Yes it's explained very very poorly, but when you figure it out you get good stuff. If anyone is complaining of no upgrades, there right there. Bigger pouches for things, weapons, guns, twin holsters. I love watching my town grow, i've actually grown to like characters. The miner, the lumberjacks there my pals. The arc of the farmers trying to have kids. I'm just babbling here, but I think the whole homestead thing is damn charming. It's the game mertolismaina but good. SIDENOTE: the assassin tombs are in ac3 that's what the peg leg missions are.

The homestead side missions were pretty awful though. I'm not sure I'd compare the assassins tombs stuff to the peg leg missions. Besides one of the peg leg missions where you climbed out of a cave sort of reminded me of the tomb stuff.

I really enjoyed the Homestead. It was peaceful, and while there were problems on occasion you needed to deal with, on the whole it gave off a great sense of this community coming together and laying down roots that might last for generations. Of course you actually need to go and talk to people/do missions in order for that community to fully reveal itself, but it's worth it in my opinion.

I agree that the Homestead missions and especially the characters were pretty good. It's all just very poorly explained and all the crafting stuff is pretty useless since before you can even level up all the artisans you are going to swim in money and there is nothing to spend it on after buying the Ship upgrades, which are also pretty unnecessary. Frankly I enjoyed the Naval stuff the most. It was just fucking cool and I always played them all at once when they unlocked. I wanted more thought. Ubisoft should totally use the tech and make a Pirate game with more fleshed out mechanics. Man, that would be awesome.

@Zaccheus said:

Ubisoft should totally use the tech and make a Pirate game with more fleshed out mechanics. Man, that would be awesome.

Reading how awesome naval combat is in this game makes me even more angry that Disney canceled Armada of the Damned. I want a fucking pirate game so bad.

Goddammit, Rockstar, get on this shit.

I agree that the Homestead missions and especially the characters were pretty good. It's all just very poorly explained and all the crafting stuff is pretty useless since before you can even level up all the artisans you are going to swim in money and there is nothing to spend it on after buying the Ship upgrades, which are also pretty unnecessary. Frankly I enjoyed the Naval stuff the most. It was just fucking cool and I always played them all at once when they unlocked. I wanted more thought. Ubisoft should totally use the tech and make a Pirate game with more fleshed out mechanics. Man, that would be awesome.

Man, i totally agree with every comment in this thread so far.

At this point though i think Ubisoft has to be at least considering making a game with that naval system right? I mean it's pretty much gotten universal praise.

i gotta agree with the homestead stuff. its cool watching the characters and area grow as you do more side missions. its also just a nice place to run around in and hunt with no worries of attracting any guards and just sorta be at peace.

What the fuck are you supposed to do for the homestead shit. Im in sequence 12. Ive done all the homestead missions I can find and I cant do jack shit. I have one wood maker artisan who cant make crap because I dont have other materials like iron. I dont have anything worthwhile to sell in convoys either. I have those two fools and their wives. The wood maker, and the farmer and his wife.

You haven't done quarter of the missions. That's the problem

@JZ said:

You haven't done quarter of the missions. That's the problem

Ive done everyone that showed up around the Manor. Where are the rest?

@JZ said:

You haven't done quarter of the missions. That's the problem

Ive done everyone that showed up around the Manor. Where are the rest?

The homstead missions i like, the crafting I didn't like.

I think having to buy the materials before you craft is one step too much, once you try and craft it should just say you dont have X material would you like to pay X amount to buy it: yes? no?

Once you finish the Homestead missions you get a costume as a reward!

@laserbolts said:

The homestead side missions were pretty awful though. I'm not sure I'd compare the assassins tombs stuff to the peg leg missions. Besides one of the peg leg missions where you climbed out of a cave sort of reminded me of the tomb stuff.

You wouldn't compare the Peg Leg missions to the Tombs? Because the Peg Leg missions remind you of the Tombs?

@Ghostiet said:

@Zaccheus said:

Ubisoft should totally use the tech and make a Pirate game with more fleshed out mechanics. Man, that would be awesome.

Reading how awesome naval combat is in this game makes me even more angry that Disney canceled Armada of the Damned. I want a fucking pirate game so bad.

Goddammit, Rockstar, get on this shit.

I'm just hoping that Ubi cranks out a Naval Expansion. Makes sense considering everyone thinks the Combat was fucking amazing in 3.

@Oldirtybearon said:

I really enjoyed the Homestead. It was peaceful, and while there were problems on occasion you needed to deal with, on the whole it gave off a great sense of this community coming together and laying down roots that might last for generations. Of course you actually need to go and talk to people/do missions in order for that community to fully reveal itself, but it's worth it in my opinion.

Yeah, they were cool for these exact reasons. The fact that Patrick kept asking "Why" he would even want to do those missions says a lot about him. How about because they are in the game? How about because they are neat? Not everything has to have some sort of physical reward.

The reward is watching this heartwarming commuinty come together. Actually heartwarming moments in games are very few and far between. It's just nice to actually see somthing nice happen to people.

Totally agree with this. It feeds into another thing I think people are being overly harsh about, which is connor as a character. People are focusing on his naivite as if it's a defect in his character, like it makes him hard to be around. I can certainly see where they're coming from, especially because when they try and use that in the main storyline, the conflicts are (so far) under deveeloped.

But the Homestead stuff is where what shines about his character really comes through: he's a genuinely nice guy, the sort of guy who takes an active interest in making other people's lives better, and who earnestly and sincerely tries to help everyone he can. I know it seems a bit wishy-washy to say so, but I do think it makes for a refreshing change - I can think of very few video game characters who actually seem pleasant in any way.

