I know the English are always the bad guys in fiction, but how in a game where Vikings have invaded England, are we still the bad guys?
One interesting theory is the 'bad guy' in the trailer is the English general, who may be a Templar. Aelfred himself may not be the villain. His expression when Eivor whips out the hidden blade would support this. One interesting thing about the period is the Vikings were quick to assimilate into other cultures, so if making a truce with people they had once raided benefited them, they'd do it.
That’s how I plan on playing. Screw raiding, I’m going to be making friends with everybody. You attack my settlement, you just declared war on like six kingdoms.
- Social stealth is back, but with a "unique twist". - Improved enemy variety.
This image has a twin...and there is a lack of beard on this one.
Okay, setting aside that it's badly photoshopped, it is a legit Ubisoft image. So looking at the background, I'm seeing the same location in both winter and fall. Does this mean they've implemented seasonal changes?
So...
- Day/Night & potentially seasonal changes - More visceral combat, including finishers - Base/Home-building - Mini-Games / Fishing / Fun things to do outside of combat - Flails & Spears - Dual-wielding warriors - Weather Fx (they already had)
It's like Ubisoft have been reading my DA4 Wishlist and put it all in their game.
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I know the English are always the bad guys in fiction, but how in a game where Vikings have invaded England, are we still the bad guys?
One interesting theory is the 'bad guy' in the trailer is the English general, who may be a Templar. Aelfred himself may not be the villain. His expression when Eivor whips out the hidden blade would support this. One interesting thing about the period is the Vikings were quick to assimilate into other cultures, so if making a truce with people they had once raided benefited them, they'd do it.
Catholic knightly orders started in the 11th century (most were related to the Crusades), the game is set a good 200 years before that. No Templars here.
He might be a member of the Order of the Ancients, but my guess is that they will go with the main (well only really) monotheistic order that existed back then: the Order of Saint Benedict (aka Benedictines). In fact, when the game is set, popularity of joining monasteries was in decline (getting raided all the time kinda does that) and no other than King Alfred The Great tried to reverse the trend.
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[skip] I'm seeing the same location in both winter and fall. Does this mean they've implemented seasonal changes?
I was wondering that before I even saw the "twin" images, the idea of the settlement and making alliances suggest it's not a game that will be span only a month time.
But it might not be fully dynamic, it could be similar to AC 3 winter/summer system.
I rewatched the trailer and I'm now wondering if the two little blond hair kids we see in a few scenes playing with Eivor and the old man are Eivor's children instead of some quite younger siblings of his as I first believed. My impression was that the old man was Eivor's dad, but now I'm thinking he is an uncle instead.
They would be from an arranged unions as Vikings marriages were about forging alliance between families/clans (or a way to resolve disputes between families) and Eivor probably didn't have much say in it. The partner is probably dead, but divorce did exist too. Or maybe they aren't dead and romance in the game is about concubines/lovers and bed-slaves.
I do think I read somewhere that the main character would have kids. With the popularity of dad games nowadays and the gaming industry's collective midlife crisis, it wouldn't surprise me. About your last point, though, I don't see Ubisoft going anywhere near rapey territory, particularly since the trailer suggests they're painting Norse raiders as noble savages.
Really, the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse were closely related and culturally very similar, but every piece of popular fiction I've come across insists on depicting the latter as cool and heroic and the former as lame and corrupt. Viking fiction must all be ghostwritten by Robert E. Howard.
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I rewatched the trailer and I'm now wondering if the two little blond hair kids we see in a few scenes playing with Eivor and the old man are Eivor's children instead of some quite younger siblings of his as I first believed. My impression was that the old man was Eivor's dad, but now I'm thinking he is an uncle instead.
They would be from an arranged unions as Vikings marriages were about forging alliance between families/clans (or a way to resolve disputes between families) and Eivor probably didn't have much say in it. The partner is probably dead, but divorce did exist too. Or maybe they aren't dead and romance in the game is about concubines/lovers and bed-slaves.
I do think I read somewhere that the main character would have kids. With the popularity of dad games nowadays and the gaming industry's collective midlife crisis, it wouldn't surprise me. About your last point, though, I don't see Ubisoft going anywhere near rapey territory, particularly since the trailer suggests they're painting Norse raiders as noble savages.
