Was I Wrong About Assassin's Creed III?

I'm going to take a stab at this not being on the Bingo cards of the masses Assassin's Creed 3 is a funny old game the 2012 entry to the machine that is the Ubisoft Flagship franchise that Unshackled the series from the Renaissance focused Etso Trilogy and brought forth a new fascinating setting the American Revolution prior to its release it seemed like a winner it had the promise of an interesting historical time period that affected the world the new main protect to give the brand Direction post Etso and it also pledged to be a culmination of every Assassin's Creed title so far and if nothing else its marketing material was completely out of this world but of course if you're aware of my history with this franchise you'll probably know that my relationship with Assassin's Creed 3 is a colorful one to say the least you see over the years I've slated this game in every which direction I wasn't a fan of the seemingly Bland main protagonist the baffling storytelling that navigated the narrative in to an inescapable corner on more than one occasion and how the modern day storyline was trailed off and concluded in a comic what furthermore the lockpicking mechanics are frustrating enough to turn Buddhist monks violent and the game's remaster had an overwhelming obsession with the color orange to the point where it feels as if they've just released every single drop of spray tan into the atmosphere I could go on and on but you get my point I have leveled many irrational and irrational criticism at this game but before you accuse me of being privy to a dastard Le conspiracy to save face for Britannia I have to acknowledge I don't suspect I've ever truly judged this game fairly so I committed myself to a lovely play through with intent to 12 years down the line way up the good and the bad I'm afraid we have nothing to give you in thanks stranger we have nothing left perhaps there is something you could do instead anything I live in a small community so I'm going to approach this one with intent to answer a key question and that is of course was I wrong about Assassin's Creed 3 you see age has granted me many things and it would seem wisdom is not among them but if there's one thing I can say is that with every playthrough of Assassin's Creed 3 I find myself growing a bit more fond of it than I once was but before we get into any of that Tom Foolery if you'd be so kind we have a message from today's sponsor right I'm going to have to slap on my sponsorship jacket this video is brought to you by rayon these are horses and they don't know the benefits of the raycon everyday earbuds but that's okay because I'm here to Enlighten them and you suffing mate would you like some rayon lad the rayon everyday earbuds offer the same audio quality as the big guns but at half the cost meaning you don't need to take out a finance agreement to have some music as you go about your daily life they've been upgraded to offer active noise cancellation that you can 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in fact they're so Sleek he doesn't even realize they're there otherwise he might attack them so if you want awesome affordable buds head to bon.com fishy for 15% off and free shipping once again that's bon.com fishy and with that let's check on the horse no they've discovered jump up they're too powerful and with all that said back to the video I think there's no denying that prior to its launch Assassin's Creed 3 occupied a very tricky position indeed and what I mean by this is the weight of expectation was massive these days the climate of Assassin's Creed as a franchise is vastly different to how it once was the franchise is no longer laser focused on its Niche and nuances and where this becomes relevant is now you have not just fans of the franchise but fans of specific parts of the franchise that also might not like the other bit so much for instance myself as some titles may be aimed at what I like or what somebody who liked Assassin's Creed one likes but another may use the same name and appeal to a different audience so to many the name Assassin's Creed means mixed bag because the franchise's identity is so diluted that there's no telling whether an individual title is actually going to appeal to you or somebody else so back when Assassin's Creed 3 was on the horizon the franchise's identity was not just fixed and set you knew what you were getting yourself in for the brand had also not really put a foot too badly wrong yet at least not with regards to its main entries Assassin's Creed 1 kickstarted the brand as a spectacular proof of concept the parkour felt nice and it was a different perspective on the premise of an open world game as for its storytelling it was steeped in this fascinating overarching sense of mystery that carried over into Assassin's Creed 2 that furthered the storytelling point to give you the character of ETO auditor whose life we subsequently saw in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Revelations and though these titles weren't immune from their own criticisms and there's probably a list about a mile long it's their identities that I and I'm sure many others had fallen in love with but by the end of Revelations I think it's reasonable to argue that The Jug did need shaking the gameplay needed evolving and the storytelling needed to mooch past Etso and I'm not saying there weren't people who absolutely despised the four games that preceded three but those games appealed to a very specific audience so any changes made needed to be precise Assassin's Creed 3 couldn't escape having to rise to meet these requirements the gameplay mechanics had to be overhauled and the storytelling had to progress onto a new character furthermore the setting had to be markedly different otherwise what's the point ultimately a lot of changes both fundamental and superficial had to be made simultaneously otherwise the game would have been slammed for being stagnant and considering that aside from perhaps a weird DLC in Revelations the franchise hadn't done anything egregious yet expectations were naturally going to be incredibly high and so perhaps the game was destined to be judged harshly either way so the game had big shoes to fill while also attempting to reinvent the wheel a bit so it's no shocker it was always going to have a mixed reception amongst the lovers of the previous releases and then on the other hand later titles with all due respect for the most part have completely uninvented the wheel so with the benefit of hindsight Assassin's Creed 3 doesn't even look that bad anymore nevertheless there are reasons why Assassin's Creed 3 may have come across as disappointing back when it released and I'm certain to make a lot of points to that effect as as we go however though many including myself view this game as where Assassin's Creed began to wobble it still looks infinitely more robust than some of the more recent examples so for me it's impossible to not view this game with some form of bias however foresight and hindsight tell two entirely different stories and it's like I said my opinions on this game have certainly softened over time so to begin with actually talking about the substance of the game I'm going to dedicate well this chapter to the opening I know it's a contentious Point some people think it's a bit long- winded and it's not a criticism I wholly disagree with but if I'm being entirely honest with myself and you it's one of my favorite parts of the game it begins with a neat little recap of Desmond's life up until this point while also touching down on this story being the culmination of his efforts attempting to prevent the end of the world which within the confines of the story will occur on the 21st of December 2012 which was oddly quite a popular date for doomsday theories hellbent on rescuing Humanity from disaster the modern assassins do the natural thing and head into a cave that as set up in Assassin's Creed Revelations has a first civilization Temple within that in order to save the world Desmond must find a means to unlock and being an Assassin's Creed game this means heading into the Animus and exploring the genetic memories of an ancestor Anor whom after a brief tutorial segment were introduced to however it's not the dude on the marketing material and this certainly threw me a bit the first time I played the game so on that topic has anyone here had those really strange dreams where a game you're anticipating has come out and it's nothing like what you expected well that's how it felt playing Assassin's Creed 3 for the first time weird so we don't take the Reigns of the title's main protagonist Connor straight away but rather a man named named haam Kenway he wears one of the most over-the-top garments I've ever seen complete with a tricorn hat but was sort of goed to assume that he's an assassin why because the first mission takes place in an opera house presumably one in London England I couldn't tell you which one off the top of my head because I despise London with a passion and have pledged to spend as little time there in my life as possible and Ham's mission is to kill a Target and using assassin skills we climb on over to the booth where he is I'm sorry but how is he not being noticed doing this it is the kind of thing that you take note of the grunting and the climbing and the big guy especially considering the Targets in an opposing elevated Booth you'd expect he of all people with twig on anyway after our climbing session we're introduced to the lockpicking mechanic which in the original game sucked but in the remaster they seem to have made it less crap and then we get a more engaging climbing SL parkour sequence that's more tailored to the environment clambering on random set pieces around the back back of the stage there's no real challenge to it it's an on rail set piece but it is that humble Touch of Distinction better from Simply shuffling along Ledges and climbing up walls and then once across the stage we stab a guy confirming we are indeed in London steal a pendant from his neck and leave his son traumatized which is always a nice thought and then it's time to abs scarle while the ushers literally rugby tackle any [ __ ] adding tension to a segment that's still entirely on Rails and you couldn't be detected if you tried but this first mission serves its purpose to introduce us to this new character haam Kenway a focused man on a mission who is subsequently sent to the American colonies to find the temple this pendant is meant to be a key to leading into the incredibly atmospheric first sequence in which we voyage across the Atlantic Ocean which isn't just wonderful from the perspective of hearing sea shanties but also puts us in the shoes of the many who risked such a perilous Voyage in search of a better life and though it's not an awfully long segment of the game it's certainly worth not skipping over as had the game for gone elaborating on this segment at all it wouldn't have had the opportunity to make the point that a transatlantic Crossing at this time in history was not to be undertaken lightly aboard the ship haam isn't exactly made welcome we find ourselves socializing with the crew violently so we can learn the basics of this game's combat but we'll talk more about that later the group [ __ ] inspection is interrupted by the captain who pulls haam away and discloses the Prospect of a mutiny aboard the ship and asks for haytham's help in stopping it giving us a neat little subplot to occupy the voyage further justifying its very presence in the game and allowing Assassin's Creed to function where Assassin's Creed functions best with a mystery we ask around the Providence before eventually discovering somebody aboard the ship has been dumping cargo as if leaving a trail suggesting there's perhaps more than a mere Mutiny of foot and the game doesn't waste too much time before revealing the Providence has been tailed by another vessel and now finally it's