Why Assassin's Creed III was the Most Disappointing Game I Ever Played

To this day, no game has generated more hype for me than Assassin's Creed III. While the product we actually got was by no means the worst AC game to ever come out, it is by far the one that fell shortest of its potential.
Contents:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:07 A New World
00:12:20 Traversal
00:16:32 Combat
00:23:37 Stealth
00:28:47 Narrative Pacing
00:36:32 The American Revolution
00:43:58 Templars and Assassins
00:56:39 Modern Day
01:04:08 Failed Ambition
Cited:
The Tyranny of Realism: Historical accuracy and politics of representation in Assassin’s Creed III | Dr. Adrienne Shaw
scholarshare.temple.edu/handl...
Assassin's Creed III [1754-1783] - Historical Inaccuracy and Fact-Checking the Series | Reddit Post
/ assassins_creed_iii_17...
The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign of 1779 | National Park Service
www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-...
Indigeneity, Language, & Representation | Why Ratonhnhaké:ton Is So Important | Quest Marker
• Indigeneity, Language,...
Assassins Creed 3 - Connor's Greatest Speech | SandwichMan
• Assassins Creed 3 - Co...
Assassin's Creed 3 director would tear up the game's opening now | Eurogamer
www.eurogamer.net/assassins-c...
Interview: Ubisoft on reinventing Assassin's Creed, punching bears | PC Gamer
www.pcgamer.com/interview-ubi...
Music Used:
Connor's Life | AC3 OST
Homestead | AC3 OST
Speck of Dust | AC3 OST
Temple Secrets | AC3 OST
The Aquila | AC3 OST
Through the Frontier | AC3 OST
Trouble in Town | AC3 OST
What Came Before | AC3 OST
Main Theme | AC3 OST

[@KeyBladeMaster-Dan]

Tell me Jay....... WHERE IS CHARLES LEE!!!???

[@heyprotagonist]

I WANT CHARLES LEE 😂

[@KeyBladeMaster-Dan]

​@@heyprotagonist GIVE ME LEE!!! 😡

[@heyprotagonist]

@@KeyBladeMaster-Dan 😂

[@dantecaballero96]

I'm searching for William Johnson...

[@calebmurphy9406]

Isn't he somewhere in Charlottesville?

[@frenchynoob]

All the criticisms on the combat system are valid, but on the other hand strangling guards with a Rabbit Trap 15 times in a row is one of the most satisfying experiences I'd had in a game, ever.

[@sosaysjay]

That is very fair

[@emilymschoener9193]

Agreed. I went on to this game for five minutes to show a friend the swords and I ended up doing some crazy maneuver killing 3 ppl in a row from clicking a few buttons. I didn’t even understand wha happened 😂😂

[@SamayGhosh]

you can do that?????? i thought snares were pretty much useless

[@frenchynoob]

@@SamayGhosh they are useless as hunting equipment, but are arguably the quickest way to deal with Jagers, making them one of the best weapons in combat. That, and it looks sick af

[@Gonger02]

Evil Connor be like: I don't want to know where Charles Lee is.

[@Kiner-ug1mw]

A terrifying timeline. Worse than the tyranny of Washington.

[@BraveInstance]

I blame this game for starting the Forrest Gump style storytelling where the main character is involved in every historical event in the period the game is set in, and is friends with every notable person during that time.

[@Calypso694]

Huh? Umm AC2 my guy. The issue is it doesn’t feel that organic. You Gump around all of 2 but I think because of the Italian setting, the charming character and the solid writing the Gump feels more natural. 3 isn’t terrible imo but because it’s the civil war and everyone knows that part of history it was inevitable Connor would have to do all the big important things.

[@Vaguer_Weevil]

If I recall don't you literally bump into George Washington in the street? That's when he drops all his Pagies and the game expects you to find them all. I remember that being an.. interesting way to meet a historical figure, to say the least.

[@unorthodoxhavi]

@@Vaguer_Weevil That was Ben Franklin, where you met him as Haytham

[@thomasbardoux1692]

​@@Calypso694 in ac2 you indeed bump into many historical figures and become their bestie or enemy, but outside of the assassination of the medici, you don't see much historical event. Ac3 crank that concept to 11 by having Connor participating in basically every single event of the indépendance war

[@shira_yone]

@@thomasbardoux1692 it's actually fun for someone like me who's not from the US and had zero knowledge of American history, seen plenty of similar sentiment from others. It's probably only annoying for Americans. I do prefer seeing more historical events rather than just seeing real historical figures.

[@peteriter]

You know, it's funny that you mentioned that the developers assumed that you already knew these historical figures because I, not being from the United States, had no idea who these people were or how important these events are, with the exception of the declaration of independence, and I even only know some details of that. I had no idea that the part about the horse and the guy telling you where to go was so important, or that X and Y characters did X and Y thing.

[@despar1a]

Ditto!!!

[@glibchubik4090]

Same, I actively started opening Wiki and checking myself after some time because the game didn't care about explaining that stuff to me

[@jakel2837]

It's even weirder since Ubsoft is a French company. I grew up learning this stuff, but why would you know it unless you're American or a historian?

[@BasicWorldbuilder]

That's a fair point, however I think that's also kind of par for the course with these titles they might give you some loose context at best. The only character I knew in Odyssey was Socrates and that's just because we learned the Socratic method in university 😂

[@oklywright8886]

Wait, you don’t know who Benjamin Franklin is? Dude was the most interesting fascinating human to ever live. Where are you from?

[@PauloVitorHMK]

The homestead missions were a highlight for me. Watching Connor as he built a small community of hard-workin' honest folk was one of the most heartwarming experiences I had playing a videogame.

[@JackMicTube]

Shame their wasnt more people to join the homestead. They were all amazing and fun to watch, except for Norris... I did not ship him with myriam, and Connor did way too much to help him court her

[@markobibin4560]

​Norris slander will not be tolerated 😤

[@PauloVitorHMK]

@@markobibin4560 Yeah!🍁

[@JackMicTube]

Fair enough, his personality was fine, and he looked unique, but the missions were something else

[@jmal]

It's basically America as a concept: a place where everyone of every race and creed do as they please to help their fellow man. Out of many, one.

