Assassin's Creed: Origins is also its Destiny

“They’re just scavenger hunts,” my friend says. He’s dismissing big-budget open-world AAA games like Assassin’s Creed: Origins. He’s explaining why he doesn’t play them. I’m explaining why he’s totally missing out.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2017/11/03/assassins-creed-origins-also-destiny/

I am sad you didn’t like it more.

I agree on some points, even if I am only 30% complete according to the game. The story is not strong enough, the setting as presented is sure visually stunning, and I very much miss a HQ to visit and upgrade.

Yay! This is the first Tom Chick Assassin’s Creed review since his review for Liberation, I believe. He’s back!

So what went wrong with the combat system Tom? It sounds like it’s hamstrung by the RPG leveling system when someone is too far above or below your level. That did seem like a weird addition to an AC game.

I agree with this review. Once the oh-pretty wears off, Ubirot sets in pretty fast. Shame (but it is pretty).

One note:

I always enjoyed this part of Assassin’s Creed games, right from the first one on onwards. I just found it wonderful that they found such a great in-game explanation for it too: you were playing someone else’s memories. So therefore, you were watching all these fancy moves and animations play out instead of micromanaging the combat moves and the jumps and the climbing yourself. You were almost like a conductor, instead of the individual symphony members actually playing the instruments. The memories are already there, you’re just guiding the way, telling the protagonist which way to go.

Sounds like s failry low impact experience which I actually enjoy sometimes (currently playing Witcher 3 on easy). Now that I know what to expect I still interested, though I’ve got some other sightseeing to wrap up first. :)

I’m playing on Hard and the combat can be plenty challenging.

I cannot stress enough how much I hate the lack of a codex this time around. I know Ubisoft is working on getting a free Exploration Mode out, but that’s not really going to help me as I’ll be done with the game well before that launches early next year. Besides, what I really miss is the ability to just read about whatever landmark or person I’m experiencing right then in the game. A separate mode won’t give me that.

Try-hard…

OK so sounds like the main content of the game is our vegetables that we have to get through to enjoy our awesome postgame dessert? Jesus, I am not hearing anything that tells me I need to play this. Does it advance any of the present day story in any kind of interesting ways? Going to guess no since that’s completely unmentioned.

I am hoping the DLCs will have a HQ/base of some kind, I think they both take place a few years after the main story, so we can hope!

This certainly took some of the pressure off of me wanting the game soon - especially disappointing because I’m actually enjoying Syndicate.

I really wish Ubisoft would take their talent for creating worlds (at least visually) and make a game where exploring the world matters more than following icons on a map. In general, the actual gameplay in AC games isn’t really great, so don’t just lead me from one thing to the next. Create interesting ways to surprise me with something cool.

Having played Syndicate just before Origins, I am really missing some things that Syndicate did so well.

The biggest being no territory takeover in Origins. Clearing forts only to have them be repopulated later is so weird. I wish they repopulated the loot also in the fort. Maybe stuff changes when you get to meet Caesar, I am not that far into the story yet. :p

I’m waiting for the education mode so I can explore the world with none of this gameplay stuff

Sounds like an AC game.

Beautifully written review. I will get it on sale for the tourism of it, again, like I always do.

Tom gave it one too many stars.

:O

Head to the spoilers thread and EXPLAIN.

Those Roman soldier in Alexandria are like fighting cornstalks. Those Roman soldiers in Apollonia are just quick ways to force a reload. But the Roman soldiers in Memphis are just right. Hope you like playing in Memphis for a while! It doesn’t matter what you fight. It only matters where you fight it.

This is nicely put and hits on something I’ve been noticing about CRPGs (especially MMOs) lately. In World of Warcraft you might encounter in a level 70 zone a random beast that is powerful enough to destroy everything in an earlier zone. This weirdness is an artifact of the whole level-curve design combined with the need for each zone, however ‘high level’, to be populated with killable entities that still seem ‘normal.’

The more naturalistic approach I remember from older single player CRPGs. An Orc is an Orc is an Orc, no matter where or when you encounter it. As your party gains power, the challenge comes from fighting Demons and Dragons and such. However, such a design might lead to pressure to winnow players into constrained areas as the game advances. As long as the heavy-duty stuff is happening in dark dungeons you can populate them with whatever nasty monsters you want. But if you want the questing to span across a series of ‘normal’ landscapes populated with ‘normal’ entities, it’s hard to square that believably with the level curve.

I still prefer the old style and whatever design solutions are needed to cope with it. An Orc is an Orc is an Orc. Maybe later you can get XP for killing 10 at a time. Also, I feel like the power curve in older CRPGs and in classic pen-and-paper D&D was much shallower than what you see in MMOs (especially a few expansions in, after they’ve tacked on several dozen more levels), though I don’t have the info to quantify the difference.

When will Ass Creed co-opt Stardew Valley mechanics?

Do want.

-Tom