The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

I've got some free time, I'll try and compete.

One thing I forgot to mention...

• To make it a more thematic game, when there is an Assassin's Creed connection to the location, I will use it.

Day 1: let's start easy with lots of clues...

• This location is hugely important for both the past and the present day storylines of Assassin's Creed.
• It is the location of a large Abstergo facility.
• The city was cut as a free roam city due to its layout being too perpendicular and regular, it just wouldn't have been fun to play.

Just looking for the name of the city this round.

(Today is mostly travelling, no idea when I'll post tomorrow's clue).

You're in Philly, aren't you?

Day 2: This capitol city showed up in way or another in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Revelations, Rogue and Project Legacy.

That's all your getting for now because we're here for a couple days before moving on. Today, just the city.

(Please post answers in a private message to me. )

Also, because of my intermittent Internet which I don't know when I will and won't have, I'm posting all from my phone when I can.

(In case you're wondering: yes, day 1 was a layover city).

Day 3. In the mid-eighteenth century, a massive earthquake ravaged this city (same city as day 2). However, we know what really happened. It was the result of an assassin disturbing one of the first civilization temples in search of a Piece of Eden. This event caused the assassin to completely rethink whether what he was doing was right all along. This grand temple was under what landmark that was nearly completely destroyed in the aftermath?

Looking for the name of the landmark here, but it should help you get to the right city for day 2 if you're not there as well.

I bet I'm not the only one who expects to see pictures of these places when this is done!

Honestly, I don't take many pictures on vacation these days... that and my camera broke last vacation. I'll post what I can, though, haha.

I should've paid more attention during that AC: Rogue playthrough I watched...

Day 4: Due to its cool climate and abundance of game, many monarchs of the area spent their summers at this now UNESCO World Heritage Site. Included on this list was King Manuel I, who was a driving force in the creation of an overseas empire. It helped that he was aligned with the Borgia family and other Templar interests. When the route to India was found, he even sent agents to wipe out the Brotherhood in India, only to be thwarted thanks to Ezio's Italian Brotherhood and their expansive network. Manuel lost the city shortly after these failed attempts in Calicut. [There's a good mix of history and AC lore in that one].

I'm looking for the name of the UNESCO World Heritage Site where these monarchs spent their summers.

Also, it's good to see multiple people playing this year, whether or not they are getting the right answers the first time or on later attempts. I don't have the capability to score it all out without writing it down, so I don't know who is winning.

Side note: I guess all those ship mission minigames since the Ezio days that no one cares to read after the first couple had some plot and lore to them.

Day 5: For the second time in as many days, I'm leaving the city/first major area of this trip. No Assassin's Creed connection this time, though. We headed a little out of the city to visit a medieval village. The village name might sound like if Ben Kenobi (Star Wars) had a younger Spanish/Portuguese brother, I guess. And no, it's not Obi-Juan.

Looking for the name of the village.

Day 6: At first, when I was told I was going on a trip to a white house on a different continent, and that we weren't taking a plane, I was confused. But now, Frankly... I don't give a damn.

Where am I? Looking for the city I am now.

I wish I watched that movie more recently.

Day 7, I think: Shay Cormac sent some agents here on a distant mission and they managed to bring back a special weapon, the Spanish Sword. That will certainly give it away with quick online research... but if you want to try with just clues, here's another one: I believe this is the location where The Bulldog really started to make a name for himself in the British military sense. After achieving the rank of general, he was sent to the colonies to deal with George Washington. Unfortunately, Haytham gave him a swirly.

What city am I in?

Day 8: No AC connection today... but what body of water am I currently traversing? You basicall6 have a 50/50 shot based on the last location. The standings are (I think) very close between at least two people.

This was my view for breakfast (and lunch). No pills were consumed, yet.

Where am I?

Because at this point you can probably figure out the next few cities with some Internet digging, each day from here on out will have a 2 point bonus question, that could have multiple correct answers... but only one is. How well do you know me?

Bonus question (2 pts): Which UNESCO world heritage site did I personally visit today? There are something like 5 options on this island.... good luck.

Looking for the city/island and the bonus question if you can get it.

Day 10: The only Assassin's Creed connection that I can find to this island is that one of Ubisoft's Senior Concept Artists used to work for a gaming studio here.

What island am I on?

Bonus question (2 pts): [-]What fantasy-inspired natural wonder am I seeing today?[/-] What is the fantasy-inspired name of the natural wonder I'm seeing today?

Day 12: (missed a day) This final city was the headquarters for the Spanish Assassins.

Back home in San Diego. This post's timestamp signals the end of the game. I still haven't crunched the numbers, and it's not obvious who won. It's either stabguy or gerund.

