Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

[esmittystud101]

Don't get me wrong, I love AC: Black Flag, but the combat system they have is very weak compaired to what I'm used to. The same with The Witcher 3 for that matter. You don't feel any hit, weather its you making the hit, or you taking the hit. Same with The Witcher 3, it tries to be so fast and it is, but to the point where I feel like its not even a fight. I'm not sure if this is how all AC games were, or even if Unity is. I just wish these kind of games let me feel the fight a little more.

 

This is an example of what I'm used to, and feeling every hit I give or receive. These are not even the fast weapons you can use in the game.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2015 by esmittystud101

[HaythamKenway]

The combat in the Ezio trilogy was quite okay. It wasn't great, it was still easy and shallow and counter with chainkill broke the game, but I'd say its use of low/high profile and defensive focus fit the series best and felt quite unique. After that, I don't know. I'm not really a fan of Arkham-style combat, though I have to admit it fit pretty well with Connor's character, who totally is this one-man army kind of guy. Otherwise, it feels like Ubi themselves don't know what to do with the combat, since they are revamping it for the third time in four years and Syndicate just looks like less overpowered III/IV-style combat. Which, all things considered, might work for it after all, as it's mostly based around hand-to-hand combat and not swordfighting.

 

I was really curious about the new system in Unity and my impressions are mixed. On one hand, removing counter and making Arno more fragile upped the tension and made using items more vital than ever, but that was diminished by removing health regen and bringing back instaheal medicine (removing health regen actually has an adverse effect on the gameplay - what a world we live in) and once you level Arno up and get a decent equipment, the combat turns into a shallow button mashing exercise again.

 

Edit: Talking about combat, a new video:

 

Edited August 11, 2015 by HaythamKenway

[esmittystud101]

The combat in the Ezio trilogy was quite okay. It wasn't great, it was still easy and shallow and counter with chainkill broke the game, but I'd say its use of low/high profile and defensive focus fit the series best and felt quite unique. After that, I don't know. I'm not really a fan of Arkham-style combat, though I have to admit it fit pretty well with Connor's character, who totally is this one-man army kind of guy. Otherwise, it feels like Ubi themselves don't know what to do with the combat, since they are revamping it for the third time in four years and Syndicate just looks like less overpowered III/IV-style combat. Which, all things considered, might work for it after all, as it's mostly based around hand-to-hand combat and not swordfighting.

 

I was really curious about the new system in Unity and my impressions are mixed. On one hand, removing counter and making Arno more fragile upped the tension and made using items more vital than ever, but that was diminished by removing health regen and bringing back instaheal medicine (removing health regen actually has an adverse effect on the gameplay - what a world we live in) and once you level Arno up and get a decent equipment, the combat turns into a shallow button mashing exercise again.

 

Edit: Talking about combat, a new video:

 

Fists of fury. Something I'll have to get used to. Doest look bad though, the game itself looks great.

[Creed Bratton]

I love it how the people just keep walking around like nothing is going on while a guy butchers some folk in the middle of the street. For f*ck sake, this is their latest video demoing the combat. Hopefully it's not the latest build of the game because it is due to come out before the end of the year and it's still a buggy mess. That shouldn't be a problem, but gamers tend to be morons unable to learn from past mistakes. So they'll pre-order this and then rage when they see how unfinished it is. If only they weren't so goddamn stupid, they could prevent something like AC:Unity from ever happening again by simply refusing to pre-order which would force Ubisoft to release finished and polished product.

[Jvaz615]

You pretty much hate everything dont you

[HaythamKenway]

Jacob and Evie now have extended profiles on the AC website. Bits and pieces of their comments are quite usable for some theorycrafting and character examination.

 

Evie is described as a methodical, cautious planner. She avoids open combat and unnecessary bloodshed and tries to keep things quiet and discreet. She holds the Creed and the tradition of the Brotherhood in high value and follows them, unquestioning. She comes across as a bit arrogant (not cocky, more in ACRo's Achilles' "our responsibility" mindset) and self-assured in her skills. A bit of a daddy's girl too, as she mentions how he taught her in the ways of the Assassins while Jacob was off doing who knows what.

