• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

AC: Valhalla |OT| From Nordic runes to English ruins

Paperboy

Member
England in this game is absolutely gorgeous! It really makes you want to visit the British countryside in the autumn if it's only even half as beautiful. (Kind of funny how it was winter when you left Norway and a week later when you arrive in England it's suddenly autumn.)

Several Youtube videos with 'tips & tricks' about Valhalla mentions you should get the upgrades for your mount early on - but don't waste precious resources on building the stable in Ravensthorpe. You can buy the upgrades at stables in other settlements like Repton. 'Raw Materials' are kind of hard to come by and you need it later to progress in the story. Just a heads up for any new players.

Many players seem to prefer male Eivor over the female actress with the reason being Cecilie being too tense in her delivery, but it's fitting for a viking in my opinion. At the same time it's understandable that it comes off as a self-parody, just like Alexios could feel over the top in Odyssey. Magnus' Eivor just felt different and unexpected and his delivery felt underwhelming (like he was reading from a sheet of paper) from the little I've played with him.
 
Last edited:
I have finally suffered through SJW intern creed (Odyssey, though Fate of Atlantis dlcs were good) and started playing Valhalla, and I have to admit, I am impressed. Like if Odyssey were a 1/10 game this would be a 10/10 impressed. I expected it to be better than that, but not by this much. It's not just a reskin of Origins, somehow it has a really different feel to it. It feels like a real sequel. Graphics are beautiful (that motion blur is a gamechanger), the music is beatiful but the most important is that the writing is like Shakespeare compared to that vomit and turd mix in Odyssey. There are real cinematics with animations unlike lazy Odyssey. I can immerse myself in the game and not cringe all the time seeing the infinite retardness of the dialogs. Combat is much better, as I don't have to fight for 10 minutes spongey enemies that are four levels below me (though I have just arrived to our settlement in Norway and started exploring, so this might change later, I don't know.) Speaking of exploration, it's awesome that instead of going by the numbers question marks we got less but meaningful unique side activities. It's a breath of fresh air after the neverending samey quests and caves in Odyssey. The story is also getting interesting after seeing the seer in the mountains, So yeah, so far EVERYTHING is much better in this game. I'm quite surprised, but if you are like me, who hated Odyssey, but loved AC games before, give this game a chance because it's like night and day. Looking forward to continue.
 

scalman

Member
Asgard was not needed. Female is great, dont want man but i would like to know how it can look. Why odyssey couldnt be this good in story and cinematics? No wonder i never finished that. But i will eventually. But then what is next AC game? Im curious allready. I want more.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
It was weird. I still have to go back to check the tower progress but cant be arsed. Also it was fucking weird how they were all friends and Thor, Frejya etc are all kissing Havi's ass. Did I miss something? I was just happy in my settlement, drank the seer potion then it felt like I was reunited with the cast of friends. Like I was expected to just sort of accept Eivor telling Tyr he's a bit of a dick and getting ready to kill Loki for the wolf son.
 

Kagey K

Banned
I just had a side quest fuck up on me. I saved after talking to a person in a camp and when I came back a crate I need to complete the quest won’t spawn. 😡
 

Mossybrew

Gold Member
Finding my way underground to find shit is getting annoying. I can’t ever find my way in.

Hah I know, the game has a way of making me feel dumb struggling to find ways to underground treasure, it does get kinda old.

On another note I thought dual weilding was pretty lacklustre in this game until I got the heavy dw ability and started using two greatswords. Spinning chopping murder machine.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Usually there's a crack in a rock, a hatch to blow up or your bird spots a hidden staircase. They are a nice little break figuring out how to get in. I'd say my only real gripe in this game is how out of sync you can get. Like St. Albans Cathedral for example - I went there early and

....was on the rope and tried to axe through the window but it didn't shatter. It left me looking round for ages for a way in until I figured an arrow coudl go through the window. Later on, I return there as a quest and get told explicitly to shoot the window. I think going off the beaten track actually hampers you in most cases in this game. You end up repeating the area/camp or miss something vital revealed during the raid/quest
 

Starfield

Member
I still dont like open world games in terms of scale.
Yes valhalla has a gorgeous looking world, yes a certain touch of "realism" in distance would mame games more boring for the Majority of people but if done right it could work.

