Gaming Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

I've got the bug back to play Assassin's Creed again, but feck me if the story isn't bland so far

Like it's almost impressive to take such a vast wealth of saga accounts, legendary tales of great warriors, kings and fighters, and then just totally ignore it all. Enough of those names come up to suggest that the team were familiar with them, so it's a really odd choice not to lean more heavily into it.
 
dannyrhinos89 said:
I’ve been going through a few of his vids when I’m bored and he’s very good at what he does. I honestly couldn’t plan or have the reactions he does to pull of things like this. Yes the sound is very good, some people slated the voice acting but it’s fine I do think the girl is the way to go though her voice is perfect so I’d recommend choosing her over the man but it’s your choice.
Click to expand...

I went with Kassandra in Odyssey, but in this one I find male voice much better.
 
NinjaFletch said:
I've got the bug back to play Assassin's Creed again, but feck me if the story isn't bland so far

Like it's almost impressive to take such a vast wealth of saga accounts, legendary tales of great warriors, kings and fighters, and then just totally ignore it all. Enough of those names come up to suggest that the team were familiar with them, so it's a really odd choice not to lean more heavily into it.
Click to expand...
I thought up until you reach England it’s pretty solid but then:
The part where you meet the two brothers and help their king get on the throne gets pretty dry
Also, I don’t think I like Eivor that much. Anyone else finding that? Like, he’s not bad or anything and I am only very early game (about 8-9 hours or so in), but he just doesn’t seem to have the same likability of Bayek or Alexios. At least for me so far.
 
Bosws87 said:
All ubisoft games are terrible, i couldn't tell you the last top class ubisoft game its been that long, i wish the games industry didn't suffer from great rewards for mediocrity, but Fifa, COD and Assasins Creed keep churning out decent sales with very little change apart from a reskin.
Click to expand...
For me, Child of Light and Valiant Hearts. Both are comfortably far away from the focus-tested factory of stuff they shovel out every year.
 
Really didn’t enjoy this in the end - got it refunded (was the first game I played on my X)
 
NinjaFletch said:
I've got the bug back to play Assassin's Creed again, but feck me if the story isn't bland so far

Like it's almost impressive to take such a vast wealth of saga accounts, legendary tales of great warriors, kings and fighters, and then just totally ignore it all. Enough of those names come up to suggest that the team were familiar with them, so it's a really odd choice not to lean more heavily into it.
Click to expand...

Once I saw skillup's review of it, I knew to steer well clear. 67 hours it took him to complete, and he said he hated all but about 10 hours of it. Said pretty much exactly what you've just said. Bland story, hugely repetitive and failed to make use of great source material. Bloated and bland.
 
They're going to have to reboot the franchise sooner or later; I can't see them continuing down this line without people getting really fed up. A complete remake of the first 4 games would be a big seller for them I think, especially as AC 1 is considered by many to be a fantastic idea that was poorly executed.
 
GaryLifo said:
Once I saw skillup's review of it, I knew to steer well clear. 67 hours it took him to complete, and he said he hated all but about 10 hours of it. Said pretty much exactly what you've just said. Bland story, hugely repetitive and failed to make use of great source material. Bloated and bland.
Click to expand...

Ah well, he's definitely played more of it than me so it's a shame to hear it doesn't get better on that front.

I think it's fairly standard Assassin's Creed fare beyond that though, and at this point you either like it or you don't. Not sure I can ever remember the games having a particularly engaging storyline (except maybe the Ezio ones) so not sure why I expected it might start here.
 
Think people are being over critical of it. And that’s coming from someone who has been massively critical of Assassin’s Creed, who thought the most revered one (pirates) was very overrated.

It clearly borrows from The Witcher and Skyrim a fair bit at this point (probably Red Dead 2 a bit as well). Obviously the best thing about those are the story, and I’m pretty safe to assume will be nowhere near as good in that regard. That’s obviously a big deal, but it doesn’t mean this is rubbish by any stretch. It does do some things better than both those games too (combat by a long way).

Immersion and depth won’t be on par with them, but it’s doing a lot right in my opinion.
 
VeevaVee said:
Think people are being over critical of it. And that’s coming from someone who has been massively critical of Assassin’s Creed, who thought the most revered one (pirates) was very overrated.

