Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Discovery Tour - Viking Age
- Thread starter IbizaPocholo
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CherryFalls
Banned
Be warned here; I wouldn't trust this to be historically accurate, go elsewhere for accuracy. Especially after their other 'discovery tours'
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Hooks
Member
So I shouldn't use this as a source for my assignments?
sephiroth7x
Member
Yeah I actually came to post this myself. My degree is in Ancient History, specialising in Egyptology, and lets just say that the Origins Discovery Tour was a little - flowery and opinionated - more than actual concrete fact. In honesty, some of the discussions they were having were pretty baffling.
Saying that - anything historically educational is all good by me. Even if it drives people to go out and find more information.
RJMacready73
Simps for Amouranth
That looks actually pretty damn class, i loved the Egyptian one and found it a fascinating distraction and boy the GFX on this looks great, id be more into purchasing this as a standalone than sinking 100hrs into a game that gets boring real quick
NotCentered
Neo Member
My kid spent quite a lot of time in Origins/odyssey discovery tours. He was waiting impatiently for that one, and if there's some interaction with the world he will certainly like it a lot.
Bluecondor
Member
I'm so glad to see this. I have played nearly every Assassin's Creed game in the franchise. While I absolutely love the historic locations and settings in the game, I just can't bring myself to play another bloated AC game, with the map filled with marker after marker and the combat pushing you to open combat using swords and shields.
I have not yet purchased AC: Vahalla, and see that it is now on sale for $29.99 by a number of retailers. I think the discovery tour will push me off the fence, and I am good with paying $29.99 to play 4 characters and 8 non-violent quests while exploring the vast world of Vahalla and learning about Viking and British history. I guess I could wait until 2022 to pick it up as a standalone on the PS4, but it looks like the price will be $24.99 for that. Why not pay the $29.99 in the event that I do feel like going back and playing the full game at some point down the road....
I have not yet purchased AC: Vahalla, and see that it is now on sale for $29.99 by a number of retailers. I think the discovery tour will push me off the fence, and I am good with paying $29.99 to play 4 characters and 8 non-violent quests while exploring the vast world of Vahalla and learning about Viking and British history. I guess I could wait until 2022 to pick it up as a standalone on the PS4, but it looks like the price will be $24.99 for that. Why not pay the $29.99 in the event that I do feel like going back and playing the full game at some point down the road....
RJMacready73
Simps for Amouranth
Completely agree, I burned out on Egypt, hit that XP wall and either needed to grind a load of levels or buy boosters so give up even though I was enjoying the story.. checked out a demo of Odyssey and switched it off, way to similar and I imagine this will be the same but man the graphics and the world they build in these games are second to none and great to explore so would be all for this and heck if it's a fiver more for the full game I'd just buy it and see if I could be arsed
sephiroth7x
Member
If you hit an XP wall in Origins then you did right not to pursue Odyssey or Valhalla.
Odyssey at least has the benefit of a half decent protagonist (if you play as Kassandra) whereas somehow they managed to make Viking Raids boring in Valhalla.
Valhalla is just - pointlessly long. It feels long for the sake of it (I would estimate double the length of Origins) but not for any reason other than for lengths sake. As you have already said, the worlds are immense and well designed and look incredible, they are superb for photo mode, but the core gameplay is just very basic and flat.
Ezquimacore
Banned
this will have a story with 8 chapters
RJMacready73
Simps for Amouranth
Yeah that was my initial fear with Valhalla that it was just more of the same shit but bigger & longer.
I hadn't played an Ass Creed game since the Pirate one before Origins so the gameplay loop was fairly fresh to me but after having sunk 30 odd hrs into Origins and then couldn't progress the story without jumping another 5-10 levels.. fuuuuuuuuk that, i wasnt grinding out that many levels just so i could continue the fecking story which is just bloody stupid imo, allow us to progress through the game playing the story missions with the odd side quest, i don't got time to sink 100's hrs into a game like this but definitely keep it massive and open for those that do like to grind out those additional story beats.
Ill probably wait and grab it cheap on a sale on the PS store like i did with Origins, i dont mind dropping £20 for a few evenings worth of entertainment
STARSBarry
Gold Member
Yeah as someone who lives in this region the game takes place and have been to many of the historical sites in real life.... well... let's just say they have there work cut out lol.
Never mind how bad the prior discovery tours have been, they are esentially rewriting history to help strengthen modern day political or social views...
I mean...
Yeah....
They go out of there way to change things from historical fact and then market it as an educational tool.
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RJMacready73
Simps for Amouranth
yeah these games arent meant to be historically accurate to the ninth degree, its a fecking game first and formost but i daresay they put a shit load of effort into getting it mosty kinda right which is plenty for the common gamer to get a feel for how it was back then, besides on the discovery tour in Origins a lot of the stuff they put up is actual real facts and photos of places/items of antiquity
CherryFalls
Banned
Ubisoft promote these as accurate and fit for educational institutions.
