Assassins Creed Valhalla - 50 hours in and struggling

[Antpool84 1,109]

So i'm 50 hours into Assassins Creed Valhalla and honestly starting to struggle to keep going. For the first 20 to 30 hours i was loving exploring the world and levelling up, but as its gone on i've found it harder to stay invested in the story, and things like the raiding element that started off as enjoyable i'm now finding repetitive. The open world is huge but there a lot of the areas are pretty plain and i've ended up riding my horse from point to point without encountering anything other than dears and wolves. As much as it is pretty awesome playing as a viking, i don't find Eivor as interesting to play as previous protagonists in the series. I used to love the Assassins Creed games and completed a lot of the early games, but hadn't played one in full since Black Flag, so was hoping that this would reignite my love for the series, and although on the whole the game plays well, it feels much more like a generic action rpg than an Assassins Creed game as I have yet to find any consequence to not using stealth and just going into an area and killing all the enemies.  I don't know whether taking a break from it and playing something else for a while will help, so it feels fresher when i come back to it. Has anyone else found this or is it just me?

[J4MES OX4D 10,034]

Firstly, congratulations for making it to 50 hours. I lasted barely 20 hours in Origins before it became absolute torture to play. This latest breed of AC games are basically way too big with the story spread thin across a huge landscape in which the map has to be bloated with mundane tasks for filler. Not only that, Ubisoft introduced RPG level-gating which meant players had to endure these side missions to be able to play the story....or pay them £10 for boosters where you didn't have to play parts of the game instead. The gameplay is also dumbed-down to the extremes with x-ray vision, no fall damage, being able to scale huge climbs in seconds and also really basic combat. Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla are basically the same game with slightly different skins.

 

The developers could've easily reduced the game by two thirds, removed any level gating or given the player a choice on XP scaling. There are so many users who are being alienated by this game design who would love to play it and experience DLC in the future but they are being held back by the exhausting and nauseating gameplay format. If Ubisoft scrapped boosters and scaled the games down then they would be much better experiences. The series is basically a live service and Ubisoft last week confirmed that this is how it will be going forward for all future AC titles so expect more of the same. It's a shame because AC2 and Black Flag were superb titles.

 

The series is perfect for players who don't mind the same monotonous grind every day for two months straight but for me, the AC games have become some of the most painful out there and the devs don't seem to understand that bigger doesn't always mean better. Aside from any narrative, what you see in these games within the first 20 minutes is what you get throughout. 

[Antpool84 1,109]

@J4MES OX4D  i have to agree with you, whereas the older AC games were set across 3 or 4 cities that were always bustling with activity, now they have made them so massive it is just filled with random side quests for the sake of them so you can get your XP up to carry on. Combat has come down to pretty much button mashing with most enemies. I really want to enjoy the game and get through it but with so many better open world titles available its a struggle.

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I didn't mind Origins at all more for the setting then anything else.  But, I agree with you though about valhalla.  It feels like a chore.  I've got over 100 hours in the game and I'm at a point where I just can't find the patience to finish it.  Every area in the game is literally the same thing.  over and over and over.  I mean, I'll go back and finish it when I have literally nothing else to play.  But, man they really need to rethink this series...again.  I'm not very thrilled about infinity either.

[GazzaGarratt 11,049]

I haven't got past 5 hours yet 🤣so fair play for getting this far @Antpool84 ! I enjoy the scenery and the way the world is but I sometimes think these games need to push you down the linear main story route abit further before opening up side quests.

 

I'll never understand that Black Flag balanced a main story with a superb side mini game, that you can also play on your mobile through the day which impacted your game when you got home to play it - and this never got replicated or evolved in any future games? We can live and hope for the future i'm sure.

[J4MES OX4D 10,034]

20 minutes ago, GazzaGarratt said:

I'll never understand that Black Flag balanced a main story with a superb side mini game, that you can also play on your mobile through the day which impacted your game when you got home to play it - and this never got replicated or evolved in any future games? We can live and hope for the future i'm sure.

I think it's down to two things:-

a) they think bigger means better

b) they want to stifle progress and force people to buy boosters at £10 pop

 

With Assassin's Creed going full live service in the future, it's only going to get worse I reckon. If they weren't trying to screw users into spending more money to reduce the monotonous agony, they would've included XP scaling options where users could curate their own experience based on how much time they have or wish to play. If they didn't alienate players this way then more would spend money on DLC but they are obsessed with nickle and diming their in-game stores. 

 

Ubisoft have phasing out narratives from their games now and focusing purely on live services of the stinking F2P nature so I dread where this franchise will end up. All the staff at their disposal, all that technology, all that money and their games are the same generic reskinned crap over and over. 

[Antpool84 1,109]

@GazzaGarratt i remember that mobile game, i used to love that and was always trying to strengthen my fleet using it 😂

 

@J4MES OX4D  i totally agree with you dude. When they announced the live service i was gutted as i've enjoyed AC for so long that seeing it become another money grabbing franchise was so disappointing. They used to be one of the best action rpgs and the stories were great, now the games have become generic and just stick the AC name on it and the smallest amount of stealth gameplay to sell the games. I'm sad to say it but i think until there is a massive change i think i'm done with the series.