General Gaming Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Information Thread, update: "The Last Chapter" trailer - free update that ties up the loose ends of Eivor's story

[Fizzzzle]

3 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Brotherhood was superior to Black Flag though.

That's what I meant, I liked Brotherhood and I liked Origins, the only one in between them I really enjoyed was Black Flag.

[Keyser_Soze]

7 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

That's what I meant, I liked Brotherhood and I liked Origins, the only one in between them I really enjoyed was Black Flag.

 

Ah, well it was kind of ambiguous so that makes a bit more sense.

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, Fizzzzle said:

That's what I meant, I liked Brotherhood and I liked Origins, the only one in between them I really enjoyed was Black Flag.

Did you play Rogue? That one is really solid too

[Fizzzzle]

I started it, I think I got a few hours in and got bored.

[JPDunks4]

10 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

There's only a few buildings you legit can't get into without quest progress. Usually if you look around or into the building carefully, you'll find a way in. Or if there's a key nearby, of course. Use da bird.

 

Hmm, I am pretty thorough in checking everything out, but may have missed something, I also have barely used my Bird at all.  The 2 Armors I haven't gotten one don't seem to have a Key door.  One is underground, and I saw the explosive barrels but couldn't find any door or floor that looked like it could be destroyed.  I had remembered reading here that some areas were blocked by "Story" and I just figured I'd move on for a bit before revisiting.  

 

How much is everyone upgrading gear?  I am unsure if you get better stuff or if its worth upgrading what you have?

[Spork3245]

7 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

 

Hmm, I am pretty thorough in checking everything out, but may have missed something, I also have barely used my Bird at all.  The 2 Armors I haven't gotten one don't seem to have a Key door.  One is underground, and I saw the explosive barrels but couldn't find any door or floor that looked like it could be destroyed.  I had remembered reading here that some areas were blocked by "Story" and I just figured I'd move on for a bit before revisiting.  

 

How much is everyone upgrading gear?  I am unsure if you get better stuff or if its worth upgrading what you have?

 

All the gear is "different" and not necessarily "better". Each one has pros and cons and you're best off going with what provides perks for your playstyle. I've found the starting Raven Clan gear to be some of the better armor in the game, but may switch to the Brigandine armor once I get all 5 pieces. For weapons, the second weapon you get (your fathers axe) is one of the best in the game, alongside the blacksmith's hammer, but, again, it mostly is about your play style and not overall stats since they all have pros and cons without being "better", with some exception.

[Mercury33]

45 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

 

All the gear is "different" and not necessarily "better". Each one has pros and cons and you're best off going with what provides perks for your playstyle. I've found the starting Raven Clan gear to be some of the better armor in the game, but may switch to the Brigandine armor once I get all 5 pieces. For weapons, the second weapon you get (your fathers axe) is one of the best in the game, alongside the blacksmith's hammer, but, again, it mostly is about your play style and not overall stats since they all have pros and cons without being "better", with some exception.

yep which I love. I hate games where I’m changing weapons/armor every 2 seconds.

[atom631]

5 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

It should still do extra damage after the stamina bar is broken. After that, whenever that white orb appears after he missed an attack, make sure to run up and collect it, then immediately attack him as it should “power you” and make your attack stumble him back or knock him down. If he gets knocked down hit him with your stomp skill if you have it from the skill tree.

 

ive been doing all that. however, i have the stomp unlocked but i didnt see a prompt to use it when i rush in when hes down. maybe im swinging too fast after i down him. 

[Spork3245]

5 minutes ago, atom631 said:

 

ive been doing all that. however, i have the stomp unlocked but i didnt see a prompt to use it when i rush in when hes down. maybe im swinging too fast after i down him. 

I think you need to get near his chest/head because the character model is so large

[CastlevaniaNut18]

17 hours ago, thedarkstark said:

It is absolutely mind-boggling to me that people still buy/play these games, there are like more than 12 of them, and they always get mediocre reviews and they get loaded up with more and more bugs and micro-transactions every year.

 

For those who bought Valhalla is this the first one you've purchased in a long while or do you purchase every AC game? If it's the latter what keeps drawing you into them?

There is so much wrong in this statement. I've played every main console release in the series to completion. I love the historical settings, that's why i play.

 

They don't generally get mediocre reviews. A few have been middling, but the last few entries have reviewed quite well.

 

Ubi does struggle with bugs and PC optimization, I'll give you that. But microtransactions? Outo f the hundreds of hours I've played these games, I've never participated in that aspect and I've enjoyed them all just fine.

[Mr.Vic20]

Opinions! Fierce ones! 

