Assassin's Creed: Odyssey an Odyssey in one's patience with a game too big for it's own

How many times did you see that fucking commercial that has all the review scores on it? 10/10! 9.5/10! 9/10? Is this really the best Assassin's Creed ever?

According to the reviews, just maybe! For me it's a no. But for so many others, it's a yes, why? For that, I can't begin to completely address, but I can at least give you all my own perspective. First off, I just want to say that I do love Ubisoft, some of my favorite games have come from them. However, over the years, they have fallen into what Jim Sterling has said to be the "Ubification process" in which Ubisoft makes great big worlds, filled with a bunch of repetitive missions, in a pretty looking world. A world without much substance. A couple of games that stood out to me over the many years was Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and AC4. What did those have? Well beautiful worlds, WITH great writing, and filled with much more meaningful tasks. Far Cry 3 had a full fledged hunting mechanic that helped and fleshed out not only cosmetics, but tools as well. Guns too. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood introduced the Brotherhood mechanic that had base defense, as well as a press of a button to have 2 seasoned Assassins come flying out of bushes to take out someone quiet. Assassins you get to train and send on missions. So not only did you have a cool new mechanic, but you also have a story reason tied in as well, Ezio starting the Brotherhood up. AC4 introduced freaking PIRATE ships with meaningful upgrades like new cannonballs and defenses to hold up to freakin enemy Galleon's. All 3 games had a TON of memorable moments through out their campaigns. Moment's that seem lost now, because Ubisoft sometimes feels like it's trying to harken back to those moments, instead of creating new ones. Well why do I say all of this? Well Ubisoft at first, when this game was announced, excited me when it sounded like so much was going to finally change for the better. Assassin's Creed was going to embrace some more RPG elements. Well it's about damn time. Assassin's Creed would embrace choosing between two characters, and having tough decisions to make through out their campaigns. Also good shit. Fun new weapons and loadouts, with tons of different gear. The Borderlands whore in me squealed in delight over this. But here's the problem, even with those good changes, it doesn't fucking matter. Now I'll dig into the nuances of all of those things above, but let's dig into why it gets kind of canceled out for me, and why I'm glad they are taking a year or two off before the next sequel. First, the AI. Why is the AI so fucking dumb? This is like, the 34th entry in the series, you can't make them any smarter than they were in Assassin's Creed ONE? Seriously? Animal AI is goofy/wonky with sharks bouncing on the waves, and fish that look flat as thin crust pizza. Even the horses are a bait and switch because in the first couple hours of the game, you are given a choice between 3 horses. They even go on the record to talk about how they have different personalities. But it's all a hoax, they don't act differently, and I'd say that's really the biggest issue I have with this game overall. The attention to detail is almost nonexistent. Yes, the world can be beautiful at times with the leaves being swept up in the air, however, if you look closely at the grass, it just bobs up and down and it looks like it's waving hi to you. I didn't even really notice til my girlfriend pointed it out! But it's so fucking goofy. It just makes you wonder what could have been if they focused more on a 1/3 smaller world, how much detail could they have put in?

Don't get me started on a detail that Emily pointed out, that the horse bridals are not historically accurate, and no one, and I mean NO ONE, would have ever put that fucking thing on a horse if they wanted to actually ride it. But I'm getting off track a bit, I'll come full circle back to that point here in just a bit. I still need to talk about how easy you can exploit this AI, and it's kind of infuriating. I don't have the video, because I can't find my USB for the fucking life of me and I'd like to finally post this review, but I had a video of a solider I evaded the sight of, and the stupid fucker just stood out in the ocean with his back to me, didn't move until I came up and stab him in the back of the head. Just, why? The AI has always been stupid, sure, but it was easier to dismiss because so much more of the game was FUN. But how many games are we going to get where the AI is just brain dead on arrival, and be okay with it?

The stories have been better. Ezio and Edward Kenway were really well written protagonists with complicated lives. Now while the main characters are some of the best since Edward set sail, my biggest gripe is that the male voice actor, just doesn't do a good job. I'm not going to blame him, because I have no idea with his track record, and I'm not sure of the material they gave him, but one thing I could blame him on was delivery and ever changing accents. Seriously, whenever he was on screen, Alexios drove me nuts. Kassandra wasn't too bad, there was a lot more emotional weight behind her character with how her VA actually portrayed her. These characters were also the best looking within the game. A lot of time and effort was focused on their faces, which is good since we see a lot of them going back and forth with the dialog, however, it also makes the other bog standard faces stand out. The story does pick up a bit after 10+ hours, but like, what the fuck? Why does it take so long to set up a story? From the opening sequences of The Witcher 3, a game that this one keeps getting compared too for some reason, it grips you in it's world and with it's characters. This game doesn't do that. You wind up hating most of the characters, or at least not giving a shit what really happens to you. Which is sad, because there are some really good choices that are trying to harken to TW3, choices that could cost entire villages and even islands of life or happiness, yet you don't really care. Which leads into the fact that the side quests don't feel inspired. TW3 had a side quest where you had to bury a dead baby, follow it's ghost, and try to find a way to stop it from haunting this village. It was a STRANGE quest, but a memorable one, because not many games would take the time to flesh these out like TW3 or even the Yakuza series does. Instead, it's filled with filler fetch quests and clear out bandit camp missions, and they suck. It doesn't break up the status quo, and it's sad. 15+ hours into AC:O and I couldn't take it anymore, I took the damn game back to Family Video to never see again. You are suppose to be an up and coming Spartan, even apparently becoming legendary, and you're fetching wood? Also, the fact that the side quests were basically main missions at the launch of this game also pained me, because every time you got a new main mission, it always seemed like you were a level or two below it. Now while side quests and even main quests were scaled up to match you once you leveled up past the recommended level, this feature is lost when you are always playing from behind. I loved the idea of having that, but it was a bit lost in translation when you are always struggling it felt. This leads me to a really NEGATIVE point, the fucking EXP boosters. What in the hairiest of fucks was this thing? $10 to get a booster, that still left things a grind? Are you out of your mind? Jason Schreier made some comments on how he didn't think they were predatory, and maybe they aren't. However, the fact that it exists, with the 7 pages of bullshit M/T when half the game feels cobbled together/slightly under baked, tends to leave a bad taste in most people's mouths. Seeing some of the things I saw in this game, like the dumb AI, the nonsensical bridals above the eyes of your horses, the immense amount of GRIND. I love grind in games, most do, but there has to be a pleasure in it. Otherwise it feels like a full time job, and even if I'm trying to make this mine, I'd like to take enjoyment out of it. But with this game, so many details and small things could have been fixed to make the game better, and than you see all the M/T, and can't help but feel grossed out about it. Look, I'm not against DLC, but when you have so many flaws, not a few, but a lot, somethings just stand out.