Nothing is more immersion breaking than the good guys having a camp literally 100m away from the bad guys "hidden". This is so stupid.

Just an example
 

Roberts

Member
Probably my favourite AC game. I've been a fan of their recent direction, but here they fixed most of the annoying things from the last two games. I recently played through Horizon Zero Dawn and while I enjoyed it a lot, it felt like a game where I move from one mission to another and don't really explore the world. Here I get lost in the world and it is a wonderful feeling I haven't experienced since Witcher 3 times.

I loved the way Soma's traitor quest didn't really hold your hand with map pointers.
 

bati

Member
I still can't believe how good this game looks. This has to be some of the best daytime lighting I've ever seen in a game.

About 80h into the game now, and if CP77 flops on gameplay front Valhalla will easily win GOTY for me.
 

Night.Ninja

Banned
I think I'm going to wait untill they fix the screen tearing on series X and add it back into quick resume before I start playing again, I just bought origins season pass so I'll play that instead.
 
I got this over Demon Souls as I had just played Bloodborne and was burnt out and over Spiderman as I wanted to wait for a price drop.

I love the viking setting in theory but I have just reached England and am not sold sadly.

Accents don't don't that Nordic. Game doesn't really play great in terms of fluidity or combat either.

Hopefully it grows on me. I hadn't played an AC game since Unity but before that I loved them.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
About 50 hours in I love the game but dear God the romance options for male eivor are hideous

I'm 35 hours in (just finished my 5th alliance) and the options have been 3 dudes and 2 women so far for me...

I've only bedded the huntress.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
I really wished you could have bedded that woman flyter in Lunden. She was cute as Ubisoft NPCs go.

I got this over Demon Souls as I had just played Bloodborne and was burnt out and over Spiderman as I wanted to wait for a price drop.

I love the viking setting in theory but I have just reached England and am not sold sadly.

Accents don't don't that Nordic. Game doesn't really play great in terms of fluidity or combat either.

Hopefully it grows on me. I hadn't played an AC game since Unity but before that I loved them.

What I'd say is that it doesn't really click until you get some abilities under your belt. Whether you feel the gane earns that extra tine to click is up to you. I think now Ubi have knocked it out the park. ACII can't even be judged against these games as it's completely different, but it's much better than Odyssey (though I still like Odyssey's responsivness and parkour more). Weighing against Origins is tougher, Bayek is a better protag but I think Eivor's story is better stitched together and the side quests are much better too.

I think this should do well in the GOTY awards but I think ultimately the franchise will be the Tom Cruise of the academy awards.
 
The combat is awesome once you unlock some abilities like catching and returning projectiles or throwing weapons from the ground.
The boss fights are sometimes incomprehensible. I fought some witch with a fire attack and I couldn't see shit. Good thing the checkpoints are so generous! It feels like some of these bosses are designed to kill you until you figure out the pattern.
 

bati

Member
Question - is it possible to act on the various messages you get in your personal chest in your quarters at Ravenstorphe? I got some kind of invitation to attend a coronation ceremony for Gaedric, and an invitaton to visit from a Bishop from the zone that I helped conquer with the help from Ivar, but I don’t actually know where to go or if anything happens when you get there (I tried fast travelling to some larger villages to make sure).
 

JLB

Banned
So I've put 10 hours or so in the game, reached England, did some expansions to the base, visited Rangar kids, etc.
Still the game does not click on me. Probably because I have a bit of viking fatigue, but definitely I enjoyed 10 first hours of Oddisey more than this.
 
Can anyone confirm or is it just me but I’ve started the game tonight on PS5 (it’s 100% the ps5 version) but the game is stuttering quite a lot.
Like the FPS is quite lower when in combat/turning camera etc.

it’s quite off pitting
 

scalman

Member
with sword and fire, they made good fire there
RExnnZU.jpg


when you high af and going out with buddys
YzrT6OP.jpg


out of hand..
KVHTsnz.jpg


J9qiUSL.jpg


axe to head never gets old
NWrjGcm.jpg


nice fog
imYgF92.jpg


going strong 70hrs , 41% and power lvl now over 200. upgraded health a lot with other stuff so now i have 4 hearts so thats more then plenty to fight with anyone on your level or some higher.
i think thats first AC in last years when i care for my armor and weapons, because they so hard to upgrade properly , cost lots looting and money and stuff i really care what weapons i will use and what armor. no matter that i found 4 other armor groups there, but they not upgraded and that would cost just so much recources to do, so im not changing armor, though i would like to try others sure. would be nice if all new armor would go up to same upgrades when you put them on.
 
