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Exploring Assassin's Creed 3

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
Hello everyone!

Just as promised, I present you with this thread in which we can discuss the famous, hated by thousands of players and sometimes controversial game of Assassin's Creed 3.

I have started playing only a few days ago, so my first post will be kind of an introduction to everything.

My first experience with AC3: I knew that I would not play as Connor directly, but I was not sure what kind of experience I would have with the character that opens the story. It turns out that Haytham Kenway was a nice surprise to me, and I would not be bothered to play an entire game with him.

Character: Haytham is cold, mysterious and very deadly. He is very much my personal idea of what a true Assassin (or in his case, a Templar) should be. I very much enjoy his personality, looks and his personal suit, which is elegant and stylish without being extravagant like Ezio.

Setting: I know people that dislike AC3 because it lacks the architecture of Italy, but for me that's not a problem at all. The atmosphere of the American Colonies in the 1750's is very refreshing and cool, I really feel like I am there as I play the game.

At the point where I am now (just starting Sequence 3) Boston is covered by snow, and I have experienced blizzards as my Haytham jumped from one rooftop to another and climbed the viewpoints of the city. As a lover of snow and wintry settings, I was totally fascinated by this.

I know that I am supposed to be doing something else at the moment, but I traveled South and escaped from the city anyway to visit this place known as The Frontier... and that's a cool name, even though I have chosen to call it The Wildlands.

What a huge and beautiful forest, I cannot wait to explore it even more...

Combat System: Weird, Weird... Just Weird! Some people had described Connor to me as a Native American Batman, and now I understand why. I have not played as Connor yet, but it turns out that the entire combat system of AC3 is based on the style of a famous Batman game called Arkham City.

After you get used to all the weirdness, this combat system is not so bad. Actually it's faster, far more dynamic and more visually impressive that the lame and boring fights of AC2, so I like it.

I am quite satisfied with AC3 so far! What are your experiences with the game?
 

Reaver

Staff
Moderator
I enjoyed playing AC3 very much. In my opinion, Connor is a tragic figure who you can't help but cheer for and start to care about him.

I actually like the combat system and when you counter while there are multiple enemies attacking you, there are random, very fast cut scenes that play. It's very cool. Also, I own Batman Arkham City and the combat systems are very different. I don't know who made that comparison but they couldn't be more wrong.

And just for the record, Batman doesn't kill. But I digress...

I also like the story line of AC3 because it shows the American Revolution from a very unique perspective.

As I've mentioned before, the environment is incredible. It's vast, lush and richly detailed. Without giving any spoilers, I feel I should warn you to beware of the elk, mountain lions and bears. Especially the latter, they're very quiet as they move through the forest and will attack without provocation.

I think that you'll really like this game. I like it so much, I even bought some DLC for it. The Benedict Arnold one. I'm still debating on whether I should buy the Tyranny of King Washington. Although it looks very cool, it's expensive.
 
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Reaver

Staff
Moderator
When I compared Connor to Batman, I was talking about personality and demeanor, not the combat system. lol

When I used the word "who" in my statement, I wasn't referring to you. I was referring to whomever compared the combat system to Batman Arkham City.

Apologies for any confusion.
 

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
Hey there, mighty Reaver! =)

Indeed, the environment and scenery in Assassin's Creed 3 is incredible. Now that you mention the forest animals, I did encounter some in my first travel to the Wildlands but they did not attack me... Actually I didn't know that some animals could be dangerous, thanks for letting me know!

At the moment, my Haytham is on his way to Lexington to try and find the Mohawk woman again.

The Controls: This took me a little by surprise, because the controls in Assassin's Creed 3 are quite different to the previous games of the series. The Eagle Vision is activated using L3 and there are no longer two running speeds, only top speed.

Controls in Combat changed too, now it's too automatic and I am not very satisfied with how easy it is to exterminate loads and loads of guards. In the original AC it takes a long time of practice to reach the Terminator-like levels, and that was very satisfying to me.

@Mindfire: I know what you meant by that comment, but it was not only you: I have visited many Gaming Forums where they discuss the AC series, and in several of them I encountered posts comparing Connor to Batman.

Some people in those forums said that the combat system of AC3 was based on (and even copied from) Arkham City, but now Reaver says that they are very different and I choose to believe him.

I'll keep posting more in this thread as I advance through the game.
 
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Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
Activity Report =)

My Haytham's adventure into the Wildlands continues. I met his friend Charles at Lexington, and from there we followed a snowy track trying to find the intriguing Mohawk woman that is Connor's future mother.

It turns out that she can jump from one tree to another like a bird, so it was difficult to catch her not to mention that the wolves of the forest attacked and killed Haytham multiple times... Please tell me, what is the best way to deal with the wolves?

In the end, I shot the wolves and finally Haytham convinced the Mohawk woman to assist him. We went into a Tavern to gather information, it seems that the romantic relationship between them has begun and after that I had to infiltrate a military Fort somewhere in the forest...

The stealthy mission was a little complicated and I had to repeat it several times, in part because apparently I killed freaking George Washington (...Twice!) and changed history, so the game did not quite tolerate that.

Now my Haytham and the Mohawk woman with an impossible name are on their way to ambush the bad guy somewhere, so... Wish me good luck please, and wish luck to them as well because they are going to need it thanks to my incompetent hands!

Go Haytham!
 
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I have no idea who would compare AC and Arkham City unless they never played either well. Two vastly different games with battle controls that are not alike. They must mean attack being SQUARE and counter being TRIANGLE. Dodging is done by two different buttons and Batman has combos while AC is known for having one button of attack. There is only so much one can do with four main buttons. AC has had a distinct way of control throughout the series with changes along the way while the Arkham series is distinct in itself too. Comparing the two, it's easier to survive a large skirmish in AC than it is in...wow, I can't abbreviate that since they come out the same...interesting. Well, you can upgrade your melee and ballistic armor with Batman, so maybe that makes it slightly easier.

