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    Assassin's Creed III

    Game » consists of 24 releases. Released Oct 30, 2012

    The fifth console entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise. It introduces the half-Native American, half-English Assassin Connor and is set in North America in the late eighteenth century amid the American Revolutionary War.

    When (if at all) did you decide to forego optional objectives?

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    xxizzypop

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    #1  Edited By xxizzypop

    The title may be a bit misleading, but I've hit a point in my game that, while I'll still attempt to complete as many as possible, I have become willing to accept failure and simply move through the game. My very first failure was back on sequence 8, during the chase sequence post eavesdropping. The objective was to not push aside anyone while you chase your target. I tried time and time again, until I finally figured I'd just try to head him off instead of chasing directly. I was in front of him, and either I nudged him or he barreled in to me just a hair before a cutscene commenced.

    He was apparently considered a member of the crowds, the cutscene started immediately after and set a checkpoint, and I was going to be damned if I had any intention of immediately restarting that entire memory.

    Has anyone else hit a point like this in their game, where they are more or less screwed by the checkpointing and thus give up on obsessively and immediately completing optional objectives?

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    Equal_Opportunity_Destroyer497

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    I definitely reached a point where, after many failed attempts, I said to hell with some of those optional objectives and just pushed forward. There were many cases where I didn't see the notifications until after I'd already completed the main objective, which was damn infuriating. I haven't really been a fan of the whole "100% sync" since it was introduced.

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    badsmalltalker

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    #3  Edited By badsmalltalker

    I probably stopped as soon as I got the first optional objective where I just said "You have to be kidding me."

    I would be glad to go for the optional objectives if they didn't seem to just make you go so much farther out of your way than seems necessary or fun.

    This is especially true for me in really climactic story sequences, where if you keep wanting to reload when you fail the optional stuff it completely kills the momentum.

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    Ares42

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    #4  Edited By Ares42

    I stopped caring about those things back when they first introduced them in... Brotherhood(?). Can't really remember. It just seems to be the complete opposite of the philosophy of these kinda games, do things the way you want. I get that it gives some replayability to people who really love the series and want to do everything, but I've always found the story missions to be the worst part of the games and I'm just happy to be done with them.

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    deskp

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    #5  Edited By deskp

    I don't ncare about them on my first playthrough, I'll deal with them if I decide to got for 100%

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    thomasnash

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    #6  Edited By thomasnash

    There were a couple that I just said fuck it, but I went back the next day and got them, so at the moment I'm 100% in all the missions I've done. I don't feel like any of them have been as tedious as the ones in brotherhood. The two that have caused me the most aggravation were not being detected on boats during the battle of bunker hill, and air tackling the guy you chase. The latter I did do in one sitting, but it was really annoying me, and in the end I googled it; I discovered that you have to do it by trying to head him off and waiting on a sign for him...but I kept getting shot off because there was a guard dog right at the start that set all the guards on alert. Then I was trying to tackle by pressing X with the fist weapon selected, and he'd just punch the air. In the end I realised that air tackles are done by pressing B instead, which was a proper facepalm moment because ground tackles are done with X, and nowhere tells you that air tackles are any different. Ugh.

    I also found the objectives to murder the guy who is trying to buy all the land where your village is without being seen, and limit native casualties a ball ache, because the time is really limited before they shoot your buddies, and the checkpoint puts two guards right in front of you that you have to wait for. So I started the mission over and tried to go round a different way, so I'd be a bit closer when the timer started. I didn't manage it, but it didn't matter because after the cut scene it put me in the same place anyway, which I found really stupid and annoying, frankly.

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    Vinny_Says

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    #7  Edited By Vinny_Says

    Never really cared, even since (brotherhood?) I was always skipping stuff just to get to the stabbing. However I've made it my goal to get 100% in the memory tracker in AC3.

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    Hunter5024

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    #8  Edited By Hunter5024

    Literally right away. I drove myself crazy trying to do them in Brotherhood, never managed to get them in Revelations, and ignored them entirely in 3. I kind of suck at assassins creed. Or sneaking in general. I play warriors goddammit.

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    ImmortalSaiyan

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    #9  Edited By ImmortalSaiyan

    I stopped doing side stuff as soon as I could. The home stead building, resources trading and assassin recruit stuff are so poorly explained I had no interest in pursuing them.

    I played the game fast traveling from one main quest to the next. Not at all how I played AC2.

    Edit: I totally missed the point of this thread. As for the optimal objective during missions I quickly stopped worrying about them.

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    natetodamax

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    #10  Edited By natetodamax

    I try the optional objectives unless they're something crazy or something that requires going out of my way to do a certain thing, but I don't care if I fail them.

