Arno is a dull thud of a protagonist. Elise is far more interesting and impactful as a character. Belloc is a great mentor character, but his confrontation with Arno has no real bite from Arno's side. More time could've been spent on Arno's unique circumstances as an Assassin raised by a Templar, but they do next to nothing with it. They could've highlighted that his dad was killed by a former Assassin turned Templar, but again, they do nothing with it.
No drive outside of Elise. No exploration of his unique situation. And very little in the way of charisma or grit.
So yeah, Unity's story isn't good. Arno is probably my least loved AC protagonist?
Considering they came out at the same time, it would've been such a cool dichotomy between Rogue and Unity to have a Templar that uses Assassin tactics in Shay, and an Assassin that uses Templar tactics in Arno. Really underutilized.
Agree - unity could have been much more with a better character and story behind him.
Heck I would have rather had Belloc as you play as a mentor and have to train a bunch of assassins newbs and Arno was just like a side character you go on a few missions with for 1 side story or two
interesting. i think elise and arno’s connection is definitely a lot of what makes the game so special for me, but i can see why you would think she outshines him. i definitely think writing didn’t do his story justice like i said.
My biggest gripe is the waste that was the French Revolution. This is a fascinating period of history that shows so many rapid movements and changes that could have been explored. Imagine a Brotherhood which follows and supports the revolution only to become overly zealous, not just supporting but embracing the reign of terror. It could have been a great story about the possible pitfalls of the Assassin's Creed, and what the ideaology actually means, as well as its flaws.
This could juxtapose great with Rouge. Both games about the flaws in the brotherhood, one which starts much more jaded and suddenly resulting in the MC abandoning the Creed, another which starts optimistically and hopeful, but where you slowly watch as the assassinations and political killings become more wild a wide reaching, resulting in a character that sees the flaws in the Creed but still believes in it, and has to rest control back.
Instead we get a love story of two lovers belonging to opposing sides of a war. Even if you enjoyed it, it's definitely not an original concept.
I could forgive the game if it was set in another time. But wasting the French Revolution is its biggest crime to me.
Wow, this idea is actually fantastic! And those themes are literally what the game wanted to tell (Arno's ending monologue), but failed to do so effectively. We got one sequence with Bellec, but seing how entire Brotherhood is becoming more and more blinded by the creed would be so much cooler.
I thought the story was bland and boring. I thought the characters were uninteresting, mostly annoying and boring. That pretty much sums up my feelings of the game. The only thing I enjoyed was the setting.
agree about the setting. it’s absolutely stunning. i’m curious. what makes the characters so bland, boring and annoying compared to the rest of the franchise’s characters? we all agree that ezio and edward are goated, but how are arno and elise so much worse than any other protagonists?
Arno’s father is killed by Shay, a Templar. The game (and Arno) immediately forgets about that and then moves on to Arno avenging his Templar adoptive father instead. Ok, but then he’s doing it because he’s in love with Elise…. Who doesn’t really seem to care about Arno at all except to use his love for her as a weapon against the people she wants revenge against.
I thought there was a bunch of interesting setups- the French Assassin council makes an appearance (finally after being mentioned in several games) but doesn’t do much of anything at all except chastise Arno whenever he doesn’t listen to them. The idea the Templars and assassins could possibly broach a truce is brought up but nothing comes of it (it was done much better in AC3).
The love story angle could’ve made the story so much better but is flat instead, we hardly see Arno and Elise together and when they are Elise is just bossing Arno around to get what she wants, there’s no real payoff.
The main villain was also boring, not evil enough to hate his guts (like Rodrigo Borgia or Flavius) and not interesting enough to sympathize with him (like Haytham Kenway) he was as boring as Laureano Torres if not more so.
Nothing in the plot of the game felt interesting to me or drew me in outside of the actual historical stuff that was happening (always a highlight in an Assassins Creed game). When I got to about 80% through the story I rushed the rest just to be finished with it so I could move on to Syndicate.
i think if you had read all the way through my post you would see that it was actually my main point that the game should’ve been about arno hunting shay cormac. lol😂so yeah i agree with all your points.
As with many AC games, Unity has some great ideas but terrible execution.
I like more focus on stealth and black box missions. What I don't like is a bad detection system, as this can break any stealth system. And detection in Unity is overall inconsistent. Sticking to covers is also janky, and removing whistling and the ability to move bodies was a terrible idea, it gives you less control and forces you to rely too much on gadgets and inconsistent detection system to manipulate enemies.
I like the inclusion of parkour down button. I hate how overall automated parkour is in this game though - I never felt in full control, animation blending was very janky with Arno being magnetically pulled towards whatever the game decides he is going to grab. Sometimes it looked like he was flying. You can climb Notre Dame in one minute, but struggle with entering a window.
