Topic: Assassin's creed.

[MysterD]

I wish this PC game would drop in price to $20 already...

[gpw11]

The interesting thing here is that the control scheme has totally ruined me for other action/platformer games.   I tried to play a bit of the redone Tomb Raider today and it seemed so clunky.

[MysterD]

UbiSoft sues a company for leaking ACPC, which has been reported to be downloaded over 700,000 times before the game was even officially released.

Ubisoft sues over Assassin's Creed leak
Publisher believes disc-replication firm responsible for 700,000 pirated prerelease downloads of its PC action game.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted Aug 7, 2008 1:34 am GMT

Ubisoft's hit action game Assassin's Creed was released on the PC in April, but in appropriately Altair-like fashion, a pirated version of the game sneaked onto the Internet two months earlier. Obviously unhappy with the leak, the publisher has decided to take the matter to court and make someone pay.

Last month, Ubisoft filed suit against Charlotte, North Carolina-based Optical Experts Manufacturing, the company that it had contracted to reproduce copies of the game disc. The publisher alleges that "an extraordinary breach of trust and gross negligence" on the part of OEM allowed one of the company's employees to take a copy of the game home early and post it on the Internet in late February, six weeks before the game arrived in stores.

The publisher alleges that OEM had agreed to abide by--and thereafter ignored--an array of security procedures that could have prevented the leak. Ubisoft further alleges that OEM admitted to not following through on its security commitments and causing the leak. One such security procedure was to prevent copies of the game from ever leaving OEM's premises.

Ubisoft said that it tracked the earliest connections to the pirated copy of the game online and found that they were coming from the home of an OEM employee. An OEM-manufactured copy of the game was later found at the employee's residence, though the suit doesn't specify when that copy was found.

According to the industry-tracking NPD Group, the PC edition of the game sold more than 40,000 copies at US retailers through June.

Ouch.
And it also doesn't help w/ the minimum requirements so damn high, either.
So, double ouch.

Ubisoft claims that the leaked edition of the game was downloaded more than 700,000 times, costing the publisher millions of dollars.

That's a lot of downloads!

In addition to lost sales as a direct result of piracy, the publisher also claimed its reputation was hurt by the leak as well. Ubisoft says that it included a bug in the prerelease Assassin's Creed for security reasons that would cause the game to crash partway through.

Ahhhh...they did what Iron Lore did w/ TQ, basically -- and threw a "bug" in the version they were working in to cut the game off on pirates w/out warning. I knew someone else would try that!

Though, really -- if they intend to cut the gamer off like that, they should throw the pirate a message saying "Game crashed to desktop b/c your copy of the game is not legit! Please buy a real copy!" or something so the pirate isn't thinking that the game cut-off b/c it's buggy; it was cut-off b/c of the pirate!

The bug was supposedly removed from the retail edition, but a mix of negative reviews of the leaked, bug-equipped pirated version of the game and legitimate reviews of the retail edition created customer confusion and caused "irreparable harm" to its reputation, Ubisoft said.

Okay.

Ubisoft is suing OEM for copyright infringement, breach of contract, and negligence. It is asking for damages and legal fees relating to all three claims, in the amount of no less than $10 million each for the breach of contract and negligence claims.

Neither OEM nor Ubisoft returned GameSpot's requests for comment as of press time.

[Quemaqua]

I think the bigger problem is the game itself.  The game is basically an amusement, and if you get your fill of it before you're done, there's no way you're going to buy it.  I don't want to make it sound like I think this is a bad game, even though I've had some negative comments in the past, because I totally don't think that.  I think it's a tremendously awesome game in every respect and I more than got my money's worth.  However, it does suffer from that "Wow, that's cool!  But I think I'm done now" problem.  A lot of games you can see downloading and being totally into, then buying after because you like them so much, but I think with this one a lot of people come for the control scheme, come for the fun climbing on stuff, come for the shanking... but then they finish with that really fast and feel no need to continue playing.  I've gotten that from a whole lot of the people I've talked to, and that's pretty much how it was for me.  I'm curious about the story, and maybe I'll finish someday, but that was never my driving force, and I don't think it was for anyone else either (even though the plot *is* cool, nicely presented, and potentially quite interesting).

