#|| but ac3 gets me on a level.

[fortrivmph]

updated my rules but just to add riss's testimonial.

[hidden-nowhere]

okay it's almost 1 am i fucked up my sleeping schedule and won't go to sleep at least until 4 am it's yapping time

I understand that Rogue came out after AC3 and obviously AC3 writers didn't know that Rogue's will write in Shay in canon and that's why he's not along the Connor's targets, but some in lore explanation would be cool. like idk Achilles trying to hide his mistake out of shame or smth like that.

my friend suggested that maybe considering the fact that Shay went after the artifact after the events of the game he wasn't consider Colonial Rite Templar, but like in the "Well, there's a cliffhanger for Unity" scenes he considered himself one. so... idk, sounds a bit strange.

also I would really want a (good written) in canon interaction between Shay and Connor, considering they both had Achilles as a mentor but with completely different outcomes of it with one being the destroyer of Colonial Brotherhood and other pulling it out from non-existence. (p.s. I would be also interested in their different or maybe not so views on Haytham)

another suggestion for it - Achilles POV on these events (maybe in book. I know not everyone likes them, but I'm not really interested in Achilles as main character in the game...). And by these events I mean both AC3 and Rogue, maybe with with a little bit of his years as a pupil of Ah Tabai. this man lost his family, lost brotherhood and was fucking shot in the leg, I want to know what was going on in his head. like, after all these events he was alone for 9 years, what was going on in his thoughts when young Connor showed up at Homestead with "Yes, you are going to train me. I won't take no as answer.". Had he on some level to the end was afraid that the history will repeat? That he will fuck up again? That Haytham in the end will change Connor's view of these things? As unfinished Rogue is and feels (don't get me wrong i like this game but the fact is the fact and gods knows how i wish that development of this game hadn't been rushed), it gives Achilles as a failed mentor really interesting background.

anyway, i would want to hear someone else thoughts on this so....

(i only used this gif cause i like how his face change as he accepts "the challenge" sue me)

[mirrorthoughts]

The Identity Crisis of Desmond Miles

Alright, here we are 😂 Thanks to everyone who has voted on my poll (and yes, I know it's not over yet but I wrote this already anyway 😂), I’m actually surprised I got more than 10 votes (and all of them on a yes 💕(the one for the results was mine 😂I wanted to see how it’s going)).

So yeah, Blorbo thoughts about Desmond’s brain, how the Animus maybe-probably works on it and how it’s actually possible that Desmond still has a (probably in the end very weak) grasp of his own identity (below a readmore, because I don’t know how long this will get 😂😂)

The Start

First a few facts I will base this whole… essay on

Desmond learns skills from his ancestors, so the Animus has to impact him deeper than only on a surface level (surface level would be like playing a VR version of a game).

I don’t have the precise ages/dates in mind for the lifespans of Altair, Ezio and Connor, but even if I’m being conservative we’ll get at least 80+ years of other people’s memories in contrast to Desmond’s 25 years of life (…just realized he’s about half a year older than me, so maybe it’s not a surprise he’s one of my forever-blorbos <.<…), one of those, namely Ezio’s he actually ‘lived’ from birth to retirement (= ~55-60 years).

AC Revelations is the only real glance into Desmond’s own memories (aside from what he tells us at the beginning of AC1 and 2). From a doylistic view I know that Ubisoft probably just didn’t want to expend more effort to create Desmond’s memories the same as his ancestor’s, especially because they probably knew at that point they would kill him in the next installment anyway. From a watsonian view the way his memories are all bare bones - mostly his voice talking as if it was a story he remembers and not something he actually lived, without people/faces and places he knew - comes across as if he doesn’t really remember all that much anymore, as if they were really old memories buried by the rest of his (or rather his ancestors’) life.

The brain can hold a lot of information and memories. Even more than you might think. We all know about those Guiness World Records guys that taught themselves to easily remember a myriad of numbers, words, things, whatever. I actually recently saw a very good video about how to do that even as a ‘normal person’. And I’m not even talking about people with photographic, eidetic, echoic or other types of ‘perfect memory’. So, I think we can agree on: the brain is fucking awesome (most of the time) and probably can actually handle the 130+ years Desmond has experienced.

Desmond

Desmond’s ‘life’, according to what his brain experiences when he was in Abstergo’s hands looks a bit like this: Desmond (25yrs) -> Altair (however many days/weeks) -> Desmond (one night’s sleep) -> Altair (however many days/weeks) -> Desmond (one night’s sleep) -> repeat until he gets broken out of Abstergo.

And it only gets worse. Yes, he gets more “free time” when he’s with Shaun and Rebbecca, but at the same time he experiences weeks, if not months of Ezio’s life at a time! Sometimes even years. (We can argue about how the time jump-function works in the Animus, but he still gets the information of what happened how during that time because Ezio knows all of that shit, so even if it’s not as detailed as what he actually actively lives through he still gets the memory of what happened during that time as far as I’m concerned).

And then we have the most extreme ratio in Revelations: Mere seconds of being Desmond (hello computer/brain-speed!) against another few months/about a year of Ezio’s time.

