Assassin's Creed II
Finished it last night and watched the credits all the way to the end because the music is awesome awesome. To sum up, I really enjoyed it, though I think I somewhat missed the point of the game in a few ways. The first one would be sneaking, cause there were a few times I felt like I should've been trying to pass through areas undetected by actually hiding from the guards as opposed to quietly stabbing them in the neck before they could alert each other. This was most apparent during the last stage while I was trying to infiltrate the Vatican. I started out anonymous and by the time I found my target I had killed so many people that I was already rated "Notorious". Ahahahah. It was probably more fun than sneaking though.
The second point I think I missed is the plot. Those who are already familiar with the Assassin's Creed series know that the main character is pretty much actually Desmond Miles who's only reliving the memories Altair Ibn-la'Ahad and Ezio Auditore. Desmond's with the modern day Assassins who are on the run from the modern day Templars and trying to figure -something- out using the Animus and the assorted memories Desmond's been perusing. I think it has something to do with the end of the world. But at the beginning I didn't really care, I just wanted to play as Ezio in Renaissance Italy. I didn't really detect any similarities between Ezio's and Desmond's plotlines except I assumed they were looking for the same thing. Ezio's was a lot more immediate than Desmond's because Ezio was far more interesting (and by more interesting I mean he's Italian) and I spent probably 95% of the time playing as him rather than as Desmond. So sadly, I was left with kind of an empty feeling when we left Ezio as soon as he found what I assume we were both looking for and we end the game with Desmond. And I was all "I don't CARE what's going on with you. Where's Ezio? What's he doing? How does he feel about all this?"
Joking aside, Ezio really is more interesting. I guess they heard somewhere that Altair really had no character whatsoever and they resolved to fix that as much as possible with the new game. When you start with him he's only seventeen years old and they establish within the first sequence that he's got a pretty happy life (I think this is done very well and very seamlessly, props). He's a member of an affluent family of six. They take the time to show his affection for each one of his family members, (father, mother, two brothers, and a sister) while also establishing his character (an adventurous womanizer with a penchant for climbing tall buildings). Then, to kick off the plot, his family is falsely accused of treason and betrayed by one of their closest friends. As a result, Ezio's father and two brothers are hung in the city square and he's forced to flee to his uncle's villa in Monteriggioni with his mother and sister. And so Ezio embarks on a mission to exact revenge on the conspirators responsible for killing his family. It's pretty awesome.
By the end though, you learn that the Templars kills Ezio's family and it was to fulfill some greater end related to forces much larger than had been anticipated (insert stuff about Eden and the Apple and the Staff and something about a Vault and a Prophet or somesuch, I didn't follow it quite as well as I should have. I only got "KILL THE TEMPLARS"). So there's a great climax where you use some powers and there are five Ezios fighting Rodrigo Borgia (who I assume is only winning because of his powers cause he's just an old fat guy in a robe and you're EZIO AUDITORE). And then he stabs Ezio in the gut and makes off with both artifacts to find the Vault (which I guess was in the basement of the Vatican the whole time. who knew).
This is where I think Ubisoft really dropped the ball. This is supposed to be a really emotionally intense climax guys. Borgia killed your family, he's the most powerful man in Italy, nay, the free world. He has a magical staff which appears to burn people's brains. But you fight him with a sword and an artifact which you (the player) have no control over, and while you fight him, he only uses the staff to spar with until I guess he gets bored and is all "fuck this shit" then uses his staff powers to burn your duplicates, incapacitate you, and take your artifact. And then he stabs you in the stomach and you bleed all over the floor. He just runs away. I was like "NOOOOOOO". I could feel the desperation. "I'm DYING!"
This is a good thing. But then Ezio gets up a-okay and you have to go chase Rodrigo. Screw getting stabbed, you get full health! You can still dash! You can even still swagger! This is also the part where I think back to Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima is not afraid of being a dick for immersion purposes. You got stabbed in the gut in a cutscene? NOW YOU GET NO HEALTH. AND YOU'RE STILL BLEEDING. CRAWL FOR IT. CRAWL I SAY.