[@colinothebambino]

But Mr. Jay, Tomahawk chop is my death blow, I rest my case, your argument is invalid, now give me lee

[@Kiner-ug1mw]

Well said, now I return to watching videos on how great Black Flag is 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️⚔️⚔️⚔️🤺🤺🤺🛶🛶🛶🏝🏝🏝

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Oh we’re eating good today

[@sosaysjay]

Thank you! Really enjoyed the Last of Us videos you made recently

[@despar1a]

47:03 "How do you make an antagonist seem justified if you don't give them a compelling argument.:" This sentence lives rent free in my head, in Jays voice. How many times have we heard it now?

[@derekhogan9685]

One reason I dropped the series was because this game killed Desmond off then had the nerve to drop the Juno plot entirely a few games later. All that build up for nothing. Now the series is a zombified corpse thanks to Ubisoft.

[@dumdubbs2427]

Can content creators please talk about how Ubisoft RUINED THIS GAME?! Back to 2019: they tried forcing their botched Remaster on people by REMOVING the Deluxe Edition from all official stores. I bought it on Steam and they invalidated my CD keys, and I can't get a refund either. Their custom support has been ignoring my messages for 1 month.

[@libre5486]

A true The Crew moment

[@ssjbargainsale]

Is this true? I dont want to install it right now just to check, but it still shows both at my steam library and Ubisoft connect. Havent played in many years but I may want to some time and I'm not buying the remaster ever

[@white6505]

Ubisoft is scum for this.

[@theslx7911]

@@ssjbargainsale From my recent experience, downloading the game on Ubisoft connect (the original release that I bought years ago before the remaster was a thing) results in a dead end and you can't boot the game, but after removing it and trying a few days later on steam instead, it works fine. (Steam Deck, Proton 9.1, 900p with FSR, Max settings except for shadows and antialiasing (both on Normal), 60 fps. 1080p you get an avg of 45-55 fps.

[@Vaguer_Weevil]

Where have you been? This sort of behavior is normal now, it's the usual biz. Modern AAA gaming, wonderful isn't it?

[@Dan_Jado]

I don't know, as a Mexican, with only parcial knowledge of USA history, the story feels the most natural and fun in all assassins creed. Altair doesn't have personality, Ezio has the same problems as Tony Stark, but Connor actually feels real, with flaws. AC3 will always be my favourite assassins.

[@jopaslona1]

Bull's eye

[@santos-pink-867]

MOM SO SAYS JAY JUST DROPPED A CERTIFIED 1H BANGER

[@adonisvillain]

13:14 yeah. And developed Jonathan cooper he lived ubisoft and then worked on Uncharted 4 and the last of us part 2. Best character animation on industry with motion matching 🔥🔥🔥

[@sosaysjay]

This is good to know, thank you!

[@unicorntomboy9736]

To me, regarding the narrative, it feels like they were trying to write a novel, rather than a video game, as the game's narrative is written in a very literary fashion, like you would write an epic historical fiction novel. This was pointed out by Darby McDebbit, which is why AC 4 Black Flag begins the way it does, as a response to this, coming up with the term 'Time to Fantasy'. I actually recommend you instead go read the novel adaptation of this game, AC 3 Forsaken, which is told through the pov of Haythem Kenway. It is a fantastic book that is far better than the game that spawned it, in my view. The book addresses Haythem's internal thoughts and feelings on the events, including why he becomes so ruthless and kills his interrogation captives without a second thought later on in the narrative, which the game fails to do.

[@glibchubik4090]

"Fantastic" is a strong word honestly, I've found it insightful and adding to the character, but written in kind of a dry manner, not that engaging. It's a decent supplementary material, there are much worse out there (looking at you Mass Effect books), but doesn't stand on it's own

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@glibchubik4090 I disagree somewhat, I think it can stand by itself Out of all the novelizations, I think it is the best one, and the only one to surpass their source material in my opinion. None of the other ones, aside from the 2011 Altiar one and this one, can do that. The book features entire sections of Haythem's life not seen in the game, such as his childhood years in London - including a tease into Edward Kenway as a father - as well as him rescuing his sister Jenny in the Ottoman Empire and a few more scenes with Zio, among others.

[@glibchubik4090]

@@unicorntomboy9736 If we were about to analyze the value it has adding to the story of AC3, it expands of backstory of Haytham and his mixed feelings towards Connor. Those are good aspects, but otherwise the book follows the events of the actual game to a T, with all it's faults in writing, but without fantastic performances of voice actors to at least have entertainment value. AC3's story is not a good book material, and without external factors of high budget and presentation covering it, I don't think many people would want to finish it

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@glibchubik4090 If that is your feelings about it, good for you

[@LW1773]

I remember as a kid me and my brother spending hours just free running through the trees in the frontier because it felt so new and fun. Good times.

[@charlieni645]

I'm halfway through the video and boy did I go through a similar arc as you did with this game lol. Hyped pre-release, cope post- release, and rediscover and reevaluate many years after. It's the first full priced game I ever bought in college so it holds a special spot in my heart. Playing this game really feels like peeling an onion. It has so much content and mechanics that are so uneven in quality, many of them also hidden behind layers of unintuitive menus and out of the way map icons. I only found out how fun the Captain Kidd missions are, and how narratively fulfilling the homestead missions are, so much so they improve how I see the main story and Ratonhnhaké:ton as a protagonist, half a decade after the game's release. I do like how the game ended up though. Ratonhnhaké:ton managed to find his place in the newborn nation he helped founding, but his effort is futile in finding security for his people, let alone making a dent on changing the many other backward and hypocritical internal policies of the country such as slavery. All he could do was sitting on the empty land that used to be his village, wordless for the first time in the entire game for a hot headed man as he was, presumably like Ezio and Altair did before him, hoping for his work wasn't in vain and someone in the future will pass along his torch. edit: Almost forgot how bad the modern day ending is though lol. Awesome analysis as always.

[@midrovar5811]

i am surprised you were able to call him by name, connor is alot better xD

[@charlieni645]

@@midrovar5811 Jay made the effort to learn pronouncing it properly. Felt only appropriate to use the indigenous name in my comment.

