Remember those iconic games before 2014? The OG, while dated was really unique for its time, the Ezio Auditore Trilogy that became the standard for the franchise, 3, that was very ambitious (probably too much) with it’s setting and story telling. Even 4, although it was the first time AC escaped from the base of what an assassin’s creed game is supposed to be.

Unity was the very first big misstep and since then the franchise has become unrecognisable, taking gameplay and mechanics from batman games and now went into unnecessarily long, repetitive and bloated RPGs than the real fans of the series couldn’t care less, especially since the core legacy mechanics of parkour and missions were gone. Not only that but they completely threw the modern day story on the trash since Desmond’s death…

AC was one of the last original franchises a triple A company gave us and now is just a Witcher wannabe.

“Oh wth are you talking about, it sells well” sales doesn’t equal quality. The last games are such a step backwards for the series.

  • @Audrey0nne@leminal.space
    8•23 days ago

    Couldn’t agree more, currently rotating between Unity, Syndicate, Origins and Odyssey and the difference between the first two and the last two is massive. By the time you reach Odyssey it truly stopped feeling like an AC game. Still really like Origins though, vaguely felt true to the spirit of the rest of the series while introducing really nuanced and interesting changes.

    My biggest complaint for all of them is how mtx is interwoven with in-game progression. Played them all on PS4 and they felt like a real slog to get through. Now on PC where I indulged and unlocked those features for free they feel accurately balanced. That’s the real problem with Ubi’s games. At some point features are hacked out to be monetized and squeeze out some extra dollars.

    Not to mention how predatory the helix credit system is/was, haven’t played Valhalla nor Mirage.

    • @xmunk@sh.itjust.works
      7•23 days ago

      Valhalla will feel a lot like Odyssey, though I would mention that they were much more careful about reusing layouts. Odyssey suffered from so many of the forts and environments being literal carbon copies of one another which is fine (I guess) for a glory fighter but really destroys the puzzle aspect.

    • @ZorsithEnglish
      3•23 days ago

      I greatly enjoyed Origins after having played Odyssey (which was an absolute slog). I could NOT get into Syndicate, it just felt like a beat-em-up with bullet knife-sponge enemies. Unity was fun.

      • @Audrey0nne@leminal.space
        4•23 days ago

        I’m playing Unity right now and I’m about to switch to something else. I really like Unity, it is also the biggest collect-a-thon since ACIII. Referring to my earlier point, the maps for the collections are largely locked behind additional purchases.

        I had the same complaint about Syndicate, really felt like you were hacking away for way too long on even basic enemies. And again locked behind mtx was basic gameplay balancing.

        Origins was great because although it had largely the same mtx issues the new mechanics allowed you to work around them. Odyssey then rolls around and undoes much of the changes Origins made in that regard. It’s an obvious pattern of using questionable design to boost margins.

        • @ZorsithEnglish
          3•23 days ago

          I loved Origins for the story, it felt very cohesive, and the voice acting was fantastic. Each major area had fairly memorable characters and tales, truly hateable villains, whereas Odyssey… most areas are forgetable.

          • @Audrey0nne@leminal.space
            3•23 days ago

            I can agree with all that. I still defend Odyssey because it grew on me. Once I looked at it as an odyssey it clicked for me. From the moment Odysseus leaves Ithaca to fight in the Trojan war until he gets back everything he does is on an epic scale, so epic it all starts looking mundane when compared to each other. That’s the problem with the game, it’s so vast and huge it just loses meaning of itself within its own glory and majesty. Ubisoft really captured that spirit for me.

            My school teachers would be so proud that asking me to read the Iliad and the Odyssey finally paid off. Growing an appreciation for video games was probably not what they had in mind.

            • @ZorsithEnglish
              3•23 days ago

              That perspective does frame it a lot better when I think in that way.

              I really should read the illiad and the Odyssey. And the poetic edda. And a lot of other books.