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    ShadyPingu

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    #11  Edited By ShadyPingu

    I'm in sequence 10 and I still give them a try if they seem possible, but there are some that I know upfront not to even attempt.

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    ChadMasterFlash

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    #12  Edited By ChadMasterFlash

    I've gotten 100% on all story and naval missions. The most challenging for me was the naval one where you have to shoot the powder kegs on the last three ships, it probably took me 20-30 tries.

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    benspyda

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    #13  Edited By benspyda

    I'm not a fan of how the main missions and bonus were structured. Was it just me or was over 50% of the main story: "chase this guy before he gets away". The missions were way too linear and structured, I much preferred AC when it was more open. Like when its, here's a castle and target within, go about completing your objective in whatever way you like. That's how I remember the first couple games. Putting call of duty style scripting and instant fails into a stealth game didn't make much sense to me.

    My favorite part of AC3 was attacking the Templar forts. I had a blast doing all the side stuff and exploring the cites, but as soon as I started doing main quests again, its back to "you have been de-synced because you got stuck in the geometry and your target got away". The naval combat was great enough for me to ignore the main quest's tedium though.

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    MildMolasses

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    #14  Edited By MildMolasses

    I never went out of my way to get one. I don't feel like they really add anything to playing, and some of them require me to do things in a way I just don't want to. Every problem is solvable with hidden blades, but some of those objectives don't seem to agree with me on that

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    InternetCrab

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    #15  Edited By InternetCrab

    Never struggled with them really at all.

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    xxizzypop

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    #16  Edited By xxizzypop

    @MildMolasses said:

    I never went out of my way to get one. I don't feel like they really add anything to playing, and some of them require me to do things in a way I just don't want to. Every problem is solvable with hidden blades, but some of those objectives don't seem to agree with me on that

    This is probably my favorite summation of the entire Assassin's Creed franchise.

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    StarvingGamer

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    #17  Edited By StarvingGamer

    Generally speaking, I only skip optional objectives when they're made to be particularly frustrating because of the inherent inconsistencies of open-world gameplay. I appreciate the way they try to guide me down different styles of play but sometimes there's just too much jank in my way.

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    ShaggE

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    #18  Edited By ShaggE

    I try to do them if they don't interfere with my fun, but I never restart a mission when I fail to do them.

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    DemiGodRaven

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    #19  Edited By DemiGodRaven

    @Ares42 said:

    I stopped caring about those things back when they first introduced them in... Brotherhood(?). Can't really remember. It just seems to be the complete opposite of the philosophy of these kinda games, do things the way you want. I get that it gives some replayability to people who really love the series and want to do everything, but I've always found the story missions to be the worst part of the games and I'm just happy to be done with them.

    Same, literally right after they introduced them in Brotherhood. The way I play is sometimes the complete opposite of what the game says to do so the only time I wind up doing them is if they line up with what I was already doing.

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    landon

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    #20  Edited By landon

    I generally try to do all the optional stuff, but if I miss one I wont go back for it.

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    Wuddel

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    #21  Edited By Wuddel

    Some optional stuff is simply mindblowingly hard. Therefore I will probably never get an S-Rank (100% on everything) in an AC game. That was the point I stopped caring about these at all. However so far the ACIII ones seem reasonable. I might give it another try.

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    JZ

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    #22  Edited By JZ

    Before the game started

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    Genkkaku

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    #23  Edited By Genkkaku

    When I completed several of them and it said I failed them.. I couldn't care less after that (and it was quite early on)

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    Bane

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    #24  Edited By Bane

    I stopped caring about 100% sync shortly after the concept was introduced in the series. I'll keep the objectives in mind, but I won't go out of my way or restart a mission just to complete them.

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    addictedtopinescent

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    I never try to do them on a first playthrough unless they're completely obvious and simple, I'd rather see the story and side missions then fuck around with those.

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    Turambar

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    #26  Edited By Turambar

    Do they get you anything in AC3? I remember 100% sync rates unlocking some cheats in Brotherhood, unless my memory is mistaken.

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    Zirilius

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    #27  Edited By Zirilius

    Achievement/Trophy for 100% sync for all the main missions in the game. I'm OCD about doing all that stuff so I continue to do them even if they are retarded at times. I've had to look up 2 on the internet because the game wasn't actively telling me what I was doing wrong or how to get them.

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    Poppy_Persona

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    #28  Edited By Poppy_Persona

    No fuck those things, they make the game less enjoyable for me and have done since they were introduced.

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    pizzalunchables

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    #29  Edited By pizzalunchables

    The Haytham mission where you are infiltrating a fort and can optionally disable the cannons. The optional objective was to not get detected. It was so frustrating due to eagle eye guards and unclear lines of sight. I gave up then and never looked back.

