Assassin's Creed Odyssey vs Skyrim

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Assassin's Creed Odyssey vs Skyrim

Post by peter »

I'm about 30 hours into Odyssey and wanted to do a quick comparison with Skyrim in terms of what I have gleaned to date, as much for my own benefit in terms of deciding what I like and don't like about the game as anything else. For those who know the game, I haven't been beating the main quest to death, but have been exploring the areas I've got to, mopping up the side missions and location objectives, and generally exploring the map as much as anything else. In terms of the main quest I've just been to the
Spoiler
Oracle of Delphi and am now instructed to find Phoebus (or whatever he is called), the guy who first pretended to be on my side, but then tried to have me killed by his henchmen.
(For any that picked up on it, I was playing Kingdom Come Deliverance, but suddenly got bored with it so am giving it a rest.)

I'll try in this comparison to take each element of the game separately and will begin with

1. The Map.

Now, by any standards the AC Odyssey map is impressive. I've covered what, a third to a half of it and I love the use of the ship to move around it; I love the mountainous terrain and the way that you can set your horse following a road and track him from the air as he carries you into new territory, racking up XP simply by passing through regions and past locations. In terms of its variety however, to date I think the Skyrim map has it beat. I keep seeing these snow capped peaks and I want to get into them just to get some variety from the sun-bleached Greek terrain, but to date have been unable to reach them; I don't know - perhaps you do get the chance later on or in parts of the map that I haven't reached, but I'm beginning to find the countryside a bit 'samey' and am looking for some variety.

In terms of the actual locations, I love them: the degree of accuracy maintained in the historical locations that really existed - and still do in their archeological state of today - is stunning! I love the historical notes provided on each site (for those of a historical bent) and to be able to wander them almost as the real people of the day would have been able to is simply wonderful - worth the purchase price of the game alone. But this is a comparison, and as a purist looking from the terrain alone, I haven't yet seen anything that matches the variety of the cities of Skyrim, the different types of terrain (mountains, plains, Forrest's, etc) and of course, the crypts. In respect of the latter, in Odyssey to date I've been into a dozen or so cave systems, dived into a few underwater sites, but nothing that comes close to the Dwarven ruins of Skyrim, the underground crypts of the falmar and draugr, neither in complexity or scale. Again, perhaps I simply haven't encountered them in this map yet - but if they were there, I'd have expected to have come across them somewhere by this point.

Next lets look at

2. The Quests.

Now this is I'm afraid, where I'm beginning to have serious problems. In other huge role-playing games (and not just Skyrim - think Fallout 4, the Witcher Wild Hunt, KCD etc) once the player is set loose into the world, before long they are directed into the main quest (all good here with AC Odyssey) but also toward secondary quest groups that have as much, if not more, interest as the main quest itself. In Skyrim, before long you find yourself in Riften, getting hooked up with the Thieves Guild, and entering onto a quest-tree that draws you in with an ongoing story of depth and interest, and in which you become invested as you proceed through it. In the aforesaid Guild, you do a few initiatory tasks, discover that all is not well in the Guild, and then work your way through an extended story to the resolution of the problem. It's long, it draws you in - and the game has dozens of them!

In AC Odyssey, I've searched in vain for this kind of additional content, but to date have found nothing but simple, one of tasks and contracts (kill this Athenian leader, sink those five ships) which you carry out and then scoop your XP up for. The site objectives are similarly uniform; kill the Captain, loot the treasure, find the tablet. Where are the engaging side quest-trees of the type I mention above in Skyrim. In desperation I went online to see if I could get a clue on this and found a site where a guy was singing the praises of the side quest "Lust for Life", as one of the best in the game. I've done it; you collect a bear scrotum and a deer horn and take them back to an old woman who you get to shag or take payment from. That's it! It took me ten minutes to complete with nothing of interest to me personally - and this is the guy's idea of the best side-quest! If this is seriously what all of the side stuff in AC Odyssey is like, I need to plough into the main quest real fast and hope that the immersion I crave from a game like this can be found in there to make up for the truly uninspired nature of the side missions. Either that or just hope desperately that one of you guys can say "No Peter - you simply haven't got far enough into the game to reach the interesting side stuff". Perhaps that is it; perhaps the game is simply so huge that I haven't reached the "Thieves Guild", the "Assassin's Guild" the "Labarynthium and BlackReach" of it yet. Or is it simply that the main quest storyline is so staggeringly long and good that it compensates for the repetative and packing-filler nature of the rest of the content.

Don't get me wrong however. I'm massively, massively impressed with some aspects of this game. I love the map, I love the ship and the horse riding, I love the bird and the historical locations, the attention to detail and the ability to walk the streets of ancient Greece, the Parthenon and the Oracle of Delphi. But, hell, I need something to do in it and I'm sorry, getting my leg over an eighty year old woman who's just eaten a plate of oysters isn't going to cut it! Please, someone tell me I've got it wrong; that the main quest will transport me to another place or that the side-quest quality will go stratospheric very shortly - because I'd hate to loose all of this beautiful historic accuracy, this rich and detailed landscape, on the basis of a failure of simply providing a good story.