Really, the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse were closely related and culturally very similar, but every piece of popular fiction I've come across insists on depicting the latter as cool and heroic and the former as lame and corrupt. Viking fiction must all be ghostwritten by Robert E. Howard.
England nobility/rich looking lame and corrupt is a trope regardless of the era. Or I watched too many versions of Robin Hood and various BBC series.
But yes, Anglo-Saxons and Norse should be quite similar, outside of the religion as the Norse haven't fully converted yet.
As for rapey territory, going by Odyssey, everyone will want to sleep with Eivor anyway... I hope they improved on that
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As for rapey territory, going by Odyssey, everyone will want to sleep with Eivor anyway... I hope they improved on that
Wait, what happened in Odyssey?
It has a crazy amount of sexual innuendos in conversation, regardless of romance status. Most of the romances pretty much wants to sleep with the protagonist after 2 conversations and a few opens their first conversation with a proposal less or more. Sometimes Alexios/Kassandra sound real thirsty too, even if it's not a romance option.
There is a quest chain where you can break up a couple, romance both of them at the same time (without the other knowing) or have both die (depending on choice, you might be doing the killing). There are a few more romance where you can end up having to kill your "love" depending on choices...about half of them it seems actually. Another romance option, I'm pretty sure, was "more than friend" with Alexios/Kassandra own mother.
I even think some of the not romance NPCs dream of the naked misthios going by their dialogues.
The writing really gives the impression that everyone wants to sleep with the protag, so nothing is actually rapey, but it's still kinda sometimes.
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Ah, okay. I totally forgot about her. The only person I thought of when I heard you say more than friend was Timo, but that always seemed more like a mother-daughter relationship.
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It has a crazy amount of sexual innuendos in conversation, regardless of romance status. Most of the romances pretty much wants to sleep with the protagonist after 2 conversations and a few opens their first conversation with a proposal less or more. Sometimes Alexios/Kassandra sound real thirsty too, even if it's not a romance option.
There is a quest chain where you can break up a couple, romance both of them at the same time (without the other knowing) or have both die (depending on choice, you might be doing the killing). There are a few more romance where you can end up having to kill your "love" depending on choices...about half of them it seems actually. Another romance option, I'm pretty sure, was "more than friend" with Alexios/Kassandra own mother.
I even think some of the not romance NPCs dream of the naked misthios going by their dialogues.
The writing really gives the impression that everyone wants to sleep with the protag, so nothing is actually rapey, but it's still kinda sometimes.
I am not even sure if I could call what Odyssey does as a romance, its a hookup at a bar you meet say a couple of sexy lines kill a few thing and fade to black. No repercussions beyond the questline and doesn't seem like the game really tracks what you did.
It has a crazy amount of sexual innuendos in conversation, regardless of romance status. Most of the romances pretty much wants to sleep with the protagonist after 2 conversations and a few opens their first conversation with a proposal less or more. Sometimes Alexios/Kassandra sound real thirsty too, even if it's not a romance option.
There is a quest chain where you can break up a couple, romance both of them at the same time (without the other knowing) or have both die (depending on choice, you might be doing the killing). There are a few more romance where you can end up having to kill your "love" depending on choices...about half of them it seems actually. Another romance option, I'm pretty sure, was "more than friend" with Alexios/Kassandra own mother.
I even think some of the not romance NPCs dream of the naked misthios going by their dialogues.
The writing really gives the impression that everyone wants to sleep with the protag, so nothing is actually rapey, but it's still kinda sometimes.
I am not even sure if I could call what Odyssey does as a romance, its a hookup at a bar you meet say a couple of sexy lines kill a few thing and fade to black. No repercussions beyond the questline and doesn't seem like the game really tracks what you did.
Very much agree. It was very much a 'testing of the waters', I think, to see if their player base engaged with the content or not and in what ways. Relatively speaking, they would've been low cost. A few lines of dialogue and a kiss animation.
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It has a crazy amount of sexual innuendos in conversation, regardless of romance status. Most of the romances pretty much wants to sleep with the protagonist after 2 conversations and a few opens their first conversation with a proposal less or more. Sometimes Alexios/Kassandra sound real thirsty too, even if it's not a romance option.
