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Assassin's Creed 3 Game Informer Details

suikoden352

Neo Member
Can you summarize this please? I don't want to get lost in tv tropes.

to understand the monomyth, also known as the "hero's journey", in a simple manner, it's the progression of a hero from being just a simple normal person who over time becomes a central figure to which the whole story revolves around. take luke skywalker as an example.
simple farm boy who is relatable in ways with the target audience. he doesn't know his way in life except what is in front of him. is told that he is meant for bigger things and through much trouble and turmoil, looks to find out the truth. develops as a character and sees that he serves a greater purpose in the universe than he realized and sets out to hone his skills in order to prepare for what's to come and understand more of his destiny. over time, he hones his skills, trains his mind, and through many trials and tribulations that occur he embraces the notion of being the hero or "rally figure" to which everyone around him can look to for strength, pride, and the will to go on. that's basically the monomyth in a nutshell though i'm sure the wiki field and plenty of other people can articulate it way better than me. it's used alot in tv/movie writing.
 
Can you summarize this please? I don't want to get lost in tv tropes.

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

It's the standard journey for any hero, really, from folklore and mythology to today. They all take similar journeys on their way from being an ordinary person to being something... more.

There are 17 stages on Wikipedia for what Campbell drew up. Campbell's original writing is much better than the stuff I've straight copied from Wikipedia. Not all the stages are used in all myths, but it works well enough for Desmond:

Stage 1: Departure

The Call to Adventure

The hero starts off in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.

- Desmond is trapped in his mundane life as an Assassin, it's all he knows.

Refusal of the Call

Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

- Desmond rejects his destiny as an Assassin and bolts

Supernatural Aid

Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest.

- Here is where the Animus comes into play, as well as Altair/Ezio/Connor as his supernatural mentors, as well as Subject 16.

The Crossing of the First Threshold

This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

- Animus 1.0, his experiences in it.

Belly of The Whale

The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.

Where Desmond is at the end of the first game, he is willing to become a true Assassin and voluntarily enters the Animus 2.0

Stage 2: Initiation

The Road of Trials


The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.

- This is stuff like the onset of the Bleeding Effect, Vidic crashing their party, the death of Lucy, and Desmond's coma.

The Meeting With the Goddess

This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.

This doesn't happen really in AC. The Meeting with the Goddess is a lot more hostile than that. Very Oedipal in a way.

Woman as Temptress

In this step, the hero faces those temptations that may lead him or her to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.

- Possibly represented by Lucy? Doesn't matter at the end since Desmond was forced to kill her.

Atonement with the Father

In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power.


One literal way, where Desmond seems to reconcile with his dad who may have been the creator of the Animus and thus, controls his ability to enter the lives of others. Also perhaps the meeting with Jupiter, and Desmond's interaction with Ezio.

Apotheosis

When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.

I dunno if this is considered to happen (The end of ACR where Animus Island disintegrates and Desmond returns to the real world?) or if it works out in AC

The Ultimate Boon

The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.

Pretty close to this point. AC3 is about this for Desmond.

Stage 3: Return

Refusal of the Return

Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.

No. Perhaps this was true for
Daniel Cross

The Magic Flight

Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.

Maybe in AC3.

Rescue from Without

Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.

Not sure if Subject 16 counts as this, but he brought him back. Perhaps Shaun/Rebecca/William?

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world.

Again, perhaps AC3 will concentrate on this. It's averted in Ezio and Altair's cases as they lock the POEs away.

Master of Two Worlds

This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Gautama Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

Desmond is sorta about this, has to balance reality and his ancestor's memories to avoid falling apart. He accomplishes it, I think.

Freedom to Live

Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

Let's hope Desmond makes it to this!


Jeez, that was surprisingly long. I DON'T REGRET IT!
 
I have never gotten so hyped over so little info in my life!

Kinda off topic but is the DRM issues sorted out with the Assassins Creed games off steam? I'd love to catch up on the series.
 

