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Discussion Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Single-Player Adventure Game

My personal opinion:

Interesting story, good graphics, nice music.. but incredibly boring gameplay. They should have just made a movie.

Half of the game is waiting for silly 'minigames' to finish or smashing the counter button. AC I was much better gameplay-wise (it was at least a wee-bit challenging).

You're more then welcome to disagree.. it's just my opinion.
 
I think that the mini-games like you call them are indeed less interesting as the mini-games in AC I. I however strongly disagree with the gameplay itself.. I don't use the counter button that often. You don't need to counter bash to defeat them, if you adjust your fighting style a bit you can actually kill them easily.

Some gameplay elements should be adjusted to make it more interesting.
 
Assassins Creed IV : Black Flag (Deluxe Edition)
Version : 1.01+6 DLC and Aveline DLC

I was not really looking forward to this game yet the game video game developer was Ubisoft but seriously this game is stunning, Assassins Creed IV exceed my expectation some of us knows that Ubisoft are good at making games like Splinter Cell, Far Cry and many others. The main character is Edward Kenway, a dreaded pirate and grandfather of Connor Kenway, the main character in Assassins 3. The graphics of the game was excellent just looking at the surroundings. The sound effects was excellent too, the sounds of the guns, explosion etc was great and also I like the sea shanty that they sing in the game like the song Drunken Sailor. The animation of this game is the same as AC3 if I'm not mistaken except for the naval battle and also voice animation is not that good probably only me cause the FPS in my game significantly drop. The voice actor of Edward Kenway was good, he sounds like a pirates and a little bit funny.


Good : The collectibles much easier and enjoyable, The naval combat, yes seriously that's the only thing I enjoyed much in this game I love the battle scene in the sea even doe its like arcade sea battle, Sea Hunting, Diving Bell Mission, Fighting Scene, I also give a credit on the sea storms, Open World, have your crew sing sailor shanty, Graphics, Drama Scene and Experiencing being a pirate.


Bad : Short story, fast travel, can't change ship or sell ship, no ship customization, too many ships in the sea, default crew are pretty useless, treasure chest, unrealistic respawn enemy, fewer ships, ships steering like cars, Wind also not doing his real role, I'm not sure about the diving part though it's kind of weird and last but the least "There's no reason to play this game after you finish the main story and side quest" cause all of the things will be repeatable unless there's a new DLC.


Recommendation : Come on men make it longer story how come we can enjoy the whole game if you can end this ASAP. The default crew was annoying not only they all look a like they are totally useless and just decreasing the FPS of the game how about instead of making a default crew why not something sensible like a known NPC atleast or can customize your crew and also a leveling stats on your crew. How about instead of Fast Travel why not Auto travel to enjoy the surroundings, How about selling the ship and changing the ship your own ship. I wish there's a ship customization cause I would rather ride the schooner than the jackdaw cause that ship has no life. Treasure chest inside the city? really? but anyway I enjoy opening the treasure chest in the game. Sudden respawn of your enemy behind of your screen especially at naval battle should be fix. I wonder how rich this people are cause I destroyed a lot of ships in a single day but this ships are keep on respawning. The sailing part is a pure arcade mode believe me, this one should be fix or atleast reconfig cause I don't believe that those seaman or sailor are getting paid that high if those ships are easily be controlled. Somethings wrong with the diving part I just can't pinpoint on that thing. How about if being able to go deep in the under water without using diving bell if you can't make a bigger map. Make this game atleast more enjoyable to play after you're done finishing all of the quest like put some mods or other stuff to enjoy playing much longer.

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Summary : For me this is the best Assassins Creed that I've ever played cause they manage to fill interesting content inside the game not only that they improve much better than it was before. I thank god and the Ubisoft for keeping their quality high and not dropping a single bit. The world map looks fine for me not big and not short but if they are gonna make it bigger, well goodluck with my time collecting those collectibles again. I understand why Ubisoft not focus on making this realistic cause most of the gamers nowadays are young they made this game easy to play other wise those young people will get madly insane. The good thing about this game is that not only you've enjoy playing this game but to learn something.

