#specially because I wanted to get syndicate or black flag but they only had this one at the store

[syninplays]

Random gifs I made while exploring France with Arno 💫

[sexy-swashbuckler]

10 and/or 23 for the pirate101 questions? :3

10 + 23 :3 here u go

well firstly - i said this in a previous answer - but i made nightingale during the pandemic and it was the first pirate i had actually stuck with after years of creating and deleting characters. in a post i made i said that playing as swash is like playing the game on hard mode. this is the reason that nightingale is so special to me. its because that save took me FOREVER. it took me two years to finish with so much difficulty. but i did it :D.

i'm really big on story telling so i really put a lot of thought into my character's background, even if some of those details are only in my head lol.

nightingale:

when i was making nightingale i was also playing ac: syndicate, so i had this obsession with victorian england (lol) and that's why i chose marleybone as their world of origin. i chose swashbuckler because i loved the finesse/melee animations of the game. looking back, their world of origin and class really compliment each other. i see a lot of marleybonian officers and what-not with sabres so it makes since to me in that my pirate probably learned fencing by going to classes. its suggested by a badge that the marleybonian-raised pirate knows military discipline, so i like to think my pirate was put into fencing classes - not exactly against their will - but the way most kids are put into soccer when they are small.

as for the colors, i wanted to pick something that was neutral and looked good with the gear and ships. at first i wanted black and white (which is the colors i chose for my pirate's clothes in character creation) but then i didn't like how some shades of white looked kinda pink in-game. so i chose beige instead. i absolutely love this color combo and think i made an excellent choice.

i actually changed the coat of arms on the flag when i was in cool ranch. i had the compass/north star thing with the criss-cross swords but i don't remember why i didn't like it. when i was picking a new one, i just thought the fish looked pretty sick :D.

(i'll get into clothes after devereaux)

devereaux:

i have this habit of limiting my worlds of origin to the class i'm going to pick (like i'll only choose witchdoctor if my character is from krokotopia). because again i'm big on story telling and i like things to be very obvious and make sense. but with devereaux i was like "let me switch it up a little. what about an underdog story of a kid from scrimshaw but they are a privateer. they are a natural born leader with hidden talent and potential."

although i wanted to start a new save with devereaux just for the story aspect and for the heck of it, i also realized recently how important side quests are to understanding the lore of the game. i feel i rushed through nightingale really fast because i was so eager to learn more about the main storyline but neglected everything else.

colors: i read this series of poems last year here on tumblr about the colors of the classes that was so beautiful. there's a line in the privateer poem about how the blue in their color scheme is like the blue of the skull island skies and i thought that just fit my pirate so well because they're from scrimshaw. I DONT REMEMBER WHO WROTE THE POEMS IF YOU WROTE THEM AND YOURE READING THIS PLEASE TELL ME SO I CAN GIVE YOU CREDIT. but that's why i chose blue. i tried so many variations of blues tho and colors that complimented them and it was exhausting. i ultimately came up with this color scheme and i think its perfect and exactly what i had imagined. for the coat of arms, i wanted something that looked regal but not too obvious, so i thought the fleur-de-lis was good. devereaux is also a french name so i thought it was a cool nod to irl history.

clothes:

clothes can say a lot about a character. with nightingale, i didn't give their clothes much thought until the very end. i usually just equipped gear that fit in with the theme of the current world so i could get good stats. but when i got to valencia pt.2, i did a clothing stich. i knew that the game was almost over and i probably wasn't going to touch this character for a while so i wanted to give them something that i would enjoy simply looking at. i wanted the clothing to look like an officer's uniform but with a pirate's flare. i went back to marleybone and bought some clothes. their hat is from the bazaar.

with devereaux i plan to do the same thing. i want to stich "great coat" with something that has high armor once i get to aquila or marleybone (whichever comes first i cant remember). but for the time being, i want them to looked at pirate-y as i can make them lol.

that's my answer, i didn't realize it was so lengthy lol

[motheatenscarf]

WHO WANT SOME AASHI LORE?

So I’m not 100% sure on this because my DM is a cagey motherfucker who reveals none of their cards (which I love them for but FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF), however, I’m pretty sure Aashi has inherited some sort of necromantic powers and/or curse from her father who VERY LIKELY possessed the Eye of Vecna when she was conceived.

So at the beginning of the campaign, I told Kings, my DM, that the point of Aashi is that she’s a terrible elf who aside from the pointed ears and foresty green eyes is as human as the gruff mercenary mother who raised her. She never knew her father, so Kings had free reign of if/how he would wind up being important. For a long time I actually thought she was gonna wind up being half-Drow since we had 2 Drow in our party (there was an insane theory for a hot minute that our Cleric was potentially her father). The other thing that made her a terrible elf was that she didn’t use a longbow but rather a crossbow, since it fit the bounty hunter aesthetic better, and I justified it by saying she only had one eye and couldn’t aim for shit anymore.

I couldn’t come up with a good story for how she lost the eye, though, so I just connected it to her driving motivation. 

She started out the campaign hunting down a bounty on the wizard who burned down the slums where her family ran their tavern from. The city was corrupt as all hell and no one in power would lift a finger to help the victims get back on their feet, so her uncles along with countless others were forced to go to The Pact, a very evil criminal syndicate. They wound up deep in debt and unable to dig themselves out, so to buy them time, Aashi promised to track down a high paying bounty for The Pact if they’d keep their sharks off her uncles’ backs until she returned. They wanted something of hers as collateral to ensure she came back, though, and despite offering plenty of valuable things, the only thing they accepted was one of her eyes.

I chose this to illustrate just how much Aashi was willing to sacrifice for her family, but after we returned with the bounty on Aashi’s wizard nemesis to pay off the debt, Kings had the tricky motherfuckers give her a magical fake one that she could still see out of and was disguised to look like her real one. The “eye” they returned to her was an aberrant insectoid from hell that did a shitton of psychic damage when MONTHS LATER a series of headaches caused Vas and our wizard friend to discern what it was. 

So that was horrible, and Aashi was down an eye again. She persevered, however, and even had our wizard friend find a way to transfer the enchantment into a new fake eye so her enemies wouldn’t know she was onto them and so she could buy her uncles time to escape their clutches.

At the time we all figured they only kept Aashi’s eye to keep scrying on her, but would later find out some things that made that less certain. In the meanwhile, though Aashi wanted revenge, but that required fetching her mom from where her mercenary band was hired to stop an insurgent rebellion. While we were there, we discovered that the mysterious rebel leader was none other than Aashi’s father, both of them being played against each other’s forces by a manipulative green dragon we wound up uniting them against and killing.

And Aashi’s dad, who we thankfully did not have to kill, turned out to be a sketchy necromancer wizard, because Kings loves that irony shit, and he also only had one eye, the false one being a black void with a GLOWING GREEN LIGHT coming out of it, as his most unique identifying feature which Aashi’s mother told her about and inspired her to offer sacrificing up her eye to The Pact. He also only had one real hand, the other being a mummified replacement he attached with necromancy to replace a lost one. And then, when he mentioned that it was ironic that Aashi would wind up becoming a Hunter, he mentions that he too is a hunter of sorts, and asks if Aashi has ever heard of VECNA. 

🙃

And Aashi, with an Intelligence of 12, is like, “Who dat?” and gets a lore dump on her about how he’s been tasked by his people to go out into the world and be the hands and eyes of the liches who rule his people to look for signs of Vecna’s schemes and put a stop to them.

And all of that is concerning in and of itself, but we’ve grown to trust Kasoreth, Aashi’s dad, against probably our better judgement, and we part on friendly terms with him and promise to be in touch after we’ve removed The Pact from power.

The Pact, however, had fallen on hard times in Aashi’s home town and were forced to pack up and leave after they were caught in the wrath of some roaming paladins. We had to move onto our Barbarian’s story pretty quickly after since it was nothing but dead ends all around and his stuff was time sensitive, but we did discover that a.) The Pact knew we’d be coming after them, despite Aashi’s caution, and b.) they had packed up everything but one artifact which only Aashi caught a glimpse of before their headquarters exploded with us inside them, and it proved that they were connected to an insane conspiracy connecting the drow, memory erasing aberrations that removed people from existence, and quite likely the primordial source of darkness in the world. Which only proved that the Pact were even WORSE than we thought.

So, the facts as they are;

Fact One: The Pact would only accept Aashi’s eye as collateral when it came time to making a deal with them to buy her uncles’ a stay of execution. 

Fact Two: Kasoreth has a mysterious glowing green lich eye and hand and a connection to Vecna. That alone is like, three red flags.

Fact Three: Kasoreth’s good eye is brown, as are, according to him, the eyes of what few family members he knows of, and the same can be said of Aashi’s mother and her side of the family. Aashi’s eyes are green. She always just figured it was an elf thing. It still might be. But it’s a weird coincidence. 

Fact Four: Aashi has a special homebrew feat granted by our DM called (Un)Dead-Eye where she crits on a 19 when fighting Undead. I just thought it was because Undead were one of her favored enemies. It still might be. But it’s a WEIRD coincidence and the phrasing of it alarms me.

Fact Five: Kasoreth FOR SURE has the Finger of Death spell, we’ve seen him use it. He is a necromancer and might just know it in his own right. But he has a mummified hand and a connection to Vecna. It might be a coincidence! ARE YOU NOTICING A PATTERN, THOUGH?

Fact Six: The Pact, who are WAY WORSE than we thought they were, are not just accruing power and wealth for the sake of having power and wealth, but appear to be in service of some ancient evil, wittingly or not, and are orchestrating the means to some nefarious end. And they wanted Aashi’s eye. Specifically her eye. It mighT. Be A COINCIDANCE. HOWEVER....

All of these on their own can be easily dismissed and might be red herrings, but I am very concerned about what is going on with that missing eye of hers that was stolen and what might come of it in the hands of The Pact, who CLEARLY wanted it for some reason, and I don’t think it was just to keep an eye on a two-bit bounty hunter who didn’t pose any real threat to them at the time. 

And every time I ask my DM about it they just send me this gif;

and I send them this one,

and that’s as much as I’ve been able to get out of them on the matter.

But I DID figure out that Kasoreth was Aashi’s father, and I did figure out that the dragon was the one behind the conspiracy in Lasondrand where we met him, and I’m good at figuring out Kings’ narrative beats so far, and I’m like 99% sure I’m right, and I’m AFRAID of what that means for my girl.

Also, after our cleric cast Regeneration to regrow her eye so she could be free of the cursed fake, his player came up with the phrase, “Infinite Eye Economy” which is The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Heard, but also makes me wonder... if that’s maybe going to factor in somehow.... oh god...

[felassanis]

Everything I love about Assassin’s Creed

1. Ezio da la la la

2. If you idle for long enough in Odyssey Ikaros comes and lands on Alexios’s/Kassandra’s arm and then alexios/Kassandra will greet him.

3. Edward’s outfit is by far my favourite Assassin robe. It looks so fooking cool.

4. Alkibiades

5. The first mission in Assassin’s Creed III. Finding the temple and it coming alive with all the lights and the humming was so fucking cool and the theatre with Haytham was such a good way to start the game, I loved the environment that went with the theatre and the parkour was really good too, everything was good even though I had no idea why we were there in the first place lol.

6. SHAUN HASTINGS

7. Edward’s tattoos being the only reason why I go whaling in AC:Black flag

8. The dynamic between Jacob and Evie, I’ve always wanted a twin duo in a game and Jacob and Evie Frye were awesome and y’all keep sleeping on them.

9. The different colour schemes in Assassin’s Creed 2 for the different cities gave the locations their own feel and vibe and it differentiated them from each other while also ensuring that the landscapes were utterly gorgeous. For example, Venice had cooler colours, very blue and silver while Florence was warmer, with more orange and brown thrown into the mix. It really gave those maps their own identity and it was great.

10. All of Lineage. all of it, it was flipping fantastic and I know it’s not a game but it was brilliant and the other Assassin’s Creed movie will never top it despite Michael Fasbender being in it.

11. That cutscene in Black Flag where Blackbeard lights his beard on fire, I love that historical accuracy because it was very likely true and it’s so SO bad-fucking-ass

12. Alkibiades

13. How quickly I fell in love with Frederico Auditore despite the fella only having about 5 lines.

14. Also just how quickly I came to love the Auditore family, that was how well written they were, that I fell in love after 30 minutes with them. 

