Recruiting assassins in Origins/Hidden Ones (Game Feature Request)

[Schrothom]

Frankly speaking, I was disappointed upon the release of the hidden ones DLC. Since the DLC is about Bayek's leadership in the Hidden Ones and how the Hidden Ones started their creed, I figure it would make sense if the DLC would allow Bayek to recruit people into the Hidden Ones to fight alongside Bayek, just like how Ezio could recruit citizens to join the brotherhood in Brotherhood and Revelations. Bayek is shown to recruit 2 characters in the Hidden Ones DLC but that is just that, they cannot join you in combat or assassinations. That brings me to another point, as the Hidden Ones DLC is about the brotherhood itself, I really wish Bayek has the ability to customize the bureau, like the ability to upgrade it like the homestead from AC:III, or even the ability to capture certain buildings across Egypt and set up multiple bureaus to establish the influence of the Hidden Ones. As of now, the DLC does not make Bayek feel like he is in-charge of the Hidden Ones as there are little to no interaction between Bayek and the Hidden Ones. I felt that Brotherhood and Revelations got this right about Ezio as a mentor to the Brotherhood. But overall, I really like the extra contents and extended story in the Hidden Ones DLC. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wanted this recruiting game mechanic back in the AC series again, some might disagree with me, but I feel that this game mechanic is relevant to the story, game and Bayek himself. Feel free to share your thoughts!

In summary, I really hope to see these features in AC: Origins/Hidden Ones DLC:

(Assassin Recruitment related mechanics)

- Recruiting assassins to fight alongside with Bayek
- Ability to command/summon assassin recruits to perform assassinations on unsuspecting enemies
- Customizing the assassin recruits with gears and outfits
- Sending the recruits to missions
- Leveling the assassin recruits and decorating them with ranks

(Bureaus related mechanics)

- Establishing bureaus to spread the Hidden Ones influence across Egypt
- Each segment of the map have at least 1 conquerable bureau
- Areas with no Hidden Ones influence would not allow Bayek to summon assassin recruits in that area to fight for him until a bureau is present in that area
- Customizable bureaus
- Hidden Ones bureaus can be under attacked or raided by enemies (Romans or Bandits)
- Prevent raids and attacks from happening by spotting the Roman/Bandit spies using Senu and assassinating them before they escapes with information of the Hidden Ones

[Jamison]

I agree with you 100%, and I too was hoping for recuitment gameplay.

I think ubisoft wanted to ditch that mechanic though. If I remember right, some people found the recuit mechanic pointless.

[EbonHawk]

What....? Recruit mechanic pointless? *gasp*

It's a tried-and-true fan favorite. Build my team up, give them unique and interesting backstories, turn the angsty, brooding hard-nosed kid to my cause and make them love me.... Yeah, Ubi missed a huge opportunity there, with having Bayek go around and working that into the story. Still a great game, but it's sad they didn't put that in there.

[Faint]

its heavy story, you recruit two people so It makes sense as is. Anything more would have to be after they actually established something I would think.

Maybe in a later DLC or more likely a different game continuing the story in some way (like whenever that chick gets out of the cave or something)

[Cheff_Buffalo]

Originally posted by EbonHawk:

What....? Recruit mechanic pointless? *gasp*

It's a tried-and-true fan favorite. Build my team up, give them unique and interesting backstories, turn the angsty, brooding hard-nosed kid to my cause and make them love me.... Yeah, Ubi missed a huge opportunity there, with having Bayek go around and working that into the story. Still a great game, but it's sad they didn't put that in there.

Yeah, the recruit mechanic was definitely not pointless and was even employed well with activities and gameplay opportunities in Brotherhood and Revelations. Ubisoft missed an opportunity here to reintroduce a solid, beloved mechanic in a story line that was practically tailor made for recruiting and calling in your recruits to fight alongside you.

I totally agree with the OP that THO DLC does not make it feel like Bayek is in charge or the Hidden Ones. He barely even feels like a true Mentor or Founder. Ubisoft went with the "tell, don't show" approach as opposed to the superior method of "show, don't tell" in this regard. I also didn't like the fact that Bayek could barely interact with other members of the Hidden Ones outside of cutscenes (where once again, the player has no agency and is actually no longer the player but rather the viewer).

[Ashborn]

Bayek is like the Headmaster who is taking the substitution class when the home room teacher is absent. Sinai isnt his to manage/recruit. He would leave as soon as he could put someone as the mentor again.

Also, Bayek still recruits a few people in DLC. One of them happen to be a very memorable character from the base game. That all being said, Bayek also recruited the previous mentor to Sinai, Tahira.

Although I would love to have more recruits; narrative wise the Hidden Ones DLC was about the origins of the tenets of the Creed.

