Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

[Ne0]

this series is going the guitar hero way, a new game every year with the same core mechanics.... the series needs a overhaul of the core game, then they can convert this easily into a good standalone RPG (without all the animus stuff) !  I still have origins uncompleted .... the game is so plain jane, not a single quest worth remembering or playing .... even the historic landmarks do not bring in the awe which its supposed to as they are all scaled so badly.  The only AC game I enjoyed was AC II and AC: BlackFlag to some extent, rest all were plain boring :-/

Edited November 13, 2020 by Ne0

[WR10]

Some staple and ever-present problems in the AC games - Dumb AF AI, Bad Optimisation on PC, All NPC's looking like mannequins and completely lifeless, Shitty side quest design.

[hope]

On 11/11/2020 at 6:34 PM, dylanjosh said:

 

Damm. Just ripped it apart.

 

Formula is indeed getting stale with open world games. 

[Guest]

They have to up their combat gameplay. Can't go 50-100 hours with shite combat and not feel bored. 

 

Even 1-2 hour session get boring fast despite the world looking gorgeous. Visuals simply can't carry the game over 20+ hours. 

 

[roun90]

4 minutes ago, Joe Cool said:

They have to up their combat gameplay. Can't go 50-100 hours with shite combat and not feel bored. 

 

Even 1-2 hour session get boring fast despite the world looking gorgeous. Visuals simply can't carry the game over 20+ hours. 

 

 

This game is "inspired" (read: copied wholesale) from Dark Souls. You have a stamina bar, you attack, and you dodge hits - which costs stamina. Attacks are of 2 varieties - light attack and heavy (charged) attacks, which can break shields. Of course, the AI mobs and bosses are nowhere close to DS Levels (Till what I've played). I've not yet unlocked abilities, so will have to see how it affects combat. Overall, the game is on quite easy (on normal)

 

3 minutes ago, AnK said:

I read somewhere that combat tree improves pretty far on in game 

 

what’s the point when bore someone for first 10-15 hours 

 

 The "Combat Tree" is more like used to improve stats. You have things like improve light melee damage by +10%, improve crit etc. You have 1 ability in the center of each tree that's an unlock (Unlock Assassination of more powerful enemies for ex.), but that's about it. There are also multiple trees, but all are obscured. To begin with - you have a choice of 3 trees. Going ahead with those trees will unlock new trees. But what those trees are - you don't know until you actually unlock them.

 

The actual "Abilities" (i.e. new moves) though, are results of exploration. You find a book of knowledge - you unlock new moves. You don't unlock abilities via the skill tree.

 

Also, you can't assassinate at the beginning of the game, you can only start the actual assassinations after the first couple of missions. You can explore before you get the ability to assassinate though. So keep that in mind.

 

But with all that said, there is one thing I will say - the game and it's exploration is absolutely beautiful. Exploring Scandinavia and England, crossing the Fjords, looking at the Aurora Borealis at night, with the amazing soundtrack they have for this game. Jesper Kyd, who did the music for AC 2, Brotherhood and Revelations (The Ezio Trilogy), is back for this game. Along with him, they got back the composer for AC:Origins (Sarah Schachner) and the composer for the TV Show Vikings (Einar Selvik), and the quality is absolutely phenomenal.

 

The side quests ("Mysteries") are more along the funny and ridiculous side, which are fun distractions, but can be ignored if you want. Exploration does help get "Wealth" though - which is useful for upgrading gear (There is limited Gear in the game. But all gear are useful and can be upgraded from trash status to legendary status. Along with stats and abilities, look of gear also changes). There are also "Artifacts" to find, though I've not yet hunted for those, to tell what they will do.

 

Overall, this is actually a very good game. Far better than Origins and Odyssey (Till what I've played) and actually quite fun.

[Guest]

No point in having such combat when you can't have similar level of enemies. Just feels like a chore to play.

 

In Dark Souls you always have a challenge and combat matters unlike AC where you can just get away with button smash. Every encounter. Every enemy. Every boss. 

[CarbonCore]

1 hour ago, AnK said:

I read somewhere that combat tree improves pretty far on in game 

 

what’s the point when bore someone for first 10-15 hours 

 

The combat stays largely the same. What you unlock is special moves that you then assign to face buttons and spam them as they fill up. It does not improve and get better like Tsushima.  

[Heaven Angel]

 

 

[Big Boss]

Number 1 should be: Don't buy this game, this game sucks.

[Ne0]

On 11/11/2020 at 6:34 PM, dylanjosh said:

 

 

candidate for gamepass   ?

[Big Boss]

17 minutes ago, Ne0 said:

 

candidate for gamepass   ?

Even AC Origins didn't come on gamepass yet, this is far away. In fact, I don't think any AC game ever came on gamepass. 

[CarbonCore]

Ubi have their own sub, they won't put it on GP unless there's an EA like deal.

[Heaven Angel]

 

 

 

 

The game isn't as bad as tagged not to buy at all. It's just a typical Ubisoft RPG game with new AC mechanics, mostly copied the best from previous games. The story is structured into arcs is well executed and it gives you a breathing room to explore

Im nearly 15 hours in and...well...I'm 15%. I really gotta stop the exploring for a minute and do some missions. 

