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

[@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

[@onlyenzoYT]

@@sosaysjayaccept Jesus Christ 🙏🏽❤️

[@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?

[@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 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️⚔️⚔️⚔️🤺🤺🤺🛶🛶🛶🏝🏝🏝

[@gadgez_]

I understood that reference.

[@ValiantInstance]

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.

[@seaottersthagod]

@@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.

[@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.

[@C117-0]

DON'T BRING ME LEE

[@Gonger02]

@@C117-0 I wont rebuild the homestead!

[@Jameswebbtelescope7484]

@@Gonger02I won’t kill Charles Lee

[@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".

[@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?

[@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.

[@Willzb-xk4ew]

Didnt they bring Juno back?

[@maxpepelotas2059]

​@@Willzb-xk4ew and they killed her on a comic that, i think, released between syndicate and origins

[@cuppedcup]

honestly not too sad about it myself wasn’t invested at all in the modern day. suppose it’s worse now though

[@jasonashley9853]

​@@cuppedcupbrotherhood modern day was everything. I never understood the people that complained about it.

[@frostyfilmwatcher2148]

They could use the staff to bring desmond back. Bring him from the grey back to the real world.

[@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.

[@MaliciousCricket]

"He got lost in the forest, got racist and then left" had me cackling at 1:39 AM

[@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

[@Vadim_Slastihin]

​@@glibchubik4090what's wrong with mass effect books? I've only read "Revelations" and it was great prequel to mass effect 1. I know that the last book is terrible with Kai Lang being edgy and all but other books are great.

[@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

[@BrandonsBrain]

Haytham is great. Even in rogue… kinda wish we got a solo game for him.

[@dqverify6797]

I still have a crush on Haytham, lol.

[@santos-pink-867]

MOM SO SAYS JAY JUST DROPPED A CERTIFIED 1H BANGER

[@ThatBoyAqua]

Oh we’re eating good today

[@sosaysjay]

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

[@onlyenzoYT]

Accept Jesus Christ he loves u died n rose again for ur forgiveness 🙏🏽❤️❤️

[@fabiomcmuffin]

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

[@yiklongtay6029]

Painting Charles Lee's incompetence as a masterful case of infiltration and sabotage could be argued as doing him a solid

[@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

[@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.

[@KingRumar]

AC3 was the only game where I didn’t want to go back into the animus. Playing through with Conner was just so boring and felt unrewarding which forced me to enjoy Desmond’s story 10x more. I cared much more for Altair and Ezio, was hyped for Conner, loved how they handled Haytham, questionable at times like if a British man in the colonies is wearing a red coat, knew the right people, strolled in like he owned the place, why would red coats be suspicious of him walking around their command?? Then it went downhill from there. Desmond just outright dying was bad but it was criminal how they closed out Juno’s story. In a graphic novel and they just stabbed her. Done like a random guard, not even joking!

[@Jak2-tj3xl]

Liking the modern day for the first few games is what separates patricians from the rabble.

[@awsome182]

I also enjoyed the Modern Day story a lot. I even enjoyed it in Black Flag. I had quite some fun walking around Abstergo and finding out all the secrets. The main story about Edward was obviously better, but while many criticised the Modern Day story in Black Flag, I had fun with it. Regarding AC III, I actually enjoyed the Modern Day story more than the Connor plotline. Except for the ending. I still cannot comprehend how they ended the Desmond Story Arc...

[@SilvrSavior]

There really should have been companion games in a new engine that could handle a Modern-Day game where you can play in a metropolis. The modern-day story elements that I have played in the Post Origin games just baffle me. What's so super special about the new animus? Why would the Origin protagonist just stand around for minutes and not comment on the glowing gods talking to him? It was explained as not even appearing to him in Odyssey database files iirc, so why would he even go to those locations after the first one was a dud? I know there was more I had issues with but it's really been years so I legit don't remember what other elements I had issues with. The complete mishandling of Desmond and Juno also were the nail in the coffin for me for picking these games up anytime around their release. Syndicate showing how Juno was going to be revived and Origin rolls around with no mention of her at all just irked me. Then, because I don't pay attention to the news about the other AC media, I heard a line about 75% through Odyssey about Juno being dead was the true final nail for my apathy to experience these games. I will only by used copies of these games if I will ever pick up another one of them just as I did with Valhalla.

