Assassin's Creed Odyssey

CaptainRAVE · 15 Oct 2018 at 10:00

Kainz said:
I wouldn't touch upgrading with a barge pole unless you REALLY need it or have a legendary that you want to carry with you.

From what I have seen so far it doesn't seem necessary in this game unless there is an item that you really really want to level up and keep with you. In Origins it made sense, if you had a weapon that returned health to you (a very rare trait) it made sense to spend money to raise their level, especially after the level cap was raised.

25 or so hours in, level 24 and feel like I have barely scratched the surface.

Bazzards · 15 Oct 2018 at 10:06

If this game has taught me one thing, its never to trust reviewers. I don't agree any of them. The game for me has improved and streamlined Origins and is fantastic as a result. Only level 13, so a long way to go.

edit: Would just add, I never used the micro transactions in Origins and don't intend to in this. They just aren't needed to progress.

Radox-0 · 15 Oct 2018 at 10:45

Kainz said:
Just keep on going as you'll be swimming in it later (Lv25+). Good helms seem rare from my experience but there is a great quest one related to an animal later on - I forget where I wouldn't touch upgrading with a barge pole unless you REALLY need it or have a legendary that you want to carry with you. You're just better off saving the resources for major end game gear or it'll be a grind to re-acquire those precious gems again for example.

You can pick up some excellent gear (epic-legendary) for killing mercs, hunting legendary animals and of course the main baddies in the game. Sea based warefare nets you mostly trash loot from ships, which is useful for dismantling.

Yup, would not bother upgrading legendery bits on the way. Way too much resources. costs more to jump up every few levels then it does to make massive jump. Still to jump from level 28 to 50 on 5 piece legendary set cost nearly 100k in gold and over 7500 in material nearly a 1000 of which was obsidian

On a separate note, wish we had a wardrobe function or quick set button or something. So many sets specialising in different things, in particular legendary bits. Would be nice to swap depending on how your going to play quickly (though not in combat)

Amatsubu · 15 Oct 2018 at 11:05

Frankly, I'm starting to miss the purely cosmetic armour of Origins, upgrades are too expensive and there is gear I really like but I'm forced to switch out as it only makes sense to upgrade every 10 levels or so... Thankfully, I'm only a level behind on my Snake set because it scaled up once I got the last piece.

Kainz · 15 Oct 2018 at 11:19

Regarding Conquest Battles - I always pick the side that gives 2x Epic rewards. Sometimes, even though I am victorious with said side I still get 1x bit of Epic and sometimes I'll get the full 2x pieces. Confused as to why this happens?

CaptainRAVE · 15 Oct 2018 at 11:45

Amatsubu said:
Frankly, I'm starting to miss the purely cosmetic armour of Origins, upgrades are too expensive and there is gear I really like but I'm forced to switch out as it only makes sense to upgrade every 10 levels or so... Thankfully, I'm only a level behind on my Snake set because it scaled up once I got the last piece.

I miss the option to leave the mask on and how it would affect the sound of Bayek's voice. It was a neat touch.

Kainz said:
Regarding Conquest Battles - I always pick the side that gives 2x Epic rewards. Sometimes, even though I am victorious with said side I still get 1x bit of Epic and sometimes I'll get the full 2x pieces. Confused as to why this happens?

Probably a bug. The attacking side is meant to offer better rewards in general though. I like that the conquest battles for the smaller islands are naval related (also meaning you get additional loot along the way) and making them easier as they are not time based and you can heal after taking down each ship.

I must say I am absolutely hooked on this game. Gutted I don't have more time to play it, although I did spend almost all day Sat/Sun playing it

CaptainRAVE · 15 Oct 2018 at 11:53

Darn, think I have been selling legendary armour from cultists. That said, it is no use to me if I out-level it anyway.

Kainz · 15 Oct 2018 at 11:53

CaptainRAVE said:
Darn, think I have been selling legendary armour from cultists. That said, it is no use to me if I out-level it anyway.

You shouldn't be able to sell or dismantle Legendary (gold stuff)...

I am lucky that I do have time to play it in small bursts. The more I do though, the more I realise there is a LOT of stuff missing that enhanced Origins a great deal. Sometimes I can't help but get frustrated by the lack of things, like the myterious npc canoe man who appears in the middle of a lake just when I need transport etc. Origins was a lot more detailed in it's worldscape too.

CaptainRAVE · 15 Oct 2018 at 11:58

Kainz said:
You shouldn't be able to sell or dismantle Legendary (gold stuff)...

