Is it worth it to finish Assassin's Creed?

[MarchHare]

I'm really late to the party on this, but I picked up AC for the 360 last week. So far, I've completed seven of the nine assassinations. I'm currently trying (and failing, over and over and over again) to kill the 8th target: the dude in Acre on the boat. I'm sure anyone who has got this far in the game understands my frustration with this mission. My character is supposed to be an elite acrobat and parkour expert, but grabbing the side of a pier and pulling himself out of the water is beyond his abilities? Please.

I'm bored silly with the repetitive sidequests. The eavesdropping, pickpocketing, and interrogation minigames were interesting the first few times, but now they just seem like yet another chore I must complete before I get to the good bits of the game (the actual assassinations). Then there's the "find the flags within the time limit" assignment informers sometimes give me which is stupid and nonsensical (although thankfully easy).

And don't even get me started on the "save the citizen" sidequests. The game tells me again and again to be discreet and not attract attention to myself, but prior to each assassination, I kill nearly 100 guards over the course of my investigations and rescuing each distressed citizen. Surely if this was a real medieval city, my behaviour would have induced a city-wide alarm with every guard actively hunting a terrible mass-murderer. My wife, who has been watching me play on-and-off, commented when we encountered the first the citizen-saving mission in Damascus, "Didn't your leader tell you not to kill anyone unnecessarily? It's not your problem if the guards are harassing that poor sap."

Then I hear from Tom's review that the worst part of the game is yet to come? I haven't read any spoilers, but let me guess: in a grand twist ending, I'm going to have to fight my way through Assassintown and kill Chief Assassin Guy, right?

The end is easily the worst final three hours I've seen in a game all year, largely because I kept waiting for the promise of the subject matter to be realized. Instead, I get a boss fight against a "surprise" boss who will surprise exactly no one? I get to revisit all the bosses I fought up to now? I get long slogs through combat gauntlets minus many of the tools you've been given up to now?

[...]

So for those of you about to play Assassin's Creed, which is a marvelous game aside from the disappointing lack of meaningful narrative, consider this: stop playing after you've assassinated your 9th target and don't look for answers to any of the deeper questions raised over the course of the game. Your experience with Assassin's Creed will be better for it.

Reading that doesn't exactly fill me with excitement about completing the game. After I finish the assassination in the docks, how much is left? Is it worth it to soldier on?

Climbing to the top of the cathedral in Acre sure was cool, though.

[Lizard_King]

I'm really late to the party on this, but I picked up AC for the 360 last week. So far, I've completed seven of the nine assassinations. I'm currently trying (and failing, over and over and over again) to kill the 8th target: the dude in Acre on the boat. I'm sure anyone who has got this far in the game understands my frustration with this mission. My character is supposed to be an elite acrobat and parkour expert, but grabbing the side of a pier and pulling himself out of the water is beyond his abilities? Please.

I had a lot of frustration with that, and ended up using the wall->tower->boat route rather than the piers and the boats. And those goddamned crazy people.

The patrol routes are trivial to evade, and the limited ai means it's still possible to get the stealth kill even though you're running directly at him across a little bridge.

Reading that doesn't exactly fill me with excitement about completing the game. After I finish the assassination in the docks, how much is left? Is it worth it to soldier on?

Not very much. I didn't mind the combat generally, and I still thought the end was a slog and the rewards...questionable. It's really up to you whether you can just walk away like that...I had no problem doing that with GTA4 at 30+ hours in, but for some reason AC made me finish.

Climbing to the top of the cathedral in Acre sure was cool, though.

Yeah, and finding a damned templar up there was the icing on that cake. One of the best moments in the game, I just wish the viewpoints had more of a story purpose than just clearing up the gps fog.

[merryprankster]

I thought it was worth finishing, but I liked AC in general. Just get really, really good at countering and you can dispactch the targets a lot faster. Try using the dagger and throwing knives, for me that was the weapon combo that worked the best. And yeah, pier hoping is a pain in AC

[MarchHare]

I had a lot of frustration with that, and ended up using the wall->tower->boat route rather than the piers and the boats. And those goddamned crazy people.

The patrol routes are trivial to evade, and the limited ai means it's still possible to get the stealth kill even though you're running directly at him across a little bridge.

That's actually the route I've been taking. I'm doing my best to actually use the info I gain from the investigations, and I acquired a map that suggested that route is the best to avoid the patrolling guards. The problem I seem to be having is that once I get near my target's boat (not even on it -- still a few jumps away) I trigger an alarm and he runs away, putting a dozen guards between me and him. Even if I manage to fight off the guards, I end up failing the mission because my target escaped. Obviously I'm doing something wrong if I'm being spotted before I reach his boat, but I'm not sure what it is. I'd had so many insta-deaths from falling (or being pushed) into the water prior to that, that I turned off the game in frustration after failing yet again. :(

[MarchHare]

Just get really, really good at countering and you can dispactch the targets a lot faster. Try using the dagger and throwing knives, for me that was the weapon combo that worked the best. And yeah, pier hoping is a pain in AC

That's exactly what I've been doing. I use the short blade/throwing knives almost exclusively (what's the benefit of the sword?), and I've mastered counter-attacks. I can easily take on 10+ guards simultaneously.

