AC Odyssey tips, hints and impressions

I can't think of open world, or rpg in general, that can't be considered repetitive.
Origins and Odyssey, are quite a bit better than most, on that front: you can see Far Cry influence of open level design, that lets you be more creative/make your own fun.
It's all in how you decide to approach it, young master JDR. ;)

I can think of plenty of RPGs that are nowhere close to being as repetitive as Ubisoft's titles. :)

Ubisoft is great at creating worlds with top-notch visuals, but, rather than letting you become immersed in those worlds, they constantly remind you that you're playing a video game.

Hopefully Odyssey is better. Like I said, I still plan on giving it a shot.
 
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Another hint.

Spare Idyia or Prexielos? Who lives and who dies? Seems it's not possible to save both...
Hit any member of The Dagger faction with an arrow from a distance before cutscene triggers! You will save both.
 
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But there are. Sadly, 2 hours is simply not enough to see and taste everything. I'm over 20 hours in and still didn't find a way to enter the "parallel" world on a certain early island for example. Ah well…

Well someone just got me the game :p So taking that as a sign I am meant to play it. At least I won't have to worry about a 2 hour window this time.
 
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But I should find some happy dancing gif. :D
 
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Again something the game doesn't tell you. If you played Origins you know it, but…
When a person is hurt and you need to carry them somewhere, put them on your horse! It's way faster.

One another thing about sideqests. To unmask certain members of the cult, you have to solve those. Yup. You never know who'll return you a favor in form of a hint.
No sidequests = no main mystery solved. No lolly… Erm… No fastrunnin'! :D

Not sure posted here… Ignore the message board! That's radiant bs. Don't waste time on it unless you want some achievements. But that you can do after beating the game, right?

EDIT:
Forgot. Shipfight. You need to sink a ship for a quest, but after attacking it you're swarmed with several other ship who saw it from like the other side of the map and are not even the same faction as the ship you've attacked!
Damage the quest target enough to board it, board it, kill it's crew, loot riches and return to your ship - the quest will be closed as success. DO NOT take the wheel. If you do, the aggro will continue hitting you and will most probably sink your ship.
Just fasttravel somewhere before taking the wheel. ;)
Yea, you won't be able to loot a few olive branches from the wreckage you've caused. Such loss. :)
 
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A few more, I forgot to some this is first AC game.

You've killed someone and then another hostile passed by, saw a body and alerted the whole area? To avoid that, when you kill someone just carry them into some bushes.

Try not to whistle/assassinate people during nights from dry grass. They're carrying a torch and will drop it then the grass will burn!

One of most important skills is Critical Assassination, but it's not possible to get it early game. Later however… You know those captains and leaders impossible to instakill with F? Well with it you can. All you need is to hold F instead just hit F.
What the game doesn't tell you, for god's sakes how can they not write something important, is that the crit also works with E. Means if you want to KO and not kill a legendary person (gold) in order to recruit them, sneak up to them and hold E.
Yea, of course, why would they write it when they sell a couple of lieutenants for real cash. *sigh*
 
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Anyone who likes spears, get this game! Spears actually works like spears in this game. Its proper poking weapon and you don't swing it side to side like sword or smash it on somebody head like hammer.

Its seems bit OP in early game as it seems to have long reach and interrupt mob attack chains other than power attacks.
 
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While on your horse, press Z and then quickly press E. This will auto path you to selected point on the map. Its handy feature if you need to run to a quest objective at a distance. Handy for making tea while your character goes there!
 
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About those two things…

- Earlygame a spear is not op but a must. Some might not like it, keep in mind it's just earlygame where you don't have many skills and doesn't have to remain your permanent main weapon choice. If you don't believe it's that good early, try the boar from hell with any other weapon and you'll have a much harder time than if you used a spear. After nailing the boar feel free to use another weapon type. The deer from hell and later the lion from hell are not nearly as challenging as the boar. IMO.

- Z+E is on qwerty keyboard. If you're using qwertz keyboard, automatic ride to a marked point is Y+E. ;)

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A few more.
Grind grind grind, reviewers say, I say you don't have to, you shouldn't, but on the other hand not all grind is too long, boring and annoying with insignificant rewards in this game.

