Odyssey is a beautifully crafted world with fascinating history, but I feel like it’s directionless story wise. It’s almost like they threw so many things into the game that it’s just over saturated. I for some reason however, am completely addicted to the game even when I feel as though I’m slogging through it (though it is a relatively light slog when compared to other games of this scale).
The Assassin’s you play as have almost always been very charismatic characters, even if they are personally directionless, they still have this drive to carry out their missions because of a higher goal: avenging their family, upholding the Creed, solving an ancient mystery, or freeing a nation. Alexios and Kassandra, however, seem to be primarily motivated by drachmae (money). Which makes sense as far as their being mercenaries, but it doesn’t make for a compelling character. Yes, there ARE other things that drive them, but almost every single conversation ends in talking about pay, even when more pressing concerns are present or the NPC is already helping the “Eagle Bearer” (player character).
I also find myself having a hard time listening to the Eagle Bearers voices in the game. One issue I’ve been having is their accents sound like I do when I’m trying to do a bad Russian accent, which is a bit distracting, and they sometimes sound like a person doing a bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation . Even with the player able to make dialogue choices in the game, there is almost no way to make them sound intelligent for longer than half a sentence. Even when you’re successful at making them sound smart, their next dialogue options seem to not follow up on that.
[Did the Mega Seeds dissolve in their anal cavities or something so they could spit out one Bruce Banner line before going “HULK SMASH!” on the next?]
I have a feeling that when I get to the end, I’m going to have an “ahHA!” moment and the whole story will make sense. Where all the seemingly random threads all tie together in a knot and I’ll look at the game with the same fondness I have for the much maligned Dragon Age 2. (Should have realized that a fight between the mages and the Templar’s was coming to a head, but it wasn’t till the last quest of the game that I realized this.) Hopefully, I will get to the end of Odyssey and everything will just click. I would still recommend the game especially to fans of the series and even more so to fans of open world RPG’s as there is a ton of stuff that you probably will enjoy.
After 96 hours into the game and 95% completion of the story, I have to say that Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is the biggest disappointment in the series for me. Bear in mind though, that I always have thoroughly enjoyed every entry in the series so my bar is set EXTREMELY high so don’t light the torches just yet!
By the time you find out that Alexios/Kassandra is still alive, and Layla offers them the Spear of Leonidas, and it is just discarded as junk by them, that was probably the final nail in the coffin for me. Nearly the entirety of the game revolves around their families lineage and the Spear, but by 2018, its garbage? And they couldn’t have a longer conversation with a person who lived 2400 years? Millennia of knowledge and almost none of it could be passed on beyond a cryptic message saying that it all has to end in a very “Last Jedi” sort of way?
Its been over a month now since I’ve last touched the game, but after seeing the trailer for the Legacy of the First Blade DLC, I’m cautiously optimistic. The trailer depicts what appears to be the Order of the Ancients which served as the proto-Templar antagonists in AC: Origins. I’m hoping it serves to somehow connect Odyssey’s story to the overall story of Assassin’s Creed as I still don’t think there is much link between them.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey Review Odyssey is a beautifully crafted world with fascinating history, but I feel like it’s directionless story wise.
