Assassin's Creed II

[Skyblade]

So, low and behold, the new game is out. Despite being severely crippled by the PS3's controls (the PC version of AC was soooo nicer, but ACII won't come out on PC till March), the game is turning out very nice. It starts very slowly, but once it picks up, it turns into a very nice game. Tons of exploration, quests, and killing to do around town.

Right now, my biggest complaint is that they removed health regen. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with using a fixed-health system to make the combat harder or more solid, but it is crippling the rest of the game. AC was full of the run-jump-splat moments, and having to either use medicine or hunt down a doctor every time you misjudge a jump is just annoying.

But, overall, it's a fun game, and has some really great points.
Although the glyphs and Subject 16's messages aren't among them.

[darkchrono]

How good is the story in the assassins creed series. And is it a continuous story or are they completely separate from eachother like FF.

The guy on the cover looked similar to the person on the cover from #1 so I assume it is a continuous storyline.

[Freya]

Well the assassin's creed stories are you are a guy playing memories of the past basically. The guy outside of the past it's the same story and then the past mentions the previous guy you played in the past.


Right now, my biggest complaint is that they removed health regen. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with using a fixed-health system to make the combat harder or more solid, but it is crippling the rest of the game. AC was full of the run-jump-splat moments, and having to either use medicine or hunt down a doctor every time you misjudge a jump is just annoying.

Learn to jump better and problem fixed.

I love the setting of italy though. If you stop and look around it's really pretty :D

[ljkkjlcm9]

this game is infinitely better than the first game.

I like the health thing, it makes far more sense. Yes it can be annoying at times, but honestly, even with one health block and some medicines, you never have to worry. I rarely if ever visit doctors to heal, only for medicines. I run around with 1 health block all the time, and only heal myself if I'm in a big fight.

However, every other portion of this game is awesome. I also suggest signing up at the uplay.com thing. It's free, you link it to your game (PC, PS3, or 360) and can unlock 4 different things, after acquiring the points (which are the same as trophies/achievements). for 10 points you can get a Theme/wallpaper, for 20 points you get 5 extra throwing knives, for 30 you get an Altair costume, and for 40 you unlock the Family Crypt (which gives more backstory). Definitely worth it for the 0 effort it takes.

Probably won't really be playing anything else until I beat this (besides Mario with friends).

THE JACKEL

[Pete for President]

Reviews are very positive about this game. I love stealth games, but since the first AC was quite a dissapointment imo, I'm not convinced yet.

Somehow I expect ACII to be too accessible and therefore too forgiving, unlike the older Tenchu games and ofcourse the MGS series. I'm afraid it might lack the depth and challenge to actually be the stealth game I'm looking for.

This is all based on things I've heard and read so far, I haven't had the chance to play it myself. I will check it out somewhere though.

[Yeargdribble]

So, low and behold, the new game is out. Despite being severely crippled by the PS3's controls (the PC version of AC was

It's so bizarre to hear you say this. I would've considered myself primarily a PC gamer for most of my adult life and when there was an option I would always buy the game on PC and use PC controls.

AC was the first game where the PC controls were so obviously not designed for PC that I literally had to go out and buy a USB controller to be feel comfortable playing the game.

It seems that most PC games are just straight ripped ports from the consoles with no attention to the control differences. Oblivion suffered from this (yeah PC mods). Luckily Dragon Age: Origins treats the platforms differently.



But as to the topic, I've been very excited, but was never planning to buy the game at launch. After seeing a few bits of the game play I was struck by how ghastly some of the character models are. I'm not graphics whore, but Lucy looked better in AC1 than AC2. She looks incredibly awkward and just bad. Overall the game looks beautiful. It's another of those where the scenery is infinitely better than the close-ups of the character models.

Hearing about Ubisoft putting pressure on journalists for good reviews leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The review at gametrailers.com had plenty negative to say about the game and then oddly gave it an 8.9 for after a review that made it sound like a 7 (but they always average well on the high side).

I want to wait and feel out the differences between the 360 and PS3 before picking which to grab the game for. I really hope I can avoid spoilers (unlikely), but I don't want fear of spoilers being the only thing forcing me to pay $60 for a game that I'm not certain about. I know it's not as bad (in terms of utter disappointment) as AC1, but beneath some of the swelling reviews, there have been quite a few nitpicks. I want to let a little more press hit it and hope the price drops a bit.

