Immortals Fenyx Rising (December 3, 2020)

[MindFreak]

That's true, competing with those titles is a bold move for a new IP. It's still a shame, though.

I still want to pick it up but will probably wait a few weeks as I have some other things to do in the meantime.

Edited December 6, 2020 by MindFreak

[Dufniall]

When reading the comments on various websites the general consensus is "I'll wait for a sale". So I think Ubi shot itself in the foot here, by indeed releasing it in an already crammed launch window and by having the reputation of quickly discounting anyway.

Definitely want to play this as I think it looks charming and I like the mythology setting. But... I'll wait for a sale  

[RedShell]

13 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Also, releasing a week before Cyberpunk drops isn't going to help matters.

This.

Sega were initially going to make the same mistake with Yakuza Like a Dragon, but luckily dodged that bullet thanks to the delay. 

But yeah, going up against something like Cyberpunk 2077 is just insane, I mean that game has been in development for almost a decade now! While it remains to be seen if it will live up to expectations (although I really hope it does) the level of hype surrounding it is understandably, through the roof!

[Hero-of-Time]

Two weeks later and it's already been heavily discounted on Amazon. You can get the Switch and PS4 versions for £30 and the PS5 version for £35.

[Ronnie]

Ridiculous how they sent it out to die.

Personally I'll wait till the new year when it'll be bargain bin prices. 

[MindFreak]

Yeah, found it for 50 % off the other day though that was perhaps just an error as it only lasted an hour. It's sad that it plummels that fast but it's stupid to buy it now. 

So, a crossover event is out now:

 

[MindFreak]

Oh, the 50 % discount on Monday was an indication of an offer that store is running this weekend. The price equivalent in pounds is about £26 so I think that's a good price and it won't go much lower than that in the very near future.

Need to finish Doom Eternal and then I shall go on with this.

[markderoos]

7 hours ago, MindFreak said:

Oh, the 50 % discount on Monday was an indication of an offer that store is running this weekend. The price equivalent in pounds is about £26 so I think that's a good price and it won't go much lower than that in the very near future.

Need to finish Doom Eternal and then I shall go on with this.

Where did you find it for that price? I guess a local store over at your place?

[MindFreak]

21 hours ago, markderoos said:

Where did you find it for that price? I guess a local store over at your place?

Yeah, a Danish chain for electronics. At one time they were great with offers for games but over the past few years they have become worse and only stocks the best-selling games for each console.

I decided to not pick up Immortals right now even though it's a great price. I am playing Doom Eternal for review and when I'm done with that, I'll go through Inside and The Last Campfire and then Horace. That'll keep me occopied until this drops to this price permanently.

[Ganepark32]

Had hoped this would be included in the Christmas sale on the PS Store seeing as its on sale everywhere else but alas, it isn't to be. The sale gets refreshed in January but had hoped to grab it for play in my PS5 for the Christmas period at or near enough half price (seeing as that's what its going for everywhere else).

Oh well, just wait and see if it finally hits the digital sale in January then. Could nab it on the Xbox but given I'm running the base One console there, I'd much rather play it on newer hardware.

Does seem like its getting a lot of take up at the discounted prices on the various sales so hopefully its doing well from that. Ubisoft really should've saved it for early next year though, could've done better out the gate in that January/February lull that usually happens and looking at the release slate for the start of next year, it would've easily found some space to breathe there.

[drahkon]

6 minutes ago, Ganepark32 said:

Had hoped this would be included in the Christmas sale on the PS Store seeing as its on sale everywhere else but alas, it isn't to be.

It's on sale on the US PS Store. If you have a US account it might be worth checking out. Especially as you can get US PSN credit for cheap.

[Hero-of-Time]

@Ganepark32 the game is appearing on sale now but I'm not sure what version it actually is. It says PS4 & PS5 on the PS4 store. Either way, it's £35.99.

[Ronnie]

Think it'll drop even more than that in a few weeks.

[Ganepark32]

38 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

@Ganepark32 the game is appearing on sale now but I'm not sure what version it actually is. It says PS4 & PS5 on the PS4 store. Either way, it's £35.99.

Thanks for the heads up. Had found it weird that it was available on other store fronts and then had heard that you could buy it on the PS4 store on the sale but not in the web store or the PS5 store. Now both the PS4 and PS5 versions are available so I'll probably pick up the PS5 version later on.

