The Greatness of Assassins Creed Unity

 

"The Creed of the Assassin Brotherhood teaches us that nothing is forbidden to us. Once, I thought that meant we were free to do as we would. To pursue our ideals, no matter the cost. I understand now. Not a grant of permission. The Creed is a warning. Ideals too easily give way to dogma. Dogma becomes fanaticism. No higher power sits in judgment of us. No supreme being watches to punish us for our sins. In the end, only we ourselves can guard against our obsessions. Only we can decide whether the road we walk carries too high a toll. We believe ourselves redeemers, avengers, saviors. We make war on those who oppose us, and they, in turn, make war on us. We dream of leaving our stamp upon the world... even as we give our lives in a conflict that will be recorded in no history book. All that we do, all that we are, begins and ends with ourselves." ~ Arno Dorian

I was a huge fan of Assassin's Creed back in the Ezio days. Not that I didn't like the original; if it wasn't for Altair, the series would have gone nowhere, but there was something about Ezio that everyone fell in love with. His character and watching him grow into one of the greatest assassins—the story itself was phenomenal and taken right out of the history books. So why do I think Assassins Creed Unity excels? It has become one of my favorite AC games and one of the best. 

Being a history buff, AC was always my go-to game, and I loved how they brought history to a new audience, even though some of it was stretching the truth. When they introduced AC Unity and the world surrounding the French Revolution, my excitement level reached a new height, and it was phenomenal in every detail. Sadly, they didn't get a chance to expand or even evolve it further because of a few cheap shots by gaming magazines like IGN and others. 

The French Revolution was a period of uprisings, lies, deceit, and propoganda. Arno was born in 1768 to Charles and Marie Dorian. Marie abandoned the family, leaving Charles to raise his son on his own. After Charles was assassinated, he was adapted by François de la Serre (Templar). Arno was not aware of this or his father's history, so he was simply a boy who fell in love with a girl (Elise), the daughter of Francois, the father figure who raised Arno.

Arno later becomes an Assassin as his father, but he joined to find out who and why Francois was killed in an effort to clear his own name and to rekindle his friendship as he was still in love with Elise. The game itself becomes a murder mystery for Arno; while unknown to him, he was about to walk the shadow line, finding out not only about his birth father but also about Francious and Elise.

The game also contains side missions relevant to that period of time during the class struggles throughout France. It also has co-op for up to 4 players and helix mode, which allows you to play and view genetic memories with the help of Bishop (an unknown identity) and Shaun Hastings, known from previous games. The stealth is fluid and probably the best seen in any of the AC games, as is the combat and movement of Arno as he makes his way through the streets, climbing and entering buildings. The city is rich in characters known from that period of time, and the mission sequences are on point, as is the music for the game.

Assassins Creed Unity did everything right, and if it weren't for a few bugs, it would have been remembered for what it was: truly great. IGN did what they always do: play a game for 5 minutes and destroy it in one. That's why I never trust anything that comes out of their mouth. The most annoying of all was comparing it to Black Flag. AC Black Flag may be a phenomenal game in its own right, but it was a pirate game running under the umbrella of Assassins Creed. It didn't even touch the greatness of Ezio Auditore. 

In their conclusion or verdict, they claimed the character was not strong or interesting enough for THEM (Typical rush-through review) Then there were some control issues that they claimed ruined the game; yes, there was one mission I myself had trouble with, but I soon realized it was more of a player issue, not fully understanding what the game was asking me to do. I played the game on release and didn't see any of the bugs others claimed to have had, maybe because I wasn't playing on a PC. I don't know, but I do know that PC gamers buy games without considering or factoring in their rigs capabilities of running the game the way it is meant to run. 

Then we had people posting bugs in Unity with their caked dusty consoles and wondering why the game doesn't run or having their console trapped in an oven and complaining when the console shuts down but still blaming the game they were playing. I'm not saying that's the main reason for the bugs, but you can rule out a lot of issues simply by looking at some of the pictures being posted. Yes, Unity had bugs like most other games on release day, but let's leave it up to the gamers to decide. No one wants to spend dollars on a game that is unplayable, and there are some that may have been, but Unity was not one of them.