[@edhero4515]

Man, this is a great video! I highly appreciate that you can simultaneously appreciate what's great about this (and other) AC games, while recognising and naming the glaring weaknesses crystal clear. I just want to mention my peculiar perspective on the prologue: By a strange coincidence, I came to the game completely without any spoilers at the time. I wondered how this British guy I was playing was going to become a native American I knew from the cover. Then my brain was blown away twice in a row. I'll never forget that experience. After that, exactly as you describe, everything went down the drain. Media scholars in the future may look at this work and will see very clearly how fundamentally incompatible it is to deal with a certain subject (e.g. the American Revolution), and pursue the endeavour to create an entertainment product at the same time. With major productions now focusing on dopamine addiction and rejecting any narrative or thematic work in favour of online service models, it may well be that this game will occupy a rather unique place in art history: Here they have, maybe for the first and last time, somehow tried.

[@KevelianKing]

Great video Jay. I shared much of the same excitement for AC3 back in the day (even went so as to be one of the first games I preordered). A few years later after finishing the story, I returned to “collect all the achievements”, only to find what felt like 60 long hours of exhaustive content-and came to realise just why, unlike the previous games in the series up till then-why I had rolled the credits and left it behind. This game was the moment that the series just stepped down a peg for me, it had been building for years, inside and outside the animus: and the fact it tried to “end” Desmond’s storyline made me feel like that magic had suddenly concluded, meanwhile these new evolving combat systems and fairly dramatic shift in setting/characters felt like a rushed beginning. But then your video reminded me of those homestead missions, and while they were tedious at times, they ended up being some of the games more wholesome and worthwhile treasures. Keep up the AC vids!

[@Satellaview1889]

I've always felt like Connor (I don't know how to spell his other name) was wasted on one game. Personally, I was deeply interested in his blind devotion to the revolutionaries, and I've always felt like a follow up which displays him trying to cope with his idealism conflicting with the very real mess he made with the revolution would have been very interesting. We so rarely get to see plots that focus on indigenous characters, and Connor has so much missed potential because of how messy AC3 was. He deserves more time in the spotlight, preferably with a better story to tell.

[@thevacuumofcomments2946]

I don't have a problem with Connor having a fixation with Lee to a point (even tho it gets odd post the Washington reveal). Anyone can see that he's easily the worst. But Connor seems to think he's a bad influence on Haytham and... I don't know where he got that idea. Listened to the Forsaken audiobook a while back and unlike the game it confirms that Haytham is aware of the fact that he's not properly vetted the monster he plans to put in charge of the country. Lee was loyal to the Order but that's the only nice thing Haytham can say about him when pushed. Loved the detail that after his experience with Burch he starts to see all his life's work in a different light but feels it's too late to go back. But that doesn't gel with what we get in the game one bit.

[@white6505]

im south american, so im not that well versed in american history. AC3 tries shoving these people in the story as if i knew who most of them are. the problem is making that the central point of the narrative.

[@fabiomcmuffin]

Between this game and Hamilton, Charles Lee was really getting dragged through the mud in the 2010s

[@animusdrifter]

Currently in the middle of watching this video and I love it already! But I wanted to note a few additional problems that AC3 introduces to movement, that the Kenways later keep, before I forget. On top of High Profile being the climb button, it also needlessly replaces many of your normal, prescriptive jumps, while still retaining the button that's analogous to the Legs button from previous games. This means that for a slightly safer jump set, mostly constrained to prescriptive (calculated) landing targets and positions being more accessible, you pay with stupid amounts of volatility when you don't wish to instantly perform a prescriptive jump when in the middle of running and changing your directional input into the desired direction. This means the only way of mitigating it is having to point your directional input precisely where you need it needlessly quickly, or stopping and breaking all of your momentum to adjust it. - All while a jump/legs button still exists!! An even greater offender is the fact that Ledge Grabs aren't only simplified to require the directional input only, but they're made to be ONLY ACCESSIBLE IN FREEFORM STATES. This means that ANY jump, eject, or swing that prescriptively calculated a landing target of ANY TYPE will not let you freely grab anything during that airtime - Half of the potential of Ledge Grabs is therefore completely gone and arbitrarily depends on your context and geometry. And lastly, the greatest offender of them all - the Parkour Down. Considering that AC3 is actually the first AC to add a full on parkour down bias to the franchise, you'd think this would make for a revolutionary, very much needed feature in vanilla movement. (The definitive parkour mod for the old schools now absolutely blows this out of the water to insane extents, at least) So what's the catch, beyond the fact the game doesn't even bother tutorializing this? It lies in it's keybind, through idiotic context dependence and action priority. The way to induce this parkour down bias to jumps, either prescriptive or freeform, is by holding Empty Hand while executing a given jump, problem is that this is the SAME BIND AS AIR TACKLE. This is made even worse by air tackle still not requiring any lock on, and worst of all - taking FULL PRIORITY on the positive edge of your Parkour Down input, if a tackleable target is in range. This means that every single time you wish to enable it in the heat of the moment, you have to hope there is no guard around you that's going to steal priority on that positive input edge, therefore triggering a combat and escape sequence.

[@Hefferr]

@sosaysjay this drifter is writing script for you. ❤

[@inviz835]

Im not saying I hate Ac3 because I started playing Ac3 almost a month ago, and im a trophy hunter, so im currently platinuming it. I got through the main game, and im now doing the dlc, but my god, was this a pain to play. (And im not talking about the grind. im well aware of the grind. I've platinumed both origins and odyssey, for gods sake) First, the remaster is so bad that there were so many times that my game glitched out, and I wasn't able to get an achievement, so I had to restart my game by closing it multiple times. Even in the dlc after I killed a hoard of enemies, a cutscene played, and one of my enemies that were dead on the ground stood up and was t posing in the cutscene. Like WHAT!!! The point is, I agree with a lot of the things Jay said, but I did love the story, plus the homestead missions made me love Connor.

[@iamthenati]

I get Ubisoft wanted Connor to feel like an unstoppable killing machine, but it's pathetic that you don't even have to think during combat.

[@thac0twenty377]

Character wise Connor was stoic and honorable. He needed a really colorful set of NPCs to make him compelling.

[@FutureExitsMedia]

Great content and analysis as always, I can totally understand your take on this. As someone who came to it years later having played Syndicate as my first AC game, then gone back to some of the older games, then played Origins and Odyssey and pretty much loved all of them old and new, I was hesitant to play AC3 because of the intense hate it seemed/seems to get from so many people, but I wanted to see the resolution of the story set up in AC2, so I took the plunge and was pleasantly surprised - I really enjoyed it. I found Ratonhnhaké:ton to be a compelling, interesting character and actually a nice contrast to the flamboyance of Ezio. The story was interesting, the combat was fun, and the opening with Haytham and the reveal of the true nature of his character was fantastic. I can absolutely see the flaws, but I still like it a lot. Is it the best AC game? Far from it, but it's also definitely not the worst (cough)Valhalla(cough).

