Drin Kizael
Jan 24th, 2010, 01:54:15 PM
I know I'm a bit behind the curve on this, but I recently got my PS3 at Christmas, so I only just finished the first Assassins Creed last night. I was having a ton of fun, but the last stretch of the game involved much screaming at the TV as it suddenly got exponentially harder out of nowhere. I don't claim to be great at video games, but I'm not completely incompetent. Keep that in mind as you read this. I was doing fine until the end of the game.
For the two or three of you who maybe haven't played this game yet but still plan to, this is your spoiler warning. I need to vent.
...
So you are sent after your ninth target. The anticipation for the end of the story has set in as you arrive in Jerusalem.
First you go through all the usual investigation. In addition to the location of the funeral where the target will be out in the open, you learn that... 1. He'll have lots of Templars with him, so it is suggested that you have to hit and run to take them out one at a time. 2. You get a map of guard positions, suggesting that sneaking in from the west wall will be really advantageous. 3. You are also advised that scholars will be there to help get you in and you should stick with them.
All three clues were completely worthless!
First off, no scholars in sight of the target. They are over 3 blocks away and don't come anywhere near the cemetery. And as it turns out, it would be suicide to sneak past those gate guards anyway because that would just mean more enemies to wade through in the clusterfuck that ensues.
Then you find out that memory synching mode begins the instant you cross the plane into the cemetery, no matter which direction or how far you are from your target. Oh it's true that there are no guards on the west side by the graves. This fact does you no good whatsoever.
And the real kicker, you are caught out in the open by nature of the story no matter what you do. There is no escaping your enemies and coming back and going all Batman on them because then your target escapes. You are forced to fight no fewer than 3 Templars simultaneously (maximum potential of 5) mixed in a group of at least 6 regular guards at any given time.
So after an hour or so, 6-7 iterations of eliminating perimeter guards and every archer and patrol for a 5 block radius, then finally finding the best spot to fight off the ganking crew without getting plunked by the archers on the wall surrounding the cemetery whom you cannot possibly take out... it's a decoy pretending to be your target. GREAT.
Okay fine. That's the story... so you race off, fight your way up the hill through a bunch of ambushes. That's all good. You meet King Richard in person to tell him he he has a traitor in his midst. After half a minute of deliberation, he claims to be torn on the decision and wants to leave it up to God... but what he really does is basically say "Fuck you Altair" as you are then forced to fight (I think it was) 10 Crusader knights and two Templars at the same time in an enclosed clearing.
On my 10th(?) time through... I actually somehow beat them, with one health point left. For a second I think that I won. God has spoken and Richard will deal with Robert de Sade in the next cut screen. There's no way there can be a boss fight after all tha--nope, here he comes. FUCK!
So I turn off the game. Go out to grab some dinner. Chill. And I hit the internet for a walkthrough. I confirm that there really was no real strategy involved in the first big boondoggled assassination attempt back in Jerusalem. I didn't make a planning mistake, you're just screwed in that scenario. That made me feel a little better.
It seemed like there was no real strategy involved in the last fight either. But then one guide mentioned using your hidden blade during the fight just as a footnote.
Waitaminute... You can use counter-attack with your hidden blade!?!?!
It had never even occurred to me to try that through the whole game. When you learn early on that just hitting square to attack with the hidden blade gets parried every time, I just got into the Pavlovian habit of drawing my throwing knives or my sword. I figured that's why you even got a sword in the first place was for open melee combat.
So I try it. It took me a few combats with the ambushes to get the timing down, but HOLY SHIT is that move broken. It's admittedly much more Assassin-like, but why do they bother to even give you a big conspicuous sword to carry around on your back at all if you are trained to dodge and then stab a dude in the fuckin eye?
Had I known I could do that before, this game would have been infinitely easier... as in so easy I might have gotten bored with it. Instant death with one hit vs anyone from Saracen lackey all the way up to Robert in full armor. I choose to pretend that the hidden blade counter-attack was a technique I learned at rank 9.
I only took maybe half damage from the big fight against the Crusaders and took out Robert without a scratch. The big bad at the very end of the game was just as easy. With the "secret" move that you never actually learn about from in-game training, it became all about just letting the story play out. Seriously, drawing my sword for the multi-boss fight at the end would have resulted in a controller lodged in my TV screen. But with this technique...gravy.
So now I'm on to AC 2.. up to the point where Etzio is in the Moon Knight hooded robes looking all badass. Oh yeah, he doesn't look conspicuous at all wearing that in 15th Century Europe, especially with the red accessories and cape (I love the comments from passing civilians poking fun at that).
Now I'm amazingly grateful that I know I can counter-strike with my hidden blade, because even the guards here in the first-level part of the city are infinitely more observant and alert than anyone in the Holy Lands who didn't speak German or French. Getting caught out in the open in a prolonged melee combat actually has consequences now. It would still be nice to be told in the the course of gameplay about this deadly technique, though, instead of only knowing about it from a fan-written guide on the internet.
So far AC2 is a vast improvement already. It seems to really show how rushed AC1 must have been. Even the little things like guard shifts and having night and day make the experience so much more immersive. But the first game was still gorgeous and I enjoyed the story, even the ending that so many gamers bitched about so much. It was kind of predictable, but still cool.
