What are these AC games like with keyboard and mouse?

[chloerockstoo]

I'm new to this whole franchise, but the hype over this latest edition has me interested. I just wondered if anyone could advise what they are like to play with keyboard and mouse? a lot of the gameplay videos seem to be by people using controllers. That makes me think this is a game designed for consoles and just transferred to PC later. Is that the case?

Are the graphics better on PC? I'm an unashamedly spoilt PC brat :-) I like eye-candy graphics like in FarCry4.. ramped all the way up to Ultra. Will this game deliver that do you think, or if its from consoles will it have hobbled graphics?

Last question, (thank you for humouring me)... can anyone recommend an earlier edition Assassin's Creed title for someone who has never played them?... to get into the realm at a lower price before deciding to splurge on syndicate.. the "Black Flag" one looks good to me... any opinions? Cheers

[Shouvanik]

1. I play with keyboard and mouse. They definitely feel well. Some people suggest to play with controllers because these games isn't a shooter, so using controllers won't put you in a disadvantage. I've used both and prefer kb/m because I can't deal with the jumpy-ness of right analog stick while looking around. Mouse feels much smoother and using controller thus take me away from immersion(maybe that's just me). In syndicate though, you'll get a six shooter revolver and free aiming and guns were prevalent since ac3 so I like using mouse to aim. In some aspects, like driving carriages in this game will be better with pressure sensitive triggers of controllers.

2. Of course pc has much, much better graphics and framerate. But how much you can experience that depends on your rig. Tell me your specs. Also Ubisoft actually ports the games from consoles but I don't think pc is an afterthought though. Ac1-3 ports doesn't matter at this point. Black flag port was alright, similar to fc4. Rogue port was great mostly because it was a last gen game. Unity port was horrible. As I said, it depends on your rig how much eye candy you can pull off while keeping good framerates.

3. Look, I know a lot of people will say black flag. It's a good pirate game but you'll feel lost in the other assassins based parts in modern day and historical sections(sometimes). I'd recommend skipping ac1 for now as it won't be a good experience who wants to get into the franchise. First buy ac2 and brotherhood(maybe on steam sale?). Finish them. After that think yourself, are you loving the history? Do you want to explore the lore more? Are you interested in the modern day story?

If yes, then buy ac1 at that point (trust me, it'll feel a bit repetitive, just get through it) then play revelations. Revelations still follows Ezio's(protagonist in 2 and brotherhood) story but has some scenes from Altair's(ac1 protagonist) so you'll feel better if you played ac1. Now play ac3, ac4, rogue respectively. After this you can play unity or skip it(and watch its modern day cutscenes on youtube) and play syndicate.

Other optional games include Ac liberation HD, freedom cry(also available as dlc for black flag) and the chronicles games. They aren't mandatory but if you love the franchise like me, you'll love those. In case of books, secret crusade and forsaken is a must. Unity's novel is good too. Fall, Chain and Brahman are comic books and really good. There are a lot of new comics releasing too as well as a movie.

You can skip all this and still enjoy syndicate but I recommend doing this because you'll definitely love the deep lore of ac that is embedded into actual history. Enjoy and we might gain a new fellow ac fan!

[glowpiPe]

Unity was more than fine with KB/mouse. So was BF/Rogue. However. You get some weird turns now and then. But i would go kb/m over controller ANY day of the week.

[chloerockstoo]

thank you Shouvanik and Glowpipe.

Appreciate that advice Shouvanik. You're clearly a passionate fan :-) I only get an hour or so gaming time before work each day so I don't think I can dive into the lore of the game to that degree before wanting to play the latest one :-)

oh, its a top of the line rig - twin gtx980ti cards in SLI (hence not much money left for the actual games..haha)

I will see whats on sale and pick one of those that you recommend to get started before Syndicate.

thanks heaps for the comprehensive reply!

[Fen'Harel]

ever since AC4 I find that youll have an easier time with a keyboard because of the new free aim sytem, but if you get close enough to an enemy that you can highlight them you dont have to aim at all. the graphics depend on your machine. Only play the first one if you become a hardcore fan, it would be advvised to avoid ACU because of the horde of bugs in it to this day

[fattythehutt]

Play AC2

[Shouvanik]

Originally posted by chloerockstoo:

thank you Shouvanik and Glowpipe.

Appreciate that advice Shouvanik. You're clearly a passionate fan :-) I only get an hour or so gaming time before work each day so I don't think I can dive into the lore of the game to that degree before wanting to play the latest one :-)

oh, its a top of the line rig - twin gtx980ti cards in SLI (hence not much money left for the actual games..haha)

I will see whats on sale and pick one of those that you recommend to get started before Syndicate.

thanks heaps for the comprehensive reply!

Ah, 980ti sli means you won't have any problem to achieve far superior graphics and framerate(unless you are playing at 4K, but I assume not)

Also definitely play ac2. One of the best of the series. If you liked it you'll love the next ones too. If you didn't and like being a pirate in Caribbean then buy black flag next, otherwise skip it and go straight to syndicate. The modern day parts, audio logs etc. won't make sense to you, but you can watch the summery of modern day story up until now on youtube if you really don't have enough time to play the games :)

[Solarstrike]

Welcome to the family @OP. Be sure to sign up over the games' official website for some free in-game stuff..

[chloerockstoo]

hey, the funniest thing happened. I dimly recalled playing one of these titles a while back on a previoous PC.. just for the first 10 minutes and then i must have forgotten about it. I think i got it bundled with a graphics card at the time. Anyway, i went on "uplay" and sure enough, i still own it and it let me download it again. its "Assassins Creed III."

[Karmigula]

Originally posted by Endercake:

ever since AC4 I find that youll have an easier time with a keyboard because of the new free aim sytem, but if you get close enough to an enemy that you can highlight them you dont have to aim at all. the graphics depend on your machine. Only play the first one if you become a hardcore fan, it would be advvised to avoid ACU because of the horde of bugs in it to this day

I don't understand the whole "LOAD OF BUGS" thing people are talking about with Unity. I played through it without a single bug :/

[Shouvanik]

Originally posted by chloerockstoo:

hey, the funniest thing happened. I dimly recalled playing one of these titles a while back on a previoous PC.. just for the first 10 minutes and then i must have forgotten about it. I think i got it bundled with a graphics card at the time. Anyway, i went on "uplay" and sure enough, i still own it and it let me download it again. its "Assassins Creed III."

Ac3 is good, based on American revolution. The historical part is totally new story, so no connection with ac1-revelations, so you're good about that. Ac3's modern day parts are the best of the series, because Desmond (the modern day protagonist) goes on actual missions like an assassin in 3 different places with also a twist in the end. Just read a summary of modern day upto ac3 somewhere, avoid ac3 parts because that'd spoil the game's surprise. Enjoy :)

I don't understand the whole "LOAD OF BUGS" thing people are talking about with Unity. I played through it without a single bug :/

You're lucky :D I own the game on uplay and faced a lot of bugs at launch. Arno got stuck in air twice. Sometimes couldn't open a door(thus can't progress in the mission) and once froze in the midst of a battle. :p

[Reinier dash]

dude buy black flag first or rogue

[ChoGGi]

another vote for ac2, then try 3 or black flag depending on which you'd prefer (running through forests or doing the pirate thing).

ac1 is fun, but you can't skip any of the movies

I play kb+m or gamepad depending on how the mood strikes me. It is a console game so quite smooth with the gamepad.

edit: personally I do my best to ignore the "real story", the waking back up in the future every couple hours I find jarring and annoying (and do my best to ignore it).