maximumsohan

"Why live a single narrative when you can experience many?"

| Mostly Gaming, pop culture stuff and a whole lot of #Division 2!

[maximumsohan @maximumsohan]

Almost 5 years later we get to relaunch our 1st indie game: Forgotten Hope and it's story centered around the themes of loss, grief, and regret.

#IndieDev #GameDev #MadeWithUnity #MentalHealthAwareness

[Assassin's Creed @assassinscreed]

Ahead of launch, we asked our community to capture the beauty of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced through Photo Mode - and they delivered.👌

Now it's your turn! The next theme is "Pirate Adventure". Tag your shots with #ACFinest by July 15 for a chance to be featured.

[NemeSimpDoomGooner @NemeSimping]

SCREAMING BUT THE S IS SILENT

[medster101 @medster101]

id created the greatest modern single player fps trilogy period

Absolutely fucking disastrous how they’ve been treated

[Denzil O’Neill @DenzilONeill]

Thanks everyone for the kind words!
Here are some of the characters I was fortunate enough to work on at id over 12 years.
Bittersweet for the DLC to drop today (Please support it!) but still grateful to have been able to finish the trilogy.

[David Freeman @F_DaVid_A]

- Crea trilogía bestial
- Da exactamente lo que te piden
- Entrega juegos en ciclo AAA de 4 años (poco habitual en la industria hoy en día)
- DLCs de calidad incluido
- Diseña el mejor ENGINE de la industria (a nive técnico)

Recompensa?

- Sé despedido y desmantelado

[Synth Potato🥔 @SynthPotato]

REVIEW: Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

A massive leap forward in most aspects, and a step back in a few.

Going into Black Flag Resynced, my expectations weren’t really the highest as marketing made it seem like just a very beautiful remaster with some new content and gameplay aspects. So I was very surprised upon playing Black Flag Resynced to discover that this is right between a Final Fantasy 7 level remake and a TLOU1 remake, where a huge amount of the game was re-designed or touched up in massive ways while still keeping the original story and general structure intact.

MISSION DESIGN

The biggest upgrade to Black Flag in Resynced is the mission design. In the original game, this was the most heavily criticized aspect for years as exactly 56% of OG Black Flag’s missions had tailing, which get redundant and frustrating very fast. Marketing made it seem like these were only changed in the remake to remove the aspect of auto-fail when detected, so I am quite surprised and honestly shocked to report that Black Flag Resynced outright redesigns most tailing missions into entirely new missions. Entirely stripping out tailing missions from Black Flag at its core as a whole and replacing them with far more interesting level designs. The most insane part is that they managed to bring back the voice actors for these to give context or to add depth that was missing earlier.

Ship tailing, which was in my opinion the worst kind of mission in the original game, has been outright removed from the game aside from only one or two instances where it is heavily shortened and paced completely differently. One example I have is that one mission at the start of Kingston from Black Flag had 8 minutes of tailing, this has been entirely removed and replaced with an infiltration mission instead with new dialogue included to make it make sense.

The mission design in Black Flag Resynced is such a huge upgrade from the original game that I think this aspect alone will have most people including myself prefer stop this remake over the original Black Flag.

OPEN WORLD

The next biggest upgrade is the open world. Exploration in this remake is simply phenomenal, there are loads of new islands, and most of the old ones have been redesigned in some way or expanded. Each location has something a little unique now, with Edward even commenting on it with new dialogue.

Black Flag Resynced has also gone through the effort of redistributing rewards around most collectibles, meaning while there are generally fewer chests to collect, Outfits and weapons are now earnable from finding these. Making them way more rewarding rather than from just buying items at the general store in OG. The addition of being able to dive anywhere adds another dimension to the gameplay that, honestly, looking back, it is weird you couldn't dive anywhere in the pirate AC game, but now it is here and it fits perfectly. In general, the world is far more alive, there are new events to interact with NPCs around the world or listen in on new conversations. AC4's open world has always been great and it is much greater now.

