Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Some people have been salty about choices in an AC game since Odyssey came out so I imagine those people will be even more upset about this news.
 
Salty about what? I had thought the presence of choices was a near universally lauded improvement. Now, I get not liking some particular outcomes or individual choices, but overall the idea I thought everyone approved.
 
From what I recall, the backlash was regarding the lack of choice in the DLC with regards to the direction your character takes, regardless of the choices you made in the base game.
 
Personally I'd prefer no story choices. In each game I've played they've been superficial (Mass Effect, Witcher, Fallout games). I'd rather have a well crafted story. A good author makes a better story than me, and typically story choices don't align with the gameplay mechanics you'd like to exploit. A different game but I'll use this as an example - Metro Exodus. Killing people gives you a bad ending, so you more or less have to sneak up behind everyone in the game and press E to knock them out. But then why give me that cool new sniper rifle with the night vision scope? I want to kill someone with it.

Sometimes choice can be good but in a 50-70 hour boondoggle of a game the narrative quality goes down the drain anyways and you won't remember what decisions you made 50 hours ago, especially when it limits your gameplay options.

For an action adventure game like Assassins Creed they should have kept it true to its roots rather than go down the RPG path. One of the reasons I didn't bother with this game yet, as well as the combat regression of Origins. Stabbing and impaling someone 20 times to kill them is just as stupid as shooting someone 15 times in the head only for them to shrug it off.

I would like to see a good action RPG that is story based that lasts around 12-15 hours per play through, but where your decisions actually matter. As in the end missions would end up being entirely different, the end game antagonist would end up being different, maybe some characters wouldn't even show up due to a path you take in one playthrough. Those guys you killed but could have spared partway through the game? Their allies take up arms and ambush you in a later mission, throwing your entire story off course. Choose an alternative route due to some tactical decision you make at the start of the mission? Never even come up to that scenario, maybe you find some information and the guys you were chasing down aren't the actual leaders of the bad guys anyways. So mid story you change your objective entirely, go to entirely different maps with entirely different situations. Different equipment available due to the paths you took, come upon different types of enemies. You name it.

Would be so much more interesting than what we currently get - 50 hours + where you choose a dialogue option that changes a few tiny things in the ending. No matter what you do in The Witcher 3 for example, you always end up in the same place doing the same thing. Or maybe you have the option to sneak around or shoot someone in the face, but it doesn't change the actual story, mood or tone of the setting. Would be amazing to play through a game and realize at the end you completely screwed up your mission, got side tracked, chased the wrong leads and killed the wrong people while the real antagonist got away.

Massively off topic, but if you're not going to do something like that at least make a ~40 hour game with a well written static story.
 
From what I recall, the backlash was regarding the lack of choice in the DLC with regards to the direction your character takes, regardless of the choices you made in the base game.

You never really had choices. You just got a different cut scene or instead of talking your way out of a fight, you fought someone. I think the only meaningful choices were what you did when you interacted with your family (kill them or let them live). But even that only got you a different cut scene at the end of the game.
 
Salty about what? I had thought the presence of choices was a near universally lauded improvement. Now, I get not liking some particular outcomes or individual choices, but overall the idea I thought everyone approved.
Nah, the purists believe that AC games shouldn't have any choices in them since the games are based on memories through the animus, so it's stuff that's already happened.
So a game like Odyssey with lots of choices isn't a "true" AC game.

And then the DLC came out and even though you had choices to make, you couldn't change the outcome of the 2nd chapter anyway. So why bother giving the player a choice? And what about all the previous romance choices the player already made? And what if the player chooses to be gay?

Anyhow, that's how the complainers see it. A "story mode" with expanded choices is basically the opposite of what they want.
 
Hopefully it is like Origins 2nd DLC which was significantly better than the first DLC.
 
Fate of Atlantis Ep1 is available in New Zealand (etc), I assume it works with VPN since it worked in the past.
Unlock times for everyone else:
PC - Uplay
April 23 @ 2AM PDT / 5AM EDT / 9AM UTC / 11AM CEST

PC - Steam
April 23 @ 9AM PDT / 12PM EDT / 4PM UTC / 6PM CEST

Xbox One
April 23 @ 12AM local time

PS4
April 23 @ Will be launched throughout the day, times vary per region.

Also I'm hitting 1mil mats, I actually thought it would stop at 999,999.

FJGZXr2.png


Currently Mastery 87.

2XMkO0Z.png
 
Yawn, wake me up when all episodes are out. I'm not going to reinstall the game for 30 minutes of gameplay.
 
Here's the map, not sure if it's ALL of the FoA DLC or just for chapter 1. Someone did say the map will expand in the next chapters but didn't provide any details. Most likely Chapter 1 takes place in Elysium and 2 & 3 in other areas entirely.

The video thumbnail contains a SPOILER. Also it's a ~20 minute quest walkthrough.
The map appears at 18 minutes and 16 seconds, I linked directly to it.