Last edited:

cormack12

Gold Member
Can anyone confirm or is it just me but I’ve started the game tonight on PS5 (it’s 100% the ps5 version) but the game is stuttering quite a lot.
Like the FPS is quite lower when in combat/turning camera etc.

it’s quite off pitting

Nope. Smooth as butter here. Is it still downloading/installing in the background?
 

scalman

Member
relaxing
DT27xHZ.png


hes ready
RKW21K9.png


dont mind low fps in cutscenes, its much better in gameplay av 40. i raised video settings until its still ok for me to play . but going as high on settings as i can.
and all this hrs never saw any bug while playing , just game sometimes crashing but might be im using too much VRAM .. not sure . and 100% GPU usage so it could cause it too. still it runs fine . for many that would be problem i guess they would cry in corner and tell how they hate game.. for me its fine, i just enjoy game and chill . its a game. its not perfect, but its close to that rly.
 
Last edited:
Nope. Smooth as butter here. Is it still downloading/installing in the background?
Turns out it was trying to download the PS4 version from the disc again.
stopped that and reset the ps5 and running well 🙄

hopefully doesn’t keep trying to install the PS4 version every time I put disc in!
 

scalman

Member
worse doors are when there is no window to shoot lock from inside... i still have some of those places that i just gave up, i know some goes from dungeons some from high up, but some i just cant figure out ... but i allways loot everything around that i can.
and some chest then later have keys for each separate haha. but nothing can stop me from finding those keys.
at first i thought there are some arrows as skill to shoot trough walls to enemies so i thought lets try that on locks but no that doesnt work like this.
You can still burn those silo buildings and they blow up as before but for what reason i dont get it. ?
 
Last edited:

WakeTheWolf

Member
So odd issue, encountered a bug that has fire arrows attached to Evior's hand. Tried everything to get rid of them and they set everything alight in his path
jEBCzbg.jpg

VPEwqqM.jpg


s8NB6nB.jpg
 
Last edited:

cormack12

Gold Member
worse doors are when there is no window to shoot lock from inside... i still have some of those places that i just gave up, i know some goes from dungeons some from high up, but some i just cant figure out ... but i allways loot everything around that i can.
and some chest then later have keys for each separate haha. but nothing can stop me from finding those keys.
at first i thought there are some arrows as skill to shoot trough walls to enemies so i thought lets try that on locks but no that doesnt work like this.
You can still burn those silo buildings and they blow up as before but for what reason i dont get it. ?

If you upgrade your leaping attack it can knock those doors down fyi. I like the puzzles though
 

fermcr

Member
I'm 15+ hours in... game is becoming boring as hell.
Probably going to leave the game for a couple of weeks or a month, return to it later on.
 

IDappa

Member
There's something about the combat that is not grabbing me, it seems very basic there isn't much variety in the basic light and heavy attacks. I feel like I'm just doing the same company sequence every time. A combo system to add variety into the Moveset would of kept me more ingaged with the game overall. Probably going to take it back and grab something else but I will give it a touch longer.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
There's something about the combat that is not grabbing me, it seems very basic there isn't much variety in the basic light and heavy attacks. I feel like I'm just doing the same company sequence every time. A combo system to add variety into the Moveset would of kept me more ingaged with the game overall. Probably going to take it back and grab something else but I will give it a touch longer.

I'm playing on one difficulty higher than normal and I feel like the base combat feels somewhat better and weightier than Odyssey, but it comes at the huge cost of the abilities being completely uninteresting and a boring as-fuck skill tree, making the progression feel rather meaningless for the most part.