    I actually did 100% Brotherhood and loved it. For some reason the optional objectives are just more of a pain this time. Also, the fact that you need to do it all on one run to get full sync makes it SUPER annoying when you drop an optional objective 30 minutes into a mission.

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    _Zombie_

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    #30  Edited By _Zombie_

    I think it was one of the later Haytham missions. Kept failing and just gave up.

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    Just_an_other_muffin

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    After playing mark of the ninja and enjoying killing everything in my oath I voted to refuse any objective that involves me sneaking around dudes. If they are in my way they deserve to get staved in the face and/or neck.

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    lclay

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    #32  Edited By lclay

    I stopped paying attention to them almost immediately.

    Instant fail I'd detected AND I'm not allowed to kill anyone? Fuck off AC3.

    Also, while we're at it, stop putting guards on roofs. It breaks the flow of the game.

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    JoeyRavn

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    #33  Edited By JoeyRavn

    Late to the party here, but I've just started playing it on PC. Since there are no Achievements for full sync attached to these objectives like on Xbox or PS3, I'm willing to do them as long as they don't become an added obstacle to complete the mission. I've had my share of "run this scenario until you nail it" with Dishonored, which I finally finished today with zero kills throughout the game and Ghost on all missions.

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    DJJoeJoe

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    #34  Edited By DJJoeJoe

    You know when you try and do something, and the video game doesn't allow you to do it, or falls apart if you try? Like trying to stand at the corner of a tent to peer around etc. Your character doesn't want to do it, or fumbles around and since the section you're in is timing sensitive the target your stalking sees you doing this and the mission fails?

    That's around the time where I stopped trying to do anything other than just finish the mission as fast as possible, forgoing any and all optional stuffs that may take up 10mins of my time only to end in failing due to something like this and making me re-do the mission from the start...

    This all happened basically within the first real missions of the game, hours in etc, blew me away how amazingly fluid the combat 'can' be, but at the same time how disorienting the combat is when the camera pulls out and DOESN'T FOCUS ON THE PLAYER CHARACTER.. instead centering on the whole group your in... so hard to lose your character in the group this way. Did anyone play this video game before they finished it? The feeling I got was purely "this is poor game design" and no reason it would be ideal for any situation. Maybe a good idea on paper, but honestly the camera always centering on the player character is always the way to go in games really, unless you know what you're doing.

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    Lost_Remnant

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    #35  Edited By Lost_Remnant

    I didn't. I S-ranked that game. Don't mistake that for any sort of pride or badge of honor since in order to do this I sort of got sick of that fucking game. With the 100% main story constraints being the worst for me as the others were just sort of grindy. The Hickey chase was especially bad and the original gamer achievement was the biggest pain in my dick ever. Those two things specifically have never made me curse or get so angry at a game in a long time. Angry for me is just an occasional "oh for fucks sake" or a light "Auugh" but I was yelling at my TV like it violated my mother or something and I hate that it came to that since I feel like such an idiot for yelling at an inanimate object, even if it is totally being a dick. It knows what it did.

    I also got really annoyed on a particular main story constraint, it's when you are running through Charlestown getting shelled and you have to dismantle these two British ships and then raise the American flag after doing so. The side objectives was not getting detected on the ship and air assassinating a grenadier. No matter what I did, I just could not clear the ship in the confines of how the game teaches you or expects you to handle this kind of task. After about the 8th or 9th attempt I went fuck it, climbed to the very top of the ships, sniped everyone one by one with my bow and moved on. I'd shoot one guy he'd go "what happened!?" move to his friend, snipe him and his friend would exclaim the same, move over, snipe him ad nauseum. I had to turn the game into a weird form of lemmings and felt annoyed I had to cheap the game just to get those side objectives over with.

    Did I mention the Hickey chase? Until I learned a quick path to tackle him, I chased that guy around the same chase path THREE TIMES. It was like I was creating Nascar in colonial America or some crap. Assassin's Creed is a nightmare for contortionist's like me, I S-ranked 1 and 2 so I figured I might as well follow through, but if the next game pulls this kind of stuff again I don't have it in me. I'm no big achievement whore but I do like to S-Rank games I like and I really like Assassin's Creed 3 but there are just some moments so annoying, so ball bustingly irritating I turn on the game in an instant and want to drop kick the disc. I settle for yelling at the TV like a lunatic instead though.

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    Bobafeet

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    #36  Edited By Bobafeet

    During the eavesdropping sequences, especially the ones where you're moving with them. Fuck that noise.

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    TobbRobb

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    #37  Edited By TobbRobb

    The 100% sync has been in it since AC2 right?

    I stopped there somewhere.

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