How is the open world and side quests?

[jumbo shrimp]

So this is $19.99 on Amazon. I've heard this game is pretty darn good.

However, after playing ACIII I feel pretty exhausted from the series' lack of direction when it comes to the open world and questing. I'd like an honest opinion on these things. Does the world feel more engaging and real? Are there more interesting quests with tangible rewards like outfits and weapons?

Basically I want to know if it's the same old same old.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

AC4 is alot more open (once u have your ship) and u can take your time and still have plenty of fun, not feeling like u have to rush.

IMO AC3 was their worse AC game ever, to date.

[Moban351]

I haven't gotten my ship (spoiler?) but this game is amazing so far. The graphics are amazing, and the controls are awesome. It's a good deal at $19.99 IMO.

[eXistenZ]

AC3 was indeed very linear, AC4 has much more to do in sidemissions. exploring islands and shipwrecks, doing privateer missions, capturing forts,...And offcours sinking and capturing other ships

[Billybob3001]

This game is far cry 3 level open, you can do most of the things in the game without progressing too far. The final upgrades for your ship are locked for some time, but there is a timesaver dlc that helps with that. Beware of save game issues with Uplay, I lost my save once and was pretty much forced to buy time saver DLCs to catch up.

Lots of side quests, unlockables, collectables, challenges..etc. My first playthrough was focused alot on side missions and I spent about 58 hrs doing almost everything (90% sync) , I'm on my second playthrough and have just stopped playing the storys.

All I do now is look for ships and get dat rum.

[blackwind777]

Originally posted by Billybob3001:

...timesaver dlc that helps with that. Beware of save game issues with Uplay, I lost my save once and was pretty much forced to buy time saver DLCs to catch up.

humm, good thing these timesave upgrades, right!?
guess we wil see more of this purchaseable catchup in the future... as long as ppl are willing to support such cashgrab they will follow this strategy.

as to failed gamesaves... i hope that same issue will not appear in the next flagship title of UBIsoft. Watchdogs.
if so... perhaps they offer additional timesaver packs to pay for and be able to play the game.
hello?

[eXistenZ]

I personally find those timesaver pack stupids: you pay to skip content you paid for... But if ubisoft find people to do that, cant blame that :p

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yea don't waste money on Time Saver Packs, they take enjoyment out of the game. Why pay to get something that is already available; just because u have to work at, well that is part of the game.

[Ailes]

The side-activities are somewhat lackluster. There aren't exactly few of them, but they aren't always the most creative ones. One or two felt quite unique, but the rest of them are rather repetitive. There are two outfits you can obtain by doing Templar hunt sidequests and with some collectibles. Generally there are tons of collectibles scattered around the world, and they were reason enough for me to roam about longer than I would have without:

- Chests (containing money and items that I think decorate your "home")
- Animus fragments (for an achievement I believe)
- Letters in bottles (giving insight to an associate of the "boss" Templar I believe)
- Treasure maps (leading to other locations in the world; they give coordinates of the place and some outlines of the land and objects in it which you navigate along; you don't need to be a genius to find these treasures; they contain money and blueprints to upgrade or decorate your ship with)
- Animal hunting: At land by killing them with guns/melee (there are no traps or baits as in AC3), or at sea by harpooing sharks and whales.

You may not see good reasons in collecting all there is. Chests don't contain enough money to make them really worth their while, you will earn more by capturing ships, the only real interesting thing about them are the blueprints, but only some of them contain them. The animus fragments are only useful to those who care about achievements. The letters are only relevant when you actually care about reading them. Animal hunting has only limited use: You use hides and all to craft some gear upgrades for Edward (more health, more ammo, ...) or outfits (whaler outfit, fox outfit, ...), but those I never cared for too much. You can sell the hides, but again: Capturing ships will earn you more money more faster.

The world feels living, but I think more random encounters would do it good. Like in Red Dead Redemption where you would find a lonely guy about to shoot himself, a girl about to be kidnapped by someone and whatnot. Things in Black Flag get somewhat predictable soon. On land you sometimes find a courier to catch, but they never have anything of too much use on them. At sea you sometimes see Spanish, English or Pirates fighting each other, perhaps with some Civilian ships inbetween.

Captured ships you can send to your fleet. This fleet is part of a minigame and will not directly engage in any affairs in the world itself. You send them overseas to some colonies and cities all round the world to trade stuff defined by mission setups (similar to sending Assassin's on missions you recruited in the previous games). Nothing too complicated. You need to secure these trade routes at times by letting your fleet fight other ships. A minigame within the minigame: You see three of yours on one side, and three hostle ships on the other and they randomly shoot at each other until dead. You can launch fire barrels randomly if you have some, but other than that you have no influence on the happenings. If you succeed you get some money and stuff to trade, the route becomes safer and you can send smaller, more faster ships on them without having to worry about them failing.

This game has some social/community features. If you have friends on Uplay you can "share" certain sea events with them, like the locations of a white whale or royal naval convoy. There are "community challenges" in which every Black Flag player automatically participates on a global leaderboard, like "Kill a total of 970000 people with guns" or "Sink a total of 100000 ships". They last for a week or so, the community completes them within a few days already. Within the "fleet" minigame you see the ships that your friends send on their way. You can speed them up or heal them (their routes can take up to 16 real-life hours to finish or so). You get a fire barrel to use in fleet combat then. It's a nice thing, but nothing too important.

[LeadStarDude]

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

Yea don't waste money on Time Saver Packs, they take enjoyment out of the game. Why pay to get something that is already available; just because u have to work at, well that is part of the game.

I gave up & bought the one that unlocks ship upgrades. I still have never found all of the unlocks for ship upgrades. To me that part of the game is stupid. I love everything else.

[Hasuki]

Never liked the assassins creed games but this game us brilliant. Buy it!

[Billybob3001]

I agree that time savers are a waste, but when you've just upgraded you ship fully by diving all those wrecks and to have it suddenly disapear the next day...Those dives were tricky with all the sharks and the somewhat jumpscare eels. Didnt want to go through that again, felt like a grind.