Detailed Analysis - Main Narrative



Ezio's Journey

Following in the footsteps of a new Assassin, we are introduced to Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. Ezio starts his journey as a young Florentine Banker’s son who spends his time getting into street fights and climbing out of his girlfriends window. As we get to know this young man, we also get to be introduced to the other members of the Auditore family and how much Ezio does for them, whether it’s running errands or beating up a cheating spouse. His family are a primary driving force for Ezio as they are at the heart of his journey and their fates will drastically change his future:

Giovanni - The head of the Auditore banking family is a strong, steadfast and understanding man.
Maria - The caring and funny matriarch of the Auditore family who is.
Federico - The eldest of the Auditore children, Federico always protects his family’s honour.
Claudia - The only girl amongst the Auditore, clever, headstrong and also fierce.
Petruccio - The youngest member of the Auditore children who is kind hearted.

When Ezio’s family is betrayed by people who they trusted, this results in the capture and public execution of Ezio’s father and his brother’s. Ezio, armed with his father’s armour and signature weapon, the hidden blade, embarks on a journey of vengeance and to protect the family he has left. On his journey he comes across many influential people who will help him evolve his skills and knowledge so he becomes more capable of surviving. He eventually meets his distant Uncle Mario who begins educating Ezio about the world of Assassins and Templars and informs Ezio of his Assassin lineage and that the men responsible for his families death were Templar’s which are scattered throughout Italy. Ezio makes it his mission, to hunt down every Templar involved with his families death, only to be drawn into a conspiracy that could destabilize the Italian government.

As most of the people Ezio meet are either Assassins or Templars, he doesn’t get to interact with many other people who are more normal as he is focused on his mission of revenge. Characters like Lorenzo Di Medici and Caterina Sforza provide Ezio with fun and enlightening interactions. By far the most fun and light hearted interactions are with the legendary Leonardo Da Vinci and they are made all the more important with the discovery of the Codex Pages. The Codex Pages are encrypted messages left behind by Altair that are scattered throughout Italy. A friend to the Auditore family and confidant of Ezio, Leonardo decrypts the pages so he can develop new gear and Assassination techniques to help Ezio succeed on his journey. It’s good to see Ezio interact with Leonardo as while their conversations can be mission-oriented they can also have a good laugh every now and then that helps to keep Ezio light-hearted and friendly.

Seeing this brash young man grow into a compassionate, but lethal and clever Assassin is an excellent journey as it takes place over the course of 20 years and makes Ezio’s journey a more realistic one, instead of one that takes place over a year or so. As he comes to the end of his journey, Ezio learns about the man who is in charge of the Templars and responsible for the death of Ezio’s family: Rodrigo Borgia. When Ezio learns that the conspiracy has been a plot by the Templars to retrieve objects of power known as Pieces of Eden (POE’s). Introduced in the first AC game, POE’s are objects of immense power created by the First Civilization, also known as The Precursors. The first objects is another Apple like the one Altair found in his journey. The 2nd is the Papal staff, that when combine with the Apple, is meant to open an ancient vault underneath The Vatican.

As Rodrigo has achieved his goal of becoming Pope, he now has access to the staff, but Ezio has been able to retrieve the Apple before Rodrigo and deliver it into the hands of the Assassins. To confront Rodrigo, Ezio storms the Vatican and engages him. In an initial fight, Rodrigo takes the Apple and enters the vault, leaving Ezio injured but still alive. Ezio quickly follows and fights Rodrigo for the final time, but in a strange twist, spares Rodrigo in an effort to let go of his revenge. This is an incredibly powerful moment for the Assassin as he has realised that killing Rodrigo will not undo the deaths of his Father and Brother’s. After having thwarted all of Rodrigo’s plans, eliminating his Templars and claiming the POE’s, killing Rodrigo probably didn’t feel necessary.

Ezio enters the ancient Vault, filled with strange architecture and technology, completely foreign to Ezio and even to the Modern Day Assassins. There he meets a projection of the Precursor, Minerva. Minerva planned for Ezio to enter the vault with the Apple so she could pass along a message to Desmond, who she knew would be able to view this memory. The Precursor’s ability of Omniscience is amazing and further adds to the mystery of what they can do. Ezio is told by Minerva that her ancient civilization was decimated by a disaster. In an effort of preventing it from happen again, they laboured in Temples to find a solution but this disaster happened again which wiped them all out this time. Knowing it would happen again, Minerva made plans to inform Desmond about the Temple’s in the hope’s of Desmond finishing what they started. Fulfilling her purpose, she leaves Ezio in the vault. Ezio’s journey climaxes in a satisfying and mind blowing way, as the Assassin finally achieves his goals and helps stabilize the country while also honouring his family and himself.

