Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

[Sprayingmango]

I absolutely love this game!! I've been an AC fan forever and this is by far the best one. There is so much to do, the quests are fun, the voice acting is good, etc. I love it!

 

[Blade-Runner]

They all make the same mistake.

Again, "grinding" to reviewers means "everything other than main missions".

Are those side missions meaningful activities with compelling narratives that actually add to the lore and provide some varied gameplay, or is it just vapid busy work with the same repeated gameplay loop that needs to be repeated incessantly during a 60 hour play through? Because it got pretty damn old in Syndicate having to do the same uninteresting side missions a hundred times over just to progress through the main missions.

 

[M76]

Are those side missions meaningful activities with compelling narratives that actually add to the lore and provide some varied gameplay, or is it just vapid busy work with the same repeated gameplay loop that needs to be repeated incessantly during a 60 hour play through? Because it got pretty damn old in Syndicate having to do the same uninteresting side missions a hundred times over just to progress through the main missions.

I'm on level 11 after 8 hours and up to this point they were compelling enough.

I think this game might be a similar case as Ghosts Wildlands. many said it is terrible, and a grindfest, but I liked it all the way, because I enjoyed the basic gameplay so much I could do it all day just for the sake of it.

 

[Q-BZ]

You can actually complete an available bounty without even accepting it yet. The game will just automatically give you the quest.

Good deal. I did see that happen with another quest.

The reason I asked is because I have this bounty/sidequest about killing x number of Athenian leaders all over the place and I ended up hitting the second land mass north and east of the beginning where I killed someone that was designated a leader and nothing happened. Perhaps he wasn't Athenian?

Are those side missions meaningful activities with compelling narratives that actually add to the lore and provide some varied gameplay, or is it just vapid busy work with the same repeated gameplay loop that needs to be repeated incessantly during a 60 hour play through? Because it got pretty damn old in Syndicate having to do the same uninteresting side missions a hundred times over just to progress through the main missions.

Yes.

Origins and this greatly benefit from the "Witcher 3 showing everyone up and setting a new standard" effect. The old days of fetch bloat, "vapidness", and BS are gone.

I think they both surpass Witcher 3 myself but if nothing else certainly equal in these a

Lots of instances where you'll talk to someone for a seemingly simple sidequest and suddenly it evolves and takes a life of its own.

 

[JustinCorrigible]

I'm liking this one from the get-go as much as I liked Black Flag. Getting back into ship battles was like hopping back onto that bike after some time.

I think it improves upon a bit of what Origins started to fix, as both were very welcome improvements upon Syndicate (talk about monotonous). Unity gets a pass from me, I liked it a lot despite any derision it suffered, though I don't lament the passing of those chase the paper/whatever challenges.

Sync points aren't really to my liking in this game as with the last -- at least this early -- but I get it, I guess. The Zeus statue sync point on first island just felt weird to climb.

Combat feels a lot better than Origins, but I may be remembering it wrong since I tended to be much more stealthy in Origins, and I feel like I'm forced into combat much more often in this one. I guess that's a negative to me. Still don't care as much for the weapons, but I like the abundance of armor. Also, the story is much more coherent than Origins, which seemed so disjointed.

 

[Mchart]

I agree overall - I think this takes a lot of the best elements of the prior games and really delivers.

I'll agree with the climbing - It's the only aspect of this game that feels off from the other games. I'm not sure it's a good change - It basically feels like the climbing in Zelda somewhat. While not a bad thing, it just seems weird that you can climb literally anything.

 

[jedolley]

I feel like the pacing/leveling in the game is fine and would not refer to it as a grind. I think the only reason this is a discussion is because Ubisoft put the micro transactions for XP in the store. I don't like it or plan to use it, but I don't understand why people are getting bent out of shape over micro transactions like this in a single player game. If you want to pay for it, then go for it and if you don't then don't.

