[Leonard]

Strange, somehow I missed this in all the E3 videos I saw. The next Assassin's Creed will have a multiplayer component, as well as single player.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Interesting.

[imitchellg5]

Yeap, super excited for this one. ACII is one of my favorite games ever, and this looks to be better already. It's the first game I've ever pre-ordered.

[Leonard]

For those interested in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, I saw a new trailer with the announcement that the Multiplayer Beta starts Oct. 4. I assume that means we'll get to download and try out the multiplayer.

[The Final Dakar]

So I'm a little surprised Bogues hasn't bumped this thread since he purchased the game. I was turned on to looking at some vids after a Penny Arcade comic. I have to say the multiplayer looks like a breath of fresh air.

YouTube - Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Multiplayer Gameplay #12

I love what looks like several opportunities for mind games. The guy in the vid is one of the best I've seen so far (check out around the 1.50 mark – he plays his pursuer like a fiddle). The mechanics for moving also look ultra-smooth. I have to say, I'm tempted to pick it up.

[Kevin Bogues]

I am a huge AC fan and I'll go as far as to say it and Bioshok are tied for my favorite new game series.
The first game was slow, repetitive, and un polished but the story and world were enough to get me hooked. AC2 was leaps and bounds above AC with gameplay but expanded an already gripping story.

So far brotherhood is everything that made AC2 great with even more gameplay options. I dont have very much time with multiplayer yet but so far it's a blast and as Dakar said it's nothing like any multiplayer experience out there .

[Leonard]

I'll have to start the single player this weekend. I've been distracted by Halo MP lately.

[The Final Dakar]

Penny Arcade - Mount Doom

Have you seen the multiplayer for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood? You really, really should. Yeah, sometimes it ends in a pigpile. This is what happens when you trap eight sociopaths in a murder simulator. For every pile-up like the one depicted though, every exacting period cluster****, the natural motion of the players in the space will provide ten utterly unique moments. At least.

I wouldn't even know what tell you about the single player. I played the last one for something like thirty hours by the end, so I clearly like the formula. Also, I like to accept missions from Pigeon coops, but I like to pretend that it's the pigeon itself giving me the mission. I like that Brotherhood begins at the very moment AC2 ends; that's honestly the extent of my knowledge. The multiplayer is too weird, novel, and engaging to reasonably allow me any other menu option.

It's a quintessentially Ubisoft maneuver, that is to say, getting high on their own supply - in callous disregard of Biggie's Ten Crack Commandments. They've made something beautiful here, beauty practically for beauty's sake, and my fear is that it's just going to languish there, unloved on the disc. This is the second time they've done something fairly radical in the wild wood that surrounds a proven franchise, which is a weird way to spend your money, God bless them for it. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (as a competitive multiplayer proposition) quickly boiled itself down to a fairly small community, many of whom played a variant of the actual game, one that required the observance of rules by both sides that were in no way mechanically reinforced. I found the tension generated by this game intolerable, but I could (and did) watch friends play it for hours.

In many ways Brotherhood multiplayer is a spin on Assassin, a game I used to play with friends in High School, though I imagine that pretending to kill your classmates may be less of a thing these days. After choosing your player model, you drop into a few blocks of ancient city surrounded by tons of computer controlled units that look like you and your opponents. Then, you are given a target - the only enemy you can kill for points. Depending on the mode, you're probably being hunted yourself - and deflecting their unwanted attentions is also scored. Hiding in a group of similar models and having your opponent choose the wrong one - which makes them lose their contract on you, and eats up valuable scoring time - is one of this generation's must-see moments.

You start to get bery good at observing movement. If they start running around doing parkour and shit, you know, human. But if they don't? If they take their time, and manipulate the social systems? How about that guy? No not that one, that one. The one with the... Yes, the one who is now inserting a syringe filled with caustic fluid directly into my iris.

