Topic: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Read 11356 times)

Ozymandias · « **on:** 23 Dec 2010, 19:12 »

I've finally torn myself from the game's delicious multiplayer to sit down and come back to Ezio's story.

I'm hardly into the SP at all, still in sequence 2, but already the game has demonstrated its flaws and strengths vs. AC2, IMO. For one, the collectibles are inexplicable (I get why I'm tearing down Borgia flags, but why am I collecting feathers again? Maybe this will be explained a bit later...) BUT they are far superior in design. Rather than being an annoyance of standing on every rooftop and looking very closely with eagle vision, when you're in eyesight, they appear on your map. Instead, however, the difficulty has changed such that most of them have become mini-platforming puzzles unto themselves, which is far more rewarding to figure out.

The expansion of the villa's upgrade system for money to encompassing all of Rome is, I think, a bit too tediously large. Way way way too much stuff to purchase, especially when in AC2 your reward, at the end, is to basically make money worthless. Woo. However, the assassinations you have to pull off to unlock shops can be tremendously fun and occasionally put AC2's actual storyline missions to shame. Also, there's something pretty awesome about being able to renovate and own the Colosseum, among other Roman landmarks.

It feels apparent to me that this is a much shorter game than AC2 was already. Fortunately, it's already demonstrated a much more interesting, tighter narrative and the addition of synchronization percentage makes each individual mission far more interesting. You can complete a mission however you wish, but to unlock bonuses and hidden memories, you have to do it exactly how Ezio remembers doing it. Sure, you can shoot your assassination target, but Ezio grabbed that fucker and made a building collapse on him, so you should too. It's optional added difficulty and flavor that's really enjoyable.

I have nothing bad to say about Rome's design, however. It's a much more organic map than any of the AC2 cities and I'm having fun exploring it.

Ultimately, if the bad bits were necessary to obtain the good, it was entirely worth it. I'm having a fucking blast with this.

Alex C · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 19:27 »

I think we should take a cue from PA and refer to this game as AssBro from here out.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 19:53 »

My friend likes to call it Ass Creed Bro

But this is actually a fun game. I was a little disappointed about people telling me that that it was Assassin's Creed 2.5, but I got a chance to play it the other day and I had a lot of fun. Even the multi-player looks cool.

Tom · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 19:53 »

AssBro is the best. It's certainly a lot more fun doing things Ezio's way and it stops me from going "fuck it, let's waste some guards" every time the direct root is easier.

It makes sense that the narrative is shorter this time round because it takes place over a few years rather than a decade and a half. Still, there are a lot more (varied) side missions to make up for that.

Am I the only one who actively enjoys getting all the flags/feathers? AssBro really made an effort to have you work for them.

MP is fun but I got a little bored of it, I don't enjoy doing the same thing over and over again.

I'd be playing it today if my brothers didn't kick the xbox when they were playing multiplayer. The disc has that lovely ring of Hawthorne-esque scratches the xbox loves to dole out. Luckily, my parents offered to replace it for me so I'll wait til after Boxing day to order it and keep the overhead for another game.

JD · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 20:03 »

Man I just finished ACII.

Melodic · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 20:54 »

Brotherhood felt like a complete game, which I wasn't expecting. Still haven't tooled around in multiplayer, but found Rome satisfying to explore.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 21:11 »

Oh man, I also forgot to praise the Subject 16 bits in this one. Making the locations actual ledges you have to find and navigate too was a great idea and thus far the puzzles have been satisfyingly difficult, yet solvable. Also, I've always loved how well they string together history to make an insane conspiracy and the Alan Turing one I just figured out was fantastic, both in content and the fact they put in fucking formal Turing machine notation as part of a puzzle.

Tom · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 22:04 »

That got me particularly excited because Turing is one of my ultimate heroes.

I found myself actually starting to like Desmond, he's still pretty 2-D but having him interact with the team helped to flesh him out a bit.

It's a shame 'bout Lucy.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Dec 2010, 03:14 »

I haven't even touched the multiplayer, I've put several evenings into the SP and I'm still only in Sequence 6 because I keep tooling around and burning down Borgia towers so I can buy businesses. Messing around with your guild once you get it is so satisfying, knowing you're sending assassins all over Europe to do your dirty work. One of my favorites of the year, easily. I think it will be #4 on my list.

