Why AC 1 Still Has The Best Modern Day

All Clips Taken From Altair Stealth: / @altairstealth
I often hear a lot of people debate what the best modern-day franchise is, but most of the time, AC 1 is not part of that conversation. I wanna discuss why AC 1 has my favourite modern-day out of the whole franchise, and why I hope Ubisoft returns to that dual style of gameplay that separates stylistically the modern day from the historical sections of Assassin's creed.
Assassin's Creed is an action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first instalment in the Assassin's Creed series. The video game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007
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[@kori8938]

Yeah, the Desmond series definitely had the best modern-day, no contest! There was actually a clear and critical goal to accomplish, and the characters were relatively fleshed-out and easy to buy into (compared to later games). After Desmond's arc, the writers seemed to lose all sense of direction for what to do next. I know many people hate even the concept of the modern-day segments of AC, but I really liked it in the old games because it gave the animus sections purpose. There was a genuine reason you were exploring the particular memories of specific ancestors, and there were big internal and external stakes for Desmond and the world. I think the true problem people have with the modern-day sections - or at least a big part of it - is that it's not as interesting. AC's decision to answer that problem by having no protagonist only made the problem worse. It was a tiny bit better with Layla, but the modern-day still felt like an annoying thing they had to deal with and add on to the game, rather than an opportunity to draw together a satisfying narrative. I believe more people would enjoy the modern-day AC stuff if they simply had a clear goal/world, better fleshed-out characters, and more action and integration with the animus sections. We've only seen a tiny sliver of what the modern Brotherhood is like, and we're told they're constantly hunted down -- that right there already has the potential for a cool story full of stakes and rad gameplay. They just need to make modern-day actually interesting and not a waste of time. AC III probably did the best job of this, but they can do so much more if they try

[@joseortizreflects]

I played Assassin's Creed 1 many times before even buying the sequels, and I would often wonder about what would happen next. After playing the Ezio Trilogy and AC III I know, and it's not bad by any means but I felt like AC 1 was going in a different direction. Had this franchise not picked up and become the phenomenon that it is today, AC 1 would have become one of those unique games that never had a sequel but developed a kind of Cult Status, similar to Beyond Good and Evil. After all, AC 1 was made during the time Ubisoft made the most innovative games in the market, games like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

Completely agree, i still dream about that alternate universe

[@Garcusmarvey]

Never should’ve killed off Desmond.

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

i agree

[@JKKoneofakind]

here's my pitch: you have a modern day assassin group, doing the ac1-ac3/origins-valhalla bit where we go back and forth between the modern day and the animus memories. then, right there at the end, pull the rug out from under the player. as the game ends in the modern era, the "real world" glitches out, and you desync. the protag wakes up in a good old fashioned abstergo lab, connected to an animus. the entire "modern day" segments up to that point had been abstergo visiting a modern day assassins memories, something that occurred only 10 or so years ago, and one who abstergo is convinced found something important yadda yadda isu stuff. the protaganist, having been subjected so deeply into the animus, would have full bleed-over effect, causing them to truly believe they were the subject of study, not the unrelated abstergo employee left to cook in the animus too long. For the finale, you get the chance to stalk through the facility and try to escape, but eventually they catch you just on the brink of freedom, plugging you back into the animus to do post-game forever.

[@TrvvonxLeonn]

I think why the newer AC referenced Covid was because AC always referenced Real life events such as in AC 1-2-3 . It was literally about the current threat of the “ end of the world 2012 of December” which was everywhere in the news at the time and the game kinda revolved around that soo much so that they released AC3 in 2012 and had Desmond be sacrificed to “ save the world from ending “ And I remember playing ac3 In 2012 when it released and getting to the part where Desmond sacrifices himself to stop the end of the world from happening and then getting to the end of the year and the world not ending it felt as if Desmond was the reason the world didn’t end because he sacrificed himself . So I think they tried to recreate that with covid but flopped massively

[@screwball992]

After killing Desmond off killed the franchise for me. Here we have someone who finally chooses to be an assassin, starts to learn how to be an assassin and it looked like Desmond would pick up where Ezio and altier left off. You start to see Desmond be an assassin then its cut off short. It left a sour taste in my mouth. I mean while playing AC3 all I was thinking was Desmond would have his own game where the assassins and Abstergo fighting in modern setting, then bam. Dead. It's like they thought about doing it then changed their minds at the last minute.

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

They defo lost direction after

[@TrvvonxLeonn]

Exactly I was looking forward for a Desmond focused game going against abstergo/Templar in the modern day Kinda like Watch Dogs

[@levisimon5237]

Personally, modern is best in AC3, not only Desmond's sacrifice part, but we could see him utilize all the skills he obtained all along, skills of Altair, Ezio, and Connor (How OP Desmond would've been!). The scene where he climbs that skyscraper in New York would be prolly the most dangerous and daring parkour of the whole series. Also, when he goes to abstergo, uses the apple, just like Altair effortlessly. Also, his conversations with Juno, he gradually bonding with his father. Modern day of Brotherhood follows after AC3. We could see Monterigioni in present, the underground of the city, villa auditore, sanctuary, Colosseum vault, Desmond and Lucy's chemistry and yeah, Lucy's death.

