Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Victoria Raverna
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by Victoria Raverna »

jztemple2 wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:39 pm
coopasonic wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:29 pm
jztemple2 wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:26 pm How do I get a Predator bow? I've played almost 24 hours and I've yet to come across one. I have the arrows for it even!
I have 3 of them but couldn't tell you where I got them. Google tells me The Needler is a predator bow that you can get from merchants (380 silver).
Thanks, I saw that Needler bow in the store but it wasn't labeled with the type. That will help.
The store is really bad in this game. You just get the name and text description of the equipment. You have to buy to find out if the equipment is good or not.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by jztemple2 »

I've completed two of the story arcs that have netted me alliances with two regions. I've gone off to East Anglia having started a third arc, my power is strong enough to allow me to operate there.

I'm still playing, but today I pre-ordered Empire of Sin from Green Man Gaming and when it drops on Dec 1st I'll probably put away ACV for awhile, especially since Cyberpunk 2077 drops on Dec 10th :D.

It's not that Valhalla isn't a decent game, it is, I'm just finding that after 27 hours I'm feeling worn out playing it. The overall story is good and the story arcs interesting. It is the rest that is getting tiresome. I guess it is because I've always liked the AC games because of the stealth aspects. Am I crazy or don't I remember Origins having a lot more stealth to it? I can't talk about Odyssey because I only got about 40% through that and burned out. There are way too many battles for me, but I suspect I'm not the targeted Valhalla player.

Am I missing the point of the gear levels? I've been staying with the same weapons and upgrading them to their max levels and now I have a lot of carbon ingots and nothing to spend them on. Is this not the way it was intended to be played? One of the annoying things about Origins was the constant need to drop current weapons and grab better ones. I think this is why in Valhalla I've been able to keep the same weapons. Correct me if I am wrong.

I'll keep at the game and maybe I'll come across another of those revelation moments, like when I got to England and found a lot of different things I could do. That changed the game for me, and maybe that's what I need to find again.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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jztemple2 wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:33 am Am I missing the point of the gear levels? I've been staying with the same weapons and upgrading them to their max levels and now I have a lot of carbon ingots and nothing to spend them on. Is this not the way it was intended to be played? One of the annoying things about Origins was the constant need to drop current weapons and grab better ones. I think this is why in Valhalla I've been able to keep the same weapons. Correct me if I am wrong.
You can absolutely play through the entire game with the gear you start with as long as you upgrade it along the way. There are only about a dozen gearsets and 3-4 of each weapon type in the game world. Basically pick a style and bonus and stick with that set. You might want to try out different weapon combos, but basically once I found the hammer I was done. I used the Berserker armor through most of the game, switching to the amazon/twitch Carolingian when that became available and finally Thor armor when I could complete the set, but all are Bear armor. At the end that didn't really matter as I had maxed out the skill tree, but I had to put it on to pick up Mjolnir and I just left it on. I never did get it fully upgraded again, but I was in the post-game so it hardly mattered.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Have you fully upgraded your gear's rank through the blacksmith as well as upgrading the weapon stats yourself?
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by jztemple2 »

Max Peck wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 8:59 am Have you fully upgraded your gear's rank through the blacksmith as well as upgrading the weapon stats yourself?
Yup, all upgraded. I might just switch to another weapon just to do some more upgrading.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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News! Assassin's Creed Valhalla's next update fixes a memory leak and a dog leak
As Ubisoft had planned, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is getting another update this month with more bug fixes and adjustments that they’ve now announced is dropping tomorrow. There are of course some serious technical fixes being made but there are some goofs too. Everyone loves a good patch notes goof. Title update 1.0.4 is planned for tomorrow, Thursday November 26th.

On the serious issues side, Ubisoft mention rolling out a fix for a memory leakage issue that happens when PC players Alt+Tab to their desktop. Cloud saves are being renamed to help distinguish them from manual ones. Apparently they’ve also generally improved performance and stability of the game.

Those are all well and good fixes and you can catch more of the technical stuff in the title update 1.0.4 notes. On the silly end, here are some of the wonkier bugs that you’ll hopefully no longer find while raiding your way through Valhalla.