Final totals:

Although JoeyFogey and phi answered some early questions, they didn't continue on.

phi correctly identified Philadelphia (in this thread, mind you) on the first day for 3 points. He did not answer another question.
JoeyFogey incorrectly guessed New York City on day 2, but also wasn't heard from again.

I will now go over a roughly real time highlight of the trip as it pertains to the clues and answers. If you'd rather just see the answers, skip to the bottom of this post.

Day 1:
Phi correctly guessed Philadelphia (+3)
Stabguy incorrectly guessed Milan

Day 2:
Joey incorrectly guessed New York
Stabguy stayed in Italy and incorrectly guessed Rome. (one reason this is incorrect is because Rome was also featured in AC2, whereas Lisbon was not)

Day 3:
Gerund chimes in to guess (incorrectly) Florence for day 1, and correctly identifies Lisbon for Day 2 and the Cormo Convent for Day 3 (+5)
A few hours later, stabguy chimes in to get the last 2 answers correct as well (+5)

Day 4:
Gerund is the first to answer, but incorrectly. He guessed I went to Convent of Christ in Tomar, Portugal.
This left the door open for stabguy, who not only got the correct answer of Sintra, but also sneakily changed his answer for day 1 to correctly identify Philadelphia. Perhaps my bonus clue of it being a layover city helped. Perhaps it was phi's public comment (+5)

Day 5:
This started with a mini-hint for day 4, by pointing out that I left Lisbon.
Both stabguy and gerund guessed Obidos, and gerund was quicker. (+3 to each)

Because of days 1 and 4, stabguy now had a 5 point lead. If gerund would change to those correct answers, the gap would be closed if stabguy missed a day...

Day 6:
Joey quickly pointed out the movie reference, without putting in an answer, and both gerund and stabguy put in the correct answer of Casablanca, Morocco. This time it was stabguy that got in the correct answer first for potential tiebreaks. Again, a single slip by the Mentor (and a move by gerund to change days 1 and 4) would give gerund the lead on tiebreakers (3 vs 2).

Day 7:
stabguy gets the Gibraltar answer in first for the 3 points and the tiebreak ... gerund doesn't put one in ... not looking too good at this point for gerund

Day 8:
gerund chimes in with Gibraltar for 2 points, and both stabguy and gerund correctly guess east rather than west/north for the rest of the break. the 50/50 chance here was the Mediterranean Sea vs Atlantic Ocean. Both actually answered the Alboran Sea (part of the Med). gerund was first with a slimmer chance for overall victory than before.

Day 9:
Stabguy gets on the board 1st with correctly identifying Ibiza, Spain. I added a bonus question with multiple answers to try to get gerund back in it... but he doesn't reply on day 9... Stabguy guesses Puig des Molins (or Old Town, Ibiza) and is incorrect... that's where my wife was though. Stabguy scores 3 on day 9

Day 10: stabguy gets on the board first again by identifying the island of Mallorca .. AND he guessed Cueavs del Drach, or Drach Caves, or the Caves of the Dragon. (+5). Gerund sends in answers for days 9 and 10... will he get the day 9 bonus question? will he get Philly or Sintra to close the gap? no, and no. With his answer of Ibiza he scores 2. He gets closer than stabguy on the bonus question though, guessing God's Finger in the Benirràs Bay. However, that is also incorrect. The clue on day 10 mentioned "what am I seeing today," the implied meaning I saw something similar yesterday... On day 9, I swam over the Posidonia meadows of Ibiza. I love my snorkeling/diving on vacation and love natural wonders too. To cap it off, gerund incorrectly thought I visited Calypso Cave on Malta... hey, he got the cave part right.

At this point, there was 1 way for stabguy to lose. It would be a Day 12 shocker. It would require a non-answer or incorrect answer from stabguy, AND a day 1, 4, 10 correct change by gerund with correctly getting both the day 9 and 10 bonus points AND a final day correct answer....

On day 12, Stabguy correctly identified Barcelona, and gerund didn't put in an answer.

To recap my trip (with answers in bold):
Day 1 - August 15 - Philadelphia, PA, USA (I was only in the city for 40 minutes, though, but that's a story for below)
Day 2 - August 16 - Lisbon, Portugal
Day 3 - August 17 - Carmo Convent (Lisbon)
Day 4 - August 18 - Sintra, Portugal
Day 5 - August 19 - Obidos, Portugal
Day 6 - August 20 - Casablanca, Morocco
Day 7 - August 21 - Gibraltar, UK
Day 8 - August 22 - Mediterranean Sea
Day 9 - August 23 - Ibiza (bonus - posidonia seagrass gardens)
Day 10 - August 24 - Mallorca (bonus - Drach caves)
no clue - August 25 - Tarragona
Day 12 - August 26 - Barcelona
no clue - August 27 - Barcelona AM - (with flight home through Philadelphia)

Scoreboard
Stabguy: 33 (6 times with the correct answer first)
gerund: 18 (4)
phi: 3 (1)
Joey: 0

Thanks to all. Stabguy, has your address changed since last time?