 

Jacob seems to be a freespirited enthusiastic rogue. Unlike Evie, he prefers to engage his enemies openly, directly and fast (it is even implied that he looks down on Evie's "sneaking and spying" and embraces the notoriety or being a feared Assassin). Enjoys a good ruckus and chaos. He refuses to call himself a criminal, but willigly rejects the norms of the society - he lives by his own rules. He might have had some problems who wanted to raise him to be a "good Assassin" and instead seeked thrills on the street and wanted to live his own way (similarly to Desmond). Nearly every comment points to the fact that Jacob really does not care about the Creed at all and is in it to get power. However, he still demonstrates some sort of moral compass as he makes his goal to make those, who live off the poor's hard work and give nothing in return, pay.

 

To sum it up, I'd say that Evie definitely goes more towards the "Achilles and the French Brotherhood" end of the Assassin spectrum. Well intentioned, but maybe a bit dogmatic and overly cautious. Meanwhile Jacob may be a bit of a bloodthirsty brute, but also probably a free thinker. He rejects creeds and ideologies imposed on him by others and instead looks for his own way, guided by his own sense of right and wrong.

 

So, now that I fanboy-ed myself out, let's see how wrong I'll be, as Ubisoft's marketing never paints the game's story in its true colors.

[combustion]

@Leo2301

 

Well, there's a theory that Evie might be a reincarnation of AC universe's "biblical" Eve. Considering that people with high precursor genes have borderline superhuman abilities, Evie's magical stealth might not be so farfetched. Especially if she is a "Sage", who are on whole another level even from people like Altair or Desmond.

 

Personally, I could live without that skill, but it doesn't bother me either. There are far crazier things in the AC universe.

 

Even though the name 'Evie' is related to 'Eve', I haven't seen anyone mentioning she might be a reincarnation of Eve.

And Evie can't be a Sage, she doesn't have the 'eyes' of any Sages. Even though sages have more precursor genes than humans, they can't have enough genes to have superhuman abilities of the First Civilization. The Sages who appeared in previous games did not display any superhuman abilities, other than open the doors to the Observatory.

Forgive me if I am wrong, I haven't played in Assassin's Creed games recently, and I'm not interested in the First Civ. stuff.

 

Well, the 'Chameleon' skill doesn't annoy me that much, I guess I could replace it with another skill.

[HaythamKenway]

@Leo2301

 

People throw all sorts of theories around, on Ubi forums and elsewhere. And Ubi have been teasing Eve for quite some time. Since Brotherhood and later Liberation, in fact and a weird reference showed up in Dead Kings as well, which was written by ACS's lead writer.

 

I've never been particulary versed in the First Civ stuff, as I don't really care about it either, but I think Adam and Eve were supposed to be something like 50/50 human/Precursor hybrids. It is also possible that Eve's not a "Sage" in literal sense, since the only Sage we've seen so far is Aita, who was created by Juno, while she is rumored to be some sort of backup plan by Minerva. She may have transformed her later, with different, more advanced tech (as we know, Juno's was faulty). And again, improved transformation may allow for more Precursor abilities to manifest in later reincarnations.

 

Or, maybe the Chameleon skill is just Helix using shortcuts to say "Hey guys, she's really good at stealth". Arno's disguise skill was no less unrealistic and that was handwaved this way too.

[Dbzk1999]

@Leo2301

 

People throw all sorts of theories around, on Ubi forums and elsewhere. And Ubi have been teasing Eve for quite some time. Since Brotherhood and later Liberation, in fact and a weird reference showed up in Dead Kings as well, which was written by ACS's lead writer.

 

I've never been particulary versed in the First Civ stuff, as I don't really care about it either, but I think Adam and Eve were supposed to be something like 50/50 human/Precursor hybrids. It is also possible that Eve's not a "Sage" in literal sense, since the only Sage we've seen so far is Aita, who was created by Juno, while she is rumored to be some sort of backup plan by Minerva. She may have transformed her later, with different, more advanced tech (as we know, Juno's was faulty). And again, improved transformation may allow for more Precursor abilities to manifest in later reincarnations.