attacking haam is sent to the lower decks where one of the only characters who's been cordial with him while he's been aboard the ship a fellow named Mills reveals that he was the one who was dumping the cargo did you think you could escape from London so easily after what you did at the Opera that we wouldn't notice that we wouldn't follow ah so that's what this is about and then we've got a sword fight on our hands where we must absolutely demolish Mills on the lower deck but as far as were aware he must be a Templar or something so nice or not he must die leaving us to deal with the Enemy Ship by sailing into a storm and allowing lightning to strike it that's lucky it's a chaotic and Atmospheric gameplay sequence that like I said embeds the hard ships of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean but with the Mutiny quelled and the storm successfully navigated we finally arrive in Boston as first indicated by the songs of seagulls I too would love to know why he walks like that however hayam is unconvinced by the presence of fog so the captain instructs him to climb into the Crow's Nest to get a view of Boston leading to a very powerful and optimistic title card [Music] look I don't condone the use of drugs but inject that [ __ ] straight into my veins anyway with the arduous multi Thousand Mile Voyage now behind us we've arrived in the city of Boston and as haam sets foot ashore we feel as if we've earned it we've earned the right to be here but before we become too overwhelmed by this land of promise and opportunity we're met by a fellow named Charles Lee who appears to be quite partial to licking a good boot he's an affable fellow whose job is to basically make haan's life in the colonies easier and Ham's task is to build the team so that the search for the precursor site can get under way nevertheless we have the opportunity to soak in the atmosphere of the docks here in Boston it's the first time in the main story the game actually gives us an open space so it refreshingly contrasts the crowded feeling of the Opera House and the cramped feeling of the Providence this is our first opportunity to proverbially speaking stretch our legs however I decided to start a fight with the nearest British soldier I guess I fancy getting started early we by chance meet Benjamin Franklin outside a general store because well of course we do and he tasks us with a random fetch objective to collect all his almanac pages and I've not met a single person who's bothered to do this and then we venture forth to the famous Green Dragon Tavern which will serve as Ham's base of operations so to speak we meet with an ally named Sir William Johnson whose research has been stolen so we sent out to retrieve it with the aid of a fellow named Thomas Hickey the game moves quite quickly along here jumping you from one location to the next so it's clear the haam sequences are treated as something of a prologue rather than having us run across the map to the next mission the moment we leave the tavern we're usually teleported nearby and I suppose that's so we don't waste too much time doing random stuff before we've even got to the main protagonist of the game there are some minor bits and pieces to pick up on on the side here and there but for the most part we intended to focus on the main missions but that didn't stop me from taking off and massacring random guard just for fun simply because the notoriety system of this game which is quite harsh by the way hasn't kicked in yet so anyway while Thomas hii's enjoying himself the Wayne Rooney way we're tasked with finding the next recruit on the list so to speak a fellow named Benjamin Church who proves to be a tad trickier to track down than Johnson and hickey forcing us to discover his whereabouts by eavesdropping on random conversations about town this showcases the game social stealth and also innovation in tailing missions where you need to tail a specific distance so you can also hear the conversation fortunately the game doesn't do this terribly often at least not to the point where it becomes jarring like in Black Flag so you know what it's fine anyway doing this we uncover Church's whereabouts and find out he's in a spot of bother and it's here where we're introduced to the sequence's antagonist silus who's interrogating church for one reason or another the spicy way with the aid of what I can only describe as a brexit voter maybe I'll take his hand put an end to his surger in maybe I take his tongue put an end to his waggling or maybe I take his [ __ ] n is [ __ ] us oh yeah in the remaster if you synchronize at a Viewpoint for whatever reason the music that plays when you're at that height just continues to play until you restart the game it's incredibly annoying so we make short work of Church's captors and Free Church because if we didn't after killing his captors that wouldn't make sense would it and our final recruit is a Scottish military officer named John pitan who appears to have run a foul of an unpleasant geizer named Edward bradoock the antagonist of the next sequence so Charles flings [ __ ] at him and we kill his mates and rescue John piten completing the Dream Team and beginning the mission infiltrating Southgate I know the Euros have been peculiar but that's a bit extreme bad jokes aside our objective is to hijack a convoy infiltrate Fort Southgate and kill Silas how disguise in doing so we meet an enigmatic Native American woman who doesn't say very much at all and then runs off leaving us to free some captives undetected start a big ass brawl and assassinate Silas I made a promise to you silus one I intend to keep I mean that was more of an execution but Assassin's Creed's always had a loose definition of what an assassination actually means oh by the way it's snowing now that's cool and the third sequence sees us Venture forth from the crowded City Into the Wilderness in Pursuit Of The Mysterious woman and after a run in with some wolves and an entirely unnecessary Chase through the sloggy snow she finally agrees to chat turns out she knows of the location haam seeks but only agrees to help provided he help her with her own Edward bradic flavored problem and we better to start than a bar fight call me weird but I like the bar fights in this game because I find the destruction of furniture and kneecaps to be quite cathartic anyway that doesn't really matter bollock destruction but this sequence focuses on discovering Brock's plans and killing him which sort of happens just not quite the way the game portrays but more on that in a moment but with bradic out of the picture gito or zo for short takes haam to the cave within which the first civilization Temple is housed and simply put besides from the markings in the wall glowing a bit nothing interesting really happens apart from some naughty time apparently explaining how the game's main protagonist eventually gets conceived but this three sequence long prologue is not complete without a plot twist in which we see Charles Lee become inducted into the order the game has been very careful not to specify there are hints that not all is quite as it seems but on a first playthrough you'd certainly be forgiven for being caught off guard do you swear to uphold the principles of our order and all that for which we stand I do and never to share our secrets nor divulge the true nature of our work I do and to do so from now until death whatever the cost I do then we welcome you into our fold brother together we will usher in the dawn of a new world one defined by purpose and Order give me your hand you are a Templar May the father of understanding guide us may the father understanding gu us wait what and that plot twist helps explain a few things putting some things into context at long last for instance Mills aboard the Providence was an assassin it doesn't necessarily clarify that the guy haam killed in the opera house at the beginning of the game was an assassin however the book Assassin's Creed forsaken does that quite well but with the realization that haam is a Templar you could definitely come to that assumption if not the conclusion and also we get to know Ham's Colonial Associates as allies only for them to probably going forward become enemies this is the first time Assassin's Creed has thrown the Nuance of perspective in the good and bad argument between the assassins and Templars as unwittingly for the past three sequences at least intentionally speaking we've been playing as a Templar who admittedly has hidden blade somehow that isn't explained in the game but is in the Forsaken novel and we've been furthering Templar Pursuits which on the one hand is an interesting perspective to grant us and clearly many people like the concept as otherwise Assassin's Creed Rogue probably wouldn't exist at least not in the format that it does however using the benefit of hindsight the point made becomes an incredibly uninspiring insight into the notion of the assassins and Templars simply being just as bad as one another when the intent in the context of Assassin's Creed 3 was to explain that there was something going on that was bigger than this conflict so though I like these sequences and believe them to be some of the best the game has and like haam Kenway as a character and can fundamentally acknowledge that within the confines of this narrative they do serve their purpose the Brand's gradual to Rapid decline in Focus following Assassin's Creed 3 adds a new context to these sequences in which the Assassin Templar conflict is made out to be irrelevant not due to a greater withstanding looming threat per se because it Paints the picture of both Waring actions Desiring very similar things and differing only in slight tweaks to method which is hard to rationalize when you're playing as a character who moves and functions like an assassin and that's not inly bad especially not in the confines of Assassin's Creed 3 and how it as an isolated example handles it but a lot of later entries become convoluted with this concept in mind and don't really strive to make a bigger point out of it either way that's not something that's entirely or even a tool on threes own writing nevertheless it's something I've observed and wanted to address a criticism I have seen leveled against the prologue to Assassin's Creed 3 if you so wish is that it does take an age and I can see why that would be frustrating Assassin's Creed games of the time weren't awfully long experiences so a prologue eating up effectively a quarter of the game is far from ideal but I like the premise of it especially considering the setting the opening f few hours may not line up with the marketing material as such but ignoring that for the moment the point of the plot is to track down the amulet that haam has in the memories we're not playing as him for the sake of it the modern day characters are trying to figure out where this amulet is in the modern day so that they can use it to unlock the temple and you know save the world and that's given to provide us with a tonally appropriate way to arrive in the American colonies established that the narrative is about something more important than assassins versus Templars emitting information that might reveal haytham's true Allegiance because it's simply not relevant and then passing on the Batton with haam reproducing abruptly so that pre-established Assassin's Creed logic could become a setback for Desmond sha Rebecca and Big Bill to overcome flawlessly executed it most certainly is not but everything serves a purpose and that is to give you an entry point to get invested in the setting without having to sacrifice establishing a key dynamic in the story and on that front I think it's a respectable solid effort but there are elements that beg an explanation the game simply doesn't Endeavor to provide following the plot twist but a lot of those for instance why does haam have hidden blades if he's a Templar and who actually is this guy are explained in the novel Assassin's