#ac valhalla bug

[dr-liara-tsoni]

Can't decide if I want to (re)play AC: Odyssey or start AC: Valhalla. I also have AC: Mirage but... I think y'all know the deal with that, lol. And I have already beat all of AC: Origins.

[lycomorpha]

The Journal of Video Game Botany #2 - The flora of Horizon Zero Dawn: medicinal valley's blush

Finally got JVGB issue 2 in the store! This one is about how botanist Maria & I went about creating a scientific description for a fictional plant. We talk about what physical properties we think it would have, how we wrote and visualised the plant from a Nora healer's perspective, what art materials a Nora might make, and... How I accidentally came up with a fictional moth species that lives on medicinal valley's blush... Look, I love moths and I'm very predictable! & In my defense we also thought of a way the Nora would use the caterpillar. We plan to botanise more of HZD and HFW in future.

Issue 1 was about the fungi of AC Valhalla, and took the form of a field guide.

Issue 3 will be about the flora of Baldur's Gate 3 - the real and fictional plants, fungi, & lichen that exist side by side in the game. It will probably take the form of discussions (or maybe sh!tposts) between our player characters (a bard and a druid) about the wildlife. Watch this space...

[vikingnerd793]

So uh. The Ubisoft Gear Store is dead. Just disappeared out of nowhere with random Tweet replies that it was shut down. Mirage still has no gameplay shown and it was supposed to launch in March. Three unknown projects cancelled, Skull and Bones delayed for a sixth time. I believe Prince of Persia was already canceled. Two non AC games bombed this year, projected loss of $500 million. Keep in mind Valhalla earned a billion in a year which is the most of ANY AC GAME and the 2nd best in Ubisoft history. That revenue is huge for them. So, a $500+ million loss is not small. They’re reducing headcount for two years to try to keep afloat I just read.

I’ve said this multiple times as a guess, but now I truly believe it’s not a guess. I think Ubisoft is in serious, serious trouble. I think the only reason we even got The Last Chapter at all, with likely ZERO resource and budget behind it, was if the content was a promotion for Mirage first, with a modest focus on Eivor’s conclusion. Wouldn’t be shocked if they took a crumb of budget from Mirage for it. It’s why all support was abandoned. No Yule, no NG+.

I don’t think The Last Chapter was meant to be the way it was originally. It felt like a project that got chopped. No other content in its two years of existence felt so basic. No actual gameplay. Like an hour of cut scenes. What little recycled assets they used, the peacock feather bug STILL happened and still has not been fully fixed. I doubt we will ever see another patch for it. This isn’t trying to excuse what we got, as honestly it felt so bad it shouldn’t have even been released. Just cancel it. But my visceral reaction, that this content felt like something that didn’t belong because it didn’t have any of the thought or depth of previous content, likely wasn’t off base.

I wouldn’t be shocked if the choice to make Mirage such a big project, while ALSO announcing multiple AC games being done simultaneously, and also hemorrhaging talent with huge projects being worked on (and now having to reduce headcount further with bad financials) is maybe not working out well. Especially with other titles floundering the way they are. It’s like they NEED Mirage and Infinity to not only happen, but sell at or above Valhalla levels just to survive. I might be wrong, but it’s pretty ominous. They can’t just get these games launched. They bit off possibly way more than they can chew and need record numbers from AC now.

So I can see execs telling them ACV is a dead game to them. Support was done after Forgotten Saga and the licensed crossovers that likely got them some cash flow, and the Mirage promo masked as TLC. Fuck the fans of this game who made us record money, we need the old fans who are long gone to come back and we need to focus on getting the new fans to focus on the next games. But I’m not sure that was the smartest idea, as you want to respect fans who you just got in the door if you want to keep them around.

I don’t feel happy, per say, about this, as this will affect livelihoods of many people and this company did give us Valhalla and some other great games. But it at least feels like circumstances contributed to the disappointment of Valhalla’s “end of life.” Not just a conscious decision to ruin Eivor and make her ending about a different game’s setup.

EDIT: oh I’m totally not wrong.

[goji-pilled]

i truly love these little bugs/glitches when ac valhalla doesnt *quite* work without actually breaking the game

[someone-you-do-not-know]

You asked about Assassin's Creed, and in all honesty I haven't played many or finished a single one. I love history when it's presented to me properly and yeah the series isn't fully accurate but that's what caught my attention. So it bugs me when the game pulls me back to the present and reminds me what's going on. The overall story interests me but I also don't care for it if that makes sense.

I started playing 2 years ago but got to the part where it takes me back to the present where something was happening and I had to run off, but I lost interest after that. I was interested in Ezio, but nothing else. Haven't tried to play it since. There was something that bugged me about the gameplay too but I can't remember what exactly it was.

Valhalla grabbed my attention with the title because I've always had an interest in norse stuff. And I do enjoy it. But exploring England distracted me from the main story. There's so much other stuff to do that I happily ran off to do all of that instead. Then I got distracted by other games and haven't played in a bit. Would love to get back to it though, I have so much fun with it.