This is a big part of what constructs the overall feeling. It also works in reverse. Any other game, seeing your target in the distance is a Call To Action; in Brotherhood, the smart play is almost always Restraint. Matches aren't that long, and stalking can be time consuming - these things conspire to make kill quality vastly more important that kill volume. You unlock Ezio's Hidden Gun fairly quickly, but the points it delivers are anywhere from a fourth to sixth what you'd get respecting the aesthetics of the process.

This is one of the most exhilarating "exhibition" games in recent memory, something played to be watched, where observers have as much or more fun than the performer. Having others along with helps stoke the paranoia that fuels these rounds, and I say rounds plural, because it's entirely possible you won't be able to stop.

[The Final Dakar]

Well, I broke down and bought this. I spent the entire weekend watching videos online; I can't remember the last game that had me so enthralled. It was $10 off at amazon, and with the left over promotional credit I had from shopping spree last month I ended paying $0, so hey, why not, free game.

[Kevin Bogues]

Nice ! I was hoping you would pick this up, do you plan on starting single player action? You owe it to yourself to find some good catch up videos and get an idea of the absolute crazy plot line from AC to AC2

[The Final Dakar]

I don't care about the plot, but I am looking forward to doing that stuff in an open world.

[Leonard]

Ok, I'm gonna have to pry myself away from Halo. I won't even look at the challenges today, and just put in the AC:B disk...

I also have a sneaking feeling Dakar isn't going to like it as much as he likes the videos.

[Kevin Bogues]

Im looking forward to your review/impressions, AC provides a free running and killing process that is unlike any game out there

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Leonard 

Ok, I'm gonna have to pry myself away from Halo.

What convinced you?

Originally Posted by Leonard 

I also have a sneaking feeling Dakar isn't going to like it as much as he likes the videos.

Why do you think that is?

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

What convinced you?

I can't let you play one of my games before me!

Why do you think that is?

You don't see the controls from the video is one. And sometimes things aren't as smooth as they seem. If you played previous AC's you'll be accustomed to the controls. The controls are contextual. One button can perform different actions depending on the context.

[Leonard]

Cool cooperative tomb gameplay with Lucy at the beginning of the game. Reminds me of some of the scenes from the last resident evil trailer.

I see they gave a bit of backstory for Ezio at the beginning of this sequel. I guess they are expecting a few new users due to the multiplayer.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Leonard 

I can't let you play one of my games before me!

I've also ordered Hello Kitty! Island Adventure.

Originally Posted by Leonard 

You don't see the controls from the video is one. And sometimes things aren't as smooth as they seem. If you played previous AC's you'll be accustomed to the controls. The controls are contextual. One button can perform different actions depending on the context.

I'd think the video would look more awkward if the controls weren't polished. This is why I'm ok with sequels – it's allowed AC to expand and polish itself to a state where I now think it's worth a try.


My only major concern about the multi is might suffer from what Gears of War suffered from – people who master pushing the game to its limits breaking the fundamental idea of the game. In Gears it was the Wall bouncing pop-shotters. In this its the people who sprint 100% of the time.

They need to work on creating a more harsh Pro mode as from what I've read all it is is people on roofs hunting people on roofs.



(One of the cooler sequences I caught this weekend: Person A is hunting Person B. As Person A gets in visual range of Person B, Person C shows up hunting Person A. Only Person B is happens to be hunting Person C. What follows is a three-man chase on the rooftops. It was like a love triangle, only for death)

[The Final Dakar]

Good gameplay and commentary: YouTube - Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Manhunt Gameplay/Commentary by Jay Michaels

Hilariously, the guy gets spawn-killed at one point. No game is immune!

[SpaceMonkey]

Amazon has a one-day sale on this today so I decided to pick it up. Looking forward to it.

[The Final Dakar]

Another $13 off. Not bad.

---

First free Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood DLC is released- Destructoid

Ubisoft has released the first of two free updates for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. "Animus Update 1.0" comes with a new multiplayer map, the tiered Mont Saint-Michel. There's also an additional game mode, Advanced Alliance, which organizes players into three teams of two.

