Assassin's Creed Odyssey, set in ancient Greece - it's definitely an RPG now

[cvv]

I haven't played it, and you can say whatever you want about the rest of the game, but it's extremely to have representations of Minoan and Mycenaean civilisation in a AAA game. In general the amount of effort Ubi goes to (read: spends to) ensure historical faithfulness — an least architecturally, and to an art historian's eye — is very cool.

Art, sure, architecture, maybe. But all that effort gets wasted because due to the requirements of the current year they put stunning brave women everywhere - mercenaries, soldiers, politicians... The game loses all immersion and feels like a funhouse theme park. It's a joke.

They were much more respectful to the Egyptians in Origins btw. There were no stunning brave female priests, guards, generals etc. IIRC there was only that painting of a co-ed school, saying "we know it's BS but we don't give a shit coz muh feminism", but otherwise everything was quite respectful.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I haven't played it, and you can say whatever you want about the rest of the game, but it's extremely to have representations of Minoan and Mycenaean civilisation in a AAA game. In general the amount of effort Ubi goes to (read: spends to) ensure historical faithfulness — an least architecturally, and to an art historian's eye — is very cool.

Because that's the easiest for a soul-less company like Ubisoft. They probably use automated generation tools for create the world, satellite scanning for terrain, some sort of Perlin noise tool for cities/buildings. But once it comes to personal content, they are completely at a loss.

 

[Theodora]

Because that's the easiest for a soul-less company like Ubisoft. They probably use automated generation tools for create the world, satellite scanning for terrain, some sort of Perlin noise tool for cities/buildings. But once it comes to personal content, they are completely at a loss.

No, they work with (art/) historians. Ignore the quests and "content", the worldbuilding was done with a lot of care.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

They had a virtual gallery mode for Origins, where you could just zoom around the world instead of playing. Maybe they should stick to that in general.

 

[cvv]

Because that's the easiest for a soul-less company like Ubisoft. They probably use automated generation tools for create the world, satellite scanning for terrain, some sort of Perlin noise tool for cities/buildings. But once it comes to personal content, they are completely at a loss.

No, they work with (art/) historians. Ignore the quests and "content", the worldbuilding was done with a lot of care.

Welll...even there they tend to rape authenticity for DRAMA sake. 50 meter tall golden statues, weapons and armor straight out of WoW, the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon moves Spartans are pulling in battle...yeah, authentic.

Immersion-wise Origins were p. good. Odyssey is just a goofy theme park, and the culprit is not just the omnipresent current-year stunningbravery.

When it comes to gaming, the West is lost. You wanna historical immersion? Play based slav Kingdom Come.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

When it comes to gaming, the West is lost. You wanna historical immersion? Play based slav Kingdom Come.

Well, we do still have THE game (in 30 years): DF. There are some good indie, small scale games being made in the West still, but the mainstream is done yeah. Going successful has killed off any kind of art for them.

 

[Alienman]

Kingdom Come had immersion sure, but I don't know if it was that good of a game looking back. Linear story that is disconnected from gameplay if you don't play a good guy, lots of running errands, horrendous combat and then we have the church section.

Not defending Odyssey since it's pretty much shit, but saying west is dead is hyperbole because of one majorly flawed game.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Kingdom Come had immersion sure, but I don't know if it was that good of a game looking back. Linear story that is disconnected from gameplay if you don't play a good guy, lots of running errands, horrendous combat and then we have the church section.

Not defending Odyssey since it's pretty much shit, but saying west is dead is hyperbole because of one majorly flawed game.

The combat is KCD really was awful.

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

The combat is KCD really was awful.

Only when there multiple ennemies otherwise i found it very tactical,interesting and stressful (like in real medieval battle).

 

[cvv]

Not defending Odyssey since it's pretty much shit, but saying west is dead is hyperbole because of one majorly flawed game.

Ofc it's a hyperbole, this is the Codex.

Also "ONE" flawed game? How many triple A games made in the West in the past 5 years were NOT unmitigated pieces of burning hospital refuse? VAST majority of great games in the last 5 (maybe even 10) years came from Japan or Eastern Yurop.

Also the combat in KCD might be awful for some and great for others. But it's original and novel for everyone. Which isn't something you've been able to say about an American game for a long, long time.