There is a quest chain where you can break up a couple, romance both of them at the same time (without the other knowing) or have both die (depending on choice, you might be doing the killing). There are a few more romance where you can end up having to kill your "love" depending on choices...about half of them it seems actually. Another romance option, I'm pretty sure, was "more than friend" with Alexios/Kassandra own mother.
I even think some of the not romance NPCs dream of the naked misthios going by their dialogues.
The writing really gives the impression that everyone wants to sleep with the protag, so nothing is actually rapey, but it's still kinda sometimes.
I am not even sure if I could call what Odyssey does as a romance, its a hookup at a bar you meet say a couple of sexy lines kill a few thing and fade to black. No repercussions beyond the questline and doesn't seem like the game really tracks what you did.
It's the marketing that called them romances.
Which is probably a warning for people's Valhalla romances expectations.
I am not even sure if I could call what Odyssey does as a romance, its a hookup at a bar you meet say a couple of sexy lines kill a few thing and fade to black. No repercussions beyond the questline and doesn't seem like the game really tracks what you did.
It's the marketing that called them romances.
Which is probably a warning for people's Valhalla romances expectations.
I don't know if there is a companion system, but romances seem pointless without a companion system. I doubt the main characters will stay with you if you choose to "romance" once their quest line is done. I'm hoping for a Mass Effect or Dragon Age romance system, but yeah don't go in expecting that.
Last Edit: May 5, 2020 22:46:42 GMT by Andrew Waples
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I am not even sure if I could call what Odyssey does as a romance, its a hookup at a bar you meet say a couple of sexy lines kill a few thing and fade to black. No repercussions beyond the questline and doesn't seem like the game really tracks what you did.
It's the marketing that called them romances.
Which is probably a warning for people's Valhalla romances expectations.
Oh, I don't have any expectations aside from horrible flirting and fade to black if I pick them anyway. I just did one for the achievement and never did another.
Post by Hanako Ikezawa on May 5, 2020 23:36:32 GMT
My only expectation is they learned from the LotFB controversy and this time have the romances be optional and stay that way. No forced romance or kid or anything.
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Which is probably a warning for people's Valhalla romances expectations.
I don't know if there is a companion system, but romances seem pointless without a companion system. I doubt the main characters will stay with you if you choose to "romance" once their quest line is done. I'm hoping for a Mass Effect or Dragon Age romance system, but yeah don't go in expecting that.
In Odyssey, some of the "romances" could be recruited as lieutenants on your ship and fight with you when you boarded enemies ship, but once there you had 0 interactions with them. Some also came along in their quest chain (most did not).
For Valhalla, the devs said the romances will play out in the settlement and some might be linked to the political system according to gaming journalists. It's possible some of them can come in raids/assault with you too. They might be more "permanent" then "collectible" like Odyssey, but you might not necessarily have BioWare-level of interactions with them still.
My experience with Ubisoft's take on introducing romance and branching dialog in general is that this was clearly new to them. Most people here are only used to seeing it done right because Bioware started out doing it. All I can say is I hope they continue to study other RPGs, especially if they're dealing with choice and consequence.
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It sounds like a lot of changes. Kinda sad that it sounds like they are going to get rid of things like Rush Assassination but it was pretty ridiculous. Not sure after even hearing how this power thing is going to work, I am guessing from what was said that the there will be no Level gated areas so does that mean enemies will adapt to your "power" level? Also when they talking about changing the gear are they saying there will be no gear categories like Rare etc.?
The thing that worries me most is it really sounds like they are pushing the whole clan thing. I really hope my community development will be held back if I don't want to participate in that stuff. I am a fan of The divisions optional Co-OP stuff where you can do raids etc. with others on harder levels etc. but don't want to "have" to do them with others.
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I am not even sure if I could call what Odyssey does as a romance, its a hookup at a bar you meet say a couple of sexy lines kill a few thing and fade to black. No repercussions beyond the questline and doesn't seem like the game really tracks what you did.
Very much agree. It was very much a 'testing of the waters', I think, to see if their player base engaged with the content or not and in what ways. Relatively speaking, they would've been low cost. A few lines of dialogue and a kiss animation.
I also think a lot of it was just meant to be non-serious and just a bit of a laugh and tongue in cheek (see what I did there?), Alkibiades and the older woman in "Age is Just a Number" quest are perfect examples.
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