Assassin's Creed Syndicate

[JR98]

@prisonermonkeys The setting seems decent enough and the era is certainly one of the most exciting, but the gameplay is just really lackluster, the combat in particular. But they seem to be focusing on the single player aspect heavily but the Protagonist isn't inspiring me so far (the male) the sister (aspect)atleast looks interesting.

I'm wondering what the do with the whole present day Abstergo angle.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I'm wondering what the do with the whole present day Abstergo angle.

Yeah, they set up an interesting angle with Rogue and then ignored it in Unity. It's not clear what Abstergo want; they're not looking to release Juno, but they are willing to risk her emerging into the world. All we really know is that the Pieces of Eden exist and that they can do all sorts of things, and possibly something about the pursuit of immortality.

 

[JR98]

Yeah, they set up an interesting angle with Rogue and then ignored it in Unity. It's not clear what Abstergo want; they're not looking to release Juno, but they are willing to risk her emerging into the world. All we really know is that the Pieces of Eden exist and that they can do all sorts of things, and possibly something about the pursuit of immortality.

TBH I never played Rogue or Unity. I've only played up until Black Flag

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Rogue is pretty brief, but it has the series' most compelling protagonist, and some interesting implications for the mythology of it all. And it probably has some of the best-designed environments for side-quests in the series. But it's buggy in its collision detection and it's based on a period of history that is probably the most uninspired of the series.

 

[Sanji Himura]

How can their engine be maxed out at 900/30? doesn't the PC version run higher? plus there will always be optimisation, first time I've heard of a maxed out engine.

I don't know why if at all. All that I know is that they limited the resolution and the fps on Unity to avoid the guise of supporting one system over the other, this according to Ubisoft's Vincent Portbriand. They later came in and used the plausible denial-ability excuse, but I personally think that they throttled it just for what Vincent said...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/new...00p-Resolution-and-30-fps-on-Xbox-One-and-PS4

 

[Enraged]

Hopefully Syndicate turns out to be much better than Unity, in terms of optimization and story. I found the story really lackluster and the protagonist pretty boring to be honest. One thing I know for a fact is that I'm not going to pick it up day one, if I don't like what I see in the months ahead.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I went back to Black Flag this weekend, and I think I have figured out the biggest problem that the series needs to overcome: the lack of replay value. Black Flag - and to a lesser extent, Rogue - is the only game in the series that has it, simply because you can sail around to your heart's content, plundering ships.

I'd also like to see the return of the traversal puzzles from Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood, and for the developers to get over the habit of including interesting new features - like bomb crafting in Revelations - for one game and then forgetting about it in the next release.

 

[Skygrasper550]

Rogue is pretty brief, but it has the series' most compelling protagonist, and some interesting implications for the mythology of it all. And it probably has some of the best-designed environments for side-quests in the series. But it's buggy in its collision detection and it's based on a period of history that is probably the most uninspired of the series.

I went back to Black Flag this weekend, and I think I have figured out the biggest problem that the series needs to overcome: the lack of replay value. Black Flag - and to a lesser extent, Rogue - is the only game in the series that has it, simply because you can sail around to your heart's content, plundering ships.

I'd also like to see the return of the traversal puzzles from Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood, and for the developers to get over the habit of including interesting new features - like bomb crafting in Revelations - for one game and then forgetting about it in the next release.

I agree with EVERYTHING you said. Rogue was a pretty short game, but has the most interesting protagonist and narrative in the whole AC franchise. Both games could have gone away with the lack of replay value if the story was pretty long, like AC2, but no. in Black Flag, Ubisoft jumped in on the bandwagon and made the game equal parts SP and MP, whereas Rogue was just a mere bridge that connects and ties up all loose ends and doesn't really give anything new to the franchise. There isn't even a multiplayer feature, so once you're done with the story, that's it. Shame.

Some people will still be stupid enough to pre-order Syndicate game just because of the graphics, and then complain that the game sucks and/or it's full of annoying bugs and glitches that ruin the "experience" and "immersion". There are a lot of games out there with amazing graphics but [at best] mediocre gameplay. Some people just never learn.

 

[Ddrizle]

 

[Ddrizle]

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It looks very Arkham Asylum with that grappling hook.

 

[Ddrizle]

 

[VXR]

I'll wait until it's in the sales because Assassin's Creed games appeal more to me as concepts rather than actual games, but boy oh boy, I can't miss a semi-realistic Victorian setting.

 

[Ddrizle]

 

[Ddrizle]

.

 

[Ddrizle]

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It's certainly a very good looking game.

 

[Ddrizle]

edited.

 

[Ddrizle]

 

[Ddrizle]

 

[Skygrasper550]

Why is it that I think those images are NOT actual gameplay footage, but are rendered from a developer PC which has the best hardware available? Oh yeah, it's to bait consumers who never learn. *cough Forza 5 cough*

 

[Ddrizle]

 

[Clark]

Anybody else think AC would have to better going to an earlier period of history? I just feel the games aren't as good when there's more advanced things in the world (guns, bombs etc.)

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Anybody else think AC would have to better going to an earlier period of history?

The trick is in finding one that is accessible to wide audiences. That was the biggest problem with Assassin's Creed III - it felt like a history textbook at times, with a promise of a test at the end. It was very difficult for non-American audiences to engage with.

There are a few that I think could work, though: Atilla the Hun and the invasion of Europe, for one. The British Raj or Mughal Empire. The Reconquista of Spain from the Moors. Possibly a Chinese dynasty or two. And Rogue set up the idea of Australia being discovered under Templar influence.

 

[Sanji Himura]

If this video is to be believed, Syndicate is just a rinse and repeat of the buggy mess that Unity brought out:

 

[prisonermonkeys]

If this video is to be believed, Syndicate is just a rinse and repeat of the buggy mess that Unity brought out:

Every review that I have seen so far - from the likes of IGN and Kotaku - has made a point of mentioning that the glitches have been addressed.

 

[MagpieRacer]

If this video is to be believed, Syndicate is just a rinse and repeat of the buggy mess that Unity brought out:

People are strange. Only ever seem to make videos highlighting bugs in games. Never seem to see the same people highlighting good points. As @prisonermonkeys said anyway, it hasn't been allayed for being buggy or glitch like unity was.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I know Ubisoft have taken criticism in the past for trying to manipulate reviews of their games, but if they have somehow managed to trick some of the biggest publishers in the industry into not simply ignoring, but outright refuting the presence of bugs for which they were universally condemned in a previous installment, then they deserve our hard-earned money because they just pulled off the biggest trick since Keyser Söze.

 

[GranTurismo guy]

Having played the game for several hours I can tell you I have experienced exactly 0 bugs.

 

[Clark]

I wasn't going to buy this game after Unity, but reading the reviews it seems like they are on the way to improving the AC games again. Just got in to London in the game so we'll see whether it is anywhere near as good as proper AC games; II, Brotherhood, Revelations (although not many people seem to like that one) and Black Flag.