[@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.

[@NostalgicGamerRickOShay]

I got motivated to try out assassin's Creed for the first time by looking at the trailer for AC3, and so I found the first game and the three ezio games on a sale and so I bought them all and AC3 in one fell swoop. I was initially upset by the unexpected flashback mode of the story because I didn't see it in any of the advertisements and so I felt cheated out of enjoying a game set only in the past and being historical fiction because I love history. But I eventually learn to start liking the Desmond story set in a weird blend of science fiction and fantasy which makes me think of a blend of national treasure and Indiana Jones. However it all died with Lucy Stillman. She and Desmond were clearly meant to have children together and continue that special bloodline and have their own video game set in the present day. But Ubisoft dropped the ball by refusing to give her a pay raise or whatever that caused them to fall out and so they had to kill off her character because they could no longer legally keep her. But instead of a simple tragedy of a death that would have included abstergo finding them and shooting at them and one bullet tragically having her name on it, they killed Lucy off in a way that felt like a gigantic middle finger towards her character. Ubisoft browndozers justify killing her off by thinking her as nothing more than a traitorous bitch you deserved being killed for being a triple agent. One of my first clues that people are stupid in general by their lack of critical thinking skills. A critical finger would have realized that it's painfully obvious that making her a triple agent was a last minute cop out of an excuse that was thrown together in a matter of seconds. I apologize for my mistakes and run on sentences but that is because I'm using my microphone to do all the talking.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@ozairchishti1264]

I read Connor's insistence on blaming Lee's influence for Haytham's choices as him just desperately wanting to give his father an out by believing he can save him if he gets rid of his Templar buddies. It's naive but people forget Connor is only like 24-26 years old by the end of AC3. I think any child, especially one that grew up as lonely and bereft of family as Connor, would want to hope they can have a happy ending with their only surviving relative even if it is far fetched. Huge part of AC3's story is how much Connor is just flat out used and abused by the people around him because he's a simple guy in a complicated world.

[@thac0twenty377]

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

[@GeraltofRiv]

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).

[@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.

[@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?

[@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. ❤

[@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

[@jasonashley9853]

I don't feel like the game is good enough for 100% to be worth it. 🤷

[@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!!!!

[@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.

[@kaseywahl]

I think my biggest narrative grievance with this game was how Connor was not just the protagonist of his story but the whole American Revolution. So much of the charm of Ezio's story was how he was woven in and out of historical events, which both made the stories feel so much more believable, but also seemed like they were how the narrative of an Assassin would fail to make it into the history books. But Connor is just conveniently left out of history, even as he's the centerpiece to it, and that just makes it so much harder to suspend my disbelief.

[@thirdcoinedge]

To be fair, an undercurrent of the game is about how the American Revolution has been romanticized to where many of the blemishes of the people involved have been conveniently erased for something more convenient & celebratory. So Ratonhnhaké:ton, a Mohawk man, being excluded from the historical narrative despite his presence throughout would make sense in that way, especially considering the Templars quite literally write the history books in the franchise. Though I do agree that having him be at almost every main significant event of the Revolutionary Era does come off as rather forced (I can buy him at the Boston Tea Party, that's some fun historical irony, but at the signing of the Declaration? Bit much).

