Post by Tig on Dec 1, 2017 12:24:57 GMT -5
The Assassin’s Creed series is, to me, one of the greater tragedies in the lessons of greed. What started out as a novel idea that was not immediately marketable to all gamers, quickly turned into an icon and corporate logo that was mass produced with a meat grinder and shoved into new packaging every six months. With a grand total of ten main story, standalone games and another ten peripheral games (console specific, board games), it’s easy to see that the humble beginnings of Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad had been converted into a cash cow. The intricate plotting, fluid combat, and painstakingly detailed historical referencing of the original game gave way to button mashing and plots a player could care less about so long as they made it to the next objective. Loot, costumes, economies, and all sorts of distractions were added so that players did not notice the simple two-button combat controls and all but complete dismissal of any “assassinations”. Desmond Miles was gone, Altaïr and Ezio were nothing more but stored memories, and after ten years Assassin’s Creed became something about anything other than assassins or creeds.
So what does Ubisoft do when it catches on that the last three games in the series weren’t selling? A reboot! Take the series, gut it, and start over. Marvel Comics did this years ago in the late 90’s with much of the MCU and it worked very well, so kudos to Ubi for truly looking at how to make a change. What better place to start a reboot? At the beginning of the story, which is precisely where Assassin’s Creed Origins starts, and it’s an amazing start. While the modern day tale of Abstergo and the Templars picks up in proper chronology to the other games, the assassins find their roots in the cradle of civilization, fighting an evil that is already ancient. The combat is revamped, the distractions and side quests have more meaning, and the player has a reason to get lost in the story. Assassin’s Creed is back!
The game starts with Bayek of Siwa in Egypt and at first seems to pick up in the middle of a tale. The first target in a string of enemies is already under Bayek’s blade as the tutorial kicks in and quickly the player learns about this father and husband who lost his child to a secret society controlling key cities across the land. The personal motivation is not just revenge, but also duty, as Bayek is a Medjay (magi) sworn to protect the land. I thought this was a wonderful device, making Bayek multi-dimensional. Elements in the missions have an emotional impact to him yet he is not acting purely on anger or revenge. This duality leads to complications as he falls under the authority of Queen Cleopatra who holds the leash of his son’s death to the collar of his duty and drags him through much of the story at her bidding. Wonderful detailing. Bayek is also married to another Medjay, Aya, who kicks as much ass as he does. She shares his pain of loss and sense of duty and actually prods him along under Cleopatra’s orders as more enemies of this secret society are revealed.
While the overall targets with backstories are fairly standard to the series, the individuality of each contract is quite unique. One involves a complete betrayal from a trusted friend while another reveals to be a red herring and is actually two larger missions in two places across the map. Some of them boil down to open combat and one of my biggest complaints is, again, there are very few straight up assassination missions. Most plots give way to a cut scene followed by a boss battle. Once the boss is overcome, the actual killing of the target is almost lackluster. In one of the few opportunities I had to hide and ambush my target from above, the results of my actions were cataclysmic to the subplot, literally one notable character to disappear from the story without explanation. If I had to pick out the game’s greatest flaw, a lack of adherence to the assassination canon would be it.
Beyond this, however, is the sum total of the story as it lies against the most magnificent backdrop I’ve ever seen in a game. Earlier this year saw Ghost Recon: Wildlands with a brilliant and vibrant Bolivia that breathed and grew in front of the player. Origins steps beyond that and offers the blistering hot sands of Egypt sprinkled with canyons, lush oases, and river deltas housing throngs of people living in huts and houses. Temples and tombs sprawl in city centers and pop up in the most unexpected places, and everything is covered in painstaking detail of pictograms or tile finishing surrounded by flowing fountains and landscaping. The Great Pyramids at Giza reach into the sun and beg to be explored, and explore you shall. Hidden riches requiring some basic counterweight puzzles and maze running wait to be discovered. I think that’s the key to the setting of Origins; exploration is greatly rewarded. That copse of trees in the middle of the desert hides a high level weapon or a star pattern puzzle that gives more backstory to Bayek’s son. The swamp area near the Nile has twice as many crocodiles as was previously observed, but in the center is a pile of gold or other resources to be harvested, as well as croc skins.
