Well into AC Odyssey now. It's fairly enjoyable, but lots of small things make it fell less stellar than it possibly might have been. For a start, it's an AC game, so although the ancient setting is great, there's stupid high tech throwbacks thrown in here and there. Find a Stele? Holographic displays popping out of it. Use your pet eagle? When you go back to your character there's a cyberspace-like retexturing of the environment. Then, there's the store poopoo which is thrown in your face right from the first main menu. And finally, there's the social media layer: open your map, and by default you'll have markers for screenshots by lordzdank4326 and wuxxxxx14. You can remove them, but they'll be set to appear by default in your next gaming session. It feels a lot like Steep in the end, there's a "loud" feeling to the game that kills a bit the immersion in such a scenic environment. The war setting is a bit weirdly used too: I get that as a mercenary, they don't really want you to pick a side, but with its auto-flip of regions all the time and the need to level up for subsequent areas, you're basically encouraged to indiscriminately attack all camps/forts be they Spartans of Athenians, because there are no consequences to it and you need the xp and unique gear from those locations. Makes you feel a lot more like a silly video game character looking for xp/loot and a lot less like a character living in those times. And finally, in the name of balance-in-a-single-player-game (pet peeve of mine), they decided to not include shields for the player. Like, who would ever want to fight like a hoplite in a game set during the Peloponnesian War eh?
It's a pity because despite all this, it still is a lovely game. Feels a lot like a Witcher 3 with worse writing but better combat to make up for it, including an entertaining naval combat. Quests/locations are fairly repetitive, but the combat makes up for it, and it makes it a very good pick up game for short-ish sessions. Just can't shake the feeling that it could have been so much more with a slightly different direction.
It's a pity because despite all this, it still is a lovely game. Feels a lot like a Witcher 3 with worse writing but better combat to make up for it, including an entertaining naval combat. Quests/locations are fairly repetitive, but the combat makes up for it, and it makes it a very good pick up game for short-ish sessions. Just can't shake the feeling that it could have been so much more with a slightly different direction.
