First Round Gaming Action: AC Brotherhood initial thoughts!
I'm in the middle of AC: Brotherhood, and I'm preeeeetty much dying of laughter.
First of all: what is with these games and making Ezio a manwhore? It's entertaining, yes, but also rather aggravating (the fact that both AC2 and AC:B start out with a sex scene, oi, can we not be more creative?). But that's basically my only qualm and issue so far. XD
1. WHY DO THE WALLS NOT LIGHT UP WHEN I WALK PAST ANYMORE?! Considering I only finished replaying AC2 last night, I'm pretty much the only person to actually remember this fact (that, and I spent a good 5 minutes doing nothing but running around and making pretty shapes appear everywhere), b-but... d'oh. Aaaaand I thought the Apple was still in the Staff when it got sucked into the ground? Did I miss Ezio taking it out? Also: ROMA.
2. I have never died/desynchronize/failed a level/mission so early on, but for some reason? The canon controls were hard for me to master. I only desynched once, but still. Oi.
3. Monteriggioni... awwww. MARIO. S-sob. I had no idea that there was a secret exit from the Sanctuary? (Holy crap, talk about safety features. There's a secret entrance to the secret room, and even when you get in there there are still more secret exits and entrances. I... oi. Well, they built to last?) And Ezio, it is very, very stupid to fall asleep while in the saddle, especially when you are travelling by yourself. Dork.
4. Monteriggioni again! Shaun is completely, totally and irrevocably my favorite. Yes, yes he is. The others need to snark more. (I wonder what the police would have said, if they'd seen Desmond running around and tampering with the circuit breakers for the town? ...MAFIA VANDALS. ARGH.) Also: Lucy and Desmond are adorable working together. Now if only she'd stop getting in my way and knocking me off beams, I'd like her much better.
5. SIXTEEN, I LOVE YOU. I demand a game, once this sequence of events is over, that goes back and looks at what happened to this man, because it is a sad, sad story and I think he needs a hug. And I want to be able to hug him. Also, continuity/discontinuity? Why does Lucy know Desmond's name, when she apparently never bothered to learn the names of the previous sixteen subjects, most of whom she worked with? (If someone says "she loves him" I might pull an Ezio and stab you in the eyes.)
6. RANDOMLY IN ROME. Okay, that works. ...haha, Ezio. "Ooooh... owwww... my aaaaarm...." A-and the doctor: "Really? A man of your age cannot heal from such a wound with just medicine. It will take time." Ezio: *walks away* "'A man of my age,' eh? Jackass." ...XD ...and skipping ahead, but: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ROMA HAS NO COHESIVE UNDERGROUND. WHEN DID THEY PASS YOU THE IDIOT BALL, MACHIAVELLI, BEFORE OR AFTER YOU WROTE THE PRINCE. Also, how depressed/cynical he is is... kind of surprising? Considering how he was at the end of AC2? Ima thinking you broke his brain, Ezio, when you actually decided to spare someone's life.
7. FOR THE KHR! FANS: I keep thinking that, nevermind proper timeline, the Vongola were secretly hiding out in 1500 Roma. To wit:
Target: *talks with guards*
Ezio: *ninjas onto roof, leaps down and kills target*
Target: "GAH!" *dies*
Surrounding guards: "It's an assassino!"
Me: "...no shit."
Ezio: *kills guards*
Guards: *die*
Ezio: *pick-pockets!* *Finds: Medicine (Full), Poison (Full), Throwing Knives +1, Tomatoes +1*
Me: "...tomatoes? Really? Guards carry tomatoes around with them now? They are valuable enough to pick pocket?!"
And then later:
Ezio: *finds chest* *opens chest* *Finds: 450f, Tomatoes +1*
Me: "And now Tomatoes are valuable enough to count as treasure. WTH, game?"
I'm half-Italian, but I've never set foot in Italy, and so, yes, I might be missing out on a lot of cultural background and references, but... are tomatoes really that imporant that they count as valuable enough to loot and pick pocket? ...and, thank you Ninth, use as payment for capturing escaped, dangerous criminals?! (On that thought: Tsuna, I do not see you eating enough of your lifetime's supply of tomatoes. They are good for you, EAT THEM.)
8. They incorporated my favorite part of AC:2, aka the Battle of Forli and the Bonfire of Vanities! That is: THE POPULOUS HAS OPINIONS, AND YOU CAN HEAR THEM. And, you know, do things to sway public favour and make friendlies a-and... I cannot stop the squee. THE PEOPLE. ARE NOT JUST CATTLE ANYMORE. I AM EXCITED.