[LunarWeaver]

The first had me excited and was not all I expected. From all of what I've read this has more variety in it, so that's good, but it's still not anything I'm creaming my Hello Kitty! panties over. It's in my Gamefly's Q list, though. It'll be sent to me sometime or another and then I'll see how it goes.

[Breine]

The first had me excited and was not all I expected. From all of what I've read this has more variety in it, so that's good, but it's still not anything I'm creaming my Hello Kitty! panties over.

xDDD


...Other than finding it funny, I also agree with Noctacular's reply.
It's probably not something I'll buy, even though it kinda looks like it's pretty fun.

[Raistlin]

AC was definitely a disappointment, but from what I've heard ACII is a significant improvement. I'll probably buy it at some point next year, though because of AC's severe letdown it's not really a priority.

[Quindiana Jones]

Anyone within a 100 mile radius of me just heard the sound of me jizzing in ecstasy at the mere mention of this game.

[Bolivar]

This game is all but sold to me, just gonna wait till christmas or so to get it. I really enjoyed the first game and learned to appreciate its strengths to outweigh its shortcomings, which were largely due to the unfortunate popular conventions at that time in HD Gaming.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Honestly, this game makes the first game seem like a joke. The game is far more complete in every way, and there's so much more to it. I can never go back and play the first one after playing this game, because it would feel so incomplete. Trust me people, this is what the first one should have been, and then some.

THE JACKEL

[Skyblade]

Honestly, this game makes the first game seem like a joke. The game is far more complete in every way, and there's so much more to it. I can never go back and play the first one after playing this game, because it would feel so incomplete. Trust me people, this is what the first one should have been, and then some.

THE JACKAL

Agreed. This game is so much more developed and refined than the original (except for some of the character models, most notably Lucy). Far more variety in the missions, much more character development, a better designed world, and far better gameplay.

[JKTrix]

This game is all I've been playing.

When I did the Leonardo's Flying Machine part, I was trying to control it like the cape in Super Mario World. It worked, a little, but I still had to fly over those fires.

My 'villa' is making so much money now that I've bought all the armour and most of the weapons and upgraded all the shops, that my favourite waste of money is to keep poisoning every guard I come across and buying more of it. I started just randomly throwing money around too. I think there's an achievement for it.

For a while it got on my nerves that there were some jumps that looked possible but I just narrowly missed. But then once I learned you could hold B (or Circle) to stick your arms out to grab stuff (in multiple directions), my acrobatics really opened up.

The bards are funny. I found the easiest way to get rid of them is to just 'run' into them when they get in your face. Usually they drop their lute and run away, but if I have some courtesans around me they try to fight them :P

A consistently great moment: When there are two guards guarding something I want to get to, I just walk right up to them. They go, "Hey! You're not supposed to be here!" and I go DOUBLE SHIV TO THE FACE!

Ugly, ugly characters, but otherwise great game.

[Pete for President]

I'm starting to get interested, but I'm still not 100% convinced. I'll have to check it out somewhere.

[Skyblade]

This game is all I've been playing.

When I did the Leonardo's Flying Machine part, I was trying to control it like the cape in Super Mario World. It worked, a little, but I still had to fly over those fires.

I did the same thing, but didn't think to compare it to that. :D


My 'villa' is making so much money now that I've bought all the armour and most of the weapons and upgraded all the shops, that my favourite waste of money is to keep poisoning every guard I come across and buying more of it. I started just randomly throwing money around too. I think there's an achievement for it.

Yeah, throw away 300 or more gold on the ground and you get the achievement. I usually make money that way though. Throw it into a group of people, and you'll lose 10 gold per throw. But you can pickpocket 50 or more from the people picking it up.

There's also an achievement for getting an air assassination on a poisoned character. Poison them, lock on to them, climb a wall, and assassinate.

[JKTrix]

Finished it. The final words of the character (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RrcUFAj8aM#t=5m55s) sum up the ending pretty well. (Link isn't a spoiler unless you play the *whole* video. So don't.)

Can't wait for the next game.

This one's up there with Batman for 'most fun game this year' for me.

[Freya]

I spent the time and found all the glyphs. Now I just have to finish the game to see wtf everything was about. That end glyph video was weird and now i'm confused D:

EDIT: OK it makes way more sense now. NEATO! Can't wait for the next!

