Been playing this again since i finally got the free copy for using projectstream the other week and do the side quests (not the emergent ones, the gold ones) wear on anyone else? I constantly feel like im being yanked around by the writers in really unsatisfying ways.
I just did the Elixir quest today where you need to gather herbs for a woman to create an elixir that will revive the petrified soldiers at the medusa lair. The entire time my brain was buzzing "oh man what if i had done this quest before i faced medusa, i wonder what it wouldve changed?". It turns out fucking nothing because after you go running around the region collecting this shit, you bring it back to her and the game sloppily reveals shes actually a crazed artist who poisons people and turns them into statues & youre thrown into a fight with her. Like fuck off, i wasted my time on this?
This isnt the first time i feel like im being thrown into a lazily or hastily sketched conflict that winds up feeling hollow. Im reminded of the side quest in Origins where you talk a woman down from suicide. Its one of my favorite quests in the game and all it is is a conversation between Bayek and this woman about her life. I feel like if this quest was in Odyssey thered be some forced conflict like shed ask for a memento and when you come back bandits have killed her, or you try to comfort her and no matter what you pick she attacks you instead.