[@TrvvonxLeonn]

The modern day is one of the reasons what kept me coming back as I couldn’t wait for a AC game that would take place in the modern day

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

same here

[@jammydodger222Xxd]

I justwant them to do a total wipe of everything that came after assassin's creed 3 and start from there. You could have a story dedicated to explaining how a secret assassin plot meant Desmond actually survived the events of that game. Then have maybe one or at most two more games with a historical component before switching to Desmond as the main protagonist in an entirely modern setting. That's where I thought they were going with it years ago and I was super disappointed when that didn't happen.

[@PatrickWardActor]

What an excellent breakdown of just why the modern day in AC1 was so good! Taking the words straight out of my mouth. I actually reference this video in my latest video because it's so good. Hope you're doing well my friend!

[@liamnelson49]

I think if they are going to push the modern day story 100 years into the future they should have it where basically the templars won and you're a group of the rebels who are using the animus to train and learn about the assassins. Basically restarting the brotherhood

[@liamisic911]

AC1 took itself serious! Patrice Dessilet had a big part to play with it! Imo it lost its mature appeal with AC Revelations. Too many kids started playing the game and then they watered the story down. Alot of the new players did not "get" the modern day part or were bored by it and just wanted to stab things.

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

Rev has a very mature story tho

[@liamisic911]

@@TheSpaniardAssassin somewhat does for Ezio not so much for Desmond.

[@SarahLuvs2game]

​@liamisic911 he literally watched Clay get disintegrated into minerals just so Desmond himself could finish a sync Nexus and Clay very much made it clear during Desmonds opening intro that if he doesn't get out/Wakeup he's going to die or worse survive by eventually waking from his coma made by the apple and be really messed up mentally its a dark story if you look into enough

[@liamisic911]

@@SarahLuvs2game yeah i know still feel like it was half assed, they built subject 16 up to be this guy with all these secrets in the first two games and in revelations he was just some weird guy that doesn’t reveal much. They killed Lucy off and explained it in some very forgettable DLC. Its been a mess since Brotherhood to be honest.

[@SarahLuvs2game]

@liamisic911 yeah I can understand your feelings on that ubisoft is definitely missing a part of the beautiful thing it used to be

[@kori8938]

I agree with your thoughts on ACI and its modern-day atmosphere. They did a great job establishing tension, making you feel watched, held prisoner, and thrust into a world you have to kinda work to make sense of (in a good way). The writers had faith in the player to puzzle things together, and it actually gave you fascinating questions to ask yourself about morality, history, and reality. Ironically, the more they choose to try and appeal to a broader audience, the more stale and unappealing it becomes. And that's a trend many franchises in many forms of media are slowly realizing. That said, I guess AC's target audience has shifted to a younger, less contemplative demographic, and as long as they keep making money they won't care to change. It's just sad because this particular IP has such rich potential

[@cristianvogelfang5670]

For me Revelations, use Ezio and Altair in the same game is just the best

[@dasunguy]

My biggest issue is the removal of the Animus as the main plot device holding the narrative together. Before the RPG era you had no "Game Over" when the protagonist dies. Instead the Animus desynchronizes because it cannot keep reconstructing the memory with a dead ancestor. So you get thrown out into the memory corridor (loading screen) while the Animus loads a previous point of time (checkpoint) from where it can continue rendering the memory (gameplay). What happens if you die in AC: Mirage? The game freezes, you get a Game Over screen and can press the X button on the controller to restart from a checkpoint or exit the game. Lame.

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

Yeah that diagetic gameplay stuff is perfect and i miss it

[@simpleecasual7138]

Seems like the new system saves time ngl You are just sour asf

[@cristianvogelfang5670]

I agree in modern day ac1 is the best

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

chad

[@Amuro94]

I hope I can play this game on Playstation. This is the only main AC game I haven't played yet 😢

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

i hope you do and i hope you love it

[@kori8938]

I wish Ubisoft understood how much money they'd make with a remastered AC I!! SOOO many people would love it, especially if they made the gameplay less clunky and added some new features. Like, imagine AC I with the parkour of Unity and combat of Brotherhood! As far as new content, maybe they could put in extra missions that flesh out Altair a little more, like in Brotherhood. Although I'd rather them keep the new content to a minimum and focus on updating graphics and performance

[@samsmadland4018]

So we’ve built up basim as a massive character from the end of Valhalla and then even got mirage for his backstory. Was hoping he would be the new modern day protagonist. Could be very interesting. But now Ubisoft are scrapping that plot line too? Just like scrapping the Juno plot line in games? Why can’t they just stick to something? 😂

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

i hop he is but he probably wont

[@Pimpedout007101]

The modern day segments of ac nearly made me drop the series. I’m so happy it was dropped

[@TheSpaniardAssassin]

Pain

[@lionkingflo6355]

You've got no taste

[@Pimpedout007101]

@@lionkingflo6355 well I do like ac sooooo

[@lionkingflo6355]

@Pimpedout007101 yeah but ac had its up and down and who knows what you could have been an fan off soo

[@Pimpedout007101]

@@lionkingflo6355 even its highs were low, and that’s coming from a fan