Assassin's Creed combat

First off I'm a huge fan of the Assassin's Creed series; however that said the game is not perfect. The area for improvement(IMHO) is the combat system. Second: I want this to be a discussion by fans about what would improve the game and I request that comments along the lines of "Assassin's Creed sucks and is a stupid game" not be posted and if they are I hope that people will ignore those comments.

The problem as it stands now is that combat is not challenging, and the general difficulty isn't really scale-able. The closest that comes to a difficulty setting is modifying the HUD. So how would one make the game harder while still maintaining its feeling? So far all I've got adding in a system where attack success is a probabilistic outcome. This would mean there is no longer a guarantee of an attacking landing, even if it is a counter kill. With the series now leaning more towards twitch combat also having a system that builds upon a probabilistic system would be adding in recovery moves after a failed attack to avoid being countered and taking damage.

I'm open to other ideas, constructive criticism and comments.

I've enjoyed both Assassin's Creed II and 4 for their immersive historical worlds, but I agree that the core gameplay needs some work.

Personally, I'd rather a much larger focus on stealth. I'd like them to make combat a bad option and only something to get you by in a tight situation. Stealth should be more inviting and more involved. Give the assassin a crouch option, improve the enemy AI, and give your character more tools to sneak around or distract opponents.

As it stands now, if you get caught, you can kill an entire army no problem. It feels wrong and wildly unsatisfying.

@Pikminmaniac: Any ideas on how stealth could be improved? I'm thinking the option to remove weapons to increase ones ability to blend would be a great addition. More missions like the infiltration of the fort in AC3 during the Kenway section would be a nice change of pace, maybe adding in some choice in the execution of the missions?

Probabilistic Outcomes are are an artificial way of increasing difficulty. And more importantly it doesn't even work, it just creates frustration because now whether you're good at attacking or not is no longer up to you. A hidden randomizer will be the reason of your success and failures hence why I stopped playing RPGs (Critical Hits and what not) gambling should stay in Casinos and that creepy friend's uncle's garage. Same goes for changing enemy or PC stats and gimping certain abilities.

The best way of increasing the difficulty is to just add speed and variety. Just like in Batman, and Devil May Cry (reboot) some enemies require a special attacks using different yet simple button presses then add a turbo mode that doubles the game speed.

Another thing they could try is just making smarter enemies but thats just not going to work. Intelligent AI is a bitch to create. But at the very least they should come up with a way to discourage using repetitive exploits, for instance in Devil May Cry they have a ranking system with a multiplyer that goes up when you vary your moves and constantly remain engaged and goes down if you spam the same move or simply break the flow or rythm.

Another way to ramp up the difficulty, courtesy of gamespot's very own Black_Knight (I hope it was him, it was a long time ago and if it wasn't him the true owner is gona be very dissapointed in me, maybe it was Byshop, it was definatelt a B), is just to simply make you as vulnerable as they are. If they can be stunned and staggared then so can you. Or make them as capable as you: if you can sneak, counter, dodge, summon hot ninja babes from inappropriate cartoons then they should be able to do it too.

i'm currently replaying creed2 (i'm not a fan of it the first time through) after loving creed1(yes, it had repetition but that only needed tweaking) and it's focus on, gasp, stealth and assassinations and investigation.

the combat in 1 had a great intuitive feel and though, simplistic, worked well, especially, within the context of the overall game. they should have simply developed that system a bit more to make it more customizable and with more options.

btw, when I play creed 1 and 2 without a hud I can really see that 2 was designed to be played with the hud. so far, it just doesn't work without it.

Yeah Im in the middle of AC 4 at the moment and it is a lot more of the same. I think combat can be fun because you are a bit of a badass, especially when you have all the pistols but its a bit stale and easy. I find myself simply standing in the middle of a bunch of troops waiting to counter attack which seems kind of stupid. Plus it doesnt matter what level up weapon you have because a counter attack is always a kill even with the worst weapons.

For me personally, and this is something I would like to write about, I think they need to ditch the series and just make pirate games/other fun themes. Drop the constant following/eavesdropping missions which are super boring and concentrate on making the combat better. There are certain things that have have to add into each new game because of the title but a fresh IP could be what it needs.

Combat grew stale fast, was alright for the first few games but they literally carried it over for every game bar a few improvements. I didn't like AC4's forced stealth segments either, so I don't know what they have to do to make me play the games again.

I won't be getting the next one that's for sure, only way I'd buy another Assassins Creed game is if they make the setting Ancient Egypt or Ancient Greece.

@ Renouncereality

Well I haven't Assassin's Creed since brotherhood but sometimes a game being simple and repetitive and button doesn't always mean thats all it has to offer.... Maybe the game has more depth but it isn't going to force you to be proactive and use all the other moves that may be available. Kind of like Batman, its also just punching and countering, but more complex moves and variety is there for those who want to push the envelope.

My question is does Assassin's Creed have the option to push the envelope or is it still dull even after mastering all the techniques ?

Also Pirates are cool but when are we gona get some Ninjas up in here ?

They better get on it after Unity !

AC Combat????? What combat you block, you counter there down, onto the next one. each enemy takes it in turn to be killed.

Stealth is non existent, no crouch, no crawl, stealth is basicly where ever long grass is,

AI is probably the dumbest i've ever seen it.

I've never known a game franchise which starts off easy and progressively makes it even easier. the only thing going for it, is setting and location, everything else is really weak, but that's what we have become as gamers, we like nice easy games.