15. LEONARDO DA VINCI

16. Desmond Miles’s snark.

17. ‘Hey whatta matta with you altair,’

18. SHAUN HASTINGS

19. How buffy Kassandra is

20. The hookblade was actually amazing in Revelations and I’m in full support that it shouldbe brought back. The noise it made was also oddly satisfying too?

21. The Glyphs in AC2 were spooky and ominous and I refused to do the last mission until I had found all of them and uncovered the Truth. Because that entire side quest was full of anticipation and the creepy vibe the Glyphs gave off and how the footage of Adam and Eve was cut up and glitchy was just really interesting and it peaked with a climax.

22. LEONARDO DA VINCI

23. The golden beads in Alexios’s hair.

24. And Alexios just being an overall gorgeous human being who’s face was chiselled by the gods.

25. The flying machine mission in AC2 while really aggravating if you didn’t do it the first time was also really fun and getting to see Leonardo all giddy and happy made it worth it.

26. I don’t know if it’s just me? but Connor’s hair? like I know for a fact that I like men with long hair but something about his hair and the feather intertwined into it was just really appealing? and while I know why Connor shaved his hair I couldn’t help but screech when he did lmao but that’s because it’s obviously not my tradition and it’s abnormal to me. pfft

27. Revelations is one of the best AC games and I’ll fight anyone on this. It was phenomenal given how it finally concluded Ezio’s story (and remember Ezio was the face of the franchise for years and he was fan favourite and still is so there were some pressure and expectations) and how it also concluded Altair’s story.

28. Altair wasn’t that interesting in the original game but Revelations added depth and layers to his characters and made him way more intriguing. The game also gave this character important significance to the lore and I think that’s the perfect way to honour the guy who started it all. As much as we love Ezio, Altair came before and without him, Assassin’s Creed wouldn’t quite be the way it was today. (although it’s up to you if that’s a bad thing or not lmao)

29. And seeing Ezio old and matured, becoming this wise legend of a man was really cool and getting to play as him in his final journey was both heartbreaking but satisfactory.

30. I have to give a massive applause to Ubisoft for making Leonardo gay as well in Brotherhood prominently. I don’t think it was ever proven historically if he was? but it was rumoured? and yet Ubisoft went and made it canon giving that representation while also having Ezio outright say he’s okay with Leonardo dating men?! Like, in that time period if you were gay you could go to prison and the general view of homosexuality was that of disgust and yet Ezio is just here supporting his best friend? hell yes.

31. ALKIBIADES

32. I have certain feelings with Unity, but I won’t lie that the parkour was spot on in that game.

33. Gideon Emery....just Gideon Emery as Reginald Birch. The character’s a massive prick but god...that voice.

34. Connor mentioning his grandfather Edward as he’s sailing the Aquila.

35. Getting to see the wreck of the Jackdaw in Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry was gut-wrenching.

36. Finally getting to pet animals in ACIII.

37. Finally getting to feed pigs in a video game ^^

38. SHAUN HASTINGS

39. OKay, I like Shaun because the guy is really entertaining and he’s British like me and I need to see this fucker in future games again...because after Syndicate he just vanishes and we got...Fucking Layla ugh.

40. The Naval combat in Black Flag is unmatched, fighting other ships never felt like a chore and it was fun and thrilling and the rewards felt deserving. And the feeling of taking down your first Man’o War is RIVETING.

41. Rebecca calling the Animus ‘Baby’

42. She’s another character I want to see come back. And she and Shaun better come back and be alive.

43. Lucy being a Templar was a plot twist I never saw coming but I was all for that angst especially when it seemed like they were setting up what I thought was the inevitable Desmond x Lucy romance. But I guessed wrong.

44. Yusuf Tazim being the joy and light of Revelations. fuck you Ubisoft

45. Ezio’s family theme song is the most iconic video game songs ever.

46. The introduction of Alkibiades in Odyssey, what a great way to introduce a character. like seriously, I fell in love with that fucker the moment he started speaking and felt up Kassandra’s arms while being half naked and wasted.

47. Bayek being a breath of fresh air in wonderfully written complex characters whose story was powerful and tragic. He needs a sequel.

48. Assassins Creed Brotherhood’s trailer being iconic.

49. When returning to Florence to retrieve the apple and you bring Ezio back to his old home only to see the ghosts of his entire family waiting for him. I was gobsmacked when that happened and it’s such a beautiful detail.

50. Mary Read/James Kidd being one of the best characters in Black Flag and leader in the ‘did not deserve it’ club. Every minute of her was flipping terrific and her significance in Edward’s story as one of the driving points that turned him into a better man was great.

51. I cried at the end of Black Flag.

52. The little text about Shaun sobbing when you look at the database on Desmond the dog in Syndicate.

53. The lip scar being shared between Desmond, Ezio and Altair was a cool detail.

54. The interchangeable cloaks in ACII.

55. Henry Green was so soft, kind and lovely and I honestly adore him.

56. Cane swords in Syndicate WERE AWESOME

57. NO fall damage in Odyssey. Keep this feature I don’t care how impossible it is for me to survive a jump off of a giant statue of a naked god it’s cool and I want it for every other game about to be released.

58. If you walk through grass in Origins Bayek sticks his hand out like that scene in Gladiator.

59. The scene in ACII Where Ezio uncovers his father’s robes from the chest and holds it up, It’s an incredible scene and the music fits so well with it and if you’ve watched Lineage it’s all the more amazing.

60. Rosa being pretty and terrifying in ACII.

61. The Bleeding effect being that other thing in lore that is SO BLOODY INTRIGUING and I wish it was explored a bit more. Can you actually imagine having the bleeding effect? where you can’t tell the past and the present apart? where you see ghosts from the past and hear voices no one else hears? jesus,..

62. getting answers about Clay/Subject 16. Ever since he left that writing in the wall with his own blood I was hooked on his story and thank god we got answers and a face to the legendary name. I wouldn’t mind more of him though.

63. I’ve always been fascinated with Native Americans and finally getting to explore them a bit more in ACIII proved to be interesting and I hope it was satisfactory representation for Native Americans.

64. finally getting to play in the present day in assassin’s creed brotherhood and 3, like actually getting to run around and explore as Desmond.

(I did a post like this on my old blog and I’ve rewrote them on here but I also got some new things, I just like having a post like this on my blog and I like seeing people who also agree with these brilliant features in this franchise, you can pretty much tell which two games are my favourite lol, Black Flag and 2 will always have a special place in my heart,)

[kelbremdusk]

Ranking all the Assassin’s Creed game I’ve played

I’m not done with Odyssey yet but I really doubt my opinion on the game is gonna in the near future UNLESS they pull something completely awesome ... which I really doubt they’ll do.  My criteria on how good the game is is very specific and has changed over the years, so the points i’m judging it on may seem a little weird.

Here’s what I’m going for: Overall gameplay, story, characters, environmental WOAH factor, worldbuilding outside of the animus, is there boat combat and a final score at the end

Assassin’s Creed (The OG)

Which I didn’t get to finish because the game glitched out. Score is not gonna be perfect because the game was extremely repeditive, there were no real missions BUT it was the first one so i’m giving it a pass.

Overall gameplay 3/10 

Story 7/10

Characters 6/10

Environmental WOAH factor 4/10

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 9/10

Is there boat combat? No

Final Score 5/10

Assassin’s Creed 2 (Pasta Edition)

Downgrade graphicswise but big big upgrade gameplay wise. Fun side missions and side characters. I had a great time with that game

Overall gameplay 7/10

Story 7/10

Characters 9/10

Environmental WOAH factor 6/10

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 8/10

Is there boat combat? No

Final Score 7/10

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (Pasta Edition 2)

My absolute favorite game of the series for a long long time (even after newer games came out) Loved the map, loved the characters, loved being able to hire, train and manage new assassin helpers. Bring that shit back Ubisoft! (Or give me a remaster please with better climbing mechanics)

Overall gameplay 9/10

Story 8/10

Characters 9/10

Environmental WOAH factor 7/10

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 8/10

Is there boat combat? No

Final Score 9/10

Assassin’s Creed Revelations (Kebab Edition)

Believe me when I say, I beat this game in 10 hours and I have no idea how. Another good game, lots of new and exciting mechanics, Story was a tiny bit lackluster. Either way, good times

Overall gameplay 8/10

Story 6/10

Characters 8/10

Environmental WOAH factor 8/10

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 7/10

Is there boat combat? No

Final Score 7/10

Assassin’s Creed 3 (Revenge Edition)

This is where it starts to get bad. Like actually bad. I have no idea what the fuck they thought about when making this game but OH MAN. Such boring characters, with a boring story and little to no actual assassinating. Big nope

Overall gameplay 7/10

Story 4/10

Characters 5/10

Environmental WOAH factor 3/10

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 9/10

Is there boat combat? Yes

Final Score 5/10

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag (Pirate Game TM)

Let me just say that this is in no way an assassin’s creed game. This is a pirate game. You go to places on the giant empty map with your boat and you fight against other boats. The only good thing about this game, is the time you spend outside of the animus. That’s it

Overall gameplay 3/10

Story 2/10

Characters -1/10

Environmental WOAH factor 4/10

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 10/10

Is there boat combat? Yes and I hate it

Final Score 2/10

Assassin’s Creed Unity (Baguette Edition)

I couldn’t play this game. I let couldn’t. Not cuz it’s bad (it is bad) but because the port was so terrible. I glitched through several roofs in the first 30 minutes, it lagged like crazy and i just dreaded the entire experience. I bought A NEW PC FOR THIS GAME and it didn’t work. Gave up after 3 hours.

Overall gameplay 0/10

Story 0/10

Characters 0/10

Environmental WOAH factor 0/10

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 0/10

Is there boat combat? ????

Final Score Didn’t finish/10

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (Marmite Edition)

GOOD GAME GOOD GAME GOOD GAME. Real good. Back to the roots. One city, one map, everything is immediately accessable. You can go where ever you want, whenever you want. You can pick between playing two different characters??? WHHAAA. Played as Evie 90% of the game cuz I am finally ALLOWED TO STEALTH KILL PROPERLY AGAIN

Overall gameplay 9/10

Story 7/10

Characters 10/10

Environmental WOAH factor 7/10

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 0/10 (there was not one moment you where outside of the animus and i was SAD)

Is there boat combat? No

Final Score 8/10

Assassin’s Creed Origin (Tears of joy Edition)

When I first heard that Ubisoft was gonna rework AC for Origins I was very sceptical about all the changes they were planning. Syndicate was extremely good and I was worried they’d fuck it up again when they just found their way back to what made me love AC in the first place. Origins was an experience. Just so so well designed, sound, environment, characters, story elements. The 10 year old ancient egypt obsessed kid in me was yelling the entire time. Also the game felt extremely mystic WITHOUT being straight up high fantasy

Overall gameplay 9/10

Story 9/10

Characters 8/10

Environmental WOAH factor 100000/10

Worldbuilding outside INSIDE of the animus 10/10 (THE TEMPLES AND ISU LOGS, LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????)

Is there boat combat? Yes but it was fine

Final Score 9/10

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Pirate Game TM V2)

The game is ... okay. The environment is very boring. Characters are very bland or over the top and i don’t know who is who. It really didn’t have to have these fucking choice options tbh. It takes you out of the moment. I don’t like that they reworked the weapon system again. The entire battle between Athens and Sparta and you being able to participae in it is a waste of time. The armour loot you get is not even that special because you get newer and better shit after 20 minutes??? The cult thing is fun, also hunting headhunters. Why is there cyclops’ and medusa in the game. i don’t understand

Overall gameplay 6/10

Story 4/10

Characters 3/10

Environmental WOAH factor 1/10 

Worldbuilding outside of the animus 1/10

Is there boat combat? Yes and I wanna die

Final Score 5/10

[tsarethan]

More Ghost stuff

random questions i answered sorry this is terrible

 What is/are your OC’s nickname(s) and how did it come about?

Pup/dog from Ramsey, Ghost in team rainbow and Wolf in the SAS

 What is the colour of your OC’s eyes/hair/skin?

Blue/green eyes, blonde hair and white skin

 How tall is your OC?

5’4

What is a noticeable physical attribute of your OC?

He’s still pretty pale from the drugs and the track marks on his arms again from the drugs. He has a few tattoos as well mostly of animals

What does your OC normally wear? What would your OC wear on a special night?

