Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Pushing into the DLC of Odyssey

May 8, 2019 by Naithin Leave a Comment

Since last time, I rose to the top of the Mercenary food-chain. … Or so I thought. And more importantly, the Cult of Kosmos is no more. I will admit too, that I was legitimately surprised at how that whole saga played out. Even after collecting the majority of the clues, I still hadn’t suspected the person it ultimately turned out to be.

With those things done, I would consider all the main threads of the base game to be completed. There are dozens upon dozens of hours worth of additional side quest content available, but this is certainly more of a mixed bag when it comes to quality. I’ve done a fair share of it in my adventures throughout the ancient isles of Greece, but I have no real interest in actively pursuing the rest of it.

What I have been interested in, is finally getting to sink my teeth into the DLC. Technically I could have done it earlier. The game doesn’t require you to finish every (or really, any) thread of the main game to start. But without spoiling anything I can say that the story it presents makes a lot more sense should you wait.

Wait. Did I step back into The Witcher 3?

I was mostly excited by the prospect of digging into the game’s second major set of DLC, Fate of Atlantis.¹ I was a bit more curious on the curious side about how I would find having to go through the first set of DLC, Legacy of the First Blade.² It didn’t review very strongly at all.

I’ve avoided digging too deeply into said reviews for worry of spoilers, but from the few I did — the main complaint seemed to centre around Legacy using existing areas on the map to tell it’s story. I can kinda see this. If you had been waiting and waiting for this DLC to come, and had been exploring the map to extract every ounce of questly-value you could, and then received the DLC and it didn’t take you anywhere new… Sure.

A moment of quiet reflection on action and consequence.

That isn’t my situation though. I had it ready in full the moment I was ready for it. The area it covers was still largely new to me as the main story chain only ever briefly takes you there. So I was impressed. I’ve only completed Chapter 1 (of 3) so far. So to be sure there is certainly time for it to change my mind. But I really enjoy the story it has started to tell. I really enjoy the extension to the gameplay it offers.

Legacy of the First Blade is telling a bit of a darker story so far. I haven’t yet come to the point of controversy either. (Note: Clicking through to that will spoil the end of Chapter 2.)

I have to be honest and say that without the coverage of the issue, I probably wouldn’t even have thought twice about it on my own with the perspective through which I’m playing. Nonetheless, I applaud Ubisoft’s response to the criticism they received. It was a heck of a lot more than I expected.

I’ve had way less gaming (or writing) time this week. Seems to be a bit of a theme at beginning of each month actually, although I couldn’t tell you why. In any case, I’m OK with pacing the remaining content I have with Odyssey out a wee bit.

The first chapter of The Fate of Atlantis is out, but there is a 6 week delay between releases of the remaining chapters and I far prefer being able to binge my content, or at least have the option of setting my own pace. 🙂

Time to Loot Journal: April 2019

May 1, 2019 by Naithin Leave a Comment

April was a comparative breeze to last month. It seemed to go by so fast, too! Possibly helped somewhat by the extended break that Easter and ANZAC day allowed for by taking just a few extra annual leave days to bridge the gaps for a bit over a week off.

Blog this Month

I published 12 posts this month, settling into an average of 3 posts per week. This seems sustainable and will likely become the pattern I aim for. Looking back over April, there isn’t much regularity as to which 3 days I post, but I think that’s OK for now.

There are a grand total of 59 published posts (including this one), and at the current rate it’ll be another 4+ months before I hit 100 posts. However I have passed the 100 day mark. One of the very first milestones I knew I wanted to break through.

So Huzzah! 😀

Most Viewed Posts

Heart of Rage tips still drives a large portion of the site’s traffic, with roughly 6x the views of the second most viewed post this month. But the significant drop-off I expected for this article last month is starting now. The overall hits for April are around half that of March where this article was performing like a monster.

In more positive news though, ranks 2 through 4 were posts from this month!

