Assassin's Creed Was Always an RPG
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- All Clips Taken From Altair Stealth: / @altairstealth
Assassin's creed is a franchise that became the favourite of many because of the ability the developers gave the player to express themselves within a world with predefined rules, history and mythos. It was why so many of us flocked to these games, to enjoy not only being told a story but telling it ourselves through gameplay. In this admittedly self-indulgent rant, I delve into why I think videogames, and assassin's creed specifically, need a distinction between story and storytelling when being thought of and criticised. I argue that even though the story (narrative) of some ac games are bad or mediocre, the storytelling you can experience through the open world and your gameplay can completely bolster your narrative experience.
Assassin's Creed Unity is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in November 2014 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in December 2020 for Stadia.
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What's the most memoerable moment you've ever had playing?
I've had many, but right now I'm thinking of two.
The whole POP: The Sands of Time experience (particularly its final act), and the second is Thief 1, particularly "The Return to the Cathedral" mission.
So far I've only played valhalla, but the most memorable moment in that one was when eivor rejects Odin in favor of their family and friends over power and glory.
when in a videogame i have to read hundreads of text sections and documents to appreciate the story and the lore
Origins for me is just a beautiful game. I think a revenge story is what drives most people to take up the Hidden Blade to fight against the Order. I don't think the story is lackluster at all. Unity is much more like that to me.
yeah true origins is defo better than unity
@@TheSpaniardAssassin Odyssey probably would have been better to talk about. The grind in the game is real, but once the player starts a NG+, even with problems in the dialogue options and cutscenes, it still has a decent story about bringing the family back together.
The Assassin's creed games always had RPG mechanics but the only AC game that really feels like an full on RPG game to me is Odyssey
I don't understand why people don't see the RPG mechanics that they criticised Origins for was the exact same in Unity and Syndicate, they too had skill trees, level progression.
Enemies weren’t hit sponges,, they simply could take slightly more damage.
You were not hitting enemies 15 times while casting magic, you weren’t restricted to a certain area of the map, stealth was still one hit,,, if you played well, you were rewarded. You did not need to stop what you were doing to inflate an artificial number in order to continue the story.
@@garysanders7935They were in unity and syndicate if you are low level, but if you are high level in origins or odyssey they really like die in 1 or 2 hits
@@moatazamrelrawy9765 the difference is, I suppose, that Unity and Syndicate always have 1 hit assassinations with the hidden blade whereas Origins and Odyssey don't.
@@Stealthful_
In origins only phylakes are not 1 shot and higher levels enemies than you.
In odyssey polmarchs and mercenary are not one shot by default, but you can one shot with a perk or getting a high crit chance dmg build.
@@moatazamrelrawy9765 yeah. Every enemy in Unity and Syndicate are 1 shot assassinations even if they are a higher level (Syndicate) or rank (Unity) than the player except bosses (usually the final antagonist or grand master).
I completely agree. People often commit the mistake of criticizing a game's narrative as if it were a book or regard it as an oil paint without taking into consideration the gameplay. I love stories very much and I read a lot of books and comics, but when I play games I also take into consideration the gamplay as well because it is an integral part of the experience. For that reason, I often get a lot of hate from my viewers because I criticize supposedly good games for their bad narrative and how poorly they reward the hours and money the player invested on the product.
Gameplay *is* essential in a video game, otherwise the designers might as well make an animated film. It's cheaper to make, shorter, and easier to consume.
you get it
There are stealth issues in Unity that i wish were different, such as attracting guards, via whistles, as well as the upgrade system for all items of clothing.
Origins, I’m not a fan simply due to the hit sponge combat.
The Ezio trilogy, i feel speaks for itself, though the “castle” battle stuff is just silly, and unwarranted.
What i love about mirage- Basim is a fully formed assassin. He might not have all the fancy toys, but he is stealthy, and deadly. You can go through the entire game, never using any of the toys, should you choose, using only the hidden blade and the environment as your ally.
