Okay I just feel like I need to get out some of my feelings about the continued existence of these games. Be warned, this is mostly just going to be something resembling a rant.
First off, I just want to make it clear: I love these games. I might not always agree with Ubisoft's choices about what to put in them, but I always love them. I get hooked on every single one, and they can eat up my time like no other game series I've ever experienced.
Now onto my issues with them:
Issue number 1: the main characters. I'll put this out there in no mixed terms - I fucking loved Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. I think he was fucking amazing, and it's a shame he wasn't given the same extensive weapons and abilites as Ezio was. I get that Ubisoft learnt as they went, and they had to somewhat obey the technology levels of the time periods in terms of weapons, but I find it hard to swallow that someone who was trained from birth to be an elite member of the Assassin brotherhood would be less capable in combat and slower with his free-running than some Italian womaniser who happens to be able to do parkour.
Now that's out of the way, let's move on to Ezio Auditore da Firenze. I liked him, at first. I still do, kind of. He's a good character, he really is. There's not much else too say about him really. He's just a good character to have.
The issue? We've spent too much time with him. Having a new Assassin from Altaïr for Assassin's Creed 2 was a good move, and I approve. I approve of the setting too, cause I love the renaissance styling and everything. But now we've had 2 games with Ezio, and a third one coming, I just feel he needs to bow out. He's done, as far as I'm concerned. His story is over, and them bringing him back for Assassin's Creed: Revelations is just trying to milk the last out of a good character. Yes, he was good, but he's 53 years old now, you can't have him travelling the world and still being as agile as ever. Hell, part of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was the fact that there's many more Assassins now because of Ezio. We really don't need him as a playable character in Revelations.
This feeds into another issue I have with Altaïr. He should have had more than one game. I know he's controllable in sections of Revelations, but I just feel like we should have made more time with him. Maybe seeing how he carries on after the whole messy business at the end of the 1st game.
But instead we get glimpses of that, but never get to actually follow it properly for ourselves, which I think it a missed opportunity. What, did the Templars just stop after Al Mualim kicked the bucket? They're still active in the year 2012 or whenever Desmond's sections are supposed to be set, so what did they do after Al Mualim died, and how did Altaïr get himself involved in that? It's a big chunk of what could be an amazing story that we never really find out much about. I remain hopeful that we get to play that in Revelations.
Speaking of Desmond... he's the one character I don't like. He's just... bland. He's got the abilities of his ancestors but none of the personality. Altaïr was a guy bound by duty and his brotherhood but was forced to go against them to stop the Templars. Ezio became an Assassin to avenge his unjustly murdered family and followed that through into a quest against the Borgia. Desmond on the other hand? He does nothing but sit in a machine, yet they want us to play as him every now and again for seemingly no real reason.
My next real complaint is the whole 'aliens making humans' thing revealed at the end of Assassin's Creed 2. It's interesting, yes. But by shortly after the beginning of Brotherhood it seems to be forgotten, and everyone goes right back to "kill Templars and find pieces of Eden" mode with narry a mention of the futuristic shit hidden under the fucking Vatican!
This last bit is a bit iffy cause I still haven't finished Brotherhood, but the rest still stands.
TL;DR: We should have had more time with Altaïr and Ezio is wearing thin now. Also Desmond is boring.
Sorry if all this has been said before but I really needed to vent. Ignore if you want, or discuss what I've said. The choice is yours.
First off, I just want to make it clear: I love these games. I might not always agree with Ubisoft's choices about what to put in them, but I always love them. I get hooked on every single one, and they can eat up my time like no other game series I've ever experienced.
Now onto my issues with them:
Issue number 1: the main characters. I'll put this out there in no mixed terms - I fucking loved Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. I think he was fucking amazing, and it's a shame he wasn't given the same extensive weapons and abilites as Ezio was. I get that Ubisoft learnt as they went, and they had to somewhat obey the technology levels of the time periods in terms of weapons, but I find it hard to swallow that someone who was trained from birth to be an elite member of the Assassin brotherhood would be less capable in combat and slower with his free-running than some Italian womaniser who happens to be able to do parkour.
Now that's out of the way, let's move on to Ezio Auditore da Firenze. I liked him, at first. I still do, kind of. He's a good character, he really is. There's not much else too say about him really. He's just a good character to have.
The issue? We've spent too much time with him. Having a new Assassin from Altaïr for Assassin's Creed 2 was a good move, and I approve. I approve of the setting too, cause I love the renaissance styling and everything. But now we've had 2 games with Ezio, and a third one coming, I just feel he needs to bow out. He's done, as far as I'm concerned. His story is over, and them bringing him back for Assassin's Creed: Revelations is just trying to milk the last out of a good character. Yes, he was good, but he's 53 years old now, you can't have him travelling the world and still being as agile as ever. Hell, part of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was the fact that there's many more Assassins now because of Ezio. We really don't need him as a playable character in Revelations.
This feeds into another issue I have with Altaïr. He should have had more than one game. I know he's controllable in sections of Revelations, but I just feel like we should have made more time with him. Maybe seeing how he carries on after the whole messy business at the end of the 1st game.
But instead we get glimpses of that, but never get to actually follow it properly for ourselves, which I think it a missed opportunity. What, did the Templars just stop after Al Mualim kicked the bucket? They're still active in the year 2012 or whenever Desmond's sections are supposed to be set, so what did they do after Al Mualim died, and how did Altaïr get himself involved in that? It's a big chunk of what could be an amazing story that we never really find out much about. I remain hopeful that we get to play that in Revelations.
Speaking of Desmond... he's the one character I don't like. He's just... bland. He's got the abilities of his ancestors but none of the personality. Altaïr was a guy bound by duty and his brotherhood but was forced to go against them to stop the Templars. Ezio became an Assassin to avenge his unjustly murdered family and followed that through into a quest against the Borgia. Desmond on the other hand? He does nothing but sit in a machine, yet they want us to play as him every now and again for seemingly no real reason.
My next real complaint is the whole 'aliens making humans' thing revealed at the end of Assassin's Creed 2. It's interesting, yes. But by shortly after the beginning of Brotherhood it seems to be forgotten, and everyone goes right back to "kill Templars and find pieces of Eden" mode with narry a mention of the futuristic shit hidden under the fucking Vatican!
This last bit is a bit iffy cause I still haven't finished Brotherhood, but the rest still stands.
TL;DR: We should have had more time with Altaïr and Ezio is wearing thin now. Also Desmond is boring.
Sorry if all this has been said before but I really needed to vent. Ignore if you want, or discuss what I've said. The choice is yours.
