Assassin's Creed 2

[Stoney Mason]

Okay this game is kinda dope.

[demi]

KINDA? You trollin man? What is this "kinda"

[Stoney Mason]

It starts off kinda slow. (Although I now realize that was basically just an extended tutorial which in retrospect was useful for me). And the controls take a bit to come to grips with it. But I'm enjoying it now very much.

[The Sceneman]

good shit. Now dont play anything else until you get your sweet 1000 points, and play with your penis in anticipation for the DLC!

edit: you could be playing PS3 version. In that case:

[ManaByte]

I played the PS3 AC1 when it came out and didn't like it. Replaying it now on 360 and it's so much better. Smoother framerate, better lighting, sharper textures. The series was made for the 360 and the PS3 just gets sloppy seconds.

[brawndolicious]

It was funny how it was originally "PS3 exclusive" even though the demos they were showing the press were demonstrated with a 360 controller.

[ManaByte]

They say that they want to put in the ability to replay any mission. They just couldn't get it tested 100% in time for launch. Also, UBI Singapore did the PoP style levels:
http://kotaku.com/5431098/a-2009-view-from-the-top-making-assassins-creed-ii

[ManaByte]

It was funny how it was originally "PS3 exclusive" even though the demos they were showing the press were demonstrated with a 360 controller.

That was just phase one of the downfall. Pay a major third party to say their multiplatform title is exclusive to your system even when they only have a playable Xbox 360 version.

[chronovore]

I'm glad to read here that the treasures are not part of a larger Achievement. They're fun to get with the treasure maps, but they've just about been made useless by the Villa income at this point. Pretty sure I'll be getting more money than I know what to do with in the next 3~4 hours of gameplay, though I know once I get the weapons and armor it will just get sunk into paintings and art.

"It's-a me! Mario!"

 

Yeah, I laffed.

It was also nice to perforate the ass-clown who initiates that ambush.

[Bloodwake]

Just beat the game. It was pretty good. I enjoyed it despite the "what the fuck" ending.

I'm hyped for Assassin's Creed 3, just to see what the hell they are going to do to the story now.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

BTW, I thought the Truth was actually a lot cooler than the ending. At least that makes sense logically with what is happening in the game, you know, putting people in machines and playing back other people's memories.

[close]

[Cormacaroni]

I'm glad to read here that the treasures are not part of a larger Achievement. They're fun to get with the treasure maps, but they've just about been made useless by the Villa income at this point. Pretty sure I'll be getting more money than I know what to do with in the next 3~4 hours of gameplay, though I know once I get the weapons and armor it will just get sunk into paintings and art.

"It's-a me! Mario!"

 

Yeah, I laffed.

It was also nice to perforate the ass-clown who initiates that ambush.

Yeah! Isn't it nice not to have the villain slip away from you after pounding him into the ground, as happens 3 or 4 times in every J-RPG. You fuck with Ezio, you get the stabby-stabby.

[duckman2000]

Yeah! Isn't it nice not to have the villain slip away from you after pounding him into the ground, as happens 3 or 4 times in every J-RPG. You fuck with Ezio, you get the stabby-stabby.

Er...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

That happens, 3 times

[close]

[Cormacaroni]

oh great

[AdmiralViscen]

$4 = 320 points. Having an uneven balance sucks. I've had an extra 40 points on my account for like two years because I bought a couple Rock Band 1 track packs. I've been thinking about buying the Bayonetta premium theme just to even it out...

I have 39 points somehow, thanks to the Zune market. Fuck me I guess.

This is $40 on Amazon again, thinking about it. Anyone here selling?

[demi]

I would but I loaned it to a gay fatty friend of mine. Plus I'm going to buy the DLC

[CHOW CHOW]

can i jump into the second one and skip the first?  is there a lot of continuation in the story or i can just read the wiki about the first

[Ichirou]

I'm playing the first one now.  I get that it's pretty repetitive, but I'm having fun with it and it doesn't seem like it's that long.  Maybe ten hours without searching for all the flags?

[brawndolicious]

yeah it's pretty short even if you do the "side-missions".  It's also necessary to play it chow chow if you want to know what's going on in the second game because the second game has a really half-assed 40 second recap that doesn't really explain anything at all.