I also have Odyssey and Rogue remastered for the ps4 but I haven't started those yet.

My personal favourite is Rogue, so please please please please please play that one!

I mostly heard bad stuff about Valhalla, and haven't played any of the mainline games since Origins, because the choose your own adventure/rpg style was not what I wanted from an Assassin's Creed game. I have Origins, but I haven't even installed it yet, because I just kinda don't care to try it.

The gameplay is kinda janky, so I get if that put you off. I think AC4 Black Flag, AC Rogue, AC Unity, and AC Syndicate are some of the AC games with the best balance between side quests and main quests – the modern day story is also lesser in those, so you might enjoy those more than Ezio trilogy.

I like the modern day story myself, but I get that it's annoying to be pulled out of the story all the time – that's why I really don't like AC3, it always switched between history and modern day at the worst times.

Getting distracted by other games is so real though.

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

I thought Ubisoft fixed the Brother's Keeper quest glitch for AC Valhalla. Looks like I was wrong. All the saves from that questline are bugged. Going back to earlier and earlier saves, listening for the "shlink" sound, like a blade being shoved into a scabbard, and it's showing up in the loading screen for all the saves from the questline. That sound is how you know it's been infected by the bug. Had to go to a save from before I even started the quest. Why wasn't this fixed!?!

[spurgie-cousin]

I saw AC mentioned so this is me swerving around around the entire point of your Viking post to ask what you thought of AC Valhalla (if you’ve played)

It was pretty but I couldn’t get into the lore. I also had a main mission bug for literally 5 months that Ubisoft was aware of but kept leaving out of their patches, so when I finally got to move on I was just ready to be done with the game.

Odyssey will always be #1 in my heart and I almost gave up on Mirage because they pushed the stealth thing so hard

I'm sorry I have not played it 😭that should tell you how much that soundtrack is brought up in conversations about Vikings

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2008): XXXI CyberSky

S2: XXXI CyberSky

Main author(s): Alexander S. (Eternal)

Release date: September 3rd, 2008

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: Limit-removing

Levels: 1 (MAP31 replacement)

If you thought Remain 3 was too easy for you (and you have masochistic tendencies probably), here’s XXXI CyberSky, a slaughter map created by Eternal that was uploaded around a week after the previous WAD; and don’t worry, it won’t be the last slaughter map/WAD from 2008.

...

I have nothing else to say. Let’s begin the torture.

Despite sounding like a map with a futuristic base setting, XXXI CyberSky is actually hell and brimstone. A really nice-looking hell and brimstone I might add. I would definitely say that it looks better than most of the maps from Remain 3 and that WAD looked really good.

This map uses a track from Heretic’s E1M1; it might be stock, but at least it’s not from the classic Doom games. And I guess it kind of fits for the slaughter map; I don’t know. I would like it more if it looped properly.

If you remove enemies from this map, turns out that CyberSky isn’t really complicated to begin with. You might get stuck slightly longer in the areas with net-shaped corridors but overall, you would have to have brain damage to not know where to go next and/or what to do.

At this point, you should know that this map is hard. I mean, it has almost 1.8 thousand enemies on Hurt Me Plenty only. And yet, I feel like it’s one of the easier slaughter maps I played. Hoovies are pretty scarce and don’t even reach the 5% of all enemies, there is plenty of ammo, health, and armor, and with the knowledge of some of the secrets, you can turn some of the tougher fights into a cakewalk.

If you need a hint with this map, here are two – kill siege cows with Super Shotgun in the first area one at a time and in the western part of the map when you press the switch surrounded by fortifications, just run to the next area and slaughter everything that dares to come to you.

There is one bug I’ve noticed near the end, if you press the left switch when it goes down after pressing the middle one, it will jump back to its original place like a pop-up monster.

XXXI CyberSky is another good map by Eternal. I still prefer Remain 3 over this one, but somehow I enjoyed it more than I thought I would despite it being a slaughter map. Give it a try if you are into these types of maps/WADs.

Now that were are done with the Silver League, time to give both WADs a chance to win one of the Revenant Awards; with Remain 3 going into the Platinum Revenant category and CyberSky to the Sole Survivor category.

As for my next review, I might take a longer break than usual before tackling that one. You might have probably noticed that I no longer make a week-long break after reviewing a WAD (either because I got some rest due to not starting to make these reviews after one day of break or due to me wanting to play AC: Valhalla in between). And since the next WAD to tackle is Deus Vult II (which includes the original 2004 map in the MAP29 slot), I guess I will complete two regions in that game instead of just one along with one of the games in my Steam library in between. I’ll probably complete another region before my second playthrough just in case I don’t get another burnout earlier.

With that information out of the way, I’ll see you all next time.

Bye!

[adaftpunk]

Oh so like back 2019 I got and started playing the AC 3 remaster .. and then I got really REALLY distracted by Persona and all the spin offs. So anyway I finally went back and finished it lol. I can now say I have 100% synced all the Assassin's Creed games ... that I have played (still haven't played Odyssey and don't have Valhalla or Mirage and I am not bothering with the VR thing).

