Topic: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Update: PC DRM only needs log-in on installation

[MysterD]

NEW - 2-22-2011:
PC Gamer -> AC:BH PC only needs log-in on install. After that, you can play the game online or offline.

Bluesnews -> AC: BH PC will include both DLC's [The Da Vinci Disappearance + Abstergo Project (Project Animus)].
Eurogamer -> AC: BH PC coming March 18th.
PCGamesHardware.com -> Info on the PC Version of ACB.

REVIEWS:
GameSpot Review - 8.5 (out of 10) - X360 and PS3.
Written review.
HD Video Review.
MORE Console Versions - X360 and PS3
Scored out of a max of 5 stars
Joystiq -> 4 1/2 stars.
G4TV -> 4 stars.
Scored out of a max of 10.
Eurogamer -> Perfect 10.
IGN -> 8.0.

OLD:
1Up -> New survey from UbiSoft asks gamers what they would like to see in the next AC game.
Joystiq -> Ubisoft buys Quazal - who's done MP middleware & services for many UbiSoft games.
1Up -> PS3 version to get FREE Day-One DLC exclusive called Copernicus Conspiracy DLC.
Shacknews -> Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - PC Version delayed until Q1 2011.
Eurogamer -> Patrice Désilets, who worked on first two AC's & was Creative Director on AC: Brotherhood, is taking a "creative break from the industry."
Shacknews -> AC: Brotherhood - Trailer.
Bluesnews -> Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood planned for Holiday 2010.

[iPPi]

I am genuinely surprised that this game will have a single player portion.  I guess the time period and Ezio's story is good enough to warrant this 'extension' of the storyline.

I'm intrigued about the multiplayer... I want more details regarding that.  The SP will be just more AC2 (which is still a good thing), but it's the MP that is gonna be the interesting part.

[Pugnate]

The fact that initial reports had this a multiplayer game only, makes me wonder if this singleplayer portion will be half-assed.

[MysterD]

Patrice Désilets is taking a "creative break from the industry."

"With his role on project essentially done, Patrice Désilets has decided to take a creative break from the industry and is no longer working on Assassin's Creed Brotherhood," Ubisoft told Game Informer after initially dismissing the story as "rumour and speculation".

So, is Patrice taking a vacation, but still going to work for UbiSoft later on something else? Or is Patrice join another company? Creating own company?

Or did Patrice quit the industry entirely?

What's the story? 
I love trying to decipher cryptic PR, sometimes...

[MysterD]

Shacknews -> Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - PC Version delayed until Q1 2011.

[PyroMenace]

Man it just feels like this holiday year is getting more and more empty.

[Cobra951]

Not for me.  I have a huge backlog to chip away at, and Christmas is always I time I feel less guilty about spending a bit of money.

[MysterD]

1Up -> PS3 version to get FREE Day-One DLC exclusive called Copernicus Conspiracy DLC.

[iPPi]

So this came out today.  This game didn't get too much marketing or something because I didn't really hear much about it.

Apparently, the single player campaign is quite long and much like AC2, for better or for worse.  The MP is decent but not the focus of the game, from what I've heard.

I'll probably pick this up during the holiday season.

[idolminds]

I guess they did a poor job advertising. I thought this was mainly a MP game.

[MysterD]

I guess they did a poor job advertising. I thought this was mainly a MP game.

Nope - there's also like a 15-20 hour single player campaign in there, according to most reviews.
I think they did the MP touting b/c that's the big new feature added here.

It's really odd what's been going on in gaming of late w/ these titles pumped-out so quickly. With Bioshock 2 (probably should've never been named that); Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood; and Fallout: New Vegas - it's really hard to say what these games actually are.

Are they really stand-alone expansions? No, they're all too big or got too much content.

Are they sequels? Usually a totally majorly overhauled engine or a totally brand new engine; and/or lots of new gameplay features constitutes that. None of these really have that, either.
 
But, ALL of these games all seem to be packing a good deal of length for content - especially AC: BH and FO: New Vegas.

So, are they something in-between an expansion and a sequel?
Yeah, it's as if all of these games lie somewhere b/t an expansion pack and a true-blue sequel...

[MysterD]

Destructoid -> Expect another Assassin's Creed game next year in 2011.

Ugh, I hope the AC series doesn't turn into a yearly COD franchise.

[PyroMenace]

Why not? Have you played the last two? They are pretty damn good.

Meanwhile your playing watered down fantasy RPGs every year. Same goddamn thing over and over.

[Pugnate]

I think D dislikes the concept of a franchise being milked, except he is applying it to a situation where the yearly releases are fairly decent.

As Pyro said, the CoD games are still quite good. This isn't Guitar Hero.

[PyroMenace]

Was I was specifically referring to the Assassins Creed games. I'm playing Brotherhood right now and it is really awesome, I wouldn't mind seeing another game with this quality in another year.

[MysterD]

Why not? Have you played the last two? They are pretty damn good.