[thedarkstark]

15 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

There is so much wrong in this statement. I've played every main console release in the series to completion. I love the historical settings, that's why i play.

 

They don't generally get mediocre reviews. A few have been middling, but the last few entries have reviewed quite well.

 

Ubi does struggle with bugs and PC optimization, I'll give you that. But microtransactions? Outo f the hundreds of hours I've played these games, I've never participated in that aspect and I've enjoyed them all just fine.

I'm not trying to start a fight, I was just genuinely curious, I played the first game and it really wasn't for me so I've had very little interest since.  I didn't think it was a bad game, but even if they made a new Zelda every year I'd get tired of it after awhile and yet here we are 13 years later and they're still pumping out a new Assasins Creed every single year.

 

As for reviews, I know the last 3 have done pretty well but there was a stretch in the middle where they weren't great which you even admitted.  Microtransactions may not be necessary but I read a lot of complaints about (I think it was odyssey) that you basically had put 50 hours into boring sidequests in order to progress through the main campaign or pay to skip the grind, which is utter bullshit, maybe they got rid of that stuff, I don't know.

 

[ARZ]

12 minutes ago, thedarkstark said:

I'm not trying to start a fight, I was just genuinely curious, I played the first game and it really wasn't for me so I've had very little interest since.  I didn't think it was a bad game, but even if they made a new Zelda every year I'd get tired of it after awhile and yet here we are 13 years later and they're still pumping out a new Assasins Creed every single year.

 

As for reviews, I know the last 3 have done pretty well but there was a stretch in the middle where they weren't great which you even admitted.  Microtransactions may not be necessary but I read a lot of complaints about (I think it was odyssey) that you basically had put 50 hours into boring sidequests in order to progress through the main campaign or pay to skip the grind, which is utter bullshit, maybe they got rid of that stuff, I don't know.

 

 

Played the first game as in the very first AC? If so, i'm the same - but I HATED it. Tried again with AC2 and it was far different, had me very into it.

 

They put out sequels and I didn't really play again until Black Flag which if the first AC I actually beat, enjoyed the hell out of it.

 

I loved Origins but when Valhalla came out I stopped that (about halfway through), skipped Odyssey and went straight in - no regrets, having a blast.

[thedarkstark]

13 minutes ago, ARZ said:

 

Played the first game as in the very first AC? If so, i'm the same - but I HATED it. Tried again with AC2 and it was far different, had me very into it.

 

They put out sequels and I didn't really play again until Black Flag which if the first AC I actually beat, enjoyed the hell out of it.

 

I loved Origins but when Valhalla came out I stopped that (about halfway through), skipped Odyssey and went straight in - no regrets, having a blast.

 

I think it actually was AC2 that I played way back when, it was definitely set in Rome and I seem to recall Ezio being the protagonist. I'm moderately interested in Valhalla because of the setting but it's definitely something that IF I pick it up, it'll be heavily discounted.

[Kal-El814]

The AC games haven’t had “in your face” micro transactions in a while. A couple of them were a little gnarly. Maybe it was Syndicate or Unity (maybe both) where you could buy permanent XP boosts with real money? Or were part of the preorder bonus? Looking at what’s available in the store, the cost for stuff is kinda gross, but you never have to interact with it, so... whatever, I guess. Hard for me to imagine the sweet spot of someone who likes the game well enough to want to have dank gear but not well enough to go look for it? I dunno.

 

The gameplay and even the UI don’t seem designed to funnel or bait you into spending money on Helix which is really all I care about.

[best3444]

I'm currently 40 hours in and don't think I'm remotely close to beating this game.

 

I took days off for the release of Cyberpunk but I'm using those days to play Valhalla. That will give time to patch up Cyberpunk anyway.

 

Valhalla is extremely fun to play. That's all that matters to me.

[Xbob42]

I literally never opened the in-game store on any of the 3 most recent AC games. I mean, I never did before these games either, but I haven't felt an urge to or like I was missing something.

 

People were mad about either Origins or Odyssey (can't remember which) that if you didn't buy the permanent XP boost you'd have to "grind," which I guess could potentially be true if you literally just mainlined the main story... But it seems really weird to me for anyone to buy an open world game filled with plenty of fun and interesting content (it's not like old AC where you have a copy-pasted mission every 2 feet with no unique dialogue) and get mad because you might have to do some non-mainline stuff sometime.

I think if you feel so compelled to buy an XP boost so that you can avoid 80% of the content in a game, maybe the game is not right for you? I get that some people just like to mainline everything they play for... some reason, but that seems a bit extreme.

[Kal-El814]

Yeah, it’s quite fun.

