Baffling In All The Wrong Ways | Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Luke Stephens
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- Опубліковано 15 тра 2024
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Cool Videos:
- The Tragedy of Assassin's Creed Unity: • The Tragedy Of Assassi...
- Mafia: Definitive Edition Did Something Incredible: • Mafia: Definitive Edit...
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla Makes Me Sad: • Assassin's Creed: Valh...
- Cyberpunk 2077 - Truly WASTED Potential: • Cyberpunk 2077 - Truly...
TIME STAMPS:
Intro - 0:00
Patreon Thank You - 10:46
Special Announcement - 12:33
Male vs. Female Eivor Selection - 15:17
The Skill Bush - 16:53
Game Tech - 39:00
Quests & Challenges - 48:34
Main-Story Quests - 50:45
Side Quests - 56:29
World Building & Design - 1:33:52
Length & Pace - 1:48:45
Combat - 2:07:57
Abilities - 2:19:56
Supernatural BS - 2:25:07
Narrative - 2:31:01
Endings - 2:40:43
Conclusion - 2:47:03
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Luke Stephens
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Milliken, CO 80543, USA
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#AssassinsCreed #ACValhalla #gaming - Ігри
🎮 TWITCH: www.twitch.tv/LukeStephensTV 🎮
I agree with u in just 1st 1 minute ~
Why not use a trainer ;) ~ 25:15 I do this when i realise the game i bought is mostly too much ( Except Monster hunter World where using cheats robs u of thrill of grinding ).
lol not game related but we also have a tortoise shell cat like yours. She's 10 years old now
can you show the rhapsody link of yours?
I DON'T CARE....
I want an Assassin's Creed Game
That would last 1000 hours.
If Ubisoft made it, I would play it until I was 70 Years Old! I'm 57 years old Right Now!
And I enjoy Assassin's Creed Games more than a Teenager Does.
😆 🤣 😂
Valhalla is unique in that it starts off pretty good. You’re having a good time but the more you play the worse and more tedious it gets until you realise you were never having a good time and you’ve just been playing filler for the last 50 hours!
@treeghettox To be fair, you can pull off the power fantasy where your character can kill everything in their path. Doom 2016 comes to mind. The thing is that you still have to earn that sense of power, which is usually accomplished by drastically changing the capabilities of your character compared to your enemies. Whether in movement, power or some other aspect of gameplay, you need your protagonist to stand out against the rest of the world and it's enemies. Another good example of this would be the DMC or Bayonetta games. Dante and Bayonetta feel powerful to play because their movement and combat is far faster and stronger than most of the enemies you fight aginst.
Excatly my experience with Odyssey. I've been strugling to comprehend why do people seems to bring up this kind of critic for Valhalla when Odyssey is so highly regarded... I haven't touched Valhalla, and it might be way worse than Odyssey, but damn, wether in this vid or the skill up review, do I hear for this game what I people would say about the previous one.
@treeghettox that’s why dark souls has ruined all action or open world rpgs for me. The rewarding feeling you get for completing an area is unmatched in gaming.
I'm genuinely curios, what exactly did you find interesting in it? To me it was simply cookie cutter beginning. It was Fable1 with arguably worse graphics. At least Fable tried to put a nice shine, and a bow tie on old design.
@@TheKueiJin of all the criticism on valhalla you cannot say the game looks graphically bad. You playing in 720p? Lmaoo
I absolutely hate that mainstream audiences seem to rate their experience with games simply by "How much time can I waste with this product?" instead of actually having a meaningful or interesting experience
True, the old games were nowhere near as long as Valhalla yet I played them a lot more than the 100 hour open world Assassins Creed games. Even surpassing 100 hours with the old games.
This is what Ubisoft preys on
It’s sad. And it was just announced as their second highest grossing game ever. So you know they’re going to continue in this direction and monetize things even worse. The future is bleak for large game publishers
New age gamers prioritize content and longevity over quality when a game is linear or 7 to 10 hours game people tend to bash it and downplay it because theres not alot of content after you beat it your done.But they praise 100 hours game even tho 70 percent of those are just meaningless side quest,collectetons and doing mundane stuff no wonder why Ubisoft only makes disposable openworld games now
yep
I'm a big fan of the wilderness setting. I'm really disappointed that they haven't made climbing trees and environmental scaling/ambushing more prominent.
They are purposefully going away from anything that made it what it used to be. Scaling/ambushing and climbing is useful for 1hit kill assassins. But not for damage sponge warriors were frontal combat is the primary focus
@@BlueBD unfortunately, that serves again to take away from the rpg aspect. everybody has their character forced into a certain style of fighting, and they aren't given much choice.
@@elijahwinchester6690 There's plenty of stealth kill in Odysesy and Valhalla.
Ive stealth kill many bounty payers just to drop the wanted level and run like hell..lmao
I personally hate Valhalla or it's clunky like Rogue. The NPC are STUPID.
I can stealth kill an enemy 5 feet away from another NPC looking at me.lmao. Too much fluff/cutseceen.
i prefer odysessy combat..Not being able to heal unless I hit an enemy
takes getting used too. It's after playing immortal Fenyx. I enjoy immortal's combat the most.
IDK...I hunt merc so I can loot thier weapons. Alot of times Im on 5 star
wanted. There's a mixture of stealth, hide N seek. Diving from building
to make damages. Sometimes I'll remain mounted..use my bow or spear
to wack 2-3 of them chasing me. Most of them can one shot me too.
Hell Ive even killed the stupid giant farting hog while mounted..just becuase I can
The wilderness setting is the new boring city setting. Since botw and horizon zero dawn every open world game is now a huge forest or green field with nothing in it.
@@angusmarch1066 Tbf I'm Pretty sure Witcher 3 did that 2 years before either of those games.
This is a small gripe, but I played Valhalla at a friends house a month or so ago and he let me do a raid. I was almost INSTANTLY bored with the combat. It felt stupidly easy and uninspired. And then I tried to kill a monk. And the game YELLED AT ME. A Viking. For killing a monk. During a raid on a Monastery. That was the final nail in the coffin for me.
That's so stupid. Literally the first raid Vikings ever did was against a bunch of helpless monks. Freaking watering down Vikings and making them seem like righteous heroes was always so dumb imo.
Lmao that’s a great point 😂
If you got bored with Valhalla combat you’re gonna hate the ezio trilogy’s combat. And the reason you can’t kill a monk is because “assassins” don’t kill innocents
sellout sanders assassins weren’t heroes either , neither were pirates, neither were gang leaders but ac d riders don’t care and would rather cry and complain
@@ACLA23 Ezio wouldn’t kill monks, a Viking main character should for sure be able to murder monks though.
"The game is not over! The game is never over!" - Loki
He wasn't exaggerating.
you heard that from dartigan lol
@@foxhoundbridges4851 He definitely said what we were all thinking at that point in the game. I didn't expect Loki to turn into fish immediately after, though. That's one of his abilities I never thought I'd see outside the original myth. But I'm glad it's in the game. It makes the scene between him and Odin even more hilarious. Lol
@@robertb.warren4749 true lol
@Gary Higginson Thanks for the info about dlc, my friend!
Playing Valhalla felt like a chore to me and that tells you everything about the game
Yeah i agree playing this whole game felt like a chore but i loved odyssey
Agreed, it sucks that I bought it at full price
@@Razzel102 Yea we learned our lesson
Valhalla made me appreciate The Witcher 3. What happened was I actually uninstalled Valhalla and started my 2nd run of the witcher after so many years. Very happy ever since and I have Ubisoft to thank for that :) I'm also thankful for ubisoft for saving me all costs of any sort of AC future installments.
If you don’t like anything it will feel like a chore, it’s not a bad game it’s your shitty opinion
In 10 years people are going to talk about how Ubisoft changed their spell casting balance to favor summoning in Assassin's Creed.
You know, I do at least like summoning compared to spell casting because there’s a variety you can do instead of flinging fire. But also eventually, oh wait we’re talking about Assassin’s Creed not FF14.
big big facts. what the hell does riding on a wolf have to do with ac?
Summoning is the way
I knew AC's identity has died when i saw the cutscenes for the Atlantis DLC and it looked like something out of a Percy Jackson movie.
Who ever asked for AC to become a fantasy series?
alot of the fun about the none-historical aspects of AC is that it was at alot of times kinda plausible and reasonable that something like the Piece of Eden existed but was hidden from history or stuff like Ezio having a Glider or being in a Tank. It was outlandish but it was never fantastical
@@joedatius as much as i absolutely HATE the ISU plot now, AC absolutely depends on it, they were established as essential to the overall story way back in AC2, the whole plot of the swords of eden having been defining weapons in world's history and the Assassin-Templar war, the apples of eden being able to control or kill in masses, all that is essential. And going back to Odyssey, where we're the closest to the "age of gods" made sense that our protag and their weapons would be far more fantastical than any other in the series.
