Minor details about Assassin's Creed 2 emerge

360 News | Care for a dip?

In an interview with AusGamers, Animation Director for Ubisoft Montreal, Australian David Wilkinson, let slip an interesting detail about the next instalment of the Assassin's Creed franchise.

When asked about Alex Drouin, Animation Director on Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, he greatly complimented his work, before giving away that, "He's busy making Altair even more beautiful. Last thing I saw him do was getting Altair to swim." It's not much to go on, but from this we can gather that the next Assassin's Creed is being worked on, that it will indeed feature Altair in some way (a more beautiful Altair at that), and that he will in fact be able to swim, unlike the original game where he drowned upon contact with water. Could Altair be prettying himself up in preparation for some aquatic assassinations?

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40 Comments

Benza

3 years ago

See I didn't really worry that much about the combat because playing through I think only one assasination I used any significant amount of combat (The hospital one) Most of the others I found ways to get up behind em and assassinate em then run away.

Qbert

3 years ago

I think that the industrial revolution would be a fantastic setting for an Assassin's Creed game, as it hasn't really been explored. I hope that you can at least explore (and free run through) a modern day city. I mean it's obvious that it will happen eventually, I just hope that it's not saved until the third game. Like Benza I was so excited about getting to the point in AC1 where you could free run as Desmond as it seemed the logical path the game was taking. Then it had that cliff-hanger ending.

Snixtor

3 years ago

x7h3CUREx wrote

AC was the most repetitive game i've played in a long while. Go to bureau. Assasinate. Bureau. Assasinate. I couldn't wait for the game to end.
Hopefully they mix it up a bit for number 2.

At the risk of stirring the pot a bit, I'm going to agree with you here. I did find the whole thing very repetitive, and the reward system a bit lacking. Climbing towers for vantage points was fun the first few times, but it soon wore thin, as did the little intelligence gathering missions. So I could try to find every last flag and climb every last tower, but it didn't really offer any reward other than the satisfaction of performing the act.

Only a couple assassinations in and I found it didn't really make much difference whether I did every bit of research and took all the time in the world to quietly knock off my target, or just run straight in, slaughter everyone and wander back out at my own pace through a pile of bodies.

Choice is a nice thing to have in a game I suppose, but in this case it made the whole thing feel a bit directionless. Combat boiled down to a bit of a "simon says", where you just have to hold guard most of the time and press counter-attack at the right moment. And the stealth system was just silly. Guards don't bother looking in rooftop gardens? What are they sacred? You can slay all the villagers within earshot of a guard, but provided you've got your head dipped when he looks at you he doesn't care? Just... odd.

That said, I'm still interested to see what AC2 could do. But I would really like to see a complete setting change. Ninja, modern day big city, maybe even hunting vampires in 19th century London?

The Genius

3 years ago

My number one item in my Assassin's Creed 2 wish list is for Ubisoft to give players the option to finish a mission without being forced in a chase after killing the main targets.

Thats what let down AC for me mainly. That there was noway to killing the targets and leave the area stealthily.

Isn't that not the main point of being an assassin? To be as stealthy as possible. Like in the Hitman games or Splinter Cell games were you can finish a mission without killing anyone besides the objective.

I didn't really mind the weak combat system. It was analogous to The Sands of Time. But The Sands of Time made up for the weak combat system through the awesome and fun platforming and puzzles.

I really hope Ubi, give players the chance to finish a mission without killing anyone bar the objectives just like in every other stealth game. AFter all, Ubi have made the awesome Splinter Cell series. Why not make AC a Splinter Cell game just set in a different era?

Benza

3 years ago

You don't have to kill anyone in the chase, you just run and hide.
My most dissapointing thing in it (Besides the repetitive info gathering) Was that with a bit of simple timing Altier is basicly untouchable in combat, there was a info mission were I had to follow one of the guys and beat info out of him, but I couldn't get him alone, so it was easier to just kill every single guard in the area and all the guards that came running to defend em (Probbably about 20 or so guards all up) Then just beat him up there. The ending only made it worse were you're pretty much taking on an army with no stealth at all.

MikeCrick

3 years ago

I've got to agree with x7h3CUREx and Snixtor here.

I loved this game, but only really for the storyline. The game is too much of the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again (and that's not exaggerating!)

It's not that I took the most obvious route or didn't think about it. I sometimes think I thought about it too much and found the amount of ways to execute an assasination very limiting.

It's been said before but I'd like AC 2 to be more like the Hitman series with it's multiple options for completing your tasks.

AC was saved by it's awesome storyline and pure atmosphere but I think for AC 2 we should have a little bit more awesome gameplay.

Sin Ogaris

3 years ago

I like to think that AC was just laying the groundwork and now they're going to work on refining the concept to allow for all these things that the first game lacked. As for story I actually thought that AC's story worked beautifully. As Altairr was finished with, he had his rank restored and he saved the Assassin's, it's only Desmond and it was clear from the get go that his particular struggle would continue on through further games. It would have been hard to wrap up Desmond's story as well as Altair, there was so much going on during the Abstergo sections, they would need another full level, with completely different texturework and all that jazz, even a different stealth mechanic because I couldn't picture many rooftops inside a building for it to work. ANd if it was a good few hours long it'd feel rushed and contrived. Spreading Desmond around, sharing the love, as you will is the best way to approach the overarching storyline. And it becomes your reward for each segment, to learn more about the real World struggle after each major event.

