Assassins Creed Odyssey

[Jimbob]

Made a start last night.  Went down the Kassandra route to play, feels like i'm playing a version of Xena in terms of her tough physique.  Havn't done too much, only about an hour or so (first mission and a few of the ? on the 1st island).

[Hero-of-Time]

I ended up picking Kassandra as my main. I usually don't go with female protagonists when I have the choice between male and female but I've read she has the better voice acting which was enough to tip the scales in her favour.

[Hero-of-Time]

Which worker at Ubisoft thought it was a good idea to map the zoom function of the map to the touch pad? I had to google it to find out how to do it! It's pretty fiddle and I'm not sure why they just didn't keep the previous system they used.

Certain things are a bit jarring when coming straight off of Origins. The parry move has been replaced by hitting two buttons instead of the one. Also, I failed an area and when I restarted all of the progress I made had been erased. This wasn't the case with Origins as you could grab a treasure, be killed and still have said treasure when you respawned.

Im currently just mopping up the first island. I've cleared all of the ? areas and then I'll see what side quests are on offer. I took on some bounty hunter who was after me and kicked his butt. I should probably move the story on a bit as I haven't got my bow yet!

[Hero-of-Time]

I had a great time on this yesterday evening. I cleared out the first island, went to the next area and then mopped up everything there. I reached character level 12 and have just headed out to Phokis.

It feels great to have ship combat back in a Creed game. It's so much fun taking on other ships, boarding them and then stealing their goods.  

I was well happy to see that I could get Evie from the Ubisoft store. It's one of the best things Ubisoft have ever done. Earning points/achievements/trophies in their games and then being able to spend those points on bonuses across various games is a great feature. It really rewards players who play a lot of Ubisoft games.

[bob]

I had a great time on this yesterday evening. I cleared out the first island, went to the next area and then mopped up everything there. I reached character level 12 and have just headed out to Phokis.
It feels great to have ship combat back in a Creed game. It's so much fun taking on other ships, boarding them and then stealing their goods. [emoji3] 
I was well happy to see that I could get Evie from the Ubisoft store. It's one of the best things Ubisoft have ever done. Earning points/achievements/trophies in their games and then being able to spend those points on bonuses across various games is a great feature. It really rewards players who play a lot of Ubisoft games.

Evie as in the Evie from Syndicate? Is she playable, or what?

[Hero-of-Time]

55 minutes ago, bob said:

 

 

Evie as in the Evie from Syndicate? Is she playable, or what?

 

Yeah, it's her. You can't play as her but you can have her be part of your ship crew.

[bob]

The fact that Evie is essentially a time traveller got me thinking. If the Animus allows people to travel back in time and assume the body of their ancestors, is it that weird that some of these games featured weapons and technology that was our of place?

Like if travelled back in time, I'd probably invent a crossbow, or a pistol just to make my life easier.

[Jimbob]

Opened up most of the 1st island, only have 1 question mark left to uncover.  Reached level 5, so can now use the bow and sword i got from UPlay.  Still need to clear out the hideouts on the 1st island, and get the treasures dotted around.  Did notice Evie on the list in Uplay, so of course she's ready for when i get to the ship.

[Hero-of-Time]

Gotta say I'm not that keen on the whole enemies leveling up with you mechanic that they've put in this. I hate it when they put it in JRPGs ( FFVIII being the exception due to how easily you can brake the game ) and it's not a welcome addition in this game. However, it does change how you play the game quite a bit. For a long time now in Creed games you could just hack and slash your way to victory whereas with this game you have to manage your equipment and then play in a stealthy manner. It's kinda took it back to the roots of the series.

I'm still faffing about in the second main area. There was a quest to find and kill some beast of a boar. I found it but the thing took me out two times in a row. It kept calling in backup and then healing when I had my attention elsewhere. The thing should be in the next Monster Hunter game.  