Josefbugman · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 Dec 2010, 07:23 »

My little brother's getting this for Christmas (whilst I get Fallout new vegas) so I am eagerly looking forward to both of us enjoying these games.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Dec 2010, 08:11 »

I haven't been able to tear myself away from the multiplayer at all yet, I think I played through the first sequence, but seriously, the multiplayer to this game is absolutely wonderful. As far as repetition goes, you'll get that with any game in multiplayer, and this one is just so much about... the hunt. I mean its annoying when every now and then you'll either not be able to find a game or you'll join one where everyone's being a dick and just staying on the roofs or full on sprinting the entire time. I really like how the quality of the kill is so much more important than how many you get.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Dec 2010, 00:46 »

I just finished the single player yesterday and hoo boy, the ending is something else.

Melodic · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Dec 2010, 15:06 »

halo 2, anyone?

tHEfOOL · « **Reply #13 on:** 27 Dec 2010, 17:05 »

Quote from: Melodic on 27 Dec 2010, 15:06

halo 2, anyone?

i would be game for that, if xbox live 1.0 still existed

Melodic · « **Reply #14 on:** 27 Dec 2010, 17:57 »

Storm Rider · « **Reply #15 on:** 30 Dec 2010, 03:29 »

So I started playing the multiplayer today, a few friends and I tried to get a match going but didn't have enough people for a private game when one of the other guys' router wouldn't let him connect so I just got into a few public matches. I already had a pretty good idea of how it played from watching the Giant Bomb community game night shortly after the game came out, but it really is a lot of fun. The bonuses do a great job of rewarding killing your targets well instead of quickly: if I can't at least get the Incognito bonus I almost consider it a waste of a contract, only slightly better than an escape or another guy getting to the target first. I was actually doing reasonably well for my first time too: I came in first three times out of the dozen or so matches I played and ended in second or third for a large portion of the rest. My favorite personas are the Doctor and Barber, I think, their kill animations are slick as fuck.

Are there enough people with the 360 version that we could get a game going?

ackblom12 · « **Reply #16 on:** 30 Dec 2010, 08:05 »

Multi really is great. I think my favorite moment thus far was being in 2nd place, only have a few seconds left and I opted to go for a quick kill before time ran out, so I used Sprint, assassinated my target, during which my pursuer showed up and I managed to stun him and then my new contract showed and it happened to be a guy about 6 feet away and I killed him. Popped into first place with that last contract and the round ended.

Fucking awesome.

Edit: Also, the Helliquin kill animations are fucking amazing. I want to see the Blacksmith.

Also I do have a couple of problems with the multi, but it doesn't really have anything to do with how it plays, more how the tutorial doesn't actually help you learn to do anything but stab people and keep up incognito status. I am pretty certain I still have no idea how stuns actually work. I know if someone has already used the assassinate command it won't work, but things like "press b when in proximity" and such don't really tell me anything at all. Can I stun a person that isn't revealed but I'm quite certain is the pursuer? Do I have to target the pursuer? can I tun from hiding places? All of these things aren't really answered anywhere and it's a bit frustrating. I'm also not sure how I feel about locking basic functions for leveling. It's kind of irritating not having 2 button powers until 10th level, specially when you get matched with one odd person in a group who is 10 levels higher than anyone else.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #17 on:** 30 Dec 2010, 10:52 »

Yeah, my one major complaint about it is that they used the persistent leveling system that's now all the rage in multiplayer, but failed to balance it so that higher level players don't have a noticeable and distinct advantage. The matchmaking seems to handle that pretty okay but it's still annoying how completely useless you are at low levels vs. the wide range of tactics and abilities higher levels have.

I'm totally down with playing multi anytime, though. I'm still slowly pushing through the single because I just kind of love exploring and doing every single last fucking thing before continuing the mission and...well, there's a lot of fucking things.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #18 on:** 30 Dec 2010, 13:47 »

It won't let you stun anyone except your actual pursuer(s), in which case a B will appear above their head instead of an X. In the event that they press x at the same moment or in enough time, the tie always goes to the assassin, so you're fucked if you don't take them by surprise, blind them, smoke grenade or just get a significant drop on them.

