The Assassin's Creed Appreciation Syndrome

[Pilusmagnus]

Ok guys, I really need your help because I feel like I'm turning full schyzophrene right now. Hear my story :

I was attracted by the Assassin's Creed series when the first episodes came out, but since I'm not very much in a gaming family, I could not play the first four of them. However, when Assassin's Creed III came out, I was so attracted by the War of Independence context that I played it without having been through the other ones first. At that point, I did not really know what the series was globally about. I just knew that it depicted the struggle between Assassins and Templars throughout history, as seen from a modern point of view thanks to the Animus and shit.

At that point, I thought I could just ignore the current-day-story and simply immerge into a historical period, since I viewed the modern shit as a mere coordinator between the games. I was wrong.

During my playthrough of the game, I really loved the immersion and how good history was represented. I loved to participate in the war of Independence and to meet all these historical figures. And I was really surprised to see that the scenario went outside of good guys colonists versus evil british people. Some characters were not really well written and I found the Assassin-Templar dichotomy a bit dumb, but nothing I could not be indulgent about to appreciate the game.

Then this f*cking Apple came out.

I mean what the hell is wrong with these people? Can't they just be content with making an awesome game about history? Why do they have to bring that ancient civilization bullshit and Minerva stopping the apocalypse and all that Dan Brownesque complotish crap? Do not get me wrong, I have nothing against that. But in Assassin's Creed it is so bad, and especially, it is so out of context! You get a realistic, non-manichean, interesting view of history and a true-to-life, decently written struggle for power for two thirds of the game, then Ubisoft brings you aliens and secret societies and mind-controlling artifacts like nothing happened. It really made me break suspension of disbelief, and in the very end, my overall reaction to the game was "Well, that was shit..."

But I had enjoyed most of it!

So next, I played Black Flag. The historical context also interested me greatly so I rushed for it. There too, I really had a blast! The naval battles were awesome, the pirate characters were really charismatic, Blackbeard's death scene was great, the story was even better written than in III !

Then, Observatory, Sage.

This time I was even more skeptical because I had enjoyed the story a lot more than in the previous game, AND I found the Observatory Mission actually pretty catchy. But I just can't get along with that ancient civilization thing. It keeps me away from the game, and forever breaks suspension of disbelief. So Black Flag was shitty as well, at the end of the day.

Please note that I try to express what I feel, but it's not even clear in my head.

Then I thought that if I could not get interested in that overall complotist story was probably because I had been thrown in the middle of a story without having been acclimated to it. So as a prevention to the release of Unity, I decided to play those I had missed. I could not finish the first one for gameplay reasons. It was boring so I skipped to the second one, hoping against all odds that maybe, MAYBE, this one would make me interested in that Eden artifacts thing.

And oh god how wrong I was.

I mean, are you kidding me? Rasputin gave Joan of Arc's magical sword to Nikolaï II in order to control his people? Really? Niccolo Macchiavelli is an Assassin? Really? The pope has a staff that shoots FUCKING FIREBALLS? REALLY?

So here I am, I've just finished the game one hour ago, and once more I don't know how I should feel. I feel exactly the same as with the first two. I loved the history, but I hated the story so much! I mean can't I just have the Medicis and the Borgias plotting against each other? Is that too simple? Why the alien greek gods? WHY?

So that is why I need your help : Can you CONFIRM me that the Assassin's Creed games are definitely and authentically bad? Why do I feel like this? Do you have the same feeling? That feeling of desperately WANTING a game to be good and interesting while deep down knowing it's filled with crappy writing and pretentious ideology? Can someone make a mod where we just have history and not science fiction in the middle? PLEASE?

[protar]

The games are what they are. They're completely upfront and honest right from the get go that this isn't just going to be about immersing yourself in history. If you don't like the ancient conspiracy stuff, or the modern day stuff then that's kind of tough - that's the game. It's like complaining that ASOIAF has magic in it, or Doctor Who has time travel.

I feel the franchise is starting to wobble a little bit, but is still going strong on the whole. AC1 was very good but in comparison to the newer games is restrained by repetitive gameplay - it was a great debut but hasn't aged well; AC2 and Brotherhood where where the franchise reached it's peak; Revelations was a repetition of the same formula that was starting to feel old; then AC3 shook things up but in my opinion fell flat, mainly due to the dull protagonist. AC4 took things back to something close to the glory days of 2 and Brotherhood. I haven't really been following stuff on Unity, but that's more due to my own console-less current circumstances.

[Pilusmagnus]

The games are what they are. They're completely upfront and honest right from the get go that this isn't just going to be about immersing yourself in history. If you don't like the ancient conspiracy stuff, or the modern day stuff then that's kind of tough - that's the game. It's like complaining that ASOIAF has magic in it, or Doctor Who has time travel.

