Topic: What PS4 Games Are You Currently Playing?

Assassin's Creed Origins

It's really nice to finally be playing this in 60 FPS. I originally played it on Xbox, but wanted to give it a second chance on my PS5 now that the patch is out. Playing it today, you can kind of tell it was their first open world game, as the combat isn't quite as smooth as it is in Valhalla (and even Odyssey if I remember correctly). I've gotten used to it again for the most part.

@KilloWertz I know the 60fps patch might be changing things, but overall how would you rank the three last AC games? Not just based on gameplay, but on the whole package of enjoyment. I’ve only played Origins at this point (and obviously it was pre-patch)

@Th3solution I know I'm going to go against the masses, but I didn't love Origins as much as most did, which is another reason why I'm replaying it on my PS5. I've been wanting to give it a second chance for a while. I didn't really care for the ending, which obviously leaves an impression for everybody for most games. It might be a silly reason to some people, but I didn't really care for the fact that Bayek and Aya broke up in the end. I felt it was forced in the end just so they would be split up and off doing Hidden Ones stuff by themselves when they could have just done it together. Maybe I'll feel differently about it this time around.

So, with that, I would rank them Odyssey, Valhalla, and then Origins. I don't want to raise expectations too high, but Odyssey was my favorite game of the last generation, so that automatically would be at the top of course.

@KilloWertz Good to know. I think all 3 have their fans, for sure.
I can see where you are coming from on the Origins story. The specific plot issue you mention isn’t necessarily what bothered me, but the Bayek character in general was a little drab in my opinion. I ended up really liking the game and he definitely grew on me throughout the course of the campaign, but he lacked the personality of an Ezio, and lacked the interesting background of a Conner. Apparently Kassandra is a much more interesting protagonist.

Since I have a copy of Odyssey then your endorsement helps to solidify that I should play it next when I want to reach for an AC game. Rather than Valhalla, which would be one of the few PS+ Extra service games on the list so far that would entice me to subscribe. And actually, I’m not sure the subscription service is the ideal way to play an enormous game like Valhalla since it would likely take me a couple months to finish, and there’s a chance the game will get pulled eventually.

<A side note, but I do wonder if there will be a nice discount for PS+ subscribers who start a game on the service and want to buy it after it leaves the catalogue. I would hope so, since GamePass apparently does that.>

Regardless, I can only do one AC game per year, maybe two if they are separated by at least 5-6 months. I’m actually impressed you can jump into a large open world game so quickly after HFW, even though you cleansed your palate over the last week or two with True Colors. Open world fatigue might be imminent. 😄

@Th3solution And Kassandra is just a bit better looking...

It's technically part of Ubisoft+ Classics, so it would be up to them to pull it. I would think it would be on there for a while given that it's the only Assassin's Creed game on there and the only thing relatively new to try to get people to subscribe to Ubisoft+. Still, Assassin's Creed games have always been on sale frequently over the years, so even if you want to buy it eventually it shouldn't cost that much by then. I'd probably still play Odyssey first given that the real world story is the one thing that continues from each of the three games (and is actually fairly decent in Odyssey for once).

It's Sony, do that's questionable, but it would be pretty bad if there wasn't a discount at least right before it is scheduled to leave the service. Game Pass gives you a discount on the games until they have left the service.

I played Cyberpunk 2077 before True Colors as well. It is an open world game as well of course, but the GTA kind of open world game, so that makes it different too in a sense. I definitely won't be playing another open world game after Origins though. Maybe an Uncharted 4 replay via the Legacy of Thieves Collection like I originally planned before the 60 FPS patch dropped for Origins.

@KilloWertz @Th3solution I actually enjoyed Origins, exploring ancient Egypt was pretty fun, you can definitely tell it was their first attempt and an open world and there are a few snags here and there but overall I thought it was a pretty solid game. Oddesy was much better though I enjoyed it that much I even went for the plat. Kassandra is a good character and the supporting cast are more interesting than that of Origins. The main part I did not like in Origins was the part on the boat so when I heard you spend alot more time in a boat in Oddesy I was really put off but they did it alot better so it's actually quite enjoyable.

