Assasins Creed 2

[Benjimino234]

Yes, i do admit I won't buy just from curiosity but maybe play it at a friends house.

 

But yeah, it's a game you either love or hate. But it was a cool idea, like playing Hitman: Blood Money as a 'free roam' and in Medieval Times.

[Don Garcia]

Huh? You wanna see 20+ minutes of Assassin's Creed 2 footage someone recorded at PAX? OKAY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm posting this just 1:36 into the first vid. Whoever yelled "Burn It!" in reference to the church...made me laugh.

[Don Garcia]

Yeah, I'm double-posting, what of it? New TGS trailer, O.M.Wee!

 

 

Edited September 26, 2009 by Don Garcia

[Darrel]

freaking nice trailer

[DanManUtd]

That's the best video game trailer I've seen for a while!

[Waddy]

That was awesome.

I cant wait to play this game. Seriously.

[Guns N R0se]

I keep forgetting about this game, only to come back and see a new trailer that makes me want it so badly again

[Cyraxx]

That trailer gave me f*cking chills.

[3minty3]

Ezio's face didnt look amazing, graphically wise but I guess we will be looking at his hood more often.

 

Also he reminded me of Will turner from Pirates of the Caribbean, especially at the hanging scene compared to the scene where Jack Sparrow is rescued.

[freak2121]

Epic.Buying this no matter what.

[komalr]

I have been waiting for AC II, Mafia II and GTA: BOGT. Definitely buying this one. The first one was a blast to play, though repetitive.

[Don Garcia]

VG247 had a Q&A session with game director Benoit Lambert. Here they are (the names are site members):

 

______________

 

 

FeaturePreacher: Is there any combat under water?

 

No. But you can hide under water.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will Ezio be able to rock enemies off boats?

 

Yes.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will there be difficulty levels this time?

 

You don’t have difficulty levels, but you have a progression that is not badly done. So you get better and better, and you learn things better.

 

Spiral: Can you treat the game as a straight up shooter? Can you run around and shoot?

 

No. You have a gun, but you need to be static to use it, and it’s not a gun that requires skills to target, really. You need to be patient. You look in your target, you hold the button and the reticle gets thinner and thinner on the guy. The thinner the reticle is, the more likely you are to hit the guy. If the reticle is very small, you kill 100 percent. You can shoot someone very far away.

 

Spiral: Can you skip cut-scenes?

 

You cannot skip cut-scenes, but we have a save system that saves just after the cut-scenes.

 

Dr.Ghettoblaster: What about multiplayer and DLC?

 

I can’t talk about it. Ask the PR guys. It’s what I’ve been told to say.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will there be any aerial combat?

 

Well, obviously you have the flying machine. You’ll be able to use it to kick people in the face while you’re flying. That’s it.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will Ezio be able to dismember opponents?

 

We cannot do that. But believe me, you have some nice fatalities. You have nice ones, like chopping up tippy-toes and stuff.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will there be opponents much larger and stronger than Ezio, where direct combat will be useless?

 

Yes. You have to use strategies. You know in AC1 you were doing a lot of contact kills to get rid of the guys? Here contact kills are not always the way to win.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will Ezio meet Galileo and be able to use his telescope?

 

I wish. Who is the guy who’s saying that? I want him as a designer.

 

Dr.Ghettoblaster: Are there any other vehicles in the game apart from the hang glider and the horse?

 

Yes. There’s boats and you have the caravan.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will Ezio be able to use the environment to beat opponents? For example, will he be able to throw a knife at a torch above a guard so it lands and burns him.

 

Weird question. Well, obviously you use the environment because he’s free-running everywhere. So you can use that as a tool to isolate, for example. We have “agile” enemies that are very good at following the player. If the agile is with a “brute” and you don’t want to face both at the same time, you can run onto a roof: the brute won’t be able to follow the player, but the agile will follow, so you’ll be able kill the agile then tackle the brute.

 

SticKboy: Are there day and night cycles this time round…

 

Yes.

 

SticKboy: …and how do they affect the shopping mechanic?

 

The shopping not. We don’t want the player to be a prisoner to it. Players might be frustrated if they can’t buy anything. Like, in GTA, shops are open at night, and if you didn’t have any ammo or anything you’d be very pissed off as a player. It doesn’t affect that, but it does affect things like the density of people you have in the street. So, as a gameplay tool is hiding in crowds, it affects the ability to hide.

 

SticKboy: Is there any sex in the game?

 

Ezio is a womaniser. There’s a bit of sex. I can’t say more.

 

SticKboy: How many frames of animation are there for getting off a horse, and what was the trickiest thing to animate?

 

My God, I have no idea how many frames there are. We’d need the animation lead, or something. What is important is that we try to find the right balance between responsiveness and beautiful animations. I think we have one of the best animators in the industry working on this. I’m pretty confident about that.

 

Animation-wise, I think the biggest challenges are two-player animations, two players interacting together. We have lots of weapons, we have lots of things: it’s not easy to track.

 

SticKboy: Are the NPC character models improved to match the quality of the player character model?

