So I was right, AC3 was very thematically similar to AC1. Little is black and white, so many shades of gray. I am happy that they didn't go the "America,
ya!" route that they could have gone with the story and idealized the American Revolution. Did all the main story and side missions, just have to scan my villagers doing certain actions and I'll have 100% in SP. It definitely has my favorite AC in animus story of all the ones I've played (1, 2, and Revelations). Might take a break from AC for a bit or jump right into the Washington alternate history DLC missions. I'll have to look up how long they last.
They did a much better job of weaving the village build up mini-game that is in every AC game into the overall narrative. You start off with some dilapidated manor in the wilderness which is owned by a character who becomes your mentor. As you help people out of jams across the cities and wilderness they settle around area. Before you even realize it you have a thriving community. Each person has a skill (hunter, blacksmith, seamstress, miner, etc.) in which they produce output of lumber, minerals, animal pelts, etc. which you can use to craft items to sell for profit or to forge new weapons and upgrades. It's too bad the crafting and convoy (you load up the goods and then an NPC takes them to cities by land or sea to sell for a higher profit) interface is beyond shitty.
It isn't just faceless shops you're buying, but people you can interact with and chat up. Completing all the village side mentions also gives you better insight into the back story of your mentor. Similarly the assassins you recruit you can also have conversations with to learn their back story. One neat touch is one of the assassins you end up recruiting is a boy that was encountered in the very first mission and then Connor meets up with him years later. This isn't a big plot point, it's just a detail tossed in if you take the time to track him down in a tavern and talk to him between missions.
The inclusion of weather and seasons was also a very nice touch. The cities were kinda bland though, I don't know if there just weren't many distinctive architectural features in Boston and New York at the time or if they just got lazy. The frontier also could have been a bit smaller as it can be a pain to get around quickly even after finding the fast travel points. Based on how much people liked the pirate ship combat in Black Flag I am surprised more people didn't mention the ship combat in AC3 which was mostly enjoyable. Perhaps because you don't encounter it until 6-7 hours in a lot of people just gave up on playing it before reaching that point?
Maybe the hype was just built up too much in players minds or they didn't like the slower, more character focused pace. But I thought the game was pretty good. Though I have a tendency to forgive a lot of a games shortcomings if I really enjoy the story.