I just hope that they don't push the story into the present day with AC3, though. I'd love to see my next Assassin in Victorian England first at least before Desmond gets into his gear.
For the two or three of you who maybe haven't played this game yet but still plan to, this is your spoiler warning. I need to vent.
...
So you are sent after your ninth target. The anticipation for the end of the story has set in as you arrive in Jerusalem.
First you go through all the usual investigation. In addition to the location of the funeral where the target will be out in the open, you learn that... 1. He'll have lots of Templars with him, so it is suggested that you have to hit and run to take them out one at a time. 2. You get a map of guard positions, suggesting that sneaking in from the west wall will be really advantageous. 3. You are also advised that scholars will be there to help get you in and you should stick with them.
All three clues were completely worthless!
First off, no scholars in sight of the target. They are over 3 blocks away and don't come anywhere near the cemetery. And as it turns out, it would be suicide to sneak past those gate guards anyway because that would just mean more enemies to wade through in the clusterfuck that ensues.
Then you find out that memory synching mode begins the instant you cross the plane into the cemetery, no matter which direction or how far you are from your target. Oh it's true that there are no guards on the west side by the graves. This fact does you no good whatsoever.
And the real kicker, you are caught out in the open by nature of the story no matter what you do. There is no escaping your enemies and coming back and going all Batman on them because then your target escapes. You are forced to fight no fewer than 3 Templars simultaneously (maximum potential of 5) mixed in a group of at least 6 regular guards at any given time.
So after an hour or so, 6-7 iterations of eliminating perimeter guards and every archer and patrol for a 5 block radius, then finally finding the best spot to fight off the ganking crew without getting plunked by the archers on the wall surrounding the cemetery whom you cannot possibly take out... it's a decoy pretending to be your target. GREAT.
Okay fine. That's the story... so you race off, fight your way up the hill through a bunch of ambushes. That's all good. You meet King Richard in person to tell him he he has a traitor in his midst. After half a minute of deliberation, he claims to be torn on the decision and wants to leave it up to God... but what he really does is basically say "Fuck you Altair" as you are then forced to fight (I think it was) 10 Crusader knights and two Templars at the same time in an enclosed clearing.
On my 10th(?) time through... I actually somehow beat them, with one health point left. For a second I think that I won. God has spoken and Richard will deal with Robert de Sade in the next cut screen. There's no way there can be a boss fight after all tha--nope, here he comes. FUCK!
So I turn off the game. Go out to grab some dinner. Chill. And I hit the internet for a walkthrough. I confirm that there really was no real strategy involved in the first big boondoggled assassination attempt back in Jerusalem. I didn't make a planning mistake, you're just screwed in that scenario. That made me feel a little better.
It seemed like there was no real strategy involved in the last fight either. But then one guide mentioned using your hidden blade during the fight just as a footnote.
Waitaminute... You can use counter-attack with your hidden blade!?!?!
It had never even occurred to me to try that through the whole game. When you learn early on that just hitting square to attack with the hidden blade gets parried every time, I just got into the Pavlovian habit of drawing my throwing knives or my sword. I figured that's why you even got a sword in the first place was for open melee combat.
So I try it. It took me a few combats with the ambushes to get the timing down, but HOLY SHIT is that move broken. It's admittedly much more Assassin-like, but why do they bother to even give you a big conspicuous sword to carry around on your back at all if you are trained to dodge and then stab a dude in the fuckin eye?
Had I known I could do that before, this game would have been infinitely easier... as in so easy I might have gotten bored with it. Instant death with one hit vs anyone from Saracen lackey all the way up to Robert in full armor. I choose to pretend that the hidden blade counter-attack was a technique I learned at rank 9.
I only took maybe half damage from the big fight against the Crusaders and took out Robert without a scratch. The big bad at the very end of the game was just as easy. With the "secret" move that you never actually learn about from in-game training, it became all about just letting the story play out. Seriously, drawing my sword for the multi-boss fight at the end would have resulted in a controller lodged in my TV screen. But with this technique...gravy.
So now I'm on to AC 2.. up to the point where Etzio is in the Moon Knight hooded robes looking all badass. Oh yeah, he doesn't look conspicuous at all wearing that in 15th Century Europe, especially with the red accessories and cape (I love the comments from passing civilians poking fun at that).
Now I'm amazingly grateful that I know I can counter-strike with my hidden blade, because even the guards here in the first-level part of the city are infinitely more observant and alert than anyone in the Holy Lands who didn't speak German or French. Getting caught out in the open in a prolonged melee combat actually has consequences now. It would still be nice to be told in the the course of gameplay about this deadly technique, though, instead of only knowing about it from a fan-written guide on the internet.
So far AC2 is a vast improvement already. It seems to really show how rushed AC1 must have been. Even the little things like guard shifts and having night and day make the experience so much more immersive. But the first game was still gorgeous and I enjoyed the story, even the ending that so many gamers bitched about so much. It was kind of predictable, but still cool.
I just hope that they don't push the story into the present day with AC3, though. I'd love to see my next Assassin in Victorian England first at least before Desmond gets into his gear.