Also let's bring up the Totino's deal, but not talk about it, because that will just make me fly off in a rage as well. Romances in this game exist. That's all I can say about that. They aren't fleshed out, they aren't good. There are some funny moments, but this isn't TW3, Skyrim, Fallout, or any other RPG type game you can think of. RPG elements are in here, and they are pretty good. With things like new abilities, more damage resistance, the usual, as well as some cool things. I mean let's face it, we all know everyone that plays immediately gets the Spartan Kick. The SK is fun as Hell, but after 15+ hours, I was level 13! I was less levels, than I had hours played. So of course there are some abilities I didn't get to try, but oh well. The more I just look at the game, the more I'm convinced that really, it needed another year in the oven. What could this game have been, if they took a year longer to polish? Maybe than it could have been TW3 or Yakuza. But as it stands now, it's not either of those. Those games crush it, because of all the details, writing, and interesting characters, something this game just sorely lacked.

Boss battles are boring, I know, because I YouTubed them since I knew I was never going to get to them, and unlike Origins, which were mechanic heavy and really cool, these are boring and just...standard. I'm glad I didn't grind to them, because I feel I would have been even more pissed off about it. Ship battles aren't nearly as good as the AC4 battles, and they make less sense because you're taking down ships with arrows, instead of cannonballs. Boarding looks fucking goofy, as you just slide up next to the boat with a push of a button. It just goes back to the idea I presented at the beginning that this feels like a Frankenstein of better versions of this game. Boss battles were brought from Origins, but Origins had more originality to them. Ship battles make a comeback, but AC4 did them WAY better, and the crew was so much more memorable, so much so, you're second in command in AC4 got his own expansion.

So many moments in this game had me shaking my head, and laughing out loud. Sometimes I was even yelling at the screen, as good ideas were anchored by silly design choices. Siege battles were a cool idea in the game, however it doesn't matter what side you choose, or even the outcome. No matter what happens, neither side will remember what side you fought on, and every battle takes place on the same field, with 2 minions with shields punch you in the back of the head while leaders take swipes at you while you run around a field that harasses you about leaving the battlefield every 10 fucking seconds. Their coolest idea, has no ramifications, and is executed in the most boring way possible. It's such a shame, really. How other reviewers can't point this out, and how anyone can just brush past this, is beyond me.

Last thing that really bothered, was the Mercenary List, or whatever it was called, that showed you different powerful Mercenary's you could identify, avoid, or even interfere with while they are out on other missions. It's almost suppose to be like the Nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor. However, it is NOT that. SoM did it WAY better. You kill one, they are immediately replaced. You don't get any backstory, you get no meaningful encounters. It feels...wasted, yet again. I know I've just been going in on this game, but I feel I have to be the voice of reason. So many people are using words like "Ambitious" with this game, and yet, you could say that about ANY open world game. You say that about games that push the genre, but what does this game bring to it, that wasn't brought forth by better games? It's not that they can't do that, that's fine, yet, they do it far worse the previous games, when they could made them even better. I blame Ubisoft execs more than I blame the devs. The devs did what they could, with the time they had. I have nothing but love for them, I really do, but this game made me sad. My brother and my girlfriend were both flabbergasted by this game, almost as much as I was. There were things I liked. I liked the RPG elements finally making their way into the franchise. I loved that there were so many weapons and sets of armor, yet, you never got attached to anything. I loved that there were romance options, but I didn't love that it felt so forced, and there was no characterization of the romance options. Or at least, not good characterization. There were many steps forward, but twice as many steps back. So wrapping up one of my longest reviews, I'll say in closing that I wanted to love this game, and maybe it will get better with patches, but I'll never know, because I have no interest in coming back. I hope that they are taking a year off, and I hope they iron out some of the bugs, and give us a game that blows me away. I want that, I really do. But focus less on the big shit like a GIANT map, yet so much empty, unfinished space? Yakuza is amazing despite having like...a 1/10 of the map you have. Why? Because they utilize every square. My final verdict on this latest entry is... a 5/10. There was a small bit of fun with the Spartan kick, and a few small missions, but most of the novelty wore off for me quickly. Yes, the world can look really good in some places, but in so many others, it stood out on my PS4 Pro and 4K TV. It left us laughing out loud on more than one occasion. This game is average for me, not because of the graphics, but the lack of anything new or exciting. I'd say if you are a AC loyalist, and you still haven't picked up the game, I'd say wait for a sale personally. But if you can, rent it from your local library or video store, Lord only knows they could use the business. So that will be all from me guys, I have to type up this BO4 review, so you'll be hearing from me here shortly, than, the game we all have really been waiting for, RDR2 baby. Love you guys, like comment, and share!