Screencap:
s0LbUnP.png

Video:
 
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Thank you for spoiler-ing anything related to this. I'm playing through the main game storyline slowly and will likely finish the base title's main story, then move onto the expansions. Some say I should do First Blade alongside the base game storylines... but I KNOW I want to do Atlantis afterward entirely. I'm excited as I assume it will be a major lore dump related to FirstCivilization stuff , so thank you all for not discussing/spoiling any of it here openly and sticking it behind spoiler tags instead.

That said, does anyone who has played it so far know if it chronologically comes "after" the main story? Or is it something of a side story?

Edit:

Bigbacon - If you like the main game, the Season Pass seems really worth it, just like AC Origins before it. Odyssey seems to have even more/longer content (judging from what we've seen so far) and Season Pass owners I THINK also get AC3 Remastered (which includes ACLiberation Remastered too), so its really worth it. T hese days you can pick up the season pass on discount from GMG, Humble, Fanatical and others especially when they're on sale, making it an even better deal.
 
More awesomeness descends today.

Season Pass is a no brainer if you like the game at all.

That said, does anyone who has played it so far know if it chronologically comes "after" the main story? Or is it something of a side story?


Honestly? It just "felt" better for me narratively after the main story which is when I played all of it. You can do it during the main story after a certain point where it unlocks and probably be fine with it per user preference.
 
The 1st chapter of FoA will probably be better and longer than all 3 chapters of LOTFB, based on my initial impressions. I will be amazed if they managed to squeeze out 2 more new maps the size of Elysium with each chapter; my guess is that this will be the map for the entire DLC except maybe a few extra smaller zones for story quests.

My primary complaint is only the noise that the Hermes Teleporters make every 10 seconds or so. It's a very loud "woop" sound or something. The stations are *everywhere* so you will have to hear WOOOP every 10 seconds for almost the entire game.
 
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Finished it, took me 12 hours to do everything. I played kinda inefficient, re-cleared several camps twice for quests.
It's certainly better than any of the LOTFB chapters, idk if I would say it's better than all 3 combined... Depends on who you ask, I guess. I enjoyed the greek myth lore a lot more than, y'know, having a baby or whatever.

There were TONS of choices, it doesn't look like any of them matter aside from a few dialog changes. And it ends with a huge, disappointing cliffhanger leading into ch2. It's mostly a self-contained story though, chapter 2 will definitely NOT take place in FoE so there will be a new map. Based on the ending it should be pretty clear what the next map will be.

It also rains ability points on you, maybe 10-15 "free" points like tombs from the original game.

FoE is just one of maybe a dozen scenarios that are shown to you, which means there could be many more similar things to come.
 
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Hit mastery 100 yesterday. This character is about 250-300hrs old with the XP boost. I'm on my 3rd NG+ playthrough.

RBrar4F.png

I also passed 1mil on all the basic mats. Threw on all my epic crit gear just to check the stats and I hit 800% CHD (I'm missing the 25% leg enchant in the pic). Basic arrow headshot on a Polymarch hit for 1.5 mil.

I still use the Odysseus set because I like the extra Adrenaline.

9CeWKgK.png


My current UPlay stats

iY02K2N.png
 
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That is alot of hours are they adding content in the game like they promised? To keep it alive basically....They kinda did that with Origins but just added the Bosses and some loot vendors.
 
That is alot of hours are they adding content in the game like they promised? To keep it alive basically....They kinda did that with Origins but just added the Bosses and some loot vendors.
In general they add something new every 2 or 3 weeks. Usually just a small "Lost Tale of Greece" quest which takes 1 or 2 hours. Every 6 weeks they release a new DLC chapter, which typically takes 5-10 hours. Plus the dailies, weeklies, and the new bosses. Then additions that aren't actual content but extend life (Mastery Levels, Level Cap, Ship Upgrades, and so on).

If you start from scratch now the game has about 200 hours worth of content for a new player. I spent most of my time just looping back re-playing the game on NG+.
 
I stopped about 70% of the way through the main story at about 70 hours a few months back. Started playing again, and there is easily another 70 hours worth of content here for me to play.

Ubi really did a great job with this game. It's not perfect, but it's pretty incredible.
 
Hit mastery 100 yesterday. This character is about 250-300hrs old with the XP boost. I'm on my 3rd NG+ playthrough.


I also passed 1mil on all the basic mats. Threw on all my epic crit gear just to check the stats and I hit 800% CHD (I'm missing the 25% leg enchant in the pic). Basic arrow headshot on a Polymarch hit for 1.5 mil.

I still use the Odysseus set because I like the extra Adrenaline.

View attachment 158472

My current UPlay stats

View attachment 158475

Photos taken: 2
Gotta pump those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers.
 
I have to say they've been keeping up their promise of ongoing real content. I just recently did my first of the Lost Tales of Greece, and these aren't one off throwaway fetch quests (at least the one I did was not) - it is multi-staged with choices to be made, new and old characters alike, neat rewards sometimes and more. This is to say nothing for the actual expansions which seem pretty great (I've not started either and will likely wait until near the end of the main quest to do so, a especially for the Atlantis stuff), but in general good on Ubi for delivering on quality content.

Seems they're adding some quality of life features...
"
We are excited to share that new improvements will be coming in May with the deployment of Title Update 10.