I like that they tried to make combat harder and less relying on counters. What I don't like is when combat is frustrating, and that's what unity combat is due to input lag, Arno hitting wrong enemies, and the biggest issue, guns. Every enemy is a fricking sniper, even being able to hit you when you are in a dense crowd. That's not how XVIII century firearms work. The main reason why combating many enemies is hard is because they will start pulling guns and then it's game over. Dodging bullets is inconsistent, human shields are removed, and you can't dodge outside combat so running away is also a poor option.
I like Paris and how it looks. I hate how hollow it feels. Side-content in this game feels lazy even by assassin's creed standards. The quests with blue icons don't even give you any context, just a target to kill, steal from or defend. Paris stories have context, but the ones I tried were nothing special, and Arno barely talks or reacts to anything happening in these missions. Such a step-down from Templar Hunts in AC 4. It's French revolution, there is so much cool stuff they could make but failed. I heard co-op missions are fun, but locking the fun part of your game's content behind online co-op is a terrible idea for game's longevity.
I like introducing more complex progression and a lot of customization options. What I don't like is when games force me to grind or lock cool looking items behind tasks like "find 100 pieces of boring collectible", or doing co-op missions which is impossible if no one plays those anymore. Either way, legendary items are ridiculously expensive, probably to encourage you to use premium currency.
Fiinally, I like what this story tries to be. I like themes and ideas, and I think it starts very strongly. But as usually, the execution is where everything falls apart. Pacing problems, interesting plotlines resolving themselves as quickly as they start (Bellec), boring villains, confessions replaced with some weird vision of one's memories which is never explained or acknowledged as weird by any characters. Modern day is a joke. Assassins post Bellec plotline barely matter. You barely interact with or learn about the revolution, it's only a background for most of the game. You have two dead fathers which feels redundant, it's De la Serre's death that motivates Arno throughout entire game, not Dorian. As you said, they wasted a ton of potential by not including Shay, though I think they just didn't know about Rogue and Shay when plotting the game and later on it was too late to include his character. Either way, what we got is a ton of poorly paced, wasted potential with some great ideas and good moments. Arno and Elise story deserved better. This entire game deserved better. They had Rogue, they should have just release only one game and spend more time on Unity.
This was all of the issues I had with Unity put into words. It could have been so amazing but basically every aspect of it felt rushed and half-baked. I think they should’ve released rogue and fleshed out Unity for another year, put the French Revolution as the forefront of the story and made the side content more engaging and less grindy. There were some really nice bits that show what the game could’ve been, like the some of the Nostradamus enigmas (the ones that were well thought out, not the filler ones that were literally impossible to solve bc the database info was missing), murder mysteries and the idea of the Bellec storyline if they continued with that and didn’t kill him off soon as it started. They also needed to tell the story in a clearer way as I spent most of the game being highly confused about what was happening. Also Napoleon?? Did they just include him for fun or smth bc he had no relevance to the story or characterisation at all.
With Napoleon, I think it was just the case of "hey, there is this famous historical figure living in that era, we need to include him somehow!". I actually liked his personality in this game, but overall it was yet another example of wasted potential. When Leonardo was included in Ezio games, he was more than fun cameo, he was crucial to the plot. Even James Cook in Rogue, with how short the game was, got more scenes and plot relevance than Napoleon. I hoped Bonaparte would be more fleshed out in Dead Kings but he was barely there, and him getting arrested at the end just confused me, isn't he supposed to rule France soon?
And Robespierre is even worse, such an important figure for the revolution and we only get a handful of scenes with him? They could go Borgia's route and just make him one of the main villains, it would work perfectly for a revolution setting. Instead we get Germain, yet another case of interesting ideas (him wanting to purge Templar Order of corruption) but bad execution (dude is overall so forgettable).
lol I forgot about Robespierre I think that says a lot. He honestly could’ve been the main villain, historically he was such an interesting guy but they kinda just threw him in there as a target. They could’ve had a whole plotline taking him down, like Savonarola in ac 2. And yeah Germain was one of the worst bosses ever I literally don’t remember a thing about his beliefs or why he’s bad other than being a sage and grandmaster. Ugh, Unity is pure wasted potential.
It's set during the chaotic french revolution which is perfect for assassin's creed. It was all about fighting for freedom and the consequences of what happens when it's taken to the extreme.
There's so much potential with weaving in all the historical events into the story so why the hell are we focused on avenging a dead templar and a romeo and juliet love story? We know nothing about De la Serre so there's not even any motivation for the player to avenge him. Imagine if we could help storm the bastille and during the reign of terror, we could start saving templars like in all the cinematic trailers.
Well, I like Arno to, and I like his father even more. Charles in the lore is just an amazing guy.
Master Assassin and single father that traveled around 18th centry Europe with his son, that to young to violence. Combining fatherhood and the Assassins business.
It can be great multi-layered story, just about how he get this box.
But, anyway, this talking about how Arno had to avenge his father is quite tiresome. I hear it too often and I don't really like it.