Well he’s in the army so his normal combat gear or a pair of joggers and an oversized t-shirt/hoodie. Ethan’s not one for formal wear he’s very casual, owns multiple pairs of black skinny jeans that are a little big on him and plaid shirts with a t-shirt underneath are his go too

What is one word you would use to describe your OC’s appearances?

Ordinary (assuming this means the way he dresses)

Does your OC have any markings, such as a birthmark or a scar?

He has a couple of scars from bullet wounds and knife scars but the most notable is the ‘Ramsey’s attack dog’ that is carved into the left side of his torso. He has a tattoo on his left forearm of a big black wolf holding a union jack flag and a spitfire plane tattooed on his other forearm, he has a bunch of other tattoos just dotted round but those two are the most notable ones

How does your OC talk/what does your OC’s voice sound like?

He’s from Liverpool but isn’t conventional, he doesn’t have the typical scouse accent, but other brits can still tell where he’s from  

What does your OC’s bedroom look like?  His/her living area?

On base his room isn’t overly decorated, a few posters and books. In Thatcher’s house is like a normal bedroom, posters, figures, Xbox, pained a dark blue. It’s a loft room so the ceiling is slanted with the roof but there’s a window on the slanted roof which he enjoys because he can smoke in his room and it leaves nice colours in his room at sunset. He’s got a double bed and nice tv to go along with the Xbox and he’s eternally grateful to his dad.

What does your OC keep in a special drawer?

Weed box and knife collection

What is your OC’s relationship with his/her mother?

His mum was murdered brutally on Ramsey’s orders, they weren’t that close

What is your OC’s relationship with his/her father?

His birth dad is the same as his mum, was later adopted by Thatcher, they have a great relationship even if they bicker a lot

How many siblings does your OC and what is his/her relationship with them?

Birth family he had one sister named Laura they have never had a good relationship and it was only made worse with their parents’ deaths

Who is the mother and/or father figure in your OC’s life?

Thatcher

What was your OC’s childhood like?

Until he was 11 Ethan had a pretty normal childhood that’s when everything went to shit with (unknowingly) joining the syndicate

What is your OC’s strongest childhood memory? Why and how as that impacted him/her?

With it saying childhood I’m gonna say from before aged 11, Ethan’s not sure if it’s a memory or something his brain came up with after being told the story but when he was 4 he nearly fell down the gap between the train and the platform edge. He was dangling in that gap for a good few seconds as his mum ha a hold of his hand, but she was also holding a bunch of bags and couldn’t pull him completely out. A stranger grabbed Ethan and lifted him out, ever since then he’s been terrified of the gap between trains and platforms and makes sure people stay far away from the yellow line at the station. If people don’t it can send him into a full blown panic attack

What is your OC’s imagination like?

Hes a bit of a daydreamer but most of what he thinks is his revenge against Ramsey. With his drawings they are mostly vent art or drawings of the other ops

How many times did your OC move as a child?  Which area was his/her favourite?

Never moved, his family lived in a poor as shit area and couldn’t afford to move

What does your OC think of children- either in general or about having them?

He loves the kids in his adoptive family but has never thought about having kids of his own, when he thinks of family he thinks of the people already around him rather than settling own and having his own

What kind of mother/father would your OC be?

Idk he’s still really young and going through a lot with the trauma he’s experienced so I don’t think he would put too much thought on being a parent

Who is your OC’s closest relatives?

His dad (Thatcher), Sledge, Mute, Smoke (like brothers to him)

Who is/are your OC’s closest friend(s)?

Bandit, Mute, Rook, Twitch, Glaz, kapkan

Who are the people your OC surrounds him/herself with?

People who can have a laugh but he’s generally on okay terms with the whole team besides lion

Who are the people your OC dislikes/hates?

Ignorant hateful people, those who have a problem with his family, people who look down on him for his age, sexuality and background. Greed driven people and people who think they’re better than everyone else thinking they are gods gift to the world

If your OC has a soulmate, who is it?

Bandit

Why does your OC and his/her soulmate work so well together?

They have suffered in similar ways and have seen similar horrors. At the start of rainbow they were both outcasted by other CTU’s (not the SAS and GSG9) they learned to survive through this together and grew into an infamous team in rainbow. They both learn to heal together

What are some things your OC admires about his/her soulmate?

His ability to control his anger, Ethan knows what effect the things they have both experienced can damage the control of anger and violence. Bandits restraint is a great thing and how he can turn it into harmless pranks

How did your OC and his/her soulmate meet?

The first gathering of team rainbow in Hereford base

What is your OC’s level of education?

He got up to A-Levels

Did your OC participate in extracurricular activities, and if so, what were they?

Nope

What is your OC’s opinion of school?  What kind of student was s/he?

He was very fond of school it gave him a chance to be normal for a few hours of the day even if he was getting into fights quite a bit

What subjects did your OC excel at?

History, science, art and mechanics

What subjects interested your OC?

History and art

What is your OC’s dream job and/or current profession?

Well he’s serving a military service but if he had a choice he would have liked to work in a museum

How is your OC working towards his/her dream job and/or achieved his/her current profession?

He’s not working towards it as he can’t, and he got this job through a plea deal

What are your OC’s thoughts/opinions of his/her current profession?

He’s good at what he does and has found a family so he’s happy where he is, it’s certainly better than a prison cell

What is your OC’s biggest dream?

Keep the team alive longer than himself

How does your OC react to and handle stress?

Sleeps, drinks, smokes, fights either other ops or a punching bag

How does your OC handle anger?

Anger is what he handles the worst he can have severe violent breakdowns but he’s learned how to control it for the most part but that will only last so long

How does your OC handle grief?

He shuts down, you won’t get a response from him at all, it then turns destructive and after that he grieves normally, cries and tries his very best to move on from it. The most grief he’s experienced so far was from the murder of his parents and the only thing that could make him go through that extreme sort of grief again would be the death of one of the SAS or Bandit

What is your OC’s greatest fear?

Losing the people, he loves and falling back into Ramsey’s grasp again

What makes your OC happy?

His family and friends, having a day off at the same time as bandit so they can chill together

What kind of sense of humour does your OC have?

Very dark humour along with the typical millennial humour

What are some things that greatly upset your OC?

Being unable to help those on his team, he would lay down his life for them and he was taught any failure to save those ‘more important’ than himself was met with severe punishment (torture)

What are some things that annoy your OC?

People not understanding when he says he wants to be alone for a bit. People making fun of him for being 24 and being as close as he is with his dad

If your OC has them, what are some regrets s/he has?

Everything he’s done between the ages of 11-18

How easily does your OC forgive?

Petty bitch very rarely forgives

If your OC experienced trauma, what was it?

Torture, dehumanisation, body mutilation, he was in a brutal crime syndicate he’s seen so much at a very young age

What secrets does your OC have?

While he feels guilty for everything he done he doesn’t really feel bad for the victims, they were rivals and other criminals and he thinks what he done was mostly justified in his very black and white view on innocent and guilty. Also, he knows a lot more than what he told the police when he negotiated

What are some of your OC’s morals?

If you’re innocent you’re innocent, if you’re guilty it doesn’t matter what happens to you as long as you’re dealt with. However, his view of his is guilty is towards the real scum bags not just like people caught with drugs or imprisoned for petty stuff

What are some of your OC’s motivations?

His ingrained nature to protect an seeing how easy it is for situations to go south, very much a ‘if I don’t save them then who will’ along with obviously the supportive people he has around him

What is the health of your OC?

He’s not exactly a health freak, he enjoys drinking just a little bit too much and enjoys smoking weed, he did smoke cigarettes but with advice from sledge he got an electric cigarette instead. He eats pretty much whatever he wants not thinking too much about it (until he gets food poisoning or some shit) so not in the best of shape but he’s not out of shape either with his profession it’s hard to be out of shape and still meet expectations

Does your OC think with his/her head or heart?

A bit of both, outside of missions/training he thinks with his heart

What are your OC’s thoughts on death?

His own death doesn’t phase him, he’s come close more than once and he knows its gonna happen one day, so he accepts it

What are some of your OC’s strengths?

His situational awareness and skill with knives, anger management, never give up attitude

What are some of your OC’s weaknesses?

How much he cares for others, it can be too much and lead to him making impulsive choices, his trouble with forgiving people like the whole lion situation on a good day he’ll be civil with Olivier but on others not so much so he just tries to avoid Oli as much as possible, he’s also still weary about the other GIGN ops after the whole incident even though he loves the others he hasn’t forgotten the looks on their faces during the stand off and the choice words that were exchanged

How does your OC take criticism?

Not well he finds it a bit degrading and will struggle to see where he went wrong because he’s usually pretty good at pointing out his own flaws and failures

What does your OC think of him/herself?

He struggles with having an identity like he’s not really sure who he is, what type of person he is, but even still he has a very negative viewpoint of himself with how little he actually understands

What is the general impression your OC gives other people?

Snarky little kid who needs to cheer up a bit

How emotionally/mentally vulnerable is your OC with other people?

Not very unless they become close, the people who he’s vulnerable with the most is thatcher followed closely by bandit, but they are working on that

How does your OC display love?

Not a big fan of pda but loves cuddling on the couch with his quilt  

What is your OC’s favourite drink?

Non-alcoholic: probably original Lucozade

Alcoholic: Heineken or Becks

What is your OC’s favourite food?

Probably tuna pasta or chicken ceaser wrap

What is your OC’s favourite sweet?

Skittles, when he’s in the mood to be a little shit he will down a bag of them with a red bull

What is your OC’s favourite season?

Autumn/winter

What is your OC’s favourite kind of weather?

Where it’s a little chilly but not cold, like the sky is grey but you can still walk around only needing a hoodie/light jacket

What is your OC’s favourite book?

Game of Thrones

What is your OC’s favourite movie and/or TV show?

Movie: Guy Ritchie’s sherlock Holmes films (with RDJ and Jude Law)

TV show: line of duty or game of thrones or Luther although air crash investigation is something he will happily both binge watch and leave as background music

What is your OC’s favourite kind music (and song if there is one)?

He loves most types of music, focuses more on good songs than a good genre, his favourite song would probably either ‘I was just a kid’ or ‘Amsterdam’ both by nothing but thieves

What is your OC’s favourite form of entertainment?

Video games

What is your OC’s favourite colour?

Dark blue

What is your OC’s favourite animal?

Wolf

What is your OC’s favourite sound?

Thunderstorms

What is your OC’s favourite time of day?

late nights/early morning when everything is calm

What is your OC’s favourite kind of ice cream?

Mint chocolate

What is your OC’s favourite dinosaur?

carnotaurus

[vanceencounter-blog]

My Faves of E3:Part 1

Microsoft

Favorite Game: Cyberpunk 2077- I have been excited for this game based solely on the merits of the Witcher 3. CD Project Red left a great impression on me with that release  (I have never played Witcher 1 or 2, don’t @ me). I am typically not willing to fully sign off on a game until I see actual gameplay footage. While the general public did not get footage, we did get an awesome cg trailer that did a great job building excitement for the game. 

The world seems vibrant, colorful and unique. It also seems jam packed with many different locations, types of people and activities. We see the V(your customizable protagonist) riding a train, driving in a night rider esque car and while we didn’t see them flying, it seemed to heavily imply that was possible as well. People of various augmented varieties were seen throughout, allowing them to shoot hoops better, lay a beatdown on a sparring construct and even alter their facial appearance.

CDR did a great job with Witcher making a dark and interesting world while not making a game devoid of fun or humor. That tradition seems to carry on here, based on V’s exposition. He states that Night CIty is worst place to live in in America but everyone still wants to live there. More of a town of dreams where bad things happen, than a full on city of darkness a la Arkham City. This sets the tone of the game nicely, along with the pumping synth music, vibrant lights and even the font for the game itself.

I have learned that the game will be first person instead of third. This has caused backlash among the CDR faithful, hoping for a cyberpunk version of The Witcher. I am not at all shocked or appalled by this change. I like seeing developers be able to stretch their wings and make new types of games. If we kept devs locked into doing the same thing forever we would never get Horizon Zero Dawn or Child of Light. As an augmented human being in a futuristic setting, it makes much more sense from a gameplay perspective to be an fps. This allows you to have augmented vision and have better control over aiming your guns.

I can’t wait to hear more about this game. I fear that we won’t have a release date anytime soon but I appreciate CDR’s dedication to their craft. Witcher has bought them some well earned breathing room and freedom to take their time making a polished product. They have also promised to have continual post game free content, as is their tradition. For now I remain excited for the next glimpse they provide us.

