I was about 85 hours in and for some reason the game lost my latest cloud saves and manual quick saves, losing me ~10 hours of progress.
I was really digging this; first AC I’ve played since the first. I’m going to have to put it down, though. I’ll pick it back up in a few months when replaying content I just plowed through doesn’t have quite the sting.
The later you leave Norway, the later you see a game title and learn what game are you playing.
I’d recommend an approach somewhere between this. Yes, you’ll want to get to England farily quickly to start the “proper” game. There are a lot of areas in Norway that you aren’t ment to play yeat (given that the level is something over 300 as well), including the Drengr-fight up in the mountains just close to your settlement. But still, enjoy that little time in the snow anyways and do the quick missions around there. When you eventually get back to Norway, running around in the area you started in isn’t very appealing
To be serious I recommend not thinking about recommended levels and zone completion and the like. I’ve completed the game being severely underleveled on Nightmare difficulty. It’s not like there’s any content you can miss and the game doesn’t have any weird moments like some previous AC games (Origins specifically) or recent Cyberpunk 2077 when the story rushes you forward while gameplay suggests you have to do sidequests and explore.
It’s a chill game. Chill in Norway. Later chill in England and [REDACTED] not to mention [REDACTED].
The only thing the game should have highlighted more: don’t try Ragnar’s suicidal veterans and zealots. Those are completely optional and should only be engaged with when you’re higher level. Even then I’d ignore them.
Well these are two completely different approaches, so it’s basically not about recommendations, rather personal preferences. My experience was quite the opposite, I’ve completed all areas, done all quests and had tons of fun with it. There are som really interesting stories to be found there, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it. I wouldn’t want to skip any of those now, looking back on it.
Ignoring this means missing out on one of the coolest armor and weapon in the game.
My point is you don’t have to feel obligated to do all that stuff. Let me explain with my example.
I have played Origins after taking a long break with a franchise and I was irritated by it. I’ve played AC1-4 before that and in that game you only had to do side content that you liked. Maybe your ship needed some upgrades in AC4 to survive main story, but that’s about it. Then I’ve tried Origins with this approach and constantly banged my head over level limits. By the end game you hit a moment when you need to gain something like 5 levels just to be able to do any damage to endgame enemies, and the story goes on as if the ending sequence happens in a day or something. You have to go over the map looking for quests or clearing out locations. All this time the game really wanted you to do all the sidequests.
Then in Odyssey you don’t have the problem because of autoleveling. Going completionist there might hinder your enjoyment of the game, because a lot of quests are autogenerated and are there for postgame or for people who just like to grind. In that game you’re not supposed to do everything you can.
I don’t particularly like Valhalla but I have to give it credit for making exploration both optional and rewarding. I don’t like the way equipment works (finding another wood/iron chest is much more joyful than getting a unique Axe of Whatever) but I appreciate that this game meets you on your terms and you don’t have to do anything counter-intuitive. With the exception of those zealots and veterans who might make you think you’re playing the game wrong. Especially that guy in the cave in Norway, you can easily meet him in your first hour of gameplay and he casually one-shots you instead of telling you to return later.
Ah right, I get your point!
I actually agree with this, farther up I’ve complained about this as well. Given that the game kind-of guides you to areas by telling you what level you should be there, it comes as quite a shock when those areas contain insanely over-leveled legendary enemies. But after a while, and after leveling up quite a bit (and pretty quick as well), I liked being able to go back and kill them. Sort of like a triumph.
That said, I’m a completionist, so I’ll always have a different approach from those that aren’t.
Side note:
The coming DLC’s have to be quite hefty, given that we now have 4 legendary and sick weapons that you won’t get until after finishing the game. I can’t wait =)
Heh see earlier in the thread when I was asking if that guy is beatable early on… ;)
The answer was yes - so I stuck it out, and yeah he’s real tough but ultimately you can do it in the first few hours with a bit of respecing and learning to parry.
Good for you! But you can clearly see how this guy can create a wrong expectation of what the game is. Fighting him early on was much harder than fighting the final boss (or any of the final bosses cause it’s not quite clear where the main story ends).
Oh for sure, hence was why I was asking in here about it. I didn’t know if I was meant to fight him since everything else around me was tutorial kind of stuff , or come back later.
Excalibur, nord bow and what else?
Well I’m glad I stuck around longer in Norway as there are lots of little vignettes which have been delightful to discover, like my abandoned home village, that I would have missed otherwise or at least not seen until much later.
But yeah screw that cave guy, will definitely come back and take him out.
I found the terrain in Norway monotonous and quite hard to get around. You can see why they like England when they get there.
Thor’s Hammer and Gungnir (Odin’s Spear)
K. Will look into those when I’m done with Excalibur. Gave up on Fenyx.
I think a particular armour was the coolest reward I found. What is it in game that leads to these legendary type weapons?
The Excalibur Sword: you have to explore all tombs of England (or what they where called) and collect the stone tablets inside. I stumbled across a cave in Hamtunscire that leads to a massive ISU tomb, where you insert all seals and can pull out the sword from the stone =) I´m not sure if you ever get some real clues leading there but I did get a note with some cave locations from a random girl in a city in Hamtunscire, i think one of them might be that cave. But it gets marked on a map with a staircase if you come by it so it´s not too hard to find. It´s very close to Stonehenge.
Thor´s Hammer: This one was tricky, since there are no clues whatsoever leading there (yet). I don´t know why they´d put it where it was, or if there are som later content that takes you to it, but first of all, you´ll have to wear all the pieces of Thor´s Armour, and go up north in Hordafylke in Norway, even farther than the cave with the ISU dream machine. This area is unavailable before finishing the dream/Valhalla story with Sigurd.
I only found out about it by reading some thread. Eivor doesn´t even comment picking it up, which was kind of lame after all that hustle to get it.
Gungnir is easily found as soon as you start the Back to Norway-mission with Sigurd and enter the large ISU cave in Hordafylke. I refused following him blindly and just swept the area before following him, I think it was in the start of the cave where I went in the opposite direction, find a crack in the wall and something glowing inside.
Thanks :) I will unspoiler as necessary when I fire it back up! Probably at DLC time.
The three sisters are impossible for me with Excalibur and like power 300
Earlier in the thread, I pointed out the way the “Avenge a fallen player” quest system isn’t working right in Valhalla. I finally found a video confirming what I suspected. It works exactly like the similar quests in Origins, and apparently does fire off in Valhalla just very rarely and may be bugged.