WITH THAT SAID, we didn't fucking need to meet literal gods, just because Ezio will meet a fragment of one in the future, that ruins the mystery, don't explain the mystery, just hint at it
Geez you really hammered home how I feel about this game. I spent so much time in this game (so many hours), all to realize Origins and Odyssey did it better.
When you pointed out how they missed the mark on the storyline of the struggle of being an assassin, in a brutal Viking culture (much like Ghost of Tsushima), a lightbulb came on in my head. Totally true!
Thanks for being so thoughtful and charitable in your critique.
Assassin's Creed in the begining had two components two it, running and stealth. Stealth was the main point of the game, and running was implimented for when you messed up, or finished your task and had to go. Combat was just counterkill after counterkill because the point wasn't to fight, but to take care of your enemies quickly and keep moving forwards.
Two changes to this formula (imo) take a portion of responsibility for the state Valhalla is in (if we are ignoring everything but the core gameplay).
The first is the developement of the combat system. As fighting was innovated to feel more fun- combat started to actually become a playstyle, which wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the other change.
And the other change? The ever-increasing scale of maps. On it's own, it doesn't seem as much like an issue until you think about the design of AC. You used to be an assassin in a city or area occupied by potential encounters with enemies, which you deal with through stealth, combat, or running away.
Stealthing an enemy potentially requires crowds, tools, verticality, and cover.
Combat is self explanitory.
Running away requires superior movement, tools, cover, and other things previously covered in stealth.
Now here comes a larger map with a lot of flat areas, with less verticality, a lack of cover besides tall grass, a tree, or tents, and the only people out here are you and your enemies. Social stealth is out the window, traditional stealth has little to no variation, and running away can only be done using a mount, so why bother keeping in parkor animation which won't be used because nobody RUNS away.
There's a singular part of gameplay left you will naturally experience in gameplay. Combat.
It isn't playing as an assassin anymore, you just play as a warrior who can sneak just because this series used to do stealth.
This comment deserves more likes and attention. This is spot on.
To ad to everything you just said, I just replayed Shadow of Mordor a couple of months ago for the first time since launch, and I was amazed at how similar it was to traditional Assassin's Creed, a fact that, at the time of launch annoyed me as I saw it as a "copy cat" game. Now, it's sadly the most Assassin's Creed like game in recent memory and I was surprised at just how much I truly miss those old school AC elements.
Also, "it isn't playing as an assassin anymore" I agree. Odyssey should never have had the title "Assassin's Creed" whatsoever. You don't play as an assassin, and your character literally doesn't have a creed. They do things for themselves when it benefits them financially or otherwise. Literally not even Assassin's Creed.
I 100% agree- was on my way to mention this shit. I fucking absolutely hate these leveled systems and massive empty spaces. Where in AC1 you needed to get information about targets, find locations and assassinate them - now all we have is like you said, "a warrior that can stealth," and that concept to me really fucking irritates me. They could rather have mad an entirely new franchise or just stuck with what they did to build these series. AC1, 2 and brotherhood is the GOAT of these series. These new games look amazing but they are trying to much to be a Witcher 3 game instead of, well- assassins creed.
It’s like AC: Adjacent
Same world, completely different game experience
Unfortunately your not wrong
Well said
This is honestly one of the most underrated gaming channels I have ever seen. You sir deserve all the success for yourself and your team. Well done.
It truly is, video game essays Luke executes are beautiful.
I'm surprised a gaming channel or gaming journalism company hasn't picked him up yet.
@@J-WOT good. I wouldn’t want him to descend into that sewage. Luke is ours
Joseph Anderson is also awesome
@@MerryOlSoulGigglesmith yeah!! No offense to Luke here but Joseph Anderson is propably my absolute favourite… just after Mauler, but he only did one series that I enjoyed immensly, the ds2 critique
"3 minutes is not long enough time to have anything last and be memorable."
Tell that to my wife bud
😂 that is fucking brilliant!
To be fair, disappointments are easily remembered
@@grandmabutters8502 I think that might be the only reason my mum remembers my birthday 😅
The fact that I had hundreds of hours in Odyssey and came back to it, replayed it, and had a blast, and then I go back to Valhalla and I’m bored within 20 minutes says something.
tf? how? its basically the same game but better in most ways
@@kaonashivibesnah, if anything it's worse, and that's coming from someone who doesn't like both odyssey and valhalla.
@@kaonashivibesnot even close to being the same and I have over 200 hours in both games
@@kaonashivibes I’m going to be honest, the setting itself just sounds super boring to me…or at least not as exciting as Egypt/Greece/some other ancient history.
I’d be all over a game set in the ancient “Middle East.” You know, Babylon, Assyria..that sort of thing. They’ve unfortunately just made Mirage though, so idk if we’ll be seeing the ‘Ancient Persia’ setting anytime soon.
@@I_enjoy_some_things It is super boring because they made half of England a frozen hellscape and they completely failed to bring Anglo Saxon or Viking culture into the game in any meaningful way. It's all just superficial bullshit.
I have never rage played through 20 hours of game before in my life. I was genuinely angry but determined to finish. I dropped the controller when I realized there was one final region to take over after the endgame.
Same. It was so monotonous. I genuinely didnt remember 99% of the people that showed up
That’s like giving up on s marathon 2 feet away from the finish line
@@Ooffoop not it’s like finishing a triathlon only to realise you act to turn around and do a loop
I felt the same way with Odyssey, couldn't finish the game and after valhalla came out I refused to buy it because I knew if was going to be a filler game.
@@andrewsumale6232 odyssey was actually good fr. This game is just repetitive for me
I wish this game was a 20hr story driven game, with another 20hrs of side quests and secrets to achieve. Stop overwhelming the player with so much stuff to do, tone it down(a lot), and these games could be amazing.
Yea less Quantity and more Quality, especially when there is soooo much Quantity.
Origins was PERFECT with this game balance. I platinumed it and did all the side quests in a smooth 55 hours. Nothing felt bloated or a chore to constantly do. Plus the characters and the story are *chef's kiss*
Yes game companies are misinterpreting quantity wants so badly. We want a ton of interesting and unique gameplay. 40 hours of unique, diverse, and fun gameplay is more memorable than 100 hours of dull, repetitive, and boring crap. Hell I was surprised when he said people burn out at about 25 hours I played about 7-8 hours and got so bored I haven’t touched it since. The combat is just abysmal compared to even odyssey, it’s so static feeling and unfun it makes the whole grind that the game is about so mind numbing.
One thing I loved about the older AC games is they could be beaten in about 20 to 30 hours and that is while doing most of the side content. These new AC games are so bloated.
@@TheLoneGamr only 20-30 hours that horrible lmao! I got odyssey last week and have 70 hours and am absolutely loving it so far, 20-30 hours is far to short holy shit it would be finished in less then a week of casual gaming.
even after putting 100s of hours in witcher 3 I didn't do all side quests and still after final dlc ended, I felt sad that game has ended. so I conclude that it's the quality that matters, valhalla is blast to play for first 15 to 20 hours, then it drags on, you start to wish it to end.
Origins is my favorite. I feel like they never picked up again after that reconstruction of the title. I still go back and replay origins
I love the old AC games and Origins was a departure from those, but man I dearly love Origins. It had just enough of what I love about AC and was great in other ways too. Such a good game.
I have never played the old AC games. I loved Origins and I loved Odyssey even more.. So I have no nostalgia glasses. So then I don't know why i absolutely, to the core hate Valhalla... I think it's because I never felt engaged with the character Eivor.. I never felt like I belong..
@@SF-li9kh I wouldn’t say “nostalgia glasses”. Those games are legitimately good and post Origins is a big departure. Not saying that’s good or bad.
I feel like the only bad thing about the origins gameplay formula was the leveling system and how tedious it was to get the final levels (35 to 40 in base game, the dlc added even higher level cap tho).
Because Origins skill tree? It was good; instead of having Leo unlock the dual hidden blade or the hidden gun in AC2, in Origins you have the ability to choose what new skill or enhancement of a previous one you want.
You can't kill people instantly with stealth like the other ACs? Man have you read the title? This is literally the beginning of everything and as far back as AC2 they show us that the codex pages had techniques for assassination. This makes it easy to infer that as this is the very beginning of the brotherhood, they wouldn't have the techniques that were developed later to make stealth assassinations a thing.
Gear now has rarity and lvl and skills? As far back as AC2 there was legendary armor and weapons, don't believe me? I have proof:
Altair's armor gives you the same health as the second best armor in the game, but every piece of Altair's set has much more resistance (ludicrously so).
Altair's sword is the best sword of the game and there's no denying it.
