Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: Difference between revisions

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*** This is the only way to keep the Scimitar, however, you still lose it if you change weapons as it will not be stored at your hideout nor can it be bought.

** Arquebuses and Crossbows cannot be looted or disarmed from Arquebusiers, Crossbowmen or armored Regulars, nor can a Papal Guard be looted or disarmed of his Pistol. As with ''AC2'', one can also only loot weapons that had been drawn (requiring that the guard have detected Ezio or one of his apprentices), with the exception of Polearms carried by Seekers or Papal Guards.

* [[False Flag Operation]]: It seems that the point of the Followers of Romulus is this. A Templar cardinal comes up with the idea of a cult of violent pagans in wolfskins running around to vilify any non-Church-related religious activity and thus send more people into the arms of the Church, with the added side-benefit of having a group of violent crazy men with knives to do his secret bidding.

* [[False-Flag Operation]]: It seems that the point of the Followers of Romulus is this. A Templar cardinal comes up with the idea of a cult of violent pagans in wolfskins running around to vilify any non-Church-related religious activity and thus send more people into the arms of the Church, with the added side-benefit of having a group of violent crazy men with knives to do his secret bidding.

* [[False Reassurance]]: Done to {{spoiler|Francesco Troche}}.

* [[Fake Difficulty]]: All missions have an extra, optional "victory" condition, to achieve what is known as 'full synchronization'. This is done to [[Fake Longevity|pad out the game]], but in some places can be seem lazily done: The mission "Crepi Il Lupo" requires the player to defeat no less than thirteen enemies without taking a single hit, a feat made even more difficult by the fact that the mission begins with the enemies spawned in a tight circle around the player, some readied to attack.

** Oddly enough, the easiest way to clear this "full sync" condition is to do exactly what the {{spoiler|execution/kill streak}} gameplay was supposed to avert, {{spoiler|staying in Defensive Stance the whole time and just countering all attacks}}.

** The worst of these are the Bomber and Tank missions, both of which have a 'full synch' objective where the war machines cannot sustain any damage.

* [[Fake Longevity]]: Some missions take place in isolated areas inaccessible outside of the mission and feature a time limit that you have to beat to achieve 100% sync ratio. They also feature collectibles such as flags and chests placed outside of the ideal route such that the time limit is impossible to beat if you deviate to collect them, thereby forcing you to play the mission twice to achieve [[Hundred Percent Completion]].

* [[Fake Longevity]]: Some missions take place in isolated areas inaccessible outside of the mission and feature a time limit that you have to beat to achieve 100% sync ratio. They also feature collectibles such as flags and chests placed outside of the ideal route such that the time limit is impossible to beat if you deviate to collect them, thereby forcing you to play the mission twice to achieve [[Hundred-Percent Completion]].

* [[Fetch Quest]]: Returns in the form of Shop Quests. Some stuff can only be unlocked for purchase by giving Tiber Island shopkeepers certain items. Fortunately, they are optional for story purposes.

** The electricity run between Sequences 1 and 2 also counts, although the locations are fixed in place.

** The item collecting can be ground, but there appears to be only two Shrunken Heads in the whole game (one in northwestern Antico district just under a cliff face facing a ship, and the other one in a Lair of Romulus), so if either of those are sold it may be [[Unwinnable|impossible to complete the Shop Quest that unlocks the Seusenhofer Chest Guard and Seusenhofer Pauldrons]], thereby making [[Hundred Percent Completion|100% Synchronization]] impossible for that save file.

** The item collecting can be ground, but there appears to be only two Shrunken Heads in the whole game (one in northwestern Antico district just under a cliff face facing a ship, and the other one in a Lair of Romulus), so if either of those are sold it may be [[Unwinnable|impossible to complete the Shop Quest that unlocks the Seusenhofer Chest Guard and Seusenhofer Pauldrons]], thereby making [[Hundred-Percent Completion|100% Synchronization]] impossible for that save file.

*** Additional Shrunken Heads can be obtained - ''if'' you invest 100,000 florins in one type of shop. Which, given how the investment mechanic works, would take so long as to induce additional [[Fake Longevity]].

* [[Final Death]]: Assassin recruits that die, whether due to mission failure or in combat, are gone for good. Fortunately unlike the finite secondary missions in ''AC2'', the game will dynamically generate recruiting missions whenever an Assassin recruit slot is unfilled.

