Assassin's Creed Odyssey

super_furry

Getting into the meat of the territory missions and I'm absolutely loving this. The only problem is that now I think it's going to ruin all past Assassin's Creed games for me. I always meant to go back to Syndicate but I don't see how I'll be able to put up with it after playing this.

dreamers75

super_furry wrote: »

Getting into the meat of the territory missions and I'm absolutely loving this.

The battles at the end give decent XP.

You can avoid them and only do the one you are forced to do if you want, it will have no effect on anything else in the game, you can even flip flop and put in a Greece leader then kill him and flop it back to spartan and kill him then.

I went for the cultists after you meet the 1st one, didnt do a single story mission until I killed almost all of them (there is one or 2 who can only be found via the story).

SMC92Ian

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Nah, it's setting a lot of story near the beginning, but it starts to open up once you leave the starting island. There's still lots of talking, but most of it can be sped up if you're quicker at reading.

After the first part it has f all cutscenes, I guess it depends on how you play it. Obv the main story beats will be cutscene heavy.

SMC92Ian

super_furry wrote: »

Getting into the meat of the territory missions and I'm absolutely loving this. The only problem is that now I think it's going to ruin all past Assassin's Creed games for me. I always meant to go back to Syndicate but I don't see how I'll be able to put up with it after playing this.

Syndicate is the best out of them all imo. Thing about AC is there is sooo many for so many different tastes now.

tusk

SMC92Ian wrote: »

Syndicate is the best out of them all imo. Thing about AC is there is sooo many for so many different tastes now.

My list, taking into account gameplay, nostalgia, story etc. This seems to change every time I write it down lol

Black Flag - great gameplay for the time. Super story.
2 - That story tho.
Brotherhood - brotherhood mechanic was immense. They need to bring that back.
Odyssey - Best gameplay across the board, beautiful design, Story is lacking though.
Unity. story was super, I loved the setting and the gamplay was good. I didn't have any of the bugs that were reported.
Syndicate - also really loved Syndicate. I loved the grungy setting, the story was decent. The gameplay was decent too. I liked the territory mechanic.
Origins - For an origin story, it was fairly lacking. We really only got to the assassins at the very end. other than that, it was an incredible step forward for the game.
Revelations - a good sequel to 2 and brotherhood. Rounded out the trilogy nicely.I think I feel a lot more fondly about this than most people.
3 - story was decent. Gameplay was garbage.
Rogue - That Accent ruined the game. It felt like black flag, but for the psp or somthing. Very stunted. I don't even remember the story tbh
1 - never finished. Was very repetetive and bland.

awec

Dcully wrote: »

The Witcher 3 for me was a snoozefest compared to ACO, everything from combat to visuals are much better too imo.
Maybe the witcher story is the better but in terms of gameplay and fun theres no competition.

The two weak points in TW3 for me were the combat, which was a bit clunky, and the entire first act in Velen, which was a dully, dreary depressing sea of endless brown.

ACO is definitely better than it in this regard.

Zero-Cool

tusk wrote: »

My list, taking into account gameplay, nostalgia, story etc. This seems to change every time I write it down lol

Black Flag - great gameplay for the time. Super story.
2 - That story tho.
Brotherhood - brotherhood mechanic was immense. They need to bring that back.
Odyssey - Best gameplay across the board, beautiful design, Story is lacking though.
Unity. story was super, I loved the setting and the gamplay was good. I didn't have any of the bugs that were reported.
Syndicate - also really loved Syndicate. I loved the grungy setting, the story was decent. The gameplay was decent too. I liked the territory mechanic.
Origins - For an origin story, it was fairly lacking. We really only got to the assassins at the very end. other than that, it was an incredible step forward for the game.
Revelations - a good sequel to 2 and brotherhood. Rounded out the trilogy nicely.I think I feel a lot more fondly about this than most people.
3 - story was decent. Gameplay was garbage.
Rogue - That Accent ruined the game. It felt like black flag, but for the psp or somthing. Very stunted. I don't even remember the story tbh
1 - never finished. Was very repetetive and bland.

Perfect assessment of the series. I never played Unity or Rogue so can't confirm those.

Sephiroth_dude

I've only played Black Flag, Odyssey,Unity,Syndicate,Origins and two, I think Black Flag is my favorite out of all of them.

marcbrophy

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

I've only played Black Flag, Odyssey,Unity,Syndicate,Origins and two, I think Black Flag is my favourite out of all of them.

You're missing out on Rogue!
A Canadian VO actor who now works as a barista, plays Shay Cormack in a performance that is guaranteed to have to empty heaving within minutes

Potential-Monke

You don't even need to play Rogue to get the empty heaving, just watch the trailer. Didn't realise he was Canadian. Explains the terrible accent. But it was a good game I thought. More Black Flag but from the other side. Interesting really.

I couldn't do a list of the order of favourites, and I have played them all, but the standouts were the AC2 trilogy for the story and character development, Black Flag as the second best AC out there (thank you naval battles and sea shanties) and Odyssey is the best yet. I couldn't finish Unity or Syndicate, I got overwhelmed by map icons and gave up in both. Origins was really good too, but Odyssey coming out a year later puts it firmly back in the shadows, as it's basically the same but better.

marcbrophy

Yeah, I have a soft spot for Rogue really Monke, played through it more times than some other AC games

In actual Odyssey related posting, are we nearing the end of the release cycle of DLC soon? So that I can finish off all the DLC at once?

