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Assassin's Creed 3 Game Informer Details

Conversely, jumping into a thread and whining about your worst fears, without knowing the context behind the game, isn't giving the greatest first impression to work with either. It just strikes me as ridiculous this is even an issue.

I dunno, I never thought disagreements on video games were serious enough that one had to bring character judgments into it.

But that's life I guess.

edit: also let's take this to PMs at this point because it's getting too not-AC3 for my taste.
 
N

NinjaFridge

Unconfirmed Member
He was a freemason (=Templar) historically and the S16 files say he had an Apple of Eden. They also made some noises IIRC that America was to be the Templars' grand experiment.

It'd be a torturous retcon to not make him one. He could be a double agent or leave them or whatevs but at some point he should be one.

Images show him hanging out with Connor and they seem to be pretty relaxed. He appears to have strong ties to the Assassins Order. Having an Apple doesn't mean he was a templar either. If i had to guess he is somewhere between the Templars and the Assassins.
 

Zeliard

Member
I hope they don't at all.

As charlequin noted, that notion is definitely something easy to be pessimistic about, but it's possible that Ubi could be successful to some extent. It's not too difficult to see what kind of gameplay and narrative can form around the treatment of Native Americans at the time, especially when the guy you're playing as was raised by the Mohawk and had his village burned down by colonists. Seems like there's ample material there. I think depicting African slavery at the time will be much trickier, if they choose to go that route.
 

Muppet345

Member
It'll definitely be interesting to see to what extent they depict the harsher, potentially controversial elements of that setting.
Well, you should hope not. For example, I doubt they'll accurately depict how every single social, political, and economic aspect of pre-Civil War American culture was based on slavery and the slave/master relationship. That'd be accurate, but depressing. The protagonist would go to a slave auction, the most highly advertised and hyped events in colonial towns, and watch a small town throw rocks at a slave coffle being marched through because their lives are boring and it's the only social event they attend besides church. You'd see a dude beat his wife just like he beats his slaves, then go off and rape his slave mistress ... yeah, concessions have to be made for tone in a historical setting.

The most you can hope for, I think, is that they at least don't base their story arcs around outdated/offensive/lazy concepts. It'll be pretty dumb if you go around scalping people, for example.
 
And there's no way the French aren't involved in this somehow too. I smell a heaping platter of betrayal :p

The article explicitly mentions interacting with the French as one of the things that happens in the game.

There's a shot of the main character looking down from a hill at a small band of British soldiers as they march through a forest. There was a similar scene in the Patriot where Mel Gibson slaughtered a bunch of redcoats to rescue his son.

Oh man, I see it now, but that's a huuuuuuuuuge stretch. Both of these scenes feature a dude ambushing British soldiers from the cover of the woods because that was something people did in the actual conflict.

(Plus, I mean, the snow in the AC3 shot should make it clear that it isn't intentionally framed as a reference to the movie or anything.)
 
I personally believe Washington should be portrayed as a Templar. If not, he should atleast be guided by one, or in counsel with many of them. Its like people never paid any attention to this series plot. The team at Ubi surmise, that current history and this current America we live in today unfolded due to Templar domination, goals and leadership. That has always been part of the series.

Only the Assassins knowing the truth while the rest of the populace is blind.
 
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure why people seem so resistant to the natural world, rather than the artifical man made. To me the idea of stalking soldiers in the trees, using the forests, and snow, tracking, and hunting, all sound awesome to me.

I'm alittle biased in that i'm excited to see how a forgein dev will view the the aspects of my Ancestors from the time, but I think it's quite a nice change of pace from all the big city stuff from the previous games.

Besides, when everyone complained about the boring aspects of the first AC Ubi listened and reacted. They fixed all of those issues in the second game, I don't think they would do this if they did not have some ideas to keep it fresh and interesting. I think they added effects of weather, changing seasons, and all of the purposed dynamic effects could really add alot to the Creed world.

