(Minor Assassin’s Creed: Shadows spoilers from 19:51 to the end of the video.)
Our time with Ratonhnhaké꞉ton is at an end, which means we have to wrap up the remaining loose ends as Desmond before we finish.
And as Acharky and I can tell you, this section sucks.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
It is shocking how poorly laid out this area is for anything remote approached fun and engaging parkour gameplay. I was intensely disappointed to come off the high I was riding in Connor’s finale with this abjectly miserable experience, followed by an even worse finale.
But, at least that means we’re at an end… or are we? Tune it next time for our Post-Game Conversation and a look into where we go from here.
(Minor Assassin’s Creed Shadow spoilers from 15:12-15:30.)
After all the posturing about how much cooler and better he was to the “savage” Ratonhnhaké꞉ton, the white-boy Charles Lee is trying to leave the country.
But he can’t leave yet. Acharky and I still haven’t shivved him yet.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
I can’t say more than I said in the episode about how much the scene between Connor and Charles Lee at the bar sucks. At all times, Charles Lee presents himself to us as either a coward or a monster. To give them this moment of respect for each other when their relationship has been nothing but ruthlessly antagonistic feels cheap and hollow. It is sadly perfectly in line with what I would expect from Ubisoft’s creative team in that era, but that’s because I have low expectations.
Which, funnily enough, stands in stark contrast to the scene where Ratonhnhaké꞉ton buries Achilles next to his lost wife and child. By contrast, that scene logically follows from the way those characters interacted over the course of the game. The cinematic also makes heavy use of non-verbal communication and visual cues to convey the emotion of the scene in a way that words alone are incapable.
It’s a tasty morsel sandwiched between two incredibly awful sequences.
After helping our seaward allies, Acharky and I have secured the backup we need to finally go after Haytham Kenway and Charles Lee.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
In hindsight, it’s funny that Ubisoft’s creative team felt the need to have Ratonhnhaké꞉ton brought low by shooting him with a cannon in order to make the fight against Haytham feel more fair. Otherwise, it would be another bog standard Assassin’s Creed “Boss Fight” where the player just mashes the attack button until the target falls over. The gimmick where we need to shove him into crates and barrels does just enough to make the fight relatively interesting for how fast it is.
But more than that, as the Templars reveal themselves to be the laughably inept cartoon supervillains that we know they are from Ezio’s games, the decision to start us off as Haytham becomes an even more bizarre choice in retrospect. It is the kind of move one makes when trying to engender sympathy for a character or faction. By having us play as Haytham while he rescues enslaved Native Americans, Ubisoft creates a situation where we’re made to empathize with them more.
Which makes it baffling because the moment we’re no longer on that side they show their true colors with so little hesitation that a reason person would be disturbed by their conduct. We’re constantly told they have a moral justification for their actions, but time-and-again it’s undermined by the callous and cruel way they treat the people around them.
It almost, at times, feels like multiple people in the writing room couldn’t quite come to a consensus on how their antagonists would be portrayed. And next episode, that comes into even sharper relief.
According to our fellow Assassins, Acharky and I are on the “home stretch” of Assassin’s Creed 3. Let’s see if there’s any truth to that.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
While I’m not entirely convinced we went anywhere with that conversation about revenge as a storytelling device, it suppose it is at least worth noting that revenge frequently comes up as a motivating factor in Assassin’s Creed. That makes sense, since it gives the protagonist a simple enough justification for going after the Templar targets that ties into their backstory.
Like this story, for example. Charles Lee has to die for what he did, so we’re going to make that happen.
Even though Acharky and I were just witness to one of Ratonhnhaké꞉ton greatest king moments, we’re now thrust into the final playing Desmond mission in Assassin’s Creed 3.
And it’s as dull as all the others. Come and listen to us complain about it.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
I don’t have much more to say about Desmond that I haven’t already, but we’re getting close to the end of the game either way. Possibly next week, we’ll be done with Assassin’s Creed 3 proper and ready to move on to The Tyranny of King Washington.
Ratonhnhaké꞉ton rides to New York, hoping to make peace with the Templars. Unfortunately, as Acharky and I know, they are never to be trusted.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
This is one of the most important scenes in the game for Ratonhnhaké꞉ton. It is the moment where he is forced to confront that reality that both the Templars and the colonists wouldn’t hesitate to kill him it he was an convenience. Further, that his people are beset on all sides by those who would end them.
And it is further heightened by Noah Watts’s excellent performance, where he dresses down both Washington for his betrayal and Haytham for using situation in a crass, naked attempt to manipulate him. I could sing it’s praises to the high heavens, but truly the scene stands on it’s own. Many other characters in this same situation would fail to see the manipulation, but Connor is wise enough to understand that the information on the attack was intentionally withheld from him in order to win his trust.
Of course, as always, Charles Lee is right there on Haytham’s orders to stoke the fires, inciting the Native peoples with his own rhetoric and propaganda. Yet another reason to want him dead.
