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Jimpressions: Assassin's Creed Odyssey- It's Grindy, It's Greedy, It's Ubisoft!
- Thread starter Deleted member 135
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This is such a hilariously nonsensical comparison I'm desperately trying to parse what you're saying by this.
Is crappy DLC the cheese in this situation? So are you saying that a game without DLC is just a plain hamburger?
Are you saying that DLC is a good thing?
Yes it is. Answer the following question:
If you're going to imply that design is fundamentally changed due to the option to buy things you can't half ass it, you have to go all the way as such a blanket statement obviously would apply to other things you can buy.
I wouldn't bother with this. They've got the narrative they want, and nothing will change that.
Make the games smaller in scale. Have slightly less detail to the environments. Only implement mechanics that feel necessary. Not every game needs to be "everything". Lots of the best games are extremely focused titles that know what they want to be and excel at it. It's the difference between beloved classics like Resident Evil 4, Banjo-Kazooie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and disappointing titles like Mass Effect 3, Assassin's Creed Unity, Final Fantasy XV, etc.
Is it possible that it is grindy due to higher difficulty setting? How bout the normal difficulty setting?
I'm sorry but Crossing Eden said that "Legendary items" have a "drop rate" so presumably getting them is up to RNG.
Or you can buy them from the store.
If they don't randomly drop then I don't know what they're talking about.
And what narrative do I want?
Yes it's quite difficult to argue when an argument falls apart.
Again, regardless of whether or not they're custom OR randomly generated,
THE GAME INCLUDES BOTH
Well, I would never argue that Ubisoft or any major publisher is inefficient in reducing costs of their games. I am pretty sure they are very efficient in this regard, but that is not an argument in favor of demanding more many. On the contrary, this makes the multilayered approach to make more money more, for the lack of a better word, greedy.
60$/€ for a full game can still be profitable, but I guess just profitable is not feasible. Feasible is raking in the cash. So the full game here costs 100$/€ which should be enough even for Ubisoft games without microtransactions. So the most benevolent one can say about the boosts is that Ubisoft is selling cheatcodes which have traditionally been free (like skin unlocks which make up the rest of the mtx). And the most benevolent one can say about the level gating is padding their howlongtobeat time.
The legendary comment rings so true, it's almost hilarious to a point that you get some badass weapon but you quickly outgrow it unless you put in the time to upgrade it throughout the game.
As for the one-shot assassination thing, I totally agree with you. With assassin dmg + modifiers it's more than doable.
As an aside I love that there's a spear throw move that's basically the Warp Strike from FFXV. Really digging that!
Companies don't really exist to solely be slightly profitable. And an exp boost isn't or lvl 1 legendary isn't really a cheat code. Neither will carry you through the game. Coincidentally, the literal cheat codes for Origins was a PC exclusive feature added months after release for free, it literally let you break the game:
If this is the case then the only valid complaint here would be against turning the series into an RPG, which is a different subject considering the series turned into an RPG before introducing these MTs.
Based on what I've read so far, the grind is within the realm of what you'd expect from this kind of game. So I have absolutely zero issues with them charging for time saving MTs.
Same goes for DMC5 if they follow the same route.
Again, if the grind is within expectations having this option can be useful to some players and profittable to companies. Win-win.
Just a heads up for people on PC, there is already a trainer out to change the XP multiplier: https://www.wemod.com/cheats/assassins-creed-odyssey-trainers
The game literally tells you what legendary you'll get from killing a merc in the menu. Plus you get legendaries from random drops, chests, cultists and quests. It's way more generous with loot than Origins was.
Wow, ban these cheaters! Stealing money from Ubisoft ; ;
he's not pro consumer especially the him. Making up bullshit for the views, I'm not pro all of it but I also don't think it's all the end of the world especially in cases like this. The overreaction from him and the others I mentioned doesn't do any good.
The amount of misinformation in ACO threads is astounding.
Isn't this site supposed to be a platform where we should discuss facts and not blatant lies like the ones being sold by Polygon and Sterling?
If there is one thing that should be the focus here it clearly is the sites and people spreading wrong information to create outrage.
If the game was a grindfest I'm sure we would have several reviews pointing out this fatal flaw, who would not want a piece of traffic this would create?
Instead, we have a site of shady reputation, and a recognized Ubi hater making the lines. Put 2 and 2 together guys, please do a little research before posting.
Isn't this site supposed to be a platform where we should discuss facts and not blatant lies like the ones being sold by Polygon and Sterling?
If there is one thing that should be the focus here it clearly is the sites and people spreading wrong information to create outrage.
If the game was a grindfest I'm sure we would have several reviews pointing out this fatal flaw, who would not want a piece of traffic this would create?
Instead, we have a site of shady reputation, and a recognized Ubi hater making the lines. Put 2 and 2 together guys, please do a little research before posting.
Do... do you know what RNG means?
Random Number Generator.
By your own words a player has enemies you can fight that drop gear. By your own words the DROP RATE on these items is "consistent."
