Quality game. Nice and long too, improves on the medicore original immensly. Nice to actually play as a proper characther this time round then the black hole of charisma that was Altiar.
@excel_excel: Well, Altair did actually constantly question Al Mualim, but he was always given a logical answer. The Assassin's Creed is an order, and that's how it should run. Through order - Al Mualim outranked Altair, and so it was his purpose to follow whatever instructions were given to him. Altair was born and raised in the Creed to follow that purpose.
Just yesterday, as I zoned into the final mission of the game, AC2 froze on me and when I reset I came back to a corrupted save. I'd done every side mission, collected all 330 chests, and any other miscellaneous task up until that point and had nearly 40 hours of play time invested. After the initial shock, and talking myself out of slitting my wrists, I grabbed a beer and started a new game.
It hurts to have invested so much time into a game only to get to the finish line and die before crossing it, but somehow, with this game, it stung less since the journey itself was so fun I didn't really want it to end anyways. This is far and away my GotY. Probably my game of the generation. If anybody is still on the fence about picking this up, please do yourself a favor and give it a shot.
@LiQuid!: The exact same scenario happened to me with Uncharted 2. Literally 97% complete (as my corrupted save ever so cruelly managed to display) when my entire harddrive crapped itself and needed a format.
However, like you, it did hurt but since the game itself was so much fun, I didn't mind going through with a replay.
@Atherant: The Uncharted games are both on the tippy top of my list when I eventually get a PS3.
Actually played all the way through AC2 in two play sessions over the last two nights. It was worth it. The ending was hysterical. I can't wait until the final game so I can find out how good the drugs Ubisoft is on really are!
I'll say this. Most overrated game of the year. Bar none...maybe COD MW2 is up there too.
I could post a huge rant here but no one wants that. And I'll take the stone cold sounding Altair, however flat he sounds, over the whiny Ezio any day. Last time I checked cold-blooded assassin's were more like Altair..NOT HEY ITSA ME EZIO. Whenever he talks that's all I think about. And again, the story isn't really that great. Interesting but so was the Da Vinci Code and that was just stupid all together.
@Fossick: Yes, but Altair was an assassin all his life. Ezio isn't even a proper assassin, at least not from the beginning. I saw no problems with it. I don't think he sounded "whiny" at all.
Oh and no, this is nowhere NEAR MW2 as far as overrated goes.
@Kytano-Skorpius: Exactly. God Altiar didn't have a personality all he did was say things in a jarring american accent and did what his master told him ALL THE TIME
@Fossick: I'll agree that there are certain thematic elements from AC1 that I prefer as well, but AC2 is a good game in it's own right and certainly adds more content and more variety than the first one. It's a good enough game and story and I think it deserves the attention it gets, especially when compared to a lot of other current titles.
@excel_excel: Since when do assassin's killing people need to have personalities? He's not James Bond or anything. I mean, Agent 47 from the Hitman Series is a pretty quiet guy and I love him and so do other people. Master Chief doesn't really say much either and people like him. I guess I'm just too tired of all the hot shot protagonists in games and stuff.
@Kytano-Skorpius: Yeah, true. But I mean, the game doesn't even explain how he learned how to free run. And then everyone in his family does it too. Little things like that annoy me since the game strives to present an authentic background and then they do things like that. When did he learn how to use a sword? Granted, some of that stuff is in your blood but that doesn't mean you just do these things and you're an assassin.
And maybe his accent has something to do with him seeming whiny to me. :P
Good, ACII is waaaaaay better than the first one and is deserving of high sales. I can't believe how enthralled I've been playing the game and getting caught up with all its historical conspiracy twists, just LOVE it. I think I'm finally nearing the end of the game, so it'd be a whole week of owning and playing the game for me to finish, a HUGE testament as very few games take me that long nowadays^_^
It's fully deserved. THey remedied all of my issues with the first game and added a few new things i really like. This is exactly how a sequel should progress and expand. I'm even coming around to the story which i initially hated. Pat on the back for Ubi, well done for creating a really great game.
@smartboydan is banned from Deadspin :(: Because AC2 takes place during the Renaissance - People weren't as barbaric as they were in the 12th century when AC1 takes place.
Yeah I don't know. I was wondering the same thing, too. :D
I hate to say this, because I played Fallout 3 until my eyes bled, but AC2 is a better game that Fallout 3. The mechanics are more polished now, the storyline sucks you in from moment 1, and the added assassination techniques are superb. The money/sales system is decent, the town building element is great, the scenery is so well done...its on the very short list for my Game of the Year nominees.
