Gaming Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Chairman Steve

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I swear Ubisoft and Activision are having a competition about who can beat their dead horse the longest, as Assassins Creed and Call of Duty are recycled every 18 months. The original AC is a great concept but the execution was a bit off, AC 2 was executed perfectly and is a stellar game... People I know say AC 4 is great too and that anything after that isnt worth paying full price.

I thought the gimmick of AC games was to set it in eras that aren’t portrayed much in mainstream media, hence why Third Crusades and Italian Renaissance works well because they’re not known to a lot of people but they are cool eras... now they’re just going with the prevalent stuff like Ancient Greece, Egypt and Viking.
 

esmufc07

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The only Assassin's Creed I ever played was the first one which bored me after a while because it was extremely repetitive. However I wouldn't mind trying other games in the series but there seems to be so fecking many so which ones are the best and which ones should be avoided?
 

Fully Fledged

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The only Assassin's Creed I ever played was the first one which bored me after a while because it was extremely repetitive. However I wouldn't mind trying other games in the series but there seems to be so fecking many so which ones are the best and which ones should be avoided?
Black flag is excellent probably the best of the lot IMHO. Some prefer The Ezio Collection which is available remastered now. Either would be worth a try but I'd say try Black Flag.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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The only Assassin's Creed I ever played was the first one which bored me after a while because it was extremely repetitive. However I wouldn't mind trying other games in the series but there seems to be so fecking many so which ones are the best and which ones should be avoided?
Honestly, the new games and the old games are entirely different so ill give you a brief (actually quite long) summary:

Older games:
AC2 is a fantastic game and still holds up really well even now. Ubisoft really built on the success of the first game and fleshed out many of the systems. In my opinion, you have to play AC2 if you want a true sense of the AC franchise. AC Brotherhood is also an excellent game, honestly, the whole Ezio Trilogy is just great as he's such a charismatic protagonist. AC3 is decent, but many people found the protagonist a bit boring and I think that put people off, but it's a good game overall. Black Flag is the first game that moves away from the traditional formula and was a fun, unique game but I wouldn't recommend it because the newer games e.g. Odyssey offer naval combat with so much more in between).

Newer Games:
Personally I would just skip some of the middle order games, I.e Rogue, Unity, Syndicate. They aren't that bad but they just are a bit samey. So that brings us up to the newest games Origins and Odyssey. These games have both dramatically altered the original AC formula and in doing so might as well be different games, however, I don't necessarily think its a bad thing. Both Origins and Odyssey introduce more RPG elements alongside truly massive open worlds. They are both good games, however, if you are looking for something with the depth of the Witcher then don't bother as they remain typical Ubisoft games; big, great worlds but lacking that real soul.

Summary:
Personally, I would recommend everyone plays the Ezio trilogy even today as they are just classic games, and having played them again recently, they still hold up very well. Then I'd say pick up either Origins or Odyssey, probably not both. Both are good games but fall victim to their own size and the number of filler tasks that they both include. Origins is a tighter experience (better, music and story), while Odyssey has better gameplay and in my own personal preference a more interesting world.
 

AaronRedDevil

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Odyssey is probably the best AC I've played since the Ezio trilogy. It has everything and a great main character along with it.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Odyssey is probably the best AC I've played since the Ezio trilogy. It has everything and a great main character along with it.
Yeh I've really enjoyed playing it. Finished the main story yesterday but still have loads left to finish.
 

AaronRedDevil

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Yeh I've really enjoyed playing it. Finished the main story yesterday but still have loads left to finish.
Haven't played it in a while and I bought the Atlantis dlc. But cant fecking find the time to play it. Especially when Tsushima is coming next week
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Haven't played it in a while and I bought the Atlantis dlc. But cant fecking find the time to play it. Especially when Tsushima is coming next week
I have smashed out some serious gaming while on furlough otherwise, I don't think I would ever have finished it. One other thing I've had to learn is when to leave side quests alone because you can literally find yourself getting nothing done for hours on end.
 

RDCR07

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Looks underwhelming here after what we saw in the trailer but it’s still a work in progress so I hope the gameplay improves. But other than that it looks pretty nice with tons of stuff to do in an open world environment.
 
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Redplane

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Part of me is glad they decided to keep a lot of things similar to the previous two (interface and controls look to be the same) but I'm a bit disappointed that it looks like there isn't really much more of the sneaking around stuff from the ACs of old that was missing lately. Graphics look to have some improvements on the lighting end but not much beyond that. I'll more than likely still get it but hopefully the formula will be changed up again after Valhalla.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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I actually think that gameplay looks better than the leaks, I’m quite excited for this now.
 

Ainu

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It looks like garbage to me. I get that it's a work in progress, but how can Ubisoft still have such terrible facial animations? The conversations feel like I'm looking at Skyrim. Not good for a game that wants to present itself as a narrative driven RPG. Rest of the game looks like the same old crap anyway.
 

Ødegaard

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It looks terrible for me. Like a watered out Witcher 3 with zero chance of the enjoyable sidequests or characters.
 

evil_geko

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Just change the name of the franchise already, this haven't been Assassin's Creed for a long time now.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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It does seem the popular thing to lay into Ubisoft but as a fan of RPGs and AC games more generally I think its harsh. They are a far better company than the likes of EA or even Bethesda these days.
 