So we have a piece of gear you have a chance of dropping X% of the time, this is the item's DROP RATE. When you beat the enemy the game uses the RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR to see what sort gear you get, based off the DROP RATE of the item.
Therefore, you have RNG.
You can, instead, pay money to acquire gear just as good, but without having to worry about the DROP RATE, or as it's also known as RNG.
This is literally how you have described the game as working to me.
I have about 35 hours into the game, which is much farther than any AC game I've played since AC 2, and it's the best AC I've played but I also think there are some pretty blatant grind issues in the game. When you have something like an 8 level gap between a couple main quests, that just feels weird.
Games with MTX like level booster are designed to encourage players to buy them. There is just no way around that. Ubisoft and any other big gaming company that use MTX in games has employees who are specialized for this.
And even when, for whatever reason, a MTX game is not designed this way (AC Odyssey is designed to encourage MTX, obviously), if a grindy game episode appears people will think it was included to encourage MTX. It will diminish the gaming experience for many players.
Perhaps, if Ubisoft can not manage to make a profit from a million seller $60 game they should rethink their development pipeline, make the game 2 dollar more expensive, or just don't be greedy.
And even when, for whatever reason, a MTX game is not designed this way (AC Odyssey is designed to encourage MTX, obviously), if a grindy game episode appears people will think it was included to encourage MTX. It will diminish the gaming experience for many players.
Perhaps, if Ubisoft can not manage to make a profit from a million seller $60 game they should rethink their development pipeline, make the game 2 dollar more expensive, or just don't be greedy.
That's not what I said, the player doesn't send out npcs to collect things. The player can encounter bounty hunters who'll turn hostile depending on the player's wanted level. Please inform yourself about the game's features as you constant misinterpret things based on your own ignorance.
OK so they're random enemies instead of missions. Like I corrected before your desperate smug attempt to disprove my core point.
That changes... literally nothing else.
Who cares why you're getting the random drops, what matters is that they're RANDOM.
They're both random, and custom. The mercenary system includes premade mercenaries with specifically designed loot. Or randomly generated ones who have the same kinds of ridiculously good loot. Note this isn't even the only way to obtain legendary items. Why is it so hard for you to admit that your blanket statement was a flawed argument that ignores several thing about the game?
Assassin's games before the "RPG" change already had a ton of missions that just felt like mind numbing padding and now it sounds like they are just getting worse. Ubisoft games, aside from a couple, tend to be plagued by this quantity over quality issue.
Less content + Worse graphics = Lower sales. And since you removed all that evil MTX and you needed higher sales just to break even, congrats you've just ran the company into bankruptcy. Who knew game development was so complicated?
Personally a really cool feature is that the skin swaps even work with cutscenes and the animation doesn't break:
there were no articles written about it. but i followed origins very closely and i distinctly remember a big reddit thread over it with someone comparing prices that were seen in pre release videos and what they were in the final game. i remember because based on said pre release videos people had mapped out what they were gonna buy with helix credits that came with the gold edition and it was all flipped on its head when the game came out.
origins' just didnt feel as ....well... greedy because you could buy mtx chests with a random legendary stuff with normal currency.
now, not only do you not get boosts and helix credits with the gold edition, you also have a different currency to buy those mtx lootboxes like a f2p game. where in origins you could easily farm the 2000 or whatever gold it cost...here you only get those mtx crystals through specific quests.
Watched Jim's content over the years and I gotta say there's been a bit of a shift lately. His tone got harsher and even the smallest annoyances, the kinds of which he used to adequately address in short, now receive minutes-long mouthfuls.
He's still good people though and I believe his intentions are and have always been pro consumer.
Thats awesome!
Unforunately, it's not on a good enough sale anywhere to double dip quite yet. :(
edit: Man, Aya was so fucking cool.
This definitely would've caught on if this was real so you'll have to believe me if I don't believe you.
Odyssey has a higher drop rate of legendary items than Origins though. Not sure how it resembles a f2p system at all.
So yes. So yes, it is RNG.
Yes you can also pay real money for some.
What blanket statement? I said the game includes an EXP booster so they encourage players to pay money by making it take longer to level than natrual. This has nothing to do with any other element of the game.
You then brought up gear, and how it can randomly drop in game. I then said that Ubisoft could easily encourage people buying Paid weapons as a way to skip the RNG. Then you say there's no RNG while describing farming enemies for random drops like that's... not... RNG?
There can be multiple monitization methods. You're the one who claimed my statement about the aspect of the game being talked about in the thread is a blanket statement.
I mean i could put in the time and prove myself but would that stop you from defending ubi from here on out?
for the f2p thing...i told you how it resembles an f2p system. im not saying its an f2p game in every sense. it also costs 60 bucks and above.
Also whats your source for claiming it has a higher legendary drop rate?
The majority of mercenaries are custom. And that's besides the point, because there's no difference between the loot level of randomly generated and custom mercenaries. Take the L with some dignity dude.