It clearly borrows from The Witcher and Skyrim a fair bit at this point (probably Red Dead 2 a bit as well). Obviously the best thing about those are the story, and I’m pretty safe to assume will be nowhere near as good in that regard. That’s obviously a big deal, but it doesn’t mean this is rubbish by any stretch. It does do some things better than both those games too (combat by a long way).

Immersion and depth won’t be on par with them, but it’s doing a lot right in my opinion.
Click to expand...

If anything people are too soft they have been getting a free pass for years.
 
Bosws87 said:
If anything people are too soft they have been getting a free pass for years.
Click to expand...
See your point but in a way this is probably the last year anyone should have expected them to go with a drastic departure from the Odyssey and Origins formula that clearly pulled in a lot of new players. Between the scandals at Ubisoft and of course Covid - I can imagine they also had to cut some corners in places. One good thing though is that Ubisoft has been very good lately about patching things and introducing new free content as well as creating massive DLCs of course. That's why I do think they should themselves in the foot a bit with people who play early and are likely to be more critical.
 
Bosws87 said:
If anything people are too soft they have been getting a free pass for years.
Click to expand...
Hmm not sure about that. The same criticisms have been said about AC for donkeys, and they were very valid. They’re still stuck in people’s minds though, and although it does suffer a little from those flaws still, this is still a good game.

I mean there’s people here that haven’t even played it slating it :lol:

At this point it’s just people piling in on Ubisoft’s reputation. That reputation is justified but it’s massively affecting their view of the game on its own. A game that’s only a few alternate story pathways off being on par with many very highly regarded games.

Disclaimer though, I haven’t played all the recent games, so maybe it would feel like more of the same if you have. Those people would surely like that though, otherwise why the shit are you playing them?
 
Last edited:
I wish people would stop buying games that Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard churn out every single year. Only buy when the game is good. MW was for the most part awesome and well worth everyones money but buying fifa, ac every year is just enabling these companies to churn out shite.
 
Paxi said:
I wish people would stop buying games that Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard churn out every single year. Only buy when the game is good. MW was for the most part awesome and well worth everyones money but buying fifa, ac every year is just enabling these companies to churn out shite.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately Assassin's Creed is like a guilty pleasure for me. :D Can't bring myself to skip any game in this series whether I liked it or not at the end. It holds a big place in my heart and I remember the firs time I decided to make a run throughout the series to get into, I was blown away by the setting and the idea.
 
Paxi said:
I wish people would stop buying games that Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard churn out every single year. Only buy when the game is good. MW was for the most part awesome and well worth everyones money but buying fifa, ac every year is just enabling these companies to churn out shite.
Click to expand...
What game does Blizzard churn out every year?
 
hobbers said:
Ubisoft are an innovatively (not a real word) bankrupt company these days.

Watch Dogs, The Division, Assassins Creed all bloated titles with repetitive as feck missions that get worse and worse with every iteration. Fair enough AC had a bit of a reprieve with the RPG elements being added in.

Then there's the shit that stunk right from the get go like The Crew and Hyper Scape.

They get some credit for Siege, which is a decent diversion from the other casual shooters, Trackmania and Trials.
Click to expand...

To be fair WatchDogs 2 was very different from WatchDogs 1...not that I particularly liked it, but it was different.

I also really enjoyed FarCry 5...not that it was the best game ever but it was a lot of fun.
 
el3mel said:
Unfortunately Assassin's Creed is like a guilty pleasure for me. :D Can't bring myself to skip any game in this series whether I liked it or not at the end. It holds a big place in my heart and I remember the firs time I decided to make a run throughout the series to get into, I was blown away by the setting and the idea.
Click to expand...
I understand. They did a soft reboot with origins of dort but they need to think of a new loop to keep people interested. What's annoying is that with the vast amount of resources those companies have, they could make stellar games with new ideas every year, instead its the same game loop with re-skinned assets. Fifa is much worse than AC or CoD by the way, but I wish (I know its not going to happen) we'd just take a stand and buy games that are very well made instead of indulging in every game.

I'm not buying Cod: CW until I see reviews as they've embargoed the reviews until after the game is released. I can't remember for certain but they were shouting from the rooftops how good MW was last year.
 
