User blog comment:Kabutsu/Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Spoiler-Free Review (Xbox 360)/@comment-5546424-20131112005441

I just played AC4 and AC3 one after another to compare/contrast small details in the gameplay (the land gameplay, that is), and the biggest thing I noticed was AC4's treatment of your social status.

My biggest gameplay problem with AC3 was that you were discouraged from being on the rooftops. If one rooftop guard spots you, and you don't kill him within a millisecond, suddenly every guard in the city knows where you are and you see endless scouts parkouring towards you.

This doesn't happen in AC4. If one roof guard spots you in AC4, you can still kill him and go about your business. Other guards won't get involved unless you try to flee and run into them. Even then, unless the other guards see you being chased by another guard, they won't attack.

Also, in AC3, if you tried to climb while being chased, you'd be pelted with both rocks and musket balls, the latter of which seeming to fire nonstop, in my experience. In AC4, you still get pelted by musket/pistol balls (every guard has a pistol now, no rocks), but you can tell they actually stop to reload, giving you time to reach the rooftops.

And, I'll be honest, though the whole notoriety thing was somewhat realistic (one doesn't simply go on a killing spree w/o getting on wanted posters), I actually prefer AC4's (and AC1's) lack of it. It allows me to spend equal amounts of time on both admiring the city and ruining the lives of the guards' potential families.

I have to stop posting long comments...I feel like it's a bad habit...