Its amazing how high you can get in points with just basic abilities, but I agree, the incredibly sick combinations and abilities you learn provide a significant advantage against brand new players. I think this balances out by the fact that you level up so quickly though, and I think they were counting on people getting to the end game as far as level goes and then have them work on the challenges to unlock the modified abilities that provide extra bonuses.

In any case, right now is all it means is that the longer you play, the more potential awesome you are, and really when you just start out in multi-player if all the abilities were unlocked you wouldn't know what to do with yourself, I found myself just mastering how to use a given ability right before I unlocked the next one, really good pacing. And anyway, by the time you're 30 you've unlocked all the base abilities and you've got another 20 levels to go, so its more about getting to the mid-game as fare as level is concerned. At least they didn't try to do anything like prestige mode like Call of Duty MW2, talk about grinding.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #19 on:** 30 Dec 2010, 23:27 »

I have the same complaints as most of you: unlike most games with experience systems, the rankings in Brotherhood give higher level players a clear advantage over lower ones. Usually the matchmaking does a pretty good job of keeping the level disparity pretty small so this isn't an issue but it's still more of a problem than it should be. I also really hate it when it drops you into a match already in progress, because if more than a minute or two has passed then you're completely fucked in terms of actually winning the match.

Josefbugman · « **Reply #20 on:** 31 Dec 2010, 02:29 »

I dunno, once you get firecrackers I've found that other peoples advantages are easier to deal with.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #21 on:** 31 Dec 2010, 09:43 »

It really depends on this skill of the person using whatever ability if they have a clear advantage or not, I still feel like this game requires a lot of player skill beyond just what perks and abilities you unlock.

And multiple times I've joined a match several minutes in and gone on to win first place. Its not about the quantity of kills, at all, Its entirely the quality. You hop in and make a couple high scoring kills it'll put you almost immediately towards the top of the board, unless its a really high scoring game, it all depends on how good the people are in it, which has little to do with their experience level.

Alex C · « **Reply #22 on:** 31 Dec 2010, 09:52 »

The addition of experience systems to multiplayer games and genres other than RPGs rather continues to puzzle me, since it seems like they've managed to include most of the grinding with little of the sense of discovery, experimentation or even the gamesmanship present in Counterstrike's equipment purchasing between rounds. I guess I just don't really see the point of such systems unless you're attempting to gate content without compromising immersion ala Metroid. I guess I just underestimated the allure of the widget treadmill.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #23 on:** 31 Dec 2010, 10:06 »

Quote from: Storm Rider on 30 Dec 2010, 23:27

I also really hate it when it drops you into a match already in progress, because if more than a minute or two has passed then you're completely fucked in terms of actually winning the match.

Nah, I rarely have this complaint because I can usually get into the top three at least when this happens.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #24 on:** 31 Dec 2010, 15:24 »

It depends. Like I said, if there are 8-9 minutes left I can still be pretty competitive. If it's 7 or less somebody's usually built a pretty sizeable lead and that's just irritating. Last night I had it drop me into a match with 2 minutes remaining, which I just quit immediately because fuck that. Maybe I should customize one of my profile sets specifically to make progress in challenges in matches I have no hope of winning, since I'd be more likely to use stuff like the hidden gun in that case.

Catfish_Man · « **Reply #25 on:** 03 Jan 2011, 09:48 »

My main issue with AC:B single player so far is that it's been pretty buggy; in particular I've had repeated issues with event triggers not firing. The game will be blocking me from moving on, waiting for me to do X, when I've done X extremely thoroughly already. Had to reload my save and redo chunks twice so far.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #26 on:** 03 Jan 2011, 13:07 »

Strange!

I haven't encountered that in AssBro, but I did once in AC2 on a Medici assassination mission. Killed a dude and the game was just like "So hey when are you gonna kill this dude?" and I was like "He is dead. He is right fucking here, dead as hell. I am picking up his body and dropping it over and over. I am jumping up and down on his dead. Complete the mission dickbutt."

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #27 on:** 03 Jan 2011, 13:37 »

I've yet to have that happen yet

So far my favorite thing in Ass Bro is the helper assassins. I thought they would be annoying as I like to kill almost every guard on principle, but then my notoriety would go up and up, so now they die and I can just stand there and watch it go down, then loot the bodies.

