A Critique of Assassin's Creed Valhalla | Too Much Assassin's Creed
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- Review copy provided by Ubisoft. This does not influence my opinion of the game.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is arguably the biggest Assassin’s Creed game ever, with multiple maps exponentially larger than that of previous installments, enough side content to fill a game on its own, and an overarching plot that spans well over the 50-hour mark. This game has so much content in it that I found myself pondering, How much Assassin’s Creed is too much Assassin’s Creed? Is Assassins Creed Valhalla Waste of Time? This is the 7th video in my Assassins Creed Retrospective.
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All music created exclusively by 444aidan: / @444aidan
Chapters of A Critique of Assassin's Creed Valhalla | Too Much Assassin's Creed:
Introduction: 0:00
Presentation: 2:55
Combat: 6:27
Stealth: 15:58
Traversal: 17:47
(Spoilers) The Order of The Ancients: 20:11
(Spoilers) Minigames & Viking Hyjinks: 25:03
(Spoilers) Side Quests: 27:29
(Spoilers) Boss Fights: 28:49
(Spoilers) Raiding and Upgrading: 29:58
(Spoilers) The Arcs of England: 32:07
(Spoilers) Story Summary: 40:13
(Spoilers) The Story, The Lore, & The Pacing: 45:11
(Spoilers) Concluding Thoughts: 57:03
Post Script: 1:04:20
A Critique of Assassin's Creed Valhalla | Too Much Assassin's Creed
I plan to answer this question throughout a critique of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. I plan to discuss all of my praises and criticisms across this video, and I hope to present to you the story explained, the lore explained, the ending explained, and my praises of the gameplay, my critiques of the Assassins Creed Valhalla Combat, and, of course, the things I don't like as much. I will show the gameplay of Assassin's Creed Valhalla and I will show endgame footage and the many endings of the game. In this Analysis of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, I will be comparing the game to its predecessor in an Assassins Creed Valhalla VS Odyssey battle. I have tried to cover all the arcs but there were some I skipped over. These are my Assassins Creed Valhalla First Impressions and I really like this take on Assassins Creed Vikings. In Assassins Creed Valhalla all arcs must be completed to complete the main story.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is an action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major installment and the twenty-second release in the Assassin's Creed series, and a successor to the 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Set in 873 AD, the game recounts a fictional story during the Viking invasion of Britain. The player controls Eivor, a Viking raider who becomes embroiled in the conflict between the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Templar Order.
My time with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was really really fun, I mean don’t get me wrong there were a few bumps in the road but overall I think this is an Assassin’s Creed game that will please all the different Assassin’s Creed fans weather you are an OG who’s been here since the beginning, or a fresh recruit who has only known the series in it’s RPG form. I wrote that statement, 15 hours into the game, Now that I am on the cusp of 90 hours I can confidently say, I feel a little differently now. Now since this game is relatively new I will be structuring this video differently in order to avoid spoilers. If you scroll across that little red bar at the bottom of this video, you will see that this video is split into chapters. Anything that spoils the game after the first 4 ish hours will be marked with SPOILERS in all caps and it will pertain to either gameplay or story. Of course story spoilers will include spoilers for character arcs, plot twists, and everything else and gameplay spoilers will include abilities, cosmetics, weapons, and side quests. I’d like to say off the bat that if you have been on the fence and you want to go in as blind as possible but you're just not sure about it, get this game, it answers a lot of concerns surrounding Odyssey and it’s also a ton of fun in general. If you are willing to have a few minor things spoiled in order to help you decide then proceed with caution. - Hry
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I thought CZcams glitched for a second when I heard Whitelight talking and saw that the video was Aqua’s
bruh same
Same it was a funny gag though
Same
Yeah I thought he had a second channel or something
Same
The game should be called Assassin's Creed: This door is barred
Lul
Lmao, for real
lmaoo
This was the best comment about this game by far 😂
This was the most stupid and trash addition to the game. Whoever designed this mechanic amd implemented it should be fired. I'm struggling to play this game because it's so boring, especially with trash ass mechanics like this. I bought it on release and still haven't beat it or even visited every area, nore have the desire to.
I love big historical RPGs like AC Odyssey and Valhalla and honestly these new games would be better if they were their own franchise and not Assassin’s Creed.
Agreed
I honestly believe that As soon as you take away the assassins creed title from vahallaa and odyssey it be considered two of the best games Ubisoft have made
Games are not rpgs just because they have a leveling system. They don't function like action games and that is what these games are and all that they are.
yeah and they also wouldn't have sold nearly as much either
But if they take away the title nowbody will bother to play these games.
Fun fact friends
In the Animus loading screen, the opposite gender of your character will be in your reflection. Aka if you're playing fem Eivor, you'll see male Eivor in the reflection and vice versa. Really neat touch to notice after you beat the game.
They/them pronouns
@@JAdame24 💀
So either can be Canon
He looking at them tig o biddies 🥺
@@JAdame24 geh
The fact that I'm so used to watching both of you talk about assassin's creed that I didn't even bat an eye when I heard whitelight instead of aqua
I had the exact same experience
Dude same, wtf.
The fact that you even know the difference means you need to get out and live your life.
This was my first time watching any video from this guy so when I heard Whitelight at first I thought “this Aqua guy must be a twin brother to Whitelight or sounds really eerily familiar”
@@burgbass Same situation here!
When Aqua said, "Cause some of you are fucking brutal down there" he sounded so damn sincere and broken
it was hilarious
I didn’t know it was him at first 😂😂
@George If you like story, origins, if you like gameplay, Odyssey, if you like being bored, Valhalla
@George origins = story / odyssey = combat and exploration/ valhalla = doing the same thing for 60 hours
I always thought it was ironic that in Odyssey Alexios voice actor is lacking and Kassandra’s is great, but in Valhalla Female Eivors is lacking hardcore and Male Eivors is amazing.
