Expectations vs. What I've got - Feedback after ~90+ hours
Hi, everyone!
At first, I wanted to rant about the ending. In a pretty length review. But I decided to keep calm and away from the keyboard for a day or two, just to read other opinions prior to me writing one.
So here it is.
Up until the Battle of the Nile quest, I thought of this game as a very strong contender for Game of the Year. Most of my expectations were met. I waited for this game more than any other one. It has great graphics. A cool photo mode. A great big map. Tombs. An amazing time in history. A better Present Day than the previous two titles. Everything I could want from an Assassin's Creed game. I felt in love with the game, the setting, right from the first announcement trailers.
Once inside the game, I met the protagonist in person. I started to grow with him. Feel with him. Understand him.
Then the missions started. And it felt nice. It felt pretty much convincing. And then came Aya...
Ok, it's not as bad as it may sound like, but I really disagree with the fact that Aya stole the ending. The whole show. The whole story.
To me, this game has the worst ending since Desmond died. But, let's get everything one at a time.
The story
Everything I did in this game, every action I've done, I did it on behalf of Bayek. I bonded with him. And I wanted him to win the story. He, practically, started fixing all the things and people started to have hope in humanity because Bayek helped them. Apparently, that was not important for the creators. And I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. I was left frustrated.
Bayek struggled with guilt. Wanted to become a better man. He sought solace and peace. And I feel like he loved his son more than Aya did. He cared more about him than Aya did. She just left. While Bayek wanted justice and revenge, and peace for his son's soul. While Aya went on to do what? Serve some arrogant wannabe queen.
The story's end is bad. Simply bad. I felt robbed and cheated.
And to think now that this story comes from the same team that did Black Flag which had an amazing character development. And here, in Origins, Bayek even had more reasons and means to be the one to set the foundation of the Order (compared to Edward who wanted to be a wealthy pirate, while Bayek wanted to serve the people and even set special rules to be followed while doing so).
As I said before, bad ending. Very disappointing ending.
The tombs
I missed them and I was really glad when I saw so many tombs to be discovered! But...
Bayek doesn't comment on anything he sees. He doesn't comment on all the holograms, he doesn't comment on the fact that he has silica stones and why the Order of the Ancients is looking for them. He doesn't care about Those Who Came Before, even though The Hyena speaks about them. It's like talking to a deaf person.
Again, bad story. It's like he saw so many holograms in his life that seeing a few more in some tombs is as common as eating fish or drinking water.
The hippodrome
Rubber banding. That's what it is. All the opponents are hard core rubber banding. You can't overtake them unless you are able to play the "press the key" game to damage them somehow. The chariots are turning with the mouse movement, which is bad, because I want to look left and right but can't do that.
If I'm left sixth, there's no way I can be second or first by the end of the race. While if some opponent is left sixth, he can overtake me by the end of one lap. How? Rubber banding.
Will a cheating trainer help here? Something like infinite boost + nonbreakable carriage?
The Arena
I remember the days when the new combat system was shown in trailers and gameplay walkthrough that now if you can't touch an enemy, even with the tip of your sword, he won't take any damage. Now there were hit points. And if you hit the hand that's damage to the hand, if you hit the leg, that's damage to the leg. And the cherry from the top of the cake was the fact that the combat system is not like in previous games where combatants were locked in on each other (like you could get hit no matter the distance between you two).
I'm pretty sure most of the players remember these things.
Well, then, please explain to me HOW, in the arena, the opponents are able to deal damage when they don't even touch you? How can they grab you if you're running at 1-2 meters away from them (I'm talking about the redhead Gallic brothers here). Why can they hit you when they shouldn't be able to do so? Basically, why are they locked in on you?
Also about the arena: where did the girl go in the middle of the fight with the brothers?
More on the Arena: What's with the pitiful amounts of XP and coin reward? This is such a slap in the face. We fight against 12-13 enemies and we only get 150 XP. And not every kill counts toward XP. Some kills are awarded with XP while others you're doing for free.
No, I won't spend real money to get ability points because you don't want to give proper rewards to your players.
The Ability Tree
If you have only the standard version of the game, you can't fully upgrade your ability tree. You don't do enough level ups to do so. When there will be nothing left to do on the map, when you'll have no more quests and locations left, when you'll reach the true end of the game, you'll have an incomplete ability tree.
To be more specific: you'll lack 8-10 Ability points to complete it.
If you have pre-ordered the gold edition, you got 3 ability points, some 500 Helix Credits and you could spend them on some more ability points. But, since none of the players KNEW about the fact that you CAN'T complete the ability tree only playing the game, most of us spent the points for various items from the store.
At the moment, I need two more ability points to complete the tree.
Also, why is there no ability to have a better carriage in races?
It seems the fighter abilities work well in the Arena. There should be some abilities to improve the carriage and make it more sturdy and faster.
The end-game
There is none. If you did all the side missions before the final one (in other words, if you completed everything except the arenas) you're left wanting for more and getting nothing.
There is no re-playable content. There is no incentive to even open the game and see what's new there. You've finished it. And now you can feel free to either uninstall it or wait until something new will be added... in January.
The rewards
Three or four missions have NO REWARD.
Battle of the Nile, one hour-long mission has NO F***ING REWARD! Not even a purple weapon. No XP reward. Nothing. Empty. Nada. Zilch.
You battle through all these new areas, stories, quests, and you get nothing.
Besides, you play as Aya. A secondary character that steals the show at the end. You can't upgrade it, yet it somehow gathers experience. What for? You don't gather enough for leveling up. And that experience doesn't go to Bayek either. You have some rather poor equipment which I don't think everybody likes. I don't like double knifes.
Why does Aya wear a shield only when aboard a ship? She doesn't need protection while fighting normally?
Present day
I really like the fact that there is a playable Present Day content, but it's SO SCRIPTED that I think it was written and acted out of boredom. I didn't have the time or need to feel something for Layla. Strangely enough, I wanted to know Dee more.
Layla comments nothing about the first civilization findings. Nothing. She doesn't care?
Seeing William Miles at the end was a pleasant surprise, yet I want to know when will the helicopter come to take them out. I waited more than an hour and nothing happened.
Game updates
I'm playing on PC. I'm still playing the 1.3 version of the game. Like all the other PC players.
1.4 was TBC and it remained like this.
Now 1.5 follows in the same steps.
What the hell?
Ideas
First and foremost: make content re-playable.
Add a few options to:
- reset only Phylakes
- reset only forts
- reset only side quests
- reset only tombs
- reset only some specific districts only
And this needs to be done FAST. Like in the next week or two. Otherwise most of the players will lose interest.
Based on the answers the CMs and Moderators give on forums, it seems the team is afraid people will level up without relying on buying Ability Points from the store.
I don't want to buy anything from the store, mainly because there's no activity to do, so investing any money in simply completing something... nah!
I'm hoping to see changes very very soon.
I still have faith.