[CHOW CHOW]

i'm just afraid that i'll dislike the repetition of the first game so much that i'll go into the sequel with a bad attitude and not really give it a chance

[Ichirou]

Well, I can't help you there.  Here's what you do in the first AC:

- Help out informers - usually do stealth assassinations or do flag hunts under a time limit

- Save citizens from being killed by guards

- Reach high points to get a strategic view of the city

- Pickpocket

- Eavesdrop

- Interrogate (find your target and without them noticing you, follow them somewhere away from the guards so you can beat them up for info)

- Assassinations and escapes

That's pretty much all there is to the first game, aside from the side missions (find templar knights and kill them, find flags scattered throughout the cities and field map).  If that sounds boring to you, skip the first game and go on to the second.

[brawndolicious]

The first game had about 15 minutes of informant missions before every assassination that was pretty much the same every time.  The majority of the game felt fresh though and the story and setting play a big part in how much you'll enjoy the game (and the sequel).  The sequel does everything better though.

[AdmiralViscen]

I'm sure he could just youtube the plot of the first game and start with the second.

[Lucretius]

I'm loving the game.  But in every dungeon area (assassin tomb or whatever), my 360 starts freaking out graphically and eventually freezes.  It's a launch unit.  No RRoD.  I've even taken apart my console and cleaned up and replaced the thermal compound on the GPU and CPU.  And this is the only game it does it on.  And only in the dungeons.  I'm selling the console to a friend of mine for 100 bucks with the caveat that it freezes up on AC II.  I'm gonna get an Elite.

[chronovore]

Yeah! Isn't it nice not to have the villain slip away from you after pounding him into the ground, as happens 3 or 4 times in every J-RPG. You fuck with Ezio, you get the stabby-stabby.

Er...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

That happens, 3 times

[close]

FFFFFFUUUUU...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

(NNNN TIMES)...

[close]

I don't mind those, except if they end the game on it. "BON JOUR KIDZ, BUY ZE SEQUEL!" -- UBI's big enough that they will persevere and launch another game to wrap it up, but it grates when a game or TV show sets you up for the obvious sequel-age and then goes out of business. Yeah, I know it's rough on them, but won't someone think of the fans. 

[Ichirou]

Series was always set up as a trilogy of sorts.  At least it's selling well so we're guaranteed a sequel within the next year and a half or so.

[Stoney Mason]

Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed 2 has exceeded 6 million in sales, and fully expects the title to reach 9 million sell-in units by March 2010.
A new episode of Assassin’s Creed 2 is also expected this year, and it will be the first in the series to have an online multiplayer mode.

http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/13/assassins-creed-2-sales-reach-6m-multiplayer-dlc-on-the-way/


How very odd.

[demi]

Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed 2 has exceeded 6 million in sales, and fully expects the title to reach 9 million sell-in units by March 2010.
A new episode of Assassin’s Creed 2 is also expected this year, and it will be the first in the series to have an online multiplayer mode.

http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/13/assassins-creed-2-sales-reach-6m-multiplayer-dlc-on-the-way/


How very odd.

Not odd. It's going to be CTF, just like that one mission was. Seemed too obvious to just randomly place that in the game.

[Stoney Mason]

Not odd. It's going to be CTF, just like that one mission was. Seemed too obvious to just randomly place that in the game.

I guess I haven't done that mission yet.

The only thing I was thinking of was the races or the fighting. None of which seems especially like something I would want to do. I barely like to do them in the game proper...


I could think of maybe something where you have to infilitrate a place and kill somebody and the rest of the players are guards trying to stop you or something but maybe once I do that mission, it will be more obvious

[chronovore]

AC2 needs multiplayer about as badly as Bioshock. 

[Stoney Mason]

Ubi’s confirmed to VG247 that the new Assassin’s Creed game revealed in a financial report yesterday has nothing to do with planned Assassin’s Creed II add-ons.