Except that magic and time travel are not totally disruptive from the rest of the atmosphere and plot in ASOIAF and Doctor Who. How can you be interested in beating up cheating husbands and racing through the rooftops when you have magic staffs and aliens on the side? It's not all about accepting the non-historical elements, it's about making them believable through effective writing and worldbuilding, which are not there. I must say there was some progress in Black Flag. The Observatory was made believable because it was not thrown in the middle of the story like nothing, it was the achievement of a quest, and there was some ancient mystery around it. But of course, they have to totally ruin it by throwing in Minerva and the Sage to explain everything and ruin all the subtlety of that discovery.

If you can accept all this stuff, good for you. But I'm a little more demanding, and there I really find that writing, worldbuilding and story coherence are done lazily. And that drives me mad because I feel like it would not be difficult to make it better.

[sToNED_CAT]

I agree that AC games would have been much better simply as historical games without that assassins vs templar story arc, fantasy elements and "missions" taking place in todays world. I would like to see sequel to Black Flag but without all those elements mentioned above, just pure pirate game.

[Lol]

Its fine and not a problem tbh imho

[protar]

Except that magic and time travel are not totally disruptive from the rest of the atmosphere and plot in ASOIAF and Doctor Who. How can you be interested in beating up cheating husbands and racing through the rooftops when you have magic staffs and aliens on the side? It's not all about accepting the non-historical elements, it's about making them believable through effective writing and worldbuilding, which are not there. I must say there was some progress in Black Flag. The Observatory was made believable because it was not thrown in the middle of the story like nothing, it was the achievement of a quest, and there was some ancient mystery around it. But of course, they have to totally ruin it by throwing in Minerva and the Sage to explain everything and ruin all the subtlety of that discovery.

If you can accept all this stuff, good for you. But I'm a little more demanding, and there I really find that writing, worldbuilding and story coherence are done lazily. And that drives me mad because I feel like it would not be difficult to make it better.

To be perfectly honest I think the ancient conspiracy part of the franchise has always been perfectly integrated. The mundane and fantastic aspects compliment one another, the former grounds the latter. And it's been that way right from the off - the very first level of AC1 IIRC is hunting a mythical artifact. To be frank, it's clear that you simply jumped into the series part-way through, got confused and are now upset that you're confused. It's not the story you thought it was. And that's fine, it's your subjective and valid opinion. But it's not valid to say that it was wrong for the game to go down the route it did.

[Pilusmagnus]

I don't think it is wrong for the game to do what it does. But it could have done it better. The endings of each game always makes me feel like if in the end of ASOIAF, the characters realized they were in the Matrix the whole time. It's not that I don't like the Matrix universe, I just don't like it to be associated with a universe that has nothing to do with it. And that's the problem I have with Assassin's Creed. It's true that while playing the III, I was baffled because I did not expect the story to be what it was. But when I tried AC2, I was actually trying to get interested in that story, thinking that maybe it fits with the historical immersion after all. But it didn't. And usually, when I actively try to get interested in a movie or game and that it does not work, there's a problem. I can bypass a huge amount of flaws if I genuinely want to like something. I can't help but conclude there is something very wrong about how these stories are intertwined. The science-fiction aspect is absent 75% of the game, and shows up with all its strength at the very end. That is not what I call "perfectly integrated".

I mean, even the whole communication around these games has nothing to do with science-fiction things. If no one had talked to me about the story before I played the games, I wouldn't even have known that there was a present days storyline. The alien conspiracy should be a recurrent gameplay aspect in order to be well integrated. We should feel during the whole game that the Templars are up to something unnatural. Some ennemies should have greek gods powers other than in the last ten minutes of the game. The player also should be allowed to use of this technology. But none of it happens. The game acts for 80% of its length like its stakes are mere power struggles between rival factions.

That fact is undeniable. You can't act like there is a supernatural power ruling a story that you always showed as being true to history.

[protar]

I don't think it is wrong for the game to do what it does. But it could have done it better. The endings of each game always makes me feel like if in the end of ASOIAF, the characters realized they were in the Matrix the whole time. It's not that I don't like the Matrix universe, I just don't like it to be associated with a universe that has nothing to do with it. And that's the problem I have with Assassin's Creed. It's true that while playing the III, I was baffled because I did not expect the story to be what it was. But when I tried AC2, I was actually trying to get interested in that story, thinking that maybe it fits with the historical immersion after all. But it didn't. And usually, when I actively try to get interested in a movie or game and that it does not work, there's a problem. I can bypass a huge amount of flaws if I genuinely want to like something. I can't help but conclude there is something very wrong about how these stories are intertwined. The science-fiction aspect is absent 75% of the game, and shows up with all its strength at the very end. That is not what I call "perfectly integrated".