Catfish_Man · « **Reply #28 on:** 04 Jan 2011, 22:38 »

More bugs: http://yfrog.com/h4dpunoj http://yfrog.com/h62agvj

I eventually reached more than 3000 feet in the air, and hit the max view distance, so the whole screen went white. Had to leave the animus to get back down.

Tom · « **Reply #29 on:** 04 Jan 2011, 22:47 »

I have never heard of this happening; have you downloaded the game update via xbox live/ubisoft/whatever?

I updated the game as soon as I got it, that might be why I never ran into that.

Catfish_Man · « **Reply #30 on:** 04 Jan 2011, 22:53 »

Yeah, I've updated it. Guess it's fitting that the one piece of software I use that's actually finished would be the one with the most annoying bugs.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #31 on:** 05 Jan 2011, 01:40 »

I think most people in multiplayer just stick to Wanted, which is fine because it rules, but I suggest everyone try Alliance to change it up a bit. I love it, it's probably my favorite mode just for how often things descend into horrible orgies of violence. Definitely better than the other team mode, in my opinion.

Felrender · « **Reply #32 on:** 07 Jan 2011, 02:12 »

how the fuck was that an ending
go to hell Ubisoft

Tom · « **Reply #33 on:** 15 Jan 2011, 23:33 »

I get the feeling that Assassin's Creed is going to become my FIFA/COD.

Rizzo · « **Reply #34 on:** 01 Mar 2011, 02:08 »

I've just gotten to the point where I can start recruiting new assassins. This is so awesome. I've been playing for HOURS and have still barely dented the main story missions. I still only have one wrist blade.

Most appreciating: New movement animations (What's that on your face? IT WAS PAIN)
Least appreciating: Guards new movement animations and better AI (although also appreciating this as it makes the game more challenging and fun)

Catfish_Man · « **Reply #35 on:** 03 Mar 2011, 09:17 »

Ending was definitely a letdown. :/

Rizzo · « **Reply #36 on:** 05 Mar 2011, 02:28 »

Not disappointed with the ending at all TBH. More curious to see how the next one goes down. Having to wait it the key frustration.

Tom · « **Reply #37 on:** 05 Mar 2011, 03:03 »

Quote from: Catfish_Man on 03 Mar 2011, 09:17

Ending was definitely a letdown. :/

The horse stuff is way more disappointing.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #38 on:** 10 Mar 2011, 20:37 »

The new DLC came out this week, if anyone's gotten it.

I haven't tried the single player stuff (because I'm stuck in single player between wanting to finish the game and wanting to get 100% synch before doing it- I'm pathetic) but the new multi stuff is fascinating. Assassinate mode is just fantastic, a true deathmatch mode between assassins desperately trying to stay off the map while killing every last fucker. It requires a very keen eye for anyone who might be an assassin, because everyone is a target and everyone is targeting you. VIP mode, meanwhile, I'm less enthused about, because I can't get a handle on good strategies for gaining points.

Rizzo · « **Reply #39 on:** 13 Mar 2011, 21:10 »

Having a jam on the multiplayer for this at the moment. Some people seem to be consistently shitty at it. I've played maybe 6 matches and been called a fag by XBL tards about 5 times. Success?

If anyone's keen for a game, I'm IndianDad on XBL.

Inlander · « **Reply #40 on:** 14 Mar 2011, 17:55 »

This isn't a post about this "Brotherhood" game, but I thought you all might like to know that I just downloaded Assassin's Creed II - for my mobile phone. Curious to see how a current-generation console game would translate to a free downloadable smartphone "app" I opened it up to discover . . . a 2-D scrolling platform game. Now, I've never played an Assassin's Creed game before but I imagine the general tone isn't "third Mario brother goes rogue".

Intriguing.

Tom · « **Reply #41 on:** 27 Mar 2011, 23:48 »

The only reason they didn't call it AssCreed III is because you're still running around as Ezio. The next one is AssCreed III and it will have a new ancestor/pretagonist(?).