[@LarryTheTugaGamer1511]

*cough* Odyssey *cough*

[@JL32506]

AC3 was really THE framework for narrative depth during AC's (arguably) best games, even though it was rather underwhelming, no... ANNOYING on its own. It would go on to innovate the entire Assassin/Templar dichotomy, and that would reverberate throughout the future of the franchise; for good or ill. That said, it was just a really annoying game to play for many reasons. There was this sense of ancient *human* history in the earlier AC games that isn't really there for the colonies. Around the American Revolution is when we really became "worldy" as people, and the world got a whole lot smaller than we thought it was. I think the narrative depth is where AC3 thrives, but a lot of its gameplay systems have immense issues.

[@radhinkabagaskara5595]

It didn't innovated anything. The whole "Maybe Assassins vs Templars has always been in grey area" is the stuff that the first game already had.

[@JL32506]

@@radhinkabagaskara5595 Yeah, but honestly... the Templars in the first few games had a goofy "oh we're the evil people" vibe to them. They were always seen as conniving/sinister pricks, even if that wasn't how they were meant to be taken. AC3 would lay the groundwork for Templars closer to Torres and Shay; respectable men doing what they felt was right, and not solely focused on the pursuit of power.

@@JL32506 No, that's only true in the Ezio games. AC1 actually does portrait the assassin/templar dichotomy with far more deepness than a game like Rogue (who *should* be about this dichotomy, but it just simplifies it to the point of saying "well those bad templars you met before were a few bad apples, the 'real' templars are actually good and caring!").

[@JL32506]

@ You had *some* moments of gray in AC1, but they were more lip service than actual calls to thought. The book does a far better job of that, but all the books do a great job because of their nature as books, and because they were mostly written after the fact.

[@QPint]

Such a perfect representation of my thoughts on this game. I'm still so baffled at the praise the rooftop scene gets. Not to get it twisted, I do really like it. Haytham is always a joy to listen to, the templar ideology being touched on at all since the first game is great, and it is one of the few cutscenes portrayed well production-wise. Unfortunately, it is a perfect encapsulation of Ratonhnhaké:ton's stupidity during the main game. He stands there and listens to Haytham give his speech on the faults of the creed and then can't think of anything better to say than the 18th-century equivalent of "nuh uh, democracy stupid". I get so annoyed because we have seen better than this and both characters end up coming out worse for it.

[@despar1a]

Wow you are so right!!! :'( Kinda hit a nerve. Ouch!

[@TheTrollerGamer]

I love the rooftop scene, because it shows their respective flaws. While Haytham does seem less smart and more like an edgy teenager the older I get, I still think it's one of the most well written scenes in the franchise. Let's be real, when it was the last time we saw two characters interact like that? The closest we ever got was Arno and Bellec on top of the church before the boss fight and before AC3 the closest we got was Altair and Al Mualim discussing their Creed.

[@Yodalemos]

Are you kidding me? That's what makes it good writing. Connor is a hot-headed naive young man, that is exactly how he's supposed to react.

[@cpnrackham]

An hour long video from Jay? Not long enough I say.

[@sosaysjay]

That’s very kind of you to say

[@adonisvillain]

Not agree it was difficult to watch. 30 mins and less of optimal. Like vid about illusion of assassin's creed, about syndicate, about crouching in stealth genre

[@jeffinson5417]

@@adonisvillaintiktok brain

[@antonioabreu5736]

I agree with pretty much everything Jay said. I have only played the games and I was an kid when I played ACIII. At that age I was easily impressed by pretty much any story and was also really into history, so ACIII was right by my alley. Man, I was so dissapointed. I didn't really care for most characters. The history side lacked substance, it felt like a checklist of historical events, bery cheesy. Even though I enjoyed some missions. One thing that always bugs me is that AC games never actually focus on the Templar x Assassins conflict, ideologies etc. It never feels like writers sat down and tried to make a compelling narrative, like in so many other games. I felt the same in ACIII. I remember being one of the weirdos that really enjoyed the Desmond storyline, because it felt so wild to have a current day assassins VS templar conflict, even though the story itself was all over the place. Yet when ACIII ended I was legitmaly pissed. The ending was lame and lacks even a single drop of creativity.

[@ag2731]

It wasn't weird to enjoy the modern day plot as it was important like the historical plot, as i like to call the AC1-AC3 games the 'anthology collection"

"One thing that always bugs me is that AC games never actually focus on the Templar x Assassins conflict, ideologies etc" That's the beauty of AC1, 4 and to some extent revelations (and bloodlines but that's pretty obscure). They actually do it.

@@ag2731 If I remember correctly you could get them on ps3 as the "heritage collection".

[@xsubzerox3412]

The pain of getting 93% completetion only for a damn bugged mail quest to waste it all. Didnt stop me from doing it all over again tho a year later

[@lewissharpe4695]

I just want to know why they decided to not play any ambient music when exploring the world. The OST is absolutely fantastic and outside from cutscenes, combat and the main menu you never hear it. It’s doubly strange when you consider just how frequent ambient music played in previous entries (and future entries).

[@eIIemenopee]

8:40 this exact same thing happened to me on my first playthrough of AC III, I got stuck on 99% completion too! I was so frustrated I haven't picked up the game since for a replay, despite replaying most of the other pre-origins AC games several times.

