Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

I stopped playing during the England part, the second map. I got bored. It felt like I'm playing worse version of Odyssey again. Actually I'd rather finish Fenyx Rising than the Valhalla

 

I know the Season Pass DLC came out.. I loaded it up and instantly felt exhausted taking a few steps.. I grinded so much to finish the game months ago I'm still not ready to put up with even more.

Odyssey was different with the DLC. Despite the same grind I never wanted to stop playing it..

 

Just got to England. . .. and I just can't do it. Never thought I'd say this about an AC game, but gonna skip this game.

Odyssey kept me entertained for hundreds of hours - this Valhalla just feels so clunky, horrible combat, terrible controls, woeful LOD.
Overall soul-less and much less refined than its predecessor.

Hopefully the next game can revert back away from this consolised crap.

 

93hrs here,and 52%
3995 kills

it's a lot more refined when it comes to game mechanics and combat is a lot better
lod - true,it's awful at times
it's not great story telling,but at least it's about something tangible and it's consistent.
seriously,as good as odyssey was,what was that game about ?

you've barely completed the prologue,you're nowhere near learning the essential combat mechnics like parrying+stunning with a heavy shield,blocking,knocking enemies down,stomping,throwing and vaulting.but if you wanna quit now then do as you please.to me combat in valhalla is a lot of fun once you've learnt the mechanics and unlocked skills.
it requires quick timing and good judgement.odyssey's combat was fun but a lot more watered down.

 

England is where it gets better, not sure why anyone would stop there. Did not like the Norway part though. More than other AC titles, this game requires a bit more patience before you can appreciate it. Not too far in the game, am about power level 70, so still have a lot to do and see. Combat can be clunky, not as polished as I'd like, esp when using abilities. But appreciate the fewer weapons and runes & upgrades to them as opposed to Odyssey, Origins where you're overwhelmed with zillions of weapons and have to test them out to know if worth keeping.

Questionable design aspects (imo):

- river raids as a separate part of the game. All your achievements, loot, etc are lost if, when you desync. No manual or autosaves there. To save your gains, need to go back to your settlement and start the raids again.
-abilities are hit and miss. Not well implemented imo. And often have to go into abilities menu to be reminded of them and what they do, esp after unlocking many of them.
- skill tree. Many of the same skills are just repeated in different branches. Could be a positive to some. Just the way its laid out doesnt appeal much to me.
- settlement shops, facilities are not on the map nor are they marked in-game, you have to recognize them as you become familiar with them and their locations.
- blacksmith cant do much for me without proper ingots after first upgrades. I found "rare" ingots that I cant use yet, but cant seem to find some of the more "common" ones needed for next stage of upgrades.

Cant really comment more than that as I'm still in early stages of game. Will have to see as it unfolds.

 

Ingot part is meant as a level progression system. As you advance to higher level regions, you will start getting ingots required for the next upgrade

 

I'm inclined to say the same. Compared to Origins and especially Odyssey this pales. The environment can be beautiful and I feel they represented the British countryside well but it's just underwhelming when compared to the exotic locations of the former games.

I also have an issue it seems where many environmental textures (rocks in caves, wood on boxes etc) look extremely low resolution/pixelated and blurry. Obviously I'm running at max settings with hardware more than capable of running it. I wonder if texture/emvironment/LOD is tied to resolution? I'm running sub 4k (3840x1600).

 

it's a lot better now
in odyssey you had to spend more time selling your useless loot than searching for it.

 

I didn't played Odyssey, but I prefer searching than not having option in Valhalla to sell armors/weapons.

 

believe me,you can't imagine how much useless crap you're getting in odyssey
and that's on top of items that constantly repeat

 

Any game with excessive need to manage inventory, weapons, armor, weight, value, etc, like Odyssey, Origins, Fallout, Skyrim, etc, can be a pain in the ass.

 

True, but if done right, it can add to the experience

 

Does anyone else suffer from very low resolution environmental textures when viewing them up close? Take a look at this box and the fabric on the characters clothes:

https://ibb.co/pQ3wVhT
https://ibb.co/f2xdrHH

I'm running everything maxed in settings @3840x1600 with every driver updated on a RTX 2080Ti i5 8600k 12GB RAM on an SSD.

There seems to be a streaming issue with my title. The lower resolution texture kicks in when I get too close to an object (reverse LOD?).
Notice the textures on the crate. It's clearly lower resolution in the first image (when viewed up close) compared to the next image when viewed a bit further away:
https://ibb.co/McD0z7Q
https://ibb.co/2N3fK4y

 

Sadly texture quality is just fairly bad in the newer assassin creed games.

Ironically the much older unity has much better texture quality.

 

Also origins suffered from this issue, but if I recall correctly it got fixed with a patch. It's a texture streaming problem, maybe the engine adjusts their quality on the fly to keep used resources within a determined budget but it fails to lower resolution for the right textures...

 

One of my favorite world events in Essex (the bard also calls you a firestarter if you set things on fire near him).

 

I hope their next game will have a new tech for hair rendering and character faces, was a bit underwhelmed by it.
But again, they're shipping on all consoles so..