 

I wish there was more variety in the combat / finishers, or something. It’s definitely not as bad as in the Ezio games where everyone politely waited for you to counter kill them... but parts of this are CLOSE to that. If you stun strike (whatever it’s called) someone, everyone backs off until the animation is done. Even on the hardest difficulty level archers take an eternity to aim at you and you’ll rarely get bum rushed by enough mobs to have to break away and replan. The only real exception is the zealots or bosses because they do enough damage to you if they connect that you can’t really mess around and they can chew through rations quickly.

 

Maybe it would be better if in areas where you’re equally or over leveled, SOME of the mobs were red or skulls. Not a ton of them, but enough so that I might think twice before sprinting into a town without bothering to worry about stealth because I know I’ll be close to untouched even if it’s 1v20.

 

Also about 50 hours in and social stealth has never once been a useful option... I’m kind of surprised they brought it back and provided no useful context for it in so far... I don’t get it at all.

 

3 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I literally never opened the in-game store on any of the 3 most recent AC games. I mean, I never did before these games either, but I haven't felt an urge to or like I was missing something.

 

People were mad about either Origins or Odyssey (can't remember which) that if you didn't buy the permanent XP boost you'd have to "grind," which I guess could potentially be true if you literally just mainlined the main story... But it seems really weird to me for anyone to buy an open world game filled with plenty of fun and interesting content (it's not like old AC where you have a copy-pasted mission every 2 feet with no unique dialogue) and get mad because you might have to do some non-mainline stuff sometime.

I think if you feel so compelled to buy an XP boost so that you can avoid 80% of the content in a game, maybe the game is not right for you? I get that some people just like to mainline everything they play for... some reason, but that seems a bit extreme.

 

I think in Syndicate or Unity... I came close to 100%ing it, I had the XP boost from a preorder or the gold edition or something, and I barely maxed all my skills by the end of the game. If I didn’t have the boost I wouldn’t have been anywhere close to maxed, which is kinda gross.

[atom631]

12 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I literally never opened the in-game store on any of the 3 most recent AC games. I mean, I never did before these games either, but I haven't felt an urge to or like I was missing something.

 

People were mad about either Origins or Odyssey (can't remember which) that if you didn't buy the permanent XP boost you'd have to "grind," which I guess could potentially be true if you literally just mainlined the main story... But it seems really weird to me for anyone to buy an open world game filled with plenty of fun and interesting content (it's not like old AC where you have a copy-pasted mission every 2 feet with no unique dialogue) and get mad because you might have to do some non-mainline stuff sometime.

I think if you feel so compelled to buy an XP boost so that you can avoid 80% of the content in a game, maybe the game is not right for you? I get that some people just like to mainline everything they play for... some reason, but that seems a bit extreme.

 

ironically, this is my biggest problem with these games (and many open-world games for that matter). I spend so much time doing side shit that I never finish the game. Theres usually a point at the 40hr mark where if the story isnt compelling, then i just move on to something else. Currently at 26-27hrs on Valhalla and Im enjoying it.  The story right now is decent enough but i hope it really picks up momentum soon or this may be another one i shelve without finishing. 

[Xbob42]

I barely touched Syndicate or Unity, at that time I was SO over classic-style AC. Although I keep hearing that Syndicate is pretty fun.

 

They keep getting closer and closer to having really, REALLY good combat. I'd say with each game since Origins they've been making pretty fast progress. Origins was a refreshing sea change for the series, while Odyssey refined that with a ton of active abilities. Valhalla takes it further with a lot of refinements like weak points to bow and arrows, the stun system, and being WAY more willing to go onto the more video-gamey side of combat with abilities that launch you or enemies into the air, which I think is all excellent. "Realism" was never part of the equation even with the most "realistic" AC titles. Just spamming the counter button as everyone took turns attacking you each fight, you'd instantly kill them every time. It was so dumb and boring.

You can still feel some remnants of that. Enemies are still way too blatant about taking turns to attack you. It's most exciting when they work together. And they should work together a lot more often! Of course you don't want an entire platoon of people actually attacking you at once, or it makes large scale combat basically impossible. But they should all be trying to accomplish something during combat. They're so close! It's not that it's bad or anything, it just needs to be a little more complex or involved to stay interesting for such long playthroughs. Maybe some more world simulation elements like Breath of the Wild?

Speaking of which, I'm also really enjoying Immortals Fenyx Rising! Despite its awful name, it's essentially an AC game mixed with BotW, and streamlined to be way more focused (but still open-world and full of stuff) and even less grounded, allowing for lots of fun elements to combat like air juggling, enemies getting punted 50 yards when you kill them, etc. I'm REALLY liking it. While it's safe enough that I don't see it winning any huge awards this year, the potential seems absolutely massive. I'm still only several hours in, so that could sway one way or another by the time I get to late game stuff, but so far I've been having a blast.