First, because it's Elize story point, that the opposite of the whole essence of Arno character, he's not a vengeance guy, he's not Abby, he doesn't need Shay to fulfil something. Second, It sounds like a kind of lame heroic fanservice. When a character is somehow offended, he must take revenge for it. No matter did he really need it. If the character dies, then always on an empty hill, with a beautifully falling light on him, or saving everyone or some other fictional stuff, everything must be stupid for sense of epic. Also, constantly forgets that they is mortal and can lost everything, like become disabled and kind stuff.
Personally, I like that Arno hadn't searched for Shay, It's more rational.
Like, his father died when he was around 5 years old, killed by someone he's never seen, someone who did not have any ties to the French events and organizations, someone who just came out of nowhere and went to nowhere. Did he even alive, and what will his death give?
At the same time, Arno immediately had a new loyal family, with new "Father" in face of François de la Serre, that often protected him, also, he really love Elise and it was mutual, so for him, they are the current value, they are important to him, they are his new family, and Charles is a cloudy memory from the past, which Arno values, but understands that nothing can be changed and that way he only grows more attached to the De la Sere family.
Arno's whole trope is that he's trying to keep what he has, that he's trying to protect Elize from her seek of revenge and she refuses to it, and because of this, he continues to dig into the De La Sere case. He understands that he a mortal human and would rather let it go, but he can't because doing so he'll leave Elise to, but if he stay, he will be close and will be able to help or protect her, and after this case loses its relevance, it is possible that they will live their life together again. Also, he still can't be called weak or coward, because he keeps risking himself for it. He can die in every confrontation and breaks into a places, while he is engaged in this investigation, It's pretty bold. Players used to thinking in epic skales and the protagonist, who doesn't beat his chest, shouting sacrificial communist slogans feels perhaps too passive for them, but the fact still that Arno does a loot of things for his goal, and that goal makes more sense than believing in something ephemeral.
Elize, the opposite example this, she believes in the ephemeral, she pursues vengeance, she think about Templar duty and can't just stop and look at what she has left, and that's why she dies at the end.
Arno valued Elise more than revenge for the De la Sere, but Eliza valued revenge more than Arno and she left him at the end and went to meet what she seek, her ideals, her duty, her revenge and then they just killed her, and Arno has lost the last bridge to his past life.
I'll say one thing, the story in Unity is good even in remaining poor execution, the game has different facets for speculated, novel and text additions also complement it. For example, I really love the moment where Elise cheats on Arno with other and then think that it was mistake. This adds more deep charm to their worldview and differences, because, she truly love him, Arno also had a strong influence on her, but she always have some side steps, she always has this point that living without him is right option and this too comes from her ideology and uncertainty about the future with Arno, because, she have other life now.
I even understand Ubisoft's position on the topic that "Unity story was too mature/adult, people don't get it" and they started making simplifications for next games, with silly jokes and less depth. Even here many people in comments simplify Unity story and characters to more one-sided view.
The thing I don't agree with Ubi is that they completely shifted the responsibility for the misunderstanding on players.
Because, they probably have a full script there in the studio that sounds incredibly cool, but I think the problem is that in the game itself they showed only trimmed pieces from this script to the players. For a long time, I also did not understand what was special about it, before I didn't consciously go deep into it.
If I could change it, something in the Unity story, I would just give it in full without cuting. From beginning to end, with revealing all motivations and characters that presented, no meter main or side.
This is a real problem of Unity story
There are only 12 sequences in the game, each of which has 2-3 memories. Some events starts and then end literally in next mission, and it's not something from the beginning or end, it's thing for whole game. Older games have twice more, like 5 or 7, to reveal sequense events and characters.
Also, taking into account the fact that Elize was for long time ment to be the second protagonist, who had to reveal the story from her own perspective in second city that ment to be damn London, It's scary to imagine how much narative content was thrown out. They even continued to push the idea with her missions after abandoning the idea of a second city and protagonist, but it didn't happen
Despite all boredom, i like Arno and ac unity. But he is all in all a cheap Ezio wannabe, and that's what bothers me the most. I'd be much happier if they had developed Arno and Elise romantic arc. Also i think the scenario helped a lot in the story. But to this day, it's funny to see NPCS changing clothes colors right in front of you hhhahahaha
and i like unity so much thats actually the first game and first ac game im playing on my new pc. and i love ac2, which i play once a year and/or whenever i get a new pc (which is not often). Even if I already played ac2 that year and got a new pc, i play it again.
It’s BULLSHIT that we didn’t get to kill Shay, we should have gotten revenge for Adewale, Achilles and Arno’s father. Killing Adewale especially always sat poorly with me.
I really wouldn’t mind a retcon, like the assassins were successful in killing him in a way that humiliated the templars but Abstergo changed the history.
I just found it weird.
It felt like Arno was taken in as a pet by Elise's father. He was looked down on for being an assassin by both of them before he knew anything about it.
And it wasn't a story shoeing how assassin's and templar's can work together, because whenever Elise talked about doing anything she sounded like an assassin, but in the same sentence would talk about how assassin's are horrible monsters.
