Assassin's Creed: Origins [2017]

[chronic lumbago]

 

So, fellas, is this worth buying right now or should I wait for some patches and a price drop?

i bought it yesterday, i was skeptical at first, but so far it seems like the best AC game of the series (but i havent played that many). It still feels like your traditional AC game but with elements from Witcher 3 and Ghost Recon. Only thing im not a fan of, is the combat, maybe its the controls? r1 for quick attack r2 for strong, i just dont like that. I think you can change the controls. Someone mentioned it a few pages back.

 

Personally got used to the standard control scheme. I like how we don't need to hold R2 to run AND parkour, instead you have to press X to parkour. No more accidentally running onto things. It's the reason I really enjoy the player control in this game, it makes more sense IMO.

[darthYENIK]

I like the controls for movement. Just parkour up and parkour down. Simple.

 

I found out you can do this...

 

And holy sh*t, I just saw a mirage. Was riding through the desert near that land locked ship with a viewpoint, and a burning bush appeared. It disappeared again as I approached.

 

Edit: Now I just saw a mirage of a boy crouched down near a pack of hyenas, as I approached,

he disappeared and the hyenas attacked.

 

 

Edit: I saw a woman in the desert pointing toward a dune.

She disappeared as I approached. So I went to the dune, as I reached the top I saw a small oasis on the other side. Once again, it disappeared as I approached.

 

 

I cap'd a couple of these, and will share them in time.

 

Edit: here they are...

 

http://xboxclips.com/DarthYenik/d1616a66-2d76-41c0-9d03-dd1dd337a342

 

http://xboxclips.com/DarthYenik/214f5643-5104-481b-a56d-1162fea565b3

 

The second is two clips edited together, if that transition looks weird.

Edited October 30, 2017 by darthYENIK

[rtie]

Could someone confirm that you can't one-hit higher level enemies with the hidden blades even in stealth?

If that's the case I'm surely gonna wait till it hits a sale, seems ridiculous and really distances itself from the series' roots. Increasing playtime through level grinding is cheeky as f*ck especially when at its core it's an RPG hybrid.

 

Also, is it possible to fight with hidden blades alone - á la ACII?

[darthYENIK]

Yes, higher level enemies, depending on if you did or did not upgrade your hidden blade, cannot be one shot killed with it, even in stealth.

 

I dont like it, since even in AC1 you could counter an attack, and the hidden blade would one shot kill. Which was great because it was risky to let an enemy attack first so you could counter.

 

That said, its kind of fitting, considering youre one of the first people to use it, and its not a refined weapon like in earlier games.

Edited October 30, 2017 by darthYENIK

[feckyerlife]

Yes, higher level enemies, depending on if you did or did not upgrade your hidden blade, cannot be one shot killed with it, even in stealth.

 

I dont like it, since even in AC1 you could counter an attack, and the hidden blade would one shot kill. Which was great because it was risky to let an enemy attack first so you could counter.

 

That said, its kind of fitting, considering youre one of the first people to use it, and its not a refined weapon like in earlier games.

is that the same for Bows and head shots? a couple times yesterday it felt like i had to shoot the guy twice in the head.

[chronic lumbago]

Yup, when you're aiming with a bow you see how much health it takes from your enemy. Headshots don't kill higher leveled enemies instantly.

 

I can't say I like how you don't stand a chance against higher leveled enemies, but from a gameplay perspective it kinda makes sense. Enemies have loot that fits with their current level. (Not 1000% sure)

 

This could've been easily avoided by simply making loot have a level cap depending on your level but it is how it is. You level up quite fast and when I see a higher leveled area I think "alright, I'll come back later" and not "f*ck Ubisoft for doing this".

 

It's a misstep but I can accept it. This game awakens my inner fanboy. Despite the flaws and things that could've been better, I still love this game. You know you're playing a good game when you think about it even when you're not playing.

Edited October 30, 2017 by fashion

[Mr. Scratch]

I used to spend hours trying to kill red skull enemies in W3, I'll be damned if some assholes with cooking pots on their heads aren't getting the same treatment.

[El Dildo]

for the record?

I don't mind level'd opponents. I don't mind having to unlock the ability to assassinate elite enemies.

 

these features are no different than Witcher 3 (since someone mentioned it) and that was one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

it also gives you a reason to keep exploring. leveling up doesn't feel like a grind at all because there's so much to do and so much to see. it caters to my playstyle. I like getting side tracked. I like getting lost. whenever I enter a new region on my way towards the main quest, I immediately turn off the main path and start tracking down all the side quests and points-of-interest spread across the map. when the whole area is finished then I'll pick up where the main story left off again.

 

as of right now I'm still totally in love with this game.

even the cutscenes and voice acting are well above average. and I usually skip this stuff. but the story is actually interesting so far.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by El Diablo

[UltraZ]

Wow, so it's proven that VMProtect on top of Denuvo was actually the reason that this game was taking up 100% CPU usage, even on high end cpu's

Good thing i didn't buy the game. This is absolute nonsense by Ubisoft. They don't care about their customers.