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* [[Gainax Ending]]: {{spoiler|Sure, it makes sense as a cliffhanger, but still... ''damn'', Juno.}}

** To a lesser extent, the weird orange cutscene with {{spoiler|Cesare repeating his last words for no apparent reason after you throw him off the castle}}.

* [[Game Breaking Injury]]: At the attack on the villa near the beginning of the game, Ezio suffers a gunshot wound to the left upper chest/shoulder which cripples his mobility so severely he even limps in the loading screen. [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|Although his fighting animation doesn't change]], but this could be justified gameplay-wise by the Animus still being in tutorial mode at this point (it's likely the real Ezio had a much harder time of it). Your armor (and thus maximum life bar) will also be reduced if you take too many hits, necessitating going to the blacksmith to repair it.

* [[Game-Breaking Injury]]: At the attack on the villa near the beginning of the game, Ezio suffers a gunshot wound to the left upper chest/shoulder which cripples his mobility so severely he even limps in the loading screen. [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|Although his fighting animation doesn't change]], but this could be justified gameplay-wise by the Animus still being in tutorial mode at this point (it's likely the real Ezio had a much harder time of it). Your armor (and thus maximum life bar) will also be reduced if you take too many hits, necessitating going to the blacksmith to repair it.

** For the remainder of the Sequence Ezio is unable to sprint, free-run, catch ledges or climb leap, and when he first arrives in Rome he's initially unable to even jog. Although he regains those abilities (and his unwounded posture), he's unable to climb leap until midway through the story when he can buy a reinforced brace for the right hand -- suggesting that the gunshot wound also affected his right arm or hand, albeit only in that respect.

* [[Get Back Here Boss]]: Several of the Borgia Captains that you must assassinate to liberate a zone of Rome run off the moment they see you, and if they get away you need to wait to try again.

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* [[Humiliation Conga]]: Sequences 5 through 9 are one long spree of failures for {{spoiler|Cesare Borgia}}: first Ezio {{spoiler|kills Cesare's money-man who was his main source of funds, then he deprives Cesare of his French allies and (optionally) his [[Leonardo Da Vinci]]-designed war machines, kills Cesare's lieutenants and wrests control of Rome away from Cesare, ''all'' right under his nose. Cesare then gets a stern talking-to -- and attempted poisoning -- from his daddy who'd withheld both financial support ''and'' the Apple of Eden from him and didn't even tell him about the death of his French general, though Rodrigo's attempted solution [[Hoist By His Own Petard|fatally backfires]] (while this was going on, Ezio had also prevented Cesare's hitman from killing a love rival). Cesare's own sister Lucrezia betrays the location of the Apple of Eden to Ezio, who reaches it first despite Cesare's head start, and then incapacitates quite a few Borgia troops along the way out of the Vaticano District. Several surviving Cardinals put their support behind "Della Rovere" (actually Giuliano della Rovere) for the Papacy after telling Cesare that his family's money is "tainted." After several skirmishes in Roman streets are all lost by Cesare's men, in the final battle for Rome the Assassins openly take to the streets and literally force him outside one of the city gates. Even then Cesare still believes that his army is returning to retake Rome, led by his hitman... but instead, a general previously forced into his service now arrests Cesare at the new Pope's order -- complete with a charge of incest -- and Cesare is dragged away by Papal Guards who he might have previously commanded. It would be a year or more before he escaped, breaking several bones in the process, and Ezio would finally catch up to him while Cesare was making a last desperate grab at a comeback -- not command''ing'', but command''ed'' by a relative. Oh, and so much for being "the best fighter who ever lived."}}

** Revealed in ''Project Legacy'' to have been pretty much intentionally planned by Ezio, when he turned down a shot at Cesare's life, claiming that the death of one man would not bring down the Borgia -- instead resorting to things like poisoning French duelists (to "force" Cesare to applaud their Italian opponents and thus potentially degrade relations with his French allies), or swapping prisoners scheduled for execution with hapless Borgia guards.

* [[Hundred Percent Completion]]: Achieving "Full Synchronization" requires missions to be completed with set standards (avoiding detection, avoiding damage, set time limit), the completion of which allows access to Ezio's Repressed Memories... though the last one is actually unlocked at only 75% overall Synchronization.

* [[Hundred-Percent Completion]]: Achieving "Full Synchronization" requires missions to be completed with set standards (avoiding detection, avoiding damage, set time limit), the completion of which allows access to Ezio's Repressed Memories... though the last one is actually unlocked at only 75% overall Synchronization.

