Assassin's Creed 2 DLC detailed: fills in missing chapters, adds 'spring-jump'

It's funny really, I see ALOT of people in here that always said DLC is a good thing. Now they see why it's so bad cause it happened to a game they loved! Guess what? Expect this to happen in the future, you supported it, I didn't, now thanks to people like you it will become normal!

If Fallout New Vegas comes out and they charge you 5 bucks per sidequest, you can be happy knowing you caused it to happen.

I was expecting $10 each, what a bargain at $4 and $5.

I hate when people call a 20 hour game "short". It's fucking ridiculous.

And this is exactly the time of bullshit I brought up in the Heavy Rain article. This is exactly what I'm afraid of for that game, and single player games in general. The idea is to make us pay $10 more for the full game. I don't care how much you love getting it in the ass from publishers, but that's what shit like this is. Fallout 3 did it right because like someone already said they were clearly add-ons. But selling you part of the story after you already payed $60 for the game is just greedy and slimy.

I am officially never going to read another comment on this board again! It does nothing but piss me off to see comments bitching about DLC! You morons who think this content has been stripped out of the game to be sold to you later are f-ing ridiculous! If you think you are somehow being ripped off I feel sorry for you! Vote with your dollars, it's the American way! I for one thought the game was amazing and I can't wait for more content! To me it is a great Idea to add more missions without attempting to change the game you have already played and finished. And if they have to start working on content prior to release of the main game so I don't have to wait a year to get it then so be it!

I hope the delayed port for PC will have this for free. : )

Jesper Kyd did such a fucken awesome job on the music for AC2.
bought it off of amazon. :D

Got to love DLC making people whine... from post #1 and sprinkled throughout. Its optional for one and buying ACII, straight off the shelf, and taking it home gets you a very full and lengthy title, even before the DLC. Completing everything, I think I hit about 35 hours.

At any rate, the DLC looks absolutely awesome... and I like the prices for each. I was expecting $9.99 for each one, but less than $9 for both is perfect. I said it before and I'll say it again... Ubi is one of the few developers, along with Criterion and Mm, doing DLC right this generation - take note Crapcom and Lucasarts.

it makes more sense to label them chapter 12 and 13 because that's where they fit in with the story. My guess is they wanted to put more time on the main story. Then later do the final touch ups on other content that can wait and release those as DLC. If your a fan of the series you have to buy these cause there so cheap.

Why do people become so incredibly unreasonable and hostile when it comes to DLC? Think about this.

1) Are we castigating Ubisoft for PLANNING to support the game with further DLC? Ubi Montreal is a massive development studio -- implying that they should linearly create content and not start on DLC until the game is done is unrealistic and more likely to lead to delayed, haphazard additions (see: Mass Effect 1). Besides, as many developers have pointed out, a game is never done. When is it done?

2) How many reviews of Assassin's Creed 2 complained that it didn't have enough content or that there was a weird, gaping hole in the story where content was oh-so-obviously removed? Yes, there is a gap in the linear DNA memory sequence, but in a story that spans about 40 years and comes to a clear conclusion, it makes sense for these side-stories to take place before the game's climax. Somehow, I doubt there would be as many complaints had these missions taken place as memory 15-16 and just hadn't been on the menu before.

3) Why does the existence of DLC imply that something was removed? Is the game finished, put in a box and, since the pieces fit just so, one can only take things out?

4) Even if the content WAS planned to be sold later on, how does that affect your judgment of the game's value? "Oh, there's more? Well, now there's not enough in the game anymore!" I'd like to see why the original game suffered because it didn't have this stuff in it since day one, or why the cost of this DLC is so off-putting to people who would like to have more of AC2.

5) There are plenty of examples of terrible, overpriced and unnecessarily split DLC offers -- and hey, this may very well be one of them if the missions suck and offer poor value for the price -- but "they planned this all along," or "they designed the story to accommodate it" or "I am entitled to everything because I bought the game" aren't very convincing. Please tell me if I'm out of line here, but don't bother if you're going to paint a doomsday scenario and suggest I endorse paying $10 for endings and so forth.

Part of me regrets selling AC2 immediately b/c I knew these were coming out but I didn't know they were going to be so reasonably priced. I was expecting a $10 per DLC shafting a la Fallout 3. But on the other hand, this DLC doesn't seem very integral to the story even though it takes place in the middle of the campaign... Should be pretty fun though so congrats to those who will get to play em.

And to those complaining about the DLC not being a part of the main game.. Dudes, what was on-disc was COMPLETELY worth the $65 I paid and is definitely worth the $40 Amazon is charging for it right now NEW. I got about 25 hours of gameplay out of that game by the time I beat it and got around 96% completion. AC2 is GOTY for sure. If you've bought it and are not satisfied then perhaps the sandbox action genre isn't for you..

First let me say, I often complain about DLC, let me say further, when I beat sequence 11 I was pissed off. I saw this exact thing coming. I couldn't stop talking about how mad it made me, to all my friends.

