So, when TU 1.3.0 was released, I noticed that some of the drinking games were no longer playable for silver, even though sometimes an NPC would literally mention money as the reward during the dialogue. With the release of the Siege of Paris expansion, I also noticed that there were no drinking games in Francia. Hmm... in vino veritas, but not games, eh? It seems that the French have standards when it comes drinking wine, at least in the AC universe.

When a Ubisoft Connect challenge to participate in drinking games showed up recently, I decided to see which games I could play for profit and which were a complete waste of time. I was already aware that the drinking game at Grantebridge was repeatable, but what of others, and how much silver could be had? Well, out of the 26 drinking locations in England, only 15 are repeatable to win money, which comes to a maximum of 3000 silver per drinking circuit, if one were so inclined, though it seems entirely more economical of one’s time to simply repeat the Grantebridge game. In any case, here are the locations with payouts and the number of cups it takes to win them...

Grantebridge, three cups.
Walden, four cups.
Quatford, five cups.
Saint Hadrian’s Priory, five cups.
Canterbury, six cups.
Colcestre, six cups.
Maeldun, six cups.
Boltophston, five cups.
Grimsby, four cups (twenty gulps per cup).
Jorvik, six cups.
Glowecestre, seven cups.
Wincestre, seven cups.
Hemthorpe, five cups (twenty gulps per cup).
Snotingham, eight cups.
Henge Farm, north of Wincestre, eight cups.

The above locations are listed by the power requirement of the regions they’re located in, which makes sense for Snotingham and Henge Farm to have the most cups per game. Aside from Grimsby and Hemthorpe, all games appear to have ten gulps per cup. The only functional drinking game in Norway, at Stavanger, is a bust, and all drinking games in Ireland are identical and unrepeatable for money. Eivor did leave Norway for a reason, but it is funny that Ireland’s luck dried up after one play-through.

I’ll conclude with a suggestion for gameplay improvement. Players will keep repeating the Grantebridge game for money because Ubisoft has not added an incentive to play the longer drinking games. It seems that maybe the map should have indicators for which games can be played for money, and have them ranked so that the greater the challenge, the higher the reward. For instance, the current betting is set at 100, 150, and 200 silver. Games with a greater number of cups could simply graduate the betting range, so if 3 cups is the base, then a 4 cup game could have bets at 150, 200, and 250. Ultimately, an 8 cup game would have a maximum betting range of 350, 400, and 450 silver. What do you think?

@thenorfolkian I would post it in Player Support, but anyway, excellent summary of Drinking Games and suggestions I'd also like to see implemented in the game.

@bielik01 Thanks. That’s a good idea about posting it in Player Support... I had not checked to see if anyone had reported on the missing mead barrels yet.

I forgot to note that the drinking game in Grantebridge also has twenty gulps per cup, so it’s like playing a six cup game.

@thenorfolkian
This is great. I'm an idiot for going to Snotingham for the connect challenges. Walden forever.

Your suggested improvements sound really good. An incentivized system that rewards players appropriate to their level of effort? In-depth understanding of the experience of the player? All great! That's why I'd be really surprised to see it actually implemented in Valhalla.

@lemmie88 Thanks! Walden is tricky to get to because of all the guards, but that can be fun sometimes. I’m a sucker for the game at Saint Hadrian’s Priory. It’s close to a jump point and fairly easy to beat.

On a related note, perhaps @Ubi-Borealis could pass this improvement recommendation on to the development team?

@Ubi-WheelyDuck, please, do us a favor and forward these suggestions.

You ever notice how these drinking game npc's heckle you as you pass by. Then you do the game, and they are burping, choking, falling all over themselves. And as soon as you finish, screen goes black, and in 1 second they are totally fine and back to heckling you and peer pressuring you into alcoholism? I have no interest in silver, so I think it would be super rewarding to at least see my defeated opponent passed out on the ground. Or maybe spewing sick. Or maybe a Sniper Elite-style x-ray shot of their liver cirrhosis. I want some consequences!

@lemmie88 That sure would make the world feel more alive.

I really don't get the appeal, but to each their own. The need to take them out of the main storylines and stop making us play them to progress. Make the fun and rewarding for the people who like them, and completely optional for the people who don't.

@virtualawesome The appeal is silver and its acquisition. How many other ways in-game can you make 400 silver in mere minutes? I honestly do not care for the drinking games as an activity in-of-itself, but if I need to make some quick in-game money and don’t want to spend real money buying it from the Helix store, I’ll do it.

@thenorfolkian But what do you use the silver for? I’ve bought all of the weapons and upgraded the ones I use to the max by buying supplies with silver. I still have tens of thousands in silver with nothing to purchase. I could buy the cosmetics, but I will never use them. I just don’t get it.

@virtualawesome Scrolls of Knowledge, iron ore, leather, titanium... but I guess you don't buy that either.

@virtualawesome Oh, pardon me... you did not indicate in your previous post that you had no further need of silver. I suppose if you are not a completionist, or you have no interest in buying items beyond what is required to ‘finish’ the storyline, then I imagine much of the game itself is pointless for you.

That said, to answer your question... recently I spent a great deal of silver to speed up the leveling of mastery points so that I could prove that they have diminishing returns.

@thenorfolkian I am normally a completionist. I created another post explaining why I am skipping so many of the side activities in this game. There seems to be no point, even for the satisfaction of completing everything. Some of the side activities take a long time or are really repetitive and tedious, and the rewards are really small. I finished everything I could possibly do in Origins and Odyssey, but I can’t see myself doing it for this one.

I have an excessive amount of silver because I collected everything as I go, and there isn’t much to buy besides cosmetics that don’t do much. I normally buy all of the cosmetics just to get them all (again that completionist thing), but this game has far too many, in my opinion.

@virtualawesome It sounds like you’re making a generalized criticism of the game. This thread is about making suggestions to improve the drinking game. I see that you created a full-blown thread listing what you don’t like about the game, so there was no need to bring that dissatisfaction here.

@thenorfolkian No, I had good reason to refer to my general dissatisfaction to correct your erroneous assumptions about my motivations for playing side games. My original point still stands that the drinking games should be completely optional instead of being required to progress in the main storyline. What I said was all relevant to this thread, and I will continue to refer to whatever other posts I have made to clarify my opinions as I see fit.

@virtualawesome maybe two drinking games and one orlog game were required in the whole Valhalla story in order to progress, now you're just a Negative Nancy.

@bielik01 No, because I have to learn how to play these side games (which I don't enjoy) well enough to beat them to progress. If the objectives said that I only had to play the games (meaning losing would be fine), then I wouldn't have brought it up. I have to win them or I can't continue. It may not be that hard to beat them, but it still shouldn't be mandatory.

I am not certain why this one little point is causing such a debate.