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[Drizzlehell]

There are things about this game that absolutely blow me away. The scope of the open world, the attention to detail, the atmosphere, the setting, the sheer amount of quests that aren't just pointless busy work but actually lead to a series of fun mini-adventures, the epic feel to the storyline, great writing, voice acting, engaging character customization, and visceral combat that can emerge into very unpredictable situations. There's just so much to love about those games. The name of the game is 100% accurate because it feels like an actual odyssey, and each new island/province is packed with so much meaningful story threads and quests that it would be enough to make into its own standalone game that's roughly the size of early AC games.

But there are two huge detractors here that will always, without a fault, hold me back from completely falling in love with this game and they will always rear their ugly heads to annoy me and remind me that it's a fucking Ubisoft game.

• The grind as a result of shitty level up system designed to rip you off through MTX

I mean, it's so obvious why they're doing this shit. You either grind for resources every time you level up to be able to keep your gear on par with world level, or you're gonna have to make do with shitty gear that turns combat into absolute chore due to low damage output of your weapons. OR, you know, you can just visit the in-game store and buy some of those resource packs for just 20 bucks, wink, wink.

I loathe this with a passion. There's nothing that pisses me off about modern gaming more than avarice of triple-a publishers that ruins what could be an incredible single player experience. At the very least they should have added an option to disable the level up system completely and allow you to just enjoy the combat without fretting over your gear level. They did this exact thing in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and it made that game 10 times more enjoyable, honestly. You could still pick up new gear and customize it, but when you shot a gun at someone, it always did the same damage, and it was a cool solution for people who didn't want to bother with looter shooter mechanics.

• Lack of a multiple choice system that would feed into other mechanics, such as character reputation or alliances with the warring factions

There were so many quests that I completed in Odyssey that just BEGGED to have multiple different outcomes depending on how approached the problem. Say that I want to ally myself with the Spartan army and work against the Athenians. Whenever I arrive to an island that's currently occupied by a Spartan army, I can still pick up quests from Athenians where I would work against the Spartans, but instead of being able to accept the mission and then run to the nearest Spartan camp to give up the Athenians, I can only decline the quest with no real resolution. It's pretty disappointing to not have those kinds of options in a role-playing game.

 

[adamsapple]

I agree with the first point. I had beaten the game to completion (incl DLC) on PS4. It took me around 200~ hours.

When the game got its 60 FPS patch for the current consoles, I got it on SX along with the exp boost and that shit just made the game incredibly more enjoyable, being able to unlock all the skills and able to tackle higher level zones without needing to grind a shit ton.

 

[-tetsuo-]

It is an excellent game and great example of single player GaaS done well.

 

[LectureMaster]

AC Odyssey being an RPG, the biggest flaw is that I really never felt there were any progression. I played 120 hours on normal, I never died once, and I never was able to one shot an enemy either.

 

[Drizzlehell]

single player GaaS

done well.

 

[The Alien]

Not a huge AC fan, but loved Odyssey.

Hundreds of hours enjoyed. Loved hunting down cultists, main story, mythology intertwined, ship was actually fun to use.

The game was a grind tho.
It's Ubisofts best game in almost a decade.

 

[Bragr]

I thought too much of the map consisted of empty space, resulting in too much travel, and riding the horse and sailing the boat are both undercooked mechanics.

And the mercenaries that keep following you are very annoying.

And the insistence on having main missions on every continent, and padding out every part of the game by taking over military camps, got tiresome.

It's still a great game, but the world of Origins was better in almost every regard I thought.

 

[Fbh]

I liked it but still had several issues with it:

- IMO the main story was very bland. The whole plot witht he main character and their brother/sister could have been done way better and IMO it all felt held back by having to incorporate obligatory AC stuff (obligatory shadowy organization, obligatory sci fi stuff, obligatory modern day stuff) instead of just being able to focus on telling a cool standalone story set in ancient greece.
- The combat gets dull fast because of a lack of enemy variety and annoying level scaling
- I agree the slow grindy leveling was annoying. I "pirated" the Xp boost on PC (with a trainer) and found it instantly more enjoyable

Even with that I did enjoy the game. The world itself is nice, the sidquests are quite good and Kasandra was a cool character.

