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Marco Barbarigo - Assassination Variety Pack (Part 1)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdyKd2CHoYQ

Anonymous Blitz Assassination
Despite appearances, the guards and the target aren't very alert on this level. Run straight for him and air assassinate from the rail.

You'd be spotted right away.
The developers really wanted you to shoot Marco from the shore. They were even willing to lie a little to get you to assassinate this way, saying, "You'd be spotted right away" if you attempted to swim to the boat. The fact of the matter is that you can easily jump in the water. They won't spot you.

Hiding in Plain Sight
Really, they just won't spot you. This could have also been done by jumping directly to the rail, just like in the blitz. You just need to keep a some distance from the guards so they don't notice you. Marco is literally blind to you. He relies entirely on his guards to determine your presence.

Stop throwing knives, they tickle!
That's right... He relies entirely on his guards to determine your presence. Marco is injured by throwing knives, but being struck by a knife doesn't trigger his flight. If you climb the rope ladder to the horizontal beam (yard), you can even manage to throw a knife at his face without him running. You may find it easier to lock on to the target as you climb up the rope ladder, instead of trying to lock on when you are high above.

Air Assassinations
You can perform air assassinations from the yard or top, which is the platform that appears similar to a crow's nest. If you assassinate from the top, you must lock on to the target as you climb up the rope ladder. Otherwise, you'll be too far from the target to lock on.

The Sniper
It's fun to snipe the target from the top platform. Despite the loud bang, you are too high up for the guards to see you. After the post-assassination dialog, the guard will look for you... just wait for them to cool down. When they give up their search for you, just dive in the water for an easy escape.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to shoot Marco in a fashion that would ordinarily invoke a response from guards, but it fails to do so due to timing the shot with the explosions. This contradicts the advice of Teodora at the beginning of the mission on how to remain undetected.

Stunt Assassination
The stunt assassination leap is quite long, so you need to wait for Marco to end up in a good position. After Marco finishes his speech, he walks around in a simple pattern on the deck. Jump when he turns from the bow.

Air assassination from the other mast
You can also climb the forward mast and yard for air assassinations. Quietly killing the nearby guard by pulling him over is completely optional.

Spring-loaded Air Assassination
You can lock on a target and increase your distance from that target greatly while still maintaining your lock. From a hanging position with your feet planted on a vertical surface, you can then perform an air assassination from extreme heights. This was never intended in the game, so we get a weird animation, where it appears as if Ezio is rapidly accelerated to the target. Hence, "spring-loaded" air assassination. Spring-loaded air assassinations are possible in many different places - it's not limited to just this assassination mission.

Part 2
Here is Part 2 of this article:
http://www.thehiddenblade.com/marco-barbarigo-assassination-variety-pack...

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Jedted
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What is the intended way assassinate Marco? Teodora says "time right and you'll walk out unnoticed" but the fireworks seem so random that it's impossible predict. It would've been cool if they created a bright flash of light when they exploded.

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I love the "Ah ha!" after the hiding-in-plain-sight assassination. Big smile Reminds me of Coming to Alderaan too.

A single throwing knife hit doesn't trigger Vieri either. You can also pick off Vieri's two guards without triggering the fight. I bet it could be done for Marco's assassination as well. The AI of the main assassination targets and the guards that spawn with them seems to be a little different than that of the standard guards.

Anyways, great vid!

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IanXO4
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thx for the comments asaic! vieri is a different situation. he doesnt flee when he see ezio; he fights him. marco flees when he sees ezio, like bernardo and stefano. however, bernardo and stefano run away when hit with a knife. marco does not. the discrepancy is weird.

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I find Marco to be weird all around.

During my original playthrough, I had to retry him about ten times. The first couple of times I was detected within seconds of regaining control of Ezio and hadn't even done anything yet, and this has never happened to me since. Then I had a couple times where I was moving around within that open area while staying blended and desynched with the message "the ship has departed" or something to that effect, but Marco was still giving his speech. I figured it was just a very very short time limit and the ship pulls away while he's gabbing.
I assumed that I had to blitz him and made several attempts until eventually I managed to do it.

Then the second time through the game while making my backup saves, I didn't want to have to go through that again and just shot him from the shore as soon as I was able. I meant to go back and explore this mission but haven't yet had the chance. I was really surprised to see how you were able to hang around for so long without the mission failing due to time. I'd like to know what the issue was for me. I wasn't detected those times I got the ship departed message, so it wasn't due to that.

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Garnier de Naplouse
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Pretty creative assassinations. All I did was directly jump on the boat and use my hidden blade on him.