3. The gameplay.

To date I'd say that Odyssey has Skyrim beat. Even in the remastered patched version of the ps4, Skyrim is full of bugs, glitches and the like, that while they rarely impede the game playing itself, can be irritating and annoying. I haven't yet come across any real bugs in Odyssey and its only stopped once with an error message (in Skyrim it was happening almost daily in the en). The save system in both games is I'd say comparable; outside of combat situations you can save pretty much where you like and similarly with fast-travel, both games are comparable.

I myself prefer the first person perspective of Skyrim to the third of Odyssey, but I recognize that the emphasis on platforming (climbing to me) of the AC games is not suited to this - and I do love this part of the game. That climb to the 'synchronize' point followed by the dive into the pile of leaves gets me every time. How can you not love that!

All in all then (and I assume that you've guessed this by now) I'd have to, in any vote on the subject, come down massively on the side of Skyrim - but that's just me.

Tell me what you think?
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by I'm Murrin »

Is this your first Ubisoft-style modern open world game, then? (They're not always Ubisoft, but AC games are and they're the company best known for it.) They're always a big, open map with dozens and dozens of the exact same cut-and-paste repetitive content all over. I guess being set in Ancient Greece they probably don't have radio towers you have to climb to uncover the map (see: Far Cry, Horizon, Spider-Man, etc), at least.
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Post by peter »

Yes Murrin. I've tinkered around the edges of some other AC games before, but read in a review that in Odyssey they had tried break the mold of the old games and develop a full on RPG experience for the first time. I assumed that the questing structure would be as with other games - a more diverse range of detailed quest-trees I suppose, rather than a single main quest with endless repetative packing material to bulk up the game.

I wonder if the problem here isn't that I've failed to follow the makers advice and play in 'exploration mode'. Perhaps having to really use your ears and the map proper would bring the immersion experience to a higher level (but I return to the point that games such as Skyrim manage this while still retaining direction prompts)?

I'm going to persevere with the main quest because I simply want to experience all of the wonderful work that has gone into the historical locations etc, but essentially play it more in a more linear fashion. I'm finding that the endless trawl through the side tasks (the location objectives are not so bad) between each foray into the main quest is making the whole story experience disjointed in the extreme. By the time I get back to the next dip into Alexios' story I've forgotten what it is anyway and no longer care anyway. This cannot be right- I've got to be doing something wrong here?
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by Avatar »

Sorry, you're not. :D If you've been tagging along for all the AC games, there is a "meta-story" that is happening around each dive into the animus for a different story / age, but as Murrin suggests, most of the "content" exists to ensure the critical 50+ hours of gameplay that many RPG (type) fans, like myself, practically demand. :D

The main story might be somewhat interesting, there will be some twists and turns, but mostly, the underlying theme is, "cross the map, kill somebody, cross the map again back to where you were." (ACIII is, to my mind, the most egregious at that, but that's pretty much what most of them are. Haven't played this one yet, (waiting for the 80% discount once the next one arrives) but most of the way through the last DLC for Origins, and I also just got bored eventually.)

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Post by Avatar »

And damn you Peter, I have re-installed Skyrim Special Edition. :D

Of course, I'm not actually playing it, because I've spent the last 3 days modding it to within an inch of its operational parameters, and getting 150+ mods to all play together is proving a little tedious...but one of these days... :D

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Post by peter »

:lol: I guarantee you Av - there is still stuff in there that you have yet to discover. I saw a YouTube vid the other day that told me things I never even dreamed off! The manikins are actually nords encased in wood for example; they aren't supposed to move or anything but a certain bug (somewhere) has them moving around in a veerry spooky fashion apparently.

Also, if you catch it just right, you can see dragons emerging from the mounds - very rare but it can be done!

Another thing that this particular vid said was that so much emphasis was placed on the questing method of approach that few people ever simply get out of that first village - and then simply go walkabout. Apparently the game will unfold in a completely different way by doing so - by avoiding fast travel and simply travelling on foot. There is shed loads of stuff that the quest-line approach never takes you near! With your mods that would have to be fun! And (of course) there's always the Ebony Warrior........

;)

Meanwhile, I'm at last finding my feet with AC Odyssey; I've stopped doing random packing quests and am concentrating on the Cult and main missions side of things. I'll occasionally do an odd one here and there if they interest me, but by and large I've pretty much stopped them. And today I discovered the 'Discovery Tours' and am blown away. I took a first person tour of the Acropolis and Parthenon as it would have looked in the day (I checked the historical accuracy of it online and apparently it is bang to rights). The tour was given by professional historians and I could break off to go check out dozens of additional interaction spots with real photographs and information before rejoining the main route. I could climb the buildings as in the third person mode and get right up to the freezes and decorative sculpture - look at the 'Elgin marbles' in situ and close up! It was truly fantastic and there are dozens of such tours and lectures on various historical locations and the life of the times etc. Truly wonderful. I learnt more about Ancient Greece in an hour than I have in sixty years to date!.

