XboxOne: Assassin’s Creed Unity Dead Kings

Disappointment is an understatement to put it mildly.  The only DLC to be released for this installment in the AC series and it is buggy.  It is inconceivable that after the fiasco that was the release of AC Unity, Ubisoft failed to go over the code for the DLC with a fine tooth comb multiple times.

I finished the main game early this morning and was looking forward to completing the DLC today.  Then I ran into not one, but two game breaking bugs.  Luckily I found a work around for the first game breaking bug.  The second game breaking bug is just so damn frustrating that I’m not interested in trying to work around the bug. 

Allegedly, there is yet another patch in development for Unity.  No details on what the patch will contain or when it will be released.  As usual, Ubisoft is dead silent on the bugs in Dead Kings and their social media feed is focused on multiplayer for Unity AC Rogue on last gen consoles.

I might, time and life permitting, go back and finish Dead Kings but it isn’t very likely.  I have lost faith with Ubisoft, it’s ability to find and correct bugs, upfront and honest communication with customers, and their willingness, or rather lack thereof, to adapt and change based on consumer feedback.

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Xbox: Assassin’s Creed Unity

Veteran’s Day saw the release of Assassin’s Creed Unity here in the States.  The long awaited next-gen and PC game installment in the franchise.  Does the game fall down or does it hit the ball out of the park?

Honest answer?  Neither unfortunately.  It does some things extraordinarily well and then it turns around and fails just as spectacularly at others.   FYI, we play on the XboxOne.

Let’s get the abysmal failures out of the way first. 

1. Frame Rate: the game can flat out freeze for seconds at a time or it can quickly become slide show theatre for a few seconds.  These don’t last very long or occur very frequently but the fact they occur at all is a problem.
2. Sound Cuts Out: this is annoying beyond words.  Walking along and boom Paris goes silent, or mid sentence all sound cuts off.  Again happens for seconds and then everything returns to normal but once again, not something that should occur period.
3. Story:  Massive, unforgivable story holes that if you’ve never played the franchise before would leave you confused and unclear what Arno was doing or why.  Also, since when did the Brotherhood Oath change?  There are just massive issues with the way the Brotherhood was written.  And since when did an Assassin become so well known that he is casually greeted walking down the street by strangers, commoners and noble alike?  The Templar vs. Assassin tension is flat out missing.
4. External Integration: AC Initiates is a complete mess as of this writing.  It fails to show whole games not being played and has lost levels compared to when AC IV was the new game.  AC Initiates also does not have new content ready to go for Unity despite the game being released which is just poor implementation.  Uplay is spotty in it’s connectivity and usefulness.  It too is missing games previously played.  The Companion App is wonderful, that is if it hasn’t lost your Nomad Brotherhood entirely.  The App works perfectly for me and is useless for hubby because his Nomads have proven their French heritage and gone on strike.
5. Micro Transactions: Really?  Just Really?  Pay to Win transactions for a game that doesn’t have true multiplayer and would be even worse if true multiplayer existed.
6. Co-Op: Failure to include split screen co-op or co-op similar to Diablo III is unforgivable.
7. Rebecca and Shawn:  They’ve been there for every game since AC II and now they are suddenly missing?  No seriously, where are they and why are these strange people talking to me about Abstergo?  Am I an Assassin or am I just some tourist in an amusement park ride?

Here are the things that AC Unity has gotten incredibly right.

1. Story: There is a story once again, almost worthy of the glorious story telling of the three AC II installments.  Yes, there are glaring holes and gaps in the story but by god there is a story.  I can run around Paris and meet people and help them out once again.  I helped Mme. Tussaud yesterday.  I actually like Arno, compared to my disdain for Edward Kenway. 
2. Companion App: Kudos to Ubisoft for offering the companion app on more than just a couple of devices and kudos for the app itself.  The rendering of Paris and real time updates are incredible.  The ability to read the database outside of the game at my leisure is something I truly appreciate.
3. Paris: The city is huge.  There are less viewpoints in this game but you can see much, much further on each and every viewpoint.  The streets are crowded, the crowds react to you and the environment, and the tension between the factions is evident.
4. Co-Op: It isn’t reliant on you having a friends list populated by friends also playing the game.  It utilizes the matchmaking system to let solo’rs play the co-op missions.  I haven’t tried it yet, but I undoubtedly will at some point.
5. Paris Throughout History: Helix rifts are a new type of game play that allow the player brief glimpses of alternate history of Paris throughout the ages.  Some of these are stunningly gorgeous.
6. No SAILING: no seriously, no sailing is a huge thing for me.  AC IV was unplayable for me because of all the damn sailing required.  AC Rogue might have a great story but it has sailing, so if we get it I’ll watch the story unfold as hubby plays.
7. Micro Transactions:  Kudos for Ubisoft for recognizing that fools and their money are soon parted.  We won’t be buying any of the micro transaction currency but hey if Ubisoft can make money from stupid people, go for it.