But honestly, in retrospect, im not mad at all. Assassins Creed 2, was a valuable product. I got my monies worth. The game was not lacking content, by my standards. The chapters covered by the DLC, are clearly side stories, and not necessary component of the games narrative.

Furthermore, these DLC packs, are quite substantial. They contain over a GB of memory, which indicates there was a lot of resourses put into them. In comparison, the Fall out DLC 3 pack, were about 300-650 MBs.

Let me say further, Assassins Creed 2, was a 30 hour game. It featured 11 DNA sequences. Varying in length. These DLC packs, have more missions then most (if not all) of the games sequences. So I imagine they will atleast take a few hours to beat (individually). Beyond that, there is also empty DNA sequence space, under secret locations. Three if I remember correctly. What I do remember for such is, when the first secret location in the game is found. A tutorial screen pops up showing the legend emblem for Assassins tombs. But the same screen shows an emblem for "Templar tombs."

With three secret locations left, and no templar tombs to be found. I reason these three tombs will also be found in the DLC packs.

Finally, they are 3.99, and 4.99 respectively. This doesn't appear to be some sort of warped means at nickel and diming us. These DLC seem to be a really good value.

Its true, planning and early development of the DLC ran concurrently with the full game. But its not like the full game is lacking. Its not like these packs are microtransactions. And its not like they were fully realized and developed before the game launched. Again, I often critize DLC, even in the face of wide spread praise, for lacking the value that we see in a full priced game. But this appears, according to everything I can see from where I stand, like a really great value.

I've asked this to personal friends, but I'd love for a lawyer or a Joystiq editor to read this:


Honestly, is it illegal in regards to what Ubisoft is doing with AC2? I mean this whole heartedly, not talking out of my ass. Let me explain.

Let's say you go to Target or Walmart to buy AC2. If you beat the game, get every feather, armor, painting, etc... under stats the game is only 97% complete. You must purchase two copies of the game, the $80 limited edition from GameStop, and the Best Buy version to actually 100% the game.

Is this not fraud? They are selling at game that if purchased, based on Ubisoft's own tracking system, you can not fully complete without buying the most expensive version AND a second additional copy.

When I finished the game and did EVERYTHING, every mission, treasure, feather, etc. My stats were 97% complete. The only way to get to 100% sync was to have all three bonus maps, two from the GS limited edition, and one packed in with AV2 at Best Buy. The ONLY way to get the map from BB is to buy the copy, hence, you need to spend $140 to truly finish the game.

Swagman

If you've been reading my comments here you know I more or less agree with you on a lot of points - it's a great game. AC2 provides a good amount of play time, and an enjoyable game experience, but I still have to cry foul on the fact that two chapters were removed for sale at a later date. Seeing two corrupted memories in the game makes me feel like something isn't there that should be.

"Only in videogaming, can a publisher practically gift wrap a bargain for consumers, and people still find a reason to cry foul about it."

Only in video games can a publisher pull this kind of crap. If you paid for, and watched a movie on Blu Ray, let's say a three hour long movie, that had a 20 minute stretch of a blank screen with the words "footage corrupted" on the screen. Two months later, you are given the opportunity to buy that footage for a small fee - sound fair? Now let's say the movie didn't have that blank spot, but two months later, a short film set in the same universe came out for sale - sounds a lot more reasonable to me.

The only reason a publisher CAN pull this kind of crap is if people accept it and pay for it. Publishers and developers are businesses - cold-hearted snake-in-the-grass businesses. They're going to try anything they can to make a buck. Some of it works out well for the companies, and the consumers. Some of it scares the crap out of me - I don't want to reach a point in gaming where I pay $60 for a full game, and find I have to pay more for the ending, and this AC2 content feels an awful lot like a step in that direction.

I think people a complaining about a game that the developers tried to keep as an immersive experience. They could have easily had the numbers go straight through to the end. Then later came out with DLC that occurred during the campaign. Would anyone have cried foul? Probably, but it might not have been as bad. Instead they had a long term plan. Here's the game, and we anticipate 2 DLC's, so instead of making it feel tacked on, we'll add two "corrupt memories" that are not actually required to know the story, but rather flesh it out. It keeps with the theme of the game. If you read the rest of the Joystiq site you'll see that Take-Two felt that their DLC took to long to come out. So you essentially have a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If you come out with DLC right away people say that they held stuff back to force (though I'm not aware of the actual coercion on Ubisoft's part) you to by it for the complete game. Or if they don't come out for 11 months, it's people complaining that they didn't support the game with DLC, or worse...no one cares.

In short, if you think what they are doing is unethical (it's not illegal, or fraud or anything like that, they promised you a game and they delivered), then stop buying it, or boycott Ubisoft. If you like it, like I do, buy and have fun.

I need this game still.

I was extremely satisfied with AC2, much more then the first installment. The new DLC priced under $10.00 is wonderful in my book, even if it's only for a few more hours of gameplay, I'm still excited about the pricing.

I'm also glad Ubisoft started up Uplay, earn Points for playing Ubisoft games, starting with AC2 and you can redeem those points for what could be MS Points/ PSN wallet or PC dollars spent to purchase those extra DLC items.