Creed Forsaken and though I don't like having to resort to secondary media to explain Key things about characters especially when those explanations are typically withheld for the sake of a plot twist it is a good read and in Assassin's Creed 3's defense here these questions aren't the most relevant to its own story for instance haam came into the possession of hidden blades ages prior to the story beginning so it's not the most relevant it's just something he has his assassin ability stem from the fact that his father was an assassin who died when he was young and his friend Reginald Burch just so happened to be a Templar so haam found his way into the Templar order instead the book also elaborates that his history with Edward bradock is indeed a bloody one and though the game does actually go into some detail on this through an optional conversation you can understand why hayam is willing to kill a fellow Templar the book also explains that bradoock actually survived his death in the game at least initially but that information is withheld in the game because it's simply irrelevant though he looks pretty dead when we leave him that's not something that we have a reason to question so if anything the prologue is actually quite focused it's just proportionally quite large versus your average prologue when compared to the length of the rest of the game but the length of the rest of the game is quite misleading so let's move on to [Music] that following a brief modern day segment in which Desmond processes the aforementioned plot twist and gets punched in the face by his dad I thought it might be different with you I mean you're my father but turns out you're no better than the [ __ ] Templars that is certainly one way to prove his point we reenter the Animus to discover when no longer playing as hayam Kenway but rather his and zo's son a young boy named runon I'm not awfully convinced of my own pronunciation skills but I am attempting to replicate it as I hear it in The Game and his first mission is to play hideand-seek with the local children of his village you see when we do this in a game it's fine but the moment we start doing it in our actual communities we wind up on something called a register nevertheless hide and seek unfortunately takes a twisted turn when the child will now playing as encounters the Templars with Charles the boot licker Lee showing an entirely different side to himself now much more threatening and menacing in contrast to his friendly demeanor before we're now observing the cruel behavior of a much more ruthless man one apathetic to those he deems beneath him I'm not entirely sure why he's delivering such a convicted philosophical speech while choking a child out against a tree but he does spare the boy albeit with an added concussion not that I'm entirely certain what purpose that served either other than to vilify these characters from the protagonist's point of view either way when the little fell comes to he returns to his village to find it on fire which can't be a coincidence after encountering violent fellows in the woods who were seeking the location of the village and this leaves us with the objective of locating zo who unfortunately perishes in the blaze fast forward 9 years and we're no longer an child and were introduced to two concepts new to the Assassin's Creed series tree running which is free running but on trees I'd like to imagine somebody got a raise for that one and hunting which for the time being can consist of punching unsuspecting animals in the neck there's a fair bit more to it than that but I've neglected to talk about any other aspect of the game play until all of it is available for chronology sake and also so that I don't lose my mind making this video so we're going to move on for now so after a brief hunt that may or may not result in you engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the bear Never Back Down punch that bear to death we return to the Village to engage with the clan mother and Ponder the orb which just so happens to be a piece of Eden an artifact of the first civilization that's capable of doing some seriously strange stuff that drugs couldn't make up and this grants rade on the vision in which he's flying as an eagle in the sky while Juno is communing with him showing him a future he must prevent and in order to do so he must seek out a specific symbol the Insignia of the Assassin Brotherhood and so not even knowing what the Insignia means only that it's integral to protecting his home his Journey Begins and the Slow Burn that is this game going up through the gears continues into its fifth sequence I can understand where the critiques are coming from with regards to this game being incredibly slow to get going but I like considering the context of everything with regards to Assassin's Creed 3 that the buildup to actually becoming an assassin in this game feels earned so we venture forth to a place called the Davenport Homestead get out of the way after him okay then oh there's a man here and the game just lets you kill him without consequence we venture across the homestead map encountering some characters who are friendly including these two Scottish Geyers who quickly start arguing right in front of you and a couple unpleasant looking characters the game won't let you kill won't warn you again and before too long we come across the Mana house what um I I was told you could train me no so obviously as bewildering as it would be that's not the end but I think it's safe to assume the mysterious old man isn't particularly enthusiastic about fashioning a young man into a trained killer in his defense he wasn't there to witness as brain a bear by hand otherwise he'd know the lad's an unwavering force of nature so the next day he tries again to little aail get the hell off my land but his mind has changed when some thugs show up looking to cause damage which is of course a confrontation or protagonist does not back down from so after a brief scrap that's a bit more akin to a massacre that begs the question question what training does this lad need the old man has a change of heart and finally allows R the gon into his house so he comes in and destroys a perfectly good chair allowing introductions to get underway Achilles explains what the Assassin Insignia means and what it is that he's asking for which is the prime opportunity for an ungodly Exposition dump but the game refrains skiing us to the end of the conversation Achilles takes us downstairs and shows us some cool robes and you probably think thinking ah yeah finally but [ __ ] you we have to earn those garments through training which I assume happens off screen somewhere so 6 months down the line Achilles and the soon Tobe named Connor venture to Boston intent to purchase supplies in order to fix up the crumbling house and as it turns out the city is a new experience to the aspiring assassin who for the time being is enthralled by the prospect of such a massive collection of people's very existence but the shopping trip goes a when the newly named Connor and achilles happen upon the beginning of the infamous Boston Massacre where they quickly detect the involvement of those pesky Templars forcing Connor to get involved by tailing a suspicious man and preventing him from firing on the Gathering crowd which is all well and good but there's another guy up on the rooftops that just so happens to be good old Chucky Lee meaning not only does the massacre occur but Connor is now the scapegoat forcing him to have to escape and rendering him notorious to the author authorities but you know what it's a damn good thing Founding Father Samuel Adams is in town to teach us about how the notoriety mechanic works but simply put our notoriety system increases by engaging the guards in violent activities in the streets which goes up in tears decreasing the time it takes for you to be detected at level zero your notoriety is none at all so you will not be detected in theory but in practice you can be detected at random at level one guards will detect you as if you were carrying out suspicious Behavior simply by being at level two guards will detect you as if you're in a restricted area and at level three guards will detect you instantly if they see you therefore to bring that notoriety level down we need to rip down wanted posters bribe town criers or bribe news printers alternatively you can just ignore your notoriety altogether and navigate the city as much as possible through the underground tunnel network but that isn't what I'd refer to as ideal the notoriety system in Assassin's Creed 3 is certainly one of the harsher ones in the series but I think it kind of enhances the experience that your actions have consequences and naturally your face will become memorable if you start engaging guards in broad daylight in the middle of a bustling city and what I like about it is it can get frustrating if you don't monitor it so the solution is to monitor it and as a Saving Grace for livability being detected inside a restricted area doesn't have any bearing on your notoriety out outside of it anyway with that taken care of we can return to the Davenport Homestead a free man and let Achilles know that he left us in Boston you left me in Boston but at least he gives us hidden blades so we're cool now and for some reason there's a green man outside this next mission serves to introduce us to the homestead missions more on those in a bit but to put it simply they do dip in and out of feeling relevant to the main plot and the mission that follows serves to introduce us to Robert faler and the concept of Naval gaml but first we must restore the Aila to her former glory it'll buff out and we'll certainly get on to discussing Naval shortly but the moment we've all been waiting for the fifth sequence ends with Connor finally becoming an assassin and though many might argue it takes too long I can't say it doesn't feel earned at this point but for satisfaction sake let's start talking about some gameplay elements the parkour is as good a place to start as any and though visually it may seem like an upgr mechanically it's a downgrade from the previous titles this is because it's no longer an exercise on learning a system to find the fastest rout but rather a series of animations that for the most part you have to sit through you have some agency over the route you choose in order to scale things however the game likes to assume what you're attempting to accomplish and I suspect this was to accommodate for tree running you see trees are complex in shape and as a result it would be impossible for them to be designed in such a way that the POA has complete autonomy over how they approach and Traverse across these obstacles and allowing for it to occur quickly would be an even harder feat and the best way to make it happen is to Simply make the parkour system boiled down to a series of animations that grants you a satisfying feeling of accomplishment when you see a route but there's no requirement to be at a certain skill levels for such a route to become viable simply push a stick and hold a button and you suddenly immune from falling you cannot fail unless the game doesn't quite register properly and it bugs out which happens more often than it should there are some opportunities to do things quicker while partaking in the leisurely clamber around the cities but since the game is constantly attempting to predict what you're doing it can conflict with what you're actually trying to do so skill or no skill the safest bet is to Simply stick to the pathways the game intends instead Assassin's Creed 3 prioritizes a more visually appealing finish that may indeed be more pleasing from an aesthetic perspective but feels somewhat clunky when compared to the fluidity that can be mastered in Assassin's Creed 1 through Revelations because when you deviate from what the game wants you to do your flow of movement is completely shattered that said there are some features to