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[Assassin's Creed] Syndicate is out and is apparently pretty damn good

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    -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited January 2015
    Prohass wrote: »
    A problem not just with Unity but with all modern games though is that as games get more spectacular looking, the AI looks worse and worse. The AI in Watch Dogs and unity was just awful, and not that it was any worse than in most games, its just being so "in" and "immersed" in a game like this really highlights how stupid the enemy behaviour is. Ignoring bodies, running around corners to be killed over and over, etc. I feel like games need to focus back on AI behaviour and variety as a selling point.

    Yeah, in the assassination of the
    Beggar King

    While he was on his perch looking for me, yelling out taunts, I just parkoured my way across the ledges while in plain view of him, as he continued to taunt me as if I wasn't there. Then I casually climbed up the ledge of his perch, strolled behind him, and shanked him.

    The AI seems really shoddy. It's basically got some rudimentary line of sight and pathfinding abilities, and outside of that, it swarms on what it sees. While is how it's always been, but as said, this is a game from late 2014. We should be expecting better.

    -Loki- on
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    MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    edited January 2015
    You have no idea how much I want games to fuck off with the shinies and start focusing on throwing that processing power into the actual game engine again.
    I've been wanting that for at least a decade.
    It's pretty unlikely, because this game is created for the lowest denominator. It's the equivalent of a pop fiction best seller. They don't really care about making things like AI really good, because people have problems telling the difference between genuine AI and simple AI cheats that fool you into thinking it's smart AI.

    That was of them, you know, subtle underexaggerations. People can't tell. So why would they do it?

    I wish they did, I wish they did it for the love. But I don't hold any hope for this series doing anything really deep with AI.

    Morninglord on
    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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    ParzivalJonesParzivalJones Registered User regular
    Got this with my Xbox One in November, been putting it off but going to take a crack at it tonight. After the joy I felt with (most of) Black Flag I'm terrified of this one.

    ParzivalFTW.jpg
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    JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    Just finished Rogue. May the Father of Understanding guide us. I am so happy to have a significant Templar viewpoint, and Ubisoft has really missed a trick by not making the conflict much more gray up until this point.

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    Darth_MogsDarth_Mogs Registered User regular
    I'm not really sure that they made it 'Gray' so much as they just flipped black and white for once. Which is, granted, closer than they've come. But I might not have been paying attention.
    So, basically the whole thing unravels when Achilles sends Shay to Lisbon to track down the precursor site which, whoops, destroys the city. He goes back, says "Hey Achilles, your brilliant idea blew up the city!" and Achilles goes "Well, maybe you messed up" like a dick and just sort of refuses to look into it at all because....he has some sort of different idea on what the sites are supposed to be? Even after Haiti exploded? I never really understood that. This is, of course, after making Shay murder the 'super dangerous' Templars that are sick old men and going "LA LA LA, YOU'RE AN ASSASSIN THEY'RE BAD SHUT THE FUCK UP" when he rationally questions it.

    Then over the next years, the Assassins go cartoonishly evil by making super poison, grenade launchers (to launch said super poison, of which you end up with the prototype for anyway), threatening New York City and just sort of...keep going on to find the next Precursor Site to see what it's about. Which they should've done in the first place with Shay, since he knew what was going on with it, apparently more than they did.

    Everything more or less revolves around Achilles being a gigantic dick and Monro not being one, which is less a reflection on the Assassins and the Templars, and more....just Achilles being a gigantic dick.

    Does any of this make more sense if you played 3? Because that's the only one I skipped and it...seems important all of a sudden.

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    manwiththemachinegunmanwiththemachinegun METAL GEAR?! Registered User regular
    Ubisoft is really bad at moral ambiguity in general, try not to think about it too much.

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    CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    To be fair,
    bomb making, poison, and destroying cities is shit the Assassins have done in previous games.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
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    JonBobJonBob Registered User regular
    I wasn't clear, I think. I'm not saying that this game made the conflict gray, but rather that I wish it had been gray all along, which would have made this game much more interesting. This was 98% pro-Templar (except for maybe the present-day part?), yes.

    The very few scenes in the series where the merits of the two sides are actually compared are among the best storytelling they've done, but for some reason they keep falling back to moustache-twirling caricatures instead of any degree of nuance.