 

[mQzz]

I feel like the pacing/leveling in the game is fine and would not refer to it as a grind. I think the only reason this is a discussion is because Ubisoft put the micro transactions for XP in the store. I don't like it or plan to use it, but I don't understand why people are getting bent out of shape over micro transactions like this in a single player game. If you want to pay for it, then go for it and if you don't then don't.

im kinda getting the arguments about grinding now. its not exp, you can always to sidequests and other shit to level up. but the materials are fucking hard to come by man. im having a hard time with ship battles at the moment cause i dont have the crafting materials to upgrade my ship. and its just such a chore to gather 400 wood when you get 5 from a plant, 20 from a war chest and 30 from sinking another ship.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

When you travel on your horse, stay off-road and loot all the iron deposits and trees you pass. Should get wood easily. Also I think ramming stranded ships instead of boarding them gets you more mats. Same idea for your gear, always dismantle instead of selling it. If you need gold, then sell.

I have 3k of all the basic mats right now.

 

[SighTurtle]

Guess I'll post my thoughts as well. First off, someone give a raise to the dev who suggested no fall damage. Not having to deal with it is such a good thing.

Two, actually I sorta get the annoyance about the leveling. While playing the game, I realized that the desire to keep going through the main storyline was detracting me from enjoying the side missions and the world. So I'm planning to circle back and really soak the game and the environment.

Three, I enjoy the female VA, I love Ancient Greece, I love being a mercenary, my early unease to not fighting on a particular faction has given way to "Where's my fucking money fuckers". I like the dialogue options, the story has actually enchanted me. I like how decisions and things I do actually have impacts, and Exploration Mode, not hard at all, yet I enjoy not being led on a leash. Honestly I'm pretty ok with the things some people were worried about. Like female main character as a warrior, female soldiers and mercenaries, I mean Odyssey (Homer's) is a epic, and I feel definitely like im going through a epic tale as Kassandra/Alexios and so mythical characters and all the magic and etc. It fits really well with Greece.

Ship Battles are awesome, there's lots of content to murder, all in all pretty good.

Combat, I actually enjoy being able to be a light rogue, stabbing insanely fast, or being a warrior/Hunter. Whoever suggested the Sparta Kick also deserves a raise. Oh, I'm feeling the assassin vibe, but being able to choose and shift is enjoyable.

 

[M76]

OK, I'm at level 12 now and starting to fucking hate the game. It is getting ridiculous at this point. Clearing forts is nearly impossible.I've just spent the past hour trying to clear one, and it's fucking infuriating and frustrating at the same time, that the game just keeps sending mercenaries at you without end. Even without the alarms being raised. The n+1 th mercenary will always be too much and you end up dying after killing dozens of enemies, and you're back to square one. And not even the damn xp you collected is carried trough.

Thumbs down.

And I already bumped difficulty down to easy. And still mercs with flaming or poison weapons can kill me in 2-3 hits, even if they are bellow my level!? This is just stupid now.. I refuse to waste my time trying to do the same thing over and over again failing after 20-30 minutes of trying fucking hard.

 

[jedolley]

OK, I'm at level 12 now and starting to fucking hate the game. It is getting ridiculous at this point. Clearing forts is nearly impossible.I've just spent the past hour trying to clear one, and it's fucking infuriating and frustrating at the same time, that the game just keeps sending mercenaries at you without end. Even without the alarms being raised. The n+1 th mercenary will always be too much and you end up dying after killing dozens of enemies, and you're back to square one. And not even the damn xp you collected is carried trough.

Thumbs down.

And I already bumped difficulty down to easy. And still mercs with flaming or poison weapons can kill me in 2-3 hits, even if they are bellow my level!? This is just stupid at this point.

I'm almost 13th and have only had two mercenaries sent after me. You can pay your bounties from the map screen and the amounts are usually pretty low (at least so far).

As for forts, I've gone mostly Warrior damage with some Assassin and only using a couple of the assassination traits. I haven't had too much trouble with forts thus far as I stealth kill as much as I can before I'm outed.

 

[mr_zen256]

OK, I'm at level 12 now and starting to fucking hate the game. It is getting ridiculous at this point. Clearing forts is nearly impossible.I've just spent the past hour trying to clear one, and it's fucking infuriating and frustrating at the same time, that the game just keeps sending mercenaries at you without end. Even without the alarms being raised. The n+1 th mercenary will always be too much and you end up dying after killing dozens of enemies, and you're back to square one. And not even the damn xp you collected is carried trough.