Rave about for instance being able to run through select buildings you can't stop in these Interiors as like I said it's all animation and they're designed as a traversal function more than they are actually rooms so sometimes it's hard to rationalize that somebody actually lives in that house when all there is is a table for you to jump over then there rols when running at a low obstacle at full Pelt you simply jump over it both of which I'd argue to be overall positive additions to a system limited when compared to its predecessor and I won't sit here and pretend to not understand why it was limited I don't suspect those who favor the ultimate control were the majority even among the earliest of early Assassin's Creed fans and the system of Assassin's Creed 1 through Revelations did require to be aware of its potential in order for it to not be a clunky mess of its own and it's also worth addressing the cityscapes explored in those titles where such systems were allowed to thrive in the hands of the right kind of player Jerusalem AA Damascus Florence Venice Rome Constantinople ancient cities with various compact districts that you can explore in any which direction seldom having to touch the ground the cities of Assassin's Creed being Boston and New York are infant by comparison their layouts more accurately account for their present population therefore the streets are wide and there are more choke points in the parkour where descending to the ground level to progress is the only option in other words a layered parkour system requires a layered cityscape of which there just simply isn't one here the forests of Assassin's Creed 3 are where the parkour system has the most compact of playgrounds therefore accounting for trees does in a way become more important than accounting for buildings so I can see why and agree with those who claim the parkour system of this game was quite underwhelming in truth as it's far less based on input and more based on animation but I don't necessarily think it's an egregious sin as the reshuffling of this mechanic in particular priorities is accounting for what works best for the world design and it's hardly the worst offender for simplifying the parkour system and by that I mean there's still some wiggle room for experimentation you've just got more to contend with when you do moving on before I begin to sound as if I'm trying to sell a dodgy voxal asra fortunately downgrade is not the appropriate word to utilize when discussing this game's combat I wouldn't necessarily call it an upgrade either just a half decent sideway step you see at this point Assassin's Creed combat had never been especially exciting challenging it certainly wasn't and nothing else is really true of three it's another unchallenging system but it sure can be a fun one when it behaves which I personally believe it does more so than Black Flag and Rogue even though it is prone to becoming a bit of a mess in its own right like the games that came before it Assassin's Creed 3's combat still retains the essence of a defensive system in the defensive corner we have paries and counters we can use paries to deflect attacks and we can use counters to either incapacitate disarm or throw our foe we have not just a variety of weapons with which to choose from but also a variety of enemy archetypes to offend off all of which have different strengths and weaknesses that require us to vary our approach and that system is most satisfying when we're building up Combos and that requires a bit more than a simple Button Mash on the offensive it's animation based so you need to complete a series of attacks against an enemy before you can kill them basically and there's no health bar indicator to suggest when they might drop dead from you just messing around and with that in mind I can see where one might make a case for it becoming tedious that said visually it's a very appeasing combat system not only does it have cool animations but also it appears environmentally aware if you're near a ledge finishers will take that into account the same can be said for if you're near a wall or anything like that as for if two guards attack you at the same time while Assassin's Creed 3 was the game to introduce the double counter kill and though it also exists in Black Flag and Rogue you have to force it out of the system more in those games whereas in three it occurs more randomly in combat which makes it actually kind of cool in three it isn't rare for soldiers to get the wise idea to attack you both at the same time because it's more tactically sound than allowing Connor to pick off waves of enemies one by one when you think about it and though it doesn't do masses to make the combat feel less contrived which is more of a reality than an occupational hazard for the one-man Army Trope it does demonstrate an awareness of the fragility of suspensive disbelief and then of course you can use tools in combat as well for in instance smoke bombs or indeed a flint lock pistol or a rope dot or something to that effect these have double kill animations as well not the smoke bombs but the gun and the Rope Dart do the Rope Dart and Pistol also have counter kills of their own so you can choose to use those at the expense of well ammunition and these tools are provided to ensure Your Arsenal is entirely stacked you are ready for any encounter whether you realize it or not there isn't a huge Variety in enemy archetypes however they do range from from being really easy to requiring some modicum of Gile and this can lead to requiring you to engage waves of enemies with some method it is worth noting there are times where the combat can get confused typically when there are other NPCs in the area things can get confusing for the game and as a result you might lose your flow over nothing or you might get knocked over by a fleeing pedestrian so while it's by no means the absolute dogs bollocks when it comes to counter combo combat it would be a lie to say I didn't enjoy it for its strengths right let's move on to the stealth stealth is arguably rather integral to Assassin's Creed but not necessarily in the traditional sense but more the social sense this notion of being a blade in the crowd is as old as the franchise itself not only do you move with the crowd you use it as cover sitting on benches and turning the congested streets to your advantage to mask your movement and those elements are as present in Assassin's Creed 3 is any other Assassin's Creed title prior to it but perhaps it's the more wide and open layout of the cityscape that makes it a bit less useful than it once was there are blending opportunities on Plenty of occasions where it has a purpose but there's nothing majorly bustling about the cities of New York and Boston that would drive you to rely on the invisibility of becoming one with the crowd not to mention the hour spent outside of these urban areas where social stealth has no real function at all cool there's far less of a focus on the idea of being invisible until you absolutely must reveal yourself but it doesn't entirely go a Miss either Assassin's Creed 3 makes up for it for providing us with more traditional stealth tools there is now a corner system where we can Peak around a corner without being visible we can Crouch to submerge ourselves in shrubbery marking the first time Assassin's Creed uses crouching really at all you can't do it on the fly whenever you fancy which is a shame but there are only so many buttons on a controller and the game encourages you to take risks with stealth EES dropping on the Move being a key example of how this is done you need to be a certain distance away to hear the conversation you risk revealing yourself to a greater extent and though the game does rely on this a fair bit there's an emphasis on being bold in your invisibility and that's furthered by pickpocketing objectives and that makes it acceptable and gives it some degree of challenge at times but but others you do feel as if you stick out like a sore thumb the game discourages you from relying on the rooftops to mask your approach as there's a clear line of sight and armed marksmen in groups of three or four and it discourages you from relying on the streets because the crowds are often nonpresent and if your notoriety level isn't being monitored properly remaining undetected can become a chore and that's probably the reason why the game introduced the tunnel Network beneath the cities it's easy to remain undetected if there's nobody to detect you having this safe option isn't stealth within itself though it's just having a means to avoid using it and though I like how the notoriety system is structured I don't think the stealth does enough to complement it the crowds aren't quite dense enough most of the time to really make an impact and on occasion the hiding spots can become sparse as well it's not that the system doesn't work it very much so does it's just not awfully enticing compared to what it could have been so with that let's move on and discuss the hunting the hunting in this game is fairly straightforward you kill animals and steal their skin how you carry out the kill depends entirely on whether or not the Pelt is damaged a hidden blade gives you a clean Pelt versus a rope dart or a bullet giving you a damaged one the bow is also incredibly useful here and you can also use lurs to drive bigger animals towards you so you can get a clean kill and snares to catch and kill smaller creatures for you and then you sell the resources gathered for money hun it's a decent system to introduce but in this game at least it just makes ingame money fortunately in Black Flag there was a crafting element to it so that system arguably saw the Improvement it needed so let's talk Naval imagine Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag but worse you can see where that system was born and it's certainly one of the better of its like Assassin's Creed 3 limits its Naval to linear segments that usually involve sinking boats and ships alike while managing your speed and deploying an assortment of Weaponry unfortunately the vast majority of naval missions are entirely optional so if you don't like the system you don't have to worry about it too much that said there is a small assortment of upgrades to be made in exchange for money that makes it worth investing in so that you can make your life easier and that's nothing terribly complex and unlike Black Flag and Rogue does not require you to gather specific resources probably on account of there being no open world aspect to the naval itself the naval was a nice novelty in three but I didn't really like nor dislike it it just kind of existed in hindsight I can say I like the fact that it streamlined to linear sequences but what I wasn't awfully fond of was how cumbersome it felt if that makes sense Black Flag improved on most of the criticisms I had of th's Naval and created a few new ones so black flags Naval is refreshing compared to 3's and th's Naval is refreshing compared to black flags for instance the naval in Assassin's Creed 4 is far less cumbersome but the naval in Assassin's Creed 3 feels far less invasive to the overall experience the Aila isn't a tool of traversal in the open world you don't need to figure out where to put it or upgrade it to go into high level areas which soft locks you out of progressing through the story and even though upgrading the ship does make your life easier when tackling missions later on in the game it doesn't ever really feel necessary and that's something I can appreciate but I have nothing else really to say about the naval it's passable it's not good it's not bad it doesn't feel as nice as its successor and that's kind of the way it should be but at the same time feels nicer on account of the fact that it isn't such a massive part of the experience but yeah to conclude Assassin's Creed 3's gameplay could have done a lot more but it existed in a solid state it has some good and some bad but it was never