It's true ,it is not ironic just coincidental
doesn't matter the gender, the character is an insufferable parody of "I'm a strong viking I plunder and kill and that's all that I do look at me I'm so strong". It gets old in 10 minutes and then goes on for 70 hours.
It's neither ironic nor coincidental. Merely incidental
I don't get the dislike for alexios' voice. I really don't see it as that far off any other video-game voice acting.
@@gre8 one of the woke writers says you were supposed to pick kassandra so every journo dogpiled on alexios
They should have different animations randomly for when you kill someone with a certain weapon, so the kills don’t get repetitive sometimes. Like the sword animation he showed
I would love it if games allowed variations of any animation that is repeated frequently. It would help with the visual monotony.
My main thing with Valhalla's story is the foreshadowing. Like Eivor is like "I hope there isn't a traitor among us, I hope this battle goes well, and ect." then low and behold everything 'foreshadowed' happens just the way Eivor said it.
Well, tbh, she has Odin around, who is known for prophecy
The all *KNOWING* Odin was around
I don't think you get what foreshadowing means.. lmaoo
i am pretty sure this is not actual foreshadowing and should not be called so
Foreshadowing is subtle clues for future events. Evior outright saying it isn’t foreshadowing more so a prediction than anything else.
100% the best feature was the ability to enable 1 shot assasination. This is assassins creed. Treat it as such
Ikr...I mean if you need some small challenge... disable it....but I love instant assassinations...Classic AC right here
@@smrutimanmohanty7780 Agreed, it ain’t easy sneaking up on these fuckers.
@@Bori.1776 ikr...I mean...I love sneaking around them...only to fail the one shot kill😂😂😂. One Hit Assassinations all the way
@@smrutimanmohanty7780 Why are you all ignoring the Advanced Assassination skill? It's far more rewarding than getting a one-shot with no effort.
@@danielantony1882 no it's not. Now I may sound like a dumb nostalgic AC fan...but being sneaky is hard in this game...and then if you mess up the assassination with the stupid quick time event...what's the point being sneaky? And if you cant one hit kill...what's the point of having the "iconic" hidden blade?
Basim wears the wolf shirt to tie in the loki / fenrir thing (wolf fenrir was the son of Loki)
Basim is not on your side. He wants to see William to kill him for revenge
Isu passed on their genes by literally injecting their genetic code into manufactured human slaves, this was the case with Juno’s lover who kept “reincarnating” this way.
Once an individual awakens to these memories they are either driven mad or it takes over their personality completely. It’s why sigurd gets so strange when Fulke unlocks these memories
You articulated pretty much my thought process when completing Valhalla. Ubisoft has got talent but they seem to just do too much in one game. They throw shit at the wall and see what sticks, and the ones thet stick, are never polished or well excecuted enough to be incredible game mechanics. Ubisoft needs to take a step back, make a smaller but tighter and more polished experience. Fenyx Rising was a textbook example of making a smaller game but thing is, it was fun all the way through without overwhelming you even though it does become a bit too "Ubisofty" at the end. Tighter focus on story, gameplay and fun mechanics is what they need to do right now. I do miss proper parkour too. Ubisoft needs to find a right balance with the old and the new.
Im gonna have to disagree with you on the hidden blade my guy. Assassinating a target with one shot has been a staple in AC since the beginning.
I mean, just because something works doesn't mean it can't be improved on. Killing people should be a skill of assassins, and just one button click seems so mindlessly easy. Also, it's a new era of gaming and they could at least try to inovate it instead of sticking with traditiong.
@@zatywy6706
A bike works perfectly with 2 wheels. It needs no other improvement
@@zatywy6706
And this is Assassins Creed. You don't play AC for challenge. It's legit one of the easiest hand holding game series out there. Dark Souls does it better
@@frogglen6350 A bike WAS innovated though. It used to be big and bulky. And then it got modernized. And then someone slapped an engine on it. It became a motorcycle. And new models of bicycles and motorcycles are being released every year with new features.
@@zatywy6706
You know damn well I'm referring to a modern bike. I shouldn't have to spoon feed you the obvious
I agree with your final sentiments. I found the game fulfilling, but after 50 hours, I also felt like I was dragging my feet to finish the game. I liked the story, I liked the ending, I liked where it was going, but felt that nothing in the England chain (that is, most of the game) really led up to the fulfillment of the narrative.
Aye you NUsensei🎉
Kind of a reverse Ghost of Tsushima. When I realized I was within an hour or so do the end of GoT, I felt sad because I didn’t want the story to end yet, even though, like a tv series, it’s probably better for it to end while it’s compelling and high quality than to drag on longer than it should have.
Lol I'm subscribed to you! 😂 What do you think of the potrayal of archery in this game? 🏹🎯
But then his tagline should be "Too much Viking" not "Too much Assassin's Creed" because the AC storylines were the best ones whereas the filler Viking arcs dragged down the story.
It's one of the first AC game where I felt bored near the end and was dragging myself to reach the end, the end twist was interesting
Spoilers in this comment! But wanted to clarify some stuff:
1: all of the major Norse gods that appear in the Asgard stuff were present for the Yggdrasil machine, the machine that puts their “template” into the human DNA pool. This includes Odin - Eivor, Tyr - Sigurd (why he loses his hand), Loki - Basim, and Freya - the mother of the seer lady that sends you to Asgard. Ragnar the Red is also noted as being the reincarnation of Thor.
2: the Jotuns are the Isu from previous games, namely the Jotun King is Jupiter, and the Jotun you trick to get the “mead” is Minerva. This is confirmed as in one of the cutscenes in Asgard when she is using her device, you hear Ezio’s voice speaking an exact voice line from I believe AC2.
