Assassin's Creed IV

[ProjectPat2280]

The setting is what I really like about it!

Same. This was about the only setting left i could get really excited about, especially after those awesome naval missions from III

 

[TX85]

I was going to stop playing the franchise again(was going to quit after Revelations But III brought me back)after III's ending But setting has me excited!

 

[James]

Seriously, if the ship-to-ship stuff is half as good as I think it's going to be, I'll barely spend any time on land.

 

[TX85]

Read GameInformer's latest issue earlier,A good read with some cool new info!!

 

[Bruce Malone]

I hope the future/present stuff is gonna be downplayed. From what i understand you won't actually be playing as a "character" in the present game sections. Just as your self or something?

 

[TX85]

In the present day we play as an Abstrego researcher who finds a way to unlock ancestor memories data from Desmond or his dad using an animus machine.

There's no big new character or anything and is simply a voice over with our gamer tag on a screen,Basically we player through the eyes/POV of a researcher,Most of the game seems will be just set in the past as the new assassin character.

 

[SpideyVille]

I still haven't played it but isn't that what they did with Liberation?

 

[Frico]

Read GameInformer's latest issue earlier,A good read with some cool new info!!

Do tell.

 

[James]

I'm not sure if this is the article Luis read (Issue #240 of Game Informer), but it's got some good stuff nonetheless. Here's a couple of cool excerpts from the section about ships:

-You can even jump off the boat anytime and go for a swim. The primary purpose of going overboard is to experience the new underwater exploration segments. Using a diving bell (a large metal structure that holds air in its cavity as it submerges) the diver can descend into the depths of the ocean, swim out to nab treasure, and return for a fresh gasp of air without heading to the surface.

-Edward can command the crew to use grapple hooks to pull the two vessels together from any angle. Instead of boarding using the same repeating cutscene from AC III, players can choose any tactic they wish. Edward can assault the other crew in straightforward gun/melee battle, jump into the water and swim around to sneak up on the rear flank, or even climb his mast, hop over to the other, and perform an aerial assassination on the enemy captain. Just be sure to keep an eye out for patrolling military ships before raiding. These well-equipped craft rush to fight off any marauders.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Sounds so bad ass.

 

[Frico]

Can it just be October already?

 

[James]

It's just a shame it comes out so close to GTA V. I think because of that, I'll probably hold off on AC 4 until Christmas.

 

[TX85]

Do tell.

Edward Kenway's backstory..

Spoiler

"Edward Kenway grew up poor in Britain and got married at a young age,When class and family issues came between the the couple,He set out to the West Indies to seek fortune and make a name for himself,He served as a privateer for a while,But once the monarchies of England,Spain,France and others signed a series of treaties around 1713,the contracts dried up,After a few years of peace and poverty,Edward and the rest of the now-struggling privateers began working for themselves as pirates,raiding ships and hauling loot through out a ten-year span when pirates ruled the Caribbean"

"Edward Kenway has already appeared in a Assassin's Creed novel called"Forsaken",A story about Haytham's early days as a young boy in London,Long-retired Edward trains Haytham in the ways of combat in the early part of the book,though his pirate Assassin past is veiled in secrecy it talks about his later years"

-Don't expect cartoonish cliches like a Captain Jack Sparrow/Talking parrots and hooks,"If it didn't happen or wasn't prevalent then we're just not going to do it"

-Besides historical sources the developers are using more grounded inspirations like movies"The Mission"/Master and Commander and TV shows like Deadwood",On the gaming side they are hoping to do for the pirate fantasy what Red Dead Redemption did for cowboys

-Black Flag is not solely a pirate game,At the beginning of the story Edward is immersed in swashbuckling lifestyle But he soon comes into contact with Assassins and Templars,"Edward's innate seafaring and combat skills are further honed with Assassin training But he struggles to reconcile his selfish,cavalier pirate attitude with two competing higher ideals"

-Multiplayer will have new characters/new maps and new modes with pirate fantasy to all multiplayer modes

-Ubisoft bills Black Flag as the"first true naval open-world game"

-Black Flag features a massive ocean that connects 50 unique land locations,At any time on Edward's ship(The Jackdaw)he can pull up a spyglass and search for points of interests like an uncharted island,Players will see a list of grayed out items only displaying basicdetsils once you dock at the landmass for the first time,Locations include..Hidden caves/Fishing villages/Jungles/Mayan Ruins/Plantations and large cities.

-Players can sail to any island,get out and explore it with out any loading breaks(except large cities)

-There are new underwater segments such as using a diving bell(A large metal structure that hold air in its cavity as it submerges),Divers can descend into the depths of the ocean,swim out to nab treasure and return for a fresh gasp of air with out returning to the surface

-There are hungry sharks But the true danger on the ocean is the wide array of other ships,Piratically every vessel players see can be attacked,They range from smaller sailboats to lumbering warships,Each with recognizable behavior traits such as"The Charger'which prefers ramming into you at full speed to a strategic cannonball battle

-Boarding ships has received an overhaul, Edward can command the crew to use grapple hooks to pull the two vessels together from any angle,Players can choose any tactic they wish,edward can assault the other crew in straightforward gun/melee battle,jump into the water and sneak up on the rear flank or even climb his mast,hop over to the over,and perform an aerial attack assassination on the enemy captain

-Pistols now have free-aim so you have more control over what your targeting

-You can spend your riches on upgrading The Jackdaw,Offensive/Defensive&Navigation add-ons

-Present Dayesmond's story is over,Players assumes the role of an Abstergo Entertainment research analyst who's digging into the life of Edward Kenway using an animus,This stuff was teased in Assassin's Creed III

-Ubisoft promises they are working with management to be very aggressive about making the game more polished

-"The game starts with a bang",The pirate theme is thrown into the player's face very early on,It doesn't happen right away But pretty quickly the world opens up,At that point you can do whatever you want,Wherever you want

-For fast-travel all you have to do now is visit a location and you can instantly teleport there whenever you like

 

[Silvermoth]

Aw no parrot

I wonder who will be the voice actor for Edward? It would give some clues towards his country of origin.

