The effect that the ending of assassins creed 3 had on the series still bothers me to this day (heavy spoilers)

[Multievolution]

I'm one of the people who was actually enjoying the modern day segments (bar revolutions which felt meh to me) Desmond wasn't some amazing character or anything, but I did feel invested in the connected worlds through him. When he died for the most stupid plot point, the games in my opinion, stopped feeling connected, it not only felt like everything up till then had been pointless, but I've never been able to get back into the games since. Black flag being the sole exception, because it's really well made.


I don't know if there's a way they can fix it in my eyes, short of a reboot anyway. It feels like they don't care about there own lore, only wanting to make historical simulator rpgs, which would be fine, if they hadn't started out with this whole Templar assassin storyline.


I'm curious if anyone else thinks this was a mistake? I realise it's quite old these days, though I wish they'd retcon it or make it mean something, I want to care about this as a series beyond just "that looks cool"

 

[Lord Fanny]

That's largely what happens when you are clearly building to something, but aren't going to commit to its natural conclusion

 

[TimPV3]

It killed the series for me. It proved Ubisoft had no idea what they were doing or where they were going with it. It's incredible how all of these billion dollar franchises refuse to just outline their story and stick with it.

 

[VoidShaman]

Hard to say how much of a mistake it was considering the came continues to sell well on a financial level, but from a story-telling perspective it was really dumb. And Ubisoft never knew how to incorporate the future tech stuff of Assassin's Creed very well ever again.

 

[AlexBasch]

During the lockdowns I actually played and finished all the whole Ezio trilogy and AC3. Don't know why they chose to go out like that, but it killed my interest in the following games.

I actually wanted to go through the rest of the series, but it felt like a huge waste of time after 3.

 

[BasilZero]

Starting Black Flag had me wondered how they were gonna continue the modern aspect of the story.


It ended up becoming a generic mess of a no- name, no talk player avatar.

I havent played anything after Black Flag yet but I hope that changes - really wish Desmond wasnt written off like he was.

(I finished Black Flag few months ago - so I am way behind in the series lol)

Gonna be playing Freedom Cry (since it was inaccessible on the PC ver of ACIV) and then Rogue.

 

[scare_crow]

I personally couldn't care less about the overarching LORE of the series. I honestly think it's best just as a series of action RPGs set in different time periods under one banner.

 

[Red Kong XIX]

I also was disappoint by it, but I never really cared about the First Civilization and Modern Day storylines anyway, so not a big loss.

I'm more annoyed that they haven't completely ditched it yet.

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

Meh, i wish they would have dropped all the present day stuff all together even before III. it's the least interesting thing about these games and i usually skip through it as fast as i can to get back to the good stuff.

 

[BossAttack]

Yeah, they basically killed their own story by refusing to commit to the ending they built up. Frankly, the whole assasssin v. templar bit is so overdone at this point, and you can tell by them trying to go even further back to proto-assaasins and proto-templars to try and explore anything not already drawn out.

 

[nsilvias]

they could have built up into a cool modern hitman but with parkour like mirrors edge world then went a blew it

 

[InfinitePotat0]

Im with you. I've since played other AC games but I could care less about the story and at this point they're mindless RPG's in my opinion. I remember I played through 1,2, Brotherhood and Revelations in the span of like a month back in 2012 just to get ready for 3 and the ending made me not even wanna try Black flag at the launch of the PS4/XBOne

 

[skeezx]

i think they had some good faith intentions with it but creatively after that they be like

 

[Arukado]

Same for me, but i stopped being disappointed almost immediately because i dropped the series at that point.

 

[Waffle]

I agree with you. I did enjoy Unity but not for story reasons. The series has been dead to me since.

 

[Mr.Fletcher]

Yeah, an awful decision from a storytelling perspective. They really squandered something that could have been really cool. It's hard to be invested after that.

 

[Kinthey]

The way the have been flailing with the modern day stuff is honestly amazing. Like it seriously mind boggling how they have no clue where to go.

 

[Rosebud]

Can't relate, Odyssey is the best AC in my book.

 

[Jubilant Duck]

It's the sad inevitability that comes from needing the series to not end. They can't ever resolve the Assassin's vs Templar storyline else there'd be no more games. Nor can you carry on with the main character who has been becoming stronger and stronger but you've nowhere left to take him.

That said, there were probably a lot better ways they could have handled it. The Assassin's Creed movie's climax is the killing of Abstergo's CEO which deals the Templar's a huge blow but doesn't end them. That could have been a satisfying conclusion for Desmond, then he carries on in a mentor role to train a new generation of Initiates and rebuild the Brotherhood.

There are ways to make a never-ending story carry on in a satisfying way, after all. Soaps do it all the time.

