We should talk about Assassin's Creed Shadows parkour

[@TheCarivia]

my main problem is just the amount of flips that there are. would definitely prefer to feel like the flips are more of a treat rather than a constant thing that happens

[@senseiitanaks]

i like it

[@titob8911]

They could havbe utilized the flips as sort of to keep the momentum going during parkour, but nah still does the stop stuck thing

[@TheCarivia]

@@titob8911 yeah agreed

[@arty-ug6ux]

yeah, kinda like watchdogs 2, a majority of the animations are just quick vaults but sometimes you get a cool flip or handstand thing

[@TheCarivia]

@@arty-ug6ux exactly

[@ZackThoreson]

AC should have a momentum gauge or some kind of hidden mechanic where you move faster and play faster animations when you play smoothly and is diminished when you do things like climb straight upward, run into npcs etc. momentum could also speed up your stealth movement and play fast assassination anjmations.

[@brucemustdie]

That would be awesome

[@JelloFluoride]

That WAS a mechanic in the older games lol They just didn't tell you. There's some videos of people out there essentially doing "tricks" in the games because they're so damn good at it.

[@Ithat1guyl]

reminds me of dying light 2

[@nishikantpanda8211]

There used to be some of those. AC3's sliding comes to mind

[@siddharthasreenivas3193]

@@ZackThoreson I feel like this would get cumbersome really quickly, and wouldn't work well with the open ended level design- you're constantly switching directions at right angles, and maintaining momentum would be a pain in the ass over the period of a playthrough

[@thebulletkin8393]

For a game about movement, practically every jump killing your momentum is like you taking damage whenever you land a hit on someone in combat, it kills the reason to do it. The architecture alone already looks like it has little room for directional changes, ejects and general pathfinding, looking like a rooftop running game rather than one about fine control and movement, but if trying to diversify and take a different route causes constant slowdowns and stutters, it makes it almost pointless. What we truly need is momentum. Reward careful pathfinding and efficiency with speed, and don't slow things down for no reason. Honestly at this point I'm doubtful we will ever get a parkour system that feels truly perfect. We got so close more than a decade ago but it's just straying further from what made it so good to begin with. Create as many animations as you want, but it's the feel of control that matters the most.

[@btchiaintkidding7837]

Darksiders 2 has better platforming/parkour than this in terms of momentum or animations during frontflips/backflips/side ejects/ledge runs etc. this is dogsh0t

[@lesudanais5547]

@@thebulletkin8393 the best parkour system since then in my opinion was watch dogs 2

[@Dutchy4564]

Imagine in mirrors edge if you jumped over to a wall and your wall run was regular walking speed

[@thebulletkin8393]

@@Dutchy4564 I know right! How can a game about movement commit the one cardinal sin of a movement games - not preserving momentum

[@BlackTeenMonkey]

Good movement should make it make feel light and smooth. Like Unity. And ground momentum is different, but why is the air momentum the same thing. If it's no different, then why would you be swinging?

[@jellyman1303]

All I need from the parkour is manual control for side and back ejects. I never realised how much I used it in the Ezio & Kenway trilogies once it was gone in the RPG games.

[@Noir-c9k]

I highly doubt ejects will gain height in this one

[@gweedus]

@@Noir-c9k fr. asking too much of Ubisoft at this point.

[@jeff_7274]

@@Noir-c9k They fixed the eject height in mirage.

[@Noir-c9k]

@@jeff_7274 that’s developed by Bordeaux

[@marcosescobar5348]

The side eject might be a tall order but I see no reason they can't implement some sort of back eject. It seems like something that should be standard with any third person game that has climbing mechanics.

[@intentpascal2015]

If I do a flip every 5 seconds I’ll be pissed

[@dexter130013]

@@intentpascal2015 pick more meaningful things to care about

[@markshieldsmusic7697]

@@dexter130013 more meaningful than the money they most likely worked hard for, that they then spent on a product to entertain themselves with? that seems pretty meaningful to me...

[@shutit8949]

@@dexter130013disliking how traversal is done in a video game is meaningful. 50 percent of the time in ac you are climbing

[@joaofarinha551]

@@dexter130013 How about the gigantic black samurai? Sounds meaningful

[@Jaguar21010]

@@dexter130013 AC is all about parkour and movement. Well at least it was. It was the highlight of the older games in a good way. You not caring is further proof Ubi split the community when they introduced all the unnecessary mechanics no one asked for and dumped the identity of Assassin's creed.

[@scissors0009]

After 15+ titles theres really no excuse for parkour that feels anything short of buttery-smooth. I understand that they changed engines and things over the years, but climbing and jumping traversal is a pillar of the series and by this point we should be seeing significant improvements over the earlier titles, and there simply hasn't been much.

[@SPexHoS2137]

They are still on anvil though. I think they shouldn't resign from prioritizing parkour in a series, in which that was the main form of traversal.