-Crows will no longer randomly fall from the sky in Asgard.
-Fish in Norway will now spawn in bad weather.
-NPCs will now react to the player stealing…so think twice before stealing!
-Addressed an issue where dogs would start levitating when Eivor starts to pet them.
-Guards will now hear the impact of dead bodies dropping to the ground.
-Ally NPCs or horses can no longer trigger body traps.
-Addressed an issue where allies would not help Eivor to open a door during Raids.

Let the levitating dogs live, I say. I’m also guessing that horses were triggering booby traps because I’m terrified of what “body traps” might be other than an existential cry for help. They didn’t fix this bug, did they? I don’t see it, and frankly I think it deserves to stay too.

The update notes also don’t mention achievements on PC, so I’d imagine support for those is still in the works after the initial confusion over their inclusion.

Title update 1.0.4 will be just over 4GB for PC players and Ubisoft have estimated a release time of noon GMT / 4am PDT tomorrow.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by YellowKing »

The only bug I need fixin' is in one of the beginning Artifacts. One of the beams you need to manipulate is non-interactive so you can't solve the puzzle. It's irritating me because it's the only thing in that region I have yet to complete.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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YellowKing wrote: Fri Nov 27, 2020 11:26 am The only bug I need fixin' is in one of the beginning Artifacts. One of the beams you need to manipulate is non-interactive so you can't solve the puzzle. It's irritating me because it's the only thing in that region I have yet to complete.
You sure about this? There are about 4 different kinds of things in those beam puzzles and some are fixed. You may be able to move something else in it's path to redirect the beam or hit it with something else depending on exactly what the object is.

Based on my experience it is totally possible it is bugged, but not certain.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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I played Valhalla yesterday (has anyone noticed that the title of this thread is misspelled?) and am a bit miffed. I finished my third pledge story arc and as Coop (I believe) experienced, I don't have the recommended power to proceed to the next pledge region. Now I probably could wing it, but I thought I'd try raising my power level by hunting down the Wealth locations I'd missed. That went slowly till finally I end into a big raid on a bandit fort. I was building up XP and just as I was finishing the raid the game crashed. Again :evil:. I've had crashes almost every day, sometimes two, and this one came at just the wrong moment and yes, it was after yesterday's patch. I didn't smash my controller (it's almost ten years old!) but I've decided to shelve the game for awhile. I have racing this weekend to watch and then Empire of Sin arrives on Tuesday. And then I've got some other game coming on the tenth but I can't quite recall what it is :wink:

As I've said, it's not a bad game and I have about thirty hours in it, but the constant grind of raids, searching for goodie boxes, avoiding zealots and sitting through cutscenes is wearing on me. I just need a change for awhile and maybe by then they will fix these damn crashes.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by YellowKing »

coopasonic wrote:You sure about this? There are about 4 different kinds of things in those beam puzzles and some are fixed.
Somewhat sure. At least, there were a bunch of other people complaining about it on the forums. I haven't been back to look at it in awhile though so it's possible I missed something.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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I broke down and started playing again :roll:. I'm in Lunden (London) now. I'm wondering how authentic the depiction of the city is in the game, especially all the Roman ruins. It appears that it is an aqueduct that runs north to south (or vice versa) along the east side of the city, but it seems overly tall, plus why would you need an aqueduct in Lunden as even in Roman times the Thames was a major watershed. More research needed on my part, which shouldn't be hard as I have several books about Britain in Roman times on my shelves. I just haven't gotten around to reading them :roll:
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Today was the first day since I got back from our anniversary trip on October 18th that I didn't play Valhalla. But I did play yesterday. I finished the Lunden region quests, which were OK but not as good a story arc as I have seen in previous regions. Also in about three hours of play I got two more crashes to desktop :grund:. I'm now doing manual saves every minute or two so as to minimize the possible damage :roll:.

Lunden (London) was a very different place than most of the areas I've visited, but the lack of really impressive buildings made the experience less than memorable. I can't help but compare it to Alexandria from Origins. I know that the way Lunden is portrayed is probably historically accurate, but still Alexandria had a lot of "oh, wow" stuff that made the game more interesting. Lunden is more "well, that's interesting".