There's more news as well. The second update will be arriving next month and is a similar pairing of map and mode. Animus Update 2.0 will have a Pienza map and Chest Capture game mode which is, as you might suspect, team-based capture or defend gameplay.

[Leonard]

Free DLC... not too many companies doing that nowadays.

[Leonard]

Kevin, have you played the Multiplayer, yet? I haven't. I'm just starting memory sequence 2. I think I'll play the single player during the week and try the multiplayer this Sunday. I need to refresh my memory of all the new attacks and movements that were added in AC2.

Maybe I'll try out the virtual trainer.

[Kevin Bogues]

Dakar, when do you expect this to arrive ? And where does it fall in your line of unopened games to play?

[The Final Dakar]

Assuming no cock-ups, it's here tomorrow. And I ordered it because I want to play it NAO.

[The Final Dakar]

Well, FedEx failed me saturday after inexplicable sitting on it for two days (xmas can be blamed, I suppose).

Finally got to start it yesterday. First off, this game might have the smallest instruction booklet ever. It's more like an Instruction Pamphlet.

But I digress... So far I haven't had too much trouble with the controls. The fast walk turning into stealing has gotten me into a lot of trouble so far, but I love that there's four walking speeds. I have no real control on the sword fighting, but this is par for the course.

The biggest thing is I'm quite surprised at how mobile I'm allowed to be. I spent the first 15 in Rome avoiding guards thinking they'd want to kill me on sight (because I'm mother****in' Enzio, man). Once I did the first mission, I was a little surprised that a bunch of guards didn't really seem perturbed by a guy on a first-floor roof stalking the guy they're talking to. Hitman this ain't.

Otherwise I'm running into typical roadblocks; First thing I tried to do in Rome was burn a tower, which of course the game had "cleverly" walled off from me getting to. When I was sent to chase down a thief who had stolen from me, I didn't notice any instructions to not kill the guy, which I naturally did (and immediately failed the mission).

Haven't tried online yet. If I feel acclimated enough, I might try tonight.

[Kevin Bogues]

Those walled off areas go away quickly as y progress through the campaign,
I'll be on tonight for sure
I await some more impressions of the single player as you progress, I'm a big fan of th missions where you cannot be detected or when the 100% sync challenge is to not kill anyone

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

Those walled off areas go away quickly as y progress through the campaign

It's a necessary evil.

I await some more impressions of the single player as you progress, I'm a big fan of th missions where you cannot be detected or when the 100% sync challenge is to not kill anyone

Yeah, I figure my lack of inventory is part of the problem.

By biggest gripe last night was after a killed the first dude I was mobbed by guards and couldn't run away. At no point did they show me I could/had to exit from combat mode. Once I knew how I nailed it on the retry in under a minute.

You gonna have a mic tonight?

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

The biggest thing is I'm quite surprised at how mobile I'm allowed to be. I spent the first 15 in Rome avoiding guards thinking they'd want to kill me on sight (because I'm mother****in' Enzio, man). Once I did the first mission, I was a little surprised that a bunch of guards didn't really seem perturbed by a guy on a first-floor roof stalking the guy they're talking to. Hitman this ain't.

You can pretty much do anything while in un-restricted areas. But cause too much trouble to the citizens or get caught stealing and you can soon have some trouble.

Going into retricted areas, if a guard even sees you, you can be in trouble. Although, vice-versa, you can get away with killing a guard a good distance from another and not be detected.

Have you tried a leap of faith yet? Where you jump from a eagle's outlook (where you hit the Synchonize "Y" to get more of the map to be shown). I love that move.

The other new move I see is that you can kill someone with a sword and shoot another guy almost one after the other. That wasn't in AC2 was it?

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

I have no real control on the sword fighting, but this is par for the course.

You have the option to block (hold right trigger), counter (hold right trigger and X), attack (hit X), kick (hit A or is it right trigger and A). After you kick them, you can usually attack them. Generally, you want to counter the guard that attacks. There also seems to be a new chain kill move (it was sort of there in AC2), but I haven't perfected it yet.