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STARSBarry
Gold Member
Sadly Ubisoft disagrees
Discovery Tour by Ubisoft: Teacher Learning Resources | Ubisoft (UK)
Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour is a fun way to learn about history. Take guided tours and quizzes while exploring the ancient world. Learn more about using the Discovery Tours here.
www.ubisoft.com
Marketed as an "educational tool" don't worry Ubisoft's team of historical justice warriors will rewrite history (the prior tours have already established this) so you don't have to, ready for the modern day. Now improved by modern day but dismissed fringe theory's such as the Black Egyptian hypothesis is displayed as a fact on the discovery tour for example TO BE TAUGHT IN A CLASSROOM!
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Oberstein
Member
Yeah as someone who lives in this region the game takes place and have been to many of the historical sites in real life.... well... let's just say they have there work cut out lol.
Never mind how bad the prior discovery tours have been, they are esentially rewriting history to help strengthen modern day political or social views...
I mean...
Yeah....
They go out of there way to change things from historical fact and then market it as an educational tool.
Yes, there's no excuse for that. But they only did it very occasionally in AC Origins. There's nothing like that in Odyssey. And I guess it's the same in Valhalla.
That said, from what little I've tested, it's better written than in the core game. Thorsteinn's character is more interesting than Eivor in just 20 minutes. You learn the basics about the Nordic civilization of that time, and it's already more exciting than a secret guild fighting another secret guild.
Silent Viper
Banned
Too late. My nephew will write whatever he learned from video in his exam coz we all know AC games based on actual history and are educational and should be used for education purpose.
Paperboy
Member
Is there a summary somewhere on the Internet with the inaccuracies in the Discovery Tours?
TVexperto
Member
just go to resetera and see them praise different things than you know it
STARSBarry
Gold Member
I mean since the discovery tools are marketed towards schools for this very purpose its hardly surprising
taken from Ubisoft's own site
"Used In Classrooms, Praised By Teachers
Winner of Best Learning Game and the G4C People's Choice Award at the 2019 Games for Change Awards, Discovery Tour has been used by teachers to bring their students closer to history. In addition to its guided tours, Discovery Tour's freely explorable re-creations of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the Viking Age enable students to visualize the landscape, architecture, and cultures of the past like never before.Curriculum guide for teachers and students
We've partnered with McGill university to create curriculum guides for Discovery Tour! Create your own lesson plan and discovery useful tips and tricks to make the most of Discovery Tour in an educational context. The first curriculum guide for Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece is already available in beta version. We also have other resources available, please contact us at acdiscoverytour@ubisoft.com"of course if your prior comment was intended to be as sarcastic as it sounds, might want to actually read how these are used before making that statement as it is sadly far more accurate than you might want.
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EDMIX
Writes a lot, says very little
Yeah as someone who lives in this region the game takes place and have been to many of the historical sites in real life.... well... let's just say they have there work cut out lol.
Never mind how bad the prior discovery tours have been, they are esentially rewriting history to help strengthen modern day political or social views...
I mean...
Yeah....
They go out of there way to change things from historical fact and then market it as an educational tool.
I don't have much against this as they themselves are telling you its "historically inaccurate" in the first place. Though I disagree with this choice as someone can just state AT THAT FUCKING TIME sexism existed and its not our view, I also see why they did it this way as folks would bitch either way.
One side would bitch about it being sexist
Another side would bitch about it not being about history as if they gave a shit about that in the first place on a fucking series about going thru someones DNA or some shit lol I don't even know if either side even REALLY cares about this stuff as much as they care about complaining about it to make it seem as if they really "care" and are "concerned" lol
Either way, I think they do a great job with the setting and I don't expect some history lesson, though I feel they need to just go balls deep and unapologetically make a game in a setting and feel free to show those dark parts of history. Keep in mind, both sides imho are to blame as many might agree with what I'm saying regarding this game...
Did they agree with how the conservatives where depicted in Far Cry 5? This is why it needs to be unapologetic. Its not saying they believe this or that, its saying at that time, in that country, in that state...folks might behave as such lol I don't think we should cherry pick it to issues we care about and should be open to allowing that concept in games like this as suppose to some games.
As it stands, I don't believe this game should be used as an educational tool either, but the future games could be if they have the balls to allow history to be as dark as it truly is. As a Black Male, I had issues with how Red Dead 2 even handled that time period as it was like they were scared to have the N-word used, scared to bring up the topic even remotely and its like...I'm more upset they DIDN'T just show that reality, I won't offend me even remotely as I'd be more mad that they even decided to sugarcoat those times in fear of some backlash or something. Even in GTA VC the backlash with Haitian people being in gangs lol I'm Haitian (or my parents where born in Haiti to be exact) and yes....they can be in gangs lol Allow that to be shown without this fear of triggering everyone. How can Ubisoft even make some AC in WWII and they'd be scared to show the Holocaust or something?
