AC Odyssey tips, hints and impressions

joxer said:

[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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Tried this last night and was able to recruit the merc. So that's not it… Will post pics later (and some more I took).

I know that you can't recruit anyone if a fight is still going on nearby. Also, you cannot recruit cult members, but I don't think you'll see a cult member who is also a mercenary earlygame (oh such does exist).
So I have to suspect a kind of a bug occured. What bug?

Maybe this didn't happen to you but did to me. Luckily, only once so far.
Shipfight, I won, looted riches on the opponent's ship and return to my own. And for some reason can't take the wheel!
Why? Some shark in the sea went hostile. I had to jump in the water, kill it and only then I could regain ship control.

I'm saying it's possible there was some random fight going on near you and you ignored it (as you should), a wolf attacked a pedestrian or something. In such case recruiting shouldn't be possible until the nearby fight, although not connected to you, is resolved. In this example, you can kill the wolf, pedestrian too if you're playing an evil character, or kill the pedestrian and tame the wolf if you're playing friends with animals and enemy with humans, etc, but when things are calmed down then alt tooltip should appear on knockedout person.

And there is of course another possibilty. The stupid radiant quests scheme. God I wish there was a mod to stop them appearing both on message boards and in the world.
These change daily. Sometimes you can notice on a message board a contract/bounty to kill a certain mercenary. Even if you don't take it nor are aware of it's existence, when you kill such mercenary, you should be notified by the game that you can collect the reward (unless the quest expired as radiant ones are timed)! I bet it's these mercenaries who are targetted by a radient quest you can't recruit.
No proof, only suspicion, so I should check this too. Won't be easy - as I said radiant garbage appears randomly and doesn't always have a bounty on a mercenary.

One more thing to remind. Throughout the game you'll see numerous "legendary" potential lieutenants. So if you didn't recruit one, don't worry, soon another will appear. Just continue with the game.
More good news? Sure. The higher level you are, higher level opponents are thanks to levelscaling and they come with better skills setup, thus early gold lieutenants will be outmatched by later ones.
Just don't ask me why Odessa isn't gold though as some people you recruit through quests later are. Ubi's design decision I guess, I mean, so far all romances I found were basically one night stands so they probably wanted us not to get attached with anyone much.

I am starting to notice the reduce xp rate in the game compared to Origins. Its bit of shame since its better game overall than Origins.

Go for skirmishes (conquests). Ignore radiant quests from message boards and random people. Do only proper main and side quests. Unless you've disabled their HUD display, proper quests to complete are marked with yellow "!" on the map. Ignore questgivers with a black plumbob above their head instead of yellow exclamation mark.

For skirmishes (conquests) you should prepare.
You can't be jack of all trades and master of everything (currently) in Odyssey, but there are two skills you need for ground skirmishes even if you're not specced as warrior. It's Shield Breaker and Second Wind. No, you don't need Sparta Kick, it's nice to have, but not as important as Shield Breaker.
For sea skirmishes you need to upgrade your ship. You can't have everything earlygame, but you should max hull and archers first. Here, both Shield Breaker and Sparta Kick are useful.

The new patch added ship storage. Back of your ship. You can fasttravel to your ship, hopefully you knew that. Anyway, the storage is fantastic for hoarders, but in fact useable for everyone else.

You can redeem freebie equipment from uplay which is very nice earlygame but sucks later. These things is not possible to dismantle or sell, but you, just like me, don't want to see 'em (blue and purple stuff) in inventory later. Now you can simply stuff them inside the ship storage and forget you've ever seen them. Yay!

Believe it or not, but one of the main quests, the Minotaur quest, is utterly disappointing. It starts awsome and then ruins itself completely with lackluster rewards.
Theseus' armor and other equipment of his are blue (you get those by solving sidequests in a certain area). Yes, the equipment one of greatest greek heros from myths used are useless! They're not even purple. And as being blue, they don't have set bonus!
Of course those items can be dismantled or sold. And while you're warned to use it or else, it's not true, you don't have to equip any of it in the labyrinth. Why not? Because you'll stumble upon yet another silly Dark Souls "hard" thing. And what do we do with Dark Souls things? Grind2win or go in naked then dodge till doomsday as it'll fall eventually. Gimme a break…
Balancing issue you might ask? I don't think so. It's either horrible design choice or most probably items nerfed so much so they can sell "legendary" equipment in the microtransactions store because these feel pathetic.

