Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

[Bertie]

I've been enjoying the pirating at sea stuff, but it does get a little repetitive. So I jumped into a sequence (4) and it's strawberry floating tedious. Its a exercise in trial and error at times, and the AI can't see his mate getting stabbed from 5 feet away.

Combat is also rather clunky. Hasn't moved on since 2 really, and we've seen from batman games how much better that sort of combat can be done. I'm not sure I can be bothered to finish this.

[Tragic Magic]

Started this yesterday on PC. Seems like it'll be a great AC game but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for it right now. I think I've had enough of collecting stuff in open worlds for the time being. Think I need something more focused before open world fatigue sets in.

All the Abstergo stuff is strawberry floating gooseberry fool though. I feel embarrassed that Ubi actually think they're being clever.

[Bertie]

Started this yesterday on PC. Seems like it'll be a great AC game but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for it right now. I think I've had enough of collecting stuff in open worlds for the time being. Think I need something more focused before open world fatigue sets in.

All the Abstergo stuff is strawberry floating gooseberry fool though. I feel embarrassed that Ubi actually think they're being clever.

I'm beginning to get rather bored of this. I'm on sequence 6, with about 40% sync. It's rather repetitive. I don't really like to have 2 games on the go, I like to concentrate.... But I may need a break.

[Fatal Exception]

Hmmmmmm.... my ship is weak as hell. Going to have to do some muggings but the sea always seems too busy for piracy. That and the huge amounts of no go areas

[Photek]

Hmmmmmm.... my ship is weak as hell. Going to have to do some muggings but the sea always seems too busy for piracy. That and the huge amounts of no go areas

??? Just take out smaller boats in no go areas, don't take on big shops just ones level 20 or so..

[Zellery]

Hmmmmmm.... my ship is weak as hell. Going to have to do some muggings but the sea always seems too busy for piracy. That and the huge amounts of no go areas

??? Just take out smaller boats in no go areas, don't take on big shops just ones level 20 or so..

Exactly. Tesco and Marks and Spencer are way too strong.

[Mafro]

[Fatal Exception]

Hmmmmmm.... my ship is weak as hell. Going to have to do some muggings but the sea always seems too busy for piracy. That and the huge amounts of no go areas

??? Just take out smaller boats in no go areas, don't take on big shops just ones level 20 or so..

I tried too but there's always a friend to come help and I end up getting rammed by a man'o'war or something I'll find some little bitches to pick on tonight.

[Poser]

Hmmmmmm.... my ship is weak as hell. Going to have to do some muggings but the sea always seems too busy for piracy. That and the huge amounts of no go areas

??? Just take out smaller boats in no go areas, don't take on big shops just ones level 20 or so..

I tried too but there's always a friend to come help and I end up getting rammed by a man'o'war or something I'll find some little bitches to pick on tonight.

I personally quite enjoyed the levelling up. My ship is pretty hardcore now but I'm still only on sequence 4 of the game.

Ah well, gaming marathon lined up on Thursday and Friday this week so I shall be making some serious progress then.

[Venom]

I've played and completed AC IV and really enjoyed the game. The lead character I liked, Edward Kenway is manly and heroic rather then the introvert hunched drip that is his grandson. In fact the whole cast of characters i liked. I've always loved Sid Meier's Pirates and in many ways this game is a progression of that. I'm playing on PS4 and although I never compared it with a last-gen version there are little touches that look next-gen such as when it starts raining and the drops hit the puddles and the high up landscapes views are so crisp. Best of all is the waves, they are spectacular. They look and move so naturally I even had dreams about being at sea after playing this.

The gameplay is polished however the side-missions and the islands they took place on lacked distinction so it all felt a bit samey. the Animus fragments had no story purpose so they were there just to be collected. I love the new elements like ship combat, whaling, deep see diving and the stealth missions in the caverns. I love hiding in the bushes then using the blowpipe with berserk darts and watching guards attack each other! The sea shanties, and the songs by the tavern performers just make it so immersive. But what wasn't piratey enough was the lack of wenching and in-depth trading mechanic. It felt the gameplay was constrained to fit in with the AC template and I don't like the idea that what i'm playing 'isn't real' and just a memory. But Ubisoft know they are on to something and from their customer questionnaire are considering a fully fledged pirate game. Definitely a triumph.