Haytham and Connor continue to work together in pursuit of a mutual target. And while they do, Acharky and I continue to drink up the drama from their bickering.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
In another case of Ubisoft’s “maybe the villain has a point” accidentally making a good argument, Haytham is correct about how the American Revolution was one of the people. It was of wealthy white landowning men. I found a clip of the episode of Adam Ruins Everything that Chris mention, and while I did not find the full episode in a place where it could be viewed for free, TruTV still maintains the page where the show cites it’s sources.
With that out of the way, this is a strong moment for Ratonhnhaké꞉ton, because it underlines much of the complexity that lies at the center of his character and his arc. He’s simultaneously both wise and naive in many respects. He understanding that freedom, life, and liberty are innately, intrinsically valuable, and he understands that many people around him wish to subvert those values.
At the same time, he is quick to assume good faith from those he works with, which can often be a source of conflict. To a fault, he is earnest and forthright. And as his father makes an offer to work with him, this earnestness once again comes into play. Even if he knows he probably can’t trust the man, he has to at least make the effort in case he’s wrong.
Having foiled yet another Templar scheme to make him late, Acharky is here to join us for some good old-fashioned parental neglect.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
Even back when I first played Assassin’s Creed 3, I was fond of this section where Ratonhnhaké꞉ton and Haytham enter into an uneasy truce in order to take out person they’re both targeting. It’s a rare and excellent example of using the actual mission structure and design to support the story.
What occurs in the fight at the end of the tracking mission is merely a microcosm of the rest of the Sequence. Haytham is willing to provide aid and support only when he feels it is necessary, and at all other times he is either as unhelpful as possible or outright in the way. Further, he expects absolute command for the duration of their alliance while neither reciprocating nor providing a strong justification for it.
It’s a great moment of characterization not just for him, but for the Templars as a whole, one that we don’t get too often. He genuinely, sincerely believes that he is doing what he does for the right reasons, that it is necessary to assert control over the masses in service of an artificial, negative peace. However, when he encounters even minor resistance, he is quick to either lash out at or eliminate the source of the disruption, committing murder merely because it is convenient and expedient to do, even if it isn’t necessary to advance his goals.
It makes him a great foil for Ratonhnhaké꞉ton, who sees the intrinsic value in both life and freedom, and goes out of his way to avoid taking lives when it is possible to do so. This tension between them, even while they are working towards the same end, is excellent work from the creative team who was in charge of Assassin’s Creed 3.
The section I hated most in Assassin’s Creed 3 wasn’t nearly as bad as I remember. And with Acharky here we can… What? We have another Desmond mission!?
*sigh*
Fine.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
Though I long for the Desmond game that was set up in both the first two Assassin’s Creed games, these playable sections are doing nothing to assuage that loss. If anything, they make me want to agree with the crowd who insists (incorrectly) that this franchise is better without the modern day story tying everything together.
I know that group of people is wrong, but I will not stoop to defend missions as unfun and irritating as these.
At least next time, we’ll be back with Ratonhnhaké꞉ton to do something more fun.
Acharky may have fallen victim to the Templar plot, using Daylight Savings Time to make him late for the Let’s Play. But now that he’s here, it’s time to begin the section of Assassin’s Creed 3 that turned me against it back in the day.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
In my memory, the objective for that chase in the original version of the game was to “Kill Thomas Hickey”. Since he was my target, I did what came natural and reflex shot him dead, just like I did this recording. I remember feeling cheated by the game, because I felt like my choice in that moment was the most rational and reasonable solution to the problem of our target escaping. In that moment, my college student self felt almost like he was punished for being smarter than the mission designer. For that reason, I’ve carried it my memory all this time.
I was also, laughably, completely incorrect. Footage from Let’s Plays back when original version came out make it clear that the actual mission was to Chase Thomas Hickey, not to Kill him. Now, I still believe setting up a scenario where the player has to chase a target they, in story, are out to kill when perfectly viable means of assassination are in their toolkit is poor mission design and storytelling. There are ways to engineer this scenario such that the player isn’t in a position to deliver lethal strikes onto the target until the story is ready for them to perform the execution.
Unfortunately, this is fairly typical of GTA-inspired mission structures like this one. If the player doesn’t follow the designers script exactly, the game will fail them until they do, even if they could engineering more interesting or creative solutions than the designer intended. In fairness to Assassin’s Creed, this is a rare example of them falling into this trap, as usually they’re better about signposting and setting up scenarios to avoid this problem. Other games, particularly Rockstar’s work, are far worse about this. Building up such ire about such a small problem feels, in retrospect, foolish on my part.
I also imagine much of my anger regarding the prison break segment that follows is a logical extension of this same fooling indignation. I remember feeling like it went on too long and left Ratonhnhaké꞉ton uncomfortably vulnerable when it didn’t need to.
And again, replaying this game allows me to realize how incorrect I was about this too. Not only is the entire sequence short enough to fit one of my thirty minute episodes, but it’s also fairly important to note that the British soldiers weren’t the one who arrested our protagonist. No, it was his allies who did that too him: The people he’s fighting for.
While that might seem like a small detail, it’s yet another in a string of cruelties inflicting by the seemingly heroic colonists, further building up what is soon to become one of the central pillars of the story. Yet again, these “heroes” who fight for “freedom” trample upon those with less power than them.
It is a bitter irony at the center of the American Revolution.