Hint: When you finish the whole Minotaur thing don't just teleport elsewhere, follow and listen to the kid/grandpa chatty. I find it sad when a quest ending dialogue redeems a pisspoor quest content.

I'm saying, of course the whole game can't be peachy, it's not TW3, but after so many fun main and sidequests the very quest I hoped to be a brilliant one turned out to be a dud. I'm now praying it's the only such one.

No inputs for anyone else?

Additional thing on the "Minotaur island". If you kill the real thing before accepting killing any fake, the hero will have additional dialogue lines saying something like "but I've already killed it".

Not only that, the arena is on that same island and arena "gatekeeper" heard about some sidequests you finished (for example the battle royale sidequest).
Seriously, something like this, dialogues changed depending on your previous sidequesting is unheard of in AC games. In fact was there any game before, except TW3, that "cares" about sidequests?
Dunno about you, but I love it.

I am reading your tips every day but I am a very slow player and also playing other games. So I go slow. I am only level 5 so far. But since I only have 9 hours played that doesn't seem bad.

Okay a new one then. Once you're strong enough to explore Beotia, you'll save a certain "scholar" named Ellie (I think) who's been attacked by wolves. Of course you'll save him, don't pull me some choice consequence crap here, you're a mercenary who expects to perform deeds and earn $ from it. Now wolves won't pay you, right?

It'll open a questchain where you'll loot some rubbish armor parts that were in several tombs. Do not destroy or sell these items! Because upon the questchain end…
Yes it's a sort of a tomb raider set of sidequests and I loved exploring every single tomb in it!

One thing related to it I can't answer. I've seen the same locked door that appears in this questchain at the Foundry of Hephaistos island, inside the cave with cultists. While Ellie gave me the "key" in this case, didn't offer me a "key" for that other door. Not yet at least. Eaglescanning revealed that behind those doors are three chests to loot. With god knows what.
If anyone knows where the "key" is, spoil me please!

Another mystery I didn't solve (yet) is a chest in the underground of an island where you pick a contender for Olympics. Messenia. The most southern small island, one with the dock.
Swimming didn't show up any entrance to it or I just missed some hole that leads there.

More I play this game, more sad I am Ubi tainted it with stupid microtransactions.

EDIT:
Forgot to mention. I wrote that the best weapons in AC Origins were unique lifesteal ones. Didn't know at first, but such items do exist in Odyssey. Even better, 2% damage returned as health is an engraving type which means once you find it, you can apply it on any armor! Armor - torso. You can't apply it on "headware" or something… Anyway, I'm saying, unlike Origins, in Odyssey the effect is not only a part of unique equipment!!
You can't find it earlygame, I had to take down a Cult member of very high level (no, not 50! ) to get it. Who? Spoilers! Hunt 'em all and you'll find it. This one in particular is a part of the main story so unlike some other engraving types you can't possibly miss it.

Does it stack with %2 lifesteal from Achilles set? Well… Dunno. I don't have that set completed. Yet.

Another one that perhaps isn't necessary but still.
At first I wrote in one of posts not to clear a point of interest in an area unless a (side)quest leads you there. Then I've noticed that quest items are already at their place (sometimes a targetted point has two quests related items) and you can turn them in later when you actually get a quest for those, so I've deleted the suggestion.

But there is a case where you shouldn't roam freely. When you arrive at Chios island, accept then solve all quests - only after that go exploring points of interest (if you want to). Because of a bug:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/812140/discussions/0/3397295779074183240/

Chios Island Quest Bugged
Quest is "Clothes make the daughter".

