Asassin's Creed 3 uses 21/12/12 and Illuminati as plot device...

Just picked up this morning. Just started it. During the intro, the "21/12/12" numbers came up big and significant.
The series in general deals with some mega conspiracy memes.

Posting from the general wiki outline...

The Assassin's Creed games take place in 2012, featuring the protagonist Desmond Miles, a bartender who is a descendant of several lines of prominent Assassins; though raised as an Assassin, he fled his nomadic family to seek out a more common lifestyle. He is initially kidnapped by the megacorporation Abstergo Industries, the modern-day face of the Knights Templar who are aware of Desmond's lineage. Desmond is forced to use the "Animus", a device that allows him to experience his ancestral memories. Abstergo is seeking to discover the location of several artifacts, or "Pieces of Eden", that hold great power, to control mankind and alter its fate, bringing humanity into a single unified group. Desmond is later rescued by a small team of modern-day Assassins and taken to a secure location; agreeing to work with them, Desmond uses their version of the Animus (the Animus 2.0) to continue to experience the memories of his ancestors to discover the locations of additional Pieces of Eden so they can be recovered before Abstergo can do so. While experiencing these memories, some of their abilities are genetically leaked into Desmond, known as the Bleeding Effect, giving him some of the Assassin skills of his predecessors at the cost of living with multiple sets of memories and personalities in his mind. Within the Animus, Desmond experiences the memories of Grand Master Assassins Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad, an initially disgraced Assassin working to redeem himself during the Third Crusade, and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, an Assassin in Italy during the late 15th and early 16th centuries of the Renaissance, both of whom came into contact with a Piece of Eden known as "The Apple of Eden". While following the storyline with Ezio, other Pieces of Eden become known, such as "The Staff" as well as a second apple. Throughout these events, Desmond learns of allusions to the prophetic end of the world in 2012 from a former Animus test subject, Subject 16, as well as from holographic figures of a species pre-dating humanity. These beings, people of "The First Civilization" and creators of the Pieces of Eden, call themselves Minerva, Juno and Jupiter. They speak directly to Desmond through Ezio's experiences and in turn Ezio comes to discover that he is merely a conduit for Desmond and that centuries later, Desmond is the one who will find answers to the questions that Ezio himself is asking in his own time. The three figures explain that their species created humanity, who then rebelled against them. A massive solar flare nearly wiped both their species from the planet and destroyed their entire civilization, the three failing to prevent it after having potential solutions transferred to their central vault, now hidden in modern day New York, from vaults across the planet. With their numbers falling, The First Civilization attempted but ultimately failed to interbreed with humanity, leaving bloodlines of First Civilization and human hybrids such as Altaïr's and Ezio's, Desmond himself a unification of the two, as well as others. These hybrids have access to the sixth sense of knowledge, which presents itself in the games as "Eagle Vision" or "Eagle Sense". Desmond must now use the Animus to access the memories of Connor Kenway, otherwise known as Ratohnhaké:ton a half-Mohawk, half-English Assassin during the American Revolution, to use the central vault and find a way to stop a second solar flare from repeating the destruction of the first.

Pretty awesome, annd the actual gameplay that allows one to clamber over classical enlightenment and roman and moorish architecture, is a real epitome of use of the video gaming concept in my opinion. Really it's just an architectural landscape exploration climbing simulator, witt stealth, but I guess the plots interesting too if you're into that sort of thing.
I usually just tune out the dialogue cut scenes though because I just love being able to run and jump over rooftops and climb up walls and jump down on people from above and swan dive into haystacks.
It is a high quaity series, most definitely, despite some iritations.

So now I'm about to explore the 18th century wilderness of early america.
Can't wait. Back to it...

The main portion of Assassin's Creed III is set before, during and after the American Revolution from 1753 to 1783,[11] featuring a new protagonist: half-English and half-Native American, Connor Kenway, birth name Ratonhnhaké:ton (pronounced "Ra-doon-ha-gay-doon").[12] In addition to the historical period, the game also features the "present day" setting, where series' protagonist Desmond Miles must endeavour to prevent the 2012 apocalypse, as his story develops and reaches a conclusion. Players also experience more Desmond than in any previous titles.[13] The game features a new engine, Anvil Next,[14] built from the ground up, the engine is said to utilize full capability of current generation systems to deliver a "next-gen Assassin's Creed experience."[15]

Hopefully getting it today. Can't wait.