Avixph

Member
to understand the monomyth, also known as the "hero's journey", in a simple manner, it's the progression of a hero from being just a simple normal person who over time becomes a central figure to which the whole story revolves around. take luke skywalker as an example.
simple farm boy who is relatable in ways with the target audience. he doesn't know his way in life except what is in front of him. is told that he is meant for bigger things and through much trouble and turmoil, looks to find out the truth. develops as a character and sees that he serves a greater purpose in the universe than he realized and sets out to hone his skills in order to prepare for what's to come and understand more of his destiny. over time, he hones his skills, trains his mind, and through many trials and tribulations that occur he embraces the notion of being the hero or "rally figure" to which everyone around him can look to for strength, pride, and the will to go on. that's basically the monomyth in a nutshell though i'm sure the wiki field and plenty of other people can articulate it way better than me. it's used alot in tv/movie writing.

It's the standard journey for any hero, really, from folklore and mythology to today. They all take similar journeys on their way from being an ordinary person to being something... more.

There are 17 stages on Wikipedia for what Campbell drew up. Campbell's original writing is much better than the stuff I've straight copied from Wikipedia. Not all the stages are used in all myths, but it works well enough for Desmond:

Stage 1: Departure

The Call to Adventure

The hero starts off in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.

- Desmond is trapped in his mundane life as an Assassin, it's all he knows.

Refusal of the Call

Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

- Desmond rejects his destiny as an Assassin and bolts

Supernatural Aid

Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest.

- Here is where the Animus comes into play, as well as Altair/Ezio/Connor as his supernatural mentors, as well as Subject 16.

The Crossing of the First Threshold

This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

- Animus 1.0, his experiences in it.

Belly of The Whale

The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.

Where Desmond is at the end of the first game, he is willing to become a true Assassin and voluntarily enters the Animus 2.0

Stage 2: Initiation

The Road of Trials


The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.

- This is stuff like the onset of the Bleeding Effect, Vidic crashing their party, the death of Lucy, and Desmond's coma.

The Meeting With the Goddess

This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.

This doesn't happen really in AC. The Meeting with the Goddess is a lot more hostile than that. Very Oedipal in a way.

Woman as Temptress

In this step, the hero faces those temptations that may lead him or her to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.

- Possibly represented by Lucy? Doesn't matter at the end since Desmond was forced to kill her.

Atonement with the Father

In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power.


One literal way, where Desmond seems to reconcile with his dad who may have been the creator of the Animus and thus, controls his ability to enter the lives of others. Also perhaps the meeting with Jupiter, and Desmond's interaction with Ezio.

Apotheosis

When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.

I dunno if this is considered to happen (The end of ACR where Animus Island disintegrates and Desmond returns to the real world?) or if it works out in AC

The Ultimate Boon

The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.

Pretty close to this point. AC3 is about this for Desmond.

Stage 3: Return

Refusal of the Return

Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.

No. Perhaps this was true for
Daniel Cross

The Magic Flight

Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.

Maybe in AC3.

Rescue from Without

Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.

Not sure if Subject 16 counts as this, but he brought him back. Perhaps Shaun/Rebecca/William?

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world.

Again, perhaps AC3 will concentrate on this. It's averted in Ezio and Altair's cases as they lock the POEs away.

Master of Two Worlds

This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Gautama Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

Desmond is sorta about this, has to balance reality and his ancestor's memories to avoid falling apart. He accomplishes it, I think.

Freedom to Live

Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

Let's hope Desmond makes it to this!


Jeez, that was surprisingly long. I DON'T REGRET IT!

Thanks a lot you two.
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
It's the standard journey for any hero, really, from folklore and mythology to today. They all take similar journeys on their way from being an ordinary person to being something... more.

There are 17 stages on Wikipedia for what Campbell drew up. Campbell's original writing is much better than the stuff I've straight copied from Wikipedia. Not all the stages are used in all myths, but it works well enough for Desmond:

Stage 1: Departure

The Call to Adventure

The hero starts off in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.

- Desmond is trapped in his mundane life as an Assassin, it's all he knows.

Refusal of the Call

Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

- Desmond rejects his destiny as an Assassin and bolts

Supernatural Aid

Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest.