I can explain perfectly my point of view why i hate the natural world aspect...
Because its boring as shit. Let me explain, its not that I hate because its mountains and trees and its a natural world, its becuase its as generic as the random muslim/templar buildings in AC1 for example. I dont find any attacthment of getting to the top of a generic building/tree/mountain. Thats why I find the settings in AC2 and Brotherhood so insanely good. Revalation have less famous buildings and in my opinion the city suffered.
If I have to go climbing in top of generic trees, I know Im going to find it less fun.
But thats my opinion.
 

Tookay

Member
It'll definitely be interesting to see to what extent they depict the harsher, potentially controversial elements of that setting.

This medium and this audience isn't mature enough for it. Besides, I'm not even sure it'd even be appropriate to explore it in the context of a conspiratorial assassin epic.

Only the Assassins knowing the truth while the rest of the populace is blind.

Except, when you really think about it, why don't the Assassins just tell everybody about it? It's not like they have anything to lose.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
The imagery that's available to reference in the public consciousness about this period is patriotic imagery, for a very specific reason: this was a conflict of very uneven investment between the colonies and England, and part of the American response was an aggressive propaganda/team-building effort, to create a new "American" identity that could bring people together on their side and help motivate them against the larger British forces. Once the war was over, the mythology of the conflict got puffed up more to help support the process of actually hashing out the nature of the new, independent state.

What I mean is: setting a game in any historical place and time involves heavy use of familiar signifiers to help clue people in to what they're looking at. In the Crusades you need the figures of King Richard and Saladin and the signs of the cross and the crescent; in Renaissance Italy you need scheming patrician families and the Sistine Chapel; if they did a game in the French Revolution they'd need to include the Bastille and the guillotine and what have you. The signifiers that exist for the American Revolution are all things that America has invested with patriotic meaning continuously since the war was actually fought; there's no way to actually visually present something as happening in this period, intertwining with this event, that won't use lots of "patriotic" images and themes. The thing to do is to actually present content that takes those themes and examines them with nuance and perspective, which (modulo the pretty low standards I hold for videogames and historical accuracy in the first place) I think there's a decent chance AC3 will do.

If you want a straight-up indication that the game won't be suffused with constant FUKKYEAs, Connor's background is that his village was destroyed by colonists (not British soldiers), so right at the start of the game the first thing they're establishing is people on the American side doing something monstrous and awful.
This is an excellent post, thanks. I'll post my thoughts on it later because I'm studying right now.
 

Zeliard

Member
Well, you should hope not. For example, I doubt they'll accurately depict how every single social, political, and economic aspect of pre-Civil War American culture was based on slavery and the slave/master relationship. That'd be accurate, but depressing. The protagonist would go to a slave auction, the most highly advertised and hyped events in colonial towns, and watch a small town throw rocks at a slave coffle being marched through because their lives are boring and it's the only social event they attend besides church. You'd see a dude beat his wife just like he beats his slaves, then go off and rape his slave mistress ... yeah, concessions have to be made for tone in a historical setting.

The most you can hope for, I think, is that they at least don't base their story arcs around outdated/offensive/lazy concepts. It'll be pretty dumb if you go around scalping people, for example.

I agree that certain elements would be very difficult if not almost-impossible to convey truthfully without at least upsetting a lot of people. Slavery is certainly one of those that things that will be difficult to portray in a game given that the nature of games is generally one of enjoyment.

However it would be quite odd if they somehow just ignored it altogether. The setting is what it is, and they should attempt to acknowledge that to some degree. It is probably asking a lot but they can do it in a relatively subtle fashion. Some African-Americans at the time fought for the Americans. Others fought for the British. All had their reasons, and I think it would be very interesting for a game to delve into some of that stuff.

My concern is that for the game to ignore slavery as a whole, they'd also have to basically ignore the role that African-Americans played in the Revolutionary War, which would just be incongruous and wrong. The Revolution itself also had a significant consequences on slavery, with the South becoming more entrenched and the North on the path to abolition - foreshadowing the Civil War. It would be strange for Ubi to just ignore all of this, despite the difficulties in showing it.

African slavery would no doubt be particularly tricky to depict. Native American treatment, I think, would be a bit less tricky if only due to the backstory of the protagonist and the almost certainty that both the Americans and British will be on the receiving end of his tomahawk.
 
