Assassin's Creed Valhalla/Odyssey - Crossover Stories Trailer

Originally Posted by JDR13
You're not finishing those games in 10-20 hours unless you're rushing through the main questline and ignoring pretty much everything else. Not saying it can't be done, but I can't play games in that manner and enjoy them.

Well, I wanted to finally get into and catch up with the series at some point. I was obviously very late to the party when I made the decision in 2014 to get up to speed. Black Flag was already out at that time. I had SIX games waiting to be finished: AC, AC2, Revelations, Brotherhood, AC3 and Black Flag.

Let us also remember that the Desmond Miles Abstergo story was actually a central point in the first five games (up to AC3). It wasn't just about playing through the historical story but also about catching up with the Desmond stuff.

I approached each game with an open mind and decided on a whim whether I wanted to spend more time with it than "necessary".
Many activities in the earlier AC games were pretty basic and mostly repetitive filler material so I found it easy enough to just skip that stuff and focus on the story/stories.


It was particularly easy with the first game. It had not aged well at all and I quickly started rushing towards the story objectives just to leave it behind.
AC2 was MUCH better and I decided to spend some extra time with it by doing a bit more than just the story objectives.

Revelations and Brotherhood were very similar games (both set in Rome) and I kind of rushed through them again as well as through AC3 once Connor began to get on my nerves with his constant nagging.
AC3, however, concludes the Desmond story line and so the current day story was actually the more exciting part for me in that particular game. That was an additional incentive to rush through the historical content because I wanted to find out what was next for Desmond.

Black Flag was the game I played "for real" then with just over 70 hours and IIRC 100% map + DLC completion. It was awesome with interesting characters and I enjoyed the sort of Sid Meier's Pirates!-like gameplay.
Rogue was an in-between thing for me. I started to play it for real like Black Flag but then it got too repetitive after some time and the story was rather boring, too, so I headed straight for the finishing line at some point.

I actually like this freedom about the AC games. You can freely decide how much time you want to spend with them. You can spend significant amounts of time by aiming for 100% map completion or you can just do the story content and be done with it in 20-ish hours… or you can shoot for something in between. Anything goes.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
Let us also remember that the Desmond Miles Abstergo story was actually a central point in the first five games (up to AC3). It wasn't just about playing through the historical story but also about catching up with the Desmond stuff.

Thing is, I had zero interest in that.

I find the modern day stuff to be the worst parts of the series. In fact, I'd prefer the whole Animus\Abstergo backstory wasn't there at all.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Thing is, I had zero interest in that.

I find the modern day stuff to be the worst parts of the series. In fact, I'd prefer the whole Animus\Abstergo backstory wasn't there at all.

I thought so, too, until Brotherhood. In Brotherhood and in AC3 the current day Desmond Miles story finally got pretty interesting and at the same time it ironically all but ended with AC3.

AC3 was great in that regard though, especially Shaun Hastings (played by a British comedian).

They definitely should have gotten rid of it by Black Flag. It was completely pointless after Desmond's story was concluded.

Luckily it was already much reduced in Black Flag and Rogue. I hope it's even less in Unity, Syndicate and the newer ones.

FYI, as far as I know the modern day parts of Valhalla are contained within a certain kind of environmental puzzle. Skip those puzzles, skip the modern parts. And even if you do them, those sequences aren't extended. It's a far cry (not pun intended) from earlier games where as part of the plot you'd periodically get stuck with Desmond, etc.

Of course, that may change when you get to the end of the game. I just started playing AC:V again and I'm at ~75 hours and not particularly close to the end (even without DLC, which I don't yet own). These modern AC games are indeed very long/big.

Btw, Moriendor, one thing I like about AC:V (and there are several) is that it is the least repetitive AC to date. Gone are the eight million generic forts and camps that offer zero narrative or material rewards other than just clearing them.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
It's a far cry (not pun intended) from earlier games where as part of the plot you'd periodically get stuck with Desmond, etc.

Well, Desmond…

Btw, Moriendor, one thing I like about AC:V (and there are several) is that it is the least repetitive AC to date. Gone are the eight million generic forts and camps that offer zero narrative or material rewards other than just clearing them.

Sounds good, thanks . It will be a while (years?) until I finally get around to Valhalla but I will definitely continue the series some time from my save game in Unity. With Valhalla I'm in no rush at all since they still keep releasing content for it (Ragnarok expansion). I wouldn't/won't buy it before it is content complete anyway. One game at a time … Unity, Syndicate, Origins, Odyssey… Valhalla, yeah, YEARS probably with all the other distractions .

I've been playing the crossover story (the one in Valhalla) today and it's pretty good. Kassandra looks weird, but other than that, it's solid content.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
I've been playing the crossover story (the one in Valhalla) today and it's pretty good. Kassandra looks weird, but other than that, it's solid content.

I think it's kind of lame that it doesn't let you choose the gender of the other protagonist in both DLCs. I get that Kassandra is canon, but it makes things a little awkward for the people who played Odyssey as Alexios.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I think it's kind of lame that it doesn't let you choose the gender of the other protagonist in both DLCs. I get that Kassandra is canon, but it makes things a little awkward for the people who played Odyssey as Alexios.

Yeah, maybe voice actor wasn't available? Fortunately for me I played as Kassandra, so there was no disconnect.