WakeTheWolf
Member
Wow actually seeing that you can explore my town in the UK is pretty impressive
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
My impressions 3 hours in are that yes, it definitely has better writing and voice acting so far. The story seems more compelling, but I'm biased in that I vastly prefer the setting.
With that said, I'm still not sure how I feel about the combat. It seems like less of an action RPG than Odyssey was. I need to play a lot more to really get into it, though.
Krappadizzle
Member
That's so cool.
Big reason that I think Flight Simulator 2020 is so impressive, it's just fun flying around a virtual recreation of places you've been or lived.
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Whataborman
Unconfirmed Member
Enjoying this game so far on PC.
I didn't care for Origins or Odyssey because I didn't like the settings... Ancient Egypt and Greece do nothing for me. However, I'm really digging Viking era Europe.
I didn't care for Origins or Odyssey because I didn't like the settings... Ancient Egypt and Greece do nothing for me. However, I'm really digging Viking era Europe.
Starfield
Member
I swear to god why does every sidequest or world event has to be so "funny and edgy"?
Every. Single. One.
this is so retarded
Edit, lets see. So far I had:
so far there wasn't even one side quest that was serious or in serious tone. Ubisoft you're bad, but atleast you make nice looking open worlds.
Every. Single. One.
this is so retarded
Edit, lets see. So far I had:
- woman who wants her brochet or whatever back so she can do your hair (and do you *giggle*)
- guy with an axe in his head (so funneeh)
- guy complaining about rats (you have to unleash a hoard of cats from a woman in her house nearby
- guy who lives alone on an island who thinks he has a kingdom
- guy who think he can do a rap battle with you but is really bad at it and runs away
- guy who stands next to a cliff asking you throw down all of his belongings, in the end he throws himself down because he believes in Son Goku or what do I know
- woman in a village asking you to "pretend" youre raiding their house so she can get off by it and therefore giving her husband a boner, she tells you that isnt enough and you have to burn down her house while theyre inside, then you hear how he has the hardest boner he ever had and I'm not even making this up, this is a sidequest in a game about Vikings
so far there wasn't even one side quest that was serious or in serious tone. Ubisoft you're bad, but atleast you make nice looking open worlds.
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Krappadizzle
Member
What would you prefer? They can't all be like that I bet.
Starfield
Member
but so far they ARE. I was thinking the same but so far I haven't found a SINGLE quest that took itself serious or with a bitter or unsettling tone. Every quest is basically a joke. I updated my list with a few more that just came into my mind.
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Aesius
Member
Probably because Witcher 3 had a few wacky and zany quests, and their side quests were so heavily praised, so clearly that's the move for all open world games from now on.
Starfield
Member
When I think of The Witcher 3 sidequests I think of The Red Baron or that kid in the woods or the tree in the cave and not this bullshit
Mossybrew
Member
Yeah it's like they decided to make these world event sidequests the comic relief of the game. I don't mind it though.
Aesius
Member
The meaty side quests were great but W3 had a lot of silly side quests too.
IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
MarlboroRed
Member
I had the chance to spend like 4 or 5 hours with it so far. I don't feel like they did a lot with the theme so far.. There is mead halls, there is talk of valhalla and there are longship and axes, sure. All the generic viking stuff you would expect, but so far it didnt manage to capture the theme quite the same way Origins captured Egypt.
A big shame is the state of polish and performance right now on PC. I can barely launch the darn thing, have to bypass UbiConnect completely in order to do so.
Mixed bag so far for sure, but we will see. Its a slow burn, but its starting to grow on me.
A big shame is the state of polish and performance right now on PC. I can barely launch the darn thing, have to bypass UbiConnect completely in order to do so.
Mixed bag so far for sure, but we will see. Its a slow burn, but its starting to grow on me.
EliteClarity
Member
Anyone who's not a big fan of the series or games like it got any opinions? I like the look of it, but most the reviews are long term fans of the series, anyone from the outside looking in got anything to add to aid in my decision?
Mossybrew
Member
I've noticed some odd things about the sound mix as well. Like, sometimes it seems like your footsteps are really loud. And the main character's voice volume seems dialed up higher than other characters.
Andodalf
Banned
They incorporated all serious side material into the main quest, so the distractions serve as... distractions from the serious tone of the main story.