Paxi said:
Of course. Sorry. Activision is owned by blizzard or is it the other way round? In any case. Stopped giving my money to them years ago, until MW came out last year which was fantastic for the most part.
Click to expand...
Just wanted to mention that Blizzard is quite the contrast to that, rarely releasing games but with a great banger ratio.
 
hellhunter said:
Just wanted to mention that Blizzard is quite the contrast to that, rarely releasing games but with a great banger ratio.
Click to expand...
Yeah I stand corrected on that. They've WoW et al don't they. Its just I got muddled up as I'm always signing into a blizzard account before a CoD session.
 
Mixed about it so far, feel it's the perfect setting for me. Not left the starting area yet and not done much, liking certain elements.
Performance and bugs a tad annoying.
Probably doesn't help that I've played Witcher/Divinity recently.

Just the writing, some of the early missions have killed my immersion by how they happened.
*Wake up, oh spies in the village*
 
Love it to be honest. Just got to England, but have more to do in Norway. Wanted to start with the settlement.
 
Personally I really like the setting and the game is decent so far. I'm not very invested in the story though, but yeah its another decent AC game but not remarkable. It's has some clear inspirations from the Witcher 3 though.
 
Definetly a tad buggy, had the gamebreaking one once you reach England. Checking files got me past it after 10 or so goes and then my game getting stuck at the amd screen.

Hard not to love the setting, being a big fan of the last kingdom it's great.
Shame can't murder civs and no shield walls so far :(

Not big on the out of animus stuff.
 
Stactix said:
Definetly a tad buggy, had the gamebreaking one once you reach England. Checking files got me past it after 10 or so goes and then my game getting stuck at the amd screen.

Hard not to love the setting, being a big fan of the last kingdom it's great.
Shame can't murder civs and no shield walls so far :(

Not big on the out of animus stuff.
Click to expand...
What’s the bug? Any advice on avoiding it, or making sure you’re set up to go back easily?
 
hellhunter said:
Just wanted to mention that Blizzard is quite the contrast to that, rarely releasing games but with a great banger ratio.
Click to expand...
Bit late but wanted to counter this - Blizzard of late are complete trash. They're sill milking WoW with subpar expansions to the extent that they had to bring back classic to appease their bored fanbase (imagine that, the 15 year old version of your biggest game exceeds the modern version). Lately they're essentially a glorified mobile developer, making the next diablo on android/iOS exclusive (which went down an absolute treat with the fans :lol: ) and going all in on Hearthstone of all games. Their last decent game was probably Overwatch. And that's not even mentioning their cowardice in giving in to Chinese censorship by banning and taking back the winnings of that Hearthstone player for displaying solidarity with the Hong Kong protests.
 
The game is honestly a technical mess on PS4.

Yesterday just because my internet connection got lost while playing, all my entire saves suddenly got corrupted, the current quest mark got bugged and refused to appear, then the entire game crashed.

Thank feck I had a recent manual save.

Otherwise, the loading screens are ridiculous on PS4. The game takes ages to load on booting the game, on fast traveling and dying.

I recommend waiting till they fix the game all honestly. Don't know about the PC port.
 
Kaos said:
Bit late but wanted to counter this - Blizzard of late are complete trash. They're sill milking WoW with subpar expansions to the extent that they had to bring back classic to appease their bored fanbase (imagine that, the 15 year old version of your biggest game exceeds the modern version). Lately they're essentially a glorified mobile developer, making the next diablo on android/iOS exclusive (which went down an absolute treat with the fans :lol: ) and going all in on Hearthstone of all games. Their last decent game was probably Overwatch. And that's not even mentioning their cowardice in giving in to Chinese censorship by banning and taking back the winnings of that Hearthstone player for displaying solidarity with the Hong Kong protests.
Click to expand...

They've also recently shut down all content and balance-change patch support for Starcraft 2. Which is the only game series they've produced that has value as an esport.
 
el3mel said:
The game is honestly a technical mess on PS4.

Yesterday just because my internet connection got lost while playing, all my entire saves suddenly got corrupted, the current quest mark got bugged and refused to appear, then the entire game crashed.

Thank feck I had a recent manual save.

Otherwise, the loading screens are ridiculous on PS4. The game takes ages to load on booting the game, on fast traveling and dying.

