Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: Difference between revisions

*** Played completely straight by a disarm animation when you disarm a Brute guard. Ezio *headbutts* the fully plate-mail-wearing guard and suffers no ill effects.

* [[Armor of Invincibility]]: The Armour of Brutus, which you get for completing all the Templar Treasure free-running missions. Like the Armour of Altair in the previous game, Brutus' armour offers the highest HP bonus and is also unbreakable, but prevents you from being able to dye your clothes. The Armour of Altair does appear in the opening memory sequence, and can be recovered as a bonus costume after Ezio loses it, but in this case it is merely cosmetic and uses the stats of whatever armour you actually have equipped.

** They would have been more equal crimes during the Renaissance, as the Catholic Church was more involved with law making and therefore moral crimes could be civil crimes as well.

* [[Artificial Limbs]]: The Nobleman has one ending in a claw. [[All There in the Manual|According to "Project Legacy"]], his original arm was lopped off by Cesare [[You Have Failed Me|for failure at...]] [[Noodle Incident|something]].

** Vigilantes are back too, get ready to have ''your'' ass saved for a change!

* [[Big Good]]: Ezio, who goes on to become Grand Master and undisputed leader of the Assassin Brotherhood.

** Ezio's family too in many ways but managing to still be somewhat familial despite it all.

* [[Bling Bling Bang]]: Cesare and the Baron de Valois have gilded pistols.

* [[Break the Haughty]]: Lucrezia gets her ego steadily beat down throughout the entire story by at least three different people {{spoiler|including her brother, which finally breaks her}}. Cesare gets it even worse; see [[Humiliation Conga]] below.

* [[Broken Bridge]]: The barriers that wall off areas not available in the current memory sequence. Going past them desynchronizes you.

** {{spoiler|Caterina}} accuses Lucrezia of this ''and'' [[Parental Incest|the other incest]], "or maybe both at the same time!"

** It's among the cited charges when {{spoiler|Fabio Orsini, a general whose family was pressed into Borgia service, has Cesare arrested on behalf of the new Pope}}.

** Good thing they don't notice then that how he heavily breathes while navigating the platforming puzzles (i.e. wall-running and beam-hopping)...

*** Or how loudly he grunts in pain when he takes a bad fall...

** The only exception was {{spoiler|Giovanni Borgia the Younger, Lucrezia's son by an Assassin-in-disguise}} because he left home after getting fed up with Cesare, Micheletto and Rodrigo -- though not Lucrezia -- and ended up {{spoiler|joining the Assassins.}}

* [[Cliff Hanger]]: The game ends on one, thanks to Juno's meddling, setting up the [[Win to Exit]] scenario of ''[[Assassin's Creed Revelations (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed Revelations]]''.

* [[Clock Punk]]: Thanks to [[Leonardo Da Vinci|Leonardo's inventions]]

** Bartolomeo swears up a storm at times too.

* [[Conspiracy Kitchen Sink]]: Since the first ''Assassin's Creed'', the series has steadily become this, touching on pretty much every scrap of cryptohistorical, parapolitical, and paranormal event and pseudoscientific theory.

** Borgia Captains are all immune to attempted Poison use (i.e. a Poison Dart will automatically miss if he is unaware and you full locked on before firing), and Papal Guards -- despite being [[Elite Mooks]] -- also have the ability to dodge counter kills even from the Hidden Blade.

** As with ''AC2'', Ezio loses his ability to use ranged weapons when chasing targets inside the Lairs of Romulus or the Templar Lairs, or to call Assassins or Arrow Storms, since any of those would make the chase moot.

* [[Coup De Grace]]: Taken even further than ''II'', possibly comparable to ''AC1'' (because so far NOTHING outdoes the knee stomp). Some of the moves shown include sweeping an enemy off his feet for an near-point-blank crossbow shot, or following up a flooring [[Groin Attack]] with a curb stomp.

* [[Crew of One]]: Both used and averted with Leonardo's war machines:

** [[Truth in Television]] {{spoiler|Cesare Borgia was actually killed by being thrown over a ledge.}}

** The final Lair of Romulus allows you to do this to {{spoiler|the Cardinal}} if you catch up to him or throw him at a ledge.