AC Odyssey being an RPG, the biggest flaw is that I really never felt there were any progression. I played 120 hours on normal, I never died once, and I never was able to one shot an enemy either.

Yup, it has a terrible level scaling system that kills the sense of progression.
I'm making the numbers up but basically you start the game at level 1 doing 10 damage per hit and it takes you 10 hits to kill a random soldier. Fast forward 50 hours and you are now level 70 doing 400 damage per hit, but it still takes you 10 hits to kill a random soldier because they are the same level as you. So aside from unlocking a few new skills you never feel like you are actually getting stronger.

 

[Darkskill]

Level scaling ruined that game for me. Even random NPCs will scale to your level. You’ll see a whole village of level 78 NPCs with huge health bars. It’s terrible. Origins didn’t have level scaling, and it was much more fun. I loved the feeling of getting stronger. You could level up, then go back to the starting area and kill everything with one hit.

 

[Sethbacca]

These games could benefit heavily from some streamlined storylines. I don't care if a game has 150 hours of gameplay if 90% of it is repetitive.

 

[anthony2690]

I feel like the minority online, but I much preferred Origins and Valhalla. (Minus the weird other world stuff when you're Odin)

 

[Sleepwalker]

I played it on PC last year with a trainer so that I could modify the EXP/level up accordingly without having to buy extra bullshit. I put over 100 hours on it and loved every second. Great game.


I had played it at launch on PS4 and found it super tedious back then due to the insane grind.

 

[Black_Stride]

Level scaling.

No RPG should have this shit.

 

[BennyBlanco]

AC Odyssey Tweak Pack

This is a lightweight tool which allows the configuration of a few handy tweaks including removing the horse speed restriction, setting a custom XP multiplier, setting custom enemy health and damage m

www.nexusmods.com

Much better game with double XP

 

[Physiognomonics]

Level scaling didn't bother me. I think it makes the game always the right level (notably when mercenaries are fighting against you).

What I love in this game is how the whole greek world is realist and depicted like you said with passion. It's basically a summarized Greek geograpy / history game. It's so awesome for people like me who loves that country and history (and can't travel there).

 

[Sygma]

To me its a game with too much content. It needed less. I fucking loved everything BUT the amount of side quests like seriously. Trying to do it all was just beyond exhausting

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

I liked all three of the current AC trilogy but Origins was my favourite. Greece just wasn’t my bag personally from a location standpoint. Valhalla was an incredible game for a variety of reasons which fixed a lot of the issues with the first two but was crushed under its own bloat. The 70 hour story should have been a much better paced 40 hours and it would have been a masterpiece.

It will be interesting to see the new game which is much more like the original trilogy. It should be packed with detail and a real visual feast like AC Unity.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Level scaling didn't bother me. I think it makes the game always the right level (notably when mercenaries are fighting against you).

What I love in this game is how the whole greek world is realist and depicted like you said with passion. It's basically a summarized Greek geograpy / history game. It's so awesome for people like me who loves that country and history (and can't travel there).

It’s cool but also very absurd. I remember killing like 3 people to get a flamboyantly gay man his lube back.

 

[Aguero9320]

One of my absolute all time favourites. I still fire it up every now and then to clear up a couple of map markers.

Only a complete malaka would disagree…

Strangely, I have never played Origins.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

I just gave up playing Odyssey on PS4. It was just too long and the load times between fast traveling was really slowing it down even further.

Having too many checklists to do reminds me of real life, not what I want in a video game.

 

[deathsaber]

I never felt even remotely close the need to buy mtx in Odyssey. There is so much loot thrown at you in in that game, your inventory is literally clogged with it at all times- it's just a matter of always getting to the level appropriate stuff, and occasionally selling/scrapping the old crap from time to time so you don't have so much to scroll through. Just equip the highest level shit you have, or if you have something you like that's a little short in level, then upgrade it so it is more up to your level until you acquire something fresh that is more level appropriate.