[Hero-of-Time]

Man, I'm having so much fun with this. I spent most of the morning just tackling various side quests, clearing out bases, having ship battles and hunting down cult members. I haven't really progressed the story much at all and I'm already level 22. I've obviously still got a long way to go but I'm failing to see how people would be struggling for exp to level up in the game. There's such a variety of things to do that offer exp that you shouldn't really be lacking the levels for main missions.

Also, I found you can actually zoom in and out of the map using the right stick. This is far better than using the touch pad. 

[Hero-of-Time]

After taking a couple of weeks break from the game I fired it up again this weekend and finally finished off the main story. Great stuff. Out of this and Origins this game definitely had the better story out of the two.

I've still got a crazy amount of content to play through. There's the cult to hunt down, side missions to complete and leveling up to 50 ( finished the game at level 43 ) all still to do. 

I think I would have enjoyed the game far more if I hadn't burnt myself out on Creed games. I usually only play one a year so playing 2 of them pretty much back to back caused fatigue to set in, hence the break I needed to take.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I finally nabbed the platinum this evening. It was an absolute slog to obtain. It's been a while since I've felt completely drained when going for plat and this one nearly broke me. The game's world is far too big for some of the trophies they have you do. I'm glad to see the back of it.

[Ronnie]

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I finally nabbed the platinum this evening. It was an absolute slog to obtain. It's been a while since I've felt completely drained when going for plat and this one nearly broke me. The game's world is far too big for some of the trophies they have you do. I'm glad to see the back of it.

Mind if I ask why you bothered to get it ? Assuming you weren't having fun by the end which it doesn't sound like you were?

It's one of the reasons I'm kind of glad Nintendo are avoiding an achievement system in their games, to me it has to potential to spoil the memory of games, for what amounts to basically a digital tick on a list. Sony needs to start to offering tangible benifits to Platinuming a game.

Going back to AC though, I can barely pluck up the courage to just play the game (knowing how much of a serious time sink it'll be), let alone getting the platinum

Edited December 5, 2018 by Ronnie

[Hero-of-Time]

5 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Mind if I ask why you bothered to get it ? Assuming you weren't having fun by the end which it doesn't sound like you were?

Not at all.

Honestly, it's just something I can't help. If I know I can achieve them then I'll push through and do it, no matter how annoying it becomes. I've always been like this with games, even well before achievements and trophies popped up. It's a bit of an issue and one I do have trouble getting over. Sometimes I can simply move on after finishing a game but  most the time I feel the need to 100% them, unlock all the achievements and trophies or get all of the unlockables.

I believe JD said it best...

 

[Ronnie]

37 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Not at all.

Honestly, it's just something I can't help. If I know I can achieve them then I'll push through and do it, no matter how annoying it becomes. I've always been like this with games, even well before achievements and trophies popped up. It's a bit of an issue and one I do have trouble getting over. Sometimes I can simply move on after finishing a game but  most the time I feel the need to 100% them, unlock all the achievements and trophies or get all of the unlockables.

I believe JD said it best...

Yeah I've noticed you like to 100% games, I just figured you only did it to the games you really enjoyed. Platinuming an AC game sounds like a real chore.

I'm a little similar in that I HATE to put down a game without finishing it. It happens a couple of times a year (Octopath Traveller this year for instance) and it really annoys me. I like to roll credits, then move on. Sometimes 100%-ing a game I really loved.

[Hero-of-Time]

4 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

 

I'm a little similar in that I HATE to put down a game without finishing it. It happens a couple of times a year (Octopath Traveller this year for instance) and it really annoys me. I like to roll credits, then move on. Sometimes 100%-ing a game I really loved.

It's understandable that you moved on from Octopath. The game is one of my biggest disappointments of the year. It started off well but ended up being VERY repetitive. The lack of substantial story meant that you aren't really encouraged to push forward with it.

[Ronnie]

46 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's understandable that you moved on from Octopath. The game is one of my biggest disappointments of the year. It started off well but ended up being VERY repetitive. The lack of substantial story meant that you aren't really encouraged to push forward with it.