Just cleared the island then proceeded to do the side quests as usual but this particular quest bugged out. Since I've acquired all items before approaching the NPC, the PC should've mentioned "Oh you mean this ?" when the relevant choice dialogue is chosen.

Instead, the quest bugged out and asked you to retrieve all the items again. Running towards the nearest objective caused it to immediately change to "Return to (NPC)". By doing so, the PC will keep saying s/he has not found the item yet when the NPC is spoken to.

Sucks that it'll stay in my quest log indefinitely atm.

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I am about level 17 now and can't keep up with you joxer I just don't get enough free time for games these days

lostforever said:

The biggest annoyance I have heard about Odyssey is level scaling which was not present in Origins. Mobs could never be 2 levels below you.

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Regarding level scalling in Odyssey, see this part:
https://youtu.be/O_3M_wv62oo?t=249

lostforever said:

I am about level 17 now and can't keep up with you joxer I just don't get enough free time for games these days

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The game isn't one afternoon to beat Doom.
Take your time, I promise it'll provide you 100+ hours of fun. Besides, even if I'm so deep in it, I'm not even close to it's end. Plenty of maps are still under "fog of war" and I didn't reach level 50 yet.

Farflame said:

Regarding level scalling in Odyssey, see this part:
https://youtu.be/O_3M_wv62oo?t=249

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Again a video? No reason for wasting time on streams what can be said in a few lines.
Levelscaling in RPG is always bad. In AC Odyssey it's not so bad unless you plan to grind irrelevant trashmobs.
Or, if that's not enough, there is an ongoing written discussion here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/812140/discussions/0/1728711392727157973/

AC Odyssey has a different problem and it's too many of Dark Souls bosses without giving a player, well I'm now boring myself, without lifesteal. AC Origins was awsome in that part, once you get lifesteal there which was quite early, all you needed is to continue upping your damage output and those stupid Dark Souls bosses became laughable. IIRC it was dartagnan who said Origins is just another dodger. It is not. Odyssey sadly is. And you'll be dodging (or parrying humans which is the same shit new wrapping) for a long, too long, time. Also getting a certain healing skill is a must as some bosses have a few more tricks to pull on you (for example a certain "giant" will drop hard hitting rocks that can instakill where he predicts you'll roll and a wolf from hell will aggro a dozen of normal wolves around him trying to prevent you rolling close).

Then again, it's the most important "gameplay". Wrote before also that any kind of gameplay, whatever, can't care less what's it about just bring it on. Won't ever understand why journalists this QTE2.0 Dark Souls system declared hard and spectacular. It just isn't. I find it pretty boring.

joxer said:

The game isn't one afternoon to beat Doom.
Take your time, I promise it'll provide you 100+ hours of fun. Besides, even if I'm so deep in it, I'm not even close to it's end. Plenty of maps are still under "fog of war" and I didn't reach level 50 yet.


Again a video? No reason for wasting time on streams what can be said in a few lines.
Levelscaling in RPG is always bad. In AC Odyssey it's not so bad unless you plan to grind irrelevant trashmobs.
Or, if that's not enough, there is an ongoing written discussion here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/812140/discussions/0/1728711392727157973/

AC Odyssey has a different problem and it's too many of Dark Souls bosses without giving a player, well I'm now boring myself, without lifesteal. AC Origins was awsome in that part, once you get lifesteal there which was quite early, all you needed is to continue upping your damage output and those stupid Dark Souls bosses became laughable. IIRC it was dartagnan who said Origins is just another dodger. It is not. Odyssey sadly is. And you'll be dodging (or parrying humans which is the same shit new wrapping) for a long, too long, time. Also getting a certain healing skill is a must as some bosses have a few more tricks to pull on you (for example a certain "giant" will drop hard hitting rocks that can instakill where he predicts you'll roll and a wolf from hell will aggro a dozen of normal wolves around him trying to prevent you rolling close).

Then again, it's the most important "gameplay". Wrote before also that any kind of gameplay, whatever, can't care less what's it about just bring it on. Won't ever understand why journalists this QTE2.0 Dark Souls system declared hard and spectacular. It just isn't. I find it pretty boring.

