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therachelperspective · 3 years

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VIDEO GAME | Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag [Nintendo Switch]

Other things to call this post –

• “Things Rachel finds eons after it actually comes out” (in regards to the Assassin's Creed series)

• “Things Rachel starts in the middle of the series instead of the beginning,” and/or...

• “Things inspired by something else that made me abandon that other thing entirely.”

Earlier this year, I started playing Immortals: Fenyx Rising and quite enjoyed it. Enough to hastily head over to the internet to search for similar styled games to add to my wishlist. Assassin’s Creed was included on multiple lists especially with the recent release of its newest iteration, Valhalla. But reading more about the series as a whole, I quickly became intrigued by its many versions. Shortly thereafter, thanks to one of my local GameStop stores closing (and my deep love for discounts), I happened upon a copy of the “Rebel Collection” – which includes Black Flag and Rogue, plus their respective DLC – for a decent price and quickly snatched it up. Little did I know the obsession that was about to begin. Fenyx Rising who?

After 120 hours of game play as I completed the main story and the side quests (I’m a very annoying completionist), I have discovered that I find great satisfaction in sneaking up on and shanking people. Knowing full well I wanted to play more of this game while enjoying the different locales and periods of history, I actively sought out and purchased all of the Assassin’s Creed games/applicable collections for the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

TL;DR– this was my first Assassin’s Creed game, but I loved it so much that I obsessively played it for weeks, and now want to play all of them.

It’s a widely known fact I come to find and enjoy things looooongggg after everyone else has had their way with them, so there’s really no surprise here. But I don’t mind because I absolutely hate waiting for new releases of anything anyways (games, books, movies, etc). With that in mind, there is a LOT of discussion out there that Black Flag is not a fan favorite of the series. I enjoy pirates, so I ain’t mad about it as a starting point into the series. Plus, what’s not to enjoy about the sexy blonde-haired, blue-eyed, tattooed pirate Edward Kenway?

What I think really ruined it for gamers was the strange plot twist that revealed itself towards the end of gameplay. Or at least “plot twist” is what I’m going to call it and the reason I’m giving for not 100 percent loving the story. Remember how Indiana Jones was a pretty great series until they added the fourth movie and it felt totally disconnected from the rest because they added aliens? That’s what Black Flag reminds me of – it’s all great and piratey… until you find out what the Templars sought in this particular game and what it can do. The Observatory building design and the device it held felt so jarringly alien that I dare say I felt that same disappointment as I did from Indiana and his crystal skulls. In both, I’m not sure what inspired creators to include an unconnected sci-fi element in an otherwise interesting story. However, I will wait until I have played all (or at least more) of the Assassin’s Creed series before I rank it so low as other game players do.

WHAT I LIKED

✔︎ It tells you exactly what to do! I learned that I really enjoy games like this, with literal steps to achieve the end goal. Like the issue with playing Animal Crossing, for example, is that you have to literally create things for yourself to do, unless there is some sort of event taking place or you’re still trying to complete your museum. But games like Assassin’s Creed or Immortals Fenyx Rising (and so many others I haven’t discovered yet) that have you play through a story and give you objectives and quests to do, that style really works for me. Currently very glad that I have the rest of the series to keep me busy for a while. ✔︎ Assassinations I’m realizing I might like violence a little too much because sniper shots and stealth attacks brought me far too much joy while playing this game.

✔︎ Petting the Animals I know it’s a small feature, but the non-hunting animals in the game – cats, dogs, and even a cow – are pettable. AND, even though I completed it without realizing it was a thing, petting a certain number of animals is an “Abstergo Challenge” objective.

WHAT I DISLIKED

✗ Maneuvering Edward. Don’t get me wrong, I did eventually get the hang of it, but even then there were times where I missed achieving something because he managed to get stuck in a spot (usually hanging from a rooftop) and wouldn’t move despite my using proper technique (aka moving the joy stick around like a crazy person). EDIT: I later learned this has a name – the “Assassin’s Creed Curse.” ✗ I was unable to achieve an objective the same way other players could because of my console (Nintendo Switch vs. Playstation). One of the “to dos” in the game was crafting the Whale Hunter outfit by using the skins of the white whale. Well, as a Switch player, I was not able to access the Community Events that would spawn the white whale, as was available for the Playstation. Instead, I was only able to achieve this by merely purchasing the whale skins – very anticlimactic – and crafting the outfit that way. While glad I was still able to complete the task, I was also kind of bummed about not being able to hunt the whale itself. Just for a moment, I wanted to feel like Captain Ahab lol. ✗ Motion controls, or lack thereof. Either I neglected to turn them on, or they weren’t available for the Switch, but using motion controls for certain tasks would have helped GREATLY. Especially trying to shoot something. It would have saved a lot of time and effort instead of twitching the joycon back and forth trying to aim my gun or my harpoon. Remind me to look into that when I play Freedom Cry (AC4’s DLC featuring Adewale, Edward’s quartermaster on the Jackdaw) or when I start Rogue.

#games #game #video game #assassin's creed #assassin's creed 4 #assassin's creed IV #assassin's creed 4: black flag #assassin's creed IV: black flag #black flag #edward kenway #nintendo switch #playstation

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