Level scaling was also never a problem, as there are always quests appropriate for right at, or slightly under whatever level you are at to help you level up (and not deal with being under leveled). My only minor complaint on the level system in these games, is that the combat never fundamentally changes throughout. If you are level 5 fighting level 5 guys and under, its truly no different when you are level 100 and fighting level 100 guys or under.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Finished 3 times. Never had to grind for XP.

 

[Hoppa]

I preferred Origins but Odyssey was good too. The way you can scale up all cliffs/buildings without there needing to be a designated climbing spot is satisfying and something other open world rpgs haven’t nailed yet. For me the worst part of these games (apart from the grind) is the ‘real life’ animus segments, I truly could not give less of a shit and they always bring the games to a halt

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Odyssey from Origins was Assassin's Creed 3 to Assassin's Creed. It took a very concise, story in a small (for the franchise) piece of land, with a heavy focus on integrating the player with the gameplay and the gameplay with the World....and turned it into an arguably prettier, better functioning version of the same framework, except everything is larger. So large, in fact, that you'll often find yourself ignoring the marching army that just manipulated you into killing your best friend to go skin bears for three hours, or you know, put off that territory dispute that you've been sabotaging one side of for a week to go hunt fake body parts out of feral livestock.

Games like this lose something in being so open, so early. But the kickback they'd get from, say, locking away true free roam until the main story is over would be so hot that I can see why they're stuck in the middle.

But you could also lump that in with "needs more distinct writing/better narrative pacing," because a lot of the time, I'd happily get lost in all this side content and then get back to the main quest and be like "Who in the actual hell are these people? What was I doing?"

 

[Jaybe]

Origins > Odyssey

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Totally agree. My two things are: a) good game design b) an interesting story

 

[brian0057]

That's sad.
Sounds like you should play better games.

 

[SirKicksalot]

What about the magnetic mercenaries?
Or the world clustered around fast travel points? You're never more than three minutes away from a fast travel location and all types of gameplay challenges are equally distributed around each fast travel point.

 

[diffusionx]

ACO is probably my biggest disappointment ever. the game world is amazing but they saddled it with so much abhorrent garbage that it just becomes a chore to play after a really short amount of time. And so many of the gameplay elements are so half-baked it's just not fun.

 

[Raven117]

The grind for level gating really sucked.

 

[-tetsuo-]

You are in a thread for one.

 

[Physiognomonics]

I just gave up playing Odyssey on PS4. It was just too long and the load times between fast traveling was really slowing it down even further.

Having too many checklists to do reminds me of real life, not what I want in a video game.

Loadings on PS5 are much improved (patch is free) but still obviously could be better. (more than 3 seconds of loading on PS5 is already one second too much IMO).

What about the magnetic mercenaries?
Or the world clustered around fast travel points? You're never more than three minutes away from a fast travel location and all types of gameplay challenges are equally distributed around each fast travel point.

Hey mercenaries are usually actually fun IMO. It's random spike of difficulty, regular missions would be boring and too easy without them (well from 3 mercenaries on our ass and above it's getting outrageously difficult I usually abort the mission then LOL). But then it forces you to always prefer stealth gameplay to always avoid them (it's a Assassin's creed game after all).

Yes for travel points but there is at least some limited exploration in the game in many main missions. Could be better but at least better than 90% others open world games (better way is Elden Ring BTW).

 

[semiconscious]

I thought too much of the map consisted of empty space, resulting in too much travel, and riding the horse and sailing the boat are both undercooked mechanics.

And the mercenaries that keep following you are very annoying.

And the insistence on having main missions on every continent, and padding out every part of the game by taking over military camps, got tiresome.

It's still a great game, but the world of Origins was better in almost every regard I thought.

agree. loved origins, but eventually gave up on both odyssey & valhallah - once you've done ancient egypt, everywhere is just sorta anti-climatic...