And I say it with great sadness too, I used to worship American games - Sierra, LucasArts, Westwood, Sir-Tech, SSI, NWC, MicroProse, Black Isle, Bioware, Bethesda, Looking Glass, Blizzard....these were the godlike names of my childhood. Where are they? There's nothing left. It's all dead or mutated into titanic lovecraftian horrors swallowing all light and happiness.

One flawed game? Yeah. No.

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

Ofc it's a hyperbole, this is the Codex.
Which isn't something you've been able to say about an American game for a long, long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Protocol
Dishonored?
Prey ?
Bioshok (even though it's sucks compared to system shock)

 

[Alienman]

Ofc it's a hyperbole, this is the Codex.

Also "ONE" flawed game? How many triple A games made in the West in the past 5 years were NOT unmitigated pieces of burning hospital refuse? VAST majority of great games in the last 5 (maybe even 10) years came from Japan or Eastern Yurop.

Also the combat in KCD might be awful for some and great for others. But it's original and novel for everyone. Which isn't something you've been able to say about an American game for a long, long time.

And I say it with great sadness too, I used to worship American games - Sierra, LucasArts, Westwood, Sir-Tech, SSI, NWC, MicroProse, Black Isle, Bioware, Bethesda, Looking Glass, Blizzard....these were the godlike names of my childhood. Where are they? There's nothing left. It's all dead or mutated into titanic lovecraftian horrors swallowing all light and happiness.

One flawed game? Yeah. No.

You read it wrong, or well I meant it the other way - I meant Kingdom Come as flawed, not Odyssey. That the west produce shit games and have "fallen" compared to one flawed game.

So what are some of those great AAA games that come from Japan or eastern Europe the last 5 years? From the top of my mind - 4 pop-a-mole AAA games I enjoyed last couple of years have been 3 western, and one Japanese. Days Gone(US), Sniper Elite 4(W.EU), Control(W.EU) and Death Stranding (Jap). And yes, I recognize that this is subjective.

I mean in general I don't disagree with you because gaming have declined compared to what we had, but I have a hard time seeing a savior anywhere, nor in the West or East. Indies are another tale though, but those are from all over the place.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Look, I am a proud Amurrican, and generally shit all over your backward potato asses, but on this I agree with cvv, and have been saying it for a long time. Mainstream American game dev is dead and has been dead for a long time. The last respectable game from them would probably be New Vegas, and even that had to be modded to be enjoyable. Indie guys are still pushing the limits, as with Dwarf Fortress, and maybe some small companies, but anything AA-AAA is d-e-a-d.

Everything I've enjoyed the last several years is either from Japan (Breath of the Wild, Dark Souls) or Eastern-Central Europe (Witcher 3, KCD, ELEX). Those are also capitalist nations, but I think they managed to preserve some balance between profit and art, whereas here, art just doesn't factor into it at all, it's all market research and mainstream appeal.

 

[Alienman]

ELEX is German.

Edit:

Oops, missed central Europe.

 

[Infinitron]

FYI Assassin's Creed games are made by French-speaking people from Quebec.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

FYI Assassin's Creed games are made by French-speaking people from Quebec.

Not all of them, buddy. Assassin’s Creed Rogue, which finally let you play as a bad guy, was made by a bunch of Bulgarian peasants in Ubisoft Sofia.

 

[Dedicated_Dark]

Ubisoft writing is boring, sterile, cliched, mass market fodder, without an iota of personality, heart or soul. Might as well be written by a sophisticated algorithm.

Origins had better main quest than Witcher 3, Black Flag writing is charming and Ezio saga is written well enough. Also, AC1 did grey morality better than Witcher. It's just Ubi Qubec that can't write for shit.

 

[Dodo1610]

So I gave been playing through both Odyssey and Origins ( I am still playing the Atlantis DLC). I have played through every single of the series and have played some of them even through twice. So I really like the AC series to say the last. I think Origins is the best one in the series followed by Odyssey. Origin does an incredible job of showing ancient Egypt in a way I didn't think video games ever could, just walking through the streets of Alexandria or Memphis is a dream I had since childhood when I was super into this time period. Seriously this is the best representation ancient Egypt we have ever either in video games or movies. Bayek is by far the most complex protagonist the series has ever had, he is the first character who actually talks and behaves like he was from the setting, even the way his relationship with Aya felt well written. I only wished that the game spent more time with Cleopatra and Caesar. Sadly the game's combat feels off even hits with two-handed axes feels weak and got boring really quick, the mission design is AC standard but had some really great moments sprinkled in between through the main story.

