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[shikamaru317]

Angelus said:

shikamaru317 said:

Yeah, I have to laugh at that myself. I told so many people who were begging for AC to go back to the classic formula that it was a bad idea. There is a reason why Ubisoft evolved the series into WRPG's to start with, it's because people had grown tired with AC games as they were in the past, which is precisely why AC Syndicate has the 3rd lowest reviews in the mainline series and was a sales flop (selling about half the copies of earlier AC games), even though it is one of the best games in the series. Ubisoft evolved Assassin's Creed at precisely the right time to save it from total decline. Now they let whining classic AC fans influence them into giving them a brand new game in the series in the old formula (instead of sticking to remakes to satisfy the classic AC fans instead), and what did it get Ubisoft? A 76 review average on AC Mirage, which makes it pretty much tied with the aforementioned AC Syndicate for 3rd lowest reviewed mainline game in the series. 

Ubisoft will definitely be sticking with the RPG formula after seeing these reviews, because all 3 RPG AC games reviewed better than Syndicate and Mirage, the 2 most recent classic formula AC games. We already know that the next 2 AC games, Red in Feudal Japan and Hexe in the Holy Roman Empire circa 1500-1600's, are back to the RPG formula. Maybe we will get the rumored remakes of AC1 and AC4, but I think it is safe to say they will stick with RPG's for brand new AC games moving forward.

I can't adequately describe just how much I hate this argument. Yes...Ubi went back to the old formula...but they did it in the most low effort way imaginable. It doesn't take old school AC and iterate upon it in any way to provide something in any way beyond those old games. Hell, it doesn't even go so far as to meaningful overhaul parkour back to be on par with AC Unity. It's the most barebones callback to classic AC imaginable. 

I would LOVE a full classic AC game, and never had even any remote interest in Mirage, because it never looked like anything more than a pumped up DLC, that yes...probably will be held up by people to say "SEE! CLASSIC AC IS DEAD!"

I can't really comment on Mirage's true quality without playing it myself, but it seemed fine mechanically based on their Summer showcase demo. Maybe the parkour isn't quite up to snuff with Unity, but it at least looked on par with the other classic formula AC games to me, in that demo. 

All I can really comment on at this point is the reviews, and looking at the review summaries for the lowest scored reviews, it definitely seems like quite alot are saying that the classic AC formula feels dated at this point. Maybe they could have made iterative improvements upon the classic AC formula, but for instance for those stating the combat in Mirage feels ass, I'm not really sure if there is anything Ubisoft could have done to satisfy them. There isn't much you can do to improve the same old counterattack based AC combat that the classic games always had without making the combat no longer feel like classic AC, Ubisoft has already tried so much to improve it back before they abandoned the classic formula the first time, from cooler counterattack animations to loads of new gadgets that could be employed during combat. If all the improvements they made to the classic AC combat in Syndicate couldn't get critics to like classic AC combat, there just isn't any way to get those critics to like classic AC combat in the modern era. 

I get the feeling that even if Ubisoft had given Mirage another year of development and given it Unity style parkour and other improvements, the maximum score the game could have possibly gotten would be maybe an 82, which is still lower than Origins and Odyssey reviewed and only about tied with the rather rushed Valhalla. There are just too many critics out there who don't like the classic AC formula anymore and will never like it again.

Ultimately I think Ubisoft is best off sticking to RPG's for their main games and remakes for the classic AC fans. And it seems like that is exactly what they have planned moving forward, with rumors of AC1 and AC4 remakes being in development within the last 2 years, and leaks stating that the next 2 mainline games, Red and Hexe, are RPG's. 

Last edited by shikamaru317 - on 06 October 2023