Gameplay has gotten down to more of a grind and here is where I'm really missing the "oh, wow" scenery that kept me going in Origins. For me, there is too much combat in the game, not enough stealth, and not enough in the way of things of interest to do outside of killing someone. So I'm stepping away from the game to try some Empire of Sins tomorrow, hoping that a Day One patch might address some of the issues I'm seeing mentioned in the initial reviews.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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jztemple2 wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 6:43 pm Today was the first day since I got back from our anniversary trip on October 18th that I didn't play Valhalla. But I did play yesterday. I finished the Lunden region quests, which were OK but not as good a story arc as I have seen in previous regions. Also in about three hours of play I got two more crashes to desktop :grund:. I'm now doing manual saves every minute or two so as to minimize the possible damage :roll:.

Lunden (London) was a very different place than most of the areas I've visited, but the lack of really impressive buildings made the experience less than memorable. I can't help but compare it to Alexandria from Origins. I know that the way Lunden is portrayed is probably historically accurate, but still Alexandria had a lot of "oh, wow" stuff that made the game more interesting. Lunden is more "well, that's interesting".

Gameplay has gotten down to more of a grind and here is where I'm really missing the "oh, wow" scenery that kept me going in Origins. For me, there is too much combat in the game, not enough stealth, and not enough in the way of things of interest to do outside of killing someone. So I'm stepping away from the game to try some Empire of Sins tomorrow, hoping that a Day One patch might address some of the issues I'm seeing mentioned in the initial reviews.
I'm really surprised. I haven't gotten a single crash so far. I like the game, but I'm definitely playing it in chunks and swapping out weapons to try different play styles. I'm very interested in hearing about your experience with Empire of Sins, though!
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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gbasden wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:09 pm I'm very interested in hearing about your experience with Empire of Sins, though!
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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I came across a side quest that was a clear homage to the band Prodigy. It's right beneath the synch point in the middle of Essex. It's short and definitely worth doing for the punch line alone. The cheap humor made me chuckle.

I know a lot of people are complaining about the side quests in this game, but I honestly like them. They are quick and usually fairly interesting for one reason or another. I haven't gone out of my way to complete them, but if I happen to run right across them I always complete them. .
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Can I go back to Egypt please? This is not doing it for me so far.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Kurth wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 1:28 am Can I go back to Egypt please? This is not doing it for me so far.
Did you make it to England yet or are you still in Norway? The game gets better in England.

But yeah if i had to rank the last 3 ac games it would go Odyssey 1, Origins 2 and Valhalla 3.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Black Flag / Odyssey / Origins

Dont have Valhalla so its not a 3rd :)
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Daehawk wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 11:05 am Black Flag / Odyssey / Origins

Dont have Valhalla so its not a 3rd :)
I liked black flag, but it sits solidly in 4th if we're only talking about those four games. Heck i would put Syndicate above Black Flag.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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I liked Syndicate but there were way too many niggles for me to enjoy or play it more than a couple days.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Scraper wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 9:02 am
Kurth wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 1:28 am Can I go back to Egypt please? This is not doing it for me so far.
Did you make it to England yet or are you still in Norway? The game gets better in England.

But yeah if i had to rank the last 3 ac games it would go Odyssey 1, Origins 2 and Valhalla 3.
Still in Norway, but I'm getting the sense we're leaving soon. I hope England is more interesting than Norway. All snow and craggy, hard to navigate mountains. I keep trying to get to one of the mysteries or wealth or artifact spots that's marked, and I swear I'm standing right on top of it but there's nothing there. I must be above it or something, but it's maddening. Also, is it me, or is the map not nearly as helpful as the one in Origins?

I'm also not impressed with the voice acting so far. Eivor is ok, but he's no Bayek. And King Harald is terrible. I've never seen someone deliver a less exciting speech about uniting a kingdom . . . Who'd follow that milquetoast bastard???

Final complaint: The graphics are pretty, but I'm not blown away. At all. This is the first "next gen" game I'm playing on my XBOX Series X, and I don't think it looks appreciably better than Origins, which came out in 2017. Again, maybe some of that is the palette provided by Norway and it will improve in England, but I'm not getting any of the moments I did in Origins where I had to stop for a minute or two to look around because the game was just so good to look at.