Honorable mention: Gears of War 5- I have been a long time fan of the Gears series. I was unemployed and dropped out of school at the time of the first Gears, which meant I had a hell of a lot of time to myself. Time I spent playing a copious amount of GOW. My proudest achievement to this day is “Seriously”, which was presented to those who had 10,000 online ranked kills. It was one of the only online games I actually spent the time and energy learning the glitches to allow me to play on even footing. So you can understand how I may be interested in another entry to the series.

This Gears glimpse did not pick off right where the last game left off. Instead we see a JD with a messed up arm in some sort of incubator like device, with a shaved head and facial scar. Marcus and JD don’t seem to be getting along anymore. Even Kait and JD seem to be at odds. This leads to Kait and Del striking out on their own to find out the truth behind Kait’s newly acquired locust pendant. It was her grandmother’s which seems to lead us to believe Kait may be Queen Myrrah’s grand daughter.

I love the fact we are getting a game about Kait and Del. Marcus has had more than enough time in the spotlight and JD wasn’t terribly interesting. As a PR move, this is genius as well. The game’s main character has never been anyone but a burly white male marine.  By following Kait as the main character, it helps silence the criticism the series carries for being too much of a “bro shooter”.  This story seems personal and poised to offer many twist and turns. It seemed like there was some definite friction that was gonna happen between our two protagonists. I would be surprised if we didn’t at least play some of the campaign as JD and Marcus but would not be disappointed if that were the case.

From a gameplay perspective we didn’t get to see a tonne of new weapons yet. This is slightly disappointing given Gears’ track record of cool and unique weaponry. I do know a few people who would love to take up those bone sticks and bash people online. There were quite a few new enemies including the locust who gives up said bashing sticks, a leech like creature and some DBs, that seemingly have been taken over by a locust infection of some sort.

Cyberpunk gets the nod here for me, as it is a brand new property in the video game space.

 Ubisoft

Favorite Game: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey- I have been a long time Assassins Creed Die hard. The series has been a real roller coaster ride, with the highs of ACII and ACIV Black Flag and the lows of AC III and AC Syndicate.  I think Ubi made a smart choice putting the series on pause and reevaluating it’s direction after the general populace started to fatigue on yearly releases. AC Origins proved to be a triumphant return, albeit in a different form. A form which Odyssey seems to embrace and enhance.

Odyssey is even more of an RPG than Origins was. In addition to gear with levels and rarity distinctions, they have added dialogue trees and the the ability to choose your character at the start of the game. RPG elements have been blended into games for years now but I can not get enough of them. The ability to customize your character through their perks and your weapons of choice, lets the player fight in the manner that best suits their playstyle. Now the story can play out in a similar fashion by allowing you to direct character interactions however you please.

Another issue the franchise has had is the division between the life of the Assassins which is grounded in reality and history and the science fiction elements of their present/future story line. They seem to be leaning more into the scifi elements of the future in this entry. Rarely do we see any of the artifacts of the god like alien race. When we do, it tends to just be the apple and every now and then we catch snippets about the number or details of the remaining artifacts. Based on the abilities the spear of Leonidas grants you, it would appear that it is one such item.

I’m torn between the inclusion of this weapon. In terms of the modern day story it makes sense that the Assassin’s and Templars would come into contact with these items and use them to their benefit. The problem is the game is based in the real world so if these items were used frequently and openly in the past, surely we would know about their true power today. At this point I think it would behoove Ubi to either turn up the sci-fi in the past and finish out the story of the gods or drop the god storyline and make these period pieces solely. From a gameplay standpoint I like the idea of getting more interesting weapons. This would allow each Assassin to feel even more unique from game to game and the devs would have more game mechanics available to them.

Regardless of these concerns, I am excited by the freedom the gameplay and story provide. Being able to choose your gender and character without the loss of a defined character is great. Not saying Brodie was the best protagonist in Far Cry 3 but I prefer that over the silence of the Far Cry 5 hero. Any game where I can collect sweet loot and level up always has my attention and as such I remain hyped for AC.

Honorable Mention: The Division 2- The Division is back! Enough time has passed to be excited, especially because I never played any of the DLC. They are doing quite a few things that makes this look more than a rehash of the first game.

First off, the setting is summer time in D.C.. This gave us more variety in scenery, with a jungle environment shown off as well as the typical urban environments. The devs also had more freedom in the clothing options they provided to the player, as they now no longer have to worry about getting frost bitten.

Enemies look a little different this time out. There are now heavily armored enemies that signify they are going to be bullet sponges. This is a welcome change from the first game where a random high level enemy would be taking a hundred bullets to the toque before they would drop. Non-armored enemies do appear but are much easier to dispatch than in the first Division. The time to kill dropping I fully endorse and I appreciate them attempting to ground the game further in realism. Enemies had some new tricks up their sleeves, such as gooping a player to the ground causing them to need their team mate to release them. I hope this is indicative of an effort to have more unique challenges to face along the way.

The enemies aren’t the only ones with a few new tools in their belt though. There were some new gadgets like a device that split into little bee-like things and heat sought an enemy before exploding.  The biggest and baddest additions to your armory come in the form of high level special weapons. Once you hit the end game you will be presented the option to wield a grenade launcher, a 50 cal sniper or a torque bowesque cross bow. I am always up for more differentiation between party members and players, so I think this is a great change.

The raids will be launching soon after the release of the game in order to give players a chance to gear up and get high enough level to participate. The raids are 8 players and will require good gear and high level play to conquer. Personally I find this sort of end game content much more interesting than grinding endlessly in the dark zone. We didn’t get much about the dark zone but this first look at the game was more than enough to sate me for now.

 In this instance Assassin’s Creed wins based on the hooks it has had in me for years. Division I enjoyed but has a lot to prove. I am hoping they have heard the player’s feedback and are able to turn that into a game with a deep end game, diverse enemies and characters that feel like your own.

Sony

Favorite Game: The Last of Us 2- This is one of those games I think you could release nothing about and still have people lined up outside of their local game store on day one. I think they have done a good job so far giving us just enough information to tantalize without overloading though.

We started on a scene where Ellie is at a dance and life seems to be going a lot better for her these days. Joel isn’t seen but is eluded to by a fellow community member. This seemed like a very deliberate decision to leave him out of the spotlight and make Ellie the focus. In fact in the whole trailer he never showed up once. The developers have stated that this is her story but I would not be surprised if we had the inverse of The Last of Us and have one or two Joel levels. The trailer continues with Ellie dancing with another woman and ends up kissing her. People who never played the The Last of Us dlc may not know Ellie was a lesbian but the devs have stressed this is a part of who she is, making it important to display this. I am all for getting more diverse characters in games over having the 100th old grizzled army vet character. Unfortunately for her life isn’t all kissing girls and dances though.

We quickly cut from her at the dance to being out in the dark, shanking an enemy from behind. The cut scene looked great but in true Naughty Dog fashion the in-game graphics were just as impressive. The first thing that struck me was the visuals but as the trailer progressed it was the movement that stuck with me. Everything Ellie does seems realistic and once she engaged with a group of enemies it became clear the level of immersion we will be experiencing.

The melee combat seems much more refined and interesting in this game. Any weapon an enemy holds Ellie can pick up. Even if it’s a heavy one handed weapon it will just become a slow two handed weapon for her. The melee kills were so detailed and unique they seemed like pre-scripted quick time events. When she killed an enemy their arrows clattered to the ground and Ellie would physically pick them up rather than having them just pop into your inventory when stepping on them. This was a lot to take in before even factoring in the exploration.

There is a jump button now included in the game. This sounds like a game changer when it comes to traversal and the ability to sneak up on enemies. Speaking of sneaking they have significantly increased the nuance of hiding in tall grass. It is no longer a simple “I’m in the grass so I’m invisible” situation. Enemies can now spot you if they are close enough which makes things much more harrowing. You can now duck under cars as well but the enemies will search under them for you. In a section of a supermarket they also showed her squeeze in between shelves to flank her enemies. This breadth of options makes simple scenarios have many different ways to tackle them. In that super market section you will notice enemies tell one another to spread out and search for you. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their AI.

Each enemy knows that you are in a given space once alerted. This leads to them searching for you until they find you and not giving up like in other stealth games. They also have individual names, which their compatriots will call out. Changes like this make every grunt seem like a real person rather than a nameless thug. They also do not have patrol routes but move with a sense of purpose based on contextual clues they have. All in all it seems like Naughty Dog is poised to raise the bar for gaming yet again.

Honorable Mention: Ghost of Tsushima- This is a game we knew next to nothing about but it blew me away with its impressive showing. From the get go it was visually striking and unlike anything else we have seen. The use of color was striking with very muted tones at the start which easily drew the eye to the red tree matching the leaf that the main character, Jin, picked up.  Apparently this is very much an open world game and the focus of the demo was a side quest. The fact that there was this level of detail in an open world game is impressive to say the least.

Once the titular ghost arrived on the scene of the crime he runs into three mongols terrorizing the locals. In typical Samurai fashion they square off before he one shots the opposition. The combat seems more involved than something like Arkham Asylum. It reminded me of For Honor where blocks and parries will be vital to survival.

Once Jin got closer to the temple it became a stealth section or so I thought. The devs confirmed he could have went in the front door swords blazing but he probably chose the smarter option. By using his grappling hook he was able to sneak in through the temple roof and dispatch of the enemies silently. The grappling hook is only one of many weapons that our protagonist will unlock throughout the game. It shows the necessary transformation he goes through from samurai to something more, in order to overcome the tremendous threat the mongol hordes pose. There was a section where he stabbed an enemy through a sliding screen door which was very cinematic but was not scripted. The end result would have been the same with backup being called but it would have come to fruition differently based on how you tackled the enemies. As I have mentioned time and time again, I value this level of player agency very much and can’t wait to see all the options available to the player.

In the end he had to confront his ally as she was threatening to kill the proprietor of the temple. Jin states that we should be fighting the mongols rather than out own country men. She chooses to rebutt with steel. Once again the swordplay seems very intense with slow mo dodges and sword clashes. Flaming arrows rained down around your battle and started a blaze as your duel waged on. The fact that this was not a main mission but had such a memorable set piece bodes very well and earned it my honorable mention.

[marginalgloss]

huge and knife-like

I feel like Swing Time is Zadie Smith’s most Zadie Smith novel — which is another way of saying I feel like this might be her best novel. It has some of the faults I’ve found in her work before: it is too long, meandering, perhaps inclined to be equivocal when it ought to be ambiguous. But I think it’s also a novel where all of those faults almost become features.

It’s difficult to describe what this book is about. The title is taken from the 1930s movie with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and though the blurb pitches it as a book about ‘two brown girls [who] dream of becoming dancers’, that doesn’t quite cut it. For one thing it’s not a story about what it means to be a dancer, partly because the narrator never becomes one: it is about what it means to watch a dancer, perhaps.

It is essentially ruminative. It’s a book about observing, about thinking about doing things rather than doing them. This means it is also not above a little light postmodern punning (to ‘swing’ time as an instruction) but we need not hold that against it. What it certainly means is that for a book of over 450 pages in hardback, the story is barely there: two girls grow up in North London, for years sharing a mutual interest in dance and musicals, until they get a bit older and differences make themselves known. That’s mostly it? But also, that’s not at all it.

What pushes the girls apart is a very particular mix of class and culture: both are from families of mixed black and white background, but otherwise they could not be more different. The (unnamed) narrator’s mother is a proud black Marxist intellectual married to a reticent working class white guy; the other girl Tracey’s mother is white with an absent black husband who might or might not be a backing dancer for Michael Jackson or might or might not be a low-level criminal. 

For a long time it seems like the relationship between the narrator and Tracey will comprise the whole of the book, but partway through we leap forward in time. Suddenly it is the nineties and the narrator is all grown up and working for a hip young media startup when out of nowhere she is called to become the personal assistant to Aimee, a sort of art-pop starlet not a million miles from Madonna. From this point on the novel divides itself between following the narrator’s adolescence and her later life. There’s a special focus on Aimee’s lengthy philanthropic visits to the tiny African nation of Togo, where Aimee has all kinds of humanitarian ambitions.

These two strands of the novel never quite converge. There are parts when it seems like Smith is about to bring it all back to dance, but it never quite works; for one thing, the narrator becomes more of a singer than anything else. Tracey remains a distant figure of fascination and not-quite-admiration throughout. In fact ‘a distant figure of fascination’ would be a fair description of almost all the other characters; the narrator is the type to find interest in almost everyone around them, but who remains absolutely devoted to guarding their own emotional position. The language is plainer than in Henry James but the method is not dissimilar.