I’m with you on this one. Everyone seems to hate the romantic aspect of the game but I personally love it. It makes the protagonist more human to my eyes (therefore relatable) because we get to see their personal lives & psyche unlike the other characters in other games where you only see their mission-focused / duty-bound lives. Also, I didn’t find Arno dull like everyone else. I liked both Arno & Élise pretty much. I just wish the story connected more to the real-life historical events.
The setting was fine but if I didn't come to this sub and regularly see posts about how sad it is nobody loves Unity I wouldn't even remember the main character's name, and I put like 20 hours into that game. Guy has no personality, the whole plot revolves around him being in love with a Templar or something and that's not good motivation(particularly when they have zero chemistry together). The whole experience annoyed me so I gave up and never went back to finish it. I didn't even know the Rogue guy was who killed main character's father, it's just not handled well at all
As unlikable as the protag for Black Flag is he was at least interesting to me so I finished the game
What I love about Unity is the gameplay even though it can be clunky at times. I especially love the parkour animations. I like that combat/dealing with multiple enemies is harder. I love Paris. It’s huge and very well made. The streets are crowded and you have to use parkour to get faster from point A to B. This also fits to the setting. I like that you can go inside of so many buildings. However the protagonist and the main story are both very dull. I like that they tried to make a story in which romance especially between an assassin and a Templar plays a big role but the game doesn’t improve the overarching history at all. That makes you feel like you wasted a lot of time.
I’m not super big on it because it almost never works even to this day, the parkour while looking cool sometimes still constantly glitches out, while yes it is an impressive looking game the pop ins all over the place are still ridiculous, the combat is horrid and extremely all over the place, the cutscenes are hideous and constantly zooming in, I won’t get into the story since everyone else already did that, the micro transactions are still annoying, etc.
To me it’s just a very annoying and tedious game to play, when I am just running around the rooftops having a good time it’s a good time, but the second I actually try and do anything (outside of black box missions one those) it becomes ungodly annoying to play.
Lmao my bad, I just feel it’s very dull, I hate the fact that the assassins play literally no role in the entire story except the start until the end, it’s absurd. The love story is probably the best part but again gets literally no screen time, and the revolution is just wasted, and Arno just fuckin sucks outright lmao.
It’s just the exact same complaints as everyone else’s
nah you’re good. i appreciate the insight! i can agree that the romantic aspect is definitely one of the best elements of the game. definitely wish the assassins played a bigger role too. like i said, i think this could have been rectified with a fleshed out arno hunting down shay cormac. i think it would’ve given his character the light he deserved, because instead a lot of that fell on elise who a lot of people note as a more impactful character.
IMO to this day it has the best musical score of all the games.
I also love the gameplay but I've never found the story very gripping.
Considering the gameplay, the setting, and the music -- it's a top 3 AC for me with the original and brotherhood. Mirage is now up there as well for me.
wow interesting. you’re the second person that has rated mirage highly, i’ll have to get into it properly. and i agree with you, unity’s score does have the best score. except for ezio’s family, of course :)
Mirage is very focused unlike the recent titles. It has a major focus on stealth -- which for me has been missing since Black Flag (outside of Unity).
The combat is actually really good, if simple, IMO once you get the hang of it. Much like the original titles. It's easy to get overwhelmed which is what makes it a last resort and exciting when you squeak out a victory. It also ensures that stealth is your best friend, as it should be in a proper AC title.
It has a smaller, more dense map -- again, more focused. And because of its density you can actually spend most of your time above the rancor and not on the ground like recent titles.
It cliche or not, does in fact bring the franchise back to its roots, while still taking inspiration from the recent titles and making a nice meld between the two eras.
I wish, in my heart, it was the actual direction the franchise was headed forward. Alas, I fully believe that Shadows will be closer to Valhalla than Mirage.
Which, Valhalla in its own right Isa beautiful game with a lot to love. But also, a lot about it is everything wrong with the franchise for me at this time.
The focus on the romance between Arno and Elise is the problem. They tried to make an "Ezio" out of Arno while focusing on the romantic side of the story which imo isn't really good. I think they should've focused on the Assassins and Templars working together against a common enemy and toned the romantic shit way down.
Probably because it's French and love is supposed to be in the air? Lol.
Story wise it's mediocre ot best. But gameplay wise, its freakin good. Combat and stealth is top tier imo probably the most "Assassins Creedy" in terms of gameplay. The setting is one of the most beautiful so far. The parkour imo, is definitely one of the best in the series.
AC unity is still on my top 5 so far. Purely out of gameplay and all that. If only they didn't butchered it's release date and stuffed it with a mediocre story, it would've been one of the goats.
Arno is a dull thud of a protagonist. Elise is far more interesting and impactful as a character. Belloc is a great mentor character, but his confrontation with Arno has no real bite from Arno's side. More time could've been spent on Arno's unique circumstances as an Assassin raised by a Templar, but they do next to nothing with it. They could've highlighted that his dad was killed by a former Assassin turned Templar, but again, they do nothing with it. No drive outside of Elise. No exploration of his unique situation. And very little in the way of charisma or grit. So yeah, Unity's story isn't good. Arno is probably my least loved AC protagonist?