Rating : 9.0/10 - Due to enjoyment

Whisper me if you want to know why I wasn't been able to get the remaining 5% cause I'm not allowed to tell that in public. If there's wrong with my grammar please help me to correct, Thanks !
 
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Hello, I didn't notice an introduction thread so this topic seemed to be the best place to say hi since this game is the one that led me here. I just finished the main campaign and I loved it, I can't speak to the historical accuracy of the ships of the time but it was definitely a fun playthrough. I felt the naval combat lacked something to its depth though, so a bit of digging through moddb eventually led me to this forum. I poked around a bit and from what i've seen this indie title you're developing seems to be exactly what i was searching for. Anyway looking forward to seeing what comes out of it.

As for Assassin's Creed Black Flag, I really enjoyed the naval combat for the most part especially in the earlier game, before the jackdaw has been upgraded too much. The game mechanics are very smooth and the seamless transitions between land and sea and sea combat and boarding actions are fantastic. To be able to take command of a deck gun blow up there powder magazine, before climbing into the rigging, swinging across the open water, landing and killing two enemies with your dual wielded cutlasses and then clearing the quarterdeck with your four pistols. The gameplay videos really don't do justice to the power of the feeling. Or to be working on some assassin contract only to have your quarry catch sight of you and flee to his ship and cast off. Climbing aboard your jackdaw grabbing the helm and steering her out into the eye of a storm after your prize. Battling the rogue waves and keeping a weather eye out for the waterspouts that inevitably appear all while trying to spot your enemy through the spyglass in the gathering gloom and storm tossed waves. Listening to the crew singing sea shanties until you catch up and be replaced by the roar and thunder of the cannon and mortar shot. The smoke so thick on deck that you can't see until they're right on top of you. It was the moments like that that made me side track entirely at times from the main quest progression. It was powerful stuff, especially with near total lack of loading screens. The sea shanties in particular were a stroke of brilliance that is so simple yet effective. I almost went completely without fast travel in the game and those shanties were probably the number 1 reason why.

Now for the criticism, I actually wished there was a way to downgrade the jackdaw because by the end game naval combat was almost a joke. Unless you are going for one of the legendary ships or wading in against multiple men of war and frigates you ship is massively OP. And even then I was asking myself what right my brig had going up against a squad of first rates, it definitely broke my immersion at times. I also didn't like the unrealistic crew sizes and the sheer number of ships on the ocean especially in some of the more unlikely locations. The AI was also designed with this crowding in mind and is equally stupid/broken. Enemy ship apart from pirate hunters will not attack you unless first fired upon or in a restricted area. This means that you, proudly waving your black skull flag can proceed to demolish an english frigate while his five man of war buddies just sail right past you provided you don't accidentally engage them. i similarly found it hard to swallow that your brig was taking on forts in the area. I've seen the size cannon that are installed in those old forts and it definitely strained my suspension of disbelief

The economy of rum, sugar, wood, metal, and cloth also seemed pretty dumbed down though my only other pirate experience is from sid meiers. It was still an improvement over the other AC games though where the economy is simply broken. I also wish that wind direction and speed had played some role, it would have added an additional tactical layer of how to approach any given engagement. However, I can also see their point in doing so, in sid meiers it was one of the most irritating parts to me. Namely you would easily sail across the Caribbean in search of some pirate or other only to arrive and find he had gone past you without realizing it and having to fight the prevailing winds and tack your way back. It could slow gameplay to a crawl, which given the nature of the AC games is something to avoid.

Anyway there is lots more that I could add but it doesn't see particularly relevant given the nature of the site. Final score: 9.5/10 Can't wait to see where you guys go with hearts of oak, I'll be watching with interest.

Oh and whaling ingame is awesome, though i felt a bit guilty each time :(
 
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My personal opinion:

Interesting story, good graphics, nice music.. but incredibly boring gameplay. They should have just made a movie.