 

I liked the first DLC, it was a good journey, not too short, not too long. Second DLC (siege of paris) will be even better I guess, and I hope they include some present day scenarios as well.

 

that happened.

 

Title Update 1.2.2 will be deployed on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Ubisoft Connect, Epic Games Store, Stadia, and Amazon Luna tomorrow: June 15, 2021.

Patch Sizes and Deployment Timing:
Xbox Series X|S: 18.7 GB
Xbox One: 13.5 GB
PlayStation®5: 5.32 GB
PlayStation®4: 5-13 GB (depending on region)
PC: 14.14 GB

Deployment timing for all platforms: 2 PM CEST, 8 AM ET, 5 AM PT, and 10 PM AEST.

Please note that these times are estimates and are subject to change.

Check out below for the most notable Title Update 1.2.2 changes.

NEW CONTENT
Ostara Season: Mastery Challenge Game Mode
We added in-game support for Mastery Challenge.

• A Master of an ancient art sends you on a Quest to prove your might through trials that will transcend the rules of reality.
• Trial of the Bear = Test your strength (combat)
• Trial of the Wolf = Test your marksmanship (range)
• Trial of the Raven = Test your guile (stealth)
• Unlock unique rewards, that will both show your Mastery and give you more options in combat.
• Numerous shrines are hidden in the world, each home to 3 trials.
• To access Mastery Challenge you must be at least Power Level 221 and have completed the Uninvited Guests main quest after reporting on Grantebridgescire and Ledecestrescire.

River Raids Refresh

• Upped the stakes: rivers at higher alert levels will have increased rewards.
• Balanced Jomsvikings’ attack power to better match their rank.
• Wayland’s armor will be available to buy in Vagn’s Store using Foreign cargo.

New Skills

• Mounted Archer = Eivor can use their bow ability while mounted.
• Shield Master = Eivor automatically rotates to block incoming attacks by holding up their shield.
• Unstoppable = While in combat, Eivor’s sprint becomes unblockable and knocks enemies back at the cost of stamina.

Game Improvements
Miscellaneous

• Increased the rune list cap from 100 to 300 so that all runes are being displayed in the inventory.
• Purchased Map packs will now display relevant icons in Ireland.
• Addressed an issue causing the Blacksmith Hammer to disappear after TU 1.2.0.
• Addressed an issue that caused the Photo Mode UI from disappearing on Xbox.
• Addressed an issue that caused Settlement pets to disappear after A Dog's Rescue.

Balancing

• Addressed an issue that caused weapon stats not to update after equipping Greatsword Training (bear) stat from the skill tree.
• Addressed an issue that caused Feign Death to not work properly.
• Addressed an issue that prevented stats from updating after equipping Remedy or Antidote runes on any gear set. I guess you could say we remedied the remedy
• Addressed an issue that caused Ullr's Bow ability damage bonus not to work properly.
• Addressed an issue that prevented Sinner Skull's perk to activate properly.
• Addressed an issue that caused Raider Axe's perk not to reset on heavy hit.
• Addressed an issue that prevented Briton Shield's perk to restore more than 10% health on parry.
• Addressed an issue that allowed enemies to block shoulder bash with parries.
• Addressed an issue where enemies wouldn't react to Battlecry during assaults.
• Addressed various minor balancing issues.

Wrath of the Druids – Expansion 1

• Addressed several combat issues with The Cost of Betrayal quest.
• Addressed an issue with Into the Fog that caused the second Follow the Puca tracks objective marker to disappear from the map/compass.
• Addressed an issue with Snaring Thorstein that prevented the player from interacting with the NPC.
• Addressed an issue causing a brief freeze at the beginning of The Cost of Betrayal quest.
• Addressed an issue keeping the Gae Bolg finisher attack from triggering the weapon's perk.
• Addressed an issue during Blood Bond causing the objective to update without being completed.
• Addressed an issue preventing the Into the Fog quest from updating under certain circumstances.
• Addressed an issue in Blood Bond keeping the wolfhound master from attacking under specific conditions.
• Addressed an issue where the last enemy may be unkillable as they may spawn inside a rock in the Into the Fog quest.
• Addressed an issue allowing Eivor to fast travel during the quest Courting the Kings.
• Addressed an issue telling players, You Must Be Anonymous, during An Eye for an Eye quest.
• Addressed an issue causing the wrong quest to be tracked after loading a main quest save.
• Addressed an issue preventing autosaves before the Puca fight in the Into the Fog quest.
• Addressed an issue preventing the counter quest from updating when obtaining cargo in the Rathdown Build Up quest.
• Addressed an issue in the Into the Fog quest allowing players to defeat the Puca before the fight in Lackanscaul.
• Addressed an issue allowing animals to ignore the smoke bomb arrow ability.
• Addressed an issue where Killing all Children of Danu would not give the necessary shards.
• Addressed an issue where Barid and Ciara would not go to Flann's coronation.
• Addressed an issue related to Ciara not spawning after the battle in Foothold in Connacht.
• Addressed an issue that caused controllers to rumble permanently (with dirt FX on Eivor's feet). Let's get ready to NOT rumble