The loot and equipment system is simplified from earlier games. Hunting and harvesting is nowhere near as pointless as Assassin’s Creed III and is tremendously fun. Getting an angle on a hippo to pepper it with arrows rather than have it stomp you into the reeds is rewarded with heavy skins that can be converted to upgrade equipment to benefit health and damage. Merchants supply what can’t be found or is too tedious to obtain by hand, or they can be completely bypassed and equipment can be supplemented by what the desert provides. There are a wide variety of melee weapons, from heavy staffs and spears to lighter swords and fighting knives, and just as many types of bows with different strengths and weaknesses. My favorite is the predator bow, allowing me to make far headshots on targets and thin out guards at an objective. The equipment is not caught up in a grind like The Division, where you have a weapon for a couple of hours then have to toss it for something stronger as the game progresses. Newer equipment can be more powerful with different attributes but if are attached to a specific piece and it’s attribute settings, it can be upgraded at a blacksmith for a price to meet the standards at your character level. A very nice touch.
Bayek does “level up” through the game to match the growing difficulty of the main targets but this is by no means a standard “role playing game”. There are some combat moves and stealth talents you can unlock and use but much of the gameplay is in how the controls are used. High combat, quiet stealth, a mix of both, all of it is available from the first mission regardless of how far along Bayek has progressed or what he has unlocked. I would wager most of the game could be successfully handled without having to access the game’s skill tree or even dabble much with the equipment, albeit this would be much more difficult.
The game is harder than the past several in the series and it’s a welcome challenge. I’ve died many times but only once or twice due to lack of control or bug. Overall it’s a very stable game with some visual glitches involving people sitting and the big mission error cited above. The combat is fluid, playing on the old marionette system from the original game but not as complex, but still more detailed than the ridiculous system introduced in AC3. It’s fun. I look forward to every confrontation, even if it’s a result of failed stealth, and finishing blows with gushing blood are more rewarding than the loot found on the carcass. The combat is as beautiful as the setting.
I love this game, and I’ve returned to my love of Assassin’s Creed. Bayek is not Altaïr but he is someone Altaïr would be proud of. An entirely new character has been written and he is more than worthy of the title of the assassin’s. The game is solid entertainment with purposeful story and themes and lends hope to the once bleak future of the series. I’m not done with the main plot and I’m sure it will have the hollow cliffhanger of all the others in the series, but I don’t care. Egypt calls with her mysteries and Assassin’s Creed has found a home in her sands. Let’s get lost one more time.
So what does Ubisoft do when it catches on that the last three games in the series weren’t selling? A reboot! Take the series, gut it, and start over. Marvel Comics did this years ago in the late 90’s with much of the MCU and it worked very well, so kudos to Ubi for truly looking at how to make a change. What better place to start a reboot? At the beginning of the story, which is precisely where Assassin’s Creed Origins starts, and it’s an amazing start. While the modern day tale of Abstergo and the Templars picks up in proper chronology to the other games, the assassins find their roots in the cradle of civilization, fighting an evil that is already ancient. The combat is revamped, the distractions and side quests have more meaning, and the player has a reason to get lost in the story. Assassin’s Creed is back!
The game starts with Bayek of Siwa in Egypt and at first seems to pick up in the middle of a tale. The first target in a string of enemies is already under Bayek’s blade as the tutorial kicks in and quickly the player learns about this father and husband who lost his child to a secret society controlling key cities across the land. The personal motivation is not just revenge, but also duty, as Bayek is a Medjay (magi) sworn to protect the land. I thought this was a wonderful device, making Bayek multi-dimensional. Elements in the missions have an emotional impact to him yet he is not acting purely on anger or revenge. This duality leads to complications as he falls under the authority of Queen Cleopatra who holds the leash of his son’s death to the collar of his duty and drags him through much of the story at her bidding. Wonderful detailing. Bayek is also married to another Medjay, Aya, who kicks as much ass as he does. She shares his pain of loss and sense of duty and actually prods him along under Cleopatra’s orders as more enemies of this secret society are revealed.
