Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Hands-on Preview

Originally Posted by Reiga
OOOH, there is hope one day we will see a Last Kingdom mod for Bannerlord, because now I think I can't touch warband never again…

I don't play Early Access games so BannerLord is not on my play list yet.

I'm in the camp that will play this before cp2077. I won't even pay for the game, just subscribe to uplay for 1 month. Maybe by then cp2077 will be on sale, which would be a shame considering I've pre-ordered it.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I don't play Early Access games so BannerLord is not on my play list yet.

Now I only play it to conquer a castle or city from time to time, it is very fun, but it lacks a good story, the kind of story and decisions I glimpsed in vahalla gameplay.

As it is now, bannerlod becomes boring the moment you gather a 400 men army because the NPCS are …. IDIOTIC. But one day somebody will give them good dialog lines, lines that have sense … I hope.

Poor AssCreed, how much skin they flay from the same fox?

Originally Posted by crpgnut
That is an ugly, ugly woman in all of the pics. Looks like a dude with makeup on.

Wait what? We get to play a tranny? Count me in. I'm sick of hollywood plastics for years already and kinds got bored with animestyle oversized boobs.

Originally Posted by Nereida
I'm in the camp that will play this before cp2077.

I'm not. While I did preorder superduper Odyssey edition and the game is great, it's impossible to remove from the game scammy Helix store is the very reason I'll wait for a sale on this one.

Originally Posted by mercy
Poor AssCreed, how much skin they flay from the same fox?

Based on what was presented, you're looking at TW3 clone and not any previous AC. AKA different fox.

I am replaying AC2, AC Brotherhood, and AC Revelations, and I recently replayed AC Unity, and I am enjoying the stealth-based and non-combat-based gameplay of those games a whole lot (as I did when they were first released). AC Odyssey is one of my favorite games of all games but I also miss the stealthy-and-non-combat days of AC.

AC Valhalla looks to be going in a much more combat-oriented direction, maybe even more so than Odyssey. But I may be wrong because going off a preview like this is often just plain wrong.

Either way, I'm looking forward to AC Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion a whole lot, though they might have to wait until I finish Cyberpunk 2077.

Originally Posted by NFLed
AC Valhalla looks to be going in a much more combat-oriented direction, maybe even more so than Odyssey. But I may be wrong because going off a preview like this is often just plain wrong.

Yeah, that's to be expected. And it goes with the setting. Vikings are not exactly known for stealth.

Originally Posted by NFLed
I am replaying AC2, AC Brotherhood, and AC Revelations, and I recently replayed AC Unity, and I am enjoying the stealth-based and non-combat-based gameplay of those games a whole lot (as I did when they were first released). AC Odyssey is one of my favorite games of all games but I also miss the stealthy-and-non-combat days of AC.

AC Valhalla looks to be going in a much more combat-oriented direction, maybe even more so than Odyssey. But I may be wrong because going off a preview like this is often just plain wrong.

Interesting how takes can differ. It wasn't until Syndicate (would have been Unity, but I skipped it) that I could actually do any stealth in an AC game. Before that, there was no dedicated stealth/crouch button, and all sneaking was accomplished by moving from haystack to bush to haystack in painfully constrained sequences. I hated it. I continued to sneak around in Origins and Odyssey, primarily when clearing forts and the like.

I would still never compare the AC series to an actual stealth series, like
Thief, so going to a generally more open combat approach is fine with me.

Originally Posted by Cacheperl
Yeah, that's to be expected. And it goes with the setting. Vikings are not exactly known for stealth.

Based on game lore there is no official assassin guild yet. These prequels lead up the the Templar conflict in the first couple of games. Wonder what the new cult name will be?

Edit: The foundation was started in Origin but it's not the modern guild yet.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
Interesting how takes can differ. It wasn't until Syndicate (would have been Unity, but I skipped it) that I could actually do any stealth in an AC game. Before that, there was no dedicated stealth/crouch button, and all sneaking was accomplished by moving from haystack to bush to haystack in painfully constrained sequences. I hated it. I continued to sneak around in Origins and Odyssey, primarily when clearing forts and the like.