where my criticisms were aimed at with regards to this game so let's move back to talking story so following the conclusion of sequence 5 we return to the modern day where the game has something of a surprise in store for us in order to gain access to the secrets of the temple Desmond needs to acquire power sources four of them to be specific which leads him to going on missions and I suppose where you sit on these depends entirely on how you value the modern day of Assassin's Creed this is the first game and only game really in which we go out into the field in the modern day in these games and see Desmond skills picked up through the bleeding effect of applied to Modern scenarios first we clamber a skyscraper under construction in the city of New York which is nice considering the historical setting of New York is also explored in this game so you can take in how far Humanity has come in the two and a bit centuries since Connor was kicking around I guess but the objective is to perform a leap of faith and parachute into a penthouse and steal the power supply where we encounter Daniel Cross who serves as a modern day antagonist for us C he isn't exactly riveting unfortunately and then when we return to the temple we need to plug the power supply in which allows us to get some information I suppose from Juno which gives us that first civilization Intrigue the modern day is all about in which we learn how they were snuffed out and I suppose it adds to the sense of mystery in this Temple is Juno really here or is she just a hologram a projection a memory a recording if we check the computer we can find some rather funky emails that would suggest there's more to Juno than simply being a recording of a communication intended to travel the Millennia it becomes apparent with her creepy appearances that she's somehow conscious and there's something deeply unsettling about this notion that the game should have leaned in two more there are a couple more modern day missions that feel a bit more action oriented and I do like them I also feel as if at times they feel a bit obstructive towards what the modern day of Assassin's Creed is supposed to be about out and that's further understanding what's going on and though these missions are far removed from the idea of being an action hero for the sake of it I can see at times they are prioritizing the wrong aspect so to speak it is bloody cool to see Desmond as a modern assassin as a culmination of his bleeding effect skills that he's gathered since Assassin's Creed 1 and it is rewarding to see him Embrace that as his identity in which The Reluctant man we saw held captive by abstergo in a facility in Italy in Assassin's Creed 1 is now a fully fledged committed assassin with the skills of a master an Unstoppable force of nature no longer to be underestimated in that respect it's satisfying for what is effectively the conclusion of Desmond's Story not only is he now capable of putting Daniel cross out of his misery he also finally faces Warren vidic at long last using an apple of Eden to take him out of the picture permanently it isn't unfitting and I quite like it however it doesn't always serve to enrich the overarching sense of mystery and Intrigue that Assassin's Creed's modern day is known for or was known for my apologies but as satisfying as these modern day missions are superficially they are glorified McGuffin Chase subplots to a plot that is already a McGuffin Chase is that fundamentally bad no but I think it needs an added layer that it just doesn't have had these missions taken some more time and doubled up as say assassinations there'd be more meat to them to explore certain Concepts I suppose and though that seems counterintuitive in his story regarding the irrelevance of the Assassin Templar conflict in Wake of a broader threat I think it could have served as an opportunity to further hit that point home and further hit home the satisfying visual of Desmond finally doing the cool assassin stuff and though my preference would have been to see the modern day carry on in the Brotherhood format for a while with it being a tool to provide added context to the historical segment while also pondering the mysteries of the Assassin's Creed Universe more open that was not the plot tailored for Desmond in 3 so I understand why that was not the approach taken but with the approach it does take I don't think it actually goes far enough certainly not far enough to truly be satisfying upon reflection as I feel as if there's more to be explored with this concept that just isn't but perhaps that's just me talking stupid aloud it's something I do a lot anyway I thought I'd get that out all at once so we can now return our Focus to Connor's story who appears to have undergone a face TR plant his childhood friend Doo thank you Connor shows up on his doorstep informing him that the land upon which their Village is build has been sold from underneath them and the man responsible is the Templar William Johnson who is presently in Boston making preparations for the sale sail this is theft Connor take care these men are powerful what would you have me do I made a promise to my people if you insist upon this C of action seek out Sam Adams and Boston you'll be able to help what have you done when my people go to war a hatchet is buried into a post to signify it start when the threat is ended the hatchet is removed you could have used a tree leaving Achilles unhappy that he's defaced his Gaff Conor Ventures forth to Boston where he reunites with Sam Adams and meets a lovely fellow named Stefan Chao he's French so we help him not get killed though he appears fond of the art of kicking off he's a lovely man and as we find ourselves liberating The District in the build up to the Boston Tea Party we end up recruiting him into the Brotherhood as Connor's first apprentice and only if you neglect the side content anyway he stops being relevant after this sequence so who cares next we have the Boston Tea Party in which Connor is tasked with protecting the guys well we storm a couple of dock ships in the harbor that just so happen to be loaded with good old tea and begin to dump it into the sea turning it into a massive salty cold brew that is making me feel sick to think about and when it comes to historical events this is where Assassin's Creed 3 begins to complicate itself from a narrative perspective Assassin's Creed games of the past were more focused on event between the lines of the history books not so much as an outright alternate history but not close enough to the events that any inaccuracies are glaringly obvious however these historical events for the most part are occurring in the background and though there's some overlap with figures from those time periods the Assassin plotter is occurring Loosely around the events and here Connor is out in the open engaging rather directly in the Boston Tea Party why is he not in the history books if he wasn't wearing assassin robes I'd certainly understand it more but the fact that he's so conspicuous makes it incredibly strange that that's just not a thing and that's of course because he wasn't actually involved in the events and that's the issue there are many instances in the Connor sequences where Connor is outright involved in the historical events as they're unfolding to an extent where you'd think he'd be remembered because his significance to the American Revolution going forward is massive using the Boston Tea Party here as an example the history is meant to be the backdrop for whatever events are going on in the background that assassins are up to here it is the plot it isn't a background event to Accent the world and add to the World building while also providing cover while Assassin's Creed plays liberally with history and so it becomes an inaccurate documentation of the event for the sake of it now I don't personally care if Ubisoft mess around with history a bit to suit their storytelling they've done that since Assassin's Creed 1 but in Assassin's Creed 3 it's often done in a way that's without reason reasonable purpose and as interesting as being involved in these events in the game is there's something jarring about how Conor has been maneuvered to be involved with them he has an absolute cluster [ __ ] of motivations for going on this hero's journey to begin with that do contradict one another and those motivations have not only driven him towards the Assassin Brotherhood but also the Revolutionary cause and this results in a Schism where the game has to flip-flop between prioritizing being an assassin and being a game about the American Revolution so across the docks the rather loud dressed assassin drops the tea into the sea antagonizing the Templars who just so happen to be standing there watching because he was told doing so would help stop Johnson so it doesn't stop Johnson so we have to kill him which he was going to do anyway so the Boston Tea Party simply becomes noise in a bid to not have to kill Johnson that fails and that time could have been better served contextualizing the target rather than cheapening a historical event this doesn't mean said event shouldn't be addressed nor witnessed or in indeed made relevant but blatant involvement is unnecessary and it's not like this means there can't be one or two events that Connor is actually quite present with but sequence 7 takes that critique and actively shits on it with Connor hijacking Paul R's midnight ride to the left Conor actively becoming involved in the battles of Lexington and Concord and then he takes a leisurely stroll into the Battle of Bunker Hill though that last one has a pretty blood pumping set piece so it gets a pass you see Connor's involvement with historical events isn't just that at this point he basically is the American Revolution singlehandedly turning the tide wherever he shows up and sure the reason for this is he and the revolution often have common enemies but even if only by accident from his perspective he's still doing all the heavy lifting it is bizarre when it's one mission after another of the protagonist influencing history but if I'm being honest I think I'd take issue with the first half of this sequence more than the second on account of Paul River taking a back seat on a horse shouting directions at Connor and somehow being the one remembered for the event I believe we are on course excellent we are right on course keep going go left up here go right Connor to the right Connor to the right yes this is exactly where we need to be to the left Connor insanity is born in that mission but the latter half of sequence 7 introduces us to another of Connor's issues that he kind of makes apparent when he assassin John pitan why did you do this to protect Adams and Hancock and those they serve you meant to kill them kill them are you mad I wanted only to Pally there was so much to discuss take explain youve put an end to that now if you speak true then I will carry your last words to them they must lay down their arms they must stop this war why them and not the Red Coats do you know think we ask the same question of the British these things take time and I would have succeeded i' you let me play my part part of the Puppeteer for better we hold the strings than another no the strings should be severed all should be free and we should live forever on Castles in the Sky you wield your blade like a man but your M like a child the more will die now because of it the game makes a point to highlight Connor's naivity and John Pan's dying words are a scolding criticism aimed at a man who strives to do right at every turn and it serves as a warning that that idealism doesn't always result in the best outcome and this impatience for the right thing to be done is a decent character flaw for the character it's where the story goes with it that I'm not awfully sure about anyway from Pan's body Connor pulls a letter a document that reveals a plot to assassinate George Washington that drives Connor to New York