Some new improvements to look forward to include:

  • Unique Legendary Lieutenants scale up with the player, increasing their perks over time.
  • Anigmata Ostrakas now indicate their region.
  • Items assigned on another loadout are now indicated with a visual hint.
  • Reduced weekly contract objectives to make them simpler and faster to complete.
TU10 will be released in late May.

"

Thes are nice improvements so its a pity it doesn't apply until "late May" - I was hoping they'd be concurrent with the next Lost Tale. I wonder what makes a Legendary Lieutenant "Unique"?

Oh does anyone have a good site for up-to-date walkthrough/quest choice etc..info? I've had to work from a number of sites to try and learn about what results a given quest or choice may have, so I was wondering if there was a single definitive site with really comprehensive info. Thanks
 
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Roughly how long is this game if you play the story quest and the good quality side quests with store content? I know there are a lot of repeating fetch quest style things that are on bulletin boards (?) but I wouldn't be interested in doing those. Just the side quests that actually have a purpose or real objective. I didn't like Origins but like with that game, the theme/setting is fairly attractive.

And would you have to spend time doing grindy things or seeking out better gear or can you easily level up by playing just the main story and some of the side quests with story lines?
 
Roughly how long is this game if you play the story quest and the good quality side quests with store content? I know there are a lot of repeating fetch quest style things that are on bulletin boards (?) but I wouldn't be interested in doing those. Just the side quests that actually have a purpose or real objective. I didn't like Origins but like with that game, the theme/setting is fairly attractive.

And would you have to spend time doing grindy things or seeking out better gear or can you easily level up by playing just the main story and some of the side quests with story lines?

You can easily get through the story pretty quickly. Most side missions have nothing to do with the story but often brnach off into their own little side story. You can probably do it in 10-15 hours if you just did nothing but the main missions or you can spend 100 hours if you do everything.

You don't have to grind. you can get by just picking up new stuff, buying it, or you can just upgrade what you have at black smiths. Eventually you can just end up with some good gear and just continuously make it better and not have to worry you just need the consumables to do the upgrade which isn't hard. Hell I used the same gear for most of the game. The upgrade upgrades it to your current level.

leveling seems very slow at first but eventually level comes easy, especially if you at least explore each area and clear out all the forts and camps and what not.
 
Patch 1.3.0

Roughly how long is this game if you play the story quest and the good quality side quests with store content? I know there are a lot of repeating fetch quest style things that are on bulletin boards (?) but I wouldn't be interested in doing those. Just the side quests that actually have a purpose or real objective. I didn't like Origins but like with that game, the theme/setting is fairly attractive.

And would you have to spend time doing grindy things or seeking out better gear or can you easily level up by playing just the main story and some of the side quests with story lines?
There are 3 'main' campaigns. Assuming you don't skip cutscenes...

The family storyline takes 15-20 hours by itself.
The cult campaign takes significantly longer, 30-40 hours. It's mostly using clues to hunt down and kill cultists. It's not really a "story" so you can actually skip it.
Atlantis takes about 5-10 hours.

Legacy of the First Blade (DLC #1, All 3 chapters) takes 10-15 hours.
Elysium (DLC #2, Chapter 1) takes 10 hours.

All other meaningful side-content (hand-crafted quests) takes another 20-30 hours maybe, but it's hard to guess precisely since it's all scattered around.

In total, if you skip grinding, clearing pointless locations, and radiant quests the game has about 100-150 hours of content. It can get as low as ~80 depending how fast you move.

And would you have to spend time doing grindy things or seeking out better gear or can you easily level up by playing just the main story and some of the side quests with story lines?
The general rule of thumb: Only skip quests that are regular black/white icons (2 arrows, hourglass). But do quests which have the following colors,

Blue (Lost tales of greece)
Gold & Black (Main Campaign, Hand-crafted quests)
Orange (DLC Quests)

For bounty boards, you can mostly ignore them. Ignore any bounty board quest that's marked with an hourglass icon, those are randomized/radiant quests.
 
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So to be clear these three aren't DLC right? Seems like it should be easy enough to skip the junk quests. Black/white icons = skip, everything else should be worth playing. If I play I'll just get the main game and if I like it get the DLC down the road when its all done. Looks like it would take another weekend to play through the DLC alone which would be a great way to get back into it later in the year or next year.
 
So to be clear these three aren't DLC right? Seems like it should be easy enough to skip the junk quests. Black/white icons = skip, everything else should be worth playing. If I play I'll just get the main game and if I like it get the DLC down the road when its all done. Looks like it would take another weekend to play through the DLC alone which would be a great way to get back into it later in the year or next year.

Indeed, they are not DLC as he described it. Yes, pretty much everything but the "grey icons, which are repeatable quests" are definitely worth doing. Also, you will get a LOT of additional playtime out of open world objectives - pretty much every content location on the map that has a "?" icon until you get close and discover it, and then it shows its type of locale - a cave, leader house, bandit camp, military camp, catacomb etc... which will each have certain requirements to "clear" the area. It can range from something like "Open treasure chests 0/2" (there's a helpful thing to display local requirements when you're in the area if you forget), or something like a Fort (one per "zone", tons of soldiers) " Kill Fort Leader 0/1, Kill Captains 0/2, Burn supply caches 0/3, loot chests 0/3" .

