This is more or less a free form ramble talking about Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag. These are just the pure raw thoughts I had about the game so please excuse the bad grammar and spelling :) and spoilers.
Now for me a judge of a great Assassins Creed game is when you the player end up getting lost in the world for hours on end. I haven't did that since AC2!!! In AC2 I spent soo many hours in Venice Just ridding the gonala listening to Dreams of Venice by Jyper Kid. In AC4 the first city you arrive in, Havana, I immediately got immersed in the world taking in the sights sound and atmosphere. First 6 hours of me playing was just me walking around doing random stuff and with the soundtrack....usted esta en la habana!!!!
Gameplay wise there is nothing much to say other than Ubisoft always deliver. Combat is solid similar to AC3 same goes with the freerunning. I like they put an effort to have more stealth options into the game since I myself is more of a stealth style gamer. For example I was sailing in the Jackdaw and saw in the distance a very high level man o' war (I didint know I can do this) instead of fighting him head on I decided to swim to the ship and capture it myself with out killing any of my crew. That was amazing!!
Now the Assassins Creed franchise has always been known for great storytelling. The story of Edward Kenway was no exception. With Edward through a series of circumstances he ends up being embroiled into the secret war of the Assassins and Templar. But the real meat with the Edward story is his motivations. His motivations stems from his desire to have a good life for his wife Caroline as we see in his flashbacks and it is that what drives him to seek wealth and fortune as a pirate and how it conflicts with the ideals of both Templars and Assassins. 90% of the story you are not an Assassin which is a refreshing take on the franchise. As you play the game you end up having this 3rd party perspective that brings in those shades of grey and the Templar Assassin conflict is not all black and white.
Edward's blind and selfish motivations to pursue the observatory and its power is what ultimately led to the deaths of many friends around him from his pirate accolades to the Assassins. My favorite part of the story is when Mary (a.k.a Kidd) died and that when the hammer fell on Edward. As her death lead him to a deep drunken depression and hallucinations seeing all the people who had suffered because of him. Now here is where you get a great use of the phoenix metaphors personified. After going through his depression he finally realized the consequence of his actions and now vows to right his wrong and reforge him self choosing a new path and thus becoming a true Assassin earning the respect of both Assassins and Templars.
The ending was a sweet, sweet ending with having learned his wife Caroline died 2 years prior. Edward was greeted with his daughter now for him to raise her and take care of her. It may be short but that scene alone you can see how much the character of Edward have grown as he meets her daughter for the first time. With combination with the song Anne Bonny sung made it a nice heart warming ending. (Not going to lie I had Man Tears!!!). As we near the end it comes full circle as we are then taken back to the Theater Royal as shown in the beginning of AC3 as we are introduced to a young Haytham Kenway.
Concluding this ramble Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag has taken its place for me as one of the best AC games I had played second to AC2. It offered a satisfying chapter to the Kenway family saga it offered a nice swan song for Desmond in the modern day (Yes I know did not talk about modern day that much). You can see this game as a transitional period as we move from the Desmond era to the Juno era and as I anticipate what will be the next chapter in the Assassins Creed universe.
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