I enjoyed my time with it and the structure was interesting but in the end the repetitiveness and grind just go too much. I need to stop giving these big JRPGs a go, I just don't get on with them, especially ones with random, turn based encounters. I wish there were more shorter/10 hour RPGs like Child of Light, I loved that game and actually finished it.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, Ronnie said:

I enjoyed my time with it and the structure was interesting but in the end the repetitiveness and grind just go too much. I need to stop giving these big JRPGs a go, I just don't get on with them, especially ones with random, turn based encounters. I wish there were more shorter/10 hour RPGs like Child of Light, I loved that game and actually finished it.

I played Child of Light back when it was released on the Vita and loved it. Fantastic visuals, soundtrack and battle system made for a very enjoyable experience. 

I wish Ubisoft would do more of these smaller games. Valiant Hearts which was another short but amazing game made by them. 

[Ronnie]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I played Child of Light back when it was released on the Vita and loved it. Fantastic visuals, soundtrack and battle system made for a very enjoyable experience. 

I wish Ubisoft would do more of these smaller games. Valiant Hearts which was another short but amazing game made by them. 

Ubisoft have such a diverse range of games, probably the broadest third party publisher in the industry in terms of hitting every genre... but yeah definitely could use another UbiArt type game soon.

[Sheikah]

I've been playing this a fair bit over the weekend and absolutely love it. It feels like Black Flag again in terms of the exploration, I really do like having the proper ship back.

It's amazing how making your character into more a superhero has made the game much more fun to play, like taking no fall damage at level 20 and being able to launch your spear (and chain) to assassinate at range. Really like the Witcher-lite take on branching decisions too, makes the story feel more meaningful.

[Shorty]

I foolishly bought Origins because it was cheap, and I was out of the loop and didn't know this game was due out a week or two later. Now I barely got into that game, because the grind of levelling up on boring sidequests was daunting very early on. And I hear this game is more of the same, is there any reason I might enjoy this one more though?

I used to love the AC games, I wish they would return to their roots a bit. It used to be a Hitman style game where you stalked your mark, learned their routes, listened for tips and hid in crowds. Every encounter with town guards was a MGS style mistake meant to be rectified through escape and hiding, not free-flowing melee combat. I'd like to go back to that a bit....

[Sheikah]

I foolishly bought Origins because it was cheap, and I was out of the loop and didn't know this game was due out a week or two later. Now I barely got into that game, because the grind of levelling up on boring sidequests was daunting very early on. And I hear this game is more of the same, is there any reason I might enjoy this one more though?
I used to love the AC games, I wish they would return to their roots a bit. It used to be a Hitman style game where you stalked your mark, learned their routes, listened for tips and hid in crowds. Every encounter with town guards was a MGS style mistake meant to be rectified through escape and hiding, not free-flowing melee combat. I'd like to go back to that a bit....

Odyssey is far more weighted towards stealthy assassinations - it can take a while to take elite enemies down unless you assassinate them and when there's lots of enemies surrounding you it's a real pain (complete contrast to say AC Brotherhood - remember how killing an enemy started a chain and you could then one shot every enemy around you, one after another?).

I really like it. There's a lot of ways to level up and the main character is much more fun to control. They've got some really good side quests too like the cult and mercenaries, and naval warfare, all rolled into one game.

[dan-likes-trees]

On 1/3/2019 at 12:08 PM, Shorty said:

I foolishly bought Origins because it was cheap, and I was out of the loop and didn't know this game was due out a week or two later. Now I barely got into that game, because the grind of levelling up on boring sidequests was daunting very early on. And I hear this game is more of the same, is there any reason I might enjoy this one more though?

I used to love the AC games, I wish they would return to their roots a bit. It used to be a Hitman style game where you stalked your mark, learned their routes, listened for tips and hid in crowds. Every encounter with town guards was a MGS style mistake meant to be rectified through escape and hiding, not free-flowing melee combat. I'd like to go back to that a bit....

Bearing in mind that most of the reviews have been really good for this game, generally more in line with Sheikah's views but..