Reading through comments here, it makes me think so much of your enjoyment level of an AC game comes from how you feel about the setting. I loved Black Flag in large part because I totally dug the pirate setting. Origins was amazing for me because ancient Egypt is just cool. I'm guessing I'd probably really enjoy Odyssey because I'm into classical Greece. I'm ok with Norse mythology (loved the recent God of War), but the Norway setting so far is not my bag.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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I thought Odyssey and Black Flag looked WAY better than Origins.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Kurth dony worry abouy the collectibles in Norway, just follow the main story and get to England as fast as you can. The games look does improve a lot once you get there. You can teleport back to Norway anytime you want, but i personally havent found a reason too yet.

Overall though this is a last gen game, spruced up a bit for series x and ps5. If you want to see what a proper next gen game will look like then take a look at Demon's Souls.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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I'm still playing Valhalla in between Cyberpunk 2077 sessions. I'm having a bit more fun with it now that I stopped grinding every collectible and started concentrating on alliance quests.

I'd definitely put this behind Odyssey and Origins, though. I agree with Scraper's ranking (and I've seen other rankings on the interwebs that agree).

I think the biggest issue with Valhalla is that unlike Origins and Odyssey, very few, if any, of the features they added actually add any fun to the game. And in several cases actually detract from it. Too bad, as I actually like the Viking theme way more than Egyptian or Greek.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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YellowKing wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 2:00 pm I think the biggest issue with Valhalla is that unlike Origins and Odyssey, very few, if any, of the features they added actually add any fun to the game. And in several cases actually detract from it. Too bad, as I actually like the Viking theme way more than Egyptian or Greek.
I agree with this, Valhalla just seems grim. I'm playing as the female protagonist and she's not as interesting as the female protagonist in Odyssey. I found Bayek to be a more engaging character than both of them.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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So, I kept slogging through Norway, and last night, finally, the title screen rolled and we left for England.

As many had suggested, already a huge change. England has such a rich and varied color palette compared to Norway, and the game seemed to finally kick into gear for me. Exploration is better. The story seems more directed. I think I probably just spent too much time fucking around in Norway. On further reflection, I suppose the developers may have made Norway as bland and grim as they did on purpose - after all, I think history and this story is largely about the Vikings leaving Norway for greener pastures, and I definitely felt that as we started exploring England's rivers in our long boat.

I wonder how many players gave up on the game after a lousy first impression in Norway, though. Maybe the developers should have given a taste of what England has to offer at the start before putting the player back in Norway. They could have easily made a few minor changes (like have Eivor start out for a brief spell in England before returning to Norway, like Sigurd actually did) that might have given players a taste of the goodness to come rather than making them grind through a really bland opening.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Kurth wrote: I think I probably just spent too much time fucking around in Norway.
Word of advice after 60+ hours - while the game does require a certain amount of side questing to level up and advance, it's VERY easy to get caught up in chasing world icons for hours on end.

There are a couple of pitfalls to this that I experienced. The first was that I'd find myself getting burned out on the game, because the content wasn't engaging. But that was more due to me spending so much time running around from treasure to treasure that I got disconnected from the story. The second pitfall was that when I did get back to the storyline, I'd find myself way overpowered, thus making it too easy, thus making me lose interest.

If I had to play all over again, I'd try to only side quest and objective hunt when I was underpowered for the current quest line. That should keep the game more balanced overall. I've recently shifted to this strategy and it's helped me enjoy it much more.

One more pro tip - there are certain icons (treasures, gear, etc) that are inaccessible until you get a specific story mission. So if you find yourself beating your head against the wall because you can't figure out how to get to something, it may be locked behind a mission.
Last edited by YellowKing on Mon Dec 14, 2020 5:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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YellowKing wrote: Mon Dec 14, 2020 4:12 pm
Kurth wrote: I think I probably just spent too much time fucking around in Norway.
Word of advice after 60+ hours - while the game does require a certain amount of side questing to level up and advance, it's VERY easy to get caught up in chasing world icons for hours on end.

There are a couple of pitfalls to this that I experienced. The first was that I'd find myself getting burned out on the game, because the content wasn't engaging. But that was more due to me spending so much time running around from treasure to treasure that I got disconnected from the story. The second pitfall was that when I did get back to the storyline, I'd find myself way overpowered, thus making it too easy, this making me lose interest.

If I had to play all over again, I'd try to only side quest and objective hunt when I was underpowered for the current quest line. That should keep the game more balanced overall. I've recently shifted to this strategy and it's helped me enjoy it much more.