I don't know about the rest of it, but I think that's a big problem for this game.  It's just too easy for it to lose its allure.  But I still think it's a bit bullshit, because this is primarily a console game, and I'd venture to guess that a ton of the people who downloaded it simply wanted to check out how it ran on PC and what new features it had.  Seriously, I'd bet that's a good 25% of the people who downloaded it.

[MysterD]

I think the bigger problem is the game itself.  The game is basically an amusement, and if you get your fill of it before you're done, there's no way you're going to buy it.  I don't want to make it sound like I think this is a bad game, even though I've had some negative comments in the past, because I totally don't think that.  I think it's a tremendously awesome game in every respect and I more than got my money's worth.  However, it does suffer from that "Wow, that's cool!  But I think I'm done now" problem. 

A lot of games you can see downloading and being totally into, then buying after because you like them so much, but I think with this one a lot of people come for the control scheme, come for the fun climbing on stuff, come for the shanking... but then they finish with that really fast and feel no need to continue playing.  I've gotten that from a whole lot of the people I've talked to, and that's pretty much how it was for me.

But Que -- how many think like that? How many who DL the game illegally are going to actually go out and buy the real copy upon its actually official release?

I'm curious about the story, and maybe I'll finish someday, but that was never my driving force, and I don't think it was for anyone else either (even though the plot *is* cool, nicely presented, and potentially quite interesting).

I don't know about the rest of it, but I think that's a big problem for this game.  It's just too easy for it to lose its allure.  But I still think it's a bit bullshit, because this is primarily a console game, and I'd venture to guess that a ton of the people who downloaded it simply wanted to check out how it ran on PC and what new features it had.  Seriously, I'd bet that's a good 25% of the people who downloaded it.

Since you bring that up, I wonder how many of those 700,000+ pre-released version of ACPC DL'ed illegally, I wonder how many of those actually already purchased AC on either the X360 or PS3 and said, "Why re-buy this game with very little new content on the PC? I already own it on the console!"

I think the think w/ this kind of game -- with any open-world game that is a sandbox and a half, naturally -- is that if your main quest line ain't much different than what you can do when involved in side missions and/or just when being in the gameworld like it's a sandbox, why do the main quest?

I think that's why GTA always succeeds like it does -- the main missions in the game feel important. They are more-detailed with more pieces to the mission than any of the other parts of the game. Also, they filled with variety, too. And to boot, they are presented extremely well. So, it feels much different than when you're doing side missions or when you're just free-roaming around.

[Cobra951]

That's a good point about (not) re-buying the game.  I know I wouldn't.  I didn't bother downloading the PC bootleg because I can't run it.  It would be a waste of time.  Otherwise, I might have, out of curiosity.  I paid my $60 already.

[Ghandi]

I think the bigger problem is the game itself.  The game is basically an amusement, and if you get your fill of it before you're done, there's no way you're going to buy it.  I don't want to make it sound like I think this is a bad game, even though I've had some negative comments in the past, because I totally don't think that.  I think it's a tremendously awesome game in every respect and I more than got my money's worth.  However, it does suffer from that "Wow, that's cool!  But I think I'm done now" problem.  A lot of games you can see downloading and being totally into, then buying after because you like them so much, but I think with this one a lot of people come for the control scheme, come for the fun climbing on stuff, come for the shanking... but then they finish with that really fast and feel no need to continue playing.  I've gotten that from a whole lot of the people I've talked to, and that's pretty much how it was for me.  I'm curious about the story, and maybe I'll finish someday, but that was never my driving force, and I don't think it was for anyone else either (even though the plot *is* cool, nicely presented, and potentially quite interesting).

I don't know about the rest of it, but I think that's a big problem for this game.  It's just too easy for it to lose its allure.  But I still think it's a bit bullshit, because this is primarily a console game, and I'd venture to guess that a ton of the people who downloaded it simply wanted to check out how it ran on PC and what new features it had.  Seriously, I'd bet that's a good 25% of the people who downloaded it.

I rented it for the PS3, and I loved it, but I'm definitely glad that I didn't buy it. You nailed it.

But whats interesting is that GTA4 doesn't suffer from the problem, even though the gameplay is in the same general category. I guess that Assassin's Creed just doesn't have the depth that GTA4 has.