Thumbs down.

And I already bumped difficulty down to easy. And still mercs with flaming or poison weapons can kill me in 2-3 hits, even if they are bellow my level!? This is just stupid now.. I refuse to waste my time trying to do the same thing over and over again failing after 20-30 minutes of trying fucking hard.

Have you tried clearing your bounties? Mercenaries will start griefing you without end if you don't lose your heat.

I tend to kill the bounty giver. Something satisfyingly vengeful about it

 

[M76]

Guess I'll post my thoughts as well. First off, someone give a raise to the dev who suggested no fall damage. Not having to deal with it is such a good thing.

Two, actually I sorta get the annoyance about the leveling. While playing the game, I realized that the desire to keep going through the main storyline was detracting me from enjoying the side missions and the world. So I'm planning to circle back and really soak the game and the environment.

Three, I enjoy the female VA, I love Ancient Greece, I love being a mercenary, my early unease to not fighting on a particular faction has given way to "Where's my fucking money fuckers". I like the dialogue options, the story has actually enchanted me. I like how decisions and things I do actually have impacts, and Exploration Mode, not hard at all, yet I enjoy not being led on a leash. Honestly I'm pretty ok with the things some people were worried about. Like female main character as a warrior, female soldiers and mercenaries, I mean Odyssey (Homer's) is a epic, and I feel definitely like im going through a epic tale as Kassandra/Alexios and so mythical characters and all the magic and etc. It fits really well with Greece.

Ship Battles are awesome, there's lots of content to murder, all in all pretty good.

Combat, I actually enjoy being able to be a light rogue, stabbing insanely fast, or being a warrior/Hunter. Whoever suggested the Sparta Kick also deserves a raise. Oh, I'm feeling the assassin vibe, but being able to choose and shift is enjoyable.

1. What are you on about? There is fall damage.

2. The levelling is detracting from your ability to freely explore. Because I already have like a dozen sidequests in my quest list, that are above my level. And there is not even the slightest possibility to do those, even the one that is just one level above me is complete impossibility, with the way levelling works in the game.
It is utterly ridiculous that by say level 50, you're about 1000 times stronger than on level 1. It should be a double or maybe three times at most. Not this shit that each level raises your damage to double almost. And on top of that you have to level up your gear as well to keep up, for credits. It is annoying as hell. You find gear you actually like the look of, but you can't use it because its stats are shit after two levels

It seems to me that balance testing wasn't finished on the game, or they didn't get much farther than the tutorial part, because maybe until level 6-7 the difficulty seemed even and manageable despite having played on medium. But now at level 12 I'm consistently loosing every fight on easy!

 

[jedolley]

I tend to kill the bounty giver. Something satisfyingly vengeful about it

That's another way to do it.

 

[M76]

Have you tried clearing your bounties? Mercenaries will start griefing you without end if you don't lose your heat.

I tend to kill the bounty giver. Something satisfyingly vengeful about it

I haven't tried that. I don't really know how they work. Currently no matter which fort I try to clear. There will already be at least 2 mercs there apart from the one or two captains. And if I'm discovered they'll just start pouring in almost forming a line at the gates. By the time I can deal with one there is already two more on scene usually.

But I'll try next time to clear the bounty, I didn't think it had that much of an impact. I thought mercs were just wandering randomly.

 

[jedolley]

1. What are you on about? There is fall damage.

2. The levelling is detracting from your ability to freely explore. Because I already have like a dozen sidequests in my quest list, that are above my level. And there is not even the slightest possibility to do those, even the one that is just one level above me is complete impossibility, with the way levelling works in the game.
It is utterly ridiculous that by say level 50, you're about 1000 times stronger than on level 1. It should be a double or maybe three times at most. Not this shit that each level raises your damage to double almost. And on top of that you have to level up your gear as well to keep up, for credits. It is annoying as hell. You find gear you actually like the look of, but you can't use it because its stats are shit after two levels

It seems to me that balance testing wasn't finished on the game, or they didn't get much farther than the tutorial part, because maybe until level 6-7 the difficulty seemed even and manageable despite having played on medium. But now at level 12 I'm consistently loosing every fight on easy!