 

[SmokedMeat]

Origins was the better game in my opinion. It was tighter with way less bloat that Odyssey had.
In Odyssey I was doing every little thing, but after 100hrs I had my fill and made a beeline for the story to finish it.

I still had maybe three sections of land that I never explored. You reach a point where you’re seeing and doing the same shit, and there’s no reward for doing this. Just more useless junk to turn into crafting materials, which I notice you still will have small amounts of the more crucial materials.

What I did enjoy was hunting Cultists, the mythological creatures, the organic creature/npc interactions, and my Kassandra getting it on with other women.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I agree the slow grindy leveling was annoying. I "pirated" the Xp boost on PC (with a trainer) and found it instantly more enjoyable

I played it on PC last year with a trainer so that I could modify the EXP/level up accordingly without having to buy extra bullshit. I put over 100 hours on it and loved every second. Great game.

Huh, interesting. Does this affect achievements if I use hacks like that? I have the game on Steam so I don't wanna fuck up my progress and stuff.

 

[Drizzlehell]

To me its a game with too much content. It needed less. I fucking loved everything BUT the amount of side quests like seriously. Trying to do it all was just beyond exhausting

That's why I'm not even trying to play it all at once. Usually I will play this game for about 30 hours or so and then set it aside for a few months. I literally started playing it almost a year and a half ago, but to me it's perfectly fine. It's like reading a really long book, where you will flip through a couple of chapters per week, and it takes you a really long time to get through the whole thing.

I see Odyssey as this video game epic, and I honestly don't mind playing it that way. I can still recall the story very well and thinking back on where it all started and what kind of adventures I've been through since then, it really makes it feel like a journey.

 

[Sygma]

That's why I'm not even trying to play it all at once. Usually I will play this game for about 30 hours or so and then set it aside for a few months. I literally started playing it almost a year and a half ago, but to me it's perfectly fine. It's like reading a really long book, where you will flip through a couple of chapters per week, and it takes you a really long time to get through the whole thing.

I see Odyssey as this video game epic, and I honestly don't mind playing it that way. I can still recall the story very well and thinking back on where it all started and what kind of adventures I've been through since then, it really makes it feel like a journey.

yeah its just, i think the weird mishmash of people thinking that the game needed the MTX to somehow be enjoyable, or less grindy completely missed the mark. The game has THAT MUCH content to get there without grinding, its absurd. But its also too much, like i dont think it needed all of that, considering that when you're done with the base game you then get into the dlcs and the "?" MULTIPLE QUESTS STARTED madness starts all over again.

In a way it kind of acts as a disservice when you consider the almost lowkey / passionate nature of the story vs the amount of insane stuff you do all over the world in side missions which consistently outclass the MSQ quests. I mean once you really do all the content and then finally finish the story, the stakes just aren't there anymore since you're literally the whole pantheon of gods as one person and the "family drama" by then just doesn't matter anymore lol, but thats a personal point of view of course.

Haven't played origins / valhalla yet but Odyssey was amazing despite the flaws, wished there was more Alexios's like in games instead of brooding / juvenile / dumb mcs. He's one of a kind.

 

[Captain Toad]

1. Not being anywhere as good as Elden Ring

2. Not being anywhere as good as Breath of the Wild

I could add about 20 more, but you said just two.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Strangely, I have never played Origins.

I highly recommend it as well. I can't really remember its story and I found it rather disjointed and forgettable, but everything else is just as incredible as it is in Odyssey. I absolutely loved exploring famoust Egyptian landmarks and delving into tombs. The game has an amazing atmosphere. And the soundtrack, oh man, just listen to this:

 

[Sleepwalker]

Huh, interesting. Does this affect achievements if I use hacks like that? I have the game on Steam so I don't wanna fuck up my progress and stuff.

No it doesn't as far as I know. Nothing really happened to my steam account either.

 

[Laptop1991]

I remember the original grind from release until January, to force you to buy time savers, it was a nightmare, i stopped playing the game until Ubisoft was forced to rebalance it in the January, the complaint thread on their old forums was one of the longest ever lol, the teleporting merc's made Ikarus useless as well, i didn't like that.