[@kaseywahl]

@thirdcoinedge that's a good observation

[@AshtonTheMelon]

I swear I wrote this. "Vahalla and Origins are at the bottom of my own barrel for this series." Get this guy the mic. This was literally the last game I stayed up for at midnight. At the time, I could recite so much AC lore. It was arguably my favorite series. Historical fiction is so much fun to a history nerd. Then, AC 3. The conclusion to the modern-day story, set in my favorite historical time period. Following the son of a Templar. Too cool to be true. Then you play it. So many things upset me at the time, even outside of the horribly written ending. Which people give flack for the wrong reason. It's just a meek conclusion. No real culmination of the Templars and the Assassins. No real point to all the skills Desmond has obtained. Just a random sacrifice to save the world after being shown a pre-destined future with "no hope". Fucking dumb. Here are some things I remember even a decade later: - No need for item upgrades. All of Connors base items carry the game. The series was moving away from actual equipment like in 2 for a while, but it peaks here. You can devastate this game with Connor's hatchet. Which is sickly designed but creates no incentive. Money quickly becomes useless. Same for boat upgrades. I think I only ever used the mandatory upgrade from the tutorial. AC's difficulty shattered once the Parry button existed with the hidden blade, but its just worse here. - Connor isn’t terrible, but his stoicism isn’t translated well. He just comes off as monotone, boring, and petty. Like threatening George Washington after taking part of a few battles, claiming he was carrying the war. Why not some cool interparty faction friction? He is such an interesting character for the time period. His home was destroyed, he is a man of two worlds, thrust into a conflict, interfering with his revenge. And yet, he is just a dude with a slight indigenous flavor. Young Connor is actually far more interesting. There were interviews from the devs leading up to the game, where the emphasized Connor's ties to the native tribes and the colonies due to his parents would have a lot of interesting nuanced conflict. Bitch, where? Connor is completely passive in this story. Searching only for Charles Lee until he stumbles upon the fucking relic by happenstance. - Codex entries weren’t voiced. Huge L. One of the best part of the series and they cut it. I listened to each of these back in the day. - Charles Lee didn’t burn down Connor's village. Yes. That's right. His entire fucking reason for being in the plot is defunct. People claim he has matured beyond this vengence but it isn’t true. Connor is hardly an assassin and cares very little for the fact that the people he needs to kill happen to be templars. The entire plot could have had some actual weight to it and it just goes no where.

[@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*

[@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.

[@brotbrotsen1100]

It tends to feel like some Americans think everyone knows their history.

[@white6505]

@@brotbrotsen1100 even if you knew nothing about italian history, you would still be invested in Ezio. i think that is the major difference. i learned a great deal about Italy and also Arno's paris just by reading the database and soaking it all in. that doesnt happen with AC3.

[@brotbrotsen1100]

@@white6505 I know it was handled better in most other AC games

[@JJJBunney001]

To be fair every ac is like that, I didn't know half of the characters from ac2 were rreal life figures until I looked it up

[@Aurora-bv1ys]

Mine was different. I learned a lot about the American Revolution

[@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.

[@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.

[@Grandtemplar305]

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

[@klavassassini]

To be fair, there aren't a great pool of professional actors to pull from that speak fluent Kanien'keha. It is an endangered language.

[@themanwithnoname1839]

The main reason i hated it was the prologue, felt like a bethesda game just dragging it out far longer than need be, i dont know about everyone else but for me it took over an hour of constantly playing it to get into the real game and actually become the assassain the game advertised you to be...... I get tutorials and such but jesus christ it took so damn long to get to the good bits.... And that right there is was murdered the replay value for me, cuz i know ill have to do all that bullshit again, and i really dont like how slow connor runs...... Its very annoying when dudes who are wearing easily twice as much as i am even in armor can easily outrun me.... They legit have gta cop speed boosts...... They can just all of a sudden run faster out of nowhere......

[@daylen577]

@@themanwithnoname1839 it is a weird choice to basically give you a full game then have you start over. It makes sense for the story and introducing Haytham with a neat peek into the Templar side was cool, but it would've been so much better if they kept that to

[@PoeticWeasel]

its better than any Ezio game because it actually takes a nuanced look at templar and assassin ideology and doesn't just paint templars as cartoonish villains

[@themanwithnoname1839]

No it isn't also youve given no proof, all this game did was "duh assains kill innocent one time so assain bad people" also, templars were never cartoonish villains, they wanted to establish order to prevent chaos and innocent lives from being lost due to that chaos, its just that they dont care if you lose your freedom in the process, at least you will be alive to complain about it where as the assassains want people to have ultimate freedom, theyre two sides of the same coin, but really nice surface level observation you made there..... Cant possibly be more detailed could you?

