AC:5 - the good things

[PZ]

It is really funny watching the beserker start to whip his former friends into submission 

[Art Blade]

 

[PZ]

Another great SP experience last night.  I completed sequence 5 and now have upgraded skills and weapons.

Arno is quite the acrobat, and running about gives a great sense of satisfaction, not experienced in prior games.  The movement is so much better.

[Art Blade]

they're currently working on patch3 that will also include improved movement, particularly when climbing to high points.

What I like is that we are able to rack up creed points during a mission, get killed, and start over with prior side objective achievements still in place plus keeping creed points already achieved. :-X

Which leads to an interesting strategy: either replay your prior memories or do it during an ongoing current mission -- collect creed points by getting killed during a mission and starting over which will give you a constant supply of enemies to kill while you keep racking up creed points.

Which leads to the next cool thing: if you have an item that you wish to upgrade but lack the amount of creed points needed, just rack them up during the mission and.. once you got them, upgrade your item. Upgrading while on a mission really is cool. :-X

[PZ]

Despite the problems, Ubi really did an excellent job with this game, which to me is a departure from all the prior game mechanics.  Of course, I have not played that many games, but in all of them, you could not do upgrading while on a mission.

[Art Blade]

yes, indeed. None of the above was in any game I know. Keep whatever you achieved despite restart from checkpoint, shift in and out of the mission area to buy ammo, change gear during the mission even from the menu rather than from whatever headquarter, upgrade from menu during missions. Hell, you can even buy and upgrade stuff and equip it during a mission. :-X :)

[fragger]

Glad to see you guys are enjoying the game, in Art's case despite the PC version issues :-X

[Art Blade]

at least the SP works just fine. And I had the chance to play coop before the game was patched to death. I knew I'd like the game and it is exactly as I had hoped for. Except of course the bloody mess with what UBI's doing to those online parts of the game that keep filling their forums with complaints on end.

However, it is really nice and a HUGE gameworld, particularly due to the map design and those epic hordes of NPC populating every part of the map. It really looks alive :)

[Art Blade]

By the way, this is one of the few games that show different body heights. Makes it look even more realistic.  :-X :)

[fragger]

That's a good touch :-X

[PZ]

Had another great co-op play with my son last night.  A couple were challenging - just the two of us playing a 5-diamond missions designed for up to 4 players.

He has the disguise skill, and when I come close to him, he can disguise both of us as someone else.  There was a particularly busy mission where there were something like 54 enemy, and we calmly walked right past them all to get to the target.  Funny, and great fun.  :-X

[Art Blade]

 :) Yep, it's cool if you choose a different "team skill" like the shared eagle vision. He will see what you see and you will look like him when he disguises himself. That's a whole different league of team play  ;) :-X

[PZ]

I'm really looking forward to more game play - I'm only at the beginning of sequence 6 and have many more adventures to look forward to  :-X

[PZ]

I'm not sure if the prior game bugs prevented people from experiencing fun fighting, but it seems to me that it is very reasonable.  I like the way you can parry, which is the equivalent of the counter action in prior games, only better because the animations look cleaner and more believable.

I also like the ability to rush an enemy and body slam into them.

I'm now in sequence 7 and have purchased one of the highest swords and one of the highest of the heavy weapons.  Great fun indeed, and no bugs even in co-op (keeping fingers crossed)

[Art Blade]

 :) :-X

[PZ]

I am loving this game more each time I play. Although most of the prior games are favorites, I still played with trepidation waiting for the hammer to come down so to speak.  There was always that something (usually a f'in timed event) that would annoy the hell out of me and spoil the moment.  Not so with this version.  Every mission, even the 5-diamond kind with 64  enemy are approachable if you choose the correct approach.

So far, this is likely my favorite of them all.

[Art Blade]

Yes, the main story was enjoyable and usually you had the freedom to do it your way. However, there are very few chases which are in a way timed events and there is only one bloody annoying QTE though.

[fragger]

I'm glad to hear this title hasn't disappointed, lads (well, except for the probs with the PC version...) :-X It's so good to find a game that ropes you in and doesn't make you feel like you've wasted your dough.

[PZ]

I've finished he main missions, run through the credits, and am now doing free roam while doing side missions and co-op.  While I still love the Ezio stories, this game is easily my favorite of them all because of the game mechanics and the way the developers have designed the game

This s the first time I have really enjoyed doing online gaming

[Art Blade]

 :)

I think it's a true gem at heart. Now they're working on a couple of fixes that are badly needed and then it will be a goddamn blood diamond  :-D

[JRD]

I've finished he main missions,

Already?  ???

That was fast!! How long did you play the game until you beat it?

I am replaying Brotherhood for over three weeks and am still two sequences from the end plus all Desmond parts outside the Animus. But again, I don't play every day and just a few hours on weekends when I'm not out with the wife doing something with our friends.

I am also known to postpone the end of any game I play in order to milk as much fun as I can from my first playthrough. I usually play side missions, quests, gather collectibles, gear up, craft, loot and whatnot with a main mission interspersed every now and then to keep moving but usually only hit the final stages of the game when I'm done with pretty much anything that catches my attention. Once the main missions are done I will usually start a new playthrough and only get back to the first one if I want to calmly free roam.

[PZ]

Yes, the main story line finishes rather quickly, but I did almost none of the side missions until now.  There are so many of them and they are of such high quality that I'm having a blast.  I really like getting a mission to assassinate someone and then having to find a way to get it done - now doing social club missions.

I recall a timed event in AC2 where I had to outrun a fast guy through a bunch of flags - hated that kind of mission even though I loved AC2.  Nothing like that here in AC5 - seems almost like they tailored the game to my liking.  ;D

There is still so much to see and do in the game - I know it represents many hours of fun.

[Art Blade]

JRD, 114 hours until then, I did the first few missions to get past the tutorial stage, then I played a lot of coop (while it lasted) and apart from that, I prioritised maxing out the Café Theâtre so my revenue would be maxed out earliest possible in the game. I then purchased the best gear in the process. After the game started to crash, I played offline only (bypassing the crash) and focussed on the SP main story missions.

[Art Blade]

just checked: U-play (if you visit it on the net with a browser) shows 59 hours.

[Art Blade]

The good thing about playing coop in free-roam, that is when you are not on a team doing a coop mission, is that you actually SHARE with your friend(s) when you find a treasure chest, everyone gets the same amount of money that was in the chest or when you encounter a random crowd event, it counts for everyone. During coop missions, sync points are given to everyone if someone finds one. So coop is better than most other coop games.  :) :-X