Assassin's Creed IV thread

[Atomic Playboy]

This game doesn't do a very good job explaining certain things. The "Kenway's Fleet" minigame was introduced with quite a bit of fanfare (even taking me out of the action to attempt to explain it), but it didn't discuss how to control it or manipulate it and I had to go digging through menus to find that info. There's also no information on how to replenish the supplies in the minigame, which was making me nervous as I was using fire barrels in every encounter because I had no idea my ships would attack on their own. I had to go online to learn that you replenish supplies in battles. Whoops. They could have had a little more explanation and made it a bit more user-friendly; it's an enormous source of cash and you can leave your ships on missions while you do other things. You can even start it up at the beginning of the day and leave since it runs even with the system off. Come back later on in the day, a few thousand Reales richer. Nice. I just wish it wasn't done in the slapdash manner of "HERE'S THIS AWESOME NEW THING. ISN'T IT AWESOME?! OK, you figure that out on your own, we're never going to mention it again." That's just poor design right there, which is too bad, as it is a terribly nifty (if simplistic) feature.

But hot damn on a biscuit, the pirating bits are fun. Taking on ships, trying to take them over and add them to your fleet, taking on the big land forts with mortars and cannons and swivels firing in turn. That is absolutely excellent. I'm still very early in the game, and I'm still figuring out how I can start adding frigates to my fleet to take on some of the larger contracts for more money for more upgrades for better weapons to take on larger ships and add them to my fleet for larger contracts... it's an endless cycle, but it doesn't feel like grinding because the actual combat is so entertaining. Basically, I've made it to Sequence 4, and suddenly the plot of the game has become irrelevant because to hell with all that, I'm a pirate. Yarrr.

 

[slpnshot]

@Atomic

I agree with you regarding the lack of a good tutorial with Kenway's Fleet. I also blew through my entire batch of fire barrels because I thought they were the only way to attack in the mini game. Not to mention my dislike for the entire design of the mini battles in the first place. What is the point of having us sit in that ridiculous UI if we can't even control which ships to attack. Why isn't there an auto resolve button? And if there were more controls... I'm even more annoyed at the bad tutorial because I went through the entire game without using it.

I also didn't care for how standalone the side missions were from the main game. The previous games had assassins you could call upon by leveling the side missions. This game doesn't let you call upon pirates on land(kind of makes sense, they're drunken pirates not loyal assassins) or ships in the sea. Imagine how fun it would have been to assault a fortress with pirate allies. Or maybe they could have upped the difficulties to where the only way to realistically conquer a Man of War was with a group of frigates...

At the very least have the supplies you use in the regular game tie in on some way with the side missions. I didn't even realize the only way to get tobacco was by doing the trade battles till mid game. I figured it would be obvious to raid a plantation to get tobacco. But nope, the side missions have their own standalone economy. Which makes Rum and Sugar more or less pointless outside of 2-3 Naval missions.

Overall, Kenway's Fleet felt like an afterthought. Pretty standalone mechanics/resources from main game. No interactive battles. No way to customize ships. Not even a way to resupply fire barrels for ships.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Overall, Kenway's Fleet felt like an afterthought. Pretty standalone mechanics/resources from main game. No interactive battles. No way to customize ships. Not even a way to resupply fire barrels for ships.

It feels like a way for Ubisoft to justify always-online DRM schemes; just introduce an economy that rewards players for staying online even though the same effects could be done offline just as easily. And, yeah, honestly, if I have a fleet of ships at my disposal, why not let me actually sail with them and take on a legendary ship or a naval fleet with some backup? Instead of a minigame simulating the naval battles with no user input, why not let me choose the ships I intend to use and then actually let me take control of one and have a legitimate naval battle in 3D ocean space like I can do in the regular game? How great would that be; the Jackdaw is your ship, and that's not going to change, but how about a chance to pilot a Man O War in a big battle? Or even better, have a Man O War on your side to draw fire while you deftly pilot a nimble schooner and take potshots at your enemies while their focus is elsewhere? Awesome. It's a shame they didn't bother to include that; I have to imagine it was for lack of time and not because no one thought how wicked it would be to have even more naval combat.

