The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

http://youtu.be/ay-Bmgt6Sd8
[Front-paged. -stabguy]

The result of Back to the Future exploit done on Jubair al Hakim. Another name for this video would have been "Jubair Quits his Job" (but I wanted it to have a unique title).

Setup
Start the setup with the Instant Kill from the original video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFHli77es2Y
Since you aren't under city alert you can leave the city. There will be a warning that leaving the city will reinitialize the memory. If you pay close attention you will notice that the bureau disappears from the minimap. Also the current status changes from "Escape and return to the Bureau Leader" to "Return to the Bureau Leader". This confirms the memory has been restarted. So you don't even have to leave the city for this exploit.

Back to the Future
So what happens when the game knows you already did the mission? Well... Jubair and his minions already shown up as targets on the map. They casually stroll outside the Madrasah Al-Kallasah, unaffected by the scene that will start. However if you get too close they will teleport back into place for the scene. So keep some distance. In the video I find a spot with a good view of the front door (which is open). Just wait for Jubair to walk by. And since the game recognizes him as a target assassinating him results in the memory corridor scene, unlike the original Early Death which is non story.

When you look at all the regulars on The Hidden Blade, none has been around longer than ROB_88. Allow me to explain. Rob joined AC-maps (a.k.a. "the old site") on January 25, 2008. Three months before me. Five months before Ian. When I asked Rob about the secret to his longevity on the forums, he said that he's here more for the community than the games. Nevertheless, he had much to say about AC also.

Tell me about the first time you played AC.

I have a vague memory of seeing a little about AC1 in gaming magazines a few years ago and was intrigued instantly. Now and then I kept tabs on the progress until it was time. I bought my first 360 used from a teacher who was selling his, the very same day as the game was released. I think it was a Friday. And naturally I played for hours, just soaking it all in and I loved it. It's probably my most replayed game, but it has been a while now.

What do you like most about the games?

Just the general feel of it. You would need to look hard to find a game that has a more enjoyable atmosphere than AC1 when you're for example walking through Acre, seeing how the sounds and aesthetics blend so well together, making the towns feel alive in a way.

What AC accomplishment are you most proud of?

That would be when I documented a playthrough where I killed the bare minimum of people, but most of it was just hiding and running away. By this site's standards it's not much, especially if you don't get the viewpoints. Dem roof guards.

What is your favorite quote from the games?

While I gotta say that I did laugh at Ezios mother saying he needs an outlet, I think anything some of the targets in AC1 says is gold, not because of what they say but how. They just make their voices so awesome and memorable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apmob4kOYug
[Front-paged by stabguy]

So it turns out Abul Nuquod can be killed before it should be possible, even though you can't get to him without the memory recording.

Setup
For the basic setup watch the original video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHvrRuha1K8
You get in the place by countering a guard through the other side of a wall.

Early Death
After glitching inside the palace the memory starts recording before you reach Abul Nuquod. Walk to the front where you can fall off the roof. There's an invisible barrier that prevents you from going back inside (and in this case also a blue memory wall from being exposed). Walk to the nearest city entrance. You will receive a message that the memory will reinitialize if you leave the city. Going further will refresh the memory and allow you to regain high profile actions. So run back to the palace. Guess who is strolling out the side door? Abul, and maybe one of his bodyguards (I've done this only twice, so I don't know the chances). The game doesn't delete them when you reinitialize the memory, probably because they don't appear until the memory starts recording (actually you can see the bodyguards on the balcony from outside the front door, so it's probably based on distance until the memory starts recording). The palace is empty, and there is no target on the map. Even after killing Abul Nuquod you still have to start the mission again.

Note: Aurel found this first and then told me about it, so I didn't really do anything.
You can do this by starting the William assassination at the bureau and then infiltrating the fortress without the scene starting (see this article). At certain points in the fortress, all the soldiers will disappear. You can then setup an 'invisible kill' with air-to-assassinate: you lock onto your target and make sure you jump through one of these spots. Near the back of the group is a great spot.
Altaïr then performs an air-assassination ( ) and the memory corridor scene starts. Afterwards, you can just stroll out of the area and get back to the bureau, after which you will have completed the mission.
I opted to get out of the city instead, to see if the back-to-the-future exploit worked. It didn't, but William's army has become substantially smaller, which makes setting up an anonymous kill very easy with a couple of knives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tww7kpXiA8
[Front paged. - stabguy]

An early death on Sibrand, made possible by glitching out of the city and restarting the mission. For those not familiar with this exploit watch the original video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKrs0HyY7hg

Early Death
Since the game knows you started the assassination mission Sibrand is already on ship before you start the cutscene. Getting to him is another matter entirely since he appears back at the scene location if you enter the shipyard directly. So enter it from the south wall by the way shown in the video. There are some guards along the way that can easily detect you, so be careful (or fight them all off like I did). Before you reach the ship Sibrand gets on the docks nearby. He seems to just walk back and forth along it. Killing him results in the memory corridor scene.

