We create the overview of the story collectively, and I work with the mission designers all the way through. You have to remember, I also was on the ACII writing team and involved with design, so I’m a part of the franchise and the team, not an outsider. The team and Ubisoft gave me a lot of freedom to play. Most of my ideas ended up in the script as written, actually. What is it like writing for an established franchise? Did you have some crazy ideas that got nixed because it does not fit with the series? So in Brotherhood he must reach a new, higher, pinnacle. Ultimately, Ezio spends the game proving to Machiavelli that he is fit to lead. Ezio is the powerful Assassin we know from the end of ACII, but he must also engage in a power struggle with Machiavelli to become the Assassin leader. So, I ended up attempting to achieve a balancing act.
Many saw him as the leader of the Assassins at the end of Assassin’s Creed II, which is not actually the case, Mario and Machiavelli are the leaders. JEFFREY YOHALEM: The story solution was easy: Ezio needed to face a new challenge, the difficulty came in convincing the rest of the team that he couldn’t be on top just yet.
Assassin’s Creed II ended this way, but Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood actually continues with Ezio on top–shaping the brotherhood’s strategies and recruiting new assassins. FAST COMPANY: Many narratives end with the protagonist hitting a pinnacle as a messiah, leader, or ultimate bad ass.