- Here is where the Animus comes into play, as well as Altair/Ezio/Connor as his supernatural mentors, as well as Subject 16.

The Crossing of the First Threshold

This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

- Animus 1.0, his experiences in it.

Belly of The Whale

The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.

Where Desmond is at the end of the first game, he is willing to become a true Assassin and voluntarily enters the Animus 2.0

Stage 2: Initiation

The Road of Trials


The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.

- This is stuff like the onset of the Bleeding Effect, Vidic crashing their party, the death of Lucy, and Desmond's coma.

The Meeting With the Goddess

This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.

This doesn't happen really in AC. The Meeting with the Goddess is a lot more hostile than that. Very Oedipal in a way.

Woman as Temptress

In this step, the hero faces those temptations that may lead him or her to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.

- Possibly represented by Lucy? Doesn't matter at the end since Desmond was forced to kill her.

Atonement with the Father

In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power.


One literal way, where Desmond seems to reconcile with his dad who may have been the creator of the Animus and thus, controls his ability to enter the lives of others. Also perhaps the meeting with Jupiter, and Desmond's interaction with Ezio.

Apotheosis

When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.

I dunno if this is considered to happen (The end of ACR where Animus Island disintegrates and Desmond returns to the real world?) or if it works out in AC

The Ultimate Boon

The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.

Pretty close to this point. AC3 is about this for Desmond.

Stage 3: Return

Refusal of the Return

Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.

No. Perhaps this was true for
Daniel Cross

The Magic Flight

Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.

Maybe in AC3.

Rescue from Without

Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.

Not sure if Subject 16 counts as this, but he brought him back. Perhaps Shaun/Rebecca/William?

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world.

Again, perhaps AC3 will concentrate on this. It's averted in Ezio and Altair's cases as they lock the POEs away.

Master of Two Worlds

This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Gautama Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

Desmond is sorta about this, has to balance reality and his ancestor's memories to avoid falling apart. He accomplishes it, I think.

Freedom to Live

Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

Let's hope Desmond makes it to this!


Jeez, that was surprisingly long. I DON'T REGRET IT!

Hero with a thousand faces? Huh, never thought of AC that way. I learned this back in High School English. Applies to Star Wars, a lot of Greek mythology like Jason and the Argonauts. Interesting take on the AC series.
 
There aren't any "theories of everything." But it's generally true there's a large effort from those nostalgic about American history to ignore how fundamental slavery was to most early American institutions.

There is an immense gap between an accurate position like "the role of slavery was massively under-rated in consideration of early American history" and the kind of reach that has you explaining the age-old crime of domestic violence through the lens of the master/slave relationship. Making American history solely and exclusively about slavery is to reduce its complexity beyond the reasonable stopping point.

There are lots of really horribly awful aspects of American history, which I really don't want to try to get into which is worst (is genocide a greater crime than the willful enslavement and dehumanization of a race of people? I'm not sure I'd even know where to start) and none of them are going to be addressed "well" by a videogame, partially because they're well outside the scope of such a work and partially because history that focuses solely on the (unquestionably monstrous) crimes of the past without any consideration for their context (or admission that people in all times are flawed and allow monstrous deeds to be done in the world around them that history will judge them for) isn't really great history.
 
Sorry if this has been posted, but I didn't see anything mentioned about this..

Scored this baby tonight at Best Buy! Metal case, all you have to do is plunk down 5 bucks and tax.

Just like the RE4 case.. Doesn't mention anything important on the paper that was stuck on the back of the box. They are using the same case for the PS3 and the 360 versions of the game.

photobucket-3115-1330739982238.jpg


photobucket-3889-1330739953101.jpg

Welp, I know the first thing I'm doing tomorrow morning...
 
Wow you guys go hardcore.

This is the only franchise I do it for.

Otherwise, I just pre-order the collector's editions at Gamestop or whatever and don't really go looking for other stuff (eg - Mass Effect 3... I'm not buying all the extra stuff to get the content).