 

[slpnshot]

Even then, they could have made the Kenway Fleet aspect more robust. I didn't really care for the crappy 8+ hour trade missions, but I also didn't hate it. It was somewhat nice sending your ships off at the end of the day and having 10k gold show up the next time you played. But the battle interface seemed pointless. Why even have it at all with how little you can influence the damn thing? And it just felt lazy having an economy that was more or less standalone from the main game. Having ways to boost trade resource from the main game and vice versa doesn't seem like it would take a huge amount of planning.

 

[Carfax83]

One thing I have to say, is that Ubisoft has been very timely with the patches. The patches have significantly increased performance, and addressed quite a few bugs.

I just downloaded a new patch a few minutes ago, booted up the game and I noticed that the performance had increased. I wonder if it's that "god ray" improvement NVidia was talking about? They said they were going to release a patch that would not only increase the performance of the god ray setting, but increase the IQ as well.

 

[slpnshot]

I've finished the game, but I still go back now and then just to sail around and hear the shanties. I really love the atmosphere of this game.

I hope developers make a standalone pirate game in the future. Something with more robust piracy.

Diverse economy. Reputation system. Naval combat. Base/hideout improvement. Treasure hunting.

 

[OCNewbie]

I still have a uplay code for this game for sale if anybody is interested in picking it up cheaper than they can get it via Steam, etc. PM me if interested.

 

[Carfax83]

Well, the PhysX update finally came in..

Tried it out, and I think it's horrible. The performance is terrible, and I have a dedicated GTX 650 Ti PhysX card.

I'm sure a driver update will be released that will fix the problems, but it's not just performance that's the problem, it's the look of the effects. The smoke effects for the muskets and pistols doesn't look that good to me at all.

I don't think NVidia should implement PhysX in games that don't use the PhysX engine to begin with, as it leads to substandard quality.. A game has to be designed with PhysX in mind, otherwise it will turn out to be crap.

 

[Dahak]

Bah... they need to fix the social chests/royal navy/white whales so that you can get 100% sync
been like this forever, it has been a bit better but still needs fixed, or else give us it complete for the challenges for the 100% sync

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Bah... they need to fix the social chests/royal navy/white whales so that you can get 100% sync
been like this forever, it has been a bit better but still needs fixed, or else give us it complete for the challenges for the 100% sync

Yeah, how do you activate a social challenge? I've seen exactly zero white whales pop up, and that's really all I'm interested in.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

So as much fun as the pirating bits of this game are, the "Assassin's Creed"-sy bits are starting to feel really long in the tooth. I mean, there's one mission where

Spoiler

you're breaking into a plantation with Kidd to assassinate a target

that is, bar none, the best use of stealth these games have ever had. You don't actually have to use stealth, but due to the sheer number of guards and the wide availability of hiding spots, you actually want to. It feels natural and works perfectly; lots of fun. But then there is EVERY TAILING MISSION that just make me want to throw my controller in a mix of anger, rage, disgust, frustration and confusion as to how any game designer could possibly think this was a good concept to use in a product designed to entertain. There's not even a sense of accomplishment after you beat the tailing missions after failing them 400 times in a row, just a lingering rage that leads me to kill entire villages of people for the next consecutive 4 hours. I'M A PIRATE, I CAN TAKE THOSE TWO GUARDS THAT HAPPENED TO SEE ME, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

And the follow missions don't even make sense. The game introduces (OK, reuses) concepts, plops them down in front of you as if to say "SEE THIS CONCEPT WE HAVE INTRODUCED? YOU SHOULD USE THIS." But then the ACTUAL way to pass the mission is to bypass that entirely and just climb around on the rooves occasionally knocking out a sniper with a sleep dart. I was just doing a tailing mission where the designers deliberately plopped a gaggle of dancing trollops directly at the start as if to say, "HEY, YOU HAVEN'T BEEN USING THESE DELIGHTFUL LADIES OF PLEASURE MUCH, HOW ABOUT YOU DISTRACT SOME GUARDS WITH THEM?" But then, having failed the mission 35 times in a row, I realized that if I just bypassed the ladies and clambered over rooftops NOWHERE NEAR MY TARGETS, I could pass the mission with "ease." Why throw in the ladies there game designers? Was that a ruse, deliberately designed to toy with my emotions? What kind of jackass decided that these missions were what people wanted to do to break up the monotony of being an AWESOME PIRATE HAVING AWESOME NAVAL BATTLES AWESOMELY? That person is an idiot; fire them.

