AC:R - JRD's impressions

[JRD]

As far as I uderstand the meta game, when a city is under siege you cannot send your assassins on other missions in that particular city, just defend it. Also, if you have any income from that city (money or goods) it will be suspended untill you defend it or loose control over it.

Anyway, the income from those cities is quite small compared to the revenue at the bank and any good earned from those cities can be easily found scattered over Constantinople so defending the cities is just a matter of fun.

[PZ]

hmmm... although I can't say for sure, I don't think I defended the cities at all during my last play through, yet managed to make plenty of money and advance all of my assassins.  I'll be sure to check it out on my next play through just in case I'm missing out by being unobservant!  :-()

[JRD]

Having a city under siege may just slow down a bit the development of your assassins as you cannot send them on missions for 4,000-5,000 XP. The defend the city missions can be accomplished by two assassins (lvl 10 or higher) and still earns you 1500 XP so in the end, defending a city is not a bad deal.

[PZ]

One of my favorites are the 3000 XP missions that only take 5 minutes, and can easily be handled by young assassin teams.  My guys (and gals) advance very quickly - so quick that on my last play through I didn't even upgrade any of my armor at all, and was handed the master assassin armor not long after starting the game.

[mandru]

In the Med Def game if you are defending a city there are still a lot of other cities that teams can be sent to to advance any Assassins that need it.

In my last play through I never assumed control of any of the Med cities so I never needed to defend one of them under siege conditions.  This left me free to cherry pick what ever missions out of all of the cities as I found them to be the most advantageous to the specific training I needed applied to my subordinates.  I earned the Armchair General UBI achievement (all Med cities under assassin control) the first time I played AC:R so I don't feel like I ever need to do that again.  :)

[JRD]

I'm working my way towards having all cities under assassin's control in the Med Def game. I don't think it'll make a difference in my playthrough but since I started doing it I'll finish it.

mandru is right about letting it to Templars. The meta game is independent story wise, meaning whatever happens there, stays there and doesn't affect your AC:R story evolution. Since what matters is to have your assassins fully upgraded, just go for the XP and forget about controlling the Mediterranean area!  :-X

I now have four assassins fully upgraded and all others above lvl 10 about to be promoted to master assassin!  >:D >:D >:D Just a couple dens with no master left!!

As you guys mentioned, I didn't upgrade my armor a single bit but unlocked  the top notch armor when I took the last Templar den!  8)  All of a sudden my health meter is double the size it was before!  >:D

I also bought all shops and almost all landmarks so my income every 20 minutes is about 25,000A with a maximum 120,000 accumulated t the bank!

Time to hit the main story hard!!  8)

[PZ]

You're going to have a great time teaching all those guards what it means to be an assassin!  :-()

[mandru]

I always enjoyed in AC:R that what ever point of the game I'm at or have recently completed the Heralds are right on top of it reporting to the citizens gathered about my adventures and how they are affecting the political scene and discomfiting one or another noble or upper echelon bigwig.  I often have to stop, blend with the crowd and listen to the herald's reports about what I'm up to.   ;D

[PZ]

I always enjoyed in AC:R that what ever point of the game I'm at or have recently completed the Heralds are right on top of it reporting to the citizens gathered about my adventures ...

Indeed - the heralds are certainly way more competent than the media reporters we see in "real life" (if that is what you can call reporting in today's society)

[mandru]

PZ, I've noticed also that a herald in the South Western district has a whole different outlook on the politics as opposed to a herald from the North Eastern district near the Sultan's palace.  When you first get there the South East heralds are all for promoting cooperation with "The Stewards" but at that very same time in the N.W. the heralds are announcing that the stewards are outlaws and that they have no official standing.  Any citizen with information on their activities should report it immediately.

Just as I can bribe the heralds to stop bad mouthing me the stewards (Templars obviously) can fund the heralds to provide the spin that puts them in a good light.

Depending on where you are (district to district) even the matter of the feud between the Sultan and one of his sons is handled differently by the wording the heralds are feeding the local population.  Clearly different areas support each of the two sons in their ascension to the Sultancy in turn but for me that adds to the feel of a country torn by civil war where sympathies are held towards both sides.  Even Tarrek(sp?) the captain of the Janissary elite while being faithful in the performance of his position guarding the royal family clearly would prefer to serve the son who is not in favor because he feels that son would be a better successor (someone who wouldn't be restless in times of peace and weak in times of conflict) even though the Sultan is warring against him.

[PZ]

Excellent observations mandru, I need to listen to these guys a bit more - I just catch bits and pieces as I run past.  Besides, my normal M.O. is to bribe the herald, then beat him up to reclaim my 100A  :-()

[JRD]

Finished the game a couple nights ago... I'll put a rating together but can share my aftergame thoughts before that!

All in all the game has the best graphics of all in the series (of course, it's brand new  ::) ). The level of detail is amazing, the clothes, buildings, vegetation, light effects, fog, dust, day/night cycles. textures... all is incredible.  :-X . Isaw guys playing dice and smoking narguilés in the streets, selling carpets, fruits, loading and unloading stuff at the port, drawing scenery and landmarks around places like Hagia Sophia and minding their own business in a very life like way, not just people passing by. They actually seem to be doing a lot of things while you are just passing by!  :-X

I followed PZ's and mandru's advice regarding the Assassins Dens and it took a long part of the game for me, something I really enjoyed both for avoiding me the Den Defense part of the game and also because it makes me feel Ezio is a true Master Assassin recruiting and training people!

When I was through with Dens and had all shops and landmarks purchased (and a gnerous income due to that) I decided to hit the main story. That's when I felt a bit let down... the main story is about searching for books and the Masyaf Keys which means doing the puzzles (a very Tomb Raider part of Assassins Creed).

The thick historical/political background filled with treachery and revenge that was present in previous games (in AC1 Altair is after Robert de Sable and in AC2 Ezio is after Rodrigo Borgia) is replaced by a more introspective aura. Ezio is looking for his roots and the issues with Tarik and the Vizir is just a side story to keep the action flowing. Manuel Paleológos is the enemy here but he doesn't actually fit into this shoes... this is not Ezio's war being fought, he was just dragged into this by chance and the only thing keeping him there is Yussuf and the other assassins.

The ending brought a few answers and more questions... the cliffhanger in the end is great! Playing as Altair until he's 92 (  :o ) is amazing. Bring a lot of life to an otherwise shallow character... tighten the bonds with him!

[PZ]

I agree completely about the graphics and the idle time activities - gives so much more life to the environment that simply having automatons walking around.

Things at Ubi have come a long way since the absence of civilian life in FC2 to the cities full of life in ACR

[JRD]

Things at Ubi have come a long way since the absence of civilian life in FC2 to the cities full of life in ACR

True... I guess that once you have the character files built and some of their basic activities already coded, like walk, respond to Ezio's actions, get scared, run etc.... it's just a matter of fine tunning what they do, like play dice, load/unload crates from a ship, sell carpets and so on and so forth. Also you probably just have to change the texture files that NPC will load as it's outfit and it'll look better, so just replace the flat, one colored  texture a NPC will load for a new, more detailed file and voilá... a NPC looking way more detailed  ;)

If you look carefully, what has changed, graphics wise, from AC2 to ACR is basically the package. What wraps around buildings and NPCs are more detailed, all textures are more advanced but apart from that, the game looks and feels the same. Whatever they are preparing to AC3 will have a new engine, new foundation and we are in for a treat... hopefully...  :)

[PZ]

... Whatever they are preparing to AC3 will have a new engine, new foundation and we are in for a treat... hopefully...  :)

I sure hope so - it would be sad to ruin a good thing.  :-()