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Just curious, if you don’t like dodging and you don’t like parrying and you don’t like rolling, how is it you would like to avoid getting hit?

I just finished the first island ( before the AC odyssey splash screen) and did all the content I could find. I reached the main land mass at level 7. Not sure if leveling slows down but I have a lot of game left and am already level 7 so I don’t think not getting enough xp will be a problem.

I noticed there are loads of enemies here that just have red above them indicating I could never beat them at my current level. I’m not sure if people are trying to fight these enemies and his is why there complain of not enough xp or the games too hard but these enemies are clearly not meant to be taken on yet.

This game is much like elex or baldurs gate even in this regard. If you run in to enemies that are too hard, go somewhere else until you’re strong enough to beat them. This is RPG 101 ,but maybe there’s a lot of people playing that don’t normally play rpgs and think if they encounter it they should be able to kill it.

If you stick to content that’s around your level the games too easy imo. (Playing on hard) a lot of the skills or abilities allow you to take out many enemies at once and even take out enemies at a much higher level as long as they aren’t immune to your ability.

I’m having a blast with combat though. Unlike Joxer I’m enjoying the rolling, dodging and parrying. The animations are nice and fluid which gives combat a nice flow and the combat just has that fun factor. I do wish AI was better as sneaking up on enemies is laughably easy. Overall though very fun.

Cutscenes are nicely done and I don’t have a problem with the voice acting. Not sure why all the gripping about it, realism? Well, Minotaurs and Medusa’s aren’t real either. The games based on a historical time it’s not a history lesson or documentary.

Sorry I don’t have any tips, everything seems pretty straight forward and joxers doing a good job of covering everything. So that’s all for now.

sakichop said:

Just curious, if you don’t like dodging and you don’t like parrying and you don’t like rolling, how is it you would like to avoid getting hit?

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Nohow. Why would I avoid getting hit? I'm supposedly playing a Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee/Jet Li/Iko Uwais wannabe and while they could dodge something, they also got their arses kicked plenty of times yet won the fight in the end.

sakichop said:

I just finished the first island ( before the AC odyssey splash screen) and did all the content I could find. I reached the main land mass at level 7. Not sure if leveling slows down but I have a lot of game left and am already level 7 so I don’t think not getting enough xp will be a problem.

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Higher the level need, more XP needed to reach another one. But true, enough XP is not a problem in this game for a normal player. For speedrunner who'll stick only with the main story on the other hand…

sakichop said:

I noticed there are loads of enemies here that just have red above them indicating I could never beat them at my current level. I’m not sure if people are trying to fight these enemies and his is why there complain of not enough xp or the games too hard but these enemies are clearly not meant to be taken on yet.

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Actually you can cheese most of them (unless a closed space boss) with Sparta Kick or Shield Breaker. But I have to agree with you on the matter as the game is RPG. Red skull on a mob? Go away, improve level, skills and items then return later.

sakichop said:

If you stick to content that’s around your level the games too easy imo. (Playing on hard) a lot of the skills or abilities allow you to take out many enemies at once and even take out enemies at a much higher level as long as they aren’t immune to your ability.

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Seen some complaints that shipfights are very hard on - hard. Can't confirm that, complaints came from console audience which means mushrooms. As before, I strongly suggest playing AC Odyssey with k+m. Apparently parrying and bow aiming is far superior with k+m and I dare to think shipfighting too.

sakichop said:

I’m having a blast with combat though. Unlike Joxer I’m enjoying the rolling, dodging and parrying. The animations are nice and fluid which gives combat a nice flow and the combat just has that fun factor. I do wish AI was better as sneaking up on enemies is laughably easy. Overall though very fun.

