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Assassin's Creed II - Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.
Posts
I guess you're right about not killing dudes...still, ledge takedowns galore.
EDIT: I could have sworn that was a smiley here
did hideo kojima sneak into ubisoft one night and program this shit in
La shay' wakion motlak bal kollon momkin.
(I can't fucking believe I remembered that)
Also, the last few glyphs are insane. The Bunker and the other one I can't remember are stupid hard. Tried counting away from the symbols but that doesn't appear to work.
Everybody do the spear counter kill for crying out loud! I can't be the only one who's seen it. They fucking slide down with a squelching sound. I keep posting this but nobody replies
I haven't seen them yet, but nothing will EVER live up to the finishing moves from Mark of Kri.
Steam Name: Dr.Oblivious
If you can't live for the now, at least live for the future.
I don't know man, that ones pretty sick. And I've seen all the Kri kills. God I loved that game. Honestly, someone should record the spear kill and stick the video on the OP because it's that damn good.
They all rock. So much.
I also love how the sleeves get wet with blood when you use the hidden blades. Little touches make all the difference.
And then there are these significantly more fancily dressed ones who I will see running randomly through the streets with an arrow over their head, but no map marker to speak of. I killed one once and it got me something but I didn't catch what.
I'm just really engrossed in this whole experience and want to take every opportunity I can to do anything, so yeah.
Yeah those don't need spoilering. The pickpockets do rarely pickpocket you, but i think its only when you don't realise they're there. The other ones are couriers that send messages to enemies. Killing them causes your notoriety to rise significantly. You could just grab them and they'll pay you but wheres the fun in that?
my other complaint was that you could just pop into one of the countless benches, bizarrely placed cubicle things, haystack, etc and evade pursuit very very easily. and that was a shame because the best and most fun part of the game, by far, was running from the guards. i was always sad that it only lasted thirty seconds. are the chases more intense in this game?
and finally, the assassination missions themselves were often set up in a fairly promising fashion, but they mostly ended up being anticlimactic - instead of sneaking in unseen, or stealthily killing your way there, it was really easy to just run in, jump on the guy and stab him, then run back out and hide in a gazebo. there were a few great exceptions, like the dude in the castle and the dude on the boat, but are the actual assassinations more elaborate, difficult, complex, etc?
The repetitive missions you're referring to are still in there but they're varied so much that you'll not notice that you're doing them again, they';re also mixed together so one side mission will involve numerous different methods like tailing and eavesdropping a target then taking them out by using their own guards.
Losing a guard isn't difficult but that's the nature of the game, if you want a chase then avoid the hiding spots. There are still plenty of locations where hiding spots are hard to come by.
As for the assassinations. The plot-driven stuff is obviously heavily scripted so sometimes you'll be allowed to to stealth your way and take 'em out silently. But thankfully they've added side mission assassinations that allow you to freestyle the assassination. Kill the target any way you see fit. Though there are soemtimes rules to killing the targets in those too.
They seem to be more intense to me. while you can still hide in those haystacks/gazebo things, at least from what Ive seen the guards seem more agressive while chasing and they will sure more thoroughly this time around. For example stabbing my haystack and searching inside gazebos.
The assasination missions are definetly more complex this time around-the side assasination missions are actually usually more challenging and unique than the first one. The first couple of story ones are pretty simple but as time goes on (so far, I havent finished it yet) they seem to get more complex and they are more challenging.
Can't wait to play more this weekend!
I'm almost disappointed that I didn't play AC1 now because I'd heard bad things; did AC1 have the journal entries on historical personages and places like AC2 does? I *love* that feature.
I just reached a point where they pull you out of the animus for a break, and it was unintentionally hilarious. They're like, "You can't stay in there too long, there might be side effects." Of course, since I switched languages they're all talking in Italian. They fried Desmond's brain, he can only speak in Italian now.
There's no point. They say everything you need to know in the intro to 2, and the only good thing about 1 was the fighting, which is better in 2 anyway.
There's an optional conversation with the girl running the machine, that actually touches on this
Girl: "Sorry some Italian is still sneaking in, we're still working out the bugs."
Desmond: "That's alright, I don't mind."
Desmond: "The subtitles are a big improvement though."