* [[Dressing As the Enemy]]: On three occasions: the first was to {{spoiler|infiltrate Juan Borgia's party disguised as Luigi the money-chest-carrier, albeit it's found out when the real carrier's body is found... too late to prevent Ezio's entry}}. The second was to {{spoiler|get Ezio and Bartolomeo's men into Octavien de Valois' camp while disguised as French troops, with Bartolomeo pretending to be captive}}. The third time was when {{spoiler|when Ezio and his recruits reached the ground floor of the Colosseum during the Passion play and put on the ancient-Roman soldier costumes they had taken from Micheletto's slain accomplices, so that they could get close enough for Ezio to disable Micheletto.}}

* [[Doomed Hometown]]: Monteriggioni.

* [[Elite Mooks]]: The Papal Guards, both in-universe and in gameplay. They're able to dodge/counter attempted counter kills, use pistols of their own, use any of the other guard archetypes' melee weapons, and they have a lot of Health and armor of their own, which can take quite a while to deplete with regular melee attacks.

** In general the [[Mooks]] are somewhat more effective than their counterparts in the previous game. Arquebusiers are more damaging than Crossbowmen and can use the arquebus for melee attacks, while Crossbowmen deal more damage than ''AC2'' archers, back away if closed in on, and never draw a melee weapon that could be countered. Likewise the game introduces cavalry in the form of the armored Regular guard, who is capable of getting onto an available horse (or spawning on horseback as a Horseman) and charging at the player -- the ''only'' melee attack in the game immune to a Hidden Blade counter kill... oh, and they have Crossbows of their own. The three special archetypes from ''2'' are still here too, though Seekers (at least moreso than any other guard archetype) can toss sand at Ezio or his apprentices to stun them, in Ezio's case also ending any kill streak he was performing. Finally, many of these guard types (though mainly Regulars) are able to grab Ezio, ending any in-progress kill streak and immobilizing him so that other guards can get in a free hit.

** Played straight with the Executioner. [[Shaped Like Itself|Guess what "Il Carnefice" means...]]

* [[Exact Words]]: Cesare really should learn to watch his wording.

* [[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.

* [[Finishing Stomp]]: Used in one of the assassination animations.

** [[The Big Bad]]: Rodrigo {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|is not really this]]. He's no threat to the Assassin Order anymore. Cesare is the real [[Big Bad]] here.}}

** [[The Dragon]]: Cesare, and Micheletto is [[The Dragon|dragon]] in turn to Cesare.

** [[The Brute]]: Octavian de Valois, {{spoiler|Cesare's French ally}}.

** [[The Dark Chick]]: Lucrezia

** [[The Hero]]: Ezio

** [[The Lancer]]: La Volpe

** In two separate Lairs of Romulus, you have to chase after the "bosses" until near the end of the Lair -- which makes {{spoiler|the Church official}} an ''incredible'' free-runner considering his occupation. (He is one of the only NPCs known to use the lift under any circumstances, albeit in a scripted sequence).

** The {{spoiler|Papal Guard}} who's the boss of the (seemingly collector's edition-exclusive) "Liquid Gold" memory will flee once Ezio manages to break the platform he's on (forming a ramp for Ezio to ascend), forcing a protracted "chase" mainly in the form of free-running maneuvering until Ezio can finally corner him in a cave.

** This only applies to Ezio and his recruits, as the guild leaders (Assassins themselves) and Machiavelli wear appropriate clothing for their public roles.

* [[Gotta Catch Them All]]: Much better now. You can unlock and buy maps for the Borgia Flags on the overworld and Feathers, in addition to the treasure chests. Unfortunately, the Flags and chests in the Lairs of Romulus do not have maps, so you have to run around in Eagle Vision and hope you spot them.

** {{spoiler|[[All There in the Manual|In Project Legacy]], Fiora Cavazza aka "The Courtesan" sided with the Assassins after being attacked by Malfatto.}}

* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Ezio forms a relationship with the red-headed Caterina Sforza.

** Ezio has the same issues as he did in ''AC2'' (although the Assassin emblem is no longer on his starting Hidden Blade vambraces and a stylized arrowhead -- albeit within the arch of the Assassin emblem -- against feathers or leaves is used for his front buckle), and while for "immersion's sake" one could use the Florentine Noble Attire (a Uplay Reward that makes Ezio look like he did in ''AC2'' before first donning the robes), it has no half-cape to conceal his main weapons in Low Profile and the Crossbow is still openly worn on his back.

** However, as with the previous game, when a guard is actively looking for Ezio, or Ezio is in a restricted area, the guards spot him instantly and will draw weapons in seconds and attack if he doesn't hide or move away quickly.

