Assassin's Creed series

[Daweii]

44 minutes ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

Why did they change the gameplay so much in Valhalla? It's more like a Souls game now rather than the classic Assassins Creed gameplay I enjoyed from the first batch (1, Ezio collection etc..)

Assassins Creed 1 all the way up to Syndicate have the same style of gameplay, and are largely the same game in new cities with subtle evolutions to the parkour system. After Syndicate released and completely bombed sales wise the series took a break, and Ubisoft went back to the drawing board to release something that would feel fresh to longterm fans. This lead to Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. All three games adopted a more methodical Soulslike combat, but Valhalla definitely leans into it a lot. The mainline series is now on another break, so maybe the gameplay will change again with Assassins Creed Infinity in 2023/24.

[ender4]

56 minutes ago, Daweii said:

Assassins Creed 1 all the way up to Syndicate have the same style of gameplay, and are largely the same game in new cities with subtle evolutions to the parkour system. After Syndicate released and completely bombed sales wise the series took a break, and Ubisoft went back to the drawing board to release something that would feel fresh to longterm fans. This lead to Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. All three games adopted a more methodical Soulslike combat, but Valhalla definitely leans into it a lot. 

Can you explain what the difference is for someone who has never played a Souls game?

[Daweii]

Just now, ender4 said:

Can you explain what the difference is for someone who has never played a Souls game?

So in the first 10 Assassin's Creed games the combat system was reactionary. Combat would be initiated and the player waited for the enemies to do something, at which point the player either countered, dodged, or grabbed the enemy. They added layers to it with each release, but the reactionary combat remained the same. This same reactionary combat style inspired games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Starting in Origins and continuing into Valhalla the combat is more methodical like the Souls games. The Souls games are all about learning the enemies attack patterns, and the game gives the player tools to do that. You have a lock-on so the enemy is always in view, you have a dodge, and you have a shield if you choose to equip one. The player also has more control over their attacks. You have light attacks and heavy attacks, and these attacks can be chained together based on what you have learned about your enemy. Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla imitate this approach to combat. 

[Talldarkandransome]

Tried Assasins Creed Origins as on gamepass, didnt like it so deleted it. Not bothering with Valhalla I don't think.

[villa4europe]

follows on from a big leak which said its a return to the basics of the series, no levelling up, set in baghdad in the 800s, doesnt sound like its the online service game hub thing that was touted last year but that leak did suggest they were going to smaller maps with then lots of content on the "road map" (urrghh)

[Daweii]

This is the stopgap release while they put the finishing touches on Assassins Creed Infinity (set for 2024) which is the online live service endless content game.

It's cool to see them going back to basics, but I would advise that people take this as a one and done because I don't think the plan is for the RPG systems to be dropped permanently. Unless it sells very well and then plans may change.  

[hogso]

Love how they brazenly called it Infinity. 

"You will play this forever!"

[villa4europe]

The ubisoft event is tonight for anyone interested 

[villa4europe]

 

They also confirmed infinity, the first 2 settings within it being feudal japan and rome

[Daweii]

Ubisoft are going to need to release a trailer at some point to show exactly how the Infinity hub works because the Internet at large is struggling.

A trailer on how it exactly worked might have been a good idea. It's great to tease Red which is Feudal Japan, and it's great to tease Hexe which is 16th Century Europe during the Witch Trials. That's awesome, I love to see it, but Infinity is what everyone has questions about as these new games require the hub, it's mandatory. Is the Infinity hub a space where the player creates a character and walks around in it? Is it merely a screen before the game loads that gives several options? This hub could be anything. In my mind it has to be a playable space because Ubisoft need a way to funnel in MTX and Battle Passes, and having players created characters wearing their new £30 cosmetic MTX is a great way to shift more digital shit, so my cynical brain tells me it has to be a playable 3D space, but they're being vague to the point where it's a whole lot of nothing right now. 

It was great to see what the future has it store, especially Hexe which could be a very dark game, but I have questions about Infinity that I am sure Ubisoft will continue to skirt-around until 2024. 

[villa4europe]

Yeah without understanding anything about either game it sounds to me a bit like destiny where the hub bit should be free and then they add 10 - 20 hour campaigns at reduced prices and constantly keep new content on the horizon like timed and themed events within each bit of content, you find and unlock content for your character and the hub with then no doubt lots of loot boxes and additional paid extras along the way 

What maybe makes that interesting in comparison is they've said the next proper AC game is smaller which fits in to what I think infinity is but also they've done away with levelling so with no levelling or grinding required each area or game or content is based around story but then do they link them all meaning gaps if I for example only fancy playing the Japan game and not the Europe game? 

Also AC isn't multiplayer so what is the hub exactly? Its not an area for clans or how do they put quests in to it? If it's quests then for me how do they tie in a good comprehensive story in to that? 

Its something that could work but I don't know how and most importantly I don't trust ubisoft to get it right 

 

[Daweii]

4 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Yeah without understanding anything about either game it sounds to me a bit like destiny where the hub bit should be free and then they add 10 - 20 hour campaigns at reduced prices and constantly keep new content on the horizon like timed and themed events within each bit of content, you find and unlock content for your character and the hub with then no doubt lots of loot boxes and additional paid extras along the way 

What maybe makes that interesting in comparison is they've said the next proper AC game is smaller which fits in to what I think infinity is but also they've done away with levelling so with no levelling or grinding required each area or game or content is based around story but then do they link them all meaning gaps if I for example only fancy playing the Japan game and not the Europe game? 

Also AC isn't multiplayer so what is the hub exactly? Its not an area for clans or how do they put quests in to it? If it's quests then for me how do they tie in a good comprehensive story in to that? 