I'm really wondering if this conversation goes any differently in a different language, or if you don't have subtitles enabled. It seemed like there was a pause there for the subtitles comment, which leads me to believe it wouldn't have been there if I hadn't had them on.
So anyway, this game is great. Regarding length, I think I'm about 15 hours in, with 50% completion. YMMV, I like to screw around a lot.
I couldn't play AC1 for over an hour without wanting to pull my eyes out from boredom.
I played AC2 for 7 hours straight last night and didn't even notice the time go by.
This game is much more bad ass and far less whiney emo bird guy than the first.
I wasted so much time in the first game just fighting people with the hidden blade alone. Yeah, if you're 15 hours in and only at 50%, this looks like it should be worth the $60 price. Thanks.
It's really hard not to screw around, even more so with this game than the first I think.
I keep marking an objective and it takes me forever to get there because on the way messengers are running around, and archers are yelling at me to get off the roofs. Sure, I could just ignore them, but these are MY rooftops, damn it.
Also, sometimes I just like to hire some prostitutes to follow me around like I'm a pimp, while I walk around town just throwing money on the ground like it ain't no thing.
e: Oh, and I wanted to point something out for those playing, because I didn't even try it until last night: Make sure you check in with the training dude by your villa. There are skills you can unlock, and other things you (I) might not even know about (like throwing dirt).
I haven't even gotten any weapons yet and I love it. Fist fights between Italian youth in the street!
Whoever first said to switch the language to italian -- I love you.
But we're not there yet with regards to game design. Likely never will be.
The first time i threw dirt it was by accident. For a minute I thought he was going to go all Ryu on the guys ass, but threw dirt instead. I chuckled.
The way it works while evading guards is much more cool now. Basically if you get far enough away from them there will be a giant yellow circle on your map. This means no guard can currently see you. They search within this yellow circle. If you stay unseen in the circle for a while they will give up. If you go outside the circle and don't run into a guard or hide for a short while , They will give up. If you try to sit on a bench or find some hey to jump into in the yellow circle, if they manage to come across it while searching, they will search it and discover you.
Also on the few assassinations I have done so far i was able to sneak in, stealth kill the guy, and then get the fuck out of dodge.
Uh-oh I accidentally deleted my signature. Uh-oh!!
Truth spoiler
and in the binary Budda one, I got:
"Sumerian. Me 23."
I don't know, the game revolves around going into a virtual reality machine. Desmond doesn't speak Italian, so the machine translates. Within the confines of the game's plot, it works well, and they even threw in a bit of Italian here and there attributed to a "bug in the programming."
I levy the same complaint against a lot of games set in a specific time period, but I don't really think it applies to this one, since you're not technically in that time period, anyway.
That's another thing, I saw a lot of reviews mentioning some aspects that "remind you you're in a game." The thing is, in the game, you ARE in a game. It all flows pretty naturally within the game's plot, so those same complaints that could be used against a similar game, like GTA or what have you, seem pretty weird to me.
e: I might switch to Italian just to see what the fuss is about, but the subtitles are nearly unreadable on my TV, anyway. There really hasn't been any Italian in the game that you can't figure out through context, or with a basic understanding of any latin-based language.
But I still would have liked for it to be forced in Italian. I think it would have contributed to the strive of authenticity they've got going on.
Well the option to have it all in Italian is there.
Also you have to consider it from a realistic standpoint. A lot of people would become disgruntled over it if it was forced. $$$
Uh-oh I accidentally deleted my signature. Uh-oh!!
Yeah, there are people that just flat out hate subtitles. I have a lot of friends like this, and I hate hearing "do I have to read?" when I suggest a foreign film to watch, or what have you.
Or people like me who haven't bought a fancy new HDTV, and can't read them from more than 4 feet away.
Uh-oh I accidentally deleted my signature. Uh-oh!!
"I don't know what just happened, but I killed a lot of dudes."
So it would be like AC1, pretty much.
It would be pretty great if everyone spoke Italian except for Ezio (Desmond). People just rambling on in Italian while you're saying "now slow down a bit" and flipping through an Italian-to-English book. "You want me to fuck a moose?"
Then you're like 5 minutes into fucking this moose when they pull you out of the animus to work on some translation bugs. Obviously there weren't any moose in Italy either (another bug), and everyone just looks at you strangely for the rest of the game.