There are also other enjoyable game systems such as the various zone control systems - each major area can be either controlled by Athens or Sparta. By doing things to weaken whomever is in charge, from small things like killing soldiers or burning resource cache to bigger ones like plundering the "nation chest" in the Fort, it can lower the level of control over the zone. Lowering the level of control means that the Leader of each area (ie randomized) will be more vulnerable (ie At 3/3 control bars the Leader has a HUGE retinue of elite troops and hangs out in fortified places, but at 2/3 he loses the Elites and goes elsewhere and at 1/3 he's basically almost by himself in less fortified areas) - killing Leaders is a major blow the the area control AND it helps to unlock one of the best "gear engravings' that allow +all damage you do. When you get the control bar down to its last third, a Conquest Battle is available and you can either decide to fight for the defenders or the attackers by going to their flag. When the battle resolves, the area will "reset" , perhaps under new management if you chose (sometimes it can be beneficial to keep an area as it was depending on your other requirements), and the control bar will be filled, a new leader will be in place etc.

So the Conquest/Peloponnesian War mode is just one of the other elements of content, there's also the Arena, the huge Mercenary system and related "crime/wanted" system (ie a GTA like setup where you'll get Mercs called on you as you do things that increase your "wanted meter". Regardless if they're after you or not Mercs wll be in the world. Killing them typically grants good gear and unlocks engravings, but there's a whole Mercenaries tab in the menu that shows the various "ranks". If you kill a Merc positioned ahead of you, you move up a bit. By doing this,you can move through the ranks which have massive benefits like 50% discounts on costs of items, upgrades, engravings and more. Cursor over each tier to see its benefit in the menu), the entire naval battle system, and much more. The bounty boards can be a good source of quick cash, but you can avoid the randomized fetch quests as described above. Next week's update will make Bounty and Contract missions much better, especially the big / long ones. Note that those with names in Blue award Orichalcum and are typically Daily or Weekly - Orichalcum is the currency that can be used at a special vendor who gives items from the stuff you could normally not find in game and instead only buy in the "Helix Store" for real money.

There are other game systems and dynamics that can give you a LOT to do, even without feeling like you have to grind at all. This goes double if you're a completionist with open world games like I am and want to "clear" an area once I visit it. Note that the level scaling keeps things fresh and as you start out you'll find areas on the map FAR beyond your level, but as you level up you'll see areas under your level upgraded to just below yours etc. Oh and if I'm correct, the different branches of the "main quest" will mean unlocking additional endings (ie Unless you defeat all the cultists it isn't "really" the ending. There is also another "ending " related to something special even prior to Expansion content). One thing to remember is that in both side and main quests, you responses and choices matter - sometimes in a big way. If you want the "best version" of the "family/main quest" ending, I'd suggest looking things up a no-spoilers guide in advance to decisions to make at critical points of the story. Some of them seem relatively logical (ie NOT killing someone who may have a family connection when you meet them early on) but others are more obtuse (ie there's a bad guy you are given a choice to kill in public, or in private. Public "seems" like the right thing to do perhaps, but it will muck up your "best ending" from what I read, so go for private). Unlike many games, it isn't like the ending is dependent on only things you do in the last 30 min of the game, so just keep that in mind! Of course, there are lots of other side and main quest choices that have many branches, but don't necessarily affect the ending.

Finally, I would consider buying the Gold (or Ultimate if you wish) edition from the start. First of all, the whole thing is hugely on discount at GMG at current, and will be for the next 20-ish hours if I'm correct. The Gold = $43.00 (though sold out at the moment. They usually restock but in case they don't), Ultimate = $51.00, which are like 57% off. Getting the game + the season pass means you'll be able to level past the standard level cap of 50 even during the "main" campaign - something I found useful as I'm not even done with the main campaign and am at 50, unlocking additional benefits. I'm not sure if this is viable or not without the season pass/expansion style DLC, but I remember the same benefit happened back when I played AC Origins and had the expansions from the start. Furthermore, if you're at all interested in Assassin's Creed III Remastered (+ Liberation Remastered), you'll get that in the Season Pass. If you want to pick it up the base game anyway all right, but I've not seen the a la carte season pass go on sale as frequently or as greatly discounted as the game versions.

In any case, hope this helps. I'm nowhere near as far as TaintedSquirrel in the game, but if you have any questions I'll do my best.
 
Indeed, they are not DLC as he described it. Yes, pretty much everything but the "grey icons, which are repeatable quests" are definitely worth doing. Also, you will get a LOT of additional playtime out of open world objectives - pretty much every content location on the map that has a "?" icon until you get close and discover it, and then it shows its type of locale - a cave, leader house, bandit camp, military camp, catacomb etc... which will each have certain requirements to "clear" the area. It can range from something like "Open treasure chests 0/2" (there's a helpful thing to display local requirements when you're in the area if you forget), or something like a Fort (one per "zone", tons of soldiers) " Kill Fort Leader 0/1, Kill Captains 0/2, Burn supply caches 0/3, loot chests 0/3" .