But I assume you know most of that, and are saying you can't have control beyond that.

I think the previous AC's have been better at explaining training on the attack moves. But I guess that's what the Virtual Trainer is for.

I see Memory Sequence 3 is easier to get the 100% Synchronization achievement than Memory Sequence 2.

There also seems to be alot more to do in this AC besides the actual missions - assassination contracts, burning towers, collecting flags and feathers, the glyphs and puzzles, renovating the stores, etc...

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

It's a necessary evil.

Yeah, I figure my lack of inventory is part of the problem.

You'll eventually buy more as you get further into the memory sequences and start earning some money (florines). Heck you'll be throwing money away (there's a move for that).

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

By biggest gripe last night was after a killed the first dude I was mobbed by guards and couldn't run away. At no point did they show me I could/had to exit from combat mode. Once I knew how I nailed it on the retry in under a minute.

Yeah, that seems to be missing from this AC. It was there in the previous ones. They taught you everything and slowed introduced move after move and various tactics.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Leonard 

Have you tried a leap of faith yet? Where you jump from a eagle's outlook (where you hit the Synchonize "Y" to get more of the map to be shown). I love that move.

Yeah, it's pretty simple.

Originally Posted by Leonard 

You have the option to block (hold right trigger), counter (hold right trigger and X), attack (hit X), kick (hit A or is it right trigger and A). After you kick them, you can usually attack them. Generally, you want to counter the guard that attacks. There also seems to be a new chain kill move (it was sort of there in AC2), but I haven't perfected it yet.

Par for the course as in I've always been horrific at this type of gameplay.

Originally Posted by Leonard 

I think the previous AC's have been better at explaining training on the attack moves. But I guess that's what the Virtual Trainer is for.

Speaking of the Virtual trainer, my other huge gripe: Leave game to go to Virtual Trainer. 'If you leave now you will lose unsaved progress." Okay, how do I save. Oh I can't. Well how do I know if I have unsaved progress? I guess I can't.

Complete VT program. Sent to menu. Back out of menu. "You will lose any unsaved progress." I'm in the ****ing menu! What possible unsaved progress do I have?!

Seriously developers, I'm an experienced gamer and I find this stuff confusing as shit. I can't imagine how scary this stuff is for a noob.

(Also, what happens if I decline a mission? Do I lose it forever? Will it wait until i come back? These things are not made clear at all)

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Speaking of the Virtual trainer, my other huge gripe: Leave game to go to Virtual Trainer. 'If you leave now you will lose unsaved progress." Okay, how do I save. Oh I can't. Well how do I know if I have unsaved progress? I guess I can't.

Yeah, you don't really know, but the game generally saves at each important point, synchronization at a eagle outlook, mission accepted, mission finished, checkpoints in the mission (it will notify you of hitting a checkpoint), buying items, finding a feather or flag.

One good way of getting a save is to buy something if you are not sure. Probably just talking to a banker sets a save or entering the Assassin's hideout or whatever that main place is in Rome.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Complete VT program. Sent to menu. Back out of menu. "You will lose any unsaved progress." I'm in the ****ing menu! What possible unsaved progress do I have?!

Seriously developers, I'm an experienced gamer and I find this stuff confusing as shit. I can't imagine how scary this stuff is for a noob.

I haven't tried the Virtual Trainer, but you are right, that sounds
like a bug.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

(Also, what happens if I decline a mission? Do I lose it forever? Will it wait until i come back? These things are not made clear at all)

The mission is still there. Basically if you decline, you're declining the next step in the story and the story won't progress until you accept that mission. The marker stays there until you accept it. You're given an option to decline to allow you to perform other tasks in the open world or to quit at that point if you think the mission will take too long.

But yes, ALOT of the training that was in previous AC's, isn't there this time. Although they do throw hints at you at various points.