In my next post, I will post my actual vacation comments on each of the cities in case you want more information or details.

For those wondering, I was on Crystal Cruise's "Accent on Spain" cruise 6221. It left Lisbon on the 19th (after an overnight on the 18th) and ended in Barcelona.

I'll wear my zero with pride.

I've been dying to ask you this, Cheese, but had to wait until the game was over. What does the quote "Frankly... I don't give a damn." from Gone with the Wind have to do with Casablanca? There are plenty of famous quotes from the movie Casablanca such as "Play it [again] Sam", "Here's looking at you, kid." and "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

That was it! Before the game started you said "multi-country" so I hadn't considered any domestic locations.

Well, Lisbon showed up in AC4. Recall Kenway's Fleet:

Actually I was thinking of the necropolis just 500 meters outside of the walls of Dalt Vila. I had rejected Posidonia of Ses Salines because it's underwater and therefore not tourist-friendly. You must travel with your own fins.

Hopefully you found the correct Cuevas del Drach and not the nearby tourist trap Cuevas dels Hams. I love how Hams has a little animatronic boat that crosses their little pond to remind tourists what they're missing over at Drach.

That explains why you stuck to the coast and casually crossed over to Africa for one day. Getting to Casablanca and back would have been a bitch if you were driving a rental car.

God damnit, you're right. I quoted the wrong damn movie. Oh well, the rest of the clue got you there.

RIGGED! RIGGED I TELL YOU!!

Stabguy, got your address.

When I get a chance to put something together, you should be getting something from 4 different countries and 2 continents on this one (I think I have something from Casablanca at least). Total score on this one for you. (Well, I mean, they probably ALL came from China anyway).

Hope you had a good trip! Sorry I couldn't be there for the ending of the competition, my laptop is getting repaired. I only ever check THB regularly on my laptop. For what it's worth, I wouldn't have pulled off that upset anyway. Congrats stabguy, deserved winner!

Good game, gerund! As I recall you and Cheese practically tied in the last installment of Where in the World is stabguy. You always do well in these contests.

Sorry for the delay in shipment. Family emergency took me to Oregon for a week.

My newspaper used to do a mini-contest every weekend. In the travel section, they'd put a picture of some location, and some information to go with it. The goal was to guess the location and it was always a UNESCO world heritage site. My dad and I loved doing those, so I guess I have some experience in this sort of thing. Sadly the newspaper stopped doing those contests, I believe because of a lack of contestants.

No rush. I'm going to Seattle for a week. It looks like the Washington-Oregon game will at least be competitive this year. The Huskies are ranked in the top 10 and the Ducks will have home field advantage.

Competitive the game was not.

I was cleaning up the office and found the gift. Apparently, I still haven't shipped it. I'll try to get it out this week as a Christmas gift or something.

Too soon?

Monthly reminder to myself to still do this.

Sheesh. At this point I'm going to have to include some local San Diego things as gift interest.

I'm gonna send you a calendar to keep track of everything.

I know man. It's just that I keep playing Fallout 4 instead of doing things that I'm supposed to do.

And what's wrong with that?

Absolutely nothing. I'm still on my main character. With creative saves I was able to beat it with all the major factions with reloads. I've reloaded for the last time for my "actual" playthrough... but I just got the season pass with all the DLC for Christmas, so it may take a while yet...

Good thing there's no AC this year. (right?)

Finally mailed it out today! hahaha

Received.

Cheese really outdid himself with this year's prize package. First off is this pair of cork coasters from Portugal:

If you look carefully, you can see the artisan's exquisite rendering of an ISIS safe house:

This fine lapel pin represents how Gibraltar stands in the way of Great Britain ever rejoining the EU.
After Brexit, Gibraltar was responsible for throwing away the key:

Here is the collection from Ibiza, a small notebook and three buttons. Both of Ibiza's mascots are pictured: the drunk bulldog and monkey Ray Charles. The other button shows the happiest of all Ibiza tourists, the ones who are leaving:

What do all of these places have in common? Assassin's Creed! Cheese included this silver ring with the Assassins' logo:

Thank you for all the cool gear, Cheese. It was worth the wait.

Very cool care package haha.

In case you were not aware (as I was not), Portugal produces half the world's cork. Cork trees everywhere, man. You commented on the "Isis safe house" but not the giant Templar ship? hmmm...

I'm certain that Gibraltar simply hid away the key for themselves, seeing as 96% voted Remain. Maybe they will have their own Brexit from the UK soon enough and they can use the key to get back in.

The ring was all a ploy to see inside your house, and it worked! You have a picture on your wall! more information than ever, now. muahaha