Over everything hangs the question of what it is that shapes people. It’s not expressed in such a banal way to just ask ‘what makes us what we are?’ but more like: what happened to us to make us so damaged? In Tracey’s case there are hints of abuse at a level which is barely understood by the narrator, and never explained. This problem of circumstance always seems to have haunted Smith’s novels, but here it’s done subtly, and with an unsettling intimacy.

None of this really explains what this book is like to read. Much happens of incident to the narrator, but somehow little seems to have meaningful consequence. The atmosphere is relaxed, somehow tranquil; the really emotional moments seem to happen off-stage, and the book is light on dialogue but heavy on considered description. It is essayistic. At times, a sudden rush of historical detail comes with all the excitement of a late-night Wikipedia binge. It has the feeling of a story told long in retrospect, tempered by time and consideration. There’s moments where concrete detail, memory, anecdote and history blend into a kind of great rolling flow of prose that that made me think of Proust:

‘…When I learnt all of this I was in Paris myself, sitting in the sunshine, in front of the Odéon theatre, trying to read the information off the sun-blanched screen of my phone, drinking a Campari, checking the time compulsively. I watched the twelve hours Aimee had allotted for Paris disappearing, minute by minute, almost faster than I could experience them, and soon the cab would come, and then an airstrip would fall away beneath me, and onwards we would go, to another twelve hours in another beautiful, unknowable city — Madrid. I thought of all the singers and dancers and trumpet player and sculptors and scribblers who had claimed to feel like people, finally, here, in Paris, no longer shadows but people in their own right, an effect that possibly required more than twelve hours to take effect, and I wondered how these people were able to tell, so precisely, the moment that they began to feel like a person. The umbrella I sat under gave no shade, the ice had melted in my drink. My own shadow was huge and knife-like under the table. It seemed to stretch halfway across the square and to point at the stately white house on the corner, which took up most of the block and outside of which a guide at that moment held up a little flag and began announcing a series of names, some known to me, some new: Thomas Paine, E. M. Cioran, Camille Desmoulins, Sylvia Beach…A small circle of elderly American tourists stood around, noddng, sweating. I looked back at my phone. And so it was in Paris — I tapped this sentence out with my thumb — that Le Gon began to feel like a person. Which meant — I did not write this part down — that the person Tracey had imitated so perfectly all those years ago, the girl we’d watch with Eddie Cantor, kicking her legs, shaking her head — that was not really a person at all, that was only a shadow. Even her lovely name, which we’d both so envied, even that was unreal, in reality that was the daughter of Hector and Harriet Ligon, migrated from Georgia, descendants of sharecroppers, while the other Le Gon, the one we thought we knew — that happy-go-lucky hoofer — she was a fictional being, born of a typo, whom Louella Parsons dreamt up one day when she misspelt ‘Ligon’ in her syndicated gossip column in the LA Examiner.’

There’s a certain kind of bourgeois anguish in all of this. After typing it all out I read it through a few more times, trying to find a part I could abbreviate, but nothing comes to mind. I think I love it. Some readers will find it insufferable, since little about it drives the story forward. Is all of it valuable, every word? I don’t know. But I wouldn’t want to diminish it.

[fromtheringapron]

Observations from ‘92 WWF Episodes of Superstars

After years of demand, the WWE Network has finally uploaded episodes of WWF Superstars, although not without a catch. They can’t yet upload any episodes before April 18, 1992, which is when the show’s named was shortened from Superstars of Wrestling to simply Superstars due to some legal wrangling over the “Of Wrestling” part. This date also happens to be just a couple of weeks after I was born, so please begin your conspiracy theories on how these two events are somehow related.

Regardless of the controversy, these episodes are a blast. Each hour is packed with the perfect amount of nostalgia and leaves you wanting more. Wrestling on Saturday mornings as a concept may seem like a such strange one to audiences in 2019, but there’s so much to these episodes that three-hour Monday Night Raws can certainly learn from. It’s also a nice glimpse into what the WWF was like in 1992, which was just as much a transitional year on-screen as it were a tumultuous one off of it. Allegations of steroids and sex abuse had damaged the WWF’s public image, familiar faces who’d been on the roster for the past several years were beginning to disappear seemingly by the week, and the wrestling business in general had entered a recession. Perhaps the biggest game-changer was the absence of Hulk Hogan, which caused Vince McMahon to start shifting focus to the likes of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.  

I’ve been breezing on through these episodes as of late. They’re a sweet treat that goes down easy, like a tube of mini M&M’s. I’m up to July 1992 in my binge watch, and here’s the most notable stuff from them so far:

The WBF and Grade-A Beef

The first few months of episodes on the Network are stuffed with Vince hyping his failed venture into bodybuilding, the World Bodybuilding Federation. He can’t stop talking about the weekly show WBF Bodystars, the WBF magazine, and the upcoming the WBF pay-per-view special (which turned out to be a commercial dud and ultimately spelt the end for the organization). Worst of all, he refers to both his wrestlers and bodybuilders as “100% Grade-A Beef” which makes me vomit just thinking about it. Note to anyone: referring to any appendage on your body as any sort of meat is disgusting. Seriously, I get grossed out when dudes on Grindr refer to their piece as “beef.” It’s just not a good look. Interestingly enough, a few of the articles in the WBF magazine talk about the dangers of steroids, which feels like Vince desperately trying to deflect attention of himself. This also marks the beginning of the ICOPRO era and to be honest, all these years later, I still don’t know what the fuck Vince was thinking if he believed the kids in the audience would’ve cared about creatine.

Unscripted Promos

Each episode features cuts to the Event Center hosted by Sean Mooney, where the superstars give promos on their feuds, grudges, house show programs, plans to challenge Bush Sr. and Clinton in the presidential election, etc. The magic of these promos, outside of the excellent characterized green-screen backgrounds, is how unscripted and ad-libbed they are. In a time where superstars are now force fed lines from TV writers, there’s something about this approach that feels so refreshing in contrast. Truthfully, a lot of what comes out of these guys’ mouths is nonsense but, in a way, that’s precisely why it comes off more realistic. If a reporter held a mic to Tom Brady right after his umpteenth Super Bowl win, chances are that he’s not gonna give this five-star, ultra-rehearsed promo. He’ll probably ramble on a bit, give a vaguely satisfying answer, and move on. The characters and storylines are still campy as hell, but still feels like something within the realm of real-time sports. That’s exactly how this era works best.

The Fan Reaction Shots Are Everything

These episodes also unintentionally serve as audiovisual evidence of what human beings in 1992 looked like, in case you didn’t know. As with anything in the early ‘90s, there’s a lot in terms of fashion that still makes everything look like the ‘80s. The hair is still pretty big and teased out, the neon is bright and unrelenting, and you’re bound to find a few dads in the crowd with some pretty thick mustaches (and if there’s isn’t a mustache, you can except some thick-rimmed glasses instead). Crowd reaction shots are an underrated aspect of getting an angle or character to over to the audience. A more modern example would be that shocked, hapless Edvar Munch painting of a man when the Undertaker lost at WrestleMania 30. Here is no exception. I particularly love the shots of terrified children when Papa Shango walks down the aisle, most notably an adorable little red-headed child who looks like he just saw a ghost.  

Cartoon Violence! Cartoon Violence Everywhere!

At some point during the early ‘90s, the WWF had successfully captured the feel of a darkly humorous comic book, and these episodes boast plenty of it. The Berzerker tries to stab The Undertaker with a viking sword! Rick Martel stealing Tatanka’s feathers and blinding him with cologne! The Repo Man hanging the British Bulldog! The Mountie shocking Sgt. Slaughter with a jumbo-sized shock stick! What makes these angles so fun is that they’re completely ridiculous yet manage to stay true to the characters. Of course The Repo Man wouldn’t just use a steel chair or any other ringside weapon on the Bulldog. Of course The Model would try to maim Tatanka while also promoting his signature fragrance. Sure, Lou Thesz wouldn’t have liked it, but you can’t deny it sells the characters to the audience pretty well.

The Papa Shango/The Ultimate Warrior Saga

 And speaking of a darkly humorous comic book, the Papa Shango/Ultimate Warrior feud is perhaps the most infamous of this particular era in Looney Tunes hijinks. As you may know, this involved Shango putting a curse on the Warrior, which later caused the Warrior to spew green vomit Exorcist-style and have black goo drip out of his head. A visual feast, indeed. The craziest part is that none of this resulted in a huge blowoff on TV, which would be considered a cardinal sin in today’s climate. It was instead used to promote house matches between the two. Maybe they thought people in Fort Wayne, Indiana or wherever the fuck would attend their shows hoping Warrior would puke all over them? I don’t know, but I can’t help but the feel all of this was supposed to be some sort of artistic statement. Was this commentary on our collective ennui? A hard look at the appropriation of Haitian voodoo in pop culture? An obscure nod to the then-recent fall of the Soviet Union? Send me your thesis papers, grad students!

The Big Bossman Deserved to Get His Ass Kicked

The Bossman/Nailz feud has aged poorly. It was easier for viewers to gobble up the narrative the WWF were trying to sell back in 1992 but we, in 2019, know better due to the shift in rhetoric surrounding law enforcement and the abuse of power that system can often breed. If you’re not familiar, promos began to air in the spring of ’92 where a mysterious voice accused the Big Bossman of abusing him when he was in prison. The man later turned out to be Nailz, who then attacked the Bossman on an episode of Superstars and gave him an absolutely brutal thrashing. 

And the Bossman deserved it. You see, for as much as Vince McMahon tried selling the Bossman’s innocence, there’s plenty of evidence supporting Nailz’ allegations. From day 1 of his WWF tenure, the Bossman loved to beat poor, defenseless jobbers with his nightstick and handcuff them to the ropes, even when he turned into a happy, smiley babyface. In fact, right before Nailz beats him up, he can be seen taking his anger out on a barely conscious jobber. It’s not that much of a stretch to believe he did the same to several of his inmates in Cobb County. And don’t even get me started on the Confederate flag on the Bossman’s sleeve, or else this post will take a seriously dark turn on the extent of his brutality and prejudice. When you consider all of that, is there any surprise this is the same man who killed Al Snow’s dog and crashed the funeral for Big Show’s dad later in the Attitude Era?

The Tornado’s Last Spin 

I hate to discuss an even darker topic, but I was so stricken by how these episodes are essentially some of the last recorded moments of Kerry Von Erich’s career and, ultimately, his life. It’s often forgotten that he lingered on in the WWF until August of ’92. He was arrested for forging painkiller prescriptions in February, which led to his suspension from the company. He made his return to the ring two months later and would toil around on the undercard for the next four months before leaving/getting released altogether. It’s next-level tragic to watch him cut promos on repurposing his life toward God and his family, knowing he’s making allusions to all the trouble he’s found himself in. It’s even sadder knowing how much more trouble he’d find himself in before his untimely death, including a possible prison sentence that, had he served fully, wouldn’t have seen him released just a few years ago. 

The Jobbers Are Ugly

This is going to sound mean, but the jobbers on these shows are not attractive men. I mean, seriously, some of these dudes look like they just got off their shift at the local liquor store before they hit the arena for their scheduled thrashing. I do wonder how much of this was a deliberate choice by the bookers themselves. You need guys who are going to make Nailz and Sgt. Slaughter look appealing by comparison because that only enhances their star power. The lone exception to this rule is Ron Cumberledge, who would be classified as a hunk in any decade. A true renaissance journey man.

Squash Matches Galore

Even if you’re only slightly familiar with the WWF’s old syndicated weekend shows, you’d know most of the matches were these quick squashes where a superstar would easily trounce one of the jobbers I discussed previously. Matches between name superstars would only happen occasionally on TV, as it this was still an era where those were kept to draw buys to pay-per-views and house shows. While it would be highly unrealistic for the WWE to just revert back to them 100%, and they still do them on the main roster occasionally, it’s definitely something they’d benefit using more. And don’t just give your top talent squares either. In these episodes, Virgil gets squash matches. The Bushwhackers get squash matches. Repo Man gets squash matches. Obviously none of these guys were key players or anything, but it still gave them TV time and wins under their belt. Imagine if they did that today for, like, No Way Jose or Dana Brooke. It doesn’t seem like much, but it goes a long way in building credibility to your roster.