Now those bastard legendary ships. They keep sending me to Davy Jones locker. Anybody defeated them?

[KjGarly]

I've defeated them, even put up a vid or 2 on YouTube.

[Moggy]

I have beaten one of them but have given up on the others.

[KjGarly]

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPo8pU-y9eLJJzMx-yER1yg

Have a gander at the last 2 Assassin's Creed IV vids, they should be the Legendary ships.

[dfox1987]

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPo8pU-y9eLJJzMx-yER1yg

Have a gander at the last 2 Assassin's Creed IV vids, they should be the Legendary ships.

Aye, I've beaten them too....same tactics work for all 4 ships so its not too hard really, el impoluto is the only one I had trouble with, took me about 10 or so tries to do it.

[Tragic Magic]

Just got to Nassau and I'm absolutely loving it now I have a ship Had to force vsync and triple buffering in the Nvidia control panel as the FPS was horrendous when I started playing. Still isn't the best but it's good enough now. It's a beautiful game but I dunno how Ubi are for optimising their PC games so not sure if it's my PC working to the limit or just bad optimisation.

[jawafour]

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Jackdaw Edition is launching at end March on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

The package includes the regular game and the season pass. I guess it had to happen, but to announce this only three months after the game launched seems a bit early. It's a kick in the nuts for those who've recently bought the game on the new consoles as the price hasn't dropped much since the launch.

But, hey, on the bright side it's cool for those that haven't tried the game yet.

[Venom]

I guess it had to happen, but to announce this only three months after the game launched seems a bit early. It's a kick in the nuts for those who've recently bought the game on the new consoles as the price hasn't dropped much since the launch.

But, hey, on the bright side it's cool for those that haven't tried the game yet.

I think with previous editions of AC the collected edition tends to be revealed or leaked at this time. It really is a short gap between launch edition and this, and I would have thought it be better to drop the price to get new buyers but maybe they want the same amount of profit and the extra content helps reinvigorate the slowing sales. I really don't mind.

[Poser]

Huge bump for this as I've just got back into it again.

I didn't realise exactly how much I'd been dicking around and ignoring the plot, but I've basically levelled up as far as I can without doing the diving bell missions and getting the elite plans. I was going round attacking all the forts, and there was one bit of the map I couldn't do. Turns out one of the forts is a really early plot point. It only had two turrets on it

I really want to take down the legendary ships, so I really do need to start making some plot progress sooner rather than later.

It's still a great game - I'd only moved away from it when I got my Vita so that was getting lots of attention.

I still don't think I'm great at the combat against lots of NPCs at once - ie when boarding a ship. I take as many of them out with swivels as I can, then shoot out the barrels. But when I'm tackling a man o' war and there are 20 guys, I always end up very nearly losing my life. If I don't use smoke bombs, then it sometimes gets a bit dicey.

Anybody got any tips for general combat, aside from spamming the smoke bombs?

[Fatal Exception]

Huge bump for this as I've just got back into it again.

I didn't realise exactly how much I'd been dicking around and ignoring the plot, but I've basically levelled up as far as I can without doing the diving bell missions and getting the elite plans. I was going round attacking all the forts, and there was one bit of the map I couldn't do. Turns out one of the forts is a really early plot point. It only had two turrets on it

I really want to take down the legendary ships, so I really do need to start making some plot progress sooner rather than later.

It's still a great game - I'd only moved away from it when I got my Vita so that was getting lots of attention.

I still don't think I'm great at the combat against lots of NPCs at once - ie when boarding a ship. I take as many of them out with swivels as I can, then shoot out the barrels. But when I'm tackling a man o' war and there are 20 guys, I always end up very nearly losing my life. If I don't use smoke bombs, then it sometimes gets a bit dicey.

Anybody got any tips for general combat, aside from spamming the smoke bombs?

Use your gun. And smoke bombs. You need to learn the enemy types too.

Basic ones can be button mashed, others require counters. Others require dodges. I just got all the guns and shot the strawberry float out of everyone.

[Poser]

Erm, 'dodges'?










Edit: in case that wasn't clear - I don't think I've used dodge yet. How might one do that?!