With the recent release of Assassin’s Creed 2 I have seen a lot more people writing it off because the first game was repetitive and boring. Their main points of repetition are within getting the information for your assassination, whether it be eavesdropping on people, following a specific person and beating him for information, or pick pocketing a messenger. While I can understand that side of the argument the fact of the matter is is how many ways in that time frame would you really get information and how many people would know it. Think about what time it is set in --- 1191 is not the easiest time to get information you need there is no real easy way to transfer info besides from person to person. That being said yes I get it from a players point of view you never want to constantly be doing the same thing over and over again which brings me to another point: Which Video Games are not repetitive.
Video Games from the beginning have always been repetitive and on a same set formula, you are the protagonist, you have a goal, and you need to meet that goal. Time and time again you see this come up where you are a certain person or thing and you need to get to a certain point or there is another person opposite of you (antagonist) you need to destroy. You look at some of the great games of our generation; Bioshock, Katamari Damacy, God of War, Little Big Planet, and even Halo. They are all repetitive in their own aspect but all not shunned by many like Assassin’s Creed is, they are all loved for artistic aspects and their flaws of repetition are overlooked. Essentially some of these games have amazing stories and others are art in its purest interactive form, but all are repetitive. Katamari is probably the most guilty of all these games it is the same game through all of the levels with different skins on each level, but it is loved throughout the gaming community for being “new” and “innovative” when really they just built one mechanic and implemented throughout the entire game.
Two things I need to get across before ending this, 1 I am not trying to sell you Assassin’s Creed I am just trying to get people to understand why its repetitive and why you shouldn’t write it off for being so. 2 I love all these games that I have mentioned and yes I think they are repetitive in their own sense because they are, but Video Games are interactive art and all art down to its core is repetitive its repetitiveness is just handled in different ways throughout the years. Please take what I said in your own way but just remember don’t write off games because they are repetitive but because they are either broken or suck. Thank you for your time.
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What would make this alot more interesting is an example from ACII about the repetition having a positive effect on your gameplay. Also, it would have been cool to read more about what makes for good repetition. Why are those other repetitive games really effective?
On the other hand, if you look at a RPG, say Dragon Age: Origins, it's not a big fuss whether your warrior just uses his 3 shield-bash moves all the time, because the taunting, healing, positionning and clever usage of toggle abilities of your entire party keep the whole thing fresh each battle. And even then the battles don't have to be stellar because the storyline and characters are (except you Sten. You suck and I hate you.).
I'm looking forward to ACII. What I played of the first one I enjoyed but I think I'll just borrow the sequel off my cousin when he is done with it. Also, as long as the "repetition" being performed is fun, people don't usually care too much. I mean Tetris is still fun after over 20 years. How many different ways can those blocks fall??
From what I've played with Assassin's Creed 2, however, the game just seems to FLOW better than the original. I notice I'm doing virtually the same things I did in Assassin's Creed, but I don't notice the repetitiveness, and this is the sign of good game making (note: I really didn't mind the repetitiveness in AC1, but I could see how people do). AC2 also spoils you for choice. There are treasures to find, races to win, shops to explore, viewpoints to scale, weapons to upgrade, pickpockets to chase - there is simply more to do than the first. I like to think that the first game was sort of the practice run or tech demo for this game, cause I'm already enjoying it a lot more than the original.
Also, Ezio is just a better all around character than Altair. That guy was boring.
Solid post, keep it up.
As far as I'm concerned, Assassin's Creed 360 doesn't exist, as the PC Director's Cut is a billion times better.
My only argument would be I feel like the displeasure cone not from the repition but from the type pfrepition.
For example if the repition were offset by another repitious task than you wouldn't feel so offput by the repitiousness of the game altogether. When I was studying to be a game designer one of the writers said never fall into the trap of feeling like your game can't be repitious. It's the type of repetition.
Look at puzzle games. They're insanely repitious. But the task itself never feels droning.
Make repetition full of excitement. Offer incentives, whether it being instigating the wrath of ultimate rapeage upon your foes for killing 50 Bidof (Pokemon and EV Training), to Hallelujah Chorus type music and special effects and a "YOUR THE MAN NOW!" screen every time you complete an objective (Peggle).
(and what Celica said!)
The latter ones irritated me because thats just not how I like to play games. I like to do as much as I can in one area before moving on to the next, so as I was on my way to my first mission, I explored a ton of the area outside of the city missions. That meant that while traveling back and forth from different places, I had unknowingly made the game more boring than it could have been. I was also really irritated that they wouldn't let me move into different areas of the city before moving to the next. If you had focused on one city at a time, instead of the poor areas of each, then the next, and so on, I would have probably finished it.
So maybe my real beef wasn't just the repetition, but the way in which they made you repeat it (via slow travel and very linear storyline).
For example, Halo might mix it up by giving you a sniper or a tank. Little Big Planet has a buffet of different puzzle/platform elements, so while you're still running and jumping, you're applying the actions in very different ways.
Sitting on a bench is and will always be sitting on a bench.