Games this Month

Rank	Game	Hours	% Gaming Time	Change
1	Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey	54.8	56.0%	New
2	The Division 2	16.2	16.6%	↓1
3	Tomb Raider	7.8	7.9%	New
4	Transport Fever	6.2	6.4%	New
5	Rise of the Tomb Raider	4.7	4.8%	New
6	Northgard	1.7	1.7%	New
7	Overwatch	1.5	1.5%	New
8	Nioh	1.3	1.3%	New
9	Far Cry: New Dawn	1.2	1.2%	↓6
10	Anno 1800	1.2	1.2%	New
11	Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice	1.2	1.2%	↓6

‘New’ does not necessarily mean the game is new to me (although it may). I’m not quite sure yet how, or if, I want to represent a returning game that has skipped some time from the list.

That was a total of 97.7 gaming hours, up only 4.2 hours from last month. Given there was a week off, that does surprise me a little! Although I suppose I did catch up on a fair few shows.

Total active time on the computer was 262.8 hours, up 21.5 hours from last month. Gaming made up 37.2% of the active hours, down 1.5% from March.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

I’ve mentioned before, but this one coming in such a big way this month really took me by surprise.

It made a believer out of me for the inclusion of ‘Photo Mode’ in games. Something I’d been a little ‘meh’ on previously. Neither for nor against. I kind of want it in everything now. 😉

But most impressive of all, for me, is that it has carried me through to and even beyond the ‘end’. Since that post I’ve cleaned house of the Cult of Kosmos, got my way to the top of the Mercenary foodchain.¹

I’ve made a bit of a start into the first DLC, with the rest to come. 🙂

The Division 2

The 16 odd hours I have on TD2 were fairly heavily front-loaded into the month. I’ve not really touched it in a few weeks.

I had expected to jump in with the release of the Raid, but that was delayed until next month. I’m happy with my gear setup with the context of what is currently possible already, so back to being ‘done’ until the raid arrives. Unfortunately Tidal Basin and the new gear tier from there didn’t provide much more play time for me. When next month the Raid is put into our hands on Live will determine how much time The Division 2 gets next month.

Tomb Raider (and Rise of the Tomb Raider)

The ‘planned’² series for the month. I finished the first game of the rebooted series and made a start on the second entry.

Almost immediately I was taken by the degree of iteration and change that occurred between the entries even though they were barely 2 years apart. I still intend to finish these after I’m done with Odyssey, but we’ll see. I’ve also been on something of a Tycoon game kick lately, which leads into…

Transport Fever

Setup some basic inner ~~city~~ ~~town~~ village horse and carriage loops, with longer paths connecting the depot to another village entirely.

I’m not entirely sure what triggered it, but recently I started to get a real hankering to play a Tycoon-style game again. I went on a bit of a YouTube and Reddit Prowl and ultimately landed on Transport Fever.

It is rather aptly named I must say, I went in ‘just to take a screenshot’ for this post. Almost 3 hours later, I’m finally back. At least I remembered to get the screenshot!

Transport Fever has a number of quirks to it, and a rather arcane (at first) signalling system for trains. So I’ve been immersing myself in a lot of YT Let’s Plays and Tutorial videos as well. I have a much firmer grasp on things now, but still learning some things as I go — like what the AI people preferences are when provided with options.

Transport Fever 2 has been announced, and looks beautiful but I was really wanting something to play now so still went with the original. Didn’t hurt that it was 70% off on Steam when I was looking. To go along with scratching my Tycoon itch though, I also picked up Production Line, but haven’t yet given it a go.

The Others

Quite a few games with less than 2 hours played this month. Overwatch and Northgard I spent some time playing with my brother. Overwatch for one of the events that promoted playing of an arcade mode where the skill cooldowns were (basically) eliminated. Made for some quite intense rounds, I will say. And allowed me a Play of the Game! As Moira! xD

Northgard as I gave him a spare copy from the last Humble Monthly Bundle. We both really enjoyed it until we came to the realisation, too late, that you cannot save game for multiplayer.

If you can’t finish in the single sitting you just have to abandon. I remember this being a thing in RTS’ of old, but I never expected to encounter it in a modern title.

Ah well.

Nioh: Midway through the first boss fight. Ultimate form incoming!

Nioh I loaded for the express purpose of checking whether it cloud saves or not. (It does, if you were wondering.) Ended up starting a new game and played through the entire tutorial area and a bit of the first mission to refresh myself on the game.

Playing Sekiro actually made me want to go back and play more Nioh instead. It probably isn’t a good sign for a game when it makes you want to play something else instead. Nonetheless, I haven’t quite given up on it yet. That may come soon, or I might surprise even myself and make some time for it. It’s been known to happen!