 

Or, maybe the Chameleon skill is just Helix using shortcuts to say "Hey guys, she's really good at stealth". Arno's disguise skill was no less unrealistic and that was handwaved this way too.

Adam and Eve were the first hybrids, as a result of them being hybrids, they were immune to PoE effects. I honestly doubt that any of the two (Jacob or evie) are sages. The concept of a sage was that they're aita reincarnated (in part due to the attempt to transfer His conscience)

[Sunrise Driver]

http://wccftech.com/assassins-creed-syndicate-dev-we-focused-on-fun-past-games-took-themselves-too-seriously/

 

Up next for ACS: dubstep muskets, bisexual sociopath characters and horses that blow up on impact with other horses:

 

Dunno how AC games can be any less serious.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Street Mix

[HaythamKenway]

Confirmed side-mission and activities:

 

http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/en-US/games/assassins-creed-syndicate/gangs-weapons.aspx

 

1. Bounty hunting

2. Templar assassinations

3. Strongholds

4. Liberations

5. Gang wars

6. Fight clubs

7. Train robberies

8. Street races

9. Cart escorts

 

I wonder what the difference will be between bounty hunting and assassinations. I guess bounties could be more action-oriented, like GTA's vigilante missions? Liberations could be something like AC IV's Plantations, based around sneaky infiltration and such, which could be great with Unity's stealth and interiors.

 

And Train robberies, oh god, yes.

[Sunrise Driver]

Is subway gonna be featured in the game? Or trains = subway?

[Jvaz615]

Confirmed side-mission and activities:

 

http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/en-US/games/assassins-creed-syndicate/gangs-weapons.aspx

 

1. Bounty hunting

2. Templar assassinations

3. Strongholds

4. Liberations

5. Gang wars

6. Fight clubs

7. Train robberies

8. Street races

9. Cart escorts

 

I wonder what the difference will be between bounty hunting and assassinations. I guess bounties could be more action-oriented, like GTA's vigilante missions? Liberations could be something like AC IV's Plantations, based around sneaky infiltration and such, which could be great with Unity's stealth and interiors.

 

And Train robberies, oh god, yes.

Bounties will probably be like RDR. Bring someone in dead or alive but you get more for keeping them alive. Gang wars and train robberies? Yes please

[C4R3ON]

So PC version is delayed again,for one month.Lol

Cant wait to see how well optimization is.I am just hoping it will be like Black Flag.

Edited August 30, 2015 by C4R3ON

[Niobium]

another year, another call of duty assasin's creed.

[Creed Bratton]

So PC version is delayed again,for one month.Lol

Cant wait to see how well optimization is.I am just hoping it will be like Black Flag.

Good. I don't mind delays if it means we get treated with some respect. Unity was a f*ckin' disaster. If you can't develop for three systems simultaneously it's perfectly fine to delay the release of at least one version if that's what it takes for the game to work as advertised. I'm still bewildered though at how incompetent these people are. They've been doing this sh*t for years. Same engine with some minor improvements. The games are basically the same with some different assets thrown in. How can they keep f*cking it up? They should have the code optimized to perfection by now.

[Sunrise Driver]

another year, another call of duty assasin's creed.

If it's good then why not?

[Niobium]

 

another year, another call of duty assasin's creed.

If it's good then why not?

 

 

the quality of the games become lower if there is less time to work on them, no?

[HaythamKenway]

the quality of the games become lower if there is less time to work on them, no?

Syndicate has been in development for two years at this point. Ubi Montreal, who developed ACs up to this point (Syndicate is the first main release to be made by someone else) is a huge studio, there's multiple teams working on multiple games at the same time. Only games developed in one year were Brotherhood, Revelations and Rogue. My informed guess is that III had three years and IV at least two. Unity launched in its terrible state, because it was rushed out of the door to meet deadlines, without proper testing and QA, not because "it was made in a year". Pre-production on it started in 2010, just after Brotherhood came out.

 

Where I can see the annual releases damaging the series, is in two ways. One, Ubi can't effectively adapt to public opinion. Games are being made and their releases are set in stone. But let's look back at AC IV. The decision to make it a pirate game and focus on naval gameplay was made long before anyone even knew of AC III's naval missions. What if III came out and naval bombed? Ubi would then still have to release a game built around an unpopular feature. Syndicate is going through something like this right now too, as it builds heavily on Unity (far more than IV build on III) after Unity received negative reception.

