Week 3: The End is Nigh!!!!

      Three weeks later, I'm actually coming to the end of Assassin's Creed. I'll save my final thoughts for the next entry, though it will likely be mixed with the first thoughts of the next game I play.

I've come to appreciate AC in a variety of ways. The story within the Animus may be the most hashed out, but it is the story unfolding with Desmond, Lucy, Warren and Abstergo in the real world that is the most compelling. In the thick of an assassination, I found myself wondering when my next out-of-Animus section would be.

Now I know Abstergo is in bed with the Templars, and they're using Desmond to find more Pieces of Eden to improve the world as they see fit.

Which, if I read Lucy's email correctly, involves mind control. Or forced complacency.

I also learned that Lucy is communicating with someone to get her, and presumably Desmond out of that place. I'm assuming it is a modern day Assassin's Order, though I may be wrong. The coded message was a nice touch.

After the first couple of executions, I all but did away with any attempt at perfect stealth with my assassinations. I grew impatient, and frustrated at times, with trying to find the right moment.

I was lucky when I killed William of Montferrat. He was sitting at his table after making an example out of two people, and I happened to reveal myself enough for him to notice, but not so much that he called for help. He actually climbed the ladder to me, and I was able to kill him without alerting anyone.

The same cannot be said for my assassinations of Majd Addin, Jubair al Hakim, and Sibrand.

With Addin, I made the mistake of not paying attention to my surroundings. Instead, I rushed the guards, which only pissed them all off, forcing me into a length fight with a dozen guards. It wasn't until after I had disposed of all of them that I noticed the band of scholars who walk a path up to the platform where Addin was preparing to execute four captives for various reasons

Al Hakim was a pain because of the five other targets the mission assigns along with him.

Damascus is already a dangerous place since apparently EVERYONE draws their sword when someone runs through the streets. I'm sure there was a stealthy way to go about it, but I went with brute force and killed each of the Illuminated and fled when guards reacted and engaged.

Sibrand was easy to approach, I just timed my leap poorly, and killed him in front of his guards rather than when he was firing arrows off of the deck of his ship.

My biggest problem got to be my need to complete the side missions, saving citizens, getting all possible information and view points. It helped, but as the game progresses, guards are on the lookout for suspicious behavior and seemed to go off at the slightest hint of my presence. Informer missions requiring the assassination of five Templars without alerting anyone got to be a nuisance.

If it wasn't guards going off when I climbed a ladder, it was the crazy or drunk people shoving me at inconvenient times. My efforts to remain anonymous led me to have some close calls with the time. Five minutes should be enough to take out five targets, but navigating the streets I hadn't familiarized myself with was difficult.

I blame myself for treating this playthrough like a Band-Aid, wanting to get it over with more than anything else.

My next session should bring my playthrough to a close which begs the question: What do I play next?

Contrary to my earlier intentions to approach my backlog alphabetically, I don't know that I can stomach a second entry in the Assassin's Creed series. I need a change of pace, though I don't know if I want to play something I have beaten before or start on a new title.

I may have to write multiple entries next week. Wrapping up AssCree, introducing the new title and settling in on my playthrough.