Valhalla is such a weird game, where you have this massive world that’s so pretty and these characters that, by themselves are super interesting. But the experience itself is so blend. If didn’t love graphics so much, I would have given up the game by now.
I forgot I have this game. Played for about 5 hours then never touched it again. Will never buy a Ubisoft game ever again, im done with them.
@@Skumtomten1 same I got prolly 20 hours and I was done.
Same, I'm not buying Ubisoft or Rockstar games until well after release.
I really don't like the graphics. Thought everybody didn't but waddyaknow
I've always been more into gameplay/fluid controls that work along with a good story to boot
It was at “skill bush” that I decided to leave a comment. Good work, Luke. All the best to the family.
So you only wished the best for his family because of the skill bush?
More like a skill briar patch imho
“A chain smoking gas station attendant”
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Never heard such a perfect comparison lmfao
Really? It was a very popular opinion... The actress who played Eivor is actually a good person. She had an idea that Eivors wolf bite would have modified the vocal cords. Well, horrible idea. Speaking as not yourself fails massively. Same happened with the male actor from Odyssey. A grounded and natural voice is always better. Kassandra and Male Eivor
i just wanna say thank you for these long ass vids they are the perfect thing to sleep to on a restless night
Glad I’m not the only who does this 😂
First 30 minutes of the game, I was slingshotted high into the air and thrown across Norway. Funniest thing I ever saw playing this game lol
Yeah I get thrown around by invisible forces every 15 minutes wtf is that
Me too. I shot all the way up into space across the entire map. Places I haven't even unlocked yet. And unlocked 3 new areas in about 15 seconds.
Thank you for flying with Air Viking
@@jeremyoliver3141 this is your captain Heimdall speaking. We are about to arrive in Asgard, please put on your seatbelt as there might be some minor turbulence
Lmao yea ive been jus dropped from a plane a few times
One thing I’ve noticed about the modern games is that for origins and odyssey the size feels like part of this great journey, in Valhalla the size feels like busy work.
Yeah that's exactly why I forgive Odyssey's length. It was an ODYSSEY and I enjoyed every step of it
@You alright boi ? It's England for Christ's sake, it's boring.
@@theportugueselegend still.. Origins have great locations, but it's 90% empty desert and even the empty desert was more interesting than England.
@@KidCracken Because it had good ambience. The soundtrack, the fauna, even the mirages. We never saw an AAA game in Ancient Egypt. But we saw A LOT in Britain, so everybody already knows it's woods and grass fields and shit.
There are so many ideas that initially intrigued me about Valhalla, like unique gear, a focus on main quest stories and smaller side quests, the exploration dots, even the skill bush and how they approach leveling. All interesting ideas - if they work. I truly think Valhalla was a victim of the pandemic and should have been delayed a year minimum. In the end fans got a game with many new ideas, none of which were fleshed out enough to be additive to the franchise, or even satisfy for the duration of the game itself.
I'm ready to enjoy one more of your critiques. They feel like a documentary. And since we share some of the same opinions towards AC games, it makes this a more delightful experience.
Even if you disagree with his opinion its still awesome 👍🏻
I watched the critique 3 times...it is a masterpiece
@@the_codex4449 Yes! I agree! I disagree with him often but it doesn't bother me. It's just a difference of opinion & that's ok. & I just love his vids.he puts so much work & time into them & there's something soothing about them.idk what it is.his voice maybe..?idk. He just seems like a likable dude.
@@justamanofculture12 time of my day to enjoy some quality content
@@lovelydovy660 i put on his vids and zone out cuz i like his voice
I really miss in Origins how you could use the D pad to swap between two kinds of bows and melee weapons instead of having to go into the menu and swap them.
Having literally just finished the game and being up near level 400+ I really wish I had seen that auto assign button. Had no idea it was there.
Even in odyssey
@@kgspvgsp7569 still a better idea than the bland samey weapons of AC syndicate
I LOVED that system in Origins. Honestly my favorite AC game.
Just save up a bunch then just go for the bigger nodes the stats will work themselves out
Wich button?
I have that love and hate thing with this game... sometimes I love the combat and exploring but other times I'm absolutely bored of doing the same thing all over again
in addition to 1:12:58 about the side quest little girl in odyssey, your answer will reflect in-game, if you said the truth youll find her after some time with real friends and that makes that quest so memorable, its simple but delivers a punch
I've given up all hope for AC now. The whole Witcher 3 RPG ripoff concept could've worked, if these games had anything to do with being an Assassin. An Ezio game like that would've been fantastic. Unfortunately the series has been so watered down that it's lost all sense of identity.
Agreed. But as a Viking nerd I still loved it, and spent 200 hours for it.
@@noamias4897 I don't know even as a Viking game I found it lacking because the gameplay loop was pretty mundane and repetitive. The story also bogged down to doing very similar alliance arcs all over the country.
It was hard to believe this was the same team that made Black Flag, arguably the best pirate game ever.
I don't know what you expected with from Ubisoft
It seems like Ubisoft unlearned how to design interesting main characters. Ezio and Edward were amazing, it baffles me how things got bad from Unity onwards. They still develop great worlds, but the characters and quests are so bland now that playing the games just feels like a waste of time, like i'm doing things just for the sake of it.
Your right how dare they evolve from fighting hordes of enemies one at a time a counter attack one shot all them. Game is better than the old concept. RPG mechanics were done well
"3 minutes is not enough to have anything last and be memorable."
That's what she said 😪
As of writing this comment, you have 69 likes as well - Nice.
@@RobbieB2606 nice
@@RobbieB2606 nice
Thank you for this. I lost interest in Valhalla after about 25 hours and haven't been able to put my finger on a concrete why. Meanwhile I loved Odyssey and put 100+ hours into it. It's fascinating how both games are essentially identical at first glance and yet one worked for me and one just doesn't.
I logged 168 hours in This game....somehow. idk how. And odyssey I put in 160. And origins I out in 180. But I played through origins 3 times with the new game plus
Valhalla hasn’t got enough in the game to keep the player interested. Progress is stunted by lack of places to go & NPC’s interaction that enables progress points & levelling up.
Played for around 20 hours 3 months after release at highly reduced purchase price & got bored.
Watched some decent YT videos such as here & bought Origins that totally incaptivated me & continues to do so.
What we have here in the gaming world is a serious digression from game developers studios.
EA & Black Box, Criterion did it in the NFS series.
Not one of their games matches up to Most Wanted 2005 - which was 17 years ago.
BioWare have not succeeded Mass Effect 3.
Bethesda have not succeeded Fallout 3.
All PS3 generation games.
Skyrim has never been succeeded.
Ubisoft has not succeeded Origins & two games have been released since.
Game developers are taking massive liberties with the players & it’s about time in fact it’s well overdue that developers start to sit up & take notice & get their crap together.
I now will not buy any game on release & wait a good minimum of 6 months to watch the reviews & wait until a £60 release price becomes less than £10-15.
Same here I struggled to get through Valhalla, but I loved orgins and odyssey I put 100hrs In to both. While I do understand why people didn't like odyssey, I never thought of it as a ac game, just a amazing ancient Greek game. Orgins I thought was really the last real ac game.
@@angeloftheuchiha.4810 origins is still my favorite, but I have went back now and played odyssey a few times, it's fun, it's a greek god game...not an ac game.
@@daveyadict_ orgins is my favorite like assassin game, I don't really like sneaking around or being stealthy, so I thought orgins was perfect for me. Odyssey was a amazing Greek game just not a good assassin game, but it's my 3rd favorite game of all time.
It’s incredible how I just damaged my sleep schedule by watching a 3 hour long Valhalla video 😂😴
To be honest, when you hear word assassin first thing come to mind is quickness and swiftness but recent ac games focused more on strength
Try dual wielding daggers in valhalla
It's been a hit-and-miss issue with Assassin's Creed for a while now. Even as great a pirate game Black Flag was, the idea of a bombastic, loud, savage, indiscriminate killing pirate, spartan mercenary, or viking is completely antithetical to an underground organization of assassins who live by a strict code that commands them to be subtle, precise, with a clear political goal of freedom.
@@TealeafRogers
Play AC1 for the franchise defining what an assassin is in AC. They were never meant to be literal real world assassins but loosely based on middle eastern historical ones. Also, at least in AC1, the assassin's robes resembled the robes worn by some of the people in the cities, esp. religious folks.
And recent AC games give the player a choice in a nominal sense - in name only. Actually doing a full stealth build in a game not really built for stealth anymore feels more like a hinderece, like the game "allows" you to imitate some of the assassin stuff from previous games but it's an afterthought, a much less efficient way to play then just slaughtering everyone swords blazing.
Compare Odyssey to Unity. Stealth kills were almost always the most efficient way to clear a room or street or to get where you needed to go and getting into combat put Arno at serious risk of being overwhelmed.