** "Hundred percenting" the renovation of Rome unlocks the Auditore Cape, while removing all of the 101 Borgia flags unlocks the Borgia Cape, though both have the same effect of artificially keeping Ezio's Notoriety at zero. Collecting the ten Feathers this time only results in an Achievement/Trophy.

* [[Hypocrite]]: While rescuing Catarina in the Castello, you must take Lucrezia Borgia up to where she's being held, by force. The entire time you do this she's ranting about how the Assassins have ruined many people's lives and ensured the end of the Pazzi family's bloodline...despite the fact that the Borgia destroy businesses, have let Rome fall into ruin and squalor, have hopelessly corrupted the Cardinals, and have Ezio as the only surviving male member of the Auditore family by the end of the game's intro, this last one for apparently ''giggles''.

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* [[In the End You Are On Your Own]]: Invoked when {{spoiler|Ezio goes after Cesare without the Brotherhood}}.

* [[It's Probably Nothing]]: When Ezio is roused from slumber with Caterina due to cannon-firing noises, he thinks this since the men of Monteriggioni had been planning on cannon practice that morning. Then a cannonball goes through his room, knocking over the Armor of Altaïr in the process. It can't be destroyed, not even by ''cannons'' because it's made from super-metal, and Desmond later sees Ezio wearing it after the attack.

* [[~~Its~~ Not You ~~Its~~ My Enemies]]: Ezio attempts this with Maria and Claudia by sending them to Florence. Needless to say he is somewhat annoyed when they turn up in Rome anyway, and especially when they decide to "fill the gap" (after his failure to save the madam of a Roman brothel) by taking over it themselves. He gets over it though when he is shown his sister [[Took a Level In Badass]].

* [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies]]: Ezio attempts this with Maria and Claudia by sending them to Florence. Needless to say he is somewhat annoyed when they turn up in Rome anyway, and especially when they decide to "fill the gap" (after his failure to save the madam of a Roman brothel) by taking over it themselves. He gets over it though when he is shown his sister [[Took a Level In Badass]].

* [[Just Following Orders]]: Cristina, in one of the flashback memory missions, tells Ezio to not kill the guards moving his family's bodies because they're just doing their jobs. Ezio doesn't really buy this ("They follow orders ''without questioning--!"'') but he relents to appease her.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: To remind the player that the mooks they're sneaking by might not be [[Just Following Orders]], one of the later sequences has a cutscene of Cesare having his soldiers stab an innocent [[For the Evulz|for no reason other than asking them to save her son]].

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* [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]: The intro movie effectively spoils the ending of [[Assassin's Creed I (Video Game)|the first game]], namely {{spoiler|the betrayal of Al Mualim}}. You would expect the game to spoil ''ACII'', what with it being a direct sequel in the same setting, but not the first one where Desmond's experiences in the Animus are unrelated.

* [[Laughably Evil]]: Cesare at times for his maniacal villainy.

* [[Legitimate ~~Businessmens~~ Social Club]]: ''La Volpe Addormentata'' (The Sleeping Fox), the Thieve's Guild disguised as an inn.

* [[Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club]]: ''La Volpe Addormentata'' (The Sleeping Fox), the Thieve's Guild disguised as an inn.

* [[Lightning Bruiser]]: Papal Guards take and deal great amounts of damage while being surprisingly quick, can wield any of the other guard archetypes' melee weapons, and have a pistol attack of their own.

* [[Limited Special Collectors Ultimate Edition]]: The American collector's edition has the usual DVD bonuses... and a jack-in-the-box!

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* [[Red Herring]]: Several things seem to suggest that {{spoiler|Mario (somehow) survived}}. Nope.

* [[Red Herring Mole]]: {{spoiler|La Volpe is suspicious of Machiavelli to begin with, and several unfortunate incidents indeed indicate that Machiavelli is likely to be feeding information to the Borgia.}}

* [[Red Sky Take Warning]]: Sequence 9.

* [[Red Sky, Take Warning]]: Sequence 9.

* [[Relationship Voice Actor]]: In Japanese, alongside [[Tomokazu Seki]] returning as Ezio, we have [[Junichi Suwabe]] as Cesare and [[Ayako Kawasumi]] as Lucrezia. [[Fate Stay Night (Visual Novel)|Now where else have we heard that combination?]]

* [[Right Through His Pants]]: ''Inverted''. Ezio is naked from the bath, but Katerina Sforza seems to have her undergarments on the entire time until the two of them wake up in the morning.

