Assassin's Creed Odyssey

[pledge]

Was nice to hear someone say "Oh this was in Assassin's Creed Odyssey" on University Challenge the other day. Unfortunately still didn't get it right.

[Timmo]

60fps patch tomorrow for the new consoles.

[SozzlyJoe]

On 20/02/2021 at 17:25, pledge said:

Was nice to hear someone say "Oh this was in Assassin's Creed Odyssey" on University Challenge the other day. Unfortunately still didn't get it right.

 

In Our Time, the highbrow R4 discussion show with Melvyn Bragg had the most colossal spoiler for Assassin's Creed Odyssey (as in, one of the ahistorical plot points) which was quite unexpected to say the least. It was a program about Ancient Greece, but still. Unexpected! Melvyn's frosty lack of response to his guest bringing up a video game was amusing too.

 

Anyway, nice news about the patch (although the loading is the killer not the fps). I'm past the main story but I'm still occasionally playing it. In fact I imagine I could wring another 30 hours out of it, and that's without the DLC. Not to complain about value, but I feel the game is just a little too bloated really.

[Skull Commander]

On 22/03/2020 at 19:54, Skull Commander said:

Since this was on free play I decided to give it a spin. Always fancied it because I'm a sucker for the Greek setting but could never justify it as I have Origins sitting on my pile of shame as it came with my Xbox one X. 

 

Anyway after giving it a spin it's really good. So much in fact that I have stopped playing it so I don't spoil it for later. It's convinced me to dig out Origins and play through that so I can justify a purchase of this at a later date. 

That later date has come! I played through about 60 hours of Origins and finished the main part of the game so thought I'd use some of my rewards credit and treat myself to the ultimate version (or whatever they call it). Restarted the game playing as the female character (as had done a few hours of the free trail as the male) and I'm getting well into it. The frame rate improvements are amazing and the game looks mostly stunning. While not too different from Origins, that isn't an issue as it's such an amazing setting and I love the exploration. All my childhood Jason and the Argonauts/Clash of the Titans love has finally been presented in game form. 

[Ry]

I bounced off this back in the day. Decided to pick it back up and its just so much better at 4k/60fps on SX. 

 

I just can't play at 30fps for action games anymore. 

[SozzlyJoe]

I really enjoyed this, and Kassandra is great but paradoxically I think it'll be the last AC game I play. I used to love them for their historical tourism but it's kind of gotten away from that. I felt the sense of place in Ancient Greece wasn't there in that same way that it was for Renaissance Italy or Revolutionary Paris. It is all too spread out.

The additional quests felt like padding, and weird padding. "Hey my favourite prostitute has a new best customer, will you kill him?" "Why sure thing!"

"My wool shop can't make any profits, will you murder my competition" "Why certainly!"

"Will you kill a few Spartans for me?" "Well, I'm a spartan and just won a war for them, but absolutely!"

Even when they do something with a bit of flavour like staging a play or something, it just has to end with a load of people storming the stage and a big fight.

 

To be honest, I think a lot of this is just its incomprehensible length burning me out on it. But if I was to pick up Valhalla I think it would seem like just a continuation, not a reset.

[Uncle Mike]

I flew to Cyprus last year or so, and I recognised where we were flying over at some point directly from the AC Odyssey map. That's obviously not quite the same point you were making, but I also didn't think it suffered from a lack of sense of place.

[SozzlyJoe]

Yeah, maybe I am just burned out on it. I suspect my impressions after 20 hours were very different.

[Stanley]

I’m really enjoying it, the game play is super smooth and whilst not too taxing it’s challenging enough to be satisfying, and I enjoy equipping new armour, weapons etc. 
 

Trying to get the right balance of brightness and HDR as it seems a bit too bright at times, and the HDR settings are a bit opaque. 
 

Overall it’s a good game, like a more streamlined Witcher III or RDR2. 

[Boothjan]

I think I'll get the DLC done on this - I've not touched it for ages but know I can make use of the enhanced visuals, I think it's worth returning to it.

[Rayn]

1 hour ago, Boothjan said:

I think I'll get the DLC done on this - I've not touched it for ages but know I can make use of the enhanced visuals, I think it's worth returning to it.

 

The Atlantis DLC is really good, possibly the best DLC ever created for an Ubi game. 

[Steve McQueef]

2 hours ago, Ry said:

I bounced off this back in the day. Decided to pick it back up and its just so much better at 4k/60fps on SX. 

It's mint, isn't it?

 

I poured hours into Origins, then picked this up and didn't look near it. 

 

Since the update, I've ploughed through a good bit of it. 

 

Smooth as butter and looks gorgeous. 

 

Not sure about some of the dodgier 'outfit' choices, though...

[Skull Commander]

Does anyone else occasionally get a wee glitch where the clouds seem pink and slightly glitchy looking? Happened a couple of times and backing out of the game to the main xbox screen and going back in seems to sort it out. Was getting slightly paranoid that my Series X is going to throw a wobbler, but all my other games are running perfectly. 

[Boothjan]

Back on this following the boost for the Series X - tons of DLC to get through. 

 

It really is utterly glorious and vast - I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy the combat, and Kassandra is such a badass. 

 

The FPS boost is a big improvement too. It looks incredible on my OLED - I must have another 30-odd hours left to enjoy here.

[Hawklord]

I accidentally finished this during the week. Thought I had a lot more to do as I was only lvl 43 and have quests that are at lvl 50 in my journal. Nope, main story done. To be fair I didn't bother much with the quests you pick up in the towns and only done stuff like the Tales of Ancient Greece, but even then I haven't exposed more than half of the cult and I haven't done any of the Atlantis stuff! I'm happy to keep playing though as I've really enjoyed. Checked my save file and I'm already at 55 hours!