[Vyk]

I've been watching my buddy play through this game (I rarely play games, glad someone makes use of my xbox) and thoroughly enjoyed the style and gameplay mechanics. Though I could tell the camera and collision detection for some jumps could use some more work and sometimes quests would glitch out and not activate completely or the game would hang. But overall, the improvements over the first were noticeable. And I liked that it took forever for this kid to become anywhere near as awesome as Altair. They didn't just slap some kid with 3 days of training and throw you into the game with a complete move set that took Altair years of training

[Skyblade]

I've been watching my buddy play through this game (I rarely play games, glad someone makes use of my xbox) and thoroughly enjoyed the style and gameplay mechanics. Though I could tell the camera and collision detection for some jumps could use some more work and sometimes quests would glitch out and not activate completely or the game would hang. But overall, the improvements over the first were noticeable. And I liked that it took forever for this kid to become anywhere near as awesome as Altair. They didn't just slap some kid with 3 days of training and throw you into the game with a complete move set that took Altair years of training

Yeah, the programming isn't perfect. I've had a couple dead NPCs detecting me, a couple NPCs who won't die, just lie on the ground not moving, a few phantom detection indicators (the NPC goes away, but the detector stays), a couple NPCs fall into the ground and be unable to reach me, and quite a few times where the game just freezes. But it's still a good game.

The training is nice. Not only does the training progress fairly smoothly through the plot, but it also takes several years for it all to come together and unleash his full potential. I wonder who would win if it came to Ezio at his peak versus Altair at his (Desmond should actually be able to defeat either of them, since by now he should have almost all the abilities of both of them. But Desmond isn't that cool, yet, so...).

The Assassin's tombs are great fun, and a wonderful addition to the game. Puzzle based dungeons with a sweet-looking reward at the end.

Oh, and I also appreciate the ability to dye your armor. Assassin White is ok, but some of the choices are really nice.

[ljkkjlcm9]

I have 97% of the trophies, and all 3 trophies I have left depend on me getting those stupid feathers! I really hope someone comes out with maps labeling everything and locations of stuff. I have way too many other games to worry about getting all those feathers.

Thoroughly enjoyed the entire game, definitely one of my favorites this year. Though, Demon's Souls is still probably my favorite so far.

THE JACKEL

[Freya]

Try this out :) (http://www.msxbox-world.com/features/Assassins-Creed-II/index.php) you can even click the icons to show you a screenshot :D

[Skyblade]

I have 97% of the trophies, and all 3 trophies I have left depend on me getting those stupid feathers! I really hope someone comes out with maps labeling everything and locations of stuff. I have way too many other games to worry about getting all those feathers.

Thoroughly enjoyed the entire game, definitely one of my favorites this year. Though, Demon's Souls is still probably my favorite so far.

THE JACKAL

I'm having trouble with a couple, but not the feather ones. No Hitter is giving me huge trouble (usually, I get to 4 or 5 enemies dead before the rest all run away and I leave combat), and Sweeper (how the heck do you sweep enemies with the long weapons?). How'd you get them?

[ljkkjlcm9]

I have 97% of the trophies, and all 3 trophies I have left depend on me getting those stupid feathers! I really hope someone comes out with maps labeling everything and locations of stuff. I have way too many other games to worry about getting all those feathers.

Thoroughly enjoyed the entire game, definitely one of my favorites this year. Though, Demon's Souls is still probably my favorite so far.

THE JACKAL

I'm having trouble with a couple, but not the feather ones. No Hitter is giving me huge trouble (usually, I get to 4 or 5 enemies dead before the rest all run away and I leave combat), and Sweeper (how the heck do you sweep enemies with the long weapons?). How'd you get them?

Both are easy in Venice, San Marco. There are tons of soldiers there. For the Long Weapon sweep, make sure you go to the Training Circle and buy all the training things. There's throwing sand, Long Weapon sweep, and two handed weapon strong attack there, as well as a pistol intimidate thing.

Basically, for No Hitter, use a Smoke Bomb, kill a bunch, use another smoke bomb, kill more, use the last smoke bomb, kill more. You should get enough kills in that time period. Just make sure there are enough soldiers there before you start using the bombs. As for the Sweeper, you need to steal the lance, then try and get enough guys around you. It was frustrating because they would hit me as I was readying the sweep. You can do the sand throw in the same area.

THE JACKEL

[Fonzie]

T'was a good game, and all I have to say is...

What.The.Fuck :p

[Skyblade]

I have 97% of the trophies, and all 3 trophies I have left depend on me getting those stupid feathers! I really hope someone comes out with maps labeling everything and locations of stuff. I have way too many other games to worry about getting all those feathers.

Thoroughly enjoyed the entire game, definitely one of my favorites this year. Though, Demon's Souls is still probably my favorite so far.