[Aneres11]

I picked this game up in the Xbox sales. Was going to buy the disc copy as that was also on sale and I had real concerns over whether this would be a game I’d enjoy. In the end I couldn’t be bothered standing outside Argos to queue up for click and collect lol, so went with a digital copy. 
 

I have been playing it on and off in between Christmas and working and I am absolutely loving it. 
I had read a lot about it being a Breath of the Wild rip off, but I’ll be honest - I’m enjoying it more than I did that game. 

I think anyone who has any sort of interest in Greek Mythology will get even more enjoyment from this. I know nothing about it really other than very basic knowledge, and even I am taken with it all. 

The game looks absolutely gorgeous. It does remind me of BOTW with its art direction, and I remember doing nothing but taking screenshots when playing that game because of how utterly incredible it looked. Well, I’m doing the same here. And I NEVER screenshot games I’m playing. 

Ive freed the first mythical God (Aphrodite) and am on to the next area of the map now. The gameplay has Zelda elements with climbing terrain and the stamina meter etc. There are ‘Vaults’ in the game which I think read people saying was another Zelda rip off, but they’re really not. They do lend some gameplay ideas, moving platforms with a special ability, or shooting an arrow that you guide through fire etc but it’s done very well. It’s a very satisfying game to play. 
 

Here are some screen grabs from my time with the game so far! 

Because I don’t have as much time to game these days, I generally prefer more linear games that I can play through and move on to the next. Games like this where you can spend a lot of time in the world discovering puzzles, new enemies, new areas etc I often avoid. Or I just go straight for story objectives. With this game though, I’m just loving the exploration and the slower pace I’m playing the actual story. 
 

I have been really impressed with it. Definitely recommended so far! Hopefully i feel the same once I’ve sunk more time in!

[Hero-of-Time]

A friend of mine picked up the game for his PS4 and his thoughts on it pretty much echo yours, @Aneres11. Like me, he's a big Zelda fan but BOTW done nothing for him whereas this is kinda what he imagined BOTW would be like. The Ubisoft style exploration and strong narrative are what he's loving about the game. I may see if I can borrow his copy when he's done with it.

[Aneres11]

16 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

A friend of mine picked up the game for his PS4 and his thoughts on it pretty much echo yours, @Aneres11. Like me, he's a big Zelda fan but BOTW done nothing for him whereas this is kinda what he imagined BOTW would be like. The Ubisoft style exploration and strong narrative are what he's loving about the game. I may see if I can borrow his copy when he's done with it.

Yup it’s a bit of a hidden gem really. Lost in between the watch dogs / cyberpunk / Valhalla trio. I didn’t play those but I’d imagine people would get more enjoyment from this than most of them. Not one technical glitch on it yet either. Runs so smooth, but I have chosen a lower frame rate (30fps) for higher fidelity. 
 

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed BOTW, but the story in this is definitely taking it up a notch above. 

[Ronnie]

25 minutes ago, Aneres11 said:

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed BOTW, but the story in this is definitely taking it up a notch above.

Yeah, BOTW done plenty for me.

Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts on Immortals though, I'll be waiting for it to be as cheap as possible tbh (joys of buying a house)

[markderoos]

I’ve got this game a few weeks ago, and just played it for the first times. A short sitting of 1,5 hours but I fully agree with your comments @Aneres11.

This is my type of game. It does lack a bit in the attention to detail that I’m used to with Nintendo games, especially with things like movement and environmental interaction which both feel a tad bit too floaty. But the game more than makes up for that in so many other ways. And it’s indeed a joy to play. Me loving games with a focus on mythology or history makes this game perfect for me.

[markderoos]

@Aneres11 how’s your progress with this?

I’ve been absolutely loving it. For anyone liking both BotW and the Assassins Creed franchise; this is a no-brainer.

It’s a light-hearted take on the way AC tells its stories. The dungeon mechanics, fighting, puzzlings and use of skills, weapons, powers, tools work great and it reminds me a lot of how I liked to just travel around the BotW world. It’s more focused (due to some mechanics more AC like), but absolutely not too much. For me it’s the perfect balance between lineair and open world. Really recommend it, even at full price.

