hey all,
So for Christmas, I received Assassin's Creed 2 and Borderlands, among other things, and I'd like to write briefly about why Assassin's Creed 2 is a much better game than Assassin's Creed (Borderlands is fun too, but it is the first, so I can't compare it to a predecessor).
I think the biggest thing is motivation. For instance, in the first game, there were lots of types of flags placed all over each city, and you could kill time in the game just exploring the city looking for them. But what is the point of that? Sure, exploring is fun, in and of itself, especially as the game features highly explorable environments: you can climb almost any surface, jump from wall to wall, building to building, etc. But you don't really get anything from collecting all the flags, other than the fact that you can say "I collected all the flags in Assassin's Creed," at which point everyone will look at you like the loser you are.
Now in the second game, there are statues, feathers, treasure boxes, codex pages, mysterious marks, and seals for you to find and collect. However, you get money from finding treasure boxes (obviously), more money for finding statues, and pieces of story are revealed for finding the pages, feathers, and marks. In short, you have a reason for wandering around looking for this stuff.
In terms of gameplay, this is huge. The first game gave players no rewards for collecting, while the second game rewards it well. Aside from that, the second game features a lead character with more personality, more back story, and who is ultimately more fun to play as.
OK, I'm getting out of my Arm-Chair game designer chair.
Today, I woke up around 3AM. Michi and I made plans to see the first sunrise of 2010 on a boat in Tokyo Bay, so I got up, made some tea, and hopped on a train headed towards Tokyo. We met up and she actually had to wait for me this time. Not because I was late, but because she was incredibly early. We got to the boat launch, and got to see the first sunrise. Out on the water, we could also see Mt. Fuji, which surprised me.
Michi says that the Japanese believe that how you spend your first day of the year is how the rest of the year will be like for you. I'm not sure if I like the idea of getting up at 3AM for the next year, but spending the time with Michi sounds good. Tomorrow, the plan is to check out a couple temples and shrines. Michi's getting dressed up in a kimono, but I'll be going as a plain clothes gaijin.
As usual, pictures coming soon.
Cheers,