Meanwhile your playing watered down fantasy RPGs every year. Same goddamn thing over and over.

I thought AC2 was great and a DRASTIC improvement over the original in basically every way imaginable.
I cannot speak on AC:BH b/c it ain't on the PC...yet; not until 2011.


EDIT:

I think D dislikes the concept of a franchise being milked, except he is applying it to a situation where the yearly releases are fairly decent.

As Pyro said, the CoD games are still quite good. This isn't Guitar Hero.

That's exactly it - I basically dislike the concept of franchises being milked every single year w/ a "new" $60 game.

But, you guys all are right - COD series; AC series; Bioshock series (I'm looking at Bioshock 2 here); Left 4 Dead series; and Fallout series are all solid stuff.

[Pugnate]

Yea the COD games and the Assassin's Creed games are pretty good. The point is that while you dislike the concept of franchises being milked, you shouldn't generalize, because not all franchises with yearly releases are teh suck.

At the same time, when I heard of Brotherhood of Steel, I was skeptical, but it is apparently quite good.

[MysterD]

Yea the COD games and the Assassin's Creed games are pretty good. The point is that while you dislike the concept of franchises being milked, you shouldn't generalize, because not all franchises with yearly releases are teh suck.

At the same time, when I heard of Brotherhood of Steel, I was skeptical, but it is apparently quite good.

Wait...do you mean Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood?
I think that's what you mean.

Brotherhood of Steel are a major faction in the Fallout games.
Since we're still on the subject of expan-sequels, New Vegas is pretty good.

[Pugnate]

hahahah oh my god. I said that to my cousin as well and he didn't catch it because he isn't a huge gamer.

[Cobra951]

I let you slide, because I knew what you meant.  But D won't. 

[MysterD]

hahahah oh my god. I said that to my cousin as well and he didn't catch it because he isn't a huge gamer.

There actually was a PS2 and original X-Box game called Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, which got mediocre reviews.
It was a ARPG.

[Pugnate]

I let you slide, because I knew what you meant.  But D won't. 

haha well, I've been doing more of this lately. I guess it is just a sign of getting older.

Yesterday I asked my sister why her pink were so cheeks.

[Xessive]

haha well, I've been doing more of this lately. I guess it is just a sign of getting older.

Yesterday I asked my sister why her pink were so cheeks.

Haha I did it yesterday, I was talking to my brother and said "That far is so place!"

[MysterD]

1Up -> New survey from UbiSoft asks gamers what they would like to see in the next AC game.

[PyroMenace]

So I've been playing this on my days off and it has been a blast. I had lots of fun with AC2 and this is mainly the same thing but it's got considerally more cool stuff attached to it. Some of it may not be super deep but just roaming around the streets of Rome and thinking, what should I do now? And the list of things to do goes on and on, your always running into stuff you can buy, side quests to take on, treasure to hunt, etc. Plus having your own group of Assassins to deploy death on just about anything never gets old. Oh and one of the best parts, you can now buy maps for the flag and feather locations, woot!

If you enjoyed the AC games at all this is a must buy, also if you were turned off by the first AC game, do check out 2. In fact I highly recommend playing through it before going into Brotherhood since it literally picks up exactly where 2 leaves off.

Oh and one more bit of advice, the items you get off treasure chests and thieves, do not sell them, keep them, you'll need them for the merchant quests. Made the mistake of selling off a bunch of it in the beginning and since there's no manual (thanks Ubisoft) I had no idea what they were for.

[MysterD]

PCGamesHardware.com -> Info on the PC Version of AC:BH.

Technical Features

PCGH: What are the main differences between the console and the PC version as far as general technical aspects as well as the visuals is concerned? What technical features can only be realized with the PC as platform?

David Coulombe: Scalable settings (multi-core, higher frame rate, higher resolution, MSAA, higher shadow, reflexion, environment quality etc.), as well as Eyefinity and 3DVision support. The other advantage is the guarantee of hard-drive installation which ensures decent loading times.
SSAO support.

Multi-Core Processor Support

PCGH: The first two Assassin's Creed parts scale well with multicore processor, Assassin's Creed 2 even utilizes up to eight cores. Have you nevertheless overhauled the thread structure of the technology utilized in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood to optimize it for higher number of cores that will be available with future processor or Intel CPUs with six core including Hyper Threading? How does the thread structure in the PC version look like and how have you manages to parallelize the code?

David Coulombe: On AC2 we did a great job of refactoring the rendering engine to use multiple processors. We automatically detect the number of processors and hardware threads and split the workload appropriately. The rest of the engine (AI, sound, etc.) has been multithreaded since AC1.

[MysterD]

Eurogamer -> AC: BH PC coming March 18th.

Yay @ AC:BH coming here!!!
Bleh @ U-Play DRM, though.

[MysterD]

AC: Brotherhood PC will include both DLC's of The Da Vinci Disappearance and Abstergo Project (Project Animus).