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    ParzivalJonesParzivalJones Registered User regular
    Ugh, even after all the patches AI is pretty bad, just running away from the authorities in Seq 1 caused 2 random crowd members to get locked in an animation loop (2 different areas with 2 different crowds) . What a mess, maybe I'll try again after another patch?

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    Senna1Senna1 Registered User regular
    Got this with my Xbox One in November, been putting it off but going to take a crack at it tonight. After the joy I felt with (most of) Black Flag I'm terrified of this one.
    I started Unity because of the XBO AC bundle, and got as far as completing the first "real" assassination mission & the events that immediately follow it.

    My impressions:
    -Oh, it's very shiny. The viewpoint animations? Yeah... those are Ubi saying, "Welcome to next-gen, bitches"
    -Combat is dangerous again. I can't remember the last AC game where two random mooks might actually kill me, and getting surrounded is a real effing problem, rather than the preffered mode of combat (weapon upgrades matter much more than the past few installments). And snipers? Fuck those guys. Like, a lot.
    -Centuries-old European cities are fun, and it's good to play an AC game set in one again
    -Why the actual fuck are basic actions locked behind skill-point unlock gates?? And have nothing to do with character progression or training activities? I mean really; environmental blending is now an unlock??!

    I went back and started a new save file in AC4 right after playing the first few hours of Unity, and I've decided I'm going to play through BF again before returning to Unity. Because pirate ships. I only played it up to sequence 11 or so originally on 360 (despite playing for probably 50+ hours), so I also need to clear out the story mode.

    Unity feels like much more of an Assassin's Creed game though than BF ever did; a return to roots as it were, if not a series reboot.

    But then again, I'm of the opinion that AC3 is one of the most highly underrated AC games (+1 for introverted PCs), so my perception of what makes a 'good' AC game does not likely fit the norm.

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    FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    edited January 2015
    So Freedom Cry is now mostly just starting and then leaving me ob a black screen. Hurrah.
    Edit: Supposedly it uses the wrong GPU by default? Is that actually true?

    Fencingsax on
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    ParzivalJonesParzivalJones Registered User regular
    Senna1 wrote: »
    Got this with my Xbox One in November, been putting it off but going to take a crack at it tonight. After the joy I felt with (most of) Black Flag I'm terrified of this one.
    I started Unity because of the XBO AC bundle, and got as far as completing the first "real" assassination mission & the events that immediately follow it.

    My impressions:
    -Oh, it's very shiny. The viewpoint animations? Yeah... those are Ubi saying, "Welcome to next-gen, bitches"
    -Combat is dangerous again. I can't remember the last AC game where two random mooks might actually kill me, and getting surrounded is a real effing problem, rather than the preffered mode of combat (weapon upgrades matter much more than the past few installments). And snipers? Fuck those guys. Like, a lot.
    -Centuries-old European cities are fun, and it's good to play an AC game set in one again
    -Why the actual fuck are basic actions locked behind skill-point unlock gates?? And have nothing to do with character progression or training activities? I mean really; environmental blending is now an unlock??!

    I went back and started a new save file in AC4 right after playing the first few hours of Unity, and I've decided I'm going to play through BF again before returning to Unity. Because pirate ships. I only played it up to sequence 11 or so originally on 360 (despite playing for probably 50+ hours), so I also need to clear out the story mode.

    Unity feels like much more of an Assassin's Creed game though than BF ever did; a return to roots as it were, if not a series reboot.

    But then again, I'm of the opinion that AC3 is one of the most highly underrated AC games (+1 for introverted PCs), so my perception of what makes a 'good' AC game does not likely fit the norm.

    After playing sequence 1 I agree with your assessment, and I also agree I'm going to play BF (+1000 for pirate ships) again then come back to this, by then it might be patched to completion.

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    RenzoRenzo Registered User regular
    There has been 0 indication that Unity will be patched again.

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    ParzivalJonesParzivalJones Registered User regular
    Renzo wrote: »
    There has been 0 indication that Unity will be patched again.

    Really, that is sad? Seems like it really needs one more to polish up the rough edges, achievements not popping, etc... Between WatchDogs over promising and under delivering and this, Ubisoft just went on my 'no fly' list. Until they announce another Splinter Cell, then I'll cave.

