Assassin's Creed III Impressions (NO SPOILERS)

[Yokillernick]

As I finished the game yesterday, rushed through the main missions to see the story, I was wondering what you guys think of the game so far.

For me I think that this is the best AC game to ever come out. The combat is more fluid, the naval missions are a ton of fun, the Frontier in the winter is just amazing, trying to hunt for profit is fun as well but most importantly: it's immense. AC Brotherhood and Revelations stuck us in one city whereas this has way more areas to explore and things to do.

However one thing that I don't really like is the HUD. Why the hell did they have to change a HUD that worked perfectly fine for 4 games ? I often found myself shooting a random guard because I was trying to turn eagle vision on. Oh and on the topic of guards, once I reached full notoriety the fuckers keep on coming like there's an endless amount of them. Here's scenario. I was next to a printer shop to try and get rid of my notoriety when one patrol spots me. I kill them then 6 more enemies come, repeated until I counted on the floor and there were like 50 bodies before I moved to the next street where I killed another 50. You'd think they'd cap that or something.

So yeah what do you think of the game. Since I think I'm one of the only sad bastards to finish the game in a day and a bit I won't go into the ending and stuff like that.

 

[charge52]

I have problems with the guards to, there are just so many of them, they're everywhere. I learned that sometimes it's better to just slit everyone's throat unless you're trying to get somewhere far away. Never found much problem with the HuD though(and yes I must capitalize the letters like that, no I won't say why), mainly because eagle vision was right/left stick in revelations as well, so I haven't accidentally shot anyone yet.

One problem I do have with the menu, and that's that some fucker thought it was smart make the background for the info pages bright white, and have the text small, and light blue.

The hunting is definitely my favorite part of the game though, I can't wait to finish the story so I can get all the feathers, unlock Connors tribe outfit, and just stalk the forests like Robin Hood. Although I do feel that with how large the packs can be, that bear and wolf pelts might sell for a bit too much.

 

[omega 616]

I don't like the city, in the previous games you could run along the skyline, leaping from building to building ... in this one, you're lucky to cross 5 roof tops. It breaks flow like a *****! Constantly dropping down to the street level basically ruins the point of having the free running mechanic.

After 12 hours of game play, I am still getting the hang of the new fighting system. I seem to press counter then attack far too quickly and it cancels out the counter button press.

On another note, trying to get up a tree to free run is hard to do, it's very rare I can find a tree I can climb. Speaking of trees, those eagle nestle viewpoints in the trees are hard to get to ... I had to search the net to find out how it's done.

Hunting is like it was is red dead redemption, fucking pointless. "Yay, I can kill animals" so what? You get buckets of money anyway, about 5 hours into Conner's bit I had £25,000 and I wasn't even trying.

The sea battles are good though, nothing like firing a volley of cannons into the side of an enemy ship. Those little guns are practically useless though, they can only take down yachts!

Some of the sub objectives are hard to do, like get on a boat full of people, air assassinate a grenadier, plant a bomb, leap off the boat without being seen ... At which shop do you buy the MGS4 sneaking suit?

What happened to medicine? I now have COD health, I liked the medicine system.

EDIT: the person below me reminded me of the graphics ... the horror! Pentagonal round tables are back ladies and gentlemen!

 

[FitScotGaymer]

I haven't completed it yet but I am playing it. And enjoying for the most part.

I love the naval missions. It's weird how a game gets naval battle and whatnot right any it's NOT a pirate game, and yet Risen 2 sucks balls.

I do have a few gripes though.

One = Somehow in spite of using a more advanced engine the graphics are actually worse. Seriously. Desmond used to be pretty handsome (ya know for a computer game character) and in AC3 he has been repeatedly slapped about with the ugly stick.

Two = The guards, are fricking everywhere. Seriously if one starts chasing you within about 3 seconds you have a whole fricking horde of them on your backside. And it is nearly impossible to shake them.