There are also other enjoyable game systems such as the various zone control systems - each major area can be either controlled by Athens or Sparta. By doing things to weaken whomever is in charge, from small things like killing soldiers or burning resource cache to bigger ones like plundering the "nation chest" in the Fort, it can lower the level of control over the zone. Lowering the level of control means that the Leader of each area (ie randomized) will be more vulnerable (ie At 3/3 control bars the Leader has a HUGE retinue of elite troops and hangs out in fortified places, but at 2/3 he loses the Elites and goes elsewhere and at 1/3 he's basically almost by himself in less fortified areas) - killing Leaders is a major blow the the area control AND it helps to unlock one of the best "gear engravings' that allow +all damage you do. When you get the control bar down to its last third, a Conquest Battle is available and you can either decide to fight for the defenders or the attackers by going to their flag. When the battle resolves, the area will "reset" , perhaps under new management if you chose (sometimes it can be beneficial to keep an area as it was depending on your other requirements), and the control bar will be filled, a new leader will be in place etc.

So the Conquest/Peloponnesian War mode is just one of the other elements of content, there's also the Arena, the huge Mercenary system and related "crime/wanted" system (ie a GTA like setup where you'll get Mercs called on you as you do things that increase your "wanted meter". Regardless if they're after you or not Mercs wll be in the world. Killing them typically grants good gear and unlocks engravings, but there's a whole Mercenaries tab in the menu that shows the various "ranks". If you kill a Merc positioned ahead of you, you move up a bit. By doing this,you can move through the ranks which have massive benefits like 50% discounts on costs of items, upgrades, engravings and more. Cursor over each tier to see its benefit in the menu), the entire naval battle system, and much more. The bounty boards can be a good source of quick cash, but you can avoid the randomized fetch quests as described above. Next week's update will make Bounty and Contract missions much better, especially the big / long ones. Note that those with names in Blue award Orichalcum and are typically Daily or Weekly - Orichalcum is the currency that can be used at a special vendor who gives items from the stuff you could normally not find in game and instead only buy in the "Helix Store" for real money.

There are other game systems and dynamics that can give you a LOT to do, even without feeling like you have to grind at all. This goes double if you're a completionist with open world games like I am and want to "clear" an area once I visit it. Note that the level scaling keeps things fresh and as you start out you'll find areas on the map FAR beyond your level, but as you level up you'll see areas under your level upgraded to just below yours etc. Oh and if I'm correct, the different branches of the "main quest" will mean unlocking additional endings (ie Unless you defeat all the cultists it isn't "really" the ending. There is also another "ending " related to something special even prior to Expansion content). One thing to remember is that in both side and main quests, you responses and choices matter - sometimes in a big way. If you want the "best version" of the "family/main quest" ending, I'd suggest looking things up a no-spoilers guide in advance to decisions to make at critical points of the story. Some of them seem relatively logical (ie NOT killing someone who may have a family connection when you meet them early on) but others are more obtuse (ie there's a bad guy you are given a choice to kill in public, or in private. Public "seems" like the right thing to do perhaps, but it will muck up your "best ending" from what I read, so go for private). Unlike many games, it isn't like the ending is dependent on only things you do in the last 30 min of the game, so just keep that in mind! Of course, there are lots of other side and main quest choices that have many branches, but don't necessarily affect the ending.

Finally, I would consider buying the Gold (or Ultimate if you wish) edition from the start. First of all, the whole thing is hugely on discount at GMG at current, and will be for the next 20-ish hours if I'm correct. The Gold = $43.00 (though sold out at the moment. They usually restock but in case they don't), Ultimate = $51.00, which are like 57% off. Getting the game + the season pass means you'll be able to level past the standard level cap of 50 even during the "main" campaign - something I found useful as I'm not even done with the main campaign and am at 50, unlocking additional benefits. I'm not sure if this is viable or not without the season pass/expansion style DLC, but I remember the same benefit happened back when I played AC Origins and had the expansions from the start. Furthermore, if you're at all interested in Assassin's Creed III Remastered (+ Liberation Remastered), you'll get that in the Season Pass. If you want to pick it up the base game anyway all right, but I've not seen the a la carte season pass go on sale as frequently or as greatly discounted as the game versions.

In any case, hope this helps. I'm nowhere near as far as TaintedSquirrel in the game, but if you have any questions I'll do my best.

Thanks. Decided to try it. Skipping all the bulletin boards, only doing quests that appear with a question mark. Pretty easy to do thankfully. Trying to do those "battle field" side quests but they more or less require you to attack military bases and get those annoying damage sponges on you that seem to spawn each time you're about to start or turn in a quest. Seems like they punish you for trying to play the side quests which I find dumb.

Overall, this game feels extremely sterile to me. Too much running around, collecting meager rewards, slow story pacing and I had to kill a pig (same level as me) and after stabbing it around 50 times with a weapon (Rare or Epic, same level as me as well) and only draining maybe 30% of its HP I just had to quit. Not going to give up on the game yet though. Have to say though, even though I didn't like Origins I think I am liked the setting so much more. Egypt sure was a fun place to explore/fight.
 