3: the staff of Hermes has/had an isu spirit inside it that was isu Loki’s lover (who you also see as a Jotun). The entire reason Basin wanted to leave the Valhalla simulation was to reunite with her, and it is implied that he is actually against the mentality of most of the previous Isu and is on the side of humanity.
4: The entire idea of the 5 things that affect your ending with Sigurd are essentially Odin in your head trying to influence you into remaining in the “Valhalla” simulation so that he can take over your body, as Loki did to basim. This is why Basim knows about the stuff Loki knows, he truly is a human-reincarnated Loki
There are some more things but this is already pretty long
Loki hasnt taken over Basim, but he knows who he truly is (like the sage from Black Flag) so he is still Basim but he does have Loki's memories and a similar personality to him
Source
Is Basim himself still there, or did Loki fully become Basim?
I came back 5 months later recently after playing 55 hours, haven’t beaten the game but I think understanding that this is a long game and to not rush beating it, has helped keep it enjoyable.
i've played it all year, ever since i got my PS5 in march. The fact i can return to the game and play without having finished it in 12 hours is a really nice thing. Plus, the different holiday events that went on throughout the year, really put up an atmosphere around the settlement, made it feel alive, and worth expanding. Im currently going through the first dlc, and with a whole new territory and set of cast, it also really fresh things up. I think they did an amazing job with this game, making you able to decide which path you want to go down. If you want to stay true to Eivor and be a ferocious drengr, or take up hythams and basims teachings and stealth your way through. Also, just because stealth is effective in the game, doesnt by any means make it easy. I've struggled to keep myself unnoticed throughout the entire game, even when trying to go full stealth. The AI quickly catches on to you, and starts investegating or raising suspicioun throughout the camps. Really enjoy the game, and i hope it only gets better with later installments of the franchise. It even makes me want to try out Odyssey again, since i couldnt play that for more than 10 hours cause of the abyssmal horse riding and how weird it felt traversing the landscapes. And im all in on that fucking era, i love the greek mythology, but i also love the norse mythology, so both games should play right into my hands.
When I thought I was getting towards the end, around you know who's death, I realized I was less than half way :/
55 hours? AC Origins is easily 200 hours.
I got burnt out on the game at around the similar game time ;dropped the game for 6 months I’m thinking of getting back into it just before Mirage drops
My main problem with Valhalla so far is that I never know when I’m fulfilling the story line or doing side missions. I’m like 75 hours in, completed all the alliances, and there’s nothing left leading me to the next significant story mission. I really just want to reach the end bc I’ve been playing for so long and have no idea where I am 😩
Hm
I swear bro like we have to do a bunch of side missions just to finish the game like wth is that Ubisoft 💀💀
Its a shit game
Then you all are r€tard€d I'm assuming. The game makes it blatantly obvious where the main story ends and begins and what the side quests are. There's even a mission log spelled out for you that tells you what's going on and in what area you are in...
I quit 30 hours in. Underwhelming
tought i clicked on a whitelight video for a second...
Lol same
Same
My thoughts exactly
congrats, that was the joke
@@Frankthegb ok
I thought the whole "the Isu are what humans now regard mythology" thing was pretty clear even before the Atlantis DLC for Odyssey where the Isu were literally greek gods you interacted with, doubling down on them also being the roman gods to Ezio, and now finally them being norse gods for Eivor. Perahaps in a furure installment we can see them come back as gods from slavic cultures, if we for instance get a high medieval period game set in Poland or Russia or maybe in the Balkan area at the time of the Ottoman Empire's expansion into Europe. And you got a few things wrong about who reincarnated as who, as Halfdan Ragnarsson is Thor, Eivor Odin, Basim Loki and (pretty hard to believe you messed this up) Sigurd the one handed man, whose hand you saw him lose to Fenrir in a vision, being Tyr the god that lost his hand to Fenrir. Hence the whole "im not going to rule anymore you do it"
It will probably never happen, but I’d love to see a Wallachian, Vlad the Impaler AC. You could have some interests mechanics with the Ottomans and those repelling the attacks (Wallachians, Hungarians, Polish, etc.)
Bro, also they say the templars are not in Odyssey but they ignore the cultist as they are the templars in the making
@@murdaboosta1346 Well the Cult of Kosmos and the Order of Ancients are isu supremacist as a premise; they and the Knights Templar believe that human civilization needs to operate under the guidance of a higher power for the sake of stability and peace, but they differ in wanting to bring back the power of the Isu versus thinking humans should be ruled by humans (though bot shying from using isu technology to obtain that control).
I never thought of it as that I always liked thinking there was something greater than mythology gods
To be fair, it's been clear to most people that was the case when AC2, Brotherhood and Revelations had us talking with Isu named Minerva, Juno and Jupiter, you know, the names of Roman Gods? Lol
Something I've run into: the characters sometimes just stop talking. In the middle of one of Sigurd's lines, he just went silent, but the talking animation finished. Then Eivor started talking, and Sigurd's line would finish AS she talked. This happens to me in almost every exchange. I'm enjoying Valhalla more than Odyssey, but it's just a bit of an immersion breaker
This is just a classic bug with the engine. Happens all the way back in the original series.
So about a day or so before this video was posted, Ubisoft added XP boosters and tampered with the level scaling and damage. This video was created before that update was released. I won't lie in that I feel quite taken advantage of here, and I'm not impressed. Please be aware of these mechanics and use that knowledge to influence your decision-my apologies, boys.
I can’t believe I have to clarify this but here goes: Saying there is too much “Assassin’s Creed” is not indicative of the game having too many Templar/Assassin conflicts but that the game is far too bloated. I have no issues with the game going back to the basics but when it retreads it’s steps it becomes monotonous to me. I enjoy Odyssey despite it being “less Assassins Creed” because I am open to changing what defines an Assassins Creed game as an Assassins Creed game. I’ve played 7 or more AC games now that go over the same conflict with the same gameplay and I’m ready to try something new. If I want the “old Assassins Creed” I’ll go play the older games.