 

1 minute ago, atom631 said:

 

ironically, this is my biggest problem with these games (and many open-world games for that matter). I spend so much time doing side shit that I never finish the game. Theres usually a point at the 40hr mark where if the story isnt compelling, then i just move on to something else. Currently at 26-27hrs on Valhalla and Im enjoying it.  The story right now is decent enough but i hope it really picks up momentum soon or this may be another one i shelve without finishing. 

See, that's not a problem for me at all. I don't give two shits about finishing video games 99% of the time. Generally in the games where I do care, like the Zero Escape Series, story is the entirety of the game, with a few light bits of gameplay thrown in. Video games just in general tell shitty stories, and even worse endings. So for me, the fun is in the playing, finishing is not and has never been a priority for me, even when I was a kid.

 

"Theres usually a point at the 40hr mark where if the story isnt compelling, then i just move on to something else"

That's me, but with any game, at any hour where I stop enjoying myself! And it's not a bad thing! Stop feeling compelled to "finish" games, it doesn't matter! Get your fill and move on!

[stepee]

1 minute ago, Xbob42 said:

I barely touched Syndicate or Unity, at that time I was SO over classic-style AC. Although I keep hearing that Syndicate is pretty fun.

 

They keep getting closer and closer to having really, REALLY good combat. I'd say with each game since Origins they've been making pretty fast progress. Origins was a refreshing sea change for the series, while Odyssey refined that with a ton of active abilities. Valhalla takes it further with a lot of refinements like weak points to bow and arrows, the stun system, and being WAY more willing to go onto the more video-gamey side of combat with abilities that launch you or enemies into the air, which I think is all excellent. "Realism" was never part of the equation even with the most "realistic" AC titles. Just spamming the counter button as everyone took turns attacking you each fight, you'd instantly kill them every time. It was so dumb and boring.

You can still feel some remnants of that. Enemies are still way too blatant about taking turns to attack you. It's most exciting when they work together. And they should work together a lot more often! Of course you don't want an entire platoon of people actually attacking you at once, or it makes large scale combat basically impossible. But they should all be trying to accomplish something during combat. They're so close! It's not that it's bad or anything, it just needs to be a little more complex or involved to stay interesting for such long playthroughs. Maybe some more world simulation elements like Breath of the Wild?

Speaking of which, I'm also really enjoying Immortals Fenyx Rising! Despite its awful name, it's essentially an AC game mixed with BotW, and streamlined to be way more focused (but still open-world and full of stuff) and even less grounded, allowing for lots of fun elements to combat like air juggling, enemies getting punted 50 yards when you kill them, etc. I'm REALLY liking it. While it's safe enough that I don't see it winning any huge awards this year, the potential seems absolutely massive. I'm still only several hours in, so that could sway one way or another by the time I get to late game stuff, but so far I've been having a blast.

 

I have so much shit to play right now that I’m super annoyed how fucking cool Gods and Monsters seems so far. The fighting kind of reminds me of a bioware game with the active powers or I guess a final fantasy game.

 

The gliding (not there yet but played with it in the demo) is totally just spyro. You can control arrows mid air in slow motion like in I forget what game I’m thinking of that did that. 

 

And then yes at its core it’s botw/AC which is a great combo actually and all of it together kind of feels fresh still just because of how it feels combining these mechanics together.

 

The story seems fun! It’s cheesy and all but it’s just a nice lighthearted fantasy romp and some of the jokes are actually pretty good!

[Xbob42]

I like the story so far. I was expecting it to be horrible based on Jeff Gerstmann's impressions, but I think he was just experiencing grumpy old man syndrome. I think it's fun and silly. Yeah, it's cheesy and not every joke lands, but it's gotten a few chuckles out of me for sure. It's lighthearted and not self-serious, which is a nice goddamn change of pace from Ubisoft. Usually their only humor comes in the form of people in doomsday scenarios cracking wise before they get their brains blown out or something.

 

Then hearing him harp on about how you could use the farsight thing to locate points of interest was really bizarre. I definitely prefer Valhalla's and BotW's different solutions, but it's not like I bring up the first-person view in Immortals and start swearing or anything. It's just a way to locate things to do. I'm sort of glad they didn't just wholesale copy BotW in this area, even if in the end I think BotW did it better. I want them to find their own solution rather than chasing another game every single time they get beaten.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

4 hours ago, thedarkstark said:

I'm not trying to start a fight, I was just genuinely curious, I played the first game and it really wasn't for me so I've had very little interest since.  I didn't think it was a bad game, but even if they made a new Zelda every year I'd get tired of it after awhile and yet here we are 13 years later and they're still pumping out a new Assasins Creed every single year.