THE JACKAL

I'm having trouble with a couple, but not the feather ones. No Hitter is giving me huge trouble (usually, I get to 4 or 5 enemies dead before the rest all run away and I leave combat), and Sweeper (how the heck do you sweep enemies with the long weapons?). How'd you get them?

Both are easy in Venice, San Marco. There are tons of soldiers there. For the Long Weapon sweep, make sure you go to the Training Circle and buy all the training things. There's throwing sand, Long Weapon sweep, and two handed weapon strong attack there, as well as a pistol intimidate thing.

Basically, for No Hitter, use a Smoke Bomb, kill a bunch, use another smoke bomb, kill more, use the last smoke bomb, kill more. You should get enough kills in that time period. Just make sure there are enough soldiers there before you start using the bombs. As for the Sweeper, you need to steal the lance, then try and get enough guys around you. It was frustrating because they would hit me as I was readying the sweep. You can do the sand throw in the same area.

THE JACKAL

Yeah, I had missed the training, and it took me a while to find it. But I did (before I saw your post). Training in AC didn't have any point like that, so I didn't expect it in ACII, especially since they never mentioned it. You don't need to train to throw sand though.

I had thought Smoke Bombs would count as leaving conflict, or I would have done that earlier.

So I've gotten all the trophies now. Done pretty much everything in the game except for the 3 inaccessible Secret Areas that won't show up until it's released as DLC.

The cross content with Bloodlines is kind of interesting. Some money, and a series of new weapons, which have low damage, but high stats. Since they're unlocked as soon as you get to the villa, they come in handy.

The content Bloodlines gets from ACII is just ridiculous though. The upgrades to the hidden blade mean Altair can counter kill anything with it, or use it at range (as the pistol) to instant kill any non boss. It's overpowered as heck. But fun.

[Shiny]

Judging from some of the reviews in this thread and on IGN, it seems like this is worthwhile to purchase. I liked the first AC, but found it a bit too easy and repetitive. So hopefully, this one will offer something a bit more challenging and sporadic.

[Skyblade]

Not sure about the challenging bit. I didn't really find it that difficult of a game. Since combat is not the primary focus, the difficulty of the fights doesn't have to be that high. Perhaps the new puzzles will offer you the difficulty you seek though.

It is, however, much less repetitive.

[Croyles]

Ending: Da Vinvi Code + 2012 + Stargate + a bit of Scientology fiction for good measure + Matrix = great fun :)

[Quindiana Jones]

Just reached Tuscany for the first time. Loving the game so far. Without a doubt the best game I've purchased this year, and one of the best games I've ever played.

And I've barely even started yet. :excited:

Will give a full review on completion.

[Jiro]

It was a definite improvement, and I found myself completely unable to stop playing D:
I like being able to use weapons too, the long weapons were fun :D

[Quindiana Jones]

Okay, I don't have the free time to just blast through the game, so I'll review on what I've played.

Holy mother of spaz. This game is magnificent. As beautiful as the last game, with a more intriguing storyline which actually gives you a reason to play. Gone are the crappy "Do these tasks so you can progress" missions. Now you'll find yourself finishing a sequence without even realising, simply because the game transitions so well from free play to missions.

The game starts off a little slow. That's not to say it's boring: it just takes a few sequences to unlock the super cool stuff that you squealed over when you saw the trailer. The first parts of the game introduce the protagonist and other main characters well, and explain why he becomes an assassin, rather than just giving you a character and saying "Oh yeah, he's an assassin btw".

The Old Stuff
Exceptionally well handled free running, as with the first one. There are some occassions of Ezio mindlessly jumping to his death when THERE'S A WALL RIGHT THERE :mad2:, but these are rare and usually your own stupid fault. The whole game is also beautiful, and capture the period extremely well. Venice, in particular, is breathtaking. Well...that's everything that this game has in common with the old one done.

The New Stuff
Oh God, where to begin? Combat. The combat is roughly the same: X to attack, and try to get combos which end in cool deathblows. Or just stand there and counter everything. However, there are a variety of new features. For one, you can actually use the Hidden Blades effectively in combat. Though there are swords and knives, I found myself using the Hidden Blades the most. I rarely used any other weapon, to be honest. A highly recommended tactic to make the game more fun is to go into every fight with bare hands, as you can disarm opponents and use their weapons against them, leading to different fighting styles every time.

