The "Colonial" Assassin's Creeds

 

         Hello hello! Since my last post I have finished Assassin’s Creed 3, Tyranny of King Washington, Liberation and am now working on Rogue. I saw online while looking some stuff up that some people don’t really like these “colonial” games but I’ve become quite fond of them. As far as the United States is concerned we’re a very young country and very diverse. We don’t have long, ancient histories and ancestries that tie us to the land like Asia, Africa and Europe. There are the Natives and there are some very cool sites around the country, like Serpent Mound, but we don’t have anything like that of South America or Mexico. So I feel like the time period of these games is some of the only interesting things the United States has to offer, history wise, that doesn't involve us fighting with ourselves. Aside from the Natives we are all immigrants in some way, shape or form so it was a very interesting time in history and at the same time it has never stopped. We still get new immigrants and the cycle starts over like that of a work place. The old guys might not like you much but now they like you a tad more than the new guys. Obviously not great but I think it's getting kind of better, anyways, video game stuff.

            I have played a majority, well, depends what games you’re considering, I’ve played about half of the Assassin’s Creed games and I’ve just always found them interesting. I like the whole, advanced prewritten history past, written history and present aspect of the story even if I don’t fully understand it. Are the precursors from Earth and the Sun destroyed their civilization? Are they from a different planet that suffered destruction that they see happening in our world? Did they make us? It’s probably because of AC that I like Ancient Aliens so much. One of my favorite parts of the series is at the end of Assassin’s Creed 2, I think, where the precursor woman was talking to Desmond through Ezio. That was really cool, and again when Ezio talked aloud to Desmond at the end of Revelations. For all their flaws they are decent games and have an interesting, overarching plot. Even in Unity, that isn’t one of my favorites, has some good lines at the end. “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” sounds like “I can do whatever I want” but it actually means “although everything is permitted we have to know when enough is enough.” We have to make our own lines we won’t cross because the only one who can truly stop us is ourselves. I don’t know if my version makes sense to anyone, I feel often my own phrasing is lacking. I think that’s the difference between being a good person and an evil one, something as simple as knowing when you have enough to let others have an equal share. Once you stop thinking like that and you just take, take, take for yourself, then you’ve crossed the line and I think that’s such an important message in the “colonial” games of Assassin’s Creed as well as America, and the World, as a whole.

            People really love Assassin’s Creed 2 for some reason and I never knew why. I didn’t play it when it first came out, I think I played it when it was remade/remastered on the 360 but it’s been so long I can’t remember anything specific about it but I do know while playing it thinking “what’s the big deal exactly?” So I don’t know why people like Ezio’s trilogy and not the “colonial” games but whatever. I’ve enjoyed all these tie ins and references in the portable games that just aren’t there as much in the main line games. In Rogue you go to the Davenport homestead from 3, you see an older Adewale from 4 (I haven’t played his DLC but I want to now), they reference Aveline, it’s very cool for me. I thought it was really cool when you find out at the end of 4 that Edward is Haytham’s father so in turn, Connor’s grandfather. Probably something I should’ve picked up earlier since they were diving into Desmond’s ancestry still but you know. I was super excited to see Connor in Liberation but thought for sure his first words were going to be “WHERE IS CHARLES LEE???” (I just finished Rogue and they foreshadowed Unity?! How far does the rabbit hole go??)

            Playing through Liberation was a little confusing. I don’t know if it was rushed or if the story was too big that they cut some stuff out or if there were certain things I had to do to get the full story from whoever the hacker guy was. I feel like I was paying close enough attention to the story but there were just parts that were like, “why am I here?” and “how did she know about this?” It was also very streamlined, being a PSP Vita game (Liberation was on the Vita?? Then why does Rogue look so much better? Rogue WASN’T on Vita?? What the hell? Shows how behind I am.) it’s understandable, like there are side quests but you kind of have to go out of your way to find/do them. In the other games I see things all over my minimap while on my way to other things and it’s just like “I’ll just go grab that while I’m here” I didn’t really notice any of that in Liberation.

            I’ve seen articles just the other day saying there are now rumors that Ubisoft is going to remake Black Flag. Go ahead, remake the game when I’m halfway through it so I have to restart it YET again. Depending on what changes there are I may or may not get it. If they make the interactions between Edward and the crowds he blends with more engaging then maybe I will but if it’s just a pretty version of what we already have I’ll probably pass. I don’t know how well this bodes for Skull & Bones as well. Are they using Black Flag to get people interested in Skull & Bones again? Do they not have faith in Skull & Bones and plan on reusing some of the assets for Black Flag? Is it just an easy thing to do take assets from Skull & Bones so they might as well? Could be the last one, I don’t know, we’ll see what happens I guess.

            Overall I’d say I prefer the older games then the newer ones. I’ve played Origins and only a bit of Odyssey at this point but I just understand the older ones better, I’m still getting used to the new ones and bebopping back and forth from Liberations and Rogue to Odyssey doesn’t help. But when I look at the games I play the most it’s apparent that I’m just an Ubisoft slave despite my gripes with them/the games. I really enjoyed the older Tom Clancy games and a few of the newer ones to an extent and I really enjoy the Assassin Creed games, more or less. I’m like their perfect customer, they keep me just interested enough to get me to think “damn, the next one is going to be GOOD” and pull the same shenanigans. I’ve not played Watch_Dogs though, I was interested in the last one but haven’t gotten it, I know there’s some references to Assassin’s Creed in there but I think it’s suppose to be more like The Division referencing other Tom Clancy games. Red Steel 2, Red Steel 2 is a Ubisoft game, oddly enough, that I really like. So what do you think? Do you know who the precursors are or where they came from? Can you explain to me why people love Ezio so much? What are your feelings on the “colonial” saga? And how do you feel about a Black Flag remake? Let me know below and I’ll be back when the inspiration strikes me, bye bye!

                @AztecSauce