[@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

[@darthfiascoclips]

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.

[@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.

[@JJJBunney001]

Until origins, you never did

[@BananaBlooD9517]

​@@JJJBunney001And it was perfectly fine too. Open combat was never hard.

[@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

[@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.

[@capulet5580]

I’m gonna be honest, most people really didn’t like Connor much. People liked Haytham and then quickly grew tired of Connor due to his lack of a personality and humor and/or charm equal to that of a dying tree xD If you liked him, then more power to you, but the reason AC3 only lasted for a single game (unlike how AC2 lasted for three) is because: 1. People wanted new protagonists for each story to avoid it getting repetitive 2. People just didn’t like Connor much, if at all

[@JJJBunney001]

I mean the end of the game did go through that. He also disobeyed Washington a few times for revenge so it wasn't exactly blind devotion

[@thirdcoinedge]

I'm just imagining him in a sequel set during the Jeffersonian Era & participating in the War of 1812 (is the American experiment too flawed a concept to survive? should it survive if its prosperity means that others must suffer at its expense?), possibly interacting with Tecumseh (do they share similar views? how might they differ?), and maybe seeing more of how he relates to other Assassins like Aveline & Arno. Honestly, the Napoleonic Era is full of interesting stuff to delve into, particularly with having quite a few revolutions that the franchise hasn't touched upon yet (imagine - Assassin's Creed: Libertad, set in western South America during the final days of the Spanish empire).

[@GodOfOrphans]

AC3's best scene IMO is ironically Hickey's death scene, he doesn't say anything novel but the contrast of cynical realism as opposed to Connor's unnatiabable idealism works a hell of a lot better and has way more bite and substance than any of the empty platitudes everyone else has especially since we actually see the downsides of idealism in game.

[@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

[@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.

[@adammoynihan2589]

Only recently played AC3 for the first time as i always skipped it due to its reviews and it was a total mess. I thought the Haytham section was wonderful but then it immediately fell off a cliff and never recovered and the ending was so poorly baked and anticlimactic that i had to laugh at it. I somehow consider Rogue to be better in just about every way and that was basically a cheap asset flip

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@ShadowVincent3]

Ooof the 99% completion bit stings. I had a similar issue where a side mission bugged out. It was the "UFO" mission. I had activated it by talking to the guy, but because of the way the game handles the missions, I didn't realise I'd actually started a side quest, so I went on my way and left the area. Turns out there's a bug where there's a chance it'll fuck the flags for the mission, so the ufo balloon doesn't spawn, but the mission has been started so you can't talk to the guy who gives it to you. I followed a guide, went to the exact spot it was meant to be and couldn't get it, thus the mission was forever glitched and my 100% completion run was dead.

[@maboilaurence8227]

We need more game analysis like this, I'm seeing WAY too many people being blinded by nostalgia and pretending every single game from their childhood is a "hidden gem". This game was the beginning of the end of Assassin's Creed, with Black Flag being a final high note and goodbye.

[@gelsboy0369]

You're just wrong. This is the exact opposite. The game is great, one of the last good AC games. You're blinded by nostalgic hate. The game has It's flaws but it's not a bad game, not in the slightest. You talk about how people are blonded by nostalgia, but you are too, just instead of liking it, you're having it. I didn't even play this game until the remaster came out. I love the game then and love the game now. You want to hate the game, so all you see is the negative.

[@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!

[@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.

[@Argacyan]

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

[@JustJayGaming]

My biggest disappointment was Unity. I was so excited after how good Black Flag was and the French Revolution was always my dream setting and it looked so good in the prerelease footage. And then release day hit, and it was broken and the story didn't care enough about it's setting. I'm still not over it. But I played 3 with the expectation that it sucked, because a friend of mine told me so. The game is far from the best in the series, but I still had a good time.