 

As for reviews, I know the last 3 have done pretty well but there was a stretch in the middle where they weren't great which you even admitted.  Microtransactions may not be necessary but I read a lot of complaints about (I think it was odyssey) that you basically had put 50 hours into boring sidequests in order to progress through the main campaign or pay to skip the grind, which is utter bullshit, maybe they got rid of that stuff, I don't know.

 

They’ve gone to a two year cycle for the last few releases. 
 

And the only one that really got negative reviews was Unity and that was mostly for the technical issues. I personally liked it, though it wasn’t my favorite. 

[Spork3245]

 

PS5/XSX are basically using max PC graphical fidelity settings - except in a couple oddball areas and above what’s possible on PC in one area.

This confirms that the only difference with quality vs performance modes on PS5/XSX is that it doesn’t scale resolution and caps to 30fps. If you don’t mind the resolution scale, keep your 60fps on your next gen console  

[Xbob42]

I like how "teraflops aren't a sign of performance" yet a GPU with 20% less teraflops than the PS5 performs essentially exactly 20% worse. 

[Ominous]

Why are was all the exa

2 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

 

PS5/XSX are basically using max PC graphical fidelity settings - except in a couple oddball areas and above what’s possible on PC in one area.

This confirms that the only difference with quality vs performance modes on PS5/XSX is that it doesn’t scale resolution and caps to 30fps. If you don’t mind the resolution scale, keep your 60fps on your next gen console  

Why are they using old budget GPUs in that? 

[Spork3245]

22 minutes ago, Ominous said:

Why are was all the exa

Why are they using old budget GPUs in that? 

They explain it in the beginning: they’re attempting to see what GPU you need to for PS5 details/performance.

[Ominous]

1 hour ago, Spork3245 said:

They explain it in the beginning: they’re attempting to see what GPU you need to for PS5 details/performance.

Makes sense then. 

 

[BloodyHell]

3 days till Cyberpunk (on PC). I really need to finish up Valhalla’s main story. I hit power level 280 tonightue. Ive got two areas left after the one im doing now (peaked at guide to see how far I was, because 84 hours in 😮).

My Eivor is a boss. She’s a skull crushing hammer and bearded axe master. 
 

Spoiler

I’ve got two pieces of Thor’s Armor. I need to kill a third boss for the third, then bring the keys to a spot to the 4th. I have no idea how to get the 5th piece yet, but when I do I can go get Mjolnir!

 

i also have 5 of the 11 tablets for Excalibur.  And have 3 legendary beasts, three zealots, and maybe 5 order members left to kill.
 

I don’t want to do everything, theres no need, but those are my “completion goals”. Finish the story, get the complete Thor set, Excalibur, all beasts, everyone in the order dead, and my settlement at level 6. If I can do that, I won’t touch it again until all the DLC is completed.

 

I’ve never seen a game with more beautiful environments. Its janky and buggy, the enemy ai sucks, and the combat is fun, but only on the hardest difficulty. Even then, I wish it was a bit harder.

 

If they can really clean up the bugs, this will be the best game in the series. But damn I had some weird ones. Once every enemy in a raid just stopped in place and waited to be murdered.

[SimpleG]

@BloodyHell

Dude

Spoiler that stuff, I dont care but some will

[best3444]

@BloodyHell how in the hell are you 84 hours in? I've played this game non stop since release and hit 43 hours.

 

Also, rdr2 has the most beautiful environments in a game. I just got done putting over 60 hours into that. I'm comparing them only through the Xbox one x. 

[BloodyHell]

3 hours ago, best3444 said:

@BloodyHell how in the hell are you 84 hours in? I've played this game non stop since release and hit 43 hours.

 

Also, rdr2 has the most beautiful environments in a game. I just got done putting over 60 hours into that. I'm comparing them only through the Xbox one x. 

Im out of a job right now, so this is literally all I do. Get up in the morning, go for a run, eat, play games all day.

[best3444]

37 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

Im out of a job right now, so this is literally all I do. Get up in the morning, go for a run, eat, play games all day.

 

Wow. Sorry to hear that. 

[BloodyHell]

4 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

Wow. Sorry to hear that. 

We have some savings, my wife has a job, we’re doing better than a lot of others right now (better in that bills are paid and we have food) so I try not to complain.

[Brian]

Spoiler

Ivarr damn. I didn’t see that coming.