Whitelight’s appearance here was for the sake of the joke and his views do not parallel mine. Any resemblance of his thoughts on the game to mine is purely coincidental. So don’t harass him because I didn’t like some aspects of the game.
Any corrections will be posted here.
- Jesus, according to some glyphs from AC2, was supposedly a regular dude who had the apple of Eden, so while Jesus may not be an ISU, "god" most certainly could be.
- The reincarnated trio is Odin, Loki, and Tyr, not Thor.
@@thomashartbenton2786 I don't believe so. I was quite over levelled throughout the game, so a second playthrough would be necessary to find out, but I'll let you know if I find anything.
Thor is actually reincarnated as Ubba in the game. The main trio you got right though.
@@jackcaldwell8748 its Halfdan Jarl fella
@@jackcaldwell8748 Nah, he's reincarnated as Halfdan.
The ‘gods’ of mythology are all Isu in AC lore. ‘God’ either doesn’t exist or is God as we know him. The Isu were a species significantly more advanced than humans. However, they heavily relied (like us) on their intelligence and the technology they made using their intelligence. ‘God’ would be far above any Isu. However, since Jesus is just an ordinary person who had a piece of Eden, I think it is safe to assume that ‘God’ does not exist in the AC universe. Also I wouldn’t call the level scaling ‘tampering’ as they made the game much better for maxed out players and does make the addition of the experience booster redundant (however I do think j that they should not have added any boosters and made the level scaling an option). Finally, the Isu ‘reincarnated’ in ACV are Odin, Loki, Thor, Freyja and Tyr (who are ‘reincarnated’ as Eivor, Basim, Halfdan, Svala (Valka’s mother) and Sigurd respectively). The rest of the Asgardians who entered their DNA into the Yggdrasil have yet to be ‘reincarnated’.
Aaaalso: male Eivor’s performance fits a lot better with the movements
It doesn't lmao he still behaves like a girl
@@ajayavsm7476 give me an example
Well I guess I never chose right, I chose Alexios and everyone said he sucked so I picked female evior and she sounds like a cigarette smoker
@@kjk607 Look at his body language when hes talking and also notice how people treat him compared to Sigurd or any other guy
@@tjlevey378 ikr its so stange and the weird thing is thats not even her normal voice but she speaks with that raspy voice a lot
I love this channel and greatly appreciate the lengthy vids and immense effort aqua puts into them. My favorite game review channel💯
Thank you I’m glad you like them! 🙏
19:11 this feature was in both origins and odyssey and the reason it takes you away isnt a bug its because the road layouts are inconvenient and you have to sometimes cross the map just to find a bridge over a river
Wait a minute, this isn't Whitelight?
I do hate how he is becoming more popular
He'll suck off these buggy glitches filled Ubishit games
But then goes and rags on Rockstar
@@frogglen6350 I mean plenty of people like these games yes they have faults but people still like them similar to rockstar just on a different scale people like rockstar but they also have tons of problems
@@frogglen6350 also he clearly isn’t sucking this off as he clearly points out problems and accepts them but admits that even though it has problems he had fun
How did this quarrel come from me realizing that Aqua suddenly became English/British?
Frog Glen ahh you’re that type of fan....hates growth
The current Assassin’s Creed games make me think of that old thought experiment “the ship of theseus”. What makes an Asassin’s creed game? What can you take away and still call it Assassin’s Creed? To me the new AC games have replaced or greatly lessened all of components that I would use to describe what makes an Assassin’s Creed game.
I feel many people focus too much on the surface level details.
These new games are games where you play as a protagonist with Isu DNA who uses stealth, combat and parkour to fight an ancient conspiratorial order with themes of order and chaos. That’s an Assassin’s Creed game
@@FraserSouris Yeah that works for Valhalla because it actually leans into that. Odyssey meanwhile uses it as an excuse to give a fantasy game.
@@unc54 How does Odyessy not lean into that? Also, how does the fantasy stuff (in a franchise that had time travelling aliens, mind control balls, Dr. Who Style reincarnation, Planet Sized Force Fields etc) detract from Ody now?
@@FraserSouris because that's science fiction.
@@FraserSouris Assassins and Templar’s don’t fight for “order and chaos”
In my unfinished playthrough of almost 70 hours, I never had trouble with finding the zealots or the auto horse feature.
White light and that boy aqua you guys have the most smooth dialogue I can watch your videos while I meditate x
I don’t know how you’ve managed to pick up on every single gripe, frustration and annoyance I’ve had with this game and articulate it in one video, great job!
As an adult, i just dont understand these games that go beyond 15 to 20 hours.
It would be better to give a smaller tighter game. Remove excessive, side quests, give a good 8 is hour main quest and i move on.
@@ralphwarom2514because it's an RPG now instead of a normal assassin's creed. Alot of the RPGs out today are more than 20 to 40 hours easily
I’m typeing my thoughts as I go through the video. Horses no longer slow down when in combat. Also, clicking auto travel doesn’t automatically take you to your destination, you have to click triangle for it to do that, otherwise it will just follow the road. It says that everyone you click follow road. The difference between the order and cult ending is that the order ending actually made sense and was interesting, we got to see the birth of the Templars while cult ending led to nothing and was out of the blue, but we are constantly reminded of the Poor Fellow Solider of Christ throughout the game. Sigurd is the reincarnation of Tyr, not Thor, although we see Thor’s reincarnation as Halfdan in the game. Funnily enough, we don’t know if Jesus was an reincarnation of an isu, but we do know he used and apple and a shroud of eden to perform his miracles and to gain followers. Layla is stuck in the grey, Desmond mentions how the radiation is to strong and she will die if she stays. That makes her sacrifice better imo. Basim wearing the wolf shirt is a joke, because Loki’s son is fenrir the wolf, get it? I think your view on instant assassinations comes from a difference in thinking, I think that having instant assassinations make stealth more rewarding, as if you are good at it you can clear a camp fast and quiet. While you view it as cheesing the game because it’s too easy.