During AC3 it’s not as clear cut how much time he spends in the Animus, thanks to them being inside, but I’d guess they’re about at the same ratio as with AC2, maybe a bit better since he does get to go on missions outside.

In total that makes maybe three months of Desmond’s time (it’s about half a year from when he got kidnapped to when he dies minus all the time he was in the animus. Tbh I think it’s even less than three months he has as Desmond/himself during that time) against literal decades of memories and experiences of his ancestors during the same time. And of course the Bleeding Effect that even disturbs his ‘Desmond time’.

So much for the ‘mathematical’ side of it all 😂

To summarize: Every memory that Desmond makes as himself is overshadowed by dozens of memories he makes as one of his ancestors. So piece by piece, Desmond’s own memories get buried deeper and deeper in his head and those 25 years he actually was only Desmond get fainter and fainter as the new memories he’s making as his ancestors are getting favored by his brain.

Identity Crisis

At this point, it wouldn’t be surprising if Desmond really believed himself to be Ezio, right? After all he’s lived about 55 years of Ezio, he remembers being born as him (and wasn’t that an awkward scene to play… nevermind experience for Desmond), growing up as him, and of course everything we as the player played through with Ezio. And although aside from some verbal outbursts against especially Lucy and a few scenes of the Bleeding Effect we actually don’t see much of it during the game (as far as I remember at least). But we also know about the in-game consequences of using the Animus in detail - hello Clay - and that Abstergo doesn’t really care about the effects of the Animus on their victims as long as they get from them what they want/need.

And yes, Rebecca’s Baby 2.0 was optimized by her to make it better/easier for Desmond. But better/lesser effects still means there will be some effects. And also… afaik Rebbecca has her informations about the Animus from whatever Lucy ‘smuggled out’ of Abstergo. Lucy is said to be a Templar spy, so what informations did she really give Rebecca? Bc as far as I’m concerned it would be to Lucy’s/the Templar’s advantage if Desmond would find them what they need more or less by his own choice and then is brain gets scrambled to hell and back so the Assassins won’t be able to get more informations themselves, right?

Anyway, @Raett (who was a lovely participant in the discussion of these thoughts) hit me with that lovely sentence of “If you've spent more time being 'Ezio' than being 'Desmond' than what's to say [you aren’t] Ezio with memories of Desmond?”

And… just imagine. You’ve just gone through decades of memories, your own memories are faint right now (see point 3) and you’re not quite sure if those actually are your memories or if that’s just something you’ve seen. Maybe you are Ezio after all? Maybe you only dreamt of those ‘memories’ of Desmond - after all that weird vision of a woman that called you the Prophet also talked about someone with that Name! Okay, alright, then you are obviously Ezio, right? You remember your family, your sister, after all you write to her regularly when you are not visiting. You remember Constantinopoli, you remember traveling to Masyaf, you remember finding Altair’s body, his memories.

Wait.

You remember more of Altair then the memory discs have shown you. How can you remember more of Altair’s life? It was already a miracle in your eyes that you saw his memories at all! You remember someone named Connor, Ratonhnhaké:ton. You remember him living in the future, not as far as Desmond, but still far closer to him than yourself. How can you remember the future if you are Ezio? But you remember your - Ezio’s - whole life, so you have to be Ezio, right? But you also remember Altair’s life. Not all of it, but years of it. And you remember Ratonhnhaké:ton, remember how he became Connor, remember his work and life up to somewhere in his later twenties.

And you remember, though faintly, Desmond. You remember that diabolical machine Desmond used. You remember what he was forced to do.

You can remember remembering, reliving your memories.

Are they really yours? Or maybe, maybe you aren’t Ezio after all.

Remembering

So, now that Desmond’s gone through that circle of ‘who am I?’ and ‘I’m Ezio, right?’ and ‘I have to be Ezio, but I can’t be Ezio, so who am I?’ probably more than just a couple of times, what actually is it that brings him back every time?

The short answer is probably ‘reality’, even though that sounds dumb as fuck at first 😂

But in a wider sense that’s actually true. A person’s memory doesn’t only consist of seeing and hearing things, as much as someone who played the games might get the impression because the average person has yet to be able to smell/feel/taste things from computer games 😂.

And that’s the crux, the only thing that actually saves Desmond from loosing himself completely: Sensory impressions, which are a great trigger to remember things.

The clothes he’s wearing don’t feel like any of his ancestor’s clothes. Their make and design are completely different, the fabric was produced in a different way, the clothes themselves, like underwear are even a modern invention (modern men’s underwear is actually largely an invention of the 1930s). And of course nowadays most people wear a lot less layers than it was custom in most of human history.

Then there’s sound and smell (and visuals of course), a modern city is so much louder than even ancient Rome has been. More people (the world’s population is more than 20 times larger than during the 1400s (Ezio was born in the latter half of that century). And between 2011 and 2023 we actually gained another Billion of people on this world!), loud and smelly cars, food stalls, tared streets, large buildings and modern architecture. Cities in general.

And of course he has his companions who would jog his memories by being there.

And his companions are the ones who also trigger another sense of Desmond: touch. Or at least I hope they do <.< touch starvation is a bitch and even a hand on your shoulder or sitting closer together and almost touching and stuff like that do help a lot.

