Now that a considerable amount of time has passed and plenty of people have played AC3 I just wanted to know if anyone out there can truly say if and why they enjoyed it. Personally when compared to the previous games I found it to be rather lackluster mainly I think due to the location. The American Revolution sounds cool in theory, but one of my major concerns were the towns. Boston and New York just don't compare to places like Florence and Rome. They're just too short I guess is what you would call it. They don't really make you want to go free-running on the roofs and guards spot like you in around 3 milliseconds if you decide to go onto the rooftop. So the game negates one of the most important aspects of the Assassin's Creed universe. Couple this with the fact that this is the easiest game in the franchise (and that is saying something) due to the revised health system. Instead of having to replenish your health with health packs it instead regenerates over time therefore removing most of the challenge in fighting, I say most because the fighting in AC was never hard. Now the character of Connor was also another considerable concern for me. He just isn't interesting, at all. I know that we were all sick to death of Ezio always appearing, but now that he's gone who do we get? Some monotone, boring kid who never seems to understand what's going on? Compared to Ezio's charismatic womanizing appeal Connor just comes off as bland and uninteresting. I have been of fan of this series since day 1, but with this latest entry I just give up and it seems that Ubisoft has too.
I found it decidedly meh, with the exception of the naval battles, which I think they should totally repackage as some sort of new pirate-themed series. I got tired of the game holding my hand for four hours or so, and I found myself wishing it would just let me play already. Also, I'm convinced that the noises those goddamned orphans make are what they play on the shuttle bus to Hell.
People have a really hard time understanding other opinions, don't they?
I enjoyed it. It was a really slow start, but once Chapter 9 began I absolutely loved the story missions. I liked the location, perhaps partly because I live in New England myself and often see a fair amount of countryside. Free-running through the trees was more fun than running on rooftops ever was to me. The naval combat was beautiful, and I really hope somebody either takes that engine or just lifts heavily from ACIII to make a swashbuckling game.
But then, Brotherhood and Revelations never held my interest, so what do I know.
I liked it until the game started to wrap up. This happens to all the Assassin's Creed games to me. Something just sort of fizzles out when you start playing those last few chapters. I guess...it's because the epic showdowns, the clawing your way through enemies to fight the final guy, it just isn't there. The games always feel like, by the time you reach your last target, there's no one left. Both on your side and theirs. Which I suppose is a good thing, because you killed all the other targets, but it just makes those last few chapters feel anti-climatic. I get no sense of desperation, no "This is it, raise the stakes" feeling, either from my character or from the villain.
That's just me though.
I really enjoyed free running in the wilderness. And hunting. As per usual for AC games, the story was just something in the way of being able to explore to my hearts content and collect everything.
I even speculated a MP survival "build shelter, gather food, fight wandering patrols" game set in just the huge wilderness area would be great.
I loved running through Boston as a young scared Indian boy. Sadly Connor grew up, incredibly quickly, and became a bit of an asshole. I never really enjoyed the game very much as adult Connor, and that fucking never ending prison mission was the worst thing I've ever played in any game ever. I just killed the entire British army with a tomahawk, why the hell am I suddenly a helpless pussy?
I found it decidedly meh, with the exception of the naval battles, which I think they should totally repackage as some sort of new pirate-themed series.
The naval combat was pretty cool, and I'd like to see a game centered on it, but I never really had anything to do with it. "Here's a ship, there's some water, go fuck around while I take a nap."
I had a great time playing the game. I always found the climbing of huge buildings a little annoying, sure it is fun for some buildings but not for every single one. So the shorter buildings in this setting was a welcome change. Whenever I play an Assassin's Creed game I tend to beat up random civs and kill many guards, so starting out as Haytham was a perfect fit for me. I was alittle dissapointed when the game switched over to Connor because he didn't quite fit my playstyle, but having Connor slowly turn into his dad to get the job done made the game for me. Over all I loved the game and I wouldn't mind replaying it once im done with my backlog of games. My over all favorite assassination was the last kill as Haytham. I chased the guy down to the little island, tackled him to the ground and then kicked him right in the balls "fades to white".
It's weird, but I actually did, though I share most of your concerns. Not a big fan of the setting, especially compared to Florence, Rome and Constantinople, and I just couldn't connect with the main character. Especially since they first gave me a perfectly fun guy to play, then yanked him away from under my nose and replaced him with someone so uninteresting... And I was hoping throughout all of the game they'd come around and give you-know-who back for a mission or two later. And the ending... well, let's not talk about that. It's sad that obviously there's a cookie cutter for that kind of thing now.