Perfect comment. There’s other stuff I could add as well, but honestly I do feel that for better or for worse he kinda views the AC games in a contrarían way no matter the game (not saying it’s a bad thing, just that being contrarían doesn’t make your opinions anymore valid). It’s all good tho.
I spent 65 hours in the game to find out I had only got halfway through, and I just couldn't keep playing to finish it
So funny story, I watched the origins video and then this video, and it’s hilarious to me that your critiques of Valhalla and wish list for the next AC were almost a perfect description for why you loved Origins so much. Everything from length to progression system (in some ways).
I think this is overall the first video I’ve disagreed with you on. I absolutely love how they mixed both gameplay style with the assassinations making it to where stealth is far more rewarding to where you can kill everyone like the old games. The mini game helps keep me engaged even if it’s really easy to pull off. Also I feel like this game should not be binged at all. Playing through one or two kingdom arcs a day and spacing it out helps me to stay engaged way more than if I binged the whole game. Also the difficulty with the Zealots is something I really enjoyed after completing the England arc and they were not that hard to find for myself because whenever you go to a waypoint on the map they are shown on said area. Also, Aelfred being the head of the Order works way more for this story because Aelfred the historical figure was a very smart and scheming king who kept Wessex alive as the last kingdom of Saxons during the Viking expansion. Him being the man who creates the Templar order makes a lot of sense just historically. Also something you didn’t touch on a lot for this story was Eivor as a character which I found to be done far superior to Kassandra/Alexios in Odyssey. He has a genuine character that reminds me a lot of Edward Kenway in how he lives by his own code and rules but cares for his family. Also the progression system I find to work really well for me to where I always felt a bit challenged when going to the next stories, and never had to grind for levels to move on. Overall I found Valhalla to be far better than Odyssey in terms of world, story, gameplay, & progression but I can understand why some don’t feel that way.
For starters I can’t say I don’t appreciate seeing a comment that can disagree with me without calling me a “simp” or an “idiot”. Thank you. Also I don’t want this video to ruin your enjoyment of the game, you seem like a mature dude so I’m sure I don’t have to clarify it lol. Anyways yea I liked Eivor a lot and found their story to be much more engaging than Kassandras which was very meh imo.
Nah man, I feel the game tries to “over correct flaws” of Ody and suffers for it.
Gear is now basically useless because many Ody players refused to properly use it. Stealth now no longer requires any planning and you can Skyrim Stealth Archer everybody
@@FraserSouris As opposed to Odyssey where stealth was useless unless "you had the right build". These should be AC games first and RPGs second and I'm glad Valhalla got the memo.
I absolutely loved the time I spent playing this game but if I could change something would be the lenght of the story. I would rather have the game ending when I rescued Sigurd from the crazy ass woman.
@@unc54 facts. Odyssey may as well have not even been an Assassin's Creed game.
44:13
Sigurd=tyr
Eivor=Odin/havi
Basim=Loki
Svala=freya
Halfdan=Thor
Damn didn't catch the thor! No wonder why I loved Halfden so much.
@@Ebrahim_17 That's why he had a hammer :)
@@Ebrahim_17 you didnt notice someone tossed him his hammer in the first cutscene we see him? Just like thor
You forgot Harald=Freyr and Faravid=Sif
Sigurd is an actual character in norse mythology. A warrior, an adventurer, etc. Tyr and Sigord are not the same and it feels weird if they took "an archetype" (Tyr) and gave it another character's name (Sigurd)
Just want to say, I love your long essay vids, the longer the better. but I understand the work is insane... so do what feels right.
I’ve been looking for a video to help me decide if I should buy this one or skip out on it. You’ve for sure helped me decide that I wanna pick this one up, but you’ve also earned a sub for letting me know when you’re gonna be spoiling the story. I wish more content creators did that. Thank you sir🤘🏼👏🏼
Did you get it?
I did! And I’m not disappointed 🤘🏼
Every reviewer does that
What channels were you watching before lol
The endings were similar to Odyssey but they actually worked. When Basim came back it felt like he belonged in the modern-day because there is a clear plan on how he decided to come back. Meanwhile, Kassandra comes out in a suit and inexplicably decides to give the Staff of Hermes to Layla in what felt like a parody of the Revelations ending.
No one gave two shits about Aspasia. You see her for five seconds and that's about it. Alfred is a consistent presence in the game. Even when he's not on-screen you hear about him. His actions all make sense. How he got to power, how he plotted the downfall of the OotA, and how he planned to create the Templars. Meanwhile, nothing is explained with Aspasia.
I agree that Valhalla is kind of a bipolar game but it still is written much better than Odyssey.
Couldn’t have said that better myself
Literally thought the same thing! Aspasia came out of nowhere and i felt as if I had been cheated out of all my time spent killing them for no apparent reason. Meanwhile with Valhalla Alfreds decision is one that makes sense and is a character who is overarching in the world.
Valhalla has one of the best stories in the ac series
But then again it’s pretty difficult to be written worse than Odyssey.
Loved Alfred and Eivors relationship but in my slow walk away.. I saw Ubba and my heart tore because so much was lost. There's a final tune when you ride away from Alfred that just fulfilled my journey. Felt much of a better ending than odyssey.
Loved how William Miles is the mentor now and I WISH we play as him since Layla is gone.
Only thing that caught me is that shouldn't Shaun know that bassim is evil??????
"What, Whitelight has two chann-...ooooohhhhhhh, well played!"
