Ubisoft Forums > Assassin's Creed > Assassin's Creed - General Discussions > Why didn't AC3 have a sub-title? "AC3: The American Revolutionary War"?
View Full Version : Why didn't AC3 have a sub-title? "AC3: The American Revolutionary War"?
Considering AC IV's is "Black Flag" it feels a little off for AC III to not have it.
I'm kind of a fan of AC III (it's my favourite being that it was in that timeline and all) so it's somewhat disappointing Ubisoft left out the sub-title, and I know this is just nitpicking it.
Cause it was the next big thing like ACII back then.
Because that's a terrible subtitle.
Simple. The name would've been too long.
Black Flag shouldn't have had a number in the first place. Same engine, ... and just a year after AC3. They probably did it for marketing reasons because of the negative reaction to AC3.
I think a better question would be, why does AC4 have a number/Why does it have a subtitle?
So people wouldn't suspect it was AC3.5 in a new location with better naval mechanics and the Black Flag was there to tell people it's a pirate game.
AC 3 definitely deserved its number and didn't need a subtitle, but AC 4 shouldn't have had a number which is weird because AC 4 is arguably a better game than AC 3. I feel like numbers should be retained for big jumps in gameplay (AC 2 and AC 3 as examples) AC 4 was a fantastic game (my favourite after AC 2) but it wasn't a big enough jump in gameplay to have a number.
Better question.. will AC games ever have numbers again?
I am honestly expecting that if there is a Japanese AC game in 2016 it will be called AC 5.
The numbering of titles in sequels had a certain logic to it until AC3. That logic was a numbered sequel was a leap over the earlier title -- A combination of new protagonist, new setting, new gameplay, new style. AC2 was a break from AC1 and AC3 likewise marked a break from AC2.
Now, the marketing people decide the logic of the titles and Ubisoft's marketing people have terrible instincts on the whole.
The real reason why Black Flag was called ACIV was because the marketing people overreacted to Connor's backlash and like the well-fed pavlovian dogs they are, their knee-jerk response was to make ACIV a follow-up on AC3 but with a Sub-Title added to it. Ideally it should be Asassin's Creed: Black Flag, since Rogue didn't have a numeral and it is the third part in the 18th Century Colonial era triptych. They all deal with a single family saga, have the same New World mechanic and a great deal of emphasis is placed on sailing and they have the same engine and gameplay, so it is part of AC3 Era, however much marketing wants to decieve itself.
UNITY is technically AC4, but that doesn't mean anything anymore, since they gave it to Black Flag. In any case, the simple subtitle works because UNITY didn't really bring anything different over the previous games. It basically styled itself as a Return or Refinement of existing systems, a return to the land-based European gameplay, so there's no real ambitious jump from earlier eras. Like AC2 added a ton of features, brought historical tourism, Tomb missions. AC3 brought hunting, whistling, running-assassinations, natural environments and introduced naval in side-missions. So aside from going next-gen, bringing Co-Op gameplay, it doesn't add anything new and unique to the table.
ACB - Say what now?
ACR - Ah, so this is what we're getting now.
AC3 - Seriously, bruh? It's ok, though, because it's the next big thing.
AC4:BF - Now you're just being silly.
The numbers to me represented steps forward in the main story i.e. modern day. When they made ACB and ACR they didn't make a progress in the main story, they just expanded on Ezio's story. Which wasn't really necessary but didn't bother me. The number up until 3 made sense. They killed the modern day in 3 and the number in 4 made absolutely no sense to me. Since they killed modern day Ubi has been noticeably lost on what direction they should be going. And I don't expect to see a numbered title again.
My thoughts exactly. If Black Flag was just Black Flag with no IV, there wouldn't have been much of a hassle.