Someone I know who has played far more Odyssey and Valhalla then I ever will once told me that trying to play stealth in the last two AC games feels like you're a mercenary or viking warrior who is trying to cosplay as an assassin. As much as I enjoyed AC4, that's kinda how I felt about Edward too.
Try playing like an assassin and not sucking it works
I like that. If people think this game is a chore, I was playing Black Flag on the switch and being an assassin is not as fun. The free roam is awesome but the main missions are a pain in the ass. Follow this guy, tail this guy and don't be seen with no crouch button, so just hide in the grass and hay stacks and if you get seen desync and start over. I like how they just focus on action now. I know everybody says they're not even assassin games but I like that now. I like how the assassin themes are in the background and you don't lose immersion by having to do a bunch of crap outside the animus. Maybe they should make a Ninja one that will naturally have assassin themes but with action too.
It's mental the amount of work you put into everything we see , let alone outside of what we see. The free use music is a great idea. Keep up the great work
YOUR CHANNEL IS SO UNDERRATED!!! I can't wait to binge all these videos lmao I'm so glad I discovered you
I loved Odyssey so much that I felt there was no way they could mess this up. Geeze, I didnt even get past like six hours of this one
I felt the opposite. I ended up loving Odyssey, but it took a good 20 hours for me to even feel like anything was happening in that game. Valhalla took off pretty much right away for me.
agreed, especially when I saw all the ads of the RAIDS which I thought would be an improved version of the faction battles. boy was I wrong.
Agree completely. Odyssey and Origins were superior in every way, to me. I get the appeal of the Viking River Raids, but it just didn't do it for me and felt like a more bland version of the conquest battles in ACO.
I also hated the wealth/loot/weapons system in Valhalla. I get that not everyone enjoys the constant grind for new, better gear, but that was a huge part of my enjoyment in the prior two versions of AC.
And dear lord, did I hate the skill tree system in Valhalla.
Your standard in gaming must be super low lmao
That fenrir just hopping along like a toy is just great meme material and the chopped off arm just dropping from his mouth made it even better
On the subject of medallions: The game DOES actually tell you when you can turn them in. For me it triggers before the assassination cutscene happens but it does. After assassinating and you have enough to turn in to Hytham, Eivor says "I should bring these back to Hytham."
I’ve loved the assassins creed games since the first, played every single one repeatedly up until odyssey and Valhalla, Started playing it recently as a Viking game instead of an assassins creed game and I love it
Gotcha. Thinking of Valhalla in a different light or perspective.
There’s so many things I loved about this game but also so many things that frustrated me beyond belief. My biggest pet peeve was how the ‘assassinations’ of targets had no build up. If the length of the game was shortened in favour of having more focused missions and target objectives that made you give a shit about the Order, then this would have been a masterpiece. But instead it’s “go do this, find this clue, oh the target’s someone you have absolutely no connection to, go kill them”
Should I buy it
@@brendanmuller7301 It's okay. 7/10 I guess. It's worth it at a discount if it comes with the season pass. It gets boring quick.
@@brendanmuller7301 I doubt you will finish it, I played it for a while, got very far, but it was just something to do, I wasn’t really enjoying it. It felt like a chore in the end. If you do, ignore most of the side stuff, will be much more enjoyable just sticking to the main story. I burnt out doing everything in each region. Killed it
For real about the no build up thing. Like in say assassins creed 2 the buildup to the targets Ezio took down was great cause he had a personal stake in every single one. The games after minus a couple are just go kill bland nobody cause game says so. It's really bizarre
@@darknesswave100 I hated how easy assassinate bosses was. Just run in and …,, done. And suddenly no guards care or anything.
Just one thing I wanted to add here, In the story dept, The parallels exist because these characters are reincarnations. Basim isn't just similar to Loki, He IS Loki. And at the end of the Valhalla section Eivor rejects Odin and his influence. It's similar to the sages that have existed in the past. In essence Basim fully accepted Loki and his motivations as his own, Same with Sigurd/Tyr. But Eivor rejected Odin because she wanted to be her own person and values those over Odin's wisdom and personality.
who cares the characters are still boring. just because they are "reincarnations" doesn't make it any less uninteresting and a half ass attempt to turn AC into a fantasy game
@@joedatius facts. I was actually somewhat interested in the story of origins-Valhalla, and then I found out that for some ungodly reason the characters were reincarnations of literal gods like wtaf?? Desmond died with AC 3 and ever since then I’ve just been signed out. Now that I think about it the only part of valhallas story that was actually interesting is that Desmond is somewhat back as the reader 💀💀
@@takeshikovacks6708 they aren’t reincarnations of literal gods. The Norse “gods” are the same as the Isu, just the civilization before. They’re parallels to the Isu characters we already know.
See, i 100% agree with you that this is what the story was intended to be. Unfortunately, i found that the story was told in such a boring and oddly paced way that we never actively see Eivor struggle with Odin's influence over her, nor do i think she ever really became aware that Odin was trying to make her into another version of himself. While yes, Odin is always there when Eivor has a choice to make be the devil on your shoulder, she never really reacts to this in a way that implies she is aware this is happening. Like outside of when Odin speaks to her, she acts as though it never happens and never questions why the All-father is coming to her specifically to offer "wisdom"
Hey Luke, Amazing video! I am loving your content like this, and greatly appreciate the critical/thorough analysis you provide for viewers like me. We as your community are ever thankful for your time and effort into your awesome videos!
"Beware of spoilers" Man I'm 30 hours in and the plot has been an absolute mess of nonsense and scriptwriters forgetting what happened seconds ago, so please go ahead, it would be a mercy
I got so excited for this game I watched Vikings and The Last Kingdom just to get into that Viking mood.
This game was more boring than either of those shows at their lowest points. Idk how Ubisoft made a Viking game boring.
Really ? I saw Vikings,
And looking at the last seasons, I lost interest in the show, and this game is more boring than that? Sheesh
@@alzig2061 TLK Is really good tbh
@@alzig2061 I lost all interest after ***Spoiler ahead
**
Ragnar dies.
@@viktordoe1636 Yeah, things went downhill after that.
@@viktordoe1636 i lost interest when they started shoving characters in then pretty much dropping them in the dumbest ways, like bjorn's daughter i believe she was? Suddenly dies off camera because of the mothers purposeful neglect and he comes home and doesn't even fucking ask questions let alone react, that was the point i dropped the series..
This game was so fun… for the first bit. Then it gets more tedious than dragon age inquisitions side quests
I check out the moment i realized the main character has almost the exact same origin story with a different flavor. Aparently falling off a cliff as a child ensures you grow up to be an unstoppable badass in the assassins creed world.
Yep, that moment you go into auto pilot
Personally enjoyed Valhalla, the Vikings era is one of my favourites.
Honestly same here. So far I'm enjoying it. I will add small caveat in that, as of writing this comment, there are no other games, new or old, that I want to play/haven't played yet. No new games until the end of August/Beginning of September, so I have no other game distractions. When it first came out there were so many other games that kept drawing me away from this. But now that it has my full attention, whether I like it or not, it scratches the gaming itch and it helps kill the time until a new game drops
I like your style Luke because you compose these videos in a measured, logical way. You articulate your thoughts with a reasonable and mild mannered disposition without coming off as a whiny fanboy or a worship fanboy. Keep it up.
You nailed it with the reference to cities. AC was always about humanity, how we organise, how we relate and percieve each other and the world. Cities are innately human, they live and breath, they have their own personality. The older AC's in their fights "for the city" between assassins and templar were fights over and for humanity, how we should and could evolve. The reboot series rapidly moves away from "the city" and just doesn't get at what the whole point of the original games were about.
The irony is cities are bigger than before but they feel emptier than a town like Monteriggioni.
It's sad because Ubisoft used to be one of a kind in city design.
Damn, that's a really good point.
Odysseys sidecontent was flooded with "get that" "kill him/them" and "clear that camp". you actually got a few good ones in your experiment.
Yeah but it actually added story reasons for those generic side quests. That's what makes them memorable.
@@altdelet3778 most of them were really bland
@@yang_yin6204 no I still remember a bunch of the AC Odyssey side quests and I haven’t played it in months, I’d say the story put in to each side quest made them more memorable than most
@@talha7032 I think you're getting your games mixed up.
Odyssey had literally 0 story in sidequests, it was just 'hey kill X people for money real quick thanks'
Valhalla atleast has SOME story for the mysteries, and most of those stories aren't actually awful.
Valhalla atleast has that going for it, not much else, though.
@@theoreticalexistence9630 No? Watch Luke’s video on odyssey and I played it myself, the side quests had more narrative than “do this” and made them more memorable, like I remember doing a collection quest so that I could help someone win a contest get married but it turned out the witch that made the potion made her bald.