Strangely enough, I still had lots of fun squirreling around the frontier, and once again I went for 100 % synch, because it was still fun to play. The visuals and the soundtrack were still great, they've done a good job with the free-squirelling, the naval missions were great to play (bar the one where you had to shoot the powder magazines of the two frigates long after you could afford the naval ram upgrade).
I'm not as likely to replay this one as I am to replay Assassin's Creed or any of the Ezio games, but in the end of the day, I had a lot of fun with this.
I felt Connor was decidedly bland and much less interesting than his predecessors. You know they worked hard to make him this way for him to be even more boring than Desmond.
The location wasn't all that much better and it's pretty sad that out of all the history since the AC2, they felt this one to be the most interesting. Not that I'm against the location being America, though there are few games who take place in exotic locations, which could be exploited, but it could have at least made it a bit more interesting (while writing this I was thinking about the Prohibition, but that feels just a bit too close to modern days)
You also had the option to free run and ..short buildings, which sort of spoiled it. Naval battles were decent, but then it just brought up the idea that this could have taken place in 1500's and made the main character a pirate, free running from ship to ship or get involved in good old fashion looting so that's a depressing thought of opportunities missed.
I thought it was okay, but that really isn't a good thing. I loved AC1, AC2, AC:B, and AC:R (even though those last two had very noticeable problems with them) and merely just thinking it was okay shows how far it has fallen. There are some severe problems with the game that significantly hampered my enjoyment. The issues are:
-The there is something off with the stealth. Not really sure how to explain this, but the stealth in this game seemed broken to me. Guards spotted you too easily and once you were spotted, running away and hiding was nearly impossible as guards seemed to know if you were wanted or not by simply looking at you. The game seemed to leave proper stealth gameplay in favor of a brutal combat system. Speaking of which...
-The combat system. One thing I liked about the combat system in AC:B was the wide array of enemies and the numerous ways that they could be dispatched. Unfortunately, that was 2 games ago and AC3 has the exact same basic foundation but also seems to have fewer options. Every special enemy type has exactly 2 ways to dispatch them: a variation on the counter/disarm mechanic or the fucking pistol. Combat has very little reward, beyond the sheer brutality of it all of course.
-Too many fucking items. This has been a problem since Brotherhood and it still hasn't been fixed. We are given a whole host of interesting toys with which to experiment, but we will never ever use. They are all interesting and fun to watch, but they don't shake up the combat in any meaningful way, meaning we forget about them over time and end up not using them at all. I thought that rope-dart was absolutely kick ass, but it doesn't offer any tactical advantage over quietly stabbing a guy with the hidden blade.
-The economy is absolutely worthless. The homestead money making mechanic deliberately obtuse and not fun to use, it takes far to long for all the good upgrades to kick in, and the shitloads of cash you receive for your pointless endeavors can only purchase a small number of weapons, ammo you can receive easily from any guard, or more crafting materials with which to make more money. They took a useless mechanic from previous games and made it worse.
-The usual contextual problems. This has been a problem since AC1, but it has hit its worst in AC3. Between Connor veering off in a direction you didn't want, running sequences that are almost impossible to complete without help, or climbing to the top of a tree in the wilderness and jumping to your death because the hay bale is hidden by the tree itself. Free running sections are less an exercise in finesse and more an exercise in patience.
-Graphical issues. It just made everything look odd. Not much to dwell on here, though Desmond's backpack annoyed me to no end.
-Connor is extremely unlikable. All he does is respond to everyone with hostility, regardless of the context. Never does he experience a moment of levity, crack a joke, or even smile. Were he born in this day and age, he would wear an emo fringe. I get how it is meant to reflect society's mistreatment of Native Americans and how hatred has hardened him, but we aren't given any hope that he looks at an issue without a veneer of hate. Maybe the point is that we can't really move past the injustices done to his people (which I can understand) but as a character he became boring and unlikable.
-The prologue is too fucking long. I actually liked the twist that came at the end of the actual prologue, but it takes too long to get there. You spend the first 5 hours playing with a temporary character and then another couple of hours waiting for the world to open up. I just want to free roam with Connor through the wilderness, stabbing redcoats, but the game just doesn't want to let me do that. By the time I actually got to Boston to explore without a leash, I had almost given up. But that still isn't my biggest problem with the story...