But seriously, I hope it gets pushed back a year for all the right reasons.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #42 on:** 28 Mar 2011, 08:14 »

Like Tommy I really liked the music, but at times it seemed a bit off, like when I am just walking around and all of a sudden it goes into creepy, climactic music. I'm sitting there wondering what it is I'm not seeing, but people are walking around doing what the do.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #43 on:** 28 Mar 2011, 10:22 »

Quote from: Ptommydski on 27 Mar 2011, 23:11

Incidentally, you can read about the reasonably fascinating lives of many of the characters featured in the Italian leg of the series on the Wikipedia. For example, Rodrigo Borgia, aka The Spaniard aka Pope Alexander VI genuinely was as horrible as he appears to be in the game and is still considered to be one of the most fundamentally terrible Popes. His younger relative Cesare Borgia was also a bit of a miscreant, as portrayed in AssBro. It's interesting to see how close they kept aspects of these historical figures lives, which I largely assumed they had simply made up entirely. For example, Cesare really did employ Leonardo Da Vinci to build war machines among other things and he was also publicly hated by Niccolò Machiavelli, just as in the game. He really did die by falling from the battlements of a Spanish castle some time after being exiled. In fact, aside from the assassins, basically everybody mentioned in both games has a historical basis of sorts. I actually like that they bothered to put in this much research, it's the sign of a well made game.

I had this problem with both AC2 and Assbro. In AC2, during the Pazzi Conspriacy, La Volpe mentioned that they had the consent of the pope and, since one of the popes around that time was my ancestor, I looked up who was pope then to find out if it was him. It wasn't, but as I was reading this dude's biography in a Catholic encyclopedia, I realized I was accidentally reading spoilers for the fucking game. Similarly, I somehow got lost down a Wikipedia hole around the time Assbro came out and got to Pope Alexander VI and was reading about him, then realized his name was Rodrigo Borgia and that I was just reading the fucking plot of the game. It's fantastic the amount of effort they went through, not just to make it historically accurate, but to take that history and all of these disparate moments in the Italian renaissance and tie it all together in an believable, intricate conspiracy that never even sort of happened.

Anyway, rumor is that the next game is gonna be the French Revolution and I have no idea which side the Assassins are on and which side the Templars are on, since I have to assume Louis XVI was a Templar and I can totally see Robespierre as an Assassin who acquired a PoE and became corrupt and I have no idea where Napoleon stands at all, but I bet he'll be an ally and I am so excited.

Tom · « **Reply #44 on:** 28 Mar 2011, 12:17 »

That would make sense, but I could see Robespierre as Templar plant/agitator. I've got the remains of a random Shelley quote bouncing around in my head about how the Jacobins completely soured the Revolution. I may be wrong but the Reign of Terror was more or less a Reign of Fascism as well.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #45 on:** 28 Mar 2011, 14:04 »

I've been looking forward to a game set in feudal Japan, but that doesn't seem like it will happen. Maybe in an offshoot of the game, like an AssBro without the main character.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #46 on:** 28 Mar 2011, 19:56 »

Yeah I don't think they're gonna leave the mainland of Western Europe for this particular series, but I can definitely see that as a spinoff.

Hmm, if the next game is set in the French Revolution I would actually have something to talk about with my mom for once, since she's a scholar and literary critic on France during the 18th century.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #47 on:** 28 Mar 2011, 23:04 »

The in-game lore has mentioned Assassin cells in Japan, both historically and in 2012. I don't think feudal Japan is out of the question at all, and I would personally find it very interesting because I have very little knowledge of Asian history beyond the 20th century so I would like to see it portrayed in the Assassin's Creed method because they are nothing if not thorough in their detail. I would certainly have no problem with the French Revolution, though.

Is anyone interested in getting a multiplayer crew going? I'm totally sick of playing random dudes online but I still have another 20 levels to go to hit max rank.

Tom · « **Reply #48 on:** 29 Mar 2011, 01:26 »

I'd really like to play with a group of people who aren't arse-holes purely playing FTW. I might purchase a month of Live during my semester break in a few months If I do, count me in.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #49 on:** 29 Mar 2011, 10:32 »

I'd certainly like to play some dang multi with decent people you know maybe xp boost just a little bit.

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Author Topic: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Read 11356 times)

ackblom12