AC:5 - the good things

[PZ]

I thought I'd start a topic about all the good things to balance all the bad that I'm reading in the online reviews.

First, I'm on PS4, and although the bugs seem to affect all platforms, it appears that it is worst on the PC.

So far, the good:  graphics are stunning as everyone can agree on. 

   
• Free running: I absolutely LOVE the free running because it now feels so natural and normal.  In all prior games, you are this ninja assassin that easily can run UP a building, but then is so clumsy that you always fall down.  In AC5 you run up and over the roof tops as before, but now you can run DOWN buildings doing acrobatics on the way down.  The running is SO fluid.
• Sliding down steep roofs: hold the circle button and you slide on your backside down roofs for a fast descent - keep the button pressed and when you reach the edge, you vault downward as explained above.
• Jumping over and sliding beneath structures: very fluid and easily accomplished
• Glitches: Maybe the problems everyone is complaining about are mainly on MP because when I play SP (several hours last night) not a single glitch.  Jury is still out on this one though because I have only a total of about 5 hours in the game and a couple of those were co-op where I did experience a game breaking glitch.  Doesn't matter to me though, because I like the analytical stealthy approach of SP much better anyway.
• Underground areas: Lots of tunnel entrances into which you descend into a labyrinth of passageways that you can explore.  Not the lame tunnels in AC3 where your screen blackens while the game switches you to the new area, but real stairways you descend in to the underworld.  On the map you see the typical red restricted areas, and of great interest to me are the numerous tunnel entrances within and outside those areas.  A whole new way to attack an area.
• Character customization: has never been so extensive, and you can do so through a menu - no having to stop by a tailor, blacksmith, etc.
• Rooftops: The textures are incredible!  One of the best parts: the roof tops are not infested with guards as in all prior games.  To me it was not believable - what kind of a town would have guards on every rooftop.  In AC5 you can run at will without being pestered by stupid guards.  However, there are often roof top guards in the missions.

[Art Blade]

nice, I agree :)

I like the stealth system. Pressing CTRL makes you crouch, tapping CTRL and you stay crouched -- when you stay crouched, you may still run and the moment you stop running, you automatically crouch again -- excellent. Arno can make use of cover and attack from it.. so stealth is a whole new game. :) :-X

As to character customisation: Only colour sets are cosmetic, the rest of your non-weapon gear is divided into hood, chest (coat), arms (some lower arm armour), belt and trousers including boots. Those items are each available in five price classes, from 1 to 5 diamonds that represent the overall characteristics of any item. So the more money you spend, the more powerful your gear. Inside those diamond categories you will find different fixed combinations that affect stealth, health, armour, ammo capacity and several more so picking an item that has the most appealing characteristics for your gaming style (like, full stealth but no health or armour upgrade but next to no stealth or the other way around or combinations of those various characteristics) really helps your gaming experience in a way that you want. Whichever item you pick, they all look different. Per class (say trousers) there are LOADS, like 20 or so, different looking items that all have different characteristics. :) :-X

And they brought back the villa type of real estate from AC2, you upgrade it and buy stuff and earn stuff and you get revenue like every 15 minutes to be collected at the Café Théâtre which is your base. Also the showcases and all that are there.  :) :-X

[Art Blade]

Café Théâtre. I start earning reasonable amounts of money now at an increasingly fast speed. Did the 4th mission for Madame Gouze which was a 4-diamonds mission but thanks to stealth and careful planning, I got away with it, not a scratch. :-D I'll buy more of those social clubs now but they are not all the same price it seems. However, those early investments are helping to make the dough necessary for the real proper stuff, like a 5-diamond dagger for 125,000 livres or some such, :-D

[smg id=7327 type=preview align=center caption="Café Théâtre"]

[PZ]

Nice  :-X

I like the theater and the social clubs so far.  I like that the theater is your home base - just feels right.

I still shudder when I think of the den attacks that I disliked am glad that I have not seen such foolishness in this game (yet)

[PZ]

I love this game so far.  Another update, and another co-op play with my son and we had a blast - no glitches at all.