9. For the first time? Horses are allowed inside a city! RUNNING OVER PEDESTRIANS HAS NEVER FELT SO GOOD. (On that note: there are cars in Monteriggioni. Obviously. But you can climb on them and vandalize them, sort of. I... XD I'm enjoying the ability of switching in and out faaaaar too much.)
10. There is no underground because you have to build it yourself! I GET TO BRAINWASH AND RECRUIT PEOPLE, TOO. Loooove this game like woah.
11. I already know I will have to play it a second time. Reason? You don't get 100% completion just by doing missions. There are added qualifications/restrictions involved, too! Like the first Borgia Captain? Just killing him means you only get 50% completion. To get 100%, you have to throw him into scaffolding. XD It tells you, too, so when the memory sequence start pops up underneath your health bar? Don't miss out on reading the little notes underneath the standard mission description. They're kind of important. But! At least you can replay the memory sequences as often as you'd like! I'm not sure yet if that counts towards or in any way changes your completion total/rate, but at least if you find something fun, you can go crazy with it?
12. Haha, I lied. There is an underground. THEY ARE WOLF PEOPLE, APPARENTLY. And they do not like you. (And what is this, "kill 13 wolf-people with fucking stilletos and without taking a single point of damage?!" I get that they wanted to make this harder, and they have and it is wonderful to have so many options of completion, but really? I'm still only at 98% completion of AC2 because of fucking "No Hitter", you want to do the same thing to me now?) And another underground! This one is literal, haha! We're apparently... sewer rats now? Haha, uh, no. Still, the tunnels are nice ways to get around. I just have to earn enough money to repair all of them.
13. ...you can climb the Pantheon. (This is AC, you can climb any structure if you feel like it.) You can also look inside the Occulus? I was getting the view point on the roof at the time, and I know the fall would have killed me if I had tried to drop through the hole in the roof, but... still, I'm so very, very tempted to go back and try. You don't even know.
14. There are flags and feathers and the Tiber River Hideout is amazing and I only just figured out when it says "Rome's income is now 937f every 20 minutes [of gameplay]", it means that if you open a bank, your income is 937f every 20 minutes. At least there is a way to make money now! Though there is no fun excuse like Claudia tiefing all the extra money herself for when the maximum accrual has been reached. Sigh. I think I already miss her, booooo.
15. And to go right back to the beginning of AC:B? I DID NOT REALIZE THAT THE FIRST TIME WE MEET CESARE, YOU HAVE TO INTERACT (like, hit/mash buttons and whatnot), OOPS. Aaaaaand for whatever reason, I had always assumed that the Abstergo building Desmond was kept in, the hideout used in AC2, all those other things? Were in America. LOL, NO, APPARENTLY THEY ARE IN ITALY, ALWAYS HAVE BEEN. So Luzy's comments about being the only group in Italia kind of simultaneously confused and saddened me. STOP KILLING THE ASSASSINS, YOU SILLY K-NIGITS.
...the world is always better with Monty Python references.
ANYWAYS, back to gaming. (I'm still at the "building the fucking underground/make friendlies with mercenary, thieves, and strippers courtesans/lol fuck you Machiavelli you have no idea how to run an underground society, I (Ezio) LEARNED FROM THE BEST" and just realized that I kind of have to take down the stupid Borgia Tower first. NEVERMIND THAT I JUST GOT ROBBED BY THE PEOPLE I'M ABOUT TO GO PLEAD MY CASE TO. Also, now I'm curious. They robbed me, then got attacked by a guard (on horseback XD), and I let them die. Think that'll count against me?)
Delays in gaming (besides OHI, LJ!) include: my parents calling about silly, silly things (and not so silly... new tablet for Christmas, y/n?), and my computer being ALL GROWN UP NOW. IT HAS BSOD'ed me, I don't know whether to feel proud or annoyed. It's no longer a child, but a teenage computer, awwww.
For those interested and on the PS3 network, I'm going to probably be going online for multiplayer gaming in the next couple days (once I get used to this system--the controls are slightly more fluid than they were in AC2 at some parts, and in others they're more jerky and, uh, sensitive? I guess?). My friendly, Kris, will be on there, too. I'm mecomptane on uplay, and Kris is ToolOfTheDay (she's already started with the multiplayer, so I guess you could challenge her?). I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY WITH/AGAINST YOU ALL. It would be amazing.