In the same vein we also have Desmond’s own bodily awareness by the way. Especially after months of mostly lying in the Animus he won’t be as strong or enduring as his ancestors and when I think about how Ezio’ running around Rome in his armor… well Desmond definitely has a long way to get anywhere near that strength 😂😂😂 So, his body doesn’t feel like either his ancestor’s bodies. And he also has different markings on his body than them (aside from the scar on his lip that he shares with Altair and Ezio) and, of course, he has his tattoo.

And I think that’s what is grounding him the most. While he sure as hell can fall into one of his ancestors’ personalities when he’s hiding somewhere in the woods, cars - and technology in general - and cities and people have the best chance at pulling him back into himself. Even small things like a tea one of his ancestors remembers that just doesn’t taste quite right. Because over the hundreds of years the plants used to make that tea changed by natural evolution or - more likely - by cultivation through humans.

Coping

I’m kinda curious what they would have done with Desmond if he’d survived in canon. But since they didn’t really let him survive (I’m expertly ignoring the Reader btw.) we will never know an answer to that, I guess <.<…

Though I think with a bit of therapy he’d actually be able to compartmentalize the memories of his ancestors quite well? I mean… I actually think I saw something similar in a fanfic, but since each of their lives was so uniquely different I think it would actually be pretty clear cut to shove each of them in a dedicated space - like a mind palace or something.

I mean, mind palaces work by using a place (real or imaginary) that you know very well and kinda… sort what ever you want to remember in those places. Other than Desmond who mostly has the farm (and I don’t think he’d want to use that place and revisit it every time he tries to remember something specific) each of the other three kinda has at least one dedicated space he knows like the back of his hand. For Ezio he could use Florence, Monteriggioni, even Rome (though maybe a place he isn’t going to travel to that often). For Altair Masyaf is the most likely choice in my opinion. And for Connor he has the homestead and his ship. Just places he hasn’t the same connection to as Desmond and which he can imagine well enough.

He would probably still need a shit ton of therapy for that whole thing anyway and for coping with his own childhood and how his dad is a fucking asshole, too <.<… But he would have a chance to cope, maybe even heal.

Anyway, thanks for everyone who read this far 😂😂😂 I didn’t expect to turn this whole thing into a 2k+ essay, but well, I kinda did o_O… I have no idea if I remembered everything I wanted to write, but this thing is what you get 😂 Hope you had fun! :D (And thanks for wanting to read this to everyone who voted 💕)

[sulfies]

Are you going to play the AC games past 3 since they don’t include Desmond?

I will! Rn Im playing Unity alongside AC3 :3 tho I wont force myself to finish them and just play it till I get bored, I am not rlly interested in the new format AC has with rpg/levels dynamic and I cannot keep my hype on games that pass 30+hrs :') (thats why the old ones were so good for me 20hr is the best lenght)

I do own most tho thanks to sales lol

[peridot-tears]

I realized that Ratohnhaké:ton's story is another level of tragedy and trauma, but he had encouraging figures along the way. AC3 is as much a story of community and the village raising the child as it is about fighting to protect that village (figuratively and literally).

Imagine watching your mother burn to death in front of you after being attacked by a bunch of men in the woods when you're fucking four years old; that alone would have me killing and eating people. That level of trauma is enough to set anyone on a maladapted path rife with severe emotional development roadblocks.

But no. He grew up to be -- yes, stoic, traumatized -- driven for the rest of his life by tragedy, but instead of becoming numb to it or becoming part of it, he fights to prevent it. He keeps an open mind toward others' ideology. It doesn't stop him from forming meaningful bonds. Knowing that Haytham sent him to die didn't stop him from wanting the chance to work with his father.

It's because of those around him.

It's in the narrative from before he speaks his first word. Kaniehtí:io shares her fear that her clan would treat him differently because of his heritage, because his existence is formed on taboo that she broke -- but they don't. They love him all the same. The first inkling of his existence is unconditional love.

After she dies, we don't see the rebuilding of the village, but we do see his candid conversations with Kanen'tó:kon and Oía:ner. Once more, nothing about their interactions conveys anything but trust. He shares his fears with them. Oía:ner agrees that he find Achilles, despite her wariness of breaking their semi-isolationist policy. Kanen'tó:kon keeps his spot in the longhouse open for him. A longhouse they rebuilt from the ashes of their burned kin. All signs of people who held each other up as they recovered from a tragedy.

Even up until Ratohnhaké:ton starts attacking his clanmates, Oía:ner greets him with nothing but welcome, and expresses that she considered and followed his direction by letting Kanen'tó:kon work with Charles Lee.

Don't get me started on Achilles. I know parts of the fandom talk about how he discourages Ratohnhaké:ton at several points, might have manipulated him by getting him involved with the Assassin-Templar conflict, and how they can't go through a single scene without arguing, but the one thing that transcends every one of them is that Achilles does treat him as his own son. Lessons, guidance, discouragement against what he thinks is folly, keeping the door open for him -- all of it.

