Tag Archives: Assassins Creed Odyssey

I Wanted to Play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, But Apparently That Was Too Much to Ask For

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Recently the Epic Games Store ran their “Epic Mega Sale,” in which not only were games on sale, but they issued ten dollar coupons to everyone to entice people to buy more. Needless to say, this offer worked and I picked up Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for only a couple of bucks, thus starting a several day journey of actually getting to play the damn thing.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey clocked in around 81 gigabytes for its initial install time. I wasn’t surprised by how massive it was considering I knew how big of a game it was. Sure having to wait a few hours for something to install sucks, but it’s an unavoidable part of playing just about any game these days. This was something I anticipated and was prepared for.

What I wasn’t ready for was the disconnect between the Epic Games Store and Uplay, a factor that took me alarmingly long to realize and fix. See, when you launch a Ubisoft title outside of Uplay itself, Uplay still has to launch and authorize that you actually own the game. What I hadn’t accounted for was the fact that I hadn’t actually launched Uplay for a long time, so it needed to update itself as well, but since I was running a shell of UPlay the actual program itself was unable to update.

I was met with a blue dialogue box in Ubisoft colors that said something to the effect of “looking for updates.” This box never went away. It was looking for updates but couldn’t find any. After some time of waiting, I decided to just launch Uplay by itself to see if an update would automatically initialize. Luckily, that did the trick.

So now I was ready to go, right? Of course not. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey had a 30 gigabyte update ready and waiting for me. You would think that in buying the game I would have received the most updated version of the dang thing, but no. For some reason, far beyond my comprehension, I still had an update that was nearly half the size of the game to install before I could have my fun stabbing adventures.

Finally, the update was applied and I was ready to go, right? Nope! Because suddenly Uplay was asking me for a CD key for the game I just bought, and I couldn’t find that information in my cursory searching through the Epic Games Store. So I restarted the Epic store to see if that might refresh some entitlements or something, and it kind of worked out. I had to link my Epic account to Uplay, something I could’ve sworn I already did when I bought The Division 2 when it initially released. So I did that and finally I could play the game, right?

If that was the end of the saga, I might not have written this article at all, but unfortunately for me a new problem appeared just in time to properly piss me off. The game launches, I do the intro mission and start to progress. Not five minutes into actually playing the game as the protagonist, it crashes.

The first mission in the game has you face off against two hooligans who come and harass you on behalf of some gang leader named “The Cyclops.” After roughing them up, you get to make your first choice in the game of whether to kill them or let them live. I chose the latter. A cut-scene happens and you have to make your way a short distance to the next objective. On that journey, I was ambushed by the hooligans I had spared and had to properly dispatch them this time. Upon killing the final enemy in the group, the game crashed.

It did this every single time. I have played this 3 minute portion of the mission a total of 5 times already in the hopes that something different would happen, and I could finally enjoy the fucking game I paid for. I don’t even want to play the game that badly anymore thanks to the multi-day calamity that I’ve been through with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, but part of me doesn’t want to let the game get away with this bullshit.

This whole article has been pretty directly pointed at Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, but this is the kind of shit that can happen in the world of PC gaming and digital distribution. Now, I love playing games on my computer and consider it my go-to place for gaming, but this kind of nonsense is the exact kind of thing that makes me think I’d be better off just playing it on my PS4. But this isn’t unique to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey considering that just last year I went through this exact same thing with Red Dead Redemption II, also through an Epic Games Store purchase.

I know that all of this sounds like I’d end this article bashing Epic or Ubisoft, but I kind of get why it’s such a mess. Publishers want to make as much money as they possibly can, which is why almost all of them have their own PC launcher and storefront. But they also want to put their games where people will actually see them like Steam, Epic or GOG, and still be able to verify purchases and track their players habits in game. That’s why whenever you buy a Ubisoft game on Steam, it launches an extra layer of DRM in the form of Uplay. It’s cumbersome and annoying, but I get it. The problem is that while these problems don’t always crop up, when they do it’s usually because the solutions aren’t as seamless or elegant as you’d hope. I don’t know what the solution to all of this is, but I do know that I’m going to fucking play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey even if I have to reinstall the god damned thing.

UPDATE #1: I have verified the files of the game and unfortunately was greeted with the same crash in the same place, every time.

UPDATE #2: I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m going to have to reinstall this game, and have already begun that process. It’s been two hours and I’m around two-thirds of the way through the download.

UPDATE #3: The installation process is complete and I have officially completed that mission without any additional hiccups. The frame rate is a little wonky though.

UPDATE #4: I haven’t played the game in days. This was a really good use of my time.

Blog: The Bloated Assassin – 10/17/18

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For many years, I’ve heard people clamoring for the Assassin’s Creed franchise to take a break and find its footing once more.  In 2016, Ubisoft decided it was finally time to pump the brakes and try to reinvigorate the tried and true formula they’d used for so long.  The result was the critically acclaimed Assassin’s Creed Origins.  Fast forward, and we’re face to face with the second game built on this new foundation, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

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In another place, at another time, I could see myself getting really into Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and its massive world and wide variety of systems.  There is seriously a ridiculous amount of things to do in this game, from taking down outposts, to hunting mercenaries in a stripped-down Shadow of Mordor fashion, to recruiting people to sail with you on your ship and sending them on missions.  Those three things alone are concepts you could build full games off of, but in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, they’re optional missions.

