Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

joeboo_sl said:

I went back 4 or 5 pages but couldn't find it, didn't someone here who is playing this on PC state that they totally stopped their crashing problem by changing something in the graphics settings, something with the shadows I vaguely remember? Just upgraded my vid card yesterday and now I'm crashing like once an hour. BSOD and right back to desktop every so often. Didn't have any problems previously, even tried a couple different Nvidia driver versions and same thing regardless.

And I'm pretty sure it's just AC4, I played Path of Exile for a couple hours and ran several benchmarks with no issues at all.

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yup that was me, same nvidia card latest drivers etc. setting shadows to normal fixed all the issues for me, didnt have to make any other changes

This is probably the best-looking game I've played and it's optimized pretty well. My video card is a couple of years old and the game runs on max settings better than AC 3 did. The only thing I'm curious about is ambient occlusion. I still don't know what that does and I can't spot a difference between SSAO and HBAO (I have an ATI card).

Ambient occlusion creates these really soft shadows on surfaces. It's the shadows that are created not by a direct light source but ambient light. It's kind of subtle effect.

I figured that's what it was. I stared at screenshots of various games for several minutes and couldn't see a difference. Also, does the HBAO option not apply to ATI cards? I read that ATI cards use HDAO and setting ambient occlusion to high HBAO didn't alter the performance at all.

if you have an android phone or tablet the AC4 app is pretty awesome, it connects to your live ps4 session and shows realtime maps, full animus database, and has some ship stuff (havent done much there yet). Propping my nexus 7 while playing is cool, lets me quickly see a map without having to pause. I tried using the PS4 charge cable to charge the nexus while playing, but didn't seem to work maybe cuz I rooted my nexus and it asks something about usb debugging.

gonna have to try it with multiplayer mode tomorrow

Why do people keep saying AC 3 was a disaster? I can understand that sentiment regarding a game like Dead Space 3 which was stripped of all its survival horror elements, but AC 3 improved the series in a lot of ways.

I don't get it either. I think they must have hated the injun.

supertouch_sl said:

Why do people keep saying AC 3 was a disaster? I can understand that sentiment regarding a game like Dead Space 3 which was stripped of all its survival horror elements, but AC 3 improved the series in a lot of ways.

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It's made some "technical" improvements, but it did not feel "Assassiny" at all. It was more like a Summer Blockbuster with a bunch of Action Set Pieces. I personally also found Conner kinda boring and the environments pretty lackluster. The game really lacked the "spectacular" feel of all the prior games' cities too. The high point of AC3 was the Naval Battles, which were amazing, and the rest of it was pretty "meh" to me. AC3 just kinda had this really weird, jumbled identity.

Now if the entirety of AC3 had been playing as Haytham and working from the Templar's viewpoint during the American Revolution then that would have been amazing as fuck.

Conner was just a boring character who just reacted passively to everything happening to him. it was the worst syndrome of "your video game character gets knocked unconscious and gets stripped of all his gear", he rarely reacted in a way I found fun. You also never really got the feeling that you knew him, whereas the previous assassins had lots of depth side quests and private conversations, Conner was just the strong silent guy who just seemed to do whatever anyone told him.

The side characters were heavily underused, when I think of AC2 I remember all the awesome side chars like Leonardo or Mario or the Borgias or Yusuf. In AC3 all the side characters barely get explored. George Washington was underused until the DLCs, which were actually really fun. The bad guys like "WHERES CHARLES LEE" were pitifully bad compared to the Borgias. Achilles seems like a fascinating guy (dead wife and kid, gravestone) but feels like a whole Achilles DLC is missing.

It also didn't help that Haytham was a more nuanced and interesting character, and you got to play him for an hour before being yanked away. Then the rest of the game you have in the back of your head "man it woulda been awesome if this game had me play as a Templar for most of the game, and convert to an assassin at a crucial point". Also the whole Desmond/Juno thing was not well done, but that could just be me.

I just never felt immersed in the AC3 world, whereas in AC2 I really felt like I was in middle ages Europe and loved running around the city, reading Animus entries, and even going online to see photos of the buildings and stuff as it stands today. AC4 is similar, I feel very immersed in the world and love singing along Shanties and reading Animus stuff.

