The Shrine

A lot of people are saying "surprisingly good". I don't really get that because I'm a huge AC fan. Still, lots of things to think about.

It wraps up Ezio's and Altair's stories very nicely. It took two characters that I hated (because it introduced us to them as young, cocky punks) and shows them evolve over the span of their lives. By the end of it, I didn't want to see either of them go.

Sidebar, I lost a very good friend recently. At the end of the game, it showed me the end of these two characters that I have gotten to know over the past 4 years. Maybe it's because I still haven't completely recovered from my friend, but I felt a real sense of loss. I took a step back and saw life for the short, fragile thing that it is.

Other than all that stupid, deep stuff, I really disliked the way Subject 16 was handled. They've been building him up since the first game, and then he just waltzes in like it's no big deal and is brushed under the rug after like two or three tiny conversations with him. More interaction with him throughout the course of the game may possibly have resolved this, but you really just don't care about him like you should.

Lucy's death was handled in the only way it really could have been, considering Desmond went into a coma. You occasionally hear your cohorts talking to each other in the outside world, and they discuss her funeral and how sad the situation is. I kind of liked this.

It's good to finally find out who "William M." is from all of the e-mails in the previous games. Still wondering who "Erudito" is. The ending is the same batshit WTF stuff you come to expect from an AC game. No disappointment in that department.

Can't wait for AC3.

Looking for an opinion:

Will I need to play the games between AC2 and AC3 to understand AC3? If I don't play Brotherhood and Revelations, will I be completely lost?

I'm sorry, I just instantly rebelled agains the IP after AC2 when I found out there were filler games between it and AC3. I'm not going to buy 5-6 games in a series (in ~4 years time), too much of my time invested in a single IP where there are plenty of other games to play.

Brotherhood and Revelations are necessary to understand the overarching story, yes. They really aren't "filler" games, either. They are beefy games in their own right which could have easily been numbered entries into the series. At this point, they are using the numbered titles as a guideline for introducing new main protagonists.

AC: December 20, 2007 (Altair)
AC2: November 17, 2009 (Ezio)
ACB: November 16, 2010 (Ezio)
ACR: November 15, 2011 (Altair & Ezio)

I've been playing this here and there but I'm not very far into it because of the SW:TOR beta weekend. I find it continually disappointing that they didn't get Altair's original voice actor to voice the character again. Anyone else would already be a disappointment but this young Altair voice actor just sounds like an asshole in comparison.

Considering that that's my main complaint, I'd say I'm liking it so far haha.

Edit: Joining in on the fact that they aren't filler games. At worst, Brotherhood could be called an expansion since there were hardly any improvements and it's largely the same game with a continued story, but it's still just as entertaining in its own right.

I highly recommend 2 and Brotherhood. One takes place in Florence during the reign of Lorenzo de Medici. The other takes place during the Borgia reign in Rome.

This is the birth of the Modern era, and one of the most interesting time periods in history. They did a fantastic job with these games.

Brotherhood is a good reminder about what is fun in AC2, but its story, upon its conclusion, feels very inconsequential. Also, the game is SUPER easy.... which can be a nice or annoying change of pace. Because of AssBro, I think I will skip AssRev.

Brotherhood also has the weakest mission in the entire series (unless Revelations tops it somewhere), where you are sent to a place to kill a dude and in order to get him to come out into the open you have to kill, like, a dozen other fucking dudes. It takes forever and it isn't fun. Otherwise, I have good memories of it. If you like Ezio and Desmond it's still a must for the story.

Brotherhood and Revelations may as well have been AC 3 and AC 4, they're direct continuations of the storylines of the games before them and are full-sized games in every way (in fact, each has more content than the one before it). Can you follow AC3 without them? Probably. But it'll mean a fuck-lot more if you played them. They're the same quality as #2 with more to do and are both under $20, they're welll worth playin' IMO

Okay, so I played through the upcoming DLC, "The Lost Archive". Let me begin by saying HOLY SHIT. Some of the reveals in this DLC make Revelations an unskippable part of the series if you want to understand what's going on in AC3 this October. I'm going to sum it up for those that don't plan on buying it. Do not continue reading if you do not want to be spoiled. This takes place from the point of view of Subject 16, and it is unknown if Desmond learns any of this information.
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Clay (Subject 16) grew up as an engineer, highly intelligent with computers and electronics, with parents that did not know how to properly express their love for him. This resulted in him becoming depressed and taking therapy sessions in which the doctor attempted to take advantage of Clay's lack of self-esteem by squeezing more money out of him. During the course of these sessions, William Miles located Clay and inducted him as an assassin. Clay's doctor noticed a drastic change in Clay's demeanor; he was confident and acted as if he had a purpose. Eventually Clay became suspicious of the doctor's intentions after the doctor wouldn't share his notes, which revealed that he was only trying to milk him out of more money. Clay stole the notes and presumably did not return.

Sometime later, William tasks Clay to sneak into Abstergo to find out more about the Animus and what they are trying to find. Clay discovers that they are searching the assassin's memories, but doesn't know why. Clay escapes and reports his findings to William, who says that they must infiltrate even deeper. William asks Clay to become Subject 16 to learn more information. He tells Clay about Lucy, an assassin who was not raised inside the Order and was kept away from everyone so that she would be an 'unknown' secret. Lucy works for Abstergo and is close to the Animus project. Once Clay has discovered what Abstergo is looking for, Lucy will be able to break them both out.

Clay is voluntarily captured begins working with Warren Vidic and the Animus. He explores the memories of Ezio de Auditore but is unable to find what Abstergo wants. One night after an Animus session, Clay breaks out of his room and overhears Vidic talking about how they want to take an Apple of Eden and amplify it's mind-control abilities through use of a satellite pointed at the Earth to create their 'utopia'.

Finally having found what he volunteered for, he brought the information to Lucy so that they could make their escape. During Abstergo's research on Ezio and Clay, they discovered the link to Desmond whom they though they'd have more success with in finding the Pieces of Eden. In a letter to Clay, Lucy states that she had hoped to have more time with Clay in order to 'bring him to her side' and that William can never know what Clay has discovered. Her true allegiance has been with Abstergo the entire time, due to her ill-will towards the Order for always keeping her away from them. Abstergo was more of a family to her than the Order ever was, and she truly believed that they were trying to help people. Lucy did work to keep Clay safe, but not at the cost of Abstergo. No escape was ever planned, no rescue ever came.

It is also revealed that Vidic and Lucy had accounted for Desmond being unwilling to explore his ancestor's deepest memories for Abstergo, so they devised a plan in which Desmond would become comfortable enough to tell them anything. Vidic planned for Lucy to trick Desmond into thinking she was on the Order's side by allowing him access outside of his room every night so that he could read their e-mails, which were all part of the act. She built a relationship with him throughout this entire process to make it more believable when they were purposefully allowed to escape Abstergo by Vidic. Abstergo realized that in order to find out what they needed from Desmond, they would also have to allow the Order to find it out as well. A similar plan may have been in the works for Clay himself, had he not found out the truth.

Clay is sent back into the Animus for long periods of time and starts experiencing The Bleeding Effect. Minerva speaks to Clay through the Animus and asks him to help Desmond Miles. He replies "I will." With Lucy being a traitor and his usefulness to Abstergo coming to end, he uploads a copy of his DNA and memories as an AI and hides messages in the form of glyphs throughout the Animus. He then kills himself by draining his blood and using it to leave the messages that Desmond sees in AC1.
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So, I say again....HOLY SHIT.