Hey Luke i just want to say THANK YOU for rhapsody stream i have been trying to get my youtube project started and i wasnt being able to get decent music whichnis vital :D
I didn't watch the entire video but I can truly say that I very much appreciate this guy's calm level-headed approach to bringing up his critiques and explaining what the problems are and I do believe that it's not just Valhalla it's multiple games that have these issues people need to do a better job at making games and drop the excuses if you have a good foundation before you ever try to make a game and then do things layered one at a time then you'll do a good job I appreciate this guy the way he explained things and I wish there was more UA-camrs that would do this but here's the main problem this is the literal main problem people that do make games and develop these things they need to listen to what the guy that made this video and people like him are saying they will make money on games and consoles but that's not the reason for creating them the reason is for the players to have an escape and to enjoy playing games it's about the enjoyment and fun if they stopped caring about the fans or the players then they failed
Ah yes my favourite assassin activity! stacking rocks 🪨
Opening 10000 barred doors > Stacking rocks
@@davso91 the doors make me so angry
Honestly I really enjoyed the cairns… up until the point where they became difficult.
Worse thing in the game ! Not even joking
@@asphen2106 Yep barred from the inside in a house devoid of life. How did they get out?
The one thing I have never understood is why in the new trilogy the brute style enemies look to be 8 feet tall. Even the brutes in the Ezio’s trilogy weren’t this large. It just looks ridiculous.
I’m not gonna lie.. I’ve watched this review 10+ times at this point. Your voice is just so calming + I play ac odyssey to it (the only game I’ve ever been able to play for 400+ hours…) anyways great review!! (I’ve played 1-2 hours of Valhalla and completely agree with you)
I like the rogue like mode they added so I can just jump in and start combat because running all around just to find a town to "fight" (destroy without a scratch) was a pain.
and this weekend , Ghost of Tsushima got an fantastic content expansion update .
The game that Assassin's Creed players deserve
So true, I feel much more like an assassin in Ghost of Tsushima then in actual Assassin's Creed :(
@@Pazoono And they perfectly managed to make both ways of going through this game fun and enjoyable . I'm glad that you are a playstation player who gets to experience that
@@Pazoono It's a better assassins creed game than Assassin's creeds at this point.
lmao. Ghost of Tsushima is same as AC: Odyssey. AC did it earlier, GoT is a Odyssey rip off in asian setting
Assassin's Creed has always been "medieval Hitman" for me, so when Origins came out, I really started to lose interest in the series as a whole. There was no more giving chase, hiding, or blending into crowds anymore. I remember AC Syndicate had bonus content where you played as a WW2 spy, that was really interesting, I wish they'd have done more of that instead.
Honestly they should've just kept with the syndicate engine
Ww1 Spy*
@@manuelbonelli3690 Really? Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I specifically remember Winston Churchill being your quest giver for that one.
@@FerdinandJosephFernandez you are correct. however Churchill didn't fought only in the ww2. He became more famous with that. But that wasn't his only war.
You can check on internet or yt if u want but I am 100% sure that was ww1
@@manuelbonelli3690 ah you're right, that bonus content took place in 1916, I just checked the wiki, thanks
Ubisoft learned that if you're going to overwork your devs dont expect quality. They forgot to consider if that approach would hurt the product and brand though
Dude the amount of work you do. Thank you ❤️
This might be your best video. When you said, "If you take the side content and bake it into the main content...it's no longer side content. I can't believe I have to say this," I pretty much applauded. You do need to say it, my friend, and Bless you for doing so.
He basically complained that they changed the name to "world events" instead of "side quests" and still got 100 hours out of the game. Ubi do some innovation and it's still complained about.
@@minbari73 that’s not innovation. He’s pointing out that it’s the exact same thing as before with a new title.
@@samuelrichards5521 Then, why complain about it? They ARE different from the previous games side quests. If it was up to the AC whiners brigade the game would still be a 10 hour linear rooftop running be invisible in the crowd title, having little fits the characters aren't specifically known as "assassins". While I agree that burn out in this title is an issue given the sheer length of it, I can't say i didn't get my money's worth.
@@minbari73 id rather waste 10 hours than 70
@@minbari73 "I absolutely hate that mainstream audiences seem to rate their experience with games simply by "How much time can I waste with this product?" instead of actually having a meaningful or interesting experience"
This comment is litterarly speaking to you. Stop wasting your time and life on bad crap and enjoy compact quality games instead
Love the amount of detail you go into with your critiques.. it's honestly brilliant that you put these up on Spotify as well, gonna definitely start listening while in the car.
@@crooked420s5 you know how to use the "search" function right?
As far as englands lack of verticality; If they can pull off The American Revolution having decent verticality in the woods (AC3), they are capable of doing it here.
This video explains so much, I bought Valhalla on release on the reasoning I’ve loved all AC games so it must be true now as well. As a Swede I was also especially interested in seeing Vikings in AC. But slowly as I played I lost interest, I got a bit past the Asgard section. And I couldn’t put my finger on why I just couldn’t stay invested. Now I now why, if only Ubisoft could’ve kept what was great from Odessy and Origins.
I got fooled by the skill bush. I was really out here precisely picking each one and making it even around the 3 tiers
about 10 hours in i gave up and started auto assigning unless it was one of the bigger skills
I've just been picking what fits the armor set and playstyle I have adopted. If there's a better way, it's not obvious, and honestly none of it feels impactful anyway.
@@bradreed8938 same.
Something that really, really bothered me in Valhalla was that it's like a colonialism simulator from beginning to end. And the take on vikings and their attitudes towards the locals in England isn't even handled in a way that is interesting, truthful, or good. It's idealized and some distasteful elements are removed completely. For example slavery was something that Odyssey didn't shy away from, but Valhalla did. It's very odd to me
Because the English were the slavers, not the enslaved, didn’t you know!
@@MrPROJECTSyNc Yes, you didn't know Vikings were multicultural progressives? Smh
In all seriousness the Vikings made most of their living off of the Irish and English slave trade, but not really any worse than any other Europeans at the time.
@@MrPROJECTSyNc my man the vikings were Slavers. Like no nation or culture was really morlaly good in the middleages, but it irks me that valhalla Acts as if the vikings were super chill progressiv volks. They werent.
@@ananaspryde5687 I agree with you
#priorities
Man, you work really fuckin hard on your content; you and your team. Appreciate it! I've been working on long form editing projects for work, and have your videos in a little window in the corner of Premier Pro, for hours and hours.
I really like the videos, but, I find it funny that everything-I LOVE-about Odyssey, and Valhalla. Like the Atlantis story line. I really like that they went towards a story of the ISU and how it started
Alot of the fans of the old AC games really disliked alot of the expanded RPG mechanics and question marks on the maps with what felt like infinite loot with a slightly higher number to swap through throughout the game. The new map marker (colors....events, loot, artifact) and only a small selection of gear sets that can be used throughout the game was thier attempt to appease both groups. It doesnt seem to have been very successful. I actually prefered having less loot drops to sort through in Valhalla but we still had to go around the map opening a ton of chests to get resources to level up said gear which I feel like essentially defeats the point.
Personally much of Valhalla feels like it tries to be a combination of the old systems and new. I think it works, partially. If it had polished up the stealth aspects and had more based around them during the story, it would have succeeded. Personally, i love Valhalla. It may have it's own bloat, but it cuts down on the length of the bloat that odyssey had. I think Valhalla succeeds at what it tries to do. Offering the variety of maps or narratives through it's arcs. I've played this series since ac1. And i adore each 'saga' of the series. Ac 1-Rev is it's own arc, ac 3-Ro is another, there's chronicles, and then there is the modern duology. And Valhalla wraps up the myth trilogy. The feel of content and 'drag' across the series has always felt the same to me, as someone who goes for 100% sync.
I'm honestly waiting for this to drop between $5-10. At that margin, not many bland AAA games can be disappointing.
They definitely can still be if you look at it from the perspective of time. The game is just (for the most part) a huge time sink… only have so much time to play games and if I’ve got a choice this definitely won’t be the one I choose to play.
I wouldn’t play it for free, it just doesn’t look like time we’ll spent. Another vacuous, Ubified open world game full of map icons to hoover up and bland, repetitious content to slog through. The only open world I’m looking forward to right now is Elden Ring.
@Bzake why pay full price or even half price for a bloated, poorly executed game that tries to do too much and fails at all of it?
@Bzake Maybe the snobby one is you, because you’re too adamant on forcing yourself to enjoy the game that you’ll ignore people’s valid criticisms of it. I mean this isn’t the only UA-camr that has pointed out how bloated the game is. Repeated content, shallow content, grinding and level gating. These are the hallmarks of the new Assassins Creed formula, it doesn’t take playing the game to know that when the majority of people who review it have pointed that out.