One more pro tip - there are certain icons (treasures, gear, etc) that are inaccessible until you get a specific story mission. So if you find yourself beating your head against the wall because you can't figure out how to get to something, it may be locked behind a mission.
That makes total sense to me, and it also follows my experiences with many of the other AC games.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by Scraper »

I really despise the dice sub game in this one. It's bad all around. What makes it worse is that you have to beat one to find one of the members of the Order of the Ancients and you have to beat every single one of them if you want to get the Platinum trophy. That pretty much ensures that I won't be going for 100% in this game.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Interesting. I've only played a couple of games, but I actually kind of like Orlog. What bugs you about it?
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Kurth wrote: Wed Dec 16, 2020 1:54 am Interesting. I've only played a couple of games, but I actually kind of like Orlog. What bugs you about it?
In general I don't like sub games in my open world games. Orlog is particularly bad for me because the CPU tends to get all of the good dice rolls. I can be up 12 to 4 and they still find a way to beat me. The first game I won took about 15 tries and I only stuck with it because I needed to win the game to get a clue about an Order of Ancients target. There is no way I'm going to invest the time needed to go to every single dice player in the game in order to get the 100% trophy. That's what I dislike the most, I like to get the platinum trophy in games when they are reasonable. But tying it to this stupid sub game makes it unreasonable for me.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

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Scraper wrote: Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:16 am
Kurth wrote: Wed Dec 16, 2020 1:54 am Interesting. I've only played a couple of games, but I actually kind of like Orlog. What bugs you about it?
In general I don't like sub games in my open world games. Orlog is particularly bad for me because the CPU tends to get all of the good dice rolls. I can be up 12 to 4 and they still find a way to beat me. The first game I won took about 15 tries and I only stuck with it because I needed to win the game to get a clue about an Order of Ancients target. There is no way I'm going to invest the time needed to go to every single dice player in the game in order to get the 100% trophy. That's what I dislike the most, I like to get the platinum trophy in games when they are reasonable. But tying it to this stupid sub game makes it unreasonable for me.
I played against every Orlog player I found and only lost once. I am pretty sure the CPU isn't cheating. I will say the god tiles they have get more powerful and more annoying so it's much better to work your way up, getting the good god tiles for yourself. Direct damage power is delicious.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by Scraper »

coopasonic wrote: Wed Dec 16, 2020 3:11 pm
Scraper wrote: Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:16 am
Kurth wrote: Wed Dec 16, 2020 1:54 am Interesting. I've only played a couple of games, but I actually kind of like Orlog. What bugs you about it?
In general I don't like sub games in my open world games. Orlog is particularly bad for me because the CPU tends to get all of the good dice rolls. I can be up 12 to 4 and they still find a way to beat me. The first game I won took about 15 tries and I only stuck with it because I needed to win the game to get a clue about an Order of Ancients target. There is no way I'm going to invest the time needed to go to every single dice player in the game in order to get the 100% trophy. That's what I dislike the most, I like to get the platinum trophy in games when they are reasonable. But tying it to this stupid sub game makes it unreasonable for me.
I played against every Orlog player I found and only lost once. I am pretty sure the CPU isn't cheating. I will say the god tiles they have get more powerful and more annoying so it's much better to work your way up, getting the good god tiles for yourself. Direct damage power is delicious.
For whatever reason for me it doesn't matter what region the orlog players are in, they all seem to get incredible rolls. As an example I went to one of the level 20 zones and played the Orlog player there. After his very first turn he had 8 tokens. Somehow he manage to roll the token side of every single die and he stole 2 of my tokens. Needless to say I lost that match and the next 2 against him. It took me 4 tries to beat what is supposed to be one of the easiest players. Maybe I just have incredibly bad luck with orlog, I don't know.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by jztemple2 »

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gets a Yule Festival today, River Raids in February

Full article:
Ubisoft announced back in October that the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla season pass would bring new content, like a seasonal festival, new settlement area, and additional game mode, starting sometime this December. Now, the first of those goodies have begun to roll out, with the arrival of the Viking game’s Yule Festival, which goes live this very day.

“Odin is with us!” the studio declares on the open-world game’s site. “We’re excited to proclaim the commencement of the time-limited Yule Festival active from December 17 to January 7, with many festivities to enjoy and rewards to garner. The weather forecast for Ravensthorpe is going to be snowy, so better bring your Galloglach Cape to keep warm.” While the limited-time event’s live in-game, you’ll be able to get stuck into various, suitably seasonal festivities, like “drunk brawls”, archery challenges, and other such merriments.