Ainu

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It does seem the popular thing to lay into Ubisoft but as a fan of RPGs and AC games more generally I think its harsh. They are a far better company than the likes of EA or even Bethesda these days.
Being better than EA or Bethesda is hardly a cause for celebration. Ubisoft aren't terrible, but they are creatively bankrupt. They can't help but continue to create beautiful looking game worlds with zero depth beneath the surface and piss poor characters and stories to inhabit those worlds.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Being better than EA or Bethesda is hardly a cause for celebration. Ubisoft aren't terrible, but they are creatively bankrupt. They can't help but continue to create beautiful looking game worlds with zero depth beneath the surface and piss poor characters and stories to inhabit those worlds.
While that does bring home some truth, Odyssey for example is still a fun game and can easily occupy 100 hours of time. That's still phenomenal entertainment value. As long as they keep fleshing out the RPG elements they will be on to a winner regardless of the story for me. Skyrim remains my favorite and most played game and I've only completed it twice as the story is pretty shite. RPGs become really fun when you can roleplay and create your own stories. Admittedly Ubisoft are not fully there yet, however, from what I've seen, Valhalla is still an improvement on many of the mechanics in Odyssey which means they are moving in the right direction.
 

Beachryan

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Can't believe people didn't like Odyssey. It was absolutely about 5x too long, but still, as an experience I was blown away by the scale.
 

el3mel

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Can't believe people didn't like Odyssey. It was absolutely about 5x too long, but still, as an experience I was blown away by the scale.
Bigger doesn't mean better.

Anyway what I have watched so far doesn't change my opinion much. Looks very generic and boring.

If this is coming really 2 days before Cyberpunk release date then I know which game I will prefer spending my time on.
 

Redplane

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Bigger doesn't mean better.

Anyway what I have watched so far doesn't change my opinion much. Looks very generic and boring.

If this is coming really 2 days before Cyberpunk release date then I know which game I will prefer spending my time on.
Better to wait to play AC anyway and just wait for a deal on a season pass.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Bigger doesn't mean better.

Anyway what I have watched so far doesn't change my opinion much. Looks very generic and boring.

If this is coming really 2 days before Cyberpunk release date then I know which game I will prefer spending my time on.
Oh yeh even as someone who is somewhat excited to play this game, it’s a no brainer which is getting bought and played first.
 

2mufc0

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Can't believe people didn't like Odyssey. It was absolutely about 5x too long, but still, as an experience I was blown away by the scale.
Is it like Origins? Started playing it a while ago and it has really grown on me and taking a really long time to progress (I don't play that often), which is value for money imo. If it's similar I'll start that after I finish Origins.
 

Redplane

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Is it like Origins? Started playing it a while ago and it has really grown on me and taking a really long time to progress (I don't play that often), which is value for money imo. If it's similar I'll start that after I finish Origins.
Very similar though arguably the story in Origins is a lot stronger. Mechanics and interface wise though Oddysey beats it for me. It also feels more open due to the more varied terrain. It doesn't take itself as serious as origins either.
 

paulscholes18

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Bigger doesn't mean better.

Anyway what I have watched so far doesn't change my opinion much. Looks very generic and boring.

If this is coming really 2 days before Cyberpunk release date then I know which game I will prefer spending my time on.
Yes, 2 days before Cyberpunk. As I brought and hardly played the last 2 AC games I will probably give this one a miss
 

dbs235

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I swear Ubisoft and Activision are having a competition about who can beat their dead horse the longest, as Assassins Creed and Call of Duty are recycled every 18 months. The original AC is a great concept but the execution was a bit off, AC 2 was executed perfectly and is a stellar game... People I know say AC 4 is great too and that anything after that isnt worth paying full price.

I thought the gimmick of AC games was to set it in eras that aren’t portrayed much in mainstream media, hence why Third Crusades and Italian Renaissance works well because they’re not known to a lot of people but they are cool eras... now they’re just going with the prevalent stuff like Ancient Greece, Egypt and Viking.
The Greece and Egypt ones are my two favourite (after AC2 of course).
 

VeevaVee

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Kinda wish someone like Naughty dog or Rockstar was working on a Vikings game.
Yep. We can go anywhere and do anything in games, so vikings and pirates and the like are exactly the kind of worlds we should be exploring, yet there’s not enough good developers that will actually do it justice unfortunately.
 

Gehrman

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I'm playing Odessey atm and finding surprisingly good. True the dialouge and story is unimpressive, but i still find it a good open world sandbox game. I guess maybe because I havn't played a Assasins creed game since the ps3, I'm not bored with the formula.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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I'm playing Odessey atm and finding surprisingly good. True the dialouge and story is unimpressive, but i still find it a good open world sandbox game. I guess maybe because I havn't played a Assasins creed game since the ps3, I'm not bored with the formula.
Yeh honestly it’s not a bad game but it is seriously big and seriously long (to complete everything). I think it’s pretty hard not to get fatigued at some point In the play through. I just keep picking it up on occasion to get more done.
 

evil_geko

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Yeh honestly it’s not a bad game but it is seriously big and seriously long (to complete everything). I think it’s pretty hard not to get fatigued at some point In the play through. I just keep picking it up on occasion to get more done.
And this is a problem for me, I still haven't played Odyssey, I am a completionist and that is why I am scared to start playing it.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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And this is a problem for me, I still haven't played Odyssey, I am a completionist and that is why I am scared to start playing it.
Yeh I’m exactly the same which is why I have burnt out a couple of times. I’ve also had to try and chance the way I play, be more selective of side quests and in general try and pursue the main quest more. I still find it near impossible to not try and uncover every marker on the map which in a game world this size is a curse and that’s how you also fall into the trap of just doing the same kinds of forts over and over again. The saving grace for me is that the gameplay is quite fun so that always makes it worthwhile jumping back in after a while.
 

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And this is a problem for me, I still haven't played Odyssey, I am a completionist and that is why I am scared to start playing it.
You kinda just have to tell yourself that you don't do everything and just try and push the main narrative along...

Which I totally failed to do and so gave up after I put about 50 hours in and still felt like I was a distance from finishing the game.
 

Paxi

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I’ll wait for the reviews as with most games before deciding whether this is any good or whatever.