Half of the game is waiting for silly 'minigames' to finish or smashing the counter button. AC I was much better gameplay-wise (it was at least a wee-bit challenging).

You're more then welcome to disagree.. it's just my opinion.

Assasins Creed 2 was the best one ever. they slowly declined until this one to me.
 
ive never played the AC series till now, didnt much care for it. mainly stuck games like AoPCT/CoAS, but got an xbox just for AC-IV cuz i figured the keyboard would be difficult to use than a control pad. long story short the game is good but lacks ALOT of things.
 
Assassins Creed IV : Black Flag (Deluxe Edition)
Version : 1.01+6 DLC and Aveline DLC

I was not really looking forward to this game yet the game video game developer was Ubisoft but seriously this game is stunning, Assassins Creed IV exceed my expectation some of us knows that Ubisoft are good at making games like Splinter Cell, Far Cry and many others. The main character is Edward Kenway, a dreaded pirate and grandfather of Connor Kenway, the main character in Assassins 3. The graphics of the game was excellent just looking at the surroundings. The sound effects was excellent too, the sounds of the guns, explosion etc was great and also I like the sea shanty that they sing in the game like the song Drunken Sailor. The animation of this game is the same as AC3 if I'm not mistaken except for the naval battle and also voice animation is not that good probably only me cause the FPS in my game significantly drop. The voice actor of Edward Kenway was good, he sounds like a pirates and a little bit funny.


Good : The collectibles much easier and enjoyable, The naval combat, yes seriously that's the only thing I enjoyed much in this game I love the battle scene in the sea even doe its like arcade sea battle, Sea Hunting, Diving Bell Mission, Fighting Scene, I also give a credit on the sea storms, Open World, have your crew sing sailor shanty, Graphics, Drama Scene and Experiencing being a pirate.


Bad : Short story, fast travel, can't change ship or sell ship, no ship customization, too many ships in the sea, default crew are pretty useless, treasure chest, unrealistic respawn enemy, fewer ships, ships steering like cars, Wind also not doing his real role, I'm not sure about the diving part though it's kind of weird and last but the least "There's no reason to play this game after you finish the main story and side quest" cause all of the things will be repeatable unless there's a new DLC.


Recommendation : Come on men make it longer story how come we can enjoy the whole game if you can end this ASAP. The default crew was annoying not only they all look a like they are totally useless and just decreasing the FPS of the game how about instead of making a default crew why not something sensible like a known NPC atleast or can customize your crew and also a leveling stats on your crew. How about instead of Fast Travel why not Auto travel to enjoy the surroundings, How about selling the ship and changing the ship your own ship. I wish there's a ship customization cause I would rather ride the schooner than the jackdaw cause that ship has no life. Treasure chest inside the city? really? but anyway I enjoy opening the treasure chest in the game. Sudden respawn of your enemy behind of your screen especially at naval battle should be fix. I wonder how rich this people are cause I destroyed a lot of ships in a single day but this ships are keep on respawning. The sailing part is a pure arcade mode believe me, this one should be fix or atleast reconfig cause I don't believe that those seaman or sailor are getting paid that high if those ships are easily be controlled. Somethings wrong with the diving part I just can't pinpoint on that thing. How about if being able to go deep in the under water without using diving bell if you can't make a bigger map. Make this game atleast more enjoyable to play after you're done finishing all of the quest like put some mods or other stuff to enjoy playing much longer.

1214q40.jpg


Summary : For me this is the best Assassins Creed that I've ever played cause they manage to fill interesting content inside the game not only that they improve much better than it was before. I thank god and the Ubisoft for keeping their quality high and not dropping a single bit. The world map looks fine for me not big and not short but if they are gonna make it bigger, well goodluck with my time collecting those collectibles again. I understand why Ubisoft not focus on making this realistic cause most of the gamers nowadays are young they made this game easy to play other wise those young people will get madly insane. The good thing about this game is that not only you've enjoy playing this game but to learn something.