And Robert Faulkner taking his kid under his wing and teaching him the ropes, entrusting his Aquila with him into adulthood. Sailing with him through a war, even when the fucker wants to ram a bunch of man-o-wars and bombard a goddamn fort. What a madman, Robert Faulkner probably thinks, let's fucking GO. He helped groom this kid into leadership, with a whole-ass crew that would readily follow him into the madness.

(Also, I don't like praising white people for doing the bare minimum of not treating BIPOC like shit, but like. In a world where it inevitably happens and the colonists know Ratohnhaké:ton on sight as "half-breed," Faulkner did That too.)

Ratohnhaké:ton is met with tragedy from young in so many ways that could have easily turned him into someone who's like Haytham at best. He could have been a master manipulator, a man who follows the Order even after losing his faith in it, the kind of man who kills in front of children, whose greatest act of kindness was not letting his son die. Or God forbid, something worse. But because of the village, what came out was compassion.

[aro-pancake]

Ubisoft, darling...

I'm grabbing my fancy ass Rainbow Havaianas (not Chanclas. The original ones that everybody uses) for you guys.

What the fuck knuckles was the scene in São Paulo in AC3?

Did... Did you guys never even bother to send someone there?

People were dressed as if it was Carnaval or if they were in Rio (swimsuits, seriously? São Paulo is cold as balls.)

There's Festa Junina decorations. Carnaval is in February/March, while Festa Junina is in June, ok?

They were speaking with a heavy Portugal accent. That's like making a British character that speaks in a heavy Midwestern accent.

There were flags everywhere, and that's not a thing here.

There are stalls selling flags and flag T-shirts, what only happens during the World Cup.

São Paulo has the best Subway/Underground system in the country. And it's bigger than NYC.

And a fight? It would never have that level of audience here. If it was Football, I'd buy it. (No offence to the fans, but seriously, it's not that big of a sport here)

Did you guys just threw "Brazil" on Google images and went from there? No consultants? At all?

Come on! Any Brazilian would gladly be the consultant for a six pack and a high five.

As a Brazilian, it was hard. And painful. That hurt. Physically hurt me to see that on the screen.

Fuck up with history. Trade stuff for the "cool factor", we'll gladly overlook it because we can look stuff up and get better informed. But do not fuck up on people's countries. That's disrespectful. Most people won't bother to look into actuality.

And, yes, I've gotten weird ass questions about my country. I've been asked if everything is a party here. I've been asked if it's Carnaval all year (do I need to answer?). I've been asked if São Paulo or Rio is the capital (it's Brasília). If everywhere is a beach. Why I'm not that pretty golden tan like Giselle (because if I spend 5 minutes under the sun, I'll become a lobster 🦞). If I can samba or play football (not even if my life depended on it).

And those are the tame questions I've gotten.

So, please, don't do that again. Don't fuck up like that again. Don't hurt your fans like that again.

[pramanixx]

thinking about my many Opinions on assassins creed like the meme of that kid from akira getting flashbanged by cringe pictures and screaming. god ok yes the gameplay for ezio trilogy and black flag is fun and i enjoyed the protagonist of ac3 because unlike ezio he understood that he had a duty to everyone who was depending on him and had become the figurehead of something that affected far more people than his own revenge journey and he didnt bitch out at the end unlike ezio. i digress. try to find used copies of the earlier games if you would like to. as compelling as bayek and cassandra might be as characters i fucking hate the gameplay. whats the point of a level system if i tear through every enemy below my level like paper and everything above my level can kill me in 2 hits. not to mention their stupid goddamn cash shop.

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week, especially Wonder Woman's relaunch under Tom King ?

Wonder Woman #1 -

Wondersisters we're fucking back! Fantastic first issue from King and Sampere. It's a very tight compressed read, King wants to make the reader feel as blindsided by how quick everything goes to hell as Diana no doubt does. Sovereign looks like the King Washington from AC3, and I love his design. Connecting him to WW through the lasso mythology is a great concept. Despite the lasso being her iconic weapon, we really don't know a lot about it. King wants to write Superman so bad he gave Wonder Woman her own bald evil genius/mastermind to fight. Seeing Sarge Steel kill an Amazon in front of her own wife and child is a hell of a way to set the stakes. Some people were upset about that, but WW has needed to increase the feeling of danger in her books for a while now, and this accomplished that. Themsyacria itself isn't in danger, but Wonder Woman's mission in Man's World is, and that's a set up that works for me.

Love how Diana casts a huge shadow despite it being a while before she actually appears on page. We see King have her do all the actions you'd expect and then King shoots them all down as ineffective. God I love that scene where she sends her sword back to Nubia because she doesn't want to be tempted, sells the hell out of her being furious. And her dressing down of Sarge Steel? Peak Wonder Woman right there.

Steve is in a potentially very interesting place. Usually he's just Diana's wholesome and supportive boyfriend, this is a chance to put the screws to him and find out what makes him tick. He swore an oath and is technically committing treason by helping Diana, which he points out, but he still helps her all the same. Now I get we don't want to focus too much on a man in a WW book, but as her most important male supporting character, I argue that Steve needs fleshing out to bring him up to the level Lois and Selina are at.