[@Kodaiva]

Improvement? The earlier titles were some of the best parkour in the series

[@Jaguar21010]

@@SPexHoS2137 asking to get rid of parkour? You want them to remove more of the Assassin's creed identity? We are lost aren't we. Sad it's come to this

[@SPexHoS2137]

@@Jaguar21010 read my comment again

[@protectbabysif]

I also like the flair, but the lack of ability to maintain momentum makes it look pretty unsatisfying. When she reaches top speed on rooftops during her ninja sprints, it looks very fun, and if you could keep that flow and flip into her runs more smoothly I think it would be perfect for what the game is offering

[@JelloFluoride]

The system gives you no reward for mastering it because there's nothing TO master. You just aim in a direction while holding the "parkour/ constant ninja flip" button. At least in the earlier games, timing and momentum MATTERED.

[@gweedus]

Thats it how felt in mirage to me. It looked fast, but felt like you had zero control. The ezio-kenway games were great because you could side ejects, change paths quickly, and it just looked better. It really baffles me how they once had a really good system, and decided to completely throw It out the window

[@Captain_Grogg]

@@gweedus not gonna lie in black flag the parkour was kind shit it didnt feel like there was enought oportunites and buildings were also very far apart not sure about the other kenway games so far ive only played ac1 ac2 half of brotherhood ac4 black flag and the majority of oydssey. i played ac4 then started odyssey got burnt out as it was to big and started the older games. dont get me wrong black flags naval combat was great and so was the land combat and story but the parkour was horrendous in some points it was okay but it didn't feel free as the tree tops were just a layed out path and the ships sails and masts were good but last time i checked alot of the game is on land too

[@protectbabysif]

@@JelloFluorideI mean yes but these RPG titles aren't focused on movement so you shouldn't expect something that has a high skill ceiling akin to the earlier titles. All I'm asking for is something functional that doesn't get in my way or aggravate me

[@geosweet_]

@@JelloFluoride How do you know that?

[@IndyMiraaga]

The removal of a dedicated jump button has made AC's parkour worse imo. Being able to jump and actually time your movements properly was what made the parkour feel smooth, only once you mastered it of course. It's why some players loathe Unity's parkour and others love it, if you master the mechanics it is one of the best with some exceptions but if you don't then it feels generally like a downgrade.

[@callmeivan2064]

The stickiness comes from where Ubi creates set animations on certain tiles. You have the "ridge tiles" where Naoe runs along, the "edge tile" where Naoe stops and performs a jump/climb. The game basically magnetizes you towards a certain part of the rooftop. This became really obvious with unity with how arno interacts to the world. Even older games are somewhat sticky such roof edges but it doesnt have the roof ridge to magnetize the character towards.

[@krejtek9654]

In Unity it was sometimes painfully obvious, as Arno would elevate 5 meters up in a straight line, as he's being magnetically pulled by a ledge. At least the transitions between animations were much smoother than in the newer games

[@dragoxk4542]

Watch Dogs 2 still has the some of the best parkour in any game.

[@orbitwhitegum7]

@@dragoxk4542 I think that's because there was little to no verticality, and that's a good thing. The game was very mostly meant to be, well, parkoured. AC was more about climbing in the beginning than it was about freerunning. Sure there was some, but climbing was definitely more prioritized

[@Ligmaballin]

Dying Light 2 says hello

[@mrmeme2917]

I liked the stickiness in Valhalla actually it made sense for a 200 pounds viking woman carrying an axe on her back to parkour that way , but for a 100 pounds ninja it should be way smoother

[@babyshiori]

this game just keeps getting worse

[@QuiGonJack10]

@@babyshioriworse, if anything it’s actually making improvements

[@Shzy.]

Those are words of Mutahar right?

[@babyshiori]

@@QuiGonJack10 true. but there’s still a main problem with the game, from a particular samurai lol

[@QuiGonJack10]

@@babyshiori haha yeah true. But I don’t like to care about that. I’m going to enjoy the game regardless of the race of the samurai

[@Moealex0076]

As someone who’s only been a fan of AC since Odyssey, it’s always fascinating watching people pay such deep attention to animation and feel and spend tens minutes of just saying how “good” the parkour animation is. Don’t get me wrong. I can talk for freakin hours about the themes of the Like A Dragon games, or praise the simplicity side of Far Cry or shout how smooth Mad Max feels as a game. It’s just fascinating seeing my own over analysis be covered by this youtuber or like Whitelight. It’s cool seeing how some people and fans notice things so many don’t even notice.

[@glennpaulo7157]

@@Moealex0076 i think maybe because its been more than a decade. People like them who are fans of the franchise , see these little nuances.

[@gtwarrior4221]

have you played the older games??

[@faroazandeen589]

Does anybody remember the Unity gameplay reveal?? Where Arno is descending down the building? That was PEAK PARKOUR

[@RipaStar00]

remember when u tried to do parkour urself and it barely ever worked? yes, peak

[@faroazandeen589]

@@RipaStar00 That's why I mentioned the gameplay reveal video and not the actual gameplay

[@orbitwhitegum7]

Man, I really wish they'd remaster Unity. If it hadn't been so buggy it would be widely regarded as one of the best AC games

[@faroazandeen589]

@@orbitwhitegum7 Me too...but honestly, it really doesn't need a remaster... just need to update it

[@mariguana7918]

Leave it to Ubisoft to give a ninja the dexterity of a Viking

[@divinium33]

removing the high/low profile actions with right trigger was the worst thing to happen to parkour

[@Optimus_Bull]

I like the flips and the movement of Naoe in a lot of areas. Her crouching animation actually reminds me of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory to some degree. But it's like you said, the flips doesn't carry momentum and looks like she is floating in the air for a short second before she continues falling down. That needs to be addressed.

