As I mentioned in my first post, this game was the beginning. when I came back to ACII it was to get to grips with the controls again before jumping into Brotherhood after a year away from the series. Going into this refresh I knew I was missing a few achievements and a load of feathers and I wasn’t so keen on hunting for feathers despite their heartbreaking meaning to the story. What I was keen on, while familiarizing myself with the combat again, was trying to disarm a guard wielding a long weapon and leg-sweeping him and four of his pals with that weapon for the “Sweeper” achievement.
Luckily when I booted the game up and Ezio stood before the Villa Auditore, just steps away from the Monteriggioni combat training arena where I would unknowingly learn the skills I needed to get back into the game. Indeed, without training in “Long Weapons” at the Villa one cannot sweep his opponents. I dug into the other combat techniques I’d yet to practice and found it was all second nature. I guess after spending enough hours in a game – no matter how long ago you played it – muscle memory will recall the controls within minutes.
Ezio was bounding from rooftop to rooftop, diving off perches, and clutching at ledges within a half hour, but movement wasn’t my concern. one eye turned down on the street looking for a group of guards, the other scouring the roofs for a path to the next building free of guards.
No guards down, one up. Perch left. Sprint. No, don’t dive off. Bail! Cacthaledgecatchaledge! Snag!
A moment of relief, but I was over-eager and Ezio’s hand releases the trellis. He drops two stories, clutching for the wall in front of him. Landing on a bridge, a wince trembles through his body.
There are more guards down here anyway.
Ezio slowly navigates the throng of Firenze, seemingly ignorant of the “assassino” in their midst. Long black, red, and gold robes shift through the crowd as Ezio finds his mark. Two packs of Borgia bastardi, four guarding a landing on the other side of the bridge, the other five marching toward them. He drifts to the bridge’s railing. Do any of them have a spear? one in each group. nine is too many. Timing has to be just so. 20 feet away from each other. 15. Ten… Ezio breaks into the crowd at a full sprint. He marks the patrolman with the spear and pounces on the man, sinking his hidden blade into the man’s throat as his group levels with the four landing guards. The crowd implodes as the guards, including three knights, round on Ezio.
Getting to his feet over the body, Ezio makes a swipe at the dead dog’s spear, but catches a blade on the thick leather above his collarbone. another surge of pain. The eight guards need to be thinning out before he can grab the spear. Unless…
He pulls his sword and parries a few blows from an attacking guard.
Right slice; chop; over the head. The guard staggers and Ezio lunges, driving his blade’s tip into man’s the soft, unprotected belly. Seven. Pushing the body away, another guard swings high and hard. Ezio blocks just as hard, kicks the man back, and sheathes his sword to its winged hilt. his wrists flex and propel the two hidden blades out with a flourish. an axe – and the fully armored brute swinging it – approaches him.
Blades were a bad choice.
The axe lands off-kilter against Ezio’s chest forcing him back. He reaches for his butcher’s blade, but too slow. The axe comes down on his shoulder, his hand immediately reaching up to it as his backs away. Blades it is. He throws his hand at the brute and catches the axe’s handle, planting a knee into the groin and yanking the axe away. as the brute doubles over, Ezio heaves the axe behind his head then throws his weight behind it. as the brute rises again, the axe sinks down into his collar, separating his neck and shoulder. Releasing the axe, Ezio nudges the body away from him, taunting the others. Six.
I need the spear.
Another of the men steps up brandishing a dagger, his movement fluid and energetic. He feints a lunge, then steps at Ezio sinking the dagger through his robes once. it glances off his armor, grazing the flesh. Again it comes. this time the dagger rips into the flesh, and blood begins to leak out.
Ezio deflects the third strike. Stepping in between the man’s outstretched arms, he cocks both arms then plunges both of his hidden blades into the man’s throat. Three, four, five, six times; alternating hands with each stab. The man drops. Five.
Another group – with two knights – arrives. Seven.
As the crowd continued to scream, a spear-carrying enemy from the new group approaches, thrusts, and comes away empty-handed in one fluid motion.
Ezio dodges away from the advancing group.
He’s surrounded.
Ezio whips the spear out and a round to clear some space. then, as the guards must feel they have him cornered, he sends the tip of the spear whirring through ten legs. as the guards bewilderedly get to their feet the tell-tale *pop* sounds and (Achievement unlocked: 10G – Sweeper) appears onscreen.
And with that, Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the S-rank diaries. this, at least, gives you a good idea of what to expect from the proper “live” posts.
These diaries may come across, occasionally, as love letters to the games they are written about; the pages of your diary you’d rather no one ever saw. but here I am, sharing them with everyone. Rest assured that they all won’t read like fan fiction in the future, but taking a spin at engaging with game worlds and everything that inhabits them will often be too tempting.
Of course, I wasn’t merely missing “Sweeper”. What came next, however, was remarkably less interesting, i.e., locating feathers. About 70 of them. now, usually I hate developers for padding their games with collectibles, but it’s awfully hard to be angry when I have to search for them through places like 15th century Italia.
When I completed ACII over a year ago, my deceased little brother’s affinity for feathers was the one tragic, story-related hole in my Assassin’s Creed heart. I made a hollow promise to myself to come back for it, but here I was. one of my three remaining achievements down. The prospect of leaving Assassin’s Creed II’s world with Ezio’s grieving mother even a bit less sad seeming pushed me more than anything. one strategy guide and four hours later I’d unlocked the Auditore cape, which makes Ezio notorious in all cities. Great if you like a challenge, but then you just spent a significant amount of time hunting for virtual feathers.
(Achievement unlocked: 30G – In Memory of Petruccio)
Lastly, I needed to parade around the various beautiful locales in Assassin’s Creed II while donning the Auditore cape. Inconsequential as it was, this brief trip afforded me time to reminisce about my time with the game. What stuck out most is how I took for granted what it meant for Ezio to be an assassin in world with such need for someone like him. Not necessarily an assassin, mind you, but someone willing to stand up against the powers that be. after such an arduous journey spurred on by loss, it was nice to wrap it up entirely. as Ezio mounted a horse and galloped off through the mountains, the final ACII achievement popped and the slightest bit of relief washed over me; Ezio and his remaining family could be content for the first time in decades.
(Achievement unlocked: 10G – Show your Colors)
The next game’s diary will be up this week. I’m still looking for suggestions for the next game.
Also, as a side note: Of the games that I mentioned in my last post as potential S-ranks, a few of them will require some multiplayer action. if you’re interested in lending a hand/earning a few of your own achievements, let me know! Those games include: Halo Reach, Halo 3: ODST, Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, X-Men Arcade, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2 (Orange Box), & Castle Crashers. I’m down to set up playdates with anyone and if you let me know which game(s) you’re interested in playing with me, I’ll happily lay out the achievements I’m missing. I’ll even help you nab a few you may be missing. Win-win!
Mass effect 2 is the very excellent game. I like this game very well.Mass Effect 2