@Đipic: Thanx for the promotion. I stated my reason for comparing the two below. Before this, Fallout 3 was the pinnacle of single player gaming...and one I thought would never be topped.
anyone that played the first game, even if only to the first assassination, and saw the massive potential inherent in a sequel that could build off of the control scheme, motion capture, and environmental interaction engine. it's sad that the first installment did not do better when, honestly, the side quests leading up to each assassinations were the only real negative against it. the massive innovations present in practically every fundamental area of the game were obvious and they are why the second is so much more involved quest wise, because these things did not have to be reinvented.
@tetracycloide: What are you talking about? Assassins Creed is one of the best selling games out there and it did fine critically. We're not talking about some under-the-radar game here. We're talking about fucking Assassin's Creed, the biggest new franchise this console generation. It didn't get perfect scores around the board, but no game has. And the metacritic might not have been as high as some would have liked, but that is not really what matters. Sales matter and that is what this young franchise has always had.
Well, I didn't buy the first (well I did buy it used eventually, I know, shame on me,) because I didn't own a next-gen system until Feb of '08.
This game I bought on day one though, so I actually contributed this time and I'm sure there were others like me who didn't pick up the first until later.
Great game, 32% better makes alot of sense tbh, but AC had the "Holy Crap this is an entirely new experience!" Even though it was repetitive it still blew my mind and sadly being a sequel-albeit a better game-ACII won't give that feeling as intensely as the first.
"According to Mr. Totilo's review of the game as well as my own extensive experience with AC2, I'd say the faster sales are due to a combination of brand recognition and the fact that Assassin's Creed II is at least 32% better than the original."
It's not often that the numbers work out so perfectly like that! Cherish this moment of order in a crazy and unpredictable market.
Oh. And buy this game Kotakuites. It's absolutely awesome.
Which it deserves. Assassins Creed II is great - I'm only on memory sequence 5, and I'm enjoying quite a lot. Even my GF enjoys it. This is how sequels should be - keeping what's good about the 1st iteration, and improving on what was bad.
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I feel like everybody has been watching too many movies or something
En-Zio! How-a You-a Doing-za! *with hands up in the air*
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Ezio on the other hand is a normal person thrust into assination, and so grows into his role.
11/26/09
#speakup
11/26/09
BUT! Can you explain his American accent!
11/24/09
It hurts to have invested so much time into a game only to get to the finish line and die before crossing it, but somehow, with this game, it stung less since the journey itself was so fun I didn't really want it to end anyways. This is far and away my GotY. Probably my game of the generation. If anybody is still on the fence about picking this up, please do yourself a favor and give it a shot.
11/24/09
However, like you, it did hurt but since the game itself was so much fun, I didn't mind going through with a replay.
11/25/09
Actually played all the way through AC2 in two play sessions over the last two nights. It was worth it. The ending was hysterical. I can't wait until the final game so I can find out how good the drugs Ubisoft is on really are!
11/24/09
I could post a huge rant here but no one wants that. And I'll take the stone cold sounding Altair, however flat he sounds, over the whiny Ezio any day. Last time I checked cold-blooded assassin's were more like Altair..NOT HEY ITSA ME EZIO. Whenever he talks that's all I think about. And again, the story isn't really that great. Interesting but so was the Da Vinci Code and that was just stupid all together.
ah..
11/24/09
Oh and no, this is nowhere NEAR MW2 as far as overrated goes.
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#speakup
11/25/09
And maybe his accent has something to do with him seeming whiny to me. :P
#speakup
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Yeah I don't know. I was wondering the same thing, too. :D
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#speakup
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Because he was alive during the Renaissance. There's no way he could be alive now.
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This game I bought on day one though, so I actually contributed this time and I'm sure there were others like me who didn't pick up the first until later.
Great game, 32% better makes alot of sense tbh, but AC had the "Holy Crap this is an entirely new experience!" Even though it was repetitive it still blew my mind and sadly being a sequel-albeit a better game-ACII won't give that feeling as intensely as the first.
11/24/09
It's not often that the numbers work out so perfectly like that! Cherish this moment of order in a crazy and unpredictable market.
Oh. And buy this game Kotakuites. It's absolutely awesome.
11/24/09