“The AC game referenced in [the] announcement is not tied to the AC2 DLC,” said a rep.
Looking back at October 2009, members of the Assassin’s Creed II team twice admitted that the storyline for the IP’s third installment was being looked into, along with multiplayer.
Possible settings could be feudal Japan or medieval Europe, said Philippe Bergeron, lead mission designer at Ubisoft Montreal to German television show PLAY’D.
Admitting that both time periods were favorites of his, Bergeron felt that either “would be very interesting, culturally, [for the team] to discover and to make players discover as well”.
World War II was also mentioned as a setting by game producer Sébastien Puel, who fancied the idea of a female protagonist, thanks to the female-run economy of WWII-era France and England.
“We’ve had discussions on that very topic,” said Puel. “It could be really interesting but we’d need to find the right time period and place for that. We don’t want to just decide we want to change and have a female hero – as the first inspiration is always the time period.”
By the 20th Century, there were loads of secret societies around the globe, so that would be a no-brainer as well.
While different setting were being thrown about by all involved, one thing was agreed upon – future replayability – and what better way to make a game replayable than the now-confirmed multiplayer?
During the October interview with Bergeron, PLAY’D asked him about the possibility of multiplayer, and he admitted that the team was looking into it.
“I mean, it’s unavoidable – multiplayer is now part of our industry and everybody needs to put their hands into it,” he said. “So we’re definitely looking at possibilities of making Assassin’s Creed an online experience while still keeping with the strong narrative qualities.”
The new title in the series is expected to be shipped during Ubisoft’s fiscal year 2010-11, which starts in April.

http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/14/new-assassins-creed-game-not-tied-to-ac2-dlc/

[demi]

“I mean, it’s unavoidable – multiplayer is now part of our industry and everybody needs to put their hands into it,” he said.

No

They

Don't

[cool breeze]

I wouldn't mind if it was like Splinter Cell co-op multiplayer where two guys go and take care of a mission together.  Also, two guys sharing one haystack > love box

[Stoney Mason]

I've played the capture the flag mission now. That's not a very good potential multiplayer experience imo. At least not without a shitload of improvement.

[chronovore]

“I mean, it’s unavoidable – multiplayer is now part of our industry and everybody needs to put their hands into it,” he said.

No

They

Don't

Yeah, I find my self in rare, utter-and-complete agreement with you. There are lots of compelling single-player-only experiences to be had, and the history of the industry-to-date is rife with examples.

[Bebpo]

Single player only games apparently don't sell because people trade them in after beating them since there's no replay value yadda yadda yadda is what they say

But AC1/2/Bioshock were some of the best selling games and were SP only...and now they're getting MP 

[fistfulofmetal]

they should make a co-op mode in Asscreed 3. i could see that being fun.

[ManaByte]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=231616

Assassin's Creed 3 to star Ezio

Ubisoft's new Assassin's Creed game (which we're taking a punt on being AC3) will again star Italian hero Ezio, Ubisoft has confirmed - and will be created by the same studios behind AC2.

The publisher today revealed that the story of the game will be a "follow-up" to AC2.

CVG reported yesterday that Ubisoft was hard at work on a sequel, which the company is due to release before March 2011. A Christmas release is looking likely.

"We have a new Assassin's Creed that we expect will be a very high quality product that as well as an offline component will have a multiplayer component," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said today.

"It is the same studios because it's not only one studio creating the game, but an association of studios and they are working together to make it happen."

A fellow Ubisoft spokesman then added: "The game will take place with the same hero, which is Ezio, and will follow-up the story that took place in Assassin's Creed 2."

Guillemot confirmed the game would be sold at a "full price point".

The majority of AC2 was developed by Ubisoft Montreal.

[brawndolicious]

4 years for the first game, 2 years for the second, and 1 year for the third?  Polyphony should take note of this.

edit: okay it sounds like this is more something like Halo3 ODST.  I don't think they're going to make any new cities or anything.

[cool breeze]

I'm confused about how that would work out, but sure, I'll probably get it

when is that DLC coming out, btw? supposed to be january and we in it now

[Sho Nuff]

Just finished it, that ending was BANANAS, guess I'ma have to get the third one

[Ichirou]

Kinda sucks that we're sticking with Ezio for AC3...I was hoping we'd get a new protagonist with every main installment.

[Stoney Mason]

Kinda sucks that we're sticking with Ezio for AC3...I was hoping we'd get a new protagonist with every main installment.

I'm not sure you could consider this one a "main installment". Especially if it doesn't have a 2 year dev schedule.