AC is just a game that hits a nerve for me. So I'm happy to a) give them my money and b) celebrate my love of the universe with a shelf full of collectors memorabilia.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Picked up Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood based on my excitement for this one. It's good to be back in that world, but after a few hours I realized no trophies were getting unlocked, which annoyed me. Not enough to really do anything about it, but yeah, that big fat 0 in my trophies list is going to bug me.
 

MollyMillions

Neo Member
I'm not sure if the whole "This game is referencing The Patriot, it will be jingoistic nonsense" line of thinking is still floating around, but in the actual GI article the creative director Alex Hutchinson actually says:

"He [Conor] is of neither culture. If we're going to talk about the American Revolution, we didn't want you playing Mel Gibson in The Patriot, and we didn't want you in a military uniform. The AC universe is one step back from all that."

So there you have it. Straight from one of the design leads. They don't want the experience to be anything like a goofy jingoistic action movie from the 90s, and they want the character to be both culturally and politically neutral. Can we lay this one part of the argument to rest now, please?
 

Mario007

Member
I'm not sure if the whole "This game is referencing The Patriot, it will be jingoistic nonsense" line of thinking is still floating around, but in the actual GI article the creative director Alex Hutchinson actually says:

"He [Conor] is of neither culture. If we're going to talk about the American Revolution, we didn't want you playing Mel Gibson in The Patriot, and we didn't want you in a military uniform. The AC universe is one step back from all that."

So there you have it. Straight from one of the design leads. They don't want the experience to be anything like a goofy jingoistic action movie from the 90s, and they want the character to be both culturally and politically neutral. Can we lay this one part of the argument to rest now, please?

I think people are more pissed off at the art using the american flag so freely as a marketing ploy. It seems like Ubi actually wants people to think that the game is like the Patriot
 

MollyMillions

Neo Member
I think people are more pissed off at the art using the american flag so freely as a marketing ploy. It seems like Ubi actually wants people to think that the game is like the Patriot

Except I just posted a direct quote that contradicts that line of thinking from one of the design leads of the game. He explicitly says they do not want the game to be like that crappy movie. I fail to see how having a Betsy Ross flag in the background of promotional pictures to indicate the historical time period is so overpoweringly offensive that it drowns out the actual words being said by the people making the game.
 

Mario007

Member
Except I just posted a direct quote that contradicts that line of thinking from one of the design leads of the game. He explicitly says they do not want the game to be like that crappy movie. I fail to see how having a Betsy Ross flag in the background of promotional pictures to indicate the historical time period is so overpoweringly offensive that it drowns out the actual words being said by the people making the game.

I'm not commenting on how the developers approach the game. I'm talking about the art and the marketing that comes from Ubisoft as a publisher.

The problem is that for none of the previous games we got anything more than the main character on the box, with no explicit indication of the setting. This time, though, suddenly you see an american flag behind our main hero, flying high. It just screams marking ploy
 

LM4sure

Banned
Chance that the pc version will be delayed until the first part of 2013? I'm guessing pretty good. Damn you, Ubisoft!
 

Irish

Member
Chance that the pc version will be delayed until the first part of 2013? I'm guessing pretty good. Damn you, Ubisoft!

Unlikely, I would say. Ubi has been getting better about getting it out closer to the release date. Rev came out only two weeks afterwards.
 

Zabka

Member
I'm not commenting on how the developers approach the game. I'm talking about the art and the marketing that comes from Ubisoft as a publisher.

The problem is that for none of the previous games we got anything more than the main character on the box, with no explicit indication of the setting. This time, though, suddenly you see an american flag behind our main hero, flying high. It just screams marking ploy

What else would game and magazine covers be besides marketing? It's very easy to establish the more recent setting of ACIII using clothing and flags than it would be for any of the previous games.
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
Game sounds absolutely amazing. I'm on board.

The assassin's outfit still looks silly in it's context though, but it seems they are not really aiming for historical accuracy as far as clothing is concerned. He's simply designed to look badass.
 

Mario007

Member
What else would game and magazine covers be besides marketing? It's very easy to establish the more recent setting of ACIII using clothing and flags than it would be for any of the previous games.

Why? For example let's just pick the first AC game. Why wasn't there a picture of Altair with the Crusaders' crest behind him?
 