Oberstein
Member
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
5 hours in and made it England just now. I had totally forgotten about the Animus shit...
Is it just me or is this quite a bit more janky than Odyssey, which felt even more janky than Origins. It feels like Ubi is going back to not taking enough time or just spreading out their dev resources too wide and thin.
Is it just me or is this quite a bit more janky than Odyssey, which felt even more janky than Origins. It feels like Ubi is going back to not taking enough time or just spreading out their dev resources too wide and thin.
Classicrockfan
Banned
Any underwater critters like sharks,gators,etc?
JimmyRustler
Member
With Ubisoft being edgy as they are and trying to avoid offending anyone if makes sense to put quests like these in the game. Can't offend anyone with this stupid shit.
MastAndo
Member
I'm enjoying myself about 10 hours in, but this game definitely needed a little more time in the oven. I don't know how Odyssey was when it was first released as I only got around to playing it earlier this year, but I don't remember it being anything like this. There's a lot of weird bugs in this one - glitchy animations, floating NPC's, clanmates/enemies just standing around during battles, abrupt audio cut-ins/outs, etc.
I had one side quest glitch out where I lured an animal to fight an NPC (at his request), so naturally, I found a polar bear. Once there, I waited for the two to go at it, but all three of us just stood around and the side quest ended as if he had slain the beast. Weird...in another part, I rescued an animal who needed a home, so he ended up at my settlement. I was away for a while and when I got back I saw him running around, which I thought was cute. Eivor acknowledged it - a neat touch. Then he acknowledged it with the same exact line five times in a row back to back, killing a sweet moment. Also, even though I have music frequency on high, there's just a lot of quiet moments. I was just roaming around my settlement for a while, and some background music would have fit in nicely. The same applies for moments of exploration where it goes quiet for extended periods.
Fortunately, none of this is gamebreaking, but it does hurt the overall experience. All in all though, I'm still very much liking this one. Not quite Odyssey level for me (yet), but it is growing on me, despite the bugs. My feel for the combat is improving as well. The whole game is still very much rooted in map icon chasing, despite the changes. The side content is just made more appealing by the fact that they're bite sized now, and the voice acting/presentation is a bit better, so you're even more compelled to clear the nearby blue dots.
I had one side quest glitch out where I lured an animal to fight an NPC (at his request), so naturally, I found a polar bear. Once there, I waited for the two to go at it, but all three of us just stood around and the side quest ended as if he had slain the beast. Weird...in another part, I rescued an animal who needed a home, so he ended up at my settlement. I was away for a while and when I got back I saw him running around, which I thought was cute. Eivor acknowledged it - a neat touch. Then he acknowledged it with the same exact line five times in a row back to back, killing a sweet moment. Also, even though I have music frequency on high, there's just a lot of quiet moments. I was just roaming around my settlement for a while, and some background music would have fit in nicely. The same applies for moments of exploration where it goes quiet for extended periods.
Fortunately, none of this is gamebreaking, but it does hurt the overall experience. All in all though, I'm still very much liking this one. Not quite Odyssey level for me (yet), but it is growing on me, despite the bugs. My feel for the combat is improving as well. The whole game is still very much rooted in map icon chasing, despite the changes. The side content is just made more appealing by the fact that they're bite sized now, and the voice acting/presentation is a bit better, so you're even more compelled to clear the nearby blue dots.
LaughingStock
Member
4 hours in. So far I like it more than odyssey. Combat is bad. But not terrible.
VFXVeteran
Banned
How is the performance for the 3080 guys? I'm seeing a fixed 9.5GVRAM usage just as the recommendations state. Are you using less than 10G VRAM? What are your FPS looking like at 4k@ultra?
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sobaka770
Banned
Thankfully I don't experience any bugs so far whatsoever and I'm almost done with Norway exploration. The game is much slower and more grounded that Odyssey and thank God for that. The abilities and skills you get actually feel like organic progression and there is no legendary sword that will be obsolete in an hour because you gained a level or 2. Incremental progression does wonders for realism over the exponential number inflation of Odyssey. For some, it may be "boring" - combat is slower and more deliberate, moves are less flashy, movement is weightier. However for a lot of people, including myself who wanted a return to AC roots - this is a very good step in that direction (I play on highest difficulty though). You're still not playing a pure assassin but the level of realism and grit is thankfully higher than in Odyssey which felt like a parody imo.