Three = The codex updates too early in several cases. Lost count of the amount of times I have went to read a codex update related to a quest and the codex gives away WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. Seriously. Majorly dropped the ball there QA guys!

Four = The guards again. Or rather the factional guards. Patriots versus Loyalists. I murder several loyalist soldiers brutally so loyalist guards chase me, then suddenly patriot guards are all over my ass too. Wtf? Why do the patriots give a feck that ive murdered a loyalist?

Five = The guards again. Some thugs attack me, and the guards join in to bash me. Wtf? I'm the victim here! No situational awareness. Another QA fail.

Six = Several times during the game certain characters act like they "know" something, respond like they have been told something that has not been articulated yet at any point to them (or to the player). Like Connor has related a piece of information to them, that he actually hasn't, or Connor replies to them like they relayed information to him that they haven't utterred.
Example: It is safe to assume Connor's mum told him who his dad was. But at no point during the conversation with him, does Connor relate this to Achilles. And yet when Connor suddenly declares the American Templar Order's Grand Master to be has dad to the old assassin, the old dude replies like he is totally unsurprised and Connor had already relayed that info to him. Except he hadn't.
Time skips explain some of the characters inexplicably "knowing" things they shouldn't know; but not everything.

Seven = In prior AC games the devs made a real effort to get the accents and "slang" correct; and in AC3 in some places they do an awesome job. And in others they do a terrible job. For the most part the "english" accents are spot on, but by the same token most of the "scottish" accents are near universally terrible.
Kind of dissapointing given how great this sort of thing was in prior AC games.

I am enjoying the game don't get me wrong. I just can't escape the feeling that this game just isn't as polished as the other AC games were.

 

[Yokillernick]

What happened to medicine? I now have COD health, I liked the medicine system.

Oh yeah I forgot about this. Costumes are now just for the looks. I liked having to buy my armour in AC:B or trying to get Altair's Armour in AC II. It made the game seem like more fun since you could customise different armour pieces. Not in AC III where so far I only found like 6 costumes. Also I forgot I like the new Desmond bits a helluva lot more than the previous one.

 

[omega 616]

What happened to medicine? I now have COD health, I liked the medicine system.

Oh yeah I forgot about this. Costumes are now just for the looks. I liked having to buy my armour in AC:B or trying to get Altair's Armour in AC II. It made the game seem like more fun since you could customise different armour pieces. Not in AC III where so far I only found like 6 costumes. Also I forgot I like the new Desmond bits a helluva lot more than the previous one.

Never played a Desmond bit unless I had to, revelations was the best for this. Desmond on his little island, the game telling me to explore it, me saying nopenopenope and running back into to be Ezio.

In this game I have been forced one to play as him and I rushed that so much, skipped all the scenes, ran towards the end and then when given the option to look for more things as Desmond or return to the animus, I ran at the animus so fast I ran past it.

Why play as a boring guy, with a boring name who cant do much, when I can play as a guy who can run through trees?

 

[charge52]

After 12 hours of game play, I am still getting the hang of the new fighting system. I seem to press counter then attack far too quickly and it cancels out the counter button press.

Well not all of us can master new combat styles in video games in about two fights *smug grin*.

Hunting is like it was is red dead redemption, fucking pointless. "Yay, I can kill animals" so what? You get buckets of money anyway, about 5 hours into Conner's bit I had £25,000 and I wasn't even trying.

From what I've seen you can use some hunting materials for crafting.

The sea battles are good though, nothing like firing a volley of cannons into the side of an enemy ship. Those little guns are practically useless though, they can only take down yachts!

Isn't that their specific purpose, making it so you don't have to get next to it to fire your huge ass guns?

Some of the sub objectives are hard to do, like get on a boat full of people, air assassinate a grenadier, plant a bomb, leap off the boat without being seen ... At which shop do you buy the MGS4 sneaking suit?

