• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

I wish Assassin's Creed still had platforming

Chairman Yang

Chairman Yang

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,587
I'm playing Assassin's Creed Origins right now, and while it's an astounding game, I'm very disappointed that the series seems to have entirely jettisoned platforming gameplay. The Tombs are atmospheric but with no actual platforming obstacles; the parkour is now absolutely frictionless and you can pretty much climb anywhere, anytime, with no real need to look for handholds or jump points. There's just nothing there! Hell, even climbing towers in Far Cry 3 had more meat to the experience.

It's especially disappointing because in most other respects, AC has gotten deeper and more interesting. Stealth and combat mechanics are a huge jump from the past, for example, and now there are RPG mechanics complex enough that characters can have different builds.

When it comes to platforming, though, it looks like the Ezio trilogy was the peak, and everything was steeply downhill from there. There, climbing some buildings was actually a mild challenge, and the Assassin's Tombs were downright Prince of Persia-esque. Running across rooftops meant a bit of risk and routes had to sometimes be planned out, especially for races and chase missions.

It sucks, and is a sore spot in the series for me. You'd think in games with 100 hours of content, a few hours of that could be optional platforming challenges with a tiny bit of friction to them.

Anyone else feel similarly?
 
chainlinkspiral

chainlinkspiral

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,605
From Unity on, there has been more of an emphasis for the platforming challenges to be featured in their DLC. I'd expect the same for Odyssey, especially with Atlantis as the partial backdrop.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,156
I have a hard time reconciling that any game without a jump button has any platforming at all
 

Deleted member 864

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,544
I remember that one mission in Brotherhood when you have to the chase the cardinal throughout the church. It was fast, had a fair amount of platforming from what I can remember, and was probably one of my favorite moments and missions from that game.
 
Shelbyville Milhouse

Shelbyville Milhouse

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,408
I was thinking about this recently.
I remember being chased in AC 1 was actually super fun and kinda....well not challenging but interesting.
But since you now can easily slaughter 50 enemies or just outrun them by hoping over a fence this aspect is practically gone.
 
shinobi602

shinobi602

Verified
Oct 24, 2017
8,501
I found the platforming in pre-Origins games to be frustrating and finicky more than challenging. I like the new direction of streamlining out parkour to a more 'go anywhere' level since I really just want to get to my objectives as smoothly as possible. Feels fast and fluid and fun.
 
SunBroDave

SunBroDave

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,310
While I wouldn't mind a separate side activity involving more platforming focused challenges (similar to the tombs in older AC games), like with Breath of the Wild the ability to climb more or less any surface has done wonders for exploration in the latest AC games.
 
Fahdi

Fahdi

Member
Jun 5, 2018
1,390
Did you play the DLC for AC Revelations with Desmond? Yea, no, it's going in the right direction.
 
AxeVince

AxeVince

Member
Oct 26, 2017
580
I would never had considered AC to be a platforming game.
Even climbing buildings was basically finding the good path more than jumping on the right thing.
 
iksenpets

iksenpets

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,541
Dallas, TX
I loved the AC2 platforming missions. They were like a little mini replacement for Prince of Persia. I also feel like a lot of the platforming in actually getting up buildings is gone. Getting up a large building used to require some amount of navigation, but now you just scramble straight up at lightning speed.
 
OP
OP
Chairman Yang

Chairman Yang

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,587
SunBroDave said:
While I wouldn't mind a separate side activity involving more platforming focused challenges (similar to the tombs in older AC games), like with Breath of the Wild the ability to climb more or less any surface has done wonders for exploration in the latest AC games.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Heck, BotW at least has stamina to consider.
 
affeinvasion

affeinvasion

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,964
It's sort of an inevitability with moving away from cityscapes into more open world environments. Assassin's Creed III definitely showed this happening. I think the closest we've gotten since then is the new Tomb Raider series, but I honestly haven't played the second or third game yet to know how that shakes out. I think puzzle climbing is a really interesting take on platforming that I wish still existed in AC, even as a side activity.
 
germuso

germuso

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
675
I'm playing Assassins Creed 2 and it's a bit frustrating with that automatic jump, the botton jump is the same as sprint and sometimes ezio climb when I want to run.