in pursuit of another Templar in hopes of preventing the scheme seeing execution and that Templar is none other than Thomas Hickey and it's in confronting hickey so brazenly that Connor's impatience to do the right thing backfires with the both of them being arrested and imprisoned and the guards don't even hear Connor out thus beginning the prison sequence as weird as this assortment of missions are I quite like them it's very Assassin's Creed feeling within itself Connor must find a way to kill Thomas Hickey before Thomas Hickey gets out and gets the opportunity to murder George Washington and when considering he has Templar friends in high places it's only a matter of time sapping in Cheeky Chuck so Connor Foster's an ally in Mason weams who after a quick board game and a chinwag agrees to help Connor on account of their shared desire to not see George Washington die so together they devise a convoluted plot to not body slam a man that's just me being stupid to steal a key that just so happens to be in the possession of another inmate that does not unlock Connor's cell but rather it's a fake key that needs to be replaced with the one in the warden's pocket and in order to get close enough to the warden Connor needs to be thrown into the pit easily done through picking a fight with some random guys resulting in Conor being thrown in a Cell where he manages to steal the key from the warden freeing him from this layer of the confinement at least [ __ ] you Warden giving Connor the freedom to sneak his way up to Williams who grants him access to the VIP Wing where Connor intends to eliminate Thomas Hickey however all he finds is the warden's body from here Connor is confronted by both hickey and Lee allowing for a civil chat I thought we' finished off your kind you would like that wouldn't you to rid the world of all who do not share your [Laughter] views guilty is charged the conversation doesn't say so for long and Charles realizes Connor was the boy he met in the forest all those years ago and this encounter Reeds that Charles Lee is the symbol of tyranny that Connor is fighting against and then chokes him out after which Connor is set for public execution hickey gets a bit too big for his boots Connor gets rescued by the Assassins that you may or may not have recruited yet but the novel actually clarifies this to be haams doing and then for some reason we forced to chase down Thomas Hickey in painful slow motion assassinating him before he gets the opportunity to do the same to Washington hickey reveals he was only ever in it for the money so this confession is rendered pointless but kind of in a good way and Connor is subsequently rescued from being minced by muskets by Israel putam I like this sequence because it forces Connor into a situation where his naive mentality simply is not compatible like it or not he has to do things a very specific way that isn't necessarily mandated by ideals but necessity and it's a shame it doesn't feel awfully pivotal within itself to Connor's character development going forwards if anything it pushes him towards becoming even more bold and Brash as he contemplates telling Washington everything about the Assassins the Templars his role in that conflict which would symbolically make him a revolutionary first and an assassin second by the way but first we have to worry about why the Declaration of Independence is being signed an entire year before it was signed furthermore Connor is present for that too anyway this desire to be transparent with the commander leads to no small amount of friction between him and achilles as though the mentor and The Apprentice have a common goal they fundamentally disagree on how to see it come to fruition if anything Connor seems limited by the Creed whereas Achilles sees the Brotherhood secrecy as an empowering tool since the day I arrived you've done nothing but discourage me and on the rare occasions you've chosen to help you've done so little you may as well have done nothing at all how dare you then tell me on whose watch did the Brotherhood falter whose in action allowed the Templar order to grow so large that it now controls an entire nation if I sought to dissuade you it was because you knew nothing if I was reluctant to contribute it was because you were naive a thousand times you would have died and taken God knows how many with you let me tell you something Connor life is not a fairy tale and there are no Happy Endings no not when men like you are left in charge so Connor's naivity becomes a bit of a running theme at least he's Incorruptible though and that's bloody lucky as over the next couple of sequences that's exactly what's put to the test as he begins the hunt for his next Templar Target Benjamin Church who is believed to be behind the disappearances of Supply Caravans intended for the revolution a search that leads Connor straight into the path of his father haam Kenway who appears to Tred to kill his own son at first but as it turns out he's also in pursuit of Benjamin Church who has betrayed the Templar order so though the two disagree on much they agree to not kill each other for the time being and work together to find church and retrieve the supplies he stole hey Dad want to watch me skin a rabbit so this is where the game reintroduces us to haam Kenway except this time we're no longer viewing him through the lens of a hero he's still the same Charming fellow but two decades have passed since the sequence is what we played as him so naturally he's going to be different and this is made most apparent when Connor is interrogating a guy against a tree the haam who once decried senseless violence that contributed to his dealing with Edward bradoock now just executes people like a ruthless psychopath and it may seem like writing inconsistency but I believe it to be the opposite for two reasons firstly 20 years have passed he may have changed it's not great storytelling to have such negative changes occur often screen but I don't think it's so much that it's more than likely perception you see when we're playing as haam we're seeing things from ha's perspective in the haam sequences there are moments where his ruthlessness shows but because he views himself to be a good man perhaps the memories filter out the less than Savory things that don't confirm that argument when we see him here we're seeing him from Connor's perspective Conor is an idealist to a naive degree and so his perception of his father is based on what he believes but that argument does start to ask questions of how reliable the animos is to begin with and why people keep insisting on using them so it comes across as a recontextualization of the character for the sake of suiting an Assassin's worldview but I presume that's done to give hayam and Connor something to clash over and their ideology certainly come to blows as now having contact with haam Connor has the opportunity to ask what it is the Templars are truly after there's no denying that Haan provides a fairly sanitized answer but it is still food for thought there's a comparison of beliefs between the assassins and Templars on display here and haytham's argument implies they aren't wholly different at least not fundamentally Ham's point is the clamoring for Freedom are just noise and like anything else of its magnitude the revolution is maneuvered to benefit but a few though Connor doesn't immediately take this Insight on board as far as conversations go it's a decent forbear for the cynical take on the revolution that is this game's ending anyway hayam and Connor infiltrate Church's hideout well the two have another conversation that suggests as more to the burning of Connor's Village than he might have initially realized not that Connor takes on board anything that haam says anyway Church isn't here but a decoy is so we have to fight our way through his goons to interrogate him about Church's actual location which he eventually gives up and then haam kills him somehow the place caught fire so now we must escape which is of course easy enough so the two set sail aboard the Aila to find church and ruin its day so they find Church church and ruin his day where are the supplies you stole go hell very nicely done so with that hayam and Connor retrieve the supplies and as a result of this partnership Connor has Authority needs to run past Achilles imagine what might be accomplished if we were to unite why the change of heart where is this coming from you've met your father haven't you I do not claim to trust a man or even like him but I would be remiss to ignore this opportunity aam May listen but will he understand and even if he does will he agree even he must admit that we can achieve more together than we do alone I assume you're off to find him yes I ride for New York to see what might be done though Achilles questions the logic of the Union between Connor and hayam for once he isn't quick to argue with him which is a bit strange considering his blood is very quick to boil on most occasions and his powerful point to Connor that life is not a fairy tale and considering the Millennia of history of war and bloodshed between assassins and Templars by this point surely the idea of the factions un iting qualifies nonetheless the uneasy partnership continues perhaps this is a lesson Connor needs to learn on his own what are the British planning to march from Philadelphia that City's finished New York's the key they'll double our numbers push back the rebels when do they begin 2 days from now June 18th I must warn Washington you see that wasn't so very difficult now was it I've told you everything now let me go of course the other two said the same it must be true you killed him you killed all of them why they'd have warn the Loyalists you could have held them until the fight was done what and with precious time and money on their care what would be the point they'd given up everything they knew I'll meet you at Valley Forge so with haam still executing people in Cold Blood clarified the pair Venture forth to warn Washington of the news of a British attack which is kind of difficult to think about within itself considering the ridiculous plot moment that's coming we should be sharing what we know with Lee not Washington you seem to think I favor him but my enemy is a notion not a nation it is wrong to compel obedience whether to the British crown or the Templar cross and I hope in time the Loyalists will see this too for they are also victims you oppose tyranny Injustice these are just symptoms their true cause is human weakness why do you think I keep on trying to show you the error of your way you have said much yes but you have shown me nothing then we'll have to remedy that then won't we sir Hello Connor what brings you here the British have recalled their men in Philadelphia they March for New York very well I'll move our forces to Monmouth if we can route them will have finally turned the tide and what's this private correspondence of course it is would you like to know what it says Connor it seems your good friend here has just ordered an attack on your village although attack might be putting it mildly oh tell him Commander we've been receiving reports of Allied natives working with the British I've asked my men to put a stop to it by burning their Villages and salting the land by calling for their EXT determination according to this letter not the first time either tell them what you did 14 years ago that was another time the S Years War and so now you see what happens to this great man when under duress he makes excuses displaces blame does a great many things in fact except take responsibility enough who did what and why must wait my people come first then let's be off no you and I are finished son do you think Me So Soft that by calling me son I might change my mind how long did you sit on this information or am I to believe you discovered it now my mother's blood May stain another's hands but Charles Lee is no less a monster and all he does he does