As for the actual gameplay, I'm playing through it a second time now and I'm mixing up the combat a lot more now, rather than solely using the counter (which is useless at the end of the game anyway) I'm rocking the combos, keeping everyone at bay with a quick lunge for approaching guards, etc. It's far more satisfying to take out a legion of guards when I'm actually varying my style.

As for the repetition, it is annoying as piss and I want more variety for the sequel (I actually wonder if the PC version is better given it's more varied options, haven't played it though). I have no issues with Assassinations though, I can always get them in stealth (well, except Robert, for obvious reasons) and then get away easily enough. That said I do stealth kill a lot of the guards first.

Benza

3 years ago

actully thinking about desmonds story, I'm thinking it could work pretty cool having the levels of altier shenanigans, then cuts to desmond being longer with more stealth as he kind of slowly learns all the assassination techniques would be cool.

Kind of lost on how they're gunna continue Altiers story, it seemed pretty wrapped up.

ObsoletE

3 years ago

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

i don't know that Altair's story is done. he discovered the treachery of... the leader dude... but somehow we're supposed to believe now that the Assassin's became a "good side" again in the years between Altair "winning", and Abstergo's experiments.

i think Game 2 will be a combination of Desmond escaping the company building while his connection to Altair grows stronger, and Altair trying to repair the damage to the assassins. there might even be some Tomas/Ashen-Shugar (read Magician) -type cross-over in personalities, where Altair and Desmond "learn" from eachother, despite being 1500 years apart, rather than having to rely on the Animus.

i think the second game will end with Desmond getting out of the building (or perhaps the entire city) once and for all using the skills he's learnt from Altair, probably with a fade to white, and then game 3 will be leading some kind of assault against Abstergo in the "present" day, while Altair suffers some sort of loss to the Templars that results in the Assassins going underground properly, rather than being a relatively open faction.

Sin Ogaris

3 years ago

I like that hypothesis. Would be awesome if that were the case too.

occasionalgamer

3 years ago

i like the sound of that story line, it seems to fulfll a lot of whats missing in the current AC 1, but i want to know the significance of the 'blood' that was all over the lab in eagle vision, it suggests that someone had been there before writing msgs, another person part of the brother hood perhaps, this suggests that the company could be meddling in the same time period with someone else. or in other time periods to discover other 'brotherhood secrets'. as such the set in japan could be in collaboration with another character. though i think this will mingle with desmond's story and eventual escape from the the complex. creating a similar two fold story.
also did anyone else notice that in the blood msgs/drawing in the bedroom of the lab there were children's handprints mixed in with the other writing and symbols? further aiding the idea that the animas had been used on many people before, see i think that the professer's ancester was al maul almim or whatever his name was and so on, i also think there might be a lucy ancestor as well.

and another point what happens exactly when Abstergo gathers all the pieces of eden?

shinhawk

3 years ago

It will be nice to see Altair finally swim. I thought it was funny how he had all this intense Assassin training and the ability to scale ridiculously tall buildings with ease, but he couldn't even swim.

Peveus

3 years ago

occasionalgamer wrote

SPOILERS

Quote

It is mentioned several times that there was another test subject they were using, who supposedly let his past self take control of his mind or went insane and killed himself. It is not stated whether he drew the pictures or whether your own character did it and simply doesn't realise.

ObsoletE

3 years ago

shinhawk wrote

well to be fair, most of the game is set in desert environments. not as if they had any reason to don the floaties and learn to swim...

occasionalgamer

3 years ago

oh ok thanks.
epic
on the note of swimming i dont think altair should do a lot of swimming, definitely get rid of the insta-death thing, but i'd hate to see AC 2 become hugely complicated, with having only one lungful of air (as realistic as that is) it would destroy the non-linearality.
what made AC so cool was there was so many directions and ways you could accomplish something and come at something, by swimming or going through submerged sewers and things like that then there would have to be one direct way to go to make it sensical. if they add more than one then there are ways to get lost and then die and that just **** me, even if they do invent a way for say like a tiny scuba breathing thing to go back like that paul walker movie Timeline i think it would ruin it, so i hope they dont bring in to much swimming.

also as a gneral comment i hope they dont bring in such a huge arsenal of weapons as it would become so huge and fiddly like oblivion and lose that charm we all know and love, (admitedly oblivion was cool, but everything meant something else, u used you weapon it would get damaged and you'd have to repair it blah blah blah, i hope AC2 keeps it's simplicity in weapons.

Gon

3 years ago

In regard to the setting of AC2, although I don't overly want a South American/Asian setting, among the blood messages there are pictures of the nazca lines in South America which could point to such setting. Then again it could of just been something thrown in there for fun.

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Assassin's Creed

Pre-order or buy:
PALGN recommends: www.Play-Asia.com

Australian Release Date:
  21/11/2007 (Withdrawn)
Standard Retail Price:
  $109.95 AU
Publisher:
  UBI Soft
Genre:
  Stealth
Year Made:
  2007
Players:
  1

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