Goondu Chronicle: Assassin's Creed Odyssey

It was only last year that I said Assassin's Creed (AC) Origins was a huge game with so much to do that it would take me forever to finish?

The new version of AC Odyssey is far more important than Origins and, although I do not think I can finish exploring it entirely, the breathtaking Greek landscapes and legendary historical sites such as Hot Gates of Thermopylae and Athens make me want to keep seeing. more.

That's Greek for me
Like its predecessor, Odyssey is an ambitious open-world game that combines elements of role playing, stealth, action, puzzles, naval war and combat.

Located in ancient Greece, Odyssey offers an epic adventure animated by an intense and suspenseful plot, with an immersive virtual tourism opportunity in the exotic Greek Islands.

The events of Odyssey take place in 431 BCE, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, nearly 400 years before the events of Origins.

Apart from Animus and in the present day, Layla Hassan, the former Abstergo employee who used Animus to access Bayek's Origins souvenirs, now uses Herodotos's book and Leonidas's spear to go back even further. far away in ancient Greece. looking for Isu artifacts that will help the Assassins.

Confused? Regardless, just know that the game is set in Greece and that the protagonist you play is a mercenary and not a murderer, and you can choose to play as a man, Alexios, or a woman, Kassandra. They are a pair of brothers and sisters whose DNA strands are on Leonidas's spear.

Of course, I'm looking forward to playing the game as Kassandra, the first female protagonist in a real Assassin's Creed game, but for comparison, I mingled a little with Alexios.

I may be partial, but I found it steeper, more gruff and aggressive, while Kassandra is more attractive and friendly with a sense of subtle humor.

As history progresses, more and more things are revealed about the past of the siblings, as well as about the clandestine cult that secretly controls Greece and the forces shaping Greece and, ultimately, history of humanity.

While Kassandra and Alexios are Spartans by birth, being mercenary means that you are free to fulfill missions for Athenians and Spartans.

Unlike Origins, where I always felt attacked, in Odyssey you can walk freely and help both sides unless you enter a protected area.

What I like about Odyssey is that the decisions you make can change the quests and missions that are open to you, depending on which side of the camp you are fighting or fighting.

Sometimes the missions you choose to perform cause conflict – when you help the Athenians, the power of the Spartans depreciates and vice versa, and you have the power to change who occupies which territory.

So you have to think carefully about the missions you want to accomplish rather than assume them all blindly.

The game becomes even more complex with crucial decisions that affect subsequent events, such as killing or saving lives.

And as the repercussions are only revealed much later, saving the game just before making the decision will not really help unless we want to give up all the progress made so far.

Feta a lot to do

If you thought that the map of Origins with vast deserts was huge, the map of Odyssey of the Greek islands with the Thracian and Aegean seas to go is even greater.

Often, the places you have to search are terribly far away, but having a horse, a ship and the fast moving function to places you have synchronized really helps to reduce travel time. If you dock somewhere and venture into the interior, you can also quickly return to your ship.

Odyssey offers many activities. In addition to the main missions, there are many side quests that appear on the map. These are fairly well developed and some even have interesting stories, so you do not feel like doing anything threatening, even if you do.

For example, there is a brave old lady who asks animals to create an aphrodisiac, which results in the hunting and killing of animals. You may also be asked to pick herbs to care for someone.

There are also investigative quests in which you must examine an area to look for clues or talk to people for information. And if you feel in love, you can even love certain characters of both sexes by choosing the appropriate dialogue options. Yes, it's a lot of fun.

Cities and cities also have bulletin boards displaying mercenary positions, which Kassandra or Alexios can occupy. However, many of these jobs are "fetch" or "massacre" quests involving the delivery of messages, the slaughter of animals and bandits, or the recovery of objects. Although boring, they help you earn drachmas and resources to upgrade your equipment.

Tired of running a race, boy or girl? You can satisfy your thirst for blood by taking part in epic, large-scale battles and melee battles on the battlefields, where you can fight the Athenians or the Spartans.

Do not sneak in here, make sure you have the best abilities in melee, armor and warrior weapons. This is because you are going to fend off hordes of enemies, some of whom are enemies of Elite who can take a lot of damage and deal a lot of damage.

Or, if you are tired of running on dry land, you can break the monotony by boarding your boat for an epic adventure. The well-developed naval war of Odyssey allows you to engage in skirmishes with Spartan and Athenian forces, merchants and pirates where you can loot a few points.

You can also improve the defensive and offensive capabilities of your ship, hire lieutenants to improve your ship's stats, and even customize the look of your ship and crew.

Greek gearhead
Odyssey offers many amenities, including weapons, armor and upgrades. You can upgrade your equipment to a blacksmith by buying improvements or improvements in engraving.

Engravings add extra stats to your gear that give you an edge over your enemies and can be unlocked by completing missions, completing achievements, solving puzzles, or simply progressing through the game.

If you can solve puzzles to collect in the form of Ainigmata Ostraka, they will lead you to additional engravings. The shield is a piece of missing equipment in Odyssey and Origins. But as you can parry and counterattack, you will not miss it at all.

To pay for upgrades to your equipment and ship, you'll need resources and drachmas that can be looted from fallen enemies or lost items. You can also find some in the wild.

Another good way to obtain resources is to dismantle the weapons that you have recovered and will not equip. For the desperate, doing ungrateful and repetitive mercenary tasks will also reward you with resources.