I am lucky that I do have time to play it in small bursts. The more I do though, the more I realise there is a LOT of stuff missing that enhanced Origins a great deal. Sometimes I can't help but get frustrated by the lack of things, like the myterious npc canoe man who appears in the middle of a lake just when I need transport etc. Origins was a lot more detailed in it's worldscape too.

Oh, interesting. I am sure I sold the snake belt, but I could be wrong. I picked up some gauntlets, I will take a look at them.

Agreed, the world does feel a little lifeless compared to Origins. The NPCs were doing so much and there were so many neat touches everywhere. I look at the NPCs in this game and most are just stood around. Hopefully for the next game they combine all of the positives - I can only assume the next will be in Japan. There are so many hints in this game.

Edit: they don't show up in the sell shop section, that makes sense now. Thanks.

Radox-0 · 15 Oct 2018 at 12:07

CaptainRAVE said:
Oh, interesting. I am sure I sold the snake belt, but I could be wrong. I picked up some gauntlets, I will take a look at them.

Agreed, the world does feel a little lifeless compared to Origins. The NPCs were doing so much and there were so many neat touches everywhere. I look at the NPCs in this game and most are just stood around. Hopefully for the next game they combine all of the positives - I can only assume the next will be in Japan. There are so many hints in this game.

Edit: they don't show up in the sell shop section, that makes sense now. Thanks.

In a way, legendary sets while solid are not a massive improvement over Epic. With Epic sets you have 4 traits, one of which you apply for yourself via engraving. With Legendary, you only get 3 traits of which you add the third. You then get a 5 piece set bonus, but to be honest they are only okay and can get more flexibility and options with four totally different enchantments on 5 piece sets. Legendary weapons are nice though as there is no set bonus bit so can apply a 4th enchantment and have 2 legendary enchantments on the weapon at the same time.

AKAK · 15 Oct 2018 at 12:44

I'm still upgrading some stuff - I think you really take a hit if your weapons are below your level and I don't feel like worrying about resources.

Would prefer the look of a hood vs a helmet but haven't come across one recently so i'm just not showing it.

Tombstone · 15 Oct 2018 at 13:08

Kainz said:
Sometimes I can't help but get frustrated by the lack of things, like the myterious npc canoe man who appears in the middle of a lake just when I need transport etc. Origins was a lot more detailed in it's worldscape too.

I'm actually glad that the canoe people arent around, they used to annoy the hell out of me ramming into me and blocking me off when I was trying to swim distances

Amatsubu · 15 Oct 2018 at 14:23

I somewhat agree about Origins, while there are some areas in this game that look better and livelier, Egypt was more magical and detailed overall.

And I miss those touches CaptainRAVE mentioned like keeping your helmet/mask for cutscenes and it affecting your voice etc.

I'm also miffed about the fps drops in certain parts of cities, there's simply no way to make this run at 60fps on a 1070/4790k at 1440p and even drops to 52-55 feel quite bad. Origins did the same thing in Alexandria but it felt a bit better for some reason. Some place drop for seemingly no reason, like Kirrha, while otheres more impressive don't.

Regarding the next setting, as much as I love Japan, I'd prefer China or maybe even colonial era Hong Kong (a tad too modern perhaps) and surrounding territories. Would be absolutely stonking, such an underexplored setting. Or Mongolia, for that matter.

Tombstone · 15 Oct 2018 at 14:43

Amatsubu said:
Regarding the next setting, as much as I love Japan, I'd prefer China or maybe even colonial era Hong Kong (a tad too modern perhaps) and surrounding territories. Would be absolutely stonking, such an underexplored setting. Or Mongolia, for that matter.

They've gone backward in time since Origins, I reckon they will go backward in time again for the next title, maybe to around 500BC or somewhere around there, so China is a possibility maybe, thats around the time of Confucious so plenty of spiritual/philosophical things they could do, its also around the time of Sun Tzu, so military things they could do and they do like to have famous NPCs in the game and Confucious and Sun Tzu would fit that bill.

Of course Rome would also fit the timeframe of 500BCish and allow them to go backward in time again, but maybe a little too samey as Ancient Greece/Egypt.

Thats all of course if they go backward in time again rather than forward.

Pudney · 15 Oct 2018 at 14:47

I picked up the game on Sunday (first time on any Assasin's Creed game actually) and I'm really enjoying it so far. So much so that I'm likely to go into their back catalogue and play some of the earlier versions. Before I impulse buy, are the predecessors similar? I can see some comments on here about Origins being more "detailed" which seems good to me so that's almost a certainty to get, but are any others similar in the open world assassin type theme?