 

[jakomocha]

Was a huge Assassin's Creed fan as a kid, and ngl the modern stuff was a big part of that. Was super invested in Desmond's story.

Haven't touched an AC game since AC3. I actually liked it but that ending was so fucking bad. And the Lucy stuff was resolved even worse imo

 

[Kouriozan]

All the build up, the mystery, for absolutely nothing, yeah I feel you.
AC3 was also the very last AC I played as well, I mean if they're not going to commit to modern day then just stop the Animus bullshit.

 

[Jiraiya]

I think it was for the better. Now they're just like hey…a bunch of ish has happened throughout history and we're going to jump around times without really having to connect it all.

 

[dex3108]

Modern day story would be fine if they didn't just moved it to comics. Entire Juno plotline had potential and they just ended it in comics. And in general modern day story is really good with some really good characters. Yes i will never stop complaining that Galina Voronina never got to be modern day character.

Galina and her twin sister were born to Medeya Voronina, an Assassin scientist who worked in one of the Assassin Science Cities, facilities that belonged to the Russian Academy of Sciences but were used by the Assassins for research since the early 20th century. The twins grew up in one such compound, located in Protvino, Moscow, which served as their home and hideout. By 1991, it was the only Assassin Science City left, with the others having been eradicated by the nation's increasingly powerful Templars.[1]

Raised as Assassins, Galina and her sister bore witness to the Russian Brotherhood's further decline, which their mother desperately tried to reverse by using the Animus she had built. The experiments, however, proved to be a disaster; the subjects were driven insane and subsequently sealed off in another section of the compound. Not wanting to create even more victims, the twins' mother chose to be the machine's sole test subject, causing her sanity to be slowly frayed away by the Bleeding Effect.[2]

In late December 2012, a sudden power surge caused the twins' mother to experience a vision of Eve, which she took as a sign to redouble her efforts. While the Assassin scientist forced the remaining members of her cell into the Animus, Galina was told of an old Assassin meeting place, the footbridge that connected the old and new properties of the Moscow Zoo. On the instruction of her twin sister, who had learned of the location from their grandmother's journal, Galina began to visit the bridge every full moon, in the hopes that she could contact other Assassins.[2]

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Galina is unique among the modern Assassins in being one of the only ones to wield dual Hidden Blades and can use them efficiently with only direct exposure to the Bleeding Effect as her training. She was able to effortlessly kill her entire cell using only her Hidden Blades.[5] Galina was shown to also be capable in using a sniper rifle to headshot Jasdip Dhami from a considerable distance away.[41]


Just read her Wiki page

Galina Voronina

Galina Voronina (Галина Воронина; born 1983) is a Master Assassin of the Russian Brotherhood of Assassins. She is one of the daughters of the Assassin scientist Medeya Voronina, who succeeded in constructing her own Animus inside an old Assassin laboratory located in Protvino, Moscow. After...

assassinscreed.fandom.com

Imagine if we actually did all those missions in games.
Galina has excellent hand-to-hand combat skills, as seen when she bested the Master Templar Juhani Berg and almost killed him. In their fight, each of their individual blows shattered parts of separate brick walls into pieces.[15] Galina is also a highly skilled marksman, managing to hit many members of the Mexican cartel with a high powered rifle, [citation needed] and is so proficient in stealth that she has been known to enter rooms without making a sound, a fact that unsettles many of her fellow Assassins,[15] Arend Schut in particular. [citation needed] Her physical agility and endurance is remarkable, allowing her to leap great distances and survive falls from great heights, as evidenced by her lack of apparent injury after leaping out of Charlotte's apartment onto another building far away, surviving a fall of at least over 40 feet.[16]

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[SofNascimento]

I'd say it's the other way around. That is, AC3's ending was the consequence, not the cause. The cause is that Ubisoft just wanted to start making more and more AC games, and so they didn't have the interesting in developing an actual overarching story.

I remember I was really interested in what they would do with Juno. I think they "solved" that with a comic book?

 

[Hello Snake]

I also was disappoint by it, but I never really cared about the First Civilization and Modern Day storylines anyway, so not a big loss.

I'm more annoyed that they haven't completely ditched it yet.

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This matches my feelings about it.

If the modern day stuff was better, felt more necessary, I'd want to see more of it. But I don't feel that way. It's just in the way.