Where does the illuminati come in to it?

Edit: Scratch that, it literally just arrived in the mail. YAY!

well said. AC has been a solid favorite of mine. slightly frustrated on unpassable levels in the past.
but I absolutely love this game.
calling game center tomorrow.

I always thought these games were almost like when in Star Trek they do some virtual tour of the past with advanced hologram simulators, or like in the Simpons episode where Lisa meets Genghis Kahn virtually.
It's pretty much where the technology is at these days, it's amazing. This game supports 3-D, I'm playing on a fairly small (21) inch screen. I can only imagine how cool it would be at twice that.
These games feel educational, at least they do a good job at imitating history. And there is some actual history here, even though I'm sure real historians are scoffing at the inaccuracies.
It's pretty good at giving you the genuine feeling of a past culture, and the research would be fairly thorough, allowing for artistic interpretation of course. At the least the geometry of the major architecture is real, so you could probably pull off a modern-day rooftop sneak over some of the historical cathedrals in Venice, or plan a run to the top of the colosseum (that was a standout from Brotherhood).
And the trivia data entries are interesting if you can be bothered reading them all.

Trivia fact - the actor who plays the snarky tech guy Shaun provided the very Portal-ish narration for the great AI themed game, Thomas Was Alone.

impressions...
New engine seems to be slightly glossier, the graphics have always been pretty solid, to tell the difference you'd need to stick them side by side and it's been a while since I played the previous one. But there's at least an extra ten-percent improvement in polish (for a game that's always been really pretty).

Lighting is very rich, nice atmospheric haze. Haven't really explored any wilderness yet. Buildings are pretty plain, as is to be expected. There's still rooftops though thank god.
Locations and landscape will be the main factor in my enjoyment, I like sight seeing in games these days (that's really the only real pleasure I get out of Skyrim). Thanks, exponential growth in graphics processing power!

Slow start, more of an interactive movie, but that's normal, as they introduce gameplay elements bit by bit.

First annoyance - the bright white screen flashes that initiate the cut scenes when you interact with characters.

Love the new matrix-like level loading screens, bit different to normal I think.

I think Benjamin Franklin has taken over the Leonardo da Vinci role.

Ohh, there's a cute pig.

Well, it's not as bright and shiny as the renaissance, much more mud and dust.
But good stuff.
Future Desmond's gonna have to step up for the final Illuminati/sunflare/ancient creator race showdown, should be interesting.

Originally posted by SpearMint
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Where does the illuminati come in to it?

The Knights Templar would be them I think, but the Illuminati can mean any powerful secret organisation.
Or they could be he people of The First Civilization. Or the Assassin's.
Or maybe the Illuminati is really meant to be all the groups working together, but they've fragmented, and they have to get back together and discover their shared purpose.
The Illuminati's whoever's on the other side, in the shadows, pushing history.

I love the subtle hints in all the assassins creed games to the illuminati there is quite a few things i noticed nd i wasn't looking for them.

Quite a few things look like symbols for the illuminati for instance have a look at the rungs on the top of the crane in the 1st desmond mission.

The best one so far i think is a mission where you are in jail and have to try and break out with the help of sombody called mason. You are trying to free mason lol love it.

I havent been looking but i will be from now on and will let you know what i see.

Amazing game by the way love it would recomend every body gets it.

(Sorry about the small i in my post ipad is a pain)

Originally posted by Dbobt
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yeah, there's so many unresolved questions. Like those video fragments that were unlocked by completing the puzzles.

Ha! 'Free Mason'. very good.

Haven't played 2.3 (revelations) yet, and I wonder how much of the overall mystery resides in the downloadable missions?
Hope fully there will be a 'complete' version, I can't afford the bandwidth.

One major criticism I have (well, major annoyance), is that you can't turn off all the HUD displays without getting rid of mission markers, or really just nitpick when you DO want information to display and when you don't.
The immersion level goes way up when you start really LOOKING at your environment to get around, rather than just being led by a constant display with enemy locations, but then some of the things that get turned off when you get rid of one display could be useful. Like once you turn off the item menu, it should come up if you hold the d-pad.
And even if you turn off EVERY display, the money menu still stays there. It's bizarre, it's not even that important to the gameplay.

