While I've played quite a few AC games, I think the only one I've actually finished is Black Flag. :/ Maybe it's just not my type of game. I get bored of it or something I guess.

I've played Witcher 3 and its two expansions through multiple times though, so it's not that I don't love long games.

Creston wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 18:13:

The Half Elf wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 16:46:

Creston wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 15:37:
Fields of Elysium is pretty fun, especially because you can get fairly different endings (for the NPCs, not for yourself) depending on your decisions. It's also beautiful, excellent for screenshots.

I think the Atlantis episode is cooler (if shorter), but this is a solidly good DLC.

I haven't gotten very far into the game (just got through the tutorial for the land grabs), and while hanging off Zeus Testicles was fun, does the story pick up? AC:Egypt was ok, but I really had to push myself to finish the game.

Yeah, I mean, right now you've literally seen 2% of the story. So it definitely does pick up, although it's not going to reach earth-shattering heights or anything.

I actually thought the story in the last 3pack of DLCs was better than in the main campaign.

I feel like the weird end/post game shit with Pythagoras is pretty awesome. But I liked most of it... usually burn out is self inflicted when I'm trying to clear islands/teritories for OCD reasons. Just go do a fucking assasination/story mission and it's all good! Like with Witcher/Skyrim, almost everything is optional.

The freeform assasinations themselves are the best the games have seen. Good variety, not as bespoke as some previous but definately more flexible and numerous. (Often there is a reason/clues for limited aproach targets).

Sometimes you pull off a brilliant stab and gone act, often it's a shitshow, but the combat is better than any other supersized open world game I can remember so it's all good. Traversal is good as well but nobody is ever going to beat Saints Row 4 at that, which was a much smaller game anyway.

The interactions/conversations? Well it's super basic outside of the usual monologues from historical celebrities. It's not going for the quality of witcher or bland quality of a bethsoft title, it's usually just a little decision tree to help work some context out of the stabbing. But some character moments are outstanding. That kid on crete is brilliant, and shoving the cyclopses eye up the goats ass and other bestiality gags are all refreshingly repugnant.

Whatever it's flaws and liberties taken, no game has done Pellopenesian War greece this good. Athens is shockingly good to clamber about in, the regional stuff is usually interesting for at least a character or historical or cultural lesson. Bayek from Origins rules, and as a character was a lot more interesting than Kassandra, but she has her own "Get paid, get laid!" no nonsense sytle, and I think Odyssey is the better game.

Odyssey took me until @ level 25 to really get into it. But, once that happened, the amount of time I was spending on the game went from 30-1 hour intervals to 3-5 hour intervals... I'm still playing the game and it's DLCs. One of my favorite games (along with Origins, but although I like Egypt more as a subject, I think Odyssey is a much better game) in the last few years.

Oh, I see the problem, some of the stuff is arranged differently on the website compared to the actual desktop client. I don't shop Ubi.com, it's a big mess because they have all their clothing and knick-knacks mixed in, as well as stuff for consoles. Uplay is just the PC games.

jacobvandy wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 16:44:

Orogogus wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 15:29:
The Uplay link:
https://register.ubisoft.com/acod-dlc-giveaway

I don't think it's linked anywhere on their store. If it is, they've hidden it well.

It's the second-most recent item in their news feed, posted ~9 hours ago, and there's a button link to it on the AC:O store page. Would be more visible if it were a banner, instead, but eh.

I think my issue is that if you go to store.ubi.com, i.e., the store page, there's no link to the news page, and you can go to the page for the DLC where it will show a -40% sale price instead of the -100% promotion. There are places they could advertise it -- their Gamescom sale is getting plenty of screen real estate -- and For Honor is showing a -100% promotion, but for whatever reason they want you to go to ubisoft.com to see this promotion.

EDIT: There's no button for the promotion on Odyssey's store page (i.e., where you can actually buy the game), the button is on the game's marketing page.

The Half Elf wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 16:46:

Creston wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 15:37:
Fields of Elysium is pretty fun, especially because you can get fairly different endings (for the NPCs, not for yourself) depending on your decisions. It's also beautiful, excellent for screenshots.

I think the Atlantis episode is cooler (if shorter), but this is a solidly good DLC.

I haven't gotten very far into the game (just got through the tutorial for the land grabs), and while hanging off Zeus Testicles was fun, does the story pick up? AC:Egypt was ok, but I really had to push myself to finish the game.

Yeah, I mean, right now you've literally seen 2% of the story. So it definitely does pick up, although it's not going to reach earth-shattering heights or anything.

I actually thought the story in the last 3pack of DLCs was better than in the main campaign.