For some reason, though, I'm just awful at combo-kills. I can do them easily enough in the practice ring, but I don't think I've pulled off even one when it counted. Is there some obvious trick that I'm missing?

[Drastic]

You've seen the best parts. It might be worth finishing up just to enjoy the sheer plunge into whiskey tango foxtrotville, population you, in which the design team decided all that open environment free-running stuff was for the birds and that what the game really needed was some waves-and-waves forcefield-arena fights. That before cheerfully yanking the handbrake on the plot car and jerking the wheel hard to one side, just to see what would happen.

[Lizard_King]

That's actually the route I've been taking. I'm doing my best to actually use the info I gain from the investigations, and I acquired a map that suggested that route is the best to avoid the patrolling guards. The problem I seem to be having is that once I get near my target's boat (not even on it -- still a few jumps away) I trigger an alarm and he runs away, putting a dozen guards between me and him. Even if I manage to fight off the guards, I end up failing the mission because my target escaped. Obviously I'm doing something wrong if I'm being spotted before I reach his boat, but I'm not sure what it is. I'd had so many insta-deaths from falling (or being pushed) into the water prior to that, that I turned off the game in frustration after failing yet again. :(

OK, I see what you mean. From what I recall, I stuck entirely to the wall, all the way to the tower, never once setting foot on a boat until I got to the target's boat. There are masses of knights and lone sentries, but throwing daggers and a little creativity can get you around them (I forget if simply, killing them, alerting, running to some hay, becoming anonymous, and moving on gets you in trouble, I wasn't shy about abusing that when I was out of AI range of the target).

But the key here is that it's definitely doable to not go near the water in that mission. If I hadn't had to do it because of such an awful design decision like water=lava, I could almost laud the creativity available in routes for this one.

[MattKeil]

Assassin's Creed was my favorite game of 2007, largely due to the final few hours and the revelations therein, so yeah, I'd say finish it. But apparently I'm the only person on the planet who liked it that much, so your mileage may vary.

[Zuwadza]

Nah, I liked the end too. It wasn't perfect but by that time I was really enjoying the combat. My advice is to *not* sit around and counter attack as that's incredibly dull. Once I started being more aggressive in fights I enjoyed them a lot more.

[MarchHare]

Nah, I liked the end too. It wasn't perfect but by that time I was really enjoying the combat. My advice is to *not* sit around and counter attack as that's incredibly dull. Once I started being more aggressive in fights I enjoyed them a lot more.

Ok, any advice then? As I said earlier, I'm having a terrible time pulling off Combo Kills. What's the secret?

[Charles]

I should get around to finishing it one of these days.

[Brad Grenz]

Tell me, does Kristin Bell get naked or not?

[Sockpuppet]

I really enjoyed it, despite some obvious low points. ("Eavesdropper's Creed" just doesn't have the same ring to it.) I seemed to do well with the combat, which was good because I couldn't seem to get a stealthy assassination if my life depended on it, and every single encounter turned quickly into an all-out brawl. (It wasn't until a few missions in that it even occurred to me that there might be an opportunity for a stealthier approach.)

I'd be hard pressed to think of a sequel I'm looking forward to as much as (the inevitable?) AC2. I think the game had a lot of potential that will hopefully be realized in the next one, and I'm sure down with figuring out where that last scene is going.

Personally, I'd love to see the devs take a few pages from the last Hitman game, which I thought did a wonderfully fun job of "sneak in, kill a dude, sneak out", and also from the last Manhunt game, which I thought did some really cool things with the stealth gameplay (guys looking for you in the shadows, searchlights sweeping through and taking away valuable cover).

Of course, I know that liking Manhunt 2 instantly invalidates my opinions about pretty much everything. :) But still... add one to the "finish it" column.

[Zuwadza]

Ok, any advice then? As I said earlier, I'm having a terrible time pulling off Combo Kills. What's the secret?

Ha, like I remember now!

[Spect]

I stopped playing at the exact point the OP is at now. Too much of the same old stuff. The game was really cool at first, and I loved it, but I just couldn't take it anymore after 7 assassinations.

On the other hand, I did finish GTA4, and will probably play through it again. Different strokes....

[Charles]

Combo kills require you to press the button as your blade hits the other guy, or earlier. Depending on the lag of your TV's image, they can be a bitch to pull off.

