The gaming world’s view of the Assassin’s Creed franchise seems to have reached a broad consensus of progress, improvement and refinement since the initial game’s inspired arrival. But while many might believe that Assassin’s Creed 2 was what really made the series capitalize on its potential, the creator disagrees.
Patrice Desilets, formerly of Ubisoft, and creative director of the first two Assassin’s Creed titles still thinks the sequel removed large portions of what made the original great. As he sees it, Desmond’s first adventure remains “the purest.”
Considering this broad view of the gameplay that shaped each title, it isn’t hard to see why Desilets parted ways with the Montreal studio in 2010. The creator of the fiction isn’t taking shots at the series’ installments after the original, but does have some interesting ideas about what made Altair’s world special, and why most players missed it.
Speaking with Edge-Online, Desilets noted the ‘purity’ of Assassin Creed‘s open world, allowing players to travel between Middle-Eastern locations at their leisure. The majority of the game was the epitome of a sand-box, when not dealing with Desmond’s twisting storyline (a storyline set to end this fall). it was that open-ended gameplay that Desilets points to as the game’s strength – one which was soon cast aside:
“I like the first Assassin’s Creed because it’s the purest one…There’s a bunch of stories that you can have, but it’s all in your head. You have to create your own adventures. Whereas in Assassin’s Creed II, we created the adventures for you and you’re following them.
“For me, the first one is an amazing toy. The second one is the real game with rules and missions and it’s really precise. But personally I like the poetry of the first one. It’s pure.”
The structure, story and strong characters of Assassin’s Creed 2 did much to eliminate the repetition that most critics pointed to as the original game’s biggest flaw. Wall-climbing, picking pockets and sneaking through crowds is only satisfying for so long, but the compelling dialogue and cinematic delivery that quickly became the focus of the next three games changed all that. Not to mention help convince Hollywood that a feature film version could be spectacular.
Of course, that repetition was largely a result of similar mission design. As Desilets sees it, the elements of the open-world that he found the most ‘poetic’ existed beyond the main thrust of the plot. If you felt that the first game’s story or main quests fell short of the hype, he the mind behind it makes some intriguing points:
“Out in the kingdom, with your horse, there are so many places with little setups with Crusaders where you can tell a story…When you get close to Damascus, there’s a guy on a stage and he has 35 soldiers in front of him. If you kill him, they all chase you. I played that and it became my little story.
“With Assassin’s Creed, our problem was we never actually asked anyone to do it. Most of the players just pass by those setups. But in Assassin’s Creed II, we had a mission for all of them.”
It’s hard to argue without replaying the original game all over again with emergent gameplay in mind. Considering just how close Assassin’s Creed 3 is to arriving, that’s unlikely. There is certainly something to be said for letting the player do the work, generate the tone, and use their imagination. But considering how strong the story of Ezio Auditore eventually got, and the massive success of the AC brand, the company made the right choice.
It’s safe to assume that Desilets is in the minority, given that sales and review scores both pointed to AC2 as the superior product. The emphasis on strong storylines in both the main console experiences and the brand new Vita release have struck a chord with gamers everywhere, not to mention the political debates the developers are keen to spark.
With Assassin’s Creed 3 taking its direction from the more structured and story-driven narratives in the series, Desilets may not get another dose of poetry and purity anytime soon. Then again, the team is approaching its new hero and setting as a brand new property, so anything’s possible.
Assassin’s Creed 3 will be released on October 30, 2012 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
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Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
Source: Edge-Online.
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The problem with the first Assassins Creed game was that as “open world” as it was, there really wasn’t a whole lot to do outside of the main story apart from annoy guards and then run away or kill them. The actual main story quests got really repetitive really fast.
It was a nice enough game, but compared to Assassins Creed 2, it’ll always feel like a proof of concept rather than a “good” game on it’s own.
Agreed… If the original AC had the same number of side missions AC2 had, The game would be incredible. But apart a bit of flag collecting (to which there is no point on the PS3 side) it’s the same thing over and over. But I still l love the game, more than most this previous decade.
and most boring. I actually hate Assassin’s Creed. Yet, Assassin’s Creed 2 is one of my favourite games this generation.
the first game was awesome when I first played it. I loved the story and the open world. But compared to AC2, it was incredible repetitive and short with low replay value.
Many players wouldn’t give AC2 a chance do to the fact at how repetative the 1st game was. Even the workers at Gamestop would critisize on AC2 without playing it just because of how bad AC1 was. When I first saw footage for AC1 I was like; finally a game worth playing. I picked it up and within the first half hour I fell in love with the game. After playing for a while you end up feeling like your doing the same thing over and over again and the game got dull and borring fast. AC2 played like the first one should have in my opinion and I tell everyone to look past AC1 and play AC2. I found AC2 to be 10 times better. I can’t wait for AC3. I think that is going to be my new favorite game of all time.
The one thing that I liked about Assassins Creed more than Assassins Creed 2 was the main character. Ezio, while still a great character quickly became really boring to me after AC2. I just liked Altair better, and his segments in Revelations were my favorite parts of the whole game. But other than that, I agree that AC2 is better than AC1.
I don’t like Ezio’s face. His nose looks weird, and even though he wears a hood, his eyes practically glow in the dark.
yet we still need trophy support for this game; hopefully one day
One thing that made AC1 a better game than AC2 was the fact that it was a more pure stealth game. The fact that if you had 20 guards around you in AC1 could possibly spell death unless you escaped or were great at hidden blade counters. However, in AC2, 20 guards were only minor inconveniences. After all, in AC2, the best offensive weapon (hidden blade) was a good defensive weapon. Unfortunately, as cool as Jason Bourne is, he is not an assassin, because an assassin never lets you even know he’s there. Therefore, by such criteria, Ezio is not an assassin, but merely a warrior with a vengeance, taking stealth out of the equation, and merely an occasional option for those who wish to pursue it.
“It’s hard to argue without replaying the original game all over again with emergent gameplay in mind. Considering just how close Assassin’s Creed 3 is to arriving, that’s unlikely”
Not so. I will be playing AC 1,2,Brotherhood and Revelations in the run up to AC3.
I actually agree with Desilets to some degree: I remember spending a long time playing around with a similar
setup, an enemy encampment outside Acre. The limitations of the main plot could be frustrating, however, and I am reminded that to even access such ‘sandbox’ play after you’d completed the game, you would always have to sit through a lengthy, unskippable conversation between Altair and Al Mualim.
The sequels added so many elements that improved the game that I do consider them a step forward, but I would welcome more of these emergent setups in the open world. Perhaps Assassin’s Creed 3, with its wilderness, hunting and war, will replace some of that element.
The first game was by far the most enjoyable for me I spent hours just messing around, exploring and trying to climb the tallest buildings.
AC2 was good, Brotherhood was okay and I really didn’t want to play Revelations but felt I had to since I completed the first 3 games.
The first AC was weak. I couldn’t even finish it. AC2 was unbelievably great. Brotherhood was just more of the same and I didn’t play Rev. AC3 will be the best in series.
On your next ac game I got a feeling its going to be in the 1600s or early 1800s but
my real question is are you letting people give you names if so I thought of Lazeo while I was playing ac 3 so can you put the name as one of the characters names thx