This is what i wished from Unity. It needed just a small amount of tweaking to be and still remain the greatest AC game in the franchise. If they were to give it a “remaster”, using some of the things they got so right in Mirage, with the still incredible parkour and amazing graphics present in france, that game would just be stellar.
I replayed some of the older AC games , Black Flag , AC 3 , Syndicate etc and i always thought it was an soft RPG kinda game with Stealth elements. And i felt like i grasp so much of the story by being patient and listening to conversations and reading notes and such. Felt like it was a whole new game experience.
Exactly
In my opinion AC2 gives me more freedom to roleplay than the actual rpgs in the series...
Lowkey tho…
Honestly I would be happy with the RPG games if they just kept the core elements of Assassins Creed:
1. The Assassinations or at least the option to play stealthily, instead of forcing combat scenarios
2. The engaging traversal system (Parkour) now it's just Automatic and hand holding
3. At least somewhat attempt to stay grounded and have a realistic approach.
I love the worlds and characters of the RPG games but they still feel like a watered down version of The Witcher because they ditched the core AC stuff that made them stand out and unique.
Same rpg in itself is not a problem
Forced combat scenarios are in all AC games, and you can choose to play stealthily in Origins and Odyssey most times, but in Valhalla - not really. The criticism on parkour is valid, in my opinion. Being "grounded" isn't really Assassin's Creed, but yes, the Assassin fantasy should be there but expressed more subtly - less is more if done right.
@@Stealthful_I think with the grounded argument it’s not that ac has to be completely realistic and historical it’s more like it should be something where you can suspend your disbelief. Tools like the hook blade or phantom blade where it’s extravagant but still based in reality. And the isu influence should be more in spirit than immediate, where it’s the threat of this inhuman technology that’s the main issue and not just finding new artefacts every 30 minutes. Odyssey and Valhalla are where this really goes out the window, with isu tech being everywhere and capable of pretty much anything.
The definition of rpg has become very broad and general and now just means are you playing in a narrative in an open world or semi-open world game. It no longer means are there choices, character creation, your one unique story.
It was a marketing scheme. AC is action-adventure. The "RPGs" are just AC divorced from stealth and smash with hack 'n' slash mechanics. It shouldn't even be called RPG, but MMO-like, but they are just a single-player MMO.
And I'll end on this note: AC "rpgs" are not RPGs at all, are some barely decent action-adventures and bad hack 'n' slashers.
If you want action, play Bayonetta or DMC, if you want RPG, play a MMO, Baldur's Gate or Skyrim, and if you want action-adventure, play Uncharted or Tomb Raider.
Appreciate your content!
However, the background music on this video makes it challenging to concentrate on what you are saying.
Noted! i think in newer videos it should be fixed
@@TheSpaniardAssassin no problem at all! Came across your channel lately and love your content. After catching parts of a couple of your videos, I'm going back and listening to them all chronologically. Looking forward to getting to that longer new one! :)
Someone didn't know altair and ezio
Who?
Just finished the video, and I don't hear a single reason why AC was always an RPG...
Point well made 👍 the term RPG is so broad is almost has no meaning anymore, but in the sense you're talking about, I agree AC has always been an RPG. To many fans' dismay, it hasn't been often the devs maintain the balance well between the main plot and side (aka supplimentary) content. But the ones that do it well are infinitely satisfying!
But yeah, I agree that, due to the nature of the format, sometimes things like great gameplay mechanics and/or phenomenal voice acting can do a great deal to elevate a lacking script, and vice versa. All these aspects of game design are worth considering when assessing. Character and narrative are crucial, though, in single player story games, so you really have to hit that balance just right, substantiating the main narrative while also letting the player feel more agency via side missions.
I think games like Greedfall, Red Dead Redemption II, and Mass Effect do a good job of that. They make you want to explore and interact with the world, and if/how you deal with side missions impacts the main story and how people see you.