[@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.

[@CheeperVHS]

I think one thing i really really enjoyed about AC3 was just how much of a monster on the battlefield connor was, playing AC Origins makes me miss the feeling of steamrolling through 4 redcoats in 3 seconds without stopping a full sprint, Connor is undoubtably the most vicious assassin in the series when it comes to CQC, and it felt great using all kinds of different weapons to take out enemies, like the warclubs, the muskets, even the daggers feel so powerful and it just feels great, i think as someone who greatly enjoys the Shadow of Mordor and Batman Arkham games the gameplay of AC3 just feels great.

[@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.

[@punkdallas1646]

Ha "Protagonist's" native tongue. :⁠-⁠P (My favorite game in the series so don't take this comment too seriously). Connor's voice actor was from the Black Foot tribe. Zio (Connor's mother) voice actor is actually from the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka tribe.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

I believe it was Noah Watts, who voiced Connor. I wish he was in more stuff, there is talent there

[@igradj2964]

I really wish they’d portray how most Native Americans had sided with the British. (Only 2 tribes sided with the revolutionaries)

[@BrandonsBrain]

Connor Kenway is my favorite assassin hands down. 😢

[@enman009]

Boy do AC3 represents this franchise really well: overall mixed with good intentions and weak execution. But hey, we're getting closer to a positive AC review, right? ...Right?

[@felman87]

3 was disappointing. Definitely a victim of feature creep. But a lot of the stuff that worked in AC4, one of everyone's favorites, started here in 3 and were fleshed out, given polish.

[@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.

[@sickloverx]

I will say that i actually like AC3's combat

[@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, doing the right thing at the cost of losing friends... 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!

[@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.

[@ari_a2764]

The templars in this game were the best written ones in the AC series

[@fardeen8004]

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

[@sosaysjay]

I appreciate that, thank you!

[@Silver-lo6db]

I know I’m late but Im currently watching your analysis of ac games and I can’t agree with your stance on combat mechanics. Ac 2 and brotherhood (finished them this week) do not have small or punishing windows for counter. You can be in defensive stance and spam the counter attack way before and way after the attack of the enemy without any repercussion. And the rhythm for attack is either way too big windowed or inexistant cause I never felt it existed before you mentioned it. As for the evolution of enemies, again I fail to remember a moment when one forced me to focus that much, even less so with the gun being able to take down « tougher » ones. So you mentioned it after I wrote my comment, however for me if the game doesn’t really acknowledged the existence of more complex mechanics nor encourage you to use them, then it fails its system ( a lot like traversal that I found really clunky in ac2 before you explained the possibilities in another video )

[@mg2030]

AC3 is the best AC game KNOWN TO MAN

[@SakisKarasAW]

Very well put together video with solid points explained well. I am glad I was not alone feeling this way while seeing so much positive praise for the game! I literally had the exact same experience you described here step by step and thought the same things haha!

[@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

[@ivanov4999]

Assassins are not meant to feel real. Most main-line assassins are Übermenschen by way of genetics. Their personalities are founded on a conflict between their 'god'given potential and matters of virtue, their creed. Altair is a mindless zealot who turns into the most influential leader the Brotherhood has ever known. He is the alpha and the omega. His stoicism, as in supression of feelings, lends itself beautifully to the aesthetics of the first game, its cold and bleak atmosphere. There is such clarity in the artistic vision felt only playing the first games, and it has been missing dearly. Odyssey is the prime example of the mess Ubi is in. Just look at the bloat: the side-content, all those lines of text, all those meaningless markers and options. Kassandra can be almost anything the player wants her to be - thus she is nothing.

