The last two hours of 3 are arguably the worst parts of that game. So I would say no. Emphatically.

I swore I would quit this series after 3, but I couldn't resist playing as a fucking pirate.

Look for the ending scene on Youtube. That's the only real story progression that happens the entire game.

The setting just looks so boring. And the ship stuff was fine in ACIII, but I didn't need a whole game about it. Also calling it ACIV is laughable, but that argument has been done to death.

The story in this series basically doesn't matter at this point, which is fine I guess. It's still the only game that really brings you to these cool places/time periods. I just hope they eventually do a Feudal Japan one because that would fit PERFECTLY.

Oh, lovely to hear! One other game to get for PS4 in launch then.

@jz: I played some of the first AC but haven't played any since. Did the series change dramatically? Or is it just more of the same (but refined). This game looks super cool but I don't understand how you would spend most of your time.

Are the Islands in the Caribbean explorable?

there are a bunch of islands and apparently yes you can explore them. Side activities and stuff all around.

Thanks for replying, duder.

Loving it, has the stuff I loved about Assassin's Creed 3 without the things about it that weren't so hot and the naval stuff expanded into a full-blown Pirate game with an open sea to explore.

The story isn't doing much for me so far, but I'm warming up to Edward Kenway.

Thinking I might pick it up again when I get a next gen console next year, even.

^^ loving all the praise it's getting while I wait for the PC release :)

Nah don't. I was somewhere 80% through when I lost interest and didn't touch it for months. Then suddenly one day I decided to storm through it, and regretted doing that after seeing the ending. It was such a lame ending. What a waste of time.

Better way to spend your time in the AC universe would be to play AC1. Still my favorite from the series (except AC4 which I haven't played yet.)

I kind of gave up on it when they just killed off Kristen Bell and then without any explanation in the next game, turned her into an evil templar spy. AC3's ending was less frustrating and more hilarious after all that nonsense.

I hear a lot of good things about this and i'm so excited to try it out today just got one already. :D

Waiting on the good versions patiently :(

I'd like to play but I'm waiting for the non-slideshow edition to come out first.

Though I really do wonder how smoothly this game runs because AC3 was a nightmare on the Xbox.

I'm still not sure on this one. The pirate aspect is cool, but I am worried it's still more of the same as AC3. I'll wait until this one is on sale next year. I dont want to get burned again on mediocre not really fun Assassin's creed game play and 60$ is a lot to fork over after how awful AC3 was.

I dont know, man, I found it pretty much went down hill after the protagonist switch... there is almost too much to do and not enough real reason to do it. If you do get AC IV let me know your thoughts. It looks awesome but I thought the 3rd one looked awesome too and I dont really want to make the same mistake a second time around. I cant quite put my finger what rubbed me the wrong way about AC3 but I was just bored to the point I stopped playing it. Although I'd say I was a big fan of the series before revelations. Peaked with Brotherhood in my opinion, though I keep wanting to find the magic again.

If the quicklook's anything to go by it seems to run relatively OK on PS3 least.

I haven't played AC since 2 (which was horribly repetitive). Open world sailing and buccaneering will bring me back, I think. And if the missions are still just the same old crap, I will at least take glee in rating them all afterwards.

@jz: What's the combat like in AC IV? Is it AC II: Brotherhood great or AC III really bad?

Well your character doesn't use a hood most of the time. There's also outfits that don't have a hood. Like the one that you need all the Templar keys for. Doesn't stop your character from doing the movement to put the hood up in cutscenes though, which looks really dumb.

On GameSpot I saw the video for when you acquire the assassin robes for the first time and it's actually well done - he puts it all one, hood up and everything, and then very quickly takes it in a way that makes it look like it's too hot to be wearing a hood. I mean seriously, middle of the tropics or whatever, wearing a long sleeved jacket and hood up.

Good news. I enjoyed AC3 regardless but I still consider AC2 to be the best in the series. Black Flag seems to really bring a refreshing tone to the series.

@shirogane said:

Man really? Really?? I know this sounds intensely minor but No-Hood Costume could be exactly what pushes me into buying this game...

@humanity: haha, well I'm glad the character at least recognizes how hilarious it is. Now if only Ubi would..

I'm blown away people would buy an Assassin's Creed game after 3. Fuck that franchise.

@tennmuerti: It's way better than AC3, coming from someone who actually liked AC3 a fair amount. Now if only I could find that damn online spawn superboat again and try to take it on.

