Assassin's Creed 2

[An4Sh]

It's sudden or secret. Not necessarily secret, but a sudden attack could mean jumping out and bum-rushing the guy and stabbing. It's still called assassination.

So basically it's exactly what you do in the game...

 

[Tuckles]

See edit.

And yes, that is my point mistah An4sh. I was arguing against Arch's statement.

In the second, most assassinations prior to the invention of the rifle involved poison, usually administered either by someone planted in the entourage of the target or far more frequently someone who stood to benefit from the assassination. People tend to lose anything in the will of the deceased if they're linked to their deaths. You don't generally do it in the open, that's plain old murder (plus it tends to be rather easy to figure out whose responsible).

 

[Cleaning agent]

Yeah but let's be honest. Walking up and shanking some bloke after killing 15 trained guards single-handedly loses its appeal after about one mission.

The fact that you have incredible agility and a variety of stealthly weapons should mean you can make kills without having to resort to brute force. It would be far more interesting if your assassin wasn't some 12th century Rambo, and there was some risk factor involved in fighting face to face. That might give an incentive to do more daring acrobatics and rooftop chases in order to outrun your attackers, rather than just standing there and stabbing them one by one, and you might even think twice before incurring the wrath of a patrol of 20+ guards!

 

[Tuckles]

Hey, personally I don't get attacked by guards until after I kill the guy.

Also, I think that's gonna be a go in AC2, considering you don't start out as an Assassin.

Also, I don't personally like the actual assassination, I love the mini-missions you do to research about your target. Exploring the towns is just so fun.

 

[Cleaning agent]

Depends on the mission. In the one where you thought you were killing Robert de Sable (or whatever his name was) you were forced to fight about ten templar units and the target. There was no choice in the matter.

 

[Tuckles]

Huh, I don't really remember that.

In all the missions though, I usually aim for the target, than just parkour my way out to safety. I found it funny that the guards were excellent traceurs(sp?) as well though.

 

[Varric]

That was actually pretty hard, I had to use my cheap throwing knives to kill him without him countering my every attack.

 

[Mabons]

I found it funny that the guards were excellent traceurs(sp?) as well though.

That was what killed it for me. I am climbing up the tower and some guy is following me. I don't mind them climbing up ladders etc, but what the hell are they doing climbing up windows.

 

[Tuckles]

True, I hope they fix that issue in AC2.

Though the game might become a bit TOO easy if you remove that bit. Oh well, there's always pumping up the archers on the roofs, oh and if the laymen report anybody scaling buildings, I think that would be better. I mean, you could be mistaken for a thief or something.

 

[Cleaning agent]

That was what killed it for me. I am climbing up the tower and some guy is following me. I don't mind them climbing up ladders etc, but what the hell are they doing climbing up windows.

In full chainmail, too. Yeah, pretty ridiculous, although it did allow for some enjoyable rooftop chases, and you were definitely better at climbing than the guards.

Huh, I don't really remember that.

In all the missions though, I usually aim for the target, than just parkour my way out to safety. I found it funny that the guards were excellent traceurs(sp?) as well though.

Problem is there's always a stupid cutscene with the target yelling about "new order" or whatever, and then you're forced to run up to them and fight, you can't kill them with throwing knives because there has to be a touching heart-to-heart conversation for five minutes in the middle of a bloodied battlefield full of wrathful guards.

 

[Tuckles]

Yeah, but I almost always seem to be able to get them with the pop-out dagger though. There was a few times ( like the one in Acre, where you had to infiltrate a hospital) that I really HAD to use the dagger (sword just wasn't as fun), but most of the time, it was the pop-out all the way.

 

[Cleaning agent]

I found it easier just to counter the **** out of everything. I swear that was the worst design decision ever made -

"Hey, how can we make combat more fun?"

"Hmm... how about we make about five animations of insta-kills and let the player spam them effortlessly until there's nothing but bodies for miles around?"

"It's... brilliant!"

 

[Tuckles]

That's true. A bad decision on the dev's part. It makes the game too easy. It's what main-stream consumers want though.

 

[Dain Ironfoot]

I'd just make the whole thing more freeform.. no silly pre-req missions to do, just arrive, get given a target and set about killing it any way you please.

 

[Tuckles]

I'd rather not get rid of the prereqs completely, but instead keep them there as side missions you can do, sort of like the TES series.

Cause personally, I loved the side-missions. Saving harassed citizens, scaling towers to see more of the town and carefully assassinating guards were some of the funnest points in the game for me.

 

[Tintin]

I found it easier just to counter the **** out of everything. I swear that was the worst design decision ever made -

"Hey, how can we make combat more fun?"

"Hmm... how about we make about five animations of insta-kills and let the player spam them effortlessly until there's nothing but bodies for miles around?"

"It's... brilliant!"

I think the counter attacks were fun.

 

[Dain Ironfoot]

I'd rather not get rid of the prereqs completely, but instead keep them there as side missions you can do, sort of like the TES series.

Cause personally, I loved the side-missions. Saving harassed citizens, scaling towers to see more of the town and carefully assassinating guards were some of the funnest points in the game for me.

Oh by all means allow a player to do these things and reward them.

But don't FORCE them to do it.

 

[Tuckles]

Yeah, at least you only had to do three to progress.

I liked my DNA bar really glowy though.

 

[Cleaning agent]

I'd much rather they made it a kind of "Assassin's Elder Scroll" style game. Keep the basic engine, just allow the player some actual interaction with the citizens and guards beyond stabbing them and preset conversations.

Perhaps a quest system, with randomly assigned targets and a main storyline of more interesting, complex missions, but at no point should you be pursuing only one objective, and have no choice but to follow the on-rails path set for you by the game.

I'm thinking the assassin's guild could be made far more involved, with payment and equipment and rankings that would allow you to feel some sense of progression that isn't dictated by the storyline (hooray, five more throwing knives  )


Sadly the game's made for consoles, and thus people who want their gaming experience to be spoon fed to them without requiring thought or involvement. Ah well...

 

[Skyrage]

Well, it's mainly the aftermatch of a killing which really bugged me. Being forced to fight off god knows how many knights and whatnot else was just plain ridiculous. Even that tedious mission with the female captain and her army of troopers was just messy. The part where you stab someone in the middle of a crowd fits nicely, but most other things that come after - not as much so. Had they made it so that you weren't immediately spotted by all guards within a 10 mile radius the moment you did a hit, but instead had confusion erupt a few seconds after etc, so that you could just disappear in the crowd and escape that way would be so much better. Sure, it'd probably be less gameplay, but at least it'd avoid that army of guards syndrome.