 

Soundtracks are good.

 

Combat is meh.

[rdsarna]

14 hours ago, Heaven Angel said:

The game isn't as bad as tagged not to buy at all. It's just a typical Ubisoft RPG game with new AC mechanics, mostly copied the best from previous games. The story is structured into arcs is well executed and it gives you a breathing room to explore

Im nearly 15 hours in and...well...I'm 15%. I really gotta stop the exploring for a minute and do some missions. 

 

Soundtracks are good.

 

Combat is meh.

This!

 

I've seen so much negativity for this game in this forum that it made me feel like I was playing a different game.

 

This game is Witcher 3 Lite in every way. The story and characters are engaging, you get attached to them and the small side stories/mysteries are really good more often than not. The gear system isn't as abundant and pointless as in Odyssey.

 

 The only things that Valhalla does better than Witcher are combat (on harder difficulties) and the progression system. Witcher had such boring combat, it was fancy for the sake of being fancy. If you hit the attack button thrice, the character would start doing a revolving slash like a dance. Valhalla's combat isn't praise worthy either but it is predictable and based on reading enemy movements. Different weapon types change up the way you fight and yes it isn't much variety but it still feels fine, at least for the 25 hours I've put in. Obviously, you can mix it up yourself by being stealthy and unlocking skills + abilities.

 

The progression system is very interesting, IMO. It hides skills from you until you reach that branch. It gives the whole system a sense of mystery and like opening a new wrapped gift everytime a new branch is unlocked. Obviously, you can negate all that by looking it up online but it's fun to not know what interesting skill could be up next.

 

If you liked witcher and can look past this being an AC game and just enjoying it as a new world to explore with new stories to unfold, then give it a shot. Also, if you played Origins and Odyssey both, then skip this. You must be overdosed on this new AC style. I played Origins to completion but couldn't stand Odyssey for more than 10 hours, and I'm loving this one.

[CarbonCore]

I turned on the one hit assassination option, like how assassinations are usually suppose to work, and the game is like "This is not how the game is intended to be played"

 

Yeah right. STFU Ubisoft  

[STICK3Rboy]

38 minutes ago, rdsarna said:

I've seen so much negativity for this game in this forum that it made me feel like I was playing a different game.

 

I loved Odyssey but I still understand the negativity that these games get.

The thing is these games can absolutely bore you to death if you let them. It's kinda left to the player to actively try to prevent that from happening (which should've been the game's job in the first place).

Of course, everyone's mileage varies by how much they're into the story and characters, how enamoured they are by the "virtual tourism" aspect, and what mindset they're in.

[PhantomShade]

14 minutes ago, STICK3Rboy said:

 

I loved Odyssey but I still understand the negativity that these games get.

The thing is these games can absolutely bore you to death if you let them. It's kinda left to the player to actively try to prevent that from happening (which should've been the game's job in the first place).

Of course, everyone's mileage varies by how much they're into the story and characters, how enamoured they are by the "virtual tourism" aspect, and what mindset they're in.

 

Vikongz and medieval Northern Europe is boring and eww setting.

They should have gone to Rome or the Byzantine Empire next instead.

Or even something more exotic like the Achaeminid empire of Persia.

AC Egypt and AC Greece were 10/10 e-Tourism wise.

[roun90]

1 hour ago, PhantomShade said:

 

Vikongz and medieval Northern Europe is boring and eww setting.

They should have gone to Rome or the Byzantine Empire next instead.

Or even something more exotic like the Achaeminid empire of Persia.

AC Egypt and AC Greece were 10/10 e-Tourism wise.

 

I disagree. True Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway etc.) has not been done much (if at all). Going in the fjords, the mountains, the aurora etc. is magnificent. Medieval England has been done many times, but it's OK. I'm most excited for Medieval Ireland though (1st DLC), that's the home of the druids, the Fairies, The Wild Hunt, almost all Witcher Monsters etc.

 

Egypt was absolutely needed. Greece was so-so. The Egypt one is already over - but I had actually hoped to see the true ancient Egypt - divided into the Upper and Lower Kingdoms and ruled by Ramses (Not the Greek Cleopatra). The time when Egypt was a true Superpower and the Wonders like the Pyramids were being built. Ancient Mesopotamian Empire (Babylon) is also left (Covers today's Iraq, Kuwait etc.).

 

If they truly want to do exotic though - they should actually do Ancient India (During the time of Mauryas, Pandyas, Cholas etc). India was one of the most important trading hubs throughout history, so it will be absolutely wonderful if they do. Second is Ancient China - which was also a massive trade hub. But this one, I'm sure they will do as soon as they can settle on a "CCP Approved" Version. Ghost of Tsushima has satisfied the need for the ancient Japanese one.

 

 

[Big Boss]

Sigh. One of my friend gifted me AC Valhalla Xbox One game code. Installing now. Here we go.

[WR10]

Is the optimization on PC as bad as Odyssey ?