 

The second way annualization hurts the series, is oversaturation. People are getting tired of AC year after year. That's something you can't change, no matter how much you innovate the gameplay our shake up the core.

 

To defend Ubisoft, I have to say that I think they managed to keep the series fresh quite well. Look what games we've had since 2012. III, IV, Unity, all very different experiences. Many series with longer release windows change far less (Arkham City -> Knight, Just Cause 2 -> 3). Syndicate is sticking closer to Unity, but at this point, we can't really judge its quality. In my opinion, Unity had the best core gameplay in the series, and even if Syndicate does nothing but build on and improve it and adds an interesting story, it still has a decent chance to be the best game in the series, overall. I don't think you have to reinvent the wheel every time and it would be a shame if Ubisoft abandoned Unity's concept so soon, when it has so much potential. Do I want to see Unity 3.0 in 2017, though? No, probably not. That's why Revelations fell so flat with the community at large (even though it's my favorite of the Ezio trilogy and it got much more appreciation in recent years). You can use the same formula twice (Brotherhood is, along with Rogue, the series' biggest rehash, but many people call it the series' best), but the third, it'll be stale, no matter what you do with it.

[Creed Bratton]

Just because Ubisoft says these games take two or three years to make doesn't mean they're telling the truth. I don't believe for a second that it takes them more than a year at this point.

 

Syndicate does look slightly better than Unity. If only because there aren't so many pedestrians around ruining the entire f*ckin' game. Jesus Christ what the f*ck were they thinking with that? You couldn't walk around in Unity. Pedestrians were actually hurting gameplay to such an extent that it was almost unplayable. It doesn't help that they behaved like f*ckin' zombies, they glitched out all the time and walked on things they're not supposed to walk on. They ruined the immersion and atmosphere more than those rifts and other animus related crap. Pedestrians ruined Unity more than all the other bugs and they tried to sell the amount of pedestrians as a f*ckin' feature. Ubisoft sucks at game design. They don't even do game desing. They just throw in a bunch of stuff without thinking about the balance of the game. The logical explanation is that they don't have enough time to innovate and make things better.

Edited September 3, 2015 by The Yokel

[Dbzk1999]

Just because Ubisoft says these games take two or three years to make doesn't mean they're telling the truth. I don't believe for a second that it takes them more than a year at this point.

Why would they lie?

Seriously, the only games that could be developed in one year were brotherhood, revelations, and rogue

[Creed Bratton]

 

Just because Ubisoft says these games take two or three years to make doesn't mean they're telling the truth. I don't believe for a second that it takes them more than a year at this point.

Why would they lie?

Seriously, the only games that could be developed in one year were brotherhood, revelations, and rogue

To make it sound like their games aren't just annual rehash with barely any development time put into them. To make themselves seem better than they are. They know that people hate games that are released on an annual basis. But they're not gonna stop. The only thing they can do is say that even though they release games annually it takes them longer than a year to develop them.

[Dbzk1999]

 

 

Just because Ubisoft says these games take two or three years to make doesn't mean they're telling the truth. I don't believe for a second that it takes them more than a year at this point.

Why would they lie?

Seriously, the only games that could be developed in one year were brotherhood, revelations, and rogue

To make it sound like their games aren't just annual rehash with barely any development time put into them. To make themselves seem better than they are. They know that people hate games that are released on an annual basis. But they're not gonna stop. The only thing they can do is say that even though they release games annually it takes them longer than a year to develop them.I'll be quite frank with you

Besides the previous 3 games I mentioned, it's literally impossible to develop the other main games in less than a year. Seriously, I don't see how anyone can say that they develop the games in a year (besides brotherhood, which was basically cut content from ac2, revelations, which was more to hype up ac3, and rogue, which isn't truly a main game)

Edited September 3, 2015 by Dbzk1999

[Creed Bratton]

Why would it be impossible? They have studios all over the world working on various aspects of the game. If only one studio was working on the entirety of the project then it would probably be very, very tough.