[chronic lumbago]

 

 

 

 

 

I already took more than 150 screenshots. Didn't even know that's possible lol. Please tell me if they appear correctly, I copied them from USB to my phone so I don't know if the resolution has changed.

[HaRdSTyLe_83]

 

I already took more than 150 screenshots. Didn't even know that's possible lol. Please tell me if they appear correctly, I copied them from USB to my phone so I don't know if the resolution has changed.

 

Looks good on my ancient 4:3 monitor

[rtie]

These screens are making me thirsty. Keep it up and you guys will be draining my wallet.

[El Dildo]

so in case anyone hasn't noticed, they've really changed the way the AI behaves in this game compared to previous Assassins Creed, and it's a big improvement.

it feels a lot more realistic and manageable.

 

in past games, if you alerted one guard, he could instantly alert the entire base to your presence.

and somehow everyone in the camp would immediately be aware of you and somehow seem to know exactly where you are. they would all break their guard patterns and start looking for you at the same time. they would walk right up to where you're hiding and start poking around. reinforcements would arrive in infinite numbers and keep respawning until you cleared the area or disabled the magical reinforcement alarm system. if you managed to stay silent and sneaky, you had the ability to hide dead bodies, but you never needed to use it because dead enemies would simply disappear after a minute or two. wandering around an enemy area became very robotic. it felt less like exploration or discovery and more like following the rules of a tight maze.

 

in AC Origins, if you alert one guard, he can only alert a handful of other enemies who are nearby.

he cannot alert the entire base with one magical radio call. this doesn't happen anymore and it makes the game so much more enjoyable and realistic. when you alert someone now, he might try to run and call for reinforcements by lighting the torches, but you can just as easily engage him. they'll stop running if they notice you're right on their heels and they'll stand and fight. you can also just booby trap the torch so that when someone tries to call reinforcements it backfires and they burn alive. so if you're caught by a group of guards, you can let one of them run away and fight the rest knowing that the runner will be killed by your trap. it's so much more satisfying. they can only alert other guards within the area; within earshot. they don't have magical walkie-talkies anymore. and dead bodies don't disappear! so you actually have to hide them if other guards are walking by. 10- or 20-minutes later if you're still exploring a base and haven't hidden any bodies, some patrol can still walk by and find them and start searching around for you.

 

guards will even remove and bury dead bodies!

if you let dead bodies lie around and a guard finds them, he might look around and try to find you, but if he doesn't find anything he will pick up the body of his dead friend and carry the body to the edge of the base and set it down. they will do this with multiple bodies. placing them in a pile. collecting their dead. this is awesome. you can follow them while they do this and cheapshot the guards as they carry the corpse. it's a very distinctive behavior which makes the game world feel much more alive and believable.

 

I love going around a base at night and headshotting the grunts.

you can reclaim arrows by 'catching them' and blocking incoming shots with your shield. you can also reclaim your arrows by pulling used ones out of a dead guy's head. and if you double-back later you can find captains or commanders loitering around the dead grunts, trying to figure out what happened. this allows you to surprise them with an air assassination or an air attack, throw a fire bomb, or pull out your multiple-arrow bow and 'shotgun' blast the group of them from point blank range. there's great variety and control for different combat situations as well as sneaking around. and in general it works much better with a greater sense of realism than an almost any previous AC title

Edited October 31, 2017 by El Diablo

[darthYENIK]

Yeah, I love that. Alerting one guard, and taking him down before anyone else hears, feels much more satisfying. And alerted reinforcements go to where you were last seen, and not just to you. Its actually satisfying to have reinforcements coming, finishing your objectives and you run away just in time for them to miss you.

 

Got to the first mention

of the precursors. The tomb under the big pyramid. Did a little recording and reversing some of the backwards talk from the recording you hear. The first part thats backwards says, 'Break the code' and I think 'Break the node'. But Im not sure. The same word said backwards multiple times afterward is 'stories'. It seems to be some sort of transmission from the future, from modern day, since it mentions Brutus entering the vault under the colosseum '2000 years before', which would put that transmission in the 20th century. If were being exact. But people tend to speak in generalities when talking about that much time. Could be in the 20th century, maybe now in present day. I love this sh*t. This is why I love AC.

 

[trip]

I made this video very early on in the game. I was just amazed at how fast the kid exits that I had to record it.

http://xboxclips.com/tripmills/c9956366-87df-4486-a363-62d87e42eddd

 

 

I'm enjoying the stealth heavy approach. I mean AC is stealth heavy but this installment seems to have me thinking and planning more than the previous games.