Thanks. Decided to try it. Skipping all the bulletin boards, only doing quests that appear with a question mark. Pretty easy to do thankfully. Trying to do those "battle field" side quests but they more or less require you to attack military bases and get those annoying damage sponges on you that seem to spawn each time you're about to start or turn in a quest. Seems like they punish you for trying to play the side quests which I find dumb.

Overall, this game feels extremely sterile to me. Too much running around, collecting meager rewards, slow story pacing and I had to kill a pig (same level as me) and after stabbing it around 50 times with a weapon (Rare or Epic, same level as me as well) and only draining maybe 30% of its HP I just had to quit. Not going to give up on the game yet though. Have to say though, even though I didn't like Origins I think I am liked the setting so much more. Egypt sure was a fun place to explore/fight.

I've found that the Conquest Battles (ie you pick a side, then go to a battlefield) are best handled by not "trying" to specifically do them, but rather seeing when they happen as a result of your other actions - clearing ? locations (forts, military camps etc) which just so happen to weaken the province. I assume by military bases you mean the Forts (one per zone) as opposed to the smaller military camp locations. These are some of the more difficult places to clear, but they can be done without alerting the majority of the base and/or getting the brazier lit and extra troops summoned. This all depends on mechanics - For instance, if you're in a Fort and you start fighting openly, you'll hear a soldier likely yell to "light the fire" or whatnot. The troops will gain the brazier's symbol over their heads and run off to it , ignoring you while their compatriots keep fighting. Its imperative you chase after and get the attention of any with the icon, killing them before they reach the brazier. If they light it, it will summon a host of new troops including elites, all with "red brazier icons over their heads", to come in and start searching for you, and if your Wanted meter is high enough, the Mercenary(s) hunting you will come as well! Another way to handle this is to sneak around the Fort and sneak up to the brazier itself and interact with it - doing so booby traps it so when an enemy tries to light it, it will explode - killing the enemy and rendering the brazier non functional for a time until the fort "resets". A key to taking on Forts is to generally go somewhat stealthy and take out as many soldiers in an area as you can by stealthy methods that don't require open combat. Early on I suggest spending points to max out the Assassination , Critical Assassination, and possibly Rush Assassination skills, while also buying the skill that makes enemy bodies vanish if killed stealthily; Predator arrows are a good Ranged compliment, as does the "slow down time when detected" Ranged skill - this gives you time before combat starts during which you can assassinate or otherwise take out the enemy. There's a lot more to it, but trying to take on an entire alerted Fort in open combat is going to be very, very difficult especially early on! This is not to say that you may not need to get into combat with one or two groups especially if you can't finish off an elite with assassination etc...but try to do so where there are relatively few nearby who can hear and get involved.

When you mention "damage sponges" I assume you mean the Mercenaries? The ones that show up as a "white helmet" icon when they're just strolling around or a "red helmet" icon when chasing you? This is related to your "wanted meter" in the lower right. Basically, if you do "criminal" things THAT OTHERS CAN SEE, the red line will grow up the Wanted meter - when it hits a "helmet" then a Merc will be tasked with tracking you down - they'll start moving to your location. You'll receive a tone that plays when one hunting you is within 100m of you - its a good idea to use Ikaros (your eagle) to identify them in advance. They'll pretty much continue to follow you, though they won't know exactly where you are so this is is a good time to hide in some tall grass and use a powered up ability (ie like Critical Assassination or Rush Assassination if need be, perhaps Predator or Devastating Shot aimed for the head etc) to do a lot of damage before you engage. Killing a Merc that's after you will NOT clear the contract, but it will mean a delay in the time before another will be sent after you.