I mean, even the whole communication around these games has nothing to do with science-fiction things. If no one had talked to me about the story before I played the games, I wouldn't even have known that there was a present days storyline. The alien conspiracy should be a recurrent gameplay aspect in order to be well integrated. We should feel during the whole game that the Templars are up to something unnatural. Some ennemies should have greek gods powers other than in the last ten minutes of the game. The player also should be allowed to use of this technology. But none of it happens. The game acts for 80% of its length like its stakes are mere power struggles between rival factions.

That fact is undeniable. You can't act like there is a supernatural power ruling a story that you always showed as being true to history.

But then it wouldn't have the same feel. AC is supposed to be historical fiction seasoned with fantasy, it's not supposed to be outright high fantasy. It's comparable ASOIAF in this respect - you wouldn't ask that the characters in ASOIAF be able to fling fireballs about the place left, right and centre. (And FYI you do in fact get to use the Apple of Eden at one point in either 2 or Brotherhood).

I just feel as though you're being too black and white - claiming that it should either be full out fantasy or not be fantasy at all. Which is a pretty odd statement to make on an ASOIAF forum.

[Pilusmagnus]

I'm not claiming that at all. The idea of historical fiction intertwined with fantasy is an awesome idea, but they're not doing it right. What you have is historical fiction, THEN fantasy. In ASOIAF, a lot of characters do not have access to magical powers, but you feel that magic is rising throughout the narrative. Plus, the magic in ASOIAF is written in a very realistic, believable way, which is not the case in AC. Which is why every character reacts to magic in some way. Some are very close to it, like Bran or Melisandre, some are intrigued or fascinated by it, like Jon or Stannis, some find all these talks of magic to be superstition, like Tywin or Cersei, and some are firmly opposed to magic and those who practice it, like Davos. Even though not all the characters can practice magic, it is a recurrent theme developped in various aspects in the novels. Magic in AC is not developped through the game. You get some at a point, and that's all. Huge parts of the story are not concerned with magic in any way. It's not well developped, it is not shown as having a radical effect on the world, thus not making us believe that the world is not ours. And that is called weak worldbuilding and inconsistent plot-setting.

[andrew_]

Fuck Black Flag and fuck AC as a whole, Ubisoft has bastardized a great concept that spawned 2 great games (AC 1 and 2/Brotherhood) then went to the shitter and started releasing pointless annual re-skins and gave into their primal urges and released a pirate game under the AC name, they should've called BF, Pirate's Creed. At the start, the narrative and general experience of the games were fresh and innovative, but since AC2/Brotherhood what has changed? what has improved? the ability to captain a fucken pirate ship is new.

Sorry for my rant but I hate seeing an awesome series turn into a cash cow that is milked annually in order to improve Ubisoft stock prices.

[Lol]

Fuck Black Flag and fuck AC as a whole, Ubisoft has bastardized a great concept that spawned 2 great games (AC 1 and 2/Brotherhood) then went to the shitter and started releasing pointless annual re-skins and gave into their primal urges and released a pirate game under the AC name, they should've called BF, Pirate's Creed. At the start, the narrative and general experience of the games were fresh and innovative, but since AC2/Brotherhood what has changed? what has improved? the ability to captain a fucken pirate ship is new.

Sorry for my rant but I hate seeing an awesome series turn into a cash cow that is milked annually in order to improve Ubisoft stock prices.

Stop blaming your hate for Ubisoft on AC, the games are innovative, so what if they come out every year, just because you don't like the direction they took it does not make it being "milked"

[Lord Hanna]

Fuck Black Flag and fuck AC as a whole, Ubisoft has bastardized a great concept that spawned 2 great games (AC 1 and 2/Brotherhood) then went to the shitter and started releasing pointless annual re-skins and gave into their primal urges and released a pirate game under the AC name, they should've called BF, Pirate's Creed. At the start, the narrative and general experience of the games were fresh and innovative, but since AC2/Brotherhood what has changed? what has improved? the ability to captain a fucken pirate ship is new.

Sorry for my rant but I hate seeing an awesome series turn into a cash cow that is milked annually in order to improve Ubisoft stock prices.

Most people i know think Black Flag is the 2nd best game of the series.

And that's why the games keep selling well. Change the setting/time-frame to give it a fresh look and feel, and it works.

[Pilusmagnus]

Fuck Black Flag and fuck AC as a whole, Ubisoft has bastardized a great concept that spawned 2 great games (AC 1 and 2/Brotherhood) then went to the shitter and started releasing pointless annual re-skins and gave into their primal urges and released a pirate game under the AC name, they should've called BF, Pirate's Creed. At the start, the narrative and general experience of the games were fresh and innovative, but since AC2/Brotherhood what has changed? what has improved? the ability to captain a fucken pirate ship is new.