Far Cry New Dawn on the other hand I have removed. I acknowledged even in the March Review that I was starting to drift from it a little. In the extra hour or so I played, I simply beelined the main story and made some good progress against it as a result.

From what I understand the FCND storyline is not all that long, so just given that I may go back and finish. Will have to see.

Anno 1800 is one I’ll be back to. Although who knows when. It is a beautiful game at times, and the beginning masks a fairly deep and detailed game once you start stepping through the civilian classes, eras of technology and more. I picked it up on Steam before it left that storefront, and then just had to give it a go. 🙂

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey Added to the Game List and Other Surprises

April 27, 2019 by Naithin Leave a Comment

Still in love with Photo Mode. This was taken after eliminating the last of the underling Cultists at sea.

Still not sure what the right rhythm for updating the games list is. Or even if there will be a ‘rhythm’ to it at all. I had intended to make updates on a monthly cycle but here we are with the second update this month. It has become clear that once a month isn’t going to fit with how my gaming stops and starts actually work.

If I had waited until next month to add Odyssey to the list for example, I’d probably already be done with it despite having had 3 or so posts on it so far with a few more planned.

Possibly a set of guiding principles would work better. But in order to get a full set, I think I’ll have to discover them over time. Although from the few months back at blogging? Here are the ones I’ve figured so far.

Game List and Categorisation Guiding Principles

Playing a game doesn’t necessarily mean I have to add it to the list — the idea is to include ones that have at least a little staying power.¹
As a corollary to the above though, adding a game simply means I am playing it more than as a one-off. Being on the list doesn’t necessarily mean it will get a category or that I will even post on it (although it is likely).
MMO’s and ‘Games as a Service’ with long life expectancy (in general, not just my interest) will be categorised as individual titles.
More iterative series of games such as Assassin’s Creed and Tomb Raider will be grouped into a category for the series and tagged with the individual games.
In either case, a post about a given game or series will be categorised as ‘Other’ unless there are 3+ posts tagged for it.

Changes to the Game List

Added

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

Remaining

The Division 2
Tomb Raider

Nearly Removed

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Removed

Far Cry: New Dawn
Final Fantasy XIV

AC:O really came out of nowhere for me. I’d always wanted to go back but had more realistically (or so I thought) resigned myself to it living on in the long list of games started and never completed. There is a certain joy though in playing a single-player title over voice comms with friends, especially one with opportunity for emergent experiences and divergent story paths.

It took over making progress in Rise of the Tomb Raider, but I expect I’ll be making a return there once I’m done with the AC:O DLC.

I’ve also not had a lot to say about The Division 2 of late. With the delay in the Raid until next month, this will likely continue to hold for a bit. The gear stratification issues I highlighted before the release of World Tier 5 are still at play for me.

I reached a point where I’m happy with my build and gear. Any further optimisation that might be achievable wouldn’t be worth the effort in light of the knowledge that the raid is almost certainly going to raise the ilvl available again.

Sekiro veeeery nearly joined FFXIV and Far Cry: New Dawn in being removed. I’ve not touched it since the beginning of the month, and with the current view on what I’ll be playing next, I’m not sure it will change.

Still… I’d like to play some more Sekiro. If I recall rightly, I put it on pause right before the first major boss. So that’ll be fun to relearn when I return. 😉

Playing Past the End

April 26, 2019 by Naithin Leave a Comment

I ‘finished’ Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey roughly 20 hours of play ago. I finished what I would consider to be the main story thread regarding your family in any case. Perhaps 10 hours of play ago, I finished the story strand linking present-day and the Isu — The First Civilisation. There are a few other story strands that will have endings of their own, I’m assuming. Such as eliminating once and for all the Cult of Kosmos and raising to the very top of the Mercenary rankings.

But those are certainly second-fiddle to resolving the family story. You might have gathered already, but simply getting that far in a single-player title is unusual for me. I come by my massive backlog of unfinished titles honestly. 😉

For a good while I thought Odyssey would fall to the same fate, as I’d put in a little over 20 hours at launch and then never touched it again. Certainly returning to blogging has seen me make a more concerted effort at finishing things, but Odyssey has gone beyond even that. I haven’t been able to put it down!