[thamer]

its worth finishing. use the tower entrance to get him and not the stupid mario platform water way over there.

as soon as he sees you coming at him hold down the action button with your hidden blade selected and you should be able to execute a flying killing move.

edit: actually, i mean the action bumper.

[Funkula]

If the storyline has been a sticking point for you thus far, be warned that it's about to get a hundred times more retarded. Also the gameplay begins to noticeably degrade about there. The boat mission is actually the last vanilla assassination.

I finished it, and I'm not sorry I did, but I don't think there's much value in the game past the point you're at now. If you're already sick of everything it has to offer (and it sounds like you are) this is the perfect opportunity to walk away with less of a bad taste in your mouth.

[merryprankster]

That's actually the route I've been taking. I'm doing my best to actually use the info I gain from the investigations, and I acquired a map that suggested that route is the best to avoid the patrolling guards. The problem I seem to be having is that once I get near my target's boat (not even on it -- still a few jumps away) I trigger an alarm and he runs away, putting a dozen guards between me and him. Even if I manage to fight off the guards, I end up failing the mission because my target escaped. Obviously I'm doing something wrong if I'm being spotted before I reach his boat, but I'm not sure what it is. I'd had so many insta-deaths from falling (or being pushed) into the water prior to that, that I turned off the game in frustration after failing yet again. :(

I'm sure that I alerted him as well, he made a break for it along that fortified wall, so i just chased him down and a leap kill. I pretty much just ran past most of the guards in my way, made the kill, and then high tailed it outta there. Not exactly pretty, but very effective. actually it really is typical of my main complaint with AC, and that's that most of my assassinations were really just brawls. I wish there were more options for a stealthy infultration.

[BobJustBob]

The boat was my stealthiest one. I took a water route and ended up hanging off the side of the ship as guards patrolled unaware right above me. Shimmied along until I was near the guy, climbed up and one hit kill. Then I had to fight my way out, of course, but that was the only time in the game I really felt like a stealthy assassin.

[malkav11]

I enjoyed it straight through. I actually found that boat assassination to be the single worst part of the entire game. But your mileage may vary.

[thamer]

If the storyline has been a sticking point for you thus far, be warned that it's about to get a hundred times more retarded. Also the gameplay begins to noticeably degrade about there. The boat mission is actually the last vanilla assassination.

I finished it, and I'm not sorry I did, but I don't think there's much value in the game past the point you're at now. If you're already sick of everything it has to offer (and it sounds like you are) this is the perfect opportunity to walk away with less of a bad taste in your mouth.

Altair finds his deathstar. I think that's the point of the combat heavy ending. He comes face to face with the real evil lurking in the shadows.

[Damien Neil]

I enjoyed the game to the end, flaws and all.

I'd say, however, that if you're getting bored of it at this point, it isn't going to pick up for you. The plot reveals at the end aren't all that interesting, and the only changes in the gameplay are for the worse.

[WarrenM]

Then I had to fight my way out, of course, but that was the only time in the game I really felt like a stealthy assassin.

But Bob, it's not a stealthy assassin game. It's a hack'n'slash action thriller, as I've been told many times.

[John Merva]

I enjoyed the game to the end, flaws and all.

I'd say, however, that if you're getting bored of it at this point, it isn't going to pick up for you. The plot reveals at the end aren't all that interesting, and the only changes in the gameplay are for the worse.

I hugely enjoyed the game all the way through and actually quite liked the turn the game took at the end.

[Alex Dolce]

Of course AC is worth finishing. It's was the best game I played last year, and I've played through it a few times. It may get a little repetitive with all of the side missions, but I enjoyed freerunning so much, and I especially loved the combat, that I didn't mind doing any of them.

[Cossix]

I thought the end of the game was pretty goddamn amazing. The boat assassination was definitely the most frustrating, especially when I made it all the way over to the guy the first time and he ran off and I didn't notice. The 8th and 9th assassinations were a lot better, and I'm not 100% sure I remember them all correctly but I think those were my favorite two.

I stopped doing the informant missions in the game though, they seemed pretty terrible.

[Michael Fitch]

Greetings:
I have no opinions on whether or not you should finish the game, but if you do, it's important to realize that you can use eagle-vision in the lab after the last mission. Otherwise, you're just going to be stuck hanging around forever.

Best,
Michael.

[ElGuapo]

Marchhare, the ending frustrated the hell out of me, and a lot of people, because it took a fresh new way to fight, and open world idea, and threw it all away and brought out the worst in video game endings.

If you decide to finish it, I'd learn the hidden blade counterattack and practice it before the end. Makes it much, much easier.

[Drastic]

Easier than mastering the hidden blade counter (especially when you enter the "oh, just end already!" zone), is mastering the art of knocking people to the ground, quickly switching to the hidden blade, killing them, and switching quickly back to other weapons. It's not as quick, but gives you a somewhat bigger margin of safety.