by your command a warning to you both choose to follow me or oppose me and I will kill you so George Washington having order an attack on Connor's Village destroys their relationship irreparably and this plot twist SL betrayal is weird because considering George Washington's historical significance to the American Revolution and the years following you know for a fact that Connor is not going to be able to make good on that betrayal and the reason for Washington destroying Connor's Village is because though they're neutral many tribes in the area have sided with the British and the implication that he's done this before in the Seven Years War is important because that's around the time that Village was burned meaning Charles Lee may not have been responsible for that atrocity after all and it was indeed Washington the problem comes in with how Connor rationalizes this of course it makes sense for the time being that Connor doesn't go after Washington simply because his village is in danger and sure enough Charles Lee is still a threat as he's turned his childhood friend against him forcing him to kill him and though Connor hasn't had the room to Pivot on this information he does continue to Aid the Patriots even though surely they and by I mean George Washington and the leadership but just as much his enemy as say the Templars now it's not the idea that George Washington doing what he historically did is bad and it's also not bad because Connor doesn't kill Washington it's bad because Connor hasn't had any character development in which him not killing Washington would make sense implications prior show his hastiness is what caused the damn War to begin with because his impatient desire for the right thing to be done outweighs any thought whatever given to consequences and his prominent simple take on how the world should be is criticized at every turn up until this point it makes sense that as an assassin Connor would like to see the colonies free of British rule and it would still make sense for Connor to perceive Washington as the best chance of that happening especially considering Charles Lee has done nothing to ingratiate himself and as it's important to address is just as much an antagonist regardless of whether or not he truly is the one responsible for Connor's mother's death the problem is purely it maneuvers Connor into a corner where he going forward has to behave as if character development has occurred when it just hasn't the game should have dedicated more time to showing us how Connor's mentality has changed so that he could handle this news and have it make sense instead we kind of have to imagine that it's taken place naturally only for the next mission to have Connor get stuck in at the Battle of Monmouth when if this Revelation should have proved anything it's that regardless of who's in power his people will not be safe on that alone surely this war is beneath him now simp simply a distraction why is he getting distracted now he's warning George Washington who should just as much be his foe as Charles Lee that Charles Lee is conspiring against him why isn't he letting them destroy each other Throwing Shade Washington's way and absolving yourself of the conflict verbally as Connor does after this mission is not the same as actually absolving yourself of any involvement in said conflict Connor's behavior is flip-flopping between the development having and having not occurred which timeline of events are we following and why can we play botchy with George Washington in the open world after completing the game you know what we'll just ignore that because we have the Benedict Arnold missions that take place after this event in which we can ask a very similar question anyway we're closing in on the end of the game now Connor goes on to participate in the crucial naval battle of the Chesapeake and before we Gran too heavily it's a favor for a favor he needs some ships to bombard a fort in New York so he can slip in and assassinate Charles Lee which is all well and good until that plan induces a cussion anyway the plan fails because Charles Lee isn't here but who is haam come now you cannot hope to match me Connor all your skills you still but a boy with so much left to learn give me Lee and possible he is the promise of a better future the Sheep need a shepherd He has been dismissed and censured he can do nothing for you now a temporary setback he will be [Music] restored I actually quite like this bit Connor is forced to face his father the Grandmaster of the colonial Templars and though he's not his Target he is protecting Lee I think it's clear that haam has no intent on Surviving this confrontation as expanded upon by forsaken he's sacrificing himself for what he believes in and that just so happens to be Charles Lee if you want further evidence that haam lets Connor win the fight ends with both of Ham's hidden blades trained at Connor's neck at Point Blank and chooses to try to strangle him to death instead giving Conor time to stab him don't think I've the intention of cressing your cheek and saying I was wrong I will not weep and wonder what might have been I'm sure you understand still I'm proud of you in a way youve shown great conviction strength courage all Noble qualities [Music] I should have killed you long ago I do quite like this ending for haam but I do quite like haam as a character though committed to his beliefs he couldn't kill his own son therefore he knew facing Connor would mean his death and though Connor's vengeful obsession with Lee seems a bit much at this point the end of his story is now in sight I see now why ours is an eternal War for each piece taken from the board another is placed upon it back and forth we go across the world across the ages some days mine feels an impossible task but I cannot afford to be consumed without doubt people need me now more than ever I must stop the Templars I will kill Charles Lee I think Charles Lee as an antagonist could have done with more screen time it's easy enough to understand the concept behind which Connor believes Lee to be a monster and when Connor and Lee encounter one another he certainly doesn't mince his words but I'd like to know what Lee's intentions actually are post the prologue he does appear reprehensible but we don't really actually see him doing anything particularly reprehensible and the one misdeed that's been attributed to him all game is now the fault of George Washington and the other misdeed is plotting to kill a man that we now know we should have no love for because Connor as an assassin himself has murdered people for less than what George Washington himself has done so there's not enough Visual Evidence to set Connor apart from Lee and that's because too much time of the story is dedicated to actually focusing on the American Revolution that not enough time gets dedicated to showing us Charles Lee's own actions and why his allegiance to the Templars is so significant it boils down to Charles Lee has to die because he's a bad man but I'd like to see more that he's a threat rather than dialogue and implication suggesting it and thanks to both of his major antagonistic moments being canceled out by plot come the end Charles Lee has more cause to hate Connor than Connor has to hate him that's because Charles Lee isn't a threat to the colonies or the Assassins he most certainly is and from Connor's point of view he is tyranny personified a man corrupted by his lust for power and this appears to stem from the fact that the game has many good dialogue moments in which the Assassin Templar conflict is thrust into a morally gray area where everybody simply believes they're doing the right thing to the point where the over complicated plot gets lost in its own conflict of ideals that it forgets to actually show us anything in other words the plot just relies too much on Assassin's Creed forsaken to provide the context that it can't stand without it and though I'd argue that Assassin's Creed book is the best of the lot it isn't reasonable for it to sustain that but anyway after a bit of faffing around we managed to track down Charles Lee resulting in a pretty cool Final Chase and a final conversation so to speak between Charles and Connor why do you persist you put us down we rise again you end one plot we Forge another you try so hard but it always ends the same those who know you think you mad and this is why even those men you sought to save have turned their backs on you yet you fight you resist why because no one else will you'd think being shot would be a swift end to him but no he does manage to get away and then Connor has to move at a crawling Pace towards the Harbor Master who tells him where Lee went leading him to finding him in an inn the two share a drink as a symbol of respect I don't know and then Connor kills Charles Lee bringing an end to whatever tyranny he happened to be up to behind the scenes yoinking the amulet from his neck and Consulting the piece of Eden in his village having believed to have failed in his mission as his people are gone it's here where Juno tells Connor that he must hide the amulet somewhere where only Desmond would know where to find it so he bangs it in a grave on the homestead where Desmond of course finally finds the amulet allowing for the modern day story to conclude but more on that in a minute but first let's talk about the ending of Connor's story we see the conclusion of the American Revolution with the British leaving the colonies however cones firsthand this doesn't mean liberty and justice for all also his people are gone they've gone west and the land was sold beneath their feet by Congress to some fella from New York showing the shift in power has simply bred new injustices we're on our own now no more merry English parts and labor which means we got to go at it ourselves got to pay for it too selling land is quick and easy not quite so nasti as taxes and since some say they're what started the old war ain't no rush to bring him back clever men these new leaders of ours they know not to push it just yet too soon for taxes too British and that's the game's cynical view of the American Revolution that I've alluded to earlier in the video Connor's actions helped facilitate Independence he stopped the Templars at least for now but he couldn't save his people's home and this new United States of America isn't ideal for everyone he's accomplished a lot of what he set out to do but his ideals take a massive blow here he refused to acknowledge there would be a cost and didn't really dedicate much time to understanding what it was the spirit that was the ISU Juno actually wanted it's far from a happy ending for the protagonist and if I'm not mistaken there was initially meant to be a speech at the end of the game that was cut where that would embed Connor's belief of what it means to be an assassin and an Assassin's work never being done but instead we get botchy with George Washington for some [ __ ] reason and so ultimately the ending of Assassin's Creed 3 was meant to be Bittersweet and it doesn't fail spectacularly at doing that however the plot is weakened by a strange pacing that glosses over a lot of crucial information that would have allowed the narrative to thrive more I can't help but feel as if this was intended to be a longer more in-depth game and the plot points aren't bad because they're poorly thought out but because sometimes they're poorly established I believe every negative narrative turn in this story could be fashioned into a positive if only every moment had more time to explore it in depth overall Assassin's Creed 3 tells a mediocre story that attempts to simultaneously be simple and complex the key moments that are present to weakened by the absence of key moments that were needed as things stand aspects are only present as far as to be serviceable which is kind of the only word that Springs to mind when thinking about Assassin's Creed 3's main plot serviceable but fortunately it doesn't stand