So that’s that. Or at least for now, anyway. I’ve still got plenty more episodes to watch for 1992, and who knows? Maybe in the future the Network will upload episodes from 1993, 1994, and so on. In the meantime, I’ll go back to chilling out, binge-watching, and daydreaming about Ron Cumberledge.

[entergamingxp]

Assassin’s Creed is a Lost Memory of What It Once Was

May 8, 2020 5:00 PM EST

The mainstream success of Assassin’s Creed has me happy as a fan, but the sacrifices it made makes me question if it was worth it.

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has had a rollercoaster history of development and direction. When the first game released in 2007, it gave me a fresh perspective of creativity that I haven’t really experienced in another AAA franchise since. From the beginning, the stealth action-adventure series has delved into different important eras of history through simulation. This created a balance between living out these characters’ stories with the Assassin Brotherhood, all while the main character of the series is learning how to be an assassin in the modern-day. Even though this is still relevant to the more recent entries of the franchise, its identity of a unique open-world experience has fleeted away.

Assassin’s Creed has become one of those rare franchises for me where I will always get the latest entry; Ubisoft has earned that for me due to the experiences that the franchise delivers. I love climbing up towers to synchronize and Leap of Faith into a barrel of hay, or killing targets and speaking to them in the “white” room before their death. There is also the fact that you are an assassin with (normally) an incredible outfit. We have seen games like Horizon Zero Dawn and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild borrow ideas that were introduced in Assassin’s Creed like viewpoints, but it isn’t the same because that is a part of the franchise’s identity. However, over the years, the elements that have given Assassin’s Creed its own identity have felt diminished to attract a more mainstream audience.

“Assassin’s Creed has become one of those rare franchises for me where I will always get the latest entry.”

Up to the latest entry in the franchise, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, I like to consider that there have been three different eras of Assassin’s Creed. The first is what I call “the Desmond era.” The Desmond era consists of every mainline game from the original Assassin’s Creed to Assassin’s Creed III. During this time, Desmond was the main character and focus of the overall story. Most of those who have played the Assassin’s Creed franchise from the beginning will likely tell you that they do not care much for the modern-day/Desmond story. I am not one of those people and I believe based on what was originally planned for the franchise, it could have done some incredibly great things.

For those unfamiliar with Assassin’s Creed, the series began with the lead protagonist Desmond Miles, who is someone with an ancestral connection to the Assassin Brotherhood. After being captured by a company known as Abstergo, Desmond is put inside a machine called the Animus which allows him to live the lives of his previous Assassin ancestors to learn their skills. He also learns more about the Assassins’ enemy known as the Templars, an organization determined to create a utopia under their lead. During modern times, the Templars are the creators of Abstergo. After learning that those of the current creed infiltrated the company, Desmond escapes with them to train and become an Assassin to take down Abstergo.

“Over the years, the elements that have given Assassin’s Creed its own identity have felt diminished to attract a more mainstream audience.”

At the time of playing through these titles leading up to Assassin’s Creed III, my friends (as well as myself) thought that the plan was for the final game to be set during the modern era as Desmond finally unlocks all the skills he needs to become an Assassin. But that never came to be. In Assassin’s Creed III, Desmond was killed off in an attempt to save the planet, leaving the future of the series up in the air. Desmond’s voice actor, Nolan North, has spoken about the character and the pitch that he was first given that didn’t come to fruition, due to rumored differences between Ubisoft and former creative director Patrice Désilets. Désilets was the creative director for Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed II, and Brotherhood, before parting ways with the studio in the summer of 2010. So with no main protagonist and the series’ lead director gone, where does the franchise go from here?

Starting with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, this begins “the Fallout era” where our new main protagonist is technically a random Abstergo employee. This particularly wasn’t a bad thing, because it showed us the inner workings of how Abstergo and the Templars functioned as an organization, but it was clear that Ubisoft didn’t have a direction with the modern-day story. Assassin’s Creed Rogue is more or less a direct sequel to Black Flag when it came to Abstergo’s in-house story and ended with a major cliffhanger that, as far as I’m aware, never gets resolved fully. The next two entries, Assassin’s Creed Unity and Syndicate, are nearly absent from the real-world story aside from some interaction with lesser side characters from Desmond’s era, but to a degree that it isn’t even worth mentioning.

“The purpose behind playing as these Assassins to directly affect what is happening outside of the Animus has been relatively absent.”

It wasn’t until “the New era” where things have begun to shape up with a new protagonist named Layla. The purpose behind playing as these Assassins to directly affect what is happening outside of the Animus has been relatively absent. That being said, there have definitely been entries that try their best with what they could to move this storyline forward, but in recent years, that is hardly the case.

Following Syndicate, Ubisoft decided to revamp the franchise by turning the series into an action-RPG with Assassin’s Creed Origins. Initially, this didn’t bother me as long as Origins kept the things that made Assassin’s Creed the series that it was. My only hopes were that it had fun stealth gameplay, the white room where the Assassin you were playing as spoke to the templar you killed before their death, and those compelling moments of storytelling that you can’t get anywhere else.

“Assassin’s Creed is one of my favorite video game franchises, but in its current state, I feel like it is now just a dark shadow looming over what made the franchise special in the first place.”

When it came to Assassin’s Creed Origins, I loved Bayek as a character, his story, and how it all ties into the Brotherhood. All of the things I wanted from an Assassin’s Creed game were in Origins, but after playing more than 25 hours of the latest entry, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, nothing of what makes the franchise special to me is present. Origins was able to strike a good balance between being a stealth game as well as an action-RPG, but Odyssey removes the stealth aspects almost completely. Traveling through the massive expanses of Greece, most of the time I find it difficult even to find a pile of hay to hide in. To me, Odyssey feels more like Shadow of War or The Witcher III with an Assassin’s Creed skin over it. I simply can’t recognize it compared to any of the other titles in the series.

With the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Ubisoft taking a year break, I hope that this next entry in the series is a return to form. My main hope is that Valhalla brings back a narrative where the historical and real-world aspects go hand-in-hand with each other. I want Valhalla to make me feel like an actual Assassin again with its gameplay instead of something I can expect from the majority of other AAA open-world titles. Assassin’s Creed is one of my favorite video game franchises, but in its current state, I feel like it is now just a dark shadow looming over what made the franchise special in the first place.

*Feature art credited to Teadsantap on Reddit.

May 8, 2020 5:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/assassins-creed-is-a-lost-memory-of-what-it-once-was/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=assassins-creed-is-a-lost-memory-of-what-it-once-was

[theinvinciblenoob]

It’s hard to imagine a better demonstration of the state of AAA gaming today than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, a game where the whole of the wine-dark Classical Aegean is available for you to ply with your oars — but which operates according to a risible, cartoonish video game logic that seems, if possible even more anachronistic. Should you play it? Absolutely.

(Very minor spoilers ahead.)

In case you haven’t been following the Assassin’s Creed… well, odyssey, the last few years, the game took some time off following the lavishly produced but ambivalently received Unity and Syndicate games, set in revolutionary Paris and Victorian London respectively. The series, critics said, was wearing itself a bit thin despite the fabulous set dressing.

You can imagine everyone’s surprise when AC returned in Origins, set in an enormous swathe of ancient Egypt. New systems nudged the game from the stealth action of its roots towards the expansive, open-world RPG currently in vogue. It was a little rough around the edges but the scale was welcome, as was the shift away from the increasingly turgid Assassins vs Templars secret society scramble.

The news that the next game would take place in Ancient Greece at the time of the Peloponnesian War thrilled me to no end. I’ve always been a fan of the Classical era, Homer and Herodotus and Periclean Athens and all that. I’ll also admit to an unironic love of 300 and the story of Leonidas’s last stand — the graphic novel, not the movie, which was awful.

Are you kidding me? Look at this.

Here, then was that world brought to life with all the fidelity that Ubisofts hundreds of artists and modelers could bring, with a narrative combining secret societies with classical warfare, historical figures, and high-seas adventure (I loved the pirate-themed AC Black Flag). On paper this is the greatest game ever to grace the screen.

And in a way, it is. Ubisoft’s rendering of the Classical world is so beautiful, so massive, so obviously a labor of love and skill and intensive research that I have spent much of my time in the game simply gawking.

The costumes! The statues! The landscapes! The light! It’s a feast of details at every location, from the idyllic backwater of Kephallonia, where your hero begins their story to the sprawling, bustling Athens just approaching the zenith of its glory. I (that is to say, my character) walked past the Theatre of Dionysus in its construction, which I have visited in person (now ruined and restored, of course), and on up to the Acropolis, where I scaled the Parthenon and looked out over the tiled roofs under one of which, for all I know, I may find Plato sitting and writing the Symposium.

Seriously.

Then I meander to the harbor, board my black ship, and split the seas to explore any of the islands in the entire Aegean — any of them. The whole Aegean! Well, most of it, anyway. Enough that you won’t ask for more. Here be mythical creatures, political machinations, stormy seas and sunny shanties.

The world that Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey in habits, I feel confident in saying, is the largest and most impressive that I have encountered, with special credit given for having to reflect reality to a certain extent, which is not a limitation shared by its eminent competition in the open-world genre, like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Breath of the Wild.

In my opinion, both as a gamer and a lover of antiquity, it is worth the price of admission to experience this world, to see and hear Ancient Greece in a way that was heretofore impossible, and simply to revel in the almost inconceivable level craft that was so obviously put into this mind-boggling world.

And now, having made that judgment, I will proceed to trash the game I just recommended for about two thousand words.

The game itself

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, the game itself, is embarrassing to play. The characters you interact with and the minute-by-minute gameplay are so uneven that I truly believe that Ubisoft simply didn’t have time to adequately play-test it. It feels like the game was just too big to run through once they’d made it so they just shipped. If someone from Ubisoft were sitting next to me as I played, I would expect them to be cringing constantly.

It’s an incredibly lopsided collection of old and new ideas, balanced and unbalanced systems, good and bad UI, intuitive and baffling combat, beautiful and repulsive graphics, and excellent and laughable voice acting. I haven’t finished the game, let alone all the side quests, but although I expect to encounter more good things as I go, the bad things were apparently pretty much from the first few minutes and haven’t abated.

The AI of the people in this game seems to have regressed ten years to a simpler age. They are truly idiots all, from people on the street to elite soldiers.

Good old Adrastos the Logician, engaging in hand to hand combat.

One of the first things that happened when I got my horse and learned to have it follow a road was that it mowed down a few laborers. This, I found, would happen everywhere I went: every character in the game walks right in the center of the road and dives madly out of your way as you canter down it, screaming and cursing. Wild animals cluttered the road, and reacting confusedly as I approached and throwing themselves under the hooves of my steed, Phobos.

This was my first taste of what would become a theme. Why, I asked myself, wouldn’t these people just walk on the side of the road? The developers clearly accounted for horses riding down it, and have behaviors and barks for when that happens. But it’s so weird, so unrealistic, so video gamey. Surely in this lovingly rendered world it is not unusual for a horse to run down a mountain road? Why then do they behave in this way? Because the people were not created intelligently — it’s as simple as that. None of them.

I once emptied a military camp of guards and then set about looting the place. A woman was being held captive in a cage — not an uncommon thing to find — so I let her out. As she escaped, thanking me, I turned to take the items out of a nearby chest. The woman, mid-escape, screamed with rage at me for this theft, snatching a nearby spear and rushing me in righteous anger. What?

Perhaps I can’t expect every peasant to be a genius, but guards too (of all ranks) are unbelievably dense. They will step over the corpses of their fellow men to get to their post and not say a word. They will fail to hear the clashing of swords, or not notice a guy being violently flipped over and disemboweled, a matter of feet away. They will follow you one by one around corners where you can dispatch them individually and fail to see or care about the ever-widening pool of blood. They are as dumb as the dumbest guards from games that came out 10 years ago.

“Mother of Spiders”

Not much better are the much-ballyhooed mercenaries, who come after you if you do too many bad things. It’s not really clear what the bad things are, but eventually you’ll see a red helmet icon on your map and know you’ve been naughty. They’re basically guards with special weapons and a few characteristics like “weak to fire” or “takes 20 percent less ranged damage.” Technically they have backstories but you have to drill down to their description to find them, and by the time you’re doing that you’ve probably already killed them. You can recruit them for your ship, like you can recruit anyone, but they generally amount to stat bonuses with funny names like Demos the Drunk. He didn’t act drunk — just had a spear I wanted, so I took him out. I mean, the variation is welcome, but it’s nothing like, for example, the nemesis system in the Mordor series.