My only qualm is I wish we get a page dedicated to the reaction of the other Wondy Rogues at this new player making moves. What does Circe or Cheetah or Cale make of this? Grail is going to show up, what's her angle? Definitely could see Psycho jumping for joy. While I doubt Sovereign can actually be Wondy's arch, I do like him as this new major player who upends Wondy's status quo, and I want to see where the other Wondy Rogues fit into his plans.

Superman #6 - Quick read but at least next issue is the oversized one. Livewire remains an ass despite working at the Daily Planet and that makes me deliriously happy. Having her as the anti-Superman voice at the Planet is a great gag, hell you could even have her livestream her fights with Supes to boost the DP's sales as a way to profit from being a villain even when she loses. AI Lex insisting on calling Superman "son" remains hilarious, Clark is clearly fed up with Lex's bullshit. The Chained seems to be a powerful telekinetic, was hoping for a more creative powerset, but at least he has hair. Saw that reference to Master Jailer helping Lex build the prison that held Chained, please let that be a tease for Jailer to make his return soon.

World's Finest #19 - Meh. Far as first meetings between Superman and Batman go, this one is down near the bottom. Jax is every bit as boring as I thought he would be, and Waid just pays lip service at the end towards the idea of Batman not trusting Superman. More fuel for the speculation that Waid is taking over Action with "Aethyr" showing up. What a boring look and design, not at all the Lovecraftian god in the vein of Gerber that PKJ had been building up. If Waid is really taking Action I have zero hope he delivers a satisfying conclusion to whatever plot threads PKJ himself doesn't wrap up. Waid is simply too stuck in the Silver Age. Let's hope Kingdom Come gives this book the shot in the arm it needs.

Nightwing #106 - Without Redondo the book's paper thin nature is front and center. Still, far as continuity goes, this does use the Ric era in a good way. Taylor of all people being the one to do something interesting with that time period surprises me.

Green Lantern: War Journal #1 - My grandma has dementia and I teared up at that scene where John makes a construct of his sister for his mother who has it. Caring for relatives with dementia is just trying to keep them happy even when it breaks your heart. If PKJ is really losing Action, at least here he can continue the United Planets plot threads with Thaaros. John put that fraud GL in his place and it was badass. If the Radiant Queen can body hop, maybe the people who speculated she's an alternate version of Katma are right and the body she's been in isn't her original.

Vigil #5 - It's good! Castle is more than a little shit.

Loki #4 - Damn good mini that I can only assume is being totally ignored by Ewing given the ending has Loki seemingly embracing his status as the God of Lies again. Or is that actually setting up Ewing Loki, who is openly apologetic about how he's going to fuck over Thor if it makes for a good tale in Immortal Thor? Watters needs to get more work.

Captain America #1 - Solid character beats and interactions, but it lacks a big "hook" as it were to keep me reading. I am amused to see JMS' big return to Marvel monthlies involves someone trying to make a deal with the devil.

[thebleedingeffect]

Okay gonna ramble a bit about Desmond but oh my god, one thing I appreciate SO MUCH about ac3 is that it's allowing Desmond to be angry about how he was treated by William. In revelations he sounded more... exhausted, resigned even, about what he went through at the hands of his father and the brotherhood that had a direct hand in how he was raised.

But there's something so powerful about Desmond looking William in the eye and telling him that- he's no different from the templars, which he's immediately punched or aka punished for. But is Desmond wrong? Not... not really? I strongly believe that Connor's and Haytham's relationship is supposed to be contrasted with Desmond's and William's, but there's also the fact that one thing Haytham has over William- Haytham wasn't messing Connor up from when he was a child.

Connor gets to have a happy childhood, at least until the initial destruction of the village, he isn't forced to be a soldier, he isn't forced to become something he had no say in becoming, if anything Connor was the one who took the first step towards becoming an assassin. Connor had much more agency in the sense that he was perhaps guided by Ziio and the tribe's elder- but it wasn't against his will, he actively wanted to learn and act on his own skills. Connor stayed with the tribe out of love and respect, but also knew he had to leave if he had any hope of protecting them and finding the truth- and stopping whatever injustices he could.

Haytham had no say or action in that, that was all Connor.

But William?

William was basically crafting Desmond to be the perfect soldier from since he was a child, he was never allowed to think or become anything else. Desmond was pushed to his limits, forced to become better- more- than anyone else as he had to be the best, he had to fight, he had to fight in this war.

Which war? It didn't matter cause no matter how many times Desmond asked or demanded- the templars may as well had been an invisible enemy that was make believe. William refused to acknowledge Desmond as his son on the basic level of expressing CONCERN and RESPECT for his own damn child! Desmond couldn't leave- not without the very real potential of death- because they were in the middle of nowhere and you know damn well that no one was going to help Desmond leave.

Not when William Miles was the mentor and the fact that Desmond was to be an assassin was already decided for him long ago. Desmond never HAD a childhood, never had a CHOICE, when he did want to learn more he was turned down and dismissed at every turn. What's even worse- it's very strongly hinted that William had resorted to violence later on when Desmond wasn't able to fight back. There's such a sharp power difference that it honestly stuns me that no one had said earlier that William's exact same attitude of raising assassin's was so close to the templars.