Now a days, most people watch others play demos before they buy a game, like the RadBrad, so they can see how the game runs or looks, or play the demo themselves before making a decision to buy. IGN may be the go-to place for some gamers, but for me, it's an opinionated preference. Ubisoft gave up too quick on Unity, so it never evolved the way it should have, and so they abandoned the franchise as it was and started pushing out games like Odessy, which for me is not an AC game in any shape or form.

Unity was the last AC game that felt like an AC game and even followed the greatness of Ezio, and it was the last of its kind. Mirage was Ubisoft's latest attempt at restoring what was known as an AC game, and it did go back to some roots that made AC great, but for me personally, it was still missing that click of being an assassin. AC Unity will always be remembered as an unfinished game because of IGN and Ubisoft's stone-stepping response to one of their greatest AC games. Unity still holds up today on new generation consoles and is still playable in its current form, but I hope they will one day do a remaster of the game and reintroduce what made it great for younger audiences. So for now lets reminace with this music video from AC Unity.

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Geoff Keightley: Worse Person of The Year Award

 

When we talk about game awards and how they like to get people excited for upcoming games and trailers, Geoff Kneightly is always there, pushing his little agenda while standing on his soap box of lies and deceit. It's no secret that I simply do not like the guy, as he always seems so disingenuous and everything is more about him than any games or developers.

Recently, there have been a mass of layoffs in the gaming industry, which does not surprise me, and with AI, it's only going to get worse. We have a bunch of rich people trying to make quick cash by investing and controlling the gaming world, and the new generation of gamers is giving them a free pass to do it.

Microsoft being allowed to purchase activation blizzards was the start of the domino effect, and Geoff Kneightley is in the middle of clearing a path after having made himself the spokesperson for the gaming world. This was his opportunity to help manipulate gamers with his car sales speech, when in reality he is nothing more than a guy who is on a quick-rich mission and will do everyone's bidding to stay on top.

He doesn't care about gamers or developers, and his recent tweet proves that once again. Not once has he even mentioned the mass layoff, but he is quick to mention Game Scent with a direct link to their page. Not only was this bad timing, but it also shows no respect or care for what is actually happening to thousands of developers or their future. This is coming from the unofficial spokesperson, who has little or no decency but claims he cares so much about games and gamers. 

Rightly so, he was inundated with comments about his timing, lack of care, or consideration for what was happening to developers. So he posted a tweet about it, and then, on the same breath, he talks about the Summer Game Fest 2024. This guy has no moral compass or any kind of human decency; he is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard who pretends to care while tweeting to protect his brand as everyone else goes up in flames.

 

Honestly, I love games, but I'll be damned if I use his outlet to get my gaming news or any updates, and as for his game awards or game fest, he can put it where the sun doesn't shine.

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Final Fantasy Rebirth - Copyright Claims

 

theRadBrad, a popular YouTuber who has over 13 million followers and has always maintained good standing on both YouTube and with his followers, has recently received three copyright strikes. He posted a video about the strikes to explain why he removed Final Fantasy Rebirth walk-through videos from his channel. He apologized to his followers that he was no longer willing to stream the game for fear of losing his channel and even posted the permission slip he received from Square Enix.

Fightin Cowboy another YouTuber, has been more aggressive, saying they are likely fraudulent and that these companies do not have a claim to the music in these videos, and unless the claim comes from Square Enix, they should ignore the copyright notices. Personally I agree with theRadBrad its not worth the risk. 

This has nothing to do with Square Enix and more to do with Reproduction Rights Agency's. The following agencies have raised copyright claims on Final Fantasy Rebirth videos: 

CMBRA, ASCAP, BUMA CS, Polaris Hub AB, Warner Chappel Music Singapore Pte. Ltd, 

LatinAutoPerf, Warner Chappel Music, Singapore Pte. Ltd, Polaris Hub AB, 

JASRAC, PEDL, and ICE Core.

CMBRA. Warner Chappel Music Singapore Pte. Ltd, BUMA CS, Polaris Hub AB, and VCPMC_CS

This will have a huge impact on anyone wishing to stream the game for others, as it could affect their YouTube standing and ultimately have their YouTube accounts removed. As far as I am aware, the copyright claim was put on YouTube and has not yet affected Twitch streamers. I hope SquareEnix will intervene and look into those copyright claims, meanwhile if you are planning to stream Final Fantasy Rebirth, beware of these copyright claims.