I picked it up having played some Origins (and actually really enjoying it, mainly for Bayek and the amazing setting, though quickly tiring from, as you mention, the repetitive sidequests). I was really looking forward to Odyessey but.. I'm not sure if it's just coming off the back of RD2 but man this game is SO janky. Constantly freezing, stuttering, glitching out.. the horse movement is riculous on the fairly vertical islands, the Greek accents are really awful in places, and there's way too much in the game to my mind, with the ship battles and the conquest battles. It so far seems even more of a departure from the stealth than Origins was; a couple of times I tried to sneak in to a camp and then it cutscened into a mellee showdown. 

That all said Kassandra is a pretty good main character and the side quests thus far are more diverse and interesting than Origins (the branching choices help maintain the interest). You also get quite a lot of choice in how to build your character so you can go for a stealthy build - I think once the game opens up you're forced into direct combat less (?). So yeah I'm pretty early into it and plan to keep playing, but for me it's got a general aura of naffness that means I wouldn't really recommend it..

[Sheikah]

On 06/01/2019 at 8:30 PM, dan-likes-trees said:

Bearing in mind that most of the reviews have been really good for this game, generally more in line with Sheikah's views but..

I picked it up having played some Origins (and actually really enjoying it, mainly for Bayek and the amazing setting, though quickly tiring from, as you mention, the repetitive sidequests). I was really looking forward to Odyessey but.. I'm not sure if it's just coming off the back of RD2 but man this game is SO janky. Constantly freezing, stuttering, glitching out.. the horse movement is riculous on the fairly vertical islands, the Greek accents are really awful in places, and there's way too much in the game to my mind, with the ship battles and the conquest battles. It so far seems even more of a departure from the stealth than Origins was; a couple of times I tried to sneak in to a camp and then it cutscened into a mellee showdown. 

That all said Kassandra is a pretty good main character and the side quests thus far are more diverse and interesting than Origins (the branching choices help maintain the interest). You also get quite a lot of choice in how to build your character so you can go for a stealthy build - I think once the game opens up you're forced into direct combat less (?). So yeah I'm pretty early into it and plan to keep playing, but for me it's got a general aura of naffness that means I wouldn't really recommend it..

Perfectly valid criticism, but I must confess I'm a little surprised about the RDR2 comment - I also came from RDR2 and man, I don't think I've played a game recently that controlled as badly as RDR2. It felt like the game actually hated me at times and didn't want me to do things like easily get behind cover, walk where I wanted to or aim weapons consistently. AC: Origins is far less realistic in the animations/controls/horse controls but I was really grateful for it, as it meant I could pelt across a landscape without dying, even if it sometimes looks goofy.

I really do think this is one of the most stealthy games in the series yet just because as soon as enemies spot you in a reasonably populated place, you get fuuuckked. Brazier lit, mercenaries on your back, and enemies with lots of health that take time to whittle down outside of assassinations. Upping your assassination abilities and equipping assassin damage+ gear I have found while playing stealthily is the most efficient way to play, and running away if you're spotted to try again. Not sure why they added bows as it never seems worth it - regular arrow shots don't seem to kill and you have to waste adrenaline on arrow abilities to actually kill.

I have had some glitches in forts though - my game dropped to like 1 FPS with periodic freezing on a couple of occasions and required a save reload. And I do find there's a lot of stuff, but I've come to learn what's worth bothering with. Most of the small camps and such aren't worth dealing with.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Sheikah

[Jimbob]

I've just come back to Odyssey from RDR2, and to be fair i echo the comments from @dan-likes-trees in terms of how the game sometimes freezes when riding the horse into settlements.   However, the controls are better than RDR2 in places.  I did have to get used to where the dismount button was, and was pleasantly surprised when calling for my horse that it just appears, unlike in RDR2.

Exploring the Islands at the moment, unlocking various fast travel points and opening up the map as i did in Origins.  Once that's done, i'll get on with the game properly with missions and contracts i see dotted about.