[Cheff_Buffalo]

Originally posted by Lucifer Morningstar:

Bayek is like the Headmaster who is taking the substitution class when the home room teacher is absent. Sinai isnt his to manage/recruit. He would leave as soon as he could put someone as the mentor again.

Also, Bayek still recruits a few people in DLC. One of them happen to be a very memorable character from the base game. That all being said, Bayek also recruited the previous mentor to Sinai, Tahira.

Although I would love to have more recruits; narrative wise the Hidden Ones DLC was about the origins of the tenets of the Creed.

Just because Bayek is in Sinai for an indefinite amount of time doesn't mean Ubisoft couldn't have him interact more personally with more assassins already within the Hidden Ones or even after they join.

I like how Bayek does help shephard two people in particular into the Hidden Ones but that is far from the developed Recruit Mechanic I mentioned. The one that was introduced all of the way back in Brotherhood and continued in Revelations. Ubisoft missed their opportunity to implement a similar system in THO, which was honestly tailor made to bring back such a mechanic in a cohesive manner that would have benefited gameplay, story, and character development even further.

The Hidden Ones DLC felt more like a narrative examination of why the concept behind one particular tenet of the creed was found necessary to be set in stone as a tenet, as opposed to just and understood component. The other tenets were present but not narratively focused upon in the DLC, and one was blatantly contradicted in an early mission after arriving , but the DLC did not feel like an introduction to or an origins of the creed because most were stated in one way or another or even just part of character motivation in the base game.

[Ashborn]

Originally posted by Cheff_Buffalo:

Originally posted by Lucifer Morningstar:

Bayek is like the Headmaster who is taking the substitution class when the home room teacher is absent. Sinai isnt his to manage/recruit. He would leave as soon as he could put someone as the mentor again.

Also, Bayek still recruits a few people in DLC. One of them happen to be a very memorable character from the base game. That all being said, Bayek also recruited the previous mentor to Sinai, Tahira.

Although I would love to have more recruits; narrative wise the Hidden Ones DLC was about the origins of the tenets of the Creed.

Just because Bayek is in Sinai for an indefinite amount of time doesn't mean Ubisoft couldn't have him interact more personally with more assassins already within the Hidden Ones or even after they join.

I like how Bayek does help shephard two people in particular into the Hidden Ones but that is far from the developed Recruit Mechanic I mentioned. The one that was introduced all of the way back in Brotherhood and continued in Revelations. Ubisoft missed their opportunity to implement a similar system in THO, which was honestly tailor made to bring back such a mechanic in a cohesive manner that would have benefited gameplay, story, and character development even further.

The Hidden Ones DLC felt more like a narrative examination of why the concept behind one particular tenet of the creed was found necessary to be set in stone as a tenet, as opposed to just and understood component. The other tenets were present but not narratively focused upon in the DLC, and one was blatantly contradicted in an early mission after arriving , but the DLC did not feel like an introduction to or an origins of the creed because most were stated in one way or another or even just part of character motivation in the base game.

Lets not forget the differences between Bayek and Ezio. Ezio had a existing Creed, while Bayek is building it one step at a time.
And to me, OP's idea for the Recruitment Mechanic makes me feel he/she just want more of Shadow of War, coz point by point, that's the Nemesis System of SoW

[TNX.]

A recruitment system in any Assassins Creed game including this one would change AC forever.

[Cheff_Buffalo]

Originally posted by Lucifer Morningstar:

Originally posted by Cheff_Buffalo:

Just because Bayek is in Sinai for an indefinite amount of time doesn't mean Ubisoft couldn't have him interact more personally with more assassins already within the Hidden Ones or even after they join.

I like how Bayek does help shephard two people in particular into the Hidden Ones but that is far from the developed Recruit Mechanic I mentioned. The one that was introduced all of the way back in Brotherhood and continued in Revelations. Ubisoft missed their opportunity to implement a similar system in THO, which was honestly tailor made to bring back such a mechanic in a cohesive manner that would have benefited gameplay, story, and character development even further.

The Hidden Ones DLC felt more like a narrative examination of why the concept behind one particular tenet of the creed was found necessary to be set in stone as a tenet, as opposed to just and understood component. The other tenets were present but not narratively focused upon in the DLC, and one was blatantly contradicted in an early mission after arriving , but the DLC did not feel like an introduction to or an origins of the creed because most were stated in one way or another or even just part of character motivation in the base game.

