Widescreen Gaming Forum

The saving and loading system is weak.

You have to quit four times to exit the game.

Last time I saw that sparkly effect I wondered if it was a teleport, but sometimes I see it during escape runs and it seems they wouldn't allow you to use it at times like that. I thought it was just for quicker travel between cities. It's that white glowing sort of web effect that looks like it's attached to part of the HUD at times.

Well, I can tell you this much: pressing a button when that flashes switches to a special camera angle during a cutscene (you can switch angles in the same method normally, but you only get certain static camera angles). During a chase, the flash means the chase cam is available, and you can press to turn it on. Of course, getting most of the 'special angles' is also an achievement on the 360.

I admit the exiting is kinda silly; it's the same way on the console but [at least on the Xbox] we can open the Guide and quit the game using the OS instead of the game itself. I guess they overlooked that when porting.. :

Ah I see, it all makes sense now. Yeah that explains why it was showing during interactive cutscenes and when chases start.

I'm not sure why the method of exiting the game was mentioned and how that pertains to saves. Do you mean when you want to save when collecting a flag you have to exit several screens to do so then manually go back in game the same way? If so that does kinda suck, but then in a game like this there's a crap load of stuff to save. Maybe it has something to do with that.

The saving and loading system is weak.

You have to quit four times to exit the game.

You can Alt-F4 out of the game.

Also, I have a 360 pad for my PC, mostly for racing games, and I still use the KB&M controls... I think they work great for this game.

You can Alt-F4 out of the game.

Great, but can you tell me how saving works and why it is said to suck? Other than grabbing a flag, do you have to manually type a save somewhere?

[quote]You can Alt-F4 out of the game.

Great, but can you tell me how saving works and why it is said to suck? Other than grabbing a flag, do you have to manually type a save somewhere?

It saves everytime you accomplish something... scale a viewpoint, it saves. Collect a flag, it saves. Finish a mission, it saves. There is a little "saving" icon on the bottom, as soon as it is gone you are good, quit with Alt-F4.

Well as long as loading those saves is not difficult or error prone I don't see then why the save system is so bad as some say.

I think some people just aren't satisfied unless you can save anywhere with touch of a key like you can in most PC-centered games.

Honestly though, checkpoint systems never bothered me... BAD checkpoint systems bother me, as in poorly spaced out or very rare. Assassin's Creed has none of those problems, everytime you do... well... anything, the game saves.

I think some people just aren't satisfied unless you can save anywhere with touch of a key like you can in most PC-centered games.

Having spent equal time on console and PC I can say that saving with checkpoints does not bother me.

However, there is no reason why a traditional PC save system could not have been implemented with AC. There is nothing there that would make that a difficult task.

The same can be said of the exiting. Alt-F4? What kind of solution is that? The only games I use Alt-F4 to quit are bad console ports with no quit option. Hmmm.

As described though, AC is not just limited to checkpoints but rather places the player can decidedly go to for saves. Seems to me using flags and viewpoints was intended to serve a few purposes. Coax the player into using wise spots to save, get them used to scaling rooftops when escaping, and show off the game's fluid climbing and far reaching city views. I think of checkpoints in terms of games that are pretty linear and put you through a set path with autosaves along the way.