@duskdragon56496

You must be a glutton for punishment, or just a hopeless fanboy. The combat was laughable at best. The awards? What else was there that year? Also, I beat it on Death March, the only thing I remember is cool graphics and stories...more than anything else I remember how horrendous the combat was...and how much people fell over themselves (and obviously continue to do so) to defend the game. This game never lived up to the hype, neither did its fans.

@torfinr Well, they certainly aren't going to rebuild the game but can add to it as they did Odyssey. Odyssey at launch was a shell of what it is today. Also, people hated on it (Odyssey) for being "region locked" something, I never once experienced but Valhalla is true open world - killing a level 340 Zealot as a level 123 was awesome. Then again, I take my time with these games.

When I first started Valhalla, I definitely preferred Odyssey. Now, it's completely reversed. The combat is insanely fun, the enemies varied and the various finishers kick rear end. I love Odyssey but wonder if you have hindsight bias? The enemies were few and almost the entire game (aside from the DLC) looked the same. The combat, by comparison, was pretty bland.

I'm more of a PvP Soulsborne guy but love to relax with a game of AC. If the TLC Ubi gave to Odyssey month after month is any indication, Valhalla will be shown the same love, I'm fairly certain.

Take care!

@daelosthecat

I found the difficulty of both Origins and Odyssey to be practically non-existent and that's not to say Valhalla has proven otherwise. That could be because it simply was non-existent or it could be because I'm a Soulsborne junkie and was non-existent by comparison. I also, personally, appreciate that AC puts the casual gamer at the forefront to keep it accessible. It's a nice, relaxing change of pace from many of the "try-hard" games I play.

Now if we are talking strictly action/RPG AC games, those need to adhere to the "new" genre they've taken.

Hard disagree. AC doesn't need to do anything and it certainly doesn't need to something because another game or genre has. I can appreciate your opinion of what it should look like, but that's all it is, nothing more. I generally don't want a clone of what's out there, rather I want something that is uniquely AC. I appreciate that they are trying to blend the familiar with the new.

(As an aside, I think The Witcher 3 is grossly overrated. Sure, it was a beautiful open world with excellent story writing but the combat was absolutely atrocious - it was such a clunky puddle of mess that it will never live in my memory as "one of the greatest.")

Sure, I'm a bit disgruntled about the bugs after so much time in the oven but you always seem to put patches out in swift form. I've not experienced screen tearing once since the update (Xbox Series X).

The combat is wonderful, the soundtrack is amazing and the closer this series gets to an open world Soulsborne type game the more giddy I get.

When I played Odyssey, I thought, "how can they possibly top this?" The answer is Valhalla. Once this gets more polish, this will go down as a classic IMO. I'm hopelessly addicted to this game, so much so that I haven't even opened my PS5 or Demon's Souls (and I'm a Soulsborne-Sekiro junkie). What a treat to have this game as a launch title.

@canceltodebug

Can confirm, Xbox Series X here too.

(I'm picking up my PS5 with Demon's this afternoon - thinking of shelving this game until I'm done with that one or until it seems that it's more playable than its current state, yikes Ubi!)

@kizza0721 Agreed, the massive amounts of bugs this game has is pretty disappointing considering how long this game was in development. I can't remember an AC game that had so many bugs (then again, I've only played 1, 2, Origins and Odyssey).

@torfinr I have close to 90 hours and I've hardly touched any missions and certainly not the main story. By the time this game ends, I'll be ready to put it to bed. (I'm playing this on Xbox Series X and I haven't even opened the PS5 for Demon's Souls.)

If you remember, Odyssey wasn't the same game it is now at launch, I have little doubt Valhalla will see the same treatment. By the way are their daily/weekly challenges in this game?

It didn't work in Odyssey and it doesn't work in Valhalla (at least on Xbox Series X). The left direction is highlighted but doesn't work - it's a bit annoying to have to cycle through 200 items rather than just clicking to the left once. How has this carried over from Odyssey without being fixed? The "solution" in Odyssey was to speed up the increase item number but why not make it one click to the left to max out quantities? I'm surprised and almost shocked this is still an issue in Valhalla.

@daelosthecat

You're missing the point. AC has never really been about challenge...even so, you can challenge yourself simply by removing or being selective about your skill points spent and where you spend them...in addition to changing the difficulty level and equipping your starting gear. This is reminiscent of when people actually complained about there being no fall damage in Odyssey.

If the argument is, as you mentioned, "you expect the player to do that?" Haha, yes I do! it's quite simple and not at all time intensive to set your game up as such. Next there will be an argument about the game not playing itself.

@daelosthecat
I believe, if the game is too easy and you can make it more difficult to make it more enjoyable for yourself, then yes, the player should do that. With one press of the button you can wipe out all of your skill points. It's not difficult or time-consuming...that, and this is AC not Dark Souls. AC has never been about difficulty. Want difficulty? Play Soulsborne/Sekiro...and don't just do it because they are challenging, do it because they are some of the best games to have ever been developed (I've 100%ed all of them).