[@TheFrogEnjoyer]

I love these longer form analysis videos I could listen to these for hours

[@sosaysjay]

I am glad to hear that

[@despar1a]

@@sosaysjay I/We *do* listen to them for hours! :p

[@PadreMaronnolo]

Excellent video, well argued and on point, keep up the good work

[@chefrowlet]

AC3 was my intro to the franchise, heck it was one of the first M-rated games I ever bought for my ol 360... needless to say I was completely lost in the modern day plot, and I didn't even know what a Templar was when Haytham delivered that twist at the end of his sequence. And yet I was completely hooked. In hindsight, yes as a game it fell short, but that was my first time seeing any of the mechanics on display and I've been chasing that high ever since. The bayonet animations infected me with an itch for "melee fight with a gun" that nothing other than Black Flag and Unity have been able to scratch. I came to genuinely admire Connor when I did my 100% run and found all of his hidden character moments, I was captivated by this fundamental struggle between Freedom and Order (even though the franchise has never really delivered on the potential), the hidden blade cool factor, the power fantasy of carving through a squad of redcoats, the thunder and fury of a war I learned about in school (and it honestly helped me with my AP US History studies because it let my ADD-ass put a visual to all the boring names and numbers in the textbook). When people called it bad I never really saw where they were coming from. I still haven't played the Ezio trilogy which is a glaring hole, since I have played every other main installment of the franchise, but I can still definitely see how it was kind of... transitional I guess.

[@killer1one1]

As one of the few modern-day story enjoyers, I am still absolutely *dumbfounded* at how they chose to end this story arc. I was upset back then, and I still am now. It's just incomprehensible to me that it not only got out of the writers' room, but it was fully acted, scripted, had entire levels and cinematics made for it... and for what, exactly? "Main character saves the day and kills bad guys but then has to Jesus himself too, wooooaahhhhh!" It's pretty obvious this game was rushed overall but the lack of care for the modern-day story is staggering.

[@fardeen8004]

Everytime when jay posts a new video, its always a treat Love the analysis vods man.

[@sosaysjay]

I appreciate that, thank you!

[@derpy_j]

I'm just here to state I'm on of the few that actually adore this game, and Connor as a character. Call him bland, sure, but did you really expect the man to be skipping through a field of butterflies after watching his mother burn alive and then later find out that the man you're aiding in a war was also the man that wanted to get rid of your people? Let's face it, anyone who came after Ezio was gonna get disliked. I agree the gameplay had its fault, and I actually REALLY dislike how damn long the opening is with Haytham, but I still ended up loving the game and it made me cry at the end when we see Connor look out to ( what looked like an empty Homestead ) an then pull his hatchet out of the post, despite the fact his people still ended up having to leave the Frontier after all his efforts.

[@Kiner-ug1mw]

The game jumped for a haystack, but squashed on the ground.

[@glibchubik4090]

Witcher 2 Easter Egg moment

[@boo5860]

Haytham's voice actor felt like the saving grace for this entire game, his performance is just so good and tbh I had a crush on haytham because of it lmao

[@heatnationwpb]

ACIII was awesome. Fight me.

[@adonisvillain]

22:26 intrinsically ezio combat system variety 21:20 camera lock strategies

[@Argacyan]

3:30 I once made a thread on Twitter back like 3 years ago or whatever, looking at goats in every Assassin's Creed game. Kinda fits in with talking about the simulation of ecosystems & one of the interesting things was that AC3 wasn't just the first game to feature goats at all, but it took until AC Origins for goats to be as high in quality (in design, animation, modelling, interactivity etc) as they were in AC3.

[@Argacyan]

also talking about glitches in AC3 while I never encountered any, I did repeatedly run into a soft-lock condition during the estate colony tutorials where you're introduced to how goods & trading is supposed to work.

[@despar1a]

You're reminding me of LADDER GOAT and I love it!!!!

[@fashionkiller11]

As always, your video delivers on all fronts. As with your Unity video this will serve me as a highly valuable ressource to point to when i talk with others about my gripes with each respective game in the series. I am specifially glad that you went into the downgrade of combat. It always frustrated me how barebones the combat was in AC3 compared to Brotherhood, especially with the messy animations, change from clashing swords to repeatedly deadly wounding enemies without consequences ( you described that very well in th segment) and the overall lack of variety. This actually set the precedent for combat in all later games. We will never see proper blade to blade combat after Revelations. The paired animation system of the first 4 games allowed for very clean feel and look of the combat. And im sad that we lost sad. A low point in that regard is probably Syndicate, with it's endless combos of weightless slashing and non-existent rythm. The only thing where i differ from your take is the cities of AC3. I just didn't find them interesting, be it visually, aesthetically or gameplay wise. Like all of AC3 they felt very bare bones, and the drab and muddy look, albeit realistic, was certainly a tough pill to swallow after the heights of Venice, Florence, Jerusalem or even San Gimignano. Oh, and big props for also mentioning the downgraded cinematography. People rarely talk about how especially the Ezio trilogie was very strong in it's presentation. Just the hanging scene from AC2 alone is leagues above anything in AC3.

[@arkadiuszrenc1498]

Poland mentioned🇵🇱💪🇵🇱💪🇵🇱💪🇵🇱 Polska Gurom🇵🇱💪🇵🇱💪🇵🇱💪🇵🇱

[@JuliusCaesar103]

I remember the trailers before the game came out already calling the game a masterpiece, before reviews and the game were even out, that was such a red flag.

[@dustinvanwinkle5078]

Yet people still fall for the same bs to this day with new games lol. AAA at it's finest nothing new

[@gammaphonic]

I remember seeing the trailers and the ship combat and thinking “wow, I need to catch up on the series before this comes out”. So I borrowed a friend’s copy of Revelations. I got about an hour into it before I realised if already played this game three times before, got bored and have never touched the series since.

[@Xenobeast78]

Man I'm sorry, 10 mins in and i have to say. I am not discrediting your experience, but as someone who played the game at launch on PS3 i have to say i didn't experience all those glitches you've showcased. The occasional death from Conner not grabbing a ledge was my worst experience. It must have been unfortunate at the time or deal with said glitches but those of us who didnt had a good time

[@QuestMarker]

Hey I'm that dude at the end! @1:05:13 Thanks so much for the shoutout, really appreciate it. This was super awesome and incredibly comprehensive. Your whole section on the American Revolution was top tier and I enjoyed it immensely. I definitely agree with you re: all the narrative problems. I always thought a big part of them stemmed from Charles Lee (i.e., one too many villains, diluted Templar position, poor integration with the American Revolution, etc.). I would've enjoyed seeing Ratonhnhake:ton's story begin with the death of his mother, and then end with the death of his father. Not Lee.