[@AlphaGarg]

It probably won't be

[@cakeassassin6277]

the idea is that you can increase your running speed if you run well. in old games you had tons of people on the streets, beggers, musicians, kids... those npcs would go towards you and stop you, other npcs just wallked arround. you could increse your momentum by just runing, but would be slowed by people. you could shove them out of the way, but you would still loose momentum. it would be faster to go to the roofs. if you climbed you also loosed momentum, but the game was filled with parkour starters and elevators that would quicklly allow you to gain momentum while you climbed. things like jumping, vaulting, jumping sideways, eject, animation canceling... would not affect momentum as much as bumping into a wall and climbing. the game even had special items at right angles that allowed you to swing to do a 90º turn. actually, even stoping and doing a 180º was pretty fast. i think we should go back, the new ac games arent as fluid, since unity that the game actually forces you to stop before you fall, in syndicate you cant even do a jump if the other roof is too far away. in the ezio games, you could jump anywere, and you even have a mecanic were you can swing your arm trying to grab something. also, funny enough, spiderman 2 also has this problem. when walking arround spiderman tends to stick to certain objects. sometimes its hard if you want to place him exactlly in a specific place. its sticky

[@zayam5401]

Ubisoft and Bethesda- are never gonna change.

[@techveee]

Ubisoft did change. For worse. That is how we got to this point.

[@PHossain-zz3xo]

Not their fault actually, when the consumers are ready to buy anything and everything they put out. Why should they change? They are making millions with minimum effort.

[@anotherdaytobetheslayer7091]

Blame the dumb fanboys buying these games 😂

[@chalkenjoyer]

throw in Activision as well

[@alienlvni8426]

@@techveee agreed but they’ve only got more successful since the rpg change. in their mind it’s for the best .

[@ryuined]

insomniacs spiderman is the perfect example that you can have stylized animation with fluidity instead of sticky transitions

[@renevancy]

Exactly you could feel the weight of spiderman surpassing objects and the momentum was there

[@fyb3rotik]

Series is done for, can’t believe how far the series has fallen.

[@VlReaderr]

At 1:29 she keeps a momentum. She came down from the rope almost vertically and all the momentum was vertical. She had to absorb it and then change direction. If you want to keep the momentum in such a situation, you have control the moment you release the rope and then you have to face another direction while in air.

[@jayveeeee]

I see what you mean but I think she regains control before she jumps to that next segment. She recovers from the jump, she even turns left for a split second before turning right and jumping to that lower wall section. So her losing balance doesn't make the most sense in my head.

[@Captain_Grogg]

@@jayveeeee when shes moves left the right this likely because the player was trying to avoid jumping down since ac games have always been a bit bad for misinterpreting player movement

[@btchiaintkidding7837]

1:26-1:27 this looks like dogsh^t and she gains sudden momentum like a magnet. it looks fragmented af. do your eyes work ?

[@wesbenarnold1980]

​i believe there's small windows for changing direction or delayed input. So to make it dynamic as possible there will be flaws

[@jayveeeee]

Yup I know exactly what you mean

[@MrHazz111]

It's the same system since Origins with a few flips and a grappling hook. Let's overanalyze things when they have a NEW parkour system, maybe with Hexe. Unity's parkour while looking cool is KZbin shorts is a mess, which is why the devs probably don't want to go back and untangle that nightmare. The world also looks far closer to the RPG creeds than the city focused ones, the cities here seem clearly secondary.

[@winklenator]

I disagree on the point about Unity. I think the parkour looks great. I’d love to see newer games to go back to that style, maybe with a little less flash like the spins that Arno did. Personally my favorite parkour system was the Ezio trilogy. You had much more freedom to use different paths and movements to get to one place.

[@BuryTheLight-tds]

​@@winklenatorI agree about the "look" of the parkour, but I think what OP meant is that the parkour had a lot less freedom compared to it's predecessors, Syndicate was a lot worse in terms of freedom though.

[@thisbubblygoodness7611]

@@BuryTheLight-tds yeah, Syndicate it was literally missing the feature of not being able to lunge off a building, you can in Unity but for some reason in Syndicate, the game forces you to either use the grappling hook or descend manually, which removed a heap of fun from the parkour, its almost as bad as the RPG 'parkouring'.

[@Zrs3820]

​​@@winklenatorIt looks great yet when you will play it, it will feel awful. Due to the lack of freedom you get to actually control the flow of your parkour. Something which AC 1 and The Ezio Trilogy had. It's a shame really.

[@Cure4Brains]

​@@winklenator sometimes it looks great, sometimes (most of the time) it looks bad. And I'm not talking about freedom and control. It's very unpolished. Just watch some videos at 0,25 speed. Arno's arms and legs penetrate into textures, he floats through the air, and is often magnetized to surfaces. Basically, some of these problems mentioned in the video began with Unity. And with each new game, things get worse and worse.

