GameCritic's Dialectical Realism...bah
I was going to leave a comment at GameCritics for the recent article by Brandon Erickson. However I got too many errors trying to post it, that I decided I would just write about it here instead...How Assassin's Creed killed its own potential
here's my response to his article: Dialectical Realism:How Assassin's Creed killed its own potential
You absolutely nailed it on the head, the point about the realism of a game brought out by the character's ability to interact at a higher level within the games architecture. An example where this obvious interaction fails is in FPS games, when you can shoot up crates, blow through tanks with your rocket launcher, and you can't even blow through a wooden wall in a cabin or kick down the closet door.
Granted Assassin's creed had several short comings, such as the inability to swim, enter any buildings, or explore the scenic cliffs/mountains.
here's my response to his article: Dialectical Realism:How Assassin's Creed killed its own potential
You absolutely nailed it on the head, the point about the realism of a game brought out by the character's ability to interact at a higher level within the games architecture. An example where this obvious interaction fails is in FPS games, when you can shoot up crates, blow through tanks with your rocket launcher, and you can't even blow through a wooden wall in a cabin or kick down the closet door.
Granted Assassin's creed had several short comings, such as the inability to swim, enter any buildings, or explore the scenic cliffs/mountains.
You bring up the UI in Shadow of Colossus as a comparison to where AC falls short. I believe that AC has taken it one step further. Surely it aids your character to have the HUD displayed, but the fact that you can play through the entire game with no HUD far surpasses that of Shadow of the Colossus. There was point where from capturing enough lizards/eating enough fruit etc.. that my grip strength was too large to play through the game effectively (over 60% of the screen covered by that HUD element). Oh how I wish I could disable those elements. Thank you AC for that feature!
I was able to complete each assassination without the use of any aids. This includes side missions, and combat. I can't imagine playing the game this way for the first time, but once you have the experience, Ubisoft has give you the ability to play it at it's core.
You mention the "dna flutters" that highlight enemies and targets etc... If you don't use the "vision" ability, that effect isn't noticed. If you don't use the vision, the highlighted characters, don't become highlighted. The "vision" is for the noob. The targets/characters you need to assassinate/interact with through the game are apparent through camera angles, clothing and actions. If you are free running around, using a full HUD, and the special vision as a crutch, you will miss the finer details that were included in the game.
You belittled the fighting system. I, (for one), love the combat system. The assassin is not some all powerful brute that can power through the masses. He is a skilled assassin and in the art of killing 1-1. That is how the combat is oriented. Sure you can use a knife/sword/hidden blade as your tool. But the noob will button mash or play the waiting game with the sword to get past those 20 man fights. I tell you this, when you can finish the game using only your assassin's blade without attacking with the sword/knife etc... then you will understand the brilliance of the combat system. The technique they used for quick kills isn't as unforgiving as the one found in Onimusha, and makes the fighting so much more enjoyable.
-one hit kills, branched combinations, gaurd drops, counters...perfect for the assassin.
-Finally you complain about the Desmond/Altair disconnect for the player. Perhaps you weren't aware that Assassin's Creed is part of a Trilogy. As much as I loved the "historical" point of view of Altair, with the gameplay "genius" behind assassin's creed, I would hate to see it go to waste in 3 games of the same era/time period. I can only imagine that the Desmond/Altair separation wasn't a gimmicky add-on to piggy back off the "matrix effect", but rather the paradigm that was used to allow the "series" to take place in ANY time period that they wanted to do, from as far back historically to beyond present day reality to the future. That appears to me as a design decision to allow the story to mature in any direction. It allows them to take there new interactive gameplay to any location they want.
I was able to complete each assassination without the use of any aids. This includes side missions, and combat. I can't imagine playing the game this way for the first time, but once you have the experience, Ubisoft has give you the ability to play it at it's core.
You mention the "dna flutters" that highlight enemies and targets etc... If you don't use the "vision" ability, that effect isn't noticed. If you don't use the vision, the highlighted characters, don't become highlighted. The "vision" is for the noob. The targets/characters you need to assassinate/interact with through the game are apparent through camera angles, clothing and actions. If you are free running around, using a full HUD, and the special vision as a crutch, you will miss the finer details that were included in the game.
You belittled the fighting system. I, (for one), love the combat system. The assassin is not some all powerful brute that can power through the masses. He is a skilled assassin and in the art of killing 1-1. That is how the combat is oriented. Sure you can use a knife/sword/hidden blade as your tool. But the noob will button mash or play the waiting game with the sword to get past those 20 man fights. I tell you this, when you can finish the game using only your assassin's blade without attacking with the sword/knife etc... then you will understand the brilliance of the combat system. The technique they used for quick kills isn't as unforgiving as the one found in Onimusha, and makes the fighting so much more enjoyable.
-one hit kills, branched combinations, gaurd drops, counters...perfect for the assassin.
-Finally you complain about the Desmond/Altair disconnect for the player. Perhaps you weren't aware that Assassin's Creed is part of a Trilogy. As much as I loved the "historical" point of view of Altair, with the gameplay "genius" behind assassin's creed, I would hate to see it go to waste in 3 games of the same era/time period. I can only imagine that the Desmond/Altair separation wasn't a gimmicky add-on to piggy back off the "matrix effect", but rather the paradigm that was used to allow the "series" to take place in ANY time period that they wanted to do, from as far back historically to beyond present day reality to the future. That appears to me as a design decision to allow the story to mature in any direction. It allows them to take there new interactive gameplay to any location they want.
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