Regarding the meter itself, its important to remember how it works. Pretty much criminal actions fall into two categories - theft, and murder. Regarding theft, if you're every looting things and the text comes up in red, then that is potentially "stealing". If any NPC is in direct line of sight to your theft, you'll get a small amount of meter increase; sometimes civilians will yell about a thief, scatter and the like. Note that if you are not seen by anyone, it doesn't count! For murder things are a little more complex - in general, it only counts as murder if you're killing "good guys", such as civilians or Athenian/Spartan soldiers; bandits and whatnot don't count. Likewise, if anything/anyone attacks you first (in terms of starting combat), it doesn't count unless you somehow provoked them such as being in a "red, restricted" area. Now a certain amount of killing and meter growth is going to be hard to avoid - if you're in an open fight in a visible area against say, 3 soldiers, by killing one of them the other two viewing it makes it add to your meter etc. However there are ways to manage this. For instance, if you assassinate/knock out people in hidden areas (bushes) or simply out of sight of others, it won't count. Also, you should be aware of non-lethal takedown options - there is a non-lethal knock-out arrow, certain abilities like Spartan Kick, and just unequipping a weapon and going against the enemy hand to hand, will mean knocking out enemies instead of killing them - which does NOT fill the meter! Knocked out enemies can also be recruited to be Lieutenants on your ship, but I figure to leave this primarily for Legendaries (you can check this with your eagle prior to engaging) ; usually Polemarches of forts and Mercs are likely to be Legendary (gold) rarity. There are a few ways to have the meter decrease - first , time. If you spend time not getting seen doing something bad, it will gradually decrease bit by bit. Next, when you have any amount of meter on you you'll find there is a map icon for the Bounty, the person who is holding the contract on you. This will be a "red bag and sword icon" and will normally be nearby in your current zone (like a soldier camp). Mousing over them will show the amount of meter they're responsible for, as at times you may have people in different zones both contributing to your meter bounty. Killing them will drop the meter that amount, instantly! If you only have one person backing your contract in one area, then killing them will reset your meter to zero! Alternately, especially if things get really hot you can go on your map at any time and pay off the bounty yourself - either per-locale, or totally remove the meter. Doing so will mean an immediate discontinuation to any Mercs hunting you, assuming they haven't already engaged you in open combat. This can get expensive, but can be really useful especially if you have a very high meter and you're dealing with multiple mercs at a time, or just want to get them out of your hair during/before a quest. Lastly, the thing that will increase your meter the most is killing a Leader, IF it is seen! That is to say, even if a Leader is down to their weakest state, there are usually a couple of soldiers around them. If you kill the leader in a way that you're seen (ie open combat), you'll instantly gain 3 Mercs worth of meter, putting 3 on your tail instantly and with haste! That's why its usually best to kill all the Leader's guards first if you're in open combat, and then kill him last. If nobody is around to see him die, then no meter! Alternately, I THINK if you can kill him via a stealthy way where your presence is not revealed (ie Using Predator Arrows from a hiding spot into a headshot - this will likely take multiple at that) you won't be flagged, but I am not sure about this.

Regarding the sterile feel, I think Odyssey seems to be considerably the opposite at least in terms of open world games. There's a lot of stuff going on around you and even the game world systems (ie mercs, conquest/changing of faction control etc) can happen without your input. Of course all the randomly generated quests both in world and bounty board both make the game feel like things are popping up all over the place, but if you don';t like that kind of content that can be another thing. As far as running around and collecting meager rewards, it is an open world game where the journey and exploration is part of the experience - you can rush purely the main quest story stuff, but doing that alone will probably leave you a bit underleveled for later chapters so you'll need to do sidequests and whatnot to level up. Regarding the durability of enemies, it really comes down to game systems. Unlike early AC titles, Origins and Odyssey (with the latter even more heavily) dependent on equipment and ability upgrades, along with engravings etc. You'll need to build your equipment not only in terms of raw DPS or armor, but in terms of bonuses, especially those that apply to your 3 main fighting styles - range, melee, assassin. Your success in combat will, in addition to the leveling system, depend on having selected good gear and a good ability build. Some people really min-max this with going heavily on one or another, especially with the Legendary equipment sets, but you can do well with a generalist build too. Also, kinda like Origins there's just plain more melee/ranged combat variation so once you're in open combat, it isn't going to be killing everything with a single slash or counter. Also, each enemy and type of enemy is likely to have different strengths and weaknesses - for instance the boars and other attacking animals can be handled with melee, but are really best and most expediently handled with a bow, particularly making headshots!

There are a lot of game systems in Odyssey and overall it betters the game but does add some complexity. I know that I was frustrated for awhile when I couldn't one-hit-assassinate any type of enemy even if I snuck up on them, but I learned how things worked and it helped a bit. Oh, I will say that the settings of Odyssey can be majestic, but Origins I think had better contrast (ie deserts until finally finding the more lush places, major Egyptian landmarks etc) . This kind of thing does happen in Odyssey, particularly in some special locations like the cities of Athens and Sparta (the latter will take a LONG time to reach), but there are lots of beautiful Mediterranean landscapes that look "same-y" to some degree, and people are less familiar with some of the great locations of ancient Greece compared to Egypt. Still I find the game overall very enjoyable, but there is a learning curve to understanding the game systems and some elements/decisions just may not be to your taste if you wanted a more focused, streamlined type of title.
 
Thanks. Decided to try it. Skipping all the bulletin boards, only doing quests that appear with a question mark. Pretty easy to do thankfully. Trying to do those "battle field" side quests but they more or less require you to attack military bases and get those annoying damage sponges on you that seem to spawn each time you're about to start or turn in a quest. Seems like they punish you for trying to play the side quests which I find dumb.

Overall, this game feels extremely sterile to me. Too much running around, collecting meager rewards, slow story pacing and I had to kill a pig (same level as me) and after stabbing it around 50 times with a weapon (Rare or Epic, same level as me as well) and only draining maybe 30% of its HP I just had to quit. Not going to give up on the game yet though. Have to say though, even though I didn't like Origins I think I am liked the setting so much more. Egypt sure was a fun place to explore/fight.

if you are just starting out then you need to stick to areas appropriate to your level. you need to do some side quests or at some point you will find yourself underleveled for main quests.

you can try different leveling strategies. one is to go full max assassin. another is to go full max archer. if you can nail headshots you get a xp boost making it extra worthwhile.
 
if you are just starting out then you need to stick to areas appropriate to your level. you need to do some side quests or at some point you will find yourself underleveled for main quests.

you can try different leveling strategies. one is to go full max assassin. another is to go full max archer. if you can nail headshots you get a xp boost making it extra worthwhile.