As an Assassin, you can expect Ezio to do some assassinating. And by God he does. Unlike Altair from AC1, Ezio has two Hidden Blades meaning you can kill two guards simultaneously. That's...actually it, to be honest. There was massive hype about this, and it's cool and all, but it doesn't really do anything else and is something defeated by the fact that guards hang around in threes. There are also some blade upgrades. You can add a poison blade, which allows you to berserk someone without anybody noticing, causing a pretty funny distraction, and you can also install a one shot gun. It's insta-kill, to make up for the decrease in power of the throwing knives, but it's rarely used. The best improvements to assassination are the techniques. Air assassination, Hiding Spot assassination and Ledge assassination. All are useful, and all are freaking cool. My favourite moment in the entire game so far was making an air assassination from about 50 feet up. It was ridiculous. I mean, I jumped off a freaking tower onto a guy's face. Now I know how Psy's mum feels. I felt that the final assassinations of a sequence, those being the assassination of an important character, were a little disappointing. I preferred Altairs method of walking up to them and just stabbing them, whereas now you usually have to fight them a little bit. It's a minor thing, though, and doesn't actually take anything away from the game, especially when you consider the fact that the missions in which you must assassinate these characters are really fun.

The economy system is great. It's extremely easy to make money, but there's also loads of stuff to buy so it kind of evens out. Economy system is somewhat of a misleading name though. There is no economy, you can just make money from your villa and buy stuff from shops but hey, it's more stuff than the first one! You'll spend the majority of your money on health and art, though a lot of it will also go towards customising your character with new clothes. Yeah, you heard, new clothes. You don't have to wear white if you don't want to!

There are simply too many things to go into great depth here, as it would take me years. This game improves upon the good points of the first one, and replaces the bad points with something brilliant. Even full price, Assassin's Creed 2 is well worth the money.

[Psychotic]

*fashionably late to the party*

It pisses all over the original AC in terms of quality. Infinitely less repetetive and all the more fun for it. Had so much fun tackling monks and high society ladies in the middle of the street and throwing them into market stalls :D "Ezio didn't kill civilians" my ass. Most fun was when I nailed a brute with a poison blade and he went mental in a crowd of people. Just started smashing everything. People, walls, the floor, was hilarious.

The only things I can criticise are 1) smurfing camera zooming in and rotating about like mad in Assassin's Tombs, messing up my jumps. smurf off. 2) And the story. The story of Ezio was kind of dull after a while and as for the ending, well, yeah, that was the stupidest smurfing ending I have ever seen. Other than those, everything about this game is delightful.

EDIT: Oh and sprinting and instead having Ezio try to run up a wall when I am chasing someone on the ground. That was wank too.

Top game, and if they continue improving at the rate they have, ACIII will be Game of the Century.

[Shiny]

Pretty much agree with Psy. Nice that it wasn't repetive and even more boss it was set in one of the best places in the world imo. Yet, the ending was the most unfulfilling anti-climatic thing ever (well since the first game). I mean wtf. I don't even get to stylishly kill a villiam? effff you Ubisoft.

[Jessweeee♪]

I thought the ending was awesome. I mean. Jesus! And then you get to be Desmond and kill a bunch of people. He's not useless anymooore~



We had a lot of fun picking out guards that had large weapons, poisoning them, and throwing money at them to draw large crowds while they swing their spears and stuff around. Like one guard leaves fifty bodies.

[Psychotic]

Well no, that part of the ending is smurfing awesome, eee♪, and I have been waiting for that since the start of AC1. But the bit before that, the cutscene, was the most dire thing I have ever seen in a video game this year! ...well, last year.

[BarelySeeAtAll]

My bro had the first one, and I was never really that interested in it. Now, I heard about ACII and saw the trailer and my jaw dropped haha.

Ezio fangirl inDEED, so naturally this Christmas I was practically begging for it and drooling all over the cover in the games shops (I'm sure they didn't particularly mind some goth gamer staring at the video screens, watching Ezio jumping all over the place). Screamed like a 14 year old when I opened the ps3 game and begged my brother to let me play it (because yes, that's right, I can't afford a ps3. My brother has the only one in the house) and he did, so a few days after Christmas I was playing it all night. Sure, the first mission of beating your brother to the top of the church was indeed something of a task, having never played the first one I had no idea how things worked and such, but I soon learned and now I can't get enough of leaping, jumping, climbing (and yes, falling from a massive great big building to your death).

Sometimes it's more fun to get swarms of guards chasing you all over Italy, than to do any tasks. My playtime must be pretty awful but hey! I'm adjusting.