I expect to see badass counters like these

TheLastoftheMohicans19925.gif


DO IT UBI
 

WinFonda

Member
We have to be realistic though as far as allegiances can be concerned. Many of the important founders of the US were some of the smartest people in the world at the time (Ben Franklin obviously being a genius), and were incredibly scholarly, radical thinkers. They were not big into the religious institutions or very pious men at all. In AC games, most of the founding fathers are the type of people that would be portrayed as Assassins: freethinking men going against the establishment.

But I think we're all caught up in the Assassin/Templar dichotomy when many of them will probably be portrayed rather plainly with different causes and motives without the need for lumping them into mythological camps. I mean technically Da Vinci wasn't an Assassin either since he never underwent the oath. I saw him as more of a guy helping a friend. And you're not really a templar unless you... have sex with aliens or something.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
Perhaps, while not being a Templar nor an Assassin, Washington comes to believe that the Apple can be used for good and the two have a falling out/disagreement at the end of the game?

A bit like X-Men: Origins, but with fewer flying submarines.
 
I think depicting African slavery at the time will be much trickier, if they choose to go that route.

I think there are a variety of ways they can tackle the Native American element with some measure of respect and decency, but there is almost no conceivable way they can bring up slavery in this game and not have it be absolutely dreadful.

For example, I doubt they'll accurately depict how every single social, political, and economic aspect of pre-Civil War American culture was based on slavery and the slave/master relationship.

That is, like, true on an extremely reductionistic level, but as a theory-of-everything it's pretty problematic.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
This is what I meant in the other thread when I said that the protagonist needs less clothing. One look so much badass with the chest only partially covered .

The white pointed hood is the symbol of this franchise. You absolutely cannot take that away. It would be like a Halo game without power armor or a Mario game where Mario wears a blue hat instead of red.
 
N

NinjaFridge

Unconfirmed Member
Anybody else think the Assassins logo is pretty awesome?
 

OMT

Member
I could see something happening where the Assassins "win" the conflict by driving out the British, but the Templars leverage the slavery question at the end of the game into what they need to establish control over the entire country.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
We have to be realistic though as far as allegiances can be concerned. Many of the important founders of the US were some of the smartest people in the world at the time (Ben Franklin obviously being a genius), and were incredibly scholarly, radical thinkers. They were not big into the religious institutions or very pious men at all. In AC games, most of the founding fathers are the type of people that would be portrayed as Assassins: freethinking men going against the establishment.

But I think we're all caught up in the Assassin/Templar dichotomy when many of them will probably be portrayed rather plainly with different causes and motives without the need for lumping them into mythological camps. I mean technically Da Vinci wasn't an Assassin either since he never underwent the oath. I saw him as more of a guy helping a friend. And you're not really a templar unless you... have sex with aliens or something.

Have they really made the suggestion in the previous games that the Templars are any less intelligent or radical than the Assassins? It's always been a clash of ideology, not of brains vs. brawn or good vs. evil or some other dichotomy.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
whenever i see new england it's almost eerie how much it looks like regular old england

that could be a field 5 miles away from me
 

DaBuddaDa

Member
whenever i see new england it's almost eerie how much it looks like regular old england

that could be a field 5 miles away from me

Well...theory is we used to be one big happy England millions of years ago before the continents split so it makes sense. Much colder/snowier in New, though.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
Well...theory is we used to be one big happy England millions of years ago before the continents split so it makes sense. Much colder/snowier in New, though.

that's because england is god's chosen country and rays from heaven* pleasantly warm us all year round







*the gulf stream
 

UrbanRats

Member
Was there like a natural day/night cycle, though? For some reason I remember it only changing when you'd instigate a mission. Would be better if it continuously changed independent of what you're doing.

On the other hand, i don't remember any real time atmospheric effects, so those should be new.
 

Dany

Banned
On the other hand, i don't remember any real time atmospheric effects, so those should be new.

In brotherhood, there was only once instant where it rained and it was a story event. I think it was one of those templar caves I think, it was really really cool
 
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