With this context, it’s probably also going to come as no surprise that I’m not a completionist by nature. I absolutely know there is no world in which I truly ‘100%’ this game with all side content done, achievements completed, etc. I probably won’t even make any sort of serious dent into a ‘New Game+’ mode.

I’m still playing on because:

First, it’s fun as all hell. Nothing else would matter if this wasn’t true.
I’m getting my game ‘ready’ for the DLC. All three chapters of ‘The Legacy of the First Blade’ are out now and the first chapter of the second season of DLC, ‘The Fate of Atlantis’ is also out.
- Before I start this DLC, I wish to complete the two story strands I mentioned earlier — the Cult and the Mercenaries.

I’m just about there on both threads. There is in fact only one Mercenary between me and the top spot. I just need to discover who they are so I can track them down and… have a chat about our relative positions in life.

The Cult is going to take a bit more work still. I’ve cleansed the world of several branches already, but there are still more clues to be discovered and identities uncovered before I understand who the overall leader is. One of the last clues I received on the leader’s identity was extremely intriguing, too. I am almost ready to make an assumption on who it is before being able to more ‘formally’ uncover them, but I’m happy taking out some more of their underlings for now.

Although I must admit, I am getting rather antsy to start into the DLC already. Soon. Soon!

I’m a Photo Mode Convert

April 23, 2019 by Naithin 6 Comments

It isn’t that I disliked or had anything against the presence of a ‘Photo Mode’, it’s more that I saw it as unnecessary. Superfluous fluff. Nothing wrong with taking screenshots the ‘old’ way. Maybe give me a ‘Turn UI off’ button, and that ought to be enough for anyone! 😉

That said, I’ve always been rather spotty with taking screenshots full stop. I’d go through long patches of time where I didn’t take a single one, and then a flurry of activity wherein I would.

Since starting this blog with an aim to at least in part, create a journal of gaming history for myself in the future, I’ve been more regular about taking screenshots. Even this isn’t what convinced me though.

No, it has been a rather heavy duty return to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Two friends picked it up during the uPlay sale on it and it seemed a prime time to come back and finish the Odyssey I’d started when it released. I started out taking screenshots the ‘normal’ way but became intrigued by the shared screenshots scattered across the map.¹

It’s a sort of Peloponnesian Facebook (or maybe Instagram, given the heavy photo focus). But with way less drama. You can still like things though, and there is a ‘Photo of the Day’ as well. In short, it’s a pretty neat social connectivity feature in an otherwise exclusively single-player game.

To participate and have your screenshots show up, you must use the ‘Photo Mode’, the raw screencap button (even the uPlay one) isn’t sufficient.

So… I might’ve taken a few shots…

The implementation in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is pretty impressive, but not without flaw.

On the impressive end of things the camera positioning control is fantastic. When you hit the Photo Mode button, all action is frozen and from there you can off-set it’s position from standard over the character’s shoulder in quite a wide range, set an orbit around any point on screen, apply a tilt and more.

Once you’re happy with the composition capture, you can throw it into edit mode. Set a focal point and adjust the depth of field effect strength, along with adjusting colour saturation, tint, noise, etc. There are about 10 or so sliders to play with, and then you can also apply a border or overlay to finish the whole thing off if you want.

The issues with the implementation in Odyssey are not to do with the feature itself but rather limitations of the engine and current technology, I think.

The Level of Detail at range is not always impressive when captured still², the detailing cut down to allow for some of the expansive vistas the game offers.

The Depth of Field effect only seems to kick in at all at about 4/5ths of the way into the bar. Before then no matter how near or far you set the focal point, nothing adjusts. Even within that last fifth of the bar, it scales the strength a little oddly.

Nitpicks though, in the grand scheme of things. I’m thoroughly sold on the concept of including a Photo Mode now. The Division 2 (another Ubisoft title) had me playing around with it a little too — but being an online game, even in single-player, it didn’t allow for pausing of the action while you took a shot which changed the dynamic significantly.

Odyssey isn’t the first game to include the Photo Mode feature and I certainly hope it isn’t the last. Want moar! 🙂

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Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Pushing into the DLC of Odyssey

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Time to Loot Journal: April 2019