Thank you for understanding the nuance
you are a peak ac player
do u think ac odyssey is worth trying just to have played every mainline ac? i plan to reinstall valhalla and play the last few hours of its story and finish it but then the only ac i would not have played is odyssey
i think you will have fun but go in as a generic game
@@TheSpaniardAssassin yeah I don’t have high hopes for the ac game that’s least like an ac game but maybe out of that will come surprise
@@akacaleboAC Odyssey is a very good and fun game, great exploration and combat. You just have to play it as a Spartan. Kassandra is the best character to play and it offers good narrative later in the game.
having to level up to face someone is boring, the stealth game was better where you got unique equipment and didn't fill up with garbage from different levels in the inventory, the rpg and the fantastic abilities ruined the saga
I have to buy origins 🎉
It was an RPG
it was
Got to get that clickbait huh
How so?
@TheSpaniardAssassin cos ac wasn't an rpg
Ok, I watched a couple of this guys' videos and read the comments and replies. And man, there funny. The way he replies back to braindead idiots is exactly like me, so im here for it. Great video's hopefully you stay for the long run, and i see more Ac videos from you because the way you put out your points is really informative, so great job😂
thanks so much for the support!!
No, it really wasn't.
Ur right
It was
No it was not@@silence9791
Yes, it really was. You were always role playing as an assassin. Then the RPG style games came along and had you role playing as a warrior in different cool time periods. There was never a change in the role playing element aside from that
@@lukethelegend9705 I guess all games are RPGs then.
4:30 it's the developers fault. There's a reason you can't change the difficulty in dark souls or sekiro.
There's a reason there's no hud in senua's sacrifice.
There's a reason Doom eternal's gameplay is so great.
Because it forces you into the 'fun' zone.
From Doom 2016 I realised the way I played it makes it boring.
I didn't know how to have fun in the way it was meant to be.
Only question is, CAN YOU even play with the HUD off ?
Talking from the POV of Re-playing Brotherhood and I don't think I'd find half the objectives without the HUD at all, so how do you do it ?
@@knightmer3645 now this can't be applied if you replay old titles because those games are designed in a way to have you need your hud so not using it would make the game unnecessarily difficult.
It is the developers fault. Exploration and adventure is discovering the unknown not following a quest marker through indistinct areas
@@caliburn1123 I see, I actually just found an article saying how AC1 was MEANT to be played HUDless but nothing about any game after that...
@@knightmer3645You can play most of the rpg games without an HUD because they have a quest log with the relevant information, so if you so desire you can find the areas and tasks related to your quests without relying on map markers. The older games would be pretty damn hard to play without an HUD though.
No AC was never and still isn't an RPG, in terms of game genre. It just implemented RPG "elements" from Origins going forward, in the form of a levelling system and some choices you can make during the story. But in terms of role-playing, in the sense of changing your gameplay to fit whatever role you're making up in your head, then sure, but that means pretty much every game that allows some gameplay freedom is an RPG. Conclusion: the title of this video is pure clickbait. Also the content of what you're saying is much more superficial and shallow than it presents itself to be, and could be explained in one minute instead of 11.
I agree dude this video sucks
This is what you call a Ubisoft zealot they just agree with the company even tho they are wrong and delusional
facts i hate this video bruh
RPG is roleplaying and in the games you literally roleplay as an assassin so maybe but calling it an RPG game is different from what people think
Exactly
Role Playing isn't just a game that let's the player fulfill a power fantasy. The entire concept of videogames as a whole boils down to fulfilling a power fantasy. So to claim that the AC franchise is RPG just because it let's you "feel like an assassin" is pretty lacking to say the least.
From AC1 all the way to AC Syndicate(and I believe it's the same for Origins as well) and, for the 99% of each of those games, you're introduced to a modern day character that relives the memories of one ancestor, and said ancestor has it's own predefined background story with it's own predefined personality.
This alone already is in inherent conflict with one of the most important concepts in a Role Playing game, which is the story-altering dialogue option... And it is because, in AC, the story that you're playing out during the past time period is already set in the stone of history.