I own all the AC games on PC (thanks Steam sales!) except AC4 which I have for PS3 and upgraded to PS4. Other than the first one, AC4 is the only one I have ever finished and gotten 100% completion. I think this is my personal game of the year. I can't wait till they announce the next game.

Ubisoft Survey Ponders An Assassins Creed-Free Pirate Franchise

Now that Ubisoft has made not one but two pirate-themed games in the Assassin's Creed universe, a survey being sent out to fans (and through them to IGN) wonders if players wouldn't just be fine with a straight-up pirate game.

According to IGN, the survey puts forth a pirate-centric, non-AC franchise, asking players what sort of features they'd like to see in such an endeavor, including customizable ships, a deeper economy, more activities on sea and land and cooperative and competitive online multiplayer naval combat.

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Yes, Ubisoft, I DO want a 100% Pure Pirate-Only game with no Assassins shit. Please, just take my fucking money already.

supertouch_sl said:

I figured that's what it was. I stared at screenshots of various games for several minutes and couldn't see a difference. Also, does the HBAO option not apply to ATI cards? I read that ATI cards use HDAO and setting ambient occlusion to high HBAO didn't alter the performance at all.

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It sort of adds depth to everything by way of ambient shadows. It has minimal effect, but I imagine there are some people for which it's much more noticable. IF you want to see it better, try turning your Shadows all the way off and Ambient Occlusion to HDAO (amd?) or HBAO (nvidia?); then compare.

If you want to read more about Ambient Occlusion check outNew NVIDIA HBAO+ Technology Debuts In Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist | GeForceon Splinter Cell Blacklist PC.

supertouch_sl said:

Why do people keep saying AC 3 was a disaster? I can understand that sentiment regarding a game like Dead Space 3 which was stripped of all its survival horror elements, but AC 3 improved the series in a lot of ways.

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Maybe because it was a bug ridden mess? The ending sucked. Haythem was amazing, then you got stuck with Conner. Assassinations probably felt less meaningful in that game than they did in Revelations, which is horrible in itself. While the world was bigger and there was more to explore, there wasn't really more to explore and it just became more of a chore than not. It's the only game in the series I practically had to force myself to finish.

Assassins Wrath DLC is Official, Coming Tomorrow | Side Mission | GameTrailers

Though we've known some details about this DLC through a leaked trophy list a while ago, Ubisoft announced today that the Blackbeard's Wrath DLC for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag will arrive tomorrow for PS3, PS4, X360, Xbox One, and PC.

Blackbeard's Wrath is multiplayer-based content that will provide players the choice to play as Blackbeard, The Jaguar, and The Orchid. Each will have a unique set of skills and weapons:

Blackbeard, wielding a sword and a short temper is not to be trifled with. His reputation as a feared pirate is justly received and his preferred kill moves include using his tremendous strength to throw his targets off balance and then quickly finishing them with one clean strike.

The Orchid, a Templar-friendly deadly assassin grew up in China, serving as a military advisor in the Quing dynasty where she honed her murderous skills. She executes opponents swiftly and gracefully with her katana, an extension of her mind and body.

The Jaguar, Cuali, an Aztec warrior from Mexico, took to the sea to fight against the Spanish conquest of Central America. A fighter, he survived the destruction of his community and joined forces with a growing contingency of native Templars who sought renewed peace and order. Driven by a mystical force, The Jaguar fights like his namesake, striking swiftly and quietly with his preferred weapon, a discreet axe.

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Players will be able to purchase the DLC for $2.99 by itself or can grab it for no additional cost as part of the game's Season Pass for $19.99.


... was excited for this from the title until I opened the link and saw that it was Multiplayer DLC crap.

They really need to cut the fucking MP DLC for games that are primarily single player in nature. I blame all of you stupid fucks that buy season passes.

In ac4 what do I do with the excess mini game resources? I find and do missions that I haven't unlocked yet then missions that reward the most reales but now I have several hundred resources.