Desmond's Path

Re-joining Desmond at Abstergo was a great delight as the first AC opened up a number of mysteries for the character as he grappled with the captivity at Abstergo, the possibility of death and the strange visions he was now experiencing. Picking up a while after being left in Abstergo, Lucy returns covered in blood and asks Desmond to get in the Animus, where we witness the birth of a new ancestor, Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. After doing this they quickly leave Abstergo, using Lucy’s combat skills and Desmond’s new acquired Eagle Vision. After a long drive and a dizzying escape, Lucy finally fills Desmond in on what’s going on and what is needed from him. Lucy is actually a member of the Assassins and has been for a long time. She broke Desmond out because she wants to recruit Desmond into the Brotherhood and train him to strike back against Abstergo. Desmond is of course, incredibly hesitant as the training necessary would take him years but that’s when Lucy comes up with a clever but risky suggestion.

The Bleeding Effect, which is a side effect of the Animus, would allow Desmond to absorb the skill’s and knowledge of any ancestor he would relive. The Bleeding Effect has already worked it’s magic on Desmond as he now has the gift of Eagle Vision, a genetic skill picked up from Altair but for other skills, Lucy wants to use the memories of Ezio instead. To Lucy’s surprise, Desmond agrees to do this, wanting to pay the Abstergo back for what they did to him. Desmond is introduced to 2 brand new Assassin’s: Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. Shaun acts as the keeper of the Assassins knowledge archive while Rebecca focuses on upgrading and maintaining her own Animus. Both of these people aren’t exactly who you picture when you hear the term Assassin but both are wonderful to talk to and it allows for excellent insights into who the type of people the Assassin’s recruit and how they encourage individuality and true freedom of thought. At one point Desmond remarks about being with the good guys and Shaun remarks that good guy is a bit much as they are Assassins. It’s little moments like these that help to flesh out the individual Assassin’s and make the player feel more comfortable with them, if even seasoned members have doubts.

After some time in the Animus, Lucy brings him out to test some of his skills only to show his parkour and climbing skills have surpassed Lucy’s expectations. After retiring Desmond begins seeing visions that seem almost spectral. Desmond seemingly passes out and is back with Altair back in the crusades where he seems to chase a woman to the top of the tower. This woman is Maria Thorpe, who Altair had encountered years earlier and a deserter from the Templar’s. Altair and Maria embrace and have a passionate night, much to Desmond’s surprise. After Altair leaves, Desmond doesn’t follow him and instead stays with Maria, as it seems they have conceived a child, that would be Desmond’s ancestor. Desmond wakes up in bed before being checked on by Rebecca who is ready to get back to work. Desmond decides to keep this to himself which might not be the smartest thing to do. We knew that Desmond’s exposure to the Animus would have vast side effects but to be able to relive a memory while outside of the Animus is not a comforting prospect.

After finishing the last of Ezio’s memories where he finds Minerva and is told about the Temple’s, Desmond exits the Animus only to see his team quickly packing as the Templars have found them. While Shaun and Rebecca pack it is up to Desmond and Lucy to fend off Abstergo. During the initial escape from Abstergo, Desmond was not very effective in combat and Lucy did most of the work. This time around, armed with the skills of Ezio, Desmond fights the Abstergo guards with incredible skill and lethality showing his time in the Animus has worked and now in terms of skill, is an Assassin. Eliminating the Abstergo guards, Desmond intends on killing Vidic but leaves, Desmond and his team quickly leave after. Desmond still in disbelief over what he just found, is told by Lucy that is is actually real. While the other Assassin’s are fighting the Templars, it is their job to acquire the Apple, and now find the Temple’s so that they can stop the impending disaster that Minerva predicted. Before they can continue, they need to get to a safehouse.

At the start of this entry, Desmond was a helpless and unskilled fighter in the grasp of a dangerous and sinister organization. By the end he embraces his role as an Assassin and is now armed with the tools and the training needed to find the POE’s and now might finally stand a chance against Abstergo. Desmond’s journey would also start off the incredible storyline about the Precursor’s and would mark the exciting hunt to find a way to save the world from a natural disaster that wiped out the First Civilization many years ago. The groundwork laid by this story would go on to shape the foundations of what would make the Assassin’s Creed series one of the most loved and greatest flagship franchise out there, atleast for a few years. It would also be the start of Desmond’s incredible journey as he fulfils his duties as an Assassin and to the world.

The Precursors

An exciting new storyline that has gained some steam is the Precursor storyline. In the first AC game we learned about the Apple of Eden and that it was made a very long time ago by an ancient people. Capable of controlling the minds of others, Altair’s mentor and leader of the Levantine Assassins, used it to control the minds of the Assassin’s and hoped to use it on every citizen of the Hold Lands, so he could stop the crusades and bring peace. Realising what he was doing was wrong, Altair killed Al Mualim, displaying incredible resistance to the Apple. Carrying the storyline on in AC2 we learn that the Apple Altair found was not the only one and that there are much more than Apple’s put there, like the Staff of Eden. We also get to meet a member of The First Civilization themselves as she warns Desmond of the disaster set to happen again to Earth, as it happened to them long ago. Where we thought we were only meant to be focusing on the Assassin and Templar conflict we can now see that there is something much bigger afoot and that Desmond and his team are running out of time. AC2 marked the exciting beginning of the Precursor storyline that would continue to evolve itself in future entries.

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Detailed Analysis - Collectibles