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Interview: Assassin's Creed 2 creative director, Patrice Désilets
Assassin's Creed 2 is Patrice Désilets' first sequel. If there's any anxiety or fatigue squirming inside of him, it's well hidden by an infectious enthusiasm and candor. Speaking with us during E3 2009 in Ubisoft's den (and thus, din), the creative director frankly discussed several issues with us, including one which you may have heard about, over and over again: Joystiq: Do you mind if I go back to Assassin's Creed 1 for just a bit? Patrice Désilets: Yeah, yeah, no problem. So, that game comes out. You're reading the reviews and people are complaining about repetition. Yeah. What do you feel at this point? Do you agree with them? Repetition for me is a point of view, really. Like, what is repetitive or not? You know, sometimes you go and play the same game over and over again and you are all right with the repetitiveness of it. And in AC1 some people just couldn't bear it. We listened to them while we were making the second one, but, I wasn't nervous or mad. What I was a little disappointed with was some reviewers, how they treated us. They have the right to their opinions and everything, but I felt like they maybe went too fast. But you know what? I also received [opinions that were] the other way around. People being really happy about the game. Doing it two, three, four, five times. Sure. And we sold some eight million copies of it, you know. Eight million people can't be wrong?
Assassin's Creed 2 will end with a cliffhanger
"I'm telling you. At the end of AC2 you'll say‚ 'Holy crap, I never saw it coming.'" That's according to Assassin's Creed II creative director, Patrice Désilets. In addition to saying "Holy crap," you should also prepare yourself to exclaim, "But what happens next?!" Désilets noted that his first Ubisoft sequel will answer plenty of questions -- but not all of them."There will be a cliffhanger," he admitted. "It's cool to have a cliffhanger." The director feels that players need to experience just a little bit of frustration at the game's completion, though a new way to replay completed missions should counter at least some of that. Oh, and remember that glowing writing on the wall?"It has nothing to do with Assassin's Creed II, what's written on the wall has to do with the Assassin's Creed universe, not the second one."
Wii too casual for Assassin's Creed
Recently, the folks over at Guardian Unlimited sat down for an interview with the creative director of Assassin's Creed, Patrice Desilets. When asked if the popularity of the Wii and the growth of the casual market had any impact on the game's creative process, the Ubisoft employee had some not-so-nice things to say about our favorite console."The Wii is all about casual games. In terms of processing power and graphics capabilities the Wii is roughly equivalent to the PS2 and the first Xbox ... I like the controller and the fact that the Wii is bringing a new audience to games but Assassin's creed [sic] would never run on the Wii hardware. There's a big audience that's looking for immersive gameplay and a cinematic entertainment experience with graphics that rival the best CG."Oh, snap! Now, we know that the Wii can't compare graphically to the PS3 and Xbox 360, but to bring the Wii to the level of last-gen consoles just seems like a low blow. Also, if the cinematic experience is such an important aspect of Assassin's Creed, one wonders why the team decided to make a version for the Nintendo DS.Surely, we can't be the only ones bothered by Desilets' assessment? Many developers seem to be under the impression that the Wii is only for casual gaming and ignore the fact that there are games coming out that aren't tailored to the casual market. In fact, Ubisoft themselves are publishing one as we speak. Furthermore, a game like Metroid Prime 3 has shown us that the Wii can deliver good graphics and an immersive experience.We hope this isn't a sign of what kinds of games to expect from Ubisoft. We're not saying that Assassin's Creed should be released for the Wii, just that the Wii should not be dismissed as a console for casual games. Maybe Ubisoft's developers need to take notes from the company's publishers and give us the type of games that we've been clamoring for.
