User blog comment:The Milkman/The Awesome Animus/@comment-77.45.54.119-20121224091726/@comment-4237253-20121224093338

1. It was, but I didn't even know about it until I started the game. That says something.

2. Yes, but the animus isn't needed to link those stories somewhere. Final Fantasy is a series of games each set in a different universe, and a lot of times, it works. If each story is self-contained, you don't need the Animus. What's the overarching plot of the Grand Theft Auto series?

3. My whole point was that it was a bad idea to begin with. They should have stuck with their original plan and not have the Animus, which in itself eerily similar to what was described in Link. Hell, even the creed itself comes from an old novel.

4. The main draw is playing as an assassin. The animus shifts the focus away form that. Originally, it was going to be about a historical assassin. I'm not advocating that they "drop the premise", I'm taking a retrospective look and saying they should have stuck with the original plan and never used the Animus to begin with, because the whole convoluted First-Civ nonsense and the God-awful ending it spawned just doesn't seem worth it. Does Ubisoft do some cool things with the Animus? Absolutely. Was it worth it in hindsight? I don't really think so.

5. Personally, I believe the combination is a bit jarring and causes the storytelling to lose focus. If the modern day aspects were well-executed, I wouldn't mind....