[@lol-uz8by]

Good parkour isn't just flips, and the combat in ac Mirage isn't hated enough because he just spins. Ubisoft thinks that style = spins/flips. People are complaining because parkour has always been a part of ac, you'd think after 10+ games they'd stick the landing a lot more. I think the people at Ubisoft has never seen parkour in rl ever.

[@AnxMa]

I've been waiting forever for Samurai setting and really hope they do the culture justice... I was so close to visiting Japan at one point. I had experience with modeling and in late 2015 I was in contact with Capcom about the facial likeness role of Leon for the Resident Evil 2 Remake. I failed to mention I also have a voice acting background, in the end I lost the part and I can't forgive myself for wasting such an opportunity to visit place that inspired movies like Akira or Ghost in the Shell and artists like Toriyama San. Great video, as always

[@Grandtemplar305]

Don’t worry more blessing where come your way maybe you was meant for something greater

[@AnxMa]

@@Grandtemplar305 Hi, thanks so much for this feedback!

[@MS-nb2zg]

they are not doing the culture justice with how they are doing yasuke in the game, putting hip hop music in the background in his gameplay was defo racist

[@fantasy-n3g]

Me too! I think that's like half of the appeal of this game tbh. Just being here in an AC game is enough for many people. Also, that's really cool about Leon! Of course I'm sorry it didn't work out. I hope you get to visit Japan in the future! I'd love to go someday too

[@babyshiori]

we can both visit Japan together one day! i’m a car nerd lol

[@Chris-dy1cb]

That little turn around when the camera is clearly aiming in the opposite direction just always dismisses the suspension of disbelief. The character always looks like they are getting pulled in a direction by a rope versus looking like a movement specialist that is moving with a purpose

[@JelloFluoride]

I don't care what ANYONE says. Unity had the BEST Parkour in the series. Syndicate was a stripped down version of Unity's system, and everything after that was the "sticky" that people are referring to. AC was always very fluid with a few exceptions (AC3 and 4 with trees). The fluidity of your movement was more skill based than some are even aware of. If you felt hindered by the system, you were actually just unaware of the more advanced systems of movement not shown to you in a tutorial, but was still very much a part of the locomotion of the game. And Unity is the BEST example of that imo.

[@jayveeeee]

Agreed. I think the new parkour is made to be accessible. They wanted to make something easy to use. If you don't know what you're doing in the older games, Unity especially, it looked awful. That's why there's such a disconnect between people talking about parkour. It wasn't easy before, so people thought it sucked.

[@redninja3056]

I disagree unitys was one of the worse ones, ac2 had the best parkour unity just looks good but isn't

[@Me_Myself_Maly]

@@redninja3056may I ask why you didn’t like it

[@thatmajestictoad]

​​@@Me_Myself_Maly I know I'm not who you're asking but as they said it just looks good but isn't technically the best. Unity went all out on its animations but as a result stripped down some of the ease to pull off the more complex movements. Wall ejects for example were very contextual in general much harder to pull off at times and due to them prioritizing animations and fluidity they kind of harmed the fluidity aspect in the sense that Arno would sometimes have these weird stutters/break in momentum just so the game could do the proper animation which lead to a heavy feeling parkour system. Compared to say the Ezio Trilogy and although to a slightly lesser extent, the Kenway Saga, that had very mechanically in depth parkour at the slight cost of fluidity (which is more of an engine issue) Unity's parkour just felt strange. It was nice but just too animation heavy. Still great parkour just a little limited at times.

[@jcers]

I feel hindered by Unity’s handholding, limitation of depth to contextual actions, and total lack of animation cancelling.

[@miljanvideo]

People need to realize that the most of the animators nowadays are using presets with little to no editing, they are told to do so, to minimize cost. A good example of how it should be done is MW2019's animations. They made over 15 different animations for each interaction, and each interaction is connected with dozen of other animations.

[@RedOctBrock]

Tbh was playing some Unity today. Everyone is mad about the flashy-ness, but Arno was almost more flashy. Also the parkour in that game had this same sort of “floaty” or “sticky” feel as well.

[@XxDruidmancerxX]

I think that what would be nice was if certain animations only played in certain situations, like doing flips is definitely slower than just letting go of an edge to go down, so I think it'd be cool if the flips only triggered when out of combat, etc, so when you are running away, you don't scream "STOP BEING FANCY AND JUST GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE!" lol. And I also miss the fast and fluid "quickly sitting on edge before dropping down" animation we had in Unity/Syndicate (sorry, don't know how to explain it better lol)

[@Greenleaf_]

I wish if it was a steep drop she could slide off the ledge instead of jumping and flipping which makes no sense and is slower.

[@papaberger64]

I’ve said it before but still this is the only channel speaking on AC games whose opinion I actually trust. I love all your AC review videos and you’re always very fair and honest when something feels good/ looks good or isn’t. Not saying every opinion is always right that’s not a thing but I trust the honesty when it’s good and when it’s bad you don’t encourage us to stay away but to see for ourselves. Can’t wait for what you think of this game I hope it’s the best since origins as far as the new formula goes.