Personally, I won’t touch another AC game after I tried Origins and found it to be quite bad. Odyssey and Valhalla follow in the steps of Origins’ style so I’m not interested, and they only seem to be getting worse.
@Bzake how about you read the entire comment first pal
Recent sub, and oh my god your content is available on Spotify to listen as a podcast
Game changer
I definitely prefer odyssey. I'm playing Valhalla because, well, I paid for it and the season pass. Most of these vast open worlds seem SOOO empty after putting several hundred hours into Redemption 2 & RDO. I know it's not a fair comparison but SO many times as I have been traversing the Valhalla world that I thought, this place is just BIG, Empty, and devoid of life. I think RDR2 spoiled me. Side note: AC3 did "wilderness" right. You could go from one end of a forest to the other quickly finding routes through the trees without ever touching the ground. Valhalla not so much.
Yes, because every forest has lined up branches that can be used to traverse the entire thing.
One of my favorite parts of Odyssey were the way they had the Order of the Ancients in the game. Some were on the sea, some were during story, some were around the world, and some were the most memorable side quests.
Shout out to Swordfish. That shit was hilarious and made me laugh
Correction: The Cult of Kosmos, not the Order of the Ancients
@@SidheKnight That's what they're called in game, the Order of the Ancients
Origins is still my favorite game.
Totally loved the general theme and atmosphere. I sunk around 200 hours and more into it. It was such an amazing experience.
Also because I am a total sucker for the ancient Egyptian theme.
But I never dared to touch Valhalla. I am not the biggest fan of Vikings but I could have gotten into it, but even Odyssey burned me out so much, and people kept on saying that Valhalla is even worse.
They never got over the success of origins. Love going back to play. It feels so fresh each time
I think it's just nostalgia working through you. I played Odyssey first and then Origin, and I thought Odyssey was a far superior game.
@@jaimepe4765 Dunno if that's already nostalgia. It's just that after Origin I had a certain impression about Assassins Creed and Odyssey just didn't reach it.
Odyssey was still a good game, it just had to much unnecessary stuff to do.
@@jaimepe4765 I played Odyssey first but I still liked origin more ...both definitely felt bloated but origin felt less so ...also the protagonist in origin was far better than either in Odyssey for me atleast...there weren't as many question marks on the map in origins witch made them feel less repetitive.... Parkour was definitely better but I do think the major point for me atleast comes back to that origins ends at Just the right time before it starts to feel bloated where Odyssey and Valhalla definitely doesn't
The best thing about Valhalla is that it made us appreciate how good Odyssey actually is
I seem to be one of the few that really likes this game and I plan on playing again when the next DLC drops. The only big gripe I have is that you level up so quickly that half way through it just becomes too easy, even on hard.
first AC game I never finished !! so many story arcs !! to even keep track of ,,, oh you unlocked a new territory !! here's 5 new names you need to know about ... and yeah the skill bush didn't help
I love the Assassin's Creed games. I've replayed every game pre-odyssey at least 3 times. The older the game, the more times I've played and enjoyed it I everytime.
Odyssey and Valhalla are the first AC games I will never replayed. I did enjoy the games to a point but they were far too long and had so little to do with the roots of the game they have lost thier AC appeal. Valhalla was the first AC game I actually stopped for months part-way through because I was simply bored. I did eventually finish the main story. Started and haven't completed either DLC. Guess I'll just have to keep replaying the Ezio Collection to scratch that AC itch... 🙁
You know, playing through Odyssey was genuinely miserable experience. While I don't think its narrative was awful, it was kind of alright, but it's so bloated and filled with quantity and not quantity. It's so out of touch with the brand it represents, where it physically hurts to even think about. It's honestly one of the worst games I've ever played.
@@IlMemetor72 i disagree every mission in the game felt refreshing now repetitiveness other than the cult which was fun to hunt down and i wish valhalla played like odyssey
I actually like Odyssey. But I went into the game with a different mindset. I knew it wasn't really Assassin's Creed and so I didn't treat it as such, it was just a game set in a unique period in history and I enjoyed it for what it was.
Valhalla is so tedious and easy. And I'm the same. Not played the DLC bored of game and deleted it. I'll never finish the main story now
@@ElvisLivesUpstairs Honestly the main story isnt worth finishing cuz there is nothing left to do after it
Really tired of Ubisoft marketing these last 3 games as ‘RPGs’ they’re as much of an RPG as bioshock1 is. So not at all.
I'm really tired of them marketing them as Assassin's Creed.
Just create a new IP and shove these games in there.
Impressive Luke! That’s very kind and generous of you to provide soundtracks for us folks. I’m in the process of starting a podcast and finding decent bgm is a chore. Tyvm.
Dude I didn’t even notice your background music until you mentioned it🤣🤣🤣 good stuff it’s really nice
AC used to be one of my favorite series. I started with 1 and played every entry with Origins being my favorite. I think Origins started the downfall though. These 100+ long hour AC games I just can't do anymore. It was a ton of fun to do once with Origins, but I couldn't get through Odyssey. I got Valhalla as a birthday gift and only have a few hours in it as of now. I don't think I can do that either. I miss the days of Brotherhood, Unity and Syndicate taking me like 30 hours.
Guess what people have different tastes if you don’t want a long game then don’t play long games.
I personally hope these game keep being as long, even though origins was a little on the short side.
Oh yeah, this gonna be good. I bet you're gonna perfectly encapsulate what my thoughts were about the game too.
Edit. And you did! Lemme kick the ball back (It's a long one, like solid 15 minute comment)
[ The combat ]
They tried to appease the older fans by trying to make the new combat play like the older ones. And they actually succeeded. But this is a "mission failed succesfully: Now the combat faces same problems that people had with the old combat: It's easy and boring. BUT NOW, it doesn't even look cool. So just imagine if they'd remove hitboxes and just make all hits and kills animation based? It would play exactly like the old games AND would look better.
The main problem with Odyssey's combat feeling "weightless" was the ridiculous animations of individual attacks and the speed of them: Kassandra's super-speed wailing with bombastic poses with each attack is almost humorous. And when the enemy doesn't fly to stratosphere based on these animation and instead just sits there taking it, it feels remarkably weak.
Valhalla does not fix this, but people still say it's "heavier"...
The combat doesn't feel "heavy", it feels "sluggish" (which does give it the illusion of heaviness). I think it's mainly based on animations: If you start analyzing attacks, you'll notice the timing of attacks is very... Quick. The build-up to an attack might be slow on some weapons, but then the attack even on the biggest swords is quick as a dagger swing. And the downtime to get to another attack is rushed so there's no actual heaviness.
Basically: Eivor never seems to feel the weight of his weapons, it's almost like he acts like they're heavy.
[ Skills ]
Are shit. I didn't care about the stats, because there was no reason to go other regions than what the devs intented. There's no side-quests there, only mysteries and loot. Not really worth wandering those areas. So the skills and levels are useless.
Odyssey had a reason for level ups and loot: Progression. It's a meta-game in Odyssey, but in Valhalla, nothing matters. So why should you try take any other way than the most straight-forward one?
[ Main- and sidequests ]
Half of all the main-quests are just side-questlines that you HAVE to playthrough, obviously.
But this then clearly seems to affect the map size, as every questline has to happen in its OWN REGION. So because now even Valhalla's side questlines require their own regions and thus the map becomes enormous and bloated that you then have to populate with more Mysteries, locations and "loot". And because they have a budget and deadlines, they recycle or have to do stuff fast. The end product is a ton of "meh" content.
So now you have a dilemma where Ubi forced themself to make cheap content that then cheapens the overall experience. This choice directly affect the quality of Mysteries and the overall quality of the game.
[ World Design ]
It's pretty good. It's quite an immersive take on medieval England, but funnily, not that immersive as an viking game (I'm not gonna even try with the assassin stuff).
World looks good, from big to small. I would sometimes just deadass RUN from region to region because I enjoyed the splendor of visuals.
But you noticed something there: I said "RUN", not "freerun" or something like that. England is full of trees and nobody at Ubisoft thought "hey, remember AC 3 and treerunning? Yeah, good times... So anyways". There's no reason to explore for gameplay sake, only for visuals. And even tho Ubi managed to make regions surprisingly varied, it starts to blend together and at some point, you'll just follow the map markers.
I don't understand why Ubisoft thought that Assassin's Creed should be a series that has ass-ton of wilderness to traverse through. The last thing you think of "assassination" is that happening in a middle of a forest. Ubi for some reason is treating AC as an excuse to make digital representations of entire countries.
And I think I know one of the main reasons for this:
- "See that mountain? You can go there".