EDIT: I... kind of want Leonardo back. Anyone remember if the real Leonardo da Vinci ever ended up in Roma circa/post 1500?
First of all: what is with these games and making Ezio a manwhore? It's entertaining, yes, but also rather aggravating (the fact that both AC2 and AC:B start out with a sex scene, oi, can we not be more creative?). But that's basically my only qualm and issue so far. XD
1. WHY DO THE WALLS NOT LIGHT UP WHEN I WALK PAST ANYMORE?! Considering I only finished replaying AC2 last night, I'm pretty much the only person to actually remember this fact (that, and I spent a good 5 minutes doing nothing but running around and making pretty shapes appear everywhere), b-but... d'oh. Aaaaand I thought the Apple was still in the Staff when it got sucked into the ground? Did I miss Ezio taking it out? Also: ROMA.
2. I have never died/desynchronize/failed a level/mission so early on, but for some reason? The canon controls were hard for me to master. I only desynched once, but still. Oi.
3. Monteriggioni... awwww. MARIO. S-sob. I had no idea that there was a secret exit from the Sanctuary? (Holy crap, talk about safety features. There's a secret entrance to the secret room, and even when you get in there there are still more secret exits and entrances. I... oi. Well, they built to last?) And Ezio, it is very, very stupid to fall asleep while in the saddle, especially when you are travelling by yourself. Dork.
4. Monteriggioni again! Shaun is completely, totally and irrevocably my favorite. Yes, yes he is. The others need to snark more. (I wonder what the police would have said, if they'd seen Desmond running around and tampering with the circuit breakers for the town? ...MAFIA VANDALS. ARGH.) Also: Lucy and Desmond are adorable working together. Now if only she'd stop getting in my way and knocking me off beams, I'd like her much better.
5. SIXTEEN, I LOVE YOU. I demand a game, once this sequence of events is over, that goes back and looks at what happened to this man, because it is a sad, sad story and I think he needs a hug. And I want to be able to hug him. Also, continuity/discontinuity? Why does Lucy know Desmond's name, when she apparently never bothered to learn the names of the previous sixteen subjects, most of whom she worked with? (If someone says "she loves him" I might pull an Ezio and stab you in the eyes.)
6. RANDOMLY IN ROME. Okay, that works. ...haha, Ezio. "Ooooh... owwww... my aaaaarm...." A-and the doctor: "Really? A man of your age cannot heal from such a wound with just medicine. It will take time." Ezio: *walks away* "'A man of my age,' eh? Jackass." ...XD ...and skipping ahead, but: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ROMA HAS NO COHESIVE UNDERGROUND. WHEN DID THEY PASS YOU THE IDIOT BALL, MACHIAVELLI, BEFORE OR AFTER YOU WROTE THE PRINCE. Also, how depressed/cynical he is is... kind of surprising? Considering how he was at the end of AC2? Ima thinking you broke his brain, Ezio, when you actually decided to spare someone's life.
7. FOR THE KHR! FANS: I keep thinking that, nevermind proper timeline, the Vongola were secretly hiding out in 1500 Roma. To wit:
Target: *talks with guards*
Ezio: *ninjas onto roof, leaps down and kills target*
Target: "GAH!" *dies*
Surrounding guards: "It's an assassino!"
Me: "...no shit."
Ezio: *kills guards*
Guards: *die*
Ezio: *pick-pockets!* *Finds: Medicine (Full), Poison (Full), Throwing Knives +1, Tomatoes +1*
Me: "...tomatoes? Really? Guards carry tomatoes around with them now? They are valuable enough to pick pocket?!"
And then later:
Ezio: *finds chest* *opens chest* *Finds: 450f, Tomatoes +1*
Me: "And now Tomatoes are valuable enough to count as treasure. WTH, game?"
I'm half-Italian, but I've never set foot in Italy, and so, yes, I might be missing out on a lot of cultural background and references, but... are tomatoes really that imporant that they count as valuable enough to loot and pick pocket? ...and, thank you Ninth, use as payment for capturing escaped, dangerous criminals?! (On that thought: Tsuna, I do not see you eating enough of your lifetime's supply of tomatoes. They are good for you, EAT THEM.)
8. They incorporated my favorite part of AC:2, aka the Battle of Forli and the Bonfire of Vanities! That is: THE POPULOUS HAS OPINIONS, AND YOU CAN HEAR THEM. And, you know, do things to sway public favour and make friendlies a-and... I cannot stop the squee. THE PEOPLE. ARE NOT JUST CATTLE ANYMORE. I AM EXCITED.