[@fantasy-n3g]

Oh that's very nice of you to say :) I just try to be honest about how I see things. I'm glad it comes through! I'm crossing my fingers, my biggest worry is that it'll feel too similar to Valhalla. Of course I have a pretty negative view on that game so I hope that doesn't affect my enjoyment of Shadows. Trying to go in with an open mind :)

[@DirtySam0410]

i think a sped up of 2x would resolve "floaty ness" or "stickiness" of her movements And also yes, I do hope they add some complexity to the controls of the parkour. Hope its not just, press one button and move the joystick in the direction you wanna go. But we'll have to see. I don't think anyone's had a hands-on impression of the parkour yet so... take things with a grain of salt.

[@ThisIsGlitch]

anything ubi nowadays has those weird slowdowns and accelerations, too animation heavy

[@jakeandthebowtie]

The thing I've discovered playing Mirage, a definite step up from Valhalla, is that you can definitely get it to flow, but only if you know the movements in advance If you're improvising, chances are, unless you're really good (I'm not), you get stuck on things, between places, not going where you want to..

[@Oichief]

We need some behind the scenes once the game releases to understand why parkour was this way, In AC unity, and David Belles mocap, Arno's parkour was describe as "floaty" because in real life, when we jump, it takes some time for gravity to accelerate our fall. In the RPG titles, Gravity is a lot stronger making it look "sticky". I think this problem could be solved by by turning down the gravity and making Naoe's move slower similar to Arno's since it's too late to hire a mocap actor to do free running.

[@Vixoro1]

This game looks exactly like ghost of Tsushima, you go the grapling hook, "resolve meter", and 4 equipment slots on each side. 4:24 4:10

[@rafaelorona1395]

I’ve been seeing the footage, didn’t realize about the stop of momentum that much. I realized that with flips the character would’ve to land and then start a different motion. But you’re right, it can be improved. Definitely not a deal breaker for me.

[@Zuernaxashyr]

Okay so 3 things.. 1: I really hope we can control when she flips its just too much and unnecessary alot of them. 2: Also I hope they cut down her grunts and moans she does since she's suppose to be all about stealth. And the 3rd thing: Yeah I hope they clean up those Eivor stubble animations to make her less clumsy looking.

Aaaaand with this, I'll play with Naoe way more than Yasuke. She's like Evie Frye with the stealth and I simply love that game style.

[@alphadread1746]

Maybe the "stickiness" is because more fluid controls with an analog stick would cause players to do some movements unintentionally? Like when the character is running along the top arch of a roof, the "stickiness" allows the player to continue to run along that path while moving the camera. It seems like it works to keep the player on a path unless they fully commit their movement to a new path. Idk tho. I don't make games

[@jamesconnolly849]

i would be curious to see a comparison to the pre-rpg games once this is out. From what I recall, the older ezio games felt good but were sticky. I would also be interested in a comparison between this parkour and unity parkour. Unity parkour looks great when you put in a good amount of time to practice but it always felt VERY clunky and sticky when starting out imo. I really liked the comparisons you did between origins/odyssey/valhalla and this!!

[@jayveeeee]

I think that would be a fun comparison, maybe I should make it! I made the side-by-side a few years ago because I was arguing with someone on Twitter who told me the parkour was exactly the same across all three RPG creeds... I spent way too much time on it but I had to prove them wrong 😅 Turns out in came in handy later!

[@BuryTheLight-tds]

Your short description of Unity's parkour system is very accurate, the topic of whether it's a good parkour system or not is very divisive, and you can see that for yourself with the comments of this video or anything involving AC parkour.

[@jamesconnolly849]

@@BuryTheLight-tds all I’m saying is it would be cool to compare shadows parkour to basic and advanced unity parkour

[@Messi-rw9ng]

Ezio games felt good (even though they were sticky) because it had a sense of momentum

[@luke.dean2704]

You nailed it on the analysis..that “stuck” feeling is horrible when you should be moving like water across rooftops.

[@Hawxaw]

In Valhalla they added actual animations after climbing ledges and landing instead of just having your character go into the run animation when they barely clear the ledge. Looks much more real imo. All the things brought up here have been around since Unity

[@coachdraz8866]

Coming directly from Unity gameplay. This parkour looks floaty af. Even worse than recent rpg games.

[@gameboi-fun]

If yall ever watched any chinese movie of ninja, yall should know they can walk in the air since their moves are light as feather. So it really smooth when seeing Naoe move like this.

[@Gavinwiggles]

How many backflips that defie gravity can make this game shittty

[@JelloFluoride]

Seriously, I got annoyed just WATCHING the excessive flipping. We get it guys, she's a ninja. 🙄

[@Noir-c9k]

They should keep the backflips but add more variety to them, the reason why it looks so repetitive is because it looks like it’s the same animation playing over and over

[@babyshiori]

it’s been shitty since the trailer dropped

[@ajosephkippkao2016]

Shut up about defying gravity plz when the leap of faith has existed since AC1

[@YousefMohamedAbdulMoniem]

wah wah wah cry me a river

[@ODEENStealthSurvivalGaming]

It feels like character have some micro-stumbles or have a fear of stumbles.