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

(Also, what happens if I decline a mission? Do I lose it forever? Will it wait until i come back? These things are not made clear at all)

And if you do have some nagging questions like this, you can always ask me or Kevin. We've both played the previous 2 AC's so we have alot of background and familiarity with it.

[The Final Dakar]

Or google. The point is the game isn't very clear on some things.

[Leonard]

Man, they've added things to this game! I knew you were going to recruit and train assassins, but they've added shop quests, more options on the pigeon coops, guild challenges. the further I get into it, the more I find.

I did find another annoyance, if you don't have your sword selected when on your horse, pressing X makes your character jump of the horse. you would think they would select your sword for you when your on horse so that you can stay on the horse and kill.

Ok a second annoyance, there is no restart from last checkpoint, that I've seen. If you fail synchronization, you can't restart from the last checkpoint that I've seen, unless you either die, or quit the game. The only option is to restart the mission.

oh, and to prove women do more work than men, my female assassin has more XP than my male assassin.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Leonard 

I did find another annoyance, if you don't have your sword selected when on your horse, pressing X makes your character jump of the horse. you would think they would select your sword for you when your on horse so that you can stay on the horse and kill.

Yeah, it's the same if I'm mobbed by guards. If I have my wrist knife equipped I'll just get mugged until I manually switch to a sword.

Originally Posted by Leonard 

Ok a second annoyance, there is no restart from last checkpoint, that I've seen. If you fail synchronization, you can't restart from the last checkpoint that I've seen, unless you either die, or quit the game. The only option is to restart the mission.

Seconded. I've been super careful not to ****-up on perfect synchs because of this shit.

[The Final Dakar]

Alright, million question time.


So I'm wandering around yesterday, minding my own business when suddenly a pack of civvies gets the guard arrows and goes apeshit after me. Then, as I'm trying to outrun them (who are much faster than guards) I run into a pack of guards, who also flip-out, but it seemed like at the civvies, because I almost immediately lost the groups.

This then happened again near the Colosseum, only this time when I found some guards I stopped to watch what would happen, only the guards inexplicably turned on me! So I had work twice as hard to lose both groups.

Speaking of the Colosseum, that was a fun explore. It isn't great, but there's something rewarding about understanding game design well enough that without seeing anything, I knew I'd find a Vantage Point and some hidden items at the top and I turned out to be right.


Next question: Why do the town criers (I forget what they're actually called) glow white in my Eagle Vision?
I find this twice as perplexing because I noticed only the ones in areas free of Borgia control glow white. I assumed I was free to kill these dudes since they're all bossy and shit, but that turned out to be quite the erroneous assumption.

On the bright side, I did do something clever. I climbed up on a roof near one, and there was a guard there. So I assassinated the guard, and then threw his body off the roof to distract all the people listening to crier. I tried to then shoot him, but that didn't work for some reason. Still, fun times.

Question 3: Are landmarks worth renovating in the early going? I renovated one and it's giving me less lira than the stupid tunnels.

Four: What's the deal with the factions? I have faction houses to buy, but I didn't actually do it because it gave me a choice of three factions and I didn't want to do something I might regret later on.

5: What is the average speed on an unladen swallow?

Finally: It figures. Right after I ate dinner last night my buddy switched to AC:B and Bogues went Away. You gonna be on again tonight? I'm about as fluid as I'm gonna be for the time being. I've got some practice now on rooftop chases thanks to those couriers who magically know who I am when they see me. Those chases are especially annoying thanks to my tackle working seemingly inconsistently and Guards getting involved (The first time was cool because they managed to kill the stood by as I looted the body; Unfortunately the next time took forever for two guards to bring the guy down, and I never managed to recover the body)

[Kevin Bogues]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Seconded. I've been super careful not to ****-up on perfect synchs because of this shit.

I didn't really worry about perfect synchs early on, due to being able to replay any memory within a sequence through the "DNA" menu option, i went back and played a few missions different ways after the fact.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Next question: Why do the town criers (I forget what they're actually called) glow white in my Eagle Vision?
I find this twice as perplexing because I noticed only the ones in areas free of Borgia control glow white. I assumed I was free to kill these dudes since they're all bossy and shit, but that turned out to be quite the erroneous assumption.

