Korbie

@Shadowbender

You should definitely pick up the trade. It fills in a gap of the backstory (i.e. where are all the modern day Assassins?) and Daniel Cross will probably be in ACIII.

Oh, and the continuation, AC: The Chain, will be coming out soon.

Whew. That's a lot of info for a beginner. Multiple viewings may be required.

That picture is from a game that is almost four years old.

@Shadowbender

Have you read AC: The Fall?

@Shadowbender

I do, especially if we remember the previous puzzles put out by Subject 16. But there's a difference between the first person stuff and the symbols. The symbol puzzles were found while playing as Ezio; they weren't meant to be a significant portion of the game. They also had a bonus upon completing them.
AC:R's puzzles are supposed to a significant part of the game; they're almost the entirety of Desmond's storyline. But puzzles never were this significant in previous instalments; five, ten minutes and they were done. It's fine that puzzles aren't particularly exciting, but we're playing a game called Assassin's Creed, not Animus' Puzzles.
Also, the info we get from it isn't as interesting as before; the particulars of events in Desmond's past, half of which we already knew, don't compare to learning about other Pieces of Eden, or why humans are susceptible to the Apple's power. And his past is spread over five sections when they could have easily been one or two. The whole thing just feels like filler.

@Granger

AC has some cyberpunk elements, but if you're looking for full on Deus Ex, methinks you've gone looking in the wrong franchise.

@Shadowbender

I think it's not that they were bad, it's that it doesn't really fit with AC. It's a sudden genre shift for no strong reason, like the tower defense crap (except those were just plain bad also).

@Shadowbender

Agreed, I wonder how the Assassin team that tried to rescue Desmond in AC1 dressed. All we really know is what a modern hidden blade looks like.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111118174408/assassinscreed/images/a/a0/Modern_hidden_blade.jpg

@Shadowbender

Modern Assassins don't really do as much killing and looking badass as they used to. The Assassins we see in the game are what they look like generally i.e. they dress normally.

Also, ever since they lost control of the Bolshevik Revolution the Assassins have focused more on social change than assassination, though they haven't entirely given up the latter.

You're lucky we like you, Valve. This is just mean.