I recommend waiting till they fix the game all honestly. Don't know about the PC port.
Click to expand...
I’ve had one crash on Xbox One and the odd glitch. Nothing else so far. I am saving a lot though following some warnings about crashing in reviews.

I’ve loved it so far though. Prefer it to Odyssey and one of my favourite in the series. I’m a sucker for Viking stuff so it’s easy to get into for me. I do find it hilarious how Vikings are portrayed as heroes and Saxons as the less morally good people, when the reality was the opposite.

Raids are great. Love the music too. I like how they’ve limited the amount of armour you get and force you to focus on upgrading what you have too. The skill tree is a bit all over the place.

At about 25 hours in I’d give it an 8/10 so far.
 
Klopper76 said:
I’ve had one crash on Xbox One and the odd glitch. Nothing else so far. I am saving a lot though following some warnings about crashing in reviews.

I’ve loved it so far though. Prefer it to Odyssey and one of my favourite in the series. I’m a sucker for Viking stuff so it’s easy to get into for me. I do find it hilarious how Vikings are portrayed as heroes and Saxons as the less morally good people, when the reality was the opposite.

Raids are great. Love the music too. I like how they’ve limited the amount of armour you get and force you to focus on upgrading what you have too. The skill tree is a bit all over the place.

At about 25 hours in I’d give it an 8/10 so far.
Click to expand...

I definitely prefer this more than Odyssey gameplay wise, yeah no doubt for me.

Exploration is very rewarding and I like the new "wealth - mystery" mix than normal side quests. It also removes all the level grinding crap from Origins and Odyssey. The power system is much better and more accessible. The entire loot RPG system has been watered down so much in comparison to the previous 2 games so that it's no longer a Witcher clone. All these are bonuses for me. It feels like they were trying to mix old school AC with new school AC, and I think it has been working pretty fine so far. I'm also 22 hours in.

People seem to say it favors combat on stealth but I will honestly disagree. Stealth in this one is so far ten times easier for me than Odyssey. Enemies don't instantly discover you like Odyssey, and with the RPG bullshit being lowered down, it's pretty easy to clear the entire camp with bow and hidden blade. Each time I got discovered, it was because of my own mistake, not because of some bullshit like the guards having the x ray vision.

Unfortunately though I don't like the combat that much. It's not bad, but just way too floaty and chaotic. It's not a major problem, but after playing Ghost of Tsushima this feels like a massive downgrade.

I'm sure most of the technical problems will be solved as the time goes on but I will recommend for others to wait till they at least solve this save issue bug.
 
VeevaVee said:
What’s the bug? Any advice on avoiding it, or making sure you’re set up to go back easily?
Click to expand...

First longhouse you look in once you get to England, speak to some people and then its supposed to start another cutscene but ends up with dag/Sigurd/Eivor all huddled together not being able to do anything
Seems to be a PC issue but happened to quite a few, might of been caused by using an xbox controller.
Workaround for some was to change graphics so it reloads the cutscene then leave it.

It auto saves prior to you going in, so could keep retrying.
 
Kaos said:
Bit late but wanted to counter this - Blizzard of late are complete trash. They're sill milking WoW with subpar expansions to the extent that they had to bring back classic to appease their bored fanbase (imagine that, the 15 year old version of your biggest game exceeds the modern version). Lately they're essentially a glorified mobile developer, making the next diablo on android/iOS exclusive (which went down an absolute treat with the fans :lol: ) and going all in on Hearthstone of all games. Their last decent game was probably Overwatch. And that's not even mentioning their cowardice in giving in to Chinese censorship by banning and taking back the winnings of that Hearthstone player for displaying solidarity with the Hong Kong protests.
Click to expand...

Yeah Blizzard have gone to shite in recent years.
'Have you not got phones'
 
Just got to Enlgand.

I mean it's been interesting so far, more so than Odyssey at least, but feck all as really happened at the same time.
 
The main plot drags a lot, in my opinion. The entire arc in England is basically *help this kingdom out by doing 3 fetch quests and they’ll pledge for you*. Give or take a castle storming. There’s also way too many of them. All the little side quests/world events are perfect now, but they’ve taken the repetitiveness from them in the older games and chucked them back into the main plot.

In contrast
Are the best part of the game. Going to Asgurd and Johtunheim is pretty cool.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.