Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: Difference between revisions

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The sequel, ''[[Assassin's Creed Revelations]]'', concludes Ezio's story, after which the series resumes being numbered.

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* [[Action Girl]]: The Courtesan, The Thief, The Smuggler, The Hellequin, The Dama Rossa, {{spoiler|Claudia}}, and even Catarina in a sense. Also, any female Assassins you recruit.

* [[Author Existence Failure|Actor Existence Failure]]: A possible reason for Rosa (with whom Ezio appeared to have a romantic relationship) not appearing or even being mentioned in ''Brotherhood''.

* [[Armor Is Useless]]: Averted and played straight. Ezio's armor increases his health as he gets stronger versions of it. But the real aversion comes from {{spoiler|Cesare during the final sequence}}, where his well-placed upper body armor deflects Ezio's Hidden Blade. The battle comes with a series of quicktime scenes where you strip away the armor piece by piece to render him vulnerable... and then {{spoiler|Ezio makes all that work pointless by dropping him off the wall}}.

** Ezio also revealed to Mario during their escape from the Vatican that the Armor of Altaïr prevented Rodrigo Borgia's dagger back in ''AC2'' from effectively wounding him.

*** 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.

* [[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]].

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Cristina Vespucci, seen only briefly as Ezio's sex partner in Assassin's Creed II, appears in Brotherhood in a series of repressed memories for Ezio, showing her as a much more important person in Ezio's life than a mere "outlet".

* [[Automaton Horses]]: Barring one in the finale, they can't even die!

** The Armor of Altaïr can be unlocked for 20 Units through Uplay, though now it's only cosmetic (it uses the stats of your most powerful armor pieces), while the Sword of Altaïr is unlocked by completing all of the Assassins Guild Challenges (Assassin recruits who reach max level are given replicas called Assassin Swords).

** Ezio can climb leap at the beginning of ''Brotherhood'' but loses the ability after being wounded, even after he recovers all of his other "free-running" abilities. Starting in Sequence 4, Memory 8, after {{spoiler|reuniting with Leonardo}} he can buy a "reinforced" Climb Leap Glove which lets him climb leap again and upgrades his Fists to the Metal Cestus (increasing his Damage from 1 to 3).

* [[Badass Boast]]: Cesare, despite being, well, [[Dirty Coward|Cesare]], gives us a pretty good one:

{{quote|"...Do you not see, Father? I control ''all'' of this. If I want to live, ''I live.'' '''If I want to take, I take!''' '''''If I want you to die, you DIE!'''''"}}

** Ezio rushes to the Rosa in Fiore, fearing the worst after an attack... {{spoiler|to find four dead men and Claudia holding a dagger.}}

{{quote|'''Ezio:''' ''"So my sister knows how to use a knife..?"

'''Claudia:''' ''"And I'd do it again."'' }}

* [[Battle Couple]]: Bartolomeo and his wife Pantasilea.

* [[Battle Cry]]: "Insieme per la vittoria! Vittoria agli Assassini!"(United we shall claim victory! Victory to the Assassins!)

** 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}}.

* [[Bus Crash]]: After Marco Barbarigo was killed late in ''AC2'', his brother Agostino succeeded him as Doge of Venezia and tolerated the Assassins' conflict against his cousin Silvio (a Templar). Nevertheless, according to ''Project Legacy'' he was turned by the Borgia, and {{spoiler|he dies in September 1501 after too many contacts with poison-coated letters sent by an Assassin.}}

* [[Call Back]]: When Ezio goes to Bartolomeo and he can't find his wife, Ezio suggests that he look behind the table, where the [[I Call It Vera|most important lady in Bartolomeo's life]] (at the time) was in ''AC2''.

** Can be [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] by the player during {{spoiler|"The Apple of Eden" Memory by taking the same route Mario and Ezio took when they escaped from El Vaticano.}}

** This is hinted at when {{spoiler|the thief tries to close the door of the stairwell to the Sanctuary as they arrive}}, when someone amongst the refugees reports that Borgia troops are circling the town, and then centuries later when one of Desmond's hallucinations {{spoiler|has a male voice saying, "Soldiers, I have found an entrance!"}} implying {{spoiler|that the thief "helped the troops" alright -- the Borgia troops -- by telling them where the people were retreating to.}}

** After Ezio's arrival in Roma, he gets introduced to Bartolomeo's cousin Fabio Orsini, who rents the hideout on Tiber Island for the Assassin Order. Fabio doesn't appear in the game until {{spoiler|the end of Sequence 8, where he arrests Cesare by order of the new Pope he's serving under.}}

{{quote|'''Ezio''': Someone my age. ''Imbecille''.