[@sosaysjay]

I appreciate you watching, thank you! I enjoyed your video a lot and I thought it was a great example of the value these characters can still have even if I don’t believe the overall story hit the mark

[@atticlion7648]

I think I played AC3 for less than 7 hours in total and I all remember about it these days are: the controls were worse, the cities were worse, the forest was boring, the combat was annoying, and Conner was a shithead that was actively less likeable than the bad guy whom I would have rather kept playing as. I recall the straw that broke the camels back for me was when tried to have some fun in the same way I would have in AC2/Brotherhood; start as big a street fight as possible and keep stabbing until everything stopped moving. But then I found out that unlike AC2, guards in AC3 will never throw down their weapons and run away in terror because you just killed their 6 buddies in 4 seconds. And that at max wanted level the guards will spawn INFINITELY. The fact that I could just stand there in town with a 50 man pile of corpses on the ground and fuckers just kept spawning in to attack me until I got bored and ran off to find a way to lower my wanted level was so disappointing to me.

[@connerfiascone4250]

I recently replayed this game, and it’s just so frustrating and tedious to get through. There are many things I like about this game, and even more things I don’t like. When it’s at its best, it’s incredible, and I recognize its ambition. But for the most, it just falls flat and is not a cohesive game overall. Great video for expressing a lot of my grips with it, and praising what does deserve it.

[@decepter5227]

When I first finished AC3 I thought I missed something in the past games that explained where all this came from. There was a lot of side stuff I never did in the previous games and I thought it all got explained there. It’s so sad to now know that it really did come outta nowhere and I really did see it all as I was meant to and it never made sense

[@jmal]

While I agree with a lot of your points, Jay (and they are beautifully laid out, mind you), I still love the game, faults and all. It's the first AC game that really grabbed my attention, I'm a sucker for hero's journeys (ElderGeek has mentioned that _AC3_ is the story of the _Star Wars_ Prequel & Original Trilogies set in the American Revolution), and I truly see myself in Connor. We're both outcasts and naïve idiots with anger issues trying to make the world a better place in our own way... and are too stupid to learn when to quit lol. This game has such an impact on me that the collectibles I have for it, like the figurine, flags, medallion and whatnot, are the only ones remaining in my small AC collection. Everything else I have sold a long time ago (a notable exception is the Edward Kenway paintings). The remastered version of the game is permanently installed on every PC I have that has sufficient power to run it at max settings with high FPS. I love this game for the same reason other AC fans have a fondness for _Unity:_ there's a certain _je ne sais quoi_ to both games that seemingly only makes sense and appeals to a select few.

[@sosaysjay]

There is never any shame in getting enjoyment from something you care about and that resonates with you

[@jmal]

​@@sosaysjay Hear hear!

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Is there a nest at 3:00 that disappears when Connor gets to the branch end?

[@grandmofftarkin6961]

At least this game gave me Haytham. I'll give it that much. Great points raised in this video. It was a game that was hard to get into especially since it came after our time with Ezio, and the historical setting of Rennaissance Italy, that was honestly more interesting to me. Still enjoyed the historical setting, but not nearly as much. And the less said about Ratonhnhaké:ton as a character, the better, in my opinion.

[@despar1a]

Jay... I gotta say, just looking at this without starting the video, i'm a little nervous... But you've always had such a solid and reputable viewpoint that i'm engaged, at 0:01 seconds. That's your reputation, man!! Without being creepy, I totally dig you, Jay!!!

[@sosaysjay]

I do appreciate that! Even if there’s stuff you disagree with I’d be happy to chat about it, that’s what the platform’s for after all

[@sethstewart9704]

13:40. THISSSSS. The final mission where you chase the dude was the only time I truly raged at a game, and I am not a rage gamer at all. Connor running as fast as he can only to come to a dead halt as he reaches out and grabs a merchant's tent or hugs against a wall. I felt absolutely no agency over my character. It was a game of hold forward and avoid all of the things Connor might want to glue himself to.

[@IronsideGeorge]

Incredibly impressive content Jay. I can only imagine how long it took to write this absolutely huge video essay, and thats before you even think about recording the audio and then editing an hour long video. You deserve masses of success.

[@sosaysjay]

They are fun to make, and it’s nice anyone watches at all. This one took me a little over a month to make, about two weeks of writing, five or so hours of collecting the footage, then a week and half of making the video itself

[@Vaguer_Weevil]

It's strange, the only thing I remember of this game is the time I air assassinated a guard from the trees which made me clipped inside of a rock and was stuck inside of it. That classic Ubisoft quality.

[@Argacyan]

39:50 Okay it is a bit funny that it says "Temple University" right there, in the context of Assassin's Creed

[@soualexander6532]

The interesting thing is that, even when I agree with most of your points here, AC3 is still one of my favourite games in the series. Assassin's Creed has - at least to me - always been sort of a "two steps forward, one step back" franchise even at the best of times, it's the series that I love even though no single game has ever truly lived up to its potential. Each of them has some grating lows and some dizzying highs and how much I enjoy any given game in the series always depends not just on the balance of highs to lows but also which of these aspects I happen to care more about. Anyone's ranking of the AC games feels a bit like a Rorschach test because beyond Black Flag and AC2 being considered the high points of the series, people have wildly different opinions on when or where this franchise has been best, and I think that's in large part because there's always way more potential for greatness in the games than they actually deliver. Really love your videos, it's wonderful to see some genuinely thoughtful content on these games.

[@Blacklightning95]

Yeah…. I was so disappointed in 3 that I didn’t enjoy 4 at first and had to go back and play 4 before I actually enjoyed it. Now it’s my second favorite in the series

[@TheTrollerGamer]

I agree with most of the gameplay complaints, but the story is something I will always stand by. The Templars in AC1 were morally grey, but still felt over the top evil. We watch them do the most horrific things ever and then in the Animus Room they are like "You see, I did this for the good of mankind". I love the complexity of AC1, but the comparision with AC3 feels unfair. In AC3 I actually felt like those Templars had a fair argument most of the time.