alone after all Assassin's Creed 3 is an open world game and though the side content doesn't serve to rescue Assassin's Creed 3's main plot from overwhelming mediocrity it does somewhat enrich the game so before we turn off Focus to how the modern day caps the game off let's have a look at that there's no denying the extra bits and bats of Assassin's Creed 3 are an odd sort they dip in and out of relevance to the plot with the same chain of side missions can be completely removed from it one minute and the next feel massively integral and I think the best place to start with that is my favorite of the side content the homestead missions in which Connor cultivates a community around the Davenport man turning it from a simple estate into a town in its own right a place filled with those forgotten in colonial society it gives the cold lonely Mana a homely feeling establishing not only an economy around the town that now accompanies the Mana that has some benefit that I never bothered to explore but also establishing a group of people who exist outside of the Revolution and the Assassin Templar conflict whom Connor can call friends not only rescuing them from whatever situation they come from but aiding them as they adjust to life on the homestead and glaring quality issues aside it's my opinion that these have a positive impact on the overall game and they do dip in and out of relevance to the story as it's told for instance most of it is completely irrelevant and then you get moments like ail's death in the story he just kind of stops existing at the end so it's good that at least in some way the game explains what became of him it does begin a new issue though where you have to figure out where these things are supposed to slot in with the storytelling the Homestead missions only become available when they'd be appropriate for the time but you have to start doing them along with the story so I did them simultaneously which has made finding the footage a bit of a f admittedly but at least my playthrough felt like it made sense I guess and this is an issue that carries over into several other forms of side content for instance a series of Naval side missions in which you hunt down the Templar Nicholas Biddle who's oddly a character we don't actually see in the prologue sequences we see him while playing as Connor once in the main story but it's good that that isn't forgotten about either because he has such a punchable face we also have to liberate each district of Boston and New York recruiting a member of the Brotherhood every time we do and some of these characters make a brief appearance in one of the main story missions so it feels as if there's something you should be doing but again it's side content this is done by completing a specified variety of objectives in a given District such as putting down rabid dogs and things like that and though these objectives have a habit of despawning as you arrive at them for the most part yeah they're fine then there's the Boston Brawlers in which you're punching people you can never go wrong with punching people that doesn't become relevant to the plot at any point just enjoy punching people can't go far wrong with the Frontiersman missions either these are typically based on myths and urban legends such as a sea monster or indeed the headless horseman in which you investigate and figure out who's actually Behind These sightings of these strange phenomena and I quite enjoyed those the Benedict Arnold missions see us head to West Point to root out a traitor that happens to be Benedict Arnold himself it's a short story that considering the narrative doesn't make sense for Connor to be involved with but nonetheless he is as why would Connor help Washington with this considering his own betrayal whom can we trust now the Patriot heroes are betraying us you reap what you s [Music] and of course a pleasant surprise on the side were the peg leg Trinkets and though these function is collectibles found around the map that's not all they are as when you find a certain number and bring them back to Peg Leg he gives you something what you got for me H you brought me some good pieces that's worth a letter to be sure here you go Captain I will be back for the rest and these letters lead to Missions at unique locations that all make for very interesting set pieces making for a neat visually distinct change of pace from the rest of the game and doing them isn't just fun content but they have their own rewards so at first these trinkets may seem like just another pointless collectible in an Assassin's Creed game that actually hiding some of the more interesting side content this game has taking us to Unique locations outside of the world map that are as fascinating as they are beautiful which makes Gathering the Collectibles of which there are only 24 in total if I'm remembering properly worthwhile if you have an n for more Naval there are other generic naval missions to indulge in and you can also do assassination contracts where you're running around places killing people they don't really have much more to them than that there are all sorts of challenges to partake in and collection missions to do which are all well and good but you get the idea though this game's assortment of side content doesn't seem all that extensive some of it is genuinely good stuff others is just Ubisoft stuff so yeah take that as you will as far as other positives go this game has a good soundtrack I like the soundtrack I don't know anything about music so that's kind of where I have to leave it but to wrap up this really long video let's talk about the modern day ending so with the amulet located and the power sources all hooked up Desmond and the Gang have all they need to gain access to the temple where they find a bigger orb and all Desmond need do according to Juno is touch it to save the world however in doing so would release Juno who according to manura would get up to some naughty stuff so a shown a future in which Desmond doesn't touched the orb in which Humanity albeit in lesser number survives and thrives until well it doesn't anymore and history repeats itself it's a future that Desmond perceives to have no real hope the alternative is to touch the orb freeing Juno and risking her enslaving Humanity which Desmond perceives to be a problem that can be tackled however touching the orb will sacrifice Desmond's life which despite protests from William Miles that they can find another way Desmond decides to do preventing the apocalypse somehow but at the expense of his own life and if we're being entirely honest with ourselves it's a bit of a middle finger ending of the highest order though Desmond Saves the World and that's kind of nicely all sorted out now Juno's been freed and her plans continue into trans media with that inevitably being stopped in a comic or is it a book I don't know I didn't pay attention to that and though later titles do touch down on Juno it does eventually Trail off that way so as you can imagine for most people that's something that remains unanswered people take issue with this ending because Desmond's fate is not just his own demise but also the demise of the direction of the brand it's an incredibly strange ending under the microscope and it makes my head hurt in a positive way it's the end of an era it is an end point to a degree but with where the Brand's gone since you can't help but feel as if it's a bit of a misstep if that makes sense it's the defenestration of the modern day's cohesion and though that does allow subsequent games to become more isolated stories it comes at the expense of the overarching sense of mystery that was established with Assassin's Creed 1 that made the concept of these story so interesting it's weird to have this end point that isn't then treated as an ending and in the decade and a bit since the brand hasn't really figured out what to do with its modern day it's just sort of idling sometimes making progress ress sometimes not sometimes not even existing it's odd and that's what caps off the meh experience that was Assassin's Creed 3 like I said over the years I have grown more fond of it but it isn't a particularly amazing example of an Assassin's Creed story it has all the right Concepts in more or less every department and then doesn't execute them quite to the degree that makes them satisfying and the ending exists so the modern day can stall and wander aimlessly so as many games as possible can be released under the Assassin's Creed brand in the years to come and that's exactly what's happened as there was a time when Assassin's Creed 3 was envisioned as the end of the series but why would Ubisoft end something that made them so much money to conclude I'd like to think that Assassin's Creed 3 was initially intended to be a much larger and more expansive game than the one we got there is evidence to support that for instance the strange pacing in the story and the absence of certain necessary story beats not to mention the novel forsaken going into more detail about things that can make it a more viable storytelling experience but you can't rely on another piece of media to tell your story for you but when you play this game slowly when you take it in bit by bit and do all the side content and take it all into consideration you aren't left with a dismal experience you're left with an experience you perhaps want more of one you can understand nonetheless but something is certainly missing from the game in many respects and I think that's why Assassin's Creed 3 was so disappointing when it released it wasn't all down to an ending that only made sense from a business perspective which is external to the storytelling but also because on many occasions the bad stuff isn't that far from being good it just doesn't make the leap so that brings me to the key question was I wrong about Assassin's Creed 3 there was a time when I load this game it was disappointing to me back in 2012 because of many of the reasons that I've already detailed in today's video and now I see it differently because it's no longer a disappointment I know what I'm expecting going into a playthrough of this game and I've in many ways started to enjoy playing it I don't think it's terrible on every account and where it does stammer I feel as if I can see why I can see why it doesn't quite hit the Mark and I can appreciate it for some of its better qualities do I think that it's one of the best games in the series no certainly not but it's not some of the worst now either it's one of those that sits in the middle for me one where it could have been so much more but at least it had heart and in a series where with respect that seems to for the most part be a thing of the past I find myself able to enjoy this game from an entirely different perspective to the one I would have had 12 years ago or indeed the one I had six years ago and so the answer to that question appears to be both yes and no but I'm going to end this video here Jesus it was an absolute ramble and it wasn't anywhere near as organized as I was hoping it would be but I quite liked the absolute gigantic mess this video turned out to be hopefully it was enjoyable for one reason or another thank you all for watching I really hope that you've enjoyed it if you did be sure to go ahead leave a like subscribe be share the Channel with your friends all that wonderful stuff it's massively appreciated and once again a huge thanks to rayon for sponsoring today's video aside from that all I can think to say is with any luck I'll be seeing you all with another video at some point but until next time please take care and goodbye [Music]

Channel: Fizhy

Views: 1,110

Keywords: PC gaming, Fizhy, Fizhy Assassin's Creed, AC3, Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed III, AC, Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 3, AC3 Video Essay, Critique, Raycon

Id: x-gb2XCybzk

Length: 98min 37sec (5917 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 13 2024