What I also like so far at least - while Valhalla is still probably going to be too long for what it needs to be, some pointless systems are thankfully no longer present. Odyssey was a throw shit at the wall ensemble of gameplay loops that were thrown in just to be there without any need for them. The Mercenary system and Athens-Sparta war system obviously were the worst offenders in the space of why-is-this-in-the-game. Naval combat dragging since Black Flag and Cultist system could have used trimming down by half to be just as engaging if not more so. Odyssey screams procedural design to make the world as big as possible and slap 100 hours of gameplay on the box. So far - none of this shit here and while there will be plenty of quests and forts and raids and dice games, at least they are not constantly in my face and feel optional. The viking dice may be the most fun AC diversion game so far, something about it just clicks for me.
As for the story... well AC has always been a series with fascinating lore and a good story to tell. Unfortunately the delivery of that story is consistently underwhelming. I cannot name a single AC game where the story was well-delivered, even AC2 had a lot of jankiness.
It's hard to blame Ubisoft: each AC entry is very ambitious and you can't reconcile ambition, polish and time constraints (incidentally the project triangle). Ubi creates huge unique worlds and delivers a 50-100 hour RPG year over year. And for all the "Ubi-formula" bashing, none can deny that while Origins/Odyssey/Valhalla have common gameplay loops they don't play it safe either, presenting very different progression systems, quest systems, combat systems, armor upgrade systems etc. They tell wildly different stories and the tone is completely different. All of this requires thought, work and honestly - a ton of effort. The downside is that AC never feels finished, there is always a degree of jank that is present and that that comment is valid for any AC entry. The combat is always just a bit floaty (although Valhalla is probably the closes we get to Dark Souls level of precision), dialogue and presentation cutscenes vary wildly in quality, running around always causes collision bugs. Intro sequences in every new-AC game last for 5 hours and still feel rushed in story department, especially the crucial formative part: show Bayek bond with his son earlier in the game, show Kassandra doing simple mercenary work, show more of Eivor's childhood. Eivor's intro at least has the best progression and assassin introduction so far, even though it still feels like curical dialogue and scenes are missing. The games consistently lack that additional year of polish before the devs have to move to DLC and next game.
Last thing: at first I was a bit worried about HDR presentation in this game - but it grew on me massively after a few hours. Yes it looks a bit washed out at first but the resolution in shadow regions is exceptional and as the game is generally dark it provides this muddy, gritty vibe. Most noticeable for me was crawling up the rock during night in brown armor and despite the color palette being almost monochrome it looked almost real and had a dozen subtle hues in that color space. Simply wonderful visual design. I am now confident that HDR implementation is not a bug but an artistic choice.
What I also like so far at least - while Valhalla is still probably going to be too long for what it needs to be, some pointless systems are thankfully no longer present. Odyssey was a throw shit at the wall ensemble of gameplay loops that were thrown in just to be there without any need for them. The Mercenary system and Athens-Sparta war system obviously were the worst offenders in the space of why-is-this-in-the-game. Naval combat dragging since Black Flag and Cultist system could have used trimming down by half to be just as engaging if not more so. Odyssey screams procedural design to make the world as big as possible and slap 100 hours of gameplay on the box. So far - none of this shit here and while there will be plenty of quests and forts and raids and dice games, at least they are not constantly in my face and feel optional. The viking dice may be the most fun AC diversion game so far, something about it just clicks for me.
As for the story... well AC has always been a series with fascinating lore and a good story to tell. Unfortunately the delivery of that story is consistently underwhelming. I cannot name a single AC game where the story was well-delivered, even AC2 had a lot of jankiness.
It's hard to blame Ubisoft: each AC entry is very ambitious and you can't reconcile ambition, polish and time constraints (incidentally the project triangle). Ubi creates huge unique worlds and delivers a 50-100 hour RPG year over year. And for all the "Ubi-formula" bashing, none can deny that while Origins/Odyssey/Valhalla have common gameplay loops they don't play it safe either, presenting very different progression systems, quest systems, combat systems, armor upgrade systems etc. They tell wildly different stories and the tone is completely different. All of this requires thought, work and honestly - a ton of effort. The downside is that AC never feels finished, there is always a degree of jank that is present and that that comment is valid for any AC entry. The combat is always just a bit floaty (although Valhalla is probably the closes we get to Dark Souls level of precision), dialogue and presentation cutscenes vary wildly in quality, running around always causes collision bugs. Intro sequences in every new-AC game last for 5 hours and still feel rushed in story department, especially the crucial formative part: show Bayek bond with his son earlier in the game, show Kassandra doing simple mercenary work, show more of Eivor's childhood. Eivor's intro at least has the best progression and assassin introduction so far, even though it still feels like curical dialogue and scenes are missing. The games consistently lack that additional year of polish before the devs have to move to DLC and next game.
