Guards are running away now

[mmosu]

If you censor a game like that, what are you left with?!  Sorry to hear about that Art - didn't realize that was such a big issue over in your neck of the woods  :(
I forgot to mention the other part of that move - the forceful wrenching free of the blade from their head - just as brutal, just as satisfying  ;D

[Art Blade]

 ;D

Yes, censorship is a pain in the back. There are all kinds of censorships around the world. Here "we" don't tolerate "excessive violence, or glorification thereof" while we don't have any problems showing nudity, especially of the female chest, with all details -- which is something "you" don't tolerate.

[mmosu]

Yeah it's interesting how different things get prioritized in different places - that was a big reason the GOW series was somewhat controversial at first here - lots of chestage in that game(female monsters and otherwise) - but totally in keeping with the apparent standards of decency in ancient Greece, and therefore, I think, adding to emersion.  One of the extra features in the first game even addressed that issue - they wanted to make the monsters look like wild animals as much as possible, which included giving female monsters breasts and nipples, and originally, a penis on the cyclops!  Over here, the censors were able to let nipples slide by, but the cyclops got castrated - and just as you point out, the buckets of blood and severed body parts never were a big issue. 

So, if we can summarize based on these results, Americans are prudish gore-mongers, and Europeans are hedonistic passivists  ;D   

[Art Blade]

hahaha, great summary  ;D Although, Germany is not representative for Europe. In Spain and the UK, they allow gore, too. Only Germany has a massive phobia in that area  :)

[PZ]

I've started practicing my assassination methods on my second play through.  Here are a few comparisons: on the first play through I confronted just about everyone directly and did face to face battle.  On the second play, I'm trying to be much more stealthy.  I'm also hiring courtesans, thieves, and mercenaries to distract guards so I can calmly stroll past and accomplish my task of the moment.

Assassination from above is now also a favorite - standing on a rooftop, you can press the L1 button to highlight a victim and then press the assassinate button to cause Ezio to fly off the roof and do a spectacular kill.

Another one that is lots of fun is to hang on a ledge below a victim (on the roof, balcony, or some high place) - hit the assassinate button and Ezio will reach up to pull the victim off the structure - if it is high enough, the victim goes down screaming.

It is funny to kill a victim and then pick his body up to throw it down somewhere - like all car crash lookie-loos, the towns folks stand around clucking their tongues at how disgraceful it is.

By pressing the high profile button (R1) while doing the assassination, Ezio will perform a high profile kill that really shocks the towns folks.

[mmosu]

A little "shock and awe" huh?  ;D

[PZ]

Indeed - I'm actually having more fun the second time through than the first - I already know the story line so there is not so much to need to remember.  It kind of reminds me of how I played FC2 through multiple times - I would hardly be finishing a play through and was already anticipating the next one.

Now in AC2, it is the same story - I have my first character with Altair's armor, and maxed out to the hilt with equipment - have yet to complete most of the side missions - things like assassinations, beat-ups, feathers, statues, etc.  I couldn't resist starting a second play though, because I want to complete all the tomb missions as quickly as I can so that I have Altair's armor early - evidently that armor doesn't ever degrade, so it doesn't require repair.