Setup
Getting out of the city after the assassination is trickier in Acre than in Jerusalem since Acre has two closed gates at the entrance. So I used a different method. I did the save citizen mission outside of Acre and gentle pushed the citizen all the way to the bureau, then started the mission. Then I moved the citizen all the way to the cutscene and afterward to the target. After assassinating Sibrand I talked to the saved citizen, which resulted in saving the game. Then I desynchronized. When I respawned it was outside of Acre. Saving the game by a talking to a save citizen results in spawning where the save citizen mission started.

Hope you like! Always looking for more subscribers if you did

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKrs0HyY7hg
[Front-paged by stabguy]

What if Majd Addin stopped killing people and just walked away? Well... My latest exploit does just that. I introduce to you Back to the Future exploit!

Setup
After killing Majd Addin go to the main gate of Jerusalem. Get the attention of the guards outside by killing the guards inside. Now the guards outside will try to get to you by climbing the beams. Here's a way to get them to temporarily fight you. Hang on the beam by the gate and when a guard comes he will throw rocks at you. Drop down and for a short while he will attack you before going back to the beams. If you manage to counter an attack you will glitch through the gate! Now fast travel out of there and come back.

Back to the Future Exploit
Upon arriving back in Jerusalem the gate will be open (probably because you are not under city alert). When entering you will be told that leaving the city will reinitialize the memory. Go talk to the bureau leader Malik. You will start the mission again as usual. But what has changed? When you get close you will hear the crowd talking as though the scene had just ended. Then you might hear the first victim talk. When you start the scene Majd will start saying what he last says to the first victim, and a few more things in the scene are out of sync. The scene ends with a long pause and Majd killing the first victim. As a result he falls off the stage and walks away. Because you weren't detected there isn't a distance restriction, but you can't follow him without crossing an invisible line that ends the mission. Now there are a few other ways this could end. If you don't hear the first victim speak before the scene you will hear her during the scene, and afterwards Majd will glitch partway into a wall. You are unable to lock onto him or assassinate with the hidden blade but can hit him with a weapon, which can get his attention but might also move him too far into the wall. Another way this could end is by having the second victim talk before the scene. I found that if you get away from the stage you can make more of the after-scene dialogue happen. The farthest I've gotten in the after-scene dialogue is the second victim talking. Now Majd will take a shortcut out of the place by climbing the building. I decided to end the video with an air to assassinate.

The Exploit Explained
Since you fast traveled after the assassination the area was refreshed. And by coming in through the gate you reinitialized the memory. So you start the assassination again, but the game knows you already did the mission, which results in the after-scene stuff happening before and during the scene. It's like the game thinks you are at two different checkpoints at the same time! For Majd Addin it's a tug of war between the scene and after-scene scripting. So the AI gets confused, and Majd is no longer affected by the scripting after the scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-rL2hsGhRM
---promoted to front page by Ian---

So I went back to find more things in King Richard's Citadel just prior to the scene in memory block four. And I'm glad I did, because I found a much easier way to get in there, as well as some interesting discoveries.

Easy Infiltration

This is just my take on the save citizen objective for the first district, I had no real objective or rules for this and it will be a part of a project im doing called Breaking the AI.

Basically I try make the guards kill themselves, or use the environment to my advantage to make it easier. I use tall ladders to get easy hidden blade assassinations from behind.

Some of them im not happy with ( like the bureau, I wanted all 3 to fall in ) but the game autosaves after you kill the last guy.

I also show an alternative way into the city, although im sure most of you know it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Li1uDpPFg
[From the forums. - stabguy]

This is as close to a ghost run as possible in the mission where you kill the first target Tamir in memory block 2 Damascus.

Setup
Before the assassination mission do the save citizen mission closest to the area. I know this isn't stealthy and seems to violate the ghost run, but it's a side mission, not a part of the actual assassination mission. Besides, it's designed so that you are automatically detected and have to kill the guards. And you have to do this to make the ghost run work. Once you kill the guards (I did on a rooftop to avoid other guards) don't talk to the citizen. Instead gentle push her to the assassination area. When I first originally did this I didn't move her until after, but the second time I failed the mission from being too far away from the target.

Unseen Kill
Start the scene and wait. Notice how the save citizen is standing there waving for me to talk to her. Once the scene ends gentle push her into the path of the target, in this case right by a table with a merchant he stops to talk at. When Tamir is in range assassinate (duh). Notice how a guard standing nearby reacts to the kill. After the memory corridor scene immediately start locking on. The thing is when you perform a kill animation on an enemy you can still lock onto them until their body goes limp. However you have a brief moment between when the body goes limp and a message appears to be anonymous. Since the save citizen is right next to you you lock onto her. When the message appears you can still hear her talking. Now what has changed? Well no guard comes after you. The guard who has reacted to you killing Tamir seems to have forgotten and doesn't even notice the body right away. Another guard comes and notices the body but doesn't come after you. You can leave that area without once having been detected and without killing anyone but the target during the mission.