Take a left past the statue of Garret in the underground temple of thieves, there you will find a mysterious gentleman who will sell it to you promptly after asking you if you have any valuables.

the person below me reminded me of the graphics ... the horror! Pentagonal round tables are back ladies and gentlemen!

Do not mock the Pentagons!

 

[Yokillernick]

Somehow in spite of using a more advanced engine the graphics are actually worse. Seriously. Desmond used to be pretty handsome (ya know for a computer game character) and in AC3 he has been repeatedly slapped about with the ugly stick.

Really, I thought Desmonds face got transformed for the better. At least now he isn't an Adam Sandler lookalike and I haven't found anything else wrong wtih model graphics. Granted the tree leaves look like coloured paper.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Somehow in spite of using a more advanced engine the graphics are actually worse. Seriously. Desmond used to be pretty handsome (ya know for a computer game character) and in AC3 he has been repeatedly slapped about with the ugly stick.

Really, I thought Desmonds face got transformed for the better. At least now he isn't an Adam Sandler lookalike and I haven't found anything else wrong wtih model graphics. Granted the tree leaves look like coloured paper.

I found it really jarring how Desmond almost seemed to change ethnicity in Revelations, it's nice that he actually looks like Desmond again now.

But yeah, agreed on the graphics part; again, for a game with THAT much development money going into it and such a huge production, some of it looks really sub-par (not that graphics are all that important, but y'have to wonder where the money goes that's clearly not going to gameplay in this case...). I mean, Red Dead Redemption, for example, had much nicer foliage and weather graphics, and that was 2 years ago.

Overall, I'm enjoying it in the way I enjoy the others; but I'm nothing if not a little disappointed so far. The stinking killstreaks (which I do NOT like) are back, it gets aggressively linear at times inside the missions, it's somehow even less challenging than the rest of the series and it doesn't seem to want me to be able to play with the HUD completely off; still, I like the world, and I know fudge all about American history, so most of this is new to me*.

Plus, being English, I'm digging the mix of British regional accents, feels quite fresh for some reason. Also enjoying marching behind columns of redcoats shouting "AH DON'T KNOW, BUT AH BEEN TOLD" etc. Also petting dogs.

*(from the database entries, before anyone points it out)

 

[Zhukov]

Conner is an irritating prick.

Jesus, try cracking a smile once every few years you joyless twat.

In other news, Desmond remains incredibly dull.

 

[Yokillernick]

Conner is an irritating prick.

Jesus, try cracking a smile once every few years you joyless twat.

In other news, Desmond remains incredibly dull.

His mum got killed, his village burned and his daddy problems. I'm sure he's the happiest person in the world.

 

[charge52]

Conner is an irritating prick.

Jesus, try cracking a smile once every few years you joyless twat.

In other news, Desmond remains incredibly dull.

He smile's in segment 8/9(forget specifically) when he has friendly spat with Achilles, and also before his mother dies, his village is burned, and is told he needs to kill his father.

 

[omega 616]

Conner is an irritating prick.

Jesus, try cracking a smile once every few years you joyless twat.

In other news, Desmond remains incredibly dull.

His mum got killed, his village burned and his daddy problems. I'm sure he's the happiest person in the world.

Conner is an irritating prick.

Jesus, try cracking a smile once every few years you joyless twat.

In other news, Desmond remains incredibly dull.

He smile's in segment 8/9(forget specifically) when he has friendly spat with Achilles, and also before his mother dies, his village is burned, and is told he needs to kill his father.

Well, so much for that no spoilers thing, eh?

Next you will be telling people about minotaur that appears! ... Shit...

To be honest, none of the people in the game are that appealing. The big bad AKA daddy is the best of the bunch to me, just got a hint of Handsome Jack about him.

 

[Qitz]

That's all you need to know baby.

All you need to know.

Or at least all I know about it

 

[Supertegwyn]

What happened to medicine? I now have COD health, I liked the medicine system.