It got so bad that my wife, sick of hearing me piss and moan and curse in a loud (and, I think, distinctly piratical) way, decided to find a walkthrough video on YouTube to give me some hints so I could finish the stupid mission and get back to fun things. And the video she happened to find just happened to start out with somebody yelling out a stream of profanity, "HOW THE **** DID HE SEE ME UP THERE?" and going on to complain how stupid these sequences were. It was pretty much a perfect summary of my own feelings on the matter.

So, Ubisoft; not a bad job overall. Great pirate game. The story isn't great, but it works. But could you please take whoever designed these "tail your target without being seen" missions and fire them? There isn't a single person on Earth who enjoys them. Not one. EVERY REVIEW MENTIONED HOW TERRIBLE THEY ARE. They are spoiling my enjoyment of an otherwise fantastic game.

 

[ghost recon88]

Having mandatory stealth missions has always drove me nuts. If I want to take on 50 guards at once, I should be able to

 

[mmntech]

The stealth missions don't bother me but I hate eavesdropping ones.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Having mandatory stealth missions has always drove me nuts. If I want to take on 50 guards at once, I should be able to

The stealth missions don't bother me but I hate eavesdropping ones.

Exactly. The ones where stealth is an option but not mandatory are great; let me decide whether I want to take over this hideout quietly or guns blazing. The ones where I need to follow someone at a specific distance but not get seen while they walk through dozens of guards... that's not fun. They aren't even laid out in a logical way so I can see "oh, the game wants me to go to that bush next," because as soon as I try it, I get spotted by someone on a watertower two islands over. It's just ridiculous trial and error, failing over and over and over, until you hit upon a completely non-intuitive solution. And you have to do this dozens of times for every tailing mission because the checkpoints are spaced so far apart, so even after you figure out how to pass the first obstacle, you'll be stuck repeating the sequence until trial and error has gotten you through the first ten. It's horrible game design and it has no place in a videogame in 2013.

 

[Yreka]

Well, the PhysX update finally came in..

Tried it out, and I think it's horrible. The performance is terrible, and I have a dedicated GTX 650 Ti PhysX card.

I'm sure a driver update will be released that will fix the problems, but it's not just performance that's the problem, it's the look of the effects. The smoke effects for the muskets and pistols doesn't look that good to me at all.

I don't think NVidia should implement PhysX in games that don't use the PhysX engine to begin with, as it leads to substandard quality.. A game has to be designed with PhysX in mind, otherwise it will turn out to be crap.

Saw that on the game feed earlier.. Everyone complaining about the smoke + how it obscures the FOV

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Well, the PhysX update finally came in..

Tried it out, and I think it's horrible. The performance is terrible, and I have a dedicated GTX 650 Ti PhysX card.

I'm sure a driver update will be released that will fix the problems, but it's not just performance that's the problem, it's the look of the effects. The smoke effects for the muskets and pistols doesn't look that good to me at all.

I don't think NVidia should implement PhysX in games that don't use the PhysX engine to begin with, as it leads to substandard quality.. A game has to be designed with PhysX in mind, otherwise it will turn out to be crap.

I tried it myself last night, and you're right, the performance hit makes it unplayable for an effect that, ultimately, isn't worth it. Honestly, I kind of like the effect of running through smoke and having it billow around you and follow you in the wake of passing air; that's cool. But, as realistic as it might be with flintlock pistols from an era pre-dating smokeless powder, the smoke effects for guns and cannons are so over-the-top that a battle quickly turns into button mashing in a haze of grey. You literally cannot see anything, even though your enemies are not bound by the same constraints and will continue stabbing you quite gleefully. An effect that cripples my framerate, covers the entire screen in a blinding smoke that puts me at an enormous disadvantage during battles and is otherwise so subtle that I had to specifically point out to my wife what to look for? Not worth it.

 

[Dahak]

Yeah, how do you activate a social challenge? I've seen exactly zero white whales pop up, and that's really all I'm interested in.

They are suppose just show up, as long as you are connected to the internet and online.
That is the issue with them, they do not seem to happening at all / or frequently enough for some users.

I tried it myself last night, and you're right, the performance hit makes it unplayable for an effect that, ultimately, isn't worth it. Honestly, I kind of like the effect of running through smoke and having it billow around you and follow you in the wake of passing air; that's cool. But, as realistic as it might be with flintlock pistols from an era pre-dating smokeless powder, the smoke effects for guns and cannons are so over-the-top that a battle quickly turns into button mashing in a haze of grey. You literally cannot see anything, even though your enemies are not bound by the same constraints and will continue stabbing you quite gleefully. An effect that cripples my framerate, covers the entire screen in a blinding smoke that puts me at an enormous disadvantage during battles and is otherwise so subtle that I had to specifically point out to my wife what to look for? Not worth it.