I reckon Ed Speelers might be pretty good. They tend to like semi well known but cheap actors in the video game industry.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Sounds sooo awesome. Damn i cant wait.

 

[Spider-Vader]

Ubisoft specifically mentioning RDR makes me think they have no plans for a cowboy game; what a shame, a cowboy AC would be awesome.

You think after RDR's massive success that there'd be a flood of western games

 

[cherokeesam]

Aw no parrot

I wonder who will be the voice actor for Edward? It would give some clues towards his country of origin.

I reckon Ed Speelers might be pretty good. They tend to like semi well known but cheap actors in the video game industry.

It said in the article that Edward was British. Which is understandable, since Haytham was British as well.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

It said in the article that Edward was British. Which is understandable, since Haytham was British as well.

I hope they touch on Haytham a bit. I mean what made him become a Templar? Or did Edward become a Templar and raise Haytham that way while training him like an assassin?

 

[James]

I think it's funny that Ubisoft say they won't have anything in the game that "didn't happen" but make Black Beard out to be a killer pirate. In actual fact there's no evidence the real Black Beard ever killed a single person. I guess they're taking a "realistic if it suits us" approach.

Nonetheless, I'm still really excited for this game.

 

[Bruce Malone]

Ubisoft specifically mentioning RDR makes me think they have no plans for a cowboy game; what a shame, a cowboy AC would be awesome.

You think after RDR's massive success that there'd be a flood of western games

I was actually thinking that same sentiment but with rockstar possibly not making a red dead-ish pirate game. Oh well, even though i'm not a huge AC fan the setting and aspects of this game sound very impressive.

 

[Bruce Malone]

I think it's funny that Ubisoft say they won't have anything in the game that "didn't happen" but make Black Beard out to be a killer pirate. In actual fact there's no evidence the real Black Beard ever killed a single person. I guess they're taking a "realistic if it suits us" approach.

Nonetheless, I'm still really excited for this game.

It's hard to prove something didn't happen. Just because there's no concrete proof he ever killed anyone (i'll have to take your word on that). Doesn't mean that such a thing over 200 years ago didn't ever happen. Record keeping wasn't great in the pirate world i imagine?

Also all we know from how blackbeard will be decpicted is that cg trailer so who's to say they portray him as blood-thirsty? He didn't come off that way in the trailer.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I think it's funny that Ubisoft say they won't have anything in the game that "didn't happen" but make Black Beard out to be a killer pirate. In actual fact there's no evidence the real Black Beard ever killed a single person. I guess they're taking a "realistic if it suits us" approach.

Nonetheless, I'm still really excited for this game.

Have they said he is gonna be a "killer pirate"? Even then, the perception, even back then, was that he was in fact a feared pirate. Maybe it'll be hinted at but we'll never actually see him killing anyone?

 

[cherokeesam]

I hope they touch on Haytham a bit. I mean what made him become a Templar? Or did Edward become a Templar and raise Haytham that way while training him like an assassin?

Haytham himself explained that in ACIII. I can't remember the gist of it now, or exactly when he monologued about it, but he told a fairly long story during a cutscene about how his father (who we now know as Edward) was an Assassin, but at some point in Haytham's youth, H. was recruited and became enamored of the Templars through the very target he assassinated at Covent Garden at the start of the game.

 

[TX85]

I hope they touch on Haytham a bit. I mean what made him become a Templar? Or did Edward become a Templar and raise Haytham that way while training him like an assassin?

They explained that in the Forsaken book and a bit in III

 

[James]

It's hard to prove something didn't happen. Just because there's no concrete proof he ever killed anyone (i'll have to take your word on that). Doesn't mean that such a thing over 200 years ago didn't ever happen. Record keeping wasn't great in the pirate world i imagine?

Also all we know from how blackbeard will be decpicted is that cg trailer so who's to say they portray him as blood-thirsty? He didn't come off that way in the trailer.

It's virtually impossible to prove something didn't happen. It is however widely believed that despite Teach's fearful reputation, he wasn't the wild killer so often presented in fiction. As a matter of fact, Black Beard was well known to ask permission of the crew when taking a ship. Even though he died fighting, Edward Teach preferred clever tactics (like the smoke in his beard) and diplomacy rather than bloody conflict.

As to Ubisoft's depiction, I thought Black Beard's line "There was a time when I thought myself the deadliest scourge of these seas..." from the trailer indicated their version to be the killer-pirate type. It's entirely possible I suppose that in that scene Black Beard is just puffing his chest to boost his reputation but that would seem counter-productive given that his main point is how (more) dangerous Kenway is.

Ultimately I guess we'll just have to wait and see. It's not a big deal either way really, Black Beard is more often than not portrayed as a murdering marauder of the sea, I'm not going to cry about it. Just thought it was funny.