 

Oh yeah. We have, like, 30 characters in AC2, and three hours of cinematics. The cinematics are far more in a Hollywood style, far more good-looking. Definitely, we had to work on that. The main character we have not changed, although now he’s wearing armour and all the new stuff, we have to add those details on top of the character. It’s a lot of work, because we have a lot of upgrades and you can mix and match everything.

 

Spiral: How often do the missions repeat [We were told at the start of the event that there are 150 missions in the game - Ed]?

 

We really tried to make sure it does not repeat. I can’t answer the question, “Does is repeat?” I see one mission that’s similar mid-game and end-game, but in general, we really tried to make sure it’s different.

 

SticKboy: Are there any flags in it this time round?

 

We don’t have flags, but we have feathers. The flags in AC1 were pretty boring. You had 350 flags that don’t bring anything to the player. Here we have 101 feathers, because we don’t like a straight number, and at 70 percent and 100 percent you have gameplay upgrades. People like to grind, so why not?

 

freedoms_stain: Are you able to time your own jumps, or do you just run forwards and press A?

 

You can time your own jumps, but it’s not the way the game’s done. You won’t really take advantage of the game if you did that.

 

SticKboy: Is the free-running more complex? Will you be able to grab ledges straight away or will you have to wait to be upgraded?

 

Yeah, you don’t have to press B to grab a ledge. Everything is automated, like in AC1. People didn’t know how to play in AC1, actually. You hold RT for High Profile and you hold A. You don’t need to tap A. You know like it is in Zelda? You just go forward and the guy is going to jump. It’s the same. You press High Profile and the guy is going to do stuff.

 

A life-saver for your guys to know, is that when you’re in the air and you’ve done a jump without any objectives or anything to reach, hold B and if there’s a ledge the guy’s going to grab the ledge.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will Ezio get alternative costumes when you complete the game?

 

You can buy different colours for your costumes. So, not only can you upgrade your guy – you have 20 types of armour pieces that you can collect, you have around 30 weapons that you can buy, you have gadgets like smokebombs and poison and stuff like that – but visually you can change the colour of your clothes. We know that people like to customise. You have 14 different colours spread across the cities.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will Ezio be able to wield two weapons simultaneously other than the hidden twin blades?

 

You have one weapon in the left hand and one in the right hand, so you can kill two guys at the same time. And you have two hand weapons, like axes and spikes, which are very efficient weapons.

 

FeaturePreacher: Will Ezio be able to insult opponents in order to be able to lure them into compromising positions?

 

Obviously [laughs]. You can taunt your enemies. If you’re in a fight you can press Y and say, “Come on, guys. Bring it on.” It provokes them and ensures they attack.

 

SticKboy: What are the game’s “wow” moments to match riding out from Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem in AC1?

 

Climbing the Duomo in Florence is a big wow moment, because it’s the biggest church there was at the time, and it had been built over hundreds and hundreds of years. The building is massive, and if you look at it it’s really impressive. If you got to top of it you have a view of the whole of Florence.

 

There are lots of wow moments. Personally, I’m very sensitive to the fact that the character is going to grow from this bourgeois from Florence to a bad-ass assassin. You have wow moments not in the sense of, “Wow, this is amazing,” but very emotional moments.

 

rrod360lol: Do the 360 and PS3 builds differ at all?

 

No. PS3 is better than AC1: the framerate is higher. It’s the same game. The same engine.

 

______________

 

 

And here's a pretty good hands-on from Kotaku.

[nixxio]

Oh geez, can't wait for this game. I just really hope they've solved the repetitive format of the missions this time.

Also

 

FeaturePreacher: Will Ezio meet Galileo and be able to use his telescope?

 

I wish. Who is the guy who’s saying that? I want him as a designer.

, that would be cool though, be able to see and hear Galileo in a game, using the telescope looking at one of Jupiter's moons, assuming it was discovered by then.

 

Too bad the PC version will be released at first quarter of 2010. First Dirt 2 and now this game?

[Darrel]

Interesting answers. I'm going to definitely be all in black

[Rebel]

Really nice read through. I always like them when its Q & A one's. Really looking forward to this now, like I keep saying I wish it would come out sooner!

[Guns N R0se]

 

Ezio is a womaniser. There’s a bit of sex. I can’t say more.

 

Bow chicka wow wow

[Don Garcia]

^ Concerning the secks, I read this on the videogames blog on MTV.

 

 

Everyone's freaking out about this quote on VG247, in which the "Assassin's Creed 2" game direction, Benoit Lambert, stated the following:

 

"Ezio is a womaniser...there’s a bit of sex. I can’t say more."

 

Thankfully I can say more, as I've seen the exact bit of sex he's talking about, which demonstrated at an event up at Ubisoft Montreal.

 

At the beginning of "Assassin's Creed 2," Ezio is merely a snotty teenage noble and a bit of a horndog. The first hour or so of the game is a tutorial, introducing you to the new setting, gameplay elements and characters. One such character is Ezio's girlfriend, who you'll meet after sneaking into her room under the cover of darkness. From there, things get frisky, but everything's pretty muted. Using action buttons you can help her to disrobe, but you'll only see her naked upper back.