'''Ezio'''(moments later while climbing up a wall): Ugh. My back. }}

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

* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: The Borgias. ''[[Big Screwed-Up Family|All of them]]''. If Ezio wasn't literally backstabbing them they'd tear each other apart. {{spoiler|In the end that's what happens -- Rodrigo tries to poison the ambitious Cesare, but when Lucrezia betrays the plot to Cesare, he uses the same poison to kill Rodrigo, only to then turn on his sister-lover Lucrezia... after which she tells Ezio where the Apple of Eden is.}}

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

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

* [[Contract on the Hitman]]: The entire point of Wanted Mode in multiplayer.

* [[Contractual Boss Immunity]]: Most bosses not only resist grabs but can also block or dodge counter kill attempts.

** 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:

* [[Creepy Twins]]: Cahin the harlequin, and Caha the hellequin, who perform, kill, and {{spoiler|die}} together.

* [[Crows and Ravens]]: Murders of crows are seen flying around towers under Borgia control.

** Also, his fancy martial arts in the "Story Trailer" (narrated by Cesare) are actual footage of his Hidden Blade and Short Blade + Throwing Knife kill streaks, in slow motion with the HUD off and at cinematic camera angles.

* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Subverted by the female Assassin recruits. It's possible to come across them with them using a guard as a [[Human Shield]].

* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: The Assassins' Headquarters are in the cellar of a warehouse in the Centro District of Rome, and include a large ceremonial hall, a library, an art gallery, an armory and three secret exits apart from the main one, to sewers, the river and the roof.

* [[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.

* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: The multiplayer characters were thought to use this before the beta revealed their names, made canon in ''Brotherhood'''s Templar Agents side missions and ''Project Legacy'''s Rome set (Chapter 1, Fiora "The Courtesan" Cavazza's memories). Whether the fans will remember to use them, on the other hand...

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

** 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.

* [[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.

** 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.

* [[Good Colors, Evil Colors]]: The Prowler wears dark grey, whereas the Assassins he seems to copy wear mainly white.

** 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.

** In order to access one of the Lairs of Romulus, you need to repair certain aqueducts in Rome. There is no indication in-game that repairing the aqueducts has any other effect on the over world or that repairing the aqueducts is the solution to entering the Lair, or even ''which'' aqueduct it is.

** Most Trading Items exist only for the purpose of being sold to merchants, but some are required to complete Shop Quests. There is no indication as to which items are for Shop Quests outside going to each individual shop that offers them. There is also no indication as to when all of the Shop Quests are actually viewable. Many players don't realize that there are more Shop Quests that unlock later in the game, since the game makes it seem like the first group of quests are the only ones available. This results in players accidentally selling shop quest items only to realize later they lost access to an item only available for those quests. The Fast Poison one is among the worst because it uses Tomatoes. Most players will get almost all of the Tomatoes very early in the game, but the Fast Poison shop quest is one of the last to unlock.

* [[Highly-Visible Ninja]]: In multiplayer you can take this route by running about and climbing walls. However, the game rewards you with more points per kill for killing your target without blowing your cover. Doing this sort of stuff, which NPCs do not do, is a quick way to give yourself away. Furthermore, performing High Profile actions within line of sight to your target will quickly result in the game automatically tipping your target off even if s/he was not actively looking out for you.

** There is actually some backwards logic for doing this, especially if you're playing in Wanted mode, since although your pursuer may spot you they can't always risk chasing after you across the rooftops. Doing so would make them a [[Highly-Visible Ninja]] themselves, and thus potentially reveal themselves to their own pursuer if they tried to pursue you. Sometimes, [[Refuge in Audacity|being in plain sight is the best place to hide]].

** 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: Guns of the Patriots]]. 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."}}

* [[100% 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.

* [[Loophole Abuse]]: {{spoiler|Invoked by Ezio when Cesare claims that no man can kill him. Probably was unnecessary but Ezio was likely [[Genre Savvy|being cautious]] given how Cesare's previous statement that chains could not hold him turned out to be rather prophetic.}}

* [[Made of Iron]]: {{spoiler|The Cardinal in the Lair of Romulus memory set in St. Peter's Basilica}} is surprisingly resilient given his lack of apparent armor. He's also an ''incredible'' free-runner.

* [[Magnetic Hero]]: Ezio's goal is to rebuild the Assassin Brotherhood by training new recruits from those already... displeased with the current state of affairs, eventually building an army to strike at the Borgia.

** It's [[Retcon|revealed]] in ''Project Legacy'' that some of them were already-inducted apprentices who were transferred over to his tutelage after the death of {{spoiler|Perotto Calderon, an Assassin who turned against his Brothers}}.

* [[Mook Face Turn]]: Lucrezia Borgia, albeit due to a bit of er... forceful persuasion.

* [[More Dakka]]: Borgia arquebusiers, cannons, and Leonardo's various inventions, including a prototype machine gun, though its slow (by modern standards) fire rate makes it essentially a large, chariot-mounted repeater.