Ubisoft has really done something here and I hope it doesn't stop just with AC2, lowered priced DLC content and Uplay are just great things to happen to the gaming industry and I hope to see other Publishers looking at this as a good thing and not as a bad business move.

Do you people not have the intelligence to realize that memories 12 and 13 were never ment to part of the main game, the only reason that they made them memory files.... wait for it..... Would have been so the could add DLC -.-'
The two DLC packs have minimum attachment to the main story, Its just a chance for Ubisoft to make some extra cash, and AC2 players own the shit out of some raids!
So stop bitching, you finish the game, oh shit, you have to spend $10 to get two more dlc packs o.0 Cheap fucks.

It's not just about having an extra two chapters. I am upset that they didn't put in a replay feature like in AC1. Unless they did it the first time, or buy the DLC, how are people going to complete the Fly Swatter Achievment. If you are a perfectionist like me, then you need that 5G I have 8 Xbox 360 games and I have completed every achievment on all of them. I don't want to be missing 5G for kicking a stupid guard on the stupid flying machine.

Is this the same content that was in the Pre order the collectors version of the game?

If so to all those that disagree with the methods I think it's a great idea.
To get these 'extra contents' in the game all you needed to do was pre order the game. You should be thank ful it's coming out as DLC at all. Alot of people paid X amount of dollars to get the 'collectors' edition with all of these. And now you guys get it too..
But in all fairness I think it works better that anyone can now get it as DLC.
But I think they should release a 'full' version or something.. Like they did for FABLE II with the Game of the Year Edition.

I do agree that Price should be more fair, but how cheap do you want it, a 5 minute song costs 0.99 cents.

Sorry Mike, I see the point that you are trying to make and had AC2 been merely a 10 hr game, I would be inclined to agree with you. However it was not. It was a complete game that gave me about 25hrs of enjoyment. I like the marketing/gaming tactic that Ubisoft is taking by offering DLC that takes place within the game and not after the main story. DLC after the story always has a 'who cares' type of feeling to it, where this feels more relevant because it takes place during missing time.

The original game was more than worth the price. The DLC adds relevance to that game and is priced at a fraction of what other DLC costs. How can you find anything to complain about?

Bitch and whine if they do as you fear they might in the future - that is leave out a large quantity of relevant content to sell to you afterward - but your misgivings at this time are completely misplaced.

You more than received your money's worth for the original game - this content is sandwiched within the game to make it more enjoyable rather than just throwaway missions. (ie. Force Unleashed). Stop whining and give credit where it is due.

the fact that all of you are accussing ubisoft of intentionally trying to "rip us off" is a load of crap. The two corrupted files were not completed in time for the games release, rather then pushing back the release date 2 months or just saying screw it, ubisoft decided to release the game on time and make the corrupted files DLC. If you dont like it, dont buy them, simple as that.

I would like to say I am glad there are a few people out there, like myself, who understand the main story never was made to have sequences 12 and 13 be complete sequences. That was with in Assassin's Creed 1, there were corrupt or missing data files that could not be accessed, and opened.

In Assassin's Creed 1 we the player never said, hey where's all the content ripped from the game, all the missing sequences and corrept data that we never saw, why because it wasn't part of the main story line.

In Assassin's Creed 2 the sequences 12 and 13 were designed to not be part of the main story, it doesn't carry the main line of the story forward. If Ubisoft had decided, they could have just left these two sequences out, and no one would have complained. Because why? Because they aren't part of the main story, and so in not having them, we still had a complete story, a complete game. Ubisoft has just been kinda enough to decide and go back and build these to sequences, and chances are, they at original concepting, story writing, design, and what not were NEVER going to actually make them, but sometime after everything was solidified, and green lighted for the game, possibly in the last months before release someone said, hey these two sequences, maybe we should think about what happens, and release them later at a decent price. There is DLC content out there that costs alot more, and doesn't give you nearly as much.

Coming from a consumer, who understands how much it actually takes to concept, storyboard, pre-produce, produce (modeling, uving for texturing, texturing, programing, constraining, lighting, voice acting, recording, animating, rendering, research and development), and post producing (composting, clean-up, and what not), the was a great amount of time and thought that went into the game, and how the story was told. And the DLC probably took longer than anyone would under stand, to get through the same process and ready for release.

So really, just because this DLC is labled Sequences 12 and 13, are you really going to complain. There was a complete movie quality story, rendered out in your game that you bought off the self, and it was called Assassin's Creed 2. Now we are getting the couple "mini" specials, the DLC content, to fill in a couple non-necissary blanks as a couple quality side adventures, Sequences 12 and 13. Give us, and everyone a break and realize this stuff isn't easy to make, so $4 or $5 more for extra content isn't much to give for the hours upon hours these people who made this game have put in. Not to mention these people probably put in near two years of day in day out 8 to 12 hour days probably after only a couple months off from the first, and are sitting the same for Assassin's Creed 3, just a couple months off then back to work. These people don't take many vaccations I am sure, they are very dedicated and won't miss much of production. So relax.

the only problem i have with it is when u have completed it you cant replay the missions unless u go through the whole game again