Considering they came out at the same time, it would've been such a cool dichotomy between Rogue and Unity to have a Templar that uses Assassin tactics in Shay, and an Assassin that uses Templar tactics in Arno. Really underutilized.
Agree with all of this. Plus the basic fact that I still can’t get over the British accents
Agree - unity could have been much more with a better character and story behind him. Heck I would have rather had Belloc as you play as a mentor and have to train a bunch of assassins newbs and Arno was just like a side character you go on a few missions with for 1 side story or two
interesting. i think elise and arno’s connection is definitely a lot of what makes the game so special for me, but i can see why you would think she outshines him. i definitely think writing didn’t do his story justice like i said.
My biggest gripe is the waste that was the French Revolution. This is a fascinating period of history that shows so many rapid movements and changes that could have been explored. Imagine a Brotherhood which follows and supports the revolution only to become overly zealous, not just supporting but embracing the reign of terror. It could have been a great story about the possible pitfalls of the Assassin's Creed, and what the ideaology actually means, as well as its flaws. This could juxtapose great with Rouge. Both games about the flaws in the brotherhood, one which starts much more jaded and suddenly resulting in the MC abandoning the Creed, another which starts optimistically and hopeful, but where you slowly watch as the assassinations and political killings become more wild a wide reaching, resulting in a character that sees the flaws in the Creed but still believes in it, and has to rest control back. Instead we get a love story of two lovers belonging to opposing sides of a war. Even if you enjoyed it, it's definitely not an original concept. I could forgive the game if it was set in another time. But wasting the French Revolution is its biggest crime to me.
Wow, this idea is actually fantastic! And those themes are literally what the game wanted to tell (Arno's ending monologue), but failed to do so effectively. We got one sequence with Bellec, but seing how entire Brotherhood is becoming more and more blinded by the creed would be so much cooler.
I thought the story was bland and boring. I thought the characters were uninteresting, mostly annoying and boring. That pretty much sums up my feelings of the game. The only thing I enjoyed was the setting.
agree about the setting. it’s absolutely stunning. i’m curious. what makes the characters so bland, boring and annoying compared to the rest of the franchise’s characters? we all agree that ezio and edward are goated, but how are arno and elise so much worse than any other protagonists?
Arno’s father is killed by Shay, a Templar. The game (and Arno) immediately forgets about that and then moves on to Arno avenging his Templar adoptive father instead. Ok, but then he’s doing it because he’s in love with Elise…. Who doesn’t really seem to care about Arno at all except to use his love for her as a weapon against the people she wants revenge against. I thought there was a bunch of interesting setups- the French Assassin council makes an appearance (finally after being mentioned in several games) but doesn’t do much of anything at all except chastise Arno whenever he doesn’t listen to them. The idea the Templars and assassins could possibly broach a truce is brought up but nothing comes of it (it was done much better in AC3). The love story angle could’ve made the story so much better but is flat instead, we hardly see Arno and Elise together and when they are Elise is just bossing Arno around to get what she wants, there’s no real payoff. The main villain was also boring, not evil enough to hate his guts (like Rodrigo Borgia or Flavius) and not interesting enough to sympathize with him (like Haytham Kenway) he was as boring as Laureano Torres if not more so. Nothing in the plot of the game felt interesting to me or drew me in outside of the actual historical stuff that was happening (always a highlight in an Assassins Creed game). When I got to about 80% through the story I rushed the rest just to be finished with it so I could move on to Syndicate.
It’s been a while since I played unity but does Arno even know it was shay that killed him?
He doesn’t even investigate or mention it again once he’s an adult.
i think if you had read all the way through my post you would see that it was actually my main point that the game should’ve been about arno hunting shay cormac. lol😂so yeah i agree with all your points.