[gpw11]

Interestingly enough, I played this game for much longer than any GTA game.  There's less variety in the missions, but what's there is done so much better as far as I'm concerned wheras GTA always got really boring after a point for me.  The game has massive problems that need to be solved for any more entries in the series, and now that they have the engine and scheme all worked out they'll hopefully dedicate the time to do that.  It's a pretty hit or miss game depending on the person though and by the end of it I was just kind of whizzing through the required missions.

A lot of games you can see downloading and being totally into, then buying after because you like them so much, but I think with this one a lot of people come for the control scheme, come for the fun climbing on stuff, come for the shanking... but then they finish with that really fast and feel no need to continue playing.

I personally have always kind of thought this is a myth.  I've never gone and bought a game I already have for free and I can't see many others justifying it either.

[Cobra951]

I will *still* do an occasional 2-hour session in GTA IV, even though the story is complete.  It's pure escapism, basically "living" in pseudo-NY and wreaking havoc while skipping through the radio stations. 

[Quemaqua]

I don't know, gpw, I can only speak for myself and a few others, but I do know people who try stuff and if they really love it they go to the store and pick up a copy, even if they never install it because the pirated copy is already installed.

[MysterD]

I wish this PC game would drop in price to $20 already...

I guess my wish might be coming true, soon.
Rumor has it on Black Friday, I guess ACPC will be $10 at BB.

[MysterD]

Okay, received this in mail other day from Best Buy.

So, I installed this ACPC on my current rig -- P4 clocked at 3.2 Ghz with HT, 2 GB RAM, Win XP Home, 512 MB GeForce 8800 GT  -- to see how it would run, since some have got it going on single-core processors as long as they have a pretty good video card (i.e. 512 MB GF 8800 GT) and been able to run it; but not maxed-out or anything of that sort.

The game seems to be running fine. Ain't had slowdowns, slideshows, or anything, on these settings. Been running fine.

So, yeah -- here's my settings


Screenies:

[Pugnate]

You've got a fine video card. Why does your game look so bad? Put the settings up a little.

[MysterD]

I jacked it up a little more -- and it still runs fine on my single-core processor.

[Pugnate]

I run everything on max without issues. You should be able to run pretty close at the very least.

[MysterD]

I run everything on max without issues. You should be able to run pretty close at the very least.

Even on my single-core processor, Pug? 

Is this game more reliant on the GPU or something?

[Ghandi]

There's a simple way to find out...

[MysterD]

There's a simple way to find out...

Yeah, test it out -- hehe.

I like the game's main quest -- it's pretty good and what's keeping me going, playing on.

But, the side stuff -- eh, not enough variety, first off. And even if you do a same type of side quest, it's all too much of the same. Lacks depth and whatnot.

I love the ability to basically climb and jump around anything and anywhere. The world's like a jungle gym.

Great foundation for a sequel, though. Just -- add more side quest depth and variety for side quests.

Oh, X360 controller is perfect for this PC version -- which is what I usually use for games for platforming elements; yeah, I didn't even try the KB/mouse.

[MysterD]

So, I finished this one tonight.

Well, the game isn't super hard...

(click to show/hide)

...Until it decides to go fight-crazy once you get to the part where you kill the girl. Once you do that battle, Christ -- it's like battle mania. Game went from being moderate most of the way through to suddenly a huge spike in difficulty.

Regardless, the game was good. The game really picked up steam, as it got further along. It took a bit to get going b/c -- well, the side quests were not of much variety, in the first few hours. Eventually, there are more and more different ones, to keep you from feeling like you're doing the same crap over and over. I still wish there was more variety in these, those.

But still, the main quest stuff was really good. All of those main quest executions were pretty good.

By the end...

(click to show/hide)

The end was...a big head-scratcher. No sense of completion at all, really. It's like the endings in the any of the HL2 game -- "This cryptic and you're rolling the credits now?!?!?" In AC, by the end, so much was left hanging -- oh, and even introduced there. My Gosh, symbols and puzzles galore in that place. Obviously, setting up for a sequel in obviously a big way.

EDIT:
Ummm...did ACPC make a deal with The Devil?
Did anyone notice that ACPC takes up 6.66 GB of hard drive space? 

[Xessive]

Ummm...did ACPC make a deal with The Devil?
Did anyone notice that ACPC takes up 6.66 GB of hard drive space? 