[@BooleanCorporation]

Both ACIII and IV/Rogue had a one parkour button that accommodated the acrobatics easily enough. I'm replaying all the games in order and have reached Unity. I had to do some muscle memory gymnastics to get back the flow I had with those two.

[@simonarques5201]

The fact it's so weird is simple, they treat horizontal parkour like climbing. An easy fix would be to keep the climbing movement but make the jumps and traversal moves work differently and never being auto aimed at props. It could ever be something like rooftop and alley, or more animation based like the storror game in the making ( you should check how awesome it seems to be, very animated while giving full control when it matters, and using physics and momentum to link some moves.

[@theadmiral4157]

They didn't even bother to give her another animation other than the flipping lol

[@Mad-Man57]

It’s cool

[@renevancy]

​@Mad-Man57 its lazy.

[@justrandomstuff6828]

I love the flips but i agree it needs to be a little less sticky

[@owRekssjfjxjxuurrpqpqss]

They need to switch to something driven more by inverse kinematics if they want the parkour to feel smooth and natural rather than keyframe animation for everything. The problem is that no matter what speed you’re running, the jumps are limited by how many animations they’ve made, the game picks a landing point at the beginning of your jump and plays an animation of your character jumping to it, while in a game like mirrors edge you are still in control while jumping and your landing point isn’t pre determined when you jump

[@kamikage9420]

I actually changed the control scheme of Mirage slightly to make RT the Sprint Button and that made it immediately feel a lot more like the classic Low/High Profile controls. I might do the same for Shadows.

[@177SCmaro]

Fundamentally the problem is and has been for a while, over a decade, with Ubisoft's system is practically everything you do is locked into an animation. One. Animation. At. A. Time. Basically you're on rails and to change direction requires you change from one set of rails to another which takes time and has an obvious start and stop. Some Assassin's Creed games are much better at hiding it that others (like the AC1 and the Ezio games) but it's always been there. It's better known more simply as "jank" or here "stick". How the AC1 and Ezio games got around this is they gave the players the ability to cancel animations esp to maintain momentum.

[@FA-me9hf]

Unity still being untouched as the best parkour in the series 10 years later is just depressing. This is what happens when you layoff the teams that built these systems and the new ppl gotta relearn tons of stuff just to accomplish half of what they managed to do

[@P3rtzel]

Ac1, 2, ac brotherhood and ac revelations would like to disagree with that statement

[@noxzaz1076]

Revelations? bro have you tried the hook blade?? also shadows is really floaty, guess what's also super floaty. ac unity unity is floaty asf

[@yourbarber6732]

Unity is the flashiest but not even close to “untouched” in terms of best parkour system. It looks good when you get it to work but precision is far less of a factor compared older entries in the series

[@nebulaxiii5533]

Unity's parkour is terrible and I'm tired of people pretending it's good just because it has flaahy animations.

[@oscarjenkins7505]

In terms of smoothness and responsiveness, AC1, 2, and Brotherhood are easily the best in the series to date. Idc who is working on it, I don’t believe that they’d struggle to recreate (and improve on) almost 15 year old mechanics with the technology we have today. I just really don’t think they’re trying to do so, which blows my mind tbh.

[@iNINJAgamer]

Exactly. The same thing I was saying when I’ve seen her movement for the first time. She seems “slow”… to be a “Ninja”. It’s a video game, everything doesn’t have to be super realistic… according to movement in video games. It just gotta feel right.

[@choppedandbobbed9729]

I remember when I anticipated AC games above all others. RIP Assassins Creed 2007-2015

[@Pako9713]

to me those graphics are cool. super realistic single fibry hair of NAOE, cool wavy trees, color filter which makes look everything like real life plasticine models. i like it

[@MerciLessSKiLLz]

I think ac3 had the best fluidity and slow parkour, Conner being one of the slowest assassin in climbing because the most common building being 2 stories tall. I think they nailed the perception of Connor being a fast climber because of the animations and fluidity of parkour.

[@hellboundchaoscommand7567]

This is what every AC game has looked like this is just more stylish in my opinion

[@wesbenarnold1980]

I love the stylish parkour, i will pre-order. Feudal Japan is a great template and wherever the game fantasy takes me I'm down for it ❤

[@toastbud6870]

Legit looks like an app game with good graphics

[@BuiltNutritionFitness]

I played Mirage after GoT and noticed a big difference in movement fluidity. Think it’s present in all AC games

[@huhwerid3166]

i wonder why they don't stick to what unity have done.

[@mrmeme2917]

They can't , Unity's world made that parkour system possible you can't have that in Medieval England or fuedal japan

[@HollowBagel]

Need an actual fully fleshed out city to make it feel good. The last 4 games haven't had that.

[@dejuanhickman3175]

Like unity was a perfect game😅

[@QuiGonJack10]

@@mrmeme2917so did Baghdad. Yet that wasn’t as good as unity for parkour

[@mrmeme2917]

@@QuiGonJack10 mirage was Valhalla dlc it will be naive of you if you expected them to implen Unity's parkour

[@unc54]

Yeah, I agree there isn't much momentum between movements. It feels like they're working off of RPG Creed as a base rather than the full rebuild this system needs.

