Assassin’s Creed 3 – Why it took me so long to finish it

I like games; a fact that should be fairly obvious since I write about them very nearly every week. I’ve even written about Assassin’s Creed games in a previous article. So when I say that I enjoyed playing Assassin’s Creed 3, I mean it. However, it took me a very long time to finally get through the game and there are a few reasons for that. The tl;dr version is that there are just way too many side quests. Some of them are useful and develop a secondary story, but others are downright annoying and caused me to put down the game for weeks and months at a time as a result.

The disclaimer

I want to put this right up front and tell you that I am a gamer on a timetable. I write about something new every week on this site and I do that by sitting down with a title in nearly all of my spare (and often not so spare) time; so what doesn’t work for me is picking up a game that requires 30 to 40 hours of play for the main story because I rarely have that kind of time on my hands each week. Even when I really like a game like Assassin’s Creed 3, I’m working on a schedule to meet a publishing deadline. So I’m going to opt for a shorter game more often than not.

Assassin’s Creed 3 never seems to end

The great thing about Assassin’s Creed 3 for anyone that is looking for replayability in a game is that it happens to be full to the brim with all manner of quests and objectives. There is, of course, the main story quest line that involves being the strongest driving force behind the scenes in the American Revolution. Then there’s the optional, but still interesting series of quests that involve the building up of the Davenport homestead area which will result in the awarding of a unique outfit at their conclusion. There’s even a fun optional series of quests that involve finding 24 trinkets hidden throughout the world (just buy a map at the general store if you’re not a masochist) that lead you on a hunt to find Captain Kidd’s treasure. Turns out that it’s an outfit (well that and a piece of first civilization tech that supposedly acts as a personal shield).

Those quests all felt fun and rewarding. There are, however, a number of things to do which were not fun (again, this is just my opinion) regardless of their possible rewards. Quests like the Boston Brawlers line that has you going from location to location to beat up some dudes and culminates in a street fight tournament. Sure, it took me a couple tries to figure out that I needed to parry the Ropebeater near obstacles like workbenches to beat him, but it was otherwise simple and mostly time consuming. Chasing down almanac pages (seriously, buy a fucking map) gets you recipes, but I never engaged in trade because there isn’t much need for money in the game. And no, I do not want to deliver your goddamn letters to barely grateful recipients when I should be hunting down Templars and promoting rebellion against the crown.

It’s all entirely optional

Assassin’s Creed 3, like the others before it, doesn’t require you to spend 100 hours completing every single quest just to finish the game. What it does do is litter your map with reminders of everything you haven’t done. So if you’re a completionist, you probably spend all of your time tracking down rumors about sasquatch or making sure you find the beaver in each hunting ground instead of enjoying the awesome spectacle of a story that Assassin’s Creed 3 offers. It is entirely optional, but the game is set up to let you know when you load it up just what percentage of overall content (not main story) you have completed so far. Every little icon on the map bores into your brain every time you look at it just to find out where your main quest objective is. Maybe that’s just me. Unfortunately, it was so time consuming and frustrating to me to see all of those quests that I continually ended up putting the game down for weeks at a time to pursue other titles that were a bit more straightforward.

Worth playing

I realize that I’m likely in the minority with my gaming habits since I imagine that most readers aren’t trying to get through a game a week. If you want a game that you can play for a month while delving into all the sidequests out there, Assassin’s Creed 3 delivers that in spades. Even without all the quests, this game delivers an action packed thrill ride experience befitting the Assassin’s Creed universe. Am I going to buy AC4: Black Flag when it comes out? Oh hell yes I am. Connor was pretty badass in the American Revolution and I enjoyed the naval battles quite a bit. I cannot wait to play as Edward Kenway, feared pirate and assassin, roaming the seas and stealing all the treasure. All of it.

Check out the gameplay trailer for Assassin’s Creed 4 here if you haven’t seen it yet.