** This can be taken to ludicrous proportions with a couple unlockable outfits. Completing all the VR training with at least a bronze medal unlocks Raiden's outfit from [[Metal Gear Solid 4]]. Beating the game will give you the ability to play as Desmond even while in the Animus. Needless to say, neither of these fit well with the attire of those around you, but as they are both purely cosmetic changes, no one will notice you any more than wearing Ezio's default robes.

** Later on, after Ezio becomes the head of the Assassins, Machiavelli says that he might write a book about him one day. Ezio then tells him "don't make it too long." ''The Prince'', Machiavelli's most well-known work, is only 100 pages long in most versions.

* [[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."}}

** Ezio can kill people with a ''broom''. The achievement for actually killing someone with it is called "Spring Cleaning". [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOp7tVexx90&list=FLQqRcYk5CkKReN7L4EpI2mQ&index=19 It's hilarious.]

** There's another improbable weapon achievement for killing a guard by dropping the counter-weight of a winch lift on him as you ride it upwards. It's easy enough to do by purposely bumping into a guard near one of the lifts and having him follow/harass you as you go over to the lift; he'll end up right behind you as you ascend and be crushed under the counter-weight. Strangely, doing this doesn't provoke the other guards into chasing you.

* [[In Medias Res]]: The very first cutscene after Desmond's introductory recap is {{spoiler|Ezio confronting Cesare}} near the end of the game. Then the first playable bit rewinds to {{spoiler|escaping from the Vault and Vatican immediately after ''2''}}.

** Said very first cutscene after the recap is almost identically reprised at the beginning of the final Sequence, except revealing that Ezio's line was [[Quote Mine|incompletely shown]]: "{{spoiler|''The Apple you stole from''}} Mario Auditore led me to you!"

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

* [[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]].

* [[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]].

** Unlike the first ''[[Assassin's Creed I (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed]]'''s bosses, {{spoiler|Cesare Borgia}} shares that immunity, since he's essentially a reskin of them but with execution/kill streak immunity.

* [[La Résistance]]: The Assassins under Ezio's rule becomes this against the Borgia-ruled Rome.

* [[Necessary Drawback]]: Sending more than one Assassin on a mission increases the chance of the mission's success but evenly splits the experience point reward among them. If a mission fails then you may lose at least one of the Assassins you've sent out on it. Fortunately, unlike the finite ''Assassin's Creed II'' secondary missions you'll always have an available "rescue/recruit citizen" mission whenever you have an unfilled Assassin recruit slot. Finally, for obvious reasons any mission-deployed Assassins are ''not'' available to help you in person (either for assassinating targets or to fight in Open Conflict), ''and'' Assassins of any rank can be killed when they're around in person.

** Arrow Storms will kill multiple guards (apparently as many as you have available Assassins) without the Assassin recruits having to appear (so no chance of them dying), but calling one requires that all three Assassin Signals be full (hence six available recruits), depletes all three signals at once, and it may be difficult in call for one while in Open Conflict or having to stay on the move.

* [[Not Allowed to Grow Up]]:

** Even though Ezio's sister Claudia should be in her late 30s, she still looks and acts the same as her 15-year-old self from the beginning of ''Assassin's Creed II''. {{spoiler|The acting could be justified by the fact that she was kept locked up in Monteriggioni for the entire length of the [[AC 2]].}}

* [[No Man of Woman Born]]: {{spoiler|Cesare tries pulling this on Ezio. Absent the [[Sweet Polly Oliver|usual loophole]], Ezio just drops him off the wall of the castle at Viana}}.

* [[No Sell]]: {{spoiler|The Truth Cluster 10 implies that the Templar's usual control methods simply do not work on the younger generations of people, with an internal Abstergo report claiming subtle but crucial biological changes in young adults. This explains why they commissioned the Animus Project, so they could find at least one Apple of Eden to put in their satellite.}}

* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: According to the Heralds, all incidents of petty theft must be reported to the Vatican Office of Complaints, ''not'' the Guard. But according to another message from the Heralds, the Vatican Office of complaints has been closed indefinitely due to the death of its only employee.

* [[Of Corpse He's Alive]]: Stealth-killing from a bench causes Ezio to gently prop up the target on the bench he was sitting on, as in the previous game. To fully sync with the memory of {{spoiler|Juan Borgia}}'s death, Ezio has to kill him in this way without being detected, though in the cutscene the body is supine instead of seated.