Combat is a real mix. You are no longer a fragile assassin who can be killed from a few good hits, but a powerful warrior with supernatural skills like instant mid-battle heals and teleportation. This is combat between equals, but your equals are generally stiff types with two or three attacks they repeat over and over, glowing a bright red or gold before doing so.

A slippery-feeling dodge system zips you through these attacks, or you can parry some of them, then slash away at your attacker. Some guards or targets, especially if they’re a level or two above you, will take minutes of patient slashing before they drop. I was sent on a hunt to kill a legendary boar that I gave up on after a couple minutes because I had only taken its health down by a quarter while not being hit myself.

Compared with other action RPGs it’s pretty listless stuff. More appealing is the stealth, which the fools of guards are obviously there to encourage, since you can empty a camp or fort of its occupants systematically and it can be quite satisfying. But with the perfect knowledge effected by scouting such a place with your eagle’s x-ray vision, it feels more like bullying than anything.

The Peloponnesian War is going on around you, though you’d be hard-pressed to notice most of the time. You don’t exactly take sides, since whatever area you’re in, your enemies are the ones in control. You can weaken the faction in power by various means and force a battle (a melee in which the combat, now against dozens, feels frustratingly sloppy), but ultimately the guards and camps feel much the same as one another — Spartans have different helmets from Athenians.

I thought at first this would be deeper than it is. I had looted a variety of armor pieces, several of which suggested I could use them to blend in among the Athenians whom I was at that moment working to undermine. So I donned them and headed to the nearest camp, hoping to walk about unsuspected, Hitman-style, sowing chaos by releasing caged animals and setting fire to supplies. Nope: I was immediately attacked on approaching the gate, before I’d even come in or done anything suspicious. The guard that had never seen me before apparently recognized me as the bloodthirsty mercenary who’d wiped out a camp a mile or so away, minutes earlier. No espionage for me.

It’s never really clear who you’re fighting or why, because the locations and people are just names. It doesn’t matter if they’re Athenian or Spartan, just that they’re the ones between you and the treasure chest. I guess that’s the life of a mercenary, but it doesn’t make you care a lot.

That was a quest?

The RPG elements, from gear to abilities, have almost no integration with the game itself. From the very beginning you can see your whole skill tree, including things involving the magic spear that you don’t yet know is magic. You gain new abilities and upgrade your ship not through interesting quests or meeting interesting people, but simply by spending points and resources.

When your ship’s captain says the hull ought to be upgraded, it’s not the start of a quest to find some cool big trees or visit his hometown where he left his ship-building tools and pals. It’s literally just a reminder to stock up on wood and iron and press the button to upgrade in the pause screen.

When you meet a talented carpenter whose brother is being held by bandits, it isn’t a quest to reunite these guys for a power team that enables a ship repair superpower. He just turns out to be a regular guy who increases your hull strength by a couple percentage points.

Quests, talked up ahead of release as being fully voiced and emergent, as though you’re receiving a request from help from a needy merchant or the like, are nothing of the sort. Every one I’ve encountered so far has been a variant of: Kill these five wolves specifically. Kill these three Spartan elite guards specifically. Kill these bandits. Sink these ships.

Each has a flimsy justification (they’re blocking the road; they stole money from me) and are often atrociously acted. In one I found the quest giver asleep; he obligingly woke me up to say he wanted to take the fight to some bandits who had been demanding money from him. As soon as I agreed, those very bandits appeared not ten feet away and instantly ran him through. Quest failed.

There are deeper side quests, to be sure. But the hundreds of quests you’ll see on quest boards or appearing randomly in the wild are like this, and rarely give more than a spritz of XP and gold. Sometimes you can recruit the quest-giver, though they might or might not be helpful on your crew.

I wish that they had taken the time and effort that went into creating 20 or 30 of these quests and made one single side quest with multiple steps, characters that mattered a bit, and provided substantial rewards like a new ability for your ship.

Even main story quests, such as the targets you’ll be taking on, can be disappointingly shallow. You’re supposed to be following threads and clues, but several are just handed to you: Here’s some lady. Here’s her exact location. Go kill her. No dialogue, no footwork, no alternatives. Stab this person and take their shiny thing. Shouldn’t I at least try to get some information out of her? Why isn’t there even a death cutscene like in so many of the other games?

The writing is hit and miss. The main story and its immediate side quests are fine — I’m perhaps 25 hours in and I’m interested to see where it’s going, even if it’s not particularly surprising. And it helps that the writing and voices for the main characters are leaps and bounds above the rest.

I chose to play as Kassandra, as opposed to Alexios, for a lot of reasons. And I love her. She’s well-acted, her writing is funny and occasionally realistic, and I like that she is indistinguishable from her male alternative in every way. Your companions, especially Herodotos and your exuberant captain Barnabas, are great.

Yet other characters are ridiculous: badly written, worse acted. Even major ones. I remember one exchange with a soon-to-be-target who was pressuring me to torture some poor sap. His voice acting was so bad, especially compared to his interlocutor Kassandra’s, that I was laughing out loud. He was far from the only example of this.

Games like The Witcher 3 have spoiled us on the quality of the writing and quests, but that should be a new bar to meet, not a high-water point. It’s sad that Ubisoft hasn’t upped its game here, so to speak; it feels like 90 percent of the game I’ve played so far is purely mechanical, and even at its best it sits like a layer of butter spread thinly across an enormous Greek piece of toast. But what toast!

It’s tantalizing to see how good a game like this could be, only to be let down again and again with elements that would feel out of date ten years ago. I’m having a great time when I’m not shaking my head at it, and enjoying the scenery when I’m not being attacked by one of the evidently 50,000 bears out for my blood in the Classical world.

As I wrote earlier, to me it is worth buying just for the good parts. But as someone who cares about games and loves the idea of this one, I can’t help but observe how dated and baffling it is at the same time. It doesn’t live up to the world it was created to inhabit, but that world is practically a complete game in itself, and one that I immediately loved.

via TechCrunch

[cosmiciaria]

Assassin’s Creed Unity Review/honest thoughts/discussion - SPOILERS (long post)

So I decided to finally settle on a proper review – although this one is going to be more of what here in Argentina we call a "sincericidio": basically I will spit my guts out and cry in one corner, while being completely honest about my feelings. I will try to keep most spoilers at bay, like I always do, but there's just one thing I cannot not talk about which is THE spoiler so – I want you to be considered warned.

Before I start, I should state, since this is my review and reviews are quite personal actually, why this game is so important to me and why I wanted to play it so bad. There's a combination of factors, and obviously this game isn't going to strike the same chords with everyone, so bear in mind that this is strictly subjective and, right now, personal.

First factor and I think the most important one: I like writing. Wait, don't leave the review just yet. I like writing and creating characters. I have many. Lately I've been revisiting a character that had a very sad backstory and added quite long happy ending for him. I made him fall in love again. He's black haired, wears a short pony tail… his new love interest is a redhead with wavy hair… ok, you get me now, don't you? And what's worse, is that their story takes place in a fictional world that resembles quite much Europe of 1800's. So clothes and ballrooms and palaces and big, fluffy dresses are a thing in this story of mine. I think that, if you've ever created a character, to find another fictional, similar character in any medium is going to draw your attention to that product right away. It did happen to me with Cal Kestis from SW Jedi: Fallen Order, I have another redhead baby boy that needs to be protected at all costs. It's a way for us to 'see', let's say, or imagine our characters being brought to life.

Second factor: I love Paris. I visited Versailles and Paris back in late 2018, and I went there with zero expectations, only to fall in love with France. I love the Château de Versailles. I love palaces. I love the Seine. I love the Louvre. I love it. All of it. If I could, I'd live there. Sadly, I'm poor and speak little to no French at all.

Third Factor: I'm learning French! I dream with the day I can speak like five languages as well as I speak English (I studied it for ten years so… it kinda makes sense that I feel comfortable with it). I'm still struggling with French, but I will get there someday. I will. Because I love it. I love the language. Oui.

Fourth factor: I also really really, really like the French Revolution, and I've never, much to my surprise, watched or played any series, videogame, movie or anything that takes place in such a context (if you have recommendations, please drop them right away!). And I say "to my surprise" because I really like that part of History! So, to live in almost first person how the French Revolution unfolded – to hear the chansons and to see people gathered in crowds at every corner, listening to a liberty preacher wielding the French flag – that was glorious.

Fifth and yeah we're done: I love Les Misérables. I know it happens way later than the French Revolution, but since this musical (and the 2012 movie) became my 'home', I can't help but feel a stronger connection with everything I said above. I can watch that movie over and over and I will still sing Empty chairs and empty tables with tears in my eyes, despite its flaws.

I had like every reason to play this game. And it paid off.

Before plunging into it, I did read the novelization. Sadly, it was only to satisfy my soon-to-be-fulfilled obsession with the game, since I don't think the quality of the narration was, uhm, that good – it felt like you needed to have played the game before reading it. And I get it, it's a videogame adaptation, that's fine, but when you look at it as standalone book, it doesn't stand alone that good. What disappointed me, though, wasn't the narration, which was what I totally expected it to be, nor the dialogues or the ending – it was Élise. I was bit weary about this because she came across as completely different character than what I had in mind about her, and I didn't like her. At all. In the book, at least. I didn't like her because she had a few comments and took some decisions that made her look like she was stupid and/or selfish. I can understand the selfish part; I do not want to even believe that she's stupid. So that's why the book was a bit of a letdown for me. I recommend it, though, if you're a fan, because there's a book exclusive character that really gets the plot moving and he's endearing: Mr. Weatherall. Oh, what a man.

Now, regarding the game itself – it shouldn't come as a surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed it. As I've stated in another post, this game is barely an Assassin's Creed, since you delve like zero into the AC lore, and it's just an excuse for your character – Arno – to know parkour. Which in fact he knows before becoming an assassin, so it begs the question, why is this game even in this franchise? I digress. It's an AC game at the end of the day and that won't change.

But do not jump into this game expecting it be your average AC story. I firmly believe that the creators wanted to convey a different story here. For starters, Arno is no hero. Arno doesn't want to save the world. Arno doesn't care about any artifact or magic or creed. Arno only wants to discover who's the man behind De La Serre's death. That's his main driving force. And behind that, there's this undeniable and yet quite destructive feeling that pulls him forward: Élise.

Élise and Arno's relationship goes deeper into this story than it's noticeable at first glance. When you look back upon the plot, you discover that without their love 'subplot', there's no plot at all. If I may be so bold, I would even argue that Arno's story is a tragic love story. All the assassin's lore, all the betrayals, the first few assassinations, it all falls back into the background when Élise returns to the stage almost halfway through the game. And even though they only share like one kiss or two during the 40 hours of gameplay, there's still this latent, persistent motivation behind each of Arno's actions, that he wouldn't be doing what he's doing if it wasn't for Élise.

And it all comes down to that one line: What I wanted was you.

I cannot stress enough how much I loved all of the drunkard memory of Versailles. I think it embodies Arno's perfect character development. The constant rain and the bluish filter on every framerate added to the overall depressing atmosphere. I felt miserable while playing those quests, and the moment he steps out into the entrance of the Château de Versailles and reflects on his past decisions – decisions that have been stolen from him, because he could never defend himself nor change the course of actions on his own accord – that exact moment that he sits down and cries, I cried too.

Because all the game, all the memories, all the dialogues go in a crescendo only to crumble into this abyss. And this, in turn, creates a fleshed-out character, with a believable development, believable feelings, believable motivations. I can feel for Arno, I can understand him, I pity him, and I want to hug him. The whole game reaches its peak in its main character's worst moment: when he realizes that he's screwed everything up.

And not always do we get a story where the main character doesn't win. He just doesn't. Underneath its revolutionary streets, this story reeks of inexorability and fatality. You know it, you know it in the back of your head, but you push that thought apart because you want to enjoy jumping over rooftops and finding the best strategy to kill that man. There's this underlying, looming melancholy in every memory that you play in, and that's why the end doesn't surprise us.

It makes us cry, of course, but it didn't come as a surprise at all. If you're shocked about the end, then you haven't been paying enough attention to Élise's dialogues, to the tone of the story, to her letters, to where this plot was going. Because, like I said, the story is about Arno and Élise's relationship, it isn't about defeating the bad guy. And there was only one way that story could end.

