How do you intend to bridge the gap between Al Mualim’s demise and the romantic period? Will there be a back-story, a release on the website?
Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines for the PSP contains a good part of the answer to your question. With the Assassin’s Creed franchise, we are building a massive universe and story in which each game has some pieces of the puzzle.
Will the game switch back and forth between playing as Ezio in the Animus and Desmond out of the Animus like in AC1? (In other words, will we ever get to play as Desmond at any point in the game, possibly see Lucy again, and (I know this is a long shot) other modern assassins as well?)
Assassin’s Creed 2 is the direct sequel of the first game and follows the events around Desmond right after we left at the end of Assassin’s Creed. Player’s will play Desmond in the present as well as Ezio, another of Desmond’s ancestor he will get to discover using the animus and his genetic memory. Players will get to switch and play as Desmond in the present in between the memory sequences of the pass playing as Ezio. Although we can’t reveal more at the current time about the present, we can guarantee you that there will be more actions and more elements revealed during these segments of the game.
How will Ezio “grow”? Will he just get a new ability/weapon each time he completes an assassination like the first game or will you have to purchase skills using experience points?
Character progression for both the storyline and the skills development was central for us in Assassin’s Creed 2. We can’t reveal much more about the story and Ezio’s character progression to this day but I can tell you that it will be something to remember. As for the skill progression, Ezio will learn lots of new abilities during his journey and we are using a new method for Assassin’s Creed 2 for our character to acquire those skills. As he meets unique characters in various locations – Venice, Florence, Tuscany etc – Ezio will develop a relation with those characters whom will each have their role in the story and they will teach Ezio new skills/abilities to help him on his quest for Vengeance. Therefore, the skill progression will be immersed in the story and the unique characters Ezio meets.
On another hand, we have an Economic System which is a totally new feature in Assassin’s Creed 2 that adds a lot of depth to the overall gameplay and progression. Gaining money allows the Assassin to make the most of the tools at his disposal. Throwing daggers, smoke bombs, gun bullets (for his hidden gun) and other resources specifically tailored to the Assassins can be purchased in the game’s various shops. Players will get to forge their own experience by choosing the weapons they want to buy (halberd, swords, axe, hammer etc.) to fight and the tools they want to use before a mission. Money has a lot of other uses such as hiring factions (thief, mercenaries, courtesans) to assist you in missions, bribing witnesses etc.
How long (best guesstimate) will it take to complete the main story not counting flag collecting?
Assassin’s Creed 2 is a massive game and there will be a lot of gameplay else than the main missions. It’s a long game counting the main path only and a Massive if you add all the secondary missions and other possible activities but again there are tons of secondary missions that have not yet been revealed. Also, players won’t be collecting tons of flags no more but other items that will be more challenging and rewarding to the player.
The flying machine (shown at E3) appears to be an assassination only feature, is it available during free roaming gaming?
For Assassin’s Creed 2, there will be various new types of gameplay to break and vary the flow of the game and add intense “WOW” moments, one of them involving the flying machine that Leonardo Da Vinci conceptualized and developed. Ezio will be able to use it to fly around the city to reach hard to infiltrate locations quickly and with the effect of surprise. Travelling with the flying machine will require precision and timing. The flying machine is merely one of special gameplay that player will get to break the flow of the game. There will be more unique types of gameplay to discover in the coming months.
How have the hiding spots been improved from the original game and have new spots been added?
Hiding spots are no longer 100% hidden proof as guards now have the ability to search them. The seeker is a guard that has much more awareness and will poke the various hiding spots looking for the assassin. Our level design and mission team are hard at work looking for new various places to put hiding spots through the cities of Venice and Florence. Since our main character Ezio can now swim, he will be able to dive into water and if he is quick enough and breaks the line of sight with the guards, he will be able to vanish underwater.
Hiding also includes crowds and for Assassin’s Creed 2, we have pushed further the whole crowd immersion and its use for the player. Now, any crowd NPC can help you to hide – just go into a group and press the blend button to enter a crowd and lower your chances of being noticed by guards. The crowd can help you to walk through the city unnoticed but isn’t 100% detection proof as some classes of guards actively search you, the seeker guard for example. Players will have to be aware which type of guards is in his surrounding and know their strengths and weaknesses.
One of our readers was wondering what type of fighting style AC II was influenced by or incorporated during the hand-to-hand fights?
In general, we aren’t influenced by any particular fighting style. We use a lot of reference material from all over, but ultimately we create fight animations that feel good in the game, and that are influenced more by the character and the theme we are going for in fight, which is the brutality of combat. On top of that, we want the player to be able to see and appreciate the animations and most real fighting styles and moves are so fast that they would feel out of place in games.