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I'm not enjoying it, true. But just as in other games, I take it as a chore that needs to be done to unlock really enjoyable stuff. And so far it's working exactly like that so I'm not complaining much. Then again, I'm not doing radiant quests and am outrunning random trashmobs while free roaming instead of staying to fight them.
AI is actually improved compared ot AC Origins. Here if a trashmob spots a fresh corpse gets alerted and starts inspecting an area, in Origins they would just carry the corpse elsewhere. Also, in Origins everyone was static just waiting for you to sneak up behind them, here trashmobs do some routes and don't stay at one place for a long time.

sakichop said:

Well, Minotaurs and Medusa’s aren’t real either. The games based on a historical time it’s not a history lesson or documentary.

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You'll meet "fakes" of those mythical creatures. I have to admit some are fun. Even more fun are oneliners and dialogues connected to each one.

sakichop said:

Sorry I don’t have any tips, everything seems pretty straight forward and joxers doing a good job of covering everything. So that’s all for now.

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Thanks.
The thread title has a word "impressions" so hints aren't necessary really.

Not a hint but an impression. Of second game half. Bad impression.

First half of the game is full of sidequests, each one is more fun and better than another. Okay, almost all of them are like that.
Sadly there are two silly ME4 grindy tasks and that's collecting seals (15 for each side). Means killing a polemarch in each big fort full of hostiles. Someone can say cmon it's not that bad as you can teleport in all areas then crit assassinate them but gimme a break. It's too much of timewaste on nothing. Besides, these polemarchs are usually fantastic ship lieutenants so why would I kill them instead of recruiting? You don't get a seal if you recruit!

Sidequest quality aside, once you step in the second half of the game, suddenly sidequests are completely gone and all you see are empty maps. With "?" turned on, those aren't empty of course. One would say it's barrels at sea from TW3 containing junk existing only for those who can't play games without grinding.
Again, sadly, no. These points of interest can hold legendary equipment, bonus skillpoint or a puzzle for engraving. And you can't possibly know which one is which so you can just skip the retarded ones with for example "kill lead huntress", "loot a chest", "rescue an irrelevant prisoner".
I mean, Macedonia and Messina are huge yet basically empty (okay a certain sidequest does lead you to a macedonian underwater cave but that's it, everything else are unindentified points of interest unrelated to any quest).

TW3 did it better. You knew under sea question marks it's just junk and you didn't go for sea barrels. I hope you didn't. I know I refused to go there.
Seems Cyberpunk won't have such grind at all. If next is true, you wanna grind, don't buy Cyberpunk:
https://wccftech.com/cyberpunk-2077-playtime/

Gaming
Cyberpunk 2077 Playtime Won’t Be “Artificially” Extended; Content Has To Be Meaningful To Story-Driven Experience

Speaking in a fresh interview with GamingBolt, Cyberpunk 2077 level designer Miles Toast has been asked about emergent gameplay mechanics…

If it makes sense, and if we could pull it off in a way that feels organic and meets our quality standards, then maybe“But we’re certainly not going to be artificially extending the playtime by pushing more content into the game. If it can add to our story-driven experience in a meaningful way, we’re not closed off to anything. Personally, I think our strength lies in creating handcrafted experiences.

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EDIT:
Gaming media recognized what I was saying since the beginning. Sidequests in this game are important!
https://kotaku.com/assassins-creed-odysseys-optional-questlines-are-just-a-1829766512

Assassin's Creed Odyssey's 'Optional' Questlines Are Just As Important As The Main One

Odyssey approaches its narrative through three major branches. There is the Odyssey, nominally the game’s main story, which follows the protagonist’s search for answers about their family lineage. There is the hunt for the Cult of Kosmos, a massive side system that ties the game’s early political conspiracies into the the series’ larger conflicts. And there is the story of Layla Hassan and the First Civilization, a meta-story that connects the events in ancient Greece to the modern world. This last plot is particularly essential to rounding out the game’s narrative, and it hides some of the strangest and most daring experiences in the entire series. If you want, you can completely ignore it. That might be fine for fans who never liked the series’ framing—modern day characters use a science fiction device called the Animus to relive the memories of ancestors and other historical persons—but it’s a decision that risks leaving the game oddly incomplete for players who mistakenly believe their stories have ended after completing the Odyssey quests.