I have no idea, i don't remember noticing this during the game, but honestly i only use eagle vision when i'm searching for collectables and "subject 16 glyphs"

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

On the bright side, I did do something clever. I climbed up on a roof near one, and there was a guard there. So I assassinated the guard, and then threw his body off the roof to distract all the people listening to crier. I tried to then shoot him, but that didn't work for some reason. Still, fun times.

Many times in this game have I utilized dead bodies for some fantastic sequences, its a blast when you have a group of assassins at your will and you draw a group to a dead body and watch the mayhem as you sit on a bench or within a crowded group.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Question 3: Are landmarks worth renovating in the early going? I renovated one and it's giving me less lira than the stupid tunnels.

Absolutely, as you renovate more of each shop type you gain not only more dollars per 20mins in sessions but also discounts at all of those retailers, progressively as you renovate more of one type of the shop, the cost of renovation increases (directly correlated with the income it provides)

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Four: What's the deal with the factions? I have faction houses to buy, but I didn't actually do it because it gave me a choice of three factions and I didn't want to do something I might regret later on.

Faction houses provide you the different groups in that area for hire, such as the thieves and courtesans, you can change the faction of the house at any point within the game, they also give you a handy place to check the "guild challenges" which can be fun distraction.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

5: What is the average speed on an unladen swallow?

An African or European swallow?

[Kevin Bogues]

I'm sure your not there yet but as you gain the ability to recruit assassins, be sure to take full advantage of the missions they can be sent on (both for xp and money). they also can be VERY handy (especially at high levels) in large battles or in a pinch.

side note: quick advice, i'm not sure if your into looting bodies, but usually guards cary medicine and after a large battle, a few loots and you will be back up to snuff on your healing goods. Also make sure to take full advantage of the shop quests for better armor and pouches, these can be immensely useful later on

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

side note: quick advice, i'm not sure if your into looting bodies, but usually guards cary medicine and after a large battle, a few loots and you will be back up to snuff on your healing goods. Also make sure to take full advantage of the shop quests for better armor and pouches, these can be immensely useful later on

Yeah that's another new thing I noticed. When you loot dead bodies you can get more than money. You can get medicine, knives, poison, etc.

I take advantage of it when I can.

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Next question: Why do the town criers (I forget what they're actually called) glow white in my Eagle Vision?
I find this twice as perplexing because I noticed only the ones in areas free of Borgia control glow white. I assumed I was free to kill these dudes since they're all bossy and shit, but that turned out to be quite the erroneous assumption.

Most likely because they are of benefit when you are notorious. You bribe them to lose notoriety.
While in eagle vision, things that shine red are enemies, things that shine gold I believe are hideouts and other good things (collectibles like feathers).

[Leonard]

You can also bribe and then steal from town criers.

By the way they are really called heralds.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

So I'm wandering around yesterday, minding my own business when suddenly a pack of civvies gets the guard arrows and goes apeshit after me. Then, as I'm trying to outrun them (who are much faster than guards) I run into a pack of guards, who also flip-out, but it seemed like at the civvies, because I almost immediately lost the groups.

This then happened again near the Colosseum, only this time when I found some guards I stopped to watch what would happen, only the guards inexplicably turned on me! So I had work twice as hard to lose both groups.

Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

I didn't really worry about perfect synchs early on, due to being able to replay any memory within a sequence through the "DNA" menu option, i went back and played a few missions different ways after the fact.

I just don't like the feeling of "****ing up".

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

Absolutely, as you renovate more of each shop type you gain not only more dollars per 20mins in sessions but also discounts at all of those retailers, progressively as you renovate more of one type of the shop, the cost of renovation increases (directly correlated with the income it provides)

Landmarks, not shops. The answer seems to be, no, they're not worth it.