I would still never compare the AC series to an actual stealth series, like
Thief, so going to a generally more open combat approach is fine with me.

Don't foreget the long drawn out kill sequences. Man I hated those. As for me I didn't really get into the franchise until Black Flag. Mainly due to pirates and naval warfare.

Also found this preview from PC Gamer.

Link - https://www.pcgamer.com/assassins-cr…halla-preview/

With a few months to go, Valhalla clearly needs some more polish. I ran into a few bugs, including getting stuck in a corner and having my entire screen turn blurry after I engaged the cinematic camera, which smoothly swaps between camera angles as your horse carries you to your next destination. And just generally, it doesn't feel like a game with the wow factor I'd hope for, considering it's debuting on next-gen consoles.

Combat is responsive, but AI characters tend to move with the same old stilted animations, which stand out more and more as games become more detailed. And though the environment looks beautiful, nothing in Valhalla really blew me away—from my memory it looks comparable to The Witcher 3, which came out in 2015.

The big draw of the last two Assassin's Creeds has been exploring a particular historical setting at a fidelity we've never seen before. They both also played off mythology better than the older games in the series. I barely got to see that in Valhalla, but I know it's lying in wait in the full game. By the end of Odyssey and Origins you were hunting down and battling the likes of the Sphinx and Cyclops and Anubis. I'll accept some open-world bloat if I eventually get to throw down with Odin or tame Fenrir and ride him into battle.

They also posted three more articles.

Link - https://www.pcgamer.com/assassins-cr…g-in-november/
Link - https://www.pcgamer.com/i-assassinat…valhalla-demo/
Link- https://www.pcgamer.com/assassins-cr…in-black-flag/

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
Interesting how takes can differ. It wasn't until Syndicate (would have been Unity, but I skipped it) that I could actually do any stealth in an AC game. Before that, there was no dedicated stealth/crouch button, and all sneaking was accomplished by moving from haystack to bush to haystack in painfully constrained sequences. I hated it. I continued to sneak around in Origins and Odyssey, primarily when clearing forts and the like.

So… stealth isn't stealth unless you can crouch?

Originally Posted by JDR13
So… stealth isn't stealth unless you can crouch?

That would be your takeaway.

Or at least, unless there is some form of stealth mode!

To be hiding you must be at least trying.

Originally Posted by JDR13
So… stealth isn't stealth unless you can crouch?

Adam Jensen and invisibility augmentation says hi.

A connected question - does a character's invisibility mean a game is "immersive sim"?

Originally Posted by joxer
A connected question - does a character's invisibility mean a game is "immersive sim"?

If being able to distinguish between a visible and non-visible state allowed the player to do things outside of the obvious intended use (sneaking past guards and/or cameras in about 1,000 games to date) then yes.

Also I think there needs to be a differentiation between invisibility and stealth. One comes from a tech, or some supernatural power. The other is a skill.

Games where invisibility is a thing through, let's say, a magical spell or a futuristic gadget, it's easier to accept the suspension of disbelief, because it's a fantastic thing in itself. It's why when you watch Guardians of the Galaxy and there is a breach in the hull that doesn't quite do what the laws of physics dictate, you don't care too much because well, next to the hull breach there is a talking raccoon with a laser gun.

When we think of stealth, most people subconsciously associate it to a mundane skill humans have, and as such, it demands that it must be verosimile and coherent with the rules of the real world. And this is where most games either fail horribly, or just don't care because "stealth" is a gimmicky minigame that in their eyes enhances the gameplay under a precise set of rules that don't necessarily have a lot to do with real world stealth, enter games like Metal Gear or Divinity Original Sin where you turn into a walking wooden box or bush in broad daylight and plain sight just outside of some arbitrary cone of vision and it counts as stealth.

Originally Posted by Nereida
When we think of stealth, most people

I'm not so sure about what most people think.

See… What the most people you never saw before will answer when you ask them "what is immersive sim"?
Try it. I suggest having a helmet - some people are not trolls friendly unlike fans of whatever anonymous who forged the meaningless description in the first place.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
That would be your takeaway.

That would be what you said.

Originally Posted by JDR13
That would be what you said.

Weird. On my screen, there are a whole bunch of other words. Maybe check your browser.