[MysterD]

PC Gamer -> AC:BH PC only needs log-in on install.
After that, you can play the game online or offline.

[Cobra951]

This game is awesome.  Last week, there was a Ubisoft sale on XBL and I picked up the digital version for $10.  I was just looking to fill the hole between II and Revelations, and I ended up with the one game in the series I'm enjoying the most.  Recruiting, leveling up and calling assassins are the best expansion to the formula yet.  Horses are still here, easier to call than ever.  No stupidly out-of-place tower defense.  Plus it's Rome.  Love the sandbox.  And I love it when buying decisions work out so well.  Perfect bargain.

[MysterD]

This game is awesome.  Last week, there was a Ubisoft sale on XBL and I picked up the digital version for $10.  I was just looking to fill the hole between II and Revelations, and I ended up with the one game in the series I'm enjoying the most.  Recruiting, leveling up and calling assassins are the best expansion to the formula yet.  Horses are still here, easier to call than ever.  No stupidly out-of-place tower defense.  Plus it's Rome.  Love the sandbox.  And I love it when buying decisions work out so well.  Perfect bargain.

Yeah, I think AC2 and AC:B are the best in the series...
...even though I ain't finished AC:R (I don't like the new missions there - Tower Defense and Desmond Puzzles) and ain't played AC3 yet.

AC2 has the best story of the AC club (that I've played and finished) and improved immensely in every regard over AC1...
...while AC:B had the most improved gameplay elements & the new MP portion; though the story in AC:B ain't as good as AC2.

[Cobra951]

You're not alone thinking the story is worse.  I've read that elsewhere too.  I'm in the middle of the game, so I can't comment on that yet.  But you know me.  The story I care most about in games is what I get to do in them, and I do love what I do routinely here.  It trumps games with a strong story, but superficial gameplay (like The Walking Dead) any day.

[MysterD]

You're not alone thinking the story is worse.  I've read that elsewhere too.  I'm in the middle of the game, so I can't comment on that yet.  But you know me.  The story I care most about in games is what I get to do in them, and I do love what I do routinely here.  It trumps games with a strong story, but superficial gameplay (like The Walking Dead) any day.

AC2 and AC:B are both great, in the gameplay department.
It's just...AC:B does the gameplay MUCH better (than AC2). From the gameplay tweaks to the new recruiting features - loved it all.
Plus, AC:B game also added the MP component.
Gameplay-wise, AC:B (as a whole) has A LOT more going on - which surprised the Hell out of me.
This normally don't happen in these expansion-sequels!

AC2 was great b/c it was one of the game's w/ the biggest improvements I've ever seen in a sequel.
Yeah, I preferred AC2's story by a mile over AC:B.

I can't see how anybody can go wrong w/ either AC2 or AC:B.
It's like asking me do I prefer FO3: GOTY Edition or FO:NV - Ultimate Edition.
I just....don't know which game I prefer.

[iPPi]

I finished Brotherhood fairly recently and to be honest I agree with you guys that the story isn't great.  When I was playing AC2, I was very intrigued by the entire Renaissance era story as well as Desmond's side of the story.  I got 100% completion for AC2 since it was a really good game with a great story.

With Brotherhood, I didn't care for any of the extraneous content and focused on the main quest only.  I only did a side quest because it would net better gear (so I did go through the tombs and those special missions).  I didn't go hunting for the puzzle sequences like in AC2 though.  The game was good, but it wasn't memorable and there was no initiative or drive to do more than was necessary. 

In fact, while the ending to the game is shocking, it isn't enticing enough to make me want to play Revelations or AC3 at this point.

[Cobra951]

. . .

Oh and one more bit of advice, the items you get off treasure chests and thieves, do not sell them, keep them, you'll need them for the merchant quests. Made the mistake of selling off a bunch of it in the beginning and since there's no manual (thanks Ubisoft) I had no idea what they were for.

I should have read this thread more carefully.  I did the same thing.  There's no indication at all early on about the shop quests.  Also, it took me forever to figure out you can assign up to 5 assassins to each contract.  That was a painful facepalm.  I kept running into a brick wall after they got to Level 6 or 7.  Difficulty 3 missions awarded too little XP while Difficulty 4 was out of reach for 1 assassin.  (Suicide odds.)  D'oh!

[Cobra951]

I take it back.  Late game, any small mistake makes you repeat entire sequences.  That blows so hard that it brings the whole game down as far as I'm concerned.  I like the idea of partial synchronization to allow me to progress, then let me go back later and try for perfection.  But now, that frustration-saving scheme has been abandoned for the same bad old-school bullshit I so despise.  Guard sees you 5 minutes into a chore.  Tough shit.  Do it again, and again, and again.  This time I mean it.  This is the last AC game for me.

Edit:  OK, got through that killjoy.  *Phew!*  Can't fast-walk and blend into a small group.  Bumping into even one of them will make the group "disperse" and leave you with your fly unzipped, like 15 times.