I haven't played the new ones
 
Trigonometrize

Trigonometrize

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,143
The "go anywhere if you just press forward on the stick" design of Origins is probably my least favorite thing, though maybe second to the killing of the secondary objectives, about the direction of the new trilogy. It's such a shame that the worlds in these new games visually are THE most impressive they've ever been by far IMO, but it's hard to be engrossed in them when nothing is an obstacle I have to analyze and find the way up or across and actually have gameplay-based memories of the environments I come across. There are exceptions, but on the whole, I don't remember much of an area when I'm done with it in Origins because of how much getting around it was automated.
affeinvasion said:
It's sort of an inevitability with moving away from cityscapes into more open world environments. Assassin's Creed III definitely showed this happening. I think the closest we've gotten since then is the new Tomb Raider series, but I honestly haven't played the second or third game yet to know how that shakes out. I think puzzle climbing is a really interesting take on platforming that I wish still existed in AC, even as a side activity.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
At least in ACIII I remember the tree branch jumping was something you actually had to look out for and be engaged in at points.
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
It's actually one of my biggest gripes with the latest, Odessey. Traversal is so arbitrary. I could literally hold up on the controller and with the the parkour button held down I'd get to my destination. There's no challenge to it whatsoever and no thought either . A lot of times I'd be on my phone while getting some where.
 
Shalashaska

Shalashaska

Prophet of Regret
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
1,440
The AC games have been pretty much always pretty automatic though haven't they? I may be mis-remembering, but didn't AC1 have the same basic hold X to parkour forward/go up and hold O to go down controls that exist in the current games? They've always been a far cry from something like Prince of Persia.
 
Wamb0wneD

Wamb0wneD

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
18,735
Wouldn't be so salty about it if they still gave us a Prince of Persia game from time to time to make up for it. :/
 
rhandino

rhandino

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,630
The only thing I do miss is the Secret Tombs or Dungeons not being as unique as they were in 2/Broterhood and Revelations.

BUt I am ok with not getting plataform/timed missions.
 
345

345

Member
Oct 30, 2017
7,452
i feel like a lot of this is just odyssey and origins going way back in time to periods where there weren't really built-up cities comparable to like, renaissance-era florence. but yeah i miss it too.
 

Deleted member 135

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,682
Thank goodness Assassin's Creed III Remastered is coming in March with gameplay improvements and bug fixes. It'll be nice to play real classic AC again.

Also don't skip out on Rogue if you haven't played it yet.
 
Son of Sparda

Son of Sparda

"This guy are sick" says The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,734
I wish the AC series had PoP like platforming.

At least for certain levels/challenges.
 
LumpofDeformity

LumpofDeformity

Member
Oct 29, 2018
16
Chairman Yang said:
I'm playing Assassin's Creed Origins right now, and while it's an astounding game, I'm very disappointed that the series seems to have entirely jettisoned platforming gameplay. The Tombs are atmospheric but with no actual platforming obstacles; the parkour is now absolutely frictionless and you can pretty much climb anywhere, anytime, with no real need to look for handholds or jump points. There's just nothing there! Hell, even climbing towers in Far Cry 3 had more meat to the experience.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I dunno if "platforming" is the answer to the problem but AC traversal needs something... The "press-forward to do cool stuff" gimmick just doesn't do it for me anymore. It wouldn't be a problem if there wasn't so much of it in each game... But, at the same time, it's so easy to screw platforming up and alienate ppl. Maybe they could do something riskier and keep easy traversal as an option?

The Origins studio has proven to be adventurous. I'm hoping this is high on their priority list :) If they managed to get closer to how engaging something like Spidey was, the next AC may just be GOTY 2020. Fingers crossed :)
 
Schlomo

Schlomo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,136
Me too. With PoP-style platforming, Odyssey would pretty much be the perfect game for me.
 
spad3

spad3

Member
Oct 30, 2017
7,132
California
The thing about AC is that it had a "freeform platforming" type of build. The older games felt clunky and all the platforming sections felt forced. In Brotherhood, the underground areas felt ripped straight out of Prince of Persia (which makes sense considering this series is built from that franchise) and feel very much out of place in comparison to the rest of the game. It isn't a bad thing, it's just it doesn't fit with the rest of the series. The newer games (AC Unity forward) feel more organic. Their world design has the platforming naturally built into it and feel more "free" per say. Granted the dedicated platforming sections are far and in between, the ones that do exist feel like they're meant to be there.

What I do miss is the challenges inside buildings. Climbing inside a massive cathedral was fantastic. Now we have cliffside caves that don't hold a candle to those missions.
 
TelluricTokoro

TelluricTokoro

Banned
Apr 16, 2018
1,760
Nah. They finally fixed the janky ass parkour system from previous games.

