Sath: Did you get the fancypants "Black" edition with the soundtrack? If not, if you've got Spotify it's actually already on there. Jesper Kyd has really outdone himself this time. The different music pieces in Venice in particular really pull at my heart strings.

I don't want this game to be over. I'm so gonna miss everyone, Leonardo especially, and then I can curl up on my couch with a box of chocolate and listen to this. :P

Oh ah, yeah the 2 CD soundtrack is the one on Spotify aswell. :)

I bought the normal edition because I was so burned by the first game which I DID get the special edition of. Now I kinda wish I did go for the "Black editon".

I certainly wouldn't mind that Ezio statue. :)

Well since you guys are talking about the music:

The music inside the Villa reminds me of Mass Effect 1 a LOT! It almost sounds alike.

3 extra levels? What's that?

Oh, are they like the tombs/seals?

Well I read it and I couldn't believe I'm robbed of 3 more of those bits of awesome. :D

I'll see about securing a Black edition, provided there are still some in circulation.

Yeah I suppose so. Still, I have my Altair statue already, might aswell find an Ezio to keep him company. :)

Which kinda leads me to.. Ezio is truly a beautiful character. I don't wanna give anything away, but the final look of him when you've.. done stuff.. and.. yeah. It's just.. there's a reverance for the time period in there, with just the right amount of deliberate stylization on the artists' part, and he looks so damn great. I guess the emotional bond plays a part too, his role in all of this. I'm really fond of him.

The same way AC1 opened up a love for that era and for names and places and a look I didn't even know I could love, AC2 has done it to this era, the italian language and the period look and air. Simply the name Ezio Auditore Di Firenze I now find awesome to the point of head explosions and confetti shooting out.

I think whatever they do will be different again. I think the reason I appreciate Ezio more than Altair is that as you say, we know basically fuck all about Altair. I agree that lends him a sense of mystery, but it's only with this game that I think that is reflected back on Altair. During my time with the first AC I just thought he was an under developed, arrogant douche, because we had little to go on besides his initial "I'M THE EFFING KING AND I STAB GUYS!" attitude displayed for a brief 2 minutes in the opening gameplay section.

For some reason, in this game when Desmond has the bleeding effect outside of the Animus and we follow Altair briefly that's when I realised I do like Altair. But yeah. :)

I also appreciate Ezio's nature, and his role here. I would probably best describe it as a more intense Zorro really, even though that sounds undeliberately silly. :D But still, yeah, he's really a man of the people, and you feel loved (at least partially) for what you are doing, and I really like that. In AC1 everyone fucking hates you and you kinda hate everybody back, but here you are propelled forward not only by your personal motivation, but by characters that you feel for and want to help.

But that said, I certainly see how one could prefer Altair, and I'm hoping and almost betting that Ubi will do what it takes to differentiate whoever comes next, aswell, as to not just override whatever we got so far. I kinda hope they don't do japan though.. I really love the settings in these games because they are so atypical for games. Another ninja game would be horribly disappointing at this point. The Assassins Tomb in this game all hint at awesome eras though and I hope it's more in line with those.

How about Ancient Egypt or Greece? Now that would be awesome :)

Ninja's have been a bit overdone though...
I would rather see something like Egypt or something even less common like Inca's or Mayan's but no Ninja's please....

Exactly! The egyptian statue caught my eye and interest too. Man that would be totally great, put snakes in peoples pants and whatnot. :D

I think they commented on it once but I can't recall what the gist was of what they said, but a female protagonist would be interesting too. I dunno if that'd have a bleeding effect on Desmond and make him look funny at Shaun, but for purposes of delivering an engaging historical storyline that would be cool. Female assassin in egypt, that would be interesting. :)

As for attire, I'm sure there's more stuff to pick from than the stereotypical image we have in our heads. I mean I couldn't for the life of me fathom how they'd make the Altair look fit in a 13th century italy, but lo and behold. I think those core design features of the look are much more flexible than we with our feeble human brains can estimate. I trust Ubi's designers to deliver.

Which also really holds as an argument if they do go for japan. I really, really hope they don't, because that's such an oversaturated era in anime and games and comics, I just don't feel the same fascination there as I would with something they truly surprise me with. I couldn't have picked THIS setting out of a hat, and this has ended up totally winning me over and having me fall in love with the architecture, the language, the clothes and even the art to an extent. I've actually spent a fair amount of time in the villa gallery reading about those paintings. Japan could easily become "here we go again..." in comparison.

BUT the last paragraph started with.. argument.. for.. yes. right. I was gonna say that I trust Ubi with this. I trust that if they do japan, they have the sense to know what parts, what motifs we're sick of at this point and go with a decidedly refreshing era, or shining light on a different aspect of it than we're used to. They could probably make something interesting out of it... buuut.. I rather they spent their time on something visually, historically, thematically unique in games, as it is the CREED if you will that they've established so far.

I've just finished DNA sequence 3. I'm not sure if I like the changes they've made. I don't feel much like an Assassin or that I have that much freedom in what I'm doing. Though the repitition in the first one was a concern, when you rocked up in a city you more or less had the freedom of a segment of it and were free to pursue the target as you wished. You felt like you were part of the Assassins.

At the minute, it feels a bit directionless and that I'm just doing odd jobs for each random NPC.

I'm going to finish it anyway so perhaps it will improve. Is it just me or is the lipsync and a few of the cutscenes terrible also?