Penn

For me:

AC2 - Fixed everything wrong with AC1, improved everything good from AC1, then threw in a whole heap of new stuff which all worked. Story, characters, gameplay, setting... one of my top 10 of all time
Black Flag - Just so much fun to play. The story, modern day stuff and some of the awful land missions (eavesdropping or following missions can f*ck the f*ck right off, so goddamn awful in that game) knock it down a few pegs for me though
Odyssey - Just a joy to play. You really feel like an absolute badass with the demigod abilities, but the stealth was still a lot of fun and largely the preferred option. The story and characters were a bit mild and could have been better, but it was enjoyable enough to keep you interested.
Brotherhood - Weird to have it so far below AC2 considering how similar they are, but even though there was nothing particularly wrong with it, it just didn't quite recapture the same magic for me. The Brotherhood feature itself though was a great addition, and the multiplayer was actually a lot of fun
Revelations - I enjoyed the story and some of the new features, but the tower defence stuff and crafting bombs both felt tacked on. A great ending for Ezio and Altair's stories though
AC3 - Decent enough story though takes far too long to get into it. Whole game felt like an endless succession of tutorials. Homestead stuff was poorly done. Being able to properly use assassin abilities in the modern day section was great, but they royally screwed up that story. A real kick in the nads considering it was the culmination of Desmond's story and they completely f*cked it up in order to stretch the series further.
AC1 - I did enjoy it, but it was very repetitive. Same three missions followed by an assassination (which just always ended in a big fight/escape after rather than being able to assassinate in a stealthy way without leaving a trace) over and over. Cities were pretty bland too.

Origins/Unity I played about 4 hours of each but never got too deep into. Unity, the icons on the minimap when I could finally free-roam outside of the story just killed any interest I had. Origins just didn't click with me at all.

Syndicate/Rogue, never played either as with Unity killing my interest in the franchise, both just felt like they would have been more of the same.

Exclamation Marc

Sure might as well give my run down.

Assassin's Creed 2 the pinnacle of the series. Incredible story, characters, villains and gameplay. Perfect to me in every way and a real cornerstone of my gaming history. I adored everything this game threw at me.

Brotherhood Fantastic game that built on the momentum of the previous entry in every way. Rome was utterly magnificent to explore which bumps it up the list for me. The perfect sequel to AC2. No Rome and this falls below Black Flag for me!

Black Flag A very enjoyable storyline and a cracking setting that leant itself to really fun seafaring and seacombat which I loved way more than I thought I would. Exploration never got old. Wonderful new approach to the series.

Odyssey Enjoying it a lot so far but very early on!

Origins Very enjoyable game and the kick up the backside and refocusing the series needed. Wonderful setting and characters were generally good without being overly memorable. A little bit samey in places but enjoyable nonetheless.

Revelations The wholly necessary final part of various stories. Ageing Ezio was a brave move but it paid off. A bit too similar to the previous entries with not enough innovation. Constantinople was a little anticlimactical given what came before. The alignment of storylines over generations was brilliant.

Syndicate Enjoyable but felt like the runt of the litter and a bit of an outsider that was stuffed into the series. Fun mechanics and some of the group fights were a lot of fun but became repetitive.

Unity Lots of fun and a good story with a wonderful setting. A bit too much to do which was overwhelming making it hard to focus and appreciate everything but certainly better than first received.

AC3 Disappointing in hindsight and the story had the arse dragged out of it. Had a promising set-up which paid off for the most part but became overburdened with frustrating mechanics (inability to not skin an animal) and the homestead (snore). The world felt a bit empty at times or certainly a bit meh. Overly prescriptive too often. Storyline mostly very good but hit and miss. Savagely good bait and switch at the start. Hated how it ended the Desmond story.

AC1 Somewhat unfairly maligned in hindsight. A cracking game at the time with a brilliant story that showed real promise but got very repetitive due to being hamstrung in the mechanics and possibilities. A better game relevant to the time it came out than others in this list but one that is inferior when judged equally.

tusk

This is what I love about this series. Every single point you've all made, I agree with on some level, and yet our lists differ. I really hope they pump a bit more emphasis into the story for the next outing though.

Potential-Monke

marcbrophy wrote: »

Yeah, I have a soft spot for Rogue really Monke, played through it more times than some other AC games

In actual Odyssey related posting, are we nearing the end of the release cycle of DLC soon? So that I can finish off all the DLC at once?

There is something about Rogue that I liked, I ploughed through it when I got it.

And the DLC is nearly finished, the last episode of The Fate of Atlantis is coming out this month, and that's it I believe. Unless they have a Season 2 planned.

https://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com/game/en-us/odyssey/dlc

Penn

tusk wrote: »

This is what I love about this series. Every single point you've all made, I agree with on some level, and yet our lists differ. I really hope they pump a bit more emphasis into the story for the next outing though.