[@tyrannicfool2503]

As another mexican I got to disagree, Altair was stoic but his moral questions throught the game were a really interesting introspection into his character, ezio as well got more philosophical as the games went on, he still had his charm but he knew when to be serious. Connor was interesting but the writing was really clunky as showing off his personality

[@Ronam0451]

Imagine saying Altair had no personality 🤡

[@jayantrana7389]

​@@Ronam0451 he is right cry about it

[@arkadiuszrenc1498]

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

[@ma1ist]

This game was the peak of the AC franchise in terms of public interest.

[@erhiueQWEF]

It really was. My father was a cuban refugee and he saw the trailer for AC3 and he turned from his chair and asked me "is this a movie? this looks cool, I want to watch it"

[@Widelongfaces]

47:30 Is that Tyler Durden popping in for a split second?

[@TheCephalon]

Conner is easily the most boring character in all of assassins creed. Was hoping to play as haythem for the whole game. Conner just sounds like he’s whining the entire time

[@aerrae5608]

No way people are playing that remaster. Even without comparison it looks terrible... Just like the AC2 remaster. Ubisoft sucks at remastering, AC3RM literally has the AO removed from the grass and for some reason they slapped this warm yellow filter over everything. Oh and the plastic faces are definitely remaster only, the original looked a lot better. Oh and btw, Altair killed civilians he interrogated, Haytham strikes me as more traditional in that sense.

[@DanQZ]

Lee really did just get lost in the forest, get racist, and leave

[@Calvin_Coolage]

The historical paradox of Connor being a Mohawk could have been handled really well if they did it right. Framed as a sort of greater good argument he makes to Haytham, he could have much more easily flipped it back on him. And his conflict with his childhood friend would have been more interesting that way too. They should have just leaned more into him being a Pariah to the people of his village at the very least

[@LunixaV2]

52:04 Charles Lee was literally choking a 4 year old Connor.

[@sosaysjay]

I wouldn’t personally hold a 20 year death grudge for that, but sure. But George Washington orders an attack that kills his mother and he still casually hangs out with him a couple times. That’s the disconnect.

[@LunixaV2]

@@sosaysjay Valid Points

[@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.

[@Bojaxxx]

Unity is at the bottom of your list? You put Unity in the same category as Valhalla? Bruh I can't take that statement serious.

[@sosaysjay]

I do have an hour and a half long video on Unity if you ever have the patience for it. Not saying you have to agree, but for all its good ideas, Unity’s failure to capitalize on any of it puts it among my least favorite entries by far.

[@Bojaxxx]

@sosaysjay ugh that hurts man 👨 😫. It's my favorite in the series.

[@adonisvillain]

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

[@awsome182]

As an AC fan from day one, I've played all main titles immediately when they got released. While I'm not a fan of the new AC games and Valhalla is one of the worst AC games in my opinion, my least favourite AC game has always been AC III. I never was able to get comfortable with it. I didn't like the story (which was very weird), I didn't like Connor, and the historical context was the least interesting to me personally.

[@wolfgangluhrs821]

This was the last AC game I've played. These pirate Sidequest were awful.

[@XardionZ]

While it's not the most disappointing game for myself personally, it definitely is one of them because AC3 was when the series was hitting its peak. After how incredible AC2 was and the spinoffs were just as fun, my hype was SKY HIGH for AC3, especially since it was going to take place during the Revolutionary War. I finished it in a week or two, and then I remember feeling very hollow. It just felt like Ubisoft bit off way more than they could chew and put too much and also not enough in the game at the same time.

[@FreedomFTW]

AC3 was one of the best games I've ever played.

[@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.

[@CJamgochian]

Arthur opening up to Mary-Beth in chapter 2 might be my favorite character moment of his in the entire game.

[@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

[@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.

[@katiehanson2290]

I’m someone who really cares about a game’s story and I remember getting just really frustrated with this one. One thing that always bothered me was not understanding what Connor thought or knew of his father before becoming the assassins. Like I had the impression that Connor didn’t know anything about him or had met him based on his opening missions, but then when Achilles is showing Connor the Templar portrait hit list wall Connor is like my father when seeing the portrait without much emotion. So now seems like he does know who is dad is. It just another example of how this story wasn’t well thought out. If there had just been one small scene with kid Connor with his mom telling him some things and we saw Connor thoughts/emotions during that it would have helped

[@munkydreads]

Because they expected you to buy the forsaken novel, which is Haytham's journal. This is ubisoft's biggest problem with this franchise. They put key points of lore into other mediums instead of condensing the material to the game. It's how the Juno subplot got pushed to the side in a comic because they killed off desmond.