Cause ultimately, what makes William so different from them? It's obvious that the main tenets don't matter much to him when he's deceiving and withholding freedom so easily, even when it's his own son! And even abandoned Lucy into the wolves den with little to no communication, did nothing when Clay was actively deteriorating before their eyes and William didn't order an extraction immediately.

William is so obviously a shitty leader and a shitty father that he only fuels anger and resentment in what's supposed to be a brotherhood??? And he doesn't even fucking DO anything in the cave besides walk around and complain at walls. He's over here berating Desmond for running away in the first place and being useless when all he does is STAND THERE AND BE A BAD LEADER AND A HORRIBLE FATHER.

WE MUST KILL WILLIAM MILES THIS IS SO DAMN IMPORTANT TO ME!!!!

[pixel-concept]

Only 5 more games to platinum (6 when mirage comes out)

AC 3 - I have attempted to platinum this already but a lot of the trophies are glitched. Specifically the almanac collectibles. Although I collected them all, it froze at 89% so the trophy never popped. I rage quit. But I will go back to it.

AC Liberation - I've never actually played this AC! But it came with the AC3 remaster so I do need to play it. I believe it was originally a ps vita game. I never had a ps vita, hence why I never played it.

AC Black Flag - MP trophies! I hate MP trophies. The online lobbies for this game are pretty dead but there is a game mode that allows you to still level up without playing with other people, but it is loooong. So, you either grind it out or find people you know to boost you. After roughly 10 hours, I'm level 7. The trophy I need is to reach level 55 🙃

AC Unity - Yet to go back to this for clean up but there are MP trophies again. You have to complete missions in a co-op mode. So, this will also likely need boosting. This is the only one where I'm unsure if I'll be able to get the platinum.

AC 1 - I originally played this on Xbox 360 before it decided to "red ring of death" me. Unless this comes out as a remake or remaster, then I will never get this platinum.

[corvus-the-trickster]

So far my opinions on the ac games

Ac1- N/A

Ac2- Really fun and an interesting story

Brotherhood- Currently unfinished but I can already see why it's my brother's favourite. It's real fun

Revelations- N/A

Ac3- N/A

Black Flag- N/A

Rogue- Not played yet but the full story clears up misconceptions I had previously with limited information about the premise in conjuncture with Syndicate

Unity- Didn't really care for it, don't like the parkour aside from indoor set pieces which are few and far between and the levelling system pissed me off. Had a nice story but the overall reason for this story to exist kinda fell short for me, no mention of the sword by the modern assassins and neither assassins nor templars caring enough to go after the remains of Germain kinda makes the game useless in the overarching narrative if that makes sense.

Syndicate- Missed opportunities due to the rushed development and shitty advertising but the game was really fun and it's everything to me.

Origins - Currently unfinished but so far it's fun with a really hooking storyline and I'm excited to get back into it

Odyssey - Also currently unfinished but it's fun too but it's closer to veering with some open world problems I have with valhalla 's open world but fortunately accounted for

Valhalla - I did not finish this game for a variety of reasons, the open world is boring and sparse. The mount travel is fun initially but why it's not centered I'll never know. I didn't like the characters either and I just thought the snippets of world building when it comes to the assassins weren't worth it

Mirage - N/A

N/A just means I haven't played the game enough to develop an opinion like black flag. Or haven't played it all like every other game.

[thegreatwicked]

Letting Stories Go

I wanna talk about something that I've been wrestling with for a long while that I'm a little at odds about. So, back in 2012, I started writing a story in the Assassins Creed fandom, I've been a fan of the games for a very long time, and while I love the world within the Animus, the game itself has really become a shadow of itself after the third game. That's where this story took place in AC3 the game with Connor Kenway and taking place during the American Revolution.

By this point, I hadn't written fanfiction, probably since high school, and with the game's release I was compelled to write a character because, despite the disappointing ending, I really loved the characters in the game. I wrote an OC called Chenoa. She was the love interest of Connor, and I wrote her in about halfway through the game following the events of the game. She was the daughter of an Irish doctor (dad) and an Egyptian Assassin (mom.) She was orphaned at eight after her parent's death and raised by an associate of her mothers an Abenaki elder and thusly raised within the Abenkai community. It's a bit of a cliche but at the time I really loved what I was writing however, here in 2024, looking back at the story I never finished I'm really questioning whether or not I should.

My reasons mostly stem from the fact that I'm not sure it's the 'correct' thing to do. As a writer now, I pour in lots of research into my characters and the worlds they inhabit but back in 2012, that wasn't the case, I made it up to 30-odd chapters and I was pumping the story out as fast as I could type because it was just FLOWING.

Chenoa, is problematic because I did not pour much research into her, I was a different writer back then and the world was a different place with people not yet understanding just how murky the waters could be when it came to writing a character from a culture that wasn't your own. I'm a white woman with no indigenous background, and I was writing about Chenoa who was for all intents and purposes, an Abenaki woman but looking back now, I can see I wasn't being respectful or even devoting the care to writing her the way she should have been given that she was part of a community that I know nothing about. I had every intention of finishing the story now that I've changed as a writer but as I said, looking back at it, it doesn't feel right to do it now and I'm thinking it might be time to let the story go.