[@sosaysjay]

I did feel the opposite, personally. That is of course not to say that I think AC1 is the peak of morally ambiguous storytelling, because it is still very simple in that regard. But at the end of the day, the villains had arguments, things they tried to justify and reasons to believe they were right. In AC3, you kill two Templars at the start who have a plan: Johnson wants to protect land, Pitcairn wants to prevent war. But even if you don’t critique the shallowness of their dialogue, that is the end of the Templars even having real plans. The only Templar plan at all after the first two targets is to promote Charles Lee; both Haytham and Hickey have that as their only goal, and Church doesn’t have a goal to impact the Templar-Assassin conflict at all since he commits to the loyalists as a traitor. They barely have an argument for most of the game, we never see them trying to do anything positive. Haytham tells you the colonists won’t protect your people, democracy in the colonies is a sham. Is this a good point? Yeah, sure it is. But in what world does that mean promoting the bigot who choked a child out in the forest and admitted to wanting to kill everyone who believes differently from him is the cure? They are rarely arguing that THEY are doing anything good, only that’s OTHERS are doing something bad. And even if you do take Johnson and Pitcairn, we see next to nothing that shows they could have benefited the world. At least Pitcairn says he wanted peace and you could take him at his word, but the only things we know about Johnson are that he is willing to murder people to buy the land and that he has a history of exploiting the land he takes. We see zero positive impact from him or any other Templar. Terrible as the AC1 Templars are, they saved lives. Some did, others are generic evil, others are in the middle. It was a cool mix and the dialogue was intelligent. In AC3, every single conversation is basically a moral lecture on why there are two sides to every story and you are naive if you think the colonists will help you, and I wish it was as varied as AC1 at least. Of course none of this is to say you are wrong, but I was radically disappointed from my perspective at how little any character had to say in AC3.

[@Yodalemos]

I personally loved AC3, I loved Connor too. Its just sad it was so janky at times.

[@despar1a]

Love Love LOVE So Says Jay! Deep information on subjects you love, reminds me of TRO with his honesty. What a Wordsmith! 10/10!

[@Cruddy129]

More disappointing in terms of story and combat mechanics than Oddysey and Valhalla? ooooooooooooooooooook

[@white6505]

this was a very good and comprehensible video essay. i would put this along with whitelight's videos as the best essays into the franchise, its shortcomings and its magic.

[@sosaysjay]

That is high praise, thank you

[@SheanWalsh46]

Well.. at least the Abstergo raid with Desmond felt like a Like A Dragon series long battle.

[@ManiacalflameYT]

honestly, this game grew on me A LOT. I too was super disappointed, but over time it's managed to become one of my favourites in the franchise. it fell short from a lot of it's potential, but it also laid the groundwork for some of the best game mechanics in some of the future titles, and I adore it for that

[@czrptr6849]

35:50 what you said here is so true. I'm playing right now on PS3 and did all the homestead missions and already did the templar boat missions that is where you kill one of the major templar of the narrative. It's so stupid that they let such important plot points on secondary missions. Like this guy is a major bad guy on the wall on the homestead mansion. Other plot point that you can play out of order is the benedict arnold dlc, that I think is playable since sequence 8 until sequence 11, but when you start the mission connor refers a event from sequence 10 I think. They could've made a better job to play the missions in order.

[@Denokri]

I may not agree with many of your opinions butt I found myself enjoying the content either way, it is refreshing to se someone talk about problems with AC whilst at the same time being respectful and fair. commenting on this vid only case latest at the time.

[@TheDeadMansCreed]

AC3 is not in my top 5 of the series, yet it’s weirdly my most replayed. So seeing the title made me feel some type of way. But as always, Jay manages to convince me. Totally agree with a lot of the points laid out and shared similar frustrations. Even learned something new and came to see a different perspective. Another very well crafted video 👏

[@hidefreek6905]

As someone who plays the game on day one. The game is mild. But managed to gain a lot of hype because it is very super good prequel. The game simply focuses too much on the story's progress as the novel. So it has a lot of flaws as the proper game. The good thing is this game gave Ubisoft a major opener to other possible games. Ubisoft nearly tarnishes all of these.

[@SneedFeedAndSeed]

Levantine during the Third Crusade Italy during peak renaissance 18th Century America...?

[@ItsJustCartier]

1:01:03 Easily my favorite part in the modern story. Like they really expected our boy to pass up on testing the killer orb on them😂

[@Rogue47Trooper]

It is interesting that I have the same thought process and agree on the arguments that Jay made on the game, but something about AC3 is different to me, it could be that I was invested in Homestead Connor rather than main story Connor, It could be how kind of it feeds of the power fantasy that you get because how much tools you have and see how badass Connor actually is as an assassin I think Whitelight said of I'm not mistaken his video is way older, if you see conner in different way other what the game is trying to show he is wayyyyy badass than he actually is In my opinion the game should be enjoyed on your own prospective on the second playthrough rather than what the game give you on the first

[@despar1a]

Hey Jay, at 9:15 ish you mentioned the worst QTE - but can you be real with me now and tell me; is it better or worse that TR: Rise ?? Cause I gotta say imma doubt you on this one and go all on on TR Reboot QTE's. lets just throw the whole trilogy in.

[@TheHiddenOne690]

Spicy title. Can't wait to watch!

[@Monkey_SK]

I was thinking that you might have covered the dlc for the game as well, any particular reason that you decided not to?

[@sosaysjay]

I’m reserving the option to do a DLC centric video later, as I haven’t really covered the DLC in any of the games in my reviews

[@dzizs03]

well damn Jay, are you a templar, bc while I initially disagreed with the title and setup, your explanations and calm yet convincing presentation really made me question my set beliefs..? lol jokes aside, AC3 is the first AC game I played (after Valhalla, but they're so vastly different it makes them non-comparable) and I genuinely liked it. granted, this was just a few years ago and without knowing anything significant about the franchise, I just dove into it like you would any other open world action adventure, so I didn't really have any set expectations or AC experience to compare it with. now that I've played almost all of them since, I can see some of your opinions here being completely valid. great thourough analysis, as usual!

[@sosaysjay]

Thanks for watching! There really is a lot to like about this game, but it has the potential to be so much more and that left me quite bitter on it for a long time

[@despar1a]

You know what, Jay, I agree with everything you said and I also enjoy the game. It is... primitive... but so is the story (if you take it out of the franchise entire it would be a fairly solid game for its time) and i love how perspectives meld - we see the same thing yet have different ways of talking about it. I love this about you - your honesty and openness. You're a light. :)

[@sosaysjay]

That’s all very kind, I’m glad you enjoyed the video!

[@despar1a]

36:00 Jay you start talking about how much of the main protagonists story was relegated to side quests - In my opinion, this was a studio reaching out and testing audiences; Are they more interested in Finishing the game, or Learning the games Lore? I really think they rolled the dice on this one, but I also believe that every studio that exists owes homage to Ubisoft for this bold risk.