While the overall targets with backstories are fairly standard to the series, the individuality of each contract is quite unique. One involves a complete betrayal from a trusted friend while another reveals to be a red herring and is actually two larger missions in two places across the map. Some of them boil down to open combat and one of my biggest complaints is, again, there are very few straight up assassination missions. Most plots give way to a cut scene followed by a boss battle. Once the boss is overcome, the actual killing of the target is almost lackluster. In one of the few opportunities I had to hide and ambush my target from above, the results of my actions were cataclysmic to the subplot, literally one notable character to disappear from the story without explanation. If I had to pick out the game’s greatest flaw, a lack of adherence to the assassination canon would be it.
Beyond this, however, is the sum total of the story as it lies against the most magnificent backdrop I’ve ever seen in a game. Earlier this year saw Ghost Recon: Wildlands with a brilliant and vibrant Bolivia that breathed and grew in front of the player. Origins steps beyond that and offers the blistering hot sands of Egypt sprinkled with canyons, lush oases, and river deltas housing throngs of people living in huts and houses. Temples and tombs sprawl in city centers and pop up in the most unexpected places, and everything is covered in painstaking detail of pictograms or tile finishing surrounded by flowing fountains and landscaping. The Great Pyramids at Giza reach into the sun and beg to be explored, and explore you shall. Hidden riches requiring some basic counterweight puzzles and maze running wait to be discovered. I think that’s the key to the setting of Origins; exploration is greatly rewarded. That copse of trees in the middle of the desert hides a high level weapon or a star pattern puzzle that gives more backstory to Bayek’s son. The swamp area near the Nile has twice as many crocodiles as was previously observed, but in the center is a pile of gold or other resources to be harvested, as well as croc skins.
The loot and equipment system is simplified from earlier games. Hunting and harvesting is nowhere near as pointless as Assassin’s Creed III and is tremendously fun. Getting an angle on a hippo to pepper it with arrows rather than have it stomp you into the reeds is rewarded with heavy skins that can be converted to upgrade equipment to benefit health and damage. Merchants supply what can’t be found or is too tedious to obtain by hand, or they can be completely bypassed and equipment can be supplemented by what the desert provides. There are a wide variety of melee weapons, from heavy staffs and spears to lighter swords and fighting knives, and just as many types of bows with different strengths and weaknesses. My favorite is the predator bow, allowing me to make far headshots on targets and thin out guards at an objective. The equipment is not caught up in a grind like The Division, where you have a weapon for a couple of hours then have to toss it for something stronger as the game progresses. Newer equipment can be more powerful with different attributes but if are attached to a specific piece and it’s attribute settings, it can be upgraded at a blacksmith for a price to meet the standards at your character level. A very nice touch.
Bayek does “level up” through the game to match the growing difficulty of the main targets but this is by no means a standard “role playing game”. There are some combat moves and stealth talents you can unlock and use but much of the gameplay is in how the controls are used. High combat, quiet stealth, a mix of both, all of it is available from the first mission regardless of how far along Bayek has progressed or what he has unlocked. I would wager most of the game could be successfully handled without having to access the game’s skill tree or even dabble much with the equipment, albeit this would be much more difficult.
The game is harder than the past several in the series and it’s a welcome challenge. I’ve died many times but only once or twice due to lack of control or bug. Overall it’s a very stable game with some visual glitches involving people sitting and the big mission error cited above. The combat is fluid, playing on the old marionette system from the original game but not as complex, but still more detailed than the ridiculous system introduced in AC3. It’s fun. I look forward to every confrontation, even if it’s a result of failed stealth, and finishing blows with gushing blood are more rewarding than the loot found on the carcass. The combat is as beautiful as the setting.
I love this game, and I’ve returned to my love of Assassin’s Creed. Bayek is not Altaïr but he is someone Altaïr would be proud of. An entirely new character has been written and he is more than worthy of the title of the assassin’s. The game is solid entertainment with purposeful story and themes and lends hope to the once bleak future of the series. I’m not done with the main plot and I’m sure it will have the hollow cliffhanger of all the others in the series, but I don’t care. Egypt calls with her mysteries and Assassin’s Creed has found a home in her sands. Let’s get lost one more time.
