@FluxWaveZ said:

Why wouldn't you make this a poll...

It is one now.

EDIT: My vote goes for Ezio on this one, not because of the swagga, but because of his overall arc. As unnecessary as Revelations may have been as a game experience, I really appreciated what it did with old-man Ezio. It reminded me of Old Snake from MGS4 in a way.

With that said, I see no reason why they couldn't pursue a similar arc with Connor that was just as rewarding, if not more so. Granted I haven't beaten ACIII yet, and the way Ryan talked about it on TNT made it sound like the game ends with a certain finality, but halfway through Sequence 12 I'm still warm to the possibility of hanging with Connor for another game.

I voted for Altair, playing AC1 again, he actually does have a character. I don't know what people were talking about. Just because he isn't the roguish type of character that is very charismatic doesn't mean he sucks. I found the stories about the people you are assassinating much more interesting than the 20 people you kill on Ezio's quest for vengeance. They're was more grey area when it came to why you were killing them and it sort of brought some discussion of morality into your actions.

I hated Ezio. He's like, the '' generic swashblucker-type '' of heroes. Also, his flamboyant-1500-Batman outfit didn't cut it for me. And I disliked Roma. It was bland.

I'm all for Connor.

Definitely Jack Ruby for the BALLS OF STEEL it takes to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on camera. Plus he gave all the conspiracy nuts plenty of ammunition to validate their JFK assassination conspiracies. Not that I condone shooting anyone even if they "allegedly" killed the president.

Altair actually had a character arc.
 
I mean, its not like he's a good character or anything, but at least he's got that going for him.

@Nottle said:

I voted for Altair, playing AC1 again, he actually does have a character. I don't know what people were talking about. Just because he isn't the roguish type of character that is very charismatic doesn't mean he sucks. I found the stories about the people you are assassinating much more interesting than the 20 people you kill on Ezio's quest for vengeance. They're was more grey area when it came to why you were killing them and it sort of brought some discussion of morality into your actions.

Exactly. One of the many reasons why I liked 1 more than 2. Altair's story was great.

Altair's is one of redemption. But more specifically, of an arrogant young man on a pilgrimage, and in the end, become the wise grandmaster to change history forever. I think it fits with the Crusades theme very well. As the plot progresses, Altair learns that his quest is for truth and not blind following of the creed, hence the game's title. His changed worldview convinced Malik, the one who lost an arm because of Altair's ignorance and has since moved on to become an informant of the assassins, to forgive him. He said something along the lines of "I would not accept your apology for the things that happened in the past, because you are not the same Altiar I knew back then." That line was gold.

I find Ezio on the other hand, boring. He's a wise-cracking hero and a Hollywood one at that. And all of a sudden he became mature and masterful in Brotherhood. Revelations did nothing with his character at all. He did not deserve three games.

I have yet played AC3 but I feel like I'm going to really like Connor's character, if he really is naive and idealistic, and in some point of the story, gets smacked in the face by harsh reality. As of now, I'm voting Altair because he's one of my favourite game characters.

btw, I don't like what Revelations did to Altair.

I just kind of felt like Connor was a naive dick through the whole game. He was more of a pawn than anything else, and it was never clear whether he was helping anything or making it worse. At least Ezio rebuilt the Assassin's order, and retired being a complete badass. Connor just seemed like he was yelling about everything all of the time. I might be inviting some criticism here, but I honestly liked the Haytham character more than Connor.

I just kind of felt like Connor was a naive dick through the whole game. He was more of a pawn than anything else, and it was never clear whether he was helping anything or making it worse. At least Ezio rebuilt the Assassin's order, and retired being a complete badass. Connor just seemed like he was yelling about everything all of the time. I might be inviting some criticism here, but I honestly liked the Haytham character more than Connor.

@themangalist: I haven't played the PSP games so my experience with Altair is limited, but I really enjoyed his treatment in Revelations. It humanized him in a way that made me actually care about him as a character, and also served as a powerful contrast for the path Ezio eventually went down.

@kgb0515: I think that's the best part about III, the way they make everything suddenly become super gray and morally ambiguous. Even if the Templars of the present are still major assholes, they succeeded in turning the Templars of the 1770's into sympathetic villains. I actually felt guilty about killing some of them.

Agent 47

Utta-er for now and ever!