Had me for a second bro!! I started rethinking my whole life with that Whitelight Switch up lmao
Correction: Sigard is not the reincarnation of Thor, he is reincarnation of Tyr. The reincarnation of Thor is Halfdan. Freya's reincarnation is Svala (mother of the Valka). Loki didn't kill her, he killed someone else, then reincarnated as the Basim.
I thought that it was always implied that the Isu are the AC universe’s version of human deities. One of the first ones ever introduced was named after a Roman goddess after all.
They aren’t actual gods, Minerva literally says in ac2 that they aren’t gods. They were flesh and blood beings.
@@theiconicprodigy1736 Yes but humans mistook them for gods
Your right. It was always implied. Aqua just wasn’t paying attention to the story up until now.
3:10 "Aurora Borealis? At this time of the day, contained entirely in this game?!"......"may I see it?"
My wallet: "No."
Now I'm in the mood for steamed boar.
@@allankuria9923 steamed hams
Gotta appreciate the Whitelight cameo, love when creators shout each other out.
just watched a whitelight vid and next vid was this. saw the title and youtuber and heard whitelight and was so confused. thought was an alt account of his. anyway that was a great switch. you sir earned a sub
Also: I reeeeeally appreciate how u handled spoilers.
46:42 I think you meant Odin, Loki, and Tyr. Freya was reincarnated as Valka's mom and I believe that Halfdan is the reincarnation of Thor.
Thanks for letting me know, I updated the pinned comment!
Hmm no. I think sigurd was like Tyr. Male eivor Odin. Handvi was freya. Loki Dag but thor i do not know what he could be. I don't think halfdan was but i have to really find out.
@@MyTonyGames Halfdan is confirmed to be Thor, and Basim is Loki.
@@DoctorOcktor what i don't get it.. dag betrayed eivor and so did loki to odin?
@@MyTonyGames Did you finish the game? They tell you who Loki is.
Just wanted to say great video! I really enjoyed it and keep up the awesome content!
Origins and Odyssey are huge games but the journey feels like part of the plot, with the reintroduction of the settlement and the alliances in Valhalla exploring everything feels more like busy work
I’ve been waiting for so long for this review! So good!
Glad you liked it!!
I liked how they improved things added in Oddessy and kinda brought back some things I loved of the older games but with a new twist
Been debating with myself is i should buy Valhalla and your video has helped me decide that I definitely don't want to play this one.. lol, great breakdown of everything.
I went from listening a whitelight video in the background to this and was very confused when it turned out to be a gag. Either way it's a great video and you've earned a sub.
If the next one is Aztec the ISU could work really well
"MY CLAN WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN" *DONG* *BRUH*
I also slipped in a 21
Loving these hour long critiques ❤
I recently finished the main story arc of Valhalla, about a year after it's release after almost 100 hours of game time whilst completing the Asgard arc and the Order of the Ancients arc, I love it so much, for me all the side stuff was fun but because the map was so big and there was so much to do. Personally I got sidetracked so much by all the new areas of the map and getting all the collectables and side missions done that I saw myself doing a 5 hour session running around in one part of England without progressing the story at all. Although I enjoy exploring the world and getting new gear and completing side quests, much like Aqua mentioned I just kind of forgot large parts of the story because it took that long to complete. Also by the end of the game I was so overpowered with maxed out gear and skill tree stats that the zealots and bosses were so easy. I love this game and I continue to play it, just kind of chopping away at all the side missions and collectables, but the fact that it took me a year of playing then getting bored then starting again made it seem more like a chore than something I actively was excited to do.
Literally the only thing i hated doing is doing the same river raid over and over to farm up enough resources to buy all the upgrades, the rest of the areas, exploration and story i ran through and i still couldnt get enough of it.
@@lovrosedej7655 yeah bro I've kept playing it and I couldn't seem to put the game away haha. Eventually I folded and decided to buy Origins just for something new but I definitely see myself revisiting Valhalla to complete the rest
Remember when ac wasn’t a rpg and had more interesting worlds and characters?
What’s the point of more gameplay when it’s not as fun?
I like with world and story a lot in this game. The biggest problem is the stealth. No matter how hard I try to stay stealthy I end up just getting into a big fight. Didn’t have that problem in older AC games.
@@coolkid7151 really not even unity where they can see u trought walls or when your bhind them or 10 miles away now I know your full off shite
That's cool that you have an opinion.
It died totally after Unity. And I see why now. They were taking me on a walk in history with real people and events and architecture through Unity. I felt like I was secretly granted passage to some deep dark underground knowledge.
Then Syndicate started making up trash and turned me off completely. Plus the fight animations are wretched. Now they've just been ballooning everything ever since for the sake of money making. No soul anymore.
@@last7509 I entirely agree with this. sadly ubi is doing this with a lot of franchises like watchdogs and to an extent far cry
I got the platinum today.
1) I only had to look up one Zealot location, despite burning the paper
2) I do feel that the Order ending should've happened before the main game
3) I found the story incredible.
4) I recommend playing it without the compass, its so much better. You raven can act like the compass
5) my main criticism is the amount of arcs, there is too much. I wanted to get into the story, to much fluff
6) but I also like them in some way, it built the conflict between Evior and Odin. Without them I would have know Odin to be a villainous figure
Good review, but I will disagree with you on this one. Stealth should be easier than combat. The characters are so much deeper and more human than in Odyssey. But I do agree they need to scale down the scope. And while I do think the game was to long, I never grew to hate it, I got annoyed and the walls in the story, but I loved the game through and through
The game is better as his Name
@@anthonybudo1593 What?