 

Then, when it's time for escalation, another action button merely blows out the candle. The rest, as they say, is left to the imagination. All in all, it's pretty tame, and nothing compared to the scenes in "Mass Effect" or "God of War." Strictly PG-13 level, despite the game's M rating. No moans, no rocking night table. Just a pissed off father and an early morning dash to freedom.

 

There is, however, a great scene later on when Ezio's mother is talking to him about his womanizing ways:

 

Mom: You need more outlets.

 

Ezio: I have plenty of outlets!

 

Mom: I meant besides vaginas.

 

Zing!

 

Sounds nice.

[Rebel]

I didn't think the 'sex' scene would of been anything over the top since well its AC2. Still good to know that they are keeping it classy. It sounds like we get to sneak over to the girlfriends house then in the middle of the night which I take it is where we get to become Spiderman.

[Don Garcia]

Just a quick heads up, Kristen Bell is returning to reprise her role as Lucy Stillman.

 

 

Being a part of the first Assassin's Creed video game was an amazing experience. I'm very happy to be Lucy once more, and I look forward to fans discovering more about her - they will be pleasantly surprised.

 

I hope she busts Desomond out, or something. Anybody else more interested in the story outside of the animus?

 

Also, some more tidbits thanks to a hands-on from Electricpig:

 

* On a basic level, gameplay works as before. While the setting has changed to Renaissance Venice, your character, Ezio, dashes around on rooftops getting his medieval freerunning on in just the same way, and still has to murder plenty of high profile aristocrats.

 

* The difference? Ubisoft is dropping the more tedious investigative elements it fully admits were “frustrating” players and repetitive, and changing the gameplay to many, many more shorter tasks (130, in fact).

 

* As the controls haven’t changed since first time round, Assassin’s Creed 2 will still leave some gamers feeling like it’s all a bit too easy. Sure, you can swim and climb walls faster than before. Simply holding down one button and moving to scale a castle though can sometimes feel like Ubisoft’s removed any skill factor, but the sense of cinematic you get more than makes up for it in our mind.

 

* Hopping on top of the Venetian skyline is nothing short of jawdropping, with an incredible draw distance stretching off from every angle. The city looks stunning, and while the characters on the ground milling around don’t feel as animated a community as the folks of GTA IV’s Liberty City, it’s an astonishing, sprawling feat nonetheless.

 

* You should know that the voice acting is hilariously stereotyped.

 

And for some cool screens:

 

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[papanesta]

Anybody else more interested in the story outside of the animus?

I wouldn't say more interested, but I loved it in the first one.

[Darrel]

Visuals look freaking slick. Cant wait to get it!

[Don Garcia]

Very informative, and very sexy video. Gondolas!

 

 

[Mand'alor]

I was very disappointed with the first game but I think I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt. It does look much better than it's predecessor.

 

I'm just hoping all that repetitiveness is gone.

[Seddo]

That video was awesome, really got me pumped up for this game . Hiring thieves to lure away guards, now that's awesome. At least they done away with 350 flags don't don't add anything to the game, 101 collectables is a lot better and not as boring finding them and now they actually add something to the game which is great.

 

Can't wait to climb that massive church to see the whole of Florence in one view, will look stunning.

[Don Garcia]

New Developer Diary, #4, focusing on combat, enemy types, and weapons used.

 

 

 

f*cking BRUTAL.

[Seddo]

Ezio is a killing machine .

 

I can already tell that those Brutes will pee me off in combat, he'll be the c*nt that will probably counter everything. Having enemies running away from you across rooftops instead of the ground will be cool and give the player some great chasing events.

 

This can't come any sonner.

[Rebel]

Looks f*cking awesome. That last video was great, loved how you could steal weapons and then unlock the different kinds of moves. I'm not really looking forward to the third guard who can free run also, I've also go a feeling like its going to be a pain in the ass sometimes.

[SIKKS66]

Dunno, might be pretty cool trying to throw a knife at him mid-flight lol.

[Don Garcia]

The trailer for the live action short film, Assassin's Creed: Lineage is here. There are to be three 'episodes', the first to premier on YouTube on October 27th. The film was made by the Ubisoft owned visual effects studio, Hybrid Technologies, which worked on feature films such as 300 and Sin City.

 

The short films will tell the story of Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, the father of Ezio. The shorts will shed light on the events leading up to the upcoming game, as well as introduce players to a host of characters they will encounter in the highly anticipated sequel.

 

 

 

Looks pritty kewl. I heard that all the backgrounds in the movie are taken straight from the game, so all the actors are on green-screen, like in 300. Also kewl.

[ChristopherD]

I absolutely LOVED AC1 (with the same complaints about repetitivity as others here).

 

It seems that this is going to be SO much better...with Movies coming out that lead you up to the start of the game? Very cool.

 

I am an online multiplayer fiend and very rarely buy a game that doesn't include it. But don't you think that the fact that the guy in that interview was not allowed to talk about it, that it suggests that there WILL be an online MP component?

 

And how wicked would THAT be!!!

 

And thanks for keeping us up to date, Don Garcia!