My biggest highlight, however, on top of all these changes, is something I’ve dreamed of since I first played AC4 as a kid which the fact that the open world is now actually seamless, meaning you can sail out of every location, including all 3 cities, with no load times. This is a huge change for immersion as it makes Black Flag feel like a singular game rather than two games as it did at times in the original, where the parkouring in Havana felt like it existed in a vacuum, away from the pirate life gameplay outside of it. But it has all now come together, and this change made me stop fast traveling for most of my playthrough due to that new immersion factor.

Another aspect that is a major upgrade in Resynced is the Great Inagua hideout. This used to be one of the most forgettable hideouts in AC history. In most playthroughs, I forgot it even existed. In Black Flag Resynced, Great Inagua is expanded significantly.

Great Inagua has become the centerpiece to the entire game. It is upgradeable through multiple different levels, and the manor now feels like a proper home as it's customizable. Inagua now plays a significant part in Black Flag's story and its new story content, especially with the new butler Bernard and the people of Inagua. I don’t want to spoil anything here, but I will say, if you invest in this place, you will truly feel like you have earned a home by the end that ties perfectly into the main story. Great Inagua has gone from basically a forgettable hideout to my favorite AC hideout alongside AC3’s Homestead. It really is THAT good.

GRAPHICS

Visually, Black Flag Resynced is a sight to behold. It is the best-looking AC game we’ve ever had easily. The screenshots speak for it. They absolutely nailed the tropical look of Black Flag. This is a visual triumph and is a new bar for visuals in the AC franchise. You can even get struck by lightning during storms now which is insane.

STORY

The main story of Black Flag is completely intact, featuring the same tragic journey of Edward and his side cast that I’ve adored since 2013, my favorite AC story outside of Ezio’s by far. There are some new cutscenes here, but they do not detract from the story but rather add a bit more context to certain events. There’s a lot of new dialogue. Adewale and Anne Bonny in specific get more time to spend with Edward where they previously didn't. If you’ve never experienced Edward’s journey before, this right here is the definitive version of that incredible main story.

Side content has been expanded to have more context like Milo van der Graaff is now an actual character you can meet rather than only in descriptions during the Naval Contracts. All contracts have dialogue now and way more context plus Templar Hunt missions also get the same enhancements the main story gets, with some re-designed missions and tailing being removed.

GAMEPLAY

Now to get into the details of the gameplay, Combat is the single biggest change as it has gone from an animation-based system with the original game to a hit-box-based one. This combat's entire idea is similar to the original game except breaking the defense of enemies is now done through multiple different actions depending on the enemy type, leading to chaining multiple enemies like the original. The new combat in my opinion is straight up better and more fun mechanically than the original game as it has more depth while keeping what made AC4’s combat great, which is the flashy finishers. It is also still very easy and all enemies go down very quickly.

Where the combat stumbles and in my opinion the biggest step back from the original in this remake as a whole is combat variety. It is extremely disappointing that Resynced limits combat to only the dual swords, completely removing hidden blade combat and the ability to pick up enemy weapons such as muskets and axes. The removal of these unfortunately results in the combat getting repetitive visually quite quickly as there are just not as many finishers and animations anymore.

The loss of hidden blade combat especially hurts for me as it was my favorite weapon in Black Flag just due to its cool factor. Unarmed has been limited to specific scripted sections which is honestly a bewildering change, there is no reason we can't just select to not draw our sword as the system is literally there. Being able to choose to assassinate with fists or swords is also gone which again, is simply a step down.

I really hope that in a post-launch update, hidden blade and unarmed combat can be implemented because as it stands right now, these cuts singlehandedly drop Resynced an entire point for me and keep it from being an ideal remake.

Parkour gains parkour down and controlling Edward is now much smoother, and is also significantly faster than the original game. But it loses out on the old fluid animation work that Edward used to have.

Resynced at times has a less intuitive control scheme for sprinting, as it is tied to L3 with jogging being the default speed when pushing the stick forward rathe than walk, which isn't my preference. So movement is both an upgrade and a downgrade depending on your tastes. For me, I think they are equal, both systems excel at different things but I do hope a legacy control layout gets added at some point that ties sprint/jog to the trigger.

