How Ubisoft Killed the Modern Day Story in the Assassin’s Creed Franchise

OnlySP: Assassin’s Creed. These two words identify what is quite possibly my favorite franchise, my love for it perhaps even bettering my love for Uncharted. But there is a problem with the series as a whole: the modern day component tying it all together is functionally dead and nonexistent, and I don’t have much hope for what Unity and Rogue have to offer, either.

[-Foxtrot]

I think it bugs me because they could of ended it once and for all in AC3 yet they added the Juno plotline which I'm guessing won't be resolved now.

They would of been better off rebooting it completely, like say all their past games with Altair, the modern story, Desmond, Ezio didn't happen. Then they would be free to set the games back in those time eras (or close to them) without worrying about those characters/stories.

[dreamed]

Just didnt happens a bit strong,geez ive put hrs into ac..lol..,if they did a jr ewing/dallas it was all a dream that would surley piss most fans off??.

Then again ubisoft brought sarah fisher back to life for sc conviction,quite well i might add,i would have never guessed.

[Jaqen_Hghar]

They should just let it be told through the characters you play as in the flashbacks. You normally get all the story from stuff as far as filling in the blanks from the interim period in games in the flashbacks anyway. Desmond is completely unnecessary and a man never cared about him one bit.

[Jyndal]

I was actually hoping that through the 'bleeding' effect, we'd end up with a full fledged AC story in modern times, with Desmond being the main character.

After AC III, that doesn't seem likely...

[mgszelda1]

that was exactly what I was hoping they would do but I wasn't sure how you would balance guns into Assassin's Creed. leaving the modern storyline Wenge where they did just feels cheap

[Jaqen_Hghar]

Glad they got rid of Desmond he had the personality of a rock. Give a man a game that has nothing to do witH the present and just tells an engrossing historical tale. The games do this already and they're some of a mans favorites but that future stuff always got in the way of the fun parts and a man always cared for the historical figure more. Hopefully they don't have animus crap if they make a movie and just tell an awesome period piece either in the crusades of the formation and discovering of secrets by two great orders and their struggle for power or the tale of a young Italian man discovering his families secret order and getting revenge for their murders all the while discovering remnants of an ancient secret civilization. Both of those plots are engrossing without future crap

[Spenok]

Yeah they definitely alluded to that in the previous games. Here's hoping that they eventually do it still.

[Redempteur]

the "modern day " storyline was a cool twist in AC1 & AC2 , but after brotherhood , it feels like they didn't realise what they wanted to do.

BlackFlag had a cool twist on the modern day gameplay but they either need to kill the modern day storyline OR to embrace it totally , after so many games it's time for answers, it's time for teh story to advance forward.
AC3 was a let down on that regard , even after "revelations" to set it up.

[DaleCooper]

Completely agree. I dug the change in Black Flag, kind of a fun nod to us gamers. I got sick of the desmond story after ACII, it just kept getting dragged out. Glad they finished that arc, but there's no need to start a new modern day arc.

[xX_Altair_Xx]

I havent played AC since Brotherhood; just lost interest after the milking and by the sounds of it the story's a mess.

[Tdmd]

Well, you just missed Revelations and AC3 then, which might be the worst two entries in the franchise. But you should definitely give a chance to Black Flag: it is as good (if not better) than AC2.

[DivoJones]

Ezio was at least a more interesting character but I agree that a full reboot is probably in order. I've played every AC except the portable version and while the gameplay seems to tighten up the story becomes less cohesive. The only thread that connects them is their war with the templars, and in AC2 the fact you could unlock Altair's gear. Then they killed off Desmond with barely a mention in Black Flag after giving him nearly a piece of every ending in the games that preceded it. The annualization of the franchise has killed it, much like every other game that attempts the annual release cycle.

[Jaqen_Hghar]

Just take out the future elements and tell tales of history of Templars vs assassins. The characters and struggles of the past were always way more interesting than the future characters a man never gave a crap about

[kneon]

I saw the modern day part as just a mechanism to allow them to jump around in history. I also never cared about the modern day story, I only played the parts you couldn't skip.

[ironfist92]

How about a new Modern Day story with a new set of characters, who follow after the events of Desmond in AC3

[Harold_Finch]

Desmond never receieved good feedback from players, Ubisoft didn't like the character either (illogically) blame all of them for fing the story up.

That's if Desmond doesn't rise from the dead like Jebus.

[Baka-akaB]

It would just be a bad idea to setup a modern AC game , when half the charm is the idea of revisiting historical places , ideas , struggles and characters , even in a completely fictional fashion .

I only like the idea of the modern era as a story device with the franchise , and with hopefully better chars than Desmond

What's so historical in the idea of some modern AC ? Just play Watchdogs or most sandboxes

[Lamigol10]

The basic AC gameplay and story are great, I love it. The stupid future bits break the illusion , they kill it for me. Ubi should have cut the modern bulls**t and just concentrated on standalone stories. Who gives a shit about historical accuracy or continuity of story and plot. Hope they sort it in the future as I genuinely like AC

[Tdmd]

I second that. In fact, if they had rebooted the whole thing and had replaced Desmond and that Animus crap by an old lady reading a book to her granddaughter, it would be just fine by me. The historical pieces and their settings are the key features of this series, so why to pretend they are secondary to the modern day part?

[Tdmd]

*spoiler**spoiler**spoiler**sp oiler**spoiler**spoiler**spoile r*

I've played every AC except for DLC's and Liberation, but the modern segments were getting so convoluted (and uninteresting, really) that, once I've started playing ACIII, I was already lost to it's story. I wasn't aware that Lucy was a templar and I honestly don't remember how the hell Desmond's father got into this picture. Then, after deciding to skip that horrible mess of a game that was ACIII, I've started playing Blackflag just to find out that Desmond is dead and the templars are now the protagonists of this weird tale... wth?!

[aLucidMind]

They weren't the protagonists, you were merely playing an employee that was oblivious to the existence of the two factions. Though, in some tales, the Templars may be easily able to be protagonists. After all, Haytham's original goal was to UNITE the two factions and build bridges until his mentor tried to kill him and made him go nuts in the latter half of AC3 (that happened off-screen, obviously).

[arbitor365]

the ties between the historical segments and modern times always seemed rather weak. i get the impression that the creators originally just wanted to have some sort of historical, period piece game, but were pressured into having this sci fi stuff in order to have wider appeal.

because the whole templar and supernatural mythos isnt delved into very deeply throughout the games and just feels like something in the background most of the time.

[Dogsuferer24]

The modern day part of ac is just plain boring and awful. No ones cares about that terrible part of the story not to mention it adds absolutely nothing to the gameplay. Everyone who plays it wants to get through it asap. That's why most of it was optional in black flag. People like exploring the worlds ubi builds in the past not the boring present garbage. Ubi knows people don't like that part.