+% on all damage engravement you get by killing (not recruiting) area leaders. More you kill, higher percentage unlocks. Of course you won't kill a legendary leader but KO then recruit, especially if he has 3 arrows icon (usually +% on arrows damage).
If you deliberately dropped a faction strength in an area or notice on the map the skirmish is available (red and blue flags instead of a grey one), before joining the skirmish kill (or recruit) the leader! For that you can use the navigated arrow skill if you have it. If not, you'll most probably be seen killing a leader which puts 3 mercenaries on your head instantly so hit M and then P to pay and clear the bounty - it's cheap and you don't have time for three mercenaries bs. Not earlygame at least. ;)
Well…
Unless you're at some high ground. In such case you can abuse Sparta Kick to kill them all instantly.

Skirmishes, on the ground or at sea, net you some purple junk items to sell at blacksmith. You also get a nice (but not necessary) engravement unlocked. What the game doesn't tell you, you also get tons of XP. Two-three skirmishes = level up. Who needs XP boost microtransaction? Yea, I know, PC Gamer does. :)
You don't have to, seriously you don't have to, grind skirmishes. On the other hand, if you're ignoring sidequests and fastrun through the main story, IMO you should definetly go for it as it doesn't last long. Open the map frequently (after any main quest solved) and check if red+blue flag appeared somewhere. Yea, the factions strength in areas can change not only caused by you but also randomly as the war is going on.
For ground skirmishes the shield removing skill is a must earlygame. For sea skirmishes, make sure you've upgraded arrows (reload and # of hits first, damage after arcs are maxed) and hull on the ship.

Mercenaries… Three at the same time, earlygame, is too much to take unless you want to do what I wrote in the spoiler above. However, I have to suggest doing deliberate crimes to get one mercenary looking for you. One on one is always doable unless a mercenary outlevels you too much. Not only the mercenary is often a legendary (gold) lieutenant potential you want to recruit, some of them carry legendary (gold) equipment you want to loot!
You don't want to steal from poor? Kill some chickens or dogs in any populated area. But make sure you'll be seen. Yes, it counts as crime! ;)

Note that lieutenant recruitment is possible only after you get your ship! Not before.
Do I need to add some pics here? Somehow feels I should...
 
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I can think of plenty of RPGs that are nowhere close to being as repetitive as Ubisoft's titles. :)

Ubisoft is great at creating worlds with top-notch visuals, but, rather than letting you become immersed in those worlds, they constantly remind you that you're playing a video game.

Hopefully Odyssey is better. Like I said, I still plan on giving it a shot.

Oooh JDR, you and your bloody immersion. :)

Mercenaries… Three at the same time, earlygame, is too much to take. However, I have to suggest doing deliberate crimes to get one mercenary looking for you. One on one is always doable unless a mercenary outlevels you too much. Not only the mercenary is often a legendary (gold) lieutenant potential you want to recruit, some of them carry legendary (gold) equipment you want to loot!

That part I'm curious about. Do they work as Mordor orc liutenants? Can they run away, "remember" previous encounter, change tactics etc?
 
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No, they work as MGS5 crew. KO then recruit just as in MGS5. And just as in MGS5, you get a done deal, their skills cannot change nor they will ever leave your side (unless you dismiss them). Finally similar as in MGS5 where you see the "quality" of people through binoculars, here you can see that with your eagle.

Some of these lieutenants you get by solving sidequests instead of KOing a hostile. Sadly, all of such ones (so far in my game) were practically useless compared to mercs, leaders and commanders I found randomly, but I still keep them because of their unique card portrait.
 
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No, they work as MGS5 crew. KO then recruit just as in MGS5. And just as in MGS5, you get a done deal, their skills cannot change nor they will ever leave your side (unless you dismiss them). Finally similar as in MGS5 where you see the "quality" of people through binoculars, here you can see that with your eagle.

how do I recruiter the mercs pls? So far i have fought 10 and all them died. There was no option to recruit any of them.
 