Last thing: at first I was a bit worried about HDR presentation in this game - but it grew on me massively after a few hours. Yes it looks a bit washed out at first but the resolution in shadow regions is exceptional and as the game is generally dark it provides this muddy, gritty vibe. Most noticeable for me was crawling up the rock during night in brown armor and despite the color palette being almost monochrome it looked almost real and had a dozen subtle hues in that color space. Simply wonderful visual design. I am now confident that HDR implementation is not a bug but an artistic choice.
bati
Member
Yes, they're quite close. Personally I love it, one of the best looking games I've seen .
Does anyone know if different weapons/shields have different parry windows (or stun on parry values)?
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GymWolf
Gold Member
It's not really a problem, you don't have to fight hard enemies in that part.
cormack12
Gold Member
Thank fuck. Just in the village now not wanting to go anywhere lol
GymWolf
Gold Member
You can pretty much explore the whole norway without a problem.
The harder fight is against the guy you find in a cave and it's only hard because the combat system is pretty clunky at times.
I still feel like the gameplay in this game is inferior to origins, from combat to parkour...there is something off.
sobaka770
Banned
Specifically for parry window - I don't think so, it's extremely generous even on highest difficulty. I have no issues parrying at all even without a shield.
There is a passive though that does damage on parry that you can unlock and I do not know if that scales depending on offhand weapon stats. The biggest difference is that shield has permanent block when you hold the parry button while other weapons give special abilities so you have to rely on parry/dodge only
sobaka770
Banned
That guy in a cave is a DICK. I died a dozen times, but on the bright side I got my parry windows and timings well fighting against him and he is by far the hardest enemy in the whole region.
Combat in this is much more Dark Soulsy, you have to watch your stamina carefully especially when you have to dodge a lot - you run out fast. Removing shield makes you lighter that gives you more opportunities to dodge but you lose a valuable easy protected mode. Previous games feel smoother cause you could dart around forever across the battlefield. It was all about building adrenaline and unleashing super-abilities, here it's managing staming to actually land a hit and on top of that you have a toned-down abilities you can use that are not riddiculously OP at least early-on.
They also had much gamier animations for parcour. So it is an acquired taste and a bit of whiplash as you replace arguably smooth gameplay to have a more grounded feel - but it is a deliberate choice because there are actually more animations for parcour to slow it down, Eivor reacts to more objects on his way and unlike Odyssey there are a lot of surfaces you can't climb reliably because it's less gamey.
So I get where you're coming from but personally what you find inferior to me is actually vastly better because it's a step towards realism vs middle-ground of Origins and over-the-top flaming sword, spartan kick, magic spear that was Odyssey.
GymWolf
Gold Member
Yeah, i had to use parry consistently to beat that human turd...
I love slow, weighty combat systems, probably more than i love frantic extremely fast combat system, it's not really a problem of slow with stamina against fast without stamina (i also love souls like genre so i'm used to stamina management)
I don't know how to explain myself, i thought that the combat was at least acceptable and better than odissey until that fight...it was hard to get the parry down and sometimes i feel like there is some input lag in the controls, and i'm playing at locked 60 (i even tried locked 30 to see if there was some frametime bullshittery going on with the 60 frames).
The fight was just not fun for me and not because i was getting my ass kicked, in soulsborne games i usually LOVE boss fights against hard humanoid enemies, more than figthing animals or beast or giants...
I think the combat is not polished\reactive\precise enough for what it try to accomplish...
sobaka770
Banned
I agree that combat is not Souls-precise, and that guy had some BS red moves that were near-instant at least at first. But that's why I put the setting on highest cause it actually forced me to engage with these systems.