For me, the game is completely enjoyable.  I loose track of time.  None of the failures of the game have detracted from my enjoyment.  Sound and frame rate issues are hiccups but haven’t caused me to cuss or hurl my controller in frustration.

Overall, Ubisoft did well but not amazing.  They need to hire more QA staff and not release games until they are ready rather than sticking to the “every fall” time table.  Unity and the external companions could have benefitted greatly from another quarter or two of polishing.  Instead, Ubisoft rushed the game to market and risked customer goodwill.  They’ve earned some of my trust back with the story once again being present.  They need to vastly improve their customer communication about fixes and problems.  They are all over Twitter when it suits them but when there are problems they fall silent.  Silence in today’s market place will kill a game far quicker than bugs.

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Shift in Gaming focus

Last week I canceled the last monthly revolving subscriptions we had to MMOs.  It wasn’t because of expenses but rather out of a complete lack of desire to log in and deal with the MMO environment.  Tired of developers that flat out lie, constant skill resets, communities of various games, and the endless grind for faction or gear.  I would rather curl up on the sofa, turn on the console and play a single player game or co-op game with hubby. 

MMOs are a great value for the money you spend compared with a dinner and movie once a month but given all the other choices of entertainment, MMOs aren’t cutting it anymore.  I’m tired of paying money for content that I have no interest in (i.e.. “end game” raids) and then losing access to that content once I’ve canceled my subscription (i.e.. Lord of the Rings Online).  Give me a single player game where the content I purchase is available to me whenever the mood strikes me to log on and play.

I’ve been burned out before but this time just feels different.  Usually news from Blizzcon interests me or sucks me back in, but this year I could care less: zero interest, haven’t read a single blog or tweet about Blizzcon.  Finding out who the Prophet was in Elder Scrolls Online so early in the story killed it for me, why bother to log-in the remainder of the story was just killed for me.  Everquest 2, and SOE games in general, are routinely killed by the stupidity of their marketing and accounting departments.  Their pricing structures and lack of appreciation of their customers, oh hell their failure to recognize that their pricing is completely out of whack with their competition, is just aggravating and infuriating.

I won’t claim we will never again sub to a MMO but honestly, much like my warden above I believe we are riding into the dawn toward console (XboxOne) and single player PC games.  I’ll still share impressions from games but they won’t be MMOs.  Up first on the console are Halo: Master Chief Collection, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, and then finally DragonAge: Inquisition.  It is truly an excellent week plus of game anticipation.

If you follow on Twitter I will probably be much more active on my other account @stitchersflock or on @Path, send me a DM if you want to add me on Path.  Have fun gaming!

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Xbox: Assassin’s Creed: Unity & Ubisoft’s Woman Problem

Assassin’s Creed is one of my favorite gaming franchises, which isn’t a surprise to anyone really.  However regular readers of this blog will know that I have been critical of the last couple of installments of the franchise.  Black Flag was a thinly disguised sailing sim with pirates and III suffered from frustrated cape crusader complex.  With each iteration of the franchise the story telling and character development has gotten weaker, thereby weakening the franchise as a whole.  Ubisoft has gotten much better at marketing and selling fans stuff but the gameplay and story has suffered.

Unity is their chance to redeem the franchise but can they pull it off?  That us the question I keep asking myself and the E3 coverage and social media responses left me with more questions than answers.