    ParzivalFTW.jpg
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    ArteenArteen Adept ValeRegistered User regular
    I don't know, Unity was fine when I played it a few weeks ago. No more buggy than some of the other games I've played lately.

    Achievements not popping is almost certainly an Xbone issue. They've been flaky for the last month or so.

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    SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' Canuck Registered User regular
    I have the infamous Sequence 7 part 3 glitch, so I'll be awfully pissed off if it's never patched.

    Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
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    FreiFrei A French Prometheus Unbound DeadwoodRegistered User regular
    so my wife came back from the library yesterday with a graphic novel titled Assassin's Creed: The Ankh of Isis trilogy. I am not normally big into graphic novels (other than Watchmen which I read ages ago) but this is actually really cool. Nice art and interesting so far.

    9781781163436_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG

    Are you the magic man?
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    NocrenNocren Lt Futz, Back in Action North CarolinaRegistered User regular
    Is that the one with the Russian assassin that had the bleeding effect?
    Possible story spoilers
    and was turned by Abstergo and pretty much destroyed the modern day assassins, leaving Daddy Miles in charge?
    Cause if it is, nice to see it in a collected volume. If not, cool more stories!

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    Senna1Senna1 Registered User regular
    klemming wrote: »
    Frei wrote: »
    Frei wrote: »
    My favorite semi-hidden thing in AC:B is the fact that you can fight in melee with the crossbow. Your first counter with it will shoot the bolt, and then every counter-kill from there on out will just be Ezio bludgeoning people to death with the crossbow itself.

    wat

    Yeah, you can just whip it out in melee. You can only counter with it, you can't attack directly. So fun.

    This is something about Brotherhood that I did not know.
    I am humbled.

    This thread (and its ancestors) is very humbling in general. Being new here, I've skimmed them over the past week or so, and I've learned something about every single AC I've played that I had no idea existed before. From combat techniques, to entire branches of side missions (looking at you, AC3, on the latter).

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    Blackbird SR-71CBlackbird SR-71C Registered User regular
    I 100%ed Rogue in-game, then got all the Playstation trophies for it. 60 hours into the game and I still boot it up almost daily trying to get to #1 in the leaderboards.

    You know what I feel this game is missing though? In Brotherhood and Revelations your subordinates were made up of unique characters that you could even customize to a degree. Compare that to the generic ships in Rogue and Black Flag and it's just no the same (especially since multiple ships in your fleet will end up having the same name). It'd have been cool if your ships crew was made up of unique sailors who would gain experience and who you could level up. You could then promote them to "captain" when capturing new ships, where now you always see the same cutscene with a generic crewmember taking the helm.

    Alternatively or in addition, just having the ability to costumize and upgrade ships of your fleet (and this wouldn't have taken much work since it's all sprite- and text-based) would've been cool. Go even further and add in the ability to put up ships of your fleet against ships of other players and you'd even have a simple multiplayer component.

    It feels a bit disappointing that even when using an engine they've been familiarizing themselves with over the development of 2 prior games and mechanics that are taken almost 1:1 from a previous game Ubisoft didn't expand much on already used mechanics.

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    InxInx Registered User regular
    Darth_Mogs wrote: »
    I'm not really sure that they made it 'Gray' so much as they just flipped black and white for once. Which is, granted, closer than they've come. But I might not have been paying attention.
    So, basically the whole thing unravels when Achilles sends Shay to Lisbon to track down the precursor site which, whoops, destroys the city. He goes back, says "Hey Achilles, your brilliant idea blew up the city!" and Achilles goes "Well, maybe you messed up" like a dick and just sort of refuses to look into it at all because....he has some sort of different idea on what the sites are supposed to be? Even after Haiti exploded? I never really understood that. This is, of course, after making Shay murder the 'super dangerous' Templars that are sick old men and going "LA LA LA, YOU'RE AN ASSASSIN THEY'RE BAD SHUT THE FUCK UP" when he rationally questions it.

    Then over the next years, the Assassins go cartoonishly evil by making super poison, grenade launchers (to launch said super poison, of which you end up with the prototype for anyway), threatening New York City and just sort of...keep going on to find the next Precursor Site to see what it's about. Which they should've done in the first place with Shay, since he knew what was going on with it, apparently more than they did.