For a game about an Assassin there isn't much Assassination's going about which feel like I have accomplished an Assassination, It's just another kill, it's to easy, there is absolutely no depth to any of it, there is no planning no nothing, and there is no repercussions to your actions which bugs me, I kill 10 men and no one batters an eye lid,

@Lulu_Lulu couldn't agree more, but the thing is I honestly don't think the dev is capabale of capturing a Ninja's most prized gift, sneaking lol, there to acrobatic for AC lol that would mean an extra button lol I mean 2 is the limit for them lol

^True.^

Afterall, Assassin's Creed sucks at Shadow Techniques (whatever that is) and The Entire Stealth Genre is littered with odd design issues like why Can't thugs hear Batman Firing his grapnel gun but Viktor Freeze can hear the much quiter Line Launcher. Totally not cool.

Still, If they give the Ninjas the same dedication the gave Ezio's three game arch they're bound to get something right.

@bezza2011:

I've only played the first 2 games. are you seriously telling me all of those other creed games have no added combat sophistication, innovation or options?

To me combat in AC is very similar to batman except batman has a few gadgets thrown in for a bit of variety but the core mechanics are the same strike strike counter strike strike counter. The combat in batman is also very easy but I don't care it looks cool same as in Asassins creed, and you can be stealthy in AC4 you can drop attack from tree branches, from behind tree trunks and walls, whistle to attract guards, long grass bushes haystacks, you have the blow pipe, you can play stealthy if you choose to, I like to try and get through an area/level without being spotted and just use stealth kills, if you do this it adds to the difficulty.

Don't get me wrong I like good solid combat like in dark souls which has one of the best if not THE best combat Mechanics I've experienced in a game IMO.

I haven't played asassins creed since 1/2 and must say not much has changed when it comes to the combat but the whole pirate thing really appeals to me.

I feel like Arkham combat is actually more difficult with the counter notifications off while on hard mode. Anyway, you can be stealthy in AC4, but it is poorly done

• Instead of adding a real cover system, they force you to stick to the end where you can peer out
• They do not have a system that allows you to hide in the shadows
• The stalking zones are basically a underdeveloped crouching system that is dumb. There are areas where you will stand up when moving from patch to patch do to the lack talk grass in small spaces between stalking zones.
• I would like to see the enemy ai use torches to set stalking zones on fire during the night.

I really dig the AC-universe. But I'd like to see more customizing when it comes to your characters combat. Let me add combos, target specific limbs.

^ Just like Far Cry^

Thats actually pretty creative.

Brotherhood added a mechanic that lets you chain kills together. This makes the combat faster and easier, but doesn't really change the old block and counter fighting. Also, at some point, the series added fat enemies that you can't counter with X. You have to counter them with A instead, which throws them, and then you stab them in the back. That is about as intricate as it gets.

Honestly, the combat really wouldn't be so easy if you didn't have a mile-long health bar and taking a volley of gunshots actually killed you. The game really should implement combos and move sets, though. The combat is incredibly repetitive and boring, and that would still be the case even with better AI and more difficulty.

Exactly my feelings, nothing really has changed, they've added a view animations but it's still a two button combat system, which is easily figured out, I mean in AC4 all you do is press the counter button then press the attack button and then done, move on, even with the guns, counter a guy press counter for the gun and he uses the guy as a sheild and then you move on, it's just to simple and the problem is, that's throughout the game there is no other variation, they added a fat guy like you said, and all you do is press another button and then stab him, the enemies no matter which fleet you run in to or which island you end up on the people are exactly the same but dressed in different colours, it's laziness in my eyes, copy and pasted enemies.

and the stealth people are just saying yea you can be stealthy, yea course you can by using the long grass and bushes or running behind a building or get on the roof, there's no crouch no cover system, so many walls and stuff you could cover behind and yet there not used even tho your an Assassin, I wouldn't mind but they seem to have but the Assassinations as a side activity and you just go along with the story, and the assassinations are to easy, there just boring.

I find the difficulty in AC games to be just fine, but it wouldn't hurt if they made the now difficulty a normal setting and make a hard and/or extreme difficulty.

Assassin's Creed Combat in nutshell :

Block , Counter Attack , Perform Kill streak .

Block , Counter Attack , Perform Kill streak .

Block , Counter Attack , Perform Kill streak .

"Wow , I'm a badass" .

Boring combat with no challenge . It was cool back then but they didn't change one thing in their combat system . Now it feels easy , boring and repetitive .

@Cloud_imperium: sounds like batman AC anyway I've had like a 5yr break from asassins creed or however long ago it was when asaasins creed2 came out so I'm not that bored with the combat. But I realise not a lot has changed.

Except there are 3 Batman Arkham games out there while there are almost 2.5x more Assassin's Creed games . However I do agree that AC games can use a little bit more difficulty and innovation in combat as well , I found combat in Origins so boring and same old . I forced myself to finish that game . If you want to improve your game while keeping the core features of the game , look no further than Witcher .

Just remember to take in to account that not only does the Arkham series have 3 games ( when your just counting the console games), but the latest entry was also made by a different developer. They even said that Origins was just made to hold people over during the wait for Arkham Knight. Also, they at least have a hard mode and new game plus mode that turns off the counter notifications,

@cooolio: Yep :-)

Game desperately needs a combo system(disarm the enemy combo,break the block combo,high damage combo etc) and perfect block for counter attack without the instant kill.Maybe after perfect block a FREAKING COMBO to kill them xD

absolutely love the games! finished them all but my problem is the same as most people, it needs better stealth, although the stealth is pretty good in black flag and the combat which is good but its a little easy, should be more challenging but they seem to be making it easier in my opinion, the stealth in the first game is terrible but the historical events are pretty good, i wish unity was made for the ps3.. hopefully they decide to make it for that considering the ps4 is still very new but not everyone has it yet so hopefully they end up making it for the ps3 too and if they do they should make ti more challenging as the games are not all that hard at all but still great games!

The fact is that there no doubt there so much they could do with the stealth in the game, but they either lack the creativity, are trying to spread it out between games, or just do not see the need to.