Or you could find them in chests or the game straight up gives them to you as quest rewards.
That a game system is inherently desgined around encouraging the player to pay for MTX if an MTX exists. That's a fundamentally flawed argument.
A false assumption, quote from a dev ITT who's worked on these kinds of systems:
If you're gonna make a statement you should provide receipts. And this is beside the point, we have reviewers on record even ITT saying that the store wasn't active for the majority of the review period. For all intents and purposes, they played the exact same game that everyone else is, the MTs are ignorable AF because as the above states, the core game gets balanced and stays that way even after their inclusion.
ya thats insane. Most I ever had was 3 and it was only 1 time ever
Ubisoft's entire business model currently is making games as "live services" in which they make fewer games but keep players involved with them longer and, this is the most important part, putting more money into the game. Every single Ubisoft game is, by their own admission, designed to encourage you to spend more.
This particular example, having you pay for more EXP gain, is just particularly scummy.
Cheat codes don't have to be game breaking. 10000 wood/stone/gold were cheat codes for Age of Empires. Getting weapons (early) have been cheat codes in FPS. Spawning items have been cheats in Diablo clones (and diablo with third party tools). As someone who played MMOs with more than one character: Giving a new low level character legendary yet level appropriate gear acquired by my endgame chars made the game vastly easier. And with the legendary gear my character would always outperform regularly geared chars of higher level in pve group content. You have to renew the gear every x level, but in the time frame where the gear was within 6-8 levels it was almost like cheating.
If the XP boost is not a cheat, then what is it? Proper rebalancing? That would be even worse.
Or more general: If the content in the store is useless/worthless, why is ubisoft selling it?
We're now complaining that we're being forced to play games we decide to buy? Or is this fake outrage coming from people who never had the intention of buying it in the first place?
So because it's "side content", you shouldn't be forced to play any of it to complete the game? But if these exact same "side quests" would have been integrated to the "main quest", you'd have been ok with completing them? I also find it weird that people are complaining that they have to do side stuff in an AC game, considering the fact that the main story is most often than not the weakest element in those games. The gameplay is also identical in the side quests and the main quest, so you're probably not enjoying the gameplay much if it's a grind to do more than the absolute minimum. Maybe you should just watch the cutscenes on YouTube?
I get that people don't like MTX and that's perfectly fine. But they've been a thing for a while now, and I have never spent a dime on them. I also never felt like I was expected to to get a full experience. Maybe I'm just gullible and all this time I wasn't realizing that those evil corporations were defrauding me.
So because it's "side content", you shouldn't be forced to play any of it to complete the game? But if these exact same "side quests" would have been integrated to the "main quest", you'd have been ok with completing them? I also find it weird that people are complaining that they have to do side stuff in an AC game, considering the fact that the main story is most often than not the weakest element in those games. The gameplay is also identical in the side quests and the main quest, so you're probably not enjoying the gameplay much if it's a grind to do more than the absolute minimum. Maybe you should just watch the cutscenes on YouTube?
I get that people don't like MTX and that's perfectly fine. But they've been a thing for a while now, and I have never spent a dime on them. I also never felt like I was expected to to get a full experience. Maybe I'm just gullible and all this time I wasn't realizing that those evil corporations were defrauding me.
The way they target the average player with post release launch support is through the season pass first and foremost, not the store which targets a small minority of the audience.
An extra source of revenue for the studio.
Nope.
You say that like Ubisoft isn't soul-suckingly greedy enough to do both.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey is deliberately grindy in its level up mechanics in a clear attempt to encourage people to buy the EXP booster.
Some people are Really Mad this is being pointed out, because it hurts a multi billion dollar companies feelings or something.
This will definitely be like Origins for me where I'm not interested in giving it a look until I see that there's some support for it and word of mouth. I can wait until it gets a heavy price cut.
Oh is that why they've released massive updates for several of their games at no cost? because of their souls ucking greediness?
Lmao Ubisoft can be a greedy awful company and not be engaged in active oppression.
Like, there are worse companies out in the world but the Game Industry is able to get away with some particularly scummy stuff because hey, they're just video games right?
I'm playing AC Odyssey and completely disagree with Jim . I'm playing exploration mode without grinding, doing mix of side and main stuff getting lot of xp and rewards.
People who complaining must be doing guided mode and focusing strictly on main story. Exploring world and doing few different side quests doesn't make game grindy. Side quests variety is good ,try them guys.
People who complaining must be doing guided mode and focusing strictly on main story. Exploring world and doing few different side quests doesn't make game grindy. Side quests variety is good ,try them guys.
No, but please elaborate.
The argument from these people seems to be "Doing ANY content that isn't directly related to the main story is grinding".
No because it gets them more money.
Ubisoft wouldn't do it if the free updates weren't shown to lead to more base game and DLC sales.
Like, that's why any company does free updates for games. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because it keeps people giving them money in other ways.
Was it ever confirmed how much of the game Jim had played? A poster earlier said he was still in the tutorial phase.