Sure, but those mechanics got abandoned long, long before the switch to the RPG style structure.
You definitely should play Syndicate, then! It’s mostly all in dense Victorian London.
Syndicate definitely had its moments, I liked the Batman-style grappling hook, and the Wild Wild West-style headquarters on a train. But I didn’t find that very much else stood out to me, the characters didn’t seem as vivid as Ezio, for instance.
Ezio had a trilogy to himself, no one else gets that treatment.
I would say that Ezio got a trilogy because it’s what folks wanted, he could carry a trilogy. Not sure any of the other protagonists could.
Yes, more Syndicate love!
Unity’s lackluster debut soured many on the franchise and I think Syndicate paid the price. This probably led to the whole reimagining of the series with Origins.
I could be wrong, but I feel Valhalla didn’t do as well critically as Odyssey, probably leading to this upcoming entry changing its formula again.
I kind of hate that they’re doing this. Just create a side series if you’re going to drastically change the gameplay. The game evolved gradually and now it’s a sudden and drastic change back to the first game?
Come on Ubisoft. It’s not the game systems, it’s releasing the games so close together. I never finish these things because they’re big games and before I could sink in to one, another is released. And sure, they could overhaul certain things, like have less content every few steps and more meaningful quest lines instead of the usual Ubi Checklist of Stuff To Do. But I like the levelling/RPG aspects they’ve added. They were not necessary in the earlier games, but we have them now, stop fucking around and commit, Ubi!
Bwah I could only wish for a Frye Twins trilogy. Heck, throw Jacob away and give me Evie for three games.
I’d happily play a trilogy as Kassandra.
Do you mean critically like review scores? They scored about the same - 84 for Odyssey and 83 for Valhalla, with a higher % of critics recommending Valhalla (91% vs 83%, with a much higher number of reviews for Valhalla).
If you are referring to sales though, no idea. But I did find this article from late 2020 that indicates Valhalla sold 50% more units than Odyssey (at launch).
I had a feeling someone was going to say Kassandra and I agree, she’s a fun character. But geez, I felt like by the time I had gone through all of Odyssey and its DLC content that she pretty much got a trilogy’s worth of stuff in one game.
Oh definitely, the open world stuff makes you feel like you’ve played 3 or 4 more linear games.
When I say I could play a trilogy as Kassandra, I mean a more focused story-heavy set of games like AC1 or 2.
I’m surprised people aren’t totally burned out on assassins creed at this point.
I’m surprised people aren’t totally burned out on Final Fantasy at this point.
See, doesn’t work, really.
I guess I don’t see why they should be, it’s just another video game franchise that comes out with annual content. Burn out is on the individual to experience. Are YOU burned out by more Assassin’s Creed?
I would probably get burned out if I played all the AC games upon release, but I tend to kind of stay one game back, leave a little breathing room between games. Especially now that they’re so massive. Speaking of which, I should probably look into playing Valhalla soon …
Yep. Sometimes it feels like a job when I look at all the stuff to do yet in the game.
I think that’s fair - it happens to all of us. My advice, as always, is walk away when you feel burned out or aren’t having fun. Life is too short to play a video game (or read a book, or watch a series or a movie) that you aren’t 100% into. Move onto something you WILL be passionate about.
This is where I’m at - also, I’ve played the last four games at launch, after discovering Black Flag years after it released and picking up Syndicate at launch, and never playing any DLC at all. So my experience tends to be the vanilla out of the box gameplay and then I don’t play one again until a new title launches. That probably helps.
But also, when it comes to Ubisoft/open world games, I long since stopped trying to “paint the map” so to speak, collecting every little thing or doing all the side content. If there is cool armor to earn or an amazing weapon I want, I’ll do that though.
I was wrong, then. I guess I was going by the amount of (perceived) activity post-release: I felt I was seeing more positive articles about Odyssey and it showed up on “best of” lists while I tended to see more negative criticism regarding Valhalla, and less talk about it in general months after release.
Perception is a tough thing for sure. As to your original point, about a return to old-school form, my “without anything other than pure, uncut speculation” theory is the development team maybe wanted to shift gears to do something different, maybe try something new, since the last three games have been large, open world sandbox style RPGs.