I assume the original poster of that statement was referring to not dying from falls.

As for the rest of your post... I'm just not having the same experience. The game is in no way perfect, but i'm having a blast. I'm really glad I looked past that it was an AC game (have only played a couple and was not really a series I liked). I will say that if I disliked any game as much as it seems you are disliking this game, then I struggle to understand why you keep pumping hours of your time into it.

 

[mr_zen256]

1. What are you on about? There is fall damage.

2. The levelling is detracting from your ability to freely explore. Because I already have like a dozen sidequests in my quest list, that are above my level. And there is not even the slightest possibility to do those, even the one that is just one level above me is complete impossibility, with the way levelling works in the game.
It is utterly ridiculous that by say level 50, you're about 1000 times stronger than on level 1. It should be a double or maybe three times at most. Not this shit that each level raises your damage to double almost. And on top of that you have to level up your gear as well to keep up, for credits. It is annoying as hell. You find gear you actually like the look of, but you can't use it because its stats are shit after two levels

It seems to me that balance testing wasn't finished on the game, or they didn't get much farther than the tutorial part, because maybe until level 6-7 the difficulty seemed even and manageable despite having played on medium. But now at level 12 I'm consistently loosing every fight on easy!

1. There is a skill that removes fall damage completely (once you've leveled enough)

2. You can level up your favorite gear at the blacksmith.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

The fall damage perk upgrades as you level, eventually you become immune to fall damage.

 

[M76]

i'm having a blast.

I was too, until this point, where a gap started to form between my level and the required levels for available quests. And as flamer/poison enemies started to come out the woodwork, which are crazy overpowered compared to regular enemies.

 

[M76]

1. There is a skill that removes fall damage completely (once you've leveled enough)

2. You can level up your favorite gear at the blacksmith.

1. I know that, but that doesn't mean there isn't fall damage in the game, which was the message in the original post.

2. I know that too, but I never have enough resources to level up all my gear, and often even after levelling them up they're still weaker than new ugly but rare or legendary gear. Not to mention having to go back to a blacksmith after each levelup? Seems like a completely unnecessary chore in the game. Your gear should level with you automatically.

 

[-=SOF=-WID99]

you can press a key to roll after you fall = no fall damage..unless you hop off a huge cliff ,, but DUH do not do that

 

[M76]

OK, I don't know what am I doing wrong, even if I clear the bounty. As soon as I start fightig someone it will immediately go up, and mercs start rolling in, 3-4 even 5 at the same time, some 2-3 levels above me. Is the game broken, or what? How can I deal with such opposition? OR can I do nothing else but cower in the shadows and sneak around like a thief?

 

[mQzz]

OK, I don't know what am I doing wrong, even if I clear the bounty. As soon as I start fightig someone it will immediately go up, and mercs start rolling in, 3-4 even 5 at the same time, some 2-3 levels above me. Is the game broken, or what? How can I deal with such opposition? OR can I do nothing else but cower in the shadows and sneak around like a thief?

the meter in the bottom right, with the red helmets... is it all cleared up? that shows you how severe the bounty on your head is.

 

[SnowBeast]

I killed 5 or 6 Mercs at one fort that 2 of were higher level. How? Strategy. Use Height to your advantage. Poison them at a high ledge or platform. Then Spartan kick off the platform for a long fall. Use the environment well. BIG BIG damage, rinse repeat. Some won't climb so pull out a bow and use that zoom aim for big damage as well. Go into inventory, reload arrows, continue. I broke the 30/30 Merc kill at level 20 so far. Fuck paying bounties! This is SPARTA!!!!!!

 

[ghostwich]

Technically DualShock4 is superior since it has a gyro and touch screen.
XB1 controller has better compatibility.

Do games on the PC use the gyro and touchscreen?

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Do games on the PC use the gyro and touchscreen?