[@davidbeer5015]

I don't know how much this aspect was done prior to AC3, but even some of the side character bits, there's a decent amount about the characters that you can get in "interactive convesations," like the ones we see when walking around or sitting with the assassin recruits (or in games like Jedi: Fallen Order). Ex: you can get details of Ben Franklin's views of relationships or Ben Church's more..questionable doctor policies, or how the one Assassin recruit was actually the kid that saw Haytham at the theater. It's those conversations that have your first interactions with Lafayette where Ratonhnhaké:ton, iirc, expresses curiosity in visiting France.

[@cameron2345]

Incredible video as always. I love your long form analysis videos. I can absolutely agree with the homestead missions. Frankly I grinded through them which made me really unattached to the characters and I wish I took my time. Ratonhnhaké:ton shows a ton of depth in these missions and it makes me very sad that he didn’t get the treatment he deserved. I genuinely think if the fanbase saw the type of character he had the potential to be we would have seen him again (and not just in liberation), whether that’s in unity or atleast a big reference to him. I am in the minority of people that actually liked Ratonhnhaké:ton and Ac3 in general. As a cultural anthropologist who studied indigenous anthropology (albeit Canadian indigenous cultures) I could understand where his almost relentless rage and desire for revenge was coming from. If I was him I would feel the same. He lost everything he had ever cared about, and he was then placed into a world where no one could understand or even emphasize with him. Yes the voice acting could have been improved upon, however I do think from a cultural standpoint it can make sense . He’s speaking his second language and on top of that he’s a very traumatized individual who, let’s face it, barely socialized with people for a huge portion of his life. I can’t imagine he did much when he was getting trained by Achilles, and even when he went into communities and towns it’s clear he has to keep his head down (literally). I also agree with you that I loved the world. Yes, it’s not that vertical, but it’s amazing to be able to see what the frontier looked like before 8 lane highways lol. Also the cities, while they had some very unfinished and frankly boring sections were great. I loved running through these old and VERY populated cities that have now turned into concrete jungles. It’s cool to know where they started. In the homestead missions Ratonhnhaké:ton shows wisdom and a genuine desire to nurture a community, which is something that would have been a very welcome addition to his story. It would had cemented his role as the new father of the American brotherhood. I also very much appreciate you using Ratonhnhaké:ton instead of Connor. You never stated why you made the decision, but atleast on my part it was nice to have a video where someone used his actual name, not a name given to him to appease the people invading his land. Overall a fantastic video as always Jay. I wanted to ask you if you’ve seen the fallout series, and if you have I’d love to know your thoughts on it!

[@daylen577]

The more often I replay all the games, the more I appreciate AC3 for what it is, and the more I get annoyed by Black Flag for its scale and lack of coherent story. AC3 wasn't great writing, but it didn't drag it out either, you can play through the entire game in a day. The atmosphere is honestly great, the town building was a very fun addition with lots of neat little side missions that most people probably never have experienced, and the only thing that truly ruins the immersion (other than the average-at-best writing) is the absolutely disgustingly poor voice acting on the native language.

[@jojocasimir1118]

Main reason I love it is cause if haytham an wish he was the main character

[@steeleofman9483]

I think all the technical issues were on PlayStation. I remember thinking it was weird with both this and unity how everyone was talking about all the bugs and I had hardly any, being on Xbox. Admittedly it was definitely more noticeable with unity when I didn’t get any of the weird face glitches.

[@drigondii]

Until Odyssey came out, the only AC game I felt was replayable was AC3

[@atharvavadeyar5157]

Idk I feel like not knowing the historical figures actually lends something to the story You go somewhere and you get introduced to some guy and both you and Connor are like “who tf are you and why are you telling me what to do” Also I don’t have a problem with the “Forrest Gump” of it all. It feels like you’re having your time wasted by the Revolutionaries bc you as the player want to get back to Connors quest to save his village, and that’s exactly how Connor feels too It helped me feel closer to the character

[@Americanman5445]

You need to do the top most best assassin Creed music theme of all time video

[@Jonderlei]

Damn this one might take me awhile but im interested. At the time I first played assassins creed 3 I was disappointed but I played the remaster of it last year and loved it

[@saarthel8532]

I played all the Desmond games back to back as a friend of mine lent them to me while he was enjoying the newly released Black Flag. I had a great time, especially with Brotherhood. I was also a kinda completionist (didn't got all the flags in AC1, but always collected all the feathers in the other games for example). I already started to get burnt out around the end of Revelation and the collectibles and hunts of AC3 were a nightmare and killed my enjoyment. Tree parkour was refreshing, but just okay. I really hated that they killed Desmond. It killed AC for me. I only started to get into the serie after the hopes from the Mirage announcement made me want to get back into AC.

[@superkid801]

So I saw your video and understand how you feel. It's not perfect, but for me I still have a soft spot for it. I was at San Diego Comic Con when it was first released. I also met the man who voiced Haythem. Again I get why it left you disappointed, but I can still find enjoyment in it

[@TheUltraKekster]

This game has the best combat animations 🗿

[@Coreisus]

The main thing that bothers me about AC3, and is still true in the remaster.... why the fuck does Desmond have a hunchback!?

[@MrHazz111]

I still remember the reveal trailer countdown for AC3. Man, those were the times.

[@saputodude]

Yeah, knowing nothing else about the game, I picked up AC three remastered when it was on sale, and that first six sequences were such a slog for me. I’m currently on sequence eight, but I haven’t gone back to it in a long time. I’ll finish it eventually.

[@ToroNero]

I loved some ideas behind it but it was not the big title I was expecting after Ezio trilogy

[@Fawstah]

I almost fell off the series at 3, I didn't even give 4 a chance until months after its release, because I waited until I heard it was good in person.

[@Vaguer_Weevil]

My friend still keeps telling me how "good" the later games are, even though he keeps getting burned out trying to finish them. He recently restarted Origins again, then got bored and moved on to Odyssey, then Valhalla. Still hasn't even finished the main story of those three games yet despite wanting to finish them all, in order for some reason. Yet still claims they're good though, but deep down I know he's lying to himself. The moral of the story is: People are full of shit, even in person.

[@eclipsicalbluestocking1182]

Petition for Ubisoft to make an AC game set in the Old West