Regarding AC Unity, for the umpteenth time, I have turned my graphics settings down to low. I turned off Ambient Occlusion and Bloom, and I haven't a clue what they are, anyway. The game is now not as choppy, but in the past, I did all that, and the game still stayed choppy. No, I have not yet received Patch 3.
Now, here is my take on how to play this game. Of all the weapons you have, the sword is the best. Sure I beefed up my heavy weapon skills and ended up getting my head handed to me. If you want to get through the combat, get the Cinquedeas or Shiavona swords. They are the best but cost 125,000 francs. Then use your synch points to get all the best skill with the sword, or if it floats your boat, go after the skill with the long or heavy weapons.
For the environment, go through and climb all the tall buildings and open up the city. You will then know where everything is. Go to the Cafe Theatre and buy all the upgrades. You will get constant money poring in. Also, go to the other parts of the city and remodel all the cafes. The expense is worth it with all the rest of the money that will come into the central pick up point at Cafe Theatre.
Invest in the best armor and use your sync points to build up the thickness of your skin. It will keep you alive. I invested in the multi-barrel pistols. Leave the rifles and muskets alone. They are a joke. I had a guy I was supposed to kill, who was only 37 meters away (roughly 40 yards) so I switched to the rifle in my gear load out. The game reticle stayed white showing I had no shot at 37 meters. Baloney. A long rifle of that era with the right powder charge could have easily hit a target at 500 yards, but oh no, I had to climb up the side of the building and do an air assassination. Give me a break. Ubisoft treats the rifle the same as the pistol in not giving you shot capability until you are at least 15 meters from the target. That's a croc.
The eagle vision in this game really sucks. It never sees the snipers over your head unless they are on top of you. In Unity, eagle vision times out on you, and then takes a while to come back up. It also has a certain range, and if the enemies, like snipers, are out of the range, you won't see them, but they will see you, and they are excellent shots.
The lock picking skill is a joke. I made the mistake of spending synch points for the master lock picking skill, yet I see no difference between my skills now than when I just had the apprentice abilities. The locks are very hard to pick, and with only 5 lock picks, you have a problem already.. Now, with a better belt, you can pick up a belt that holds 27 lock picks. Me, I invest in the belt that holds extra medicine packs and more pistol and phantom blade ammo.
Now, I am at Sequence 12, and I know that the end of the game is near. To prolong it, I am playing the side missions. I like to play the Co-Op missions, but in private mode. The few times I have tried to join a game already in progress, I have been booted out by the server. I have heard this is a glitch in the game. Playing by yourself is more fun to me, only it requires I use a lot of stealth, more so than in Blackflag. The one thing to remember when you're working on stealth is to make sure you take out all the snipers around you and destroy all the alarm bells. It makes the game more interesting if you're not constantly dying all the time.
Have fun and enjoy the game. I sure have, but the choppiness is a problem at times.