9. For the first time? Horses are allowed inside a city! RUNNING OVER PEDESTRIANS HAS NEVER FELT SO GOOD. (On that note: there are cars in Monteriggioni. Obviously. But you can climb on them and vandalize them, sort of. I... XD I'm enjoying the ability of switching in and out faaaaar too much.)
10. There is no underground because you have to build it yourself! I GET TO BRAINWASH AND RECRUIT PEOPLE, TOO. Loooove this game like woah.
11. I already know I will have to play it a second time. Reason? You don't get 100% completion just by doing missions. There are added qualifications/restrictions involved, too! Like the first Borgia Captain? Just killing him means you only get 50% completion. To get 100%, you have to throw him into scaffolding. XD It tells you, too, so when the memory sequence start pops up underneath your health bar? Don't miss out on reading the little notes underneath the standard mission description. They're kind of important. But! At least you can replay the memory sequences as often as you'd like! I'm not sure yet if that counts towards or in any way changes your completion total/rate, but at least if you find something fun, you can go crazy with it?
12. Haha, I lied. There is an underground. THEY ARE WOLF PEOPLE, APPARENTLY. And they do not like you. (And what is this, "kill 13 wolf-people with fucking stilletos and without taking a single point of damage?!" I get that they wanted to make this harder, and they have and it is wonderful to have so many options of completion, but really? I'm still only at 98% completion of AC2 because of fucking "No Hitter", you want to do the same thing to me now?) And another underground! This one is literal, haha! We're apparently... sewer rats now? Haha, uh, no. Still, the tunnels are nice ways to get around. I just have to earn enough money to repair all of them.
13. ...you can climb the Pantheon. (This is AC, you can climb any structure if you feel like it.) You can also look inside the Occulus? I was getting the view point on the roof at the time, and I know the fall would have killed me if I had tried to drop through the hole in the roof, but... still, I'm so very, very tempted to go back and try. You don't even know.
14. There are flags and feathers and the Tiber River Hideout is amazing and I only just figured out when it says "Rome's income is now 937f every 20 minutes [of gameplay]", it means that if you open a bank, your income is 937f every 20 minutes. At least there is a way to make money now! Though there is no fun excuse like Claudia tiefing all the extra money herself for when the maximum accrual has been reached. Sigh. I think I already miss her, booooo.
15. And to go right back to the beginning of AC:B? I DID NOT REALIZE THAT THE FIRST TIME WE MEET CESARE, YOU HAVE TO INTERACT (like, hit/mash buttons and whatnot), OOPS. Aaaaaand for whatever reason, I had always assumed that the Abstergo building Desmond was kept in, the hideout used in AC2, all those other things? Were in America. LOL, NO, APPARENTLY THEY ARE IN ITALY, ALWAYS HAVE BEEN. So Luzy's comments about being the only group in Italia kind of simultaneously confused and saddened me. STOP KILLING THE ASSASSINS, YOU SILLY K-NIGITS.
...the world is always better with Monty Python references.
ANYWAYS, back to gaming. (I'm still at the "building the fucking underground/make friendlies with mercenary, thieves, and strippers courtesans/lol fuck you Machiavelli you have no idea how to run an underground society, I (Ezio) LEARNED FROM THE BEST" and just realized that I kind of have to take down the stupid Borgia Tower first. NEVERMIND THAT I JUST GOT ROBBED BY THE PEOPLE I'M ABOUT TO GO PLEAD MY CASE TO. Also, now I'm curious. They robbed me, then got attacked by a guard (on horseback XD), and I let them die. Think that'll count against me?)
Delays in gaming (besides OHI, LJ!) include: my parents calling about silly, silly things (and not so silly... new tablet for Christmas, y/n?), and my computer being ALL GROWN UP NOW. IT HAS BSOD'ed me, I don't know whether to feel proud or annoyed. It's no longer a child, but a teenage computer, awwww.
For those interested and on the PS3 network, I'm going to probably be going online for multiplayer gaming in the next couple days (once I get used to this system--the controls are slightly more fluid than they were in AC2 at some parts, and in others they're more jerky and, uh, sensitive? I guess?). My friendly, Kris, will be on there, too. I'm mecomptane on uplay, and Kris is ToolOfTheDay (she's already started with the multiplayer, so I guess you could challenge her?). I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY WITH/AGAINST YOU ALL. It would be amazing.
EDIT: I... kind of want Leonardo back. Anyone remember if the real Leonardo da Vinci ever ended up in Roma circa/post 1500?