I don't remember who started this, but I think one of the Witcher 3 trailers popularized it. I am sure this adage has been thrown multiple times in boardrooms at Ubisoft to describe the worlds they create. The problem with this is that they want to create amazing grand vistas AND make those vistas explorable. Now when you then go to this vista, that place has to have cool vistas too and then those need to be explorable too.
[ Story ]
Only thing I can say about it other than horrible pacing and stretching of it, is that I feel like Ubisoft is kinda afraid to be serious. These recent AC narratives have this odd "light-heartedness" to them. Even if they have some edge there, it's almost played for laughs. All the drama has been taken out and now it's just... A protagonist doing stuff and only obstacle they face is faceless goons. Almost all the people you interact with are just friends. When there is an enemy, we see them only very little and the obstacles they lay for the protagonist and are childishly simple.
But there are good points. I like the drama surrounding Ivarr and his bastardiness. I like the divide being torn between Eivor and Sigurd (even tho it's needlessly frustrating). But the most drama you have with an enemy is Fulke and that's just "hope you didn't hurt my boi Sigurd too much". These stories are mainly character-driven, but 90% of the drama is not.
-----
[ Overall ]
So the reason Valhalla feels so disappointing and a chore is how you play so much "meh" content for such long periods of time. The "highs" are extremely rare in the context of all the "meh" you're playing through, thus fade into the "mehness". The "meh" is a combination of meh world, meh writing, meh gameplay and meh mechanics.
The whole end product feels like only parts of it were playtested but nobody had the time to playtest the entire game so proper actions on pacing could be taken.
Nobody could give Ubi input if this game, with its shallow mechanics, can be stretched to 100 hours.
I think the simplest way Valhalla could've been miles better is to just cut half of the regions with their questlines.
- You have less square-meters to fill out, so more focus can go to make better quality side content.
- The pace and length of the game isn't ridiculous. Like the whole Sigurd storyline will actually now have the urgency it should.
- The whole experience won't feel as cheap as more of your playtime is spent with higher quality content and not the "meh" kind.
[ Meta ]
But maybe the main thing they can do: Not take gamers literally.
Gamers don't know what they like nor what they want. Everybody can explain why they hate something about a game (*cough* this critique *cough*), but very few can actually explain why they LIKE something. I asked people "why do you like exploring the empty world of Valhalla". Only answers I got were stuff like "I hate linear games, there's no choice and it's claustrophobic.", or people just attacking me saying "I don't have to explain you shit".
Gamers always want bigger worlds and longer games and they can't explain why. These points should thus be taken by a grain of salt and analyze the root cause of these opinions. A bigger world isn't more immersive and a longer game is just life-support for "I never want this game to end".
If I may share my thoughts on exploring the empty world in Valhalla, I like to clean the maps. First I even just clean the maps in these late Assassins Creed games and only later the story. Even though the map is usually empty, its relaxing to wander eg. in England for some minutes, for an hour. It gives me the illusion of playing, and I dont even have quests to do just wandering, lookin for chests, talking with people. I usually even listen to podcasts while i roam in the empty world, and it completely satisfies me. I dont even have to rush it, just play anytime I want. I'm playing with Valhalla since release, and I started to play with the story since June. After I wipe the map I start to do the stroy. And this way I get live through the story in a more concentrated way. And this way I like the story of Valhalla, I like the empty map and I feel like it worth it.
I actually read all that. Don't you just laugh when people say "I think the combat in AC Valhalla is really good"? Is like they've never played a game with decent combat mechanics.
@@beres_davif wow. That's a very interesting way to play..idk. kinda weird tho.i guess I do it the normal way.i follow the story & go off & wonder a bit here & there but always go back to the story.
Just to clarify, the mountain thing came from Skyrim and I do think that it is popular enough that you can say it popularized it, esepecially since this was 4 years before Witcher 3. I remember even Ubisoft using something similar for Unity (from 2012) where all these parts of Paris are not just a backdrop but you can visit each part.
@@beres_davif I have finally found someone else who likes to clear the map first...nice to meet you. With the "Suggested Power Level" popping up when you hover over a different region in England, I adopted more of a 'clear the region of the arc I have started before starting the first story quest.' Podcasts got devoured while playing this game. While the game is a bit of a mess as far as game mechanic cohesion goes, I will forever salivate when I see a brand new section of map open up or see the vast reaching secret society members tree become active.
Bloating isn't always a bad thing.
Man... i cannot believe you do hours-long critiques for several games. This is a gargantuan work. You definetily deserve a sub. Now, because this video is so detailed I feel like it would be worth to give a rather long analysis myself and hope to god at least one person answers so it feels like a discussion rather than monologue.
First things first... when I first bought the game I was so goddamn thrilled. I am in university, i study english and norwegian, and we did get into medieval writings a bit in year one (just before the game was released) especially anglo-saxon poetry. Norse... not so much. Still I was very excited to see how my hobby ties into my studies. At that time I was also watching vikings, so i was pretty imersed in norse history. The game opens quite well and promises somewhat of a return to the roots, in the form of the hidden ones being present again, which at this point had been around for about 900 years. Basim and Hytham really felt like assassins in anything except name. This I believed to open the way for a nice mixture of viking and assassin approaches depending on the type of situation you find yourself in. It was not so. The game encourages you to go berserk. The stealth is broken. Sure, most times guards barely see you when youre breathing down their necks. But every once and again, one will spot you from a mile away and all hell breaks loose. And are you encouraged to hide? Nope, because you are a goddamn tank. I mean you're a viking sure, but going against your instinct as a viking and instead choosing stealth would have felt... challenging. In a good way.
The skill tree, as pointed in the video... is nuts. I mean, idk, if the decision was taken because players considered careful skill tree specialization tedious... then who is this game made for? This is a core idea of any rpg. Tree branches. Is it a bit boring and demanding, sure, but its like complaining that aiming is hard in a shooter. Tell you what, fully automated aim asisit at all times isnt fun either. Or if you find it fun, youre not a legit shooter player. I got into ac at 14, in 2014, with ac3. Proceeded to play all of them and once reaching 3 again, went forward with black flag and each new installment. I miss the old action adventure style, but i feel like this genre is dying altogether. So be it. Rpgs are taking over because witcher 3 was a massive hit (this is an oversimplification but i cant be totally wrong). But damn it... witcher 3 is marvellous in all regards. Im not much of an rpg player myself but for that game... i willingly learned to redefine the way i would approach a game. Because witcher 3 is a beautiful game, regardless of type. So now... origins did what had to be done to save the franchise. Ubisoft sold the soul of the franchise to keep the IP alive. So be it. Origins was great. Odyssey was great. Sure, i missed parkouring on high rooftops. Especially unity. Damn do i love that game. I know it was a mess at launch and the story feels too much like a period romance than a story full of conspiracy and big historical moments (although it is set in perhaps the most important event that kickstarted the modern world of capitalsim, liberalism and nationalism that we still live in today. But the revolution here is a mere setting, Arno hardly partakes in historical events himself). I loved those but i was ready to give up for the new thing. And it felt fine. But valhalla... is barren. Sure, at least in this regard its period accurate, because there are 1000 things that arent. But pulling lots of big ass buildings would have been the last straw. As it is, the game is boringly accurate as far as landscape goes. In anything else... its utter trash. Won't go into detail on this, though.
What i want to touch upon is the main story
I thought it was quite alright, and, unpopular opinion perhaps, but the serialisation worked for me. So many self contained storylines made each arc feel rather small and digestible. But the overall narrative was awful. The end comes right out of nowhere and lacks emotional depth. The whole game lacks depth and gravity. You go to freakin America like its the village 2 hours away from home. You go there to kill a guy and return like you were on daily errands in a different neighborhood, not a newly discovered continent.
The "world events" are funny but one too many, and so empty. I really liked that one with The Prodigy parody, smash my bishop. I know the original song since i was young and it was funny to see that. But these are so many and so dull that it makes it look like the world of valhalla is full of buffoons.
And finally the magic. Ac games always had a way to explain magic as science and i was entertained by how far they went with it in odyssey's dlc, fate of atlantis. But in valhalla... you have legit cursed objects that are not animus misinterpretations nor isu artefacts. And there are moments when you fight hallucinations, but again, one too many. The combat makes it feel like you are a fantasy character, not a human. That is excusable, but a flaming sword? And again, its not an animus visual cue. Npcs are able to do it as well. And as far as isu lore goes, i get it, they exist, but previous games held the concept at bay. Here eivor, besides being literally Odin reincarnate, comes across 3 freaking isu weapons. Mjolnir gungir and excalibur.
I think ubisoft so desperately want to turn ac into a full fantasy series, but the IP is holding them back. This is no longer ac. But it wasnt replaced by something fun either. Its pretty dull and soulless despite having some solid story beats.