Stealth is a clear upgrade over the original. They’ve added in the ability to crouch, which feels right at home in Black Flag, and the ability to hide in the dark is here from AC Shadows. Stealth is honestly an aspect of the franchise that basically got perfected with Mirage and Shadows, and it’s carried across from those games pretty much 1 to 1. My main nitpick here is when crouched, there is only two assassination animation for some reason, and this gets repetitive really quickly. When standing up, there are way more, so this just comes off as a strange decision.

Naval plays almost identically to how it did in the original, with the Jackdaw now having alternate fire modes that come from the new Officer questlines. These fire modes add a welcome new level of depth to the Jackdaw’s combat. The ship feels like it’s easier to turn, but aside from that, Naval is as great as it has ever been. Legendary Ship boss fights have actually been made to be way harder. This genuinely felt like a Dark Souls boss fight at a point. There’s a lot more strategy to these, so be ready for a challenge.

NEW CONTENT

Black Flag Resynced boasts 6 hours of new story content. So how are they?

Well… it is a mixed bag. Most of the new cutscenes are not motion captured and use the RPG AC games’ procedural cutscene animations instead. These do not look good at all. I am so incredibly disappointed that in such a huge remake where clearly years of work with a huge budget was somehow not able to motion capture a handful of new cutscenes to make them match up to the original game. They do not look as bad as they did in Shadows, but they do not come close to the main story cutscenes and feel jarring.

In terms of actual quality, I'd give the new missions an overall 7/10 rating. The three new officer missions are all a welcome addition aside from Lucy Baldwin's quest, where Edward acts entirely out of character, making this the single worst mission in the game due to the incredibly poor writing. The new Stede and Blackbeard side quests are an excellent addition that should be experienced as they both made me genuinely emotional by their end.

The new major story chapter "A World Without Gold" is pretty good but feels strangely placed in the story, as Edward does not act like how he should at this point in the game in my opinion. It is a fun side arc however that mainly seeks to bring together all the new characters in a new conflict. The writing is not as strong as the main story because the side cast here doesn't really have much stakes in this new conflict between Edward and a new villain, It would've been much better if these were tied together more intricately.

Thankfully, since all the new missions are optional, They can be ignored in any future replays if you don't feel up for it and want a more OG AC4 accurate experience.

The four optional rifts that replace AC4's original modern day are overall okay, the concept of alternative timelines is really wasted on being just narrated rather than being full missions with real dialogue. I'd still recommend doing them since they do offer some interesting gameplay and visuals. I do think the removal of the Abstergo modern day is more than made up for by the new content, and the pacing is improved massively due to its absence.

Darby McDevitt wrote two scenes for this remake and they are excellent, one of these I honestly needed to lock in for this one because of how poetic the dialogue is. I found myself wishing he wrote all of the new content.

It's also worth noting that Black Flag Resynced brings back the micro transactions store from the RPG titles, with fantasy looking gear sets on sale for real money. This is a business practice that I simply do not support and really wish was not implemented into Black Flag but it is here and it is a disappointing aspect of an otherwise great game.

FINAL VERDICT

Overall, Black Flag Resynced takes some massive leaps forward in making this overall my personal pick as the definitive version of Black Flag, as the remake has really gone beyond what I expected in terms of expanding AC4's main story and its open world. I overall really loved re-experiencing one of my favorite AC games all over again with incredible visuals, redesigned missions that fix the original's biggest issues and Great Ingua becoming one of the franchise's best hideouts. But the new missions' writing quality being mixed and the cutscenes' quality being so low on top of the cuts to combat variety, both singlehandedly keep this from being a perfect remake. No remake should be removing such important content without doing something to make up for it and it definitely should not be taking steps back in presentation.

At $59.99 retail, cheaper than even AC Shadows at launch, this is a no-brainer for any AC fans who are looking to re-experience Black Flag but in an overall superior format, or getting to play it for the first time.

