performing a land roll from that height. Now I didn't purchase that skill, so maybe the way it works is if you survive a regular fall from an impossible height the game thinks you had to have performed a roll. Which makes me think the catch ledge might be a glitch, or maybe manual grasp has been extended, which is why you can only grasp forward.

*shock and disbelief* How am I supposed to post videos later in the game if you're not at that part? You WILL play some more of Unity...

^ Forgot the snake from The Jungle Book had hypnotic eyes until I looked it up on Google.

I'm pretty sure that right trigger + free hand (downward free-running) will attempt to catch ledges if you activate it while falling. You'd have to let go immediately upon catching if you want to stay hanging from a particular ledge though.

I initially heard about the HUD hide ability (click and hold right stick) from a video with a Ubi rep a few weeks before the game came out where he said that you can toggle the HUD "with a certain combination of buttons on the controller". I remembered that about a day into playing Unity and played around until I figured it out. It was probably in the online instructions somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look.

Something I stumbled onto by accident is creating waypoints. While aiming with LB, press / to set a waypoint.

I assume this is meant for co-op as it doesn't appear to have any use in single-player.

I found a spot where I can consistently get the breakfall pop-up, I got it 4 times in a row, so it's good to know that these breakfall grabs aren't just lucky/random ledge grabs.

I was holding right trigger and O everytime but I don't know it that affects the grabbing of the ledge or not. One thing I did notice was that if I double tapped X to back eject the ledge would not be grabbed, while a single tap of X did result in a ledge grab. So I guess that the speed of the jump is a factor in the grabbing of ledges (Duhh ).