[Boothjan]

I finished episode 2 of Legacy of the First Blade last night and I think I've reached the part which caused a bit of a stir due to the difference in tone.

 

Spoiler

No way in hell would MY Kassandra have settled down with a poorly animated drip of an NPC like that!!

 

On a more serious note, the little cut scenes and conversations between Kassandra, Darius and Natakas really are a step down from the pretty decent voice acting I've seen up to this point.  Some shoddy pauses between lines, toe curling laughter at 'light hearted' family moments...

 

Then you have to do a couple of utterly pointless, simplistic fetch quests, a silly hide and seek section etc.

 

This section might have worked a bit better with a decent cut scene, but even then I just don't think it sits well with the rest of the game, particularly with the structure of it.

 

I get that it's good to mix things up and take the characters in a different direction and all that, but this particular section really didn't work for me.

 

Fortunately, I've started Episode 3 and it's back to what it does best!  I totally get and appreciate the complaints with how long this game is, and the fact that there is sometimes too much to do, but personally - I bloody love it and I'm delighted that I have so much left before I'm finished with this game.

[Boothjan]

Almost at the end of Fate of Atlantis having had a break from 'Creeding over the last couple of months - why has it taken me this long to start using the ability to shoot arrows through walls???!  Ridiculously useful!

 

I reckon I've got maybe an hour or two left of Atlantis, then I'll mop up the remaining achievements back in Greece and then I should be done.

[Boothjan]

[moosegrinder]

How many hours?

[Boothjan]

171 

[TehStu]

On 15/02/2022 at 07:54, Boothjan said:

Almost at the end of Fate of Atlantis having had a break from 'Creeding over the last couple of months - why has it taken me this long to start using the ability to shoot arrows through walls???!  Ridiculously useful!

 

I reckon I've got maybe an hour or two left of Atlantis, then I'll mop up the remaining achievements back in Greece and then I should be done.

At 42 hours, I'm level 33 and am now basically saving ability points for spear level 5 stuff. I've got one arrow and 4 melee moves and it's sufficient for my style of play, which is mostly full on assassination damage.

 

Do you play that way or charge in warrior? I used to do bow a lot, especially as that's how I approached the last two games, but kinda stopped when predator shots didn't always one shot them. I may need to look at that ghost arrow is its good, though.

[TehStu]

On 22/09/2021 at 07:17, Rayn said:

 

The Atlantis DLC is really good, possibly the best DLC ever created for an Ubi game. 

That's good to hear. Was considering starting it before the finishing the main quest (assuming you can). I was so looking forward to the end of Origins and what it obviously meant that I ran out of steam and didn't touch the DLC. I think I'd rather finish the story here last.

[Boothjan]

I managed to unlock every ability by the end, with about 25 ability points spare, so had loads of time to play around with them all.

 

I mixed it up a lot, as both sneaky assassinations and gung ho brawls are both so much fun. 

 

Taming a big wild animal is also great for big battles - they stay with you until they die, even when you use fast travel. I was gutted when my pet wolf Colin died having helped me in a load of fights before he was killed in a fortress battle.

[TehStu]

Huh, can you take a tamed animal to those pick Sparta or Athens battles? I've only done the first one it made you do, really wasn't sure how picking one or the other would influence things and so on my overthinking I just didn't bother.

[TehStu]

Now that the islands are mostly at my level, I've been ignoring the story and just gallivanting instead. By complete accident, I was dragged into a Sparta vs Aethens battle and after winning it, received a clue to a cultist. Does that mean I should do all the other battles I've unlocked, in case they also do that? And does it matter which way you fight? I'm not bothered about the gear or XP, I've barely unlocked half the map and am level 36. Plus, early cultists dropped the entire legendary Snake set, which is perfect for my build.

[Uncle Mike]

It doesn't matter at all on which side you fight. You can redo them infinitely for both sides in the same place. The cultist maps will tell you where they can all be found as you go. Some are story-linked, so in battles, so in the bases, some on pirate ships etc. But it's mostly deterministic not random (from memory.)

[Monkeyboy]

I picked this up in a sale a couple of weeks ago. Had no idea Kassandra was the canon character, so I’m glad I chose to play as her. She’s great anyway. Voice acting (at least for main characters) has come a long way. Malaka is my new favourite word.

[TehStu]

Still plugging away at this, slowly conquering the whole Greek world. My cult hunting has run dry so I'm actually having to progress the story, which I've barely touched for like 20 levels.

 

Some cool stuff, in a spoiler for Monkeyboy who is just starting out

 

Spoiler

- aw yeah, more merc ranks after you hit number 1!

- Speaking of which, I wondered if there was a level cap but, nope, you hit 50 (or number 1 in the merc rank, or both) and, very clearly, there are a lot more levels

- I've respeced everything out of Hunter and dumped it all in the extra Assassination stats you open up at level 50. I assassination crit telephone numbers now, and wasn't using my bow anyway (unlike Origins, where the bow was pivotal to how I ended up playing)

 

It's almost frightening how quickly you can clear a camp with Rush Assassination and Hero Strike (particularly if you get the perk to 100% Hero Strike cooldown on successful parry).

 

Starting to wonder if the many, many things I've collected with a little riddle to collect a reward would yield some even more powerful perks. Might need to lookup a list of them.

[Monkeyboy]

60 hours into this now, and I'm reaching the stage where I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with the amount of stuff to do. Most of the south-west and north-east of the map remain unexplored as well. The south-west part in particular is a huge chunk of land.

 

I do like how nothing is off limits. Giant cliff blocking your way? Just climb up it with Kassandra's spider-woman abilities! It's cool that you can pretty much head to a location "as the crow flies", but on the other hand, I do occasionally like getting lost in open world games.

[SeanR]

And you’ve got no falling damage?