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I am about 25 hours in and level 18. Still going very strong and enjoying the game and its getting better. I am actually starting to see the "consequence" of some of my actions. Some of them are devastating, poor Kefalonia

One thing which I find annoying about the mains story is how trusting your character is! You meet someone for the first time and you become best buddies, I am looking at you Herodotus. Also the whole plot point revolving around the symposium to search for someone seems far fetched…

I really like how they bring in historical characters into the story, Its really well done. Socrates is an arse! I hope I get to meet him again as I wasn't finished talking to him about nature of politics!

Another annoying this is that legendary gear is not better than epic gear due to 1 less engraving slot... I hope this get fixed.

lostforever said:

I am about 25 hours in and level 18. Still going very strong and enjoying the game and its getting better. I am actually starting to see the "consequence" of some of my actions. Some of them are devastating, poor Kefalonia

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I've told you that high moral choices do not always have the best outcome.
And it's not the only such choice that seems no brainer but in the end turns out to be devastating.
You can always reload and go different route, I didn't want to do that. If my choice ended with "I blew it", ah well, lesson learned, move on.
Well… Except the certain island with two mutually exclusive romances*. I've reloaded the whole thing three times trying to get them both in my bed and later recruit to my ship. Didn't exhaust all routes (sidequest choices on the island also affect outcomes) so can't say it's impossible, but I didn't succeed. Did make the savegame so I can return to it after beating the game, sadly I overwrote it without thinking later.

lostforever said:

One thing which I find annoying about the mains story is how trusting your character is! You meet someone for the first time and you become best buddies, I am looking at you Herodotus.

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One thing you cannot change with the main character is their love for people in general. The only people he'll shoot first and ask questions later are members of the cult. Unless you don't know they're with the cult ofc. So… Adapt.

lostforever said:

I really like how they bring in historical characters into the story, Its really well done. Socrates is an arse! I hope I get to meet him again as I wasn't finished talking to him about nature of politics!

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Socrates' quests are IMO the best ones in the game. You'll get more quests from him later. But IMO he is not the best written character. The best written questgiver NPC is Alcibiades - even if you're not playing "bang everything" character. Have to repeat, IMO.

lostforever said:

Another annoying this is that legendary gear is not better than epic gear due to 1 less engraving slot… I hope this get fixed.

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It won't change and is definetly better. Legendary sets have an unique set bonus. The rumor is the set bonus stacks with anything, but I cannot confirm this. If you didn't know, legendary engravings don't stack unless bugged. So if you engraved "double damage but your HP dropped to a quarter" on more than one piece of equipment, only one is applied, you can't have triple or quadruple damage or something. Unless there is a set and unless the rumor is true…
Additionally, unlike epics, legendary weapons have one legendary engraving by default. And you may apply the second one, different one ofc. A spoiler for lategame:
EDIT: Not at home so can't screensoth the example above, but googled and found another example which is pic proof why legendary (gold) items are better than epic (purple):


Add to this some weaponry with high damage like armor pen +30%, damage to elites&bosses +25%, etc and you're indestructible.
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* Sorry for using romances word. All "romances" are in fact one (or 2-3) night stands in this game. When in some it feels like there's more to it, the main hero, both, has no luck with longterm relationships. Every time something happens that ruins it, not listing what things as it'd be a huge spoiler.

I turned gay for Alcibiades! At the hands of a Bioware writer he would have been annoying as hell but Ubisoft writers pulled him of very well. I am looking forward to seeing "more" of him :lol:

I will experiment more with Legendary set and report back. From what I can see once you unlocked the legendary engraving, you can use that on epic gear as well.

You mean bi.
Bioware's "romances" are an illusion of a 12 year old girl on how those work. Ubi definetly did a better job here.

You're correct. Each legendary weapon unlocks a legendary engraving. And there are tons of those. Different ones. Some you'll find through main story quests, some through sidequests, some by exploring random locations unrelated to any quests - Poseidon's Trident for example, some from arena, some by defeating a merc. So if you spot a mercenary that carries a gold item, once you level up enough, go for it!
I wish I noted where I got those that weren't quest based.