@@zephyr6927 the guy who originally commented is named “ok ok”
@@jenjoe4359 ok ok
I was legit confused when hearing whitelight at the start XD. Very cool.
cheers to whitelight, love this man so much
I can't believe I refunded Cyberp7nk for this game
*And I'm enjoying it*
I bought this game day one and can't find the desire to play it to finish it.... It's so tedious and pointless
@Hoocher Yep lmao
Im just happy that you dont have to grind for 2 hours just to do a main story mission
Nah instead you grind a bunch of side stories to unlock the main story
@@Joel-wx7zk It’s all the main story though. The whole point of going to England was to make alliances and that’s precisely what you do. Unlike Odyssey where you’re forced to do side quests that are completely irrelevant to the main characters goals
@@Joel-wx7zk im a year late but yea during the time of playing there was tons of filler which is why i stopped playing weeks after first playing it
In AC lore, Jesus was actually just a human with af piece of eden, which i am pretty sure is a shroud. But it has been refrenced many times that the gods as we know, are just first civ. Thsi goes for greek, roman, norse, and egyptian gods, and probably all other as well. That's why we have minerva, juno and jupiter in previous games. Hyrrokin from the jotunheim arc, is actually supossed to be Juno, meaning that the asgard arc actually explains how Juno was able to reincarnate her husbond as sages. Jupiter and minerva is also represented as frost giants in eivors visions of jotunheim. I just thought all this was pretty interesting, and as we probably wont get an isu game, this is closest we'll get of seing how this al. took place.
Finally managed to come back to this video after completing the main game in Valhalla! Fantastic video, and definitely worth the 2 year wait 😂
Absolutely nackered from 100%ing England and Norway and dredding the dlc, but I paid money for them, and I'm lookin forward to the stories at least.
I'm on like, 200+ total game time between my original save and my recent one and damn if 50 hours ain't the exact time that I started to lose my marbles a bit.
Anyways, sick video! Love listening to your vids while at work and glad to finally get to this one :D
The animations are one of my biggest grips. They seem to be missing some frames. A parry for example, the shield just kindve jumps from one side to the other. Kill animations, the weapon swing will skip the moment before and after the connect. Its really jarring
Agreed. I feel like the animations in the previous games were much better compared the ones in Valhalla. And that's disappointing.
@@robbybobby4373 well the previous game dident have a pandemic
Foreal it looks like every time you swing it goes to 10 frames per second!
@@EmperorDxD yeah lol. People will usually forget.
@@themandals7273 I have noticed this too
had to lay down the game after 80 hours, cause it just kept going on and on. on new years, i picked the game back up and finished it. I think this game isnt meant to be binged, just do one kingdom arc per day, it should be played more like a series
Exactly. I was the same exact way bro, I tried to binge it way to hard at first, but the people that complain about it not being “hard enough or take take skill” like origins/odyssey pmo. Assassins creed was never meant to be a tryhard game to begin with, that’s why we all fell in love with it. One of the only badass series where you can f*** stuff up and have fun without coping over dumb shi 😂💯
Would love to see you go back and do another retrospective on these games now with all their expansions included, Valhalla alone has kept me playing for over 194 hrs 😅😅😅😅
Ubisoft has one of the most mind-blowing world designs i've ever seen, but it's a shame that they don't know how to actually make their worlds fun.
Thank you for putting how I felt about this game into words
“Too much assassin’s creed in an assassin’s creed game”
???
He means the game goes on for too long and gets boring as a result
@@FraserSouris still thinking that too much ac content is a lot is a stupid argument
@@kal-el9905 Nah. You can have too much of a good thing and then be sick of it.
Like, I love rich chocolate cake, but if I eat too much, I won't have a good time. It's the same with video games.
In the case of Valhalla, Aqua is saying "hey, I love this game but after the 50 hour mark, it starts to get really boring, and then it keeps going which starts to erode the fun I had with this game. If this game was much shorter, it would be a better experience overall".
It means there's more assassins creed than in the first assassins creed game
@@FraserSouris Dude , complaining about being a long game and complaining about too much of a series's identity in an installment of that series are two different things.
Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes, but one hour from now.
I thought i was watching a different youtuber in the start xD, the funny thing is that i'm subscribed to both of them !!
oh my god the intro made me do a double take to look at the channel. nice one
I’m at 101 hours 53 min. I found the game very fun, and I played it in my off time constantly, and I loved how the storylines gave a call back to previous games notable the ezio collection and ac3 with one Easter egg referenceing black flag in the modern day outside of the animus. This is amazing IMO. Played on Xbox one.
Took me 140 hrs to finish it 100% and I enjoyed every second of it.
I don't know if anyone has already mentioned it before, but Sigurd is supposed to be a reincarnation of Tyr and not Thor 44:28
The one thing that seriously annoyed me was having a serious lack of location markers. They'll just post some clues and expect you to read the entire fucking map to find it.
Assassin's Greed: Nothing is new, everything is repeated.
*Ubisoft's Greed
Not really they made the parkour system shit. That's new. Remember when they used to motion capture famous free-runners and had a sick variety of traversal animations and vaults etc. 😔😔😔
@@chilliam00 True! As much as it may bore some people, as a fan of history and admirer of parkour, I really enjoyed free running accross famous historical monuments. It was magical.
@@NatureFreak1127 likewise! The fact you can see History from a new perspective and immerse yourself in it in the most fun way possible.
@@NatureFreak1127 good to know, parkour in origins and in odyssey were shit compared to the earlier ones
this video was an hour long but didn't feel long at all. Well-written and well paced
I really appreciate you going on a tangent about the modern day plot, I feel a similar discouragement as if ubisoft low key wants to ditch the modern day (Desmond) part. Like I didn't know that was there till I saw this video
I can 100% sympathize with the speed of Zealot attacks, the single biggest reason I was able to defeat them was because of that adrenaline thingy where when you dodge an attack time slows. Even after getting Mjolnir with its insane power, the time slow down is a massive life saver or dare I say game breaking
I don’t know how people had issues with finding them. Everytime you go to a new province and walked around one would spawn and then you go to it. It was the first part of the order I had done
I laughed way more then i should at the start XD
Game gives you the choice to play like an assassin from the older games or to play as a viking/warrior like in odyssey, thats why the 1 shot feature with the blade, blend in spots etc are there. I loved it personally
Such a good game. I liked the side stories and every one being unique and some being funny. I like the Valkyrie fights that offer a challenge. The zealots are tanky but satisfying to kill and even have some dialogue and story
That intro wigged me the hell out! Hahaha loved it
The central issue is that Egypt (Origins) and Greece (Odyssey) have a lot more interesting historical and mythological locations and events for the time periods they are set in than Valhalla.