* [[Older Than They Look]]: Ezio's mother and sister appear and largely act the same as they did at the beginning of ''Assassin's Creed II'', even though in their first appearance in ''Brotherhood'' -- 23 years later, at the beginning of the new century -- Maria should be about 67 and Claudia about 38.

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]: A soundtrack [[Leitmotif]] for Cesare Borgia. Also, some of the other missions taking place inside churches have background Latin chanting.

** While equipped Throwing Knives are only a one-hit kill against the weakest enemies, when using the special attack to throw two or three Throwing Knives at once, each "charged" Throwing Knife will result in a one-hit kill. Throwing a Heavy Weapon or a Polearm (out of Open Conflict only) results in a one-hit kill, and the Crossbow and Pistol cause one-hit kills against almost all enemies.

** When a recruit reaches level 10 and is promoted to the rank of Assassino, he or she becomes perfectly capable of taking down almost any NPC group single-handedly without losing even one Health square in the process... on top of that, he or she has as many Health squares as the final boss, and those Health squares deplete almost as slowly as his do. Short of falling off of a high-enough rooftop or into water, even a lone Assassino is ''de facto'' invincible against almost all enemies.

** Fully realized in the final Sequence, as {{spoiler|Ezio goes off alone to hunt down Cesare without informing the Brotherhood}}, disabling your ability to call Assassins in the process.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] at the beginning:

{{quote| '''Mario''': What can I say? We sent a single man against an entire army. I was concerned.}}

* [[Only Smart People May Pass]]: Subject 16's puzzles, especially the last few. {{spoiler|The password to the Temple of Juno requires piecing together information about dates, the Name of God, and the Tetragrammaton.}}

* [[Orcus On His Throne]]: Rodrigo Borgia is largely absent from the game; when Ezio first goes back to check on him {{spoiler|upon exiting the Vault}} all he finds are the papal robes. {{spoiler|Rather than being the Big Bad that Machiavelli believes him to be, Rodrigo is instead trying to build up the forces of the Papacy and the Borgia family, while Cesare is being an idiot and stirring up the hornet's nest known as the Assassins. Rodrigo wants the long view, while Cesare desperately wants to be powerful NOW.}}

** The lōrīca segmentāta was incredibly well made and would have been useful well into medieval times.

** Hell, Ezio himself!

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Lucrezia in ''[[All There in the Manual|Project Legacy]]'', as {{spoiler|she's the only one shows any love towards Giovanni, her son through an Assassin, but cannot let him know about his true lineage}}.

** In return, {{spoiler|when he leaves the Vatican, she's the only one in the household he misses -- and while he doesn't go to see her "one last time," he figures that it would just make her (more) sad, whereas he dislikes or hates the rest of his male relatives}}.

** In ''Project Legacy'', {{spoiler|Assassin trainee}} Giovanni Borgia, has not only voices in his head thanks to {{spoiler|being "saved" by the Shroud of Eden}} which he refers to as "Consus" (possibly referring to "consciousness"), but also sometimes experiences his father {{spoiler|Perotto Calderon}}'s and his implied ancestor {{spoiler|Marcus Junius Brutus'}} memories. The implications of the former are kind of squicky...

*** According to [[The Other Wiki]], Consus {{spoiler|is a minor Roman god, in charge of protecting grain. Now, when have Roman gods been important in this series...}}

* [[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.

{{quote| '''Ezio:''' Addio, amico mio.<ref>"Goodbye, my friend."</ref>}}

* [[Victoria's Secret Compartment]]: Lucrezia keeps the key to Caterina's cell here. When Ezio manages to capture her, Caterina retrieves and remarks on it ("Classy.")

** In liberated zones you will also have Vigilantes appear, usually near certain guard locations, who will jeer at the guards and grab any guards that try to fight near them, just like in ''AC1''.

** And of course, who could forget about your recruits... especially since once a recruit hits max EXP, you're notified to return to the Hideout to attend AND officiate their graduation/promotion. They grow up so fast...! *sniffle*

* [[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}}.

* [[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.}}

** 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.

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

** 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.

*** He's arguably the most frustrating of the Captains thanks to this. The easiest ways to kill him are either to find a hiding spot near him and snipe him with your gun or call on your assassin recruits to do it for you.

[[Category:Wide Open Sandbox]]

[[Category:Assassins Creed Brotherhood]]