[We Are Ninja]

I'm legitimately interested... I was never a huge fan of the series (I played through 1/3 to 1/2 of several of the preceding games), but I actually really enjoyed Syndicate. Prolly had a lot to do with Evie, though.

[chronic lumbago]

@El Diablo: thanks, I didn't know guards actually take their comrades' dead bodies. It's a great little detail, I must check it out.

 

I also agree that I prefer the current system overall but sometimes, they're pretty brain dead. I could assassinate an enemy a decent distance away but still in obvious eyesight and they don't react. But if it all works as intended, it is indeed really well done. It reminds me of MGS5, very dynamic.

I also noticed that reinforcements don't appear out of thin air but arrive on horses and camels. It was really cool making an escape just to see reinforcements appear on the other side of the street.

 

The combat and stealth really grew on me and every encounter feels different than the last. There's a lot of different ways to handle both stealth and combat situations. I like surrounding a small group of enemies, slowly sniping them from afar one by one and making circles to shoot them from every direction while they don't know what the f*ck is going on. So much fun. It's harder to do in surrounded areas but I used this tactic in the open and on a side quest outside Alexandria.

[darthYENIK]

f*cking beautiful...

 

Edited November 1, 2017 by darthYENIK

[El Dildo]

yo did I mention how good these cutscenes are?

 

 

 

 

 

[chronic lumbago]

I'll avoid spoiler territory as I'm not far enough myself but I have to say, the dynamic between Aya and Bayek is really something else. I love both characters, there's a lot of depth and character development in this game.

Aya isn't your usual badass strong female. She's more believable than Lara Croft, Aloy from HZD and that Shadow of War woman combined imo.

 

After almost 20 hours, is it safe to say that this is my favorite AC game ever?

[Leftist Bastard]

for the record?

I don't mind level'd opponents. I don't mind having to unlock the ability to assassinate elite enemies.

 

these features are no different than Witcher 3 (since someone mentioned it) and that was one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

 

 

W3 has a scaling option though.

[chronic lumbago]

^^that was added months after release though. Just sayian.

Edited November 1, 2017 by fashion

[LiangHuBBB]

this game looks amazing, especially on pc

[BenMitchell90]

I'm reeeeally early in the game, and really haven't scratched the surface yet, so I can't really say a whole lot about it yet. However, I will say this: To use a GTA comparison, if Unity was like GTA III and Syndicate was Vice City, then Origins is San Andreas. And while SA isn't a game I utterly love and adore like I used to (it's still good, though), that comparison is a compliment to Origins. A big one.

 

So far it's everything I hoped for and then some, and I'm really loving the more RPG-ish feel (even if it can be a bit restricting, as enemies with higher levels than you will SLAUGHTER you in the blink of an eye, though I don't find it too much of an issue, and I'm encouraged to level up and go back and get revenge) and am totally on board with the new combat system. And the map... oh my God, the map. It's just stunning, and running around Giza and the Sphinx and even being able to go inside them is like a childhood dream come true. Story's pretty interesting too, and I'm already really liking Bayek.

 

So far, so awesome.

[darthYENIK]

I just realized you could 'follow road' and use Senu. Game changer.

[El Dildo]

hell yeah.

I love setting a waypoint, turning on the autopilot, and switching to the eagle for a literal bird's-eye on the surrounding countryside above my horse. navigation works surprisingly well and the horse will always find its way to your destination. when 'autopilot' is on the camera rotates freely (without steering the horse) so you can enjoy the view from the air or from horseback.

 

really sweet little feature I discovered by accident while hunting.

[chronic lumbago]

I don't use autopilot for now. It is indeed a great feature but when I explore, I like to ride my camel or walk there myself. I'll use it later, when traveling through areas I've walked 10 times through or so.

 

I'm thinking about going from the light HUD setting to minimalist so that there's no compass. I don't want to get rid of everything though, just the "?" markers so that finding a place feels more natural and rewarding, not just going from ? to ? .

 

Disabling map markers were the first mods I downloaded for Fallout 4 and Skyrim.

[AZAZEL]

Loving the game so far. The first thing I did, was to disable the janky combat damage, and set the HUD to 'minimal'. Much better experience, and an added difficulty in that you can't see marked enemies. Really fun.

[joshua969]

I was somewhat lukewarm on Unity and Syndicate, but LOVED Black Flag. I think I might have to give Origins a try.

[We Are Ninja]

After the screens posted earlier, I really, really wanna experience this game...

 

But I'm not messing with Ubisoft at the moment. I can't do the regular/deluxe/gold thing, or their UPlay BS. $60 should buy me a full game. I shouldn't have to spend $70 for the "full" game. And how dare they ask me to drop $100 for the "full" game plus the "season pass", which comes with THE PROMISE of DLC that may or may not be good, or even worse, may not even be something that I even want. Their tiered release model is lowkey insulting to players that have been playing their games for a 10+ years.

Edited November 2, 2017 by We Are Ninja