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* [[Sequence Breaking]]: Unlike the Assassin's Tombs in ''AC2'', the Lairs of Romulus have a persistent plotline and are intended to be played in a certain order, but there's nothing actually stopping you from playing them out of order once you've unlocked them all.

* [[Sherlock Scan]]: Senator Troche assumes that this is how Ezio knew that he had been whoring. The truth is much simpler: Ezio owns the Senator's favorite brothel.

* [[Shout Out]]: ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has made at least two major shout-outs to Assassin's Creed (such as Big Boss' ability to perform the Leap of Faith in ''Peace Walker'' and Altaïr's robe ''MGS4''), it's only fair for this game to return the favor. Firstly: {{spoiler|1=Raiden's ''MGS4'' outfit}} becomes a possible costume for Ezio -- albeit with Ezio wearing it -- if you happen to complete all the Virtual Training missions, which themselves could be construed as a shout-out to the many VR Mission modes for MGS games. Secondly, when you first meet back up with {{spoiler|Leonardo, his voice appears to be coming from inside a modern cardboard box}}.

* [[Shout-Out]]: ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has made at least two major shout-outs to Assassin's Creed (such as Big Boss' ability to perform the Leap of Faith in ''Peace Walker'' and Altaïr's robe ''MGS4''), it's only fair for this game to return the favor. Firstly: {{spoiler|1=Raiden's ''MGS4'' outfit}} becomes a possible costume for Ezio -- albeit with Ezio wearing it -- if you happen to complete all the Virtual Training missions, which themselves could be construed as a shout-out to the many VR Mission modes for MGS games. Secondly, when you first meet back up with {{spoiler|Leonardo, his voice appears to be coming from inside a modern cardboard box}}.

** The mission where Ezio saves Caterina is called ''"[[Castle Crashers (Video Game)|Castello Crasher]]"''.

** When Ezio and Bartolomeo's mercenaries disguised as French troops arrive at the French camp, he attempts to converse with the guard manning the outermost gate in French. The guard, finding the accent off, asks, "Which part of France are you from?" Ezio responds, "Montreal." Ubisoft Montreal is the company's primary studio for all ''Assassin's Creed'' development.

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** One of the first few achievements is "[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Literature)|Sanctuary! Sanctuary!]]"

** The achievement for destroying all the Borgia Towers is "[[Tower Defense|Tower Offense]]"

** The title for one of the Assassination Contracts "Brutes and Brutality" seems to be a [[Shout Out]] to the episode naming conventions for [[Black Adder|Blackadder the Third]], which in turn is a [[Shout Out]] to [[Jane Austen]].

** The title for one of the Assassination Contracts "Brutes and Brutality" seems to be a [[Shout-Out]] to the episode naming conventions for [[Black Adder|Blackadder the Third]], which in turn is a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Jane Austen]].

** One memory in ''The Da Vinci Disappearance'', involving an artwork heist, is titled "[[The Thomas Crown Affair|The Ezio Auditore Affair]]".

* [[Sibling Team]]: The Harlequin and the Hellequin are brother and sister, Cahin and Caha. They are not seen in ''Brotherhood'', as {{spoiler|they were killed by other Assassins -- possibly Ezio's apprentices -- at some point during Ezio's time in Rome}}.

** The Thief's profile implied that she (Faustina Collari) and her brother were one, though his fate is unknown.

* [[Single Stroke Battle]]: Ezio does this in the E3 reveal trailer against two horsemen.

* [[Single-Stroke Battle]]: Ezio does this in the E3 reveal trailer against two horsemen.

* [[Sinister Shades]]: The Doctor multiplayer character has these over a [[White Mask of Doom]]. The Engineer also has these.

* [[Sinister Surveillance]]: [[Informed Ability|We are told]] that Abstergo is using cell towers to keep tabs on people and that satellite surveillance was phased out for being inferior at this. This is the given reason why Desmond's not supposed to be out of the Sanctuary for more than ten minutes at a time, though fortunately if a player does let the timer expire Desmond is simply returned into the Sanctuary.

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** {{spoiler|When Desmond and crew are at the Colosseum looking for the Apple, Shaun's advice to Desmond is "If you see any gladiators, ''leg it''!" In this case, a "legate" (pronounced the same way) is a member of the Roman army.}}

* [[Stock Sound Effects]]: Ezio's taunts from ''Assassin's Creed II'', in which he has a higher voice, are mixed in with his new taunts.