Meanwhile Ezio swaggers into the Vault or whatever and I'm till getting notifications that "Monteriggioni's value has increased by 349f". Thanks Assassin's Creed II. I'm so glad I'm earning money while I'm discovering secrets of the world and trying to KILL the bastard who killed my family. And then you have a fist fight with the Pope and commune with an alien from the future....or the past. Not really sure.
The second point I think I missed is the plot. Those who are already familiar with the Assassin's Creed series know that the main character is pretty much actually Desmond Miles who's only reliving the memories Altair Ibn-la'Ahad and Ezio Auditore. Desmond's with the modern day Assassins who are on the run from the modern day Templars and trying to figure -something- out using the Animus and the assorted memories Desmond's been perusing. I think it has something to do with the end of the world. But at the beginning I didn't really care, I just wanted to play as Ezio in Renaissance Italy. I didn't really detect any similarities between Ezio's and Desmond's plotlines except I assumed they were looking for the same thing. Ezio's was a lot more immediate than Desmond's because Ezio was far more interesting (and by more interesting I mean he's Italian) and I spent probably 95% of the time playing as him rather than as Desmond. So sadly, I was left with kind of an empty feeling when we left Ezio as soon as he found what I assume we were both looking for and we end the game with Desmond. And I was all "I don't CARE what's going on with you. Where's Ezio? What's he doing? How does he feel about all this?"
Joking aside, Ezio really is more interesting. I guess they heard somewhere that Altair really had no character whatsoever and they resolved to fix that as much as possible with the new game. When you start with him he's only seventeen years old and they establish within the first sequence that he's got a pretty happy life (I think this is done very well and very seamlessly, props). He's a member of an affluent family of six. They take the time to show his affection for each one of his family members, (father, mother, two brothers, and a sister) while also establishing his character (an adventurous womanizer with a penchant for climbing tall buildings). Then, to kick off the plot, his family is falsely accused of treason and betrayed by one of their closest friends. As a result, Ezio's father and two brothers are hung in the city square and he's forced to flee to his uncle's villa in Monteriggioni with his mother and sister. And so Ezio embarks on a mission to exact revenge on the conspirators responsible for killing his family. It's pretty awesome.
By the end though, you learn that the Templars kills Ezio's family and it was to fulfill some greater end related to forces much larger than had been anticipated (insert stuff about Eden and the Apple and the Staff and something about a Vault and a Prophet or somesuch, I didn't follow it quite as well as I should have. I only got "KILL THE TEMPLARS"). So there's a great climax where you use some powers and there are five Ezios fighting Rodrigo Borgia (who I assume is only winning because of his powers cause he's just an old fat guy in a robe and you're EZIO AUDITORE). And then he stabs Ezio in the gut and makes off with both artifacts to find the Vault (which I guess was in the basement of the Vatican the whole time. who knew).
This is where I think Ubisoft really dropped the ball. This is supposed to be a really emotionally intense climax guys. Borgia killed your family, he's the most powerful man in Italy, nay, the free world. He has a magical staff which appears to burn people's brains. But you fight him with a sword and an artifact which you (the player) have no control over, and while you fight him, he only uses the staff to spar with until I guess he gets bored and is all "fuck this shit" then uses his staff powers to burn your duplicates, incapacitate you, and take your artifact. And then he stabs you in the stomach and you bleed all over the floor. He just runs away. I was like "NOOOOOOO". I could feel the desperation. "I'm DYING!"
This is a good thing. But then Ezio gets up a-okay and you have to go chase Rodrigo. Screw getting stabbed, you get full health! You can still dash! You can even still swagger! This is also the part where I think back to Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima is not afraid of being a dick for immersion purposes. You got stabbed in the gut in a cutscene? NOW YOU GET NO HEALTH. AND YOU'RE STILL BLEEDING. CRAWL FOR IT. CRAWL I SAY.
Meanwhile Ezio swaggers into the Vault or whatever and I'm till getting notifications that "Monteriggioni's value has increased by 349f". Thanks Assassin's Creed II. I'm so glad I'm earning money while I'm discovering secrets of the world and trying to KILL the bastard who killed my family. And then you have a fist fight with the Pope and commune with an alien from the future....or the past. Not really sure.