The Xbox version of Skyrim bugged me for this, you can turn down the hud, but can't pick and choose what elements you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.

Instead of having a map screen, carrying a compass that you could pull out to look at would be much more authentic.

They spend all this time developing a real high quality product but don't include a really simple and obvious function. Just want a couple more options! Really obvious ones!

But anyway, still fantastic games.

I think I'm starting to agree with this review

Assasin's Creed 3 NowGamer critique

Assassin’s Creed 3 should, by all accounts, be the best of the series. There’s an undeniable quality to game that is impossible to overlook and, as with all these things, fans of the series will find a lot to love. But the focus has shifted: Assassin’s Creed 3 is more story than game, the entire experience streamlined into a string of cut-scenes pinned together with you doing little else but holding left trigger and pushing forward.

Final Verdict
It's bizarre to think that a series that thrives on a thriving open-world has become so funnelled and linear. Give us the tools to tackle a situation, and have the conviction to let us make the decisions.

Looks like I'll have to get Dishounored after all.

(still, even f this amounts to an interactive movie it's still great to be so immersed in a world for a week or 6.)

Just found a combat bug that's pretty funny. If a group of soldiers are walking and haven't seen you, you can assasinate them all with out them reacting if you have the sword equipped. The animation of the kill move which is quite long somehow makes you invisibe to them.
They might have released a patch for this though, I'm not connected to the internet so my game hasn't updated.

reply to post by delusion


Having played these games starting with 1 and subsequently beat each sequel, I encourage others to at least take a look at the assassins wiki before jumping into this game. It has a very established story, and would make as much sense as watching return of the jedi without having seen the 2 previous titles. Ive found the game to be very glitchy as well, and while alot of improvements have been made, it doesnt make the game a whole lot better.

I felt the new engine was under used. The capacity for large amounts of npcs never felt natural, and the missions where these situations were presented were few and far between. The new combat system was much more intuitive, albiet creating some new problems. Presumably the greatest achievement of this game was the naval system. Its simply a game in itself. And its perfect. Im sure it can be expanded, but i found myself ignoring everything but the naval. Its just that fun. But past that it falls on its face. The diverse weapons systems are gone, with a drastic reduction in selection. The entire mechanic of the money creating system of land convoys was explained, but in relation to the crafting system it never showed the correlations of increasing profitability through crafting. Nobody else really found the exploitability in the game, because once i finished the story and started farming the land convoys and naval convoys i got some ubisoft notifications that i was among the top 1% worldwide for profit using the system.

I wont talk about the story. It is impossible without containing spoilers so im avoiding it completly. While this game performs like a ferrari it just feels like too much focus was placed on making this the GOTY at the detriment to the small things that made the previous titles so emulsive. I also see alot of dlc comming in the future, to extend the life of the game, for as big as it is, its very short. 12 sequences with 4 being committed to Haytham, it means we get a measly 8 sequences as conner. The desmond missions are good, but the logical matters of at least one draw me to call out the writers to creating a surely un-realistic situation, of coarse based within the content of the game.

What i mean to say is that a good story makes sense within its canon. What drew me towards the game in the first place was allowing time travel without the paradox dillemma through the mechanic of the animus. While we are not actually travelling in time, the mechanic in itself is pure genius. Reliving genetic memories of an ancestor through a device of technological simulation. The stories have an elusive truth that is revealed at the end of each game. It eludes to somthing profound. The stories try to meld with our own reality in its capacity, using real tyrants and people for historic reference. Ubisoft has consitantly done a stellar job in presenting a video game we could learn from, with the wealth of the databases and there adherence to historical validity.

The enviroments are stellar, and for most reviewers this game will score high. It might be GOTY material. The anvilnext engine is pushing current consoles to the brink, and is really intented for the next gen. But the cost of these things were to great to save the game for me. It had potentially the greatest potential in recent history of videogames to present a truely unique enviroment, and maybe i set the bar to high, but again to save spoilers i myself was let down.