[Sho Nuff]

That final boss was amazing, never would I think that anyone would be crazy enough to have a

spoiler (click to show/hide)

fist fight with the pope in the Sistine Chapel

[close]

, I mean shit like that is exactly why I play video games. Awesome just awesome

[demi]

The final fight was cool but... pretty flat compared to the Al-Mualim fight. I didnt mind the whole scenario though.

[pilonv1]

Started this last night, I like they've done the fast walk/run modifier, but the early combat is fucking terrible.

[Stoney Mason]

Started this last night, I like they've done the fast walk/run modifier, but the early combat is fucking terrible.

It doesn't get much better even when they start adding stuff to it. 


I'll finish this one off probably around Tuesday but I never really fell in love with most of the core mechanics. They are all servicable at best imo but none of them are really exceptional.

The core appeal of the game has been the over-arching mythos for me.

[The Sceneman]

I'm confused about how that would work out, but sure, I'll probably get it

when is that DLC coming out, btw? supposed to be january and we in it now

Its supposed to come out in 'late January'.... within the next week or so I guess. Cant wait to fire up AC2 again!

[pilonv1]

How long does it take before you get your first assassination? Feels like I've been running errands for ages.

[Bebpo]

Started this last night, I like they've done the fast walk/run modifier, but the early combat is fucking terrible.

It doesn't get much better even when they start adding stuff to it. 


I'll finish this one off probably around Tuesday but I never really fell in love with most of the core mechanics. They are all servicable at best imo but none of them are really exceptional.

The core appeal of the game has been the over-arching mythos for me.

The mechanics aren't great, but the experience somehow is I think.  It's like how the combat mechanics in Crackdown are not great, but the action experiences you get out of it are great.  And yeah, the best part of AC is the story and the historical database stuff.  It's like watching the history channel and MGS at the same time!

How long does it take before you get your first assassination? Feels like I've been running errands for ages.

3 hours maybe?  The first 5 hours or so are the tutorial.

Kinda sucks that we're sticking with Ezio for AC3...I was hoping we'd get a new protagonist with every main installment.

We're not.  AC3 will be a whole new time period, new cities, new main character.  2 year development cycle with 400 person staff and $50-100 million budget. etc, etc...

Whatever is coming this year is a spinoff and probably will be budgeted and priced as such (full price point $40-50 I'd guess unless they want to rape the consumers at $60).

I'm confused about how that would work out, but sure, I'll probably get it

when is that DLC coming out, btw? supposed to be january and we in it now

Its supposed to come out in 'late January'.... within the next week or so I guess. Cant wait to fire up AC2 again!

Yeah I'm really looking forward to the DLC chapters this month and next (assuming they're released on time).  Should make AC2's story a bit more fleshed out and finished.

[brawndolicious]

How long does it take before you get your first assassination? Feels like I've been running errands for ages.

3 hours maybe?  The first 5 hours or so are the tutorial.

I don't know, it felt more like a half hour to me.  You go from a street fight to a race to a couple letter delivery/husband-beating missions and then from there the drama with your family starts.  And after that, you basically start your assassinations.

[chronovore]

Yeah, I didn't feel the Tutorial was unwieldy or long; I didn't spend an age expecting the OWG stuff to begin immediately, but rather traipsed through everything until they gave me the keys to the batcave and weapons, and schooled me in the way of whores. Then I felt like I could actually start playing. An hour maybe? Less?

[The Sceneman]

man I need the fucking DLC now! Need to not play Mass Effect for just a little bit!

[Stoney Mason]

Finished it up tonight. Enjoyed it but not as much as others seemed to or quite as much as the high review scores.


What I liked:

The lead character. Good stuff. He's far more interesting and well voiced than Desmond is. He's a well motivated character story wise. I'm totally fine with seeing a spin off game with him and getting closure on his story.

The Tombs where you get the pieces to unlock the armor. Those were good bits that mixed puzzle solving with some light platforming and didn't really ask me to do too much I felt uncomfortable with. I found I always looked forward to those.

The art design of the world and city. Pretty impressive stuff all around.

The sort of Da Vinci Code style over-arching mythos.

Good meaty length.