*cries in French*

*Je pleure beaucoup*

I know the game has been panned by players for its performance. And being the 2020 year of our lord, I cannot say I reject those allegations, since it's been 6 years since the game was released. I hope enough patches were implemented to salvage the bugs. I only came across one bug in my entire playthrough which bothered me a little: some NPC's would sometimes pop into cutscenes and phase through the characters like nothing. At first it was funny, but then towards the end it happened two more times, in important cutscenes with our lovely couple, which kinda destroyed all immersion, if you know what I mean. The rest was fine: it never crashed on me, I didn't encounter the infamous, horrendous bug that unleashed memes in internet, never a T-pose or something that rendered the game unplayable – nothing, only that funny bug I mentioned. I did see the drop in framerates, specially in very crowded areas – but to be honest I never saw a game with so many NPC's together in the same place, like, hundreds of them, each with unique animations and varied models. I only come from playing Syndicate, and even there the number of NPC's was lower. Here is jarringly unreal, I didn't know the French Revolution was THIS jam-packed with people!

On a graphical department, this 2014 game still holds up. Very well. I think it even looks better in some scenes than some of its successors. The cutscenes were sometimes very cinematographic, with close ups, zoom outs, certain angles, with quite real lighting and shadows. I know it's not Naughty Dog and it doesn't have the whole Sony battalion behind, but damn if some of the character's expressions were really good. It didn't happen often, so when one of them had this very specific face I was like *insert surprised pikachu meme*.

I also enjoyed the music a lot. I don't know why but the one from the main menu stuck with me for a while. All of the songs have this Versailles, aristocratic tone to it which put me in the mood.

I have only one minor complaint and its entirely optional, let's say – I want to platinum this game. But I don't own PS plus, because it's, uhhh, expensive in my country (do not want to indulge in dollar exchange rates right now). And there are like two trophies only obtainable through multiplayer, which renders my trophy hunt useless. But, alas, I knew this before buying the game. I think that games shouldn't come with multiplayer trophies for the platinum. If you have to pay extra for something, it must be completely optional. And so should be the trophies related to it. It's a bit disappointing, though, because after finishing this game I want so bad to return to it, but if I can't platinum, I don't see myself coming back to it soon. Either way, I could still earn the rest of the trophies, but that would only enrage me more when the last 3% is going to be locked forever *cries again*.

All in all, my major question at the end is: why does this game receive so much hate? I guess if I came from a hardcore fan standpoint I could understand it more. If I had played all its predecessors before this one, I would also feel that the gameplay and the objectives are repetitive. That the challenges are bs. But the stealth aspect has been improved, the parkour has been redesigned and adapted, and as of now, bugs aren't a problem anymore. I want to believe that when a remaster for the PS5 comes out or, I don't know, if someone by divine grace has an epiphany in the near future regarding this game, people will change their mind on this one and will appreciate more what it wanted to be, than what they made it to be. After all, this is Arno's story. Arno's tragic love story.

Also this game is beautiful JUST LOOK AT IT LOOK AT IT!!! 

Sorry couldn’t help myself

[entergamingxp]

The Definitive Ranking of Every Assassin’s Creed Game

May 7, 2020 4:00 PM EST

When looking at all twelve mainline entries in the Assassin’s Creed saga, here’s what we at DualShockers consider to be the best of the best in the franchise.

As it approaches its fifteenth anniversary, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has been just about all over the place. From Renaissance Italy, to Ancient Greece, and even the American Revolution, the Assassin’s Creed saga has taken us on many different adventures all of varying quality.

Now, with Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla set to come out later this year on current and next-gen platforms, we figured now would be as good of a time as any to take inventory of the franchise and see which games rank above the rest. So that’s exactly what we did just recently. In a group comprised of Michael Ruiz, Mario Rivera, Logan Moore, and Cameron Hawkins, we here at DualShockers decided to rank every mainline entry in the AC series and determine once and for all which games in this series rule, and which ones aren’t so good.

If you want to hear how we came to the decisions found in this article, you’re more than welcome to listen to our over two-hour-long debate in the video below. Otherwise, feel free to yell at us in the comments and tell us about how wrong we are, if you feel so inclined.

12. Assassin’s Creed: Unity

Assassin’s Creed: Unity legitimately hurt the AC series for a span of years. Filled with a litany of bugs at launch that kept many from taking the game seriously, Unity showed that Ubisoft’s annualized trotting out of this franchise had finally caught up to them and was in dire need of a break. While lambasted on its own, the damage that Unity caused the Assassin’s Creed series reverberated for years to come, and even led to Syndicate having lower sales the following year upon its release.

Bugs and launch issues aside, Unity also just struggles to stand out in the larger franchise. It’s devoid of any interesting characters, a meaningful story, or memorable gameplay moments. From top to bottom, Unity easily stands as the worst installment in the series and that’s not a stretch to claim whatsoever. – Logan Moore

11. Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation

If you’re wondering why Assassin’s Creed: Liberation is very low on the list, it’s because no one on our board has really played this entry. Originally released on the Vita, yet still considered a mainline title for the series, it is one that fell under the radar for many.

So, why is it below Assassin’s Creed III? Well, since it is somewhat of an extension of III, it seemed reasonable to kind of pack it in with its contemporary. It is above Unity because, as mentioned, Arno’s adventure left a huge stain on the franchise enough for us to consider it the worst in the series despite having never spent much time with Liberation. – Michael Ruiz

10. Assassin’s Creed III

It cannot be understated how much of a letdown Assassin’s Creed III was when it released. After years of narrative build-up with Desmond across the Ezio trilogy, what was meant to be the franchise’s crescendo ended up being a completely botched finale in nearly every way. Not only was the conclusion of Desmond’s story a convoluted mess, but it actively soured everything that came before it, too.

And even when it comes to the actual assassin gameplay, the American Revolution setting, and the new protagonist of Connor Kenway, everything just felt like a disappointment compared to what we had before. Following the charismatic Ezio, Connor is perhaps the blandest character in the entire saga. Gameplay-wise, much of what was shown here felt worse on a mechanical level compared to titles like ACII and the American setting that the game finds itself in is much emptier and less exciting than you would initially expect.  Assassin’s Creed III should have been far better than what we got and it’s still a bummer to this day. – Logan Moore

9. Assassin’s Creed

The original Assassin’s Creed launched back in 2007 with story and gameplay that would influence many future Ubisoft titles. It is a solid proof of concept that was then perfected in its sequel, Assassin’s Creed II.

So, why is Assassin’s Creed near the bottom of our list? Well, it really is dull, even by past standards. While it introduced us to the ridiculous time-hopping tale of Desmond Miles, the Assassin’s Brotherhood, and the “evil” Templars, the gameplay is just somewhat bland and features the blank slate of an assassin known as Altair. It may have been a solid first entry for the time, but it feels so antiquated now, with many of the series’ future titles improving on this foundation tremendously. – Michael Ruiz

8. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

In Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, we see the end of Ezio’s story. We see a more mature version of the charismatic hero make his way to Constantinople trying to find information about the Brotherhood during the time of Altair in the 12th century. While it brought back Altair in a coo,l significant way that ultimately made the original Assassin’s Creed more important narratively, it didn’t feel like it needed to be a full-length title. Getting to learn more about Desmond’s past before Abstergo and the modern-day Brotherhood was fascinating and shed more light on the main protagonist. Outside of that, however, Revelations is a rather unmemorable experience. – Cameron Hawkins

7. Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is a good game that released at a low point for the series. Launching just a year after the disastrous Assassin’s Creed: Unity, it presented some really cool ideas within the then-current formula. Jacob and Evie Frye were both solid protagonists for the franchise, especially after playing as Arno. The train hideout and zipline were also really cool features that Syndicate brought to the table.

However, despite its efforts, Syndicate just never really stood out as a landmark title for the Assassin’s Creed series. Especially after Unity, some huge improvements would have had to be made for this one to stand out. And while it did everything better than its predecessor, it wasn’t enough. – Michael Ruiz

6. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue

Assassin’s Creed: Rogue is the dark horse of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Originally released as a last-generation exclusive, a lot of people missed out or skipped this entry when in reality it is one of the best in the series. Rogue is a prequel to the lackluster Assassin’s Creed III, but with all the great gameplay and features from Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Playing as an assassin gone templar after being betrayed by the creed creates a compelling narrative because it is the first time in the franchise where it puts the brotherhood in a new light as the antagonists. The only crime that Rogue commits is ending with a major cliffhanger that unfortunately has not been (and likely never will be) resolved. – Cameron Hawkins

5. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

The most recent entry in the Assassin’s Creed series and the first game chronologically, Odyssey feels way less like an AC game and more like a full-blown action RPG. This is both good and bad as what’s included here is a ton of fun to play, even though aspects like stealth seem to have far less of an importance than ever before.

Amongst new additions like special combat moves, dialogue trees, and the return of naval warfare, Odyssey also includes a variety of exceptional pieces of side content that will keep you coming back time and time again. With a gripping story to boot that ties into the larger franchise in some interesting ways, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey mostly iterates and improves on many elements that were introduced in Origins, even if it can feel overwhelming to play due to how much content is packed within. – Logan Moore

4. Assassin’s Creed II

Assassin’s Creed II is the game that put the franchise on the map and led to Ubisoft annualizing the series for years to follow. It improves on everything the original introduced while introducing other great new features including the iconic double hidden blades. Getting to explore different areas of Renaissance Italy, teaming up with Leonardo da Vinci, and taking down the templars made it such a unique experience for its time. Ezio Auditore goes through a compelling development from a ladies man to an assassin whose sole objective is to get revenge on those who killed his family. It is a very memorable adventure that still holds up to this day. – Cameron Hawkins

3. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Pound for pound, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag might be the most enjoyable entry in the entire series. While it spurns much of the franchise’s roots when it comes to the focus on the Brotherhood, and the modern-day sequences with Abstergo are an absolute drag, Black Flag’s final result still makes for one of the best pirate video games ever made.

The gameplay loop of sailing around the high seas, upgrading your ship, and doing battle with other pirate captains is almost always a complete joy. With sea shanties, shark hunting, underwater exploration, and a litany of other exciting tasks spread throughout, the world of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will more than keep you busy for quite some time and allows you to finally live out your sea dog dreams. – Logan Moore

2. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is the pinnacle of what the franchise literally represents. After losing his home and yes, his family, Ezio migrates to Rome where he builds a new life which includes renovating the city and creating a true Brotherhood of assassins. We get to experience Ezio accept his role and destiny as the leader of the creed. Being able to call in your brothers to take down enemies is a feature that you can only find in Brotherhood, making you truly feel like the leader of the pack. Brotherhood and Assassin’s Creed II are very similar to each other, but the improvements of gameplay, as well as the powerful narrative moments that this successor brings, just slightly pushes it to a higher mantle. Also, the multiplayer was surprisingly fun. – Cameron Hawkins

1. Assassin’s Creed Origins

This was a pretty hard choice, but as a group, we decided Assassin’s Creed: Origins was the best game in the series.

In a time where Assassin’s Creed: Unity left somewhat of a stain on the franchise, fans started to think maybe Ubisoft’s annualized series run its course. Next was Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, which is a fine game by all accounts, but the reverberations of Unity’s poor reception carried over. It was time for a change.

Ubisoft did something unprecedented for the triple-a franchise and took a year off. In 2017, a new era of Assassin’s Creed began, and it all started with Origins. Unlike its predecessors, this entry featured more traditional open-world RPG mechanics along with revamped combat. It was the breath of fresh air the series needed and is now the template that Assassin’s Creed games are based on moving forward.

Along with its improved gameplay was a story, character, and environment that all worked together to keep the player engaged. Bayek, the playable “assassin” this time around, is debatably the best protagonist in an Assassin’s Creed game only second to the iconic Ezio Auditore. He is compelling and multi-faceted, which is more than what you could say about Connor, Edward, Arno, and just about every assassin before him. His story of revenge is one that kept me glued to my couch for hours. The Ancient Egypt setting only complemented its strengths, with awesome landmarks to visit and interesting areas to explore.

Origins is so comprehensive compared to its predecessors. It changed the series in a way both newcomers and seasoned players could enjoy. It also set the tone for Assassin’s Creed’s future in such a profound way, which is why it takes the number one spot on our list. – Michael Ruiz

May 7, 2020 4:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/the-definitive-ranking-of-every-assassins-creed-game/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-definitive-ranking-of-every-assassins-creed-game