¡Recently, Abandoned; Games!

I like the auto aim. Yes it lessens the challenge, but it makes you feel like some legendary gunfighter from a spaghetti western.

And that's basically what I get out of the game, in that it's the best spaghetti western sim I've played. I grew up on that stuff, and it appeals to me much more than fantasy or sci-fi. I want more games like it!

If Rockstar were a real life bicycle manufacturer, they'd have made the IT Bike from South Park. That's how well they understand control.

Its a beautiful environment for sure. The best I've seen in a video game in fact. Its just there's not a lot thats engaging to do in it and little reason to explore it beyond the forced travel you do in the story. Which again is slow and tedious. Even online there's giant areas with nothing ever going on.

It just feels so crafted and lived-in. There was plenty of cool stuff to find too.

I know that Rockstar management basically committed war crimes against their staff to make it this detailed, so it feels maybe a bit wrong to appreciate it. But fucking hell, what an achievement it is.

Although I'm enjoying it, the sheer length of Ass Creed Valhalla is finally starting to drag a bit. I'm a good 50hrs in, level 115, and the drip-feed of the overarching hamlet storyline is way too stretched. It's 15hrs of taking on a region to unlock three minutes of core plot, which feels out of kilter. Wasn't a problem in Origins because the plot was the man, more or less, but when there's an ensemble it doesn't quite land.

Still, it *is* fun to pootle about the countryside. And the combat is three note instead of the usual one note, so there's that...

...but the notion of another 100hrs of this doesn't feel amazing. Wish I'd bought it on release and played it through the course of last year. Not abandoned yet, then, but close. Very close.

quitsking You've got me back on Odyssey btw. Looks like I'm about 45 hours in at level 31. Just got to Messara and there's something to be done about a minotaur for some reason or other.

Got to say, janky ass combat aside, it's nice to be back.

Oh and I like the combat. Wish the "wheel" had more options though as I'd like to have Spear of Important Spartan Guy ability alongside, health, shield rip, chaos ring and Ares.

But I really enjoy assassinating from a high rooftop or clearing out a fort. I tried a frontal attack on a fort once. That didn't work so well...

Oh I met the cyclops but I was very underlevelled so will go back at some point.

I'm not actually sure WHAT I'm doing as I have about 5,000 quests on going and I stumble upon new yellow markers every few 100 yards. No shortage of things to do! I haven't even really done anything about Sparta or Athens yet. I just stay out of all that. Think I've only done one battle. I'm still not sure what the point of all that stuff is?

I did just found an arena on Pytha so last thing I did was enter that. It all went a bit Gladiator and was damn good fun.

I also forgot how satisfying it is to Sparta kick pricks off stuff.

No, I skipped Odyssey. It sounded (and looked) amazing, but I was late to Origins and then just decided to wait for Valhalla. I'm glad I did in many ways, because it has really honed those loops from Origins and massively improved the combat. But there's just so fucking much of it, it's exhausting to think about. But when I'm in the world, hours can go by. I guess I'm almost wanting to abandon it so there's air for other games to breathe. Plus: Elden Ring is just a few weeks away, and I have my eye on that.

To be clear: it's not padding. They're all decent storylines with a good amount of variety. There's just SO MUCH OF IT! I've been deliberately avoiding a lot of the obvious fluff, but every now and then I do it because I'm bored and it's actually really good! Some puzzling in there, some adventure, some exploration. There's just SO MUCH OF IT!

That's what's exhausting about it. The level of quality is arguably the highest the series has seen, and the combat in particular is much improved. But yeah, don't go in expecting to be done quickly. I thought I rinsed Origins at 70hrs for the main game, lots of side content, and both sizeable DLCs. I'm not far off that in Valhalla and it feels like I'm just getting going. :/

Yep, it's the Crete Island.

I really want to play it now, but body says no. I'm going to sleep for an hour or so and then see if my body will let me.

Valhalla I've heard is a bit "raid a territory and wear it down. Take it over in a battle. Do a bit of plot. Move to the next territory and repeat." I also don't like the idea of killing people because they're on a different Island and they have loot. I like to think I'm a hero... Even though I'm not always the most heroic I could be... Especially if they're Athenian. Finally, the landscape tended to look cold and bleak and muddy and at the moment i want a warm Island.

I've heard her good things about Origins though and tbh I've heard a lot of good things about Valhalla, but I think the ennui will kick in that much sooner with it. Could be wrong and I might adore it which I hope is the case

I've only played Origins before this, and not Odyssey, but it was unapologetically the same format. Go to new area. Hoover up missions in new area. Do missions in new area. Big barney. Move on.

All Valhalla does, in my eyes, is wrap a more natural context around it. It feels more cookie cutter, but I suspect under the hood this is how they all operate. So far the storylines in each county have had quite a distinct vibe to them. Fuck. I'm talking myself back into finishing this fucking thing, aren't I?

The plot of Valhalla is quite interesting but the way it is delivered via 'go here do a load of missions and now they're your allies' is incredibly boring and repetitive. For me it's probably the most interesting world they've done for a while and moment-to-moment it is fun. The upgrade path/web is a hot mess too.

Final Fantasy 6 (Snes)

This is a real shame. The game has tons of atmosphere and charm, likeable characters and of course an all time classic villain. This is what pushed me to get through about 70% of the game but In the end it just wore me down, mainly due to lack of QOL features.

-The map system is unusable, not making clear distinction between ground and mountain or otherwise unpassable areas, for example. It doesn’t even label towns and places you can visit so you just have to memorise it all.

-Too many characters. The cast gets too big and you have little incentive to use or even care about the ones introduced late into the game. The cast just feels bloated.

-Menu. As an example, you can’t actually organise your in-battle menu for magic, meaning that you have to scroll right to the end of a menu to use that Fira or whatever. You have to use up a relic slot just so your characters don’t move like they are wearing stone shoes.

-Signposting. This is a biggie. I frequently had no idea whatsoever where I was supposed to go next. The more confused I became the more I consulted guides. The more I consulted guides, the less fun I was having.

-Translation. It’s bad. At best unintentionally funny and at worst makes you feel like you’re missing key story beats.

***

I can see there is a great game within but unless and until the pixel remasters come to console, I won’t be experiencing it.