** This is actually desirable since they all have trade items on their bodies when killed (if the body is lootable of course). Once the player completes a particular Thief Assignment the bandit attacks cease, implying that the thugs were all from the ''Cento Occhi'' ("Hundred Eyes") gang targeted in the assignments, so the player will have to replay those memories (particularly the fistfight with eight Cento Occhi thugs) to keep "farming" them for trade items.

* [[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.

* [[Offscreen Teleportation]]: Your horse when summoned. The Assassin recruits do this as well if there's no obvious hiding spot for them to have emerged from.

* [[Older Hero vs. Younger Villain]]: The mid-40's Ezio going up against mid-20's Cesare; by the time of the final battle they're 47-48 and 31 respectively.

* [[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.

* [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]]: Everyone in Wanted mode.

* [[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|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.

** More subtly, when Desmond first speaks to Shaun after {{spoiler|the Animus is set up in the Sanctuary}}, asking him about Monteriggioni, Desmond pronounces it with a slightly more Italian accent...

** Through reading Lucy and Rebecca's emails you learn that Desmond has been ''screaming in his sleep''.

* [[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.

** The mission where Ezio saves Caterina is called ''"[[Castle Crashers|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.

* [[Spotting the Thread]]: Set up and subsequently subverted {{spoiler|when Ezio has Bartolomeo pretend to surrender to his own men who are disguised as French troops}}. A guard at the main gate asks their business ''in French'' and Ezio is able to hold a conversation in it. The guard then asks where in France he's from (possibly due to a curious accent?), Ezio is able to provide an acceptable answer. Apparently, his womanizing days [[Lampshade Hanging|paid major dividends almost a quarter-century later]].

** Unsurprinsigly, this conversation couldn't work in the french version of the game. As a result, it's much shorter and Ezio only needs to shoot a "Vive la France" to convince the guard he's legit. His words about how being a womanizer back in the day don't make sense anymore but this leads to some [[Unfortunate Implications]] about how mentally damaged french guards are.

* [[The Squadette]]: You can recruit females into your guild, and a cheat allows you to have ''all'' of your recruits appear to be female when replaying Memories.

* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: You don't meet La Volpe. La Volpe meets ''you''.

* [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome]]: {{spoiler|Mario}} is killed by Cesare early on.

* [[Super Drowning Skills]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmijLiOczpw "Guards are lousy swimmers! And their armour is really heavy. So they stay out of the water."]

* [[Sword and Gun]]: Ezio can now use both a longsword or bludgeon and the Hidden Gun together in combat; a variant option is his ability to use a short blade in conjunction with throwing knives. The Papal Guards {{spoiler|and Cesare in the final boss fight}} will also pack a pistol and sword.

* [[Tank Goodness]]: One part of the story requires Ezio to retrieve a tank built from Leonardo's plans, as well as burn the stolen plans to prevent the Borgias from building more. Fortunately he did that in the opposite order, since {{spoiler|it wasn't the only working tank}}.

* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: One of the move involves stabbing a guard in the underside of the head, then firing the Hidden Gun at point-blank. Consider how powerful the Hidden Gun is even from afar...

** That's not to overkill the guard, but rather to get his sword out faster. [[Blown Across the Room]] applies, and it doesn't use a bullet.

** Alternately he can throw a Polearm, though those can not be kept like Heavy Weapons can. This is one of the only ways to "elevate" a Polearm, by throwing it at a rooftop guard while Ezio is not in Open Conflict, though finding a well-placed "free-run" to a roof or using a merchandise or ladder will work as well.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: In the DLC, the returning {{spoiler|Duccio de Luca}} publicly insults Ezio's sister as the "whore of Rome" and picks a fight with Ezio ''thirty years after their last meeting'', all because he's got a few ''unarmed'' henchmen on hand. This works out for him about as well as you'd expect. Worse yet, the games assume that Ezio was wearing the Assassin Robes at the time.

* [[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.

*** 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.

* [[Wide Open Sandbox]]: Unlike previous ''Assassin's Creed'' games, this one (mostly) takes place in a single large city rather than bouncing around between different cities.

* [[Wrestler in All of Us]]: In addition to Ezio still using a chokeslam, Il Carnefice/The Executioner can kill his target from behind by using a standing version of an Inverted Death Valley Driver/[[Kenta Kobashi|Burning Hammer]], and the Blacksmith uses a backbreaker.

* [[Wretched Hive]]: Rome under Borgia rule. It's up to Ezio to clean it up.

** Further invoked for any ability which affects characters' appearances, i.e. Disguise ("reskins" the player character into a different character for at least ten seconds), Morph (up to four or six NPCs near the player character suddenly "transform" to match the player character's appearance), or Blender (changes a NPC in a crowd into the same skin as that of the player for as long as the player character stays in that crowd, and as long as there isn't an actual NPC that already has the same skin).

* [[You Killed My Father]]: Part of Ezio's conflict with the younger Cesare, is because Cesare {{spoiler|killed Uncle Mario}}.