Oh yeah I forgot about this. Costumes are now just for the looks. I liked having to buy my armour in AC:B or trying to get Altair's Armour in AC II. It made the game seem like more fun since you could customise different armour pieces. Not in AC III where so far I only found like 6 costumes. Also I forgot I like the new Desmond bits a helluva lot more than the previous one.

Never played a Desmond bit unless I had to, revelations was the best for this. Desmond on his little island, the game telling me to explore it, me saying nopenopenope and running back into to be Ezio.

In this game I have been forced one to play as him and I rushed that so much, skipped all the scenes, ran towards the end and then when given the option to look for more things as Desmond or return to the animus, I ran at the animus so fast I ran past it.

Why play as a boring guy, with a boring name who cant do much, when I can play as a guy who can run through trees?

Because the Desmond sequences are fun perhaps?

Maybe if you stopped to try them you would enjoy them.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I love it despite the fact that they did not fix many of the flaws that have plagued the series since 2.

Instant fail, rigid stealth missions can fuck right off.

WAY too many guards everywhere.

100% sync is bullcrap and irritating. Just give us a separate hard mode.

 

[Yokillernick]

Instant fail, rigid stealth missions can fuck right off.

Agree with you there. There was one mission where I had to chase a guy through some scaffolding. He went one way and the game made me go the other. Five seconds later I got an instant fail saying that I lost my target. BULL FUCKING CRAP I said. I could see my target from where I was. He was 27 meters away from me. What happened ? At 27 meters he vanishes onto thin air. Yeah this repeated itself around like 5 times until I got lucky.

 

[Zhukov]

Conner is an irritating prick.

Jesus, try cracking a smile once every few years you joyless twat.

His mum got killed, his village burned and his daddy problems. I'm sure he's the happiest person in the world.

[snip]

He smile's in segment 8/9(forget specifically) when he has friendly spat with Achilles, and also before his mother dies, his village is burned, and is told he needs to kill his father.

Having bad shit go down early in one's life does not preclude one from ever displaying the slightest hint of good humour or levity for the rest of their bloody days. For an obvious example, see Ezio.

Now you've gone and reminded me how incredibly cliche his origin story is. Village burned, dead parent, evil other parent, out on quest for revenge. Wow, how do they come up with this stuff?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Conner is an irritating prick.

Jesus, try cracking a smile once every few years you joyless twat.

In other news, Desmond remains incredibly dull.

His mum got killed, his village burned and his daddy problems. I'm sure he's the happiest person in the world.

This knowledge doesn't make his character anymore enjoyable or interesting though. And seeing as you spend a good 10 hours with the guy, having him be a wild bore with a wooden face is excruciating. You'd think that with all his issues he'd have some passion or emotional response to the world around him. He made me actually me start to enjoy Desmond's character, for Christ's sake.

I already said it in another thread, but this game should've had you be a pirate captain assassin in charge of a three-master roaming the open seas Wind Waker style. The naval sections where the only enjoyable part of the whole game.

 

[charge52]

Conner is an irritating prick.

Jesus, try cracking a smile once every few years you joyless twat.

His mum got killed, his village burned and his daddy problems. I'm sure he's the happiest person in the world.

[snip]

He smile's in segment 8/9(forget specifically) when he has friendly spat with Achilles, and also before his mother dies, his village is burned, and is told he needs to kill his father.

Having bad shit go down early in one's life does not preclude one from ever displaying the slightest hint of good humour or levity for the rest of their bloody days. For an obvious example, see Ezio.

Now you've gone and reminded me how incredibly cliche his origin story is. Village burned, dead parent, evil other parent, out on quest for revenge. Wow, how do they come up with this stuff?

Problem with the example, Ezio was a late teen when his family members died, Connor was 5. Also he does show humor every once in awhile, it's just more subtle than Ezio.

Presumably they come up with this stuff the same way you came up with a generic comment on how Connor doesn't go around cracking jokes like Ezio.