The difficulty is weirdly frontloaded in this game. I guarantee you if you'd stuck with it, 50 hours later easy and maybe even normal would be boring you to death.
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It is time to be honest with ourselves, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is one of the best open world games of this generation
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Bastion sucks, Transistor sucks.
Of course, lots of people love those games, so it makes negative opinions extra special, just as you've done.
Probably true, but I'm currently halfway Origins and it's the first AC game I actually enjoy playing. If Oddysee improves on that then im looking forward to playing that. Altough I think I need an AC break after Origins for a while, hehe.
It's very good, but not quite on the level of the titles you mentioned. In exchange though, it's considerably bigger than all the games you mentioned. The game world is so big in fact that there's different climates even depending on where you are on the map. And no loading screens.
OP
OP
Yeah, these games are massive, and playing them back to back can cause severe burnout.
Combat is awesome. They've basically dropped any pretence at trying to be cinematic or realistic and it's just a full-fledged brawler, and a great one at that. I'm about to start the Arena and I'm actually excited.
Yes. Yes.
So did the previous AC games. Remember brotherhood? Call in assassins, call in arrow storm, shoot, parry, attack.
Not saying it holds up still, but it could have been improved upon.
Your one button complaint doesnt make sense. Parkour is 1 button now too lol, and not nearly as good as where it could have gone (unity)
That is a really good point. Especially when compared to RDR2 in which your control scheme changes in every activity. It is hard to learn and not very smooth.
And yes, it is one of the best open world games. Exploring ancient Greece, meeting famous people like Sokrates, Perikles and Hippokrates and the smoothness of all gameplay systems makes it a really special game. Before origins I disliked the series and I am very glad they went in this direction.
20 hours in on Odyssey, and I kinda prefer Origins (which I got the plat for). I liked Origins' protag and setting better, which is a big reason for why I stick with these games. Kassandra is charming/charismatic, but I don't find her to be terribly interesting thus far. I was really able to connect to Bayek almost instantly by contrast.
I see. In what way would you say doesn't it reach those other games? World size does not matter to me though. I rather have a smaller more curated and polished game world than an overly large one. ;)
No game with Microtransactions like Ubisoft has can ever be called the "best"
Especially not a game made deliberately grindy to make you want to buy the exp booster.
Especially not a game made deliberately grindy to make you want to buy the exp booster.
I have to agree with the OP. Full disclosure, I bought the game for $20 and grabbed the xp/money boosters (as it was still far less than getting the game full price). Since then, I grabbed the season pass on sale and have put 80 hours into the game (at level 79 currently). It can get a bit repetitive I suppose, but the core gameplay loop is exceptional. It's also by far the best controlling game in the series. I've also had a ton of fun experimenting with builds - my favorite personal achievement in the game was using gear and engravings that supplemented the Ares Madness ability to kill a level 99 Mercenary at level 72.
Ubisoft is in a position where they have enough workers to create incredibly large worlds that also feel very polished, (for their size), and deliberate in their design. Actually, in spite of the fact that their worlds are getting larger, there are actually less noticeable glitches than in their earlier games from this gen.
Okay? You're entirely free to dislike them or regard them poorly.
This may come as a shock, but some of us don't get our undies in a bunch over some internet stranger not liking the same media we like.
Gosh, this has been a long walk for a lame point. But I guess the real point was the friends we made along the way.
I highlighted the size mainly because it's extremely impressive in terms of scale, and how seamless it is. There's a major difference in how the eastern part of the map looks contrasted to the western part for example - one would be a region full of mountains, forests that feels like autumn. The other side is a cluster of mediterranean islands, with incredible colours and warm, sunny atmosphere. And you can sail/run/swim from one end to the other and enjoy the way the scenery gradually changes.
In terms of world detail, the one thing that Odyssey definittely falters in comparison to something like RDR 2 is the amount of repeated assets and layouts. It mainly affects towns and interiors(buildings, caves, dungeons) - after 20 or so hours of play it's pretty obvious.
I'd say that AC: Origins is actually better in this regard, which was also massive. I didn't find anything in Odyssey as impressive as Alexandria which is one of the best done cities in videogames imo.
I think the game would have been better with less emphasized RPG elements. I don't mind RPG elements, but I found that, at least at the beginning of the game, the numbers mattered way too much. I just started the game to give it another shot, and I found a merc who was two levels above me, and I was doing scratch damage, while he was doing insane amounts. I wouldn't mind the amount of damage they do, but I should at least be able to do a little more than scratch damage back.
They took cues from the Dark Souls combat system but missed that skill always matter more than numbers in that series. Stat check enemies in skill-based action games are annoying and they mar the sense of accomplishment that an action-oriented combat system is meant to provide. When I do beat this merc, will it be because I got good at the game, or just pumped up my numbers enough.
I also found the leveling grindy, but apparently that's not most peoples' experience.
They took cues from the Dark Souls combat system but missed that skill always matter more than numbers in that series. Stat check enemies in skill-based action games are annoying and they mar the sense of accomplishment that an action-oriented combat system is meant to provide. When I do beat this merc, will it be because I got good at the game, or just pumped up my numbers enough.
I also found the leveling grindy, but apparently that's not most peoples' experience.
I really struggled to get into AC Origins. I had just finished BOTW and then Horizon Zero Dawn back to back and AC:O just did not click with me in the way that those two did (despite me loving many of the previous AC games). I have held off picking up Odyssey because of that experience, but maybe I should give it a shake.
What about getting your "undies in a bunch" over some internet stranger liking media you don't:
I think a couple more "fucks" would've gotten your point across stronger
Is the world open to exploration ala BOTW? I mean in the sense that you don't just look at a map and follow icons, but actually explore the world and unearth things through journeying?