Set in the French Revolution, Unity has all of the potential to tell an amazing story and return to its roots of Altair and Ezio.  Political intrigue, historical characters, and the fight for freedom set amid the violence and romance of Paris. 

But what is once again missing from a AAA Ubisoft release?  The ability to play as a woman.  I’m sorry but let’s be honest, there is absolutely no excuse that Ubisoft cannot seem to tell a story that has a main character that can be either sex.  There might have to be some dialogue changes based on one gender or the other but those are minor and not hard to do.  The franchise makes more than enough money to justify the expenditure for two voice actors and animating both sexes.  Hell, the franchise would make MORE money if the option to play as a woman existed.

The game is based on alternate history so the argument that “well a woman in that time period wouldn’t have done that” is utter crap.  The co-op play doesn’t even feature the ability to play as a woman.  Maybe Ubisoft doesn’t read the latest studies but forty-five percent (45%) of gamers are women and women purchase forty-six percent (46%) of games sold.  So, women aren’t some small minority of the market and I hate to break it but women in general vote with their wallets.  Women buy and play games were they aren’t included and were they are represented. 

I will give Unity a chance but should Ubisoft fail to deliver a story and gameplay worth of Altair and Ezio then it will be the last installment in the franchise for me.

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Catching Up on the Larger World of Assassin’s Creed

Despite the frustrating and non-Assassin based gameplay of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, the franchise remains one of my favorites.  This is in large part because of the incredibly complex and rich story telling Ubisoft released with the Ezio trilogy.  There is a confirmed new game release for the Xbox One and the PS4 entitled, Assassin’s Creed: Unity and I have high hopes that given it’s setting in the era of the French Revolution there will be no sailing missions.  (Dear God help me if there are because I cannot promise not to hurl my controller in frustration across the room!)

The French Revolution awaits us all

This morning I decided to catch up with the world of Assassin’s Creed outside the games and jumped right into the AC Initiates database.  Initiates is a site run by Ubisoft still in Alpha release, despite being available for months.  A couple of side notes/observations about Initiates it is incredibly frustrating that the site isn’t accessible on mobile devices (not even so-called mobile devices that do not have cellular access) and it defeats the purpose of having missions related to Assassin Creed games that are heavily played on consoles but in order to get credit for those missions the gamer needs to interrupt game play to leave the room and seek out a non-mobile device.

Gripes over, despite the grumbles about the site Initiates has a wonderful amount of detail relating to the main characters of the game.  I loved reading about young Haytham long before we meet him in Assassin’s Creed III or the invention backstory of Benjamin Hornigold.  But most interesting is the dossier on Gavin Banks current Master of the Assassin Brotherhood.  The details and relation of the game to real life events we are privy to every day.  A great example is the Tunguska blast in Siberia and the Apple of Eden.  Old favorites from the Ezio trilogy are alive and well on the Initiates site and are still active.  It is incredibly satisfy to get a glimpse of Rebecca and Shawn outside the games and enjoy the intrigue and humor in brief snippets.

The Brotherhood is rebuilding in the present day world.  Abstergo may be far more in the public eye but the present day Brotherhood is rebuilding cells world wide.  It was fascinating to read who leads the Japanese cell and the activities that were going on in Russia.  It is nice to read about women in the Initiates database and surveillance reports because women are still missing from the actual games.  There is also a mini-game called Lost Memories which allows users to find memories around the world.

Adding to the already rich world of published material related to the world of Assassin’s Creed, there is a new book scheduled to release November 4, 2014 entitled Assassin’s Creed Unity: Abstergo Industries Employee Handbook by Christie Golden who also wrote Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag: Blackbeard: The Lost Journal.  I’m far more interested in the Handbook than the Blackbeard’s book.

  Access the Animus is an Italian fan site which summarizes the various extraneous materials published for the franchise.  If you don’t have time to read the various novels and comics, and trust the review of someone else, then Access the Animus is a great place to catch-up and learn about the other Assassin’s roaming the planet in various times and places.

So, if you are in need of an Assassin’s Creed fix before the release of Unity then it is worth checking out both Initiates and Access.  Little snippets of a glimpse of what is happening between the Assassin’s and Templars is certainly one way of filing the void between the release of major titles.

 

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