Man can be sexist, man can be racist, man can be cruel and unjust...historically we know that to be true, but showing that in a game doesn't mean the studio believes those ideals and I think they need to fucking grow up past that shit as its holding the medium back greatly.
RJMacready73
Simps for Amouranth
At the end of the day they have to strike a balance with their audience, we all know history is filled with some dark dark shit, humans are cunts and in the past we where pretty damned cuntish but first an foremost these are games and are meant to be fun and escapism so they have to balance it and I think they do a great job and let's face it if you give a kid a book and said read this and learn about Vikings it won't sink in half as much as him actively taking part in said raids, boat building, farming etc through an educational game
EDMIX
Writes a lot, says very little
You can still have that and still have it be historically accurate to make sense.
This, I agree lol
I still think all that stuff could be optional in the game and they can still do raids and others would just do the farming stuff if they felt just, look at all the people that liked that Settlement stuff in Fallout 4 lol I'd play the fuck out of the farming in that AC Vikings game lol
People would be like "did you play the London raid yet"?
Me "The fuck? I'm trying to get the spring harvest sir"
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Elder Legend
Banned
They been doing these since Origins....
Feel Like I'm On 42
Member
Great points ..its pathetic how even Rockstat is too cowardly to depict that stuff. I expect it from Ubisoft but not Rockstar. Rockstar is too greedy now to risk losing sales.
Sleepwalker
Member
I resorted to using trainers on PC with Origins and Oddyssey, not up for that stupid grind. It makes the game way more enjoyable and actually feels balanced, I assume they made it super grindy to sell XP boosts, so I just cheat to get extra XP.
HerjansEagleFeeder
Member
I love how they can't stop to show you all these generic faces from academia in their videos to underline how accurate and sciency they are, when in reality the few scholars starved for money are nothing but a fig leaf to disguise the fact that their counseling had almost no effect on what absurd and comical depiction of the viking age they created. In the very first couple of seconds in this video, a viking ship approaches a home port with the **** dragon head attached. Good job.
Oberstein
Member
This is the contradiction aspect of the AC franchise. On one hand they want to show the real and historical aspect (it's completely missed in the game), on the other hand they want to give the players the "Viking" experience, with all the collective imagination we have around these people. They talk about it in the interviews.
The worst thing is that in the case you mention, the figurehead should not be attached to the ship when approaching an "allied" area... and yet they say so in the Discovery Tour comments. But for the presentation of the game, they feel obliged to do so because otherwise people wouldn't understand that we are talking about Viking. Yes, people are stupid.
It's not the first time, but Valhalla twists reality a lot: women fighting, except in the saga (and even then, only symbolically), there is no archaeological evidence. The tombs where we find women in arms could be apparatuses. Moreover, in the areas in England where the Vikings really fought, women are never found. This is just one example, but yes, if you don't know all this, you can believe all the bullshit said in the game and in the Vikings series (a huge source of inspiration for them).
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ToTTenTranz
Banned
Today I learned virtual renditions of historically accurate vases result in sexist gameplay.
Skifi28
Member
Is there any other type of gameplay? Don't worry, games will soon be banned at this rate. We can't continue corrupting our youth like this.
sephiroth7x
Member
I actually don't know if there is you know. I know there are a few videos on YouTube of history professors being shown a tour of the world that was created who constantly point out how certain sections would not have existed at the time, or techniques wouldn't have been used. Might be worth looking at them?
The thing is, unless we are talking about the vase above, the majority of history from this time is up for discussion anyway. We have solid evidence for most of the theories that are now seen as concrete but we are always one discovery away from changing our viewpoint.
With regards the vase and them changing it to suit modern day ideologies etc. I appreciate what UbiSoft are doing even if I don't believe it is necessary. It is only the same as films that repurpose historical context to suit the tone of the film. We can list hundreds of films that have changed the core story (I mean look at U-571 for example) - this is all that UbiSoft are essentially doing. In the main game as entertainment, it doesn't really matter.
I think the main issue here, is that this section of the game - the discovery tour - is supposed to be educational and give legitimate information but they cannot seem to go past their own sensibilities to do it. Bafflingly as well, Egypt was not as cruel on women in their society as those that came after them, which makes it even more surprising they felt the need to add modern sensibilities. The only people who are realistically going to look or play the Discovery Tour are people interested in the history so why try to manipulate the past or change what it was? All it will force is people walking away and finding out it was wrong, and dismissing it as irrelevant. (As a caveat - anything that gets people interested in history in the first place is good by me! As long as it makes people search for sources and reliable information.)