@duskdragon56496

You must be a glutton for punishment, or just a hopeless fanboy. The combat was laughable at best. The awards? What else was there that year? Also, I beat it on Death March, the only thing I remember is cool graphics and stories...more than anything else I remember how horrendous the combat was...and how much people fell over themselves (and obviously continue to do so) to defend the game. This game never lived up to the hype, neither did its fans.

@daelosthecat

I found the difficulty of both Origins and Odyssey to be practically non-existent and that's not to say Valhalla has proven otherwise. That could be because it simply was non-existent or it could be because I'm a Soulsborne junkie and was non-existent by comparison. I also, personally, appreciate that AC puts the casual gamer at the forefront to keep it accessible. It's a nice, relaxing change of pace from many of the "try-hard" games I play.

Now if we are talking strictly action/RPG AC games, those need to adhere to the "new" genre they've taken.

Hard disagree. AC doesn't need to do anything and it certainly doesn't need to something because another game or genre has. I can appreciate your opinion of what it should look like, but that's all it is, nothing more. I generally don't want a clone of what's out there, rather I want something that is uniquely AC. I appreciate that they are trying to blend the familiar with the new.

(As an aside, I think The Witcher 3 is grossly overrated. Sure, it was a beautiful open world with excellent story writing but the combat was absolutely atrocious - it was such a clunky puddle of mess that it will never live in my memory as "one of the greatest.")

@daelosthecat

You're missing the point. AC has never really been about challenge...even so, you can challenge yourself simply by removing or being selective about your skill points spent and where you spend them...in addition to changing the difficulty level and equipping your starting gear. This is reminiscent of when people actually complained about there being no fall damage in Odyssey.

If the argument is, as you mentioned, "you expect the player to do that?" Haha, yes I do! it's quite simple and not at all time intensive to set your game up as such. Next there will be an argument about the game not playing itself.

It didn't work in Odyssey and it doesn't work in Valhalla (at least on Xbox Series X). The left direction is highlighted but doesn't work - it's a bit annoying to have to cycle through 200 items rather than just clicking to the left once. How has this carried over from Odyssey without being fixed? The "solution" in Odyssey was to speed up the increase item number but why not make it one click to the left to max out quantities? I'm surprised and almost shocked this is still an issue in Valhalla.

@daelosthecat
I believe, if the game is too easy and you can make it more difficult to make it more enjoyable for yourself, then yes, the player should do that. With one press of the button you can wipe out all of your skill points. It's not difficult or time-consuming...that, and this is AC not Dark Souls. AC has never been about difficulty. Want difficulty? Play Soulsborne/Sekiro...and don't just do it because they are challenging, do it because they are some of the best games to have ever been developed (I've 100%ed all of them).

@gravelmead

This is the conclusion I've come to with Valhalla. AC games, regardless of their time in development, always seem to release as half-baked (more so than most other games from what I've seen). I stopped playing AC, for the most part, after ACII (what a game!) and picked it back up with Origins about six months after it launched. I had a blast and the game was mostly polished to perfection in my experience.

I enjoyed the series reboot (Origins) so much that I preordered Odyssey and, while it ended up being a great game with plenty of monthly updates, it launched in a less than favorable state. I gave Ubi the benefit of the doubt, based on how much time Valhalla had "in the oven" and again preordered. While I'm really enjoying the game, my overall feeling is disappointment with everything from bugs to, what feels to me anyway, less content than vanilla launch Odyssey (and most certainly final state Odyssey). I'm not sure why this wasn't "it" for Ubi, they had (or should have had) so many learnings and things to draw from with those mistakes made in their previous AC games...not to mention all of the time in development (a point they kept stressing to their fans).

The only games I preorder these days are most anything From Software (Soulsborne/Sekiro series), the Battlefield series and AC. Sadly, my AC preordering days die with Valhalla.

Well, as others have mentioned, you have a choice. I don't want to seem them change the leveling system.

It's reminiscent of people complaining about no fall damage in Odyssey, you can play the game as if there were fall damage. Now it's incredibly annoying, even with the Break Fall ability.

@kizza0721 Agreed, the massive amounts of bugs this game has is pretty disappointing considering how long this game was in development. I can't remember an AC game that had so many bugs (then again, I've only played 1, 2, Origins and Odyssey).

@mangybasterd Have you heard of a game called Dark Souls? You just might dig it.

@souldrinkerlp That's the issue, maybe I'm under-leveled/powered but it's incredibly annoying to be stuck with nothing for a few seconds. You need stamina to get stamina? If I'm in a pinch, I need stamina to dodge but can't until it refills.

It's possible, I'm simply a Soulsborne fanboy and want it that way.

The stamina management in this game is simply God-awful.