Odyssey is a very different game despite using the same engine and reusing a lot of assets. Odyssey is the first time the series fully embraces the fantastical side of the series. I don't even have an issue with this I even hoped we would finally see more of the Isu/Those who came before since they were nearly absent in the last games. The issue is that they never even bothered to create a historical setting and then magic in it this time classical Greece has basically nothing to do with the real history despite being filled with more historical characters than ever. The biggest issue is that no one behaves as they should. Once you get used to that Odyssey has a great and really tragic story. Kassandra has even definitely become my favourite protagonist mostly thanks to the great voice acting. The game's best features are definitely the dialogue options with their consequences and the new immersive mode leads to so much better exploration since you are spending a lot less time just following blinking makers.
The dialogue here is, in my opinion, better than in most recent games since you can actually fail the quest by clicking the wrong options and seeing that even minor sidequests can have very different ending is really nice. That connects with the new save system which means dying actually has consequences leads to the most immersive gameplay the series ever had.
The combat is also vastly improved and the new abilities actually made combat fun and even somewhat challenging while it mostly felt like a chore in Origins, the best part is that you won't get Exp to max everything at least in the main story so there is potential to have different builds. The ship is a mixed bag, I like that it returned but it is nowhere near as fun or deep as in Black flag, even origins Naval mission were a lot more fun.
Odyssey has it's best moments in the exploration and the small stories of random people across the Aegean which entertained me for over 100h. Though I think it's a lot more fun than Origins it sadly doesn't feel as focused as it's predecessor.

So I hope their next Viking game focuses more on real-world history and adds companions and more interesting skills while keeping the dialogue and exploration from Odessey and for god's sake improve the romances Ubisoft.

 

[Zer0wing]

Also "ONE" flawed game? How many triple A games made in the West in the past 5 years were NOT unmitigated pieces of burning hospital refuse? VAST majority of great games in the last 5 (maybe even 10) years came from Japan or Eastern Yurop.

Technically, Metro Exodus is southern yurop (Malta) but it's an abomination of a completely different kind.

Oops, missed central Europe.

BRD is not central, it's still western. That's where Piranha Bytes comes from.

 

[Modron]

I think Origins is the best one in the series followed by Odyssey.

Haven't played Origins, but what I played of Odyssey during the free weekend a month back clearly indicated Odyssey was in no way better than 2-4.

 

[Dodo1610]

I think Origins is the best one in the series followed by Odyssey.

Haven't played Origins, but what I played of Odyssey during the free weekend a month back clearly indicated Odyssey was in no way better than 2-4.

In my opinion, most AC games felt very samey but Odyssey felt like a different game. Who knows maybe my opinion changes when some time passes. also, I forgot Black flag existed for some reason which I think is better than Odyssey.

 

[JDR13]

I'm not a fan of the series, but from what I've played of Odyssey, it's definitely an improvement over the older titles.

 

[Yosharian]

The combat is KCD really was awful.

Only when there multiple ennemies otherwise i found it very tactical,interesting and stressful (like in real medieval battle).

..so most of the combat then

 

[DemonKing]

FYI Assassin's Creed games are made by French-speaking people from Quebec.

I thought they were made by a team of mixed cultures, religions and gender identities?

I'm playing through Odyssey at a very (gentle) pace. It's a stunningly realised world that looks and sounds amazing. The protagonist is likeable enough too. Not very historically accurate though as they've cherry picked famous ancient Greeks and shoved them all into the same place in time.

I'm not seeing much C&C in the dialog options, the quests are fairly one-dimensional and the gameplay extremely repetitive. The world is so vast that the thought of exploring it all is too much even for my level of autism given the core gameplay is rather dull. I'm sure I'll finish the main quest at some stage but I'm in no hurry.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Origins felt quite authentic, Odyssey is more of a theme park with modern Californians / Montrealians in Greek outfits who constantly yell "fuck". None of the characters, including the protagonist(s) felt like an ancient Greek. Gameplay-wise it's a bit better than Origins, the concepts feel more polished. But the concepts aren't really great, so there's a ceiling of what they can achieve with them, and it's more often than not MMO style busywork (farming materials, level scaled enemies).