Odyssey's combat felt pretty weightless, but at least it was fast, frantic, and allowed for a variety of builds and playstyles. This one? Not so much.

Also, the Assassin route in this game is just not worth it at all. The stealth gameplay feels like a complete afterthought in this one.

I'm still having a great time, because I love the setting, visuals, and atmosphere, and the characters and story thus far have been interesting to me, but I think it fails to live up to Odyssey's gameplay.
 

IDappa

Member
I'm playing on one difficulty higher than normal and I feel like the base combat feels somewhat better and weightier than Odyssey, but it comes at the huge cost of the abilities being completely uninteresting and a boring as-fuck skill tree, making the progression feel rather meaningless for the most part.

Odyssey's combat felt pretty weightless, but at least it was fast, frantic, and allowed for a variety of builds and playstyles. This one? Not so much.

Also, the Assassin route in this game is just not worth it at all. The stealth gameplay feels like a complete afterthought in this one.

I'm still having a great time, because I love the setting, visuals, and atmosphere, and the characters and story thus far have been interesting to me, but I think it fails to live up to Odyssey's gameplay.
Yeah I am on the same difficulty as you (believe it is the HARD difficulty). I did notice the skill tree is fairly bland so far, maybe it will open up with some better skills..

I put more into origins then I did with odyssey but overall I didn't have any complaints combat wise from them origins I found to be the better overall game for me.

I think you are on the money the visuals setting and atmosphere is spectacular but the general moment to moment combat is lackluster. Imagine if it had a company system like God of war or even Darksiders 3. Something that keeps you in the moment, speaking of keeping you in the moment I despise the camera in combat. Why does it zoom out so far, it is another thing that hurts the combat imo as I feel as if I'm being taken away from the action.
 

bati

Member
but it comes at the huge cost of the abilities being completely uninteresting and a boring as-fuck skill tree, making the progression feel rather meaningless for the most part.

I feel exactly opposite. Notable skills in the tree make a huge difference to how the combat flows, even some "I'll grab them if I'll have spare points" skills that I was initially skeptical about, like throwing a discarded weapon at an enemy or missile reversal.

Also, the Assassin route in this game is just not worth it at all. The stealth gameplay feels like a complete afterthought in this one.

While stealth being optional is true, assassin tree still has a lot of notable skills that are very, very fun to use and nicely enhance the general playstyle.

Overall the combat is a huge improvement over ACO, mostly thanks to these passives and conditional skills. ACO was basically jus spamming attacks and parries until you built up adrenaline so you could Overpower or Hero strike your way to victory. Here I'm literally using all the tools at my disposal because the devs had this brilliant idea of allowing us to grab everything on the tree - normally I'd be soooo against something like this in an RPG but it works so fricking well here that I still can't believe it. Earlier I wrapped up the Essex arc storyline that concluded with a battle that lasted about 10 minutes, and I was dodging left and right, parrying, swapping my main and offhand weapons based on the enemy I was fighting, grabbing missiles midair and shooting them back, throwing weapons that were dropped by dead enemies, liberally switching between melee and ranged without feeling like I'm gimping myself, using abilities for both playstyles, managed some tougher elites with carefully timed CC (harpoon ability etc). It ended up being 10 minutes of some of the smoothest combat flow I've ever experienced in a game of this type, and just nonstop carnage and gory executions. I fucking loved it and cannot wait to get more. I'm actually playing for the fun of it and trying to go for some flashy moves instead of just worrying if I'm squeezing the maximum out of my character at every opportunity. Fuck that shit.

Fwiw I'm on highest difficulty, currently power level 318.

Valhalla is so far ahead of every other AC game in every way imaginable that it still blows my mind how good it is.
 

DonJorginho

Banned
As someone who loved Origins yet hated Odyssey, will this be worth the pickup?

Was gonna pick it up on launch but decided to get the opinions of some Gaffers first!
 

MastAndo

Member
Am I shrinking, or is it my imagination? Playing as male Eivor, I swear, earlier in the game I wasn't a foot shorter than Sigurd. Now, I'm supposed to be rolling up on these blue dots like I'm some bad ass that can solve any random problem and they're probably thinking this 5'6" beta is at the wrong address.
 
Top Bottom