I am yet to try Valhalla but like you Sol I need at least a 6-8 month break because of how big the games are, I Will most likely jump in to Valhalla some point as its part of the new plus extra.

I'm giving Hitman 2 a go along side my playthrough of Tales of Arise on the ps5.

I used to love the old hitman games and on the gameplay side I'm really enjoying this game but the main menu and overly complicated system and settings are bit of putting, after completing basic training it takes you to a menu where to can continue the story but then each mission has 5 or 6 of its own sub plots and then theirs contracts and then specific targets to go after with out any real indication of what to do next so it's a little bit off putting if I'm honest.

Mabye I'm a bit old school but I just want to be told a target to kill and then be let loose rather than spending alot of time in a menu looking at what I should be doing next or what I missed or what everyone else in the world is doing.

Mabye Sniper Elite 4 will be more up my street I've got it downloaded so may boot it up and see if it sticks.

@MaulTsir It’s encouraging to hear you liked the ship parts in AC Odyssey, because likewise, I really didn’t care for them in earlier AC games. It’s largely what put me off of AC Black Flag. They were okay in AC 3 where the ship missions are minor side content, but when it’s the sole focus of world travel it became annoying to me. Kinda reminds me of the Batmobile in Arkham Knight. I liked it at first but when it kept showing up as a central part to the game it wore on me. So we’ll see.

As far as Hitman 2, did you play the first of the these modern reboots? …I guess we can call it simply Hitman (2016) or Hitman 1… Because although I haven’t tried Hitman 2, your thoughts are similar to mine when I played the first game. I never played the older games from the early ‘oughts’ so have nothing to compare it to, but the game definitely took some getting used to. In the end I only completed about half of it and although I’ve not ruled out going back to it, I found it difficult and a little confusing. People love the open nature with which each mission can be approached, but I found I enjoyed it better when I followed one of the set paths with objectives along the way to guide me. Fortunately those are built in, so you can chose to accomplish the assassination via some predetermined set of checkpoints. Or at least that’s the way the first game was. I wasted a lot of my early hours with the game just wandering aimlessly and triggering all kind of fail states until (with the help of forum users here) I learned to just click on some of the objectives and the game kinda guides you from there. Still, it was pretty difficult for me and I found it frustrating at times, given my obsessive-compulsive nature to try to finish the mission under perfect cover. Each time I was discovered I reset the game and tried over and I think that ruined it for me, because definitely it appears (at least from the 5-6 missions I played) you can just go in guns blazing and still complete the assassination.

@MaulTsir Those games are definitely overwhelming to newcomers nowadays, since they've been steadily expanded with content over the course of their lifetimes.

There should be a "campaign" tab (or equivalent) on the main menu, if you hit R1 a couple times to shuffle yourself over a bit, which'll literally give you a left-to-right list of cutscenes and main assignments to work your way through in a traditional, linear fashion. Failing that, if you're going via the "destinations" tab, the layout's rule is that the main story's assignment is the biggest box on the left, and then anything smaller and to the right is that location's bonus content, such as its Escalation Contracts and whatnot.

I agree that the menu is counter-intuitive at first, and I still sometimes find myself getting a bit lost when I'm looking for a specific screen, but it'll start to make sense over time.

@Th3solution yeah the boat sequences in Oddesy are really well done which to be honest they needed to be given how much time you spend on a damn boat! Lol I would definitely recommend Oddesy not really as an Assassins Creed game but more of a Historical Greek RPG, it was a sid 8/10 for me in terms of what a RPG is, its biggest snag I would say it is size, the games length and map are so big you do have to be enjoying it to get through it, I imagine there's so many people with about 30hrs and then just stopped because at that point you still not half way through. In truth I probably only managed it because I had 6 months off work last year after covid so I had plenty of time 🤣

On Hitman I didn't play number 1 of the new Trilogy although in number 2 you have a chance to do number 1 before starting the campaign for number 2 so I have been going through them mission's.
I think the biggest issue I have with the game/menu system is that it's obviously designed for players to do a lot of different challenges and basically make people stick around, but for a casual player who just wants to do the campaign and move on its all abit confusing as it doesn't really give a clear indication of where to go next, there is the continue story tab but also for each level their is different challenges/storys/contracts and assassinations, makes the whole experience abit more of an effort than I want it to be lol.

