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Avast ye Assassins! Let's Play Assassin's Creed IV Pirates and Assassins? That's what they're going with this time. Following up on the, let's say, mixed reaction to 2012's Assassin's Creed III, Ubisoft decided to spin off the one gameplay mechanic a lot of people liked from III, the naval combat, into a fully-fledged game, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, starring Edward Kenway, grandfather to III's main character, Connor. Well, the gameplay is more of a mix between traditional Assassin's Creed fare and naval combat / exploration, allowing players the freedom to ravage the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy at the helm of their own ship. The title was much more well-received than its immediate predecessor and in particular had a very well-liked main character, seen by most as a considerable improvement over Connor. The overall background of the game's setting itself is we find ourselves in the West Indies at the dawn of the 18th century, the first time the Assassin's Creed series has gone backwards in time (III, of course, being set in the latter half of the 18th century). The British, based in Jamaica, and the Spanish, based in Cuba, compete with the Nassau-based pirates to become masters of the lucrative region. Of course, beneath the surface, the Assassins and Templars continue fighting their war, a war in which Kenway stumbles into. The modern day stuff, a staple of the series, is a little different in tone than the previous five games in the series, but it's something alright. An LP, it is. What can I expect? Well, if you watched my Revelations thread, probably something akin to that thread. I'll 100% the game, including Freedom Cry, the major DLC add-on to this game, as well as Aveline's missions. I may or may not do any multiplayer stuff, given it's basically just Revelation's multiplayer with a fresh coat of paint, but we'll see how I feel. I'll bring in guests to help me get through the videos, and anything interesting that I miss / get incorrect, feel free to point out to me. Spoiler Policy At the time of the recording of the first video (back in September), this game was the newest in the series, and although two new games (Rogue and Unity) have come out since, we're not going to concern ourselves with anything past Black Flag for this thread (especially since I haven't even played Rogue or Unity, and would really rather them not spoiled myself). For the thread, I'm going to declare anything before Black Flag fair game (we even make some relevant end-game spoilers for Assassin's Creed III in the first video), but anything after, is not. Should be fairly simple. Updates: Part I - A Dangerous Game Part II - Templars of the Caribbean Part III - Highs and Lows Part IV - Out to Sea Part V - Every Man a King Part VI - Raise the Black Flag Part VII - A Pirate's Life Part VIII - Sharp as a Musket Ball Part IX - Home on the Water Part X - The Assassins... Part XI - Forsaken Part XII - Business As Usual Part XIII - Traveling Man Part XIV - Hostile Takeover Part XV - The Price of People Part XVI - Men Overboard Part XVII - Edward Kenway Around the World Part XVIII - Blackbeard's Wrath Part XIX - Moonless Night Part XX - Deal With The Devil Part XXI - Breaking the Line Part XXII - Into the Night Part XXIII - Jungle Man Part XXIV - Boarding Parties Part XXV - Mysteries of the West Indies Part XXVI - The Melancholy of Charles Vane Part XXVII - A Friend in Need Part XXVIII - Havana Days Part XXIX - The Most Wanted Man Part XXX - The Ambition of Black Bart Part XXXI - A Snake's End Part XXXII - The Observatory Part XXXIII - Creed Part XXXIV - One Loose End Part XXXV - Edward the Legend Part XXXVI - Captain Kenway's Folly Part XXXVII - Corporate Espionage Part XXXVIII - The Parting Glass EX Update 1 - Freedom Cry EX Update 2 - Aveline Sylphid fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Dec 14, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2015 11:15
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Part I: A Dangerous Game Click picture or link for video No commentary over cutscenes Whereupon our swashbuckling hero finds himself aground in Cuba after an altercation on the high seas and a surprise encounter on land. With the dashing rogue ayn rand hand job.
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Feb 19, 2015 11:17
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I have to say, I've been waiting for someone to LP this game, I loved this game to pieces, and pre-ordered it the day it was announced, The soundtrack is amazing, and I have the Collectors Edition Soundtrack, it is truly amazing and the best thing to listen to on long drives
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Feb 19, 2015 20:10
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I really considered getting this game, but by the third iteration I was done with the general AC gameplay, and - despite much praise the sailing mechanics received - I simply couldn't bring myself to play it. The fact that Ubisoft abandoned the unique gameplay style in their next game (and probably all future games for the foreseeable future) doesn't give me hope.
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Feb 19, 2015 20:44
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I love the fact that the company in this game is basically Ubisoft.
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Feb 19, 2015 23:52
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I've said in another thread that for me, Assassin's Creed is a big offender in the modern video game industry bug-bear of 'sequels, remakes and 'remasterings' that end up just shuffling their feet in place rather than offering anything new. I also noted that Black Flag was probably the best game in the entire series, and I stand by that. This game does a lot of stuff right and is really what I think of when I think of good, proper sequels. It improves on previous design elements, it gives us an interesting plot that is actually somewhat different from other plots (a main character who actually spends a surprising amount of the plot having nothing much at all to do with the Assassin's) and new gameplay elements! Not to mention, this game begins the delightful process of loving putting the future bullshit to the backburner! Black Flag and, somehow, even Unity manage to pull off what I had been wanting: for the future plot poo poo to be either tossed out or, at the very least, put to the side. Plus, Edward Kenway is probably the best Assassin player character yet made by the series, and was leagues better than III's. So yeah, looking forward to this LP.