 

[Ripthorn]

They did worse with Unity/Syndicate

With Desmond, at least they finished his arc within the game.
In Unity/Syndicate they built the whole modern era thing and then ended it in some random book or comic 😭

 

[AgentOtaku]

Im with you. I've since played other AC games but I could care less about the story and at this point they're mindless RPG's in my opinion. I remember I played through 1,2, Brotherhood and Revelations in the span of like a month back in 2012 just to get ready for 3 and the ending made me not even wanna try Black flag at the launch of the PS4/XBOne

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I kinda went thru a similar arc like... 15 years or so ago. And yeah, even though I've played a decent mount of Origins, I'm completely disinterested in their mythology because they clearly don't give a shit either. These games sells as "historical" open-world RPGs now, that's it.

 

[Jubilant Duck]

I'd say it's the other way around. That is, AC3's ending was the consequence, not the cause. The cause is that Ubisoft just wanted to start making more and more AC games, and so they didn't have the interesting in developing an actual overarching story.

I remember I was really interested in what they would do with Juno. I think they "solved" that with a comic book?

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They did but hilariously (sloppily) it also tied into Syndicate, so the modern day sections of Syndicate make mention of stuff you wouldn't have any clue about if you hadn't kept up with the comics, nor would you understand what all the fuss about Syndicate's historical mcguffin was given it's never mentioned again in the games.

That said, if your do keep up with the expanded universe fiction, the story's pretty cool. Would have been cool-er in a game, but still...

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

3 killed the series for me.

I only pick them up every now and then just based on setting(Black Flag, Odyssey, probably Shadows)

 

[PAFenix]

At the time, I was very disappointed. Black Flag still kept my attention even with the modern day stuff, but ever since then I just couldn't bring myself to care. So when I played Unity/Rogue/Syndicate, I practically just button mashed/skipped present day stuff to go back to what I really wanted to see.

Replaying Black Flag and I feel the same way now. Just get me back to my pirating, please.

 

[I KILL PXLS]

I'm with you. I didn't so much care about the death of Desmond because, as you said, he wasn't the most interesting, but it signified the death of the modern day story. I had played every AC through 3 because of the modern day through line and though I played and enjoyed Black Flag that's when it was obvious they didn't care about it anymore and when i dropped off. I couldn't be bothered to come back every year without that connective tissue unless the setting in particular interested me (which is one of the big reasons why I came back for Origins).

 

[medyej]

It was pretty disappointing for me. It felt like they just rushed to throw all the present day stuff to the wayside when they realized they will never commit to making a full game of it that everything was leading to.

 

[Bizzquik]

That's largely what happens when you are clearly building to something, but aren't going to commit to its natural conclusion

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Well said.
A modern-day assassin learning from the past to become more powerful in the present is a wonderful mix of sci-fi and history.
But apparently too much of the audience thought the modern-day stuff was boring and time-consuming. So Ubisoft bailed. And there hasn't been much of a through line to tie the series together since.
Instead of being interested to see what will happen next, we're just playing another mostly-unrelated annual installment ; Ubisoft's CoD.

 

[Apollo]

Agreed. I was HUGELY into Assassin's Creed all the way through AC3…. and AC3 ended up being the last AC I've played through to the end. I loved the game overal but how that plotline was handled really burned me. I keep wanting to get back into the series but it's difficult for me to honestly.

 

[LossAversion]

It was a baffling decision. We spent all that time training Desmond to be an assassin and it was all for nothing.

To make matters worse, the few missions that we DID get to play as Desmond in Assassin's Creed III were actually fun. An entire modern day game with a Mirror's Edge x Deus Ex aesthetic would have been really cool.

Everything they've done with the modern day story after III has been completely pointless and directionless. They should have turned Assassin's Creed into an anthology series a decade ago. The modern day stuff does a complete disservice to the historical stories and characters that they craft. Every time I'm pulled out of ancient Greece, Egypt, etc. it feels like a waste of time and it just hurts what could be some really cool stories without all of that baggage attached to it.

 

[Multievolution]

Well said.
A modern-day assassin learning from the past to become more powerful in the present is a wonderful mix of sci-fi and history.
But apparently too much of the audience thought the modern-day stuff was boring and time-consuming. So Ubisoft bailed. And there hasn't been much of a through line to tie the series together since.
Instead of being interested to see what will happen next, we're just playing another mostly-unrelated annual installment ; Ubisoft's CoD.

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Though I'm sure it will never happen now, they could have allowed a different team to handle it within the company, give it a slightly different branding, and had a couple missions take place in the memories of others that aren't exciting or large enough for their own game, but instead they proved they didn't trust their own franchise enough to try.

It's one thing to play it safe, and another entirely to try and be inventive, then pivot and hope no one notices.

I'm excited for shadows for example, but even then, I can't help but think about what could have been and get slightly disappointed, I think they've poisoned the brand for me.

 

[Aiqops]

They wasted the modern storyline and after that should have focused on the templar, creed storyline throughout the ages and completely drop any type of modern plot.