-
Also, Role Playing more often than not involves having some sort of character stat system which meaningfully impacts the entire playthrough. Based on your choices since the very beginning of the game, you can already start building what type of in-universe "person" you want your character to be. And in terms of gameplay, as you level up and earn points(more often than not, a very limited amount, so you have to commit to leveling specific stats), you can increase said stats, which shape and ultimately define the most viable playstyle for your character, inevitably neglecting other playstyles in the process(unless the game allows you to reset stats and create a new build up).
And if that's not the case, then at the very least you'll Skill Trees which again due to limited amount of points that can be used, will force you to commit to unlocking specific skills, affecting the playstyle you'll have.
Last but not least, perhaps the more unspoken aspect of "true" Role Playing Games is that you don't play a character, but rather that you are the character. Which is why there's a demand for games which can let you create a character, so you can have a clean slate and pretend your character is whoever you want it to be... Rather than to play a character with a predefined background story and personality.
And see how I explained that AC is not RPG(and it never should be one) without even having to mention other things such as a grind system, sponge-y enemies, stat based damage even for Stealth gameplay and other annoying things that Ubisoft implemented in the Witcher 3 wannabe games.
The most classic feature of RPGs is customization which alters the gameplay or at least the effectiveness of actions, variable progression and a dynamic world. RNG elements are used as medium for diversity of outcome. Picking the same option with two different build should NOT give the same outcome, like a spellcaster jumping with a sword or a barbarian going against a fortress armed with ranged weapons, or trying to take peaceful encounters when you have low intellect and charisma or things alike.
You deserve more attention
Thank you dude
By that logic i would day that all action/adventure games are RPG’s…
Was The Spaniard always Altair Stealth :o
;)
Assassin's was never about grinding xp and level up BS, was never an action-rpg, the rpg elements ruined Assassin's Creed, and also stoy in the rpg games aren't good to the point where I would say Odyssey is not an AC game, and I am not excited at all for AC Red known the same studio worked on that Odyssey thing is working on Red, AC actually was ended with AC3 and Desmond.
Brotherhood always felt like the weakest of the ezio's trilogy for me. Rome doesn't give enough parkour opportunities and the story is short and not really that good. The combat was dumbed down further when Ac2 already felt like a step down from Ac1...
Revelations had a much better city and the story is god tier with both Ezio and Altair. That ending moment with Ezio in the library gives me goosebumps even today...
Ok, a bit of long comment.
From AC1 all the way to Origins, AC was never an RPG. It was an open world action/adventure, the RPG elements (and narrative) don't make it an RPG. RPGs are about role playing, which varies from game to game. AC (up to Origins) is just an open world action adventure, with RPG mechanics. Whether I sneak or go charging in, it does not really affect anything in game or narrative. A lot of people tend to call open world games an RPG, even though they're not.
The choice of how to interact with the environment is mainly down to you, sure. But, this is the problem with all the AC games, your choice of gameplay may not accurately reflect the character or narrative. In many assassinations, the protagonist kills someone their way, not yours. Your choice of gameplay does not do any impact whatsoever other than your gameplay experience. This "freedom" is similar to the "freedom" of most Telltale style games. Your gameplay Bayek may not match the story Bayek.
Unlike say Skyrim, for example, you sneak around and use a bow, you gain points in those skill sets. Although limited in some ways, Skyrim also offers you some choices. There's impact, the game acknowledges this and you feel the freedom. Mass Effect allows you to select classes/background/bio that can affect parts of the game and you also can make choices that affect all three games of the trilogy. Baldur's Gate, Fable, Disco Elysium, etc, as well. Dragon Age too, not just in class, build and choices, but it changed the opinion your companions and NPCs had of you too.
This was why when Ubisoft introduced choices to Odyssey, it was one of the reasons why I stopped playing the series. Because the whole point is you're an observer watching history, it's supposed to be a linear experience. It removed what made AC, AC for me. Otherwise, if AC is an RPG, then even Arkham Batman could be considered an RPG, but it's not.
