So, for the first issue of my blog, which I hope to do on a daily basis, I'll speak about the things that I enjoy or perhaps am worried about in the world of video-gaming. Though I posted this on the Gamespot thread, I thought to reach out here with my thoughts and perhaps to gather insight from the others (at least on my friends's list or elsewhere) on what should be done with the Assassin's Creed series, the first subject for my first blog.
That being said...
Reading Shaun's thoughts, which you can find on the main page of Gamespot right now (link for some reason won't work on my blog, just check my post on the Gamespot Primary Games Discussion forums) on the Assassin's Creed series so far and it made me realize he made a few good points.
To be honest, I'm glad that Brotherhood and Revelations are out and both are good games in their own right. However, somewhere along the way, I think Ubisoft did get carried away. Minigames, such as tower defense and first-person platforming, along with little distractions like bomb crafting, are nice to have for variety, but those kinds of aspects loses focus on the series. The first game had you focus on finding out more information about your target, through pickpocketing or ease-dropping on certain people's conversations, before traveling to that destination and figuring out a plan to finish them off without being detected. Whatever happened to that? I know that some of that was kept in the later games in certain missions, but the series focused too much on the combat or through these Leonardo Da Vinci missions. Something has to be done...
AC, I feel, is definitely losing its identity and place in the gaming industry because of those key aspects of the game. Therefore, some of the key points Shaun spoke of, I repeat myself. There needs to be a new hero, either female or male, but with someone that can grow to care about, like with Ezio in Assassin's Creed II. Let it not be someone who just goes through the motions and keeps on playing a smaller and smaller role. I also feel that they need to focus on missions that make you feel like an assassin instead of following someone to a place without being detected. Having Assassin recruits is great, but unfortunately, it lessens the challenge, making the series FAR TOO EASY. Also, get rid of the strataegy element of sending out your assassins to reclaim Europe for your own. That takes up way too much of your time and only gives you few rewards, such as more gold/exp and bomb ingredients, along with Assassin control. Definitely wipe out the needless BS, such as the tower defense game (which is not mandatory unless you are aiming for 100% completion) and definitely get rid of the boring, dull first-person platforming. I could understand that they were just trying to make Desmond's portion of the game be different for fans, but was that REALLY necessary? Not likely.
What about you guys? What are your thoughts? What needs to be done in order to make Assassin's Creed a series that a lot of people can enjoy again, despite ACII, Brotherhood, and Revelations being great games in their own right, not to mention their negative flaws?