I don't know about PC games but emulators do.
If the 2 controllers are the same price, you may as well buy the superior one. Unless you just like the XB1 controller more.

 

[M76]

the meter in the bottom right, with the red helmets... is it all cleared up? that shows you how severe the bounty on your head is.

It is cleared when I start the fight, but after a minute it is up to level 2 or 3. And all mercs are converging on the area, even ones that are above my level.
It doesn't matter if I'm trying to collect a bounty, or attacking a fort, the same thing happens.

 

[M76]

you can press a key to roll after you fall = no fall damage..unless you hop off a huge cliff ,, but DUH do not do that

And which key is that? And when do you press it? Right after jumping or just before you land, is it like a QTE? Because so far I have always taken fall damage, and the game never even hinted at having a way to do that.

 

[M76]

I killed 5 or 6 Mercs at one fort that 2 of were higher level. How? Strategy. Use Height to your advantage. Poison them at a high ledge or platform. Then Spartan kick off the platform for a long fall. Use the environment well. BIG BIG damage, rinse repeat. Some won't climb so pull out a bow and use that zoom aim for big damage as well. Go into inventory, reload arrows, continue. I broke the 30/30 Merc kill at level 20 so far. Fuck paying bounties! This is SPARTA!!!!!!

That's when the game becomes grindy. I understand that you can spawn arrows infinitely (at least until you have wood which I'm always short on). But using hundreds of arrows to take out enemies in an hour of grind is not my idea of fun. Not to mention how immersion breaking it is when it takes 100 arrows hell, if they are higher level than you more to take them down.

And I didn't have problems with fighting mercs until the ones came with flame weapons. Even the ones with poison are mild comparatively. But these, easily take half my health in just one hit. Even ones that are bellow my level. And it takes like 50 hits for me to take them down? I don't like that one bit.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

And which key is that? And when do you press it? Right after jumping or just before you land, is it like a QTE? Because so far I have always taken fall damage, and the game never even hinted at having a way to do that.

Open your Abilities menu and check the icons along the bottom. One of them is related to fall damage and the tooltip should tell you the button.
idk what it is either, tbh. You stop taking fall damage entirely at level 20 I think.

 

[Aireoth]

Playing on nightmare, level 13, cleared every fort and I am in the second region you boat to. Also love the mercs, I'll rack up my bounty just to get their sweet sweet loot. The only fights that are a nightmare is the battles. The lack of ability to heal at this point makes the battle chip damage almost impossible to overcome.

For those having issues with difficulty, retreat is an option, you don't even have to move outside the fort, just keep moving, climbing and ducking, eventually you'll break agro. Reposition and begin again, most enemies keep their damage as long as you stay in the immediate area.

 

[Flogger23m]

I think it improves upon a bit of what Origins started to fix, as both were very welcome improvements upon Syndicate (talk about monotonous).

Syndicate was actually a good game. The side missions were too repetitive which was its biggest problem. The overall story was weak, but the same can be said for Origins. Black Flag had a perfect length. There were a number of side activities that were worth doing but not forced. But nothing was a huge diversion and you always felt like you had a real goal to work towards. I wish they'd remaster the game to fix the horrific controls.

 

[JustinCorrigible]

Syndicate was actually a good game. The side missions were too repetitive which was its biggest problem. The overall story was weak, but the same can be said for Origins. Black Flag had a perfect length. There were a number of side activities that were worth doing but not forced. But nothing was a huge diversion and you always felt like you had a real goal to work towards. I wish they'd remaster the game to fix the horrific controls.

Remaster which one? I loved Unity's run over and under controls with R2+A/B (but the climbing was broken -- I never got so frustrated when my character decided to change course for no apparent reason), and was disappointed when they were not included in Origins, and Odyssey, since there is so much in the world. And yes, when I speak of monotony and Syndicate, it is straight up about everything aside from the main missions. I did not dislike the game, it was just a chore for everything else since they made up the bulk of the gameplay. Odyssey so far does not feel like that. Stayed up way too late last night playing it. Had just gotten my mask and cloak for the Eyes Wide Shut meeting.