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Feb 19, 2015 23:57
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One reason I loved Black Flag so much is that I'm a huge history buff, and my favorite period of time in history has always been the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, so there were a lot of familiar names, Stede Bonnet being one of them, there's a cast of characters in this game that made we squeal at some points, and I say that with no shame, I was overjoyed at some of the people that show up in this game, and I look forward to seeing your input on them
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Feb 20, 2015 03:02
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Why is the Capitalization in the Subtitles so loving Weird?
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Feb 20, 2015 04:40
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The edited video has your partner muted.
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Feb 20, 2015 06:08
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JackNapier posted:One reason I loved Black Flag so much is that I'm a huge history buff, and my favorite period of time in history has always been the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean As for many people, it was the historical detail that kept people wanting to play AC games (certainly for me). Even for me, who hasn't played the game, I'm glad Black Flag details Carribbean piracy without the whole thing turning into Captain Pugwash (at least, from what I've seen so far).
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Feb 20, 2015 06:30
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ZenVulgarity posted:Why is the Capitalization in the Subtitles so loving Weird? That's how people wrote then. Washington's Farewell Adress, for example.
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Feb 20, 2015 06:54
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Yagyumi posted:I really considered getting this game, but by the third iteration I was done with the general AC gameplay, and - despite much praise the sailing mechanics received - I simply couldn't bring myself to play it. 5 probably has the best core gameplay but worst mission design of the America's games. You'll see as time goes on, but basically all the missions have the same basic structure of tailing somebody and then killing them.
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Feb 20, 2015 09:03
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Both my favourite game and main character in this series. Kenway is just that drat good at everything.
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Feb 20, 2015 09:09
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You might want to lower the game voice volume, it was kinda hard to make out what you were saying. Did either this game or the last address slavery the same way Liberation did?
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Feb 20, 2015 09:52
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Oh man, this game. I love this game. I'm surprised to see someone jump right into Black Flag, though. I figured we'd have to see an LP of 3, which would probably require someone to go though Brotherhood and Revelations, because of how tightly knit the storyline is. A lot of what's going on in the 'modern' timeline doesn't make much sense without the AC3 context.
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Feb 20, 2015 10:37
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Oh boy, my favorite AC. Granted that's a VERY low bar to reach, but the game went and jumped so high above that bar that it's actually one of my favorite games of all time. Then came along Unity sky diving past that old bar of shame  mauman fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 20, 2015 11:46
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Only one of you is audible in the edited version. Might want to fix that!
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Feb 21, 2015 01:42
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Part II - Templars of the Caribbean Click picture or link for video No commentary over cutscenes Whereupon our avaricious protagonist meets a dashing band of troublemakers up to no good and with ambitious plans. With me a familiar swashbuckler.
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Feb 21, 2015 03:01
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Also, unfortunately the first edited video will have to remain. I accidentally deleted all of the original audio files a while back, so I can't fix it.
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Feb 21, 2015 03:04
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I've been LPing the first game, and it's amazing to see how much the series has progressed across six main games. Whereas the first was more of a proof of concept, an excuse to put players in a fairly detailed historical context and little else, the later games actually felt like real games, with incentives to do more than just watch the story unfold.
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Feb 22, 2015 00:51
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I'll say that Rogue, is amazing, it truly is Black Flag 2.0 and I would have been so glad if that had been the game released instead of Unity, I've heard nothing but bad things about Unity
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Feb 22, 2015 01:22
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Part III: Highs and Lows Click picture or link for video No commentary over cutscenes Whereupon the insatiable Edward Kenway experiences the dangers and opportunities of his impromptu association with the Templars. With me today is a matey indulging in Captain Morgan. Sylphid fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Mar 3, 2015 |
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Mar 3, 2015 17:55
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Oh poo poo you're doing the fourth one too? Hot drat, I actually have a reason to see how the series goes!
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Mar 3, 2015 20:00
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ACIV was an incredible game. Unfortunately I was at the peak of my alcoholism when I was playing it. As appropriate as that might be, I'd sometimes return to my save file and have no clue as to what was going on. While the tooltips are friendly enough to let me continue, it was still disconcerting and after milking the free-roaming for as much fun as I could I put the game down without finishing it. I actually abandoned the series after Brotherhood because I got the sense that the series was in decline. I only got Black Flag after hearing that Desmond Miles died at the end of III. I wish Ubisoft dropped the whole Animus framing device. While there are moments from the Abstergo office in this game that are interesting(especially when you take it as a peek inside game development) ultimately it just distracts from the far more interesting main story.
