T w e n t y S i d e d

From this point on, most of the game revolves around a plot-driven door.

A natural side-effect of plot doors is that players will scrutinize them in direct proportion to how much hassle it is to open it. In the Neverwinter Nights 2 example I linked above, it takes the player about a quarter of the game to open a door. Therefore that potion of the game attracted a lot of analysis, which resulted in the entire thing flying apart for me.

The Assassin’s Creed 2 writers seemed to be aware of this danger, so they wisely set up this mission to examine the building and establish that it is exceptionally secure. This helps persuade the player that the upcoming steps will be justified. On the other hand, the mission itself is kind of annoying, and it doesn’t really satisfy all objections.

For example, if I was trying to sneak in to that place and kill somebody, my first thought would be, “Food and water are getting in there somehow. These are not carried by nobles. These will be carried by peasants. Maybe I should consider taking off MY MAGNIFICENTLY FLAMBOYANT CLOWN SUIT and try to slip in undetected. Maybe explore some other methods of assassination besides ‘frontal assault’.” Well, I’d think of that before I thought of “flying machine”, at any rate.

This setup made me even more angry at Ezio. He stayed his blade when all of his foes were right in front of him. Later they’ve moved into an impregnable fortress and NOW he wants to kill them?

Of course, they could have just stuck to the core mechanics and missions like the original, and then I’d fault the game for feeling repetitive. Or they could cull the repetition and I’d ding the game for being too short. Instead of the Good, fast, cheep tradeoff, games seem to have “long, diverse, well-made”. Looking at it that way, Assassin’s Creed 2 actually performs better than most games. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I let these plot-hacks slip by without comment.

EDIT: Edited the first paragraph to fix my nearly incoherent introduction.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Can’t comment on episode. Need to Skyrim. Hope you like this one. Let me know how it turns out.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Ezio! Please help us! Please steal us some uniforms. And a boat. We’re just simple thieves, and know nothing about… stealing things.

I’d love to know how Ezio carries multiple sets of archer armor / uniforms. Or why these uniforms are in treasure chests. Or why the chests are in the street. They’re supposedly awaiting delivery to Seta, but that doesn’t really explain why they’re spread all OH STOP THINKING ABOUT EVERYTHING JUST GO STAB DUDES AND DON’T ASK ANY QUESTIONS!

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Welcome to Venice, Ezio. It’s good that you are here. Recently several of my best thieves were injured or killed in a haphazard and ill-advised frontal assault on a public building in broad daylight. Then half of my forces betrayed me, so I need you to kill them. Then the other half were captured. Sadly, my thieves can’t pick locks or fight to save their lives, so you need to free them and slay their guards. And could you also lead them home? They don’t have a very good sense of direction.

So, I basically need you to do everything. But first, you must prove you are worthy by climbing a tower you already climbed.

Still, I’ll take this over the “do these same three quests, over and over, dozens of times” of the original Assassin’s Creed.

AC2 really does seem to change character when you reach Venice. It becomes a lot more “questy”, and driven more by “BECAUSE IT’S A VIDEOGAME” logic. I wonder what brought on this shift in tone and style. For those of you who have played Brotherhood: Is it more like the first half of AC2, or it it more like the Venice section of the game?

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

I found the gondola escort to be very unsatisfying. It kind of reminded of a GTA mission, where your goals aren’t always clear and deviation results in failure, even when it shouldn’t. The dock ends pointing directly at the boat, which struck me as a giant, “THIS WAY, PLAYER”. So I was pretty miffed when jumping on board launched all of them into the drink. (Having said that, it’s pretty hilarious ito see it happen.) Later, I failed (or nearly, I don’t remember) because I got too far AHEAD of the boat, thus getting punished for being overly thorough and efficient. Then when the gondola pulled into the tunnel, I continued to follow the platforming, and once again got too far from my target. I failed, even though the characters were now safely in their hideout and I had done my job. All of this, and the entire setup of psychic guards assaulting the gondola on sight feels sort of odd.

Like a lot of GTA missions, it’s something that’s piss-easy once you know what the pitfalls are. When I fail, I feel like my goals or challenges weren’t properly explained, and when I win I don’t feel like I’ve really done anything impressive. I just failed until I did exactly as I was told.

Yeah, yeah. I know: Animus.

As an aside, I really, really can’t stand Rosa. Reckless, bossy, short-sighted, irrational, unreasonable, arrogant. Gah. She’s like Miranda, only louder. I got mad when Ezio entertained her flirting. What are you doing, man? Show some self-respect!

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.