[The Final Dakar]

I took down a couple more towers down last night. Ever since I realized I could use the gun, they feel too easy. I think the big thing is no one seems to care that a loud sound occurred, which makes it overpowered. I'd be more stealthy, but I can't pin down what ranges/angles guards see you at, and I don't feel like screwing up and having to wait 12 hours to try again.

I did the underground dude, and I did have a fun moment with corpses. I take a guy out at a ladder and look down and see nothing. I almost descend before it occurs to me to just throw the body down into the pit. Immediately two guards investigate this body from heaven, and I shoot them both before descending. Awesomesauce.

Edit: Forgot. Did some multi with Bogues. It really sucks being low level. I definitely haven't grasped some of the spotting mechanics. Several times last night I would be searching on Manhunt and have one of the defenders drop down from a freakin' roof to stun me (Not the guy that I was tracking, either). Seemed a little counter to both the concept and actual gameplay.

[Leonard]

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues 

I'm sure your not there yet but as you gain the ability to recruit assassins, be sure to take full advantage of the missions they can be sent on (both for xp and money). they also can be VERY handy (especially at high levels) in large battles or in a pinch.

I've just recruited my first 2 Assassins - a kickass woman and a guy.

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues

I didn't really worry about perfect synchs early on, due to being able to replay any memory within a sequence through the "DNA" menu option, i went back and played a few missions different ways after the fact.

Yeah, for some memories I didn't worry about it, but for others I just wanted to give it a try.

Like you I know I can go back and replay the mission to get a perfect sync.

I won't be playin AC today as it's a HALO day, but tomorrow I'll have to try killing me some captains and burning their towers. And make sure I send my new assassin trainees on contracts.

[Leonard]

Well, I've recruited 8 assassin's and I'm sending them regularly on missions. I've done a few assassination missions myself. There's some interesting terain. I had one Borgia captain that was in an underground bunker or something.

Finally met Leonardo and got some more armaments back.

Got a laugh out of killing a guard with a broom. Man that broom's a killer.

[Leonard]

Kevin, you must almost be done the story. Have you collected all the feathers and flags?

I still haven't tried the multiplayer. I should give that a try.

[The Final Dakar]

I think I spent a little too long ****ing around and for a moment I thought I was burnt out. I did progress the story past sequence 3, however, and things picked up. I have to credit the developers, they've done some good pacing in the game (minus the shopping hoops I must jump through) and I do like the different gameplay elements they bring That said I feel the platforming levels go on for too long (seriously, after 3-4 rooms I've had my fill. It takes an implausible scenario and beats the ever-living shit out of it until its a completely senseless exercise). Also, they can **** themselves on the escort missions (particularly those where you carry someone).

On the plus side, I can say enough about the poison. It's probably the coolest way to assassinate someone (they must have a blast in the mocap sessions). It's particularly entertaining when you spike the tail of a guard patrol and watch them look on in confusion until the soon-to-be deceased starts flailing.



On the multiplayer side of things I'm coming in far under my expectations. I am a very, very poor assassin, part of which I blame on my ********* teammates who think running around everywhere and getting 100s is the way to go. I did, however, pull off my best sequence tonight, when atop a perch I decided to gamble on a 50/50 on one guy with my gun, spotted a teammate of his, locked on to him and as two idiot teammates spooked him he went underneath me for a beautiful combo air assassination.

Of course, on the flip-side of things, I find myself to be above-average at avoiding getting killed (Provided there's suitable camouflage to utilize). And I'm a crazy escapist. I have somewhere around an 80% success rate which seems decidedly high (for comparison Bogues is around 50%)

I have to give credit to the developers – the multiplayer is incredibly balanced as far as scoring on offense or defense. While I feel rushers aren't punished enough, perhaps I missing some of the finesse of it. I did have a game tonight where I was playing a team of (idiot) rushers and at one point we mist have been in excess of 5000 pts on defense when they had less than 1500 from kills. But I think they just sucked.

