Topic: AC Valhalla

So I really like what I’ve read about this game so far and may actually shell out for the full price.... My biggest issues with Origins and Odyssey was the tedium of actually finishing it and the repetitiveness of the quests, which by sounds of it they tried to address.

I’m also academically curious about the performance of a major 3rd party title on the system, how it’ll stack up.

So who else is buying this with their new ps5?

I am an Assassin's enthusiast/fan/...lover - whatever you want to call it. I've completed every entry including the mobile ones, have tattoos, have the books, and didn't hate the film as much as my friends did. But I can't say I'm excited about Valhalla.

I won't be picking it up day one, and I won't be getting the Collector's Edition. I was hoping to be swayed with new videos, but nothing has worked thus far. Plus, now that I've seen the map... there's about a million, or at least hundreds of thousands of viewpoints in the world. The older I get, the less time I have. And with games like AC, I'm a completionist. But not even I can be bothered with pointless viewpoints in AC games.

I hope it's good. I'll be getting it eventually. But this Assassin is slowly becoming a Templar

I’m picking it up once I finish the rest of the games leading up to it. That’ll take me a while and it should go down in price. As for the games getting too large... I dunno. Assassin’s Creed 2 and Brotherhood were a lot more of a nightmare to 100% than 3 despite being smaller games. With all the QOL changes and fast-travel being a whole lot easier, there’s less wasted time and more actual gameplay. Black Flag is feeling rather close to annoying at times just with the strange fast travel points and million tiny islands with literally 1 collectible on them. I’ll persevere but I’m annoyed about the platinum being essentially unattainable due to the multiplayer trophies.

Origins basically reinvented the game in terms of gameplay. Origins and Odyssey are nothing at all like the previous games into full fledged RPGs. Sounds like Valhalla walked some of that back to eliminate loot spam and meaningless side-quests, which is hopefully a good change.

@Mega-Gazz Yeah, I’ve played about 75% of Origins back when it came out and watched my brother play Odyssey and the changes seem mostly for the better. I dunno, people don’t criticise The Witcher 3 for having a map full of question marks. Granted, that game’s side quests are far better but there seem to be different rules for different games.

@nessisonett I criticize the Witcher.... didn’t finish it TBH 2/3rds the way through I allowed myself to stop.

But, point taken, agree there are different rules for different games - mostly because the side quests in TW3 are higher quality and don’t feel like busy work or drudgery to most people.

@nessisonett @Mega-Gazz Yep I've seen people criticise TW3 for that too. I really enjoyed Origins. Finished the story but when I tried completing it 100% it became a drag and I had to stop myself from playing it before I ended up hating it.

That was only at the start of this year and I've not played Odyssey yet, and i would quite like to as I like Greek mythology. But I'm in no rush to and Valhalla will be after Odyssey.

STILL no ps5 reviews on metacritic, crazy. Hopefully DF can do a detailed comparison now that is it out... the DMCVSE comparison was really interesting (for nerds)

@Mega-Gazz Both PS5 and Series X are dynamic 4K and not native from what i hear for the game.

Whenever I'm able to get my hands on a PS5, whether that's this month or next Summer, Valhalla will be the very first game that I buy and play. In fact, I'm not buying any new games until I can get my hands on them. I've been an AC gamer since the start, and Odyssey was spectacular. One of my favorite games of all time. Just so much to do, and the visuals are among the best I've ever seen, and the play quality as well. Valhalla looks to be smaller, sadly, but I still have very high hopes. Now I have to just have to manage to avoid spoilers while at the same time spending every day on video game sites like this one.

@Mega-Gazz I would check out Skill Up's review on YouTube. Game seems a lot more tedious than the marketing led us to believe.

@batwing47 Fingers crossed that it is! I was worried that they'd dumbed it down for people who don't want to put time into games.

@JohnnyShoulder @Mega-Gazz @nessisonett Witcher 3’s worst parts were easily the RPG elements. There was no need for the question marks (that aren’t sidequests). They can be easily ignored is the saving grace. The side quests, though, are all far from pointless and make the game great. Valhalla is the most interested I’ve been doing in AC game since the series changed. It brought back AC elements, and while more could be done there, this looks to have improved things enough to really consider getting it. They really need to drop the while RPG thing, though. A lot of games these days do. I love a good RPG, but not when it’s because it’s a buzzword or artificially extends the length.

And does anyone have this on PS5? If so, is there haptic feedback and how is it?

@Jaz007 According to the dual sense video i posted in the PS5 OT topic, AC Valhalla does not use the haptic feedback of the controller.

@Jaz007 LOL, man. You and I have strongly opposite opinions. I've been playing console RPGs since Dragon Warrior in the late 80s, and TW3 and AC: O are two of my favorite games of all time. They do EXACTLY what I want games to do. Those two along with Horizon Zero Dawn are almost certainly my three favorite games of this generation.

@Unlucky13 It’s weird, RPGs like DoS2 have serious problems with fights taking waaaaayyyyy too long to the point that a single fight can take you all evening - something they share with tabletop RPGs. Games like TW3 have the literal opposite problem where fights are so brief and few that you spend most of the game talking, travelling, loading, and playing gwent. To me both are fairly imbalanced, just in opposite directions. AC:O was pretty good, though a lot of the plots were forgetable - though it is the only one of those 3 I’ve plat’ed (actually the only of the 3 I didn’t stop playing 2/3 of the way through).

HZD is a very well balanced in terms of playtime, IMO, and obviously a great story.

@Mega-Gazz I have zero interest in Dark Souls or games like that. Horizon is the most difficult game that I've ever enjoyed. Anything rougher than that with gameplay is just too much for me. I also just don't do things that are too dark/horror.

I really want fights like in TW3 or AC, and I want to explore, and discover, and solve puzzles, and I truly enjoy sidequests and how they fill out the world of the game. I also LOVE crafting, especially if its deep and customizable. And of course a good, deep story that's smart and fun.

@JohnnyShoulder Dang, that actually make me think about not buying it. It’s a shame, because I was really hoping those finishers in it would use the haptic feedback similarly to how Demon’s Souls uses it with backstabs. I’ll probably get over it lol, but I guess that speaks to the impact haptic feedback is having on me and how much I want more of it.

@Unlucky13 To be clear I wasn’t talking about Dark Souls, DoS2 was Divinity: Original Sin 2, which is turn based combat and takes forever, which really bogs down the game.