[Dbzk1999]

Why would it be impossible? They have studios all over the world working on various aspects of the game. If only one studio was working on the entirety of the project then it would probably be very, very tough.

Because you have to take into account things like the pre production period, the fact that the games can't just be worked on by tons of people from the get-go (or else half the people wouldn't be able to work on anything)

In terms of game development, you can't really ramp up on the project until the last year

That's just how game development works in that regard

[Th3MaN1]

 

Why would it be impossible? They have studios all over the world working on various aspects of the game. If only one studio was working on the entirety of the project then it would probably be very, very tough.

Because you have to take into account things like the pre production period, the fact that the games can't just be worked on by tons of people from the get-go (or else half the people wouldn't be able to work on anything)

In terms of game development, you can't really ramp up on the project until the last year

That's just how game development works in that regard

 

There's a sh*tload of things to do when making a game. I have never worked on a video game, but you don't need to to know that a game like Assassin's Creed needs a lot of manpower. Sure, they may recycle stuff here and there, but I'm pretty sure that there's not one guy that doesn't have something to do.

[Creed Bratton]

 

Why would it be impossible? They have studios all over the world working on various aspects of the game. If only one studio was working on the entirety of the project then it would probably be very, very tough.

Because you have to take into account things like the pre production period, the fact that the games can't just be worked on by tons of people from the get-go (or else half the people wouldn't be able to work on anything)

In terms of game development, you can't really ramp up on the project until the last year

That's just how game development works in that regard

How would you know how game development works? And I don't care about pre-production. I care about actual development. I've played games that took three years to make. I played games that took two years to make and I played games that took one year to make. So why do most Assassin's Creed games feel like they've been made in a year despite all the money and manpower that Ubisoft has?

 

Did you see the three month old footage of Syndicate for example? It looked like a pre-alpha build. Why would a game that was longer than a year in development still look like that mere months before release? They're using the same engine as Unity. Essentially the same code. Ubisoft is lying through their f*ckin' teeth. It's either that or they're completely incompetent. I don't really care which.

Edited September 3, 2015 by The Yokel

[Dbzk1999]

 

 

Why would it be impossible? They have studios all over the world working on various aspects of the game. If only one studio was working on the entirety of the project then it would probably be very, very tough.

Because you have to take into account things like the pre production period, the fact that the games can't just be worked on by tons of people from the get-go (or else half the people wouldn't be able to work on anything)

In terms of game development, you can't really ramp up on the project until the last year

That's just how game development works in that regard

How would you know how game development works? And I don't care about pre-production. I care about actual development. I've played games that took three years to make. I played games that took two years to make and I played games that took one year to make. So why do most Assassin's Creed games feel like they've been made in a year despite all the money and manpower that Ubisoft has?

 

Did you see the three month old footage of Syndicate for example? It looked like a pre-alpha build. Why would a game that was longer than a year in development still look like that mere months before release? Ubisoft is lying through their f*ckin' teeth.

Because I'm actually studying game development and how it works (as I intend to work in that field). It doesn't matter whether you care about pre production or not, it's equally important, and is part of the development cycle.

It feels that way because 2 main games (brotherhood and revelations, which were back to back) actually did take less than a year to make.

Compare ac1-ac2, ac2-ac3, ac3-ac4, and ac4-acu

These types of games are again, impossible to make in a year. If you believe otherwise than more power to you, but (and not trying to sound arrogant), that's 100% wrong

Yes, I did see the pre alpha footage, and that's what it was, pre alpha. You don't seriously believe that syndicate still looks like that do you?

Of all things ubisoft has lied about (especially where ac3 was concerned), development time isn't one of them, heck, they admit when it takes less than a year to make (they did it for both brotherhood and revelations)

And of course they're using the same engine as unity, why wouldn't they?

Edited September 3, 2015 by Dbzk1999

[Creed Bratton]

Because I'm actually studying game development and how it works

I knew you were gonna say either this or that you already work in the field.

[Dbzk1999]

 

Because I'm actually studying game development and how it works

I knew you were gonna say either this or that you already work in the field.I say it because it's true

One of my dreams has been to become a game developer (and I'm dead serious on that). I've found out some interesting things about it also.