After that strange detour with early onset DLC, it’s time to go back to the main plot.
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This section does an excellent job showcasing the best and worst aspects of “Full Synchronization” optional objectives.
When done correctly, the can add a layer of extra challenge and immersion to the mission. It’s genuinely fun to attempt to infiltrate the Borgia stronghold without being detected because it forces us to use all of the systems have at our disposal. We have to blend into the crowd to walk passed all of the guards on the bridge, then make use of our Crossbow and hiding spots to clear a path for ourselves on the way up the tower. Simple though it may be, having an incentive to play like an assassin, rather than some armed thug storming the place and killing everyone in open combat, helps promote that kind of gameplay without punishing players who just want to see the next story beat.
Which makes it sting all the more when the reason I failed the objective is that I fell from a non-lethal height and needed to have a guard kill me in order to reset the checkpoint. It is, bluntly, unforgivable that failure isn’t reset upon death and that I would have needed to restart the entire mission to get credit for my achievement simply because the game didn’t make the platforming section high enough off the ground to kill me when I fell.
It makes me wonder if that was the intention, or if this is a bug that they didn’t have time to fix given their compressed dev cycle. Either way, next week we continue our crusade against the Pope.
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