The key is first-of-all is not to parry when the attack is glowing yellow but straight after when the slow-down ends at contact point. That window is frankly huge, just like in Odyssey so git good doesn't cut it, it's git-average at best. Also just like Sekiro, but not Souls even if you parry one attack the enemy may launch another immediately as part of the combo so you have to parry several times in a row. Overall try to keep a 2-meter distance and if you see a red attack - sometimes the enemy will not actually perform the attack until they reach you so you have to let them come and then dodge immediately during the swing. With these down, I did not notice any more issues other than me not being concentrated enough. I hope that helps. Once again considering that unlike Souls you have to have combat where you can face multiple enemies there must be a trade-off between 1-on-1 precise dueling and mass-viking-raid skirmish fight where you mow down soldiers and just revel in carnage.
Once again imo, the upside of not having sponge-enemies all over the map and spamming special-moves while darting around the fight like a superman is more appealing to me over Odyssey. Fights vs mercenaries were not strategic at all despite the special powers they had and the leveling system was outright broken in most cases so me defeating a very tough guy using starter gear on highest difficulty in a very short time is amazing. (short time meaning the fight itself once you win it is short, I died plenty so he took me at least an hour I think overall
)
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Allnamestakenlol
Member
It's all about balance, tho.
GymWolf
Gold Member
oI agree that combat is not Souls-precise, and that guy had some BS red moves that were near-instant at least at first. But that's why I put the setting on highest cause it actually forced me to engage with these systems.
The key is first-of-all is not to parry when the attack is glowing yellow but straight after when the slow-down ends at contact point. That window is frankly huge, just like in Odyssey so git good doesn't cut it, it's git-average at best. Also just like Sekiro, but not Souls even if you parry one attack the enemy may launch another immediately as part of the combo so you have to parry several times in a row. Overall try to keep a 2-meter distance and if you see a red attack - sometimes the enemy will not actually perform the attack until they reach you so you have to let them come and then dodge immediately during the swing. With these down, I did not notice any more issues other than me not being concentrated enough. I hope that helps. Once again considering that unlike Souls you have to have combat where you can face multiple enemies there must be a trade-off between 1-on-1 precise dueling and mass-viking-raid skirmish fight where you mow down soldiers and just revel in carnage.
Once again imo, the upside of not having sponge-enemies all over the map and spamming special-moves while darting around the fight like a superman is more appealing to me over Odyssey. Fights vs mercenaries were not strategic at all despite the special powers they had and the leveling system was outright broken in most cases so me defeating a very tough guy using starter gear on highest difficulty in a very short time is amazing. (short time meaning the fight itself once you win it is short, I died plenty so he took me at least an hour I think overall
Tbh i'm not a parry guy in games, i never use parry in souls, i probably used the gun 10 times total in 2 run of bloodborne and to this day i can't even explain why i liked sekiro that much
, to sum up, i'm not great at parrying so maybe it was my fault...(but the game is still noticeably less precise than sekiro)For the record, i didn't liked the supermoves in odissey, i'm always for a more realistic approach and like i said, before that fight i liked the combat in valhalla more, maybe i was just tired last night.
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Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
How is the combat on harder difficulties? Seems like this is going to get ridiculously easy on Vikingr (Normal). The AI just seems nonexistent.
sobaka770
Banned
Normal? What are you, 5? Get a pair and crank it up all the way!!
Seriously, though, unlike Odyssey - I feel like max difficulty here is warranted. Assassination is still one-shot (or you can make it so in the settings at worst) so it gets that tension right up. You will probably die on bosses though.
IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Mr Wonderstuff
Banned
The old geezer can just rot in that cave - boss battles are not my thing.
betrayal
Banned
You can't scrap loot anymore and yes, there less loot but almost every item can be upgraded.
WakeTheWolf
Member
I find it odd how you're suppose to be a viking speaking norse but you can speak to anglo saxon people perfectly fine. Don't give me the animus translates excuse either they didn't even try.
Also what's with all the helping all these anglo saxon people but raiding their monasteries lmao
Also what's with all the helping all these anglo saxon people but raiding their monasteries lmao
bati
Member
That's the best change since ACO imo. Feels more like Dark souls now - you get very distinct pieces of gear with unique perks and bonuses and option to upgrade them, rather than having your inventory spammed with 200 items every 10 minutes.
dorkimoe
Gold Member
Ok good to know. I wasn’t upgrading because I assumed it would be replaced. Now I can upgrade!