Its something that could work but I don't know how and most importantly I don't trust ubisoft to get it right 

 

I'm not sure how long each campaign is going to be as Codename Red is planned for 2024, while Codename Hexe is planned for 2026 (according to leaks). This leads me to believe that the campaigns are going to be pretty substantial as they have 2 years each to satiate the fanbase. I can see both being £70 campaigns that are 300+ hours each. I don't think they are getting rid of the RPG mechanics for the Infinity games. The only reason Mirage doesn't have the RPG systems is because it started life as a DLC and was expanded out to be a 20-hour game in the style of AC2, but I don't think that's the norm going forward although I might be wrong.

As for the multiplayer. They are working on a fully multiplayer game called Assassin's Creed: Invictus which will exist within the Infinity Hub in some form. If this is a 3D explorable space, then Invictus is probably accessed via a PVP/Multiplayer centric character like in Destiny, but they are making sure that Infinity is a multiplayer thing. The main campaigns seem to be solely single player, but everything outside of those campaigns sounds like it's going to be all online.

I just wish they showed us. I know that the plan is for Infinity to launch with Codename Red in 2024 (delays permitting), but they can surely show us a proof of concept, so it makes more sense and is less abstract. It all sounds very Destiny with players roaming about an online hub between multiplayer games, or between single player sessions in the Animus, but until they show us this could be anything. I also have the same questions about playing Codename Red and not playing Codename Hexe, how does that work? I assume the Infinity Hub (whatever it is) will make it very hard to not play them all, as it'll ultimately be a constant way to advertise to the player new content for them to buy. 

The only thing that is fully confirmed at this time is that the modern-day story is no longer going to be told in the main campaigns, and instead will be separate and exclusive to the Infinity Hub in some way. I don't think that will alleviate the problem of skipping games though, if anything it may make it worse if the modern-day story in the Hub starts referencing things you should know from playing Hexe, or Red. 

[Tayls]

Will Infinity be like Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast all those years ago? A lobby where players return to the current time before travelling to various eras via the animus to complete objectives. That would be pretty cool. 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Tayls

[villa4europe]

1 hour ago, Tayls said:

Will Infinity be like Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast all those years ago? A lobby where players return to the current time before travelling to various eras via the animus to complete objectives. That would be pretty cool. 

Yeah in theory the hub could be modern day abstergo with you designing an avatar to be whatever you want and then you dip in and out of various settings and missions via the animus and that sounds like it works and fits that world perfectly 

The weird thing for me is that I then like the idea of popping off to valhalla to do a river raid or then the equivalent in each time period, what I can't get my head around is an idea that you're in the hub and then go do a 20+ hour game set in Japan 

It will take time but if it eventually gets to say 10 time settings and then new content that sees you do 1 to 5 hours in each spread out over a month then I'd enjoy that 

But again as I said before AC is largely a story driven game not a levelling up multilayer grinder where you just hammer out the quest or whatever you want to call it so how they have all the players bouncing around doing some bits but not others and still piecing together some sort of narrative is the big challenge 

 

[jim]

Odyssey is now on gamepass for those who haven’t played it.

[Talldarkandransome]

On 17/09/2022 at 09:37, jim said:

Odyssey is now on gamepass for those who haven’t played it.

I started this the other evening, so far I prefer it to Origins and the earlier ones.

[theboyangel]

4 hours ago, Talldarkandransome said:

I started this the other evening, so far I prefer it to Origins and the earlier ones.

IMO it's the best in the series by far

[DeadlyDirk]

On 25/09/2022 at 13:57, theboyangel said:

IMO it's the best in the series by far

I played the hell out of Odyssey, for me it has been the best of the series.... When you get to play the DLC though, that's next level stuff, it's that good. Fun fact, the actress who voices and models for Kassandra also plays the Greek woman Mita in Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga. And yes.... WB

I'm re-doing Valhalla at the moment, and whilst the landscape is a bit uninteresting, I enjoy the fact that it's got some old places in it that are nothing more than loose foundations where buildings once stood these days, in the game their recreated close to how historians think they looked, I'm looking at North Leigh Villa (in the game as Lea Garrison or something) and Uffington in Wiltshire. I do like that they've put effort into those parts.

[theboyangel]

39 minutes ago, DeadlyDirk said:

I played the hell out of Odyssey, for me it has been the best of the series.... When you get to play the DLC though, that's next level stuff, it's that good. Fun fact, the actress who voices and models for Kassandra also plays the Greek woman Mita in Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga. And yes.... WB

I'm re-doing Valhalla at the moment, and whilst the landscape is a bit uninteresting, I enjoy the fact that it's got some old places in it that are nothing more than loose foundations where buildings once stood these days, in the game their recreated close to how historians think they looked, I'm looking at North Leigh Villa (in the game as Lea Garrison or something) and Uffington in Wiltshire. I do like that they've put effort into those parts.

She also recently appeared in The Sandman as Caliope. 
 

As for Odyssey, I loved the fact the missions could be slightly altered depending on your interaction choices with speaking characters.

Have done the DLC in Hades, which was much bigger and better than expected.

have completed Valhalla too - which whilst good, failed to reach the heights of Odyssey. 

[DeadlyDirk]

2 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

She also recently appeared in The Sandman as Caliope. 
 

As for Odyssey, I loved the fact the missions could be slightly altered depending on your interaction choices with speaking characters.

Have done the DLC in Hades, which was much bigger and better than expected.

have completed Valhalla too - which whilst good, failed to reach the heights of Odyssey. 

The Atlantis DLC is gorgeous...