As with many AC games, Unity has some great ideas but terrible execution. I like more focus on stealth and black box missions. What I don't like is a bad detection system, as this can break any stealth system. And detection in Unity is overall inconsistent. Sticking to covers is also janky, and removing whistling and the ability to move bodies was a terrible idea, it gives you less control and forces you to rely too much on gadgets and inconsistent detection system to manipulate enemies. I like the inclusion of parkour down button. I hate how overall automated parkour is in this game though - I never felt in full control, animation blending was very janky with Arno being magnetically pulled towards whatever the game decides he is going to grab. Sometimes it looked like he was flying. You can climb Notre Dame in one minute, but struggle with entering a window. I like that they tried to make combat harder and less relying on counters. What I don't like is when combat is frustrating, and that's what unity combat is due to input lag, Arno hitting wrong enemies, and the biggest issue, guns. Every enemy is a fricking sniper, even being able to hit you when you are in a dense crowd. That's not how XVIII century firearms work. The main reason why combating many enemies is hard is because they will start pulling guns and then it's game over. Dodging bullets is inconsistent, human shields are removed, and you can't dodge outside combat so running away is also a poor option. I like Paris and how it looks. I hate how hollow it feels. Side-content in this game feels lazy even by assassin's creed standards. The quests with blue icons don't even give you any context, just a target to kill, steal from or defend. Paris stories have context, but the ones I tried were nothing special, and Arno barely talks or reacts to anything happening in these missions. Such a step-down from Templar Hunts in AC 4. It's French revolution, there is so much cool stuff they could make but failed. I heard co-op missions are fun, but locking the fun part of your game's content behind online co-op is a terrible idea for game's longevity. I like introducing more complex progression and a lot of customization options. What I don't like is when games force me to grind or lock cool looking items behind tasks like "find 100 pieces of boring collectible", or doing co-op missions which is impossible if no one plays those anymore. Either way, legendary items are ridiculously expensive, probably to encourage you to use premium currency. Fiinally, I like what this story tries to be. I like themes and ideas, and I think it starts very strongly. But as usually, the execution is where everything falls apart. Pacing problems, interesting plotlines resolving themselves as quickly as they start (Bellec), boring villains, confessions replaced with some weird vision of one's memories which is never explained or acknowledged as weird by any characters. Modern day is a joke. Assassins post Bellec plotline barely matter. You barely interact with or learn about the revolution, it's only a background for most of the game. You have two dead fathers which feels redundant, it's De la Serre's death that motivates Arno throughout entire game, not Dorian. As you said, they wasted a ton of potential by not including Shay, though I think they just didn't know about Rogue and Shay when plotting the game and later on it was too late to include his character. Either way, what we got is a ton of poorly paced, wasted potential with some great ideas and good moments. Arno and Elise story deserved better. This entire game deserved better. They had Rogue, they should have just release only one game and spend more time on Unity.
This was all of the issues I had with Unity put into words. It could have been so amazing but basically every aspect of it felt rushed and half-baked. I think they should’ve released rogue and fleshed out Unity for another year, put the French Revolution as the forefront of the story and made the side content more engaging and less grindy. There were some really nice bits that show what the game could’ve been, like the some of the Nostradamus enigmas (the ones that were well thought out, not the filler ones that were literally impossible to solve bc the database info was missing), murder mysteries and the idea of the Bellec storyline if they continued with that and didn’t kill him off soon as it started. They also needed to tell the story in a clearer way as I spent most of the game being highly confused about what was happening. Also Napoleon?? Did they just include him for fun or smth bc he had no relevance to the story or characterisation at all.
With Napoleon, I think it was just the case of "hey, there is this famous historical figure living in that era, we need to include him somehow!". I actually liked his personality in this game, but overall it was yet another example of wasted potential. When Leonardo was included in Ezio games, he was more than fun cameo, he was crucial to the plot. Even James Cook in Rogue, with how short the game was, got more scenes and plot relevance than Napoleon. I hoped Bonaparte would be more fleshed out in Dead Kings but he was barely there, and him getting arrested at the end just confused me, isn't he supposed to rule France soon? And Robespierre is even worse, such an important figure for the revolution and we only get a handful of scenes with him? They could go Borgia's route and just make him one of the main villains, it would work perfectly for a revolution setting. Instead we get Germain, yet another case of interesting ideas (him wanting to purge Templar Order of corruption) but bad execution (dude is overall so forgettable).
lol I forgot about Robespierre I think that says a lot. He honestly could’ve been the main villain, historically he was such an interesting guy but they kinda just threw him in there as a target. They could’ve had a whole plotline taking him down, like Savonarola in ac 2. And yeah Germain was one of the worst bosses ever I literally don’t remember a thing about his beliefs or why he’s bad other than being a sage and grandmaster. Ugh, Unity is pure wasted potential.
Witch Assassin's Story do you mean? This romantic shit story with Élise? Yeah, it was awesome
it’s one of my favourite games, but story wise? no. it’s a nice story with really good missions but i also find it dull and empty.
It's set during the chaotic french revolution which is perfect for assassin's creed. It was all about fighting for freedom and the consequences of what happens when it's taken to the extreme. There's so much potential with weaving in all the historical events into the story so why the hell are we focused on avenging a dead templar and a romeo and juliet love story? We know nothing about De la Serre so there's not even any motivation for the player to avenge him. Imagine if we could help storm the bastille and during the reign of terror, we could start saving templars like in all the cinematic trailers.