That isn’t entirely true though.  See, while these side activities didn’t seem particularly mandatory for me to engage with, it became apparent that I will have to spend time with them if I want to progress through the game.  I recently got to a point where I was informed that the man I was to assassinate in the story, was about a level 12.  This was an issue, cause I was a lowly level 9 assassin, incapable of stabbing through a loaf of bread, let alone a man.  Then I realized what made Assassin’s Creed Odyssey such a lengthy experience.  Aside from being genuinely huge, it also requires a certain amount of grinding to be able to progress, which for me is a bummer.

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Just look at the estimated completion times in this thing!

On top of all of that bloat, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is just a little rough around the edges in general.  There’s this weirdness with the combat in that it feels a little loose and unwieldy at times, from animations not lining up right, or the camera moving around in less than helpful ways when you’re trying to parry attacks.  There was a moment where I was trying to hand in a quest, but the person who I was to talk to was fighting a wolf.  Upon defeating the beast, he turned his aggression towards me and just attacked.  So I retaliated in the only way I knew how, and kicked him off the side of a mountain.  It was funny, but I could have used the experience instead.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a dense game that’s going to take a long time for you to get through.  Even though it’s bloated and slowly paced, and even though it’s clunky at times, I’m still having fun with it.  There are times when you’re stalking your prey through a compound, and everything just works and flows in a way that makes you feel like a competent assassin.

 

We Watched The Ubisoft Press Briefing | E3 2018

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Ubisoft? Mebisoft? Webisoft.

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Beyond Good & Evil 2

After the annual Just Dance live performance, we got a trailer that served as a tone piece for what to expect from BG&E2.  Lot’s of surly anthropomorphic animals flying ships as well as cooking were on display.  Of course, tragedy strikes when the spaceship they’re on is under attack by a gigantic monster spaceship.  This is when they reveal that the first game’s protagonist, Jade, is what looks to be the big bad villain here.

We then get some developers talking us through the basic setup of the game and introducing the characters that will be in this poorly titled prequel.  That aside, it was time for some gameplay.  A massive city is on display that you can fly through in your own spaceship and exit at anytime to go beat the shit out enemies.  It was pretty ambiguous honestly, but it looked really cool.  They also said there was coop, so that’s awesome.

Then Joseph Gordon Levitt came out on stage and asked people to submit their artwork, music and writing to be possibly put in the game.  There was no mention of compensation on stage, but he clarified that there would be payment, on his Twitter.

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Trials Rising

At long last, a new Trials game is upon us, and I could not be happier.  In classic Trials style, it seems like it’s going to be just as frustrating and fun as the previous entries.  There was a shot of what looked like 8 people riding bikes on the same screen at the same time.  So that seems like it could be a chaotic blast.

Shortly after this trailer, we learned that there is a beta you can sign up for, and the full game is slated for release in February of 2019.

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The Division 2

The Division 2 was shown again, but not before we got a really dour speech about how the events of The Division came to be.  Nothing says fun like Small Pox.

But we got a new trailer, once again it’s a tone piece.  We see shots of people living well inside compounds, then some less than friendly behavior outside the gates; people being robbed, in hiding, or being executed.  Then we see 3 nondescript Division soldiers walking down a mountain.  But suddenly it’s time for another dour speech that tries to be inspiring about hope and bringing the right equipment and tactical abilities to Washington D.C.

But let’s talk about the game structure.  Raids are going to be in The Division 2 featuring up to 8 player coop to tackle these much more difficult missions.  They also went ahead and plotted out their DLC structure, stating all three of the first year updates and content drops will be free.

Now a gameplay trailer that opens with some upside down American flags and people shooting at other people.  Once again, nothing terribly new on display, but there’s a beta to sign up for, and it’ll be released March of 2019.

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Skull & Bones

Skull & Bones was next game that was shown that followed the trend of showing a tone piece trailer, having a developer come out and explain things, and then showing some gameplay.

I never enjoyed the Assassins Creed boat stuff that this game is inspired by, it just never did anything for me.  So it’s tough for me to muster any real excitement for this game.  Looks like you’ll be heading to a hub area to buy upgrades for most of the equipment on your ship, then setting sail.  We see the player pirate ship flying a fake flag to fool the sea cops before moving to intercept a convoy carrying some hot booty.  Enough damage was done to the other ships that the player was able to board them and plunder them.

Oh no, a high level enemy is in the distance, luckily there’s multiplayer to help us out with that problem.  Other players have joined the fray launching all forms of cannon fire at this large, evil galleon.

It’s right here that I realize we’ve spent way more time on this than I cared to see.

The big evil galleon is sunk, and unsurprisingly all the other pirate ships have turned on each other and attacked one another.  Cut to black, and we’re done.  You can sign up for the beta or wait for the 2019 release.

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Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

As cool as AC: Odyssey looks, I’m genuinely disappointed that we’re back to getting another of these so quickly after Origins.  While it isn’t like they just re-skinned Origins with a coat of Greek paint, it just feels a little soon in my opinion.

Aside from my personal feelings about the game, it looks actually pretty interesting.  A large focus on RPG elements with dialogue options and choosing your player character.  It seems like the natural progression of where Assassin’s Creed needs to go and I’m all for it.  There also appeared to be a romantic options you could explore, at least that’s what I gathered from the “heart” icon next to one of the dialogue choices.

We didn’t shake the annoying “walk and talk” segments from previous AC games, but this one seems to have shortened it.  They also kept the Phylakes style roaming mercenaries hunting you down on the map stuff from Origins.  A feature I didn’t much care for, but others seemed to enjoy.  There also are larger scale battles on display here which look like a nice change of pace.

All things considered it looks really neat and I’m curious in checking it out when it arrives on October 5th of this year.

There was no mention of Splinter Cell.  I am the saddest man.