 

[Flogger23m]

Remaster which one? I loved Unity's run over and under controls with R2+A/B (but the climbing was broken -- I never got so frustrated when my character decided to change course for no apparent reason), and was disappointed when they were not included in Origins, and Odyssey, since there is so much in the world. And yes, when I speak of monotony and Syndicate, it is straight up about everything aside from the main missions. I did not dislike the game, it was just a chore for everything else since they made up the bulk of the gameplay. Odyssey so far does not feel like that. Stayed up way too late last night playing it. Had just gotten my mask and cloak for the Eyes Wide Shut meeting.

Black Flag. Remaster not because of the graphics, but the garbage controls. Yeah Syndicate side missions sucked. The main missions were great, as was the combat and movement. I found that they did a good job with London as well. It seemed fairly realistic and well done. Too bad the side missions were lackluster.

 

[M76]

Now the game begins to be a grind in earnest. I literally have to take every stupid errand, to get enough xp to level up to be able to continue the main quest. It's ridiculous. I bet the permanent xp boost that you can buy is how the game was supposed to be originally. But no, I'm not buying it. I already paid 80 for the game, fuck you ubisoft you cut the cord with me. You took a great game and made it an ornament on the altar of microtransactions, and ruined it. Just die in a pit full of snakes.

The game is basically ghost wildlands, but with an added restrictive levelling system tacked on it, that prevents you from progressing as you wish and to go where you want to and do what you want.

 

[SighTurtle]

Excuse me if I'm wrong, isn't that how RPGs work generally? Things are level-gated? What difficulty level are you playing on? I suggest you play on the lowest. Hmm, strange about the mercs jumping on you so quick. But I play on the easiest difficulty so i basically shred most enemies except the higher level or elite enemies.

1. I know that, but that doesn't mean there isn't fall damage in the game, which was the message in the original post.

Yeah I was referring to not dying despite taking fall damage.

OK, I don't know what am I doing wrong, even if I clear the bounty. As soon as I start fightig someone it will immediately go up, and mercs start rolling in, 3-4 even 5 at the same time, some 2-3 levels above me. Is the game broken, or what? How can I deal with such opposition? OR can I do nothing else but cower in the shadows and sneak around like a thief?

I've done both the sneak like a assassin and just walking through the front door, and i've never really gotten overwhelmed by mercs too fast.

 

[Aireoth]

Now the game begins to be a grind in earnest. I literally have to take every stupid errand, to get enough xp to level up to be able to continue the main quest. It's ridiculous. I bet the permanent xp boost that you can buy is how the game was supposed to be originally. But no, I'm not buying it. I already paid 80 for the game, fuck you ubisoft you cut the cord with me. You took a great game and made it an ornament on the altar of microtransactions, and ruined it. Just die in a pit full of snakes.

The game is basically ghost wildlands, but with an added restrictive levelling system tacked on it, that prevents you from progressing as you wish and to go where you want to and do what you want.

While I agree that pay to win and all the garbage UBI has put into it is garbage, I just have the base game.

From reading all your complaints your just playing wrong, especially if your on easy. Check the map, make a circuit out of the ? on every region (between 3 and 7 for each region, I walk between them to collect extra resources and it still doesn't take long), complete them and that is more than enough grinding to make the game playable.

14 hours in (this weekend was Canadian Thanks Giving) and I'm level 16 with 4/6 gear slots being gold.

I've barely done any bounties and I'm playing on nightmare, pretty sure you're just bad at this game, I just don't know if its because you can't manage the controls and combat, or if your just running head first into things and wondering why they splat you. This is Assassins Creed, your not supposed to tank through every fight.

 

[SighTurtle]

I wouldn't say hes playing the game wrong. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about calling what hes doing wrong, as every person plays to their own preferences. So, from what I can tell from reading his posts, I think hes looking to complete the main storyline, explore the world and do so preferably at his own pace and motion. Hes not a big fan of the notion of being level-gated, which dovetails with his desire to go at his own pace and choosing.

Now that runs into a few problems. To actually finish the game and the storyline, you gotta level to get the equipment and power to actually pass the challenges, meaning by default he needs to complete side missions, explore, not merely for exploring, but also for killing forts and caves and etc.