Peteham's take is about as pessimistic as one can get about it. I actually liked quite a few things in the game and you don't have to capture fort after fort, that is up to the player. I found the story adequate. I liked the bounty system, especially turning it around on them by killing the person who put the bounty out, now they aren't after you, but they are marked. Fighting is what you'd expect, which means pretty good, better than Skyrim/Unity Games for sure. Beautiful game, makes me want to go to Greece. Feels more Witcher than anything else I can come up with, but still its own game in many ways.

Orogogus wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 15:29:
The Uplay link:
https://register.ubisoft.com/acod-dlc-giveaway

I don't think it's linked anywhere on their store. If it is, they've hidden it well.

You da man.

I just didn't enjoy either Odyssey or Origins that much. The worlds they've built are amazing, , especially Origins. Something about Egypt and pyramids that greek huts or temples can't match. But the gameplay just becomes complete drudgery after 4-5 hours. At this point you'll have seen every quest variety the games have to offer but you're not even 10% through yet. If I see another fort-of-kill-two-captains-loot-two-chests-burn-2-supplies-find-the-nations-chest in this life time, I may just implode.

Storywise, I hardly remember a thing. There's just too much game spread far too thin. Odyssey is actually worse than Origins in this regard. I'd guess twice or more the size? With the same cut & pasted content essentially. Can't barely remember a single NPC or story beat in Odyssey. A couple in Origins.

Forts.

Forts.

Bandit camp.

Leader house.

Forts.

(For the uninitiated: they're all different size forts)

Bounty hunters, aka that terrible nemesis imitation (to be fair, I didn't enjoy it in SoM either): Thankfully they just let you pay off the whole thing for a pittance from the map screen anywhere. It's ridiculous how every bounty hunter in Greece automatically knows where you are and you will literally finish slitting the throat of the first guy when the horns sound again, announcing the approach of the next guy. And the next. And so on. I once lost an entire fort clear worth of progress because the buggers just kept on coming and you can't really take that many hits on hard.

On that note: Incoming poison is ludicrous (on hard at least). A single hit from Sir Bulletsponge will kill you unless you have the heal/status clear skill ready.

Second note: You can't save in forts. Some of them are huge. A workaround is to exit the "hostile" area which allows you to save and not have to re-clear/assassinate every last henchman all over again if you or the controls mess up and you get spotted.

Oh yeah. It wouldn't be Assassin's Creed if the controls didn't regularly betray you. The addition of a descend button has certainly helped but whenever the game expects speed or accuracy, you may just find yourself glued to the wall you were trying to get behind while arrows slam into your back..

Odyssey also has that completely Oblivion-esque leveling system where getting a level ironically means you lose power, once you no longer have more core combat skills to gain at least (the "end-game" stat modifier points don't amount to much). You level up, your enemies immediately scale to your level (unless you disable scaling for a truly snooze-worthy gameplay experience), but your gear stays the same. Meaning you have to upgrade all your stuff every 5 levels or so to keep up. Again, it's just a tedious task to perform. And it actually becomes quite expensive. Unlike most RPGs where you're swimming in cash by the end, you will not max your ship and character in Odyssey short of spending 200+ hours. Not that you need it, but, you know..

Will give them credit for the DLCs though. Feels like a proper expansion and is actually more focused than the main game (though fear not, there's still forts!).


Uhm. So yeah. Dear diary, nobody's ever going to read that but I feel so much better now

I played through most of the main story line for Odyssey. Still dealing with the cult members though. Got kind of bored trying to uncover all the clues to where they are. Wanted to get the DLC, except the price was to high for what you get. This is a good start.

Creston wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 15:37:
Fields of Elysium is pretty fun, especially because you can get fairly different endings (for the NPCs, not for yourself) depending on your decisions. It's also beautiful, excellent for screenshots.

I think the Atlantis episode is cooler (if shorter), but this is a solidly good DLC.

I haven't gotten very far into the game (just got through the tutorial for the land grabs), and while hanging off Zeus Testicles was fun, does the story pick up? AC:Egypt was ok, but I really had to push myself to finish the game.

Orogogus wrote on Aug 27, 2019, 15:29:
The Uplay link:
https://register.ubisoft.com/acod-dlc-giveaway

I don't think it's linked anywhere on their store. If it is, they've hidden it well.

It's the second-most recent item in their news feed, posted ~9 hours ago, and there's a button link to it on the AC:O store page. Would be more visible if it were a banner, instead, but eh.

I saw it on the UPlay news, but the link button wouldn't work. The link here in the comments did, though.

Awesome! Great game.

Fields of Elysium is pretty fun, especially because you can get fairly different endings (for the NPCs, not for yourself) depending on your decisions. It's also beautiful, excellent for screenshots.

I think the Atlantis episode is cooler (if shorter), but this is a solidly good DLC.

The Uplay link:
https://register.ubisoft.com/acod-dlc-giveaway

I don't think it's linked anywhere on their store. If it is, they've hidden it well.

Cool beans. And snagged. Thanks for the heads up.