Can you turn off HUD and still play it (Origins was so close on this but ultimately you needed floating dots on your screen or you wouldn't know which quest objects to pick up)?
Those are the only questions I have before I pull the trigger.
Can you turn off HUD and still play it (Origins was so close on this but ultimately you needed floating dots on your screen or you wouldn't know which quest objects to pick up)?
Those are the only questions I have before I pull the trigger.
Even though I love the game, I will admit that Odyssey is pretty long and took me more time to finish than I ever thought it would. Ubi crafted a beautiful world though and an amazing protagonist with Kassandra, and it makes me excited to see what they'll do next for the series.
I remember going from RDR 2 to Odyssey and thinking to myself how much I wished RDR2 horseback riding felt as gamey as it was in Odyssey.
Is this really the case? Was going to be my next PC purchase.
I have a 1080ti/8700k/16GB/1 tb ssd if that matters.
No chance of 4k/60fps or near?
That's different. That's serious fucking business don't ya know?
Native 4k60? Unlikely, honestly. I mean you could probably do it if you play it on medium. Reducing the resolution scaler to 80 will probably get you mostly 60 at high. It's a very demanding game.
The only thing I disagree with you on is the horse riding, which really needs a proper sprint button. The speed is real frustratingly slow a lot.
Could be to do with memory limitations tbf
I guess ill play around with. Just hoping there are no huge lag spikes.
If you play in exploration mode (it's a toggle) the game will give you some "clues" about where your objective is and you'll have to find out by exploring the approximate region.
And there is a toggle for every separate HUD option now which is good news. I play it without even the main compass and it's perfectly fine, as the eagle will mark every location without entering a menu.
That's why I say the QoL feature level this game has is amazing and well above, dare I say, every other game.
It's one of the only times I feel like I was given more than what I paid for with the season pass that's for sure. The base game was already so good. Can't wait for the next game!
I don't think there is an open world game with more detail and atmosphere than ACO. MAYBE Red Dead, but I think the color work in that game made everything feel more bland and drab (I guess that was the point though).
Ubisofts re-imaging of Ancient Greece is incredible.
I don't know what it is about the AC games but they feel like the ultimate painting by numbers series. Everything you do is a chore, you've seen it all before and by the time you reach the end you have done the same shit hundreds of times over. I absolutely adore Egyptian lore and history but even that couldn't stop Origins from being a drag to play. As good as the worlds they create look they still feel like you can't really interact with them much. You have a few shiny boxes lying around and repetitive side missions dotted about the place. The AI is also genuinely fucking horrendous.
Yep, same as OP: I was enjoying myself early on but hesitant to declare all-in adoration, but it truly remains a good time for quite a long time.
I've had it since launch but haven't beaten it yet. I admit that I've slowed down play significantly as I've hit something of a burnout point, but that was 60-70 hours of undeniable fun up to that point, and I still trickle in a session every once in a while.
I love it.
I've had it since launch but haven't beaten it yet. I admit that I've slowed down play significantly as I've hit something of a burnout point, but that was 60-70 hours of undeniable fun up to that point, and I still trickle in a session every once in a while.
I love it.
It has two modes you can swap between for "exploring". One just lets you look at clues/areas to figure out where to go next and is more geared towards being open and encouraging exploration, while the other is more direct and like Skyrim or similar games with icons straight up telling you "go here". With the size of the game, I prefer the latter, but I can totally see the appeal of the more exploration-oriented option.
I tend to take lots of photos as well, and one of the less-mentioned features of Odyssey is that the in-game photo editor is very good, and also automatically saves pictures to Ubisoft's servers so it's easy for me to grab some examples.
Everything is from the base game on PS4 and taken just by moving around a bit in photo mode, to keep things sane I am dropping the image size substantially but hopefully they give some idea of how the game depicts its world.
You can swim anywhere, with lower depths having much less lighting and sea life, and surface areas having much more life and brighter waters. Whales will occasionally appear. They'll jump out of the sea when you're sailing. Underwater you can hear them sing.
Your ship is pretty well detailed and accurate to known Greek designs. Your on-board weaponry are arrows and javelins, which you can see the crew have safely and conveniently stored near the sides of the ship to make them easier to reach during combat. You can sail or row. Rowing means your lower deck crew drop these oars into the sea. Probably nobody in the world other than me checked to see whether those oars have different wear patterns on them, but they do.
NPCs mostly walk around or don't do anything interesting, but you can come across people working, fighting, arguing, bathing, relaxing, etc. Environments aren't as well-detailed as Origins but there is still lots of stuff there. That altar in the background of that first image has votive offerings on it, and you can see different offerings on altars throughout Greece. Those guys in the second image are playing an early hockey-like game called keretizein. Those goats in the last picture aren't just randomly following that guy, he's a goat farmer and is leading them to the water nearby.
With some exceptions, things tend to look like they've been designed to work in real life. This torch, for example, is sitting in two metal hoops angled to keep the flame away from the wood. The hoops are held in place with a metal plate. The plate is screwed into the wooden beam. The torch itself has a handle, a guard, a wad of material to keep lit. Whatever is burning here is also giving off a blue-green flame, not just the standard flame effect. Torches and fire are one of the areas where Odyssey downgraded from Origins, but there's still occasional nice detail.
You can see this through the world - buildings mostly look like they'd work in real life, ropes that hold things together have knots on them, wooden beams are nailed or jointed together, and on and on and on.
Odyssey is capable of producing some pretty nice vistas. Background detail drops off substantially at long distance (base PS4).
Buildings and walls have decorations and carvings. If you catalogued them you'd probably find a lot of stuff repeating but in game this doesn't tend to be hugely noticeable (apart from statues which repeat very often).