Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

[sai 868]

So, I picked this game up yesterday for 360 (bonus of pre-orders, you get them 2-3 days before the official release. I could've picked it up on Saturday but I forgot whoops). Anyway, I've played the game for around 4-5 hours now and this is my first general impression:

 

MAJOR FUCKING SPOILERS

 

What I dislike:

- The screen is pretty buggy. Some cutscenes look really fucking weird and it’s awfully glitchy at some points. Even on a HD TV this looks really really weird. If it’s too HQ for Xbox360/PS3 then you shouldn’t have released it on them.

 

- The map is so fucking confusing. It looks like the map in Revelations and I hated the map in Revelations because it was so unclear. Any other map would’ve sufficed. The mini-map is equally awful.

 

- The modern bits so far are cringe-worthy. I’m not sure if there’s going to be an extra storyline but the whole “Abstergo works with Ubisoft and we already brought a game called AC3 Liberation” is just lame because it’s not sure if Abstergo basically turned everything into a franchise (while still hinting at the existence of Desmond Miles because of the “subject 17 project”) or if this is somehow connected and it still has something to do with Juno escaping and so on.

 

- Edward doesn’t seem like an actual Assassin? He mostly seems to be going after the treasure the Templars talk about, he’s not keen on taking them out. Then again I’m at the beginning of the story so I’m not going to draw any conclusions about it.

 

- UBISOFT CHANGING THE BUTTON FOR EAGLE EYE IN EVERY OTHER FUCKING GAME. You have no idea how many times I had to re-do missions because I kept pressing Y and therefore threw a smoke bomb instead of using my Eagle Eye.

 

Now what I did like:

- The free-running has become a lot more challenging again. The city of Havana is a bigger playground than Boston/New York was in AC3.

 

- Edward’s fighting style is quite bad-ass, resembling Haytham in several aspects with a big load of “fuck that I’ll just bodycheck you off this platform”.

 

- The soundtrack. The music so far is really really good, I can’t wait for the OST to drop.

 

- The fighting on sea has improved. The fact that you need to watch out for bigger waves and superstorms is quite exciting. Also, shooting cannons has become a lot easier because it doesn’t take 3 hours anymore for your crew to reload the cannons. Use of the burning barrels is kind of useless most of the time though.

 

Overall ordeal so far: don’t buy it unless you’re a big fan of the series. Even though this is supposed to be a gameplay upgrade of AC3, AC3 still seemed way more consistent. Connor's movements in battle and in cutscenes were way more fluid and smooth than Edward's in AC4. It almost felt like AC4 wasn't complete yet.

[Original Saku 1593]

Well it's obviously a "next gen" game so... yeah I wouldn't buy it right now unless I got it for pc which I'm not (mainly because I've played every other AC game on console). Probably just wait and pick it up for the ps4 as one of my launch games. Other than that the only reason they even made current gen versions is just to appease fans who aren't gonna opt into next gen this year or anytime soon, so get used to it, this will be a reoccurring thing with new games coming out in the next few years at least until the current generation becomes obsolete which I don't see happening as quick as last gen (ps2/xbox) since the jump in technology is not as wide as it was then.

 

And as far as how good this game will be... well lets just say I'm pretty confident this one will be leagues better than AC3 which I consider the "worst" in the franchise. Not saying that I didn't enjoy it, but it was no where near the level of the other games in both quality and story. Not to mention it had hella bugs at launch.

[sai 868]

Yeah, the thing is that I was afraid that this would happen. Multiple people asked Ubisoft about this issue and whether it would fuck up the screen on 360/PS3 because it's officially meant to be next-gen. Ubisoft said multiple times that it wouldn't make a difference and that it looked fine while it obviously doesn't 8| Also you could've said it a bit nicer than "lol deal with it" tbqh.

 

I also don't plan on buying a next-gen console until KH3/FFXV gets an official release date + perhaps it hasn't occurred to you that not everyone has the cash atm to buy a next-gen, so yeah. I don't see why I should buy a next-gen now when most games will release for PS3/Xbox360 anyway. I mean, yes the screen is a bit buggy but it's not as dreadful as it makes the cutscenes unwatchable. Plus, why spend 400 bucks on a next-gen now when it's probably 50 bucks cheaper in around a year?

 

Also why does everyone hate AC3 so much? I thought the gameplay was really good and that Connor definitely was an admirable character because so far he's been the most human Assassin out of the bunch. I felt I could relate more to Connor than any of the other characters in the franchise.

 

Also sorry to ruin expectations but I already sank through a roof three times in a span of four hours so I doubt the launch bugs are any better this time lolol.

[Original Saku 1593]

Well I don't really recall saying "just deal with it" in my post... I said "get used to it" there's a difference, and I wasn't really directing that toward you specifically but more or less to anyone in general (which includes you) that might be reading through this thread. I also didn't mean it in a condescending manner either. just a harsh truth.

 

It's not just the buggy screen that this game suffers from on current gen though, there's a plethora of graphical and gameplay mechanics that Ubisoft outlined before launch for this game that are just not possible on current gen systems, in fact when they were outlining them it was pretty obvious they were saying that "this is only possible on next gen tech" but of course they didn't just come out and say that from the getgo, it was sorta implied. so obviously if the console is not capable of using these features then they're are simply not in the game or maybe they are implemented but extremely "watered" (diluted if you will) down... in that case there will definitely be major and maybe minor differences in the overall core gameplay and feel of the game as a whole. now this is all conjecture on my part since I haven't played not a single second of this game or any version of this game so... take it with a grain of salt I suppose.

 

I'm not trying to say you should go out and buy a new system so you can play this game's (or any other game for that matter) superior version but more or less stating the obvious and that is you will most likely get a very different (most likely better) experience playing this game on the system it was intended to be ran on in it's full glory (with no features or mechanics cut from the game).

 

I look at it this way, some people are audiophiles; me? I couldn't care less what quality I listen to music (as long as it isn't some godawful bitrate like 96kbps or smth), instead I am that way with games. I want the best experience possible with the best looking graphics with NO cut content and most importantly I want to play it the way it was meant to played not some "diluted" piece of shit. I will gladly wait for the superior version I don't care how long it takes. it pisses me off that these game companies are doing this with next gen games, I'm not mad because they are making the games more accessible to more people, but I am mad that some people won't ever experience some games how they are meant to be and I'm also mad that really this whole "Oh we're gonna release multiple versions of games spanning across several platforms with varying specs" ploy is really just because they don't want to lose money by making it next gen exclusive... because that's what it is about, you can't deny that they would lose tons of money if it was exclusive to just next gen and pc. but anyways that's just me... sorry i just felt like venting xD

 

I never said I hated it... AC3 wasn't bad in fact it was quite the opposite for me, I had fun playing it just like all the other AC's but like I said IMO it was the "worst" and "weakest" entry so far. they did some things good (like the naval combat and improved free running) but they also did some things bad (crafting and for me mostly just the characters). There are plenty of other examples of stuff they did "right and "wrong" but that would make this already long post even longer so I'll just stop there. Also i'm sorry I disagree completely with you about Connor, he is the most lifeless character I've seen in a long time... I mean Ezio just had so much more emotion and development to him but I also understand that Ezio had three long games dedicated to building up his character and personality so it's understandable that there are differences.

 

and yeah I expected bugs, that's inevitable. It's apart of gaming.