Zabka

Member
Why? For example let's just pick the first AC game. Why wasn't there a picture of Altair with the Crusaders' crest behind him?

Because it is meaningless to most people. The "badass assassin in a crowd" was the big selling point.

Assassin's Creed 3's cover says "Like those last games but in the middle of a Revolutionary War battle!" and pushes the new focus on large-scale conflicts.
 

Mario007

Member
Because it is meaningless to most people. The "badass assassin in a crowd" was the big selling point.

Assassin's Creed 3's cover says "Like those last games but in the middle of a Revolutionary War battle!" and pushes the new focus on large-scale conflicts.

Sorry, you must have misunderstood me. I wasn't talking about the cover art. That's pretty good. I'm talking about the concept art and the Gameinformer cover that has the flag flying high. If i remember correctly Revelations cover was Ezio using the hookblade...so obviously there's a big change of focus over here.
 

Supa

Member
Wow after reading all those details it's clear to me Assassin's Creed 3 is going to be amazing! I'm so hyped for this, it's probably my most anticipated game of 2012 now!

I wonder if this is all the same info that Ubisoft will reveal on Monday? The official Assassin's Creed website has a countdown clock to their reveal...
 
Sorry, you must have misunderstood me. I wasn't talking about the cover art. That's pretty good. I'm talking about the concept art and the Gameinformer cover that has the flag flying high. If i remember correctly Revelations cover was Ezio using the hookblade...so obviously there's a big change of focus over here.
Ezio was already established. The flag isn't meant for propaganda. It was an important emblem and an obvious symbol for the period. AC2 used Da Vinci art and famous locations in promotional art. What's the big deal?
 

The Lamp

Member
Too many people have a problem with the colonial US flag in a game about colonial US. Just wow. I didn't know people could be this uptight about something like that. I've never heard of people going crazy over other national emblems or propaganda in games that take place in other countries.
 
Too many people have a problem with the colonial US flag in a game about colonial US. Just wow. I didn't know people could be this uptight about something like that. I've never heard of people going crazy over other national emblems or propaganda in games that take place in other countries.
Do any of the covers feature Altair/Ezio standing behind a national flag?

Speaking of such games, can anyone think of a few examples. I'm quite tired and drawing a blank.
 
I'm not sure if the whole "This game is referencing The Patriot, it will be jingoistic nonsense" line of thinking is still floating around, but in the actual GI article the creative director Alex Hutchinson actually says:

"He [Conor] is of neither culture. If we're going to talk about the American Revolution, we didn't want you playing Mel Gibson in The Patriot, and we didn't want you in a military uniform. The AC universe is one step back from all that."

So there you have it. Straight from one of the design leads. They don't want the experience to be anything like a goofy jingoistic action movie from the 90s, and they want the character to be both culturally and politically neutral. Can we lay this one part of the argument to rest now, please?

The people complaining are still bitter over the fact Britain lost.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
I think people are more pissed off at the art using the american flag so freely as a marketing ploy. It seems like Ubi actually wants people to think that the game is like the Patriot

Since when does a waving colonial flag immediately equal The Patriot?

The Betsy Ross flag is an easily recognizable symbol that immediately connects you to this exact point of history. There is no better symbol for this purpose.

If that was a French Tricolour waving in the background nobody would give two flying fucks.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
Since when does a waving colonial flag immediately equal The Patriot?

The Betsy Ross flag is an easily recognizable symbol that immediately connects you to this exact point of history. There is no better symbol for this purpose.

If that was a French Tricolour waving in the background nobody would give two flying fucks.

What was the last French film you watched that was as blatantly propagandistic as The Patriot? Or are we pretending that the US doesn't have a penchant for jingoistic cheerleading now.

That is the difference between seeing the US flag in concept art and seeing other symbols.

And if you think a non-American is not qualified to pass comment, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7mUaKUp8Ho

Perhaps now you have something like a better idea of why people worry.

Now can we put this the fuck to rest now, the GI article makes it pretty clear that they're not going for this angle.
 
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