Absolutely loving it so far, so smooth and the weapons are gorgeous and awfully fun

:love: <--- the face to sum up my opinion of the game

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

The only things I can criticise are 1) smurfing camera zooming in and rotating about like mad in Assassin's Tombs, messing up my jumps. smurf off.

The words that came out of my mouth as I tried to do those parts...Seriously, the camera messed me up a few times too many.

[G13]

I bought this game for my girlfriend for Christmas and ended up getting further in it than her. I'm banned from playing it now. :( I need to get one for myself.

Has anyone played Bloodlines by any chance? I heard it came out a few days after ACII. Altair's Chronicles was :bou::bou::bou::bou: so I'm hoping to hear about Bloodlines before I potentially waste my money.

[Madame Adequate]

Just picked this up yesterday when I realized I had a wodge of wonga I could only spend in the US (Gift cards, don'tcha know) so yay AC2 is now an Xmas gift for me.

And it is god damned awesome. I'm not so far into it yet but I loved the opening stuff. It was nicely paced, slow enough to set the scene, but short enough that it wasn't boring. And haha I felt like such a badman when I first stepped out dressed properly.

I liked AC a good deal but this just pisses all over it from an extraordinarily great height itbt. Paul's assessment about the rate of improvement is correct.

Hopefully one thing they do with ACIII is make the assassinations more like Hitman though. I mean yeah an assassin can be all in-your-face as long as he gets the job done, but I do want to be a sneaky Tenchu/disguisey Agent 47 cock who does things like a stealthy git.

And I died laughing at "It's a-me, Mario!"

[Skyblade]

Hopefully one thing they do with ACIII is make the assassinations more like Hitman though. I mean yeah an assassin can be all in-your-face as long as he gets the job done, but I do want to be a sneaky Tenchu/disguisey Agent 47 cock who does things like a stealthy git.

I totally agree. There is far too little stealth in this game. Despite everything you learn about blending and staying hidden, they are rarely useful (except on those annoying follow-the-leader quests). Targets are so heavily defended that getting to them undetected is usually impossible (or, if it is possible, you'll be detected during a cutscene instead).

I loved Tenchu: Stealth Assassins for the way it let you actually act like an assassin and stay hidden while you killed stuff, and I wish it was that way in AC.


Oh, and I played Bloodlines. Gameplay is nearly identical to AC1, but the fact you only get one Analog stick hampers it somewhat. Not sure how well the game plays on it's own though, since I got it after ACII, and if you do the transfer data to Bloodlines, the game is so pathetically easy you don't have to try. The pistol transfers as an instant-cast, 1 hit ranged kill with your Hidden Blade. Sure, it uses a throwing knife, but you can just pick one up from the guy you just shot. Other transfer bonuses let you counter kill and block with the Hidden Blade (and any non-boss enemy will die from a Hidden Blade Counter kill, even if it would take 4 or 5 Counters with the sword). So the game is ridiculously easy.

[Quindiana Jones]

We had a lot of fun picking out guards that had large weapons, poisoning them, and throwing money at them to draw large crowds while they swing their spears and stuff around. Like one guard leaves fifty bodies.

Just quoting this because it's awesome.

And I agree with the whole stealthy thing going on. In Venice, during the festival, you kill a guy by using your gun during the fireworks. The whole point of this is so that the guards don't notice that you've killed him. Except in then goes into the random cutscene thing (HOW DID EZIO EVEN GET THERE???) and I'm instantly Notorious. Stealth in this game is utterly pointless, considering the fact that you could probably wipe out an entire city of guards (as they all try to kill you at the same time) with your bare freaking hands.

Hopefully in AC3, Desmond won't bother talking to them. Maybe he'll have some hunt down, interrogate then kill missions to do? I think that'd be cool. And actual interrogation scene. Yeah. Punch punch, cut.....ahem. The point is that I want Desmond to be able to kill his targets without anyone even noticing like a proper assassin. And I think it'd be amazing if you could Hitman it up and change outfits. But, having said that, I want to be playing AC and not Hitman. Tough balance.

[G13]

Indeed. I was incredibly disappointed when I realized stealth kills aren't gonna be happening in this game. I tried a ton of different ways for the first two assassinations but didn't get anywhere. Every time I felt like I should restart and try again.

[Skyblade]

Also, did anyone else find the "run from the guards" segments rather boring? I mean, you don't have to track down a hiding place or anything. Just run really fast, toss in a little bit of climbing, and you will eventually outpace all of them. Gathering a large number of guards is nearly impossible, because they will just give up before you can reach enough. It makes the instant-notorious bits after an assassination rather dull and pointless.