Haha Yeah, I think I noticed that just before I uninstalled it last week. I had to make space for TR: Underworld.

It was great, I enjoyed it a lot, but after a while it gets a little too repetitive.

Btw, I was going over some commentary on Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia and I'm kind of irked that they refer to these games as "non-linear." Fact is they're both pretty damn linear. You cannot alter the outcome whatsoever. They have multiple paths that all lead to the same destination. You will always start at A and end at Z, no matter what order you take everything in between. It's not non-linear, it's just segmented.

Non-linear should be a term used exclusively for games in which you can actually affect the course of the plot. Where the path you choose significantly alters the outcome of the game; multiple endings. Anyone remember Contra: The Hard Crops (a.k.a Probotector)? That was the first non-linear game I recall that had six different endings depending on what path you chose. It was not open-world. There was also Guardian Heroes on the Saturn. By their definition Megaman is a non-linear game.

I think the problem is that they assume that "open-world" is a synonymous with "non-linear."

[Cobra951]

That's too restrictive a definition.  Life is non-linear, but it always ends in death.  I'm happy when I can do things in whatever order I choose, go anywhere I want in a wide-open world.  It doesn't bother me that the ultimate end is going to be the same regardless of what I do.

[Xessive]

That's too restrictive a definition.  Life is non-linear, but it always ends in death.  I'm happy when I can do things in whatever order I choose, go anywhere I want in a wide-open world.  It doesn't bother me that the ultimate end is going to be the same regardless of what I do.

The choices you make will likely affect the circumstances of death. I know what you mean, but in terms of storyline and plot it makes a difference. In terms of the game, yes I know it will end eventually but how it ends depends on whether or not it's linear or non-linear.

[gpw11]

Yeah, I don't really agree with that.  Were I to go with your definition I could say that maybe 90% of the games I've played that people hold as being incredibly non-linear are actually pretty linear.  Where do you draw the line?  One plot 'altering' decision or a thousand?  Hell, none of the decisions I made in Fallout 3 had any effect on the outcome in the end.

[Pugnate]

Even on my single-core processor, Pug? 

Is this game more reliant on the GPU or something?

Like 99% of the games out there. You have a fine machine, and at resolutions of around 1024x768 you should be able to play with max., or nearly max settings. Whenever you buy a new game, see if it has some benchmarking tool. If you can max your settings and get an avg. of 30fps, you should have a very good experience.

Yeah, I don't really agree with that.  Were I to go with your definition I could say that maybe 90% of the games I've played that people hold as being incredibly non-linear are actually pretty linear.  Where do you draw the line?  One plot 'altering' decision or a thousand?  Hell, none of the decisions I made in Fallout 3 had any effect on the outcome in the end.

I agree with you and Cobra. Though I must say, while PoP does have somewhat of an open world, it is quite linear.

To me, a linear game is something like Half-life or F.E.A.R.

[Xessive]

I think we should have classifications as classic linear, pseudo-linear, and non-linear.

Pseudo-linear being games like PoP and AC. They're not truly linear, they just give you the illusion of choice. It doesn't make them worse or anything.. whatever works for the game. It depends on the objective of the game. For example The Max Payne games are classic linear. The objective was to get the story across in a film noir action style.

Fallout 3 is non-linear, and your choice can actually affect the outcome.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that linear and non-linear are terms of plot, story-telling elements. At least that's what I was taught in school. Open-world or sandbox, on the other hand, are gameplay terms.

Is Super Mario World (SNES) linear or non-linear?

[Pugnate]

So I need some help. The game isn't too bad, but I keep getting targeted by guards when I travel between cities. When I was in the first city, I was used to being left alone, but as I travel by horseback I get attacked by every person wearing an armor. Am I doing something wrong here? I could try and "blend", but that is just tedious.

[Cobra951]

Just gallop away.  If you get tired of running, get out of sight and jump into a bale of hay until you're no longer wanted.  Otherwise, you have to hold down the blend button on horseback.  Clip, clop, clip, clop, slow going.

You should get a beeping warning before they go into chase mode.  Press blend when you hear it if you don't want to be constantly running.

[Xessive]

I never really understood that about AC. I can understand if I was galloping top speed past them but when I'm just trotting?!

