That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons bring us some web forums whereupon we can gather
http://www.octopusoverlords.com/forum/
The settlement is a key feature of the game. It's quite grand in what we're trying to achieve with it. We want you to feel that this is your home, that you're building, that a lot of what you're doing in the game world is, at the end of the day, going to feed into the settlement so that it can grow, it can flourish. We have a ton of buildings that people can build. Each building comes with its own gameplay purpose,” Ismail said.
“There's a lot of effort that's gone into making sure that players can feel like this home that they're developing is really meaningful to them. It's meaningful to the journey that they're on. The people that they invite to their settlement have meaning to them. Lots of events and things happen based on how you decide to kind of grow this place. It's really core to the experience of the game.”
Of course, Eivor will need to leave their settlement and venture out into the world to experience it in true Assassin’s Creed style, and Valhalla introduces more adjustments there as well.
The introduction of the Viking longship points to naval combat, which this development team pioneered in Black Flag, while Eivor will also be able to lead their people on raids from the waterfront to gather resources and money.
Valhalla will also update the combat that saw a major revision in Origins, introducing dual-wielding weaponry against a promised “greater variety of enemies than ever before.”
And Valhalla will build off of what Assassin’s Creed Odyssey offered in terms of player customization. In addition to playing Eivor as either male or female, players will also be able to customize Eivor’s hair, tattoos, clothing, war paint, and gear. Meanwhile, choices will have to be made in the story, including dialogue choices and “political alliances” that will affect the world of Valhalla.
“There's customization on the character we've never had in the [franchise] before,” Ismail said. “The gear system has been revamped quite a lot to really push a balance between having great gameplay-oriented gear, but also the look that players can really customize the look of that gear. In terms of the grander choices, it comes down to the journey and the settlement, and what do you want to leave behind in the settlement and what kind of impact do you want to have on the people that you're trying to take care of?”
Key learning: Holiday 2020.
Yesterday’s artwork strongly hinted at Valhalla’s focus on Britain - something made clearer by today’s trailer - and this is where Eivor’s new home will be founded. But you can’t have a Viking game without seeing Scandinavia, and Norway is the setting for the start of the game. “You have to understand where these people are coming from,” Laferrière explains. “You’ll feel the harshness of the lands, the political pressure there at the time. You’ll feel all that and hopefully you’ll understand why you have to move to England where most of the game takes place.” Britain will then make up the bulk of the game’s map, Laferrière adds, but “a few surprise areas” will also feature.
It’s in Britain, of course, you’ll eventually meet King Alfred, who the trailer paints as the villain of the piece, complete with some Templar-looking artefacts in the background. But Laferrière assures me that Alf will be more of a complex character when you meet him in-game. “He is shown in that [villainous] way in the trailer but over the course of the game you’ll see there’s a lot more nuance to him,” I’m told. The game looks set to cover the Viking campaign against him (the one which led to him being on the run, burning cakes) and his eventual success at pushing the Norse back and unifying swathes of England. “Alfred the Great is a very important historical figure we want to treat right,” Laferrière says. “And to do so it’s all in the subtleties and nuances you’ll find.”
We haven’t touched on Valhalla’s main character Eivor in great detail, though partly this is due to Ubisoft avoiding plot spoilers and partly because, more than ever, I get the feeling we’ll be crafting our own version of this hero as the story progresses. One thing the trailer doesn’t tell you is that Eivor can be played as either male or female, and that your choice of gender is only part of the customisation you’ll get. Beards, tattoos and war paint options will be available to pick from. Your gear will also be customisable, Laferrière says, as will your Viking longboat. (Oh, and you get a Viking longboat.) You can dual wield weapons, and shields make a return after people complained they were left out of Odyssey. Why does the trailer focus on the male version of Eivor only, I asked? The answer, as was the case with Odyssey’s Kassandra and Alexios, is that the marketing will “showcase both at different points”.
As for the raven, as many players have guessed, it will be your animal companion in Valhalla, just as eagles were in previous games. “We have a bunch of new abilities for the raven,” Laferrière teases. “We used it as a reason to re-explore the way players can explore the world so it is less reliant on UI. If you notice a distraction somewhere it’s probably because there’s some content there.” And if you thought having a home might mean less exploring the unknown this time around, it sounds like there will still be plenty of that too. “We want to make a world that rewards players for their curiosity. It links in with Vikings being great explorers - so the world is meant to be meaningful.”
Once again, you’ll be exploring both on land and on water, though it sounds like the naval battles of the past have been dialled back somewhat. There’s no sitting and firing cannons at other boats - Vikings just didn’t do that. Instead, your longships act as your fastest means of travel through the English countryside, along waterways which were the main roads of the era. Boats are also your fastest method of escape after launching an assault on a waterside fort. “Any military location you encounter on the rivers of England is fully raidable,” Laferrière explains. “We want you to be playing the ultimate Viking fantasy, so you’ll get to have your Viking buddies going with you on a longship. Sometimes you’ll get resources to take back and upgrade your settlement, or maybe additional firepower to help take down higher level bandits in the region.”
Same here. I've even tried going back to Odyssey a couple times and couldn't really get into it. I didn't think the characters were nearly as good, and it mostly just felt like a reskin of Origins. That's an issue I've had with lots of the AC games, tbh.Ralph-Wiggum wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 1:55 pm I also got Odyssey too quickly after Origins. I recognized that it was really good, but I was just too burned out on the formula. Hopefully there are enough changes in Vahalla to make it feel fresh.
Yep, that's been my main reason in delaying it so much. Origins was long enough of a game, that by the time Odyssey came out, I didn't feel like diving back into another long one so soon. I needed a break from AC.Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:43 am Origins was so good, but I made the mistake of jumping right into Odyssey after I finished it and was just too burned out to continue. By all accounts Odyssey is also great and I should get back into it. The main reason would be to finish long before Vahalla comes out! Looks most excellent.
My wife and I are savoring the Last Kingdom season 1 now, watching a single episode each night. I too am excited for this one. Alas, no shield wall!Grifman wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:16 am World Premier Trailer today:
https://www.nme.com/en_au/news/gaming-n ... a-2656607
I really loved Odyssey and I love the Last Kingdom on Netflix so I am very excited about this!
From what Ubisoft has said it will not be released on Steam. Not sure whether that is just for a year or forever, but the Division 2 never came out on Steam so this may be Ubisoft's new ongoing policy.
That's a good point. I was thinking of it in terms of being an Epic exclusive, but since Ubisoft is on record as not liking Steam's business model it's probably more realistic to think of it (or any other new Ubisoft titles) as simply not coming to Steam for the foreseeable future.
That was a perfectly good waste of time. The fact that this is only 1 1/2 minutes long should tell you. It didn't look much like game play, looked to be mostly cut scenes, and it really didn't tell us much we didn't already now. Very disappointing compared to what was promised. No view of the skill tree, no view of conversations, no map, nothing that anyone would really call "game play".
Steam is the only launcher that automatically start on my PC. The other launchers are used as needed only then I exit/kill them when I'm done.
I do that too. Just normal for me.Steam is the only launcher that automatically start on my PC. The other launchers are used as needed only then I exit/kill them when I'm done.