Singleplayer is awesome, multiplayer is really screwed up right now though; which is a shame since they have some great personas/music/maps but messed up the formula for the better modes in an attempt to fix the broken ones.

The only Assassin's Creed I've ever played was an hour or two of the first game, so I'm looking forward to trying this one out with my PS4. Hearing that it's pretty good (despite having the appearance of being a rushed-out successor to last year's disappointing entry) is a pleasant surprise. I liked Far Cry 3 and I like Pirates!, so I guess I should be OK with this.

@fredchuckdave: Good to know. Then again I already preordered it :P (too bad about the PC release date ey), since the boat stuff were some of the best parts of AC3 and this promised more of that.

@tennmuerti: Well, right now it sort of feels like I want to 100% this game, then start over and 100% it again all in a row. I've never replayed an AC before (though its been long enough I could probably play 2 again and have fun with it). The game is just fucking awesome, it's a way better version of Sid Meier's Pirates! which is exactly what everyone wanted. So far the protagonist doesn't have a "righteousness before all" stick up his ass either which just makes him great; he's not an Assassin, he's a fucking pirate and if Ubi knows what's good for them they'll just make every protagonist in the series a pirate from now on. There's even random ass leaderboard messages that say "you are now the 2002nd most feared pirate" and shit, it's great. The world seems to be larger than everything except for Just Cause 2.

Damn it, man. This sounds so good. Need my PS4 now-ish.

I'm not even a fan of the series, but good pirate games are few and far between. Guess I'll have to dive in.

I still very much enjoy the Assassins Creed formula, so I'm definitely gonna get it. I also like the setting and how the map is designed around ship traversal.

Question: when you're going between islands are there random naval battles? That would be super cool.

You were most likely bored with everything moving at a snails pace and not really getting anywhere.

AC2 was pretty slow moving, but at least it had interesting characters and got you to do cooler shit right away. AC3 dragged it's feet for so long that by the time you got to do whatever you wanted, you didn't want to.

I have bigger hopes for AC4 mainly because of how Vinny mentioned he got to his ship within the first hour and a half. If that is true, and it stays that way(as in doesn't pull character switch bullshit, takes away my ship, or keeps me in modern times for more then 30 minutes) then I will be happy.

I would still say current-gen, since next-gen consoles hadn't come out yet.

You guys really need to watch the Quick Look. The way they tie the modern day stuff into the game seems really awesome in a way that you wouldn't guess. Or, if you plan on buying the game, then just see it for yourself.

Personally, I tried to play 2, supposedly the second best one behind Brotherhood, and I just didn't find myself having any fun. I didn't dig too far into it, though, so maybe I should go back and try it again. Did Ubisoft ever retroactively remove the DRM from the second game?

It would be cool if they broke the fourth wall and made the xbox/whatever you are playing on the animus.

Got it pre-ordered for the PS4 alongside FIFA and Battlefield. Can't. Wait.

There are loads of ships between islands and you can choose whether to fight them or not. You scope them out first and it tells you what their cargo is (you'll be wanting metal) and their level. You can board them after reducing them to near splinters and have an onboard fight to get all their cargo, or just sink them and get what bobs up top. Half goes to Davey Jones's locker if you do that. Even if you're fighting 6 ships you can board and repair yourself which is stupid but bloody useful. I've taken down level 60 ships so far but not a legendary level 75. I think I'm capable, though. I've got all the ship upgrades except the last in each tier because you need design plans for them. Goddamn naval architects, I want them mortars!

I'm enjoying it but getting a bit burnt out now, 26 hours in. I need to mainline the story a bit more and not do so much exploring.

After watching the Quick Look it looks pretty interesting.

Assassin's Creed 3 was the first AC game I played...so I've been hesitant to give the series a second shot.

@oldirtybearon: I agree. I thought ac 3 was the best, i loved brotherhood also that game had the best missions but was short, more like a filler. anyways in ac 3 it was brilliant you actually got to play as conner the child and grow up, thats a rare treat in a game imo, also how they started you out playing conners father thinking you where a 'good guy' just to find out you where a templar/'bad guy'. and who couldnt love the big classic battles against the red coats. i mean you had all the classic battles, even the paul revere the 'british are coming' scene. classic... ac 4 just dropped dead on the story scene and main mission, its all about the whole pirate life. which is fun, but its lop sided. sad, as this could of been great instead of just good.

AC3 was the only I didn't beat, heck I didn't even want to play it. Nothing about it seemed fun to me. But this game is amazing, I just want to sale the seas!