Yeah, I guess the Templars weren't so blatantly evil (with the exception of Charles Lee), which poses the question of whether or not the two factions should even be fighting each other anymore. Haytham has a pretty nice speech later in the game that I won't spoil for those who haven't played it, but the two sides seemed to be fighting for a somewhat common goal. Why can't we all just get along? :-) Also, is it just me, or does Hatham remind anyone of a more ruthless version of Roger Moore?

I would take a Haytham Templar spin off as the next game, really fell in love with his character during the Connor/Haytham team up missions

@themangalist: I don't even remember any of Revelations story. What did they do to him?

I think there are two things people look for in a character to consider the character good. Most people look for likeablity: something relatable, charismatic, funny, cool, or charming about a character drives the likeability, thats what Ezio had. If he had no arc to his story people would have still liked Ezio because the first 10 minutes playing as him he's a pretty cool guy.

Altair on the other hand has layers to him. This is what I look for in a good character. Someone with a past, an ethos or an arc. Altair's strength as a character relies more on his arc than pure personality. His conflict is a little more man vs himself because he has to see through the lies he's been told. I always find those types of characters more interesting. A character that has to take a second to think about whats going on, that has to struggle with their own thoughts.

It's sort of why Raiden is one of my favorite MGS characters, he isn't some super cool hero. He's sort of messed up, Snake has this as well, but he is portrayed somewhat more heroically, or at least, other people look up to him. He definitely changes over the coure of 3 games.

Altair, I think I'm in the minority of people who actually like Assassin's Creed 1 the most in the series. Like how Patrick mentioned on the Bombcast how Assassin's Creed 2 and beyond got comic book crazy I liked the more serious tone of AC1.

Hey what about girl from Liberation? Still need to play that but she seemed interesting

@Nottle said:

I don't even remember any of Revelations story. What did they do to him?

Revelations added nothing to the "wise man" Altair's backstory. But it did change his face and voice to a "I'm a middle-eastern guy!" accent. The parts about him getting old and going back to lead a coup against the bad assassin grandmaster was alright (old guys are sexy), but him being the one who invented the portable wrist gun? No. That's just stupid (and lazy, mechanically).

I think there are two things people look for in a character to consider the character good. Most people look for likeablity: something relatable, charismatic, funny, cool, or charming about a character drives the likeability, thats what Ezio had. If he had no arc to his story people would have still liked Ezio because the first 10 minutes playing as him he's a pretty cool guy.

Altair on the other hand has layers to him. This is what I look for in a good character. Someone with a past, an ethos or an arc. Altair's strength as a character relies more on his arc than pure personality. His conflict is a little more man vs himself because he has to see through the lies he's been told. I always find those types of characters more interesting. A character that has to take a second to think about whats going on, that has to struggle with their own thoughts.

I also enjoy arcs in stories, and it's weird to think there are people who don't. People say ACII was about Ezio growing up, but I think it failed horribly. I don't think there's much of him to change to begin with, he's really not that flawed. And even in his old age he's still bedding women and having a good time. I get he's a smooth guy, I just don't think he has 3 games worth of stories to tell.

To your point, I don't relate to Ezio, but I see him being the Gary Stue for many. Everyone wants to be a cool duder pulling off awesome assassin moves, a lady-killer, and one who could change the course of history. He's the ultimate guy power fantasy. Gary Stues/Mary Sues are ALWAYS signs of a bad story (though they do have mass appeal, which is sad).

I liked Altair the best. He was a pro from the beginning and only his ego got in the way, so he had to work his way back up. 
 
He was, so far, the most interesting to me. I'm not as into the naivete of Ezio, and I haven't played the new one yet so I don't know anything about Connor.

Ezio by a mile.

Agent 47

@kgb0515 said:

I just kind of felt like Connor was a naive dick through the whole game. He was more of a pawn than anything else, and it was never clear whether he was helping anything or making it worse.

I think this is the biggest narrative shortcoming of ACIII. Throughout the game they hint that there is much more going on with the Templar's than has been revealed, and maybe even that we've been on the wrong side of the conflict the whole time, but nothing ever comes of it. I hope they address that more in future installments because we kinda got a non-ending that answered nothing

@Onkel_Apan said:

Agent 47

THE ORIGINAL ASSASSIN.

@themangalist: Perhaps likable was the wrong word for me to use for Ezio. Gary Stue sounds about right. He's just cool. He's a play boy. He's someone that most people wouldn't mind being/ hanging out with.