As for Haytham, I did like certain aspects about him while recognizing why he is also evil and violent. They did good with revealing that about him and just how dysfunctional he and Connor are around one another. Charles Lee is a douche-bag. He does not die soon enough, but he is one of those enemies you desire to kill above everyone, yet saves him for the end. I wanted to wreck havoc upon his soul...
 

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
Hello Manalodia!

Yeah, I know that Haytham continues to appear later in the game when you already play as Connor. I cannot wait to see that and to experience what it feels like to see both characters together, the world of AC3 is so cool...

Connor's personal vengeance will be against Charles, because he burned the village and killed Connor's mother, right?

My friend from Madrid has told me that it feels quite different to play as Connor, compared to Haytham. He says that Haytham moves and fights more like an Assassin from the previous games, while the brutal Connor feels more like playing with a slow but powerful Tank.

Is that true?
 

Reaver

Staff
Moderator
Connor's personal vengeance will be against Charles, because he burned the village and killed Connor's mother, right?

My friend from Madrid has told me that it feels quite different to play as Connor, compared to Haytham. He says that Haytham moves and fights more like an Assassin from the previous games, while the brutal Connor feels more like playing with a slow but powerful Tank.

Is that true?

Regarding Connor's path of vengeance, I wouldn't want to spoil anything for you. Sorry... =D


Secondly, I respectfully disagree with you're Spanish friend. While Connor and Haytham certainly have different fighting styles and movement, I think you'll find Connor to be quite agile and fast in both movement and combat (see previous video I posted).

On a different note, the one thing that makes me want to buy the Tyranny of King Washington DLC is the alternate storyline where Connor doesn't get trained as an assassin but rather relies upon ancient Native American spirit animals that give him cool powers.

 
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He and his father clash well, but they have their moments where they agree (mildly) and some funny banter. :)

Yep, that's the gist of why he wants charle's life so badly. The reason he hates his father is primarily said because he thinks he ordered it, but clearly has abandonment issues despite being better off without him.

I don't agree with your friend. Connor is very agile. The only time he is remotely slow is if you are using a blunt weapon. Other than that, he dashes through the trees and across the landscape like a warrior.
 
I won't give much away about the DLC, but Connor still fights like an assassin and explains it well enough within the context. However, his spirit animals completely dwarf any of his tools since they that cool! His main weapons are the hidden blades, tomahawk and bow, but has some of the rest of the arsenal, but you will find yourself using the spirit animals more often. And actually, the DLC is not an alternate storyline per ce, but you'll put the pieces together ;)
 

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
Activity Report!

After playing some more days and advancing deeper into the adventure of Assassin's Creed 3, it's finally time for me to deliver another Activity Report.

I have completed all of Haytham's sequences, and it feels weird to let him go and now play with Connor. Haytham is such an interesting character, they should give him a game of his own... I know he shows up later in AC3 and he is part of AC Rogue as well, but that's not enough to honor this man properly.

Alright, so Haytham had the romantic adventure with the Mohawk woman of impossible name and now we have Connor.

It was entertaining to play the Hide and Seek tutorial in the forest, as well as the climbing and hunting part. However I do feel that the game is heavily inclined towards these tutorial things, too much Learn to do this, and learn to do that! and it becomes silly and boring after some time.

After all the sequences of Connor as a child, I now have teenage Connor and I am traveling to somewhere through the huge forest.

Once again, I can say that I love the forest... The wilderness, the fantastic views from the highest rock formations and the presence of animals makes it all truly incredible. I nearly got killed by a Puma while I was climbing a huge rocky Viewpoint, but I managed to throw it off the cliff and it was a cool experience.

The Bad Side: Assassin's Creed 3 is very similar to AC2 in the sense that it feels more like a movie than a game. It's always do this, do that, seek this person... with very limited freedom of choice. I dislike the heavily linear nature of the game, and the fact that I feel more like a robber than an Assassin is quite dissatisfying.

The original Assassin's Creed was a game about being an actual Assassin, but AC2 and 3 became games about people's lives, hearts and their very personal journeys... I mean, What the Hell happened Here?

Please tell me, how long will it be before I can play as adult Connor wearing his cool suit?
 

Reaver

Staff
Moderator
Actually, in all the AC games, the progression of the story is up to you.

That's why there are so many side missions and other things to do. In AC 2 you can open banks and stores to make money to restore architectural treasures, go on assassination missions, help citizens in danger, deliver letters between different people, open tunnels to make travel around the cities faster and many other things.

In AC 3 you can hunt to sell or trade, set up trade routes, gather minerals and other things to make weapons and supplies to either use or trade, go on assassination missions, try to liberate forts from the British, get into boxing matches...The list goes on.

To answer the last question, the teen Connor quest is very short. Soon you will meet Achilles, the man who trains Connor in the ways of The Assassins.

Hang in there, I promise it gets better.
 
I think the original intention of Assassin's Creed was meant to be a story exploring each assassin's lives since it is a genealogy of Desmond's ancestors. I'm not sure how much was altered after the original writer left the project at AC2, but I think with the bigger budget they were able to do more after the first game. The game can go by VERY fast if you just focus on the story mission. The rest of the side-quests available fill the gap and some even expand more onto the story (doing certain things unlocks new weapons, outfits).
Probably the biggest thing that changed from what you've said is the combat difficulty and AI. That experience has been watered-down to add more to the assassin's cache of abilities, even though you can handle a crowd of troops. If the side content is not interesting, that might be a problem in holding your interest...
 
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