Today’s game is some more Assassin’s Creed III. I did the Brazil section today, and i noticed something. I’m sure like, everyone else noticed this before me but during Desmond’s segments there’s a lack of UI elements because he’s not in the Animus (except the notification indicators. It’d be cruel to not have those), I noticed this because i was stuck in this section fighting some guard’s and i was thinking to myself “Man, i wish i had Connor’s health display. Why doesn’t Desmond- ohhhhhh”.
I also wanted to talk about the crowd. It’s crazy they did this on PS3 hardware. There’s just a crazy high count for the system at the time. That’s something the game’s have been weirdly consistent about. Sometimes they’re shitty bug filled messes, but as far as i know they all have pretty good crowd systems. it’s just crazy to me they were able to pull this off on PS3/Xbox 360 without any sort of billboarding.
There was the prison section too, which i honestly don’t really have much to say about it. I like the chapter, but damn it went by fast. The final mission was straight up “Just push the L button, now run after this guy and kill him before he kills washington”.
The quest did really make me think, which surprised me. I guess with Ubisoft’s reputation of late i forgot that even they can have deeper themes. The specific scene i’m thinking of was Thomas Hickey’s death where he basically says Connor has nothing to show and will have nothing to show for his more intrinsic and philosophical pursuits, while Hickey has physical things to represent his simple pursuits such as money and that he doesn’t care about impeding on humanity’s freedom.
Maybe it’s just the people i’m surrounded by, as every day i meet people who shock me with how willing they are to impede on their humanity and the humanity of those around them for cash. So, i guess in a way, i’m saying it spoke to me. I’m sure this is all really basic and somewhat shallow in a way (especially with the lack of proper citations), but i was just surprised is all. I guess that thing about meaning of something being made the viewer is true to an extent.
One last thing i wanted to do was complain about this mission where you cross the field. One of the objectives is too air assassinate Pitcairn. so i go through all the steps of getting set up for that. And of course, one of the enemies sees me as i’m going in for the lunge, causing me to fail the don’t get seen objective.
That was a good time for the story portion of the Ubisoft formula. 360-era and early One-era Assin and Far Cry games did a lot to make you question your own morality while not giving you a clear “good guy” ending. I only played a little of AC3 and I guess AC4 wasn’t that deep on the topic. FC2 had you aiding opposing factions in a foreign conflict and manages to make you, potentially, sympathetic to the Jackal at the end. FC3 kinda saves it for the ending when you realize the fantasy mass-killer hero life is incompatible normal life. FC4 has you actively watching competing revolutionaries advance with different drastic flawsgiving validity to Min’s dictatorship. ACU gives a strong case for the Templars while giving you such a hollow ending. I’d say ACOri also has a hollow ending, though the baddies are shallow along the way. .
I can’t recall any major moral conflicts in ACOdy (played 2020) and they definitely went light in FC6 (played 2024, dictator makes the country money with drugs but gives nothing back to the people). Haven’t played anything later.
AC4 always kind of struck me less as morality motivated and more just a story of Edward’s growth as a person. There is of course, some there, but not like with the other games.
Unity was where I feel it started to decline. I did enjoy the story but that ending definitely wasn’t very good. (speaking at least from a purely AC stand point. I’ve only played FC4, FC3, and part of 5)
This might have been the last AAA game I was hyped for, bought at full price, and enjoyed within its buzz cycle.
I should play it again.
It’s a Ubisoft game so if you don’t have a copy anymore you can at least rest assured it will be dirt cheap during the next sale (or of course there’s always other options).
It always struck me as odd that they did that with their games. They’d go from a 60$ release to “here’s a 5$ price tag for a month” almost instantly.
I guess I’m not complaining as it lets me enjoy my guilty pleasure games affordably. But still. Doesn’t strike me as a smart business decision
I like your posts on the games you’re playing Atticus. And you’re 100% right, people have become much more willing to show how shitty they are. I think they’re more willing because they see how people can still succeed while openly being shitty people, so they no longer assume that being inhuman impedes their personal success.
The only positive I can think of is that it least this makes shitty people easier to point out. It doesn’t make them easier to avoid because we’re unfortunately all bound to cross paths with them.
Some of them I wonder if they got burned trying to be good people once and then just let that sour all their opinions. I suppose that’s a bit of an edgy “all it takes is one bad day” take, but it is something I’ve wondered.
I do agree a lot with your take though. Shitty and horrible people have realized they can get away with being shitty and horrible. So they don’t hide it. Maybe it’s just the cost of me growing up but it’s disheartening to see it happening with so many people.
As you said, it at least makes it easier to root them out, even if we’re forced to interact with them
They are so neatly seated though. Perfect columns.
True to that. Having worked in stadiums before at games, they usually don’t stay that neatly sorted. I was just impressed from a hardware perspective was all
My comolaint is that trading is not as streamlined as in ac4
When the game launched I did all the trading. Idk how I managed too because it’s trading is so confusing sometimes. I love that AC4 streamlined a lot of it