Biggest flaw might be the stiffness in the animations and character movement. And maybe a little bit the repetitiveness in the overworld enemies/mobs/fights and puzzles. But absolutely not to a level that annoys me.

The likeability of the cast might be an acquired taste too. I thought I would hate it but I don’t.

[Aneres11]

42 minutes ago, markderoos said:

@Aneres11 how’s your progress with this?

I’ve been absolutely loving it. For anyone liking both BotW and the Assassins Creed franchise; this is a no-brainer.

It’s a light-hearted take on the way AC tells its stories. The dungeon mechanics, fighting, puzzlings and use of skills, weapons, powers, tools work great and it reminds me a lot of how I liked to just travel around the BotW world. It’s more focused (due to some mechanics more AC like), but absolutely not too much. For me it’s the perfect balance between lineair and open world. Really recommend it, even at full price.

Biggest flaw might be the stiffness in the animations and character movement. And maybe a little bit the repetitiveness in the overworld enemies/mobs/fights and puzzles. But absolutely not to a level that annoys me.

The likeability of the cast might be an acquired taste too. I thought I would hate it but I don’t.

After my post, my gaming time reduced massively. I work full time (from home since March) but also started a cake business in August and it has been craaaazy. I thought January would be quiet as everyone is on a health kick, but nope! So had so little time. 
 

I fired it up last night and played a little more of the second ‘region’ but got stuck. Even following a YT vid I still wasn’t sure where I was going wrong so called it a night. Still loving it. I’m only 12 hours in so far but hoping to get more time with it this week and next weekend!! 

[Aneres11]

As it happens I did get some time to play this today in between bakes lol. And I managed to get past my stumbling block without using a YT guide this time! 
I’ve completed the second area now and freed the god, but did find this section to be a little combat heavy. Very much a complaint I had with BOTW. I think, though, that this section was only like that due to the god it was representing. 
 

I have now moved on to the next section, which is another gorgeous looking area and have just started the quest to find the Gods essence in order to free them. 
Still really enjoying the game even if there are some unpolished game play elements. 

[MindFreak]

On 19.12.2020 at 7:14 PM, MindFreak said:

I decided to not pick up Immortals right now even though it's a great price.

I regret this decision. :/ Really could have used a good adventure game now.

[Ronnie]

Yeah I have to admit I figured this would be selling for £20 by now but it's still 35-ish. Must be selling decently enough which is good.

[Ronnie]

Started playing this a couple days ago, and I'm a few hours in. Enjoying it a lot for the most part.

I usually think it's good to judge games on their own merits, what they are, not what they're not, but when a game is so obviously ripped off an another, better, game it's impossible not to compare them, and so far, BOTW is 10x the game Immortals is. I didn't think the difference would be so obvious, but it absolutely is.

What's become even more obvious is that Nintendo are master level designers, I could tell you the exact lay of the land in BOTW, the openworld was masterfully and purposefully designed. Even after 3 or 4 hours running around Aphrodite's area, checking the usual Ubisoft tasks off a list, I couldn't draw you a vague layout of the area if you paid me. It all kind of blends into on mishmash of activities. 

On the one hand I hate how you are told where stuff is. The beauty of Zelda is that you discover stuff organically, but when the game design is so heavily based around a million things to do, being able to uncover what everything is from far is probably necessary. 

Shrines vaults are a welcome break from the openworld and these are pretty fun so far, but again, without powers like freezing time, kinetic energy/innertia, electricity, making blocks of ice, bombs, magnesis (ok that one is here), a lot of them end up being pretty standard *push this block on this switch*. There's no range of gameplay because the tools simply aren't there.

Like I said I don't mean to turn this into a BOTW is amazing, everything else is rubbish post, I'm really enjoying my time in Immortals, but it's so blatantly ripped off that it's just obvious to compare them. Immortals definitely does some things better though, the range of stuff to do is a step up, and even if the enemy AI is worse (how has Ubisoft not figured this out yet), the actual combat encounters are pretty fun. The game is gorgeous and while I tune out to a lot of the Zeus/Prometheus narration, it's there if you want it.

I've not done a dungeon yet, looking forward to that, if they're even a thing in this game. Starting to think this game will get old and repetitive pretty quick though, like a lot of Ubisoft openworlds.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Ronnie