These will net you some goodies, too, in the form of Yule tokens, which you can use to redeem a bunch of festival-related cosmetics for Eivor and your settlement. For example, a Mōdraniht ceremonial outfit, tattoo set, and weapons, a “sacrificial altar” (gulp), cosy fire pit (ahh), Yule beech tree., and tree ornaments.

As part of today’s new content, your Valhalla settlement will be expanding with more buildings and a revellers’ hut, the post adds.

Additionally, Ubisoft has posted an early peek at the upcoming River Raids game mode, which will drop sometime in February, 2021. It’ll keep you busy with “not one, not two, but three new (and replayable!) maps that will be brimming with new gear, silver, runes, books of knowledge, and much more,” the dev explains. The update will tie into that settlement expansion, too – you’ll get the chance to build a new Jomsviking Hall building, letting you recruit more to your raiding clan.

You can check out the details in full on Ubisoft’s site right here. Plus, we have some handy guides on the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla legendary animals and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Excalibur location if you’re on the lookout for some tips.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by Skinypupy »

I was going to wait on this until I got a PS5, but can get it for $40 on the Epic store right now (on sale for $50 + a $10 coupon).

That's awfully tempting, especially after Cyberpunk 2077 crashed and burned so badly.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by hepcat »

My only issue with Valhalla is that it feels like a let down after Odyssey when it comes to content. The map seems smaller, although I don't think it actually is. It just feels that way because there's huge areas with absolutely nothing going on, I imagine. In Odyssey, I'd run into an interesting side story almost every 10 feet it seemed.

However, I do believe they'll fill things out over time.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by Skinypupy »

hepcat wrote: Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:39 pm My only issue with Valhalla is that it feels like a let down after Odyssey when it comes to content. The map seems smaller, although I don't think it actually is. It just feels that way because there's huge areas with absolutely nothing going on, I imagine. In Odyssey, I'd run into an interesting side story almost every 10 feet it seemed.

However, I do believe they'll fill things out over time.
That's one of the things that's kept me away, tbh.

I thought Odyssey was a pretty big step down from Origins, and if Valhalla is yet another step down from that, then it gets firmly back into the "AC is mostly meh" opinion that I've had about all the AC games except Origins.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by hepcat »

Conversely, I felt Odyssey took the best of Origins and added more. So for me it's not as bad a critique, I guess.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by Smoove_B »

hepcat wrote: Fri Dec 18, 2020 1:02 pm Conversely, I felt Odyssey took the best of Origins and added more. So for me it's not as bad a critique, I guess.
I'm in complete agreement here. Origins set a high bar and at first I didn't think Odyssey would be able to compete. However, in all aspects Odyssey turned out to be better (for me). I had hoped to hear that Vahalla would be even better, but it still seems like opinions are mixed.
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Re: Assassin's Creed Vahalla

Post by YellowKing »

I think the reason Valhalla feels "empty" is that the quests are very weirdly paced compared to Odyssey. There's no smooth mainline progression, because early in the game it gets locked behind your settlement upgrade which is going to require you to do some side questing and exploration. There are also some mainline quests locked behind your alliance map, but those are easy to forget about since you have to intentionally hit the long house and grab them. (In all fairness, however, I've found the alliance quests to be some of the most entertaining in the game). There's a third source of mainline quests, but I won't go into it here since I feel it's a bit spoilery. The point is, main quests feel scattered, and that you're having to hunt them rather than them coming to you.

As far as side quests, unlike Odyssey you're again having to hunt them down through the "Mysteries" objectives on the map. In essence they become just another collectible to track down, and thus often feel like a chore than an enjoyable diversion. Given that many of them are super short and often really goofy, they really pale in comparison to Odyssey's.

I spend a lot of time criticizing the game on here, but it's still really fun in terms of AC gameplay. If you liked the combat and level-locked regional exploration of Odyssey and Origins, you're going to like it here too. Just go in being aware that it doesn't really add anything to the formula, and in some areas takes things away. I'm still playing it regularly and have every intention of finishing it. With some 70-odd hours in, I think it's fair to say that despite my criticisms I've more than gotten my money's worth.
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