Brilliant - every history student of the period should immerse themselves in this!
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by Avatar »

peter wrote::lol: I guarantee you Av - there is still stuff in there that you have yet to discover. I saw a YouTube vid the other day that told me things I never even dreamed off! The manikins are actually nords encased in wood for example; they aren't supposed to move or anything but a certain bug (somewhere) has them moving around in a veerry spooky fashion apparently.
Haha, I have a patch to prevent that. My issue is that in one of my custom (mod) player houses, (which has a museum with dozens of them) my guards are constantly attacking them because the mod sees the mannequin as an enemy trespasser. :D
Also, if you catch it just right, you can see dragons emerging from the mounds - very rare but it can be done!
Haha, seen it. :D
With your mods that would have to be fun!
174 mods all working together mostly in harmony with only minor crashes so far. (Surprisingly stable considering what I've crowbarred in there... :D )
And today I discovered the 'Discovery Tours' and am blown away.
Ah yes, they started that in the last one, AC Origins, so I have the Egypt one which is cool, since I was interested in Egyptology in my youth.

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Post by peter »

Gosh Av, I'd love to see what you've done with Skyrim with those mods! Do you post on YouTube? You could build up a serious following posting some of you stuff; 174 mods all simultaneously operational! That is a feat worthy of a medal and I can only imagine how the game looks - almost unrecognisable I'd think! Why oh why Bethesda have not released Oblivion upgraded as Skyrim on PS4 I'll never understand! And I'd love to play Morrowind as well; by all accounts (of the purist bent), the truest rendition of a proper rpg of the last 3 games.

Speaking of YouTube, I was on the site the other day and saw a guy playing a game called The Suicide of Rachel Foster. It is a dark looking game (I'm guessing the clue's in the title) somewhat similar in a way to Stephen King's The Shinning, about a girl who returns to the isolated hotel of her youth where some trauma occured. It's a short game available on Steam, and thought of you as I watched it (knowing that you have a Steam account and have been struggling to land on a game that interests you recently). Not action so much as investigation, it looked interesting and might be worth checking out.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by Avatar »

Haha, thanks, I will give it a look. And no, I don't post on Youtube. :D

Up to 190 odd now, and I've spent most of the last 2 weeks glued to the stupid game.

This has also seen my own first foray's into modding Skyrim happening, mostly in terms of making small mods which modify other mods. My admiration of proper modders has grown significantly as I get more insight into how annoyingly complicated it is. :D

And I've lost count of how many times I start it, check something, "no it's not working", shut down, change something, start it again, etc. :D

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Post by peter »

:lol: Seriously impressed Av! I wouldn't even know how to install a mod, let alone create one or get into the meta-world of 'modding mods'!

I'm currently playing Outer Worlds. I'm twenty or so hours in and getting a feel for I: It'll never be Skyrim, but is fun enough in its own way.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by Avatar »

It's easier to mod mods than to make them from scratch...just need the right tools and some trial and error.

Installing them is just a matter of copying files into the right folder though...if you were gaming on a proper PC instead of a console of course... :P

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Post by peter »

Ouch! :lol:

Actually, on my ps4 I get lists of mods for games that I'm playing (I think they are more limited than the ones available for computer users, but they are there) but I'm a bit leary about utilising them. I've heard that they can cause problems with the proper functioning of the console, particularly ones that pertain to the graphics (and I can't see what other kind there are really). Shame because I'd love to see what can be done at the top end of modding!

:D
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by Avatar »

Afraid I don't know anything about console mods. However, mods don't make any change to the base game file, they are another "layer" on top of them. If a mod causes problems, simply removing it should be all that is needed to resolve things.

As well as the graphics, there are mods that add items like armour and weapons and spells, mods that alter animations, and mods that add new content.

A couple of Skyrim mods are so big that they are easily comparable to an entirely free DLC with new maps and quests and characters etc. etc.

IIRC, the guy who made the Elsweyr mod was afterwards given a job by Bethesda.

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Post by peter »

Wow - I thought Elswyre was Bethesda produced. Never realised that it was a mod.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by Avatar »

So I picked up Odyssey on the Steam sale at 75% off...don't know why I bother with them anymore...they're pretty, sure enough. But otherwise they're all the same bar location. This is just Origins with a re-skin and some changes in mechanics. (Not even that many.)

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Post by peter »

Fun enough for a short while, but too much fetch and carry (if that's what it's called). I never found a side quest that had any true interest for me and after a time the scenery simply wasn't enough to carry it.

:)
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

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Post by Avatar »

Yeah, starting to feel that way myself, and I'm about half-way(ish) probably. :D

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Post by Avatar »

Well, despite always swearing I'm done with Assassins Creed, I (again) reneged and ended up getting Valhalla on sale a couple weeks ago.

Done about 50 hours so far, and while it's more of the same for AC, it's more fun than Odyssey at least.

And raiding a monastery screaming "Take Christ's silver and burn his house!" while a dozen axe-bitten reavers leap from your longship and storm ashore alongside you is pretty cool. :D

--A
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