I'm sad at this realization because I think as writers we develop connections to our stories, like deep emotional connections and I definitely had one to this story. It was the most popular story I'd ever written with over 30 chapters, 74k words 100 comments, 89 favorites, and 103 follows. At the time it was some of my best writing and people really loved it. I'd wake up to new comments almost daily and people constantly telling me they loved the story and were excited for the next chapter. No story has ever reached this level of interaction/adoration/love, whatever you want to call it and it was one of the times in my life that made me the happiest (at the time.)

I had so much love for this story and the character I'd created but the more I thought about it the more I realized that continuing it didn't feel right. I've grown up and while I still love the story, I don't feel the need to continue it. I've decided to remove it and move on to other things. I've saved a copy of it so that I always have it for whatever reasons but I've also screenshotted the wonderful comments left to me. These comments are what make the fanfiction community so wonderful, guys, you're all amazing, seriously. That we form such great friendships with people we may never meet all because of people who never existed is something that will never cease to astound me.

I just wanted to get this off my chest and tell you guys about a story I began a long time ago and how you don't always have to finish things. Chenoa means 'Dove' and she was a healer like her father, she entered into the world of the Brotherhood and met Connor over chance and misdirection and the two became a team. There was meant to always be push and pull as to whether or not she would stay the path of the healer or take up her mother's crusade and take life instead of sparing it. In the end, her role was to remain a healer and stay by Connor's side, rebuilding the Brotherhood but not taking a direct role.

This feels like a eulogy almost, lol. I just wanted to share something that meant a lot to me. I'm onto working on my other projects including Shadows and Unbreakable Bonds and my army of one-shots. Thanks for listening.

[maximuswolf]

I think Ubisoft is doing a disservice to themselves by making all their games the same. I have 0 reason to buy more than 1.

I think Ubisoft is doing a disservice to themselves by making all their games the same. I have 0 reason to buy more than 1. It's one thing to complain about Ubisoft copypasting the same game and that being sort of "bad" for us in a way. I cannot name a single Ubisoft major franchise from the past decade or more that wasn't build on the following core gameplay loop:Open worldDIvided into regions4 or 5 type of simple sidemissions total, copypasted to each regionThese are located by getting to a radar (climbing or otherwise hidden in plain sight)Copypaste this to every region (region number somewhere between 15-25)Lock the open world / main content (such as story) behind grind. Justify the grind by locking basic features from previous games behind a skill tree so player feels "progression and growth". Monetize the shit out of it, even if it breaks gameplay (ever wanted to spawn in a Ferrari to your campfire for 2,99 in an allegedly survival game?)Ghost Recon turned into this (Wildlands)Ghost Recon Breakpoint got so badly deep in this it's the breakpoint of the franchise (also added loot grind and region locking by enemy levels which Wildlands thanks to some miracle of somebody seeing reason, didn't have).The Crew (a car racing game) was built on thisThe Crew 2 is like thisEvery Assassin's Creed ever is like this (instead of continuing the path of the original Desmond saga that had no leveling or area gating)Watch Dogs is designed around this (and progressively got less depth and story as they cut back budget on those areas in favor of adding more of the above)The Division is built on thisThe Divison 2 is built on thisFar Cry 3-4-5-6, New Dawn are based on these. That's 5 games. Immortals Fenyx Rising (could've been a great Zelda competitor if not for this shit)AVATAR (there was an AVATAR game when the first movie came out, not sure if it's Ubi but I recall it was. If not, then I mean the new AVATAR if not both).Games that could not be transformed into this formula got completely cancelled and buried for 10+ years now, including but not limited to:Price of PersiaSplinter CellEvery Tom Clancy RTS titleRaymanRabbids (Nintendo exclusivity keeps it alive as guests in Mario or whatever)The one somehow still standing franchise that dares to be true to it's origins and sales keep it alive: ANNO.It's not that I don't like it. Hell I love Assassin's Creed. Used to. I mean, got sick of it but from time to time I love to get lost in it. But I played Odyssey on and off for over 2 years and some more, and compared to that Valhalla is so obscenely big I'm never going to finish it even if I ignore most of the side content. The thing is, because it designed to last long (so the player is more likely to buy extra stuff) I think the result is the complete opposite:I am not buying more than 1 Ubisoft game. If all of them are the same, I need only 1. That's money out of Ubisoft's pocket that I used to spend on their games when creativity was their flag carried proudly (started from the 90s and ended around AC3).I am not playing games I am not buying, therefore I don't spend extra.I am not spending extra in the 1 game I know is designed around pushing me into buying extrasI wanted to write a 4th point but there really isn't. That's it. Ubisoft made me buy MAYBE 1 Ubisoft game, or 0, every 4-5 years. Submitted June 21, 2024 at 07:26AM by Waveshaper21 https://ift.tt/EKLPVOf via /r/gaming

[costumesexpalined]

Hi, Ac3 here from my main blog. I have a huge hobby for cosplay and I wanna help others out, so here’s just a rundown of how this works:

I primarily have a strength with historical costuming, because of the clearer context of what things mean and access to information on available materials and stuff (in regards to character development and stuff that is).

