Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Nov. 28th, 2011 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bouteillebleuGoddamnit Ubisoft why have the last three Assassin's Creed games ended like that.
This is not to say I didn't enjoy it - it did what previous games did, which is make me want to visit the place(s) it's set in because they're so gorgeous. It was odd but cool having ambient conversation in the city that I couldn't follow (I've been to Turkey once - the most I ever saw of Istanbul was the airport - and mainly stayed in a hotel resort; my knowledge of Turkish non-existent, whereas I can follow a bit of Italian from knowing French and Spanish).
There were some interesting new mechanics:
- Den defences, which I appreciate even if I got stuck on the third or fourth one and finished the game having not taken back the two dens I lost.
- More assassin training stuff! A few plot-of-their-own assassins, a way to assign them to your dens, ways to train them more, a lot more stuff in the mission screen. (I have *just now*, after finishing the game, discovered how assigning assassins to cities works. This
- The "Templar notice" system. While in one sense it makes things harder that were easy in the previous two games, in another sense it makes them more interesting (killing guards raises your notice, but so does buying shops, for example). On the other hand, it was relatively easy to manage if I kept an eye out for heralds and messengers (no posters in this game, that'd be too easy :).
- The weird Desmond memory bits. I haven't gone through all of these because I got stuck on one in a room full of tall pillars and orange grids moving back and forward (the orange grids delete the platforms you currently have out). Suspect this will be more interesting for housemates who are a bit better at this than I am.
- Also bombs - there looked to be this whole thing about making your own bombs - but I basically never used them. Did the throwing knives mechanic also change? I could have sworn they were easier to use before.
- Speaking of which, weapons stuff changed somewhat. You now have a primary and secondary weapon rather than just having one that you needed to swap in and out (I guess the addition of 3 types of bombs made it harder to fit everything onto one circle in an easily-accessible-in-combat form).
Some things that made me sad:
- Yusuf was awesome, and I'd have been glad to have seen more of him - but why was he killed off off-screen? I guess it would seem odd to have him killed off on-screen given he can defend himself just fine and when you're on-screen you should be able to help defend people (or you fail the mission), but why kill him at all?
- The ending was a bit more of the "HELLO I AM ONE OF THOSE ANCESTORS WHO IS BEING A CRYPTIC BASTARD AT YOU". On the other hand, Ezio got in on the "Desmond, I am sending you a message, and this is *weird*, and I hope you find out what this is all about and sort it out".
- Would have been cool to catch up with Claudia at some point (Ezio writes to her throughout, but doesn't visit her as far as I know).
- I think there's an achievement for beating up Duccio. I haven't yet. :(
Some things that made me happy:
- Subject sixteen, whose name I still can't remember if we found out.
- Oh dear lord the minstrels. That was possibly my favourite part of the game.
- Sofia was pretty cool.
- Altair! And actually looking and sounding like he's from Masyaf rather than Manhattan or something! I've not played the first Assassin's Creed but was aware the whitewashing that happened to Altair, so I'm pleased that that didn't happen in this game.
It's also a good swan-song for Ezio, who after three games and really does deserve a decent retirement (in an IC way, not in a "we want a new character" way).
Going through all the plot bits didn't take me too long - I worry that I may have missed some Sofia/book quests due to the actual plot and the Sofia plot joining up near the end, and I was certainly about 6 books short in my hideout the last time I checked - but I think I'll end up going back to do some more running around Constantinople/Konstantinyye/Istanbul.
o/~ Why did Constantinople get the works? / That's nobody's business but the Turks o/~
This is not to say I didn't enjoy it - it did what previous games did, which is make me want to visit the place(s) it's set in because they're so gorgeous. It was odd but cool having ambient conversation in the city that I couldn't follow (I've been to Turkey once - the most I ever saw of Istanbul was the airport - and mainly stayed in a hotel resort; my knowledge of Turkish non-existent, whereas I can follow a bit of Italian from knowing French and Spanish).
There were some interesting new mechanics:
- Den defences, which I appreciate even if I got stuck on the third or fourth one and finished the game having not taken back the two dens I lost.
- More assassin training stuff! A few plot-of-their-own assassins, a way to assign them to your dens, ways to train them more, a lot more stuff in the mission screen. (I have *just now*, after finishing the game, discovered how assigning assassins to cities works. This
- The "Templar notice" system. While in one sense it makes things harder that were easy in the previous two games, in another sense it makes them more interesting (killing guards raises your notice, but so does buying shops, for example). On the other hand, it was relatively easy to manage if I kept an eye out for heralds and messengers (no posters in this game, that'd be too easy :).
- The weird Desmond memory bits. I haven't gone through all of these because I got stuck on one in a room full of tall pillars and orange grids moving back and forward (the orange grids delete the platforms you currently have out). Suspect this will be more interesting for housemates who are a bit better at this than I am.
- Also bombs - there looked to be this whole thing about making your own bombs - but I basically never used them. Did the throwing knives mechanic also change? I could have sworn they were easier to use before.
- Speaking of which, weapons stuff changed somewhat. You now have a primary and secondary weapon rather than just having one that you needed to swap in and out (I guess the addition of 3 types of bombs made it harder to fit everything onto one circle in an easily-accessible-in-combat form).
Some things that made me sad:
- Yusuf was awesome, and I'd have been glad to have seen more of him - but why was he killed off off-screen? I guess it would seem odd to have him killed off on-screen given he can defend himself just fine and when you're on-screen you should be able to help defend people (or you fail the mission), but why kill him at all?
- The ending was a bit more of the "HELLO I AM ONE OF THOSE ANCESTORS WHO IS BEING A CRYPTIC BASTARD AT YOU". On the other hand, Ezio got in on the "Desmond, I am sending you a message, and this is *weird*, and I hope you find out what this is all about and sort it out".
- Would have been cool to catch up with Claudia at some point (Ezio writes to her throughout, but doesn't visit her as far as I know).
- I think there's an achievement for beating up Duccio. I haven't yet. :(
Some things that made me happy:
- Subject sixteen, whose name I still can't remember if we found out.
- Oh dear lord the minstrels. That was possibly my favourite part of the game.
- Sofia was pretty cool.
- Altair! And actually looking and sounding like he's from Masyaf rather than Manhattan or something! I've not played the first Assassin's Creed but was aware the whitewashing that happened to Altair, so I'm pleased that that didn't happen in this game.
It's also a good swan-song for Ezio, who after three games and really does deserve a decent retirement (in an IC way, not in a "we want a new character" way).
Going through all the plot bits didn't take me too long - I worry that I may have missed some Sofia/book quests due to the actual plot and the Sofia plot joining up near the end, and I was certainly about 6 books short in my hideout the last time I checked - but I think I'll end up going back to do some more running around Constantinople/Konstantinyye/Istanbul.
o/~ Why did Constantinople get the works? / That's nobody's business but the Turks o/~