Before anyone asks I played the first AC for about 10 minutes and assumed it was action RPG with a heavy focus on combat. But I love proper stealth mechanics and this is scratching that itch well.

CaptainRAVE · 15 Oct 2018 at 15:05

Pudney said:
I picked up the game on Sunday (first time on any Assasin's Creed game actually) and I'm really enjoying it so far. So much so that I'm likely to go into their back catalogue and play some of the earlier versions. Before I impulse buy, are the predecessors similar? I can see some comments on here about Origins being more "detailed" which seems good to me so that's almost a certainty to get, but are any others similar in the open world assassin type theme?

Before anyone asks I played the first AC for about 10 minutes and assumed it was action RPG with a heavy focus on combat. But I love proper stealth mechanics and this is scratching that itch well.

Origins would be high on my list. Origins and Odyssey are quite different to previous AC games though. AC2 is still the best for story, but it must have dated somewhat now. I personally enjoyed Syndicate and Unity, but they are quite different games - they do stealth better with multiple approaches to assassination targets. Black Flag is probably still my favourite for gameplay (rubbish story), especially the naval stuff.

Pudney · 15 Oct 2018 at 15:12

Nice summary, I hadn't realised there had be so many by now! Origins sounds like a definite in that case, may try to look a bit at some gameplay videos of the others.

Stupid games making me spend money...

Kainz · 15 Oct 2018 at 15:13

All the AC games prior to Origins and Odyssey did stealth a lot better and featured extremely strong storylines - that both Origins/Odyssey come close to imo but can't quite match. Alongside this the modern day story of Templars vs Assassins was also equally good.

The series took a big turn with Origins as it seems to be heavily inspired by FarCry/Witcher 3/Horizon Zero Dawn. Combat was also changed to be more dark souls like and the modern day aspect nosedived to the point where I can't see the point on it anymore (I really love the modern day stuff). The worlds since Origin are just gigantic without a doubt and you can seamlessly move from one end of the map to another if you had the time.

Origins relied on Stealth to a lesser degree than previous AC's and Odyssey even moreso. You can spec an Assassin role but there are a lot of situations where you need to go full on fighting.

mid_gen · 15 Oct 2018 at 15:51

Still amazed at the amount of content in the game. Only just opened up the Cultist menu....whole new raft of stuff to do in there!

Odyssey is an extremely adept name. There's so much in the game I really feel like I'm making up my own story as I go my own way. When I sit down to play, I'm like hmmm shall I do some bounties? See how high I can get my bounty? Hunt mercenaries? Go hunting cultists? Try and flip a region to start a conquest? Do some sailing? Go explore a new island? Main story quest? Hunting quest? Just explore random ?s on the map. Pick up world quests? Message board quests?

Pretty sure I'll be playing this until the next game comes round

CaptainRAVE · 15 Oct 2018 at 15:58

mid_gen said:
Still amazed at the amount of content in the game. Only just opened up the Cultist menu....whole new raft of stuff to do in there!

Odyssey is an extremely adept name. There's so much in the game I really feel like I'm making up my own story as I go my own way. When I sit down to play, I'm like hmmm shall I do some bounties? See how high I can get my bounty? Hunt mercenaries? Go hunting cultists? Try and flip a region to start a conquest? Do some sailing? Go explore a new island? Main story quest? Hunting quest? Just explore random ?s on the map. Pick up world quests? Message board quests?

Pretty sure I'll be playing this until the next game comes round

I was already impressed with the new mercenary system. Then the cult menu appeared :eek:

So much to do I am running from point to point like a headless chicken. The main story is vaguely directing me. So many locations dotted around the map that don't have a question mark either. Fortunately some of the user photos help a little.

It still impresses me how well it runs when I am in either Athens or running through dense forest with incredible light shafts and shadows coming through the trees - especially with some water in the mix reflecting all of the colours :eek:

Pudney said:
Nice summary, I hadn't realised there had be so many by now! Origins sounds like a definite in that case, may try to look a bit at some gameplay videos of the others.

Stupid games making me spend money...

Great thing is that most of them can be picked up very cheaply now - usually with the season passes thrown in too. Plus we are getting AC3 remastered with the gold edition of Odyssey - most people didn't like it and there was too much running about, but it did the environment in the seasons and wilderness fantastically well.