Assassin's Creed Black Flag

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peter
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Assassin's Creed Black Flag

Post by peter »

This game (which I was given for Christmas) comes highly recommended both by people I know who have played it, and in terms of the generally favourable reviews it received at the time of its release nearly ten years ago.

I have to say that for a game originally released onto the Xbox 360, the quality of the graphics are top notch. I've loaded it up and am now free-roaming in Havana, having done a few of the opening stages of the main quest. I am slowly getting to grips with the game mechanics - not without a certain amount of difficulty I admit - and am basically 'working' the map, finding the synchronisation points that open up the various areas of the city, and locating the chests marked thereon. I can't seem to find the ship I arrived on in the harbour (is this the ship that Edward captains for the rest of the game - the Jackdaw I believe it is called - I have no idea), but no doubt all will become clear as the game progresses.

Another area of confusion to me is to what extent I should be familiarising myself with the Abstergo part of the game. I can exit the animus, and find myself in a first-person character within the Abstergo complex,where there seems to be information on things like the inventory and what Edward is doing at any given time, but I have yet to find any comprehensive journal of what has actually transpired, or indeed any of the usual 'film clips' that I've built up in previous AC games I've played. In truth it's all a bit confusing at the moment; I can't really see the point of exiting the animus and going there at all. In the Abstergo mode, I have been presented with some kind of a black computer tablet that I think I should be able to do something with - but I haven't the faintest idea what: at the moment it sits in the corner of the screen doing, well, exactly nothing. I've had no training in it's use and have no idea if I need to be using it (or indeed exiting the animus and going to Abstergo) at all.

Still, I like being Edward Kenaway (Kenway, Kennedy?) and for the moment am content just to wander the city getting into scrapes and extricating myself from them. I'm going to be honest and admit that I've never finished an AC game I've started yet; there has always been another game in my pile waiting to be loaded up, and they can be a bit 'slow burn' for one who craves excitement and forward progression in the way I do. I've got the feeling that if I could just really get to grips with one game, see it through to completion, that a whole world of gaming possibility could open up to me. There is a complexity to the backstory of Templars and Assassin's that really appeals to me (and something about the original inhabitants of earth and the givers of power to humanity in back of this - Eve's apple and whatnot) and I really need to get to grips with it in order to make it all fall into place. Without this knowledge I'm doing each thing/game or whatnot, randomly in isolation.

Maybe I'm going to make this next my year of Assassin's Creed. I have a suspicion that it would be worth the effort and would repay the time spent in immersing myself in it tenfold.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
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'Of course - you know you have.'
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Post by Avatar »

Ah, definitely one of the best of the series.

Also, don't bother with the Abstergo part...I only leave the Animus when the story itself forces me to.

In theory those emails and things form part of the "wider" story, but in practice, 1) they are completely skippable and unimportant, and 2) even Ubisoft has no idea what the "outside" story actually is...it has changed several times since the first game and is really a bit of a mess.

Still haven't finished either Odyssey or Valhalla myself, earlier games were easier to finish but the bloat is becoming absurd. It's really the repetitiveness that gets me, hence my steady disillusionment with the AC games.

(Despite this I still find myself getting each one within a year or two of it's release, I have almost all of the "main" titles.)

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Post by peter »

Useful to know that about the Abstergo bit Av; I might try and solve a few of the puzzles there just for fun, but at present I'm more interested in the Edward aspect of the story.

It's an interesting one; I'm into the RPG mindset of actually trying to mentally 'get into character' when I play these games (what else is an RPG for?) They're escapist in nature and I like that about them. But in the case of the AC games, I find the 'meta' aspect of playing a role within a role (as it were) distracting from this. In Skyrim for example, it's simple: you are the dhovakin, plain and simple - you go around doing dhovakin stuff. In AC games you are a character inside a character and so it's harder to identify with Ezio or Altier as the character that you are role-playing. Small stuff, but I wonder if they wouldn't have been better to stick with the actual historical storyline and have avoided the modern day bits altogether. Late in the day to speculate on this I know, but I'm thinking that maybe they could have significantly upped the RPG quotient by doing so.

I'm interested in Valhalla, but I'm hearing a lot about the presence of the much slated 'microtransactions' in the game. You certainly are never going to get me springing for in-game consumables or weapons and armour - if you can't win it, I don't want it - but is this going to screw up the game for me if I buy it? I love the look of the game, and the new dlc Ragnarok looks stunning, but I'm not going to bung for it - in fact I don't want to even play it - if I can't get the full experience without paying for extra stuff inside the game. Any advice Av? Also I'm a single player man; I don't do multiplayer and I don't like games that require you even to be online at all. Beyond downloading the upgrades etc, online stuff doesn't interest me, but I've had games where it seemed almost more important than the game itself (I've stayed away from Death Stranding for this reason). What is the Valhalla score on this, I'm wondering?
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by Avatar »