In addition to fighting against Spartan and Athenian militants, wild animals and bandits, you will also have to muddle with mercenaries who collect bonuses for your head and murder shadowy cultists all over Greece. Keep these weapons and armor upgraded – some enemies can not be killed purely and stealthily!

Tribute to Erebus and Athena
Longtime fans will be thrilled to find that stealth and naval combat missions have made a strong comeback in Odyssey, which has been overshadowed in Origins by intense melee gameplay.

In Odyssey, you can sneak up, climb to the points of view and sneak enemies into strong or heavily guarded camps – an important tactic because enemies can easily control you. The Ikaros Eagle is your eye in the sky and can help you spot and mark enemies, find potential targets as well as loot.

Like Singaporeans, Odyssey residents like to complain to a higher authority. If civilian passers-by kill someone, destroy property, steal something or behave badly, they will file a complaint, which will result in the filling of your Bounty counter. A mercenary will eventually hunt you down.

A word of caution about the cattle attack, even if it is an accident: not only will your Bounty meter increase, but it will also retaliate and hurt you. I made the mistake of fighting a mercenary on a farm and I was ferociously attacked by the chickens. It was a death without glamor and embarrassment.

To refine your offensive and defensive abilities, Odyssey offers three branches in which you can upgrade your skills as Warrior, Hunter and Assassin by using skill points that can be earned by progressing in the game and completing missions.

In addition, there are tombs where you receive skill points when solving puzzles and locating hidden steles.

Even if you have a choice of many skills, you can only assign four skills from the melee and ranged sets for quick access at any time. This requires you to prioritize skills and reset hotkeys before embarking on different types of battles.

Face that launched a thousand ships

Graphics for AC games have always been much appreciated, and Odyssey is no exception. The beautiful Greek landscape is beautiful, day and night, fair days and in the rain.

Some exceptional sites are truly spectacular and memorable, including dilapidated temples, scenic waterfalls covered with flowering trees and strange graves on the hill.

Each region also has a special atmosphere, whether it's the accent of color on the buildings or the style of the architecture, which makes you want to continue to explore.

In addition to beautiful scenery, the game is full of intricate details and varied activities: herds of deer grazing in the countryside, rustling leaves and non-player characters (NPC) playing the game of their life, which is the only game in the world. they are weaving baskets, venerating the gods or trading in the market.

But what really impresses are the realistic and realistic effects of the sea and the water. Notice how ships sway on the surface of the sea, spray during fierce naval battles and dolphins swimming along your bow.

Even the underwater world is beautiful. Diving in search of hidden treasures in the depths of oceans or lakes, you will be able to observe distinct and colorful schools of fish swimming around you, abandoned and collapsed statues and desolate wrecks.

Odyssey is also distinguished by its breathtaking epic soundtrack, as well as tense music during furtive missions and an immediate change of tempo once you're spotted.

When you're at sea, your ship's crew will entertain you with their songs while sailing – with a deactivation option if you need some peace and quiet.

Unfortunately, the beautiful soundscape is spoiled by an audio bug after applying the game fix, where the dialogue has too much echo and a muffled sound. Fortunately, I was able to solve the problem by updating the drivers of the sound card and changing the audio settings.

Odyssey is better suited to an adult audience thanks to its colorful language and liberal use of swear words – not only in Greek but in English.

In addition, the protagonist's potentially flirtatious overtures to NPCs and sexual insinuations may not be appropriate for younger players. Not to mention violence and gore, but it's a given because it's an alternative game.

Bugs in the ointment
An ambitious game of such magnitude and complexity is not without problems, of course.

One of the problems that stands out is the very repetitive nature of the mercenary jobs that you think have already ended dozens of times. At one point, three tasks forced me to kill goats, wild boars and wolves. Boring.

In addition, after talking to hundreds of NPCs in the form of quest givers, they all start to look alike and sprout the same lines, ad nauseam.

Am I tired of Assassin? I've always wanted to explore a huge open world game, but unfortunately, things are repeating themselves and you will feel that there is a limit to the size of an open world.

Through time-limited quests and special events available for a few days, as well as daily quests, developers have tried to breathe new life into the game, but they continue to add to the long list of things that you feel obliged to attend. and divert you from the main story.

Another problem with Odyssey concerns some bugs that have an impact on the gameplay, such as the stealth mode not working even when it is hidden and the AI ​​buggy enemy that prevents them from conducting an investigation even if They are suspicious.

But the most boring, quest givers sometimes flee you after rescuing them from attackers. You can not complete the quest if it has not been given to you.

TL; DR
Odyssey is an adventurous open-world game that takes place in beautiful ancient Greece with the choice of playing a female character, a first in the AC franchise. Although he plays the role of a mercenary and not a murderer, Odyssey's game puts more emphasis on stealth than Origins will make a long-time AC fan happy.

If you have to compare, I would say that I prefer Odyssey to Origins in terms of character, story and gameplay. Being able to play Kassandra is a big plus. However, the game is marred by repetitive tasks of mercenaries, club-nut NPCs and annoying bugs.

Odyssey is available on Windows, Xbox One and PlayStation platforms at $ 70 for the standard version and $ 134 for the Ultimate Edition, which includes the Season Pass with two DLCs, exclusive equipment and quests.