I'm convinced that some of the complaints are user error.  There is one complaint of having trouble getting through windows.  If I used the same  method as in prior games, then yes, there would be difficulty,  However, if I did the proper button presses, everything worked splendidly.

While there are definitely glitches in the program, I believe that many of the problems that users experience are user error, as I believed in FC2.

[Art Blade]

I think the same. On top, apparently a number of complaints came from people with specs below minimum.

[Art Blade]

I have to say, with a corrupt savegame after a game-breaking bug, my career was gone, that I think it's not always user-related. I posted a topic about solving that issue (regain your career with a backup).

[PZ]

I have to say, with a corrupt savegame after a game-breaking bug, my career was gone, that I think it's not always user-related.

Oh, I agree completely.  When a gamer such as yourself experiences game breaking bugs, then it is almost certainly software related. 

The rabid complaints of what I believe are a large pportion of the gaming community comes from the 12 year-old crowd (mentally and in reality).  The type of gamer that runs and guns and if things do not progress exactly as they expect, they immediately cry murder, just as in FC2.  In FC2, I'm convinced that many of the problems stemmed from the impatient gamer interacting with the software at the point where they are offered a main mission, or a buddy mission.  As you all know, the conversation toward the gamer by the buddy is broken into segments, between which you needed to press the "E" key to continue the conversation.  I'll bet some of them left before the deal was sealed.

[Art Blade]

aw.. they're not that bad. But they started to complain about guard posts respwaning..

[PZ]

I guess there is always something to complain about.  In contrast, we at OWG tend to make remarks such as "I hope they add this..." to the game" rather than immediately displaying the negative comments.

[PZ]

I have never enjoyed multiplayer as much - ever.  Even with the glitches, the ability to w@&k cooperatively with friends on missions has been priceless, and is everything I ever wished it to be.  The missions are excellent, and are every bit as much fun as the single player missions, but with co-op, you can play with your friends.  Imagine being overwhelmed in a prior game because there were so many foe, but in co-op, there are 3-4 of you working toward the same goal.  There were countless times someone saved my a$$, and countless times I saved someone else's bacon.  We seemed to w@&k like a well oiled machine.

Despite the occasional glitches, I love this game.  It is epic.

[Art Blade]

agree, coop is really fun, everything actually is. Epic is indeed a word that I too used describing the game. :)

Let's just hope they sort out those major bugs.

[PZ]

I really hope so, AB, especially for the PC users due to the game breaking glitches present.

The only game I liked MP in was Battlefield 4, but even in that, you battle other people, not w@&k cooperatively with your friends on a mission.  In AC5, I would pay extra for DLC with more co-op missions, and I like the fact that you can do the same co-op mission several times, and each time receive a different bonus.

The game is very well thought out, and the sheer magnitude of Paris is evidence enough for me why it took so long to complete.  It also gives me the patience to wait for fixes to the bugs, because I cannot imagine how difficult it was to program.

[Art Blade]

something good:

During missions you're not limited to a walled-in mission area. For instance, I ran out of berserk blades and just left the building, ran across the street around the block where there was a street vendor who helped me out replenishing my ammo and other "consumables" such as medicine (health) and I ran back to continue mopping up the remnants in the building and to kill my target there. Also, during the same mission, I was busy systematically killing everybody in that building (erm, more like a palace) when I heard that sound that indicates a random crowd event (crowd events: like someone stealing from somebody so you can tackle the thief or someone threatening somebody so you can kill the "criminal" and so on) so I jumped off the roof and ran across the street and killed a criminal. A bit later I tackled a thief in the garden (god knows how he got in there) and yet again later I had more criminals to kill. All the time I went between random events and main mission, same with the shops to replenish my stock. That is so cool  :-X :) Oh and I must have killed like 50 or so guys..  8-X :-()

[PZ]

Indeed that's cool!  It's a good thing the enemy didn't re-spawn like the mercs in FC2 outposts

[Art Blade]

but they may get scripted back in. I had cleared the building and at a certain point (like, hide and listen to the conversation, done that..) the room I was sitting in was surrounded by guards. It's a kinda maaaaagic... :-()

[PZ]

I played single player last night with the intent of increasing the money in my chest.  Doing the theater missions increased the capacity and money per unit time.  Purchasing the more expensive clubs also helped.  This is way better than the banking system in prior games.  I really did not like the banks and other renovations you needed to do in the last couiple of AC games.