peter wrote:I'm interested in Valhalla, but I'm hearing a lot about the presence of the much slated 'microtransactions' in the game. You certainly are never going to get me springing for in-game consumables or weapons and armour - if you can't win it, I don't want it - but is this going to screw up the game for me if I buy it? I love the look of the game, and the new dlc Ragnarok looks stunning, but I'm not going to bung for it - in fact I don't want to even play it - if I can't get the full experience without paying for extra stuff inside the game. Any advice Av? Also I'm a single player man; I don't do multiplayer and I don't like games that require you even to be online at all. Beyond downloading the upgrades etc, online stuff doesn't interest me, but I've had games where it seemed almost more important than the game itself (I've stayed away from Death Stranding for this reason). What is the Valhalla score on this, I'm wondering?
It's perfectly possible to get the full experience without paying for anything extra or using the online component at all. I do neither and I have about 70 hours in so far and not finished it yet. (In fact, I haven't even noticed any attempt at micro-transactions in the game itself, although I believe you can buy some in-game stuff outside of the actual game. (In the Ubisoft store or whatever.)

Functionally though, no different from Odyssey or Origins, so you don't need to worry on that score.

--A
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Post by peter »

Good news indeed Av.

While you're here, you know that I've been playing Fallout New Vegas on an old Xbox 360 and I believe I mentioned that I'd picked up Oblivion for the same consul for a couple of pounds, so intended to play it.

I began the game, got around twenty or thirty hours into it, then it started playing up - not loading and whatnot, getting very jerky and ultimately freezing altogether.

I'd discovered that I had an earlier saved game which must have been from years ago (I had the disk once before and sold it), so as an experiment tried out that game instead. Same result; couldn't get it to run smoothly and wouldn't load in between regions etc.

So, thinking that perhaps the old consul had finally given up the ghost, I took the disk out and put the Fallout New Vegas disk back in (fully expecting it to be the same story). But it worked like a charm - smooth as can be, no problems loading (excepting that these older consuls are always a bit slower). Played it for a couple of days (about four or five hours of playing) with no repetition of the problem.

I was actually enjoying Oblivion and I'd like to continue with it, but I'm guessing that without unloading the games that I've got saved and restarting a new one, I'm pretty much screwed. I don't think I've got the patience to repeat it all for a third time. Any ideas?
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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Post by Avatar »

No idea I'm afraid, I've actually never owned a console.

However, a quick search turned up this, might be worth trying at least:
Oblivion uses the Xbox 360 hard drive extensively to cache (copy and reuse) game data. This is done to optimize all loading the game does. It has been found in rare cases on some Xbox 360s that the cached data can get overly fragmented. This exhibits itself by the game taking a long time to load anything from menus, dialogue, sounds, objects, levels, and more.

To solve this problem, reset your Xbox, and hold down the A button as the game is booting up. If any button is held while Oblivion is loading, it will clear its hard drive cache, and create a new one. Once you see the "Bethesda Softworks" logo video, the game is already loaded, and the cache should have been cleared.

Note, this does not effect your game in any way other than loading. You will not lose any saved data.

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index ... pic=273721
Maybe that will help...

--A
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Post by peter »

That has got to be a possibility Av - thanks, I'll certainly try it out!

In the meantime, I started playing Fallout New Vegas again, and realized how much I really like this game! As such, it'll probably be a while before I get back to Oblivion!

;)
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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Post by Avatar »

LOL It's a good game.

Now, if you play on PC, there's actually a mod that allows you to merge Fallout 3 and Fallout NV into 1 huge game using the NV style / assets / etc.

I've considered trying it out, but reports are mixed and it does limit the modability of the resultant game.

--A
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Post by peter »

I've been watching some of the new Unreal engine stuff on YouTube Av - Skyrim and Last Of Us 2 and the like. Very impressive, but oddly in the latter case, I found that against an almost perfectly realised backdrop, the limitations of Ellie's 'movement graphics' became suddenly more apparent. Her jerky motion in jumping over walls etc, not normally something you'd even notice, became distracting because it was not in line (as it were) with the improved visuals. Oh well, you can't have it all! ;)
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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Post by Avatar »

Well, UE5 is still very new, and obviously those games were not made with it in mind. I'm sure games actually built in it from the start will handle stuff like that a lot better.

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Post by peter »

Most likely.

But back to Black Flag, I'm starting to get into the game, to get a feel for the story and where it is going, as well as getting a bit of a bug for finding all of the chests and treasure and whatnot.

It's taken time, but Black Flag might be the actual game that finally hooks me into Assassin's Creed in the proper manner it obviously deserves.

:D
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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Post by Rigel »

Black Flag is still my favorite AC game, and IIRC the last one that didn't have enemy levels. So to get around the tough spots you didn't grind your numbers, you had to actually learn to use Edward's tools and weapons more effectively.

I should replay that sometime, see how it looks on my 4k screen...
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Post by peter »

Got as far as one of the sneaking bits and then got stuck!

Still uploaded though - need to get back and complete!

:)
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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