Even D&D. If you want to roleplay as a stupid character, you're going to struggle when you may need to be smart. But you could be a pirate in the mage class. This is roleplay from a gameplay aspect. AC didn't offer that option. Ezio could never be the loud assassin, the sneaky assassin, etc, he did whatever the narrative decided he would do and you just mainly responded to that in a way that best suited you. However, you cannot roleplay as a fully sneaky Ezio in gameplay while he ends up at one point, flying across the city in some "plane glider" drawing "HEY! LOOK AT ME" attention to himself. The narrative contradicts your roleplaying.
Can someone tell me HOW to play Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (or any) without the HUD and not getting lost ?
It feels impossible to find the objectives as I've become so dependent on them
Lmao he hearted then dipped. I guess it’s easier in the rpg creeds since they usually have a dedicated quest log with all the information relating to the quest so you could just learn where you have to go and what you have to do by reading up there. The older games are gonna be tough I guess it’s just a question of dedication to playing in a less efficient but more immersive way.
@@agx8447 AC is an incredibly easy game.
In AC1 the game made you actually do your homework before you killed someone, so when you actually killed your target you already knew a lot about them and then you learned more about their own goals and motivations. That is good story telling through gameplay. What you were doing, as in making up scenarios in your head about how the MC feels, is a case of bad story telling because they expect the player to fill in a lot of gaps. Do a side by side comparison between how the story of AC 1 is presented against modern AC games. AC1 has better story telling than even the Ezio trilogy had, even tho those were better games.
Not sure this is true
I dont think it should be an insult to even refer the other games as RPGs. It might feel like an insult because, odessy, origins, and valhalla are "true" RPGs and arent viewed as very good AC games 😅
What you told about AC Origins, you didn't have to try that hard in AC1, the surroundings were affected horridly for a lot of assassination targets like the doctor's district, a lot of mental and unstable people were there cause of the surgeries performed on them.
What you're doing is riding ubidik too hard trying to prove a point.
The rpg system with damage sponges because you're not high enough in level and you cant kill someone even though you struck a blade in their cerebrum just because you're 3 levels lower is just a cheap excuse to not be creative and put actual effort in the story and gameplay, we don't need realistic graphics, what they did with AC3 remake and Last of us 1 remake they stripped the world of its artistic quality in the original graphics that distinguished it, Hell Minecraft is the best selling game of all time so I think we get the point.
Your perspective on assassins creed is really interesting and I love it
Im so glad!
Yes, it really was.
Is this the narrative channel of Altair Stealth? I remember him being Spanish
there have been whispers of this
I think the only Ac games that are not rpg is ac unity and syndicate because your setting is only just Paris and London, that's it. It's different than ac1,ac2,brotherhood and revelation, ac 3 and liberation, ac4 and the last 3 rpg tittles where you can travel between cities via boat,walking and horse riding.
PS: mistake: ac brotherhood and revelation are also not rpg bc you can't travel outside Rome and Constantinople.
I gotta say, as a fan that has played AC since I was 12 and feel very passionate about this saga. I've never tried to go fully immersive on this games. Sure I used to prowl on the shadows, stalk the targets during tailing missions. Trying everything in order to be as stealthy as possible. But disabling the HUD, the minimal/compass and the icons so you could rely on your senses and your skills paying attention to your surroundings in order to locate yourself. I've tried that within the past days and oh boy it feels a lot different. Gotta thank you for that one. Never felt the assassin fantasy so lively before.
I personally like the new games in terms of graphics but when it comes to enemies they shouldn’t be literally be consuming my damage like when I make contact with my hidden blade I expect it to kill on contact and not tank it like a bee sting, and idk who’s bright idea at Ubisoft it was to make Anubis and Hecatoncheires boss battles like I thought I was play assassins creed not god of war
I agree
Someones never played Assassins Creed.
Lmaoo
AC2 honestly has pretty weak writing. Recently replayed to measure my dazzling nostalgia and yeah, after returning to Florence at the end of the game, I just didn't care enough. I uninstalled the game. I still love AC2 and love my memory of it even more.
Ouch
You dropped the ball on this one. You didn't normally dropped the ball. You threw it of a cliff into a active volcano. The starting point is when you said that origins is a among the best assasin creed games.
Ur right dude what was i thinking origins sucks