Exploring Assassin's Creed 2

[Mindfire]

A trick I picked up back in the Baldur's Gate 2 days: when the gameplay starts feeling samey, do a save and just start killing everything around you with everything you've got. Reload once dead/successful. Nothing breaks up a long series of methodical stealth sections quite like a non-canon murder spree.

That said, with the right powers and tactics you can waltz through a ghost playthrough of Dishonored.

I feel like if I have to artificially break up the monotony of the game, then it's a bad game. Or at least not well designed.

 

[DMThaane]

I feel like if I have to artificially break up the monotony of the game, then it's a bad game. Or at least not well designed.

I don't want to turn this into the 'let's debate Dishonored' thread so I'll just say that your experience is by far the minority. Everyone will encounter a popular game they don't enjoy (I think Half-Life 2 is one of the poorer shooters I've played and the admiration it receives genuinely confuses me) and there's only so far you can take buyer beware before it gets ridiculous.

And I go on murder sprees because I get bored easily. It's not the game's responsibility to cater to my needs. It is my responsibility to find playstyles that suit me, in games that suit me, that I've usually modded to suit me.

 

[Mindfire]

I don't want to turn this into the 'let's debate Dishonored' thread so I'll just say that your experience is by far the minority. Everyone will encounter a popular game they don't enjoy (I think Half-Life 2 is one of the poorer shooters I've played and the admiration it receives genuinely confuses me) and there's only so far you can take buyer beware before it gets ridiculous.

And I go on murder sprees because I get bored easily. It's not the game's responsibility to cater to my needs. It is my responsibility to find playstyles that suit me, in games that suit me, that I've usually modded to suit me.

Perhaps. Maybe Dishonored just doesn't suit me. But I've played other stealth Games, like Mark of the Ninja, which arguably requires greater patience and precision than Dishonored, and yet I really loved it. Go figure. In retrospect, I think what kills Dishonored for me is the fact that if you want to get the good ending then you have to avoid killing anyone. Which means that if you fail stealth and get forced into combat, you can still succeed at the mission but you've jeopardized your chances of getting the ending you want.

 

[Reaver]

The thing that bothers me about the first few AC games is the lack of stealth. In AC1, you can blend in with monks and hide in haystacks, but that's about it. In the Ezio trilogy (AC2, Brotherhood, Revelations) you could make stealth kills but only when crouched behind a corner. AC3 improved on this and Black Flag nailed it with the ability to shoot guns, poison or sleep darts from a hidden position.

I've thought about giving Dishonored a try, but I don't play FPS games. Not since the original Castle Wolfenstein (1981) and the original Doom (1993). Halo (2001) was the last FPS I've played. My screen name? A LITTLE GIRL.

That's right... Whenever I killed another player it said: "You've just been killed by A LITTLE GIRL".

 

[DMThaane]

Perhaps. Maybe Dishonored just doesn't suit me. But I've played other stealth Games, like Mark of the Ninja, which arguably requires greater patience and precision than Dishonored, and yet I really loved it. Go figure. In retrospect, I think what kills Dishonored for me is the fact that if you want to get the good ending then you have to avoid killing anyone. Which means that if you fail stealth and get forced into combat, you can still succeed at the mission but you've jeopardized your chances of getting the ending you want.

I haven't finished Mark of the Ninja but from what I've played they are very different games that reward different playstyles and will play to different tastes. Dishonored has more in common with the Thief franchise or Deus Ex. You can also kill quite a few people in Dishonored and get the good ending. I've seen 20% of the game population thrown around but I don't think anyone has tested it clinically. I know I've killed a lot of people and barely scraped through with the good ending.

The thing that bothers me about the first few AC games is the lack of stealth. In AC1, you can blend in with monks and hide in haystacks, but that's about it. In the Ezio trilogy (AC2, Brotherhood, Revelations) you could make stealth kills but only when crouched behind a corner. AC3 improved on this and Black Flag nailed it with the ability to shoot guns, poison or sleep darts from a hidden position.

They attempted to improve stealth again in Unity and mostly succeeded, with the work carrying through into Syndicate. Before then I used to joke about the fact that the stealthiest I've felt was playing as Edward Kenway, a brash pirate who doesn't even start out as an Assassin. The AC franchise is an action adventure series that certainly likes stealth but seems rather hesitant to actually commit to it.

I've thought about giving Dishonored a try, but I don't play FPS games. Not since the original Castle Wolfenstein (1981) and the original Doom (1993). Halo (2001) was the last FPS I've played. My screen name? A LITTLE GIRL.

That's right... Whenever I killed another player it said: "You've just been killed by A LITTLE GIRL".

I developed a love of first person stealth games some years back, to the point where I played Metro Last Light, the later Far Cry's, and even the recent Wolfenstein as stealthily as possible. I enjoy the visceral immersion of FPS games, of being the soldier instead of just controlling the soldier. Third person never really has the same feel. As for multiplayer, I've never favoured competitive but I was practically raised on the original Ghost Recon and Raven Shield co op. I started using Deathman as my screen name when I started reliably topping kill counts.

 

[Sheilawisz]

After all, I continued playing Ezio's Adventure aka Assassin's Creed 2 and I completed it.

The ending was good and worth playing the entire game, even though I am not very likely to ever perform a second playthrough. I like how Ezio looks and acts more mature after many years have passed, he seems less noxious now and probably I should give Brotherhood and Revelations a chance.

I am also on the verge of finishing AC3, but the Plants keep distracting me too much!

I think that I already shared this with you at some point of this thread, but I wanted to say it again: There is something that I find quite funny about Ezio, and that is how he is supposed to be such a good guy. Every time that I kill an innocent person I get the warning Ezio did not kill civilians, but the game does not complain at all when I beat people up and steal all their money!

So Ezio did not kill civilians, but he was okay with beating people (even women!) and stealing from them.

I think that Ezio might only look and act like a nice guy, but deep inside he is just as twisted and cold blooded as Altair. I wish the game had presented Ezio like that since the start instead of the Flynn Rider-like character that he is at the beginning of the game, because in that case I would have never ended up hating him so much.

To be fair, there is something that amuses me in Altair too:

I often think how it was possible for Altair to fall for the Decoy at the final mission of Jerusalem. I mean, as soon as Maria Thorpe shows up at the Funeral it should have been obvious for Altair that Robert de Sable was not really there... I calculate Maria to be 5'7'' while Robert is probably 6'8'', so there is a huge difference in size.

Also, during their later fight Maria's screams and cries are those of a woman... And Altair was still thinking that he was fighting Robert de Sable? I admit that I love the moment when Altair finally removes Maria's helmet and cries out What sorcery is this?!, but it's quite unbelievable that this came to happen.

That scene is perhaps the funniest moment in all of Assassin's Creed 1 =)