[@DonkeyKing]

It would be cool to see an AC game with the parkour mechanics of 'Rooftops & Alleys.' I wonder what a de-magnetized parkour system would be like in AC-probably a higher skill ceiling, and it could be very satisfying having a certain momentum into a fluid assassination.

[@bennycaustic5102]

Honestly I think this look pretty good. Free running is hard to do in games. People act like any of the older games are actually better looking then this. They really are not. This is for sure a new high. The game that comes close to matching what we see here is maybe Unity, but that game is totally broken, so it doesn't really count.

[@tardarsauce1842]

AC Unity: Arno spins too much Ac Shadows: Naoe flips too much

[@isaaccontee]

As an AC Odyssey lover, i would prefer a flip than an edge grab and pull up. it annoys me every time when the jump is too long so the character grabs the edge of the roof/surface. Overall parkour looks fine, definitely could be better(for a 2024/2025 game that is based on sneaking/parkour, you would say they would improve the main "thing" of the game), I can see the lack of refining when she changes the roofs and it's kind of like a step high but she just walks over that bump / almost teleports. The spiderman thing(the grappling hook) looks fine, but I bet it will annoy me so bad when I'll do I unintentionally. 😅

[@JeseSavignon]

I wish they would make parkour more compelling, if you've played spider man games or forza horizon or shadow of war you know what im talking about. You earn new moves and abilities that make you move faster or with more flair, you completely control the moves so it doesn't feel like everything just happens as an animation and if you add style points to it is a lot of fun, now it would ve wierd to see those points in an ac game like forza has a circle that fills up and then you earn a point, so instead of that make it more organic, maybe you start flowing faster or your assassinations are faster or something like that 🤔

[@buffkangaroodog]

Parkour isn’t where it should be, but I do think there’s promise. Mirage gave us good level design for the first time since Unity really, and now shadows is giving us improved animations and even a new movement mechanic for the first time since syndicate. We still need improved fluidity, stronger mechanics, and for it all to be in ONE system and game, but we went 6 years from origins until it started getting better in mirage. I would take good over better, but I’ll take better over worse any day lol

[@edkraken7011]

Guys. The stickiness was present in unity, syndicate, black flag and ac3. It wasn't in ac2, but as the animations got more complex I always noticed it.

[@Greenleaf_]

Well yes but it's the degree of it. The reason it happens is to transition between 2 different floors, but it shouldn't slow you so much and be so bad looking.

[@edkraken7011]

@@Greenleaf_ I get it, but it only got worse, the problem was already there. They'd need to rework the parkour system from the ground up...and we know they'll never do that

[@TpRedNinja]

Tbh when she goes on the thin roof part after she grappled hooked she all of a sudden goes 100mph then she gets off an goes 10mph so...they need to be able to make naoe keep the same speed when she is on something and then going to something else instead of resetting her speed tbh.

[@cy_pher03]

It looks like she’s defying physics and is moving on rails. The flashy animations are a nice idea but the execution looks really clumsy

[@harya7517]

The problem with unity back then was the absurd amount of animation loading make Arno's parkour innaccurate, but still flowing faster compared to recent AC (remember that Arno scaling 1:1 Notre Dame in mere minute) Ubisoft should scale down the fancy animation, make descend system a thing again and voila, you got perfect parkour. (Because I can imagine I go morbid when doing chase scene in Shadow)

[@marcosescobar5348]

I don't know if anyone remembers but the "classic" AC games had this problem too. You weren't exactly moving swiftly unless you were hopping on those narrow beams or swinging off the horizontal poles. Unity is the only one that didn't compromise momentum.

[@fakepasta3935]

Great video. Finally someone talks about the lack of fluidity of the movement. I personally hate the magnetized feeling in movement and assassinations. The moment a guy magically shows up in your arms. The problem is that you can see it in all modern UBI titles. If you watch SW Outlaws gameplay, it is there.

[@NotTylerT]

People love comparing it to unity but when u go back and play it there’s stickiness’s in it but the animations are fluid enough to kinda bypass it

[@archiezhep]

Reason why it was quicker in that one clip when she is sneaking past that one guard is because she was crouched beforehand for some reason.

[@atlas_rhea]

Also it looks like the issue they are having is that previous games all had flat roofs and these tiled Japanese roofs have steep changes in gradient that the physics of the movements don’t seem to match.

[@andersoncastillo5841]

They need to do what spiderman 2 did with the swinging assist to make it more or less sticky to help players and give the option for more freedom

[@Messi-rw9ng]

Feels like they never have a design document detailing features that existed and should be kept and things that worked/didnt work.

[@Denis-mx2ou]

only thing it needs to get fixed is, to have a lot more adaptive animations based on momentum and direction youre running etc. The Parkour is not seamless, the game has individual animations for climbing and jumping but zero animations for anything that is happening in between jumping and climbing. AC Unity had the best parkour, which I think this game failes to replicate, Unity was the prime example of what I wrote above, the parkour reacted to your surrounding and obstacles and animations adapted accordingly.