Does anybody know if there were signifigant change ups pertaining to writers?

If anybody is interested to what im eluding to, feel free to pm me. I will probably be sending a letter to the creative director at unisoft montreal, however would consider doing so in collaboration.

Originally posted by weston19
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Nice analysis and criticism.
I'm starting to think 3 is such a different beast to the others, the free run and climb flow does seem to be very much broken compared to the others, even without crowded italian architecture allowing for street hopping they could have utilised other objects to help one stay off the ground perpetually. Because that reality-defying movement is what I love about this game's potential the most.
It's still decent though, just less than it was.
And I really don't understand how they can manage to release such a high-profile game with any bugs at all. What if I don't WANT to connect to the internet to 'fix' the game I paid for? I'm stuck with a broken product. We should be able to sue, athough I'm sure they have re-writen the licensing agreement to cover the presence of bugs. baah humbug!
Also I'm not sure the main character really qualifies as an assassin, he's not been initiated into any secret society has he? And someitmes I think that maybe the graphics aren't as awesome as they could be, there are an awful lot of flat sprites in the nature details. And the eyes in the cut scenes are weird. And the gesture machinama 'acting' is sometimes hilarious.
With this level of production I don't understand why there are any corners being cut anywhere.
But, it's still compelling.

Originally posted by delusion
Also I'm not sure the main character really qualifies as an assassin, he's not been initiated into any secret society has he?...

edit... scratch that, he's been initiated now.

reply to post by delusion


I've been playing for about a week and it is by far the best in the series. The bug are noticeable and suck, but barely effect gameplay. a 7.0/10 is not accurate to me more like 8.8/10. very fun and great story so far

reply to post by JDmOKI


To avoid spoilers, im just going to say this. Save your review of the game until your finished. It can never be judged halfway through, and to any extent, previous games have both surprised me and dissapointed me within the last final scenes, and yes, great games have been ruined and bad games saved. Usually the exception not the rule, but still, somthing to consider.

reply to post by weston19


One particular overlooking detail, when you execute a stealth neck break the enemy will roll around with a belly ache....but everything was redone for the anvilnext. The issues worked out in previous games have to be worked out all over again. This is the cost of such an implementation.

reply to post by weston19


What are you stating? the ending really bad? no spoilers please

reply to post by weston19


I don't think AC3 can beat AC2s ending

It took me a long time to 'bond' with this game, to get that blissed out, exploring a whole new world feeling - for the previous games this has happened really quickly, but possibly because of high expectations getting in the way it took a lot longer to settle down and really love the game this time.
It's happened though. I LOVE the landscape and the lighting and being able to cliff climb and the forests, I just wish the ambient chatter and side missions had more immersion to them to give more authenticity. People are often gesticulating wildly with no dialogue, and there is no 'story' to any of the assasination or letter delivieries, which really could have added a lot to feeling 'of the time'.

But also, I've stopped playing 3 for now to play the first game which I picked up for ten bucks. If anyone hasn't played the first game, do it. It's awesome, though slower, and really almost a different game, but it's clear to see how it became what it did. I was sucked in immediately, I love exploring the sacred geometry of middle-eastern architecture (so much more elaborate than the towns in America), and you really actually feel like an assasin. It's much more focused.
They improved it spectacularly with the sequel of course, but that doesn't mean the first is a poor game by any means. And the plot just increased in scope so massively. But the set-up is genius. From small beginnings...

(Oh!.... and you can also dive roll *through* shop stalls. That is awesome.)

Originally posted by JDmOKI
reply to post by weston19

 

I don't think AC3 can beat AC2s ending

Do you mean the whole of AC2 ending (which would be 2.3, revelations?), or AC2.1? I haven't played revelations yet.
Haven't seen the ending of 3 yet, but have got an idea of what happens, it seems they left it on a cliff-hanger and DIDN'T resolve the story? Which seems to be cheating really, unless they plan to release 3.2 and 3.3 to finish it properly. Which, if they do, I really hope they listen to all the suggestions and fix it the way the players want to make it the perfect game.

reply to post by delusion


IMO, AC revelations had the best ending in the series. So full of feeling and realization. Here's the youtube link if anyone wants to watch it: www.youtube.com...