It seemed to be that way for me even before the physx patch. where it cannot see what it am shooting at in ship battles or even with usual gunfire. Will have to see this weekend once I play again

 

[Atomic Playboy]

It seemed to be that way for me even before the physx patch. where it cannot see what it am shooting at in ship battles or even with usual gunfire. Will have to see this weekend once I play again

Yeah, for a minute I thought it was already enabled, as I was in a ship battle and the smoke was so thick I couldn't see my target. But that's just the base game; the PhysX dials the smoke up to 11, squares it, squares it again for good measure, and then throws in turbulence effects to make any computer made before 2016 melt from the workload.

YouTube preview video

 

[Jeeebus]

So just started playing last night. Not far enough in the game to judge it, but one thing had me puzzled (wondering if they ever explain this later on).

How exactly does a pirate who killed an assassin just automatically have eagle vision? Or basically all the fighting and climbing skills of an assassin? Seems really out of place to me.

 

[lilrayray69]

Uhh prolly some mumbo jumbo about being the ancestor of blah blah who had the powers or something. They mention Kenway has always had "the sense" or something, and I guess he's just a badass when it comes to combat, climbing, stealth, etc.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Last night I finished doing everything, including the very last chest in the latest DLC. I've put about 60 hours in the game and delayed my storyline progress as much as I could. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the best armor as early as I wanted but the next best thing was fine and I still got to raid warehouses with Mayan armor anyway. Upgrading the cove cost me roughly 120k R, so the game had some sort of a RTS/MMO feel towards the endgame. Seeing the cove starting to resemble real harbors and fully grown cities, I wish they had built on that, it wouldn't have taken them a lot to basically infinitely prolong the endgame. Unfortunately, the legendary ship events cannot be replayed. Too bad because the item count is there, the list of upgrades is as long as in a typical MMO but most of them are pointless. i really wouldn't have minded grinding some time consuming upgrades for multiplayer ship combat that unfortunately doesn't exist. I give AC4 a 8.5/10, if they had been more creative with eavesdrop/follow missions and given us ship based pvp combat, it would have been a 9.5/10.
There is just nothing to keep me playing which is a shame for such a good game.

 

[lilrayray69]

One thing I don't like in AC4 is how the enemies no longer seem to have individual health. Not sure when this changed but I remember in previous ones each enemy would have a visible health bar. in AC4 it seems they only die from a hit-combo death animation, and if you don't go all the way through with it then they simply don't die and aren't hurt. Also those death animations can take a while, like one enemy will run off and I want to chase him down but I'm stuck watching my guy stab a dude like 20 times before killing him.

 

[slpnshot]

So just started playing last night. Not far enough in the game to judge it, but one thing had me puzzled (wondering if they ever explain this later on).

How exactly does a pirate who killed an assassin just automatically have eagle vision? Or basically all the fighting and climbing skills of an assassin? Seems really out of place to me.

Because being a pirate and climbing the mast of a ship everyday will obviously translate into being a tree running/tree hopping/dual wielding assassin! Didn't you see Pirates of the Caribbean?

But really, they never do.

They're hoping that being a pirate will be enough to sell that he has magical powers and blind you to the fact that they completely gave up on lore continuity.

They even have you 'develop' your skills in assassination during an exhibition match. Kenway literally learns how to do all of the Assassin's signature move in the course of a day. At least within the earlier stories, your character acquires the skills over a period of time to show that he had to be taught.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I've actually read most of the logs and info doing side quests. There is talk about genetics, though it's buried deep in the pile of stuff found in countless collectibles and the main character's son ties into AC3. The tie in to the series was too subtle, that can't be argued but imo it still worked and if this flaw was the price for making a better game than AC3 so be it.

 

[Dahak]

So just started playing last night. Not far enough in the game to judge it, but one thing had me puzzled (wondering if they ever explain this later on).

How exactly does a pirate who killed an assassin just automatically have eagle vision? Or basically all the fighting and climbing skills of an assassin? Seems really out of place to me.

Do do explain it a little later on, one of the characters senses that kenway has a gift. yes it is odd that it is explained so late but still.