    Everything more or less revolves around Achilles being a gigantic dick and Monro not being one, which is less a reflection on the Assassins and the Templars, and more....just Achilles being a gigantic dick.

    Does any of this make more sense if you played 3? Because that's the only one I skipped and it...seems important all of a sudden.

    No.
    In 3, Achilles is just an old man. He talks about how like, mistakes were made and the American Assassins are gone an all, but he doesn't really explain any of it.

    The thing that makes Achilles' bullshit remotely make any sense is remembering that he recently lost his wife and young son to illness. If you put his actions in the frame of a man who is off the deep end with grief, it makes him less of a dick and more of just an unfit leader.

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    The BraysterThe Brayster UKRegistered User regular
    Hey guys,

    So uh, that DLC.

    Is there a way to back out of it?

    I was trying to fast travel to a Café. Obviously a DLC gate was right next to it and I fast-travelled there instead. And by 'there' I mean INTO THE DLC. And now I can't get out as far as I can tell.

    Do I now HAVE to finish the DLC to get back to the main game, or am I missing something obvious? I didn't really want to do it yet.

    Steam: TheBrayster
    PSN: TheBrayster_92
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    FreiFrei A French Prometheus Unbound DeadwoodRegistered User regular
    release date announced for Rogue on PC, March 10. Article about it and some other interesting things:

    http://www.gamespot.com/articles/assassin-s-creed-rogue-pc-specs-release-date-and-e/1100-6425129/

    Chief among them that digital purchases of Rogue can choose another AC game for free. Normal stuff, game uses uplay, etc.

    Are you the magic man?
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    MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    Importantly, Unity isn't one of them.
    I mean, sure, it's obvious, but I immediately checked just in case.

    The eye tracking thing sounds intriguing.

    Except I'm prettttty sure I hyperfocus in these games like a crazy man eyeballs glued to the screen so they'll all treat me like a psycho. :P

    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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    FreiFrei A French Prometheus Unbound DeadwoodRegistered User regular
    The eye tracking is actually very cool but kind of a steep entry price for something few games use. I'd love to see the creeped out faces of some NPCs as you stare them in the eye, unblinking.

    Are you the magic man?
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    Blackbird SR-71CBlackbird SR-71C Registered User regular
    Full price isn't really warranted for this - and I say this as someone who bought the Collector's edition on day 1. "Deluxe edition" really doesn't mean jack I'm afraid, as all that includes is 9 reskins for your ship/Shay's outfits and one single area that you can go through in 5 minutes.

    I'm really disappointed that there isn't more to this port. I was expecting more after over 3 months of delay...

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    FreiFrei A French Prometheus Unbound DeadwoodRegistered User regular
    I mean what, exactly, were you expecting except upgraded graphics and consolidated content? What precedent has been set that made you think there would be something more? Did you think they would create new, exclusive content for the PC release? I doubt they just want to throw money away.

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    MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    edited February 2015
    Yeah this is a bog standard PC release.
    It's not even a bad release, you get the lot.

    Sure it's a bad deal for someone wanting to buy the game a second time on PC, but that isn't the market they are aiming for. They selling it to people who don't own a console first. Or people who didn't want to buy it on console.

    Morninglord on
    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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    Blackbird SR-71CBlackbird SR-71C Registered User regular
    Frei wrote: »
    I mean what, exactly, were you expecting except upgraded graphics and consolidated content? What precedent has been set that made you think there would be something more? Did you think they would create new, exclusive content for the PC release? I doubt they just want to throw money away.

    Then why the delay? This isn't a new engine, it's the same engine they used for Black Flag. Not to mention that they're charging 60 bucks for this! "All DLC included", like I said, isn't very convincing. And unlike Black Flag or Unity this entry in the series contains neither competitive nor cooperative multiplayer either.

    Though throwing in another free AC game might make up for the steep price I suppose. A shame Unity isn't in there - you can get a download code for around 26 bucks right now.

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    MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    edited February 2015
    Because PC is extremely difficult to develop for and porting over the debugging done for consoles isn't gonna cut it? Especially when you are adding new features?

    Three months is nothing. Some games don't come out for a whole year, with less added stuff than this game.

    I find your outrage baffling.