[@CinematicSeriesGaming]

This lack of momentum and stickiness is what always bothered me about RPG ACs. I think that the movement in AC Origins feels amazing (even though the parkour was simplified) but in the later games (Odyssey, Valhalla and Mirage) it feels off. I really wish Ubisoft abandoned this game engine they're using and design something new that's better suited for "classic AC" gameplay. They should go back to the roots and focus on smooth, stylish animations and the sense of momentum.

[@whatwhynwho]

i like the parkour, realistically people do slow down when moving fast while doing acrobatics because well... its safer

[@donnytonny730]

i loved playing Ac Valhalla while watching The Last Kingdom, Vikings, or another show from the time to get inspo

[@booogagaming5223]

I really expect the ac game set in japan to be the most fluid parkour to be honest, I hope this parkour system is good in game.

[@mudai_]

I think the problem stems from poor transition mechanics. There’s not enough micro transitions designed for the assassins to switch from moving on a free movement surface (ground where you can move in any direction) to a linear movement object (rooftop peaks, ledges, etc). If they switched from snowdrop to UE5, they could totally fix this issue by employing the AI natural movement stuff.

[@ghost_of_a_dead_poet]

I actually preferred Valhalla to Origins and Odyssey... it didn't feel as weightless and floaty as those two. Sure, the new parkour looks goofy but i kinda understand why. Making fluid parkour is hard. That said... Parkour should be one of the main features of AC and i would love for further games to focus on it and develop some kind of momentum system.

[@alanabyss9246]

Not gonna lie it looks pretty good

[@derekkrum1741]

"idk what's stopping her momentum" maybe the literal hook swing into full back flip onto a slanted roof? no one is gonna be able to immediately keep running after that

[@xhatake1084]

after just beating ac1 and the ezio trilogy it makes me sad seeing the parkour fall off so hard as i continue through the games. assassins creed 3 felt so boring to me without a sprint/climb button or even something as simple as holding B to push people out of my way. the worst decision made was making RT/R2 the button for everything momentum related.

[@charactersmoreorthree]

Guard: "Is the wind grunting?"

[@iamJXCE]

I wouldn't mind parkour "skill checks" so to speak, kind of like Dying Light. For example, if you jump from too high up, pressing a button right before you hit the ground to do a barrel roll to keep momentum, as well as other mechanics around that style, all while keeping the awesome parkour of the assassins creed games.

[@awgmvrg3686]

I feel like at the moment in the game industry, gaming has hit a plateau where we are getting less creative development and a more standard practice niche's that we have been used to for the past decade and a half but with that I feel as though gamers are now realizing this and calling BS, which I'm glad for. I really hope we are approaching a turning point where it inspires companies to be truer to themselves. Because even though the topic of this video could be seen as 'nit picky' to some, it needs to be stated that it doesn't matter how many Assassins Creed's come out in the next few years, unless the critique is heard and listened to, we will always be stuck with the same mechanics, same gameplay loops, same story filler missions. Something that Ubisoft has had ample time to adapt on but point blank refuse for whatever reason.

[@P3rtzel]

Yes and the fact every game needs to have hundreds of hours of content and side quests instead of high quality it seems nowadays

[@-RogueBlade-]

I know AC is much farther from its realism roots these days, but I still think fluidity is important; its kind of an assassin trait if you will, rewatching a majority of older trailers makes that clear. But gameplay is a lot different, the right balance of style and fluidity is tough to nail. Unity does it quite well though; I actually think in regards to vertical movement Unity is the smoothest

[@DeltaSlush]

Nothing like being a stealthy ninja like a bunch of flashy jumps and flips. I cant wait to be running from guards and having to wait for a jump and flip before making my way to another rooftop.

[@TheRealAnotherDayawn]

I aint gonna hate, WAY better than anything ubi has done with parkour in the last decade, Mirage was a good step in the right direction (not saying mirage was great it was alright but very janky parkour and not much control). At least they are actually remembering what made assassins creed so fun to play being a cool assassin that sneaks and climbs around stealthily taking out enemies. In my own conclusion on AC Shadows i will be purchasing this because we samurai and we assassins.

[@thewolfdenmark592]

Understandable reusing animation. The problem is reusing the wrong animation. How hard is it to grab Unity movement animation and paste it to all the other ACs?

[@jayjay24155]

They reuse animation from the games on the same-ish engine so everything from origins onwards uses the same animations. Unity and syndicate use their own animations. Ac4 and ac3 do too. Etc etc I think

[@PieknyWojtek]

I'm only guessing here, but in the older games like Unity characters might have been rigged differently (differently placed bones - which are basically the points in the character mesh that control animations). If that's the case - it's not actually easy to reuse them.

[@reg_tings4919]

Looks cool and flashy yes, but it does look like another rpg typa parkour. I miss the jump button along with the high profile button, made you feel like you had more control over your movements and the parkour felt lively that way. Holding one button just puts me to 🥱😴

[@VIPPyroTM]

Love the parkour mechanics here! Same vibes from Watch Dogs 2.