[@leoSaunders]

45:52 bro what? your argument makes no sense, additionally with the hindsight in the historical aspect. he obviously looks at it from his point of view. every or most man/soldier/activist thinks he's righteous in what they do or in their conviction. most this video feels like complaining for the sake of complaining, because there were many other examples but this one and the prior one just before it, took the cake. very frustrating listening to all your arguments, it feels like if you were to tell a story, all your characters would have all the same motivations and all the same divine knowledge about any situation.

[@sosaysjay]

Yes, he thinks he is righteous, and I don’t dispute that. What I address is the fact that he was confused as to why he, a soldier on a battlefield, would be attacked by another person and respond with “why would you do this?” Imagine any war movie where someone on the other side is shot and they yell “why did that happen?” As I specifically say, they could have showcased Pitcairn’s attempts to rally the patriot leaders for parlay. They could have shown anything at all indicating he was fighting for a righteous cause. Instead, they SAY he was righteous, but we are SHOWN little to nothing other than violent battles. While it is of course your right to disagree and dislike the video (although you shouldn’t get too frustrated by peoples opinions online, there is too much to get angry about and it won’t be good for you), I don’t think I indicate anything to say I dislike stories with a wide variety of motivations. And, if anything, I criticize the game for telling its story from a perspective of divine knowledge of hindsight instead of having characters act in ways that may have made more sense at the time.

[@leoSaunders]

@@sosaysjay I appreciate the reply or that you read it. I wasn't expecting it. yes, I was writing into the ether. "confused as to why he, a soldier on a battlefield, would be attacked by another person and respond with “why would you do this?”" IMHO this still has no meaning. I understand your position and I like meme'ing too but his reaction is not unusual. Yes, it makes sense for such a reaction. You don't expect to cross the horizon when going into battle. as I tried to convey above with the righteousness part. it basically is disbelief you got hit and why Connor would aggress against the better side. (I forgot Connor's and Pitcairn's connection in the game if there is any). it's probably the last thing you should be thinking about anyway even though your skirting that line with even every patrol. war or fighting is the ultimate arbiter, unfortunately. or fortunately. and not always does the morally superior side win, at least in the short term. ---- Pitcairn's motivation is to fight and defend his country. not sure what there is to narrate or show.

[@leoSaunders]

@@sosaysjay I also disagree with your conclusion: "it's not the worst AC game, X or Y is worse (i forgot what two AC games you mentioned) but it rises massively and falls massively hence why it's the worst." i.e.: "it's not the worst AC but it's the worst AC" you probably distinguished between gameplay, since these are games, but it's a weird statement IMHO. anyway ❤

[@sosaysjay]

I also appreciate you being willing to chat and have a back and forth, even if we disagree

[@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!

[@Kiner-ug1mw]

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

[@glibchubik4090]

Witcher 2 Easter Egg moment

[@civilwarfare101]

In all fairness regarding Haytham giving Charless Lee control, I haven't played the game in a while but I'd assume Lee was just hiding his real motivations and was just playing along with Haytham. People lying and hiding their true intentions is pretty common and there are people in real life who do such things. I'm not sure if the game handles grey morality well, but it goes to show that story critique is so much more subjective than gameplay and the comment on, "people online saying the game handling grey morality well", kind of proves my point. I even read a blog by a mutual of mine who likes AC3's story and thinks Connor is well written character. I would probably play this game again to get my perspective on the story but I just don't care about AC enough, I already loathe the overarching plot of the series. Nothing you do in the games even remotely matter in the grand scheme of things because the bad guys win anyway.