So, for you M76,
One, I recommend playing on the easiest level. Two, I can't tell if maybe your not doing the most efficient builds (as in the combos of abilities, equipment you are using) so I can just tell you my experience. Playing on the easiest difficulty, I focused on using the equipment I picked up along the way. No buying, engraving, or upgrading. Every so often, I check the equipment, and picked new equipment with better stats. In the beginning, I focused on DPS and Armor, but I realized like lvl.15 that there were other important stats. (woops)

So my style is usually assassin with melee close-in (and accordingly, I pick equipment that increases my assassin stat. I have another set for warrior, but barring a few times, I get by without needing to switch), so my abilities are focused assassin with warrior abilities the Sparta Kick and the Bull knockdown, as well as the increase weapon damage and armor. Generally I find all normal enemies die in 3-4 hits. I usually take very little damage. Fighting elites, take longer, I take more damage, but generally I dodge and parry most damage.

Mercenaries, First, I don't do missions (bounties and contracts I think) that build up my bounty level too much in succession. Mostly cause one, I find them tedious, two, generally I fulfill them while doing main and side quests and missions. Actually on that note, I just mass accept the quests, and if they get fulfilled, awesome, if not I dont care cause they are basically grind missions of the lowest form. (No exposition at all either)

Next, In regards to grinding in general, I've never really had a problem with grinding, being under-levelled or such. Now, I will say I spent a lot of time in Megaris essentially setting up both a Spartan and Athenian takeover after the main story moved to Phocis. (Trying to get a hang of the game)

Ship Battles, in my uninformed, merely visual opinion, are the best way to get money and resources. Several things about ship battles that make it easier than land battles. One, the mechanics are pretty easy, ram, shoot arrows, brace, shoot more arrows, then either fight them by boarding, or if your not feeling it, ram them at high speed, in the middle/bright red (indicating weak point) and you get more resources from ramming and sinking them in half, but you miss out on the chest loot. Two, if you find yourself being swarmed, your travel speed is faster than other ships so you can high tail it to a port.

Ship mercs, and a general tip for ship battles. Lure them to near shore/shallow waters. Why? One, the ship AI crashes into the landmass, and you can take advantage of it to throw volleys and ram at your leisure.
Example, Melos island (level 20) is a fun area for ship battles. I've gotten up to the highest merc level and I'm perfectly fine cause I lure the ships to the narrow channel between the island on Melos, then when the AI gets confused at trying to follow my faster ship, they run into the land and I ram them. Also, the shallow water gives you a better chance of the shipwrecks not sinking too fast before you can dive into the water and loot them.

 

[M76]

While I agree that pay to win and all the garbage UBI has put into it is garbage, I just have the base game.

From reading all your complaints your just playing wrong, especially if your on easy. Check the map, make a circuit out of the ? on every region (between 3 and 7 for each region, I walk between them to collect extra resources and it still doesn't take long), complete them and that is more than enough grinding to make the game playable.

That's more than enough grinding exactly. For me no grinding is enough grinding. As soon as I Can't do the quests I want, and can't explore where I want and what I want without grinding we start to have problems.

14 hours in (this weekend was Canadian Thanks Giving) and I'm level 16 with 4/6 gear slots being gold.

That means nothing to me. I have maybe one gold item, but I Can't control what I get as loot.

I've barely done any bounties and I'm playing on nightmare, pretty sure you're just bad at this game, I just don't know if its because you can't manage the controls and combat, or if your just running head first into things and wondering why they splat you. This is Assassins Creed, your not supposed to tank through every fight.

What do you mean you're not supposed to tank trough? What is the other option? I mean I can run away from a fight, but that yields no xp. I don't even know how is it possible to do anything on nightmare as I get killed by two or three hits on easy by some enemies.

Strange thing is, I just did a conquest battle, but that was child's play compared to regular quests trough the game. And I've seen everyone saying the opposite that conquest battles are the hard part. And this was a conquest battle that the game classified as "hard". WTF is going on? I'm still wondering if the game is broken somehow.