One of the more irritating ways I've been dying is those times I find good cover it seems that (probably by chance) two assassins will converge on my spot, one will (seemingly purposely) **** up, allowing the other will clean me up. Since killing civilians doesn't provide a penalty, this feels a little unbalanced, but logically there's someone else hiding out there scoring points while he has no pursuers on him. I just don't know. I'm also not sure how about useful stunning is here – there's a long recovery after dispatching a stun, where the second person will always be able to swoop in (and usually get more than the 200 pts you just scored for a stun). I think I may be deploying the incorrect strategy – I should be targeting the clean-up guy, as the **** up will have lost his contract.


The maps are good, though I'm a mess on that new night map (too hard to see), and non-to-skilled on it via daytime, either.

All-in-all, loving this game.

[Leonard]

Got the double hidden blade fro Leonardo. There's nothing like killing two guards at once with both hidden blades.

Assassinating a guard on a horse from a horse is cool too.

I gotta finish more of the guild challenges.

[The Final Dakar]

Poison darts are the new FTW.

[The Final Dakar]

Damn you, Bogues, AC:B Multi is better than being level 2 on New Vegas.

Played some more multi last night. I haven't pointed out yet, but Templar Vision is a pretty cheap ability. It negates any strategy you use while it's downside only works if the idiot using it happens to be in your vision (And even then, that still isn't much of a help). A good deal of my deaths were to this shit last night.


Oh speaking of deaths, I forgot to mention last time that it is quite possible to get spawn-killed. For reasons unknown you will start to show up on radar (and have your contract assigned) before you spawn, which in one case left me taking a step and a half out of spawn before a knife was put between my eyes (!), I imagine lag gets some blame, but only for about .5 seconds of it.

Going back to perks and abilities, there's apparently a perk for rushing, which along with Templar Vision, is head scratchingly stupid. It allows rushers to be able to be in High Profile (i.e., Right Trigger) longer before the red diamond appears over their head. On a small map that's just going to be pure hell.

I still haven't unlocked a perk yet, but one I was reading about that seems like every one should have as an innate ability is Blending. Basically, anytime you enter a crowd, one person will morph into your character (assuming none appear as it already). This would help greatly for those spawn where it seems almost no one is around and if they are, no one is your character. I suppose it might over-power the escapee in chases, however (Of course you could just disable it one in chase mode).

More on chases – I had this confusing game on that terrible map last ngiht (Castle Gondolfo) where for some reason two of the hunted were constantly running around, regardless of whether they were being chased or not. It was perplexing, and for someone trying not to run a run like a homo, quite irritating. I don't know if its a strategy to try and get Escape bonuses or what but it was terrible. Pretty sure they lost anyway.

The first round of that match, however, I was playing with Euthyphro and we had an excellent tense situation. I morphed a crowd in a corner and blnded in, and the Euthyphro decides he's going to mooch off me, and joins in. After 30 seconds or more someone finally mosey's on over to us and just stands a few feet away. Staring. At which point we're going bananas with stress and glee. In retrospect he was likely waiting for his Firecrackers to cooldown, but in the meantime we probably scored a ton of points with him there (which I ask myself, why don't we get a bonus for him being in close proximity?). When he finally dropped the 'crackers, we simultaneously dropped smokes, Euthyphro beat me to the stun, and we got the hell out of there. Great times.

Last note. I talk about how balanced scoring is on the game. I took second place (individual score-wise, out of 8) last night to a guy who went 3 -5 or 5 - 7. Impressive.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Leonard 

I gotta finish more of the guild challenges.

I think my only real complaint thus far is its a pain in the ass to check those challenges. They need to be in the database somewhere. (My other complaint being Notoriety increasing in real time. If I kill a guard and no one sees me do it, I shouldn't take the hit until the shift change)

Also, it seems like the memory boundaries refuse to move forever. I want to take down more Borgia, dammit.

(Oh, and assassins are crazy awesome. I'm enjoying that, from the looks of things, I can set huge events into motion without even unsheathing a blade)