Now I don't have to fight with the controller to get my assassin to grab a simple ledge or enter a window.

Not to mention it's faster now, too. Gone are the laborious days of slow ass climbing animations, and even better, you can leap of faith from anywhere now without dying from fall damage.

Sorry, but Assassin's Creed was a shitty series pre-Origins. Ubisoft knows too. That's why they rebooted it.
 
OP
OP
Chairman Yang

Chairman Yang

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,587
TelluricTokoro said:
Nah. They finally fixed the janky ass parkour system from previous games.

Now I don't have to fight with the controller to get my assassin to grab a simple ledge or enter a window.

Not to mention it's faster now, too. Gone are the laborious days of slow ass climbing animations, and even better, you can leap of faith from anywhere now without dying from fall damage.

Sorry, but Assassin's Creed was a shitty series pre-Origins. Ubisoft knows too. That's why they rebooted it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think it's very possible to have modern AC controls but still have platforming challenges.
 
Lowrys

Lowrys

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,613
London
Shalashaska said:
The AC games have been pretty much always pretty automatic though haven't they? I may be mis-remembering, but didn't AC1 have the same basic hold X to parkour forward/go up and hold O to go down controls that exist in the current games? They've always been a far cry from something like Prince of Persia.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yes. But in the older games, the challenge in the puzzle tombs was working out where to go and what to do. They were great.
 
Yam's

Yam's

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,113
I absolutely don't miss the plateforming however I miss more puzzle oriented tombs. Origin's tombs at least have great atmosphere due to the setting but Odyssey's ones were disappointing once you had cleared 2-3 of them.

As for the parkour itself, free running is way more enjoyable to me.
 
EvilBoris

EvilBoris

Prophet of Truth - HDTVtest
Verified
Oct 29, 2017
16,705
I always liked those bits, they harked back the Assasin Creeds Origins as another Prince of Persia
 

SaiST

Member
Oct 25, 2017
257
Topic reminded me of a video I ran across a short while ago:

https://youtu.be/Por1Ql6Ablk

I do like how you can scale almost anything in Origins/Odyssey, but you gotta admit, parkour in Unity/Syndicate, despite their issues, could look really slick in comparison.
 
Last edited:
ashtaar

ashtaar

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,518
It's funny these were some of my favorite things in those earlier AC games, AC2 and brotherhood the tombs were great.
I love these new AC games and Odyssey is my fav AC game but having the challenge tomb type stuff would be great
 
Cronogear

Cronogear

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,020
Yep. The sections of platforming and parkour from the old games, like the tombs in AC2, were easily my favorite parts. Going to a numbers based RPG and removing any and all platforming is just not interesting to me. Traversal became mindless, no different than walking.
 
Linus815

Linus815

Member
Oct 29, 2017
19,991
I miss parkour puzzles. Having recently replayed AC2 remaster, I totally forgot about those. Some of them were actually quite challenging too.
 
Slime

Slime

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,971
The "platforming" sections kinda represented everything I hate about modern AAA game design. They look cool but they are basically nothing. There's no actual gameplay.
 
Huey

Huey

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,329
Totally - for Prince of Persia, one of this medium's seminal platforming experienes, to gradually evolve into modern AC has been pretty soul-crushing as a platforming fan. Especially when the tombs in AC2 were such amazing experiences.

At the very least, Ubi should give us a different series focused on platforming - hey, I've got an idea, how about Prince of Persia

Linus815 said:
I miss parkour puzzles. Having recently replayed AC2 remaster, I totally forgot about those. Some of them were actually quite challenging too.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Can I ask how it holds up? Open world games have moved foward so fast, I worry it would feel dated
 
Oreiller

Oreiller

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,895
Always thought the platforming in older AC games was too cluncky to be enjoyable so I rather like this new direction.
 
AlphaMale

AlphaMale

Member
Dec 21, 2017
424
Chairman Yang said:
Running across rooftops meant a bit of risk and routes had to sometimes be planned out, especially for races and chase missions. Anyone else feel similarly?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Personally, the chase missions were the single most annoying aspect of the Assassin's Creed games! I'm actually really glad they're gone. lol
Though, I do love the puzzle mechanics in the tombs and collecting flags.
 
TheBeardedOne

TheBeardedOne

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
22,189
Derry
I sometimes miss it, but think that the new Assassin's Creed is better than what came before it. Some of the older games were quite clunky with their platforming, and it was very repetitive as well.

Get spotted by guards, run to rooftops, get chased over rooftops. Repeat 10+ games over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.