Assassin's Creed

The bag is annoying. Feels too clicky. Would have rather just had a separate screen a la Origins. I wondered about bows - saw only one slot and one type and haven't found many.

I think I need to get better with the parrying, then - I've clearly just had luck of the draw with it. I do like how you are fighting carefully - you can't rush in and button mash too much. Like in the opening fight, it's about charging through, knocking back and either finishing someone off or buying yourself breathing space to position a bit better.

Not really, because the rest of the UI doesn't gel with it. Like, the way weapons and armor inventory work is similar to how costumes and weapons worked in ACO.

Other change: Like I mentioned, keeping your gear leveled is important, but ironically, the cost to upgrade the level of gear is also very high. No longer just cash, but plenty of ressources to upgrade weapons and armors. The ressources are not rare, but you'll find them stretched thin if you try to keep to you "favorite" items level after level (As there's 7 items to upgrade) until you find rare items that are strictly better in all bonuses.

I like this. It encourages you to sometimes use an item of lower rarity level because your current one might be too prohibitively expensive to level up.

Edited by Ghilz on Oct 4th 2018 at 3:02:33 PM

Yeah - Origins you just stuck with a gold weapon you got at the start. And it means you can't easily use DLC or purchased weapons long term.

Though I'm using Duris' sword... I quite like it. Not decided if I want dagger, spear or sword yet. As it's Greece I feel a spear would be most appropriate.

So the choices are... interesting. Basic stuff like lying, or being nice adds a bit of character. Comforting a dying man, being brash to someone, or being honest to ensure people aren't living a lie.

Quite interesting. Only one I struggled with was the plague one. Clearly no good outcomes there. There's an element of context - plague was LETHAL to communities in this era. I think isolation should've been an option. But it was a good contrast to show consequence... I think it'd matter more if NP Cs weren't just window dressing though - like if actual vendors disappeared, or missions were cut off... or SOMETHING to impact the player more. But I like how you could also explain it to Phoibe. Not just a cutscene of her shouting how wrong you were. It showed some nice complexity there.

So did you kill them?

Yyyyyep.

Had to explain to Phoibe and all. It's an interesting one for an opening quest, clearly designed to play on the usual "good / evil" assumptions for choices.

I think somewhere a lot of “good/evil” morality systems stumble is that the evil choice is occasionally Kick the Dog levels of evil for no real reason.

A better way of doing it (which it sounds like Odyssey has captured) is “who is this good for?”

It really did - in that moment anyway. Have to wait and see if there are others. So far, other choices seem to be more personally moral - do you spare someone's feelings, try to be kind with a lie, that sort of thing.

And I'm glad there's no attempt at a morality meter or renegade / paragon points (with dialogue locked off unless you're EVIL ENOUGH) - makes it really moment by moment realistic.

I finally got around to ordering Syndicate. So I’ll be exploring London in a couple weeks.

Unfortunately, my copy of Unity was stolen from a friend’s house after I loaned it to them, so that also needs to be replaced at some point. I never did get around to playing Dead Kings. I was waiting to get the Platinum in the base game, but good luck getting 10 sync kills in co-op without arranging the session ahead of time.

So, when you finally leave the Prologue island, the game opens up.

And WOW, the whole bounty hunter thing can escalate and get out of hand really quickly.

...They be scary. "Oh I just wrecked a couple of merch- OH HOLY SHITBALLS."

Yeah, found that one out hard. Nice challenge though!

I think you misunderstand me

I don't mean "Oh, a guy 2 or 3 levels higher than me showed up and now it's fight of flight."

I mean "Oh, a guy 2 or 3 levels higher than me showed up and now it's fight of flight and OH shit two more guys 2 or 3 levels higher than me also showed up and shitshitshit."

Not had THAT happen yet. Methinks I need.... caution.

Also, collectables / stone sin the game seem a bit overwhelming. My other half decided to get one of the collectable maps to show things (She likes to streamline a bit) and... the map turned blue with icons.

There is a LOT in this game. I mean, great, but also ARRRRG.

So, since I only get the game tomorrow, what triggers the bounty hunters?

Basically wanted levels. Sinking ships a la black flags.

Messing with a faction (Especially being seen by said faction) will increase your bounty.

Stealing in view of guards

Killing a regional leader in front of his guard makes everyone really pissed. So, yeah, don't do it.

Edited by Ghilz on Oct 4th 2018 at 10:35:02 AM

I don't get how you guys got the game already for two days, when Wikipedia also says the release date is tomorrow. Nothing about the US getting it earlier.

Some versions (Gold version in the UK) shipped with extra DLC and 3 days early - which is the one I got.

I'm umming and ahhing over which weapon to favour. Sword is ok.... but staves / spears are calling to me. Though apparently one of the warrior skills only applies to swords. Namely - the ability to set your sword on FIRE.

I've preferred swords and hammers and staves because of the sweeping hits. Spears are fun, but they tend to have narrower, thrusting strikes.

Swords so far are my favorite as the faster attack speed has synergy with poison.

Another review: Assassins Creed Odyssey is big, beautiful, and shallow.

Is that Zeus holding a moldy baguette?

Edited by Redmess on Oct 4th 2018 at 6:39:34 PM

This is the first AC game in yonks that I haven't preordered. I didn't want to get burned by paying a lot of money for a dud. Based on what people are saying, it might be worthwhile for the visuals and the immersive experience, although there doesn't seem to be much weight to the story.

I also wonder if I need to upgrade my video card finally. If the visuals are as nuts as claimed...

The user score on Metacritic is decidedly mixed so far: 6.6. Critical score is 85.

Though from the breakdown of the user score, there are a lot of positive scores, a few mixed, and a lot of negative ones.

Edited by Redmess on Oct 4th 2018 at 7:02:20 PM

Stellar criticism like "this is not assassin creed game , i want real assassin creed game, this is the witcher 3 game style."

Heck, I don't even get what the review above is going on by the combat. This is by far the most engaging combat the franchise has ever had.

I agree, the above review was a bit short overall, and not very clear on what, exactly, was bad about it.

Also, opinions on things like combat tend to vary. Some people like the wait-and-parry system, for instance, while others find it boring.

My interpretation is that if you’re willing to accept that the franchise has changed, you’re going to really enjoy the game.

Fill in the corollary on your own.

That seems to be the gist of the reviews. Also: you'll like this game if you like games heavy on gameplay and light on story.