What I didn't like:

The actual core mechanics for a lot of the game which is a bit of a bummer because it sort of brings my overall experience down and which is why I have a lot of mixed feeling about the game in general. You can sort of divide the game I guess into three parts. Fighting, Stealth, and platforming and none of those aspects are especially good. The fighting is well animated but mostly awful including one of the worst final bosses I've ever gone against in a videogame. The Stealth feels inadequate and not cool even though they kept piling little additions in there. Why can't I crouch? Why is the detect system so odd and felt so unnatural. And the platforming I was mixed on. When everything works and you're running over rooftops its neat enough but the controls feel so finnicky that one little slip blows the illusion immediately and there are lots of little slips. Perhaps its a me thing but from the beginning to the end I was constantly falling off things or running up walls I didn't mean to or just having to think too much about how to execute things. It just doesn't feel natural and while it tries to streamline things and get that parkour natural feeling going, I found myself constantly yanked out of the game struggling to get the controls to do what I needed them to do.

Also while I enjoyed the over-arching story the actual story of Ezio in this game is a bit confusing and doesn't have a great payoff. It seemed disjointed trying to introduce all these characters just to create an "epic" experience rather than sort of going into more detail about specific parts. It just completely sort of dropped his family for instance. I assume this is all because of the spin-off game they are doing but it still didn't satisfy me for this specific game.

Mixed on:

The economy stuff in the game. At first you are kind of blown away when they introduce it because it seems like it will add depth but it's really a shallow sort of gimmick and time sync. The money eventually seemed like just a gimmick to try to get me to come back to the villa and the charm and balance of the whole thing wore off quickly because you were rolling in the dough so quick. Just seemed kind of broken.


Overall
Like I said I enjoyed it. Just had a lot of issues and it sort of surprises me because I would think you would hear more carping since the actual gameplay part of the game still has a lot of issues that are irritating. Certainly better than the first and the best compliment I can give is that it makes me want to go back and play the first and endure what I consider a mediocre game just so I can get the backstory. The game works best when it has the mythos going and you have to figure out how to infiltrate some tall building and pull off a kill. That works.

I just wish the rest of the game mechanics and other stuff was as compelling and well thought out as that. They added a lot of stuff to this game and activities and tools you could use to try to stem the complaints from the first game that there wasn't a lot to do but I still think the fundamental problem is that this stuff hasn't been incorporated or designed well into the flow. It feels like a game that has a lot of unnecessary bits in it. They are just there to be there instead of being used to create a better game or deeper experience.  All open world games are somewhat this way but for whatever reason it really struck me here. I found myself comparing the game a lot to Batman where I felt the core mechanics worked and were fun in that game in a way that they weren't here. AC 2 starts off slow but then gives a great impression as you see all this stuff introduced but honestly most of that stuff seems paper thin as you continue on with it and I have to admit I had to drag myself towards to end at times rather than being always excited and motivated to get there. Either way I enjoyed it enough to look forward to the next one and hopefully they'll be able to improve the core mechanics.

[cool breeze]

DLC is out Jan 28th.  It's the Forli one that's 320 points.

[Cravis]

The economy stuff in the game. At first you are kind of blown away when they introduce it because it seems like it will add depth but it's really a shallow sort of gimmick and time sync. The money eventually seemed like just a gimmick to try to get me to come back to the villa and the charm and balance of the whole thing wore off quickly because you were rolling in the dough so quick. Just seemed kind of broken.

I agree on the economy system. I found it really addictive at first until I upgraded everything in the town within 2 or 3 hours of playing and realized how shallow it was. I'm just sitting back and collecting the money now to finish out the art collection.

[The Sceneman]

DLC is out Jan 28th.  It's the Forli one that's 320 points.

awesome. Same time as Mass Effect 2 

well hopefully theres more shit to buy in the DLC (there wont be). I have the Villa at 100% and there is nothing else to buy  :'(

[cool breeze]

This is the DLC that is just 6 new missions.  The next one is supposed to be bigger, adding new moves and areas.

I'm probably going to just play ME2 a lot and hold off on this DLC until the next DLC pack comes out, get and play both at once.

[The Sceneman]

^ thats an idea! seeing as this 1st Asscrud DLC will be 1 hour long at most.

[brawndolicious]

I wouldn't be surprised if the spinoff retail game that comes out later this year actually has both dlc packs on it.

[bork]

I wouldn't be surprised if the spinoff retail game that comes out later this year actually has both dlc packs on it.

Assassin's Creed: Episodes From Italy, huh?