-That fucking ending. Where to start? First off, how did Juno actually save the world? How is it that just releasing her from her digital prison save the world. We knew that the first civ couldn't pull it off, so how did she manage to do it when we were nowhere near as advanced and infinitely less prepared for it. Between the fact that the world ending, apocalyptic scenario is essentially hand waved, the fact that the status quo between the Assassins and Templars hasn't really changed much, and the fact that none of the major questions were answered over the course of the game, that ending ticked me off.
But with all that bullshit, there are somethings that the game does absolutely right: the naval section are amazing, if unnecessary to the overall plot, the Captain Kid sections are fun, if incredibly contrived, and the voice actors are good for the most part (none of the Native speakers had any emotional range). Overall, this is a game that should've been a lot better than it currently is.
I enjoyed it. Just not as much as I enjoyed previous AC games. I enjoyed it more than Revelations, though. Something about Ezio being so old and far away from Italy was depressing to me, so I was never really into it as much as I was into AC2 and Brotherhood.
But naval missions are amazing. So amazing in fact, that I wish Ubisoft would make a game based on that premise. A game unrelated to Assassin's Creed where you can buy your own ship, recruit your own crew and just do all the awesome stuff with it.
I think they've gone overboard with economy and crafting. It didn't feel rewarding and it was certainly not as deep as they had imagined. It was pretty shallow and convoluted. I just couldn't be bothered with it.
Happiness Assassin said:
Too many fucking items. This has been a problem since Brotherhood and it still hasn't been fixed. We are given a whole host of interesting toys with which to experiment, but we will never ever use. They are all interesting and fun to watch, but they don't shake up the combat in any meaningful way, meaning we forget about them over time and end up not using them at all. I thought that rope-dart was absolutely kick ass, but it doesn't offer any tactical advantage over quietly stabbing a guy with the hidden blade.
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. The gameplay doesn't reward the variety of items you have at your disposal. The combat is too shallow and easy for such a huge arsenal of weapons. But this was true since Brotherhood introduced the crossbow that made throwing knives and the pistol completely pointless. Like you said, there is no advantage in using one item over the other so you just end up using what was already selected. Navigating the menu in AC3 to select a different weapon is not encouraged because the menu is so cluttered. At least in AC2 you had a simple inventory wheel that was easily accessible, and we had just enough weapons to keep things interesting. AC2 is the highlight of the series. Since then they didn't do much to improve the actual gameplay.
Glad to read some people really enjoyed it. I'm stuck near the beginning on a frustrating hand held stealth mission. I just want to run around and stab targets! I keep reading what a hoot the tree branch running is. Up to this stupid stealth mission, I was having a blast, hand holding or not.
Naval battles were decent, but then it just brought up the idea that this could have taken place in 1500's and made the main character a pirate, free running from ship to ship or get involved in good old fashion looting so that's a depressing thought of opportunities missed.
Yep, this will go down in the pages of gaming history as the biggest wasted oppertunity. Those naval battles were fantastic. It gave you the feeling of standing at the helm of a three-master, and the sense of scale and weight that goes with it, but still retained a simple control scheme. Imagine this mechanic in a realistic Wind Waker type setting...
I've waited since the second game for the developers to finally move forward with Desmond's story. Aside from the opening scene, Desmond does fuck all in 2. He can run around a modern Villa in Brotherhood before being forced to stab Lucy, because she allegedly 'could have' turned traitorous. Then he was in a fucking coma in Revelations. Altiar was a cool guy. But Ezio could fuck right off fifteen minutes into the second game. I spent three games playing as that un-interesting Italian ****. Now I'm being forced to play as some cool British guy with mad charm. Three hours later, he's the bad guy and I'm playing as his whiny as fuck son.
So aside from a few hours here and there, I have no problem saying the Ass Creed games have gotten progressively worse by focusing more on shit in the past where nothing happens, and less about Desmond where everything actually is happening. I couldn't give a fuck who Ezio wanted to bang. I wanted to know more about Abstergo. I wanted to know (And then was pissed off at why) about Lucy's death. I wanted to see more modern assassins. I wanted an Ass Creed game to take palce in the ever fucking present!
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As you can see....Ubisoft really fucked up with Ass Creed for me.
id like to start this post by saying i have not played AC3 and wont be getting it til a price drop (like ive done with other AC games) and as such have nothing to say about the quality of the game itself
but boy do i hate it when someone comes along and says "Did Anyone truly enjoy Assassin's Creed 3's Singleplayer?" its like saying "did you enjoy this? because i think you misinterpreted you own opinion of the game if you liked it"
if people liked it they liked it simple as that, unless you have reason to suspect a person of lying about it then yes they truly liked it
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