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Do you have a ship? If not, you can't by any means. If you got the ship, only then you can recruit people.
You need to knock them down and not kill. When they're KOed, a recruiting option will apear (press Alt). To KO someone, you mustn't use weapons and your options are:

1. Sparta Kick skill is "unarmed". Just make sure they don't drop in some hole which will damage them additionally and practically kill them. So drop their health significantly then finish them with Sparta Kick.

2. Sneak then choke. Insted of F, press E. By using E and not F you won't kill a hostile. Invest in critical assassination skill so E is, just as F, more effective.

3. Drop their health significantly then unequip a weapon and finish them with bare hands. If you unlocked the second weapon slot, don't put anything in it which will make you unarmed just by pressing T (press T is weapon switching, hold T is torch).

4. Paralyzing arrows, but I don't think it's a desirable option for earlygame. Use those with hunter damage boost items and Predator Shot skill. You'll still need to fire a few of those to KO a merc.

Remember also that poison cloud or fire will kill KOed person.
So if it's night, you're hiding in dry grass and choke someone, they will drop the torch and put the dry grass on fire which will kill them. Basically, avoid doing anything except hiding in dry grass during nights. ;)

Worry not if you killed some accidentally. New and better ones will emerge, take that as choice/consequence and don't reload!

[EDIT on edits]
I'm unsure if you can recruit a mecenary that's above your tier spot. You want to claim that spot so instead of recruit option you'll most probably see only confirm kill option. Wasn't really paying attention to this. But you can definetly recruit all mercenaries below your tier spot. Nevertheless, I'll check this later today if I can find a merc above me on the tier list.
 
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Just read a question elsewhere and I although did post it before doesn't hurt to repeat.
Message board quests are radiant garbage copypasted from Bethesda. Do not take them!
Some of those you can get also by talking to people and it can happen you accepted them so better get to it since it's there? Don't! All of those have a timer and will disappear when the timer expires. Skip the bs.

Thus remember.
Proper quests, both main and side, are not timed. These ones do take and solve. All!
Timed quests are "another settlement needs your attention" irrelevant rubbish. Ignore those! Well, unless you killed some bears, thugs or something or looted items that are a part of such quest but if that happens then the game tells you to go get a reward somewhere.


This game, just as FO4, needs no radiant idiocy mod.
 
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Yes I have ship and have 2 people as my crew, I slept with a women(Odessa) and she joined my crew :p I will try to KO later today. Thanks Joxer.
 
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She sucks. As a lieutenant I mean. ;)

Remembered another thing the game doesn't tell you. What happened to good old tooltips? Why loadingscreen hints spam about store and helix instead of game mechanics!!

Okay, you want to dispose of a body on some fortification wall and there is no grass to hide it? Toss it over the wall! No, not sparta kick, it's dead meat already!
Pick it up (hold E), aim (rightclick), shoot (leftclick). Basically, bow controls only you've equipped a corpse instead. ;)
 
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A spoiler but more of a warning regarding Mykonos (southeast island).
On that island there are two possible romances, a male and a female. You cannot romance both, one locks out the other! There is an additional catch.
Romancing the male comes with no repercusions (apparently). By romancing the female you'll have to kill the male.
Of course there is a third option not to romance any of them two. But cmon, that's not an option, right? :evilgrin:
Anyway, once you get them both at the same table, the one you agree with will be a possibility to romance. So choose. Wisely? :D
 
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Thanks for all the good tips Joxer! I didn't know a lot of this in regards to mercs, the boats, or dealing with corpses. Also wasn't sure about the advantage of doing a KO versus kill.
 
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Maybe I should have skipped the last tip, but it's a different quest chain from others so… I dare to say this island has the best c&c I've seen so far in the game and it's questchain ending depends what you did in all previous sidequests on the island.
Have to add that there is an additional risk of an unwanted death. It has something to do with the tip I wrote before - best moral options can sometimes result in an unwanted future. There will be a third person who's fate you'll have to decide and that decision will have an impact later. Also, silence is gold in this quest chain, not all news are for everyone's ears so careful what are you saying in front of NPCs. ;)

A question for those who're close to chapter 3. Is it just me or Socrates is the best written character in this game? Can't wait to get another sidequest from him.
 
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