BLACK FLAG RESYNCED - 8.5/10 - GREAT

Special thanks to Ubisoft for providing an early review copy.

[Gene Park, Obama’s Skull Face @GenePark]

enjoying doom’s latest chapter is bittersweet because of the layoffs particularly at id software. as bad as it feels, i like caring and wondering about the people who made this game, its excellent level design, improved soundscape and music, and blazing fast gameplay. im glad to be caring about the humans that made it, that it’s not just content for the sake of it. im grateful to the people who made it, to their talents and skill to finish killer projects consistently for the last 10 years. what a legacy!

[Klobrille @klobrille]

@Septic_Sauce PlayStation and Xbox went from fighting each other to fighting against their own player bases lol

[Daily Gondor 📰 @DailyGondor]

Swords with "race-profiling" enchantments to be banned under Shire's new blade safety laws.

[j0nathan @xj0nathan]

Joueurs Assassin's Creed : ouais on aime pas trop le présent avec Desmond, ça manque de parkour et de combats. on voudrait que ce soit plus dynamique !

Ubisoft : ok alors on le tue et on vous met en 3ème personne chez Abstergo à hacker des PC

Joueurs : euh...c'est pas ce qu'on a demandé 😅

Ubi : ok alors on vous met juste des cinématiques (Unity/Syndicate)

Joueurs : nan mais on veut jouer un minimum, on veut juste incarner un Assassin dans le présent !

Ubi : ok on vous met Layla

Joueurs : mais noooon, c'est la même chose qu'avec Desmond, on se fait chier à lire des mails sur un PC 🤬

Ubi : aaaaah ok ! alors voici l'Animus EGO

Joueurs : mais ils sont cons ou c'est comment ? 🤦‍♂️

[Andrew Hulshult @AndrewHulshult]

The news yesterday totally sucks, but I still can't wait to see what my friends cooked up today.

[maximumsohan @maximumsohan]

@fnshing_move And my heart goes out to everyone at @idSoftware affected by yesterday's lay off💔Hope everyone find their footing soon!

[maximumsohan @maximumsohan]

Never expected a DOOM track to be this cinematic, hopeful, and moving while keeping that core essence. "Until It Is Done" honors Bobby Prince while capturing the Slayer's humanity, courage, and unbreakable will. Absolute masterpiece! GGWP @fnshing_move !

https://t.co/tsnLi2bN7T

[John Romero 🤘🏽 @romero]

I’m so sorry for everyone at id Software affected by these layoffs.

I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on. It’s a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history.

The people at id have done a great job moving that legacy forward. DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein are not easy names to carry on, especially in today’s industry. The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people.

A note on digital preservation: id's history is critically important to the history of games. I’ve preserved id’s complete early history from our start at Softdisk through to August 6, 1996, including materials and assets that, as far as I know, id itself no longer has. I hope someone is doing the same for the company’s ongoing legacy (the work, code, assets, stories and the people behind them).

I’m thinking of everyone at id today, and everyone else affected by yesterday’s layoffs. Romero Games was there a year ago. I know how devastating it is, and my heart's with all of you.

[Andrew Hulshult @AndrewHulshult]

I'm heartbroken to hear about the Microsoft layoffs that have hit id Software. This triology of Doom has been incredible and wouldn't have been possible without these talented people. If you need some incredibly talented folks on your team, I have linked who I can so far below...

[maximumsohan @maximumsohan]

Man the cinematic rock vibes of this album is off this world. 🤯 @fnshing_move you guys cooked so hard! ❤️

[Prince Zuko @firelrd_zuko]

I wonder how much we’ll see Suki in season 3

[Gaming Landmarks @ac_landmarks]

Yo! If you want to see how parkour is like in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, go check out my friend Ropotoplos' SUPERB parkour video!

Link here: https://t.co/sGHpgqMgxq

[Formula 3 @Formula3]

SRI LANKA'S FIRST F3 PODIUM! 🇱🇰🥈

Yevan David makes history in the Silverstone Sprint Race with a defensive masterclass 👏

#F3 #BritishGP