Yeah if anything, they need to sh*tcan the modern day stuff, not be so tied to the over-arching storyline, and just do their own thing for each game. Continuity is already largely ruined.

Potential-Monke

Hell, they don't even need to stick to AC anymore. Odyssey had some sneaky bits, and the further you progress the easier the sneaking and killing gets, but I'd be just as happy if they did a standalone story or new IP in the same style as Odyssey.

Zero-Cool

Potential-Monke wrote: »

There is something about Rogue that I liked, I ploughed through it when I got it.

And the DLC is nearly finished, the last episode of The Fate of Atlantis is coming out this month, and that's it I believe. Unless they have a Season 2 planned.

https://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com/game/en-us/odyssey/dlc

Looks like the season pass was worth it on this game. I played Odyssey for a small bit got got distracted with other games so traded it in early. Must go back to it but might wait for a sale with the season pass as well if ye think it's worth it?

tusk

Penn wrote: »

Yeah if anything, they need to sh*tcan the modern day stuff, not be so tied to the over-arching storyline, and just do their own thing for each game. Continuity is already largely ruined.

Nah the overarching story is my bread and butter. Partially why some games in my list didn't get higher.

I need them to go back to telling that story as a priority and making the game around it like they did before. Happy that by not doing that they've improved other aspects, but I do love the story .

Penn

tusk wrote: »

Nah the overarching story is my bread and butter. Partially why some games in my list didn't get higher.

I need them to go back to telling that story as a priority and making the game around it like they did before. Happy that by not doing that they've improved other aspects, but I do love the story .

I loved the story too, but I think it's too far gone past redeemable at this stage. Between the awful ending to Desmond's story, the really poor implementation of the Black Flag-to-Syndicate story (which ended up being resolved in a f*cking comic of all places), and while I didn't play Origins, the modern day aspect of Odyssey (while a better return to form in terms of having actual characters and some minor gameplay), just felt like it had very little importance and relevance to the main game and really took you out of the main game as opposed to being a good accompaniment to it.

If they really did start throwing everything at making it an important part of the series again with actual characters and gameplay to help you get invested in it, and properly give an important link to the main past-day character and story, maybe it could be salvageable. I'm just not sure I trust them to be able to make it worthwhile though.

Kiith

Having not played anything past Black Flag, i had no idea what was going on in the modern day stuff, so it just felt completely pointless and took me away from the good parts of the game. I enjoyed Desmonds story in the original trilogy, but no real interest in it anymore.

tusk

I live in hope lol

Exclamation Marc

I enjoyed Desmonds story an awful lot and the forced stabbing at the end of Revelations had me in utter shock. The modern day parkour bits were cool and it had promise.

Developers clearly had no strategy though and bailed on it a range of bizarre modern day storylines since from the first person one to the Layla iteration.

They need to stick or twist on them and either keep them as bite sized chunks with random people clearly there to drive the narrative or go full on with a modern day story and a protagonist etc even one they can approach in small parts over a number of games. The half way house approach is awful.

I miss the glyphs from AC2 though, they were insanely enjoyable.

tusk

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

I miss the glyphs from AC2 though, they were insanely enjoyable.

one of the most exciting mechanics. And the decoding of the clues. OMG be still my heart.

Dr. Bre

I’m fascinated to see where they will go to next in the series

tusk

Dr. Bre wrote: »

I’m fascinated to see where they will go to next in the series

I pray for actual assassins guild to be involved at least. the last two have broken my heart without that.

Would love the brotherhood mechanic brought back too.

Exclamation Marc

tusk wrote: »

I pray for actual assassins guild to be involved at least. the last two have broken my heart without that.

Would love the brotherhood mechanic brought back too.

I think it's tough to keep going back further and further without drifting away from the assassin element so I agree. I really hope they return to the creed timeline soon as there's so much they can do there.

Potential-Monke

I'm actually enjoying these pre-assassin ones. Just in case:

I think they have more room for a better story about the First Civilisation with the current trend of going before the Assassins. Odyssey is leaning towards what the lore in the game describes as acts of Gods was actually the First Civilisation, and the opportunity to release similar games but set in Norse, Asian, even Irish mythology has be excited. Imagine playing an AC type game in Irish Mythology! It would be amazing. Similar to Japanese, and the opportunities for exploring this in every facet of pre-civilisation has me excited.

We could see that the more modern ones were catching up to ballistics, and I think that's where these games will start to fall down as you can't have a good assassiney game with guns imo. Going back before this was the only real way to keep the series going. But they've also proven that it doesn't have to be an AC game to be enjoyable, so I reckon we'll see less AC games and more new IP's but basically AC Odyssey as the starting block.

marcbrophy

Potential-Monke wrote: »

There is something about Rogue that I liked, I ploughed through it when I got it.

And the DLC is nearly finished, the last episode of The Fate of Atlantis is coming out this month, and that's it I believe. Unless they have a Season 2 planned.

https://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com/game/en-us/odyssey/dlc

I'm hoping they do announce a season 2.
It could run from December to May of next year with a story completely foreign of the main cast or a continuation, I wouldn't mind.

I'd pay €30 happily if that was announced