    Morninglord on
    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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    FreiFrei A French Prometheus Unbound DeadwoodRegistered User regular
    Yes, what Morninglord said, basically. You're just kind of being outraged for the sake of it, but there's nothing of substance to what you're saying. It's a PC game that is a few months off from the console release. It's a normal featured, normal priced game. Pretty much every AC game other than Unity has had a slightly delayed PC release. The fact that it comes with a free game with the purchase of a copy is something in its favor and something the previous games didn't have.

    Are you the magic man?
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    MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    edited February 2015
    They're far from the only company to do this either.
    The PC market is a fringe one. The big money is in the consoles, and they release these things on PC because they're willing to let a team work on it for a few months after they've released the big money maker on consoles. It's not too hard an investment since the game is already mostly made, and they spend most of those months adding a handful of fancy PC things, then doing all the bug checking PC requires.
    It's a safe investment.

    Remember that Rogue wasn't their main line game. It was their side game, for ps3 and xbox 360. It obviously had a smaller team, and it's very doubtful the team doing the PC work was much bigger.

    Don't get me wrong, in a perfect world I wouldn't want these things to be happening either. It's just that, you know, this isn't new.

    Morninglord on
    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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    Blackbird SR-71CBlackbird SR-71C Registered User regular
    Because PC is extremely difficult to develop for and porting over the debugging done for consoles isn't gonna cut it? Especially when you are adding new features?

    Three months is nothing. Some games don't come out for a whole year, with less added stuff than this game.

    I find your outrage baffling.

    But I'm not outraged! All I said was "60 bucks is too much for this" - especially is considering: well optimized PC ports being offered at 40 bucks oftentimes (Dark Souls 2) vs Ubisoft ports that are incredibly unoptimized being sold at 60 bucks - free game or not.

    If it turns out this game runs a fair bit better than Black Flag I'll retract that criticism - even then though, you'll get "Black Flag 2" with a shorter story, mostly recycled gameplay and a missing multiplayer component.

    I'm not trying to make a big deal out of this, all I'm saying is I'm not shelling out 60 bucks for this and I can certainly see why other people react similarely.

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    CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    On the other hand, Rogue does refine a lot of Black Flag's gameplay, has one of the more interesting AC stories, and has a lot of side content.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
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    MorninglordMorninglord I'm tired of being Batman, so today I'll be Owl.Registered User regular
    Because PC is extremely difficult to develop for and porting over the debugging done for consoles isn't gonna cut it? Especially when you are adding new features?

    Three months is nothing. Some games don't come out for a whole year, with less added stuff than this game.

    I find your outrage baffling.

    But I'm not outraged! All I said was "60 bucks is too much for this" - especially is considering: well optimized PC ports being offered at 40 bucks oftentimes (Dark Souls 2) vs Ubisoft ports that are incredibly unoptimized being sold at 60 bucks - free game or not.

    If it turns out this game runs a fair bit better than Black Flag I'll retract that criticism - even then though, you'll get "Black Flag 2" with a shorter story, mostly recycled gameplay and a missing multiplayer component.

    I'm not trying to make a big deal out of this, all I'm saying is I'm not shelling out 60 bucks for this and I can certainly see why other people react similarely.

    Fair enough. You came off pretty angry about it. It was out of character. :)

    (PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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    CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    I am curious about how the negative reaction to Unity will affect Victory. I'm hoping that they'll add stuff back like a dedicated hidden blade, more then one gun, and
    women characters who don't die by the end of the game.

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    ArteenArteen Adept ValeRegistered User regular
    They'll need to do something about the modern day story to get me to care again.

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    SyphonBlueSyphonBlue The studying beaver That beaver sure loves studying!Registered User regular
    Arteen wrote: »
    They'll need to do something about the modern day story to get me to care again.

    Yeah like excise it.

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    klemmingklemming Registered User regular
    SyphonBlue wrote: »
    Arteen wrote: »
    They'll need to do something about the modern day story to get me to care again.

    Yeah like excise it.

    This is the clearest example of how screwed they are over the modern day stuff.
    Roughly half of the players want it gone, and roughly half want it expanded on.
    They're trying to please both crowds, which just isn't possible.

    Nobody remembers the singer. The song remains.
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    Dark Raven XDark Raven X Laugh hard, run fast, be kindRegistered User regular
    So just dual release it again. One historic game, one modern. Let em fight it out. ;D

    Oh brilliant
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