Yeah the grind was still there and until you leveled up high enough, it could be a chore, as for the multiple choice systems and outcomes that's not Ubisoft's forte, that's Bethesda and Obsidian's, AC RPG systems were lite at best, they basically copied other games that were doing well and packaged them together, The Witcher 3 and the souls combat with bosses etc,

But Odyssey is still better than Valhalla story wise and for side quests, they added Valhalla's store a month after release, but the store has dictated these games to a large extent, i still enjoyed them but there are irritating mechanics, like the damn wolves and the scripted random encounters, i'm sick of hearing "you killed my brother" in Valhalla, then killing him, for him to magically come back and keep saying it constantly lol.

 

[Drizzlehell]

1. Not being anywhere as good as Elden Ring

2. Not being anywhere as good as Breath of the Wild

I could add about 20 more, but you said just two.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Played Odyssey to death and never found the leveling too much of an issue. The world never out levels your gear that quickly, if you’ve made a decent set built around a specific idea you should be just fine.

 

[TrueLegend]

I played this game for 250 hours. It's the best of the three. Valhalla looks more incredible though n fixes all problems except the one which mattered most. Trimming the fat of main campaign, instead it added more.

 

[GymWolf]

Origins > Odyssey

din din din din we have a winner.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I played this game for 250 hours. It's the best of the three. Valhalla looks more incredible though n fixes all problems except the one which mattered most. Trimming the fat of main campaign, instead it added more.

Idk, I don't mind. Kind of a strange complaint anyway. If I'm into the game so much that I've been playing it on-and-off for almost 2 years and I can have a big 15 hour session with it on a Sunday and I still didn't get bored with it to this day, then why wouldn't I want it to last for as long as possible?

The only way this could be a problem is if the game was still doing this stupid "collect a billion feathers" bullshit but as far as I can tell, there is no such thing in this game. Sure you loot a lot of stuff but it's never just for the sake of looting. The resources, gear, and valuables that you can collect are dispensed in amounts that are just enough to keep you stocked but never enough to make you ridiculously wealthy like you could easily do it in pre-Origins AC games. And all the side activities are all pretty fun to do, plus there's enough of them to give you some variety.

The one thing about this game's story and gameplay content was how the game actually ended. In that there didn't seem to be any definitive ending, which was so underwhelming and strange. I didn't get around to playing the DLC yet, though, so I'm guessing that maybe this problem gets resolved in those.

 

[balls of snow]

It is really a top tier ac game. The merc system is a bit overtuned and the big battles not having an impact other than which side you want to win is the big flaws.
The content for as much as it is is quite high quality.

 

[Deleted member 471617]

I disagree with the first point. I completed AC Odyssey 100% TWICE. Finishing the prologue region, I was already level 6-8 or something like that. If you do the side quests and whatnot, you can easily get over-leveled. I averaged a level every two hours. When I was around 100 hours, I was max level 50. I never felt that the game was grindy at all. AC Odyssey is an WRPG. The player is meant to do side quests, activities, etc. just like in any other WRPG.

With that said, I am someone who'll play through each region going based in order of their respective level. So basically, I knock out everything I can do in one region before moving on to the next region so for me, I was never close to feeling like the game was a grind or that I ever needed to buy the XP boost. Nah. Waste of money. I played on hard difficulty and outside of the mercenaries, I never really had any major issues or trouble.

For the second point, yeah, it was weird that you could play both sides (and I did) but I wanted to do all the quests and whatnot so overall, I didn't mind it. I do prefer AC Origins over Odyssey but not by much. It's like 1A and 1B. One of the main reasons being that I preferred the no dialogue trees of Origins over having them in Odyssey. I like how Origins is simply all scripted and you just go through it all.

 

[remember_spinal]

games would be far more enjoyable if they were cut in half

 

[Hawking Radiation]

games would be far more enjoyable if they were cut in half

This.

Just grew tired of it all. I'd rather have a smaller map with more interesting areas to explore than this avalanche of crap.