Definitely
personally i like the combat and stealth provided in valhalla, the one hit stealth is either A. an option in the options (which i prefer personally) or B. a skill you need to unlock through leveling, personally i feel the one hit kill with the hidden blade should have been left purely as an option in the options menu like they eventually did in origins, i loved they made it so you could hood or dishood at any time however there is something i notice all reviews missing and that is the ps2 era cloth physics, they SHOULD be vastly better considering origins had perfect cloth physics and this game took a good chunk of time to develop, cloth physics aren't that hard as a game dev myself i know it only takes a few minutes for each outfit, it's sad to see they boast about quality but can't be bothered for doing one of the things they are known for in the game series (and yes there are people who say "Assassins creed? the one with the nice coat physics?" )
honestly even the fact the Devs are too embarrassed to admit when they make mistakes (e.g telling someone who has proof of their family history they are wrong because the internet says so and then proceeds to have their followers harass that person actually making a post before twitter deleted it) is saddening to know, dragging someone through the mud for their name or family because the internet contradicts the facts put forth with actual physical evidence is a disgusting abuse of fans that ubisoft never addresses either.
I hope something happens to make the next one better as Valhalla was a disappointment at quite a few parts, I'm going back to play unity since THAT was better
When you mentioned that you didn’t know why there was no single handed swords, I believe there is a skill that turns all two handed weapons into one handed so you can wield a long sword and shield if you wanted too ( I ran with Excalibur and a shield the whole game)
Found your channel through the "in defence of Arkham Knight" and have enjoyed the content since. I've played both Origins and am currently playing Valhalla and im personally loving Valhalla more but thats probably because im from the nordic area irl so i just connect with the lore and mythos more. Maybe the feature wasnt in the game when you did this video but currently you can absolutely change the look of your armor to any other previous set you have. You just have to do it at the blacksmith iirc.
59:36 But I like that though. The fact that I can kill someone by sneaking up on them with one hit is basically the point of stealth. If I can't kill you by sneaking up on you. Catching you off guard. Then what is the point of Stealth
I think the territories should of acted like divine beasts in breath of the wild - optional, but beneficial to your power, giving you unique abilities and perks
divine beats werent optional buddy
@@barexexxed6061 yeah they were. yes they were part of your "main quest"
but you can still beat Ganon without the divine beats.
@@barexexxed6061 yeah they were you don’t need to beat them to beat Gannon
47:21 No, Jesus isn't an Isu. All Isus died 75,000 years ago in AC universe. Jesus came in possession of an apple of Eden and after his death, his followers used the shroud of Eden to resurrect him.
Where did you learn this from?
@@arielfernandez5198 It has been in lore since AC2.
@@Ishpreetb264 do you know where? I’d want to check it out myself and I honestly did not know that
@@arielfernandez5198 It's in the truth puzzles. But not everything is touched upon in AC2. It's also mentioned in AC1 by Al Mualim that Jesus never turned water into wine, it was just an illusion caused by an apple of eden.
@@Ishpreetb264 thank you for this! I’ll go revisit the games then, can’t believe I missed stuff like this
Who tf was that doing voiceover at the beginning of the video?!? As soon as the video started playing I literally checked to make sure I was still on the same channel, that was a good one!
Shields breaking is an extra layer of realism you say? No, friend…real would be you getting your axe stuck in the enemy’s shield during an attempted hard hit, the enemy then ripping your axe out of your hand, and then you being weaponless.
Agreed about zealots, i also played on hardest difficult BUT, then i learned using "mans best friend" made it easy mode, which made me sad, i was level 90, killing 240s, i remember being 150 and downing those max level ones which were like 300+
Using mans best friend gets them on ground which was amazing for getting adrenaline bars or using other combos
Hell using mans best friend had me killing legendary beast that were like 340 making it e z mode at power level 170
Word of advice, mans best friend ia over powered and made hardmade easy mode
I'm not very far into the game, but one of the most enchanting parts was in the starting section, where it let me climb ALL the way up the gigantic mountains surrounding your home village- I found a man with his carriage, throwing his savings and belongings over the cliff to save for the afterlife. The very last thing he does is rush the cliff himself before you can stop him, sending himself as well... It was very personal.
Just finished a whitelight video and i thought i was tripping when i heard his voice in the intro :)))
I’ve been watching a lot of both you and white light recently so it didn’t even register in my mind that I wasn’t watching a white light video at first
The ending of this video I agree with wholeheartedly. I've been a fan for a long time and I've taken on the task of playing every game for myself again. I got to odyssey and while I'm enjoying it, I feel like it's dragging on. The world feels so big but it feels like there's so little to actually do. I enjoy the gameplay but the exploration just feels so subpar.
I want substance, not size
I agree about pretty much everything except for the difficulty of bosses. The bosses were often very overpowered, with a few fair ones. Zealots especially, at power level 200, I can still barely take one on lol. I found that I desynchronized in this game more than I have in any other game. I feel like the detection and stealth was very poor in this game, maybe adding to why.
You had me thinking youtube was glitching with whitelight at the beginning lmao
Just had to point out that the intro 100% tricked me into thinking I was watching a Whitelight video. Been watch both you and his AC video so when I heard his voice I was a tad confused because I thought the channel was yours but quickly just assumed I was mistaken.