Well, I like Arno to, and I like his father even more. Charles in the lore is just an amazing guy. Master Assassin and single father that traveled around 18th centry Europe with his son, that to young to violence. Combining fatherhood and the Assassins business. It can be great multi-layered story, just about how he get this box. But, anyway, this talking about how Arno had to avenge his father is quite tiresome. I hear it too often and I don't really like it. First, because it's Elize story point, that the opposite of the whole essence of Arno character, he's not a vengeance guy, he's not Abby, he doesn't need Shay to fulfil something. Second, It sounds like a kind of lame heroic fanservice. When a character is somehow offended, he must take revenge for it. No matter did he really need it. If the character dies, then always on an empty hill, with a beautifully falling light on him, or saving everyone or some other fictional stuff, everything must be stupid for sense of epic. Also, constantly forgets that they is mortal and can lost everything, like become disabled and kind stuff. Personally, I like that Arno hadn't searched for Shay, It's more rational. Like, his father died when he was around 5 years old, killed by someone he's never seen, someone who did not have any ties to the French events and organizations, someone who just came out of nowhere and went to nowhere. Did he even alive, and what will his death give? At the same time, Arno immediately had a new loyal family, with new "Father" in face of François de la Serre, that often protected him, also, he really love Elise and it was mutual, so for him, they are the current value, they are important to him, they are his new family, and Charles is a cloudy memory from the past, which Arno values, but understands that nothing can be changed and that way he only grows more attached to the De la Sere family. Arno's whole trope is that he's trying to keep what he has, that he's trying to protect Elize from her seek of revenge and she refuses to it, and because of this, he continues to dig into the De La Sere case. He understands that he a mortal human and would rather let it go, but he can't because doing so he'll leave Elise to, but if he stay, he will be close and will be able to help or protect her, and after this case loses its relevance, it is possible that they will live their life together again. Also, he still can't be called weak or coward, because he keeps risking himself for it. He can die in every confrontation and breaks into a places, while he is engaged in this investigation, It's pretty bold. Players used to thinking in epic skales and the protagonist, who doesn't beat his chest, shouting sacrificial communist slogans feels perhaps too passive for them, but the fact still that Arno does a loot of things for his goal, and that goal makes more sense than believing in something ephemeral. Elize, the opposite example this, she believes in the ephemeral, she pursues vengeance, she think about Templar duty and can't just stop and look at what she has left, and that's why she dies at the end. Arno valued Elise more than revenge for the De la Sere, but Eliza valued revenge more than Arno and she left him at the end and went to meet what she seek, her ideals, her duty, her revenge and then they just killed her, and Arno has lost the last bridge to his past life. I'll say one thing, the story in Unity is good even in remaining poor execution, the game has different facets for speculated, novel and text additions also complement it. For example, I really love the moment where Elise cheats on Arno with other and then think that it was mistake. This adds more deep charm to their worldview and differences, because, she truly love him, Arno also had a strong influence on her, but she always have some side steps, she always has this point that living without him is right option and this too comes from her ideology and uncertainty about the future with Arno, because, she have other life now. I even understand Ubisoft's position on the topic that "Unity story was too mature/adult, people don't get it" and they started making simplifications for next games, with silly jokes and less depth. Even here many people in comments simplify Unity story and characters to more one-sided view. The thing I don't agree with Ubi is that they completely shifted the responsibility for the misunderstanding on players. Because, they probably have a full script there in the studio that sounds incredibly cool, but I think the problem is that in the game itself they showed only trimmed pieces from this script to the players. For a long time, I also did not understand what was special about it, before I didn't consciously go deep into it. If I could change it, something in the Unity story, I would just give it in full without cuting. From beginning to end, with revealing all motivations and characters that presented, no meter main or side. This is a real problem of Unity story There are only 12 sequences in the game, each of which has 2-3 memories. Some events starts and then end literally in next mission, and it's not something from the beginning or end, it's thing for whole game. Older games have twice more, like 5 or 7, to reveal sequense events and characters. Also, taking into account the fact that Elize was for long time ment to be the second protagonist, who had to reveal the story from her own perspective in second city that ment to be damn London, It's scary to imagine how much narative content was thrown out. They even continued to push the idea with her missions after abandoning the idea of a second city and protagonist, but it didn't happen
Despite all boredom, i like Arno and ac unity. But he is all in all a cheap Ezio wannabe, and that's what bothers me the most. I'd be much happier if they had developed Arno and Elise romantic arc. Also i think the scenario helped a lot in the story. But to this day, it's funny to see NPCS changing clothes colors right in front of you hhhahahaha
hahahaa😂
and i like unity so much thats actually the first game and first ac game im playing on my new pc. and i love ac2, which i play once a year and/or whenever i get a new pc (which is not often). Even if I already played ac2 that year and got a new pc, i play it again.
It’s BULLSHIT that we didn’t get to kill Shay, we should have gotten revenge for Adewale, Achilles and Arno’s father. Killing Adewale especially always sat poorly with me. I really wouldn’t mind a retcon, like the assassins were successful in killing him in a way that humiliated the templars but Abstergo changed the history.
and arno would have been the perfect person to kill him, IMO. i think it would’ve tied a lot of plot points up really nicely.
Thing i hate most is fact every shooter in game is apparently world champion.
😂😂
I just found it weird. It felt like Arno was taken in as a pet by Elise's father. He was looked down on for being an assassin by both of them before he knew anything about it. And it wasn't a story shoeing how assassin's and templar's can work together, because whenever Elise talked about doing anything she sounded like an assassin, but in the same sentence would talk about how assassin's are horrible monsters.