Rating : 9.0/10 - Due to enjoyment

Whisper me if you want to know why I wasn't been able to get the remaining 5% cause I'm not allowed to tell that in public. If there's wrong with my grammar please help me to correct, Thanks !


99%???..... :bow
 
I'm not even done with the game but I'm still loving it. Only gripe I have so far is even though I pre-ordered it from GameStop I should have the Black Island DLC but for some reason I don't :\ so I'm just contacting Ubisoft (maybe they'll re direct me to GameStop who knows) but I hope they fix that issue. Otherwise there was no point in pre ordering it and I could've just waited until release, paid $4 more and get ALL the extra dlc packs promsied during pre orders >.>

Anyways ---the game itself---

Traversing the seas itself has got to be the best part. Pillaging and plundering, sound effects, graphics, I actually like the mechanics. Simple is best for these types of games. But I agree with above posters that the game is too short (yeah I haven't finish it but I watch the 100% completion playthrough) and I wish there was a more personal feel to it. Being able to switch ships, rename, maybe new hull paints too :p The armor upgrades kinda make the Jackdaw a little bit more awesome but the game upgrades didn't give us more personalization. Such as if Edward can name a ship he took, why can't we name the other ships we capture? And the "fleet" screen... the battles are lame (to lower the 'danger' level of the routes) and think it would be awesome if like you sent a ship to trade goods for a collectable, to have a mission suddenly pop up "Defend your fleet!" And you gotta sail to the locatin to defend them so they can complete their mission.

Also having a larger map would also be badass (yes I understand the game is already 20-25GB but Pirates of the Burning Sea (a free MMO) covers the entire gulf (much as you'd see in Sid Meier's Pirates! or Port Royale 3 games.
 
I have finally tried Assassin's Creed IV. It is not a naval simulator, but ... it's beautifull. Fckng everywhere you go and whatever you do is beautifull.

I have to say that, even these who expected a purely naval game, may like it. It is not that unrealisticall, and one can always sail at half sails if he thinks it's too fast.

Just that you can sail only one ship, the brig Jackdaw.
I am not that far ingame, but it is enjoyable. The story starts (after coming from that intro island) with a lot of time spending in Havana. And I was annoyed a bit cause I was eager about the naval part. But, the story and missions are good. Havana looks like resurrected in time. There are constantly tips what buttons to use so it's easy to go even if you forgot the tutorial. That has to be present in every game, probably with an option to turn off if you are too advanced in game level.

The way that pistols, muskets and other weapons are used, it's very good, especially pistols are quite enjoyable. The land combat is perfect.

This game has to rated along with Sea Dogs 1 and the modded Pirates of the Carribean as most time and pirate genre immersive.

Will post some screens for these who wonder whether to try it, what to expect:

AC4BFSP 2014-01-17 19-48-49-50.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-17 16-37-04-23.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-16 21-16-09-85.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-16 18-55-00-88.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-16 18-44-58-16.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-16 18-35-50-36.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-16 18-17-50-90.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-16 16-27-58-94.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-16 15-42-12-07.jpg AC4BFSP 2014-01-16 16-03-05-78.jpg


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You'll have a lot of money after some time.

I am getting further into the game. Must say however the land part is kind of overriding the naval part. At 10% game progression most missions so far have been land ones. In naval, when you attack ships, all goes too quick, sometimes you sink a small ship with just one salvo. Reloading is quick, ships move too quick, you have to aim quick or the target is lost. You have just two-three salvoes available in generall to either win or be sunk. That has quite disappointed me after my previous post. The object of naval fight is actually land one - to go on the deck of the enemy ship and there you fight the same land style as you do on land ... and longer than you fought the ship untill you got to the boarding...
All in all the game is good, but mostly in its land part. Hope the naval will be better when I get to diving and harpooning. Otherwise it's nowhere close to PotC. It needs a huge expansion to make every ship driveable, add more models, and slow down the pace ten times. Allthough the land fights are perfect.