Sorry for my rant but I hate seeing an awesome series turn into a cash cow that is milked annually in order to improve Ubisoft stock prices.

Well, Black Flag had the less bullshit scenario, and the best written characters from any game I've played so far, and that's what we're evaluating here.

[The Drunkard]

I don't like the lameass sci-fi stuff either.

The historical stuff is fun, the gameplay is fun, but it's almost been the same game since Brotherhood. 'Innovative', hah.

[Cold Crashing Waves]

Stop blaming your hate for Ubisoft on AC, the games are innovative, so what if they come out every year, just because you don't like the direction they took it does not make it being "milked"

It's absolutely being milked. You can't get more milked than releasing what's basically the same game with a new skin every year. Not that I blame Ubisoft, it's great business.

[protar]

I'm not claiming that at all. The idea of historical fiction intertwined with fantasy is an awesome idea, but they're not doing it right. What you have is historical fiction, THEN fantasy. In ASOIAF, a lot of characters do not have access to magical powers, but you feel that magic is rising throughout the narrative. Plus, the magic in ASOIAF is written in a very realistic, believable way, which is not the case in AC. Which is why every character reacts to magic in some way. Some are very close to it, like Bran or Melisandre, some are intrigued or fascinated by it, like Jon or Stannis, some find all these talks of magic to be superstition, like Tywin or Cersei, and some are firmly opposed to magic and those who practice it, like Davos. Even though not all the characters can practice magic, it is a recurrent theme developped in various aspects in the novels. Magic in AC is not developped through the game. You get some at a point, and that's all. Huge parts of the story are not concerned with magic in any way. It's not well developped, it is not shown as having a radical effect on the world, thus not making us believe that the world is not ours. And that is called weak worldbuilding and inconsistent plot-setting.

Well I disagree. I think the fantasy and historical aspects are perfectly blended. As I've already said, the very first mission includes hunting down a piece of Eden. I think you're simply failing to understand that there isn't any one way of doing this genre blending. Different series' will choose different routes, and not liking one route or the other is your subjective opinion.

[Pilusmagnus]

Because the first mission is about chasing a piece of Eden does not make the whole series integrating this theme. The first chapter of ASOIAF is about white walkers, but that chapter only is not enough to make the white walker threat feel real. White walkers are referred to very often by characters, in very different ways, but their presence is felt ant treated as a theme. If Martin had written this chapter, then had left the subject of the White Walkers totally unreferred to only to come back at the end with an army of zombies saying "eh, that was in the first chapter" then the story would have been shit.

And it's not ONE way of making magic inherent to a work of fiction as you assert. Any story must integrate any elements they want to include fittingly and according to the general plot. It's not about blending magic and realism, it's about integrating anything coherent and consistent in a storyline. Just as the final reveal of Frozen feels unreal because we were not given any clue that Hans was actually a bad guy, the final reveal of the AC games feel unreal because 80% of the game does not contain any reference whatsoever to the Eden stuff.

[protar]

Because the first mission is about chasing a piece of Eden does not make the whole series integrating this theme. The first chapter of ASOIAF is about white walkers, but that chapter only is not enough to make the white walker threat feel real. White walkers are referred to very often by characters, in very different ways, but their presence is felt ant treated as a theme. If Martin had written this chapter, then had left the subject of the White Walkers totally unreferred to only to come back at the end with an army of zombies saying "eh, that was in the first chapter" then the story would have been shit.

And it's not ONE way of making magic inherent to a work of fiction as you assert. Any story must integrate any elements they want to include fittingly and according to the general plot. It's not about blending magic and realism, it's about integrating anything coherent and consistent in a storyline. Just as the final reveal of Frozen feels unreal because we were not given any clue that Hans was actually a bad guy, the final reveal of the AC games feel unreal because 80% of the game does not contain any reference whatsoever to the Eden stuff.

Yes...yes it does. The games are constantly referencing the Eden stuff throughout. Especially in the latter games. The collectible Glyphs for example. Just accept that this is just your view - no one is going to tell you that the games are "definitely and authentically bad" because they're not. Stop trying to argue that your subjective opinion is the only right way of doing things.

[Galactus]

My problem with the AC games lies more in the... Combat? It kind of feels not quite stealthy enough and not quite fighty enough, if it makes sense? I'm not a sneaking precise shadow of death that comes and goes with none the wiser except the corpse that never saw me coming, and I'm not a badass swashbuckling murder machine, but something in-between, and it feels awkward.