It would be nice if they tied it in to the main storyline a bit, have Connor fight to defend these people or something. Maybe they do that, I don't know, but in a lot of ways I'm enjoying it more than the main game. I've also just got to grips properly with the trading system, and although the menus are crappy, I'm findinf some things neat about it. Mostly the vast amounts of money you can make with the right goods. I quite like how the current weather system seems to impact on trade value, so during snowy sequences you get more for cold medicine etc.

The Homestead felt really pleasant. I just felt good about building that community. It was like a Assassin's Creed version of Harvest Moon.

As @thomasnash said, it was also the best part of Connor's characterization. Made me feel good about the guy even though I thought he was a too much of an idealistic dumbass throughout the rest of the game. In the Homestead missions, that trait became a positive.

@huntad said:

@Oldirtybearon said:

I really enjoyed the Homestead. It was peaceful, and while there were problems on occasion you needed to deal with, on the whole it gave off a great sense of this community coming together and laying down roots that might last for generations. Of course you actually need to go and talk to people/do missions in order for that community to fully reveal itself, but it's worth it in my opinion.

Yeah, they were cool for these exact reasons. The fact that Patrick kept asking "Why" he would even want to do those missions says a lot about him. How about because they are in the game? How about because they are neat? Not everything has to have some sort of physical reward.

They're all right, and they do a bit to develop Connor's otherwise somewhat boring character, but I don't know. I'm just finding them somewhat tedious. I like the payoff honestly, and I like the rewards, but what I don't like is trucking myself around visually beautifully but ultimately empty landscapes to reach the next quest marker (which is ultimately an underlying fault of the entire game for me, not just homestead missions).

What I think the game really should have pushed you towards was the interactive conversations though. They're so easy to run by and completely ignore throughout the game, that if you don't engage them willingly you just feel entirely disconnected from it. But then, there are a lot of things that the game should have pushed you towards and explained as well.

I'm vastly enjoying the Homestead missions. I'm on sequence 7, and I'm balancing main plot missions with side quests. Interacting with the people who work on the Homestead and doing missions for them is great, and shows that Conner is a likable guy.

Loved the homestead stuff, did them as soon as they popped up. It's all character development. Great change of pace missions to go alongside the main campaign, and establishing a village during the early days of America is just a really cool concept.

Of course it also contains the worst minigame ever created when you need to break up a fight, but I've tried hard to forget about that ever since it happened.

The concept is fantasitc. The sad thing is that they do not explain how to level your artisans up and I don't know if it's a bug or not but none of mine would level until I collected them all, which I didn't do until Sequence 11 because I had no idea how to get the ones I was missing until I read the FAQ. I didn't get any of the upgrades until the Sequence 11 either since none of my artisans were high enough level/didn't have them all to craft anything. It is a really cool concept but is fundamentally broken for most people.

Generally enjoyed the Homestead stuff but it didn't seem as fleshed out as it could have been. The crafting felt entirely pointless other than crafting upgrades. As did trading. Recruiting the assassin's and leveling them up also seemed kinda pointless.

I liked the homestead stuff for the most part, but I think it would've benefited from a few missions being cut to shorten it up a little. It's also pretty unrewarding, but the same could be said for the vast majority of the side quests.

@Chaser324: The only side quests I really found interesting were the Captain Kidd ones.

@NoRemnants: Yeah, the Captain Kidd stuff is pretty good, and I really liked a lot of the privateer missions as well.

@Chaser324: All of the naval stuff is really, really good. If they made a pirate game and refined it some more I'd buy it in an instant. Hiring crew, more upgrades, more mission types etc.

The Homestead was my favorite story stuff, even if the rewards were totally pointless.

The real problem is you don't even need those upgrades. They don't make the game any better to play, and there's practically zero challenge to begin with so you can cruise through on the default weaponry without any problems.

The reward was really the narrative for me. Birth, death, marriage, friendship, community - not the sort of themes you'd usually find in a game like this. Gives Connor some depth aside from the assassin/revenge angle which felt much more rewarding in the end than collecting a bunch of stuff in order to unlock a new sword or outfit.

If crafting goods and trading felt like the point of Homestead missions for some folks, I can see how it would be disappointing since that system is handled pretty poorly.

I love the idea of the homestead, and I want to like it, but there really is a lot of stuff  that could and -- honestly -- should have been better. The UI is inexcusable.

I came into this thread despite having been waiting to play ACIII to bitch about these sorts of missions, then I realized I did them all in II and Brotherhood(never touched Revelations) and I'm currently 100% Bully with it's collectibles. Collectibles are dumb but it gives you a reason to see the world the developers made. I defer to Vinny on collectibles they're dumb but whatever, let me turn my brain off and look at this pretty world they created.

I'm near the end of the game and I practically didn't use any of it. I did all the missions, I really like the characters, but I don't like that I don't NEED to do any of it. And that's the problem with the sidequests, you practically don't get anything for doing them, just more of the same gameplay. The same for the naval stuff, but at least it gives a change of pace.

(I'm playing on PC, making this topic relevant again since we got a month later)

Love the homestead, it really fleshes out the Connor character. They've done something similar before, but never this good. Great add to the story.

The Homestead stuff is pretty good so far. I'm enjoying it. Not so much the crafting, primarily because the interface is so damned clumsy. It's not altogether clear, either, what everything means when you're starting out. The interface in this game looks great, but is nowhere near as functional as it could have been. And the game could have used some better on-screen cues about what is going on. The mechanics of it underneath all of that is pretty good.

Now, if they only hadn't changed the health system, the armor upgrade system, etc....