And one remark to the developers - you can't use an axe you are equipped with to fight a crocodile, you are suppossed to (given buttons/options) to fight him only barehanded ....It is similar I think in AC 3. When a bear approaches you, you can't use a tomahawk, again you receive some buttons on screen to push the bear barehanded ...All weapons have to go to 1-9 buttons, not chosen with many clicks as now, which is difficult when one is in a hurry.
 
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You'll have a lot of money after some time.

I am getting further into the game. Must say however the land part is kind of overriding the naval part. At 10% game progression most missions so far have been land ones. In naval, when you attack ships, all goes too quick, sometimes you sink a small ship with just one salvo. Reloading is quick, ships move too quick, you have to aim quick or the target is lost. You have just two-three salvoes available in generall to either win or be sunk. That has quite disappointed me after my previous post. The object of naval fight is actually land one - to go on the deck of the enemy ship and there you fight the same land style as you do on land ... and longer than you fought the ship untill you got to the boarding...
All in all the game is good, but mostly in its land part. Hope the naval will be better when I get to diving and harpooning. Otherwise it's nowhere close to PotC. It needs a huge expansion to make every ship driveable, add more models, and slow down the pace ten times. Allthough the land fights are perfect.

And one remark to the developers - you can't use an axe you are equipped with to fight a crocodile, you are suppossed to (given buttons/options) to fight him only barehanded ....It is similar I think in AC 3. When a bear approaches you, you can't use a tomahawk, again you receive some buttons on screen to push the bear barehanded ...All weapons have to go to 1-9 buttons, not chosen with many clicks as now, which is difficult when one is in a hurry.

I really hope they're going to make a game with really good naval warfare. They were trying to poll interest in a pirate game without the AC bullshit.

Here's the link: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...interest-in-a-non-assassins-creed-pirate-game

A man can dream...
 
They didn't say what the answers were, strange survey. Just what was asked. That journalist has to be fired.
 
I have been trying to play this game for the last three months , In that time, I have had to start a new game at least four times because of freeze-ups, ACbf4.exe crashes, and permanent freezes with killing Marqueza mission. I have lowered graphic options, as well as any related options that might help. No luck! When I try multi-player, it give optimal rating for my internet connection, and plays well. I have reached total synchronization of 50 percent, and 80's for collectibles and side missions. The Kidde mission in Tulum has frozen too. I have playing the single game almost solely in the online mode. Does anyone else have a problem with UBI servers on the single game online mode?

As for the game so far, I like most things except for the mini-games which are pests, the treasure maps are irritating, and the amount of play on land! Any suggestions would be helpful!

Pirate Mick, the gimpy Pirate!
 
I watched a youtube vid for 5 mins. Couldn't stand the motorboat action with ships turning on a dime in half a second, hehe...
 
You can even sail upwind and it goes fast, lol. I mentioned this to someone on steamforum and got a landslide of haters after me, hi hi. Seriously, the sea and graphics are really good and i get a chill down my spine thinking what if ubisoft made a game based on potc new horizon with all the realism, aaarghhh. But thats where these big devs will always fail, its all about money and not the love of a good game. They make it arcadish to target the masses wich are the casual players, at least thats my assesment of it.
 
You can even sail upwind and it goes fast, lol. I mentioned this to someone on steamforum and got a landslide of haters after me, hi hi. Seriously, the sea and graphics are really good and i get a chill down my spine thinking what if ubisoft made a game based on potc new horizon with all the realism, aaarghhh. But thats where these big devs will always fail, its all about money and not the love of a good game. They make it arcadish to target the masses wich are the casual players, at least thats my assesment of it.

Feel exactly the same! Black Flag really 'looks' amazing but everything else is stupid casual stuff and at times even embarrassing... I mean, the open world piracy idea is nice but way too basic and repetitive. If it just was possible to mod sailing mechanics and the open world thing maybe Black Flag could be a way better and interesting game but try to explain that to ubisoft and cohorts...
 
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