Do I need to finish AC 3 before playing AC 4 - Black Flag?

HI - I have taken the plunge and bought a Xbox One - and one of the games I am looking at picking up is AC4: Black Flag....

Do I need to have finished AC3 to follow the story etc in this game? - is it a direct sequel? or is it more of a game in the same AC universe?

No spoilers please

Thanks :)

No I dont think so. Its a whole different story, with a whole different character. I see no need to worry about finishing 3.

I've finished Assassins Creed 4 and the only other Assassins Creed game I finished was the first one, I never felt lost in the story at all. BUT now there is always a but, the game does have flashbacks and a bit of backstory to what has happened to a previous character in the series. Though I still wouldn't say you need to finish the other games to enjoy this one.

I was put off on the first AC and have never played the other AC games. I got black flag because of the lack of Xbox one games. I really liked AC4 and you don't need to play the other games to enjoy it. I will say the game throws you out of the immersion of the game with some crazy nonsense side plot. It makes no since to me and I suppose you need to play the other games to get it. Besides that it's a great game.

@tzolynski: yeah I would agree. I played about half way through 3 before buying 4 and they're totally different. I will say this though, if you plan on playing 3 down the road there are lots of spoilers in black flag

I would. Some major stuff happens at the end of 3 that makes BF very different, and they revisit the big twist at the end of 3 throughout 4, so unless you don't care about the story at all, I'd at least watch "Assassin's Creed 3 the Movie" on YouTube. It's all the cut scenes pasted together. Do that at the very least.

I wonder if the ending will be as unremarkable on YouTube as it was in the game. Still, big changes. You won't understand some of what happens in 4 without seeing the ending of 3.