Lets not forget the differences between Bayek and Ezio. Ezio had a existing Creed, while Bayek is building it one step at a time.
And to me, OP's idea for the Recruitment Mechanic makes me feel he/she just want more of Shadow of War, coz point by point, that's the Nemesis System of SoW

It was easier that the creed was already established before Ezio joined, but still Ezio was thrust into this world of Assassin's and Templars rather abruptly with no prior knowledge or understanding of any of it. And he was young and still needed to mature quite a bit (playing as Ezio as he grew, matured, and re-evaluated his world over the course of the Trilogy was by far one of my favorite aspects of the games). :-) That said, Ezio need to learn and embrace the code, which required and translated to a lot of introspection, personal growth, and building of his character. Whereas Bayek is already quite mature and the creed flows quite naturally from his own values, consitution, convictions, and self-identified role as both a Medjay and an individual. It wasn't as though building the creed required emphiphanies and complete changes in character from Bayek to understand and agree with it. The creed flowed from him, from his own traits and values, while Ezio had to identify, accept and adopt a creed that was previously kinda foreign and definitely had elements that contradicted his character. Ezio needed to evolve his sense of self, purpose, and values in order to rise to the creed, which it a far greater challenge of the two.

Every point the OP made about the Recruitment System he wants in Origins is straight from AC Brotherhood and Revelations (except the customizing of recruit gear and conqurable bureaus) and was done by AC long before Shadow of Mordor/War. I don't want a Shadow of Mordor/War nemisis or fortress system but I would love a Recruitment System design based on the one that originated with Brotherhood and Revelations.

[EbonHawk]

Originally posted by Cheff_Buffalo:

Every point the OP made about the Recruitment System he wants in Origins is straight from AC Brotherhood and Revelations (except the customizing of recruit gear and conqurable bureaus) and was done by AC long before Shadow of Mordor/War. I don't want a Shadow of Mordor/War nemisis or fortress system but I would love a Recruitment System design based on the one that originated with Brotherhood and Revelations.

No to Nemesis, but Yes to a recruitment "system". It should just be like in earlier games where you have a dedicated mission for each member and you're good to go. Not anything major, just a little 10~15 minute sequence of events, more detailed than the side quests, but short enough to be included in the DLC. THAT would have been epic.

We're not talking about a massive overhaul and creation of something like the Nemesis System. It's not needed. Just something a bit more involved than what was done, that's all. It was just a missed opportunity, but maybe we'll see something like it in the next DLC...

[Cheff_Buffalo]

Originally posted by EbonHawk:

Originally posted by Cheff_Buffalo:

Every point the OP made about the Recruitment System he wants in Origins is straight from AC Brotherhood and Revelations (except the customizing of recruit gear and conqurable bureaus) and was done by AC long before Shadow of Mordor/War. I don't want a Shadow of Mordor/War nemisis or fortress system but I would love a Recruitment System design based on the one that originated with Brotherhood and Revelations.

No to Nemesis, but Yes to a recruitment "system". It should just be like in earlier games where you have a dedicated mission for each member and you're good to go. Not anything major, just a little 10~15 minute sequence of events, more detailed than the side quests, but short enough to be included in the DLC. THAT would have been epic.

We're not talking about a massive overhaul and creation of something like the Nemesis System. It's not needed. Just something a bit more involved than what was done, that's all. It was just a missed opportunity, but maybe we'll see something like it in the next DLC...

A Recruitment System like that would be awesome. I like how you noted the dedicated mission for each member as needing to be a bit longer and more invested than the average side quests. It would connect us more strongly and meaningfully with that recruit and the process. A system like that would cement an even stronger resurgence of the AC franchise than even Origins on its own.

[Schrothom]

I am very happy to see that there is an active discussion going on over this topic, I just hope that Ubisoft would be aware of this as more and more people are talking about it and putting their thoughts in it no matter which perspective it comes from.

Personally, I really felt that Origins has the best reason to have recruitment mechanic implemented in it as the recruitment mechanic would really fit into the story of the game, Bayek, the characters and the creed. Sure, they did it to Ezio's series and they did it right, but implementing the recruiting system into Origins would seem a lot more relevant and fun, like Cheff_Buffalo said, the settings and story of Origins is tailor-made to have the assassins recruitment game mechanic perfectly fit into place in the game.

[Boski]

Finally someone says what is in my mind
im totaly Agree with you !!!

[UbiBoat]

I didn't know there was so much passion about having a recruitment system. It sounds like it would be something pretty hard to just add to the framework of a game, but I will definitely let the team know that there are fans that would be interested in the feature!

[Kabob]

I tend not to miss this in the Origins story, but that may be because the Rebels are fleshed out better than previous social mechanics. They would be a natural source of recruits to be honest though, while the scripted game pulls from Quest NPC's.

With the Templars being so prevelant and established in the earlier games, a constant program of recruitment certainly makes sense as a survival mechanic for the Creed.

Origins is a line drawn in the sand.