 

[NCR Ranger]

I had dabbled in a few games here and there, but the past few months decided to give the whole series a go and have so far made it to Black Flag. Now with said said I guess I am part of the problem, because I fucking loathe the modern day stuff. I have since I played the first game at release and finally going through all of them up to Black Flag I think has actually made my dislike deeper. I was wondering where they would go after AC3, which is why I took a glance at this thread, but sounds like they went no where. Kind of disappointing. If I have to suffer though them I was hoping they might get slightly better.

 

[Miles Iz Ded]

Does anyone know why they killed him off? I vaguely remember that Kristin Bell didn't want to continue, was her character important to Desmond's story?

 

[JhOnNY_HD]

Black flag creepy puzzles to unlock the adam/eve secret cutscene was the TOP of the franchise. After that is empty shell with icons on the map

 

[Poltergust]

I know the modern day stuff in the early games wasn't the most popular, but if a story is going to have a specific framing device then it's very important to commit to that framing device, or else the resulting disconnection risks alienating the audience.

There are times that you can change it up but the way AC3 did it is ABSOLUTELY not that.

If this was how it was gonna be then the modern day scenes should never have been included to begin with. It was that damaging.

 

[gforguava]

The weirdest thing is that they didn't completely ditch the modern stuff as time went on.

Desmond wasn't much of anything but at least the idea of building towards a modern day set game had great potential but that leads to some degree of finality and they didn't want that, fair enough. But to then keep the modern day stuff going is just so off-putting, it is this awkward, vestigial thing that is attached to the games that at best is completely forgettable and at worst ruins the vibe every time it rears its head.

At no point do Odyssey or Valhalla benefit from the concept, it is a waste of time and effort.

 

[psynergyadept]

I feel the exact same way! It didn't kill the series for me but now the Assassins Creed games are just historical fiction set pieces; the current day story just gets messier with each entry and I just can't be bothered to pay attention.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Did they wrap up the new modern day story they started in Origins? I know it continued across a few games.

 

[Greywaren]

At this point I'd honestly prefer it if they dropped the present storyline altogether. I'm fine with Assassin's Creed being just leaps between historical settings with little to no connection with each other.

 

[behOemoth]

Did they wrap up the new modern day story they started in Origins? I know it continued across a few games.

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More or less, it began quite good in origins and the Ubisoft had no idea anymore what to do in odyssey and in Valhalla

Spoiler: spoiler?

She's with Desmond (or his spirit) in the animus. The templars have Desmond's body. It was teased quite often but nothing happened yet.

 

[Niklel]

I dropped the series after 4 (despite Black Flag actually being my favourite AC), so don't really know what they are doing in more recent games.
But present day stuff was boring in AC4. I can't say Desmond's story was very exciting, but it was interesting enough for me to care about what was going to happen in the next AC game. The pirates story in Black Flag was contained, had a beginning and a really good ending. And with present day story being a meaningless afterthought, the game gave nothing to make me hyped about future games' stories.

 

[Rewind]

I haven't played an AC game since 3 because of this 😂. Over a decade later and I'm considering if I want to play all of them from 4 now.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

The problem ultimately was the fact that the games were seemingly building up to the idea of you playing as Desmond in AC3 only, but Ubisoft realized the historical setting is what people play AC for, not the modern day and they walked that back.

I was super into the modern day stuff, but after AC3 Ubisoft has no idea what to do with it and imo the biggest problem to me is how meandering the modern day portions of the games have become.

I think the whole point of AC Infinity which is this portal Ubisoft wants to use for all AC games Shadows onwards is to relegate the modern day portions there, and honestly I am for it. I am just done with AC's modern day because it all just feels like a waste of time and is not building towards anything where as the Desmond games seemed to have some kinda idea of where Desmond's story was going even if it didn't execute properly.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

Does anyone know why they killed him off? I vaguely remember that Kristin Bell didn't want to continue, was her character important to Desmond's story?

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They made Lucy into a triple agent, which ulitmately makes very little sense because Kristin Bell didn't want to continue. She was mostly Desmond's love interest, but as a person integral to the plot killing her in AC:B made her not actually that important and the triple agent thing was just an excuse they could use to get rid of her.

A lot of people theorized that the option Minerva gives Desmond at the end for not activating the device and freeing Juno was what the actual ending of Assassins Creed (the series) was.

Where the 2012 solar flare happens killing most of the world, Desmond becomes a Jesus Christ like figure, but history repeats itself and people twist his messages and words to suit their own agendas.

But the actual ending that happens of Desmond killing himself to save the world from the solar flare (which Valhalla undoes because the solar flare has now apparently just been delayed and now Desmond is a computer) allows them to make more AC games