As for me, i poured 160 odd hours into this game because of... brand familiarity and passion for vikings, i guess. I played the dlcs too, and in Francia you get back that sweet mechanic from unity and syndicate: assassination opportunity. Too little too late. Everything else is still boring. In Ireland you have the trade post mechanic which is fun, but way too easy. All in all, old ac dlcs were somewhat to vastly different from the main game. These... not at all, with the 2 mentions above. Did i learn my lesson? Nope, i cant wait for dawn of ragnarok, bcs i adore norse mythology. But at the end of the day valhalla is a dull, easily digestible escapist fantasy. I keep coming back at it the way i come back to cigarettes. Its not really pleasure, just addiction and familiarity.
Thanks for helping me understand why this was the first AC game I haven’t bothered to finish. I knew I was bored (when almost every other AC has made my brain happy), but couldn’t place why.
I've been back and forth between valhalla and unity recently and I much prefer unity to valhalla, probably because your an actual assassin in unity and do actual assassin things.
What are assassin things?
@@minbari73 dedicated infiltration, heists and contract missions to name a few. Also heavy reliance on stealth and the use smoke/cherry bombs and the phantom blade. Id class these as assassin things, something that unfortunately is lacking depth in valhalla.
@@jordanholmes9715 these games have these things, all you have to do is use them. You sound as if you want a short linear game.
@@minbari73 i think your misunderstanding the orginal comment. Unity is majority focused on stealth based gameplay and mechanics which you would associate with an assassin. Valhalla is largely about being a viking warrior first and foremost with some minor assassin elements thrown in. To summarise unity creates the feeling that your an assassin whereby valhalla has you playing as a viking and that's where my problem lies. If you a fan of valhalla that's great, i myself put 163 hours into it but looking back I personally prefer unity over it.
@@jordanholmes9715 Same here, because of how the animations are made. In Unity you have a cat like feeling of grace and elegance while doing everything about you, be it fighting or climbing. In Valhalla it's more like your a tank, if you compare the fluidity.
Interesting note about romancing, the game actually broke its own rules, specifically not being able to have more than one committed partner at once, and if you break up with a partner you can't get back with them.
I started a relationship with Randvi pretty early on, and eventually after finding more partners I could commit to, specifically Petra, I decided to break up with with Randvi who did the whole "if you do this we can't get back together in the future cos I don't want my heart broken" etc. So I did that and then started a relationship with Petra.
Fast forward to the end of the conquest of England storyline when everyone's partying in the village, Randvi takes me aside and says she and Sigurd have broken up because of blabla. Then I was given the option to romance her again, and start a relationship with her… again.
So now I have two relationships with different partners going at the SAME TIME, which fundamentally breaks the rules they set out early on in the game.
Valhalla side quests have all the substance and value of a family guy cutaway gag.
I think the skill tree should have been modeled like yggdrasil and had maybe only a couple of the branching icons in it. The main skill ones you unlock are actually pretty useful and it's the stuff in the middle that makes no sense at all. Maybe if I saw their benefits more in gameplay I would like it more but the only one I feel you actually see is the health increase ones. It took me so long to figure out what the way of the bear, wolf, or raven icons even meant. And again with increases in light or heavy damage, I thought I would see it more. But I don't.
It's incredible that one can find such great content on a platform like UA-cam. Thank you so much for your hard work!
About 100 hours in, I got the poison hammer. That basically broke the combat system for the rest of the game. Heavy attack, poison the area, stomp, rinse and repeat.
I had a somewhat similar experience. I would do all the side activities in a region before proceeding with the story because that’s how I always play games like this. I ended up leveling up way too fast and 1 - 2 hit killed my way through the story.
@@BigWheezer2000 I noticed doing it that way also made my playtime skyrocket. Do all the side quests in an area, then go thru the story which takes me to those areas anyway. Basically traversing every area of the map at least twice.
after playing Valhalla, i only have this to speak for it
If I wanted to play a collectathon, i would play Banjo Kazooie
if i wanted to fight in a gritty setting with a beautiful world, i would play Dark Souls
If I wanted a stealthy assassination game, I would play Dishonored
if I wanted to play Assassin's Creed, I'm going back to the beginning
I dont really care about the money I spent on the game, but I will never get my 40 hours back that I used on it. And that is one of my biggest regrets that I have.
Playing Ghost of Tsushima then playing this makes me realise a massively missed opportunity...
Vikings are loud-- unlike "assassins". They attack from the open.
Why the hell didn't they have Eivor fight loudly with a display, but turn to killing from the shadows because he/she has no other choice, and gradually becoming an assassin throughout the story?
It would add extra depth to his/her character, it would make the game interesting, it would make the Viking setting work far better in a stealth game...
While all of these points are valid, my major pet peeve with this game is the narrative. Specifically, who we play as and what we're doing. In this game, I'm expected to raid towns, burn villages, and conquer and enslave the people. As the supposed Assassin sympathizer, shouldn't the MC be focusing more on things like freedom and staying your blade from the flesh of an innocent? Alfred should be the good guy. Taking back his lands from the savages who invaded it.
I don't feel like a hero while playing this game. I feel like a monster who raids monasteries and burns down the homes of poor peasents.
The same reason I wasn't keen at all, but I rarely see it mentioned elsewhere. In other AC games I've played, you're battling an invading force, or perhaps going up against the corrupt status quo.
Playing from the other side of the coin isn't what I'm after: an Anglo-Saxon assassin against a ruthless, powerful and intimidating invading force, however, could have been an interesting direction.
Which tells me the game is actually playing as a Templar aligned player only.
This is because the Vikings very culture, especially their myths, is more in line with the Templars than the Assassins.
The Saxons should be the Assassin approach. Especially when set in Britain at that time in history.
@@blackvinyl96 But even in AC3 we played as mainly on the side of the Americans against the British (I know the British were the status quo and we actually are only loyal to Connors native tribe but still) in that situation the Americans were the new upcoming power, fighting against the out numbered British far away from home, its just anti-Englishness Anglophobia from Ubisoft and the world in general sadly, even ruining our sacred art of gaming.
Yeah like, vikings had slaves, christians are the ones who outlawed slavery first. So how is it that freedom fighting assassins help vikings?
@@nenadmilovanovic5271 THANK YOU
A perhaps easy way to vary up the setting would be to have seasonal changes. England may not change a lot from place to place, but it does change considerably from season to season. Maybe it would be too technically demanding, but the whole game world could progress from sunny, to rainy / foggy, to leaves turning red and gold and falling off trees, to being cold and snowy, then back to sunny as the player hits certain story milestones.
I thought it only ever rained in England
/s
The Fenrir fight is still BUGGED dude goes underground now and just continues to travel around the boss arena being completely untouchable I went through this issue about 6 times before the game finally pulled itself together
watching in 2023 and you just had your 2nd! Peace and love! still a great video - always appreciate your commentary
Odysseys gear system was TOO much though. I shouldnt be spending literally hours at a time just messing with my gear.
I had just finished re - playing dying light and now I’ve got ac Valhalla’s dlc a cold apple juice and this 3 hour beauty to sit through and enjoy 😊
Even with the stuff you listed as issues, i find joy in Valhalla. The quicker side content makes exploring the massive world a lot less of a ballache. That and using the arcs as a replacement for them, i am willing to accept it. Odyssey despite all it's side missions are such a drag to get through sometimes that i don't even care.
Even if they are different they both have pros and cons. Both are good and enjoyable.
I genuinely love Valhalla. XD the game is huge and filled with stuff.
me too, i have like 250+ hours in this game and i have no idea why lmao
@@SAMSARALIVEEEEEE same XD i've got 100% completion including the dlc and updates. There's plenty of small quick stories and then more in depth arcs that are involved with Eivor. It creates a more lived world that i find more enjoyable than Odysseys.
@@voltrainer I just like the idea of this viking guy going around the world making political decisions for the sake of his village. More interesting to me than just being a mercenary in Greece
@@SAMSARALIVEEEEEE i actually liked that too. It gave stakes tovwhy Eivor did what he did. It wasn't a reveng story exclusively. But it almost felt as impactfull as when Ezio realized everyone was an assassin XD
Same. I actually prefer this as my go to. Love all of the games, but just being a Viking, even watered down, is fun 😂
My favorite part of the story is the parallel between the mythological sagas and the storyline with Eivor, Basim, Sigurd and others. Basically Eivor is Odin, Sigurd is Tyr, Basim is Loki, Randvi is Freya. If you know Norse mythology, the story plays out in a really unique and interesting way. It’s honestly one of the more unique story telling techniques I’ve seen in any video game I’ve played. There was definitely some real intentional thought put into that element of the plot.
However, I agree wholeheartedly that the game is too fricken long and really could have used a 20-30 hour trim down to streamline the experience. An all killer no filler approach would have provided a way better experience.