I've put close to 20 hours into the game but everything is still spammy. I knew this going in but didn't think it would be this bad. You literally can't assassinate most people. The gameplay loop is a bit contradictory to. They task you with killing people, but then send out bounty hunters who like to spawn as you're entering a conversation, turning in a quest, or similar. As if "assassinating" one of the brutes wasn't difficult enough you now have another few that spawn nearby. When I stopped playing I was trying to "assassinate" a cult leader. I put that in quotation marks because you can't assassinate them, but rather you have to mash the attack button 50 or so times to take them down. Even with the same level and Epic or Rare gear your level it takes that many hits. You can use all the funny arrow attacks you want but they do ~10 damage. You can't silently assassinate them either because you get the same results. Sure you can upgrade your abilities to make these do a tiny bit more damage, but with ability points so damn hard to come by (level 20 after ~20 hours of gameplay) they simply aren't available. And keeping most of your gear up to date is a big pain because you're constantly running out of money and resources. I've become sick with the amount of helpless animals I've slaughtered (sarcasm there) and even then you can't always upgrade the gear pieces you want due to resource concerns.

And then in this button mashing fest that they consider combat you get more bounty hunters after you, the whole town turns on you due to splash damage from your fire abilities, and these bounty hunters literally spawn out of thin air. As in, you see them drop onto the map out of thin air as you're already fighting. Just seems like a lazily put together game and you can tell this was designed primarily by people looking to check off a list than actual game designers.

Edit: The other problem with the grind in this game is that by the time you can afford to upgrade your gear to your current level, you're already about to level up again making it entirely worthless. And this is with doing all side quests that come your way. You can finish 4-5 side quests and have enough money to upgrade maybe one item. Then spend some time depopulating Greece of boars to get the supplies needed to upgrade/enchant.
 
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Are you using your special abilities a lot? I generally found normal attacks to simply be distractions while your special attacks build back up. In particular Hero Strike can be abused on just about everything. The charged heavy attack is also pretty potent. Spartan Kick is okay if enemies are roughly your level, but if they're strong it's pointless. Bull Rush is pretty good for the first 1/2 of the game.
 
Edit: The other problem with the grind in this game is that by the time you can afford to upgrade your gear to your current level, you're already about to level up again making it entirely worthless. And this is with doing all side quests that come your way. You can finish 4-5 side quests and have enough money to upgrade maybe one item. Then spend some time depopulating Greece of boars to get the supplies needed to upgrade/enchant.

gear is much more important than you may think. generally you want the bonuses to do at least two damage attributes in your chosen method of dealing damage. So it isn't necessarily that abilities do little damage, but that you don't have gear with the appropriate multipliers.
As an example, for a hunter, you want every piece of gear to give hunter damage, some pieces can double dip, you also want headshot damage, crit, adrenaline, far damage, elite damage, fire arrows, bonus fire damage, etc. Every attribute should be useful, no spear damage when you never use a spear.
You eventually will start getting gold sets, I never played the game beyond level 50, so I preferred purples since they gave more bonuses.
 
gear is much more important than you may think. generally you want the bonuses to do at least two damage attributes in your chosen method of dealing damage. So it isn't necessarily that abilities do little damage, but that you don't have gear with the appropriate multipliers.
As an example, for a hunter, you want every piece of gear to give hunter damage, some pieces can double dip, you also want headshot damage, crit, adrenaline, far damage, elite damage, fire arrows, bonus fire damage, etc. Every attribute should be useful, no spear damage when you never use a spear.
You eventually will start getting gold sets, I never played the game beyond level 50, so I preferred purples since they gave more bonuses.

So essentially if you want to use a bow you need to get Legendary or Epic gear at your level, but if you want to do a assassination take down you need another set of gear? And if the game screws up due to bugs (like your character getting stuck on a wall and getting caught because of it) you have to open the inventory menu and swatch your gear to something else entirely? Seems impractical. You're going to need to mix it up at least some of the times even if you're a great player, and its out right boring to only use one weapon type for such a long game. Its repetitive as is.

I have all Legendary or Epic gear and have a hard enough time keeping it at my own level so I can't imagine trying to upgrade 3-4 different sets every hour. Seems like for ~ hour of gameplay you need ~3-4 of grinding? Maybe a push for the in game boosters which is pretty damn low.
 
First, engraving stats only increase every 10 levels. So you should only upgrade your armor at levels 11, 21, 31, 41, etc. Weapon damage goes up every level so you should upgrade your primary weapon as often as possible.

As for playstyles: Assassin damage scales up very fast, Hunter damage very slow. This means early game, you should focus on getting Assassination damage until you're comfortable with your stealth damage. Just remember to use Crit Assassinate on the high-ranking enemies. After that, Assassination damage takes a backseat, and you can start switching over to Hunter/Warrior gear depending on what playstyle you want.

If you still have damage problems, google the Falx of Olympos and use that. It will double your damage. It's basically necessary for the higher difficulties. The game is incredibly forgiving on Normal mode, gear priority shouldn't be causing problems.
 
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