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Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree -DLC

 Today we got our first look at the Elden Ring expansion was created by FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki, who has been cooking behind the scenes to bring the new DLC expansion The Shadow of the Erdtree. After watching the trailer I'm curious to find out if the players who skipped Mogh will need to make that Jump as it looks like this could be the location of the DLC.

Miquella, brother of Melania, was a background character who is now central to the Shadow of Erdtree expansion. He is one of the Empyreans cursed with perpetual youth. He created the Haligtree to allow himself to grow into an adult and purge the rot from his sister Malenia. 

Mohg, Lord of Blood and Mogwyn Palace, is a demigod who specializes in blood magic. He infiltrated Haligtree to steal the Miquella's cocoon, as he wanted to elevate him to godhood and become his consort. However, Miquella had stripped himself of his flesh and, as we now know, traveled to the Land of Shadows, so he was never in the cocoon.

Malenia, the Blade of Miquella and Goddess of Rot, is a two-phase demi god who is the twin of  Miquella and the most powerful of the Empyreans. She was renown for her battle with Radahn during the shattering, in which she unleased the scarlet rot that drove Radahn insane and destroyed Caelid.

Shadow of The Erdtree is due to be released on June 21st and is now available on PlayStation for pre-order. If you haven't already bought the game, then buying both can be less expensive than buying the DLC alone.

If you are interested in Elden Ring Lore checkout some of these videos from @VaatiVidya.

If you haven't yet played Elden Ring and you need somewhere to start here is a great beginners guide published by Platinum Chasers on YouTube. uploaded May 19th 2022.

By clicking on this link you will be taken over to his YouTube Channel.

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White Day - A Labyrinth Named School - Kill Me Now

This game has one of the most annoying Platinum's to aim for, but for some, this may be more of a kill me now than a challenge. They have the most ridicules trophies that make it grindy and annoying, not forgetting the creepy Janitor. You have to play the game multiple times to get the platinum, so if you are a trophy hunter, you will know the first thing is to play and enjoy, then look at the trophy list. To blindly play this game and hope to get platinum with a couple of playthroughs and some challenges, think again. You may need more than a cup of coffee; think about writing your last will and testament. 

If you are not interested in trophies and looking for a story, playing this game on anything other than hard would be a pointless walkthrough as most of the ghosts only show up on hard mode. What really bores me to tears is the lack of thought that goes into the achievements.

Memory of white day is a day the game will never let you forget.

There are multiple endings in the game that you need to get the platinum. The problem is that you must get every ending on every difficulty to obtain the "Memory of White Day" trophy, along with the related trophies. There are five characters in the game, and you have to find all of their endings. There are a total of 10 endings and five difficulty levels to complete, so it can take a total of fifty playthroughs. Not to mention the cryptic story line of having specific items and carefully choosing dialog in the hope of playing a character.

If you are prepared to spend the next 85 years of your life playing one game with a polluted story or spending an extra 10 years reading through walkthroughs, then go for it. Whatever the developers were thinking with this is beyond my comprehension, and anyone who wants to attempt it may actually have a meme named in your honor.

The many routes through hell to get an ending.

The game requires you to do separate playthroughs for each character and not just once, as well as play on each difficulty. You also need the ending trophies for each character, as well as the "Memory of White Day" trophy. Let's not forget that even though they put you through hell to play their game, they want you to repeat that experience by doing it ten times in hell mode.

This really is a trophy hunter's nightmare, as there are too many permutations to simply pull off without a walkthrough. As a trophy hunter, this has to be the worst trophy collection in the last decade, and to boot, they have managed to turn a game into a grinding mass of polluted story-telling with a Janitor who is overly used, annoying, and makes the game almost unplayable. So don't expect a haunting experience walking through dark corridors and rooms, not knowing who is going to pop up next, because you will spend 90% of the time running from a guy with a club. 

The worst part about this game is that the story can be told in one sentence, so you are putting yourself through hell to come up with the same conclusion 50 times. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer Japanese survival horror games that just play and feel differently than their Korean counterparts. So if you really are looking for a game with an actual story, plenty of jump scares, and a haunting experience, then pick up a copy of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. 

Trophy List Rating -1 

Kill Me Now

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