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Mar 3, 2015 22:59
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Not to give to much away, but they basically drop it for Unity, and it's played MUCH better for Rogue than ACIV.
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Mar 4, 2015 04:19
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Part IV: Out to Sea Click picture or link for video No commentary over cutscenes Whereupon our rogue captain acquires himself a vessel to plunder the West Indies, and makes landfall in the pirate republic. Captain Morgan sails the seas with me again.
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Mar 13, 2015 02:49
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A friend of mine pointed out when he played though the game, that Edward and Adewale have this conversation about properly stowing their powder on their ship, and then throughout the game, you're using your swivel gun to shoot the enemy's exposed powder magazines, but you never have the enemies doing that to you, because of that. I thought it was a neat touch.
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Mar 13, 2015 11:15
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Of course spotify has it! spotify:user:1261362018:playlist:5MCujgPo312EUNSfHz3aKh ally_1986 fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Mar 13, 2015 |
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Mar 13, 2015 12:54
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ally_1986 posted:requesting bonus video of sea songs at some point! That one sounded quite catchy from what I heard. A few of them are pretty good. Most of them just fill the space, though. Is there any reason you're showing all the random running around grabbing collectables? Because it hasn't really gotten any more interesting than it was in Havana, and it's not really going to be any more interesting in the eleven billion other locations in the game.
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Mar 13, 2015 12:56
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A little off-topic, Sylphid, but will you be eventually doing an LP of Atelier Shallie?
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Mar 16, 2015 05:51
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HR12345 posted:A little off-topic, Sylphid, but will you be eventually doing an LP of Atelier Shallie? Of course. I only just got the game, though, so it won't be for a few more months. June at the earliest.
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Mar 16, 2015 15:30
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This thread made me start Black Flag again, and it's just as fun as it was the last time. This is my my favorite AC and one of my favorite games in general, even though the mission design is a bit questionable on occasion. Somewhat related screenshot:  I love AC ragdoll physics.  This game is also really atmospheric at times:
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Mar 16, 2015 21:01
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Part V: Every Man a King Click picture or link for video No commentary over cutscenes Whereupon our vicious captain gathers together a crew of his own and gets ready to fight for the pirate republic. With me a swashbuckling duo of Subponticate Poster and that scurvy dog.
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Mar 18, 2015 03:32
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Neat. I finished up a replay of Black Flag and Freedom Cry myself a few days ago. Will you show off how you can capture other ships by swimming over to them and eliminating all of the crew by yourself?
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Mar 20, 2015 00:14
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Part VI: Raise the Black Flag Click picture or link for video No commentary over cutscenes Whereupon our captain takes to the Jackdaw and takes the first steps toward a life of plunder and piracy. This time I sail the seas with SubponticatePoster and my own helmsman.
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Mar 29, 2015 10:52
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Fire barrels aren't too useless, you just need to use them right. You can sweep in really close to an enemy, rake them with your cannons, then then turn away and throw a pack of fire barrels right into their hull for a huge amount of fast damage if you get a good angle. Mostly though, they're useful to control the AI's behavior. Since the AI will always steer away from them, they can be used to force a ship to turn in a particular direction, which can be really handy when you're punching above your weight class and want to keep from drifting into an enemy's broadsides. Also fun if you have some time to waste: A Schooner requires 5 kills to take over. If you have a lot of extra pirates, try not boarding a ship or using your swivel gun at all, and just waiting and seeing how long it takes your pirates to do it themselves, and how many of them you lose before they do. Spoiler: Your pirates are useless. When you are on the swivel gun, a handy trick I use a lot is to turn on Eagle Vision. This will make the enemies glow bright red, and is really useful when the target deck is obscured by smoke, since the eagle vision will cut right though that and light up your targets really nicely for you.
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Mar 29, 2015 11:50
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Yeah, the Eagle Vision trick is a big help when you're boarding ships and targeting with the Swivel Gun. That's one of the tricks I picked up on really fast my first time through the game. It's especially nice if you're attacking a ship at night, and on my TV, it's a near-necessity to have on sometimes, because the picture on my TV can be really dark sometimes.
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Mar 29, 2015 13:15
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You know, it says a lot about how much stuff this game has in it that in terms of videos that have been put together and are ready to use as soon as I can get around to commentate on them, that I'm already up to 16 videos, and I've got enough material for at least 10 or so more videos that need to be edited. By comparison, Revelations had 21 parts total, and I'm only about 75% of the way through Black Flag as of the last time I played.
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Apr 4, 2015 14:32
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So Black Flag is a better Assassin's game overall than The Adventures of Ezio: Part III is what you're saying?  Cool, I still haven't gone round to playing an Assassin's game since AC3, so I really should give Black Flag a try.
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Apr 4, 2015 17:06
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Yagyumi posted:So Black Flag is a better Assassin's game overall than The Adventures of Ezio: Part III is what you're saying? Black Flag and Rogue are the best games produced since AC2. Rogue is just AC4 with significantly more polish.
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Apr 4, 2015 17:11
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