Sad the remaster also got rushed so still retains a lot of the original bugs but was fun playing it with updated control scheme.

Though now I kinda want to play og 3 again for shits and giggles (and aside from like the obvious changes it feels like very little was done but my memory of it is a decade old). Also kinda want to replay 1 & 2 again .... I'll get around to Odyssey eventually ....

[onceknownfriend]

Tattoos in video games always bug me. If the game has good options there’s usually never opportunities to see them in game (AC: Valhalla, GTA 5)

Or the developers realize there will be few or no opportunities so they only give neck & face options (Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield) which forces you to be the douche bag whose one and only tattoo is a neck or face tattoo. Who wants to be that guy?

[callme6olet]

Drengr Devlog: Combat

Here's the thing that bugs me about not just D&D, but damn near every TTRPG out there: combat is boring as hell, and it takes forever. It's not boring from a story perspective--it's where the stakes are highest--but in terms of the mechanics, the actual gameplay, it's just. so. dull. Your turn is simple: you move into a position where you can attack, and you attack. Healing is the only other action you see, and it's rarely optimal because of the binary nature of hit points. Outside of that, the only variation is in how you attack--which spells, which feats, and so on.

In designing Drengr, I'm taking a page or two from wargames and from skirmish games like Imperial Assault--the types of games which, after all, spawned D&D. I don't want combat to require its own rules manual, but as long as it's getting a chapter in the book, it should have enough mechanics to be interesting. Tactical. Strategic.

Two main points here: actions and damage/death. The latter is big enough for its own post. For now, suffice it to say: I, as a GM, am afraid to kill players. For this game to work, I had to waylay that fear, and as such, there are rules not just for Valhalla, but for bonuses gained from suffering wounds.

Most RPGs have you taking several actions a turn--move, standard, and swift, or move, action, and bonus. But one thing I like about those skirmish games is how the actions are limited; so, in Drengr, you get one action a round. Too, it's a tactical game, so I'm leaning into that: the presumption is you have a battlemap, or even 3D terrain. Theater of the mind is dope, but it's not what I'm after in this game. Ranges are measured in squares, my shorthand for either (a) a literal square on a grid or (b) one chunk of movement, one mini's base, measured however you like--one inch, two centimeters, a quarter banana, whatever.

The three main actions are to move up to four squares (or push yourself for a dash), attack someone in your range, or charge half your speed and then attack with a bonus. The latter makes combat a game of pacing; charging in gives you action economy, lets you make the first strike, but it also means you're committed. You can be surrounded.

The attack mechanics took some tinkering, but at this point, I'm satisfied with the balance I've struck between narrative interest and ease of play. When you're attacked, you can choose to defend by dodging, parrying, or countering. The first two let you cancel some or all of the damage with an opposed check. The latter lets you make a free attack, with both you and your opponent taking full damage from each other's strikes. It becomes a risk/reward balancing act: can you take a hit right now, or are you about to drop? Is it worth a wound to deal one in return? Will your counter kill your opponent before his blow lands? Compared to the standard attack check vs. AC, it introduces one additional roll into the game, but because they're simultaneous, I haven't found it to drag play down too much. Too, it increases engagement. When a player is attacked, they have a decision to make--they have agency, even when it's not their turn.

So far, I've gotten very positive feedback on these mechanics. They're not for everyone, I think, but my friends are gamery enough to enjoy a bit of mechanical crunch, and for them, it's making the decisions feel impactful. Weirdly, limiting actions makes the big ones and the small ones all feel . . . better. More important. Attacking always has weight, but when you choose not to attack, to just move, that suddenly feels like a bigger deal--especially because your opponent can't automatically close the gap next turn. Even beyond that, swapping weapons starts to feel less punitive, somehow. I hate playing Pathfinder and spending my move action to sheathe a weapon. Weirdly, though, when that's just your whole turn, it feels . . . fine? Must be because the turns move quicker, I'm not sure.

The struggle in this system, though, is dealing with NPCs. For me, as the GM, combat has been exhausting. There's so many damn decisions to make, and because I have to deal with five or six characters at a time, I make those decisions poorly. It doesn't feel tactical--it feels reactionary. I'm starting to play with minion mechanics, borrowing from FFG's Star Wars RPGs to reduce the mental strain. We'll see how that goes. GMs have a different perspective from players, of course, about what constitutes victory--we all want the heroes to win in the end--but these games should be fun for us, too. They should hit that dopamine button.

[idkhow-butyoufoundme]

mmmmm $120 game

[brit-o-raptor]

Eivor will be available in Brawlhalla as part of a collab!

You can get Ezio (our beloved) as well!

She looks like such a rascal :')

I'm loving the cocky smirk.

[syninplays]

In addition to my last post I lost my mind when Varin appeared inside the longhouse and had to take a pic and google it but turns out it’s probably not a bug cause everyone’s seeing him lol

[deimcs]

You have saved England, whether or not that was your intent. Now, let England save you.