@RogerRoger The thing is the actual game its self is brilliant, I find my self spending a good hour or 2 on each mission just trying different things out, the gameplay and level design is really good and the AI is for the most part spot on, I've come across the odd bug but nothing that would stop me playing.

It's the actual menu setting that has me in a twist I suppose, as of now I've ran through the training exercise and gone through the recap of hitman 1 to catch up, but now I'm back at the main screen and while it's got the continue story box there is also a contracts section which I believe is some sort of player vs player challenge for each level where you are pitting you self against other players times and kills and so on, there an assasination/target list which when I go on it there's multiple targets but they all say expired and there's not much in the way of explanation of what any of these things are you have to sort of make sense of it your self or Google it I suppose. And then when you do go on to the missions them self's they all have about 5 to 7 sub plots each, which is actually not a bad thing gives you a chance to do the missions in different ways and as I said the game its self is actually fun to play, my biggest gripe with the way it's done is that it gives you no help with any of the stories bar 1 which I assume is the main one, and you have to sort of discover them your self, this is fine makes you explore the game and level more but what I find a bit frustrating is that a few missions now I've been half way through 1 sub plot and then all of a sudden you will find a clue for a separate sub plot and then it completely forgets the original one you where doing and starts doing the other one, this then becomes a bit confusing.

Mabye I'm just making excuses for it not clicking because I really wanted it too, especially after enjoying the originals so much or mabye it's my nostalgia for the originals that is causing the problem either way I'm going to keep slogging through until I've atleast completed the campaign but it's made me think twice about purchasing number 3.

@MaulTsir I totally understand where you're coming from. It's not the best interface.

You can safely ignore anything under the Contracts Mode heading, as well as the Elusive Targets. Any box with a 0/5 or 0/3 value assigned to it is an Escalation Contract, which you should also avoid.

Contracts Mode is a user-generated experience in which you can either create your own objectives and upload them for the community to try, or play through challenges set by others. It's fun to muck about in afterwards, but there's no story context, and completion of the most popular Contracts often requires precise knowledge of the levels themselves, which you'll develop as you progress the story.

Elusive Targets were post-launch, time-sensitive hits which dropped every other week. You'd unlock new suits, weapons and gadgets by completing enough of them. It's a shame that the menu still lists them; seems almost cruel, given how they're not likely to be reactivated anytime soon.

Escalation Contracts task you with replaying the same hit over and over, with new rules, mission modifiers, and criteria for success added in each time. The best of them can be great fun, but they definitely lean heavily on that "try and try again" gameplay loop Hitman is known for, and some can become more than a little frustrating in their ridiculous convolutedness.

Don't worry, you're not making excuses. It's a lot to discover, especially if you're coming straight from the older games and skipped The Complete First Season.

I'm a huge Hitman fan, but I'd struggled with The Complete First Season after coming late to it, and then I kinda hated Hitman 2 when I grabbed it at launch... until suddenly, one day a couple months later, it all just clicked. I hope it does the same for you, and soon.

@get2sammyb I didn't realise the Hotel Niaowu had such distinguished guests!

And on the first page of a very thick book, no less!

@RogerRoger Haha, I love it when people find this!

@get2sammyb was this a fund backer thing?

@jdv95 Haha, yes it was!

@get2sammyb well would you look at that.

you are now an official video game character!

@get2sammyb Made me do one heck of an exaggerated double take, that's for sure! And then I remembered that you always write so effusively about the Shenmue series. You must be real proud!

It's definitely cool knowing my name was in Shenmue 3.

@get2sammyb now that you're a famous game industry person,it's time to get yu suzuki on the line and get them him to make 4,5 and 6 already! offer him your services for free!

I'm still playing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (PS4), I just fended off a large French army and killed their general/commander inside his fortress.