However, I am very much skilled in looking at a picture of an outfit that would need a lot of work figuring out and just… breaking it down into layers and going from there. I also know a lot about what fabrics work best for what items, how to do both machine and hand sewing and embroidery on top of knitting and crochet, and am fairly good at making tutorials based on my ability to get my IRL friends almost to my level crafting wise pretty easily.

I took pretty advanced fashion design/crafting classes all throughout high school and to an extent into college, I just shifted degree gears due to the job market. I like supporting fandoms, cuz they’re great, so here I am.

Only rules for asks/requests is nothing NSFW will be posted on the blog unless there is a high demand for that specific thing and I vet the hell out of it. If it’s a one off and I think it would be a fun challenge I might just do it and send you the pattern roughs over DM.

Other than that, be kind and please credit me for the pattern source so that more people can find it when others ask or you make posts with completed items.

Tags made for this blog so you can follow them:

- ac3s tutorials (tutorials only)

- ac3s patterns (patterns only)

- ac3s lore breakdowns (breaking down a costume/outfit based on the work in question)

- ac3s costume logic (any breakdowns of construction, styles, possible references, materials, the layering, etc for a costume/outfit)

[helpyourselfwithcherrywine]

My history with Assassin's Creed Games

My first game was Assassin's Creed Bloodline, but I never finished it cause I couldn't get pass a certain level. I also no longer have a PSP, really want to get one though because I still have a lot of PSP games.

I recently wanted to play other games so I bought The Ezio collection and I loved AC 2, but hated Brotherhood on account of how much effort I spent getting Altair's armor only to lose it like 5 minutes into Brotherhood's cutscene I held a grudge and Revelation's was okay but very short.

I had bought Assassin's Creed 3 and instead got Rogue. I wrote a review since the people who sold it to me. (It said Ubisoft on Amazon, but Amazon is notorious for letting people fake identities and selling fake shit) refuse to answer and they blocked my review and said I was " Violating Guidelines" which I was pissed cause all I told them was it wasn't what I had ordered. So I kept Rogue and to me it's pretty good.

I also got Black Flag cheap on the Xbox store since they had a sale, but AC3 wasn't. I have to wait to get a Wi-Fi box since my phone is out of hotspot.

My history with other games is on my header but, I love zombie game. Have played both RDR games and the zombie DLC. Dead Island, L4Dead, GTA VC,VCS, IV, Liberty City Stories, and a lot of older war games. I lost a lot of the other PSP games cause my brothers can't take care of anything. Btw some of these I haven't played, I had a case with other games, but yet again my brother broke and lost my case and SD card. The case had two extra slots for game disks and SD cards. The one below is the one I still have.

[kieuecaprie]

KieueCaprie's List of Games Finished in 2023: Entries 3 and 4

#3: Armored Core (PSX)

Started: 13/1/23 Finished: 13/1/23

"Now hold up" I hear you ask, "Why on earth are you playing this again? Didn't you literally just finish this last month?"

Yes, of course I did. But I'm playing it again because, as it turns out, Project Phantasma, a game that allows porting of AC1 saves, was a game that was never released in Europe but you know what did?

Yep! Armored Core 1 was released in Europe but we never got Phantasma! So that meant playing through the game again on a US version just so I can port the save over.

Now, of course, I could just use one of the many super-saves scattered around the internet but, well, they all have Human+. I'm not too keen on Human+ and, unlike AC3's OP-INTENSIFY, you can't unequip Human+, so I decided to run through the game to get both KARASAWA and MOONLIGHT so I could go into ACPP with the two best weapons of the game, and it was an excuse to go back and see how far I came ever since I first started playing the series.

It actually felt A LOT easier the second time around now that I knew what I was doing. Hell, Nine Ball barely gave me much trouble this time!

#4: Armored Core: Project Phantasma (PSX)

Started: 13/1/23 Finished: 14/1/23

Initially, I wanted to play through the campaign normally but the arena kept bothering me for the longest time because I didn't have access to everything I wanted and it was beginning to get real frustrating.

So, I went back to Armored Core 1, killed Nine Ball again, and brought Oberon Alpha forwards to Project Phantasma to compete in the Arena. Naturally, the low levels fell by the wayside but playing through the higher ones made me appreciate the balancing attempts made in later games. For one, no heat meant you could just bumrush someone with high enough defense and tear them to shreds, so it was basically a who had the better turn speed and FCS contest, which was exacerbated by the AI cheating at every turn, they don't have to deal with the clunky camera controls like we do.

But after a lot of tears, I eventually made it to the top and got the Finger, so now it was time to go and play through the campaign, which was definitely a step up from the first game's short mission structure, although saying that, it felt like PP was a bit too short, especially when Finger would shred everything in a matter of seconds. Not even Stinger could stand up to such an onslaught.

However, I enjoyed my time playing it, it was a good game and made me remember why I enjoyed Armored Core to begin with.

|| PREVIOUS || -- || BACK TO TOP || -- || NEXT ||