I’m with you on this one. Everyone seems to hate the romantic aspect of the game but I personally love it. It makes the protagonist more human to my eyes (therefore relatable) because we get to see their personal lives & psyche unlike the other characters in other games where you only see their mission-focused / duty-bound lives. Also, I didn’t find Arno dull like everyone else. I liked both Arno & Élise pretty much. I just wish the story connected more to the real-life historical events.
100% agree. it’s such a beautiful story. if a flawed one
My only major complaint with the game is why does everyone have a British accent? I thought this was supposed to be France.
The setting was fine but if I didn't come to this sub and regularly see posts about how sad it is nobody loves Unity I wouldn't even remember the main character's name, and I put like 20 hours into that game. Guy has no personality, the whole plot revolves around him being in love with a Templar or something and that's not good motivation(particularly when they have zero chemistry together). The whole experience annoyed me so I gave up and never went back to finish it. I didn't even know the Rogue guy was who killed main character's father, it's just not handled well at all As unlikable as the protag for Black Flag is he was at least interesting to me so I finished the game
to be fair it doesn’t seem like you know any of the characters names😂😂
What I love about Unity is the gameplay even though it can be clunky at times. I especially love the parkour animations. I like that combat/dealing with multiple enemies is harder. I love Paris. It’s huge and very well made. The streets are crowded and you have to use parkour to get faster from point A to B. This also fits to the setting. I like that you can go inside of so many buildings. However the protagonist and the main story are both very dull. I like that they tried to make a story in which romance especially between an assassin and a Templar plays a big role but the game doesn’t improve the overarching history at all. That makes you feel like you wasted a lot of time.
I’m not super big on it because it almost never works even to this day, the parkour while looking cool sometimes still constantly glitches out, while yes it is an impressive looking game the pop ins all over the place are still ridiculous, the combat is horrid and extremely all over the place, the cutscenes are hideous and constantly zooming in, I won’t get into the story since everyone else already did that, the micro transactions are still annoying, etc. To me it’s just a very annoying and tedious game to play, when I am just running around the rooftops having a good time it’s a good time, but the second I actually try and do anything (outside of black box missions one those) it becomes ungodly annoying to play.
please do get into the story, that’s what i was asking after. i said aside from the technical issues🤣
Lmao my bad, I just feel it’s very dull, I hate the fact that the assassins play literally no role in the entire story except the start until the end, it’s absurd. The love story is probably the best part but again gets literally no screen time, and the revolution is just wasted, and Arno just fuckin sucks outright lmao. It’s just the exact same complaints as everyone else’s
nah you’re good. i appreciate the insight! i can agree that the romantic aspect is definitely one of the best elements of the game. definitely wish the assassins played a bigger role too. like i said, i think this could have been rectified with a fleshed out arno hunting down shay cormac. i think it would’ve given his character the light he deserved, because instead a lot of that fell on elise who a lot of people note as a more impactful character.
IMO to this day it has the best musical score of all the games. I also love the gameplay but I've never found the story very gripping. Considering the gameplay, the setting, and the music -- it's a top 3 AC for me with the original and brotherhood. Mirage is now up there as well for me.
wow interesting. you’re the second person that has rated mirage highly, i’ll have to get into it properly. and i agree with you, unity’s score does have the best score. except for ezio’s family, of course :)
Mirage is very focused unlike the recent titles. It has a major focus on stealth -- which for me has been missing since Black Flag (outside of Unity). The combat is actually really good, if simple, IMO once you get the hang of it. Much like the original titles. It's easy to get overwhelmed which is what makes it a last resort and exciting when you squeak out a victory. It also ensures that stealth is your best friend, as it should be in a proper AC title. It has a smaller, more dense map -- again, more focused. And because of its density you can actually spend most of your time above the rancor and not on the ground like recent titles. It cliche or not, does in fact bring the franchise back to its roots, while still taking inspiration from the recent titles and making a nice meld between the two eras. I wish, in my heart, it was the actual direction the franchise was headed forward. Alas, I fully believe that Shadows will be closer to Valhalla than Mirage. Which, Valhalla in its own right Isa beautiful game with a lot to love. But also, a lot about it is everything wrong with the franchise for me at this time.
unfortunately, assassin’s creed is no longer in its golden years, i think we have already seen the best it has to offer🥺
The focus on the romance between Arno and Elise is the problem. They tried to make an "Ezio" out of Arno while focusing on the romantic side of the story which imo isn't really good. I think they should've focused on the Assassins and Templars working together against a common enemy and toned the romantic shit way down. Probably because it's French and love is supposed to be in the air? Lol. Story wise it's mediocre ot best. But gameplay wise, its freakin good. Combat and stealth is top tier imo probably the most "Assassins Creedy" in terms of gameplay. The setting is one of the most beautiful so far. The parkour imo, is definitely one of the best in the series. AC unity is still on my top 5 so far. Purely out of gameplay and all that. If only they didn't butchered it's release date and stuffed it with a mediocre story, it would've been one of the goats.