* [[Stop Helping Me]]: The Vigilantes in certain situations: they can't be beaten, moved, will never oppose you and are one of the few immortal NPCs in the game (though since they always come in three, this would result in desynchronization anyway); anytime a battle takes place involving Borgia soldiers, they'll ''always'' take the side of whoever's fighting them. This happens to be incredibly potent for mucking up a long kill-streak (getting more than five is one of the Mercenaries Guild Challenges).

* [[Stop Helping Me!]]: The Vigilantes in certain situations: they can't be beaten, moved, will never oppose you and are one of the few immortal NPCs in the game (though since they always come in three, this would result in desynchronization anyway); anytime a battle takes place involving Borgia soldiers, they'll ''always'' take the side of whoever's fighting them. This happens to be incredibly potent for mucking up a long kill-streak (getting more than five is one of the Mercenaries Guild Challenges).

** Funnily enough, they'll even take your side if '''''you''''' attempted to kill them and the Borgia soldiers come to their aid (like they will with any citizen).

* [[Stopped Numbering Sequels]]: There's a reason why this is "''Brotherhood''" and not "''Assassin's Creed 3''". It's largely ''Assassin's Creed 2-and-a-half'', a direct continuation of where ''Assassin's Creed II'' left off without being a major paradigm shift like 2 was over 1. It's far more than a [[Gaiden Game]], though.

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''Before they had a chance to laugh, he took those suckers out!'' }}

* [[Warp Whistle]]: In the form of tunnel entrances around Rome that Ezio must renovate to use.

* [[Was It All a Lie]]: {{spoiler|Lucrezia to Cesare during his brutal interrogation for the Apple's location}}.

* [[Was It All a Lie?]]: {{spoiler|Lucrezia to Cesare during his brutal interrogation for the Apple's location}}.

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: The Hermeticists are looking for a magic number that will grant them the power they need to banish ignorance from the world forever. A very noble goal, indeed; too bad they're so fanatic about it they think it's okay to go around stabbing people in their way. Their leader is ''shocked'' that Ezio is fighting them.

* [[Wham Line]]: {{spoiler|The short conversation between two men at the end. One claims to be an expert on the animus and that placing Desmond in the animus would stop him from going into shock. Then the realization kicks in that these men must be Bill Miles and some other assassin, who Lucy would have told where to go to retrieve the apple from Juno's Vault.}}

* [[Wham! Line]]: {{spoiler|The short conversation between two men at the end. One claims to be an expert on the animus and that placing Desmond in the animus would stop him from going into shock. Then the realization kicks in that these men must be Bill Miles and some other assassin, who Lucy would have told where to go to retrieve the apple from Juno's Vault.}}

* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: Teodor Viscardi, "The Officer" in multiplayer, is an agent of Cesare's whose fate hasn't never revealed, as he isn't a target in either ''Project Legacy'' or ''Brotherhood''. His sole appearance is a quick cameo in one ''Legacy'' memory.

** The same deals with Faustina Collari, the Thief. She is not mentioned to be in service to the Borgia, in either medium. Oddly enough, however, she is the one with the most backstory, concerning her lost brother.

** Likewise with Paola, Antonio, and Teodora from Assassin's Creed II. The end of that game implies they traveled to Rome with the rest of the Assassins to make trouble in the city to divert the guard's attention from Ezio infiltrating the Vatican, they are not seen or mentioned at all in Brotherhood. The most likely explanation is they simply returned to Florence and Venice respectively after causing the distraction in Rome, but the game never comments one way or the other.

* [[What Kept You?]]: {{spoiler|Claudia wiping out the Templars attacking the Rosa in Fiore, before Ezio arrives.}}

* [[Wife Basher Basher]]: Ezio in the Blacksmith's Templar Agent mission. Though, he goes a little farther than just beating him...

* [[Wife-Basher Basher]]: Ezio in the Blacksmith's Templar Agent mission. Though, he goes a little farther than just beating him...

* [[The World's Expert On Getting Killed]]: Tommaso di Viterbo, the closest Borgia Captain northeast of the Thieves Guild, claims to know how Assassins operate when addressing troops, but is no harder to kill for all his bluster. Many players time their assassinations perfectly to milk the speech he gives to provide the most dramatic irony possible.

** Then again, he says that the key is vigilance -- upon detecting you the Borgia Captains either fight or flee, and he's one of the latter. The only advantage he has over any of them is that he's already on horseback.