I used to take the time to hide or eliminate my pursuers.. Eventually I gave up and would just zoom past.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I never understood that.  I'M TROTTING, OH NO I MUST BE AN ASSASSIN.  ONLY ASSASSINS MAKE THEIR HORSES TROT.

[gpw11]

I just used to bolt from one place to the other. 

[Cobra951]

After a while, you won't even care.  With a bit of practice, staying away from danger on horseback becomes easy, and so does diving into a recognized hiding place.

[Pugnate]

Just gallop away.  If you get tired of running, get out of sight and jump into a bale of hay until you're no longer wanted.  Otherwise, you have to hold down the blend button on horseback.  Clip, clop, clip, clop, slow going.

You should get a beeping warning before they go into chase mode.  Press blend when you hear it if you don't want to be constantly running.

This is absolutely retarded. What the fuck indeedio.

It isn't even that they make things difficult or whatever. I just want to get off the horse and explore a bit for fun... but unless I put my hands together and pretend I am an overgrown alter boy, they attack me.

Just so tedious.

The game has a bit of an identity crisis. I am pretty sure originally they designed it so that you wouldn't be attacked unless you acted the fool, but then they probably thought,"Hey, this is an action game!"

edit:

What the hell is the difference between my roaming the country and my being in the crowded city? Why don't they treat me this way inside city walls? I am pretty sure they took this design decision for those who wanted to go out of the city and play an "action" game.

[MysterD]

Assassin's Creed PC is $5.00 on Steam until tomorrow.

[W7RE]

Do you get anything from completing the side quests? I'm playing through it and wondering if I should just skip the optional quests so I can finish faster (AC2 comes out tomorrow.)

[Xessive]

I haven't noticed any real value to the side quest other than being a minor distraction for perfectionists. Although aiding civilians may add hiding spots (walking monks) or vigilantes to help you escape pursuers. The flags on the other hand are rubbish.

If you just want to get through the story all you need are the three necessary investigations of your choice and you may move to the assassination.

[W7RE]

I do have a completionist buried somewhere inside me, to the point that I've already looked up achievements for the game to make sure I don't skip any missable ones. Maybe I'll just skip side quests with the knowledge that I can come back to them later if I feel the need to "complete" the game.

[Pugnate]

This game to me was one of the biggest pieces of wasted potential ever released. Even then it had its moments, which just goes to show how spectacular it could have been.

[W7RE]

This game to me was one of the biggest pieces of wasted potential ever released. Even then it had its moments, which just goes to show how spectacular it could have been.

Yea I'm already noticing a lot of stuff that I've heard mentioned being bad about it. The guards in the kingdom area are ridiculously alert, the environments aren't all that varied. I was once running from guards and ran into a giant blue wall of computer glitchyness, because I guess I wasn't supposed to be in that area. I fucked up the first assassination in the game twice in a row because someone walked into me with a pot and the guards wanted to kill me because it broke. The third time some dumb bitch was begging for money and the guards were alerted. A little bit ago I jumped to my death when trying to do a leap of faith, I guess because I had the angle of the jump off?

Anyway, despite all this it's a fun game, and I'm enjoying it.

[idolminds]

I did all the side missions in the PC version even though it wasn't required and it didn't get me anything.

From what I read, the game had some changes later in development that made the missions less important. The problem was they added the GPS to the game. Originally you were supposed to get the initial clues from the guy in the assassins guild building and then manually find those places. It wasn't simply waypoint that you could make a beeline for. So each investigation was both FINDING the place and then doing the quick little thing there to get the info. The GPS sort of ruined that.

The idea of having more investigations than required to do the assassination is that each one actually gave you hints and clues on how to pull off the assassination. That info is still in the game in the menus, but you never have to read it since, again, the GPS just points the way.

[W7RE]

Is it just me, or does this game increase the number of damn drunks, crazies, and begagrs that fuck with you as you get further into the game. I'm on my 7th assassination, and I feel like every mission I'm doing now has at least one of these guys fucking it up for me. Just now I was trying to do a pickpocket mission and a drunk shoved me into a guard twice, at which point the guard yelled for help and attacked me. My pickpocket target was right there, so I really didn't want to shove the drunk and get some attention. So now there's bodies lying on the ground, surrounded by guards asking who did it, right next to the damn pickpocket target. I guess I'll go do another mission.