I only experienced a single graphics glitch - the shadow of a couch floating briefly in the air above the street.

I am in main mission sequence 3 and my status is also a level 3 player with not too many weapons and gadgets, nor skills - most is still locked although I have plenty of skill points to spend.  Evidently I need to complete sequence 5 before anything useful becomes unlocked.

I really LOVE the way free run works - climbing up and down the buildings is simply wonderful, and is better than in any prior AC game in comparison.  In the other games, I always felt rather clumsy - no so in AC5.

I'm not sure why people think Arno is too weak in fighting - as I mentioned, I am only a level 3 player, yet relatively easily completed the highest (5 diamond) theater mission to gain $25,000.  I died in the first attempt, but in the second, I simply stood on the roof of a tall building after I had cleared it of all snipers, and then shot the guards below each in the head until they were all gone.  Mission accomplished.  Take home lesson - play the game as an open world game thinking about your mission approach in each instance.  But then, I guess that is too much to ask of a 12-year old complaining gamer.

No other problems at all in single player.  The game is beautiful, and all in all, I have not found anything that I really have a problem with - everything (except the occasional glitch) is really good.

[Art Blade]

nice :) I'm a tad farther in the game, starting sequence 9 now (this sequence will unlock the next set of skills)  ;)

What I like is that IF you've got different items with different specs, like for instance I have one chest / coat that is good for stealthy sneaking around in restricted areas, gives me 100% more time until detection, and another one that gives me 16 health points and armour which is good for brute force encounters, you can change your gear during a mission. Excellent  :) :-X Only thing to bear in mind is that you can only do so on ground level, not if you're on top of a roof.

Here I change from armour to stealth. You can actually tell not only by the metal shine but by counting the white health bar segments. Above, 14, below, 12.5
[smg id=7346 type=preview align=center caption="changing during mission 1"]
[smg id=7347 type=preview align=center caption="changing during mission 2"]

[PZ]

That's a feature I really enjoy - the ability to customize at will without having to go to a lair.   :-X

[Art Blade]

that, and even better, DURING missions. Also available during missions: shops that sell ammo, during a mission it is really cool. I just did that, kept killing everyone with phantom blades but can carry only 5 at a time so I went to that shop about 5 times 

[PZ]

 :-X :-()

I did that too with health and bullets in a more difficult mission - that's really cool that the software is sophisticated enough to allow you to break free of the main routine to do a side event.  It is not a wonder why the game is so buggy - with how robust the game is, I'm surprised there are not more bugs.

[Binnatics]

Indeed! In fact, what's causing trouble is just one, HUGE bug, but for the rest I hear all good stories of you guys. About the gameplay and in-game appearance of missions, NPC's, interacting with stuff.... Only the usual bugs in multiplayer, but the SP seems fluid....

[Art Blade]

hehehe :) I don't know about you guys, but when I'm on a mission, say Sequence 9 Memory 2 "Hoarders," I can't do just the main objective. I feel compelled to kill everyone in the vicinity first  :-() Which gives a lot of extra creed points by the way.

[PZ]

I like to do that as well.  I find it relatively easy to kill the enemies as long as you have the right weapon, or proper defense - easier so than in prior games in the series for me.

[Art Blade]

I actually avoid open fights if possible but if I get down, I do it properly  >:D I prefer to sneak around and do silent kills with the hidden blade or use the phantom blade for single targets and berserk blade for groups. More than once I purposefully had my objective / target killed by a berserk foe. :-()